Sherman gasped and lifted his head and opened his eyes. His arms were folded in front of him and he was leaning on his desk, a thin trail of saliva was running from his mouth to his sleeve.

He wiped his mouth as he looked around. It was his room. It was the penthouse. His room was exactly as he had left it. He looked at his clock. It was the same date and time. He had been asleep for almost an hour.

"It was all nothing but a dream." he whispered to himself as he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. He whimpered as he realized he had still actually yelled at his father and hurt his feelings.

Just then there was a knock at his door and it opened and his father walked in. Before Peabody could say anything, Sherman had flown across the room and tackled him to the floor in a tight hug.

"Agh! Whatever is the matter?!" The beagle cried, surprised at the show of affection.

"I'm sorry Mr. Peabody! I didn't mean it! Please don't change anything!" Sherman cried. He was lying facedown on the floor, completely covering his father, holding him, but still holding himself up by his knees and elbows so as to not suffocate his dad. He held his cheek against the fur on the side of Peabody's muzzle, both to reassure himself that his father wasn't gone, that he was truly still here, in his life and also to keep him from going and doing the very thing Sherman feared he might do from his dream.

Peabody was speechless. Mainly because ever since Sherman had started entering his teen years he had become less and less affectionate. He had never done anything like this. Peabody knew Sherman didn't mean what he had said. Of course it had hurt him initially, but after he had left Sherman's room he had thought about it long and hard while preparing dinner and came to the conclusion that Sherman had said it while under stress. He just hadn't listened. Which was something he wanted to discuss with Sherman and the reason he came into his room in the first place.

"I know you did not mean it." Peabody said. "But why on earth has it affected you to this degree?" His eyes were wide with surprise.

"Ihadabaddreamwhereyouchangedthetimlineand-"

"Slow down..."

"I had a bad dream where you changed the timeline so you never adopted me and adopted some other boy instead and became a mean and arrogant snob!"

Tears pricked at Sherman's eyes and threatened to fall on Peabody's muzzle as he briefly recounted the dream. He blinked them back as he finished.

"It felt so real!"

Peabody, again, was speechless for a moment. He was focusing less on the content of the dream itself and more on the circumstances that likely led to Sherman having it in the first place and the ramifications. Did Sherman really think he would do something like that over something so small? If that were true that would mean Sherman lived in constant fear that the slightest mistake might cost him his, not literal, but figurative, life. It threatened to break his heart.

"So that is why you are reacting so strongly…" he said slowly. He looked at Sherman, brows creased, frowning in concern, wanting nothing more than for Sherman to pay close attention to what he said next. "I would never, ever do what your dream suggested."

"I know you wouldn't." Sherman nodded, biting his lip. Sherman said it, but somewhere, deep in his subconscious, he wondered if he truly believed that. Because if he didnt that would explain the dream. He tightly hugged Peabody again. "I'm so sorry for talking like that earlier. I just had a bad day. You don't suck. You are special and unique, and-and...I am the luckiest boy alive to have the only talking genius dog in the world as my dad! I don't want you to be like other fathers!"

Peabody smiled. "Well, in physical form that is impossible anyway."

Sherman chuckled.

"Do you mind if we get up now?" Peabody asked.

Sherman looked down as he realized they were both still lying horizontally on his bedroom floor. "Yes, sorry." he said, sitting up.

"May we stop hugging as well?"

"Sorry." Sherman let Peabody go and he stood up.

"It's quite alright."

Sherman got up and sat down on the edge of his bed. Suddenly, something occurred to him. His father hadn't used his name once since he woke up.

"And-... you can use my name when talking to me, I didn't mean that either. I actually like it when you do that…"

An almost relieved smile lit up Peabody's muzzle. "Of course, Sherman. I also did not mean it when I suggested you may only call me Mr. Peabody."

Sherman smiled back. "Thanks dad."

Peabody sighed and clasped his paws in front of him. "Now, I owe you an apology. I should not have been so pushy and hasty with your educational endeavours, I did not listen to you whatsoever, and I only contributed to your unpleasant day." He straightened up, acting as if firmly resolving to do whatever he said next. "Wherever you are in your educational journey, I will assist you however you need. And only help propel you forward if that is what you want to do. If you want help with your failed math test you need only ask me and I will be more than happy to help you."

Sherman smiled and nodded. "Thank you."

"Of course, that should be easier now more than ever due to our quarantine."

Sherman sighed and frowned. "Oh yeah… the quarantine."

Peabody came over and sat down next to Sherman. "We will figure out a solution for your birthday." he said, putting a paw on Sherman's knee and looking at him with resolve.

"It's not my birthday I'm worried about so much as what the isolation will do to me. What are we going to do?"

Peabody smirked. "I have a few ideas that do not involve going anywhere. There are secret rooms in Peabody Industries you've never seen and I am fairly certain you would find them most interesting. And since it is now empty you and I will have free reign of the entire building."

Sherman gave a little smile. "That sounds fun."

Peabody stood up. "And I am certain we can use the vast knowledge of the internet to come up with ideas to pass the time, and of course your schooling will continue remotely."

Sherman smiled. "One more thing, please don't use memes or try to be 'cool' for me. It's cringey, you're already cool."

Peabody turned around, his pawfeet together in a soldier's pose. "I promise." He mock saluted, then put his paws behind his back. "Now, are you hungry? Dinner should be ready in about 5 minutes."

"Ugh, yes! I'm starving!" Sherman licked his lips.

Peabody smiled widely. "Splendid! I will call you when it's ready." He said, turning around and walking to the door.

He put a paw on the knob, but then stopped and looked back at Sherman. "Sherman..."

Sherman had moved over to his desk and sat in his chair again. He looked up from his homework. "Yeah dad?"

Peabody looked like he was struggling to say what he was going to say next. "...I love you...I love you so much." he smiled softly as he finished.

Sherman broke into a huge smile. His father rarely initiated verbal displays of affection. "...I love you too, Mr. Peabody."

The father left the room and smiled to himself, just as his son did on the other side of the door, the rift between them healed.

First of all, PLEASE tell me at least one of you saw that ending coming, I dropped quite a few hints, the biggest one being the name of the story. It's Latin for 'nothing is as it seems.' The second being Morpheus's name. Unless it was all extremely obvious in which case I'm dumb and don't listen to any of what I just said. I realize that the twist ending might potentially be poorly received. The 'it was all a dream' trope isn't very popular, but I personally like that trope, and the inspiration for it came from Charles Dickens' book, A Christmas Carol and of course, conversations in my Discord server. Massive credit to TheWriterofTruth for brainstorming the whole thing and a lot of the dialogue as I used a lot of it verbatim.