Your name is Dirk Strider and you wonder if you can get this troll off of you without waking him up.

You're pretty sure that you can't fall asleep in a dreambubble - wouldn't you just wake up outside of the dreambubble? You can't be asleep while you're asleep, that's just stupid. But Cronus can sleep, and he is - arms tightly around your waist, head buried in your chest, horns just barely missing killing you then and there. Wouldn't that be an interesting way to go.

Of course, you are godtier, and dreaming, so it's highly unlikely that you'd actually die.

You wriggle a little, and he mumbles something, tightening his grip. He's one clingy guy. Physically, you mean, mostly, but every time you've been in the same area as him for as much as five minutes he's been all over you. It's kind of nice, you guess, to have someone chasing after you all the time instead of it being the other way around, but you think that maybe you could stand to do something else every once in a while. Watch movies, maybe, or just go on normal dates instead of just having some heavy makeout sessions. You haven't actually had sex yet, which is understandable, seeing as you've seen each other three times, but you've come really damn close. He's desperate and maybe you are a little bit, too, either way you're weak from that recent breakup thing, and Cronus Ampora is a nice distraction.

You try to wriggle out of his grip again. This time he rolls away, tangling himself in blankets and his horn piercing a pillow. You laugh a little and reach for your shades. You managed to get them on the headboard before things before Cronus fell asleep on you. Heaven forbid your dream glasses broke.

You slip them on your face and get out of the bed, crawling over Cronus and grabbing your underwear from the floor. You head for the bathroom - you're not sure, exactly, where it would be, but you find it eventually.

There's a pair of glasses in the sink. Does he need glasses? You think that that's probably the cutest fucking thing ever. You smile a little and take them out of the sink, putting them in a cabinet. You glance at the shower. Cronus will be sleeping for a while, you could probably get in the shower for a while. A while being an hour or two.

You briefly wonder how much hot water dreambubbles have, then decide that it doesn't matter if you run out or not. You're going to need a hell of a long time in the shower to contemplate this. One of your 'legendary infinite showers', even though you're not going to focus on your dream self because that whole thing is toast now, you're just going to stand there and concentrate on what the hell is going on.

You're in there for an hour and a half, staring up into the water, letting it splash over your face, your chest, your legs. You don't know how you're going to keep this working. Maybe if you try to get to this exact space whenever you fall asleep, that would be okay - you've always had good control over yourself while not conscious in 'real life', obviously, but you don't know if you know how to get here each time. Maybe if you just concentrate. Nothing in the world really makes sense, anyway, maybe concentration is all it takes.

And then there's the problem of whether you actually like Cronus or are just using him as some stress relief from the break-up. You don't know if you're over Jake. You think you're maybe not, but maybe a dead alien greaser fish-troll can help you get over him.

It's funny to think you used to make fun of Jake for lusting over aliens. He probably has one of these guys he likes, too, now that you think about it. One that dresses in blue, because while these guys are gray, they're no gigantic shitty space furry. But there's probably a blue-themed one, like yours is greaser-themed.

You did have a crush on Matt Dillon in The Outsiders for a while when you were younger, maybe you just have a thing for greasers.

The water begins to run cold and you hop out of the shower, shivering, and grab a towel. You dry yourself off as quickly as possible and wrap the towel around your waist, wondering if it would be possible to keep yourself awake here and in 'real life', like you did before Sburb happened. If you could figure out how to do that... that would be ideal.

You bypass your clothes and head for Cronus's dresser. He's a hell of a lot scrawnier than you, but you're about the same height and his shirts look a little big on him, anyway, so you figure you can borrow a pair of boxers and a t-shirt. The boxers fit fine. The t-shirt's a little tight, but that's okay. It's not like death by putting on too tight of a t-shirt is going to keep you dead forever. Not very just or heroic. You sit down on the edge of the bed and wait.

Cronus wakes up then, rolling over to lay his head in your lap. You pet his hair absentmindedly.

"Have a nice nap, Cro?" you ask. He looks up at you like he didn't expect you to actually still be there.

"I thought you'd be awake," he says. You shake your head.

"Nothing to do there," you say. "Jane's psycho, I have no idea where Roxy went, and I... don't really want to see Jake for a while, even if I did know where he was."

"The others in your session, right?" he asks. You nod. He stays quiet. The blanket tangled around his stomach is making its way down his body and it's getting a little distracting. You fight to keep your dick down and your eyes on his face. "Why don't you ever take your pointy sunglasses off?"

"Why don't you ever go out with your glasses on?" you ask, and he turns purple. Blushing. It's cute as fuck.

"Y-you know-"

"I took a shower and saw them in the sink," you say. "You'd look cute with them on and your hair down. Not that I don't like the greaser look."

"Greasers are perfect," he says. He sounds like he's still half-asleep. "They're tough and human and always seem to get some action. You think Danny Zuko went a night without someone in his bed? Nuh-uh."

"And how many people have you had in your bed since going greaser?"

He's quiet for a few seconds.

"...One," he finally admits. "You. But... hell, it's not like I had anyone before, either, so the greaser thing must be working, right?"

You laugh and bed down to kiss him on the forehead. He wriggles, trying to get you to kiss him on the lips.

"Right," you say.


it's a miracle a crodirk chapter without any smut call the newspapers