Minseok felt bad for the country lad, cringing when Baekhyun elaborated on his nice bum. He looked positively mortified, hands clenched at his sides. Perhaps it was wishful thinking, and really it probably was, that Minseok saw a sliver of himself in the way the boy looked desperate to run away.

Minseok cleared his throat, not hiding his annoyance. “French Revolution?” he asked, feigning a smile in Baekhyun’s direction.

“Yes!” his friend’s attention was turned back to his dream. “I was in Versailles and Lu Han–“ He pointed, wagging his finger in Lu Han’s face. “You were flirting with Marie Antoinette, you rogue! Among everything else that was going on you still had time to comment on her diamonds!”

Lu Han was immediately uncomfortable, hands fidgeting as he straightened his jacket. “I don’t know what–“

A commotion sounded from outside the cottage, another instrument to draw out the poor country boy’s discomfort. Minseok could see it clearly on Kyungsoo’s face, he looked like he desired nothing more than to run away.

“What is that?” Baekhyun asked, pushing everyone to get to the door. Forever curious, yet still awkward in his human form.  

Minseok pointedly ignored him in favor of sizing Kyungsoo up – something about the boy caught his attention. Easy to startle. Easy to please. Would probably be gre–

“Yixing and Junmyeon!” Baekhyun exclaimed, throwing the door open. “You rogues, why are you here?”

Minseok crossed his arms over his chest, not pleased at the sudden turn of events. Junmyeon spelled trouble, no matter where or what was happening. He trusted him little given the turn of events he had been a part of.

“We decided it was better if we slept with a roof over our heads,” Junmyeon said, sauntering into the place.

Minseok made eye contact with Yixing, sharing a look of concern.

“Is the estate not to your liking?” he asked dryly, recalling the burning, smoldering building they had left.

“Is it to yours?” Junmyeon responded, quirking his eyebrow.

Minseok exhaled, attention turned back to Baekhyun. He desperately hoped that his friend wouldn’t say too much in front of Junmyeon. One could never be too careful.

His concern was misplaced, it seemed.

“His name is Chanyeol. Yes, big fellow.” Baekhyun ignored everything around him in favor of talking to Do Kyungsoo, gesturing with his hand to signal the height of the man he was looking for.

Minseok cleared his throat, diverting the attention back on him. “Thank you, Mr. Do, for bringing us groceries. Have a pleasant trip back.”

Kyungsoo’s mouth contorted in a half smile before he practically ran away, clearly thrilled to be free of the awkward atmosphere.

Once they were alone, Minseok stalked past his uncle, walking towards his machine. He cared little for the frivolous concerns of Junmyeon unless his uncle were to be honest with him, of course. He trusted him little, which was reason enough to ignore the man.

“Hey.”

Minseok glanced over his shoulder to see Lu Han standing, looking far too concerned about ….nothing. He was only working on his machine.

“Hey,” Minseok said in return, attention turned back towards the important matter at hand.

He stiffened, but only momentarily, when he felt arms wrap around his middle, hugging him tightly.

“You need to eat something,” Lu Han said softly, pulling Minseok to him.

“I’m fine.” Minseok didn’t pull away, but he didn’t give in either. He picked up another part of the machine, not caring that Lu Han was trying very hard to distract him.

“I need to–“

He couldn’t register it as a time slip, like a dream. As walking amongst the shifting of realities. He couldn’t compare it against his prior experiences because it wasn’t. It wasn’t what he had experienced. This shift, this sudden distortion of time and space – it was not exactly like the realities he had existed in.

One minute Lu Han was holding him, all ill will forgotten. Lu Han’s hands on his sides, on his waist, affectionate when he deserved little of it. And then another moment and everything had changed, warped far away from the cottage, from the tiny village away from the great house. Suddenly he couldn’t recognize the reality of the situation. Of any of it. But wasn’t that, in some ways, a given?

Lu Han was no longer next to him, it wasn’t the same. It wasn’t the same warm hands on his waist, on his hips or shoulders. It wasn’t the same unfailingly pleasant target to flirt with. It was–

“Hill 937.”

A strange voice. Shouting. Humid. A jungle.

Minseok gasped, reaching for something, anything, coming up with nothing but wet leaves and the sounds of gunfire.

“Sergeant!”

Screams.

Minseok gasped, eyes opening wide, registering the overcast sky that was barely visible through the jungle canopy. He couldn’t understand where he was, what was happening. Only screams. Gunfire. Pain.

“Sergeant!”

Minseok looked to his left, and then….

“Sergeant! Officer Kim Jongin reporting!”

A half-hearted salute amid a world of confusion. Minseok blinked up at him. Among the places he had been that he had dream walked to this– this seemed the most promising.

Eager eyes. Kim Jongin.

Kim Jongin.

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