One shots (mostly platonic tbh)

r/place rivalsduo

A/n: so... dream and techno were painted next to each other on r/place and dream kept getting corrupted by others painting over it, and like the angst writer I am, I made it sad lol
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"Does it hurt?" Techno asks.

Dream frowns, brows rising in confusion.
"Does what hurt?"

"The...," Techno gestures towards Dream, specifically, the specks of mismatching colours flickering across his body," the glitches"

"Mm," Dream thinks about it, absently biting at the inside of his cheek, "I don't know" he eventually responds.

"What do you mean you don't know?" Now it's Techno's turn to be confused.

Dream holds up his arm, swatting at some of the flickers.
"Well, I haven't really known anything but this. If this did hurt I wouldn't really know because I would've never experienced the absence of pain. Quite honestly, I don't even really understand what pain is"

Techno mentally tries to formulate some sort of explanation before answering.
"Well, it's uncomfortable. You want it to stop, and you feel like you'd feel better without it"

Techno has never had to explain pain to someone before. It's a very simple concept for most.

Dream slowly nods in understanding.
"Better without it, huh? Like the way I wouldn't have to fight to remain stable if the glitches didn't exist and how I would be able to handle people touching me if they didn't get that bad?"

"Like that...yeah"
Techno did not expect the brutal honesty.

"Then I guess it does hurt!" Dream says, smiling.

Techno's concern grows.
"That's not a good thing, Dream. You don't want to hurt" he tries to explain.

Dream tilts his head.
"But now I at least know, and I know that it's not something I should just be okay with, right?"

Techno shrugs, choosing to accept Dream's strange reasoning.
"That is one way to see it"

"And now I can explain it to the blobs when they ask why I'm crying"

"It's that bad?"
Techno can't imagine Dream crying. He's always trying to make Techno laugh, always happy, or at least content.

Dream nods.
"Not really anything I can do about it though, so why fret?"

"I guess..."

"Did I..did I upset you?" Dream picks at the glitches, trying to swat them away, avoiding looking at Techno.

Techno shakes his head.
"No"

They are silent.

"Do you wanna go see if anything new showed up?" Dream suggests, breaking the silence before it becomes awkward.

"Sure!" 

Techno can't help but notice Dream rubbing his arms, flinching as his fingers brush again the glitches, and he wonders how he hasn't noticed before.