Our Little Toys

CHAPTER 29

TW: Slurs & mentions of rape

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Nightmare carefully administered another shot of pain medication to Ink. He was sobbing into Dream's chest because of how much pain his legs were in, it was all he could think about. How much it fucking hurt, well, until the medicine kicked in at least. Ink sighed a shaky breath of desperate relief as it kicked in and his physical pain left his body. It went quickly, but not quick enough for Ink, that second before it kicked in felt like an eternity to him.

Dream cuddled into him tightly and quietly shushed and comforted him through the pain. Ink didn't dare to say a word to him, not after his situation with Killer the previous day. After his pain was gone, the only thing he could feel was an overwhelming guilt. Guilt about what happened with him and Killer, guilt about not being there for him, and guilt that he was now clinging to him like he had the psychopath just hours earlier. It only got worse as time went on, as Dream tried to comfort him through his tears that continued to fall.

The small praise, comfort, love, kisses, affection, all of it only served to make everything worse for him. Ink sobbed, and ended up just reaching out to Nightmare im stead. As much as it broke both his and Dream's hearts to do so, he knew it was the only way he could manage to calm himself down.

Nightmare took him despite the pleading look in Dream's eyes to let him keep him in his arms. Ink clasped his arms around Nightmare's neck and held him as tight as he could, like he was never going to let him go again. Dream stared longingly, angrily, guiltily at the two men, wanting Ink in his arms. He was terrified that Ink would prefer the psychopath who was caring for him over his best friend who had been with him for longer than he could remember. Dream could already see it happening, to both of them.

He'd be lying if he said that he didn't feel something good about Nightmare. The way he cared for both of them just made it so that he couldn't help himself but like him. As much as he hated it, he liked him, at least a little bit. He hated it, but he felt relieved that there was someone that cared for Ink so that he didn't have to take care of his every whim. Ink may have trained himself to focus on Dream's needs over his own, but Dream could barely keep up with everything Ink needed. He hated himself for being so... selfish, but he couldn't deal with everything Ink had going on despite what he'd done for him.

So he sat there, guilt ridden, angry, terrified, watching Nightmare calm him down so easily. Minutes, Ink had never calmed down like that in mere minutes. It only managed to reinforce the idea that Ink was slipping away from him. Ink quietly muttered apologies, mostly to Dream, but they were quiet enough that there was no way he could hear. Nightmare pulled him in tighter and told him there was nothing to apologise for, thinking that he was apologising to him, not Dream. Yet here he was, still on the verge of tears, continuing to quietly apologise through his guilt and pain.

Nightmare bounced him in his lap like a little child, and he couldn't help the smile that forced its way onto his face. He couldn't help but to giggle quietly as most of his guilt washed away in the moment, replaced by how fun and nice the bouncing was. It was nice for Nightmare to see him happy and quietly giggling, but scary for Dream as everything happening between the two only served to further his issues.

Nightmare noticed Dream's fear and sadness and asked him if he was alright while continuing to bounce him. He quietly nodded in response but stared longingly at Ink despite the fact that his attention was still strictly on the person bouncing him. Usually Ink's child-like behaviours were cute to Dream, but at the moment he didn't like them all that much. Yeah it was cute to see him giggling as he was bounced like a toddler, but he just wanted him to be able to act like a normal person would in this situation.