The Sandman (1/?)
Title: The Sandman
Pairing: KyuMin
Rating: PG-13
Genre: AU, Romance, Fantasy, slight!angst
Summary: Cho Kyuhyun had a special job to do every night, Lee Sungmin just happens to complicate it all.
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He comes with the dark night when no one is expecting him, and visits the houses of those who can't seem to find peace even in the quietest silence of silences. Sprinkling dust in the eyes of sleepless kids from where they can't see him, he takes them to the magical place of the dreams for one night and one night only, until the promising rays of the morning sun reach their eyelids, and the magic disappears almost as soon as it happened.
His clothes are red, and yellow, and green, and blue, and everything you want them to be too, and his coat is made of the finest silk in the world. Under each of his arms he carries an umbrella; one is colorful and bright as the sun, with pictures on the inside, which he spreads over the good kids so they can dream the most colorful and happy dreams. The other one is black and when it opens there's nothing inside, he uses it with only bad kids to keep them from having any kind of dreams during the night.
If he likes you, he'll sit on the bed next to you and narrate the most wonderful stories anyone has ever heard, and you will remember them as if they were the best dreams you've ever dreamed in your whole life. If he really likes you, he'll come visit you all the time, and maybe watch you sleep all night. It's normal, because he's fond of humans sleeping under his harmless spell. He's attracted to them, he finds them interesting, fascinating. He likes humans yet he can't get attached to them. It's not forbidden, like some might say, it's just not right. Lucky for him, he hasn't found any particular human that may cause any kind of risky feelings to born in him nor is he planning to let anything of the sort happen to him. He's careful; coming and going and doing his job, not letting anything or anyone become a distraction, and leaving with the night without any witnesses.
He couldn't help it, though, when destiny (and perhaps fate too) cast its own magic spell to lead everything a different way.
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The chirping of the birds from outside the window forced him to open his eyes with much reluctance. He was immediately greeted by the bright rays of the sun illuminating the room through the small spaces between the curtains and he groaned in annoyance. It was another normal morning after another sleepless night, just the usual, and yet he was sure he would never get used to not sleeping.
With little enthusiasm, he stood up from his bed and made his way to the bathroom, practically dragging his tired body to stand in front of the sink. He didn't even bother to look at the mirror in front of him. How could he when he could feel the dark circles under his eyes get bigger with every passing second? Seeing his reflection would only make him feel more depressed, so he opted for brushing his teeth and splashing cold water on his face to chase away the sleep. It didn't work but he didn't really care anymore.
He'd stop caring about everything long ago.
His ears caught a faint melody coming from his room making him immediately rush to his bed and get his phone from under the pillow. He didn't even need to look at the screen to know who it was, which is why he flipped the phone open and pressed the 'send' button without any second thoughts.
"Morning hyung!” a cheerful greeting was heard from the other line as soon as he picked up the phone.
"Morning, Wook", he greeted with a rather huge lack of emotion that his friend didn't fail to notice.
Ryeowook sighed, his mood dying considerably at his friend's emotionless reply. "Nightmares again?” he asked with caution, knowing well enough just how delicate the subject could be.
"Nah", Sungmin said as he lay down and rested his head on the pillow. "I couldn't bring myself to sleep at all last night".
"Sungmin, this is the third time in a week... And it's only Thursday! Are you planning to live off of coffee and energy drinks for the rest of your life? This is so not healthy!” Ryeowook practically yelled through the phone, making the other man wince and move the phone away from his poor ear before his friend made him go deaf for the rest of his existence. Sungmin knew the smaller man was worried about him, but boy could Kim Ryeowook scream like a nagging mom sometimes.
He kept the phone at a safe distance from his ear while Ryeowook kept whining and complaining about his lack of awareness towards his health. Once he was sure the smaller man was done listing the first ten out of a thousand possible deaths he could have, and 5 different kinds of doctors that could prevent them, he hung up -not before promising he would buy sleeping pills at the pharmacy nearby on his way home from work.
He didn't notice he was wearing a smile on his way back to the bathroom, or when he left his small apartment to follow his every day boring routine. Sometimes, having people that genuinely cares for you feels that awesome.
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Lee Sungmin always thought of himself as an average human being. He had a well-paid job (and yet he knew he could do better), a fair amount of close friends, a small yet comfy apartment where he kept his stuff, and a big family outside the city. He never hated anyone (except for the old lady that lived on the first floor of his apartment building; she was mean), and he never got into any type of fight (just countless arguments with said old lady because really, she was mean). He wasn't good at anything in particular, but he wasn't bad either; he was always right in the middle -never the top of the class, never the best one at sports, never the handsomest one.
He believed in karma, because what goes around comes around, and he believed that if he treated everyone nicely, life would be nice towards him. He believed in superstition and that magic was real, and that every single fairytale ever told happened once upon a time. He was a dreamer, and yet he always wondered why he couldn't dream.
Sungmin feared the night; he was extremely and utterly scared of what it brings and what's in it. He couldn't exactly remember the reason why but every time he closed his eyes he would end up having nightmares.
It all had started around three months ago, during a peaceful night. Sungmin had went to sleep a couple of minutes past eleven -pretty early considering the pile of paperwork he still needed to check and submit. He was really tired, and if he wanted to make it for one more day he would have to sleep early that night.
As soon as his head touched the pillow, he fell into a deep slumber. He dreamed that night. He dreamed of being in a beautiful place all by himself; where the weather was fantastic and he could feel sand under his feet. He couldn't see the ocean though, so he wondered where he was and why it felt so cold instead of warm. He didn't dwell on it too much until the sun suddenly disappeared, the cold sand turned into nothing, and he started falling. He was falling so deep into what could be only described as darkness that he didn't know what was up and down anymore. He felt hopeless; terrified; and he wanted to wake up... but he couldn't.
Morning came eventually and he woke up from a nightmare that seemed to have taken forever. By the time he opened his eyes, he couldn't remember most of what he had dreamed, but he was sure of one thing: he was scared. He kept having nightmares every night, and each time they were more intense. They felt so real that he started to believe he wasn't dreaming anymore. If he felt pain, he would wake up hurting; if he felt sad, he would end up crying; everything he felt in his dreams would turn out to be real, and it scared him.
From then on Sungmin feared the night; he was extremely and utterly scared of what it brings and what's in it. He didn't dare to sleep when it was dark, which caused him to miss countless nights of healthy sleep and become a living zombie. Only Ryeowook, his best friend, noticed all this and tried to help him as much as he could. If it wasn't for him, Sungmin wouldn't be able to go through a single day living like this. Ryeowook was his rock; his own little peace of heaven, and he was thankful to have someone like him in his life.
Ryeowok would always come up with solutions for Sungmin's sleep deprivation -meditation, taking a hot bath before going to bed, reading, watching TV, even the old counting sheep until you fall asleep were just a few of the things that they tried but didn't work out. The only thing that did help Sungmin were the sleeping pills that he would occasionally take when he felt too overwhelmed by the lack of sleep, but even with the drug's help he still had terrifying nightmares, so he barely took them.
With nothing really changing with Sungmin's condition, Ryeowook eventually stopped looking for silly cures and focused on being there for his best friend. He knew it could be tough going through a rough work life and not getting enough energy to perform his job professionally. Sungmin must have been feeling as twice as anxious as he did, and he could do nothing about it. He felt useless not knowing that he was the total opposite of that, but he couldn't help thinking like that... He really wanted to help.
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The clock ticks one minute before midnight when Sungmin opens the door of his apartment after a really tiring day at work. His hands were full of documents he needed to revise and turn in as soon as possible, but he had no energy left on his system to even think of getting started on it. He was holding onto the very last drops of sanity he had left.
He scolded himself mentally once he dropped the stack of papers on his desk and headed to his bedroom, today he had to work extra hours because of his "lack of satisfactory job performance" during work hours. His boss so happened to pass by his and Ryeowook's desks while they were on their lunch break (which had apparently ended 2 hours ago) and saw them "lazing around while there was job to do". He had given them extra work in a heartbeat, and they could do nothing but apologize and accept everything that came to them. By the end of the day, they still had plenty of papers to do so they decided to finish everything at home.
With slow movements, Sungmin stood up and loosened his tie, which ended up lying on the floor carelessly seconds later. He was getting ready for bed, ready to sleep at all costs, and he was desperate to take off the boring clothes that he only used for his job. He took off his dress shirt and proceeded to unbuckle his belt, while deep in thought, one of his hands mindlessly searching his right pocket. He felt something and took it out to take a look at what it was. Only when he had it at eye level did he remember where the small folded paper came from.
Ryeowook had given it to him, claiming that they've already tried everything and that they might as well start believing in magic - or see a doctor which Sungmin refused instantly (they creeped him out, no matter what kind of doctor it was). The paper read "The Sandman" and had very little information about this man who comes by kid's houses and puts them to sleep at night written in it. Ryeowook had told him that if he believed that someone would come and make him sleep with "magic", he would have no trouble falling asleep. "The human mind is tricky but quite easy to understand", Ryeowook had said, and Sungmin couldn't help but think his best friend should have studied Psychology instead.
He had no trouble believing in myths and magic and anything considered out of the ordinary, but his mind was already set to think everything he could possibly try was going to turn out to be a total failure. How could he bring himself to believe he would have a peaceful sleep when he hasn't have one in what seemed like years? Still, the Sandman story was successful in catching his attention. He's never heard of it before, and he certainly would like to hear more of it.
He tossed the paper on his bedside table and walked to the bathroom to put on his pajamas and brush his teeth to bed. Normally, he would opt for taking a warm shower to relax his sore muscles but he was just too tired. He figured he could do that in the morning and went to bed. Sungmin relaxed his body and hid under the covers, right now it felt like heaven just being like this on his bed. Slowly, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath, calmly waiting for his trip to dreamland to start.
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It was dark but he was running, running for what seemed like forever. Something was chasing him and yet he couldn't see what it was, but he knew he had to run as far away from it as possible. There was space to run but nowhere to hide, and his legs were starting to give in. He panicked then, knowing that in a matter of time he would give up and 'it' would catch him. Still, he wanted to keep running until his legs' last ounce of strength was consumed. One wrong step and he fell to the ground; closing his eyes, waiting for the pain. When he felt nothing, his eyes popped open, and he was falling. He fell and fell and screamed to the top of his lungs, but he couldn't hear his desperate voice. He just fell to what seemed like nothing, his heartbeat racing at full speed, tears coming out of his eyes, his breathing... he wasn't breathing.
Sungmin shot his eyes open in fear, scared that he was currently enveloped in darkness. He was sweating as if he had just run a marathon and his breathing was uneven -but at least was breathing. He let his eyes adjust to the darkness adorning his room and realized he was facing the wall next to his bed. With a cautious movement and eyes closed, he turned around and worked on calming his breathing.
He felt uneasy -as if he was being watched.
He realized it must have been the dream and after another deep breath -and a little self-scolding for being a grown-ass man and still being afraid of the dark- he slowly opened his eyes in hopes of proving his imagination wrong.
He couldn’t hold his scream, however, when he saw another pair of eyes staring at him intently, just inches away from his face.
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a/n: returning to LJ with another un yay! lol okay next part is gonna be posted in valentine's day! if i don't get all lazy and stuff orz
comments are appreciated guys! :) please comment if you like! <3