Sunggyu felt grass prickle his skin beneath him. Groggily, he stood up, completely unaware of where he was. No memories flooded his sleepy mind as he glanced around. This is was not his bedroom. The pale blue walls were knocked down, replaced with a sky of shimmering gold far from reach. A gasp escaped his mouth. Casting his gaze downwards, the grass he sat on shined faint maroon. The blades stood upright like candy canes - there was no blowing breeze disturbing it's harmony. Two brown eyes crinkled into a smile.

"Welcome."

The crease in Sunggyu's forehead deepened as he stood up.

"Where am I?" he muttered, rubbing his eyes.

"That was what I was about to say," a playful voice spoke from his side.

He saw Hoya smile slightly but the look in his eyes gave it away. He was so lost as Sungyu was.

"You're here!"

Another boy ran towards the two sleepy boys with his arms spread wide. Never had Sunggyu moved so quickly out of the way.

"Hey, I remember you," Hoya squinted, letting the other envelope him in a friendly hug, "You're the substitute teacher! Aren't you older than us? We're still students."

"No, no. I'm as old as you are. I'm twenty-three. My name's Dongwoo, don't you remember?"

"We're not even in the twenties."

Sunggyu let a laugh ripple through his throat.

"This is a really weird dream," he whispered to himself dismissively, tuning out their chatter in his ears.

"What's a dream?" he didn't expect the blunt voice or the blunt question.

Hoya tried to decide if he was being serious or not, "You know, those movies that play in your sleep."

He got hit at the back of the head.

"This. All this is a dream. Just my crazy imagination. Why am I even explaining it when it's not even real? I'll wake up soon and start a new day. Like always."

"You sound pretty confident."

Another hit at the back of the head and a cry of 'bully'.

Dongwoo's face didn't waver, "So, does that mean your world is a dream then?"

"This kid is insane," their eyes spoke.

"What are you talking about? This so-called world is a dream. Why am I arguing? Just. A. Dream."

"No it's not."

The two laughed, "Of course it is."

"No."

Shaking their heads, they found his denial quite endearing.

"Your world is all fake!" Dongwoo yelled, "You think that Sungyeol guy is really your friend?"

Despite the lack of an air current, Sunggyu's spine shook with a sudden shiver.

"You know Sungyeol?"

Nothing made any sense. He wasn't waking up. Not after a day. Not after week. Nothing had changed. The golden sky shined and grass stood tall. All was the same. Sunggyu's family never felt more distant from him in all his adolescence. Desolate. Empty. He felt out of place.

"How did I get here?" his asked for the umpteenth time.

And for the umpteenth time, Dongwoo answered, "You were always here to begin with."

Nothing made any sense.

Acceptance was something that Sunggyu knew would hurt his pride. So he denied it. For weeks he stayed cooped up in a place he never dreamt of. Oh, how irionic. He wanted to escape from the suffocating world. He thought he was kidnapped - but by Dongwoo? He didn't know. Maybe he was in some strange art studio. Maybe he was seeing a colossal mirage. All of it was too much. He missed even the cloud-cluttered azure sea that hang above him without acknowledging it - that which claimed his mundane life at home.

Hoya, on the other hand, accepted the world from the very first day. He had complained that he was too stubborn - maybe he was. Sometimes, Sunggyu liked to think he was as crazy as Dongwoo. The latter had invited the two 'foreigners' to the town he called home. They expected flying cars and robots and unicorns and fairies. Well, maybe just Hoya did. They were met with a town, similar to one Sunggyu had seen on the TV when it was set alight by rouge terrorists. People were minding their own business. All except one glanced their way. The people in the town weren't concerned by the group of strange-looking foreigners - they had lives to lead. Dongwoo gestured to one of the boys lost in the crowd.

"Hello," he beamed.

Why does everybody have a mental age of five?

"My name's Woohyun."

A/N: I updated! If anybody is interested, I'm going to be uploading a Navi one-shot I wrote for English in a week or so. It's called 'Stagnant'.