~The Arcade~DSMP//DNF//fluff

Concussed

3 person pov

"W-" Dream tried to speak, his voice breaking before he could produce a full word.

"Dream?" Alex's voice sounded so distant, yet so loud all at the same time. His voice shook with fear, Dream didn't understand why he was so afraid.

"Wh-" Dream tried again, his throat burning. He slammed his fist down in anger. Why was he so helpless?

"Hey hey, calm down! Relax, it's ok." Karl's normal cheer in his voice was gone, in its place was worry.

"What happened?" The question came in a hushed whisper, anyone who hadn't been listening wouldn't have heard it.

Karl turned to Alex, not sure himself why he was suddenly awoken by his terrified friend.

"Well um, you were- you must've had some sort of nightmare because you were sleeping and then suddenly were crying in your sleep and then you thrashed around for a bit and punched the wall. Then you whispered something. I thought that would be the end but then you randomly slammed your head really hard into the side of the claw machine." Alex rambled, he didn't know what to think, seeing a friend who he had gotten quite fond of break whilst under the cover of sleep.

"O-oh," Dream stared at his bloody hand with blurry eyes. 'At least I didn't yell like I did in the dream,' he thought.

Karl stared from Alex to Dream, he wanted to ask but felt it would be insensitive.

"Can you turn off that light?" Dream asked, Karl's flashlight still shining in his eyes.

"Oh! I'm so sorry!" Karl quickly clicked off the flashlight.

"What happened after I woke up? It's kinda fuzzy," Dream questioned.

"I tried to wake you while you were in the claw machine, when you didn't wake up I shook Karl awake. Then we used the claw to grab you and pull you out of the machine. You seemed half awake, but confused." Alex explained.

"So why did you carry me into the bathroom?" Dream gestured to the blurry surroundings, he blinked hard trying to get rid of his double vision.

"We didn't want to wake the others, plus the first aid kits are in here," Karl replied. "Now let me wrap your injuries, I believe you have a concussion from hitting your head, and you also have an injury in your right hand."

"Can I go back to sleep?" Dream's eyes dropped shut and fluttered back open again, exhaustion was clear on his face.

"I'm sorry Dream, you have to stay awake a little longer so I can make sure you don't have brain bleeding. It's for your own safety, please understand." Karl spoke like a doctor to a child, Dream disliked it.

"Did I fuck up the machine?" Dream's voice was quiet again, trying his best to stay still while Karl wrapped a bandage over his head that felt plenty to tight.

"Well, there's a big splatter of blood on the glass, but nothing got on any of the prizes. There might be a small crack in the glass, but that could've already been there." Alex replied, trying to keep his voice soft for the clearly in pain ghost.

"Damn it," was all Dream said.

"I'll take care of it before the others wake up, which should be soon. It's already 5 in the morning." Alex reassured him before leaving to clean up the mess.

Dream and Karl sat in silence, Karl clearly recognized that the other had done to much talking and had been around to much noise. Karl took his time, carefully wrapping bandages over the bleeding from Dream's scalp and making sure to clean off any blood that dripped. He then moved on to Dream's hand, his fist bled slowly from where he had smashed it against the glass.

Karl lifted Dream's hand closer so he could see better. Dream's large, strong hand shook in Karl's much smaller. Karl couldn't help but frown at the sight, Dream was much stronger then him, but it was clear that the man's mental state was in a bad place. Karl saw all to well in the pain on Dream's expression that there was a lot the ghost was hiding.

Karl finished wrapping Dream's hand, and gently grabbed his arm. Karl walked Dream out of the bathroom carefully, seating him comfortably at a table. He watched as the only hint that Dream was still awake was how the ghosts skin flickered in and out of translucency.

Despite being already dead, Karl knew all to well that it still genuinely hurt to be injured. Maybe even worse then in life, a ghost still suffered the pain. And that fact was never more obvious to Karl then right now, so he watched as his friend tried his hardest to keep himself from disappearing.