Pairings: Dream x Reader
Warnings: None
Pronouns: They/them
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(Y/n) was still walking down the hall of items and animals that Dream had collected and had been planning to collect while the others crowded by the sidelines, Tommy mocking Dream. There were a few others still trailing down the hall, still shocked by all of it. BadBoyHalo and Ranboo were there, wondering of what could've happened if Dream had actually been successful and trapped Enderchest or Skeppy. Ranboo's heart ached at the sight of the thankfully empty fence post and Bad kept looking back at Dream in horror every time the cage had caught his eye. Dream was insane. Literally.
(Y/n) trailed over the item frame that protected the book that they held above all of their other items. Well, the book they had held over their other items, they didn't anymore because they lost it. Or so they thought.
To anybody else, the book wasn't really that special. It was a hand-written book by Dream that he gave to (Y/n) on their first day on the Dream SMP. And believe them when they say that it was a really old book. It was given to them even before the wars started, even before L'manburg. So not only did it have sentimental value, it had age value. That book had seen the inside of their enderchest for months before it disappeared. It was their mistake honestly, they took it out and accidentally left it in a normal chest. They didn't understand why somebody would want to steal a welcome pamphlet from them, but they figured that they had held onto it for too long. It was probably time to move on from it.
But the thing was, they never moved on from it. For weeks on end, they searched the entire server for that book and they couldn't find it. They blamed themself, they thought that they had misplaced it. And they couldn't just ask Dream for another hand-written book because the thing with that book was that it was the first gift he had given them. There was real thought put into his words and you can't just replace that. And now, seeing it here, in the frame of the man who gave it to them in the first place was just heart-wrenching.
Without a second thought, (Y/n) quickly reached forward for the book and pulled it straight out of the item frame, carrying it between their hands. Their eyes were narrowed to blink back the tears that were forming in their eyes as they marched over to the crowd of people surrounding Dream.
They each caught one glance at (Y/n)'s face and how angry they must have felt, and each made way for (Y/n). They paved the way for the person that was going to give him hell. Even Tommy and Tubbo stepped back. Tommy was most likely tired out of ridiculing Dream and wanted somebody else to take a crack at it.
When they reached the front of the crowd, all eyes staring at them. They met with Dream. Powerless and helpless, he was trapped inside of an obsidian box. He made direct contact with (Y/n), the glint in his eye completed faded away when he saw them. A little confused, he narrowed his eyes. But (Y/n) dragged their sleeve below their eyelids to wipe the tears that had began to drop down from their face and held the book up. Dream exhaled deeply.
"What is this, Dream?" They questioned in a very broken tone, almost like a whisper. They held the book with both hands up to him so he could get a clear look at it.
"It's... um..." He cleared his throat before continuing. "...It's the book that I gave you when you first moved to the Dream SMP." He croaked, his voice low and raspy.
"Right..." They huffed, looking down at it. "Why was it in the hallway? With all of the other things?"
"Because... It's valuable to you, right?" He glanced up at them from his place in the box. Despite his situation, he said it quite nonchalantly. "I took what I could that was valuable to others and stored them away."
"How did you even know?" They asked, their grip on the book becoming stronger with every passing second.
"Know what?"
"That I had attachment to it?" They stared blankly back at him. "I never told anybody. Nobody even knew about that stupid pamphlet, and even if they did, nobody would have suspected it." They lifted the book up to begin swiftly flicking through the pages. "No profound letter, no declaration of love. Just your name and a smiley face with a few words of welcome." They pointed the pages towards him, which he read over and over again before looking back up at them.
"(Y/n), I know." He stated plainly. "It wasn't difficult to see that that book clearly meant something to you. Why else would you have placed it in an ender chest? A whole slot dedicated to that one book." He tilted his brow. "You could have used that spot for anything else but you left it for that book."
"How did you know that it was in my ender chest?"
"You're not asking the right questions, (Y/n)." He proclaimed simply, leaning back into the box with a bored expression. (Y/n)'s nose scrunched at him in disgust before they turned back to the opening page.
"I thought that I lost it..." They softly murmured, their hand tracing across the cover of the book.
"Oh, nobody had ever lost anything." Dream scoffed under his breath.
"What do you mean by that?" They raised their brow.
"Nothing of value to anybody was ever lost. When Tommy thought Henry died, he was here. When Wilbur thought he had killed friend, Friend was here. When you thought you had lost that book, that book was here." He uttered with little to no care in his voice, it was like he was impressed or proud of himself.
"You took it?"
"I did." He nodded slowly.
"You..." They sniffled, running their sleeve under their eye again. "You took advantage of the fact that I took it out of my ender chest for the first time in a long time... And you stole it?"
Dream wanted to speak up, but he couldn't. He felt so lost for words. While he was proud of the plan he had set up, he thought that talking would be like adding lemon juice on the wounds of their pain.
"Dream, you stole it!" They raised their voice, yelling directly at him. The people listening to what was happening jumped in surprise, and Tommy quickly glanced at Tubbo, astonished at what had happened. Dream acted unfazed, but he knew that (Y/n) wouldn't yell if they weren't downright pissed. "Why would you steal the gift that you gave to me?!"
"...Because... I needed leverage."
"Over what? Me? Or just everybody in general?" They queried rhetorically, their hands gesturing to the people that surrounded them.
"(Y/n), I know you understand-"
"No! No, I could never understand you!" They whined, taking a step back. Their face beginning to go red while her eyes welled up with tears. "I thought I could, but I was wrong... Every... Single... Damn- fucking time, I was wrong."
"Wrong about what? What were you wrong about?" Tubbo piped in quietly. (Y/n) shot a glance over at Tubbo through her blurry vision before facing their view back at Dream. They chuckled lowly under their breath.
"I defended him." They stated simply at Dream, their head shaking leisurely. "I stood by you. I stood by your side when they made you tear down the obsidian wall around L'manburg... And I helped you on the search to find the people you were looking for." They clutched the book against their stomach tightly while they spoke. "And... You stood by me too. You know, when Schlatt was about to execute me and you pearled onto the podium and you saved me? That was you protecting me. And now look what you're doing."
"(Y/n), it was for good reason." He argued.
"It's not!" They snapped. "You're lying again." They called him out on his own words. "You know- I wasn't planning on even coming here. I was sure that you were doing good. I told the others that they were making a mistake and that they shouldn't be storming the place. But I came because I wanted to prove them all wrong. And the only thing proven to me now is how much of a villain you've been!" They seethed.
"You wouldn't have defended me. now Not after what I've done to Tommy and the others." He mumbled.
"I would've! Since day one, I have been by your side! Through everything! Thick and thin! When sides were formed, I'd pick yours. If tasks were given, I'd do them. And if I had to choose one person out of everybody here, I would have picked you. Because that's how loyal I am. And this wasn't you paying me like you paid Punz, no. I fought alongside you because I trusted you."
There it was. Trust. That word played over and over again in their head, it rang like an old bell. It triggered something inside of their head that just made them want to snap. And in that moment, they did. The words flooded out of their mouth, and, as much as they'd hate to admit it, they meant every single one of them. There wasn't an ounce of regret radiating off of their body when they had said so. They were proud to finally speak up about what they thought.
"I trusted you! You stupid idiot!" They shouted. "I loved you! I was willing to stand by your side, no matter how many people were on the opposing team. And you've fucked me over!"
"I did what I had to do..." His voice trailed off slowly.
"No." They sniffled again, their lip trembling. They complexion was torn between incredibly irate and heartbroken. "Dream. You know. If I was the same person that I was about twenty minutes ago, and my feelings for you were still the same, you should've saved a space in that hall for yourself. Because you were the one I valued over everything else."
Dream looked down at his feet, no longer wanting to make eye contact with them from sheer embarrassment. When they saw that he was avoiding their gaze, they just took the book from their own arms, stomped towards the box Dream was stood in and forced the book into his arms.
They squinted their puffy eyes so all he caught was the death glare, the kind that you'd only receive if the person you were facing with wanted you gone.
"Dream." They began through gritted teeth. "I hope that Sam puts you in that prison, and I hope that you rot."