Contains hints of Woochan (Woojin & Chan) Minsung (Minho & Jisung) and Jeongmin (Jeongin & Seungmin)

~

He kicked his feet against the desk he was sitting behind and spun on his chair. He huffed as his eyes scanned the familiar interior. Round blue walls and harsh ceiling lights. He watched the clock tick further and further. It was just for show, there was no such thing as time here.

He dropped his head on his arms trying to remember when the last time he slept had been. Sleep was a funky concept when there was no time to keep to.

He heard the door open and his head shot up, his eyes instantly locked on the entrance of his little bubble.

"Don't get your hopes up, it's just me" was the first thing the young boy said as he walked through the door. He huffed again.

"Hey Jeongin" he said as he dropped his head back on his arms.

"How you doing" the boy asked.

"No new people so far, so" he huffed. Jeongin chuckled slightly.

"Don't worry, someone will come, someday, maybe"

"Thanks, that really makes me feel better" he responded sarcastically.

"Are the roads clear" Jeongin asked, like he did every day. He checked the screen closest to him.

"Clear as ever" he answered with a pout.

"Great, well, see you tomorrow" he gave him a little wave.

"Yeah, good luck. Say hi to Seungmin for me"

"Will do" he saluted him and quickly disappeared through the only other door. He sighed deeply. There went his only daily interaction. Or well, he could only guess it was daily.

Sometimes Jeongin would come back quickly, if Seungmin wasn't dreaming. There were also times when he wouldn't come for a while. It was only natural he didn't dream every night.

He sighed and checked the screens once again. Line after line, tiny coloured wires and cords, tangling over and under each other. Road after road after road.

It's what they called the dream net. It was an intricate technological maze of connections, connections between all dreaming people. Trough these connections, people dreaming could visit others dreaming. Roads were constantly appearing and disappearing as people were waking up or going back to sleep.

The place in which he was situated was called a dream hub, a beacon for travellers to make sure they didn't get lost on the grid and to ensure their safety when something went wrong. From a hub you could chose another road and continue travelling into the dream of another.

The hub he ran was situated on the edge of the grid, far away from the more frequently used roads and hubs. It was a miracle if someone else then Jeongin ever passed through.

Jeongin used the grid to visit Seungmin, his friend. One day, when Jeongin concluded Seungmin wasn't dreaming and came back to the hub he had told him their story.

It was quite cute actually.

The two of them had been best friends ever since they were young. When their friendship developed into something a little more their parents decided they could no longer see each other. Shortly after that Seungmin moved away and Jeongin was bound to never see him again.

Until the dream net was realised. The technology hadn't been around for long yet and no one knew if it was really entirely safe, but it was the perfect way for them to see each other.

Jeongin used the back of the grid to avoid possibly running into his parents. He always travelled to Seungmin, he had a feeling for roads, he always knew which was Seungmin's. They had it all figured out.

He smiled fondly thinking of them. Jeongin was the only person that passed his hub frequently, and also the only person who stopped to greet him.

He eyed the clock again. 

Tik tok, tik tok.

He groaned and pushed away from the desk, away from the screens and dancing lines of road upon road.

Sometimes he wondered how he hadn't gone crazy yet.

"Excuse me?"

The sudden voice made him drop off his chair and hit his head against the desk. He groaned and clutched his head with his hands. He quickly scrambled up, leaning on his desk heavily.

"Yes" he panted. The other person eyed him with an amused look on his face. He was tall and, might he say, quite handsome, with dark hair and interesting features.

"Can I help you" he asked, regaining his composure. The door opened again.

"Hey guess what, the idiot is not dreaming. Again" Jeongin whined as he came back inside. He froze when his eyes landed on the stranger and the three of them simply continued staring at each other.

The new guy coughed awkwardly.

"Right, I'm gonna go back now, see you" Jeongin said quickly before darting out of the door again. The new guy looked at him again.

"I was wondering where I am" he asked casually. He sat back down on his abandoned chair and checked the monitors to pretend like he was doing something.

"You're on the back of the grid, if you want I can show you to the main roads" he looked over his screens to look at the guy again. He looked a little sad all of a sudden.

"No that's not necessary" he said quickly. He nodded.

"Is there anything else I can do for you" he asked as the other didn't seem to start talking anytime soon.

"I just- uh. Sorry, my name's Woojin" the guy stepped forward and reached out his hand for him. He was surprised by the gesture, he hadn't experienced it in a long time seeing the only person who had ever taken the time to introduce himself to him had been Jeongin.

"Chan" he answered as he shook Woojin's hand, the name unfamiliar to him in some way. He kicked out the chair next to him and let it roll towards Woojin.

"Thanks" Woojin said quietly as he sat down.

"So, what brings you to the edge of the grid" he asked casually as he scanned the screens again. A lot of roads were disappearing. It must be morning somewhere.

"I don't really know" Woojin admitted. He rolled his chair next to him and looked over his shoulders to watch the curving lines.

"That's interesting, does it go like that in all the hubs" he asked.

"Not sure" he admitted as he shook his head a little. Woojin's closeness was unfamiliar to him and he couldn't quite understand why Woojin chose to stay here. Didn't he have somewhere to go?

"Are you sure you don't want me to send you somewhere" he asked cautiously.

"Yeah" Woojin sighed out. He ran a hand through his hair.

"It's just uh, I don't have anyone to visit anymore. My mom, she was very sick, so because we usually couldn't really communicate well we would visit her in our dreams. She passed away recently so now everytime I dream I just kind off wander around the net. I don't really know what to do"

He instantly felt guilty.

"I am so sorry, I shouldn't have asked" he said softly.

"No, it's alright, you didn't know" Woojin said as he played with the strings of his sweater "she was sick, we all knew it was coming"

"That doesn't make it any better. But if it makes you feel better, you can come here anytime you want, I'm usually alone anyway" he offered. A look of relief slipped onto Woojin's face.

"You'd get annoyed of me" he argued.

"I'll take my chances" he said with a smile. Woojin smiled back at him.

"Thank you" he said.

"No, thank you" he responded.

~

He hadn't seen Woojin since. He had known it was too good to be true. No one payed attention to the edge of the grid and people usually didn't keep their word. But he had hoped Woojin would. Even though technically he hadn't promised him anything.

It wasn't even technically. Woojin actually hadn't promised him anything.

He was lying on the floor, his hands folded underneath his head. There wasn't much to see on the ceiling but he liked a change of scenery every once in a while. It got so dull otherwise. Jeongin had passed not long ago but seeing as he hadn't returned yet he expected him to be with Seungmin by now.

"Hey" a sudden voice said. He moved his head slightly to look at Woojin who had just entered.

"You actually came back" he said as he dropped his head back down.

"I wasn't entirely sure if you meant what you said" Woojin admitted "I was slightly nervous to come back"

"Woojin, it's the edge of the net, no one ever comes here. I'd be happy to have any company"

"I'm glad I already mean that much to you" Woojin said teasingly as he situated himself next to him and folded his arms underneath his head as well. He felt strangely comfortable around Woojin already even though they had only met once.

"Interesting ceiling you've got there"

"I know"

"So the kid, the one I saw a couple of days ago, who's he" he asked. He chuckled a little.

"His name's Jeongin"

"You seem to know him well"

"He passes by almost every day. He uses the back grid to avoid his parents, I assume he has grown to like me" he explained.

"Why would he want to avoid his parents" Woojin asked.

"He's visiting a friend of his that his parents don't want him to see anymore"

Woojin whistled softly.

"The kid's smart" he said.

"They both are from what I've heard" he said with a chuckle "and crazy about each other. There are days Jeongin doesn't shut up about him"

"He talks to you?"

"Sometimes, when he finds out Seungmin's not dreaming. He'll come back and hang out for a while. It's not often" he explained. He vaguely detected Woojin nodding.

"So you're always alone?"

"Yes" he huffed.

"Sounds lonely" Woojin stated.

"I mean, yeah" he nodded slowly.

All of a sudden he heard a small puff, like a candle was being blown out. He looked to the side to see Woojin was no longer there. He sighed deeply and turned his head back.

At least he got to wake up.

~

"Do you eat?"

Woojin was rolling around the small bubble on one of his chairs as he checked the screens.

"No" he answered blankly. Woojin pushed off the wall and rolled passed him.

"Do you drink?"

"No"

"Do you sleep?"

"Occasionally" he answered as he peeked over the screen to look at him. He nodded absentmindedly as if he was in deep through. He spun on the chair.

"And barely anyone ever passes this hub" he continued.

"Yes" a road flickered and disappeared. Woojin slid towards the desk and propped his head on his hands.

"Isn't that strange?"

"You get used to it" he answered. Woojin was staring at him intensely.

"So what's your story" he suddenly asked.

"What do you mean?"

Woojin gave him a look that said 'you know exactly what I mean'.

"Why are you stuck here" he elaborated. He sighed deeply and sat up a little straighter.

"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to" he quickly said.

"No it's fine, it's just that no one has ever asked" he said as he got up. He paced up and down the small space.

"It was a while ago, I'm not sure how long exactly" he started. He paused as he realised that he really had no idea how long it had been.

"I was in the hospital with heart failures" Woojin gave him a strange look.

"No, I didn't die" he stated with a chuckle.

"I wasn't allowed to leave the hospital, they were going to give me surgery soon, which would have probably fixed the problem. But I was young, and being cooped up in a hospital for too long doesn't do anyone any good. So I snuck out, decided to visit a good friend of mine. His name was Minho. And you know what the thing is, everything went perfectly fine, didn't have a scratch. When I arrived back at the hospital there was some guy driving his daughter to the ER at the same time. I got hit by their car virtually on the hospital's doorstep. They rushed me in and did surgery and everything would have been fine if I hadn't had any heart issues. The only way they could keep me alive was to put me into medically induced sleep"

It hurt to tell the story. Even Jeongin had never asked and he wasn't sure if he would have even told him if he had.

"You're in a coma" Woojin said softly.

"Stuck in a constant state of dreaming" he said with a humorless chuckle. "I wandered around the net for a while, visiting people's dreams here and there. Until someone noticed me and they stationed me here. Been here ever since"

He sat back down and stared at the millions upon millions of roads.

"The net is a wonderful thing you know, it gave me a second chance of sorts. But if the whole thing crashes, I'm just as much use as a dead man" he stated bitterly.

"Did no one ever look for you" Woojin asked.

"I don't think they realise that I could be stuck here" he admitted "I mean if I think about it, my parents were never really big on technology, they probably don't trust the net" he sighed.

"The worst thing is, it was my own fault"

"No Chan, you shouldn't see it like that. Okay you made a bad decision, but no one could have predicted what happened" Woojin reassured him.

"Yeah you're right. Doesn't mean I'm not still stuck here though"

"Well then let's make the best of it" Woojin stated as he pulled his chair towards him. He pushed him towards the opposite wall. He stopped himself against the wall with his feet and glared at Woojin before kicking off towards him.

Woojin laughed and quickly spun away. A smile slipped onto his face as he continued to follow him around the hub.

~

He had his feet propped up on the desk as he stared at the screen. Apparently the technology had undergone an update. Millions of white dots were scattered all over the surface of the screen.

People

The roads on his side were clean. No dots at all. He sighed and rubbed his face with his hands. When he looked back two dots were approaching. He frowned. The new update made him feel slightly uneasy, as though the dots were dangerous. It was probably just Woojin and Jeongin travelling together. He had no idea who else it could be.

They came closer and closer.

His gaze fixated on the door just as it opened.

The two people seemed to be talking.

"Are you sure this is it?"

"About ninety nine percent" he heard Woojin answer. The other voice was oddly familiar. His frown deepened.

"Minho" he asked. He froze in his chair, shock taking over his body.

"Chan, is that you, for real" Minho exclaimed. He got out of his chair as Minho strode towards him and engulfed him in a tight hug.

"God I haven't seen you in ages" he muttered.

"Yeah" was all he managed to say. He looked at Woojin who was looking at them with a small smile. Minho let go of him.

"Your parents told me what happened, I'm so sorry"

"It wasn't your fault Minho" he reassured him.

"But still"

"How are they? My parents" he asked. He hadn't seen his parents in…. a long time, such a long time.

"Alright. They had it tough but your mom still brings you flowers every Monday. Your aunt still send you postcards and your dad always reads them to you. Always"

His vision got slightly blurry.

"Maybe you should sit down" Woojin suggested.

"Yeah" he pushed a chair towards him as he sank down to the floor.

"How did you find me" he asked as he buried his hands in his hair.

"I've been looking for you ever since the accident. I knew you had to be here somewhere, but the thing's huge. I mean, it took me a year to find you. I was lucky enough to run into Woojin here otherwise I probably still hadn't" Minho explained.

A year

The words rang through his head.

He had been in a coma for a year and it hadn't even felt like it.

"I've been in a coma for over a year" he breathed.

"Yeah. I'm sorry" Minho said softly.

"And what about my parents, is there anything they can do, are they deciding to continue treatment" he asked.

"Chan, I- I'm not sure" Minho continued quietly "they were talking about still doing the heart surgery and seeing if they could get you back that way but it's risky. If something goes wrong there's nothing they can do for you"

He rested his head against the wall as he blinked to keep his tears back.

"Okay, well, at least you found me" he said as he looked back at him. He still had a worried expression on his face.

"Don't look at me like that" he stated "and tell me what I've missed. I've got a lot of catching up to do"

~

From then on Minho visited as often as he could. He wasn't a frequent dreamer so he didn't see him as often as he saw Woojin but it was good spending time with him and catching up on everything he had missed. Minho was now his link to the life he once had, the people he had known.

Minho had tried to tell his parents that he had found him but his parents were stubborn and they wouldn't believe him. He didn't mind, he hadn't expected anything else.

He had also made him realise that he'd actually been quite lucky. The day he visited Minho, Minho had persuaded him to activate the dream net technology. It was installed on the identity chips that were implanted in people from birth but you still had the choice to activate it or not. The day he slipped into a coma had been the day he had finally activated it as well.

When turned off people simply slept and dreamed like they always would, they didn't have the opportunity to access the net.

It was that simple.

They were currently lying on the floor. Woojin had just left as he had to wake up early. He had moved a screen for them to look at because Minho was completely fascinated by the maze of wires and dots. It was quite and he had his eyes closed.

Until Minho harshly prodded him with his elbow.

"What" he grumbled as he opened one eye. He was pointing at the screen which showed a tiny white dot making its way towards them at incredible speed.

"What the hell" he muttered. If he knew Jeongin would never travel towards them that quickly and Woojin had just left, who on earth could that be?

To be fair he was getting slightly overwhelmed by the amount of people that were passing through his hub in such a short time. It was truly unheard of.

The door slammed open loudly and they both jumped to their feet. They were met with a dishevelled, young looking boy. His blond hair was messy and his eyes were widened.

"Where the hell am I" he asked loudly. They both stayed quiet, not sure of what to do.

"I said, where the hell am I?"

"What- what do you mean" Minho asked.

"What do I mean" the boy huffed "I mean the last thing I remember is falling asleep and all of a sudden I'm surrounded by darkness and I'm standing on a glowing blue road is what I mean. So can someone please explain to me what the is going on"

"Uh"

"What happened to me" the boy asked exasperated.

"Look, just- just calm down first okay. What's your name" he asked carefully.

"Jisung" the boy stated softly.

"Nice to meet you Jisung, I'm Minho and this is Chan" Minho introduced. He had a slight tone in his voice that was barely detectable but as his friend he knew what it meant. Minho thought the kid was cute. He smiled a little.

"Jisung, you're on the dream net, surely you've heard if it before" he explained. Jisung stared at him as if he had just grown an extra head.

"What" he asked softly "what?"

"The dream net, you know-"

"Yeah I know what it is" Jisung interrupted him. He leaned against the wall and rubbed his face with his hands.

"Are you sure?"

"Positive" he stated.

"But that's not possible" Jisung breathed.

"Of course it is" Minho said.

"No, no you don't understand. I- I've never dreamt before, this shouldn't be possible" Jisung explained.

"Then why did you activate the technology" Minho asked.

"I didn't. I didn't even know it was activated. my mom must have done it she's obsessed with the whole dream net thing" he explained.

"So you've never been here before" he asked.

"Well obviously I haven't" Jisung stated. Minho chuckled a little and Jisung threw him an angry look. But then he started laughing too.

"Oh God I'm so sorry, I was just totally freaking out, I thought I got kidnapped or something" he said and apologetic smile slipping onto his face.

"Yeah we noticed" Minho stated cheekily.

"Shut up" Jisung scoffed. He shook his head and sat down on his chair. The road was clear again.

"So how does this work, what do I do now" Jisung asked. He shot Minho a look telling him to do the talking. Minho smiled at him and sat down next to Jisung.

"You can do whatever you want. Visit someone else's dream, wander around the net, go back to your own dream. Or you could stay here" Minho suggested. Jisung nodded slowly.

"You've really never dreamed before" he asked from his position behind the desk. Jisung shook his head.

"Not that I remember"

"Then why did you dream now" Minho asked curiously "did something trigger it?"

"I wouldn't know"

"Well, if you ever visit the net again make sure to stop by" Minho told him cheekily. He smiled and focused back on the screen as they continued talking.

~

Jisung was an even less frequent visitor than Minho and that said something. He was still new to the whole dreaming thing and he seemed to prefer to hang out with them than to risk visiting the dreams of others. Whenever he did come there he lightened up the entire place with his personality and bubblyness.

He and Woojin were no match for him and preferred to watch as he and Minho, and occasionally Jeongin, played all sorts of ridiculous games.

Today was a quite day. He had gotten better at establishing when it was night as he had people over more frequently now and he was sure it should be night by now. But there was nothing to be seen on his many screens.

Until he detected a dot coming from the wrong side, from the side Jeongin always left to go and see Seungmin. And then the door opened.

A tall boy with light brown hair entered and smiled at him brightly.

"Hi" he said "you must be Chan"

"Seungmin" he asked surprised.

"In the flesh, or well, kind of. It's good to finally meet you" they shook hands.

"You too. Is something wrong" he asked "why are you going to see Jeongin?"

"It's nothing serious" Seungmin said. He raised his eyebrows.

"We got into a bit of a fight" he admitted "it's hard to only be able to see each other in our dreams, and even then we still have to be lucky enough for the both of us to be dreaming" he explained. He nodded in understanding.

"Good luck then" he said.

"Thank you" Seungmin answered with a bright smile. He gave him a little wave as he disappeared through the other door and smiled to himself as he returned his gaze to the screens.

~

"Can you touch me" Woojin asked. He looked at him and frowned.

"I think so, Minho and Jisung can touch each other right, and I'm not a ghost or a projection" he answered.

"But it's still different right" Woojin continued.

"I guess"

"No wait, we shook hands the first time" Woojin suddenly said. He nodded.

"Why did you ask?"

"No reason in particular" Woojin stated but he wouldn't look at him.

"You sure?"

"Yeah totally"

Suddenly the door burst open.

"Hey there guys" Jisung exclaimed "I didn't interrupt something did I" he asked casually.

"No, no, no you're good" Woojin quickly answered. Jisung smiled brightly.

"Is Minho not here?"

"Does it look like he's here" he stated teasingly. Jisung made a face and sat down on one of the chairs, slowly spinning in circles.

"I see a dot so something is coming" he said suggestively.

"It could be Jeongin" Woojin followed along with his teasing.

"Or Seungmin, he stopped by a while back" he added.

"Alright alright I get it" Jisung said as he continued turning on the chair.

"Would you stop that, it's making me dizzy" Woojin said. Jisung stuck out his tongue and continued spinning.

"Hello people" Minho said as he entered the hub. Jisung suddenly had a very smug expression on his face.

"Hey Minho" he said sweetly.

"Hey Ji"

He raised his eyebrows at Woojin. Ji

"Is there anything we should know" Woojin asked cheekily.

"Yeah, I mean, as your best friend you should tell me everything but I feel like you're hiding something from me" he stated. A blush crept onto Minho's face.

"It's just great that the only way for me to meet Jisung is through this stupid dream net, so that way you're always there to witness it" Minho responded sarcastically.

"I must agree" he retorted with a chuckle "and also, I thought you were here for me"

"Maybe I'm not" Minho responded with a shrug. He put a hand on his heart and pretended to faint.

"I'm truly hurt Minho"

Minho chuckled softly and soon Jisung joined in. Woojin threw him a small smile. Minho sat down on another chair and he and Jisung started pushing at each other. He rolled his eyes and pushed Woojin behind the desk so they wouldn't be hit by stray chairs.

They sat down against the wall and Woojin sighed softly. He dropped his head on his shoulder and he could see him close his eyes.

"See" he said softly "as solid as can be"

~

"Hey Chan" he jolted awake by the sudden voice.

"Oh, hey Jeongin, what's up" he asked as he rubbed his eyes.

"Did I really just witness you sleep?"

"Very funny" he retorted "so how are things between you and Seungmin?"

"We cleared things up. I honestly didn't think he'd be able to find his way towards me, the guy has the sense of direction equal to that of a pencil" he smiled.

"You should bring him here sometime, I think you'll like Woojin and Jisung and Minho" he said.

"So many people huh" Jeongin asked.

"Yeah" he said as realisation dawned on him that he had been spending a lot less time alone lately. It was kinda nice actually.

"You look happy" Jeongin commented.

"I'm still stuck here but it's become a lot more bearable" he admitted.

"I'm glad"

~

Woojin nudged him softly. He groaned but Woojin nudged him again.

"Chan" he said softly as he pointed at the screen "what's that"

His eyes followed the white dot as it danced up and down the line. It stopped, went back a little and then came speeding towards the hub.

"I swear to God of Jisung is trying to prank me I'm going to beat his " he grumbled.

"Do you ever think about how we became friends in a really weird way" Woojin asked with a chuckle. He smiled.

"Yeah" he closed his eyes and rested his head on Woojin's shoulder. Until Woojin nudged him again.

"What?"

He pointed towards the screen again where the dot was still bouncing up and down.

"Maybe you should check it out" he suggested.

"Alright" he huffed as he got up. He opened to door and looked at his surroundings.

He had always thought of it as walking among stars. It was comforting and daunting at the same time. The road that lay ahead of him was a bright red colour. Contrary to popular believe you actually couldn't fall off the roads, even though it may look like it, there were some sort of barriers holding you back from tipping over the edge.

It was always dark, always, and the roads danced among the space in glowing lines. He shook his head and stepped onto the road.

He moved quickly towards the spot where he had seen the dot. It was impossible to estimate where exactly it had been as he had only seen it on the map. He squinted his eyes but he couldn't detect anything for as far as he could see.

He continued down the road but it was hard to not get distracted by his surroundings. He had always been fascinated by the net.

All of a sudden a body slammed into his and he tumbled to the ground. He hit the barrier of the road as the stranger rolled towards the other side.

He quickly scrambled up to look at the person that hit him.

"Are you alright" he asked as he approached him. The boy looked up at him with wide eyes, like he was scared for his life.

"I- I- I think so" he stuttered.

"Can you get up" he asked as he reached out a hand. The boy took it hesitantly and he pulled him to his feet.

"Are you hurt?"

"No I'm fine" the boy answered. He let him catch his breath.

"What's your name" he asked.

"Changbin" he answered hesitantly.

"What were you doing" he asked carefully "I was watching you on the monitors and you seemed to be quite distraught" he explained.

"I'm fine really" he reassured again "I've been to the net before, just not often"

He frowned.

"I" he hesitated "I get constant nightmares therefore I can't enter the grid, I've only been two or three times" he explained.

"Really, I didn't know it worked like that" he stated.

"Yeah me either, it kind of " he admitted.

"How did you-" he was cut off by another body slamming into the two of them. He groaned as his body hit the road once again and another body fell on top of his.

"Oh God I am so sorry" the new person panted as he lifted himself off him. He heard Changbin lift himself up too as he sat up. The new guy rambled a few more apologies until he fell quiet.

"Changbin" he suddenly asked. He eyed the two off them as a look of realisation slipped onto Changbin's face.

"Felix" he stated surprised. Felix hopped towards him and hugged him. He saw Changbin stiffen up a little as he finally stood up.

"You two know each other" he asked, breaking the moment. Felix let go of Changbin and turned towards him.

"You could say so, yes" he smiled. He had a really pretty smile. He sighed.

"What on earth is going on" he exclaimed. Felix and Changbin looked at each other.

"You know what, let's get back to the hub and you can explain the whole situation there" he said. Felix nodded happily and dragged Changbin with him towards the glowing light blue bubble cutting right trough the road.

"I bring people" he said as he opened the door. Woojin eyed him with an amused look.

"I followed what happened" he admitted as he nudged his head towards the monitor.

"Of course you did" he stated dryly as he let Changbin and Felix in. He pushed the chairs towards them as he settled against the wall next to Woojin again.

"So" Woojin said.

"So" Felix repeated.

"Changbin, Felix, this is Woojin" he introduced. They nodded at each other briefly.

"So what happened" Woojin asked.

"I guess you could say we ran into each other" Felix stated with a chuckle.

"Literally" Changbin muttered dryly. He also chuckled softly.

"I was quite surprised to see you" Felix turned to Changbin "how long has it been, ten years?"

He and Woojin eyed the two curiously.

"We used to be best friends" Felix explained.

"We were really young" Changbin cut in.

"And then I moved away from Korea and we lost touch" Felix explained.

"Why not use the dream net" Woojin asked.

"I tried but I couldn't ever enter Changbin's dreams" Felix admitted. They all turned towards Changbin. He sighed deeply.

"I get nightmares, all the time. Because of them I can't enter the net and others can't enter my dreams. I think I've finally found a way to get out of them and enter the grid. Today's the first time I tried" he explained.

"That's interesting" Woojin said.

"That's what I said too" he agreed.

"That's awful" Felix said softly.

"It's fine" Changbin said with a smile "I know how to get out of them now"

"You can come here anytime you want if you enter the net" he offered. Changbin looked at him happily.

"Really, wouldn't we be a bother" Changbin asked.

"Were on the edge of the grid. Before recently no one ever passed through here" he explained. The two of them nodded.

"So we can stay" Felix asked happily.

"Of course"

~

Woojin was sitting on his desk as he played with his chair.

"Do you want to go outside" he suddenly asked. He looked up at him to find him staring at the monitors. He nodded.

When they stepped out it looked exactly like it always looked. Woojin sat down on the edge of the road, which he didn't think was possible, and he joined him carefully.

"Have you ever thought of just… leaving" he asked softly. He sighed a little.

"Yeah" he admitted "I actually have a couple of times. But in the end it's no use, I'm stuck here anyway"

"What happens if you wake up?"

"I haven't allowed myself to think about that" he admitted as he stared at the stars surrounding them. It really was beautiful.

"What would happen to the hub?"

"I don't know, disappear maybe. Maybe they can find someone else to run it" he answered with a shrug. Suddenly Woojin's hand landed on his. He resisted his initial urge to pull it away.

"Are you afraid" he asked softly.

"What should I be afraid of" he retorted. Woojin remained quiet.

"Like I said before, if the whole thing crashes I'm done for. It's been lonely sometimes, but it's also the only thing I have left. And frankly it's quite beautiful as well" he finally spoke "it has allowed me to meet new people even though my body is being kept alive by machines. But to be dependent on a system like this, that could fail, yeah I guess that's scary" he admitted.

Woojin squeezed his hand lightly and he intertwined their fingers.

"It was scary when I lost my mother too" he suddenly said "we would visit her whenever we could, she was a frequent dreamer and we had a good last few moments with her. When one day the road was gone we just knew it wouldn't be long anymore. We said goodbye everytime we saw her as we weren't sure if we were ever going to see her again" he said.

"I'm sorry"

"Don't be" he stated "many people don't get those moments that we did. The net did that too"

He nodded as he kept on staring into the void. Sometimes he could find constellations but you had to look very carefully.

Suddenly the weight was lifted from his hands and Woojin was no longer next to him.

He still wasn't used to him leaving like that.

~

Loud chatter and laughter distracted him from the monitors and the door flew open with a loud bang.

"Look who I met" Jisung announced happily as he stepped inside. He groaned loudly. He wasn't prepared for Jisung to meet Felix.

"Hi guys" he said. Felix waved at him before loudly returning to his conversation with Jisung.

Soon the door flew open again and Changbin and Woojin stepped in. Woojin immediately joined him at his desk as Changbin settled against a wall, silently watching them.

"I see Jisung has met Felix, I didn't think about that" Woojin whispered.

"Me either" he whispered back as they watched them argue loudly.

"What are they talking about?"

"I have no idea"

Before they knew it Minho had entered and managed to mingle in the argument while peacefully sitting next to Changbin.

Then Jeongin dropped in and passed through only to show up with Seungmin minutes later. There was a lot of introducing and happy talking going around and he and Woojin watched everything from the sidelines.

"Wow" Woojin whispered.

"From one to eight, that's impressive" he whispered back. Woojin nodded.

"Hey guys, do you want to join the game" Jeongin shouted. He looked at Woojin and got out of his chair. They sat down on the ground and joined the conversation.

~

Laughter could be heard from outside the light blue bubble. Never had so many people been in the little unimportant hub at the same time. While the eight boys were having fun, completely unaware of their surroundings, things changed.

If one of them would have thrown a look at the monitors they would have seen it but none of them did.

~

He laughed as Felix dropped onto the ground and groaned loudly. Suddenly he heard a loud rumble. The laughter died down.

The door flew open and a tall dark haired boy stumbled inside. All eyes were on him as he panted loudly. He leaned against the wall trying to catch his breath.

"The-" he started.

"Hyunjin" Seungmin asked.

"Do you know him?"

"Yeah he's my friend" Seungmin scrambled up and quickly walked towards the new guy, Hyunjin, Jeongin following closely.

"Hey what's up, what are you doing here" Seungmin asked softly. They all watched the three of them intently.

"The net, it's the net" Hyunjin managed to say.

"What about it" he asked worried.

"It's coming down" Hyunjin panted.

"What do you mean it's coming down" Changbin asked.

"It's falling apart, look" Hyunjin said as he pointed at the screens. One by one roads were flickering and disappearing, not unlike how it looked when a lot of people woke up at the same time.

He looked through the widely opened door to just see another road crash into the road connected to the hub with a loud bang.

They stumbled to their feet.

"We need to wake up" Jisung stated "we can't stay here"

One by one the eight of them started disappearing.

"What about you" Woojin asked him. Another loud crash was heard.

"Don't worry about me, get out of here" he said as he slipped behind the monitors.

"I can't leave you" Woojin argued. He looked up at him.

"Woojin there's nothing you can do" the screens were showing warnings and alarms, statistics and data that he couldn't decipher because it was passing by too quickly.

The look on Woojin's face told him he knew.

"Please leave" he said softly. They heard another crash and the hub dented dangerously before the road slid off and fell into the darkness.

Woojin quickly moved towards him and engulfed him in a tight hug.

"I'll find you" he whispered softly into his ear. He blinked back a tear and smiled at him.

"Go"

Woojin gave him a small kiss on his forehead but before he could say anything about it he disappeared.

He let one tear slip and soon another followed as his words rang through his head.

I'll find you

Before he knew it everything went black.

~

He blinked against the harsh lights as he slowly tried opening his eyes. He heard something but it sounded blurry.

He blinked again. His entire body felt heavy and coarse.

He breathed in and out deeply.

"Chan" a voice filtered through.

"Chan" that same voice again. It was a female voice, oddly familiar.

"Chan" he could hear it clearly now. A woman entered his vision and gasped as she saw that he was awake. She called out for someone and a man appeared next to his bed.

"You're awake"

He was confused, why were they so surprised that he was awake.

But then his mind flooded with memories. Stars and lines and dots. A person, two of them, eight of them. But one in particular. He was tall, he knew that much, with dark hair.

He tried to move as he slowly remembered everything that happened but his body wouldn't cooperate.

"Shhh, calm down honey, calm down" his mother coaxed. He groaned and managed to moved his arms.

"Do you want to sit up"

He nodded feverishly. As soon as he had gotten something to drink did he dare to open his mouth.

"How are you feeling honey"

"The net, I need to go back" he said hoarsely.

"What are you taking about?"

"It's all gone"

"Honey it's alright, nothing happened. It was just a dream"

He froze.

It was just a dream

Had he really simply dreamt all of it.

He shook his head.

"No you don't understand" he continued.

"Sweetie stop talking, you need to rest" he mother coaxed him down.

There was a loud knock on the door.

"Mister Bang Chan" the nurse said as she came in "there's someone here to see you"