𝐀𝐋𝐋𝐀𝐘, k.jacobs²

XVI

"Admit it, you love me like a brother," Dream coos and leans a bit down and towards me. We are in the kitchen, trying to make dinner. He is actually a really good cook, something I am probably a bit too surprised about. I scoffed at him in return if his brave assumption.

"Yeah, if that brother is Nick then maybe," I say, implying that I do not love Nick very much. Dream laughs.

"I'll take it," He says and I smile against my will. I glance at him as he chops up tomatoes and realize that if he was Karl right now, this could be my life. Without my family, but still with people I love and care about.

"Is there something in my face?" Dream asks and went cross-eyed in an attempt to see the imaginary dust or whatever he thought it was. I look away and eagerly continued scrubbing potatoes clean from their skin and the dirt on them. It is rather disgusting how they color the clean water brown.

"No, there is nothing on your face. You just look stupid," I say and he scoffed with laughter.

"Really?" He asks and stops what he is doing to cross his arms and he arches an eyebrow at me as he cockily leans his body against the countertop, putting his full weight on his elbow. I sigh dramatically and drop the potatoes in my hands to stare back at his green eyes.

"Really. You look like idiocy personified," I say and he pinches his lips in a hopeless attempt to hide his smile. "That's no way to talk to your brother's best friend and brother-like figure," Dream says tauntingly and I groan.

"Brother-like figure?" I furrow my eyebrows, a crooked smile playing on my lips. "Yes, I am clearly like an older brother," He says proudly and smirks at me. I scoff and roll my eyes.

"We're the same age," I point out and it is his turn to roll his eyes. "That's whatever, I bet I'm still older," He says confidently and I sigh and go back to scrubbing potatoes.

"By what? A month?" I snort and he picks up the knife again, still with that stupid grin on his face.

"It still counts," He shrugs and I sigh for the millionth time since arriving in Florida. I would not go as far as considering him a brother in any universe, but I do consider him one of my friends. And that says a lot considering I don't have that many friends. That might also be more of a 'me problem' than an 'other-people problem' but the point still stands.

"Whatever," I grunt almost silently.

"What was that?" He asks and cups a hand around his left ear. I take a deep breath before answering him as calmly as I can possibly manage.

"Nothing. You are older than me and that is just fine by me. Completely fine," I say, feeling the passive-aggressiveness burn behind my words. Dream huffs with laughter.

"Really? Because you seem very bothered by it," He sing-songs and I pinch my lips. Holy cow he hasn't changed one bit since I first met him. He's still a pain in the ass.

"I'm not," I smile and aggressively scrub the potatoes. He chuckles and I slow my hands down, actually calming down this time.

We continue cooking dinner for everyone in silence and, I would never admit to this of course, but it is quite nice. Dream isn't that bad company and I'm too tired to bicker right now. A smile pulls at the corner of my lips as I put the potatoes in the cold water.

"Remember the first time we met?" Dream asks out of nowhere and I look over at him, surprised that he broke the silence.

"You mean five hours ago at the airport?" I raise an eyebrow at him and he groans.

"No, you know what I mean," He sounds irritated but not in a serious way.

"Of course, I know what you mean, I'm not an idiot," I scoff and he closes his eyes while tilting his head back causing me to smile at his childish misery. "Now tell me, what is it that you feel so nostalgic about that you feel the need to tell me?" I ask lightheartedly.

"I said that I would make your life hell, remember?" Dream says and I nod.

"Yes, and I told you nothing could be worse than living with Nick, with the exception of Velvet's tweets," I reply and shudder at the thought of all weird stuff I have seen on Twitter thanks to that man. Dream shakes his head at the mention of Velvet's behavior on Twitter.

"And then you also said I was an idiot and unsure of myself to the point where I would die alone and miserable with eighty cats," He says and I huff in surprise. I had forgotten about that.

"I might have said that yes. What's your point?" I grin at him and a smile pulls at the corner of his lips that he tries his very hardest to hide. I do genuinely remember the time he is talking about though.

Sapnap had just ended a live with Punz and was chilling in his room and I went to ask him if he wanted to have dinner before it turned to midnight or some shit and Dream had just been there on discord and asked who I was. The funny thing about that is that he actually thought I was Sapnaps secret girlfriend or something for a second before we started screaming at him that we are siblings. Great times.

Dream looks like he's preparing to die when he takes a deep breath and then sighs heavily. "I want to ask Sapnap to finally move in with me, and George too,"  He says.

Did we really talk about them moving in with each other that night? 

"I joked about it that night but we've wanted to do it for a long time and I found a house and-" He starts rambling but I cut him off.

"It sounds lovely, Dream, I'm sure it'll be great, but why the fuck are you telling me?" I put the lid on the potatoes so they can boil and lean against the countertop with crossed arms, smiling at the man in front of me. He is notably heavy breathing.

"I don't know. You're Sapnap's big sister and all, I thought you might want to know," he shrugs, trying to play it off cool, but everything about him screams distress right now.

"Or is it the fact that you're nervous to ask them and had to talk with someone else about it?" I raise my eyebrows, still grinning at him.

He glances at me but quickly looks back at the knife in his hands and tries to look busy chopping up carrots for the salad. "No. Maybe," Dream sighs. "I don't know. Do you think Sapnap still wants to?" 

"I mean, you're best friends, aren't you? I'm sure he will want to move in with you, George too," I say and he scoffs.

"You barely even know George," He points out and I shrug.

"I know both him and you well enough to know that you're close enough friends to move in together," I say casually just as Karl peeks into the kitchen.

"Is the food done soon? Quackity won't stop complaining about how hungry he is," He asks and looks between me and Dream. We glance at each other before we both look at him in the doorway.

"No."