on temporizing || Dream SMP Timeloop Fic

Chapter 36

176.

"Dream. Dream what the fuck."

Dream peeled his face off the pillow with quite a bit of effort and turned his head so he could see Tommy. "Brrgh?"

"Dream," Tommy repeated, looking rather frazzled around the edges. "What the fuck. Why the fuck. What."

The other looper didn't appear to be too distressed, so it probably wasn't urgent. Dream buried his face in the pillow, then made a noise of affront when it was ripped away.

"Dream, wake up! This is serious!"

Dream groaned loudly but reluctantly sat up, leveling Tommy with a glare. Tommy crossed his arms and glared right back.

"You installed hoverboots into Sam Nook," he accused.

Dream blinked. ". . . Those exist?"

"Yes, they-- you invented them, Dream, what the fuck--"

"I did?"

"According to Sam, yes!"

". . . Huh."

"And on top of that," Tommy continued, "You gave the fuckin' killer robot the ability to T-pose. Now he's following me like some fucking bodyguard or whatever and T-posing at everything he considers a threat!"

"Nook's not a killer robot," Dream protested blearily. Then the rest of Tommy's words caught up to him. "Wait, I gave him what?"

Tommy pointed to the window, where Sam Nook loomed like a benevolent sleep paralysis demon. He was, indeed, T-posing - and given that Dream's bedroom was on the second floor, he was hovering a good distance off the ground. Dream squinted at him, then nodded slowly.

"Huh," he said. "Okay then."

"Okay then? Okay then?! Dream, he's following me around--"

"He's supposed to protect you, Sam designed him that way--"

"--which would be fine if he stopped T-posing every five seconds! What the fuck were you on when you coded that?!"

Dream frowned, digging through his memory. "Uh. . . I think I was experimenting with how much my body could take before I had a heart attack. So. I consumed enough sugar to stock a store for Halloween, then chugged a couple cups of coffee and a Monster I stole from Karl." He shrugged. "Blacked out and woke up here. 'M guessing I made the new programs and the hoverboots sometime around then."

Tommy stared at him. "How are you not dead?"

"Spite and caffeine tolerance," was the answer. "Now get out. I want to sleep."

"But what about--"

"Ask him politely to stop. Out."

"Dream-- "

Dream pulled his blanket over his head and began snoring loudly.

177. (credit to Nekuu!)

"This isn't creepy or stalkerish at all."

"I think we're long past stalking when it comes to worrying about morality," Dream deadpanned. He sunk a little lower in his crouch and squinted through his spyglass.

Sapnap, Karl, and Quackity stood a little ways away, oblivious to their presence. Quackity had just said something that had Sapnap flushing red, the tips of his hair set aflame by his embarrassment. Karl doubled over, cackling. Sapnap's blush only grew darker. He punched both of them in the arm, but the gesture was offset by his smile.