Sitting in the planning room Dream sat before the map of the SMP, candles dimly lighting the room as the white-haired man tried to figure out their next move. Punz watched, pale gray eyes watching the gears of the man's brain move as he thought. “What do we do now?” Dream mumbles out. Punz bit their lip, eyes casting towards the stone floor as they crossed their arms. If Punz could voice his opinion, they’d say nothing. The SMP, in Punz’s opinion, was as put together as it would ever get. It was peaceful, no wars plaguing the server. 

“It’s up to you, Dream.” They whispered out, smiling as they looked back towards Dream. The man smiled, green eyes meeting Punz’s own. 

“Well, we’re partners are we not? What do you think?” Punz almost smiled. Partners. They never knew Dream saw them as partners, it warmed their heart making their cheeks redden as well. 

“Well, I’m unsure Dream. I’m not the one with the master plan.” They lean back in their seat, watching as Dream’s smile turned to one of soft chuckles. 

“I guess that’s true.” He paused. “I think, I should go after Tommy again.” Punz’s eyes looked towards the map. Tommy, someone Dream was convinced was the root of the problem. In some cases, Punz could understand why Dream would think this because from the beginning it had always been Tommy that Dream had been trying to keep in line. But, not all the problems of the server could be placed on one person's shoulders. 

Wilbur had been a big problem, starting the first major war and then starting another revolution after he had lost the first election in L’manburg and then thrown out of the country. His ego just wouldn’t let him lose, and when he did he felt too shameful to keep his ‘unfinished symphony’ intact. 

Techno had been a problem, killing more people than Punz could remember with his withers after he learned that the rebellion was the only means to gain control over the country again and not to free it of government as a whole. 

George had been a problem too, always sleeping and never paying attention to where he should have been. Like when he was supposed to be at the election and slept in. Maybe then Schlatt never would have even come into the picture in the first place. 

Speaking of Schlatt, he had been a threat to the peace too, in too many ways to explain. 

But Tommy, Tommy had been there through it all. That’s why Dream believed Tommy was the problem, the problem he had to capture and then somehow tame, like he was some kind of wild animal. Punz wanted no part in torturing Tommy, steering clear of the whole situation that was exile. They had been relieved when Dream had understood, hugging Punz close after the conversation over why he wanted nothing to do with what was happening with Tommy. 

“If that’s what you want.” Punz says. Dream smiled, leaning back in his chair as he sighed. 

“Yes, I think that’s the next course of action.” Dream mumbles. “Only problem, where will Tommy be?” The white-haired male looked towards Punz at his question, brow quirked up in question. He was looking for an answer from Punz. 

“Tommy, well… Tommy will probably be trying to hide by now. He has to know you’ll be after him eventually, and I’m sure he’s preparing for that.” Punz begins. “Knowing him, he’ll be going back for the axe of peace.” This intrigued Dream. “It’s in exile, he hid it.” A smirk greeted Punz’s eyes. 

“Well then, that’s some helpful information Punz.” Dream stood from his seat, sighing as he made his way out of the planning room. Punz stood themself, following the taller into the living room as he flopped down onto the couch. His hair was a mess, clumps knotted together, bits sticking out in strange angles, and even frizzy beyond belief. Punz bit at their lip as they looked at Dream, watching as his eyes slipped shut. Their mouth opened hesitantly to speak after a few seconds of silence. 

“Dream?” The man’s eyes fluttered open, the green irises looking into Punz’s own with a questioning look. “Can I… braid your hair?” Dream seemed frozen, the gears in his brain once again moving rapidly before kindly smiling towards the other. 

“If you want to.” Dream spoke softly, there was barely any hesitance in his voice, slipping off of the couch and onto the hardwood floor below it. Punz walked to the bathroom in the base, opening one of the brewers and grabbing out a brush and hair ties. They walked out of the bathroom afterwards, entering the living room again to see Dream in the same spot they had left him in. Dream looked over, green eyes lifting from the book he must have grabbed off of the coffee table in front of him. Punz smiled, slipping in place behind the other and onto the couch. With a sigh Punz fell into a familiar practice, even if it had been so long since they have braided Dream’s hair. They had done it too many times to count, almost daily if Punz remembered correctly. 

Usually, during these quiet times, Dream would softly talk to Punz sometimes with a book or plans in hand as the other styled his hair. Other times it would be silence as if both were taking in the needed peace surrounding them. Punz didn’t ignore the silent tension in the room, how Dream was stiff as Punz brushed through his snarled hair. His green eyes looked distant as if trying to fight some unknown being. It made Punz frown, watching as Dream tried to focus on the book he held instead of whatever plagued his mind.

“Dream?” Punz paused, taking the brush away from the others hair as he seemed to come to, head laying back in Punz’s lap as green eyes stared up into their own gray. “Are you ok?” They had said it so softly as if afraid it would scare the other away. 

And for all they knew it could. Dream seemed to be trying to ignore whatever was making him tense, his green eyes holding a dark sheen as if he was reliving something. It pained Punz’s heart to see the white-haired male like this. The blond frowned, his free hand going to lay on the other’s freckled cheek. “Dream?” Said man turned away from their hand, curling in on himself. Punz paused their movements, forcing their hand to lay on their lap. “What’s wrong Dream?” 

“It’s nothing.” It was a short answer, one that held nothing but false answers. Punz knew better, their frown turning into one of a straight line. They watched Dream’s face, seeing the anguish only grow more firm by the second. 

“Dream.” The white-haired man glanced over towards Punz, the hurt in his eyes easing slightly. Punz kindly smiled, their hand once again reaching for the other’s cheek. This time Dream held no protest, letting the other caress his cheek, even going as far as to let himself lean into the touch. “You can tell me Dream, I can tell something is wrong.” Dream sat quietly for a moment, his green eyes looking distant as he looked into Punz’s own. Finally, he forced himself to move, lifting his head off the other’s lap to stare at the wall ahead of them. 

“When I was in prison, Sam let Quackity visit.” Punz knew this, it wasn’t a well-kept secret in the server. They never did know what happened in the prison though, only that Quackity was visiting to try and get something from Dream- Punz always concluded it was the revival book. Something that they learned Dream possessed way before he was captured. “He would torture me, every day, in the most gruesome ways you could imagine.” Dream paused again, his legs curling into his chest as he spoke. “A lot of the time he’d pin me to the ground, and one of the ways he would do that was by grabbing ahold of my hair and forcing my head to stay against the ground.” He sniffles, Punz gently making Dream face them. His eyes held unshed tears, his lip quivering as he tried to stay calm. “It’s just weird, having someone touching my hair like this because of that. I’m just not used to it yet.” Punz let a sweet smile form on their lips, running their thumb along the other’s cheekbone. 

“It’s ok Dream, I wouldn’t do that to you. I’m your friend, I’m not Quackity.” Dream huffed a laugh, rolling his glassy eyes. 

“I know, Punz.” The blond sighed, pulling their hand away from the other’s face. “You can keep going, I don’t mind.” Punz was unsure at first, but after Dream leaned against his legs pulling his hair off of his back and onto Punz's lap he knew that Dream wasn't kidding when he said it was ok. With a small smile Punz began his practices again, slim fingers carding through long white hair in comfortable silence after thoroughly brushing it. 

"I missed this." Dream spoke silently. 

"Missed what, Dream?" punz asked quietly. 

"Just… everything. Being free, being here…  the silence, comfort. It's nice, I forgot how nice it was." They smiled, pale eyes gleaming at the others words. "I missed you too, Punz." That got the mercenary's attention. 

“You missed me?” Dream hummed in response, making Punz’s smile grow. 

“Everyone left me Punz, the only person that bothered to stay around was you. You could have left me when they offered you that money, but you didn’t want to.” Punz stayed quiet, listening to the other as he spoke. “Your the only person I care about anymore Punz, and I’ll protect you like you have me.” Their heart squeezed at those words, those stupid butterflies once again fluttering inside his stomach. “Thank you for sticking around, Punz.” As the blond tied the long braid off they watch the others head fall against their lap, green eyes staring off into the distance. 

“I’m not going anywhere, Dream.” Dream huffed a laugh, his eyes once again looking up towards the other. 

“I’m counting on it.” 

—- ~ —-

One Month later. . .

“What do we do now?” Dream choked out, his head cradled in his hands as he tried to process what had happened. Dream had burned the discs, The one thing that Dream felt he still had some type of control over. Punz sat in the room entrance, leaning against one of the walls as he watched the white-haired male. With more and more people looking for Dream it was becoming even more difficult to leave the base without being spotted. Dream had begun to stay in the prison, since it had so much room in it and was pretty much abandoned, and started living there. They had agreed that’d be a good idea because of the fact no one would think Dream would be there. Dream had found Sam there, and from what Punz understands the man had made the creeper hybrid feel just as much pain as he had when he was in prison. 

But just that morning Wilbur and Tommy had shown up, Wilbur ordering Dream to burn the discs. Dream, seeing his first and second successful revivals before him, threatening him with death, it had been too much for him. Their loud voices had clouded his mind, making his scared and shaky hands throw the discs into the boiling hot lava. Now, in Dream’s eyes, they had no leverage at all. They were back at square one. Now here Dream was, confused and scared of the future over one single act. Punz sighs, thinking of the right words to say. 

“What do you want to do? What can we do?” Punz says, kicking themself off of the wall and towards the other. Dream looked up, glossy green eyes watching the blond. 

“I don’t know…” Punz frowned, sitting down next to the other. 

“Well, with the server on high alert I don’t know what we can do.” Punz mumbles out, pale eyes looking towards the torn Dream. “We have the revive book, but what good does that do? The plan was to gain control again, but how are we going to do that Dream?” The white-haired man was quiet, Dream leaning against Punz’s side in response. 

“I don’t know, everything's going out of control, I don’t know what to do now.” Dream quietly says, his green eyes lost. “We could carry on the experiments with the revive book, but at this point is it worth it?” Punz sighed, wrapping their arm around the confused man. 

“I dunno, it doesn’t seem to be worth it to me. But I’m not you, is it worth it to you? To try and gain control again?” Punz paused. “Everyone will hate us you know, what good is power and control if everyone you wanted to keep safe and care for hate you? You’d still have enemies, and then it would only be a matter of time before they tried to take you down- heck, I’d be surprised if there aren’t already people trying to find you to lock you up again.” Punz looked down towards Dream, seeing his eyes cloud over as he thought. “Maybe we should stop… Maybe that’s best.” 

“And what do I do Punz? Stay hidden forever? Wait until one day they find me and lock me up again?” Dream began to shake at that, his body pressing farthing into the others side. “It’d just become a waiting game, Punz. I don’t- I can’t wait around. I can’t go back.” Punz frowned. 

“Who said we had to stick around?” Dream looked up at that, eyes even more confused. 

“What?” The blond smiled.

“What’s the point of sticking around Dream? Let’s just leave. Let’s get as far away from this place as we can, while we can.” Dream looked lost at first, but eventually his vibrant green eyes brightened and a smile formed on his lips. 

“And you want to run away with me? You’d be willing to do that?” Dream chuckled out. Punz nodded though, their own smile forming on their lips. 

“What do I have left here Dream? Everyone I cared about left me, or just doesn’t care about me anymore. Just like me, your the only person I have left. You're the only person I care about anymore. Wherever you go, I’ll follow.” Punz answered. “If you want to stay, I’ll stay. If you want to leave, I’ll leave too.” Dream’s smile turned warm, almost sweet looking at the others words. 

“Run away you say…” Dream mumbles out, eyes twinkling with that same mischief that Punz had grown so fond of. Punz chuckled, wrapping his arms around the white-haired man just as the other did to them. “Let’s do it, let’s get the fuck out of here.” 

“Let’s get the fuck out of here…”