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The whole school knew of the infamous love triangle going on in their building.
Not of the students, no.
The love triangle involved the schools’ teachers.
The seniors that were graduating this year could tell you how painful it had been to watch this love story play.
“So just hurry up and tell the fucking story then!” Tommy exclaims, shoving Purpled. The other boy had been teasing the freshmen in their team.
The other bristles as Tubbo and Ranboo watch from the sidelines, snickering, “I’m getting to it, jeez!” He shouts back at the brit. “Anyway, long story short - when we started high school here, they were all in their second year of teaching. And - I guess they were legends here at this school because there were trophies and shit with their names on them,” Purpled explains, rolling his eyes. “Anyways, in the middle of our sophomore year, both Mr George and Mr Sapnap announced they were dating,”
“Worst week of English literature in my life,” Tubbo pipes up. “Mr Dream was heartbroken - they were best friends and childhood friends and the man was so in love with the both of them,” Tubbo sighs, wistful. “He once surprised Mr George with a box of chocolates in class - and not even a small box, like a whole cooler box size!”
“Yeah, and now I-I guess they’re in a fight? I don’t know, but all the seniors are trying to get them together this year - this has been the most painful slow burn, in the real-life story, with angst, pining, unrequited love but not actually and its 400k,” Ranboo deadpans.
“Yeah, Ranboo and Purpled are easily the most affected - they’re Mr Dream’s brothers,” Tubbo explains amongst the grimaces.
“So...so Mr Sapnap and Mr George are together...but Mr Dream’s not involved?” One freshman asked, confusion written on their face. “But-but! They’re so easily whipped for him too! Have you seen their disgustingly adoring looks for him?!” They cried out.
“Yeah! Mr Sapnap literally slow danced with him in the cafeteria like two weeks ago!” Another freshman exclaimed.
“Mr George interrupted Mr Dreams’ History class to drop off his lunch, like last month.”
“Don’t forget when George didn’t know what to get Dream so he went to Quackity’s class to cry about it,” Ranboo sighed.
“When they were teenagers, Dream got a fractured arm and couldn’t go to school so Sapnap snuck in his bed and they cuddled until his mum called Dreams’ mum and they found them cuddled in Dreams’ bed,” Purpled deadpanned, crossing his arms.
“I just can’t imagine those three not being together and only two people are in a relationship, you know?” A freshman asked, gazing at the sky above them.
“Makes you think what hope there is for the rest of us if a love like that doesn’t work out, huh?”
“Excuse me! I get plenty of women!” Tommy jokes, making the freshman giggle at their vice-captain.
“I wonder what they fought about,” Tubbo mused out loud.
Purpled sighed, shrugging his shoulders. “We don’t know either, Dream didn’t tell us anything,” He motioned to him and Ranboo.“I just know that they haven’t been acting like themselves and the other teachers don’t know what’s happened either,” Purpled knows, he questioned his brothers’ friends ruthlessly. “They had like this huge fight a few days ago, and they haven’t made up since,” he sighs dejectedly.
“But anyways, practice is over! Go home!” Tommy shooed the younger ones away and leaned back on the bleachers. Soccer practice had been done for almost an hour now, and while Tommy loved his team, he wanted to gossip without being stared at by the freshmen.
He already knew he was awesome, thanks.
He heaved out a sigh, his muscles aching as he thought about the topic that had Wilbur and Techno moaning and stressing about other people’s love life. Closing his eyes, he reflected on his past four years with his friends.
They had met in freshman year, grouped in the same Spanish class. Purpled had been rambunctious on the first lesson, Tommy immediately matching his energy from the other side of the class and Tubbo and Ranboo getting roped into their shenanigans.
“Hello?” Tommy hears Purpled say and he opens his eyes to see the other blonde talking into his phone. He watches with tired interest as the mid-afternoon beats down on them. His muscles ached - Dream wasn’t here like usual to be their coach, so Sam had filled in. And Tommy saw the similarities between Tubbo and Sam then, the pair of brothers ruthless at soccer, even with the eight-year difference between them.
However lost in thought he was, he finds himself sitting up in alarm as Purpled’s face pale and his mouth opens in shock. Ranboo sits up in worry for his brother. The person on the other side and Purpled stands up immediately, hands scrambling to pick his things up.
“Ranboo, we gotta go, dude, we gotta-” Purpled catches himself as Ranboo’s hand lands on his shoulder. His eyes meet Ranboo’s and the other is startled at the tears shining in his brothers’ eyes.
“Purp?” Ranboo questions softly, glancing at Tommy and Tubbo - both who didn’t know what to do.
“It’s-It’s Dream, Boo,” Purpled cries, hands squeezing the others’ hands. “Sapnap- he just called and told me that Dream’s in the hospital and he’s in critical condition, and we- we need to go now ,” Purpled babbles, the others finally catching up.
“I’ll get Wilbur to drive us, meet us at his car,” Tommy hurriedly says, motioning them to Wilbur’s car and moments later, they’re driving to the hospital - the car deathly silent.
When they finally park, they all rush out and - you can blame Ranboo’s horrible memory all you want, but he can swear on his life that he will not remember going to the front desk, going up the elevator and collapsing into his brother’s arms as he sees Sapnap and George in the waiting area, grim faces meeting them.
It’s half an hour later when they’re all settled in, and Ranboo and Purpled have had a healthy cry, does Sapnap and George explain what and how it happened.
“George and I were in the teacher’s lounge and we were going to leave, you know, for a date,” the atmosphere in the room drops and the couple shifts uncomfortably. “and we-we get a call, and it’s the hospital-” He chokes, eyes tearing up as he sniffles. George places an arm around him, giving off comforting vibes.
“We’re Dream’s emergency contacts,” The brit explained, carefully. “He got into a car crash, he got T-boned at a crossing- and, it’s bad ,” George emphasises, eyes tearing up ever so slightly.
Ranboo bursts out into another round of tears and they stay in silence for what seems like silence.
“Are you here for Dream Wastaken?” A voice questions from behind them and they all swivel around to see a man, exhaustion lining his body. Still, he stands straight, hands holding a clipboard.
“Yes- We’re his brothers,” Purpled answers, motioning to both him and Ranboo.
The doctor gazed at him with sympathy, “Are you sure you want to hear this?” The brothers shared a hesitant nod before nodding. “I understand,” The doctor sighed, giving a sympathetic smile. “Your brother has multiple lacerations on his legs, arms and midsection of his body. His left ankle is suffering from a fracture but we did manage to treat all the life-threatening injuries, though he did lose a lot of blood. A metal rod was sticking out of his left leg when he arrived, however, it didn’t strike anything vital - though I do suggest he doesn’t do anything that requires a lot of leg strength for the next few months,” The doctor glanced up at the pale faces of those around him and finally gave a relieved smile. “He’s currently being transferred into ICU now, and we’ll keep him there for a couple of night. Once we’re sure he’ll be okay, we’ll transfer him into his room,”
“Thank you, doctor,” Wilbur says, shaking hands with the doctor. “Will we be able to see him?”
The doctor hummed, eyes raking over the group. “He should be stable enough to have visitors, go ahead,” The doctor nodded at them, and after giving them instructions, went on his way.
“Oh, Dream,” Ranboo whispers as both he and Purpled beeline to his bed. Their brother had never looked so unlike himself, blonde hair flat and dull. His skin was almost that of a ghost, so pale that he was almost translucent. He had an oxygen mask on his face and multiple tubes and machines around him.
“I’ve called Puffy and Schlatt, they’ll be here soon, yeah?” Sapnap says, wrapping a comforting arm around Purpled, George doing the same to Ranboo. And despite their feelings on the two, they leaned into the touch, desperately needing the comfort that was usually given by their older brother.
“We’ll go first then,” Wilbur speaks out, eyes lingering on Dream with a sad frown. “I’ll text the group chat to update them,” With a final hug to everyone, Tommy and Tubbo following his actions, the trio left - leaving behind a sombre atmosphere.
It’s 45 minutes later when two figures burst through the door.
“Mum! Dad!” Ranboo exclaims, standing up only to be engulfed in a hug from Puffy, their mother pulling both him and Purpled in her arms.
“Oh, my babies, are you two okay?” Puffy asked desperately, eyes raking over their forms.
“We’re fine, we were at school when we were told,” Purpled exclaimed. “But Dream…” He trailed off, looking towards the figure in the bed.
Schlatt looks at his boy, his boy that reminds him so much of himself and has to bite back tears. Dream had never looked so unlike himself than at that very moment - broken bones, broken heart.
He wrapped an arm around Puffy - both of them needing familiar comfort and even though they had separated after Purpled and Ranboo were born, they had remained close. This was their boy - their boy that they watched grow up into the successful person that he was now.
“He’ll be okay,” Schlatt promises.
He was okay.
In a way.
The first time he woke up, he woke up to say ‘fuck’ and startled the nurse that was attending to him - instantly falling back asleep.
The second time he woke up, he terrified his brothers by waking up and saying ‘patches’ and falling back asleep.
However, the third time he woke up, he was lucid enough to talk to Sapnap and George, who were clutching either of his hands.
He gradually got better - forced to be in a wheelchair for two weeks and then crutches.
He finally came back to school after three weeks on crutches.
“Dream, it’s not too late to go back home, Phil’s willing to give you more time off if you need!” Sapnap tried to convince the blonde who was getting out of their car. Sapnap automatically rushes to his best friends’ side, hands hovering.
“Sapnap,” Dream said exasperatedly. “I promise, I’m fine - I can take it!” He assured, starting to walk slowly to the school.
“Glad you’re back, Mr Dream!” A student called out from across the campus. Dream felt a grin stretch across his face as he waved back.
“Dream, seriously, I have a spare in the first period - I can drive us back,” George tried convincing the other.
“You’re a shit driver, George,” Dream scoffs as they reach his classroom.
“Hey! What the hell?” George asks in offence. Dream snickers as he opens his door, missing the shared smile that Sapnap and George shared behind his back.
He opened the door.
“SURPRISE!” Dream yelped, stepping back as the shout surprised him. However, he felt a smile overtake his face as he stares at his friends gathered in his classroom.
“Welcome back, Dream!”
He laughs, a sound so free and pure that it makes everyone smile.
“I missed you guys,”
“Alright, I’ll see you all tomorrow! Don’t forget to answer the question of why The Holocaust was one of the lowest points of Humanity!” Dream called out as his junior English class filed out of his classroom. As soon as the last one was out the door, he sat down heavily on his chair.
He shut his eyes in pain, the throbbing in his leg reminding him of his accident.
Dream worried his bottom lip in between his teeth as he drove, his mind far away.
“I don’t have the capacity to deal with you right now, Dream.” Sapnap had said a few nights ago - and it had been radio silence from both him and George.
“Just give us some space, Dream,” George had said a few nights ago - and it had been days of waking up to no one in the apartment.
But it was fine.
It was his fault anyway.
He stopped at a red light, shoulder slumping as he remembered how he woke this morning. His bed was cold like it had been the past couple of days, the apartment was silent - a clear sign of the other two residents already gone.
The light turns green.
He drives.
He remembers nothing else.
He feels tears come to his eyes and he wipes them away furiously.
“Dream!” A voice calls out from outside his door and he snaps back to attention.
“Big man, can we come in?” He hears Tommy scream out and he chuckles good-naturedly before telling them to come in.
“How’s your leg?” Purpled questions him as he slams the door open.
He lets out a surprised laugh, “Purp just calm down, I’ve been sitting down and just standing for most of the day,” he assures the other boy.
“Don’t push yourself,” Ranboo scolds as he comes to stand in front of Dream.
“Am I really getting berated by my own younger brothers,” Dream asks, shocked but chuckling nonetheless. His heart is incredibly fond of the teens in front of him.
“Ugh, whatever,” Purpled rolls his eyes as Tubbo punches him in the arm and calls him a tsundere.
His weeks go good, and he’s off the crutches in no time.
George and Sapnap take whatever chance they get to visit him between classes, sometimes even during classes.
“...And in English, we call that a motif! Yeah? Are we feeling confused about this concept at all?” Dream asked his class of Sophomores.
Any questions that were supposed to be asked then weren’t asked in the end as the door burst open to reveal a familiar black-haired man with a wide grin.
“Dreamy! Can I hang with you?” The other asks even as he sits in a spare seat in the front row.
“I- Sap, you hate English,” Dream deadpans, crossing his arms.
“Yeah, but you seem to love it for some reason and I love you so,” Sapnap shrugs, grinning more widely as the class ‘oohs’ and a flush overtakes Dream’s features.
“Sapnap!” Dream shrieks, throwing his whiteboard marker at Sapnap’s head - scowling when the PE teacher just moves to the side.
“He looks pretty when he’s blushing, doesn’t he?” Sapnap asks the class, the class responding with hoots and whistles.
Dream squeaks at that, hiding his face. “Get out,” he groaned, drawing out the syllables. “You’re embarrassing me!” He whines.
“You deserve all the compliments you get, Dream,” And Sapnap sounds so genuine that Dream flushes, even more, turning around fully to hide his face from his class.
He’s cooling himself down, and he almost succeeded when he felt arms wrap around his waist and pull him to the others’ chest.
“Sapnap!” He squeals, wanting to stay in the others’ arms but again. This was George’s Sapnap! “This isn’t allowed!”
And because God loved him so much, the door opened at that exact moment revealing a familiar British man.
The class quietens down, some glancing nervously at each other.
“G-George!” Dream stammers.
“Hello, Georgie!” Sapnap greeted cheerfully.
Said man rolls his eyes and grins, shutting the door behind him. “Sapnap, you’ve had your time with Dream, it’s my turn now,” He says as he sits on Dream’s chair and pats his lap with a mischievous grin.
Dream internally dies as the class goes up in uproar.
“Nooooo, stop,” He whines and as nice as Sapnap’s hug is - he so desperately wants his hands back to cover his face with.
“Come here, Dreamy,” George coos and Dream hopes he knows that he very much dislikes him and Sapnap right now.
The bell rings.
“Just leave, please, just leave,” He begs his students who giggle as they walk out.
The three friends sit in silence for a while, just enjoying each other's company.
“So, why’d you both come here?” Dream asks as he leans back into Sapnap finally. He knows his best friends and he knows that they wouldn’t come in here at the same time, for nothing - especially not with the same haunted look no one else picked up on.
“Got scared,” Sapnap replies, burying his head into Dream’s shoulder, relaxing as Dream’s hand comes up to his head.
George stands, wrapping his arms around both Dream and Sapnap - creating a Dream sandwich. “Same here,” George admits as he burrows further into Dream’s embrace.
“What were you scared of?” He whispers, offering the comfort that he can.
“...Was scared you weren’t here,” Sapnap says slowly.
“I had this irrational fear that you were still at the hospital,” George whispers.
Dream can only nod in sympathy and maneuver all three of them into a position where they can get maximum comfort from him. It ends with both of them leaning on his desk and him sinking into their arms.
He whispers constant reassurances to the two have their heads buried in his shoulders, both of them clutching onto him as if he would disappear.
It’s a fair amount of time until a throat-clearing gets their attention.
“Am I interrupting anything, boys?”
Dream yelps, jumping back to look at Phil, who’s currently standing in the doorway of his classroom. He wears an amused smirk and has a mischievous glint in his eyes that remind Dream all too much of his sons.
“P-Phil! Hey!” Dream greets nervously as both Sapnap and George flank him on both sides.
Phil chuckles amusedly, “Come on, the staff meeting’s gonna start now,”
He still doesn’t speak about his accident, and he, Sapnap and George don’t speak about their previous fight.
It all comes to a head on a Thursday morning.
He wakes up and the bed is cold. The apartment is deathly silent.
These past couple of weeks, Sapnap and George have slept with him again - more for their sake than Dreams. They go to school together, but it looks like Dream’s gonna have to walk today because he still can’t get behind the driver’s seat after all these weeks
He doesn’t mind.
So what if his leg aches a bit and he has to take a moment to himself inside his classroom?
It’s fine.
And the day passes by and he’s starving by the time it’s the end of the day - he usually spent his lunches with Sapnap and George or maybe Wilbur or Techno but he waved their questions off with a smile, saying he needed to grade some papers.
It’s the end of the day and he doesn’t know why he’s crying all alone in his classroom because it’s fucking fine . His best friends’ lives don’t revolve around him - and they’re dating . He should be used to this by now, it’s been so long since they announced he was dating, why is he still fucking crying ?
Dream wakes up to a cold bed - again.
He rolls over and stares at his ceiling, ignoring the aching of his heart. He knows the new routine by now - he wakes up cold and lonely because they sleep in Sapnap
s room now. Because they’re a couple. That’s right. Then he gets ready for his day and he drinks coffee (because he’s alone and no one’s there to make sure he eats properly) and he walks alone to the school or he drives to school. And it’s okay.
And he knows he’s going to be spending dinner alone again but it’s fine.
He’s used to it.
And now here he is, an adult man, crying because - what? Because he’s lonely? Because of his accident?
Because he finally told his best friends he loved them and they basically rejected him?
“That’s not funny, Dream,” Sapnap’s cold voice sends a shiver down his spice.
“What?” He hates the way his voice trembles.
“Don’t joke around like that,” George deadpans, expression stony and cold.
“I-I’m not- Listen- I’m just telling you this so I can finally move on from you guys-”
Sapnap laughs, cold and hard and so unlike his loud and warm laughter. “Fuck you, Dream, I thought we were best friends, shit,” He breathes out, running a hand through his hair.
“We are friends! Best friends!” Dream defends, clutching his heart to soothe the ache.
“Friends don’t lie to each other, Dream,” George spits out his name with such discontent that Dream’s eyes tear up.
“I-I don’t understand-”
“I don’t have the capacity to deal with you right now, Dream.” Sapnap sighs and Dream’s heartbreaks.
Distantly, in his mind, he wonders whether or not heartache can kill someone
“Just give us some space, Dream,” George states before he and Sapnap walk to his room and slams the door, leaving Dream alone in the too cold living room.
He wonders if he would be dead right now if it heartbreak could kill someone.
“Dream? Can you follow my breaths? Yeah, we’ll do it together? Okay?” A voice breaks through the haze.
Oh, He thinks dazedly. I’m having a panic attack .
Somehow that realisation makes everything much worse and he thrashes around, registering that he’s on the floor of his classroom and that there are two people in front of him, expressions worried.
“Please-” he sobs, moving away from them. “Please leave me alone-” He chokes out.
“Okay- we’ll stay here, but can you breathe with me? Can you do that for me?” An accented voice calls out. The man breathes out through his mouth, making sure Dream can hear his breaths.
Unconsciously, Dream follows along - and it takes a long time before his heart is beating regularly again. His face is wet from the tears and he’s so exhausted . So so tired but he knows he should at least talk to the two figures sitting in front of him.
“Pandas, Georgie,” He murmurs and opens his arms, welcoming the two bodies that crash into him.
“Are you okay?” George asks desperately. “You didn’t injure yourself during your panic attack, did you?” He continues, cupping Dream’s face in his hands.
“I’m f-fine,” Dream stutters, holding the other’s wrist and leaning into the touch easily.
“Oh, shit, you worried us so much,” Sapnap breathed out, hugging Dream fully, engulfing Dream in a warm embrace.
“S-sorry,” he whispers, leaning into Sapnap’s embrace.
“Don’t apologise, it’s okay,” Sapnap murmurs into his hair and Dream shivers, fighting the next onslaught of tears.
“You wanna tell us what happened to trigger a panic attack?” George asks, clutching Dream’s hands comfortingly in his. “It’s okay if you don’t want to though, it’s your choice and we’ll respect it no matter what,” George soothed.
It took a moment for him to respond, nodding slowly. “I…” he hesitated, how do you tell your best friends that they indirectly caused your panic attack? “I woke up alone today,” he whispered, pulling away from Sapnap and looking away - missing the heartbroken looks that Sapnap and George traded above him
“Dream-”
“And,” Dream spoke over George, looking into the others’ eyes and begging him to let him talk and let him spill his heart out.
The other nodded and stayed silent
“And it reminded,” he gulped, feeling his palms start sweating again. “It reminded me of the day of the accident, because- cause I woke up alone that day and I drove and I taught my classes but-but it reminded me of when we were fighting and you guys got so angry at me,” he breathed, scrubbing at the tears coming forth again.
“Oh, Dream,” Sapnap breathes out, guilt in his voice.
“And- and I know I shouldn’t be affected by it and I’m just being a baby now, but you said that I was too much to handle and George said to give you guys space - and, and I did! I promise I did but the last thing I thought of before I got fucking T-boned was the argument we had - and fuck me, why am I crying so much,” He chuckles wetly but sadly, wiping the tears leaking out of his eyes. “Why couldn’t you have just outright rejected me?” He asks brokenly, looking at the two slumped figures in front of him.
“What?” Sapnap whispered.
“That-That night of the argument, I told you guys I loved you both and you yelled at me and I-” He sniffed, hands going to clutch his chest at the phantom ache. “You could’ve just rejected me, you know,” his voice cracks but he can’t find it in himself to care when his heart aches still.
“Oh no, no, no, no,” George whispers desperately, hands coming to clutch Dream’s wet face. “No, no - oh my god, we misunderstood so badly, holy fuck,”
“Dream, Dream, I’m so sorry,” Sapnap mutters, clutching Dreams’ hands. “I didn’t- I thought you were lying, I thought somehow you knew about our feelings for you and you were joking about it and- I’m so sorry, God, I’m so sorry,” Sapnap explains feverishly.
“W-wait, what? Y-your feelings towards me?” Dream asked, something akin to hope gleaming in his eyes.
He watches as Sapnap and George looked at each other with similar expressions.
“Dream,” George starts with a tentative smile. “Will you do us the pleasure of forgiving us because we are stupid idiots?”
“I-I mean, yeah, of course - but-”
“Will you also do us the pleasure of accepting our feelings for you?” Sapnap requests with a hopeful smile.
“...What?”
Their smiles falter.
“I mean- it’s absolutely okay if you don’t want to get involved with the relationship now! We fucked up, we thought you were playing with our feelings and we were angry-”
“Yes,” Dream interrupts Sapnap, his brain finally catching up with what they were saying and what was currently happening.
“I- What did you say?” George grins, hope shining in his eyes.
“I said,” Dream breathes in, a smile overtaking his features as the ache in his chest starts fading slowly. “I said yes, to both me forgiving you and me,” He locks eyes with his best friends. “and me accepting your feelings,”
Silence.
Sapnap and George stare at him with open mouths.
His heart picks up.
The two in front of him grin, launching themselves at him.
He gets lost in the kisses peppered on his face, the ‘thank yous’ thrown at him and the wonderful warmth in his chest.