Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

"I reckon you were raised poorly," Tommy said.

Dream felt like he was punched in the gut. He couldn't bring himself to say something. Bad memories coming up. His dad punching him, him locking himself in the closet for hours because he was scared of the man who was supposed to raise him. His mom's arms blue and green. Crying, eventually taking to many pills at once and leaving her two children alone with a monster.

Tears were welling up. His finger pressed the mute button before a sob escaped him. He rubbed his eyes. His hands were shaking. He could hear Tommy's voice in the background. Tommy was laughing. The Brit sounded nervous. He obviously didn't expect for Dream to suddenly stop talking.

Another sob escaped him. He lowered his head. Suddenly even keeping his head up was to difficult. Even more sobs escaped his throat. His whole body was shaking. His headphones fell to the ground. He didn't care. Every little horrible detail coming back to his mind. He couldn't continue. Closing Minecraft and Discord was exhausting.

As soon as his homescreen welcomed him, his body crumpled down. His vision was blurry, tears obscuring his sight. The pain from the memories were just too much. His sister and him living now alone with their dad. Cuts and bruises on his own small body. Making excuses up for school. His little sister sneaking to his bed every night because of her nightmares.

Years and years of the same routine. Years and years of unmeasurable pain and suffering. Then a day when a police officer and his favorite teacher stood before their front door. The monster who called himself dad not being there and Dream being so badly hurt that he fainted seeing Mrs. Johnson. The one teacher who wouldn't stop asking questions. The one teacher who always cared.

And now here he was. Sitting in his chair. Whole body shaking like leaves, vision blurry and head down. His father was sentenced to 9 years in Prison. Fostercare took them. Dream making sure the two were never separated. Using the first money from YouTube to rent a little apartment for just the two of them. They made a promised to never look for their father. Together starting a new life in Florida.

Nobody of the Dream SMP knew of Dream's childhood. Not even Sapnap. The only person Dream told was George. The two were inseparable. They were in a relationship. Almost 4 years now. Sapnap knew of course. A few others of their group as well. Them being just to happy to contain themselves. Everybody who new was very careful to not let anything slip. Everybody was extremely supporting.

George. He needed George. Dream almost dropped his phone but managed to call George with shaking hands. Dream overcame fear at the thought that the Brit might not answer. George said he was going to take a nap. He was tired. They talked for about 30 minutes before George fell asleep on the call.

He took a deep breath. George had set up his phone, so that Dream's call would always ring even when he put his phone on silent. For situations like these. When Dream's demons where to big for him to handle alone.

After a few moments George accepted the call. His sleepy voice on the other end. "Clay?" Dream broke down once more. He could hear rustling on the other end as George said up in bed. "Hey, hey. What's up? Everything okay?" George's voice was soft and caring. Everything was too much. The sobs keeping him from breathing. "Hey, breath Clay. Just breath okay?"

Together they did a breathing technique they discovered years ago and Clay could finally breath again. The call was silent for a few moments before George spoke again. "You want to tell me what's wrong?" Clay took a deep breath before he told his boyfriend. "Tommy said something about my childhood" His voice was quit. So unlike Dream normally. "Oh... Do want to tell me what he said?" Dream took a deep breath. "He said that I probably was raised poorly." George made a sad noise. "He doesn't know about my father and I know that but I couldn't hold the tears back and I didn't say anything and then I just closed everything on my computer." New tears were threatening to fall. "I just needed to hear your voice." George always managed to calm Clay down. "I'm glad you called. He doesn't know. Probably made a dumb joke too. You know how he is. Doesn't always thinks first before he says stuff." George laughed a little. A small smile appeared on Dreams face.

George didn't expect him to laugh after everything. There was a moment of silence between them. "I love you so much." Dream's voice was raspy from crying, but there was also extrem graditude, his voice full of love. He was exhausted. George let out a breath. Clay could picture him smiling. "I love you too." George's voice was filled with the same overpowering, selfless love. "Do you want to try and get some sleep?" His boyfriend asked. There were butterfly's in his stomach at the thought that George knew him so well. "Yeah." Clay stood up and walked through his house to his bedroom. He laid down onto the right side of the bed. George's side. The side he always slept one when he was visiting. They were planning to move together but then Covid-19 happened and they had to wait.

He put the phone to speaker and laid down. His face on their pillow. "I'm going to stay on the phone until you fall asleep." George's voice was soft. All Dream could thing about was how much he loved George as his mind slowed down and he drifted to sleep.

Chapter Text

Did he do something wrong? Tommy was worried. Dream and Tommy just played on the Dream SMP. The Youtuber suddenly stopped talking and then logged off. Tommy kept streaming for about an hour and then said goodbye to everyone.

Now he sat there, worried. In the moment he didn't realise that something was wrong. He thought Dream's internet probably just made problems. But now he realized that that was probably not true, Dream's internet was never a problem. He simply stopped talking and looked off. He closed Minecraft and even Discord. Did Tommy do something?

Tommy tried to reach out. He even texted Dream. Something he rarely did. Why would he when they had discord? But he didn't get an answer. His last option was George. Tommy was one of the few that knew about the real relationship between George and Dream. They told him after Dream had accidentally wrote Tommy something George was supposed to receive. A message with lots of hearts and cute nicknames. Quite funny actually. George and Dream both panicked. Asked him to not tell anybody, but of course he wouldn't.

'Hey. Do you now if I did something dumb?' Tommy wrote. He didn't have to wait long for George to write back. 'It's not really my right to tell. He's sleeping right now but I'm sure he's gonna talk to you later.' Tommy was feeling guilty. He couldn't remember what he said that may have upset Dream. Upset him so bad that he closed everything and suddenly stopped talking to him mid Stream. If George wouldn't tell him anything it must be something big. The teen rubbed his eyes. He didn't have a great feeling about this. He felt guilty. Guess he just had to wait.

Later...

Oh shit. That was the first thing Tommy thought when he saw that Dream was on Discord. Relief washed over him. He had the chance to get the bad feeling off him. 'Hey. Can I talk to you?' He wrote. Nervously kneading his fingers. A few moments later a call popped up. He answered.

"Hey." Dream said. Tommy noticed how tired his voice sounded. "Hey. I just wanted to ask If I did something wrong the last time we talked?" He sounded unsure. There was a weird tension between the two. Tommy not knowing what was wrong and Dream being unsure If he wanted to tell the whole truth. Dream cleared his throat. Struggling with the phrasing. "No. You just said something and that triggered me I guess." Tommy noticed how careful the other choose his words. Tommy was confused. "What did I say?" He needed to know what it was, so he didn't make the same mistake twice. Dream took a deep breath.

"You said something about my childhood." His voice sounded so small. Tommy needed a few second to progress. Then it clicked. Oh no, he thought to himself. Did Dream have a difficult childhood? He probably made a dumb joke. He could kick himself. "Did I say something dumb? I'm sorry." Tommy could hear Dream take a deep breath. " No. I should've probably said something." Tommy shook his head. " No. Your childhood is private matter. You don't need to say anything you don't want to. I'm sorry." There were a few seconds of silence until Dream let out a breath. "Thank you Tommy." The teen smiled. "I hope you're not angry at me anymore." Tommy said. He just needed to make sure. "I was never angry. I just needed a moment." Dream said. Tommy suspected that there was more behind those words but Dream already said enough. He was feeling a lot better now that he talked to him. "Okay." "Well see you later on the Dream SMP," Dream said. "Bye," said Tommy and they ended the call.

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Dream felt relieved after the talk with Tommy. He didn't want the younger boy to think that he was angry at him. His childhood was something he couldn't ever escape. He accepted that a long time ago.

He couldn't deny that every once in a while that time in his life came knocking on his front door. He could deal with the demon that was his father. With the memories. As long as he was standing behind that door with Georgie in his arms.