In the POV of Dream, December 31st

I wake up and groan. The past few nights have been full of confusion, especially since the Minecraft date is tonight. I have everything set up so fireworks will light up the picnic area at her New Years in her timezone, so I've changed my sleep schedule to make it perfect. I'll be up late but the time reads as 1pm in the afternoon. This is crazier than how George and I have synced our schedules.

I pull myself from my bed and to my bathroom, jumping into the shower and feeling the pressure of cold water fall all over. I flinch as it hits my skin but settle, washing my hair first. I finish and move on to washing my body, letting the soap soothe the tough spots in my skin. It was nice being this motivated and I can only hope that it stays that way.

I finish my shower and dry myself, washing my face and brushing my teeth. I take off my towel, that was resting around my hips, and put on my clothes for the day. It was a black suit that I had gotten from my parents for prom a few years back but it still fit. I knew she would dress up for her instagram so why don't I as well. I tie the tie and sit at my desk, booting up Minecraft.

The server loads, immediately showcasing the amount of effort that went into this project. I began to run the several commands that I would need, including the start of the New Years Countdown. I get a notification from Instagram and quickly open it, seeing that Nightmare posted in a beautiful dress. I have to comment but what? I think, quickly commenting two things before zoning back in on the server.

I finish the server up and it's already 4. I leave the game running and go to the kitchen, preparing snacks and food for tonight. I'll be hungry when the date starts so I'll eat something now and have snacks to fuel me through it. I begin to prep when I hear my phone ring. I scramble, putting any and all snacks on a tray and run to my studio room, just to find my mom calling me.

"Hi Mom," I say quietly. I told her I'd be streaming tonight so what could this be.

"Clay, we're about to drop Tessa (That's Drista) off."

"Mom, I'm busy and I told you that! No way she's coming over. I already told you no," I say annoyed. 

"She refuses to hang out with us for New Years. She would go to her friend's if she could but she can't."

"Bring her home. I'm not letting her inside," I say, knowing I'm on speaker phone and that she can hear me.

"I'll find a way to break in and you know that," I hear her yell from the backseat. I hold a laugh, knowing that she's right. I tried to avoid this but it's inevitable.

"Fine but I'm streaming with someone that you will not be interacting with," I say before hanging up. I look at the time to see that stream will be starting in 11 EST, just 6 1/2 hours away. I begin to make dinner, now adjusting the recipe for 2, when the doorbell rings. Tessa swings the door open, kicking her shoes off at the mat and jumping onto the couch, attacking a resting Patches.

"So who will I be meeting tonight? Nice suit by the way," She says while hugging Patches.

"No one. I'm going on a date and I've been stuck with babysitting," I say, teasing her.

"Whatever you say. You'll go to the bathroom and I'll be sitting in your gaming chair talking to the not-so-lucky girl," she says. "Unless it's George because I wouldn't be too surprised."

I begin to wheeze while trying to tell her off, running short of air. I take my food off the stove in perfect condition, leaving hers to sizzle a little longer, hopefully to burn one side. I take my food and eat it, laughing at her as she complains about her food.

"You've burnt it! How do you manage to cook yourself something nice but burn mine?" She begins to shout while laughing. We finish our food and I turn on a movie, sneaking to my studio room to check on my platter of snacks I made a little too early out of excitement. I hear footsteps creak on the hardwood floors behind me and pull myself towards the wall, making myself unseen from the direction Tessa is so obviously coming from.

"Boo!" I shout as she screams from the jumpscare. I laugh a bit before figuring out what I want to say. "Go back to your movie, I just need to check on the server for tonight. What time are mom and dad picking you up, by the way?"

"I'm staying in the guest room tonight so they don't come over drunk. They're going to have that side of the family over," she says, completely serious. I nod, understanding the situation. That side of the family happens to be the only people in the world that can make our parents drink too much.

"Okay, fair enough. How about you get the house to yourself except my room and the studio room. Just no yelling," I say, gesturing my head for her to go do something. However, she can't take a hint just as much as I can.

"I want to meet who you're going on a date with. Either I meet them or I look up the new ship compilations," she says smirking.

"The what compilations?! People already made some?" I say, definitely not loosing my cool.

"Let's look some up, shall we?" She says mocking TommyInnit's accent. She pulls her phone from her pocket and searches through Youtube, finding many compilations of the new ship. My eyes go wide and she realizes, clicking the video instantly. It's a short video since we've only done a few things together but the Twitter threads begin to appear, making Tessa laugh, telling me how she is going to be watching one of the streams if she can't meet her.

I scoffed, making my way to the living room to watch something before the remote disappears from my hand. Tessa is now sitting on the other side of the couch, browsing Youtube of more compilations. She turns the volume up and watches comfortably, laughing at the jokes and making fun of me in the process. It was weird how much she enjoyed it but then I heard her voice, bringing me back in after zoning out.

"You know Clay, I really do like her. I know it's just Minecraft but don't mess this up," she says before walking to the guest bedroom, probably to go on her phone. It's still early though. It's only 9. I've still got 2 hours left. I make my way to the studio room and load up the server, joining a vc with Niki, Sapnap, Quackity, George, Wilbur, and Tommy.

"So, we saw what Nightmare is wearing. How about you?" Sapnap says giggling like a child. I pick up my phone and open snapchat, not bothering to cover my face since he's seen it before. I take a picture and send it to him, only to hear him laugh and talk about how I'm dressed "super fancy." I switch snapchat accounts and take a lowbody timer shot and post it on my public story. I sit back down at my chair only to hear everyone else talking about my snapchat story.

"Dream, if this date doesn't go well for you, am I allowed to nuke the place?" Tommy says, earning a melody of laughs from the call.

"No Tommy. I don't think it'll go bad," I say, reassuring myself as I say it.

"You should always expect the worst," he says quickly, making the laughing louder. I laugh as well, especially since he volunteered to help.

"You and my sister are both ruthless," I say, beginning to settle after laughing so much.

"Is Drista even there? I want to say hi," he says. I mute myself and go to the guest room. I stand outside the door and begin to hear talking. She's watching Nightmare's videos, laughing at the sly jokes just like I did the first time watching it. I smile to myself, going back to the studio room and sitting back at my chair, adjusting my headset and mic back.

"She's a bit busy at the moment. Sorry Tommy."