Sanscest/UTMV Oneshots (Vol. 1)

Dream & Nightmare || Be Proud of the Small Steps

WARNING: THE FOLLOWING ONESHOT CONTAINS TALK OF SELF-HARM, SELF-DEPRECATION, SELF-HATRED, DEPRESSION.

READER DISCRETION IS ADVISED.

~oOo~

Today was a rather...important day for Nightmare. It wasn't important because it was a holiday or anniversary or any of those types of things. Rather, it was important because it held a certain memory that both his brother, Dream, and he would never forget.

Nightmare thought about it as soon as he woke up. He laid in bed for a minute, ignoring his alarm, just thinking and remembering that memory. When he decided to get up, he still thought about it, it just moved onto the back burner of his mind. There, but not intruding. He moved out of his room and down the stairs, following the smell of breakfast.

When he entered the kitchen, Dream greeted him. His brother was holding a spatula and was in the middle of flipping some eggs over. His eyes were a bit dim, as he also knew the significance of the day. It always held a bit more impact for Dream than it did Nightmare. By habit, his eyes went down and he was surprised to see bare arms. Luckily, all the marks were still old, but Dream had always covered them up on this day and Nightmare never told him not to. The change made him wonder.

The weight of the day hung between them as they sat and ate in silence, both wanting to talk but not wanting to make the first move. It was still a delicate subject.

Today marked three years since Dream has last cut.

It seemed silly to make such a big deal out of that. Three years seemed like enough time to just forget about what happened, put everything behind them and move on. And sometimes, that was what happened. Sometimes, that was what someone needed to do. Although, that was rare. Most of time, even making it a day would hold so much importance it could be overwhelming. And if a day was that that, three years seemed impossible or unreal. It would remain that way until the milestone actually came.

Nightmare had been so scared, back when he discovered Dream's secret. The image he had of his brother fractured, becoming too jagged to ever fit back in place. They had lied on the floor around him as he thought to himself, what should he do now? He was in a new game; one he was a beginner at. He had no clue what the controls were yet. There was only one thing he was sure of and that was that he needed to convince Dream to stop.

And that wouldn't be easy. He had read stuff about this topic before. He knew that the habit was addicting and he knew that it was hard to stop. He had read it, but he had never thought he would need to heed it before. But he didn't want to make the wrong move. Not now. Not ever. And there was another tricky part.

Dream didn't know that Nightmare knew about his habit.

Nightmare hadn't discovered him in the act. Dream had never told him. There had been nothing to give away what was hiding behind the long sleeves. All Nightmare had to go off, was some bloody bandages that made a daily appearance in the bathroom trash. And that little thing was just enough evidence. There weren't many reasons they would be there, after all.

The reason this whole thing was tricky, was that Nightmare now had an obstacle between him and getting Dream to stop cutting.

And that was that he had to confront Dream.

~oOo~

He remembered it clearly.

He had spent the whole night pacing his room, ruling out so many words and scenarios that he could use. None of then sit right with him. Either it was too bland, too fake, too hesitant, too scolding, too anything wrong. It left him even more anxious than when he had started. He had no clue how to do this. He was an idiot for ever thinking he could. Maybe if he just ignored it, Dream would handle things on his own. He knew that he was wrong before he could finish the thought.