Ink Stains (MCYT Oneshots)

[R] Another Minor Caught (Purpled & Dream)

(A/N: MapleSandwich: Can I request Dream manipulating Purpled? Like Purpled visits Dream and Dream starts manipulating him?
this is kinda au?)

Purpled didn't know how he found himself in this situation.

No, that wasn't correct; he knew how he got himself here, standing in Dream's prison cell, facing the one man he'd only ever heard horror stories of, as he tried to stay as far away from all the chaos and drama as possible. He knew that his feet had walked to Pandora's Vault, that his mouth had moved and his throat had worked to request — politely, eerily so to someone who knew him, but Sam didn't know him — to visit Dream. Sam had granted it, suspicion in his eyes behind that mask of his, and yet Purpled had followed through all the routes, gone through all of the security properly. It felt as though his body had moved on its own, and Purpled didn't know just how deep he'd fallen until he was midway to the cell, stood on a moving platform.

He knew he had moved. He knew he had been the one to get himself here. He just didn't know why he was here. Why he'd thought it was a good idea to come here. Why he'd even come here in the first place.

Dream couldn't hurt him. He looked worse for wear, honestly; not as bad as some of the states Purpled had seen others in, but he was definitely somewhere up there. He looked broken, shattered, vulnerable and defenceless; and yet, Purpled still felt like the prey in this scenario. Especially since there was nothing separating them.

"Well, this is a surprise," Dream rasped. Dirty blond-brown strands fell in front of his face as he came to stand in front of him. "I haven't seen you in a while."

Purpled stayed silent.

"Not going to say anything?" Dream tilted his head, a smile spreading on his face. "You really are like your brother."

Purpled continued staying silent.

"Playing the hard game? Fine." with a sigh, Dream reached out, and Purpled took a step back, eyeing the hand that was still outstretched in front of him warily. "Come on, let's sit down! It's more comfortable to discuss and talk that way."

"No thanks, I'll pass," he responded.

Dream wasn't deterred, though.

"Let's make a deal," Dream offered, smiling widely at him in a way that made Purpled shiver. "I'm sure you're very familiar with those."

"Mhm."

"You don't know how you came here, do you?" Dream questioned. "I could tell from your expression when you were on that lava platform. You seemed startled, like you weren't in control of yourself."

Well, that was true, but Purpled wasn't just going to tell him that.

"If you do a little favour for me, I might be able to just tell you why." Dream continued. "And trust me, it'll be worth it for you in the end."

"Quackity offered me a better deal than that," Purpled said quietly. That was a lie, of course; Purpled thought that both Quackity and his deal could eat shit and be thrown into the garbage bin, but Dream didn't have to know that. The little taunt seemed to work, if the way Dream's jaw clenched was any inclination.

"Oh, did he now?" Purpled didn't miss the way Dream had first flinched when he heard Quackity's name, nor the way his voice shook as he spoke that sentence. And yet, despite all of that, Purpled still felt like the weaker one in the room, like Dream was a predator and not a false god under the pretence that he was one.

But Purpled needed to keep his cool. He needed to make himself impenetrable, show no weakness, make sure that Dream would have nothing to use against him.

Of course, that plan all but shattered into pieces the moment the next sentence came out of Dream's mouth.

"How has your brother been doing, by the way?"

Purpled stiffened, and he knew Dream had caught on onto that.

"Wouldn't you want a way to, ah, save him?" he asked. "To be recognised, to be remembered, to get the attention you deserve? To be able to prove yourself properly?"

Dream had been here from the very beginning. He knew things that everyone else didn't. Maybe...

"How about that, Purpled?" Dream grinned at him, much like the cat had caught the canary. "You do a little favour for me, and I'll let you know how you could potentially get Punz, get your brother, back. Neither you or him will be harmed, and it won't even interrupt with whatever you have with Q-Quackity."

Purpled shouldn't do this. He'd heard about what Dream had done to Tommy, had seen the weight of what Dream had done to everyone, had even seen some of the effects firsthand. Doing this mysterious little favour for Dream... it would lead to nothing but disaster. Besides, Purpled didn't need attention or recognition.

But Punz...

It was a little favour, Purpled told himself, as he nodded, and shuddered at Dream's too-wide smile. It was only a little one. A small favour for some information; nothing more, nothing less. It would be fine, and wouldn't have any lasting consequences.

Purpled had never been good at lying to himself.