Chapter Text
Dream sniffled as he absently wiped at its face, mask discarded for the time being. Technoblade was asleep, and things were really getting to the fake.
He just felt wrong. And that wasn’t, it wasn’t supposed- it was awful. The pretender scratched absently at his arms, finding some relief in the fact that at least the fabric that rubbed againist his skin was somewhat grounding.
It could leave. It should leave. Dream slowly got to his feet with a barely held back whimper, stumbling towards the food shute to gaze up.
It was merely met with darkness and Dream sighed as he ran a hand through his hair before gritting his teeth and flinching. Prime, when had his hair gotten so… disgusting? The pretender grasped at his hair and ran his fingers through the matted, tangled knots of hair.
“That’s just gr-gross.” Dream wheezed at the cracked sound of its own voice. “Jeez, and I sound like crap?”
Dream leaned againist the obsidian once more, coughing harshly into the crook of his neck, “Fuck.” When had it gotten so weak?
The pretender slowly sat back down on the floor, leaning his head againist his knees, forgetting his plan to escape and even the fact that he was no longer alone. Dream fiddled with his pant leg until he jerked to attention at the sound of a grunt and the shifting of fabric.
The lava hadn’t risen, the redstone hadn’t been activated. It was fine.
Fingers stopped fiddling with his pant leg to instead clutch at its hair.
It was just Technoblade. He knew that. But Dream stiffened all the same.
It wasn’t him. It was just the brute. The pretender whined low in his throat as he curled in on himself.
IT WAS FINE.
Fingers moved to the sides of its face. Stolen. Fake. Wrong.
It was a pretender! Of course it was fake! Then why did he feel so real?
Broken nails began to drag down and it bit at its lip harshly. Iron in its mouth. Tears dripping down its face. Pain, it dug its nails in. Something it could control. Dream was shaking, when had he started shaking?
“Uhhhhhh…” The dry, monotone voice cut through the spiraling mess of its mind, Dream flinching harshly as he froze.
The silence stretched painfully before Technoblade cleared his throat.
The fake curled itself into a tighter ball, “S-sorry.”
Shit. He cleared his throat but couldn’t get anything out, instead grimacing. He’d probably woke the other. Mortal things needed rest.
He had a mortal form though. Dream tensed, “No no no.” He shook his head sharply, he was beyond it. It was beyond all.
The pretender flinched when he felt his hands being removed from his face, Dream closing his eyes tightly, “No, n-no, no no no no.”
“Dude, relax. It’s just me.” Dream kept his eyes firmly closed, trying to then cover his face, and after a beat he heard the piglin mutter something under his breath.
Then his hands were slowly released, “Uhhhhhh… stay right there? I’ll get your uhhhh, ah, there it is, be right back.”
The face stealer couldn’t help but shift slightly, pressing his hands closer over his face, peeking out to observe what Technoblade had gone to do.
Oh.
The piglin returned with a familar mask in his hand, the brute stopping a few feet away before sitting down. “Alright, here you go, roomie.”
Dream blinked, taking a shuddering breath as he outstretched a hand. Technoblade perked up slightly, such a subtle gesture, before leaning forward and carefully settling it into the other’s grasp.
The pretender glanced sharply at the other, though, thankfully, the piglin kept his gaze averted.
The pretender waited a beat, was it a trick? A test of some sort? He felt his fingers twitch before he suddenly snatched it away and pulled it toward himself. Technoblade didn’t make a move, eyes still looking elsewhere.
Dream quickly pressed the mask back to his face with a sigh of relief. He shifted it until it was just right, feeling some tension leave him as he carefully pressed himself as close as possible againist the cell’s dark walls.
Silence. Lava bubbling quietly. A shift of cloth. The fake breathed out, slumping forward with a shaky exhale, “T-thanks.”
The piglin finally, carefully, glanced up before cocking his head as he seemed to merely observe Dream. His eyes narrowed slightly, “Mhm.” A flicker of a smile, “No prob, sooooo… uh, yeah.”
Quiet again. Dream shifted, running a still shaking hand through its hair, quickly flinching away though when met with the grimy, tangled mess.
He forgot about Technoblade for a moment there, absently trying to comb his fingers through his matted hair, until he heard someone clear their throat.
The pretender flinched, but ignored him, focused on his hair instead.
The piglin cleared his throat louder, and Dream grunted, “What?”
“Chilll-but… uhh, I could, like… braid your hair if you wanted?”
Dream glanced at him with curiosity, pausing with his fingers twisted in his hair, “What?”
The piglin shifted slightly, grinning with a light, casual shrug, “Braid it, get it out the way, and you know, um, get it cleaned?”
“You… know how to braid hair?” The pretender sat up straighter, shifting to a criss cross position. He couldn’t help but bark out a laugh, “Seriously?”
Technoblade just rolled his eyes, “Seriously. Dream, don’t act like, well, like that’s the strangest thing you’ve heard. Wil apparently had a furry after romancing a fish.” The piglin snickered and raised an eyebrow as he looked towards the other, practically challenging Dream to dispute his statement.
The pretender just glanced off, scratching at the back of his neck. “I-yeah. Touché.” Dream slowly stood up, pacing where it stood. “Why?”
A confused grin, “Why what?” Techno stood up as well, stretching as he did.
Dream waved an hand out wildly, “Why help?” He swung around to glare at the piglin.
Techno raised an eyebrow, “Heh?” A pause, “Ohhhh, you mean the, uh, hair thing?”
The pretender shrugged absently, “…Yeah.” He wandered over towards the water basin, looking down at himself with a frown beneath the mask. “Everyone else knows me as the monster and tyrant. And here you are… asking to braid its hair.”
The piglin wandered over with a snicker, swinging an arm around the other’s shoulders, though Dream noted the other seemed to purposefully step louder when approaching behind and paused to glance at him before doing so. Curious. Dream’s gaze snapped to the other as Technoblade gestured, “Don’t forget who else is a wanted criminal. I’ve done my fair share of murder.”
The fake rolled his eyes with a dismissive wave of his hand, “What about manipulation, killing a child multiple times, and reviving unstable madmen?”
Technoblade stared off with a pondering expression, and it looked so blank that Dream almost leapt out its skin when the brute suddenly stated, “Well. Yeah, not my style. Buuuuuut, we are roomies! So we have to deal with each other whether we like it or not.”
The pretender sighed heavily, “Roomies.”
The piglin swung his head over sharply, “You admit it!”
Dream blinked. “Huh?”
Technoblade just laughed, stepping back, “You heard it chat! He admitted we are roomies!” The brute grinned with another chuckle, motioning for Dream to sit down as he did so himself. “Alright, now let’s deal with this mess.”
The mask glared down at the brute before slowly, painstakingly slowly, Dream sat down infront of Technoblade.
And if it melted at the contact as the brute gently began distangling and cleaning out his hair, neither Dream nor Technoblade mentioned it.