—Your POV—

"Sooo..." Tentacles brush against your shoulders and arms, sending subtle shivers through you as you do your best to push forward. "I'm so excited for us to spend some more time together..." 

"I-I'll just be cleaning the house." You pick up the pace a little, he does too. Making a sharp right, you wheel your cart into the front room. Probably time to clean up the messes in here. "Nothing special." 

"Yeah, but we're still together, aren't we?" You can hear the mockery in his words. Even after having all those months to warm up to each other, he still takes some sick pleasure out of your distress. "We should do something fun when you're done."

You knew his idea of fun was no laughing matter. He might actually go through with his many threats to do something terrible to you. You don't think you've ever exactly been Nightmare's favorite. 

Siding against the idea of replying, you start spraying down the coffee table, the couches, and everything with any muck on it. Wiping everything down with your cleaning rag, vacuuming the floors, and carefully dusting a few of the vases that sit around. Nightmare watches your every movement, thankfully staying out of your way as you transform the front room. 

"Hmmm." He gives a thoughtful hum, surveying the room with a seemingly satisfied expression. "Well at least you know how to decently clean." 

You take the compliment(?) and shuffle into the kitchen, slimy hands dragging along the table as Nightmare follows you in. He sits up on the counter as you get to work with the table, spray, wipe, spray, wipe. You take any remaining dishes to the sink, and there you start to clean the dishes, Nightmare beside you, bony fingers drumming on your shoulder as you do your best to clean the dishes while his presence practically chokes your senses.

"You've been awfully quiet." A slime-covered finger hooks under your chin, turning your face from your duties and towards Nightmare. He sits, legs crossed his head propped in one hand. "What do you think of all this hmm?" 

You drop the plate you were scrubbing as a cyan eye pins you in its gaze. 

What does he want, exactly? 

"I ah—" Should you even tell him? Your mind is too scrambled by that eye for you to concentrate. "I don't know?" You try, squeezing it out. Your opinion doesn't even really matter anyway. 

"Wrong answer." Nightmare replies. You head a vase shatter distantly. A bottle from the counter tips, dropping to the floor and spilling a thick, brown liquid everywhere. "What do you think?" 

Your pulse picks up. Oh, you really didn't want to make him mad. Last time you did that, Horror had to hide you away in some random universe for a whole six days before you were allowed back into the mansion. And even then, Nightmare was still very heated with you. 

"I-I think it's..." What would be the right word? Exaggerated? Illogical? Silly? Awkward? Odd? Stupid? "Unnecessary." Yeah, that was it. 

"I thought the same thing..." Nightmare leans in a little closer, his face a short distance up from yours. "Just what would Dream want with you, right?" 

You nodded, albeit stiffly. You genuinely agreed. What in the world would Dream need you for? It seemed less like a plan, and more like a desperate threat. You weren't even very useful as you were. 

"He always struck me as the cleanly type..." Nightmare continued, leaving your chin and looking off into the front room. "But I guess he needs a little housekeeper just like us." His gaze is back on you in an instant, a wicked grin on his face. 

"Unfortunately for him, I'm not the kind of brother who shares his toys." He leans closer, causing you to take a step back, but tentacles caught your arms, pulling you closer. 

"Guess that's too bad for you too." 

Just as quick as they'd latched onto you, they were gone. Tentacles slide away from you as you turn back to the sink, hurriedly washing and drying the rest of the dishes as Nightmare kicks his feet, humming happily. 

Once finished with the dishes, you clean up the brown muck on the floor, which you assume is syrup, with its sweet smell and thick texture. It coats the towel when you try and clean it from the floor, and even when you finally manage to peel it all up off the ground, it leaves behind a sticky splotch on the ground. 

Time to sweep and mop, apparently. 

"Hey, where do you think you're going?" You're stopped from leaving the kitchen, a firm, bony hand on your arm. Predictably, Nightmare has prevented you from leaving. "There's still stuff to do." 

"I have to get the broom and the mop." You supply, wanting nothing more but to yank your arm from him and storm off. "They're in the supply closet." 

"Oh." He lets go and you set off, determined to get the required equipment to finish the task at hand. You needed to get done before everyone got home, or they'd ruin your job so far. 

Returning with your items, you got to work, sweeping the floor, mopping the floor. You were careful not to knock anything over, or anything out of place. You even moved a few things out to get as much of the floor as possible. 

As soon as that was done, you made your way upstairs. Time to take care of the bedrooms. 

~~~~~~~~~~

Perhaps I will write a Nightmare X Reader oneshot. 

Thanks for reading! Hope you enjoyed!

- De Moogus