Chapter Text
“What do you mean, ‘you bought a sword’?”
Sapnap grinned, flipping the weapon up and catching it by the handle again. “I mean, I bought a sword,” he said, looking entirely too smug. “Karl helped me find all the supplies early, and I had some cash left over, so I bought a sword. Pretty sick, right?” He held the shining, iron blade out in front of him, admiring it. Though it didn’t have the unnatural sheen of an enchanted weapon, George still glared.
“That is so not fair,” he huffed, crossing his arms. “Just because you found a stupid boyfriend in the market means you get a sword, too?”
Sapnap jerked, nearly dropping the weapon on the deck, managing to catch it again at the last second. “Okay, well—,” he choked, glaring at George, “—I wouldn’t say boyfriend, first of all. And, yeah, because I had gold left over.”
“What if we had needed that gold, huh? What then?” George countered, unwilling to let it go.
“Well…” Sapnap looked to the side. “We didn’t, though. So it’s fine.”
George let out a grumpy harumph. He couldn’t believe that Sapnap got a sword and he didn’t. He would have gotten a much cooler sword, anyway. Not just a lame, unenchanted, iron one.
“It’s okay, George,” Bad said, coming over to pat him reassuringly. “He probably won’t even use it. It’ll just be a wall decoration.”
“What? No,” Sapnap frowned, dropping his mock-fighting stance. “I’m totally gonna use this, like, forever. It’s gonna be with me from now on, so I can just hee-YAH!” He swung the sword as if slicing through an invisible foe (keeping the blade deliberately away from his crewmates).
“He’s sort of right, though,” Dream called from over the port side. “We will probably weapons to complete the quest.”
George flopped dramatically over the banister, glaring at Dream, who swam in loops, unperturbed.
“Why couldn’t you tell us that before we went to the market? I could totally have convinced Bad to let me get that enchanted sword.”
Dream shrugged, sweeping droplets out of his eyes. “I didn’t really know they had any good weapons up there. And besides, I bet that sword was way overpriced, anyway.”
“Boom!” Bad crowed triumphantly.
“Oh, shut up,” George muttered, grimacing at the horizon instead.
Sapnap gasped in mock offence. “You take that back!” he cried, hefting his new favorite toy above his head in Bad’s defence. George glanced at him, unimpressed.
He grew slightly less unimpressed when the sword came crashing down less than a foot away, splintering part of the banister.
“Hey!” he yelped, hopping away and shaking off the loose wood chips that had flown at him. “Don’t do that!”
“Sapnap!” Bad squawked. “Don’t destroy my ship!” He paused, before adding hastily. “And don’t threaten George like that. You could have hurt him.”
Sapnap cackled, hoisting the sword up and away from the mess it had made. “It’s fine, he wasn’t in danger or anything. I had it controlled. A controlled scare.”
George scowled, still brushing his sleeve as though there might be hidden splinters within the fabric.
“Do you even know how to use a sword?” Dream asked skeptically from below. He had switched to floating on his back, watching the chaos above him unfold. If George didn’t know better, he would say Dream looked entirely serene, content to watch Sapnap almost murder him in cold blood.
Luckily, he did know better, so he caught the creased eyebrow and the twitching lip that gave Dream away. He was worried. Soft bastard.
Sapnap scoffed. “Uh, yeah I know how to use a sword,” he said in the most duh, obviously tone.
Dream raised an eyebrow, but didn’t challenge this. Instead, he turned to look at George and asked, “And what about you? You want a sword so bad, but do you know how to use one?”
George shifted away from the banister, crossing his arms over his chest. “Can’t be too hard,” he said, looking away, “if Sapnap knows how to use one.”
“Hey!” Sapnap cried. Nobody paid attention to him.
Dream grinned. “I can teach you,” he said. He glanced at Sapnap. “Both of you,” he added, almost begrudgingly.
George cocked his head, opening his mouth to ask how, but Sapnap cut in.
“Hey, I don’t know if you heard, but I know how to use a sword, dumbass,” he snarled, crossing his arms (and almost giving himself a Headless Horseman look to go with it).
“Language!” Bad snapped, sitting up from where he had been leaned on the banister.
“And, um, how exactly would you plan on doing that?” George added, seeing Dream level Sapnap with a reproachful glare.
“Yeah, you are kinda… underwater.” Bad tipped his head, slouching against the railing once more.
Dream laughed. “What,” he said, “you think the dragon is on land?”
George paused, glancing at his crewmates. Bad looked at Dream with his mouth slightly agape, and Sapnap was determinedly studying the blade of his sword, ignoring the question. Clearly, none of them had put that much thought into it.
“Unbelievable,” Dream said, crossing his arms. A smile played at the corners of his mouth, and George looked away, pursing his lips. “You land people are so entitled.”
“Well, now, that’s not really fair,” Bad complained, but he was smiling sheepishly.
“So you’ll teach us to swordfight… underwater?” George asked.
Dream flicked his wrists in the tide, smug smirk on his face. “Yep,” he said, “you’ll need it. Especially for the next part of our mission.”
A little thrill ran though George, and he couldn’t help the grin that tugged at his lips. Their mission. Not Dream’s burden alone anymore.
“And what would that be?” Sapnap raised his eyebrow, finally sheathing his weapon.
The smile fell from Dream’s face slightly, and his eyes darkened. “The nether,” he replied shortly.
George frowned. “What’s that? And why are we going there?” he asked. He didn’t like the calculating, worried look in Dream’s eye.
“The nether is a very, very deep part of the ocean. It’s hot, and it’s dangerous, and it’s honestly pretty terrible. You can only get to it through a series of obsidian tunnels that used to be magma vents. Humans would have absolutely no hope of finding it without stuff like potions, which is why I had you get those things from the market,” Dream explained. George saw the way his jaw was tensed, and how his tail lashed agitatedly below him.
“Sounds peachy,” Sapnap sighed, “So why are we going there?”
Dream’s gaze was resolute, and he glared at the side of the boat. “We need blaze rods. They make blaze powder, which we can use on the pearls to lead us to the dragon.”
“Well, hang on,” Bad cut in, furrowing his brows, “We got blaze powder, though, with the brewing stand. Can’t we just use that?”
Dream shook his head. “That’s probably only enough to power the brewing stand, not anything extra. I’m honestly just glad you found that much.”
“I mean, are we sure?” George asked. “‘Cause, like, it seems like it might be… more.”
Dream raised an eyebrow. “How much did you get?”
George glanced back towards the cabin. “Like, a bag. It’s about, um, this big.” He held his hands a few inches apart.
Dream barked a laugh. “Yeah,” he scoffed, “you’ll be lucky to get a few potions out of that, forget anything else.”
George slumped dejectedly, arms hanging over the banister.
Dream softened. “It was good to check, though,” he said warmly. “If we could have avoided it, that would have been nice.” George smiled lightly, straightening up.
“OH-kay,” Sapnap interrupted before George could reply. “So are we gonna water fight or what?”
***
George hated to admit it, but Sapnap was much better with a sword than he was.
That wasn’t saying much, but still.
Below him in the water, Dream and Sapnap clashed furiously, bubbles rising to where George watched. He hurriedly splashed backwards when they got too close, sword slicing through the water a couple feet from his foot.
“Watch it!” he yelped uselessly. They paid him no mind, cutting through the water towards each other aggressively.
Sapnap broke the surface suddenly, gasping and flinging droplets through the air. He glared at the water until Dream surfaced, after which he turned his burning eyes on the merman. He panted, sopping wet and glowering, and George vaguely thought he looked like an angry panther.
“Let’s go again,” Sapnap demanded, flipping his sword agitatedly. George caught him before he could dive back under, but he shoved away.
“Can I,” George huffed, “please have a turn? You have gone for the last three times.”
The original plan was for them to switch off sparring when they ran out of air, giving each other equal opportunity to recover before going again. Bad chose not to join them in their soaked sparring session. Someone has to stay on board, he reasoned, both now and when you guys go to the nether. I’m useless at fighting, anyway.
However, Sapnap grew increasingly frustrated with his inability to beat Dream, and demanded retries. The more times he went, the more aggressively he fought.
George wondered if Sapnap would really run Dream through with his blade if given the chance.
Something in his fiery glare told George yes, yes he would.
“Fine,” Sapnap snapped. “Go, then. You’re not gonna beat him, anyways.”
“That’s really not the point, though.” Dream said, risking swimming closer. George almost put himself between the other two to prevent any “accidental” stabbing.
“Oh, you’re just that good, then?” Sapnap sneered. His hand tightened on the hilt of his sword, and George did actually shift closer to Dream. Better to be safe than sorry.
“Yeah,” Dream muttered, quickly following up with, “but again, not the point. You two just need to get used to fighting underwater. All that balancing and dodging nonsense that you do up there is absolutely useless here. You just need to learn to use the water.”
Sapnap snorted. “It’s suddenly clear to me,” he mocked. “Just use the water. God, why didn’t I think of that?”
“Okay, well, come on now,” Dream defended half-heartedly. Sapnap had been at his throat for the whole half-hour they were out, and Dream was clearly getting tired of it.
“Don’t be an idiot, Sapnap,” George said. “Dream’s trying to help, you know.”
Sapnap pouted. “Maybe he should do better, then.”
“Maybe you should get a brain, then,” George shot back, and Sapnap’s mouth flopped open. Before he could say anything else, George turned back to Dream, saying, “Okay, my turn.”
Dream had a soft, fond smile on his face, and the force of it knocked the air out of George’s lungs. It was gone before George had the chance to study it, to see the way it creased under Dream’s eyes and how his incisors poked his bottom lip. He tried to ignore the way his chest felt both weighed down and lighter than air.
“Okay,” Dream agreed. “Let’s go.” He disappeared under the gentle waves, waiting just a few feet below the surface.
George sucked in a lungful of air and dove behind him, clutching his rusted iron sword clumsily.
(Dream had given it to him before they started sparring. “Wait here,” he had said, “I have something for you.”
So George waited, treading water and rubbing warmth into his arms with his hands. Sapnap waited beside him, muttering grumpily and glaring at anything that moved. Eventually, Dream resurfaced, grinning, with his hands hidden behind his back.
“What?” George asked, miming exasperation.
Dream grinned wider. He moved his hands from behind his back, revealing an iron sword that was probably beautiful at one time. Now, though, rust had eaten at the blade, leaving the shining metal tarnished. The ornate handle had pockets where jewels were once held, and the grip had long since worn away.
“It’s for you,” he said gleefully. Vaguely, he reminded George of a puppy, eager to please.
Something gentle panged in his chest, and he accepted the gift. “Thank you,” he said, ignoring Sapnap’s mutter about how ugly the sword was. “Really.”
And George had never been poetic, but the way Dream was beaming could have rivaled the sun—or maybe just the moon, but twice as pretty. He didn’t really know; all he understood was the implied oh no that went with the squirming in his gut.)
George shook his head, refocusing on the fight before him. The water pulled at his hair, and bubbles floated away from where they were trapped under his clothes. He tried to blink the salt out of his eyes, which never seemed to work. They smarted in the water no matter how he blinked.
Dream watched his movements carefully, waiting for George to strike first. He hovered a few feet away, broken spear clutched in his hands. He held it defensively, but George had seen too many of his swift, jabbing attacks to let his guard down.
George narrowed his eyes and lunged forward. Well, ‘lunged’ was probably a stretch. He kicked his feet out behind him, drifting vaguely in Dream’s direction. To make up for his pitiful movement, he hefted his sword downwards as hard as he could, aiming at Dream’s shoulder.
Dream blocked George’s swing easily, smirking. At least, George thought he was smirking. Everything was sort of still blurry.
Dream flipped him casually, as though George were nothing but a confused fish, and circled back around to face him, annoyingly out of reach. George kicked back upright, tightening his hold on the sword. He had to get at least a minor blow on Dream. Or, like, at least catch him off guard. He would be satisfied with catching Dream just a little off guard, honestly.
He tried a different approach.
He shifted to hold the sword in one hand and started swimming in a circle around Dream. He wasn’t moving fast enough to make Dream worry—he watched George’s movements casually, eyeing him like some strange fish. George changed direction, flipping to swim underneath Dream instead of beside him.
Dream didn’t like that as much. He tensed and clutched his spear, shifting to keep his shoulders facing George.
George feigned darting upwards, and Dream reacted exactly as George suspected he would. He dove to the side, taking his eyes off George for just the right amount of time. George swung his legs clumsily through the water, foot crashing into Dream’s tail and throwing them both off balance.
Unluckily for him, Dream had faster reflexes than he did, and the merman righted himself quickly. Dream took the opportunity to dash down to George and tap his spear gently against George’s chest, effectively ending the fight. George snorted, bubbles rising dejectedly, and kicked his way back to the surface.
“Dude,” Sapnap greeted him, unimpressed, “what was that? You just like... swam around. What happened to the fight?”
“Shut up, Sapnap,” George hacked, trying to spit out the salty remains of the ocean.
“To be fair,” Dream said, pulling a hand through this hair, “he did manage to land a blow on me.”
“He—?” Sapnap gaped, but George rolled his eyes.
“With my foot, Sapnap. Not the sword.”
Sapnap returned to looking unimpressed. “Oh,” he said. “That doesn’t even really count.”
“It’s better than you’ve done so far,” Dream contributed helpfully. Sapnap whipped around, snorting like a bull, and George sunk in the water. Fantastic, another fight. This should go very well, he was sure.
“At least I actually have the balls to try and put my blade through your throat,” Sapnap snarled. His wielding arm twitched dangerously, like he was considering trying to off Dream then and there, but he refrained.
Dream shrugged. “I never said you didn’t,” he replied, almost entirely unaffected. George noticed, subtly, Dream shifted farther away, out of reach of both Sapnap and his glinting sword. “But you’ve also never actually landed a blow on me, sword or foot.”
“Oh, I’ll show you landing a blow,” Sapnap growled, hiking his sword up and out of the water.
George panicked. Belatedly, he pulled his own rusted sword up and swung clumsily. It made contact with Sapnap’s (rather close to the hilt, he winced) and knocked the blade out of his hand.
The silver sword flew gracefully through the air for the briefest moment, then neatly sliced straight into the water and sank like a stone. A big, long, glittering stone, headed straight for the ocean floor.
“GEORGE!” Sapnap roared. “What the HELL?”
“I’m sorry!” he floundered, pulling his own blade back guiltily. “But you were—you almost—you know!” he sputtered.
Sapnap’s eyes gleamed with fiery fury. “I wasn’t actually going to hit him!”
“Weren’t you though?” Dream chimed in unhelpfully, leaning in over George’s shoulder. Tactfully staying behind the human.
Sapnap bared his teeth, spitting. “I fucking might’ve,” he conceded.
“Oh-KAY,” George interrupted. “I think that’s quite enough sparring for today. We should go back.”
“But—my sword!”
“Dream will get it,” George replied bluntly, earning him an indignant hey! from the merman, “after you cool down.”
Sapnap glared, treading water silently for a moment longer. Then, with a huff, he turned and started swimming back towards the boat. He didn’t wait for George.
George groaned tiredly, rubbing a hand over his face. The salt stung his eyes, but he paid it no mind. The rusted sword weighed his arm down, and he jabbed it frustratedly downwards. “Do you have to antagonize each other that much?” he asked Dream, turning to pin him with an unimpressed expression.
“Hey, it’s not my fault. Sapnap always starts it.”
“Yes, but you always push his buttons. And you know it.”
Dream shrugged, eyebrows raised innocently. “He’s too easy to rile up.”
“Unbelievable,” George muttered, turning away. He started following Sapnap towards the ship, marginally slower thanks to the blade dragging his arm behind. Dream cut him off, surfacing abruptly in front of him.
“Oh, come on, Georgie,” he pleaded. George dodged around him, fixing him with a glare. Dream ignored it. “It’s not like I haven’t tried! He just hates me.”
“Maybe its because you’re an insufferable prick?” George suggested, tone falsely light. He continued paddling back towards the ship, refusing to acknowledge Dream’s presence beside him.
Dream kept pace with him easily, pouting in George’s peripherals. “You don’t mean that,” he whined.
“More and more with every word out of your mouth,” George sniped.
Dream whined petulantly, eventually falling silent when George refused to respond. He swam beside the human as they grew closer and closer to the ship, and watched him climb out of the water without a word.
Before George disappeared from view, he spoke up. “Wait, George.”
He looked back, still clutching the rope ladder, eyebrow raised.
Dream seemed to fumble with his words for a minute, finally setting on, “Will you be—around tonight?” His eyes glimmered hopefully, and despite himself, George’s heart gave a pang.
“I guess that depends,” he replied, hefting himself over the side of the banister and leaning against it.
“On what?”
George snorted. “How forgiving I’m feeling.”
Both of them knew it meant yes.
***
The night air blew chilly, and George wrapped his arms tighter around himself. Summer was drawing to a close, August kissing the waves goodbye for another year.
Bad waved to him through the cabin’s window, and George grinned fondly and waved back. Bad disappeared into the sleeping quarters, leaving George alone with the waves and the breeze.
Well, nearly alone. George glanced around the deck, waiting to see if Dream would reveal himself. He walked idly to a banister, leaning over it to watch the moon.
Salty water splashed onto his cheek and hair, and he reared back in surprise. Below him, Dream grinned cheekily, swimming in circles. He flicked more water upwards with his tail, and George ducked out of the way with a snort.
“Rude,” he said, hanging an arm over the railing. “If you’re gonna be like that, I think I’ll just go back to the cabin…”
“No!” Dream barked quickly. “No, no, I’ll stop.” He laughed lightly, and George found himself smiling along.
They sat in a comfortable silence for a moment, listening to the gentle waves lap at the boat. The wind pulled at his hair, and he huddled farther into himself. He should have grabbed a better jacket.
“I wanna show you something,” Dream said, breaking the silence.
George tipped his head. “Okay?”
“Follow me.” Dream moved a little ways back from the hull before following its edge towards the back. George frowned, sitting up from the railing and walking alongside Dream. He didn’t know what Dream could possibly have to show him at the stern, but he didn’t have to linger on it long.
Past the cabin, right before the hull ended, there was a vague shape sitting atop the water. George squinted at it, trying to see what it was. It seemed like it was just… a few planks of wood strung together with something. It was attached to the side of the boat, though George wasn’t quite sure how.
Dream fidgeted nervously beside it, watching George’s reaction. “It’s a, um. It’s kind of a little deck,” he explained. “For you,” he added.
George pursed his lips, head tipping a little further. “... Why?” he asked after a long moment.
Dream sunk lower in the water, ears flattening. “To, like—to hang out. Or something. I don’t know, I just made it because I thought it would be kinda cool for us to be on the same level when we talk sometimes.”
George’s eyebrows raise. Oh. It was a gift for him. “Oh,” he says out loud, a little dumbly.
“It’s fine, I’ll take it apart,” Dream mutters, setting a dejected hand on the deck. He looks at it ruefully, like it had done him a personal disservice.
“Oh, no!” George shakes away his surprise. “I like it. I’m gonna come down, catch me if I fall?”
Dream startles, staring up at him. He vaguely registers that his shadow was cast over Dream’s figure, and the surrounding water reflected the moon back at him. Despite that, Dream’s eyes glitter at him.
“Of course. Always.”