Dream grabbed an apple and bit into it, smiling as he tasted the sweet juices. He dropped some money in the stall, then took a few more types of fruit and disappeared back into the crowd. His hoodie was pulled over his hair and he kept his head down, weaving between people. His bag thumped against his waist in time with his furious pace. The cool autumn air brushed his face, threatening to tear back his hood if he moved too quickly.
He swiped a bag of candy, popping a lollipop in his mouth as he hurried. Tommy was already at the corner, looking down at a watch. Dream stopped in front of him, puffing slightly. "How'd, how'd I do?"
"Ten minutes and forty-six seconds," Tommy responded, clicking the top and making the clock stop. "Not too bad, whatcha get?"
"Fruit, candy, and some soap." He dropped everything on the ground, letting a few things spill out. "I was hungry."
"Not too bad," Tommy muttered, pretending to be uptight and pompous. He poked through the bag, wrinkling his nose. "The bananas look a little squishy."
"Would you want them to be rock hard?"
Tommy rolled his eyes, straightening back up. He looked over Dream's shoulder and lit up, his eyes gleaming with chaotic intent. Dream shuddered, he didn't like that look. He had seen it more and more from Tommy over the past week.
"Hey, look at that," he hissed, hitting Dream's arm. Dream turned and looked over heads to see what Tommy was pointing out. His eyes caught on two men and a girl and he felt a grin form as well. A short, raven haired man was standing beside another man with fluffy brown hair. They both wore suits and seemed to be arguing with a teenage girl. She turned on her heel and stormed into the crowd, her two fathers watching her go without even trying to stop her.
"That's Tiger, Quackity and Karl's daughter right?"
"For sure, it's unhealthy how much they spoil her. She has a Rolls Royce but can't even drive."
"So she's loaded?" Tommy's eyes sparkled and Dream felt dread course through him.
"Tommy-" he started in a warning tone, but the boy disappeared into the crush of people. Dream swore and grabbed their purchases before going in after him. He watched Tommy weave through and run right into Tiger. They both feel back with a yell and Dream slowed down, not wanting to be seen. He pretended to examine some jewelry, but he listened in.
"Sorry, sorry," Tommy groaned, getting to his feet and offering his hand. Tiger rubbed her forehead, accepting it with manicured nails.
"You're good, this crowd is rough," she replied in a breathless voice, smiling sweetly. She pulled her hand back and gasped. "My ring!"
"Oh here," Tommy said, handing it back. "I hope it's okay."
She grabbed it and slid it back on, sighing in relief.
"Yeah it looks fine. Thanks again," she said. "I'm Tiger."
Dream grimaced, dropped the necklace, and moved to step in.
"I'm-"
"Going," Dream completed, grabbing Tommy's arm. "We don't have time to stick around."
Tommy shot him a withering look, trying to pull away from him. Dream shook his head.
"W-w-wait," Tiger stammered. Dream turned over his shoulder and met her shocked blue-gray eyes. "No way."
Dream felt the blood drain from his face. He let go of Tommy and took a few steps back. He had met Tiger before, at a gala about a year or so ago. She knew who he was.
"Dream?"
"Shit," Tommy growled. He grabbed Dream and dragged him backward, the crowd swallowing them. "We've gotta run."
"Yeah no shit," Dream snapped, taking off. "What the hell were you thinking?"
"I got her wallet," he exclaimed, patting his pocket. They rounded a corner and slowed down to a slight jog. "And her watch. It'll sell for a lot."
"Was it worth it," Dream asked, annoyed. "Now we have to find somewhere else to practice."
"You don't need any more practice, you're fantastic at using a crowd to your advantage," Tommy said, waving his hand absentmindedly. "But am I really never going to see her again?"
"No Tommy, she's the daughter of two politicians," Dream responded in a tired voice.
"Dreeeeeeam," he whined, pouting.
"No Tommy, she's dangerous."
"How the hell is she dangerous?"
"Quackity and Karl are her dads," Dream snapped. "Do you know how easy it would be for her to turn you in to them. She would figure out who you were eventually, and then it would be game over."
Tommy was silent for a moment, then shrugged.
"Still could have gotten her number."
"Tommy."
"It worked for you and Will!"
"That was different."
Tommy's laugh was unconvinced as he looked around, stretching his arms above his head.
"We should probably get home," Dream said, brushing hair out of his eyes. "Phil mentioned something about a meeting, I don't wanna be late."
"That's tomorrow night," Tommy said nonchalantly. "Don't worry about it, we're free tonight."
"I'd rather be with Wilbur," Dream complained to himself. Tommy snorted, rolling his eyes.
"I'm sorry I don't compare to your loverboy."
"He's not- oh whatever."
"See, you're not even denying it! I knew it, I fucking knew it! Your fucking my brother, aren't you?"
Dream looked over in shock, his mouth agape and his eyes wide as saucers. His brain short circuited for a few moments and his mouth flapped open and closed like a fish.
"I- NO! I just said we aren't together! No way, nope, no."
Tommy snickered, leaning against a wall.
"I know, calm down. I just wanted to get a rise." He winked charismatically.
"That was not funny."
"It was hilarious."
"No."
"Yes."
"No- shit."
Dream locked eyes with a pair of familiar blue and grey ones, his heart plummeting with worry. Tommy looked over his shoulder and swore as well, shoving Dream towards a ladder leading to the roof.
"Go," he snapped, the teasing glimmer dropping from his eyes. "Nightmare will collect your ungrateful-"
There was a bang and the duo ducked. A bullethole was embedded in the garbage can and Dream let out an undignified squeak of alarm. They weren't playing around anymore, were they?
Tommy pushed him again and Dream didn't need to be told twice. He clambered onto the roof and rolled onto the ground, breathing heavily at the close call. He had been shot at before, but this was different. Something seemed much more menacing and final when the gun was in Quackity's hands.
Tommy shouted in pain and Dream pulled himself from his mind. He pulled a green cloak from his bag and swung it over his shoulders. He pulled on his mask and peered over the lip of the roof, cautious to barely peer above it. Tiger, Quackity, and Jack Manifold were down in the alley. Quackity had Tommy pinned face down, his heel on Tommy's neck. Tiger was off to the side, shaking and pale.
"Where is he," Quackity snarled, brandishing the gun like it was a toy and not a lethal weapon. "Where is Nightmare? Answer me boy!"
Tommy spat out blood, glaring up at him. Nightmare felt himself getting hot with anger and he dropped into the alley. His cloak flared gracefully with his fall, fluttering in the wind and pooling around him when he hit the ground. The hood stayed over his hair, another shield between his identity and the world. His knees absorbed the impact, used to the weeks spent racing over roofs.
"Why don't you face me yourself, coward?"
Quackity smiled, revealing a row of small, sharp teeth. A pair of small gold wings fluttered behind him, throwing watery lamplight off of them.
"Well well, it's the myth himself."
"Not much of a myth," Nightmare muttered. "Now can you please let Tom up?"
"Not a chance."
"Eyyyyy Nightmare, mah friendddddd!"
"Shut up Tommy."
The boy snorted, rolling his eyes sassily.
"I was doing just fine before you got here, thank you very much you dickhead."
"You're on the ground," Nightmare replied in a tone befitting a young child. "You couldn't even fight for five minutes. But yes, you're doing great, have a gold star."
"Shut up," Quackity snapped loudly, making his daughter flinch. "Both of you, just shut up. I have a gun, I will put a bullet through your heads, both of you."
"And then what," Nightmare taunted, taking a step closer. "Never get information on the Sleepy Boys? Real great plan, you were always a smart Quackster."
Quackity snarled at the nickname, his hands shaking as he pointed the barrel of the gun at Tommy's head. Panic flared up in Dream, he wouldn't dare.
"Don't call me that."
"You two done yet," Tommy asked, sounding bored. "Can I fight back now?"
"I have you pinned," Quackity shouted. Tiger flinched again and Nightmare's attention flitted over to her. The poor girl looked like she was about to be sick. "There. Is. No. Fighting!"
Tommy snorted. In one fluent move he kicked the back of Quackity's knees and threw his body off of the ground. Quackity was knocked off balance and Tommy flipped onto his back. He kicked upwards and connected with Q's stomach before moving away from him and pushing himself to his feet.
"There's always a fight," Tommy said in a matter of fact tone. "Sometimes you just have to look for one."
"Which we are no longer doing," Nightmare reminded him. "Considering we have places to be. Now let's go."
Tommy nodded and the two started climbing. Nightmare stopped and turned back.
"Go find your other father," he said to Tiger. "I'm sure he's worried sick." She nodded and helped her father to his feet, noticeably without his gun. The beauty of a pistol, with swirling designs grafted into it, was loosely held in Nightmare's hand.
He ascended the ladder back to their bags of produce. As the trio turned to walk away, Nightmare took aim and shot the walkie-talkie out of Jack's hand. The man shrieked and turned and Nightmare smiled mischievously beneath the plastic and tech.
"Consider that a final warning bitch," Tommy shouted, flipping Jack off. Dream grabbed him by the elbow and started dragging him across the rooftops, making the boy yell and fail angrily.
"Hey, let me go!"
Nightmare sighed and did as he asked. "Can we please go home now, I'm tired."
"Okay okay, quit your bitching. Home we go." Tommy shouldered his bag and took off. He jumped over a gap in the roof and Nightmare followed. The leap no longer sent bolts of pain up his legs, but the moment of suspension in the air, no matter how brief, never failed to send that adrenaline spike to his brain.
They got to the lip of the final building, the city slowly fading to dirty suburbs. The sun was yet to rise, the night still dark and sweet. The city never darkens though, always lit by lanterns and street lights and lamps in windows. "The City that Never Sleeps," people joked. It was true, DSMP never slept. It was like a being, breathing through the sewers and seeing through the security cameras. There was no rest for this being, just as there was no rest for those that inhabited it.
"Knock knock," Tommy said in an obnoxious voice. "You still with me, Nightmare?"
"Shut up."
"Oh look at you being all brave and tough with your mask up," Tommy taunted, his eyes narrowed viciously. "Take that mask away and who are you?"
Dream pulled the mask over to the side of his face so that Tommy could see his scowl. The boy flinched dramatically, throwing up his hands to shield his eyes and crying out.
"Oh no I never said to take it off you ugly bastard," he said loudly. "Put it back."
Dream snarled and turned out to the streets.
"QUACKITY? TIGER? COME TAKE HIM PLEASE, I DON'T WANT HIM ANYMORE!"
"Nonononono," Tommy rushed out, shaking his arm. "That's not funny, Dream, stop it."
Dream paused, cocking his head in surprise at Tommy's serious tone. He had never heard the boy so... upset.
"Sorry," he said after a moment. "I got carried away."
"Oh no it was a fantastic joke," Tommy replied. "I've just been abandoned one too many times." He shook his head, his eyes briefly sorrowful and cold. Then he snapped out of it and brightened up again. "Whatever, that's the past. Wanna help me burn something down?"
"Tommy, you can't drop something that heavy on me and expect-"
"Arson or not?"
Dream sighed, crossing his arms and replacing his mask.
"Arson."
"HELL YEAH BITCH!"
//
"Step back," Nightmare warned, popping the cap of the last gasoline bottle they had stolen from an oil reserve. "It's about to get really hot and really bright."
Tommy ran back and Nightmare tossed the remaining fuel onto the burning building. The flames whooshed and roared, searing Nightmare as he stumbled back. He patted out the embers threatening to ignite his clothes, ignoring his burning fingers. The fire raged on as he backed up to where Tommy was. The younger held his hands out to the flames, keeping them warm.
"I can't wait for winter," Tommy commented. "It feels great to stand next to a fire in the cold."
"We could do that with a normal bonfire."
"But where's the fun in that?"
Nightmare snorted, shaking his head. His perception of the world had shifted dramatically since joining, it was almost jarring. Movie nights and bonfires seemed boring now, nothing compared to rooftop parkour and arson.
"Any reason for this building," Tommy asked, nodding at the wall of flames. Nightmare nodded and shrugged.
"Yeah, but I doubt you want my sob story."
"I don't fucking care," Tommy said. "We've all got one, might as well get it over with."
"You're funeral," Dream muttered, pushing his mask to the side. "Well, this was the place I shared with Fundy right after we both graduated from high school."
"What, when you were dating?"
"Yep. He got the apartment, and I helped pay the rent and bills. It worked out for a couple of months."
"Only a couple months?"
"Fundy." Dream sighed. "Fundy was always a bit of a wild card. He was very volatile, his emotions could flip in seconds depending on the situation. He was also very firm about what he believed. So when Schlatt offered him an internship, he was gone."
"Did Schlatt kill him or some shit? What are you going on about?"
"Fundy always wanted power," Dream clarified. "He got bullied a bit because he's trans and small and a bit of a nerd. So that offer was like a drug to him, that was his way out. Add political power to a past of bullies and strong emotions and beliefs, and he was gone."
"You make it sound like he went insane."
"He honestly did."
"He seems stable enough."
"To the public eye, sure. But he started taking out the stress of work on me. We fought, a lot. He was constantly accusing me of holding him back and keeping him from his true potential. The one night it got really bad." Dream closed his eyes, his back to the cool wall. "And the next morning he was gone."
"Is that why you're holding out on Will?"
Dream snorted and opened his eyes, giving Tommy a look.
"What are you talking about?"
"Well you two obviously like one another," Tommy pointed out. "But are you together? No! It's like watching a bug trying to fly out the window."
"Well then, since you obviously know how relationships work, what do you suggest I do?"
"You walk up to him," Tommy said, pantomiming with his fingers. "Slam him into a wall and kiss him."
"Yeah no." Dream wheezed with laughter, shaking his head.
"What? Why not?"
"Because that's assault," Dream replied, wiping tears from his eyes.
"Not really."
"I'm not having this conversation with you," Dream said in a final tone, replacing the mask.
"Okay fine," Tommy snapped sarcastically. "I tried to help you."
"That was supposed to be helpful?"
Tommy shoved him, growling angrily.
"Don't push me."
"Or what?"
"Or I'll slam you into a wall and leave you for our buddy Quackity to find."
Tommy paled slightly, his eyes widening. He looked vulnerable, his shoulders curling in on themselves before Tommy straightened out.
"You could try," he threatened, but his voice was too wobbly to be scary. Nightmare softened, there was obviously some trauma hidden here. He made a vow to ask Wilbur about it later so I wouldn't make it worse.
"Let's just go home," Nightmare said. "I wanna be prepared for this meeting."
Tommy nodded in agreement, tossing the empty gasoline cans into a trash bin. Only his prints would be on them, not Nightmares, so there were no real holdbacks there.
They got home in record time, having raced each other. They started on Prime street near the bank, waiting for a green light that never came because the lights went off with pressure plates. By the time they figured this out, fire truck sirens went off. Nightmare had counted down from three and they were off. Tommy liked the ground, preferring to weave between alleys and interact with the people hiding in them. Nightmare stuck to the roof, sucking in cool night air and flipping over the gaps in buildings.
When they reached the thinning edges of the city, Dream leapt down using the sides of the walls, landing on the ground and taking off immediately. They picked up the pace, despite both of them being exhausted. Tommy managed to shout an insult or two, Nightmare returning them with an imaginative hand gesture.
Nightmare stumbled through the front door, Tommy shoving him over and leaping into the front hallway.
"I WIN!"
"No, you don't, I got through the threshold first."
"But I was all the way through first."
"It doesn't matter how much of you is through the door, I still made it to the door and through it first."
"I could have chopped off my pinky and thrown it inside, then would I have won."
"It's not attached to your body!"
"Still a body part."
Dream groaned and got off the ground, stepping all the way inside and closing the door behind him. It was barely morning, the sunrise creeping over the city line to gently nudge the population awake. Phil was sitting on the couch and switched the tv off when he saw them arguing in the doorway. He cleared his throat and both fell silent.
"So. You met Quackity's daughter." It wasn't a question.
"Yes."
"No."
They glazed at one another, locked in furious mental combat. Phil sighed, and Dream could see him rolling his eyes from the corner of his eye.
"I'm not upset," Phil clarified. "We just need to be a lot more careful. Those people out there, they want us locked up, dead, or both."
"Sorry Phil," Tommy muttered dejectedly. "It was my fault. I wanted to talk to her, get to know her better. It was a stupid choice."
"You're fine mate," he replied. "But, out of curiosity, why'd ya do it?"
"I wanted to know why," Tommy admitted softly at first, his voice beginning to rise. "What makes her the monster you claim her to be?"
"She's not the monster, the city is. It chews people like her up and spits them out, worse than they once were." Phil's eyes clouded for a moment. "Let's just go to bed, we have a meeting with Eret and a few others tomorrow."
Tommy perked up and grinned maniacally at the statement, Dream just nodded. He slipped off, took a shower, changed into fresh clothing, all his usual routine. But his mind buzzed with information and pent up frustration. Tommy's outburst was surprisingly down to earth and realistic, not like he usually was. Dream's jokes about giving him up or leaving him behind seemed to affect him and shake him up dramatically. There was more to Tommy than meets the eye, Dream decided.
He opened the bedroom door and all thoughts threw themselves out the window, curtains and all. Wilbur lay sprawled on one side of the bed, his glasses askew and a book laying beside him. He was snoring lightly, his chest rising and falling with each breath, like a wave. With a jolt, Dream realized he had probably been waiting up for him to get home. His heart warmed and a smile slipped over his face.
Dream crept over to the arsonist, tempted to try and peel back his eyelids. They hadn't slept in the same bed since, well, since Eret. And even then it hadn't been sleeping. Wilbur explained that he had a hard time falling asleep if he was sharing a room with someone, and Dream didn't see the need to share his room with him. Their relationship was strange, almost romantic but not defined that way. It made him want to tear his hair out in frustration, but he held it together.
Dream set his mask on the dresser with a click, trying to decide what to do. He couldn't move Wilbur, the other was taller and would be difficult to carry. And Dream really didn't want to sleep on the couch, it would take him ages to fall asleep and the sun would be a nuisance.
Without precisely coming up with a decision, Dream grabbed the book lying beside Wilbur and set it on the nightstand. He gently pulled his glasses all the way off, suppressing a laugh at the lines and red marks left by the metal and glass. He set those on the nightstand as well.
Dream ever so carefully pulled the covers back and slipped under them. Wilbur was on the other side of the bed, and it wasn't a small mattress. They could sleep in the same room and not bother one another. Or, so Dream hoped.
Wilbur groaned in his sleep and rolled over, his arm draped lightly over Dream. He froze, unsure of what to do. On one hand, Wilbur was asleep and didn't even know what he was doing. Dream didn't mind the contact, he was much more touch-starved than he let on.
On the other hand, Wilbur had never said he was okay sharing a bed with Dream. Even if it was simple as laying on the same mattress being dead to the world together, it felt wrong to do such a thing without consent. Dream tried to wiggle away from him but Wilbur pulled him back, mumbling and cuddling him. Dream sighed, there was no way out of the death grip without waking him up.
His eyes started to droop and Dream felt himself slipping. With fragile beliefs and hopes, he allowed his eyes to shut and his mind to deliver him to the world of dreams.
//
It's that time of the week again! Update Thursdays are such a highlight of my day now thanks to you all. Today isn't as good because I have a pretty bad headache, but whatever! Content is being produced, and that's all that matters.
Headcanon- Wilbur's love for arson stemmed from a time his class back in grade school took a field trip to a fire station. Let's just say that during a demonstration, Wilbur liked the fire more than the firefighters.
Word Count- 3746