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After escaping the prison, Dream has a new appreciation for life in general, but especially nature.
Before he used to love the trees because they allowed him to pull off cool parkour stunts that he could never do on the ground.
Now he loves the way bright green leaves flutter to the ground whenever a crisp breeze rolls through, the cold nipping at his skin and making him shiver, but it’s so, so much better than the oppressive heat of his cell.
Sitting in the sun, those wonderful rays warming him in ways that the lava never could, Dream pulls his hood up over his head, bundling himself up in the fabric, his body still having some difficulty regulating temperature after his long-term heat exposure.
“Cold?” Punz asks in a concerned tone once Dream puts on his hood, instantly worried about his friend.
“Nah, I’m okay for now,” Dream honestly says, leaning back fully against Punz now that his hood is fixed, smiling softly when Punz’s arms that are wrapped around his stomach give him a gentle, reassuring squeeze, his kind touch instantly making Dream feel safe.
That’s another thing he’s come to appreciate more after escaping the prison.
Punz.
Before he was Dream’s ally, the one person that he knew would stick by his side.
Now he’s come to realize that Punz actually cares about him, more truly and deeply than Dream ever could have imagined.
He came to Punz broken and bleeding, flinching at even the slightest of sounds after growing so accustomed to the silence of his cell, one that was only broken whenever the torture started, instead filling the room with agonized screams and wicked laughter.
He came to Punz terrified of any hand reaching toward him, yet desperately wishing to be wrapped up in a hug, unable to ask for one both in fear of being denied and granted one.
If it was anyone else on the server, they would have taken advantage of his weakness, would’ve kicked him while he was down, would’ve finally killed the big bad Dream while he was helpless to stop them.
But not Punz.
Punz put his life on hold, making Dream the center of his entire world as he helped repair all of Dream’s fractured pieces.
And while he’s not fixed yet, while both his body and mind are a mess of patchwork scars, Dream is healing.
Thanks to Punz, he can walk again, though he still tires easily.
Thanks to Punz, he remembered how to smile again.
Thanks to Punz, he feels safe.
“Look, here comes one,” Punz softly says, one of his hands raising from Dream’s midsection to point at the pond in front of them.
And in that pond is an approaching duck, the little animal honking excitedly as it quickly swims toward the two humans sitting on the grass next to the water, the green and brown speckled duck eager for some of the bread that Dream has on his lap.
With a small little giggle, Dream reaches into the bag of bread, his scarred fingers tearing off a chunk and tossing the food into the pond near the duck.
The duck quickly swims over to the piece of bread, its head briefly bobbing down into the water to scoop it up, a happy quack escaping it as it rushes back over to Dream and Punz for some more tasty bread.
Dream continues to throw little bits of bread into the pond, smiling widely as more ducks join the first one and fondly rolling his eyes whenever the silly creatures fight one another for who gets the bread, as if Dream isn’t about to throw more in so all of them can have some.
When he finally runs out of bread, Dream sticks the bag into the pocket of his hoodie, his now free hands coming to gently rest on top of Punz’s own, which are still protectively holding Dream’s stomach.
With a loud yawn, Dream shifts slightly so he’s sitting sideways on Punz’s lap, allowing him to rest his face against Punz’s chest.
Smiling fondly down at his friend, Punz asks, “You feeling tired now?”
“Mhmmm,” Dream wordlessly agrees, his eyes slipping shut of their own accord, his body relaxing further against Punz, associating the man’s warmth with safe safe safe safe.
“You can sleep now if you want, I’ve got you,” Punz assures him without hesitation, holding Dream a little tighter to show his friend that he truly is safe enough to sleep right now.
“I know you do,” Dream sleepily murmurs with a carefree grin, his smile growing wider when Punz chuckles softly at that.
And as Dream falls asleep to the sound of Punz’s laughter, he wouldn’t want to change a thing.