Interaction [Dreamnotfound]

27 | Who

Dream shuffled his feet. Looked to the door. Looked down. Looked at the door again. It might have been the most awkward moment of his entire life, he wasn't sure.

Zak shook his head, struggling to clear the thoughts of diamonds that for some reason wouldn't leave him alone, and stared at Dream, catching his eye. Dream froze.

Zak spoke. "Dream?"
Dream stepped forwards. "Zak, I'm so sorry- I didn't mean to hurt you, honestly I didn't, it was a reflex, I'm not used to living on my own and there's nobody ever here and I thought you were one of them-"
"Hey!" Zak grabbed him by the arm. "It's fine, dude! Don't worry about it, ok? I overreacted, and I know you were stressed about the tracking thingy on George's band, so it's fine." He sighed. "I shouldn't have reacted so badly. It was my mistake."
Dream took a shaky breath. "No, you're fine, it was me," he insisted. Zak shrugged. "Either way, it doesn't matter, I'm over it. We good?"
Dream nodded, and Zak grinned. "You're really good at fighting, by the way," he admitted. "I've trained for years and you still took me by surprise."

It was Dream's turn to smile. "Yeah, I've had a lot of practice."
Zak raised an eyebrow, but Dream didn't elaborate. After a moment, he added, "You can call me Skeppy."
Dream's eyebrows shot up. "Skeppy?"
Recognition formed in his eyes. "I remember you! You and- and Bad, right?" he was full on grinning. "Darryl! Is Bad Darryl?"
Skeppy nodded. "Yeah, that's Bad. I think we worked on testing the game with you, right?"
Dream shrugged. "I don't know. We definitely worked on it, though. I remember playing with you," he replied.

Skeppy smiled, and a tentative knock sounded on the door behind him. Skeppy whirled around, and Dream tensed as the door slowly opened.

Bad poked his head into the room cautiously, and frowned at the sight of Skeppy. "Skeppyyyyy! I told you not to go in there!"
Skeppy grinned, opening the door all the way for Bad. "It's fine, we're good," he replied. Dream nodded.

Bad narrowed his eyes, staring at Skeppy, then Dream. "Ok then..."
"I'm supposed to be the skeptical one!" Skeppy joked, and Bad laughed. Dream just stared, confused.

Skeppy frowned, then realized. "Oh, that's how I got my name," he explained. "Everyone said I was too skeptical, so it became Skepty, then Skeppy."
Dream raised an eyebrow. "Interesting."
"I'm BadBoyHalo because I'm a bad boy," Bad bragged, grinning triumphantly at Skeppy, who laughed. "You couldn't be bad if you tried!"
Bad pouted, and Dream smiled. They were awfully cute together.

Maybe someday he'd be like that. Have someone that loved him for who he was. He wasn't usually this sentimental, but seing Bad and Skeppy brought out something... different.

Interesting.

"Dream?"
The yell was from downstairs. George, evident by the accent.

His voice made Dream smile, despite his best intentions to keep a nonchalant expression.

Why was he smiling?

"Coming!" Dream yelled back, and then motioned to Skeppy. "Come on, let's go. George wants lunch."
Skeppy grinned, and a yell was heard. "I do not! I mean I do but I don't want you to make it but I do but like-"

Dream grinned. "We're coming down!" he yelled, walking towards the stairs. Skeppy and Bad followed, Skeppy grinning slightly at the evident blush on Dream's face.

Dream descended, feeling his cheeks heat up as George smiled at him, then turned to Skeppy with narrowed eyes. Skeppy avoided his glance altogether, and Bad stared at George, confused but not willing to question anything.
George's death glare didn't waver.

Dream walked into the kitchen, past George, trying to ignore his expression. "Sandwiches?"

"Sure," Skeppy replied. George didn't say a thing, and Bad nervously looked around, refusing to give his input.

Needless to say, the meal was a quiet one. Dream tried starting conversation a few times, but it never caught on.

Bad spent the meal staring at his plate and refusing to talk. Skeppy looked around a few times, but kept to himself. George would occasionally glare at Skeppy, but otherwise kept his gaze on his meal.

That was probably why the knock at the front door was appreciated. Dream almost sighed out of relief - finally, sound - but managed to keep a straight face and got up, walking to the door.

Wait a moment.

Dream froze, inches from the door. What if it was the government?

Honestly, who else could it be?

Dream stayed in one place, reserved, and collected himself.

He turned and walked back to the table, seating himself without a word.

Floris's mind was whirling. The opportunity was right in front of him.

All he had to do was get George to open the door, assuming he was at the right place, and arrest him. That was it.

He was so close to victory he could almost taste it. Grinning, Floris raised his hand to the door and knocked again.

The knock sounded again.

Skeppy looked up slightly. "You gonna answer it?"
"He doesn't have to if he doesn't want to," George responded instantly. Dream stared.

Why is George acting so weird?

Floris waited impatiently. Why wasn't George answering the door?

They didn't know it was him, did they?
No, of course not. They couldn't.

Floris knocked twice more.

The knock went again. And again.

Dream inhaled. "What do we do?"
Skeppy stared. "What do you mean? Answer it!"
"But what if it's the government?" Dream asked.

Skeppy's eyebrows lifted slightly, and he stood. "Come on. I can fight for us if I need to."
Dream nodded, getting up and walking to the door. George frowned, but followed them. Bad hastily unseated himself and hurried after Skeppy.

Floris heard footsteps to the door. They were coming. He pulled out his weapon.

Dream turned the doorknob. Opened the door.

And came face to face with a gun.

"Put up your hands!"