Chapter Text
The Community House was like a borrower’s dream come true. It had everything anyone could ask for. Food, shelter, supplies, all of it just sitting there for anyone to come and take what they needed. The supply was well stocked by the locals, who were constantly in and out of the place, yet none of them actually lived there. Whenever a newcomer would arrive, they’d stay a day or two before heading out to go build their own home somewhere else, always leaving behind goodies for him to sort through. No food shortages, no giants to worry about, no problems!
Dream was living in paradise.
Well, almost.
About half a year into his stay, he had accidentally gotten himself spotted by a man named George. Luckily he had managed to escape back into the walls and evade capture, but the damage had already been done. At first, Dream had been terrified. He had broken the first rule of survival: “Don’t be seen” a warning driven into his head ever since he was a kid.
His stress levels only elevated when George had come bursting back into the Community House not long after, dragging a confused and irritated Sapnap behind him. Dream remembered vividly how his heart pounded in his chest as George’s and Sap’s footsteps passed right over his Base. He had been in the middle of packing his belongings but found himself frozen, too afraid to make a noise lest someone hear him. He had listened with bated breath as George told Sapnap about how apparently the Community House had some kind of little green man stealing stuff. Then a miracle happened.
“George, it’s three in the morning. I think you’re just seeing things, dude. Anyway, I’m going back to bed.” And with that Sapnap just left. Dream could hardly believe it. In all of the stories he heard, the moment a giant raised the alarm all of the others would quickly join the hunt. Was it possible, then, that he could stay?
It was, and he did.
George, however, had decided to continue being a problem. The man was determined to capture Dream. For what purpose, Dream didn’t know, and he frankly never wanted to find out. Dream had expected the worst, but George’s plan to catch him mostly consisted of various mouse traps. For a master survivalist like him, they were nothing. Frankly, he felt a little insulted that George thought he had the same intelligence level as a common rodent. So he repaid George back by hiding a mousetrap in the back-up pair of iron boots he kept there in case of an emergency. The sounds of George cursing in pain had been slightly satisfying, to say the least.
This turn of events sparked their rivalry. The hunter versus the hunted. George would make attempts to hunt down and catch Dream, while Dream used his own skills to avoid George and turn it back on him. At first, it had been terrifying, but after a few more capture attempts, Dream began to have fun with it.
It was a test of his skills; a challenge . George always kept him on his toes and the thrill of facing another one of the giant’s schemes was exhilarating. As George’s traps became more clever, Dream had to learn to adapt quickly. There had been a few close calls, but in the end, Dream was always one step ahead of the hunter.
“A butterfly net? Seriously? Come on George you can do better than that!” He had called over his shoulder one evening as he balanced on top of the curtain rod above one of the windows. Dream’s words seemed to catch him off guard, as he had paused in the middle of his next swing.
“You know my name?! And can speak?!” Dream responded to him with a laugh.
“Of course I can speak, stupid! I have a name too. It’s Dream.” George blinked up at him behind his round sunglasses.
“Why would you tell me that?”
“Just so you know the name of the guy who’s totally kicking your ass in this game.” Dream smiled wide behind his mask.
And so their rivalry continued. George didn’t seem to want to let up any time soon. Dream wasn’t complaining. In fact, he found George’s antics downright hilarious now. It got to the point where he would risk being seen by George while others were around, just to annoy him. He knew it drove the guy crazy, and he knew that George knew that Dream was just flexing on him in those moments.
Dream continued living his life as usual and whenever George came back with a new trick up his sleeve Dream would slip out of trouble and add another tally mark to his side of the scoreboard.
He got cocky.
Really, he should have suspected something when George had come in and started working at the crafting station. From what he’d gleaned from eavesdropping, everyone had their own crating tables in their houses, so the need to come all the way to the Community House to craft should have been suspicious. Dream had long stopped seeing George as a total threat though.
“Hey George,” Dream said as he appeared on a shelf above George’s head. The man glanced up at the casually sitting figure. He didn’t dare make a grab for him. They both knew any attempt now would just result in Dream running off or using one of the tools on the shelf to hurt George’s hand. “What’re you doing?”
Dream leaned over the edge to look down at the giant’s working hands. He was in the middle of crafting some sort of circular tin out of iron with a small pile of Redstone sitting nearby. The borrower tilted his head to the side slightly out of curiosity.
“I’m making a compass, my old one broke,” George replied as he focussed back down on his work, “I need to go out into the woods for supplies soon and I’d like to be able to find my way back. So sorry but I’m not going to be making a fool of myself today. I’ve got more important things to do than ‘playing’ with you, you little psychopath.”
“Aw, George do you not like me anymore?” Dream teased, kicking his legs over the side of the shelf, “And here I thought we were best friends!”
“I don’t know what you are, but I do know that we are not friends. We both know it’s only a matter of time before I catch you.” George looked up from his work to glare at him.
“Hah! Please. You’re too big and clumsy to even touch me!” Dream laughed as if the giant had told the best joke in the world. Only for his laughter to be interrupted by him getting hit in the head with the flat compass needle George had just finished crafting. It didn’t hurt that much but the unwanted contact immediately made Dream jump to his feet and scramble back. His good mood was gone and his survival instincts kicked in. George laughed at his reaction, probably finding Dream’s fear amusing or something. Asshole. He was glad for his mask or else George would have seen his cheeks burn red with embarrassment and a sudden flair of frustration in his eyes.
“What was that about not being able to touch you?” George took a moment to lift up his glasses and wipe a tear from his eye. When he looked back up at the shelf Dream was already gone. Oh. George stared at the spot for a moment before turning back down to the compass and slotting the needle into place. He held it up to check his work and watched as the needle spun until eventually coming to a stop. He smiled when he saw it wasn’t pointing to his base, but instead to the wall, tracking something else entirely.
Dream didn’t see George again until a couple of days later. It wasn’t that late into the night, but Dream had decided to get some borrowing done early so he could get started on his next building project. First, though, he needed some materials.
He had developed a network of tunnels through the wooden floor that led into each of the chests within reach. So it was easy to navigate between supply chests without the risk of leaving the safety of the floorboards. He had tried to organize the mess in the chests in the past, but any attempt was quickly undone by people simply taking stuff out and tossing random stuff back in. It made the process of finding what exactly he needed a little longer, but he had all the time in the world so he wasn’t worried.
As he was busy carving off smaller blocks from a large block of wood, he heard the sound of the front door opening. The person closed the door behind them as silently as possible, as if they were trying to be stealthy. Dream listened for a moment, trying to determine which of the local giants it was.
“Oh, Dream~”
It was George and that phrase only meant one thing: He was on the Hunt.
Dream’s muscles tensed, remembering how George had gotten his hand close enough to him to knock him on the head during their last encounter. He shuddered at the thought of those fingers grabbing hold of him. That would never happen, though, because George was way too clumsy.
Quickly, quietly, Dream pressed himself up against the wall of the chest to listen for footsteps. George seemed to stay still for a moment before he started moving.
Moving right for the chest Dream was hiding in.
No. No way. There was no way George knew he was in here-
‘Knock knock knock’
“I know you’re in there Dream,” He could hear the grin in George’s voice through the wood of the chest. The borrower’s heart lept into his throat and he scrambled for the hole that led back into the tunnels. The chest opened right as Dream squeezed himself through.
“Leave me alone, George!” Dream called through the hole before making a break for it. That was freaky, but maybe it was just a fluke. He doubted George knew Dream well enough to predict his moves that well.
He fled down a tunnel that led into a chest opposite the room from George. Oh, hey, some string. That was on his list of stuff to get tonight. He was quick to scoop up a few as he listened for George’s next move. It sounded like the man was running across the room right at him again. How?!
This time George didn’t bother knocking and threw the chest open.
“Hey, don’t you know it’s rude not to knock?” Dream quipped, trying to keep up his usual air of confidence. George didn’t respond, simply reached in to grab him. Dream dodged to the side, allowing George to slam his hand down on a lone spider’s eye that Dream had been standing next to.
“EW!” George recoiled and tried to shake the remnants of the eye off of his hand as Dream fled back into the tunnels.
“You can run but you can’t hide, Dream!” He called to the walls. The borrower snickered to try to lighten the mood, but something in his gut told him something was different about tonight’s game. He was still pretty confident he could do this. Hell, he was managing to borrow and run from George at the same time. It couldn’t be that bad.
Excited at the new challenge presented to him, Dream took a turn toward the little kitchenette area. The exit let him out on the countertop, he could already see George making a beeline for him. Dream sprinted across the counter, heading straight for the corner cabinet where he knew some bread was stored. George’s strides were longer though, and he cut Dream’s route off by arriving at the cabinet first. The borrower tried to backpedal, but George once again blocked his path.
So Dream took the last route available to him, and he jumped off. With lightning-quick reflexes, his grappling hook was out and tossed right at George. The hook snagged onto the human’s shirt and Dream used the momentum to swing around behind him. With a flick of the wrist, the hook came loose, and Dream rolled into the landing.
“Oh, you little-!”
“Thanks for the boost!” Dream started running across the floor, heading right for the nearest crack in the wall he knew he’d be able to escape into.
The sound of glass shattering was quickly followed by Dream getting soaked by some strange smelling liquid. He had no idea what George had just splashed him with, but the effects kicked in fast.
Nausea was the first thing that hit him, followed by the room feeling like it was spinning. Dream’s muscles suddenly felt heavy as if someone had just tied weights to his arms and legs and made him run a marathon. The intense dizzy spell combined with the weight caused him to lose his footing and the world went sideways.
“Weakness potion mixed with something else…” Dream’s mind processed a moment too late. Dream struggled to get back to his feet, but the dizzy spell didn’t feel like it was going to let up any time soon. His heart began to hammer in his chest. He couldn’t think straight; couldn’t think of a way to slip out of this situation. He pushed his mask up off of his face, just in case the nausea caused him to vomit.
Just as his fingertips left the smooth surface of the mask, a larger set of fingers wrapped around his torso and lifted him up.
Dream shouted and immediately began struggling, desperately trying to get to the sheath at his waist to grab his sword. It was no use, though, George’s hand didn’t give him enough room to wiggle the weapon free.
“Wow,” George’s fascinated voice made Dream freeze and look up. The human’s face almost took up his entire vision. It was overwhelming to say the least. George’s eyes were practically sparkling behind his glasses as he finally was able to get a closer look at the being he’d been trying to capture for weeks. He heard George mutter a comment about him being more human looking than he thought, but Dream was too busy trying not to have a panic attack to really listen or care. The borrower’s fingernails dug into George’s hand as the man’s look of wonder turned into one of triumph.
“Looks like I win, pipsqueak!” He held Dream up a little higher, “Told you it was only a matter of time before I caught you! What do you have to say to that, huh?”
He hated this. This was the worst. He had no control over the situation and it’s all because he got too cocky and forgot that George was a very real threat. Now, because he forgot those things, he was probably going to pay the ultimate price.
“All I have to say is: Congratulations and can you at least make it quick?” Dream tried to keep the panic out of his voice, smiling nervously up at the human. George’s victorious look turned to one of confusion.
“Make what quick?”
“Killing me?” Wasn’t that the whole point of George’s relentless hunting of him in the first place?
“Whoa, wait, what? ” George’s eyes widened, “Kill you?! Is that what you thought this whole time?”
“Of course! What other reason would you have for chasing me around for weeks? Inviting me to a tea party?” A knot in Dream’s chest released at George’s words, glad that he probably wasn’t going to die. It wasn’t too comforting though. After all, things much worse than death could still happen.
“No! No. It’s just- I never- I mean, how was I supposed to react to finding out there was a little green guy running around in here?! I’d never seen anyone like you before!”
“Don’t you think there might be a reason for that?” Dream’s fear was rapidly being replaced with frustration. The effects of the potion seemed to be wearing off, slowly but surely, his vision stopped swimming and his strength felt as if it were coming back.
“For all I knew, you could’ve been some dangerous new mob or something!” George tried to defend, but deep down he knew this whole thing was mostly spurred by his curiosity and want to prove to the others that no he wasn’t imagining things. “But it turns out you’re just… a guy. Just weirdly tiny.” He poked the back of Dream’s head with a finger, which the borrower quickly swatted at. It was bad enough to be held in a fist, he didn’t need George’s big clumsy fingers poking at him as well. His skin was already crawling enough, thank-you-very-much.
“Well, I’m not. So, since you don’t plan on killing me, then could you be so kind as to let me go? I’d like to go pack up my stuff and leave.”
“You can’t leave, you sore loser!” George didn’t know why he felt so insulted by the notion, but he did. Maybe it was because he finally got his taste of victory and the idea of Dream just leaving after this felt unfair.
“I’m not being a sore loser. Let me go.” Dream began wiggling again.
“No way.”
“So, if you’re not going to kill me, and you’re not going to let me go then what are you going to do with me, George?” Dream’s voice cracked, which he mentally slapped himself for, but this was all starting to get a bit too much for him. His fate was at the whim of someone else, something he didn’t like one bit. He tried struggling some more, wishing he could have one of those ender pearls he saw the humans using.
George just stared down at him, as if just realizing he literally held another person’s life in his hand. He ran his free hand through his hair, trying to figure out his next step.
“Alright. Uh. Okay, let’s just- let’s just take a step back and breathe here,” He wasn’t sure if that was more for the panicked borrower or himself, “I definitely don’t want to kill you. You’re not going to be hurt, I promise. I was just… curious? And embarrassed that everyone thought I was going nuts. So I guess I just wanted to prove you existed? But then you started to get all playful and calling it a game and, yeah… I did start to have fun with it, actually. I never really thought about this part before though. I don’t- I don’t really know what to do next.”
There was a long stretch of silence as the two thought. It gave time for the borrower to calm himself down, and the hazy feeling from the potion finally wore off. Dream felt like he could finally think straight again.
“...Hey.”
“Hm?”
“Why don’t we make a deal?” Dream fiddled with the smooth edge of his mask on top of his head.
“What kind of deal?” George’s eyes narrowed a little, but he’d be lying if he said he wasn’t interested in what the mysterious little man had to say.
“You’re curious about me, right?”
“Right.”
“And I’d like to not have to find a whole new place to live. So how about we do this: Let’s keep doing these hunting games. Every time I win, you have to get me one material of my choosing. This place is great and all, but it’s missing some important supplies I need, and it’d be nice to have a giant do all the hard work for once.” George quirked an eyebrow at the term ‘giant’ being used to refer to him.
“What do I get if I win?”
“If you win, then you get to ask me any one question you want that I have to answer truthfully.”
“Hm…” George put his free hand to his chin, thinking about it hard. “What if I run out of questions?”
“Then I find it only fair that you’ll be able to ask requests of me as I would do with you. Do we have a deal?” Dream held a hand out.
“...” George eyed Dream for a moment. He didn’t seem like that much of a threat, and honestly George had started growing kind of fond of his presence in the Community House. After all, it was a Community House, a shelter for anyone and everyone who needed it. It didn’t feel right to kick Dream out, who clearly needed a place to live. The hunting games were fun, and it seemed Dream enjoyed them as well, plus it would be nice to learn more about who and what Dream actually was…
“Alright, sure, we have a deal.” George gently took Dream’s hand between his thumb and forefinger and they shook on it. “Since I technically won tonight’s game, does that mean I get to collect my reward now?”
“Uh,” Dream looked unsure but then shrugged, “It’s only fair. What do you want to ask?”
“What are you exactly? I never heard of anyone like you.” George’s eyes began to sparkle a bit again.
“I’m a borrower, though we have other names like inchlings or small folk. We tend to keep ourselves hidden, but if you want to know more you’ll have to beat me again.” Dream grinned slightly, “Which will never happen because next time I’ll be prepared for weird potions.” George’s earlier smile returned.
“Oh yeah? That’s what you think! After tonight, it’s gonna be nothing but George wins!”
“Please, it took you weeks just to catch me once all by yourself. You don’t stand a chance against a master survivalist like me.”
“We’ll see about that!” George laughed, “Next time I’m going to catch you in less than a minute.”
“If you say so, I’ll be timing you… Can you put me down now?” Dream kicked his legs a little for emphasis, “I’d kind of like to go to bed if we’re done here.”
“Right, right, sorry.” George knelt down and carefully set Dream down on the floor. He watched as the borrower fixed his tool belt and slid his mask back into its proper place. He still looked a little tense, as if he was ready to run should George change his mind and decide to pick him up again. George made no such move.
“I should probably head to bed too,” The giant said while rubbing the back of his neck, “I’ll see you around?” Dream looked up at him. With his mask back on it was impossible to tell what he was thinking.
“Yeah... Have a good night, George.” Dream turned and started walking toward the crack he had been heading for earlier. This whole interaction felt weird to him, but he was alive , so he wasn’t complaining.
“G’night, Dream.” George got back to his feet and watched the little green borrower disappear into the wall. He swept up the mess of glass shards from the broken splash potion bottle before taking his own leave.
It really was not a night either of them had expected, but both human and borrower looked forward to whatever this weird friendship(?) might bring.