George Washington had opened a bistro on a remote island to discourage the native tribes from hunting sharks for food and Minhyun – camouflaged as an old, native woman of course – had to admit that the former president’s pasta salad was pretty good.

He was used to Ren missing from his own dreams. The boy seemed to dream mainly in omniscient perspective. Those kind of people were always difficult to engage but most fascinating to observe. As Minhyun had wandered the landscape he had found a whole lot of remnants from earlier phases of the dream. Either Ren was really concerned about the world’s shark population or there was an underlying issue Minhyun couldn’t quite figure out.

But sometimes dreams just made no sense.

He had never officially asked anyone for permission to enter their dreams. It wasn’t as if he learned much about them. And it certainly wasn’t as if he tried to act against their best interest. Dreamscape walking was just what he did naturally when he fell asleep. If he was honest he didn’t know if he would have been capable of having his own dreams anymore.

He walked into the direction of the next dream, leaving the blue lagoon, the hungry natives and the American founding father’s bistro behind.

***

Baekho had the most nightmares out of anyone in the group, no competition. Minhyun helped him along every few nights. This time the tiger was trapped in an ancient castle. There was a murder mystery going on but Minhyun hadn’t been there at the start of the dream so he had no idea what the endgame was.

He let his hand wander over the cold stone walls. Baekho dreamed impressively realistic textures. After roaming about the place for a little while to get a feeling for the layout, he focused on Baekho and turned around, teleporting straight into a spooky attic via dream logic.

“Minhyun! Thank goodness you’re here. Can you light those for me?”

Baekho’s dream avatar accepted his presence without issue. The dream-walker scanned the environment and saw the candles the dreamer wanted lit. Once Minhyun had made his way around the place, lighting every candle in sight, Baekho was also finished arranging the small statues strewn around the room.

Together their shadows formed the image of a dancing ballerina. Impossible, since the light came from all directions and if there had been shadows they wouldn’t have overlapped to a silhouette on the ground.

Dreams didn’t care about physics.

Baekho seemed quite excited by the progress. The dancer’s fingers were pointing to a floorboard that contained the next hint in to the mystery. Minhyun didn’t get to see the hint, the dream skipped over that part of the narrative.

The next clue was in the basement, stuffed into an alcove behind hollow tapestry. Minhyun didn’t care for the final hint and walked out. It was clear that this wasn’t a nightmare Baekho needed to be rescued from. The boy’s mind would make up an excuse why Minhyun was no longer there. Or perhaps supplant it with a dream version of himself.

Junior was right adjacent and much more pleasant to visit.

Lush fabrics, warm lighting and cozy furniture dominated. Ren was there, too, getting fed grapes by the leader directly from a bottomless cornucopia.

Minhyun camouflaged himself as one of the many porcelain amphorae lying around.

The two boys giggled and kissed. Somehow they both turned shirtless without moving. Junior’s kisses went further and further down.

Welp. Time for Minhyun to leave.

***

An unusually disturbing dream.

Aron sat in a chair, staring intently at a white glowing screen that showed some sort of schedule. The writing wasn’t legible since Aron’s attention wasn’t on its content.

But then where was his attention?

Minhyun walked around the boy. The room was otherwise empty. The area around the dim room Aron had dreamed up for himself was filled with only a few slowly disintegrating remnants hinting at the story that led to the arrangement.

Sure, people dreamed boring stuff all the time, but usually the brain skipped over periods of inactivity and fast forwarded to stuff that mattered to the dreamer.

Minhyun did his best to figure out what was happening. But Aron simply didn’t move or do anything. He was as if he had entered a trance.

Wait! Was this-?

Minhyun hadn’t seen something like this in a long time.

Unmistakably, Aron was having a dream within a dream.

But how to get in? Minhyun focused on the screen and hoped for the best. He was in a second later. His surroundings changed dramatically.

A massive library. Shelves full of books. Shelves made from books. Sprawling outward in twisting spirals, held together by wooden outgrowths, overflowing with calligraphy.

And above it all, blocking a starlit sky, an indescribably ugly beast. Its tentacles reaching down in futile attempts to grab onto the library’s highest extensions.

“Woah!” Aron noticed him. “What are you doing in the archives?”

Minhyun was stumped. He had been too dizzy to adjust. Usually he walked carefully and deliberately into a new part of the dreamscape. Getting pulled in was a new experience. He had failed to think of a camouflage.

“Oh, Aron, I’m…”

“You’re not supposed to be here. Only I can access the archive program. Is the damage from the Beyond One that bad already?”

The American boy gestured upward where the massive creature slapped entire sections of the library into the abyss. Then the look of an epiphany spread on his face.

“If you’re here… I’m dreaming aren’t I? But shouldn’t realizing that wake me up?”

Wow, that had never happened before. Minhyun figured he had nothing to lose.

“Yes, you are dreaming. And now that you’re aware of that it has become a lucid dream. You’d wake up if this was a normal dream but you’re in a bit deeper than that.”

“So what do I do now?”

“Anything you want. Try to fly.”

“How?”

Minhyun took to the air. It was simple for him. He did it all the time to look at dreams from above when he didn’t want to get noticed. Aron had a bit more difficulties. At first he held onto an overhanging buttress. He pulled himself up in a way that wasn’t physically possible – with his torso becoming parallel to the ground. He was barely touching the bar.

“Now let go.”

Aron pushed himself away and floated a bit. “How do I control this?”

“Have you never flown in a dream before?”

“I don’t remember.”

“Try something else.”

It only took a moment for Aron to visualize what he wanted. Lightning forked from his hand, slamming into the terrible being above them and shattered it into millions of sparks. It was a lot easier for Aron to do things that he could also do in real life.

***

They flew.

Hand in hand Minhyun guided Aron across continents of his mind’s making. Always drifting, never letting go, they explore the pinnacles of Aron’s inner world.

Savannas, where lions roamed. Ice fields, where penguins bred. The deep ocean, where whales sang to them. Forests, where birds of ceaselessly changing colors flocked around the boys. Oases teeming with life. Lagoons filled with galaxies. Caves of milk and honey. Cities of glass and light. Infinite cathedrals.

They came to rest on top of the H in the ‘Hollywood’ sign, back in Aron’s hometown. The view would have been breathtaking if Aron had focused on it enough to let it coalesce. But as it stood he only had eyes for his companion. Their little world was big enough for them.

“Will I forget this when I wake?”

Minhyun had feared the moment they had to go back to real life. He hadn’t expected Aron to bring it up.

“Most likely.”

“Is there anything that can be done about that?”

“Actually…”

Minhyun slammed Aron’s chest to make him topple over backwards. The shock was enough to drop him out of his dream – the inner one at least.

Back in the empty room the boys were still looking at the computer screen. It didn’t show anything anymore. Aron was still sitting in his chair, rubbing his eyes.

“Woah, Minhyun. You won’t believe what I just dreamt.”

“Sorry, not done.”

Minhyun kicked the chair and made Aron fall backwards again, forcing him awake.

The boy dropped out of the dreamscape and his dream crumbled. Minhyun was catapulted back into Junior’s. He forced himself to wake up immediately when he saw what was going on there. No way was he getting any of that stuff on his dream-self’s clothes.