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They’re sending out wedding invitations.
It’s about three months in advance, despite the fact that technically their wedding isn’t a destination wedding. Instead, it was gonna be out on a farm a few miles down from Techno’s family home- Dreams family now, he thought giddily- meaning that most of their main guests lived in the area. Of course, they were inviting friends from their city and the boxing ring, but there had been no question of where he’d wanted the wedding.
Techno had laughed at him for it because previous to knowing his family, they’d always said their wedding would be small and intimate and maybe even just at the registry instead of at some fancy venue. But that was then and this was now, and now he just wanted a wedding at that nice farm down the road from the Craft’s house surrounded by his family and his friends. It still made him grin to himself to think about it. Surrounded by his family. Cause Techno’s family was his now.
So they’re sending out wedding invitations three months in advance. More than enough time for everyone to book a room in the one bed and breakfast near Techno’s hometown, more than enough time for George to come down and for Sapnap’s parents to come up, more than enough time for Techno to finally pick a best man between Wilbur, Skeppy, and- for some reason- Squid.
They’re sending out wedding invitations.
And technically- just technically- there’s one for his mother.
“You don’t have to invite her, Dream,” Techno murmurs into his hair, arms coming to coil around his waist. “You really don’t. Especially with… with everything you know about her now.”
The words coil in his stomach and he shrugs. Yeah, he- he really still hasn’t processed the fact his mom is a wanted criminal or that she has another child that she does spend time with and he doesn’t think that’s something he can process in just six months.
“Dream.” His fiancee shifts, cupping his face and meeting his eyes. “You don’t have to invite her if you don’t want to.”
“Doesn’t that make me a bad son?”
The question is… sort of out of place. He’s not going to lie and pretend like he didn’t blame himself for his mom leaving until a certain age but he also won’t pretend to still believe that. There’d been no thoughts crossing his mind about if he was undeserving of her love because of something he’d done for years. He’d healed. Mostly.
Techno shook his head, thumb brushing over his cheeks, “No. No, it doesn’t. You’re not a bad son if you don’t want to invite her to the wedding. She wasn’t a good mother and I don’t think her being there would make you happy at all, Dream. I think it would make you miserable. And I don’t want you miserable on our wedding day.”
“I’d never be-”
“Dream.”
“I might be a little miserable with her there,” Techno raised an eyebrow. “Okay, I might be a lot miserable with her there.”
“Then don’t invite her.”
His chest feels lighter as he nods, offering a tiny smile, “Okay. Okay. I won’t invite her.”
The invite to Captain Puffy never gets sent out. It gets put in their trashcan and forgotten about. Dream breathes easier than he ever has.
He’ll have his wedding on the farm near the Craft house, surrounded by his family, his friends, and his wonderful husband-to-be. It’ll be perfect and happy. It will be his and Techno’s wedding. He can’t wait for it.
It is three fourteen AM and someone is pounding on their door.
The sound startles him awake seconds before Techno jolts up too. They make eye contact because what the fuck is going on? The pounding continues, gets louder and heavier, and Dream will admit it sounds like whoever’s knockings going to bust their door down at any second.
His fiance gets out of bed first, “Dream, go type in 911. Don’t call until I tell you too, but have them on the line.”
They both know that this could be one of Skeppy’s pranks or maybe Wilbur came into town with friends, got drunk, and is now pounding on their door- there are a whole plethora of explanations of who could be at their door right now and not all of them are violent.
It doesn’t stop the hair on the back of his neck from standing up.
“Stay here with Patches,” Techno warns, as the beating against their front door gets even worse, “Alright?”
“Tech-” swallowing, he shakes his head and grabs his phone to wait for Techno’s cue, “Be safe.”
His fiance gives him a dry smile before padding out and Dream reaches for the phone, keeping an eye on patches and waiting to hear the signal.
It could be nothing. It could be Skeppy or a drunk Wilbur or any number of things. It could be one of their friends from the ring or Sapnap trying to spook them. It could be absolutely anything.
But it’s still not normal for this to happen and it- its- its kind of scary.
Kind of is a bit of an understatement.
It’s really sort of scary.
He’s not even one to be scared easily, but a pounding at the door at three am is fucking scary! So he types in 9-1-1 and holds his breath in his throat, waiting. Just waiting. All he can do is wait.
And then.
And then.
“Who the hell are you?!” A feminine voice demands and Dream’s heart leaps in his throat. “Where is my son.”
That’s his mom’s voice. Captain Puffy’s voice.
What the fuck.
“Ma’am,” Techno starts but Dream isn’t about to feed him to the lone wolf stalking their doorway, instead of pushing out of their bedroom to see what the actual fuck is going on.
His mom is pushing past Techno- its- it- it’s almost comical. His mom’s tough, yes, but Techno is a 6’7 professional fighter who looks like Atlas on his best days. Captain Puffy is tiny in comparison, no matter how hard she’s glaring or any muscle that could be under her coat.
“Captain,” His world kinda feels like it’s spinning. He doesn’t even remember how long it’s been since he actually saw his mom, let alone talked to her. But he’s not about to let her come in here at
three in the morning
and bang on their door like some sort of mad man. “What are you doing here?”
Techno startles like he wasn’t expecting Dream to actually come out once he heard who was at the front. And to be fair. Dream’s pretty sure he’ll regret this tenfold in the next few days because this is literally the worst-case scenario in his head. The Captian, however, just takes the opportunity to slip past Technoblade and into their house, her eyes hard and brow furrowed.
“Duckling.”
“I’ve told you before, don’t call me that.” Every nerve in his body feels like it’s on fire in the worst way possible. He doesn’t want to do this. Techno meets his eyes for a moment before turning and closing the door softly and shifting to stand next to Dream, wrapping his hand around his wrist. The comfort is enough to make him remember how to breathe, but not enough to stop the feeling of fire ants on his skin. “What are you doing here?”
His mother blinks, eyes trained on where Techno is holding him. “Dream-”
“Answer the question.”
“You’re getting
married,”
She finally says after a tense moment of silence, meeting his eyes. They’re the same color. “Why didn’t you
tell me?
Why aren’t I
invited?”
Oh.
Oh.
“How-” he shakes his head, leaning more into techno. “How the fuck did you find out I was going to be getting married?”
The Captain
gawks
at him, eyes narrowing. “Seriously? That’s what you’re asking here? You’re not even going to
deny
not inviting me?”
“Ma’am,” Techno tries quietly. “You need to ans-”
“You,”
she spits, anger evident in her face. “Don’t talk. This is between family.”
There’s a lot of things in the world that he can handle and people putting down the man he loves- the only real family he’d had in years- is not one of them. Fire ignites in his veins and he wants to scream.
Instead, Dream just grits his teeth and steps in front of his fiance. “Don’t you dare speak to him like that. Techno is more of my family than you ever were.”
“I am your mother-”
“Sure!” He spits, “You’re my mother! You gave birth to me, sure, but you- you- you don’t even love me! You abandoned me, Puffy! You left me alone for years and now that I’m happy- now that I have Techno- you- you wanna come in here, storming about how you’re my mother?”
Her eyes flash with a multitude of emotions, but his mom clearly decides to pick
rage
in her come back. “Don’t you ever claim I don’t love you, Dream!”
“No! No! That’s exactly what I’m gonna say!”
And he can feel himself start to panic, just a little. The thing is- the thing is that he isn’t really ready for this. He and Techno had talked about maybe getting him therapy, after the wedding, after the honeymoon, after all that, to process everything about his mother. So he hasn’t processed anything.
Now, his mother is in front of him.
Now his mother is in front of him and Dream can feel his chest begin to constrict as he bites out words that he’d been holding in for a long time. “I’m gonna say you didn’t fucking love me,
ever,
considering you have another son! A better son! Who you fucking see! You’re in contact with that kid- and- and- you know what, great! Have that son! Have that son and
your fucking criminal empire
and be a mother to that son and a sailor and whatever else you want to be- but- but don’t pretend you
ever
loved me for a second!”
Techno’s hands come to rest on the small of his back but he doesn’t try to stop Dream from screaming at his mother and for that he’s
grateful.
Maybe the words are harsh because deep down somewhere he knows that his mom must love him, somewhat, but he doesn’t care! He doesn’t care because when she left, he was a
child.
“So don’t- don’t storm into my fucking house,” His voice is trembling now and he can’t tell if it’s with rage or just the amount of emotions he’s feeling, “And demand to know why you aren’t invaded to what’s supposed to be the happiest day of my life! I- I’m not fucking inviting you because, believe it or not, I don’t want you there! I don’t want the woman who abandoned me to a friend’s house when I was a literal fucking child there! I don’t want the woman who lied to me time and time again about what she does there! I don’t want the woman who has another son that she clearly loves more there! You have made my life full of misery with your actions! That is why you’re not invited! That is why I didn’t even reach out to tell you!”
Puffy is crying now but he can’t find it in himself to care because he’s crying too.
His entire body is trembling now and he can’t force himself to quiet the sobs coming out of his mouth. It’s like a damn was broken in him, he can’t stop spiraling. Every interaction he’s had with his mother is replaying in his mind and he wishes that he could remember a good one from when he was young but it’s all been tinged with bitter angry emotions that he can’t get rid of.
“Go back to your navy,” He manages through his tears, “Go back to your navy and that real son of yours, and don’t show your face around me again.”
His mom just shakes her head, “You- you are my real son, Dream. God, Dream.”
“You
abandoned
me,” the words feel heavy and broken on his tongue. He presses himself back, further into Techno’s hold, because he thinks if he doesn’t he’ll shatter. He’s no longer the child that craved his mother but this… this is taking him back to those days. To wondering why his mom wasn’t there. To wondering why he didn’t have what Sapnap or George had. To wondering what he had done. “Why wasn’t I
good enough
for you to love me?”
“I
do
love you, Dream- duckling-” Puffy’s choking on her sobs, reaching out for him.
A part of him doesn’t want to go. A part of him wants to stay in his fiance’s arms. Apart of him wanted to rage and scream and be as angry as he was earlier.
But.
But.
All Dream had wanted when he was a child was for his mom to be there for him. To hold him on bad nights and kiss away his tears. To tell him that she loved him. To be there. And some part of him, a part of him that feels all-consuming in this moment, wants to just collapse into her hold for a second and cry.
So he does.
He’s taller than her now. The last time they’d spoken- high school graduation- he hadn’t hit his growth spurt yet. Now he’s taller than her. It doesn’t change the fact that his mom’s hugs feel like they’re all-encompassing like he’s being cocooned in warmth. He bends down to press his face into her shoulder and sobs bad enough that it shakes them both. Or maybe his mom is also sobbing just as bad as he is. Maybe they’re both crying so hard that it’s making the hug feel a little like an earthquake.
His voice has left him, but his mom still has her’s, a constant mantra of ‘I’m sorry’ and ‘I love you’ filling his ears. He’s not exactly sure where Techno is but he can feel his fiance’s eyes on him and it’s grounding enough that he’s actually taking in what’s happening.
And Dream doesn’t forgive her.
He can’t. Not yet. Maybe not ever. But in the moment, he allows himself to be held in his mother’s arms and he breaks.
Puffy leaves around five AM after a long, heartfelt, emotional talk that’s filled with snotty tears and whispered apologies and promise to work on their strained relationship. Not for the first time, her leaving fills him with emotions. He’s sad to see her go, but he needs the emotional break her leaving will allow.
Techno- his fiance, the love of his life, his everything- had been supportively by his side the entire conversation and the second that the door closed behind his mother, Dream had turned to him and kissed him softly.
“I know, Princess.” Techno says, voice a deep grumble. “I know.”
“Thank you.” Is all he says back. All he has energy for.
He allows his fiance to gently bring him to their bedroom, where patches is still asleep and undisturbed even after all the loud crying and yelling that just went down, and tangles up with him under the covers.
For a moment Dream closes his eyes and wonder where his life would be if he hadn’t met Technoblade Craft. He can’t imagine it. He can’t imagine his fiance not being by his side every day, not supporting him in every way possible, not making him melt by loving him unconditionally in a way he’d truly never felt before.
He opens his eyes again and is greeted by Techno’s soft red ones, “I love you.”
“I love you too,” His fiance hums, gently kissing his lips in a mirror of what he had done earlier.
Settling into Techno’s arms, he drifts away from thoughts of his mother and their wedding and everything that comes with it and allows himself to dream of pink hair and red eyes, and dry laughter. It’s made better by the knowledge that when he gets up tomorrow, Techno will still be there. Despite his batshit crazy mom knocking their door down at three am.
The rest he has is warm and comfortable and feels like family.