Chapter Text
The afternoon had started with a crash of thunder that made your tiny suburban duplex tremble.
It made you pause as you were fussing with your hair in an attempt to get it just right. The plan had been to go into town for a cozy date to pretend to be a normal couple for once, but you couldn't help but worry that the abrupt weather would prevent that.
He won't cancel, will he?
You smoothed imaginary wrinkles from your dress to wipe away your anxiety, and as if on cue, a series of light knocks echoed from the door.
***
When you opened the door, Dream was standing there with a boyish smile and a fistful of soggy dandelions while the rain soaked through his robes. He looked as bright as ever despite the dreary weather, and he quickly swooped in to thread his fingers through your hair to draw you in for a tender kiss.
After a moment of basking in the warm contact, he pulled away to beam. "I missed you, starlet!"
You felt your heart melt for him all the more, and you couldn't bring yourself to care that he had just ruined your meticulously done-up hair.
***
"Are you ready for our date?" he cheerily asked and held out the dandelions as though they were an elaborate bouquet. "I picked you flowers!"
You laughed softly and took them from him to lay them out on the kitchen counter to dry, then returned to the door. "I'm surprised you still want to go out in this."
He blinked owlishly, none-the-wiser to the downpour still pelting him. "Why wouldn't I? I promised to spend the day with you!"
You shook your head fondly and, after nabbing your umbrella, you joined him outside. "Ah, forget I said anything. I'm ready!"
***
Dream chattered endlessly on your trek into the shopping district, happily regaling you with the tales of his adventures and friends while you held the umbrella over your heads. He motioned energetically with one hand and kept his fingers laced with yours in the other.
"—It was strange to see Error fighting my brother, but I suppose it should be expected from the Destroyer of AUs!"
His stories seemed so outlandish and you had a hard time following them, but you could only think of how happy you were that someone so important was here with you at this moment.
***
The two of you leisurely strolled up and down the sidewalk, peering into the window displays and gushing over the contents within. At times, Dream didn't understand the purpose of some items and would turn to you with wide, curious eyes as he prompted you to explain why someone would have the need for a Lazy Susan or a barrel of 2500 cheese balls.
"Doesn't it seem... Excessive?" he commented and earned a snort from you.
"That's the way humans are."
It was nice.
That is, until an odd swirl of black and cyan magic formed a few yards away.
***
You were the first to notice it and tilted your head in confusion while Dream was preoccupied with examining an oddly shaped lamp in a thrift store window. There wasn't anything remarkable about it aside from the fact it existed, but when you opened your mouth to get his attention, a flash of white caught your eye.
A split second later, you heard a chnk! and the pole of your umbrella was cleanly sliced through; allowing the wind to abruptly carry the top away and the rain to dunk on you completely.
That made Dream tense beside you. "Oh no."
***
Not quite understanding what just happened, you could only blink as a skeleton with mismatched eyes slipped through the portal with a huff, followed shortly by another that bore streaks of black down his cheeks.
"oops. sorry about that: i was aiming for your head."
"boss didn't say anything about the creampuff havin' a girlfriend," the second skeleton remarked and scratched his chin with a dull butcher's knife.
"does it matter? you'd kill her either way."
"What?" you squawked.
"We have to go," Dream hissed and suddenly, he scooped you into a bridal carry and desperately urged, "Hold on tight.”
***
The abrupt movements of your partner triggered the other skeletons to drop into fighting stances and between one moment and the next, the quiet little shopping strip erupted into a flurry of bone attacks.
You screeched in response and wrapped your arms around Dream's neck as he deftly lunged away from your previous spot before it was smashed to smithereens. In retaliation, he haphazardly flicked his hand to send a wave of amorphous cyan magic their way as a distraction but didn't bother to stick around for them to recover and instead broke into a sprint in the opposite direction.
***
"shit! he's running!" the hooded skeleton barked, and when he hurled another bone that thankfully fell short of its target, they broke into their own break-neck runs to catch up. "you little bitch-"
"What the fuck," you gasped as the wind and rain pelted you when Dream gunned it towards the woods that skirted the edge of town. "What the fuck-!?"
"Do not panic! It's only Dust and Killer!" he breathlessly explained.
"How the fuck are those names supposed to be reassuring!?"
"W-well! They're not my brother!"
You bit back another panicked shriek if only to spare his nonexistent eardrums.
***
The amount of ground Dream was able to cover in a short span of time was nothing less than impressive, even with you weighing him down. In a matter of minutes, he was leaving your pursuers in the dust—though you could still hear them spitting profanities in the distance—and had ducked into the pseudo-safety of the trees for cover.
You shivered in his arms as he slowed his pace to survey your surroundings, and it suddenly felt like you were breathing through a straw.
"T-they tried to kill us," you exclaimed.
Dream gently shushed you. "It's alright, starlet."
***
How was he so calm when you felt as though your heart was going to explode out your ears? It had all happened so abruptly that you didn't fully process it at the moment, but now that he wasn't running from your attempted murderers, your terror was catching up to you in the form of an iron ball rolling around in your gut.
"N-no, it's not alright—" you began to babble hysterically. "They just attacked us! A-and my umbrella?"
He blinked and glanced at the broken handle you were still clutching. "I'll ask Ink to make you a new one?"
***
"Dream!"
"It's going to be okay," he affirmed again as he returned to scanning the area for something. "I just need to get you somewhere safe, and then—"
He snapped his mouth shut at the sound of your attackers clamoring through the thicket like a couple of bulls and slid down a nearby hillock. A few more clumsy steps over some thorn bushes and he managed to locate a small grotto nestled underneath the roots of a sizable tree.
Without any hesitation, he all but threw you inside and crammed himself in after you.
Seconds later, you heard, "well. shit."