#to everyone who has bruxism like dream in the sad wet cat version you have my sympathy and my prayers 😭 | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

valiantstarlights · 1 year

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[Shadow and Bone AU] The Morning After (the Sharing a Bed + Assassins Prompt)

To show my gratitude to everyone who voted on the Dreamling Shadow & Bone AU poll, I have written for ✨️both versions✨️ under the cut. Enjoy! 🖤

This entire AU is, of course, dedicated mainly to @issylra , who made this wonderful GIF set that serves as my primary inspiration for this AU. 😊

(sad wet cat) Darkling Dream in the position of power

"You grind your teeth in your sleep."

Dreem freezes and turns his gaze from adjusting his horse's saddle to the side, where Hob is feeding his own horse with an apple he got from the inn. He is studiously not looking at Dream.

Dream had woken up with a sore jaw this morning, but as he periodically wakes in a similar manner ever since he was a child, hundreds of years ago, the pain is familiar and expected. He had thought nothing of it. And no one, not even Calliope, who shared his bed hundreds of years ago, has mentioned anything to him.

"My apologies," he says. "If I kept you awake--"

"Don't worry about it," Hob says. "My sister Johanna is the same. It's how her stress manifests."

"I am not--"

Hob's unimpressed side-eye makes him close his mouth. He does get stressed due to his duties and responsibilities, but it's not that bad. He cannot call himself stressed when there are other people like Lucienne working round the clock just like him, trying to keep Ravka afloat.

"It is no matter," Dream says, "as we have only shared a bed for a night due to necessity. I will not keep you up at night again."

Behind them, Matthew trips a little as he's passing by, eyes wide. He fumbles with the firewood he's carrying and walks faster.

Dream resists the urge to pinch his nose. Now he's going to have to deal with that, as well as Jessamy's knowing smirks after Matthew inevitably tells her about it.

Hob watches Matthew's progress, and when he's out of earshot, he shrugs and says, "I just held your jaw when it woke me up. That stops it, and you didn't even wake. I was kept awake staring down at your pretty face."

Dream flushes, and reddens even more as it's now Jessamy's turn to pass near them, carrying a couple of dead rabbits. She maintains her graceful walk, not breaking in stride, unladylike shit-eating grin on her face. She waggles her eyebrows at Dream when they make eye contact.

For saints' sakes, there are literally Fjerdan assassins on their tail. They do not have time for...smirks and fumbling firewood and flirting.

Dream sighs after Jessamy walks far enough from them. "Mr. Gadling," he says, unable to address Hob so familiarly by his nickname at the moment. "I thank you for your assistance, but you need not worry any longer. Like I said--"

"Honestly, it's fine," Hob says. "When we were children, I used to do the same for my sister."

Ah. Of course. Hob is a naturally caring person, and Dream's...problem is similar to his sister's. Hob just did what he did out of brotherly concern.

Hob continues, "When she got older though, she decided that it was too embarrassing for me to help her, so she gagged herself every night with a length of silk tied around her head. It prevented her teeth from grinding, but not her jaw's movement. So she still wakes with a sore jaw, but now she has drool around her mouth and she has to wash the silk handkerchief too."

Dream does not know how old Johanna Gadling is right now, but he feels compassion for her. "Has she found a cure?"

Hob smiles sardonically. "No cure, apparently. And trust me, she tried everything."

Dream's heart drops. Of course. Incurable. Yet another thing that is wrong with him. "I see."

"But Rachel, her wife, now helps her with it. Just holds her jaw like I used to when we were kids. Massages her cheeks in the morning when it hurts. That sort of thing." He looks pointedly at Dream. "Sometimes you just need to ask for help."

Dream bites back his instictive 'I don't need help,' and instead says, "I do not have the time to find myself a partner, nor the space for them in my life."

"Good thing I'm already here, then," Hob says, and before Dream could protest that, he has stepped closer and reaches for Dream's face. "May I?"

"Jessamy and Matthew--"

"Can go get eaten by volcras. My priority is your comfort. Let me." Hob's eyes are magnetic in their intensity. Dream finds he cannot look away. "Please," Hob adds.

Dream looks away and nods. If it's only for a moment, then it should be fine.

Hobs fingers are exceedingly gentle when they start to rub Dream's cheeks and jaw in a circular motion. It hurts, on Dream's end, but it's the good kind of hurt brought on by a massage. Dream sighs contentedly. He never thought...

"Feels good?"

Dream opens his eyes to find Hob standing closer to him. The man is focused on his task, but his gaze have strayed to Dream's lips.

Meanwhile, Dream didn't even notice that he has closed his eyes.

"Enough."

He steps away, dislodging Hob's skillful fingers from his face. They could have been attacked while Dream is getting his cheeks held like a pathetic child.

He scans the forest around them. Nothing at first glance. A couple of yards away, Matthew stands watch while Jessamy is roasting the rabbits. At least the two of them are doing their duties, unlike Dream who can't even be trusted to be vigilant for dangers against the sun summoner standing right beside him. "Thank you," he says, belatedly, awkwardly. "It feels better."

It does not. His cheeks still feel sore and painful.

Hob hesitates before obediently stepping away. "Look," he says. "Just...just call for me when your jaw hurts again. I'll help."

"I think I can massage my own jaw, Mr. Gadling," Dream says. "But thank you for alerting me to the cause of the pain. I would not have known otherwise."

It was a mistake to divulge that, Dream realizes as soon as the words leave his mouth. Hob's jaw has dropped, and he looks...offended, for some reason. He also looks like he has a lot to say about that, but is struggling to choose what to say about it exactly.

"I'm going to take care of you," are the words that win out. Dream opens his mouth to protest but is cut off by Hob continuing to speak. "I don't know why no one seems to be doing that, but I fucking will. I swear."

Dream glares at him for his audacity. "I can take care of myself," he says coldly, then turns and walks toward where Jessamy and Matthew are.

Is he not the one who took care of everyone when they were ambushed? What more must he do to prove that he is capable?

The day isn't over yet, but Dream already feels exhausted.

(soft dom) Sun Summoner Hob in the position of power

Dream wakes in an empty bed, surrounded by General Gadling's scent, but not by his strong arms. He reaches over to touch the sheets where the general's body used to be. Already pleasantly cool. It had been some time since the man rose.

Rose and left Dream on his own.

He does not begin to cry because he understands. The general is a busy man, after all, and he cannot reasonably spend all his time with Dream. It would be unfair to everyone else who needs him. Someone has to check on the progress of the Grishas-in-training, meet with the king of Ravka, advise troop formations to border skirmishes, and saints knew what else.

Dream, his incompetence wielding his own powers, and the assassin from last night, are just minor problems in the grand scheme of things.

He rubs his eyes and tries not to feel bereft, glad that at least he did not get kicked out as soon as the general woke.

"Good morning, my darling Dream."

Dream whips his head to the side in surprise, and sees General Gadling looking over some reports as he drinks some caf. They lock eyes, and the general smiles kindly at him behind the lip of his cup. "Did you sleep well?"

Dream nods mutely. His eyes have zoomed in on the general's hair and its less than perfect state, with endearing locks falling over his forehead. Dream wants to run his fingers through the dark strands and brush them until they lie neat and flawless once more.

Wait. Hair.

His hands fly to his hair as he frantically tries to wrangle them flat. How untidy he must look. His siblings have often teased him about his hair in the morning. Delirium, for instance, liked to compare his hair to various things like baby birds with their beaks open, crab claws, and once, an uncontrolled forest fire.

What must General Gadling think of him? He looks like a savage. Probably smells like one, too.

He blushes in shame, suddenly wanting to get out of the general's bed so as not to sully it even more. "I...may I..."

General Gadling gestures to the door at one side of the room where the ensuite bathroom is, and Dream rushes to it before the general could say anything else.

He does not see General Gadling's gaze follow his progress, nor the way his eyes darkened when he caught a brief flash of Dream's pale legs, revealed when his nightclothes parted as he clambered out of bed.

"I've had food sent over from the kitchens," General Gadling says once Dream emerges, feeling (and smelling) more human, the clothes he changed into once more belonging to the general.

The fabric is light and soft and cool, and it hangs off his thinner frame, almost falling down one shoulder.

"You didn't have to, General," Dream says, eyes widening a little at the various breakfast items now arranged on the General's desk. There was too much food for just two people. The amount would have fed him and his siblings well for a couple of days. "We could have just eaten with the others."

"Perhaps. But the staff has yet to finish their thorough sweep of the grounds," General Gadling says. "And besides, I would like to spend more time with you, if that's alright."

Dream flushes and nods. He doesn't know why the general would want to spend more time with him. Unless...of course. He must want to ask Dream about the assailant. It would certainly help in the investigation, and Dream had been too shaken up last night to be helpful. "I...yes, General."

"You could just call me Hob, you know."

Dream shakes his head. As far as he knows, only the General's closest circle calls him that. His sister, the Lady Johanna, their uncle, Duke John, the general's childhood friends and now second-in-commands, Jessamy and Matthew. Dream would not dare claim to have the same level of familiarity with him as the aforementioned people.

Before the general could say anything else, there was a knock on the door. It opened before the general could bid the person on the other side to enter.

The person turns out to be Eleanor, the most powerful Inferni in the Second Army. She enters languidly, eyes spotting Hob in his golden kefta immediately. "Search is finished," she says, her voice not sounding like it's usual acerbic way when she talks down at Dream. It sounds, sweeter, somehow. Low and suggestive.

"Thank you, Eleanor," General Gadling says, sounding just like he always does when addressing the other Grisha. "I will be down shortly."

"Oh," Eleanor says, now noticing Dream standing next to the desk laden with food. Her eyes are cold as she assessed his clothes, her eyes lingering on his exposed collarbones. Her voice is still sweet, but there was a hint of her familiar hatred in them now. "He's still here."

"He is," General Gadling says affably, though the smile did not reach his eyes. "Go on, run along. Tell the others I'll be down in about ten minutes."

"Don't sell youself short, Hob," Eleanor says, the gentle laughter in her voice laced with poison. "I'm certain you'll need at least an hour." She turns her unfriendly smile at Dream and walks out the door, not bothering to close it upon her exit.

General Gadling sighs and pinches his nose. "I'm sorry about that. She's a bit..."

"It's alright," Dream says, and starts to pick at the various berries on one of the plates. "I know she does not like me. But I'm glad that she cares for you enough to allow you ample time to eat breakfast."

General Gadling is looking at him strangely, but then he huffs a smile and kisses the top of Dream's head. "I like that you always see the best in people, darling. Shall we eat?"

Dream nods, and keeps his attention on his food, taking care to look as neutral as he could. He's not stupid. He can take a hint. And Eleanor has just given him a lot.

General Gadling might be kind to him, but he's kind to everyone. He's just getting temporary special treatment because of his unnatural powers. The novelty will fade soon enough.

He knows the General does not really mean for Dream to call him Hob. That term is reserved for his closest inner circle. A circle that apparently also includes Eleanor. Now there is someone who actually deserves to stand by the General's side, and yes, share his bed.

Dream fights down the urge to vomit.

"Finished already, darling?"

Dream barely holds back a flinch as he hears the endearment. How can General Gadling sound so sincere when he obviously doesn't mean it? He nods. "Yes, General," he says to the plate of food that's still three-quarters full. "Thank you for the food."

"Oh," General Gadling says, looking charmed. Dream doesn't know, or cares to know why he's looking at Dream like that. Like he's something wonderful and precious. Dream knows he is not. "You're very welcome."

Welcome.

A strange phrase, often used as a reply to someone's gratitude, but also to make someone feel like they belong. Like they're wanted and meant to be where they are without anyone kicking them out for being dirty or unworthy.

Dream stares down at the delicate painting on the border of the ceramic plate in front of him, its fine details the work of a master craftsperson, easily worth more kruge than he has ever held in his entire life.

It's a plate meant for royalty to eat off of, and an orphaned street rat from Ketterdam has no business eating from it with his grubby fingers.

Dream places his hands neatly at his side and wills the shadows to retreat from his fingertips.

#shadow and bone au #i'm gonna post an alignment chart soon as a guide for readers and as a reminder to myself #to everyone who has bruxism like dream in the sad wet cat version you have my sympathy and my prayers 😭#my writing #dreamling #the sandman #good job my thumbs

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