𝗞𝗜𝗦𝗦 𝗟𝗜𝗦𝗧 // mcyt apply fic // ᶜˡᵒˢᵉᵈ

⁰⁰⁴ ᴛʜᴇ ᴠɪᴏʟɪɴ ғɪɢʜᴛ.

𝟶𝟶𝟺. [𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚟𝚒𝚘𝚕𝚒𝚗 𝚏𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝.]

𝚒𝚛𝚒𝚜 𝚛𝚘𝚍𝚐𝚎𝚛𝚜.

-

Iris wants to smash her head into a wall. No, scratch that, she wants to smash Dream's head into a wall. She wouldn't have a problem with quite literally anyone else on her list, but Dream? No way in hell. She can feel his eyes on her at the lunch table, but other than that she's pretty zoned out.

That is until she hears him say her name. "...Iris's massive eye bags. You'd think she never sleeps with how dark they look. I thought they were black eyes at first," He's wearing a mischievous smirk, knowing she can hear him loud and clear.

"Keep talking and I'll show you what a black eye looks like," She threatens, delivering a swift kick to his shin with a glare. He winces in pain. Iris hates that she has to sit with him at lunch, but she's friends with Flora, and Flora's friends with Cam and Karl, and they're friends with Dream. (How anyone can be friends with the green son of a bitch is beyond her).

Flora's back to wearing Karl's jacket, and ever since the New Year's Eve party, they've been practically inseparable again, even though less than a week before winter break the two were ignoring each other and sending each other dirty looks in the hallways. Flora says-

Wait.

Is Dream talking shit on her again? Yes. Yes, he is. Iris tunes him out. Anyway...

Flora says that "it's different this time, it's not like before," but no one's dumb enough to believe her. Karl and Flora are predictable — they hook up, strut around the school like a couple for a week or two, and then one of them breaks the other's heart and they stop speaking for a while.

Flora's laughing at something Karl said, God knows what, when he leans in and whispers into her ear. Flora's smile falls quickly, and that's when Iris really starts to pay attention to them.

Maybe it's wrong to eavesdrop, but they're only just across the table. She opens a bag of Doritos.

Flora whispers something back, hushed, but sharply. She's upset... maybe mad? Karl throws his hands up in the air in exasperation.

"So?"

Oh. Iris doesn't even have to glance at Flora to know he fucked up with that one. She crunches on a BBQ chip.

Flora's more than mad at this point. She stands up, legs swinging over the bench. "God, Karl! You keep talking, saying shit like 'Oh Flora, I love you' and 'Oh Flora, I could never be without you', and then you go and pull shit like this!" Flora mocks. Iris raises her eyebrows and takes a sip of her chocolate milk.

"Flora-! Karl starts, but she's not done quite yet.

"IF YOU LOVE ME HOW COME YOU CAN NEVER FUCKING SHOW IT?" She explodes, lashing out loudly — loudly enough that Iris is sure the entire cafeteria hears.

Flora tenses up quickly, and Iris notes that Flora might not have intended to be that loud. She looks around, suddenly noticing all of the cafeteria's watching. She flushes scarlet and Iris is actually starting to get worried. Their fights are normally pretty bad, and it's not unusual for them to be public, but this one seems to be a bit more personal and half the school's eyes are on them.

"Shit," Flora mutters under her breath, so quiet that Iris is sure no one but her — and maybe Dream — could hear her. She blinks back the tears welling up in her eyes and then flees the cafeteria, making a break for the hallway. Iris stands up, abandoning her lunch tray, and dashes after her friend.

She finds her sobbing in a bathroom stall, curled into the fetal position on the cold tile. She slumps her back against the outside of the stall door.

"Flora, babes, what's going on?"

She sniffles. "He won't-" She pauses to hiccup. "-commit to me! I just..." She trails off with a sob.

"Hey, hey!" Iris says comfortingly. "It's okay, he's a douche bag anyway,"

"I just don't really wanna talk about him," She replies, sounding small. Iris's heart breaks in two.

"That's okay, wanna talk about something else to get your mind off of him?" She offers, only just realizing she's still holding her chocolate milk from lunch and taking a sip.

There's a moment before Flora responds again, her voice raspy from tears. "I think just wanna be alone right now," Iris has never sprung out of a bathroom so quickly, eager to give her friend whatever it takes to cheer her up. There's a few splashes of chocolate milk near the exit.

-

Iris pokes her head into the band room, shooting a smile and wave at Techno. It's her routine, only veering slightly out of her way walking to English for seventh period, so she likes to wave hi every day.

Just as she's about to turn around, she feels a poke in her back.

"Ow! What the-" She spins around, faced with Dream, pencil in hand, making childish jabbing motions with it. He's wearing a shit-eating grin that just looks like it's waiting for Iris to punch it off his face. She practices restraint, however, dashing into the band room instead, swiping Techno's violin right out of his hands and holding it by the neck in defense.

She smirks. "En-garde, bitch,"

They stumble down the hallway, swinging and stabbing wildly, matching grins on their faces. Iris doesn't bother feeling bad for Techno — or his violin — knowing he has a backup in his case for this very reason.

Let's just say this isn't the first time Iris has swung at Dream with a violin.

Neither of them notice, nor care when the bell rings and they're late to class, too investing in beating each other. Dream is miraculously holding on, quickly jabbing his pencil back and forth with a stupid smirk on his stupid face that Iris hates so much.

Maybe that's why she zones out, too focused on how much she hates him, him and his stupidly toned body that he gained over the summer, him and his stupid smirks, him and his stupid wheezes. She's too zoned out, not paying enough attention when Dream finally knocks the violin out of her hands and jabs her stomach with the pencil.

He cheers obnoxiously, causing a teacher a few doors down to slam her door shut with a glare. Focus is both of their weaknesses apparently, because while Dream is too busy celebrating, Iris steps closer to him, a glint in her eye going unnoticed by the blonde.

When she punches him, she can hear her knuckles crack against his nose.

-

[𝟷𝟶.𝟷𝟶.𝟸𝟸]