Title: Dreams

Pairing: Hyukbin

Word Count: 1412

When he was a child, Hongbin had often dreamed of a young boy. As he grew, so did the boy. It didn’t matter how many years passed, how much they changed in appearance, he always dreamed of the same boy. The setting of the dreams was always the same, too. He would always been in a field of flowers and the boy would always come to him, smiling a smile that made Hongbin smile right back.

The dreams would always end the same way, the boy looking sad as he left Hongbin.

Hongbin had never liked seeing that sad look on the boy’s face. It pulled at his heart and made him want to cry. It made him want to do anything he possibly could to remove that sad expression and replace it with that brilliant smile. But he never got the chance because he’d always wake up before he could do anything. He never remembered exactly what he talked about with the boy, just that they would sit in that field and just talk for hours.

He told his mother about the dreams once, but she’d brushed it off as nothing important. Even when he’d told her about having the dream for years, she’d only admit that it was a little odd before going back to insisting that it was nothing note worthy. He never told his father, expecting to hear the same thing from him. His sisters were a little more open to the idea of the dreams meaning something. They believed that his dreams were memories from a past life.

Hongbin wasn’t sure if they actually believed him or if they were just trying to humour him.

No one else had ever believed him about the dreams, not his friends or his teachers or his parents, so why should they?

After a while, Hongbin stopped talking about his dreams. They became a little secret he had, something special that was just for him. They were something he could look forewords to when he had a hard day at school or when he was in a bad mood because one of the other kids told him that he was just a pretty face. Seeing the boy in his dreams smile always made him feel better, always made him feel like everything would be alright.

And then one day the dreams stopped.

Hongbin was in his first year of college. He woke up one day, three weeks into the second semester and he was horrified to realize that the boy hadn’t been in his dreams. Hongbin spent weeks mourning for someone who probably didn’t exist. His roommate asked what was up and Hongbin told him everything. Hakyeon believed him, at least he hoped that he did. He didn’t judge him or call him crazy, that was for sure. Hakyeon helped him get over the loss of the boy and the dreams, helped him make new friends and put it all behind him. By the start of his second year, he’d almost totally forgotten about the boy in his dreams.

Well, that’s what he told himself anyway.

--

“Hongbin,” Hakyeon yelled, “hurry up, we’re late.”

“Coming,” Hongbin yelled back, “you go ahead, I’ll catch up.”

“Fine,” his friend sighed after a moment, “just be quick, Taekwoon will kill us both if you’re late again.”

Hakyeon left and Hongbin followed a few minutes later, struggling to put on his scarf and coat. He and Hakyeon had plans to meet up with their friends at a local coffee shop. Everyone had been mostly out of contact during winter break, far too caught up their families or significant others to have room for much else. Hongbin was looking forewords to seeing them all again, especially since Taekwoon was bringing his little brother.

The kid, Sanghyuk, was going to be starting at their college the following year. But since Taekwoon had gotten an apartment close to the college their parents had felt it was a good idea for Sanghyuk to move in with his brother. Their theory was that it gave him a chance to get used to the city and pick up a part-time job so Taekwoon didn’t have to pay for rent all on his own. Taekwoon had admitted that he thought it was just a way of getting both out of the house so their parents didn’t have to deal with them, but it was fine. He loved his little brother and had missed him a lot while he was away for college.

“You’re late,” Wonsik said when Hongbin finally entered the coffee shop.

“Only by a minute,” Hongbin huffed at his friend, “or two.”

“Try five or more,” Hakyeon huffed from where he was cuddled up with his boyfriend Jaehwan.

“I’d say it was closer to ten,” Taekwoon rolled his eyes, hugging his little brother tightly when he noticed some guys a couple tables away looking at him.

Jaehwan and Hakyeon snickered, apparently used to Taekwoon’s overprotective big brother tendencies. They probably were. The three, four counting Sanghyuk, had all grown up together and knew everything about each other. Honestly, it used to make Hongbin and Wonsik feel a little left out, especially since Taekwoon wasn’t the easiest person to get to know. But that was when they first started hanging out together, now they were a close nit group of five.

Well, six now that Sanghyuk was here.

Speaking of Sanghyuk, Hongbin finally took the time to get a good look at the kid after taking a seat beside Wonsik. Sanghyuk was handsome, that much should have been clear by how many people were checking him out. He had a strong jaw line and his hair was a sandy blond, bangs falling slightly into his dark eyes. And his smile—.

Hongbin knew that smile.

His eyes widened and Sanghyuk’s smile grew even brighter.

“Hi,” Sanghyuk said, “it’s been a while.”

“You,” Hongbin tried to find the right words, “you were in my dreams.”

“And you were in mine,” Sanghyuk nodded, smile growing even more if that was possible.

“You stopped,” Hongbin said, “last year, you stopped showing up.”

“I know,” Sanghyuk’s smile faded, turned sad, “I don’t know why, but it wasn’t something I wanted. I liked seeing you every night, I liked our talks.”

“I did, too,” Hongbin said, “I miss them.”

“Maybe,” Sanghyuk’s grin returned, “the dreams stopped because if they didn’t, we wouldn’t be able to meet. You only got close to Hakyeon because they stopped, right?”

“Yeah,” Hongbin nodded slightly, thinking over Sanghyuk’s words, “maybe.”

“Um,” Wonsik finally spoke up, “anyone wanna fill us in here?”

“He’s the one,” Sanghyuk said, turning to his brother, “the one from my dreams.”

“Seriously?” Hakyeon cried out as Taekwoon’s eyes widened and Jaehwan fell over in shock, “Hongbin’s the one?”

“Yeah,” Sanghyuk nodded, turning back to Hongbin, “Hongbin’s the one.”

“Still no idea what’s going on,” Wonsik frowned, looking around at everyone else who clearly did know what was going on.

“I can’t believe this!” Hakyeon threw up his hands, “How didn’t I realize this! Hongbin told me about his dreams for crying out loud, how did I not put the pieces together.”

“This is amazing!” Jaehwan cried, bouncing up and down in his seat, “this is great~! Hyukkie you’ve found him!”

“You’re the one, huh?” Taekwoon said, looking at Hongbin with a small smile, “Good.”

“Yo!” Wonsik snapped, finally gaining everyone’s attention, “Can someone fill me in here? Kind of out of the loop.”

Hakyeon and Jaehwan somehow ended up being the ones to explain everything, Taekwoon tossing out the odd comment or correction every so often. Turned out, Taekwoon had similar dreams about someone he’d never met, too. And their mother and grandmother and their great grandmother as well. The brother’s didn’t understand the why or the how, but their family on their mother’s side all had dreams about their soul mates. Dreams that lasted from birth until meeting their soul mate.

Or, in the case of Sanghyuk and Hongbin, until fate decided that the dreams needed to stop in order for the two soul mates to meet.

The whole time the others talked about this, Sanghyuk and Hongbin sat together and talked. Sanghyuk’s smile was just as wonderful in real life as it was in dreams and Hongbin couldn’t help but smile with him. Knowing that they were soul mates.......Hongbin could more than live with that. Knowing that Sanghyuk would be by his side forever.......he was more than happy with that.

A/N: so at first, I didn’t know what to do with this theme. There were just so many ideas I could work with that it left me sitting with no ideas. And then I was watching the Rooster Teeth Extra Life charity livestream and the idea for this hit me like a bolt of lightning. At first, i’d planned on Hongbin’s dreams being about his past life with Sanghyuk, but then the soul mate idea popped into my head and it was perfect~~~~