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Dream hummed happily to himself as he walked through the forest. It was a beautiful day on the server; the sun was bright without a cloud in the sky, the birds were singing, there was a light breeze, and he was leading a blindfolded Technoblade by the hand. This was going to be a great day.
"You still haven't told me where we're goin'," Techno grumbled, adjusting the blindfold for the hundredth time.
"I told you, it's a surprise!" Dream couldn't bring himself to be even mock-irritated today, he was too happy and excited. "You're gonna love it, trust me."
"Last time you said that, I ended up with an arrow in my leg."
Dream laughed. "Oh, come on, that was your own fault!"
Techno huffed indignantly. "How is encounterin' a skeleton in the middle of the woods my fault? He's the one who shot me!"
"You ran off on your own!"
"And then you didn't even have potions for me and I had to use my own -"
To anyone else, except probably his family, Techno would have sounded genuinely irritated and hurt. Dream knew he was just teasing, though, and he grinned as he kept the banter going. "I wasn't planning on either of us getting hurt! And it's not like you have a shortage of potions."
Techno's reply was cut short by a soft yelp as he stumbled over a root.
"Sorry," Dream said quickly, "are you okay?"
Techno nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine. How much further?"
Dream glanced around, caught sight of a familiar hill, and grinned. "Not far. You should be able to hear it soon."
"Hear what?"
Dream chose not to answer, just tugging Techno onward. Carefully, of course, he didn't want to accidentally smack his friend's face into a tree trunk.
... That would be really funny actually but now wasn't the time for that, they had somewhere to be!
Sure enough, as they rounded the hill, Techno's ears began to twitch. "Is that... the ocean?"
"Maybe," Dream admitted with a grin. He couldn't hear it just yet, but he'd be able to soon.
"... Dream, there are closer oceans," Techno informed him dryly. "We didn't have to walk this far to get to an ocean."
"An ocean, no. This ocean, yes. Trust me!"
And because Techno did, and they both knew it, they kept going.
Eventually, they broke out of the forest and stood on a patchy section of grass. Dream could barely contain his excitement as he carefully untied the blindfold and stepped back, allowing Techno to take in the view.
And what a view it was. There was a beach here, a wide, proper beach of fine white sand, with a few sand dunes scattered here and there past the water line. The ocean stretched clear and blue as far as the eye could see, and the entire place was ringed with hills that made it feel safe and secluded. It was a perfect little paradise.
"... Wow," Techno breathed, eyes darting around, taking it all in.
"Yeah," Dream agreed happily.
"How long have you known about this place?"
Dream shrugged. "A few months? I come out here every so often when I need some time off."
There was a soft whistling, clicking sound from far out in the water. Dream gasped and bounced on his toes in excitement, and Techno's ear flicked.
"... Dolphins?"
But Dream was already running over to his favorite shady spot, taking off his mask and his hoodie as he went. He dumped everything but his t-shirt and shorts onto the ground and darted for the ocean.
Four dolphins - regulars to this beach, he recognized all of them - swam up to him, chittering and squeaking, as he waded out up to his waist.
"Hey, guys," he greeted them, running a gentle hand along their backs. "How are you? It's been a bit, sorry I didn't visit sooner."
"Friends of yours?" Techno called from the shore.
Dream grinned back at him. "Something like that, yeah! Come on in, the water's great!"
"I'm good."
"Teeeechnoooo, we're at the beach! Come swim with me!"
Techno responded by sitting down on the sand, arms crossed, expression flat.
Oh. Now it was a challenge. Dream turned back to the dolphins and kept talking quietly to them, watching Techno out of the corner of his eye. He could be patient, it was only a matter of time before something happened to distract him.
Sure enough, a minute later, one of the dolphins (Dream had named him Skipper) broke away from the others and began zipping around the nearby ocean, breaching several times in a rather impressive display. Techno's gaze followed him, leaving Dream free to throw a surreptitious Ender pearl. He made sure to duck under the water just before it landed to throw off suspicion.
He appeared on the beach in a swirl of purple particles. It took Techno a moment to process what had happened and what he was doing, and that moment was all he needed. Dream chucked another Ender pearl back out into the ocean and latched onto Techno as tightly as he could.
Techno yelped and started trying to wriggle away, knowing exactly what was about to happen, but Dream grinned and held on tighter. The pearl hit the water, and because Dream basically had Techno in a bear hug, it couldn't distinguish between them and teleported them both straight into a small oncoming wave.
Dream would treasure the sound that Techno made for the rest of his life, it was beautiful. It was somewhere between a squeal, a shout, and a yelp, and he sounded so startled and offended at the same time. Dream let go of him, wheezing with laughter.
Techno put a hand on Dream's head and dunked him under the water. "That was uncalled for!"
"You wouldn't come swim so I had to get you in here myself!" Dream sputtered, still laughing, swimming out of arm's reach.
"At least warn me," Techno grumbled as he swam back to the shore, undoing the clasp of his cloak.
Dream grinned. "That would have defeated the purpose!"
"Exactly!"
Another one of the dolphins - Lucky - nudged Dream's arm and squeaked at him.
"He's very ungrateful," Dream agreed, watching Techno drape his wet cloak over a tree branch and start taking his boots off. "I brought him all the way out here because I wanted to spend a nice relaxing day at the beach with my best friend, and he refuses to come swimming and gets upset when I bring him into the water..."
"Whatever, nerd!" Techno called from the shore. He was just in an undershirt and pants now, and he was pulling his hair up into a bun.
"Oh, I'm the nerd? Who was it that spent an hour talking about Sun Tzu again?"
Techno snorted as he started to wade back into the water. "Hey, Sun Tzu was a genius, okay? I've learned a lot from him."
"I gathered, since you talked about him for an hour straight," Dream said cheerfully.
"And you spent an hour talking about your manhunt game!"
That was true. But admitting it would hurt Dream's argument, so instead of replying, he just splashed a handful of water at Techno.
It didn't matter who you were or how many times you'd seen it before; watching Technoblade's eyes narrow and a slow, competitive grin form on his face as he accepted a challenge was terrifying.
Dream yelped in alarm as Techno dragged his whole arm through the water, creating a wave big enough to send Dream completely under for a moment.
Okay, battle plan, let's go. Dream copied the wave-making technique, forcing Techno to pause for a moment to brace for it, then grabbed Skipper's dorsal fin and let the dolphin pull him away.
"Get back here!"
"You'll have to catch me first!" Dream shouted back, feeling the light, airy shimmer of Dolphin's Grace surround him. He loved that feeling.
Unfortunately, one of the other dolphins - Dream had named her Stella - was very friendly, and Techno managed to convince her to swim with him almost immediately. She wasn't quite as fast as Skipper, but she was calmer and had more stamina, and didn't waste energy on high breaches and zig-zag paths. That could be a problem.
Screw problems, though, he thought as Skipper dragged him up on a breach, and he let out a whoop of excitement. Swimming with dolphins was fun, but breaching? That was another level entirely.
Techno called out taunts from behind them as they circled the bay, and Dream fired back rebuttals as often as he had air to do so. Skipper and Stella whistled and chirped as well, and the other two followed along, weaving between and below and over them.
Stella and Skipper got tired eventually, though, which resulted in Techno catching up and suplexing Dream into the water. They play-fought for a few minutes (Dream was the clear winner, don't listen to anything Techno tells you) before making their way back to shore, tired but grinning.
As soon as they were out of the water, Techno sprawled onto the sand, laying on his back like a starfish. "So, I'm assumin' you named the dolphins."
Dream snorted, taking two bottles of water out of his inventory and handing one to Techno. "Of course. They're regulars here, after all, I have to call them something."
"Mine was the best."
"Stella," Dream informed him, "and she's pretty cool, yeah. Skipper is better, though."
Techno propped himself up on one elbow to take a drink. "Was Skipper yours?"
Dream nodded happily, taking a sip of his own water.
"That makes sense," Techno hummed, laying back down. "He's fast. You like fast."
"And Stella's calmer, more methodical. I can see why you liked her." It's odd, how they both instantly gravitated toward a dolphin that was like them; Skipper had been Dream's favorite since day one.
"How about the other two?"
"Lucky and Chase. They don't like giving people rides as often, but they like to hang out."
Techno hummed in acknowledgement, and for a moment, the two of them just relaxed on the beach, listening to the surf.
Dream dug his toes into the sand, and an idea popped into his head. "Hey Tech, want to make a sand castle?"
Techno lifted his head just enough to stare at Dream. The stare lasted long enough to make Dream nervous, to make him think that maybe Techno thought that was a stupid idea, maybe he shouldn't have said anything, but then Techno sighed. "Why not."
The castle ended up as a strange hodge-podge of styles. Dream made traditional battlements and a few towers, while Techno made a large dome right in the middle, claiming that all the best palaces had domes. This of course led to an argument about whether the terms 'castle' and 'palace' were synonymous, but neither of them really cared who won it. It was just for fun. When they finished, Dream stuck a seashell right on the top of the dome.
"This castle is so scuffed," Techno said dryly, looking at the crumbling walls and lopsided dome.
Dream wheezed. "I mean yeah, it kind of is."
"Absolutely terrible."
"Really ugly."
"We're so bad at this."
"We should be banned from building anything, oh my God."
Techno grinned. "But we're proud of it anyway, right?"
Dream beamed back at him. "Oh, absolutely. I'd fight anyone who said anything bad about it."
Techno raised an eyebrow in gentle challenge.
"You don't count, you helped build it," Dream told him, waving a hand in dismissal.
"Alright, whatever you say," Techno chuckled, leaning back on one arm. "So, any extra plans for today? Or are we just vibin'?"
Dream glanced up at the sky. Late afternoon, nearly evening. "I mean I brought food, but I don't have any concrete plans, so I guess we're vibing? I don't know, man, there's just been so much going on recently. I thought we could both use a bit of a break."
"Yeah," Techno agreed quietly, glancing out to the dolphins still swimming in the bay. "Thanks."
"Any time, dude. And I mean that. Any time you need a break, let me know and we can head out here."
Techno smirked. "Does this mean I get the coordinates for this place now?"
"Absolutely not! It's a secret beach, I can't tell you where we are!"
"Oh, come on-"
And even as they started bickering again, Dream found himself smiling. Why shouldn't he? He was at the beach with one of his best friends, relaxing on the first day off he's had in ages.
He had been right. Today was a great day.