#exes dream/corinthian

[martybaker]

4 - figure skater Dream/ hockey player Hob please? 👀

Ask me about my wips

Thank you for the ask! Sorry it took me so long to answer it, but I actually managed to finish the one scene (or rather two consecutive scenes) I had drafted for this au back when the idea was first conceived, so thank you for the inspiration ❤️

I am posting all that now, because why the hell not 🙃

Fair warning, this story has a very romcom logic, which is to say, don’t think about it too hard 😅

Hob and Dream attend the same university and the school’s doing some cuts and only one sport will continue to get financial support - either hockey or figure skating. Dream and Hob have a challenge to win a major competition by the end of the semester, whoever manages to do that will secure the financial support for their sport. In the meantime they of course fall in love.

The following scene features a fun dynamic that I enjoyed exploring - Dream and Corinthian as ex boyfriends :) There’s also a lil scene with Hob at the end. Enjoy :)

————————————-

There’s a slow clapping sound from the bleachers and Dream skids to a stop.

“Hello, beautiful.”

Dream sighs. This is the last person he would want to deal with right now. “What do you want, Cori,” he asks, resuming his routine practice, trying to focus on the movements rather than on the unwelcome presence of his ex.

“Why, I just came to enjoy the view.”

“I don’t have time for your bullshit.”

“Don’t you? I don’t see any company. Where’s your new puppy?”

So that’s what this is about. Dream shakes his head in disbelief. They broke up five months ago and Cori would still come back with obnoxious propositions. It was over, there was nothing else to say on the topic. There was no reason for him to explain himself to Cori, it wasn’t his business who Dream keeps company with.

“He’s not my puppy.”

“Ain’t he? He follows you around everywhere, salivating at your feet.”

Dream feels the irritation rising in him with every word Cori says, even though he knows that’s exactly what the guy’s aiming for - trying to provoke him.

“Leave Hob alone, Cori,” he hisses through clenched teeth.

“Ah, so you do care about him. Thought he was just a plaything.”

“He’s nobody’s plaything. Leave. Him. Alone.”

Cori sneers. “I really don’t understand what you can possibly see in him. What’s he have that I don’t?”

Dream snorts. “He’s not a self-centered prick, for starters.”

“That’s rich coming from you. We’re birds of a feather, remember?”

Dream doesn’t offer any response to that, which just makes Cori push harder.

“I’ve been making my way through the lacrosse team, but hockey players sure have their appeal, maybe I should mix things up a bit.”

Dream stops the routine and skates towards Cori, stopping by the boards which create a border between them.

“Can’t you find another pass-time than messing with people?”he hisses. “It’s an embarrassment that I ever believed you to be worth anything.”

Cori’s brow twitches, breaking his mask of nonchalance.

“You’re a nightmare, Cori. You play with your victims until they start to bore you and then you leave them to bleed out on the sidewalk.”

Cori snorts. “Please. They know exactly what they’re getting into with me. Everybody knows I don’t linger.”

Dream raises his eyebrows at that.

Cori frowns. “You were different. You were special.”

Dream snorts.

Cori frowns deeper, jaw clenching. He steps forward, up to the boards. “You were. I thought we had something.”

Dream shakes his head and turns his back on Cori, skating back to the middle of the ice rink.

“I bet he can’t make you scream like I can!” Cori shouts.

Dream snorts. Nothing can piss Cori off more than being ignored. “Maybe I am just good at pretending, have you thought about that?”

“Liar. You used to love our games.”

“Everything’s a game to you, Cori. That’s the problem. You don’t know when to stop. You love watching people suffer, you’re a cruel sadist, but not just in bed. You exploit every weakness. And you make everything about you. On my birthday, you took me to a goddamn shooting range!”

“You said you’d like to try.”

Dream huffs in disbelief, turning back around to face Cori.

“From a bow! I wanted to try shooting from a bow! You were only half-listening, as always. I despise guns!”

“It ain’t my fault you don’t have the guts for it.”

Dream laughs bitterly, shaking his head.

“See, this is exactly what I mean. You’re doing it again. Absolving yourself from guilt. Making it my fault. I’ve had enough of your mindgames. I’ve had enough of your sadistic universe.”

Cori shrugs. “That’s how I was made. I thought you could understand. I thought you could take it.”

Dream sighs tiredly. “That’s not a relationship, Cori. When one side is in charge and the other just takes it.”

Cori rises an eyebrow, his tone mocking. “If you wanted to switch, you could have just asked.”

Dream stares at him, unimpressed.

“This is pointless. Conversations with you never lead anywhere.”

He turns his back on Cori once again and resumes practicing his routine.

“He can’t give you what I can give you.”

“Whatever it is you think you’re giving, I don’t want it,” Dream says with finality. He doesn’t react to anymore taunts and insults Cori throws his way, until the man gives up on trying to get a reaction out of him and leaves.

The moment the door shuts behind Cori, Dream drops to his knees, exhausted mentally rather than physically. He lies on his back on the ice, staring at the ceiling.

He doesn’t know how many minutes pass like that.

When he hears the door open again, his hackles rise immediately. “Which part of ‘fuck off’ did you not understand,” he growls.

There’s a silent pause. Then he hears Hob’s voice say: “Er, sorry, I will leave if you want me to.”

Dream quickly sits up. “No. I…you can stay. I thought you were someone else.”

“Oh. Okay.”

Hob joins him on the ice rink. He’s not wearing skates, slide-stepping on the ice towards Dream. Dream cannot help but compare it to Cori’s approach. Cori would never risk his own dignity by trying to get to him on the slippery surface. Hob doesn’t hesitate to join Dream on his playground, letting Dream have the advantage of being on skates - Dream could leave in an instant if he wanted to, and Hob wouldn’t be able to catch up with him.

But then again, Hob must feel at home on the ice just as much as Dream does.

When Hob gets to him, he frowns at Dream who’s still sitting on the ice, making no attempt to get up. “Are you alright? Did you fall? Are you hurt?”

He kneels down by Dream’s side.

Dream sighs, flopping back onto his back. “No, no and no.”

“Ah. Well, may I join you?”

Dream shrugs.

Hob lies down next to him and they stare at the ceiling in companionable silence.

“I’m picturing the ceiling painted like a night sky speckled with stars, Van Gogh style, maybe? Wouldn’t it be beautiful?” Hob says.

Dream looks at the man’s profile, baffled and amused. “This is a sport’s rink, not an art gallery.”

Hob shrugs. “I just think it would look cool.”

Dream sighs. “I don’t know how you do it.”

“Do what?” Hob asks, turning his head to face Dream.

“Keep your unwavering optimism.”

Hob smiles. “Ah, well. I get up in the morning and I decide it’s going to be a lovely day, I am going to meet lovely people and experience something new. I feel very lucky that I get to do things that I love. And there’s so much beauty in the world, waiting to be seen.”

Dream frowns at the ceiling. His voice is but a whisper when he says: “I have to try. So hard. To see it.”

Hob looks at him with concern. “You find skating beautiful, don’t you?”

“Of course.”

“Then, doesn’t that make you happy? Don’t you feel lucky you get to do something you love everyday? That you have something to look forward to?”

“….I suppose.”

“And isn’t that beautiful?”

Dream looks at Hob, he looks into his big brown eyes that whisper promises of warmth and shelter and succor, promises of a bright happy future.

He lets himself believe in it if just for a moment.

“Perhaps. Perhaps it is beautiful.”

They don’t address the elephant in the room - the knowledge that by the end of the semester, only one of them will get to continue pursuing his dreams, surrounded by friends and family - by the community they found here. Building on the foundations they’ve laid down in this town.

The other one will have to give up on those dreams.

Or leave.

[orionsangel86]

If we are going purely by the comics, who would you ship with Morpheus? This is comic!Dream only and only other comic characters with him. What are your top choices?

Lucifer? Pharamond? Titania? Lady Bast? Nuala? Or are you die-hard Dreamling or Corinthius shippers to the end?

[martybaker]

Yess that is exactly why I’d love to see more fics with Dream and Corinthian as exes, that dynamic is excellent

me two years ago - Ha ha sandman, yeah its fun. Dream and Hob would be a cute couple. somewhere end of April to now - I AM OBSESSED WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED.

[eyeless-smiles]

@qapsiel | Encounters Human Corinthian

It had happened so suddenly. One minute, the Nightmare had been splayed across the bed of the dingy motel room, watching some mind numbingly boring soap opera, and the next he felt a surge of power through his connection to the Dreaming.

A few minutes later, and he's awakening with a heavy groan - the world is spinning. His mind is unable to make sense of anything. And the first thing that finally strikes him is the weight of his limbs. Unnaturally heavy- like lead. He twitches his fingers as the disorientes thing lifts its head. Why is the room so fucking dark?

And why are his lungs starting to burn- burn- fuck- a shot of adrenaline spikes through his body as the bewildered ex-Nightmare scrambles to try and control his heavy limbs and clamber onto his hands and knees. He instinctively swallows a lungful of air- and the sweet relief is indescribable. Fuck. What was that?!

But two seconds later and the burnings starting again- so he tests another lungful of air. That sweet relief. A heavy, shaking hand reaches out to clutch at his own chest. Utter bewilderment written across the Corinthian's face as it raises its heavy head to look around the dark room for some form of explanation.

[avelera]

I do wonder if we get the beginning of Brief Lives in the next Sandman Netflix season, specifically with this moment:

If it's going to be played quite the same way? If they end up skipping straight from Seasons of Mist to Brief Lives (which I think is an excellent idea to be clear) it raises a few possibilities:

(cut for comic spoilers & speculation)

Personally I find this moment a bit weird in general because Dream doesn't even name the woman who supposedly just broke his heart and thus launched the action of this arc. Also the fact we later find out it's Thessaly who in the comic at least (the show can always soften the character as they have others) fucking sucks, for her to kick off Dream's sadness roadtrip of self-destruction feels like such a waste. It also feels weird to imagine babygirl Netflix Tom Sturridge Dream going for someone like Thessaly after his whole arc of trying to be a better person and learning important lessons and also just...being a much softer character who is trying to do better, going for someone like Thessaly (who doesn't even like him by her own admission) and who is also terrible feels like a tragic step backwards in his character development. Not inconceivable, just terribly tragic.

Which has me thinking that one possibility is if they go straight from Seasons of Mist to Brief Lives, this moment above could be about Nada, who does choose to pass on after he frees her, even after expressing that she still loves him. That love is just not enough for her to accept his offer to be his queen and stay (after 10k years of Hell, who can blame her?!).

Point is, this moment instead being part of the long tail of Dream's self-recrimination about Nada choosing to pass on would make a lot of sense and be a much more justifiable kick-off for Dream going on a roadtrip that's an expression of his doubts in his ability to change for the better (and therefore, must he die?). Nada's punishment is so heinous I can easily see the Sturridge Dream being conflicted about his own actions for much longer than he appears to be in the comic, leading to this moment after he set her free.

Thessaly is an immortal, so even if/when she shows up, her having an acrimonious "angry ex girlfriend" reaction to Dream need not be because she was the girlfriend who kicked off the Brief Lives arc, they could have just dated sometime in the past centuries and still have vitriol between them.

And finally, and this is just me being a shameless Dream/Hob shipper, I do kind of wonder how one even justifies Dream ending up with an immortal human like Thessaly when Hob is right there.

Look, in the comic, Hob barely seems to remember Dream exists when he's not there, so there's no feeling of "Why doesn't Dream hook up with Hob instead??" when you first learn about Thessaly. But in the show, you've got the 1789 tension, the missed meeting, the devotion of the New Inn. Dream going for another, shitty immortal brunet when Hob is right there feels a bit like a slap in the face in that context.

And let me be clear, it's not because I'm being shipper garbage that thinks Neil can, should, or would alter the story to appease Dreamling shippers or that Dream dating Thessaly in the show as he does canonically in the comic would be an intentional slap in the face to Dreamling shippers! It is beyond wishful thinking to imagine we'd get more than what the comic offers which is a few beautifully rendered, sentimental moments between them for us to build our fanon ship off of. It's not Neil's responsibility to make it canon so don't be fucking weird about it.

It's more that the show is so queer. The comic is queer too but the show absolutely focuses and centers the narrative on predominantly queer couples and people, more than straight ones. They also softened for example the Corinthian and confirmed he's gay and has some non-destructive relationships with men, he's not just a murderer of gay men. So the narrative is even more queer than the comic.

In the 80s/90s when Sandman came out, the idea of Dream as the lead protagonist being canonically queer I think would have been pretty unlikely. He's very, very het in the comics, with the closest we get to a whisper of him not being strictly het being a mention of Lucifer once being beautiful and some speculation they might have had a relationship.

But the show is so very queer and the energy so charged between Dream and Hob (and the writers acknowledged and encouraged it!) that there is no, in my opinion, natural conclusion that, "Sure, almost everyone else is queer in this, but not Dream, obviously." If anything, it would be jarring to have so many queer characters only to slam the door shut on the possibility that Dream might also be queer.

Which is my roundabout way of saying: I wonder how Thessaly will fit into this at all. I speculate she might be removed entirely from this beat of Brief Lives, in favor of making Dream more remorseful about Nada in a sympathetic way. Furthermore, introducing Thessaly when Hob, another immortal who actually likes Dream is right there the idea that he opts for Thessaly (a woman who doesn't even like him to the point where she plays an active part later in his death) instead after being tortured for 106 years is actually painfully heartbreaking.

So in conclusion: eh? Who knows!

But also: DREAM, Hob is RIGHT THERE! Date HIM, not fucking THESSALY?!

[gabessquishytum]

Okay this idea won't leave me alone so I'm giving it to you. 

Hob and Dream are married, and their favorite form of foreplay is to go to bars/clubs and Hob will act single, find someone to flirt with and dance all over, making out and grinding, while Dream sits at the bar and watches. (Maybe Dream likes to point out people he thinks Hob would like??)

It's never gone past heavy petting, Hobs never gone home with anyone, Dream just likes to watch him be a Slut. But they've discussed it, the idea of Hob going home with someone if he finds someone he really vibes with. 

Then one night Hob runs into an ex situationship, an almost but never the right time friend. And Dream can tell there is something different about this one to all the others, so he encourages Hob to go home with them. Dream will get all the dirty details later of course. (Dealers choice who the friend is)

Hob points out Dream across the room and explains the deal and his friend is Very Much Into It, so they go home together. 

And as they're starting to get busy, Hobs friend pulls out a set of bluetooth earbuds and is like "if your husband likes to watch, and wants to hear the details, maybe he'd like to listen?" 

So Hob calls Dream, and him and his friend each wear one of the earbuds so Dream can hear all the dirty talk and moaning and Sounds. Dream is back at home listening to Hob get railed within an inch of his life and he's never been more turned on.

Ohhhh this is so fucking hot I love this for them!!!! This is definitely something we should explore more because Dream WOULD love to watch his lovely Hob being a slut. He just would.

Hob is so fuckable I can just imagine this scenario with so many people...

Destruction - Hob spends the whole night moaning and whining because his cock is so big. Dream totally gets off when he hears Destruction asking Hob if his husband can split him open so wide? Cause it definitely seems like Hob’s slutty hole likes being absolutely stretched to the limit.

Corinthian - He takes great delight in the idea of cucking Hob’s husband, and spends most of the night fucking Hob’s face so Dream can hear him slurping and choking as much as possible. His dirty talk is weird, but in a hot way. Lots of devouring and consuming... Dream is kinda into it.

Joanna - She gives Hob the spanking of his life and spends a lot of time directly talking to Dream through the bluetooth, treating Hob like he's just a toy or a pet. Then she sits on Hob’s face and lets Dream enjoy those particular noises. She rounds it all off by making Hob beg for her strap, which he does happily.

I'm sure there are plenty more characters who could get involved. I feel like this needs a multi chapter kink fic where Hob gets railed by a different character each chapter, and Dream delightedly listens in <3333

[dragonnan]

Friday Fic Recs

The Sandman - Dreamling

The Undone and the Divine E by @dancinbutterfly

Warnings: Consensual Violence, Burning, Stabbing, Skin picking, Drowning, The Corinthian is His Own Warning, Cannibalism, Horror, Suicidal ideation, Mutilation, romanticization of violence, Dissociation, BDSM elements

For 24 hours, John Dee influences the entire world with the Dreamstone to make what he thinks is a more honest world.

At the New Inn, Hob finds himself uniquely positioned to save his fellow patrons from the dangers they now pose to themselves and each other.

Why not? After all, what's the worst that could happen?

And how can he do anything else?

Read Me Your Longing M by @linzod

The Stranger hesitates, and does something Hob would not have believed possible. He stammers. “I- I do not remember. I came to and was being pursued.”

Hob notices the older man approaching, but is shocked as his voice rings out, addressing them both, “My dear boy, I am so glad we have found you.” He observes the situation warily; the only reaction from his friend is subtle, the smallest recoil.

“Who exactly are you?” Hob asks the man.

“Why, I’m Paul McGuire, and I can’t thank you enough,” the man looks at Hob’s ID badge, “Dr. Gadling, for finding my nephew.”

Hob’s eyes narrow, as he flatly asks, “Your nephew?”

***

Hob’s life is forever changed when his Stranger literally stumbles back into his life, amnestic and hunted, and he must use the skills gathered over an immortal life to evade their pursuers. They soon realize that bits of memory are coming back to Hob’s Stranger, through the power of literature. They are slower, however, to recognize that the most important story to explore may be their own.

A love letter to books, libraries, and the stories that make us, and allow us to change for the better.

Part of the Centennial Husbands Big Bang! Work Complete, Includes Art!

to keep our metaphysics warm by ineverfeltyoung G

“Where on Earth did you learn to make pizza?” Death asks around a mouthful. Hob hasn’t even finished serving himself yet and she’s already dug in. Dream is certain that etiquette would denote this rude behavior, but Hob doesn’t seem to mind, only giving her a disbelieving look.

“I’m immortal,” he says blandly. “Italy. Where else?”

Death comes to dinner. Dream does the dishes. Hob cries a little bit.

Series: Part 2 of the abstract entities dinner club

Cottagecore series by @the-apocrypha

Warnings: vary by story

The love story of a fae prince and a hedgewitch in the middle ages. <3

The Measure Of A Soul E by @vlakas-ex-machina @blueberrymffn

When Hob Gadling made a drunken deal with a mysterious man in a pub, he didn’t expect anything to come of it. Waking up the following morning with a golden mark on his wrist was a shock, though less than finding out that he couldn’t die. Who had he made a deal with, and what did he want? His Stranger was far from forthcoming, so he’d have to figure it out himself. That his mark was not just a passkey to an underworld of supernatural beings but the sign that he wasn’t meant to spend eternity alone was enough to send him down paths he never knew existed and ask more questions than were answered. Who, or more importantly what was his Stranger, and did the mysterious man know who Hob was destined for?

(An AU where only immortals have soulmarks that mark their species/type as well as their partner, and Hob has something no one has seen before)

who wants to live forever? M by ranchdiip

“An Endless?” Hob asks, softly, because it feels like a question that needs to be soft.

“That’s what we are,” Death responds, trying again for a small smile. “Me and D—”

“Don’t,” Hob interrupts, far stronger than he meant to, and Death looks surprised for as long as it takes him to get out, “Don’t, please. I-I want to hear it from him.”

Sympathy colors Death’s gaze even as Hob feels his face burn. Six hundred years, Hob thinks—he’ll be damned if he finds out his Stranger’s name from anyone but the odd man himself.

—

It's 1989 and Hob Gadling thinks he's been stood up. Death herself is kind enough to inform him otherwise—and, well, now Hob's got to bloody do something about it, doesn't he?

it doesn't matter which you heard (the holy or the broken hallelujah) T by @meadowziplines for Thranduilland

Warnings: Kidnapping, Torture, occultism, Blood and Violence, Blood and Injury, Whump, Broken Bones, dislocations, magical torture, Physical Torture, Delirium, Confusion, Memory Issues, Identity Issues

Roderick Burgess kidnaps Hob Gadling on June 7, 1989, intending to break both him and Dream. Instead, Dream being rather aggressively tortured triggers the knowledge of Hob's identity as Hope of the Endless, wrapped away in a mental box as they had been.

[evenmyhivemindisempty]

I want your ranking of Boyd characters from most to least scared of talking to women,like in general,doesn't matter about what

Ooh this is such a fun ask!!! Here’s the thing - I don’t think most Holbrook characters are necessarily *afraid* of talking to women per se, but I think there’s absolutely exceptions and I bet that fear spikes quite a bit when it’s a woman they’re interested in!

Here’s my thoughts from most afraid to least afraid (as always, I welcome animated dissent!):

Cap: He’s a slightly feral wolf pup of a kid who *also* has some old-fashioned values! He’s gonna be so coltish and shy around any woman who is not his family – I don’t even think he’s attracted to women (or anyone), but I can absolutely see him flushing and stumbling over his words when he’s talking to them… *but* I think this is gonna be specifically for women dressed up in exotically feminine ways, in dresses, makeup, hair done in fancy knots. (Also applies to boy prostitutes cross-dressing, too.) I think if a woman was just running around in trousers and a gun with a dirty face, it wouldn’t be too different at all. Cap does not really know how gender works.

Clement Mansell: Clement is terrified of women and pretends he is not!! He’d never admit it, not even to himself, but he’s such a bundle of mommy issues, and it shows. He tries to be cocky around the women in his life, and occasionally gets aggressive like with Carolyn - but he also sometimes freezes like a deer when they give him a too-sharp look or say something cutting.

Donald Pierce: Yeah, he’s absolutely a little afraid of talking to women, *but* I think overall he’s a lot more comfortable with women than men. Men are frightening (and sexier, he tries not to notice), and women are safer and easier to get along with!! I think he’s maybe initially kind of spooked around women sometimes (especially if they’re real pretty or ooze intimidating confidence or competence), but once he settles in he’s gonna be sharing things with them he never would a guy.

The Corinthian: The Corinthian is not nervous around women *in general*, but there’s absolutely a handful of women he is nervous around, in a way I don’t think he tends to be nervous around anyone else (that isn’t Dream)! (Is it Calliope?? Yes. And while he was playing it cool with Rose, I think if she’d stuck around long enough/assumed the Dreaming’s power, he would’ve started to get a little flustered around her too!). Corinthian… maybe also has mommy issues, but not really like Clement does. I think Clement fears and resents women in addition to kind of craving their approval, and I think Corinthian just skips straight to craving their approval (and maybe fearing them a little).

Klaber: I think Klaber finds a certain type of femininity intimidating (and appealing), and like Cap I think he’s gonna be a little nervous around people who are decked out in certain feminine trappings. But overall, I think he’s simply too gay to be too anxious.

Ty Shaw: Ty adores talking to women!! He’s overall not very nervous around women, but he *is* fantastically bisexual, so if he sees a woman he finds hot, he’s liable to get a little tongue-tied!

Quinn McKenna: Quinn is kind of scared of his ex-wife. That’s it!

Steve Murphy: I don’t think Steve Murphy has ever been nervous around women a day in his life. In high school, all the other boys were so impressed how he always kept his cool around girls (it was because he is Gay). And then later in life he worked DEA and had to deal with female perps, female informants, female victims, and *gasp* female bosses! Steve Murphy fears no woman.

[teejaystumbles]

Well, since the idea of it is what got me to go watch Hannibal...Do tell about Unsustainable (Dreamling Hannibal AU)!!! :D

(I think you probably know all there is to know already 😅 because sadly I didn't work on it one bit since its inception... I know, I'm sorry. The Hannibal mood is a hard one to achieve and stay in for long enough. But I still love it and hope I'll write more for it someday. I think it can only profit from me gaining more writing experience in the meantime!)

Unsustainable is a Dreamling AU with the premise that Dream comes out of the fishbowl broken, and with a grudge. Here's a good summary I wrote a long while back:

Hob doesn’t know Dream personally. He got his immortality from Death, he has a standing appointment with her, not Dream. Dream has only watched those meetings but always declined his sister’s invitation to join them and get to know Hob. He has started to watch him and his dreams more closely though after 1689, has sent him appropriate nightmares after 1789, has in fact indulged more and more in watching him. So much, that he is focused on Hob alone as a possible ally after his escape. His imprisonment has made Dream cruel, almost feral, but his exemplary control allows him to hide that dark side rising inside him. He approaches Hob and finds it not hard at all to convince him to help him get revenge after a few meetings. Dream becomes more and more obsessed with Hob, he wants him to be the mongoose under the house when the snakes slither by. He also wants him in every other conceivable way. Hob is not averse, not at all, he’s head over heels for this beautiful brother of his stranger, he has finally found someone who knows him, needs him, can be there forever if he doesn’t chase him away, so he’s careful and kind. He soon realises that Dream does not want him to be kind, though, does in fact seem to revel in it when Hob loses his temper. The things Dream asks him to do are nothing to an ex-soldier and he believes he is giving bad people their just desserts. The weird behaviour of some of them, as if they are dreaming, makes him wonder, though.

It features a lot of dark themes - revenge; murder and violence; Hob being into near-death experiences; Morpheus praising the Corinthian instead of atomising him; mind fuckery and gaslighting-

it's a heavy one and I honestly don't know if I can ever pull it off, it's a bit different from the things I usually write. But I might just be in the mood to explore it again one day :3 until then, have a bit of what I've already written (I've forgotten if I've already shared it, sorry):

The King of Dreams! What a wonder! Hob loves this. "Pleasure to meet you, Morpheus. Your majesty. What do you prefer? But I warn you, I am not a fan of monarchy and a peasant at heart. So forgive me if I, ah, behave like a boor." He winks cheekily at the other and sees his nostrils flare in irritation. He does not seem angry, though. He looks... curious. "Morpheus is fine. I will not stand on ceremony with one I...would like to call... friend. Hob Gadling." He leans back in his chair and tilts his head back a fraction, looking at Hob down his perfect long nose. He gives a miniscule smirk and adds: “I also believe you to be perfectly capable of quite a number of things. Including courtly manners. Do not sell yourself short… Sir Robert Gadlen.” Hob sucks in a breath and twitches his fingers restlessly. He can barely refrain from jiggling his leg, so thrilled is he. This man, this…being, knows him! Knows him like Death knows him! He grins and leans back to hide his twitching fingers under the table and grip his trouser leg instead. “So tell me, brother of Death. Why did you decide to meet me? I believe she has invited you to join us a number of times. You never came. Why now?” The red pinpricks of light in the Dreamking’s eyes flicker. His smile grows for a moment before his face becomes deadly serious. “My sister has praised you, Hob Gadling. You are. A good friend to her. She believes you can be a good friend to me as well.” He leans forward and puts his hands on the table between them, palms up like an offering, an invitation, a question. “I am in need. Of a friend. Someone who will help me. Retrieve what was stolen from me.” Morpheus’ blue eyes are boring holes into Hob’s and Hob shivers and blinks. He licks his lips again and then, cautiously, reaches out for one of the bone white hands on the table. The moment he comes into touching distance Morpheus pulls his hands back, eyes wide. He flicks his gaze down and away and then up again to meet Hob’s once more and Hob feels like he has just stuck his hand into the cage of a tiger. Morpheus’ eyes burn with a fiery red light. He swallows and Hob tracks the movement of his Adam's apple, feeling his own throat go dry. He clears it awkwardly and puts his hand palm down on the table. Clearly touching doesn’t seem to be a good idea just yet. “If you are in trouble, I am happy to help”, he says, smiling gently at the other who still looks like a spooked animal ready to attack. At Hob’s quiet words the man blinks and, in a second, regains his composure, his face giving nothing of the obvious discomfort he just felt away. Hob breathes an inconspicuous sigh of relief, feeling like he just avoided getting his throat ripped out by a feral beast.“I would. Very much appreciate that.” Death’s brother says in his deep rumble of a voice and Hob signals the waiter for another pint. “Then let’s talk.”

[fleurelinathehybrid]

💛[Chapter 4: Aftermoaning]💛

Matthew was flying over the colorful skies that adorned the Dreaming. In search of his boss, who not a few minutes ago was delivering a message to his strange exorcist friend, Johanna Constantine.

He didn't fully know the reason for the message; more than the fact that a "mischievous nightmare", mistaken for a demon, had taken possession of the body of a novice. This had caused terror in the parish where she lived and, unfortunately, caused the young victim to remain unconscious and traumatized. From how Johanna narrated the situation, she assumed that his boss could guess what a nightmare it had been, since it caused constant havoc in the kingdom. And Matthew would confirm it after seeing how he had left the woman's face.

When he delivered the message, Constantine was not happy; It turns out that the nightmare was extremely restless after having done its job tormenting a dreamer, subjected to suffocating stress. Perhaps, that caused him to escape from the Dreaming and seek relief on Earth. However, he was not very used to the planet and was forced to manipulate someone. He possessed the first thing he saw: the young novice.

"Could you tell your boss that he's lucky I gave it back to him in one piece? The poor girl was trying to get away from it, and he just wouldn't give in. It was either the good option or being forced to give it to him in a jar."

Matthew definitely had to tell her what had happened with that nightmare. He only hoped his boss would be merciful to the creature. Although "merciful" was a big word to describe him.

He managed to enter the library by magically passing through a window that Mervyn was cleaning. He located Lucienne and found her, being hugged by Gault's waist, reading a book.

— Am I interrupting something? —the crow spoke, letting out a caw.

—Oh! Hello, Matt. —Gault greets him with a smile.

—How was your delivery, carrier pigeon? —asks the librarian very mockingly.

—In simple terms, it was good. —he walks towards a stack of books on the table and sits on it. —Although the boss has to put the perpetrator in his place.

Lucienne giggles. —I bet it was Glob, it's the second most disastrous after the Corinthian.

—Don't even mention it. —the castle's concierge spoke, while drying the cloth that he had occupied not a few minutes ago. —The last time our lord allowed him to go out into the Waking realm, he ended up gouging some poor bastard's eyes out. I hope it hasn't left a victim.

—Uh, yeah. He left a victim. —That caught the attention of everyone present. He proceeded to pay attention. —A young novice. It left her with lifelong trauma. Constantine was furious.

—Oh shit. —the scarecrow murmured scared.

—Did she tell you the name? —Lucienne spoke, tapping Gault's arm as a sign that she was going to get up. The dream obeys.

—I think her last name was Vermont, and her first name began with an h.

The dark elf notices that, ironically, the raven was sitting right on top of the novice's book she mentions. "Harriet Vermont" is written in gold ink on a red velvet spine. She takes the stack of books and, with one not-so-careful movement, pushes Matthew away from his seat.

The crow wants to protest at being stripped of his seat, until he notices what is written on the paste. —Oh, I was sitting on it.

Lucienne proceeds to adjust her glasses and leaf through the book. It doesn't take long to get to the recent page.

Mervyn, Gault and she see the leaves of what happened to the fugitive nightmare. The shocked expressions on their faces are more than enough to make Matthew understand that what he did to her was not pretty. The slap caused by Lucienne when she closed the book was confirmed, at the same time that Mervyn and Gault looked away.

A squawk escaped him, out of inertia.

—Hey, Matthew. I think it's wise that you better not read it. —the ex-nightmare suggests, somewhat uncomfortable.

—I don't know how I'm going to get that out of my mind. —Mervyn covers his eyes, while holding where his "nose bridge" is supposed to be located.

—Our lord is not going to like to know this. —concludes the librarian.

[💛💛💛]

Morpheus woke up to the sun's rays hitting his face. He opened his eye and instantly closed them tightly again while turning his head. Was this how annoying the sun was to humans when they woke up? That made him feel proud, for noticing that humanity admired his work with dreams.

He opened his eyes calmly, as he began to smell the aroma of coffee. Morpheus proceeds to sit up, letting out a groan of pain from his hip.

—Hello, pigeon. Does it hurt a lot?

The melodious voice of Hob spoke, who brought two cups with him. Morpheus blushes worse than a tomato when he sees that he was shirtless and wearing shorts, noticing a bit of his semi-erect phallus. He tried not to keep his eyes on it, although he couldn't help it.

Gadling settles some of the cups of coffee he brought on the nightstand, while with his free arm he gives a hug to his endless boyfriend who was still naked.

—Last night was a crazy night, huh? I was seriously surprised. —he says very flirtatious while kissing him on his messy black hair.

Morpheus was still blushing, even more so when he noticed that there were hickey and bite marks on his chest. He was even more surprised when he looked up and saw a large hickey on his lover's neck.

Immediately, flashbacks came of what he had done last night. He was terrified.

—I wasn't very hasty, was I? —he asks sadly.

—Honey, you were phenomenal. The best night I would ever forget. —she kisses his cheek, making him smile.

He proceeds to give her his coffee and remember that night while they tasted their drinks.

Already dressed, but a little sore in his hip, Morpheus hugged his human tightly, fearing to leave him again. Hob sniffs his head, feeling his lover's sadness at having to leave.

—I have to return to my kingdom, to finish my duties. —he says while resting his head on the back of his neck, and feeling the heartbeat of his immortal. —Can you convince me to stay?

Hob smiles, and reciprocates the hug. — Is it important that you finish them? If so, you have to do it. I also wish you would stay a little longer, my dove.

Morpheus growls, annoyed. He didn't expect or want to hear that answer. He raises her head and stares at him in silence. The one who takes advantage of Hob to plant a kiss on his lips, a kiss that the Endless reciprocates.

—I'll see you soon, my love. —the Lord of Nightmares says goodbye, with a smile, as he vanishes into the air of the room.

—I always wait for you here, my dove. —murmurs that human hopelessly in love.

[bludpudding]

Do you have any favorite and/or least favorite fanfic/fandom tropes or HCs for Donald Pierce or the Corinthian??

alright here’s my (+ @breedaboyd 's because we are a package deal) big long list of hcs

Donnie

• he/him, gay

• trans masc!! has a big cup size but his chest never really gave him dysphoria so he doesn’t see the need to get top surgery. or bottom surgery. really the only thing he’s done for his transition medically is take T shots. rarely wears binders and sticks to sports bras for support

• monster clit energy

• comfortable with some feminine terms as a way of reclaiming his past (ex: yes you can call him ‘queen’ and ‘miss’ he owns that shit now that he’s confident in who he is)

• ex military - mad scientist - engineer - mercenary combo. not really a headcanon but I feel the need to emphasize how much of a powerhouse he is

• reinforced metal spine and skull after an accident caused parts of his skin to be burned away (in addition to getting his arm amputated when he was in military service. different incidents). he made all of his cybernetic parts and manages them all himself, except in rare cases where he may need assistance. typical mad scientist things ykyk

• his type is huge, muscly, guard-dog men he can keep on a leash (Logan was the blueprint but we all saw how that worked out. he’s been a huge wolverine fan since he was in high school)

• gold fangs!!!!

• his hatred for mutants stems from jealousy. he knows he’ll never be one of them and in a rapidly advancing world that deeply scares him. he’s obsessive over keeping his cybernetic parts up to date and top of the line to combat his fear of being left behind. (-based on what boyd said in interviews about him)

• scariest power bottom you’ve ever seen in your life. miss pencil sharpener pussy

• size queen. will insult your dick size in broad daylight

• made a metal dick for himself once but honest to god it’s more of a weapon than a toy. do NOT let him use the strap

• all of the reavers want him so goddamn bad. why else do you think they’re so loyal to him they’re after that cyborg pussy

• he did NOT die and lives happily in his poly marriage with Kurt Ackerman (werewolf mutant oc) and Eddie Brock (yes, the venom guy) up in their cabin in Canada. he keeps them both leashed and wears the pants in the relationship at pretty much all times.

Corinthian

• pronouns up for debate honestly but I know he at least uses he/him. gay. faggot, even.

• not trans masc in the traditional ftm human sense but more so born genderless and consumes masculinity. it’s complicated but he’s somewhere close to male.

• his body is naturally androgynous (has a masculine frame but has feminine sex characteristics)

• has been dominant for most of his life but deep down wants to find someone he’s comfortable enough to be submissive with. being dominant allows him to avoid being too vulnerable and as a result he tends to default to that. the second Cori struggles very badly with this internal conflict and ends up avoiding sexual situations as much as he possibly can.

• paints his nails (this is basically canon fight me)

• his freckles have constellations hidden in them. a very good design choice on Dream’s behalf

• HE IS NOT RIPPED. HE IS PLAYED BY BOYD HOLBROOK HE IS SOFT AND SQUISHY. NO ABS.

• has always wanted to be a father and hence has a tendency to steal children and treat them as his own. this is all Dream’s fault because he programmed Cori to be Daniel’s caretaker a little too intensely. as far as I’m concerned this is the canon explanation for why he’s like that

• fairytale princess. has a tendency to be assigned talking animals as his babysitters. once again not even a headcanon he’s just like that

• this whole post I made about the dangerous cavern of his pussy

• lactose intolerant but still consumes dairy anyway he just like me fr

• gave Matthew gay slur rights because he thinks it’s funny

• Morpheus didn’t originally intend for Cori to be as horny as he is that’s all Desire’s fault for fucking around in the workshop

• his eyes are very sensitive PLEASE be gentle with his eyes

• wiggles his whole body like a long wet noodle when he’s happy because he was tragically born without a tail. regardless he can purr

if that ain’t enough to quench your thirst my entire blog is here 24/7 we have an array of hcs scattered throughout the isles

[meadowziplines]

for the various -tober events, dreamling bingo, and fics in general .....

[the-everqueen]

002 - Cocoluce

003 - Gault

002 send me a ship - CocoLuce when or if i started shipping it: last year, initially as a knee-jerk reaction to the way fandom kept characterizing Lucienne as either asexual or a frigid lesbian out of lazy misogynoir. (like, i think there COULD be a thoughtful take on Lucienne as ace--just like i think there's a reading where she's nonbinary or agender--but the fanon never provided any context for this headcanon, and it seemed to emerge as an excuse for why Lucienne and Dream couldn't be a major ship [or indeed, to have ever had any intimacy beyond "boss and employee"], or as a reason why Lucienne would only ever appear as a cheerleader for dreamling in fics.) it felt like another instance of (white) fandom's general attitude that Black female characters are somehow inherently undesirable (and not engaged as active, desiring subjects).

but that scene where the Corinthian reappears in the Dreaming and Lucienne is there waiting? Boyd and Viv play that as LOADED with interpersonal tension. like, his mouth is RIGHT THERE, practically brushing the shell of her ear, and she doesn't flinch or react beyond that long, simmering stare. the slow lowering of her eyelashes, the flick of her gaze up? and he turns his back to her! she watches him as he leaves! it's SUCH a vibe of fraught exes, and/or rivals for Dream's attention/affection. it's palpable chemistry.

and that's another thing i find isn't afforded to Black or Brown actresses: everyone talks about how much chemistry Tom Sturridge has with his costars, and no one talks about how his costars are ALSO responding to that in their acting choices (or...they do, when it's Ferdinand Kingsley or Holbrook, aka white dudes). (addendum: there's SOME mention of Melissanthi Mahut, because she's Dream's ex-wife, but uh. no mention of Deborah Oyelade? the lover Dream condemned to Hell? hm, i wonder why...) no one gives these women their due for the work they've put into the craft! instead it's either hypersexualization ("step on me, mommy") or dismissal.

anyways. once i get an idea it then becomes "okay so how does this work." what about the characters and their dynamic would make this happen/prevent this from happening? where are the points of friction?

my thoughts: so it's god's two favorites. it's the dark mirror of humanity and the archivist of all their dreams. the masterpiece and the librarian. OBVIOUSLY they've interacted. presumably Lucienne was already around when the first Corinthian was created. what does THAT look like? god's first and most precious raven, the only one who STAYED. god's finest work, most complex creation, the one who always hungered to leave. did the Corinthian comb through the library, when the dreams weren't enough to sate his taste for humanity? also what is the line between curiosity and hunger?

what makes me happy about them: two not-human (but human appearing) beings who've been around for centuries if not millennia, who absolutely know what makes the other tick and how to cut to the core. who have a certain level of affection for humanity. who are closer to Dream than most others, and afforded privileges due to that closeness. like, i'm not sure they ever loved each other, but they love Dream, and haven't you tried to get at the person you really wanted by getting close to someone they cared about? them finding use in each other - and isn't that a cruel sort of twist, being reduced to a function in one of the most intimate relations you could have?

what makes me sad about them: i mean. it's clearly tragic. it could never be inherently happy, so long as it hinges on the absence of Dream.

...gonna skip the two fanfic questions bc i just haven't seen enough fic with them. but! i do adore quiet in the library by ao3 user starkraving.

my kinks: the eternal cry with all bhol characters: put a leash on that man!

who i'd be comfortable with them ending up with, if not each other: i feel like my platform is "end racism in fandom spaces" and "polyamory." anyways CLEARLY they both actually love Dream.

my happily ever after for them: i do think there's a universe where lucienne/dream/corinthian as a poly V and occasional triad could be Good. maybe it's lucienne/danny/coco2. all that newness and grief. hey, isn't it a thing that people get horny at funerals? deleted Wake scene.

(from this ask list, in case anyone else wants to play)

[eyeless-smiles]

@poxsonmenace | Encountered Human Corinthian

The Corinthian had spent over a week shacked up in a tiny apartment, trying to wait out whatever fresh hell this was. It had occurred without warning. A sudden surge of power through his connection with the Dreaming before it was completely severed. And the next thing he knows, he wakes up on the ground with a heartbeat and air in his lungs and eyeballs in his fucking head.

He desperately tried to avoid the inevitable. But he needed answers. And that meant an audience with Moriarty. Where else was he supposed to turn? Dream wouldn't answer his fucking calls. Bastard doesn't even have a phone.

The ex-Nightmare practically staggers in the door to the kingpins office. He looks different. More bedraggled and unkempt. His cheeks far more rosy than the usual golden pallor he used to exhibit. His suit is stained in places. And his chest unnaturally rises and falls with breaths he's never had to take.

The dark shades hide his sleep deprived, ice blue hues fitted snugly in his head.

"I need your help."

[kittynannygaming]

[The Sandman] Bound - Epilogue

Title: Bound

Word count: 418

Fandom: The Sandman

Pairing: Dreamling, Desunity, Despoe, Hob/Eleanor, Corinthiel, Dream/Past relationships

Rated: T

Warning: NOTHING GRAPHIC BUT Mention of child’s death and adults’ death, mention of suicide, Desire’s scheming

Summary: When you’re 10 (for a human) or the equivalent (for not-human), you’re given (during your sleep) a pet, representation of your soulmate. Thing is, both soulmates need to be born for them to appear. Dream of the Endless thought he didn’t have a soulmate, until a puppy appear near to him while meditating. On Earth, at the same moment, it is the year 1356 and Robert ‘Hob’ Gadling is just born. When he’s 10, he got the poshest, biggest black kitten with a very mean streak. Of course, neither Dream nor Hob see themselves in the other’s pet.

Epilogue: The (many) changes that one little surprise can make.

How having a soulmate and an animal companion changed things for the Endless and Hob.

Things weren’t perfect but they were good.

Let’s begin with Destiny. Everything began with Destiny. 200 years after Dream got out of the fishbowl, his soulmate was born. His companion was a snake-like creature with iridescent scales and 4 eyes the colour of amber named Rainbow. His soulmate (an historian, Mere-phre) was from a planet far from Earth were people could change their gender to adapt to the situation, their companion was a spider named Fatalis.

Death’s soulmate was born a long time ago but they couldn’t met until 2054. Indeed, Death’s soulmate was Hestia, Goddess of Hearth and Home. Death’s companion was her goldfish, Slim. Hestia’s companion was another goldfish named Wandsworth. The two fishes shared an aquarium and their companions, Death’s home. When Death got home, she felt the tension wash away just because of Hestia’s presence.

Dream, the Morpheus version of him, didn’t die. Daniel was always meant to be his successor but now, they could do things at a quieter pace. It was 10 years after the Corinthian was remade that a companion appeared for both him and Daniel. Corinthian had a ram named Cream Puff and Daniel had a wolf named Hunter.

Destruction’s soulmate was a French preschool teacher named Adelaïde Beaubois. When they met, Adelaïde thought his art was his son’s art. It was very awkward but she invited him to teach painting and colours to the 3 to 4 year’s old kids once a week. They absolutely loved him. It wasn’t long before he got an official contract.

Desire’s soulmate, Unity, lived in the Dreaming, after sacrificing herself instead of her dear Rose. She was close enough to Desire’s realm they can meet often. Sugar, the fox met Peacock, the Dove.

Despair’s soulmate was born the 19th January of the year 1809 and was one of Dream’s protegé. His name was Edgar Allan Poe. Despair was surprised when a baby raven appeared near her but she loved Melancholy. Edgar has a very smart rat named Gloom.

Delirium’s soulmate came from a planet not so different of Lewis Carroll’s Wonderland. She was absolutely smitten with Folly, her white rabbit and Liddell, her soulmate, a metamorph, had a wolpertinger named Hat.

Do you remember that Calliope had a raven has a companion (whose name is Luka)? Well, apparently, it was because she had a Raven (or ex-raven really) as a soulmate. Dear Lucienne, who had a hummingbird named Lyra.

They lived and had adventures and reunions and children. But this is another story.

Ram

Beta: In progress

For @the-centennial-husbands-bigbang

Masterlist

[gabessquishytum]

People to whom Dream has loaned his boyfriend, aka Hob, because he’s a very busy man and Hob is an insatiable slut: a non exhaustive list.

Calliope - his ex wife. Got the holiday home in the divorce. Takes Hob on long leashed walks on the beach

Lucienne - his best friend/assistant. Strict disciplinarian, makes sure that Hob works to be a good boy. Praise kink activated.

Corinthian - his business partner. Sadist. Makes Hob cry on the regular - Hob adores him.

Olethros - his (not so little) brother. Finally satisfies Hob’s raging size kink.

Joanna Constantine - his business associate. Bisexual chaos. Hob comes back with a bad attitude, even more horny than before.

Lucifer Morningstar - local nightclub owner. Hob just wants them to step on him, and Dream can kind of sympathise.

Dee - his big sister. Everyone's favourite soft domme. Occasionally tag teams Hob with Lucienne. Buys him cute outfits, sends him back home wrapped like a pretty present for Dream.

Something something it takes a village to satisfy a slut 😌