Niki instantly falls in love with the kitten, grabbing it from me the instant she lays her eyes on him. I can't help the smile that spreads over my face as she tucks it tightly into her chest, cooing gently at the adorable fluffy creature in her arms. She's also overjoyed that I invited Dream to dinner, elbowing me teasingly in the ribs and shooting me a knowing grin.
I let her settle the kitten in and find it a place to sleep, and I start working on dinner, a simple lamb stew. Eret brought over some mutton from his last hunt, and I pull it out of the cool room, along with carrots and potatoes that we harvested a day ago. I'm just throwing the last of the carrots in the pot when the door flies open. I shoot my head up, expecting Dream, but am instead met with the lanky figure of Tommy.
"What are you doing here?" I ask, stunned. He walks inside and drops down unceremoniously onto the couch, sighing dramatically.
"Wilbur and Tubbo are having a meeting and it is so boring, all they want to do is talk about L'manburg this and L'manburg that, blah blah blah. So I came to your house for dinner." He says. I put my hands on his hips, unfazedly staring at him.
"First of all Tommy, you actually need to tell us you're coming so we can have food for you. And second of all, tonight is not a good time for you to be over." I sigh. I can only imagine the utter chaos that would result in Tommy and Dream being in the same room.
"Why isn't it a good time?" Tommy complains incredulously, stretching his arms out as he sinks down even more ungracefully over the couch. The knock on the door answers it for me. How could the timing be this bad? I take in a deep breath, and ready myself for the incoming inevitable confrontation.
Niki opens the door and Dream steps into the living room, mask covering his eyes and nose. It's almost like the sight of him hits Tommy like a train. He freezes, eyes bulging, mouth hanging open in horror, and we all collectively hold our breaths for the moment his brain reconnects to his mouth.
"What the fuck is he doing here?!" Tommy shrieks, bolting upright. Niki and I wince at the volume, and I fly into damage control mode.
"He's here for dinner, which you would have known if you didn't come barging in here." I retort.
"Rosie invited me." Dream adds smugly, and I snap my head to glare at him. That's really not helping.
"I didn't ask you, you dumb ugly basta-" Tommy begins.
"Thank you Dream, we didn't need that input. Sorry Tommy, I did invite him, you'll have to come for dinner tomorrow." I cut in smoothly, attempting to avoid a second war exploding right here in my living room.
"I am not leaving so he can have dinner with you. I was here first." Tommy proclaims, and I almost strain my eyeballs from rolling them too hard.
"Well Tommy, you're more than welcome to stay. In fact, I think it will be good for both of you." Niki says sweetly, and all three of us turn to her, faces painted with surprise.
"No Niki it's okay, I'll go back to L'manburg." Tommy groans, picking himself up off the couch. Niki just steps in front of the door.
"No Tommy, I insist." She says, still sweetly, but there's a dangerous undercurrent to her words. Tommy turns to look at me, his eyes begging me for help, but I just shrug my shoulders. There's no getting in between Niki and dinner. Dream's still standing there awkwardly and I shoot him an apologetic look. This is going to be a long night for all of us.
We all get settled down at the table, Tommy shooting murderous looks in Dream's direction, and Dream plastering a cocky smirk on his face. I sit next to Tommy, and Niki sits next to Dream, the two facing off diagonally across the table. I ladle out bowl fulls of stew for everyone, and I can feel my eye start to twitch in rage at Tommy's unnecessarily aggressive chewing as he sends daggers at Dream.
"So Tommy, did you guys manage to fix the...holes in L'manburg?" Dream says with mock friendliness, and I glower at him. I'm pretty sure Tommy almost shatters his teeth, his jaw is clenched that tightly, and his hands twitch around his knife and fork. I'm suddenly aware of how lethal those could be when used as weapons in the hands of an unpredictable teenager with rage issues.
"Yeah we actually did, dipshit. It wasn't that much damage anyway." Tommy snarks back. Dream's grin grows even wider.
"How's Tubbo's house?" He prods and I almost lean across the table to smack him in the head for deliberately throwing petrol on the fire.
"You fucking dick-" Tommy yells, rising up, and I grab his arm to yank him back down before he lunges across the table.
"Tommy, he's trying to get a rise out of you, just ignore him." I say exasperatedly, putting more stew in his bowl. He scowls at Dream, and begrudgingly eats. Dream just smirks arrogantly at him, looking all too pleased with himself.
"And you," I snap, pointing my finger directly at him; "you are not helping, so please stop annoying him. You're not a big man for teasing a child."
"I'm not a child." Tommy whines, and I ignore him. Dream holds his hands up in mock defeat, still grinning.
"Sorry Rosie." He chuckles, returning to his bowl of stew. I let out a sigh of relief at the calm silence that follows. It's broken a minute later though, when Tommy takes in a deep breath.
"What Tommy?" I groan, already knowing he's about to ask a question.
"I can't believe you used to date that." He says, barely containing his laughter. My mouth drops open in surprise.
"Oh trust me Tommy, she loved dating me." Dream purrs. Niki chokes on her food, and I feel myself go bright red at his words, the tips of my ears burning in embarrassment. Tommy looks like he's about to throw up, face going pale and morphing into a look of sheer disgust.
"Dream!" I shout, before he has a chance to say anything else. Tommy's head flicks in between the two of us, still too horrified to formulate words. Niki's still spluttering over her bowl and I smack her on the back while death glaring Dream, who's stretched out in his chair like he owns the place. Oh how I have not missed his arrogance.
"You are so disgusting." Tommy spits out eventually, and I can tell he's never going to be able to look at me the same. Dream stands up and grabs everyone's bowls, dumping them into the sink while me and Niki clear the table. I end up standing next to Dream at the sink, rinsing out the pot.
"Please don't do anything weird." Tommy says, staring at the both of us. I scoff dismissively, turning off the tap. Dream laughs, but then leans down and presses a barely there kiss into the side of my cheek. I freeze, and Tommy makes a vomiting sound, flying out of his chair and down the hallway to his room. I stare in shock at Dream, the tingling feeling of his lips against my cheek still burning into my skin, as he and Niki laugh hysterically at Tommy's reaction.
"Sorry Rosie." He whispers, hands brushing over mine under the warm water, and I almost feel myself crumble at the feeling, still overwhelmed from the kiss. I shake my head softly.
"It's okay." I whisper back. He smiles happily, and moves to grab his coat from the coffee table.
"Thank you so much for having me for dinner." He says warmly, and Niki and I both smile back at him.
"Absolutely, you should come back again sometime." Niki chirps.
"Yeah, as long as you're not a huge dick." I add, staring pointedly at him. He chuckles knowingly, and turns to leave, waving over his shoulder.
"Say goodbye to Tommy for me." He calls out. I feel the air rush out of me when the door closes, and I collapse down onto one of the chairs. Niki shoots me a look, accompanied with a teasing smile.
"Don't even start." I say, holding up my hand. She giggles and sits down next to me.
"Just friends?" She questions, eyebrow raised.
"Just. Friends." I repeat, rolling my eyes.
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A/N I enjoyed writing this a lot, I think besides Rosie, Tommy is my favourite character to write because you could put any out of pocket thing and it would literally be something he would say. Next chapter will officially get into the plot of this book and I'm very excited!
Please make sure to comment! It truly does help me a lot and I really appreciate it!!
I hope you enjoyed,
Oopsies x