AU free to a good home:
Dream is the creative director of a famous haunted house attraction. known as the King of Nightmares, his "realm" – called The Dreaming – is an immersive, subversive, creative experience. it's different every year.
as you move through the rooms, you start in a beautiful, imaginative kind of dreamscape, almost a piece of interactive performance art. as you progress through the house, he masterfully builds the sense of unease and dread to a pants-shittingly terrifying nightmare peak.
(like, literally. every year there's a tally in the break room of how many people have pooped their pants.)
Hob is a famous wuss. hates haunted houses, hates scary movies. hears a minor chord and hides behind the sofa. he gets dragged along to The Dreaming one year because his colleagues essentially kidnap him (i.e. get him tipsy and arrive at the haunted house before he knows what's going on).
it happens to be a night when Dream is personally filling in at the last minute because one of the actors is out sick. it's one of the scarier rooms – not the scariest, but when things are starting to get real.
Hob is... not having a good time. he's clinging to the back of his coworker's sweater. he has not pooped his pants, thankyouverymuch, but there are visible sweat stains in the armpits of his shirt. and then he gets to the room where Dream is working.
they lock eyes. Dream is like, 'wtf is wrong with this man, he is clearly not having a good time, why is he here.'
Hob is like,
Hob cannot stop thinking about the breathtaking man who frightened the pants off him. Hob wonders if he could be convinced to take the pants off him in a less frightening context. he is so gone for this stranger that Hob, who is again a famous wuss, goes back to the haunted house multiple times in the hopes of seeing Dream again.
Dream is like, 'this man is either insane or a complete masochist but either way I'm weirdly into it.'
he continues to find excuses to sub in different roles. maybe pays a little extra attention to Hob on his way through. maybe breathes down his neck in a way that should send a different kind of goosebumps down his spine but Hob's actually getting a little hard in his jeans because he can just barely smell Dream's aftershave under the greasepaint.
meanwhile Hob is actually getting desensitized enough to the jump scares that he's beginning to appreciate the artistry of fear and the thought and care that Dream puts into constructing the haunted house each year.
anyway I don't know what happens next but probably after Hob goes through five or six times Death or Matthew or somebody gets fed up and locks them in a closet together and they make out about it.
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This got longer than expected but anyway, enjoy. (ca 3k a bit spooky)
also on ao3: Alex’ mistake
**********
Alex looked out of the window, searching for a black and white bird. He had thought he had seen it when he had taken a walk in the garden with Paul.
He could still feel his heart pounding.
Why would it be back? He had very nearly shot it.
Alex could still feel the cold and dampness of the basement, the heavy weight of the gun in his hands. Feel the slight pain in his back from where his father had pushed him to the ground.
If his shoe hadn’t slipped on the wet stone and made a sound, alerting the bird that had fruitlessly tried to break the glass, he would have killed it.
The sound of the gunshot still rang in his ears, the pained caw from the raven, when it barely dodged the shot and still managed to fly away and vanish into the darkness of the shadows, repeated in his head every time when he lay alone in his room in the dark. For a couple days he flinched at every shadow, half expecting the bird to fly out of them.
The worst thing however had been the look from the being inside the glass cage. It had seared itself into his brain. Alex had never seen such rage and hatred. The glass had been chipped by the lead and there had been splatters of blood and some feathers stuck to it. He had been frozen on the spot, staring into those dark terrible eyes that promised horrible retribution should it ever get out.
It wasn’t until his father ripped the gun out of his hands and scolded him, that Alex was brought back to himself.
He was still surprised that had been all his father had done to him, but then the man had been more concerned with the chipped glass then with him. Alex had hidden in the gardens for the day and tried not to get into his fathers way for the next week.
The guards had been ordered to find and kill the bird, but the raven was nowhere to be found.
Until now that is. There hight above in one of the old oaks that surrounded the manor sat the white and black bird and starred directly at Alex. The boy swallowed, not knowing what to do.
The raven took off then and vanished deeper into the woods. Alex could only hope his father hadn’t seen it and that the bird would stay away.
**********
Later in the evening Alex was trying to manage the guests that poured into the house.
Alex hated these parties, he rather enjoyed the quiet and would preferably be up in his room reading than playing valet, but his father would never allow that. So, he stands at the door accept the coats and hats from the guests and tries to stop them from pouring into the house all at ones.
That was when he got distracted by a dark shadow swooping over the guests, startling some of them and then disappear into the darkness between the trees. It was impossible to see what the bird had looked like in the low light that was coming from the entrance and the few lamps outside but Alex was certain he knew which bird it was.
He took some steps outside and tried to find its shape in between the shadows of the trees when his eyes caught the short flicker of a flame.
For a moment a lighter was used to lighten a cigarette. The dim glow the only sign that someone stood under the trees in the darkness.
Alex stopped.
It wasn’t unusual, most guest smoked while they waited but normally they wouldn’t stand so far away or at least not so close to the treeline of the woods. The instinctive human wariness of the dark keeping them close to the light and the other guests.
Something about all that made Alex uneasy.
Then there was movement between the leaves of the tree and a small shape swooped down and settled on the mans shoulder.
Alex froze.
He could feel his heart beating in his chest and a shiver racing down his spine. He watched the dim glow brighten for a moment before dimming again. Then the man moved slightly, and Alex could feel the hairs on the back of his neck standing up. His heart was beating in his throat now and he didn’t dare to breath.
Eyes were staring at him. He couldn’t see them, but he knew.
And then someone shoved their coat in his face. Making him stumble and by the time he found his footing and looked over to the shadows again, the dim glow of the cigarette was gone, and no one stood in the darkness of the trees anymore.
Alex tried to see if he could spot someone that could have been the man, but it was useless, there were to many people and none of them looked particularly frightening or like they lurked in the darkness just a moment ago, so he gave up and stepped back inside.
In the bright lights of the party everything felt already much more harmless then outside in the dark. But no matter how much he tried Alex couldn’t shake the uneasy feeling that had settled in his gut.
***********
The next day the uneasiness was still there even though Alex tried to rationalize and explain the entire thing away.
The man had been a guest smoking and he had stood a bit away because maybe he wasn’t feeling well and had needed some space. And really it had been way to dark to be sure that it had been the raven that had swooped over the guests and settle onto the mans shoulder.
The bird never approached anyone anyways. In the beginning it had sometimes harassed the guests but had given up on that rather quickly when it accomplished nothing but getting her in danger of being shot at.
So really it had probably been just a trick of the light that had made the shadows move funny in the darkness.
However no matter how often Alex tried to tell himself this whole rational explanation, the feeling in his gut stayed.
It also hadn’t really helped that Paul had complained that apparently some of the guests had taken a stroll through some of the flowerbeds behind the house again.
It wasn’t uncommon that some guests wandered outside for a smoke or some fresh air or because they drunkenly mistook the garden door for the front door but knowing that everybody could just have taken a stroll around the house without anyone batting an eye did not settle Alex nerves in the slightest.
***********
The next couple of days Alex was rather tense and slightly jumpy whenever he saw a black bird, but nothing happened.
On the fourth day he went to bed early, he was exhausted from the constant nervousness and his father had been in a foul mood and as Ethel hadn’t been feeling well for the last couple days Alex thought it better to retreat to his room early and try to get some sleep. He didn’t fear dream or nightmares for he hadn’t had any since he was a child or rather since his father had captured the being down in the basement.
Which was why he wasn’t quite sure what woke him in the middle of the night. He looked around the room and the shadows seemed darker and the moon light barely shone through the mist outside.
Alex took a deep breath and swung his legs out of the bed. A cup of tea would hopefully calm him enough to get back to sleep.
Not wanting to alert anyone and having done so countless times before he slipped through the house without a light.
Just as he reached the stairs by the small window that looked out on the driveway and was normally used by the staff, he shortly caught the sight of headlights of a car.
Alex stopped and peered outside.
Indeed a car came around the curve of the driveway before it stopped. No lights were on anymore.
It was dark outside, the lights at the front door didn’t reach that far down the driveway and the moonlight was barely enough to make out shapes and movement.
Someone got out of the car and went around to the back. For a short while the person was out of Alex line of sight, the window too small to have a good view. But then the man, for Alex was sure the person had the stature of one, came back with a large duffel bag thrown over one shoulder. For a moment the man paused beside his car and set the bag down. There was a short flicker of light and then the dim glow of a cigarette.
Alex got cold. He watched the man leaning at the side of his car, half hidden behind the curve of the driveway, smoking and just watching the house.
Then there was a dark shadow flying above, circling ones overhead and landing on the mans shoulder. The man reached up and seemed to pet the bird for a moment, then he threw his cigarette away, stomped it out and bent to heft the bag back up. The raven took off and lead the way towards the house. The man followed.
Alex thoughts raced. What should he do? He had to alert the guards, who patrolled the property at night and he had to be quick if he wanted to stop the man.
The Problem was he didn’t now where they were right now. They would be on patrol around the house now and then but the house was big.
Still without a concrete plan and really just hoping to run into one of the guards on pure luck, he slipped down the stairs.
He took the winding corridors towards the entrance hall when he saw Eric, one of the guards, before him. Eric had a distinguished walk, leaning always slightly to the left and pausing every second step for half a second. Eric reached the entrance hall before Alex could call out to him.
The boy hurried his steps to reach the guard, who had stepped around the corner but stopped abruptly when he heard a short scuffle, a muffled cry and then something that sounded like a strangled gurgle before everything was quiet again.
Alex was frozen in the middle of the corridor, his heart beating a mile a minute. The flutter of wings brought him out of it. Just in time he ducked behind one of the various display cases, as the shadow of a man silently passed the corridor. Alex cowering, pressed against the wall, counted to sixty, trying to calm his breath and the shaking of his hands. Then with bated breath he took a peek around the display case.
No one was there.
Slowly, not daring to breathe too deeply he crept forward to the entrance hall. The hall was empty, still Alex didn’t dare step into it.
Pressed close to the wall he surveyed the room - there out of the corner of his eyes he saw movement on one of the trophies that hang on the walls. A dark small shape had slightly moved forward. Alex nearly sucked in a sharp breath but was able to stop and crept back into the darker shadows of the corridor. That’s when another movement caught his eyes.
Someone was coming down the stairs.
A low whistle met Alex’ ears and he recognized Alfred. The guard made his way through the hall to the front door and just as Alex decided to step towards him, Alfred got dragged into the opposite corridor by two arms that had shot out of the darkness just as the man had been within reach. Again the sound of a slight scuffle and then the strangled gurgle.
Alex couldn’t tear his eyes away from the darkness into which Alfred had vanished. For a moment everything was quiet, then the dark shape that had perched on the trophy glided through the room and vanished into the darkness as well.
Alex’ breath was coming in short puffs that he desperately tried to keep quiet. Not moving a single muscle the boy tried to listen for any sounds. Everything was quiet for a short while, then there was a light scratching followed by a low click and then the quiet slide of the door to the basement opening.
Alex waited for half a minute and then stepped into the entrance hall. Quietly he slipped to the edge of the other corridor and dared taking a short look inside. He could make out the open door but nothing else.
The man was already gone.
Alex hesitated only a moment then stepped into the corridor. Carefully, one foot before the other, he made his way towards the open door.
He had only made it a couple meters when he stepped into something sticky. His left slipper got slightly damp. The boys gaze snapped down. The little light there was, was glinting slightly in something wet on the floor. A dark shape was lying between two display cases.
Alex swallowed as a slightly sweet and metallic scent reached his nose. With a sick feeling he stepped out of his slipper and took a large step down the corridor, thankfully not stepping into anything else. With one short backwards glance he made his way to the open door.
The boy stared down into the pitch-black darkness of the basement. No sound reached him and he hesitated. The cold that was creeping up the steps made him shiver slightly. Everything inside him told him to turn around and run to his room, hide and hope he would wake up in the morning and nothing of this had ever happened. But there was also this curiosity inside him. The one that had him wanting to witness his fathers attempt to capture death and that had him go to the basement just a couple month earlier to talk with the being down there. He just needed to know what was happening.
So, Alex took the first step down. The stone was ice cold under his bare feet, and he started to shiver.
He had only made his way halfway down when he heard an alarmed shout and then the sounds of a fight. Quickly the boy hurried down the steps until he was nearly by the edge of the iron gate when the sounds stopped with a low thump. With his heart in his throat again and pressed to the cold stone wall, Alex listened.
For a minute nothing happened, then footsteps echoed in the vast basement but they seemed to be moving further into the room instead of coming to the stairways. So Alex risked a peak around and through the iron gate.
The two guards that had been down there lay motionless on the ground, blood slowly seeping out from under them. Further inside, in the middle of the vast chamber directly in front of the prison stood the man. Now, illuminated by the light that was always on the prison, Alex could see him better.
Dark hair which had probably been brushed back was now slightly falling lose after the fight he had, there was still a bloody knife in his right hand and the dark splatters on his suit were probably also blood. His other hand was pressed against the glass and his whole posture was tense. The being inside the cage had stood up as best as it could and also had one hand pressed to the glass from the other side.
Alex could hear a low but slightly muffled rumble and then a short laugh from the man and an answering mumble and he realized that the being had just spoken and the man had answered.
Even though sounds travelled far in the cavernous basement, they were speaking to quietly for Alex to make out words and as the man blocked the view, he also couldn’t see their faces.
For a moment they just seemed to stand there looking at each other, then the raven fluttered down on the mans shoulder and seemed to slightly peck him which jostled him. Again words were spoken before the man nodded and dragged his foot a couple of times over the binding circle.
Alex sucked in a short breath and held it while he watched the man take a couple of steps back and reach for the bag lying on the ground. He rummaged through it for a moment but stopped and then instead of whatever tools he had brought with him, the man drew a gun. After another short exchange the man nodded again and aimed at the glass.
Alex knew what would happen and suddenly wanted to be far away. There was no doubt in his mind that the being would not be pleased and as soon as it was free would want revenge and Alex had nearly killed the raven. He didn’t want to know what it would do to him. He needed something to appease the being because Alex really didn’t want to die.
So as soon as the first shot rang out, he turned and run up the stairs. He reached the first floor after the fourth one, then there was silence.
Alex hasted further down the corridor to his fathers study. He reached the door when he stumbled.
A heavy sleepiness came over him while he opened the door and barely made his way to the safe in the corner. If he just could get the beings things maybe that would be enough, he hadn’t wanted to hurt or kill the bird. The tiredness got so much Alex sank down to his knees and crawled the last bit. Barely being able to hold open his eyes he turned the last lock. The final click sounded, and the heavy door swung open. Alex dragged himself away from the safe and the things inside not wanting to be between them and their owner. And then he succumbed to sleep.
**********
Alex stood in the study of his father, but it seemed different. The shadows were darker and moved as if they were alive. Frost covered the windows, and it was bitter cold. A breath ruffled the curtains and let the shadows dance. A shiver ran down his spine, and he knew there was someone or something behind him. Slowly turning around, Alex was shaking as he starred at the being that stood in the doorway. Shadows dancing around it and its eyes were two glowing white points in the dark. Slowly it stepped into the room. Alex took a shaking step back, hitting the wall with his back and cowering away.
“Please,” he whimpered.
“You promised me freedom, if you had had the power to give it to me,” the being said in a voice that rumbled through Alex whole body and shook him to his bones, like a deep rolling thunder, “and then you hurt my raven.”
Alex whimpered again, “Please, I’m sorry. I didn’t want to hurt it. But my father, he would have killed me if I hadn’t done it.”
“Roderick Burgess will suffer for what he has done to me and the damage he caused with my imprisonment. He will not wake again, trapped in nightmares for the rest of his life. You however were not a willing jailor of mine, so I will allow you to wake and continue your life. Yet for hurting my dear friend you will suffer nightmares for a decade.”
Alex gasped, “No, please…”
But the being had already vanished and the shadows were creeping closer and closer. Alex tried to scramble away, but to no avail. The shadows consumed the whole room and then crashed over him like waves and swallowed the boy into darkness.
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