ORPHANED

:: one hundred twenty-eight ::

"so what is it that you guys want for christmas?" his mom spoke with a gentle intensity that barely rivaled the volume of the music his sister had put on. she deemed it was to put them in the spirit of the holiday, but they all knew it was because she despised the tender smiles and meaningless stories her brother shared with their guest.

"yeah, george, what do you want?" currently she stood strictly between them in a poor attempt to cut down on the risk of their hands intimately brushing together while they hooked ornaments onto the tree.

the brunette looked deep in thought for a second, scanning his brain for anything to mention. he shrugged, giving up easier than she wanted him to. "i'm not sure? i haven't thought about anything like that for a while."

"alright, we have to work on that." she glanced at her brother with an accusing look before quickly turning back to the brunette. "i know exactly what i want. i've been thinking about it all year now."

"oh yeah, and what's that?" he dropped his hands from the tree, knowing there was no chance she had already set her mind to exactly what she had wanted that easily.

she gave a meaningful smile like she had known he would ask, and stepped away from the tree to signify her sincerity. "i want to renovate my room." her words were accompanied by the dramatic tilt of her head and the crossing of her arms.

dream mirrored the movement, always having something ignorant to say in response to her. "and how do you expect us to give you that as a present?"

she paused for a long moment. she might have thought long and hard about the gift, but never once did she consider the delivery of it. "if you really cared you'd find a way."

"oh yeah let me just completely renovate your room while you're sleeping." playfully he rolled his eye, catching a glimpse of her stuck out tongue, before resuming to decorate the tree.

"are you and sapnap doing anything for chrismas this year?"

he turned from the tree to be welcomed by the picture of his mom holding up her phone, in a way he could only assume meant she was recording them. "mom," he scoffed, trying to hide from the camera.

"what? im vlogging! first christmas away from home."

he could imagine the way she'd flip the phone around to record herself, beaming with a thumbs up.

he gave it, turning back around to catch his sister showcasing the old photo of him sitting on an alligator to the brunette who held the photo with delicate hands and shared a happy grin. george's smile made his remembrance of the memory all the less humiliating.

"well go on, it looked like you were going to say something."

still, he tried not to make direct eye contact with the camera, "karl actually wanted to do secret santa so i think that's what we're doing." his hands came to subconsciously dust themselves on his thighs. "you remember karl right? he hasn't really come around since my birthday-"

"oh i remember karl." she deadpanned, turning off the phone to glare at her son. "not a single human being has ruined a cake under my watch and lived to tell the tale." then she plastered on a crooked smile, "speaking of karl, you should invite him over again, i have some business i need to discuss with him."

"something tells me you shouldn't invite karl over here ever again if you enjoy being friends with him at all." his sister mumbled, turning away from the situation that didn't involve her. he knew she had just been joking, but he seriously felt like he understood the fear struck through karl that day he asked if his mom would kill him.

he turned to the brunette who, for the most part, hadn't said much. the moment they made eye contact it was evident why, it only took a moment for george to see dream's unsure smile before he broke out into fits and giggles. he doubled over himself, clutching at his heart, and eventually, the blonde's sister joined in on the contagious laugh and they continued until they all were laughing and none of them could remember why.

**

"i didn't know you were going to do secret santa?"

"no?"

"no." the brunette reclined on the sofa, leaned back enough to gaze up at the blonde who stood behind him, smiling from between outstretched arms and hovering above. "i actually remember precisely telling sapnap that i wasn't going to do it because i didn't think you would."

dream smiled, shifting his weight onto one arm to brush dark hair from george's eyes, only to have an excuse to feel the heat of his skin again. "well i guess you thought wrong."

it had been strange to admire the brunette's face in the complete wrong orientation, but it only proved the blonde's hypothesis that the other could pull off anything. he lost his original train of thought, captivated deep in george's dark eyes, he wondered if his sister had been telling the truth about the occasional glance where they'd meet each other's eyes in the middle. a joking smirk found his lips, but before dream could inquiry about what it had been for their moment was cut short by the sarcastic tone of his sister.

"oh no!" they broke their eye contact to look up from the other only to find sight of the girl that speed-walked up to the brunette, tugging him off the couch with a glare shot in the direction of her brother. "george, you.." she looked around the room for an excuse as to why she was removing him from the situation. "you never finished your drink, that's right!"

as his sister pulled george out of the living room, dream shared a sheepish smile with the brunette, mouthing a sympathetic apology before they were completely out of view.

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do you guys know how fun it is to just sit around and watch people skate and listen to the conversations the concentration kick up. in conclusion karlnap skating stream when???