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Dream groans as he throws himself onto his bed. Sitting yourself beside him, you gently rub his spine and the back of his ribs. “You doing okay?” You ask, only to laugh lightly when his response is completely muffled by his pillow and garbled.
“Mission went that bad, huh?”
He replies with a long groan before pushing himself up by his elbows. “It was awful, I’ll tell you about it later. I just want to relax for now.” Dream moves off the bed, standing in front of his open closet for a moment in thought before looking over his shoulder at you.
“Mind if I change?” He asks as he takes off his overcoat and looks it over before sighing and throwing on his bed when he sees the damage to it. You nod, “Yeah, go for it.” You’d known him long enough for both of you to be comfortable with it, and it’s not like there was anything for you to stare at.
At least until you realize you’ve spaced out staring at his scarred bones. They ranged widely; some being minor chips to entire areas being carved out. You subconsciously crinkle your nose at the sight, at being reminded of your own imperfections. Dream turns around to set his shirtless sleeves on his dresser, he notices your look. “What? Am I not appealing enough?” He jokes, snapping you out of your thoughts.
Your face heats up at accidentally staring at him. “No! I didn’t mean to- sorry.” You try to explain, “You’re just… Covered in scars.” You mumble, looking down at your hands.
“Aren’t they cool?” He asks, having stripped down to his morph suit under the rest of his clothing. Your eyes snap up to his face as his eye lights trace the grooves left in his bones. “Don’t humans have scars?” He asks, realizing that maybe it wasn’t something they were used to seeing.
You laugh a little. “A lot of them. Our belly buttons are one.” Dream blinks at you, clearly unaware of what you’re talking about.
“Oh, when humans are born, we have a little tube that attaches us to our mother, that lets us grow. When it’s cut, it scars, leaving this little thing.” You lift your shirt up enough to show him. He kneels down to get a closer look before standing up again.
“That’s so interesting! And all humans have that?” He asks and you nod. “What other scars do humans have?” Dream sits down next to you.
“Well, other than the belly button, all scars are unique to whoever it’s on. Though there are mild exceptions to that.” You state and he nods.
“Then what scars do you have?” Your nose mildly crinkles again, and Dream tilts his head. “Do you not like your scars?” He asks, confused.
You sigh. “They’re… not exactly a staple of beauty to humans.” You offer as some sort of explanation. But that’s as far as you go with that. Dream hums in acknowledgement before his eye lights shine brightly. He grabs your hands excitedly. “Why don’t we both talk about our own scars! That way we can learn even more about each other!” And stars he looks so adorable you can’t say no to that face. “Sure, you first though.” You agree.
He nods happily before looking over his bones for a scar to tell you about before he decides on one. “See this one?” He points to a massive chip in his nasal bone and you nod yourself. “I got this one while chasing after Nightmare when we were little. I tripped on one of the tree roots and had a crack on my skull for months afterward. I was crying like a baby bones too.” He laughs at the memory before quieting down for you to go.
You glance at yourself. “I got this one,” You point under your eye. “From a cat when I was little too. I can’t remember what I did, but it swiped at my face and left a scar.”
You go back and forth like that, him telling you about how he’d gotten his femur cut in half, you talking about your own scars.
“Yeah, no! He looked at me and said ‘If you eat shit I’m gonna laugh at you.’ Then not even two minutes later, the entire side of my leg is covered in pebbles and dirt. I hated that bastard. He did laugh at me, but my mom yelled at him. But that’s how I got this.” You recounted the story of falling off your scooter onto a gravel road to Dream as you showed him the Keloid scar on the outside of your ankle. “She ended up divorcing him anyway so all's well that ends well I guess.” You shrug, but Dream didn’t seem to like that one all that much.
“Okay, maybe a different one,” You glance at yourself before sliding your pants halfway off. “I got these three after I moved again when I was fourteen.” Three large dark scars decorated your upper thigh. “There was a box at the perfect height to scratch the shit out of my thigh when I walked past it. These all happened at different times.”
“Why didn’t anyone move it?” Dream asks, looking at the scars. “We just really didn’t think to.” You shrug.
Dream thinks for a moment. “Why do humans hate scars so much? Don’t they think about anything other than appearances?” He asks, looking at you.
“Well, not really. Humans are entirely appearance based. So much so that we have an evolutionary defense mechanism for if something looks human but isn’t . Scars aren’t pretty, so people don’t like them.” You shrug.
“But, scars show you’re strong. They show that your body recovered from a shit ton of damage. Doesn’t that count for anything?” Dream just can’t understand humans. How could a human not like a partner with a strong body?
“I mean yeah, if you’re already attractive and it doesn’t affect your face at all, then people will be all over you.” It sounded a lot worse now that you put it into words.
“That’s so stupid. I love your scars. They make you who you are, and one day I hope I can make you love them too.” Dream smiles at you and gently takes your hands in his. You feel a small amount of magic pulse through your body and your scars warm up a little. Looking down at them, you see they’re glittering a pretty gold that matches Dream’s eyes.
Maybe you could learn to love them one day. Just for Dream.