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Over the past few weeks, Tommy had found out that Dream seemed to have his own little “Naughty or Nice” list. Much like Santa but at the same time.. Not at all.
The man would come visit all the time, and each time Tommy saw Dream show up, he’d try to figure out where he sat on the lists. Tommy tried, he tried so hard, to be on Dream’s nice list. That way Tommy wouldn’t get in trouble over the small mistakes, that way the boy wouldn’t get everything taken away from him, with a punch or two as an added bonus.
But some days Tommy just couldn’t stay on the nice list. Some days Dream would be so angry at him. No matter what Tommy did. Tommy knew he deserved it, he knew he shouldn’t be such an awful person. But it still hurt him.
As Dream’s voice rang through the silence, and the man arrived at Tommy’s house, the teenager tried to gauge where he sat on the list for today.
“Hey, Tommy!”
He hesitated a bit, “Hi, Dream.”
“How are you today?”
“Fine, thank you.”
Tommy flinched as Dream stepped closer, but he simply set his hand down on Tommy’s shoulder. Tommy was given half a second to relax before he realized something was wrong. Something on Dream’s face said that Tommy had done something wrong.
What did I do? Crap, what did I do?! Tommy panicked.
Then he realized what was wrong. He was still wearing his leather armor underneath his clothes.
He hadn’t meant to leave it on! The way it was resting under different layers of clothing made it look like he had been hiding his armor from Dream, but that wasn’t the case, not really. He just hated the way the armor made the nearby villagers nervous around him. Tommy really needed someone to just, not hate him. So he hid his armor from them not Dream.
“What’s this, Tommy? Are you keeping secrets?” Dream’s voice had become eerily cold, and Tommy couldn’t help it when he started to shake.
“N-no. No, Dream I- I didn’t mean to, I swear.”
“Take it off.”
Tommy hastily stripped off the outer layer of clothing, and the armor, not caring about the lack of privacy. The least he could do was not complain. Maybe if he was really good, then Dream would stop being angry at him.
“Throw it in.”
Tommy complied, dropping the pile of leather into the hole that Dream had quickly dug.
“And… you know what, Tommy, how about you throw in something more. Throw in your sword and your shield. That way you can remember that I don’t tolerate lies or secrets.”
“I didn’t lie to you, Dream! I swear!” Tommy burst before he could stop himself. Visibly recoiling as soon as he had realized what he had said. “I’m sorry.” He whispered.
“There you go, Tommy. There’s finally something that I actually want to hear. I don’t need anymore lies from you, just an apology, and the things that I asked for.” Dream took a step closer to the boy and Tommy quickly threw in his stuff as response.
“Good job.” Dream said, placing and blowing up some TnT on top of the items. Effectively blowing them all up.
“Let’s keep moving, shall we?” Dream shoved Tommy forward, towards the mines.
Tommy knew that he was being forced to go mining as a punishment. He wouldn’t have his armor, he wouldn’t have his shield, and he wouldn’t have his sword. Which would make it awfully hard when they ran into mobs.
“Dream, do you think, do you think maybe I could go grab a sword or something, first? I don’t want to be defenseless down there.”
Dream sighed and Tommy could immediately feel the disappointment in the air. Dream just wanted to go mining and Tommy was ruining that for him. The teenager quickly shook his head, retracting his statement.
“Actually, never mind. I’m sure I’ll be fine. Let’s just go down there.”
With both a smile, and a punch delivered to Tommy’s back, Dream seemed to agree.
While they were down there, Tommy managed to get shot by two different skeletons. One arrow lodging itself in Tommy’s shoulder, and the other landing in his calf.
Dream had rushed to his side, laughing as he shouted his usual “Watch out, Tommy!” before killing the monsters and walking over to collect the useful bones.
“Thanks, Dream.” Tommy said softly, limping heavily on his still bleeding leg.
“You’re welcome, Tommy! After all, what are friends for?”
He gave a weak chuckle, “Yeah, you’re right, Dream. Are we going back home, or are you still wanting to mine?”
“Are you not strong enough to keep going?”
“No, that’s not what I said! I’m sorry for making myself seem weak. I’ll be fine, Dream.” Tommy hurriedly responded, not wanting to anger the older man.
Which is why they were both 50 blocks underground, trying to search for diamonds, while Tommy tried to nonchalantly stop bleeding.
“Dream?” He whispered as he realized just how much blood was soaking his rag.
“Yes?”
“I’m sorry for asking, but do you think we can go back up?”
Dream turned sharply, “Why?”
“I can’t really.. Keep working like this? I think I’ve lost a lot of,um, a lot of blood. I think I’m-” Tommy stopped talking as the world spun a bit, his eyes seeing dots.
“You freaking idiot!” Dream shouted as Tommy teetered a little. “Why didn’t you tell me beforehand that you were bleeding so bad?”
Dream punched Tommy in the chest, causing the kid to spasm and let out a whimper. Dream’s eyes softened as he heard the noise, and he picked up the teenager with a lot less force than it would have taken a while back. Back when Tommy still lived in L’Manburg and actually ate food.
Dream was able to carry Tommy all the way home, with the small help of a strength potion near the end. He dropped the teenager onto a bed and quickly handed him a health potion that had previously rested in one of Tommy’s many chests.
“Here, drink this.” Dream’s voice was short again, and Tommy curled into himself. He hated making Dream upset.
Dream cleaned the wounds and made sure they would heal correctly. Afterwards, he gave Tommy a gentle kiss on the forehead and brushed the hair away from Tommy’s eyes.
“Sleep, Toms.” Dream said, “I’m going to go, I’ll be back tomorrow, okay?”
Tommy nodded quietly, watching as Dream walked away. Leaving the teenager alone.
True to his word, Dream returned the next day. And just like normal, Tommy didn’t know which list he was on.