"The Case Of The Fire Inside."

Breathing calmly, then try to catch her breath 9

This is possibly the best thing that has ever happened to Tommy. It also happens to be the most terrifying.

If Dream knew what he was doing, knew that he had not only interacted with the humans but was actually kind of friends with them, well he'd be dead. Dream would take him and they would disappear. They would go back to the lab and Tommy would have to live out the rest of his life as some kind of messed up test subject.

Tommy only had a few rules. They weren't hard to follow, they weren't complicated. In fact, they were quite simple. And yet here he was breaking them day in and day out. Willingly.Dream had been kind enough to raise Tommy and keep him out of the lab's clutches, and yet here Tommy was stabbing him in the back over and over again. The guilt threatened to eat him alive, but he couldn't bring himself to stop or fully regret it.

Tommy never meant for this to happen, really he didn't. It was such an innocent mistake that led to this chain reaction of events that spiralled so far out of control.

Tommy liked sitting out by the water when he didn't have his pelt. It at least made the crawling desperation in his chest ease up, even if it didn't make it go away. He spent most of his time when Dream was gone either fishing or sitting by the water, only brave enough to wander in every now and then. Sometimes swimming got too overwhelming, and he'd often forget that he couldn't actually breathe underwater.

Having his pelt so far away from him always felt so horribly wrong in a way that he could never fully describe even to himself. But being by the sea, his true home, helped even just the tiniest bit. He liked sitting up on the rocks, far enough from the water to avoid the temptation of just walking in, but close enough to be soothed by its presence.

He wasn't expecting Wilbur to find him, especially not to come up and properly introduce himself. But he did, and the next day when he got too carried away following the birds Techno had shown up to, and then Phil joined the party and suddenly he was getting roped into their family time and seeing them every single day.

Tommy wasn't even sure how it happened. He agreed to one lunch, just because he really missed hanging out with them in his other form, and then he just couldn't stop. Life out here was just so fucking lonely. Tommy liked being around the others, they starved off the horribly empty feeling in his chest whenever they were with him.

Once he showed up the first time he just couldn't stop. He tried a few times, tried locking himself in his room and pretending they didn't exist, but the loneliness got to him after a while. A while being an hour or two. Then he found himself back by their side, pestering them and falling into step as they went about their day. It felt natural, it felt right, and he soon forgot why he was avoiding them in the first place.

It was wonderful. The last keeper of the light never interacted with him like that, Dream always said that he knew better. He'd leave food out sometimes for the animals, fillets of perfectly cooked fish that Tommy loved to eat. Sometimes when Tommy was out swimming by the beach or even just lurking out of sight the man would come out and tell some stories, despite seemingly not knowing Tommy was there.

Tommy just thinks that he was just lonely, the same way that Tommy was. Tommy thinks that maybe they would have been good friends. But he had seen that keeper talking to Dream on many occasions, so he knew it wasn't safe. But this time it was different, and it was good.

They treated him like he was a human, just some random kid who wound up on their yard. He wasn't human, not in the ways that mattered, but he liked it a lot more than Dream treating him like some sort of pet. Which honestly was closer to the truth, but it was nice to pretend for a little bit.

Dream said that most humans were cruel, harsh, and bloodthirsty. Ready to turn on him at any moment, to take his pelt for themselves and lock him away where no one would ever find him.