pairing: BaekChen
length: 2800 words
Part Two: Club Night Mare

It was pitch black for several seconds until the darkness began to dissipate and Baekhyun’s surroundings steadily turned paper white. This was how it always started whenever he dreamed. After so many adventures in the dreamscape, Baekhyun was already prepared for whatever bizarre and unrealistic scenarios his unconscious mind would decide to conjure that night.

Sometimes, he’d be a miniature version of himself flying through the sky. Sometimes, he’d be running—and winning—in a marathon against his friends who had all been cross-country athletes back in high school. Sometimes, he’d be investigating tombs filled with magical creatures and treasure.

These were the fun dreams that he wished would last longer than they typically did.

But whenever it was exam season, Baekhyun would dream about solving calculus equations, defining biology terms, or drawing chemistry diagrams. Those were the worst; he’d always wake up prematurely, breathing heavily, as he anxiously checked the time to make sure he hadn’t accidentally overslept and missed his exam. He was so afraid of doing poorly that his unconscious mind would take that fear and multiple it ten-fold while he was asleep, just to torment him even more.

At the very least, Baekhyun knew that he wouldn’t have any nightmares tonight; it was summertime, so there were no tests to study for and no schoolwork to worry about completing. He could do whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted, and his dreams were just as carefree.

So tonight, he waited with bated breath for his unconscious mind to fill in the blanks and send him on a new adventure. But for some reason, the only thing that appeared was a cobbled stone pathway underneath Baekhyun’s bare feet. Everything else around him stayed white. He was also still in his pajamas, which was odd. He’d usually be dressed in the appropriate attire of whatever scenario he was thrown into.

Deciding that his imagination would kick in later, Baekhyun began walking down the path and he wondered what kind of surprise was at the end of the road. His unconscious mind liked to throw the most random curveballs at him and with tonight’s dream already panning out so differently from the norm, Baekhyun had no idea what to expect. The only thing he wished for was that he wouldn’t die; he had a perfect record of staying alive so far—from what he could recall—and he didn’t want his streak to end yet. Not if he could help it.

The cobbled path widened after several hundred feet and soon, a wooden park bench nestled in a field of red geraniums came into view. There was also another male sitting on the bench, but his face was hidden at first, since he was facing the opposite direction from Baekhyun.

Dashes of light blue decorated the “sky” once Baekhyun reached the last stone panel of the cobbled road, but nothing else noteworthy transformed. His clothes stayed as they were and most of his environment was still pure white. Baekhyun also had no idea who the other male was, since his unconscious mind had strangely decided to forgo supplying such important knowledge for this abnormal occasion. Whenever he appeared in a dream, Baekhyun happened to innately know everything about the scenario and could seamlessly blend in while making well-informed decisions that would lead him in the right direction. However, he was just as lost as he had been when he had first landed in the dreamscape that night.

Well, as the protagonist of this story, he’d just have to be proactive and make the first move. The plot never moved forward unless the main character did.

Baekhyun stepped closer to the other male and cautiously sat down next to him. The guy still didn’t turn his head, even though Baekhyun hadn’t exactly been very subtle in his movements. So he took a more direct approach and tapped the other male on the shoulder to get his attention. Baekhyun was about to greet him when the guy’s head turned and Baekhyun found himself speechlessly staring into the warm brown eyes of a very attractive man who just happened to look like his ideal type.

“Oh, hey, I didn’t see you there. I don’t dream very often, so I’m trying to get used to being outside of reality,” the guy said, smiling sheepishly. “Apparently, I can make things float in midair if I stare at them and think about it hard enough.”

“That’s…cool,” Baekhyun answered awkwardly, trying to focus on the other male’s words and not just his good-looking, chiseled face. “I come to the dreamscape almost every night, so I’m pretty familiar with all of the supernatural abilities that come with the place.”

The man’s eyes lit up as he quickly asked, “What else is possible here?” while openly staring at Baekhyun, who coughed in embarrassment when he realized that he was still wearing his pajamas.

“Flying is a favorite of mine, but it only happens under certain circumstances,” he responded casually, trying not to let the pink flush on his neck spread any further. “Most of the time, the extra abilities depend on what you’re dreaming about. Like if I’m fighting as an archer in a medieval war, I’ll suddenly have eagle-eye vision and perfect aim, even though my eyes are actually awful and I’m really clumsy in real life.”

“Wow, I’ve been missing out.” The other male turned his head away from Baekhyun to stare into space for several seconds as he focused on levitating one of the flowers in the field they were in. “By the way, I don’t think we introduced ourselves. I’m Jongdae.” The edges of his eyes crinkled while the tips of his lips curled up as he turned back to flash a sunny smile at a star-struck Baekhyun.

It took a couple of seconds for Baekhyun to register the other male’s words in his head and he felt the back of his neck turn warmer as he hurriedly answered, “I’m Baekhyun.” There was a short pause before he continued with a tinge of suspicion to his tone, “You’re a figment of my imagination, right? Even though you make it sound as if you have a life outside of the dreamscape, it’s not possible for you to be a real person.” It’s not possible for someone to be this attractive in real life, he silently added.

“Of course it’s possible for me to be a real person, because I am real,” Jongdae said, crossing his legs and leaning back into the park bench. “How do I know that you aren’t a figment of my imagination?” he asked accusingly with narrowed eyes. “After all, you seem to be quite knowledgeable about the dreamscape’s inner workings for an actual human.”

“I’m a lucid dreamer, so it’s easy for me to recognize that I’m in a dream when I’m asleep,” Baekhyun explained.

Jongdae hummed as he closely scrutinized his peer whose gaze was now darting every which way after Jongdae shifted nearer to Baekhyun. “Well,” he started after several moments of observation, “I guess it doesn’t matter if you’re real or not. At least not right now. I’m way more interested in the special abilities that you talked about earlier. Mind showing me a few while we’re here?”

Baekhyun let out a deep breath that he hadn’t realized he had been holding the entire time before replying, “Sure. We’ll probably have to go further into the dreamscape, so I can gauge what’s available to us.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Jongdae said with a wide grin as he pushed himself up from the park bench. “Lead the way!”

There was no denying that Baekhyun’s heart skipped a couple of beats when the good-looking man in front of him extended a hand towards him. Even if it turned out that Jongdae was a creation of his unconscious mind, Baekhyun was going to pretend to be blissfully ignorant of reality.

--

The path ended up extending until it reached a massive castle that was filled with all sorts of surprises and horrors. It was as if it had been specifically constructed for the purpose of allowing the pair to experience dozens of mini dreams within this collective dreamscape. It was like a giant funhouse and Baekhyun almost forgot how strange it was that another real person was living out his wacky dreams with him. It felt so right to be exploring alien spaceships while carrying high-tech laser guns, solving ancient runes as wizards, and riding in a colorful train made out of sweets with Jongdae, just to name a few.

The younger male was so infectiously happy about being able to actively participate in such surreal situations that he couldn’t stop chattering about his favorite moments while they walked to a small break room they had passed by when they first entered the castle. Jongdae also felt the need to reenact a number of highlight moments, which Baekhyun greatly enjoyed watching, as soon as the two entered the break room.

“I still can’t believe we did all of that,” the younger male said, slightly breathless after performing a relatively dangerous maneuver. He took a seat at the square table in the middle of the room, across from Baekhyun who had his elbows perched on the tabletop while his hands lightly cupped his pointed chin.

“Yeah, it was nice to finally do this stuff with another person,” Baekhyun agreed with a soft smile. “I’ll see and interact with people I know in my dreams, but I’m ultimately the one controlling them, so I’m glad you were here to change things up. Honestly, I’m still questioning if you’re real or not, because this was almost too perfect, if you know what I mean.” Just like how Jongdae looked too perfect to be true.

“I promise I’m real. I’m a bona fide, living, breathing human being,” the younger male reaffirmed. “But, hypothetically speaking, if we’re both real, how did we end up in the same dreamscape?” Jongdae asked curiously as he mindlessly traced patterns with his right pointer finger on the beige velvet tablecloth. “It’s not possible for people to dream the same dream, is it?”

Baekhyun’s eyebrows furrowed in deep thought as he answered, “Well, there isn’t any scientific evidence to back up shared dreaming as a plausible phenomenon. Most of it is just hearsay, but it must be true to some degree if we’re experiencing it right now.”

“But we don’t even know each other,” the younger male sensibly pointed out. “These things usually happen to family members or couples, neither of which applies to us.”

Baekhyun would be lying if he said that fact, true as it was, didn’t pain him. “We can, uh, get to know each other now,” the older male clumsily suggested, keeping his eyes trained on the floor since he knew he would blush if he made eye contact with Jongdae after making such a bold offer. “After all, we’ve saved a few kingdoms and survived several life-threatening disasters together within the last few hours. You can’t claim those kinds of memories with many people, right?”

A trill of high-pitched laughter escaped Jongdae’s wide mouth. “Yeah, you’re right. It’s been a wild ride and I’m still trying to believe that we actually did all of that in one night.” The younger male grinned and Baekhyun’s heart skipped another beat, since that smile was aimed at him. “Even if this is all just a dream, thanks for being here with me to experience the best night ever. It’s too bad that we probably won’t be able to do this again.”

“Why won’t we?”

Jongdae wistfully stared off into space while answering, “I know you mentioned that you’re a lucid dreamer who comes here pretty often, but I’m not the same. It’s a miracle that I even made it this far into the dream and I don’t know if I’ll even remember this when I wake up. I have an awful track record when it comes to dreams, to be honest.”

“Well—” A loud beeping noise suddenly rang throughout the dreamscape, causing Jongdae to jump in surprise, and Baekhyun silently swore when he recognized the sound as his alarm clock signaling for him to wake up in reality. The older male knew that he only had a handful of seconds left in this space before his brain would force him to open his eyes, which would mark the end of his dream and the end of his time with Jongdae, so he quickly grabbed the younger male’s hands and stared directly into his eyes. “Where can I find you?” Baekhyun hastily asked.

“Huh?”

The alarm clock continued to ring relentlessly, so Baekhyun raised his voice so that Jongdae could hear him over the racket as the older male reiterated, “How can I meet up with you in real life?”

“Why?” And then the younger male gasped as his gaze suddenly darted to their clasped hands; Baekhyun’s fingers were beginning to shimmer and fade away. “What’s going on? Aren’t you real? What’s happening to you?”

“My body is forcing me to wake up, so we don’t have much time! Where do you live in the real world?”

Jongdae could see the desperation in Baekhyun’s eyes as the older male continued to evaporate, so he grabbed a blue ballpoint pen from his pants pocket and quickly uncapped it to scribble some words onto Baekhyun’s right arm. “Here. This is where I work. You’ll find me there every evening from eight o’clock until midnight.”

By this time, Baekhyun’s entire lower body had vanished and his arms were becoming more translucent by the second. “Okay, I’ll come tonight!” the older male exclaimed as he frantically willed himself to hold onto the dream for a few moments more. “We’ll talk then!”

“I’ll be waiting!” Jongdae leaned forward, his curled lips slightly parted while his hands tried to grab onto Baekhyun’s shoulders now that the older male’s hands were gone. “And, Baekhyun, you’re—”

But before he could finish, Baekhyun’s eyes flew open and his hand promptly slammed the top of his digital clock, hitting the button to shut off the noisy alarm. His heart was racing in his chest while his mind tried to process what had transpired in his dream. A shiver ran through Baekhyun’s body as he looked down at his hands, which were thankfully corporeal now that he was back in reality.

He couldn’t remember why he had set his alarm in the first place, considering it was summer break and he wasn’t working, and he cursed his past self for ruining his conversation with Jongdae. Even if he turned out to be nonexistent, their goodbye had been too harried and that didn’t sit well with Baekhyun; he liked experiencing his dreams until the very end and waking up naturally from them.

Since he was already awake, he figured that he may as well get out of bed and eat breakfast—or rather, brunch since it was already past noon. Baekhyun used one hand to tug his nightshirt off of his body while the other hand reached behind him to grab the red T-shirt that was hanging from one of the bedposts. He slipped it on and then pulled on a pair of black basketball shorts after kicking off his gray sweatpants.

Now that he was properly dressed, Baekhyun left his bedroom and walked to the bathroom to freshen up. As he brushed his teeth, his eyes caught sight of blue words printed on his right arm and he almost choked on the toothpaste, because Jongdae was real.

That was only way to explain the uncanny appearance of the words—which read Club Night Mare—during the middle of the night. Baekhyun knew for a fact that he didn’t sleepwalk, so he couldn’t have written the name of Jongdae’s workplace on his arm by himself.

His dream must have somehow connected with Jongdae’s and whatever had happened in the dreamscape had translated into real life, much to Baekhyun’s delight. He didn’t have the faintest idea how it had happened in the first place, but Baekhyun decided that didn’t matter much in the grand scope of things. After all, he could now uphold his promise and rendezvous with Jongdae face-to-face, and they could get to the bottom of this enigma together.

It had also been a while since Baekhyun had last gone to a bar, which is what Club Night Mare turned out to be when he did a quick Google search on his phone. And that gave Baekhyun the perfect excuse to dress nicely to make up for his overly casual outfit during their dream meeting.

He’d make sure Jongdae wouldn’t be able to peel his gaze away—not even for a second—from the older male when they convened tonight.

♈♈♈