It Was Enchanting To Meet You. || DNF

81. Nick.

Dream weaved through the castle halls that he was unfamiliar with, looking for the room where he was supposed to meet Niki and a few others. The blonde boy cursed silently to himself, wondering why the castle had to be so huge and have so many useless, unnecessary rooms.

Eventually, he gave up, asking someone who worked around the palace. They gave him instructions and where to go and within only a few minutes after that, he found himself standing outside the said room. He knocked firmly on the wooden doors and he heard shuffling on the other side. The door soon swung open to be met with a short, brunette boy with fluffy hair. His cheeks were puffy and he looked to be a teenager. "Uh, hey, kid," Dream greeted awkwardly, having only spoken to George alone for the past few months.

"Oh, hello, Dream," the boy spoke back, moving out of the way for him to pass. "Come in," he said, gesturing to the inside. The blonde muttered a quick 'thank you' before brushing past him, not knowing how to feel about the whole interaction. As said before, he'd only ever really conversed with George in a long time and to converse with anyone else, more-or-less a kid seemed strange to him at the moment.

Dream shrugged the thought away, knowing that it would be something he might soon have to get used to. When he brought his gaze up from the floor, he was met with, as expected, Niki. Although, there were others with her; Tommy, Eret, and Ranboo. "Dream, hey," Niki said, gesturing to a seat opposite her while Eret and Ranboo stood on both sides of her. "Please, have a seat." Dream followed her instructions, pulling out one of the wooden chairs and sitting down. "It's great to finally meet you," she said, some sincerity in her voice as she offered a kind smile. Dream knew that if it were anyone else, they'd be thinking and saying the exact opposite, but instead, he chose to ignore the fact.

"As you may know, you're under high surveillance for the time being, but as of today, we're quite pleased to say that you're a free man. You're allowed to leave the building and go anywhere in the world you want," she announced, and before Dream could respond, he knew it was all too good to be true. "However," she began, immediately making him close his mouth again before any words could spill. "You still have a depth to pay, and since you're an employed man," she paused, glancing at Eret who gave her a nod in confirmation.

She sighed before continuing. "we're asking you to work full-time as a knight and hunter at the castle. You're obviously skilled enough for the job and it's the only thing you can do for us and yourself since you have no source of income." Time seemed to have slowed down as the blonde boy tried to process the fact, and when he opened his mouth to say something, he closed it once more, not sure what he should say. "I.. I don't know what to say," he spoke his thoughts aloud, earning an understanding smile from the pinkette. "I know it's a strange deal of such, but believe it or not, it's the ideal punishment for a case like this. Well, this is the first case." 

He thought about it some more, and even though Queen Niki said that it was the 'ideal' punishment, it didn't seem like that. After all, Dream had done unforgivable things that he couldn't bare to state out loud for anyone, not even himself, to hear. It was way better than anything he could've imagined to have. Then he thought about George. The brunette boy already had so much on his platter— so much to think about. Would accepting this offer or delaying an answer for it add more pressure on him? Dream was sure it would, but then again, he was also sure that if this was the best the green-eyed boy could get, he should take it without skipping a heartbeat.

Dream pursed his lips. "I accept," he spoke, confidence dripping from his tone. Niki's smile widened because it was the answer she was hoping for. Even though Dream was misunderstood as something of a 'bad person,' Niki was a good person with a genuine heart and she always wanted the best for people, no matter who they might be, even if she couldn't forgive them. If there was a way she could make things even slightly easier for them, she most likely would.  "Great. That was all we needed to talk about. So, if you want, you could—" she was cut off when the door squeaked open, and a tall ravenette boy walked in, a white bandana wrapped around his forehead.

Dream whipped his head around on instinct, and he felt his heart collapse into his lungs when we was now face to face with the shorter.

"Nick?" he barely managed to croak out, and, upon hearing his real name spoken aloud after so many years of going by the code name 'Sapnap', the boy made eye contact with Dream, the feeling running throughout their veins mutual. Sapnap opened his mouth and then closed it again when no words came out, his eyes fully round. "..Clay?" he mimicked, stumbling a step forward as though he couldn't believe who he was saying. A small smile broke out on Dream's face, warmth flooding through his body when Sapnap remembered who he was. "Yeah, it's me, man," the blonde boy spoke as he stood up from his chair, almost toppling over when the ravenette came dashing towards him.

Sapnap pulled him into a tight hug, his hands wrapped around his childhood friend's abdomen. "Dude, what the hell?! You're Dream?!" he spoke in a rush of realization, pulling away from the taller momentarily to gaze up at him with a confused expression. Though he wasn't proud of it, the sea-green-eyed boy nodded. "And you're Sapnap," he spoke softly. He'd heard about Sapnap multiple times before and knew that he worked serving the royalty, given that he was a certified night and hunter, but never in a million years would he have thought that the person who went by the codename Sapnap would turn out to be his long-time best friend ever, Nick.

Part of him was sort of frazzled that he noticed that all those years he'd gone without Nick, he was never actually too far away.

Caught up in all the excitement and conflicted emotions, both boys quickly forgot that they were in the room with other people who were watching the scene unfold with wide and curious eyes. "So, I'm guessing you know each other personally?" Niki interrupted, and Sapnap quickly turned to her. "Of course we do," the ravenette replied smugly, throwing a hand around the other's shoulder which was sort of awkward given their height difference, but neither paid no mind to it. "Clay and I go way back. We did everything together." He smiled broadly, reminiscing about the good old days.

"That sounds lovely. And how come you guys split from each other?" the pinkette asked, quizzically, unsure about the backlash of her question. At this, Sapnap faltered for a moment, his hand falling away from Dream. "I don't know. We just sort of drifted, I guess," he responded, scratching under his chin. He seemed unsure about his answer, and to that, Dream tensed up, his muscles tightening. Sapnap still yet had to find out what had happened to Dream's family and the latter would never know how to bring up the conversation because his family was just as much as Sapnap's.

Niki seemed to notice the growing tension before anyone else and before it could get out of hand, she was waving both boys away, allowing them to catch up for now.

~

HI EVERYONE!! I had originally planned for dream and sapnaps reunion to be more earlier into the story but I kind of got carried away so here we are now..

Anyway Thank u guys so much for 3.92k reads that's honestly crazy to me <3