A City of Secrets and Masks

-Ten- A King and a Jester

Dream put down his phone on the table next to his bed. Just glad for the response. Er- no, he went by The King now- had a history of not responding. Dream sighed and put his phone down after a click glance at the time. Six in the morning. He had about two hours until the others would wake up. 

He stared at the ceiling for a while, before the need to do something productive took over. He groaned and rolled out of bed, almost knocking his mask off of his nightstand.

Dream walked over to his computer and opened a few tabs, trying to find something to kill time. He could game, he could write something...

Dream found himself clicking open a coding software. He'd already finished with the stuff for the Hub, so he started just... doing. It felt good to let his mind go on autopilot-ish as his hands clicked out code.

An hour and thirty minutes later, he was looking at the beginnings of a small game. Dream looked over his work and stood up. He could finish this next time he couldn't sleep. Now, he would cook.

He went to the kitchen and began pulling ingredients out of drawers. He spent the remaining thirty minutes of the time he had left before the others woke up cooking them all a breakfast spread.

Then they woke up and ate and destroyed the silence the house had been in all night. It's not to say it was a bad thing. Dream needed something to take his mind off of what he was planning to do tonight.

"So, what's today's agenda?" Dream asked, hoping someone else could take the weight of his free time off of his shoulders. He never thought having so much free time could be such a burden, but here he was.

"I was thinking about going in today, just doing some records cleanup," George said.

"Just gonna go work desk today." Sap said. Dream nodded.

"I don't know what my official job title is anymore. Guess I'm the IT guy?"

George laughed. "You should probably get all of that figured out. Or you could just keep being the IT guy and chef. You do a better job of that second one that I do."

The rest of the group cracked up at this. The banter helped the time fly. Next thing Dream knew he was at the Hub, starting to cook lunch. Today was just some normal stuff- Hamburgers, hotdogs. He began to cook and just as soon as he started, he was done. Time flies when you are having fun and also waiting to have what will probably be the tensest conversation of your life.

He set the food out on the counter and watched as people began to file in. Tommy, Tubbo, Wilbur, Finn, and Karl. Dream always realized how understaffed this place was at lunch. Phil, Fundy, George, and Sap. Then there was The Blade. He always came last and it was still tense.

Dream was surprised Techno hadn't noticed him, honestly. With such a... colorful history, he'd expected to be recognized by the hero instantly.

Speaking of Dream's colorful history, he had quite a bit of it. He had not been the most perfect person before. That's why he'd left.

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Dream had never been able to be the "good kid." He killed his best friend the day he got his powers, so he'd never been popular with his peers or authority, even after he got his first mask. Dream quickly ended up with the "bad kids". 

They were mostly just punks, people who disliked heroes for one reason or another. Quite a few had powers like his. Eventually, they'd sprinkled a bit of crime into the daily routine. That's when he'd met The King.

Dream contemplated his past as the workday flew by. He spent most of it bugging George. It was six in the afternoon and he had six hours to kill.