Chapter Text
They stand on a bridge, blue water rippling beneath them as Dream lines his aim up, chucking another smooth stone from between his fore and middle fingers. It skims along the surface, bouncing lightly.
“14,” Fundy says, tail swaying. “New high of the day.”
“I’ve done better,” Dream says back, briskly. He hasn’t said more than a sentence or two at a time the whole time they’ve been together, which must be more than half an hour at this point. Simply Fundy conversing with a brick wall and skipping stones.
“It’s still good,” the fox-hybrid frowns, turning to study Dream. A permanent furrow has tucked its way between the blonde’s brows, and Fundy feels uneasy.
He reaches out. “Can I?” he asks, answered by a nod, only then letting his fingers brush lightly against Dream’s. The boy still flinches.
Fundy thinks his heart breaks.
“What’s going on, love,” his voice is soft, only carried by the light breeze. “You’ve been distant lately-” he curses softly as his voice trembles. “-from me; from everyone.”
The blonde turns away, casting his dull eyes on the river. “It’s nothing,” he states, far more curt than he would be normally. “Just personal issues.”
He knows better than to press, but there’s a moment where he’s very tempted to. “Alright,” Fundy sighs, studying Dream again. His eyes have always reminded his fox-side of the forest, the way the hazel-ish brown crawl up the centre and are fanned by layers of emerald and evergreen.
Hesitant, he laces their fingers together. His beloved doesn’t pull away, even unconsciously leans in. His heart swells.
“Do you know how to skip stones?” Dream asks, glancing over, face screwed up with an emotion Fundy places as anxiousness (he knows this one very well, surely wearing the very same one when speaking to his father about his own life) and he smiles.
“No, can you teach me?”
That question sends Dream on a tangent of angles and momentum and Fundy listens to every second of it, watching the other boy with admiration.
He’s interrupted from his freckle counting (he got to 144, there’s a lot more during the summer months) by Dream staring at him, hand outstretched, eyebrows knitted together. “Fundy? Were you listening?”
“Yeah- of course-” he says, stumbling over his words with a deep flush ingrained in his cheeks as he takes the offered stone from Dream. “I throw it?”
“That’s what you do with rocks, right?” the blonde says, mildly amused.
Fundy snorts in response, lining up his throw. He was at least half listening to Dream, so the rock flies for about five skips before plummeting beneath the blue.
“Good,” says Dream, grinning. “You’re a natural.
Fundy flushes brighter, staring at his feet, tail betraying his excitement as it whipped back and forth. Dream often teases him about being a walking, talking broom.
They continue skipping stones, flinging them across the smooth surface of the water, watching the ripples expand.
“I should go,” the blonde boy says, voice soft and quiet, almost a whisper. Like he’s telling a secret. “They want me to train more.”
Fundy wrinkles his nose. “This soon? Isn’t today supposed to be an off-day for you?”
Dream shifts uncomfortably. “ Was an off-day. Schlatt thinks Pogtopia is planning another attack soon, wants us to be ready.” He laces their fingers together again, squeezing. “I won’t be able to sneak out for a while.
His face falls. “That’s fucked up.”
“Yeah,” Dream hums, smiling sadly.
He pulls away after a few beats, leaving Fundy’s hand cold and grasping at air. They exchange curt goodbyes, and Dream heads off to Manberg. The fox-hybrid stares after him, dropping rocks into the stream below.
He wishes he could throw his fragile heart into the water; it would hurt far less than this.