(A/N: request as a pic. here have some mercenary brothers bonding time)
"I'm sorry, Dream."
"Wha- Punz?"
Dream looked so surprised to see him. Besides him, Tommy and Tubbo were staring at him with a mixture of shock, awe, and happiness.
Punz gripped his sword tighter, and hardened his face as he heard the portal open again, and felt the others' presences next to him.
"I'm sorry, Dream," he repeated. "But you should've paid me more."
"-z? Punz? Punz!"
Punz snapped back to attention, pushing away that flashback for now as he sighed under his friends' concerned gazes. "Yeah, what?"
"Are you okay?" Sapnap frowned. "You've been zoning out more lately."
"Yeah, man," Dream added, and Punz had to deliberately hold himself still so as to not flinch, because despite having lived this life for years now, Dream still looked so similar to- well, to the former Dream. "Are you sick or something? We can stop the game if you want."
Punz looked down and, oh yeah, they had been playing Monopoly.
"Nah, it's fine," he shrugged, ignoring the slight pang of his head. "Just a mild headache, that's all."
"You've been having a lot of those nowadays," Sam remarked, scrutinising him. Even despite not being a warden in this life, he was still serious when it came to matters like health and safety. "Are you sure you don't want to rest a while?"
"I'm sure," Punz insisted. "Honest. Anyways, what were you trying to tell me before?"
"I'm home."
"Welcome back, bastard," Purpled didn't even look up from his phone, probably texting his friends. "How was Monopoly?"
"Fine," Punz let his bag fall to the floor, and collapsed onto the couch and over his now-brother, who let out a hiss and batted him away. "Rude. I had a flashback, and this is how you treat me?"
"Well you should've started with that first, asshole," Purpled snapped, though this time his voice was noticeably tinged with concern. "How bad is it?"
"Like, a seven or an eight," Punz groaned, closing his eyes. He had been trying to will away the headache that usually came whenever one of them got flashbacks, and had temporarily succeeded. The more important the flashback, the heavier the pain. "Fuck, now I know what was missing."
"Yeah?" Purpled's voice was a lot more distant, and Punz knew that he was getting the painkillers. "Wanna tell me about it?"
"Not really," he sighed. "Just- it explained the beginning to how former-Dream got into that prison, that's all. At least I got a really cool line out of it."
"Great, now eat up," Purpled deadpanned. Punz grabbed the painkillers from Purpled's hand, and without missing a beat, tossed them into his mouth and chugged the water given to him. Purpled wrinkled his nose at his behaviour, but he didn't complain when he was handed back the cup.
"What movie are we tossing up today?" Punz asked. Purpled shot him a look as he sat down on the couch again.
"Why are you asking me? You're the one with the headache this time," he said, briefly taking out his phone to send off a text before putting it back in his pocket, as Punz slowly comprehended that sentence.
"Oh, yeah. Right. I want Totoro."
"Of course you do," Purpled sighed, but he didn't complain as the movie started on the television, and Punz settled in for his sixty fifth time of watching 'My Neighbour Totoro'.
"Do you think anyone else would ever remember?" Purpled suddenly asked him, when they were midway through the movie.
Punz blinked. "...what?"
"Like- like us," Purpled clarified. "Because so far, it's just been me and you, hasn't it? D'you think anyone else would start to get flashbacks and memories one day? Like us?"
Truthfully speaking, Punz had no idea. He had been the first one to get flashbacks when he was sixteen, and Purpled had only started to gain flashbacks a few months before today. There was no guarantee that anyone else would start to remember, and there was no sure fire way to test it.
Still, though he didn't know what brought on the sudden question, Purpled looked hopeful, and well... Punz never liked making anyone lose hope.
"Maybe," Punz answered. "Maybe."