on temporizing || Dream SMP Timeloop Fic

Chapter 1

1.

"I am going to fucking murder you, Tommy!"

The shout echoed through L'Manberg. Several people whipped around in time to see TommyInnit sprint past them, cackling wildly. Dream followed a moment later, wielding a netherite axe.

"Can't kill me if you can't catch me, bitch!" the teen shrieked gleefully, then screamed and jumped off the path as Dream hurled the axe, sending it spinning past Tommy's head. "What the fuck!"

"Tommy!" Dream howled, stopping to retrieve his axe before leaping off the path as well. "Get back here!"

"Sam!" Tommy screamed, doubling back and ducking under Dream's wild swing. He leaped up the side of the hill back onto the path, dashing towards the community house. "Sam, help!"

The creeper hybrid looked startled, frozen midstep. His gaze darkened when he saw Tommy sprinting towards him, Dream hot on his heels. Tommy skidded to a stop behind him, panting with exertion. "Sam," he choked out. "Sam, you gotta help, he's gonna kill me--"

Sam slammed his trident into the floor, standing tall as Dream approached. "Dream, stop."

The man growled. "Step aside, Sam."

Sam met his gaze, glaring resolutely. "No. I've already let you get away with too m-- what happened to your mask?"

Tommy burst into hysterical laughter. Dream's grip on his axe tightened.

"Tommy," he snarled threateningly. The curly mustache drawn across his mask ruined the effect. Tommy continued to devolve into hysterics, practically asphyxiating on dry land.

"Er. . ." Sam glanced between the two of them, bewildered. "I- what?"

2.

"Tommy, please!" Tubbo screamed, tears pouring down his face. He strained forward, Eret's grip on his arms holding him back. "You're better than this!"

Tommy laughed madly, insanity shining in his eyes. He raised the remote. "It was never meant to be!"

BOOM!

Eret yanked Tubbo down, covering his body. Explosions and screams resounded through L'Manberg.

Gradually, they faded away. Silence fell, the terrible quiet that followed an explosion. Slowly, Eret shifted away from Tubbo, allowing him to sit up and assess the damage.

Smoke filled the air, and Tubbo coughed, waving aside the haze to reveal--

L'Manberg. Perfectly intact, save for the fact that every available surface was covered in glitter.

Tubbo looked down at himself. The gritty texture he'd taken for dirt was, in fact, glitter.

"FUCK IT'S IN MY EYES!" Tommy shrieked. Tubbo blinked, bewildered, at the sight of his friend (?), rolling from side to side on the roof. He'd escaped the worst of the blast, but his hair and shoulders were still dusted with glitter. "OH GOD IT STINGS!"

Dream landed next to him, raising a neat puff of glitter around his feet. Somehow, he was perfectly pristine, not a single speck on him.

"Why would you set it off while you were in the blast radius?!"

"FOR DRAMATIC EFFECT! FUCK YOU!"

Dream snorted, only to yelp as Tommy grabbed him by the ankle and yanked him off his feet. He landed on his back on the glitter-covered roof, sending up another puff of glitter that he accidentally inhaled, if his coughing was anything to go by.