Static Mind || dnf

Prologue

welcome to my new book :)

this chapter is just an introduction to Dream's ability and a little bit of backstory

this book is based on a wattpad comment section, so uh- yeah here it is lmao

**COVID doesn't exist in this book**

CW: kissing

Dream's P.O.V.

For as long as I can remember, I've been different. I was born with a special ability– the power to read minds. Which is cool, I guess. But there's a catch.

I can only read the minds of people who have a crush on me.

At first, I thought it was normal. Why wouldn't it be? It made sense to me. What made me different than everyone else?

As a kid, I mentioned my ability to people often, which led to the label of "overactive imagination" getting slapped onto my forehead. Everybody knew me as the weird kid who claimed he could read minds.

Because of this, I couldn't read minds for a few years. I guess nobody had a crush on the outsider. Once I got to middle school, however, everything changed. I could read minds again– just a few, usually girls. Almost exclusively girls, actually.

Despite knowing who liked me and who didn't, my dating life was pretty much nonexistent. I was asked out once or twice, but I never felt any attraction to the girls who asked me. I thought there was something wrong with me– I was just some freak who could read minds and didn't feel attracted to any of my classmates.

Well, that's what I thought, anyway. At least until my sophomore year of high school, when I heard the thoughts of someone new.

A boy.

His name was Jamie, a slightly shorter boy with tan skin and fluffy black hair. He was in my English and art classes, but never said a word to me.

At first, I figured it was some sort of fluke. A boy having a crush on me? No way.

But then I could hear him thinking. And he thought about me– a lot. And I soon found that he was on my mind a lot as well.

For the first time, I actually liked somebody back. And a boy, no less. I was surprised, but thankful to finally figure this out about myself.

One day, I finally worked up the courage to ask him out, which he accepted. That Friday, after school, we went to the movie theater together. He held my hand!

His thoughts were racing at some parts, and empty at others. Half were about the movie and the rest were about me, which I thought was pretty cute.

After the movie was over, we were waiting in the parking lot to be picked up. It was quiet and mostly empty, dimly lit by the moonlight and a few flickering street lamps. The only noise was Jamie's thoughts running through my head.

And then he and I made eye contact. Jamie leaned in, and my breath hitched as he pecked me on the lips. I was breathless, staring at him with wide eyes.

And everything was silent. Dead silent.

My thoughts were racing, but Jamie's weren't. I couldn't hear anything from him, actually, which was odd. He almost always had something on his mind.

Before I had time to question it, my mom came to pick me up. I waved goodbye to Jamie as he went to his car, driving home.

I had liked the kiss, despite how short and awkward it was. But Jamie? I couldn't hear any of his thoughts anymore. Complete radio silence on his end.

Did he really hate the kiss so much that he had stopped liking me? Was I that bad of a kisser?

After that, I begged my parents to let me do online school. It was only partly because of Jamie– I really didn't want to see him all the time, knowing he thought I was a terrible kisser. But also because I wanted a different sort of education than what was offered at my high school.

And so, for the rest of my high school years, I was homeschooled. I never saw Jamie again, and it was years before I heard someone's thoughts again.

It was mostly random– a waitress, a coworker, someone's grandma– it made me uncomfortable, mostly. The thoughts of these adults were often x-rated, especially compared to the cutesy thoughts I heard from my high school days.

I spent more and more time alone at my house, quitting my job to stream and record videos with my online friends.

I much preferred the company of my online friends, because I couldn't read any of their thoughts. That was one of the restraints of my ability– if they weren't within earshot, distance-wise, I couldn't hear them. It made my new career as a youtuber and twitch streamer much easier.

Still, it left an air of mystery. I was so used to knowing exactly who liked me and who didn't that this new silence left me confused. How was I supposed to know?

I know I can be oblivious to things like this when I'm not close to people (distance-wise), but I like to think that I know what everyone thinks of me. Or, at least I know who has a crush on me.

Probably. Is there any way to tell? Because I haven't quite figured things out yet. People can be surprisingly good at hiding their feelings, especially to the person they like. Which is frustrating when everyone is too far away for you to hear their thoughts.

Whatever, it doesn't even matter. None of my friends have a crush on me, and I don't have a crush on any of my friends either. Simple as that.

Right?

yayyyyy first chapter

I hope it makes enough sense to everyone

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