Work Text:
At this point Dream didn't even know how long they'd been fighting for. Sci had made some kind of device, able to make portals to anywhere, for some reason. Nightmare's gang heard about it, and promptly attempted to steal it. Dream and Blue went after them, of course, and the originally Very Serious and Important Fight had devolved into a scrappy, ridiculous cat fight. One side would get the device, make a portal to escape, and hope. But just before freedom was granted then the other side would manage to slide through and steal it, starting the chase all over again.
It was a fight of cartoonish proportions, Dream had to bite back a snicker thinking about how it'd work well for a Tom and Jerry episode.
Dream stumbled and ducked under a knife that whizzed his way, but he hadn't even needed because the shot went wide, hitting some poor innocent tree instead. Killer groaned, and jumped over the swipe Dream sent his way in retaliation.
"You gave it your best!" He called encouragingly, rolling to the side to avoid one of Blue's bone attacks that'd been knocked to the side. Killer snorted.
"Right back atcha', Dreamboat!"
Could this even be considered a fight anymore, Dream considered, as he kicked off a tree, vaulting over another knife. No one was out for blood anymore, it felt more like a spar, than anything else. Dare he say, he was having fun?
An indigo bone attack managed to clip him on the shoulder, and he groaned, wishing not for the first time that he had a full team.
"Remind me again, why Ink is not here?" Nightmare drawled from his spot, tentacles reaching to catch the device as it flew from Blue's grasp.
Blue huffed, annoyed, as it once again entered enemy hands. "Well, Why Isn't Error Here? Hmmm?"
Horror shrugged. "Errors ….a free spirit. If he doesn't wanna show, he won't." He paused. "Also he won't answer boss's calls, so.". He blanched, scrambling away from a teal arrow before it hit him.
"Fair enough. Today is apparently Ink's 'day off', or something." Dream said. "He said he had plans, and to not bother him unless it was important."
"And this does not constitute as Important?"
Dream sweat-dropped.
"He May Or May Not Of Mentioned Something About 'Date Night' Under His Breath, So Dream has Been Very Reluctant To Drag Him Into The Fight." Blue chirped, completely throwing Dream under the bus.
"BLUE??" Dream protested. Blue shrugged, mouthing 'sorry '.
"Well ain't you just a complete sweetheart, sunshine!" Killer taunted, giggling. Dream huffed, both ticked and amused.
He felt the now familiar chill as a new portal was opened, the cooldown finishing and Nightmare vanishing into the swirling gate. Dream kicked off trees to dart closer, and as he passed Blue the other gave him a boost to shoot him into the portal. He flew past Dust, who merely waved at him.
Dream was the second person through the portal, and the first thing he registered on the other side was white. Everything was white. In fact, that was all he managed to see before he crashed face-first into Nightmares goopy back, the other having had stopped right in front of the portal.
"Son of a bitch!" Dream hissed out the surprised swear, hands scrabbling to grab something as he slid down. A tentacle wrapped around his mid section and grabbed him, pulling him around in front of Nightmare, facing him. Dream clutched at his nasal ridge, tears pricking at his eyesockets. He might of broken it.
"Language," Nightmare chided absentmindedly, staring at something over Dream's shoulder. Dream bit back his remark about how he didn't expect the King of Negativity to be a priss about swearing, and tried to turn his head to see what had his brothers attention.
Dream was jostled as Killed crashed into Nightmare in a way quite similar to Dream had, followed in quick succession by Blue and Horror. Dust followed in behind them calmly, and as such managed to avoid the now five skeleton strong pile on the floor. Dream wheezed as his ribs creaked, and just barely managed to huff out a panicked "getoffgetoffgetoff!! "
Blue scrambled to untangle himself from the heap of bones, sliding onto the floor nearby and pulling Horror off as well. Nightmare rolled off, picking Killer up in a tentacle and letting poor Dream free from the bottom of the pile. He wheezed, curled up in a ball and clutching his ribs.
"I'm- good- ow- perfectly fine!"
Blue gave him a brow raise, and helped him to his feet. Dream brushed off his clothes, and finally, finally, turned to see what Nightmare had been staring at.
He was greeted with the image of Ink and Error staring wide-eyed at the others, semi-curled up on one of Error's bean bags with strings loosely tied around their fingers, connecting a pair of their hands. …Was that their way of holding hands? They had a one-way viewing portal open behind, them, open to some dramatic-looking AU, and there were snacks and two glasses of wine on the floor.
They all stood there silently. Dream resisted the urge to wipe at the magic trickling down his face from his nose. His face hurt.
"Fancy Seeing You Here, Ink," Blue tried awkwardly, surreptitiously passing a handkerchief Dreams way. He took it gratefully, holding it to the bleeding.
Ink flushed, flopping his body down onto the bean-bag to hide his face. Error visibly blushed, shoulders hunching defensively.
"Are we interrupting something?" Killer spoke with barely a straight face. He very quickly had to duck as a bone attack was thrown at him.
"Wh-wwh-what ar-e Y-Y-Y-YOU doin-g here-e-e??" Error hissed, arm still extended from his throw. Dust held up the device, he'd apparently gotten it off Nightmare at some point. Nightmare looked at it in his hands confusedly, checking his own empty ones before scowling and smacking Dust in the back of the head with a tentacle. Dust tossed the device back, but Dream could see the barest hint of a smile on his shadowed face.
"I am so confused," Dream whispered mournfully to himself.
"Magic portal device, courtesy o' Sci," Horror said, hands in his pockets. "We've been fighting over it all day, guess it just….picked….here?" He stared at the blankness around the group blearily. He shrugged, refocusing.
"I Knew I Heard You Right When You Mentioned Date Night, Ink! I However, Was Not Aware You Were To Be Spending It With Your Greatest Enemy!" Something about Blue's tone made Dream think that he might be lying a bit. Maybe. Also, the shit ton of smugness Dream could feel radiating off of him also helped back that hypothesis.
"I-I-I-Ink!!!" Error scolded, throwing his hands up. The movement dragged one of Inks hands up as well, because of the strings attached to both. Ink's shoulders shook, and for a split second Dream worried they were crying, until he lifted his head and Dream could hear the fact they were in absolute stitches.
Nightmare put his head in his hands. Dream felt him.
Ink abruptly sobered up, perching his chin in his hands as he looked at the others. "It is incredibly inconvenient that you are here!" He told them cheerfully. Error groaned, using his strings to pull one of the glasses of wine to him, downing the entire cup.
"Literally since when have you two been dating," Nightmare said tiredly. He reached out to grab his subordinates, tentacles wrapping around them and hoisting them close.
Ink tilted their head, eye lights blinking to a question mark and square. "Dating? Oh, no, nonono-"
Error seemed to realize whatever Ink was going to say next before they said it, and immediately tried to smother him with a pillow, but he was too slow.
"- we've been married for years now!"
You could hear a pin drop.
"WHAT??" Several voices cried out at once.
Dream flinched at the wave of shock and incredulity that hit him from the people around him, and gave up, sinking to the floor to lie there defeatedly. Blue shot him a concerned look, but Dream waved him off. Stars above, he wanted a cigarette.
"YOU'RE MARRIED???" Killer exclaimed. "But you're always actively trying to KILL EACH OTHER??"
"O-O-Only-y dur-ring work-k-k h-hours," Error handwaved. "A-a-a-lso, why-y-y d-d-do you care-re!! Freak-k-k."
Killer cackled, and began struggling in Nightmare's grip. "Lemme at 'im boss!!"
Error and Killer began throwing insults, but Dream simply laid his head back and stared at the ceiling instead. A figure formed in his view, and he looked to the side to see Ink leaning over him. "I think you should go," they chirped cheerfully. They swept Broomie down, and a portal opened up underneath Blue, dropping him into the Star Sans' living room. The next to go were Nightmare's group, and finally, Dream.
The last thing he saw before going through the portal was Ink holding Sci's device with an annoyed expression, snapping the thing in half.
Dream fell through the portal onto one of the couches, and stared at the ceiling blankly for a few moments. He did not know how to feel about this.
He heard Blue crack up. "Oh I So Called It. Lust Owes Me 50g!!"
"You were betting on Ink's relationships?" Dream asked, disappointed.
Blue shrugged. "Yea Pretty Much. Lust Said That Ink Would Tell Us Un-Prompted, And I Said That He Would Tell Us After We Walked In On Something."
Dream groaned, and threw an arm over his eyesockets. "I'm taking a nap, either shut up or get out." Blue snorted, and pulled the blanket off the back of the couch to place over Dream.
"I'll Let You Be Then."
It was late that night when Ink returned. Dream was out on the back porch, leaning against the railing and having a smoke when he heard the soft patter of Ink's feet as he exited his portal. Blue had gone to bed a while earlier, so he knew it was the artist.
Dream leaned back to tap on the glass sliding door of the back porch, and he heard Ink's footsteps as he listened to the beckoning and stepped out onto the wooden porch with Dream.
"Evening," Dream murmured.
"Evenin'" Ink said in kind, leaning up against the railing back first, placing his weight on his forearms as they sat across it. Ink's nasal ridge wrinkled at the smell of the cig smoke, and Dream shifted, considering for a moment before putting out the thing in the ashtray perched next to him. Ink brightened a smidge. They always liked o complain that is smelled bad. Dream gave the other a once-over, and regretted it as he spotted some discoloration on the other's neck where his scarf had slipped down. Ew. He didn't need to know that. He pointed at their scarf, and they fixed it hurriedly, pulling it up to hide the hickey.
"So, you and Error, huh?" Dream asked. "I thought you were complete enemies. The anti-thesis to each other." His eyelights snapped to a mischievous heart and triangle.
Ink shrugged, eyelights flicking through shapes with each blink. "Eh. Only during work hours. And in bed."
Dream cuffed Ink on the back of the head, making the other yelp and cradle the spot.
"I will start smoking again, don't you start. I do not want to know that."
Ink giggled, "Okay, okay!! Sorry, Dreamboat."
Dream huffed, cracking a smile.
The two stood there quietly for a few moments, just taking in the nice moment.
"We've been together for a while," Ink said softly. "He popped the question shortly after I met you for the first time, actually."
Dream raised a brow-bone at that. The two of them had been a team for a while, and known each other for even longer than that. The team was fast approaching their ten-year anniversary. Time was odd in the multiverse.
"The wedding was nice. Small, too. We had Reaper officiate. Geno was there, and so was Fresh. Error acted like he hated it, but I could tell he was happy to have them both there. Error's not as tough as he seems ya know? He's a massive dork, really."
Dream considered that warily. "Not to rain on your parade, but he does destroy AU's still."
Ink sighed. "It's a work in progress. We've managed to limit his destructive tendencies to AU's that are falling apart, so broken I cant fix them, or ones with nothing left. Mercy kills, essentially." Dream… didn't know how to feel a bout that. "It's a huge improvement from where he was. Things have gotten better for him. I've, been good for him. He was lonely, and hurt, and its been wonderful to see him so much happier than he was." Ink stared wistfully at the sky. He jolted, face flushing, and Dream chuckled.
"…Does he make you happy?" Dream said after a moment, phalanges tapping a rhythm on the wooden railing.
"More than anything else ever has."
Ink was being truthful, and Dream… Dream was glad to see it. "I'm happy for you then," he told the other.
"We've been thinking about having kids," Ink said with a serious face. Dream jerked.
"You-you've been what?"
Ink snickered. Dream could not tell of the artist was being serious or not.
He huffed, shoving the other so they unbalanced and stumbled. "Get outta here, go to bed. Shoo!"
Ink cackled. "Are you kicking me out, Dream?"
Dream flushed, embarrassed. "It's like one am, git! "
Ink snickered, but relented, standing up straight. They rested their hand on Dreams shoulder briefly, giving it a pat before heading inside. "Alrighty, I'm off to bed then. Don't stay up too late, hm?"
Dream nodded. "G'night Ink."
Ink stepped back inside, sliding the door shut behind him and presumably heading off to either bed or the shower.
Dream turned back to look out at the sky, and lit another cigarette. He held it in his fingers as he leaned there, content in the quiet evening after such a hectic day. He was glad Ink had Error in their life.
He blew smoke out into the night, watching it curl up towards the stars. He smiled.