Insane - DreamSMP AU

Flimsy

For the first few weeks after Techno left, Phil avoided Dream. It wasn't that he disliked him, it was just that he didn't know how to deal with him. The maximum contact he had with Dream was cleaning the wounds that 'kept him sane'. That was the worst part, the feeling of being helpless. Not being able to do what you think you should.

After weeks of feeling like this, he resolved himself to at least talk with Dream, if he can't stop him from hurting himself, then he can at least give him some company.

"Would you like to have some tea?"

It was late at night when he asked, maybe around 1 am. Not that he thinks Dream would know, his room was constantly dark, and it almost felt otherworldly when you stepped through the door.

"Of course." Dream responded in that sickening imitation of life. Phil doesn't blame him or hold him in the same regard as his voice, but it always felt off when he talked like that.

"Can I ask you not to speak like that?" 

He knows asking that is rude, he's the one who wanted to talk in the first place, but he just doesn't think that he could stand it if he talked like that the entire time.

"Funny, Niki said the same thing." Dream reverted back to his natural tone.

"Niki? Oh yes, she visited yesterday, didn't she?" Phil sat down and put the tea tray on the lone table in the dark room.

"That she did." Dream sat opposite him and poured a cup of tea, adding none of the sugar that sat next to the tea.

"Don't like sugar?" Phil added three cubes to his cup, stirring with an intricate spoon that he found.

"Not particularly, there is no reason to have it." Dream took a sip.

"Isn't liking it a reason?" Phil mirrored his action.

"Liking a taste comes from a place of mild joy. After joy left, while the tastes are different, the reaction to the tastes remain the same. Thus, there is no reason." 

"Seems like a terrible way to live." Phil looks sympathetically at Dream.

"I am hardly living." Dream responds.

Phil is silent for a moment before responding. "We're working on that."

Dream smiles and closes his eyes, it's a pitying smile, one you would give to someone who was dying.

The two sat if comfortable silence for a while until they finished their drinks.

"Well, it was nice talking to you mate, have a good day." Phil starts to gather the tea set before looking back up a Dream.

"Mate?" Phil was concerned.

"Hmm? What is it?" Dream seemed to snap back to reality, looking and Phil with questioning eyes.

"You're crying." Phil seemed shocked, both because Dream was crying and that he didn't seem to notice it at all.

"Am I?" Dream wiped at his eyes, feeling the wetness of tears. "...I see. Have a nice day."

His tone left no room for argument. Phil, of course, picked up on that and left swiftly. Closing the door with one last worried look behind him, Dream was left alone.

"...ah sister. No need to cry."