Sandman Stories
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Hob is a long line of heat along Dream’s back, October rain pattering softly against the windows, and Dream pushes back against him, tugging Hob closer, closer still. He knows, without a fissure of doubt on a random Sunday morning, according to a calendar that his own world does not adhere to, that he does not care what the Fates decree; he will not give this up. That he can’t.
“Hey,” Hob murmurs, shifting until he can look over Dream’s shoulder. “You are thinking very loudly.”
Dream can’t help but huff at that, amusement curling through his chest. “And what is it that you are hearing of my thoughts, dear lover of mine?”
A rainy morning in bed finds Dream reflecting on his and Hob's relationship, and all that he would be willing to risk for the sake of keeping Hob's stubborn human heart beating.
Spoiler: just about anything.
Series
- Part 1 of Sandman Stories
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“You are good,” Dream says, the words slow, deliberate; he uses his grip on Hob’s hair to pull him back, to make Hob look at him. “Look at you, making me feel like this; as if I could live off you alone.”
The noise wrenching itself out of Hob’s throat isn’t one he thought himself capable of, and it is almost too much, overwhelming, being forced to look at Dream and see the truth of it. To be stripped bare like this, beyond the physical, and the sharp contrast of it to the pain still prickling across his skin.
Hob has always loved to discover all the ways that make his lovers tick, and it's no different with Dream; apparently, though, even he can still learn something new about himself.
Series
- Part 2 of Sandman Stories
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He shouldn’t be, is the thing. No mere human should possess the strength to tear themselves out of the Dreaming’s grasp—not with Dream’s attention on them, with no nightmare or outside force to throw them back to waking.
Hob Gadling has not been an ordinary human in a considerable time. He is blinking up at Dream, slow but awake, awake, awake. He says, “Stay. Please.”
Dream has never been good at asking for the things that he wants. Fortunately for them both, Hob is patient. Mostly.
Series
- Part 3 of Sandman Stories
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Hob has learnt to outlive just about everything and everyone, but there is a reason why he has never married or fathered children again.
He has learnt to love life regardless, but on this slow, sluggish December morning, Dream comes back into Hob’s bedroom as if he belongs here, two steaming mugs of tea in his hands, and Hob almost asks him to leave.
A nightmare, and the comfort thereafter.
Series
- Part 4 of Sandman Stories
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Summary
At his lack of answer, Dream smiles, just a tick of his mouth. “And further, I do believe that commonly, proposals of marriage are not only posed as a question but also involve a certain sort of ceremony and gravitas, do they not? Humans do have a great many nightmares about it, I recall.”
Series
- Part 5 of Sandman Stories
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When Hob speaks, his voice is too steady to sound light-hearted. “Because I love you, and I want you to have it. To know it.”
He states it like a fact, something axiomatic and indelible; night follows day and humans dream. The sun keeps rising, and Hob Gadling loves Dream of the Endless.
“Does this not scare you?” Dream asks, voice hoarse as the words trip off his tongue. “It is terrifying to me.”
Love shows itself in many forms; sometimes, words might still work best, especially where the Prince of Stories is concerned.
Series
- Part 6 of Sandman Stories
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“For some reason that I have yet to understand, your dreams seem to be trying to bring you to me,” Dream eventually says, his voice a little too even to be casual. “Not only that, but the Dreaming allows you in; it is not something that should be possible.”
Hob turns and takes in Dream’s wary face. “Does it always look like that? So…”
“Desolate?” Dream offers, and his expression doesn’t change, but Hob can read the hurt on him, still. “No, it does not.”
After Dream finally finds him in the New Inn, Hob struggles to rebuild his trust that this—Dream returning—will always be the case. At the same time, the concern that something has gone horribly wrong grows through meetings, dreams, and details that Hob shouldn't notice but does; not that Dream is much more forthcoming than in centuries prior.
That's okay, though; if Hob has learnt one thing, it is how to be patient. Mostly.
Series
- Part 7 of Sandman Stories
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build your heart a home by queerofthedagger for softestpunk
Fandoms: The Sandman (TV 2022)
30 Dec 2022
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“Are you sure that you want this?” Dream asks, and he does not rush the words, but it is the closest that he will get.
Hob laughs, a low, incredulous sound. It curls fondly around Dream’s bones as Hob simply kisses him again—with more force this time, teeth sinking into flesh and nails finding skin.
Series
- Part 8 of Sandman Stories
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devotion in morning grey by queerofthedagger for MagicInAvalon
Fandoms: The Sandman (TV 2022)
03 Jan 2023
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Beneath Dream’s fingertips, Hob’s pulse beats wildly. It is still early in London, the morning barely forcing its way inside, and Dream is not sure how to convey the irrefutable fact that there is nothing Hob could say that would get Dream to leave again.
A frightful thought, even on the best of days.
Series
- Part 9 of Sandman Stories
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Summary
“So,” he says. Something bubbles within his chest, bright and giddy and perhaps a little too reckless.
Definitely too reckless for a Sainsbury on a Tuesday afternoon.
“So,” Dream echoes; the anomaly of this alone is enough to make the giddiness spill over.
Series
- Part 10 of Sandman Stories
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Summary
When he goes to sleep the second Friday after their fight—ugly and snarling, the two of them; always too good at both devotion and destruction—he sets an alarm. He slips into his dreams like a thief, and once he is there, he seizes and twists the gossamer threads that make the Dreaming, the way he knows but never uses.
Never before tonight. Tonight, he does, until the scenery of Hob’s living room and Dream’s head in his lap shudders and crumbles, leaving only the throne room behind.
Series
- Part 11 of Sandman Stories