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dream sits on the ground in their garden, working at the dirt. it's cloudy today, and some rain is predicted probably later today. he wants to get this done before then; otherwise the ground will be too wet to work with. he already doesn't like the outside. shouldn't make it muddy, too.
he starts looking through his tools right as george appears on the patio. "dream?"
dream looks up. he's probably got dirt on his face, somehow.
"i was gonna make smoothies," george says, leaning on the railing. "you want one?"
he thinks about it, then nods. "alright. want me to bring it out?" another nod. "okay. oh- tommy might join you in a bit. he's getting frustrated with his homework."
dream smiles at george. "of course he is," he signs, "he hates school."
george sighs. "some of us need jobs."
dream shakes his head. he's just a housewife, he gets money from his parents, he pays for the house. he's off free. "your problem."
"okay, okay- fine." george lifts his hands. "how long are you gonna be out there?"
dream counts the number of seed packets he's got. "a while."
"sure. seeya." dream looks down quick enough to miss george going back inside.
he forgot what he was even looking for. he stares at the soil for a second, then remembers: that little fork thing, right? to make the soil lighter, or something.
he doesn't remember much from a decade ago, when him and his mom would do this except he'd mostly watch, fascinated by the world around him as he had been. he remembers enough of her explanations, though, and manages to scrape through the dirt with the tool and his gloved hands.
he searches through his basket of seeds. he's got mostly flowers, some herbs, and a few miscellaneous vegetables he doesn't quite know the origin of. did he buy these? he might've. his memory's not great.
the task is easy and mechanical enough. it gives him time to just exist, not worrying about the open sky above him. the grass hasn't been mowed in a while. he could do that at some point.
he startles when the patio door, once again, opens.
"hey dream," tommy calls, two bottles in hand. "i brought gifts."
dream grins at him. he pulls one of his gloves off and takes the drink, sipping at it. george always blends everything really thin, but it's nice. something sour. it's red, too, so probably quite rich in berries. "thank you."
"no problem, man." tommy sits himself down next to dream, holding his smoothie and following dream's actions. "what are you doing?"
dream turns to him and furrows his brow. "gardening?"
"i know that. what are you specifically doing?"
he coughs. "airing the soil."
"what do you mean?"
to demonstrate, he knocks on the soil, which is tough. then he pokes it a bunch with the weird tool and knocks on it again, this time not tough.
"does it help them like... grow better?"
dream nods. he shoves the basket at him. "choose."
"oh shit, uh-" tommy starts rifling through, just as dream had been doing. he sets out a few packs, mostly various herbs and leafs. he pauses, though, at the flower bulbs. "...what are these?"
dream picks up the package. "flowers."
"don't flowers grow from seeds?"
"not all."
"oh." tommy takes the pack back. he reads the admittedly small print on the label. "oh. it's, uh... it's alliums."
dream perks up. he likes alliums. they're not his favourite, of course, but they're nice and familiar. "i like those."
tommy, though, just stares at the bulbs.
"...tom?"
"huh?" he looks up, eyes wide. "oh. right. uh... yeah."
"what's wrong?"
"oh, nothing, just... y'know." tommy tries to hide his sadness, but his voice is still weak. "...alliums were ranboo's favourite, i think."
dream looks away and takes a sip of his smoothie, instead.
"i hope they're doing well."
"have you found them?"
"yeah." tommy sets the package into the grass, fiddling with the latch of his bottle instead. "they don't want contact."
dream sighs. "i'm sorry."
tommy looks up again, smiling at dream a little sadly. "what'd you do? 's not your fault."
"i'm expressing empathy."
tommy stares at his hands for a second. "uh. my sign isn't that good."
dream shakes his head, although fondly. "i'm sorry you're sad."
"oh, well..." tommy laughs awkwardly. "not much to do about it."
dream clears his throat and, with his very quiet and unused voice, starts to speak. "my parents don't... talk to me anymore."
"...but they still pay for your house?"
"they support me enough to- to not... fail. but they gave up years ago."
"man, that sucks."
"i'm lucky i met sap. but... we don't... talk anymore, either."
"i remember that." tommy looks around them, probably just dodging eye contact. "he's a good guy."
dream nods. "he's doing well, i think." he sips his drink to soothe his throat a bit. "now i have you two."
he shakes his head. "too much talking," he signs, silently laughing and closing his eyes.
"i'm glad we have each other." tommy's back to staring at the to-be alliums. "like, even if i've still got my parents and shit, it's still nice to have someone who gets it."
dream tilts his head up. "it's nice."
they take a second. it's weird to have such an emotional conversation, especially without prior planning, especially in their household.
"we can plant these together," dream signs, and offers tommy a set of gloves, smiling.
tommy looks at the offer, smiles back, and takes the set. "sure, dream," he says, back to his usual tone. "let's do a little housewifery. together."
dream laughs. he pulls tommy into a hug, ignoring the gentle pushing to escape, obviously playful. "...thank you," he whispers.
"of course," tommy whispers back, then goes right back to his scrambling.