Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

"It's a curse," Lucienne says, unnecessarily.  

Hob hadn't looked away from Dream, not yet.  There was something pained around the clench of his eyes, something tight and agonized, even as they stared at each other, the curse a weight between them that echoed in the silence.  

A silence that would be permanent unless the curse was broken.  

"Who cursed him?" Hob asked, looking over at Lucienne.  He didn't truly know why he was here, why he was standing here in the throne room of the Dreaming, being told that his Friend would never again be able to speak, because of a curse placed on him.  

Lucienne shifted to hold her hands behind her back.  "We are not sure."  

Hob narrowed his eyes.  "Find out," he ordered.  He could see that Lucienne hesitated, glancing at Dream before she hurried off to do as he had ordered, and Hob looked back to Dream.  His eyes were heavy but approving, and Hob had centuries of reading his friend's expressions to fall back on.  

"I'm going to figure out how to break the curse," Hob told him, even when Dream frowned.  "And you can tell me not to bother, or waste my time, or focus on living my life all you want, but I am still going to figure out how to break this curse.  And first thing is first, were going to punish the people who did this to you."  

Dream shook his head.  

"I wasn't asking," Hob corrected, even as Dream's look turned into a glare.  "I am telling.  I will punish whoever did this to you.  I don't care who I have to pick a fight with."  He crossed his arms over his chest and bit down the grin as he stared at Dream.  "Not like you could stop me, after all."  

The frustration in Dream's eyes was clear, but Hob wasn't going to let him suffer in silence for the rest of his existence, billions more years where he could never say a word.  He wasn't going to let it happen.  "In the meantime, you'd better make sure you're still making our standing meeting."  Dream's sudden blink of confusion told him that he'd surprised his friend.  

"What?" Hob asked, grinning at him.  "I do most of the talking anyway, so it's not like much would change.  You're just going to have to tell me if I guess your reactions wrong."  He tilted his head.  "Don't suppose you can use sign language to speak with your hands?"  

Dream looked down at his hands and went to twitch them into position before he winced and shook his head, lowering them down by his sides once more. 

"Damn, that would have helped, though I'm a bit rusty," Hob said, putting his hands into his pockets.  "Okay, sounds like I have some visiting with Constantine to do.  Come visit any time you want, as always, but if there's something I can do, I expect you to tell me that through Matthew or Lucienne, since both of them can understand you better than I can."  

Hob met Dream's eyes again and this time the expression on his face wasn't an obvious one that was easily identified.  He made him pause and he studied his friend closer, chewing on his slower lip.  "This is just a guess, but if you're thinking I don't need to waste my time to help you, you're wrong.  I'm going to help you, it might take me a bit of time to figure out how to do so, but I am going to help you.  Got it?"  

Dream nodded once, and sat down on the steps to stare where Hob Gadling had passionately declared that he would find a cure.  

Hob grinned and nodded firmly before turning to make his way out of the castle.  He'd learned from repeated visits to Dream that walking out of the castle was usually enough to wake him up.  There was an uncomfortable feeling crawling up his spine that figuring out this curse wasn't going to be easy in any capacity, but he was still going to try and do everything in his power to cure Dream of the curse.  

He stepped outside and heard the roar of the Guardians and felt the familiar tug, deep in his chest that meant he was waking up and followed it, snapping awake in his bed, staring at the ceiling, the tight feeling in his chest getting worse.  Hob licked his lips and sat up, pushing his fingers through his hair.  He was going to need to file for a leave of absence, probably a family emergency.  If this was going to take as long as he thought to find who might have caused it, then he'd want the time.  

Hob also, very, very carefully, gave himself an hour to sip his tea and stare at a book, and allow the disappointment to wash over him.  He and Dream had been working their way toward... something.  Whether that something was romantic or not, he wasn't sure, because the recovery from being captured was very hit or miss for Dream most of the time.  He had PTSD without having it, because he was a personification which meant real, but not fully real similar reactions, and Hob had been so careful to be supportive, but not rush.  

Last week they'd held hands while they talked in the pub.  Gently, tentatively, almost.  But they had.  And Hob wasn't about to give it up for the world.  He didn't need Dream to talk, and even if Dream was disappointed, they'd figure out a way forward, just like they always did.  He didn't need Dream's voice to love him, or to tell him how he felt.  He didn't, and he could figure out most of those things from Dream anyways.  

Once Hob had cried into his tea, and finished drinking the whole cup, he was ready to see Constantine to figure out everything he could about this curse.  It would be easy (he hoped) to get some initial answers, and then they would go from there.  Or he would, since Dream would need to remain in the Dreaming for the time being.  How he was going to go about the diplomacies required was something Hob would have to ask Lucienne about, but in the short term he had no doubt that Lucienne could handle whatever was needed.  

And if anything truly bad happened, Lucienne knew now, to call him.  

Hob took a deep breath and hit the call button before leaning back in his chair.  Johanna answered with nothing more than a grunt, and Hob chuckled despite himself.  "Hey Jo, so I don't know if you've heard.  But the Dream Lord has been cursed, and I'm in the market to find out precisely who did it."  

Johanna Constantine's silence for the next six seconds was absolute, and then Hob laughed as she began to swear a blue streak, cursing up one side of the alphabet and then down the other as she looked for something in her apartment, clearly.  "How seriously in the market?" she asked, after several long minutes.  

Hob chuckled.  "Let me put it this way, Jo.  I will find out who did it to him, and they will pay." 

"You're serious, aren't you?" Johanna asked.  "You could make some powerful enemies, Hob.  It'd be best to just let him figure out how to cure it on his own rather than try to figure out who cast it and how to break it."  

"That's fine, I'll deal with that later," Hob said dismissively.  It didn't matter who became an enemy, he'd deal with it and move on, because the most important thing was helping Dream and making sure he got his voice back.  "But I need you to tell me where to start looking."  

Johanna chewed on her lip and sighed, pushing her hair out of her face.  "This isn't a good idea, Gadling.  You should let sleeping dogs lie."  

"If you don't help me, I'll find someone else who will, and take my money to them.  They won't turn me down," Hob stated, his hand on the phone tight.  He didn't think Jo would turn down the money (or the chance to use it to drink him out of a business), but he wasn't going to take any risks.  If she wouldn't help him, he'd find out answers another way.  

"Fucking hell Gadling.  All right.  I'll start asking around.  Be prepared for trouble, and I mean trouble with a capital T.  The Dream Lord being cursed is going to get around quickly, and everyone is going to come out of the woodwork to attack him and to take advantage."  

Hob tightened his hand on his phone.  "That's why we have to haul some serious ass, Jo.  I'm not going to let that happen, and whatever I have to do to help, I will.  But the most important thing is to get his curse broken."  

"I'll send you some light reading," Jo promised, and paused for a few seconds.  "It might not be able to be broken.  You should be prepared for that."  

"I have time," Hob said with a growl, the phone creaking under his grip.  "Time is one thing I am not worried about, and we will eventually figure out an answer.  If it's just going to take time, then that's fine." 

Johanna sighed.  "And if you can't break it?" 

Hob stared at the wall straight ahead in front of him.  "Curses can always be broken.  That's how fairy tales work."  He ended the call before Jo could tell him something else in response and breathed out hard.  Dream was a being of endless stories, and though some stories were tragedies, this one?  This one he would make sure had a fairy tale ending.  

Dream deserved to live happily ever after more than anyone else that he knew, and Hob wouldn't resign him to an existence without his voice for the rest of time.  He would not do it.  He pushed his fingers through his hair and forced himself up and into a shower.  He had a leave to submit for, and a family emergency to fake in front of his coworkers and employees.  

~!~

Thankfully, filling out all of the paperwork and calling all of the required people took him the rest of the morning, and by the time Hob sagged back onto his couch, exhausted, he had several places to start, according to Constantine, and a great deal of reading material to acquire.  

Closing his work laptop, he went to his bedroom and pulled out the other laptop that he had for his far more illegal dealings and opened it with a crack, before he started looking far more pointedly for information.  Along with the laptop, he pulled out the assorted IDs he had on hand, several black credit cards, and a few other statements that he skimmed through to familiarize himself with it again.  He might have been living as a man with a business and a teacher salary, but that didn't mean that was all he had access to if he needed, especially after Dream had told him what had happened to him.  

Being a teacher meant that, at least, when he went to the library and needed to go into the areas not open to the public, there was no resistance.  He was smiled at and granted entrance without an issue, which meant he could find the titles Constantine had demanded.  Hob picked up four other books to hide the few that he was checking out, and lightly joked with the tired and clearly bored intern at the desk as his books were signed out and he was given the standard list of how he needed to take care of the items that he was removing and that the library would follow up in two weeks.  

Hob agreed and signed all the appropriate forms before he took the books home and began pouring over them, staring at them with a frown.  His latin was rusty, but anything he didn't understand, he could at least flag for Constantine to look at, and he was more than halfway through the first book by the time his phone rang and Hob jolted back into alertness, fear jumping into his throat.  

He checked and saw that Lucienne was the caller and bit down the panic as he answered.  "Lucienne, what's wrong?" 

"We know who cast the curse," she said, her voice clipped as she strode down the hallway of the library, then into around another corner.  

Hob froze and stood up.  "Tell me who."  

"Titania, with the help of Hell, and a handful of humans," she answered.  "Dream suspects an attack on the Dreaming is imminent, because both of them have also asked to send diplomatic envoys.  Considering the nature of the curse-" 

"They're basically an attack party, because Dream can't follow the standard hospitality rules," Hob finished, chewing on his lower lip.  "He can't have you stand in for that?  You could welcome them, easily."  

Lucienne sighed.  "It would be seen as a slight, a large one, if they were to only interact with me, as he would be putting them on my level, not on his."  

Fuck, Hob had hoped to have more time.  He had needed to have more time.  "Okay, Lucienne, we're not going to be able to break the curse before this happens, are we?" 

"They are arriving tomorrow," she answered. 

Hob cursed again and tightened his hand on his phone.  Well, that meant several ill-advised things were about to happen.  "I need the names of the humans involved.  I can take them out of the picture, which will help.  And then I need to talk to Dream."  

Lucienne frowned.  "Mr. Gadling, while I know how much you care for my lord, there is nothing that you can do here.  Truly nothing."  

Hob took a deep breath and grinned, opening up a tab on his computer.  "That's not true at all, Lucienne, after all.  The best fairy tales have a knight in shining armor to help break the curse, right?  Sounds to me I just found the proverbial dragon I need to slay."  The sharp intake of breath from her over the phone told him that he'd said the right thing.  "Get me their names.  I need to make sure they won't meddle more while Dream is hosting."  

"Very well," Lucienne agreed with a deep breath.  "I shall do as you ask, and hope that your plan, such as it is, is one that will free him from the curse."  

"Even if I can't break him from the curse, I am going to do what he wants more than anything else, and keep the Dreaming, and the Dreamers safe," Hob promised, and was glad when she agreed before hanging up the phone.  He pushed his hair out of his face and waited until his phone chimed and stared at the names.  Six of them.  Six men who had helped Hell and Titania put Dream under a curse.  

Hob hummed and scrolled through a list of numbers until he found one that he recognized and grinned, settling back in his chair with a huff.  He needed to get to the Dreaming to talk to Dream, so there wasn't any time to take care of them himself, which meant that he needed to use someone that he trusted.  When the line clicked to active, but there wasn't any greeting, Hob chuckled.  "Winston.  A pleasure to speak with you again.  Would you be so kind as to put a bounty in place for me?  I'm going to be busy for the next few hours and won't be able to do it myself."  

"Of course Mr. Gadling.  Send over the information and I'll get it sent out."  

Hob hung up without saying anything further and sent over the information once he had it from Lucienne.  If there was one thing he could count on, it would be their deaths in the next few hours.  Which meant, now, he could focus on the threats that were far from as easily handled.  The threats that Dream (whether he admitted it or not) needed help to handle.  

Hob took a deep breath, forced himself to eat something, to drink water, and to call Constantine with an update, before he made his way over to bed and pulled out the bottle of emergency sleeping pills he had purchased just in case of this particular situation.  He had hoped that he wouldn't have needed to use it this soon, but better safe than sorry when it came to risking it.  

Hob swallowed a handful of them and stretched out on the bed, getting as comfortable as he could, breathing in deep until he felt his heartbeat slow, and lethargy crept over him until he was falling asleep and into the Dreaming.  His first steps were on the streets of London, in the rain, and Hob frowned, looking backward and forward.  He'd been looking for something.  Going somewhere.  But where?  

He took two steps to the left, toward work, and then stopped.  Work.  What work?  Where was he working?  His outfit fluctuated between something closer to modern century, to the rags he had worn in the 1600s, to the simple clothes he had worn working for Caxton.  "Am I dreaming?" Hob asked himself, frowning deeper, something tugging at his chest.  "I'm dreaming," He repeated, and his head snapped up.  

The dream dissolved and Hob grunted as he hit the ground, and ahead of him, there was a dream with skin made of stars, and gossamer wings behind him.  Hob swallowed and bowed his head, recognizing one of the Major Arcana.  "Gault," he said.  "I'm sorry, but I need to see him."  

"He has instructed us to keep you from him," she said.  "He believes that you will do something foolish."  

Despite himself, Hob laughed.  "Oh it will undoubtedly be something foolish," he agreed.  "But then again, the Knight is supposed to do all manner of foolish things in a fairy tale, to rescue the one who needs rescuing.  And I am determined to have this be a fairy tale."  

Gault blinked, confused, and stared at him, looking around as the Dreaming seemed to twist and respond to the words that the human spoke with conviction.  Was this because of their lord's preoccupation with him?  He had been able to pull himself out of the dreamscape with ease, as though he was never meant to be there in the first place.  

"I... see," Gault said and frowned, looking to the castle.  "You will need to hurry.  They will be here soon," she urged, giving him a push toward the bridge.  

Hob gave her a sunny grin and began sprinting across the bridge, racing for the closed doors.  If Gault was right and he didn't have much time, that meant he didn't have time to convince Dream of his absolutely wild idea.  But this, as far as he was concerned, was his and Dream's story, and that meant he could control some parts of it, and he was not going to let Dream fall to tragedy.  He was not.  He refused to even contemplate it.  

Gault watched as the human ran, the light of the Dreaming growing stronger around him with every step.  Almost as though, even though their lord pushed him away, the Dreaming demanded him closer.  A glance at the fading cloudy skies told her that she was more right than she'd realized, so she turned her attention back to the Dreamers and focused on the ones who would not try to run away from their dreamscapes like Hob Gadling seemed determined to do.  

Hob waved to the guardians, called out his name, and ignored their squawk when he didn't stop to speak with them as he pushed the doors open and closed them behind him.  "I need to get to Dream quickly," he said to the empty room in front of him and followed the tug in his chest that would lead him to Dream.  That's how these sorts of things always worked in the stories, after all.  

The castle was busier than Hob had ever seen it, and there as a level of franticness present that had not been there the last time he'd been here.  Hob rubbed at his temples and stepped into the throne room.  It'd been less than a day in the Waking, in his world, but he got the feeling that much more time had passed here than he expected.  

Dream was at the center of the chaos, doing nothing more than point in a direction before someone - either a Dream, or Nightmare, or Lucienne or Mervyn raced in that direction.  Decorations were stringing themselves up in the Throne Room, and Hob had to step around the large table that was quickly filling with a feast, he assumed for the approaching guests.  He'd made it just in time, by the looks of things.  

All of them glanced at him as they hurried past, but Hob waited until Dream had given out all the orders he could, before he stepped forward and smiled at him.  "Hello!"  

Dream's scowl was dark, and had Hob not been so determined to help him, he might have been terrified.  But, thankfully, he was well-used to Dream's mercurial temper.  "I know, I know, I'm not supposed to be here, it's dangerous, they're going to arrive any minute and if you could, you would 'This Dream is Over' me, I know."  

Dream blinked and stared at Hob Gadling, who was still grinning at him with that shining look on his face, the power of the Dreaming curled around him like a cloak.  He nodded once.  

"Well, I'm not planning to let you, and it's rather convenient that I don't have to argue with you about it," Hob said, stepping to the side when Lucienne rushed forward and Dream gestured rapidly around the room and Lucienne turned, barking orders louder.  "I came to help."  

Dream stared in disbelief at him.  

Hob crossed his arms over his chest and raised his eyebrows.  "What?  I've hosted a queen before, it can't be one of your subjects, it would be a slight to them, and you need someone to speak to make the appropriate welcoming gestures and negotiate on your behalf with your best interests in mind."  

Dream raised a single eyebrow and continued to stare at Hob Gadling.  

"Am I wrong?" Hob challenged.  "You need someone to be able to help you, Dream.  Let me help."  This time Dream's expression crumpled for the briefest of moments before it smoothed out and he shook his head.  

Hob took a deep breath and reached out to touch his arm.  "My friend.  I understand well that you are able to take care of yourself, and that, despite this adversity, I have no doubt you will come through this with flying colors.  However, you do not have to do it alone.  I want to help you.  I think I'm meant to help you.  That's how the stories go, don't they?" 

Dream paused.

Hob waited with baited breath as Dream's full attention returned to him and time seemed to slow around them, dragging to a crawl.  Invoking stories in this way around Dream could be dangerous, but Hob knew (mostly) what he was doing.  "Knight in Shining armor comes to the rescue of the King.  To save and protect him.  That's how this works.  That's how it always works in the stories, and I'm a Knight."  

The ground under them shimmered and Hob felt the sunshine that had been gathering around him earlier gather around his shoulders, latches of a cloak falling into place.  "I want to help you, my King," Hob repeated, his voice soft, as Dream shuddered.  "Let me be your voice while you have none."  

Dream licked his lips and stared down at Hob Gadling, cloaked in the power of the Dreaming, all of his wants and desires tied up in a promise to protect him and keep him safe, to speak for him when he could not.  To care for him, not because he was Hob's creator, but because Hob cared about him.  He reached out to cup his hands around Hob's face and pulled him in so their foreheads were pressed together.  

Dream felt Hob shiver as they shared one breath, and another, inhaling the conviction that Hob had that he could be kept safe, that the Dreamers, the Dreaming, that all of it could be kept safe.  That Hob would keep them safe even if he could not.  He lifted one hand away and reached for what would be needed, what would be required if Hob was to do what he was asking for, not that he could explain what it meant, or that it could not be taken back once it was given.  

The gem fell into his palm and Dream summoned Lucienne from her duties in a moment, looking to her as he held up the Amber Dreamstone now on a gold chain that matched the cloak on Hob's back.  He would require her to explain what it was, and what it would mean for Hob to wear it.  

Lucienne sucked in a sharp breath and glanced between Hob and her Lord, how close they were standing, then to the Dreamstone.  

Hob pulled away, as much as he didn't want to, and glanced at Lucienne with raised eyebrows.  "What is that?" 

"That, Hob Gadling, is a Dreamstone," Lucienne said, glancing up at Dream and waiting for the nod before he stepped closer.  "If you are to wear it, in the eyes of those arriving, you would be seen on a similar level to royalty of the Dreaming.  It would enable you to speak with, and for him, on his behalf."  

Hob sucked in a breath and turned to Dream, meeting his eyes.  He smiled and didn't miss the violent wash of mixed emotions that Dream seemed to be trapped in.  He bowed his head and took a deep breath.  "It would be my honor to wear such a gift, to protect the Dreaming, the Dreamers, and a King."  

Dream carefully lowered the Dreamstone down and over Hob's head and watched it settle against his breastbone, shining brightly as it flashed, and a crown shimmered to life in Hob's hair, shining gold and amber.  He leaned in and pressed their foreheads together again, breathing in deep, because the dire situation did not seem nearly as much with Hob here beside him.  

"Titania and the delegation from Hell are not going to be pleased, Mr. Gadling," Lucienne said, her lips pressed tightly together.  "They may even be angry that you have attempted to circumvent their plans."  

Hob didn't turn to look at her, he remained close, his fingertips pressed lightly to the ages of Dream's cloak.  "They're going to be even more angry when they find that the humans they hired and had do their dirty work have been killed, and the organization dismantled, so they'll get used to it."  A jolt from Dream and now he was being stared at.  He raised his eyebrows and smiled.  "I made you a promise, remember?  I was not going to let them hurt you, and they have.  So they pay."  

Dream nodded once.  

"As for the delegations, do you have any idea what they are going to demand?  It would help if I knew before they showed up so I can make a plan for tackling them," Hob said, continuing to stare at Dream.  He'd tensed all over again, his face going cold and shuttered.  Which could mean a dozen different things, and he would have to guess exactly which one of them applied in this case.  

"They are likely coming to offer their hands," Lucienne said, clearing her throat.  "As Dream is now, in their eyes, unfit to rule."  

Hob scowled and glanced at Lucienne.  "I wasn't aware that having a voice was required to be the King of Dreams and Nightmares, the Prince of Stories, and one of the Endless, so I'm not sure how that logic tracks."  

"Stories are told," Lucienne answered.  

"He is stories," Hob growled back, glaring at her.  "There are many ways to tell a story, and I will not have them thinking that spoken or written is the only way to do so.  He holds them all, he is them all, and they are all a part of them.  To be them is far more important than being able to speak them."  

Lucienne turned to look at the entrance and hummed softly.  "Perhaps," she agreed.  "But Titania and the delegation from Hell may not agree with you.  You will need to find a way to refuse them without insulting them."  

Hob snorted and rolled his eyes.  "Ask me to do something easy why don't you."  He took a deep breath and nodded.  "Hopefully that isn't their reasoning, but if it is, I will deal with it, we will deal with it."  He reached up to adjust the crown in his hair and lifted it off his head to look at it curiously.  "This come with the cape?" he asked, but neither of them answered him, choosing to look away.  The small bit of pink on Dream's cheeks was answer enough, he supposed.  

"All right, keep your secrets, that's fine," Hob said with a huff, turning his attention down to the Dreamstone, running his fingers over it.  He could feel the pulses of magic in it that felt like Dream and he wrapped a hand around it, humming happily as he held it closer to his chest.  Maybe if he was lucky, Dream would let him keep it, it might be easier to visit him in the Dreaming.  Even though he knew that Dream was regularly busy, it would be nice.  Like a piece of Dream was with him all of the time.  

Around him, the preparations had begun in earnest again, and Hob had to admire just how gorgeous the Throne Room was normally, but like this, decked in finery and clearly on display for any who might be visiting, it was resplendent and a testament to Dream's power.  Which was exactly why he was doing it, no doubt.  To prove to everyone that cursed he might be, he was not weak and never had been.  

Chapter Text

A gong echoed through the castle and Hob tensed, standing up quickly, and looked to Dream.  "They're here?" 

Dream nodded.  He stepped forward.  

Hob kept stride with Dream, as did Lucienne.  She was on his left, and he was on Dream's right, and as they walked toward the entrance of the castle, his clothes began to shift to regalia worthy of a knight, and Hob stood straight and tall.  The last piece to shimmer to life was the sword at his hip, and the dagger tucked away in the sheath at his side.  Familiar comforts that he knew as well as any.  

He took a deep breath and reached out to squeeze Dream's hand for a brief instant.  "Here we go," he said, and turned his attention to the doors as they opened to reveal the two delegations.  

"Lucifer Morningstar, Ruler of all the Hell realms, and Titania, Queen Under the Hill," the gate guardians called out.  

There were more names that followed after, the rest of the delegation that was being announced, but Hob could feel his world tilting a little bit sideways at the knowledge that he was facing down not only the Queen of the Fae, but Lucifer Morningstar.  He took a deep breath, and when they had finished approaching, he drew their attention with a single step forward and a shallow bow.  

"Welcome to the Dreaming, we are pleased to receive you this evening," he said, meeting their surprised looks with a smile.  "If you will follow us to the Throne Room, a spread and table have been laid out for you to enjoy after your journey." 

"Can't bring yourself to greet us yourself, little Dream?" Lucifer taunted, stepping into the castle with a raised eyebrows.  

Hob felt Dream tense at his side, but he laughed and saw the smile immediately fade.  "There's no need for such thinly veiled tactics, nor will we allow them in this castle while we discuss what matters you have brought forward as delegations.  You have been greeted, and you are welcome, so please.  Follow us."  

Beside him, Dream was vibrating, though with what emotion, Hob did not know.  He did make it a point to offer his arm and was glad when Dream took it, and he turned their backs on Lucifer and Titania, leading the way to the throne room.  It raised every single hair on his arms to turn his back on the two powerful beings, but he was not going to be intimidated by their power, or what they represented.  He would not.  

They walked in lockstep, and Hob was glad when it was clear the delegation was following behind them.  He shifted just a fraction to press his hand against Dream's, and smiled when his arm was clutched all the tighter.  "I am a truly excellent host, you know."  He squeezed Dream's hand and hoped that Dream understood the underlying message.  He would not allow Dream to be bullied in his palace, or in his home, and would make sure that if they did, they regretted it.  

Hob had a feeling the assignment would be far more difficult than artfully sidestepping a comment from the Morningstar, but he would take things as they came, and do whatever he could to protect Dream and have this fairy tale end as it should.

~!~

The table had been altered, and Hob was glad they were not facing Lucifer or Titania when he caught sight of the adjustment that had been made.  At the head of the table, there were two seats, side by side, one silver and another gold.  There was an immediate burst of noise behind him, but nothing that he saw fit to address as he turned to gesture to the table, indicating that all were to sit, and to the seats of honor for Lucifer and Titania.  

"Your hospitality is as generous as ever, Dream," Titania said, slipping into her seat and gesturing for the rest of her entourage to do the same.  "Impressive, considering the rumors I have heard of your... diminished nature lately."  

Hob settled into his seat of glowing silver, and Dream may as well have been a statue for how he reacted to that particular insult.  "Rumors, my lady, are just that.  Rumors.  A wise monarch knows to validate them, and I am glad that you have come here to see that they are as false as the rumors of your own diminishing."  A dark flash of her eyes showed that the point had been made and she wasn't happy about it.  

Dream had told him just how much the Fae Realm had been weakening over the past few centuries, removing all attachments from more materials worlds to stew in their own magic was slowly causing them to drown.  It would be a matter of time before they had nothing, and lost the last of their power.  

"He is a fascinating pet, Dream," Titania acknowledged, reaching out to take a sip of her wine.  

Hob chose to let that go, and turned his attention to Lucifer.  "I hope that you find the spread to your liking, Lord Lucifer?"  

Lucifer hummed and picked up a single grape, studying it.  "It is... adequate."  

Hob had no idea if adequate was good or bad in his case, but since Lucifer seems to be helping themselves to food all across the table, he was going to call it good enough and sat back to enjoy his own wine.  They would tell him why they were present soon enough, and unlike Dream, he was not going to demand to know what they were doing here and what they wanted.  

They had a plan, and he had no doubt that if he allowed them, they could get the upper hand very easily, and that plan would be asking why they were here.  If instead, he focused on being a host, and doing what they required, they would give him a chance to plan.  

Lucienne circled the table and ensured that everyone's needs were seen to and Hob smiled and thanked her as she filled his glass and gave him an approving nod.  Once the initial feasting had concluded, and the attention of the two entourages had returned to Dream (who had, of course, eaten nothing), Hob waited.  Dream was trusting him to managed this correctly, to manage this properly, and to make sure they all came out on the other side intact.  

Titania delicately cleared her throat.  "Are you not going to inquire as to why we have made the pilgrimage here, Dream Lord?" 

Hob turned his attention to Titania and smiled, watching her.  "You come to the Dreaming every time you sleep, my lady, you are hardly strangers among this land, any of you here.  As to your presence this evening, we confess that we had thought you wished for nothing more than to grace us with your esteemed company.  It is a pleasure to see you, of course."  

There was a quick snicker that was abruptly silenced from Titania's other side, and Hob very pointedly kept his face blank and interested in whatever she could have to say.  He wanted to fiddle with the Dreamstone, draw their attention to it, and make sure that they understood what it meant, that they were not being slighted, but that would have to wait for the most opportune moment.  There would be a chance for it, he had no doubt.  

"You presume much, to speak for Dream, human," Lucifer stated, studying him.  "Is it, perhaps, because he seeks to hide behind you?  He never did enjoy fighting his own battles, as I recall."  They sipped their wine and raised their eyebrows.  

A surge of something from the Dreaming told Hob what he needed to say before he realized it.  "Dream is never afraid to fight his own battles and win, my lord Morningstar," Hob said, keeping his voice as unaffected as possible.  "We would hope-"  he watched the eyes of the devil flash hellfire red and was unable to keep the hint of a smirk off of his lips.  "-that you of all people would know this."  

Titania laughed, her head falling back.  "Such an entertaining little guard dog, Dream.  I never would have imagined you to keep such a pet.  But now is the time to dismiss him.  We have a proposal for you that you would be wise to take advantage of."  

There it was, and Hob felt Dream still, staring them both done, impassive.  They wanted something from him, wanted to threaten him, demand from him, and take, when it was clear that he could not stop him the same way that he normally could.  Hob took a deep breath and settled back into the throne he sat in and cleared his throat.  

"I am sure you have noticed, my lady Titania, our seating arrangements.  We sit together.  We decide together.  And we will listen to whatever terms and offer you have brought forward, and negotiate them together," his voice was firm and rang with the power of the Dreaming beneath it, the Dreamstone shining on his chest.  "I'm afraid you will not see me dismissed."  

Lucifer scoffed.  "You are a human who seeks to sit at the table with us, you have no rights to do so."  

"Human I may be," Hob stated, meeting Lucifer's eyes.  "But I have every right to sit here, and speak with you."  

Titania laughed, her head falling back.  "And how do you see that, human?" 

Hob raised his eyebrows at both of them and allowed himself to grin.  "I would have thought the crown and the Dreamstone were a clue."  The words silenced them both and their eyes zeroed in on the chain and the stone that hung just out of their lines of sight.  Hob reached out to lift the Dreamstone up and the amber shimmered to life, flaring bright gold, the same as the cape he was wearing.  

He lowered it back down and stared them down.  "So we will be happy to stay and hear what this proposal is that you have for us."  Hob paused pointedly and took another bite of the food in front of him, well aware that both Lucifer and Titania were glaring at him.  Was Dream so without allies that they had not thought that someone would stand by his side through anything, even this?  

Or had Dream not had time to mend those ties since his capture?  

Once he'd had the thought, Hob knew what was correct, and that Lucienne's guess as to the purpose of this meeting was more than likely correct.  Dream had focused on repairing the Dreaming first, and repairing diplomatic ties second, and had not had time to finish the second before he was cursed, and now he was in a position to do none of it.  

Which made the threat in front of them all the worse.  

Hob took a deep breath and waited for either Lucifer or Titania to start speaking, his mind swirling with the implications.  If they couldn't find a way to break the curse, he would need to continue that mission for Dream, quickly and quietly, in the event that Hell and the Fae Realm decided to try something far more underhanded.  But for now, the most important thing was to get through this meeting without giving them an inch.  

"Our proposal is simple, Dream Lord," Lucifer said, their voice a purr.  

"Marry us and unite our realms," Titania continued, her voice a faint buzz.  

"There are none who would dare stand in our way if we were united," Lucifer continued.  "They would all fall before us, and none would dare challenge us ever again."  

"And," Titania continued.  "Were you to be married to us, there would be no chance of you being removed from the Dreaming again.  It would be ours to rule and protect with you."  

Hob didn't need the screaming warning from the Dreaming to shoot through his veins, filling him with a mix of panic and adrenaline, to know that this was not something that Dream wanted, but it was a good confirmation of it, at the least.  Lucienne had been right about needing to be very, very careful here.  

"You may not be weak," Lucifer said, picking up their glass of wine, staining their lips blood red with it.  "But you have shown, inadvertently, that one of the Endless can become diminished, captured, and taken advantage of.  You need allies, Dream Lord.  And what better way to gather those allies than by marriage to two of the strongest realms?"  

On the other side of Lucifer, behind them, Lucienne's face was tight with fear, and Hob could read it as plainly as he could read the threat of what would happen if Dream refused the offer.  Hob studied them both, and he could almost see the way their magic was curling around them, anticipating the strike and blow they were about to deal.  Even if Dream did marry them, and agreed to their terms, there would be no life lived at all.  He would be nothing but destroyed.  

Though he could not speak, there were some things that Dream could do, and Hob turned to him to watch him meet both Titania and Lucifer's eyes before definitively shaking his head in a no to them both.  Since neither of them looked upset or devastated, they had to have expected this, that he wouldn't give in so easily.  They'd have to sell it, to convince him.  

Or make him.  

The sludgy, dark panic that was clouding his veins told him exactly which one Dream suspected as they all continued to watch each other.  Hob looked out at the feast spread across the table, and at the creatures on both sides that were watching the altercation with undisguised interest.  They wanted to know what was going to happen and were prepared no matter the option.  

Neither Lucifer or Titania had said a word after Dream's clear refusal of them, and now the tension was held across the table, as tight as a knife, impossible to move forward with this kind of a weight.  Which meant that he needed to step in and do his job again.  Put a mask on and play the role he had cast himself into for this story.  He was Dream's Knight, and he was going to rescue him.  

Hob stood up and smiled at all of them, his Dreamstone once more shining with power.  "Well if that was all, I confess that this particular negotiation was much shorter than I expected."  

Lucifer and Titania shared a glance.  

Hob gestured to Dream, who was still sitting, still as stone in his seat.  "He gave you his answer, and you now have it.  So our business here is concluded, unless you have further matters to discuss."  

"It would be foolish to turn this offer down, little Dream," Lucifer said, their voice soft as satin, and clearly a threat.  "There are many who want the Dreaming for themselves.  You will need allies, you will need help."  

Hob didn't say that Lucifer was clearly one of the ones who wanted the Dreaming for themselves and raised an eyebrow.  "Is that a threat, Lucifer?  May I remind you, that we have welcomed you here, offered you food, drink, and our hospitality."  

Lucifer stiffened and frowned at him.  "It is a statement of fact.  One that is undeniable to all who move in powerful and royal circles."  

"Ah, I see," Hob said with a nod, and turned to Titania.  The fury was ill-contained on her face, so he waited her out, because he had no doubt that she would bury herself if he let her.  He waited and raised an eyebrow.  

"We offer him protection!" Titania said.  "To protect him from his enemies and to keep the Dreamers safe!" 

Like a discordant note, the offer rang wrong across all of his senses.  Neither of these creatures cared about the Dreamers under Dream's charge, and Hob tilted his head to stare at her.  "Are there those out there who would so readily declare themselves enemies of the Endless?  We would be most interested to know who would dare, knowing where they all come when they lay their heads to rest at night.  To be severed from the Dreaming would end their hopes of being a conqueror in a matter of days, at most."  

Titania's lips snapped shut and she stared at the human, scowling.  "You do not know those who would move against the Dreaming.  Lack of dreams would hardly be enough to stop them, they would keep coming until you were dead and buried, human.  Long after your life is nothing but a speck in our respective existences, those threats will remain."  

"As will I," Hob said, the words ringing with power.  They'd surprised Lucifer and Titania, he could tell, but he also knew they would recognize the lack of lie.  He smiled faintly at them.  "All of this aside though, there is one other very important reason that Dream cannot marry you."  

Titania scoffed.  "And what might that be?" 

Dream's attention had shifted to him for the first time since they had sat down at the table and Hob took a deep breath, hoping against hope that this was right.  That this was how they could proceed.  This was what they needed, what was right, and how they could get out of this moment without causing undue upset with either Titania or Lucifer.  

"Why, because I already plan to, and I am quite the selfish, greedy creature, and would keep him exclusively to myself, of course."  

The table froze in silence, and shock, and Hob took his time looking at everyone who would meet his eyes, staring them down until he turned back to Titania and gave her his best simpering smile.  "There is a reason, after all, my lady, that I wear one of the Dreamstones, and that I sit here, as his right hand, and that we speak together."  

Lucifer laughed, their head falling back.  "A human?  Wed to one of the Endless?  And here I had thought Dream had learned this lesson once before."  Their expression turned wicked.  "Or have you forgotten that Nada, a former human queen, is still trapped in Hell because of you, Dream?" They turned their attention to Hob Gadling.  "You have no such position, and you have no proof of this engagement!" 

"Did you think you could trick us?" Titania said with a laugh.  "Is that what this was?  You sought to trick us to keep Dream safe?  Oh how delightful, it's like watching a child learn to play for the first time."  

In every fairy tale, there was a moment.  

Where the Knight had been knocked down and there was a sword at his neck.  

Where the Prince faced down a dragon who could easily kill him.  

Where the Hero faced the Villain against impossible odds.  

Where two very simple choices stood before them - either succeed, or die.  

Hob did not look at Dream for reassurance, nor did he look away to the rest of the table. Any protests would be dismissed. Attempts to point toward Dream's regard for him, when he could not speak to confirm it would also be dismissed. The one thing he could rely on, however, was them, and their interpretation of everything.

"Did I lie?" Hob challenged, silencing the growing volume at the table.  

"What?" Lucifer's voice echoed, flat and toneless.  

Hob turned to look at them, a smirk curling on his lips as he raised his eyebrows.  "With your combined wisdom, I am beyond certain that the two of you would be able to immediately ferret out any sort of lie or untruth, so I ask you again."  He paused and made sure the attention of every creature in the room was on him.  

"Do I lie when I say that I plan to marry Dream of the Endless, and to keep him to myself?" Hob challenged, looking at each of them.  

"You do not lie," Titania said slowly, begrudgingly.  "But humans are fickle and-" 

"I am not any ordinary human," Hob challenged, cutting her off.  "Now, dear guests.  While you are welcome to enjoy our hospitality to the fullest before you return to your own realms, unless you have further need or demands of us, we will be retiring."  

No one at the table spoke, so Hob offered Dream his arm and waited for him to stand and take it, leading him away from the table and toward the winding staircase.  It felt like the right direction to be going in, and when they reached the room at the top (much quicker than they should have been able to climb all of those steps, but Hob wasn't going to question it), he opened the door for Dream and held it for him, closing it behind them with a sound that echoed in the throne room.  

Once the door was shut, Hob let out a relieved breath and felt his hands start to shake.  "Can, can they hear or feel us in here?"  

Dream shook his head.  

"Thank fuck, I need to just," Hob sank down into a crouch and buried his face in his knees, breathing hard and fast as he fought down the panic that was threatening to swamp over him.  The urge and desire to protect Dream had overridden everything, and now his body was making him pay for it.  A sob caught in his throat and he wiped frantically at his eyes, even as he felt Dream come to kneel in front of him.  

"Sorry, I'm sorry, I'm fine, I just..." Hob shifted so he could kneel and breathed in deep, forcing himself to do it again and again.  "I couldn't panic while I was down there, and now I'm freaking out about it."  Another sob broke out of his lips and Hob shook himself, trying to refocus.  "I'm all right, I'm okay."  

Dream's hands came to cup his face and Hob would normally have been embarrassed about the way he leaned into Dream, trusting his friend to take his weight, to hold him up when doing that for himself became too much, but right now, it felt like exactly what he needed.  He reached out to tangle his fingers into Dream's robe, and tried to breathe through the drowning panic.  

"Was, was I okay?  Did I do all right?" Hob asked, swallowing hard.  "I promised that I would protect you, and protect the Dreamers, and I could feel that they were going to do harm, I knew it, I could feel it.  I think it was the Dreaming, or you, trying to talk to me."  He knew that he was rambling, that he wasn't making much sense, but he had to know, had to know that he hadn't caused problems for Dream.  

Dream nodded repeatedly and Hob sagged in relief, another sob building in his chest and he was glad when Dream wrapped his arms around him and Hob held onto him tighter.  He wanted to be able to talk to Dream, and now, with the curse between them felt like a gulf that they could not cross.  But maybe there was something in how tightly Dream was clinging to him as well.  

All of a sudden, Dream sagged in relief, nearly panting, and Hob looked up at him, worried, but the exhaustion and heavy-handed tiredness on his face was clear and meant something.  It took Dream gesturing for the door for Hob to realize what happened. "Oh, they've left?" 

Dream nodded.  

Hob let out a breath.  "Thank fuck."  He leaned in against Dream again, burying his face in Dream's neck, even though he knew that they would need to figure something out.  He certainly hadn't lied to Lucifer, or Titania, but he'd been very careful about how he worded those sentences to make sure that they were not lies, but there would be no obligations to Dream if things changed, or were different, in the future.  

Dream was still holding him, and Hob didn't know how long they knelt there, shivering and clinging, when a knock came at the door.  By the way Dream pulled away and stood, Hob figured that meant it was something that they needed to address and handle, so he took a deep breath and nodded to Dream, making sure to wipe his face first.  He still felt floaty, and like he wasn't quite moored into his body like he was supposed to be, but that probably came from the emotional high of facing the devil and Queen of the Fae head on like he had.  

Dream opened the door and on the other side stood Lucienne with Matthew.  

Hob kept himself turned away, not because he didn't want to look at them, but because he needed just a few more minutes to shove his heart back into his overly stubborn chest before he faced all of them after the declaration he had made to Titania and Lucifer.  

"My lords," Lucienne said with a bow.  "Titania and Lucifer have departed.  They have both asked that I pass on felicitations of your impending nuptials, and are eager to receive an invite when the date is decided."  

Hob swallowed around the lump in his throat at the reminder of what he had promised, what he had sworn and took another deep breath.  Dream had said he'd done nothing wrong, or, rather, that what he'd done was the right thing in protecting the Dreamers, and he had to remember that.  Even if this destroyed what they had going forward, he would make sure that they were still friends, and they would work together to keep the Dreaming safe while he worked to find a cure.  

Taking one more final deep breath, Hob turned to face Lucienne and Matthew, stepping up beside Dream.  

"Well, you certainly made an impression," Matthew said, letting out a cackling laugh.  "Lucienne said I had to stay in the ceiling because I couldn't keep from laughing, and she was right!  You told them both off!" 

Hob let out a weak chuckle and was more relieved than he could say when Dream reached out to hold his hand, because that was the only thing keeping him upright.  "Told you, couldn't let anything happen to the Dreamers, or the Dreaming."  

Lucienne bowed her head.  "I fear that this is not the last we have seen of them both.  Neither were pleased, even though they could not deny the truth of your words."  She cleared her throat.  "In fact, my lord..." 

Dream looked to Matthew and raised an eyebrow.  

Matthew sighed and took wing.  "You never let me stay for any of the fun conversations!"  He gave one last flap around their heads before he shot down toward where Mervyn was clearing away the table as the decorations put themselves away.  

Lucienne shook her head and turned her attention back to Dream and Hob Gadling, who were both much more calm than she would have imagined after the discussions that had taken place.  "They are both very angry."  

Hob sighed and pushed his fingers through his hair.  "I knew they would be.  There was no way to guarantee they wouldn't be angry, the only thing I could do was give them a reason they couldn't argue with, and that worked."  

Lucienne hummed.  "I was surprised your tactic worked.  They did not like how you twisted that on them."  

This time, Hob let himself grin, and was glad when Dream squeezed his hand again.  "Neither of them would have believed any other sort of declaration that they could dismiss.  However, their own abilities?  They could not afford to doubt those and let themselves be seen as weak, made sense in front of their entourage."  

"It was brilliantly done, indeed, Mr. Gadling."  Lucienne pushed her glasses up her nose and cleared her throat.  "In fact, the only issue I foresee with it-" 

"Is that they will expect a wedding sometime in the near future?" Hob offered up.  Dream's expression shifted and Hob wanted to look at him, to find out how he felt, how they could move forward, because this was something they would do together, or... 

Lucienne nodded.  "Yes."  

Hob cleared his throat and risked a glance at Dream.  His hand was still, and he seemed to be waiting, waiting for whatever Hob was about to say.  "What did I say to them, Lucienne?" 

"I," Lucienne paused, and frowned.  "You said that you planned to marry Dream of the Endless, and keep him to yourself."  

Hob nodded and let out a rough breath.  "And where, in that particular sentence, do you see a requirement for Dream to marry me?" 

Lucienne's eyes widened in shock.  

"I made sure, that I said it was my plan.  That I planned to marry him.  That I would keep him to myself.  That they could not marry him, because I planned to."  Hob felt Dream go as unnaturally still as he had earlier around Titania and Lucifer and felt long fingers slip from between his as Dream pulled his hand away.  "I was careful, Lucienne.  I did not say would.  Not once.  I did not commit Dream to an action that he might not wish to do, I could not do that to him, or the Dreaming.  I promised to protect him, the Dreaming, and the Dreamers."  

Dream took a step away from him, and Hob felt his heart shatter all at once, in a single go.  He closed his eyes and forced himself to take a deep breath.  He hadn't been enough to keep the story from being a tragedy.  

"I, I see.  I will leave you both, then," Lucienne said. 

Between one blink and the next, she was gone, and Hob turned to face Dream, where he was standing, still partially turned away.  They were alone now, and there was an ocean of space between them and he didn't know how to cross it when Dream couldn't speak to him.  Hob swallowed and fought back the completely unreasonable urge to cry all over again.  He'd so badly wanted this story not to be a tragedy, but it seemed that he was not going to get what he wanted.  

"I didn't lie," Hob said, his voice soft.  Dream's shoulders were tensed, and he was holding himself tight and and aloof.  "I didn't lie, Dream.  But after knowing what happened to you, even knowing that you trusted me to speak for you to keep you safe, I could not commit you to that without knowing that it was something you wanted too.  I couldn't do it.  I didn't want a marriage between us to be another cage that you had to find a way to break free from."  

The sound of rain starting to fall against the windows drew his attention for a moment, and he closed his eyes, sighing at the sight of it, before he turned back to Dream, only to find himself standing alone on the landing outside of Dream's bedroom.  Hob swallowed hard and carefully closed the doors before descending the stairs that now felt as Endless as Dream was.  

All the signs of the visit were gone, put away as though they had never been there in the first place, and at some point, Hob realized that his clothes had shifted back to modern day, something soft, that he was comfortable in and familiar with.  The only thing that remained was the Dreamstone around his neck.  He wrapped a hand around it and swallowed as he looked up at where Dream's throne was.  Perhaps he should have left it there, but if Dream wanted it back, he would have to come demand it.  

(Hob ignored the selfish part of him, deep in his chest, that was eager for just one more chance to see Dream, even if it would be the last time he did.)  

Hob took another deep breath and walked through the castle and back to the front hall, stepping out of the front doors as they shut behind him.  The Guardians were quiet, and Hob quietly despaired when he didn't wake up immediately.  He'd planned too well for himself, it seemed.  At the least, he started to make his way across the bridge, the sight of Fiddler's Green like the comfort of a familiar friend.  It was nothing more than an ache now, settled deep in his chest, but he was practiced at ignoring it.  He always had been.  

How long he laid in the grass, staring up at the gray rolling clouds that continued the consistent cold rain, Hob didn't know.  But at least like this, no one could see his tears, nor could he catch a cold.  It fit, even when he started to shiver, and he turned over on his side, remembering the first time Dream had shown him Fiddler's Green, the pride in his voice.  He wrapped a hand around the amber Dreamstone, and felt the familiar pulse of Dream's power and let himself doze to the impossible thoughts of happily ever after.  

Chapter Text

Hob woke up.  

The amber Dreamstone was still around his neck.  

Hob tucked it under his clothes, checked how much time had passed, and called Constantine.  He wouldn't go back to work yet, he had more work to do first, and lots more that he could do to research the curse on Dream and what could be done to break it.  

He got confirmation that the men and organization he'd ordered destroyed had been completed and turned his attention to research.  Hob followed the trail that Constantine had laid out for him and continued to research.  Even if he couldn't figure out exactly what they had done, maybe he could unravel the pieces just enough to give Lucienne something that could help Dream.  

(When he remembered, days later, that Dream had every book ever written or ever conceived of being written, and had read them all and was aware of them all, Hob left his apartment to walk on the wrong side of town to pick several fights before he lit them all on fire.)  

Then he returned every book back to their owners and started tracking down people to talk to.  

Lucienne didn't call him.  Matthew didn't visit.  

Hob held onto the Dreamstone so tightly when he slept he thought that maybe one day he would wake to the stone being broken, but it was not.  He didn't fall into Dreams or Nightmares anymore.  Not unless he asked, and Hob didn't know what the right answer was.  They all looked at him in pity, and he couldn't stand the sight of it.  He kept far away from the castle, from the others who inhabited the Dreaming, and ignored the flapping of raven's wings when he heard them nearby.  

Discovering the beach on the other side of the Dream's doors was a blessing, and Hob spent many of his nights sitting on the beach, staring at the Endless ocean, waiting for enough time to pass that it was time for him wake up again.  Sometimes a golden cloak settled across his shoulders and Hob felt the pull back to the Dreaming, back to he castle, back to Dream, but on those nights, Hob carefully took it off his shoulders and folded the cloak into his lap to hold tight, pressed up against the Dreamstone.  

Hob woke up.  

Again.  

And again.  

And again.  

The bags under his eyes grew, even though he slept when he needed to.  He would find a cure to Dream's curse if it was the last thing he ever did.  They had time, he just had to find it.  

The more Hob searched, the more he wished he could give updates to Dream as he did.  Even just small moments, like the realization of how if they were still drowning people for being a witch, he would now qualify.  Or that he'd met two Fae, and they'd been so intimidated by him, having heard of him, that they didn't try to trick him.  It made him smile until he remembered what it had cost him.  

(There was a note for the bartender, that if Dream ever walked through the door on their designated days again, he was to be called immediately.  He never received a call, but he felt better for leaving the instruction in place.)  

He wet his hands with blood when he discovered another cult following in Burgess' footsteps, and allowed himself to be distracted from the quest of searching for a cure for the curse by destroying any trace of them.  They would never touch Dream, or hurt him, ever again.  

The Dreamstone shone brightly as he tore their entire organization apart, and Hob didn't think about Knights, about protecting a King and a Kingdom, and what that meant in a story.  He didn't let himself think of the Hero's Journey, and how his going on a quest like this could be perceived.  He focused, kept his head down, and did his best to find a cure for Dream's curse.  There would be one, it was simply a matter of time.  

Hob fell asleep and it hurt like his heart had been torn in two.

Hob woke up on a beach and sat up, staring out at the waves.  

He sighed and wrapped his arms around his knees, burying his face in them, and breathed, listening to the sound of the waves, gentle and steady.  Something would have to give, eventually, but he was patient.  He'd find a cure, and perhaps then Dream would take the Dreamstone back.  Or maybe Dream would demand it back because he'd failed.  

Hob looked out at the gentle waves that faded into a hazy horizon.  There was no rain, now, but there were gray clouds still rolling across the sky like a constant promise of the rain that threatened.  He missed the sunshine, and the soft grass of Fiddler's Green.  He missed the comfort of the library, and the quiet bickering of Lucienne and Matthew in the library, sometimes interspersed with Mervyn's comments.  

The sound of raven's wings made him look up and Hob stared in surprise as Matthew landed next to him, blinking in confusion.  None of them approached him any longer, he'd lost them along with Dream and it hurt just as much.  

"Enough is enough," Matthew said, pecking at Hob's leg.  "The Dreaming cannot handle the both of you moping like this.  It cannot.  We are tired of the gray, we're tired of the silence!" 

"I'm trying to find a cure!" Hob snapped, glaring at him, even as Matthew pecked him again.  "It's all I do right now, it's all I've done for months and months and-"

Matthew flapped his wings and hit Hob with one of them.  "Did you ever consider that you were the fucking cure?" 

Hob stopped and blinked, staring down at Matthew who was doing his level best to glare at him, he had no doubt.  "What?"  

Matthew let out the loudest caw that he could.  "You could speak for him!  You could understand him better than anyone other than Lucienne, and she couldn't do what you did!  He gave you one of the fucking Dreamstones!" 

Hob swallowed and looked down at the amber stone, curled on top of his knees.  "He should be able to speak, even if I can read him that well, even if the Dreaming helped me to understand what he was saying and what he meant, that's not something that can replace him being able to speak!" 

"It was something!" Matthew said.  "It was something big, and it was important, and now all he does is mope!" 

"Lucienne wouldn't approve of you telling me this," Hob said, almost on reflex, and chuckled sadly.  "I'm sure that Dream would hate it even more."  

"Well if the two of you would kiss and fucking make up I wouldn't need to be out here trying to smack some sense into you!" Matthew snapped.  "I've been trying to get him to see sense up until now, and since he seems completely determined to have no sense, I'm moving on to you!  You're supposed to be less melodramatic than he is!" 

Hob snapped his mouth shut and sighed, remembering the feel of Dream's fingers slipping out of his when he'd explained what he'd done.  How he'd lied without lying.  How he'd fooled, somehow, both the Queen of the Fae and Lucifer at the same time.  What more could he have done to make it clear to Dream that he wanted something, anything that Dream would allow them to have, if he wanted... and Dream had pulled away.  Had held him as he sobbed, and cried, had said that he'd done what Dream needed, only for it all to fall apart when Dream realized the extent of it.  

"Matthew," Hob said, letting out a huff.  "He understood.  He knew I was telling him the truth, but I told it in such a way that he didn't feel trapped."  

"And you, idiot!"  Matthew hopped up and smacked Hob in the face with his wing.  "Did he seem upset that he was going to be in a marriage with you?  I might not have been there, but Luce told me that he certainly didn't appear to be upset!" 

The Dreamstone flared against his chest with the surge of hope that shot through him, and Hob wasn't quick enough to strangle it and bring it under control.  "Matthew, we haven't, we..." he shook his head.  "I thought, perhaps, we might end up there, at some point, that maybe we were moving in that direction, but then he was cursed and I had to help him protect the Dreaming."  

Matthew let out a loud sigh.  "You are as much of an idiot as he is." 

Normally, Hob would have played along, would have asked what the hell Matthew meant, and what he was talking about.  Normally.  But today, he was too tired, too heartsick and too exhausted to try to figure out what he meant.  "Matthew..." 

"No, don't, don't Matthew me.  Lucienne said we had to let you two figure it out, but neither of you are doing anything other than sit there and be sad, so a raven has to take things into his own claws!"  Matthew pecked at Hob's leg again.  "What are the Dreamstones?"  

"Lucienne said it would make sure that anyone visiting the Dreaming, saw me on the level of royalty," Hob repeated, and shook his head.  "It was just for-" 

"Doesn't that stand to reason then, if you waltzed up to the castle tomorrow, you could start ordering people around, because you're royalty around here?" Matthew challenged.  "I can feel it, if you ordered me to do something, I could resist it, but it would take a lot of effort, but that's because I belong to Dream.  Any of the other Dreams or Nightmares?  You could order them away in an instant!" 

Hob blinked and frowned at Matthew.  "Dream knows that I would never do that."  

"He does," Matthew agreed.  "And on top of that, he hasn't come to take it back, has he?"  He flapped his wings and jumped up onto Hob's knee, pecking at his arms until he was swatted at.  "More importantly, you haven't fucking gone to give it back!" 

Hob swallowed and wrapped a hand around it, clenching his eyes shut as he thought of Dream, and of what Matthew was saying, and the hope that he thought he had long since beat down that was shining out of the stone in his fist.  

"I don't know how he feels," Matthew said, giving Hob a gentler peck this time.  "He'd pluck me for even saying he's moping since you left.  But Hobsie, you rescued him.  Just like you promised to do, and from what Luce tells me about the Endless, they aren't... they are the ones who do the rescuing.  They don't get rescued too often."  

Out of everything Matthew had said, for some reason, those words were the ones that spurred Hob into standing as he looked back to the Gates of the Dreaming.  They were massive, carved things, with hundreds of creatures and other images depicted.  He took a deep breath and dusted himself off, and when the golden cloak draped around his shoulders, he didn't try to remove it this time.  

Dream hadn't understood just how Hob had rescued him.  And when Hob had explained the totality of what he'd done... Dream's pride had likely been stung.  Of course he would have run to go and think about it.  Hob bit down a groan, cursing himself for not chasing after Dream, just like he'd promised to do after they had become friends properly.  He'd known better than to let Dream walk away after getting away from him.  Fuck he knew so much better.  

"There he is!" Matthew said, launching himself into the air.  "Fucking finally!" 

Hob ignored the comment (even if they both deserved it, but he could thank Matthew later when he'd found Dream and they had hopefully (maybe) figured everything out).  Not that it was going to be that easy, but maybe he could make Dream see sense, and then show him in ways other than words just how much he truly did want to marry Dream and keep him until both of them couldn't stand each other.  

(Based on how well he knew himself, that would be never, but he had to account for the changes that would likely happen over thousands of years.  There were some things that he had to accept might, emphasis on might, change.)  

Pushing open the Gates of Horn wasn't even necessary, as it turned out.  They slid open for him as though they'd been waiting for him to step closer at any moment now.  As though they'd been waiting for him to realize what was behind them all along.  

The Dreamstone shone even brighter on his chest and Hob grinned as he began to run toward the castle.  

Maybe sprinting there wasn't the smartest thing for him to do, but he wasn't going to let the clouds linger for a single second longer.  Not one more damn second, and if the ground fading away under his pounding footsteps was any indication, the Dreaming was helping him to move even faster.  Hob pumped his arms, his heart pounding, and the castle was drawing up closer and faster by the moment, and he was going to be able to see Dream.  He had no idea what he was going to say (he'd have to figure something out, since Dream couldn't say anything back yet), but he would figure it out.  He would.  He would make sure that he figured it out.  

Hob ran through Fiddler's Green, and past a dozen or more Dreams and Nightmares that stared at him as he darted past and knew he wasn't imagining the relieved looks on their faces.  Fuck, how long had they been waiting for him to come back, to realize that Dream needed him to come back, because he was too proud to chase Hob himself?  

Hob wanted to laugh, even though it wouldn't be appropriate.  It truly wasn't, but he still wanted to chuckle, wanted to giggle, and more than anything, he wanted to wrap Dream in his arms and tell him it was going to be all right.  Even if they never cured the curse, even if he could never hear Dream's voice again, it was still going to be worth it.  It would all be worth it.  

The brick of the giant stone bridge rising from the water was a relief, and Hob kept his eyes on the castle, refusing to waver as he kept running.  You didn't get tired in dreams unless you thought you were tired, and even though Hob was exhausted, and had been exhausted for days and days now, nothing could touch him right now.  He slid to a brief stop in front of the Guardians, but the door to the castle swung open just as he stopped.  

"Go!" 

"Hurry!" 

"About time!" 

This time Hob did laugh as he darted past them and deeper into the castle.  Dream was close, Dream wasn't far now, and soon Hob would be able to tell him, would find a way to explain exactly why he'd stayed away, and what had happened, and they could schedule the bloody wedding for whenever Dream wanted.  

The Dreamstone was heavy and bright against his chest as Hob dashed through the familiar corridors and toward the throne room, toward the pull at the center of his chest that was bringing him closer and closer to Dream.  Maybe he was foolish for thinking that the story could still have a happy ending after what had happened, or that he would be some day able to cure the curse.  Maybe all of it was foolish, but it was his story, and if anyone was going to write the end of this particular chapter, then it was going to be him, and he was going to get the ending that they both deserved, dammit.  

Hob stopped at the entrance to the Throne Room, breathing hard, well aware that Dream could hear him, hell, maybe even feel him, now that he was in the castle.  The ghosts of the Lucifer and Titania lingered, and Hob shook them away, taking his time to walk across the room, to admire the starry sky of the ceiling, and the hazy light that was beginning to peek through the clouds in the windows.  That gave Hob hope as he approached the figure that was sitting on the staircase to his throne, sprawled out and holding a book, playing at nonchalance.  

Hob was going to kiss him until neither of them could breathe any longer and he grinned at the thought of it.  He wanted it, now, desperately.  They were so close, and all he needed was to explain and for them to come out on the other side.  It was the climax of the story, through the darkness of the third act, when things had seemed impossible, but turned out they weren't! 

Hob stopped at the base of the stairs, panting, staring up at Dream, who was still staring at his book, reading.  He wanted to laugh and he took a moment to breathe, to figure out what he was going to say as he stared up at Dream.  He looked at the Dreamstone against his chest and stroked his fingers over it, lifting it up to cup it carefully in his hands and glanced at Dream, who was feigning nonchalance, but was also intently watching him.  

The first step up was the hardest, and he took it, his eyes not leaving Dream.  Many things had started to make sense on his wild sprint across the Dreaming, more and more things falling into place based on what he had read over the past few months.  Things that were easier to understand now.  Things that he had found out about the Endless, things that he now understood.  He had never thought they would be easy to understand, but they made more sense.  The necklace that he was wearing, and the cloak at his back, they made more sense than they had before.  

Hob stopped three steps below Dream, so their eyes were level, and stared at him, breathing hard.  He wasn't out of breath, precisely, because he didn't need to breathe, but he felt it in the way that you felt things in dreams.  "This means something more than what Lucienne told me, doesn't it?" he asked, holding the Dreamstone up to Dream, but carefully keeping the necklace around his neck.  

Dream stared at him.  

Hob flushed and realized he probably shouldn't have led with that and sighed, letting it fall back against his chest, pushing his hair out of his face properly.  "Fuck, let me try that again."  He paused.  "It's good to see you again, Dream.  I've missed you." There, simple, to the point and... based on that expression, terribly suspicious, because now Dream was squinting at him as though he'd done something wrong.  Even though he hadn't.  

He wanted to sit down. He wanted to fall into Dream's arms and never move.  He wanted... he wanted everything that he'd planned for and imagined at one time, even if he thought he'd never get it.  Hob hadn't lied to Titania or Lucifer, after all.  

"I haven't found a cure yet," he continued, when Dream stared at him and didn't offer any other clue as to what he was supposed to say.  "But I'm still looking for one.  Curses are bloody complicated.  I did take down the group that did this as humans though, they won't be messing with anything magical ever again."  The vicious, approving satisfaction in Dream's eyes made him want to preen, but Hob resisted.  He'd done what he promised he would, he didn't need a medal for that.  

His mouth went dry and he continued to stare at Dream, unsure of where to go from here.  Why had they stayed apart?  Why hadn't Dream come to see him?  As easy as this was, it felt forced, even as Dream reacted and smiled at him.  Hob licked his lips and put his hands into his pockets.  "I don't want you to summon Lucienne to tell me, so I'm going to make some guesses about the Dreamstones, so I can understand a few things, is that okay?" 

Dream inclined his head, only a fraction, but Hob grinned, because that was enough.  As long as he wasn't a complete fool about things.  "They are your pure condensed being... or power, aren't they?  I don't know what the right term is, but that's what they are, that's what your ruby was, right?" Dream's eyes had narrowed again at the mention of his ruby, but Hob held his gaze, waiting for it to relax and then the reaction that came shortly after.  That was one question answered, then.  

Dream had given a slow, singular nod.  

Hob let out a rough exhale and reached out to touch the Amber Dreamstone, clutching it tightly in his fist and pressing it tight against his chest, the familiar warmth pulsing in his hand.  "You can feel it when I'm holding onto it, or touching it, can't you?" 

Another nod and Hob wanted to sob.  Dream had known all along that Hob had perhaps even been talking to him, thinking of him, and missing him, the entire time he'd had the Dreamstone.  He swallowed and laughed, reaching up to brush some of the tears that were threatening out of his eyes.  Focus.  He needed to focus and keep asking questions about the Dreamstones.  

He took a single step closer, and then another, feeling Dream's eyes grow heavier on him as Hob stepped onto the same platform and moved to sit beside him as he had so many dozens of times before.  It was not a new position for them, to sit side by side, but it was the first with this level of active anticipation from them both.  

"I wish," Hob swallowed.  "I wish I could ask you what you were thinking, when you stayed away.  You had to have known I was thinking of you, with how many times I would hold this.  I know you can't answer that, but I still wish I could hear the words.  I want to understand."  Because he did want to understand. "But since I can't do that, I'll try to keep asking questions that I think you won't mind answering, how about that?" 

Dream tilted his head, but gave another willing nod, and Hob bit down the laugh that wanted to escape him at the sight.  "Did you give the Dreamstone to me only because it would allow me to receive Lucifer and Titania without causing offense?"  Hob watched Dream carefully, watching his reaction and waiting, judging to see what, exactly would be the answer to that question.  

Dream slowly, hesitantly, shook his head.  

Hob had never hated the curse more than he did in this particular moment, he hated it so much, because he wanted Dream to explain to him.  To answer what exactly, he meant, by answering that no.  Instead, he took a deep breath and watched Dream carefully watch him in return.  It was an impasse that they weren't sure how to pass and what they were going to do.  It would be up to him to figure out their next steps.  

"Okay," Hob said with another deep breath, rubbing at his thighs, trying not to fidget.  He should not be fidgeting, he was almost seven hundred.  "Did you give me the Dreamstone because you wanted me to have it, eventually?"  That was going to be a much harder question for Dream to answer, and by the guarded look in his eyes, Hob wasn't expecting to get an actual answer.  But asking it mattered to him.  He couldn't keep down the chuckle that escaped when Dream made the universal so-so gesture, and grinned nodding.  "That's fair," he allowed, blowing out another breath.  

Again, he wished that Dream could explain, could do more than nod, or shake his head at him.  He chewed on his lip as he looked forward.  "Did you leave because you were angry with me?" Hob glanced at Dream and watched fury flash over his face, sighing as he hung his head.  "Right.  No need to bother nodding, heard that loud and clear."  

Dream's hand grabbed his arm and Hob's eyes snapped back up to Dream, who still looked furious, his face twisted in his anger, but behind it was something more starkly obvious, and it was only now, sitting this close to Dream that he realized what it was.  

Fear.  

Dream was afraid for him.  Angry at him for what he had done, and afraid for him.  Afraid because he'd dared to toe a line so thin in front of both Titania and Lucifer, and the fact that he would make enemies of them both.  Dream's eyes were frantic, searching his, the bright shining light at the center locked on him, stealing his breath and making him feel like the center of the universe.  He licked his lips and swallowed, staring back at him.  

"Did you leave to protect me?  Because you think I'm better off without you, never associating with you again, to keep me safe?"  Pain, this time, a familiar emotion, shot across Dream's face and Hob wanted to pull him into his arms as a thought came right on the heels of that one.  "Did you think that I would give the Dreamstone back once it was over?" 

Dream opened his mouth and appeared to let out a silent growl as he turned his face away.  He scowled and held up one hand, lifting a single finger, before he nodded, sharply, once.  

For the first time in his long life, Hob felt like he was on the same wavelength as Dream, and it had him giddy, staring at Dream in shock.  "The first question I asked.  The answer was yes," he repeated, before getting another nod from Dream.  So Dream had left to keep him safe.  When two fingers were raised and an even more definitive nod was given, Hob covered his mouth as half a laugh and half a sob escaped him.  Dream had wanted to protect him, hadn't ever wanted to hurt him.  

His eyes were blurring with tears as Dream held up three fingers and Hob nodded, waiting for the answer, only to find himself blinking when Dream pointed to the library.  "Ah, Lucienne needs to answer that one.  Not sure why, but all right.  Guessing it's because it's somewhere between yes and no."  That garnered him a nod and Hob swallowed, reaching up to wipe away the liquid gathering in his eyes with a deep breath.  

The picture in front of him was clearer by the moment, and now, perhaps, he needed to help them find their way forward.  Hob stood up and saw the pain and panic twist Dream's face before he shifted and straddled Dream's sprawled legs, wrapping his arms around Dream's shoulders, the Amber Dreamstone shining between them.  "Do you want me to give the Dreamstone back?" The rapid and repeated shake of Dream's head made Hob smile and he leaned in to press their foreheads together.  

The marble should be painful on his knees, and he maybe shouldn't be so comfortable sprawled on top of Dream like he was, but he didn't give a damn now.  "Good," he breathed, stroking a thumb over Dream's cheek to feel him shudder.  He licked his chapped lips with a grunt and let out a rough breath.  "Last question, and then I think we're going to stop talking for a long time."  

Dream raised his eyebrows.  

Hob loved the light flush of pink on his cheekbones, and the way his lips separated, hanging open as they stared at each other.  "May I kiss you, Dream?" 

Hob was yanked into a kiss that had him laughing, bright and loud as he leaned into Dream and allowed him, at last, to press as close as he wanted.  Dream's fingers were tangled in his sweater and he was being kissed as though Dream wished to devour him.  It was everything he'd dreamed of and wanted in turn.  He sank his fingers into Dream's hair and held him close, barely parting their lips for breath before he was kissing Dream again, belatedly realizing that he'd pressed Dream back flat against the marble of the stairs and was spread out below him.  

Dream didn't seem to mind, if the way he was smiling was any indication.  Hob kissed him again, brushing their noses together, the Dreamstone warm between their chests.  A small nip to Dream's lower lip had his head falling back with a gasp and Hob pressed a kiss to the arch of his neck.  He was beautiful, breathtaking, and everything he wanted and ever could have imagined.  

And here, in the heart of the Dreaming, a cloak of sunshine on his back, and an Amber Dreamstone shining against his chest, Hob found words being tugged from him in slow pulses.  "I give you my heart," Hob breathed, his voice soft as a whisper, even as Dream stilled beneath him.  "For some part of it has always belonged to you."  A pause and another slow nuzzle of his neck before he kept going.  

"I give you my protection, all that I could do to ensure both your happiness and safety," he whispered, and Dream shuddered, his mouth falling open as a gasp.  The light of the Amber Dreamstone was growing brighter and hot between them, but Hob couldn't stop, he had to keep going.  "I give you my promise," Hob choked, swallowing hard around the words.  "To remain committed, to remain faithful, to remain, above all things.  To remain."  

The light around the was getting brighter, and there was a hint of fear in Dream's face now, but there was none in Hob's as he laughed and stole another kiss, this one soft as a promise of its own.  "Last but not least, Dream of the Endless, I give you my words.  For they have always been yours."  

Dream's eyes widened in shock, and in fear, but this time, when Hob kissed him, he felt the gem shatter between them and heard the roaring that echoed around them, his cloak flapping in the vortex of wind that surrounded them, until, abruptly, all at once, it died, and left them silent, softly panting against each other's lips.  Hob forced himself to pull back a fraction, to look at Dream, to meet his eyes that were now ringed in a familiar warm amber light.  

"Dream?" Hob whispered, staring at him.  "Did it work?" 

Dream's lips curved up at the corners.  "Indeed it did, Hob Gadling."  

Hob shuddered and gasped, his eyes falling shut as the sound of his name, the name that none save Dream knew, now, echoed in the silent air around them.  "It worked," he repeated, tightening his hands where he was clutching at Dream, pressed impossibly close.  "Giving you my words worked."  

"You have always been a storyteller, first and foremost, Hob Gadling.  There would be few things more powerful than to be given words that were once yours," Dream said, raising an eyebrow.  "Coupled with the power of a Dreamstone?  Yes, that was more than enough to break the curse."  

Hob wrapped his arms around Dream and held on tightly, hugging Dream close as a sob escaped him.  He didn't care that they were on the marble staircase in the middle of the throne room, he needed to hold onto Dream and not let go for at least a few hours.  Maybe even a little bit longer since it had been months since he'd last seen Dream.  

"I didn't lie to Titania and Lucifer," Hob said, muffled into Dream's shoulder.  "It, they were daydreams.  Fantasies, hopes, that maybe, someday, perhaps, if I was the luckiest bloke in existence, they were plans."  

"I know," Dream spoke softly into Hob's hair.  "It was a very clever way to present a half-truth, Hob.  Angry as I was with you for daring to challenge them in such a way, it was clever."  

Hob swallowed.  "Sorry I broke the Dreamstone." 

Dream hummed and leaned back against the stair for a moment longer before he waved his fingers to use the sand to transport them back to his bedroom, falling onto soft sheets as he kept his arms around Hob.  "Shattering the Dreamstones does not expend them, Hob.  They are containers, but the power within them is not gone.  The container has merely shifted."  

Hob sighed in relief and sagged into Dream.  "Back to you, then?"  

"A small fraction of it, yes.  Majority of it still rests with you," Dream breathed, whispering into Hob's hair.  "It was given to you, and it cannot be taken back unless you give it up.  You have not given it up, merely used it for the moment."  

Hob could think far more about that tomorrow, or maybe in a week when he didn't feel like he was going to fall apart again.  "Did you really stay away because you were afraid for me?" 

Dream hummed, considering, lifting a hand to stroke along Hob's back, helping him to relax once more.  "An inaccurate picture of the whole story.  I remained away because my enemies would seek to use you against me and I had been shown I was not in a position to protect you as I once assumed.  Staying away, allowing you to live your life, perhaps even allowing you to move on, it was-" 

"If you say the right choice, I'm kicking you out of this bed."  

Dream raised an eyebrow.  "It's my bed."  

Hob huffed.  "Still kicking you out."  

"It was a difficult choice, but one I was willing to make to protect you," Dream answered, reaching up to carefully comb Hob's hair out of face.  "Regardless of how I felt."  

The reminder that Dream had been stuck in his castle, just as miserable, just as lonely as he was had him leaning up to kiss Dream again, breathing in him slowly, savoring each press of their lips together.  "You don't have to stay away now," he whispered.  

Dream tensed.  "Titania and Lucifer-" 

"Are threats, whether I am with you or not," Hob interrupted.  "And I would much rather face them with you, side by side, than have them come after me when I don't have you." 

Dream swallowed and allowed himself to tighten an arm around Hob's waist, settling back into the bed once more.  "It was not so bad to be constrained to silence, when your voice was there to fill the void."  

There were compliments from Dream, and then there were words like that, that broke him open and shattered him to pieces before he was put back together all over again.  He leaned up and pressed a kiss to Dream's jaw, and then another to the corner of his lips.  "You don't always have to have words.  I know you've said more today than you've said to me over the course of our entire friendship," 

Dream scoffed.  

Hob chuckled and kissed him again.  "You do not always have to have words for me.  I'm happy to give them to you.  But every once in a while, I need them.  My name, especially."  

Dream was silent for a long time, but Hob was used to waiting him out.  Especially with the curse.  Waiting him out had become something of a specialty, and right now, he got the feeling that that hadn't been a bad request, merely one that had surprised Dream.  So he was more than content to sit and enjoy the feel of Dream's arms around him, idly wondering just how much fun they could get into as a part of their dreams.  It would be interesting to discover, to say the least.  

"You would be satisfied with so little?" Dream asked.  

Hob heard the question beneath the question, heard every relationship that had fallen apart in the past on Dream, and the lifetime of pain in that question.  The lifetimes, millennia.  Dream carried a deeper and heavier pain than he could imagine the full scope of, but there were some things that he knew about himself to answer, at least.  

"When you came back, and declared us friends," Hob started, shifting back enough so he could meet Dream's eyes, and smiled at the sight of black galaxies with only the faintest light now shining out of them.  "You made sure that I understood, at least in some fashion, what it meant to be Endless.  That I could not imagine your scope, your responsibility, what it meant to be what you were."  

"Yes," Dream agreed.  "You displayed a remarkable amount of levity for a human faced with the eldritch."  

Hob snorted and rolled his eyes.  "Thanks," he grumbled, before refocusing.  "That is to say that I understand you have responsibilities that I cannot fathom, nor do I particularly want to, having met Lucifer and now consider myself on a first name basis with them."  

Dream snorted.  

Kissing the corner of Dream's lips prompted another smile, at the least, and Hob breathed out deep.  It was too easy, almost, to tease him into softness, despite the conversation that they were having.  "I want more," he continued, once Dream's tenseness had eased.  "I want anything you are willing to give me, and then more.  But I understand that you are not human, and I cannot have you the way I could have another human.  I understand that you are a King, and you have responsibilities."  

Dream hummed.  "So the answer is yes."  

"The answer is no, I wouldn't be satisfied with that all of the time," Hob corrected, and watched Dream's eyes widen in surprise.  "However, can I be satisfied with that sometimes, because I understand in some fraction, what you are and how it works?  Yes." 

"And what happens when your dissatisfaction grows until you decide to leave one day?" Dream snapped.  

Hob sighed and leaned in to nuzzle Dream's neck with a huff, even as he remained as stiff as a board, and unwilling to bend.  "We do what couples should do when things aren't how they want them.  We talk.  We discuss what we want, what our boundaries are, and then we find a way forward together."  Dream's silence in response was concerning, but Hob got the sense that he was chewing through the words, not dismissing them out of turn.  

"Overwhelming passion and declarations of eternal love and all well and good in stories," Hob continued, and that caught Dream's full attention.  "But they do not make a relationship.  They do not, and they cannot.  They are moments that a relationship is comprised of, but they are not what makes a relationship."  

"I see," Dream rumbled.  

Hob got the feeling that Dream had no idea what he was talking about and didn't believe him.  If they wanted to move forward, and move forward together, he needed to get Dream to understand that not every moment needed to be urgency and passion.  

"A relationship is built on time together," Hob told him, his voice firm.  "Breaking bread together.  Sleeping together.  Sharing quiet moments reading together.  Telling each other about their day.  Acknowledging their frustrations and struggles, while sharing your own so they are less of a burden," Hob described.  "That is a relationship.  And within those are those grand declarations of Intent, and passion."  

Now Dream's silence was much more contemplative, and there was a low rumble humming in his chest, a sound that Hob wasn't even sure Dream realized that he was making.  He closed his eyes and leaned into it, savoring the sound of it and how it resonated with whatever power he had been given from the Dreamstone.  He yawned and nuzzled in closer, his hand sliding down Dream's back to rest on his waist.  

"You are strange, Hob Gadling," Dream said, adjusting their positions so he could pull Hob closer.  "I am not a human, I cannot give you lifetimes of those moments."  

"Oh of course you can," Hob said with a laugh.  "Not all of the time, like I said.  But we already meet to talk about our weeks and share our frustrations in work, don't we?  And we regularly have shared food together."  He gestured to the door and the library beyond it.  "Would I truly be unwelcome to spend time quietly reading in the greatest library in existence while you do the work required of you?"  Hob paused.  "Or having a picnic in Fiddler's Green?" 

Dream hummed.  "If you are certain you will be satisfied with such, I will do everything I can to ensure that I meet these requirements for you."  

Hob laughed again, shifting to grab a handful of Dream's ass, just to feel him jolt and jump under the touch.  "I'd love nothing more, but if we're talking about requirements, I have a few more, if I can convince you to be interested..." 

Dream rolled him into the sheets with a demanding kiss that tasted like hope.