Deception

{Chapter 5}

A/N: Turns out my battery didn't last lmao

Dream stared at his reflection and grimaced, memories of the previous day flooding back into his mind. Despite his apology for accusing them, Technoblade was not at all happy with him. 

"You really thought we were your enemies?" Technoblade hissed. "I could have killed you by now. I could have let you starve. I could have let you rot in a sewer!"

Dream felt rage build inside him. "Well, if you didn't do that stupid test, I wouldn't be in prison, I would have been at home, with my aunt, she wouldn't have been taken!"

"Well if you weren't so damn greedy, you wouldn't even be here!"

"Exactly! I wouldn't even be here! Nobody wouldn't be tempted by pockets full of gold! Testing your honesty my ass! You're so full of shit!"

"This is all YOUR fault! Because of YOU, whoever these people are, they know who we are, they know where we are, and one day when we're least expecting it, they're going to come kill us!" 

"Well, none of this would have happened if you weren't so egotistic and self-centred!"

"None of this would have happened if it wasn't for YOU, you fucking thief!"

The argument ended with Wilbur stepping in and stopping them. 

"Stop it, you fools! This is nobody's fault!" Phil chided. "We're all here now, so we are all going to work together, understand?"

He gasped in horror and backed away. Was that a zit? His life was now officially destroyed. The day couldn't get any worse than this.

The day got worse. 

He almost jumped out of his skin when he heard yelling downstairs and immediately rushed to the cell gate with his mask on.

"WHERE THE FUCK IS PHIL?" a deep British voice boomed.

"HE'S GONE!" a higher, more annoying voice yelled.

"THEY TOOK PHIL?!"

"WHY DO THEY KEEP TAKING THE OLD PEOPLE, MAN?"

But it was okay in the end, for Phil was just taking a warm bath and was in fact, not, kidnapped by Maurice the bad kidnapper. 

Techno came by his cell again and unlocked the gate. "Come on, Smiley, we need to talk about this Maurice guy." 

Dream noticed how he was scowling and realised that he was probably still mad at him for accusing them yesterday. "Don't worry, I'm not going to commit arson and kill innocent families." Techno spat bitterly. Change that to definitely.

"Look," Dream tried to explain as they walked down the stairs. "I'm sorry about yesterday. For, you know, saying all those things." 

"Mm," Techno hummed in response. Something boiled inside the blonde. No 'I'm sorry too'? 

"What you said yesterday too, I-"

"Look," Technoblade stopped abruptly in his tracks, almost causing Dream to trip and fall. "If you're waiting for an apology from me, you're not gettin' one,"

He stepped up and stood beside him, such that they were at eye level, considering they were the same height. Fire glowed in his eyes and he clenched his teeth so hard it looked like he could break them.

"I don't care," Techno snarled. "I don't care about you, or your aunt, or your accusations. I care about my family. And you just put them in danger."

Dream practically smouldered with resentment. Molten anger rolled through him, rage nearly consuming him. He didn't understand why this guy was so bitter, he had already apologised, besides he was the one keeping him in a prison. 

"Okay? To me, you're still just a thief. Just a prisoner. The only reason I'm letting you out, is so that you can help us, and fix your mistakes," Techno growled. 

Dream fumed. "You know what? The only reason I'm doing this, is because they took my aunt. If it wasn't for you, she would be safe in the village, I would be at the village, with my friends, living my normal life. But no, the oh-so-mighty prince Technoblade just had to come walking in-"

"Shut up! Shut the hell up!" Technoblade rasped. 

"Why don't you shut up for once! Why can't you just say sorry? I can, why can't you?" Dream's voice rose. "We're literally a target now! Maurice is looking for revenge, he's going to kill me!"

"Well, I'd thank him for that!" Techno retorted, and Dream fell silent. 

The air around them seemed to shift. From the corner of his eye, he noticed a figure, possibly Tommy, standing at the bottom of the stairs, mouth agape. 

Dream stood there, staring at the floor, without a word. Techno glared at him, something else glinting in his eyes. He opened his mouth as if so say something, but stopped. Shooting him one last glance before spinning around and walking down the stairs.

He passed Tommy, who whispered to him, "Too far, man, too far." Techno shoved him away and turned around the corner before disappearing from their view.

Dream felt a lump in his throat. Oh god, he thought. Don't cry, don't cry. He cursed under his breath. He was a really sensitive person in general, and what Technoblade told him didn't make him feel particularly warm and fuzzy. 

"Hey," Tommy came running up to him. "I don't think he meant that. He's just like that, you know? Cold, rude, mean. Chin up, big man." he tiptoed and patted Dream on the shoulder. 

----------------------------------------------

They sat around the table, tension hung in the air. Wilbur and Phil exchanged glances, like they were communicating wordlessly. Tommy squirmed in his seat, obviously uncomfortable. Tubbo was playing with a figurine, completely oblivious to what was going on. Technoblade stared at the patterns on the tablecloth, his expression unreadable. Even George and Sapnap were there, unsure of what to do or say.

"Dream," Wilbur finally spoke. "Could you tell us more about this person?"

"Uh, to be honest his name might be Chad, but I'm leaning more to Maurice-"

"Chad? Have we been misnaming him this whole time?" Tubbo looked up, concerned.

"Tubbo, the adults are speaking," Wilbur said softly. Tubbo nodded.

"Okay well," Dream swallowed. "He had like, long brown hair, about shoulder-length. Ignoring the purple glowing eyes, according to my memory his natural eye color was blue. American accent, kinda Italian. Really, that's all I remember." 

"I see," Phil thought for a while. "After he kidnapped you, did you inform the police?"

"Oh, well," Dream shook his head sheepishly. "No. I was young and I just wanted to have the fun of watching him roll on the ground in pain. I didn't call the police on him."

Techno sighed, and Dream felt anger rise to his cheeks again. 

"Well, but I mean, he can't be doing all this because of an incident that happened years ago, right?" George mustered all his courage to speak up. "I mean, it was his fault for kidnapping the wrong person. Besides, Dream was just sixteen. No one would hold a grudge for this long."

"Maybe he has other reasons," Sapnap suggested. "Maybe a girl rejected him or something?"

"With a name like Maurice, of course she would," Tommy smirked. 

Dream tried to keep a straight face. "I'm sorry, I know this is important and all, but I can't take all this seriously. Who names their child Maurice?"

George and Sapnap snorted. 

Wilbur and Phil sighed. 

~

That chapter was kinda short, I promise you it gets better in the next one :D

Thank you for reading!

-dainty <3