I Think … I Miss My Wife

Mucho español

Cooking for two, three (or even four?)

Characters: Dream, Technoblade, Echo(oc)

Words: 2.8k (one-shot)

Warnings: short panic attack, unplanned pregnancy, very small references to past abuse

done for @sixteenth-day-event february prompts!

A good amount of years after Technoblade broke Dream out of prison, Dream attempts to make a cute valentine's breakfast for his partner. A weird familiar morning sickness interrupts his plans.

Dream wakes up first. It's not really established, or what Technoblade would prefer, but it's just how it turns out. Techno really doesn't get a say in it. Dream's always been that way, last to go to bed, first to get up, noone really knows how long he actually sleeps, or if he does at all. Rarely, Techno gets to trap him in a hug and keep him restrained to make sure he'd at least rest during the night hours, but even then he's never quite sure that Dream settles down enough to sleep. It's the best compromise they'll be getting, however. So he doesn't grumble about it too much, whenever he wakes up in bed, alone. (or with Echo, close to his side!)

 Dream also isn't used to cooking. Simple joys aren't something he used to indulge in and even now, he'd usually say they're far beneath him. Even having lived with Techno for so long and actually beginning to enjoy cooking, it's difficult to allow himself such a simple joy. But it's valentine's day, and he'd feel worse if he didn't cook a little something. The first thing he learns about cooking for two is that you always have to not only think about yourself. Dream isn't used to that. Whenever he'd provide the bare minimum of nutrients to himself, he had only himself to think about. But when he's standing in Technos kitchen he's not just cooking for himself: he'd feel bad if he did, because he's supposed to be sharing. (besides, he's using the excuse that this is for valentine's.)

 Another thing Dream isn't used to. At first, Techno would cook and he's actually quite skilled at taking into account everyone who would be receiving the meal, due to Philza, it's not new that he'd be cooking for two, but Dream has learnt that the Angel of Death isn't actually the pickiest eater; yet Dream would probably find it easier to list all of the things he wouldn't eat, than the ones he would.

With the addition of Echo, finding one meal that would suit all became basically impossible. Because, somehow, Echo manages to be just as bad with her eating habits as Dream. It's at least one thing she happened to get from him, considering her little face was growing to resemble her other parent just a bit more than Dream would've liked. (when he sleeps with Techno and her, he can even pretend she might be Techno's.)

 He stares at the cooking book next to him. His vision is still so screwed that he has to hold it up to his face to properly read the small print, but he's making an effort, and Techno keeps telling him that's what counts. A lot of cooking utensils have tiny prints, like the measuring cup. Techno admitted that even he can't read most of that, he just eyeballs and bullshits it, and Dream appreciates the honesty. Cooking doesn't need to be perfect. 

 Right. Breakfast. Technically he doesn't have to do this, but if he's already up, and he's already trying to keep himself alive, he might as well try to be a helpful member of the house and feed everyone else in it, too. What he's learned that it's almost impossible to find one meal all three of them will eat. At this point, he's convinced it might actually be impossible. Making two meals isn't really an issue, but making the effort to think that someone might need a different meal is.

Because, again, he's a little selfish.

 Eyeballing ingredients has become something he's actually decent at. Who knew Technoblade had advice that was actually useful? He smiles a small smile, throwing together whatever the cookbook and his knowledge of his-- boyfriend? Partner? Roommate? He's not sure they've actually had a conversation on the terminology they're going to use- but he's using his knowledge of Technoblade and his child to conjure up something he hopes will be satisfying. Techno will be likely to eat it however bad it is and still lie to his face. (he'd admit later that it kind of sucked, whatever.) 

It's small, it's simple, he hopes it's what it means to heal.

With the meals set up, he hesitantly bites the inside of his cheek. Eating will forever be an issue, he fears. He feels weirdly sick, actually, but he chalks it up to the usual sickness he felt before eating. (it feels weird, familiar, though.)

___

He jumps when the door to the kitchen opens and a tired Technoblade walks through. Dream stares at him, but Techno doesn't look back at him for a hot second, yawning, just trotting over to the hot cup of tea his boyfriend had set up for him.

The smaller hybrid chuckles. Looks like someone is still too tired to acknowledge his existence. "Good morning to you, too," he says, tapping the table with his hand.

 He swallows down the morning sickness and the tremor in his hands. It's okay. He's not sure what's wrong. But whatever it is, he's going to toughen it out and ignore it as usual. One day Techno will smack him up the head for hiding his issues, but today won't be the day. (or he'll notice anyways, as usual, and he'll get a lecture either way.)

 For now, he seems in the clear. Someone's too busy recovering from the fact that it's morning. Techno's cute like that, when he'd just woken up.

"Morning," Techno returns, dropping into his chair at the table. He glances over at the cute meals on the table, and the little candle Dream'd set, and are those- flowers? An eyebrow raises, while he lowers his mug. "Alright, what did you do this time?"

Offended, Dream crosses his arms. "W-what's that supposed to mean?!"

"You know, looks like you're apologizing for something," Techno responds and smiles smugly, watching Dream stumble over his words and turn red. Techno isn't even correct, but he's so baffled he can't help his surprise and reaction. "I--??? What??? Techno, it's-" He pauses. He's not sure Technoblade knows it's valentine's day. Do piglins do valentine's day? Maybe he should've asked Philza first, now that he's at it. But it's kind of too late, his boyfriend is already in front of him, thinking he's apologizing for something. Maybe he's apologizing for the weird ass headache and stomachache he's got, but that's not really something to ever apologize for, right? He isn't too sure, ever. This is almost weird now.

 He clears his throat, walks past Techno, putting a hand on his shoulder momentarily, as he does. "No, I mean, I was just-" Chewing the inside of his cheek, his feet shift, his ears pin to the back of his head. He feels really awkward now. An anxious finger scratches at his weirdly growing horns, and he already dreads having to trim them again, just hoping they'll grow a better direction next time. "Valentine's day, Techno. I thought-" It's not like he did anything super special now, actually. Maybe he could've just pretended he felt like doing a little extra to the breakfast, but now he's already dropped the bag. There's a short pause, then a snort. "Oh," Techno laughs. "Right." 

Looks like he remembered something, his eyes widening. "Oh," he repeats. "What?" Dream blinks, confused, Techno's shock at least pulling him out of his embarrassment and shame that he was possibly celebrating a holiday Technoblade didn't even seem to think about enough that it's today.

Maybe that means Techno also had something planned? He tries to ignore the growing headache. Okay, he swears something is wrong. Is he on his period or something?? Those have been coming and going irregularly since he's been eating more again.

 He sees Techno move his lips and say something, but he isn't listening. Rubs his forehead, groans, shakes his head. "Wait, wait a moment." Lifting a hand, the cold metal of his finger prosthetics poking into his skin a bit too strongly. "Okay. What did you say? I didn't- sorry, I've got a really weird headache."

"You good?"

"C'mon Tech, it's nothing. Just- I dunno, hormones or whatever."

The Piglin hybrid raises an eyebrow and Dream shakes his head. "Dear god, no. No, I don't- I haven't checked, but I mean, I-" Shouldn't be his period. He isn't bleeding, right? The thought of that feels uncomfortable, but usually he's pretty good at telling- That really shouldn't be the case.

Techno shrugs it off. He's not super sure what Dream thought he was thinking of, but it probably isn't what he thought. "Bruh. I mean. I was saying, Valentine's today??" Dream blinks. "Yeah, I think so?"

"Ah. I. Uh. Forgot. This is really awkward, Dream. I've gotta say. This is really awkward of me." Now he's the one to look all embarrassed.

There's a giggle. And another. Well that lifts Dream's mood. At the very least, he isn't going to have to explain the concept. Remembering Techno's age, he'd consider it a little weird if it's something he hasn't come across at all. But it makes sense that it'd be a holiday he'd forget, or not think about enough. (he doesn't think they've celebrated it the past years either, but it's all a big blur.) 

"No, I- I don't mind. I mean, I didn't do anything special either." 

"You set up breakfast and the table!" Techno rebukes, frowning slightly.

"I do that-- from time to time!," Dream stems his hands on his hips, a little offended that Techno is acting like it's so rare that he cooks food. "That's not a big accomplishment!"

"Oh no. How am I going to face Philza and tell him I forgot it's Valentine's day? This is terrible. He's going to tell me I'm an awful boyfriend." Okay, now he's just being dramatic. Dream pouts, lightly punches Technos shoulder, then trots over to his own chair. (he momentarily considers waking Echo, but he supposes she'll get up eventually on her own. Or through their banter.)

"And now I'm being hit as well! Deserved, only the worst treatment for me today."

"Oh my God, Technoblade. You're so dramatic." He snorts, and finally Techno can't really stop his own laughing anymore, either. "C'mon. You gotta be mad at me at least a little," he reiterates, tilting his head at Dream.

"No??? It's a silly holiday." 

___

Now he's turning red again, but for other reasons. He didn't know he could be so in love with someone's laugh. It's cute, it's big and hearty and leaves little room for him to feel any malice towards him for forgetting it's Valentine's day. (again, it's not like he did anything super special, either.)

"It was important enough that you made breakfast for it!" Techno gestures at the meals, but again, those aren't anything special. "I probably would've cooked either way!!" Dream bickers, crossing his arms.

"Oh, bruh. Did you even sleep tonight?"

"---no." He answers, voice tiny and small, because he's a little embarrassed of the fact that he didn't. He shouldn't be, it's nothing new, or surprising and Technoblade only rolls his eyes, but c'mon. "A-and if I did I probably would've forgotten and not done anything either!"

"Bruh."

"Shut up, Techno." Dream shakes his head, then shoves his plate towards him. "Eat, and shut up."

"Yes, mom."

"I'm not your-- oh my god. Whatever. I'm breaking up with you."

"You wouldn't do that to me," Techno says, regardless of the fact that his mouth was already full. "Thank you."

Dream pouts. Rolls his eyes. "Sure, whatever, you're so stupid."

"You love me that way."

 He does, but he's still upset. At least it's distracting him from his headache. But he still feels like throwing up. It's only been a few years since he'd been pregnant with Echo, but he was going through so many things at that time, that he's not really sure what was a pregnancy symptom and what was a symptom of something else.

Oh God, does he think he's pregnant? There's no way. Okay, there is a way, but- He pauses, just kinda, staring off into nothing. If he's pregnant- He's only been with Techno recently. And it's definitely not like they've been taking into account that there would be a possibility he'd get pregnant. It's like he's learnt nothing.

Technoblade swallows his food before he speaks again. "Uhhh, Dream? You good?"

"I. Uh-" He lifts a hand to his mouth, then rushes over to the sink to throw up. Great, amazing, lovely. Dream retches, doesn't even notice that Techno got up until he's helping him hold his hair back. "Let it out. You eat something wrong? Did I say something wrong?" 

Dream only manages to shake his head, throwing up whatever's left in his already empty stomach.

 "I'm fine-," he heaves, taking a deep breath. Okay, in and out. In and out. You're good. You're- good. Oh God, wait. The realization is finally sinking in more. "No, I'm, I, I think I- fuck, Techno, do you think I could be- oh God, I mean, do you-" He gestures all over the place, then sinks onto his knees, leaning his head against the cupboard. Techno keeps running his fingers through his hair, now that he's not throwing up anymore, but it's still a comforting gesture. He's sat down next to him. "Take your time. No rush," Techno muses, and Dream melts. Oh, he's so glad he hasn't seen Sam's face in forever. Closing his eyes almost makes him capable of forgetting his face. 

"Dream?" Oh, that's a voice he didn't need to hear now. "Echo, baby-," Dream starts, but his voice cracks. He grimaces awkwardly, doesn't look at the very small 4 year-old standing in the doorway. She's so tiny still, such a fragile thing. He doesn't look. If he sees her face he might throw up again. It feels like a really mean thought, but it's true. It's very mean. He hates that thought. He wants to say more, but he's not sure how it's coming across that he already won't look at her. He notices Techno moving away from him and he hears a few big footsteps, he thinks he hears Techno say something, but while he's trying to get through his small panic attack, it's a little difficult to comprehend anything either of them say to each other. 

His head is pounding. Again, he presses his fingers into his forehead, and the cold prosthetics both help and don't help. It's okay. It's okay. He feels dread at the back of his gut. He doesn't notice when Technoblade is in front of him again, and the child seems to be gone. Takes a shaky breath, then falls towards him, letting him wrap him in a hug. "Where's Echo?," he whispers against Techno's chest, letting him play with his hair calmly.

Techno seems to pause, just kind of cradling him to his chest. "I gave her her breakfast and told her to eat in bed. I'd get her when we're done. Just told her you're feeling sick." That's fine. That's fine, he supposes. He groans. "Techno, do you think I-- uh."

"You, what?"

"What if I'm. Y'know." He gestures, but by the look on Techno's face now that he's opened his eyes again, nope, Techno doesn't have any idea. "Oh my God. Techno. What if I'm pregnant?"

That definitely gets Techno wide-eyed. "Oh." That's a realization he must've not considered before. Because now he's just staring at him like he told him Santa is actually real. Then it fades into worry again. Concern? Weird excitement? Everything at once? Dream can't really pinpoint it and he's not sure he wants to. (besides the sickness, he's not actually super sure how he feels about this.) Pregnancy isn't something he ever thought to have willingly, and he's not so sure this is willingly. He definitely had Sex with Techno willingly, but dear God.

"Wait. Are you sure???" 

"No- I mean, I dunno???" It would explain his sickness. And his headache. And his hormones being all over the place the past few days, without being on his period. There's- no way, though, right? "Techno, what the fuck do I do?"

 "Dream-" Pinpointing the exact emotion on Technoblade's face is surprisingly difficult. Looks like he's going through it more than Dream is. It actually makes him laugh. "Oh my God, Techno." He stops trying to look for something on his boyfriends face, falling against him again. "Oh my God," he keeps laughing, even though he's not sure if he should laugh or cry. "Are you laughing, or crying?" Techno asks, not sure which one he should be doing.

"Definitely both," Dream says, runs a hand through his hair in sheer disbelief. "I, I mean, I could be wrong. Echo's pregnancy was- really weird-" 

"Phil's going to kill us, bro."

"I tell you I might be pregnant because of you and you're calling me 'bro'???"

___

"Well, now I'm definitely a terrible boyfriend for not thinking of valentine's day."

The way he says that makes Dream put at least half of his actual strength into the punch he delivers against his chest. "Oof. That really hurt, Dream."

"Good. Fuck you."

c!Dream in the arctic

full pic under cut

So how’s the hc of c!dream being autistic feeling in light of recent news?

Pretty much confirmed canon now, because I think we can probably all agree that it’s not like the creators are professional actors so in many ways their personality bled into the characters so if cc!Dream is confirmed to be autistic, that pretty much means c!Dream is as well. Like no offense but I don’t think cc!Dream is that good of an actor to play a neurotypical character lol. I can barely try and write one XD. And of course the things talked about in my essays still stand as further support of that.

So… yeah, feels good. Especially because now I have a really good reason to give to people about why I’m obsessed with my green boy, cuz it’s not like there are that many autistic characters to be obsessed with and project onto. It’s also cool because the narrative and symbolism pieces I talked about in [part 3] of my autism essay now are confirmed to be applicable which is really cool. Like I mean the symbolism of the mask for one is just 👌… don’t even get me started on Pandora’s Vault being a great metaphor for people boxing up their autism for years (*cough* me *cough*).

Also this does open the box of actually considering what else this makes pretty canonical. For example, a common autistic thing is to not like eye contact (I personally hate it) and as mentioned in my essay, a reason for the mask could be so Dream can avoid having to make eye contact and making proper facial expressions to go with the situation.

Which means a few interesting things for fanfiction 1) I’ve often seen a theme of Dream having a mask because he’s so expressive and therefore is hiding his true intention with the mask and when he has it off he’s really easy to read. This however is likely not the case. In fact, Dream without the mask would mostly likely be just as hard to read because he would not be emoting properly, he might even by emoting inappropriately for the situation. He also could by extension not be one for extra eye contact. Course in my fics there is plenty of eye contact, but you’ll notice that I make a point to highlight it, because it’s not his natural or most comfortable thing to do….

Anyways, I’m pretty stoked honestly and I’m kinda curious if people will implement more autistic characteristics when writing Dream now. I hope they will at least keep it in mind, because I think that’d be really cool. And hey, to anyone not autistic or in general I suppose, feel free to reach out if you need some help or have questions about writing autistic Dream. :)

A c!Dream to practice with a brush that has pen pressure

HOLY SHITTTTTT

I saw a crazyyyy edit and it got me chilling all afternoon, kinda miss drawing him too

The edit song was "There are other ways"

Captions and hashtags are so real omg

tbd i just like him a lot and want everyone to look at him . dream can you get back on an smp or write a book or something i miss your freak oc

He is thinking .

Stages?

👀

STAGES IS MY BABYYYYY i love writing about grief and loss of self, and how to cope with that. C!Dream is perfect for that type of analysis. It started bc I really wanted a way to explore dream and bads relationship and their similarities. They both lost their families and both believe that what happened to them was mostly self inflicted. there's a lot to explore there. And of course I love rivals duo and also wanted to write a scenario where techno isn't able to repay the favor. And, ya know, healing and growing together is such a good trope.

I already have the first chapter posted on my AO3 but I've written so much for this fic but still never managed enough to finish another full chapter ughhughhuh. I've also posted some of this fic here but there are so many nuggets I've written that I'd love to share (sorry all my excerpts are so long 😭😭)

"I can barely walk, I can't fight-! I'm helpless. I'm at everyone's mercy and I hate it." His hands are shaking, the pencil moving like a record needle— up and down and up and down— in his weak grasp. Dream wants to steady it but can't, hasn't been able since Quackity's first visit, and he hates that too. His body isn't his anymore. It's a malfunctioning tool, but there's no fixing it. No quick repair. There's no fixing him.

Nothing can cure him, not potions, not time, not XD. He's broken, plain and simple. And all that's left is crossed wires.

A hand lays over his own and Dream looks up into Techno's eyes. His hand still tremors underneath the warm grasp, but it hurts less, now.

"You're not helpless, Dream. You're not. You're just changed, and I know that hurts. And I know I can't fix that but let me make it a little easier for you." His voice chokes on the last syllable, the emotion making it crack.

Sweat pools on the back of Dream's neck as he quickly adverts his eyes. A million thoughts run through his head, seeing Techno's care so plainly on display. He can't bring himself to pull away though.

"I don't get it." It's an admission he wouldn't make normally, but Dream wants to understand at least this about Techno, if nothing else. "You've more than repaid the favor, you don't owe me anything anymore."

"Yes, I do." Techno says, so quietly Dream is half convinced he didn't hear it at all, before Techno continues as if he hadn't said anything to begin with. "When are we just going to admit we're friends, Dream? We can be that to each other, you know."

Now, he does pull away, just barely. Their hands touch still, if only slightly, and the contact burns.

"Fine," Techno speaks, not with anger or frustration. "I'm doing it because I'm selfish. I like having you around, and keeping you healthy makes that easier. Not to mention you're skinny enough to be one of Phil's scarecrows. We can hang you out in the fields and you'd scare all the crows off, nice and easy. That's why I'm doing this, for the good of my crops."

Dream furiously ignores Techno's smug smile when that draws a laugh out of him, but it doesn't get rid of the pit in his stomach. Dream knows what happens to his friends.

He doesn't want that for Techno.

the pmc breakup (youtube)