Bittersweet

Anticipation

{Changing the title! Felt likes it's less pretentious lol.}

Something was tickling his nose as he woke up after the party, an unpleasant sensation to say the least. It made him jump out of bed though, quickly doing his routine before seeking food in the kitchen where he noticed Wilbur sitting on the couch he had slept on, yawning profusely. Techno started the coffee maker and as he ate some reheated soup, Wil's yawn spread to him while he eagerly anticipated the coffee as the smell started wafting.

"What did you eat, blueberries? It looks like there's some in your teeth." Commented Wilbur, sleepily walking past him to the bathroom.

"Huh?" But when he took out his phone to check, there was a text from Dream. He was apparently already at the gym and excited for him to come. Subconsciously flashing a smile, he went to change into his work out clothes, ready before the coffee was.

"Hey! Long time no see!" Dream called out, turning away from his practice as Techno walked up.

"Yup, the longest we've ever gone without speaking in fact." The comment earned a bright giggle.

Once he finished stretching, they immediately jumped into a match like always, neither being able to control their competitive spirit very well. It shocked Techno how focused he was when he'd woken up less than half an hour ago. His eye was on the birdie, he was concentrating on his stance, he practically jumped at the chance to use his growing muscles. And then he was out for the count. This whole respiratory issue thing was really starting to bother him.

As he sat on the bench with his trusty water bottle he found it oddly embarrassing to watch Dream play. Usually it was fascinating to watch his form and ability, the way he moved around the court, but for some reason he couldn't bring himself to do it. Even still, he was a wellspring of compliments when Dream was done and had joined him on the bench.

Surprisingly, nothing really changed after the birthday party. Not that there was anything significant enough to cause change, but Dream definitely didn't run away because of Techno's weird friends. He spent his days stumbling through work and releasing his stress on the badminton court, a very nice balance. Dream was seemingly in a similar situation with how much he talked about going freelance. They got coffee a couple of Sundays and Dream laughed at him for the horrifically realistic pig mask he wore to work on Halloween, but not much else.

One crisp Monday morning in early November, with red and brown leaves falling just outside the window, something new actually happened. Techno was about to reach his limit during their match when he won 21-17, his highest ratio yet. "Oh my gosh, you really had me on the ropes!" Exclaimed Dream, not nearly as frustrated as he usually was when he lost.

"Yeah!" He shouted, throwing his hands up. "That's what you get for challenging Technoblade!"

Dream laughed for a bit before taking a drink of water. "You should enter the tournament, I bet you'd win." There was a fire in his voice, a determination that Techno couldn't ignore.

"There's a tournament?" He asked, wiping his sweat with his towel and smudging his face purple. Though his performance today was certainly impressive, he still felt like an amateur.

"Just a local one, first of the season. Most people use it as a benchmark to see how much they'll improve, but there's still pride in winning it." Dream talked as if Techno had already made a decision.

"I'm not nearly good enough."

"Which is why I'm telling you now." He walked up to lean against the net. "It's in late January. You have the skills, you just need consistency, and I think three months of decent training is plenty of time to give you a shot at the gold."