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He was fighting. There has been a lot of fighting lately. There was some kind of crime wave going through their city. Dream swore that there was something happening at least twice a day. He and his friends were so exhausted. Dream had been working in many different teams lately because they were giving heros breaks.
Well, everyone except him. He understood that he was the league's star hero, or whatever, but he still wished he was treated with more human decency. He was going on two to three missions a day for the past couple of weeks.
By the end of each day, he was immediately crashing to sleep after taking two Advils. He knew he was worrying his friends, but he couldn’t really do much about it. He had a job to do. He could handle a little bit more.
He bursted into the bank.
“Hands up, you’re under arrest!” He yelled loudly. The men whipped around to look at him. They had black ski masks on and Dream guessed they weren’t really anything special. He had never seen them before, so probably just some guys looking to stir up trouble.
He had Warden and Demon beside him, aka, Sam and Bad. Sapnap and George were taking the day off after they all went on a total of three missions yesterday. The other two had been begging the commander to let Dream have the day off with them, but he had refused. So here he was at the front of yet another bank robbery.
The man pulled a gun out from behind his back and instantly began shooting. Dream ducked out of the way and cursed. He made his way behind a desk. He took a deep breath and began channeling his power in front of the men. There were only two of them, this could easily be handled.
He heard a gasp from one of the men and a weapon was dropped to the floor. Dream hopped up not wasting a moment running to grab the man’s weapon. He felt a wave of dizziness pass over him, but he ignored it. He snatched the gun off the floor. He instantly got behind the man that was still armed and put the gun to his head.
The illusion he had created crashed around them. The man he had was panting heavily. He was scared. Good.
“Drop your gun, or I pull the trigger.”
The gun was up to the man’s temple. Dream heard metal crash to the floor and he watched as Sam quickly grabbed the weapon. The men instantly fell to the floor, their hands in the air. Dream sighed.
What a waste of time.
They didn’t even have to use the power neutralizers because these weren’t villains, they were just criminals looking for a quick buck. They didn’t need him in this case.
Police bursted through the doors with reporters on their tails. The policemen immediately hand cuffed the men and began pulling them out of the bank and into their cars. Dream heard a door open behind him. The owner of the bank rushed out and over to the heros.
“Thank you so much!” He gasped out, the cameras pointed at them, “I thought I was going to die!” Dream doubted that these criminals would actually kill someone. They didn’t look like the type of people to do that. They just wanted money, not that Dream would actually say that.
“Just doing my job,” Dream said in a fake voice. He was too tired for this. The bank owner looked happy enough, so Dream guessed he sounded convincing.
Dream looked at Bad and Sam and motioned towards the door. He was ready to get out of here. His friends took the hint and began walking towards the door, but they were stopped when a lady with a microphone got in their faces.
“Smiler! Warden! Demon! What a pleasure it was that you were to save the day!” Dream could just hear the forced happiness in her tone. All reporters were the same. They just wanted whatever information they could to make a good story.
“Well, I’m glad we could help,” Dream answered, looking for the door, but being swarmed by more reporters and cameras.
For fucks sake.
All three of them were surrounded by people asking questions and wanting their attention and autographs. This was way too much for right now. Dream shook his head as another spell of dizziness washed through him.
“Smiler! What do you have to say about this crime wave that our town has been in?” The microphone was shoved way too close to his face. Dream huffed. He was starting to get overwhelmed by all the chaos in the room.
“I assure you, there is no need to worry. The hero league has it under control.”
____________
They did not have it under control.
Dream had hardly gotten any sleep in the past three days. His body was aching with exhaustion with every movement that he made. Everyone was telling him to take a break, to rest. He couldn’t. The hero league kept sending him on missions. Even when he thought he could get a break, they would send him on another mission.
He had done it all in the past couple of days.
There was one mission he was sent on that was because of a bridge collapsing. Whether it was intentional or not, they didn’t really know. He had spent over two hours jumping into the river looking for any survivors. He had to swim down to cars that were consumed with water to see if they could find any survivors.
He had seen way too many bodies that night for his liking. Even with the dead, they would have to pull their bodies from sunken cars to get them to the police for record. It broke Dream’s heart to see parents handed the dead bodies of their children. Or for it to happen the other way round.
He had been completely burned out that night from using his powers so much. He had created illusions upon illusions to get kids to calm down. Kids that had passed out or that were unconscious for any other reason, he made sure that their sleep was filled with happiness and comfort instead of nightmares.
He had gotten back to the leagues building that night and had crashed onto the floor in a hallway. He had woken up in an infirmary bed, George and Sapnap fretting over him. They scolded him for using his powers that much and pushing himself so hard.
Apparently crashing wasn’t enough to show the league that he needed rest. He was sent on another mission the next day. The complaints that George and Sapnap gave to the commander didn’t do much to help. He was sent out on yet another mission.
The next one was after three villains that he was pretty familiar with. It was quite an annoying fight. He had been slammed into a wall at one point by the shockwave powers of the man. It had hurt. Pretty badly.
These villains were used to the antics of his own powers, so it was much harder to get them off their guard, but eventually, with the help of his team, they had done it.
Getting all three villains in power cuffs had been a struggle but they had managed. Dream found himself limping out of the building before the police even showed up to the scene. He didn’t want to deal with a swarm of reporters right now. It would be too much at the moment.
He had slumped into his bed while still in uniform that night. That’s how George and Sapnap had found him the next morning. Completely a mess and still in a bloody uniform. He hadn’t really known where the blood came from, but Sapnap had cleaned him up, while George got them both food.
He had some pretty nasty bruises on his back from being thrown against the wall.
It hadn’t stopped there. It was crime after crime. Call after call. Dream was sure he was going to die by the end of it. He wanted a break so badly, but he kept being asked for. Every single mission. They had him on almost every single one.
Dream was so fucking exhausted.
____________
“No, you’re going to kill someone like that Tommy.”
Dream wasn’t sure why the hero league chose him of all people to help train the younger heros today. He was sure they were trying to kill him. It was ridiculous. Never a break. Never a damn break.
“Well then how am I supposed to do it?”
Tommy shot back at him and Dream could hear the annoyance in his voice. He knew that he wasn’t Tommy’s favorite hero in the league, but the kid could show him some respect. He knew damn well that if he was Techno, Tommy would be showing him some more respect right now.
“You can’t just lash out with your powers, you’ll end up misdirecting them and accidentally hurting someone on your own team.”
Tommy’s power was the ability to create ‘chaos fields’ as the kid called it. Basically he was able to temporarily disable the powers of someone in a specific area. It fit really well to his hero name, which Tommy had already chosen as Mayhem.
Currently, Tommy wasn’t aiming where he was striking. He was just using the power. He would end up disabling the power of his teammate if he kept it up like this. It was too random. If Tommy ever wanted a chance on the field, he would have to learn to control it and be extremely precise.
“You have to focus on who and where you are putting the fields on,” Dream instructed, “keep your focus on me. I’m the only one here, it should be easy.”
He saw slight anger flare up in Tommy’s eyes. Dream started channeling his own power to his fingertips. He didn’t want to create anything too extreme, so he just made the visual of some monster Tommy had seen in a movie once. He watched this kid's eyes flick to it.
He saw slight fear in his eyes before Tomy focused back on him. Dream kept the illusion moving with the slight movement in his hands. The visual glitched slightly. Tommy hadn’t even started trying to mess him up yet. Dream could feel his hands burning slightly.
Tommy focused in on him and Dream could almost feel the field that was being built around him. His hands started to burn as the field grew stronger around him. Dream let the illusion crumble. It was too difficult to uphold right now, and he didn’t want to hurt himself during training.
Even after the illusion fell, the field kept around him. Dream looked at Tommy. The boy's eyes were glowing red along with his hands. The power in the air around him was making Dream’s veins burn. He held back a wince.
“Tommy drop it,” He ordered at the teen. Tommy didn’t move.
Fucking hell. Why did he have to deal with this?
He understood it was hard to control your powers. Half of the time in the beginning, they had control over you. But, Tommy should still be better. Dream could feel his heart beating rapidly in his chest.
“Tommy! Drop the field,” He yelled it louder this time. Tommy still didn’t falter. For fucks sake. Dream pushed himself. He took a deep breath and tried to push his way into Tommy’s mind. He could feel his powers flickering painfully in him. He got a grasp on something and he immediately pulled Tommy’s focus from himself.
Tommy gasped as his powers stopped suddenly. Dream felt himself fall to the floor. He coughed into his elbow, cringing as he saw blood come up. Tommy saw him and was immediately rushing to him.
“Fuck Dream!” Tommy gasped, “Are you okay? I’m sorry.”
Tommy was on his knees beside him. Dream was pushing himself up in the next moment. He was so tired. He could feel the static feeling of his powers flicking through him.
“I’m fine,” Dream huffed, “You’re good Tommy.”
Dream stood up with the slight help of Tommy beside him. He took a deep breath. He wanted to be done. He wanted to take a nap curled up beside his boyfriends. The world had other plans for him.
Dream and Tommy both whipped towards the door as it was slammed open.
“Smiler, we need you out. There are hostages being held at the bank,” the man who walked in yelled, “they seem to have powers. Plan accordingly. Be out in 10 minutes max.”
Dream sighed and nodded his head, beginning to rush towards where he kept his uniform and supplies.
“Mayhem, Demon will be taking control of your training from here.”
He distantly heard it as he walked off. Oh, so Bad was free? They just had to get him. Dream coughed again, tasting metal in his throat. Never a dull moment.
Dream sighed as he threw his uniform on, grabbed the power cuffs, and was heading out the door.
_____________
Dream could hardly hear his own thoughts. There was so much going on around them at the moment. People were yelling. Kids were crying.
He could hear orders being shouted into his ear by the commander, but it was going in that ear and out the other. They had cuffed two out of the five men so far. It was just him and Blade, which was ridiculous. There had to be more heros that were free that weren’t them.
Dream sighed as he felt his hands tingle with his powers. His head was pounding uncomfortably. He knew he was going to get sick from this. He needed to back out before he collapsed.
He heard another scream and turned to see a villain with his arms around some teenage girl. Dream rushed to the man and he felt weight crush down on him.
Oh you’ve got to be kidding.
Dream felt his legs burn beneath him as the man forced him downwards. Dream took a deep breath. His hands were on fire. He let his power flood through them again. He heard the man and women in front of him scream. He didn’t know what image he created. He was too out of it to control exactly what he was making.
He forced himself upwards with the little energy that he had left in his body. He looked up for the man. Black spots were dancing in his vision and Dream coughed. He stumbled towards the man who was still staring petrified at whatever he had made. The lady was crying.
Monster.
The words floated around his brain. He tried to push them away. He grabbed the cuffs from his belt and quickly got them around the man, kicking in the back of his knees to get him on the floor. The image glitched and fell away. Dream gasped as he felt his own knees hit the floor.
He needed to stand up. He needed to get up. Dream coughed again, feeling blood come up his throat. He spat out the hot liquid onto the ground next to him.
His head was pounding and he was so dizzy. He felt like he was going to be sick. The woman turned to him. She didn’t look older than 25. She rushed over to him.
“Oh gods, Smiler,” She looked around for anyone to help. She pulled him up slightly, trying to get him back onto his feet. Dream winced slightly as he got back standing.
“Are you okay?” She asked him, worry in her voice. Dream tried nodding his head, but the motion made him dizzy. He fell back down into his knees as his stomach did flips inside of his chest.
Dream choked on the blood and vomit that came up. He quickly pushed his mask up slightly, trying to keep himself from inhaling any of it. Dream’s chest was heaving. He couldn’t breathe. His head was spinning and black was everywhere in his vision.
The woman was screaming for Blade. She was screaming for anyone. Dream coughed again as the vomiting fit stopped. He couldn’t get himself up. His head was spinning and his vision was blurring.
He felt his arms collapse beneath him as he fell onto his side. The woman’s hands were now on him, feeling over his pulse point. Another pair of hands were on him the next moment. He heard talking in his ear. His mask was pulled back down over his face.
Dream’s vision was fading. He could feel blood trickling down his face out of his nose. He coughed again. Hands were on him. He could hear voices.
His consciousness slipped from him against his will, as everything went black.
_____________
When Dream woke next, he could hear the beeping of a monster beside him. He blinked open his eyes, wiping away the sleep with one hand. He could make out the blurry image of the infirmary around him.
There was an iv hooked up into his hand and Dream could see the bruising around his vein already. He sighed slightly, letting his head fall back against the pillow.
He could hear muffled voices from outside the room. He could distantly recognize the sounds of his boyfriends arguing slightly. Dream shook his head fondly.
He coughed slightly. His throat was still extremely rough and burning. He tried to remember where he had been before he had passed out. Memories slipped back to him and Dream sighed.
The noise inside the room was enough to get the attention of the two outside the room. The door swung open and the worried faces of his boyfriends met him. They instantly rushed over to Dream.
“Holy, Dream!” George sighed, “Are you okay?” George's hands were on him. One of them brushed through his hair while the other grabbed his arms softly. Dream leaned into the other's touch.
“I’m okay,” Dream wheezed out, “Tired. What happened?”
He really hoped that he didn’t leave Techno to get out of that fight on his own. That would have been really annoying for the other hero. Dream was supposed to be better than that. He was supposed to be good at his job.
“You passed out because you overused your powers,” Sapnap explained to him, placing a hand in his. Dream squeezed it slightly and Sapnap squeezed back with a smile.
“Oh, was Techno okay?” Dream asked.
“He’s fine. By the time he got to you, the villains were already down,” George reassured him, “Techno is okay, Dreamie.”
Dream nodded softly. His eyes were getting tired again. Why was he still so exhausted? Dream yawned.
“Wha did they put in this,” Dream slurred, pointing at the iv in his hand. He usually wasn’t even this tired after crashing out. George sighed, sitting down on the bed beside him.
“A little something to make you tired,” George answered truthfully, “You need to rest.”
Dream yawned again and shook his head. Sapnap chuckled slightly.
“Just close your eyes bud,” Sapnap placed a hand on his shoulder, rubbing it softly, “we’ll be here when you wake up.”
Dream blinked. He could feel his awareness slipping.
“You promise?” Dream whispered.
“We promise,” George answered.
Dream let himself sleep again.