volaticus [dsmp]

┊18. i'm a listener, i'm a listener

TWS:

violence, manipulation. i mean it's dream what do you expect. starts at the beginning to the chapter ends at 'by the time it was over.' summary at the end of the chapter

also, implied suicide/sh (if you look really really hard) starts at 'is- is something wrong?' and ends when the chapter does, summary at the end

1082 words.

It was trivially easy to slip away from Quackity once he was finished. All it took was a few half-assed excuses and an easy smile and he was gone, climbing the stairs of Pogtopia with the grace of an elytrian despite the terror building in his chest.

The fifty feet from Pogtopia to the clearing where he usually met Dream was the hardest. He was a lamb being led to the slaughter, except the rope tightening around his neck had no one holding the other end. He walked to his demise alone.

"Hello, Wilbur." A voice dripping with venom came from behind him moments after he stepped into the clearing.

"Good evening." He responded curtly, fighting every muscle in his body that itched to turn tail and run back to the safety of stone walls and flickering lanterns.

Dream stepped out into the center of the clearing, axe strapped to his back rather than held at his side, and his mask was removed and clipped to his belt.

It was like he was trying to be vulnerable, to expose himself to Wilbur. He could almost hear Dream's voice in his ear saying 'look, you can see my face! you can trust me!'

Somehow, it made everything a thousand times worse.

"You look a bit different, today, Wilbur." Dream says, stepping forward with his hands tucked into his pocket and head tilted inquiringly.

Wilbur grits his teeth and fights the overpowering urge to flare his wing- this is a battle of intimidation, and his instincts are screaming at him to stand up straight, be bigger, look taller, take up more space make him see you.

He doesn't, forcing his bristling feathers to lie flat.

In the seconds it took him to bring himself together Dream had advanced so they stood side by side. They faced opposite directions with Dream looking at WIlbur's wings, and Wilbur pointedly training his gaze on the forest in front of him.

"Someone preened your wings." Dream said, something dangerous in his voice.

Without warning he reached forward, running his hand over the now soft and even feathers. Wilbur couldn't stop himself from flinching, his entire body jerking backwards and away in an instant.

Dream scowled. Quick as a snake, a fist connected with Wilbur's nose and something cracked, hard. Blood gushed out and distantly, Wilbur wondered if this is what Schlatt felt like after the promotions and debates an eternity ago. He stumbled, and next thing he knew he was on his knees.

"Look at me." Dream hissed, grabbing Wilbur's chin with a grip that could and most certainly would bruise.

"You are nothing. You are an exile, and a villain. You are going to blow up Manberg and die and nobody is going to remember you."

Wilbur swallowed hard, forcing himself to meet Dream's eyes.

"If I want to touch your wing, you hold the fuck still." Dream spat, voice dripping with venom.

An eternal moment passed between them, Wilbur trying to hold back the tears that wanted to stream down his face, and Dream staring at him with fiery intensity.

"Well? Are you going to behave, now?"

"Yes." Wilbur stared at the ground.

"Yes, what?" Dream growled, hand hovering dangerously close to the hilt of his axe.

Bile rose in Wilbur's throat as he answered, voice small and so, so defeated.

"yes, sir."

"Good." Dream finally let go, taking a step away and cracking his knuckles. "Let's get down to business. We have a lot to talk about."

By the time it was over, WIlbur was lucky enough to walk away with only a bloody nose. Dream had been in a good mood after the first incident and left him mostly unharmed once they were done.

Nothing much had really happened. They didn't have any more TNT to set up, no more redstone to lay, no button rooms to uncover.

Dream left him one instruction.

"I want them to know what you're going to do." He'd said, just as Wilbur had turned to head home.

"What?" Wilbur had turned around, a familiar kind of fear in his eyes.

"Tell them. Tommy, Quackity, Technoblade- although he already had plans to blow up Manberg anyways, he'll just finish your job with some withers and maybe a few fireworks."

Wilbur couldn't even bring himself to feel surprised about Techno's plans. All he could think about was Tommy, Quackity, Nikki, Tubbo, for fucks sake. He would have to betray all of them.

"If you don't-" Dream paused, shifting his axe from his right hand to his left- "There will be consequences."

In less than an hour, Wilbur was home again. He managed to make it down the stairs without falling, a feat he wasn't normally able to accomplish, and immediately was pulled into a tight hug.

His heart quickened and he nearly tried to escape, the soft touch burning into his skin, but a familiar head of blonde hair settled on his chest and he couldn't help but stay.

"Hello, Tommy." He said quietly, resting his chin atop Tommy's head.

"I fucking hate you." Tommy mumbled in response, but refused to loosen his grip.

Wilbur paused. His shirt was damp with tears. Tommy's tears.

"Is- is something wrong? Are you alright, man?"

Tommy reluctantly pulled away, scrubbing the tear tracks away from his face.

"When Quackity said you just up and left and nobody had seen you for a while, I just thought-" He choked, voice breaking. "You've been really stressed lately, and you- and I just thought that you'd-"

Tommy couldn't finish his sentence, and Wilbur was confused. He opened his mouth to ask for an explanation, then something in his brain clicked.

Oh.

Oh.

"I would never do that to you, Tommy." He said, voice completely serious and eyes hard as flint.

Tommy wiped his eyes again.

"Promise?"

Wilbur grabbed Tommy by the shoulders as gently as he could and brought him into a hug, ignoring how his skin burned and writhed away from the touch.

"I promise."

The lie left a bitter taste in his mouth.

He was getting better at ignoring it.

SUMMARY:

manipulation: dream gaslight gatekeep girlbosses wilbur. basically he noticed that quckity preened wilbur's wings and goes to touch them. wilbur being a touch averse bitch tries to move away, so dream punches wilbur and breaks his nose. and then says that he owns wilbur or whatever and then wilbur is Sad

suicide/sh: tommy was worried when WIlbur left because he thought he was trying to kill himself. that's it.

[chapter title from taunt by lovejoy]