Dream let the door swing shut behind him with a dull thud. He sighed deeply, resting his back against it for a moment, his head hitting it as he huffed.

Sapnap turned around, quirking a brow, but said nothing. They stood there for a moment, and Sapnap sighed deeply, motioning Dream to follow him.

Dream bit his lip, but followed Sapnap anyway.

Dream's footsteps were soft compared to Sapnap, who liked to make his presence known. Dream wasn't like that. He was a careful footed thief, and he could move around without so much as a sound.

Despite this being a great trait as a pirate, his fellow crew didn't like it so much, as they always had small heart attacks when Dream just appeared out of nowhere.

Dream was pulled out of his thoughts by the sound of a door creaking open, and he realized with a start that they'd walked out of the hallway and down the stairs to the medical room without noticing.

Dream bit his lip again, making a mental note to not space out as much.

He followed Sapnap into the dimly lit room and saw Wilbur sitting on a bench, bottles of medicine and herbs littered around him, and a rather big, dusty book open in his hands.

His slender finger skimmed across the page as he read, not noticing the arrival of the blonde and brunette.

Sapnap coughed slightly, alerting Wilbur who jumped slightly, before turning with a sheepish smile on his face.

"Sorry!" he said, pushing his fingers through his hair as strands fell over his face.

Dream ignored the man's apology, and instead stated, rather matter of factly "You wanted to see me?"

Something in Wilbur's eyes brightened, and he clapped his hands. "Right! Yes, yes I did need to see you." He shifted in his chair, scraping it to the side to make room for Dream, who walked over softly.

Sapnap left the room with a short wave, Dream nodding to him, before he turned back around to look over at what Wilbur had sprawled over the benchtop.

"I was reading up on mermen, but I couldn't find anything of significance regarding how to treat their wounds any differently, so I'm just going to assume our normal medicines should do the trick! I pulled some out, and I need you to give them to him."

Dream narrowed his eyes slightly, despite Wilbur being unable to see it, both because his back was turned, his focus being entirely on the things in front of him, and because of Dream's mask.

"Why do I have to give them to him? You're the medicine guy here, that's your job."

Wilbur turned around, resting his hands on the back of his chair as he looked up at Dream.

"You're the one who's supposed to be gaining his trust, Mr 'I'm the leader here'." Dream sputtered, "Well, I am the leader!" Wilbur gave him a soft pat on his shoulder, almost mockingly, before swiveling back around. "Yes, which is why this is your job."

Dream groaned in annoyance, before relenting. "Alright, alright. Where's this medicine then?" Wilbur held up a finger quickly, "Hold on, before you take it, I just want to show you some interesting facts I found in this book! Honestly, they're really quite cool! I never knew merfolk could be this...complex. I don't know why I'm surprised actually, they're really very-" "Wilbur!" Dream cut him off from his rant, "the medicine, please. I don't need to hear the facts right now, tell me at dinner."

Wilbur coughed, "Right." He leaned forward, picking up two vials with a green liquid in them. Dream bit his lip, those didn't look very safe. He took them from the brunette and inspected them. Oh well, Wilbur's the medic here, not him, he'd just have to trust that these would work.

He nodded his thanks to Wilbur, before crossing out of the room, leaving the man to his own devices.

He walked up the creaky stairs and let his gaze wander around. Almost everyone was up here, with the exception of Wilbur, Sam, and Ranboo.

Fundy, Sapnap, Tommy, and Phil were off to the side of the boat, chatting. Dream turned his gaze to the door to the study, where a certain merman was being kept, and bit his lip. After being ignored by the merman for so long, he wasn't necessarily too keen on going back in. The merman could wait for his medicine, he'd be fine. Dream would check in on him later.

Comfortable with his decision, he moved over to the group of four, his hair shifting slightly in the wind.

Tommy spotted him first, and a shit-eating grin spread over his face. "Big D! Nice of you to join us!" he laughed, causing Dream to roll his eyes.

The others turned to Dream as he stood in front of them, and Phil smiled warmly. "How's the mer going then?" he asked, his tone friendly. Dream always liked Phil, he was a great guy, and he certainly looked up to the blonde a lot.

Dream sighed dramatically and shrugged. "Well, he can't understand me, so I'm not sure how I'm supposed to go about telling him I need his tears." Dream tapped his finger against his thigh. "Plus, he spent the whole time he was awake glaring at me, so I don't have many brownie points right now."

Tommy laughed, "What do you mean big man? Just cut him or shit, that'll make him cry." Phil smacked Tommy on the arm quickly, causing the teen to grumble and rub his hand over where he'd been hit.

Dream rolled his eyes, "I'm not going to just...hurt him. If I can go about getting his tears without resorting to violence, I'd much rather do that."

"Ever the peacemaker." Sapnap joked, earning him a flick from Phil.

"But what if he doesn't give them to you? It's either his neck or ours. You know Schlatt won't let us go without those tears." Tommy said, a surprising tone of seriousness on his tongue.

Dream hesitated. "Well...then we'll cross that bridge when it comes to it."

They stand in silence for a moment, before Fundy speaks up. "Hold on, what did you mean by he can't understand you?"

"Well, he obviously doesn't speak English! He's half fish, I don't know what I was expecting, honestly." Fundy narrowed his eyes questioningly, "Dream, did you seriously never learn anything about Merfolk?"

Dream scoffed, "I dropped out." Tommy rolled his eyes, "Big D, I've never even been to school and I know more shit than you do."

Fundy ignored both Dream and Tommy's comments. "Dream, what I meant was...well, merfolk can understand and communicate in any languages that are spoken in the area. That's pretty common knowledge."

Dream sputtered, "Well, that's news to me! But then why did he ignore me? He didn't even want to talk to me!" He questioned, rubbing his chin.

Sapnap rolled his eyes, placing a gentle hand on Dream's shoulder.

"Did you ever think that....maybe he doesn't like you? I mean, we did kidnap him, and stick him in a glass box, and-" "Alright, I get it!" Dream cut him off, shrugging Sapnap's hand off his shoulder.

Dream furrowed his brows.

"Even so, he just sat there, completely pretending he didn't know what I was saying. That little git..." he muttered, before walking off towards the door to the study, leaving the group of four behind, staring after him.

Sure, he understands that the merman is probably scared, but didn't he realise it was in his best interest to just give up the tears? Surely the merman was smart enough to know that's why he'd been captured, if he had any ounce of common sense.

The door swung open with a creak as he pushed it open, and the merman's head shot up in surprise, water dripping down his face as he sat up.

"You've got some explaining to do." Dream said gruffly, as the door shut with a thump behind him.

x - x - x - x - x - x - x - x - x - x - x - x - x - x - x - x - x - x - x - x - x - x - x - x - x - x -

HeYYYYY! You guys probably hate me for my constant cliffhangers, sorry about that!

I'm aware, the chapter is short, but I wasn't planning on updating today, and then I decided I could spare some time to bust one out.

I'll probably update tomorrow or the day after. I'm planning on going to my big city library with my friend for a writing sesh...for the aesthetics you know. So whenever I go, that's when I'll post.

Thank you for your continued support!! Love you guys

-Bee

16/1/21

(Co-posted on ao3)