Chapter Text
Dream groaned internally. What the fuck has he gotten himself into?
Dream forced the memory into the furthest corner of his mind, still feeling very embarrassed about the situation. He was a stupid, inexperienced child back then, but Techno still liked to remind him of how they met, much to Dream’s dismay and Phil’s amusement. The villain especially likes bringing it up in front of the other SBI members, like Tommy, who makes fun of him for hours afterwards.
The annoying little raccoon (as Dream likes to call him) is fucking insufferable but Dream still grew fond of him pretty quickly after meeting him. Sure, it took Tommy quite a long time to get used to the hero being almost a constant presence at the SBI base, but he warmed up to Dream eventually. And even though sometimes all the hero wanted to do was to smash something over Tommy’s head, their friendship went very deep in their hearts (but none of them would ever admit that).
Techno was a different story, though. At first, Dream was terrified of him. The academy had said so many vile things about him that it was almost impossible to not feel scared upon looking at him. He was tall, with defined muscles and long, pink hair tied in a high ponytail. The mask he wore during fights was intimidating by itself, but even more so when Techno wore it. His bright red eyes shone through the eye holes and his long fangs scared everyone that got too close. Dream looked like barely-a-teenager next to Techno with his obnoxiously bright green sweater and white smiley mask, his messy blonde hair tied together in an attempt at a messy bun. Not to mention the height difference between them. When Dream was getting used to staying over at Phil’s, the avian would cackle every time he saw the villain and hero standing next to each other.
“Oh my god, you’re short!!” Techno exclaimed in disbelief, staring at the best hero in the entire city standing in front of him. Without his shoes, Dream was good 10 inches shorter than Techno.
Dream glared up at the villain and if looks could kill, Techno would be a dead man. The taller just chuckled but eventually stopped his antics, because although teasing the hero about his height was so much fun, it got borderline dangerous sometimes, with the hero chucking porcelain plates or even knives at Techno, stopping the objects with his powers barely a few inches away from the villain’s skin. There’s been a few fair incidents that led to Techno having a broken nose or a small concussion, but it was kind of deserved. At least that’s what Dream had said.
“I’m not short, you’re just stupidly tall, Bacon” Dream grumbled and the taller only chuckled, ruffling Dream’s mop of hair, taking advantage of the rare moment where Dream had his hair down, the unruly curls falling down to the hero’s shoulders.
“Sure, you keep telling yourself that, homeless teletubby” Techno snickered, patting Dream’s head and enjoying the embarrassed blush on the hero’s cheeks.
The punch to his face was expected.
The more time Dream spent with Techno, the more he realised that the big, mighty and ruthless villain is just a big softie. The first time Techno showed his soft side to Dream, the hero was left speechless.
“Hello Steve! Oh how much I missed you, I bet you missed me too, huh?” Techno murmured, petting his dog a little aggressively. Cute aggression, as many call it.
Dream was left standing in the doorway, mouth agape. Was this the great Blood god baby talking to his dog?!
“Oh yeah I know, I know you did” Techno laughed as the white dog jumped at its’ owner, whining in excitement. The villain picked Steve up, giggling as the dog licked his face.
“You’re just the cutest, aren’t you?” Techno cooed, pressing kisses on Steve’s forehead before a loud, disbelieving “what the fuck??” Had him whipping his head around too look at Dream. The hero was standing in the doorway, staring at the villain with confusion and wide eyes.
“The Blood god is a fucking softie? Oh my fucking god, George and Sap are never gonna believe me” the hero exclaimed exasperatedly, shaking his head in disbelief.
Since then, Dream got really comfortable with the villain. And although Techno was a jerk most of the time, Dream also knew that he could trust him with anything. He’d probably trust Techno with his own life, and he knew the villain felt the same.
Then there was Phil; the sweetest and most gentle person Dream’s ever met. Even though he’d never say it out loud, Phil was his father figure without any doubts, and it seemed like the avian claimed him as his own son as well. A flock, Phil called their group of people. He explained that its basically just like a family, and Dream’s heart filled with warmth at the words. He whispered the word “family” to himself back then, because, finally, he felt like he belonged somewhere after all these years of just not fitting in.
Phil once admitted that the moment he saw Dream, terrified and shaking in front of the two villains, he knew he was adopting him. Dream had laughed back then, joking about Phil’s adopting problem, about how, if he continued adopting everyone he sees, he’d end up with half of the city being his unofficial children.
Neither Phil nor Techno had ever asked about his family, but Dream knew that they had a hunch. For example, the hero has never mentioned his parents in any conversation, opting to just listen when the topic of family came up. Dream was sure that either Phil or Techno had noticed his strange behaviour, escaping from the conversations or changing the topic when any personal questions were asked.
“Christmas is coming, who are you gonna spend it with?” Phil asked while aggressively whisking the egg whites in a bowl “you know that you’re always welcome here, right?”
Dream responded with an absent hum before saying “probably gonna stay with George and Sapnap for a while before they go visit their families, and then we'll see”. He shrugged, trying not to think about how lonely and cold the last Christmas seemed without his best friends at his side. Well, at least he had his cat, Patches. She was usually menace, but she could sense Dream’s sadness, so she spent the days curled up on his chest, purring to ease the loneliness. It worked, to an extent.
“Alone on Christmas? What about your own family?” Phil questioned.
“Well, I’m used to it. I have Patches” Dream smiled at the thought of his baby, avoiding the second question. “Gogs and Sap are always gone just for a few days”.
“Dream, can’t you come to celebrate this year’s Christmas with us? You can bring Patches, I’m sure Steve won’t mind” Phil smiled at Dream with so much kindness in his eyes it hurt. “I just don’t want you to be alone, and its gonna be pretty lively here” the avian chuckled, probably reminiscing about the previous years.
Dream could imagine it; Tommy running around, screaming Wilbur chasing after him meanwhile Techno just watched them with an unimpressed look from behind his book. Phil and Kristin would try to stop the fighting, but being powerless as their kids ran out of the door into the garden to wrestle in the snow.
Dream really wanted to take up on the offer, to allow himself to be selfish, just one time. He could allow a himself a few days, right?
“Okay” Dream eventually said, surprising Phil and himself.
“Great! I’ll tell Wilbur to set up the guest bedroom” Phil exclaimed, clapping his hands the same exact way he did all these years ago when they first met.
Needles to say, it was the best Christmas Dream has ever experienced.