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The lava descended slowly, Dream's shoulders relaxed as he looked over. His expression brightened as he saw the figure stepping off the platform.
"Ranboo!" His tone betrayed his excitement, Dream taking a breath to step forward, "It’s good to see you."
It had been weeks since he'd seen anyone, and longer since he'd seen the hybrid.
"Hi Dream." Ranboo spoke slowly.
"I haven't seen you in a while, any updates on the server…?" Dream asked, walking over to pick up a book from a chest in the corner.
“Well Tommy’s building a hotel, Sam’s helping him.” He explains, his words chosen carefully.
“He is now.” Dream said amusedly. “Well that’s interesting. What about the others? Do they suspect anything?”
“No.” Ranboo shook his head. “I believe Phil is worried about me, but I don’t think he suspects.”
“Good, you’re doing a good job Ranboo.” Dream huffed. “It sucks being stuck in here. But atleast with your help I can keep things moving.”
“Yes, it’s… all for the greater good, right?” Ranboo asked, his posture straightening at the praise.
Dream leaned back against a wall as he nodded. “Yes. It is.” He went quiet for a moment before speaking again. “What else is going on?”
"George seems to be doing well. He, Sapnap, and Karl built a new kingdom. It’s called Kinoko.”
"Why do you think I care about that?" Dream snorted. And yet even as he said it, there was a small twinge in his chest.
George was doing well. Had he moved on? Did he seem upset? No if he was alright that meant he couldn’t be upset. Which Dream was fine with, of course George would move on. Especially after he specifically tried to remove him and Sapnap from his life. Attachments were only a weakness.
“Because he was your friend?” Ranboo tilted his head brow furrowing.
“That idiot?” Dream shook his head. “Yeah we used to be, but honestly, he’s useless at this point. Him and Sapnap both.”
“I’ll continue keeping an eye on him then.” Ranboo said, a small smile on his lips.
“I said- I don’t give a fuck about George.” Dream snarled. “I don’t care what he’s doing, he could be off doing drugs in Las Nevadas and I wouldn’t give a fuck.”
He didn’t care. He didn’t. George could be dead and he wouldn’t give a rats ass about it. The only thing that mattered was Tommy, because Tommy would help him regain control of the SMP. Everything else was trivial, meaningless.
Ranboo sat down in front of Dream, his purple eyes staring at Dream with a gaze that made him squirm.
“You do care. But that’s okay. You don’t need to say it.”
“Shut up-“ Dream snapped, glaring at him.
Ranboo didn’t fight back, didn’t seem perturbed at all by Dream’s anger. Instead he calmly stood up.
“I’ll still keep an eye on him.” He said simply. “And bring you news when you want it.”
“I-“ Dream normally would have continued to berate Ranboo, tell him how useless of a task it was. They had more important things to do. “Fine. Go ahead and waste your time, so long as it doesn’t affect other stuff you need to get done.”
“I understand.” Ranboo nodded, looking towards the lava and requesting to be brought back.
Dream didn’t care, and it was a useless idea. Yet, if Ranboo did come back with more information, he wasn’t entirely sure he’d be upset about it.