Chapter Text
Tommy awoke with a start, glancing around at his surroundings. He was sitting in a chair, and apparently fell asleep that way if the cricks in his neck told him anything. He stretched, sighing in relief when he realized he only slept for an hour.
Dream was still lying down on the ground, bandage hastily wrapped around his torso, his mask lying on the ground next to him. The mask was broken now; there was a sizable chunk that shattered, leaving the other three-fourths untouched.
Tommy angled his head to see Dreams communicator, giving another sigh when it stated that his vitals were alright. “Dream.” Tommy gently kicked at his arm, leaning over the man. “Wake up.”
Dream groaned, beginning to turn around before hissing in pain. “Fuck,” he muttered. He rubbed at his eyes, and Tommy helped him sit against the cave wall before returning to his spot on his hastily crafted chair. “We’re--” Dream cut off, his voice scratchy. He took a swig from the flask Tommy held out to him, and tried again. “We’re in the cave,” he stated.
“Great observation. After you began laughing, like a lunatic, might I add--” Tommy rolled his eyes before continuing. In reality, he was seriously concerned about whether it was hysteria, and was halfway through messaging Technoblade for the symptoms before Dream passed out. It didn’t make Tommy any less freaked out, but at least it was quieter. “--You passed out. I wasted like eight ender pearls getting you here.”
“ It’s so bright. ” Dream held a hand up to protect his eyes from the sunlight streaming in from the opening of the cave.
Tommy ignored him. “And then I brought you here, and dumped a bunch of regen potions on you.”
Dream blinks at that. “‘A bunch’? How many?”
“I’m not dumb, I gave you two and set a timer for two hours.” Tommy’s communicator started beeping as if on queue, he silently passed Dream a healing potion.
Dream sighed in relief, downing the potion. “Thank Prime, I thought you killed me for a second there. A bunch isn’t two , Tommy.”
“Shut up. I’ll stab you.”
Dream lets out a laugh. “You already did.”
Tommy snorted, “Holy shit, I really did.” Soon enough, the two are in full blown laughter, Tommy clutching his stomach while Dream wheezed.
“Ow, fuck,” Dream winced, and Tommy kicked his arm lightly.
“Dumbass.”
“ Shut up, I’ll stab you, ” Dream imitated.
Tommy went quiet for a moment, thinking. “So he’s really dead?”
“Yeah. Yeah, I guess he is.” Dream pulled on a sweatshirt. “We’re free.”
“We’re free,” Tommy repeated.
The sun was shining riht into the cave, illuminating their makeshift camp. There were still so many things Tommy had to finish. He needed his hotel back, he needed to repair his relationships with so many people. But that could come later; they were free, and that was all that mattered.
“I think I broke my stitches.”
“ Bitch. ”
----------------------------
Epilogue
2 months later
“Alright, talk to you later then?”
“Yup,” Drista replied, her grin pixelated in the hologram. “See you in two weeks?”
Dream nodded. “Two weeks.”
“Make sure my hotel room’s ready for me.”
“Of course,” Dream smiled back. The hologram went black, and Dream stood up, making his way to the door. His new house was pretty nice, if he did say so himself. It was built into a cliffside, overlooking the SMP but still a thousand blocks away. He could barely see the outline of one of Tommy’s newer cobblestone towers, peeking over the clouds.
The location was the only similarity between his past two houses. The new one had wall high windows, and a nether portal leading to the SMP with a cobblestone and obsidian bridge, courtesy of Tommy. He still hasn’t particularly been on great terms with the rest of the SMP, but he was slowly rebuilding the friendships he lost.
George had forgiven him far too easily, and it was made apparently when he snapped and screamed at Dream three weeks ago after showing up on his doorstep at 1 AM. They worked it out, for the most part, and George had been visiting a couple of times a week since then.
“DREAM!” He heard a voice yell from downstairs, where the portal was. Sapnap had a tendency to walk in without knocking, but Dream grinned anyways.
It had taken time, with Sapnap. He was rightfully angry for a long time, but both of them just wanted their friend back. In the words of Sapnap, As long as you don’t pull the same shit again, we can be chill. Dream would take what he could. “Sap, I’m upstairs.” On days Sapnap didn’t visit Dream, Dream visited Sapnap, at the newly built Kinoko Kingdom. He had been offered a place there, but Dream decided against pledging his allegiance anywhere for the time being. Surprisingly, Quackity forgave him first, with Karl following soon after. It didn’t really matter what the rest of the SMP thought; Dream had his friends back.
“You didn’t forget, right? Tommy’s hotel?”
“As if I could forget, the kid’s been going on about it for weeks.” Dream rolled his eyes light heartedly, following Sapnap down the wooden stairs to the portal.
“Why’s he having another party again?”
Dream shrugged. “Something about celebrating winning the court battle against Jack Manifold. There’s gonna be cake, so...”
Sapnap scoffed. “Stop acting as if you don’t know. Anytime you aren’t holed up in here or Kinoko Kingdom, you've been planning the damn party with him.”
“Shut up.”
They made their way down the cobblestone path, Dream complaining about the heat the entire way, even though it wasn’t as hot as it usually was, due to the absence of lava. For whatever reason, Tommy spent the better part of their first week back working with Tubbo and Ranboo to completely rid the nether of lava, or at least the part people used. Instead, there was sand, stone, dirt, obsidian, and basically every other inflammable material covering the area.
Dream’s heart beated faster the same way it always did when he used the community portal, subconsciously moving closer to Sapnap. Even though most people ended up moving away from the main area, there were still a few people out and about, none of whom paid Dream any more attention than a wary glance.
He swallowed thickly, walking across the Prime path to the hotel. The server had changed. There were far less of the red vines than before, which made the area look much better. A final battle with Badboyhalo left Foolish with one less canon life and the Eggpire with one less egg, leading to the brainwashing it had done to be washed away like the tides of the ocean. Dream thinks so, at least. But considering how he hasn’t spoken to Bad in a year, he could be dead wrong.
They reached the hotel, George standing in front and tapping his foot impatiently. “Where were you guys? Karl and Quackity are already inside.” His goggles were pushed up onto his forehead, and the blue-green t-shirt he wore matched the colorful drink in his hand.
“Jeez, George, I had to go get this dumbass.” Sapnap nodded to Dream.
Dream shoved Sap, grinning. “Yeah, yeah. You can’t even be talking, you’re always late, Georgie.”
“Whatever, let’s just go inside before Tommy gets an aneurysm.”
The hotel was busy, with people everywhere and music blasting through the speakers. There were drinks being passed around, along with a buffet table off to the side. Tommy was in the middle of it all, looking happier than ever while sporting a suit with cheap sunglasses.
Bad and Antfrost were huddled in a corner, shooting furtive glances around the room. All the way on the other side, Puffy, Foolish, and Purpled spoke, the bad blood between them clearly not over. But at least they weren’t at each other's throats. Ranboo and Fundy were in a conversation by the buffet table, while Connor, H-bomb, Sam, and Punz stood in a small circle, each with smiles on their faces. Niki and Jack Manifold were nowhere to be seen, and Dream figured that not all friendships were meant to be repaired. Last time he had seen Niki, Dream had to physically stop himself from decking her. Unfortunately, she seemed to be doing well in her, admittedly massive, base by Kinoko Kingdom, apparently working on herself.
Karl and Quackity were by a dartboard, immediately catching Dreams eye and waving the trio over. He meandered through the small groups of people, picking up a yellow drink along the way.
“Ayyy, Dream, what’s up? Prime, it feels so weird seeing one of your eyes.”
“Hey, Quackity.” Dream looked to the dartboard, noting that there wasn’t a single dart anywhere near the center. He brought a hand to his face, feeling the sanded edges of his mask. He never replaced the mask he shattered, instead just sanding the edges. It showed off his left eye and the top of his cheekbone, and Dream decided he liked it better that way.
Quackity turned to Sapnap. “You should drink some of the punch,” He nodded to the red drink in Sapnap’s hand.
Karl sighed, taking the drink from Sapnap against his protests. “Quackity and Tommy spiked the punch.”
George snorted, along with Dream. “Isn’t Tommy like 16?”
Quackity laughed. “17, but you really think that’s gonna stop him?”
“True, true.” Speaking of the blond, Dream craned his neck to find out where he was. Tommy was with Technoblade and Philza, and Tubbo, and Dream figured he would check in on him. He flicked Sapnap’s shoulder to get his attention. “I’ll be back in a second.”
Sapnap smirked at him knowingly. “Let us know how Tommy is.”
For whatever reason, Sapnap thought the fact that Dream and Tommy were...friends? Close? He still didn’t know now to categorize their relationship, but Dream didn’t really mind. Either way, Sapnap found it hilarious.
“Hey! Dream!” Tommy shouted as soon as he spotted Dream getting closer. “I was wondering if you’d show up.”
“Hey Tommy. How would I have forgotten, this is all you’ve been going on about for the past two weeks?” Tommy laughed, and Dream politely nodded at the others in the group. “Hi Tubbo. Technoblade, Philza.”
He got a chorus of “hi”’s back, two significantly more monotone than the other. Tubbo had taken time to warm up to him, but he eventually did, apparently just wanting to move on from everything.
“So what are you guys talking about?”
Philza winced lightly. “The weather.”
Dream coughed, placing a hand on Tommy’s shoulder. “Right, well, I’m gonna steal Tommy real quick.”
Tubbo nodded. “Yeah, I’ve gotta get back to Ranboo and Fundy.”
Technoblade's eyes flitted between Tommy and Dream before nodding. “Okay. talk to you guys later.”
Dream pulled him away from the group. “The weather? You guys were talking about the weather?”
“Oi, Shut up! There's a big snowstorm coming, or something.” Tommy countered, huffing.
“Mhm. Riveting. Great conversation.” Tommy scoffed in response. “But seriously, Tommy, the party’s great.”
“You think so? I wasn’t sure if--”
“It’s great,” Dream interrupted. “You managed to get people who used to literally be at war into the same room. Not only that, but everyone's civil . Not everyone can do that.” Puffy and Badboyhalo hadn’t broken into a fight, and Techno was just in a conversation with the (ex) embodiment of everything he hated. “Seriously,” He repeated. “I’m proud of you.”
Tommy ducked his head. “It was nothing.”
Dream rolled his eyes. The kid just couldn’t take a compliment. “How are you and Techno, then? I mean, you two are talking about the weather, so that’s gotta be something.”
Tommy sighed. “He was right. I’m not really sure if we’ll ever get back to how we were. Too much bloodshed between us. He’s still half the reason my best friend is only on one life, not to mention teaming up with the Dreamon at the first chance he got--” Dream was thankful for that. It wasn’t something everyone did, but Tommy never referenced the Dreamon’s actions as Dream’s. He didn’t even think Tommy knew what he was doing, but it helped with the disconnect. “--but I still betrayed him one too many times.”
“That sucks.”
“Yeah, but I think I’m alright with it. If we make up, great, if not, then that’s fine too. I’ve got you, Tubbo, Ranboo, Puffy, and that’s all I need.” The words were said nonchalantly, but Dream’s heart warmed.
“Aww, do you see me as a brother figure?” Dream teased, grinning.
Tommy’s face heated, punching his arm. “I didn’t say that!”
“It’s okay, I think of you the same way.” Dream ruffled Tommy’s hair, laughing when he grumbled in annoyance.
“Whatever. I have to go talk to Puffy now, she wanted to give me something.”
“Talk to you later, yeah?”
Tommy smiled, giving Dream a quick hug that he didn’t have enough time to return. “Bye!”
Dream strolled to the rest of his friends, smiling.
They were free.