Chapter Text
Dream has exactly 30 minutes until his date comes pick him up and he's still doing some last changes on his assignment due midnight.
Of course he doesn't trust himself enough to make sure he comes back home at least two hours before the clock hits 12, he's no Cinderella.
Techno has been texting him all week to make sure he doesn't want to push the date forward for this exact reason, move it some day next week maybe, or in three weeks when he's done with all his exams. Goddamn teacher...
Obviously, Dream insisted they go out this Saturday and, frankly, he doesn't regret it at all. He's been so excited to go on his first date in 2 years. College life really put a stamp on his love life, if he can still call it that. It's all been a hook up journey ever since he broke up with his last girlfriend in freshman year.
The assignment is done and sent, but he has no time to breathe as he runs around the shared dorm room, trying to make himself look at least presentable and ignoring the yells of his roommate who's trying to sleep through the noise.
Sapnap, his roomate, has been his best friend ever since middle school. They've been unseparable until they found out they didn't get to be roommates in college.
Dream had to put up with a overly flirty roommate for six months while Sapnap got a grumpy british boy that slept a lot. Dream's roommate wasn't all that bad, he was funny and had a lot of ways of getting them into parties. The guys was just so blunt when he was coming onto Dream that it was infuriating, especially since he had a girlfriend. What also really got on his nerves was how big of a "no homo" guy he was any other time when he didn't propose they made out.
So when Dream found out his girlfriend has been cheating on him, he broke up with her, he was mad at everything, he had to sort everything out before all the frustration exploded out of him.
He marched towards the dorm supervisor's room and flirted his way into getting Sapnap as his roommate. He left with a 3 bed room that he was going to share with Sapnap and their new friend, George, the sleepy british Sapnap's been staying with. He's not even sure if the supervisor was into men or just got so overwhelmed by the attention he panicked, but it worked.
He wenr back righr after and fucked his ex-roommate. After that, he visited his old room in the next months a lot more often than he would've thought.
"Sapnap please open your eyes for a second, i need your opinion or I'm going to start crying."
Sapnap groans and turns his head on the pillow to look at his friend. "Don't cry, you'll ruin your make-up, princess." He blinks a few times to shake the sleep away and look at Dream better.
"You actually look great, dude, stop stressing."
"You mean it?" Dream's playing with the hem of his sweater. He's picked this outfit after a full night of searching and borrowing and combining. It seemed perfect at the moment, but right now everything seemed wrong, even him.
Since he didn't own many things besides, well, a bunch of hoodies, he had to settle on a pair of black jeans, a white shirt he got from Sapnap and a dark green sweater he didn't even remember he had.
Dream hears his phone his phone rings and he answers it, but he has to put it on speaker as he's still struggling to tie his combat boots as nicely as possible.
"Hey, give me one more minute and I'll be right down!"
Techno chuckles on the other side of the line. "That's alright. I would've loved to be a proper gentleman and pick you up from your front door, but-"
Sapnap jumps out of his bed to reach for his phone before Dream can do anything about it. "But please do! I bet all of Dream's boyfriends would love to see you pick up their boy in a fancy car. What even is that? A Rolls?"
Techno snorts and Dream raises his eyebrow curiously, joining Sapnap to look out the window. "Bentley, actually. Is it still worth it without the Rolls?"
"Oh yeah, they'd love that", Sapnap continues.
Dream slaps his forehead, glaring at Sapnap. The silence that follows on the other line and the hurt look on Dream's face squeeze at Sapnap's heart. "Hey, are you still there dude?"
There's some shuffling. "Yeah, just finding the entrance. What's the room number?" Both boys' faces light up. "413, but you can knock on 420 first if you wanna rile one of them up." Sapnap gives back his phone with a smug grin. Dream rolls his eyes.
"I'll be up in a minute."
Dream doesn't know how to respond. So now Sapnap decides to be silent. "O-okay, thanks," he stutters out, "i mean not thanks, i meant sure, good, i mean-"
Techno laughs this time and Dream feels himself heating up from head to toe. The other man almost whispers into the phone. "Get ready for me, Dream, I'm on my way." He hangs up.
Right, right, right, no. He's not ready for this. Sapnap is whistling and laughing his ass off beside him. "Oh, you're fucked, Dream. Maybe even literally." This gets the boy a an elbow in the ribs and Dream resumes getting ready, ignoring his roommate's complaints.
They hear a voice screaming down the hall and a knock on the door. They look at each other and both run to open the door. Sapnap gets there first and swings the door open, crossing his arms over his chest like a mother meeting her son's date.
They can hear the yelling better now. Techno is standing in front of the open door, but his body is turned towards the right, smiling with his eyebrows raised at the owner of the voice.
"I see you like to ride old studs now, Dream, don't you?" The guy takes a big gulp out of his beer bottle.
Sapnap punches Techno's shoulder lightly. "Did you tell him about the car?"
"I might have waved the keys in front of him a few times." Techno doesn't feel even a little bit ashamed about it until he meets Dream's eyes and his smile falters. But Dream smiles and rolls his eyes at both of them.
Sapnap chuckles. "Good, good. I think i like you already."
His roommat slaps him on the back, sending him forward right in Techno's arms and yells at them before closing the door in their noses. "Don't you dare bring him home until tomorrow, hotshot!"
Dream takes Techno's hand dragging him out of the building as fast as humanly possible. Once they reach the car, Techno spins him around, laughing. "Slow down, i didn't even get to look at it yet."
Dream's face turns red as Techno takes the time to move his eyes all over him. And the fact that he gets a better look at Techno isn't helping either. The man is wearing a pair of black dress pants with thin grey lines forming a checked pattern, matte black dress shoes and a black shirt with the last 2 buttons open and that's where his eyes linger for a moment too long, on the exposed neck. Over the shirt, he wears a black overcoat that reaches his mid-thigh.
Dream gulps. He feels so underdressed and the other has still not said anything. He looks to the side in embarrassment, tugging his elbow with his other hand closer to his body, shrinking on himself.
Techno grabs his right hand into one of his and sqeezes it lightly. "You look beautiful." He opens the car door and holds it open for Dream, still not letting go of gis hand, instead helping him get into his seat.
Techno finally let's go and closes the door. He circles the car, taking his coat off as he makes his way to the back door to drop it on the backseats and gets in thr driver's seat. The car starts with a purr and they're off to wherever Techno has planned to take him.
He's still feeling little overheated from Techno's touch and his words and his looks and everything Techno.
After driving a few minutes in comfortable silence, they arrive at a restaurant that Dream doesn't know how to describe other than "fancy". Techno repeats the routine, in reverse this time, and helps Dream out of the car.
He doesn't let Dream worry about how they should walk inside, side by side, should he walk first, should he let Techno lead the way? Techno hooks Dream's arm around his and they walk in together.
The receptionist seems to recognize Techno and walks them herself to the table instead of asking a waiter.
They walk out the door on the farthest wall of the restaurant and Dream feels a little releaved that he doesn't have to sit inside with all those eyes on him. It's a lot quieter out there too.
They're led past all the other tables until they stop in front of a small round red table, in between two tall oak trees, with two white chairs. On each side, flames rise out of two lamps, casting light and warmth around them.
The woman leaves and Techno helps Dream take his seat. A waiter stops near their table and waits until Techno sits down and gestures for him to approach. A bottle of wine glints in the light of the lamps as the waiter presents it to Techno.
"Oh no, not me. Dream, what do you think of this one?" The waiter turns to show Dream the bottle with a warm smile.
"Um", Dream squints to read the label better in the low light. He manages to read "vinho do Porto", the year and a name he doesn't recognize. He clears his throat. "Y-yeah, that looks like a good one."
He squeezes his eyes shot, almost slapping himself in the face. Techno chuckles and nods at the waiter who's trying to hide a smile, but Dream doesn't blame him in the slightest.
They're alone again. "Sorry, I'm a college student, i don't know much about wine. We drink anything that smells like alcohol."
Techno laughs. "Well that's not a very good habit. Try it." He points at the now filled glass.
Dream takes a sip. It tastes like it smells, it has a strong wood-like flavor to it and it goes down his throat with a nice burn. Thank God college students can't afford this or they'd all be in hospital after one party.
He nods slightly but doesn't get to properly give him a response because they are interrupted by a set of plates being placed in front of them. They don't start eating immediately as the food looks like it needs to cool off a little.
Techno notices the nervous bouncing of Dream's leg. "While i was a bit disappointed by Tubbo's change in behaviour, i must admit I'm glad those gremlins decided to test my limits a few days ago."
Dream takea another sip, trying to hide his smile. "Is that so? We should not encourage this kind of comportment, Mr Blade."
Techno looks up with a grin from the stake he's just started to cut. "I never encourage this kinda of behaviour. I actually prefer to meet their family in a much lighter setting than discussing their child's punishment."
Dream raises an eyebrow as he works on cutting his own food. "So you do this often?" He lifts his fork to his mouth, biting down around the small piece of meat on it.
Techno shakes his head with a chuckle. "I can assure you this is a new occurance to me, Mr Wastaken. I do not ask all my students' family memebers to go on dates with me."
"Why not?" Dream smiles.
Techno opens his mouth, frowning in confusion but decides the question doesn't deserve an answer. Dream laughs at the pout on his face.
They talk about family mostly for the next half hour, Techno reminding him from time to time to eat something. The rest of the time, Dream rants about how proud he is of Tubbo or what dumb things they do together, or how thankful he is that their mother never gets too mad at them, while Techno just sits back and drinks his wine, listening to everything with genuine interest.
He takes a deep breath and slumps down in his chair, cheeks heating up from embarrassment. "Sorry, i talk too much..."
Techno puts his glass back on the tabel and leans forward to refill it. He stays like that, elbows on the table and glass in one hand. His other hand reaches over the table and slide under Dream's twitching fingers. He doesn't grab his hand, however.
"It'd be a shame not to hear you talk, really, so don't worry about it." He sends him a warm, reassuring smile and Dream's heart skips a beat.
"Well i want to know more about you too, so..."
Techno retracts his hand and leans back into his chair with a grin. "So? What do you want to know?"
Dream pretends to think. There's something that's been eating at him all night, but maybe it's too inappropriate. Techno's been nothing but sweet to him, but he doesn't want to ruin his chances with the man.
Techno's glass hitting the table startles him out of his thoughts. "Dream, are you okay?"
He swallows. "Yeah, no, I'm fine."
That warm smile is back again. "You can ask me anything, you know? If that's what was bothering you earlier, it's okay, you can-"
"You're a teacher." He pauses. He didn't actually want to start this conversation, but now he sure doesn't know how to end it.
Techno's still looking at him expectantly. A few more moments pass. How does he finish this idea without actually asking.
The other chuckles and it sends a shiver down Dream's spine. Or maybe it was just the cold and it had nothing to do with the man, but seems like Techno got the same idea as he stands up and places his coat over Dream's shoulders. He accepts it with a smile.
"Okay." Techno sits back in his chest, straightening the sleeves of his shirt. "I am a teacher, that is true, but i fail to understand the problem with that. Is it because oc Tubbo? I don't think Tubbo would mind and i would definitely not favor Tubbo over any of the other stud-"
"No no no, that's not what i meant. Tubbo was actually kind of excited about this." He laughs, rubbing the back of his neck nervously. "It's just...a curiosity."
Techno hums. "Okay, shoot."
Dream inhales and talks through a long exhale. "How do you have all this money? The car, the clothes, the restaurant..."
The other man stays silent for a moment, face serious, searching something on Dream's face. Dream's eyes widen. "I am so sorry, that is not my place to ask, or even assume that as a teacher you wouldn't afford this and i swear i am NOT a gold digger, i am so sorry, i-"
Techno lets out a hearty laugh, almost spilling the wine on himself.
"Calm down, Dream, Jesus! It's fine."
"No, no it's not. I shouldn't have-"
Techno interrupts him again, this time more sternly. "I'm serious, it's okay. I'm aware of how this might seem. It's old money."
"But i thought you said you're adopted. You haven't mentioned any family other than Phil, Wilbur and Tommy, so i just assumed...you know."
"Yeah, i am adopted, but i found out two years ago about an uncle that wanted to meet me. He had no children, never got married and i was his only living family so he left me everything. What, did you think i was some kind of mafia boss or something?"
Dream rolls his eyes. "Ha ha. Maybe, i don't know you well enough yet."
Techno pauses, then he clears his throat. "I don't usually spend them much other than the car that the guys made me buy and well..." Dream notices a tint of red on Techno's cheeks and feels his heart flutter.
"And this date. You could've kept the streak going and take me to a Pizza Hut, Techno, I'm not used to all of this anyway. I would've actually liked it a lot."
Techno's eyes look up at him and he thinks he sees panic in them. "You don't like it here." It's a statement more than a question and the disappointment on his face breaks Dream's heart a little.
"No no, i love it. I've dated a few rich assholes, that came out wrong, not that you are one, but no one ever thought i was good enough for this, that i am worth this much." He gestures with his arms at the restaurant.
Techno looks at him confused as if he didn't expect that to come out of Dream's mouth. "You deserve this. You are worth more than anything and anyone here, Dream."
He grabs Techno's hand and sqeezes it. "I love this date."
Techno doesn't let him let go of his hand and, instead, stands up and pulls Dream on his feet. He falls into Techno's chest immediately and lets himself be lead away from the table and further onto the small wooden platform their table is placed on.
The silence allows Dream to finally hear the constant cricket of the insects into the night and low hum of the music inside the restaurant. He realizes they've started swaying to the music an he relaxes into Techno's arms, letting out a sigh.
He doesn't know how long they've been doing it for, how many times they've spinned in slow circles, how many times he's sighed in content, how many songs have been played, but it doesn't matter. Time doesn't matter to him right now. What matters is his head against Techno's shoulder and their synchronized heartbeat that feels like one where their chests meet.
Techno's hand massaging his lower back with small circles is almost making him doze off but he reminds himself where they are. He looks up at Techno and he meets the other's eyes almost immediately.
A small smile tugs at the corners of Techno's mouth. Dream's eyes flutter shut and soon he feels a warm breath ghosting over his lips. He closes the distance and lights spark behind his eyelids.
He parts his lips anx lets Techno take whatever he wants from him because it feels so good. It feels sweet and right and it makes him warm inside. He needs it. He's needed it everyday after their first kiss at school.
Techno's hand on his lower back pulls him closer against his body and Dream gasps. They take it as an opportunity to breath for a moment, pressing their foreheads together.
Dream swallows, throat dry from all the open-mouthed kisses and desperate gasps for air. "As much as I'd love to kick Sapnap out in the middle of the night, do you think we could go back to yours."
Techno moves his head to bump their nose together, lips closer again. He hums. "Yeah, yeah that's a good idea." He kissed Dream again like he wants to suck all the life out of him.
They part again, Dream is breathless but Techno seems to be doing okay, somehow.
He reaches under the coat still draped around Dream's shoulders. A hand grazes against his side and he visibly shudders. Techno smiles against his temple and pulls out a wallet out of the inner pocket of the coat.
"I'll go pay and then we can leave." Dream nods, unable to speak without his voice breaking.
The ride back to Techno's apartment is tortuous, with Techno grabbing his thigh more times than he can remember, him pulling Dream into a kiss every time they stop at a red light and just the low murmur of his voice when he tells Dream to hold on a little longer for him when Dream's leg starts bouncing in anticipation.
They barely reach the door when they start kissing again, with more hunger and desperation this time and the promise of more while they are inside.
Techno manages to open the door and pushes Dream right back against the door once they're inside. His heart stops. He heard whispers. And Techno has stopped too which means he heard them too.
He looks over Techno's shoulder and pushes him away in horror with as much force as he can gather.
"Good evening, Mr Blade. How was the date? Good i aasume." One of the teens speaks up, lips pressed into a thin line waiting awkwardly for someone else to give it a try.
Dream's first instinct is to jump in front of Techno when he sees the murderous glare he sends to Tommy.
"Tommy, you son of a bitch, what ate you doing here?!" Dream has to actually hold Techno back with his hands against the other's chest, not that he thinks he'd do any harm to the teen.
Tommy starts yelling stuttered explanations. Dream's eyes meet Tubbo's who sends him an apologetic look. Dream sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose.
"You said i can come here to do homework if i ever need to, you gave me the key, Techno!"
"I didn't give you anything! And couldn't you call first, you know, like a normal person?"
Tommy thinks for a second and then he lifts his eyebrow as if things are starting to make sense. "Oh yeah, i forgot i stole your key and made a copy."
"You did what!?" Dream would just laugh at the vein that almost popped out of Techno's forehead, if he wasn't so damn horny and frustrated.
A tall boy gets suddenly up off the floor and waves awkwardly. Dream knows him, he's Tubbo's friend. "Hi, Mr Blade, hi, Dream! We are really sorry, we didn't know you would come home tonight." The teens face turns bright red. "Not that we assumed you would-"
Tommy bursts out laughing and Dream is this close to stepping out of Techno's way.
"Hi, Ranboo, how are you?" Dream responds with a smile. Techno sighs and grets the kid too.
"Hey, how come i didn't get a hello?" The first teen to speak up gets up too and dusts off his purple hoodie.
"Hello to you too, Purpled." Techno nods the teen's way and he nods back satisfied.
"Dream, we really are sorry, we didn't think this through. We just needed a place to do our project since mom has her night off and we didn't want to bother her." Tubbo explains.
Tommy pipes in."Yeah, and Phil had that stupid think today and he had people over so it was too loud. Plus how could we know you weren't going back to his place, huh?" He points at Dream.
Techno's eyes go wide again and he grits his teeth. "Tommy." His voice is calm. He steps closer and Dream lets him. "He lives in a fucking dorm room!"
Purpled leans closer to Ranboo. "Mr Blade dates a college kid?"
Techno drags his palm over his face, groaning in frustration. They all burst out laughing, including Dream who places a hand on Techno's shoulder reassuringly.
Techno sighs. "Do your parents even know you're here?" They all nod.
"Mom said i can stay as long as i want if that means I'm not playing video games all day." Purpled pulls out the controller from behind him. "Little did she know."
Techno actually laughs this time. "I don't have enough beds for all of you."
"Can they sleep at our place?" Tubbo tries his best puppy eyes on Dream.
Dream raises an eyebrow at him, unimpressed. "I should let you all walk home after what you just pulled." Ranboo actually looks concerned for a second. "Fine, just grab your things and I'll call an Uber."
"I could take you home." Techno walks to him and snakes an arm around his waist. Dream's hands shoot to his chest, making their way up to pull at the collar of his shirt. "It's okay, I've got this. Just go to sleep."
He leans forward to kiss Dream, but they get interrupted by Tommy clearing his throat loudly. Techno rolls his eyes and kisses Dream anyway. Dream deepens the kiss.
"Ew, no, no, stop! What is wrong with you?" The teens complain and dramatically cover their eyes.
Sweet, sweet revenge. They part with a smile.
Once the kids are all done, they make their way out the door. Techno stops Dream to give him one last kiss. "Can i call you tonight?"
"No, he needs his beauty sleep", Tubbo pipes in. Dream laughs at the death glare Techno sends him. He's quite good at them.
"Watch it, Tubbo, you still have one and half years of highschool left." Tubbo smiles and dismisses the threat with a wave of his hand.
Techno scoffs. "He's getting a big head, isn't, he?"
"How are you even a teacher?" Dream laughs and leaves a kiss on Techno's cheek. "Just call me, idiot, stop letting them get to you."
Their mother is still awake when they get home. "I was not expecting this many visitors, tonight. Honey, you should've told me, i would've made some snacks." She kisses Tubbo's head, then Dream's.
"Mom it's midnight, we don't need snacks."
"Speak for yourself! I'm hungry!" Tommy throws his backpack on the ground.
"Hello, Mrs Wastaken!" Purpled and Ranboo greet at the same time, following Tommy's lead with the backpack.
"Please, call me Puffy, boys." She gives them a smile and walks to the kitchen cupboards to look for any snacks left.
Purpled lifts his fingers to his forehead and salutes. "Aye aye, captain!" Puffy laughs and gestures for them to join her around the kitchen counter.
"Honey, i didn't even ask you. How was your date?" Her voice changes to a lower, more playful tone. "How come you're home so early?" She wiggles her eyebrows at him and Dream drops his head in this hands, groaning.
"We cockblocked him!" Tubbo states matter of factly.
"Tubbo! What the hell?"
"Tubbo, don't swear! But what happened?" Dream groans again at his mother's no nosiness.
Tommy throws a few potato chips in his mouth. "We were doing a project at my brother's place and they rushed in, already all over each other. I swear, miss, my innocent eyes have never seen so many tongues in my life!" Tommy grins at him.
"Dream!" His mother crosses her arms over her chest, sending Dream a scolding look.
Dream huffs out air in bewilderment. He lets out sounds in frustration and disbelief until he settles on actual words. "They weren't supposed to be there, mom! How is this my fault?"
His phone starts buzzing in his pocket. A soon as he has his phone out and can read the caller, his heart starts pounding and a smile splits on his face. He immediately makes a break for the stairs to get to his room.
"Who could be at this hour?"
Tommy answers his mother and Dream can hear the grin in his voice. "His boyfriend."
Dream answers the phone but before running to his room, he scream at the top of his lungs to make sure it reaches the ears downstairs. "Fuck you, Tommy!"
Techno is laughing on the other side of the line and his mother is yelling his name downstairs. "His a kid, Dream!" No he's not, he's a demon.
He calms his racing heart and takes a deep breath. "Hey, didn't think you were serious."
"Why wouldn't i be?" The bass voice on the other side sends shivers through Dream's body. He bites his lip to hide a smile as if the other man could see it.
"Well it's", he checks the clock on his desk he hasn't used since highschool, "half past midnight for starters."
"It's 1:30 actually." Oh. Old clock. "Still, your point?"
Dream chuckles. "Well i didn't think you'd want to hear from me this soon."
"I wasn't kidding when i told you i like to listen to you talk, Dream. I'll do it all night if you do."
As if on queue, Dream yawns and by the low sound of Techno's laugh, the sound travels to the other's side. "I'm not sure i have enough energy for that left."
"Go to sleep, we can talk tomorrow." Techno's voice mixes with the static sound of the phone and it sends vibrations all through his body, making him even sleepier.
Dream is already laying his head down on the pillow. "Promise?"
Techno doesn't hesitate. "Promise." As tired as he is, he can still hear the smile in his voice. He falls asleep without hanging up. He dreams it's tomorrow.