I Just Wanted To Draw Them Hugging (;_;)

you wouldn’t believe who i saw at disney world

part 2 of my hope!hob Pandora's box au

part 1

word count: 2079

Morpheus picks the candle up and rolls it in his hand, examining it. it's not really anything special, just a yellow prayer candle. The glass is completely blank showing off the candle completely. He runs his fingers over the smooth glass considering putting something on it, like a sticker or something. Does he even have any stickers? Does hope even like stickers? Does he know what stickers are? He shakes the thoughts from his head and instead thinks about what story to tell. He'd thought about it a lot over the past few days. He's lived so long. How could he possibly choose where to start? Would hope have some sort of request?

he eventually decides to just light it, maybe his audience will inspire him and everything will work itself out once hope is here. Morpheus grabs a match and lights the candle and for a moment, everything is still. Morpheus looks around not seeing anything change and wonders if he did what he was supposed to. Maybe he was supposed to light it on an altar? Moving to a small table in his living room, he notices all the lights in his house are getting noticeably brighter until he has to set the candle down on the little table and cover his eyes from the blinding light. He keeps his face covered until he can tell the light has died down. When he uncovers his eyes he sees hope looking at him with a confused look.

"why were you covering your face?" he asks as Morpheus blinks away the floaters from hopes entrance

"your entrance was very bright" he says rubbing his eyes "if i hadn't it would have caused some serious damage to my eyes"

"oh I'm so sorry" hope apologizes stepping back and pulling his hands seemingly into his chest "I didn't know I'll try not to do it next time" he says looking down.

"It's alright, I doubt you can help it" Morpheus says turning back to the little table kneeling "next time I'll just close my eyes and face the wall after I light the candle." he assures hope as he clears the table of its previous inhabitants.

"What are you doing?" Hope asks, peering over his shoulder.

"I'm making a specific space for your candle." He explains picking up the candle to wipe down the table. He doesn't notice the endless' start to glow behind him.

"like.. an, alter?" hope inquires expectantly. no one had ever made HIM an alter before, it was always for some lesser being, made to syphon from him through a god or deity, he could feel it while he was in the box. he felt the faint pull in his chest, the construction and destruction of temples and altars made for others in an attempt to reach him through them. to have an altar made with specifically him in mind, well, it was... flattering.

"Yeah, an altar. seems like the most efficient way to do this, to get you caught up when I'm busy. I can just leave you things and you can examine them to learn about the current state of the world." he explains, dusting off his hands and standing up "does seem a little bland right now though huh? I don't think my darker colors really match your candle though, gonna have to go out and get some white and gold stuff." he adds examining the bare 'alter' with nothing but a candle, 'hardly counts as an alter right now though'

Morpheus turns to face hope, noticing he's still wearing a tunic. "how about instead of a story we can go get you a new wardrobe and some stuff for your altar?" he suggests looking hope up and down "you'll have to change though, i think my clothes will fit you"

"i- i mean- yeah, sure, sounds fun." Hob can feel himself falling through the words, first the mortal makes him an altar then offers to not only buy him clothes but choose things for his altar? He stands there lost in thought for a moment until the aforementioned mortal speaks to him once more.

"Also, will you stay here if I snuff the candle? I don't want to waste it." he asks handing him a set of completely black clothes 'he doesn't want to waste it' hob thinks with a smile. "yes I will, is there a room I can change in?" after Morpheus helps him to the bathroom and leaves hope to change, he snuffs the candle and makes a small list of the things he knows he has to get:

gold tablecloth

white lace runner

small offering tray

one (1) nice outfit for hope

they'd have to go somewhere nearby, hope doesn't seem like he'd be too keen on travelling by anything other than foot. Luckily there's a small boutique and second hand store nearby where they should be able to get everything. hob walks out with the clothes slightly askew and holding a pair of shoes.

"I do not know how to put these on," he says, raising them slightly higher. Morpheus looks up from his list surveying hope in his clothes.

"I probably should've helped you, apologies" he says adjusting the clothes slightly "but you managed to get the socks on so overall I'd say this is a success" he declares, motioning for hope to sit down on the couch. as soon as he does Morpheus kneels to help hope with the shoes

"Will the clothes we get me today look like this?" Hope asks as he watches Morpheus tie the left shoe.

"no, were going to get you something nicer, these clothes are just easy to take off and put on" he explains tying the right shoe "makes the whole process of clothes shopping easier" he sighs looking up "ready to go?" he asks standing up, hope nods. "alright let's go then."

the shops truly aren't that far. a ten minute walk at best. They don't talk much as Morpheus is too lost in thought and hope is too enamoured by the advancements of civilization, so enamoured in fact that he almost gets hit by a car. If Morpheus hadn't pulled him back onto the sidewalk at the last second he would've been very uncomfortable. He takes a minute to process what's going on and notices he is very close to Morpheus, almost burrowed into his chest with his arms wrapped around him. and Morpheus is so very comfortable and warm with the long coat he has on an-

"Okay" the word cuts through Hob's thoughts like a xiphos as Morpheus backs up to look him in the eyes and holds out his hand "take my hand."

"why?" If hob were human he'd say he could feel the blood rushing to his face as his eyes widened. but he's not human so he could soundly tell you  that he was glowing slightly.

"So you don't go, somehow unknowingly, stepping into oncoming traffic." he explains as he holds his hand up a little higher, hob takes it and they continue on their way.

Morpheus wouldn't say he was out of his depth when it came to clothes shopping, he just didn't buy color very offten. All of his clothes were various shades of black and dark grey with a few lighter greys (to which his students never failed to make a comment along the lines of 'busting out the spring collection I see' ) but looking at hope in his clothes... well he just didn't look right in black. but trying to figure out what base color to start with was tricky. black was out of the picture but yellow seemed too strong to use as a base. Eventually he settled on a white button up to layer with some sort of sweater. Maybe that's where the yellow could come in? He could worry about that in a moment, he should deal with the rest of the outfit first then the rest of the layers. He looked over all his options, made some choices and measured them against hope to get the right size and sent him to try them on and went looking for some layers. Maybe a blue sweater? but then the colors would-

"professor galanis?" uh oh "what are you doing here? its for sure not your style.'' This much was very true, though he hadn't expected to run into any of his students so he absolutely did not come up with a cover story.

"well, i-"

"hey, could you help me with this?'' The students' eyes go wide and Morpheus can't tell if the interruption is a blessing or curse but goes to help nonetheless. After defeating the buttons he hands hope a couple sweaters to try on and turns around to see his student still standing there.

"sorry about that I-"

"don't even worry about it sir." she says with a smile "sorry for interrupting your … outing." he’s going to get so many questions on Monday "i'll just-"

"actually, could you help me?" he will never hear the end of them "I'm not much of a color person and I need to pick out some accessories"

her eyes light up and she smiles wider "of course sir, i wasn't planning on buying anything anyways"

They spend far more time in the store than Morpheus had planned and by the end of the trip Hope has several outfits with accessories to match. The outfit he's wearing to replace Morpheus's clothes consists of a pair of cuffed blue jeans, a pale yellow sweater over a white button up, a string of fake pearls and a pair of converse.

"Thank you Ms. Tarcey," he says as they start heading out.

"no problem Mr. g, I came out to window shop and this was way more fun!" she says, opening the door.

"I'm sure it was," he says with a laugh "to show my gratitude, I'm willing to give you full marks on the writing assignment I know you haven't started." he offers as they get to the street watching as her eyes go wide and mouth falls open. "Now this is a one time thing. I will not offer this if you help me again." he warns, grabbing Hope's hand before he can run down the sidewalk to follow a dog.

"sir you have no idea how much that helps me" she mumbles, face still in total shock.

"I actually do," he quips. "have a good evening Ms. Tarcey. I'll see you Monday" he says leading hope to the secondhand store across the street.

"who was that?" hob asks once they're in the store.

"one of my students." Morpheus says inspecting a tablecloth. "I teach creative writing" he clarifies, putting the tablecloth back and picking up another. "What do you think of this one?" he asks, handing the fabric to hope.

The cloth is a rich yellow with a light shine, when the light hits it, shifting it reveals a pattern akin to Victorian woodwork, hob doesn't know that of course but he thinks it's beautiful anyways. He looks over to Morpheus who is carefully inspecting other tablecloths and table runners. hob notes how sharp his facial features are, how … elegant … they look. Morpheus turns back to him and he shakes the notion from his head.

"so..?"

"huh? oh, OH, yes i like it, it's perfect" hob chastises himself over how the words come out and picks up a thin lace table runner and pretends to examine it to keep his eyes from wandering. "this one's nice isn't it?"

"mm" he agrees silently, taking it from hob’s hand  and putting it in the small basket on his arm and walking towards a different part of the store. As he's following a small dish catches hob’s eye, well it's not really a dish, it's a scallop shell with a castle on a hill painted in blue on the inside and the edges are painted gold. He carefully turns it over in his hand examining it closely.

"Do you like it?"

Hob turns and sees Morpheus is behind him looking over his shoulder "oh yes, isn't it cool?" he beams, staring into morpheus's very.. pretty.. pale blue.. eyes.

"It is very pretty," he says, taking it from Hope's hand, examining it himself for a moment before gently putting it in the basket. "lets go check out." he says with a small smile and hob glows a tad.

Jessamy, Raven of the Dreaming, messenger of Lord Morpheus, his eyes and ears in other realms, bearer of hot gossip.

1389.

The Dreaming titters with the knowledge that something has happened, a new star in the sky above the throne room, burning suddenly bright.

"That's Hob Gadling," Jessamy confides to Lucienne. "Lord Morpheus' sister granted him immortality."

"Why on Earth would she do something like that?" Lucienne asks.

Jessamy ruffles her feathers. "She saw the way Lord Morpheus looked at him. He hasn't looked at something like he cared that much in centuries."

1489.

"How was—"

"Oh he's so handsome now," Jessamy gushes before Lucienne can finish her question. "And he's gotten into printing."

Lucienne looks around the already-expanding library, shifting and adjusting to suit the needs of a human populace whose relationship to the written word has changed forever. It's been like this some time.

The newest star in the throne room shines a little brighter.

1589.

"You seem—"

"He walked away from Hob," Jessamy says. She loves Lord Morpheus with all her heart, but sometimes she forgets he was never human.

"Did he do something wrong?" Lucienne asks, running a comforting finger over her head.

"He's happy," Jessamy says. "I think it was an affront."

1689.

Jessamy barrels into Lucienne's chest, trying to scrabble under her coat.

A waking world raven has no tears to shed, but part of Jessamy will always be human, and she does not wish to cry in front of an audience. Lucienne is a librarian, she's accustomed to keeping people's secrets.

"He's been alone and miserable for eighty years."

"Lord Morpheus?" Lucienne asks. "It's been much longer tha—"

"Hob!" Jessamy wails.

"Oh," Lucienne pauses. "Did he ask for—"

"He still wants to live!" Jessamy sobs.

"Ah." Unknown to Jessamy, tucked under Lucienne's coat, Lucienne smiles.

The star in the throne room blazes like a sun.

1789.

"They were attacked," Jessamy reports.

"Who were?" Mervyn, finally, has decided to catch up with the local gossip.

"Lord Morpheus and Hob Gadling," Jessamy explains, vibrating with energy. "Hob got up to defend him before I could wriggle my way out of his coat. It's so tight this century."

Lucienne smiles a knowing little smile. “Did he, now? That is interesting.”

In the throne room, Lord Morpheus watches the star.

1889.

Lucienne finds Jessamy hiding in a gap in a bookshelf, glaring out at the world with barely restrained anger.

“He walked away again. All Hob offered was friendship. He wants it. I don’t understand.”

Lucienne offers an arm, and when Jessamy accepts it, holds her close to her chest, stroking her gently.

“This is why he’s immortal,” Lucienne says wisely. “Lord Morpheus has never made a friend before. It’s a slow process.”

2022.

“I’m sorry, is there something… moving in your coat?” Hob asks, halfway through an anecdote about the first car he’d owned.

Dream clears his throat subtly. He hesitates, and then holds the coat open, to reveal the head and a strip of striking white breast of what looks, to Hob, like a very small, very strange raven.

“I thought her lost,” Dream says softly. “But found her wandering the Dreaming once it was put to rights. She has been eager to meet you for some time. I had always intended to introduce you,” he adds, clearly for the raven’s sake rather than Hob’s. “I had simply meant to ease him into the idea first.”

The raven nuzzles his cheek.

Hob’s heart swells three sizes.

"This is Jessamy," Dream says. "She has been exceptionally loyal to me." A pause. "And to you, when I have been… unkind."

Hob tilts his head. Jessamy tilts hers right back. "She's been in your coat the whole bloody time, hasn't she?"

Something Hob had never thought to see no matter how long he lived happens then. Dream blushes.

Jessamy makes a soft sound that serves as an answer, and Hob grins at her. "I like you," he says. "We can be friends too, if you like."

"I'd like that," Jessamy says.

Hob is very lucky he literally can't have a heart attack. At the same moment, there's a tap on the window. A bigger, all black raven is perched on one of the chairs next to it.

"Ah," Dream says. "It appears Matthew would also like to make your acquaintance."

Hob blinks. He looks at Jessamy. He looks at Matthew. He looks at Dream.

"How many bloody ravens do you have?"

Sandy makes Dream happy  :’D

cinnamon.hodgepodge

✦Flower Sword✦

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Art by Mai Shikama