Dreaming of Jihyun had happened once or twice after she died but it happened on the day he ended up hugging Woohyun to sleep, and Myungsoo couldn’t believe the odds. He also couldn’t believe the dream he had because it made sense but at the same time, it didn’t make sense at all. 

He was on a tropical island completely alone which made some sense because without Woohyun beside him he felt completely alone. He knew his parents and Moonsoo supported him but they didn’t live with him anymore, it wasn’t the same thing. He had started walking on the beach in search of someone else or maybe just some civilization but he felt like he walked and walked and didn’t make any progress. 

The sun was high in the sky and he was getting thirsty, sweaty, tired, and probably sunburnt when he spotted a little boat in the distance. He started waving his arms and screaming so he could be seen and at some point, it felt like the boat was coming closer to the island and that filled his heart with hope. As he watched the boat come in his direction, he noticed there were only two people on it. One of them was a small girl and he couldn’t see her face because she wasn’t facing him. The other one was a young woman with rolled sleeves and a straw hat that screamed his name.

At first, he didn’t understand how she knew him but once the boat was closer he could identify her as Jihyun which made the smaller one probably be Soohyun. He was deeply surprised to see his friend and her daughter and got happy beyond belief that not only could he see them but they were coming to save him. He kept waving and laughing as they came close but - and here it was the part that made no sense at all - the boat stopped at some distance.

At first, he thought he should swim to them, although he wasn’t the best swimmer in the world, even though he tried hard he couldn’t enter the water no matter what. That frustrated him, he couldn’t understand why that was happening or how. He decided to ask Jihyun to land but then she said she wouldn’t so Myungsoo got a bit perplexed. He complained because he always complained to her about something, but she said if she allowed him inside their little boat it would sink. Myungsoo remembered making a skeptical expression, the boat seemed to be fine: big and strong enough to handle his weight. Before he could complain more, she started to scream that it was ok and he needed to wait for Woohyun, because he was arriving with a bigger boat. At that point, he woke up startled.

The dream felt so surreal. His friendship with Jihyun was one of those they helped each other in everything they could so why didn’t Jihyun save him and gave him that poor excuse when the boat was fine? Never in his lifetime, he thought Jihyun would leave him hanging by choice (her death didn’t count). He also felt weird that even if it was a dream Soohyun didn’t look at him at any point, was she mad at him? Did he do something at any point in his life that would have upset her?

He tried to think about the dream and find some hidden meaning for it, but in the end, he decided it would be better and safer to leave when he felt Woohyun completely relax in his arms.

Sorry for not saying goodbye, I thought it was better to leave before Woohyun woke up and started a fight. Thank you for not waking me up when I was with him, having him in my arms this night helped me recharge. I love you, keep me informed.
He hit send on the message and, as sneakily as he got in, he left the apartment.

Myungsoo rode the subway, still thinking about the dream and how to interpret it, but it was so early and there were no people on the streets that he arrived home before he knew it. 

He made some breakfast, ate, and was about to try to rest more when he decided to check his email. He wanted to be surprised, but an email from Sungyeol with advice about his project was not surprising when he was expecting it. He briefly wondered if Sungyeol would be able to be this quick when he became a professor and had a lot more students to guide. But, since thinking about that question would be just a waste of his time and he already felt recharged, he decided to try to work on his project a little.

________________________________________________

Sungyeol and Sunggyu had been tired. Sungyeol tried to speed up his work but met Myungsoo and two or three other students (aside Chanyeol that dropped by to check on him with Dara) before he went to visit Woohyun and tried to coax the boy to go back to school. Meanwhile, Sunggyu had gone to school, engaged and coordinated the kids to write the parchment, had gone to the arcade to play moving games with Woohyun  (T.T) then tried to convince his friend that he would protect him from evil kids. 

To say their energy was depleted would be an understatement.

They still talked on their way back home and agreed to wake up early so they could rehearse for the festival but Sungyeol thanked the lords he didn’t need to order Sunggyu to do anything, the boy took a bath in autopilot before falling asleep in his bed.
After a bath, Sungyeol checked on his brother (and ended properly covering him with his sheets) before he was back to his room to work on Myungsoo’s project. He yawned a lot before he finished but he was able to send his love interest neighbor student an email with his suggestions. He also wrote a hasty message to Sungjong, asking him to come early and handle Sunggyu for a couple of hours.

Sungyeol woke up with Sunggyu poking his cheeks. He couldn't help but think that, a year and a half ago, Sunggyu wouldn’t ever dare to do this.. and that he wouldn’t ever let go either. That thought pleased him somehow, he and Sunggyu… they came a long way. Thankfully Sunggyu had been reasonable with the time, but maybe that happened because Sungjong arrived super early, and waited for the boy to wake up while he prepared some breakfast. The middle brother supervised Sunggyu breakfast time and waited until it was a reasonable time to let the maknae wake the elder, then escaped the apartment with the excuse he needed to study once Sungyeol sat at the table for breakfast. 

As Sungyeol ate, Sunggyu couldn’t sit still, talking about the adjustments he wanted to make while anxiously waiting for his brother to finish it. Once the elder was done, Sunggyu didn’t let him do the dishes, take a bath or change his clothes, and immediately pulled Sungyeol to his room to play the piano so he could sing. 

Despite being young, Sungyeol had to agree the boy had his father’s talent running through his veins, the boy could sing, a little high-pitched due to his age, but very well. Sunggyu was so excited rehearsing that he didn't let Sungyeol get up to cook lunch, but shorter after he ordered food he had to stop the boy.

"Sunggyu, you're gonna lose your voice if you keep it up. If you keep that up every rehearsal you're not gonna be able to sing on the big day." Sungyeol had said seriously and after a bit more of reasoning, Sunggyu accepted it was enough for the day. 

The boy thanked his brother for helping him rehearse, and they had a heart to heart conversation for the first time in a while. Sunggyu said he was very happy that things between then changed and that he admired his brother even more, not only because he was super smart but because he discovered Sungyeol had a big (although a bit weird) heart. Sungyeol melted in a way he never thought it was possible and hugged the boy tightly. The elder didn't think he should receive those kinds of praises because it was Myungsoo that made him reflect, but he told the boy he regretted a lot of things, that Sunggyu made him discover new parts of himself and that now he couldn't imagine his life without him.

In the end, both agreed that they would have to keep this kind of conversation from Sungjong, they were certain that the middle brother would be jealous of their growing relationship even though both boys loved him a lot too. But, due to their conversation, they had lunch later than they intended and when they least expected, they were rushing to get ready after a call from Sonmi.

They arrived at Woohyun temporary home to find an unexpected situation. The boy was electric and madly happy running in circles and jumping around the small living room. The pair of brother's shared a look of confusion, aside this being the opposite way Woohyun felt the last night, they couldn't remember when was the last time the boy was like that. But, they didn't have time to wonder a lot because Woohyun jumped on Sunggyu (which made the boy almost fall backward) then pulled them both inside and into his room so he could tell them everything.

It turns out Woohyun was madly happy because, after praying a lot, the boy had finally dreamed with his mother and sister. 

"Mom was exactly how I imagined." He said excitedly. "And Soohyunnie looks so much like me but her hair was this long and her cheeks are rounder… and.. And… I think she liked you."

"Well, now you know how your mom looks like so it would be weird if you imagined her differently. Wouldn't your sister look like you because she is your sister?” Sunggyu deadpanned. “And, Woohyunnie, how is that even possible?" He further asked with all the honesty and confusion of a kid his age but that only made Woohyun shrug and giggle while his shoulders moved slightly.

"I could never imagine them very well before so I was really happy to see them for the first time, ok?.” Woohyun stopped to explain but started giggling all over again. “Who knows hyung.”

Sunggyu scratched his head. He didn’t like every girl but he liked them less than Woohyun so he didn’t want to offend his friend if he said something about his sister. Sunggyu looked at Sungyeol for help, and the elder noticed his struggles so he tried to scoop out more. He didn't know what would come out of such conversation but it was clear the boy needed to share his happiness.

"Tell us everything. Did you talk to her? About what? Was she nice? No, start from the beginning." He made a point to show a lot of interest which made Woohyun so pleased that he cutely contorted his body.

"So… I was in some kind of forest, I could hear water close but I couldn’t see any river and there were birds singing and animals walking around. I wanted to come back home but I didn't know how so I screamed for help and mom answered," Woohyun said, so anxious to spill more that he confused the order of the things that happened in his dream. "And Soohyunnie called me too, she said to bring her pet to her…"

"Your sister has a pet?" Sunggyu furrowed his brows, forgetting for a second that this was a dream.

"Yes! A bunny, Mr. Hop, he is this size." Woohyun said excitedly as he moved his hands to demonstrate as Sungyeol internally giggled about the way Woohyun was describing things. "It was the cutest bunny I have ever seen…" Woohyun said with a smile on his face but suddenly made an annoyed expression. "It was so hard to catch it."

"You had to catch it?" Sungyeol prompted the boy to keep talking.

The boy scratched his head in confusion. "It was hard to catch it and I was scared because the threes were so big I couldn’t see the sun, but when I finally caught it I was able to find them," Woohyun said unsurely.

“And where they were?” Sungyeol prompted.

“In the forest but the trees were making a circle and I could see the sun again.” 

“That’s a clearing Woohyun.” Sungyeol briefly explained.

“Why were they in the middle of a forest, I mean, clearing?” Sunggyu inquired.

“Mom said they were there because that’s how I imagine heaven to be… like a forest with little animals, birds singing…” The younger boy explained which made Sungyeol amused. He didn't believe in things as heaven but he had to agree that in the context of Woohyun's dream a first could be a fitting place for heaven to be.

“So you were in heaven? How did you end up there.” Sunggyu asked in the next second, frowning so Sungyeol placed a hand on his shoulders to get his attention.

“Sunggyu, it’s a dream and sometimes dreams make no sense, didn’t you dream that Woohyun was swimming with Nemo the other day?” Sungyeol asked and Sunggyu cheeks became red while Woohyun raised a brow. “Let him finish telling us about his dream.” He pleaded and Woohyun didn’t waste time to open his mouth.

“First I met Soohyunnie, she kissed my cheek then walked away. I remember looking at her and thinking she was familiar but I didn’t know it was her - I mean there was a lot of light and I think my eyes were adjusting so… - I tried to follow her and ask her to be her friend because she didn’t know what a friend was, can you believe it?” Sungyeol and SUnggyu opened their mouths but the boy didn’t let them speak. “We were arguing over being friends until we reached her mom - by then I didn’t know it was my mom too. She scolded Soohyunnie for taking a lot to come and Soohyunnie said I was being silly and laughed at me and that’s when I realized she was my sister.” Woohyun's eyes twinkled in happiness and he placed his hands on his cheeks to try to get a hold of his feelings, but he was too happy to control himself. “I don’t look like anyone so I never thought I would ever see someone that looks like me so much. Hyungs, it’s unbelievable, I finally look like someone and she looks the same but her hair is this long and she has a bit more of cheeks, but she looks very very very…” He ranted excitedly.

Sungyeol giggled and patted Woohyu back this time. “I see you’re very happy about that.” He said and Woohyun nodded while his lips stretched from ear to ear and all his little teeth appeared. “It makes me happy to see you this energized after some time but I’m especially happy that, even if it was a dream, you were able to relate this much and find some sense of belonging.”

Woohyun didn’t know what was a sense of belonging but it sounded like a compliment so he felt happy that he was receiving such nice words from Sungyeol, it left him very touched. “Thank you.” Woohyun replied with so much sincerity that Sungyeol was left a bit speechless, thankfully his brother saved him.

“What about your mom?” Sunggyu hurriedly asked.

Woohyun turned his head and looked into Sunggyu’s eyes. “I didn’t even see her coming but she appeared out of nowhere and greeted me with a hug.” He said as a tear from happiness appeared in his eyes. “Her hug was so warm... like I always imagined to be…it felt so-so real...” 

Sunggyu rushed to give his friend a hug and Sungyeol pulled the pair of friends into his lap. “Come here, you don’t need to cry, it was a good experience, a nice memory, there is no need to be sad over it.” Sungyeol said a few minutes later when he tried to wipe the younger tears.

“I’m not sad, I’m very happy,” Woohyun said with conviction. “It’s just, I have always wanted…”

“We know Woohyun, we know.” Sungyeol said as he tried to rock them both.

“I liked my dad’s hugs and I like my hyungs’ too, but mom’s hugs are the best, isn’t that so?” Sunggyu asked as the moment made him remember his mother. Meanwhile, Woohyun nodded a lot to agree but kept trying to wipe his oncoming tears.

“Don’t cry, now you know how it feels like, you have to treasure this memory,” Sungyeol said and waited but apparently, his words didn't help the boy stop crying and he didn't know what else to say.

It wasn't like Woohyun was crying because he was sad or felt like he would never see his mother or feel her hug again (he believed he would see her more now) but what made tears keep coming was something else. The problem was that his mother's embrace was completely different from all the hugs in the world, but at the same time, it was extremely similar to what he felt whenever  Myungsoo a particular person hugged him. Also, Sungyeol hugs were happening more often and they were becoming nicer, Woohyun absolutely didn't know why he would feel the similarity with his hug too.

Sungyeol didn’t know what exactly he was looking for but he looked around the room and once spotting Woohyun bottle of water he asked Sunggyu to pass it over, maybe drinking a bit of it would calm the younger boy.

“Drink a bit and try to breathe deeply so you can calm down.” Sungyeol instructed gently once Sunggyu handed the bottle to his friend. Woohyun did what he was told but he needed some time to be able to collect himself. “I’m sorry our questions about your dream made you feel like that.”

“No, it isn’t your fault, I want to share it, I just...” Woohyun cleaned his eyes one more time as he left Sungyeol's lap and sat in front of him, and, having more space now, Sunggyu made sure to spread himself over Sungyeol. “I don’t know, sorry.”

“You don’t need to apologize, silly.” He chirped from his brother’s lap and Sungyeol patted his hair a bit.

“But you know you don’t need to push yourself to share, right? We can hear about it in another moment. If you need we can just stay here hugging.”

“Can we have some snacks too?” Sunggyu suggested but before Sungyeol could reply Woohyun was back on his story.

“I was so happy to see mom and she was so happy to meet me that she cried.” He said after a deep breath. “ I thought they were lonely because Soohyunnie said she didn’t have friends but they told me they were fine because they had each other…. Soohyunnie even said that she had a pet because I gave it to her.”

“Hadn’t she lost it?” Sunggyu scratched his head in confusion.

“I think she only had Mr. hop it because it was my dream. Mom told me Soohyunnie can’t do or have many things because she didn’t live much so they are together all the time to not be lonely and to watch over me.” Woohyun said and he seemed super-sure about it.

Sungyeol thought this was interesting. When he was younger he read about dreams and knew about their philosophical, scientific, and religious explanations though none of them were capable of explaining dreams as a whole. He knew the dreams were a succession of images, ideas, emotions, and sensations that the brain produced, randomly or not, as it tried to process things. But considering what had been said up till now, so far Woohyun's unconscious mind had produced a logical one that happened to create an effective comfort.

“They said they watch me and protect me every time, they even said sometimes they watch my friends so they’ll know if I’m having a good company.” The boy continued, making Sungyeol stop his analysis. 

“Hi, Woohyunnie mommy? Hi Soohyunnie-shi.” Sunggyu playfully raised one of his hands to the air and waved his hand to the ceiling.

Woohyun tried to hold it but ended up laughing and slightly pushing Sunggyu’s shoulder. “Silly, you don’t need to impress them, they like you a lot. ”

Sungyeol became a bit serious then, maybe Woohyun still had something against him deep down. “They must not like me then.”

“Nooooo, hyung, nooo they like you too.” Woohyun instantly became worried about what Sungyeol would think and tried to assure him. “I told them how good you cook and how smart you are and mom even said she grew to love you and that you two would have been great friends.”

“Really?” Sungyeol squeezed his eyes in doubt. If he had to interpret Woohyun's dream so far, didn’t that mean that was what Woohyun wished? 

“Really! I’m telling you!” Woohyun nodded away.

“I guess this is good right?” Sunggyu tried to look from one to the other and settled his eyes on his friend that had stopped nodding while Sungyeol let out a relieved ‘yes’. “What else happened?” He asked.

“They said Dongwoo hyung is funny, that Hoya hyung was right and when I asked, they said Minggyu is not gonna bother me and that you’ll protect me if he does anything.”

Both brothers gasped and exchanged surprised but pleased looks, it seemed like they didn’t need to continue the conversation of the previous day because things had changed.

“Of course I will protect you,” Sunggyu confirmed as he got up from Sungyeol lap and Woohyun seemed pleased to hear confirmation.

“Does that mean you’ll return to school next Monday?”

“Yes, mom said I didn’t need to be afraid because Sunggyu hyung and the other kids will support me, she even scolded me for saying Shinhye noona has a piggy nose.”

“She doesn’t.” Sunggyu frustratedly complained.

“Will you stop that now? We told you countless times that’s an awful thing to say.” Sungyeol said in a slightly scolding tone and Woohyun side glared at Sunggyu (probably in jealousy) so he wouldn’t dare to defend her again. 

“I promised my mom.” He conceded though it was a bit obvious he didn’t like it, maybe because Sunggyu was particularly close to this one and he was afraid to be loved less.

“Great, I’m glad your mom put some sense into you. And I’m glad you’ll return to school without problems.” Sungyeol said in relief. “Your mom must have been such a smart girl, maybe we’d be good friends for real.”

“Right?” Wooohyun said with a marveled expression, if his mother and Sungyeol were friends then it would have been a dream come true. “She was so smart I thought she had the power to know everything.” He briefly bragged before he made a bit more humble expression. “But she said she only watched me a lot and didn’t have such powers. But, oh, she had other powers.”

“Powers? Like Superman? Was your mom able to fly?” Sunggyu asked while Sungyeol braced himself, the weird part was about to appear.

“No, like X-men, you know with their minds …” Woohyun explained as he imitated Professor Xavier. “She made a couch appear out of nowhere and-and…” He was ranting excitedly but his expression became stiff and he stopped talking as he remembered something.

“What’s wrong Woohyun?” The elder asked gently.

“Nothing…”

“Nothing?” Sunggyu blinked in confusion. “Didn’t she have powers? Wasn’t that a good thing?”

“Yes, but she used her powers to…” Woohyun tried to explain but what his mother did leave him so upset even inside his dream that once he remembered (hours after his dream happened) he got all upset again.

“What? Did you hear that?” Sunggyu turned to ask Sungyeol because, in his anger, Woohyun whispered the last part too low so he wasn’t able to hear.

“Can you repea-” Sungyeol was in the middle of a question when Woohyun started his ranting mode.

“She brought Myungsoo-shi into my dream, I can’t believe my mother did this to me.” Sungyeol frowned as much as he could, Woohyun dreamed about Myungsoo too? Usually, the taller was very selective about the dreams that he allowed himself to think it had some deep meaning and all but this one here… he was ready to allow himself to believe it had.

“Why would she do that? You don’t even want to see Myungsoo hyung.” Sunggyu wondered. Sungyeol could have replied as at the beginning of the conversation when he told his brother that sometimes dreams make no sense but he was dying to know what happened next.

“Exactly, she shouldn’t have brought him and I tried to block him but she was strong and…” Woohyun started to get very frustrated so Sungyeol grabbed him by the arms and held him in place.

“Why don’t you tell us this part again so we can discover why that happened?”

Woohyun sighed but nodded so Sungyeol let go of him. “Soohyunnie suggested that we brought him to my dream so we could solve our problem and mom thought it was a good idea because she wants me to stay with him.” Sungyeol's jaw hung low, did Woohyun’s unconscious mind want to solve this and move in with Myungsoo again? If dreams had meanings, he wasn’t expecting this on Woohyun dream. 

“I didn’t want to but Mom said Soohyunnie wanted to meet him and-and she said I didn’t need to talk to him and-and asked me to…”

“So it wasn’t her that brought him with her powers.” Sunggyu gasped as he pointed a finger to Woohyun. 

“It was!” Woohyun protested.

“No, it wasn’t, you were the one that brought him into your dreams!” Sunggyu blurted back.

“IT WASN’T!” Woohyun half yelled and now Sungyeol knew a fight between the two kids might happen if he didn’t intervene. 

“Woohyun,” Sungyeol got his attention and tried to explain as gently as he could. “If you said you were fine with it in the dream then you sort of allowed it.” Woohyun made his eyes round and teary. “But, as conscious we can be during a dream, we can’t exactly control it. We know it was you but at the same time it wasn’t and it’s okay, what matters is what the real you does and we know that right now you still don’t want to see him, right?” Woohyun thought for a few seconds and ended up accepting that explanation with a pout and a short nod. 

Meanwhile, despite saying that, Sungyeol couldn’t help but remember that Freud’s theories said that dreams were manifestations of one's deepest desires, anxieties, and repressed feelings. If Freud was correct then that meant Woohyun might desire to be with Myungsoo but he might just not be ready to accept that yet - maybe because he wasn’t ready to forgive - so he was repressing his real desires. If his non-specialist analysis was by any chance correct, those were mindblowing news.
Woohyun turned to his friend and pointed with conviction. “I didn’t do it, it was my dream self.” Sunggyu wanted to roll his eyes, he didn’t know about Freud but Woohyun was only one person, not two.
“What was like when Myungsoo appeared?” Sungyeol questioned to prevent Woohyun from seeing Sunggyu rolling his eyes, surely they would have bickered because of that if he had not said something.

“He didn’t appear completely.” The brothers shared a confused look so Woohyun explained. “It was like he was made of dust that came from all over the place, he looked like a gray dusty ghost... ” He said as he nodded to himself.

“Ok.” That had been weird but Sungyeol thought that happened maybe because Woohyun wasn’t ready?

Woohyun sighed before he continued. “Soohyunnie was so happy to see him for the first time, she said she wanted to hug him but it was like he was trapped inside a glass cage. We could see him and hear him but it was like he couldn't see anyone and he could barely hear Soohyunnie screaming.” He stopped a little as he thought about how the scene was and how sad he felt with that. “Soohyunnie was so disappointed, she wanted to help bring him completely into my dream but mom said she didn’t have enough powers and mom powers were colliding with mine so that’s why he wasn’t the same.”

Sungyeol frowned as Sunggyu got excited beside him.“You had powers too? What kind? What was it like to have powers?” The elder boy asked.

“Like mom, I imagined food then it magically appeared and the next second Soohyunnie was eating everything. I don’t know, I didn’t feel any different.” Woohyun briefly explained, much for Sunggyu’s disappointment, before he looked down at his lap and continued, although his voice lacked the excitement he had before. “He seemed desperate to see them but he couldn’t ….so mom concentrated her powers and I think she made a bit of a hole in the glass? It seemed like he only saw a bit of them."

"Where were you then?" Sunggyu blinked in confusion.

“I was there but I stayed out of his sight.”

“Anger aside, how did you feel about what was happening? Have you thought about that?" Sungyeol asked softly, but deeply interested in finding the meanings of this dream.

"I felt kinda bad… for Soohyunnie and for mom too." Woohyun made sure to involve the girls of his family so he wouldn't have to admit anything. What he saw made him feel bad because Soohyun wanted to hug Myungsoo once so badly but couldn't and it also left him a bit jealous and uneasy when Myungsoo forgot about him to focus on the girls. Also only thinking that one day he might be in the girls' position - not dead but not able to see Myungsoo left him devastated, and scared but he wasn't ready to admit that. "They seemed to miss him somehow." The boy begrudgingly said the last words.

"Did they talk or they just looked at each other?" Sunggyu asked.

"He couldn't hear Soohyunnie well, but he talked to Mom?” The boy scratched his nape, now openly getting nervous.

“And how did that go?” Sungyeol prompted, unconsciously leaning forward.

“He kept asking for advice about me and what he should do next then I got angry and wished for him to get out of my dream so he started to disappear.”

Sungyeol leaned back as he thought, so the minute the adults in the dream started talking about his situation with Myungsoo Woohyun shunned him? Woohyun definitely wasn’t ready for anything despite subduing his anger a lot, but, what kind of advice was that? What the boy's unconscious mind was trying to tell him?

“Then?” Sunggyu asked, interrupting Sungyeol's train of thought.

Now Woohyun's mood changed all over again to the happy and pleased state he had at the beginning of the conversation. “Then I played with my sister and enjoyed mom’s hug as we got to know each other.” The boy said with a smile back on his face before he added with a bit of confusion. “Until I woke up and I found out I was hugging my plushie… but I was sure I had left him at the desk last night....” He thought for a second or two before he snapped his fingers as an idea came across him. “That must have been mom and her powers, she left it in my arms!”

Well, Sungyeol doubted that part. Powers could exist in dreams, the reality was not like that, but he wouldn’t be the one to throw a bucket of water in that. Instead, he wanted to make the boy reflect on his dream another way.

“Aside from the part about Myungsoo hyung, I think your dream was a good dream.” Sunggyu voiced his thoughts and started counting on his fingers. “You met your mom, you met your sister,  you got to hug them, you got to play with them, and you got to talk to them.”

“It was magical,” Woohyun said with a pleased sigh, and, although imagination had nothing to do magic, it was obvious for the other two in the room that it felt magical for him.

“You loved meeting them, didn’t you?” Sungyeol asked with a fond smile.

“Yeeeeeeas.” Woohyun lazily replied as he revisited the most pleasing memories from his dream with a dreamy smile on his face.

“It’s nice that they came to help comfort you when you needed the most.” Sungyeol furthered said.

“Yeeeeeeas.” 

“But, Woohyun,” Sungyeol called gently and almost hesitating and that made Woohyun look at him in question. “Have you thought that they, maybe, were trying to tell you something?” Sungyeol didn’t believe in the afterlife, powers, or the ability to talk to the dead, but since it was not used explaining that everything had been conjured by the boy himself, he decided to let that go and just talk as if it was the girls.

Woohyun opened a smile again. “Of course, now I know I can go to school and…”

“Not only about school…” The boy raised a brow in confusion so Sungyeol decided to be loud and clear. “I mean about Myungsoo.”

The boy snorted as Sunggyu made a concerned expression, these two were about to fight weren’t they? “No, mom came from heaven to my dreams just to meet me so we can tell each other what we feel and that’s it.”

“But do you realize that you just told us that she wants you to stay with him, so maybe you already have an answer for the path you need to take.” Sungyeol tried to suggest but every word he spoke the sour Woohyun expression became.

“Hyung...” Sunggyu tried to in and warn that Woohyun wasn’t liking this at all but it was too late.

“NO, NO, NO, THAT’S NOT IT.” The boy yelled. “Mom told me she loves me and that she wants me to be happy and follow my heart and I’m trying to do that.”

“But...” Sungyeol tried again but Woohyun didn’t let him.

“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO, are you on his side now? Is it because you like him? I thought we were friends!”

Sungyeol's expression changed, his fond and gentle demeanor was now resumed to a hurt expression. Apart from him wanted to tell the boy a thing or two but he ultimately decided it was not worth to level with a kid. “I AM your FRIEND and I LOVE him, I’ll not deny both facts.” He said then got up. “But if you feel you can’t trust me there is no problem, you just need to say you don't want me here."

Sunggyu watched everything holding his breath. There was a time in which a situation like this one would have put his brother in a foul mood and offensive mode but now he just hurt and Sunggyu just felt conflicted. He was glad that Sungyeol didn't become scary again but now that they were in awesome terms he didn't like to see his brother like that, especially when he considered Sungyeol already had suffered a lot because of Woohyun dad. He turned to glare at Woohyun but the boy didn't even see it because he already felt guilty and hurried to apologize before Sungyeol left the room.

"I'm sorry.” The boy pleaded which made Sungyeol stop with the hands already in the handle. “Please... don't go." 

“This hurt me, Woohyun.” He said softly and Woohyun hurried out of his bed to hug Sungyeol’s long legs while Sunggyu crossed his arms.

“I’m really sorry hyung.” The boy exaggerated his sincerity as he pressed his face on the taller’s sides.

Sungyeol sighed and looked at an upset Sunggyu. If he didn’t fix this a crack in the boy’s friendship would surely happen now because Sunggyu seemed about to manifest his own scary side. He sighed and then detached Woohyun only to kneel in front of him so they could be at eye level.

“It took me a long time to learn this, and I hope you’ll learn sooner, but don’t push away people that like you.” He advised. 

“Forgive me hyung, I won’t push you away anymore.“ With the boy sincerity, Sungyeol caught himself easily forgiving him (like he had done whenever he and Sunggyu pushed each other buttons this year), although he wondered if that would still be true if Myungsoo decided to openly show some feelings for him in the future. But Sungyeol decided not to think about it because Sunggyu still looked a bit pissed so he had to voice out his forgiveness.

“Ok, I’ll forgive you,” Sungyeol said and pulled the boy for a hug as Sunggyu uncrossed his arms and felt a tiny bit calmer. “I wasn’t trying to hurt you. I just want you to keep questioning and reflecting on things because that’s how we evolve and learn. ” He explained and once they parted, he pulled Woohyun to sit on the bed again. 

“Woohyunnie, if you hurt my hyung I’ll be hurt too.” Sunggyu threatened with his small sharp eyes.

“I’m sorry.” Woohyun looked from one to the other. 

“It’s ok, Sunggyu, we will forgive Woohyun and will not hold a grudge, right?” Sungyeol said, with a look that urged Sunggyu to let go of this, he didn’t want the boy mad at things he could handle. Sunggyu took a long sigh but eventually managed to nod so Woohyun grabbed his hand and squeezed to show he was thankful.

“I’m sorry I got mad, but I just… It’s the first time I saw mom and Soohyunnie, why can’t I think about them only for once? What if I forget how they are if I don’t think about them?” Woohyun worriedly explained as he looked from one brother to the other. Well, when Woohyun put that way the pair of brothers could understand that concern was too big for someone like him.

Sunggyu scratched his nape while Sungyeol spoke. “With a hidden message or not, but taking the aspects you liked and not liked, I think your dream had all the elements to leave a big impact on you so I don’t think you’ll forget it.

“How can you be sure?” The younger boy unsurely asked him and once Sungyeol opened his mouth Sunggyu snapped his fingers together and opened a smile.

“Why don’t you draw your mom and sister so you can remember them forever?”

Woohyun opened an exciting smile too but once he remembered his abilities he felt at loss. “I can’t draw them that good.”

“But Hoya hyung can, what if you told him how to draw?” Sunggyu suggested with a proud smile, wasn’t he smart too?

“OHHH.” Woohyun eyes sparkled. “I can show him her pictures so I can point out what is different and for Soohyunnie... he can look at me.”  He concluded with his excitement at the highest level again.

Seeing that the boys had moved on to the next exciting topic and despite still being a little hurt, Sungyeol felt satisfied to solve the matter quickly. He stretched one corner of his lips in a smile and got up. “I’m gonna call him and see if he 's available.”

“Oooh, nice, nice! Thank you hyung, you’re the best!” Woohyun jumped from the bed and moved to search for his mother’s pictures. “Gyu hyung, come help me choose one of mom's pictures.” He demanded and once Sunggyu moved to follow him Sungyeol left the room.

He closed his eyes and rubbed his chest a bit to symbolically ease his heart but once he opened he saw Myungsoo’s parents looking at him like two scared dears.

“What happened?” “Why did he yell?” “Is he mad at you?” “How? What did you do?” “Will he push you away too?” They asked on top of each other so fast that Sungyeol wasn’t sure who asked what.

“We had a little misunderstanding about his dream because I mentioned Myungsoo but everything is under control now and he is all kinds of happy again,” Sungyeol assured, trying to hide that Woohyun questioning his motives hadn’t hurt him.

“His dream…” Bumsoo repeated and furrowed his brows, which made Sungyeol find that a bit odd.

“We hadn't had a chance to talk earlier, did he tell you about his dream?” The taller asked.

Sonmi rolled her eyes although she kept an amused smile on her face. “If he told us? He wouldn’t shut up about it.”

“Thankfully you arrived so we can pass the baton for a bit, I think my ears would have fallen by now.” Bumsoo chuckled lightly. 

“It was a good dream though, he said he saw Jihyun and Soohyun then played and talked to them…” Sonmi said as she looked at her husband, forgetting for a second that Sungyeol was in front of them.”

“The weird part of it was that he told us Jihyun sent messages to everyone.” Bumsoo retorted then looked back at Sungyeol. “He said she said you and her would be great friends and he was madly happy about it.” 

Sungyeol lifted a brow, Woohyun hadn’t told him that and at the same time, it didn’t seem like they knew Myungsoo appeared in the boy's dreams. That made Woohyun feel less credible for a second but then he remembered that the boy was not only rejecting his father but keeping whatever he felt about from his grandparents.

“I’m flattered, though I’m not sure she would have liked me.” He said with an embarrassed smile then walked to sit at the table in front of them. “But he didn’t say anything about Myungsoo? He...”

“Omg, Woohyun saw him?” Sonmi and Bumsoo gasped together.

“In his dreams, yes. He told me he didn’t like it but…” Sungyeol was about to explain what Woohyun told him and what he thought about it when the elder couple visibly relaxed.

“Oh lord, I thought Woohyun had seen him,” Sonmi said as she placed a hand over her heart.

“Now that I think it over, Myungsoo arrived too late and left too early. Did you see the time he sent us a message? Woohyun definitely didn’t see him, he woke up like an hour later.” Bumsoo argued.

“Yeah, I guess you’re right,” Sonmi concluded then looked back at Sungyeol that was currently tapping his chin as he thought about what he just discovered. 

So Myungsoo came to see Woohyun but he was sleeping, Sungyeol wasn’t sure about the level of creepiness but guessed it was an effective method to avoid a fight. Then, while Woohyun had been dreaming about his mother and his sister and being comforted by them Myungsoo had been with him all the time? If Sungyeol knew Myungsoo enough he probably had hugged Woohyun at some point, was this the reason Woohyun said his mother's hug felt real? Because Myungsoo was the one that gave him a loving and warm hug? 

Sungyeol tried to be rational all the time but he caught himself wanting to believe that everything was connected and that this dream had everything to do with Woohyun unconsciously wanting to reunite with Myungsoo but just not being ready to. Even if it was just his wishful thinking, at least Myungsoo's presence explained the only thing Woohyun couldn’t properly explain because it wasn’t a part of his dream: the plushie toy he woke up hugging. Now that he thought about it, that had Myungsoo signature all over.

He was trying to make sense of things in his mind when Sonmi snapped her fingers in front of his face, which made him wake up. “I’m sorry, what?” 

“Were you in a trance, Sungyeol? We have been asking what you were trying to say about Woohyun dreaming with Myungsoo.” She explained.

Sungyeol smiled embarrassed but rearranged himself in his chair before leaning forward. “Ok, don’t tell Myungsoo or else he will try to hush something that Woohyun might not be ready for, but here’s what happened…”

__________________________________________________

It turns out Hoya had been busy on a date but he promised he would try to appear on Sunday once he dropped Dongwoo home, but that news didn’t put Woohyun in a bad mood. Having purposely forgotten the part of the dream Myungsoo appeared, Woohyun kept his enthusiasm high and Sungyeol couldn’t help but think the grandparents were right. But well, if Woohyun couldn’t shut up about it when he heard snippets of his mother’s voice he definitely wouldn’t be able to shut up about it if he had seen his mother and his sister in front of them. 

In the end, everyone's patience was tested, even though Sunggyu seemed like he didn’t mind it, as long as Woohyun didn’t try to pick a fight. Sungyeol had squinted his eyes at the boys, there was something slightly off in their friendship, it was more on Sunggyu’s part and Woohyun didn’t seem to notice anything but… No, it couldn’t be, they were too young to be aware of anything, he was probably just imagining things or projecting. He shook his head, no, no, it was just his imagination.

They waited for Woohyun to let out his energy and, at night, Sungyeol managed to convince him to catch up with homework so he could attend school on Monday (which made him notice that there were some torn pages on Woohyun notebook). Sunggyu helped for a bit but at some point, he just grabbed Sungyeol's phone and put the song he wanted to sing on replay to ‘study it’ while Sungyeol took over. After such a day, Woohyun was so tired that he fell asleep before his bedtime so the pair of brothers went home.

After a morning of rehearsal, the pair of brothers arrived at Kim's apartment only to find Hoya having lunch with them as Woohyun swayed his feet excitedly. It turns out the Lee cousin had arrived an hour previously thinking that drawing mother and sister would be a piece of cake but after the ten first minutes, he realized that he would probably take the whole afternoon for it.

“But we already found references.” Woohyun dutifully informed.

The brothers kept Hoya and Woohyun company as they resumed their long drawing process. Sungyeol and Sunggyu drew a bit too (and despite being a genius, Sungyeol drawing abilities were not better than Sunggyu’s) but at some point they got bored. They also watched Boss Baby (that managed to steal Woohyun’s attention from time to time) and Sunggyu even showed a bit of his singing progress while Sungyeol tried to read something on his phone but when his brother started to goof around he put the phone down and joined him.

Hoya left the Kims before dinner time and he wasn’t finished with the drawing as a whole. It turns out Woohyun wanted as much realism as possible but Hoya managed to get the main characteristic down and convinced Woohyun that he could do coloring and shading better if he worked on the computer. From there on, they had dinner and the boys were able to play until Sungyeol deemed it was time for their visit to be over.

They arrived home a little past Sunggyu bedtime and left the things kinda ready for the next day before they finally went to bed. Sungyeol sighed as he laid his head on his pillow, he was supposed to prepare the lecture for tomorrow but instead stayed the whole aiding the kids somehow. Then his lips stretched in a small amused smile. It was not like he was overconfident, just thinking about the chance of his lifetime left him nervous but at the same time, he had no regrets. He still thought that raising a small human being was hard work but now he was able to find times he enjoyed a lot.

“I can’t believe I’m gonna try to wing it this…  and for the first time ever.” He giggled to himself before pulling his blankets over his body and finding a good position to sleep. 

_________________________________________

Myungsoo made his way between the halls and climbed the stairs that led him into Sungyeol’s department.  He knocked lightly on the door once he reached the office but no one replied. He tested the doorknob and then poked his head inside. He saw that Sungyeol wasn’t seated in his usual chair but his stuff was there and he heard voices coming from Professor Song's office so he decided to go over there.
“I can’t believe it, I can’t believe it!” The woman complained in a mix of anger and disbelief. “Sungyeol, I know you’re smart but sometimes you can’t just rely only on your memory… classes have to be planned, even if minimally!”

Myungsoo halted his steps before he reached the second door, was he hearing correctly? Was Sungyeol being scolded? Why?

“Sorry,” Sungyeol said and Myungsoo thought his ex-lover was in a situation he should be guilty but there was no trace of guilt in his tone and maybe that was what had Professor Song so angry.

“Don’t say sorry when you’re not.” She scolded and after a long sigh, she spoke in frustration. “I’ve been teaching you how to do the behind the scenes job for a while now, I know you can do it, so why didn’t you do anything? Did you have a problem with Woollim?”
“Not exactly.” Sungyeol seemed a bit tense when replying.
“Are you in trouble again? Are your brothers hurt?” She insisted, this time more worried.

“No, I...” Sungyeol didn’t dare to say more, he couldn’t exactly explain what happened during the weekend. Surely he prioritized a part of his life that on other times he probably wouldn’t and instead of being guilty about it he was rather proud of himself. But, at the same time, if he explained in what kind of situation he was in, the link between him and Myungsoo that they have been trying to conceal would become evident.
Meanwhile, Myungsoo put two and two together and figured the difficult position Sungyeol was in. He decided to interrupt and make sure that every trouble they were in for the last month was not for nothing so he knocked on the door to make himself known. “Hello.” He waited for the other two to look at him (and Sungyeol sighed in relief and avoided his eyes) to continue. “Am I interrupting?” 

“Not at all.” Professor Song tried to smile but it was clear on her tone she wasn’t very pleased.

Myungsoo pretended he didn’t notice and smiled then shifted his eyes to Sungyeol. “Sungyeol-shi, I modified a few things on my project since we last spoke, can you take a look at it now? If you’re busy I can wait to talk to you later.” He offered just in case, but by the awkward atmosphere with his adviser, he didn’t think Sungyeol would reject his offer.

“Actually…” Professor Song was about to say something but Sungyeol interrupted her while getting up.

“You’re lucky, I have some time before my lecture.” He said before briefly bowing to his professor. “I’ll be right back.” He said in an apologetic tone as Myungsoo also bowed, then followed him outside.

“What happened?” Myungsoo inquired as soon as the door was closed behind them but talking low enough so the woman wouldn’t hear from inside.

“Nothing.” Sungyeol said as he moved to his desk but that didn’t satisfy his ex-lover.

“It didn’t seem like nothing,” Myungsoo said as he sat in front of Sungyeol. “Why was she scolding you?”

Sungyeol inhaled deeply and avoided the younger eyes. “Nothing much, just some planning I didn’t do for my lecture.”

 “Today’s lecture? The one that is supposed to give you the job you want?” Sungyeol moved his eyes back to Myungsoo’s but didn’t say anything so the younger took it as confirmation and dropped his jaw low and blinked quickly in disbelief. “Why didn’t you do anything?”

Sungyeol looked away again. Myungsoo's slightly panicked face was adorable and showed his concern/care for him and that made Sungyeol heart beat fast and his lips want to smile in the silliest way possible. But, unfortunately, they were in a dangerous territory so Sungyeol had to at least try to hold himself.

“Do you really want me to reply to this question here?” The taller one asked with the lowest tone he could muster.
That question was enough to answer Myungsoo’s one, it was evident that Sungyeol had been with Woohyun. The young dad looked down at the table and stayed quiet for a second while he tried to organize his thoughts a bit. “I’m sorry, in a way it’s my fault.”

Sungyeol sighed as he shifted his body and tried to look at Myungsoo from below his lashes as if they would protect him somehow. “Don’t sweat on it, I have Sunggyu so I didn’t spend all my time with him.” He said, choosing not to say he and Woohyun almost had a rift during the weekend. Meanwhile, Myungsoo raised his brows at him in confusion so the taller man decided to explain. “Sunggyu needed help to prepare for his festival and it was fun helping him as well.”
Myungsoo seemed pleased with the answer and kinda proud too. Sungyeol just knew then that the second the younger stopped smiling he would probably get a compliment that probably would make their connection very obvious. Not only that, but it would also disable him for the rest of the day, and that wasn’t good for them. He decided to go back to business and make sure to pull his phone to check the time before he opened his mouth.

“If you really need something I advise you to show me your project quickly, I need to have lunch early since my lecture is the first one in the afternoon.” Sungyeol tried his most even and distant tone though it was obvious as the light of the day he was struggling. Despite being amused by the elder struggle, Myungsoo couldn’t help but to agree once again that Sungyeol had been right all along, he just couldn’t pretend that well. He guessed the elder must have been struggling really hard to not show Woohyu his feelings for the longest time but thankfully this whole situation wouldn’t last forever.

“Oh, yes.” The young dad said as he pulled some pen drive out of his pocket, placed it on the table, and pushed into Sungyeol direction this time. “I found a way to inspire me this weekend so I modified my project a bit.”

“Hmmm, that’s really good to hear.” Sungyeol tried to sound a bit impersonal - pretending he knew nothing about Myungsoo visiting Woohyun at night - as he grabbed the device and connected to his laptop. “Did you change too many things? If so I don’t think I can give you thorough feedback right now.” He asked and finally opened the file.

“Oh no, not really, you can skip to the end if you like, what I changed is highlighted in yellow.” 

“Then let’s take a quick look at it.” Sungyeol pressed ‘page down’ and furrowed his brows with surprise as the pages passed and he saw the parts in yellow. “There is a lot of yellow here.” He said dumbly then dared to look at Myungsoo again to show his confusion.
“Yeah,” Myungsoo said shyly as he bit back a smile. “If-if you don’t have anything to add, I… I think I’m done this time.” He added.
Sungyeol's jaw moved up and down, his brain couldn’t decide if he should gasp in surprise or try to contain an ear-to-ear-full-teeth smile. In the end, he ended up pressing his lips together and letting all of his happiness overflow from his big eyes. They looked at each other in silence for a couple of seconds in which they held themselves to not get up to give each other at least a hug, but Sungyeol decided to break the moment to get the information he really needed: ‘when this restriction would end’?
“So, if I hypothetically can give you feedback today, when do you think you can bring the final version?”

The young dad briefly looked up to the ceiling and made some calculations in his mind before answering. “If there are no major mistakes, maybe I can print and hand in the final version tomorrow - I’ll probably need your signature - maybe Wednesday at most, so the only thing left for you to do is talk to my department to set a date.”

“Do you have a preference or can I choose any day available?” Sungyeol tried not to sound so excited as he turned to his laptop.

“Yesterday,” Myungsoo said boldly. Of course, that was impossible, but that word expressed he couldn’t wait to get rid of this.

Sungyeol smirked to himself as he saved a copy of Myungsoo's project, ejected the device, and then pulled the pen drive out. “Keep checking your email Myungsoo, you’ll be updated about the day and time of your presentation before you know it.” He said as he offered the younger his pen drive.

Myungsoo got up and made sure to brush Sungyeol's fingers as he grabbed the device. “Thank you for everything.” He said sincerely while Sungyeol tried to concentrate all his willpower not to melt with hope right there.

“Myungsoo, urgh, don’t break me before my lecture please.” He pleaded, his voice already strained and eyes shut.

Myungsoo stretched his lips in a half-smile then walked towards the door and Sungyeol finally opened his eyes to watch his retreating back when Myungsoo suddenly turned around. 

“I’m not sure you need something like this but…” He hesitated a bit but continued. “I could have waited to talk to you, you know? I know you have the brains and I know you probably have the knowledge but I thought that coming here to let you know that I was done with my project would recharge you enough to achieve your goal smoothly as well...” Sungyeol blinked at him and that was all that it took for Myungsoo to feel embarrassed and the dumbest he has ever felt. “What am I even saying? I just… just… fighting ok?” 

He left the office quickly. While he blushed outside Sungyeol placed both hands on his heart and inhaled deeply as he relaxed his whole body and a silly smile appeared on his face. “This was the best cheering ever…”