Place: Your shared AU home, which he created as a refuge for surviving monsters and humans.

The evening was quiet.

Your house — small, warm, with soft candlelight — was drowning in the smell of cinnamon and tea. Soft snow was falling outside, and the firewood was crackling in the fireplace, dispelling the cold in the corners of the room.

Dream was sitting on the couch, and you were sitting next to him, covering the two of you with one blanket. He took off his gloves and robes, remaining in a simple soft shirt, and looked almost... ordinary. Not a hero. Not a Guardian. Just a man who finally allowed himself to exhale.

He quietly played with your fingers, sometimes glancing at them as if he wanted to remember every detail. He was silent for a long time.

You were already used to his rare lulls, but this time there was something heavy in his silence.

“You know... I... I'm tired.” he said quietly, without looking up..

The words hung in the silence, like the crackling of wood that had suddenly become too loud.

“Not just tired, like after a fight or a long day. But… deep. Inside. Like everything I have… has been squeezed out.”

He finally looked up at you. There was no bright glow in his golden pupils, only a soft, tired light.

“I stand between chaos and the people I love every day. I can’t let myself… fall. I can’t let myself disappear. Because if I leave… all of this will collapse.”

He gestured around the room, but you knew he wasn’t just talking about the house—he was talking about the entire AU he had created. About the people and monsters who had found a last safe haven here after Error had destroyed their worlds.

“You know, sometimes I wonder… what would happen if I just… stopped. Stopped being the Guardian. Stopped saving everyone. Just… lived with you. Here. Looked at the snow, drank tea, fell asleep next to you.”

His voice broke and he exhaled quietly, as if he was afraid to say more.

“But I can’t.”

Dream ran his hand over his face and chuckled softly, bitterly, almost joylessly. — “Because if I stop… this world, our home, everything I built for you… will disappear. And I will be alone again. And you… will disappear with it.”

He fell silent, and then gently touched your cheek, as if checking that you were real.

“I can’t afford to lose you. Even if it means I have to burn to ashes.”

A log cracked in the fireplace. And he simply hugged you to himself, burying his face in your shoulder, and did not let go for a long time - as if he was holding not you, but this entire fragile world that he was so afraid of losing.