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Chapter Text

Dream groaned, a sour expression cast over his face, as he pushes shut his mothers car door with a loud slam. Never in a million years did he think he would ever accompany his sister to a stupid concert. “The one time I come home... the one time ,” he mutters under his breath in complete and utter denial, as his watches his blonde haired sister gets out the back seat, the two siblings mother following suit by getting out the drivers seat.

His mother gets the minecrafters attention with the simple mention of his name ‘ Clay .’ and motions him to come over with the flick of her wrist. Dream takes a deep breath, and walks over, while Drista stands a bit away texting one of her friends on the phone that’s clasped between her two hands.

“Yes mom?” Dream asks the elder, trying his best to smile, but everyone can see he’s pretty annoyed at having to go to some pop stars concert. Dream would rather be anywhere but here  right now.

Dreams mother smiles sadly at the blonde haired boy. She cups his cheek with one of his hands, a fond look in her eyes as she looks at her second eldest. Dream leans into the familiar touch and his face lights up a little bit. “I know you don’t like concerts, and that you’d rather be on that computer of yours and playing with George, back at home, but please, do this for me. For me and your little sister.”

Dream said nothing after his mother spoke. He lifted his head from her palm and sighed, weighing his options. “We can get Chipotle on the way back?” His mother asked with a hopeful tone of voice.

“Fine.” Dream gave in, it wasn’t like he could decide to not go anyway. The minecrafter had been confronted by Drista a couple of nights ago, asking if he could come with her. It was so late at night that, at the time, Dream didn’t even know what Drista had said, just nodded and shooed her out the room with a tired wave of the hand and an exhausted noise that sounded similar to something an animal would make. “But, I’ll only go if we can get my favourite.” Dream continued, crossing his arms with a pout. Mother Dream laughed. Sometimes, she wondered if her second eldest really was 21 years old.

“Yes, of course, my Clay,” She cooed at the younger boy, squishing his face between her two hands, with a loving smile placed on her slightly wrinkled face.

Dream pushed her away playfully with a whine of; “Go away. I’ll change my mind if you keep this up!”

Dream’s mother was just about to say something, her mouth opening slightly to speak, before Drista came over to them and started pulling Dream’s arm with quite a force. “Be careful! You’re going to pull my arm off in a minute.”

“Shut up Grandad. We’re going to be late if you two keep standing around like a bunch of— a bunch of wild... gazelles! So, hurry up, Dream.” Drista whined, too excited to see her favourite music artist (apart from Harry Styles, of course).

“Okay, okay.” The two’s mom laughed at the youngest’s antics, “enjoy the concert. And Clay, for the love of god , please keep an eye on your sister.”

“Yes mom,” he laughed as he brushed her concerns away. The two siblings walked away from their mother, Drista turning to wave back every once and a while, her blonde hair swishing in the November wind, as they got further and further away from their parents car.

It was around 8pm, the concert was due to start at 8:30, so the two had a lot of time to get sorted before they had to get seated.

The sun has disappeared behind the cotton candy like clouds hours ago, leaving just a faint, pink glow casting off the clouds over head. Dream though it was magnificent, he hadn’t been out this late for a long time due to the fact he would normally be sleeping now. He wished he came out more often. The night was truly spectacular.

‘I can do this. All I have to do is sit, keep an eye on Drista, and watch the concert. Then I can get Chipotle.’ Dream pep-talked himself as the got closer and closer to the entrance of the stadium. ‘Just think about the Chipotle Dream, think about the Chipotle.’

“You got the tickets to get inside?” Drista asks the other, bringing Dream out of his thoughts.

“Of course I hav—” Dream stopped mid-sentence. He stopped walking too. He just stopped in general. Dream’s pretty sure his brain glitched for a second. “Oh no..”

“Don’t tell me you lost the tickets.” She threatened her brother. Drista had also stopped at this point. People walked past them and started lining up to get into the concert. They were giving them weird looks as the two siblings just stood there, seemingly frozen.

“Nah, just kiddin—,” Dreams wheeze cuts himself off when Drista goes to kick the elder in the shin. Dream dodges the kick. “Yoyoyo! Calm—” Dream wheezes again, bending down to rest his hands on his thighs from how hard he started laughing, “C-calm down!”

“You’re an asshole.” Drista tells her brother, walking away from him as he continues to laugh and wheeze. Dream stands up straight, feeling winded from how much he had just laughed. The minecrafter wipes the tears out of his eyes with a small stifle of a laugh.

Dream looks forward, watching Drista slowly walk further and further away. “N-no!” Dream shouts out after his sister once she gets too far away from him. Their mother would beat his ass, figuratively speaking of course, if he lost her on his watch. The girl continues walking away. Dream starts running after her when she doesn’t stop, “Come on Drista! It was a joke!”

“Dris! Chill out dude,” Dream says when he catches up to the younger. Nodding his apologies to the people behind for cutting in the line. The people behind scowled at the blonde duo but turned away and started their own conversations.

“Not funny.” She pouts while crossing her arms, just like Dream has done earlier with his mother. ‘I guess we really are siblings,’ Dream thinks before he shakes his head and focuses on the conversion.

“It was hilarious Dris! You should of seen your face!”

“You’re a horrible brother..” Drista said with a roll of her eyes. Her arms falling down to her sides. Dream laughed at the slight smirk that appeared across her face.

The elder nudges the younger with a wheeze, “Oh come on now—”

“—Tickets.” Dream’s wheeze was cut off as he jumped slightly at the voice, not expecting such a deep sound so close to his ear. He’s never met anyone with such a deep voice, despite corpse of course, but that’s corpse for you.

“Oh! Yeah,” Dream shoves his hand into his grey GeorgeNotFound hoodie and fishes the tickets out.

The minecrafter passes the two tickets to the doorman and they’re scanned under some weird of barcode scanner.  The screen on the scanner goes green and their tickets get passed back to them. “Enjoy the concert.” Is all the guy says before he’s calling for the next person.

Dream and Drista walk inside, in complete silence, till they were out of earshot of the doorman. “Can we get food?” Dream asks his younger sister.

“You paying?” Drista questions with a smirk.

“Fine.”

“YES! Free food!” she replies with a smile and a small jump of excitement.

The two walked around for a while, looking at the variety of food at the stadium and deciding what they should get. The pair decided on pizza and got a bunch random sweet bags to snack on, along with some fries that dream had been craving.

The two carry all their food through the stadium and up to their seats. Dream was surprised that they had gotten so close to the front since the stadium was able to seat 88,548 people.

The two were sitting on the floor seats of the concert, on the 7th row for, the front of the stage. ‘We’re extremely close,’ Dream had noticed. “Don’t you think we’re too close?” Dream asked Drista as the two sat down, placing all food on neighbouring seats. They’d probably have to move them soon for the other people sitting down.

“No, why’d you say that for? These are literally the best seats in the house. We’re not too close but not too far back! It’s perfect.”

Dream shrugged. ‘If you say so,’ he thought to himself.

The minecrafter reachers into his jean pocket and pulls out his phone. ‘Four missed texts from Gogy’ was the only notification on his screen. He clicks on the messages and is pleasantly surprise to see that it isn’t George bugging him to buy that (in George’s words not his) ‘awesome! and bloody brilliant!’ new game that came out last week. Okay, maybe Dream might of exaggerated a bit but he did say something along those lines.

‘dreeeeaaammmmm!!’ George had sent, followed by ‘you at the concert yet?’ . The next text was sent a few minutes later ‘dude, did Drista murder you already? lmaoooo’ , and when dream didn’t reply to that text, he got a ‘loser reply to me, i’m bored ):’.

‘hey hey! i’m here chill. me and Dris were just getting food. we’re sitting down in our seats rn :D’ Dream texted the elder, a smiling getting brought to his face at the fact George texted him because he was bored.

‘finally!’ George texts him back almost instantly, ‘took you forever to text me back idiot D:’

‘and they say Tubbo is clingy pft—’

‘you’re mean to me’ George says. Dream can imagine that the older was laughing to himself as he typed that.

‘you love it (;’ The minecrafter replied to the other minecrafter. He then bursts out in giggles, to himself, as he see’s the reply George texts him.

‘NDNSKSOSHDDBSMSLSISDHDJ STOP’ George always keyboard smashed in reply whenever he gets flustered, it makes the whole thing seem so much funnier. Just as Dream was about to reply to George, when everyone went quiet and the spotlights that were shining all over the stadium dimmed.

Dream’s head is brought out of his phone and suddenly music started blasting through the various speakers around the stadium. The boy was sure he would be able to hear the music from his house because of how loud it was.

‘the concerts starting, i’ll text you later’ is what he sends to George before he turns his phone off and shoves it into his pocket.

The lights go out and the stadium is completely black. Music drifts into Dream’s ears and he guesses this is a popular song because everyone starts screaming loudly. Even Drista is screaming her head off. She’s already standing up, waving her arms around in the air like a maniac before anyone has even come onto the stage.

And then someone comes out onto the stage, rising up from the ground, on some type of platform. Everyone starts screaming and Dream has to cover his ears since it’s so loud. He smiles though, as he watches her sister start singing along to the song as the singer starts to sing.

Dream can’t lie and say the first song was bad, and as much as it pains him to admit, his sister has good taste in songs. The singer was really good, Dream couldn’t disagree with that. The voice of the singer made Dream look up, to try and put a face to the name, he gasped slightly at who he saw.

The voice didn’t match the singer at all, not in a bad way, just.... he didn’t expect him to look like that.

The singer was wearing a white bandanna, his hair messily falling on top of it which complemented his eyes. Even from here, Dream could see every eyelash on the singers eyes. The way they fluttered while he blinked, mesmerised Dream immensely.

Dream watched as the singer walked up and down the stage, singing his heart out, even though it was only the first song. ‘Maybe this was why Drista liked the guy so much, because he was just.. so outgoing’ Dream thought.

The first song stopped and Dream watched the singer as he caught his breath.

“Hey everyone!” He called, waving his hand up over his head and smiling wildly, while pants of exhaustion left his lips. “I hope everyone enjoyed the first song!”

Screams erupted in the arena and the singer giggled lightly, it just being heard over the screams. Dream’s emerald eyes widened in surprise as he listened to the laugh that left his lips. ‘He sounds like an angel.’

“For people who don’t know me; my names Panda! Or nick, whichever you prefer.” Screams erupt from all the people around him and Dream jumps slightly, not expecting everyone to start screaming again. The minecrafter thought Panda was a ridiculous stage name, he’d rather call the singer Nick, instead.

“Let’s not talk so much, we’ve only just started! I wanna preform for you guys some more first,” Nick says with a joyful smile. Dream can tell that Nick likes his job, it looks pretty exciting.

Dream sits there and watches Nick preform and jump around the stage through the people who were standing in front of him. He watches as people jump with the singer and scream out every single word to his song. It feels exhilarating just sitting here, Dream doesn’t even know how it would feel to stand on that stage.

As Nick continued to preform, his hair bounced up in the air, the excess of his white bandanna flowing with it. Dream could almost see it in slow motion, it looked magical as it glistened in the stage lights that kept flickering on and off.

Dream couldn’t take his eyes away.

This continued for a while, and by a while, it was like 2 hours, but at this point Dream had honestly lost track of time. Time seemed to slow as he watched Nick live his best life on the stage. He wished he could do that, minus the singing and massive area, instead, just with his friends while they be idiots on stage for people to laugh at.

After a while, Dream drew his eyes away from Nick who was talking to the crowd and answering questions since it was nearing the end of the show. The 21 year old picked up some sweets and focussed on eating them, texting George with one hand and the bag of sweets in the other.

“Now, you guys know, that at the end of a show, I always make up a song about someone random who catches my eye, in the crowd.” The crowd screams in excitement as Nick laughs once more, his loud voice echoing though the speakers. Nick clears his throat, “so, I’ve found that special someone tonight. I actually had them in my mind since I started preforming, sorry everyone.” Everyone let’s out noises of disagreement although it’s all a joke... at least that’s what Dream thinks as he half listens.

Nick calls to his guitarist who is somewhere behind him, “Jack! Be a dear and play a sort of slow song for me please?” Dream figures that this Jack dude nods because the tune starts playing and erupts from the speakers.

“I watch you from the back,

Your face smiling in your excitement,

Revealing in the emerald light in your eyes,

And the way your hair dances as you laugh,

It stuns me to no words.

The grey hoodie you wear,

Although it’s only one colour,

It takes my breath away,

I find myself wanting to stay,

My gaze never leaving your figure.

The saddest thing is,

You never look back,

It’s like the pull and push of our gazes miss every time,

It’s disheartening,

And I don’t like it.

Look at me.”

Dream nods slightly as the song finishes. He likes the tune. Though, the words are a bit strange though. ‘Emerald eyes and blonde hair—’.

Drista hits his shoulder a couple times lightly, in a distracted and panicked manner. A light shines on him as he looked up, it’s one of the spotlights usually used for the stage, yet it’s pointing at him.

Dream looks around. All eyes are on him. He looks around confused. He’s not sure why so many people are staring at him. He thinks about what he just heard, the song for that person... and from there, it only takes him a moment to figure out why.

‘Emerald eyes, blonde hair, grey hoodie,’ he recalls.

Dream’s head whips to Drista who is sitting to his right. Her mouth is open is shock as she stares at Dream with confused and excited eyes. Then his head whips around to the singer, Nick, with wide eyes. They meet eyes and Dream thinks his heart falls out of his ass, not in a bad way, just in shock. He’s shocked that someone would take interest in him . He didn’t even dress up for this, he literally just got whatever he saw in his closet first.

Dream mouths ‘me?’ at the singer. Nick nods and Dream feels his face heat up in a bright pink. ‘This is what George must think every time I try to hit on him,’

“What’s your name?” Nick calls to him through the mic.

Dream tries to open his mouth, but nothing comes out. Curse his gayness for doing this to him at such a crucial point in his life. He feels like he’s going to die as he opens his mouth again and nothing, not even a sound, escaped his mouth.

Drista see’s that Dream is struggling so she shouts, and she shouts louder than Dream when he beats his mcc minecraft parkour record (which is extremely impressive by the way), “CLAY! HIS NAME IS CLAY! HE IS SO VERY GAY AND SO VERY SINGLE!!!—”

Dream thinks he screams at the last as he slaps a hand over Drista’s mouth in shock. Nick laughs, clutching his belly slightly, “I’m guessing you’re his younger sister?” Drista nods and pulls Dream’s hand away from her mouth. “Great! See you two around.”

And then the concert ends.

The lights go out, including the spotlight that shone heavily over the minecrafter’s head. Dream stares at Drista, totally confused as to what just happened. The smaller lights turn on, so people can see where they’re going when they leave.

The two siblings can see each other properly at this point. Dream has a bright blush covering his cheeks, which is an unusual look for him because he never really gets flustered.

Dream lifts a hand to his cheek and feels how hot he is. He scowls and glides his hand down his cheek, till it curls around the back of his neck, and he rubs it embarrassingly. “You didn’t just do that,” he says to Drista, his eyes still wide as saucers. “I’m going to murder you.”

Drista laughs loudly, patting her brother on the shoulder. “Dude, I just did you a favour.” Drista tells the elder as she smirks, “I recon I just got you a famous boyfriend.”

Chapter Text

It took a while for Dream and Drista to get out of the stadium. The only reason being that Dream was not able to stand well, his legs wobbling under him in, every time he took a step, due to what had taken place just over 10 minutes earlier.

And from there, it doesn’t take a while for something else to happen.

The two had just left the main part of the arena, where all the seats are placed, when someone comes up to them both. They’re wearing black skinny jeans and a polo shirt, the shirt popping out from a black sweater the person was wearing.

It seems to be a guy, maybe 5’8” or 5’9”. Either way, definitely someone with a smaller build than himself.

The man has is head towards the floor, looking at his feet, so that the two couldn’t see his face, that’s what Dream thought it was for anyway.

The guy comes over to the two siblings, who had just made their way out of the main stadium area, now stood next to one of the food trucks. The smell of sea salt drifted through the air from the front doors of the stadium which were now opened to let people leave.

Dream see’s the person coming before Drista, seeing as she has her head in her phone. Dream figures she’s telling her friends about the encounter that had just happened with himself and the singer on stage. He kinda wishes she’d stay quiet about that, it’s not like anything will come out of interaction.

The minecrafter raises an eyebrow as the guy gets closer. He instinctively edges himself in front of Drista slightly, his protective brother side of him showing. This makes Drista look at what’s happening.

“Who’s that?” She asks in a hushed and whispered voice, as the guy comes closer and closer to where the pair are standing.

Dream shushes her slightly. “I’m not sure,” he says to his younger sister, a worried tone underlying in his voice, “let me handle it.”

“H-hello?” Dream calls to the man when he’s a couple feet away. He curses himself for stuttering slightly, but you can’t really blame him, a man was literally coming straight for the two.

The man stops and looks up slightly. Drista, being significantly shorter than himself, see’s who it is before himself.

“Omg!” She exclaims in excitement. Drista pushes Dream out of the way with her arms, making the elder stumble a little bit. “is that really you?” She asks the man with a bright smile.

The guy nods, and lifts his head fully so that Dream doesn’t need to bend down to see the dudes face.

The minecrafter’s eyes go wide for the nth time today. “U-um.. you are- wait, i—” Dream stutters out a string inconsistent words as he tries to find words for what is happening.

“Hi!” The singer says, a smile placed on his beautiful face. ‘—Wait.. did I just call him beautiful?’

‘That damn singer!’ Dream says to himself, ‘That singer has it out for me! I mean what am I supposed to say “Oh! Nice to see you again, wanna go on a date?”... Definitely not!’ Dream rants in his head, his thoughts going at one million miles an hour. ‘I honestly believe he’s trying to give me heart attack,’ The boy thinks to himself.

“Sorry to come over so creepily!” Nick says with an apologetic smile, “Some fans may still be here so I gotta keep a ‘low profile’ according to management.”

“It’s okay!” Drista speaks for dream, knowing fine well he wouldn’t be able to talk that well if he tried to. “I’m Drista! This is my older brother Clay.” She says as he looks to Dream.

She scowls at the sight. The man has his moth open like a fish. She pushes his mouth closed with her index finger before he embarrasses himself anymore and starts drooling, which she honestly wouldn’t put past Dream.

Nick laughs slightly at two siblings. Dream continues to stare at Nick’s face, the younger of the two rolls her eyes. She sighs and waves her hand in front of Dream’s face, trying to get him back to the real world. It works surprisingly, normally it doesn’t.

“Clay?” His sister calls to him. He’s pulled from the thoughts that circled around his head and cleared his throat, going to try and speak.

Dream opens his mouth and does a little mental dance when sound finally decides to come out from his mouth, “Um, hi.”

It’s short and straight to the point, however, Dream thinks it’s much better than mumbling out some incoherent sentence that wouldn’t really make much sense to anyone but himself.

Nick laughs, his angel like chuckle setting a fire on Dreams cheeks for the second time today. “Hi,”

“So.. how ar—”, Dream starts, but he’s cut off from talking when his phone rings in his back pocket. He’s glad his phone cuts him off, he wasn’t really sure what he was gonna say in the first place.

Dream takes his phone out of his pocket. ‘Mom’ shows up as the caller id. “It’s mom?” He says to Drista who furrows her eyebrows in confusion.

“Give me a minute,” he says to Nick and Drista as he walks away, accepting the call and holding it up to his ear.

Dream hears the call connect and his mother starts talking, “Clay, I’m going to be a little late. Is it okay if you two can wait outside for a while?”

The minecrafter sits down on top of some table and sighs, “Mom, do you know how cold it is outside? It’s turning 11pm soon, and it’s November.”

“I know, and I’m sorry honey, but the traffic was much worse than I had expected,” His mother says. Dream groans slightly, he was supposed to record a minecraft video with George and Bad when he got home.

“How long until you get here?” Dream asks, watching as his younger sister shows Nick some type of photo on her phone. The elder of the two glances at Dream, a small smirk playing on his features. ‘I swear to god, if she’s shown him that one picture of me wrestling that alligator.’ Dream thinks before his mother starts speaking again.

From the other side of the phone, Dream hears a car honk before she starts speaking again, “Maybe half an hour? I’m really not sure dear,”

Dream knows his mother well enough to know she’s getting worried. He didn’t want to bring it up, but every time she speaks, her voice pitches an octave and it makes Dream stress slightly. “Don’t worry yourself too much, me and Dris will be fine. I’m like a millionaire anyway.” Dream reasons.

The last part of the younger sentence gets a laugh out of his mother. “Yes, yes.” She laughs slightly, “I’m getting into the main road now, I’ll let you know when I’m five minutes away.”

Dream nods, although it’s a pretty stupid thing to do since it’s a phone call. The two say their goodbyes and Dream stands up with a deep breath.

He walks back over to the two who are going on about some type of singer, that’s all Dream can gather anyway before Drista stops talking and looks at him. “Mom’s gonna be 30 minutes.” He explains with a half felt smile, “the traffic is bad apparently.”

Drista frowns, a light pout on her lips as she looks up at her older brother. “This sucks.”

“It does.” Dream says ruffling the girls hair affectionately. He turns to Nick who’s watching the siblings interact with a smile, “we’ll be off now. Thanks for the serenade earlier.”

“O-oh are you sure?” Nick asks the two. Dream gives him a weird look. The singer giggles slightly, in what the taller thinks is nervousness, but continues anyway, “I mean, it’s really cold outside, I’d hate to leave you both out there at this time of night.”

“That’s kind of you, but I think both me and my sister agree that—” Dream’s sentence is interrupted when Drista steps on his foot, cutting him off as he winces. He reaches down to rub his big toe, which ended up taking most of the pressure

Drista smiles, ignoring Dream who glares at her, and directs her attention towards Nick, “That’d be cool! Can we go back stage?”

“Yeah sure!”

And the two are walking away before Dream even has a say in the matter. They leave him with this arm is extended and his hand is in the air, like something on one of those cringey movies Bad always makes him watch on Discord.

Nick and Drista are nearly out of sight before Dream decides to follow after him, running at quite a pace because of his far they’d gotten. His shoes make loud noises against the floor in the not-so-crowded arena, it make Dream cringe a little bit.

By the time he’s caught up, they’re in some area back stage. The three are let though by a bodyguard who would definitely be able to bodyslam Dream if he ever tried anything.

Nick leads the siblings to this area that looks like it’s just used for sitting down and eating, judging by the couches everywhere and the array of sweets, chocolates and chips that lay on a table against one of the walls.

“Can I have some of that?” Drista asks Nick, pointing to the food that Dream had previously noticed.

Dream shakes his head at his younger sisters antics. “Don’t be so greedy,” he tells her.

“I didn’t ask you, Clay .” Nick chuckles and Dream rolls his eyes once again, setting himself down on one of the black couches that were scattered around the room. The minecrafter mentally thanks Drista for not using his minecraft ign and relaxes into the couch.

Nick perches himself on the same couch as Dream, him sitting on one side while Dream sits on the other. It makes the elder think of that one vine about the guys in the hot tub, which he laughs at in his head.

Drista got a couple of snacks and sat herself on a couch that is next to Dream’s. Dream watched as then puts her headphones on and started watching something., leaving himself and Nick in complete silence.

Dream sighs at his little sister. He turns back to Nick when he coughs, catching the elders attention. “So... where do you work?” The singer asks the minecrafter.

Dream isn’t really sure how he should answer this, seeing as he’s a masked youtuber with over 12 million subscribers and twitch streamer, going by the name ‘Dream’. The boy rubs his neck in nervousness. “I’m an entertainer,” is all he says. Dream watches as Nick’s eyebrows furrow at the short and uninformative answer. “I’d ask you the same but it’s pretty obvious what you do.” The other says with a breathy laugh. Nick laughs with him, it suddenly doesn’t feel as awkward as it did before.

The two end up getting along well. Nick talks about his tour he’s currently doing around USA. He’s unfortunately only going to be in Florida for another week, before he has three shows in Georgia and a few in Texas, which Dream learns is his home state, some time in the following month.

They end up talking about their cats, Dream going on about his precious Patches with Nick chiming in every once and a while with his three cats; Storm, Lily and Mogwai. The atmosphere was comfortable and they just talked about lots of different things, ranging from favourite seasons to least favourite colour for a shirt.

After what is around 45 minutes, Dream’s phone rings, his Harry Styles ringtone echoing through the room. Nick giggled slightly. “Sorry! Drista did that a while ago and I haven’t gotten round to changing it.”

He picks up the up the phone. It was his and Drista’s mother once more. They talked for a few minutes before Dream ended the call. “That was my mom, she’s outside now..” Dream trails off, not really wanting to leave because he really loved talking to Nick, although he would never admit that fact out loud.

“That’s cool! I’ll take you two to the entrance of the stadium.” Nick beams at the elder, standing up. Dream does the same, motioning for Drista to stand up with them since she still had her headphones on.

Dream shakes his head at the offer. “It’s alright, just take us to the entrance of backstage, I don’t want to bother you,” he says, a grateful smile being placed on his face, along with a light blush that coats his freckles. Nick nods and takes the two to where Dream had requested.

Drista had took off her headphones at this point, turning around to say goodbye to Nick who was standing at the entrance backstage. Dream has his back to the exit of the stadium.

“Can I—”

“Do you think—”

Nick and Dream say at the first time. “You first,” The elder says to the brunette.

“I was gonna ask for your number...” Nick mumbles out, looking at the floor slightly as he twiddled with the fabric of his hoodie. It was easy to see Nick was nervous about the answer he was about to get.

Dream blushed once more. This time, the blush was darker and coated most of his face. He pulls out his phone wordlessly and unlocks it, he then passes it to Nick who looks up with delight on his face.

Dream watched as he types in his number and quickly takes a selfie to put as the profile picture. Dream doesn’t know if he’s seeing it right, but he’s pretty sure Nick saves himself as ‘cute panda bear’.

“Text me whenever!” He states when he passes Dream’s phone back. The blonde takes the phone back with a nod with a smile and then puts his phone is his pocket.

“See you, Nick,” Dream says as they start to walk away, a small smile on his face. But when he turns away from the singer, his small smile turns into a shit eating grin and he giggles to himself.

Drista calls out a short, “bye!”. Before they leave the stadium completely.

When they were out of earshot from Nick, and completely out of the stadium, on the 2-3 minute walk to their mothers car which was just coming into view, Dream squealed.

“I just got his number,” Dream says, his eyes crinkling in the outer corners due to how happy he was, “I literally got his number.”

Drista rolls his eyes at her older brothers antics. “You did,” she says in a matter-of-factly type way. “And it’s all because of me.” She continues, a smug smile on her face.

“Shut up.” Dream pushes her playfully, clutching his phone is his pocket for dear life.

‘I just got a singers number... and it’s all because of my emerald light eyes,’

Chapter Text

When Dream got home that night, he walked up the stairs to his room, with a bag of Chipotle clutched in his pale hand. The boy thought hard as he contemplated texting Nick tonight.

There was pro’s to texting Nick (of course there was, Dream could probably think of hundreds right now), but there was also con’s. These con’s being that Nick had literally just preformed a concert for hundreds, upon thousands of people, and Dream didn’t really think it was fair to keep him awake. He must of been exhausted.

With that thought, he put his phone down on his desk, somewhere near his computer and sat down on his gaming chair.

Dream logged in, putting on his headphones and signed into Discord, multiple ‘ pings ’ going off as people noticed he came online.

The classic Discord ringtone sounded though his headset, meeting his ears. ‘George is calling.’ Dream read to himself.

“Dreamie-poo!” George calls to him when he decided to finally accept the call. Dream sighs with the playful roll to his eyes.

He see’s George in front of him, both having their camera’s on since the elder knew what Dream looked like now. The boy was holding something that looked like Red Bull in his right hand as he idly tapped away on his keyboard with the other.

Dream sits in silence for a while, and stares at George as he clicks away at his computer, paying the younger little to no mind. When George makes no indication to start a conversation, he decides to speak, “so you’re not going to ask what happened at the concert?”

This makes George halt his typing and look up at Dream though his eyelashes, before he brings his head up fully, to where he eventually rests his cheek on the palm of his hand. “Something happened?” George raises an eyebrow as he says this, making Dream smirk slightly.

“You could say that..” the younger replies, leaning back in his seat smugly.

“You got it up the ass?” George blatantly asks the other, his eyes lighting up is suspension.

Dream gasps at the older male, “I can’t believe you just said that to me! No, George, no. I did not get it ‘up the ass’.” He glares at the British man. “What the fuck is wrong with you sometimes.” He mutters under his breath jokingly, to which George rolls his eyes to.

George chuckles at his best friend, “dude but for real, what happened? You’re acting awfully strange right now.” Dream laughed at the words he used. ‘God he is so British...’

“So, you know that singer Dris was so excited to see?” He waits till George nods before he continues, “well...”

He explains the whole thing to his best friend, who listens intently, gasping every once and a while, with the occasional ‘wait you’re kidding!’ or ‘no way..’ . Typical George sentences, if Dream do say so himself.

“And then he gave me his number!” Dream exclaims, reaching over his desk to grab is phone which had been discarded until this point in time. The younger opens his phone and looked though his contacts, finding ‘cute panda bear’ towards the bottom. “Look George!” Dream almost shouts into his mic, making the British male wince slightly, “he saved himself as cute, panda, bear. I can’t dude, I’m literally about to melt. And, he even took a picture! From my phone. My phone George!”

The British male laughed as his best friends antics, “congrats on the boyfriend Dream. I haven’t seen you this excited since the caves and cliffs update.” George laughs and covers his mouth slightly with his hand as Dream scowls at him.

“No but seriously, you gotta help me out here tomorrow when I text him, I’m gonna fuck up so badly.” The younger male whined, a light pout on his lips as he looked down at his phone, then back to George. He watched as George looked at him with fondness in his eyes. “You’re being all sappy again.” Dream states to the elder male.

“Let me be, Clay. I’m trying to remember this moment so I can bully you with it later,”

Dream scoffs at the British male, “Way to ruin the mood, George. You’re really good at doing that, you know? I should call you MoodNotFound.”

“Do that and I’ll text your mom, I’ve still got her number on my phone.”

“You wouldn’t dare,” Dream challenges the elder.

“Try me.”

The two continued to bicker for a while, until Dream starts to feel tired and calls it a night. The two bid goodnight to each other and part ways, a small noise indicating that their call had ended.

Dream scans Discord for a while, replying to Tommyinnit’s message on the Dream Smp server about what’s going on next in the plot line.

The minecrafter then turns off his computer and heads to do his teeth in the bathroom, already having eaten his Chipotle on call with George.

When he comes back, Dream changes into pyjama’s and promptly flops onto his childhood bed with a dull thud. He crawls under his covers and sighs in content. Within minutes, the boy was fast asleep, drifting away into dreamland.

Dream wakes up with a start, his alarm blaring on his bedside table causing him to sit up in alarm.

He turns off his alarm and folds over in exhaustion, his head resting on his knee, the bed cover between the two pieces of body. It was a weird position that’s for sure, but he couldn’t be bothered to lay back down properly, plus, he had a video to record with George and Bad in 30 minutes. Dream would rather not get up, but he doesn’t want to get shouted by a wholesome, but angry, BadBoyHalo.  

Dream sits up, stretching his back out before grabbing his phone which accidentally fell of his bed. He reaches out and grabs the object off the floor with a huff.

He checks the time; 10:45, it reads. Dream gets up off his bed and heads to the bathroom. He brushes his teeth and gets in the shower.

When he’s out, Dream gets ready, putting on some grey sweatpants and a black t-shirt, nothing too fancy since he’s probably gonna stay in all day.

The minecrafter sets up his computer so he’s ready to record, as he waits the 15 minutes until Bad and George are due to join the call he’s peacefully sitting in.

Dream opens up this phone, the last thing he looked at being Nick’s contact number. ‘I should probably text him,’ the boy thought, with an uneasy feeling in his stomach.

He taps on the ‘message’ button of Nick’s contact and breaths deeply, if Dream is being honest, he doesn’t even know how to start his message. Does he just say ‘hi’ or does he type some long ass message about who knows what. Dream has a mental break down on what to day for what feels like forever, but was really just two minutes or so.

In the end, Dream settles on; ‘hey, it’s clay.’ Followed by ‘from yesterday, at the concert.’ And then, ‘I didn’t want to text u last night because I figured you would of been tired.’

Dream buries his head into his hands and internally screams at how embarrassing he’s being. He can’t take it back now though, since it’s already been sent.

Time passes after Dream text’s Nick for the first time, he records for a while with George and Bad, then edits half of the video, before he finally decides to reach for his phone.

It’s around 13:00 when Dream looks at his phone. He has many notifications, so he can’t see if Nick has replied to him until he checks his messages on the app. And he does. He flicks through his texts, replying to a few from friends and family, until he see’s nicks face pop up where profile pictures normally are.

His breath is caught his throat as he clicks on the profile.

Nick sent him two messages at 11am, the first being ‘hey clay! :D how’d you sleep?’ And the second being ‘it’s alright, thanks for not texting me, I’m not sure if I would of ever gone to sleep!’

Dream smiles slightly, the corners of his mouth raising in happiness. ‘I slept okay thanks,, what about you? My alarm woke me up though bc I had to work,’. He hits send and it’s not even a minute later, his phone pings with a text from Nick.

‘My sleep was good ty! Damn that sounds like it sucks D:’

‘I’m glad! It does suck. I mean I love my work but I wanna sleep more,, you know?’

‘Yea, yea, I get that.’

‘Wanna see a picture of my cat?’

And their conversation went on like this for a while after that. They texted for what seemed like ages, and was probably around 4 hours.

This was until Nick had to go, ‘dude, I gotta go now D: I have to go work out to ‘keep fit’, that’s what management says.’

‘Oh okay! Enjoy your work out,’

‘Thanks (: also,,, wanna go out on a date sometime?’

Dream screams, and not even in his head. He did it out loud, which is when Drista burst into the room. “Yo what happened?”

“NICK JUST ASKED ME OUT?!” Dream drops his phone on his desk and covers his face with his hands. He knew how red he was, he didn’t need anyone to tell him. Dream could literally feel the heat radiating from his face, it made him stifle out a embarrassed laugh.

“You’re kidding!” Drista gapes at him, eyes as wide as sources. She covered her mouth and screamed into her hands in excitement. “Say yes! Say yes! Dream! Text him back!” Drista snaps Dream out of his daze and he picks up this phone.

‘I would love too!’ He replies, his hands shaking with every letter he sent. ‘Let me know when you’re finished working out and we can talk about this more later :D’

‘Sounds like a plan.’ Nick replies almost instantly, ‘see you later Clay!’

‘Bye Nick,’ Dream says back and then he turns off his phone.

“I said yes, we’re gonna discuss details later...” Dream looks at Drista the biggest smile on his face. Drista mimics the smile perfectly and runs to tell mother, who was somewhere below him, judging by the fact she runs down the stairs.

Dream doesn’t have many things going though his mind right now, but the one thing that is, is ‘I’ve gotta tell George about this..’

Chapter Text

It’s later in the day, around 9pm, when Nick’s contact pops up on Dream’s phone, startling the life out of the other, who was watching one of his friends stream to pass time.

He sits up from where he’s laying in his bed instantly, cramping a muscle in his back in the process. He winces but ignores it and clicks on the notification that takes him to his and Nick’s private messages.

‘Hey! Sorry I took ages, had to do a interview I forgot about!’ Nick sends him.

Dream smiles at the message, the reason being unknown to him. ‘It’s alright :D’ The elder replies instantly, his hands slightly shaking at the fact they were gonna discus date details soon.

And they did.

Dream won’t go into detail, it took a just over half an hour to negotiate around both their busy schedules. The whole ordeal was pretty hectic compared to normal ‘date planning’ but the two eventually got a time that was right for both of them.

They’d decided on tomorrow, at 6pm. Dream would have to cut his stream short by half an hour, but he hoped his viewers wouldn’t mind all that much. He figured if his chat knew the actual reason, they’d be glad to let him go.. at least he hoped so.

Nick and Dream talked to each other for another hour before Nick got tired and said he wanted to go to sleep, and Dream let him go, seeing as he had been tired himself.

Dream, now sitting in his bed, places his phone on his bedside table, face down. His hands find his face and he covers it, a pleased smile forming on his pale skin.

The blonde haired male doesn’t even know how to explain how he’s feeling. It’s been ages since he’s felt so... happy and it’s overwhelming him, in a good way of course. He doesn’t even know how he’s gonna act on the date.

Dream lays back in his bed slowly, his back hitting his duvet ans his head hitting his pillow softly. A single tear slips from the boys closed eyes. Dream isn’t really sure why he’s crying, but one thing for certain, is that it’s not for any bad reason.

Dream’s eyes open and he looks up at his ceiling, although it’s tear stricken, though them. His vision blurs slightly as he blinks. He rests his hands on his stomach, hands interlacing with each other, as his right thumb rubs over the left in a calming and relaxing way.

Patches makes her way to his side, rubbing her fluffy head againt Dream’s cheek. The boy fondly chuckles at his cat and strokes her back which she lets out light purrs at.

It’s extremely relaxing, he doesn’t really want to leave where he is right now.

The minecrafter wishes he could lay like this for every, but he’s got much more important things to be doing, for example; getting ready for the date that is less than 20 hours away.

Dream hauls himself up from where he’s laying and runs to his bathroom, the quiet patter of Patches’s small feet following after her owner. She’s pushed out quickly when Dream goes to get in the shower. Patches scratches at the bathroom door for a few seconds before she becomes uninterested and goes elsewhere, probably to Drista.

The boy strips himself of his clothes and turns on the shower. He feels the temperature with his hand and waits till it’s just right before he slips in and closes the shower curtain behind him.

He takes a deep breath as the warm water slides down his back in a therapeutic way, ridding himself of all these thoughts in his mind. He takes his time in the shower, enjoying every single moment, the experience relaxing his muscles tremendously.

When Dream is out the shower, he brushes his teeth and he changes quickly in his room. Then he’s collapsing on his bed with a content sigh. Patches makes her way back into Dream’s room, jumping onto his bed with a soft thud.

The boy lifts his head to see his cat bundle up into his side. He chuckles at Patches, a hand making its way to her ears where he gives her a light scratch, before Dream lays his head back down and switches his bedside lamp off.

He’s awoken by his alarm once again. He checked the time; 10:00. ‘45 minutes earlier than usual today.’ Dream thinks with a sad sigh, but he’ll probably need that extra time if he wants to look good for his date.

First thing that he does when he wakes up is to have is breakfast, which he didn’t do yesterday due to the recording he had to do, and brush his teeth. Granted he got wrong of his mother, but there was nothing he could do about it. It’s not like he could eat and run away from George and Bad at the same time.

“Morning Clay,” his mother calls from the kitchen when he finally reaches the bottom of the stairs. He hums at her, not feeling like talking so early in the morning. He enters the kitchen where his mother is making food for lunch, breakfast already been made and placed in the microwave so it didn’t get cold. “You sleep well, love?” The boys mother addresses him as he takes a breakfast waffle out the microwave and places it onto his plate.

“Yeah,” he says, passing his mother at the counter and grabbing a glass out of the cupboard. “Best sleep I had in a long time.” Dream concludes with a small smile at the end of his lips.

Dream’s mother ruffles his head with a beaming grin, “I’m glad. You ready for your date soon?”

The boy groans at her as he fills the glass up with water, “don’t remind me! I’m already way too unnecessarily nervous, mom.”

His mother rolls her eyes at him and turns around so she can look at her son, “you shouldn’t worry, Clay. I know for a fact you’ll be fine. If Nick doesn’t like you, that’s on him.”

Dream stifled a laugh at his mother, covering his laugh with his hand. He takes a bite at his waffle. ‘She always knows how to calm my nerves..’ Dream thinks, and he’s forever extremely thankful for that fact.

Time passes and before Dream knows it, it’s 2pm. He has four hours to get ready and get to the restaurant Nick picked out. His nerves have kicked in again but George is there with him to help him pick out what to wear, which calms him down more than anything ever could right now.

“No no, not that one.” George groans followed by a laugh of frustration. “one shirt to the left! No not your left, my left!” He shouts at the blonde though the screen.

Dream wheezes hard and falls to the ground, his knee’s hitting the carpet with a thud that makes Drista tell him to ‘shut up’ from downstairs.

“Dream! Get it to together dude, we gotta get this perfect!” George complains at the younger, a smile on his lips as he watches Dream get off the ground with shaky legs.

Dream pulls a pained expression as he rubs his knee’s, “bro my knees hurt..”

“Serves you right. Now come on! or it’s gonna take hours to find a good look.”

The blonde looks at all of the shirts and sweaters he’s got laying on his bed and picks up the one George picked out. “You think a polo top? With my dark blue sweater on top?”

George nods his head and Dream goes off screen to change. He comes back and the elder gives a nod off approval before they get onto the jeans. He picks out a black pair of jeans and then they’re onto the accessories.

Picking out the accessories takes an unjustifiable amount of time but the ones they choose finishes off the look completely.

George picks out two black studs. The younger pushes one into the middle of his lobe, and the other one into his upper lobe. Dream then chooses out a dangling feather earring for his left ear and pushes it on, before sliding the cap on so it didn’t fall out.

By the time they’re done with that, it’s 3:30 and Dream gets ready to start streaming. He streams for a hour, and it takes them to 4:30. The boys, himself and George, bid farewell to the stream viewers. He then promptly ends the live.

Dream gets rid of all his tabs, but discord, and gets ready to leave, grabbing his phone wallet etc, not wanting to be late because the traffic could be bad.

George wishes his best friend luck and they end the call with a excited goodbye.

Dream sits down on his bed and pulls on his black converse.

He picks up his phone and see’s that Nick has texted him. Dream hopes he hasn’t cancelled on him and opens the message. It reads: ‘hope you’re ready for our date in a couple hours. You better not ditch me D:’

Dreams heart swells with something unknown to him, but whatever it is, it makes him smile widely and he welcomes the feeling. He sends back a short reply, ‘Wouldn’t dream of it! See you in a few.’ , since he doesn’t trust himself to type something any longer than that.

Dream makes his way down the stairs and heads to his front door. He shrugs on his coat and looks into the living room where he can see Drista looking at him with proud eyes. She sends him a ‘good luck’ thumbs up and one of her award winning smiles before she’s looking back at the tv.

The minecrafter opens up the door and grabs his house and car keys off the hanger in the wall. Dream’s mom rounds the corner from the kitchen when she hears the door open. “Good luck, honey.” She says to him, giving her son a hug and a kiss to the cheek before she’s hurrying him out the door.

Dream walks to his car and starts the 45 minute drive to the secluded restaurant in the outer city.

It takes Dream longer than he expected to get to the restaurant, just over 1 hour and fifteen minutes, but that was due to the heavy traffic that started as soon as he left his estate.

He arrives outside the restaurant and finds a place to park without any trouble at all.

The boy gets out the car and the cold November air hits him like a truck. It’d gotten really cold since he left the house, but since he’d been in his car, he hadn’t really noticed all that much.

Dream makes a beeline for the entrance, his head down as the wind hits his cold cheeks. He crosses the street cautiously, looking left and right. The boy then lights jogs over the road, being careful not to slip, which he thankfully doesn’t do.

The blonde arrives in front of the restaurant and takes a deep breath. Then he pushes the door open.

The warm heating of the entrance hits his face in a pleasant way, totally different from the cold wind before. It’s calms him and he takes off his coat, handing it to a lady who asked for it. This was definitely the most posh place he’d ever been too.

Another lady comes up to Dream, “hi, welcome!” She greets. “What can I do for you today?”

“I- um.. I’m here for a date, for someone called Nick.” Dream mentally face palms and curses himself for stuttering. He digs his nails into his palm in sheer nervousness.

“Oh you’re Clay?” The lady asks with a curious smile. Dream nods, “Great! Give me a minute and I’ll take you up to him.”

The boy is left there as the lady walks into the back room and comes out with a male. The male stands at the seating desk and the waitress beckons Dream to follow her, which he does.

They’re taken to an elevator which is kinda small and makes Dream feel slightly claustrophobic but he can deal with it for a few seconds. The elevator doors open and they both walk inside. There were three buttons in the lift; ‘ground floor’, ‘first floor’ and ‘second floor’. The lady presses the button for the second floor, they were on the ground floor.

The lift goes up and then stops. The doors open and Dream sighs in relief, there was no way in hell he was going to be trapped in an elevator that small, while on his first date in years.

The waitress leads Dream into a secluded area of the restaurant and motions to a door at the end of corridor. “He’s in there, please enjoy your time here.” She says with a smile and then the waitress is off down the corridor, and back in the elevator.

Dream walks down the corridor, looking at the paintings that were were strung up to the walls and the fairy lights, that hung over head. Vines weaved and tangled though the wood of the walls in a majestic way. It took Dreams breath away.

He finally reached the door. Dream stood outside for a while, not exactly sure what to do. Eventually he settled for knocking.

He tapped his knuckles against the door and heart a muffled ‘come in’.

Dream pushed the door open stepped inside.

He met eyes with the other in the room. His olive orbs meeting Nicks brown ones instantly.

Nick gasps, and almost simultaneously, so does Dream. Both have definitely outdone themselves when it came to dressing up for today.

The younger of the two stands up in a trance. Dream’s eyes scan Nicks body up and down.

He’s swearing a shirt that’s loose on his figure. It’s a button up, a v-neck. Striped. And sits on Nick’s shoulders so perfectly, that Dream thinks it should be illegal.

To complement the shirt, Nick is wearing black jeans, much like himself but with rips, supported with some classic converse.

“H-hi,” Nick stutters out, looking at Dream with wide eyes. “You look breathtaking...” he trails off. And then his hand slaps over his mouth, obviously not meaning to say that out loud.

Dream laughs, a smile being placed on his cold face, “thank you, Nick. You look delightful also.”

Nick motions for him to sit down, and Dream does. He places his phone face down on the table beside him. Nick sits back down after the elder.

The two stare at each other for a while, not with any awkward tension though, it was far from awkward. They just look at each other, taking in every detail of their faces and drawing this moment into their memories forever.

Dream’s gaze eventually drifts to the window behind Nick, showing off the apartment buildings and bustling streets below them. The sun is just setting behind the hills faraway, small ray beams barely making their way though the tree’s. It looks spectacular. “The view looks magnificent tonight.” Dream states, diverting his gaze back to Nick.

Nick turns his body 90 degrees so he can look out the window behind him. The younger breath gets caught in his throat as he looks outside, “yes, it looks truly beautiful, Clay.”

“You look much more beautiful though,” Dream flirts with the younger, smirking as he see’s Nick’s face heat up.

Nick turns back to face Clay, blush still evident on his face. “Thank you,” he says timidly. His shy eyes looking down at the plate in front of him.

Dream changes the subject, “how was your drive over here?”

The two talk about random things, until the waitress comes and asks for their orders.

For drinks, they don’t have anything fancy, just a Diet Coke each. And for the main, Dream orders margarita pizza, since it’s been his favourite ever since he was a kid, while Nick orders Hawaiian pizza. The elder scrunches his nose up to that in playful disgust, which the brown haired male rolls his eyes to.

They chat until their food and drinks come, then they eat in comfortable silence.

When the dessert menu is offered to them both, the two both pass on that, not feeling full enough to eat another course.

Dream and Nick sit at the table, just talking and having their time of their lives. Dream doesn’t think he’s ever gotten on with someone so well in his life, he really doesn’t want the date to end. But he knows they have to.

The elder checks the time, it’s 9:30. Dream isn’t ready to believe that they’ve been here for nearly 4 hours already.

Dream payed. He insisted, and he insisted a lot. The two argued, not really, about who was going to pay for ten minutes before they decided to do card roulette. In the end, Dream’s card was picked. Nick wasn’t happy though, feeling like since he asked Dream out, he should be paying.

“How are you getting back to the hotel?” Dream asks the younger, taking a sip of his Coke.

Nick shrugs leaning his elbow on the table and placing his head into his hand, “I’ll probably get a cab or ask my manager to pick me up if she’s not busy.” Dream shakes his head. Nick lifts his head from his hand and sits up straight. He tilts his head sideways, almost like a curious puppy. “why’d you shake your head?” He questions the elder.

“I can’t let that happen.” Dream says, crossing his arms with a huff, “what kind of date would I be if I let you get to the hotel in some musty cab with someone you don’t know? Or your manager who would probably take a while to get here?” Nick shrugs again, a small smile pulling at the corners of his lips, as pink slowly started dusting the tip of his nose and his cheeks.

“You’re gonna drive me to the hotel?” Nick questions, raising his right eyebrow.

“Yeah.. unless you don’t want me to?”

The younger shakes his head urgently, his mouth forming into a fully blond smile, “no, no. I’d love for you to.”

“Good. Want to get out here then?” Dream asks, standing up from his seat. Nick nodded and stood. The elder shoved his phone into his pocket and walked over to the door, Nick following closely behind.

He pushes open the door with his hand and the two walk towards the elevator.

Dream presses the calling button and the two wait in comfortable silence till it arrives. When it does, they both walk inside. Nick presses the button for the ground floor and they ride down in the elevator slowly.

Dream starts to feel claustrophobic again and Nick notices, although the elder isn’t really sure how. The brunette holds his hand out for Dream to grab onto and he does.

Dream threads his fingers through Nick’s hand with a smile. They both had a light blush on their cheeks at this point, it made the blonde laugh.

The elevator comes to a stop and both of them climb out the elevator. Then, out the front door to the restaurant. But before they go, Nick waves to the lady who had shown him where Nick was, a couple hours prior. The boys are given their coats and they wear them quickly, knowing it’s going to be cold.

Once the two were outside, they run across the, not-so-busy, street and to Dream’s car.

The elder unlocks the car and they both climb inside, Dream in the drivers and Nick in the passengers set. “How’d you afford this beauty?” The brunette asks Dream with amazed eyes as he looked around.

“Just a couple things I do for work...” the elder replies, with a small shrug. He turns on the ignition and the car boots up. The heating comes to life and warms their frozen toes. Dream takes his coat off and throws into the back seat, Nick does the same a few seconds later.

Nick tells Dream the hotel name, and thankfully, Dream knows exactly where it is. They pull off the curb and fly down the road.

The younger turns on the aux and plays his own songs until they get to the hotel. Dream can’t deny that they’re good, well.. not even that. They’re amazing.

They get outside the hotel in less than 30 minutes. Dream parks the car a little bit away so he can walk Nick to the front entrance.

He turns off the ignition and jumps out the car, Nick following soon after. The blonde and the brunette walk hand in hand to the front entrance of the hotel.

When they get to the front, Nick and Dream face each other. “I’d like to take you to the park one time, if your up for that?” Dream asks the younger with a smile.

Nick doesn’t say anything, he just nods, with excited look in his eyes and... was that anticipation? “Text me when you get home, okay? I’ll not be able to rest until I know you’re alright.” Nick answers sheepishly, looking at his shoes.

Dream tilts Nick’s head back up with his index finger. He makes eye contact with the younger, until his eyes flick down to Dreams lips and back to his eyes once again.

Dream unconsciously does the same and then they’re leaning in.

Soft lips meet Dream’s own. His heart swells, it’s a feeling he hasn’t felt for a very long time. The fireworks exploded in his stomach and his eyes fluttered shut pleasantly.

His hands make their way around Nick’s waist, pulling him closer. Nick’s hand made their way around Dream’s neck, one of his hands finding his hair, lacing his fingers into it.

The pull away when both of them have no room in the lungs to carry on.

“That was..” Dream trailed off, catching his breath as he looked at Nick’s lips, which were now red and plump.

Nick nodded, his eyes trained to Dream’s lips, which were in a similar state to his own, “yeah..”

The blonde smiled at the smaller boy in his arms. “You should go inside now. It’s getting late, and you need your beauty sleep!”

“Yes, Clay,” was the reply he got.

A short peck was placed on Dream’s lips once again, then Nick detached him hand from the elders hair and ran off into the hotel, a short wave being spared before he was lost out of sight.

Dream watches the hotel doors for a while, then walked back to his car. He honestly couldn’t believe what just happened. He had kissed Nick. He did it. He really did. And it wasn’t a dream.

Chapter Text

Dream woke up that next morning. The biggest smile on his face as he remembered the previous events of last night. He replayed them over and over again like songs he could never get tired of. Every moment of that night was everything he ever dreamed of. Dream honestly couldn’t of asked for any better date.

The minecrafter had texted Nick when he got home, seeing as the younger had asked him too. He never got a reply back, so he hoped that Nick was sleeping and hadn’t ignored him. If he did, Dream would be gobsmacked as to why.

Life goes on as normal for the two boys for a few days. Dream works on his new videos and the release of his extensive merchandise line, before him and Nick decide to meet up again. This time at a park, like Dream had requested.

Dream shuts his car door behind him after parking his car on the side of the road, relatively close to the park.

He walks down the path, which was wet under his feet, making him slip slightly with every step. The weather was not so good today, it was cold, windy, and extremely wet, although it had just stopped raining a few minutes prior. But knowing Dream’s luck, it’d probably start raining again soon.

Dream gets outside the entrance of the park and walks inside, the trees and leaves all swishing in welcome. It makes a smile spring up on Dream’s slightly chapped lips. The blonde pulls his coat around his body to try and preserve body heat, which doesn’t seem to work and makes Dream sigh in disappointment.

The boy places himself down on a, surprisingly, dry bench and takes out his phone. He plays around for a while until he looks up and watches life go on around him.

Children play in the park, jumping around on the swing sets and running around the play areas. It’s entertaining to watch for a while, but Dream gets bored easily, and soon looses interest.

Suddenly, two cold hands clap each of his shoulders. Dream jumps with a yelp and turns around to see who just scared the life out of him.

It was Nick.

Dream sighs in relief, “Jesus Nick! You really scared me..”

Dream stands and hugs the younger before they sit down on the bench the blonde was previously on. “Sorry,” Nick shrugs sheepishly, a stupidly smug look on his tanned face. He laces his hand into Dream’s and cuddles into his side, finally noticing how cold it was. The elder rests his cheek on Nick’s head, his brown hair tickling his face in a pleasant way.

“How’s the preparation for the next show going?”

“The one in Texas?” Nick asks, looking out onto the park with glints of content in his eyes. Dream hum’s at the question.

“It’s going okay. There’s a few kinks we gotta figure out, and after that it’ll hopefully be all good to go when I get to Georgia.” Nick concludes with a happy smile.

Dream frowns at the mention of going back home. “I don’t want you to leave just yet..” he admits, lifting up his head to look at Nick, who does the same, “I met you not that long ago, and I want more time with you..”

“We have all the time in the world when I’m done with this tour, Clay!” The younger says, putting his cold palm to Dream’s cheek a soft look on his face.

Dream pouts, his bottom lip turning over slightly, “you promise?”

“Pinky promise!” Nick holds his little finger out, the one not holding Dream’s hand. The elder rolls his eyes but puts his out too and they link them together with small laughs and giggles.

The two talk for hours on end, until it gets so dark that they can’t see in front of each other. It gets unbearably cold, and that’s what makes them go home.

The park that Dream chose was right opposite the park, due for easy access to the hotel for Nick. The younger was grateful for that.

The two head to Nick’s hotel room, going through the lobby and up the elevator which has Dream’s claustrophobia kicking in once more. Luckily he has Nick there to calm him down.

The boys get to the hotel room and go inside. Dream takes his shoes off and throws his coat on the hanger that stands a little bit away from the door. Nick plots himself on the bed and pats the space next to him for Dream to join.

There, they sit and watch movies for hours on end, one after another, stopping to order snacks and food every once and a while.

And when the two finally decided to sleep, Nick had insisted that Dream stay over due to how late it was, it was 4am. The both of them really didn’t expect to be watching movies this long. It was never in Dream’s plan to stay over either, but that happened too.

The brunette throws the elder some pyjama’s to lend for the night, which Dream changes into in the bathroom. And when he comes out, Nick is already in bed, playing on his phone.

Dream climbs in next to Nick and the other turns over so his head is in the blonde’s chest. Their legs tangle together and Dream wraps his arms around Nicks torso. The brunette gasps when the elder’s cold hands brush up against an exposed part of Nick’s back.

“Sorry,” Dream giggles, his chest rising and falling with every small sound he makes. “I didn’t realise my hands were so cold,”

Nick laughs slightly, relaxing into the elder’s warm embrace as he does so. He hums out a muffled, “it’s alright.”

“I know I probably should of asked this sooner, but,” Dream takes a pause as Nick looks up at him, looking effortlessly beautiful, as always. The blonde was unable to fathom how he had gotten such a gem in his life. Nick was everything he ever wanted... and more.

“Yeah?” Nick asks, his eyes looking hopeful.

Dream beams at the younger male, running his hands through the tanned male’s brown hair. “Do you... wanna be my boyfriend?”

Nick looks up at Dream, a shocked expression forming across his face. Nick thought this was what Dream was going to ask, but hearing the words falling from his lips was much more of a reality check than he expected.

“Oh my god...” Nick mutters, his voice getting caught in his throat at the worst time. He coughs behind his hand before he speaks, “yes! I’d love too!”

Dream let’s out a sigh of relief and leans down to peck Nick’s lips softly. The brunette responds to the kiss, a smile clearly noticeable on his face. Electric tingles get sent though all of Dream’s body, making him shiver.

The two pull away. Dream speaks once more, “we should get to sleep now, don’t you think?”

Nick nods, a yawn escaping his now red lips. They settle into bed and the two close their eyes after Nick turns off the bedside lamp.

Both boys drift off to sleep with bright smiles on their faces that night, both as bright as each other’s, their hearts full of love and happiness.

Chapter Text

“—lay? Cl— Clay..? Hey Clay?” someone shakes him softly. Dream’s brain registers a small hand resting on his shoulder. the man in question groans and squeezes his eyes shut in frustration. Whoever is waking him up let’s out a heavenly giggle. “come on sleepy head, it’s time to get up!”

Dream inches his eyes open, squinting as the golden sunlight blinds him through the slightly see through curtains. The elder brain catches up to where he is and webs his hands open to stretch them. “It’s too early Nick, please,” he whines with a frown, lifting a hand to wipe at his eyes sleepily. He sees, and hears, the younger male chuckle at him though half-open and sleep-blurred eyes.

Nick smiles at the tired boy. “I’ve gotta go to Georgia in a couple hours Clay,” Nick reminds him, “I’d like to have breakfast with you before I have to leave..”

Dream sits up in alarm at the mention of Nick going away, totally have forgotten about it until it was mentioned. Dream pouts,slouching as he wraps his arms around Nick’s torso, who was sitting crosslegged on the bed beside him. “Do you seriously have to go?”

“Of course I have to,” Nick ruffles the elders dirty blonde hair, fondness showing in his dark brown eyes, “people payed good money for these show’s, and I’m not about to let them down..”

Dream detaches himself from Nick and sits up properly, stretching his muscles before he reluctantly gets out of bed. “Fine,” The elder crosses his arms, facing Nick before he turns around so his back is facing the singer.

The elder of the two walks over to the hotel window and looks out over Florida with sad eyes. “Oh come on Clay, don’t go all in a huff, it’s only going to be a few weeks or something.” Nick calls to him from the bed.

“A few weeks too long.” Dream replies his voice quiet. Nick gets off the bed, it creaks as he lifts himself up, and walks over to where Dream is looking out the hotel window.

Nick wraps his arms around the elders torso, burring his head into Dream’s back. He breaths in and sighs, “I know.”

Dream smiles, it’s silent for a while as the two just stay in place, enjoying the moment. “You’ll come back as soon as you’re done right?”

“Of course I will, you’re the best thing that has ever happened to me in years.”

The breakfast depressing to say the least. It was their first and last breakfast together for a long while. Dream wasn’t the most patient person, neither was he one of the people that can make a good time out of a sad situation. In conclusion, the breakfast wasn’t the most pleasant for both boys.

Nick sat opposite him, humming some tune which Dream had to admit was extremely catchy. He sat munching on some boiled eggs while scrolling though Twitter on his phone. He looked so content in that moment. Dream’s heart swells in warmth as he watched, resting his chin on his hand.

The elder figures he stares too long because suddenly Nick is staring at him with curious eyes. “Am i just so beautiful you can’t take your eyes away from me?” Nick narrows his eyes with a playful smirk.

Dream scoffs, “you wish, Mr. Worldwide singer,”. Knowing he’s caught Dream, Nick laughs and leans back in his seat smugly. The elder rolls his eyes playfully and takes a sip of orange juice.

“Hmm.. okay Clay.”

Dream takes a bite of his toast, “you’re a right brat. You know that right?”

“I’ve been told plenty. I, sometimes, like to pride myself in it.” He takes a sip of his water as he says this, making an obnoxiously loud gasp when Dream stick’s his middle finger up at him.

The two continue to chat, but Dream can’t stop thinking about time. He looks at the clock much more than considered normal. He wishes he could slow down the time. And at one point, Dream glares at the clock, his eyes almost burning black holes into the big grandfather clock a couple meters away.

Then, Dream’s phone busses in his pocket. He takes it out and taps on the screen. The caller id reads ‘gogy’. Dream’s eyes light up in suprise, not used to George being up this early. His eyes glint with something unknown to Nick, it makes him curious.

“You wanna say hi to my bestfriend?” Dream asks Nick, with that same type of unknown flickering in his green orbs, motioning to his phone that’s still buzzing lightly in his hand.

Nick’s eyes light up snd he finally understands what that glint was, mischief. He nods hurriedly. Dream passes the phone over and Nick accepts with one quick look at the elder.

The younger puts the phone up to his ear and clears his voice. In the strongest Texas accent he can manage, Nick says, “Howdy partner! This is Dallas, Texas crematorium. We burn them, you sprinkle them. How can I help you today?” Dream bursts out in laughter, his wheeze echoing around the whole hotel cafeteria. “Clay shut up! He’s gonna hear you!” Nick whispers hurriedly as he moves the phone away from his ear.

Nick brings the phone back to his ear. “What the fuck?” Someone British says on the otherside, “i swear to god if this is Nick—”

The younger bursts out laughing, his and Dream’s laughs merging together as they echoed around the hotel cafeteria. People stare at them, but both boys pay no notice as tears blur their vision. Nick watches as ‘gogy’ ends the phone calls and the brunette struggles to say, in short incoherent sentences, that he ended.

Their laughter dies down, although Nick continues to giggle every once and a while as he recalls the events in his head. Dream calls ‘gogy’, who he later learns to know as George, back.

Nick and George talk on the phone for a while. George threatens Nick to not break Dream’s heart, basically all the normal ‘protective best friend’ sentences. He would never admit this out loud, but George scares Nick. And as George is a 5’8 British boy, that’s definitely saying something.

Time ticked away after that, and before Dream knew it, Nick’s bags were packed and they were at the airport.

Thankfully, there were no fans at the airport since that information had been kept a secret from people who didn’t need to know. Dream was extremely thankful for that, he didn’t want their relationship to get out before he told his parents, that would of been catastrophic for both parties.

Dream got out of his car, locking it behind him with ease. He took Nicks bags, like the gentleman he is, and they headed inside the airport.

The airport wasn’t crowded at all. It was a weekday and most kids were at school since it was the second semester. The sky was lightly snowing since it was November and the cold days had started to set in. Dream smiled as Nick tried to catch the snow on his tongue and nose. Then they entered the airport.

Nicks flight was in two hours. Dream didn’t really want him to go so soon, but there wasn’t much he could do to stop it.

Reluctantly, the elder gave Nick’s bag to one of the singers managers, he had four apparently, and Dream entwined Nick’s hand with his own. Dream’s hands had gotten pink from the cold and he was letting out short cold breaths, despite how warm the airport was.

Dream and Nick sit down outside of a small coffee shop in the airport lobby. Enjoying the last hour and a bit they had together. Nicks management sat a bit away, typing on computers and calling people.

They chatted for a while before Nick’s manager came on up to the both of them. Dream knew what was coming, but hearing the words come out of the managers mouth nearly made the singers boyfriends heart break in two.

“It’s time to go Nick, we’ll be late for your flight if we don’t head off soon.” The manager says, sparing a glance to the, suddenly, dejected Dream before his attention is back on Nick.

Both stand up from the small table the two are sitting at, and stare at each other. Neither really knowing what to say. Both can see the sad looks that each of them have in their eyes.

“I’ll miss you..” Nick eventually speaks, a sad smile on his pink lips.

Dream pulls Nick into a big hug, burying his head into Nicks shoulder as the singer buries his head into Dream’s chest.

“I’ll miss you so so so much, Nick.” Dream says, a frown noticeable on his lips as he starts to tear up. Curse him for being such a softie when it came to things like this. “Hopefully a month will pass quickly and I’ll be able to see you again soon.”

They pull away from the hug and Nick sniffles lightly, wiping a fallen tear from Dream’s cheek, “I hope so too.”

“Call me when you get off the plane okay? I need to know that my baby gets to ground safely.”

Nick falters. The words ‘My baby’ echoes around his head. He beams at the elder with eyes full of love. It makes Dream’s breath get caught in his throat. ‘How did I ever end up with such a jem?’ The minecrafter asks himself.

Nick’s heart swells at the pet name. Blush coating his slightly tanned cheeks, “i-i will. I promise I will.”

“You better,” Dream says a prominent smile on his face, the small dimple on the middle of his right cheek making an unexpected appearance. “Now go! So I can see you sooner!”

Nick goes on his tiptoes so he’s able to kiss Dream on the lips. The kiss is short but emotional and Dream feels tears welling at the edges of his eyes.

They pull apart and two rest their foreheads together. They hug once more.

And before Dream even knows what’s happening, Nick is whisked away by the managers and through the security gate.

Nick waves at Dream, his hand extended over his head as he waves erratically. Dream chuckles as he stands on his tiptoes to wave back, a sad but proud smile forming on his pale face. And before the elder knows it, he looses the smaller male and his face is lost in the crowd.

Chapter Text

It’s been a long time since Dream last saw Nick.

It’s been a long time since the two of them texted too.

It’s been a long time in general.

The day Nick left him at the airport, he felt his life slow down. It was almost if he had become a sloth. Dream hadn’t, that would of been silly. He simply just didn’t want to do much.

Nick was the light of his life, if he had to be honest. And with that light gone, all that remained, was darkness.

Dream didn’t feel depressed, it definitely wasn’t that, but something about Nick leaving really left a hole in his heart.

For once, Dream was loved, or at least he hoped he was, by someone other than his family (and friends). Those couple days he spent with Nick was quite honestly ‘the best days of his life’.

The first time they met, when Nick serenaded him as he looked at his phone, completely unaware of what was happening. The first time they met outside of music related business, the day before the younger had to leave, for a date at a fancy restaurant Nick had booked for the two of them. The night they shared, cuddling on the bed after they’d kissed for the first time. And finally, the first time they had to say goodbye, at the airport two weeks ago.

There was a lot of ‘first times’ the week he met Nick.

Dream hoped there would be many more to come. Nick meeting his parents for the first time , and vice versa. Nick meeting his older and younger sister (and of course his younger brother) for the first time . Their first trip abroad... maybe they could go to England and meet George.

Although, Dream doesn’t know what’s going to happen. Many of these ‘firsts’ may never happen and that put a weight on his heart.

Unfortunately, that weight stayed there, constantly reminding him of the fact he may never see Nick again.

It’d been just over a week since the last text Nick has sent him. It had been a simple ‘I got a show now!! I’ll speak to u later <3’. It’d been sent at 20:27 (8:27pm). Dream hadn’t bothered to reply since he had faith Nick would text back after the show. But the next day rolled around and there was no message from Nick.

Dream really didn’t want to pester the younger. ‘Maybe he’d just forgotten... right?’ Was what Dream told himself that morning. He distracted himself with scrolling through their past conversations, smiling at the memories that resurfaced.

And in the present, where he sat on his bed, similar to a week ago, scrolling mindlessly though his and Nick’s old conversations. Although this time, an, almost, sad smile was placed on his face.

Dream dug his teeth into his pink lip slightly as his emerald eyes started to water. He turned off his phone and headed for the shower. He could always get his mind clear there, no matter what was going on.

The minecrafter got up and petted Patches head with a sad smile. She leaned into the touch and purred on his pillow. Patches’ purring always calmed Dream down, the constant sound had, and continued, to being grounding to him when he gets too caught up in his head, similarly to now. Dream likes to think that Patches knows that, and that’s why she does it. In the end, the blonde really has no way of knowing but it’s a comforting thought to think.

Dream enters the shower, clothes already discarded in his room and a towel wrapped snug around his slightly tanned waist.

He stares at himself in the mirror and rakes a hand though his slightly greasy hair. “I look horrific,” Dream mutters to himself with a pitiful laugh.

Fortunately Dream was home now, or his mother (and probably Drista too) would never let Dream get into the position he’d unfortunately dug himself into. He wasn’t residing in his family home, but instead he was back in his own home, his big and lonely home. It didn’t really feel like a home though. It was too quiet to call it a place full of love and happy memories.

Yes, it has happy memories, of course it does. Dream remembers the one time Drista slid into the kitchen, curtesy of the newly mopped floors, and body slammed the fridge with a crash. The whole fiasco had the boy nearly pissing himself on the floor, holding his stomach as his signature wheeze echoed around the whole house.

Dream chuckled at the memory and hung his towel up on the holder.

He turned on the shower and made sure the temperature was correct before stepping in.

The water hit his back harshly, but not in an uncomfortable way. It felt like millions of little people were stopping on his back, almost like a massage. Because of this, blondes shoulders lost their tension and slumped down to his sides.

During Dream’s shower, he relaxed significantly and it was noticeable when he stepped back out. Dream noticed he didn’t look so sad anymore, and surprisingly his eye bags had reduced in colour.

Dream would probably continue to stare at his reflection but tore his eyes away and wrapped his towel around his waist again.

He had just finished tucking the towel in when he heard a sound. It was a familiar sound, one he hadn’t heard in a while.

“MY PHONE!!” Dream shouted to himself and threw his en-suite bathroom door open. He ran quickly to his phone, watching as Patches threw him curious glances but eventually ignored him, letting out a small ‘meow’ before closing her eyes.

Briefly, Dream thought that the call could be from Nick. He shook that thought away not wanting to get disappointed, but he knew he’d still hope it would be the brunette in the back of his head.

Dream looked at the caller id. It wasn’t Nick. And even though the boy told himself he wasn’t going to hope, he did. And now Dream’s mood went back to shit again.

He looked at the number +1(469) 278.... something or other, Dream didn’t remember. He didn’t know what area code that was, but one thing for sure, was that the user was definitely from the USA.

He accepted the call, despite his gut telling him it may not be a good idea.

“Hello?” Dream said curiously.

The person on the other side of the line coughed before staring to speak. “Hi! Is this Clay?”

“U-um, yes this is he.” Dream reluctantly said. The person on the line was female, that much was sure. “And who am I speaking too?”

“Oh so sorry!” The woman said, “I’m Victoria, nice to meet you!! I’m one of Panda’s assistants. By panda’s I mean—”

“—I know who you mean!” Dream said forcefully. He didn’t mean for it to come out that way, he was just shocked. The blonde took a deep breath, “sorry I didn’t intend to come across mean.”

The lady on the other side of the line chuckled slightly. “It’s alright Clay. I’ve been told the two of you haven’t been speaking for a while?”

“That’s correct.” Dream doesn’t really know what to say. They really haven’t been speaking, considering that Nick is Dream’s boyfriend of all things.

“I’m not sure why, you can ask Panda’s about that. But I want to book you over to Texas.” The assistant says, not sugarcoating the situation at all. Dream has to sit down to process this information.

“So Nick’s not mad at me for some reason?” The blonde asks cautiously.

“Nope!”

“Oh thank fuck,” Dream flops onto his bed, back first.

The assistant laughs lightly, “anyway! Panda hasn’t been doing 100% for the past couple days. Most of us suspect it has something to do with you two. His performance has decreased on stage rapidly and he looks really worn out, even when not preforming.”

Hearing this makes Dream’s fragile heart break. He doesn’t even know what today except a measly, “oh.”

“Indeed,” the woman says, “which is why I would like you to fly over to Texas.”

A deafening silence hangs in the air as Dream thinks. ‘Would Nick even want to see me?’

“Personally I think this’d be beneficial for you both.” The lady continues to speak, “I hope you don’t mind me saying this, but you also sound very exhausted.”

“I-I’ll come.” Dream finally utters into the phone. “I’ve been missing him a whole lot since he left last week...” the blonde trails off, a light blush coating his freckle covered cheeks.

And this is how Dream found himself on a plane two days later. He was heading from Florida straight to Texas. He wouldn’t have to take connecting flights thankfully, Dream hates when that happens because he fears he’d get lost and miss the second flight.

He was sitting in first class, curtesy of Nick’s agency and managers. ‘Oh this is the life,’ Dream thinks to himself as he idly sips on some champagne. In front of him, Dream’s watching the star wars saga to occupy his time. And, he’s sitting on a window seat meaning he’s alone and doesn’t have to awkwardly sit next to anyone, he’s immensely thankful for that.

The next thing Dream knows, getting off the plane, grabbing his luggage and meeting two of Nick’s bodyguards at the gates. He recognises them from the concert nearly two weeks ago.

He sees people staring at him strangely at the fact he’s got two muscled dudes escorting him to a black limo. ‘Wait what— a limo?’

“I-is that a limo? Is that what we’re riding in?”

Neither of the bodyguards answer the question, but one opens the limo door for Dream. The blonde gets into the big car. The door is then shut and they take off down the slothful busy Texas highway.

The next hours pass Dream by fast. First he’s in a limo, then a hotel, then he’s sleeping for a couple hours, then he’s back in the limo again.

Dream’s on his way to the show Nick has in Texas tonight. It haven’t even registered in his head until they got to the massive stadium.

The door is opened for Dream and he climbs out the limo, grabbing more than ‘a few’ chocolates and sweets from the little compartments littered all around the long oversized car.

Dream is escorted to the back of the stadium. He meets the woman he talked to on the phone and they share brief conversation before he’s handed an ‘all access pass’ and his seat ticket.

The blonde puts the lanyard around his neck and shoves the pass into his pocket with a grateful smile.

They part ways and Dream is escorted through the back. They have to take a couple detours to avoid running into Nick, since it’s supposed to be a surprise but eventually they make it to the pubic area of the arena.

And finally, the bodyguards leave him.

Dream would never admit this out loud, but the bodyguards were annoying. He hopes he won’t need them when he reveals his face, it seems like too much of a hassle. The minecrafter doesn’t know how Nick does it.

The stadium goes dark and Dream watches. His heart speeds up every second it’s still dark. He wonders if something has gone wrong. He wonders if Nick is okay.

The blonde’s mind keeps going a thousand miles an hour. He just wants to see Nick. He wants to see his boyfriend .

The stage lights up. Nick, or Pandas, rises from the floor.

His heart sets on fire. It’s like Dream is seeing Nick for the first time again. Dream hopes no one can see the prominent blush on his freckled cheeks.

He stares at Nick mesmerised, the way he prances around the stage, singing his heart out. No wonder he’s so captivating when he does things like this. He understands why people like Nick and his music.

It’s around 20 minutes into the show when Nick stops singing and starts to entertain the crowd like he did at the first show, when Dream saw him for the first time.

The over hanging spotlight is shone in his direction. It was part of the plan that was thought of by the management team.

Dream stares into Nicks eyes with longing. Longing to hold him, hug him, hold him, cuddle him... kiss him. It makes the blonde blush just thinking about it.

The minecrafter seemed to be stuck in his thoughts again, his eyes drifting down from Nick to the barrier protecting the stage.

Then he hears a gasp. A familiar gasp. A loud gasp.

Dream’s thoughts click together instantly and he meets his eyes. He meets Nick’s eyes.

He feels his stomach does flips upon flips, and it doesn’t settle.

Chapter Text

Dream stares at Nick. Nick stares at Dream.

Nick’s eyes are wide in shock and the hand holding his mic goes down to his side. He can see the mic shaking slightly in his hand. Dream’s not sure why, he hopes it’s not because the brunette is scared, or even worse, angry. The elder wouldn’t know what to do if Nick was scared of him, for whatever reason. If Nick was angry at him, he’d probably start crying right here in the middle of the stadium.

Dream beings a smile to his face. It’s easy to tell that happiness is shining brightly in his emerald eyes. His eyes turned into crescent shapes and his blush coated cheeks rose.

Nick starts advancing towards the edge of the stage and jumps down onto the main floor. Impressively, Nick hurdles himself over the barrier that separates the fans from the artist.

No one dares come close to Nick despite being able to if they wanted. They separate as he makes a beeline for the 6’4 giant with stunning green eyes. The many fans around Dream spread out and leave him standing in a circle as the brunette makes his way to the blonde.

The next moments go in slow motion, or at least Dream feels like it does.

Nick takes calculated footsteps towards him and suddenly he is engulfed with two arms. A face collides softly with his collar bone and the arms squeeze him tighter.

Dream doesn’t waste any time wrapping his arms around the smaller, his arms wrapping around the younger shoulders. It’s been too long since he was able to hug his boyfriend. Okay maybe Dream was overreacting a little bit but he’d really missed Nick. He doesn’t think he’s ever missed someone so much in his life (despite Patches when she goes to the vets).

The blonde rests his chin on top of Nicks head as a few stray tears fall from his happy emerald eyes. Dream squeezes the younger in comfort and unwraps one arm to hold the back of Nick’s head.

As Dream looks around, he sees that bodyguards have now surrounded the two of them, separating the famous influencers from the, not so famous, fans. He’s definitely thankful for this, but still, he see’s phones being pointed his way as people rush to record the interaction.

Dream is pulled away from his thoughts when he feels a wetness on his collar bone. The blonde freezes and his fragile heart breaks a tiny bit.

“Hey hey hey,” Dream unwraps his arms from the younger and places his cold hands on Nicks jaw so the brunette would look up. “My love, why are you crying?”

Nick looks up and takes in all the colours swirling around Dream’s emerald eyes. The elder looks at the singer with fond and kind eyes, “You sound like an ass when you say it like that,”

Dream chuckles. “I’m sorry,”

The brunette frowns and lifts his thumbs up to the elders cheeks, wiping away the stray tears that had slipped out without realising, “and why were you crying, my love ?”

The minecrafter shrugs sheepishly. “Maybe I missed you, or whatever,” Dream grumbles out. He’s not really pissed, Nick knows that and it makes him laugh.

“I missed u too Clay..” Nick sighs fondly at the elder male, wrapping his arms around Dream’s waist again.

Dream and Nick are escorted back stage shortly after. They’re easily surrounded by more than 10 bodyguards, at least that’s what the elder male suspects. It’s kind of overwhelming if Dream has to admit.

They walk though the back stage holding hands, smiling together in comfortable silence. Dream see’s Nick sneaking looks at him a couple times as they stroll though the corridors.

The two make their way up to main stage and Dream sits on the side, watching as Nick runs back out quickly, not wanting to make his fans wait.

“I’m so sorry about that guys!” He shouts through his microphone. Dream smiles fondly at the male who looks so small on the stage, yet has such a huge stage presence. “Someone who I had really missed showed up as a surprise today!”

The crowd screams in response to this and Dream flinches in response, not expecting the stage to sound so much louder than the seating area.

Dream focuses on Nick who is starting to sing his next song, it’s the same song Nick had played on their way back from their first date in the car. The blonde remembers that day like it was happening in front of him. He hopes he never forgets this day for as long as he lives.

Nick is back talking to the crowd when Dream is mentioned yet again to the crowd.

“So I hear many of you are wondering who this mystery person is.” The fans scream once again in response to the singers words. “Well this ‘mystery person’ is my boyfriend.”

Dream stares at Nick with wide eyes, he didn’t even know he was out to the world. “Is he allowed to say that?” The blonde asks one of the bodyguards hovering around to his left.

The minecrafter is surprised when the bodyguard answers, seeing as most of the ignored him before, “yeah he’s been out for a while now, don’t worry.”

At that, Dream lets out a sigh of relief. “—let’s see if he wants to come out and see us all!” Is what he catches before Nick is running up to him and disappearing from the fans view.

“You wanna come out and meet everyone?” The question has the blonde staring at he brunette with wide eyes.

“Oh Nick...” Dream let’s out a nervous chuckle as he rakes his hand through his hair, “as much as I’d love too, I don’t think I could. I’d need to prepare myself 10 times over.”

The brunette shrugs. “No sweat,” he says, kissing the top of Dream’s head from where he’s sitting down on the sofa, “next time we can introduce you! Or maybe we can do it on live or something.”

Nick leaves once again to go back to the stage. He takes questions from the crowd and it’s all pretty chill, until one fan asks a question that makes Dream’s eyes almost pop out of his skull.

“What’s your boyfriends name?” Was the question in question.

The minecrafter gasped audibly, ‘Nonononono they can’t know my name. If they know my name, they can link it to Dream. I haven’t even told Nick about Dream yet. They’ve seen my face from the videos they took earlier. The blonde hair and green eyes aren’t going to give me away by themselves. But, blonde hair, green eyes and my name ‘Clay’ can definitely do that.’

His thoughts race a million miles an hour as he tries to figure out how he can get Nicks attention away from the crowd to himself.

Nick smiles at the fan, a genuine one, “his name is—”

He waves his arms rapidly and thankfully, Dream had never been so thankful for his long arms before this moment, Nick glances at him.

“—Cla—”

Dream rapidly makes an ‘x’ with his arms and pleads with his eyes for Nick to not say his name.

The brunettes eyes go wide and he quickly coughs successfully covering up what he was just about to say, “his name is Clarence!”

Dream mentally face palms. ‘Every single name in the world and this dumbass comes up with fucking ‘clarence’ of all things.’

“Yep... Clarence.” Nick sends Dream a look. He knows exactly what that look is, it’s the ‘we’re going to be talking about this later’ look.

The blonde knows he will have to tell Nick everything now. About his job, about his persona (Dream), about his life, about everything he hasn’t already told Nick that me needs to tell him.

The show ends. Nick is currently staring at Dream as the sit in the car that’s going to take the two of them to the hotel. “Spill.” Is all Nick says.

“I will, I promise. Just not here. We can talk when we get to the hotel room,” Dream pleads with the brunette and thankfully, he drops the subject. The elder lets out a sigh of relief.

They’re now at the hotel.

The two of them are in Nicks hotel room. Dream is sitting on the bed and Nick is sitting on a chair a little bit away, but still facing him.

“Okay I understand you may not want to tell me what it is, but you know I will always support you no matter what right?” Nick finally brakes the silence with a sad tone lacing his voice.

Dream nods and picks at his nails nervously. He really wished he some time to prepare himself for what was about to happen, but in the back of his mind, Dream knew he really couldn’t delay it anymore. He was really delaying the inevitable this time.

Nicks stand up and sits next to Dream. The younger rests his head on Dream’s shoulder in silent comfort and grabs his hands to stop him from damaging them somehow.

“I—” Dream sighs, “it’s about my work. What I do specifically, and who i am.” The blonde feels Nick nod on his shoulder and continues after a deep breath, “i am a popular entertainer online, a millionaire, if you will.”

Nick laughs at that. The elder feels the air in the room become lighter and he finds it easier to talk, “i’m a YouTube and Twitch streamer mostly. I just hit 14 million on YouTube a couple days ago actually!! I released a coin as a celebration..”

Dream trails off smiling at the fond memories he’s had George, Bad, Ant, Tommy, everyone on The Dream Smp as a whole. He’s made so many amazing memories with the 30+ people on the server, he can’t even pick a favourite.

“I play minecraft for a living. You know me as Clay, but most people know me as Dream,” Dream inhales quickly, hoping for no negative reaction. And when no negative reaction comes, the blonde continues, “Dreamwastaken,”

Chapter Text

“What—” Nick let’s out a strange noise that sounds something between a cough and choking. “Dream? You’re Dream?”

Nick’s thoughts race at a mile an hour as he tries to wrap his hand around the fact that his boyfriend is a youtuber. A famous one at that. Hell, Dream is probably more famous than himself.

The brunette, from where he’s sitting in the hotel room chair, stares at the ground. His thoughts are going so fast he doesn’t even have time to process the, before his mind in another thing.

Nick sees the world blur around him and his hearing starts to muffle. He can just, barely hear the cars driving below them, which were so obnoxiously loud earlier.

He sees a figure (he suspects that it’s Cla— Dream...) on the bed move slightly. He can’t see the details since his eyes are blurry but the figure is hunched over and Nick thinks they have their head in their hands.

A soft sob breaks through Nick’s muffled hearing and he sits up in shock. He wipes his eyes and cheeks which have become tear stricken, the brunette wasn’t even sure when he started crying.

Nick looks at Dream who is picking around the skin of his nails, his tears freely falling onto his jeans.

The younger stands on wobbly legs and makes his way over to Dream.

By this point, Nick is standing next to Dream’s sitting body. The brunette sits down as softly as he could manage and leans closer to Dream.

The elder of the two flinches at the sudden weight next to him and Nick looked shocked but tries to hold it back. ‘It’s not what’s important right now.’ He tells himself as he focuses all of his attention to his boyfriend.

“Dream—” the brunette calls to the blonde. Dream flinches and Nick visibly stiffens in response. The singer relaxes his body, “Clay, I’m not mad, I’m so, so, so thankful you had the courage to tell me. You’re so brave..”

Nick was never the best at comforting people, he wasn’t sure where all of this was coming from. He thought his mind was too jumbled and frantic to string a coherent sentence together... yet here Nick was.

The singer inches closer to the minecrafter, their thighs nearly touching, “Can I touch you?” It’s a question he never thought he’d really ask, but here he was anyway, asking said question. He waits patiently for Dream’s answer and when he nods, Nick slowly embraces the elder in his arms.

At first, Dream is hesitant and stiff, and it takes a while for him to calm, but when he does relax, the younger let’s out a mental sigh. Although, he lets out a yelp soon after when the elder tackles Nick and his back collides with the soft hotel mattress. They stay like that for a while, Dream’s considerably larger body hugging Nicks smaller 5’8 body.

At some point, Dream sits up and stares down at Nick, who’s tears run down his cheeks and wet the sheets under them.

Nick reaches up to Dream, who’s currently straddling his lower torso and wipes his tears away with his two thumbs. The younger then takes to cupping Dream’s face in his slightly cold hands.

“You’re cold,” Dream mutters with a small, barely noticeable smile placed on his pale lips. Despite the coldness, Dream leans into Nicks hands. It instantly reminds him of the first day the two met, when the blonde’s mother cupped his face before sending him off to the concert.

If someone told Dream that this is where he would be, over two weeks from the first time they both met, he would of never believed them. But even then, here the two of them sat.

“I love you.” Dream says before he even registers what comes out of his mouth. When he does, the blonde slaps a hand over his mouth with a harsh gasp and goes bright red.

He averts his attention from Nicks face to the wall. Dream’s heart is suddenly beating in his chest too fast to even comprehend. But soon, his face is being moved back by the pair of cold hands.

The singer makes Dream look at him, and once the blonde is looking at him, he smiles, “I love you too, Clay!” Nick’s signature giggle echoes through the room and the minecrafter’s eyes go even wider, Dream didn’t even know that was possible.

In the heat of the moment, the elder leans down and places a soft kiss on Nick’s slightly chapped lips. Was that their 2nd kiss? 3rd? 4th? Dream didn’t really remember. Maybe he could when he was in a better mental state but right now, Dream really didn’t have a clue.

Nick giggles again. “I can’t believe you’re probably more famous than me,” he says with an almost sad smile on his face. It makes Dream question why. That question is answered when Nick continues: “I can’t treat you out to restaurants anymore...” The younger whines as he says the last part of his sentence with a pout.

Dream let’s out one of his loud wheezes and leans over, his head coming into contact with Nick upper chest. “I guess— I guess not,” he says between wheezes.

Nick wraps his arms around Dream’s back and pulls him closer. “Let’s sleep now?” The younger says with a small yawn.

“We still have our clothes on and we’re—” Dream looks up at Nick, “you’re- you’re sleeping.”

Chapter Text

Fast pace.

That’s the only word Dream was able to explain the following weeks.

For starters, Nick finished his tour, a little bit more than a week of Dream arriving in Texas. Meaning the two had mass amounts of time to talk, cuddle and go on dates. The two males spent every minute of their waking moments together.

Dream met Nick’s parents soon after the tour ended. Fortunately, whole fiasco went much better than Dream had suspected. He got along with Nick’s dad surprisingly well and the two had a blast talking about American Football. It was pretty mediocre day, not so much in a bad way, it was just ordinary.

Nick and Dream followed each other on Twitter. Both fan bases went wild at that. Dream didn’t think it’d be such a big deal but whenever he logged online, he was met with message after message talking about him and Nick.

Friends had also gotten suspicious about what this mutual following meant.

Nick’s hometown friends went mad, obviously not in a bad sense, but this’d never happened before and they were all curious about what was going on. Nick would get a message nearly every hour from friends asking ‘what the hell was up’ with the two of them.

Dream got never ending messages from Tommy. He got things like ‘Yo Dream, are you dating a famous dude?’ And, ‘If you are, that’s totally fine but I want clout.’ Dream, more often than not, told Tommy to ‘piss off’ lightheartedly. ‘You’ll find out when everyone else does, be patient.’ Is what the elder blonde normally sends back.

And George doesn’t even help lift a finger Dream out with the whole situation. The blonde rolls his eyes every time George says something relating to the singer live on stream. It’s almost like the British brunette is taunting the American, which is probably what he’s doing.

“How have you and that person doing? Everything going well i presume from the mutual follow on Twitter?” George taunts the blonde as Dream’s minecraft avatar runs through plains biome, trying to find a village while speedrunning to get a new record.

Dream groans and exits the world, the seed sucked. “Thank you for the dono Lily!” He mumbles a little bit as he reads the rest of the donation, “yes thank you, I’m doing well! Patches is doing well too! And happy birthday to your friend Sarah, have a great day today!”

“Don’t ignore me, Clay.”

“Do you ever shut that massive mouth of yours George? Yes me and ‘him’ are doing fine. Thanks. For. Asking.” Dream says through his teeth, his jaw tightening slightly. The blonde is not really used to being cornered like this.

A hand startles Dream and his minecraft screen visibly shakes from the movement of his hand on the mouse.

The elder turns and Nick is standing behind him, watching his minecraft screen with curious eyes. Over the past week, Dream has been teaching Nick basic minecraft stuff so they can hopefully play together sometime.

Dream had thankfully brought all of his streaming and setup equipment when he was visiting Nick so when the two of them finally got to Nick’s apartment (where they both were right now), Dream set up all of his stuff in a spare room, on an unused desk.

The minecrafter smiles brightly up at his significant other and the younger smiles at him too.

“Here’s your coffee,” Nick says just below a whisper, since Dream never turned off his mic. Nick wasn’t sure if it was intentional or not but just to be on the safe side, he kept his voice down, “I’m making lunch soon so make sure to finish streaming in an hour or something! I also have a movie I wanna watch with you on Disney+!”

“Sounds like a plan! I’ll finish streaming in 30 ok?” Dream reasons as he takes a sip of the delicious coffee Nick had made him. Nick’s coffee’s are to die for. They always taste amazing.

“Okay!” Nick beams and blushes slightly, then leaves a kiss on Dream’s freckle covered cheek before he starts to walk out of the room.

Dream makes a sound of confusion which makes the younger turn back around. He’s standing at the door by this point, his hand wrapped around the door handle. “Yeah?”

“Come talk to stream,” the blonde says loudly so that stream and George can hear him.

Nicks eyes pop out of his head “You’re serious?”

“Deadly.”

Nick beams and walks over. He almost squeals when he sits down on the gaming chair. Well technically he’s sitting on Dream’s lap who’s sitting on the gaming chair but that’s basically the same thing right?

The brunette sits and looks at the set up in front of him. He hesitantly lifts his hand to touch the mouse. “It’s not going to bite you, you know?”

“Yes I know that.” Nick says in a matter-of-fact manner. “I’m just nervous.” Dream takes the headphones off his own head and placed them on Nick head, adjusting them so it fits his slightly smaller head.

A little jingle noise startles Nick out of his daze. An automated voice echoes around his head. ‘Dream? Who is with you right now? I hope this doesn’t sound like I’m prying but I’m curious :D’

Dream shifts behind Nick slightly and he feels a breath on the back on his neck. The blonde lifts one side of the headphones off of Nicks ear and whispers, “tell them who you are and... tell them you’re my boyfriend.”

Nick freezes in Dream’s lap and his eyes go so wide he didn’t even know it was possible, “Cla— Dream. You’re joking—”

“—Once again, I’m deadly serious.”

“Are you sure— like seriously? Think this over quickly! I don’t want you to regret this.”

“Do it.” Dream laughs softly into his ear and the action makes him shiver slightly.

Nick thinks for a second then smirks, “aight... bet.”

He pulls the headphones back on and takes a deep breath.

The brunette finds a whole different side of himself he’s never seen before and shouts, “HELLO CHAT!!”

Dream wheezes from behind him. “My name is Nick! Now, you may be thinking. ‘Who the hell is this weirdo? I wanna watch Dream speedrun, not listen to some random yeehaw boy.’ ”

Nick looks at, what he suspects is, the stream chat. The chat is going one million miles an hour. By looking at the chat, some people already know who Nick is, judging by the chat being spammed with the world ‘PANDA’.

“I’m also known as Panda. Yeah that’s me. The amazing talented rapper and singer. I already know how cool I am, no need to go into much detail about that.”

“Nick!” Dream wheezes loudly and falls forward in the gaming chair, his forehead colliding with Nick’s back, “oh you’re about to make me go lightheaded man, chill— what the fuck?”

“You said to tell them about myself... so I am? I mean I didn’t lie-” Nick laughed and clutched at the arms which had now snaked around his torso, almost like a lifeline.

Dream lifts his head from Nicks back and stifles out a small laugh, “okay now be serious—”

“Yeah be serious Nick!” A voice sounds through the headphones placed on the brunette’s head.

“Oh hey George!! How have you been?” The younger asks the British male, “it’s been a while since we talked.”

“I saw you when on a FaceTime call with Dream. Last night.” George rolls his eyes and let’s out a chuckled laugh. “Literally— what are you talking about?”

“Yo guess what!”

George rolls his eyes at the bratty younger, “what is it Nick?”

Nick smirks and although you can’t see it, you can hear it though his tone of voice, “Dream has given me permission to let me tell chat that I’m his boyfriend.”

George audibly gasps, “wait wait wait—”

Dream, being able to hear the conversation through the headphones laughs. “I did let him, he’s not lying.” The blonde confirms. The American brunette giggles and Dream wheezes.

“Wait so— but— chat— I—,” George continues to stutter like this until he just reasons with, “I can’t believe you just- said it that suddenly Nick. Oh my god. Chat is going to be having a field day with all this content.”

“I’m sure they are,” Dream chimes in from behind Nick, his voice being picked up by the mic easily. “He’s my little sugar plum.”

“Never call me that again, Clay.” Nick deadpans.

Then his face turns into a smile and he leans back into Dream’s comforting embrace.

Chapter Text

The social media response from both Dream’s fans and Nick’s fans was outstanding following the hours after the stream had ended.

When the stream ended, Dream had to admit he was shaking quite a lot. To be fair, Dream had come out (although no one knows if he was gay, bisexual, pansexual.. it is still very nerve racking) and told the world he has a boyfriend simultaneously. The shaking getting even worse when he remembered that boyfriend is a famous world known superstar called ‘panda’, Dream has to admit that he still thinks it’s a weird name. Although, it has grown on him a bit over the weeks.

It’s now December, the snow was falling lightly in Texas but not enough for it to lay properly, it just dissolved slowly into water.

Dream was currently sitting on a sofa, on the balcony, of Nick’s luxurious apartment.

It was cold and his hands were getting rosier as time passed but, he loved how the wind that flew through his blonde hair made him feel. It was like he was alive once more.

Tightly clasped in Dream’s pink hands, was a coffee mug. The coffee mug had some writing on that said ‘worlds best uncle’, probably from a younger cousin of Nick’s if Dream had to guess. A small but soulful giggle left Dream’s chapped lips and he leaned back into the outdoor sofa with a soft sigh.

A blanket that belonged to Nick, smelt like him too (which Dream loved), covered the lower portion of his body. His legged crossed underneath as the excess blanket fell onto the floor in pools. The black fabric against his cold hands looked movie like and he gazed at them for a while.

Dream looked up and lifted the mug to his lips, taking a long sip. He could feel the warm liquid fall down his throat in a pleasant way, it made him sigh in utter content.

As he took another gulp of the liquid in his coffee mug, Dream’s eyes gazed longingly at the sunrise that has started to form. Thankfully, Nick’s apartment was faced directly at the sunrise. Dream internally thanked the builders for this fact.

The sunrise was a red, almost a blood red, with tinges of orange and yellow, and even purple some places, as the colour spreader further out onto the dark sky above. Stars were barely visible due to the light pollution which made Dream frown but they were currently in a very populated city, it was to be expected.

A sound of a sliding door and light tapping on the floor from Dream’s right was the thing that pulled him out of his gaze towards the sky.

“Hi love,” came a honey like voice as someone sat down beside him, a mug placed in their hands. The person grabbed some of the blanket and softly tugged it over their bare legs.

Dream leaned into the presence with a smile, and slight tears in his eyes.

“Hey, hey! Why you crying?”

Dream giggled slightly. “Sorry babe,” he muttered, looking at the others hazelnut eyes with pure love, “I’m just really glad I met you, Nick,”

Nick laughs. His laugh is like honey to Dream, much like his eyes, his voice, his everything. To the blonde, Nick is like the embodiment of honey. Everything about him is smooth-like, calming. He brings a sense of home-away-from-home.

The elder leans up and places a quick but loving kiss onto the Texan’s slightly chapped, with winter cold, lips. “I’m glad I met you too love,” Nick says, resting his cheek on top of Dream’s head, which had found itself resting against Nick’s slightly muscly shoulder.

The two of them sat in a comfortable silence, watching as birds awoke and arose into the sky and the sun started to make more of an appearance.

So when something disturbed this peace and that something flashed in the distance.

At first, the thing at disturbed Dream’s lovely morning wasn’t something he could noise right away. The sudden flash of a light could of just been the glare of the morning sun reflecting off something.. right?

But when it happened two— no three— no seven more times, turning off and on irregularly. It got the Florida boy wondering.

He thought and thought, thinking for almost five minutes. And suddenly, it clicked.

Dream narrowed his eyes and sat up slightly, but hesitantly.

“What is it?” Nick asked, his eyes opening after feeling Dream move from beside him.

Dream slowly placed his coffee mug on the ground and grabbed onto the edges of the blanket that covered him and Nick. “Dream? What’s going on?” The brunette called to him but he didn’t pay much attention.

Nick pulled his own coffee mug close to his chest as Dream rose the blanket so it was shielding the two of them from the view of the balcony. “I may just be imagining it, but diagonally to us on the roof of a smaller building... I think someone just took a picture of us.”

‘Y— what? You’re kidding!” Nick laughed slightly, “okay, ha. ha. Very funny—”. The Texan stopped speaking instantly when his gaze met his frantic boyfriends eyes, “you— you’re not kidding. Fuck— okay.. um,”

“Let’s get inside.” Was the only thing Dream really felt like he had enough power to say right now. If he was honest, the blonde really felt like he was about to fall over as he stood up, still holding the blanket with cold and almost numb hands.

When the two of them got inside, Nick collapsed into his knees. “I thought it’d be safe.. I thought we’d be safe out there. I never would of thought that—”

Dream closed the sliding door behind the two and sank down to his younger boyfriends level. “Nick, in no way shape or form was this your fault. Who on earth would of known that some ‘paparazzi’ people would be waiting for us on a fucking roof of all things?”

“But your secret identity..”

“Fuck that!” Dream reassured with a laugh. Nick could tell he was forcing it, trying to make him feel better. It didn’t work, although the brunette really wishes it did. “I’m with you and whatever happens, we’ll always be together right?” Now that wasn’t forced. Nick knew his boyfriend enough to know that.

Nick looked up, eyes full of unshed tears caused from self-blame and sorrow. And Dream looked down, eyes similarly full of his own self-blame, but instead of sorrow, love accompanied the intoxicating and swirling green orbs.

“Whatever happens, it isn’t your fault. It’ll never be your fault okay?” Dream shuffles to kneel in front of Nick’s dejected, kneeling form. The elders red and cold hands cup the Texan’s face, “we don’t even know if it was an actual paparazzi or if it was just the glare of the sunrise, let’s not get to depressed so soon okay?”

Nick nodded, a small but noticeable smile placed on his golden cheeks.

The two of them get off the floor and move over to the kitchen. Dream makes Nick sit down as he starts to make breakfast.

The pictures came out later that day.

Chapter Text

Dream knew. He knew as soon as he saw those inconsistent flashing lights. He knew something was going to happen. Call it a gut feeling if you will.

He thought about it for hours. From 8am — when those flashing lights first appeared — to the current. Dream, as much as he tried to occupy himself with other things, couldn’t get the classic ‘what if’ thoughts out of his mind. He couldn’t concentrate properly. Even taking a shower didn’t lessen his worries and concerns. With this factor alone... Dream was thoroughly scared shitless of what was about to come.

11am. That’s when the nightmare started.

The broadcast opened with dramatic music that seemed way over the top. Dream felt himself roll his eyes slightly, he never understood why news intros had to be such a big thing. The minecrafter wasn’t really paying attention to the tv... he was too busy coming up with new video ideas for himself, George and Bad to do (he was actually pretty excited with the list he’d come up with so far).

“Today.” The news presenter started off. ‘Dramatic as always, I see.’ Dream thinks to himself as he continues to type down various things into his notes app. The presenter continues, “We have the pleasure of unmasking the face behind a smile.” It was a short opening. And even though it was short, the sentence was something that had been structured specifically to peak everyone and anyone’s interest. And just as it was made to do, it peaked Dream’s significantly.

He lifted his emerald eyes from his notes app and onto the flatscreen tv screen, settled comfortably on his boyfriends living-room wall. Nick’s head rested comfortably on Dream’s things as he tapped his own leg with his index finger rhythmically to a beat the elder didn’t know — if Dream had to guess, it would probably be some song in the new album Nick was releasing in a couple months.

The camera panned to a different shot and two news presenters were shown in view, both of which were sitting at a news desk. They smiled at the camera in a way that Dream found slightly creepy but brushed it off and listened to what they had to say.

“Who is this masked personally? You may ask.” The woman asked before turning her head to the male who finished off their sentence almost automatically, “the masked individual goes by the name of ‘Dream’.” ‘No— no no nonono.’ He thought, the grip on his phone tightening significantly. His eyes widened, his mouth hung upon, his hands started shaking. “He is a minecraft YouTuber who has gained a lot of popularity over this year, 2020, alone. Going from 1-15 million subscribers in less than a year, he is one to look out for.”

The male and female news presenter stared at him (yes that isn’t really possible now Dream thinks back on it) but it really felt like they did. Their gazes felt like they were piercing into his soul hardly, knocking all air out of his lungs, starving him of the oxygen he needed so desperately to survive. He couldn’t think straight. He couldn’t move. He couldn’t focus on anything.

Dream’s hearing faded. He sounded like he was underwater. He felt pressure all over him, like he was, in fact, underwater. It’s impossible, the blonde knows that now, but at the time no common sense thoughts ran through his mind. His thoughts ran too fast for him to catch up.

The boy tried so desperately to grab onto those thoughts. He tried so desperately to keep them. He knew this wasn’t good for him but he couldn’t stop. His mind was so set on focusing on the worst, he couldn’t— he can’t do it. Dream feels like he’s drowning. He’s going to drown... he’s — ‘I’m going to—’

Distantly, the elder male could hear Nick calling for him, but he was too quiet. He was so, so quiet. The water crashed over his head, his eyesight dark and blue. There was no light shining through. He was so deep underwater, there was no way to get out, he was going to die down here. No one would ever find him, he’d be alone forever.

Dream had his eyes trained on the tv, it was the only thing he could see this deep down underwater. In contrast to his boyfriend, quiet and small, the tv felt like it was shouting at him. The tv was too big, bigger than it was before. He heard every word the news presenters said, and every expression on their faces he now loathed so much.

The words echoed around his brain like there was nothing inside of his head, no brain, just a hollow skull. The words of the presenters echoing like his thoughts. Soon, he wasn’t able to tell which thoughts were his own, they blended together almost seamlessly, not leaving any room for him to pick apart the thoughts which were his own. It felt like the words hit the side of his skull before bouncing back and hitting the other side even harder, speeding up until he felt like screaming just to try and make them stop. ‘Make them stop, make them stop, please make them stop.’ Dream felt like he was drowning in the words. He felt like he was being swallowed up by them. He felt—

The tv turned off.

It was sudden. One moment he sat at the bottom of the sea-like-place, not being able to focus on anything around him, expect from the black box in front of him. And then it was silent. He hears slight sounds from around him. Dream isn’t able to pick out who and what the sounds are.

Dream looks up (or at least he thinks he does) and is met with some light above his head. It’s rippling and contorting. He realises the light is getting closer. The blonde tries to lift his hand up, but it’s too weighty, Dream doesn’t have the energy. But he needs to. Dream knows he needs to, otherwise he’ll never escape from the bottom of the sea.

That rippling light gets closer and closer, to the point where Dream can touch almost touch it. All he needs is his hands to close the gap, to set him free from wherever he is.

With all the strength he can muster, Dream lifts his arm. It feels like it weighs hundreds upon hundreds of pounds. Then his arm is over his head and he touches the light.

The water runs away, like a drain that has just been unclogged. It disappears so quickly Dream starts to doubt it was even there in the first place, it was mentally... physically he doubts it.

Instantaneously, after he reaches that light, Dream hears a sound. The sound is a voice he knows so well, it’s a voice the blonde thinks he’ll never forget, for as long as he lives. “-aby? Baby? Co.. back to me, Clay. You’re ...kay now. Can you t... some deep breaths for m.. love?”

Dream’s head whipped up in the direction of the voice he knew so well, so quick it could of gave him whiplash.

Slowly, the elder remembers where he is, what’s happening, where he’s sitting, who’s he’s with. Dream is filled with relief he’s only ever felt once before, the time he’d been lost in the park and finally found his mother. It was that kind of relief, although Nick was the farthest thing from a parental figure.

Nick takes Dream’s hand and places it on his own chest, right on top of his heart. “Breath with me love,” he says to the blonde. His voice is soft and understanding, sweet like honey. It reminds him of the time they had pancakes for dinner. He grasps at that memory and holds it tight towards his chest basking in the sheer amount of joy and happiness he felt that day. “In..... and out... good job, let’s do it one more time ok?” Nick looks at him with the most caring eyes, it makes the elder feel like putty.

Vaguely, Dream feels himself nod and they take some more deep breaths, Nick clutching him through it like before, “okay, big breath in...” Dream clings to every word, “.. and back out.” They do this for a while, until the freckled boy’s breathing has slowed.

“Nick...” he whispers softly. Without hesitation, he’s pulled into the singers chest. Dream can hear the distant sound of his boyfriends heart beat though his ears, although it’s quickly overpowered by his own, which is hammering tremendously loud in his own ears.

Only then, was Dream aware of how fast his heart was racing. Only then could he feel the few tears that were rolling down his freckle covered cheeks. He couldn’t imagine how fast his breathing would of been if Nick didn’t calm him down.

“You’re okay, Clay. You’re okay now...” Nick comforted one hand running through Dream’s golden locks while the other did little drawings on his boyfriends back, trying his best to comfort him.

That’s all it took for Dream to break completely. His hands gripped into Nick’s shirt like a life line, he never wanted to let go, he couldn’t let go. He couldn’t bare the thought of Nick ever leaving him, he would never wish to leave him. If he did, Dream would always come back, like a yo-yo on a string.

Nick... he smiled. One hand gripped onto his lovers maroon jumper, the other hand trailing along his hunched over back. He would never leave Dream, he wouldn’t even dream of it... Nick felt the exact same way.

Minutes — maybe even hours — past before Dream felt like he’d calmed down. With his thoughts now returned, the elder wasn’t sure what to make of this whole situation. ‘Maybe it was a dream? This whole thing doesn’t feel real.’ Dream reasoned in his head, ‘scratch that, this isn’t a dream. It’s a nightmare.’

He lifted his head from Nick’s chest. His eyes were still closed though, as stray tears continues to slip out of his tired eyes. But when he finally decided to open them, Dream gasped. “W-why are you crying?” The elder asked, voice hoarse behond anything he’d ever heard before.

Nick lifted a hand to his own cheek wiping softly before pulling his hand back after feeling a wet substance start to coat his finger tips. The younger male made a noise of confusion. “I guess because you’re crying, it made me cry.. I don’t know.”

The two stared at each other for a while. Dream wasn’t really sure what to say, he was sure Nick didn’t have a clue either, so they kind of just sat there opposite one another on the youngers leather couch. It was comfortable though, despite everything that has just happened. It was extremely quiet—

A sound suddenly echoed through the room and Nick jumped slightly. He looks behind him, spotting his phone on the kitchen counter a couple meters away, through the open living-room door. The singer turns back and sighs, “it’s management. Can I go get it?”

Nick asks Dream cautiously. He doesn’t want the elder to feel alone but he really needs to take this call. Both of them know what it’s going to about, they just dread it’s not going to be bad news. The elder of the two nods reluctantly and Nick stands almost too quickly.

He’s nearly at the kitchen counter when Dream shakily asks, “h-how do you know— know it’s management?”

The question makes Nick giggle slightly, not expecting that type question to escape his boyfriends mouth, especially right at this moment. But then again, Dream has always been a curious male, and it’s a marvellous distraction. “I have a different ring tone for important people/numbers in my life.” Nick replies, eyes narrowing as he picks up his phone and turns it on, “you have your own too, you know?”

That takes Dream by surprise. He hates the way his eyes light up at such a cheesy thing, but he doesn’t make any effort to stop it, “I do?”

“Of course you do!” The younger replies, trying to make Dream laugh by being way too emotional. It works, because as he turns around to meet Dream’s green and tear coated eyes, they crinkle in the corners, a tiny smile playing at his pink lips. “Now, do you want me to take this call elsewhere or do you wanna be here for it?”

Dream shrugs, his shoulders stuttering slightly (from nerves or exhaustion, Dream isn’t quite sure), “I don’t mind, it’d probably be better in the long run if I’m here for it though.. won’t it?”

Nick shrugs back in reply and walks back to the couch, answering the call as he does so. “Hey Steve, what’s the situation?” The singer puts the phone on loud speaker and sits down next to Dream, who’s back his now resting against the sofa’s back in support. The blonde takes a deep breath and rests his head on the younger shoulder before said ‘steve’ begins to talk.

“We’re already working on suing CNN for taking pictures in private properly, and a bunch more stuff too. Krista is working on getting a court case so CNN can no longer use you or Dream’s name, and will be fined if they do.. it’s currently a mess over here.” Steve, Dream recognises by his voice, is the head of management and security for Nick.

“CNN? Why am I not surprised?” Nick groans as he looks up to the ceiling in annoyance.

“You— you can do that all s-so fast?” Dream asks, an astonished tone taking over his voice despite how rough and hoarse it is.

“Indeed we can! We do have a big team.” Steve replies, his cheery voice makes Dream’s lip quirk up in a smile. He continues talking, this time about the ‘face reveal’, “a couple photo’s were released but we’ve recently learned that over 200 were taken. One of the management staff gave an estimate on the time period by studying the sunrise—”

“—it was around 3 hours from the first picture released to the last. That’s the rough estimate anyway. We’re not able to be completely accurate yet, but hopefully we’re able to get someone in soon.” Someone interrupts and Dream’s breath hitches as he finally recognises the voice. It was that woman who had called the minecrafter when he was in Florida a couple weeks ago, Victoria.

Dream sighs on Nick’s shoulder.

It’s a couple days after the whole incident before Dream even thinks about looking social media, never mind even using it.

He knows he should of picked up his phone a lot earlier. He needs to call his family, tell them what’s going on. He needs to talk to George. Hell, he totally forgot about George. He wonders how the British brunette is doing. Dream really hopes he’s not going to be angry about this.

The blonde sits up in bed, he finds the space next to him empty. Nick was off somewhere doing press conferences about the whole face reveal. The court case with CNN went well, and the company is no longer able to post about the two of them unless they do it illegally. Just remembering that takes a weight of his chest.

He grabs his phone, and reluctantly turns it on. Unopened messages come flooding in so fast Dream can’t even open his phone properly until they calm down.

2789 messages from ‘gogy’ . 938 messages from ‘mom’ . 627 from ‘little sis’. Dream groans, he doesn’t feel like reading all of those, especially so early in the morning (it’s 2pm but Dream decides that today is going to go his way). So he reasons for ringing instead.

He calls his mother first, who is angry, which is completely understandable. She rants about how he should of called earlier, about how worried she’d been. She has every right to be, but then again, Nick has been giving almost hourly updates to Dream’s mother about his condition and how he’s coping.

She then passes the phone to Drista who is upset about the whole thing because.. who wouldn’t be? Dream is thankful when Drista changes the subject and starts to ask about the weather in Texas, and if he’s been sight seeing lately. The two siblings hold Conversation for over an hour before Drista has to go. They say their goodbyes.. and then it’s time to call George.

Then Dream calls George. One ring and the call connects, almost like George had been waiting all day for this. “You fucker! I was so worried about your stupid ass!” Was the first thing he hears from the British males mouth, followed by a couple happy sounding sobs. “I’m glad you’re okay though,” he says. Following that, George doesn’t stop talking his head off. He talks about what’s been happening in the Dream SMP lore, about how he should probably reassure fans that he’s okay and finally come back onto social media, and so many others things.

Dream takes George’s advice, for once since he doesn’t usually (Dream thinks George’s advice can be stupid most of the time), and opens Twitter.

He’s instantly hit with an onslaught of tweets. Some from friends, some from complete strangers. Dream swears he sees a tweet from Ariana Grande in his mentions but decides he’ll look into it later.

Dream goes to the news section of Twitter and finally seems these pictures of him and Nick. He’s not as distraught as he thought he’d be looking at them now, considering all the shit that went down upon the reveal.

He looks deeper into the tweets about himself and finds a thread of all the pictures that’d been released. He scrolls though them and one or two of them. ‘They’re cute okay?’ Dream reasons to himself.

He scrolls a bit more before he’s met with a video of the two. It was from the day he arrived in Texas to see Nick preform. He watched the video ten times.. okay maybe it was twenty times, but that doesn’t matter. Dream wishes he could relive that moment again, it was truly one of the most happiest moments of his life.

The blonde then starts to make a tweet. It goes something along the lines of ‘these are my favourite two pictures :D which are you guys’ favourite?’ He attaches the two pictures he saved.

The first picture was one of him and Nick on the balcony that morning, the sun casting over their faces in a soft glow. The youngers head was on his shoulder as Dream was in the process of placing a kiss on Nick’s exposed forehead. The second one was the two of them looking out onto the sunrise with smiles on their faces, cold hands surrounding steaming coffee mugs.

He sent the tweet. Dream laughed when George replied ‘Dream... this is not what I meant when I said to reassure everyone you’re okay.’ And he blushed when Nick replies ‘hehe cute!! Ilysm!’

By accident, Dream clicked onto his profile by accident. ‘7.4M Followers.’ Dream wasn’t even at 3M last time he checked. And his second account, it was at 4M. “What the ever loving fuck.” He muttered out loud, “this isn’t even funny. Who did this?”

The spike in following peaked his curiosity. And from there he went down a rabbit hole of looking at all of his accounts following. He let out gasp upon gasp as he looked at everything from his YouTube, to his Twitch, to his Instagram.

“Nick.” Dream said down the phone as the male answered his phone call.

He heard the younger gulp, “um.. hi Dream.” He giggled nervously on the other line.

“Why do I suddenly have 19 million subscribers on YouTube?” (A/N: just a reminder that it’s a few days before Christmas 2020 right now in this story. Dream has just found out he gained 7 million+ subscribers in just less than 4 days). The minecrafter says, his voice wavering slightly.

“I don’t know.”

Dream can tell Nick is lying though his teeth. He’ll get the answer out of him one way or another, but right now, Dream feels like causing a bit of well deserved chaos. “Whatever. I want to do something.. I just need your approval.”

Nick catches the gist of what the blonde is talking about almost instantly. “Oh.. I see.” Dream can practically hear the the smirk that gets placed on the singers lips through his words. “What are you thinking?”

“I’m going to send you three pictures, just give me the ok if I can post them..”

It’s silent on the call and Dream can just hear the sound of his messages being sent to Nick’s phone. “Do it.” And with that, their call is ended.

The tweet goes as follows, ‘This is a thank you for all the continued support for both me and Nick throughout everything thats happened this week. Thank you for all the achieved milestones, thank you for everything <3’

The three pictures attached go as followed:

1. The first picture... their first date. Nick had taken a selfie of the two of them during dinner at that fancy restaurant, hands entwined softly as they both gazed at the camera. Dream was blushing in that picture. Nick already had it printed and framed on the corridor wall opposite the front door.
2. It’s a picture taken by Nick again. He’s at his parents house with Dream who was currently holding all 3 of Nick’s cats. One on his head, another on his shoulder, and the final one being cradled into Dream’s stomach by his hands. The elder’s eyes shone at the camera brightly, his emerald eyes on show.
3. And the last picture, taken on the second day the blonde arrived in Texas. Dream is seen taking the picture after just waking up. Nick is sleeping softly behind his shoulder, just barely visible although you call tell he’s not wearing a shirt. Dream is in front, wearing one of his green merch hoodies with a smiley face, his hand raised into a peace sign as he winks to the camera slightly.

Those days felt like decades ago, although it was only seven months prior. He looked down at his lover, who was kneeling below him, holding a small cobalt box. It could fit in the palm of his hand, that’s how small it was.

Nick opened the box. Tears sprung up Dream’s eyes. A ring.

“When you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible. I don’t think I’ve ever wanted anything more than this in my life. Dream, you complete me,” Nick gulps nervously. Dream’s already crying, tears pouring out of his eyes like a beautiful broken fountain, “Please Clay. Will you marry me?”

Dream doesn’t even wait a second before he’s nodding. His sobs of pure happiness get louder, he’s too babbling. Dream’s he’s not aware of what he’s saying. “Yes yes I will, god yes!” He finally shouts softly, his tears falling down his freckled covered cheeks like a waterfall.

The blonde barely remembers Nick slipping the ring on his shaking ring finger. The only thing he does remember is his boyfriend’s— his fiancé’s lips hitting his own. He remembers how his arms snake around the brunette’s waist and how the singers arms end up being slung around his neck.

Only when they break apart, do they hear the cheers around them. And only when they hear the cheers, do they remember that they’re in the middle of the stage at Nick’s concert.