Chapter Text
Tommy knew he wasn’t supposed to leave his room while Sam was hosting the Blood Moon Ball, he knew that okay, but his curiosity just wouldn’t stop nagging the edges of his mind to just take a quick look. He had to see the ballroom after all that planning and preparation Hannah had done and he had to see the beautiful clothes Ponk told him about. Sam had warned him that it would be dangerous for him to be seen by the other prestigious fae houses when he was still so newly ‘born’, as Sam called it, and that he needed to stay in his room to make sure no one would see him, at least until he felt like he was ready. Tommy hated staying in one place however, and he knew that nobody would see him anyway if he was sneaky enough, which of course he is. Every servant and guest would be cramped into the other side of the castle for this big important party, no way would anyone even notice some random nobody just taking a quick peek. He wouldn’t even get close enough to be seen, he would just get close enough to see through the doors when they were opened.
He had a good idea of what the ballroom would look like after he spent hours over the last few weeks bothering Hannah and Boomer to show him the plans. They would first tell him to fuck off and act like they didn’t hear him but they always gave in fairly quickly to his charms. He knew the color palette was White and gold, as those are the house colors, they showed him the ridiculous plant arrangements that would be running the stair and walkway railings, and he got to see the designs for the luxurious Ice sculpture Sam wanted. It was apparently supposed to be something called an elder guardian in front of two crossing tridents but he wasn’t really convinced, he just knew it would be huge and that he had to see it.
He was making his way down one of the many halls, being careful to avoid any guards that would be patrolling, when he heard Hannah’s voice coming from behind him. He sprinted down the hall, watching behind him, and managed to turn the corner before finding himself running face first into the back of someone sturdy and falling flat on his ass.
Tommy Immediately noticed how tall the fucker he ran into was, at last 6’3” if he had to guess. Not that he was short at 5’10” or anything but when next to anyone 6 foot or taller he couldn't help but feel small. Next he noticed his vibrant green suit with gold stitching he was wearing and the man's smiley face cufflinks. He thought they were a cute addition and made him wish he at least put on something more fitting for the occasion than just sneaking down in his favorite red jumper and white joggers.
The man's curly dirty blonde hair hadn’t been styled per say but it looked well groomed like the rest of him and he had more freckles than he’d ever seen on someone before, which admittedly wasn’t many. When he finally made eye contact with the man he noticed his red eyes and that's when the gravity of how fucked he was dawned on him.
Shit! He thought as he was scrambling to move away from the vampire that would no doubt start tearing out his throat the second he escaped his stunned confusion. Sam said that out of all the fae, his fellow vampires would be the most dangerous to encounter. Apparently he was a bit of a no-no in the fae world as Sam hadn’t gotten permission to turn him when he did. If anyone found out he’d be as good as dead. If the fear of death hadn’t been enough the clear difference in dress made him feel beyond embarrassed. Even worse his long sleeves that ran past his hands, because he didn’t like to pull them up, and his animal crossing socks made him feel ridiculous while he was trying and failing to get any hold on the marble floors that he was slipping and flailing and cursing his existence on in front of the man.
This display of clumsiness helped the man escape his confusion and he burst out laughing. Tommy froze and looked at the man with red crawling up his face. Forgetting every rule about not offending the fae that Sam had spent months trying to teach him, he decided to let this prick know that he wasn’t going to just sit there and take it.
“Hey dick head, it’s rude to make fun of someone you’ve pushed over!” He tried to put as much heat as he could into his words as he clumsily managed to get up off the ground.
The man calmed his laughter into a smile and held up his hands in a placating manner. “Sorry kid, but you ran into me.” the man stifles another laugh and continues “You just looked like a baby giraffe flailing the way you were down there, I couldn’t help it!''
The man began chuckling at his own terrible joke and Tommy decided he took back all the compliments he had said to himself about the guy.
“I’m not a kid! I’m the biggest man you have ever met! Wouldn’t expect a prick like you to realize that though.” Tommy crossed his arms and glared at the man as if to challenge him to say otherwise.
The man softly scoffs but didn’t protest. “Oh really? Well my apologies ‘The biggest man.” he says and rolls his eyes “ what are you doing out here though? Are you an apprentice out past his bedtime?”
The stranger said the last line with enough mockery to make his cheeks go another shade darker.
Before he could give a response the man cuts off his train of murderous thought. “No offense but you don’t really seem dressed for the party.”
Suddenly remembering where he is, his mind begins racing for a lie he could give that would sound believable to the asshole. “ I… was curious?”
The man raised a skeptical eyebrow and Tommy mentally kicked himself. “ You were curious? About what exactly?”
“You know…the um party and guests and stuff.” If Tommy could have thrown himself out a window to escape this conversation, he would have, but they were on the first floor and in a windowless stretch of the castle so he just had to settle for gripping the edges of his jumper and avoiding eye contact.
A mischievous and curious look played on the man's face and he took a small step closer. “Tell me, who did you want to meet at the party?”
Tommy started running down the list of people he knew would be coming and chose a name he figured the guy in front of him could never be.“ I wanted to see what that Dream guy looked like. People always say that almost nobody gets to see him outside his own home and when they do he’s always wearing a stupid mask and I just wanted to see it for myself.”
Tommy congratulated himself on the quick and believable response he gave and the man barks a quick laugh.
“ The mask is dumb, I'll give you that, but it’s very helpful with keeping a little bit of anonymity when I want to escape. Like now when I wanted to check out the halls of this beautiful castle without the rest of the guests following me.”
Tommy was about to comment how nobody would follow someone as ugly as him when he realizes what was said.
“Heh, what?” was all his shocked brain was able to come with and the man smiles and reaches out his hand.
“ Hi, nice to meet you, I’m Dream.”
Even though the words were kind, a smile that Tommy could only describe as dangerous spread across the man’s, no Dream’s, face.
Tommy went stiff and his mouth went dry. He put a foot behind him to back away but Dream just kept holding out his hand for a shake.
“I…um am, bye!” Tommy turns and flees, he face plants as he tries to make the turn out of the hall too fast and scurries to his feet before going out of view.
_ _ _
Dream covers his mouth to stifle the laugh after watching the young boy fall so gracefully again and pulls out his mask he had hidden. He felt a little bad for scaring the kid like that but not enough to not have enjoyed the look the kid had running away. He places his mask back on his face and starts making his way back towards the party, content to leave his tour unfinished with the secret he found.
Sapnap was the first to welcome him when he made it back to the party. “Dream! Dude, where did you go? George and I were about to use the speakers to announce your death.” A sly smile found its usual home on his face and he led them both back into their circle of friends.
George groans as they stop next to him. “God Dream, I thought your skills would keep you from getting lost, do we have to put a leash on you for these parties?”
Karl Laughs and adds, “ No no, he needs a tracker on him! The leash would burn up the second Sapnap touched it.”
Sapnap whips his head in Karl’s direction. “Hey! Why would I have to hold it? George is the one with sleep powers; he could actually keep Dream from wandering off again!”
Quackity steps in with the answer. “Because he’d like it too much.''
All of them laugh while Dream and George roll their eyes.
Dream clears his throat to grab their attention. “ Well the party was a bit too boring for my taste so I stepped out to check out the rest of the castle.”
George scoffs. “ Oh, classical music doesn’t get your blood pumping? What about the giant ice sculpture or the finger foods out at the buffet? Really Dream what could be so boring about this party? '' George’s tone made his sarcasm impossible to ignore.
Dream sighs and looks around the room. “ Oh no all of that isn't what bored me… it was the people, I mean a guy can only listen to so many ‘it’s an honor to meet you’ and ‘I have an excellent business opportunity for you’ before he feels like upholding the meaning to the ‘Blood Moon Ball’.”
Quackity clicked his tongue and downed the rest of his drink. “ Man if that's not the truth, I had at least twelve people ask me if they could advertise their ‘million dollar business’ in Las Nevadas only for it to be another shitty pyramid scheme disguised as those shit NFT clubs.”
Quackity places his glass on a passing waiter’s tray and continues.“The only pyramids Las Nevadas needs are the ones Foolish makes; and even those can be too much sometimes.”
Karl slips his arm around him and says “ Don’t worry Quackity nobody else will bother you tonight, the party’s over.”
Quackity glances up to him. “Oh yeah and how do you know that?''
Before Karl can answer, a man wearing an all white suit, except for an out of place frog hat, grabs a microphone and announces the host for the second time that night.
Sam takes the mic and thanks the man as he steps away. “ Thank you all for coming here tonight. I would love to keep you all longer but even though all of us are fae not all are of the night variety…”
A polite laugher waves through the crowd and Quackity quickly says “ You really need to teach me how you do that.”
Karl smiles and winks, “I have to stay a little mysterious if I want to keep your attention.”
Quackity ducks his head slightly and blushes.
Sam continues his closing speech but Dream drones out the rest in favor of looking around the room one more time when he notices Sapnap staring behind him. “Hey, what are you looking at?”
Sapnap quickly turns his head to make eye contact and then turns back to where he was looking. He points to the open balcony. “ There’s a kid over there.”
Dream has a hard time seeing through the crowd but eventually the sea of people parts enough for him to see who Sapnap was talking about. He wasn’t at all surprised to see the kid from the hallway. He seemed to be doing a pretty decent job hiding, if it wasn’t for Sapnap’s ability to see heat signatures he probably wouldn’t have noticed him.
Dream felt his curiosity growing anxious and he knew exactly who he could ask to calm it. “Hey, Quackity, do you know who that kid over there is?”
Quackity, Karl and George perk up and turn towards the far more interesting conversation.
Quackity tilts his red shades down and his eyes brighten when he notices the kid. “ Oh my god! That's the kid you told me about, Karl!”
Karl's eyes widen and his mouth falls open. “ Oh my god! That’s Sam’s new kid!”
Dream Immediately turns to them. “ What do you mean? Why haven't I heard about this?”
Quackity draws everyone close to keep the information as private as possible. “ Karl heard from Hannah, last time she was at the casino, that Sam turned a Kid a few months ago and he’s been VERY protective over him.”
Karl interjects, “ Apparently he doesn’t want anyone else to know about the kid yet and honestly if it was from anyone other than Hannah I wouldn't have trusted the information.”
Dream turns towards Sam just enough to catch him in the side of his vision. “Do you know why he keeps him so secret?”
Quackity sighs and crosses his arms. “ Not yet, but I have a few ideas. My best guess is the kid doesn’t have a birth power and he probably doesn’t want anyone to use that against him.”
They all turn their attention back towards where the kid was only to find the balcony empty again.
“ Oh shit.” Sapnap exclaims. “We should have gone over there instead of standing here like idiots.” Sapnap drags his hand down his face slowly and lets out an exasperated sigh.
Dream chuckles slightly. “ I never thought Sam would have turned a kid. I didn't even think he talked to anyone outside his inner circle unless he had too.”
George scoffs and rolls his eyes. “ Yeah, he's more of a homebody than you are.”
They all drag their attention back towards the host and listen to the end of his speech. Dream feels the curiosity, for the mystery kid, growing in all of them and they make their way towards the exit.
Karl takes out his phone and texts the driver to come get them when he breaks their silence. “There must be something really special about this kid if even Sam noticed him.”
They all make noises of agreement but ride the rest of the way home in an anxious silence. The sun is beginning to rise by the time Dream makes it home and he finds himself unable to get the kid off his mind. He spends the whole day thinking about the last thing Karl said. He scours the online fae archives for any mention of the kid and comes back empty which only makes his curiosity grow more hungry. It’s the night again when he finally decides enough is enough. He takes to his phone and sends a message to the group chat.
“I want him.”
_ _ _
Tommy felt a new wave of embarrassment make its way through him as he picked himself back up from his fall. He hides in the first room he sees and holds his breath until he’s certain he wasn’t followed, not that holding his breath would do him any good he realizes but it was just his first instinct. He stays there for a solid five minutes before he pokes his head out to try a round two of his great plan. He carefully looks around the corner to make sure Dream has gone and lets out a huff of air in relief when he sees the hall is empty. He starts down the hallway and he winces when he hears the all too familiar throat clearing of Hannah.
“And just where are you going?” She says.
Tommy quickly turns around and looks everywhere except at Hannah. “ Oh you know… just taking a walk and wouldn’t you know it? I found myself here.” he lets out an unconvincing laugh and Hannah stares at him in the way that she does when she's knows he’s bullshitting and places her hands on her hips.
“ You found yourself all the way on the opposite side of the castle from your room? The same side that also happens to be where tonight's party is going on?” Tommy wishes he had a power to turn invisible right now and furiously nods in affirmation to Hannah’s question.
Hannah drops her shoulders and laughs a little as she shakes her head. “Sam is gonna kill me if he finds out I'm doing this. Okay Tommy I'll let you see the party but you can't go this way.”
Tommy shoots up in excitement. “Really? You’ll sneak me in?”
Hannah smiles fondly and nods her head. “ Just don’t tell Sam, okay?” Tommy furiously nods and follows her towards the party. “You know how particular he can be.”
Tommy nods again and finally starts feeling his nerves at the reminder of how much trouble he could be in if anyone else would have found him. He thanks whatever god might be out there watching him that Hannah has always been so cool about his antics. Hannah leads them to the side garden where the chefs grow the fresh herbs and vegetables. Tommy feels a little cheated and thinks that maybe Hannah isn’t as cool as he thought, but decides to give her the benefit of the doubt first.
“Hannah why are we out here? The party is inside.” He asks.
Hannah stops them at the bottom of a vine smothered balcony and smiles. “Oh ye of little faith. All you gotta do is climb up the side here and...”
Tommy cuts her off with his sputtering and says. “What! Climb this! You have to be joking! You have wings ya prick just fly me up!”
Hannah laughs. “ And where's the fun in that?”
Tommy scrunches his face to let her know he doesn’t find her games at all funny and sticks out his tongue for good measure. “ You just wanted to punish me, didn’t you?”
Hannah knocks her head back and laughs before saying, “ I had to get a little pay back for you making my job harder, kid!”
Tommy huffs out his annoyance and looks up towards the party. “ What if I fall or there are people on the balcony?” Tommy turns back towards Hannah only to see her already flying away.
She waves a goodbye and with a mischievous grin she says. ”That’s a you problem! Just don’t be an idiot and I'm sure you’ll do fine! When Sam gives his closing speech, get your ass back to your room. Good luck!”
Hannah quickly flies over the castle towards her assigned post for the party, she's managing the car situation for when the guests leave if he remembers right, and he thinks about yelling his favorite go to curses at her before she can’t hear him but decides it would just be a waste of time. So instead he decides to mumble the curses as he heaves himself up the vines running down the balcony. When he gets to the top he notices the balcony is empty and sandwiches himself between the open door and a large potted plant and peers between the two into the room. The first thing he notices is the beautiful white and gold decorations covering the ballroom.
Tommy has seen the ballroom many times of course but never this beautiful. The chandeliers have been polished to an absolutely blinding degree. The pillars have enormous gold ribbons with white trimming running up and down the full length of them and when he focuses he notices the house insignia of a creeper almost invisibly woven into them. He sees the amazing plants running along the railing that he realizes have also been painted gold to match the theme. He knows if the room was empty he would see the gorgeous tan marble floors with a large and colorful mural depicting the globe split between the human world and the magic world. The mile long buffet table that was placed along the opposing wall had absolutely every food he loves on it, and every desert too. The large staircase had a huge gold rug running its steps and of course the clothes were everything a once homeless orphan could have imagined would be at this kind of party. Everyone was dressed in vibrant colors and flashy jewelry, so flashy it made him think that maybe Dream was just a little underdressed too. About five feet away from his spot he saw someone in a gorgeous dress that had fabric that reminded him of starlight with how bright it shimmered and could tell that the diamonds sewed into it were no doubt real. Another person had a dark purple pinstripe suit with silver earrings that connect to gold bracelets on their wrist. Everywhere he looked he saw another beautiful outfit just like Ponk promised. A smile a mile long spreads across his face and he tells himself to thank Hannah when he get the chance.
Tommy was startled out of his thoughts by Boomer announcing Sam’s arrival. He knew this was his queue to go but he wanted to stay just a few minutes more to admire everything. He broke his gaze from Sam to get a few last looks when he spotted him, Dream, in the crowd and this time he was with people who were clearly his friends by the way they were dressed. Like Dream they all had the simple suit and tie look; the only thing different were the colors they wore. The shortest of the five wore a dark red suit and his under shirt was buttoned down a little to reveal a simple gold chain around his neck, The brunette next to him had a light purple suit with a different color for the collar and the bottom of his sleeves, the black haired man on Dream’s right wore a black suit that had a red ombre effect running down the sleeves and legs and the last man on the other side of Dream wore a blue version of Dream’s suit. They were facing in his direction but he wasn’t sure if they had seen him and they looked to be talking about something important. Tommy decided that he shouldn’t test his luck any longer and makes his way back to his room for the night. He spent the rest of the night lying in his bed and daydreaming about his favorite outfits and humming the tune to whatever song he heard playing.
When the sun rose in the sky enough to convince Sam he got any sleep that night he ran down to join Sam for breakfast like usual. He took a detour to pass by the Ballroom and stopped quickly to admire it before the servants began taking it all down. If he had it his way he would have just kept it like that. He reluctantly peeled his eyes from the scene he decided was straight out of a fairy tail and found his way in the sitting room that they always met in for breakfast. Sam didn’t like eating in the dining rooms unless it was for formal dinners, he said it was too impersonal. The sitting room was Sam's favorite place to enjoy a ‘family meal’ as he thought it was a more relaxed setting and he always emphasized that it allowed them to bond better. The room was probably the smallest in the castle and that only meant two king sized beds could fit comfortably enough to have a four cushion couch sit between them. It was a light green and had white trimming and skirting boards with little dogs carved into them at the room’s corners. Most of the decorations were plants and tables and plants on tables but in the center of the room were two light blue loveseats separated by a gold glass table. He throws open the doors expecting to hear Sam sputter his usual spiel about him being more gentle on the old wood but he didn’t hear anything or see anyone for that matter. He wasn't left in his confusion long.
Boomer cleared his throat. “He’s not here.”
Tommy jumps and spins around. “Shit! God, Boomer warn a guy won't ya!”
Boomer huffs a few laughs and looks back up. “Sam is over seeing all the end of party shit like making sure the leftover food is donated to the homeless shelter and sending out thank you cards.”
Tommy crosses his arms and pouts a little. “ So… what am I supposed to do?”
Boomer reaches into his pants pocket and pulls out a bulky napkin and tosses it towards him. He barely catches it and flushes in embarrassment.
“Well I thought that this is kinda a rare off day for you so I figured that after I check on the clean up in the ballroom you and I could hang out.” Boomer says.
Tommy’s eyes light up, he has always liked Boomer, he always spoke to him like he was his friend and didn’t get mad when he cursed a bit too much because he sometimes did too. He quickly opens the napkin to find a cookie Boomer had saved for him. “Oh hell yes! Can we take some of the flowers and feed them to Nala?”
Boomer laughs loudly and holds his stomach. “Hell yeah dude!”
Tommy scarfs down his snack and he challenges Boomer to a race to the ballroom. Boomer wins because he trips not even ten feet from the ballroom door.
“Fuck! I would have won this time too!” Tommy bounces up and meets Boomer inside.
Boomer smiles a too toothy grin and mockingly pats his head. “Maybe next time slowpoke! Get good next time!”
They both laugh and Tommy runs up the staircase to get a better look at everything. He thinks the chandeliers look even prettier in the natural lighting and sinks into his arms on the railing. Boomer does his checks and Tommy closes his eyes to better remember the night before. It isn’t long before his thoughts draw him back to Dream and he can’t help but wonder what kind of person he is. The man he met in the hall didn’t seem that scary at first, annoying for sure but not bad by any means. It wasn’t until he revealed who he was that he felt in danger at all and after a whole night to think about it he realized that he probably just wanted to scare him off. An angry pout sets itself on his face and he’s startled again when Boomer calls him down.
“Sorry little dude, didn’t mean to scare you. Were you thinking about something?”
Tommy considers changing the subject but his damn curiosity wins out again. “Well I read the guest list and a name sort of stuck out to me.”
Boomer raises his brow. “ oh yeah, who?”
Tommy hesitates but says it anyway. “This guy named Dream?”
Boomer’s eyes get wide and his face goes pale. “ Uh… sorry dude I don't think I can talk to you about him. You’re going to have to ask Sam on that one. Let's just drop the subject for now and go feed Nala.”
Tommy tries to interject but Boomer just keeps talking and leading him to the back gardens. The strange behavior only makes him more curious and he spends the rest of the day thinking about him. He decides to ask Sam about it when he can and at least learn why Boomer seems so nervous about the subject.