#ALSO the sandman rescuing hob

[cosmic--static]

i don't usually post wips but oughhh i needed to share him

edit: finished product!

[magnusbae]

So you know the Chinese saying that once you’ve saved a person’s life, you’re responsible for it forever? Dreamling Rescue fic where after hob saves Dream, Dream keeps showing up expecting Hob to take care of him and be responsible for him in a variety of situations and times. Bonus points: Dream explains exactly nothing to Hob. Those are the old laws, Hob should have been aware of what he was doing when he decided to arrive and save him and that’s that.

[meadowziplines]

Damsel in distress/ self rescuing princess ?caught my eyes👀

dream in a human au but still defining himself by stories and story tropes! it's basically a dreamling fic 4+1 of 4 times Hob rescued him (ranging from not too serious and/or amusing, to actual serious rescue/serious injury, and then one time he became a self-rescuing princess and saved himself)

snip:

(Dream … likes fairytales. The gilded kind, because the true stories are ugly and dark and bitter, and he is afraid of them; afraid of being nightmarish and cruel and unworthy of saving. It is not something he admits to many people, how desperately he wants someone to sweep him off his feet, carry him from the tower, save him from the dragon.)

(ONE)

"I'm fine," Dream starts to say automatically, and then sees his hand, bleeding profusely. The air shimmers. He clutches at his hand. Blood oozes around his other fingers, and nausea spools in his gut as his surroundings start spinning. His ears ring a little, spots floating in his vision.  He hears Desire say, "Dream?" in a tone that might indicate concern, and then everything goes dark.  He blinks, vision swimming back, to see a holy vision sinking to his knees above him. Well. The field medic isn't Jesus, but Dream does have a massive crush on him. Desire has teased him all afternoon, for they know what Dream looks like when he has a crush. "Hello," says the holy wonder, smiling. Dream simply stares, lost in his brown eyes, and then smiles like an idiot.   "Oh, you're kidding," Desire says, somewhere to his left. "Dream, really, this guy?"  Dream blinks. "Hello," he finally answers. A sharp pain in his hand caused him to wince, and he looks at it, at the blood, and winces. His vision blurs again.

[landwriter]

Dream as The Velveteen Rabbit, loved to life by Hob:

Dream is an Endless. Hob has loved him for a long, long time, but nonetheless they are parted, perhaps forever. On this dark night of the soul, he thinks of his life with Hob, what more he would have wished for it, and cries. One of his tears is a real mortal tear, and from that tear a magical flower blooms, and from that flower The Fates emerge, and they say, in their strange and three-voiced way, that he has become Real to the boy that truly loves him, and now they will turn him all the way Real, and he will have a different ending. And although he may no longer rule the Dreaming and it is no longer a part of him, he still visits it every night, when he falls asleep next to the mortal called Hob Gadling.

It is known that an Endless may never love a mortal, but there are no such rules about a mortal loving an Endless, and no one knew the consequences of being really loved by a human, not just played with and set aside, except perhaps The Fates themselves, who were watching it all, and smiling.

@give-to-oblivion <3

[yary-t]

Chapters: 10/10 Fandom: The Sandman (TV 2022) Rating: Mature Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence Relationships: Dream of the Endless | Morpheus/Hob Gadling, Dream of the Endless/Hob Gadling Characters: Hob Gadling, Dream of the Endless | Morpheus, Roderick Burgess, Alexander Burgess, Matthew the Raven, Death of the Endless, Paul McGuire (The Sandman) Additional Tags: Hob Gadling Saves Dream of the Endless | Morpheus from Roderick Burgess, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Torture, Hurt/Comfort, Friends to Lovers, Slow Burn, Angst with a Happy Ending, fluff in later chapters, Everyone Needs A Hug, or a psychologist, but what they actually do is talk to each other about everything but their recent trauma, Lucid Dreaming, or at least the very basics of it, Complete, as in it has an ending and doesn’t call for a sequel, Mostly betaed

  Summary:

1989. As Hob waits for his Stranger, a member of the Order of Ancient Mysteries comes into the White Horse looking for the man who meets someone there every hundred years.

-----------------------------------

Or: a kidnapping, torture, a fishbowl break, overdue conversations, feeding the birds and falling in love.

[freytful]

I dont know what the dolls house is about. Like, i know what the central idea is for every other big arc- Preludes and Nocturnes is a horror-ish adventure about a edgy hero going through trials to collect 3 objects. Season of Mists is a fantasy politics and diplomacy story, A Game of You is a girls urban fairy tale, Brief Lives is a family road trip movie, World’s End is a classic The Decameron style framing-device-for-people-telling-stories thing, The Kindly Ones is a modern greek tragedy, and The Wake is an epilogue. but what is The Dolls House like. Doing? What kind of story is it?

[haveyoureadthisfanfic]

Summary: What led Hob Gadling — at the time known as Robert Stranger, because he’d been in a permanent state of pettiness from 1889 to about 1904 and now he was stuck with it — to the dank, cold, and dark basement of the Burgess house on March of 1957 was not so much coincidence or fate as it was curiosity. Yeah. Cats isn’t the only thing it kills. Alright, wait. Back up. Let’s start from the beginning. It was 1957 and Hob Gadling was, by no action or choice of his own, sort of — it’s a bit embarrassing — a criminal master. Not mastermind! He hadn’t planned any of it. Honestly.

Author: MonstrousRegiment

Note from submitter: This one is labeled in my bookmarks as "Hob italian jobs dream out of there" and I love it so much. If you are looking for a great fishbowl rescue fic, with a couple great twists, this is the fic for you. It also comes with a great cast of side characters who are all remarkably flashed out AKA all are 110% done with Hob's shenanigans.

[justletmereadmyfic]

Sandman/Beauty and the Beast AU, ACTIVATE! (ironically, this is not the one I am actively writing right now).

Dream as the beast, because really, who else is most likely to piss off an enchantress by being an asshole. But the other inhabitants of the castle are all turned into animals as well, rather than furniture (specifically, they're turned into birds — our supporting trio being, of course, Jessamy, Matthew, and Lucienne).

And for the role of Belle... Rose! (Wait, let me explain).

Jed is the one initially captured by Dream after getting lost in the woods and seeking refuge in the castle.

Dream's curse doesn't specify romantic love, and the raven trio think "Kids are adorable, and they love animals! And they haven't been taught by society to hate yet! We can definitely make this work!"

But Rose, absolutely frantic, finds him and exchanges herself for him, same as Belle does for her father in the Disney film.

So now they're stuck with Rose, which... uh... doesn't work nearly as well. But she's already suspicious AF, and probably would not react well if they ask her to let Jed stay, too.

Cue our Gaston... Hob! Yes, handsome, roguish, braggart, flirt, skilled with weaponry, it all checks out.

Hob is excited at the opportunity to go kill a beast and rescue a beautiful woman. The opportunity of a lifetime, and should ensure his name lives on forever!

Unfortunately, he discovers while the beast is definitely a beast in appearance, he's not at all in—okay, he's got a beastly personality too, but he's also very cultured! A thinking creature! Not an animal at all!

Anyway, Hob parks himself in the castle and says, we'll handle this as civilized men! I will not leave here until I secure the fair Lady Rose's freedom, no matter how long it takes! So, let's open negotiations!

And over the following weeks, Hob and Dream fall in love, breaking the curse.

[captainkirkk]

✩ WEEKLY FIC ROUND-UP ✩

All the fics I’ve read and really enjoyed in the past week-ish. Reminder: This list features any and all ratings and themes.

ATLA

Boomerangs and Rainbows by Mindbending (+ podfic)

At Sokka’s behest, the Gaang skips rescuing Zuko during the Siege at the North Pole. Instead they leave him, unconscious, buried in the snow.

In completely unrelated news, Sokka’s haunted by a ghost now.

For Hearth And Home by Haicrescendo

[There’s a child underneath Fire Lord Zuko’s desk.

He doesn’t realize this until he sits down and tiny hands wrap themselves around his ankles, and Fire Lord Zuko definitely does not shriek and backpedal away at the unexpected touch.

He definitely does do that but Gou, the single guard he’s agreed to let shadow him, is kind enough not to mention it.]

Or: In which Fire Lord Zuko is a total mess and somehow people manage to love him for it anyway.

DC

For All The Just Alike Birds by SilverSkiesAtMidnight

It starts the stupidest way anything has ever gone wrong in Tim’s life.

It starts when he falls asleep in the shower.

Stranger Things

should i keep it on display, or redecorate? by RejectsCanon

The first thing Steve removes from his room is the random framed photograph of a car.

Before Steve realizes what he’s doing, he’s snatched that photo off the wall. It comes off easily, the only thing holding it in place is a nail haphazardly hammered into the wall. Picture in hand, Steve doesn’t pause to think, letting his body take over as he rushes down the stairs.

Steve stalks downstairs, wrenches open the back door, and smashes that obnoxious picture to the ground.

Or, Steve hates his room. He decides to change that.

The Sandman

the past, the future, the doorway by Chrome, stardreamertwo

thedreaming_comm writes:

Welcome to thedreaming_comm, a space for fans of Morpheus Endless’s The Dreaming series!

(A year after going missing, fantasy author Morpheus Endless is found alive. The internet has a lot to say.)

only the register by Chrome

As much as Hob likes this job, will be sorry to lose it, he’s not sorry for the punch.

Worlds collide at the British Museum. Hob Gadling gives into old instincts. Paul McGuire has regrets.

Shadowhunters

What's in a Name by Carmenlire

The dichotomy of Alec is endlessly fascinating to Magnus. He knows-- was confronted once upon a time-- that Alec is surly and can be downright brutal, his temper running hot or icy depending on the situation. He can be rude and standoffish and frighteningly cold to whomever hasn’t earned his respect. He’s a consummate professional, a brilliant leader and tactician, but there’s no denying that his boyfriend can be a bit of a dick.

But he's also soft and soaks affection up like a sponge, physically demonstrative in a way that Magnus could never have predicted.

A typical day in the life of Alec Lightwood.

Tell me I'm perfect (but tell me the truth) by SquaresAreNotCircles

"Totally whipped,” Jace says, even as he slings an arm over Alec’s shoulders to keep him steady on the way outside.

“Like cream,” Alec sighs.

Or: 5 times Alec tells his siblings how amazing Magnus is + 1 time Magnus finds out.

The Shadiest Thing by starkraving

Magnus is High Warlock, yeah, but he’s just a little bit gangster sometimes. Alec tags along on an errand and gets a real look at warlock culture, what it takes to be High Warlock, and the details of a ‘warlock duel’. Magnus can’t believe the stupid shit people leave on his voicemail. Between Season 2 & 3.

[meadowziplines]

#IFD2024 Feedback Fest: 10 Dreamling Fic Recs

10 Dreamling Fic Recs // 10 Gen Sandman Fic Recs // 10 Femslash Sandman Fic Recs // 10 Fic Recs For Other Fandoms

I have not provided additional cw's beyond what is in the summary; please check work tags before reading.

I didn't tend to include authors whose works are already quite popular. Also, it was hard picking these and I love many more fics! And feel free to tag in authors whose Tumblr handles I don't know.

(G-M)

[T] Now I Lay Me by Cheshyr/@five-and-dimes (10.5k): Dream is the Dreaming and the Dreaming is Him. So he tries to take one of those out of the equation. (A magical suicide attempt and how Dream's loved ones save him.)

[T] Tread of an Echo by LivingProof (14.1k): Hob Gadling does not free Dream of the Endless from his prison in the Burgess estate. There is no grand rescue. No barging in, guns blazing, no daring adventure, no dashing escape. There is only this, after. Pints in the New Inn and coffee and conversation in Hob’s office and the slow, slow building of a bridge, brick by brick. Hob does not free Dream from his prison. But he might help save Dream, all the same.

[T] Echo of a Myth by LivingProof (64.1k): Dream seeks to neutralize what is left of the Order of Ancient Mysteries. It should be a simple matter. But while the Endless may be many things, they are as prone to repeating old mistakes as anyone. Or: Dream misses another appointment. This time, Hob is determined to find out why.

[T] to make a heaven of hell by katheneverwrites (mandolinearts)/@mandolinearts (5.7k): "Where did you get this?" Hob’s exclamation is almost, almost incredulous. He can see Dream’s handwriting on the paper sticking out. It’s in pencil because Dream preferred saving ink. He would also chew the end of the pencil when he was deeply focused. Hob would never dare mention this to him.

"Found it in the fireplace," the man says as if stating the obvious. The lenses of his sunglasses glint. The sky is still clouded over. "You should know - manuscripts don't burn," he shoots Hob a smirk and hands him the folder.

An urban fantasy AU heavily inspired by the novel Master and Margarita by Michail Bulgakov.

[T] watch the world from the sidelines by hondayotas (11.1k): dream has always been on the periphery of life, never wanting to get his hands messy, but hob gadling is pulling him in more than he'd like to admit.

[T] it is not a language we know (yet) by Chrome (1.2k): “Alright,” Hob said. “So. Decide what sin you’re letting go of, and—let it go. That’s it, huh? It feels too easy.” He broke off a large piece and held it over the edge of the bridge, waiting.

“It isn’t,” Dream said softly.

Notes: Obligatory Rosh Hashanah fic! Shana tovah, friends.

[T] Galaxies on the Floor by aliaoftwoworlds (55.9k): Hob hadn’t planned to confess his immortality to anyone, but it had seemed the right thing to do at the time, and he turned out to be very grateful for it one day as he and his most knowledgeable student knelt on the floor of a classroom beside the smoldering body of a demon, trying to hold down a writhing, shapeshifting creature that usually masqueraded as Hob’s man-shaped lover.

[M] If I Am Nothing, If I Am Trying by Lost_Elf/@lostelfwriting (6.5k): The Endless family has some skeletons in their closets, and they tend to get between Morpheus and Hob.

(this was a gift for me and wahhh <3)

(E)

[E] By the Dead of Morning by Essie (39.7k): When Despair is killed by the Kindly Ones for spilling family blood, she departs to the sunless lands, never to return. Thus, Hob Gadling, a lowly mercenary living in London in 1389, becomes Hope of the Endless.

Over six hundred years later, Death takes him out for a drink, Desire in tow, to the Tavern of the White Horse, where he meets Morpheus, a down on his luck mortal crying into his sangria after a recent break-up. Desire believes that Morpheus’s death wish is genuine and that he will be dead within a year, but Hope is certain the man has too much to live for. Death offers a solution, she will not take Morpheus until he asks for her gift, but as soon as he does, she will grant it.

Hob approaches Morpheus with every intention of winning a bet, but Hob is the youngest Endless by far and doesn’t know the family’s full complicated history. Or their connection to Morpheus.

A reverse-verse, canon divergent AU.

[E] it's warm, the skin i'm living in by hardly_an_escape (2.4k): Hob realizes Dream is being a little… extra creative when it comes to their love life. When he asks his boyfriend what’s going on, some of Dream’s deep-seated fears are revealed. One part fun shapeshifting sex, one part Dream being incredibly insecure, one part immortals being disgustingly in love with each other.

[thenightling]

How Morpheus pays his servants

Every so often I come across Sandman fans who joke (or are serious) that Morpheus does not pay his servants, that they are secretly his slaves.  They’ll even all him a hypocrite when he tells Hob Gadling that it’s a poor thing to hold another in bondage. Let me state, Morpheus IS against slavery.  In The Sandman: Season of Mists Titania ”gave” Morpheus Nuala as a gift as a bit of a trap.  She knew Morpheus fairly well. She must have known he he feels about slavery.  If Morpheus refused the gift the fae could “take offense” and go to war, an excuse to try to take the key to Hell from Morpheus.  And if he did keep her, it rids Titania of a potential annoyance.  In some fae lore Nuala was the name of a fae Oberon had interest in. When Morpheus is given Nuala he is reluctant to accept. Finally he allows her to stay.  He never gives her any commands but he removes her glamour.  Though it was initially against her will, Morpheus’s removal of the glamour actually did Nuala a favor. Nuala’s people are very conformist and they all wear glamours, hiding their true forms to look ‘as beautiful as possible.”  What Morpheus did was teach Nuala to appreciate who she is without conforming to what her society had demanded of her for her whole life. It can be seen as a trans metaphor, especially when, later in the story Nuala shows in the fae court without her glamour on and it nearly causes a scandal but she decides she prefers her true self rather than what her society wants of her. Morpheus never gave Nuala any orders. She went about cleaning within the castle to give herself something to do.  But despite this Morpheus repaid her service with a boon.  A boon being any favor (within reason) that she might want, should she call upon him.  Not only that, but as a bonus, Morpheus rescued her brother from imprisonment while Nuala was still working for him.  Morpheus makes it very clear he saved Cluracaun for Nuala’s sake. Though he does not use money, Morpheus DOES pay his servants in Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman.

Here are some examples as to how Morpheus pays his servants.   Cain and Abel = Morpheus gave them each a magical haunted house that is bigger on the inside and full of stories, ghosts, and monsters, to fit their spooky inclinations and desires.  The houses are somewhat sentient too and they gain caretakers to look after them, make repairs, and keep things up and running. It’s a win for everyone involved.

In the Netflix Sandman series both gargoyles, Gregory and Goldie, were actually given as gifts to Cain and Abel instead of Goldie being a gift to Abel from Cain like he was in the comics.     

Lucien / Lucienne is revealed in the comics to have been the first raven. In the story called The Hunt we see that Lucien can still take raven form at will. Lucien loves books. So how was Lucien paid?  Lucien was given a new elfish form (taller even than Morpheus) and the largest library in the multiverse.  And status as second in command in The Dreaming.  That’s a pretty nice payment for services rendered. Aristeas the Raven is based on an actual myth where he was the raven of apollo. Aristeas was a real Greek poet who supposedly became a raven after his death to serve the God Apollo.  This ties into the running gag in The Sandman of people mistaking Morpheus as Apollo.  After two hundred years of service Aristeas decided he didn’t want to serve Morpheus anymore and he was offered a boon.  He chose becoming a mortal man again but he soon found that he could not adjust to the mortal world after having been away from it for two centuries so he asked to return to being a raven.   It’s unclear where he is now. John Constantine / Johanna Constantine was paid by having their nightmares dealt with.  There’s also the possibility that Morpheus may have rescued Constantine’s soul from self-made damnation since Jon Constantine tends to believe he’s going to Hell and has made some bad decisions / bargains as a result.  In a Hellblazer comic it’s pretty much confirmed that Jack Constantine, Johanna (eighteenth century version) and John Constantine were all the same soul just reincarnated into the same bloodline. For John Constantine Morpheus also helped Rachel to die peacefully in a pleasant dream since there was no saving her (in the comic it was implied she was actually already dead and rotting. The sand was the only thing keeping her semi-alive / her soul tethered to her body.)      His usual method of payment though is a boon.  So I think I’ve made my point here. Yes, Morpheus does pay those who serve him and he never forces anyone to do anything against their will (unless you count him telling The Corinthian not to kill people...)

[cactusspatz]

June recs

June was full of Neil Gaiman fandoms: first I rewatched Good Omens S1 (S2 on Friday!!!) and then plowed through my backlog of fic to read, and then I watched The Sandman. So there's six Good Omens recs, two Sandman recs, and one lone but lovely Goblin Emperor rec.

GOOD OMENS

Demonology and the Tri-Phasic Model of Trauma: An Integrative Approach by Nnm / @mouseonamoose Amazing story about Crowley going to therapy, from his therapist's POV. The author clearly knows their stuff and Aubrey is a vivid character in her own right with her own journey to go on. This one's been recced all over, but it really is that good.

dearly departed by attheborder / @areyougonnabe In which Crowley gets discorporated and many shenanigans ensue - the London occultist underworld, lust-demons, Hell bureaucracy, Aziraphale vs loopholes, fake marriage, and of course, a happy ending. Slightly morbid at times but a fun hilarious romp.

Temptation by out_there / @out-there-tmblr Lovely look at Crowley tempting Christ (as he mentions to Aziraphale), and the lasting effect it has on him.

the deft, sweet gesture of your hand by deadgreeks / @mortuarybees Post-S1, Crowley turns up injured at the bookshop and Aziraphale takes care of him. Such a tender romance, such warm h/c. Poetry! Knitting! Pining! Ferociously protective Aziraphale!

Hell to Pay by battle_cat / @fuckyeahisawthat "In the midst of the Great Fire of London, Crowley does an emergency good deed too undemonic for Hell to ignore." Wistful h/c.

Lead me to the banquet hall by obstinatrix & wishwellingtons In which Crowley doesn't eat around Aziraphale because he has too many Feelings about it - and then Aziraphale finds out. Creative, delightful, hot, and well-characterized!

You can also find my older Good Omens recs on Pinboard!

SANDMAN

Spite (Is As Good A Reason As Any) by Blue_Sunshine In which Hob doesn't just build an inn and pine after 1989, but hires Johanna Constantine to help him track down Dream. Great AU in many directions, and the Hob-Johanna friendship is a complete scene-stealing delight. (If you like them as much as I did, there's another WIP that just finished: Totus Mundus Agit Histrionem, which kicks off with Johanna rescuing Hob from a demonic possession.)

Passing the Time by Anonymous Dream passes time in the fishbowl by quietly terrorizing his guards. (The author tagged this 'Dream is petty and terrifying' and I couldn't agree more.) Viciously funny but also a little heartbreaking.

GOBLIN EMPEROR

Between the Grave and the Well by Sphragis "In which Iäna Pel-Thenhior catches a fever and Thara Celehar catches feelings." Gorgeous hurt/comfort-y get-together that really captures the characters and the world.

[aster-petrichor]

DBD & Sandman Plot Ideas

For when the writing mood strikes:

Hob Gadling x Cat King - not exactly the most yk functional ship out there but they could certainly have met once or twice

This one is more of an abstract idea but I was thinking of Matthew. So Matthew dies and for some supernatural reason can't move on so the dbd try out a new 'banishing' spell of some sorts but it actually just sends him to the dreaming which is how/why he ends up a crow.

On another note I was thinking can Hob see ghosts? Like he has had loads of near death expierences but he is kind of the opposite of close to death pretty much all of the time so I guess the ruling would be either yes he can or no never. (plotline where Hob decides to dabble in the occult and gets posessed and walks away from the counter seeing the dead - could be the whole fic actually?)

A fic where death discovers the existance of the dbd? More abstract.

Monty & Matthew, aka more crow related fic (could throw in jessamy for good measure) : ohhhh fun idea is that bcuz Matthew is now the Dream King's raven he is also the raven king and now has to tackle all the responsibilites that come with the enexpected job.

Fic where Death 'under the table' employs the dbd to find her missing brother and rescue him because she can't officially interfere but she can have people looking.

I need to make a timeline of key events in both fandoms to see where they line up for my own sanity. Then I can do interesting stuff about the dbd and the who sleep sickness possibly but that is a problem for future me (unless someone else makes one first lol)

all fic is good fic and all ideas are public for others to take inspiration from should they so desire

[pocket-lin]

9 and 10 for the fandom asks!

hi!! thank you!! I apologize if the formatting is weird for this, I wrote half of it on my phone notes app the the rest on the Tumblr site and also I just generally don't know how to do things hahah

(i'm focussing on the sandman cuz I think that’s the biggest fandom we share!!)

9. a ship that isn't your OTP but that you enjoy

so dreamling is my ultimate sandman ship, BUT. two other ones I love are:

dream/hob/corinthian aka hobrintheus. everyone go read @softest-punk’s fic self-abandon, and the confounding effects thereof !! hob humanizing the corinthian (calling him cori), the corinthian being so genuinely in love with hob, dream being being so very dream about the situation… pure excellence. I have a handful of other fics I can rec for this ship, too!!

dream/hob/daniel. this is 10000000% @moorishflower’s fault because their Beautiful, Strange and New series is fucking unparalleled  (tbh everything they write is like a drug to me). the main fic was so incredibly fun to read while it was a wip!!! especially when the story gets to that part (ifkyk). 

10. a blog (mutual or one you follow) that has made your fandom experience brighter

okay this question is so hard to answer because I’ve only got back into any fandom in 2022 (long and kinda sad story) and I haven’t quite gotten up the gumption to talk to many people outside of commenting on fics. so!! I’m just gonna shoutout some more fics I love from the people I talked about in the other answer!

here’s a few more @softest-punk fics that I recommend, especially if you like alternate universes, a hopelessly-in-love hob, and support the Trans Agenda:

Catching Up - human/no powers au with alternating pov. all that post-fishbowl trauma goodness with an incredibly sweet hob who just wants to take care of his dear friend (who he is also hopelessly in love with but that's nbd)

Falling - another human/no powers au! strangers to friends to lovers story with extremely hot sex. i'm remembering how much I love this one and I'm about to go reread it!!

Half sleep, half waking- this is one of their most recents fics and it's a rivers of london crossover!! 1989 fishbowl rescue au (alternating hob and nightingale pov) where hob enlists the help of his friend (and ex-lover) dci nightingale to figure out why his oldest friend (who he is hopelessly in love with) missed their centennial meeting. I love hob's whole "thing" in this one–I have a personal head canon that he would absolutely have all kinds of rizz with the potentially less than human and/or immortal components of the world.

here's some more @moorishflower fics I recommend, especially if you like alternate universes, delicious angst, and extremely well thought out world-building! I don't know the best way to word this (fiction writing isn't my strong suit), but the way that this author describes things makes me go insane. they know exactly how to describe how things taste/smell/feel and it just completely transports me into the story.

iron, glass, bones, blood - monster4monster, love but the kind of love where you want to pin them to a board like a butterfly and find out what their blood looks like under a microscope, kink as a way to reclaim trauma... I literally cannot tell you how many times I've read this fic. it feels like it was pulled from the very depths of my subconscious.

On sexual dimorphism in C. urophasianus - (if you know me irl, no you don't) very lighthearted, non-traditional a/b/o, omegas are very empowered. they've only been together one week and it's still very new between them and now dream has to "court" hob because of his instincts going all crazy. very, very sweet!!

17th Century Knife Restoration - this fic made me cryyyyyy. hob watching a restoration video on YouTube and uh oh its his knife and uh oh now he has many feelings. to be loved is to be known, and also to be changed 💜

also their Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs series' most recent fic, Basic Needs, is currently posting and is making ME have many feelings!! check this one out if you want mutual pining of the most desperate nature, down and out dream and caretaker hob (oh and hob has a gigantic dick and dream is obsessed with it)

[amaranthine-everlasting]

So I screamed from the moment Crowley grabbed Aziraphale by the collar and pulled him in for a kiss and couldn't stop screaming until Aziraphale pulled away with a devastated look on his face.

I am in love with season 2 of Good Omens. All hail every single cog in the machine that allowed this miracle to happen (and like a greedy thing, I'm now eagerly anticipating a third season).

But with as much joy as this new season brought me, as much as I cherish each new CANON interaction of the Ineffable Husbands like a luxuriously decadently bitter dark chocolate... this new season was Fanfiction from the very first scene with Crowley being an angel of a higher station and having a hand with the creation of the universe, to the very last frames as the credits rolled through.

Don't get me wrong, this felt like it was Great Fanfiction. The kind that you find after refining AO3's filters down to within an inch of their lives, sorting by word count, carefully reading each tag, noting the amount of kudos, double checking the Last Updated date, and peering into the very soul of the Author's Notes for any unexpected surprises. Fanfiction, none the less.

This is not a rant, this is not a complaint, and I apologize that my memory recollection abilities are so subpar that I for the life of me can't provide any fic titles, (but if there are any GO fanfic readers with minds like steel traps....please help a poor girl out in the comments) but:

There are amazing fics where Crowley was a high ranking angel. He was either part of the team that hung the stars or he's even the Archangel Raphael.

I remember reading a fic where Aziraphale and his fellow Soho shopkeepers (granted, this was back when nearly all of the shops were of the eyebrow raising variety, not just Mrs. Sandwich) were a rather tight knit community.

There's a few decent fics with Outsider POVs helping Crowley or Aziraphale realize they love the other. Obviously with the limited amount of characters available to play with, those outsiders tended to be either Madame Tracy, Anathema, or Adam Young/The Them when it wasn't an OC.

We saw the Gabriel/Beelzebub pairing and loved it and never imagined it seeing it become CANON holy shit yes! but I distinctly remember a fic where Crowley was much more female presenting, and Gabriel bought them a dress. Anyways, Gabriel was on Earth and was comfortable with earthly things because he kept having very hot, very steamy encounters with Beelzebub in Mexico (I think), that started out as clandestine meetings to figure out the next Apocalypse.

I remember this perfectly lovely and indulgent fic where Aziraphale closes his bookshop and Crowley sells his flat and they take the Bentley and retire in the South Downs. And Aziraphale joined the local theater and Crowley grew an amazing garden and they raised ducks by the beach and they had the opportunity to be an "us" 😭. And obviously that doesn't happen in the show but us avid fanfic readers, we knew what it could be like for them and so that moment when Crowley confessed and the fight and the kiss I was a mess an absolute mess, but also:

We fans love the drama, love the hurt, love watching the hope leaving our favorite pairing's eyes, so there are quite a few fics where those two fighting after a confession is as emotionally charged as that scene. But to have David Tennant and Michael Sheen really act that out the way they did gave me heart palpitations, it really did.

And last, but not least, this is not main character related but our OCs- I mean, Nina and Maggie- are actually living out a Coffeeshop AU.

Like I said, I'm not ranting or complaining or anything. I am so happy we got more GO content of this caliber on the tv. But it did not feel wholly original. It felt like dipping myself into that 1000th fic with that same trope that you are willing to read about for the rest of eternity (for example: I will read every single fic created about how Hob rescues Dream from the basement in The Sandman, and I will do it with the same enthusiasm I had the first time I read the first rescue fic. It scratches an itch that feels oh so satisfying to scratch.)

Anyways, yeah. Those were my thoughts.

[haveyoureadthisfanfic]

Summary: The rumor that Hob Gadling, the human who tricked Death herself into granting him immortality, has finally decided he's lived long enough and consented to die is sweeping through the supernatural community like wildfire. It even spreads to the Dreaming, where Dream handles it about as well as could be expected. It is, to say the least, a bit of a shock to Hob Gadling himself, who is still very much alive- and increasingly in need of rescue.

Author: jamais_vu0

Note from submitter: GASP! Hob's dead! Wait...no he isn't...but where is he?  This is the inciting incident of this incredibly fun fic. Cannot recommend it highly enough, I reread it constantly. It's an incredibly fun world with some incredibly fun twists.  It also has one of my favorite versions of The Corinthian just being an absolute brat.