Work Text:
Chanyeol was holed away in his sister's room, she had tasked him with getting started on their new puzzle set while she was having a sleepover at her friend's house. Focusing on finding the correct piece helped him ignore the voices coming from the dining room; the voices that seem to increase in sound and rage with each passing minute.
When his eyes are too watery to see properly he gives up on the puzzle and moves to Yoora's bed. Her bedside table is cluttered with boring books that have no pictures in them. Chanyeol only likes the boring books when someone reads it to him, pirates and dragons and princesses coming to life with their voice. With a sniffle he rubs his eyes and grabs the book closest to him and starts to try and make sense of the letters printed on the pages.
He doesn't know when he had dozed off but when he opens his eyes there's no more noises of his parents still fighting, instead he's standing in the middle of an unfamiliar room, suffocating in an unfamiliar silence. There are alarms going off in his brain, asking him to freak out, to scream for help, to do anything but all Chanyeol feels is safe and warm, like when his mom holds him tight during a scary movie, like when his dad is hovering close when he tries to cross the monkey bars, like when Yoora holds his hand while crossing the street.
He looks around, calling out for his mom, dad, yoora, for anyone to come and find him, to take him back home but no one answers. He goes to open the first door he sees, walks in and turns to his right only to get startled by his own reflection. He jumps back and crashes into a bookshelf, the impact knocking down a few books. He rushes to grab them, not wanting to upset the owner of the book.
The moment his hand brushes over the spine he sees his mom and dad, they look younger and exactly like in the framed photograph hanging in their living room. The vision ends as abruptly as it had started and Chanyeol has to blink his eyes a few times to get adjusted to the room again. He takes the book in his hands and flips through the pages, there are pressed flowers in some of the pages, in others there are silly pictures which Chanyeol has no doubt that his dad had drawn.
He looks through a few more books, the ones he had previously seen in his father's study, before going to explore more of the house. Each and every object he touches shows him more of his parents and their love for each other. He closes his eyes and wakes up to Yoora prodding at his cheek, demanding he get up for breakfast.
-
Yoora listens attentively as Chanyeol narrates his dream, huffing impatiently when he takes long, long sips of his milk to keep the suspense going. Their dad intervenes just as he senses a fight about to break out between the two, instructing both of them to get ready for a trip to the supermarket.
Chanyeol huffs and puffs as he trots over to the sink to hand his dishes over to his mom, complaining about how Yoora was being unfair by not letting him finish retelling his dream at his own pace. She soothes his ruffled feathers by promising to drop by the playground
"That was a special dream you had, Chanyeol-ah. Maybe your father can tell you more about such dreams", she says, looking at her husband pointedly.
"He's going to talk about his work isn't he?" Chanyeol sighs, "Alright, I'll listen but what do I get in return?"
He narrows his eyes at his parents. Tapping a finger on his chin, he pretends to think.
"How about I listen to dad and you'll buy me the goldfish you promised you would?", he makes sure to put on all the airs he's seen his mom do when she makes a sale pitch. "Please? Oh please, please, please? I'll take good care of it!"
"You, sir, have got yourself a hot deal", his father says, wiggling the fingers in his outstretched hands as he waits for Chanyeol to shake it.
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At the age of 7, Chanyeol learns about the realm of relationships. His father had explained how it was similar to the world they know but at the same time so different and unique. The building Chanyeol had been in was built on his parent's relationship, housing their love for each other as well as the memories they treasured. There were more buildings like that, each one owned by a different set of individuals. His father had confessed that he's only been there a handful of times.
"You can only enter the realm if it needs you there, I've dreamt of it occasionally but I've never been able to step foot in there unless I'm allowed to", he says.
"But how do you know when you're allowed?" Chanyeol had asked only to get a shrug as a reply. He had wanted to go back and explore more, see if everything was how his father claimed it to be. He had wanted to take Yoora there and finish their puzzle set, to show her the warmth his parents love seemed to exude, the feeling he had associated with safety.
Like all dreams, the one with the realm fades away. The stories of the realm his parents had shared became nothing but a fairytale. His parents also stop bringing it up once he tells them that he's too old for bedtime stories, too busy throwing themselves into work and putting more time and space between one another.
At the age of 17, Chanyeol opens his eyes and finds himself inside a familiar house. Instead of the soft blue walls lined with trinkets, he's greeted by the ruins of what once was.