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It's the rush of it all that calls to him. His life on the line, a single, clear goal ahead, the attention of enemies on his heels. Death on the horizon, behind each corner, beckoning from blades and ground and lava.
There is the touch of wind in his hair, the lick of fire dancing over his skin, the taste of earth on his tongue. And then beyond it all, Death. Her promise, her inevitability, her challenge.
Dream loves the challenge.
It is in the midst of such a challenge, just as gloating is in order after a clever trick to keep the Hunters at bay, that Dream meets him. A young man his own age, with haunted eyes.
And it's those that first draw Dream's attention—eyes that snap to him faster than an instant, seeing through his very being, yet not seeing him at all. He looks at Dream with too many emotions to name, all swirling and dancing and crashing into one another.
Dream finds himself strangely drawn to it, to that look, to those eyes, to the young man who seems to know Dream, who can parry his cleverest sword maneuvers, but then also seems blindsided whenever Dream smiles at him. Every question he asks is met with vagueness or horrifying detail that doesn't answer the original question, yet spoken with the same casual air as talking about the weather.
The Hunters surprise Dream. It is akin to instinct when he grabs Tommy (as he learned his name) by the hand and runs. The grin won't stay off his face when they run from the Hunters together, Tommy's hand firmly in his, Tommy's feet falling right in step beside him despite the limp Dream spotted earlier. It's as natural as breathing, the way they move together through winding caves, over rocky mountains, across plains and tundras and oceans—like they have run together forever.
A few times Dream suspects Tommy may be a psychic with how he predicts not just Dream, but all the other Hunters as well, always ready to block their attacks and evade their tricks. When Dream catches glimpses of Tommy while fighting the Hunters, his face is painfully blank, and yet his eyes scream with strange emotions that should not be applicable to perfect strangers.
Then again, the first emotion that crossed Tommy's eyes when they first met in front of the malfunctioning nether portal—was fear.
He is so intriguing, a mystery of a man that Dream wants to learn. Constantly, he finds his attention conflicted between the chase, and unraveling Tommy's mystery.
Dream keeps asking questions. What happened before you crossed the nether portal? Where is your home? Why do you keep staring at me like you think I will push you off a cliff? Where did you learn to fight (like that)? Unrelated, are you single?
It's that last question that seems to finally thaw the ice a little between them, and Dream relishes in the bits of personality that slowly push through the frost as Tommy sputters and yells at Dream about how many wives he has and how Dream is a wrong'un. Slowly, steadily, over the course of the following weeks running together from the Hunters, Tommy comes out of his shell. He makes jokes that are barely funny, but Dream wheezes anyway.
When it becomes clear that Tommy doesn't know how to return home—wherever that is—Dream offers him to help, and it just so happens that this makes their goals align. Dream is after the End, where there is supposedly a dragon and if you manage to beat it, it can send you home, no matter how far away that is. Tommy makes a strange noise when Dream tells him about his plan, but doesn't comment further.
His own questions are never answered, but he doesn't find himself growing frustrated like he usually would; his curiosity keeps growing, yes, and his interest intensifies, but Tommy is simply too much fun to be frustrating for long.
They banter, they tease and over time, as the chase continues and the Hunters become more desperate to keep them from the End, they fall into ease with each other. Tommy still has many moments in which his paranoia returns, but he pulls himself out of them quicker and quicker each time. Dream finds himself forgetting that Tommy will be gone soon, and when he remembers, his mood sours instantly.
He finds he doesn't want Tommy to leave, to go home. It can't be a good place, he justifies the thoughts, not with the way Tommy avoids the topic like talking about it will kill him. Dream is just concerned for this guy who, all things considered, has been… someone Dream didn't know he needed.
Dream has been alone for a long time, his only social interaction in recent years being the Hunters and, while they share banter, it is usually pointed and aimed to get an advantage. He didn't know until he found Tommy that he has been really longing to just… sit down and talk and eat with someone who doesn't want to kill him.
The closer they get to the Stronghold—and Dream can feel it in his bones, the end of their journey together steadily approaching—the closer Dream lingers to Tommy when they take a rest, the campfire crackling before them and the smell of stew tickling their noses from the pot bubbling on it. (While Tommy insists he cooks, he never eats a lot, shoving his leftovers at Dream, usually with the excuse that Dream still looks hungry. It makes Dream feel warmer than the fire can provide.)
Tommy notices, because he always seems to be so intensely aware of where Dream is at all times, and he complains loudly about it, calling Dream a clingy bastard (Dream doesn't miss the cringe following those words) and generally putting up a front of displeasure. He doesn't move away from Dream. He doesn't look at him, but his face, his eyes, say it all, and it's a comfort to know his feelings are reciprocated.
And yet the end, the End, approaches. They set a very clever trap for the Hunters, buying them a ludicrous amount of time. Dream places the eyes of ender in the empty spots until one is left. His heart thunders in his chest. He hesitates.
He glances at Tommy, catching him staring at the lava beneath the portal frame, then his eyes find Dream's. Trust shines back and blinds him.
He slots the last eye of ender into place. The portal comes alive, shimmering with stars and magic and void. It's a breathtaking sight, if only Dream weren't looking at the way it makes Tommy's eyes shimmer instead, mirrored in them and coated in awe.
They step through and emerge on obsidian beside an island of strange yellow stone that Tommy makes a comment to look like the moon on an off day. Dream laughs, a wheeze. And then they see her, brilliant and great, she soars above the island, drawing magic and life from crystals at the top of the obsidian pillars, roaring when her eyes fall on the intruders.
The fight begins. At each other's side, their movement makes them become one, extensions of each other's intentions, fluid as water, spilling over into each other. Dream draws his bow and Tommy his sword, protection and destruction. The crystals explode gloriously, their magic dispersing into the void. Tommy is at his back, his warmth a comfort, his presence a promise that Dream reciprocates.
The killing blow is Tommy's, the dragon's roars thunder through their bones, until they die, until she dies. Light bursts from her void-dark corpse, rising instead of falling like she is lifted by a gentle hand into the cradling embrace of the darkness.
Euphoria burns in them, they shout and cheer and exclaim, either wordless or nonsense. The rush is perfection, all that Dream has been chasing and more, spilling from his mind with how much it fills him, fulfills him. He sees the same in Tommy's eyes and it connects them so fiercely, he feels it so strongly—
His hands pull Tommy in, fingers buried in soft locks, damp with sweat, and their lips meet in a crash that burns brilliantly between them.
They are breathless when they part, staring, unable to tear their eyes away. Except when magic makes itself known, opening a portal just behind them that looks like the one they entered, except its frame is made indestructible.
Tommy drifts away from Dream, who cannot fight himself and reaches out, cold with the loss. He follows Tommy to the portal, stares into its starry depth, failing to be mesmerized by it. He turns to Tommy, who thanks Dream for everything.
It feels too final for a goodbye.
Tommy steps onto the frame, Dream follows, they stand beside each other. Dream watches Tommy, who watches the fluid movement within the portal, starry magic swirling, who swallows and looks nervous. He is hesitating.
Dream wants to offer everything in that moment, if only Tommy stays, but the inevitability of this decision is not lost on him, not even with the growing desperation.
Tommy takes a breath, lifts his foot to take a step, to let himself fall into the portal, let it take him home, and as he does, he turns to Dream. Their eyes meet.
He's smiling and Dream—
Desperate, sudden need blinds him. His body moves on its own, follows, grasping Tommy and holding onto him as gravity takes control from them both.
Their eyes are fixed on each other, Tommy's are wide, surprised, whereas Dream's are filled with promise and need—both are coated with the single most natural and shattering realisation striking at the same time.
He can't let him go.