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"Techno, this is a terrible idea."
"What are you talkin' about? It'll be fine, trust me."
"Techno," Dream hissed, nervously adjusting his mask for the third time in the past minute. "This is a terrible idea, literally everyone in that house has threatened to kill me at some point!"
Techno raised an unimpressed eyebrow. "So have I, your point?"
"My point is that your dad is terrifying."
"Nah," Techno said calmly. "He's just protective. So long as you don't try and stab me you'll be fine."
Dream just stared at him, incredulous. "Techno, before we caught Floof together, that was the entirety of our relationship. We stabbed each other for money."
"Yep."
"I hate you."
Techno smirked and knocked on the door. "Sure you do."
There was a series of muffled thumps from behind the door, and then it was yanked open as Tommy screeched "I WIN!"
Tubbo pouted from behind him. "No fair, you had a head start!"
"Move, let us in," Techno grumbled, but he was smiling as he put a hand on Tommy's head and gently pushed him out of the way.
Dream followed him inside, trying to calm down. It was fine. He was fine. He'd met all of these people before, this was going to be fine.
"Hey, big man!" Tommy greeted him, slinging an arm around his shoulders. "You're on our home turf now!"
"And I will respect that as much as you respect being on my home turf," Dream huffed, relaxing a little more. Teasing Tommy was fine, this was good, he was used to this.
Instead of getting riled up, however, Tommy's grin just widened. "Nah, you'll respect it a lot more than that. I'm not the one who owns the house."
And there it was. Dream was suddenly nervous again.
"Leave him alone, Toms," Techno sighed. "Phil already okayed him bein' here, and I wouldn't have brought him if I thought he'd do somethin' stupid."
Tommy pouted, but he let go of Dream and darted into the living room, Tubbo close behind him, already talking excitedly about something new.
Techno shook his head. "Kids."
"Kids," Dream agreed, feeling the tension fade again. "Good kids, though."
"Great kids, but they're both little gremlins. C'mon, let's go let Phil know we're here."
Techno led him through the house with an ease that only came through living there for a long time. When they reached a room that Dream assumed was the kitchen, Techno knocked softly on the doorframe and leaned against it, smiling.
"Techno!" Philza's voice was tired but happy, accompanied by the clatter of a pan. "Good to see you, mate. I assume Dream's around somewhere too?"
"Good to see you too, Phil. He's right here." Techno put a hand on Dream's shoulder and gently dragged him into the doorway. Dream suddenly felt very exposed and extremely uncomfortable.
Philza smiled at him, obviously trying to look welcoming. His wings were folded neatly, he was wearing an apron, his hair was pulled back in a small ponytail, and there was a tiny smudge of flour on his cheek from whatever he was cooking; he certainly didn't look intimidating. But the knowledge that this was Philza, the Angel of Death, a man capable of surviving alone for years, kept Dream from feeling truly at ease. Besides, he still remembered how easily Philza had shifted from the calm, friendly persona to a terrifying one. "Hello, Dream, nice to see you again."
Dream nodded politely. "Nice to see you as well. Thank you for the invitation."
"Oh, any friend of Techno's is welcome here," Philza assured him, like he hadn't threatened Dream for being that exact thing the last time they met. "It's about time we got the chance to talk properly."
"Don't know how you're gonna hear each other over Tommy's screamin'," Techno chuckled. "He's in rare form today."
Phil laughed, and it sounded open and friendly. "Oh, I know. I heard him from here when he opened the door."
"Do you need any help in here, by the way?"
"No, no, I'm fine!" Philza assured him. "Go on, I'll be out in about twenty minutes."
Techno nodded and started to lead Dream away.
Philza paused. "Actually, Dream, could I talk to you for a minute?"
Oh, there was the nervousness again. Dream nodded, not trusting his voice.
Techno glanced suspiciously between the two of them, but when Philza gave him a reassuring smile, he slowly walked back the way they came. Distantly, Dream heard Tommy shout a greeting as he went into the living room.
"I don't bite, mate," Philza chuckled.
Dream tilted his head slightly to the side. "Maybe not." The I think you're dangerous anyway hung in the air, unspoken.
Philza stared at him for a moment, gaze sharpening. Then he smiled and turned back to the pot of stew on the stove. "I just wanted to tell you that I'm not looking for reasons to attack you. Like I said, Techno's friends are always welcome."
"You didn't seem all that supportive last time we talked," Dream pointed out, leaning against the doorframe like Techno had.
"Last time we talked, I wasn't sure of you."
"And you are now?"
Philza glanced over at him. "I'm sure enough. Just don't stress about it, alright? You're not here for an interrogation, you're here for dinner."
"Yeah, don't stress, I'm just meeting Techno's family properly for the first time, no big deal," Dream grumbled.
That got Philza to laugh. "We've all already met you, mate! First impressions are over, just relax. The food will be done soon if you want to head to the living room."
Dream nodded and headed back down the hallway, following the sound of people talking. When he reached the living room, Tommy and Tubbo were wrestling on the floor, Techno was watching with mild amusement from his spot on the couch and offering occasional advice, and Wilbur was sitting on a chair in the corner, laughing at them. The casualness of the situation hit Dream like a brick wall, and he had to pause to take it in. This was, really and truly, a family. How had he never noticed before? Why had he been surprised?
Techno caught his eye and grinned, waving him over to the couch. "What did Phil want?"
"He told me to relax," Dream admitted, taking a seat on the couch next to his friend.
Techno snorted. "Yeah, you need to chill. It's not like you've never met anyone here before."
"It's -" Dream waved vaguely at the house, glancing warily over at the other three people in the room, who were now all arguing about the legality of one of Tubbo's wrestling moves. "I don't know. It's different, it feels different. Dinner isn't like running into them on the Prime Path or something, it's... I don't know."
"Well if they want to bug you tonight, they're gonna have to go through me," Techno told him with a smile, gently elbowing him in the ribs. "Just relax, dude, it's fine."
Dream nodded, letting some of the tension dissipate. "Yeah. Okay."
"Oi, big man!" Tommy shouted, suddenly appearing in Dream's peripheral vision. "Come fight us!"
"Both of you?" Dream asked, pretending the sudden appearance hadn't startled him.
Tommy nodded eagerly. "Seems fair to us."
And then, because he was right, that was fair, and Techno was right, he needed to relax, Dream shrugged and tackled Tommy.
They pulled Techno into it, eventually, and it somehow settled into teams of two, with Techno and Tubbo against Tommy and Dream. Wilbur shouted gleeful encouragement from his chair in the corner. It was light-hearted and fun, and though Techno snarled at them a few times, he was always smiling, and Dream's trash-talking lacked any heat.
"Boys," Philza interrupted them, his voice full of amusement. He was standing in the doorway, apron gone, the smudge of flour wiped away. "Dinner's ready."
"FOOD!" Tommy cheered, Tubbo letting out a whoop as well as the two of them raced off to the dining room. The other four followed at a somewhat slower pace, and Dream and Techno whispered joking threats and lightly shoved each other as they went.
Dinner was a cheerful affair, with lots of laughter and joking around. Phil ("Call me Phil, mate, Philza's a bit of a mouthful") told them about his most recent projects in his hardcore world, Techno talked about Floof, and Dream described the challenge he'd done with his friends a few days ago (they hadn't made it to the End, and Tommy teased him relentlessly until Dream reminded him that he'd easily beaten him in wrestling earlier). It was really nice.
Eventually, though, it was time to leave. Phil gave each of them an extra bowl of stew for the road, straightening Techno's cloak and fixing Wilbur's beanie and trying to comb Tommy and Tubbo's hair into some semblance of order as he did, telling them they needed to take care of themselves. And to Dream's utter shock, Phil didn't even hesitate before doing the same to him, fixing the way his hood lay against his back, telling him to "be careful out there, mate, don't be too reckless, alright?"
All Dream could do was nod, mind reeling at being so casually included. Was this normal? Was this how talking to other people's parents was supposed to go?
"Told you it would be okay," Techno said quietly as they walked away from the house, glancing back and waving one last time at Phil.
"Yeah."
Techno raised an eyebrow at him. "You good?"
"Is... Does he always do that?" Dream asked. "The..." He patted his hood.
"Sometimes," Techno said with a shrug. "It's a Phil thing, I think. He doesn't do it for people he doesn't like."
"Oh," Dream said quietly, turning that fact over in his head. That... that was good. Confusing, but good. And it felt weirdly nice, knowing that Phil had judged him worthy of... belonging, in a way.
Techno chuckled. "Phil's accepted you, which means you're never getting rid of me now, nerd. Now c'mon, let's go home."