Chapter Text
The dreams started when you were a child. You saw the silver-haired angel boy the moment your eyes closed for sleep.
It was a bleak land, like a classroom without any desks, chairs, or the colorful letter things or students aside from the boy
“What are you doing?” You asked them, leaning closer.
They jumped back in surprise, their golden eyes wide in surprise. Their halo lagging behind. “W- what are you doing–”
You soon learned that you were intruding in a ‘dreamscape’ that the boy— no Sunday, as he introduced himself, created.
“This is just… my training to be head of the Oak Family, but I don’t know why you were able to enter…” He told you… His wings cover the lower half of his face.
Looking back, he was really super cute as a child, wasn’t he? You mourned for what he had become.
“I have a hunch!” You exclaimed excitedly, taking his hands into yours. “We’re on psycho sync! That must be it—”
“You’re a genius!” he shot back. Like an explosion of color from the two of you, the room shifted from the bleak classroom to something more like your own bedroom, except there was a small circular bed with drapes around it. The purple color made you feel as though it were a stage.
“Oh no! I lost focus again!” Sunday panicked, then closed his eyes in focus. “Mr. Gopher Wood told me to recreate the choir classroom brick by brick here. It’s really useless tho! I’m not even part of the nightingale family, and I won’t be able to work in construction in the first place! With what he wants me to do,” he pouted. “Also! My choir teacher got really mad at me yesterday for eating sweets before practice!”
“Is that a bad thing?” You asked curiously, sitting down beside him.
He opened his eyes. “Yeah, cause it increases the sticky stuff in your throat.”
“Wow!”
Sunday placed his index fingers to his forehead. And you watched the bedroom shift once more to the choir classroom, this time more decorated.
“By the way—” he looked at you with wonder.
“How did you get here?”
You stared at the drawing of the classroom hidden beneath your papers at your desk. Looking back, you were both lucky that neither of you was some inhumane monster, just waddling little kids. Back then.
“What planet are you from?” Sunday asked you, as you both sat down on the pavement of the yard.
“Uhhh… I don’t think Sunday would know~ I didn’t even know penacony was a thing, nore memoria, and Xipe… and…” You replied until his voice cut you off.
“You what!?! So you’ve just been stringing along to what I’ve been saying?! What if there's been some cultural clash going on between us!” He panicked
“Huh?! No! I think our worlds are similar— aside from your dream and hotel and ring shaped stuf… It's actually deemed to be scientifically impossible where I’m from!”
“And I’ve never heard of halovians before either! Or life from another planet!” You jumped on him. “Sunday’s always giving me new things to learn and—”
“But I wanna learn about you.” He put you down, gripping tightly onto your hands. “Our dreams have always been about me, but it’s our dream. Not just mine.” He smiled
“Oh– I— uhmm!!!” Your face went all red.
You ended up telling him the complete history of your world.
You put down the annotated book, your face flushed from the memory. You decided to study more about your home after that… and you ended up being revered as a genius back at home.
“Still…” you mumbled, looking at the framed awards that decorated the walls of your room.
Sunday’s “well dones” were still better.
“I wanna see an Aeon~~~ or path energy at least onceeee,” you sighed. Before submitting your lab report.
“You always say weird things, y’know? I feel bad for your lab partner,” Your department head commented. Before taking the report. “Still, you're really hecking good at tracking all these anomalies. Even more so when it comes to expanding to beyond our system.”
They turned around in their chair before handing over the framed award. “Congrats… I know how obsessive you are with continuing your research as much as possible, so the commission decided to just give your reward here.”
You took the award gleefully. “Thank you!” Before your thoughts drifted to Sunday. Your grip on the frame tightened.
Ughh.
“You’re gonna study astronomy?” He asked you. While you tried to climb the tree in the dream. Gripping onto the branches with much difficulty.
“Mhm! I wanna be able to see Sunday in person one day. And what better way than to work for it myself!” You answered. Reaching the top of the tree, admiring the view that lay before you.
“But we’ve been seeing each other every night in the dream, y'know.” He called out. Before placing his foot near where the tree split in an attempt to reach you.
“Yeah, but–” you watched as he climbed higher up, deciding to go higher yourself in turn. “I wanna be able to y’know play with you properly! And I wanna meet the people you love. And I want you to meet the people I love so—”
Thud!
Sunday fell down to the grass in embarrassment, lucky that it was only a dream. Otherwise he would’ve been really injured.
“Ugh…” he rubbed the area where he fell before dusting off and deciding to settle down on a lower branch. “How do you climb so high? It's unfair.” He complained.
You reached your hand down before pulling him up to where you now sat. “I like climbing a lot back in reality.” You answered
“I… I also wanna see you in reality.” He muttered. His head turned away in embarrassment.
Your eyes just couldn’t help but shine at that moment. Sunday’s words a reflection of your own desire to be with him. “Then… stay with me. Both in dream and reality, okay?” You asked him as your eyes welled up into tears.
“Ah!” He panicked as you cried. “Don’t cry! I’m sorry! I shouldn’t have said something scary like that— making you think of bad things!”
“N- no! I’m not sad!” You assured as you wailed. “It’s just… Sunday, you keep making me happy… I couldn’t help but cry…”
You threw yourself onto him, hugging him tightly. “I’m so embarrassed right now, but just wait! I’m gonna expand my home so far across the stars— I’m gonna be more famous than your favorite celebrity, uhhh, whatever!”
“Ouch…” He muttered. “We fell on the floor…”
“[Name]! [Name]!” The department head yelled. “Are you off reminiscing again?!” They pinched the bridge of their nose in annoyance. “Honestly… that and your beliefs about ‘aeons’, I wonder how you managed to get this far… Some self-reflection papers might be in order.” They teased, before you hurried out the door.
“Yeah, well… there’s this one perso– I mean thing that I really wanna see… and I… uh…”
“Your face is all red, ya know~. [Name], you’re honestly so easy to read haha!” They laughed. “So our world’s great genius’s motivation is an alien crush, hmm?”
“It’s not a crush! I just…” you hesitated, then remembered that the commission was to grateful for you to say any weird things about you.
“I wanna get payback, and give him a big knock on the head for disappearing!” You yelled, then ran out of the door in embarrassment.
Really. Why did the dreams stop?
“So now my sister and I are going to raise the baby Charmony dove!” He explained to you happily. Now, the dreamscape you two were in was a recreation of a riverside on your home planet that you once visited.
“We were gonna have a cage for it near the window still— but Robin wanted the bird to still live near the wild, so it’s gonna have a nest nearby instead!”
“Woaaah! What does it look like?” you asked him.
He smiled, recreating the yard, before pointing to a bush. “That's where Robin and I found it!” A small white dove with wings as though it were made of stained glass lay on the bush.
To be frank, you’d been more impressed at Sunday’s ability to recreate the scene so well than the bird itself. You couldn’t help the way your smile turned upward, only for him to notice.
“Why are you smiling at an injured fledgling?” He asked, snapping you back into reality. He really was too pretty for your own good.
“I’m I–I’m smiling at you!” Your hands were waving frantically as you tried to defend yourself. “Because y’know! You’re really, really cool, Sunday! Of course I’d smile at you!”
He looked at you with a disdainful expression. “Still, when I just showed you something injured—”
“I mean, we’re in a dream, right? Besides,” You took his hand, “Sunday is enough to take away all my worries!”
You pulled him up from where he sat down on the grass. “So even if you’re sad— we’ll use this dream to make you happy again! Let’s be each other's erm… joys!”
“You can’t think of any word to accurately describe it, can you, huh?” He smirked
“I’m just being simple in my pity for your oh so small brain!”
“I’m pretty sure I’m the one here with a concrete future and background!” He yelled.
You remember that dream as being warm, comforting, and almost everything associated with him was. You don’t know when it happened, but somewhere along the way, Sunday had become your sole reason for going to sleep at night. Your parents were extremely grateful for your sudden obedience at night.
The little painting of that dove was tucked in the corner of your studio— now covered in white cloth. You weren’t a fan of its fate at all.
“Sunday…?” You entered the dream only to see him weeping. The grass of the yard was now stained with blood. Feathers scattered all over— from the trunks, the branches, the leaves, to the
From the shaking of his body, you felt like it wasn’t just some teacher being strict.
“It fell! It keeps falling! Why won’t it fly?!” He grabbed you, burying his head on your shoulder. “I tried— so many times! But it kept falling! Why?! I thought its wounds wouldn’t affect it anymore! It should have been healed!”
You could only sit in silence, listening as his tears grew louder, the space around you two distorting, rapidly changing, and shifting.
When he turned up to look at you, his eyes were bloodshot and swollen, his hair a mess compared to the neatness that was usual for him.
“There was blood— it wouldn’t stop bleeding, I– I—”
“I don’t know what to do anymore.” He admitted. “I wanted— I wanted Robin to see, I wanted her to be happy. I…”
You didn’t know what to do
But you should have.
You wanted to comfort him.
“I’m sure… it will succeed, Sunday— you always know how to make things work.” You turned to face the area around you. “Look! I mean, it was you who made our dream. Not me.”
You hesitated before continuing. “Anyways… just tell your sister for now that the bird flew and ran away. I, I mean I’m not close to her like you are— I haven’t even met her either, but… I think, telling her that the bird flew away because it could finally soar— is better, right?”
“You…” He stared at you, contemplating on his answer. “I... that was our original plan, y’know,” he pulled away from you, his face annoyed, at least his snark came back. “We were supposed to release the bird when it could finally fly… but it’s just not working. I promised Robin too, but I– it’s not— I just can't–” The tears begin to well up again. He covered his face with his hands and wings in embarrassment. “I’m sorry I keep crying! But I can’t! I can’t lie to Robin I–!”
“Uhm… the wings are small, right?” You began, recalling your knowledge of bird anatomy. “Usually a certain amount of wingspan is needed before it can fly… uhm, there’s a number for it, but I forgot.” You looked at his even more worsened expression before defending yourself, your own face mad. “Hey! I’m trying to give you the facts here Sunday!” You yelled before grabbing his hand, creating a look of surprise on his face. The tips of his ears flushed red from being flustered.
You turned to the sky, pointing your finger towards it. “And if it can’t reach the sky in reality…” You placed your finger on his forehead. “Then you just need to let it fly in the dream!”
“You’re right… I just need— to— dream—” He concluded. The gears in his head were turning before you saw the light in his eyes.
“I’m going to wake up now! I need to talk to Mr Gopher Wood about something!” He waved goodbye before you could interfere.
“Huh?! But– you were supposed to teach me how to play the piano tonight!” And you found your eyes staring at your ceiling.
The memory of that little bird was one you really did not like. It was the first time you Sunday’s almost bottomless joy (aside from when he was in trouble) fell. If…
If you were to turn back time, would you have said something more nihilistic? Something to keep him grounded? Maybe “You don’t need to be perfect.”
Why didn’t you tell him that sooner?
Your dreams with Sunday came to an end shortly after that. You felt as though a part of you had drifted away somewhere along the way.
You missed him so much.
You threw away all your history books. There was no need to read those while you weren’t on the names there yet.
Temperature, materials, biology— everything he had told you, you used it to carve the perfect path to your planet’s future.
“Sheesh… opening up our home so that we can connect with other planets. You’re dream’s finally come true, hasn’t it [Name]?” Your lab partner tapped your shoulder as you looked at the documents. “Hey noowww~ why’re ya staring at that planet’s profile so much?” They leaned down on the working tables, careful not to hit the keyboards and screens.
You muttered. “Penacony— I really wanted to see Penacony.” You looked at them, hands slamming on your desk, spilling the “no.1” mug filled with coffee all over, wetting the stack of overdue lab reports you were meant to submit a week ago. “Do you think I can get the commission to let me go there?!”
They hit you on the back of your head. “Jeez! You’re so eccentric!” They scratched the back of their neck. “Besides… you’re needed here, you know, and it’s not like you’re gonna leave our planet to ruin in the blink of an eye just cause something from beyond the stars is gonna try and swoop you in right? Right?” They asked, smiling.
“I’m… so sorry… Bartholomew.” You mumbled, deciding to grab a cloth and wipe off the stain. Alas, the once pure white table was now coffee-stained-brown.
“For the stain, right?” they asked you. Before you decided to look away even further. “At least you have shame, huh?”
They picked up the stack of reports and placed them on the other table. “I’ll rewrite these for now. You can go back to daydreaming like you usually do.”
“But uhh…” Their hand lay on the doorknob. “Maldaptive daydreaming is an illness, you should get it checked someti—”
They were slammed face-first by a stranger in a black suit with a white undershirt. “My apologies! But is Mx. [Name here?” They asked frantically. You spotted a black envelope in their hand.
“You just killed my coworker.” You pointed to your lab partner, now passed out on the floor, the paper scattered all over, spreading the coffee stain to the white ceramic tiles. “And now my pay is gonna be deducted for the stain…”
“I am a representative of Penacony’s family!” They stammered. Before placing their hands forward in presentation of the music box. “On the head of the Oak Family, Mr. Sunday’s behalf I—”
“Who the hella names their kid Sunday?” Your slave… er partner called out, now conscious and rubbing their head.
“Who the hell names their kid Bartholomew?” You snapped back before turning around to look back at the representative, taking the envelope. “Honestly, that’s a name I never thought I’d hear from someone else.”
They looked at you, blinking in confusion before bowing at the waist, their hand on their chest. “Ah yes… ahem–! On behalf of the head of the Oak Family, I would like to invite you to the Charmony Festival as a special guest of Sir Sunday—”
So bright. They thought, as they witnessed you beam in joy.
“Basically, I get to see him?” You asked, your grip tightening on the envelope.
“Yes, though the Charmony festival doesn’t usually invite people outside the family, we have decided to invite people from different cosmos… and so the invitation has been extended to you too.”
“No need to go around explaining.” You smiled, waving your hand in reassurance. “Our world has just about finished preparing to join the cosmos anyway… going shouldn’t be a problem!”
“If the commission head allows it, that is,” Bartholomew commented. “Also, isn’t Sunday that halluci—” You stuffed a cookie that you forgot was on the table into his mouth. Realizing that there was a scene was about to happen, the representative bowed to you and left.
“You’re the devil incarnate [Name].” He remarked. “Also, I thought that Sunday guy was just some imaginary dream friend you had.” He placed down the papers on the table, deciding that he would work on them another day.
“I don’t remember talking about him before.” You snarked, looking at him with suspicion.
“You cry about him when you’re drunk, stuff like— ‘I haven’t had a dream with him since I was 12’ yada yada yada. You sound like you’re talking about your ex.”
You threw the plate at him.
“Ow! I hope you never get laid!” He yelped as he caught the plate. “Ooh, flawless catch! Maybe I should quit science and do baseball.” He set it down on the table.
“Anyways~ do you even have permission to go to another planet?” He asked you as you began preparing your travel plan.
“I’ll just say I’m gonna quit if she doesn’t let me!” You concluded, before rushing out of the door.
“I wish I had someone who was obsessed with me,” Bartholomew muttered. “But I’d probably asked them to get checked, do I have the right to send [Name] to a psych ward? It’s out of concern from a coworker, right… maybe I’d finally be free from her.”
He looked at the awards that decorated the wall near the door. “Well, shit, I don’t wanna kill our world’s scientific progression.”