another revealed truth

christmas 2.0

trigger warnings listed in opening author's note

✼

"alright, you two have fun, loves," his mom says, looking between dream in the passenger's seat and holly in the back.

dream groans, banging his head back against his seat. he's been with his mom for over a week now, which should be enough, but dream doesn't think it'll ever be enough when the alternate option is his dad.

christmas yesterday was so good. it was just dream, his mom, and his sister, and it was everything he could've dreamt of. he somehow convinced them to go phones-off for the day too, which was a great way to trick them all into missing any calls his dad was going to try and make. they felt like a proper family and it was amazing.

now it's boxing day, and they're in the car outside his dad's house for 'christmas 2.0' and dream would rather walk out into oncoming traffic.

"can't i just stay with you?" dream asks, though he already knows it's not an option. his mom would love it, and so would he, but holly would no doubt have a strop and he doesn't even want to think about how much of a dick his dad would be about it.

"dream," holly starts, her voice chastising. "dad isn't even bad, stop being stupid." she shuffles along as she talks, pushing open the door. "bye mom!"

"bye sweetheart," she smiles back. holly steps out of the car, and dream's mom looks back over at him, "just try to have fun. i can pick you up tonight if you don't want to sleep over."

"i don't want to sleep over," dream preemptively warns her as he reaches over to push the car door open. he 'forgot' his overnight bag anyway, so he couldn't stay even if some miracle happened and he decided he wanted to. none of dream's stuff is kept in the house either, because he moved it all out gradually in the weeks before telling his dad that he didn't want to visit anymore.

dream's mom offers him a small smile, and dream weakly returns it before getting out of the car.

"i'm so excited," holly says, leading the way up to the house. dream looks back, frowning when he sees the car driving away. "me, you and dad haven't spent time together in ages."

dream hums, hoping it doesn't come across as too uninterested, and holly lets them both into the house. dream feels like he's intruding.

it seems their dad was waiting for them because, as soon as they step into the house, holly is being pulled into a hug and dream is stepping out of the way and silently observing as his sister gets cooed over as if she's seven rather than seventeen.

"come, come," dream's dad says, gesturing for the kids to follow him without even making the effort to directly greet dream.

it's ridiculous, considering he practically begged the blond to visit but seems to have lost all interest now that he's actually here. typical.

"here, sit down," he tells them both, pointing over to the table full of food (much more food than they'll be able to eat). "sit down, start serving yourself, i'll bring your presents through."

dream's mom gets them both a few presents each, and fills them both a stocking to hang on the fireplace. for years now, their dad has only ever bought them one thing each - it's a little thing, but it just feels like yet another thing that divides the standard of parenting. it would seem like nothing to some people, but his dad's lack of effort unavoidably sticks out to him.