ORPHANED

:: thirty-seven ::

another working day at The Grind. karl didn't show up, but sapnap and dream got around fine without him. dream swept the floor behind the counter, trying to find anything to busy himself in the empty café.

"do you want me to go get lunch? will you be okay here by yourself?"

dream stoped sweeping and turned to his friend. "if you leave you better be back quick. i might go insane with no one to talk to."

"alright chill, just don't scare anyone away with that..." sapnap gestured to the dark bruise that bloomed across the blonde's face.

dream rolled his eyes, watching as his friend pushed past the door. his eyes scanned the room. nothing left to clean, nothing left to organize, nothing left to fix. he sighed and pulled out his phone.

for no apparent reason he opened his messages with 'red'

'i'm scared to see him today...'

he didn't feel the need to rethink his words, he just wanted someone to hear him say it. it took her a minute to respond.

'why'

'i don't want him to be mad at me'

'make it up to him ;)'

'how do i do that'

'think of something'

dream stared at the screen. he turned off his phone and decided to head into the back. he searched the shelves for inspiration. how would he manage to make something like this up to george. most importantly how would he find inspiration in the back of a coffee shop.

the bell above the door chimed. he rested his head on the shelf currently in front of him. he walked back into the front and forced a smile onto his face before he looked up to the customer. except when he lifted his head the smile grew wider and a deep blush found its way to his face.

"hi." george stood at the counter smiling shyly as he wore dream's sweatshirt.

"hi." dream smiled back to the man. he watched george sit at the counter and he stepped closer to watch him. "you look cute." dream was tired, he didn't try controlling his words.

"what?" george clasped his hands over his face, resting his elbows on the counter.

"you look adorable in my hoodie." dream rested his own elbow on the counter, supporting his face with his hands.

"are you feeling okay?"

dream watched as george peeked through his fingers "never been better." he smiled at the man swimming in his sweatshirt.

"i can't tell." george frowned at dream. "i thought you said your nose was okay."

dream sat up from the counter. "it is okay, you can't control a bruise."

"you look like you got beaten up."

"yeah, my little sister is brutal."

"you look terrible." george stretched from the stool pressing the back of his hand into dream's forehead.

dream removed george's hand from his head, holding his wrist. "i'm fine, the worst thing that happened today is i stepped in a puddle with my socks on as soon as i woke up."

george smiled, having no intent to remove himself from dream's grasp.

"but it got better when i saw you in my hoodie."

george turned away, trying to hide his face.

"you look tiny in my sweater, tiny and adorable. in my hoodie."

"stop it." george pouted still hiding his face.

"all thanks to my exquisite fashion sense." dream smirked.

"shut up."

dream ran his thumb gently against the inside of george's wrist. he felt the man shiver at the touch.

"i wanted to do something to make up for how i made you feel yesterday, but i wasn't sure what to do." dream hid his frown with a smile.

"you could always take me on a date." george fluttered his eyelashes.

dream shook his head, "you're so dumb." he focused his eyes back on the man that turned away from his gaze. "what about a kiss?" dream smirked.

george's eyes widened.

"you know, after our talk yesterday i've been craving a kiss lately." dream leaned closer to the man behind the counter.

george cleared his throat and shuffled in the chair. dream kept his hold on the man's delicate wrist.

dream leaned in closer, softly pressing a kiss to his forehead, and briefly squeezing his arm. when he leaned back from george he revealed a hershey kiss in his unoccupied hand with a smirk. dream was being selfish. he'd been craving the feeling of george on his lips and he was going to do anything to get it. it didn't help that he didn't get enough sleep.

the bell above the door rang again. george pulled his hand from dream's. dream rolled his eyes, of all times of course it had to be now. he looked up from george to the door.

in walked the girl from the party. dream had to physically restrain from rolling his eyes again.

"oh my god, what happened to you?" she walked to the counter and squeezed her hand onto his bicep. his eyes fell on her hand. "did you get into a fight?" her other hand reached up to touch his face.

he stepped away from her, clearing his throat, "is that my hoodie?"

she looked down and smiled at her torso. "is it? your friend kicked me out of the room so quickly i didn't have time to check."

"so you started wearing it, that's a little creepy don't you think?" george spoke up from beside her.

"well no, i knew it was his." she tried to excuse her actions.

"and so you put it on, and decided to start wearing it? that doesn't support your case." george glared at her, he didn't seem to enjoy her presence.

"can i have my hoodie back?" dream spoke before she could explain herself.

"well if you want, but it might smell like me." she winked at him as she started pulling the hoodie off. he couldn't keep watching her, the secondhand embarrassment was fatal. she leaded in when she handed it to him, "there's a present for you in the pocket."

—

it's so cold in my room :((