Chapter Text
The man, one of them, in her waiting room struck a few familiar chords for Linda. Tall, Dark, Handsome, and somehow Other. He lacked the charming smile and deflecting flirtation of Lucifer, but she could sense he was no mere human.
“Welcome. I’m Dr. Linda Martin.” An offered handshake was greeted by the inhuman one drawing back slightly. The other man stepped forward smoothly, placing himself between his friend and the doctor. Covering the motion by taking her hand with a cordial squeeze and a smile. This one, this one seemed normal enough, or at least human enough, with a familiar sort of rogueish charm.
“Robert, hello. This is Dr- my dear friend Morpheus. Thank you for making time in your schedule for a meeting.”
“Of course.” It was her job, after all, and her schedule was meant to be filled. But usually her patients were referrals and now she had no information to start with. “Please, come in and make yourselves comfortable.”
The two men got arranged on the sofa inside, provided with bottles of water at the declined offer of coffee. For two grown men they seemed reluctant to began and take charge of the conversation so Linda inquired what led them to contacting her.
“We, uh, well we heard from a…. An acquaintance, I guess you could say, that you have some experience with. Well… with things that maybe can’t be explained or might be hard to believe. We know you’ve worked a bit with, uh..”
Robert was clearly reluctant to say it, and Linda was happy for him not to.
“No need to mention who exactly it might be. It’s better from an ethical standpoint if I don’t know how my clients are connected. Besides, I think i’ts pretty clear to all of us who you are talking about.”
It wouldn’t be the first persib Lucifer had thrown at her head like “I have a use for this person and so i need you to fix them”.
If it wasn’t already obvious from the way this Robert glanced at his companion every few words, it still would have been clear who Linda’s potential patient was. It wasn’t the goth attire or even the slightly worrying emaciation that told on him. Tall, Dark, and Brooding had trauma oozing out of his pores. If he had pores. That ethereally pale skin looked smooth enough to classify that as a ‘maybe not’.
He looked dangerous, this one, like he was one wrong word away from snapping with a cold and silent fury.
He also somehow looked like a sad wet stray cat in need of a little kindness.
“Anyway, I thought with everything…” Robert trailed off again, pain in his eyes as he glanced at Dream again. “I mean, I’ve been to therapy before, and found it helpful at times.”
‘Times’ being modern ones. Very modern. Only since the beginning of the current century did psychology begin get its shit together enough to (mostly) stop actively damaging people. Hob had met Freud once. It took decades after for him to stop scoffing at the idea of psychoanalysis
Hob never spent long in therapy the few times he had tried it. There was a lot he just couldn’t explain and that limited things quite a bit. If he’d had someone he could open up to, about everything, he’d probably be a bit better adjusted than he was.
But none of that bothered Hob. He was all right enough to enjoy life, and to make the effort to help Dream enjoy life too.
The three of them limped along for a bit. It was clear to Linda that Robert knew at least some of what the problem was, but didn’t feel it was his place to talk about it. Despite his obvious desire to facilitate communication. Morpheus for his part was stonily silent, other than the occasional murmured agreement or denial of whatever Robert asked him.
Partly out of mercy to Robert, because it really wasn’t his job to play mediator here or to do Morpheus’ emotional labor for him, and partly because she knew certain things could be easier to discuss with strangers rather than loved ones, she made the suggestion of having Robert step out so she and Morpheus could speak one on one.
Morpheus did not look pleased with that suggestion.
“No, i get it,” Robert interjected quickly. “Whatever Dream wants me to hear or not here is fine, and he needs to speak for himself, not have me jumping in all the time. Its just that part of the agreement to come was that I stick with him.”
Linda was not inspired to confidence by a patient who had to be begged, bribed, and/or blackmailed into seeking treatment.
“But it’s okay,” he continued, fishing a hand in one pocket. He came up with a set of earbuds. Poking them into his ears, he passed his phone over to Dream. “So you can make sure i don’t pause it or lower the volume to eavesdrop.”
Dream nodded his agreement and swiped through the phone for something for Hob to listen to. He didn’t so much as twitch when Hob grabbed one of the dark lapels of Dream’s coat and opened it, reaching within and pulling out a book from one of the hidden pockets that magically fit whatever Dream needed it to. A simple handshake had made him recoil from the touch, but Hob could move in and out of Dream’s personal space as if it were nothing.
Hob excused himself to the chair in front of Linda’s desk where his back was to the sitting area where the other two watched him settled. Dream hit play on the phone and set it down on the table.
There was a quiet snort from Hob when the podcast of a modern spin on Much Ado About Nothing began to play, but he didn’t turn to give Dream a look. When he opened the book (the completed version of a famous unfinished novel), the other two turned to regard each other.
Dream was silent, more than he was naturally inclined towards being.
“I can understand some of your reluctance to be here. As you are aware I have had other clients who are… different.”
Linda wasn’t sure if the terms ‘supernatural’ or ‘occult’ would be offensive. Or enough. They weren’t incorrect but they seemed to fall short of capturing the true power of Lucifer, Amenadiel or Mazikeen. And there were a few clues that the being that sat before her now was a step, or several, above most of the other fantastical beings she’d met in recent years.
“I’m a human and we’ve lived vastly different experience, so it must be difficult to believe i could hold any knowledge you don’t already have.’
She was not incorrect. It was difficult to believe. Hob at least had the benefit of hundreds of years of life experience to draw upon. But. If this was a problem Hob, or Dream himself, could solve, there would have been no need to come today.
“I am not omniscient. There are many things I do not know.” Dream said. His voice was level, too neutral in fact. He knew the point of being here was to open up, and he knew few other beings had Hob’s talent for reading between the lines with him. So he deigned to elaborate.
“I can not fault myself for the things I have not yet had occasion to learn. Thus I would not fault you for not knowing the things beyond your purview.”
Linda managed not to blink in mild astonishment. After the twisting, clawing battle to earn actual reliable displays of respect from Lucifer, she found the simple words from the no doubt very complicated Being to be rather heartening.
She cleared her throat.
“My purview does happen to include a lot of information about how to address and deal with trauma.” She began carefully. “I know that terrible things can happen to any kind of being, no matter how powerful they are or what their responsibilities might be.”
Dream had remarkable control over himself, but he did shift slightly. His lips tightened a fraction in their apparently natural pout. He remained silent but Linda could practically see him buried in the baggage he’d collected over… a longer lifespan than Linda cared to even guess at.
“There are ways to deal with the effects that trauma leaves behind. Coping mechanisms, healthy habits, tactics for avoiding triggers. I don’t think you need to be human for some of those to benefit you. And none of them could hurt, correct?”
He still didn’t speak, but as he didn’t take a chance to contradict her Linda had to assume he didn’t disagree.
“My job is really just to teach you some of these things that I know and you do not. Then you will know them too and can figure out if they help or if they even apply to your life as…”
She trailed off, prompting him to fill in the gap and tell her something about him. If not what he was, then maybe what he did with his time.
He didn’t answer but she hadn’t really expected him to. Has asked with a slight teasing smile so they could both brush past it if needed. But she thought she saw a slight twinkle in his eye and if a moment of mischief and mystery helped him relax with her that was fine. She could get the details later if they became necessary for her to know.
“Of course you are not required to reveal anything you don’t want me to know. I’m sure there’s plenty of things you could tell me that I don’t want to know. But as we talk I hope you will be keeping in mind how your secrets are affecting your life in relation to whatever we’re discussing. Everything in our lives is connected.”
She smiled a professionally disarming smile and sat back in her chair, her body language open and non-threatening.
“My first session I usually like to discuss goals, what you want to see come out of what we do here. Often it can be difficult to explain those goals without relating some of what you’ve been through.”
Morpheus, already tense, seemed to stiffen further and Linda held up a hand calmly.
“We won’t be getting into any of that today, don’t worry. It can take mental preparation to face difficult subjects sometimes. Maybe for today we can just get comfortable talking to each other? Chat about your hobbies, or the last movie you saw. Do you see movies?”
Lucifer and company lived largely as humans and did some unexpectedly mundane things sometimes. Linda wasn't sure she’d be surprised either way with this being.
It took him a while to answer but Morpheus did.
“Hob has… taken me to a few. Shown me others in his home. But there are many and I am as yet unfamiliar with most.”
Linda nodded. From the sound of it, as if human culture was something strange and alien to him, it wasn’t worth asking about favorite tv series or sports teams. She was struggling for a topic of conversation that a decidedly inhuman being might relate to enough to engage in when she noticed his eyes flicker over her shoulder for a moment. They softened slightly as Dream took a long second to indulged in the sight of Hob. When his gaze flickered away back to hers, it was clear that he hadn’t meant to get distracted by that glance at his… friend? Partner? Husband?
Something to ask about.
Something Morpheus might actually respond to.
“Tell me about him?” Linda asks. Dream regards her with surprise and perhaps some suspicion. Linda only shrugs. “What? He seems like a very interesting person. Obviously you think so, since he is important enough to bring here with you. If he’s going to be accompanying you to these sessions, why shouldn’t I get to know him a bit?”
She had gotten to know Lucifer’s entire social circle after all, and adopted half of them into her own life.
Even if Hob hadn’t been his favorite human, discussing Hob would still be preferable to discussing himself, so Dream allowed the subject.
“Hob, or Robert to all but a few, owns a pub in London. He also teaches the occasional class at the local university.”
“A professor? What subject?”
“Primarily literature or history.” Dream’s lip twitched in something that did not even approach a smile. Still, it was something a change of expression for him. “And whatever niche topic of interest he can convince the administration to give him a classroom for. He once taught a course on Historical Fashion And Weaponry. He took rather more enjoyment than he should from teaching his students the many ways to conceal a dagger in one’s clothing.”
He didn’t chuckle, or even smile, but somehow his aura projected a fond humor towards the other man.
“Can I ask… do you discuss your struggles with him?”
The relaxed fondness disappeared immediately and he seemed to sour.
“At times he insists I do. I can tell it is difficult for him for him, to hear and also to respond to. He wants to help but he doesn’t feel he can speak his mind to me.”
“Oh?”
“I believe he worries I will lash out at him if he speaks a truth i am not ready to hear.”
“Is he wrong to be afraid of that happening?”
Morpheus doesn’t answer. If anything, he sulks. Linda wonders how arguments go with a friend like this being..
By the air of dejection hanging around him, Morpheus clearly knows that that such behavior is not acceptable. If he was willing to risk hurting his friend that way, he wouldn’t be sitting in her office in the first place, looking so disgruntled that she had made such a good point.
But this wasn’t a debate she was trying to win. This was an injured being she was trying not to spook. So she didn’t comment further on it, didn’t betray any sign she had deduced any previous mistreatment by Dream towards his human friend. (She was pretty sure he was human. He was way too approachable and down-to-earth to be another cosmic or celestial being. And only a human would have the audacity to try to drag a god-or-whatever to therapy. Linda was less clear on the ‘friend’ part. They were obviously close, but a casual companion certainly wouldn’t have the emotional hold to force a reluctant person to see a psychiatrist.)
“Well,” Linda said with a briskness, “I think that this has been a… starting point for us all.” (She didn’t say a good starting point, or a good first session, because she wasn’t going to start lying to him) “I’d like you to take some time to process the idea that when we meet again we may discuss some of those difficult topics. But there will be no pressure for you to share more than you are comfortable with, we can work up to things later, so I want you to think of one thing that would be least painful for you to share. It can be a small detail, whatever might be easiest to actually get out, just as somewhere to start. If that’s all we get to in the next session, we will have completed our first goal together.”
Some human adults found the ‘homework’ and simple goals method to be a bit patronizing and it didn’t seem like the adult-man-shaped creature in front of her enjoyed it either. But he didn’t object and it was only a start for them. Linda could adjust tactics as needed.
“We can set up another appointment before you go or you can call to do so if you think you might need more time to prepare. But I’d advise we begin relatively soon. It all gets less difficult once you get over that first hump and over the anxiety of starting.”
Dream nodded with some hesitation. He wasn’t so very reluctant about the idea of continuing, rather he was reluctant to admit that he might have such anxieties about doing so. The Lord of all Dreams and Nightmares and he was… nervous about facing his own demons. As if they had not always lived within him. But still, it was harder to live with them since everything that had happened at Fawney Rig and he couldn't continue to ignore that fact when it had started to affect the Dreaming and those around him.
“I must confer with Hob about his schedule, but I will make the effort to schedule another visit soon.”
:Linda opened her mouth to ask a question but decided against it. Dream had a guess though.
“By a human definition of ‘soon’, you have my word. Within the month should be possible at least, if not before then.”
Linda nodded her satisfaction with that time frame. She glanced over her shoulder at Hob, still in his own world between his two sources of entertainment, or distraction, whichever.
“A university and pub in London, you said? That’s quite a commute for an hour-long session when he’s not even the client.”
“Travel is not a difficulty for us. And we enjoy the time in each other’s company.”
Both facts were true. Dream was not yet ready to reveal his powers include the ability of instant transportation to anywhere within several realms with just a toss of sand.
“Besides, he has reminded me repeatedly and at length that he would follow me anywhere.”
Follow Dream into Hell, is what Hob had actually said. Following him to California was nothing, would have been nothing even if it had involved 12 hours on a plane instead.
Linda caught the first genuinely noticeable expression on Morpheus’ face. The smile was tiny but it was there and it was aimed at the human.
“It’s good you have him in your corner then,” was all she said.
“Indeed.”
Dream leaned forward and tapped at Hob’s phone on the table. When the voices on his ears stopped, Hob turned from his book to look at them. A slight crease between his brows eased when he saw that Dream appeared in good spirits. What Linda noticed as the tiniest of smiles was, in Hob’s eyes, practically an engaging grin.
“All set, then? A good chat, I hope?” Hob asked as he rejoined them.
“No one stormed out in anger,” Dream said, as if that were a perfectly normal standard by which to measure a conversation.
Robert evidently heard humor Linda did not in the laconic statement.
“Glad to hear it,” Hob responded, and to Dream’s chagrin he didn’t sound entirely sarcastic about it.
They both knew that was an actual risk when it came to confronting Dream about his feelings