Chapter Text
Dream gently nudged a sleeping figure, curled up on a pile of soft blankets, pillows and other cushions.
“Tommy, c’mon now, time to get up.”
The teen in question only rolled over with a groan, wrapping large wings around himself and grumbling.
“Go away, it’s too early for this shit.”
Dream scoffed, “Aren’t early mornings supposed to be your whole thing, that's when your magic is at its peak, Sunrise.”
“Don’t fuckin’ care, you won’t get me out of this nest unless I’m dead.”
“Really?” Dream tilted his head, a smug lilt to his voice, “Not even to… oh I dunno, learn to fly ?”
Tommy was instantly propped up on his elbows, blinking the sleep from his eyes, “That’s today ?”
“Yeah, did you seriously forget? You were so excited about it last night, you literally didn’t want to sleep- actually, that's probably why you're so tired, now that I think about it,” Dream hummed.
Tommy was already tugging on his boots, hopping around on one foot while trying to fit the shoe onto the other. His shirt was haphazardly tugged on, wings not even able to fully extend from the slits made for them. Dream watched, trying not to laugh as the boy made himself trip, falling face first into the cushion covered floor.
“Slow down for a sec, you’ve already waited this long, a few minutes to actually get dressed properly won't kill you.”
“Yes it will ! I have been waiting my whole damn life for this shit! I’m not wasting a damn second of it.”
“Tommy, it will take more time fixing mistakes then it will actually take to do it right the first time. Besides, we still need to wait for Phil to get here, remember?”
“Why do we even need that old man?”
“Because that ‘old man’ has a lot of expertise I don’t . Plus, it’s always a good idea to have more than one person keeping an eye out.” That last part was typically because multiple kids would learn at once, but Tommy didn’t need to know that and Dream was certain if he did there would be no hearing the end of it.
“Yeah, yeah. I’m sure I’ll be fucking amazing at it on my first try.”
“I sure hope so, given where we plan on practicing.”
“What's that supposed to mean?” Tommy questioned, pulling a red vest over his back, struggling to get his wings to fit through it. Dream only smiled, turning towards the door and making his way out, “Dream? Dream seriously, what the fuck do you mean by that? Asshole! Get back here!”
Dream didn’t wait up, though, continuing out and to the balcony, with a single beat of his wings he was over the rail, gliding effortlessly towards the floor of the grand hall. When he landed, he turned back towards Tommy, “Come on, you try, consider this a warmup!”
Tommy looked hesitant at first, but a look of confidence crossed over his face after a moment, though Dream couldn’t tell if it was actually real or not. He backed up from the rail, then took a running leap forward. He vaulted himself over the railing, wings raised high, then spreading out to let him fall into a clumsy glide. The ends of the more decorative feathers that came out like those of a nightjar just barely clipped the the balcony, but it was enough to cause Tommy to lose his balance.
Dream watched in growing horror as Tommy was sent sprawling in a downward spiral of feathers, straight towards the marbled stone floors. He raced forward to catch him, wings open wide and flapping to keep himself steady as the wriggling body of the boy collided with his own. He let out a grunt at the impact, but was glad that Tommy was able to realize he had been caught and stopped trying to use Dream’s face as a battering ram for his wings.
“So,” Dream laughed as he set Tommy down. “What was that about being amazing on the first try?”
“Shut the fuck up, I will literally fucking kill you, you absolute bitch !”
“Mhm, yeah, I’m sure you will. It’s gonna be another hundred years before you get good enough to even try, though!” He laughed, when Tommy squawked in surprise as he ran away. Tommy was quick to shake himself from his stupor and give chase though.
“You get the fuck back here, asshole!”
Dream raced down the hall and quickly rounded the corner into the kitchen, ducking behind the cabinets. He listened closely as Tommy’s footsteps echoed towards him, waiting carefully for the perfect chance to strike. Tommy stepped into the kitchen, looking around when he didn’t immediately spot what he was searching for.
When his eyes landed on Dream, they widened and he moved to step back, but got caught up on his own tail, still unused to the new appendage. Dream took the opening to strike and lept, tackling Tommy the rest of the way to the floor, who loudly shrieked as he was brought down. They rolled around on the floor for a good few minutes until a cough that came from neither of the two made them freeze. Both of their heads snapped up, Dream began stammering, trying to get some kind of proper greeting out, but Tommy cut him off before he could get anything substantial out. The younger had a huge grin on his face as he wriggled out from where he was pinned to the floor and he rushed forward to wrap the man in front of him in a tight hug. “PHIL!”
“Hey mate,” Phil laughed as he was nearly tackled as well. “Why are you so excited? I visited not too long ago.”
Tommy took a few steps back. “Yeah, but you’re gonna help me learn how to fly !”
“Well, I made you a promise, didn’t I?”
“That was so long ago, though!” Tommy got a slightly solemn look in his eyes. “And honestly I wasn’t sure I would actually be able to for a good while there.”
Dream felt a pang in his chest at that; just how long had Tommy thought about that? Sure, his wings did grow in and were big enough that he could learn how to fly now but what could happen if they weren’t, what if he fucked up somehow, what if everyone else never found them when they did and Dream fell asleep for too long and something went wrong-
He was pulled out of his thoughts when a hand landed on his shoulder, Tommy stared up at him, unimpressed. “You’re doing that thing where you think too much about things that don’t matter anymore, big man.”
“Wha- no I’m not-”
“I know that fucking look, Dream. I’ve seen it so many damn times by now I’m practically an expert.”
“Tommy, I’m wearing a mask.”
Tommy sucked in a sharp breath, “Yeah… Might wanna double check that.”
Dream reached up, and recoiled when his hand met flesh instead of porcelain. He quickly spun around, leveling Phil with as threatening a glare as he could manage- which didn’t say a lot; he had more than one reason for wearing the mask, after all. “You saw nothing. ”
Phil raised his hands in mock surrender. “I’ve already forgotten.”
“Good.” He reached down to where the item had been clipped to his belt earlier that day and placed it back to its rightful place on his head. “Well then, I need to make myself and Tommy some breakfast before we can head out, do you want anything, Phil?”
“It’s fine, I already ate before leaving.”
“You sure? No coffee or anything?”
“I think I’ll be alright, thank you, though.”
“Can I -”
“ No. ” They both cut Tommy off before he could even ask.
Phil chuckled, “I see you made the same mistake I did with him when he was younger.”
“It was one cup, Phil. One cup! And he was going all day!” Dream threw his arms out, as if to further make his point.
“A whole fucking
cup
? Alright, you win. I can’t imagine having to wrangle him when he’s
that
hyper.”
Tommy puffed out his cheeks, pouting. “I’m not that bad…”
Instantly, Dream felt a twinge of guilt and clearly Phil did as well; damn this kid's ability to look like a kicked puppy. He set a hand on Tommy’s shoulder, “Hey, it’s alright, we were only joking around a bit. You’ve just got a lot of natural energy, nothing to feel bad about, okay?”
“Okay, but what if-”
“Nope. If I’m not allowed to overthink things, then you aren’t either.” He punctuated his sentence by gently poking Tommy on the forehead. “Now come on, help me make some food so we can start showing you how to fly.”
Tommy instantly brightened, and Dream felt like he’d just accomplished something grand, a smile slipping onto his face. Today would be a good day, he was sure.
---
“Oh there is no way in hell that I’m jumping off of that, ” Tommy stated, as he stared down the large cliff.
“C’mon now Tommy, there’s water at the bottom!”
“That’s a violent as fuck ocean , Dream! I’ll drown! Just hitting the ground would be more merciful!”
“I learned somewhere far more dangerous, Tommy, you’ll be perfectly fine, trust me.”
“I do trust you, Dream, but I don’t trust me. What if- what if I mess up, what if you can’t catch me?”
“That’s why we have Phil here.” Dream placed a hand on Tommy’s shoulder. Even though he couldn’t see the man's face, he could still feel the eyes boring into his own. “I’m not going to sugar coat it and say it’s going to go perfectly, it probably won’t honestly. Things go wrong all the time, but I promise I won’t let you get hurt, okay? Don’t think of how high the cliff is as how dangerous it is, but instead, how much time I’ll have to get to you if something goes wrong.”
Tommy sucked in a deep breath, peeking over the edge again. “Okay… Okay, yeah, I can do this. Where do we start?”
Phil stepped up to the two of them. “Well, that depends, do you want to learn how to do a proper take off first, or would you rather just jump straight off the cliff?”
“How do you do a ‘proper’ take off?” Tommy asked, making finger quotes at the word ‘proper’.
“Well….”
And suddenly, Tommy was freefalling towards the ocean below with a loud shriek. He could feel the wind whipping around him, salty air kissing his face from the seaspray of each wave that hit the cliffs. It pulled, coaxing at every feather. The water was growing closer and closer every single second and he knew, the moment he touched it he would be a goner.
He tried his best to throw his wings open, but each attempt was stopped short by fear. The fear of them being ripped clean off if he did it wrong. He could send them out, a small flutter to slow his fall for a few seconds, but it did practically nothing. Each attempt sent him into a near tailspin.
Something whistled past him, the waves were growing louder. He was going to die.
“You need to dive, then arc!”
He pried his eyes open, he hadn’t even realized that they were closed. Dream was there, falling just like him.
“Just follow my lead, okay?!” Dream shouted over the wind, and all Tommy could do was nod.
Dream dove, rocketing even faster towards certain doom, then, he tilted his body upwards. Slowly opening his wings until they were fully open. It looked absolutely terrifying.
Tommy did his best to mimic the movements. Dive, angle, wings. The wings were the hardest part, only a second in and he instinctively tried to pull them back in. He was wobbly, unconfident. The threat of pain or death. An interesting dilemma for sure, one he didn’t know the answer to.
“Just keep going, you’re doing great!” Dream called out to him.
It was a small confidence boost, but the one he needed. He let his wings flair the rest of the way open. The wind caught, snapping him back like a kite. A twinge of pain, still fresh and tender muscles being pulled.
It hurt, but was nowhere near debilitating. He was gliding now, maybe ten feet above the rolling waves. The beating of his heart slowed from a panicked racing, down to a simple thrum of excitement.
Dream swooped over, until he was flying just underneath Tommy, his back to the sea. “You did it! Now, you just need to flap your wings, alright? That was the hard part, we just gotta get back onto the ground, okay?”
“Okay.” Tommy could do that. It didn’t feel as daunting anymore, he was free to float through the air. It was a comfortable breeze now, no longer a racing, howling storm that left him grappling for any sort of purchase.
He arched his wings up, then brought them down. There was a lot more force than he expected, and was sent up faster than when he fell. The moment it slowed, just as he was caught in that middle ground between rising and falling, he beat his wings again.
The rocketing sensation felt less like a danger and more of a thrill. A happy thrum in his veins. It was tiring, but he loved every second of it; he felt free .
Dream was right next to him, circling and doing tricks. Showoff. Tommy felt a laugh bubble up and rip itself from his lips. He closed his eyes, then fell backwards, back towards the blue below. Just as the speed started to get too much, he arched. Slowing and then beating his wings and sending himself back into the sky with a single sweep down.
Rise and fall, the whistle of wind and low hum of soft breezes. He could feel all of it .
“Tommy!” Dream called out, and the moment Tommy had a chance to look up, he watched the shifting of color to green and white scales, growing bigger and bigger.
Tommy trilled, his body already following the example before his mind could catch up. The feeling of soft, thick fur-like feathers sprouting was a bit odd and it took a moment to readjust to the different, much larger, shape he now took on. Yet it came to him naturally all the same.
He followed Dream's tail, somehow he was still so small he could probably land on the fan of feathers on the end of it. They circled each other a few times, Tommy landed on Dream’s back or wing, then launched himself back into the air.
There was a loud, booming roar that echoed across sea and sky. Tommy did his best to mimic, only to be disappointed by a weak squawk. He heard a low rumble, much like a laugh.
Dream trilled, spinning and circling around him. He did little more than glide, but the draft around him was enough to keep both of them afloat.
—
A ghost faded into existence next to his father, both watching out at the scene on the horizon before them. Two dragons circled each other in an airborne dance, falling and rising and vanishing and reappearing.
“Aren’t you here to help them?” The ghost asked, voice soft.
His father only smiled, reaching over to pass his hand through the ghost's hair, an action that not so long ago would have been an affectionate ruffle. “They don’t need me. Come on now, Wil, I’m sure we have some things we need to sort out ourselves.”