A/N once again I am gracing you guys with a double chapter
Dream cleared the table as everyone else went to get dressed. He of course had changed the second after he'd woken up, so it was his job to clean up afterwards. It was a pain that Ink had decided to pick a fight with his brother though; especially when he was hangry. He should've seen it coming, but that didn't make it any less unfortunate.
He hummed to himself as he cleaned off the counter. He'd put the dishes away and started the dishwasher already, so there wasn't much else to do as he waited for everyone else to get ready. Picking up his backpack and going to stand by the door, he let himself get lost in thought.
Was it too ambitious to throw a party like this? There weren't really that many people in the class, and they could all easily fit in the living room. The gang all had their own little rooms in Nightmare's half of the second floor, so everyone else could sleep downstairs. Then there was the matter of food and games. They could probably just get pizza delivered, because that's what all people did for parties wasn't it? There were so many games to play; but some of them might not be a good idea.
Truth or Dare was a classic, but would it really just be a party game with Killer involved? Spin the bottle felt like too many people would lose their first kiss in a way that they didn't want. Truth or dare was a maybe, but spin the bottle was a no. It was super overused anyway if Dream was going to be honest with himself.
On that train of thought, romantic games like 7 minutes in heaven should also be against the rules. Anything of a romantic nature would have to be on the blacklist for Truth or Dare as well. It was entertaining, but Dream had a feeling more people would end up hurt that way. Plus, nobody wanted to tell the story of finally confessing because of a Truth or Dare. Everyone deserves their own amount of time to do so.
They could probably watch a movie and play games as well. Board games, card games, video games, or just classic games. Those were all pretty easy and fun. Movies were a classic, if he could ever get people to decide. He should also think about special accommodations for guests like Error who had issues. He needed to make sure that people left his haphephobia alone.
Dream was snapped out of his thoughts by a sudden flick to the head. Nightmare was staring at him, and his friends behind him. Of course, he must have been so focused on party planning that he got lost in his head. He smiled sheepishly.
"Sorry about that guys. Are you ready to go now?"
Blue gave him an enthusiastic thumbs up, Ink nodded, and Nightmare just rolled his eye and shoved past. Blue glared at his back.
"Geez, he didn't have to be that rude to you. I don't know how you deal with him."
Dream chuckled and started walking. Sure it got annoying living with Nightmare at times, but overall he loved his brother. Once you got used to it he really wasn't that bad. Ink pulled on Dream's sleeve.
"Hey, why did he stop by that forest path?"
Dream looked up.
"Oh, she usually meets us here by now. She must be running late."
Blue and Ink both looked at Dream, very confused. He looked over, and then realized that they had no clue about Dawn being their neighbor. He burst out laughing.
"I can't believe I didn't tell you! That's Dawn's house, she moved in at the beginning of the school year."
Ink looked like he was trying to puzzle out how that worked. It seemed too bizarre to be true. Then again, he wasn't sure that his friend was even capable of lying.
Blue nodded aggressively, as if something made a lot more sense to him now. Dream was baffled and slightly concerned at this behavior, but he figured it was probably some crazy idea. Blue was pretty good at coming up with those.
They caught up to Nightmare, who was fidgeting with the strap of his backpack. He almost seemed concerned and... well, nervous. No, Dream had to be seeing things. Nightmare hated acting that way, and he had avoided it ever since he changed in the incident. Blue tilted his head.
"Where is she? If we want to make it to school with time to spare she needs to come out and head with us."
Dream anxiously tapped his foot. Dawn was never this late. Was something wrong? Did she need help? Was she hurt? Maybe she was sick and couldn't make it to school. Who would take care of her if that was the case?
Despite his ever positive attitude, Dream had some pretty bad anxiety. Nobody was exactly sure what caused it, but Sci had suggested that it might have something to do with Nightmare's transformation when they were kids.
He guessed that made sense. Maybe he was just afraid that if he failed to look after everyone they'd give in to pressure like his brother had. It was probably just PTSD, but it was still stressful for him. The embodiment of positivity shouldn't be feeling anxiety, it just wasn't right.
Luckily for him, Dawn came sprinting out of the house, looking pretty disheveled. Instead of wearing her usual dress, she wore a pair of black pants and a very pretty shirt. It looked like she had cut the skirt off her kimono or something, as well as the sleeves. Well, at least up to the elbow. She was wearing a long glove that completely covered her left arm.
For once she was wearing a pair of light pink sneakers, so she was running pretty quickly. She stopped when she reached the group and took a deep breath. She then quickly bowed, throwing everyone off guard.
"I'm so sorry I'm late! I have training to do, so I had to find a more suitable outfit. I could totally beat someone while rocking a dress, but it isn't as practical."
Dream went to brush it off, but Nightmare interrupted.
"You know, for someone with magical hair it sure is a mess."
Everyone turned to him. He was facing away from Dawn, and nobody could see his face. She opened her mouth to say something before stopping and pulling a small hand mirror out of a pocket. She snorted at what she saw.
"You're right for once! I guess I forgot to do anything about it this morning. Oh well, easy fix."
She flicked her wrist, and her hair began to fix itself. Everyone looked on in wonder, but Dream quickly just accepted it. Her hair was literally made out of some sort of magic. It really wasn't a surprise that she could just magic it into place.
Dawn put the mirror away and pulled a hair tie off her wrist, She quickly put her hair up into a ponytail and smiled.
"Alright then! We can be off now if you guys are ready!"
Ink and Blue just nodded in amazement. That was a pretty cool way to start the morning. Dream linked his arms with his two friends and dragged the shocked boys away. Nightmare glanced over at Dawn before turning around fast enough to give someone whiplash.
"Yeah, we're ready. Come on already little miss princess. I'm not waiting for you anymore today."
He began walking off. Dawn rolled her eyes and set off after him, a small smile on her face. She knew he meant to insult her, but she didn't really mind that he'd called her a princess. Of course, she wouldn't tell him just in case that meant he would stop.
Nightmare pulled out a pair of headphones and plugged them in, signaling that he didn't want to talk today. Dawn had gotten used to this on several of their walks, and just ran up to walk with the stars. They immediately began pelting her with questions. She let out that laugh again, the laugh that Nightmare really loved.
Nightmare watched from a distance, gripping his backpack strap tightly. What was going on? His heart was practically out of his chest by now. Did she place some sort of curse on him? His face was warm. That was an understatement actually, he was pretty sure this is what it would feel like if Killer slammed his face into a heated stove.
He knew that he had developed some kind of crush on her, but he didn't think realizing it would make him act this way! He wished he'd just stayed in the dark. If Dream hadn't started spewing that nonsense at them, they would've been able to continue just chilling. He was pretty sure they had even finally become friends. Sort of.
She hadn't ever said it out loud, but neither had the gang. That was just how friendship worked. He took a deep breath and turned on his playlist. Looking at the sky, he let all the air out in one long sigh. Liking someone was hard, harder than he had ever thought.
He guessed he could finally relate to romance protagonists, but he wasn't sure he'd ever act as stupid as they did. That was some comfort at least, but it didn't set him at ease. Dawn's laugh echoed back to him once more, and he pinched the bridge of his 'nose'.
He hated this. Loving someone was awful, why did people spend their lives looking for something like this? He thought back to earlier. He had been pretty worried about Dawn, and he was glad she was okay. He didn't expect her to come running out like that.
Plus, her outfit was completely different from usual! Those dresses were always beautiful, but he'd never seen her wear anything else. Something about the usually formal girl dressing casually was driving him insane. Not to mention how well the ponytail complemented her. He groaned and flicked himself in the head.
No, he needed to stop thinking about this! She was just a friend, and he barely knew her. It had only been about a month! Still, there was something about her that drew him in. He had no idea what it was, and it most certainly wasn't on purpose.
Nightmare looked over to his brother's group once again. How was he going to face everyone knowing they were right? More importantly, how was he going to face her? School was mostly spent in Dawn's general proximity. She was his seatmate in the academic classes, sat almost diagonally from him in lunch, and went after him in all the magic classes.
School had become even more challenging than before. Sure, he never actually did any classwork, but that didn't mean school was easy. He had to deal with sitting through the most boring lectures ever. He also had to deal with all of the feelings his classmates had, and sometimes that was a handful. Especially because all of them were severely traumatized as children.
Dawn had made that easier. Being able to spend time with her made the school day something he could actually look forward to. Now, he had no idea how to face her. Would his heart try to leave his body every time he saw her? He had been able to quickly hide his face every time so far, but he doubted it would be as easy to cover up in class.
What would she do if she found out? She'd probably think he was weird. That was fair, he was thinking that he was weird himself once he figured out about his little romcom situation. Still, he didn't want to have to start ignoring her, he really enjoyed the way she had managed to change his life.
It really made him wonder. Would she ever see him the way he saw her? Was it possible for him to finally turn something in his life into a happy ending? As they reached the gates of school, Nightmare could only wonder about all the possibilities.