ORPHANED

:: one hundred sixteen ::

george broke away from the hug, settling comfortably beside the blonde in a world he didn't seem to fit into otherwise. he rested his head on dream's arm, stretching his legs so they'd rest on the blonde's lap. the brunette busied himself by inspecting the skin of the other's palm.

observing exactly where his knuckles had continued to brush against the brunette's leg, dream spent entirely too much of his attention turned to their laps to notice that george had taken his other hand into captivity.

dream finally did what he hadn't done all those times before, and took it upon himself to move his hand to firmly rest on george's thigh, hopefully making up for all the times he convinced himself not to. the touch fully silenced the deep cravings that had called out to the blonde so many times already, something dream couldn't do himself even when away from the brunette.

george didn't seem to hate the idea of being in dream's palms, handled with care like he was fragile. dream's hands had always been so warm, which never failed to help the brunette melt into his touch. even just being around the other was comforting in every way george had craved for him to be. they shared a quick personal glance and dream decided to leave them off on a better note. "how did it go? if you don't mind me asking?"

george set down dream's hand with a heavy sigh and pressed himself closer to the blonde. "it looks like she's doing just fine without me, so it was okay i guess." dream encouraged him to continue with a gentle squeeze to his thigh. before speaking, the brunette picked up dream's hand again. "it really did seem like she was trying to be different, but it didn't feel like i was talking to my mom. she gave me flowers, but the guys ruined my vase when they put milk in it."

it was a little weird that dream knew exactly what the other had been talking about, despite him not elaborating fully. "i can get you a new vase?"

"it's fine, i don't think i'll be getting more flowers from her anytime soon, not that i'd want them either."

he remembered the night of the brunette's birthday, before everything took a turn for the worse. "to be fair, it was pretty impressive to watch quackity drink all that milk."

george smiled at the remark, planting his face into dream's arm to press back the laugh that rose to his lips. "you're so dumb." he linked their fingers together and dream knew he had successfully improved the mood in the room.

he sympathized for the boy, he couldn't imagine where he would be right now if it weren't for his mom, but at the same time he also knew his family wasn't perfect. dream traced a careful thumb against the brunette's hand. having held hands with george many times before, it was almost like second nature. "you know my family wasn't always something i was proud of?"

george turned to him with watchful eyes, quick to acknowledge it was his time to sit and listen. "remember the day i told you i got really angry? when techno followed me into the woods?" dream knew his story wasn't as moving as the brunette's had been, but he also hoped hearing the reality of the situation would help george realize that sometimes family is found.

"when i got accepted into a college over here that was really when the problems began. my mom didn't want me to move here alone, and my dad didn't want to leave his hometown. they argued a lot about it and i even started to consider declining the offer, but techno was not having it."

george stared at him with patient eyes, so dream paused his story to hear what the brunette had to say. "so techno is the reason you're here?"

he smiled at the brunette, "something like that." now that he thought about it, techno had still been setting him up even when they weren't speaking. "in all honesty i was just really scared he was going to kill me if i didn't go." if it weren't for the man's lectures about bigger things out in the world for him, dream would have never even met george.

"looks like i'll have to thank him sometime."

the picture that flashed in the blonde's mind, of the awkward man getting along with his radiant brunette, painted a wide grin onto his face. "that would make me the happiest person alive."

george shone a smile back, happy to know that dream was imagining introducing him to people that had shaped him into the person he was today. "finish your story, i want to hear about what happened."

dream stopped himself from rolling his eyes. "but the rest of the story is boring."

"you listened to me. I want to listen to you."

the proudness he felt helped something turn inside of him. it was like everything was clear and he finally understood what it was that he had for george. he turned to stare back at lovely dark brown eyes, accompanied by a soft smile on plump pink lips. "okay."

dream's eyes trailed to his wrist where he watched the brunette fidget with the bracelet his sister had given him. "they weren't married, so when they sat us down and told us they were splitting, there were no hard feelings. i was upset though, they were my parents, they were the reason i believed in love, if they weren't together it was almost like love wasn't real."

when dream stopped running a calming thumb against the brunette's hand, george decided to repay the action.

"i can't imagine what my neighbors were thinking when they saw an almost grown man running out of a house and crying, but i'm sure i looked pretty insane at the time." dream paused, staring at george's hand and realizing he had no idea where he was going with that story.

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at the top of this chapter i added a clip from a kids show that scared the living hell out of me as a child :D keep in mind that because of that episode i couldn't sleep in a room with a tv playing for several years!