Chapter Text
Tommy's stitches were sore. They were always sore; the fact that the stitches were over his mouth didn't help the matter. Any expression painfully stretched against the waxy medical string and his bruised flesh.
No matter how badly it hurt, the pain of already having them in was far less agonizing than when they were placed there the first time.
It had been the middle of the night when Dream had burst through his tent flap. That stupid smiley mask fully on his face in that moment was terrifying he could practically taste dreams rage as the man loomed over the startled boy.
Tommy had begun to yell at him, only for his angry cry to be cut short as a hand grabbed his throat slamming him to the ground. Before Tommy had even begun to process what was happening, Dream had his legs pinned under his, as he began to lower the needle, already threaded, to Tommy's terrified face. He began thrashing around in a desperate attempt to escape this living nightmare.
He weakly hit Dream's arms. Dream's left hand was still securely on his throat, closing off his oxygen, his right hand was batted away for a few moments.
Tommy's hits were getting weaker and weaker as he was quickly losing consciousness. In a last ditch effort for air and escape he punched Dream hard square on the jaw. Dreams head whipped sideways, the hand holding Tommy's throat lifted as he grabbed his jaw.
Tommy drew in a great gasp of air. Just as he began to squirm out from underneath Dream's grasp, a hand shot out grabbing Tommy's chin holding his head still. He seethed through gritted teeth,
"You're going to pay for that Tommy! If you know what's good for you you'll hold still or my hand will slip and the needle will end up stabbing you somewhere else."
"Why are you doing this?" Tommy rasped his voice raw and scratchy from being choked.
"You need to be taught a lesson Tommy." Dream began like he was telling a friend some good news.
"No one likes loud, annoying little shits like you. I brought you here so you could learn to listen but you never shut up so I'm going to fix that right now." Tommy could hear the smile in his voice, practically see the sadistic grin twisting the masked man's features.
"It's going to happen regardless, so you either cooperate, and stay still or you'll end up with more holes than necessary in your face." Dream stated flatly.
Any fight left in Tommy had been beaten out months ago. His body went still except for a tremor in his hands.
Dream glanced at Tommy's trembling hands under the mask his gaze softened a bit, gently uttering.
"You can squeeze my arms when it hurts."
Tommy hands shakily lifted grabbing the green fabric of dreams hoodie.
"Keep your mouth closed." ,was the last thing Dream said to him before he began sewing Tommy's mouth shut.
Even if Tommy had promised himself to never cry in front of his biggest enemy, tears freely flowed down his face as pain overtook his mind, whimpers escaping his throat as the minutes bored on agonizingly long.
When Dream had finished he got up and left throwing an alcohol soaked rag on the boys rumpled sleeping bag as his foot steps faded.
"Use that to keep them clean it'll stop infections, I'll be back tomorrow afternoon and they'd better still be there!"
Tommy shuddered at the memory. When Dream had returned the stitches were still in place.
That had all happened weeks ago and days still since he had last spoken. In a moment of rebellious anger a few days afterward he had cut them off, but after Dream found out he knew better than to ever try that again.