Work Text:
“The superhero Smiler was reportedly hit by Arctic Sleep member ‘Poet’ in tonight’s battle on the docks. The beloved hero was seen being carried by his team members 404 and Blaze after the fight. Eye witnesses say that Smiler had looked to barely be able to keep his feet under him and was dragged between the two. Other reports say that Poet was able to escape the scene due to the distraction of—”
The TV clicked off and Sapnap felt himself blink. His eyes were burning. They had been for a while now but he hadn’t been able to get himself to turn away from the screen covering their fight earlier. He felt numb. He didn’t know what to do.
“You shouldn’t be watching that garbage right now.”
George’s voice came out cold but he could still hear the notes of fear lingering under the surface.
“It’s not garbage.”
All three of them were sent out for the fight when Poet got out of prison and started causing havoc again in the city. Normally there were rules in place between them and the Arctic Sleep that Dream only ever fought against Blade really. A few too many close encounters left the rivals as they called themselves getting absurdly protective of each other.
It was almost a year ago now that Blade had shown up on their doorstep with Dream hanging off his side after Big Crime had him shot in the head. Sapnap still remembered how they’d looked at the mask after and confirmed that the only reason Dream survived the shot was the mask. It changed the angle of the blast from the gun. It made it indirect.
Dream got shot in the head and only walked away with a concussion and some bruises.
Somehow this felt worse.
“They have footage, you know? Of him getting whammied?”
“Sap…”
“You can see it in the recording. I could have stopped it. I could have gotten to him.”
The fight had been messy. Normally the three of them were working in perfect unison when they went out together but tonight had been different. They’d been arguing before they left. The three of them were debating their work as heroes. They’d been talking about drawing lines between having a personal life and only being their masks.
Dream was already having his life signed away for him by how much he was sent out. If they didn’t put a stand down as a group they weren’t going to get anywhere. But Dream couldn’t see they were trying to do it to protect him. He didn’t see that they were only trying to help.
They got the alert of the escape before they could resolve it. Dream had muttered a fast ‘later’ before they moved to get into uniform and George portaled them over. The chaos of it hit them immediately. They ran as fast as they could to get things under control but that led to all of them splitting up.
Dream hadn’t called for their help since the fighting started. He hadn’t said anything. He got into a one on one with Poet. Normally the criminal wasn’t much of a fighter and tried to use his words but this time something was different and none of them caught it before it was too late.
“Blaze!”
The sound of Dream yelling his name was stuck in his head. He couldn’t get the panicked sound out. It felt like the memory of it was glued into his head.
He’d turned around to find him just to see Poet with a hand around his neck and another holding his head close.
And Sapnap? Sapnap froze.
He’d stood there while goons moved in to attack him and Poet whispered into Dream’s ear. He saw all of Dream’s muscles relax. He saw his body begin to fall and the villain step away from him. He saw how Dream’s head rolled forward and his knees buckled under his weight.
He remembered running to him.
He remembered—”
“Stop.” George was crouching in front of him now where he sat. “Don’t do that to yourself.”
They’d dropped the fight in order to get Dream help. Poet’s powers were influence. Silver tongue was what he called it and of course they’d seen it in action before but none of them had been directly hit by it before. It put someone under Poet’s full control. They obeyed whatever command he gave them. They didn’t have a choice. It was terrifying.
The indirect hits were bad enough to deal with. Sapnap remembered snapping out of it once to Dream and Karl in front of him trying to talk to him with tears in their eyes. He found out after that they’d gotten Poet cornered and in retaliation he ordered everyone he could hit to walk off a roof knowing that the heroes would save their lives rather than go after him.
He remembered feeling sick for days after and it hadn’t even been a direct hit. Just him being caught in the crosshairs from where he was tying up goons. Poet’s power was nothing to laugh at. It was stark and dangerous and the only thing he had been able to think when he saw Dream drop was that he’d told him to stop breathing. He’d told him to make his heart stop beating. He’d thought he was going to lose his best friend and brother and the last thing they would have ever said to each other would have been in an argument and a yell of his name.
Sapnap was scared. They’d needed to carry Dream out. He’d wake up partly only to black out again moments later. It was like he was trying to fight what Poet ordered him. They’d get his eyes open just long enough for him to try to look around before they’d unfocus and roll as he passed out.
He was breathing. Dream was still breathing. His pulse seemed fine. He seemed fine but he wouldn’t wake up.
They got him out together. Dream, when he could, would try to take his own weight from them only to fall against them again. He’d slurred something on their way out that was too jumbled for either him or George to understand. They’d just kept trying to comfort him. They’d tried to get him to stay awake but there was never any luck with it. Dream kept fainting and they let their worry mount.
When they’d gotten him back to base he’d been taken from their arms and rushed away to the infirmary. They weren’t allowed to see him. They were cut off from him. They were both still in their uniforms and their dispatch had taken their reports and told them to go clean up but neither of them were willing to leave for long enough to do that. Not when Dream was in danger.
They said he was fine. They said his levels looked normal but they wanted to be sure.
Poet was too dangerous to believe that Dream was really okay from this. Sapnap didn’t doubt for a second that if Dream died from this Blade would hunt and kill Poet. It didn’t matter that the criminal family was like a family. It didn’t matter that Poet and Blade were like brothers. Sapnap had seen first hand how protective Blade was of Dream. If anything happened to him Blade would go on a spree and to be honest? Sapnap didn’t think either he or George would have the heart to stop him.
Not if it was for Dream.
Never if it was for Dream.
“I just want him to be okay.”
“I know.”
“I could have stopped it.”
George sighed.
“You couldn’t have. Poet was already grabbing him when he yelled. If you’d used your fire you would have burned Dream too.”
It was true. He knew it was true. But the cycle of guilt was so stuck in his head it wasn’t going away. He didn’t have the heart to keep arguing with George though. Not when both of them were still feeling so much. He knew George was worried. He knew he was out of his mind with it by the way little sparks of glitches kept appearing around his hands. They hadn’t left the room other than the brief moments George portaled out to get them both something to drink. It was the nurses orders. Both of them had been checked out for standard procedure to make sure they weren’t hit with anything. They were meant to be drinking to make sure they wouldn’t go into any kind of shock but neither of them had the energy to do it.
Maybe that was a mark of something.
Maybe it didn’t matter.
Not until they knew Dream was okay.
They sat there in silence with each other after that. Neither of them really talked. There wasn’t much they could talk about without Dream. He was the only thing on their minds. What the order was. What he was going through. If he would be okay. If he’d be able to wake up. How long it would take. It was a loop that wouldn’t break.
“Blaze, 404.”
Both of their heads snapped up to look at the doctor that’d come out to greet them. The same one that took Dream from their arms when they first arrived. They shot to their feet and crossed the room over to her in a heartbeat.
“Is he okay?”
She gave him the same look a parent would to a child that asked if the cookies were done the moment the oven door opened.
“He’s going to be okay. He’s resting right now.”
The relief that washed through him made him feel like a puppet with its strings cut.
“What was the order?”
George almost sounded breathless when he spoke. If Sapnap had to guess he could say it was the relief getting to him too. The doctor gave them both a small bit of understanding in her look.
“From what we can tell, it was just to make him sleep. Whatever Blade has in place to make sure he gets all the fights from Smiler very easily could have saved his life tonight. He’d been going in and out while trying to combat the order but we gave him a bit of sedative to keep him sleeping until it can wear off so he doesn’t hurt himself.”
Dream was okay. Dream was going to be okay. He was just sleeping.
“Will there be any after effects?”
They watched her hesitate.
“We aren’t sure.”
If felt like lead dropped into his stomach.
“He could be fine when it wears off just because it was a command to sleep. He could also be sick. Right now it’s too early to tell.”
“What kind of sick?”
He shared a nervous glance with George.
“Could be anything from a headache to nausea to a few more episodes of fainting.” She paused to let them take it in. “When he comes around and we release him he is going to need to be on watch. Because Poet’s abilities are mostly unknown to us we aren’t sure if he could slip back under or if there are any kind of triggers that were given to him.”
Her words made sense but they did nothing to lessen the knot of unease growing in his stomach. Dream was going to be fine. They were going to take care of him. They were going to help.
“If he faints while standing we need to make sure he doesn’t hurt himself in any kind of fall. If he starts acting strange or you notice anything else going on with him that you can’t explain or that doesn’t match any of the scenarios I’ve listed for you here, bring him back to us.”
“But he’s going to be okay, right?”
The words were out of his mouth before Sapnap even really thought about saying them. George glanced at him again but he didn’t look away from the doctor. He needed to know. He grabbed blindly for George’s hand and held him tightly.
He felt George hold him back all the same.
The doctor’s eyes softened.
“They really didn’t underestimate the bond between you three.” She shook her head and continued before he could ask what she meant. “Smiler will be okay. I don’t like to promise things but we will do everything we can for him.”
He felt the knot loosen.
“You can both go wait with him if you’d like. Be quiet and if he does start waking up and feels tired encourage him to sleep. It’ll help him process it and get out of it faster and with less issues.”
Both of them nodded. They went to step around her to go back the hall and find Dream to wait. They could protect him. They could guard him. They—
“He asked for you both, by the way.”
They froze. Sapnap saw a fond smile on her lips when he turned.
“It was mumbled and hard to hear but he said both of your names. He was worried about you, Blaze. He thought you were going to be hurt.”
“Blaze!”
He’d been knocking a gun away from his face when the shout came. He turned to see Dream. He thought it was for his attention. For his help. He didn’t think it was Dream trying to save him.
“Thank you.”
George offered her a smile of his own and they walked back to Dream’s room. It was going to be okay. They were going to be okay. They were always okay.
This time wouldn’t be any different.
