Chapter Text
The wind had been freezing cold as Nightmare brought Dream to his home, neither of them reacted as the doors creaked open. A fluffy hood peaked out and smiled at the two skeletons, running over to greet them. Warm air flowed out of the open doors and the twins realized just then how cold they had gotten.
“Welcome home Boss and um... hello, Dream,” a soft purple blush spread to Cross’s cheek bones as he looked at Dream.
“Hello Cross, Nightmare has invited me to stay here while we work out a truce,” the walking oreo nodded, trying to hide his obvious crush on Dream.
“Cross, go and get the others. They will need to be informed that Dream is staying here,” Nightmare was smirking slightly at how attracted Cross is to his brother.
“Got it, I’ll be right back,” Cross shortcutted into the living room where the others were competing against each other for the title of the best poker player.
“Criss Cross, what’s up? You seem rather flustered,” Killer’s voice held the usual flirtatious tone and he tried to see if he could get Cross more flustered.
“Boss is back and wants to speak to all of us,” they all abandoned their game in favour of seeing Nightmare.
The twins had gone to Nightmare’s office and were chatting at the desk when the four skeletons waltzed into the room. Weapons were drawn as soon as they saw Dream, with Cross awkwardly standing back and avoiding eye contact. Tentacles slithered up to the weapons and pulled them out of their owners hands. Each weapon falling to the hardwood floor and clanking together, making a racket.
“Let me explain,” everyone got tense as Nightmare spoke, “Dream is going to be staying with us while we sort out a truce, which will make work easier for both of us.”
“Oh, sorry. We just thought…” Killer tried to explain himself to Nightmare, but he got a glare in return.
“I don’t care what you thought, you have to accept that he will be staying with us for the foreseeable future,” there were a few annoyed groans, but they shut up when they realized Nightmare might take their heads off for that.
“Well, welcome sunshine,” Cross was upset by Killer’s flirting towards Dream, especially after he had just threatened the positive guardian.
“Are you seriously already flirting with him?” to Cross’s annoyance Killer smiled at him and gave him a wink.
“I could flirt with you if you’d prefer that, you jealous oreo,” the two began bickering and didn’t notice the angry octopus behind them.
Dust and Horror had already fled the room, feeling Nightmare’s aura unintentionally filling the room with negativity. Dream had slipped out with the other two and was waiting outside the room for it to be over. He didn’t have to wait long. Killer and Cross were hanging upside down by their ankles, which tentacles had wrapped around tightly.
“Sorry about that Dream, these two tend to bicker a lot,” both twins looked at the hanging skeletons with irritation, neither of them had a good temper and they both knew people who tested it a few too many times.
“It’s fine, Blue usually burns stuff down in an attempt at cooking while Ink leaves messes everywhere, so I know what it’s like. I don’t envy you for having to deal with them,” things were finally starting to calm down and Dream felt like maybe it wouldn’t be such a big change from living with the Star Sanses.
He was wrong.
After Nightmare showed him the room he’d be staying in and left him there until dinner, when someone was going to come get him. Dream found a sketchbook that Cross had forgotten there while he was sketching some of the rooms in the mansion. He flipped through page after page after page and just found more and more sketches of rooms similar to his, until he saw a sketch of a familiar artist. It wasn’t fancy, but the drawing was obviously of Ink and then on the next page there were drawings of Blue and himself.
The drawings got messed up as he kept looking through, there were drawings of sexual activities and then a drawing of Dream. Without his clothes on and a note at the top said ‘I imagine this is roughly how his ecto looks’. It was dirty and made him uncomfortable, then Cross knocked at the door just before opening it. They both knew what Dream was holding and the things he had seen, it made Cross wish he was dead.
“I-I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to leave this here. Please forget anything you saw in there,” when he tried to flee his wrist was grabbed and Dream shoved him down onto the bed.
“I saw a bit of the next page, I had nudes of Killer and Nightmare. Do you enjoy imagining what people's ectobodies look like? Does that get you hot and bothered? Because if it does, you’re more adventurous than I thought,” Dream didn’t know why he was encouraging Cross to continue drawing him and others in the nude, but he secretly wanted to see more.
“I-I guess I like it, especially when I haven’t seen someone yet. Like with you and Nightmare, sadly Killer ruins the fun by showing off everytime he sees me trying to imagine him naked. He does make me feel good after I draw him though, wait I’m oversharing, sorry. I should go, bye,” it didn’t take long for Cross to shortcut back to his room, with a weird mix of arousal and anxiety.
Just a few minutes later Horror showed up to escort Dream to the dining hall, where everyone else was already seated. There was a free seat between Nightmare and Killer that he took, feeling Cross watch him, while feeling embarrassed. For some reason nobody said anything about Cross’s weird behaviour and it was chalked up to him still feeling off after Dream saw his drawings.
After dinner everyone went to do their own thing and Dream didn’t know what to do, so he returned to his room for the night. Silently he hoped the next day would go better and that the truce would be signed in no time, then he could return to a place that he wasn’t sure what to call. It didn’t feel like home, but it was the place he lived when he didn’t have work. Maybe after he leaves the mansion he can find a better house, one that might just become his new home.