‘This is nice.’ He almost whispered, tilting his head back while he leaned against the white, wooden bench.

The man beside you parted his lips, breathing in the air, keeping his eyes closed. The cotton-light white shirt slightly moved in a breeze that shouldn’t have existed in an almost white place you knew wasn’t real.

But watching him calmed you, kept your heart at a steady pace, when; you would’ve been panicking.

But this was how you’d remembered him, Taemin had been calm, and collected.

‘Your dreams are so bright.’ He said in an ironic voice; his hair was just barely lifted in the weak breeze. You blinked slowly and heavily, feeling exhausted while you watched him.

Why was he here?

‘You’re thinking about why you’re dreaming about me?’ Taemin stated and queried at the same time. He continued to lean back, closing his mouth and then opening it again. The sharp curve of his jaw tensed and untensed too.

At least your own brain agreed this was a dream, and what a strange one it was too.

‘It must be something to do with this interview or something else entirely, stress made you dream of me.’ Taemin’s plump lips curved into a soft smile. Finally, he opened his eyes, looking up at the sky before turning his gaze to you beside him on that white bench.

He bared his teeth in another grin;  

‘You must believe talking to me calms you.’ You could almost feel the would-be warmth bloom on your cheeks as you pondered the statement, barely able to use any energy to speak.

‘I’m flattered you think that, even if looking at me panics you…I’m flattered about that too.’ He quietly chuckled at the statement, perhaps feeling a hint of humility in his own words.

Of course, your inner-projection would know exactly what you were thinking.

‘Well, since you dreamed me up to reassure you, I’ll say it now.’ He fully turned to face you, Taemin’s plump lips pursed together in an adoring smile while he tapped the bench space between you two;

‘You will be absolutely fine. Everything will be fine. The days ahead or even months and years will be fine. You’re a smart girl, and you’re bright.’ He gestured to the overwhelming white surrounding you both, Taemin was almost distracted by it once more, but his gaze turned back to you abruptly. All you could do was weakly stare back at him, feeling a wave of shock and reassurance that of course your brain knew you needed.

‘Don’t doubt yourself, and smile.’ A phantom warmth emitted from Taemin, enveloping you in a sense of deep comfort, rendering you speechless.

Good job brain.

Taemin looked up and around, his brown hair reflecting the light perfectly, each strand of hair flowing as if unreal.

‘You’re going to wake up now.’ He lifted a finger, almost flicking your nose, but Taemin knew he couldn’t touch you in this world.

‘That’s fine though, I think we’ll be meeting soon anyway.’

Your eyes managed to widen.

What?

Taemin gave you another knowing-smile. He leaned in closer, even closer than before…

‘I’ll tell you a secret, seeing as you let me in here.’

You leaned in closer while he pressed a finger to his own lips;

‘Psssssss.’ He hissed, eyes unblinking, in all seriousness.

You stared back at him, trying to understand why he was making that noise.

‘PSSSSsssssSSSSSZZZZZZZ’ His face blurred and then pixelated, what was going-

-BZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz*

*BzzzzzzzzzZZzzzzzzzzzz*

You opened your eyes, the vibrations from your phone rousing you gradually into consciousness.

‘Uh?’ You groaned, stretching your limbs while you kept your eyes firmly shut, reaching for the mobile you usually kept on the bedside table.

Oh

That wasn’t a phone, that was someone’s chest.

You opened your eyes feeling slightly startled, Jong Dae’s evident chuckle could be heard beside you.

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

‘Good morning.’ You muttered, stirring some more to try and get your phone. You’d almost forgotten it was Jong Dae’s bed you had spent the night in, but at least no one would know about it.

‘Good morning and, I had nothing to do with it.’ Jong Dae smiled his feline smirk. You pouted slightly in confusion before pursing your lips together and checking the screen. Jong Dae proceeded to fiddle on his phone, ruffling his bed head.

You had about a hundred messages, all from Chanyeol and Baekhyun and all very-angrily sent.

‘Wh-what did you do.’ You groaned, opening the message and seeing what the fuss was about;

It was a picture of you curled up beside Jong Dae. His stupid smirking face stared up at the camera in victorious delight had been sent on a group chat. You groaned again, thwacking an almost cackling with laughter Jong Dae.

‘YAH! When you send things like this you know what it does to them! I get the stick for it not you!’ You hit him again with your pillow this time, right in his stupid handsome face.

Jong Dae recoiled but took the hit as he sat up in bed you hit him once more.

‘I had to I had to, just think of it this way, I really did enjoy having you beside me-OOffff-‘ You hit him again with the pillow.

 ‘-WHAT IS THIS?’

You almost jumped out of your skin upon hearing a gasp of horror from across the room. You furrowed your eyebrows and looked, already grimacing upon seeing Tao’s horror-stricken face.

‘Zitao it’s nothing, I couldn’t sleep so-‘

‘Is this what you two usually do??’ Tao’s shrieks were sure to wake the others up, you lifted your arms and slowly brought them down in a calming gesture-

‘Tao, it’s all fine, nothing-‘

‘-Wait, how are you up first?’ Jong Dae seemed utterly unphased by Tao’s brewing panic/yelling/whine attack, however the question seemed really irrelevant-

‘I wanted to shower on my own.’ Instantly Tao looked taken aback, lowering his gaze.

‘But you love showering with your Duizhang?’ You added, suddenly feeling surprised.

Tao shifted in his clothes, his lips forming an evident pout;

‘Yeah but…I just kinda wanted to be alone.’

 You didn’t catch Jong Dae’s feline smirk emerge from his lips, but that smirk was never a good sign;

‘You mean you wanted to be alone so you could m-‘

‘-WE’RE ALL GOING TO BE LATE UNLESS YOU SHOWER NEXT.’ Tao yelled almost running down the corridor to his room, bumping shoulders with an aloof Yixing wrapped in a towel.

‘What was all that about?’ You asked Jong Dae, stumbling out of bed and silencing your buzzing phone.

‘Never mind, it got rid of him anyways, now go.’ Jong Dae ushered for you to leave his room before Yixing noticed.

You gave Jong Dae a quick playful wink before gliding out his room, it was actually nice having someone to sleep next to, you thought.

================

The boys looked surprisingly calm and well rested while in the van. Which was all fine and dandy for them, you on the other hand, felt your bowels turn to water. Your pulse skyrocketed as the building came into view. The car parked outside the foyer and a man in a suit opened the sliding van door to let the boys out. You jumped out from the passenger’s seat and escorted M into the building, tightening your fist to try and keep yourself grounded. You literally had no need to be nervous, the 6 boys around you had more of a reason, and besides this would only be one of manymanymanyman