Chapter Text
It’s a peculiar mirror, Namjoon thinks, as he glances over the piece that had been gifted by his grandmother. It’s long, about his height, and it fits decently on the wall opposite of his bed. He steps closer to get a better look and finds himself appreciating it.
The frame of the mirror is both ornate and simple in design. It’s not in the regular rectangular shape most tall wall mirrors are, but it has curved edges and the sides are all curved as well, forming a wave type pattern. The frame has designs of leaves and flowers, all painted in bronze with flecks of gold. And in the middle of the left and right side, are two carved reliefs of what Namjoon assumes to be two lovers entwined, painted in colors that contrast from the bronze of the frame. His grandmother had mentioned in her letter that it was an antique from the Baroque period in Italy, and while his art history is a little rusty, he appreciates the beauty of the piece.
His phone rings, interrupting his studying of the reliefs, and answers.
“Joon-ah, Happy Birthday my darling,” comes the soft voice of his grandmother.
Namjoon smiles softly and looks down at the soft grey, carpeted floor. “Thank you grandmother. I just put up your gift. It’s stunning. Thank you,” he replies and looks back up at the mirror, eyes focusing on the crystal clear reflection of himself.
“Oh darling, that makes me so happy. I found it at an estate auction when I was visiting Europe. It’s originally from Italy but it’s traveled a bit,” his grandmother explains but Namjoon becomes distracted as he focuses back on the reliefs, stepping closer to the entwined characters and stooping to get a better look. “Apparently it’s a twin mirror, but no one knows where the other pair is.”
Namjoon narrows his eyes as he leans close, surprised to see two males embracing rather than the standard hetero depictions used on reliefs of couples.
“-oon, -joon, Namjoon!”
The prince jumps at his grandmother’s raised voice, stepping hurriedly away from the mirror and walks over to sit on his settee by his French doors. “Sorry grandmother. I was just admiring the mirror is all,” Namjoon explains.
His grandmother is silent for a moment. “I’m glad you like it, but be careful my darling.”
“Careful?” he asks, voice suspicious.
“Mm. Mirrors have extraordinary ways to bend reality,” is her only explanation.
~
It’s been several weeks since his 23rd birthday and Namjoon can’t get the slight warning out of his mind; and it’s been driving his official royal tutor absolutely nuts.
“Focus Your Highness,” Seokjin repeats for the 10th time that day, exasperation in his voice. Namjoon looks up with a contrite look and quietly apologizes as he sits straight and looks at his notes. “I know your coronation won’t be for several more years, but you must—“
“—always be prepared for the unexpected, and be ready to rule at all times. Yes I know hyung,” Namjoon interjects, repeating the same phrase that’s been repeated to him since he turned 19, an adult in South Korea. He flushes in embarrassment at getting caught not listening and focuses in on his pen.
Seokjin sighs and pulls up a chair to sit across from the prince. “Right now I’m not your royal tutor, just your best hyung since birth. Level with me. What’s going on? Has the queen been going on about marriage again?” Seokjin asks worriedly, attention focused solely on his younger friend.
Namjoon quirks his mouth and shakes his head. He looks up and gives Seokjin a reassuring look. “No, nothing like that. She’s been surprisingly mute about it to be honest.”
“Huh. That is surprising,” Seokjin comments, nodding his head in agreement.
“It’s something grandmother said on my birthday,” Namjoon mentions, eyes focusing on the white board before Seokjin, their review of the different politics of other nations a blur to Namjoon.
Seokjin reaches out and puts a comforting hand on the prince’s own. “What did she say? Is she okay?”
Namjoon nods hurriedly, “Yeah, she’s doing well. Spritely as ever. Just,” he pauses trying to form the right words to not sound weird. “She mentioned something about mirrors and their power? I don’t know. I said something about how I was admiring it but she got quiet and then told me to be careful around it.”
Namjoon looks at Seokjin, who has a thoughtful look. “Hm. I have heard stories, well more like old wives tales, about mirrors. Do I think they have powers? I’m not sure, but it could be possible,” Seokjin says with a shrug. “I’ve read that witches nowadays use them for magic and spells sometimes and different cultures have different reactions to mirrors. But how anyone views them, is up to them and their experience and culture.”
The prince nods along with Seokjin’s explanation. “Maybe try not to think about that too much,” his hyung suggests before standing up. “Say, that mirror is from the Baroque period right?” Namjoon nods. “How about we do some learning and studying on the period? Some art history would do you some good since you’ve been showing an interest since a few months ago,” Seokjin asks, excitement in his voice.
“You just want a break from teaching royal duties,” Namjoon responds back with a fond eye roll.
“Please, and you don’t?” Seokjin asks with a scoff, turning and erasing the lesson from the board.
“You’re actually absolutely correct,” the prince remarks as he stands as well stretching from sitting too long.
“I’m always actually absolutely correct,” Seokjin cheekily responds with a wink, earning a laugh from Namjoon.
~
The two men studying of the Baroque period, feelings like coming home to Namjoon. He’s always enjoyed learning about history and art (visiting museums and galleries often), but never quite got to the fusion of art history in his personal time. So he greatly appreciates that his hyung is taking time to learn with him about the history of Baroque, the styles of Baroque in art, fashion, and architecture. Seokjin spends a couple of days reading up and researching the time period before presenting the basics to Namjoon and they spend a week reading and watching documentaries on the period together.
Namjoon finds the entire period fascinating, even taking time to listen to composers during the night time while reading up on current politics during his spare time. And tonight is one of those late nights, having discovered a new classical composer from the time and reading about the US’ democratic turmoil from the 2020 Election.
It’s during this moment that something catches his attention. Namjoon raises his head and takes out one ear pod, just hearing the stillness of the palace and a random bird from outside his bedroom. He looks around the room and nothing’s out of the ordinary, that he can tell. He’s about to go back to reading when it happens again. This time Namjoon realizes that it’s a glint of something. He takes out the other ear pod and stands up from his bed to look around more. He opens his door to peek out into the hallway and only sees one of the nighttime guards further down the hall, offering a nod to the woman’s bow and closing the door again. Namjoon stands confused, hands on his hips as he thinks of what it is, whatever it is.
Then he hears something, a faint vibration, hum of some kind. Thinking that maybe it’s his phone, Namjoon rushes over to where it’s charging and sees a screen without any notifications. The sound is constant and steady, not loud or terribly quiet, but definitely hard to pinpoint. And then he sees the glint from the corner of his eye.
Namjoon turns quickly to look at the mirror.
There’s nothing he can see in the reflection and he walks to stand in front of it to make sure. And sure enough, he can only see himself, his bed, and the wall behind him. Namjoon turns his head this way and that just to make sure, but there’s only what he can see in the reflection. He can feel the hum from the mirror but can’t see anything to make a glint. He stands there for a bit more, staring into the mirror. Waiting.
“Well now you’re just paranoid,” Namjoon whispers to himself as he closes his eyes and shakes his head. He opens his eyes and turns to go back to his bed, thinking that maybe he should place the mirror someplace else in the palace. But as he takes a step, the glint of something happens and he’s quick to return to his spot. This time, whatever is glinting to get his attention keeps happening.
It looks like spots of light reflecting, but Namjoon can’t see where it’s coming from in his room. He lifts his head to look at the ceiling, seeing if there are any other lights he’s not seeing, but it’s just the chandelier and a side bed lamp. He turns back and watches how the spots flicker slowly and randomly over the surface of the mirror and Namjoon’s so entranced by it that he reaches out.
He doesn’t expect the surface to ripple as he touches it.
Namjoon’s quick to pull his hand back, startled at the change of what should be a smooth, solid reflective surface. He pokes the mirror again, watching in amazement at the small ripples that occur and he leans in closer as his eyes catch not his reflection, but rather a different… scene?
Namjoon looks back at his room, looking for any blues and greens to only see warm, neutral tones of his room and looks back. He presses the mirror again and peers to see blue and twilight tones.
He takes a step back and thinks of his situation.
“I should really just go to sleep, I probably need sleep,” he muses aloud. “On the other hand, I’m probably asleep right now and this is just a very vivid dream and it wouldn’t hurt anyone if I kept poking around.” Namjoon studies the mirror, ignoring the frame itself, and nods to himself.
“A dream’s a dream.”
With that, he steps close again and touches the surface, only this time his finger sinks into it, like he’s touching water. Namjoon thinks he should probably pull back, but his curiosity gets the better of him and proceeds to push his hand in fully. The space and air on the other side of the mirror feels warm, like the most pleasant of summer evenings, and that feeling, is what convinces Namjoon to push forward.
The momentum of falling forward (along with his bouts of clumsiness) causes him to stumble fully into the mirror and he nearly face plants it into the soft grass that catches his fall. Namjoon stills in his fallen position for a moment, breathing sweet, warm air and goes to sit up on his haunches as he gets his bearings, shaking his head as he looks at the scrapes on his hands from the fall (Queen Mother will not be happy, he thinks with a frown). He wipes his hands on his pajama pants and is prepared to stand and take a look around before a sweet, low voice interrupts him.
“Who are you and how did you get here?”
Namjoon jumps at the voice and manages to fall on his butt. He looks up and sees a tall individual dressed in peculiar clothes. His brain is quick to understand that it’s Baroque fashion (thanks fashion historians on Youtube!), and he finds the outfit very flattering on the person before him with their heeled buckled shoes with white stockings that tuck under the form fitting breeches (hello thighs), a long dark blue waistcoat with gold embroidery, white ruffled undershirt, and an even longer dark blue overcoat. The person screams wealth with such rich looking fabrics and Namjoon is very curious.
“Are you quite all right?” they ask, their question asked in English.
“I’m, okay. I think?” Namjoon cautiously responds, his own English a tiny bit rusty.
“I am Jungkook, distant relative of the King of Holland,” Jungkook introduces with a sweep of a bow.
Namjoon manages to finally stand and tries to connect the dots as he dusts off his pants and just asks the question that’s set in his mind. “What year are you from?”
Jungkook tilts his head at the question, pretty doe eyes blinking. “Why 16—“
Namjoon pauses, brain whirring. “How the hell is that possible?” he asks himself in Korean, glancing over the distant relative of a king. The clothes do make sense, he thinks to himself as Jungkook looks confused at the foreign words. And this is just a dream.
“Well Jungkook, I’m Namjoon, crown prince of South Korea and I’m from the year 2020.”
He would laugh at the way Jungkook’s eyes widen and his mouth drops in shock, but he’s pretty much in the same boat as well. Namjoon leaves Jungkook to figure it out and decides to look around the place he’s in.
It’s a good mixture of forest and grassland, with trees dotted around in various heights, most of them low hanging, and grass that goes up to his knees. There are flowers scattered throughout the immediate space that he can see, only they aren’t any kind of flower he’s ever seen considering the fact that they’re quite literally glowing in soft colors. The sky is a pretty mixture of blues and purples and Namjoon can clearly see the stores (he’s definitely not in Seoul anymore). He takes a step towards the denser part of the forest and he can see fireflies but instead of normal yellow, they’re glowing in shades of blue, green, orange, pink, and purple; he thinks they’re the glints of light from the mirror. He can hear what he assumes are insects. All in all, it makes for a pretty picture and Namjoon kind of wishes he had his phone to take a picture.
“So how do you like it?” Namjoon’s companion asks.
He turns to face the “younger” man (if that’s possible considering this man is from the Baroque period), having momentarily forgotten him. “It’s incredible. It feels very calm and warm,” Namjoon replies, his tongue and brain slowly getting used to the impromptu English conversation.
Jungkook offers a tentative smile, bunny like teeth peering through. “I’ve been here many times,” he confesses as he looks around. “So I kind of consider it mine.” Jungkook’s voice is melancholic and Namjoon isn’t sure why.
“Well, then thank you for sharing your beautiful space,” Namjoon offers, a sincere smile on his face when Jungkook turns back to him. The resulting smile from the Baroque man, wide and exuberant, makes Namjoon feel funny.
The two men merely stand in place and stare at each other, Jungkook observing the crown prince and Namjoon merely thinking of how handsome the stranger is. He doesn’t know how long they stay standing there, but eventually Jungkook looks up at the sky and then lets out an ah! before giving Namjoon a bow and turning away, hands joining behind his back as he walks away.
“Where are you going?” Namjoon calls out in confusion. Jungkook turns to the side and offers Namjoon a small smile.
“Tis almost dawn where I live. While most of the royal sleeps in, I do not have that luxury. A most pleasant night Crown Prince and I hope to meet you again!” Jungkook bows again, turns back and continues walking. Namjoon feels perplexed to say the least.
“How do you even know the time? Besides, this is just a dream! I won’t come back here again,” Namjoon shouts back. Jungkook stops in his steps and only turns his head this time. “If that’s what you really think!” he offers a wink and continues walking. Namjoon stares in Jungkook’s direction until he can no longer see the man. He huffs and plops onto the ground, crossing his arms as he thinks of the whole situation.
“It’s a dream,” Namjoon says to himself. “I know it’s a dream for three reasons. One: mirrors don’t transport you to places. Two: this place doesn’t actually exist because glowing flowers and colorful fireflies don’t exist to my knowledge. And three: I would only meet a good looking Baroque man in my dreams because I’ve been studying it lately,” he lists, presenting the best arguments he can think of in the warm air of the night. “Besides, a Korean man in Holland? In the 1600s? Likelihood is close to zero,” he mutter some more, not noticing the fireflies coming closer to him, offering a soft, hazy glow.
Namjoon looks up and is momentarily stunned by the prettiness of the bugs dancing around him but decides it’s time to end the dream.
“As nice as this is, I should probably head back and dream of something new. It was lovely seeing you,” Namjoon says to the bugs as he stands up and dusts himself off. “Why the hell am I talking to fireflies?” He shakes his head and turns around, looking for the mirror.
He hadn’t moved much from where he fell, so it’s easy to find in the nature world he’s in. The mirror entrance, or exit in this case, looks different from the mirror in his room. The shape of it is the same, but it lacks the designs of the frame and reliefs. As Namjoon peers in, he can see his room, missing the fact that his supposedly sleeping body is not there. He reaches out to step through, not having to worry about the weird rippling of the mirror as earlier.
This time, it’s easier going into his room and he doesn’t fall. He’s quick to lie on his bed, pushing off everything he was reading earlier and forces himself to go to sleep.
Now when I wake up, I know that it’s all been a dream.
~
Namjoon wakes up with the sun rising, curtains still open from the day before. He groans from his prone position, eyes still screwed shut as he stretches and tries to wake up. The morning is chilly, so he snuggles into his blankets, hoping to last there a bit longer.
That hope is dashed with his Seokjin hyung brushing into the room with a dramatic slam of the door.
“Good morning Crown Prince!” Seokjin sings as he goes about the room, preparing Namjoon’s things for the day. “We have a full day of lessons, so comfortable clothes will be necessary,” Seokjin explains as he opens the closet and starts rummaging. Namjoon groans at the intrusion, rolling onto his side in protest. “I know, I wanted to keep at the Baroque lessons, but the King gave me a questioning look that was boarding on- the hell do you think you are doing?- so we have to get back to your royal lessons. Maybe I can negotiate with him and do side lessons,” Seokjin continues, mostly talking with himself as he pulls out a pair of sweatpants and hoodie. “It’s quite chilly this morning, so you’ll have to wear these.”
“Why are you even here?” Namjoon grunts out. “Besides, I can grab my own clothes thank you very much,” he huffs from his bed.
“Rude much?” Seokjin mutters as he places the clothes on a side table. The tutor looks at his prince, tutting while shaking his head at the half asleep man. He takes a sweep of the room, surprised that the curtains are still open before his eyes land on the mirror. It’s nothing out of the ordinary but something on the floor right below it catches his eyes.
Namjoon’s a few seconds from falling back asleep when his tutor’s voice interrupts him.
“Where did you get this flower? Huh, I didn’t know this kind of flower existed.”
Namjoon’s eyes pop open and he sits up so fast, he gets dizzy. He rushes out of his bed, nearly tripping as he goes. As he approaches Seokjin, he sees that the man is holding a flower that resembles a tulip, a pretty light blue color, but it’s different from normal tulips in that the center of it is glowing, making it a hazy hue.
Namjoon’s eyes are wide and he can feel the color drain from his face as he gets light headed.
“The fuck? It was just a dream…?”