(Sorry, this part is gonna be short.)

"Wow.... it's already so late out...."

"I guess it is. It seems that your friends have already left."

"Huh? Oh! I... I guess they have..."

"Don't look so down. Would you like me to walk you back home?"

"You'd do that?"

Nightmare chuckled as he coiled one of his tentacles around Dream's body. The younger of the twins let out a sound of surprise as he was lifted off of the ground, but his surprise soon died down. He bobbed up and down slightly as Nightmare walked, though he didn't mind one bit. It had been a while since they'd last gotten to spend some time together. Dream was just glad that they'd gotten to spend some time together today, though he did notice how insistent Nightmare was on it. It wasn't like his brother, but hey, he wasn't complaining.

He was a little upset that Ink and Blue had left without him, but then again, it was entirely possible that he couldn't follow them wherever they'd gone off to. The two did get pulled away by their boyfriends, after all. So it wasn't impossible that they were.... doing things. Or they could have just wanted some time together. Dream smiled wide at the thought of his two favorite couples. Nightmare glanced back at him.

"What are you thinking about?" He asked him. "Something mushy?"

"Oh, just about how cute Ink and Blue are with their boyfriends," Dream replied. "I wish I had a boyfriend. I wanna go on dates too!"

(Everyone reading that sentence: b r u h --)

Nightmare hummed thoughtfully. "Well, if you really want one, you should look. Didn't I hear you talking to Ink about a crush you have?"

"Maaaaaybe," he said, putting on an innocent look.

"If you tell me who that is," he began. "I might be able to help take care of it."

"Nighty, I appreciate that offer, but I know you'll just bash him over the head." He frowned, shaking his head. "So no, I won't tell."

"But it's a guy."

Dream groaned as he rested his chin on Nightmare's tentacle. His brother chuckled at his defeated response. Nightmare's phone dinged and he pulled it out, checking the notifications. Dream picked his head up, trying to lean forward to get a glimpse of his screen. Nightmare didn't even look at him as he shifted his tentacle, moving Dream out of seeing distance. The Guardian of Positivity pouted and rested his head back down.

He let out a long and heavy exhale. His eyelids were feeling heavy. His body was relaxing on its own in Nightmare's grip. He didn't even pay much attention to anything around him. Sleep sounded very nice right now. He'd used up all of his energy during the day, didn't he deserve to sleep by now? He hadn't even noticed that Nightmare had stopped walking. He let out a small moan as his eyes closed, embracing the sleep that enveloped him.

Nightmare glanced over at his brother. He shifted his tentacle again, bringing Dream close to him. He placed a hand on his head gently, checking to see if the spell had worked. When he verified that it had and Dream was in a deep sleep, he spoke.

"Alright Cross, you can come out now."

The ex-royal guard walked out from behind the tree he'd been hiding by. His clothes were a bit covered in blood from his earlier activities, but that wasn't what he was focused on. Cross had sent him a text to stop what he was doing and put Dream to sleep. He wasn't a stranger to having to use magic to make Dream sleep. Back when they were younger, he'd had to do it quite often to get him to sleep. But Cross hadn't said why he needed to do that.

"Explain yourself," Nightmare demanded, crossing his arms. "I don't mind having to put a spell on my brother, but if you asked for that only to obsess over him while he sleeps--!"

"It's nothing like that... though he is cute, even when sleeping," Cross hummed. His eyes flickered to Dream and stayed there longer than Nightmare would've liked. "There was someone waiting for Dream. They looked sketchy... so I had Horror and Dust take them back to the castle."

"Sketchy, huh. We'll see when we get there." He replied. "Though... there could be more waiting."

"So is Dream gonna stay with us at the castle tonight!?" He asked excitedly, eyes shining with hope.

"Yes.... but he's not staying in the same room as you." Nightmare glared at him. "I know better than to trust you with that."

"Aww...."