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“Just a little more.”
Dream repeated the words for what felt like the hundredth time to himself. His body aching and crying in pain from the server. He could still feel all of the explosions rolling through him. The withers that left cold weight through his veins and made him feel vaguely dizzy as he took another step. He stopped for a moment to lean against a tree and breathe.
Dream didn’t regret the things he’d done.
He wouldn’t regret Doomsday.
It was what needed to be done and now he could handle the consequences. There were other ways but they’d tried that and it had failed. The people of the felled nation were too stubborn and too stupid to understand that their actions had consequences and so Dream gave them the warning of what was to come and he acted on it.
No more nations.
No more problems.
That was the way it was meant to be.
The server had screamed. Dream had stayed up on the obsidian grid the whole way through the fight as a way to be watching himself and the server. Up there he would be able to show himself as the Admin and have the panels held around him to monitor and sooth as things arised. It was a war and he knew that it was going to be hard on him but he still hadn’t expected it to be this bad.
For the weight of the server to feel like it was pulling his organs apart. For his body to be bruising and lines of cuts to be leaking blood down his flesh.
“Just a little more.”
He pushed himself forward. Keeping himself standing and forcing his body to work as he got closer to his destination.
A little house that was well hidden and surrounded completely by protective wards in the ground to make it a safe zone to the world. No monsters would spawn inside. No people could find it if Dream hadn’t whitelisted them.
A server within the server.
Something special and safe.
His home, even though Techno called him homeless, this was his home
Dream made himself keep walking. Pushing himself off the trees when his balance wavered and toward the steps of the wooden porch. He stumbled his way onward. Getting up and having to hold the post to the roof for balance while he caught his breath. His chest was aching and burning enough to make him wonder how bad it was getting now. If he was hurt worse than he already knew and his body just wasn't accepting it yet.
He would be soon.
He knew that much.
Opening the door brought back memories.
Fondness that flooded through his chest and whispered to him that he was safe and he was content here. A safety net that he and George had placed into their home years ago now when they made it together.
They’d made it with Sapnap.
Their friend had forgotten it existed.
George had been the one that Dream had looked for after each hunt. The two of them seeking one another out and finding their home in each other’s arms. They grew closer as the years went by until they were laying on one another in a field of cornflowers and dandelions and Dream started using the flowers to compare the two of them.
It had ended up sweetly.
George holding the cornflower and frowning at Dream when he met his eyes.
“My eyes are brown, not blue.”
Dream had laughed. Loud and bright as he plucked a dandelion and held it up to his face.
“My eyes are green, not yellow, Gogy.”
“Don’t call me that.”
“You love it.”
“I do not, you idiot.”
“Just tell me you love me.”
“No.”
It became the mark for them. The thing that they would reference over and over again and despite that George almost never told him he loved him, Dream knew it was true. He knew that his partner was there for him and that he would protect him and guard him. He knew that they were going to go through everything together for the rest of their lives.
They’d sworn that to each other.
Running through the woods on an adventure together until Dream was leading them up the ruins of an ancient city settled at the heart of an open mouth ravine. The sun glimmering down on them in the evening light. They’d found a dandelion and cornflower growing together on a patch of wayward grass.
Dream had watched the way George moved. The pride he held in his body and the way the light caught on him. His armor and his muscles. The bow that kept strapped over his shoulder and ready in case it was needed. Dream with the weight of his axe settled on his own.
He’d taken it off.
Turned it and knelt to George at the top of a tower. They could see the world around them. The breeze rolling around them and cooling the sweat to their skin. Still, George was the most beautiful he’d ever looked.
“What are you doing?”
“Kiss me?”
He had sworn himself to him there. Knelt on the stones of a ruined city and making his body beg to cry George’s name until the world was numb. They’d felt the world around them. The moment sealed and heated and loving.
It ended with vows.
Breathless and begged between them.
“Tell me you love me?”
“I adore you.”
“George—”
He kissed him. He breathed his words into his mouth.
“I love you.”
Dream’s knees hit the wooden floor. The door banging a bit on the wall as he fell into it and the hinge failed to guard his wavering balance. He stifled the pained whimper behind his hand. Trying to keep it together for himself but fully aware that he was going to fail.
He was safe here.
He didn’t have to hide his tears here.
Dream braced himself on the ground. Pulling his legs up and under himself in order to brace for balance. He was trying to take in a full breath but he knew that his chest was too locked in on itself for him to really do it. He was trying and he was failing.
He had to get his armor off.
Dream’s fingers were numb. Fumbling and failing for the straps and buckle on his side. Just the act of having his arm around himself like this was aching and pulling. Burning with sparks that felt like redstone laying over his skin and a torch sitting just a little too close.
“Dream?”
The voice came from behind him.
He nearly cried with the relief that flowed through his chest.
“Hey,”
George was there. Rushing up the steps behind him and around his body in the doorway to get in front of him. Gently touching his shoulders and working on getting him upright.
“Talk to me, what is it? What’s wrong?”
He tried to breathe. The world was spinning.
“Armor.”
George moved for it in a heartbeat. Working himself on the straps with familiar, practiced, ease and pulling the plates loose.
“Breathe for me, Dream.”
He tried to laugh as George’s hand slipped beneath the plate to work on the lacing. To check him for wounds at the same time.
“I like when you undress me.”
George smiled. Small, worried, he caught it all the same.
“Yeah? I like it more when you aren’t hurt.”
The server spritzed agony through him again. Forcing him to close his eyes against the onslaught and letting George have his way with his body. Guiding him and moving him until he was finally able to pull the chest and back plates from his body. His pauldrons and gorget coming off just as swiftly. Bracers, belt, piece by piece he was feeling his body exposed to the air and touch of his husband.
“George?”
He felt a kiss to his cheek. Grazing over him as his lover held his body against his own to work on loosening his tunic from behind.
“I’m right here. You’re safe.”
The server was hurting. Enough that it was still making his head spin each time he opened his eyes.
“Tell me what happened?”
He was worrying him. Dream knew that. He wished that he could have done this in another way but George would still understand.
“Hurt.”
“Yes, I know that, Idiot.”
Cool fingers worked over the hem of his tunic. Pulling and tugging at the fabric until Dream was moving his arms to help in getting it off of him. Exposing him to the chill in the air and the colorful bruises on his flesh to the eyes of his heart.
“Dream—” He cut himself off. Looking him over before Dream watched his expression darken. “The server?”
He nodded. It was all he felt he had the strength left to do.
“Alright. Just hold on.”
He let George move him. Holding his arms gently and bracing him carefully before he was pulling him up and they were walking over toward the couch in their living room. The two of them sitting together for a moment until Dream got his breathing under control and then George was leaving to get water and supplies from the kitchen.
He came back to him in the space between blinks.
“Tired?”
“Really dizzy.”
The warmth of the towel against his skin was unexpected but still more than welcome. It helped to ease the tension that was locked inside his muscles. Working its way through him until he felt his head rolling on the back of the couch and he heard the soft admonishments from his lover. Careful nudges and delicate fingers as they worked over his skin and the tension still trapped within him.
“Do you want to go to bed or do you want to sleep here?”
He blinked his eyes open slowly. A vase sitting on the table was the first thing that came into view. A cornflower and dandelion sitting safe inside it with their stems twisted together to be safe from harm with each other.
Freshly picked.
George followed his eyes.
“I got them when I was out earlier. They’re the only flowers that seem to grow around here.”
There was something knowing in his eyes before he was reaching up to cup his cheek.
“Can you look at me?”
Dream did. Green eyes finding brown and holding his gaze.
“Here or our bed?”
His body felt heavy. He would rather sleep on the bed but he wasn’t sure he could make it there.
The whine that came from his throat must have been enough for George to understand because he saw the soft smile on his lips.
“I’ll help you, Idiot.”
His arms were moved. Held and pulled and then Dream was feeling the world move around him and his balance was gone in seconds. The world fizzling dark around him as he lost his balance and fell into George. Forcing his lover to take on his weight as he struggled to find purchase with himself until he could breathe steadily again and things were coming back into focus.
“Dream?”
There was a hand cupping the back of his head. Holding him close and steady but he still heard the worry in his voice.
“I’m alright.”
He just really wanted to sleep. His body was crying for it. The events of the server had left it and him both tired beyond repair. They could sleep for a week probably and it wasn’t going to be enough. They made their way back slowly.
Moving off of each other and working as a team to get up the stairs and into the room that held so many memories for them both. Dream could smell the candles. He could smell the bath that George had set up for him that was now long since cold.
“Sorry…”
He knew that he would know what he was talking about but George only shushed him as he led him to the bench at the foot of their bed and worked on stripping him of the rest of his clothes. A new cloth finding way to his hand as Dream sat there with his eyes closed to be able to focus in on touch and everything else rather than the world tipping around him.
“Don’t apologize. You didn’t do anything wrong.”
To the rest of the others, he had.
To all of the rest of their world, Dream was a monster. Dream had made this world as a wedding gift to George. He’d wanted it to be a family and a home for them to be able to hold each other safe through their lives and adventures. The times they could steal with one another.
He didn’t want it to turn into a war sodden land that would leave him ready to faint.
The bed around around his body was plush.
George’s arms around him were a comfort he hadn’t realized he’d been longing.
Not until his lover’s hand was finding its way into his hair and was petting through and playing with it. Dream let his body grow heavy on top of him.
He felt George’s laugh.
“You’re like a giant cat.”
He hummed. A smile playing out on his own lips as he nestled himself in just a little closer. A little more so that he could be held.
The words of the others bounced through his ears. Shouts of the word monster and tyrant and liar flitting through his mind.
He’d stood on the grid so that he could brace the world and so that he wouldn’t hear them.
He had anyways.
“You said you were doing this for love?! No one loves you! No one will ever love you!”
He remembered Tommy’s yell so distinctly. The smile on his face fading into a pulled frown against George’s shoulder and neck. He could hear his heart beating through his chest. He could feel his husband’s fingers tangling to his hair.
“George?”
A tired hum. They were in bed together. They were safe together. They—
“Tell me you love me?”
He expected a scoff. Something harsh or teasing. But instead he felt a small shift in the bed before there was a kiss being pressed to his forehead. Gentle and loving. Honest. Quiet.
“I will always love you.”