ORPHANED

:: one hundred ::

-100 chapter special-

i think you guys fail to realize how much effort you've put into this book, at the moment you've read somewhere around 100,000 words. be proud of yourself, i know a lot of people who wouldn't want to do that willingly!

—

"hello?" dream pressed the phone to his ear, unsure if he was the right person to answer. he ignored the slight shake to his hand, sitting down at the island to calm his nerves.

"you know, with this whole time zone difference and everything, i expected us to link up a lot more than we have been." dream appreciated the comfort the voice brought him, setting aside the guilt that the statement had materialized.

he stood from the stool making his way to the stovetop, he wouldn't mind having his friends company this morning. "im sorry man, i've been sleeping in." dream knew for a fact his sister had a weird attachment to blueberry pancakes, so when he scoured the fridge and found a carton of blueberries he knew what he was going to make for breakfast. "how's the trip going?"

he settled the phone down onto the countertop beside himself, waiting for the other to respond. "it's going great, my mom is still pretty jetlagged though, so i was about to ride around but i figured id see if you were up. what are the odds." they both stilled, waiting for another conversation topic to appear, enjoying finally being in each other's company. "what about you...anything new?"

dream knew that sapnap had actually wanted to ask if he had heard from the brunette, neither of them knowing if it was a good time to bring it up. "nothing really, mom just left, so i'm stuck babysitting."

"you mean your sister is stuck babysitting?" the humor in his voice brought a warmth to the blonde that he had missed these past few weeks.

"isn't that what i said?"

"did she say why she was leaving?" the previous conversation was forgotten about, a new subject taking up their thoughts.

dream refocused into reality in time to flip a pancake that would've caught on fire otherwise. "no she just said she'd be out for a few."

dream could hear the smile on sapnap's face grow. "then she's probably getting you guy's christmas presents."

dream shook his head. "it's barely even thanksgiving yet?" his eyes scanned the edges of the pan, watching bubbles burst at the heat. his hands came to rest on the counter as he basked in the feeling of everything being okay, even if it was just for the moment.

"exactly, she knows you'll think that."

the blonde could imagine how sapnap would sit in the car, reclined just enough to relax, looking insane to anyone who passed him as he spoke unreserved, into the silence of the morning. "i don't think she plans that far into the future."

"you never know." again they found a comfortable state where neither of them had to speak. "speaking of christmas, karl wanted to do secret santa..."

dream knew exactly what would follow, so much so that he could feel the other wiggling his eyebrows through the distance between the phone. "i don't have anything better to do."

the giggle that he had enticed would be unforgettable, sapnap's happiness as contagious as karl's laugh, as alleviating as quackity's witty attitude, and as charming as george's smile. he found himself settle into this group so easily because he found consolation in every part of them apart, as well as together.

why couldn't he just be content with it like that.

from the other line he could hear how sapnap practically skipped up a flight of stairs. "this is good news because i already put your name in the hat."

why did he have to kiss him.

"are you ready?" sapnap's eager approach to everything gave the blonde a slight reassurance about the future.

"as ready as i'll ever be." he could hear the other unfold a piece of paper, the line stressing as they both held their breaths. the anxiety in the air staying high when sapnap stuttered the results.

"...george."

they fell silent, a quiet that hadn't felt as friendly as before, questions turned up in the air left unanswered.

"i can pull another card, dream."

the blonde sighed. "no, its okay, surely we will be on better terms by then, right?" neither of them dared to answer the question just like neither of them had wanted to bring it up in the first place. it had just been another instance when dream figured the universe was fighting against him.

he could hear sapnap travel back down the stairs, slinking into the car, the mood noticeably more tense. they shared a sigh, the both of them always seeming to be on the same wavelength.

"i was thinking of talking to techno?"

he shuffled on the other end. "that's a great idea, what changed your mind?"

"i was thinking about how, if i felt like this about george, it would be beyond me how he felt when i just up and left."

"that's a good point." sapnap was invested in the conversation now, he had been the first person dream had ever spoken to about the friends that he had left behind when he moved, and to say sapnap was upset with the blonde would have been an understatement.

"i was also thinking about how i could really use his advice lately."

sapnap sighed, his voice lacking the tenderness of just seconds before. "i think, you need to stop reaching out to people looking for an alternative solution to your problem. i know that you already have the answer, because if you didn't you wouldn't keep trying to avoid it."

dream knew he was right, he had the answer blaring lights in his brain but he felt like a coward when it came to following through with anything he had already planned. suddenly the most recent message sitting in his phone felt very wrong.

"if you're going to bother techno just to fix your issue with george i don't think you should reach out at all."

this time around the silence slapped him in the face, realization about what had to be done, and what he would have to do alone rising in his brain. he was too old to keep waiting around, depending on everyone to fix this for him.

—

i want george back just as much as you guys do, believe me it's so difficult to write chapters where i can't blatantly talk about how george's touch means so much dream, but we're going to have to push through this together if we want anything good from this