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Dream didn’t think it would be this bad. He was genuinely in pain. His mouth and throat burned. His stomach hurt. Was that a bit of nausea he felt?
Dream knew he didn’t handle spice well. In fact, he knew he handled spice very, very badly. It was supposed to be all for fun. A fun time to talk to friends and answer some questions or eat hot wings instead of answering questions, sort of like taking a shot instead of answering questions.
It should’ve been fine. He had his ranch and his milk. Most of the wings were drowned in ranch before he took a bite. After every bite, he drank milk. It should’ve been fine.
But it wasn’t. It had been two hours since the stream started and Dream was feeling worse than he had in quite awhile. He was very glad he didn’t show his face because he didn’t want anyone to see him in this sorry state.
Was it pathetic? Maybe. He was an adult and should be able to eat spicy foods like a normal person. But it wasn’t just his inability to eat spicy foods and the half gallon of milk he drank that got him to the state he was in. It was also the fact that he normally didn’t eat very much at one time and when he did, he stuck to his diet of mainly proteins and vegetables. He also made a New Year’s Resolution to only drink water (and no other liquids) that he had kept up all the way up until the stream. Looking back on it, all of that in addition to eating junk the night before and violently throwing up made it no surprise to Dream.
But at the time, he hadn’t considered any of this. And that was how he ended up muting himself and leaving his PC to go to the bathroom. He knew he had to throw up, but it wasn’t coming up. He cringed, but grabbed what remained of his gallon of milk and started chugging. It didn’t take long for him to start vomiting into the toilet. It gave him flashbacks from the previous night, but at least that time he had Sapnap with him. This time, he was alone. He didn’t know when Sapnap would be back. Dream sank to the cold, tile floor of the bathroom, one arm curled around the toilet sink.
His phone buzzed with a message. Skeppy had texted him, asking if he was alive. Dream responded, saying he just threw up. His phone buzzed a couple more times, but he ignored it.
He distantly heard a car pull up to his house. Moments later, a door opened. “Dream?” Sapnap called. “Where are you?” Dream didn’t answer. His stomach still felt gross and he knew he was going to throw up again soon.
Sapnap walked around for a little, calling Dream’s name, until he got to the bathroom and saw his best friend on the ground. “Dream?”
“Hey, Sapnap,” Dream offered a weak smile. “Back already?”
“That’s not the point, Dream.” Sapnap knelt next to him. “How are you?”
“Take a wild guess.” Dream dramatically gestured to his surroundings with the arm not on the toilet. “How do you think I am?” Before Sapnap could answer, bile rose in Dream’s throat and he once again heaved into the toilet, both hands grasping the toilet bowl.
Sapnap was there in a second, patting Dream’s back and muttering encouraging words. When Dream finished, Sapnap grabbed a washcloth and wiped his mouth. Dream sent him a look.
“You can stop mom-ing me,” Dream said. “I’m perfectly capable of wiping my own mouth.”
“Sorry,” Sapnap replied, throwing the towel in the general direction of where it belonged. “That was instinctive.”
“You instinctively turn into a mom with me, someone who’s older than you?”
“No, I turn into a caring person when my best friend is sick and throwing up. Get it right.”
“Thank you,” Dream said sincerely. Sapnap was actually a very caring person, but rarely showed it. “How was your date?” Sapnap had gone on a blind date and Dream hadn’t heard from him the entire date, so he assumed it went okay, but you never know.
“It was pretty good.” The pair was still sitting on their bathroom floor. “She didn’t mind that I was listening to Bad’s stream the entire time.”
“You were?”
“Yep. That was the best way to keep tabs on you. And I’m glad I did.”
“Wait, did you leave your date for me?”
“It was basically over.”
“Sapnap,” Dream said accusingly. His stomach moved aggressively. “Damn it, can you leave for a little?” Sapnap looked confused for a second, but understanding dawned and he left, closing the bathroom door on his way out.
In short, Dream took a massive shit. When he finally emerged from the bathroom, feeling slightly better than he had before, Sapnap had a glass of water waiting.
“By the way,” Sapnap said, “I told our friends that you’re okay, or will be okay. Since you didn’t.”
“I meant to. Eventually.” The water helped a little, but Dream still didn’t feel 100%. Maybe 75% at best. “I think I’m gonna go take a nap.”
“That’s probably a good idea.” Dream headed to his room with Sapnap trailing behind him.
“You’re trending on Twitter,” Sapnap said. They arrived at Dream’s room and Sapnap was on his—or rather, Dream’s—phone, which he had taken from the bathroom when he left. “You might want to send out a tweet at some point so your fans know you’re not dead.”
Dream groaned and flopped on his bed. “Are you sure I’m not?”
Sapnap rolled his eyes and tossed Dream’s phone next to the man. “Stop being a baby. You’ll be fine.”
“Why are you so mean to me?” Dream whined. “I’m in pain.”
“If you can whine dramatically, you’re fine. Send out your tweet, if you want to, then give me your phone and go to sleep.”
“Why am I giving you my phone? It’s mine.” Dream looked through his many Discord notifications. Both the group chat that had been created specifically for the stream and the main SMP server were concerned. A message had gone out from his account to just the hot wings stream group. Sapnap had written it, but it sounded similar to something Dream would say.
“You’re giving me your phone because I know how you are and if you have it with you, you’ll end up scrolling for ages and won’t sleep.” Sapnap sat on the bed next to Dream. “Hurry up so you can go to sleep.”
“Fine.” Dream went to his alt alt Twitter account, dreamhangout, because his normal alt, dreamwastaken, had been suspended due to his tweet after Tommy’s death in the roleplay. He tweeted out a short message, thanking people for their concern but assuring them that he would be fine. He handed his phone to Sapnap. “Don’t mess anything up.”
Sapnap rolled his eyes and took the phone. “Sleep.”
“Can you stay? Just for a little?” In that moment, Dream was feeling particularly vulnerable.
“I’m not going anywhere,” Sapnap promised. He paused for a second, “Except maybe off this bed.” Sapnap hopped down, Dream’s phone still in hand, and sat on the ground, back against the wall next to the bed. “Good night, Dream.”
“Night.” True to his word, Sapnap didn’t leave the room until hours later when his best friend, his brother, woke up.