#also to be very clear i will ALWAYS check with my johnny writers before anything | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

solarune · 5 years ago

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flowers in your hair

part of @neo-cult-ure‘s colours collab! | masterlist + prologue

pairing: lee taeyong x fem!reader (feat. a nosy lee donghyuck, childhood best friend quian kun, and college best friend/co-worker johnny seo)

genre: fluff, soulmate au, florist au, coffee shop au, idiots (literally) to lovers

warnings: taeyong being too cute to be real, florist!taeyong, coffee shop owner!reader, donghyuck is annoying, reader has a nightmare, switches to taeyong’s pov for one part

word count: 10,577

summary: what you know about your soulmate taeyong in the 6 years that you’ve known him: he has 6 tattoos but is already planning on getting 4 more, he loves his dog ruby very much, he has only ever shared his banana bread recipe with one person (you), his mom makes the best kimchi jjigae in the entire world, his favorite color is pink, and he is the man of your dreams. literally.

what you don’t know about taeyong: what he looks like.

what you know about the owner of the new flower shop across the street: he has light brown hair, he’s a caffeine addict (if his cousin donghyuck picking up coffee 5 days a week says anything about it), and he is your enemy by association (according to kun).

what you don’t know about the florist: his name.

a/n: i’ve wanted to write a florist!taeyong fic for the longest time and i finally got to!! thank you so much to @neo-cult-ure for reaching out to me to be part of this collab and please please please check out the rest of the fics because they were all written by some really talented writers!! thank you to @jungwoohoos for checking this fic over as she’s done with my others ily. hope you enjoy and feedback is always appreciated :-)

When you open your eyes, you can’t help but feel like something is off. You can’t quite put a finger on it but something feels strange. But perhaps it was that strange dream that you had last night. Something about picking a color and finding your soulmate? The details of the dream were already escaping you but it doesn’t matter because you have to start getting ready for school-

Wait. School?

You sit up in bed and realize that you’re back in your childhood bedroom. You can even hear your dad singing in the shower judging by the terrible vocals that you can hear through your closed door. But why are you at your parents’ house? You look at your bedside table and see your phone and a letter with your name on it beside it. Picking up your phone, you check the time and realize that it’s 7am but it’s the date that throws you off; it’s 8 years behind. You pick up the envelope and slide your finger under the flap, hoping that whatever was inside would help you figure out just what exactly was going on.

Dear Y/N,

You’re probably wondering what’s going on. Your memories from our reality are mixing with your memories from the reality that you’re in so life is going to be a bit confusing. Good thing I wrote this letter to explain, huh? My name is Cyan. I’m the woman you ran into and told you to pick a color to find your soulmate. Yes, that was real, it wasn’t a dream. You’re currently in an alternate universe and your goal is to find your soulmate. Once you do that, you will return back to our reality and you and your soulmate will have the memories from the alternate reality. It’s your job to not only find them in the alternate reality but in our reality as well. This sounds difficult but don’t worry. Fortunately, you and your soulmate are able to meet in your dreams. However, I don’t know the exact details about that so you’ll have to figure them out yourself. Good luck and hopefully we’ll see each other soon!

All the best,

Cyan xoxo

You sit in bed for the next 5 minutes, trying to process everything in the short letter. You have a soulmate? You’re in an alternate reality? And not only that but you’re a teenager again so now you have to go back to high school? And what about your reality? How does time work here? Is this like a Narnia thing where you’re gone for years but return at the exact moment that you left? Or are you there for a week but 10 years have passed when you go back? And what the hell did “Cyan” mean about meeting your soulmate in your-

“Y/N! Are you awake? You’re supposed to leave in 20 minutes!”

Everywhere you turned, people were always talking about soulmates. Was there ever a time that we didn’t ever know who our soulmate is? How are we able to communicate with each other in our dreams? What about the people who don’t actually end up with their soulmate in the end? But you didn’t care about that. Especially in this very moment. Soulmates, in fact, aren’t real at all.

At least, you wish they weren’t real right now.

Because then Doyoung wouldn’t have broken up with you just because he finally dreamt about his soulmate last night. You’d probably be with him right now, watching whatever cult classic movie he thinks you just have to see because you made a comment once about never watching Fight Club during 8th grade. If he hadn’t had that dumb dream, your 2 year relationship wouldn’t be a flaming pile of garbage right now and you wouldn’t have the new drugstore eyeliner that Yejin had recommended to you running down your face.

“Wanna see this video that Xiaojun sent me of his dog?” Kun asks you, effectively breaking the hour of silence that the two of you have been sitting in, the only noise coming from your spontaneous bouts of crying and the videos on Kun’s phone as he scrolls through TikTok. After seeing that state that you were in at school when Doyoung broke up with you that morning, Kun knew that he wasn’t going to leave you alone today. You turn over to face him with a sigh, your head propped up on your hand as you watch Kun’s cousin’s dog run around their living room. But even an overexcited puppy isn’t enough to lift your spirits, something that Kun notices immediately and he frowns. “Listen, Doyoung didn’t deserve you and you know that and if given permission, I wouldn’t hesitate to dropkick him for you. You’ll find your soulmate eventually, and I’m sure they’ll be everything you actually need in a partner.”

You wrinkle your nose at his words; you and Kun have been best friends since you were 5 so it’s weird to hear him saying this cheesy stuff to you sometimes. “That was really nice and I really appreciate that, Kun, but please don’t tell me that you’re about to confess your feelings to me.” You laugh loudly when your best friend shoves you, returning his glare with a smirk as you attempt to smother him in a hug. “I’ll always love you but-”

“Y/N, I’m just trying to be a good best friend,” Kun rolls his eyes as he goes back to looking at his phone. “Your life isn’t one of those fanfictions you used to read when you were 15.”

“Yeah because if it were, the universe wouldn’t have made my boyfriend of 2 years dump me the day before my birthday!”

That night, you roll over in your bed for what feels like the millionth time. You check the time on your phone again and groan at the late hour, mentally preparing yourself for the exhaustion that you’re bound to feel tomorrow. You wonder if turning 18 will feel any different. Will you dream about your soulmate tonight? Not like you’re too eager to talk to any guy in a non-platonic way but it would still be cool. You wonder what they’re like; what’s their favorite color, what’s their favorite place to go to clear their head, do they like to look at the stars just as much as you do? You feel yourself grow tired as you think about your soulmate and force yourself to not think about Doyoung, your eyes finally closing as you wonder if your soulmate likes flowers.

“Thanks for coming tonight. Want some cake?”

Someone places a slice of cake into your hands and when you look up to thank the person, all you can see are deep brown eyes. Both literally and figuratively; their eyes are very nice but they’re also blurry. You blink a couple of times and squint to get a better look at them but even when they’re standing so close to you, you can’t seem to make out any distinct features at all. You look around at all of the other partygoers and find that you can see them all just fine, so why can’t you see this person?

“My name’s Taeyong. And judging by the fact that you’re the only person in here that I can’t see, I’m going to guess that you’re my soulmate and you also can’t see me. Am I right?” they say to you, and even though you can’t see him, you can tell that there’s a smile on his face.

You stick your hand out and, even though he can’t see you, you smile at Taeyong. “My name is Y/N.”

Taeyong shakes your hand but rather than letting go, his grip tightens ever so slightly and his hand slides across yours to grip it as he leads you away from the spot you were standing in. He takes you outside, the cool night air refreshing on your skin and the moonlight making everything glow ethereally. He sits on the grass in the middle of the yard and gestures for you to do the same, laughing quietly to himself when he sees you looking up at the night sky in awe. You take a seat next time, your eyes never leaving in the sky as you whisper, “I don’t think I’ve ever seen this many stars before.”

“Do you like looking at the stars?” Taeyong asks.

You nod, your gaze finally leaving the sky above you to look at the boy next to you. “They’re pretty. And they make me feel… seen. The light from those stars, which are most definitely dead by now, travelled millions of light years just for us to see them, and they see us too. I don’t really know how to explain it but looking at the stars just makes me feel like everything is going to be okay.”

“Whenever I visited my grandparents, my grandpa would take me outside and show me all of these constellations using his telescope. Everything I know about the stars and the planets are because of him.” Taeyong goes quiet and you wait. From the way he’s looking down and pulling up blades of grass, you can tell that what he’s going to say next is important. “He died when I was 16. Some drunk driver who couldn’t tell the difference between the road and the sidewalk. I was so sad after he died.” You place your hand on his knee as a sign of comfort, not wanting to push him since you two just met. He lets out a mirthless laugh and you can’t help but smile sympathetically. “I stayed with my grandma for that entire summer after it happened. One night I was using his telescope and I couldn’t get it to focus properly and I just got so mad that I broke it. I cried after that and my grandma found me the next morning, sleeping out in the yard next to the broken telescope. She yelled at me, not because I broke his telescope, but because I could’ve gotten sick.”

“He sounds like a great man,” you murmur. “I’m sure he’s proud of you and that he misses you just as much as you miss him.”

Taeyong hums beside you, the two of you continuing to look up at the stars in silence. “So,” he says loudly to break the silence. “Any sad childhood stories you want to tell me? Since apparently I’ve decided that that’s what we’re going to do the first time that we meet.”

You burst out laughing at that, and even though you just got your heartbroken, you think that having a soulmate won’t be that bad after all. “I think we’re going to have to at least be friends before I tell you all about my traumas.”

The boy beside you gets up and offers a hand down to you, helping you stand up. “Friends?” he asks incredulously. “We’re soulmates!”

“All I know about you is that your name is Taeyong and that you broke your dead grandpa’s telescope while stargazing,” you point out.

You turn to look at him and your breath hitches, finally noticing that Taeyong is completely facing you and is standing very close to you. He takes both his hands in yours and you look up at him, and even though you couldn’t make out his facial features, you could feel his hands in yours and the warmth radiating off of him and that was enough. There’s this inexplicable pull in your stomach that makes you want to move even closer to him and just as you can feel yourself lift your foot up to take that first step, you panic and take a giant step back instead, letting Taeyong’s hands fall to his side.

“I’m sorry, did I do something wrong? Did I say something to offend you?” your soulmate asks, taking a step towards you but stopping when you put your hands up.

“You didn’t do anything, Taeyong, don’t worry,” you reassure him. “It’s just that…” You bite your lower lip in worry, wondering if talking about your personal life was appropriate in this situation. But he did just tell you something personal about him- “My boyfriend of 2 years broke up with me today so I’m not looking to rush into anything any time soon. I know that we’re soulmates but I need time to heal and be my own person.”

Taeyong doesn’t say anything for a bit and you wonder if you’ve told him too much. Just as you begin to think of ways to stop yourself from sleeping ever again so you don’t have to see him, he surprises you. “Out of all the people the universe could have put me together with, it just had to be you. I think we’re going to be great friends in no time!”

He holds his hand out for you and you take it, allowing him to lead you back to the party.

When you wake up, the first thing you see are the glow-in-the-dark stars on your ceiling. Even though they’re nothing like the ones you saw in your dream, you can’t help but think of your soulmate’s grandfather. After a few minutes, you realize that you don’t remember your soulmate’s name or the story he told you about his grandfather.

“Great, so all I know about him is that he likes to stargaze with his grandpa-”

“Y/N, who are you talking to? Are you getting ready for school?”

Your meetings with Taeyong usually consist of you trying to remember at least one thing about the other, hoping that the repetition will be enough to get something to stick when you wake up that morning. The two of you are in Taeyong’s dream tonight (as you usually are since you rarely dream and if you do, usually it’s about someone trying to kill you), walking through a park full of cherry blossom trees with your arms linked together. He leads you over to a bench where you both sit in silence for a bit, the two of you lost in your own separate thoughts.

“So,” Taeyong says to break the silence. “We both leave for university tomorrow.”

You look over at him to find him already looking at you, and even though you can’t see him, you know that you share the same feelings he’s experiencing right now. “I know, it’ll be weird, right? One step closer to being in the adult world and all that. What higher power decided that I’m capable of being an adult?”

Taeyong’s hand brushes over yours and hovers hesitantly before taking it in his own. You let it happen because you know that he doesn’t mean anything by it. He’s just as scared as you are, so why not find comfort in the person that’s supposed to be in your life forever? You squeeze his hand and rest your head on his shoulder, inhaling the sweet scent of the cherry blossoms before sighing deeply. Everything is about to change.

Your soulmate hums in consideration, shifting his body closer to you to make you more comfortable. “Well I don’t know about you, but I’m not going to college so I can be an adult,” he confesses. “I’m going because I want to get drunk off my ass with my friends.”

You roll your eyes at his joke, sitting up straight so you could playfully shove him. “Oh shut up, Taeyong, you know you’re gonna be the best astronomer out there.”

He shrugs in response, fiddling with your hand in his lap as he looks out at the trees in front of you. “We’ll see. Life is crazy; we might end up somewhere we weren’t even expecting.”

And Taeyong was right. Life is crazy. Yours and Taeyong’s first year at university was hard. You were pursuing a major in economics while Taeyong was pursuing a major in physics with a concentration in astronomy. The two of you were so stressed your first year that you barely got to meet in your dreams because neither of you had any; you just slept. Your lives were: wake up, go to class, do work for the rest of the day, find some time to eat in between all of that, and then sleep just enough to keep you alive.

But you knew that you couldn’t do this for another 3 years. You ended up switching to a major in food science and nutrition with a minor in business while Taeyong switched to a major in plant science. During your time at university, the two of you tried as best as you could to remember where the other went to school so you could try to meet somewhere in the middle but the most you could remember by the end of your third year was that you both go to school in Seoul.

(“You remember that we’re both in Seoul, so that’s good!” Taeyong reassures you one night as you whine about still not being able to meet each other. “We’re one step closer!”

“Yong, Seoul is huge and there’s so many universities here. How are we supposed to narrow it down?” you pout as you lean forward to rest your forehead against his chest.

Taeyong sighs and pats your head, not knowing what else to say because he knows you’re right. But he won’t give up hope; he knows he’ll see you soon. Just as he’s about to answer, the room around you goes dark and you hear the creaking of floorboards above you. He can see the fear in your eyes when he meets your gaze and his heart begins to pound. There’s a loud bang from upstairs and you immediately run out of the building you were in.

“You know, I’m really starting to hate your dreams. Maybe this is why we can’t remember anything, because we’re too busy running for our lives like we’re in a horror movie!”

When you woke up that morning, all you could remember was that he hates being in your dreams.)

By the beginning of your last year, the two of you agreed to stop trying so hard to meet each other. You assume that the universe just isn’t ready for the two of you to meet yet so you might as well enjoy just spending time with each other. Taeyong agrees and surprisingly, it works. You start to remember more and more about him—small things like his dog’s name and that the scar next to his eye resembles a rose—so you start to write them down. You even make a list of things that happen every day that you would want to tell him just in case you see each other that night.

Last night, you finally remembered the recipe for his banana bread, something that took you nearly an entire year to learn. You grab your journal from your desk and write down the recipe, humming in satisfaction when you write down the last ingredient. You read over the other things you’ve learned about Taeyong over the years—his favorite color is pink, he has a dog named Ruby and she is one of the 4 most important women in his life (“Who are the others?” “You, my mom, and my sister obviously!”), he has 4 tattoos—and hear his voice in the back of your head from your first year reassuring you.

We’re one step closer.

You place the finished drink on the counter just as the bell above the door jingles, alerting you to your first customer of the day. “One medium iced caramel macchiato with almond milk,” you announce, holding out a straw and napkin for Kun to take as he walks up to you with half-closed eyes. “Busy night last night?” you tease him as he takes his first sip, laughing when you see his body relax at the first taste of caffeine. “That one’s on me since you look like you need it.”

“Xiaojun had his friends over last night,” Kun complains as he takes a seat at the counter to be near you, tracing the letters of the coffee shop's name that’s on the cup sleeve as he talks. “It’s nice living with him since we’re cousins and all but him and his friends are such enablers. But I beat all of them at Mario Kart last night, so it was worth it I guess.”

You hum in understanding and pick up a towel to clean off the counters, knowing that the usual morning rush would come in soon and you wouldn’t get a chance to clean when it did. “So what I’m hearing is that it’s actually your fault, is that right?”

“They’re enablers, Y/N, I’m telling you!” your best friend protests, his words a bit muffled due to the straw in his mouth as he takes another sip. “They know that I can’t resist playing Mario Kart when I’m drunk!”

“They got you drunk?” you repeat. “I’m starting to think that I don’t even know who you are anymore, Kun. Getting drunk on a Sunday night knowing you have work the next morning? Doesn’t sound like my best friend if you ask me.”

Kun rolls his eyes at you but just as he’s about to respond, the bell above the door jingles (quite violently) and another customer walks in with a “Good morning, Busy Bean!” You look up to find Donghyuck walking towards you, a wide smile on his face and his right hand hidden behind his back.

“And that’s my cue to leave,” Kun grumbles, gathering up his stuff as soon as he hears the younger boy’s voice.

You laugh at that, knowing that the only reason Kun dislikes Donghyuck is because he works for the new florist across the street. But Kun’s just funny like that sometimes. He had been the only florist in town and everybody knew about his shop, A Thousand Petals. The place was beautiful and Kun was good at what he did. But then a couple of months ago, the competition rolled in. At least, that’s what it was for him. To you, the new flower shop across the street from you meant nothing other than the fact that they had replaced the burger joint that nobody went to. And let’s just say that Kun didn’t appreciate being surprised with competition on a Monday morning while being handed his daily macchiato. You gave him free coffee for a week to make up for it.

“Bye Kun!” Donghyuck shouts happily, waving to him energetically even though your best friend only grunts in response. He walks up to the counter and reveals what he was hiding behind his back: a bundle of daisies. “Some pretty flowers for a pretty girl,” he says as he hands them over to you.

You accept them with a smile, thanking him as you put them in a mason jar in front of the register. “What’ll it be today, sunshine? The usual?” you ask, even though you’re already punching in the order for 2 iced Americanos.

Donghyuck blushes at your nickname for him and his lovestruck eyes staring at you doesn’t escape your notice. You’ve grown used to the boy’s antics and know that his flirting is meaningless. “Nope,” he replies, popping the ‘p’ as he leans against the counter. “Just a muffin please. And can I get it warm?”

You nod and put in his order, taking his cash and then smiling when you see him put the change in the tip jar. “So why no coffee today?” you ask as you put his muffin in the oven. “You guys find a place better than mine?”

The boy’s jaw drops at this, his posture straightening as he looks at you in shock. “Y/N, how dare you even suggest that. You know that there’s no coffee place better than yours!” He takes one of the flowers from the jar and starts fiddling with it, his smile widening when Johnny, one of your employees, comes out from the back. “Johnny!”

Johnny’s eyes widen at the sight of him and he freezes, his cup of coffee only midway to his mouth. “Damn, I thought you’d be gone already,” he mumbles, the two of you laughing as the boy starts fake crying. Johnny takes out the muffin from the oven and hands it to Hyuck after putting it in a bag. “Thanks for coming to The Busy Bean, we hope to never see you again.”

You push Johnny on to the floor, throwing a towel at his face as you chuckle. “Johnny, stop being mean to Hyuck and go clean the tables before Mrs. Choi complains again about them being dirty.” You ignore his noise of complaint in favor of turning back to the boy still in front of you who’s already started eating.

“His Majesty doesn’t want coffee yet,” he shrugs, crumbs falling from his mouth as he answers your question. “But you know he’s a caffeine addict so he’ll probably send me over during my lunch break.” He throws out the bag and puts the flower that he left lying on the counter back into the jar. “Speaking of which, I should probably head back. See you in a few hours!”

You wave goodbye to him and watch as he crosses the street to the flower shop. Donghyuck is an interesting kid. When you first look at him, you wouldn’t think that he works at a flower shop but you found out he’s only working there for the summer because he starts university in the fall. And his cousin’s the one that owns the place so it was a guaranteed job (“My mom and his mom actually had to convince him to let me work there but you know, I basically already had it.”). Ever since he first walked into your store, he’s been trying to set you up with his cousin, swearing up and down that the two of you would be great together. You’ve always laughed it off though since you weren’t particularly looking for anything and you weren’t about to take advice from an 18 year old.

“Here they come,” Johnny announces, running back to stand behind the counter with you as the morning rush comes in. You notice that the crowd seems to be bigger than usual and you feel nervous; The Busy Bean had just recently gone through some construction and had expanded but your new employees haven’t finished training so they can’t start working until next week. Johnny can tell that you’re nervous and places a hand on your shoulder, and when you look up at him, you see him smiling down at you. “Don’t be nervous, we’ll be fine! We always are.”

When you were in college, Johnny was the first friend that you made. Being without Kun was weird and scary even though he was only a 30 minute subway ride away from you but luckily, the boy living across the hall from you was there to provide you with company. The two of you did everything together—when you weren’t busy with labs and presentations and he wasn’t busy with his research and papers, that is. You even applied for jobs at the Starbucks on campus at the beginning of your junior year, and you were pretty sure the manager would have fired the both of you for always goofing off if you weren’t his best employees.

But the day that you knew he was going to be in your life for a long time was when you finally told him your dream of opening your own coffee shop. It was something that only Kun knew, too embarrassed to tell anyone else after your parents had told you that it would never happen. Johnny had surprised you that day, promising to be your first employee once it happened. You watch him from your place behind the coffee machine, watching him talk to Mr. Park from the restaurant that the two of you always go to with a smile on his face. Aside from Kun and your store, Johnny is all you have and when he notices you staring at him and makes a face at you, you thank the universe for putting him in your life.

“I have returned!” Donghyuck announces when he walks into the cafe, true to his word about returning during his lunch break. Behind him is a man who looks to be only a few years older than him with hair the exact same color as coffee foam. You’ve never seen him before but Hyuck apparently knows him as you watch him drag the older boy up to the counter. “2 medium iced Americanos please,” he says to Johnny in a cute voice, pouting when the man behind the register denies him his order with no emotion in his voice.

“Where’s your manager? I need to tell her you’re being mean to me,” Hyuck says as he sticks his tongue out at Johnny. You walk over with their coffee and place it down on the counter with a laugh, bumping Johnny with your hip to get him away from the register.

“Maybe Johnny wouldn’t be mean to you if you didn’t try to annoy him every time you’re here, sunshine,” you tease him as you take his money. Johnny hands them straws and napkins, making sure to stick his tongue out at the teenager in retaliation. You shake your head at him when he sees that you notice. You’re surrounded by children.

“Oh, this is the owner of The Busy Bean by the way,” Hyuck says to his cousin, smirking when he notices a blush beginning to form on his cheeks. “You know, the girl that you said you think is cute when you first saw h-”

“Hi, nice to meet you,” the older boy greets you very loudly as he cuts off Donghyuck, reaching out to shake your hand with blazing cheeks. “I’m- Uh- I-I’m TY.”

You shake his hand as you stifle a giggle, finding the blush on his face cute. Donghyuck on the other hand does nothing to hide his laugh, just narrowly avoiding an elbow in his side from his cousin. “Nice to meet you, Your Majesty. I wasn’t aware that I would be in the presence of royalty today otherwise I would have rolled out the red carpet.”

“I wasn’t aware that, uh, you have such a nice smile,” the florist compliments you, making you smile as you thank him. “Your teeth are pretty,” he blurts out and you feel your smile falter as you process the compliment. Your teeth are… pretty? Johnny and Hyuck attempt to stifle their laughter at the man’s outburst, the man in question turning red as a tomato when he realizes what he said to you. He slowly starts to back away, pulling Donghyuck by the back his shirt towards the exit as he stutters out, “U-Uh I mean- S-Sorry that was weird- You uh-”

“Watch out!” you warn him, noticing a customer looking down at their phone pushing open the door right into his back.

TY lets out an ‘oof!’ as the door hits him, stumbling forward and tripping over his own feet to regain his balance. The coffee in his hand wasn’t so lucky however, spilling all over the floor and some of it even getting on Hyuck’s white shoes. The two of them quickly rush over to get napkins, TY sputtering out apology after apology as he cleans up the mess on the floor while his cousin whines about the coffee on his new shoes. You quickly get to work on making him a new coffee while Johnny deals with the new customer.

The pair quickly exit after you give TY his coffee, and you’re able to hear Hyuck saying, “I’m telling your mom that you spilled coffee on my new shoes. Also who the fuck calls you ‘TY’, why didn’t you just tell your name like a normal person? I can’t believe I’m related to-” before the door closes.

“Do you think that guy’s ever gonna come back?” Johnny asks you after the customer had left, gesturing towards the flower shop.

You can see Hyuck dancing in the middle of the store while the owner laughs and you can’t help but smile. You wonder what his laugh sounds like. “I hope so.”

As you’re getting ready for bed that night, you open up the notes app on your phone to read over what you wanted to tell Taeyong about in case you saw him tonight. Even on slow days, you usually have at least one or two things to tell him, but tonight you find it empty. You hadn’t thought about him all day.

Taeyong surprises both himself and Hyuck when he decides to go back to The Busy Bean only a week after what his cousin likes to call The Incident™ (he even says “trademark” out loud, what a weirdo). The man usually isn’t one to be this brave but he can’t deny the pull that he feels towards you. You’re cute, you have a nice laugh, and he wants to make you smile again. And your iced Americanos are unmatched. Starbucks who?

Walking into the cafe, he immediately feels his hands start to sweat at the sight of you. Your hair looks extra shiny today and you’re dancing along to the song that’s playing with Johnny (kind of badly, but it’s pretty cute). Taking a deep breath, he repeats the simple order in his head one more time. One medium iced Americano, one medium iced caramel coffee, and 2 cake pops. (“If I don’t get to go, then you have to make it up to me somehow!” Hyuck protested when Taeyong told him to watch the store while he went to get coffee. So cake pops it is.) When you see Taeyong walking towards the counter, you give him the biggest smile and he swears his heart skips a beat. He knows he’s going to end up with Y/N eventually but wow, this girl sure knows how to take his breath away.

“Welcome back, Your Majesty,” you greet him, your cheeks still slightly pink from your laughing and dancing. Taeyong notices a daisy tucked behind your ear and he realizes that it’s one of the daisies that he had shoved into Hyuck’s hands and told him to bring when he went to the store just last week. The man feels his heart skip a beat at that; you look like a goddess. “Didn’t think we would see you back here so soon. Our red carpet is at the dry cleaner’s unfortunately.”

“Oh, that’s okay,” Taeyong shrugs, playing along with your teasing. “I get treated better here than I do at my own shop anyways. Hyuck won’t stop bringing up last week to literally everyone we know.” He blushes when he brings up the events of last week but he feels immensely better when you laugh. “Thank you for replacing my coffee by the way. I can pay for it now since I left so quickly last time.”

“That one was on the house,” you say, waving your hand in the air. “Anyways, what can I get for you today?”

Taeyong makes sure to come back at least twice a week after that, much to Donghyuck’s dismay. Each time he comes, he has to force himself to go back to his own store rather than staying and talking with you and Johnny. He finds himself growing more and more comfortable with your presence, his words coming more easily to him the more he’s around you. The conversation even turns flirty at some point, something that he didn’t even think he was capable of since graduating college. Sure he’s had a few lay it on pretty thick with him when they come into the store but middle aged women aren’t exactly his type. You are more his type, if he’s being honest. You and his soulmate, Y-

“Your name is Y/N?!” Taeyong all but squeaks out, his voice cracking as he drags his eyes from Johnny to you. Could you be…?

Both you and Johnny blink at him, not understanding where this sudden outburst came from. “Uh yeah, why? Is there something wrong with that?” you joke as you continue to make his drink.

Taeyong mentally shakes it off, subtly rolling his shoulders to rid himself of the unnecessary excitement he just felt. It’s probably just a coincidence. The universe seems to like mocking him, apparently. There’s no way he would just randomly find his soulmate like this. He couldn’t even remember where she ended up living after graduating college. “It’s nothing,” he says while shaking his head, giving Johnny a small smile as he hands over his cash. He notices the withering daisies in front of the register and makes a mental note to bring some fresh ones next time. “I’ve just always liked that name. I think it’s pretty.”

When you first created The Busy Bean, you hadn’t thought of incorporating flowers until Kun brought up that you had said you wanted to make it stand out from other cafes. That and the fact that the store’s name is based off of “a busy bee” and that, in the words of Kun, “your best friend just so happens to be the owner of the best flower shop in the city.” Unfortunately for you, your best friend and the owner of the best flower shop in the city won’t be around for an entire week because of a family emergency. And because of the store’s recent expansion and being so busy with training all of your new hires, it had completely slipped your mind to order new flowers for next month’s theme. When you had said all of this to Johnny during a lull in the morning rush, all he said in response was, “That’s rough, buddy.” (The two of you have been rewatching Avatar: The Last Airbender together recently.) What a great best friend.

After making sure that Johnny and the new hires knew exactly what they would be doing during the closing shift, you take a deep breath and do the one thing that you know Kun will never forgive you for once he finds out. “He’ll forgive you, you have no other choice,” you whisper to yourself as you cross the street towards Bloomin’ Love. You open the door and are greeted by the fresh smell of flowers, a Yiruma song softly playing in the background and fitting the atmosphere perfectly as the setting sun shines golden light into the store. It felt like you had entered a magical world.

“Welcome to Bloomin’ Love,” Hyuck greets you, not even looking up from his phone as he leans against the front counter. “Is there anything I can help you with today?”

“I don’t think your boss would be very happy if he found out that you were using your phone while there’s a customer in the store,” you tease him as you walk up to the counter, laughing when Hyuck scrambles to hide his phone and looks up with wide eyes.

The boy’s shoulders immediately deflate when he sees that it’s just you, placing his phone in front of him as he smiles at you. “Y/N, I didn’t think I would ever see you in here. Did you and Kun get into a fight or something? Did he finally get mad that you’re ‘fraternizing with the enemy’s cousin because I’m trying to get you to fraternize with the enemy’?”

You shake your head, explaining, “Kun’s out of town, he has no idea that I’m here right now. I actually need to talk to TY, is he here? I have a big order because I need new flowers for The Busy Bean next month.”

Donghyuck nods as he points towards the back, an area that you assume is restricted to customers since it’s behind the counter. “He’s in his office right now. Let me just tell him you’re here really quickly.”

He walks away quickly before you even have a chance to nod, so you take a look at the flowers around the shop. Directly behind you are bouquets of roses but what really strikes your interest are the magnolia flowers and plum blossoms along your left. You lean down to smell them, their floral scent overwhelming your senses and making you feel even calmer than you already did.

“Plum blossoms are one of my favorite flowers,” a voice says from behind you, making you jump and bump into whoever it was. You feel hands on your waist that help steady you as you sway on your feet, your eyes coming up to meet those of the man you were looking for. “Sorry about that,” TY chuckles, the tips of his ears pink as he withdraws his hands from you. “I didn’t mean to scare you. Donghyuck said you’re looking for me?”

You nod frantically, before explaining your situation to him, his eyes never leaving you as you talk. “I usually give Kun complete creative control because I don’t know much about flowers and which ones bloom during which season.”

TY nods understandingly, humming as he thinks and scans over the various plants in the store. “Flowers that only bloom during spring…” He begins to walk around, with you following a few steps behind him, his hands hovering over the flowers and his fingers occasionally brushing over their petals as he looks at each one carefully. TY suddenly stops in his tracks, one hand resting on a peony before he suddenly turns to you with a wide grin on his face. “I think I have some ideas.”

The florist brings you back to his office, and you think you see Hyuck wink at the both of you as you follow his cousin to the back but when you get a closer look, the boy’s already assumed his previous position of scrolling on his phone. As of recently, the teenager has been teasing you more and more for what he assumes are the beginnings of feelings for his cousin. And even though you swear up and down that the two of you are just friends, you can’t help but think about the possibilities some nights. Which makes you feel guilty because what about Taeyong? Your dreams with him have felt different lately, both of you distracted at one point or another, the conversation becoming awkward at some points because the both of you know that something has changed. Is this the universe testing you? Putting a man that you feel yourself growing more and more fond of with every passing day just to see if you’ll reject him in favor of the partner that it has chosen for you?

“Y/N?” the florist calls out, his hand waving in front of your face to get your attention. You jump slightly in your seat, eyes meeting his after you’re pulled out of your thoughts. “You still with me? I asked if you could give me a floor plan or something of where you put all of your flowers.”

“Oh sorry,” you apologize, heart pounding in your chest at getting caught zoning out. You pull the floor plan that you and Kun had first made 2 years ago and hand it over to TY, your eyes tracing the veins in his hands as he smooths out the paper on his desk. His hands look like they would be really nice to hold. Wait what? No, stop, think about Taeyong.

TY shares his general thought process with you, lightly drawing circles and arrows on the paper to show you where he pictures bunches of hyacinth and jasmine would be. Names like Barberton daisy, dogwood, azalea, and peony are mentioned while you nod along enthusiastically, not really knowing what any of them look like but trusting the vision in the man’s head completely. As he’s talking, you can’t help but get lost in the sound of his voice, the passion and flow of his words making your heart swell. As guilty as it makes you feel, you couldn’t help the feelings that you could feel blooming in your heart for the florist.

The two of you stand once TY is done sharing his ideas and you’ve run out of questions to ask. You force yourself to leave rather than think up an excuse to spend more time with him, his laughter paired with the way he looks at you dangerous for your pounding heart and overly imaginative brain. He says goodbye to you with a wave but not before handing you a business card with the store’s number should you have any more questions. As you’re walking out, you can hear Hyuck teasing his cousin, and when you turn around to spare TY one last glance, you can see a blush on his cheeks as he quickly looks away, as if he was caught staring.

Just before you get into bed that night, you take one last look at the business card that you had been given just hours ago. When you read the name on the card, you feel as if time itself has come to a stop. Your breathing turns shallow as you bring the card closer to you, squeezing your eyes shut and then opening them just in case it was some weird trick of the light. But it wasn’t. Right there on the card is the one name that you weren’t expecting at all.

Lee Taeyong.

It’s just a dream, it’s just a dream, it’s just a-

You feel yourself being pulled down into the water, a hand wrapped around your ankle dragging you down to the bottom of the pool. You kick with all of your strength at the invisible attacker, your lungs screaming for air as you thrash in the water. A pair of arms wrap around your waist and pull you out of the water, the person screaming at you to stand as they tug on your arm. Coughing your lungs out, you can just barely make out Taeyong’s blurry form as he runs out onto the empty street with your hand in his.

Suddenly, an SUV with its lights on appears behind you, the driver revving the engine and accelerating very quickly towards the two of you. You just barely dodge it, the vehicle only inches away from Taeyong’s body as you pull him towards a dark house. You climb over fences and run through yards, neither of you daring to say a word in fear of whoever is after you being near. Your hand stays in his the entire time, too scared of getting separated to let go.

You see a light approaching you and duck behind some garbage cans, willing your breathing and heart rate to slow so that you could listen for any footsteps. Taeyong quivers beside you in fear, his hand squeezing yours and when you look over at him, you can only imagine how scared he must look right now. Looking at him, you realize that there was something you wanted to talk about tonight but with every single nerve being on edge since you’re, you know, running for your life, you can’t remember what it is for the life of you. Lights from the SUV pass by, gravel crunching underneath the tires as the car goes by you very slowly. You pray to every higher power out there that they don’t catch you and you release a quiet sigh of relief when you see the car turn and drive farther away from you.

“Have I ever told you how much I hate being in your dreams?” Taeyong murmurs, his grip on your hand loosening but still not letting go. “Because I really hate being here right now.”

You huff out a laugh before slowly standing up to brush the dirt off of you. Just as you’re about to respond, you feel a hand clap over your mouth, Taeyong’s eyes widening as he screams and reaches out for you. Something sharp presses against your back just as you hear a gunshot, blood quickly soaking into Taeyong’s pants from getting shot in the thigh, before everything goes black.

You have to stop yourself from looking over your shoulder every 5 minutes because of the intense nightmare that you had yesterday. The feeling of being watched lingered with you all morning, something that Johnny noticed and was concerned about at first until you told him the reason you were acting so paranoid and jumpy. Then he just ended up teasing you and even scared you in front of a customer, falling on the floor laughing when it happened. But you couldn’t help it, the dream just felt so real and it didn’t help that Taeyong, an actual person, was there with you to make it seem all the more real. You wonder how he must be handling it, you know he’s not the biggest fan of horror movies or scary things in general.

You decide to visit Bloomin’ Love during your lunch break, the questions that you wanted to ask Taeyong still unanswered. But if you’re right and Taeyong actually is TY, then you would get your answer in a few minutes. Except it turns out that you won’t be getting your answers today.

“What do you mean he’s not here?” you ask Hyuck in disbelief, even looking towards the back to check if the office light is on in case he’s just playing a joke. “He’s your boss and one of the two people that work here, why are you here and he isn’t?”

The boy shrugs before hopping up to sit on the counter, long legs swinging as he bops along to the music that’s playing from what you assume is his own playlist. “He was here when I got here this morning but then he left after an hour and told me he’s taking the rest of the day off because he’s been feeling anxious all morning. Something about having a nightmare last night? It must have been really bad for him to take a day off because you and I both know that this store is basically his baby.”

He had a nightmare?

The bell above the door jingles as a customer comes in and immediately approaches the two of you to ask for help. You back away to let Hyuck do his job, bidding him goodbye before heading back to The Busy Bean. Hyuck’s words swirl around your head, the conversation replaying over and over as you take out the business card that you put in your pocket this morning to look at the name printed on it.

Taeyong. Lee Taeyong, the owner of Bloomin’ Love. Lee Taeyong, who introduced himself to you as TY. Lee Taeyong, your soulmate.

After that, you become distracted during work, your eyes constantly looking at the clock to see how much longer until your shift is over. Of course the one day that you find out who your soulmate is, the one day that it would be super convenient to be able to leave work early, is the day one of your new workers can’t come in because they got food poisoning the night before. You don’t even know what you’re going to do once your shift is over though. The number on the card is the store number and you already know that Taeyong isn’t there. Maybe you could just ask Hyuck to give you his number? But then what? What would you even say? “Hey TY, it’s Y/N. Hyuck told me that you had a nightmare last night so I think you might be my soulmate”?

The universe, however, seems to have your back. At the end of your shift, just as you’re saying goodbye to Johnny and Jaemin, one of your new hires, you hear a very familiar voice call out your name. And when you turn around, there stands the exact man that you’ve been hoping but not expecting to see all day. You can’t help but smile widely when you see him and nod when he asks if you want to sit.

“These are for you, by the way,” he says as he gives you a small bouquet of pink forget-me-nots. “Pink is my favorite color but they reminded me of you when I saw them in the store just now.”

You thank them as you take the flowers from his hands, inhaling deeply before placing them down on the table. “You were in the store? Hyuck told me you took the day off.”

“I stopped by just to make sure he didn’t burn the place down,” TY chuckles and he sounds… nervous? Looking at him, you notice that he’s barely making eye contact with you, taking more interest in tracing the tattoo of a lavender plant that’s on his inner forearm. You wonder if he knows what you know, or at least what you think you know. You wonder if maybe he’s even known this entire time.

“Do you have a soulmate, TY?” you blurt out, too impatient to indulge him with more small talk.

He looks up at you with wide eyes at your question and you watch as the tips of his ears turn red. “I-I do,” he responds while nodding simultaneously.

“What are they like?” you ask him, telling yourself to calm down and to make sure that you’re right. It would be really embarrassing if you aren’t.

“She’s the girl of my dreams,” he jokes, laughing loudly when you groan and roll your eyes at his dumb joke. “She really is though. She’s really smart and knows exactly what she wants from life. She’s extremely hard-working but she also knows when she needs to stop and relax. She really likes strawberry cake and also likes stargazing. I actually tried making a move on her when we first met because I was young and dumb but then she told me that her boyfriend of 2 years had just broken up with her, so I felt extremely stupid that night.”

You feel like your heart is about to burst out of your chest at his words and you know that you must have a funny look on your face because TY- no, Taeyong is looking at you strangely. “What about you?” he asks, his wide eyes and head that’s tilted slightly to the side reminding you of a puppy. “What’s your soulmate like?”

You laugh and take a deep breath, mustering all of the courage to pour all of the love you’ve been wanting to show Taeyong all these years into your words. “He’s the best, honestly, I’m really lucky that he’s my soulmate,” you say softly, your eyes not once leaving Taeyong’s as you speak. “He’s really goofy and not at all afraid to be who he is. He’s very supportive too; Johnny and Kun were always there for me when college got hard, especially when I switched my major, but it was his words that always kept me going. His favorite color is pink and he absolutely adores his mom, he swears up and down that her kimchi jjigae is the best in the entire world. When we first met, he-”

You stop to look at Taeyong and you see tears in his eyes, a soft smile on his face as he listens to you talk. You take a shuddering breath and lift your hand to gently take his hand in yours; he knows. “When we first met, he told me about his grandpa and how his love for the stars came from him.” You see a single tear cascade down Taeyong’s cheek and you reach out to wipe it away. With a watery laugh, you say, “He also told me that he ended up breaking his grandpa’s telescope after he died.”

Taeyong rests his forehead against your joined hands as he laughs, his eyelashes wet with tears and his eyes shining when he looks back up at you. “I finally found you,” he whispers in awe. “After all of these years, the universe finally put you right in front of me and I didn’t even know.”

“That day, when you said that you think my name is pretty,” you say, his words playing in your mind as you remember the day you’re talking about, “did you know?”

“I was suspicious but I thought it was too good to be true,” Taeyong says as he shakes his head in disbelief. “I thought that there was no way that the girl I’ve been dreaming about for 6 years just so happens to own the coffee shop across the street.” He raises your hands to his lip to kiss the back of yours and you feel so happy that it feels like you’re practically vibrating in your seat.

You’re about to respond when you hear Johnny call out, “Hey lovebirds, keep it PG! There are kids in here!” The two of you turn your heads towards the direction of his voice to find not only Johnny behind the counter but also Kun and Hyuck standing there.

“Did you forget about our plans, Y/N?” Kun calls out teasingly, a smirk on his face as his eyes flicker from your hand in Taeyong’s to your face.

“Oh fuck,” you whisper, head turning to look at Taeyong with wide eyes.

He smiles at you reassuringly, kissing the back of your hand once more before letting go. “I’ll call you later?”

You nod enthusiastically, the two of you exchanging numbers before you stand up. You look up at Taeyong, not yet wanting to leave his presence. You can feel the warmth radiating off of his body and there’s a familiar pull in your stomach and this time, you allow yourself to indulge in it. He leans down just as you lean up, and as cliche as it is, it really does feel like you’re the only two there when you kiss. Taeyong tugs one of the flowers from your grasp and breaks off part of the stem, tucking the forget-me-not behind your ear and rubbing your cheek with his thumb before pressing one more kiss to your forehead and murmuring a “see you tomorrow” against your skin.

Waking up the next morning, you let yourself indulge in thoughts of yesterday, the events leading up to the kiss replaying in your head and making butterflies erupt in your stomach all over again. You and Taeyong had agreed to go on your first date today after work and you wish that someone could invent a time machine so you could just skip the work day and go on your date already.

You sit up in bed and feel every ounce of happiness drain out of you, your surroundings unfamiliar to you. The walls are still the same color but the books on your shelf are different, your floor is carpeted, and who the heck are those people you’re with in the pictures on your wall? You even look out the window to find a completely different view. Where the hell are you?

It suddenly hits you that you’re back in the real world—or your reality at least. The past 8 years have basically just been one long dream. You jump out of bed and rush to the bathroom to check to see if there were any visible signs of aging. You let out a sigh of relief when you realize that you still look the exact same and go back to your room to check the date on your phone just to confirm. There’s an envelope with your name on it beside your phone and you feel a sense of déjà vu as you rip it open.

Dear Y/N,

Welcome back! Hopefully you’re not too disoriented after returning to our reality but I wrote this letter just in case. It’s only been a day since we first met so don’t worry, everything in your old life is still the same as it was. It’ll take a few days for memories from your life here to resurface so just take it easy for now. You should still have your memories from your alternate universe and your soulmate should have them too, so all you have to do is find them! I know this sounds hard but don’t worry; as I’m sure you already know, the universe works in mysterious ways~

See you soon, Cyan xoxo

You let yourself plop back down onto your bed, giving yourself a few minutes to process everything before taking a deep breath. Taeyong. You have to find Taeyong. Getting out of bed, you decide you get dressed and get ready for the day, a memory of your friend Yuna telling you about the new cafe across town resurfacing, so you decide to go there. You feel too cooped up in your apartment, you need to do something.

Passing by the window of the cafe, you can’t believe your eyes when you see Cyan sitting at one of the tables. She smiles at you through the window while lifting a mug in greeting and you rush to enter the coffee shop, your hands shaking at your side as you approach her. “Good to see you, Y/N,” she greets you, standing up just as you sit opposite her. You’re about to stand as well before she gently pushes you back down with a hand on your shoulder. “These are for you,” she says as she hands you a small bouquet of pink forget-me-nots. You look down at the flowers, memories of the past 8 years (yesterday?) overwhelming you but you shake it off and look up, only to find Cyan gone. You look around frantically but it’s like she disappeared, completely vanished in thin air as you look around the coffee shop and even out the window. With a huff, you put the flowers on the table and settle your chin on your hand as you wonder what to do next.

“Are you finished with this?” an employee asks you as they point at Cyan’s empty coffee mug.

You look up, about to answer, when your breath catches in your throat, your eyes meeting very familiar brown ones that widen at the same exact time as yours. Before you stands Taeyong, a brown apron with the words “Wake Up Cafe” embroidered on it in gold tied around his waist. Standing up, you reach out to grab one of the flowers and break off part of the stem before slowly reaching out and tucking it behind his ear. His hair is different, a little longer and a dark grey color with bits of silver rather than the light brown that you’re used to, but you see the rose-shaped scar beside his shining eyes and you feel like you could cry. Taeyong’s hands cup your face and his thumbs come up to brush away tears that you didn’t even notice, the distance between your lips and his slowly decreasing.

His lips brush over yours and his eyes flicker back and forth between your eyes and your lips. “Found you.”

You chuckle at his words and close the distance, and you wonder if springtime feels just as good for the blooming flowers as the love that you can feel blooming in your chest when you kiss Taeyong.

679 notes · View notes

rexisnotyourwriter · 4 years ago

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by @rexalexander and @postcardsanddaydreaming

After the Atlanta child murders, the Behavioral Science Unit is as busy as ever. With a new team member by their side, they take on what feels like a growing number of active serial killers as well as continue their interviews of already incarcerated subjects. Bill tries to track down Nancy and Brian with the hopes of repairing his marriage, while Wendy tries to take on a more active role in their research with an eager budding protégé at her side.

Read on AO3

Catch up: Chapter 1 | Chapter 2

*If you enjoy this, please like/reblog on tumblr and/or leave kudos/comments on AO3. Your feedback helps keep fic writers writing.*

Notes: As always, thanks to my beta fish @hardythehermitcrab

Chapter 3: Could You Be The One

The bell rang. Her peers bolted from their desks and flooded the hallway, grabbing at their coats and bags, before running down the hall, towards the door. Towards freedom.

She waited, at least until there were only a few remaining children gathering their belongings, before getting up from her desk. The teacher gave her a smile, but it felt off somehow in a way she couldn’t quite place. She smiled back anyways.

By the time she reached the hall, her coat had been knocked to the floor. A partial footprint was left on the arm. She picked it up and brushed the dust off. The tread marks were still visible. She slung her backpack over her shoulder and went to the washroom.

The stall doors were all open. Empty. She lifted the sleeve of her coat near the sink and ran the tap slightly warm. Then, with a wet paper towel, she gently dabbed at the dirt until it was no longer visible. The sleeve was damp, but she reasoned she should be able to conceal that from her mother until it dried. She pressed a dry paper towel into it as best she could. It would have to do.

She stepped outside into the courtyard, arms crossed to hide her sleeve. Her mother was waiting in the car, ushering for her to hurry. She walked quickly to the car and got in.

“Finally,” her mother muttered. “I was able to switch my hair appointment to,” she looked at the time, “well, now. So, you’re going to have to come along.”

She said nothing, having no choice in the matter. It wasn’t exactly fun, but there were worse things. The dentist, for one. Her arms remained crossed for the remainder of the car ride. Every few minutes, she checked her sleeve. Each time, the dark patch of wet fabric was lighter and lighter.

Her mother turned into a different person as soon as they exited the car and went into the salon. Outside Mother. Outside Mother is attentive, always smiling (except when inappropriate), and does not raise her voice. Outside Mother also never smokes.

The salon was an onslaught of pastel from the pink cushioned chairs to the lime and cream colored walls. Outside Mother gave her name to the woman behind the front counter and apologized for her tardiness. She turned around.

“You can have a seat and do your homework while you wait, okay sweetheart?” Outside Mother told her in her sickly sweet voice.

The girl nodded and took a seat in one of the pink chairs. It wasn’t nearly as comfortable as it looked. She inspected the magazines spread out on the coffee table.

How to make two outfits out of one.

She passed on that knowledge.

There were only a few other people in the salon. Three employees including the woman behind the counter, who couldn’t have been more than twenty years old. She looked like Ingrid Bergman - warm, soft. She glanced over at the girl and smiled. The girl returned the smile, but looked away quickly, embarrassed, but unsure why. There was a sadness behind the woman’s eyes, despite the smile. It was the same way she saw anger behind her mother’s. Fear behind her father’s. She wondered what people saw behind hers, if there was anything to see.

Outside Mother was settled in her chair, the large cone-like contraption hovering above her head, next to another woman. They each casually flipped through a magazine while chatting.

“So, how are Harold and the boys doing? Your eldest must be, what, twelve now?” Outside Mother asked.

“Almost. Johnny will be twelve next month and Simon turned nine in August.”

“Just a year older than our little angel.”

Outside Mother nods towards “her angel”. She could feel their gaze and didn’t look up to meet it.

“Harry got some exciting news recently,” the other woman said.

“Oh really?”

“It’s not public yet, but it’s as good as done. I’m not really supposed to talk about it though.”

Outside Mother gave her an understanding look.

“But -” the other woman continued, “if you can keep a secret.”

“Of course.”

“Well…”

Her voice went softer than could be heard from across the salon. The girl gave up on eavesdropping and took out her notebook and a pencil. She flipped past the pages of her homework to the last clean page of her book and began to draw.

The bell above the door chimed, announcing the entrance of another patron. Her fitted dark blue dress popped out among the soft pastel setting. She didn’t fit the scene, but it was the salon and everyone else in it that suddenly felt out of place in her presence. The woman at the counter acknowledged her. She appeared to be a regular. She turned around and took a seat next to the girl revealing a bold, deep red lip.

The girl continued her drawing. It was an open field with a few flowers. At the center stood a penguin. In the sky, far above the penguin, an assortment of birds were flying. She finished the final details of the wings, added a couple more flowers to the field, then swapped her pencil for her container of colored pencils. The woman in blue watched her as she pulled out a light green pencil and began shading the grass.

“Hmm,” the woman pondered out loud.

The girl paused her coloring briefly, then resumed without looking up.

“I thought penguins lived in the North Pole,” she mused.

“No,” the girl replied. “They live in Antarctica.”

“I see.”

The woman took off her white gloves, plucking the tip of each finger like petals from a daisy.

“Isn’t there snow in Antarctica?” she asked.

“Yes.”

The woman smiled. She was amused.

“This penguin is from Antarctica, but she’s not in Antarctica,” the girl explained.

“Ahh, okay. Why?”

The girl thought for a moment, then shrugged.

“I think she was taken from there when she was very little and doesn’t remember it. She just knows she’s from there and supposed to be there.”

“Couldn’t she go back?”

“No. She can’t fly. Penguins are flightless birds.”

The woman took in the drawing once more, understanding it a little better.

“Is that why she’s all alone?”

The girl didn’t reply. Instead, she switched her green pencil for a yellow one. She colored the insides of the flowers.

“Why don’t some of the other birds come down?”

The girl let out a noise, somewhere between a laugh and a scoff.

“They wouldn’t do that.”

“Why not?”

“Because they can fly,” she replied matter-of-factly.

“Surely they don’t fly all the time. They must need to rest.”

“They do,” she confirmed. “But they never stay.”

“That must get lonely.”

The girl carefully filled in the penguin’s beak with her yellow pencil.

“It does.” She traded the yellow for a black. “She’s used to it.”

The young woman from the counter approached the woman in blue. They were ready for her. She gave one last look to the girl, who looked up this time.

Their eyes met.

They smiled at each other - a real smile, with nothing behind it.

The girl watched the woman in blue follow the hairdresser to her station.

She took out her regular pencil again and added to her picture.

——————————————————–

Wendy spent an inordinate amount of time over the past few weeks sorting through resumes and cover letters for the new secretary position in the BSU. There was more interest in the position than she (or Gunn, for that matter) had anticipated. She was able to get Gregg to help weed out some of the applicants, but he wasn’t as discerning in his decisions as she would’ve been, and found herself having to make further cuts to his “approvals”. The list was narrowed down to eight. Half of them were coming in later that afternoon for interviews, conducted by Wendy and Bill. The rest would be completed the following morning.

Bill sat hunched over a file, cigarette in hand, when Wendy knocked on his partially open door. He looked up at her with tired eyes.

“What are your thoughts?” she asked.

He stared at her, his brow furrowed.

“The applicants,” she clarified.

He let out a deep exhale.

“You haven’t looked at them yet, have you?” It was more of a statement than a question.

Bill shook his head in response to his own forgetfulness.

“I’m sorry. I’ll do that right now.”

“It’s alright. I have questions prepared. It’s more for your benefit.”

“Still.”

He shuffled the stacks of papers and files around his desk in search of the resumes Wendy had given him last week.

“I can make another copy of them,” she offered.

“No, no. I’ve got them here. Somewhere.”

She scanned his workspace, her eyes landing on a familiar looking folder in a tray.

Wendy cleared her throat. Bill looked up.

Her eyes flicked from Bill to the tray. He opened the folder, confirming its contents.

“I’m reading these right now.”

“Okay. Our first interview is at 1pm, so we should be in the meeting room by quarter to. Someone from HR will bring them down.” Wendy saw the look on Bill’s face and… “You forgot those were today.”

“Wendy - ”

“It’s okay, Bill. Really. Like I said, I’ve already reviewed the candidates and prepared questions for the interviews. You just have to show up.”

“I appreciate it, you know. All the work you do.”

She left him with an understanding nod and a polite smile.

Bill snuffed out his cigarette and immediately lit another one.

Holden walked quickly past Wendy, who politely acknowledged his presence, on his way to Bill’s office.

“Bill.”

He exhaled the long drag he just took of his cigarette.

“Yeah?”

“Gunn wants us to help out on those freeway killer cases in California. They found another body a few days ago in the San Bernardino Mountains. He wants us out there tomorrow morning.”

Bill groaned.

“What?” Holden asked.

“Wendy’s not going to be happy.”

“Why?”

“We have those interviews today and tomorrow for the new position.”

“The secretary? Do you really need to be there for those?”

“I’m head of this team, Holden, so yes, it would be good if I was involved in the hiring of a new member.”

“I’m sure she’ll understand. I can talk to her, if you want.”

Bill gave him a look that very clearly said no.

“Those freeway killings. The victims were drugged, raped, and beaten, right?” Bill asked.

“And bound.”

“Another BTK.”

“Not exactly, though. There are distinct differences between them.”

Bill looked at the folder under Holden’s arm.

“Is that -”

“Oh. Yes.”

Holden handed the folder to Bill. It was thick.

Wendy entered the meeting room at 12:45pm sharp with two glasses of water and the tape recorder under her arm. With Bill busy preparing for the last minute trip to California, they both figured it wouldn’t hurt to record the interviews.

Her notebook and list of questions were already on the table. She placed a glass of water at each side in front of the respective chairs, with the tape recorder on her side to the right. She popped open the recorder to double check that there was a blank tape inside. There was.

Wendy had done a fairly good job at screening the applicants. They were all (so far) more or less capable of doing the job, but each with their own weak points.

The first two candidates of the day were internal - both obscene stenographers, women about ten to fifteen years Wendy’s senior. Sandra was up first. She had passable answers to Wendy’s questions, but didn’t seem to fully understand what the BSU was or why it was important. Sharon, the second, was four minutes late and very rattled by it. It could’ve been coincidental, but someone who flusters easily was not the best fit.

The third was a young man named Peter. He was barely old enough to drink, but his resume was strong and he had work and volunteer experience. When asked about his comfort level with disturbing topics, his face went visibly white and clammy as Wendy listed off, in some detail, a few of the types of victims they deal with - those who have been dismembered, raped pre or post-mortem, mutilated, etc. She stopped before he got to the point of gagging and quickly wrapped up the interview.

The final candidate of the day was a much older man, at least sixty, if not older, named Thomas. He reminded Wendy of Gregg in twenty odd years. He was intelligent and experienced, but he had the same air of naivety as Gregg. That lingering aura of having been sheltered from the “evils” of the world as a child, or as they called it, a good Christian upbringing. Thomas was sweet and polite, but showed clear signs of not being able to keep up with the pace that the position would require.

At the end of the interview, Wendy thanked Thomas for his time and walked him to the elevator on her way to Bill’s office. His face was buried in his hand, his elbow resting on the desk.

She knocked softly. He revealed his face.

“I can come back if now’s not a good time.”

“No, now’s fine. I could use a break.”

“First round of interviews are done.”

“And?”

She waffled her head side to side.

“They weren’t bad. Not ideal in varying ways, but some are more...workable than others.”

“It’s a unique gig.”

“I think tomorrow will be better. There are two in particular that should be more promising. Frank Tyler, late 20s, some military experience, so he’s probably not squeamish. He has a degree in philosophy, so he’s educated -”

“And jobless.”

Wendy smirked.

“The other one is Ruth Cairns. She’s a bit young. But she has secretary experience and recently finished her degree in sociology.”

It was Bill’s turn to smirk. “The Boston girl.”

“So you did read the files I gave you.”

“No shame in rooting for one of your own,” he replied, still smiling.

“There’s no nepotism here,” she countered. It came out more defensively than she intended.

“She wasn’t one of your students?”

“No.”

He believed her. “Okay.”

“How’s the studying,” she asked.

Bill sighed.

“It’s a mess, honestly. They’ve gathered every case where a body was found near a highway thinking they must all be connected going back almost ten years. There’s dozens.”

“Better to have more to work from than less.”

He knew she was right. It didn’t make it any less work, though.

“Half of them don’t even remotely fit the MO. They’ve got women, gunshot victims. Some were disposed of in pieces in trash bags. Some appeared to have been thrown out of a moving car.”

Wendy processed the information.

“And the MO is based off of the most recent victims?”

“Starting in ‘79. An unidentified male, 20s, found his head, torso, and left leg in a couple of trash bags behind a gas station in Long Beach. He’d been sodomized with a sock. A couple weeks later, the body of Gregory Wallace Jolley, 20, was found at Lake Arrowhead, emasculated and with his head and legs severed.”

“Pre or post?”

“Post. A few months after that, the decapitated body of 19-year-old Mark Alan Marsh, a Marine, was found near Templin Highway. He was also missing his hands.”

“So, there is a definite pattern of young male victims, late puberty to early adulthood. All white?”

“Yup. Another 19-year-old Marine was found September of last year near the El Toro Marine air base, also in trash bags. Then four months ago, Michael Cluck, 17, was found on the side of Interstate 5 near Goshen, Oregon. Sodomized, beaten, kicked. Cause of death was thirty-one blows to the head with a blunt object. The back of his head was completely destroyed.”

He let out a long breath.

“I’m not even sure this latest one is part of it all.”

“What makes you say that?” she asked.

“Well, he wasn’t dismembered. We’ll know more of the details from the autopsy tomorrow, but they said they found tissue stuffed deep in his nose and rectum.”

“Could we maybe be dealing with a pair? Or perhaps even more than two killers, working together to some extent.”

“Maybe. If we are, they clearly have the same ‘type’.”

“Well, best of luck.”

“Thanks.”

Wendy lingered for a moment in the doorway. Bill could tell why, but all he offered her was a small smile. She nodded, understanding, and left. There was no word from Nancy.

Holden and Bill were relieved to find California not as unbearably hot as Georgia had been, but it still didn’t take long for their previously clean and crisp shirts to become nearly drenched in sweat.

They had studied the crime scene photos on the plane. Christopher Allen Williams, 17, had been missing his socks, shoes, and underwear. There was nothing that indicated any staging in the body placement, and lack of significant animal activity made it unlikely that it had been dragged from anywhere.

An officer was waiting for them when they got to the station. He was somewhere between Holden and Bill’s age with a moustache from the 70s.

“Agent Tench, Agent Ford.” He offered his hand to Bill first, then Holden. “Officer Eddie Zott. Thank you for coming out here.”

“Happy to help,” Bill replied.

“I’ve just got the autopsy report. Here, why don’t we -”

He led them down the air conditioned hall and into one of the empty interrogation rooms. It was not air-conditioned, but there was a single fan in the corner blowing warm air around the room.

Zott put the report on the desk and gave it a read, his lips mouthing along silently. Bill and Holden gave each other a side-eyed glance while they waited for the news.

Zott’s lips stopped moving, and his brow furrowed.

“Well?” Holden asked.

Zott looked up at their expectant faces and slid the report across the table.

“Cause of death was pneumonia induced by aspiration,” Zott explained.

“The tissue paper in his nose. He choked to death on his own mucus,” Holden added.

“And he had phenobarbital and benzodiazepine in his system,” Bill said.

Holden inspected the report for himself, looking particularly at the amount of benzodiazepine detected. It wasn’t an exceptionally high amount. More than what he had been prescribed, but not enough for an overdose. It was the combination of that with the phenobarbital that would cause more of the sedative effects.

“Do we know anything else about the victim?” Bill asked.

Zott smoothed out his moustache and cleared his throat.

“Yeah,” he started.

Bill and Holden waited.

“It, uh, “ Zott continued. “Well, when we were asking around about him, it came to light that he was, a...a working man, if you know what I mean.”

“You mean, he was a prostitute,” Holden confirmed.

Zott nodded.

“What about the other victims? Were any of them prostitutes?”

“Not that we know of. But we didn’t ask specifically about that. As I said, this just happened to come up.”

“See if you can find out,” Bill suggested. “It could be an important factor in finding a motive or pattern.”

Zott nodded, clearly not thrilled at the prospect of going down that rabbit hole.

“Yes, sir.”

Wendy once again prepared for the second day of interviews. The water, her questions, and the tape recorder were all set up with six minutes to spare.

Frank was up first, and he was brought down to the basement at exactly 10am. He wore a well-fitted ochre nailshead suit with a light pink tie that reminded her of something Bill would wear. His hair still had some semblance of a military cut, but grown out and groomed.

“Miss Carr,” he said.

“Dr. Carr,” she corrected.

“My apologies, Dr. Carr.”

She stood up to shake his hand and noticed a copy of Beyond Good and Evil by Friedrich Nietzsche under his other arm.

“I always bring a book with me,” he explained. “I always give myself plenty of time to get places, which leads me with some free time, so.”

Wendy nods in acknowledgement.

“Have you read it?” he asked.

She smiled as they sat down.

“Yes, I have.”

Many times, in fact. But none for pleasure.

“It’s one of my favorites,” he beamed. “I’ve been taking German classes so I can read the original text.”

A real Nietzsche fanboy.

“Jenseits von Gut und Böse,” Wendy replied.

“Sorry?”

Clearly he needed more practice.

The rest of the interview went fairly well, the glaring issue being his devotion to philosophical concepts, and rather basic ones at that. It wasn’t exactly the worst thing, but she could already anticipate him interjecting into psychological conversations with philosophical “well, actually”s. He also made a point more than once to mention that he had no issues with the potentially graphic nature of the position, nor did he feel uncomfortable about the topic of twisted killings in general. In fact, he ended the interview by once again reasserting his comfort level.

Wendy looked at him with a small smile.

“‘He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster’,” she responded.

His eyes beamed at her like a love-struck puppy.

That’s when it hit her. He had reminded her of someone the whole time, but she couldn’t figure out who until he got that look in his eyes.

Holden. He reminded her of Holden.

She thanked him for his time and sent him on his way.

The interview had ended early - he was a fast talker - which gave her enough time to make a cup of coffee before the next candidate arrived.

Interviewing the candidates reminded her of when she was actually able to talk to the inmates for their study. She missed it. There was no way Gunn was going to let her do that again. At least not willingly. Maybe with more secretarial help at Quantico, Bill could convince him of her value in the field.

Her coffee break went by quicker than she thought, and she was soon interrupted by the arrival of the next candidate, Jenny Simms. Her application was unremarkable in the sense that nothing exceptional stood out, but she had all the basic requirements. She had secretary experience, was first aid certified, and volunteered at a homeless shelter since she was a teenager.

Jenny’s answers were all satisfactory. She had a calm demeanor, but was by no means fragile. She didn’t even bat an eye when Wendy described, in detail, some of the more graphic cases they had dealt with. Jenny took it one further and responded with an almost equally grotesque story of a man coming into the shelter with a gangrene leg that he tried to amputate himself with a pocket knife, heavily under the influence of multiple drugs. Plus she referred to her as Dr. Carr right off the bat. Wendy was pleasantly surprised, and marked her down as a front runner.

There was a larger break between interviews this time to account for lunch. She went upstairs to the cafeteria to grab her usual salad. A couple times, when she needed a break from the windowless basement, she stayed in the cafeteria to eat. On more than one occasion, she was approached in her solitude by a man, noticing the absence of a ring on her finger, asking if the seat across from her was taken. They would sit down before allowing her to answer. The daylight wasn’t worth the bother.

Back in her office, she kept a close eye on the clock as she ate her lunch. Today’s salad was half wilted spinach with almonds and blueberries and too much dressing. It was better than the bitter romaine they sometimes had that was drowned in what they called a caesar dressing, but tasted more like ranch with garlic powder. It hardly even qualified as a salad.

Wendy’s phone rang just as she was finishing her lunch. It was Bill.

“I wasn’t sure if you’d answer,” he said. “How’s round two going?”

“Better than yesterday.”

“Sounds hopeful.”

“There’s still two more to go, but I’ve already got a good idea of who I think would fit. I’ll let you listen to the interviews when you get back before I give you my thoughts.”

“Afraid you’ll influence my decision?”

“When have I ever been afraid of that? How’s California?”

“Hot. I’ll take it over Georgia, though.”

“And the case?”

“We thought we had an angle, but it didn’t pan out. The latest victim was a male prostitute, so we were thinking maybe that’s who he’s targeting. Local cops looked further into the other victims and it doesn’t appear that any of them were involved in that.”

“Hmmm. Were any of them suspected homosexuals? Even if they weren’t formally prostituting themselves, there could have been some form of covert sexual exchanges.”

“I can suggest that.”

Wendy heard the ding of the elevator from down the hall.

“I have to go,” she said. “You’re back tomorrow?”

“Yeah.”

“Have a safe flight.”

She hung up the phone and quickly dabbed her mouth with a napkin. She poked her head out into the hall. It was empty. False alarm.

As she walked across to the interview room, a woman who she recognized from the HR department, but not the usual one who had been bringing candidates down, turned the corner at the end of the hall with another woman whom she assumed was Ruth Cairns.

“Oh, I think it must be this way,” the HR woman said. “I get so turned around down here.”

Wendy quickly snuck into the interview room. Thankfully, she had made sure to have it set up before her lunch break.

A moment later, the woman came in with Ruth. She was wearing a red plaid suit with a pleated skirt and double breasted blazer, her auburn hair pulled back in a neat, but loose, bun.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Dr. Carr,” she said, holding out her hand.

Wendy shook her hand.

“Please, have a seat.”

Ruth looked at Wendy as though she was about to say something. She sat down and closed her mouth, but her eyes still had that look.

Wendy tilted her head and looked back at her.

“Is something the matter?” she asked.

Once again, Ruth opened her mouth, but nothing came out at first.

“It’s just,” she started.

Wendy signalled for her to go on. Ruth brought a finger up to her mouth.

“You’ve got a little something in your teeth,” she said.

Wendy felt her face grow warm and hoped it wasn’t showing.

Fucking spinach.

She ran her tongue across the front of her teeth.

Ruth opened her purse and pulled out an ornate silver compact.

“Here,” she offered.

“Thank you.”

Their fingers brushed as Wendy took the compact from her. The soft, innocent touch only made her blush more.

She hid her face behind the compact. It wasn’t as red as it felt, thankfully. She had successfully dislodged the spinach, and gave the rest of her mouth and face a thorough look over before handing the compact back to Ruth, holding it in a way that ensured their fingers would not touch accidentally.

“I know some people don’t like it when you say something, but if it were me, I would want to know. Rather get it dealt with right away then find out later you had a whole conversation with someone like that,” Ruth explained.

Wendy nodded in agreement, despite still being somewhat embarrassed.

She jumped right into the questions to get herself back on track. Some of her answers felt rehearsed. Not wrong, but definitely planned. Others, she seemed surprised by, but answered them acceptably.

“Why do you want this position?” Wendy asked.

“Well,” Ruth started. Wendy could already tell this was one of her prepared answers. “I am hoping to earn money so that I can continue my studies in psychology at grad school. Ideally in Boston, of course. This really seems like the perfect position for me.”

“And what makes you perfect for this position?” Wendy countered.

Ruth looked puzzled by the question.

“I should’ve thought that was obvious,” she replied.

Wendy raised her eyebrows.

“I mean,” Ruth continued. “I have the education. I have the job experience. I spent my summers on my grandfather’s farm helping him slaughter pigs and chickens, so I’ve got a strong stomach.”

Ruth went silent. Wendy looked at her. Both of them waiting for the other to speak.

“And,” Ruth continued. She took a deep breath. “I lied on my application form.”

Wendy sat upright.

“Just about my address. I said I lived here, but I don’t. I’m staying at a hostel. But I’m willing to move here because that’s how much I want this job. That’s how much I wanted a chance at an opportunity to work here. With you.”

Wendy’s eyes narrowed. Did she know this woman?

“I never formally took one of your classes. I didn’t get into any of them while you were still there. But I...I snuck in the back just so I could listen.”

She’s flattered, and a bit in shock. She wasn’t aware her lectures were that high in demand, especially based on some of the lackluster students she’d had over the years.

“‘Time and tide wait for no man’,” Ruth quoted. “Or woman, as the case may be.”

Wendy smiled.

“And wouldn’t you want someone who could not only do the job, and do it well, but also who could take the knowledge they’ve learned and apply it? Can you honestly say any of the other applicants would use this experience to further the work you’re doing even after they’ve left?”

They looked at each other - Wendy still smiling, Ruth worried that she’d blown it.

“You make a good case,” Wendy admitted.

She stood up. Ruth waited a moment before doing the same.

Wendy held out her hand.

“We’ll be in touch.”

Ruth shook her hand and gave her a sad smile, her eyes not meeting Wendy’s. Wendy gave her hand a gentle squeeze, and Ruth looked up to a reassuring smile.

#mindhunteredit #mindhunter fic #mindhunter #op*#a tide in a city #wendy carr #bill tench #holden ford

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hecohansen31 · 5 years ago

Text

The Time Of Our Life

Alex Hogh Andersen+Dancer! Reader

(A/N): Hello there, lovelies!

This is an extra fic, for a special occasion!

It is also my first time writing Alex Hogh Andersen stuff, so please let me know what you think about it and where I should do better, where I can do better... I just... hope you’ll like it!

As always: feedback is extremely helpful, us writers basically feed off it, alongside coffee and creativity so if you want to leave a comment, an heart, or reblog, I’ll be overjoyed.

They made my heart flutter and writer faster!

Hope you’ll like it!

Have a nice reading!

WARNINGS: Slight Angst, Worries of Unrequited Love, Mention of Dirty Dancing, Insecurity.

(Beautiful Moodboard Made by @flowers-in-your-hayr, be sure to check her out!)

Life as a professional dancer wasn’t easy, mostly if you wanted to become famous.

You had chosen to try to move your career in the movies sector, through being a back up dancer for awful TV shows or awful movies.

But getting a role in something bigger was so difficult that you were honestly losing your hope to ever find one.

In the meanwhile, you had started giving lessons at various dance studios to get through each month.

And lately you had found yourself honestly thinking about settling down in that job, since you didn’t mind it, although the paycheck wasn’t certainly comprehensive of all the work you did at the studio.

Hence you had decided to try out lady Luck one last time, and proposed yourself for a role: in case it didn’t work, you’d stop your search for success and just settle in something else, to make enough money to allow you to support yourself and that wouldn’t butcher your feet each day.

You weren’t very positive, because the project you had proposed yourself was actually pretty big: a modern version of ‘Dirty Dancing’ for cable TV, that would be seen all over the country and outside of it, it if got famous.

You weren’t supposed to play ‘Baby’ but her friend, that would have a dorky relationship with a friend of Johnny, being the comic relief of the entire musical.

You weren’t positive, but you had given your best in the audition and desperately loved the entire concept of the movie, since it was one of the first that you had watched, and it was definitely the one that had instilled your passion for dance.

So, you rushed to answer the call, seeing that it was your manager, as you moved to sat impatiently on your sofa, trying to calm yourself at the possibility of another rejection.

“… (Y/N) …” your managed voice didn’t seem so hopeful and you already could hear the following part of her discourse but then her tone picked up as she rushed in saying “… you got the freaking role, babygirl!”.

You had been incredibly excited, screaming like a teenage girl as you jumped up and down on your sofa, crying out loud, as your manager gave you all the details about your character.

And soon you had to move on the set of the movie, but before, you’d have to set up practicing with your partner, who you had discovered would be Alex Hogh Andersen.

A name that hadn’t said much to you, till you had googled him up discovering that he was Ivar from ‘Vikings’, a character that you hadn’t liked in the slightest when you had started watching the show.

To you, he was a rather psychotic kid.

And you had definitely no clue that he had grown into such a beautiful boy.

You had grown distant from ‘Vikings’, after you had started it a few years ago, so you hadn’t kept in track with it, but you certainly approved the casting choice, definitely excited by the fact that you’d have to dance together with him.

Through some ‘subtle researches’ you had discovered that other than playing an amazing role in ‘Vikings’ he seemed a pretty cool guy, social and interested in photography, something that you didn’t know much about, but he made it seem so so interesting, through his cute captions and dorky behavior.

You had to admit that before even meeting him you had already fallen in love with him.

Hence, on your first meeting, at the dance studios the production had rented to make you rehearse, you had been nervous like hell, constantly brushing your hands against your leggings, worried they’d be too sweaty for him.

And you wanted to make a good impression.

Hence you had spent gladly a few extra dollars on those see-through leggings you saw everywhere and chosen a shirt that wouldn’t have anything embarrassing said on it, eventually settling up for a black assemble that made you seem professional, but also cheeky.

Not that a guy as pretty as Alex would notice it.

You were honestly still surprised he hadn’t a girlfriend, since he seemed the best guy you had come across in a long time.

But maybe he was an asshole or…

… an arrogant prick…

… that was the only reason why he honestly was still single.

His personality must have been the worst.

And you were thinking this when you heard a male voice calling your name, and as you turned you saw that it was indeed Alex, almost as if he had been conjured by your own thoughts.

And you found yourself almost stuck on the ground, where you had sat down to calm yourself, till he was in front of you and you were already checking your sweaty hands, for the handshake, but he went a step further and straight up hugged you, making you yelp lightly at the contact.

And there you found out that he smelled divinely, something like expensive perfume mixed with a tint of smoke, as you felt the strength of his body, trying not to fangirl.

You very awkwardly hugged him back, mumbling a screeching ‘Hi’.

“It’s absolutely nice to meet you!” he said gingerly, as he ended the hug moving back to look at you “… I hope I am not late, the jetlag still has some kind of hold on me…”.

“No no, don’t worry! I am (Y/N)” Gosh could you have said something more stupid? “… I am a big fan of ‘Vikings’ “.

Oh, you could have definitely said something more idiotic.

But he didn’t seem to take it personally, lightly blushing as he thanked you for his words, and you had just to embarrass yourself further.

“… I also love your photography, I am not an expert, but…”.

“I do appreciate it truly, and if you do end up teaching me how to dance, I could teach you all about photography” he promised you, a light twinkle of interest in his eyes.

“Oh, c’mon you aren’t so bad at dancing!” and you realized how stalkerish your comment had sounded and proceeded to add “… I have seen your insta…”.

“Yeah I like being dorky” he mumbled softly, completely unfazed by the fact that you had stalked him “… and I honestly am afraid to do all of this”.

A light blush appeared on his face, showing you that although he had acted all tough and adorably, he certainly had a more insecure side, and you, a dancer, totally understood it, softly suggesting that he just showed you ‘a few of his moves’, getting a light raise of eyebrows from him, but eventually he did.

And although you’d have to work on his style, you couldn’t help but smirk lightly at the notion that he certainly enjoyed dancing, and it showed, something that many people, even professional dancers didn’t own.

Alongside a general positive vibe to him that you absolutely loved.

“… I do think that we can get something out of you” you had then smirked softly, as you had introduced him to the swing of the 60s, trying not to mind too much fact to the way his body felt onto yours, as you taught him the basilar steps.

In the end, all your worries disappeared, because Alex seemed the guy of the photos, and much more.

The more you met, the more you discovered new sides of him, such as the one that would bring his camera over to try to teach you what was interesting about photography, shooting a few sneaky pictures of you as you tried out the moves on your own, seeing what would work and what wouldn’t.

And the one he’d have when he’d met a few of his fans and would be the absolute sweetest at them, no matter how annoying or clingy they were, as he blushed for the entire time, with a shyness that the didn’t let on behind the camera.

And the one that’d constantly make fun of you, softly, and then compliment you on your technique as he watched you completely amazed by the way you’d move so gracefully, dosing you with so much praise that you weren’t in the slightest used to receive.

And you’d blush a lot around him.

He was honestly a nice guy and it was impossible not to fall in love with him.

Although you were well aware you didn’t stand a chance.

You were an unknown dancer who had been lucky enough to land a role, whereas he was the most gorgeous boy you had ever seen, with an established career and a great ability with photography.

But sometimes, during tryouts, he’d just hold you closer than he should have and spun you around with the sweetest of smiles, the one you felt like he had only for you.

And no one else.

But he had always kept it very clear that you were simply good coworkers and friends, something for which you were already too grateful.

You learned the routine, together, rather quickly and were lucky enough to have such a good chemistry that you acted perfectly like the awkward lovers you had to play in the movie, enough that you heard a few people from the productions complaining about the main actors, since they didn’t get on as well as you and Alex did.

And when you had to promote the movie, you were the production go-to, since you were both rather young and easy on the eyes, and again…

… the complicity between you two was palpable.

Which was a boost for your career, since you had already started receiving a few offers before the movie even dropped.

And as much as you felt awkward answering questions about your life, Alex, again made the entire atmosphere more comfortable, joking around and making you feel at ease, almost as if you were hosting a party among friends and not journalists.

And then it had happened.

The fateful question.

‘Are you together?’ giggled a blonde journalist ‘… because we couldn’t help but notice the amazing chemistry between you and it just…’.

And you couldn’t help but blush, before stammering out a small ‘no’, sure that Alex would agree with you, but you couldn’t help but catch a light expression of disappointment appear on his face, as you raised your head to meet his face.

Almost as if he hadn’t expected such a direct rejection.

And you low key couldn’t understand whether it was just your eyes not working or you had caught some secret part of his heart.

Something that Alex hadn’t told you.

You tried to confront him softly, after the interview but he just told you that he was busy and run away, and again you were left doubting whether your fangirl dream had come true or you had started having delusional hallucination.

Either way, it didn’t stop you from trying to analyze your entire ‘relationship’ with Alex: he was certainly quite touchy, maybe more than it was appropriate between two friends, but you couldn’t exactly blame him when you were constantly all over him during your dancing routines.

And sometimes not simply accidentally.

You had also to admit that you definitely had chemistry, but at the same time you felt like it’d be bad to assume that just because you had that, you’d have to be more than simply friends.

And the fact that Alex didn’t hang out with you anymore after the interview honestly put your mind at unease, worried that you had done something wrong.

He wouldn’t talk with you, except for texting, justifying his absence with the fact that he was ‘extremely busy’.

And in the end the only time you saw him was at the premiere of the movie.

You arrived on your own, something that definitely made you uncomfortable, unsure of how to properly act without Alex trying to calm you and distract you from the attention of photographers, who screamed at you how to pose.

And you were more than happy to be led away by a fellow back up dancer, who started chatting with you and more importantly pushing glasses of champagne in your hands.

But right when you were all supposed to enter the cinema, you felt an hand pushing itself on your shoulder and almost on your own you couldn’t help but turn around with the biggest smile, as you came face to face with Alex.

But he looked almost… shy.

Which was unusual for him, although you were relieved when he hugged you tight to greet you.

“Hey, handsome, where did you hide?” you mumbled tightly as he just shrugged his shoulders.

“… ahem, I just… had some things to figure out” he replied tightly “… I am sorry for acting like an asshole”.

“You are the one who said it” you teased him “… you can make it up to me with a good hamburger, once we get out of this entire thing”.

“You got it, my lady” his voice wasn’t in the slightest as amused as it usually was when you teased him, and you couldn’t help but feel deep down in your guts that something wasn’t wrong.

Something wasn’t the same anymore.

And simply smiled at him, before moving to get in the cinema, but again Alex stopped you gripping gently your hand.

“About the hamburger… can we take McDonalds and go to my place, to talk a bit? I have something to tell you”.

It was probably ‘fucking leave me alone, you psycho’ talk.

So, although you tried your best to enjoy your great moment, you couldn’t focus on it, till you suddenly felt Alex reach out for your hand, almost as if he understood your distress, and although you were still nervous, you were able to calm a bit.

And his hand kept on being in yours.

Even when you sneaked away from the premiere, to seriously get your McDonalds, as you moved to his apartment.

A strange and awkward intimacy downed upon you, both, as Alex went to get some plates for you, meanwhile you tried to calm yourself, drying your sweaty hands on your designer rented dress.

You were truly grateful that Alex came back with an enormous hoodie of his to allow you to avoid having to renounce eating this month to pay the dress you had been wearing at the premiere.

And still you blushed when he told you ‘it was a shame that you wouldn’t be wearing it anymore, it honestly looked so good on you…’.

“… I just think that you’d be the sexiest, eating a greasy hamburger in a Dior dress”.

And you had blushed, hard, able to simply flip him off, as you moved to change in the bathroom.

And you were glad that although the awkwardness kept on being awfully present, you were able to chat as two friends, as Alex threw fries at you, after you mentioned how dorky he looked in the final cut of the movie.

‘It isn’t fair!’ he tried to reply harshly ‘…when you look half the time as a goddess!’.

And you had blushed even redder.

But what had been even more embarrassing was what followed as you saw that Alex wasn’t meeting your gaze, and you were aware this was the time that he’d kick you out, for ever.

He had been nice with you, just to sweeten the entire thing.

“I am sorry for having ignored these days, I just…” he gently ruffled his hair, making you sink your “… I had things to figure out”.

“Ahhh don’t worry, I just… I just hope that I wasn’t annoying…” you tried to excuse yourself, getting an immediate reaction by Alex, who looked at you with those beautiful blue eyes, almost as if he didn’t understand why you would think he felt that way, before he shook his head.

“Hey, hey, sweetheart, it wasn’t you…” he immediately comforted you, his hand reaching out for your face to make you look at him in the eyes “… I just…”.

“I am sorry if I seemed to want something more than a friendship” you rushed softly out, almost choking on the words, meanwhile Alex just looked at you shocked “… I swear that I never intended to rupture the boundaries”.

“I don’t want to be your friend” surprised you Alex, before a slight blush appeared also on his cheeks, and the breath completely got out of your lungs.

Perfect.

Now that the truth was out there, you could get yourself out there on your own, and drown yourself in tequila…

“… oh then…” and you made to turn, but he reached out for your hand and made you turn almost abruptly towards him.

“I want to be something more” he breathed right on your lips and before you knew it, his lips were right on yours, kissing you with a fierceness that made you lightheaded, hence you had to lightly lean against the chair behind you.

And Alex immediately recognized that something was wrong, pushing himself back as he shot you a worried look, before again moving his stare to his shoes.

“I am sorry” he mumbled tightly “…I just… Gosh I fucking ruined everything!”.

And he made to turn around, but this time you were the one who stopped him.

“… what if I… don’t want to be your friend, either?” you mumbled, rushing through the words, both for the lack of air from the kiss and for the embarrassment on your cheeks “… because I don’t think that friends are supposed to kiss each other, but I want to kiss you so so bad again”.

He seemed shocked, but slowly his face turned in a soft surprise, before he rushed to you again, kissing you but with much more softness and tenderness, no fear of rejection in this kiss, and again you felt lightheaded, but this time it was damnably pleasurable, and soon allowed Alex to deepen the kiss.

And he gently pushed a reverent hand on your face, caressing the skin there, as you were more than happy to ruffle the perfect volume of his soft hair, definitely the softest you had ever touched.

And you both kept kissing each other, one after the other, as you tried to make up for the lost time.

But soon, you’d have to talk it out.

You knew it.

And you almost moaned in pain at being harshly pushed away, looking at him with pleading eyes, as he giggled softly, biting his lips.

“Don’t worry sweetie, I have no intention of putting baby in a corner”.

---

This is a special gift for @alexhandersenx !

#Alex Hogh Andersen #AHA #Alex Hogh Andersen Reader #Alex Hogh Andersen x Reader #Alex Hogh Andersen Imagine #alex hogh andersen fic #AHA fic #AHA imagine #Alex Hogh Andersen Fluff #Fluff #AHA fluff #Birthday Present #Alex Hogh Andersen Moodboard #Dirty Dancing AU

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nctsolar-remade · 7 years ago

Text

Just A Dream – Episode 1: Dream Lab

Description: “Where is… Here?” “A dream.” “What?” I stopped dead in my tracks. “We’re trapped in a dream.” “You’re crazy…” “Look… Believe me or don’t believe me, I’m telling you the truth. We’re trapped inside someone else’s dream.”

Part: Ep.1 Dream Lab Pairing: None Genre: Horror, Mystery, Dystopian Word Count: 15.056 Warnings: Blood, death, decaying bodies Requested: No Song Recommendation: Control (Instrumental) – Halsey A/N: Ah, so here we are. Literally, 5 months later. This is a weird idea that I had after watching the NCTmentary videos that they put out. Honestly, what shady dudes. To be honest, it didn’t really take 5 months to write but I’m literally an expert at procrastination so… But, I have been really excited about writing this AU. I didn’t really expect it to get this long or detailed, and like not to toot my own horn, but this truly is the best piece of fiction I’ve ever written. I really hope you guys enjoy it, and anticipate (the very slow, I’m sure) updates! Anyway, reblogs and likes are always appreciated! Comments too. If you want to let me know what you thought of it, I’d genuinely be over the moon to hear! I really adore having feedback because it helps me be a better writer and it lets me know what’s good and what’s not. So, yeah, definitely let me know how it was and what you liked/didn’t like! Thank you so much for reading this. I hope you enjoy!

Also, special thanks to: Spence (@whiplashlive)!!! Miss Spence really helped me get through this. As you can see, it’s not a short fic, and like I was really disheartened at certain points and I felt like it wasn’t going anywhere but Spence really helped me push through and finish it. Her constant support is honestly the only reason this dumb ass fic is being posted now, rather than even later. So, like, mad thanks Spence! And also thank you to the other’s who proofed this fic for me! You all helped to motivate me as well, so thank you!

The day before the world ended.

That day is still imprinted in my mind, as clear as ever. It will forever be there, haunting me. I can’t remember how long it’s been since then. So much has happened. Too many hours have passed. I feel like I’ve aged a hundred years over and over again.

Or maybe I’m wrong. Maybe no time has passed at all. Maybe it just happened. The world has just ended, and I am now here, opening my eyes and wondering where in the world I am. Maybe I am here, again, as I have already been so many damn times. Maybe that’s all this is… Maybe it’s just a dream.

A dream.

The word alone causes a grim smile to cross my features. After all, that’s the whole reason that I’m here right now. That word is the main reason that we have been trapped in this world… In this hell…

Regardless of how long we’ve been here, we are here now. And here, is not a good place. I have to find a way to wake up. I have to save them. I have to-

My eyes fluttered open.

Asleep. I’d fallen asleep. I blinked several times, my eyes itching with tiredness. What had I just dreamt…? The harder I tried to remember it, the further away it slipped. Frustration was starting to grip at the edges of my confused and groggy brain. Before I could really get anymore worked up, I realized that my face was pressed against a desk. I lifted my cheek off the cool plastic and rubbed my eyes, trying to reduce the fuzziness of my vision. I heard someone speaking loud and clear, and it brought my attention to the front of the room. I was in a lecture hall filled with maybe three hundred students. Right… I was in class. I looked over at the seat next to me. The boy beside me noticed that I’d woken up and smiled.

He leaned in, and in a soft voice whispered, “You fell asleep Johnny. I felt too guilty to wake you up. Don’t worry about the note though. He didn’t really talk about anything important, but you can still have mine.”

I nodded, looking back at the front of the room. The prof was now talking about participating in research studies for extra credit. Something that all of us were told to do, as it would help improve our grade. Most of the studies were just regular researching experiences; normal experiments and interviews about a variety of things, like stress or your relationships. However, there were the odd research teams that put together extremely interesting and innovative studies. Those always filled up extremely fast and there were only a few spots for each study.

“Please remember, these studies help, not only you, but the university and the graduate students who are running them. Anyway, make sure to read the next chapter from the textbook for next class, and that should be all the work that you are required to do this week. Have a good evening everyone.”

The classroom immediately filled with life; chairs squeaked, people chattered, and there was a scramble to leave the room quickly. I stood up, looking back at the boy beside me.

“What’s wrong, Johnny?” His eyes shone genuine concern.

“Nothing really.” I shrugged, sliding my laptop into my bag.

“Are you sure? You seem off…” He frowned and halted his own packing.

“Yeah, I’m sure Taeyong. I just had a strange dream.” I smiled at him.

“Oh… I see.”

We tugged our coats on and donning our bags, we left the room.

“It’s still snowing.” I pointed out at the glass walls of the science building.

“Damn, let’s hurry back then. Looks cold.” He shivered a little and sighed.

“Yeah, let me just check the bus times.” I nodded, pulling out my phone and scrolling through the upcoming times. “Seems like there’s one in ten minutes. I think we can make it, if we walk fast enough.”

“Sounds like a plan.” He nodded.

Leaving the building was like entering a totally different world. Inside, it was loud, bustling, and hot. Outside, it was like a wasteland. There was nothing but white. The snow covered every inch of the ground, and it seemed to obliterate all signs of life. Not a single sound could be heard. There was nothing. Our breath turned into pearly-white puffs of air that swirled upwards towards the expansive night sky. It felt so dark and lonely… The silence was what really got to me. It felt like the snow was absorbing all the sounds that you’d normally hear on a university campus.

Taeyong and I walked towards the bus stop, silently. It felt wrong… Talking… Disrupting the silence didn’t feel right. To this day, I’m still not sure why it made me uncomfortable, but it did.

“What was your dream about?” He asked, suddenly.

“Oh… I don’t really know… I tried to remember it but, it kinda just… Slipped away?”

“Oh, I see.” He nodded.

“It wasn’t really anything.” I frowned.

“How do you mean?”

“Like, it just seemed like a voice was talking. I think I saw myself talking… But I was alone, and I wasn’t in a room or anything… Just a big, black expanse.”

“That is odd.”

“And what’s even weirder is that it felt so incredibly… Real…”

“Must’ve been one of those dreams.”

“Yeah… And I think I was just talking… About dreams actually.”

“Inception?” He poked me, laughing.

I couldn’t help myself, I laughed along and nodded. Being around Taeyong was easy. He didn’t expect anything from you, which made it easy to be yourself. Uni was a tough place to be… Everyone expected you to act like an adult even though most of us weren’t really ready for it here. And even though I’d already been here for a few years, Taeyong was my only real friend. We’d met back in our first year when we’d been paired up as roommates. He was seemingly quiet and shy at the time. He kept to himself, avoiding any sort of conversation. I tried to befriend him at the time, but he seemed simply focused on his studies, which I respected. Eventually, he opened up when we finally found some common ground: our similar tastes in music. Now, we were best friends and still roommates.

I was brought out of my nostalgic thoughts as my shoulder made painful contact with someone else. I stumbled backward slightly and reached for my shoulder, wincing in pain. I looked towards the source of the crash, making eye-contact with a boy who seemed extremely flustered.

“I am so sorry.” He gasped, eyes flashing apologetically.

Smiling sheepishly, I shook my head, “Nah, I wasn’t looking where I was going. That was my fault, to be honest.”

“I really wasn’t paying attention to where I was going…” He awkwardly bit his lip and smiled.

“We’re both at fault I guess.” I laughed.

“Johnny, we should hurry…” Taeyong said softly. “Crap, right… Sorry, we should get going.” I scratched the back of my neck and the boy nodded.

“Myself as well. Have a good evening, both of you. And again, I’m sorry.”

“You too. And yeah, sorry.”

We continued walking, I glanced back, wondering if he was still there but… He was gone… I wanted to turn fully and see if he’d actually managed to leave that fast, but Taeyong pulling on my sleeve was enough to keep me going.

“Do you know who that was?” I asked expecting a no.

“Yeah… He’s in my academic writing class.”

“Seriously?”

“Yeah…” He frowned a little, “I think he goes by Ten?”

“Ten?”

“Yeah… I think that’s what it was.”

Taeyong pointed at the bus stop, which was now in view. I pulled out my phone, double checking the current time. We still had a few minutes.

“We’ll make it-”

“Johnny, look!”

Taeyong was staring upwards at the sky in awe. I followed his gaze, my eyes widening and mind going blank. The sky above was still pitch black, but there were hundreds of shooting stars trailing across our field of view.

“Johnny, let’s go.”

I shook my head, looking around. Taeyong was a few steps in front of me, looking at me. I looked up, confused. The sky was void of shooting stars, or any stars for that matter. The moon was also missing. All of it was hidden by thick, snow-filled clouds that heavily weighed down on the sky. It left the night sky incredibly dark and quiet… But… Where were the stars? I swear I’d just seen shooting stars.

“T-Taeyong… Were there just…” I trailed off, I didn’t want to sound crazy.

“What?”

“Never mind.” I shook my head, trying to rid my thoughts of what I’d just seen, or, imagined.

It must’ve been my overwhelming sleepiness. We walked up to the stop and I leaned against the lamp post, feeling dizzy with confusion. I scrunched my eyes shut and tried to forget what I had just seen. Was I losing it? Or had that really happened? But there was no way… If Taeyong hadn’t seen it… Then…

I looked up and panic gripped at the bottom of my heart as I couldn’t see Taeyong. I immediately straightened up, glancing around the mostly empty bus stop. Where had he gone?

“Taeyo-” I was cut off as I saw him standing in the middle of the road.

What the hell? How did he get there?

From the left, a car was hurtling down the road. I opened my mouth to yell, but he looked at me and I froze. Something about the look in his eyes was dead… That wasn’t Taeyong… I tried to yell out to him, tried to tell him to move, that he was going to get hurt, but nothing seemed to work. His hollow eyes bore into mine and he mouthed one word.

“Sorry.”

“TAEYONG!” I gasped out, standing up straight and bewilderedly looking around.

“W-What!?”

I turned and looked at Taeyong. He was standing where I’d remembered, right beside me. I looked back at the road; cars were travelling along it but there was no one there. My gaze returned to Taeyong and he looked at me, concern laced his eyes and his eyebrows turned down in a frown. I sighed, shakily, and reached out, placing a hand on his shoulder. I half expected my hand to phase right through him, but it pressed against him, solidly and I felt my knees buckle a little. What the hell was happening?

“Johnny… What’s going on? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

“Y-Yeah…” I nodded, feeling a wave of nausea pass over me, “I’ll tell you when we get back home.”

“Alright.” He looked at me unsurely.

“I’m fine.” I mumbled, trying to breathe evenly.

I ran a hand through my hair, pushing it back and out of my face which, I realized, was sweaty. It was negative twenty with a negative twenty-five wind chill, and I was sweating. I shook my head, trying to rid myself of everything that was currently happening. I took deep, steadying breaths and focused myself on waiting for the bus, which happened to drive up at that moment.

The doors opened and Taeyong stepped on first, pulling out his I.D. and smiling at the driver, who nodded. I followed suit, pulling out my I.D. and flashing a tired smile at the driver. He nodded at me as well, and I followed Taeyong towards the back doors of the bus, in hopes of collapsing onto a seat and managing to collect my thoughts. Unfortunately, though, there were no seats available. It was usual at this time that the bus would be incredibly crowded as everyone was trying to make it back to their apartments in the evening hours.

I held onto the railing above me, so as not to crash into anyone when the bus made a particularly violent turn and tried my hardest to take deep breaths and ignore the lead tiredness that was starting to take hold of me. There weren’t too many stops from the school to our apartment, but in this moment, it felt like forever. As I looked out the window, I caught a glimpse of my own reflection; I was pale and clammy, and my hair was sticking to my forehead. Again, I brushed my hair back and took a deep breath.

“Our stops next.” Taeyong mumbled to me.

I simply nodded. He pressed the “stop” button, and we both pushed our way towards the door. It was hard to push through a sea of other students, and we were desperately trying to make it before the driver stopped. But, as I was trying to get through the mass, someone grabbed my arm and pulled me backwards.

“What the hell?!” I gasped out, turning, confused and frustrated.

A boy with light brown hair and wide eyes stared at me. His mouth fell open and he shook his head. He seemed confused and alarmed all in one, and I was getting slightly impatient at this point. I frowned at the boy, and he immediately went into apology-mode.

“I am so sorry. I thought you were someone else!” He gasped out.

Seeing as people were staring at us, I just nodded, sighing and offering a smile.

“It’s fine. Happens to all of us.”

“Johnny, let’s go.” Taeyong’s voice caught my attention as the bus slowly came to a halt.

I smiled at the boy again and he nodded, an embarrassed smile on his face, and I turned, following Taeyong off the bus. We stepped back onto the cold streets and looked around the familiar area. Our building loomed in front of us; something seemed daunting about it, but the sleepiness was gnawing so furiously on my mind that I was willing to overlook that.

We crossed the street and went into the building, only to find that the elevator was “out of order.” Of course, on my longest and weirdest possible day, the elevator somehow found a way to be out of order. The coincidence of it all almost made me laugh, but instead, I just rolled my eyes and trailed behind Taeyong, up the stairs.

Finally, after twelve flights of stairs, we walked into our room and were greeted by a familiar and friendly site. I threw my own room door open and tossing my bag to the ground, I collapsed upon the softness of my bed, sinking into it and feeling, finally, at peace. Every odd worry and strange thought was immediately wiped from my mind the moment that my head hit the pillow. I could feel sleep already taking over me, and I wanted to go with it. I wanted to fall into a deep sleep; I needed it at this point. But I heard my door being pushed open again.

“So, you want to talk about what happened when we were walking home?”

“I was just imagining things.” I mumbled quietly.

“Are you sure? You seemed pretty shaken up about it.”

“Y-Yeah… I’m just…. Y’know…” I tried my hardest to form coherent sentences, but I was far beyond the barriers of language and grammar.

“Alright… Obviously, you’re way too sleepy to even put together a sentence so… We should just turn in for the night. You especially. We can talk about it in the morning. Sound good?”

I made an attempt at a thumbs-up but miserably failed. He laughed softly at the failed attempt, and left my room, shutting the door behind him. I rolled over, knowing I’d regret falling asleep in my clothes but… At this point, I was just too tired to care.

***

I woke up suddenly, bolting upright and staring around my dark room. What had caused my sudden alarm and awakening? I didn’t have a second to contemplate it, as a scream rang out from down the hall. I jumped out of bed and left my room, yanking the front door open. People were running towards the door that led to the stairs, with fear plastered on their faces.

Confusion and panic swept through me, and I rushed to Taeyong’s door, banging my hand against it as it flew open. He was standing there, his eyes wide and fear clearly present in them. I tried to ask what was wrong, but the fire alarm went off. We quickly rushed to put our shoes on and I thought my questions were answered, but as we ran outside, I realized that the building was not on fire. Rather, just as I had seen earlier, there were shooting stars trailing overhead in the sky, but this time, they seemed to be falling towards the earth, and the result was-

“Fire…” Taeyong whispered, his normally warm eyes, flushed with fear.

“We should go to campus…” I said, eyes nervously overlooking the flames.

“Yeah… They’ve probably got some system set up…”

Following the mass of students from the buildings, we rushed our way through the crowd. Every now and then I got glances of people I recognized from our building or from our classes. Everyone looked terrified, several people were glancing up every now and then. The fire seemed to have spread, but away from the main campus. A small feeling of relief rushed through me…

Everyone seemed to be heading for the closest entrances and because of that, there was a pileup of students waiting to get inside.

“Why don’t we go through the psych building?” Taeyong whispered, pointing towards another building in the distance. “We can just go through there and get inside a lot quicker.”

“Sounds like a plan.” I nodded, realizing that he and I weren’t wearing jackets, and becoming painfully aware of the cold.

We slipped away from the crowd and rushed off towards the building in the distance. I could hear his teeth chattering and a pang of guilt rushed through me. He was wearing a t-shirt and some PJ bottoms, while I was still in my sweater from earlier, with an extra shirt underneath, and a pair of jeans. I pulled my sweater off, thanking myself for wearing a long-sleeved shirt, and held it at him. He went to protest, but either the look on my face or his overwhelming coldness must’ve convinced him, and he took it- gratefully. Pulling it on, he seemed a lot warmer and smiled at me.

As we reached the door, I pulled it open and let him in, following closely behind.

“Might take us a while to find the opposite side of the building.” He whispered, looking around.

He was right. The psych building was probably one of the oldest ones on this campus and happened to be extremely maze-like, and mildly terrifying.

“Well, better start now, or we’ll be in here forever.” I joked, trying to lighten the mood.

He laughed softly and shaking his head, started walking down one of the paths. A few minutes later we hit a crossroad; one path led to a staircase and the other led down a different hall. He looked at me, frustration knitting his eyebrows.

“What d’you think?”

“Well, if we’re trying to find the connection, and it’s on the upper floors… We should probably head upstairs…?”

“Yeah… Probably safer to go up and then get a view of where we are.”

We walked up the stairs, the odd silence in the building was beginning to feel really unsettling. The stairs led to another door, which we walked through and led to another long hallway filled with dozens of doors. We started walking down the hall but, one set of doors caught my attention. The doors at the far end of the corridor; it was for one of those bigger lecture halls, but it was always locked with a sign on it reading “under construction.” The only difference this time was, it was slightly ajar.

“Taeyong, that door is open.”

“What- Oh… Yeah. So?”

“It’s never been open… It’s always been locked… And there’s always been a sign on it saying under construction.”

“Someone must’ve run out in a panic and forgotten to lock it. It happens.”

“Maybe but…” My curiosity was burning, and I moved towards the door.

“Johnny, if it’s actually under construction then it’s not safe in there.”

“Let me just shut it…” I said, ignoring his strained voice.

“Hurry, then…”

I moved forward, but instead of pulling it shut, I pushed it all the way open. My own gasp was drowned out by the sound of Taeyong swearing. He too seemed shocked at what was on the other side of the door.

“What the hell?” I breathed out, stepping into the room.

As I’d assumed, it was a large lecture hall type room. What was missing were the hundreds of seats and tables that students would sit at. Rather, there were several descending staircases that led towards the head of the room. Instead of a stage or platform where a professor would speak, there was some sort of machine. I turned and looked at Taeyong, who was standing a few steps away, eyes widened in fear.

I looked back, my curiosity was only growing. I walked into the room and started down the stairs. I felt Taeyong grab my hand and pull me to a halt.

“What?”

“Johnny, no… You don’t even know what that thing is. It could be dangerous.”

And he was right, but I just needed to know. I needed to figure it out. I didn’t know what was compelling me to go up to it but, I had to figure it out.

“It’s fine. I’m not going to touch it. I just want to see.”

“Johnny, please… If we’re caught in here, who knows what they’ll do… We should just get going.”

“I won’t take long. I just want to know what it is.”

“O-Okay… But I’m not going to stay here.”

“Scared?” I smirked at him.

“You wish, you dumb, tall giraffe.” He grumbled and stomped ahead of me.

I laughed and followed him down the stairs. As we reached the bottom, the machine loomed closer and ominously in front of us. There were four or five bathtub-like structures at the base of it, and in the middle, a control panel. I walked to the weird bathtub structures and looked more closely at them. They seemed to be filled with water, but it was probably some weird chemical that looked like water…

“Johnny… Come look at this…” Taeyong’s voice wavered.

I turned and walked towards the direction his voice was coming in, but I couldn’t find him. I looked around the empty hall, a slight panic filling me.

“Taeyong? If you’re trying to scare me, it’s not funny-”

I was cut off; the sound of footsteps caught my attention. I whipped around and saw Taeyong standing in front of another person, who was holding a knife to his throat. The man was wearing a mask that covered his entire face, and I could only see his eyes- which were grey and cold. My eyes widened, and I felt myself freeze. I was rooted to the spot, unable to move, speak, or think. Taeyong’s eyes shone in the light, full of fear and confusion.

“Who are you?” The voice was cold and steely.

I opened my mouth to answer, but the lump in my throat wasn’t allowing me to. What if I said the wrong thing? Would I lose my best friend? There was so much to risk, and I was pretty sure that not answering the question wasn’t an option. I stared at Taeyong, who shut his eyes and grit his teeth. My heart was sinking. How was this even real? How was this happening?

“Who are you?” He repeated, tone unwavering.

“W-We’re just students.” I stammered out, my voice meek and soft.

“What are your names?”

“Jo-”

“Hey!”

The three of us whipped around to see-

“Ten?” I questioned my eyebrows knitting.

The smaller boy, who seemed so friendly and meek earlier, stood there holding a gun. It was aimed at the man holding Taeyong at knifepoint. I didn’t think, that after all that had happened today, that anything else could really surprise me but, obviously I stood corrected. I stared at Ten, my head beginning to hurt.

“Let him go.” Ten’s eyes were narrowed in a dangerous way.

“Looks like you showed up.”

“You’re hunting me, not them. Let him, and the other one, go.” His sweet voice was no longer present; it was as if he was a completely different person.

“There are consequences for running.”

“I ran because it was the only logical thing to do…”

“Saving your skin because you’re too scared?”

“I found a way to leave… Of course, I was going to take it.”

“No one can leave. There are laws.”

“I won’t go back. And you can’t take me. Now, let them go. I won’t ask again.”

Taeyong and I exchanged confused glances. I noticed his eyes frantically motion between his captor’s grip on him loosening, and my general direction. I suddenly realized what he was planning, and although it terrified me, it was a better plan than nothing. But just as he went to pull away, the man swiftly moved the knife away from his neck and down to his stomach, plunging it into him, eliciting a loud gasp.

Taeyong’s eyes went wide, as he fell to his knees. My eyes widened, and I couldn’t find the words. He keeled backwards as the man started to run, but the sound of gunfire echoed through the auditorium and the man crumpled forwards, dead. Ten stood there, eyes dead and emotionless as he held the same position and stared at the body of the stranger.

I rushed over to Taeyong. Sinking to my knees, I tried to quell the bleeding, but there seemed to be nothing I could do. I pressed my hands over the wound and he looked at me, eyes hollow as if the stars that were usually present in them were winking out. He tried to grasp onto my hand, but his shaky fingers couldn’t muster the strength. I grabbed his hand and squeezed it tightly.

“W-We’ll get you help. You’re going to be fine!” I gasped out, finally finding my words.

He opened his mouth to speak but he just coughed, wincing and groaning in pain. Tears began to well in my eyes and I couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t die. This couldn’t be happening. How was this happening?!

I turned around helplessly and looked at Ten. His eyes were full of sorrow and he sighed.

“Call someone! Anyone! What are you doing just standing there?!” I yelled.

“It’s too late… He’s not going to make it.” He said, eyes filled with pity.

“That’s not up for you to decide!” Anger flooded through me.

“I’m sorry…”

“P-Please… He’s my friend… My only friend…” I whispered, tears falling freely, “I can’t lose him… He’s all I have.” I gasped out, shaking.

“J-Johnny…” Taeyong’s feeble voice caught my attention and I turned and looked at him.

He smiled, weakly and opened his eyes slightly. I couldn’t help the sob that escaped me. I was going to lose my best friend… I was going to lose the only person who had tried to be a part of my life… And it was my fault. All of this was my fault.

“D-Don’t… Don’t cry…” He gasped out, smiling at me and reaching his hand out to wipe my tears but recoiled instantly as pain rippled across his face.

“D-Don’t move… I’m going to get you help. I promise. I won’t let anything happen to you.”

“N-No… Too late for me… Just… Don’t cry…” He whispered, eyes fluttering shut.

“No. No! NO! Taeyong, no!” I yelled, my heart racing as panic coursed through me.

I turned back to Ten who was fiddling with something in his hands. I couldn’t even muster the anger to yell, to scream, to do anything. I felt defeated… How did this happen?

“Alright, Johnny. When you wake up, remember, you asked for this.”

I looked back at Ten. He looked tired and frustrated.

“W-What?”

“I will help you save your friend. But remember, there are consequences. Every action has a reaction.” He looked at me with serious eyes.

“I-I don’t care… I just want to help him…”

“Alright. Hold on, okay?” His voice was noticeably warm.

My eyes opened suddenly, and I snapped my head up off the desk on which my face was pressed against. My head spun as I'd moved too fast, and I gripped the edge of the desk, feeling an extreme wave of sickness passing over me… I looked around, confused and panicked. As I turned my head to my right, the sight beside me nearly made me pass out from shock, happiness, and confusion.

Taeyong was sitting there, eyes directed forward at the professor. He looked at me and smiled warmly. I felt my legs lose all feeling and tears well up in my eyes. He noticed my expression and immediately looked concerned. I felt an overwhelming sense of relief flood my system. I looked around again, half expecting it all to fade away as if I were in a hallucination of some sort. But nothing happened. Everything stayed the same…

Had I really just dreamed all of that? Was all of what I just witnessed a figment of my imagination? It seemed unrealistic and impossible… But somehow, it felt real. The sounds, the feelings, the scents… Those felt real. Not like something I’d ever experienced in a dream before. I stared at Taeyong, who was confusedly looking at me, pure concern lacing his eyes. I shook my head, running my hands through my hair and taking a deep breath. It was a dream. That’s why I was here, now, with him… That’s why he wasn’t…

I couldn’t even think about it without feeling a sick nausea passing over me again. I shut my eyes and rubbed them, trying to rid myself of the thoughts about what had happened… That had been the most vivid dream I’d ever experienced… I heard the prof speaking up again, and I looked over.

“Please remember, these studies help, not only you but the university and the graduate students who are running them. Anyway, make sure to read the next chapter from the textbook for next class, and that should be all the work that you are required to do this week. Have a good evening everyone.”

The hall came to life, as it always would. People began to pack as if it were any other day. Everyone was chattering away, unaware of how I was feeling. Why did all this feel like such major déjà vu? If that had all just been a dream, why had it been so vivid and real…? Why had it felt like my heart was being ripped out of my chest? Why did the blood on my fingers feel so real?

“Johnny? What’s wrong?” Taeyong asked, eyebrows furrowed.

Standing up, I reached out and rested my hand on his shoulder. He looked at me, even more confused than before. I immediately grabbed him into the tightest embrace and tried my hardest to avoid crying right there. Shaking, I pulled away slowly and looked at him. He had the most confused look on his face, but grinned awkwardly at me anyway.

“T-Thank you?”

“I… I had a bad dream.” I decided that was the safest way to state it.

“Really? ‘Bout what?”

“Well… There was a lot going on but… You… Died.” I looked at him quickly and he immediately started laughing.

“I what?!” He smiled widely at me.

Although I was annoyed that he found the whole situation funny, I couldn’t help but smile too. Although Taeyong was a worrier, he was also light-hearted, and it was easy to forget your worries around him. He began packing up, but continually asked me to relive my dream to him.

“I wanna know how I died! Was it heroic? Was I cool and dramatic?” He asked wiggling his eyebrows and giggling, not unlike a child.

Rolling my eyes, I sighed and pushed him slightly, “You’re an idiot, you know that right?”

“Yes. I do. Now tell me!”

“No! You’re going to make fun of me, and it was a serious dream. I was really worried about you. I really thought you’d died.”

“Don’t worry Johnny, I’m never going to die. I’ll always stick around to annoy you.”

“Oh great. Now I wish I hadn’t woken up.”

“Hey!” He pouted and pushed me slightly.

“I’m kidding.” I laughed, smiling at him, but I was reminded of his face covered in blood, and my heart sank again, “It just felt… So real…”

“Like, you’d already seen it once before kind of real, or like… Where it just feels unnaturally and tangibly real?” “The second one… It felt real. It honestly felt like right now. Everything that happened is literally what’s happening here. I had fallen asleep on the desk and then I woke up at the end of class and we left together. But on the way home, we were stopped by a boy, who I’d never met but you knew him, and anyway, we got home… And then there was this shooting star thing that happened, and they were falling to the earth and there was fire, so they were moving students to the main campus… And, we wanted to take a shortcut into the buildings and so we went through the psych building but then I wanted to explore one of the empty halls, and you were against it but then we saw this giant, strange machine so we went in. And when we were looking at it, you got captured by this guy and he held you at knife-point… And anyway… That guy from before, that you knew, showed up and he tried to bargain for your life, but the guy holding you stabbed you, and then the other dude shot him… And you were dying.”

I looked at Taeyong, who was staring at me with wide eyes. Panic seized me; did he think I was insane? But my qualms were quelled a moment later as he burst into laughter. I sighed, rolled my eyes, and slinging my bag over my shoulder, I started towards the stairs. Still laughing, Taeyong followed suit and chased after me. He caught onto my arm and faked wiping a tear away.

“You’re so annoying.”

“Not that it didn’t sound like the coolest dream in the history of dreams, but it was slightly unrealistic.”

“In what way?” I asked, laughing along now.

“I wouldn’t be the one to die. That would be you.” He said as seriously as he could muster.

“I was actually worried about you, and that’s all you can say.” I feigned hurt.

“Don’t worry Johnny. If it ever came to that sort of situation, I would protect you.” He winked at me.

“Yeah, I’d love to witness the day that you and those scrawny arms could protect anything.” I snorted.

“Wow, here I am trying to protect you and all you can do is insult me?”

“You deserve it. Making fun of me for being genuinely worried about you.”

“I told you, don’t worry. It was just a dream after all.”

Although every rational part of me knew he was right, I couldn’t help but feel an inkling of worry. If the dream hadn’t felt so real, I didn’t think I’d be this fixated on it… But it had. It’d been the most real a dream had ever felt. I wasn’t sure I’d ever experienced something like that in my life. How was I supposed to just put it out of mind? Sure, to him, it might’ve been easy. But he hadn’t been the one to witness his best friend’s death- and real or not, that shit was traumatizing. I shivered slightly, trying my hardest to repress the vivid feeling and colour of the blood that had covered my hands.

Looking around, I realized we’d managed to walk all the way to the bus stop- this time, with no disturbances from anyone. Maybe my subconscious had just made him up. I looked around, and this time, there was no one at the bus stop. There was, however, snow falling even more heavily than in the dream.

“Odd.” Taeyong mumbled, pulling out his phone and checking the times again.

Leaning over his shoulder, I looked at the times, “There should’ve been one just now,” I mumbled.

“Yeah… I wonder what’s up.”

From behind us, we heard someone talking loudly. We both turned to look at the source of the voice. My eyes widened when I realized who I was looking at. He had light brown hair and a wide grin. He was talking animatedly into the microphone on a pair of earbuds, and when he noticed us looking, his cheeks flushed, and he lowered his voice. Taeyong simply turned and looked back at the road, checking both directions to see if the bus was coming. I, however, stood there, rooted to the spot. My eyes focused only on the shorter boy, his conversation flying right over my head. That was the boy that’d stopped me on the bus. There was no mistaking it. He was real.

“Taeyong, do you know who that is?” I leaned over, speaking quietly to him.

He glanced back and shrugged, “No, I’ve never seen him before. Why?”

“No reason…” I shook my head, not wanting to have him laugh at me again.

“You okay? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.” He said, concern lacing his voice.

“Yeah… I just think that dream took a real toll on me.” I said, laughing weakly.

“Well, hopefully, the bus comes soon. Then we can get home, and you can get the rest that you need.”

“Yeah…”

“Hey, guys!” The familiar voice of the boy startled us both.

We turned to look at him, and his cheeks were slightly pink; whether it was the weather or his embarrassment, I couldn’t tell. He stood there, nervousness seemed to fill the air, and he wrung his hands out awkwardly as if he couldn’t find the words to tell us what he wanted to say.

“Hi,” Taeyong said, smiling.

“Sorry, if this is awkward and out of nowhere… But, I was just on the phone with my friend, and he told me the busses have been cancelled due to the snow.”

“Oh shit, really?”

“Yeah, he was also waiting for his bus, but it never showed. And he called the bus station, that’s when they told him that all the lines closed early tonight seeing as the snow started to really come down. I thought I’d just let you guys know… It’s better than just standing here for a few hours.”

“Thanks, we appreciate it.” Taeyong grinned.

“No problem, I’ll see you around then.”

“Yeah, see you.”

He turned to walk away, but Taeyong immediately called out again.

“Where do you live?”

“Oh, East Village housing-”

“We live there too!”

“Oh cool! We could walk together.” The boy immediately blushed again, and frantically stuttering said, “Only if you’d want to do that of course. I understand if you wouldn’t want to.”

“Not at all! It’ll be better than walking alone, right?”

“Definitely. Shall we get going then?”

“Sounds good. I’m Taeyong by the way, and this is Johnny.”

“I’m Mark.” He smiled shyly.

“What year are you in?” I asked, finally speaking up.

“First. And you guys?”

“Third year. Both of us.”

“Yeah, I suspected you were both older. Not that you look old!” He panicked again, eyes widening.

“Don’t worry.” Taeyong said while I laughed awkwardly, “We know we look old.”

“Ah, don’t take it that way.” He meekly smiled.

“Don’t worry, we’re not being serious. We’re actually the epitome of youth. Can’t you see?”

“Totally.” He nodded, feigning seriousness.

We all burst into laughter. All my previous fears melted away; talking and laughing with both Taeyong and Mark made it easy to forget my worries. After all, I’d probably just seen Mark around campus somewhere, and that’s how he’d appeared in my dream so vividly. It was just a dream. Nothing else.

As we were walking back, out of the corner of my vision, I noticed the psych building. I stopped, looking at it, my curiosity burning desperately within me. I bit my lip, wondering if it was worth the risk. Even though it wasn’t real, even though it had just been a dream, part of me was convinced there was something behind that door. I mean, obviously, my subconscious had forced it into my dreams as a way of conveying that I had the desire to know what was behind it… Right? I frowned, still stuck staring at the building, trying to make a decision.

“What’s wrong?” Taeyong asked.

“Would you mind if we took a detour?” I asked, my voice sounding strangely unlike me.

“Why? And to where?”

“I want to go see inside the psych building.”

“Johnny if this is about the dream- I promise there is nothing weird in that building. Other than those experiment chambers, there is nothing else in there.”

“I know, I just… I need to make sure. I need to know that what I saw wasn’t real.”

“What’s going on?” Mark’s voice pierced my ears and I looked at him.

“He had a crazy dream and now he’s convinced it was real.” Taeyong sighed.

“Dreams are parallel universes, or at least… That’s what I believe.” Mark said shrugging.

“C’mon it’ll be quick.” I pleaded, looking back at Taeyong.

“I’m with Johnny. We should check it out!” Mark said, seriously.

“You can’t be buying into this!”

“What are you talking about? Dreams are terrifying. Of course, I want to check it out.”

“Oh my god, I feel like I’m talking to a brick wall.” Taeyong said, throwing his hands up in exasperation.

“Look at it this way, if I’m wrong-”

“Which you are!”

“-then you get to prove it. If I’m right, then we’ll see what I was talking about and then we can leave.”

“But you’re wrong!”

“But you won’t ever know for sure unless you check, right? And once we know for sure that I’m wrong, you can rub it in my face. C’mon… It won’t take me that long. I remember exactly where the room was. Plus, you get to use your favourite phrase: I told you so. You’ve literally got nothing to lose.”

Staring between us for a second, he sighed, “Fine, fine. But don’t think this means I’m on your side.”

I sighed in relief, smiling at Taeyong, who weakly smiled back. Quickly, I set off at a brisk pace towards the psych building. I pulled out my phone, glancing at the time to make sure that this was occurring at a different time, before the last set of events had taken place. Luckily, we had time to spare. Nevertheless, I kept my speedy pace up, as we rushed into the psych building. We walked down a long and narrow hallway, as we’d done in the dream, and eventually came upon the same staircase. Looking back at them, I nodded and took the stairs two at a time. At the top of the stairs was a door which led to another extremely narrow hallway. The end of the hall had a set of double doors, leading towards what I’d always presumed to be a lecture hall under construction.

“That’s it.” I pointed.

“You came all this way to look at a lecture hall door?” Taeyong groaned.

“No, I came to see what was on the other side of it.”

“Wouldn’t it be, oh I don’t know… A lecture hall?”

“No, it was something else. Some kind of machine… I don’t know how to explain it.”

“Okay, fine. Go open it.”

Feverishly, I rushed to the door. Gripping the handle, with a sweaty, shaky hand, I pushed in.

As if being submerged in icy water, I gasped for air. It felt as if all the wind had been knocked out of me. There, in the room, just as it had been before was the same machine, and it was connected to the same five bathtub-like structures, which still appeared to be filled with a substance that bore a great deal of resemblance to water. I stared, unable to figure out how to respond to what I was looking at. And as if it were a perfect repetition of my dream, I heard Taeyong curse loudly. Mark, the only addition to the picture, uttered a soft and awed, “Woah,” all while stepping forward slightly.

How could this be happening? How was any of this real?!

“How is that real?” Taeyong’s trembling voice brought me back to the present.

“I don’t know…”

“What the hell is it?”

“I have no clue.” “Well, you dreamed it! And now it’s here? What is going on?!” He sounded panicked.

“I’m not sure…”

“Can we get closer?” Mark asked, stepping into the lecture hall, all caution thrown to the wind.

“No!” Taeyong gasped, pulling him back. “If your dream was anything like the truth, then there is no way I’m letting either of you near that thing. We don’t even know what it is?”

“I’m going to see what it is.” I said, already walking towards it.

I heard Mark scramble after me, and after a few grumbling sounds, Taeyong gave in and followed as well. I was at the bottom of the stairs before I could even process it; my feet seemed to have gained their own will and control. My mind was a mess of static, confusion, and panic. Nothing and everything seemed real all at the same time. I walked towards what seemed to be the main part of the machine. There was computer built into the base of the machine, and it seemed to be on. I looked at the screen. It was black and there was a blinking cursor. I stared at it, fingers trembling as I reached out for the keyboard.

“Who the hell are you?!” A voice echoed angrily.

The three of us turned, panic flowing through me and my heart starting to madly beat. I already knew what was coming. Was I really going to put myself- and my friends- through this again?

But instead of being the knife-wielding man that had nearly killed my best friend, it was someone else-

“Ten?!” Taeyong said, confusion layering even more into his voice.

“Taeyong…” He said, a look of sadness flitted across his expression briefly, but it was gone in an instant. He looked around and when he saw me, he frowned. “What are you doing here?”

“I-”

“I would’ve thought you’d learned your lesson. I would’ve thought you’d brushed it off, in the least. You weren’t supposed to come back!”

“It just didn’t seem real… I had to know if it was a dream-”

“It wasn’t!” He yelled.

I froze.

“S-So… What does that mean?”

“It means I rewound time… It means I broke every law there is, just to save your friend. And now you’re here. And if anyone catches you here, they will hurt you and your friends again. You can’t be here!”

As he said that, screams started echoing around us.

“The stars are falling… It’s happening earlier.” He whispered, looking at the watch on his wrist.

“What’s going on? Johnny? Ten? Someone answer me!” Taeyong’s voice was slightly raised, matching his anxious expression.

“Taeyong, I’m so sorry… You guys weren’t meant to be dragged into this.” Ten said, looking even more pained.

“Guys, I think someone’s coming.” Mark spoke up finally.

He was right. The sounds of yelling came from behind the doors. And it wasn’t the terrified screams of students on campus. Rather, it was the sound of people yelling orders. I could barely make out what was being said, but their calm tones were a dead giveaway that we were in trouble. I looked at Ten, who had his eyes shut tightly, brow furrowed in concentration. I opened my mouth, to speak but his eyes snapped open first. He looked at the three of us, sadness too clearly present in his eyes, and sighed.

“Alright, we don’t have much of choice at this point.”

“What are you talking about?” Taeyong took a step forward but Ten held up his hand, stopping him.

“Just… Hold on.”

He walked over to the keyboard that was attached to the monitor, and leaning over, began typing furiously. None of us said anything as we were far too confused and taken back by what was happening. I looked at Taeyong, his eyes held nothing but confusion. Mark seemed to be in the same state, except it was much more evident in his face and actions. He was nervously looking at the doors and ringing his hands. I tried not to show how I was feeling, but it was difficult.

“Alright. Get in.” Ten said, straightening and pointing to the bathtub structures.

“What?!” Mark yelped.

“If you want to live, get into the pods.”

“Ten… Please tell us what’s going on.” Taeyong put his hands-on Ten’s shoulders and pleaded.

“Taeyong, I’m trying to save your lives. Please… I’ll explain it when we’re somewhere that’s not here. If we wait any longer, we’ll all end up dead. Please. Just trust me.”

“I do.” I said, without thinking.

Ten looked at me, a sort of gratitude blazed in his eyes. I nodded at him, and he looked back into Taeyong’s eyes. It was the sincerity in his voice that convinced me. I sighed and looked at the pods.

“I’m trying to save you.” Ten said, desperation entering his voice, “We don’t have a lot of time.”

“O-Okay…” Taeyong said, hands shaking slightly as he took a step back.

Mark looked even paler than before, as he robotically walked over to one of the pods. We all watched Ten as he rushed over to the machine and pressed a few more keys.

“I’ve set it on a timer, we need to hurry.” He said and walked over to his own one and got in, lying down and crossing his arms.

We all followed suit. Cautiously, I stepped into the watery substance. I let out a soft gasp, not expecting it to be warm. Removing my bag and setting it near my feet, I sat down. I gave Taeyong one last reassuring look. Although I didn’t know what our future held, I hoped that at least we’d be safe. He smiled, nervously.

We both lay back, submerging ourselves in the liquid. It covered almost my entire body, except my face. I shut my eyes, confused and still waiting to wake up as if this was another dream. But nothing happened. I opened my eyes again, and to my surprise, a lid had appeared over the top of the pod. I reached my hand out to touch it, but suddenly I was falling.

It was like no other experience in my entire life. The feeling of falling without the reassurance of an end. The feeling of my stomach going up as if on a never-ending roller coaster, made my head spin. I felt nauseous and out of breath. The thought of gasping for air entered my mind, but even trying to open my mouth seemed like a dangerous idea, as I was pretty sure at any moment I would throw up.

But it suddenly stopped. Just like that. The falling stopped as I collided with the hard, solid ground. I lay there, confused and gasping for air, my chest heaving. My face was pressed against something that felt like concrete after the rain. The only feelings that I was aware of were that of my hands and knees which were stinging painfully from the collision, as well as the pounding in my head. The sudden pressure drop made my vision foggy and I was having trouble thinking. Slowly and carefully, I pressed my palms against the ground but hissed in pain as I retracted them immediately. Maybe I had damaged them a lot worse than I’d thought. I lay there, listening. The sounds of water dripping and hitting stones, echoed all around me. Water gently tricked somewhere, not far from me. That, coupled with the extremely hollow, empty droning, made my stomach tighten in anxiety. On top of that, the scents were overpowering. It smelled like wet mould, dirt, and decay. I was already feeling nauseous, but the smell only added to it, causing me to retch slightly. I needed to figure out where I was.

Using my forearms and elbows instead, I managed to push myself up off the cold floor. But overwhelming nausea caused me to bend back down. Gasping heavily, my mouth burned with the taste of bile. Finally, managing to push myself up, I turned as I got myself into a seated position, and looked around. It was dark, extremely dark. There was very limited lighting, coming from somewhere, but I couldn’t really tell. It seemed that most of the light was emanating from the vivid, sickeningly, greenish-blue pathway of water. It looked like I was in a sewer. The sudden sound of squeaking and hissing caused me to gasp and look around, but I couldn’t find the source of the sound due to the echoes skewing my perception. I swallowed, hard.

Trembling slightly, I looked at my hands. They were covered in mud and blood. I grimaced and looked around. The floor which I was upon was wet and covered in dirt and grime. My head felt like it would split in two at any moment and I could barely think. Gritting my teeth and shaking immensely, I pushed myself to stand up. My legs shook as I put my weight on them, and I nearly keeled over right there but I managed to grip onto a wall that was to my right. Something was definitely wrong with my left ankle and putting weight upon was not an option. So, gripping the wall, I pushed myself to stand, and tried taking a shaky step. One by one, I limped closer towards the water. When I’d reached the edge of the platform I was on, I kneeled and looked down into the bright water. It seemed to go on forever. Looking left and right, it swirled off into the different paths and kept going far beyond my line of vision. The water cast an eerie, greenish-blue glow on the walls and on me.

I wondered whether it was worth sticking my hands in there and washing them off but decided against it. Standing again, I looked around. There was just enough light for me to be able to make out pathways, one to the left and one to the right. I swallowed again, now quite aware of how dry my mouth and throat were.

It suddenly struck me- Where was Taeyong?! And Mark, and Ten? Much too fast, I looked around again, causing my head to spin as I clutched the wall, feeling the bile rise to my mouth. I spat it out, retching and coughing. My head was pounding even harder if that was possible, and my throat was now burning. I breathed, heavily, and looked up slowly. I had no choice. If they weren’t here, I’d have to find them. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed something lying there. Turning, carefully, I saw my bag. A feeling of relief seemed to flood through me. There was something comforting about having your stuff with you when you were completely alone.

I limped over to it, picking it up and pulled it on. It hung to my right side and with every step I took it swayed, pulling my balance off slightly, but I’d have to get used to managing the extra weight. I looked around again, I had the option to go left or right. I bit my lip, feeling torn; there was no way to know for sure where the others were, or if they were even together. How was I going to find them? Closing my eyes, I listened to the sounds around me, hoping it would help me decide. I heard the same hissing and squeaking coming from somewhere to the right.

“That’ll have to do.” I whispered, my voice echoing off the walls.

Walking slowly, still holding onto the wall, I followed the right path. My eyes were finally adjusting to the dark tunnels, and I was finally able to get used to the scent. Walking too had become slightly easier, although the pain was still there, it had begun to dull. I walked and walked and walked, losing track of how long I’d been doing it. I couldn’t tell what was going on, I had no perception of time. All I could do was keep walking, in hopes that eventually I would come across someone or something.

I’d been following the sounds of, what I could only hope were rats. Their scurrying feet pattering in the water, the sounds of them squeaking loudly in terror and anger as they fought with one another, it all made me feel tightly wound. I sighed, shakily. I was terrified, and I had nothing but my bag to hold onto.

That’s when the scent hit me; it wasn’t strong but even the smallest whiff caused me to feel ill. It was disgusting. Like rotted, decaying trash, something that was so sickening it made your head spin… That’s what it smelled like. I covered my mouth, continuing to walk. But the scent only got stronger, and with it, the sound of rats became louder and louder. I had a chilling feeling I knew what I was going to encounter, but that didn’t make it any easier.

I knew what was coming, even before I rounded the corner. The smell was so overpowering that I had to press my face against my sleeve, yet it still somehow permeated the cloth. I turned the corner, dreading what I was about to see, knowing I’d regret it. But I didn’t have much of a choice. As I rounded the corner, and my eyes landed upon it, I stumbled backwards. Unable to stop myself, I crashed, falling backwards and crawled as far as I could, before vomiting violently. I heard more rats gathering, and I knew I’d have to get away from them before they could come near me, but my head was spinning. Trembling even harder than before, I stood again. I felt drained. I looked back over, my stomach ached, and I stared at it…

A body. A human body… Or what was left of it anyway. From the minimal lighting, you could see the decay… And it wasn’t pretty. Most of the person was missing due to the rats, which were here in great numbers fighting over this source of food. They’d managed to get down to the innards of the person, and from where I was, something that looked suspiciously like intestines were spilling out of them. Yet, mixed in with the blood and guts, I saw several metal parts. I held my breath, feeling sick, and walked around the corpse. My head felt lighter and even more painful than before. What the hell was going on here…?

As I walked away, I turned to look back every now and again, a feeling of ominous dread hanging over me. How had that person died? Had something killed them? My mind was swirling with questions, but I knew I wouldn’t get answers- at least not until I found Ten.

From up ahead, I heard the unmistakable sound of footsteps. My heart leapt into my throat and ignoring all the pain my body was feeling, I broke into a sprint. The pain in my ankle was searing now, but the adrenaline was fueling me to push forward. As I rounded another corner, relief, happiness, and exhaustion all hit me.

“Taeyong.” I gasped, my legs feeling weak and shaking even harder.

The three boys turned around, eyes wide. Taeyong gasped, and even from here I could see the tears filling his eyes. He rushed towards me, embracing me tightly.

“I thought I’d lost you.” He whispered, gasping.

“Never.” I mumbled, pulling away and smiling at him weakly.

He seemed to be in the same banged up condition as me. Dirt, grime, and blood covered his face. I touched his cheek, where a gash was bleeding. He shook his head and smiled at me, reassuring me he was okay, but it hurt to see him like this.

Looking over at Mark and Ten, they too were looking exhausted and dirty. Ten smiled at me and nodded, eyes softening and a seeming relief overtaking him. He looked alright; he had several scratches and bites on him, but nothing too bad. I looked at Mark, who grinned but somehow looked worse than all of us. A cut had appeared above his left eye, which was swollen and bleeding. He had several bite marks on his hands and arms and he seemed to be shaking.

“We should hurry before the rats smell the blood.” Ten mumbled, looking exhausted.

I nodded, and Taeyong and I joined them and continued walking. The silence seemed to become strained now that I was there. I was burning with a thousand questions, but I wasn’t sure how to ask them. I didn’t know if Ten even wanted to talk. I, for one, was exhausted and talking seemed like it would take the last bit of energy I had left, out of me.

“I know you want to ask something so… Ask.” Ten chuckled, wincing slightly, grabbing at his side.

“Are you ok?”

“Are any of us ok?” He asked, smiling coldly.

“Right…” I whispered.

“I’m not mad at you. I was. But I’m not anymore.” He said, glancing sideways at me.

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. I would’ve had to come back here eventually.”

“Ten… Where is… Here?”

“A dream.”

“What?” I stopped dead in my tracks.

“We’re trapped in a dream.”

“You’re crazy…”

“Look… Believe me or don’t believe me, I’m telling you the truth. We’re trapped inside someone else’s dream. It’s more of a nightmare, to be honest with you but… This is someone else’s subconscious.”

“You’re crazy.” I repeated, even more terrified and taking a step backwards.

“Johnny. I don’t know how to convince you of this. 3 years ago, we were brought here. It was a project that a science company created. The company was known as Science Modern.” “Why does that sound familiar?”

“It should be. There was a huge lawsuit filed against them. It was in the news for ages. They went bankrupt.”

“So… What happened?”

“They tried to create a machine that would allow you to enter a test subject’s dreams. They were actually doing really well. They created the machine, that was the easy part.”

“That’s supposed to be the easy part?”

“They needed live subjects. But with something that could go so wrong, the Board of Ethics would never pass them. Experimenting on people is something that can have serious repercussions. You’re in the psych program, you should know that. Anyway… They were desperate. They needed more money, and they needed results. So, they put out ads for young people. People who wouldn’t necessarily be missed. People who could disappear and no one would question it. Anyway, eventually, they gathered enough people. Most of them were just desperate for money…” There was a distinct pause, but he continued, as if nothing had happened, “And then, they eventually started experimenting.”

“What happened?”

“The first subject died. The process was so taxing on his body, that his heart gave out. Science Modern successfully covered it up, saying he was a boy who was working on another project and had a series of heart defects… No one said another word, after all, it was a science company that was making these claims, and they’d never get their information wrong… They continued testing. The second person managed to last for a few hours, but he too eventually had a heart attack. Science Modern realized that technically live patients weren’t going to cut it. They needed to find someone who was… Alive but not really.”

“Comatose patients…” I whispered, horrified.

“Exactly. They managed to convince a family to sign over their comatose son… And it worked. The boy was barely alive but because he wasn’t technically living, nothing bad seemed to be happening. So, they went with it.”

“That’s disgusting…”

“It gets worse… They realized that they needed people who were willing to go into the person’s subconscious. But because they had a limited number of scientists, who weren’t expendable, they needed civilians. At least until the method was perfected.”

“Holy shit…”

“Yup… The remaining people who’d signed up? They sent them into the comatose patient’s subconscious, along with guards who were basically robots, not knowing if they could get the people out or if they would die… And it worked. They managed to put people into the dreams, people were freely able to explore and act on their own volition within someone else’s mind… But the major downside was that they couldn’t leave. These young people, including children, were trapped inside someone’s mind. Anyway… Someone in Science Modern suddenly grew a conscience and decided to rat out the whole operation. Most of the members and scientists fled and changed their identities, but the CEO was sued. The public never found out what he was sued for but… The company ended up going bankrupt.”

“So… You’re…”

“Yeah. I’m one of the people who signed up.” His voice broke slightly as did my heart.

“All of the people here are young. We’ve been trapped for what feels like forever. There’s no concept of time here. Everyone just exists. And it doesn’t help that the mind of this boy is obviously very troubled… I told you, this world isn’t safe. These aren’t dreams of someone who hasn’t suffered a trauma… This boy is very ill… And what’s worse is that those AI guards have evolved their own conscience… They believe they’re doing the right thing, keeping us here. Them, mixed with the monsters that live in this boy’s mind… Well, it’s safe to say that this is about surviving. The remaining victims, we grouped together and formed a sort of resistance. We called ourselves Neo Culture Technology… As an oppose to Science Modern… It feels cheesy to say it now but, it helps us stay close and feel united. It feels like we’re really fighting for something.”

“But, how’d you escape?”

“I found one of the scientist’s workbooks. Must’ve been mistakenly sent in at some point. Well, he had notes on maybe a successful way to evacuate the survivors from here. But nothing was solid yet. I decided I didn’t have much of a choice. I had to see if any of his plans were solid. The method was basically to rework the machine that Science Modern had created and make a gateway out. One of the boys actually managed to build one, but I wasn’t about to send a bunch of terrified and innocent people through it… So, I decided I’d go through. If it worked, I’d find a way to get back and help the others come through.”

“What if it didn’t…?”

“If not, I’d die… But that would be a better fate than what I was living in…”

He looked weary and regretful. I placed a hand on his shoulder and shaking his head, as if trying to rid thoughts from his mind, he smiled at me weakly.

“Anyway, it worked. I found myself in the real world, in the middle of nowhere. I walked for days trying to find someone or a sign of life. I ended up hitching rides with strangers until I found out about your school.”

“The university?”

“I heard rumours that the machine had been moved there, under tight security. So, I made my way there. I blended in, went to classes, tried my best to seem like I was part of the student life. And then I found the machine. But… I didn’t know how to activate it or if I’d even end up in the same world I had started in. I couldn’t be sure of anything… So, I had to test the machine. Unfortunately, on one of these days, Taeyong happened to walk into the room.” He smiled wryly.

I looked at Taeyong who shrugged, “Ten already told us what happened but… I don’t really recall any of this.”

“Of course, you wouldn’t… I had to rewind time…”

“But how-” “The AI guards have capabilities to rewind time. Since they’re artificial intelligence, and because it’s a dream world, there are no set consequences for them- for the living, it was a different case… They would often rewind time when someone died and force them to relive it. It’s their method of torture… And fun…” He shivered involuntarily but continued, “I got into a tight spot with one of them. I killed it and managed to take it apart. I found the component that allowed them to rewind time and removed it. We used a lot of the parts I’d found from it to make the escape pod… Anyway, I hung onto the complex and it came in use… But, in the real world, it had obvious consequences. The falling stars? That’s my fault. When I rewound real time, it became extremely clear that the world wasn’t used to spinning in reverse and that it caused massive shifts in real time… Things that weren’t meant to happen for another hundred years would occur much faster. That’s why I was so hesitant to rewind time when Taeyong died… I knew something else would happen and I was already responsible for one mistake, I wasn’t sure if I could handle two… But you looked so upset.” He sighed, running a hand through his hair.

“Thank you for doing it…” I whispered, looking at my shoes, “I don’t understand… If you could rewind time, couldn’t you go back far enough to before the whole situation happened?”

He chuckled and shook his head, “They only rewind for a few hours, if you’re lucky. Most are only meant for a few minutes… It wouldn’t work. And now the component I had is dead. It was pretty low in power when I first got it and using it to rewind in hours must’ve taken a real toll…”

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. I’d rather see Taeyong living too. So, we’re now here again. But, the good thing is, I can send you three through when we get back to our base camp. We’re almost there now.”

“What-”

“You three shouldn’t be here in the first place. So, when we get back to the base camp, I’ll send you through. The rest of us will shortly join you, I promise.”

“What about those people who were chasing you?”

“Those were the AI guards. Almost seemed human, didn’t they? They’re built like humans… Flesh, blood, bone… But they’re made of parts like a machine. They have their own mind and can make connections… They’re smart, but we’re smarter. We’ve managed for as long as we have so…”

I was about to ask him another question when he pointed. We all followed his gaze and hand and looked to see a door. He smiled brightly and sighed.

“This is it. Shield your eyes okay?”

“What?”

He walked towards the door and pushed against it. As it opened, blinding light poured in. All three of us ducked our heads downwards, wincing and gasping. Ten, shielding his eyes, took a step forward and breathed deeply. Fresh air hit my lungs and I gasped. It was overwhelming. I looked up, slowly moving my hand away from in front of my eyes, to see a forest expanding largely in front of us. My mouth fell open, and I glanced at Taeyong and Mark who also seemed perplexed.

“It’s a dream, boys… It’s never what you think.” Ten said, stepping out into the evening glow of the setting sun.

Taeyong and Mark followed, with me closely behind. As I put my foot down on the fresh earth, and the scent of the evening reached my nose, I felt pain and emotion overwhelm me. The sounds of birds twittering in the glow of the sun, a river rushing downstream, and even the small critters squeaking loudly all seemed so foreign. My eyes, still adjusting to the sudden brightness, picked up little dots of colour scurrying around in the golden light. Trees, taller than I’d ever seen in my entire life, reached towards the sky, branched out and created a dappled light texture that fell upon my skin. I breathed in; the smell of rain and dirt and life all consumed me as I stood there. Ten looked at me, a sad smile gracing his lips.

“It seems beautiful, right? The boy whose head we’re in… He was a painter. He used to sit and watch these scenes for hours. Very talented boy.”

“How do you know?”

“He was my friend.” Ten said, blinking suddenly, and looking down, avoiding eye-contact.

“Your friend?”

“Yeah… Best friend actually… He stuck with me through some tough stuff. And uh… He was in an accident and that’s when the coma happened and now… This…” Ten’s eyes glazed over slightly.

I wanted to comfort him, but… I didn’t know what to say.

“Ten, I’m sorry…”

“It sucks, dude, but… You move through it. You learn from it.”

“That’s brave.”

“Maybe.” He sighed, “Anyway, we should hurry. Sun’s setting… That’s when it becomes less beautiful.”

We followed along behind him, looking around in awe at the world around us. It was beautiful. Absolutely every detail seemed real. Ten’s speech still had me reeling. It was difficult to digest it, but I had to. I couldn’t really tell what was real anymore and what wasn’t. But everything here… All of it seemed to be real. It felt so incredibly real.

“There.” Ten’s voice suddenly rang out.

He pointed to a tree. But it wasn’t an ordinary tree. It had three platforms that ran up its trunk. Each platform had cabin-like structures. There were stairs that led to each level, and even from here, you could see people walking along the levels.

Mouth open, I looked at Taeyong and Mark, who also seemed very awestruck. Ten saw our expressions and laughed.

“It looks good right…? This is our current hideout. We have several for any time we have to move suddenly.”

“You built this?” Mark asked.

“No. Fourteen people is not enough to do something like this… The boy in the coma… This is his doing.”

“Fourteen?”

“There’s fourteen of us…” Ten said, smiling sadly, “That’s all that remains.”

“How many did you start with?”

“There used to be fifty subjects. Most of them died from the monsters in here, some of them were caught by the AI guards. Others just went missing. Now it’s the fourteen of us left.”

“That’s horrible.” Taeyong said, in a soft voice.

“That’s life…” Ten sighed and began walking forward.

He waved his hand upward and jumped up and down. Several people noticed and began to wave back, but, I’m assuming, from seeing us, they immediately froze and began talking to each other. Ten simply kept walking forward. I looked at the other two and nervously smiled.

“They don’t look very happy to see us.” I mumbled softly, so Ten wouldn’t hear.

“They’re probably just being cautious. This world seems dangerous.” Taeyong said.

“How did you guys end up getting hurt?” I asked, staring at their injuries.

“When I crashed, I guess,” Mark said softly, “I landed in the middle of a rat nest. There were so many… I ended up running into a wall trying to get away from them and got cut on a rock that was poking out.” He pointed to the cut above his eye. “And well, the swollen part was because I ran into the wall.” He winced.

“And you?” I asked nodding to the cut on Taeyong’s cheek.

“Ten had a blade on him… I ran into it.” He laughed sheepishly.

“Idiot…” I chuckled.

“That’s me.” Taeyong grinned and shook his head, “Where were you?” “Quite far from you guys… I think… I couldn’t really tell how much time had passed.”

“Yeah, it was difficult for us as well. By the time I’d found Taeyong it’d felt like hours had already passed.”

“You guys were also split up?”

“Yeah… But, Ten seemed to find me relatively fast.” Mark said, shrugging.

“He probably knew his way around down there.” I looked at the smaller boy up front.

“Probably-”

“Guys, c’mon!” Ten turned around a bright smile on his face.

We had reached the base of the tree and another boy was standing there waiting. He had a giant smile on his face, dimples showing deeply on cheeks. He seemed to have a gentle air about him like he was patient and kind. He had messy, dark blonde hair, with dark, but kind eyes. When Ten was within arm’s length, he threw himself onto the other boy, hugging him tightly. The boy laughed and hugged him back, and I could see tears welling in his eyes.

“You’re back.” He said in a soft, yet deep voice.

“Did you doubt it?” Ten said smiling brightly.

“Never.”

“Guys, this is Jaehyun.” Ten said, introducing us.

“And you’ve brought… Friends?”

“It’s a long story… They’re from the real world.”

“Why would you bring people back?” He asked, panic suddenly rising in his voice.

“Well, it’s not a big deal. We can send them back. Jaehyun, we can go home now.” Ten said, grabbing hold of his hand excitedly.

“Ten…” Jaehyun’s eyes widened and he sighed.

“Wh-What happened?”

“The AIs… They found it and seized it.”

“N-No… No way…”

“We tried to stop them, but we couldn’t. They almost killed Renjun in the process. I had to make a choice.” Jaehyun’s eyes were begging for forgiveness as his voice broke slightly.

“I understand.” Ten said, smiling, “You did the right thing, Jaehyun. Don’t look so worried.”

“I’m so sorry…” He sighed, looking at us.

Turning, Ten sighed and looked at us, “Looks like you’ll be here a little longer than I expected. I’m sorry but, until I can get that machine back… You’ll have to stay with us.”

I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to say. The entire world had been thrown upside down in a matter of a few hours, and I couldn’t even find the words to express what I was feeling. Exhaustion, confusion, absolute fear? Nothing seemed to capture all that I was feeling. I just nodded, knowing my voice would betray me and show the fear I was feeling.

“As long as you remain with us, nothing will happen to you. I promise.” Ten said, eyes locked with ours.

“I believe you.” Taeyong said softly, smiling sadly.

“Thank you…” Mark nodded.

“I’m sorry this had to happen, but we’ll gladly stay with you if you let us.” Taeyong added.

“Of course.” Ten said, smiling, “Jaehyun, this is Johnny, Taeyong, and Mark.”

“It’s nice to meet you.” He said, nodding.

“Jaehyun is good at keep track of everything.” Ten said.

“Are you the leader?” Mark asked, looking at Jaehyun.

“Oh no. We don’t really have a leader. No one’s stepped up to the job. We just function.”

“A leader would be nice, but no one has the skills.” Ten said, sighing.

We all began to walk up the stairs. With every step we took, my legs began to feel more and more like lead. I had no energy left to ask them where we were going, all I could do was follow.

“We’re taking you to the infirmary.” Jaehyun said, looking back at us.

“Thank god.” Mark laughed, the exhaustion starting to show on his face.

“You’ve been through a lot it seems.” He said, smiling gently at us.

“Not as much as you.” I said without really thinking, but he stopped in his tracks, staring at me.

“That’s very kind of you.” He said, tilting his head and letting out a soft hum.

“Y-You’re welcome.” I said slightly flustered.

We kept walking up the steps, and at the third and final platform, we walked off onto it. I noticed that no one seemed to be around. It was eerily quiet, except for the sound of the surrounding wilderness. The sun had finally set by this point, and the inky blue sky was starting to glow with stars that were showing themselves. I was in awe, staring upwards at the sky- it was beautiful.

“This is it.” Ten said, leading us into a cabin.

It was well furnished- with things you wouldn’t expect to be in a forest. At the end of the room, a monitor screen was hooked up to a boy who lay on a bed, with a ventilator over his mouth. I stared at him, confused. The boy had rounded features and light brown hair, he seemed to be a little younger than me, but there was something about him. His features seemed expressionless.

“Isn’t this the forest?” Mark asked, staring.

“I told you, it’s a dream… Things don’t have to make sense.” Ten said, softly.

“That’s-”

Ten looked at me and nodded before I could finish. He walked towards the bed and I followed. I stared at him and a sort of sadness filled me. I glanced sideways at Ten, wondering how he was. He had a fond look in his eyes and glanced at me. He smiled and sighed.

“Yeah… This is him.”

“How is he here?”

“Don’t ask me… There are some things that even I don’t really understand. All I know is this is really his body.”

“Ten… I have a question.”

“Hm?”

“If he gets hurt-”

“We’ll probably die.”

“Right…”

“If his brain is damaged any more in any way… This world will cease to exist. Brain activity doesn’t occur in coma patients but… Some of them can dream, which scientists still don’t know how to explain. There was once when his ventilator got loose, and he wasn’t getting oxygen… The world literally began crumbling all around us. It was a close call.”

“That’s terrifying.”

“It was… But, that’s not why I take care of him. But it is another incentive to make sure he stays safe, but…” He trailed off, lost in thought.

“Will he ever wake up?”

“Maybe. I really hope so… When we find a way out, he can be brought to a real doctor.” Ten said, looking at me, tears present in his eyes, “They’ll know what to do… And even if they don’t, he’ll get the proper care he deserves.”

“You said he was your best friend.”

“He is my best friend. He’s still there… I know he is.”

“What’s his name?”

“Kun.”

“Guys, you should get some rest.” Jaehyun’s voice brought me back to the present.

I nodded, suddenly extremely aware again of the tiredness and pain I was feeling.

“You should probably wash up first. Get those cuts cleaned as well.” Jaehyun commented.

“Probably.” Taeyong yawned.

Wistfully, I looked at the clean beds and nodded. Cleaning up now would be a good idea. A hot shower to clean all the blood and dirt and grim off me sounded heavenly. Jaehyun led us towards the back of the medical cabin, where there were showers. He opened a cupboard, getting out three towels and handing them to us. He also found some extra clothes: three plain, white shirts and three brown shorts, in sizes as best as he could match to us.

“After you’ve showered, you should definitely get some well-deserved rest.”

“Thank you, for showing us all this kindness.” Taeyong said.

“Thank you for getting Ten back to us safely.” Jaehyun’s eyes softened and he nodded to us, “I hope you sleep well.” He turned and nodded to Ten then left the room.

“Get showered. Then rest. You’ll have plenty of time to explore later.”

“Thank you again, Ten.” I said, sighing.

“Not a problem.”

We all got into the individual showers and began washing ourselves off. The hot water hit my back and I swear I could’ve fallen asleep right there. The cuts on my hands and knees stung but I knew they were being cleaned so I could bear with it. When I finally felt clean, I grabbed the towel and dried myself off, then wrapping it around my waist, walked out of the shower and pulled the fresh clothes on. It felt so good to be clean and washed.

I walked over to the beds and saw Mark and Taeyong already fast asleep. Although I was tired, I wanted to smell the clean air again, so I walked out of the cabin and to the edge of the platform, leaning against the railing that was there. The wind rustled my hair, and I realized that rain was falling gently. I looked at the sky, the stars were faded by a thin veil of clouds that blurred them. The sound of rain pattering against the leaves, while crickets chirped away, and owls hooted every now and then, although foreign and strange to me, was extremely comforting. I felt calm and peaceful for the first time since I’d woken up in the psych classroom…

It was almost laughable. How far away that felt now… How very odd and strange to think that just a few hours ago my biggest concern was my grade…

I let out a short laugh, sadness beginning to overwhelm me. What if I was never able to go home again? What if this is how we had to live forever? What if we’d spend the rest of our lives running? All of it would be my fault. I’d gotten Taeyong and Mark into this mess too… I gripped the railing tighter, ignoring the sharp stings of pain I felt in my hands, frustration and confusion pulsing through me. Was this even real?

I felt a hand on my back, and I turned my head to see Ten.

“Oh… Hey.” I said, quietly.

“Couldn’t sleep?”

“I just wanted to listen…” I nodded outwards.

“Yeah, I get that… It’s beautiful to just listen to the world.”

“Yeah…”

“But, that’s not all, is it? Something’s bothering you.”

“I just… I feel so stupid. If it hadn’t been for me, Mark and Taeyong wouldn’t be here.”

“Trust me, Johnny… Guilt can kill a person. You’re better off accepting their forgiveness. They would never hold this against you.” He rested his forearms against the railing and leaned forward slightly.

“How do I just forgive myself?”

“You won’t… Not for a long time. I think you have to find it in yourself. You have to learn that… It’s okay to make mistakes and that we’re all going to make them. Sometimes, our mistakes make us better people.”

“You sound like you’re speaking from experience.” I said, raising an eyebrow at him.

“You’d be kidding yourself if you thought there wasn’t one person in the world who didn’t have regrets… Or guilt…” His voice heavy.

“You seem to have a lot knowledge, for a kid that is.” I smiled, nudging him gently.

“Just cause you’re an old man, doesn’t mean we all are.” He said, grinning slightly.

A secondary feeling of guilt washed over me, “I’m sorry… For what happened today.”

“I told you. I forgive you. I would’ve had to come back anyway. Truth is Johnny, I was scared to come back. I was scared that more of my friends might’ve died… The people here, this group we’ve formed, they’re like family to me. Without them, I’d be nothing. The thought that any single one of them could’ve died… It terrifies me.”

“That makes you a good friend.”

“Some would say that makes me foolish.”

“Not me.”

“Then that would make you foolish.” He grinned.

“Who said I wasn’t.” I smiled back.

He turned and looked at me, eyes shining in the darkness. He looked like he wanted to say something important, so I faced him as well.

“I want to ask you something.”

“Go ahead.”

“You have all the choice in the world, if you three want to leave tomorrow morning, you’re more than welcome. However, I… I really do think all of us could benefit if you decided to stay. We’d have more people and you’d have a safe place to stay.

“I’m sure the boys feel the same way. I know I do.”

“Then… Don’t just stay… Become part of the group.” As an afterthought, he said, “You’d all make great additions.”

“Become part of Neo… Uh, what was it?”

“Neo Culture Technology.” Ten said, smiling.

“You really sure you want us? What about the rest of your group.”

“It’s a resistance, Johnny. We’re fighting the injustice we’ve experienced. No matter what, we’ll always accept those who are willing to fight. Those willing to try.”

“I can’t speak on behalf of Taeyong and Mark, but… I’ll join.”

“Good.”

Ten stuck his hand out and I stared at him for a second. He smiled, and I smiled back. I gripped his hand tightly and shook it. As we let go, he sighed gently.

“Welcome to Neo Culture Technology, Johnny.”

“Glad to be here…”

“You should get some sleep.” He said, patting my back, “I’m gonna head to my room. Goodnight.”

“Goodnight.”

As Ten walked away, I looked back out at the scene in front of me. If this was what life chose to give me, then I would take it and work with it. There was no saying what Taeyong and Mark would do, although deep down I knew they would stay, I, for sure, was going to stay and fight for as long as I was needed. I shut my eyes and took a deep breath. Opening my eyes again and staring out at the horizon, I smiled slightly.

“NCT, huh?”

#g.docx #g.writing #mine #just a dream.docx #nct #nct au #nct fic #nct fanfic #that's all i'm gonna tag this with hhh #i really hate over tagging #long post

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