Morpheus Does Not Understand Millennial/Gen-Z Humor (Morpheus x reader)
Sometimes, it's difficult to remember that Morpheus is an anthropomorphic personification of a concept that is likely billions of years old. When you look at him, after all, he looks like a regular man (an unfairly pretty regular man, but a man all the same)
Morpheus was also locked up underground for over a century, which adds another layer of complexity to him
This leads to some pretty...interesting interactions with him
Let's face it: Millennials and Gen-Z'ers are nihilists on their best days
We've seen manmade horror after manmade horror our entire lives while living in the midst of late-stage capitalism, which has given all of us a pretty odd sense of humor
When you begin to date/court/see Morpheus, he becomes privy to this in the worst of ways
The first time is when you're attempting to look something up on your phone and you drop it
The device lands face-down on the ground, and you stare at what has now become Schrödinger's phone for a long moment
After letting out a long, pained sigh, you go to pick it up and mutter "I swear to god if this screen shattered, I'm gonna fucking kill myself"
Morpheus, of course, heard you perfectly clear
When you straighten up and look at him after checking your phone (no damage, thankfully), you see his horrified gaze
"I—You will do no such thing. I positively forbid it."
He looks torn between lecturing you and sitting you down for an intervention, so you grab one of his hands to stop his spiraling before it can go any further
"No I don't actually wanna kill myself, it's a..." What is it? A figure of speech? A meme? A joke? Finally, you settle on, "It's just something people say when faced with a minor inconvenience."
Morpheus is not at all impressed with this, and it shows very clearly on his face. "That is ridiculous, that one would become suicidal over something as trivial as their cellular device falling."
You just shrug in a "what can you do?" expression
This isn't the only instance that Morpheus gets to see generational humor at play
One time you're at the New Inn bc Hob is trying to curate a new cocktail menu and needs an outside opinion (Morpheus is just standing in the corner like 🧍♂️)
After you try your favorite one you're like, "Hob this SLAPS"
Hob's beaming bc he understands what you're saying since he teaches college students, but Morpheus pipes up and says, "The drink does not have arms with which to slap you"
This sends you and Hob into hysterics
Don't even try to open TikTok when he's anywhere near you bc he WILL want to see what you're laughing at and having to explain a TikTok takes all of the humor out of it
( "Well it's funny because she said that the rats don't run the city like it's a declaration of war against the rats"
"What is it then?"
"...I'm changing the subject")
Matthew has become your gossip buddy because he sees everything, and one night in the Dreaming he finds you in the library with Morpheus
He's doing excited little raven hops across the table and you say, "Matthew, do you have tea for me?"
Matthew's about to reply that, yes he does and you had better buckle up, when Morpheus beats him
"Would you like tea, my love? I can arrange that for you."
You smile at him like he's a child that just said something funny. "No, 'tea' means gossip. Matthew looks like he has gossip."
You whisper popular TikTok sounds under your breath a lot and Morpheus has just learned to not even ask when he hears you mutter something like, "Interior crocodile alligator, I drive a Chevrolet movie theater."
You're just glad you've never been in a car with him, because you know that the instinctive "Road work ahead? Uh YEAH I SURE HOPE IT DOES" that you won't be able to stop yourself from saying when you see a 'Road Work Ahead' sign will probably make his poor head explode
865 notes
·
View notes