Chapter Text
His spoon swirled in his oatmeal, tiny grains of brown cinnamon hiding in the white oat lumps. Dream scooped up the brown-flecked white mush before letting the glob drop back into the bowl.
“He’s still sleeping?”
“Mate,” Phil sighed. He put down his cup of breakfast tea. “He pushed aside his hibernation too long. He needs to rest well into the spring.”
“But it’s three weeks into the spring,” Dream did not whine. “He should be up by now.”
“He’ll wake up any day now, but it’s not a good idea to rush it.”
“He promised to help me finish expanding the axolotl room. We started it before winter, and they are getting very cramped.”
“If you stopped feeding them tropical fish every day, there would be plenty of space in there,” Phil said, staring Dream down. Dream scowled and went back to sloshing his oatmeal. Terra, Ciel, Mar, and Choro liked the fish he brought them. As did their dozen or so babies.
Porto landed on Dream’s head, flapped grey and yellow feathers everywhere, and squawked, “Dre miss Tech. Dre miss Tech.”
“You don’t say,” Phil said smugly. Dream pushed his most annoying parrot off of his hair. The parrot squawked once more and flew straight down to Dream’s room. Dream stood up. “You should finish your breakfast before leaving.”
“I’m going to finish the habitat,” Dream said, snatching the bowl off the table and draining the bowl in a few, noisy gulps. He tossed the bowl in the sink without washing it and grabbed his mask. “Don’t wait up.”
“Whatever you say, mate,” Phil said with an amused smirk. Likely thinking that Dream would be back in half an hour or so to ask Phil for advice. He was wrong. Dream was going to get help from someone else. Phil could have volunteered to help if he wanted to, but he had been too busy building on his newest hardcore world or keeping an eye on Techno. Dream was not going to count on him (was not going to bother him).
You whisper to Bad: Need help on a build. You available?
Bad whispers to you: Sure! Gonna start a new obstacle course for your cats?
You whisper to Bad: No. Going to finish axie room
Bad whispers to you: Weren’t you gonna wait for Techno?
You whisper to Bad: He is still asleep
Bad whispers to you: You sure you want to work on it without him?
You whisper to Bad: Yes. Very sure
Bad whispers to you: Be there soon
Putting his comm away, Dream headed to the large acacia building several blocks away from their cabin. Entering it, several balls of fluff jumped him. One very persistent patched fluffball curled around his throat, while the rest swished through his legs and pounced on his head and tried to climb his pants.
“Hi guys,” Dream said, his mood lifting. He crouched and let several adventurous kittens tumble off him. Patches the Eighth stayed firmly over his shoulders, but the kittens fought to place themselves under his hands. The other adult cats meandered from their places nearby, attempting to look uninterested in Dream’s presence. He made sure to pet each and every one, using some string he had brought with him to play with the original group of balls of fluff.
Several minutes later, the door opened behind him, and Bad stepped into the large barn-like room cluttered with cat toys, scratch posts, several ledges, and see-through tubes that held several sleeping cats.
“Aaaw. Did Patch Eight have another litter?” Bad said, squatting next to Dream.
“No, these are Rose’s and Daisy’s newest litters. They love attention.”
Bad tried to reach out to pet the adorable fluffballs, but they scattered at the clawed hand’s approach. Despite not having visible eyebrows, Bad still gave a good impression of raising one.
Dream did not rise to the bait.
“This way to the axolotl room,” Dream said, standing up and heading towards the iron trapdoor in the far corner. Bad huffed what sounded like a snicker before following.
Down the ladder, they entered a room not too unlike Dream’s own personal bedroom. Several parrots of every color flocked towards him, nipping, clawing and flapping around him. He whistled at them, and they whistled back in various tones and notes. They then flew back to the various jungle trees in the underground cavern. All of Dream’s animals acted like he didn’t see them daily.
No word came from the demon hovering above him and waiting to jump down off the bottom of the ladder. If Techno had been with him, the annoying pig would have made some comment about Dream’s everlasting Disney princess status. Dream grit his teeth and moved further into the well-lighted underground jungle.
He lead his dark friend to the far blackstone fence and its dark oak wood gate. On the other side, axolotls of varied colors swam in the three ponds separated by clay blocks and lush moss. A blue axolotl hurried to the gate as Dream opened the gate with a cyan one not too far behind.
“You two doing good? Where’s your baby?” Dream asked, wetting his hand and stroking the two gently. Choro, the cyan one, butted his hand and then burbled a soft call. A tiny brown axolotl swam closer from the nearest pond and peeked over the clay at Dream. “There he is.”
“He’s so cute,” Bad said, short of a squeal. “How many of them does that make?”
“36,” Dream said, swirling his finger in the air to keep the tiny axolotl’s attention. “That’s why I need to make this place bigger.”
“Where are we adding the expansion?”
Dream reluctantly looked away from the tiny axolotl and pointed at the wall thirty or so blocks away. He eyed the bunch of axolotls squirming and squishing each other as they tried to find places to rest. He should not have put off the project for so long.
“Got it,” said Bad, pulling out his enchanted axe. “You start on the right and I take the left?”
Nodding, Dream pulled out his own pickaxe and cautiously leapt over Terra, the largest yellow axolotl, and Mar, the oldest pink one, to get at the wall. Soon another five dozen and a half block section had been carved to the cavern.
“Are we adding a new pond?” Bad asked, passing a stack of cobblestone to Dream.
“Yes. I was thinking here,” Dream said, tapping at a spot near the new wall. He then pointed to the section next to the closest finished pond. “And another one there.”
“Are we getting the water from the river past the woods?”
“It’s the best place to get some nearby.”
“Should I go get some buckets?”
“I have two stacks of buckets in the chest outside the cat barn.”
“And does that chest also have clay blocks?”
“Yes, Dad,” Dream drawled. He immediately flushed in embarrassment.
“Aaaw,” Bad gushed, and Dream wished he had dug a deep enough hole to fall down and respawn. “You’ve done well, son.”
“Maybe we are done for the day,” Dream muttered, hoping the blush staining his face stayed off his neck.
“Why? Because I reminded you of your dad?” Bad huffed with too wide a smile. “I’m flattered.”
“I didn’t mean to call you ‘dad,’ okay?” Dream said, his voice pitching upward. “I don’t even know why I did that. I never met my dad.”
The high pitch had the sentence bouncing off the nearby stone wall and echoing through the cavern. Bad stared at Dream with a strange look. The demon opened his mouth to say something but was interrupted.
“I came down to see if you needed any help, but guess you’re good,” Techno snorted from where he was standing near the dark oak gate. He turned without his usual dramatic flair. “Have fun finishing building with your not-dad.”
Dream’s stomach sunk. He should be terrified of the future remarks Techno would lob his way for the next few weeks over the stupid slip of the tongue, but Techno’s demeanor had him filled with an unknown dread. Instead of looking excited or amused over the new avenue of teasing, Techno’s shoulders had shrunk into themselves and he looked…upset. Dream had not seen Techno this upset since Tommy chose L’Manberg over the Blood Warrior a hundred years ago.
Before he could even start to figure out what had upset the strongest warrior in various servers, Techno was gone.
“Dream,” Bad said softly, pulling Dream’s gaze away from where Techno had disappeared. “You weren’t serious about what you said.”
“I was,” Dream said slowly. He grabbed his mask and pushed it to the side in order to better show his sincerity. “I’ve never—my dad left before I was born and mama—she…she’s been long gone. I cannot even begin to imagine why I called you that.”
“Because you’re used to doing this kind of thing with your dad,” Bad said, his voice still gentle even when his words made no sense. “You’ve been waiting to hang out and expand this habitat together with him. That’s the only reason you would make your animals wait to make them comfortable. Because you were waiting for your dad.”
“But my dad’s been gone for over a century. I was waiting to work on this with….” The words faded on his tongue. He glanced back at the entrance to the underground jungle. The one he had built with Techno back when Phil had brought home a flock of parrots for Dream.
Phil had helped Dream build the cat barn above the jungle cavern, but Techno had been the one to carve this whole cave with Dream. Hanging the various lanterns from the ceiling and going down in a nearby natural cave to gather more and more moss while Dream gathered several jungle saplings. The clay they had gathered together lining and dividing the original axolotl habitat.
“Oh.”
“Yeah. Oh,” Bad repeated. “Why don’t I make an emergency pond and fill it with some of the water from the other ponds for today in case any axolotls wander into this section, and you go talk to Techno about what you just said.”
“What am I supposed to say? I accidentally called one of my best friends ‘dad’ because he reminded me of you? Wouldn’t that be cringe?”
“Phil and Techno adopted you waaay back after that whole doomsday thing with Tommy and the others happened,” Bad said with a strange blankness to his face. “Even Techno wouldn’t call you finally accepting that ‘cringe.’”
“I doubt they–there is no way they meant it that way then,” Dream said, red definitely creeping down his neck. “They had no reason–I was so much trouble during that time, with my ‘genius’ plan and everything. They just wanted to keep track of me.””
“Mm-hm,” Bad hummed sarcastically. “Dream, I love you, but that’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard you say. Go talk to your adoptive dad and grandad before you regret it.”
Placing the mask back on his face to save some dignity, Dream dashed back to the ladder. He hurried through the fluff maze and out of the cat barn. He ran to the door of the cabin that had grown several sizes since he had knocked on that same door hundreds of years ago. He paused outside the door as he heard murmurs from the other side.
“…called him ‘dad.’”
“That’s because you were supposed to have woken up several weeks ago to help him with that project. He likely was in a mindset that he was building and working with you. If you had been there, then he would have called you ‘dad.’”
“He hasn’t called me ‘dad.’ Not once. You said it would take time. You said he was still easing in. Immortal or not, a hundred years is a long time for someone to ‘ease in.’ And then after all that time, he accidentally calls someone else ‘dad’?!”
“You didn’t call me ‘dad’ even jokingly for 245 years. I don’t think you’re one to complain, mate.”
“I didn’t call anyone else ‘dad’ either. I think I have some right to complain.”
“If you hadn’t helped Shroud to defend that megacity on the bottom of the ocean—”
“He called in Tommy’s favor. I had to go—”
Done eavesdropping, Dream opened the door loudly. The murmuring voices stopped.
“Techno?” Dream called hoarsely. He cleared his throat and tried again. “Phil? You here?”
“We’re over here,” called Phil, and for a moment Dream dared to believe he had snuck up on the ancient angel. “And don’t think I didn’t notice you lurking there.”
Dream flinched and moved towards the kitchen where the voices had come from. Phil grinned brightly under Techno’s blood-filled glare.
“You here to make any important confessions?” Phil teased. Dream prepared to give his explanation, but his mouth seemed to suddenly have a mind of its own.
“This was not supposed to be permanent.”
“What wasn’t supposed to be permanent? Your life?” Phil asked. “Because you seemed to know before meeting us that you were immortal.”
“No. My mom told me I was immortal when I was barely 10. She actually used you as an example.” Dream took a deep breath. “ImeantIdidn’tthinkyou’dwantmearoundforforever.”
Both ancient immortals stared at him.
“Try that again, but slower,” Phil said, amusement mingling briefly with encouragement.
“He said he thought that we wouldn’t want him around for the rest of our immortal lives,” Techno drawled. Again, Dream flinched. Phil chuffed a short whistle.
“Don’t pretend you caught that. Chat helped you out.”
“It’s not cheating,” Techno defended. “They agreed to pay rent.”
“Rent in the form of information? Interesting. Are they willing to tell you what happened to that chest of golden carrots you had in the basement?”
“My golden carrots…Phil. You didn’t.”
“Your newest nest of rabbits were hungry.”
“They’re always hungry! And the more they eat, the more of them there are to feed. How many are there now, Phil? How many?!”
“Dad!” Dream shouted to be heard over the growing argument. The two’s heads snapped towards him. “Nothing happened to your—sorry, Chat’s rabbits. You left me in charge of them, remember, Bacon? Because of my ‘disney princess privilege.’ They didn’t get any golden carrots.”
Blood red eyes widened while sky blue twinkled. Heat crept up Dream’s neck and flooded his thankfully hidden face. He really wished he had chosen to wear his hoodie instead of his sleeveless top that morning. Dream crossed his arms and scowled behind his mask.
“See? Told you it was only a matter of time.”
“I dunno. I dunno. Sounded a bit forced. Might not have been an accident,” Techno said, his pig snout crinkling into a smirk. “But then he would have had to call me that on purpose.”
“Call you what?” Dream snapped. “Bacon?”
“Stop that, Tech,” Phil said, moving to lean his arm on his sitting friend’s shoulder. “Can’t you see the kid’s embarrassed?”
“What? It’s hard to see his neck glowing red. As far as that mask shows, he’s a happy teletubby about this.”
“You know what? I am going to go back and help Bad,” said Dream and escaped the room. Boisterous laughter boomed behind him. Dream promised himself that word would never escape his mouth again.
(Days later, when Techno had wrapped him up in a tight blanket burrito and stuck him under Steve the Fourth, Dream called out and begged Phil to help him. Phil only complied after Dream cried out for “Gramps.” Sure, Dream only said it along with several “old man” comments, but Phil had been around long enough to know his grandkid meant it. He held the purposeful slip over Techno’s head for days afterwards.)