"Hey, kiddo, what's wrong?" He asked. He waited and waited for them to notice but the two were clouded in fear. Circling them silently as they spoke in hushed tones. The eldest of the two's eyes began to grow as the younger spoke rushed.

There was silence and all he could hear were the quiet whistles of the wind against the trees. Either reality was playing a sick joke on him, or he's gone. "Where's your brother?" The man asked over the young boy's sobs. It has been far too long. He should've come back by now, but here he was. He was there. If they had only just left the door open...

But the days and weeks were never kind to him. "Please don't cry, it's going to be okay," the father would soothe his son. "I promise, you'll see him again soon." Lies. Lies. Lies. Cause that's all that could be said; broken promises to aid one's grief.

And maybe he assumed it was the end when he made himself a new familiar face. The reckless boy down the road poking at him with a stick, the most he's felt in those long months. "Who are you?" were the words that gave him hope.

Unfortunately for him, the months had dragged out into a year. "What are you talking about? That's impossible," the man questioned, not willing to play in what he thought was a game. But the boy persisted, he too, was unwilling to give up for his new friend. "Leave my family out of your nonsense," he left off, keeping his youngest son arms length away from the door and the stranger that stood before him.

"Leave Dream out of this."

He suddenly woke up. Sweat dampened hair stuck itself to his face. He pushed it away as he moved to rub his eyes, looking up at the ceiling of his room. It was dark. It was cold. And Fundy was sleeping beside him, his hand subconsciously holding his. Not much had changed in the past few days. Except Dream had made quite the compelling argument on why he should be the one to sleep in the other room— seeing as where he woke up, Fundy managed to change his mind.

Sitting up and unwrapping himself from the other's tired limbs was a struggle in itself, but the thirst for water propelled him forward. Slowly tiptoeing down the hall, carefully avoiding the creaks within the floors, which led him to find the familiar glow of the candle in the middle of the table. And, of course, someone slouched in the deepest cushions of the armchair to accompany it.

"I'm worried that I'm going to have slay phantoms for you as well," he commented. Grabbing one of the already bottled waters, he shut the cabinet softly and looked over at the sight. "You need to sleep," he sighed, raking his hair away from his eyes.

The figure hummed in acknowledgement, reaching out their hand. Dream took it, along with taking a rather large gulp of his water. "Says you," he whispered, rubbing the tiredness from his eyes. His dad stared up at him through the darkness, a shared thought between the both. "Nightmares?"

Dream was silent. He took another sip.

"You can talk about it you know?" Schlatt said. He pulled Dream over his lap, grunting, "Jesus, sometimes I forget you're not a cranky little eight year old," he remarked causing Dream to laugh.

Dream draped himself over Schlatt, allowing himself to be more comfortable and shift his weight more on the chair rather than his dad. "You're still a cranky old man so I wouldn't say much has changed," he said.

"You're an asshole."

"Always have been," he smirked. "But," he looked at him, "why are you even awake at this hour? You know this can't be healthy and god if Tubbo found out, you know he would drug you to sleep."

Schlatt sighed, staying silent for a moment or two before speaking. "Sometimes the quiet is nice," he said. "It lets me think about things." Dream yawned. "Lets me think about you and Tubs. It lets me think about work and how much I hate it," he laughed quietly. "Which reminds me," he perked up, "when are you collecting your dues?"

"Tomorrow most likely," Dream answered. "I'm taking Fundy to see Bad for his leg, so I'll just pick them up on my way over."

"And how is the fox boy?"

"Oh don't call him that," Dream groaned. "That's basically the same as calling me... y'know."

"Alright fine. How's your boyfriend?"

"Oh my god." Dream's head found itself in his hands. "Can't we keep the topic on you?"

"No, no, no." Schlatt shook his head, he looked at Dream smiling. "I know you, kid. Enough to know that the Soot has you wrapped around his finger."

"He's simply just a good guy!" Dream exclaimed.

He hummed in agreement. "Of course! Which is why I wouldn't have a problem if you liked him in that sort of way—"

"But I don't like him that way," Dream said. "We're still getting to know each other. Likely good friends but what's the probability that we're going to stay good friends after this whole ordeal? He's going to go back to Pogtopia with a fine leg and continue on with his life in his weird and oddly cute cabin full of trinkets. I'll still be here living with you and Tubbo, often waiting for the King to call me up to fight for him. And even if we manage to stay good friends, what will we have to bond about? What do we do?"

Schlatt pinched Dream's nose. "Kid?" The blond now aware of his lack of mask hummed in response. "Enough thinking for you tonight." He tapped his leg to get him up. "Go back to sleep with your boyfriend, you both look like the cuddly type."

"Damn it," Dream grumbled. He sat up, rolling off the armchair in one motion. "You better go to sleep or I'll rat you out to Tubbo."

"Message clear," the father responded. He watched Dream exit the room with his water, sitting back down in the silence and darkness.

***
"One, two, three..." Dream lifted Fundy up from the ground and aided him in settling himself on the saddle. "Up you go!"

The two had prepared to leave rather early in the morning but perhaps the unwanted cold and warmth of the other left them to linger under the covers, just a while longer than planned.

"Now remind me of your plan?" The two glanced over at Schlatt who watched them closely.

Dream looked up at Fundy with that usual cheeky grin. "We'll be heading to the capital. And if all goes well then Fundy goes home," he said. Fundy let out a silent cheer besides Dream.

An unintentional smile broke out on Schlatt's face that had no plan on staying long. "Which way are you taking?"

"Direct, going through the forest is quicker and the whole trip would likely be cut down to about three days compared to a week," Dream grunted, taking his own turn on hopping on the saddle.

"Good luck. And Fundy better be back in Pogtopia after this."

"Wow, Mr. Schlatt, I didn't know you were that eager to get rid of me," Fundy laughed.

Schlatt chuckled and shook his head. "No, kid, I just know what it's like to miss a son. We'll call this a goodbye for now. And you know that my door is always open to you."

Fundy nodded, "thank you for everything."

They waved goodbye at father— Tubbo was most likely still sleeping— and rode for a short silence. The breeze kicked up just enough times for them to realize that maybe they should've brought warmer cloaks. Each gust made the shiver and inevitably scoot closer until Fundy's chest was pressed against Dream's back.

The journey wasn't too long, but it was enough for the two to grow tired of the silence. Dream was the first to speak. "Okay, I got a question," he said. "Wilbur Soot, is he actually your dad?"

"Yes," Fundy sighed, "well adopted dad, actually."

Dream grinned to himself. "I'm adopted too."

"Really?" Fundy peaked interest. "Schlatt isn't your biological dad? Wouldn't have taken him as the type to adopt. Not that there's anything wrong with him! He seems like a great dad."

Dream nodded agreeingly. "Yeah, well he wasn't always." Fundy casted him a confused stare. "Long story short, I kinda attacked him for not being a responsible parent to Tubbo when he was young and I guess I never really left."

"How old were you?"

"Seven? Eight, maybe," Dream shrugged, "I don't know. I just know we were all young."

"Oh wow."

"Yep. How old were you when you got adopted?"

"Fourteen. My adoption story is weird, we could get into that another time though."

Dream nodded and rubbed the back of his neck, staring up at the overhead of trees that leaked spots of sunlight over them. Warm rays broke through the crisp air and blessed them with a touch of their comfort. "Okay, I got another! At your house, the place you took me to before we went back to Techno's, do you have some sort of hobby...or?"

Fundy laughed, he could hear the grin in his voice. "Yeah. I build and design little things. Sometimes I get paid, but it is more of a hobby. What about you? Tell me you're more than just a very skilled dueler who still lives with their dad."

Dream gave a short, half-suppressed laugh at the remark, reaching back to lightly hit Fundy. "I'm registered as one of the kings knights, same as Technoblade, but us two seem to get a bit more leeway than the others."

"Lucky?"

"On occasion, but since your uncle is constantly traveling, I have to be the one to drag his ass back to the kingdom if we're summoned," he explained. "But, again, lucky for us there hasn't been a war or need to use the army since like two centuries ago."

He glanced at the orange hair that laid collected on parts of the hood in Dream's cloak. Fundy let out an unintentional snort before dismissing it completely. "Adopted and barely have an actual job– look at us! More similar than I thought." Fundy hummed as he set his chin on Dream's shoulder.

Dream glanced to his side at the ginger that had become so close to him on their journey. "Oh, you'd be surprised, he muttered, bringing his arm up to ruffle the head of red hair.

***
The streets were packed. Among the neighs and chatter, Dream and Fundy left the horse near the community stables, opting that they'd have better movement on foot. They slowly weaved their way through the jumbled mess, holding tightly onto one another to make sure they didn't get separated. Dream tugged the ginger forward as a small shop, straw rooftop and square windows, almost identical to the ones parallel to it, came into view.

Dream knocked and opened the creaking door, helping Fundy make the small steps of his own. Once fully, inside, he guides him to a chair and then meets with an unsettling silence. It was dark and dust collected in the far corners of the room. Fundy was far too unfamiliar with his surroundings to even question Dream.

They waited for a moment or two, and just like magic, a man appeared out of nowhere. Like a shadow that just walked into the light, the stranger took one glance at Dream and visibly paled.

"Dream, oh my goodness! What are you doing here? What's wrong?" And a series of words followed which the two had shared a look to one another, silently asking, 'did you catch that?'

"Bad–" Dream started but the newcomer was not even close to done talking.

"I told your leader not to put you back in the lines until your ACL healed and now look at you!" He exclaimed, pointing at Dream as he sat looking up at him. His arms crossed over his chest, an unamused frown etched itself along his lips.

Dream let out a long sigh as the new stranger let out a small rant. He turned his head to look at Fundy, tipping his mask up a bit to present a now growing smile. "Just wait this out, he'll be done in a moment."

"Dream!" He shouted. Fundy finally observed them as all the candles in the room decided to flicker to life at once. Glasses tipped down to the edge of his nose and an odd leather slash across his shoulder and chest were what stuck at most.

And the mentioned chuckled back in a mocking tone, "Bad!" Fundy assumed they were likely friends.

"Are you hurt?" The friend, Bad, asked.

"No," Dream shook his head, watching the wave of relief settle within Bad, "but my friend is."

Bad looked over at Fundy, his eyes trailing up and down and stuck out his hand. "Hi, I'm Badboyhalo," he greeted, "I'm also a certified medic for the king's knights and I hope this isn't rude to ask, but what on earth happened to your leg?" Fundy exchanged an odd glance with Dream who waved his hand for him to pay attention. "It definitely broke from impact and uh... can you stand please? Yeah, you– what? It clearly healed weirdly like... When did you break it?"

Confused and dazed from everything at once, Dream had spoken for Fundy, "about a month ago."

"And why didn't he just chug a potion like a normal person when they break their leg?" Badboyhalo asked.

"Cause he broke it when he was human and when we found him he was already a fox," Dream said casually, almost making Fundy choke on the breath he was holding.

"Oh, I see," Bad dismissed. "Alright, well let's take you to the backroom, you may want to get comfortable–"

"Wait," Fundy interrupted. "What the hell just happened? You take one look at me and suddenly you just..."

Bad nodded with a smiling face. "I guess that's the simple way to explain. Dream, help him up while I go set up."

"Dream," Fundy hissed. The blond looked over at him questioningly. "What is happening? How did he know? Is that, I don't know, normal?"

Dream chuckled and held out his hand to pull Fundy. "You know how Tubbo is a human who practices witchcraft?" He asked.

"Not specifically until you said that outloud," Fundy admitted.

"Well Bad is a witch who practices well... humancraft?" Dream laughed to himself. "I don't know if that's a real word, but the short explanation is that he has these weird powers or whatever."

"And people don't hunt him down?"

"I'm still here." Badboyhalo walked in waving. "And it seems that only those who were raised in Pogtopia's village seem to be put off with my form of witchcraft. Don't be alarmed as I am nothing like those who scavenge children in the forest." He leaned against the doorframe, gesturing into the backroom. "Can we start?"

He led the two into the room which layed a cot sat in the corner and a full wall of cabinets and other trinkets. "Sit and roll up the cuff of trousers, I want to see how bad it looks," Bad said, pushing his glasses up more up his nose. He grimaced at the sigh and looked away towards Dream who shared the same discomfort. "Fundy, a fox, right?" He walked over to a series of shelves, poking around many assortments of glass bottles. "That must've been painful. With a set of four legs, you at least got three others to support your broken one." He shuddered, "really, how much does hurt when you apply pressure on it?"

"Bad, please," Dream cut in. "Can you fix it?"

He sighed as he looked at Fundy apologetically. "Okay, one, it healed wrong. Two, I'll have to re-break and cast it for it to be properly treated with a potion."

"Re-break it?" Fundy questioned

"That can work," Dream nodded.

"Potions?" Fundy questioned, again.

"Oh yeah," Dream recalled, "Fundy doesn't have the most fond memories with potions."

"Neither do you and you still show up here chugging them down," Bad shrugged off. "Now breaking the bone will be quick. You're allowed to cry, you're in a safe place." He sat down and reached for Fundy's leg, the target failing to push his injured limb away from harm's way.

"Dream, Dream, Dream, Dream. He's joking right?" Fundy spoke quick and scared. "He's not gonna break it– Watch it! I have another good leg that's not afraid to kick you!"

"Fundy, I promise it'll only feel like a pinch," Bad tried to soothe but the kind gesture was far too clouded over by Fundy's growing anxiety.

A light wheeze resonated from beside him and Fundy could only stare flabbergasted at Dream, the man who held his hand over his mouth, trying to contain his boisterous laughter. It didn't work. Fundy could still hear it. "You're an ass," he said.

"Language," the healer muttered.

"Okay, okay," Dream breathed, trying to gain some control of his shaking lungs. "You have to do this Funds, I'll hold your hand if it makes you feel better, okay?"

"No," he shook his head rigorously. "I don't need anyone to hold my hand cause the man is not breaking my–"

A loud crack resonated through the room. Dream jumped at the sudden death-grip on his hand. Fundy's mouth agape and frozen, he stared ahead blankly at the man who rushed to wrap his leg in a makeshift splint. Fundy held his hand over his mouth. Was it to keep the bile in his throat from rising up or to muffle his cries? Dream wasn't sure quite yet. He rubbed the knuckles of Funny's free hand in a comforting effort.

"Potion," Bad called when he brushed his hands against his pants. A pink liquid filled bottle was soon in his hands and he reached it out to Dream. "Fundy, it will likely knock you out due to the amount of healing it has to do on your leg, so if you need to go to the bathroom, better do it sooner than later–"

"I think we should let him have his moment," Dream flinched when he took the bottle with his one free hand. If Fundy didn't loosen his grip sooner than later, Dream would've had to take some of the potion as well.

"I'm not going to cry," Fundy whispered shakily.

"No one will blame you if you want to cry," Dream cooed. He brushed Fundy's hair out of his eyes so he could see them better.

"I'm not going to cry." Fundy repeated, tears already rolling down his cheeks. "You," he pointed at Bad, "you're evil."

"I'm just doing my job," he sighed. "Please, just take the potion and in no time your leg will be as good as new."

"Fundy, please?" And that subtle little pout from Dream was all that it took for Fundy to reach out for the potion.

With great reluctance, he reached up and took the glass from Dream with shaking hands. He looked at the blond who simply just nodded. He tipped the glass back into his mouth and was pleasantly surprised at the taste– a contrast to the last potion he drank which wasted like salty toadstools.

Almost in an instant he felt the pain subside, but he didn't trust it. He stared at the blank eyes of a mask and the eyes behind the glasses. "I've decided that I have a strong dislike for you."

"That's alright," Bad chuckled. All that matters is that your leg is getting properly healed and I did my job correctly."

"Well you don't sound as much as an ass when you say it like that," Fundy muttered as he baited a laugh from Dream. "Thank you."

Badboyhalo smiled and nodded as he cleaned up his things. Dream's fingers still rubbed against his knuckles as the potions effects began to kick in. Fundy realized, he really hates potions.

I think I need an actual cover and story summary for this book for people to actually know what they're walking into— or it's sexy and mysterious and everyone who has made it this far knows what's up and is part of the cool kid gang.