it's just too hard

it's hard to act like i don't think about you

𝔱𝔯𝔦𝔤𝔤𝔢𝔯 𝔴𝔞𝔯𝔫𝔦𝔫𝔤𝔰 𝔩𝔦𝔰𝔱𝔢𝔡 𝔦𝔫 𝔬𝔭𝔢𝔫𝔦𝔫𝔤 𝔞𝔲𝔱𝔥𝔬𝔯'𝔰 𝔫𝔬𝔱𝔢

☆

punz's phone is only entertaining for so long.

he and sapnap are both sitting on the ravenette's bed, with dream on his desk chair only a few feet away. they've been silent for the better half of an hour now, all lost in their own business. it's not unusual for them, honestly, perfectly fine to be silent in one another's company.

still, as said, his phone can only keep him entertained for so long.

punz drops his phone onto the bed, looking between his friends for someone to annoy.

he changes his plans when he finds them both staring into space. again, not unusual for them. punz was used to his friends' minds going elsewhere, but not usually at the same time.

he made the executive decision to focus on bringing sapnap back to earth first, since dream has probably just hyperfocused on a bird out the window or something similar.

he reaches over, gently shaking sapnap's leg.

the ravenette looks over at him, humming as he meets punz's eye contact with wide eyes.

"you okay?" punz asks gently, keeping his hand on sapnap's thigh. "you look a little out of it."

the other boy blinks, his chest moving with his breaths. "yeah, fine," he answers, gaze flickering between punz and dream with mild surprise in his features, as if he had forgotten his friends were there. punz glances back at dream too, not surprised to find the blond still staring out the window. "just uh, disassociated, i think."

punz looks back with a sympathetic frown. "do you want me to do some techniques with you?" he offers, though he already predicts he'll be turned down. "grounding stuff?"

"no, it's fine, it's not that bad," sapnap dismisses, but the way his eyes continue to flick around the room says otherwise. "i think i'm just tired."

punz doesn't doubt that.

"have you been sleeping alright?" he asks his friend, despite how stupid of a question that may be.

punz knows that sapnap and sleep aren't friends. at sleepovers, sapnap is always the last asleep and the first awake. in fact, the only times punz has actually seen his friend asleep is when he knocks out after a long day because he's so exhausted he can't even focus on what he's saying. he can't sleep until he needs to sleep, is what punz has noticed.

sapnap laughs in response to the other boy's question, and punz can see in his peripheral that dream looks over at the sound. dream smiles at the ravenette's laughter, though doesn't ask what's funny.

punz is glad that both of his friends are back from dreamland.

"i'm bored," dream complains, which also serves as an explanation for why he seemed so out of it just moments before.

"do you want a fidget toy or something?" sapnap offers, quite obnoxiously thankful for the conversation topic change, "all the ones you left here are in my top draw."