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Soulmates were a thing in this world, right. They plopped up sporadically, like a nugget of gold in the stream of life, and the few lucky ones who found them never had to worry about a thing for the rest of their lives. Those few lived dreams of knights and damsels and roses, while the others existed between computers and board meetings.Fuck, Dream hated them. Once upon a time he had hoped to be one of the few. Had hoped for a life like the ones in the fairytales his elder sister had used to read to him. Sharing a vision with your soulmate, locking eyes and falling in love at first sight. Finding each other again after. But then he had grown older, and no vision had come. Usually they get them before twenty, sometimes a few years later. But now Dream was closer to forty than thirty, and had therefore given up all hope of finding his One.That was until, one unsuspecting Tuesday morning (and it had to be a Tuesday morning, Dream’s least favourite day of the week), Dream’s eyes suddenly had a system failure. Complete shutdown. There was darkness, and nothing else, and Dream dimly hoped that he had fallen unconscious working at his computer. It might get him out of work for the day at least. But the fact that he was even thinking so far probably meant that it wasn’t that. Bugger.Well, at least it seemed as if his visuals came back online quickly enough, considering he could already make out some shapes and colours again. But, well, that surely wasn’t his cubicle at the office. There was no actual real sunlight streaming in through the windows there, only white light that was supposed to keep them awake and alert. There were also no cows at the office. Or, at least none of the furry, mooing kind.Nevertheless, Dream was seeing them. Staring one right in the eyes, actually. Unblinking, they stared at each other, minutes passing by without either of them moving. Perhaps Dream was going crazy. Or he had burnout. Could burnouts cause hallucinations? He had to look that up.
Moooooooo!
The cow screamed at him and Dream squinted his eyes at her. Rude, to raise her voice at him like that. But perhaps it wanted to tell him something.“Moo.”Her ears twitched and her tail flicked away a fly, then she went back to staring at him. Not a thought behind those eyes.Dream was about to Moo at the cow again, when suddenly she threw her head around with a glint in her eyes and a sound of unbridled excitement. Alright, well, apparently he wasn’t even interesting enough to keep the attention of a cow. Lesson learned. He was about to turn away and find out where the fuck he actually was and what had exactly happened between the office and the cow, when something caught his attention.Or rather someone.Though this human might as well be something, as no mortal being should look like that.There was hair, lots of it, up in a bun and plastered to a sweaty face, covering miles and miles of delicious golden skin. Arms, legs, chest, stomach, everything was covered in it and gleamed in the sunlight like a fucking meal. He wanted to run his hands through every inch of it, lick his fingers clean afterwards like he did after having his favourite curry. Perhaps there was more of it, down where that gorgeous happy trail led, and Dream could bury his nose there, find out what this man smelled like.The man. Also had a face. A very pretty face, even. Dream found he didn’t mind looking at it at all, at the dark scruff on his cheeks, the dark flush on his cheekbones, the sweat catching at his eyebrows and running down his neck…He was also staring at Dream like he wanted to devour him whole. Which, well, Dream certainly wasn’t opposed to that, but it also didn’t happen very often. Never, actually, it had never happened before. Was he breathing? He wasn’t entirely sure if he knew how at that specific moment. A foreign art in the face of perfection.A ringing started in Dream’s ears. Perhaps the lack of oxygen. He should really take a breath, a deep one at that, and then he should ask this man for his name, for his number, or perhaps to bend him over right then and there. Whatever he was most amenable for, really. His plan failed, quite anticlimactic, at the first step.No deep breaths for him.Which was fine, did he really need to breathe? Google would probably tell him no, and that was all he needed to believe in it.The man had moved, in the time it took Dream to debate this. Closer, which was honestly the best direction he could have taken. He held out a hand towards Dream, and his eyes were big, his lips moving. But the ringing was loud and Dream couldn’t quite hear what he was saying, couldn’t quite force his body to accept the hand. What he could do was stagger forward, into the arms of the man, and bury his face in that lovely skin at his neck. He felt arms around him, lips against the shell of his ear, moving, hot breath on his neck. He really didn’t have to breathe here, he didn’t even have to hear or see something, as long as he could feel. Though not being able to see this man anymore would be a shame. And who knew, perhaps he even had a lovely voice! Though that would really be cruel, for the rest of humanity.“Hob Gadling.” He heard through the ringing in his ears, and it really did sound lovely. Goddammit. “My name is Hob Gadling. You have to remember it, please.”He couldn’t deny this man. So, of course, he remembered when he opened his eyes again. To his office? Yep, grey walls, grey desk, grey computer. The tab of his latest project was still open. He closed it. Opened a new one. And slowly, very slowly, he typed the name Hob Gadling into the search bar on Google and hit enter.+++It was Tuesday afternoon and Dream had about three hours left on his least favourite shift of the whole week. However, that didn’t matter all that much, because he was not currently at the office. He wasn’t even in the same city anymore. No because this spectacular Tuesday afternoon, Dream Endless had run out of the office without so much as a word to his superiors, grabbed the keys to his car from his back pocket and driven to a farm.The White Horse.Ironically enough, there wasn’t a single horse to be seen. Only cows. One of which stared at him suspiciously.She let out a loud Mooooo, to which he only rolled his eyes.Definitely at the right place, then.Now just to find Hob, and get him to fuck him senseless. Shouldn’t be too hard, given that vision. Soulmate vision. At thirty-seven. What had his life only become in the past six hours?The door to the farm-house, when Dream rang the bell, didn’t budge. Neither did the gate leading to the fields. But Dream was stubborn. And perhaps just a little desperate.He climbed the fence, only falling on his face once during the whole ordeal. His button-down didn’t even get grass stains all over it, so he counted it as a win. Back on his feet and now dead-set on his mission, Dream jogged down the length of the fields. One after the other, always with a cow at his heels (because that damn thing couldn’t seem to leave him well enough alone). He got mud all over his dress shoes, several different plants clinging to his pants, sweat soaking his shirt. For some reason, he didn’t believe Hob would care. Perhaps he’d even enjoy it, just as Dream had enjoyed him. They were supposed to be soulmates after all.That’s when Dream found him. Down on his knees, arm deep in a hole on the ground, covered in dirt. Bloody turnips laying beside him. His eyes were wide as they met Dream’s, dark and brown and absolutely Dream’s new favourite colour. He didn’t even have a favourite colour before now. Probably because he had never seen Hob’s eyes in the afternoon sun before, looking straight at him.Had never seen them darken like this before.“Hob Gadling.” He said, eloquently, as Hob pulled his arm out of the ground. Another turnip in his hand. He smiled at Dream, and Dream might die if he didn’t get his hands on this man in the next ten seconds.“So you did remember my name.”Dream licked his lips, leveling Hob with a serious look. Forced his voice an octave lower.“I have not stopped thinking about how it would sound if I screamed it.”If a bit awkward, it had the intended effect, if the groan that left Hob’s lips was any indication.“Fuck. Alright. Alright, let me just-” Dream interrupted him with a thumb on his bottom lip, staring into his eyes. He hissed as Hob’s tongue touched the pad of his finger.“Now, Hob Gadling. I have been very patient. I think I deserve a little treat.” Hob only nodded as Dream pulled him in for a desperate kiss, tongues colliding and hands finally finding heaps of sweat soaked hair.Behind them, a cow was rolling her eyes at them, letting out a huffed Moo. and trotting off.