Introducing a new fic!
Title: Dreaming Back to This
Rating: currently PG-13ish, will almost definitely go up
Genre: AU, sci-fi, suspense
Pairings: HoSu, eventual YooMin, Jae??
Chapter: In a Dream (1/?)
Summary: Changmin's running from a past he can't forget. Yoochun's running towards a future he can't see. Two people, seemingly on separate paths, collide. What starts in dreams…
Notes: My first non-JaeMin!! 0_0 I know the summary sucks, and I apologize for that. The story's much better, though. Promise. Please read? *puppy eyes*
Chapter 1: In a Dream
Nothing in this world is real. At least, not real enough to matter. I meant what I said that day, and nothing is going to change my mind about that. But do I still mean it now? Am I the same person now as I was then that I even could still mean it? Then again, if nothing is real, it shouldn’t really matter. Should it?
But now I’m confusing things. Confusing you, confusing myself, confusing facts and figures and statements that shouldn’t be confused. The sad thing is, I can't bring myself to care. Caring takes too much effort. I’ve been there, done that and have no wish to return. So I won’t.
Now, perhaps I should tell the story.
~*~~*~
Changmin stares at the letter in his hands, the third such letter he'd gotten in the last week. They're getting desperate. He contemplates opening this one, even possibly reading it just out of curiosity. The next moment, though, he shakes his head and tosses the unopened envelope in his trashcan. "Ridiculous."
"Changminnie!"
"In here, Su!" He closes the lid on the can as he hears the two pairs of footsteps approaching his kitchen, not wanting to worry Yunho and Junsu any more than necessary. They already baby him to insane proportions at the slightest hint of something wrong. If they found out about those letters… He shudders just thinking about the overprotective bubble the two would build around him.
Junsu bounds into the kitchen moments later, his light brown hair flopping around his face. Yunho follows close behind at a more sedate pace. Keeping with their end-of-day tradition, Junsu pulls Changmin into a loose hug. "Hi, Minnie. How was school? Anything interesting happen?"
Changmin squeezes back lightly. "School was… as interesting as high school can get, I suppose. But, hey, only a few weeks left, right?" He pulls away to look at Yunho, who smiles a greeting at him. "Hi, hyung. Classes go okay?"
Junsu answers instead, throwing the pile of mail he'd been nosing through onto the table. "Ohmygosh, Min you would not believe it. So, okay, you know how we just had our midterm two days ago in Music Comp.? Still recovering from that, right, and he totally springs a pop quiz on us today!"
He continues chattering as Yunho settles in at the table with a content grin on his face, letting Junsu do what Junsu does best. Changmin thinks of the letter in the trash and silently thanks whatever higher power may be listening for bringing these two into his life. Cheesy, yes, but there are so many worse places he could be. After his moment of contemplation, he grabs dinner from the stove and moves back to the table.
~*~~*~
He is there again, waiting. He looks up at Yoochun with big, dark chocolate eyes. Waiting, hoping, reaching: the differences melt and fuse until they are one and the same. They speak a thousand thoughts but never say a word.
~*~~*~
"You… really look like shit. Shit run over twice, even. What the hell happened to you?" Yoochun glares at his (supposed) best friend, but the expression lacks its usual heat. He brushes his dark hair from his eyes and sighs.
"I couldn't sleep last night. At least not well. Kept having crazy, intense dreams. I could never remember what they were about after I woke up, but I knew I was having them. And… I don't know. It's hard to explain. I'm probably not making any sense." He lays his chin on his crossed arms on the table and stares at the tan brick office building across the street.
He and Jaejoong had been coming to this coffee shop at least a few times a week since stumbling across it the first day of their freshman year of university. The family-owned hole-in-the-wall often got overlooked amidst all the major-name chains in the area, but that was its main appeal to the two boys. Unlike the chain cafés, the coffee here was fresh-roasted and ground in-house. Every cup was the best coffee Yoochun has ever tasted, and he's tasted a lot of coffee.
Raising his head to take another drink from his mug, Yoochun catches Jaejoong staring at him. He blinks then stares back. "Stop it. What? Quit the creepy stalker thing, seriously."
Jaejoong smirks and links their arms together. "You're so weird. Like, really really. Good to know there's someone even less normal than me." Yoochun just barely bites back the urge to point out that no one is less normal than Jaejoong. The older boy seems made of random, words usually spewing from his mouth without logical connections.
But that's not really the point of their conversation, so Yoochun simply sighs again instead. "I wasn't expecting you to understand. It's not exactly something that makes much sense anyway. But you asked what was wrong, and I told you. So whatever." He drains the last of his coffee and resumes staring at the office building.
Or maybe not necessarily an office building. In the two and a half years they'd been frequenting the café, neither Yoochun nor Jaejoong had ever seen anyone coming to or leaving from the building. The intercom system next to the dark-tinted glass doors implied anyone would have to be buzzed into the building. Jaejoong, with his ridiculously over-active imagination, has come up with plenty of conspiracy theories over the years. Yoochun, on the other hand, likes to simply sit and wonder.
Always wondering.
~*~~*~
Yunho leaves the two younger boys chatting in the living room and moves to clear the dishes from the table. Changmin is nice enough to make dinner for them on the days he gets home early from school. The least the other two can do is clean up afterwards.
He listens to the rapid-fire delivery of Junsu's babble and Changmin's slower, more deliberate replies. The constant stream of voices provides a soothing background music to Yunho's chore. He pops open the lid of the trash can to toss some of the unfinished food but pauses before actually throwing anything in. A clean, cream-colored envelope sits unopened on the top. Setting the plate of scraps on the counter, Yunho scoops out the letter.
He shouldn't be doing this, but the contents of the note could be important. They're important enough for Changmin to get rid of them without reading and hide the fact from Yunho and Junsu. This fact alone is enough to disturb Yunho. When Changmin had stumbled into their lives at not-quite-fifteen-years-old, Yunho swore he would protect the boy. But how can he manage that if he doesn't even know what he's protecting from?
The cheap glue of the envelope provides little resistance when Yunho slips his finger under the flap and slides across. The paper inside feels expensive, traditional, almost more like parchment than regular stationary. He unfolds the single sheet and skims over the contents.
The further along he gets, the more concerned he becomes. Something doesn't feel right. Of course he's always known that Changmin has his secrets. Even after knowing the boy for almost three years, Yunho and Junsu still had no idea where he'd come from or what he'd been running from so desperately when they first met him.
Yunho and Junsu had also always known about Changmin's… gifts. As a scared and hesitant child, he'd never hesitated to start hurling objects around the room without touching a thing when he felt threatened. And then there were the fires, and the reading-minds trick, and… Yunho sighs, glad to be through Changmin's uncontrolled stage.
These people, though, this "Centre"… From the tone of their letter, they have a longer history with Changmin. From the half-hearted apologies sprinkled throughout, Yunho guessed they were also the ones who'd sent him running in the first place. And if they were also the ones responsible for turning a mere child into the traumatized and terrified boy Changmin had been, Yunho certainly didn't want him going anywhere near them again. No matter how much they seemed to be almost begging.
Yunho stuffs the letter in the back pocket of his jeans, making a mental note to let Junsu know about it when they get back to their own apartment. They don't necessarily need to confront Changmin about it yet, but they do need to keep an eye on it. Yunho would be damned before he let anything mess up the life Changmin was just starting to build for himself.
~*~~*~
“Where are you? Who are you?”
“Close. Closer than you realize.”
“That doesn’t answer my second question.”
“You know who I am, Yoochun. Even if you’d like not to acknowledge that fact, it is there for you.”
“Are you real?”
“Are you?”
“Sometimes, I’m not so sure.”
“I understand.”
“I knew you would.”
“Why?”
“I'm not sure. It was just a thought.”
“Of course.”
“Changmin.”
“What?”
“I know who you are.”
~*~~*~
Changmin wakes slowly from the dream, trying to hold onto the warmth and comfort the dream-man's presence always brings. Just like every night before, though, the feeling slowly fades away to leave a noticeable emptiness in its wake. Frowning, almost pouting really, Changmin rolls onto his side and attempts to fall back into sleep.
//Chapter 2//
Rating: currently PG-13ish, will almost definitely go up
Genre: AU, sci-fi, suspense
Pairings: HoSu, eventual YooMin, Jae??
Chapter: In a Dream (1/?)
Summary: Changmin's running from a past he can't forget. Yoochun's running towards a future he can't see. Two people, seemingly on separate paths, collide. What starts in dreams…
Notes: My first non-JaeMin!! 0_0 I know the summary sucks, and I apologize for that. The story's much better, though. Promise. Please read? *puppy eyes*
Chapter 1: In a Dream
Nothing in this world is real. At least, not real enough to matter. I meant what I said that day, and nothing is going to change my mind about that. But do I still mean it now? Am I the same person now as I was then that I even could still mean it? Then again, if nothing is real, it shouldn’t really matter. Should it?
But now I’m confusing things. Confusing you, confusing myself, confusing facts and figures and statements that shouldn’t be confused. The sad thing is, I can't bring myself to care. Caring takes too much effort. I’ve been there, done that and have no wish to return. So I won’t.
Now, perhaps I should tell the story.
~*~~*~
Changmin stares at the letter in his hands, the third such letter he'd gotten in the last week. They're getting desperate. He contemplates opening this one, even possibly reading it just out of curiosity. The next moment, though, he shakes his head and tosses the unopened envelope in his trashcan. "Ridiculous."
"Changminnie!"
"In here, Su!" He closes the lid on the can as he hears the two pairs of footsteps approaching his kitchen, not wanting to worry Yunho and Junsu any more than necessary. They already baby him to insane proportions at the slightest hint of something wrong. If they found out about those letters… He shudders just thinking about the overprotective bubble the two would build around him.
Junsu bounds into the kitchen moments later, his light brown hair flopping around his face. Yunho follows close behind at a more sedate pace. Keeping with their end-of-day tradition, Junsu pulls Changmin into a loose hug. "Hi, Minnie. How was school? Anything interesting happen?"
Changmin squeezes back lightly. "School was… as interesting as high school can get, I suppose. But, hey, only a few weeks left, right?" He pulls away to look at Yunho, who smiles a greeting at him. "Hi, hyung. Classes go okay?"
Junsu answers instead, throwing the pile of mail he'd been nosing through onto the table. "Ohmygosh, Min you would not believe it. So, okay, you know how we just had our midterm two days ago in Music Comp.? Still recovering from that, right, and he totally springs a pop quiz on us today!"
He continues chattering as Yunho settles in at the table with a content grin on his face, letting Junsu do what Junsu does best. Changmin thinks of the letter in the trash and silently thanks whatever higher power may be listening for bringing these two into his life. Cheesy, yes, but there are so many worse places he could be. After his moment of contemplation, he grabs dinner from the stove and moves back to the table.
~*~~*~
He is there again, waiting. He looks up at Yoochun with big, dark chocolate eyes. Waiting, hoping, reaching: the differences melt and fuse until they are one and the same. They speak a thousand thoughts but never say a word.
~*~~*~
"You… really look like shit. Shit run over twice, even. What the hell happened to you?" Yoochun glares at his (supposed) best friend, but the expression lacks its usual heat. He brushes his dark hair from his eyes and sighs.
"I couldn't sleep last night. At least not well. Kept having crazy, intense dreams. I could never remember what they were about after I woke up, but I knew I was having them. And… I don't know. It's hard to explain. I'm probably not making any sense." He lays his chin on his crossed arms on the table and stares at the tan brick office building across the street.
He and Jaejoong had been coming to this coffee shop at least a few times a week since stumbling across it the first day of their freshman year of university. The family-owned hole-in-the-wall often got overlooked amidst all the major-name chains in the area, but that was its main appeal to the two boys. Unlike the chain cafés, the coffee here was fresh-roasted and ground in-house. Every cup was the best coffee Yoochun has ever tasted, and he's tasted a lot of coffee.
Raising his head to take another drink from his mug, Yoochun catches Jaejoong staring at him. He blinks then stares back. "Stop it. What? Quit the creepy stalker thing, seriously."
Jaejoong smirks and links their arms together. "You're so weird. Like, really really. Good to know there's someone even less normal than me." Yoochun just barely bites back the urge to point out that no one is less normal than Jaejoong. The older boy seems made of random, words usually spewing from his mouth without logical connections.
But that's not really the point of their conversation, so Yoochun simply sighs again instead. "I wasn't expecting you to understand. It's not exactly something that makes much sense anyway. But you asked what was wrong, and I told you. So whatever." He drains the last of his coffee and resumes staring at the office building.
Or maybe not necessarily an office building. In the two and a half years they'd been frequenting the café, neither Yoochun nor Jaejoong had ever seen anyone coming to or leaving from the building. The intercom system next to the dark-tinted glass doors implied anyone would have to be buzzed into the building. Jaejoong, with his ridiculously over-active imagination, has come up with plenty of conspiracy theories over the years. Yoochun, on the other hand, likes to simply sit and wonder.
Always wondering.
~*~~*~
Yunho leaves the two younger boys chatting in the living room and moves to clear the dishes from the table. Changmin is nice enough to make dinner for them on the days he gets home early from school. The least the other two can do is clean up afterwards.
He listens to the rapid-fire delivery of Junsu's babble and Changmin's slower, more deliberate replies. The constant stream of voices provides a soothing background music to Yunho's chore. He pops open the lid of the trash can to toss some of the unfinished food but pauses before actually throwing anything in. A clean, cream-colored envelope sits unopened on the top. Setting the plate of scraps on the counter, Yunho scoops out the letter.
He shouldn't be doing this, but the contents of the note could be important. They're important enough for Changmin to get rid of them without reading and hide the fact from Yunho and Junsu. This fact alone is enough to disturb Yunho. When Changmin had stumbled into their lives at not-quite-fifteen-years-old, Yunho swore he would protect the boy. But how can he manage that if he doesn't even know what he's protecting from?
The cheap glue of the envelope provides little resistance when Yunho slips his finger under the flap and slides across. The paper inside feels expensive, traditional, almost more like parchment than regular stationary. He unfolds the single sheet and skims over the contents.
The further along he gets, the more concerned he becomes. Something doesn't feel right. Of course he's always known that Changmin has his secrets. Even after knowing the boy for almost three years, Yunho and Junsu still had no idea where he'd come from or what he'd been running from so desperately when they first met him.
Yunho and Junsu had also always known about Changmin's… gifts. As a scared and hesitant child, he'd never hesitated to start hurling objects around the room without touching a thing when he felt threatened. And then there were the fires, and the reading-minds trick, and… Yunho sighs, glad to be through Changmin's uncontrolled stage.
These people, though, this "Centre"… From the tone of their letter, they have a longer history with Changmin. From the half-hearted apologies sprinkled throughout, Yunho guessed they were also the ones who'd sent him running in the first place. And if they were also the ones responsible for turning a mere child into the traumatized and terrified boy Changmin had been, Yunho certainly didn't want him going anywhere near them again. No matter how much they seemed to be almost begging.
Yunho stuffs the letter in the back pocket of his jeans, making a mental note to let Junsu know about it when they get back to their own apartment. They don't necessarily need to confront Changmin about it yet, but they do need to keep an eye on it. Yunho would be damned before he let anything mess up the life Changmin was just starting to build for himself.
~*~~*~
“Where are you? Who are you?”
“Close. Closer than you realize.”
“That doesn’t answer my second question.”
“You know who I am, Yoochun. Even if you’d like not to acknowledge that fact, it is there for you.”
“Are you real?”
“Are you?”
“Sometimes, I’m not so sure.”
“I understand.”
“I knew you would.”
“Why?”
“I'm not sure. It was just a thought.”
“Of course.”
“Changmin.”
“What?”
“I know who you are.”
~*~~*~
Changmin wakes slowly from the dream, trying to hold onto the warmth and comfort the dream-man's presence always brings. Just like every night before, though, the feeling slowly fades away to leave a noticeable emptiness in its wake. Frowning, almost pouting really, Changmin rolls onto his side and attempts to fall back into sleep.
//Chapter 2//