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“You don’t have to choose—” Nightmare began, but was quickly cut off.
“But I do! You hate Dream, Boss! I doubt you’d put up with him for me,” Cross exclaimed, trying his best to fight back tears. Nightmare didn’t say anything, he only kept his glance away from the monochrome skeleton. Cross took this as confirmation that what he said had been correct, but the real reason was the very antithesis of Cross’ beliefs.
Cross knocked on Killer’s door. The two usually spoke about things that were plaguing their minds. It had taken quite a bit to finally become friends, and then for their ‘situation’ to begin. After quite a bit of time, the monochrome had gained feelings for Killer as well, and he’d told him about his dilemma in detail, how he had realised he loved three different skeletons at the same time, and how he felt wrong about it.
Killer had taught him about poly relationships and it had been a very quick realisation that Cross was polyamorous. During their last conversation, Cross had let it slip that he loved both Nightmare, Dream and one other skeleton… He’d seen Killer’s face drop and had felt guilt build up in his gut.
He loved Killer too, but he didn’t have any confidence in telling the skeleton himself. Nightmare knew without Cross having to tell him, but he wasn’t sure about Dream. The two rarely saw each other outside of the battlefield and the few times Dream would come to visit him about his feelings on certain subjects. He wanted more time with Dream but respected Nightmare more than he trusted his own romantic feelings.
Cross heard a mixture of noises, but he couldn’t quite tell what Killer was trying to say. “I’m coming in!” Cross said, as he turned the knob and began to slowly open the door. As he opened the door, he suddenly realised what the noises were - someone was moaning in there. Shocked, the monochrome skeleton let go of the door instead of closing it back up.
As the door swung open he heard the moans stop as he came face-to-face with two skeletons. Dream was underneath a very naked Killer, who was currently in the middle of teasing Dream. The three kept eye contact with each other as they all felt unsure of what to do. It was Killer who came out of the trance that they’d brought themselves under.
“Criss-Cross! I can explain!” He said urgently as he began to move off of Dream. The yellow-eyed skeleton took Killer’s sheets and covered himself with them as Killer began to walk towards the door, not caring to put any pants on. It was getting too much for the monochrome skeleton, but he couldn’t move.
He developed the confidence to speak. “Are you… in love?” He quietly squeaked, so only Killer could hear it. Cross quietly watched as the other turned to look at Dream for a moment before turning back to Cross. “I… I have feelings for Dream, for you… and for Moonlight,” Killer admitted, before turning away and completely avoiding eye contact.
Dream got off the bed and covered himself with Killer’s jacket as he got closer so he could join the conversation. “Why don’t we have this conversation with the door closed?” He suggested, mainly because he was scared his brother would appear due to the confusion and hurt that was radiating off of Cross.
“Alright,” Cross whispered and shuffled inside, that being the first thing his body could compute other than talking after witnessing that scene. Killer awkwardly got back to the bed and tapped both sides, motioning for both skeletons to sit by him. Dream came without a second thought, but the monochrome skeleton had more hesitation.
Killer pat the side once more with a patient look across his face, and slowly, Cross moved and sat down. “Well, this seems quite the situation, doesn’t it?” Dream said, not quite knowing what to say. Killer chuckled whilst the monochrome skeleton kept his gaze away from them both.
“I think we should begin with Cross, after all, he did come in here to talk,” Killer prompted, turning his body to watch him. The monochrome felt nervous but decided to go through with it. “Well um… I came in here because I had a chat with Nightmare,” He awkwardly said, holding onto his shorts tightly. Dream looked genuinely concerned but didn’t say a word.
“He said that he knew, about my feelings, and said he could make it work,” He continued, lowering his voice even further. Killer smiled at this, although it seemed forced. “Oh that’s great Criss-Cross, I’m sure it’ll all work out in your favour,” Killer responded. Cross turned to look at Killer, his eyelights staring through his empty sockets.
“Killer, it’s not just Nightmare, and it’s not just…” He glanced at Dream for a moment. “It’s not just Dream either, it’s you,” Cross admitted, Dream audibly gasped, as what Cross had said settled in the air. Before anyone could respond though, there was a knock at the door. “It’s Nightmare,” Dream whispered, knowing the other’s aura far too well.
Said dark skeleton opened the door without any further delay and saw Dream’s horrified and scared face as he tried to helplessly cover himself in Killer’s jacket, with Killer himself not being covered at all, and staring at Nightmare with almost a curious expression. His eyes finally flickered onto Cross, who looked almost guilty as he carefully watched Nightmare, but what for… He wasn’t entirely sure.
“It’s time,” Nightmare mumbled.
“It’s time for the truth to be told,”
Cross felt tight, not in the way that his own body was stressed and constricting his non-existent lungs, but in the way that someone was squeezing him to the point he couldn’t breathe. He opened his eyes and saw darkness in front of him. It took a moment to realise that the darkness was not the room being dark… It was Nightmare.
It took another moment to realise that the squeezing was a mix of said darker’s tentacles, and Killer’s arm. Cross groaned slightly as he helplessly tried to get at least Killer’s arm off of his body, but it was no use, all of them stayed put. After spending a couple of minutes, with neither of them supposedly waking up either, Cross pushed himself into Nightmare’s goopy body and relaxed.
“You squirm too much,” Nightmare grumbled as he brought Cross closer to him. The monochrome yelped as he heard a small chuckle from the other side of the bed. “Glad to see you two getting along,” Dream quietly spoke, being careful of Killer who was still firmly sleeping. Cross’ face felt hot against Nightmare’s chest.
“Is Killer the only deep sleeper between us?” Cross whispered into Nightmare and the darker huffed in reply. That was a firm yes. “It just means he misses out on more things!” Dream quietly spoke in glee. It made the other two laugh a little. After a moment or two of silence, the monochrome turned in Nightmare’s grip to see a sleeping Killer and Dream sitting up. There was a soft feeling of happiness between the three skeletons awake.
“I love you both,” Cross whispered quietly. He felt Nightmare’s tentacles tighten for a moment before softening and saw Dream with a big smile. “I love you both too,” They whispered in unison, before laughing quietly at what had happened. The three quietly drifted back to sleep once more in the comfort that they all were together, and all loved each other equally.