Antique Secrets

Chapter 1: Jade, Or Maybe Peridot

Summary:
In Dream's defense, who just leave a magic book sitting out like that?

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Chapter Text:

Most days, Dream didn’t bother to join his parents on anything they were doing that day. He was a grown-ass adult, a whole almost-twenty, and didn’t need to do anything they told him… Except that this was his birthday and free shit was a wonderful incentive.

So, here he was standing in an old antique shop as his parents got sidetracked next door. Well, more like his mom was distracted buying another million candles and needed his dad’s half-hearted input. Thankfully, it was still his birthday so he wasn’t trapped in the suffocating store.

At least, not that suffocating store. This one still fits the bill, even if the scent of lavender and blueberry pancake candles wasn’t burning his nose. Instead, it was stale, the air dead and dust thick. Whoever owned the store clearly didn’t bother to clean it or ever watch the register. Unless it was their break? Didn’t matter, he decided.

Despite the layer of dust, it was a pretty decent distraction. Fancy vases and lamps and jewelry in scratched glass display cases from decades past glinting dully in the yellowed lights. He never really cared for the stuff but there was something mesmerizing about fifty-year-old jewelry that was easily a hundred dollars. Things that had a story were interesting no matter how dull the object.

Bookshelves lined the walls and made thin rows that had Dream glad he never became the extremely buff guy his twelve-year-old self always dreamed of. They towered to the ceiling, leaning on their bases enough to make him worried they’d fall. Books were crammed in, old spines with smudged-off covers facing him.

Other shelves were displaying objects. An old pirate ship in a bottle here, a painted skull he was only mostly sure wasn’t real there, and a globe so old the soviet union was still painted on in sepia colors. Dust stuck to his fingers as he spun it, brass squeaking in protest. Nothing too interesting, just old.

Green caught the corner of his eye, his favorite color and so much brighter than the world around it. Turning, he spied a single table with a propped-up book, smaller nicknacks piled around it like engraved spoons and fancy rocks. Jade, or maybe peridot, was set into the center.

Leather was only relatively clean under his fingers, wrinkled and worn. Stained gold reflected dull and black with what looked like soot, thin leather strings wrapping it shut. Only the gem was eye-catching, pristine despite everything else.

Eighty dollars was a pretty high price but it was his birthday and he did have his mom’s card. Besides, it would be beautiful after a little shine and could sit on his shelf doing nothing but looking pretty. Or he could do journaling or something. He’d probably find a use for it eventually.

There was a clerk behind the desk when he walked back to the front, book in hand and fingers tracing the expensive gem. She was a kindly-looking old lady, age spots dotting her face and a soft smile across her lips as she read from a book seemingly just as old as the rest of the store. Grayed hair splayed down her shoulders, eyes soft.

“Find what you’re looking for?” She asked without looking up, voice warm. Dream nodded, then felt stupid for a moment as he realized she couldn’t see him. He set the book down gently in front of her.

“Yeah, just this,” He answered with a smile, another stupid action because he was literally wearing a mask. It was easy to forget about since he wore the damn thing so much. The old lady set down her own book, finally meeting his eyes.