Friends don't lie
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
In which Dream goes full-on Narnia and
reveals a hidden portal behind your wardrobe. 
_________________________________________

-Laikoski_ on twitter

   In the end, Dream's tiredness had become contagious, and you ended up falling asleep as well. And for the first time in so long, you didn't dream about anything. Didn't have any nightmares. You were just peacefully asleep the whole night, one hand placed on Dream's chest so you could always feel his heartbeat. You didn't know why you found that so comforting, but it was like you slept much better by doing so. 

   That's one of the many reasons why you were confused when you suddenly woke up to find that Dream wasn't even there. You were lying on the couch all by yourself, the house was just as quiet as ever. 

   You stood up with a yawn and stretched a little. You tried to search for your friend throughout the whole house - in the bedroom, bathroom and kitchen, but he was nowhere to be seen. Something in your chest tightened when you made your way through the dark hallway and over to the metal door. It was still locked. There were absolutely no traces of Dream. 

   You continued to look around as if you hoped he would just magically appear if you looked for long enough. He couldn't just have left you, could he? Not without at least telling you first. 

   You hummed impatiently, walking back and forth until you came to the conclusion that you were going out to look for him. You didn't care that Dream had told you not to leave the house. You'd break those locks with your bare hands if that was what it took. 

   You marched back into the hallway again, heading for the door with a determined face, only to see Dream stand right in front of it, taking off his shoes. You gasped. You hadn't even heard the door open. 

   Dream seemed a little surprised to see you as well. Then he took off his mask to meet you with a humble smile. "Goodmorning sunshine,"  

   You blinked a few times, as to check he was really there. Then you placed your hands on your sides. "Oh, so you're allowed to leave the house but I'm not? Where have you been? How long have you been gone for? Why didn't you say anything?" 

   You glanced at the door while Dream chuckled lightly at all of your questions. He had already locked all three locks. You rose a brow.  

   "I've been gone for a day or so. I left you a note in the kitchen." Dream nodded and placed an arm around your shoulder. He led you back to the kitchen to show you. 

   "You did?" You questioned, crossing your arms in a shiver. Dreams arm was cold. The weather must not have been very pleasant. You felt yourself relax a little, either way. You were glad to see him again, even though it hadn't felt like a long time for you. He had you worried for a little. The last time he had left you, you hadn't seen him for five years. 

   Then you choked on air, your mind replaying his words in your head. "Wait, a day? I've slept for a whole day?!"

   "Well, yeah. It's not so surprising, honestly. With that potion, I gave you, your body is-" He froze. Blinked. Then turned to you whose eyes turned wide. He had screwed up. 

   "I don't remember you giving me a potion-"

   "-That's because you were still asleep!" Dream interrupted eagerly. His grip tightened around your shoulders. "It was just a healing potion. To make sure you were okay."

   You were just about to ask why you would be in the need of a healing potion in the first place when Dream hugged you. He was holding your back and the back of your head, pressing you as close to him as you could possibly get. You were completely frozen at first, but then you slowly wrapped your arms around him, falling into the comfort of his embrace. All of the questioning thoughts that had formed in your mind were disappearing like snow to the sun. 

   Dream pulled away, changing the subject. You missed the warmth of his arms immediately. He took the little note that he had placed on the counter and held it up for you to read. 

   "Hey (Y/n)." You read out loud. "I'm hoping to get back home before you get a chance to read this, but I wrote it just in case: I'm with some friends and will be back soon. Remember to make yourself at home." 

   You tabbed your finger against your hip, judgingly. "I didn't know you had other friends than me." You said half-jokingly. 

   Dream chuckled. "I mean, most of them don't like me. But I do have some." 

   "Why don't they like you?" 

   He couldn't help but smile a little. "That. That is a good question."

   You rolled your eyes, looking at the letter once again. Dream's handwriting was rushed and clumsy, but it had a charm to it. "You forgot to sign it."

   "What?" 

   "The note." You explained. You grabbed the nearest pencil and began to write. '-Pissbaby' you finished, signing the piece of paper with a grin.  

   "What do you mean, who else would leave you notes in the house-" Dream stopped when he saw what you had written. He rolled his head back and groaned. "Oh, come on (Y/n), that happened one time!"

   "It happened twice!" You corrected, giving him the note. He aggressively broke it into pieces "At least from what I know of." 

   "I was in puberty!"

   "As if that's an excuse!" You laughed and shook your head. Then turned serious. "But do you mind telling me beforehand the next time you're going out? And maybe not lock the door so I can kill the time outside while you're at it? Oh, or even better, I could come with you! I'd love to meet your friends!" 

   Dream ran a hand through his dirty blonde hair. For some reason, he didn't look you in the eyes. "I don't know (Y/n), I don't think that's a good idea right now. You're still pretty exhausted, the weather isn't exactly good, and-" Dream sighed. "Listen, we can talk about this again in a week. Until then, I promise to stay right here with you. Don't worry, I won't leave again." 

   You weren't satisfied with that response at all. You didn't understand why Dream was being so paranoid. You understood that he wanted you to recover properly from... Well, whatever it was you were recovering from, but this was pushing the boundaries a little too far. You felt completely fine. Well, your mind was a bit foggy sometimes, but it wasn't like you were affected by it. And you were more than capable of protecting yourself if something happened out there. 

   But then again, you didn't want to come off as ungrateful. Dream had come out of his way to bring you to one of his houses and spent practically every moment with you. Besides, spending the next seven days in here with Dream, didn't sound so bad. The two of you had a lot of catching up to do. 

   "Fine." You huffed, crossing your arms. "One week. And then you'll take me wherever I want. And no more mysterious disappearances without telling me. "

   Dream smiled victoriously. "That's a promise."  

-

   Fun fact: Dream was extremely bad at keeping his promises. That wasn't a surprise at this point. After all, you were talking about the boy who had been all 'Oh, I promise we'll be together forever (Y/n), you're so awesome, pretty and sexy and awesome, I could never leave you!' and then went full on 'then so be it, bitch, have fun on your own, lol' the following week. But this broke all the records.  

   Dream had promised you that he wouldn't just leave the house while you were sleeping anymore, but it did happen again. Not only the day after, you woke up in the bedroom, only to see an empty spot beside you. You had sat angrily on the couch until Dream returned. It had almost been funny to see how he snuck his way into the living room, careful not to make any sounds, only to scream like a 9-year-old girl when he saw you. This time, he had given you the excuse that he needed to get some food for the two of you, and while this was a valid argument, you were still upset that he hadn't told you. 

   You had told him this, and just like last time, Dream assured you it wouldn't happen again. But guess what:

   It most certainly did. 

   The next time, you decided to play it smart. You acted as if you were sleeping, and when Dream came back from his little trip, he carefully made his way into the bed and slept as if nothing had happened. And the next day, when you asked him how he had slept, he didn't mention anything. 

   You guessed he didn't really lie to you if you didn't ask him directly. And honestly, you were quite thankful for that, because if he did end up lying to your face, you were afraid it would trigger something in you. 

    You absolutely hated when people lied to you. You hadn't always felt that way, but it was like a phobia you had unlocked by some trauma you didn't even remember having. No one liked being lied to, but this was way more than that. You despised it with your whole heart, your whole being. 

   There were also nights where you woke up with Dream by your side. Whenever you did so, you would always find the two of you to lie unbelievably close - to the point where you weren't touching him, but you could feel the warmth of his skin. It would always make you flustered and you wouldn't be able to fall asleep again after that. 

   But the problem was, that even those nights you didn't know if he had actually left the house, without you waking up early enough to realize. You weren't sure of anything anymore. All you knew was that your mind really was exhausted. It was overworking itself by being so foggy, so when you finally did fall asleep, you'd be asleep for about 20 hours. 

   20 hours. That was a whole day minus 4!

   Whenever Dream was away, he kept locking the door, trapping you inside. At first, you had thought he was just being protective. The possibility of you being badly injured the last time you had gone outside, and that was why you had suddenly woken up on Dream's couch, was still there. That would explain why Dream had given you a healing potion. But in the end, you got fed up with all of his excuses and broken promises. You craved to come outside, to breathe the fresh air, to feel the sunlight burn against your skin. You couldn't take being trapped inside anymore, even if Dream really tried his best to entertain you. 

   Because he really did. In your wake hours, the whole day would pass by with you and Dream talking or goofing around. He had many stories to tell. He told you what he had done while you were away from each other, all of the competitions he had won. He told you about how he had met his best friends, who he referred to as Gogy and Sippycup. Those were some really weird names, but you didn't question it. He told you about all of the adventures they had been on together. How they had cheated in a competition, and then run away from all of the angry villagers that wanted their heads on a stick. How they had once found and been in an underwater temple. How Dream would always pretend to propose to Gogy at every food place the three were in, in order to get free dessert. How he and Gogy had once broken Sippycup out of jail, because he had supposedly killed someone's pet. How the three had once started a whole-ass war between them and some kids - Dream didn't want to go into detail with that one. 

   You enjoyed hearing about it, you really did. And you wanted to tell him about your time without him too, but whenever you would try to search for answers in your head, it was like you pushed the memories further away. It had gotten worse over the days. You couldn't remember a single thing. It was like the five years without Dream had just passed by in a heartbeat.  

   You blamed it on amnesia. You guessed you had hit your head at some point, before waking up in Dream's house. The thought was terrifying, but you calmed yourself down with the fact that you'd remember everything soon enough. 

   Until then, you enjoyed your life with Dream. Life was finally peaceful, something your body wasn't used to. And it was nice. 

   But you still needed to confront Dream. You wanted to go outside, and you wanted him to stop sneaking out at night. If he continued to do so, you might start to think he was cheating on you or something. 

   Uh, not that you were his girlfriend or anything.  

   And so, when the week was over, you asked him to sit down on the couch. You had your eyes narrowed at him, as you tried your absolute best to keep up a cold facade.

   "I know you've been sneaking out." You said sternly. Dream looked as if he had been caught red-handed. Probably because he had. "I know you've been doing so, for almost every night the past week. I just brushed it off. But now, I want you to tell me what the hell you've been doing." 

   Dream didn't know what to say. Once again, he had been caught off guard and he hadn't prepared a lie to come up with. It wasn't like he could tell you that he was currently working his ass out to get a sixteen-year-old boy exiled from Manburg, because he had burned George's house down. And no one messed with George on Dream's watch. 

   But he did have something in mind that he could tell you. It wasn't exactly a lie, because he had prepared to take you out now that the week was over, just like he had said he would. It wasn't what he had been doing while he was gone, but there was no harm in letting you believe so.  

   "Well, I've been preparing something for you. There's a place I want to take you." 

   Your eyes lit up. "Outside?"

   "Outside."

   You jumped in excitement and threw your arms up into the air. "Yes! Ha! When are we leaving?" 

   Dream had wanted to take you there at sunset, and that would be in about two hours. And that was about the amount of time it would take the two of you to get there. He mouthed a 'now' and smiled wholeheartedly at your reaction. 

   He took your hand, and as you were about to head for the door, Dream turned on his heel and went into the bedroom. You rose your brows when he let go of your hand and went over to the wardrobe. He started pushing it aside, revealing a hidden door behind it. He opened it and you gasped. A nether portal was placed right where the doorway was supposed to be. The portal inside the frame created a perfectly purple vortex, working as a gateway between the overworld and the fiery dimension called 'the nether'. 

   "We've had a nether portal right there, all this time, and you haven't told me?" You mumbled, stepping closer. The purple was shining brightly onto your face and the gloomy room in general. You liked purple, so you didn't mind. But the weird sounds that were coming from the portal crept you out. 

    "I know you hated the nether, so..." Dream shrugged.

   "Damn straight." You nodded. "Why can't we just stay in the overworld? Can't we just go to the place you want to show me without going into the nether?" 

   "You know about the coordinate conversion, right?"

   "I might" You huffed, chin held high. Who in the hell knew about coordinate conversion?

   Dream rolled his eyes. "The horizontal coordinates and distances in the Nether are proportional to the Overworld in a 1:8 ratio. That means that it's eight times faster to travel in the nether. We're in for a two hours walk - but if we traveled in the overworld that would be 16 hours. We don't have the time for that." 

   "I have all the time in the world." You tried. Dream rose his one brow at you and you looked away. You really, really didn't want to go to the nether. 

   "I'll protect you~" He reminded playfully and leaned forward, hands folded behind his back. He looked at you with an annoying pair of baby-doll eyes. 

   You knew you couldn't resist, so you didn't even bother being stubborn. You groaned a 'fine' and headed for the nearest drawer, where you took your bow and arrows. You had missed the feeling of your quiver around your back.

   "What are you doing?" Dream chuckled while he put on his mask - he always did that when he was about to leave the house. 

   "If I'm going to be in the nether for two hours straight, I'm going to bring my bow. You need to be protected too, you know." You smiled, holding out your hand for him to take. "Now, let's get going before I change my mind."