Work Text:
Everything is spinning- so quickly his surroundings move around him. Oddly dizzying. Suddenly everyone is talking with such a weird posh accent- Donghuyck had to blink a few times- what the fuck? His legs wobble and he plops down on the floor ungracefully. When he finally has hard floor underneath his body his vision starts clearing a little. His senses start sharpening the longer he stares at what's happening right now.
"Get out of the way or you'll get trampled over by the horses, boy! And what are you even wearing?!-", an old lady shoves him away. Horses? In the middle of Lond- wait what is this? Everything looks as though he just jumped into a historical movie. The ones that tell you about Napoleon, or how the glorious revolution changed England. Well he's not the best at history, but he'd date the movie setting from late 17th century to the late Eighteen hundreds. He scrambles away and gets up, his hands dusting off some dirt from his pants. Everything reeks like horse and piss. It's loud, louder than he ever imagined London to be. All the engine sounds of cars and buses are now substituted by clacking of horse hooves against dusty cobblestone, people talking, well.. more like shouting at each other trying to buy the bargain of their life.
But this feels too real to be a dream, and since when did the government change London into a movie setting? This doesn't make sense, it would make even less sense for him to have jumped in time- but it sure feels like it.
He pinches his arm, still trying his best to not freak out or panic in the middle of a market square in historical London. Soon there's another pull from his stomach- the dizzying feeling returns as he feels the need to throw up. He doesn't- everything is spinning- again until he hears the usual honking of cars again.
He's back to the present time. And if he scans his surroundings, even the layout of the streets is almost the same as it was in the ..past?
What just happened? He didn't take any drugs, at least not that he knew of.
He feels the ache in his head and quickly gets to the bus station.
"Donghyuck- yes you are at university, and you're 19 years old but as long as you live in this house you inform your parents when you're out longer! You should've been here half an hour ago! The food is cold now."
His mother's nagging doesn't help with the hammering and pulsating pain in his head.
"Yeah- sorry I missed my bus…"
"You could've texted me-", his mother answers, heating up the Yorkshire puddings in the oven.
"Yeah, I forgot sorry. Thanks for the food."
"You're welcome. And you reek of horse shit. Did you step into any? If yes, please clean your shoes, we don't want the whole house smelling like a stable."
His parents have lived in London for over 50 years now. Coming from well off South Korean households, as descendants of a line of chaebols they could easily move to another country without monetary issues. To Donghyuck it seemed like an arranged marriage, not that his parents didn't love each other, but it just seemed too perfect to be totally by coincidence. Now, they have adapted to the London etiquette, they cook English food, they talk Korean only at home, watch BBC News as well as every rugby union game ever, and sometimes they even buy takeout at Gregg's. Only on special occasions or when they need some quick food or when there's Donghyuck's birthday coming up they opt for Ramen, Samgyeopsal or Bulgogi. Donghyuck has been to South Korea a few times, but he's never associated it his home. His home is here, in a suburban quarter of London.
Being Asian in England feels like being a magnet, an Asian magnet. At least he came to this conclusion when he met Renjun, his best friend who solely stuck to him because of his foreign looks in kindergarten. By now, the Chinese toddler with broken English back then has grown into a handsome boy with perfect London accent.
"Is Renjun gonna come over later? If he is, tell him I've made some chocolate mousse, his favourite.", his mum shouts from the kitchen.
"Feels more like he's your favourite-", Donghyuck mutters under his breath.
There's a slap on his head with the damp dishcloth his mum just threw at him. "I have eagle eyes and bat ears Lee Donghyuck!"
"Yeah I know… and yes he's coming over in like-" he takes a quick look at his tissot watch "ten minutes."
Their playful encounter was stopped when the door bell rang.
"It must be him!", His mother puts down the kitchen utensils and opens the door.
"Good evening Renjun. Come in please, Donghyuck is finishing his meal because he came too late for dinner today. Please excuse him."
The Chinese just nods and smiles politely.
"Thank you, Mrs. Lee."
"You won't believe what happened-", Donghyuck is about to explode. The ten minutes he's spent lying, sitting and standing in historical London replaying in his mind over and over.
"Oh I believe in aliens, so go ahead-"
It feels strange, telling his best friend that he's gone completely insane in a matter of hours.
"So either you've actually time traveled, or you took drugs you didn't know of. You sure no one knocked you out and drugged you?"
"Yeah I am sure. It's literally been ten minutes, then it was all over and back to normal."
"Damn.."
"Yeah damn.", Donghyuck agrees.
"Don't you think you should tell your parents?"
"Nah, it's a one time thing I guess… I hope."
"But imagine what this could mean- are you even human? Dongyhuck there's power in you, wow- can you bring me something next time? Pleasseee-"
"Renjun! This isn't something I can control, neither do I think it will ever happen again. But if yes, then I'll get you something."
They spend the rest of the evening talking about what cool stuff happened in the past and how he could sell antiquities and become a millionaire.
The second time it happens Donghyuck is in his own room… or rather the room of someone who lived here around 80 years ago, judging by the newspaper from 1941.
Fuck- it must be around second world war time. Or was that later?
It looks like a girl's room, there's a few stuffed animals lying around and a small white dress on a hanger. Who lives here? Whatever, he has to get out of here before someone sees him, his bright red and white hoodie doesn't match this time period at all!
Dongyhuck takes a peek at the closet in the back of the room, usually he'd be sitting at his desk right now, but his desk doesn't even exist yet.
Thankfully, there's some black coats that could be his size hanging in there.
He sneaks out of the room, the black coat ill fitting, but it's better than nothing, thankfully the stairs are still where they are now and he quickly makes his way out onto the busy streets.
A loud crash makes the ground shake as people start screaming, it's when he remembers, the newspaper. 1941- second world war…
"Get down!-", a young man pulls him down as another loud crash evokes panic.
Once they get up again the man doesn't let go of his hand, instead he's running and tugging Donghyuck away from the streets back into Donghyuck's house, or whoever lives here in this time period.
"You live here right?"
"Y-yeah- uhm no?- yeah-", Donghyuck stammers, his head is empty, there's just fear and panic, maybe a hint of curiosity.
If he dies in the past- what will happen to his future? Will he just stop existing, leave without a trace?-
"What now?-"
"No! I don't live here."
"So you don't know if there's a bunker in the cellar?"
"I-I- don't."
"Whatever, let's go look."
They find the steel door that apparently leads downstairs to a even heavier and stronger steel door. This must be the bunker the man is talking about.
"You're from the future aren't you?", the black haired male says.
"W-what?!-", Donghyuck's eyes stare at him, wide open and in shock. But not because of the bombing outside.
"I can see it by your shirt, those don't exist yet.", He answers calmly.
"Okay… who even are you?-" the boy asks.
"I'm Mark Lee. But I'm more interested in what mission you have-"
"Mission?"
"Yeah, why did they send you."
"Who are they and what the hell are you talking about?"
It doesn't make any sense. What is this Mark-guy talking about, what mission?-
"You're a time traveler. Just like me. But they must've messed up a little, first of all where is your costume, and second of all, why did they send you here?"
"Now- Mark Lee. I am Lee Donghyuck, have no idea what is happening to me right now and am not on a mission, cause no one sent me anywhere. Who even are 'they'?"
"...you really don't know?"
"Yeah I really don't."
"They are the Lodge. A community of people who try to change certain aspects of the past, it's extremely dangerous and should be dealt with delicately and carefully. There's only few time travelers, and it seems like you're one of them. They want your blood, you're one of the few time travelers that are missing for them to complete their mission. Apparently, they can get the immortality stone once every living time traveler contributes their blood to the chronograph."
"I don't-", the whole overload of information makes Donghyuck's head almost steam.
"Okay.. look- you mustn't listen to them. They're trying to use your powers for bad stuff. I am surprised no one told you about this ability, because it's in your genes, you've inherited it Donghyuck."
There it is again, the feeling of nausea, the endless swirl in his stomach rearranging his guts.
"I-I'll be gone soon-" he presses out.
"Hey- I'll try to find you, I'm sure we'll see each other again and then I can explain it more thoroughly. Please take care of you and try to talk to your parents. Uncontrolled time skips are dangerou-"
Then he's gone. Stuck inside the hurricane of times, the ground underneath his feet gets ripped away from him and then he's lying inside the dusty basement of his own house.
Why did I never know that this existed?-, he asks himself.
He's knocking on the door, apparently it's closed. Fuck how is he ever gonna get out of here? Will this be where he'll die? And who was this Mark-guy, he needs to find him in real life, talk to him about-
"Donghyuck??!-", his mom shrieks as she opens the door.
"Oh thank god mum-"
"What the hell are you doing in here?"
"Hiding from bombing in 1941."
"This isn't funny, you shouldn't get down there Donghyuck. Be glad that I just came home and heard you knocking.", She seems slightly off-thrown by his answer, quickly trying to get herself together again.
"I wasn't joking mum. We need to talk."
It's out now, he's done what Mark asked him to, well at least he's gonna do that in a few minutes, maybe hours.
"We'll wait for dad to come home, then we'll talk."
They're at the kitchen table, but Domghyuck has no appetite. His mum even made ramen, so maybe she's trying to warm him up for what's to come.
"Okay Donghyuck, this won't be easy for you but-"
"You have the time traveling gene. There's the Lodge, they are a community of people from families with time travelers. But your dad and I have isolated ourselves from them, because one of your dad's relatives died in the past on a mission. They use time travelers to get more powerful. For that they have the chronograph, there's two chronographs that exist in this world one of them is at the Lodge's basement. With this machine, you can jump in time precisely, like, you can jump to a certain day, certain year. But your dad and me- we didn't want you to be in danger. Thought if we kept this from you,... Maybe you'd be safe."
There is silence. An uncomfortable silence that feels like heavy stones packed into Donghyuck's shoulders. Pressure making his head and body ache.
"Mum- I've jumped in time twice already. One time I almost got ran over by horses, the other time some guy shoved me into our basement because of serious bombing. This is dangerous, and if I don't learn how to control it I might die!"
"There's no way to learn how to control it by yourself. We'll… we'll need to contact the Lodge.", His dad says, putting down the spoon he's holding. There's deafening silence yet again.
"Do you know Mark Lee?", Domghyuck asks out of curiosity.
"Tragic story… He's died on one of the missions, never returned back to the present. We don't even know in what time, and how he died.", his mum answers him truthfully.
"He's not dead!- I met him, he's the guy that saved me. The one that pulled me into our basement."
"What?!-", his mum shrieks. Thankfully his dad stays calm and collected.
"He must've gotten stuck in time…"
They plan to go to the Lodge in two days, and Donghyuck's tongue is irking to tell everything to Renjun. Right now he's at Uni, having his lunch in the cafeteria while Renjun is talking about his physics lecture, when Donghyuck feels the same thing he's been feeling whenever he's jumping in time.
"I- I gotta excuse myself for a moment-", he gets up and runs towards the toilets. As far as he knows, the campus is pretty old so hopefully he'll know his way around once he's in a different time period.
He locks himself into the toilet stall just in time when everything starts turning again. He's still inside the toilet stall, and it doesn't look like he's jumped that far back. Maybe a hundred years? He feels the door opening as four feet stumble in.
"I've brought it with me Mark- I got it!", He can hear a voice. Something feels strange. He knows his voice, based on how it sounds on the voicemails he sends Renjun from time to time.
"I knew you could do it, you're my golden boy after all~", this is Mark's voice. For sure. Is he just listening to himself getting hit on by Mark?!
"I am. Now, what if this fails- I don't ever want to lose you- what if this doesn't wor-", his voice stills. Instead he can hear shallow breaths, and then there's the slick sound of tongues, lips and teeth clashing against each other.
Is he making out with Mark?!- what the actual fuck… well.. Mark does look stunningly handsome, but why would he even kiss Donghyuck, let alone call him 'his'?
Future Donghyuck must be a lucky guy for sure.
Donghyuck decides to wait, last time he moved during a time jump he was hella lucky that his mum heard him so let's not get into trouble this time. Even though it's very strange to think about what's happening next to his toilet stall. He just hopes that the two don't start doing even more raunchy business… thankfully this time he feels reassured when the feeling of dizziness returns. He doesn't even topple over when he lands back in time.
It's been five minutes, thank god that was a short time jump. When he gets out of the toilet stall there's Renjun, looking at him strangely.
"Now, don't tell me lies, Lee Donghyuck."
"Mhm.. I guess I can't keep anything from you anyways."
He tells him later that night, surprised to find out that Renjun has even done some research on time traveling. He for sure is passionate.
"So you're telling me you met this hot dude who shoved you down on the floor so you don't die? And you just made out with said hot dude at uni in a different time?"
"Yeah I guess…"
"At least you know that you'll get laid in the futur- past? Whatever."
"Oh Injun shut your mouth!-" Donghyuck's holding onto his stomach, laughing with his best friend.
When Donghyuck finds himself at the Lodge two days later he feels sick to his stomach. Not because of a time jump, but because of the aura that radiates from the building. He feels like he's trying to join a cult.
"So, Lee Donghyuck. You say you can jump in time? Neither of your parents can, we even thought the gene in your family died out. We'll see if you're really not telling lies.", the head of the Lodge tells him. Even he has a dark aura surrounding him.
They lead him through various corridors, he doesn't even remember the way when they come to a halt in a small room. A cube with engraving and many sparkling jewels in various colours is in the middle of a small table.
"Put your finger here. You'll find yourself exactly 100 years back, the basement is safe and it's existed since many hundreds of years. It's locked, so no one will find you there."
Donghyuck puts his finger through the small hole, then he feels a small pain, like a needle stomped into his finger. Then everything is turning.
The basement looks like a regular basement, just the small table is gone, there's still a couch like furniture and a secretary.
"I've been waiting for you Donghyuck. It's me Mark, don't be afraid. I see you've met the Lodge now."
Donghyuck can see him more clearly now.
"Donghyuck-"
"Yes?"
"We will only meet in the past, but-"
"We won't! There is a way. I think we found it."
"I knew it-", Mark hugs him tightly, tears in his eyes.