Philocaly | THE SEQUEL

26 - too empty

Dream couldn't bring himself to cry.

He couldn't bring himself to cry even while sitting on the porch of his childhood home. Inside his childhood home held his lover, his best friend, his caring sister, his perfect mother and his atrocious father.

Even while running his hands through his hair multiple times in silence and replaying whatever the hell just happened over and over again in his mind, he couldn't cry.

But his eyes were burning. His chest was burning.

The stupid sun was out.

Yelling and slamming doors could be heard from inside. Dream felt terrible for leaving George alone in a position like that. He felt terrible for scaring his mother and sister.

He felt terrible for fucking up and not coming clean maturely in the first place.

Who knew if George even wanted to put up with him anymore after everything? After leaving him in the dust, and after lying.

His eyes went wide when the house went quiet, and when the front door behind him was slowly opening.

Dream had no idea who it was, and didn't really care. It's not like he was going to speak to them anyways.

Unless it was George. He owed George some confidential words and honesty.

The door slowly closed and the footsteps behind him were obvious.

Sapnap sighed quietly and took a seat next to Dream on the front porch. He didn't look at Dream, and only stared straight ahead.

When he cleared his throat, Dream knew he was going to speak instead of just blessing his presence.

"We all knew." Sapnap revealed quietly.

Dreams eyes were half lidded, and his lips were closed. Why wasn't he that surprised?

"Uh," Sapnap nervously chuckled and scratched the back of his head, "your mom and I talked about it after the arcade. When I told her you went somewhere with him alone, she knew. And I knew. And Charlotte knew,"

Dream stared at his feet, completely defeated.

"And Mr. Flores was very suspicious about it. Seems like how things are now, he didn't take it very well."

A car passed by.

"Every night when you guys fell asleep in the same room, I would come downstairs to get something to eat. When I would go in the kitchen, Mrs. Flores and Charlotte would be talking about you and him. Every night. They'd invite me in and we would talk about it together. Because we were proud. No— we weren't just proud. We still are, and we are beyond proud. Happy, excited, joyous. Whatever other corny word can pop into your head."

Dreams hands felt shaky as he held his gaze and didn't even blink. A small smile cracked onto Sapnaps face.

"We knew you'd come around and tell us eventually. We knew you would because you hate keeping secrets. You hate lying. But we also understand, because of him." Sapnap was referring to Mr. Flores, "because of him we know why you didn't say anything about it."

Dream inhaled deeply. Maybe now it was best to say something. "Are.. they okay?" He whispered.

Sapnap brought his arm around Dream. "Everyone is fine. I promise."

Dreams breath started to slow when relief came over him. He didn't need to cry. It was okay. Everything was okay.

"Dad thinks I'm pretending, Nick. What am I supposed to do with that?" Dream spoke up, shaking his head, "why would I pretend?"