ORPHANED

:: forty-four ::

dream could tell george was uncomfortable.

"what, did you like shit talk me or something?" dream reached over to pet the cat. george smiled at their hands. "...i won't read it if you don't want me to."

"oh this is gold." sapnap could be heard through the walls, karl's laugh accompanied the words.

"i guess they found the picture." dream slid off the counter, waiting for george to follow before they left the bathroom together, heading down the stairs.

"what's the story behind this one?" karl was face first into the big book that dream knew for a fact included the most embarrassing pictures of himself.

"for breast cancer awareness." his mom stood in the doorway of the kitchen smiling at them.

"aw, dream you're such a good guy." sapnap smiled up at them.

"i say that we should cut the cake now." dream's mom walked back into the kitchen. his sister bolted after her.

"cake. cake. cake." karl chanted as he too, headed into the kitchen.

"last one in the kitchen has to cut the cake." he heard his sister laughing from the other room. dream wasn't too good at cutting cake. however in the time it took for him to think that, both george and sapnap made it into the kitchen.

damn.

"none of these slices are going to be even." he walked into the kitchen to stare at the cake sitting on the counter. he scowled at the baked good. his mom set down a handful of candles on the counter for them all to put into the cake. sapnap, being the comedian he is, stuck a candle right into the side of it.

"19 more to go."

dream laughed as his mom scolded them for putting the candles too close to each other as she pushed karl's hand away from the cake, he was trying to taste the icing. patches stood on the kitchen counter intrigued by the commotion. the feeling in the air was warm.

"i'm not letting you light the candles sapnap, no."

"how come she gets to light them I'm twice her age."

dream turned to watch his sister smirk at the fire that emitted from the candle lighter.

"she's not a pyromaniac."

"i call dibs on lightning the sideways candle." she reached over from the counter and lit the said candle. dream watched as the hot wax dripped onto the countertop. karl pointed to it,

"look, wax." he dug his finger into the icing, after successfully diverting the attention, shoving his finger in his mouth afterwards. "that's some good icing." he spoke before laughter.

"no fair i want to try the icing." sapnap tried to stick his fingers into the cake, only for them to be threatened with the knife.

"you can try the icing when we cut the cake. karl, i will remember that."

dream smiled at karl's reaction.

"dream, your mom wouldn't kill me, would she?" dream laughed, turning from the pink haired boy. "dream?"

"we're getting wax all over the cake, i say it's time to sing." dream scratched at the wax on the counter, his mom turned off the lights and thus they began.

he smiled at the shorter brunette to his right, the candle light painting streaks of yellow light across his face, dream's eyes lingered on the man's lips. he felt something hit him in the shin.

"make a wish, idiot." he rolled his eyes at his sister, pondering a good enough wish for his twentieth birthday.

he thought about pink, thought about skateboarding, and coffee, sweatshirts, hair dye, dimes, forks, dreams, pictures, cats, shoes, kisses, dodgeball, lightning, parties.

he thought about a lot, smiling before blowing out the candles.

"what did you wish for?" george asked pulling at the sleeve of his sweatshirt.

"if i tell you it won't come true." dream smiled at the dark eyes of the man beside him. george smiled back.

"cut it, cut it, cut it." karl, sapnap, and his sister chanted from around the counter, licking icing from the candles that were freshly removed from the cake.

dream glared at the knife, pleading it to be nice to him. he made the first incision into the cake at an almost directly diagonal angle. he saw george cringe from the corner of his eyes. dream let go of the knife halfway through the cake. "george you take over." he slide the cake over to the other.

george gently grabbed the knife, making quick work of cutting symmetrical slices out of it. shaking his head.

"easy." george smiled at dream, licking icing off his finger.

dream rolled his eyes. "you're an idiot." he smiled at the man.

"cake, cake, cake." dream's mom distributed the slices onto plates for them. they all took seats at the island, waiting to be handed a plate. dream knows this was by far his favorite birthday yet.

while everyone was absorbed into a conversation he felt a vibration in his pocket. he pulled out his phone. smiling at the home screen before he read the notification.

happy 20th. we're getting old

dream sighed.

"do you think if i kissed a frog i'd have enough pent up princess power to turn it into a prince?" karl seemed surprised by his own words. "that was a tongue twister."

"you know karl, that's the smartest thing i think i've ever heard you say." sapnap nodded up from his cake.

"you do look like a princess with that beautiful pink hair of yours." his sister reached up to pet the man.

"that makes me feel better." karl continued the eat his cake.

"i'm going to go wash my hair out now, don't leave yet." his sister stood from her stool, running up the stairs.

"her hair better come out nice karl, or you'll regret eating that icing." dream's mom walked past, smiling as she poked the pink haired boy's fingers with her fork.

"...dream your mom is kind of scary." karl turned to him slowly. whispering over the table.