The room was dark, bodies laying astrew, whether knocked out or dead, Dream didn’t care. Who he did care about lay bleeding out in his arms.
Nightmare had been caught.
He hadn’t been caught by Justice Reigns, though. He’d been caught by a group of anti-monster activists who had been known to brutally murder the monsters in their universe.
The dumb idiot had gotten himself captured, and if Ink had reported to him barely a second later, Dream might not have made it. Even now, as he nudged the single golden apple he’d taken from his soul against the other guardian’s mouth, he felt fear course through him. There were so many things he hadn’t yet said to Nightmare, so many things he regretted not doing while he could.
And if Nightmare died, Dream wasn’t ready to go either.
From the corner of the room, Ink watched silently, almost reverently. He had originally been sent to disband the group, through force, as words hadn’t worked before and this group had slaughtered three of the human and monster advocates Justice Reigns had sent.
Nightmare groaned and pushed the apple away from his mouth. He coughed, blood dribbling down from the corner of his grin.
“Hey there, angel. Come here often?”
“Nightmare, now is NOT the time, please,” Dream pleaded, more and more of his fear showing as Nightmare slipped farther and farther away. He propped the other guardian up better and nudged the apple against his mouth once more. “Please, Nightmare, please…”
“Dream, if this is really it, I need to tell you something-”
The door next to Ink burst open and two monsters stumbled through it, worry and panic radiating off of them. Error and Cross had found them.
Ink intercepted them, but not even Ink could truly hold the two of them back once they saw exactly who was dying in Dream’s arms.
Dream found a knife in his face and as he looked up, a pair of multicolored hands tried to tug Nightmare out of his hold.
“Don’t touch him,” He snapped, turning his sudden fury towards Error, who let go of Nightmare in surprise.
“Hey, Lord Fuckface, I’m up here, look the fuck at me,” Cross seethed, his gaze stone cold. “You had better put him down and back the fuck away or so help me this knife will go through your damn head-”
“Shut the hell up, you damn idiot, I’m trying to save his miserable life,” Dream snarled back, looking back down at Nightmare, who was still smiling weakly. Cross backed up, confused and conflicted.
“You’re so warm… Why am I so cold?”
“Nightmare, listen to me,” Dream murmured, but when the guardian’s eyes began to slip closed, Dream panicked. He looked back up at Error and Cross. “Heal him, NOW.”
They scrambled forward without a second thought, both of their hands glowing with green and placed on the stab wound, and Nightmare gasped, his eyes flying open.
“Eat the apple,” Dream demanded once more, and Nightmare merely stared between him and his two friends, gaping. “If you won’t live for me, then at least live for them. Please…”
Error and Cross locked eyes with Nightmare, pleas of hope in their gazes, and then, Nightmare opened his mouth.
His magic absorbed the apple, and his wound closed up underneath Cross and Error’s hands. Dream sighed in relief, letting his shoulders slump.
Error and Cross stared at him warily, especially when Nightmare, his eyes glowing bright cyan, turned in the other guardian’s arms and punched him in the chest.
“You fucking idiot, you should have let me die,” Nightmare wheezed, before wrapping his arms around Dream and hugging him.
“You’re the one who allowed himself to get captured,” Dream laughed fondly, wrapping his own arms around Nightmare. Something Nightmare had said earlier came to his mind, and he spoke on his thought. “You wanted to tell me something?”
Nightmare stiffened up, and he pulled back from the hug.
“Ahh, maybe you could forget that and we could be on our separate ways-”
At Dream’s imploring gaze, Nightmare sighed in defeat, leaning forward into Dream’s chest.
“Now that I’m ALIVE, it’s not really the best time to say it…” Nightmare pulled himself closer to Dream, muffling his next words into the fluff of Dream’s jacket. “But I’ve been in love with you ever since we were 17-”
Dream froze, and despite the other three monsters staring at the pair of them in silent shock, he pulled Nightmare back, cupped his face in his hands, and pressed their foreheads together. Their crowns clanked softly against each other. Nightmare’s new cyan eyes were wide.
“Fuck, uh,” Nightmare’s eyes shifted away in embarrassment, a nervous smile pulling up the corners of his mouth. “Yeah, I mean? I didn’t think I’d get this far-”
Dream kissed him. He pulled the other guardian’s mouth to his own, silencing any words Nightmare had been about to say.
And despite the indignant shouts of his friends, Nightmare kissed him back.
It was complicated. Neither of them had really expected their relationship to progress to this point, especially concerning the situation they’d been in for over a century.
But all the little details could be worked out later. Error, Cross, and Ink could wait.
All that really mattered to them, as time froze and their mouths continuously pressed together, deeper and deeper…
All that really mattered was the other guardian in their arms.
