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it all went downhill when that damn illness started to break out.
in the middle of a war.
when the king already has enough in his hands.
the public is, of course, worried. they are fully dependent on their king to do the right thing and hopefully handle the situation well. most folks focus their attention to the war—their trust is fully on their king, knowing that the king is known to winning many wars—seeking for protection and hoping that it will end soon.
the kingdom trusted their emperor, and said man is glad to have a kingdom that fully believes in him.
currently, the king has just finished a meeting—his head throbs with pain because of stress as he walks down the massive hall. the discussion was dreadful, it was horrible, the pink-haired man couldn’t even say a word during that! and he was the ruler of this kingdom for good sake!
it was just constant arguing—chattering back and forth about the same topic, over and over again. the red-eyed king was glad the meeting ended sooner than he thought, he was already so stressed out from all the strategy planning for the war—which was mainly done by his husband, gods, he love that man.
from all the pressure his citizens gave him and their trust for him to treat this war properly, an unknown illness that started to erupt surely won’t cut the fit of his stress. now, don’t get him wrong, he loves his kingdom, he loves the people here, though there’s only so much stress and tension a person could control.
the pink-haired king continues his walking, rubbing his temples as he closes his eyes, why does the universe seem to despite him? he then lets out a deep breath, slowly pushing open the massive door to his bedroom, well, their bedroom if you will. opening his eyes, he takes in the sight before him, his husband is cozily sitting on one of the chairs beside their shared bed, reading a book. the late afternoon sun shines golden rays of color to the dirty blonde’s face, making him look like a blessing.
“oh—hello hun!” the dirty blonde greeted cheerily, his porcelain mask on the table—he only ever uses them during formalities.
the pinkette could feel his lips form into a smile as he stared lovingly at the sight. gods, he’s all in love again.
his husband slowly approaches him, said man was already in his casual clothing. technoblade guesses that he has just finished the war strategy meeting. the dirty blonde reached up to kiss the emperor on the cheek, the latter responded by hugging his waist, hiding his head on the green eyed’s neck.
dream returns the gesture, embracing his husband while the pink-haired relaxes his senses. the green-eyed man rubs circles on his beloved’s back, humming a lullaby while enjoying the pinkette’s embrace.
“i despise meetings.” mumbled technoblade, his beloved replied with a chuckle.
when the two pulled apart, the dirty blonde man’s hand traveled to technoblade’s cheeks, caressing it with a loving look in his eyes. the pinkette responded with the same look, though the thoughts inside his head about the possibilities of so many things going wrong during the war, or how any of his beloved could possibly get sick from this illness—are clouding his mind.
the pinkette narrows his eyes, a ‘i’m worried about something although i don’t know if i should talk about it’ expression painted his features.
dream frowns after examining his husband’s face, “are you alright, dear?”
pause. silence went by as the couple focused on their breathing.
“talk to me, dear” the dirty blonde furrows his eyes.
technoblade lets out a sigh, pursing his lips as he starts to talk,
“i-i am worryin’ too much about this. what if— what if we didn’t survive the war? what if one of us got that disease— what if you die? what if i lose you? what if everything goes as unplanned— what if this disease gets worse somehow, dream, i—” and before the red-eyed king could continue with his rambles, dream shushed him with a kiss on the lips.
the pinkette gave in, enjoying the passion in that kiss. when the couple retreated, the green-eyed man quirked up his lips into a smile, assuring his husband that everything is okay, and everything will be okay.
“hey, everything will go well, i know that. we’ve dealt with wars before, i promise we’ll win this one.” the dirty blonde man pauses before continuing,
“and hey, i can assure you this disease won't get us, it won't contaminate me, i promise.”
“as long as you promise to not let it get to you too.”
technoblade chuckled, closing his eyes as dream keeps caressing his cheek lovingly. dream always knows the perfect words to say, dream always knows the ways to calm him down. he loves that the most from dream, just his words and voice can make his stress perish away.
“i vow.” technoblade replied, earning a laugh from his partner.
“pfft— you and your formalities” dream taunts, teasing his husband on how said man is so tense and formal all the time. he needs to loosen up a bit.
the pinkette laughs softly at that, hugging dream’s waist and snuggling his head on the crook of his neck again, letting out a purr sound.
“come on, you have to clean up. i will tell martha to make a soothing drink for you.” the green-eyed man said, lightly pushing the pink-haired king away, who is grunting at the sudden force.
the pinkette blew a raspberry, not fighting back from the force as he made his way to clean up.
after refreshing himself, technoblade joins his husband who is sitting peacefully on the bed, continuing reading his book from earlier. he snuggles in beside the dirty blonde, hugging his waist as he lays his head on the soft pillow.
seconds later, a mumbled ‘i love you’ sound could be heard. the culprit was, of course, technoblade. dream replied the statement, kissing the pink-haired king’s hair before going back to his book.
“i wish i could run away with you and experience peace in the mountains…living in a small home...escaping all these stress and pressure….” technoblade slurred, he is half-asleep, his eyelids droopy as he cuddles in closer to his beloved.
“that would be really nice, actually.” dream said, closing his book. he then plays with the emperor’s pink hair, it’s really beautiful, dream adores it so badly. techno hummed in response, slowly shutting his eyes.
soon enough, the pinkette drifts to sleep.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
this can’t be fucking happening.
the universe is so cruel.
technoblade watches his partner as he clenches the hand he has been holding for a while, his husband is busy talking and listening to one of the medic of the kingdom, the dirty blonde man’s body is sitting on the bed. dream’s eyes staring intently at the medic.
why? why is this happening? how? why does the universe hate him so much? the same words keep circling the king’s mind, worry and anxiety has crawled hours ago, his body feels numb to them now. he couldn’t process what is happening, his brain is in the current state of denial. surely this can’t happen right? surely the medic was wrong. this is surely a dream.
unfortunately, it is not.
his gaze empty at the hand he is holding tightly as his ears continue to drown out the chattering sound in the background. when the medic finally leaves, he could hear dream thanking one of the maids before the room grows silent. the maids then turn to leave as well, the current room is now filled with just the royal couple.
dream was nervous. he was scared. he was anxious as fuck. he turns his head away from technoblade, not wanting to face the emperor. he couldn’t even believe what the medic had told him, he couldn’t believe this was actually happening. the dirty blonde man couldn’t care less about the news right now, all he cares is his husband’s reaction to this, all he cares is the pinkette’s opinion.
he’s scared technoblade will snap at him, he is scared that technoblade would scream at him and gets angry, backlashing the green-eyed man and insulting him for not being careful. possibly, leaving him to deal with this alone.
technoblade would never do that.
the pinkette leans in slowly, planting a soft kiss on the back of his husband’s hand as he closes his eyes. dream could feel the pink-haired man clenching his hands even tighter.
“dream,” the dirty blonde man could feel his heart sink. he purses his lips in doubt, sighing as he turns his head to look at the pinkette king, only to be greeted by the most charming and comforting smile he could ever see.
“i love you, and i always will.” sure the pink-haired man is not good with words and his feelings, but that sentence alone warms dream’s heart, those words alone wipes away the worry in his mind.
“thank you, i love you too.”
as far as the researchers of the kingdom have informed him, the illness is not contagious from people to people—the pinkette thanks the gods for that—it could only be transmitted from insects and other specific animals. so either dream got infected through his meals, or some insect decided to be a bitch. despite it not contagious from another human, it does not mean it is harmless. it does not mean it is not deathly. in fact, several people have died—still could be counted by fingers though. still, the sickness is not something to joke around.
“i’m sorry” dream speaks up, which technoblade immediately reply,
“you are not at fault, dear”
the dirty blonde chuckled lightly, he then felt his husband lean in and rest his head on dream’s shoulders, sighing as he did so. the man’s eyes narrows, dream could tell those beautiful red ruby eyes are filled with worry, the pinkette’s body language furthermore proves his point.
a few seconds of silence went by, the royal couple enjoying the peaceful chirps of the birds outside, expecting the peacefulness to soon change into chaos and screams of misery. screams of the people that demand victory, demanding blood. a battle between two kingdoms is coming close.
what bothers technoblade the most is not his battalion nor their prepared supplies—they are all packed and stacked at those, the pink-haired emperor has made sure of that. what causes anxiety for him is the unexpectable outcome, the stress. he’s scared that the stress will affect his performance.
he is just, scared.
“look, you’ll do great at the war, i know that from experience.” the green-eyed man assured, bringing back a fond memory of how the two fallen in love.
the same situation, the kingdom is at war, dream was 17 at the time, and so is technoblade.
“remember back then? it was my first war, it was yours too. it was the first time i felt love, it was the first time i felt want, passion.” the dirty blonde man spoke in this warm tone of his, the tone that always brings comfort.
the pink-haired king closes his eyes as he joins dream in remembering their first time of meeting, technoblade couldn’t even believe that was 8 years ago based on how he remembers the scene so well.
“we were naive teens back then, training with each other as we build our friendship. i was naive back then, not confessing my feelings because i was afraid of losing you.” dream recalled the past memories, he adores how he falls for the pinkette so quickly back then, he adores how 17-year-old him fangirls to bed on the same man he is holding hands with today. he adores how he was so in love.
coughing lightly in between his sentences, the green-eyed man continues, “i was scared of even being your friend, i never thought a commoner could make a relationship with a royalty. let alone marry the man.”
“though—here we are.”
pause.
“you’ll do amazing,” dream continues, turning his head, cupping the pink-haired man’s face and looking him in the eyes. gosh dream would die for that beautiful red ruby eyes to be permanently filled with joy.
“trust me.” the dirty blonde man smiled, that smile could single handedly flatter many, and technoblade was glad he was one of the many.
another long though comfortable silence fills the room, the dirty blonde man caresses his husband’s cheeks while the latter hums a melody, his eyes shut. they enjoy these little short but sweet moments they could have between each other. the world around them is too stressful, drowning them in responsibilities and morals that these small moments feel rare, they treasure each and every second of it as much as they can.
“promise me you’ll be safe,” the green-eyed man said, breaking the comfortable silence between the two. he knew for a fact technoblade would win, that he would stay alive—though he can’t help but worry, just a teeny bit.
“i know you will, but please— stay safe.” dream continues.
technoblade flicked up his eyes at dream before leaning in slowly for a chaste and quick kiss, before replying,
“i will, i will” assuring his beloved as he retreated from dream’s hands, now intertwining them with his instead. giving the pinkette a loving smile and a kiss on his forehead, the dirty blonde male then promises to fight his own 'battles' as well.
“if i could survive near death experiences many times before, i’m sure i could survive this one stupid illness, darling.” dream guaranteed, he had been so lucky to stay alive for this long despite all the risky ways he takes in life.
the red-eyed male chuckled, trusting him.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
big, loud, heavy steps rang through the massive hallways of the castle, boots stained with combined blood from so many different people, deep dark red cape somehow is even darker.
they won the war—which wasn't a surprise.
instead of celebrating with his army or the kingdom’s citizens, the pink-haired emperor went straight to his room immediately after they arrived back in the kingdom, drowning out the cheers of victory outside his castle.
the whole entire war, he couldn't stop thinking about his husband, he couldn’t stop thinking if his beloved is okay or not. the whole entire war he was left with anxiety of the possibility of his lover getting hurt—not completely focused on the battle. thankfully, he managed to get minor injuries, a few cuts here and there, some deeper than others but not much to cause actual death.
once the pinkette is standing right outside the massive door of their shared room, he opens the door right open, not caring if he scared a maid that accompanied the dirty blonde in his pastime.
“thank you martha—oh! technoblade-” technoblade walks straight next to the green-eyed male’s bed, sitting down on a chair next to it as he grabs his husband’s hand gently. the pink-haired king then pecked a kiss on dream’s cheek.
the maid named martha immediately excused herself and left the couple alone while technoblade peppered soft kisses on the back of dream’s hand.
“how are you feeling?” the pinkette asked suddenly.
“i’m all fine technoblade, why?”
techno hummed in contentment, letting out a deep breath as he calms himself down.
“you’re okay.”
dream lets out a half chuckle, half cough, his hand travels to the pinkette’s elegant pink locks, running his fingers through the thin strands. “i heard the news, good job on winning the war, dear.”
“everything went smoothly, right?” the emperor’s husband asked.
the red-ruby-eyed emperor nodded, and dream smiled fondly. technoblade’s face softens at the sight he is staring at, no matter how many times the pinkette took a glance of dream’s face, he would never grow tired of it. he fell in love all over again just from seeing that dirty blonde’s smile.
dream cups the king’s face, then proceeds to lean in, resting his forehead with the other. closing his eyes, he proceeds to imagine another life with technoblade outside of this royalty’s responsibilities, outside of all the stress, and the constant weight of ruling.
“a little cottage home in the mountains, just us two, living there for eternity. maybe we could have a pet, a dog possibly. various flowers around our house as we enjoy the domesticity. i would love to run away with you someday…” the dirty blonde spoke, stating all of technoblade’s fantasy.
the pinkette hummed, agreeing with his beloved.
dream retreated his head, leaning in again for a quick kiss on the pink-haired’s lips. the kiss was short, but it doesn’t mean it isn’t full of love. the green eyed man perks up his lips into a smile, his golden eyelashes flutter slightly. “i love you so so much” he slurred.
“mhm.. i love you too…” technoblade mumbles almost like a whisper, enjoying the occasional hand running through his strands of hair.
the green-eyed male chuckled softly, “now go clean up, you stink of blood”
technoblade lets out a groan before leaving the room.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
months passed by, and this damn sickness still lingers around. many people have fallen sick by it, some have recovered, some died because of it. the kingdom is of course, grew worried again, technoblade tries his best to calm the public down by telling them his plans to counter this illness.
dream grows weak each day that passes, the pain he feels is unbearable, it comes and goes and it’s very uncertain. everything hurts. everything seems blurry and he couldn’t even remember what day it is. everyday, his body writhe in pain and trembles vigorously, he couldn’t get up from his bed even if he wanted to, he sometimes misses the feeling of being outside and enjoying the world.
technoblade tries his best, acquiring many researches to dig more information about this sickness. he tries his best to find anyone that has any effective medicine for this illness. though, each day that passed proves to him that his efforts are worthless.
the result of his search is devastating.
dream is now laying on his bead, he could feel the grasp of the afterlife’s hands crawling on his shoulders. he could feel the presence of an angel waiting for his last minutes in the world before taking him away. the dirty blonde man is in full pain, his brain couldn’t think of anything, everything is blurry.
“he will be fine, correct?” the pinkette said, his voice filled with desperation. he was desperate, desperate for anyone to assure him that dream will be okay, to assure him that dream will live.
“your majesty, we’ve stated before that the death percentage is a massive amount, thus we are not sure that—” the medic replied, before being interjected by the emperor’s low growl.
“leave. leave before i expel you." the king growled under his breath, getting frustrated that every answer he got from every single medic is the same. they can’t save him. they can’t save dream.
the pink-haired emperor grew silent after the medic closed the door to their room. huffing out his breath and clenching his hands, technoblade started to walk back and forth, not accepting defeat, not yet .
“they are right, you know.” dream said, his voice raspy and broken.
“no they are not, dream.” his voice sounds shaky, yet somehow you could feel the rage growing.
“techno—”
“no they are NOT, dream! there is STILL a possibility you’ll live, and don’t you DARE say you won’t!” he snaps, the king’s harsh voice fills through the room, and dream could feel himself tense a bit at it.
“technoblade.” with one stern look from olive green eyes staring back at red ruby eyes that is filled with rage and desperation, technoblade immediately regretted ever snapping at his own husband. he sighs, and approaches the bed, kneeling beside it as he leans his forehead on dream’s hand.
“i’m sorry. for yelling at you.”
“it’s okay, dear.” the dirty blonde’s hand traveled to the pinkette’s hair once again, running through the messy strands that hadn’t been taken care of in a while. the main reason for it is because technoblade has other important things to care about.
silence fills the room, only the occasional wind that passes by the evening world could be heard. the earth is oddly calm somehow.
“look, techno—” dream started to speak up, only to be interjected.
“i don't get it, dream”
dream lets out a startled sound at technoblade’s harsh voice. the red-eyed king looked up and stared back at olive green comforting eyes. the pinkette’s frustration could be seen well on his eyes, his face full of anger.
“i don’t understand, dream! the universe hates me, the universe is cruel to me! it just seems they wanted to see me broken! everything— the gods, they’re always harsh to me, dream, they despise me!” holding his husband’s hand tightly, tears could be seen filling the king’s eyelids, his eyebrows furrowed and his face grew red.
“they always do this, to everyone around me—everyone i love, they’d make them disappear from my grasp. they hate me, dream, they are all cruel to me and i-i couldn’t get why!” technoblade said, voice shaky. referring to the many times his loved ones died in his hands.
“i can’t lose you. i don’t want to lose you.” the emperor started to sob as he narrowed his eyes.
the dirty blonde’s heart throbs , he couldn’t bear leaving technoblade, he doesn’t want to leave him. yet the presence of an angel in the corner of his eye leaves him with no choice. he hates seeing his husband cry, he hates that everytime he cries, those beautiful ruby eyes are filled with pain, misery. everytime, he wishes those eyes to be filled with eternal happiness.
“technoblade—”
“i will beg, dream. i will plead to the universe, i will plead to whoever’s up there, to give you a chance. i will beg, dream— i will beg to the gods even if i have to. i will fall to my knees, begging for their forgiveness, just to keep you here. please— i would beg anyone, just for you. i can’t lose you, dream, i can’t lose you...” the pinkette started to hyperventilate, tears falling down from his chin. eyes filled with desperation, anger, fear. dream could feel technoblade clench tighter on his hand.
as more tears started to fall from those beautiful red eyes, dream could feel his heart start to throb more. the sight is devastating, he hates seeing that beautiful face accompanied by tears.
“technoblade, look at me” dream said, and those ruby eyes immediately flicked to meet olive green ones. with all the energy his body has, dream leans into the pinkette, planting a kiss.
the kiss is the longest and the most passionate one they’ve ever had in a while. technoblade could feel himself melting into it, as their lips dance slowly in rhythm with each other.
“i promise, dear. i promise to always be here, i promise to always be by your side, i promise to always love you.” dream assured when they pulled apart, his hands now cupping his husband’s face.
“smile for me hun, i hate seeing you cry.”
technoblade lets out a chuckle, smiling lovingly while leaning in to the hand caressing his cheek. after a few minutes of technoblade controlling his breath again, dream then went back to lie down, his gaze still locked at his beloved. the pink-haired male intertwined his hands with the dirty blonde, smiling ever so fondly as he calmed down.
“i love you…” the green-eyed man breathily whispers, he could feel himself slowly closing his eyes as the life inside him draws out.
“i love you too…” technoblade replied.
and they stay there, for a while. the red-eyed man makes sure to check dream’s breath every few seconds, making sure it is there, and making sure it’s pace is normal. he lets himself calm down as well from his frustration, letting himself off guard while shutting his eyes.
when the pink-haired emperor opened his eyes again to check, dream’s breathing wasn’t there.
“dream?”
“d-dream?!” there's no response.
his eyes grew wide, anxiety started to crawl his spine before scrambling to grab dream’s wrist, checking if dream’s pulse is there.
his heart sinks when he finds out his fingers doesn’t feel any pulse.
a scream of agony rang through the halls of the castle.