behind the streams | dnf

thirty six | cafuné

Dream glances at the time. "Mkay."

"You can just say you don't want to deal with us anymore." I grin at him as he stands up and wanders across the expanse of Dream's room.

"You're right, I really don't."

Dream scoffs.

Sapnap pauses to crane his neck back at us, just as he's about to set foot into the outside hallway. "Also."

The snarky, sharp-tongued character he's put up for the past few hours, some fraction of it mellows into something sincere, something... loving. "-spend time with each other, jesus."

Aggressively loving. "I'll be fine," he waves at us when the first hints of unsureness arise. To pull off both traits at once is a feat in itself but it comes especially easy to him. His expression now still carries an uncanny resemblance of earlier's exasperation.

"Also, I'm really fucking tired."

I hear Dream's light laugh. "You did wake up early today."

"I know." He raises his knuckles against his lips, stifling another yawn. "Ugh. Okay. Wake me before dinner, or something."

"We're ordering take-out!" Dream calls, a few seconds later as his footsteps travel farther and farther away.

"I know!" sings his muffled reply. "That's the point."

"Smartass," Dream immediately mutters, far too quiet for Sapnap to even glimpse an earful of.

I look back from the wood glided shut, and laugh almost absentmindedly. "How nice of him."

Dream looks up from his phone, scrolling paused as the device slackens in his fingers. His expression is nearly amused, somehow softening the directness of his gaze. Without looking away, he subtly slips it into a pocket.

"Well." I deviate slightly from meeting his eyes, but make my way back nonetheless.

"Well." he tries to copy. A twinge of a smile lifts up the corners of his mouth.

It's an unexpectedly reassuring sight. "That was fun."

He murmurs agreement, leaning back as his arms prop him up.

His gaze slants slightly. "I feel like I haven't seen you all day."

"...you have," even though I'm perfectly aware of what he means. He shakes his head at my expression, and I quickly reassure him.

"Well, not like this," he says.

"Like what?"

"Alone." He grins, and it's a gleam of white brightness. "Just us."

A few fingers raise to my lips, trying to smother the expression beginning to press there. "Really."

To no avail. He sees it, clear as day. "Of course."

"Also, it's been a pretty crazy day." His voice is softer now; less playful, more genuine. "This... is nice."

A breath of fresh air, after the stream, the hectic morning and the levels of energy maintained throughout. It all dies away in this rosying afternoon; the quiet is near-serene.

"It is."

He stretches his leg, prodding me lightly in the shin. "Then come here."

It really, really is.

I rouse myself out of the chair, clearing away the few footsteps that separate us. He tucks his leg back into sitting cross-legged again, eyes never looking away. They stop with me as I stand where his knee was not 5 seconds ago.