Okay so I combined 3 different requests into this oneshot (I hope you don't mind!) Thank you DeadlyHuggles for the suggestions and sorry it took so long for me to actually get onto doing them :') Brush your teeth before you cross the street.

Ethereal - extremely delicate and light in a way that seems not to be of this world.

Nightmare sighed, peeking through his half-open curtains and gazing outside. Dream had woken him up early again- not that he minded anymore; he was used to it by now. It was around 5AM and the world was just waking up from its slumber. The sky was painted a pretty pink with fluffy clouds of purple scattered sporadically and the clear, radiant sun shone beams of golden light throughout the land, giving it a warm, gentle hue. Despite feeling slightly irritated from his disturbed sleep, he couldn't help but smile softly at the spectacle through his window.

He gazed out through his window for a little while longer before tearing his eyes away and shutting his curtains fully, blocking any sunlight from entering his room. Dream always told him he should keep them open during the day but he wouldn't listen; he'd rather have them open at night and let the soft glow of moonlight filter into his bedroom and create an almost ethereal feel.

Nightmare exhaled quietly, clicking his fingers and instantly being dressed in his usual, royal purple clothing. He scanned his room before his eyes locked onto the golden crown that sat neatly on his drawers. Releasing another sigh, he stepped towards it, looking it over for any signs of damage before placing it on his head. Lately he'd been checking it every morning to make sure there wasn't any hidden dents or marks; ever since he was confronted by three wolfish villagers he had become paranoid that they'd damaged it and he just couldn't find it. 

But there was nothing on the crown. No marks, no scratches, no dents- he was just being skeptical.

He took one last look around his room, glaring at the shadows before exiting, closing the door behind him quietly. Nightmare wasn't looking forward to today- not at all. Him and Dream had to go into the village so they could gather some food stuff and whatever else they needed for the next few weeks or so. Normally Dream would go to the village himself however Nightmare knew better what exactly they needed whereas Dream vaguely knows what they need and what they could have. Last time Dream went by himself, he came back with an excessive amount of sugary treats. Nightmare chuckled slightly at the memory.

He started to slowly head downstairs, running his hand along the railing absentmindedly. When he reached the bottom, he was met with a pair of golden-yellow eyes.

"You take forever." Dream accused, folding his arms. Nightmare rolled his eyes playfully, poking the space between his brother's eye-sockets. Dream grumbled something, sticking his tongue out childishly at Nightmare before turning and leading the way to the front door. Nightmare trailed behind him.

The two ventured towards the village, Dream occasionally stopping them both to point out little things and distract his brother. He wanted to make sure Nightmare's attention was diverted elsewhere than the village- he didn't want him to be too nervous or afraid. Nightmare was oblivious to his brother's intentions, instead he just simply enjoyed observing the flowers and animals his brother would gesture towards.

Overall it took about two hours to finally get to the village; they'd gotten side-tracked about twelve times and stopped by a small lake for twenty minutes, skimming stones on the water and sharing terrible jokes. Nightmare had enjoyed it and felt much more at ease than what he did earlier. Dream noticed and smiled to himself.

As soon as they officially stepped foot into the village the positive and negative aura spread, alerting the villagers of their presence. A few of them came outside of their homes to smile and wave at Dream- some of them even approaching the two skeletons and having a pleasant conversation with the guardian of positivity. Nightmare wouldn't meet their eyes.

Dream spared a glance at his brother and felt himself frown slightly, noticing how tense he appeared. He grabbed Nightmare's hand reassuringly and gave him a small smile. Nightmare seemed to relax ever so slightly, giving his brother an uneasy smile. The two trudged further into the village hand in hand, Dream waving and smiling at everyone and Nightmare desperately trying to avoid eye-contact, subconsciously moving closer to his brother. He made the mistake of locking eyes with a tall, rabbit villager. The rabbit gave him an unnaturally wide grin, his furry paw doing the notion of death across his own neck. Nightmare flinched.

"Don't worry, we're at the store now." Dream whispered to his brother softly. "We'll just go in, get the stuff and head back home."

Nightmare gave him a slight nod in return, both of them entering the food store. This shouldn't take them too long.

Around fifteen minutes or so later, the two guardians emerged from the store, Dream carrying two bags of food and other necessities. He was fighting off his brother playfully who tried to keep taking the bags, insisting he should carry at least one. Dream adjusted and held the two bags in one hand, using his other to snatch Nightmare's hand and hold it. Nightmare huffed and Dream grinned victoriously.

"Hey Dream, over here!" One of the villagers called out, gesturing for Dream to follow. "I found one of your golden apples- It was just laying here!" 

Nightmare felt himself freeze, watching as Dream hummed curiously, releasing his brother's hand without a second thought and approaching the villager. Nightmare watched helplessly, unable to call out from fear as his brother went towards the distraction, the other villagers all grinning with malice as they closed in on Nightmare.

Dream followed the villager, tilting his head slightly when they stopped behind a building. The villager pretended to look around with surprise before turning back to Dream and shrugging.

"I'm sorry, maybe it was just my imagination."

Nightmare whimpered as a rock was thrown at him, hitting him in the shoulder. The villagers all seemed to laugh, mumbling words of disgust and hatred between themselves.

Dream blinked in confusion. Was there even really an apple? 

"The universe would be better of without you, Nightmare!" A strange robot monster spat, the slightest glitch in his speech. "You're the reason for our negative feelings and nightmares!"

Dream seemed to suddenly recall the story his brother had told him a few days ago about two dragons. His eyes widened slightly, remembering how Droom would be led away and Nootmare would be left with the mean dragons.

"Your existence only brings us suffering!" The tall rabbit monster from before cried out, throwing a stone at Nightmare's rib-cage, knocking one of them. The guardian winced, falling to the ground in pain and shutting his eyes tightly, trying to block them all out.

Dream could feel the negative aura increase. 'How could you be so stupid?' He scolded himself, bolting away from the villager and back towards where his brother had been, gasping at what he saw. Some of the villagers stopped their assault, turning their heads to look at the guardian of positivity. Others ran away, but the rest ignored him.

"Stop it!" Dream cried out, pushing past all the villagers and standing before his brother, dropping the bags of shopping on the ground and holding his arms out, using himself as a shield.

"What is wrong with you all?" He choked out, tears forming in his eye-sockets as he glared at them. Seemingly out of nowhere, a rock flew forwards and hit the side of Dream's face, causing him to wince and grunt in pain. A hushed silence fell over the villagers, all of them turning to look at the monster that had hurt Dream.

Nightmare opened his eyes, peering up at his brother that stood before him, protecting him.

"You take out all of your anger, your hatred, your pent up rage on my brother!" Dream seethed. "But none of you realise that Nightmare isn't to blame for any of your negative emotions- It's not his fault he's the guardian of negativity!"

Dream turned slightly to look down at his brother.

"Night, I'm so sorry I left you alone." Dream's glare had softened as he talked soothingly to Nightmare. "I love you, I won't let them torment you anymore."

Nightmare could only watch as his brother turned away from him again, ready to lecture them. He could feel hot tears building up in his eye-sockets. What did he do to deserve such an amazing brother as Dream?

"Just because my brother is the guardian of  negativity doesn't make him evil!" Dream hissed, glaring once again at the villagers. "If anyone's evil it's all of you that hurt him and make him feel so terrible!"

Nightmare felt a stray tear roll down his cheek, staring up at Dream like he was the best thing in the world- which he was- at least, in Nightmare's world.

"Nightmare is such a cool brother- he's funny, he's kind, he's always there for me and I love him dearly!" Dream's voice cracked slightly as golden-yellow tears began to dribble down his cheeks. "I won't let you hurt or take him away from me."

Nightmare's eyes flickered to lilac stars momentarily.

Dream held his glare with all of the villagers, watching as they sheepishly glanced between one another before beginning to disperse. None of them said sorry much to Dream's dismay. When all of the villagers had wandered away, Dream lowered his guard and quickly turned around, crouching down to Nightmare's level. The two brothers had streams of tears cascading down their cheeks. They kept eye-contact for a few more seconds before Dream enveloped his brother in a comforting embrace, holding him close and whimpering slightly.

"I'm so sorry." Dream whispered, repeating it over and over, unable to say anything else. Nightmare returned the hug shakily, burying his face into Dream's shirt and releasing a strangled sob.

The two guardians remained that way, seeking comfort from each other. They soon began to gradually calm down, their tears coming to a halt. Dream hesitantly somewhat pulled away from the embrace, wincing at the moderate stinging pain he felt in his cheek. 

Nightmare instantly took notice of this and frowned. "Are you hurt?"

Dream, avoided Nightmare's gaze, shaking his head 'no'.

 Nightmare's frown deepened- he knew he was lying to him. He reached out to Dream's face and gently turned it so he could see what was wrong. There was a mark on the side of his cheek where the rock had impacted and was bleeding ever so slightly. 

"I'm fine, Night." Dream murmured, trying to turn away. "Really, it doesn't hurt."

Nightmare ignored him, feebly standing up and grabbing Dream's hand, pulling him up. He moved his line of sight towards the shopping bags that his brother had dropped on the ground; thankfully non of the items had toppled out. Nightmare grabbed them both by the handles and teleported away back home with them and Dream.

Nightmare left the bags on the stairs, deciding to sort everything out later. For now, his main priority was patching up his beloved brother. He lightly tugged Dream up the stairs, ignoring the quiet protests of him, insisting he was fine.

"You're not fine, you're injured. Now stop whining." Nightmare mumbled, pushing open the bathroom door and entering it, his brother having no choice but to follow. Nightmare instructed Dream to lean against the bathtub while he reached into their first aid cabinet and grabbed a cloth, some disinfectant and a bandaid.

"Stay still." Nightmare ordered, pouring some of the disinfectant onto the cloth and beginning to cautiously rub against the cut, careful not to agitate it too much. Dream whined, the stinging sensation growing more painful. Nightmare muttered an apology, cleaning the cut until the blood was gone. He turned towards the sink and spent a few minutes washing the dirtied cloth, clenching his teeth at the pain in his shoulder. Once he was done, he turned back to face Dream so he could apply the bandaid.

"I don't want a bandaid on my face." Dream huffed.

"Too bad." Nightmare replied, sticking the bandaid over the cut. Dream let out an unsatisfied noise, folding his arms however still thanked his brother. Nightmare gave him a small smile, poking between his eye-sockets. Dream batted his hand away, letting out a breath of laughter.

"Why do you keep doing that?" He asked, tilting his head.

"Because I can." Nightmare answered, about to put away the disinfectant before his arm was grabbed.

"It's your turn, now." Dream stated, grinning. Nightmare frowned however didn't argue, allowing Dream to stand up and take the disinfectant from him.

"Lean against the bathtub." Dream ordered, inwardly chuckling about how the tables have turned. Nightmare let out a huff, doing as he was told. Dream grabbed the cloth that Nightmare had washed and two bandaids from inside the first aid cabinet, crouching down to his brother's level and coating the cloth in the disinfectant.

"You'll need to take this off." Dream ordered, gesturing towards the purple coat. "And your shirt."

Nightmare dully nodded, beginning to remove his purple coat, grimacing from the discomfort in his shoulder and ribs. He struggled a little while longer before taking it off, tossing it at Dream's face. Dream let out a surprised noise, removing the article of clothing from his face and resting it on the side of the bath. Nightmare toothily grinned, removing his shirt and putting it alongside his coat.

Dream first started work on his shoulder as it seemed to be in worse condition. There was blood trickling down and the bone looked to be bruising. He squirmed slightly at the sight before pressing the cloth doused in disinfectant on it, earning a hiss from Nightmare. Dream waited a moment before beginning to wipe at the injury, cleansing the blood away. Once finished, he placed a bandaid over the injury before standing up and hastily cleaning the cloth. Nightmare's ribs weren't bleeding, they were just bruised so he could put away the cloth and disinfectant.

"I can't really do much for your rib injury." Dream mumbled, feeling guilty. "I'm sorry."

Nightmare looked up at him, noting the sad expression and gave him a small smile. "Hey it's okay, it's not your fault." He soothed. 

Dream still couldn't help the feeling of guilt creeping up his spine. If he hadn't been so naive and followed the villager then his brother wouldn't be so beaten up. He let out a sniffle, watching as Nightmare stood up slowly. They stared at one another for a few seconds before Nightmare smiled softly, holding his arms out as if asking for a hug. Dream sniffled again, hugging his brother tightly albeit being careful of his injuries.

"I love you, I'm sorry you got hurt again." Dream cried, closing his eyes. Nightmare sighed softly, also closing his eyes shut. 

"It's okay, It's not your fault." He reassured. "I love you too."

--End--

This took me quite a few hours to write lol I hope you enjoyed it