181. (credit to astral)

"So you-- you threatened XD into editing reality?"

"No, I used sup-- sofa-- sophisticated persuasion techniques," Tommy sniffed. "He heard the wisdom of my words, and agreed to my very reasonable requests."

"You tricked him, didn't you."

"I tricked him," Tommy admitted. "He's a fuckin' idiot, do you expect me not to take advantage of that?"

"I expect you to have enough self-preservation to not trifle with a god who can smite you."

"He also got smote by a cake," Tommy pointed out. "And it's not like he can do anything permanent to us."

"He's a god."

"And very easy to manipulate."

Dream pinched the bridge of his nose. "One of these days, you're going to get both of us smote."

"Ooo, fun loop idea - whoever gets smote first gets something from the loser next round!"

"Tommy no--"

~~~

"Techno! Techno, get out here!"

Technoblade narrowed his eyes at the door, suspicious of the amusement threaded into Philza's voice. "One second," he called back, sliding a bookmark into the book he was perusing and setting it down on the table. After a moment of hesitation, he pushed the door open.

The arctic wind blasted him in the face. After he'd given himself a moment to adjust to the cold, he stepped out and set a particularly unimpressed stare on his longtime friend. "What."

Philza was beaming, face alight with a particular brand of mischief that Technoblade had fallen prey to many times. He had a pig on a lead at his side. Technoblade glowered. "Phil, if this is another one of your attempts at a joke--"

"Heh?"

Technoblade stopped. Looked around. No parrots in sight. Slowly, he turned to Philza, who was grinning like a loon.

". . . Phil," he said. "Did you learn mimicking?"

"Nah," Philza drawled. He tugged the pig forward by its lead.

"Heh?" said the pig.

"Heh?!" Technoblade said back.

Philza doubled over, cackling his heart out. His friend rounded on him, spluttering with indignation.

"Phil! Phil, what is this? What-- how-- heh?!"

"Dun-- dunno, mate," Philza wheezed between bouts of laughter. "Just-- woke up and-- th' pigs were-- heh-- ahaha--"

"This isn't funny," Technoblade protested. The pig "heh"ed at him. "Stop heh-ing me!"

"Heh," went the pig.

"HAHAHAHAHA," went Philza. Technoblade debated the pros and cons of kicking him and tried to convince himself that it wouldn't be worth it. The longer the laughter dragged on, however, the more tempting it became.

Fortunately for Philza, he managed to regain control himself about five seconds before Technoblade reached his breaking point. As he straightened up, a crow alighted on his shoulder. Philza tilted his head towards it, wiping the last tears of mirth from his eyes. "Hey, mate. What is it?"

The crow clicked its beak. Philza's voice emanated from its throat. "You little shits."

"Oh whAT THE FUCK--"

~~~

"What," said Fundy.

The chickens in his coop milled about, acting as if everything was perfectly normal. The problem was, everything was not normal. As in, every time a chicken opened its beak, a child's voice would exclaim, "look at all those chickens!"

"How," said Fundy. "Do you-- do you understand me?"

A tiny chick hopped up to him, chirped a high-pitched "look at all those chickens!" then toddled off to find its mother.

"I think I need to sleep," Fundy informed the chickens. The chickens ignored him. Fundy stepped out of the chicken coop, locked the door, and began the trek homewards.

The sun was setting, casting the forest in ochre. The shadows deepened as sunlight faded into icy moonlight. A quiet scuffling just at the edge of his hearing range had Fundy turning, tail bristling.

A baby zombie sat astride a chicken in the shadowy underbrush, watching him. Fundy backed away. The duo apparently took this as an act of aggression, because the chicken charged him with a screech of "LOOK AT ALL THOSE CHICKENS!"

Fundy decided that was enough insanity for one day and fled for his life.

~~~

"Hey. Hey, Dream."

Dream slowly turned around, dread in his heart. That dread multiplied tenfold when he saw the kitten cradled in Tommy's arms. "What did you do this time?"

"What, can't I get a cat for my good old friend--"

"We're not friends."

"--best friend Dream?"

"What did you do this time," Dream repeated. When Tommy's only reply was to hold the kitten out, he reluctantly took it.

It snuggled into his arms and opened its mouth as though to meow. Electronic music blasted forth.

Dream stared at it. Then he stared at Tommy. "You didn't."

"I did."

"Why?"

Tommy smiled. "Praise be to the Cat of Nyan."

~~~

"Can I. . . ask why you're hoarding cows?"

Ranboo and Jack glanced at each other, nodded in silent agreement, and turned back to Niki. "They're the only safe animals left on the server," the taller informed her.

Niki frowned. "Safe animals?"

In answer, Ranboo pointed to a sheep wandering by a few yards away. It paused to pick at a few strands of grass, bleated out a verse of Bohemian Rhapsody, and moved on.

"Ah," said Niki. ". . . So the cows still moo?"

"The cows still moo," Jack confirmed. "So now we're rounding them all up."

At that moment, the content mooing from the pen went silent. All three Players turned to see the cows standing stock-still, their eyes blown wide. Then one raised its head and bellowed a reverberating "YOU LACK MAIDENS!" at the top of its lungs.

"Ah," Jack said as the other cows also began to repeat the phrase. "I guess the cows no longer moo."

"Guess not," Ranboo agreed. And then he burst into tears.

~~~

Sam paused with his pickaxe half-buried in a diamond block. Distant music filled his ears, a tinkling tune he hadn't heard since he'd been a child.

Quickly, he mined out the rest of the diamond vein and headed in the direction of the music. How ice cream truck music was playing in the caves, he wasn't sure, but he was damn well going to find out.

The tunnel grew wider as he went deeper. It soon began snaking back and forth, as natural caves tended to do. Sam placed down torches as he went, cutting down the occasional zombie with extreme prejudice. Strangely enough, the volume of the music fluctuated at random intervals - almost as though the source of it was moving. Maybe there really was an ice cream truck down here?

Sam turned a corner and came face to face with a creeper. He scrambled back, cursing to high heavens as it advanced on him. The music grew louder and louder, ringing off the cave walls until it was nearly deafening. He realized belatedly that it was coming from the creeper, as though it had replaced its hissing.

"What the f--"

BOOM!

~~~

Ignoring the horrified shouts of the L'Manbergians, Technoblade slammed the third skull down on the pile of soul sand. The wither spawned with a shout of "YOOOOOO! SUCK IT, GREEN BOY!"

"WHAT THE FUCK!" Dream screamed from his perch atop the TNT grid. The other fighters weren't doing much better. Philza had puffed up in a rather accurate imitation of a startled chicken. Tommy was absolutely fucking losing it in his corner of the battlefield, much to the exasperated bewilderment of his allies. A few of said allies were also in the midst of various trauma-induced panic responses. Poor Fundy looked like he was ready to vibrate out of his skin.

Technoblade was taking it the best, having apparently decided to just roll with the insanity. He spawned another wither, prompting a second round of "YOOOOOO! SUCK IT, GREEN BOY!"

"TOMMY!" Dream howled, bodily hurling himself off the TNT grid and using a water bucket to break his fall. He leapt over one of Technoblade's hounds (which was currently barking out bits of Megalovania while it tried to tear Sapnap to pieces) and made a beeline towards his fellow looper. Tommy's face dropped into an expression synonymous with "oh shit."

"XD!" he shouted. "XD, INITIATE PART 2!"

Dream stopped in his tracks as something shifted in the world around him. "♪Tommy, wha-- what--♫" He reached up to massage his throat, as though that would somehow remove the odd autotune effect that had been applied to his voice. "♫♪What the fuck. What the actual fuuuuuck. What did you do. Whyyyyyy are you like thiiiiiis.♫"

Tommy was laughing too hard to reply.

"♪I am going to murder you,♫" Dream promised, raising his sword. "♫I am going to stab you to death.♪"

Tommy, still laughing, tried to back away. He tripped over a loose stone and hit the dirt. "Oh shit--"

He had about half a second to contemplate his life decisions and decide he regretted nothing. Then Dream was upon him.

182. (credit to Cocomere)

"This is the end, Dream." Tubbo stalked forward, knuckles white around the handle of his axe. "This is it. This is where you die."

He was so focused on Dream that he didn't hear the rapid footsteps coming up behind him, nor the cries of alarm from the crowd at his back. A moment later, a hand wrapped around his axe and yanked. Caught off guard, Tubbo staggered sideways. The weapon was ripped from his hands. He spun to face his assailant, eyes going wide when he realized their identity.

"And that's where you're wrong," Tommy cackled. "Because I was the true mastermind all along!"

The sound of shattering glass punctuated the end of his dramatic declaration. The server members turned to see that the Ender portal - their only way out - had been broken.

"You fools," Tommy continued, his words dripping with malice. "You feel right into my trap. You see, I've despised you all since the day I joined the server. I wanted to hurt you - and how better to hurt you than to turn a trusted friend against you?" He slung an arm around Dream, who twitched but didn't throw him off. "I recruited Dreamy here and hired him to play the villain. Then I'd be the hero--" here he leaned against Dream and swooned dramatically, "--play the good guy, get your trust and at the last moment-- crush it!"

Tubbo spoke up, voice wobbling. "Tommy-- Tommy, this is-- you're joking, right? This is-- this is just a joke--"

"Oh Tubbo," Tommy cooed. He pushed himself away from Dream and sauntered over to Tubbo, who was growing paler with every second. "So trusting. So stupid. You know, it's been hilarious watching you try to run L'Manberg. You tried, I'll give you that, but you just couldn't win against me." He smiled, slow and sharp. "I drove Wilbur to insanity, poisoned Schlatt, and plotted every step to L'Manberg's doom. And you-- you trusted me with L'Manberg's internal affairs."

Tubbo took a step back. Ranboo hurried forward to steady him. Tommy rolled his eyes, turning to the rest of the room.

"Not that any of you lot were any better. Really, you all bought my act so easily. None of you noticed a thing." Tommy shook his head in mock disappointment. "All because I'm Tommy. Just Tommy. And really, what can Tommy do to you?"

"Tommy," someone whispered. Tommy snorted.

"Joke's on you, I did a lot. I was the one who helped Dream set up the TNT grid on Doomsday. I was the one who told him all the secrets you told me in confidentiality, the one who had him steal the things you care most about for leverage. I was the one who blew up the community house, who defaced L'Manberg's monuments with capitalist supply and demand diagrams, who dyed the sheep lime green--"

Gradually, the horror on people's faces faded into confusion.

"--who turned all the candles on the server fireproof, who enchanted your boots with Knockback II and Curse of Binding, who made your clothes one size too big--"

"That was you?!" Sapnap shrieked.

"--who potioned everything to taste like mangoes for five days, who replaced all the snow on the server with glitter," Tommy took a deep breath, "and who switched every roll of toilet paper to under."

Stunned silence followed this declaration.

"You monster," Dream deadpanned. "I can't believe you've done this."

"What?" Fundy blurted, ears pinned back and tail lashing with bewildered agitation. "You-- what?"

Tommy threw back his head and cackled. It really was quite an impressive cackle, and one he'd spent many hours practicing in front of a mirror. "You were all so blind! But at last, I have opened your eyes to the true extent of my power!"

"I have a question."

Heads turned towards Punz, who didn't bat an eye. Tommy glowered at the plebeian that dared to interrupt his villainous monologue. "What."

Punz looked decidedly unimpressed. "If you hired Dream, and Dream hired me, am I still getting paid?"

Both Tommy and Dream stared at him. Then they looked at each other. Tommy raised an eyebrow. Dream shrugged. Tommy turned back to Punz. "Uh. . . yes?"

"Cool," said Punz. He casually relit the portal and saluted Tommy. "I'm out."

With that, he meandered into the swirling purple. "N-now wait a moment," Tommy spluttered, but Punz clearly Did Not Give A Fuck™. He was gone a moment later.

"So," Jack said into the ensuing silence. "Can we all agree that Tommy should at least go to jail for the toilet paper thing?"

183.

"Are you just-- eating raw spinach?"

Tommy looked down at the cup in his hand, which was indeed filled to the brim with raw spinach. He stabbed his fork into the leaves, shoved them into his mouth, chewed for an uncomfortably long amount of time while maintaining eye contact, then swallowed and said, "Yes."

Fundy stared at him. "Why."

"I'm eating my vegetables," Tommy said. "Unlike a certain someone over there."

Fundy slowly followed his gaze, dreading what he would find. That dread soon turned into open horror. "What the fuck are you doing?"

Dream looked up from the abomination on his plate with an expression of guileless confusion. "I'm putting gelato on pizza."

The fox hybrid was at a loss for word. "That's-- that's just-- no!"

"Why not? They're both Italian, right? So theoretically--"

"That's not how food works!"

"Ye of little faith," Dream sniffed. And then he attempted to cram the whole gelato-covered pizza slice into his mouth.

Fundy felt a bit vindicated when he instantly choked.

184.

"T-Techno. Techno you g-gotta help. Please."

"Tommy, why are you here?"

The teenager scowled at him through his chattering teeth, tugging his cloak a little tighter around him. "Didn't you hear m-me the first five t-times? To ask f-for help, you b-bastard. C-can I come in?"

Despite his misgivings, Technoblade stepped out of the doorway. Tommy looked about two seconds away from keeling over and freezing solid; Technoblade didn't want to deal with disposing of his corpse. Tommy stumbled into the house and promptly melted with relief at the wave of warmth that rolled over him. "Th-thank fuck."

Technoblade shut the door and turned to him. "Alright Tommy, talk. What do you need help with?"

Tommy took a deep breath. "Dream. I need help with Dream."

". . . Are you asking me to kill Dream?"

The teenager's head whipped up. "Fuck no!" he shrieked, eyes wide. "Nonono, I mean Dream needs help-- he's-- I don't know what the fuck is wrong with him! I'm not allowed back in L'Manberg and you were closest so--"

"So you came to me." Technoblade narrowed his eyes at Tommy, contemplating his dilemma. Truth be told, he held no particular attachments to Dream at the moment - they'd been on opposing sides since he'd stepped foot on the server, save for the bit towards the end of the dumpster fire known as the Manberg-Pogtopia War. That being said, it wasn't like Dream had done anything wrong to him specifically. And they did have something of a friendly rivalry before this server had been formed, so if he really needed help. . . "What's wrong with him?"

"He's been getting quieter in the last few weeks," Tommy babbled, wringing his hands. "He stopped eating, started sleeping more, a-and then this morning he wouldn't wake up!"

Hm. That did sound bad. "Right," Technoblade said, sweeping past the still-shivering Tommy to pry open a chest. He stuffed several potions into his inventory, added some food for good measure, then grabbed his cape off the hook by his door and wrapped it around his shoulders. "Where is he? Logstedshire?" At Tommy's nod, he swept his hand up in a come-hither gesture. "Come with me. We'll be faster on horseback."

Tommy stared at him, seemingly surprised. Technoblade repeated the gesture impatiently. "C'mon, Tommy. You asked for help, didn't you?"

"Y-yeah," Tommy said. He shook himself out of his stupor. "Sorry, just-- didn't expect you to agree so easily. I came here ready to bribe you an' shit."

Technoblade quashed the desire to roll his eyes. "Well, you don't. Now are you coming or not?"

Tommy scrambled to his feet and followed him.

~~~

Logstedshire had certainly grown more. . . livable since the last time he'd visited. The dirt shack had evolved into a charming log cabin. It was nowhere near as nice as Technoblade's, of course, but the builder had clearly put effort into constructing it. Technoblade eyed it appraisingly as they approached, making note of the pine branches and homemade tinsel that had been strung up around the walls for the holiday season. It certainly gave the dreary place a more homey feel.

Tommy waited impatiently as Technoblade tied Carl's lead to a stake near Logstedshire's outer wall, then all but dragged him into the house. Technoblade allowed the manhandling with a longsuffering sigh, knowing what little sense of manners Tommy had had probably been overridden by his worry.

Dream was sprawled on one of the two beds in the room, still save for the unnaturally slow rise and fall of his chest. His mask was conspicuously absent. Technoblade prodded experimentally at his cheek, then jerked away when he found his skin cold to the touch. It wasn't cold in the way dead bodies felt, however, and Dream was clearly still breathing. And there was that odd sheen to his skin. . .

Technoblade narrowed his eyes and brushed aside the tangled hair that had fallen over Dream's face. "Ah," he said aloud, looking at the patches of gray-green scales that crept up the man's cheekbones. "I didn't know he was a hybrid."

Tommy froze, blinked, then blinked again. "Uh. Does that. Does that affect anything?"

"Depends on what kind of hybrid--"

"Snake. He's a snake hybrid."

"Ah." Technoblade's shoulders untensed. "He's fine, then."

"Fine?" Tommy spluttered. "He won't wake up!"

"Tommy. Dream's a hybrid." When Tommy continued to stare at him with that almost-betrayed look, he added, "It's winter."

Slowly, comprehension dawned on his face. "So-- what, he's hibernating?"

"Brumating, actually. He's goin' to be like this for the rest of the winter unless you move him to a warmer spot."

Tommy's shoulders slumped with relief. "So he's okay?"

"He's fine, kid." The endearment slipped out before Technoblade could catch it. Thankfully, Tommy didn't seem to notice. "Just make sure to keep him safe. He's pretty defenseless like this. Try to get some water into him whenever he's lucid enough to drink - he'll be fadin' in and out for the next few weeks. If his skin starts crackin', spray some freshwater on him or use a wet rag."

Tommy nodded distractedly. "Got it. Uh. Do I need to feed him too?"

"Nah. That'd be bad for him, actually. Stick to the water. If he's not up in two or so months or if he starts lookin' dangerously thin, move him to a warm spot and wake him up."

"So. . . I shouldn't wake him up right now?"

"He's a hybrid, Tommy. This is part of his nature. Avoidin' it'll hurt him in the long run." Technoblade turned back and pulled the blankets over Dream's head. "Keep him covered, too - snakes like hidin' when they're brumating. He might unconsciously migrate to under the bed sometime in the future, so you might wanna stash a couple blankets down there too. And fair warnin' - he's goin' to be hungry when he finally wakes up, so stock up on vitamin and protein-rich foods."

"Keep him covered, blankets under the bed, and more food," Tommy rattled off. He was jotting all of it down in a notebook he'd produced from. . . somewhere. "Got it. Anything else I should know?"

"Nothing I can think of right now," Technoblade admitted. ". . . I'll come back in a week to check on things."

"Okay." Wow, not even a token protest against the notion of Technoblade invading his home on a regular basis. Tommy was pretty worried about this, huh? "I'll, uh, go set out some more torches."

"You do that. Message me if anything seems wrong with him."

Tommy was already halfway out the door. "Will do!" he called over his shoulder. And then he was gone.

"Just you and me now," Technoblade told Dream. Dream, predictably, did not reply. Technoblade deliberated for a moment, then slid a few golden carrots into the chest at the foot of his bed and left the house.

Not like he needed them, anyway.

185. (for the previous part of this loop, see 175. in Chapter 35)

"Dream."

"Tommy," Dream greeted, looking up from the journal he was scribbling in. "Here for a revival?"

"No. I mean--" Tommy backtracked when Dream's eyes widened. "--yes, but not yet."

"Not yet," Dream echoed. "Okay. Then what are you here for?"

"To talk."

Dream did the shifty-eyed thing he did whenever he wanted to avoid a conversation. Unfortunately for him, Tommy was currently the only one between the two of them who could go intangible. "Okay," he said at last, shutting his journal. "What do you want to talk about?"

Tommy sank down against the wall opposite him. "Why did you hate me?"

"I didn't--" Dream cut himself off mid-sentence, frowning. "Well, okay. I hated you. But I don't--"

"It's fine, Dream. Just tell me."

Dream chewed on the inside of his cheek. ". . . I thought you ruined everything," he said at last. "This-- this place was just supposed to be for me and my friends, you know? A world where we could-- run around, have fun, be one big family. Then you came along, and-- and you ruined it."

He glanced at Tommy here, gauging his reaction. Tommy carefully kept his face blank. "Tell me, Dream. Tell me everything from your point of view. I won't interrupt."

Dream narrowed his eyes. "Is this another prank? I thought we agreed to avoid each other for a while after--"

"For fuck's sake, Dream, I genuinely want to know." Strangely enough, the inclusion of an expletive actually seemed to lessen Dream's suspicion. The man leaned back against the wall, sinking deep into thought. At last, he spoke.

"The first day you arrived, you broke the rules." He carefully avoided Tommy's gaze, instead staring down at a scuff mark imprinted into the obsidian floor. "And then you kept. . . breaking them. And breaking them. And breaking them, and then there was just-- fighting and death and--" Dream took a deep breath, reaching up to tug at his hair. "And then Wilbur arrived. You didn't-- up until then, everyone checked with me before they invited someone else, but you-- you just sent Wilbur his invite. I wasn't expecting him, but I let it slide because I thought-- well, I thought maybe you'd calm down a little. He seemed nice, you know?" A broken, bitter laugh slipped past his lips. "Shows how good I am at judging character."

Tommy was silent. Dream chanced a quick glance at him, then continued.

"So the two of you went off and started a monopoly on potions. Which-- was not okay because everyone needs potions and if you monopolize it people will-- anyway. When that fell apart, you decided to make your own nation. I was-- I tried to go along with it at first, you know. Do you remember? I tried to make an embassy. But then you wanted to declare independence. You-- you took Fundy and Tubbo and Eret, and the five of you were going to split off from the rest of us and--" Dream pulled at his hair again. Tommy's scalp was stinging just from watching him. "--and splitting up never ends well. I just wanted all of us to be friends, but here you were, tearing the server apart." He exhaled through his teeth. "I will. . . admit. . . I wasn't thinking when I reacted. I was angry at you. I wanted to make you hurt. So. I declared war.

"As everything went on, I. . . I got angrier. You just-- kept blaming me! Dream is a tyrant. Dream blew up the country. Dream is evil. But you never asked-- why is Dream evil? People don't just blow up countries for no reason. But no-- you and Wilbur and Tubbo are the good guys in this story, right? And I'm the villain." Dream pressed the heels of his hands into his eyes. "Fuck. I just-- I wanted to make you see things from my perspective, but you couldn't, so I just kept hurting you because I thought it would teach you to stop. But you didn't, and I didn't, and-- and--" He swept a hand towards the obsidian walls around them. The fire in his voice went out as his shoulders slumped in defeat. "--and now we're here."

Tommy turned Dream's words over in his head. They didn't burn like Jack's or Niki's had, yet they still struck him to his core. This changed. . . well, everything. He'd always assumed that Dream was a power-hungry tyrant who couldn't accept even the slightest loss of control, but-- hearing things from his perspective. . .

"I'm sorry."

"Wh--"

"This isn't forgiveness," Tommy cut in sharply. "I'm not forgiving you. Not now or ever. But-- I. . . I think I get it now. I get why you did it. And I'm sorry for breaking your rules."

Dream was gaping at him, all stoic dignity lost in the face of his shock. "B-but what I did. It wasn't. It wasn't. . . good."

"Oh, no, it was some fucked up shit. Don't get me wrong. I might have pissed you off, but the decisions you made were yours and yours alone. You fucked up. But-- so did I. We both fucked up big time." Tommy exhaled harshly, hunching in on himself. "Comparing our fuck-ups isn't going to fix anything. It's-- it's not about which one of us hurt the other more. I hurt you, you hurt me back, and things just went to shit from there. None of this would've happened if we'd-- well, if we'd talked instead of building walls and going to war."

"But you didn't mean to hurt me," Dream pointed out. "And you were a-- well, you were a kid at the time."

"Doesn't change the fact that I hurt you, or that I broke the rules on purpose specifically because I liked upsetting people and causing chaos. Yeah, I was a kid, but-- kids can get held accountable too." He paused for a moment, gnawing at his lip. ". . . I didn't deserve what you did to me. I know that. Nobody deserves that. But-- I did do some stuff wrong, and I think-- I think in a better world, I would've had to face proper consequences. You know. A fine, some community service, maybe even jail time-- real jail time, not whatever the fuck this--" he gestured at the cell around them, "--is. But we don't live in a better world. We're here, what's done is done, and I think we've both paid our dues a hundred times over."

"I enjoyed killing you," Dream snapped, almost desperate now. "I abused you because I liked the power rush."

". . . Yeah, that's pretty fucked up. But you're not like that anymore. It's character development, innit?" Tommy smiled wryly. "I don't forgive you for what you did. You don't have to forgive me either. But. . . if we're really gonna be stuck in these loops for the rest of eternity, well. Eternity's a long time to hold a grudge. Least we can do is reach an understanding."

For a minute, the only sound in the cell was the bubbling of the lava. At last, Dream exhaled sharply and let his head fall back against the obsidian. "When did you get so. . . wise?"

The lingering tension instantly dissipated. Tommy puffed up, bristling with indignation. "Oi, bitch, I am wise-- I talk wisely all the time--"

"Sure, Tommy." Dream sat up and held out a hand. ". . . Truce? We go back to working together and try to put the past behind us. Start with a clean slate."

Tommy narrowed his eyes. "We still get to smack each other if we start falling into old habits." When Dream nodded in agreement, he scooted forward and grabbed Dream's hand in a firm handshake. "Truce."

Dream tossed him a crooked smile and released his hand. Tommy not-so-subtly wiped his fingers on his pants, then rose to his feet. "Well. Now that that's done, could you revive me? I've got some more emotional conversations to have, and I need to be not dead for them."

Loop Notes
182. Guys look it's Walmart remix!
183. Inspired by true events. No, I will not elaborate.
184. Tommy and Dream knew about the cosmetic changes that came with hybrid status, but they weren't prepared to deal with instincts.