Notes:
WoooOOOOoooo. I'm on a roll this week! Anyway, I have a few things to say. Not really. Just one. I really appreciate your support through kudos and votes! It's so weird to me that people actually like what I write, not only that, but they wait for another chapter?!?! It's so crazy, and I'm so thankful. So yeah. You all make my life better, so thanks for that. Anyway, enjoy <3
You both wandered down the high-street, looking for a good ice cream store. You knew a few, but they were shut. The sun still blazed down, and it just made you want ice cream more. Nightmare had taken his hoodie off, and you felt like you were dying every time you looked at him, so you stopped looking at him. He seemed to have noticed, but he hadn't said anything about it.
You saw a place, pointing out to Nightmare. He nodded, wandering across the road with your hand in his. You were sure he didn't actually want ice cream, he just wanted you to be happy and wanted to stay with you for as long as possible.
You both push open the door, the ice cream seller greeting you with a smile. "What can I get you two?" she asked happily.
"What do you want?" you whispered to Nightmare, not really having talked on the way here.
"I don't know. I've never had ice cream before." He whispered back hesitantly.
"Seriously?" You ask a little louder than a whisper out of shock. He nods, seeming slightly embarrassed. No wonder he was so grumpy all the time. "Wow. Ok. You should get vanilla then. It's boring but it works." You shrug, addressing the ice cream lady. "Two vanilla doubles with sprinkles." You grin, turning back to Nightmare who had some form of expression that you couldn't rad on his face. "What? Nothing wrong with a bit of fun is there?" he huffs out a no and watches her scoop it on handing you both your ice creams as you pay.
"Hey. I was gonna do that." He tells you, stepping out of the small store and back into the sun.
"You did do that." You laugh, licking some ice cream. It was GOOD. You'd have to remember that place. Nightmares staring at you, and you could tell he was holding in a laugh. "What?" you ask, tilting your head and nearly losing your ice cream.
"Its on your nose." He snnrks, wiping it off for you.
"Oh that happens sometimes." You giggle, having some more. "Your turn now. Eat some." You smile, holding his hand and carrying on walking. You wanted to take him to the park, maybe have a nice walk, then you could go back home to the castle. He licks at it awkwardly, his expression instantly changing when he properly tasted it. You swear his eye turned to a star again, whenever it does its so quick you didn't even know if it actually did.
"Oh my stars! Why have I never had this before?" He exclaims, having some more.
"Because you're too grumpy." You laugh, reaching the bookstore. "Oh hello work. Do you want to nip in for a minute?" You ask cheerily, turning to Nightmare who was focusing on his ice cream now.
"Uh... We can go in if you want." He said, mouth half full. You pushed open the door, Ruby looking up tiredly before instantly perking up when she saw you.
"Y/n! Thanks for the recommendation, this guy is H O T!" She grins, showing you that she was reading what she told you to. She stole some of your good biscuits for coffees at work, but you chose to ignore it.
"I know! What about the um... café? Where he gets her that drink? Isn't he just gorgeous?" You laugh, wandering over to see where she's up to.
"Yeah! I just read that bit." She smiled, pointing to the line she was on.
"Ugh! And when he brings her flowers? Someone should bring us flowers." You point out, completely forgetting your ex-boyfriend and current date was in here.
"I'll tell Rur-" She nodded along, completely agreeing with you before she looked up again. "Oh. I see you brought a friend?" She gestured to Nightmare, who was awkwardly stood in the corner with his ice cream.
"Whoops. Yeah, he managed to pull me back in for a date, slippery little thing." You tutted, him giving Ruby a small wave. "Hes a little shy around us now. We spooked him with our crazy."
"I'm not scared of you." He muttered, seeming very convincing.
"Yeah? What if I shouted at you huh?"
"Don't test that theory." He mumbled quietly, looking at the books instead of you.
"Oh hes just grumpy." You sigh, turning back to Ruby. "Sooo, how's it going with Ruru?" You said in a sing-song voice. She instantly flushed and you laughed, patting her back softly.
"I'm not answering that when theres a man here." She replied, stealing another one of your biscuits.
"Well I'm sorry." Nightmare huffed dramatically from the shelves, making you burst into laughter again.
"See? Very grumpy." You tell her before spinning round to face the shelves. "Night, are you gonna snitch?"
"I'm not a snitch. I'm not even listening. Do you have anything by Colleen Hoover?" He asks casually, sifting down the shelves.
"Nightmare! You can't read that!" You protest, Ruby snickering behind you.
"Why not?" He asks, tilting his head at you with a sly grin on his face. Bastard.
"Because! There's naughty stuff in there." You reply, thinking that's good enough reasoning.
"I'm a naughty boy. Do you have any or not?" He asks, seeming bored with this conversation already.
"Not for sale, but I can lend you some..." You mumble, getting a little embarrassed. They aren't that bad.
"So you read them!" He pointed out, laughing again. You sigh and sit behind the desk next to Ruby. She never used your chair, preferring her own, so there were two chairs behind the desk. You read over her shoulder for a little while as Nightmare has his fun, eventually her starting up a conversation with you.
"I found a house by the way." She states casually.
"Pardon?"
"Since you're in mine. You said you wanted one the other night, so I've been looking. There's a few nice ones not too far from here you know?" She mumbled, still reading.
"You're kicking me out?" You ask, sounding hurt.
"No! No. I'd never. I'm suggesting it though. You said you wanted one big enough for the boys to come for a sleepover or something, I found a few. There's a nice ten-bedroom half an hour drive from here. Has a pool and everything. I got you a viewing. Just had to say you were his ex and they scrambled for a spot." She pointed at Nightmare, him not paying attention still. What was going on?
"Are you coming at least?" You inquire, a hopeful tone in your voice. The least she could do was come to the thing she arranged.
"To the viewing? No. I have a date. You can do it alone or take someone else." She states, flicking the page. You had to admit you felt a little betrayed. You didn't even know where this place was and she was sending you off alone on an unknown day.
"How much is it?" You couldn't believe this. Any of it.
"Just short of 17 mil I think." She points out simply, like it's a running dog or a weird looking leaf.
"The hell? How much do you think I have?" You were blown away. How was she so alof about this? So casual?
"18 mil." She stated, knowing exactly how much money you had.
"Thats Nightmare's!" You exclaim, everything finally boiling over.
"What's mine?" He asked, suddenly turning around to you.
"Would you be willing to buy her a house?" Ruby replies with another question, further confusing him. Either way he answered, but pretty unsure of himself when he did.
"How much?"
"Like 17 million." Ruby states again, not even looking at you while she talks about something as important as your moving house to your ex-boyfriend of all people.
"I gave her 18. She doesn't need help. I mean, I will, but I don't see why she wants me to." He replies, seeming confused at this point more than anything.
"I don't! You need to recognise it's still your money!" you tell him, getting frustrated.
"It's not. I gave it you, it's now legally yours." He says simply.
"I keep telling her that, but she doesn't listen. The only bits missing are what I used." Ruby sighed, sounding almost... disappointed? Now you were embarrassed. It made you feel stupid and honestly kind of uncomfortable. They weren't treating you like an adult, Ruby had decided all this for you and Nightmare was just going along with it.
"What if I don't want it? You said they only gave you the viewing because I was his ex. I don't want to be painted in history as his ex. That's not what I want to be associated with. Recognised as. Neither of you are helping. I never said I wanted a house. I said it would be nice to have a house big enough for the boys to come over once when we were being arrested, of all times and places." You rant, standing up. "I don't even know when or where this is happening! You didn't ask me or anything!"
"Well, I thought you'd be grateful! You wanted a castle, I found you one and arranged you an appointment." Ruby sighed heatedly, putting the book down and turning to face you.
"I never said anything to do with wanting a castle!" You tell her, getting upset with how she was reacting to this.
"You've always wanted to play princess, I know that!" She stated, now trying to insult you. Wow. Of course you two had to have an argument right now when the date was going so well.
"What's that got to do with anything?" You ask angrily, genuinely confused why she was bringing up other than to embarrass you around Nightmare. He just looked at you both awkwardly, not really knowing what to do.
"I don't know if you know this, but princesses live in castles, and you fucked up your chance to do that the first time, so I'm trying to help. You should be happy." She explained bitterly, making you sound stupid again.
"I'm not doing this right now Ruby. I don't care if you're angry for whatever reason, I don't want to deal with this when I'm having an ok day." You sigh, taking Nightmare's hand and walking to the door.
"Oh so you're leaving now? Just because you can't show me why I'm in the wrong here?" She shouts after you, making you turn around with a huff.
"You're in the wrong because you're acting like I can't handle myself! You're treating me like a little kid, and I'm sick of it. You aren't my mom."
"I'm fucking glad of it." She said quieter. You didn't know if you heard that right. You didn't, did you? She wouldn't say that right?
"What did you say?" You ask, just to check.
"I said I'm glad of it. You can't do anything for yourself because you're a fucking deranged mess that does nothing with your life. I thought this whole bookstore gig was a good idea when I was a kid, but stars we've been doing it for years! I thought we were going to get actual jobs and shit, you know, like adults. But you held us both back with this whole thing." She yelled, Nightmare trying to pull you out now. You just let go of his hand and listened to the rest of it. "I was glad when it was destroyed because I thought it would push you to get an actual job. We've both been just scraping by our entire lives and it's all because you got trigger happy. So we didn't have enough money to fix the damn place, meaning we could finally get a genuine wage. But then your prince charming whisked you away, and you left me to fucking rot. You dropped me as soon as you got rich, then ran back to me when he dumped you." She spat, tears stinging your eyes. You thought you two were friends. But hearing the way she viewed things hurt. It really did. She didn't see it as you falling in love then experiencing the worst heartbreak of your life, she saw it as you ditching her and picking her back up when you needed her. And it stung.
"I killed her for you! You bitch. You did it just as much as me. You fucking told me to do it. So don't push this on me, because I've had to deal with so much more than you could even imagine."
"Good. Murderers deserve their sentences." At that you slammed the door, sick to death of this whole store in a matter of seconds. The next second you were crying. A lot. This wasn't fair. When was anything fair?
"Hey... I doubt she meant it." Nightmare said softly, putting an arm around you. He was probably just here for your negativity. That was probably the only reason he wanted to be around you really.
"Shes a fucking bitch..." You whimpered, wiping your face with your hoodie. Hell if you were running to him for comfort.
"What are you doing?" He asked, rubbing your shoulder slightly. He seemed concerned, and pretty mad at Ruby, but he was trying not to let it show.
"I'm cutting off her access to my bank account and taking all my stuff somewhere by tonight." You reply shortly, sniffling despite your mood.
"Where?" He asked curiously, tilting his head.
"I don't know ok?!" You snap at him, stressed. You hear a cheery laugh down the road, it sounding familiar. Fuck this. Fuck all of this. "You have got to be kidding me." Nightmare grabs your shoulder, but you duck out from under it and walk toward Dream. "I'll be five minutes. He doesn't stand a fucking chance." You spit, heading off. He already knew not to stop you, or maybe he was scared, but either way he still followed.
"Oh! Y/n! Looking a bit negative today aren't we?" He laughed, offering you a hug. You weren't having this. He wasn't greeting you like an old friend. Not now. Not after what's been happening. You punched him square in the face, him not having enough time to move because he was expecting anything but that. He stumbled but caught himself, rubbing where you'd hit him.
"Piss off!" You shout, flipping your middle finger up at him. You were sick of this. "I don't want any of your shitty positivity because it means I have much further to drop. I'd prefer to stay at rock-bottom than clamber back up just to fall again." You tell him, stepping back slightly.
"You aren't a very nice person." He stated, watching you closer.
"I get that a lot. Neither are you. But you don't get bullied for it do you? No everyone likes you because you're so perfect. I'm sick of perfect. Why can't people just leave it at mediocre huh?" You mock, seething at this point. You had to admit, you understood why Nightmare took his anger out on him now. His eye socket had pretty much healed, but he still didn't have an eyelight in it. A good reminder for him you'd say. Nightmare tried to pull you back again, but you just shook from his hold. "You're a shitty person and an even worse sibling."
"I'm going to have to fix that potty mouth aren't I?" He sighed, pulling out his weapons. You could sense Nightmare stiffen instantly, he moved closer to you now.
"Not your job. I told you to piss off." You huff, annoyed you didn't carry weapons now. Where was a knife when you needed it? Ugh, you really did sound like Killer. "Here's a thought! Leave me alone. Last warning."
"I'm not scared of you Y/n." Dream said, sounding very convincing. If Nightmare was scared of you Dream was undoubtedly scared.
"Yes you are. That's why you want me isn't it? You can't have your brother having an ultimate weapon against you huh? Too bad. I'm not going down without a fight, so you'll have to damage the merchandise." You tell him, just getting more and more irritated.
"I'm not against that." He smiled innocently before running at you both, making you jump out the way. Nightmare followed you, now standing slightly in front of you with a tentacle directly in front. Dream stopped, teleporting a metre or so in front of you both.
"Back off Dream." Nightmare growled, seeming done with this too. Dream just grunted in response, teleporting on top of both of you. Nightmare had grabbed him in an instant and thrown him into the concrete, not even lifting a finger. It cracked on impact, Dream teleporting up quickly and summoning a bow. As soon as he got close again, Nightmare just threw him again. It felt kind of cruel, but you were both so tired of people by now that you didn't really care. He staggered and fired an arrow, it hitting Nightmare and giving him an opening. But two against one isn't fair, so while Nightmare was pulling the arrow out you just tackled Dream to the concrete, him face down arms behind his back. Nightmare seemed amused more than anything, until Dream teleported again. "Why can't you just give it up?" Nightmare sighed, tossing him into the air again as he helped you up.
"I won't stop until you're normal." Dream stuttered out upon landing. You could tell something broke in Nightmare after that point. You were just going to back away and watch the show. No way you were getting involved in this.