Teejaystumbles’ Dreamling art and fic - ultimate masterpost

1389 || 1889

When Dream agreed to swap styles for a day, he hadn’t realized Matthew had shown Hob a picture of that outfit.

I have no idea where this came from but I’m never going to turn it into a full fic so I’m releasing it into the void.

Dream is some sort of fae creature whose son died, so he sneaks into a mortal village and kidnaps a young boy around the same age his son was.

(Part of his heart hurts because he never took part in the traditional changeling child/fae kidnapping thing because he couldn’t bear to leave his son with some stranger, he loved him too much, and he knows deep down he shouldn’t do this to someone else but he’s desperate for something, anything, to dull the pain of his loss).

When single dad Hob wakes up and finds his son Robyn missing, he’s fully prepared to go scorched earth to find him. When it becomes clear he’s not in the village, he going charging alone into the woods, too impatient to put a party together to help him. (He’s terrified- he’s heard rumors of fae in these parts, but there was no child left behind. What could have taken his little boy?)

After a few days searching, he hears Robyn’s voice up ahead. He’s got a sword at his side, but for now he draws a bow and arrow, moving forward slowly. Eventually he comes to a clearing, peeking forward and preparing to shoot down whatever took his child. But then. He pauses. 

Robyn is smiling, and laughing, and has an abundance of flowers adorning his hair. He is plucking some berries from a bush and popping them into his mouth under the guidance of the most beautiful creature Hob’s ever seen. As he listens, he realizes that Robyn is talking about him, telling stories of how his papa taught him to identify the things that are safe to eat in the forest, and how tall he feels when he sits on his father’s shoulders, and how his papa has a terrible singing voice but sings the loudest anyway and so Robyn loves it. 

“I think papa will like you lots!” Robyn declares, and the creature smiles sadly.

“I… doubt that… but he sounds lovely.”

Hob is so confused by the whole situation that he doesn’t notice he’s taken a step forward until a branch snaps under his foot. Robyn looks over and immediately bursts into a wide smile, even as the creature lets out a panicked series of chirps and bolts in the other direction.

“Papa!!” 

Robyn throws himself into his father’s arms, and Hob drops his weapons to hold him, beyond relieved to have his son safe in his arms, unharmed. He spends a few minutes just peppering his son’s face with kisses and telling him how worried he was before finally looking at the spot where the creature had disappeared into the woods. Robyn follows his gaze, smiling and tugging on Hob’s hand to guide him into the clearing as he calls out.

“It’s okay, Dream! Papa is super nice to everyone, you don’t have to hide!”

Hob’s sees two bright eyes in the shadows before the creature- Dream- hesitantly steps forward. He looks sad and scared and ashamed and Hob is smitten almost immediately.

Robyn explains that when he woke up he had been scared, but Dream had hugged him (almost as good as his papa’s hugs, he claims) and told him he would keep him safe and take care of him. Then Robyn had been sad because he already missed his dad, and when he told Dream about him he had immediately realized the error of what he had done and resolved to return Robyn. It had taken some time because Robyn had insisted he was too big to be carried (it’s one thing if he was sleeping, but he was a big boy he could walk home just fine, really!) so they had traveled together, Dream never feeding him anything that would bind Robyn to him, instead just pointing out food and water for him to gather himself. 

Dream is still standing a bit aways from them both as Robyn tells the tale, looking at the little boy with aching fondness.

“I’m sorry,” he said softly to Hob, “I just... miss my son so much,” he smiles weakly at Robyn, “I believe you and Orpheus would have been great friends.”

And oh, Hob gets it all of a sudden. He had been fully prepared to do all sorts of questionable things to get his son back, he can’t imagine what he might be compelled to do if he actually lost him. And Dream was bringing him back, so he finds it very easy to forgive him.

He finds it even easier to invite Dream to finish the journey back with them, and then invite him to stay, and then invite him to build a home in the woods together, and share kisses and a bed and a life. 

Robyn is very smug.

He told Dream his dad would like him.

You gotta write for funsies sometimes. Everything doesn’t have to be groundbreaking. Like. Who cares if it’s a little silly it is made out of love

Great dreamling dynamic is dream sees hob for the reunion in 2021 and he just.. cant leave. Cant get himself to leave and wait another 100 years. Hob is so excited he even gets to have another meeting and he nearly dies for real when dream just kinda follows him upstairs at the end of the night like a stray cat! Hob is trying so incredibly hard to not make a big deal over it afraid of another 1889 even if his stranger seems so different now... they continue their meeting in hobs living room sitting next to one another on a small couch and dream brings his now socked feet up on the couch to hold his legs to his chest and hob bites his tongue so he doesnt tell this powerful supernatural force that he looks so fucking cute right now. Hob will extend this meeting as long as he can but hes ready to pass out hes so tired. Dream catches him yawning and instructs him to go to bed but hob is stalling trying anything to get his stranger to stay. Its ends up hob falls asleep despite his best efforts and wakes up in his own bed, bittersweet that he got to see his stranger again but accidentally cut their meeting short... he hopes dream will still come around for 2089 instead of now waiting until 2121. Dream is still on his couch. He turns to look at hob when he exits his room and gives a slow blink. Hob is so fucking confused but he rolls with it with a grin and prepares them a big breakfast and dream can feel the love and affection pouring out of the cup of tea alone. Its exactly like feeding a stray cat, because he keeps coming back.

The more affection hob gives dream the more often dream comes around. Hob is so glad this is the case because he has so many hugs to give and having dream as a regular fixture in his life now is one of the best things thats ever happened to him. Hes waiting at their table for hob to get home from work every day now and when hob kisses him for the first time dream cant stand to be apart from him for more than about 4 hours at a time before a near cataclysmic breakdown. Hob doesn’t get scared off, not in the slightest. He quite enjoys the obsessive focus in fact because his own all encompassing adoration for dream seems less creepy in comparison.

Coworker: uh hey whatcha got there??

Hob, holding hands with dream for the past 12 hours straight: a smoothie.

Ferdinand Kingsley for An Actor Despairs

I am so smitten with fic writers who take the time to actually respond to comments, it is the loveliest sweetest thing, and I think it is not appriciated often enough. They anyways spend countless hours writing, and when not writing editing and trying to manage some other activities also. To sit down and reply to comments takes time and energy, and they chose to do this instead of the myriad of other obligations or, well— writing. I love this. Truly.