Chapter Text
With one simple joking question, all tension that remained between the admin and the enderman vanished. Slowly, they made their way over to the spiraling staircase in the middle of the room and sat side by side, exchanging tales. Dream talked about his past, playing dangerous games with his close friends and training with one of the best fighters in all the lands. The admin finishes his tales with discovering a valley full of potential that would one day become the very server the two were laying in the middle of at this very moment.
“Those were the days,” Dream sighs, stretching his back and arms above the next three stairs above him and sighed, “It was easier when we hadn’t built anything yet, and all this you see around you was nothing but potential for something great.”
Ranboo nods along, understanding what the other means by wishing to go back in time. The enderman had thought about that a time or two, usually after some of the worst of the bullying he’d endured. But he was much beyond those dark times, experiencing things he’d never anticipated. The enderman decides to share some of his own past with the admin. After all, it would only be fair after learning so much about his new companion. Ranboo speaks highly of his two mothers, but can’t help but say he wishes they understood him a little better. His story and reminiscing about his past is significantly shorter than Dream’s, because he hasn’t lived any rich or exciting experiences since earlier in the day when he found himself here.
Sending a silent prayer to the End for delivering him to a place where he truly believes he will belong and flourish, Ranboo sighs, “Well that’s about it for me, I’m pretty boring.”
The admin interrupts him the moment the words escape the enderman’s lips, “You’re not boring. Not to me at least.” Dream says earnestly, “I might not be interested in the tiniest differences between forest grass blocks and those from the swamps, but the sparkle in your eyes as you explained makes me feel happy. But that might just be the admin in me,” the green-clad man laughs, “If the people I have been charged to protect are happy, then I am happy too.”
Speaking of the server the admin holds in such deep regard, Dream retreats awkwardly into himself for a moment to regain his composure. He can’t help but feel like he’s coming on a bit strongly with the whole server thing. But Prime, did he want the enderman to partake in all the good memories Dream has had in his time here.
“I hope I’m not being too forward,” he begins in a rare awkward tone, “But you seem like a great young man and I was wondering if I could convince you to stay here in my land… forever.” Dream looks deeply in the enderman’s eyes, seeing the exact moment the heterochromatic eyes widen, processing the words that were just said.
Ranboo wasn’t sure what to think at all. It’s not everyday someone is offering him a permanent place to stay in such a wonderful land. He really should doubt the sincerity of the Dream’s words, this is almost too good to be true after all. But the enderman doesn’t. He has been starved for attention, love, and above all a place to belong his entire life. So before a single doubt or rational thought can enter his mind, Ranboo is throwing his arms around the masked man and clinging onto his forest green cloak as if his life depended on it.
The admin’s arms gently envelop him, and Ranboo melts into the warmth of an affection he’s never known. Underneath the mask, Dream is grinning like a fool, trying to ignore the heavy tears bubbling in his eyes. Ranboo reminds him so much of another young boy, one who was hot-headed and when he didn’t get what he wanted would cause a huge fit until he did. Grinning to himself, Dream gently rubs circles into the lower back of the tall teen curled into his chest. The admin knew from the brief summary of Ranboo’s life he’d received very little positive treatment, but he had no idea how bad it was. So for the moment, he was glad to hold the younger male and be clung to for as long as necessary,
But that wouldn’t stop him from making a joke about it, “I’m guessing that’s a no then?” Dream can hardly hold himself back from laughing. The enderman groans and nuzzles his head deep into Dream’s neck.
“Shut up, man.” Ranboo’s voice is muffled, “You’re going to have to pry me off.”
Dream has absolutely no intention of releasing Ranboo from his grip until he was certain he was ready for it. Instead of making effort to remove the enderman clinging to him like a barnacle, Dream lays back against the stairs, getting himself comfortable so he can hold Ranboo for as long as he needs.
“T-thank you,” Ranboo sniffles, finally lifting his head from the safety of the admin’s neck, “I didn’t realize how badly I needed that.” Dream simply nods and shrugs, signaling to the other that it was no big deal. And when the enderman gently pushes back against the arms hugging him, he gently releases him.
“Any time.” Dream replies warmly, bringing a hand to cup Ranboo’s face gently, “You can come to me any time you are feeling alone, Ranboo. I know what it’s like.” Then the admin stands, straightening his cloak and dusting himself off.
Ranboo is quick to follow in the admin’s footsteps and stands beside his new f̶r̶i̶e̶n̶d̶ brother figure, a smile causing his face to slightly split open as most Enderlings do. Wordlessly, he descends the couple of stairs the pair had climbed and stands beside the door on the opposite side of the building than the one he came in through.
When he’s stopped, he flashes an award winning smile at the other man who is only a couple steps behind him, “Convincing a known thief to move in with you? That’s not a very smart move.” The enderman says cheekily. “I could be someone trying to bring you down.”
Dream rolls his eyes, before realizing Ranboo cannot see that gesture, and instead steps forward and lazily pulls out his sword and dangles it haphazardly. “You could be,” the admin’s voice drops to a shockingly cold tone, one that causes the enderman to shiver. “But if you were,” Dream continues, raising his sword to point directly at Ranboo’s heart. “I would’ve ended you.”
Before either of them could get deeper into hypotheticals, Dream sheaths his sword and lets out a hearty wheeze, “You should’ve seen your face, you were as white as a ghast!” The admin can barely get out his words between wheezes and holding his sides. His laughter is contagious and soon the enderman is laughing alongside him.
“Come on then” Dream speaks once more, stepping out the door he and Ranboo were standing by. “Let’s get you started with a small tour of the place shall we?”
Ranboo nods eagerly and moves to walk beside the admin. He’s very excited to see what other impressive buildings can be found in a place like this. And the enderman is also quite curious as to what other members of the server might be like. Dream had mentioned moving here with at least two others, but he’s yet to see any sign of anyone else so far.
As if on cue, Dream opens his mouth to speak, “I cannot wait to show you around and introduce you to all my friends… And the other members of the server too I guess.” He trails off on the last part. If Ranboo was to live here, he’d eventually learn of the war and petty battles he had been involved in a couple months ago, but the admin had hoped to keep that from the newest server member for as long as possible. Deep down, Dream expects the younger man to abandon him if he found out the admin had slipped and hurt some of his server members before. And over such a trivial matter at that.
Ranboo on the other hand is confused. From what he knows about servers everyone usually respects and praises the admins for allowing them to live in a world protected from the conflicts of the world. “T-there’s people here who don’t like you?” The enderman stutters through his words, still coming to terms with what he had just heard. Dream was the kindest being he’d ever met, and that wasn’t just because he was starved for attention and affection.
The green man seemed to care so deeply about the enderman and everyone else involved on the server. It was like Dream had said earlier, hearing someone talk about their passions was addicting. Ranboo without needing to see the blond’s face could tell Dream was full of a burning passion to protect his server, as all admins are. The enderman supposed maybe that could be a detriment if members of the server broke rules, but that has rarely been reported, so it likely hadn’t or wouldn’t ever happen here.
Ranboo is met with a scoff from his companion, “You could say that.” Dream shakes off the comment with a quick hand movement, not wanting to linger on his grey past much longer. Guilt wraps around his heart when he sees Ranboo flash him a concerned gaze.
‘The enderman wouldn’t be doing this if he knew you destroyed many peoples’ homeland’ the voice in Dream’s head hisses in his ear. Quick to dismiss his voice of doubts, Dream turns back to the worried eyes of the young enderman. “Now don’t worry your head on that, there’s plenty of time to catch you up on the rich history of the server later. Let’s see the sights. Starting with this.”
The pair had arrived in front of a very impressive stone castle, adorned with all the colours of the rainbow. Ranboo’s eyes widen as he takes in every inch of the build. He thought the community house was the best looking structure he’d seen, but this topped it all.
“Woah…” The enderman sighs thoughtfully, no other words able to describe what he was thinking about the castle towering over him.
“This is Eret’s castle. They’re sort of the monarch of this server.” Dream grins, interrupting the enderman’s wondrous thoughts. “ Their title is mostly a figurehead for the server,” the admin clarifies, “but they’re a good and level-headed friend. I’ll have to introduce you sometime.”
Ranboo hears every word Dream says, but they don't process at all. He’s a little preoccupied with marvelling at the beauty of the build they stopped in front of. “Are all the builds on your server as impressive as this one?” He can’t help but ask, unsure if his brain could handle being wowed this much by more buildings.
Dream shrugs, “Some are. Some aren’t. But that’s what I like about this place. Everyone’s free to do what they want, within reason of course. Aside from a handful of people, it’s worked pretty well.” The man recesses in his mind a little bit, reliving the fiery and emotionally taxing battles he’d been in a couple months ago. The face of utter betrayal on a certain member of the opposing side’s face is permanently burned into Dream’s mind. Even if that member was the reason for the battles, the admin blames himself that it all ended the way it did. But all he can do now is move forward and try to make sure something like that doesn’t ever happen again.
Ranboo feels a great deal of sympathy for Dream, it must be tough to try to control a server’s worth of people and remain calm. “I’m sure you handled everything the right way,” he offers, getting a hearty laugh of disbelief from Dream in response.
“I think I handled the situation a bit more dramatically than necessary, but what can I say? I have a flair for the dramatics,” the admin replies. Dream decides to spare Ranboo the gritty details for now, there’s plenty of time for him to come clean about all the awful things he’s done later. At this moment, all he wants to do is complete the tour.
So, Dream tugs at Ranboo’s sleeve once more. “Now. Ready to continue?”
“You know it.”
Dream sighs, pulling Ranboo away from the castle and towards the wooden path connecting his world to the world of his rivals. He can get through this tour without needing to disclose his past, can’t he?
He just hopes that when the time comes for Ranboo to know the truth, it will come from his mouth directly, not someone else. Dream cannot bear to lose the trust of the teen he’s taken under his wing so quickly.