#karalynlovescake

[gabessquishytum]

I haven't tried to write this because it's not my kink, but findom Dreamling, with Hob as the dom of course. I mean what else is lonely divorced Dream going to do with all his money?

I'm literally rubbing my hands together and wiggling around. This is such a concept!!!!

I think Hob probably fell into the whole thing by accident. He was looking for easy money online, not opposed to the idea of sex work, and found out about the whole idea of financial dom/sub relationships, paypigs, all that jazz. At first the morality of it all seemed skewed, but the more he read and witnessed in forums and chatrooms, the more he got used to it. Even got kind of into it? He started trying to pick up "clients", learned the ropes, and before he knew it? He had a popular profile on a fetish site. He collected a few regulars, took on a few who just wanted to try it out... and then along came Morpheus.

Morpheus was pretty new to the scene, but knew what he wanted. A younger man, someone to humiliate him, someone to dominate him and most of all - someone to use his money on. Hob was pleased to take him on after establishing rules and safewords. Their communication would be mostly online, but Morpheus was not opposed to meeting in person, too.

Flash forward a while, and Hob has never enjoyed a client so much. Morpheus makes him truly enjoy his work. He's so pretty, so frail and pale and delicate. So easy to boss around - not that he doesn't talk back. He can be quite a brat! He'll refuse to answer when Hob asks him if he's pathetic, needy, useless. He'll look away when Hob demands to know why Morpheus thinks he deserves to be so rich and privileged. It can take hours for Hob to break him down until he finally capitulates and wires tens of thousands of pounds into Hob’s account.

He buys the most extravagant gifts. Everything Hob demands, and more. Clothes, gaming systems, watches, cars. He lives for the look of pleasure on Hob’s face as he enjoys his latest gift. Seeing Hob slide a new rolex onto his wrist is enough to make Morpheus cum in his underwear. He's so fucking precious.

Morpheus is obviously concerned that Hob will lose interest in him, but he doesn't need to worry. It's strange, because Hob has never had strong feelings about a client before. But he's kind of obsessed with Morpheus? He loves it when he goes shopping at all the designer stores while Morpheus trails behind him, obviously so turned on that he can hardly function as Hob spends his money. It makes Hob think of the future, some kind of permanent arrangement perhaps.

Morpheus’s family are going to hate him. But Hob sees it like this: he makes Morpheus happy, and he makes Morpheus cum a lot. Where's the harm in that? And all that money is only going to be wasted sitting in the bank. Much better to have gorgeous Morpheus on his knees, whining through his second orgasm as he transfers another 5,000 into Hob’s account....

#karalynlovescake #the sandman #dreamling #nsft #cw findom #cw financial dominance #cw humiliation

[cuubism]

Headcanon from my "fic graveyard" doc.

What if Hob can not only refuse death, but also has a kind of death-averse zone around him?

Things heal more quickly in Hob’s presence than he has ever had any reason to account for. He thinks, maybe it’s some effect of whatever has kept him alive over the centuries. People still die around him, of old age, of violence; he’s killed no few himself in war. But wounds heal faster around people who room with him, cut flowers linger past the point they should fade, fruit stays fresh longer, things like that. He wonders for the thousandth time if Eleanor hadn’t encouraged him to go to London to handle court affairs right before she went into labor if she’d have survived the birth.

THAT LAST LINE FUCK 😭

I love this, I'm slotting it into my Hob-becomes-a-patron-saint-of-living thoughts. It happens slowly, over time as he gets older he's no longer just spared Death's gift, but starts to become his own creature that's not quite human, has his own sort of power tied to his incredibly strong will to live... it's more precious to me, actually, than thinking of Hob becoming "Hope." Hob as the personification of Life is dear and interesting to me, especially if he is close friends with Death. There was that quote that went around tumblr absolute ages ago, I don't know its origin. "Life and Death have a long love affair. Life gives gifts to Death, and Death keeps them forever." (I think that comic might have become a meme tho XD). Anyway that's Hob and Death, except, of course, Death once gave Life a gift in return of something that was really supposed to be hers... aka, Dream.

#ask #karalynlovescake #dreamling headcanons for emotional wellbeing #i should get around to writing the patron saint companion fic

[hardly-an-escape]

I want Dream to let slip how absolutely shitty his parents are and then have to have himself, Lucienne and whomever else talk him out of trying to physically punch the actual concepts of Night and Time.

oh gosh I’m so unqualified for this because I haven’t finished the comics yet and I know nothing about Dream’s parents 😅 but I’ll give it my best shot…

- - -

“They did what to you?” Hob’s fist clenched; his voice was dangerously soft.

“It is long, long past,” said Dream with a minuscule shrug. “It is no longer of any importance.”

“No long— no longer of importance? You were their child!”

Dream’s face was a marble façade, impassable and remote. Hob looked helplessly at Lucienne, whose shrug was equally minuscule.

“Right.” Hob stood, slapping his knee determinedly. “Where are they?”

Dream and Lucienne glanced at each other with identical mystified looks.

“Your parents—” Hob pointed firmly at Dream “—are due for a bit of a comeuppance. I may have only been a father once in my life, but even I know you don’t fucking… to their own… for Christ’s sake…” he sputtered to a stop.

“And what, exactly, are you expecting to do about it?” asked Dream with, to his credit, really only a hint of a sardonic tone. “Now, when so many eons have passed?”

“That,” said Hob with dignity, gripping the back of his chair with white knuckles, “is between me and them. Now. Who do I have to bloody talk to in order to get a bloody bead on… Night and Time?”

#karalynlovescake #the sandman #my writing #hob gadling #dream of the endless #dreamling #oh god I am so out of my depth here but I did my best hahahaha #thank you for the prompt!! #hardly an answer

[valeriianz]

I need to know if you're aware of the company that makes jewelry/bracelets out of guitar strings.

https://getstrung.com/

My best friend bought one at a concert this week and I immediately thought of Bolt In The Blue. Hob holding on to an old string from the tour and turning it into a memento.

oh wow! this is so cool! i wish i wore jewelry cos i'd be all over this haha. clickable link!

love the idea of Hob doing something with an old guitar string 👀 *takes note*

#thanks for sending this in! #definitely check this site out! #karalynlovescake #i should make an ask tag #fic: bolt in the blue

[fishfingersandscarves]

Oh is it sending cat pic hours?

This is Dream, he was unfortunately named after the YouTube guy by my youngest, but we all pretend he wasn't. He is a large grumpy old man who likes to steal my office chair while I am working.

LOL I love him thank you

#my asks #fishfingersandscarves #karalynlovescake

[teejaystumbles]

inspired by @karalynlovescake 's delightful fic Pardon Me While I Burst Into Flames, this was done for the Monsterfucker Bingo square "demon" as well as the Sandtober prompt #17 "demon" and #11 "fashion/costumes"

#dreamling #the sandman fanart #monsterfucktoberbingo #sandtober2023 #teejaystumbles

[delta-pavonis]

For your consideration: a new Jo Constantine & Hob Gadling BFF headcanon

Once Jo gets to know Hob Gadling she realizes just how much of an absolute reckless idiot the immortal can be. She goes back through the family archives and, no joke, there is not a single name, not a single damned name in six hundred bloody years, that is not a variation on the same theme. Robert. Hob. Bobby. Bob. Rob. Roberto. Bobbie. Gadlen. Gadlind. Gadot. Gabbing. Garblen. Oh, and Jo's personal favorite, Linggad.

Might as well have been touched by the hand of God for how lucky this Endless-favored fucker has been.

So, just because that is the kind of woman Johanna Constantine is, she makes up the most absurd names she can think of to address Hob by when she is taking the piss out of him. Anything that even vaguely has the syllables or cadence of Robert Gadling. She has been going for five years straight now and not repeated a one. Proud of that record, she is.

And then she sees how Hob is looking at one particular Endless who is sitting at the end of the New Inn's bar reading a goddamned book and she feels a migraine coming on.

"Get your shit together and stop looking at Dream of the Endless like that!" Jo hisses as she elbows Hob in the ribs.

Hob nearly startles out of his socks and drops the pint glass he is putting away. "What are you talking about?"

Jo squints at Hob; if he was any dimmer she'd need a flashlight. "Hobert Gadlington, y-"

"Oh, come off it. How many years have you been doing this? Don't call me tha-"

"No. No!" Jo curls a fist into the front of his shirt and peers up into his face. "You listen here Hobbles Gadlybins. I know that look on you. I know it. Fifteen years I have been your friend and I. Know. That. Face. And I swear to Christ if I am within thirty leagues of you two when you stick your dick in that eldritch not-god it will be too close."

Hob has turned an alarming shade of red, but he isn't looking at Jo... he is staring over her shoulder.

"Constantine." Well. Fuck. She turns her head and meets unearthly blue eyes. "While I am sure Hob appreciates your absolute confidence in his ability to seduce me to the extent that he will, as you so crudely put it, stick his dick in me." Hob makes a choked noised behind her. "I regret to inform you," Dream of the Endless leans forward over the bar and into Johanna Constantine's personal space, "that I am a top."

(Thanks to @karalynlovescake for reminding me of the Eddie Izzard bit about Engelbert Humperdinck and making this spiral from there.)

#Johanna Constantine #Hob Gadling #Dream of the Endless #Dreamling #The Sandman fanfiction #Pavonis writes #Youtube

[tj-dragonblade]

Last Line Tag Game

Tagged by @signiorbenedickofpadua - thank you!

I have been scribbling bits that keep coming to mind on a thing I'm refusing to commit to actual wip-status yet, but if the bits keep coming that may change. Under the cut for a very direct answer to Hob's 'Tell me what you want':

"I want…I." He takes a deep breath, repeats to himself the words that Jessamy so often tells him. 'Getting what you want is easier when you TELL people what you want.' "I want. You. Naked. All over me. Inside me. I want you to tear my clothes from me and ravish me senseless; I want to take your cock again and again and again until I cannot see straight." Hob has paused with his drink half raised, mouth hanging open just a little; Dream pushes on, determined to get the words out before they fail him. "But also. I want to feel. Treasured. As though I am. Important, and valued. Worth having, worth. Wanting."

Hob has recovered, has put his cup aside, is staring at Dream with the most adoring expression on his face as he reaches to touch Dream's hand. "Oh. Oh, love, why not both. I can do both. All. Everything, everything you want." His fingers slide under Dream's palm, his thumb brushes over Dream's knuckles, the kindest and tenderest touch. "Do you want to get out of here?"

Dream curls his own fingers around Hob's, a desperate grateful press of acceptance. "Please."

"Do you want to take me home? Or do you want to come to mine?"

Dream considers; it is less about his space or Hob's space than it is about how quickly they can get there. "I am twenty minutes away by cab. Are you closer?"

Hob grins. "Oh yes, very. I live upstairs."

"You. Live upstairs?"

"I own the pub. And I live upstairs, yes." He's standing, drawing Dream up with him by the hand. "Shall we?"

~ Tagging, no obligation,feel free to tag me on existing posts if you've just done this: @lenreli, @bruce-wayne-simp, @aralezinspace, @kydrogendragon, @karalynlovescake, @ginoeh

#TJs Writing #Sandman #Dreamling #tagmemes #wip: cruise3

[ginoeh]

Dancer!Dream from @delta-pavonis ' fic Find Me in Your Rhythm on AO3! The gold bangle shirt was inspired by this post from @karalynlovescake

(Got a tiny bit derailed while trying to learn how shading works. So worth it lol)

#idk this fic just gripped my by the throat and never let go #while this was a neat shading exercise I obvsly can't hair yet. or mouth. but whatevs ITS A JOURNEY MY FRIENDS AMD IM HERE TO LEARN #lol so have fun watching me stumble along the way #and pls don’t @ me about his right hand TT alien hand galore lmao #dream of the endless #the sandman fanart #fic rec!!!! #ginoeh doodles #edit: btw there was a forograph standing basic model for the pose! Incase anyone wants to know which one just message me pls <3

[tryan-a-bex]

Book club is starting again soon! Woohoo!!! Put it on your calendar! It’s on mine!

For New Year’s Eve we will read and discuss Fuckboi Hob. (I adore Fuckboi Hob!!!) We’ll start December 29 with Ch 1-3, Dec 30 Ch 4 (the Fight) and Dec 31 Ch 5-6. Feel free to join at any time with any chapter, we’re super flexible about where the discussion goes (just please tell us if you haven’t read the end yet so we can avoid spoilers while you’re around).

And on January 11, the *one year anniversary* of Fuckboi Dream, we will start our *third* daily read through. One chapter per day will be posted at approximately 11 am pst and everyone can read it and throw comments in the channel on the server. (There’s a permanent link in the end note after the last chapter of the fic, if this one has expired.) Anyone is welcome to join in the discussion at any time for any chapter, don’t worry about the time or day, come whenever you like! Just let us know if you’re reading for the first time so we can avoid spoilers when you’re around! (The asides will be mentioned where they fit in but won’t get their own days this time as it was confusing last time.)

Omg I’m so excited it’s book club time again soon!!!!!!

(Please note, this is a dead dove fic. Mind the tags, take care of yourself, and be an adult.)

Fic by @dancinbutterfly Art by @teejaystumbles meme by @karalynlovescake

#please reblog #fuckboi dream #Fuckboi Hob #fanfiction book club #put it on your calendar! #not unhinged at all I swear #dreamling #nsft

[gabessquishytum]

From the horny discord chat today, someone posted a picture of Trader Joe's trail mix, branded the "Omega Trek" mix. It snowballed from there.

Scheduled subscription boxes for omegas in heat! All the most cutting edge nutritious and tasty snacks and over the counter remedies to make the process more bearable for unpartnered omegas. But what happens if your heat comes early and your goodies aren't there yet?

So. Dream is a loner alpha who runs a company that makes products for these boxes, and omega Hob has signed up to be one of his product testers, but his heat comes and the shipment has gotten lost (or whatever we like.) Fortunately Hob happens to be in the same city as Dream and he could just drop by with the items he really needs tested! It's just... there's a deadline, right? And he really needs this data. Very important data! He can't wait another 3 months or whatever or take the time to have new volunteers do the legal paperwork needed to be his product testers or he won't make the production deadline.

So he'll just drive the snacks over to this guy himself, no problem! What could possibly go wrong?

Actively yelling over the idea of Startup Company Guy Dream. His siblings laugh at him because what does he do for a living?! Put nuts and seaweed and chocolate into boxes?? Spend hours calculating the vitamins and minerals needed for a healthy heat?? Even his kinder family members think it won't last a month.

But Hob saw the product advertised on tiktok or something and thought it was a great idea!! So he signs up to test it about 6 months before the product is launched, and agrees to fill out a bunch of questionnaires and do an interview.

...and the data really IS important, which is how Dream ends up standing on Hob’s porch, waiting for him to answer the door. He should probably just drop the box there and leave but... it seems polite to at least check in with this guy who has agreed to help him out!

Unfortunately when Hob cracks open the door, he gets a whiff of yummy snacks AND yummy alpha. His mouth starts watering, and he accidentally swings the door wide open. It all goes a bit downhill from there.

Well, not downhill. But Hob’s experience of taste testing the snacks mostly involves him sitting on Dream’s knot and being lovingly fed in the brief periods when they're not fucking hard. So Hob probably can't give an entirely objective review of Dream’s project, but he can say with absolute certainty that everything Dream has given him tastes absolutely divine. Not just the snacks 😉

The snacks give Dream and Hob a great opportunity to stay in touch, because Hob does genuinely want to help because the product was yummy and left him feeling much better than usual after his heat. Every time they meet up to discuss the product though, it inevitably turns into another excuse to fall into bed together!

When the snacks finally launch to be sold on the open market, they're obviously a total success! At the launch party Hob finally, timidly suggests that maybe he and Dream should start seeing each other like... normal people? Not just under the guise of business stuff?

And Dream shyly hands him a personally curated box of snacks with all his favourites, and asks if Hob would consider sharing his next heat with Dream? As boyfriends this time?

And then they fuck in the bathroom, and Dream is late to give his speech, but it's totally worth it <3

#karalynlovescake #the sandman #dreamling #nsft #cw omegaverse #cw food

[cuubism]

YouTube reminded me about the song "Math Prof Rock Star" by the band Jim's Big Ego and I need you to know that it is definitely "Complex Maths" Dream and/ or Hob

Hob simply must sing this in the kitchen at 3am while Dream repeatedly bangs his head into a wall

#complex mathematics #ask #karalynlovescake

[wyvernquill]

Who Framed Matthew Raven?

(Based on this post by @karalynlovescake, image ID under the cut)

Image ID:

Art of the Corinthian from The Sandman, a muscular caucasian man with short blond hair and toothy mouths instead of eyes. He is grinning dangerously, wearing dark sunglasses that slip down his nose, and holding a knife delicately between two fingers. He is also wearing the dress of Jessica Rabbit in Who Framed Roger Rabbit, a halter- and sleeveless dark red and sparkly dress that drapes down to the floor, split at both sides to reveal his legs. In addition, he is wearing long violet opera gloves, and posing sexily with one hand propped up on his hip. Above him, text reads “I’m not bad, I’m just dreamt that way”.

Next to him, Matthew the Raven is fluttering angrily, wearing Roger Rabbit’s red pants and a silly blue bowtie with yellow polka dots. He is shouting “Hey, why the fuck am I Roger!?”

#WyDraws #the sandman #the corinthian #matthew the raven #i have to say corinthian really rocks the jessica rabbit dress #and matthew was BORN to be a comedy toon #this isn't ship art but maybe it also isn't NOT ship art #look me in the eye and tell me it wouldn't be funny #i saw that post and blacked out for two hours and then this art existed #sometimes these things just grip you #thanks for the inspiration karalyn!!!

[valiantstarlights]

[Six Sentence Sunday/WIP Wednesday]

Tagged by: @bazzybelle 💅

I don't know what the rules are, except maybe to post on either a Wednesday or a Sunday, and it has to have at least 6 sentences? 👀 (please correct me if I'm wrong 😂)

Anyway, here are some sentences from the Dreamling Tiny!Dream AU ✨️ I wrote instead of sleeping, after someone on discord shared a photo of the BDSM Barbie kit.

Tagging: @lostelfwriting , @karalynlovescake , @janimoon , and @mallory-x . Any one of you could have stopped me, but you didn't! 😭 And I know I said it had 1.6k words, but that was before. It has gotten even longer now. 😂

"Hob."

"Just a minute, darling," Hob says distractedly. He's currently uploading his students' grades, and it's a task that he has difficulty with (due to the university's crap online grading system), so he is justified in ignoring Dream for just one measly minute.

A truly heart-wrenching sigh sounds from behind him, and Hob, despite himself, turns to look.

Dream's floating doll castle, which had originally been the dollhouse of a New Inn employee's child that they have recently outgrown, is in its usual place in the corner of his study. The black banners are still flying in an unseen wind, the highest tower is still where the rookery is, and Hob can't really tell right now if Dream has changed anything about the exterior, except--

Oh.

That's new.

Usually, the interior of the doll house ("Doll castle," Dream had insisted), shows only a single room. The room where Dream currently is. Hob doesn't quite know how it works, if it rotates, or if it has a bigger-on-the-inside technology like the TARDIS. (Hob doesn't say that to Dream, though, because he has enough daddy issues.)

Well, the room where Dream is at right now is a room Hob has never seen before.

Oh, he's seen the library, the gardens, and even the swimming pool, but this is the first time he's seeing the sex dungeon.

#tiny dream AU #dreamling #the sandman #my writing #tag game #ah fuck #i can't believe you've done this #(she says to herself)

[teejaystumbles]

Teejaystumbles’ Dreamling art and fic - ultimate masterpost

Fic

general tumblr writing tag (teejay writes)

AO3 (I’m not going to link to every fic I wrote, there are several, please check out this link to the archive)

Art

general tumblr art tag (teejaystumbles)

Pillowfort (for 18+/NSFW works so be aware before clicking!)

Patreon

deviantArt

My original webcomic Behind the Obsidian Mirror (BL, aztec setting, WIP) can be found in my deviantArt gallery and on my Patreon. I also made an extra tumblr but it’s not up to date.

specific posts for certain events or AUs:

Monsterfucktober Bingo 2023 masterpost (full card)

As the World falls down comic (Labyrinth dream AU) (WIP)

Illustration/Cover

pages 1-2

pages 3-5

pages 6-8

pages 9-11

coming soon

The Storms of Life (1889 canon divergence, complete)

kind of related to ch2 - apparition

ch2 - rescue

ch6 - nightmare 1 (cw blood, claws, injury)

ch6 - nightmare 2

ch8 - waiting in the garden

ch10 - kiss

extra - Hob (cw body horror)

Valentine’s Day - Hob in lingerie

Hob portrait

plant creature Dream + Hob

Flatter the Mountain Tops (dragon AU, complete)

ch1 - Hob+Dream as dragons

ch6 - dragon snuggling

ch7 -  partial transformation

ch9 -  a feather, a reminder…

other Endless dragon sketches

Hob mastering partial transformation

some Hob faces

dragon/human sex (sft version with link to nsft)

more dragon/human sex - Hob being irresponsible (comic)

Ollie/Hob sketches

Hob being lifted up by a dragon

loads of more wonderful art for my dragons can be found on @amielot’s tumblr!!

Fins & Fangs AU (vampire!Hob/nixie!Dream)

now with a fic!! Wash these sins on down the river for a life I didn't choose by @karalynlovescake

Story post

story sketches

nix Dream being carried doodle

three stages of monstrification/curse

vampire/nix making out (sft version with link to nsft)

glowing in the rain (angsty)

Hell or High Water (AU with skate merman Hob that tumblr helped create through a poll <3)

sketches 1

sketches 2 - daydreaming on a rock like a good mermaid

first eye contact

sketches 3

sketch with ruby 1

sketch with ruby 2

trying to save a “human”

sketch with ruby 3 - sexy Hob

Hob caught in a net sketch

underwater kisses sketch

Hob playing in kelp forest sketch

sketches 4

Hob pinup

chibi Hob with pet

some Hob faces

anatomy studies (sft version with link to nsft)

dive with me illustration

merman/human illustration (sft version with link to nsft)

Hob caught in a net illustration

Unsustainable (dark!Dream/Hob, Hannibal-inspired AU)

art and premise

drabble

more drabble/thoughts

Single AU/fic art posts

Knight Hob

Cobwebs - sad Hob + kiss

Dryad Dream (cw body horror)

A Hope in Hell

Hob in corset (1789)

There’s an Emerald in the sky (Daniel/Hob)

Spiritstalker (cw blood)

1489 AU - 1 + 2, extra

Jumper (2008) - 1 + 2

Beauty and the Beast (fairytale dream rescue AU)

Moulin Rouge AU

kidnapped Hob (blindfold)

The Hunted (assassin/vigilante AU)

Servant of the Bones AU

Orc Hob

Witch Hob 1 + 2 + 3 + cover art and fic!

Sleep Token song illustrations

Rain (Dreamling)

Apparition (Dreamling - for Storms of Life)

Aqua Regia (Morpheus)

The Offering (Dreamling)

Euclid (Hob - for There’s an Emerald in the Sky)

Take Me Back To Eden (Dreamling - for There’s an Emerald in the Sky)

Higher (Corinthian/Dream)

Aldritch Kemp fanart (Ferdie): sketch, art

Art for others/Masterpost part 2

(I had to cut in half because I reached the tumblr link limit)

#whew oh boy that took a while I can tell you that #this is not all of my art but the most important ones I guess #you can find the rest under my general art tag (my name) #teejaystumbles #masterpost #teejay writes #artists on tumblr #dreamling #the sandman fanart #the sandman fanfiction

[ibrithir-was-here]

Another little Corinthian Bros drabble, this one set after they actually start to like eachother. Inspired by the recent ask by @karalynlovescake and @lunaticus tags on that ask. Thanks for the inspo!

Rest for the Wicked

Dreams and Nightmares didn't sleep, They didn't need to sleep, they weren't created to need or even want sleep. They especially weren't meant to shirke their duties to catch a quick cat-nap. Not even the cat-shaped ones. 

The Corinthian of course made it a point of pride to do what he shouldn't. 

The Corinthian had, point of fact, spent plenty of time in bed in the Waking World, but none of his time spent there had involved anything at all restful. And he hadn't had even the faintest desire to visit his place of origin for so much as a five minute doze when he'd been free to wander the Waking. There was too much to see, to do, to taste.

And yet somehow, now he found himself sprawled out on top of a hill in Fiddler's Green with the Kid curled up next to him, head resting against the Corinthian's shoulder. The younger nightmare's breath went softly in and out, making his eyelashes flutter over his eye teeth as his consciousness floated in some lower level of awareness, mimicking sleep as closely they could get here in the Dreaming. 

The Corinthian looked down at him, watching as his chest rose and fell, completely at ease. So calm, so vulnerable. As if totally unaware that he lay next to the horror of all horrors to stalk the Dreaming.

But then, wasn't that the younger nightmare's calling as well?

Perhaps it was the Corinthian who should be afraid, wary of the sleeping menace that could rouse at any moment and turn on him after having lulled him into a false security, only to strike when he least expected it. 

The Corinthian reached out and brushed away a lock of too long hair that had once more fallen into one the Kid's eye-mouths as it gave a tiny snore.

Oh yes, blood curdling terrifying this one. 

It felt strange, to rest like this. To be a position he'd been in so many times and yet not have it be colored by the cravings of lust nor hunger. To look at his companion in this moment and feel…fondness. Protective. 

The Kid had worn himself ragged these last few weeks, trying to prove himself to Dream, trying to prove himself to the Corinthian. He'd taken each new assignment with intensity, if not relish. With exactness, if not enthusiasm. He'd done all that he'd been asked and more.

And the Corinthian could see that it was draining him, even as the Kid knelt at Dream's feet and gazed up at his Creator with a fervor that the Corinthian remembered he once had felt (perhaps still did, deep deep down). The Kid might have smiled under Dream's praise, but there were dark circles below two of those smiles.

It had been when he'd seen the Kid stumble almost into a wall as he'd walked away from the throne room that the Corinthian had decided enough was enough.

"But I'm supposed to go do a nightmare right now. If Lord Dream finds out I skipped it--" 

"You won't be able to terrify anyone if you trip over your own feet the moment you try to saunter down a flickering hallway. Now you come with me and let me worry about Dream. Worse comes to worse we tell him I talked you into playing hooky. Which is true. "

And he'd taken the Kid off to a far corner of Fiddler's Green where he knew he'd be able to get some shut eye. The old verdant dream liked the Kid, he wouldn't tell on them once he saw how worn out he was. 

Actually most of the Major Arcana and staff liked the Kid, for all the pranks he pulled and mischief he got up to you couldn't really help but like him. It was part of his make up, the part of the Corinthian that was meant to draw you in to make slipping the knife between your ribs that much easier.

Only with the Kid the knife never came, not if he could possibly help it anyway. He had no compunctions about frightening dreamers who really deserved it, but he much preferred a good spook to a slaughter. 

And that was precisely the problem.

He was meant to be the new Corinthian, meant to be the black mirror held up to show humanity the horror inside them, the depths they could sink to, so that they would never wish to do so within the Waking. It was brutal, disturbing work. Necessary work Dream would say. It was the reason he'd called the Corinthian his masterpiece.

And Kid was just too darn soft to go as dark as he should to do it.

The Corinthian wondered if this was a result of Dream attempting to curb  what he saw as the overly savage tendencies within himself when the Dreamlord crafted his replacement, and overcorrecting…

Or, if it was some flaw he'd passed onto the Kid himself. Something inherent in his nature that made this new Corinthian also lacking, also unable to fulfill his Creator's expectations as Dream had hoped. 

Was it simply in the nature of their being to disappoint, in one way or the other?

And if so…what did that mean for the Kid? Would Dream decide to be content with the flawed product  he had as long as the Kid stayed within the bounds he set?

Or would the Lord Shaper decide that third times the charm, and sweep the dust of both of them off his hands? 

All three of the Corinthian's sets of teeth clenched at the thought, and he tightened his grip on the young sleeping nightmare. 

No, no he'd break his parole and skip out to the Waking World with the Kid in tow if it even came close to feeling like that might happen. 

The Kid might not want to go, of course, might think he could reason with Dream, think if he pleads at his Lord's feet, he'd be shown mercy.

Well-- the Corinthian thought, looking over once more at the Kid, the Kid he'd never have known if Dream hadn't kept him around to train him--perhaps Dream did have some mercy. 

He just didn't fancy testing how far it would stretch. 

Yes, the Corinthian would get them out if he had too. He'd run before and he could do it again. True, Dream had been imprisoned then, but he'd figure something out. He--they, were the Corinthian. 

And they wouldn't go down without a fight. 

#my writing #the corinthian #corinthian bros au #the second corinthian #dream of the endless #fiddlers green #the sandman #sandman fic #sandman au #sandman