Dream walked through the forest, humming to himself without a care in the world. He was walking with George for a while before the shorter male got bored and dipped, though Dream was upset about it but he didn't say anything and kept walking.

The main reason they were in the forest in the first place was because they heard of a haunted house, one that's only recently been found as haunted due to a horrible accident that had happened within the family. The ghost was supposedly around Dream's age, maybe younger, maybe older, not many people can pinpoint an ghost's age.

All that was known about the ghost was that they were male, black haired boy who often tended to jump scare whoever came across them, their giggle echoing into the darkness. He often was seen to be a misty blue with an almost foggy outline, well that's what Dream had heard and he's been intrigued ever since.

The forest was dark, the wind was harsh and the only sounds to be heard was the crunching of leaves underneath the boys shoes, the trees and bushes shaking against the strong winds and Dream's humming. It seemed to get quieter as he neared the building.

"Gah!" He yelled tripping over something, his black boots getting a splash of mud onto them.

Dream pushed himself back up to his feet and looked down at his clothes, now covered in some muk but mainly on his boots. His blue jeans were dirty as well but at least his orange hoodie was clean. He gave George his green one earlier. Don't ask why he brought two.

Looking up from the ground and himself, his eyes locked onto the tall building, it was a regular house, not what the blond had expected at all. It was very old looking, vines starting to grow up the walls and dead plants on the windowsills, creepy broken glass windows and a half standing door which was closed. He doubted it actually worked for any purpose. The strong wind was almost silenced but the impact it made on the house didn't fade.

"Odd, I thought it was only recently haunted." Dream mumbled to himself, shrugging slightly as he fixed his mask onto his face and walked.

The moment he stepped foot into the house it was as if he went deaf immediately. Every sound stopped, he couldn't even hear his own breathing, he could only see the breath he puffed out into the cold, damp air. Dream felt something warm rest against his ears, the odd warm thing making him shiver and jump forward and placed a hand over his ear to see if he felt anything unusual but he felt nothing, the warmth left.

"That was freaky." He mumbled to himself looking around the room.

The house was as equal of a rekt as it was on the outside, the glass shards having spread inside and outside the house along with a brick, the table was smashed in half and the chairs had been ripped, though they could all been played off as some kids messing around or cats living in the house and sharpening their claws on the chairs. But really if it wasn't what the blond had thought it was he would immediately worry about what the dead spirit had been through.

"Was this like that when crime was committed?" He questioned allowed, crouching down against the floor and picking up the brick. "Or was it staged to look like this after?"

Dream didn't know why he was talking to himself, probably a habit from recording videos but he didn't sense any danger so he did it anyway. He probably should be more careful, his vocal stims ringing out throughout the house as well.

Just as Dream was about to get up he felt the warmth again, but this time it wrapped around his shoulders, making him almost feel inclined to lean back against it.

"Who's there?" He asked, keeping his eyes straight ahead, even if the mask did his facial features he felt almost as if eyes were peering at him harshly, almost looking straight through him.

"Awk, what happened to the dude who didn't have a care in the world as he entered here?" A voice echoed around the room. "No respect for the dead." They hissed out.

Dream stood up, still facing the same direction and shoving a hand into his pocket.

"No response? What a shame." They hummed, giggling again. "Come on tough guy."

The warmth left yet again and a faint blue glow was coming into Dream's line of sight, his lips gaped slightly as he didn't know what to say. The main reason he came here was to see if it was true and because he didn't want to lose another bet to Techno, he doubted that ghosts exist especially under the circumstances of the incident.

"I'm sorry." Dream finally formed some words, bringing his other hand to scratch the back of his neck through the hood. "I doubted ghosts even existed." He tried to explain.

The blue glow got brighter, more visible. The blue faintly gave off an outline of a human, floating upside down in front of his face.

"You're the first to apologise." The voice was now more human like with a small echo coming off the last word. "I don't blame you, the others who came here just screamed hearing my voice and left... so why haven't you?"

"I.." he trailed off before clearing his throat. "You don't seem dangerous."

"What? Just 'cause I'm a ghost you think I can't hurt you? I can still interact with the real world y'know." They sounded almost offended.

Interesting, Dream thought, looking up at the figure of the ghost he assumed and smiled faintly behind his mask. Even with most stories he's heard of the paranormal most stories consisted of ghosts only being about to go through objects or control electronics. Right now he didn't doubt anything was possible, next thing you knew he'll be seeing a flying pig.

"Do you have a physical body then."

"Well yeah, I've two."

Without a warning the blue glow slowly faded and Dream could actually see the body of the boy forming into his sight. The boy have black hair and wore a white hoodie and a white bandana that kept his hair back, black long hair that was tied into a ponytail at the lower back of his head, the white hood from the hoodie slightly covered most of his hair and the back straps of the bandana sat against the roof of the hood. He had black ripped jeans and white checkered shoes, one orange glove on his right hand, a fingerless orange glove.

"You look..." Dream trailed off, crossing his arms over his chest as he searched for a word.

"Ugly?" The dead man hummed, his brown eyes shining slightly the more humanifed he became.

"What? No, I was just trying to phrase 'good looking' but I forgot the word." He laughed sheepishly, ignoring his concerned thoughts when the dead man said 'ugly' before anything else.

"...oh." He murmured, a blue blush of embarrassment crossing his face as he looked away. "I'm Sapnap, or you can call me Nick."

"Sapnap?" He questioned, what an odd nickname, but then again he was one to talk.

"Mhm!" He grinned looking back to the man in the orange hoodie, floating around, almost as if he was inspecting the boy.

"Well it's nice to meet you, Sapnap. My friends call me Dream but I'm fine with Clay."

"Nice to meet you too."

The two shared an awkward two minute silence, looking at each other or around the place. Eventually they broke the silence after another few minutes, Sapnap offered to show him around the house, even though it was a broken down house and there wasn't anything interesting, just a bunch of broken down furniture and other stuff, there seemed to be no food in the house at all but Sapnap just seemed happy to talk to someone, he was very giddy, childish and talkative. He was a very open person but his mood would change immediately if Dream wanted to know what happened to him truthfully but that was to be expected, death wasn't an easy topic especially if it came to how they died themselves.

Changing the topic again, Sapnap floated up next to Dream, they were in a bedroom, just as equal of a mess as the rest of the house but it was a bit more comfortable to stand in. The bed had a small area underneath it, the room was rather big, a ladder up to the bed.

"I've shown you the old destroyed parts of the house, let me show you something cool." The ghost grinned, grabbing Dream's hand and pulling him under the bed and to a button hidden behind a chest, he pressed the button and a loud beep could be heard from behind them, the dirty blond turned around and saw the floor open up and before he knew it he was being pushed into it.

"Gah! What are you doing?" Dream panicked, reaching out to grab whatever he could so he grabbed onto Sapnap's hoodie tightly.

He looked into the boys eyes, his panicked ones into the others calm joyful ones. There was no malicious intent as far as he could see but he didn't ease up too much.

"Hey you're gonna ruin my hoodie! Come on I'll be following behind you!" Sapnap pouted.

"..." Dream stared at the boy blankly, forgetting about the mask.

"You know I should be more scared of you, Mr Mask Guy." Sapnap hummed, standing onto his feet for once instead of floating around for once.

Dream didn't let go and glanced to where he was pushed to go.

"Oh come on, here I'll go with you, you big baby." Sapnap teased, removing Dream's hand from his hoodie and instead holding onto it. Sapnap's hands were cold at his fingers but warm at the palm of his hand. Sapnap went in first, sliding down the slide like entrance with Dream being forced along, holding on for dear life, he didn't even have time to protest or say that he wasn't 'a big baby'. He held his eyes closed until they stopped sliding.

Dream slowly opened one of his eyes, looking around the room and not seeing any imitate danger, so he opened both his eyes and looked around properly. It was like a gaming room, in much better condition than the rest of the house, almost looking brand new. It was a fairly small room but just big enough for the two to be comfortable, there was bean bag chairs and a computer set up which seemed kind of old but he guessed it worked. He looked at Sapnap, the ghost was a lot more visible and less... blue? Misty? Whatever the word was. He looked proud of himself and excited, rocking on the heels of the shoes and explaining the room, it was there when he died but he recently had fixed it up, made it more comfortable and more homey for the ghost.

After explaining the room that didn't really need an explanation, Dream didn't say anything about it as he didn't want to ruin the boys excitement or kill the mood, it seemed like they hadn't had someone to talk to in awhile or to show the room to so he was willing to trust anyone for a friend.

Sapnap pulled Dream over to the beanbags and let go of the boy's hand, causing him to fall mask first into the soft chair. He was lucky it was soft or it would've really hurt. The two tried to get to know each other, there were some awkward moments of course or moments when Dream could tell he overstepped boundaries with questions and they'd both grow quiet but overall they got along fine. It was the meeting stage where they weren't friends but they liked the idea of coming back to hang around.

After the first week they both got comfortable around each other enough to make some odd jokes or playful flirting from Sapnap and over time Dream started playfully flirting back. Around four weeks of getting to know each other they walked around the abandoned area, seeing a lot of wild animals, mainly friendly ones. They found a pond nearby the house so they started to hang out there when the days weren't too cold, it was a nice pond in all honesty, a little island like but of land in the middle where a bench sat with a bridge that lead to it, it was overgrown slightly but not too much that it would be disturbing to look at. The trees around seemed to have grown in a perfect circle around the pond, curving towards the center of it, that being the bench, and it left some area in the middle where the light could shine in. Dream wanted to see what it would look like on a sunny day, with the rays of sunlight beaming through the gaps in the trees and lighting up the place, it would definitely be a sight to see. They both sat on the bench often, it was calming, relaxing even and it was the place where they had their first non awkward silence.

_____

"Dream?" George asked as he mindlessly played minecraft, chilling in a voice chat with his best friend.

"Yeah?" Dream questioned, being brought out of his thoughts and singing a song that was stuck in his mind.

"Why haven't you been home lately? I tried to call over yesterday but you didn't answer." You could tell the boy was slightly worried by the slight toneal change but Dream tried to pay it no mind as he didn't want to get upset or feel bad he made the other upset.

He thought for a moment before responding, letting the silence fall over the call as he thought of what to say. He didn't know if he was to tell the truth and even if he did tell the truth would George believe him? He can't be like 'Oh Yeah I was out talking to my ghost friend.' George would worry about his mental state if he thought Dream started talking to imaginary friends. He didn't believe it himself, if he said it out loud to himself he thought it was ridiculous but he's been there in person. He's talked to the ghost, touched the ghost and he's seen him in person so it obviously was real.

"Dream? Dreeeeeeeam?" The other boy yelled down the call.

"Oh, right." Dream chuckled nervously, stretching his limbs and leaning back against his gaming chair. "I was at the haunted house."

"What's so interesting about a haunted house? It's just some old torn down home. Why would you even want to return to it?"

"Well it's not the house that has me coming back obviously..." he trailed off, glancing to the side of his monitor to his phone. He wondered if he took a picture of the ghost would it come out in the photo or would it be a blurry mess.

It seemed Dream's response made George perk up even more, he could tell by the silence that he was expected to keep talking.

"I just saw something cool around there." More like someone. "There's also a nice pond around there, it's calming with an old bench in the middle off it, a bridge that went to it as well, across the pond. There's a gap between the trees that lets the light into the area and it looks really pretty." He explained, a bit dreamily about the place. It was oddly pretty for how old it was and where it was but pretty nonetheless. Plus he had to make an excuse somehow.

"You ignored my calls for a... pond?" George asked skeptically.

Dream nodded, forgetting the other couldn't see him nod, "Yup."

"You expect me to believe that's it?"

"Well it's true." For the most part. "Why would I lie? It's just a creepy forest otherwise." He questioned defensively, furrowing his eyebrows and confused on why his friend wouldn't believe him.

"Show me then."

That caught the boy off guard.

"Why can't you just believe me?" Dream asked, getting a bit irritated, if he didn't want to say the full truth he didn't have to.

"Because everytime you come back you're so light on your feet, so happy for apparently a pond? Like hell I'd believe you're head over heels for a pond." George said back, Dream could tell the other boy was getting annoyed too.

___

Meanwhile as the two of them got into an argument, Sapnap was laying on the bench in the middle of the pond, staring up at the dark starry night with a lovey-dovey expression. He'd just recently figured out he liked the boy who often came to visit him. At first he thought it was the attention the boy gave him but no, that didn't sound right to him. Maybe it was the idea of having a friend after a year of being alone? Again, no. It was love, he figured that out as he lay under the boys laughing body, the both of them soaked from pushing each other into the pond and tackling each other on the ground, play fighting. Even without the boy removing his mask Sapnap felt like he could see right through it, he could tell every emotion the boy was having, his true reactions to things.

Sapnap thought back to the recent memory that made him fall for the boy, Dream was laughing above the boy, wheezing his lungs out, well that's what it sounded like, pinning Sapnap's hands above his head, Sapnap laughed as well, giving up their play fight and looking up at the boy with a fond expression, Dream's mask had fallen off somewhere during them messing around and Sapnap panicked, looking away and covering a blush that quickly spread across his face.

"Sapnap?" Dream questioned, confused, still laughing slightly.

"Your- your mask came off."

Dream went quiet for a moment, not letting go off the boys wrists. He could tell the boy tense up and his grip tighten but it loosened as quickly as it tightened, a light hearted chuckle escaping the boy above him.

"You can look." He said, smirking slightly. He didn't see any harm in the ghost seeing his face. "You won't tell anyone, right?" He questioned skeptically.

Sapnap cleared his throat to avoid stuttering but he couldn't get the blush away quick enough. "Dead men tell no tales." Sapnap said confidently, turning his head back and looking up at Dream.

The boy had intense eyes and yet a welcoming expression, it threw Sapnap off a bit but he just stared, the boy above him had a few scars on his face, one from his hairline to above his eyebrow, one across the middle of his nose and one from the side of his mouth to the middle of his cheek. The ghosts' expressions were a mix of emotions, confusion, worry and... love? A fond expression as he stared up at the boy. He let his arm go through the boys grip and cupped the boys cheek in a hand.

"You don't look half bad mask boy." He grinned, and then it hit him. Love. It explained the warmth in his chest, the skip of a beat in his heart then the boy laughed, the automatic calmness around Dream or the jumpy and burst of energy he felt.

'Oh fuck' was the first words that came to mind.

"Neither do you, Ghosty."

He chuckled and brought his hands to his chest.

"Love between a human and a ghost isn't allowed." A voice chimed in from the other side of the pond, Sapnap quickly sat up and starred in the direction of the voice.

"I don't care." He mumbled looking away from the boy walking towards him.

"Sapnap, don't make the same mistake I did."

"What mistake did you make, Skeppy?" The ghost asked, a tick of annoyance obvious on his expression.

He was startled by the boy suddenly floating in front of him, staring at him with a serious expression for once.

"Falling in love with a human, duh." He half laughed. "It was literally the topic-" the brown haired male smirked slightly but let it get serious again.

"You fell for a human? You said they were one of the undead." Sapnap asked, confused. "You haven't talked to me in awhile and now you expect me to give up my new friend? What the hell?"

"They won't live as long as us, there's a small chance they'll turn into ghosts or one of the undead. Wouldn't you want to stay with them forever? Wouldn't you want to stay with them for as long as you'll live with this second life?" Skeppy asked, his hand balling into a fist.

"Eventually they'll die, there's a low chance of him becoming like me, a ghost, but it's a chance I'm willing to take and he doesn't return my new found feelings for him but I'm fine being his friend." The black haired male smiled sadly, looking at Skeppy. "Good things come to an end, so I'll cherish them for as long as I can."

"But-"

"I don't want to be left alone again, Skeppy. I don't want to be forgotten about and fade into nothingness." He snapped, a hurt expression on his face.

"I won't leave you again, I'm sorry." Skeppy said letting out a sharp breath before wrapping his arms around Sapnap and pulling him into a hug. "I'm sorry I left." He said softly. "Something happened to... my friend. Yeah, friend so I left to mourn for him, he was a human and I lost him... I don't think he's coming back as a ghost anytime soon or an undead."

"What gives you that idea?" Sapnap questioned, wrapping his arms around the other boy.

"He was too sweet, way too nice and would always help people if they asked for it. He didn't seem to have a bad bone in his body. I doubt he's made enough mistakes to come back as anything."

Sapnap frowned and patted his friends back.

"So... should I stay away?" Sapnap asked, a frown on his face as he looked down, he had just figured out he loved the boy and now he's got to just, what? Leave him? Avoid him?

There was no way Sapnap was going to leave his new friend.

Right?