Chapter Text
Dream walks along the dusty path of the forest, bone-tired from all the chores the villagers make him do. He's happy to help them, really! However, sometimes... It gets a bit much.
He sniffs, wiping his eyesockets for any stray tears. It was weird, he was positivity incarnate, yet he could still feel sad. Just another reminder of how important the balance was he supposed. That you could not have one without the other.
He sat down beside a tree stump, sighing. He was... Tired, or as tired as his body could be. Mentally, he wasn't tired at all. How could he be? He wasn't human or a monster.
He heard the sound of the grass crunching behind him. He turned his head around, somewhat hiding behind the tree stump.
A cat monster with their back turned. Teal fur and a bandage wrapped around their head, one arm seemed to be missing. One of their ears flickered, whipping their head around to face Dream.
Slit black pupils staring at bright yellow eyelights.
"Oh... Hey, kid..?" they greeted.
"H-Hi..." Dream replied, voice ethereal as always.
"Hey, I won't hurt you kiddo," they spoke, kneeling down to Dream's level. "What's your name?"
Dream blinked.
How could this monster not know Dream's name? Everyone in the village knew. Unless they were from another village? But those were very far.
"Are you- Are you not a villager?" The cat's eyebrow quirked.
"That one?" they asked, pointing to the village Dream had been walking away from, at the nod they continued. "Nah, I was exiled a while ago. Shacked up far from it. Only here to find some materials."
"Exiled..?" Dream questioned, what could this monster have done?
"Attacked the others. Not my proudest moment, but they... They saw my house on fire and didn't try to help. And my family-" they stopped rambling, cringing at themselves. "crap, sorry, you're just... How old are you?"
"Uhm..." He showed a hand, all of his fingers raised.
"Five? Oh, great. Where are your parents, kid? You shouldn't be wandering out by yourself."
"Mother can't move."
"Oh, sorry, is your mom-" they cut themselves off when Dream pointed to the Tree of Feelings.
"Mother fused with the tree!" he explained.
"Ok..? Look kid, what's your name?" they asked again.
"Dream!"
"Dream... Dream... Oh! You're one of those kids that lives at the tree! That makes so much more sense!" they exclaimed.
Dream nodded. "What's your name... Mister..?"
"It's Neil," they introduced, "and yeah, I'm a guy."
"Cool! Mother told me my body is a male and that she copied it from someone! I don't know what it fully means, but she says I don't technically have any sex! How cool is that?" Dream exclaimed, a grin stretching across his face.
Neil blinked at him, before letting out a confused chuckle. "It's..? Real cool!"
—
"Neil!" Dream shouted as he ran through the forest, trying to find Neil's home. It had been a few months since their first meeting, but Dream loved visiting Neil whenever he could.
"Whoa! Careful there Dream! You'll trip!" Neil exclaimed, turning his head in Dream's direction.
"Mm... I'm fine!" Dream announced as he shook a vine off his foot.
"What's got you so worked up? Shouldn't you be with your brother?" Neil asked with a smirk.
"That's just it! I've got the greatest idea!" Dream exclaimed with a huge grin plastered across his face.
"Oh yeah?" Neil chuckled as Dream nodded.
"You should come visit my brother!" Dream exclaimed, cheerfully. Neil bit his bottom lip, his eyes darting away, Dream faltered. "Is something wrong..?"
"I- Look Dream, I'd like to visit him, but I'm exiled... Remember?" Dream frowned.
"It's okay! I-I can bring my brother here!"
"Don't you have to guard the tree?"
Dream's cheeks puffed up. "You're making this really hard! Don't you want to meet him?"
"I do! I do!" Neil exclaimed, patting Dream on the head. "From what you've told me he's a real good kid, but..." At Dreams frown, Neil tried to change the topic. "Hey, have you ever cooked before?"
Dream shook his head. "No, I don't really need to eat."
"Well, do you like food?"
"Yeah!" Dream nodded. "They taste really good!"
"How about this? I can teach you how to cook and you can show it to your brother?" Neil suggested. Dream's eyes turned into literal stars.
"Really?!"
"Yeah! I don't mind!" Neil smiled, walking away as Dream followed from behind. "Be warned that since I do live far away, I don't have a lot of cooking supplies."
"That's fine!" Dream chirped.
"I do have some meat that would go bad if we don't use it in time so maybe-"
"NO!" Dream shouted, face flushing yellow when Neil stared at him. "I don't like eating animals..."
"Oh, that's alright! Most monsters don't, but we gotta do what we gotta can to live. Maybe I can just teach you the basics first since you're homeless."
"Not homeless!"
"No house? Homeless."
"That-" Dream grumbled as he crossed his arms, out of arguments to use.
Neil chuckled. "You know what flour is?"
"Of course, I know what it is."
"Yeah, but do you know how to make them?" When Dream shook his head Neil continued. "I've been testing stuff out, and there are multiple plants you can turn into flour. Or at least, I classify it as flour."
Neil pointed to a plant that he was growing. "That's the flour most use- Let me grab some of... Here! These are the berries it grows! If you crush it up a lot, it turns into flour!"
"Here hold these let me grab something you can crush it with- Oh and never mind! You crushed it!" Neil noted, staring at Dream's hands where the, now crushed, berries lay.
"Did I do it right?"
"I mean, you're really strong, but we need to crush it into a powder. Let me go get a bowl so you can pour it in, alright?" Dream nodded.
—
"Wow, I think this is the most powdery it can get! You didn't even need to use something to crush it!" he exclaimed, examining the flour. "You did really good kid!"
Dream nodded, smiling at the praise. "So, what's next?"
"Well, we need eggs... Why don't you pour that on the table while I grab the eggs?"
"Okay!" Dream exclaimed, pouring the flour onto their makeshift table.
Neil came back with a few eggs, placing them down. "You know how to crack them?"
"Nope!"
Neil sighed, this was going to be a long day, wasn't it?
"Well, it's really easy, just bang it over something and then crack it open!" Neil explained as he demonstrated. "Just make sure you don't get any of the shells in there!"
"Okay!"
—
"Nightyyy!" Dream exclaimed as he ran through the village, heading towards the Tree of Feelings, plate in hand.
Nightmare sighed, closing his book. "Yeah?"
"Look!" Dream grinned as he brought a plate of pasta up to Nightmare's face.
"What is that..?" Nightmare asked, squinting his sockets at the food.
"It's pasta! Neil taught me how to make it!" Dream explained, kneeling down on the grass.
"Neil? The guy you met in the forest?" His brother questioned, he gave a quick nod in response.
"Want to taste?"
Nightmare nodded, taking a piece and placing it in his mouth. Then he dramatically fell onto the floor. "It's poison! You've poisoned me how could you brother?"
"Nightyyy!"
"I'm dying! I'm dying Dream!"
"We can't even die!"
"Look at him, can't even appreciate his brother's cooking," a villager whispered to another. Nightmare's cheeks grew purple as he sat up.
"It's good..." Nightmare muttered, looking at the grass. Dream nodded, as he looked over at the villagers. "They probably just thought I was serious Dream."
"Then I should go tell them it was just a misunderstanding!"
"No! No... They'll probably forget in a day anyway. It's not a big deal," Nightmare said. "Here, why don't you tell me how you made it?"
Dream beamed. "Okay!"