It had been months since Dream settled down with the Syndicate in the north of the server. It had been very hard months, especially since Dream tried to recover from the trauma of the prison and the torture, which had led to various fears and reactions none of them would have expected.
One of the things no one had expected was Dream’s unwillingness to wear armor. At first Techno had blamed it on his weakened state or his general fear of engaging in battle again. Yet, after a few months, Dream had started to recover and even taken on sparring with his rival again.
At first it had just been a few hits with wooden swords. Techno was slowly trying to get him back into fighting, not because he needed to have his rival fight him but because he remembered how much Dream had loved their sparring. He wanted something his rival could enjoy again. And watching Dream now, dodging hits, spinning around Techno to attack him from behind, moving faster than anyone else? Techno felt like he had reached something.
Dream had asked to grade up to stone tools a while ago and now he asked if they could train with iron tools. Techno had promised they would move in Dream’s speed and they could always go a few steps back if needed.
The problem was that Techno didn’t feel comfortable fighting Dream with iron tools and without armor. Especially since there was still this giant gap in skills and strength between the two of them. Techno was also aware of the looks Dream gave him whenever he wore his netherite armor, guessing something must have happened in prison.
“We can fight with iron but only if you wear armor.” Techno said shouldering the freshly crafted iron sword. It wasn’t like he just had iron swords laying around. He could basically feel Dream tense up behind him, his rival looking at the ground.
“Oh come on, Techno. It’s just iron.” His rival tried to convince him but Techno’s opinion was set.
“No, it’s either we wear armor, or we stay at stone tools. You know how much damage a critical hit from an iron axe can deal.” Techno started crafting iron armor for the two of them. “It’s just chestplates, if that makes you feel better?” Techno stepped away from the craftingtable and held the chestplate out for him.
Dream hesitantly stepped closer, taking the armor in his hands. “I… I don’t really think we should do this.” He whispered and Techno almost missed it.
“We can go back to stone tools if you prefer that?” Techno suggested. Like he said. Dream’s pace.
“No… that’s not it.” Dream sighed, still staring at the chestplate. It seemed to be too heavy for him and he set it on the ground. “I really want to upgrade to iron but I don’t want to wear armor.” Before Techno could interrupt, Dream spoke again. “I understand why you said we should wear armor but I just can’t. Especially since it’s your iron we use for it.”
“Are you serious?” Techno raised his eyebrows at his rival who apparently found a very interesting spot on the ground. “I already used so many materials for you but you draw the line at iron armor?” Techno turned around and went to one of his chests and pulled out 64 iron blocks. “I’m not poor, Dream. I could craft netherite armor for you once you are strong enough to carry it.”
“I just don’t want to be a liability.” Dream mumbled and fidgeted with the dark green sweater Phil had knitted for him. “I already take enough food from you. You even threw away your potatoes even though that was your thing.. But armor is something which protects the wearer and… I don’t know if I deserve that.”
Techno stepped closer to Dream after he put the iron blocks away again. He gently laid his hands on the shorter man’s shoulders. “Dream.” He interrupted. “Do I look like I care? I’m unbelievably rich! I could go mining for one day only and I would bring back more than you have used the entire time you were here. And the potatoes were just a bit. I don’t even eat potatoes personally. Even if we were extremely poor, I’d still share my resources with you.”
Dream raised his head.
“Because I care about you nerd.” Techno removed his hands from the still skinny shoulders and pulled Dream into a hug. “And you are worth protecting.”
