tattletale

digging

ᴛᴡ ɪɴ ᴏᴘᴇɴɪɴɢ ᴀᴜᴛʜᴏʀ'ꜱ ɴᴏᴛᴇ

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"we can't tell anyone."

"dream..." punz frowns, brows drawn together in disagreement.

"i promised," the blond says, still pacing as his three friends stare up at him from his bed. "he said i would ruin his life."

"he's being raped," punz tries to reason, standing up as if putting them on the same level would make dream listen more. still, his hand stays connected to foolish's, the brunette holding on for dear life. "we have to tell someone."

"you don't understand," dream groans, one hand coming up to pull lightly at his hair. "you didn't see how he broke down, punz, he was a mess at the idea of people finding out."

"so we're just going to sit back and let him be raped?" tina asks from the corner of the bed, sitting further from the group and looking disgusted.

"he said it's all consensual," dream says, looking over at the brunette girl with what he knows is an indifferent expression. "i told him he's not even old enough to consent but he just argued back about wanting it, and how they're in love and together and how it isn't just sex."

"this is so bad," foolish speaks for what feels like the first time in hours. "we're really just not going to help? are we not just aiding it at this point?"

dream sighs, torn to pieces by the situation he's in. "i promised him i wouldn't," he tells them, sitting down in his desk chair and dropping his head into his palms, "i can't, not after seeing how terrified he was."

"but we can't just let it happen," punz says, sitting down again too. "he's our friend and we should be helping him."

"we can still help without reporting it," dream tells them, looking up again. he avoids tina's eye contact, unable to stomach how disgusted she looks. "i'm going to keep talking to him, trying to convince him and help him see the situation that he's in and stuff. i can't do that if we tell someone and he hates us all. we at least need to wait until he understands why it's wrong."

punz shakes his head, sad and slow, but says, "you're right. it won't help anyone if we report it and he hates us all for it. he needs us to be there for him."

"so you won't tell anyone?" dream asks hopefully. he doesn't know when he switched sides and, deep down, he knows that he hasn't really because he still wants to report it, but he's internalised the fact that karl must know better than him. plus, he saw how broken the conversation made the brunette and he refuses to lose karl in his time of need.

"i won't tell anyone... yet," punz agrees. "if too long passes and it's still going then, i'm sorry, but i can't sit back and just allow it."

"that's okay," dream insists with a quick nod, feeling the exact same way. "i am with you in that decision," he says, earning a sad nod from the other blond.

he shifts his hopeful gaze to foolish.

the brunette sighs. "well i'm not going to tell anyone on my own, but i do think we need a time limit for how long is too long. we can't keep pushing it back, we need a date."

dream nods, "that's fine."

foolish shakes his head, clearly not agreeing with himself, and says, "fine, i won't tell."

"thank you," dream says, genuinely grateful. "i promise i won't let it keep going forever. i'm going to do everything i can to help him get out of this okay, you know that, right?"

"i know," foolish nods, smiling sadly. "and i trust you."

dream smiles back.

he looks to the final member of their group, prompting her with a small, "how about you, tina?"

she shakes her head, "firstly, i think you're all disgusting."

dream feels like he's been kicked in the stomach.

"i understand where you're coming from, but i think it's wrong and awful and i'm really not happy with the conclusion we've come to," she says, shaking her head. "he's being groomed and raped and the fact that you'll let that continue makes me sick. how do we know it's just him? what if mr cooper has gaslit multiple underage, impressionable students to let him do whatever the fuck he wants?"

"tina-" dream starts.

"don't even try," she interrupts. "i'm not going to tell anyone, but that's because i'm fucking terrified to do it alone, not because i think that it's a good idea to let it happen and hope that we can just talk a manipulated boy out of the abusive situation he's in."

"he's the same age as we are," dream finds himself defending, not liking how the brunette talks about karl as if he's some child- he is a child, dream reminds himself.

"what the fuck difference does that make?" tina asks them, moving to get up from the bed with a frustrated expression. "he's a child, nonetheless, and he's still being raped." she goes to grab her bag before looking back, "plus, all of us know full well that being 'our age' doesn't protect you from being manipulated and raped."

her eyes linger on foolish, and dream is glad that she is about to leave because he doesn't think he could handle the emotional turmoil of how punz would surely rip her apart, regardless of them being like siblings.

she says nothing more as she storms out, and dream feels awful about the fact that he agrees with everything she said, yet he's still refusing to do what he knows is the right thing.

"i want to go home."

dream looks over at foolish's sad tone, seeing the brunette with tears in his eyes.

"she shouldn't have said that," punz says, shaking his head. he wraps an arm around his boyfriend's shoulders, pulling him close. "that was fucked up, regardless of how angry she is."

dream doesn't expect foolish to reply, but it still breaks his heart when a sob rips from his friend's throat. the brunette is always so securely put together, and seeing him fall apart makes dream feel like a part of him just died.

punz shifts them to press foolish's face against his chest as the brunette cries. "i'm sorry love," he whispers, kissing the other's hair. "it's okay, just don't think about it. focus on me and dream, yeah?"

dream moves over to sit behind foolish and reluctantly places a hand on his friend's back. he flinches but relaxes into it right after, and dream is gentle as he rubs his hand across the other's spine.

"you're okay," dream tells him.

foolish continues to cry and, even though she's right about the karl situation, dream wishes he could slap some sense into their best friend.

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double post bc all the chapters are shit so the least i can do is give you two of them. blerg.

love or whatever (i love u!)

-kit