Chapter Text
“Wait are you serious?”
Dream blinked in astonishment at how dumb his partner’s question was. There he was, down on one knee after just saying that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with this man and presenting the exact ring that Techno had picked out in the store months ago after a date that couldn’t have gone better.
How could this possibly be taken as a joke?
“Of course I’m serious,” Dream said carefully, looking up at his partner with clear concern as the fear of his partner’s rejection started to bubble up inside of him. “Why would I joke about this? We’ve talked about it and I thought that, y’know, it’s been a year and change--”
“Almost two years now,” Techno interjected unhelpfully.
“Yeah yeah two years,” Dream corrected quickly. “Whatever. I just… I thought you wanted this. Did… did I read into this wrong? Are you not ready or something? Oh god, I’m so sorry. Oh my god, I should have asked again before just springing this on you.”
In all fairness, Dream didn’t exactly “spring this on him.” Dream had been hinting at a really nice date all week and hyping it up and being really mysterious about everything. He hadn’t left much to the imagination when it came to what he was planning on doing, but Techno must not have seen it that way.
Oh the joys of dating somebody who didn’t always see the obvious but had a knack for fine details.
Techno turned to face the increasingly distressed Dream and cupped his face in his hands.
“Dream,” he said quietly. “I’ve wanted this for so long it’s ridiculous. I’ve been in love with you ever since I met you. You’ve been nothing but wonderful and kind and respectful to me and I wouldn’t want to spend the rest of my life with anybody else.”
Dream perked up quickly and opened his mouth to speak again. Unfortunately for him, Techno wasn’t quite done.
“But,” he said hesitantly. “There’s still some things we need to… discuss.”
Dream felt his heart fall out of his chest and shatter on the soft picnic blanket under him. Had he really read into this that poorly? What could he possibly have been missing here?
“What do I need to do, Techno?” He asked quickly, lowering his eyes and trying to hide the suffocating hurt closing around his throat as he spoke. “I’ll do anything. I… I don’t want to beg and I don’t want to try and force you into something you don’t want, but if there’s something I can do, I want to do it. I want to be with you for as long as you’ll have me. I want you to be my husband, Tech.”
Technoblade was quiet for a moment before a heavy sigh passed his lips. Dream recognized that sigh. That was the sigh that always seemed to precede some sort of difficult conversation. He’d heard that sigh when they spoke about moving in together, when they had to seriously talk about Dream’s uncomfortable conversation with his mother, and even when they had a disagreement about what they wanted for dinner.
It was a sigh that truly demanded attention.
“You know how you’ve never met my family?” Techno eventually said, pushing his glasses up his nose and keeping his eyes down at the red checkered blanket and the bottle of wine in front of him. “Well, there’s a reason for that.”
“What do you mean?” Dream questioned, closing the ring box carefully and putting it back in his pocket. “Are they homophobic or something? Is this just you trying to be nice and because you don’t actually want to marry me? If the latter is the case you can just tell me, it’s okay!”
“No!” Techno said quickly. “God no. Far from that. It’s just… every partner I’ve taken to meet them has left after meeting them. It’s not like they’re bad people or anything. They’re just… a lot. Tommy and Tubbo are both loud and have some of the highest energy I’ve ever seen, Philza’s just and intimidating man. I don’t want them to scare you away… but I want them to approve of you before we do anything serious. I want to marry you, but… but I want them to like you.”
Dream couldn’t help but smile at his partner’s concern. It was very sweet that he was so worried about Dream being scared off, but he still didn’t understand what the big deal was. Dream scooted his way over to sit next to his partner and put an arm around him carefully.
“Hey,” Dream said carefully, leaning his head against his partner’s shoulder in an attempt to comfort him. “It’s okay. I… okay I don’t really get it, but I can get it if we talk about it.”
Techno nodded carefully and kept his eyes down, still very clearly uncomfortable.
“My family,” Techno started slowly. “Is interesting. I love them with my entire being, but they’ve really driven everybody away. Tubbo’s always been kind, but Tommy and Wilbur are particularly difficult to get approval from. Philza runs the house like a true democracy and decisions don’t happen unless everybody can come to an agreement. Phil ultimately makes the decisions, but only after getting everybody’s input and getting a general idea about what everybody feels about it. It’s been like that since we were kids. It’s kinda how the family got so big. Whenever we were planning on bringing a new kid into the house, there was a big talk about it and then decisions were made. Relationships were no different.
“I know that I’m the only person who’s brought people home for… approval… so far, but it’s never really gone well for anybody. Well, all things considered you’re the only person who’s actually seemed to give a shit about me for this long, so maybe it’ll be different?”
Dream listened to Techno talk about his family and couldn’t help but feel the small seed of fear that was planted in his heart at the beginning of all this started to take root. If Techno’s family really didn’t approve of his past partners, how would he compare? Hell, Techno dated a politician and was in a really great financial situation for a while because of it. He was basically a glorified nurse at a professional fighting organization. How would he stack up?
Even with all these concerns starting to bubble up, he couldn't let that get in the way of him and his lover.
Dream carefully placed his hand on top of his partner’s and offered a kind smile, hoping it would ease some of his fear.
“When can we go meet them?” Dream questioned softly, smirking at the confused expression on his partner’s face. “I can take some time off work and get somebody to watch the cat. Just tell me when?”
There was a long beat where Techno just stared at his partner as the gears began to turn behind his eyes.
“You mean it?” Techno eventually asked. “What if they don’t approve of you?”
“Whaaat?” Dream teased cheerfully. “Somebody not approving of m e? That’s crazy!”
“Didn’t your ex throw a vase at you because you tried to speed run sex one time?” Techno deadpanned, only smirking with Dream’s face turned bright as a Christmas ornament.
“Listen!” Dream basically squeaked. “I didn't think it was an issue until I woke up with stitches in my head and a breakup text from Fundy!”
The two laughed over the embarrassing story for a minute and eventually settled into a comfortable silence. Techno rested his head against Dream’s shoulder and sighed heavily as the two looked out over the sparkling river in front of them as the run began to set nearby.
“I really do want to marry you,” Techno eventually muttered, turning to look at Dream and burying his nose in the other man’s neck as he spoke. “I’ve wanted it for a long time.”
“I know,” Dream said gently, reaching his arm around his partner and holding him tenderly. “And I’m going to make sure that I get to.”
Techno sighed out his nose, sending a warm stream of air down Dream’s neck and causing his skin to erupt into goosebumps, and Dream could feel the other man smile against the skin.
“Are you sure you want to meet my family?” Techno asked carefully. “I’d just… It’s something that’s really important to me, y’know?”
“Knight,” Dream said carefully, hoping the nickname would ease his partner’s concerns. “You’re the person I want to spend the rest of my life with. I’ll do whatever I need to do to make sure this works out. I want to marry you and I’d be happy to meet your family.”
“I want you to meet them,” Techno said cautiously. “I just worry that they might scare you away.”
“Technoblade,” Dream said kindly, rubbing small circles on his partner’s back to help ease his worries. “I’ve revived people, reset dislocated joints, and all sorts of scary things. I don’t get scared easily. Sure, this feels pretty high stress, but it’ll take a lit more than just a few siblings to scare me away.”
Techno nodded silently and continued to rest his head on his partner’s shoulder. There was another sweet silence shared between the two as they sat on the botched proposal with cautious optimism. Dream tried to give Techno the time he needed to process these new big promises and tried to process whether he'd actually be able to commit to what he was saying. He knew in his heart that he wanted to be strong and kind and friendly towards Techno’s family, but would he even be able to?
The way Techno was talking about it, it sounded like they were a serious group of folks that he would have to work hard to impress. He truly believed that he could do it, but there was still that fear.
“My brother Wilbur is going to be home in two weeks,” Techno said carefully. “They invited me home for that so we could be a family for a little bit. Everybody would be there if we went. I’d originally said no, but I can tell that that we’re going to be coming.”
Dream offered a bright smile and placed a delicate kiss to his partner’s cheek.
“We should do that,” Dream said cheerfully. “What kind of clothes should I pack? Is it going to be warm?”
Before Dream could ask any more questions, he was wrapped up in a strong hug and a sweet kiss from his partner. Dream couldn’t help but laugh into the kiss, joy bubbling up at his partner’s reaction at the agreement to go to meet his family.
“Thank you,” Techno muttered into the man’s shoulder. “God, I was worried about this. I’m sorry I didn’t say something sooner. I really made you go through a whole proposal and told you no. God, I’m so sorry.”
“It’s okay!” Dream said quickly. “I’m just gonna get to propose to you again when I get the approval from the family. The only hard part of all of it is that I’m going to have to try and top what I did today because this was amazing.”
Techno rewarded the joke with a small snort and rolled his eyes.
“It was pretty good,” he confirmed reluctantly. “Whatever you do, once my dad and siblings give the OK, I’ll say yes.”
Dream smiled to himself and allowed his hands to wander to his partner’s hip, rubbing small circles of comfort in hopes of easing his partner’s concerns. Sure he was a little disappointed that it wasn’t the instant gratification and the almost cliché crying and excitement and running into his arms, but this was still okay. It wasn’t a no. It was simply a request to fulfill before a yes could happen.
The two finished their date and made their way home, chatting about how they were going to go about this.
“Tommy and Tubbo are probably going to be the most open to you,” Techno explained as he brushed his teeth. “They were never really involved a lot when they were younger and they mostly just provided a pretty solid vibe check on people, but you’re good with teenagers somehow so it shouldn’t be too much of an issue.”
“Alright,” Dream responded after spitting out his own toothpaste-y spit into the sink, hoping that he’d be able to remember this stuff. “Tommy and Tubbo. Easy so far.”
“Tubbo and Tommy have a friend named Ranboo who’s basically been adopted by the family,” Techno continued. “He’s not really a part of the family, but he’s basically family. Tall, awkward, doing his best. He’s quiet but he’s got good instincts and isn’t afraid to stand up for himself when he needs to. Basically, if you’re nice to any of those three, the others will slowly open up. Tommy will probably give you the most trouble.”
Dream nodded and swished some water in his mouth to finish the teeth-brushing ritual.
“Then there’s Wilbur and Philza,” Techno said slowly as he cleaned off his toothbrush after use. “And they’re the ones who are gonna be the hardest to actually talk to and are probably going to give you the hardest time about things.”
Dream nodded quietly and spit the water into the sink.
“Why?” Dream questioned. “Are they just mean people or something?”
“God, no,” Techno said quickly, placing his toothbrush in the little holder and turning his full attention to his partner. “They both care a lot. Like, a lot a lot. Wilbur is protective over me because he’s had some bad experiences with people. Philza just wants everybody to have the best and he’s really not going to accept anything less than what he thinks is the best.”
“Oof, alright,” Dream said quietly, rinsing off his toothbrush and staring down at the running water with a clenched jaw. “So, what does he think is the best?”
Techno chuckled and stretched before starting to change into his night clothes.
“Not really sure,” Techno admitted, shedding his button down and dress pants and putting on a lightweight t-shirt and sweatpants. “I just know that he’s not exactly a fan of most people who I’ve brought home.”
Dream hummed in acknowledgement and watched his partner change with soft focus. He was so deeply in love with this man even after nearly two years and it was hard to believe that they were so close and yet so far from being each other’s life partners.
Well, Dream had already committed himself to Techno fully, but it sure would be nice to have it on paper.
“Can I help you?” Techno said softly, breaking Dream out of his blank stare and allowing him to process that he was staring.
“Sorry!” Dream said quickly, hoping he didn’t look as embarrassed as he felt. “Uh, yeah, sorry I was just… thinking.”
“Ooh, a dangerous thing for you,” Techno teased. “Don’t hurt yourself, Princess.”
Dream rolled his eyes and shoved his partner playfully.
“I was thinking about what you told me, jerk,” he elaborated, unable to help the grin forming on his face. “I’m just trying to figure out how I should go about this, y’know? I want them to like me because… well I want to marry you and I want their approval.”
“And you’ll get it,” Techno assured, putting a hand on his partner’s shoulder. “Just be yourself and don’t try to fake anything and you’ll be fine. You’re a good man and you care about me and treat me right and they’ll see that as long as you just show them the you I know.”
Dream felt his cheeks heating up and he quickly scoffed in an attempt to hide the fact that he was genuinely touched by his partner’s words.
“Jeez, you’re sappy,” Dream said through a chuckle. “You’re trying to get me to blush, aren’t you?”
Techno’s eyes squinted as a smile crept onto his face, reaching his hand up and pinching Dream’s cheek and being rewarded with an embarrassed chuckle from his partner.
“I’ve always said you look good in pink,” Techno teased. “This is particularly nice, though.”
“You say everybody looks good in pink!” Dream squeaked, swatting his partner’s hand away with a laugh. “And I’m probably more red than pink anyway! You need to get to bed! You have a big day tomorrow! You don’t wanna lose because you stayed up too late teasing me!”
Techno rolled his eyes, eventually heeding his partner’s warning and making his way into their shared room.
Dream, after washing his face and changing into some night clothes, Dream joined his partner in the bed and buried himself in the cozy sheets.
“I’ll ask them tomorrow,” Techno said carefully. “I’m sure they’ll be okay with you coming to meet you since they’ll have had time to prep.”
“And if they don’t want me to come,” Dream assured. “I’ll really be okay for a week. I think that even if they don’t want to meet me, you should see your family.”
“But what about—“ Techno started, only to be cut off by Dream reaching across the bed and holding his forearm.
“Technoblade,” Dream insisted. “You should still see your family when you can. Don’t worry about me, okay?”
There was a quiet moment between the two stared at each other and tried to convince the other to sway their way. After a healthy dose of prolonged eye contact, Techno heaved a heavy sigh and picked his book up off his bedside.
“Fine,” Techno said carefully. “I’ll ask them tomorrow after work and then we can plan.”
Dream offered a small smile to his partner before planting a gentle kiss on his cheek.
“Thank you, Knight,” Dream said cheerfully, happy with his victory. “G’night!”
“Good night, Princess,” Techno said casually, smirking at the exasperated noise that left Dream’s lip at the nickname.
The next day, the two made their way to work and went about their day as usual. Dream mostly stayed in his little nurse’s nook and made sure that things were going smoothly back there. Fight days were particularly busy and Dream had to make sure that things were running smoothly behind the scenes. As much as he’d love to go onto the main stage area to watch his partner kick the shit out of some poor soul, he needed to make sure that people were taken care of.
The day went smoothly, the early day being full of mostly just training injuries like a rolled ankle or a fall that ended in a person hitting their head, but it was mostly pretty relaxed.
The nighttime event was when things got interesting.
Dream adjusted the straps of his surgical mask on his face and buzzed his lips as he prepared for the first round of folks to come in after being roughed up. He was lucky to have other people with him to take care of the smaller things while he was left to deal with the larger issues.
After some time of seeing people filter in and people sent to get situated and cleaned up on their own, Dream saw his lovely, sweaty, and mostly unscathed boyfriend enter his room.
“Hi,” Dream said sweetly, patting the comfortable chair for Techno to sit in. “Everything go okay?”
“Actually, yeah,” Techno said quietly. “Won pretty easy.”
“Great,” Dream said casually, pulling his mask down a bit to smile at his partner. “Get hit anywhere important?”
Techno shrugged and pulled his hair out of the messy braid and started to redo it into a lazy ponytail.
“Just knocked on my head once,” Techno said calmly. “Might get a bruise, but it’s nothing serious.”
Dream nodded and did the standard check up on his partner to make sure he didn’t sustain any major injuries. As capable as his partner was, Techno had the tendency to underplay injuries and not admit when he was actually hurt. Lucky for them both, Techno seemed to be being honest.
The two sat in silence for a while, Dream doing his job and Techno being his usual quiet self. That quiet only lasted a few minutes, though.
“Phil texted me back,” Techno said cautiously. “I saw it after the fight.”
Dream hesitated for a moment, processing the words his partner said to him and trying his best to remain cool and collected.
“Ohh?” Dream said calmly, resuming his work and trying not to let any of his nervousness seep through. “What did he have to say?”
There was another long silence before Techno spoke again, but the words that left his mouth were something that let loose a million butterflies in the medic’s stomach.
“He said they talked and agreed that they want to meet you,” Techno said cautiously. “And everybody’s gonna be there this weekend if we want to go sooner.”
Dream thought about the opportunity to meet Techno’s family and tried to remain calm about the whole event. Sure he was nervous and worried that things were going to go badly, but the chances of things going well and actually getting to meet them was something he couldn’t pass up.
“Great,” Dream said sweetly. “I’ll talk to my boss and try to get it taken care of. Are we driving or flying?”
Techno was quiet for a moment before speaking again.
“Are you sure?” Techno reiterated. “My family is a lot and… Fuck if it really came down to it, we could just get married secretly or something.”
“I’m sure,” Dream confirmed, pulling his mask back over his mouth and nose and flashing up some kind eyes to his clearly concerned partner. “This is important to you and if it’s important to you, it’s important to me. So, flying or driving?”
Dream quickly found himself being pulled into an impossibly tight hug, pressed close against his sweaty partner’s chest. Not that he was complaining or anything. He was just surprised.
“Driving,” Dream heard the muffled voice of Techno say in his shoulder. “They’re only two hours away.”
Dream nodded and tapped his partner’s shoulder to hint at wanting to be released from the hug.
“We’ll make it work,” Dream said kindly. “For now, you head home. Run a bath, get some dinner going, and drink some water, okay? I’ll meet you there.”
Dream released his partner to head home and that's where the prep for the meeting with the family began.
The next three days were packed full of prepping for what to wear, what to bring, and what not to say. Dream had gotten the next week and a bit off work and Techno was able to get his fights moved to the following month. Sure it was going to be a tight schedule for the month after for both of them, but this was important. Dream got the rundown on what was bad for each person and, though he was almost sure that he would forget, tried his best to remember everything he could.
The two eventually packed the car on a bright Saturday morning and got on the road with the trusty GPS to guide them to the right location.
“Okay, so Tubbo doesn’t like fireworks,” Dream repeated back carefully. “Tommy is weird about his things, and… was it Wilbur who likes birds?”
“Close,” Techno said quietly, looking straight again with white knuckles on the wheel. “Philza likes birds and Wilbur likes music.”
“Ah,” Dream said carefully, taking notice of his partner’s tension. “Is everything okay? I can drive for a bit if you want.”
“It’s fine,” Techno insisted. “I’m just nervous.”
Dream offered a kind smile to his partner and put a hand on his thigh in hopes of calming him down.
“I promise I won’t embarrass you,” Dream said playfully, grinning as his small joke was rewarded with a smirk. “I can’t wait to meet them. Genuinely.”
Techno nodded and relaxed slightly as they continued to drive along.
The two-ish hours of driving were filled mostly by Dream trying to remember the random trivia about the family, scream singing music, and peaceful silence. The drive to Techno’s family home had a beautiful scenic route and he was happy to be able to experience it with his partner for the first time.
Eventually, the electronic voice of the GPS alerted the men that they were approaching their destination. Dream found himself sitting up and looking at the road ahead of them until his eyes rested on one of the only houses on the street.
It definitely looked like it was a busy place, with a messy but flourishing garden in the front yard, a wooden fence with planks missing around the entire place, and the house itself painted a dusty blue that was aged by the sun, he saw a thin chimney and off-white shutters wide open on the house.
Techno parked the car and offered an awkward smile to Dream.
“Welcome to my childhood home,” he said cautiously, still clearly uneasy about all that was about to happen.
Dream smiled one last time before pulling one of his surgical masks over his face in preparation for entering the house. Dream opened the door of the car and was instantly met with the sound of teenagers yelling inside the house and somebody telling them to quiet down and the faint sound of a guitar coming from inside.
Techno wasn’t kidding when he said this house was busy.
Dream soon felt a hand grasping his own and, after the initial jump at the contact, he grasped it tightly.
“We’ve got this,” Dream assured. “Everything’s going to be alright.”
Techno hummed in agreement and tried to flash a smile at his partner.
“It’ll really be alright,” Techno repeated back. “I’m just… I worry, y’know?”
Dream felt his partner’s hand tighten around his own as the other spoke. Logically he knew that meeting Techno’s family was going to be fine overall, but something in his gut told him to worry. Logically, he knew that, no matter what happened, he would find a way to marry the man he loved, but the primal fear in the back of his mind reminded him that it was going to be hard to do that without the other man’s family’s approval of him.
It was scary, standing in front of that door and just waiting for things to resolve themselves, but he wanted this. He wanted Techno in his life for as long as he could have him.
And he was willing to work for it.
Dream gave his partner’s clammy hand a squeeze and pulled his mask down from his nose to offer a kind smile to the clearly anxious man.
“Hey,” Dream said warmly. “Don’t worry. I’m really good with people’s families! I’m sure they’re gonna love me!”
Techno let out a slightly amused exhale and shook his head.
“Alright then,” He said, raising his hand to knock on the door to his childhood home, giving Dream a moment to pull his mask up before proceeding. “Just be ready for things to be… chaos.”
“What?” Dream teased, gesturing with his free hand to the loudness that they could already hear from outside. “Is there more than this?”
“Oh, much more,” Techno answered. “When you’re inside, you have to fight to be a part of the conversation. You’ll be fine. You’ll… yeah you’ll be fine.”
Dream pulled his mask back up over his nose and smiled to himself. He really wanted to marry this man and he was going to do whatever it took to make sure that would happen.
“Ready?” Techno asked carefully, looking at his partner cautiously.
Dream leaned against him carefully and smiled to himself. He was more than ready for this.
“Born, ready, baby.”
Techno gave Dream’s hand one more big squeeze before knocking on the heavy door in front of them.
This was going to be an interesting week.