#gen rated

[You can read here or on AO3!]

Dream didn't get it quite right the first December the 24th that he spent with Hob. He arrived late in the evening after giving Hob space to spend the holiday with his friends. Hob smiled at him warmly as he opened the door for Dream. (He learned to knock instead of appearing in the living room for this purpose only – to see Hob's welcoming smiles.) Dream had no reason to suspect that this wasn't how their Christmas was supposed to go.

Dream kissed Hob on the cheek before giving him his present – a silver bracelet, beautiful and just on the side of unearthly to be clear that it was created in the Dreaming but not raise suspicion. It looked gorgeous on Hob's wrist. Dream couldn't stop looking and Hob laughed at him warmly before giving him his gift. He was shy about it, apologetic even, “I didn't know what to get a God”. Dream assured him that he didn't need anything, but that only seemed to make Hob sad, so he quickly changed the topic, opening the sparkly gift bag.

It was a dream catcher. He was familiar with those – they had been around for a long time. Dream smiled and asked if there was a particular dream that Hob wished to catch. Then, they made love on the living room couch, watched a movie, and went to sleep. The day went how Dream expected it to and the following morning as well – Hob made breakfast for them and they ate at the bar isle in the kitchen, barstools dragged close to each other so they could remain snuggled close. Then, Dream returned to his realm, satisfied, but to his shock, a certain air of sadness that Hob refused to acknowledge clung to the human for two weeks after that.

When the next Christmas started approaching, the sadness from last year returned, and Dream was determined to fix whatever mistake he had made. He tried to figure it out alone at first – reading, peeking into people's dreams, researching the modern Christmas traditions. He learned that the holiday was celebrated with one's family and friends, and that gifts were given, and he failed to see where that had gone wrong. There was a bit of confusion about when the gifts were to be unpacked, but Dream doubted that was the problem.

He consulted Lucienne next. Subtly hinted that he would not mind if she took a closer look at Hob's dreams in December – it didn't count as cheating if Dream wasn't the one who was looking, right? She presented him with a short list of gifts that the human might appreciate and a stern, disapproving look.

Dream acquired all of the gifts, not yet decided which one he would give Hob, if all, or just one, or some. He was surprised by the simplicity of the gifts – a heated pillow, something called the gravity blanket, two new sets of pyjamas, an expensive suit (he probably didn't need to get the most expensive one he could find, but Hob deserved the best, and money meant nothing to Dream), warm socks, normal sock, a set of new glasses for Hob's kitchen because one too many have been dropped and broken in the past year.

Could it be the gift, Dream wondered? Hob never took the bracelet off, frequently had it polished, loved it. No, Dream didn't think he went wrong with the gift last year. It was time to do the one thing he feared – consult Matthew, a friend and former human.

When even the raven seemed stunned by the fact that Hob didn't enjoy the previous Christmas, even after all the time Dream and Matthew spent picking out the best wrapping paper for the bracelet, Dream began to worry that Hob just didn't like him on that day. But then the bird tilted his head and asked Dream to tell him how the day went one more time.

“Could it be that he wanted to spend Christmas with you? Did he think that you couldn't make time for him?”

“I had asked him how he wanted to spend the holiday. He had said that he would probably do the same as every year.”

Matthew sighed, in the tone that told Dream that he had fucked up. “Yep, he definitely didn't want to bother you or hold you up from your duties. But he wanted to spend Christmas with you.”

Dream still didn't understand. He knew that humans, even Hob, sometimes didn't ask for whate they wanted, especially from their loved ones. Hell, even Dream was guilty of doing that. But… “But we did – we spent Christmas together,” he argued.

If Matthew could roll his eyes, he would. “Christmas is more than just the day and gifts. It's decorating the tree together. Kissing under the mistletoe. Being lazy in the morning and postponing going out to all those parties that you've scheduled because you're just too comfortable. It's the Christmas spirit. You were only there for the main event, but not for—”

Dream didn't hear the rest of it because he knew what he had to do. He would thank Matthew later. First, there was a heated blanket in need of unpacking.

Dream looked out carefully for the day Hob would be decorating the tree. The flat was filled with the sound of Christmas carols and Hob was wearing a horribly ugly sweater and sweatpants. When he opened the door and saw Dream, he was surprised, asked: “What are you doing here? It's 10am.”

“I did not want to miss this,” Dream replied, and by the look on Hob's face that answered exactly zero of Hob's questions. He let himself in, followed by the surprised human. When Dream stood in front of the tree, the scent of fresh pine filling the air, he realized he should have asked Matthew a few follow-up questions.

“It's mostly a matter of improvisation,” Hob said behind him knowingly. “Just take an ornament and put it somewhere. Don't worry about making it balanced or aesthetically pleasing. It'll always look great in the end. Mostly because I have too many ornaments.”

Dream watched carefully as Hob took a little statue of an angel from one of the boxes on the floor and hanged it on a thin branch. He followed the example, carefully handling a glass ornament, for a second admiring the craft that went into it – he could tell it was hand-made, and the creator filled it with their dreams of the winters past. When the ornament was securely hanging on one of the top branches – something so beautiful deserved such high position – Hob spun Dream around and kissed him.

“What was that for?” Dream asked curiously. Not that he'd ever turn down a kiss, but he needed to know if he had done right coming here.

“Because I love you,” Hob replied, grinning. “And also because we will need all the strength we can get to hang all of these,” he gestured to the boxes, and Dream had to admit that there were too many. He had time, though. He would always make time for his greatest friend and lover.

Almost two hours later, the tree was decorated with lights, ornaments, bows and sparkly chains that tickled horribly when Dream touched them. Hob collapsed on the couch after he put all the boxes away, tired. Dream seized his chance, going to one of the living room cabinets with purpose and taking out the gravity blanket. He had summoned it from its hiding space within the Dreaming, but he knew it unsettled humans when things were summoned from thin air, so he tried to take a bit of the mystique out of the gesture.

“Has this always been there?” Hob asked, a smirk on his lips telling Dream that he knew exactly what happened.

“Yes,” the Endless replied stubbornly before covering them both with the blanket. He could not truly enjoy its effects – human-created objects didn't have an effect on him unless he let them, and he was hesitant to let this one affect him – but Hob groaned, melting into the couch.

“I'm never getting up again,” Hob sighed, closing his eyes. He was asleep within a minute, leaving Dream confused. He was hoping for Hob's subtle guidance. Christmas was only two days away and there was so much they needed to do, but Hob was comfortable, and Dream wouldn't want to wake him up even if the house started burning.

Mentally going through the list of traditions they could enjoy together, Dream decided that he could make some dough for cookies. His mind was full of images of happy couples baking together, laughing, singing. He knew Hob would enjoy that – he enjoyed food and enjoyed making Dream try food.

Hob, contrary to his words, managed to free himself from under the blanket about an hour later. He looked like he wasn't sure that he wasn't still dreaming when he saw Dream in the kitchen, carefully kneading homemade dough. But he didn't question it and instead took out a box of cookie cutters from the cupboard and turned on the oven.

Hob's happiness radiated off him for the reminder of the day, and Dream felt happy that his lover was happy. When he had to return to the Dreaming – this was a busy part of the year, after all, and Lucienne would not be pleased if she had to handle it all by herself – there was not a hint of sadness in Hob's heart.

After the success of the previous day, Dream became a bit more at ease. He returned in the afternoon of the next day to watch a movie with Hob, drink hot chocolate and maybe secretly try to peek into Hob’s mind to figure out what the best present would be.

A heated pillow would help with the ache in Hob’s neck, but then Dream’s hands did a much better job with a massage, especially if he made his body slightly warmer than was normal. Hob’s pyjamas needed a refreshment, all of them being threadbare and washed out, but Dream much better preferred him without clothes at night. Socks were cheap, not worthy of Dream of the Endless’s lover. The suit that he had picked out was great, but he wanted to give it to Hob before Christmas, so he could wear it to the party that he was invited to.

Hob seemed happy with the time they spent together, happier even than the previous day. Still, Dream was worried about the upcoming day. He spent the time in the Dreaming distracted, his work taking twice the amount of time it should. But in the end, all dreams were ready for the big day, ready to help children all over the world sleep peacefully and dream. Nightmares were ready for people what needed the final push to decide to turn their life around. (And for people who Dream didn’t like.) Dream would, of course, be present to supervise, at least for a couple hours. But first, he needed to drop by the waking world and give Hob the suit.

“I will be back in an hour,” he informed Lucienne before grabbing a fistful of sand from his pouch. He noticed her stern gaze and held off.  “What?” he asked.

“You will be back?” she raised her eyebrows. “It is Christmas, and everything is ready. Won’t you spend the time with your companion? Is that not why you had been working so hard the past days?”

With a confused frown, Dream nodded. “It is. So I can spend most of the day with him. But he is visiting some friends, first.”

Lucienne was about to give it to him gently – he could see it in her eyes, the understanding and sympathy. Matthew was faster. “Boss,” he said sternly. “Don’t you dare leave him alone on Christmas.”

Dream did not understand. Hob would be the opposite of alone. But he did not want to admit to his confusion in front of his subjects, so he nodded. “It seems I won’t be returning until tomorrow, Lucienne,” he nodded to her, and then left.

Hob was not surprised when he opened the door. He grabbed Dream by the lapels of his coat and pulled him inside, kissing him until they were both out of breath. “Nice to see you,” he panted against Dream’s lips when they parted.

Dream, ever the clueless idiot around his immortal lover, didn’t know how to react lest he caused Hob to arrive late. “I have something for you,” he said, pressing the suit into Hob’s arms. “For the party.”

“It’s more of a brunch,” Hob laughed, struggling to see what he was looking at until his eyes finally found shape in the mass of rich fabrics. His eyes widened.

“Wear it today, please,” Dream said before Hob could start arguing that it was too expensive. Still, the human frowned, scowling at the brand at the collar of the suit jacket. Dream made the words disappear off the tag with a wave of his hand, which didn’t impress Hob.  “Please,” he repeated. “For me.”

Finally, Hob relented, going to the bedroom to change out of his slacks and light blue shirt into the suit. Dream waited somewhat impatiently, trying not to peek into the room, hiding in the shadows that were always all too happy to serve him. Finally, Hob walked out, and Dream forgot to breathe.

There was a remark on Hob’s lips, but it died before it could be given voice. He tilted his head and watched Dream curiously while the Endless took in the look. Did Hob know how much it pleased Dream to see Hob in the clothes that he had given him? He couldn’t have. Dream never said so and he tried not to make a habit out of dressing his lover in expensive robes. The modern era no longer called for gestures like that. Yet, there was a smirk on Hob’s face as he reached up to play with his ear nervously, the bracelet peeking from under his sleeve, pulling Dream’s eyes to it like magnets.

“I will be severely overdressed,” Hob said finally.

“We will be,” Dream corrected. It was a subtle question, and when a grin spread on Hob’s face, he finally made his mind. He would be happy to wait for Hob at home, but maybe Hob really wanted him to come to the party.

“Go change, then,” Hob urged him.  “We really need to go.”

Dream nodded and walked to the bedroom, changing within the blink of an eye into an equally fancy suit. His was black, though, while Hob’s was grey. When he walked out again, the human whistled.

Dream knew some of the people they met at the brunch. Hob introduced him to the rest, presenting him as his mysterious boyfriend. Those who had never seen Dream before laughed and the rest rolled their eyes fondly. The atmosphere of the party was strange, lacking the Christmas spirit that Dream had learned to look out for. Hob later explained that it was a work thing, not everyone was friends and some people barely stood each other.

They headed to the New Inn next. There were only two people working, those who volunteered or even insisted, because Hob wouldn’t force anyone to work on that day. Their patrons and friends came to celebrate with them, bringing a much more pleasant atmosphere. Dream dared to be bold, taking Hob by the elbow and leading him to an archway where a small piece of mistletoe was hanged. He kissed him much longer than was appropriate and much less than he truly wanted.

Hob was teary-eyed the rest of the time. Soon, people started filtering out to spend the day with their families, and the New Inn was empty by 2pm. Dream helped Hob clean up after they shooed the remaining employees away to go home and celebrate, and then they went upstairs.

It was different than last year. Dream was confident when he helped Hob fix them a nice dinner, didn’t pause to seek Hob’s guidance as he opened a bottle of wine for them, and after they ate, he knew it was the perfect time to bring Hob to the tree and present him with a sparkly gift bag.

“Don’t tell me you have any more gifts!” Hob groaned, but he was laughing, his eyes shining like stars and fond.

Dream frowned. He didn’t— Right, the suit. He counted that as a gift to himself more than Hob. And the blanket was a gift, but it helped Hob sleep, so it was more for Dream, again. He shook his head. “I know you will love this one,” he promised, ignoring Hob’s “I loved all of them.”

When Hob opened the bag, he started laughing. The tears finally spilled from his eyes, and for a horrific moment, Dream was scared that he had miscalculated. But then he received the sweetest kiss he had gotten in all of his entire existence, and his nerves were calmed.

“How did you know I ran out of nice socks?” Hob asked, digging through the endless number of socks in the bag. (Maybe not endless, but this would last him for years to come.)

Dream could say something like lucky guess, or admit to cheating and peeking into Hob’s dreams, but in the end, all he had to do was pointedly look down at Hob’s bare feet, a toe poking out of the tip of his black sock.

“Right,” the human chuckled and kissed Dream again. Then he sighed, for a moment showing a hint of sadness – melancholy, Dream recognised – before his face filled with overwhelming happiness. “Thank you,” he whispered. “I haven’t had a nice Christmas in years.”