Archive of Our Own ^beta

The weight of a drunk friend is currently dragging Yeonjun down as he pushes through a crowd of sweaty dancers. 

“Don’t you dare throw up on me.” He groaned, trying to direct Taehyun’s face away from him. 

Yeonjun only did this because he owes Taehyun for blacking out at a party where he had to be carried back to the dorms. 

“How can he be this heavy?” Kai whined. “Let’s just take him to the back yard.” 

Yeonjun nods, they’re closer to the sliding doors leading there anyways, and there could be a line for the bathroom if they try to get him to the toilet. 

As he manages to get Taehyun’s left leg out the door, Yeonjun looks up to see the group passing by them. They laugh loudly, exhaling clouds of smoke with fruity scents. 

One of them caught Yeonjun’s attention while laughing along. Yeonjun drops Taehyun’s arm and tries to go after the group, but a yell makes him look back. 

“Hyung!” Kai looks at him angrily. “Don’t do that!”

Yeonjun looks down at the floor, where Taehyun currently lays face down after he fell. “Oh.”

Kai managed to get Taehyun up on his knees, making sure that he didn’t break his teeth or nose. “Okay, up, up.”

Yeonjun helped him, constantly looking back inside the house, trying to make sure that he didn’t just imagine what he saw. “Stay here.”

“I don’t have other options, do I?” Kai rolls his eyes as he gets Taehyun to sit on a chair. 

“I’ll be right back!” Yeonjun nodded as he ran back inside the house.

People were pushing him, trying to dance and grind on him, almost pouring their beverages on his shirt as he speed walked to the other side of the room. 

Just as he was about to give up and accept the fact that the smoke played a trick on his vision, Yeonjun spots the head of long hair with white streaks approaching the door. 

“Beomgyu!” He yells over the loud music. “Beomgyu!” He reaches out, grabbing Beomgyu’s wrist and making him turn around. 

Just as he thought, a doll face looked confusedly at him with long eyelashes and pouty lips. He muttered a confused sound, waiting for Yeonjun to catch his breath. 

“It is you.” Yeonjun smiled, his heart was beating incredibly fast. 

Beomgyu glances back at his friends before facing Yeonjun again. “Sorry.” He laughs. “Do we know each other?” 

Yeonjun can feel his blood freezing at that moment. He takes his hand away from Beomgyu’s wrist, scanning his face one last time before looking at the group of guys staring at him. 

“Uh…” He tries to take a breath. “Yeah… Soobin!” He points to the tallest of the group. “You know.” 

Soobin doesn’t know. Nobody knows. Nobody knows why Yeonjun knows Beomgyu. Or why would he run after him like that. 

Soobin is friends with Kai, so he’s been around Yeonjun before. But not to the point of helping him cover up an embarrassing secret like this. 

Soobin walks closer. “Are you high?” 

“Yes.” Yeonjun nods. “I am, yes. I just wanted to say hi. High.” He laughs, a little too fake. 

“Okay, Loona.” Soobin looks at Beomgyu again, both of them confused at this random guy following them. “We were about to leave—“

“Oh, yes. I just thought—“ Yeonjun laughs again. “I thought I should say hi. I need to go.” He points back. “Taehyun is super drunk.”

“Okay.” Soobin nods at him. 

He gets another look from Beomgyu as he nods slightly at him before turning back to his group and walking out of the house. 

After getting a water bottle, he goes back outside to find the chair he’d left his friend on empty. 

Kai takes the bottle from his hands and opens it. “He’s in the bushes.” 

Yeonjun turns back, calming once he finds Taehyun standing by the bushes and not actually being in them. “Is he puking or peeing?”

The bottle stops before touching Kai’s mouth. “He better not have his dick out right now.” 

Yeonjun looks at the ground, giving Taehyun the privacy to do whatever he wants to the bushes. “Does Choi Soobin know who I am?”

“Duh.” Kai gulps down some water. “Everyone knows you.”

“Not everyone.” Yeonjun whispers. 

“Why? Wanted to mess with him tonight?” 

“No.” Yeonjun pushes his hair out of his face. “Soobin has a friend and I know the friend, but the friend doesn’t know me, but I just embarrassed myself in front of the two and in front of their whole friend group.”

“What happened?”

“Nothing.”

Kai shrugs. “I’ll just ask Soobin hyung.”

“I said hi to the friend and it was awkward, okay?” Yeonjun kicks the grass under his foot. “Nothing happened, everyone looked at me like I was a weirdo and they left.”

“What?” Kai laughs. “You tried to flirt in front of all of them?” 

“I didn’t flirt—“ Yeonjun groans, he turns around again to spot Taehyun sitting down on the ground. “No, get up, we don’t know what you just did on that grass.”

Taehyun mumbles something again as the two take one of his arms each. 

Yeonjun turns off the lights, walking past Taehyun’s bed and making sure that he was okay before reaching his. He stares at the ceiling, remembering Beomgyu’s frown before he closes his eyes. 

How does he know Beomgyu?

He slowly sits down on the park bench, there are voices around him but he can’t figure out what they’re saying. There seems to be a park at his right, once he looks at it it becomes clear and people start walking around him. 

Someone comes and sits next to him, it’s the only face that’s not blurry. 

“Beomgyu.”

He smiles. “It’s you.”

Yeonjun stares at him for a moment, comparing his face to what he saw at the party. “I thought you only existed in my mind.”

“You think you can create all of this?” Beomgyu flips his long black hair over his shoulder and laughs. 

“You were too good to be true.”

Beomgyu’s smile fades, he grabs Yeonjun’s hand and he can barely feel it. “Sorry I didn’t recognize you at the party, I never remember my dreams.”

Yeonjun remembers his own dreams pretty often, he keeps a dream journal, where he keeps track of his lucid dreaming. With time, it just became easier to slip into that state. A state where he could control the world around him, interact with it and the people in it. 

Beomgyu visited him often, they usually talked and discovered places together before he had to leave or before Yeonjun’s alarm woke him up again. 

He always thought Beomgyu was just another creation of his brain, just like an idea of his ”ideal type” or his “dream man” (pun intended). He couldn’t control Beomgyu, but he could interact with him. Beomgyu would remember most of their conversations, sometimes even more than Yeonjun, giving him a smile as he lets him know “We already talked about this.”

“Buy you’re—“ Yeonjun cocks his head to the side. “You’re not Beomgyu.”

Beomgyu giggles, shrugging. “Who else would I be?”

“Maybe I saw you somewhere and brought you into my dreams.” 

“But this is my dream.” Beomgyu furrows his brows. He stands up and starts walking, Yeonjun follows him. 

“I am dreaming now.” Yeonjun looked around, and the park changed into a shopping mall. “And I am the one that remembers it, so it’s my dream.” 

“Just because I forget doesn’t mean that I wasn’t here with you.” Beomgyu walks into a store. “I need to buy a new jacket.” 

Beomgyu seems too calm as he breaks Yeonjun’s subconscious. “So is this… Are you real Beomgyu’s dream?”

“Are you real Yeonjun’s dream?”

“I think?” Yeonjun looks around the store. 

“Then I am real Beomgyu’s dream.”

“Prove it.” Yeonjun frowns. “How are we sharing this dream?”

Beomgyu picks up a black and white flannel and puts it on. “Have you ever seen me with this shirt?”

“What? I don't know.”

“It’s my favorite shirt.” Beomgyu irons it with his hands. “What is it doing here?”

One thing that happens to Beomgyu is that he gets distracted and changes things easily, like cycles in a dream. 

“Are we sharing the same dream or am I traveling, like, astral projection?” The more that Yeonjun questions the way his dream works, the more fuzzy it gets. 

He becomes conscious again in the middle of another dream, he’s at a party once again and Beomgyu is at his side. 

“I wish I could remember.” Beomgyu looks sad. “We could’ve met.”

“We did meet.”

“You know what I mean.” Beomgyu sighs. “That’s my alarm, I need to go.”

“There is no alarm?” Yeonjun frowns, but Beomgyu is gone in a blink. 

He keeps his dream journal to himself, with his own dream experiences. It was never that important, but also, it was a little weird. Imagine explaining that almost every night you meet up with your little dream friend to go on dream adventures together. 

“Do we have that stain remover thing?” Yeonjun asked as he looked at the mirror, there was a tiny red dot on his white shirt that annoyed him. 

“The marker thing or the spray bottle thing?” Taehyun asked from his bed. 

“Anything that can remove sauce.” Yeonjun sighs. “I’ll do it tonight, I don’t think people will notice that stain.”

Taehyun hummed. “I’ll search for it.” 

Yeonjun grabbed his bag and left his room, the coffee shop wasn’t really on his way to class but he needed his morning americano to survive the day. 

He’s debating whether he should get a muffin with it or eat something else later as he entered the shop, took one step inside and felt something hit him in the chest. He heard splashing and loud gasps before he registered what just happened. 

In front of him, stood a terrified Beomgyu looking down at the floor, then at Yeonjun’s shirt. He’d just bumped into him and his -thankfully iced- coffee poured all over Yeonjun’s white shirt. 

It took him a second to react. “I’m so sorry, so so sorry.”

Beomgyu rushed to the counter, getting napkins to try to dry Yeonjun’s shirt. An employee already came closer with a mop, like this happened way too often. 

“It’s okay.” Yeonjun smiled, he grabbed Beomgyu’s nervous hands. “It was an accident.” 

“Still, it…” Beomgyu pouted at the big brown stain on the shirt. 

Yeonjun was now being dragged to the bathroom, where Beomgyu got more paper and tried to dry him off again. 

“I don’t think you can fix it like this, Beomgyu.” Yeonjun chuckles. “It’s okay, I can change.”

“I’m really sorry.” Beomgyu looked up with teary eyes. 

“It’s okay, really, don’t worry.” 

Beomgyu unzips his black jacket, revealing his black and white flannel and Yeonjun needs to ground himself to make sure that he isn’t trapped inside last night’s dream. 

“Take this.”

“But—“ Yeonjun frowns at the jacket. 

“You can give it to me later. You knew Soobin, right? I’ll ask him to contact you. I am really, really sorry.”

Yeonjun took the jacket. “At least you didn’t get coffee on your shirt?”

Beomgyu looked down at his clothes, his frown disappeared as a small smile grew. “You’re right.” He nodded at Yeonjun. “This is my favorite shirt.” 

Yeonjun felt something inside his chest. Beomgyu, his dream boy, was standing there smiling at him. “Let me buy you a coffee.” 

“Oh, no, please.” Beomgyu shook his head, he took his phone out of his pocket and glanced quickly at the time. “I have to go, but… Sorry, can I have your name again?” 

“Yeonjun.”

This is reality. Beomgyu doesn’t remember him. 

“Okay, Yeonjun, sorry again. Don’t worry about the jacket, I need a new one anyways.”

Beomgyu ran out of the bathroom and Yeonjun’s head was still a mess. 

He put the jacket on, smelling nothing but coffee from his shirt, he zipped it to hide the big stain and came out of the bathroom. He headed straight to his dorm room again, forgetting anything about his own iced americano. 

Getting there, he unzips the jacket, he doesn’t want any extra coffee on it, even if he will wash it before handing it back to its owner. He looked at it for a moment, noticing how the black was faded in some parts, it had frayed ends and you could tell that it was something he wore a lot. 

Opening his door, he found Taehyun getting dressed for his classes. The younger looked at him before he pointed to the big stain on Yeonjun’s chest. “I don't think we can remove that.” 

“It’s a yes or no question.” 

“It’s a weird question.”

The trio sat on the campus yard, Yeonjun bit on an apple because someone told Kai that it was good for keeping you awake or whatever and he couldn’t have his morning iced coffee to fuel his brain. 

“Should I buy him a jacket, yes or no?”

“Why would you give him a present for ruining a shirt?” Taehyun raised a brow. “You have weird ways to flirt.”

“Right.” Kai nodded. “Give him clothes when he’s already your boyfriend, not when he barely knows your name.”

“How do you even know him?” Taehyun asked. 

Yeonjun shrugged. “I’ve seen him around, I guess, he’s cute.”

“I’ll ask Soobin hyung.” Kai eyed Yeonjun. “I’ll get you his number or something.”

“Wouldn’t it be better to get Beomgyu to ask Soobin about Yeonjun hyung?” Taehyun pointed at him. “That way he stops looking like a desperate loser?”

“I am desperate and proud.” Yeonjun puffs his chest out. 

Taehyun furrowed his brows and slowly looked away. “Please act as if we don’t know each other.”

“Anyways.” Kai typed on his phone. “I just sent Soobin hyung your number, so Beomgyu should be texting you soon.”

Yeonjun smiled. “And then I can give him a new jacket on the third date.” 

“Third?” Taehyun turned back to him. “Are you getting married on the fifth?”

“Yeonjun hyung.” Kai put a hand on his shoulders. “Why don’t we focus on small goals? You know, him remembering your name and talking for more than five minutes, for example.”

“You two are so mean.” Yeonjun rolls his eyes. “We have a special connection, okay? It’s different.”

Beomgyu hasn’t texted yet. 

It’s okay. Yeonjun just checks his phone every two minutes for any signs of him, nothing important. 

It’s ten PM, Yeonjun noticed before he got up to turn off the lights. 

“Hey.” Taehyun complained as he frowned, face now illuminated by his computer. 

“I’ll sleep.”

“This early?”

“Tired. Night.”

Yeonjun closed his eyes, eager to meet Beomgyu in his dreams once again. He turned to his right, then his left, then his right again. Waiting for sleep to take over, he changed the position of his arms. 

He kept his eyes closed, even hearing when Taehyun was done with his computer and put it aside. He changed the position of his feet, he laid down on his belly. 

Unlocking his phone, he checked the time to see that one hour had passed and that he got no notifications yet. He closed his eyes again, getting restless as he turned to his side again. 

Yeonjun checked on Taehyun, seeing him already fast asleep with his mouth open. He sighs and tries to keep his eyes closed and his body as still as possible. 

He needs to find Beomgyu in his sleep, he’s probably waiting for him there, ready to talk about his day and his side of things. He needs to fall asleep. 

The night goes on, Yeonjun is still kicking his blanket and turning around. Beomgyu is waiting for him on the other side and he has so many questions to ask, so much to discover. 

It’s past three when he grabs his phone again and he starts searching his questions on the internet. Most links want to lead him into buying a book to answer his questions so he has to rephrase his searches. 

He’s deep into a document that mentions talking to the dead and traveling the world but nothing explains two people sharing the same dream. 

Yeonjun clicks on an article about dream walking, visiting someone’s dreams, it states the steps to do so (steps that Yeonjun has never taken) but it also explains that it can be a dream invasion and the ethics of invading someone’s mind. 

Bottom line is: He needs to let Beomgyu know. 

He really needs his iced americano today, he could barely sleep last night. Forming the line at the shop, he thinks about the possibility of ever seeing Beomgyu again. They haven’t really met before that party, as far as Yeonjun knows. 

They’ve crossed paths twice, which meant that there is a high possibility that they’ve seen each other before, which meant that Yeonjun could be just dreaming about him without knowing. 

“Sir.”

“Sorry.” Yeonjun snaps back into reality to order his iced coffee. He still looked around the place in case Beomgyu decided to come here again today. 

He doesn’t see Beomgyu the whole day, he doesn’t get a text from bim either. Classes go by slowly, Yeonjun is almost falling asleep, nodding off during his lessons. 

“Tell me about you.”

“What do you want to know?”

“Who is Beomgyu?”

Beomgyu pouts as he kicks the sand under his feet. “I am twenty one, I like dogs, uh…”

“You’re younger than me.”

“Should I call you hyung?” 

Yeonjun nodded his head. “What else-?”

“Is time real in dreams?” Beomgyu looked at him with wide eyes. “Are ages real?”

“I guess?”

Beomgyu looked at his wrist. “I don’t have my watch.” He looks away, concentrating on something that Yeonjun can’t see. 

There is an unreachable feeling to Beomgyu, both in reality and his dreams. Something that pulls at Yeonjun’s chest, like a yearning. 

“I’m twenty three and I like cats.” 

That caught Beomgyu’s attention again. “You look like a cat.” 

Yeonjun jolted awake at the honk of a car, he looked around him and sighed in relief when he noticed he was alone at the bus station. 

Shifting in his seat, he looked down at the street, hoping that he didn’t miss the bus. It’s his fault for booking his dentist appointment on the day that he got no sleep. Maybe he could try eating another apple to see if it keeps him awake. 

He seriously considers canceling his appointment and just going back to his dorm when he sees his bus approaching. It must be a sign. 

Once he got on it, he dragged his feet as he searched for an empty seat. That’s when he saw a head of long hair with white highlights hanging low. Yeonjun hurried to take the empty seat next to him, confirming that it was Beomgyu. 

He was sleeping, his mouth was in a cute pout as his head moved with the bus. 

Could it be..?

For a quick moment, Yeonjun ponders trying to fall asleep again to find dream Beomgyu, just to see if it is real Beomgyu. 

The bus takes a sharp turn, Yeonjun couldn’t react fast enough before Beomgyu’s head hit the window, making him wake up with a wince. 

He holds his head, blinking at the bright lights as he looks around. “Oh?”

Yeonjun got caught staring, he brought a hand to his mouth. “I—“

“Yeonjun hyung?” Beomgyu frowned, he stared at him for a second before gasping. “Sorry, Choi Yeonjun, I don’t know why—“

“It’s okay, I like hyung better.” Yeonjun smiled. 

“Still, I don’t—“ Beomgyu looked away, he gasped again when he looked at the window. “Crap, I missed my stop.”

Beomgyu put his bag over his shoulder and got out of his seat hurriedly, much to Yeonjun’s dismay. 

He bowed. “Goodbye.”

Every time they met, Beomgyu was leaving. 

“What is your major?” Beomgyu held Yeonjun’s hand as they walked down the city. Seems like they were in Japan tonight. 

“Marketing.”

“Really?” 

“What?”

Beomgyu shrugged. “Don’t see you as a marketing guy.” 

Yeonjun knows what he means. “What about you?”

“Ask that to the real me.”

“What? Why?” Yeonjun frowned. 

“It’s a long story.”

“Time doesn’t exist in a dream.” 

Beomgyu smiled at him. “What do you like? Besides coffee and cats.”

“It’s not like you’ll remember any of this.” 

Beomgyu looked dejected at that. “I still care.”

“I know you do.” Yeonjun tried to take it back. “But you don’t answer anything.”

“Should we just not talk about our real life?” Beomgyu pouted. 

Yeonjun looks around until he spots a restaurant, he drags Beomgyu by his hand. “Let’s go on a date.”

Dream Beomgyu gets distracted easily, and it’s Yeonjun’s personal mission to find out if real Beomgyu is also like this. 

The restaurant turns to be the cafe where Beomgyu dropped his coffee on Yeonjun, he looked down to find himself wearing that same white shirt with a brown stain. 

“I am so sorry.”

Was this really Beomgyu’s dream? Is he invading his head?

“Do you still think about this?” 

Beomgyu nodded. “All the time.”

“Why don’t you text me?”

“I’m too embarrassed.” Beomgyu admitted before he approached the display of various sweets (that look way better than what they do in real life). 

“I love these.” Yeonjun points at the cakes. 

“Looks boring, but I love the brownies, you should try them.” 

Yeonjun smiled to himself. “The cakes with frosting are boring, but a simple brownie isn’t?”

“It’s like…” 

He can tell Beomgyu’s mind is already somewhere else, Yeonjun is ready to enter yet another new dream. 

To Yeonjun’s surprise, he found Soobin just outside his building. The taller looked up from his phone and spotted Yeonjun before raising his brows at him, Yeonjun nodded up at him, he thought that it would be the end of the interaction but Soobin actually walked up to him. 

“Sunbaenim, hello.” 

“Ah, just call me hyung.”

“Can you give these to Kai?” Soobin took a pair of tangled earphones from his pocket. “He left them in my room.”

Yeonjun took the bundle of white wire and nodded. “Oh, sure.”

“You were expecting me to mention Beomgyu, right?” Soobin smirked. 

“What? Beomgyu?” Yeonjun scoffed. “No?”

“I gave him your number, but I’m guessing he didn’t text you yet?”

“It’s not a big deal.” Yeonjun shrugged, cleared his throat and looked away. “I just have to give him his jacket back.”

Soobin hummed. “He’s been thinking about you, though.”

“How— Did he say anything or...?”

“Not really, well, he technically did say something…” Soobin looked up in thought. “Sleep talking is talking.”

“What?”

Soobin laughed. “Said too much, didn’t I? Can’t help it, he embarrasses himself all the time.” He shook his head. “I’ll give you his number.”

Yeonjun stared at him for a moment before reacting. “Okay, I guess. Yeah.”

Soobin laughed, seeing right through his nonchalant act. “He’s very shy, so… You know.” He took out his phone. “Try to make the first move.”

“First move?” Yeonjun tried to laugh. “It’s not like that.”

hey, it’s yeonjun. lets meet, i still owe you coffee

Yeonjun cringes at himself once he rereads the text he’d just sent, instantly regretting it. What if Soobin just gave him a fake number? What if they’re all reading it and laughing? What if real Beomgyu wanted nothing to do with him but they just wanted to tease him? What if—?

His phone vibrates with a reply, stopping him from panicking any longer. 

 you don’t owe me anything 

Well! He tried it. 

Yeonjun left his phone down and exhaled loudly, he almost felt like he could cry out of embarrassment right then. The phone vibrated once again and he hesitated before reading any other rejection text. 

 but i’d love to have coffee sometime 

Making sure he had the jacket at his side, Yeonjun waited while sitting next to the window. His heart rate picked up the moment he recognized the long haired boy crossing the street. 

He sat up straight as Beomgyu entered the shop, he looked around for a second before spotting Yeonjun and greeting him with a smile and a small bow. 

“You’re here.” Yeonjun smiled back. 

Beomgyu took the seat across the table. “Did you wait a lot?” 

Shaking his head, Yeonjun grabbed the black jacket at his side and put it on the table. “Thank you for this.”

“Ah, right.” Beomgyu giggled as he took it, fingers slightly gracing Yeonjun’s. “Don’t thank me, I ruined your shirt.”

“It was an old shirt.” Yeonjun shrugged. It wasn’t an old shirt. 

Beomgyu nodded, he sat on top of his hands and pursed his lips. “So, uhm…”

“Let me buy you a coffee.”

“No.” He laughed. 

Yeonjun stood up regardless. “Americano?” 

“Stop.” Beomgyu looked down at the table. “Yes, americano.” 

Yeonjun was about to buy him a new jacket a few days ago, so buying a cup of coffee wasn’t much for him, not when it’s for Beomgyu. He hurries to the counter, every second not speaking to real Beomgyu is wasted time. 

Beomgyu gasped once Yeonjun came back to the table. “I love their brownies.” 

Yeonjun smiled as he left the white plate with a piece of brownie in front of Beomgyu, he put down the two iced americanos and sat again. “A friend recommended them to me.”

“You have a wise friend.” 

“He said they’re better than the cakes, but I don’t understand.” Yeonjun leaned closer to the table. “The cakes have frosting and sprinkles. How is a brownie better?” 

“Well, they have a drop of frosting and, like, three sprinkles on top, yet they charge double for a piece of cake.”

Yeonjun drinks his coffee with a frown. “So… It’s about the price?” 

“And they are so good and chocolatey. The chocolate cake is kind of…” He scrunched his nose as he picked up his coffee. “Bitter.”

“Bitter.” Yeonjun repeats. “But you drink bitter coffee.”

“Life is about balance.”  He said between sips. 

Yeonjun felt something under his ribs as he drank more coffee to drown the endeared smile from his face. He looked down at the plate of the untouched brownie. “Eat it.”

Beomgyu pushed the fork towards Yeonjun. “You first.” 

With a frown, Yeonjun pushed it back. “I got it for you.”

Beomgyu pushed again. “You bought it.”

Yeonjun pushed again. “For you.”

Beomgyu hesitated a little, like he was considering it before shaking his head and pushing the fork again. Yeonjun sighs, taking the fork to get a little corner from the brownie, eating it before pushing both the fork and the plate. “All yours.”

Beomgyu’s eyes sparkled at him. “How is it?”

“Good.” Yeonjun nodded. “Sweet.” 

“Exactly, the overwhelming sweetness paired with the black bitterness. Balance, that is life.” Beomgyu motioned to the table. 

He can’t be real. 

This manic pixie dream boy who’s giggling as he eats the most average brownie Yeonjun has ever had must be a product of his imagination. He’s gone crazy and he’s just talking to nobody right now. 

“What is your major?” Yeonjun has the chance to ask. 

Beomgyu froze mid bite. “I actually… Dropped out this year.”

“Oh.” Yeonjun mentally face palmed himself. “Sorry.”

“No, it’s okay.” He shrugged before chewing on his treat. “I’m much better now. I’m actually starting a new job next week, so I can at least do something with all my free time.”

“Oh, cool. What is it?”

“Food delivery.” Beomgyu chuckles sourly. “It’s not med school, but it’s something.”

“Med school? Medicine? You?” 

“I know, right?” Beomgyu shook his head. “What were my parents thinking?”

“Did they force you to—“

“Oh, no.” He waved a hand dismissively. “They just told me I was smart enough for it and I believed them.”

Yeonjun can’t help but laugh, Beomgyu held in a smile as he sipped on his coffee. Thankfully, he didn’t question why Yeonjun wanted to have a chat and buy him stuff when he could’ve just given the jacket to Soobin and never see him again. 

“What about you? What’s your major?”

“Marketing.” 

It’s a deja vu feeling, Beomgyu slowly raised a brow at him. “Marketing?”

“I don’t look like a marketing guy, I know.”

Beomgyu smiled with a nod, he took another bite before resting his chin on his hand. “Say, Choi Yeonjun—“

“Call me hyung.”

“Choi Yeonjun—“

“Where did you get my last name?”

Beomgyu frowned, he looked away as he thought. “You didn’t tell me?”

Yeonjun thought of their real encounters; making a fool of himself at the party, getting coffee on his shirt and riding the bus. “No, I don’t think I did.”

“Well, I was going to ask just that. Have we ever met each other? You know, before…”

Yes, actually. It seems like I’ve been invading your dreams in a morally ambiguous way that I still can’t decipher and I need you to tell me if the you in the dream realm is real or fake. 

“I’ve seen you around.”

“Oh.”

“We have friends in common and stuff.”

“You just feel so…” Beomgyu pouted. “Familiar?” 

“Maybe we were drunk at a party—“

“Nah, I think I would remember if we hooked u—“

“I meant talking.“ Yeonjun stared at him with big eyes. “Maybe we were drunk when we met… And spoke to each other.”

“Oh.” Beomgyu covered his mouth, his ears were red. “I’m not like, I mean, I don’t go around hooking up with strangers when I’m drunk. I mean—!” He looked away, horrified at his own words. 

“It’s okay, I get it.”

“There is nothing wrong with, you know, being active, but—“

“I get it, Beomgyu.”

“Sorry.” He sank in his seat. “I don’t know what’s going on today with my brain, I just keep talking without thinking.”

Yeonjun laughed, finishing his coffee. “You didn’t say anything wrong.”

If this was a dream, he would just distract Beomgyu so he would forget about being embarrassed. If this was a dream, he would grab his hand and take him to the park for a walk. 

Huh. 

Yeonjun leaned forward. “Wanna go to the park?”

Like a puppy, Beomgyu perks up at the idea. “Huh?”

“Let’s go on a walk.”

Beomgyu nodded, fitting the rest of the brownie in his mouth and gulping down his coffee. “Let’s go.”

Even if he can’t hold his hand now, Yeonjun gets to walk with Beomgyu just minutes before sunset. 

It’s so fucking romantic. 

But, of course, the universe hates him. Why else would Huening-fucking-Kai just appear on their way there?!

“Ooh!” Kai put up his hands, Yeonjun wanted to tackle him right there. “Somebody finally put on his big boy pants and aske—“

“What are you doing here?” Yeonjun tried his hardest to sound normal. 

Kai raised up a bag from the pharmacy. “Bought some toe fungus ointment.” 

This is so NOT fucking romantic. 

“Well, we were just about to leave.”

Kai glanced between the two. “Dinner date?”

“We just finished coffee.” Beomgyu smiled. 

Kai should be thankful that Beomgyu is present right now, that’s the only thing keeping Yeonjun from slamming him against the sidewalk. 

“Wanna come over? Soobin will go to my apartment to watch some movies.” 

Yeonjun was already shaking his head before Beomgyu spoke up. “Yeah, sounds good.”

“But we were…” Yeonjun gulped. Okay, maybe Beomgyu preferred to watch a movie with more people instead of going on a romantic sunset walk alone with Yeonjun, no big deal. “Nevermind.”

The movie was boring. Soobin was really into it, so Kai pretended to be into it, but Yeonjun just didn’t want to be there. He tried to sneak a glance at Beomgyu, only to find him fighting sleep and almost nodding off on the other end of the couch. 

Maybe they can both fall asleep so Yeonjun can meet him in the dream realm, where they don’t need to be shy around each other and Beomgyu remembers him. 

Yeonjun went to the kitchen, he already knew his way around Kai’s place. He moved the expired milk out of the way and got a can of soda out of the fridge. 

Beomgyu walked in a minute later, surprised when Yeonjun gave him the can. “It’s okay.”

“You were falling asleep there.” 

“You saw?” Beomgyu smiled before he took the beverage. “Thanks.”

“You had a coffee not long ago.” Yeonjun rested his hip on the counter. “I know the movie is boring, but…”

Beomgyu chuckled, he glanced at their side to where Soobin was sitting on the carpet before leaning closer. “It is boring.” He whispered. “But, also, I slept like shit, so…” He shrugged. 

“Really?”

“I’m a really light sleeper and I live in a shared house.” He took a sip from the can. “I’m always in that half asleep state.”

Yeonjun cleared his throat. “What about… Your dreams?”

“I don’t think I dream. Like, ever.”

“Uh…”

“I have nightmares and stuff, but I can’t remember a single nice dream I’ve had.”

Yeonjun looked at the other two in the living room, this isn’t a good moment to try to slip in their shared dreams. “I always remember mine. I’m a very lucid dreamer.”

Beomgyu gasped. “Really? You have to teach me how to lucid dream.”

“You want to?”

“Yeah. I could travel anywhere, I could fly.” 

We could go on more dates. 

Yeonjun walked down the food aisle, he looked back at the paper in his hand and noticed the letters changing and getting bigger. 

“Ah.” Yeonjun nodded before putting the paper away. “I’m dreaming.”

It makes more sense now, this supermarket was very weird. 

That meant that he could find Beomgyu now, he could finally find out what the boy really thought during their coffee date that wasn’t a date. Dream realm Beomgyu had to be around. 

Yeonjun made some rounds at the supermarket before going outside. The park that he and Beomgyu were supposed to go to watch the sunset together. He watched a dog run free, it reminded him of Beomgyu. 

“Beomgyu?” 

He’s not coming. Yeonjun knows time is passing, the scenery around him changes a lot, there are lots of people around him and it’s loud. It’s so loud. 

He wakes up abruptly, turning to his side to catch Taehyun watching something on his computer, causing all that noise of people talking. 

“Turn that down.”

Taehyun glanced at him before looking back at his screen. “It’s too early to be sleeping.”

Yeonjun frowned as he searched for his phone. “It’s already ten.”

“It’s just ten.” 

“Just use your earphones and let me sleep.”

Taehyun paused his show, groaning loudly as he dramatically stretched himself to get the earphones from the end of his bed. 

Yeonjun thanked him and turned around on his mattress. He tried to fall asleep quickly but he felt restless, rubbing his socked feet together. 

This is going to be a long night. 

He fiddled with his pencil as he pretended to pay attention in class. It’s been three nights without seeing Beomgyu in his dreams. 

Did he stop projecting into his subconscious because they finally met in real life? 

It’s still borderline wrong to want to shift into the younger’s head to find out how to make him fall for the real Yeonjun. Maybe it’s more than borderline wrong. 

Maybe his subconscious knows it’s wrong so he stopped —subconsciously. 

Grabbing his head with both hands, he exhaled through his nose. All these subconscious moral twists are making his head hurt. 

It was weird to him. He never really tried to put a meaning to his dreams. Even when he learned about dream journals and lucid dreams, he never thought twice about the meaning behind them. 

Wait. The journals. 

Once he could finally head back to the dorms, he started looking for his old dream journals. Damn him for actually having cheap notebooks to write instead of just using the Notes app on his phone. 

He can’t find the day that he started dreaming about Beomgyu, flipping page after page. 

Giving up, he sat on the floor, back against his bed as he tried to remember how he started it. He grabbed his current journal from under his mattress and went to the first pages. He knows that he should stop studying dream Beomgyu, he just couldn’t let go of him yet. 

The stairs started getting narrower as he went up, Yeonjun slipped through a door to find an empty office. He had a bad feeling. 

Ever since he gained consciousness in this scene, it felt off. From the gray narrow stairs, the messy office with flickering lights, everything feels stressful. 

He heard a whimper before turning around, heading to the desks and trying to figure out something from what was on top of them. 

“Yeonjun hyung.”

He quickly looks down to find a crying Beomgyu hiding under a desk, motioning him to get down. Yeonjun knows how stressful it was when the people in his dreams didn’t listen to him, so he got to his knees and crawled towards Beomgyu as fast as he could. 

“What’s wrong?” He tried to dry Beomgyu’s tears with his sleeve, it was mostly useless, he couldn’t touch him now. “Why are you crying?” 

Beomgyu never cried in his dreams before. Not that Yeonjun remembers. 

“There is someone in the building.” Beomgyu whispered with his eyes wide open, he choked back on a sob and tried to look back. “Didn’t you see the bodies?”

“Beomgyu.” Yeonjun tried to grab his shoulder, but he couldn't. He can usually feel everything in his dreams, including Beomgyu, he could grab his hand and drag him around, Beomgyu could poke his ribs and kiss his cheek. 

Something was different. 

“Beomgyu.” Yeonjun called again. “Beomie, you’re in a dream.”

Beomgyu faced him again, still shaking in fear. “We have to leave this place.”

“You are having a nightmare.” Yeonjun frowned. “This is not real, this is a dream.” 

“A dream?”

“A dream.” Yeonjun reassured him. It was usually Beomgyu who let him know that they were in a dream. Is this finally the real Beomgyu?

Beomgyu looked ahead of them, where a big window had taken place, showing the night view from above. “Fuck. Why are we so high?” He crawled back until his back hit the wood of the desk. 

“Calm down.” Yeonjun tried to hold him again, he could put his hands on his cheeks now. “It’s a dream. Remember what you told me? You can now travel wherever you want, you can fly.” 

“Can I?” Beomgyu grabbed Yeonjun’s wrists, giving him the softest tingling. 

“Anything you want.” Yeonjun nodded with a smile. 

“Anything…” Beomgyu gulped. “Right.”

Expecting the scenery to change or Beomgyu to start flying, Yeonjun dropped his hands from Beomgyu’s cheeks. 

Beomgyu put his own hands on the carpet between them before leaning forward, he stretched his neck and closed his eyes and Yeonjun noticed he was trying to kiss him when it was almost too late. 

Yeonjun leaned back, his head hit the desk and made Beomgyu open his eyes to look at him disappointedly. “But—“

They can’t. Yeonjun is already taking advantage of him, Beomgyu doesn’t remember anything. They can’t. 

“Beomgyu.” Yeonjun breathed out. 

“Get out.” Beomgyu frowned and he crawled away from him again. “It’s my dream, get out.”

Yeonjun’s eyes opened suddenly and he was met with his dark ceiling and Taehyun’s soft breaths. It took him a second to register what just happened. 

No. 

He closed his eyes, desperately trying to go back but he knew that the more he tried to sleep the more awake he became. 

Slow breaths, slow breaths. 

His heart was beating so hard against his chest that it was becoming bothersome. He turned around, his leg shook nervously before he could stop it, only for it to shake again seconds later. 

Rubbing his socks against the mattress and his cheek against the pillow, he started getting annoyed. 

It’s not like Beomgyu would remember it, he doesn’t even know if that was the real Beomgyu or his own dream Beomgyu. But it sure wasn’t the Beomgyu he was meeting during his dreams. 

Maybe he should’ve just kissed him. How wrong could it be if Beomgyu was the one who initiated it? They never kissed on the lips, not even in his dreams, so he felt like it should’ve been better than that. It should happen when he can feel it and they’re both in control —Something like real life, maybe?

He couldn’t find Beomgyu in his dreams after that, not that night nor the next to come. Yeonjun felt like he was going crazy, he went over his journal, trying to find something wrong. 

Yeonjun was now staring at his phone, watching as a text he’d sent earlier wasn’t being acknowledged by Beomgyu. He’d sent a simple hey to see if he could at least meet the real Beomgyu in real life, but it’s been more than ten hours and still nothing. 

Then, it was a day, then two, and Yeonjun knows that Beomgyu gets distracted easily and maybe he just didn’t see the notification so he sends another text just to spend another day regretting it. 

“Soobin.” He greets the younger boy. 

“Oh, sunbaenim.” Soobin nods. “Were you waiting?”

Yeonjun was waiting for Soobin outside his classroom, yes, but that would make him more of a desperate loser. 

“I was on my way to class, but anyways,” He shrugged, “What do you know about Beomgyu? I haven’t heard from him in a while.”

Soobin chuckled. “Ah, Beomgyu, of course.”

“I am just asking.”

“I haven’t heard from him a lot myself, I know he started his new job.”

“Do you, uhm…”

“Know which restaurant he works for? I do.”

Yeonjun raised his brows. “It’s not like I wanted to stalk him or anything.”

“I will give you their menu, ask for their delivery and tell me how much Beomgyu sucks at his job.”

“Soobin,” Yeonjun pouted, “You’re godsent, do you know that?”

“Yeah, yeah.” He chuckled again as he got his phone out. 

Yeonjun rubbed his arms as he waited outside, every time a motorcycle passed by him, his heart skipped a beat. 

So it’s not a surprise that his heart was on his throat once a bike stopped in front of him. 

“Choi Yeonjun.” 

After he got his helmet off, Beomgyu smiled widely at him. 

“That’s me.”

“I knew the moment I picked up the order.” Beomgyu got off the scooter, not the sexiest option, but he looked good. 

“How have you been?”

Beomgyu sighed, leaving the helmet on his seat. “Alright.”

“Doesn’t sound like it.” 

Beomgyu turned around with a pout. “Really?”

“How are you, Beomgyu? Honestly.”

He let out a shaky breath as he looked down at the floor. “It’s been a hard week.”

Yeonjun dared to take a step forward. “Yeah? Is the job too heavy?”

“No, it’s… Riding the scooter is fun.” Beomgyu nodded. “But my phone fell out of my pocket while riding it and it smashed and I have to wait for my paycheck to get it fixed. The customers are nice but one of them shouted at me and it felt really bad.”

Yeonjun frowned, taking another step towards him. 

“And I am tired and I keep having nightmares and I still don’t know what I am doing with my life when I should be getting somewhere.”

Even if they’re not really close in real life, Yeonjun pulled him in for a hug. Even if it was just something from his own dreams, even if nothing was real, Yeonjun cared about him. 

“Are you going to tell me this is another dream?” Beomgyu mumbled against his chest. 

“Hm?”

“Nothing.” He finally put his hands on Yeonjun’s back, holding onto his jacket. “I had a nightmare, and you were there, telling me it was a dream.”

The air gets knocked out from Yeonjun’s lungs. “And you remember it?”

“Some of it.” He nodded, hair rubbing against Yeonjun’s neck. “The Internet says that I remember stress dreams because I wake up during the worst parts.”

“Stress dreams, huh.” 

“Yeah.” Beomgyu awkwardly steps back. “I wish I didn’t remember.”

“Sorry.”

Beomgyu laughs. “You didn’t do anything, they’re my dreams.” 

He feels so bad. He should tell him. But how can he tell him that he knows that he rejected his kiss in his dreams? How can he explain anything?

Beomgyu gave him a brown bag with his food. “Did you buy this because you knew I would deliver it?”

“Well, uh, I haven’t heard from you for a while and you didn’t answer my texts…”

Instead of being disgusted by his neediness, Beomgyu smiled at him as he got on the scooter. “Sorry about that, I’ll text you once I get a new phone.”

Yeonjun nodded, he lifted the brown bag up. “Thank you.” Beomgyu gave him a last smile before putting his helmet on. “Wait, Beomgyu.”

His curious eyes looked at him. “Yeah?”

“You said I was in your dream.”

Beomgyu hummed, looking down at his hands on the handle. The helmet covered his face, which was for the best, Yeonjun didn’t want to see that disappointed look on him again. “Aha.”

“Visit my dreams sometime.” Yeonjun didn’t care if he was a complete weirdo now. “You can invade them whenever you want.”

Beomgyu chuckled, his shoulders moved with his laugh. “Okay, you can also visit mine if you want.”

That’s all he needed. “See you.”

“A party?”

Kai glared at Yeonjun, pulling his phone away. “Hey, don’t read my stuff.”

Yeonjun rolled his eyes, they were waiting for Taehyun outside the building and Kai kept giggling at his phone, he couldn’t help but peek. “Did Soobin say that there’ll be a party this weekend?”

“Why? Want to see Beomgyu hyung?”

“Yes.” Yeonjun deadpanned, pointing back to the phone in Kai’s hand. “Ask Soobin if he’s going.”

“I miss the time you had dignity left.”

“Yeah, yeah, ask him.”

Kai stared at him for a second before typing back on his phone while reading out loud, “Can you tell Beomgyu hyung that Yeonjun hyung wants to see him there?”

“I told you to ask him if he is going.”

“Same thing.” 

“Give me that.” Yeonjun took the phone from his hands. 

“Hey! How would you feel if I went through your chat with Beomgyu hyung?”

“It’s empty, he doesn’t have a phone, and I am not going through your chat— Why? Do you have something here?” Yeonjun gasped. 

“No.” 

“Then why are you trying— Wait, shh, he answered.”

“I am literally not speaking.”

“Shh!” 

Beomgyu says he’s going once he finishes his shift

“He’s going.” Yeonjun smiled. 

Kai frowned at him and shook his head, it wasn’t long until Taehyun came downstairs to meet the two. 

“What’s up with you?” Taehyun raised a brow. 

“He’s seeing Beomgyu hyung this weekend.” Kai explained and Yeonjun nodded. 

Taehyun sighed. “I miss the time you had dignity left.”

He walked barefoot on the sand, spotting Beomgyu wearing his favorite shirt as he sat there looking at the horizon. 

Yeonjun sat down next to him silently. 

“Thank you.” 

Yeonjun turned to face Beomgyu, it was the first time in weeks that he saw him in his dreams. “What for?”

Looking ahead at the ocean, Beomgyu sighed. “For being patient with me when I can’t remember you.”

“It’s not like I can just say it to anyone.”

“I want to remember it without you telling me.” Beomgyu turned towards him, the wind made his hair go to his face. “Let me remember it on my own.”

“How?” Yeonjun used a finger to move Beomgyu’s hair out of his eyes. 

“Bring me here.”

“To the beach?”

Beomgyu nodded with a hum, he turned back to stare at the ocean in front of them. “I’ll remember, I promise.”

Yeonjun looked around, it was just a beach, any beach. “Where is this?”

“No idea, woke up here.” 

“How will I find it?” 

“Fate.” Beomgyu fought back a smile. “Do you believe in soulmates?”

Yeonjun was taken aback with the question. “Do you think we are..?” 

“Soulmates.” Beomgyu remarked. 

Yeonjun scanned the people in the crowd, finding Soobin’s amused face between them. “Relax, he will get here soon.”

But soon wasn’t soon enough, people were already too drunk, couples were kissing on every surface, Taehyun was doing girl group choreos on the dance floor. Fuck, even Kai seemed like he was ready to go home as he clung to Soobin’s side. 

“He doesn’t have a phone yet, right?”

Soobin shook his head, he nudged Kai with his shoulder and spoke into his ear before turning back to Yeonjun. “I think we will head home soon, I’ll text you if I find out where he is.”

What if he had an accident? What if he’s at the hospital? What if he had another shitty day and decided to head home? What if he gets to the party once Yeonjun leaves? 

“Don’t worry.” Soobin put a hand on his shoulder. “He wanted to see you too.”

Yeonjun doesn’t know if that makes it better or worse, actually.

He saw as Kai suddenly sobered up and walked normally next to Soobin to leave the place. Yeonjun clicked his tongue, look at him making excuses to be close with Soobin. 

After making sure that Taehyun was still alive at the dance floor, Yeonjun went to the front door. If Beomgyu was getting here, he was going to find him. 

People lived without cell phones before, he could manage to wait for Beomgyu a little longer. 

More people left the party, already too drunk or tired, couples left stuck by each other’s side to finish what they started somewhere private while others made it very public. 

He noticed someone taking their hand inside their partner’s skirt when someone grabs him by the arm. Yeonjun jumps, feeling caught and immediately turning red before facing the person. It just happened that he was looking in that direction, what if Beomgyu thought he was a pervert?

Sighing, he realizes that it’s not Beomgyu tugging his arm, but Taehyun. “Where are the others?”

“Kai was too tired, I think, and he and Soobin went home already.”

“Tired, sure.” Taehyun chuckled. “Are you waiting for Beomgyu?”

Yeonjun gave him a tight lipped smile and nodded. “Do you want to go home too?”

“Still have energy, but I don’t want to dance alone.”

“Should we get you someone to dance with?” Yeonjun lifts his head to scan the room for potential attractive people. “Just don’t take them to our room.” 

“I tried.” Taehyun finished a beer that Yeonjun didn’t notice before and left it in the furniture closest to them. “Wanna dance?”

Yeonjun had been swaying his hips slightly to the music, whoever was in charge of the songs had good taste. “I mean, I have to wait for Beomgyu.”

“You can still wait for him while dancing.”

And he wouldn’t look like a rejected loser right by the door. And Beomgyu wouldn’t find him waiting like a puppy. 

Yeonjun nods, throwing one arm around Taehyun’s shoulders and taking him closer to the dancing mass in the middle of the room. He keeps his hand there while Taehyun grabs him by the waist and the two start dancing while singing along to the songs. 

It’s been a while since he had a good time partying, just dancing, drinking and smoking. He hoped this night was going to be different, with Beomgyu taking Taehyun’s place as their bodies moved in sync. 

They could’ve danced until they sweated, drunk until they just felt the tiny buzz to keep them going, talked in the backyard about nothing and anything. Just real Beomgyu with real Yeonjun. 

He tries to stay on beat without completely zoning out with his own thoughts, not noticing the taps on his hip. “Hyung!” Taehyun has to scream over the music. “Look over there.” He raises his chin to their side. 

Yeonjun whipped his head in the least sly way, finally finding an awkward Beomgyu standing close to the front door. Beomgyu looked away once their eyes met. 

“I’ll go—“

“Yeah.” Taehyun nods, letting go of his waist. 

“And you?”

“Go!” Taehyun pushed him just slightly, but enough to make him stumble. 

Beomgyu looked up again when Yeonjun stood in front of him, giving him a half smile. His hair was still flat against his head from the helmet he wore, Yeonjun had to fight the urge to ruffle it. 

“You made it.”

Beomgyu nodded. “Yup.”

He knew that Beomgyu went to parties, they even met each other at one, but right now Beomgyu seemed way out of his comfort zone. 

“Uh,” Beomgyu looked at the crowd, “Where is Soobin?”

Of course, he was out of his comfort zone. He wasn’t with his friends, he’s with the stranger that forced him to have a coffee date and invaded his dreams. 

“He already headed home with Kai, they were tired.” 

Beomgyu nodded again. “Good for them.”

Yeonjun furrowed his eyebrows, Beomgyu was making it obvious that he didn’t want to be here. “Do you want something to drink?”

“Not really.”

He was tempted to try and get Beomgyu to dance with him, but that felt too selfish. “Are you tired?”

“A little.”

Yeonjun licked his lips, glancing quickly around the room before he sighed. “Do you want to go home?”

Beomgyu stayed quiet for a moment, he nodded. “Sorry, I know I just came here, but it was a long day.”

“I get it.” Yeonjun reassured him. “I’ll go with you. Let me tell Taehyun.”

He walks quickly towards the mentioned, who already gave up on dancing. 

“Why are you leaving him alone?” Taehyun frowned. 

“We’re leaving now. Can you go back alone or should we go together?” 

“I can take a taxi.”

“You sure? If you’re drunk—“

“Hyung.” He put a hand on Yeonjun’s shoulder. “I am more than fine, go on that romantic night walk with your crush.”

Yeonjun chuckled, punching his shoulder playfully. “Alright.”

“Just text me if you end up using our room.”

“I don’t—“

“Just text me, alright? Bye.”

Yeonjun scoffed as Taehyun put a hand in front of his face before he turned around again, he rolled his eyes and went back with Beomgyu. The long haired was fidgeting with his fingers, perking up once Yeonjun came close enough. 

“Let’s go.”

“You don’t have to leave because of me.”

“I came here just for—“ Yeonjun gulped, catching himself being too intense again. “I wanted to leave too.”

Beomgyu glanced towards Taehyun before nodding. “Okay.”

They walk out silently, Yeonjun’s ears ring as he leaves the loudness of the party and they step into the silence of the night. “How was work today?”

“Fine.” Beomgyu put his hands inside the pockets of his pants. 

It was obviously not fine. “Had a lot of orders?” 

“Yeah.” Beomgyu exhaled. 

“Is there something wrong?” Yeonjun raised a brow, watching as Beomgyu faced the ground and didn’t speak. “Sorry.”

“No, yeah, there is.” Beomgyu stopped walking. “Don’t be sorry. I am sorry.”

“What happened?”

“It’s just—“ Beomgyu looked to his side with a small pout. “It’s been a hard week, or weeks.” 

“Wanna talk about it?” 

Beomgyu shrugged. “Same as last time, I hate the job, I wish I knew what I wanted to be in life, I miss my home…”

He drifted off, giving Yeonjun the chance to answer. “Where are you from?”

Beomgyu met his eyes now. “Daegu, can’t you hear it in my voice?”

Yeonjun fought the urge to smile, dream Beomgyu sometimes spoke in dialect, of course he could tell. “Why don’t you visit your parents?”

“Agh, I feel like such a burden for them.”

“I’m sure you’re not.”

Beomgyu cocked his head to the side and sighed. “Maybe I could go there to clear my head a little.” 

“You should.”

Beomgyu pursed his lips, he nodded and started walking again with Yeonjun at his side. “How have you been?”

“Okay.” Yeonjun shrugs one shoulder. “Same as always, boring. At least I had a party this weekend, instead of movies and homework.”

“I ruined the party for you, right?”

“Not at all.” Yeonjun shook his head while he smiled. 

“I made you leave.”

“I was waiting for you.” 

“Really?”

“I mean…” He gulped. What happened with toning down his intensity?

“Soobin hyung told me.” Beomgyu smiled. “I thought he was messing with me when he said you wanted me to go.”

Yeonjun clicked his tongue. “That kid.”

“You were dancing with someone, so I thought I interrupted you.”

“Taehyun is my roommate.” Yeonjun clarified quickly. “I just didn’t want to look lame by the door as I waited— I mean, I wasn’t. I just thought maybe, because you had no phone, that something happened— Like, I didn’t know if you were coming.” 

Beomgyu’s smile grew with each stutter, Yeonjun looked away with a groan. “Alright.”

“And I owe him, I blacked out at a party some months ago and I somehow got to my bed thanks to him.”

“Okay.”

“Ah.” Yeonjun covered his face with both hands. 

“I wanted to see you too.” Beomgyu looked up at the sky, and it seemed like neither of them could look each other in the eye now. “So, yeah.”

“We could, maybe,” Yeonjun revealed his face, “See each other more? Outside of our dreams.”

“Did you dream with me?”

“Obv— Yes.” 

Beomgyu smirked. “What was your dream about?”

“We were at the beach.” Yeonjun looked at the ground. “Just talking.”

“I haven’t been to the beach in ages.” 

“Let’s go.” Yeonjun snapped his head up. 

Beomgyu hummed, looking at his path as they walked. “To the beach?”

“Yes, let’s go.”

“I’ll consider it.” He held in a smile. “Where are we going?”

“We can see which bus takes us to a nice beach, I don’t have any—“

“I meant right now,” Beomgyu turned to him with a playful smile. “Where are we going now?”

Yeonjun stopped. “I was following you.”

“I was following you.” Beomgyu chuckled. 

They didn’t go that far, Yeonjun still knows where they are, but it’s the opposite to where he lives. “You were tired, right? I’ll walk you to your place.”

Looking down the street, Beomgyu pulled his phone out of his pocket and checked the map on his app. “Uh, yeah, it’s not that far.”

“Let’s go, then.” 

Beomgyu scratched the back of his head. “Okay…”

As Yeonjun followed him around the streets, he noticed the awkwardness growing between them again as the silence settled.

Some minutes passed like that and Yeonjun’s anxiety grew by the second. 

“If you’re too tired we can get a taxi or something.”

“I’m fine with walking.”

“Alright.”

He wants to rip his hair out. 

Yeonjun doesn’t know how to make things less awkward, just how to make them even more awkward. He thought of a thousand conversation starters and all of their outcomes. 

“Do you usually go out partying?” It was Beomgyu who turned to ask him. 

“I enjoy going to them, but it’s not like I go to different bars every weekend.” Yeonjun put both hands on the pockets of his pants. “It’s nice to have them once in a while, to release some stress.” 

“Yeah.” Beomgyu nodded. “Blacking out relieves stress?” 

“You make it sound like I do it every weekend.” Yeonjun chuckled. “What about you? Do you like partying?”

“I’m not a huge party guy, my friends are.” He shrugged. “I like them, don’t get me wrong, but I’d rather drink with friends than with strangers.”

“I get what you mean.”

“I also blacked out a while ago, I totally hated it.”

Yeonjun nodded and repeated; “I get what you mean.”

“So what do you do? In your free time and all.”

Yeonjun smiled slightly, looking at Beomgyu trying to have some small talk. “Not much. I like watching Netflix and stuff. I used to do more interesting things in high school.”

“I can’t say much either.” Beomgyu laughed. “I listen to music and play videogames. I like going on walks.”

Yeonjun already knows all this, of course, he knows that the music he listens to is mostly old stuff that he listened to with his dad and that he plays League of Legends like a pro. He hopes Beomgyu remembers something about him soon. 

“Walks?”

“Yeah, walking with my headphones on. I create a little movie in my head.”

“What about buses and trains?”

“I like long trips, looking out the window like I’m the main character.”

He is. 

“I was serious about going to the beach.”

“Huh?”

“About us going on a trip to the beach.” Yeonjun explained. “I want to go, I am serious.”

“Then…” Beomgyu looked up at the night sky, there weren’t a lot of stars there. “I’ll go visit my parents, for real, and then we can go.” 

“We can tell the others.” (That way it is less scary for Beomgyu to travel with a stranger). “I will look into it, really, and we can plan it out when you get a phone.”

“I will.” Beomgyu bites a smile. “I like yo— Your personality.” 

And Yeonjun had to pretend like his heart didn’t just flip inside his ribcage. “Yeah?”

“You’re just so…” Beomgyu puts his hands forward. “Wah.”

“And what are you?”

“I’m like,” He tilted his head to the side, “Heh.”

Somehow, Yeonjun just understood that weird language. Sure, he was Wah and Beomgyu was Heh, made sense. 

They turned left, Beomgyu was giggling at himself. 

“I’ll get a phone soon. I was trying to, you know, live in the moment. No social media and all that.”

“How was it?”

“It sucked, I wanna see TikToks.”

Yeonjun laughed. “I’ll send you some when you get a phone.”

“I will spam you.” Beomgyu warned with a pointed finger. “Soobin is already tired of me, you’re my next victim.”

“You’re welcome to do so.” Yeonjun smiled. They turned left again, that was when Yeonjun noticed that they’ve been walking around the same block. “Beomgyu… Are we lost?”

“Why?”

“We’re going in circles.”

Beomgyu took a few more steps then stopped. “This is my place.”

Yeonjun looked up at the house, most lights were out except some on the top floor. “Why did we keep walking, then?”

Beomgyu looked away with a shrug. “To talk more.”

“Oh.” Yeonjun regrets suggesting walking him home, they could’ve just walked until the sun rose and they got lost in an unknown neighborhood. “It was really close.”

“Yeah, well,” Beomgyu sighed, “I’ll head inside. I would invite you in, but my roommates would hate me.”

“Sure, yes. You had a long day, get some rest.”

Beomgyu lingered, he looked into Yeonjun’s eyes for a few seconds. “Hyung.”

Yeonjun perked up. “Yeah?”

Looking away, Beomgyu took a step closer to the house. “Um, goodnight.”

Yeonjun wanted to hold him back and make Beomgyu speak out what he had on his mind. What happened to the Beomgyu that spoke all his thoughts?

“I’ll visit your dreams tonight, if you let me.” 

With a shy smile, Beomgyu nodded. “Of course.”

He wasn’t interested in any food from the picnic, it didn’t even taste that good in his dreams. Yeonjun was too busy putting a flower behind Beomgyu’s ear. 

“You’re pretty.”

Beomgyu smiled at him, resting on his hand as they sat on the picnic blanket. The Eiffel Tower was behind them, Beomgyu’s addition to the dream. 

“Am I?”

“The prettiest.”

They lean closer to touch foreheads. Yeonjun wants this so bad, he has it but he doesn’t. He wants real Beomgyu to be here with real Yeonjun as they share a real kiss. 

Beomgyu rubbed their noses together before leaning away. “Do you think red hair would look good on me?”

“Anything would.”

“I’m serious.”

Yeonjun pouted. “I am serious too.”

Beomgyu picked up a flower from the grass by their side and put it behind Yeonjun’s ear. “Actually, you’re the prettiest.” 

Beomgyu got a new phone, they’ve been texting for three days and they only stop when Beomgyu has to deliver food. 

Yeonjun took a picture of a cat on his way back from class and sent it to him, getting excited emojis in return. 

It’s so stupid. Yeonjun walked down the street with a grin on his face, surely looking ridiculous as he had a small skip on his steps. 

Yeonjun mentioned the beach trip to the others and they liked it, not even questioning why Yeonjun would randomly want to visit a beach when it wasn’t even summer. 

He just has to find the beach, the one that’ll make Beomgyu remember him. 

There is a chance that Beomgyu doesn’t remember him, he knows that, he thinks about that too. He will have to live with knowing that they date in another reality, as he gets real Beomgyu to fall for him. 

Yeonjun intertwined his fingers with Beomgyu’s as they sat in the back of the van. 

“Look.” Beomgyu pointed excitedly at the window as they passed by a field of sunflowers. 

“Is this a dream?” Yeonjun frowned. 

“What’s wrong?” Beomgyu pouted. 

“Nothing, just… I wanted to hold your hand in real life.”

“Do it, then.”

“What if you think it’s weird?”

Beomgyu shook his head. “I want to hold your hand too.” 

“You…” Yeonjun turned to look at him. “Your hair is red.”

“Ah, fuck.” Beomgyu closed his eyes. “I wanted it to be a surprise.” 

“I will act surprised when I see you.”

They agreed to meet at the station. Yeonjun took a train with the other three, Taehyun joined at the last minute, complaining about it being a couples’ trip yet still tagging along. 

Beomgyu was going to take a train from Daegu, after visiting his parents for a few days, and all of them would take a bus to the beach house. 

Yeonjun gripped the straps of his bag as he looked around the station, finally spotting a smiling Beomgyu running to them. 

It almost felt as if he should be running to him, hugging each other as if they didn’t just see each other last week. 

Instead, Yeonjun stayed there, standing next to his other friends and gasping dramatically once Beomgyu got close enough. “Red hair?”

“Yes. Do you like it?” Beomgyu smiled as he touched the top of his head. 

“Looks pretty.”

Gagging noises coming from Soobin stopped their conversation. “Hello to you too Beomgyu.”

He looked at Soobin and rolled his eyes. “Hello, guys. Did you wait long for me?” 

“Not really.” Kai shook his head. “We just arrived.”

“Good, I waited for an hour.” Beomgyu exhaled. “Let’s go.” 

Yeonjun knew he would get teased later, but he ignored that as he sat next to Beomgyu on the bus. 

“Do you want some candy, hyung?”

“Maybe later.”

Beomgyu saved the bag of sweets again. “Are you tired? Do you want to sleep?”

“I napped on the way here.” Yeonjun was still a little groggy from that. “You?”

“I’m suddenly very hyper.”

“Maybe because you keep eating candy.” Yeonjun poked his side. 

Beongyu giggled. “Could be… Also, I feel a lot better after going back home.”

“Are you planning on moving back to Daegu?”

“Tempting, but not really.” Beomgyu shrugged. “It’s healing, having all those memories, but I want to keep moving on.”

Memories. Please remember ours too. 

The bus started moving and Beomgyu shook his fists excitedly before leaving his hands on his lap. Yeonjun considered it. Deep breath in, long exhale. He reached out and took Beomgyu’s hand. 

Beomgyu looked down at their hands before his eyes met Yeonjun’s. “Wha-uk?” His eyes went big as the hiccup interrupted him, covering his mouth with his free hand, he turned to the window. 

Yeonjun smiled as another hiccup made Beomgyu jump. “Cute.” 

That made Beomgyu glance at him before another hiccup shook his body, making his ears turn pink as he closed his eyes and hung his head to hide his face. 

“Hey, did you check the weather for this trip?” Taehyun leaned closer to him from his seat behind Yeonjun. “It’s starting to get cloudy.”

Yeonjun looks out the window to see the gray clouds forming in the sky. “I checked it two weeks ago when I rented the place.”

Taehyun is already typing on his phone. “It says there might be a thunderstorm, but it’ll be a short one.”

“Don’t worry.” Beomgyu smiled at him. “It’ll be okay.” 

But it wasn’t okay. They could only afford the place for one night, meaning that he barely had time to take Beomgyu to the beach, meaning that he barely had time to make Beomgyu remember him. 

Yeonjun turned towards Beomgyu, who was still smiling at him. The red haired one raised his eyebrows at him and gave his hand a small squeeze. “It’ll be okay, hyung.” 

It’s still raining when they get to the small place they rented. It had one bedroom and a living room, the kitchen was empty, Kai was in the bathroom as soon as they opened the door. 

“Should we eat dinner somewhere or should we just buy food and bring it here?” Soobin opened the kitchen drawers. 

“Isn’t it too early to think about dinner?” Taehyun laughed. 

“We can’t do much.” Soobin shrugged as he walked up to the bedroom door. “How are we sleeping?” 

“How big is the bed?” Yeonjun put his own bag down. 

“Two people, maximum three.” 

“And we have four futons…” Taehyun pointed at the corner of the room. “I’ll take the bed, then.”

The bathroom door opened and Kai came out frowning. “Why would you take the bed?”

“Should I sleep with a couple? Thirdwheel you?” Taehyun pointed at the four of them. “Fifth… Wheel you?”

Soobin scoffed. “Me and Kai aren’t together, don’t worry.” 

“Yeah, we’re not a couple.” Kai crossed his arms. 

Yeonjun knows this is his cue to speak up like them. Beomgyu and I aren’t dating. We’re subconsciously in love and hold hands and I fall more for him each time our eyes meet, but we’re not together. 

“Then,” Beomgyu spoke up, making Yeonjun go tense, “It’s only logical that Yeonjun hyung and I take the bedroom.”

He made a celebratory sound before sticking his tongue out as he ran to the bedroom, as if he didn’t just rock Yeonjun’s world right there. 

It’s only logical that they take the bed, you know, agreeing with Taehyun’s comment about couples. Yeonjun was frozen in his place as Soobin raised his brows and Kai covered his mouth. 

He still wanted to kill Taehyun but he felt somehow thankful for that comment. Did Beomgyu admit that there was something between them? I mean, he did go along with Yeonjun with holding hands and stuff but it’s different from being something. 

Slowly, Beomgyu peaked out the room with a small frown, he looked directly at Yeonjun before facing the floor. 

He almost gasped loudly when he realized that he didn’t respond to that at all. Yeonjun picked up his bag and strode towards him, making Beomgyu look up again. 

“Yes!” Yes, Beomgyu, it is logical, we have something. Yes, I will take the bed with you. 

Feeling his own ears go red, he pushed Beomgyu inside the room again and let his bag hit the floor. 

“I, well,” Beomgyu let out a breathy chuckle, “Sorry, maybe I made you uncomfortable. I wanted to take the mattress, I mean, we can drag it to the other room and, you know… You don’t have to sleep with me. Not like to sleep with me, but share the bed, you don’t have to.”

“Beomgyu.” Yeonjun wanted to close the door behind them, but he stayed there holding Beomgyu by his shoulders. 

Beomgyu babbled as he played with the ring on his finger, nervously coming up with excuses. “It was a joke, so don’t feel pressured. Maybe you wanted to say something else, I don’t know.”

“Beomie.” Yeonjun dared to brush Beomgyu’s bangs away from his eyes with a finger. “I didn’t want to say anything else.”

“Didn’t you want to… Deny anything?”

“I didn’t want to, but you can tell me if I should.” 

Beomgyu looked back at the door behind Yeonjun. “Hyung, can we close that?”

Moving as fast as he could, Yeonjun tried to close the door without making much noise and turned back to Beomgyu, who was already looking at the wall with a slight blush. 

“What is it?”

“I’m too embarrassed to look at your friends now, I thought it would be less awkward if I stayed here for a minute but I just realized that maybe we made it worse with the door.”

Yeonjun smiled at him. “Don’t stress about it, we can go out with them and I’ll keep them distracted.” 

“Before we go.” Beomgyu grabbed him by his sleeve, even if he didn’t step away yet. “I also didn’t want you to deny it.”

More butterflies to his stomach. He better try to wipe his big smile before heading back with the rest. 

Yeonjun nodded at him. “Good to know.” 

Beomgyu’s hand lingers on his arm before nodding back. 

They get out of the room and Yeonjun was already mentally preparing for filling any awkward silences but they’re met with the three boys arguing. 

“Okay,” Taehyun pointed at Yeonjun, “We need your vote, we have a tie here.” 

“It’s not a tie.” Kai groans. “We are two, you are one.”

“I count as two.” Taehyun shook his head. “Yeonjun hyung, Beomgyu hyung, should we bring food here and eat comfortably or go out in the rain and eat somewhere else?”

Soobin looked out the window. “It stopped raining.” 

“It could start again at any moment.”

Yeonjun sighed. “What is wrong with staying here?” 

“Don’t you want to explore the town?” Soobin raised both hands. 

Yeonjun glanced at Beomgyu before facing Taehyun. “Are you too tired?”

“Yes.” Taehyun pouted. 

“Wanna stay here while we have a walk around town? We’ll bring food for you.”

Taehyun reached for Yeonjun’s hands. “You know me so well.” 

“Then,” Kai looked at the two, “I’ll also stay here.”

“See? You wanted to stay in, you were just trying to fight me.” 

Beomgyu and Soobin talked amongst themselves as Yeonjun walked behind. 

He kept looking at the ocean view to their right. The ocean looked dark, almost scary, but surprisingly calm after the storm. 

Did they come to the right place? Is Beomgyu gaining his memories back?

“I wouldn’t go to the dentist to check my butthole.” Beomgyu shook his head at Soobin. 

Great time to pay attention to what they were saying. 

They were already walking back to the rental house, with a bag full of beers and another one with snacks. Beomgyu carried the one with burgers for everyone. 

Yeonjun took the time to silently admire Beomgyu and to overthink his own actions. What would their friends say if they came all this way just to see if Yeonjun’s dreams are real? 

He still doesn’t know why Beomgyu asked to come to the beach, he doesn’t know what they’re supposed to do here to make Beomgyu remember. 

Without him realizing, Beomgyu started walking by his side and Soobin walked a few steps faster to be further ahead than them. 

“We should go stargazing later.” Beomgyu said with a smile. “The sky is so clear here.” 

Yeonjun looked up, it was a clear starry night sky. “Yeah, we should.” 

And maybe a shooting star will appear and they both wish for each other and Beomgyu realizes they're soulmates that have been in love even before they met. 

Yeonjun shook his head, he’s getting creepy. 

“Are you enjoying your honeymoon?” Taehyun asked him as they both took out the trash. 

“What do you mean?”

“Being a new couple. On a trip.” He said obviously as he threw a bag inside the bin. 

Yeonjun cleared his throat. “We’re not a new couple.”

“Yet.” 

“Yet.” He nodded. 

Taehyun looked over his shoulder before throwing the plastic bottles on their respective bin. “I’ll convince them to stay here while you two go on a romantic walk, so you better get together then.”

“Why are you suddenly so nice to me?” Yeonjun furrowed his brows. “Did you break something back at the dorm?”

“What? I am usually very nice.” Taehyun turned around to face him. “Okay, not usually… But I can be.”

“Aha.”

“I’m just tired of seeing you so whipped for him and not doing anything about it.” Taehyun looked down at the floor and mumbled. “And I read your dream journal.”

“You what?” 

“Let’s go inside.”

Yeonjun grabbed him by his sleeve and pulled him back again. “You read it?” 

“You can’t blame me for being curious.” He shrugged. “It’s nothing bad, you’re just obsessed with him.”

“I’m not—“ Yeonjun breathed in. “This actually cancels out my debt for blacking out. You owe me a big one.”

“Tonight will be a big one.” Taehyun raised his brows. “Just don’t be too loud.”

He earned a smack on the shoulder for that. 

Just as promised, Taehyun managed to keep everyone away as Yeonjun and Beomgyu went out on a nightly stroll. 

“Do you remember the first time that we met?”

The wind was getting colder, the waves crashed by their side, Beomgyu was looking up at the sky. 

“That one time I made a fool of myself in front of you? Hi high?”

Beomgyu giggled. “No, before that.”

Yeonjun frowned, he stopped walking to stand in front of Beomgyu. “Before?”

“Yeah,” Beomgyu looked down at him again, “Soobin hyung told me that we actually met before.”

“And neither of us remember?”

“We were black out drunk, literally.” Beomgyu chuckled again at the image in his mind. “Apparently, we laid on the grass and looked at the stars and just talked. They found us passed out next to each other.”

Yeonjun put a hand over his mouth to cover a gasp. Was that it? Them passing out? Them watching the stars? Did that create a magic soulmate bond? 

“Should we lay here and watch the stars?”

Should we fall asleep again so you remember me? 

Beomgyu sat down with a big smile, waiting for Yeonjun to do the same so he could lay down on the sand with an arm extended. Yeonjun put his head softly on Beomgyu’s arm, not wanting him to be uncomfortable. 

“I wonder what we talked about that night.” Beomgyu sighed as he stared at the sky. “I’m so mad that I forgot about you.”

“Why?”

“It would’ve been different.”

“I am not mad at you for forgetting.” Yeonjun turned his face to watch him. “As long as you remember me later.”

Beomgyu tilted his head, examining Yeonjun’s face. “Did we have this conversation before?”

A spark of hope lit up in Yeonjun’s chest. “Do you remember that?”

“I feel like I should.” 

Yeonjun scooted closer, laying his head on Beomgyu’s shoulder instead of his arm. “Is this okay?”

With a smile, Beomgyu used his now free arm to push Yeonjun even closer to the side of his body. They were supposed to be star gazing but Yeonjun closed his eyes as he snuggled the younger. 

“Maybe it’s because we met before, but I really feel like I’ve known you for ages.”

“Maybe our souls have already met.”

 “Do you believe in soulmates?”

Yeonjun opened his eyes at the déjà vu of Beomgyu asking him that. “Someone once told me in a dream that they could be real.”

”Was I that someone?” Beomgyu went quiet for a second after Yeonjun nodded. “Ah, what am I thinking?”

Yeonjun looked up at his face but Beomgyu was still staring at the sky, his Adam's apple bobbed as he gulped. He wanted to trace a fingertip along Beomgyu’s sharp jawline, round nose, plump lips. 

“What are you thinking about?”

“I’m moving too fast.” Beomgyu exhaled. 

“You’re moving too slow.” Yeonjun put his arm around Beomgyu’s waist and squeezed lightly. 

Beomgyu turned his head to face him once more. “Yeah?” He smirked. 

Yeonjun didn’t look up from his mouth, slowly raising his head. “Yeah. Should we speed this up?” 

As he put an elbow down on the sand to prop himself up, Beomgyu placed a hand on his nape and brought him forward. 

Yeonjun felt a tickle on his tummy as he leaned down, breath mixing with Beomgyu’s as he saw the younger looking up at him, his red hair fanned on the sand under him, eyes shining like the stars above. 

“Didn’t you say we should be faster?” Beomgyu spoke against his lips. 

“You’re just so… Dreamy.” 

They close the gap with a soft kiss, Beomgyu sighed through his nose and carded his fingers through Yeonjun’s hair. Seconds pass before Beomgyu parts his lips and Yeonjun immediately complies, moving his along. 

Yeonjun’s hand grabs harder at Beomgyu’s waist and the younger curves his back, pressing himself against Yeonjun’s chest. He took the opportunity to slip his arm under him. 

The kiss itself was slow, the movements were dragged out as Yeonjun kissed Beomgyu’s lip before he felt teeth gracing his, tugging his bottom lip slightly. 

He chuckled when he felt Beomgyu’s smile against him, pulling away just enough to glance at his face. 

“Hyung.” Beomgyu furrowed his brows. “Is this a dream?”

Yeonjun let go of his waist to hold Beomgyu’s face. He can also feel the dizziness, it’s like the moments before you fall asleep. 

Shaking his head, Yeonjun rubbed Beomgyu’s cheek. “It’s real.”

They stare at each other for a moment, Yeonjun doesn’t mind, he could stare at Beomgyu all night long. He could stay here under the stars until the sun came out just to look at the way Beomgyu’s lashes curled up and the way the lights from afar formed shapes in his face. 

Except his arm was cramping under his weight. 

Beomgyu noticed and he made the two of them sit up. “Wanna head back inside?”

“Do you want to?”

He hummed, staring at Yeonjun before leaning in again and leaving a peck on his lips. He giggled before he started giving small kisses on Yeonjun’s lips, cheeks, chin and nose. 

After a long peck accompanied with an emphasized mwah sound, Beomgyu pressed their foreheads together. “I’ve been wanting to kiss you for so long.”

“I’ve been wanting it even longer.” 

They share a few more chaste kisses and Yeonjun is elated, his head is in the clouds, his tummy is full of butterflies. There is nothing that could ruin this night. 

“It’s…” Beomgyu furrowed his brows as he looked up at the dark sky, the stars weren’t there anymore. “It’s raining?”

Barely, but small droplets were falling down on them. Yeonjun stands up reluctantly and offers a hand for Beomgyu to do the same. “I would love to stay here kissing you all night under the rain, but I think it’s time for us to head back to the house.” 

“Wait.” Beomgyu stood on his tiptoes and kissed him again. “Okie, let’s go.”

But Yeonjun grabbed him by the waist to bring him closer. “Why are you so cute?” He spoke against Beomgyu’s mouth. 

With another giggle, Beomgyu grabbed his forearm. “Let’s go before the rain gets us.”

“I can’t believe our beach trip was a fail.” Soobin spoke as he watched out the window, rain pouring hard against it. 

“Just for us three.” Taehyun nodded his head towards Yeonjun. “They seem pretty okay.”

“Oh!” Kai sat next to Yeonjun on the couch. “Tell me. Are you two together now?”

Beomgyu was taking a shower, probably washing all the damp sand out of his hair, which left Yeonjun in the middle of three curious pairs of eyes. 

“Yeah, we like each other and…” He smiled as he reminisced the kisses they shared less than one hour ago. “I think we are together, in a way.”

Soobin scoffed. “In a way.” 

Kai smirked at him. “Soobin hyung says he’s absolutely whipped for you, you know, and you are absolutely whipped for him too.”

“The time he slept over at mine.” Soobin shook his head. “He was like ‘Yeonjunnie hyung, Yeonjunnie hyung’ all night, I swear.” 

Taehyun smirked at him. “Ah, Yeonjun hyung is the same.” 

They didn’t notice the shower turning off until the bathroom door opened, Beomgyu walked out with a pointed finger. “Yah! Why don’t we talk about your crush on Kai? You sucker.” 

Soobin gasped. “Yah?” He ran to Beomgyu who tried to escape before he got him trapped in a headlock and pressed his head to his chest. “Have you never had an affectionate friendship?” 

Beomgyu screamed —an actually loud scream— and tried to push him off, his wet hair left spots on Soobin’s shirt. “I’m sorry, hyung, sorry, you two are just friends, good friends.”

Soobin let him go, Beomgyu stood upright and breathed in deeply. Yeonjun was about to tell him to go put a jacket on, since he only had a short sleeve shirt and shorts on, before Beomgyu spoke up again. 

“Friends with benefits.” Beomgyu stuck his tongue out and laughed loudly as he ran to the bedroom. 

Soobin just watched him go before turning to Yeonjun. “That’s what you’re signing up for.”

“I’m aware.” 

“Um,” Kai cleared his throat, “Just to clarify, we are not friends with benefits.”

“I do not believe that.” Taehyun stood up from his seat. “But for the sake of sharing a room with the two of you, let’s say I believe you.” 

He walked over to the futons, ready to start preparing their beds for the night, Soobin noticed and started cleaning up the food they left in the middle of the room. 

Kai helped him and Yeonjun eyed the two. “Staying quiet proves his point.” 

Kai shrugged his shoulders, standing up with a bag full of trash. “Don’t worry Taehyunnie, tonight we’ll be cuddling you.”

“I will smother you in your sleep.”

He found Beomgyu sitting in the middle of the bed as he scrolled through his phone. The red haired looked up as Yeonjun walked into the room. 

“Close it.” He said once he noticed Yeonjun hesitating by the door. 

“What if they think…?”

Beomgyu kneeled on the edge of the bed and put his arms out towards Yeonjun, who hurried to close the door and run to him. The younger put his arms around Yeonjun’s shoulders and pulled him down for a kiss before pulling him even more so he could clumsily climb onto the mattress with him. 

“They can think whatever they want.” Beomgyu scooted back on the bed and laid his head on the pillows. “And you can do whatever you want.”

A rush of electricity ran up Yeonjun’s spine, giving him actual goosebumps. Beomgyu laughed at his reaction and put a hand out again. 

Yeonjun grabbed the hand and intertwined their fingers before putting it next to Beomgyu’s head, leaning down to kiss him. Beomgyu’s free hand goes to his nape, cold fingers touch his neck and make him shudder. 

“Relax.” Beomgyu whispered, he let go of his hand to wrap both arms around Yeonjun’s torso. 

Beomgyu wasted no time on pulling his lip with his teeth again, but instead of giggling they opened their mouths more so his tongue could reach Yeonjun’s. 

With his arms still holding his torso, Beomgyu turned them around, getting Yeonjun under him and trapping one of his legs between his two. Yeonjun let out a surprised yelp, letting Beomgyu set a faster pace to the kiss. 

Not knowing what to do with his hands, Yeonjun let them fall on the mattress, Beomgyu was quick to grab one of them as he flicked his tongue once more. 

He suddenly pulled away to look at their hands, leaving Yeonjun breathing heavily through his nose with his lips still parted. 

“Are you nervous, baby?” Beomgyu asked as he brought Yeonjun’s hand to his lips to kiss the shaky knuckles. 

Yeonjun just noticed that he was, in fact, shaking under Beomgyu. Still, the pet name, the way that Beomgyu looked down at him, his weight pressing down, it was all overwhelming in a good way. 

“Don’t worry, we’re not doing anything.” Beomgyu kissed his cheek. “We are fast but we won’t be moving that fast.”

“I’m starting to think that this is a dream.”

Beomgyu smirked against his skin, nosing down his jaw. “Why? Do you dream with me like this?” 

“I wish I did.” Yeonjun turned his head to give him more access. “Can I?”

Beomgyu hummed, leaving soft kisses down Yeonjun’s neck. “Visit my dreams again, I’d let you do whatever you want.” 

Taking a deep breath, Yeonjun closed his eyes and let Beomgyu kiss his way up to his mouth again. They kissed slowly now, almost lazily, no teeth or tongue. 

Beomgyu gave him one last quick peck before moving to lay on his side, Yeonjun turned with him so they could face each other, hands still joined between them. 

“I like you a lot.” 

Yeonjun smiled. “I like you too.”

“I know we said we could move fast, but I don’t know how fast…” Beomgyu frowned. “But when they asked you if we were together, I wanted the answer to be yes.”

Yeonjun nodded and his cheek rubbed the pillow under him. “I want that too.”

“So we are together, like, a couple.”

“Boyfriends?”

“I mean,” Beomgyu played with Yeonjun’s fingers, “I wanted to ask you to make it official in a more romantic way, with a date, maybe.” He shrugged. “But it does sound like I am asking to be official now.”

“We make the rules. If you want to be a couple soon to be boyfriends, that’s what we are.”

Beomgyu yawned. “Don’t you think I’m being silly?”

“Maybe, but I understand what you mean.”

“Good.” Beomgyu kissed his knuckles again. 

Yeonjun now has the time to be ashamed of being caught shaking while they kissed moments ago. There wasn’t an explanation for it, other than Beomgyu being way hotter than he expected and him living out a fantasy that seemed impossible some months ago. 

There was something he’s been pushing back in his mind as he saw Beomgyu’s eyes grow tired. Dream Beomgyu said he would remember once they went to the beach, but real Beomgyu can’t remember him yet. 

A wave of sadness hit him, just seconds ago he was shaking because of overflowing happiness, but the ever growing fear that all the dreams were just inventions of his own mind seemed to get him. 

“Are you tired, Beomie?” He caressed his hair, because dream Beomgyu told him that he loved to have his hair played with as he fell asleep. 

Real Beomgyu closed his eyes and smiled at the touch. “I don’t want to fall asleep, I want to look at you a little longer.”

“You will see me in your dreams.” Yeonjun still wanted to believe that. 

He doesn’t want to start tearing up in front of Beomgyu. It seemed selfish. Real Beomgyu should be more than enough for him, he should let go of his fantasies. 

He doesn’t deserve both of them. 

The sand was warm under his feet and in between his toes, he left his shoes behind and walked closer to the red haired waiting for him by the water. 

Yeonjun sat down next to Beomgyu, who was still looking at the horizon. “It’s a dream, right?”

Beomgyu nodded. “They’re getting hard to differentiate?”

“They feel different from reality.” Yeonjun touched the sand between them, which barely felt like real sand. “But you’re starting to be the same.”

Beomgyu looked down, still avoiding Yeonjun’s gaze. “I’m sorry, hyung.”

Yeonjun nodded, grabbing his chin and making him turn his face. “Why did you ask me to bring you to the beach?”

Beomgyu’s eyes filled with tears as he shook his head. “I’m sorry, I made it up, I don’t know how to remember you.” 

There is actual pain in Yeonjun’s chest. “I have to let you go.” 

Beomgyu gasped when Yeonjun took his hand away from his jaw, hurrying to grab it. “I will remember you, I promise, you have to trust me.”

“It’s not real. Let’s end this.”

“No!” Beomgyu cried out, he reached forward and grabbed Yeonjun’s shoulders. “I will remember. I am sorry, hyung, I will, I will.”

“Beomgyu…” He took his hands off his shoulders. “I’d rather live with the real you than being the only one that remembers us.”

Beomgyu hiccups with a sob and it’s even harder for Yeonjun to detach him from real Beomgyu. “Please, hyung, don’t leave me.”

It was a loud gasp that woke Yeonjun up, he had to blink a few times to ground himself, just coming back to his senses and remembering he was sharing a bed with Beomgyu when he saw the younger sit up on the bed. 

“Beomie.”

“Hyung.” He turned around, his shoulders shook with a sob. “I’m sorry.”

Yeonjun sat with him, putting his arms around his body and pulling him into his chest. “It’s okay, it was a dream.”

Beomgyu took a shaky breath between his tears before he let himself melt against the crook of Yeonjun’s neck. “Yeonjunnie hyung.” 

“I’m here.” 

“Please don’t be mad.”

“I’m not mad.” Yeonjun made the two lay back down and Beomgyu hid his face again. “Did I scare you? I’m sorry.”

He caressed his hair again, shushing him as Beomgyu continued to cry and whispering against his hair.

“But-“ Beomgyu was interrupted by a shaky sob again. 

“I’m sorry, I shouldn't have said that.” Yeonjun kissed his forehead. “It’s okay.”

His brain started to slowly catch up with what was happening. Beomgyu is crying because he started crying in his dreams, he’s apologizing because he was doing it in his dreams. 

From all the ways Yeonjun had fantasized about Beomgyu remembering him, he never thought he would make Beomgyu cry uncontrollably. 

Tears filled Yeonjun’s eyes, so many emotions were going through his head right now but all of them made him squeeze Beomgyu closer to him. 

“I remember, I don’t even know if it’s real or… Or what just happened but I remember, I do.”

“I remember it too, Beomie.” Yeonjun breathed in deeply. “It was real, I know that now.”

“It is?” Beomgyu looked up, shiny eyes and wet cheeks. 

“Ow.” Yeonjun cooed. “I’m sorry I didn’t trust you, Beomie, I should’ve known better.” 

“You waited a long time for me.”

“I could wait my whole life, my soul would still look for you, even if I were to forget.”

Beomgyu scoffed, resting his head back on Yeonjun’s chest. “How poetic, hyung.”

“Are you making fun of me now?” Yeonjun frowned as he tried to look down at him. He was crying just seconds ago?

“Nah.” Beomgyu chuckled as he threw his arms around Yeonjun’s waist to hug him. 

Yeonjun just laughed and kissed the top of his head. “You are a weird one, Choi Beomgyu.” 

“You already knew that.” 

Yeonjun woke up on an empty bed. 

He stepped outside the bedroom, the other three were still sleeping but the sliding doors were open. He went outside and closed them. 

The beach was just a minute walk away, he’s making his way down when he spots the red head and the black and white checkered shirt. 

Yeonjun took his shoes in his hand, feeling the sand under his feet. He sat down wordlessly next to Beomgyu, who looked at the horizon in front of them. 

It’s a long déjà vu. 

“This isn’t a dream.” Yeonjun announced. 

“Hyung, I am still confused.” Beomgyu turned to him with tired eyes. “I will say something that might sound crazy, but I need you to answer seriously.”

“Tell me.” Yeonjun smiled at him. 

“When you said you dreamt of me… Visiting my dreams… Did you actually visit my dreams?” 

“I think I did. Sorry, I know it’s creepy.”

Beomgyu watched him with his mouth open. “So it really happened? We met every night in our dreams?”

“Not every night, but it happened a lot.” Yeonjun bit the inside of his cheek. “I tried to stop it, but I have no idea how it works. Also, I thought I made you up until we met at that party.”

“So… You don’t know how we started?”

“No idea, maybe I fell for you when we first met and I accidentally manifested myself into your head.”

“Woah, you were so obsessed with me.”

“You were the one that dreamt about me all the time.”

“Still, you were so obsessed.” 

Yeonjun rolled his eyes and looked at the sea. The weather was better today, the sun shone between white clouds. “Why did you tell me to bring you here?”

“To the beach?” Beomgyu shrugged. “I just really wanted to come to the beach.”   

“Of course.” Yeonjun shook his head. “I thought something magical would happen.”

“We kissed. Was that not magical enough?” Beomgyu frowned. “Ungrateful.”

Yeonjun chuckled and leaned in for a peck. “Of course, of course. Being with you is magical in itself.”

“Speaking of magical, back to the dreams, I have questions.”

“I can answer some.”

“We shared those, right?”

Yeonjun held in a laugh and nodded. “We did.”

“So we already went on a million dates.” Beomgyu exhaled loudly. “How will I top a picnic in Paris?”

“Having you here is better than any dream.”

Beomgyu rolled his eyes, looking away with a smile. “I’ll make our first date super unique.”

“Can we make it a breakfast date? I’m getting hungry.”

“You just want an excuse to go eat.”

“A breakfast date in a random shop in the middle of nowhere in a strange town.” Yeonjun raised his brows. “Sounds unique to me.” 

“Okay.” They both stood up and shook the sand off their butts. 

Holding hands as they walked back to the house, Yeonjun cleared his throat to speak up again. “Sorry for making you cry like that.”

“It wasn’t your fault, I was mad at myself because I wouldn’t remember.” Beomgyu looked down at the sand. “And also… Sorry that I don’t have any answers.”

“What answers?”

“Like why we started dreaming with each other.”

“Maybe it just happened that way.” Yeonjun shrugged. “Maybe not everything has a magic explanation.”

“Oh, my eye bags are so bad.” Beomgyu touched his face as he stared at the screen in front of him, he was using Yeonjun’s phone to take pictures. “Uh-oh.”

He passed the phone to Yeonjun, it had a notification saying that his memory was full.

Yeonjun groaned. “Again?” 

“Sorry.”

They had a lot of time as they traveled back to Seoul. Yeonjun opened his gallery and started deleting useless screenshots. He went to the videos, putting on his airpods to check them first. 

“When did Kai take this?” Yeonjun frowned at the video of the two of them singing drunk while walking down the street. 

The next video started with a black screen before a lot of movement, until it focused on a face. Yeonjun almost dropped his phone, the video closed and he hurried to click back on it. 

Beomgyu eyed him from the side, watching Yeonjun’s face as he brought the phone closer to his face to stare at the video. 

“Is this you?”

Yeonjun turned the phone to him and Beomgyu gasped. “What is that?” 

Yeonjun quickly gave him one airpod and pressed play. 

The video started with Beomgyu giggling, the camera just inches away from his face before he extends his arm to show him laying down on grass. His hair was black, not very long yet. 

“We are he… We are at Yeonjun’s Lucy dream class.”

“Lucid dreaming, dummy.”

“What did I say?” Beomgyu laughed again, clearly intoxicated. “Step one, lay down, duh.”

Yeonjun’s face came into view in the video as he laid down next to Beomgyu. “Ah, I’m actually sleepy.”

“What is step two?”

“Uh…” Yeonjun closed his eyes, opening them to look at Beomgyu before closing them again. “Think about… What you want to dream about.”

“Step three? Yeonjun? I think step three is sleeping.”

The camera changed angles again as Beomgyu brought his arm back down.

“See you in your dreams.” The only visible face was Beomgyu’s as he looked at his side, where Yeonjun was, before he looked back into the camera with a giggle. “I could’ve stolen your phone.”

The two watched as the video ended. Yeonjun was dumbfounded. He had that in his phone for months. The simplest most stupid answer to his dream boy problems. 

“I was right, I could’ve stolen your phone that night.”

“I can’t believe…” Yeonjun scrolled until he got a frame of Beomgyu’s face on the screen. 

“Send that to me later.” Beomgyu took out the airpod and dropped his head on Yeonjun’s shoulder. “Dummy.”

Yeonjun sends it right away and marks it, not wanting to lose this footage. He was about to talk about it again when he noticed Beomgyu’s eyes starting to close. “Tired?”

“Don’t wanna sleep.”

“Why?”

“What if I don’t see you in my dreams?”

Yeonjun furrowed his eyebrows, he kissed the top of Beomgyu’s head before bringing a hand up to caress it. 

“I will find you.”