Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“-and then I’ll revive you and then I’ll kill you again and then I’ll revive you and then I’ll kill you again and I will revive you-” Dream had gone on a tangent about killing and reviving Tommy over and over again. While he’d felt a bit guilty about it at first, it had felt great playing the big bad of the story. Adrenaline rushing through him as he prepares himself to chase down the other.

“No you won’t. No you fucking won’t.” And from the screen he sees Tommy’s minecraft character attempting to hit him.

Despite the medium of roleplaying on minecraft being almost universally looked down upon, it’d been shocking to see how many people had been immersed by the storyline they’d created.

Many didn’t really see the appeal of minecraft roleplay, considering how it was just minecraft. A game, not real life. 

Not real.

He holds back a laugh at the scene in which Tommy had accidentally died, his screen momentarily glitching.

They both pause as Tommy calls out to Callahan, both of them eventually clarifying to the audience that it’s a blooper. 

Obviously it was a blooper.

It wasn’t real.

It wasn’t-

Dream squints his eyes at the monitor. “Wait.” He looks at the other monitor, showing Tommy’s twitch stream and he could see the boy raise his eyebrow at that.

His screen is glitching. 

Must be a problem with the server again. He’d made sure he’d fixed all the bugs before joining in on everybody’s lore streams so why is it still glitching?

Though he finds it weird how nobody else on the SMP had commented on the recent glitches he’d been finding.

Dream completely stiffens at the sensation of something crawling on his leg.

“Hold on, something just crawled on my leg.” Dream says and Tommy hears a shuffle from behind the screen. “Tommy?” Dream questions. “I think I-What the fu-”

Dream had yelled in desperation which had been followed by instantaneous silence.

Dream hadn’t left the call yet.

“Dream?” He nervously laughs out, trying to keep a smile on his face. “Uhhh” Tommy finds himself biting down on his lip. This was awkward. 

Dream’s character had remained still on the screen. Chat is going wild, some of them asking if Dream had been messing with him, some of them making guesses that this is part of the roleplay or an arg and some of them being concerned. 

“Dream? Big man? Big D?” He calls out, clicking back to discord and spamming Dream with messages, yelling at him that they’re in the middle of a lore stream. The forced smile on his face immediately falters at the lack of response from the other.

“Dream? You okay?” He breathes out again. “Dream?”

He curses under his breath.

“Dream we’re in the middle of a lore stream, what the fuck are you doing?” Frustration, evident in his voice. 

He sits there for a good thirty minutes, calling out to Dream and spamming him with discord messages, texting his number, pinging every other SMP member on discord for help and entertaining the chat while they wait for Dream to return.

Everyone else who’d been involved in the lore for today, had joined his and Dream’s VC, which had then devolved into chaos as they had all ended up yelling Dream’s name, while Tommy still spammed the discord in hopes for a helpful response, all the while cracking nervous jokes about the situation.

Eventually he loses patience and everyone on the Dream SMP discord server tells him all the same.

Dream hadn’t been responding to them as well.

He leaves the VC and anxiously pushes his hair back, sharply exhaling.

“So.” He clears out his throat. “Looks like lore is delayed today boys. Have a good night everyone. I absolutely have no idea what the fuck is going on but let’s just hope Dream’s doing okay.”

With a click of a button, he ends the stream.

Twitter is going to be a disaster unless Dream finally shows up.

Three days.

Dream had been unconscious for three days.

Sapnap had notified everyone on the Dream SMP discord about Dream’s situation. 

Apparently he’d fallen unconscious for unknown reasons during the stream, which admittedly sounded absurd but concerning. While everyone had all agreed to not disclose it publicly, twitter had gone into an absolute state of chaos, with Dream’s name on the trending tab. A good portion of tweets had been weirdly pleased with his disappearance and had wished for distasteful things to happen while some had shown genuine concern for him. There'd also been a good chunk of people who’d tweeted out wondering whether it'd been an unfunny bit, part of the roleplay, or part of an arg, all of which Tommy hoped had occurred instead.

Clips of Dream being suddenly unresponsive during the stream had also spread out on the internet which sparked some concern within the commentary community, who had been absolutely milking the situation for views.

He takes a seat at his office chair, opening a can of soda. He feels something lightly crawl on his leg but he doesn’t mind it all that much. Must be a bug.

But the sensation of something crawling on his leg gets worse and instantly it feels as if something is latching onto his leg. 

He looks down, breath hitching.

A crimson vine is wrapped around his leg.

Before he can scream, the vine instantly lunges for his neck as he feels it pierce through his skin, his head dropping loudly against the desk and coke spilling all over the floor.

He wakes up screaming.

He’s in a somewhat realistic version of his home on the Dream SMP.

What the fuck?

He’d hit himself and pinched himself in retaliation to the ordeal he’d found himself in.

This was definitely not a dream. 

Tommy stares at his reflection at the glass window by his left.

A human version of his minecraft skin stares back at him. It’s the same red and white baseball shirt, the same cargo pants and the same piss colored hair. Not to mention he’d literally looked the same as himself from a year ago now, except for the fact that he has piss blond hair now.

“What the fuck?” He stares at his own reflection with wide eyes, followed by a nervous chuckle. “ What the fuck? ” He repeats. He’d sounded higher-pitched, exactly like his sixteen year-old voice. He was supposed to be seventeen now and while his voice hasn't changed that much, he could still tell how his voice had differed from how it used to.

He heads outside the home and walks towards the wooden path which he could only assume is the prime path as he takes in the view of finally seeing the Dream SMP in a realistic setting.

He stiffens at the sight ahead of him.

A blond boy in a suit, a guy in a fursuit (or at least he hopes so) and Quackity?!

Wait.

Oh.

Tubbo had blond hair on his minecraft skin. While Tommy had originally paid no attention to Tubbo’s skin having blond hair (because let’s be honest, why would he care about a minecraft skin’s hair) he admits that the sight of a realistic blond Tubbo is just too cursed.

Although Tubbo’s skin didn’t normally wear a suit. One of the few instances he remembers Tubbo wearing his suit on minecraft was during the time of his presidency on New L’manburg.

Quackity had seemingly been wearing the shirt his old minecraft skin wore too.

Admittedly, seeing an almost realistic anthropomorphic fox was also terrifying. He’s tempted to yell that this is literally like that one Cats movie. 

He calms himself, assuming the furry is Fundy and not an eldritch being who was out for his skin.

Tubbo, Fundy and Quackity- or at least he thinks it’s them, had been on their way to him.

This feels suspiciously familiar.

“We need to talk.” 

Tubbo had looked solemn.

Tommy doesn't ignore that Tubbo had looked as if he'd aged a year younger, his voice sounding more higher-pitched as well.

Tommy thickly swallows. “Hey. Big Man.” He sheepishly smiles. 

They could at least probably help him. But the tension had been too thick for him to further interrupt. He wonders what had happened to make them look so down.

Tommy had been tempted to joke, to laugh and to make fun of the mess he’d found himself in.

“Tommy. You do know we make the decision today right?” Quackity sternly asks. “Whether you’re going to be exiled or not.” He continues.

Ah.

Fuck .

Realization had slapped him harder than the one time reality had slapped him when he’d asked Phil to buy him a pony.

Not only had he been trapped in his minecraft character’s body, he’d been sent back to december of twenty-twenty. 

He was about to be exiled from L’manburg.

Shit.

He hopes this Dream won’t be as bad as the character his friend used to portray.

Chapter Text

"e̴̩̖̖͕̩̾̌x̸͇̼͂̍̂̌̇̕ï̸̖͔̣̰̳l̶̞̬̝͇̆ē̵̳̞̊̒̈͝͝ ̵̡̝͐t̷̬̣̭̉ͅọ̶͍̝͉̀͜m̶̺̃̄m̸̧̺͖̯̱̩̃̏͋y̷̩̝̭͉͉̺̍"

He wakes up to an echo of his own voice.

Standing before him is another version of him, who looked so tall in comparison to him who'd felt small.

The other him, takes off his mask, revealing crimson red eyes and sharp fangs and blood red veins which had been visible on his skin.

"Hello." The other him smiles. "I'm glad to see you awake." He- or rather it, lowers himself to the ground to meet him in the eye.

"Whe-Where am I?" He croaks out. "What did you do?"

"I made a couple of changes and improvements on you. How does it feel?"

He looks at it, confused.

"You'll get to know what I mean soon." He hates how eerie it's laugh had been. "For now I need you to fulfill your purpose." It's smirk grows wider.

"f̴̞̫͓͉̹̹̈́̔̾͂̎̊̇̂̎͋͂̐̈́̉́͗̈̀͘ơ̵̧̨̡̡̛͉͉̹̝̭͓͈̗̣͈͙͉̱͇̲̞̝͖͒̊̈́̿͂̇͑̏́͛͛̎̈͗͂̀́̽͘͘͝l̸̡̨̨̟͍̯̣̯̥͎̖̤̰͔̞̪͚̩̹̻̥̦̪̮̹̼̙͚̦̉̀̂̓̅̓͒͐̃͑̀̾̿͋̃̓̽̎̐͂͒̈́͛̚̕̕̚͠͝ĺ̸̢̛̛͚̑̑̈́̔̓o̵̡̧̢͎̭̭͇̺̰̜̥͓̻̙̻̮̖̪͈̳͚͍͈͚̯͎̫͋͜w̸̨̨̧̡̛͚̹͈̳̞͉̞̤̘̘͎̺̲̠̥̹͚̔͑̃̀̒̀̕͜͝ͅ ̴̧͎̱̼̭̥̞͓̗͍̝͚͉̘̥͉̜͇̙̣̣̝͙̯̠̆͊̊̊̃̍͒͑̍̽͆̿̏̆̽̔͂͜ͅt̵̢̛̛͎̠̜͍̫̩̭̫̅͒͊̄̾̍̔̑̔̃̇̽͜͝h̶̡̫͈̪͎̭͕̠͇̟̤̖̭̟̞̪̥̩̦̠̮͋͋̇̀̆͐́̅͊͊̊̐̆̊̄͊̇́́́̇̃̐̕͘ͅe̸̡̫̯̟̠͚͈̫͔̗̭̳̯̯̻̮͔̟͉̟̦̲͌̽̍̓͗̀͂͑̒̀͆͂̓̐͘͘͜͠ ̴̨͕̳̺͍̬̥̣̬͓̮͍̙̝́̀̆͑̍̎̈̇͐͐̌̍̍̌̃͆̚ŝ̷̼̍̉͂͆̓̎̾͑̌͗̉͆͂̒̎̈́̐̈̓̕͝͝c̴̢̡͉̯̩̬̫͉̝͕̯̫̱̹͕̗̬͇̖̙̜͈͚̰̀͐̽̐̎̿̑̽̅̆̔̓̿̾̋̂͊̇̓̈́̚̚͜͜ͅr̸̻͚͈̠̲̰̙̩͚̖͉̩̗͇̟̭̟͈̳̯̳̥̺͇̘̩͑̒̆̐̂̊̀̏̀͛̔͂͌͂͐͂͜͜ͅͅͅí̴̢͇͉̏̇̎̑͑̇̂̒̿͐͊̇̔͂̋̆́̔́̾̽̃̅̕p̶̡̨̢̠͔̣̳̬̯̲͙͈̯̭̣͉͕̠͚͇̻͈̗̅̄̒̆̒̈́̎̏͂͂̐̓̓̓̉̅̌̆̊͊͆̐̕̕̕ͅt̵̘̺̲͖̥̾̌̅͋̒̑̐̾̊̾̐͐̕̕̚̚"

Dream stumbles through the prime path. If his friends- His real friends, not their SMP counterparts, can see him right now, they would undoubtedly laugh at him.

He was the villain, the master manipulator and the puppeteer who had everyone under his thumb. You'd expect someone like him to look huge and menacing but the universe, unfortunately, had other plans.

He’s tiny and he’s bouncing on the prime path because he has no legs. 

He’s a fucking blob. 

A tiny blob man.

God forbid George and Sapnap saw him like this. Or worse, Tommy who would laugh at his face and belittle him when given the chance.

Surprisingly enough, he’d come to learn that his presence had unsettled almost everyone on the server despite how adorable he’d looked. In spite of him finding it a bit amusing that everyone had been afraid of something as tiny as him, it stung seeing his friends look at him with hurt and terror in their eyes. It hurt.

He'd been left in quiet a shock when he'd first arrived on the server at least a day ago. His server- Their minecraft roleplay, had come to life and he was trapped in it. It had been a new kind of lonely, to have no one else to tell about his situation. Everyone else had either been avoidant or had been nervous when talking to him. 

The idea of being trapped in your own creation was horrifying enough. The idea of being the only one trapped in it with no one to rely on was lonely.

He was alone.

He stops by L’manburg which had been trapped by the obsidian wall he’d built- or rather the one his character he’d built days before he’d gotten here. Part of him wondered what had even happened to his character’s consciousness if the real Dream had taken over his body.

Tubbo, Quackity, Fundy and Tommy. They'd all looked somber except for Tommy who'd looked fidgety. The look on his friends' faces had made him grimace, and while they weren't exactly his versions of them, it hurt. Because he- this version of him, had hurt them.

“Dream.” Tubbo looks at him, leading everyone else in the area to shift their gaze onto him as well.

The anxious frown on Tommy’s face had immediately turned into a fond smile. "Wait- Hold on, hold on, hold on. Is that fuckin'- Is that really Dream?!" He chortles, Quackity had simply raised his eyebrow and Tubbo and Fundy narrow their eyes at him. "Of- Of course it's him, you've met him before what the fuck's gotten into you-" Quackity interrupts himself as Tommy who had the softest expression on his face, approached Dream. 

“Tommy what the hell are you doing?!” Quackity furiously yells. "Tommy no-"

Tommy kneels down to Dream’s level, awing at him as he pinches Dream’s cheeks. “Awee, he’s so tiny- Dweam, you’re a- You’re an adorable fucking blob.” He says with the tiniest voice he can muster as he squishes Dream’s cheeks.

He forgot how soft Tommy got whenever he was in close proximity to something he'd found to be adorable. 

“Tommy, he literally wants you exiled, what are you doing?!” Fundy asks, worry evident in his voice and pure horror in his face. 

“Yeah, what he said! Hey- Stop- I said stop it damnit.” Dream hisses as he tries to wiggle away from Tommy's grip who had picked him up from the ground. “I’m gonna make your life a living hell if you don’t put me down this instant.” His threats are left ignored as Tommy pats him on the head.

His threats can’t be ignored, everyone else on the server had been scared of him, hadn’t they? So why was Tommy acting like he’d just seen Dream for the first time?

Had Tommy been-

No.

There was no way.

Right?

The possibility of Tommy being trapped in the server with him doesn't leave his mind.

"Tommy, I suggest you stop treating Dream like a tiny animal if you still want to live." Tubbo winces, Tommy however does not heed his friend's warnings.

“Awe you look so pathetic and tiny and punchable.” Tommy coos. “I want to throw you around like a ball to see if you'd bounce or die.” He pinches Dream’s cheek, ignoring Fundy and Quackity's protests before dropping Dream and kicking him.

Did Tommy just-

Did Tommy just drop-kick him?!

Dream lands on the ground with an oof. 

“Tommy what’s gotten into you, man?” Quackity stares at Tommy in shock, there’s a hint of amusement in his expression. “I know you hate Dream but what the fuck?” Fundy who had been next to Quackity holds back a snicker.

Tommy simply shrugs. “I needed to do it as his advanced compensation for when he gives me trauma.”

An act of spite from someone who knew what was about to happen.

“Hu-what?" Tubbo had gasped, furrowing his brows at Tommy who's soft expression had long since shifted into a smug one. "Just did what had to be done." Tommy smirks.

Dream only looks at Tommy with wide eyes.

Fuck.

He was in denial at first but he'd hated how everything had seemed to add up. 

If this was still Tommy's character then he would've scowled at Dream with a hint of terror on his face. If this was still Tommy's character he wouldn't have acted like he'd seen Dream for the first time. If this was Tommy's character he would be smart enough not to drop-kick the server admin. If this was Tommy's character he-

Of all people to be trapped in a game with, it had been Tommy.

"Tommy." Dream gets back on his feet- or rather gets back up, considering he has no legs. "Shit. We need to talk." Dream stares at Tommy who had frowned at him. "Alone." 

"You're really in for it now, Tommy." Quackity says through his teeth, nudging Tommy.

Chapter Text

"We need to talk." Dream stares at him. "Alone."

In all fairness, he really shouldn't have kicked something that had looked as adorable as this version of Dream for no good reason. But then again, he wasn't about to let himself be sent to the realistic version of his depression arc without putting up a fight.

Maybe drop-kicking his supposed nemesis wasn't such a good idea after all.

"You're really in for it now, Tommy." Quackity nudges his shoulder. Tommy clicks his tongue in response. 

He'll be fine.

As long as Dream is tinier and more vulnerable than him, he'll be fine.

Maybe not that fine, considering this Dream had canonically beat him to death in prison. 

He was definitely screwed. 

"What? Pissed that I beat you?" Tommy forces himself to grin. 

Dream purses his lip, looking hesitant for a second. "Well yes but- Look, this is urgent."

Tommy furrows a brow in response.

Okay maybe Dream had a change of heart and pissed himself in fear after being beat by the great Tommyinnit. (Despite Tommy literally having the strength of an average Minecraft player)

"What could be more urgent than literal politics?" Quackity butts in, crossing his arms. Dream ignores him, looking Tommy in the eyes. 

"I- just- Maybe not in person but- Tommy, you're not supposed to be here, aren't you?"

As ominous as it had sounded, Dream had guessed it right. Tommy's not supposed to be here. He's supposed to be at home, streaming and chatting his friends on discord. 

"How the fu-" Dream interrupts him. "Most people find you annoying at first."

"And only a small percentage of your viewers are actually subscribed." Tommy eyes him with suspicion, completely going stiff at the sudden realization. 

It was safe to assume that the Dream he drop-kicked wasn't the version of Dream who clearly deserved it.

Whatever that red vine was, had knocked both him and Dream unconscious and sent them to an alternate universe where the SMP was real.

Both of them stare at each other as if they'd come to a silent agreement. 

"Hey guys um... What the fuck is going on here?" Tubbo shoves Tommy to the side, as he stands between the both of them.

Dream shakes his head. "Nothing. We've come to discuss Tommy's exile right?"

"Of course, of course." Tubbo rubs his hands. "But seriously, what the fuck did you guys mean earlier?"

The both of them ignore the president. 

"Okay great, Tommy's exiled." Dream proclaims. "Let's go."

Fundy and Quackity grab Tommy by the arm before he can move any further. "Hold on, hold on you son of a bitch. We haven't even told you our decision yet."

"We already know what your decision is anyways, so I'm just gonna make this faster." Dream only winks at him causing Tommy to scrunch his nose. Tommy can almost hear Speedrun music play on the back of his head. 

Fundy clenches his fist "We haven't even-" 

"Yeah but Tommy's exiled now, bye bye!" Dream declares again. 

"Tubbo, back us up, we can't just let Dream be a tyrant again and not listen to what we have to say." Quackity voices out. Tubbo only shrugs, his face had shown a clearly hurt expression and a helpless one at that, in which he really had no choice but to exile Tommy, especially with the other Dream's recent threat days ago to have L'manburg massacred otherwise.  "I mean we did plan for Tommy to be actually exiled."

Tommy scoffs. Of course they did. Him and Tubbo didn't really plan to keep Tommy in L'manburg anyways when they'd wrote the outline for this arc. 

Tommy has no clue whatever the loving fuck is going on in Dream's head for him to speedrun his exile like that but still complies with what Dream has to say anyways. "Okay, let's go." 

Tommy wiggles out of Fundy and Quackity's grip as he goes towards Dream. 

"What the fuck? You're just letting Tommy go with that bastard?" Fundy protests. "Tommy, you're not even arguing against this?"

As much as Tommy doesn't want to be exiled, if this Dream really is the Dream from his reality, then who's to say he shouldn't comply? This could be an opportunity to talk with someone who's in the same situation as him and make plans to go back to their world. It's convenient enough that on his exile, he'd be alone with the only other person stuck with him which means no one else can really interfere with their plans to go back home. 

"I mean it's either me or you get killed right?" Tommy points out, he remembers Dream threatening L'manburg if he wasn't exiled over a year ago. "Besides, I drop-kicked him already." 

He trusts that his exile doesn't turn out as bad as the one from last year with Dream being less evil and such. 

Tommy raises both arms up, both fists curled. "Let's fucking go!" 

And with that Tommy waves at them before actively flipping all of them off as he follows Dream into exile. 

"So we're both stuck in the game right and you didn't just speedrun my exile for no reason at all?" Tommy raises his eyebrow at the other, completely resisting the urge to pick up the tiny blob ahead of him. 

"Well, I wanted to talk to you in private since we're both stuck here together now." Dream thickly swallows. 

"And you're stuck with me." Tommy adds on to Dream's statement. "I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing." Dream chuckles, causing Tommy to raise his middle finger at him. "We have to figure our way out and exile provides a good opportunity for us to plan our escape out in private." Dream continues. 

"Good thing, I have a big brain, Dream." Tommy scowls. "You wouldn't survive alone without me." 

"Yeah? Where are your big IQ YouTube compilations, then?" Dream retorts, leading the other to roll his eyes. 

"Oh look at me I'm so humble, I have big IQ compilations of me." Tommy mocks. Dream let's out a fond laugh. "Oh look at me, I'm Tommyinnit, women pogchamp, give me primes mmmmm, I love committing crimes and burning other people's houses." Dream keeps his voice high-pitched, similar to the way Tommy talks. 

"You're a fuckin' prick, you know that right? One day I'm gonna fuckin' stab you for real and commit war crimes. A lot of war crimes." Tommy threatens. 

"Tommy that's literally why you're canonically exiled." Dream scoffs back. "You can't stop with the war crimes."

"And you're canonically a bitch." Tommy grits out, crossing his arms.

Both of them halt at that the terrain ahead of them, completely assuming the place is where Logsteadshire should be at. Realization dawning upon both Minecraft streamers. 

"Yeah fuck no." Tommy frowns at the thought of having to build a base from the ground up with nothing but barehands. He was a Minecraft streamer for fuck's sake, Dream was one as well. Both of them are incapable of constructing houses unlike everyone else on the server who'd been here long enough to know how. 

"Yeah no." Dream agrees. 

Tommy really wasn't one to start all over. His inventory had been empty the moment he'd been sent here, he hadn't really been given enough time to stack up for supplies before his exile, but it wasn't like he was gonna stack up for anything at all if he still thought Dream was still the piece of shit Dream who was supposed to manipulate him.

"You have an axe?" Tommy questions the other who had shook his head in return. "I'm not cutting off trees without an axe. I'm too frail for that." 

"Tommy, I'm a blob with no arms and legs, how'd you think I'd manage?" 

"And we're both Minecraft players which means we barely have the strength to do shit ourselves." Tommy argues. "You know what? Let's just get everyone on the server to build our base for us and do our bidding while we make plans to go home." 

"We can't just get everyone on the server to-"

"Yes we can." He hasn't even been here at the server for a whole day yet but he's seen how unwell everyone had been doing based on their looks. He can hit two birds with one stone. 

Helping everybody while getting them to help him in return. 

"H-how?" 

"Dream, you know how like everyone on this server canonically has issues and all that shit?" Dream raises his brow at Tommy. "You want us to exploit that?" Dream asks the younger who'd nodded at his question. 

Exile had originally been about Dream gaslighting Tommy into being less of the chaotic boy he once was and into more of a shell of who he once was. But who's to say they can't gaslight the rest of the server during his exile, into being the best versions of themselves while profiting off of it? 

"What if instead of you gaslighting me into a two-week depression arc, we gaslight everyone else into therapy instead?" Tommy suggests.

"Not bad." Dream hums. "We can benefit off of it too." He continues as he hops off of Tommy's grasp. "We have to strategize how we can be rich out of it though. We don't have any rivals in the business, considering how emotionally constipated everyone made their characters out to be." 

Tommy brings over a finger on his chin. "What about Puffy? She's a therapist too. We can't be on top of the business unless she's out of the way."

"She hasn't started her therapy office yet, we'll be fine." Dream reassures. " For now at least."

"Do you reckon we can threaten her and shit?"

While it hadn't been morally correct to do so, especially with the predictable aftermath in which he'd feel bad, both him and Dream weren't really capable of making their own base and gathering their own things right now. He's just taking a page out of Techno's book and using anything he can come up with to survive.

Besides, he'd done this shady business thing before in his Skyblock days. He's Tommy Trusty, the scammer, the dirty crime boy who steals shit and coerces people into buying useless products. It wasn't like he always pushed through with his threats either. 

"That'll ruin our business, Tommy." And Dream's right. It definitely would. But this is the same server where wild shit happens, so who could care about their business' reputation? 

Threatening someone would be bad for business. Especially a therapy business.

But then again... 

"I mean if we threaten her, that means she'll have trauma and if she has trauma we'll have customers. That's how the business goes, Mr. I Manipulate Sixteen-Year olds on Minecraft Roleplays."

Perhaps it wasn't all that much of a good idea. But business has to be booming. It's not like there isn't anyone on the server that doesn't have some kind of unresolved mental health issue. 

"I don't think that'll make her want to go to us more."

"She'll have no choice if we gaslight her into going." They can just use his and Wilbur's methods when they'd tried getting Phil into thinking his wife didn't exist. It was always a hilarious moment to look back at. 

Dream falls silent for a moment as he bites the inside of his cheek. "Actually that just gives me an idea."

Tommy stands before Techno's door with the tiny Dream on his arms. It's a surprise how both of them haven't frozen to death yet, considering their lack of winter clothing. Thank God for minecraft-mechanics and plot armour for not having them both killed in the snow yet. 

Tommy knocks on the door and clears out his throat. "Greetings, dear citizen-" 

Tired groans can be heard from behind the door. "Look, I've been tired all day, please go away." 

"We're door to door salesmen, we've come to advertise our brand new business." Dream states. "There's door to door salesmen on the server now?" They hear Techno comment to himself.

Tommy scoffs "Well yes-" 

"Be grateful we're not Mormons and listen to what we have to say." Dream rolls his eyes.

They hear a shuffle from behind the door, as they stand on Techno's porch in momentarily silence before hearing him speak out again, this time with hesitancy in his tone as if he'd debated with himself whether he wanted to hear out what they wanted to say or not. "Okay, I'll bite. What are you guys up too?" 

"Oh you'll love this." Tommy smirks before clearing his throat once again. "Good evening dear citizen of the Dream SMP, I am TommyInnit, famed Minecraft connoisseur and vlogger and this is Dreamwastaken, extremely well-known speedrunner and popstar, here to advertise our free of charge therapy service that specifically costs sixty-four diamonds and two full set netherite armour."

The door slams open, revealing a small and irritated pig clad in a crimson red cloak along with a golden crown on the top of his head.

"First of all, the introduction part was really unnecessary, second of all, since when did you think a therapy business was ideal for this server? And third of all, do you morons even understand what free of charge means?!" 

Chapter Text

Dream almost bursts out laughing at Techno's face, completely stopping himself from doing so at the realization that he'd been in the same situation as well in which he'd been smaller than everybody else. Not to mention the fact that Techno had his hand on his sword, ready to draw it out at any moment.

Tommy however had dropped Dream immediately, going for Techno with wide and adoring eyes. Dream lets out a scream as he's rudely dropped against the floor and Techno lets out a confused grunt as Tommy goes to grab him by the cheeks. 

"Oh my god! Techno! You-re so- You're so fucking tiny and cute, awe." Tommy croons as he squishes the growingly annoyed pig's face. "You-You're like Dream but more murderous and more adorable!" He exclaims.

Techno had looked at Tommy in bewilderment.

"Heh?"

Tommy pokes Techno's cheeks, completely ignoring the way Techno's eyes had twitched at him in annoyance. "Look at you- You're just an angry lil guy." Tommy coos with the tiniest voice he can muster. Dream cringes at how reminiscent this was of Tommy fawning over him before proceeding to drop-kick him, which honestly, how dare Tommy do that? Dream had looked completely harmless and helpless and yet Tommy had showed him no mercy. If Tommy were to do the same to Techno, it would be an entirely different story.

Despite being close allies with Techno lore-wise, Dream would make sure that he wouldn't do anything that would land him on Techno's bad-side. Even in his world, Techno had beaten him in PVP. He fears how much stronger this Techno would be. 

Especially with how Techno had been considered as a god among men. If Tommy were to challenge Techno, he and Dream would be better off dead. 

Two minecraft streamers who do not know how to manage by themselves in this world versus an undefeatable warrior who was tinier than an average human child.

The latter would most likely kill them with no doubt.

Despite how absurd it had sounded, it had still made Dream shudder. 

This is not the way he wanted to go.

And it was definitely a bad idea going for Techno's cabin first. But in all fairness, it'd been the nearest to them. What was a worse idea though, was bringing Tommy with him to Techno's cabin because let's be honest, that kid was a menace even when supposedly docile. Not to mention the fact that Tommy had easily gone soft for things he'd found to be adorable, it was inevitable that if Techno were to turn out smaller than they'd thought, Tommy would undoubtedly grab him and start squishing him the same way he did to Dream at first and definitely the same way he did not let go of Dream in his hold while on the way to Techno's cabin, treating Dream like he was a stuffed animal despite his complaints. (Although it did serve as an advantage for him, if Tommy hadn't carried him against his will, he would have had to humiliate himself more in front of the kid by stumbling his way through, he didn't exactly know how to control this body yet so it was for the better that Tommy had grabbed him.)

He really should've expected Techno to be tiny. When he'd first gotten here, he'd expected a piglin brute, a force not to be reckoned with. Either that or it was an anime boy with luscious pink hair that extended far beneath his shoulders. What were the odds they'd get a looney tunes lookalike instead?

Perhaps it wasn't so much of a one in a billion chance after all.

This was one of the times, Dream should've overthought. Overthinking could come in handy sometimes. But he and Tommy were too caught up with their shenanigans and plans to get the server to do their bidding for them in exchange for mental stability. He was at least expecting Tommy to behave more around Techno in fear of his life, but the universe unfortunately had other plans.

It seemed Tommy hadn't feared death.

But that didn't mean Dream hadn't as well.

Dream could almost see Techno reach out to his sword which had been attached to his belt from the corner of his eye. Frantically, Dream rushes to bite on Tommy's leg and warns Tommy in between muffled bites "Tommy put him down." 

Tommy let's out an 'ow' as he drops Techno to the ground. Thankfully so, Techno had been left unharmed and had landed on his feet. 

Dream was definitely not jealous as to how Techno had easily managed to balance himself out despite his tiny frame.

"What the hell was that?!" Techno points his sword at Tommy. "First you abrupt my sleep to advertise a business that would literally do this server no good, then you- Wait isn't Tommy supposed to be exiled today?" Techno glances at Dream.

"Well yeah, he got exiled about an hour from now ago." Dream sheepishly shrugs. Techno scrunches his nose. 

"So let me get this straight." Techno runs his palm through his face. "You get exiled and the first thing you do is open a therapy business?"

"You look like you could use it." Tommy squats down beside Techno, attempting to poke him in the cheek again and failing as Techno slaps his hand away. 

"I believe you need it more than I do, especially when you just acted like you've seen me for the first time." Techno huffs, shooing away Tommy's attempts at grabbing him. "Okay, can we talk about personal boundaries, because I'm extremely uncomfortable with how much you've been off today." Techno grunts at Tommy who had bit his lip.

Dream finds himself biting down on his lip too, nervous of what was about to happen. Tommy had clearly pissed Techno off and they were going to die.

Tommy raises both his hands. "I absolutely have no idea how to defend myself on this one other than the fact that I do not have self-control which is something I clearly have to work on." Tommy chokes out "But I believe this is a situation that I should take responsibility and accountability on, like the big man that I am, so I am incredibly sorry about forgetting about personal space and such and making you uncomfortable."

Dream finally let's himself breathe. 

Techno's expression hadn't changed. He had taken a less defensive stance and his shoulders had looked more relaxed "Bruh."

"You are forgiven, as long as you remember." Techno draws back his sword to his side. "I will not hesitate to murder you in your sleep, otherwise."

It takes them about twenty more minutes to try and convince Techno to accept their therapy offer. Dream who had obviously looked nervous at first, had finally let his guard down and allowed himself to joke more around the other. Tommy however remained the same, knowing no harm would come to him unless Techno had been really furious. (It was a good thing Techno reminded him of personal boundaries, otherwise Tommy would have probably been stabbed earlier.)

"So I'll be the one who does all the therapizing and Dream will be the one who does the gaslighting, that way you can never be mentally stable enough to leave therapy and we can keep on making profits." This was a joke- partially. Tommy and Dream had agreed for Dream to be the one to convince everyone to go to their therapy service while Tommy did more of the giving therapy part. So Dream would still be technically gaslighting people into going to therapy.

If it's even considered gaslighting. Probably. Probably not. Most businesses bully their clients into buying shit so it most likely is gaslighting.

"That's not how therapy works." Techno argues.

Dream shakes his head. "Yes it does. You just haven't went to therapy yet."  

"You're gaslighting me!" 

Tommy lets out a scoff "It's not gaslighting, I've been to therapy during my exile and I turned out a hundred percent more mentally stable than you are right now."

"I- You were literally exiled an hour ago?!"

"Dream was the therapist and he's a speedrunner. He can speedrun your mental health too." Tommy glances at Dream who holds back a wheeze. The same way he speedran c!Tommy's mental health decline is left unsaid. "Yeah, Techno. You can always trust me and Tommy with your mental health." Dream reassuringly says.

Techno buries his face onto his palm as he sharply exhales "I'm not relying on a homeless person and a toddler for mental stability!"

Tommy finds himself annoyed at the toddler insult but stops Dream from trying to get back at Techno. God knows how long it'll take for them to finish bickering. Last time Dream and Techno had argued over the homeless allegations it had taken over an hour and Tommy wasn't just about to sit for an hour to watch them argue about Dream's lack of stable housing when they could literally just get on with the business and hopefully get something in exchange.

Although he isn't really sure how to go about it when their first supposed client is literally The Blade.

Perhaps those c!Techno analysis twitter threads he'd accidentally came across on ocassion would be of help.

"Are you sure about that or are you just scared of confronting your own emotions?" Tommy states. "Is it because people have seen you as a strong and resilient warrior your whole life, that you fear being vulnerable around others to not disappoint them? Is it because people have only seen you as a weapon and used you your whole life, that you're scared of showing off your more human side incase they get tired of using you? Or is it both?" The smug smile on his face falters as he watches Techno's expression shift from furious to confused to furious again. 

Techno falls silent as he approaches the teen.

Tommy and Dream exchange a few nervous glances, thickly swallowing as they silently find themselves praying to God to let them live.

"Was a- I getting a bit too personal?" Tommy whimpers, feeling himself shrink at the angry pig ahead of him. "Sorry about tha-" Techno cuts him off as he takes a huge leap to Tommy's level. Tommy is taken a back by the sheer strength the pig had and winces as Techno grabs him by the collar.

"I absolutely did not want to talk about my feelings today, but you are absolutely right, how dare you." Techno yanks Tommy closer to his face. "Now, ask me more." He continues.

Maybe this therapy idea wasn't so bad after all.