➳ (minors, ageless, blank blogs dni)
okay, okay, but imagine having a crush on your big brother/sister’s best friend, suguru.
geto knows all about it, by the way, because you make it impossible to prove to him otherwise with the way you act so shy and coy around him, and it really just makes him grow to have the softest little heart for you, and only you.
you were always close enough to admire him but he lures you away before you even get a chance to crack the surface of his beautiful shell. for five years you watch with envious eyes as he navigates his romances, basking other girls with attention that you only ever dreamed of.
at twenty-two, you didn’t waste away your precious focus with any other guys (not yet anyway) - you were too busy with your university studies to even consider the possibility of a relationship...but an opportunity presented itself suddenly, a chance of something new when a friend lightly brushed their lips over your own in the middle of a study session.
your face is hot by the time you arrive at suguru’s apartment. you’ve remained connected since your first meeting, but you only started getting closer to him in the last year.
you know that you’re always welcome, but he’s still surprised to see you when he opens his front door.
he invites you in, let’s you lounge on his comfortable sofa while he makes you tea. meanwhile, you soak in his bachelor pad, taking in the details of the balance between his modern and traditional taste. by the time he sits next to you, you feel so very small, forgetting that he’s now grown into the man that he is.
broad shoulders, strong physique, the shine of wisdom and age brightening his eyes, and yet, he’s still somehow remained so fucking breathtaking...
...still makes your heart trip over itself with just a simple smile.
it takes you a while to tell him what happened, but the words pour out of you like you’re an open faucet. you don’t even realize that he’s inched himself closer to you, concern and curiosity tugging at his expression as he hears you ramble on about how you turned your face away so your friend could just aim for your cheek, about your pathetic apology as you quickly excused yourself out the door, and about your frustrations on not knowing how to kiss.
“it’ll happen for you when the time is right, sweetheart,” suguru consoles with a serious kindness.
“but what if I'm ready now?”
he laughs under his breath, your innocent question only brightening his wolfish grin. “then you’ve just got to wait for the right person...”
you can’t help but lean into him, lifting your gaze so your faces were a few inches apart.
it takes all the courage in the world for you to ask, the fear of rejection a reflection in your anxious eyes.
“can...can you show me, sugu?”
geto’s expression falls, indicating that he’s clearly caught off guard, but what sends a tremor down your spine is how his eyes immediately shift to your lips.
there’s a visible tension tugging his shoulders, and his jaw twitches when you confess that you’ve seen him kiss other girls before. he can’t believe that you’ve caught him during such intimate moments with his previous partners, but the blush that highlights the tips of his cheekbones happens when you admit that you’re just really curious to know what it would feel like.
“I’m safe with you,” you point out, “If I’m being honest, just can’t imagine sharing this with anyone else...nobody else knows me like you do”
the more you talk, the more his eyes deepen with a desire that’s never made itself known, a desire that forces your ribs to squeeze tightly around your lungs.
everything around you melts like a surreal painting when he complies with your request; you can’t even think when you feel him cradle your cheek in his palm while glides his nose down the bridge of yours. you swallow hard feeling his thumb softly stroke your neck, the fan of his warm breath on your skin making your lashes flutter close as he traces over your pretty, pouted lips.
“kissing you will be different,” he murmurs, his captivating words entrancing you in a spell. “because I’ve never kissed anybody like the way I’m about to right now...”
just as you part your lips to question the meaning behind his declaration, he presses his mouth onto yours and tenderly ignites your soul.
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One more snippet of the Dreamling Anastasia AU
...in which we witness Hob and Murphy's very first conversation (spoiler: it doesn't go well). Please enjoy!
Link to the Masterpost!
(Tag list, let me know if you want to be added or taken off: @10moonymhrivertam @martybaker @globglobglobglobob @anonymoustitans @sunshines-fabulous-legs @dreamsofapiratelife @malice-royaume @kcsandmanfan @acedragontype @okilokiwithpurpose @tharkuun @silver-dream89 @i-write-stories-not-sins-bitch)
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For a moment, the scene unfolding before Hob makes him think he’s stepped into a fairytale - or perhaps a sweet and strange dream, haunting you ever so gently even after waking.
Once upon a time, thinks Hob, there was a Dream King draped in a cloak of midnight, and he held court over the ravens in a silver-winter forest under heavy, snow-laden boughs…
But then he blinks, and the silly, fanciful vision fades. The cloak is but a dark coat three sizes too large and marked by at least ten years’ worth of dirt and wear, the forest only a small and pitiful park fenced in by roads, and the snow a dirty grey, barely more than half-melted sludge where countless feet have trodden it down.
And the Dream King is only some beggar called Murphy, of course, uncanny resemblance be damned.
But there are ravens. Birds of all kinds, really, the sounds of their wings and their various songs nearly managing to drown out the noise of the city around them. Yet Hob is a practical man, and knows that they gather around their ‘king’ only because they’re clever little buggers waiting to be fed, and not thanks to any strange magics.
(Magic died when humanity rose up and brought the Endless low; and what little survived has fled, concealed itself, and would know better than to enchant a hundred or so birds in broad-if-cloud-dimmed daylight.
Magic died with Dream of the Endless, and all that is left are shadows and cheap facsimiles.
Magic died, and nothing will bring it back.)
And yet… there’s potential there, Hob thinks, as he watches Murphy draw his giant coat more tightly around himself, shivering but still holding his head high and proud, surveying the assorted fowl around him as if they were his subjects. There’s a sharp, delicate arrogance in his bearing that will serve their deception well.
And. Christ alive. He does look like him, doesn’t he. Like the Sandman himself, made flesh and bone and sweat and dirt. Made human. If Hob didn’t know, with absolute certainty… he could swear...
Ridiculous thought. Dream of the Endless would never sink so low as to get himself thrown out of a pub swearing and spitting, human or not.
Murphy’s eyes suddenly snap up, and Hob flinches instinctively, contemplates ducking behind the next tree or the column advertising the latest local plays - but the man’s gaze passes over him carelessly, long neck craning out from the ratty scarf wound around his throat as he scans the sky.
It’s the raven. The large, coal-feathered beast Murphy had with him at the pub, with the clever glint in its eye - and in its claws, it holds a whole loaf of bread, clearly pilfered from some bakery or street stall.
The raven drops the bread into Murphy’s lap, and then lands on his shoulder, cawing and nudging its beak against a sharp cheekbone in a strange avian gesture of affection.
Murphy rasps some sort of acknowledgement in his dark, hoarse voice that Hob is too far away to parse, stroking a finger along the bird’s side, before turning his attention to the bread.
His spindly, dirty fingers tear into it with the hungry desperation of a man who remembers with precise clarity when his last meal was, and also that it’s been far too long since then, and Hob’s stomach gives a sympathetic pang. He’s been there. Not so much recently - but he knows the slow gnaw of starvation, and will never forget it.
(He hasn’t gone hungry since meeting Gilbert, who’d rather skip on his own technically unnecessary meals if it meant his young human companion could eat his fill. Sometimes, Gil even hands Hob fruits he’s seemingly conjured up out of thin air, which are never as filling as the real thing, but taste heavenly enough to stave off hunger for a few more hours at least.
There must be some dream-magic there, something to do with Gil being, in all technicality, a meadow - but Hob doesn’t think about it too much. It’s sweet, the actions of a friend who truly cares, and that’s enough for him.)
Murphy raises the first morsel of bread up to his mouth…
…and feeds it to the raven.
Hob blinks.
Watches, as the man takes his own bite, chewing ravenously, and then tears another bit off the loaf, throwing it to the ground, birds immediately flocking around it, picking for their share.
The process repeats. Murphy goes through the entire loaf that way. One bite for the raven who stole the bread, one bite for Murphy himself, and one for the flocks of birds around him. Halfway through, the raven refuses its bites, presumably full, and from then on it’s one bite for Murphy, two for the birds. It’s already not the largest loaf, and a third of it is hardly enough to sate a grown man’s hunger - strangely selfless, this Murphy character. No wonder he’s thin as a rake.
(Then again, Hob supposes there’s strategy in it, teaching the birds that they’ll be well-rewarded for any bounty they bring him.
Altruism, or shrewdness? Hob wonders.)
Soon, there’s nothing left of the bread. Murphy still looks hungry, but it’s an exhausted, resigned hunger that’s there to stay. Hob doubts the man can remember a time he wasn’t hungry. This city is not kind to the starving, to the poor - Murphy might get a place in a workhouse, if he tried, but Hob doubts that quiet pride still shining through the veil of hunger would let him. And besides, they’re dying institutions, these days, workhouses - the modern world is turning up their noses at anything that might help the destitute, even as it churns out more and more of them. It’s a dark and miserable time they’re living in, and none of the glamorous parties the rich so love to throw these days will convince Hob otherwise.
But, well. If their scheme goes off without a hitch, then at the very least the new ‘Dream of the Endless’ will never go hungry again. Hob’s doing a public service here, if you look at it from the right angle - though he’ll be the first to admit that his main motivation is anything but selfless. Immortality is too rich a prize to pretend he doesn’t want it with every fibre of his being.
And he’ll not get it standing idly by and watching, that’s for sure.
Hob straightens his coat lapels, takes off his hat to comb his fingers through his overlong hair, places it back at a jaunty angle - and walks over to finally officially make this Murphy character’s acquaintance.
“Afternoon,” Hob says, still a few steps away, smile widening into a grin when Murphy’s gaze immediately fixes itself onto him, cold and filled with the sharp suspicion of a man most people go out of their way to ignore, and who does not trust direct address.
(The eyes give him away. Dream of the Endless had eyes like midnight stars, the depths of space and the glitter of distant galaxies eternally reflected in them. Strange eyes, inhuman eyes, endless eyes.
Murphy’s eyes are a pale, washed-out blue-grey, slightly sunken in their sockets, and perfectly ordinary.
No matter - they will already have to sell some cock-and-bull story about Dream having been forced into human form, the eyes will be the least of it.)
“What do you want?” Murphy growls, and that is perfect. The voice. Easily his best asset, besides the overall look. It’s right, scratchy and roughened by disuse, but just as deep and sonorous as Dream of the Endless's was. The harsh tone and tendency to curse like a sailor Hob witnessed at the inn will need to go, to be sure, this man speaks too much like a London gutter rat and not enough like the Lord of Stories - but, well, nothing a few lessons can't fix. Nobody else ever got the voice even remotely right, and this’ll already give them a lot more to work with.
“A moment of your time, m’lord. Nothing more.” Hob affects a cheeky bow, and does not waver under the cold disdain he receives in return. Mr. Murphy’s not a fan of teasing and gentle mockery, evidently - unfortunately, that is about 50% of Hob’s personality. They’ll get on just splendidly, won’t they. “Hob, at your service. Are you aware your lady sister is looking for you?”
A quick blink, even as Murphy’s entire scrawny body and haggard face goes very, very still.
“...I do not have a sister.” He says, only the slightest edge of uncertainty and confusion wavering in his voice. And then, “piss off, Robert Gadling” he adds, uncouth and vulgar, a scowl scrunching up his face. Oh, they’ll need to train that out of him, most certainly.
(Hob has not introduced himself as Robert, and certainly not as Gadling. That Murphy has named him thus nonetheless goes over both their heads.)
“No?” Hob smiles. “You’re not Dream of the Endless, then?”
Another blink - and then Murphy laughs, a horrible dissonant sound that seems like it ought to hurt his throat, the raven on his shoulder letting out a single caw alongside him.
“Are you drunk?” He snorts. “Dream of the Endless is dead. Every child knows it.”
“Every child believes it to be so. There’s a distinction.” Hob tries to take a step closer, but the sea of birds at their feet steadfastly refuses to part for him, so he thinks better of it. “You look exactly like him, you know. You might well be.”
“And you would know that, would you?” Murphy raises an arch eyebrow. “I think I’d remember having once been the personification of dreams.”
“Oh, I don’t know. Memory can be a funny thing.” Hob shoots back. “We don’t remember being born, do we? And some lose track of even more than that. How’s your recollection of your childhood, hm?”
Ah. Jackpot. The moment he speaks of remembering and childhoods, Murphy looks away, uncomfortable. Hit a sore spot there, has he? Memory issues. How interesting. How perfectly convenient.
“...you’ve had your fun now,” Murphy rasps, shifting uneasily, no longer so willing to defiantly meet Hob’s eyes. “I want no part in whatever game you’re intending to play with the London Poor, Gadling. Fuck off, before I make you.”
“Now, now, I really do think we’re on to something, here.” Giving up, Hob knows, is for fools who don’t really want to become immortal. “I’m quite certain-”
“Fuck. Off.” Murphy repeats, and turns his pale, unfortunately-human eyes on Hob again.
So do nearly a hundred birds, feathers ruffling and beaks clacking. The raven on Murphy’s shoulder caws, low and threatening.
Hob swallows, and takes stock of his options. Wonders if tactical retreats might not be just the thing for intelligent men who don’t want to die by bird before ever getting to take their stab at immortality.
“I’m only saying-” Hob tries instead, because he’s a reckless idiot.
Murphy’s eyes narrow, and he spits out a throaty sound like a command, the flock of birds rising as one, led by his personal raven jumping into flight with a sharp battle cry.
Shit.
Gilbert glances up when Hob returns covered in feathers and bird droppings, skin smarting where sharp beaks have pecked at him until he fled.
“I take it young Mr. Murphy was not particularly amenable to your proposal…?” He asks, delicately, lip twitching around a politely-repressed smile.
“Can’t say he was.” Hob shrugs easily, only wincing slightly at the way the movement pulls on his skin. “But I think I can convince him, Gil. Given enough time.”
“If you say so, young friend.” Gil, for his part, does not look particularly convinced either. He rarely is, when Hob first pitches his ideas, but he always comes around.
And so will Murphy.
Hob knows it’s only a matter of time… and, perhaps, some clever bribery.
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Can’t sleep, daydreaming about a first kiss with Ukitake.
This was intended to be just a short little set of headcanons but once again turned into a whole scenario.
Picture this: spending the evening drinking tea and snacking with both Ukitake and Kyoraku (who would be drinking sake…), after an a major event like Byakuya or Kaien’s wedding by having your own little intimate celebration/after party together.
Fireflies are dancing around, the full moon is out and the gentle chirping of crickets and other insects accompany everyone’s laughter as Ukitake wins yet another round of Shogi - making Kyoraku pout. It’s been a good day for Ukitake, not a single cough or feeling of unease, so he intends to make the most out of every second.
Kyoraku stands and stretches, yawning loudly, “Well, that’s probably enough for me tonight. I’ve got work to do in the world of the living tomorrow, so I can’t really risk a hangover.”
You smirk, “You’re not leaving because you’re sore about losing are you?”
He chuckles, “Naaaah. Lisa will have my head if I stay too much longer. I don’t want to risk being scolded.” He smirks, a twinkle of mischief in his eye, “Plus the eyes you two have been making at each other all night is starting to make me feel a little intrusive.”
Ukitake chokes on his tea, spluttering and coughing as you feel your face heat up, even as you quickly move to his side to rub his back, hoping this hasn’t triggered a coughing fit, “What do you mean “eyes your two are making?!” What eyes?!”
He laughs loudly, “I’ll leave you two alone to figure it out. Goodnight!” And then he’s gone, disappearing right in front of you as he uses his shunpo to leave.
Once Ukitake has recovered, he straightens himself up and takes a sip of tea to clear his throat, a wry expression on his face, “Cheeky bastard.”
You laugh, “Has he always been so shameless?”
He sets the cup down and huffs a laugh, “In our academy days, yes. But he’s never really teased me so brazenly over…” he shakes his head, taking another sip of his tea.
Your heart quickens, and suddenly you are keenly aware of how closely to two of you are sitting.
“Over…?” You have a feeling that the two of you would eventually have this conversation - you’d been flirting with each other over the past few months, mostly just lingering gazes during meetings, lingering touches when you pass things to each other, and more compliments than usual on each other’s appearances that could be interpreted as mere friendship. Today was no exception: you’d sat next to him the entire evening at the wedding celebration, and over the course of the night the two of you had gravitated towards each other, your sides eventually touching. And neither of you had made to move away or mention it. And as he helped you stand up - ever the gentleman - he did not let go of your hand, running his thumb over your knuckles, and looked as though he was about to say something. Then Kyoraku had appeared suddenly from out of nowhere and suggested you continue the celebration together. You didn’t miss his shoulders slumping over in obvious disappointment as he let go of your hand and lead the way to his quarters.
Now, the soft light from the fireflies and the moon illuminates his handsome face. You notice that his cheeks have darkened noticeably as he turns to face you. His gaze seems a little conflicted as his lips are drawn in a thin line. That same expression from earlier, but more determined.
With a soft sigh, he takes your hand in his and gives you a small smile, “Is it not obvious?”
You move a little closer to him, your eyes searching his face, “Maybe, maybe not.”
His face moves even closer to yours, his eyes half lidded and glancing rapidly between your eyes and lips. His lips are mere inches away from your own he whispers, “Allow me to make things a little clearer for you, then…”
He closes the short distance between you and delicately brushes his lips across yours, enough for it to barely be considered a kiss - it’s like he’s gauging your reaction, preparing to pull away if he senses the slightest amount of discomfort. When you don’t pull away, he pushes his lips against yours ever so gently and brings a hand up to brush his knuckles against your cheek, so soft it feels like a butterfly has landed on your face.
It would be such a slow, tender, intimate kiss. With him gently and rhythmically guiding your movements. It wouldn’t get too heated. It would be one of those kisses that makes your heart ache with longing, but neither of you would want to ruin the sweet and tender moment by giving in to your baser instincts. It would be more about intimacy and being close to each other.
It would turn into an opened mouth kiss and there would be tongues involved - because intimacy and being as close as possible to you is a huge thing for him and he wouldn’t be able to help himself - but only very fleetingly. The second your lips shift to openly glide over each other’s, he’d shakily sigh into your mouth, maybe even whisper your name.
He would only really swipe his tongue over your lips as he moves. Not venturing too deeply, nothing too tame, but somewhere right in the middle. He’d alternate between caressing and cupping your face with one hand to gently cupping the back your neck and slowly stroking your hairline. The other hand would be splayed across the small of your back. He wouldn’t be forceful at all. His hands wouldn’t be pulling you in; it would be more like he’s wanting to enjoy and appreciate the feel of your skin/body against his. Just relishing the intimacy of the moment.
It wouldn’t be a short affair. He wants to take his time with you, and his sweet yet sensual kisses are addicting. Ukitake would slowly glide his lips over yours, letting out little sighs, gasps, tiny moans and even some breathy chuckles if you decide to playfully tease him by giving him soft pecks, retaliating by kissing the corner of your mouth occasionally.
He’d eventually pull away with a shuddering breath before pressing gentle kisses to your cheek, overcome with emotion. He’d kiss the tip of your nose and forehead before resting his forehead on yours, nuzzling your noses together.
If you cup his face, he’d nuzzle into it and kiss your palm, then take your hand in his and kiss down to your wrist before intertwining your fingers with his.
There’s be no words after. There would be no need. Just gentle gazes, smiles and touches. It’s pretty clear that you both feel the same. He’d eventually move you around to sit in front of him with your back against his chest and him holding you from behind, alternating between slowly running his hands up and down your arms, wrapping his own around your waist and taking your hands and intertwining them as you watch the fireflies together, enjoying each other’s presence. He’d occasionally press kisses to the top of your head, and if you lean back and rest your head on his shoulder, he’d kiss your temple too.
He’d walk you back to your room, and kiss you goodbye in the same way. Slowly. Tenderly. Longingly.
He’d kiss you on the back of the hand and give you a soft look (much like the accompanying screen cap for this post), his soft brown eyes shining with happiness, before saying a simple “goodnight” and using his shunpo to leave.
Your lips tingle for hours afterwards, your heart still racing, wondering if he, too, is laying awake, overcome with emotion.
And you’d be right.
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