Chapter Text
“Dream?” this time he froze. Yeah his voice was a lot lower, a little more midwestern drawl, but…
“T-tech?”
The two men sat in silence for a long time, to an outsider it may be too long, but they both had to take the time to process. Dream spoke first, “when the fuck were you in Florida? I thought you lived in California!”
“I-we moved literally two weeks after I got discharged...I think my parents couldn’t stay in the house anymore,” he stuttered, mind still flying. He knew Dream, his Dream and minecraft Dream were the same…”I’m fucking stupid, how many idiots go by ‘Dream’,” the pink haired man drawled.
The blonde bristled, “hey! It’s not a stupid name, I didn’t hear you complaining Tech,” he lashed out, no actual heat behind the words. “How’d we go this far without making the connection? What are we, degenerates?”
A huff came from the other line, “I-I really don’t know. I guess I kind of decided that my Dream was ...gone, y’know? We were both kind of fucked up, either of us could’ve ended up, uh, worse off than here,” he danced around the words they both meant, dead, or in jail, “I-I never expected to end up successful on the internet, so many people don’t make it. How was I supposed to make the connection between you and the other millions of kids tryin’ to become famous?”
Silence filled the call, Techno beginning to worry he’d reached a little too far, before Dream spoke up, “I mean, I should’ve made the connection between Technoblade and Tech. I-you’ve never talked about living in Florida, even when people made fun of me or whatever. And, uh, I guess I thought the same...about, um, not turning out like this. For a while I didn’t think I’d be here this long,” he chuckled self-deprecatingly, “Besides, I roomed with kids who called themselves all sorts of shit: Candycane, Star, Pooter, Nuts- hey! Don’t laugh at him, he was completely crazy and decided the name fit, but he was a better friend than a lot of other kids! I didn’t like my name so I chose Dream. Tech- considering how much you don’t like your real name…”
“I didn’t want people knowing it. You’re right, I don’t like it, not as much as you, of course, but more so I didn’t like the idea of people out there just...knowin,” he trailed off.
A longer silence.
“So,” Techno awkwardly said, “how’s the bipolar?” Dream wheezed, “what the fu-what kind of question is that you dumbass? How-how’s the-” he wheezed again, making the teakettle noise he was known for. Techno huffed, “well what did you want me to ask? I’m tryin’ ta check in!”
Dream caught his breath, voice a little hoarse still, “it’s, it’s fine I guess. Haven’t had any major mania in a few months, caught myself before my last episode. Fairly stable. How’s the depression and ‘sewer slide’ as the kids say?”
Techno flushed, “okay, I see how awkward that is. Uh-fine, streaming helps make me actually shower and drink water and stuff. No...did you say sewer slide, like the goddamned ninja turtles or something? None of that in a while I guess. Got social anxiety added on, if you couldn’t figure that out on your own,” he gave a crooked little smile despite knowing Dream couldn’t see him.
Another silence, it was surprisingly hard to process your trauma buddy secretly being your adult friend. “Pretty fun of us to come up with our gamertags when in the midst of severe mental illness, huh?” Techno quipped, completely dead tone. He broke, high pitched laughter bursting from deep in his chest. Dream followed suit, “I mean, isn’t that when inspiration strikes best?” he added, giggling.
Dream yawned, jaw cracking with the effort. The pink haired man cringed, “oh man, it must be late over there, huh? Go to bed, we can talk more tomorrow if you want. I wanna hear what happened to 13 year old Dream after I left, god knows you relied on me to cover your back in there. Sleep, Dream,” he finished gently, in the same tone he remembered using during the worst of the younger boy’s nights.
He shuddered, “god it’s so weird that we knew each other back then. I wanna know about moving to Cali, I was actually looking at apartments out there, would be nice to be closer to acting or whatever to go into after being a minecraft creator,” he smiled weakly. Another yawn broke through, distorting his voice, “goodnight, Tech. Talk to ya tomorrow.”
True to his word, Dream messaged Tech the next morning when he woke up, “Morning, nerd. Here’s the number I couldn’t give you back then, text me when you’re ready to hop on. Maybe we could video call?” The blonde was anxious, he’d barely begun face calling with Sapnap and George, friends he played minecraft with for years. But there seemed to be a different relationship when said friend had, quite literally, seen you at one of your absolute worst moments. Besides, Tech had already seen his face- granted nearly 8 years ago- it wasn’t like he’d be completely shocked.
His phone buzzed a few hours later with a simple “yes.” Dream practically sprinted to his computer, sliding the tape off of his computer’s camera. After the amount of times he’d been doxed, or attempted, he’d learned to take precautionary measures. He called, bouncing up and down in his seat as it went through and began connecting.
“Tech!” he cried as the pink haired man’s profile appeared. He’d grown up, that much as obvious. He had the same long face, high cheekbones, and eyes, but his jaw had strengthened and hair was much longer, almost as long as Dream’s own. He had on thin wired glasses and a surprisingly anxious expression. The younger was almost confused, until he remembered that Techno didn’t show his face either, this was just as scary to him as Dream.
In all honesty, Tech was going through the same feelings as Dream, anxious and excited. How much had changed from that childish cuteness he’d had back then? As his picture popped up, grin spreading his face wide, Tech was tempted to say nothin’ had changed at all, he still looked like the kid just excited to have someone to play uno with who wouldn’t try to strangle him. He’d definitely grown up, at second glance, hair long enough to braid and face just flat out handsome, betraying every flash of emotion he felt. Tech shrugged, “look the same,” he said indifferently.
Dream spluttered, “wha-no! I...I hadn’t even hit puberty yet, what do you mean ‘the same,’ you’re an assole,” he cried.
“Nerd, I was joking. Of course you changed, you got that long hair now.”
The blonde blushed, tugging at a strand that threatened to fall into his eyes, “I haven’t gotten around to cutting it, okay? I’m gonna need to soon- it keeps falling in my eyes.” Technoblade found himself speaking before he truly meant to, “don’t, it’s too pretty to get rid of,” then blushed, “I-I mean it’s too healthy and stuff, I-just get some hair ties or learn to braid, you fool.”
Dream found himself flushing all the way to his ears, tugging a little harder on the strand, “o-oh, um, yeah. I-I don’t know if I could braid, but…I’ll try, I guess.” Techno looked away from the camera.
“Uh, if you ever find yourself across the country, I could teach you? I learned on my little sister, if I could braid her hair while she was wigglin’ all around and barely had sprouts, I’m sure I could do yours,” he paused, “th-that is, if you wanted to.” Dream quickly agreed.
“So,” Techno changed the subject, “what’ve you been up to?”
The younger perked up, beginning to ramble so fast Techno could barely catch what he was saying. Barely.
He’d stayed there for 4-6 months, why he ended up falling back in class. “Bipolar,” he explained, “was hard. You couldn’t be too happy or too sad or it was a symptom.” He’d visited a therapist all the way until he turned 20, but since his meds were stable, they decided he was fine for now. Occasionally, he felt himself leaning towards an episode, but they’d calmed down and could usually stop them, or at least the worst of his symptoms.
“Your turn,” he challenged after running out of breath slumped over his desk. Techno cleared his throat nervously, he hadn’t shared this kinda stuff with anyone.
Like he said, his parents and him moved almost immediately after he got discharged, “I could tell their eyes glazed over when they passed by my bedroom. It took days for them to let me close the door, and even then they’d have this horrible look on their face, somethin’ just pure fear, when they opened it. I-I don’t think they could’ve taken much longer there,” he rasped, cheeks turning red. He hated thinking about what he’d put them through. Techno’s school in California was much better, giving the kids more freedom in their schedule and day. He’d excelled, still without many friends, but his grades shot up. They’d stopped the streak of giving him detention for stupid stuff like daring to be bullied. He’d gone to a few clinics during that time, some inpatient, some outpatient, before he got placed on medication that worked, not just make him too sleepy to function.
His parents had been hesitant to let him move out, one of the reasons he still lived at home. Dream had but in, saying the same thing. They didn’t not trust him, he quickly shared, but didn’t want him on his own in case of a relapse. Dream just hadn’t found someone he trusted with that information about him just yet, especially after blowing up to 14 million subscribers.
Techno found himself speaking before thinking once again, something that seemed to be a common theme when Dream was around, “come live with me.”
“Excuse me?” Dream’s eyes locked onto his through the screen, making Techno shiver even though he knew the younger man was looking at a camera, not really meeting his eyes with that intense gaze. He sucked in a deep breath, committing, “I mean it, come to California. You said it yourself, it’d be helpful for your future. Besides, neither of our families want us moving out alone, who better to move in with than someone who helped me through a lot of my treatment,” he cleared his throat, scratching the back of his neck to settle some of the nerves, “I, uh, talked a lot about you when I got discharged, y’know? My mom was thrilled that I finally had a friend, but, um, since we couldn’t stay in touch…”
Dream nodded, shame filling his eyes. They hadn’t been super well off, he really didn’t have the information to offer the pink haired boy he’d come to depend on in the ward. Techno frowned at the darkening look, coughing once to draw attention back to him, “anyways, I have you now. I...uh, you don’t have to give me an answer now. You have time, I don’t have anythin’ lined up anyways. Just, just know I’d like it, okay? I-I’ve thought about you a lot,” he watched, intrigued, as Dream’s face turned cherry red, “and now that I have you, sue me for wantin’ to keep you close.”
The younger boy swallowed heavily, ignoring the flicker of tears filling his eyes, not on camera. “I-let me talk to my parents, I’d, I’d like that, Tech…” he trailed off, deciding to bite the bullet, “I m-missed you too.”
The spoke for a little longer, easily moving on to dumb topics, their upcoming plans for their channels, parkour, their pets. It was simple to slip back into the comfortable conversation they’d had back then, nearly 8 years ago felt like a weekend away. When they hung up, Techno felt lighter than he’d felt in, well, certainly a long time. He shut off his computer, throwing open his door to talk to his parents, he didn’t wanna be the one waiting for a conversation if anything came of his proposal. An odd hope filled his chest, warmth licking up from his belly.