Bring Me A Dream (Morpheus ‘Dream’ x Reader One Shot)
Fic Masterpost | AO3
You’re a lucid dreamer, a strong sleeper. That’s how you meet the Sandman. He helps you learn, helps you dream.
But you want more, you need more. So does he.
Warnings: angst, swearing, mentions of sex.
Word Count: 4.5k
The first time you met him, you were crying. When your dreams usually brought solitude and understanding and a lightness that you seldom experienced in reality, this one had shifted into a nightmare. You were powerless. You couldn’t change it, you simply had to endure.
The scene had changed. Turned sour. Turned cold. When before the fields you thought up were green and luscious, full of life, they were now grey; decaying before your very eyes as the flowers began to wilt and melt into mud.
“Why is this happening! I control the world, here!” you screamed, hoping it would make a difference, but it was no use. All you could do was accept this fate.
You dropped to the floor, scuffing your hands over the ash-ridden dirt; the remnants of your once beautiful dreamscape. You wept.
That’s when the Sandman appeared.
Dressed in a long black coat and donning a piercing and inquisitive gaze, he knelt to the floor at your side. “Why do you weep, child?”
“My flowers… they’re all dead,” you sniffed, a few stray tears still falling down your cheeks. He regarded you blankly. His expression was as sharp and as cold as marble. “Who are you?”
That made him smile. The tiniest curl of his lip. “I am the King of Dreams,” he said. Your eyes widened.
“You’re the man who puts sand in my eyes every night? The Sandman?” you let out, utterly amazed. “What are you doing here?”
“I traverse through dreams,” he said simply.
“Why my dream, though?” you chided.
“I sensed your anguish,” he said softly, looking around at the now desolate and dark field. You follow his movements, taking in your surroundings, your world. Your dead world.
“I don’t understand,” you started. “This has never happened before… they didn’t listen to me this time,”
“You are a lucid dreamer, child,” the Sandman said. “The ability to completely control ones dream is a rarity to get right, time after time. You can still control this world,” he urged.
“It won’t work. I’ve tried—,”
“Your tears betray you,” he cut over you. Gently, he reached out a boney fingered hand, swiping his thumb beneath your eye to mop up your remaining tears. “The dream can sense your fear,”
You looked up at him, into those piercing, yellow eyes that so easily landed upon yours. The Sandman gently cupped your face as you stared into his— jaw razor sharp, nose straight, eyes on fire.
He didn’t scare you, though.
“Okay,” you said, sniffing away the rest of your sadness. “What do I do?”
“Close your eyes,” he almost whispered it. You obeyed him. “Imagine your flowers growing, thriving, living,”
You sucked in a deep breath, imagining the once green fields, full of poppies, lilies, sunflowers— every species under the sun. They filled up the entire meadow, swaying subtly in the breeze as the sun shone proudly.
You could feel the breeze first, and then the glorious fragrant scent hit your nose. When you opened your eyes, the Sandman was gone, but your flowers were alive once more.
The second time you saw him, he scared you. Ten years later, you were a teenager and vastly unhappy. Reality wasn’t something you indulged in anymore, so your dreams were your solace.
You created worlds in your sleep, building castles and a backdrop of rolling, snow covered mountains. There were people there; not like humans, more like elves or fairies or witches. The weather was always gleaming.
You ruled over your kingdom happily; alone.
Until he showed up again.
“Your majesty, you have a guest,” one of your guards informed you. You were in your study, writing, drawing, living. You dropped everything immediately—
No one visited you. Ever.
“Who?”
“The King of Dreams,”
When you saw him again, you thought he’d smile. Only seeing him once before made you believe you’d made him up; conjured him from your mind, the same way that you made the flowers grow.
He looked the same. Ageless, eyes just as piercing as they were before; perhaps even more so. He inhaled deeply when his eyes met yours, hands by his side, flexing his fingers anxiously.
“Hello, Sandman,” you spoke, smiling at him fondly despite the sharpness of his gaze.
“Hello, child,” he replied. You turned to your guard, gesturing for him to leave. The large drawing room doors shut behind him— you and the Sandman were alone once more.
“What are you doing here?” you asked, stepping forward to pace the room.
“You built all this?” he chided immediately. “A Kingdom from within your mind,” the two of you glanced out of the window to the left, overseeing the landscape.
“You sound like it’s abnormal for humans to create within their dreams,” you let out, smiling to yourself. “Dreamscapes are where we can truly live,”
“No,” he spoke suddenly. “This world cannot be sustained. Your mind would crumble. The Dreaming would implode,”
You found yourself understanding every word he said, despite never hearing of the Dreaming before. This visit was not a coincidence, you realised. He had come to scold you, to warn you.
It made you angry.
“What are you trying to say?” you let out, mood immediately changing. “You can’t take this away from me,”
“I… just want you to be careful,” he let out thoughtfully. “I know living in ones dream can be beautiful. You built these walls with your mind, you should be proud,” he turned to you, smiling at you smally. “But, reality can also bend to your will,”
“How?” you chided bluntly. “Reality is nothing but a burden to me,”
“No,” Dream said, flicking his eyes over your panicking expression. “You need to live in it, otherwise you’ll always compare it to your dreamscape,”
“I never thought the King of Dreams would tell me to stay awake,” you let out, and the sound of the Sandman laughing hit your ears for the first time. You whipped your stare to him, awestruck at how he looked amused.
“I never thought I would see you again, yet here we are,” he said fondly. “You’ve grown, child,”
“You haven’t,” you said lowly. Slowly, you strolled towards him, until you were chest to chest.
He peered down at you, skimming his gaze over the features of your face. You wanted to reach out to him, to touch his face, to feel his skin; but you wouldn’t allow yourself to.
“Will I see you again?” you asked.
“I hope not,” he let out, and you know why he said it. The King of Dreams was a bad omen to behold. For him to appear meant danger. For him to be absent meant all was well.
Still— those words hurt you.
You had so many questions, but no time for him to answer them.
“Goodbye, child,” he spoke softly. You inhaled a sharp breath, reaching forward suddenly.
“Dream—,”
You woke abruptly. You didn’t weep, but your heart ached beneath your ribcage. You clutched your chest, feeling the pelting of your pulse throughout your veins.
“Goodbye, King of Dreams,” you whispered.
You tried to move on.
But as you grew older, so too did your curiosity. Your mind only expanded, alongside your dreamscape; though you took Dream’s advice—
You didn’t visit nearly as much, didn’t devote all of your time and energy on the palaces within your head.
Dream never returned. You were never able to find him, either. He was dust.
In university, all you do is doodle the Sandman in lectures. He’s on every piece of paper, every notepad, every essay plan— the wild hair, the piercing eyes, the black coat and combat boots; The King of Dreams.
“Are you drawing that emo guy, again?” your best friend, Heidi, says. She’s always been straight to the point and utterly unapologetic about it. Her forwardness is what keeps you tethered to reality.
“He’s not an emo. Well— I guess he sort of is,” you let out, amusement on your lips.
“Who is he? New Tinder match?” she quips. You scoff loudly, garnering a scolding look from your professor, before going back to the lesson.
“No,” you lower your voice. “He’s just… a guy,”
“Bullshit. You’ve been obsessed with him for a few weeks now,” Heidi spouts.
Try fifteen years.
“What does he do?” Heidi goes on, suddenly curious. You indulge her, colouring in Dream’s coat in all black.
“He’s… a monarch,”
“He what? Is he a fucking prince?” Heidi bursts.
“More like a king,” you smile fondly.
“You’re fucking with me. What kind of dating apps are you on, girl? Kingdom Mingle?” you elbow her softly, trying not to laugh.
“Shut up,” you scoff.
“So, what is he like? Have you ever met him?” Heidi continues.
“He’s… reserved. He’s got these really steely eyes, like when he looks at you, you can really feel him staring at you, y’know?” you say thoughtfully. “I’ve met him twice,”
“Twice? So, you’ve bonked?” she lets out. You grimace immediately.
“Bonked? Who the fuck says bonked? Are you twelve—?”
“Just answer the damn question—,”
“No! We haven’t fucking bonked,” you shout at her lowly, trying not to alert the entire class to you.
“Shame,” Heidi says bluntly. “How old is he?”
Ah. What a question.
“He… looks twenty-five. Ish,” you said hesitantly. Heidi furrows her brows at you, looking at you like she just stepped in dog shit.
“Looks?” she coughs out. You stare at her, wide eyed and almost blushing because it all sounds so fucking ridiculous. “Girl—,”
“Just— fuck off,” you stutter out. “He’s just some guy, some Instagram celebrity that I have a stupid crush on who I’ve met twice— in passing— or whatever, and that’s it. He doesn’t know who I am and I’m probably never going to see him again, so,” you scribble on your page, trying to expel your emotions, before abruptly stopping and letting out a sigh. You turn back to Heidi. “He doesn’t matter,”
Heidi looks at you thoughtfully. “Men,” is all she says. You let out an abrupt scoff, feeling better already.
“Yeah. Men,”
You lay in bed that night, candle flickering on your dresser and covers all the way up to your chin. Part of you is hesitant to enter your Kingdom tonight. You don’t know why.
You ignore the feeling, closing your eyes— and then you’re there.
Home.
Until you wake up again.
No Dream. No nothing. Same old bullshit, day in day out. When you’re not an uni, you’re at your stupid job at the mall. Serving juveniles bad smoothies wasn’t exactly your goal in life, yet here you were—
Hair tied up and stuck through the back of a cap that had Smoothie-licious! on the front in pink bubble writing.
You almost doze off during the quiet hours, gently closing your eyes behind the counter.
“One choco-strawberry blitz, honey,” their voice perks you up and you snap your eyes open, only to be met with the most glamorous person you’ve ever seen.
It sort of takes your breath away, with their perfectly applied lashes and ruby red lip stick and perfect skin and, and—
Wait, what were you doing?
“C-coming right up!” the words wobble out of your mouth, before you get to clumsily making the smoothie for them.
“What’s that I sense?” they let out sensually. “I’d notice a lady with a crush from a mile away,”
“What?” you whip yourself around to them, cheeks warming up violently.
“Oh, you do, don’t you, sweet girl?” they pout at you. “For the King of Dreams no less,” the breath hitches in the back of your throat. You immediately raise all of your defences.
This person wasn’t human.
“Who are you?” you ask strongly, finding your voice. This was the first time you’d encountered any kind of god or deity in reality.
“My brother didn’t tell you about me? How rude,” they let out, before dropping their hand out before them; for you to kiss. “I’m Desire, darling. Dream’s stunning sibling. Charmed,”
“That’s not a word I’d use,” you let out, frowning at the introduction and this entire situation. “What do you want?” something hits you in the gut then, making your heart tremble.
Dream. Had something happened?
“Is Dream okay?” you stutter out, but Desire only laughs through their fingers.
“My, my. You really do like him, don’t you? Only met twice, yet your thoughts are utterly littered with him,” Desire smiles at you, but it’s not real. They’re fake smiling. They are a snake. “When was the last time you saw him, hm? What was it— five years ago?”
“Shut up,” the words pour from your lips before you can hold back.
“First time, seven years old; second time, seventeen years old—,”
“Shut up,” you spit through clenched teeth.
“Twenty-two years old now and no more Dream—,”
“Shut up!” you scream at the top of your lungs, but for some reason, no one reacts. Almost like you and Desire are trapped in some kind of time bubble, just the two of you. Alone. “You don’t know anything,”
“Don’t make me laugh, mortal. This is my job, you know? I can feel the desire radiating through your giant and clogged pores,”
“Why are you here? To scare me?”
“Oh gods, honey, no,” they say, almost shocked. “I’m here to tell you that Dream isn’t worth your pining,”
You let out a revolted scoff. “You don’t know him then, it seems,”
“Rich coming from the girl who’s met him twice when I’ve known him since the start of creation, but sure,” Desire twiddles their fingers, looking at their long, claw-like nails. They’re painted blood red.
Your blood starts to boil before you can even help yourself. Curiosity will be your downfall. “Why isn’t he worth it?” you let out, jaw clenched.
Desire leans on the counter, getting comfortable.
“Dream doesn’t care for others, not the way you care for him. His realm is dark and desolate and, by god, the man has no friends. He’s utterly cruel,”
You’re confused. It’s clear to see, slapped all over your face. You didn’t want to believe Desire’s words, but it was hard not to.
“But… he’s the King of Dreams. He offers humans the chance to escape, to create their own worlds, to… be someone else entirely,”
“Dreams are more complicated than that, darling,” Desire says, looking at you sadly. “Don’t worry your precious, little, lucid self about all that, though,” they gently boop your nose, making you flinch.
“Lucid?” you let out. “You— you spoke to Dream about me?”
Dream knew you were a lucid dreamer; able to control the outcomes of your subconscious with a snap of your fingers. How could Desire know, if Dream hadn’t told them?
Desire lets out a smug hum. “Okay, you’re smart. I’ll give you that,” they give you one glance, up and down, as if judging you. “I’ve said all I needed to say, so I’ll be on my way,”
“Wait— does he still follow me?” you let out desperately. You know you sound it, but you don’t care. “Morpheus. Does he still follow my dreams?”
Desire winks once. It makes you feel sick.
“Goodbye, Dream’s girl,” they wave with their clawed nails, before walking away. You blink once, and they’ve vanished.
The mall is back to normal. People mill around. Voices mumble to each other. But you can hardly hear them— your heart is beating so fast and your blood is pumping so aggressively that you feel like you’re floating.
Dream still knew you, still thought about you, that was for certain; but for Desire to show up— that was unnerving.
Something felt wrong. Something felt off.
You needed to find Dream. You had to.
You go to bed at 6pm, forcing yourself to fall asleep. As soon as your eyes shut, you wake up in your kingdom, out on the fields.
The weather is grey. The clouds are black. It all feels wrong.
“Majesty, what’s going on?” your guard asks, as soon as you enter the castle.
“Not now, I have someone I need to find,” you let out.
“The King of Dreams?” he asks, and your heart stops. You turn to him, brows furrowed low.
“How did you know?”
“I had a feeling, your majesty. The kingdom has felt… unsettled today,” he lets out, shaking slightly. You approach him softly, laying a gentle hand on his shoulder.
“Do you know how I can find him?”
Your guard shrugs. “The Dreaming is impossible to navigate. Only Dream himself or a vortex could possibly traverse the dreamscapes, your majesty,”
“Where does Morpheus reside in the Dreaming?” you chide.
“His palace, I believe. Off limits to dreamers. Only demons or citizens of his realm can make it there,”
Well, fuck.
There was part of you that wanted to scream. You were in his realm, in his world, yet so far away from him. Dream never had any trouble finding you— he could seek you out easily— but for you, finding him was like a needle in a haystack.
“I have to try,” you whisper to yourself. “I built this world, I control what happens in my dreams,” your guard regards you gently. “Maybe… I can summon him here,”
“Summon the King of Dreams? How?”
You step back, looking out over the vast horizon of your kingdom— the kingdom you built with your mind, singlehandedly; the kingdom that you control every time you close your eyes.
“By imagining he’s already here,”
You close your eyes immediately, balling your fists. You imagined this room, the drawing room, with all of it’s rugs and lavish curtains and dark wood furniture, with a view out to the snow-covered mountains that you grew from your mind.
You imagined him here, with his flowing black coat, his skeletal frame, his wild hair and even wilder eyes— the Dream that you so ached to see again, to talk to, to learn from.
He knew all, and you wanted that.
You’d wanted that since he’d taught you how to make your flowers grow again.
Please, Dream. I know somewhere you can hear me.
You imagined him approaching you, imagined him sticking out a hand to your face and smiling in that way he did; just for you. Not a full smile, never a full one, but the small kind that still made his lips curl.
You loved that smile.
Please, Dream. I need you. I need you. I need you.
You needed him like your body needed water.
I need you.
“You need me,” his voice cuts through your very soul. You flinch at the sound, too afraid to open your eyes incase you’re only imagining it.
“Yes,” you let out in a whisper, trembling over the word.
“Then you need only ask,” he says softly, and you swear you can hear his shoes as they cross the rug, but you want to be certain. You keep your eyes closed, still afraid. “If you need me, I will come,”
You sense him stop behind you, as your eyes flutter open. You turn around and take him in; there’s that smile.
“You’ve grown,” he says fondly. Your heart almost crumbles in your chest. Your eyes start to well.
“You haven’t,” you let out, smiling at him like he’s the sun and stars combined.
There was something about that face. The infinite abyss of his piercing eyes that went on forever and ever, like the vacuum of space or a tunnel to the centre of the universe.
You wished to learn from him; the past, the future, everything in between. The Dreaming, traversing dreams, what his realm was like, what his home was like—
But you didn’t know where to begin, not when you’re finally looking at him again for the first time in five, long, fucking years.
“I had a visitor today,” you start. “Desire,”
Dream’s face drops immediately. He steps forward hastily, grabbing you by the bicep gently. “Did they touch you? Did they hurt you?”
“No, no,” you shake your head, reassuring him. “They did scare me, though,”
“Desire likes to play games,” Dream says lowly. “Was I involved in the discussion, by chance?”
“Yes,” you swallow. “You were… the main topic of conversation,” you force yourself not to blush.
“They get bored, you see. They like to play tricks, to create schemes. I’ve always been more powerful than them, we never got on,” Dream explains. “They get jealous, sometimes,”
“Jealous?”
“Hmm,” Dream ponders. “I deal with dreamers. Something new every second of every day. The fleeting nights and even shorter acquaintances with humans, but when one human sticks—,” he stops quickly, only to let out a small laugh. You think it’s the best sound in the world. “They gets the urge to meddle,”
“So… you’re saying I’ve stuck to you, now,” you ask. You feel embarrassed, but Dream doesn’t care.
“I think, perhaps… we’re stuck to each other,” the way he peers down at you, fingers curled around your arm, small smile on his lips, makes your heartbeat accelerate tenfold.
Does he know? Does he know that you think of him all of the time?
“I wish you could teach me,” you start, looking at the floor sadly. You don’t want him to see you be so pathetic.
“Teach you what?” his voice drops at octave; it shouldn’t have been possible. His words vibrate throughout the floor of the castle.
“What you do. How you live. How you work. I don’t even know if you can go to the waking world or not,” you mumble. Dream breathes out slowly, before gently placing his fingers under your chin. He lifts your head, so he can meet your eyes.
“Curious, aren’t you?” he regards you.
“I’ve been dreaming all my life,” you say. “You can’t blame me,”
“I suppose not,” he whispers. His thumb gently swipes over your chin, sending a shiver down your spine. “And yes, I can exist in the waking world,”
Your eyes widen, only appearing glassier. You don’t care. You blink at him, gobsmacked. “Can you… visit me in the waking world?” you ask.
Dream freezes, but he doesn’t pull away. His expression changes to a quizzical look. “May I ask why?”
“Because… I want you to exist in my reality, as well as my dreams,” you whisper it, utterly transfixed on his gaze. Gently, he takes a step even closer to you, so you’re chest to chest. “I just want to be sure that you’re real… that I didn’t make you up in my head,”
The amount of times you’d thought yourself to be crazy was multiple. There were times where you’d questioned everything— your dreamscape compared to your reality, if Dream was real of if you’d created him.
You wanted to know, properly, once and for all. Even though you knew, deep down, he was real.
You just wanted to be certain.
Dream squeezes your arm affectionately. “As you wish,” and just like that, he removes himself from you, taking a few steps back. From his pocket, he grabs a handful of sand. “When you wake, I will be there,” he says simply.
Gently, he raises his palm to his lips and blows upon the sand. The grains spiral into a whirlwind, encasing him in particles of gold until he completely vanishes.
You clamp your eyes shut, telling yourself it’s time to wake up—
When you open your eyes, you wake in your bed. It’s late, past midnight, and your room is dark.
When he strikes a match, you gasp so loudly that you almost vomit up your heart. Dream lights the candle on your dresser, blowing out the match as a golden glow is cast around your bedroom.
“Dream?” you whisper, heart in your throat.
He turns to you, and you can still see his smile in the dim light. He steps forward, dropping down onto your mattress gently.
“Are you convinced?” he asks.
“Am I still dreaming?“ you let out, trying to stop yourself from crying or screaming or throwing yourself at him with a hug.
“No. You are awake,” he says simply, and those four words put your heart at ease, but make your lungs scream for air. You can’t believe it. He’s real. He’s been real this whole time.
You let out an abrupt laugh, leaning forward to grab him by the face. He lets you, smiling even more so and shuffling himself closer to you on the mattress.
His fingers fiddle with the seam of your night shirt.
He’s real. He’s real.
“I missed you,” he says suddenly, and you allow a small tear to fall down your cheek. You laugh again, swiping your thumb over his jaw. His eyes quickly stick to your lips; just for a second; before travelling back to your eyes.
“I missed you, too,” you reply, and it feels so good to say that you cannot believe this is happening. A proper reunion, an understanding, a feeling.
The King of Dreams had missed you.
“You must rest,” he whispers lowly, but the way his hand trails up to your neck means that you know he doesn’t want to let you go yet.
“Come and see me tomorrow,” you plead. “Promise me,”
Dream lets out the smallest of huffs, the tiniest tuft of air that tells you just how much he adores you. This fondness, this closeness. Perhaps, he’d been keeping himself away for all this time to stop you from relying on your dreamscape, but now— you had him in your reality.
You had him.
Gently, Dream leans in until the gap between you in gone. His lips are soft as they press against your own. He inhales you completely, relishing in the feeling on your head, cradled by his hand, and your fingers fiddling with his hair.
He tastes like the ocean, almost. Like salt water and something else that you can’t work out— power, ageless, a king.
When he pulls away, he drops his forehead onto your own. “You have my word,” he says, and you can feel every syllable cut through your body. Every word. Every sound.
“Okay,” you whisper back. You shut your eyes, content with feeling him against you— his fingers, his lips, his forehead. Everything.
“Goodnight, sweet dreamer,” he whispers.
When you open your eyes, he’s gone.
You can still feel his lips, pressed against yours, telling you to keep dreaming.
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