Chapter Text
"Hey Dream." A sharpened, golden tooth glinted at Dream through the dark room, illuminated by the wall of lava lowering behind the slowly approaching man. "So, are you going to tell me about that book today?"
Dream backed toward the wall, his body tensed and shaking slightly as he cowered in the shadow his tormentor cast. “I told you Quackity! I burned it!”
What book did Quackity want? He’d give it to him without question if it would stop the growing dread building in his chest, the feeling turning each breath into a terrified gasp of air He saw Quackity pulling out an ax, the black netherite gleaming with enchantments. His breathing quickened as he could feel the blood rushing to his head, his body screaming at him to run despite there being nowhere to go.
“Come on Dream.” Quackity let out a low, sadistic chuckle that echoed in the small cell before his expression hardened, giving Dream a deadly glare. “I don’t wanna fucking stay longer than I have to.”
“ Please -” Dream pleaded, eyes locked onto the curve of the axe, how the blade shimmered in the light of the lava. “I don’t have it!”
Hot searing pain suddenly ripped through his cheek as he cried out, falling to the ground as he felt the blood dripping from the wound.
“Just give it to me.” Quackity snapped, his eyes almost bloodshot in the dim light. “It’s a fucking simple request.”
“I can’t! It’s gone!”
Another jolt of pain from his other cheek, his face was on fire as he kept trying to back away as if it were possible to escape. He didn’t have what Quackity wanted!? Why couldn’t he just be left alone? Couldn’t he see Dream would hand it over if he could?
“I don’t believe you.” Quackity said with a menacing tone, casually running his finger along the bloody blade of the ax and letting the crimson stain his hand. “I think you’re a liar, Dream. And you always have been.”
“I’m not lying!” He cried out as Quackity roughly grabbed the front of his shirt. He wanted to run and hide, but in the small cell, there was no way to do that. His brain felt fuzzy as he came face to face with Quackity.
“You lied to everyone,” Quackity snarled at him, placing the edge of the ax against Dream’s neck. “You know, I thought Tommy was stupid for leaving you alive. Hell, I fucking wanted to kill you myself. But now I see.”
There was a moment of silence as Dream felt the blade press into his neck, his mind begging him to scream for help while the rest of him stayed paralyzed.
“Death’s too good for you. You deserve to rot in this prison.”
Normally he would fight back, say something to get Quackity to see things from his perspective. But nothing came out of his mouth more than a small quivering whimper.
“Don’t you agree Dream?” Quackity stepped even closer.
“Y- yes sir.” Dream let out as he was released; If only to maybe lessen the punishment he was receiving.
Quackity pushed his hair back with a sigh, adjusting his beanie as he put away the ax. Suddenly Dream’s heart pounded, not understanding why. He’d put away the ax, didn’t that mean he was leaving? All of a sudden Dream saw why he still felt sick, why the goose bumps were still raised on his arm. Quackity had pulled out something resembling pliers, and he was glancing over at Dream.
"Wait please s-stop!" Dream tried to back up but in the corner of the cell, there was nowhere else to go, so he just pressed himself against the wall as if it might turn him invisible. He felt his arm being roughly grabbed as Quackity pinned it down on the desk to the side.
“No no no- please Quackity!” Dream’s other hand already ached with memories. “Don’t-!”
“Then tell me where the book is and this can all be over.”
“I already did!” He screamed, begging Quackity to leave.
Quackity sighed, giving Dream a disappointed and almost bored look. “Well alright then. I don’t have another choice.”
And Dream braced himself for the white-hot shooting pain he knew was coming, shutting his eyes tightly.
Except it never came.
As Dream opened his eyes, he was no longer in the cell but instead, his large comforter was wrapped around him as he jolted upwards in the pitch-black darkness of his own room. He recognized the vague outline of his desk and window as he forced himself to take deep breaths.
He blinked, looking to see that the illuminated alarm clock on his desk read 2:30. It had just been a nightmare. That was all.
He felt his cheek just to make sure, but it was smooth as always (save for a few stray hairs he'd need to shave).
He took slow, deep breaths, giving himself a moment to calm down. It was too early to call Tommy, even if Tommy wouldn't mind he wasn't going to wake him up like this. So instead Dream slipped out of his room downstairs to the kitchen.
He turned on the light, glad his mother slept with her door closed so even if he woke her up she wouldn't think anything of it. He pulled out a mug from the cabinet (his favorite one from the zoo when they'd gone to see the lights one winter while Foolish was a baby).
"What are you doing up?"
Dream tensed at the noise, looking up to see Puffy there, hair pulled up in a bun and clad in a soft nightgown "Oh, hi Mama. Couldn't sleep, I think it's just a bit cold in my room."
She looked at him curiously before shrugging. "Alright. Guess I should go back to my office then."
"Um." Dream reached out a hand to stop her. Should he mention the nightmare? "What are you doing up this early?"
"Realized I forgot to put some things in the records for a few of my patients." She explained.
"Right…"
There was a moment of silence as Dream fiddled with his mug.
"Is there something you want to talk about?" She asked, quirking her brow. "I can take a break from work, I'm almost done anyway."
Dream hesitated for a moment before he shook his head, "No, not really."
"Well…" She thought for a moment. "Why don't I make you some steamed milk." She smiled softly "That always helped you get back to sleep as a kid."
He glanced down at his mug before nodding, "Mhm. I'd like that. Thanks."
He sat at the table and watched quietly as she worked, grabbing another mug and pouring some milk in both along with a few drops of vanilla and sugar. Once she’d stirred it together, she set both in the microwave and Dream watched as the tray turned slowly. When she passed over the mugs, Dream took a sip.
It tasted just like when he was little, sweet and not too warm. It reminded him of when it was just him and Puffy in their big new house. When things hadn’t exactly been simple, but he hadn’t been so aware of everything.
“So, nothing’s wrong huh?” Puffy asked.
“Nope.” Dream shook his head.
“Did George reject you?” She glanced at him over the rim of her drink.
“What- no! I’m not, I don’t like him that way!”
She laughed. “I’m kidding. I know it’s going to take a miracle for you to ask him out. Besides, if you don’t I get fifty dollars from Tommy.”
“Wait you guys are betting on us!?” Dream blinked in surprise.
“I’m joking.” She shook her head, still giggling. “But really, if you don’t want to talk about it that’s alright. I am just your mom after all.”
Dream bit his lip, looking into his reflection in his drink. He closed his eyes. “A lot of stuff’s been happening, and stuff I- don’t exactly want to talk about.”
“That’s alright, but I won’t be up at two in the morning to make you hot milk all the time.” She said, a slightly teasing tone to her voice. She smiled softly at Dream. “But otherwise, I’ll always be here when you’re ready.”
“I know.” Dream smiled at his mom. He eventually finished his drink, taking another breath before standing up and heading for the door frame of the kitchen. “I think I’m good to head back to bed now.”
“Alright. I’ll get back to work, I’m almost done anyways.” She waved as Dream left back up the stairs to bed.
Dream felt significantly better once he’d prepared for school, quickly shaving and getting a shower before throwing his homework into his backpack. Puffy would take Foolish to school, which left Dream plenty of time to hang around the hallway next to his locker.
“Oh- hey Dream!”
He felt his pulse quicken as he froze in front of his locker door. He was really hoping he wouldn’t run into Quackity.
“Q,” Dream swung around quickly, trying to steady his chest as he looked at the junior. He glanced him up and down, and a dry laugh escaped his mouth. “What are you up to?”
“Just saw you came in early, you seen Sapnap yet?”
“Nope.” Dream shook his head. Normally the nightmares didn’t affect him so much, but he was finding it very hard to avoid both fight and flight at the moment with just how fresh last night's was. “Sorry, think Sapnap has English first though.”
“Alright, I’ll go check there. Thanks, man.” Quackity smiled. After meeting Dream’s eyes, his expression then contorted into one of confusion. “Also, are you alright?”
“Yeah! I’m great.” He assured, really hoping Quackity would just go find his god damn boyfriend already. “Just got up early.”
“Oh…” Quackity frowned. “You sure? You look really pale, maybe you should see the nurse or something.”
“I said I’m fine.” Dream said a bit snappier than he meant to. “Look, I’m just going to get to my first class. If that’s alright?”
“Dude, the bell doesn’t ring for another fifteen minutes.” Quackity reminded him, expression going from confused to nervous. “I don’t want to push but…”
“Yeah, really don’t worry.” Dream backed up past the row of lockers. “I just remembered I told my first-period teacher I’d help with something!”
Quackity stared at him. And a surge of heat ran through Dream’s body. He shouldn’t be worked up over something so small. Especially not when it came to his best friend’s boyfriend, it wasn’t like Dream could exactly avoid him.
He just had to work out how to get over it. Maybe he could talk to the others later, bring it up to Sapnap… Sapnap would feel bad if Dream didn’t want to hang out with Quackity for a while. But until he could work it out and get over the nightmare, it would have to work.
The rest of the day passed normally, or at least as normal as it could with him spacing out every few minutes to think about his nightmare. Okay, the day wasn’t normal at all, and he was struggling. But it would be one day, and hopefully some running that evening would get his mind off things.
Dream felt a ping in his pocket as he sat at his desk. He glanced it over, seeing it was in the chat that Tommy had made for him, Ranboo, and Tubbo.
Biggest Man: Drop whatever you’re doing for lunch mostly you Dream
Biggest Man: And meet me in the cafeteria at our table, I expect everyone to be there
Biggest Man: I had the most awesomest idea
Bee Boy: I don’t think awesomest is a word Tommy
Biggest Man: Shut up of course it is
He laughed at the texts, and when the bell rang Dream made sure to head straight for the cafeteria. Tommy hadn’t seemed upset, so he was hoping it wasn’t anything serious. But it did beg the question of what exactly Tommy had thought of.
Rushing across the school campus, Dream pushed open the cafeteria door and glanced around for the trio. He saw them sitting in a corner together, Tubbo bitting into a sandwich happily as Dream sat down.
He could feel the excitement radiating off of Tommy as he shoveled some potatoes from his lunch tray down, taking a drink to wash down the rest. Ranboo on the other hand was calmly eating chips and waiting for Tommy to finish.
“So what’s the emergency boss man?” Tubbo asked once Dream had settled in. He’d go grab some lunch from the counter later. “Sounded important if we had to drop lunch plans.”
“Okay.” Tommy said excitedly. “So it’s still the beginning of the year, and if we work fast we can probably find a teacher to sponsor it.”
“ It being… what exactly?” Dream asked.
“A club!” Tommy explained.
“A club?” Tubbo deadpanned. “That’s what you dragged us here for?”
Tommy shook his head, practically bouncing in his seat. “No no, hear me out. It’s not just any club. I want to make it one where we get together and talk about the visions and stuff, and other people with them can join! Like a support group, and the more people we have the more we can piece things together.”
Dream was about to speak up, but Tubbo beat him to the chase.
“One problem with that.” He reminded him. “That’s basically a big banner going ‘crazy people here’ and it would force people to admit they have the nightmares like us.”
“Yeah…” Dream muttered, rubbing his neck. “Not exactly stoked to have to admit that to my mom.” Eventually at least.
Tommy shook his head. “You’re misunderstanding. Here’s the thing we don’t advertise it as your average club. From the outside, it’s just a gaming club or something but we put something either in the name or the description where people who know will understand.”
“Huh… I see.” Tubbo placed a finger on his chin.
“It’s not a bad idea.” Ranboo admitted, and Dream was surprised to see Tubbo nodding in agreement.
Was it really a good idea? Dream wasn’t sure… It did sound nice and in theory, it wasn’t a bad idea, but he was pretty sure Sapnap and George would get suspicious if he didn’t invite them. Plus he didn’t know how they’d pull it off.
“So what exactly do you plan on doing to cover it up?” Dream asked. “While making it obvious? And what if someone actually interested in the club comes?”
“Well, then… we say before they can officially join they have to do a meeting where we decide if they’ll fit in or not,” Tommy suggested. “Really we’ll just see if anyone has seen them in the visions.”
“That could work.” Tubbo nodded. “We will need to find a teacher who’s a part of it though or one who won’t be around much.”
“Actually I’ve got the perfect one!” Tommy offered. “He probably doesn’t have anything but, he was my babysitter when everyone was busy.”
“Wait him!?” Tubbo asked, eyes wide, “No you’re kidding. He’s in your nightmares?”
“Oh yeah, I’d have this really bad one whenever he’d get mad at me if I misbehaved.” Tommy nodded.
Ranboo spoke up. “Uh for those who don’t know… who are you talking about?”
“Sam!” Tommy grinned. “Or well you probably just know him as Coach S.”
“Coach- Sam was your babysitter?” Dream asked, staring with wide eyes at Tommy. “And you had nightmares with him?”
“Oh yeah.” Tommy nodded. “It kinda sucked to think about that stuff. But he was alright I guess. He liked making pumpkin pie when I came over.”
“So you think he’ll be the best person to ask?” Dream raised an eyebrow.
“Absolutely!” Tommy nodded excitedly. “He’ll be absolutely perfect for it! I’m sure if we just ask for some privacy he’ll get it, plus he loves working with computers and stuff. He’s the engineering teacher as well after all.”
“He won’t be too busy will he, if he’s also coaching?”
He knew the football season would be soon as well and he didn’t know everything Sam helped with, but it wouldn’t be good if their one option bailed when they needed it.
“I mean, if he is even better!” Tommy grinned. “He can sponsor us, but he’ll be too busy with the teams to pay attention.”
“It’s a thought at least.” Tubbo shrugged.
“And again.” Dream pointed out. “How are we going to be able to keep it a secret from everyone, while being able to find people.”
Tommy smirked. “I have the perfect plan.” He took out a notebook. “I did some brainstorming last night and we just need the perfect club name that’ll look inconspicuous to outsiders, but those who know what we’re talking about will know .”
Flipping through the book, Tommy came on a page filled with crossed-out words and lots of eraser smudges. One was circled at the bottom, and Dream glanced over to see what was written.
“Pogtopia.” Tommy pointed out. “It sounds like a random name, and if anyone looks it up pretty much nothing will come up except for gaming shit. But for us?” Tommy gestured to himself and the other three. “We know what it really means.”
“I guess it could work.” Tubbo nodded. “I mean… but who exactly will know it? Not everyone was in Pogtopia.”
“They weren’t.” Tommy agreed. “But it was so infamous, even if they don’t have visions directly about it, they’ll still have them relating to it or someone talking about it.” Tommy pointed out. “See? It’ll work.”
“Okay okay.” Tubbo glanced at Ranboo. “What do you think?”
“Well for a name that works with everything we need, yeah. Even I’ve heard about it, and I’ve never had any visions about Pogtopia.” Ranboo shrugged. “Besides I mean there’s not much else. Unless we tried to slip something on the posters.”
“Exactly!” Tommy said as if he had made his point for him. “Even just talking about the club people might recognize it! We don’t have to do anything, other people will basically do the work for us if they talk about it at all. It’s perfect.”
Dream frowned, looking at the ground with his brow knitted. “Well… I’m not entirely against it but are you sure there’s nothing else?”
For some reason, something just didn’t sit right with him about the club. He didn’t want to stop Tommy from making it, not with how excited Tommy seemed to be about finding people.
“Nope!” Tommy shook his head. “I thought about it for hours last night. Trust me. This is our best option. It won’t even trigger anything, hopefully. So people who aren’t affected yet won’t show up.”
“Then, what else do we have to do.” Dream gestured to Tommy. “Especially if we want to do it quickly. Since I can’t help after this year.”
“Well, a club has to be comprised of 5 people at least,” Tommy explained. “Since the cabinet is three. President, vice president, treasury and we need to also have two actual members.”
“I call treasury!” Tubbo said, jumping up from his seat.
Tommy stared at Tubbo. “Tubbo you realize we don’t need funding, we’re not doing events or anything.”
“Oh. Well, I still call it.”
“Okay, then I call being president. It was my idea.” Tommy pointed out.
“Fair enough. If you’re president then Dream should be vice I guess.” Tubbo looked over. “Since this started with you two.”
“Alright, sure.” Dream nodded. “I don’t mind.”
Tommy pulled out a paper from his bag as well. “Perfect, then we can fill out the form, I’ll talk to Sam and then turn it in. Then we’ll be an official club. Again we’ll just need one extra member.” He explained as he wrote, jotting down their names on the club form.
Dream had never looked into any of the clubs himself, never having a reason to with track and his friends keeping him so busy. It hadn’t crossed his mind, even if a few of them had seemed enticing. He’d known from the moment he’d joined high school it would be too much to manage in order to get any sort of scholarship, so he’d gone the easier route of track.
Of course, he loved running, even if he wished he could do it without any expectations. It would certainly make it a lot more fun, and he’d definitely be less annoyed at the talented newcomers.
He shook his head, trying to focus on what Tommy was saying. “Alright, so we also need some sort of symbol. That’s not required, but it’d be cool.” He grinned.
“What are you guys up to?” Dream felt an arm being thrown around him as he glanced over and saw Sapnap.
“Oh not much. Tommy just called all of us to chat.” He laughed. He didn’t want to get into specifics unless it made Sapnap suspicious.
“I see.” Sapnap looked at the trio in front of Dream. “Mind if I steal him away for a moment?”
“Go ahead.”
Dream shot at look at Tubbo, his eyes wide. He didn’t know exactly what Sapnap wanted to talk about, but he had a sinking suspicion he knew who it involved. Why was Sapnap always such a simp!?
“See you guys in a moment.” Dream waved nervously as Sapnap pulled him to the art room, which was usually empty during the lunch period.
“So.” Sapnap folded his arms as he looked at Dream. “What’s up with you today? Q said you were acting really weird this morning. And I don’t want one of my boyfriends thinking my best friend is weird.”
And there it was. The question Dream had nervously been waiting to hear from him all day. He was more surprised he hadn’t asked it sooner.
“Look, I’m fine Sapnap you don’t need to worry.” Dream patted his arm. “Just had a nightmare last night is all. I’m getting over it.”
“And you ditched me and George?” Sapnap raised an eyebrow. “You never ditch going to lunch with George. I think he nearly had a heart attack thinking he’d have to pay for his own food for once.”
Dream shrugged, gesturing to the window of the classroom. “Tommy just wanted to talk about some stuff. It sounded important.”
“Dream I’m not mad, honestly I’m more worried. Didn’t you avoid Q at my party too earlier?” Sapnap pointed out.
“Really, Sapnap. I’ll be alright.” He sighed, shaking his head. “Don’t worry about me. I’ve got it all sorted out.”
“That’s what someone who doesn’t have anything sorted out would say.” Sapnap deadpanned, focusing on Dream. “I’m your best friend man. George is practically your boyfriend. Is something’s bothering you? You just basically told me at the beginning of the year you were having those nightmares again and now you’re… I don’t know. But I’m worried. I know you have Tommy but, you can bring us in too.”
“I don’t…” Dream bit his lip. “Sapnap, there’s things about those- daydreams and stuff that’s not…” He looked into Sapnap’s eyes. “They aren’t nice. Especially when it comes to me.”
“Dude, I already know that.” He snorted.
“No- you don’t…” Dream bit his lip. “You don’t understand, it’s just, different . Okay?”
Sapnap raised an eyebrow and sighed. “What because you’re all big and evil there huh?”
“Yes. Please Sapnap trust me on this. I have it handled.” Dream assured. “And I will reach out if I need it okay? Nothing’s wrong.”
He looked at him quietly before his shoulders seemed to relax, gaze softening. “Whatever you want. Just don’t make Q worried again okay?”
Dream groaned, placing his hand to his mouth. “Sorry I didn’t realize he’d thought it was that bad- yeah I’ll uh, make sure not to do that again.”
He could do that, he just had to avoid Quackity until seeing him didn’t make Dream’s insides start to churn and cause his brain to short circuit. Easy. And Sapnap would forgive him if it was to keep Quackity from getting worried.
“Well, go get back to your babysitting.” Sapnap laughed, patting Dream’s back as he left the room.