Thank you Kreme4life for requesting this :) I hope you all enjoy and remember to brush your teeth before you cross the road

"I don't want to go into the village." Nightmare groaned, his voice muffled from face-planting on the couch. Dream sighed softly, staring down at his disgruntled brother. Another new store had recently opened and it's important they go and pay a visit and see what it's like- besides, it's a fruit and vegetable store which means they'll probably have round, juicy apples of all varieties and the brothers loved apples.

"You know we have to." Dream stated, folding his arms. 

"Why can't you go by yourself?" Nightmare grumbled, adjusting his position so he was glaring slightly at his brother. 

"Because it's custom in our village- we both have to go!" Dream huffed. "You know I'll keep you safe from the villagers, I won't let anyone hurt you."

Nightmare buried his face back into the couch.

"No."

Dream blinked. "What do you mean no- Nightmare, We have to go!" He argued, stamping his foot.

Nightmare let out an exasperated breath, sitting up and just staring at his brother.

"Come on, let's go." Dream spoke, his voice now gentle. "It'll only take an hour or so."

Nightmare narrowed his eyes slightly before he slouched in defeat.

"Fine." He murmured, groggily pushing himself up from off the couch. Dream gave him a small smile, holding his hand out for Nightmare to take. Nightmare glanced down at it, interlocking his hand with the other and mumbling something incoherent. Dream simply smiled at him, tugging him along to the front door. He pulled the door open in his usual destructive manner, stepping out with his brother in hand and gracefully slamming the door, locking it.

"Do you have something against doors?" Nightmare asked, chuckling slightly. Dream gave him a toothy grin.

"They are nothing but barriers in my way!" He exclaimed, giggling to himself. Dream began to lead the way, his brother rolling his eyes in amusement as he walked beside him.

The sky was a dull blue today, greyish clouds hovering over them and blocking a majority of the sunlight. There were a few birds whizzing by busily, as if they had places to be causing the corner of Nightmare's mouth to twitch up into a small grin. He loved watching birds. There was a brisk wind which rustled the leaves and swayed the branches of trees, making them look like they were dancing. It would probably rain soon- not that the brothers minded, they enjoyed the rain.

Nightmare's smile fell as he noticed the village slowly begin to come into view. Dream flickered his eyes to his brother's and frowned slightly, squeezing his hand in reassurance- a silent way of telling him that everything will be okay. 

As soon as they were officially in the village Nightmare tensed and edged closer to Dream, his nerves getting the best of him. Dream felt a pang of guilt bubble inside of him for making Nightmare come with him but at the same time he had no choice- it had become a tradition for them both to visit any new shops that open in the village.

The realisation that he didn't even know where the shop was made him internally face-palm. He was going to have to ask one of the villagers. Sighing, he approached a strange plant monster and asked for directions. The monster beamed at him and pointed towards the direction though glared when it locked eyes with the guardian of negativity. The monster bit back the urge to say something snarky, instead it just smiled again at Dream before mumbling a goodbye and wandering away.

Nightmare frowned, averting his eyes to the ground. Dream, oblivious to the sad look on his brother's face, began to gently pull Nightmare along by the hand in the direction of the store. Nightmare kept his eyes trained onto the ground, refusing to look up and risk making eye contact with the villagers.

Eventually they had arrived in front of the store. It was painted a light green and white; there were a few small baskets of fruit and vegetables outside.

"The fruit looks so good." Dream commented, his eyes shifting to stars. Nightmare glanced at him and smiled softly.

After a few seconds of Dream admiring the fruit, the two guardians entered the store hand in hand causing a bell to chime above them. Nightmare gently shut the door behind him, not trusting Dream to do it. 

"Hello?" Dream called out, glancing around. There were shelves and baskets stacked with all kinds of delicious fruit- even the vegetables didn't look too bad which is saying something since Dream hates vegetables.

"Hello!" A voice replied. Nightmare and Dream looked around, confused as to where the voice came from. All of a sudden, a familiar purple rabbit hopped out from around the counter and approached the two excitedly. Nightmare's eyes widened in recognition. 

"Oh, hi there!" Dream greeted cheerily. "Is the shopkeeper around?"

The rabbit grinned, peering up at the two skeletons in wonder.

"Mom is upstairs- she'll be down soon." He answered, his eyes shifting to look up at Nightmare.

Nightmare stared down at the small purple rabbit, blinking curiously.

"Okay, well I'm going to go look at what fruit they have." Dream declared, immediately heading towards the apples. 

The rabbit beamed brightly at Nightmare, hopping excitedly. "Are you one of the guardians?" He asked innocently. Nightmare shifted and gave him a nervous smile.

"Yeah, I'm the guardian of negativity and my weird brother over there is the guardian of positivity."

Instead of receiving some kind of dislike in response, the rabbit grinned.

"That's so cool!" He cheered. Nightmare felt a warm, fuzzy feeling inside of him- this monster truly didn't hate him. 

"I'm not weird!" Dream cried out, having been listening in on their conversation. 

Nightmare grinned and chuckled slightly. The rabbit also laughed, hopping around Nightmare cheerfully before stopping in front of him again. Upon closer inspection, the rabbit had a large red bow around it's neck- though it seemed to be coming undone. Nightmare crouched down, gesturing for the rabbit to come a bit closer.

"Your bow is coming undone- let me fix it for you."

The rabbit nodded, stepping closer and standing up straight like a soldier. Nightmare laughed softly, carefully undoing the bow and then retying it for the monster. Once he was done he stood back up, smiling down at the rabbit. 

"There you go."

The rabbit let out another cheer, hopping forwards and hugging Nightmare's leg. Nightmare tensed, not used to this kind of behaviour- especially from a villager. He soon relaxed though, patting the rabbit on the head and laughing softly, his cheeks dusted a light lilac. Dream had been watching the whole thing and was stood besides a basket of apples, grinning brightly with starry eyes. 

"Bonnie!" A voice suddenly cried out, startling all three of them. A tall blue rabbit emerged from the doorway that led upstairs, staring at her son with a horrified expression.

"Don't go near him- how many times do I have to tell you to stay away from him?" She scowled, stepping closer and dragging the purple rabbit away from Nightmare, glaring daggers at the guardian of negativity. Nightmare stepped back, fear written across his features.

"But he's not mean!" Bonnie whined. The blue rabbit growled and forcefully ushered him out of the room, shutting the door and locking it before turning to face Dream, clasping her hands together and resting her elbows on the counter, smiling at him.

"Hello Dream, what can I do for you?"

She completely disregarded Nightmare- yet instead of being fearful of this tall rabbit monster, he felt anger pooling inside of him. Dream opened his mouth to respond however was rendered silent by his brother's sudden outburst.

"How can you treat your own son like that- he did nothing wrong!" Nightmare hissed, seething at the rabbit. 

The blue rabbit narrowed her eyes, ignoring him and staying focused on Dream.

"Yeah!" A small, muffled voice from behind the locked door called out. The blue rabbit's eye twitched; she was becoming aggravated.  

She opened her mouth to once again ask Dream what he would like however fell quiet at the sound of the bell chiming, alerting them that another monster had entered.

Another tall villager stood in the doorway- this time it looked to be a robotic monster. It grinned at Dream and waved before noticing Nightmare and instantly scowling.

"What are you doing here?" It sneered, voice mechanical yet somehow still laced with distaste.

Nightmare faltered; this monster looked scary.

"He's here with me." Dream informed him however he went unheard. The robot stalked towards the guardian of negativity, cornering him. Nightmare slid down the wall in fear, his eyes wide. The blue rabbit leaned on the counter, smirking as she watched the scene unfold.

"Nobody wants you here." The robot hissed, glowering down at the now trembling skeleton. Dream seethed, clenching his fists.

Nightmare felt tears build up in the corner of his eye-sockets, causing the robot to laugh maniacally.

"Are you crying?" It cackled. "Good- I'll give you something more to cry about in a second."

Without hesitation, the robot yanked Nightmare up and threw him into the counter, earning a yelp and cry of pain. Dream's eyes darkened. The robot got ready to pull Nightmare up again however was stopped dead in his tracks by Dream teleporting in front of him, his eye-sockets empty and devoid of emotion.

"Don't you dare touch my brother." He spoke in an eerily calm voice.

"Or what?" The robot snickered. Dream wasted no time in pulling his fist back and slamming it into the vile monster's stomach area. The robot sputtered in surprise and pain, leaning forwards and gasping for breath. Dream lifted him up with his telekinesis and slammed him into the wall, watching as he cowered and whimpered in pain.

"Get out now or I will kill you." Dream ordered, his voice laced with venom. The robot fumbled to stand up, staggering out of the shop all the while clutching it's stomach in pain. The blue rabbit stared, frozen in terror. Dream glared at where the robot had been before turning around and rushing towards Nightmare, his golden-yellow eyes returning.

"Brother- are you okay?" Dream asked, carefully helping Nightmare stand. The guardian of negativity winced but nodded, leaning against Dream.

"I'll be fine, don't worry." He mumbled, closing his eyes momentarily. Dream frowned, wrapping an arm around him to help support him stand. His leg must be injured. He met eyes with the blue rabbit.

"Can I get some of those apples, please." He asked in a monotone voice, gesturing towards the fruit. The rabbit nodded hesitantly, leaving the counter and quickly making her way to the apples, filling a small basket with around eight of them. She handed them to Dream anxiously.

"Just take them for free." She stammered. Dream nodded, beaming at her and spitting out a "Thank you" before exiting the shop, cautious not to agitate Nightmare's injured leg. Once they were out, Dream clicked his fingers and teleported them both to the safety of their home. He unlocked the door and carefully led Nightmare inside, leaning against the door to close it.

"Night, stay here for a moment- I'm going to put the apples in the kitchen." Dream gently told him. Nightmare nodded, resting against the wall and grimacing slightly. Dream gave him a sad smile before turning away and heading towards the kitchen, placing the basket of fruit on the counter top. He hastily returned to Nightmare, lifting his arm so that it was securely wrapped around Dream and wrapping another arm around him to hold him close.

"Come on, let's go see if your leg is okay." Dream murmured, helping Nightmare move forwards through the living room and towards the stairs. It took a while but they had eventually struggled up them and ambled towards the bathroom. Dream kicked open the door, entering and leaning Nightmare against the bathtub. This process was becoming sadly familiar.

"Can you take your boots off and roll up your trouser leg?" Dream asked, tilting his head slightly. Nightmare hummed in response, leaning forwards and beginning to do what his brother had questioned. After a moment of fumbling, he had managed to remove his boots and roll up his trouser leg which was partially stained red, revealing a rather large gash in the bone seeping with blood. Dream felt a wave of guilt and sadness wash over him; he should've stopped the cruel robot before he hurt him.

"I'm sorry." Dream muttered, grabbing some cloth and disinfectant from the first aid cabinet.

Nightmare frowned. "It's not your fault- you basically saved me." He replied, grinning up slightly at his brother. "Thank you, you didn't have to do that, you know?"

"I'd do anything for you." Dream mumbled, crouching down and drenching the cloth in disinfectant. "You're so important to me, I will protect you as best as I can." 

Nightmare blushed lightly, the warm and fuzzy feeling of being appreciated returning to him.

"This will sting." Dream warned, beginning to dab at the blood. Nightmare clenched his teeth, trying not to hiss in pain; a stray tear rolled down his cheek.

"I love you." Nightmare managed to say, hissing ever so slightly. Dream felt a small smile slip onto his face.

"I love you too, Nootmare." He chuckled light-heartedly.

Nightmare felt himself relax, the tension from earlier slowly disappearing. 

"My name's not Nootmare." He mumbled, flicking Dream's head. Dream grinned a little wider, batting his hand away and continuing to clean to wound.

"Whatever you say, brother."

--End--