Chapter Text
So, after the day was done, Robert Gadling found himself happily cleaning the tables at the Pub where he and his strange friend had met after a long one hundred and thirty-three years. They had seemed an eternity to Hob , indeed, as if having lived for more than six hundred years was nothing compared to one hundred and thirty-three without his friend.
Friend.
He repeated happily, remembering the way the dark-haired man had said it. It made him happy, as happy as he hadn't been in years, the strange feeling still floating in his chest. His hand went to his cell phone now, just as he finished arranging the chairs perfectly on top of the tables. From his contact list he looked up the name, Jess. He squeezed the little phone symbol and brought it to his ear as he carefully climbed the stairs.
"I saw him" was the first thing she murmured, not even letting the brunette finish saying hello.
"Who did you see, Hob? Oh, is this your mystery friend?" Hob groaned something unintelligible as he maneuvered to open his front door.
"Yeah, well, uhm…" he sighed a bit sorrowfully, looking at the walls of the main entrance. "I mean, it's been years since I last saw him, I thought I wouldn't do it again, yet there he was."
Death fell silent, letting the human continue.
"Aaand he looked fucking good, I'm not going to lie to you. He asked me about my life like every time we met, I mean-- God, he's so damn enigmatic" an arm over his eyes as he continued to speak. "I can't with him, we've known each other for years, literally centuries! And I don't even know his name!" a slight shiver ran down her spine.
"Wait" Death frowned between anger and curiosity "how is it that you know someone for so long and you don't even know their name?" she asked, about to start a whole monologue about how important it was to know the people you associate with.
a bit of a hypocrite, if she admitted it.
"Well, I already told you, the guy is an enigma, we meet every so often. We talked, well, I talked about my life and he seemed happy to listen. I honestly don't know what to think. Although today he admitted that we were friends, I guess that's progress?” Hob put the phone on speaker as he sat down to kick off his shoes and drop his jacket to the side, feeling a bit of a mess for a moment.
"Friends...?" Death raised an eyebrow, now legitimately curious.
"The last time we saw each other I hinted that we could be friends, you know, we've known each other for quite some time and we've had these weird meetings, aren't we friends then?" The brown-haired man nodded his head in agreement, stating his question to himself.
"Let me see. Are you telling me that the guy you've known for years,who occasionally goes on these dates where you talk about your life, was upset because you called him "friend"?" Hob muttered some kind of affirmation, then Death continued. "Oh Lord, this boy is soooo in love with you, it's stupid that you don't see it. You are a gay man in the twenty-first century."
"First of all, I'm bisexual" Hob clarified, surprised by his friend's statement. "Jess, wait there. What? " his brain had turned to mush, unable to even think of anything like it. The stranger in love with him? So funny.
"And you, you fucking ancient history freak, are sooo in love with him that it's hilarious" the brunette's curly hairs twitched as a laugh left her lips, certainly amused amongst all the strange drama between her brother and his recent best friend .
"Oh, shut up. I-- I 'm not in love " That had been a vile lie, Death could tell easily. "I mean-- shit"
Then Hob saw himself years ago, waiting expectantly for the stranger to walk through the pub door nervously. After a hundred years of their fight. And when he didn't show up it was almost devastating for him. So what Jess was saying now might make a bit of sense.
"There's your answer then, dumbass" His smile widened, pulling the cell phone away for a moment to check the time. "I need to get back to work, keep me updated" she asked before hanging up.
Now, Hob had never doubted anything in his life. Maybe some bad decisions he had made, but other than that, nothing really made him hesitate. Friendship with the goth stranger he saw every hundred years hadn't made him hesitate until now, that he saw in retrospect, and could identify some patterns about some kind of crush. Why him? he certainly wondered, although he knew absolutely nothing about the dark-haired man, he had no doubt that he must have thousands and thousands of lovers after his feet. Men, women, and gods , he could swear to it.
His eyes closed in the meantime, submerging his naked body in the bathtub and letting the water relax him, dozing from time to time. The next time he woke up, the green landscape overwhelmed him. He got used to it quickly, seeing that he was only wearing a bathing suit in that strange dream. This landscape was unlike any he had ever seen. The breeze that ran there was more than intoxicating, and in the distance I could hear a soft whisper, Fiddler's green .
"It's really lovely, I must admit" Hob replied out loud, a smile creeping across his lips. "Lovely" he admitted again, walking over to the small lake to sit next to him. A peace that he had never felt invaded him, the tranquility was worthy of the paradise of Eden.
"Be nice to him" he whispered again, causing Hob to open his eyes now, looking at the big tree just a few feet away.
"Be good? With whom?" he questioned, somewhat confused.
"With Lord Dream, he's been through so much"
Lord. Dream .
Damn.
"Dream ?" he asked, and at that moment a black figure appeared behind the same tree he was talking to.
"Robert Gadling, I see you met--" Hob cut him off.
"Fiddler's green, yes" Morpheus raised an eyebrow, hiding a smile behind that layer of mystery, letting his human friend continue speaking. "Dream, is that your name?" Hob asked, though he couldn't help the smile growing on his face.
"I am Dream of the Endless, it is a pleasure to finally introduce myself to you, Robert Gadling" the breeze now gave Hob a little shiver, although the human knew that this was not simply because he was half naked in front of the love of his life , but because he could finally know something about him.
"I have so many questions I hardly know where to start" Hob laughed, approaching him cautiously, keeping his smile fixed on his face.
"If you're lucky, perhaps I can answer some of them"