#dreamling dads!au

[densewentz]

Dreamling Dads!AU commission for @aurelia-which-means-sunrise! Matthew is a wretched cookie thief and Tulip is very territorial of her batch 💕 (This is also NOT the first time Dream's been floured during this whole baking debacle and to be honest he's starting to suspect they're not as "accidental" as Kian seems to want him to believe) I can't thank you enough for such a fun comm, and with my baby Kian!!

[classic-blue]

...I swear I'm writing G-rated Dreamling fluff.

[dsudis]

What if Modern AU Hob is in the army from his teen years right up until his wife dies, leaving him as the sole parent of his young son Robyn--and then he needs to get some kind of job at home in London so he can at least attempt to be around for his son, but he has no qualifications for anything that's not the army. He really wants to do something different, to get out of the business of violence and putting his life on the line when the main thing he needs to be is a dad, but the best he can do for a job is some kind of private security...

And he winds up (maybe via a chance meeting in a pub?) with a job working for a really eccentric rich guy who has a young son of his own, just about Robyn's age. Hob can't actually tell if the guy is a paranoid hermit or genuinely so rich and famous that his kid warrants the constant protection Dream wants for Orpheus, but Hob needs the work, even if it means sending Robyn off to daycare while he minds someone else's kid... until the day something goes wrong and Hob smuggles Robyn into the grand Endless house with him for his shift and Dream finds out when he hears Orpheus laughing and singing and discovers a strange child in the nursery making his son happier than Dream's seen him since Calliope left them.

And then he notices the bodyguard in the corner, fondly watching over both boys...

What if that?

[valiantstarlights]

Chef Hob's family and the food truck's origin story

Hob is half-English and half-Indian. His father, Mr. Gadling, is from London. His mother, Mrs. Dandekar-Gadling, is from Mumbai. Hob was born in the UK.

Unfortunately, Hob was orphaned at an early age. And since his father had no remaining living relatives, (his paternal grandparents died a long time ago and his father was an only child), Hob was taken in by his maternal uncle's family in Mumbai.

His uncle, Sanyam Dandekar, is the current head of the family-owned and operated restaurant in Mumbai. It's small but thriving, and is well-regarded in the community. As the restaurant is on the ground floor of the building where the Dandekar family live, it's hard to escape the tantalizing smell of food wafting constantly from below.

It's from Sanyam that Hob learns to love food, to cook well, and to love making people happy through his cooking.

His aunt, Priya, always encourages him to go after his dreams. She was there for him every step of the way when he applied for a scholarship to go to a fancy culinary school in the UK. When he was accepted, she was the first person he told the news to, and she was so proud of him that she immediately called up her friends to share the good news with them. (Hob had had to endure maybe half a dozen aunties trying to introduce him to their daughters and nieces.)

His female cousins, Kala and Daya, love Hob very much and treat him as their older brother.

Kala has always been very intelligent even as a child, and she got bullied for it at school. Hob was quick to put an end to that and told her to reach even higher so she can leave everyone in the ground while she sails among the stars. Kala shyly told him she would build a spaceship for their entire family so she wouldn't have to sail the stars alone.

Daya was the more easy-going sister. She tried her best to teach Hob to dance, and never made fun of him even when he eventually accepted that he had two left feet. When she was rejected by a boy who told her she was so ugly that she'll never find anyone who'll love her, Hob got in trouble for beating the shit out of him, but he has no regrets about it. (Kala did not get in trouble for setting the boy's schoolbag on fire because she didn't get caught.)

Hob was so afraid when he found out that he was bisexual, but his family accepted him and treated him the same as they always did. His aunt Priya even promised not to matchmake him with anyone even though he's such a catch. They'll all just wait and see who he brings home. No judgment or pressure whatsoever.

He misses them fiercely when he gets to the UK. Especially when Kala gets married and he couldn't travel back because he had back-to-back exams, both theoretical and practical.

Still, he pushes himself to study hard, graduates with distinction, and eventually becomes a professional chef at a fancy hotel.

Hob's family are very proud of him and always call him to tell him so. Daya begs him to return and cook for them. Hob says he's still saving up enough vacation days. Rajan, Kala's husband and the current CEO of a major pharmaceutical company, offers to pay for his transportation. He graciously accepts because he's not an idiot.

After a couple of years, he finally accumulated enough vacation days to travel back to India for a long visit. The first thing he did is to cook a feast for his family (which now includes Rajan). He cooks traditional Indian food as well as food from other countries that he thinks they'll like.

(He adjusts the recipes to fit into their religion-based dietary restrictions, and adjusts some more when some ingredients are not readily available. He's a professional chef, after all.)

Daya is all about the taiyaki. Kala is in love with the vegetable lumpia. Rajan has strategically rearranged the dishes on the table so the plate of jollof rice is always close to him. Priya asks him to give his uncle his recipe for the vegetable moussaka. Sanyam is in tears because of how proud he is of Hob and how delicious everything is. He tells Hob that when he dies (far, far into the future), Hob is welcome to take over the restaurant.

Hob spends most of his time in India in the restaurant's kitchen with his uncle, and they experiment and add new things to the menu. Hob gets to talk to customers he's known ever since he was a child. They are all very proud of him and sing praises for the restaurant's new menu items.

Hob leaves India a month later with a much lighter heart.

When he returns to being a chef in the fancy hotel though, he finds that he is increasingly frustrated and unsatisfied. He feels like he should be happy and grateful. Instead he feels burned out.

He calls Kala, who is the closest to him age-wise, for advice. She simply asks him, "What do you want?"

He sighs and says, "I thought I wanted to be a chef. But now that I am one, I feel lost."

Silence. Then Kala says, "May I say something potentially controversial and not have you hang up on me?"

Hob chuckles and tells her to go ahead and say what she needs to say. In fact, maybe he needs to hear the potentially controversial thing to snap him out of this wretched state.

"I don't think you really want to be a chef."

Wow. "So far, so bad. Go on."

"No, listen: you have always loved cooking for us. You and dad. It's how you show your love. But where you're working currently, it's like you're a machine. Day in and day out, you're just completing orders. How many times since you started working there did you go out of the kitchen to talk to the guests? How often do you get to experiment with new culinary creations without anyone trying to stifle your creativity?"

Kala's tone implied that she knew the answer. "You might say that it will get worse before it gets better, but will it really? If I ask you now what your happiest memory is of your workplace, what will you tell me?"

"I--" Hob clears his throat and blinks away the tears that had snuck up on him. "When the hotel called me to tell me they had accepted my application. I immediately called home and all of you were so proud of me. I even heard Uncle announcing it to the entire restaurant in the background."

"Oh, Hob..." And now Kala sounded like she was gonna cry too. "I wish I were there so I can give you a hug."

"Virtual hug accepted. Is that the end of your controversial pep talk or is there more?"

"I think that's enough controversial things for now," Kala says. "Rajan and I are going to London in a couple of weeks for pleasure. We should meet up so you can show us all the good spots to eat at and then we can talk more."

They said their goodbyes soon after. Hob spends a lot of time that night just looking at the ceiling, not wanting to go to work but inevitably has to when his alarm goes off.

Kala was right. Being a chef granted him all sorts of qualifications and symbolized that he is a master in the field, but he isn't in it for the title. His uncle isn't a professional chef, yet Hob wouldn't claim to surpass his skills. And between the two of them, he knows who the happier one is.

Rajan and Kala arrived with a couple of bodyguards named Vikram and Wolfgang. Hob remembers them from his visit to India. Vikram is as stoic as bodyguards come, but Wolfgang has a different, more dangerous kind of intensity.

Hob shows them all the good dining spots he has discovered over the years, and all five of them eat well.

It was during their outing that Hob notices the food vendors on the street. They look...happy. They work just as hard as the other chefs in the hotel, with the main difference being that the customers are right in front of them, and they get to see their reactions.

It was very heartwarming to see tourists trying the local street food and seeing their faces light up after their first bite.

At the end of the day, Hob tells Kala of his food truck idea. It's almost embarrassing how excited he sounds, but Kala is excited too. She grabs Rajan and tells him about it. Rajan grabs Wolfgang and asks him about it. Hob almost expects Wolfgang to grab Vikram too, but Vikram just looks on, looking amused.

In the end, Wolfgang shrugs and says it's doable, and just like that, they're drawing plans and trying to come up with names.

("What about 'Gadling's'?"

Kala hummed. "I guess...I mean, that is your name. No one can argue that."

"I feel like you just insulted me, my father, and my paternal ancestors."

"Hob, our family restaurant's name is Dandekar. We are all basic here.")

("Glad Tidings?"

Wolfgang huffed a laugh. "No, Rajan."

"I think it's a good name."

"I think you need to go to sleep. How many hours has it been since you slept? Forty-eight?"

"Are you the sleep police now, my wolf?"

"Kala, I'm taking Rajan to bed."

"Alright," Kala says distractedly. She is currently looking at the kitchen plans, specifically the stove set-up. "Have fun. Don't hog all the blankets."

Hob's eyebrows have migrated to the ceiling. He doesn't think they quite know what they let slip, but he isn't going to pry until they're ready to talk to him about it. He looks at Vikram to see his reaction, but the man just looks like this is a thing that happens often and isn't bothered in the slightest.)

They videocall six people all over the world--mutual friends, Kala says--and all of them put their heads rogether to make Hob's food truck idea into a reality.

Hob is overwhelmed by their support. Rajan has promised to fund everything if Hob lets him eat for free when he's in town. Sun from Korea seconds him and agrees to lend monetary support as well, and to help him expand to Korea if the venture is successful. Capheus, the matatu driver from Nairobi, is flying to London to help customize the food truck. If possible, he sounds even more excited than Hob himself. Nomi from San Francisco and Will from Chicago volunteers to get the papers and forms sorted. Actual famous actor Lito Rodriguez from Mexico promises to promote his foodtruck when he goes to London to shoot a movie.

"When and where did you meet and befriend all these people?" Hob asks Kala. They all sounded like old friends and had inside jokes that Hob didn't understand. (What in the world is a tequila-squared?) Kala just smiles at him and says, "The internet exists for a reason, you know."

"Let me guess," Hob said in a low voice so the others won't hear. "An online dating site?"

Kala shrieks with laughter and hits him with a throw pillow.

Soon, the food truck is ready and Hob is in awe of everyone who pitched in and helped. He literally could not have achieved this so quickly without any of them.

Kala hugs him tight. "You deserve to be happy, Hob."

Hob hugs her back. Every person they videocalled (and Wolfgang's brother Felix) is coming to visit with their plus ones and twos to try out Hob's menu to taste-test before opening, and will stay until the grand opening a week later to help in promoting the foodtruck. They even have Riley from Iceland going to DJ for them.

"Should we invite aunt and uncle and Daya?"

"Do you really think we could stop them if they want to be here?" Kala asks him incredulously. "Have you met our sister?"

Hob has handed in his resignation notice as soon as the food truck's kitchen had been operational. That had been two weeks ago. He feels like a huge burden has been lifted from his shoulders the moment the e-mail was sent.

It can only get better from here.

--

P.S. I'm basic as hell at naming, so if you have ideas on what Hob's food truck should be called, speak now or forever hold your peace.

[samsalami66]

Never done this before, but have some rambles about a recent Sandman/Baldur's Gate 3 crossover idea of mine!

Naturally, there are some minor bg3 spoilers following, proceed with caution!

Currently my idea is that as the nautiloid crashes through realms, it also crashes through Earth and snatches up a few people . It's not many, they're gone almost as soon as they appear, and Hob is between one of those very few, probably on his way back from a medieval re-enactment. He gets tadpoled and crashes with the rest of the group in Faerûn. Decides to tag along, not necessarily because he's worried, his husband is an Endless after all, and even if their connection seems to have been temporarily cut off by the tadpole, Dream will find him sooner or later and fix this, somehow. He has a lot of faith in his husband.

Anyway, having a fighter in the group who can't die and has been on the battlefield more times than he could count might be helpful to these people.... and they all seem to need an open ear, someone with a bit more experience to talk to. It's also nice to talk to some Immortal and near Immortal people for once!

Anyway, when the dream guardian comes, Hob can't help but snort. Trying to disguise himself as a dream? In front of the King Consort of the Dreaming? Hob was a Good Consort, he prided himself with knowing all currently active Dreams.

This was not one of them.

A real dream would also recognise him as their ruler. So, who is this person who looks just a bit too much like his husband....? (What a terrible disguise anyway, no dream would dare to take on their creators form, not in front of HIM)

He's mighty distrustful of the Dream Guardian and his intentions, tries to find out just what sort of war is being fought in this other plane.

And when he finds Orpheus (and he's just a bit taken aback by the name, by the fact that he could save someone with this name, even if it isn't the Orpheus he wants to save) he swears to free him, fuck the Dream Guardian and his talk about doom and gloom.

In the end, Hob takes care of his new friends, be it in fights or whenever they need someone to listen.

He bumps shoulders with Mizora and Elminster, later Mystra, holds up Cazador so Astarion has a better angle with his dagger, points out Vlaakith's and Shar's bullshit and pisses off the Dead three (hopefully Death won't be too cross with him for that, but he can't imagine his sister in law is particularly fond of these guys.)

Aware of his connection to the Endless Gods cower before him, much to the surprise of his companions. Even their relentless friend and resident undead Withers seems to take a step back whenever Hob approaches.

And when Hob and the others finally slay their final foe and are freed of the tadpole, it only takes moment for Dream to follow their bond and start fussing over Hob, who he had believed to have been captured.

And as I am a weird person in general and my first thought at 3am was to start a new Baldur's Gate run with Hob as my Tav and Dream as my Dream Guardian...

Hob is a Fighter and due to his extensive knowledge with the blade I have decided to make him a Battlemaster Fighter. His background is quite obviously that of a soldier, his skills as a mercenary being what he uses in battle here. Some details are the moon-earrings, which were a gift from Dream, and a fading neck tattoo of a rose that he got shortly after the flopped 1989 meeting.

Dream on the other hand is just your resident edgy twink, earrings also a gift from Hob!

[cosmic--static]

some pictures up around the bakery (bakery au that I have told no one about)

[wizardofgoodfortune]

Gonna go ahead and ask you #58 on your Spotify wrapped while I'm thinking about it

#58 on my top songs is mirrorball by taylor swift! this is definitely one of my fav songs from her, if not The Favorite; a vivid music video plays out in my head every time i listen to it. here's my favorite part from it, which can definitely lend itself to particular dreamling scenarios... like 1989.

And they called off the circus, burned the disco down When they sent home the horses and the rodeo clowns I'm still on that tightrope I'm still trying everything to get you laughing at me I'm still a believer but I don't know why I've never been a natural, all I do is try, try, try I'm still on that trapeze I'm still trying everything to keep you looking at me

---

When his stranger didn't show up in 1989, Hob spent the whole day waiting for him. The whole night, too. He heard the last call but stayed long after, until the bartender—Ian was his name, Hob learned at one point—had to kick him out so they could lock up. To Ian's credit, he did it with his most apologetic face.

"Sorry, Hob," Ian said as he locked up the front door of the tavern. "Feel free to come back 'round tomorrow. Promise the place'll still be here by then."

Hob, who was hovering listlessly beside him, gave him a smile. "You'll regret you said that."

Ian laughed. "I'll never regret having more regulars. God knows we need it."

Hob frowned. Right. He nearly forgot about that.

"Need a lift?" Ian offered, fishing out a different set of keys from inside his pockets. "You've drunk quite a lot."

"I'm fine, I just need to—" Hob took a deep breath, "—I need to walk it off."

Ian narrowed his eyes. "Sure? I better not read about you in the papers tomorrow."

Hob snorted. "Trust me, you won't."

With that, Hob stood in front of the tavern and watched Ian drive off, until the old man rounded a corner and disappeared.

Now that he was alone, Hob slumped down on the damp ground and leaned against the front door. They've probably replaced this door more times than he could count, along with the rest of the tavern. Century after century, Hob saw less and less of what used to be here 600 years ago: the chairs, the tables, the mugs, the godawful drinks. The closest thing to permanence this tavern had was its name, and, up until tonight, his stranger. And soon, it wouldn't even have itself.

Hob reached into his coat pocket and took out his lighter and a carton of cigarettes. As he watched London's everchanging skyline glitter above the Thames, he lit a cigarette, the orange of it glowing in the dark. He sat there, waiting, waiting, waiting. He was good at that, at waiting. All you had to have for waiting was time, and Hob had it in abundance. So he waited until the sun rose, until the streets came alive with cars and people, until Ian came back to open up.

"Oi, what happened to walking it off?!" Ian exclaimed, standing over Hob, shielding him from the noon sun. "Bloody hell. C'mon now. Up you go."

Hob let himself be corralled into the tavern's small office and be sat at the small couch that was probably meant for interviews and terminations. He drank the water and aspirin placed in front of him, and he wore the spare shirt lent to him, but he left Ian's questions unanswered.

"Y'know," Hob started as soon as Ian came back in from the bar, "I reckon I could do a good job running a tavern."

"You should be asleep," Ian said accusatorily.

Maybe he should've been. But instead, Hob was sitting upright, wide awake. "I've been in countless taverns, just like this," he continued, "and I reckon I could make a great one. It would be so great that people from all over the world would come to eat and drink there, and say, 'Hey look, it's Hob's tavern, the greatest one around!' And d'you know what the best part about it would be?"

Ian sighed and leaned on his desk. "What?"

"It would be so great that they'd never close it down. They wouldn't be able to. Everyone would rally around it, even the council. And it'd be there for, for centuries. No, millennia. No, forever."

Ian shook his head, smiling. "A beautiful dream."

"A dream?" Hob scrunched his eyebrows. "You don't believe me?"

"Hob, this tavern has been here for centuries. That's a pretty good run, I'd say. Before that, it might've been something else, like a house, or a barn, or something. And before that, it was probably an empty plot of land, or maybe it was full of trees. Maybe bloody dinosaurs lived and died here. Or maybe it was underwater, I dunno. But I'm getting away from the point," Ian said, scratching his scraggly beard. "The point is: things change. That's life."

Suddenly, Hob was reminded of that night a hundred years ago, how his stranger detested the implication that he changed, that he grew to be lonely, lonely enough to seek out companionship. Hob's companionship. Obviously he detested the implication enough to not show up yesterday. But maybe, just maybe, his stranger will show up again today or the next day, just to prove a point, just to say he didn't need him to be his friend, and to say goodbye for the last time. Surely his stranger's not cruel enough to not show up at all, right?

"I, I know, but I can't let this place change, at least not yet," Hob said. His desperation must've plain on his face from the way Ian smiled sadly at him.

"And why's that?"

"My friend and I," Hob paused, thinking about what to say, "this place is important to us."

"You can always find another place."

"He won't," Hob said, voice breaking, "he won't be able to find me."

"How sure are you that he won't?"

Hob put his head into his hands. "I'm sure."

"You don't have his number?"

Hob shook his head.

Ian sighed. "Well, like I said last night, you'll need a lot of money to—"

"I have the money," Hob blurted out.

"What's that?"

"I," Hob repeated, raising his head in realization, "I have the money."

Ian only looked at him.

"I can, I can keep this place alive until he comes back."

Ian regarded him wordlessly for a few more seconds, then said, "I appreciate the thought, I do, but I reckon you can just establish a new one and it'll be less expensive. You can always, I dunno, put up some signs. 'This way to the new tavern' or something. Then when your friend comes around, they'll just read your sign and go to the new tavern."

Hob stared at Ian, mouth hanging open. Then he laughed, feeling a sleep-deprived lightness in his chest. He stood up and held Ian by his shoulders, still smiling. "Ian, you're a genius."

Ian chuckled heartily. "I try."

"And you're a hired genius."

"Pardon?"

"I'll need a bartender for the new tavern," Hob said, grinning.

Ian scoffed in disbelief, but he was smiling. "And what'll you name it?"

Hob thought for a second, then settled on: "The New Tavern."

Ian chortled. "You need sleep. Dearly."

---

send me a number and i'll write something based on the corresponding song in my spotify wrapped!

[adventures-in-mangaland]

Another Dead Boy Detectives Fic Rec List

Netflix sucks and I'm sad, but the Dead Boy Detectives fandom continues to be awesome, so here are some more very quick fic recs!*

Tonight's the Night You Fight Your Best Mate's Dad by Opossum_Subatomic

Everyone's Alive College/University 5+1 things fic featuring Charles bringing Edwin coffee and slowburn payneland. Also Family/Wedding Drama involving Everyone Thinks They're Dating so acute is verges on Fake Dating. This author is seriously fantastic, everything they write is gold.

You should also check out Kissing Lessons, which is a high school AU that does what it says on the tin while also giving non-binary Monty and polyamory.

Ornithology by Rosie447

Monty gets a job working at Tragic Mick's. This one's not actually payneland, being gen and Monty-centric. I know, gasp. It's a fantastic and very sweet exploration of Monty discovering his sense of self post canon and works as a great metaphor for recovery from toxic family/relationships. Also, the ex-animal solidarity and bonding with Mick is lovely.

what some circumstance stole by Chrome

The Sandman crossover featuring Edwin and Hob being kidnapped and tortured together. Their friendship is really wholesome with eventual Father Figure and Found Family Feels for the whole agency and background Dreamling.

dandelion wine (life and death in summertime) by world_wanderer

Payneland Right Person Wrong Time AU in which neither of them die but they still meet and become friends. The May/December friendship is sweet but tragic, with a bittersweet ending. Superb.

Mirror Image by Anonymous

Charles' afterlife gets taken over my an evil shape-shifting doppelganger, leaving him with plenty of time to regret never talking to Edwin about his feelings. Angsty but with Feelings Realisation and the Power of Love and Friendship vibes.

my healing needed more than time by babyseraphim

Case fic with de-aged Charles! Baby Charles is precious but be prepared for discussions of childhood trauma/abuse.

The same author has also written I'm So Aces at Babysitting, which is a really cute two-chaptered AU featuring Charles and Edwin babysitting the kid versions of each other, with bonus Crystal and Niko doing the same. It's very wholesome and the author writes little kids really well.

Pouring into me by tragedy_machine

Love me some "Charles wants to date Edwin to figure out his feelings but gets turned down" fic. Feelings are hard, OK?

thank u, next by KiaraSayre

Edwin fucks and Charles seethes. It's very funny and also features some interesting worldbuilding with the Fae.

Like We've Never Known Hurt by dearheartdont

Just cute established relationship PWP and praise kink. So good.

all of these hollows by handwrittenhello

The boys are alive again but sans memories. Can they still find each other and prove their devotion to the Night Nurse?? While also evading heavenly and hellish forces trying to keep them apart??? Very interesting concept executed well.

Suo Gân by emryses

The agency takes on the case of a traumatised Edwardian ghost searching for her missing baby... Read it for Edwin family feels.

Where Primroses Bloom by PantryJesus

Reading aloud as a love language and Watership Down feels. Idk, I'm now convinced that Edwin is kind of rabbit-coded with the whole "if they catch you they'll kill you. But first they must catch you" thing. A lovely well written fic.

I'm so sick of online love by Hse11z5

College/University AU where the boys meet through a dating app. It's cute.

you can have the best of me, baby (and I will give you anything) by aletterinthenameofsanity

Again, it's the Friends with Benefits but with real feelings and mutual pining for me. Now has a Charles PoV companion fic.

True Love's Kiss by Asidian

In which Charles curses himself with a Sleeping Beauty enchantment in order to confirm his feelings for Edwin and Crystal is the real MVP. I love this one because the boys are both SO stupid but in very different in-character ways.

I also recommend Promised, in which they kind of play the Green card angle to keep Edwin out of Hell? Which honestly needs to be more of a trope. And Tight Quarters, starring the boys trapped in a magic circle, leading to Forced Proximity induced Feelings Realization (in more ways than one! 😉).

Something I Can Turn To by DontOffendTheBees

I love some domestic fluff, in this case as an Everyone's Alive/Childhood Friends AU in which the boys are poor but happy living together. I liked how they both survive their respective traumas, but Reality Ensues.

I also recommend Lived My Whole Life Before the First Light for a lovely but melancholy Soulmate AU that goes for the "seeing colours" trope for extra wistful angst.

Dining at the Ritz by TerresDeBrume

Meeting the Parents fic in which Edwin's parents are awful and Charles is Not Having It. This has Everyone Thinks They're Dating and autistic Edwin stimming representation, plus discussions of racism, classism and ableism. The fic is also part of a great Modern AU series in which the boys attended St Hilarion's at the same time and Charles saved Edwin from a non-supernatural but still almost deadly prank. Highly recommended!

The Case of the Couples Retreat by juliasfanart

Listen, I can't get enough of undercover fake dating/relationships at a couples retreat, OK? Some minor angst but overall very cute and fluffy.

acu (aysar cinematic universe) by ObsessedWithFandom

The agency is hired to solve the mystery of Charles' death and bring his killers to justice. I'm genuinely obsessed with this series; I love its OCs and Charles having an exboyfriend gives Edwin a fun crisis. Plus haunting Charles' killers is very satisfying and cathartic. Just imagine they're Netflix execs, y'all.

*Not actually quick, as it turns out. 😅

I love doing these lists because I always think I've only got a few recs and then I look back over my recent bookmarks and I've got a metric ton of great fics to rec. You guys are so talented. ❤️

[jaskieriswitchersexual]

Dreamling fic idea

A Dreamling idea for a story that came to me (I am not a writer, please feel free to pick this up and let me know how it turns out!):

Basically, after Dream is captured and put in the fishbowl, the dreams and nightmares don't just fuck off to wherever because they think their creator abandoned them.

In this (AU if you want to consider it that) world Dream is respected but also beloved by his creations, and they leave the Dreaming with the goal of tracking him down because clearly something must be wrong for Dad Lord Morpheus to not come home.

They recall that Dream has that side quest going on with the pretty human man, so they stop by Hob's home to pay him a visit to see if he has any information, unaware that he has no idea who his Stranger is. They give him a crash course and he joins their hunt for Dream.

Hijinks ensue on the journey to find and rescue Dream with a happy ending.

Btw this is what I see in my mind when Hob + the dreams and nightmares finally storm the Burgess place to free Dream

[densewentz]

Dense, it looks like you need enrichment in your enclosure, so I thought I'd let you know that I've gone feral for your Dreamling Dads AU. There's like 3 oneshots drafted on my computer. There's a 20K+ longshot fic worked out in bullet points. There's Kian and Matthew playing pranks on Dream. There's a holiday special with family Christmas Cards. There's eldritch powers. There's quality parenting.

Your Kian took over my NaNoWriMo gosh dang it I was supposed to be working on something else.

And yet. Here I am, with a 7000+ word doc filled with thoughts and ideas about this baby boy and his eldritch dad and his slightly less-eldritch dad.

I really want to post something soon, I'll be sure to let you know if I can actually pencil it in amidst the New Years heyday.

This just literally made my entire day I'm going to weep openly wtf??? Inflicting Kian and his Centennial Dads on this fandom has been such a treat for me, and that you guys seem to actually be enjoying it makes me absolutely feral!! I cannot WAIT to read just, all of that?? That is so wild and I'm going to be champing at the bit now. Definitely let me know if/when you share any of it 💕 Have a quicky 2am sketch as a treat!! (kian thanks u for your love)

[densewentz]

[Certified and Dense Approved incredible domestic!Dream where Dream is still just as eldritch and Extra as he ever was, but this time with a semi-eldritch Baby kicking its little feet against his chest go read it it will cure what ails you]

Harbor and Home

Image used with permission, via Densewentz, see the original here.

DreamlingDads!AU || Dream of the Endless | Morpheus/Hob Gadling || General Audiences || No Archive Warnings Apply

Word Count: 7.7k

This, Dream thinks. His agitated mind stutters, and stills. This he can fix. He may be unable to bring order back to Hob’s life, but he can bring order back to his apartment. Probably. He thinks he knows where Hob keeps his cleaning supplies, at least. It is somewhere to start.

Read it on AO3 here!

Once again, @densewentz's lovely DreamlingDads!AU took over my brain and spawned more fluff. Featuring baby Kian! Cleaning supplies! Men crying! And enough fluff to get everyone through these trying times. Stay safe out there, folks.

Fic tags: Domestic Fluff, Slice of Life, House Cleaning, Light Angst, like very very light angst, That gets worked through, Comfort, Dream gets a bit emotional and overthinky, but he works through it, technically small mentions of mpreg, But it's Dream so mpreg is debatable, Kidfic, Babyfic, Hob Gadling’s PhD is in making eldritch gods discover new feelings, Dream has a very Ghibli moment or two

[dsudis]

I hope this isn't weird, but you posted that and my brain threw this up for you:

Dream only listens with half an ear at what Hob is saying down the line, especially once he picks out "I'll come down but," and ignores the rest. He can pay whatever bonus is needed, and throw in some more.

Hob is, surprisingly, worth keeping. It's not just the skills but the fact that he seems to have, for a lack of a better word, a way with Orpheus. An understanding. With everyone else his son is difficult, he's Dream's after all, but he gets on well with Hob. It's a strange relief he hasn't felt in so long he might never have experienced it to know, for once, that when the weekend man is sick and Desire is making sure to harangue him and make up some reason Dream is needed immediately there is someone he can call. Someone reliable.

Which is why he feels almost nauseous with what feels like a betrayal he has only half a right to when he finally gets back to the house and gets his foot on the stairway and realizes the child's laughter he's hearing doesn't belong to Orpheus at all. Rare as it is, he knows his son. He takes the steps up two at a time and collides inelegantly with the doorframe, like a cat misjudging a corner, to peer into his son's room to see something so extraordinary it feels like a dream.

There's an unknown boy on the rug, building something complicated with Orpheus as if he spent every Saturday helping him erect a mishmash of Lego and Duplo and wooden blocks balanced on the belly of a stuffed once-white rabbit. Orpheus, who has prompted more calls and teacher's notes about the importance of sharing than Dream can count, and is now smiling while telling a fantastical story that seems to fascinate the other child. The one that looks just like Hob Gadling, who is watching them with a soft warmth in his face Dream has never seen, mastering a trick Dream can't get the hang of: being present but not intrusive as his son plays.

There's a rush of something, in his ears and his chest, warm and familiar and unwanted. He'd felt it last when Calliope had first held Orpheus and looked down at him, pink and roughly formed. He hasn't seen it since, much less felt it. He remembers, all over again, the way he does when Orpheus pushes his curls behind his ears in a mirror perfect imitation of his mother, who he can barely remember, because she'd left. She had not looked back. Hob is paid to be here.

"Mr. Gadling," Dream says, and pointedly does not waver at the vague and quickly hidden surprise on Hob's face at the address. "You may go now, I no longer require your services," he finishes, hardening his heart at the boys' pleas to be allowed to play, just for five minutes longer. "For today you mean?" Hob says, too calm, and Dream hears himself say "Clearly," without realizing he'd made a decision. He feels, strangely, that he doesn't regret it.

[Because he's gonna fall in love ho ho ho]

😍😍😍

[valeriianz]

hi! in the spirit of Dreamling Week, here is an updated masterlist, now with clickable links to tags to follow along with a series :) welcome to my corner of the fandom, where it's predominantly human aus!

in time, all of my fics will be transferred to Ao3, so if you're interested in that, follow along here! this list will (finally) include (some) links to fics ive tagged on in reblogs that i usually ignore... but not this time! :'D Everything here is complete unless otherwise stated: (wip)

G - T Rated:

tepid - 1.3k canon, Dream can get sleepy, too

Stay - 1.7k hurt/comfort, vague mafia vibes

the date that never ended - 1.2k humor, established relationship

You Know How That Thrills Me - 2.2k The Devil Wears Prada AU, + blog tag which includes fanart, here!

savvy? - 1.2k pirate au! Hob rescues Dream

daydream - 1.1k fake dating, UST, fitting room pining

Exit Wounds - 2.1k hurt/no comfort, infidelity, angst

call me back for more - 2k NYE, strangers to lovers, sexual tension

scratch a little itch - 5.6k neighbors, pastry chef!Dream and professor!Hob

The magic of the mistletoe - xmas fic, canon

Hob grieves over Dream - canon, vague comic spoilers, angst

Cowboy AU (snippet) - aka Charro!Dream, Mexican rodeo vibes + blog tag with lots of art and collaborators :)

spin the bottle - highschool setting, friends to lovers

Reason in the Noise - 3k+ (wip) musician!Dream, companion piece to Bolt in the Blue (but can be read as a standalone)

Retired!Dream with facial hair along with part 2! - canon(ish), domestic, light spice

The Parent Trap AU and part 2! - loosely inspired by the film.

Hob walks in on Dream dancing - musician!Hob and Dream dancing to his music. marshmallow fluff.

Personal Chef!Hob, single dad Dream - what it says on the tin, part two here! and my 'chef Hob au' tag full of art and recipes!

NYE and slightly possessive Hob - another obligatory New Years Eve fic

The Proposal AU and also a part two! - a couple silly romcom things in collaboration with valiantstarlights here's the tag for it!

Bday fic for ambarden - the night before college graduation, pining,

Road Trip - the start of an idea...

ASMR youtuber!Dream - an add on... Hob is a fan. meet cute

Hard of Hearing Dream - pining, bittersweet, friends to lovers

Spicy/NSFW fics under the cut!

M - E Rated:

Bolt in the Blue - 102k+ (wip) the epic band au, slice of life, fluff, touring. see everything related to this fic in the tag fic: bolt in the blue

skipping breakfast - 667w domestic and a lil spicy

obsession - 1.6k canon, making out on the dancefloor

Fin de siècle - 3.2k vampire hunter!Hob and vampire!Dream

parked - 1.1k canon, car sex, PDA

tease - 1.3k Dream has a vulva, Hob fingers him in a car

ushy gushy pussy Dream - and he refuses to get off Hob's cock

Mr. Gadling's Bodyguard - 11.7k The Hitman's Bodyguard AU, action, humor... second chapter does not relate to the film at all and is just smut

Savory & Sweet - 6k+ (wip) restaurant au, unhinged behavior

Let Me Down Easy - 21k photographer!Hob and model!Dream but they're exes. angst with a happy ending

never enough - 7.3k friends to lovers, love confessions, mutual pining

turn the lights off - 3.3k phone sex, side fic inspired by by the minute by issylra

kiss me properly (and pull me apart) - 4.2k Hob wears a butt plug all day (lol) inspired by this incredible art by messmonte

Dream stepping on Hob - power imbalance, PWP

Bathtub shenanigans - a bit of relaxation ;)

Hob as Sexy Santa - and Dream can't handle it

Celebrity Dream and his normie bf Hob - inspired by that 3am photo of Ferdie looking all sweaty and disheveled

One of Your Girls AU - an ask fic/prompt i sent to Gabe and she added on <3

Let Me Down Easy [deleted scene] - they get frisky the morning after

Dream can feel Hob's lewd daydreams

Bi-curious Dream - basically a summary/headcanon of what i think Dream having his bi awakening with Hob would be like. and then hardly-an-escape went and wrote a full ass fic about it. but im counting this anyway lmao

#my writing

btw i am so sorry, yes i did give up on including the word count. i just... gave up. but everything without a word count is most likely under 1.5k.

[samsalami66]

Never done this before, but have some rambles about a recent Sandman/Baldur's Gate 3 crossover idea of mine!

Naturally, there are some minor bg3 spoilers following, proceed with caution!

Currently my idea is that as the nautiloid crashes through realms, it also crashes through Earth and snatches up a few people . It's not many, they're gone almost as soon as they appear, and Hob is between one of those very few, probably on his way back from a medieval re-enactment. He gets tadpoled and crashes with the rest of the group in Faerûn. Decides to tag along, not necessarily because he's worried, his husband is an Endless after all, and even if their connection seems to have been temporarily cut off by the tadpole, Dream will find him sooner or later and fix this, somehow. He has a lot of faith in his husband.

Anyway, having a fighter in the group who can't die and has been on the battlefield more times than he could count might be helpful to these people.... and they all seem to need an open ear, someone with a bit more experience to talk to. It's also nice to talk to some Immortal and near Immortal people for once!

Anyway, when the dream guardian comes, Hob can't help but snort. Trying to disguise himself as a dream? In front of the King Consort of the Dreaming? Hob was a Good Consort, he prided himself with knowing all currently active Dreams.

This was not one of them.

A real dream would also recognise him as their ruler. So, who is this person who looks just a bit too much like his husband....? (What a terrible disguise anyway, no dream would dare to take on their creators form, not in front of HIM)

He's mighty distrustful of the Dream Guardian and his intentions, tries to find out just what sort of war is being fought in this other plane.

And when he finds Orpheus (and he's just a bit taken aback by the name, by the fact that he could save someone with this name, even if it isn't the Orpheus he wants to save) he swears to free him, fuck the Dream Guardian and his talk about doom and gloom.

In the end, Hob takes care of his new friends, be it in fights or whenever they need someone to listen.

He bumps shoulders with Mizora and Elminster, later Mystra, holds up Cazador so Astarion has a better angle with his dagger, points out Vlaakith's and Shar's bullshit and pisses off the Dead three (hopefully Death won't be too cross with him for that, but he can't imagine his sister in law is particularly fond of these guys.)

Aware of his connection to the Endless Gods cower before him, much to the surprise of his companions. Even their relentless friend and resident undead Withers seems to take a step back whenever Hob approaches.

And when Hob and the others finally slay their final foe and are freed of the tadpole, it only takes moment for Dream to follow their bond and start fussing over Hob, who he had believed to have been captured.

And as I am a weird person in general and my first thought at 3am was to start a new Baldur's Gate run with Hob as my Tav and Dream as my Dream Guardian...

Hob is a Fighter and due to his extensive knowledge with the blade I have decided to make him a Battlemaster Fighter. His background is quite obviously that of a soldier, his skills as a mercenary being what he uses in battle here. Some details are the moon-earrings, which were a gift from Dream, and a fading neck tattoo of a rose that he got shortly after the flopped 1989 meeting.

Dream on the other hand is just your resident edgy twink, earrings also a gift from Hob!

[gabessquishytum]

🎩 🐇🎩🐇🎩

It took a really long time to realize that Robin was magic.

When Robin was with his da, his magic didn't really work - he could be playing alone having his stuffies dance and sing with him, then daddy would come by and teddy wouldn't dance anymore. It was weird, but also not, since it was always the case. Robin didn't even think too hard on it.

Then Robin became best friends with Orpheus and showed him his magic. And Orpheus thought it was cool! Even better Orpheus's father was magic too and he offered to talk to Robin's da and teach him with his dad's okay.

🎩🐇🎩🐇🎩

Hob was a little confused as to why his kitchen was filled to its little brim with his son, his son's best friend and best friend's hot goth father (what Hob's not blind) talking about magic & magic lessons.

Hob is as open minded as the next person, but magic isn't real. And not to be mean about it, but it doesn't seem like they're talking about pulling rabbits out of hats and neither Robin or Morpheus (smoking hot goth) seem to be able to do any "spells" or magic in the kitchen.

Hob (eyebrow raised): performance anxiety?!

Dream (extremely puzzled): I don't,,, this has never happened before...

After "testing," turns out that Hob is the issue -- magic doesn't work around him. That was probably what saved him from being bonked in the head by various toys when Robin was younger.

I LOVE the idea of magic!Dream and anti-magic!Hob (not to go off on a tangent but I would loooove some kind of Black Clover au for dreamling) - just the idea of literal opposites attracting is so delicious.

Morpheus immediately feels so disappointed when he finds out that Hob is so fucking mundane he seems to suppress all forms of magic whenever he's around. Because Hob is kind of sexy, but Morpheus can't be with a man like that. All of Morpheus’s exes were just as magical as him, if not more so.

But as he tutors Robin (with Hob in the next room, helping Orpheus with homework or just chilling) Morpheus grows more and more attached to perfectly normal, ordinary (boring) Hob. The way he makes tea without magic. His gentle smile. His cute butt in his worn out jeans...

Sometime Morpheus thinks that maybe the reason all his relationships have failed, is because magic got in the way. Maybe dating a completely normal man would be different? Well, there's only one way to find out.

(Robin would totally try to help get them together, but his efforts to make his dad trip and fall into Morpheus’s arms with magic totally fail every time. Its just as well that Hob is clumsy enough to manage that by himself!)

[wizardofgoodfortune]

good times, for a change (ch. 2)

Rating: Mature Chapter: 2/?  Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Slow Burn, Single Parents, POV Alternating, Dream is a sculptor

Hob pointed to a brochure pinned to the bulletin board. “Hey, that’s the bake fair they’re doing later this month,” he said. “You comin’ to that one?”

“I don’t—I do not bake.”

“You don’t like cakes or something?”

Morpheus leveled his gaze on Hob, to see if he was being serious. “...I do,” he said after a beat. “Like cake, that is. I just…  Do not bake.”

(read on ao3)