Archive of Our Own

Hero X was dancing effortlessly around a villain. The guy was trying desperately to get a hit on him, but it was impossible. X made a show of being incredibly bored before snapping his fingers, defeating him in an instant.

You smiled after the clip ended and put your phone inside your pocket. How much you wished you could have been there instead of sleeping. But with your night shift, you usually saw everything in the news later, way after it had happened.

You really hated your work schedule.

Yes, the job environment was calmer and peaceful and commuting was way faster at this hours; but in exchange you were always tired and alone.

Whenever you could see your friends and family on your days off, you were so exhausted that being mentally present was a monumental challenge to you. Those close to you always joked about how you were a professional daydreamer; with your mind always somewhere else. It didn't help that you were always fantasizing about being close to your favorite heroes; specially Hero X. You could never stop talking about him.

However, little did they know that you actually had the most boring dreams. As long as you crashed your bed after a long night shift, you would immediately start dreaming about… working on an office. Yes. You would escape your own exhausting job to start dreaming about having another tedious job. You couldn't understand your own mind.

It was a very repetitive dream. You appeared sitting on a desk, with a computer in front of you, and then you would start working like you actually knew what you were doing. There was always a guy seated next to you. He would spare some glances in your direction, but he mostly minded his own business. You tried to talk to him several times, but he brushed off all your attempts at small talk. Your other dream colleagues were most talkative and loved to gossip about heroes with you, even if they looked surprised whenever you initiated a conversation, like it was the first time they saw you in the day.

Sometimes, the dream changed and you found yourself commuting to work with your desk companion. You basically followed him around. It amused you that he always bought a drink from a street vending machine on his way from the metro station to the office. He mostly ignored you, and it made you upset that even your lonely sleepy brain couldn't conjure up someone more friendly.

One day there was a slight change. He was working at your side when his alarm sounded loudly. He startled a bit and accidentally hit the can he had on his side of the desk; spilling it's content over your things.

He cursed and apologized quickly, cleaning your table with his handkerchief. You said he didn't need to worry, it was no big deal. But he insisted in cleaning, and after he finished he glanced at your screen by chance.

"Uhh— this Excel sheet makes no sense."

"Why would it? This is just a dream after all." You said.

He then looked at you with confusion; his eyebrows raised high under his bangs. You had never seen him showing so much emotion on his face.

You just shrugged your shoulders and thanked him for his help.

── °. ⋆༺☾𖤓༻⋆. ° ──

The next time you dreamed about the office he kept looking at you with curiosity. "So, what do you exactly do in this department?"

Tricky question. "Work." You answered.

"I can see that." He said, narrowing his eyes. "But what do you exactly do, which project are you a part of?"

"Oooh well… I don't know."

"You don't know." He said with a blank expression. "How didn't you get fired yet?"

"It's not like this is my real job."

He looked dumbfounded for a second. "Then, what are you doing here?"

"Dreaming."

"Right." He took off his glasses and cleaned them. "Ok."

This strange change in behavior makes you a little confused. You two go back to 'work' for a while, him sending curious glances your way, like you were some kind of puzzle to figure out. It's your own curiosity about how this dream is going what makes you talk to him again.

"You know, I'm not here by choice. I'm already exhausted from my real job. I don't know why my brain conjures a new one when I come back from my night shift, and in such a vivid way no less."

The sound of his fingers typing on the keyboard stopped abruptly. "So you really don't have any idea why you're here." You nodded and the corner of his lips rose slightly in a faint smirk. "If that's the case, then why don't make yourself useful while this keeps happening?"

"Sure?" You said, clearly not convinced.

"Go to the printer and make 30 copies of this, please." He handed you a stack of papers that you looked wearily before accepting then.

"Wonderful, now I have to actually work even in my own dream…"

── °. ⋆༺☾𖤓༻⋆. ° ──

Every new time you come back to this dream, he gives you new chores. He began with easy tasks, like sending you to print something or going to get him a drink, always the most sugared ones. And after a few days he started assigning you simple tasks on the computer.

This feels like being a newbie to your very first job again. And this is how you noticed your dreams were all connected in chronological order. He remembers what you did and said from one dream to the other; and how you've been progressing in your work.

It's getting really strange.

You learn he doesn't like small talk, so your conversations revolve only around whatever task he is teaching you in the moment. You feel really awkward around him sometimes, it's pretty frustrating that your dreams make you feel this way instead of being happily sunbathing on a beach or something.

This new pattern suffers a change one day you went to sleep a lot later than you normally do, which means it was already well into the morning.

"You're late." He says dryly. A coin flipping back and forth between his fingers.

"Yes, I'm late to my own dream, sorry Boss." You leave a can of soda on his part of the desk. You had fallen asleep with it in your hand and found it incredibly amusing that it had appeared with you in the office. "For you."

He looks slightly confused and takes the can like it was an archaeological artifact from an ancient civilization.

"You don't need to inspect it like that, if I wanted to poison you I'd have gotten your favorite brand." You said as you dropped all your weight on your chair. "I just fell asleep on my couch while having it in my hand."

"Really? That's interesting."

He then proceeded to bombard you with questions about your dreams and if you always brought objects to them. You were not sure how to answer most of them since you don't really remember everything.

"Having this such vivid dreams is pretty new to me. It started… six months ago? Maybe ten? after I got this night shift job. Before that they were normal for me." You let your head drop over your arms in the table. "I guess this shows how much it fucked up my mind…"

"Tell me about your real job."

Could this be an attempt of your subconscious to do some self therapy? Whatever it was, you indulged him by speaking about your work; about the peaceful nights and the really tough ones. How you were always tired even in your days off and how it was slowly affecting your relationship with your friends and family. Halfway through it, he finally opened the can, taking sips as he listened attentively.

"…so I usually am already sleeping by 10 am but today there was a terrible traffic jam. There was a villain attack that blocked a major street."

"True, Nice and Wreck fought this morning… I'm lucky it didn't affect my train. Taking 1 hour to commute is already bad enough."

You gasped. "An hour?! Why don't you come here driving?"

He let out an humorless laugh. "Do you know how difficult it is to park in this district? It would take me even more time."

He was right. You felt bad for him even if he was not real.

"Well, since you are alive and well I have this thing I need you to do for me."

Never mind. "Oh, come on! I'm dead tired…"

He gave you instructions without any compassion, but then he looked at you for a moment and asked.

"How are you so sure that you are dreaming?"

"I always know." You said, shrugging. It's true, you usually notice when you are in a dream, even if it doesn't help you control it the same way it happens in cartoons.

"That must be comforting, to be able to tell dream apart from reality without doubt." He had a strange look in his eyes, like he wasn't seeing you but a vast endless horizon in front of him.

What an odd thing to say.

"You are a weird dream buddy, you know that?"

He gifted you a small smile.

── °. ⋆༺☾𖤓༻⋆. ° ──

Slowly, your fictional friend became less allergic to talking. You didn't dream about the office every day, it mostly occurred in the days you came back from work; but you found yourself looking forward to it more and more. He was the most consistent acquaintance you had in this moment and helped you to feel less lonely. Sometimes you wondered if this was your signal to pay a visit to a therapist; or maybe find a new job.

However, even if he was becoming some sort of imaginary friend to you, you weren't always so cooperative. After a particularly tough week, you were not willing to move a finger more than necessary.

"If I have to press another key I'll jump out the window!"

"I won't say I'm not curious about what would happen, but, please don't."

You stopped spinning in your chair like a bratty kid and sent him a look.

"What do you mean? This is a dream, I would just wake up."

"Are you sure? You said yourself it is a weirdly vivid dream."

That was an unsettling though to have. Better to be far from deadly situations just in case.

"Whatever, I'm watching a movie right now."

He looked around to the rest of co-workers in the room. A few of them were chatting about the most recent news near the door and the rest were quietly typing on their own stations.

"Do it."

You were already logged in your favorite site and selecting one, but you stopped. What kind of dream logic was this?

"You are not going to stop me from watching a movie in the middle of the office?"

"Why would I? I'm curious to see if they'll notice. Wait, that's a black and white film."

"Yes, I really like pre-Dawnfall classical movies. It's a pity that a lot of them were lost… Look, this director in one of my favorites…"

You then gave him a complete speech about everything you knew about cinema. He listened with attention, nodding, and adding his own insight about art references and storytelling. At some point of the conversation the topic moved to animation and at that moment he seemed to bloom with energy. You had never heard him talk that much ever. You both were so invested in the conversation that you completely forgot about the small test he suggested before.

── °. ⋆༺☾𖤓༻⋆. ° ──

Your days off felt like stepping out of a plane in a completely different country and being hit by the worst possible jet-lag. You did your best to spend quality time with your friends and family, even if it meant to destroy your circadian rhythm even more. That's why you would fall asleep by pure exhaustion at the oddest hours those days. You found weird you rarely had your most repetitive dream in these moments; but actually restful nights were always welcomed, even if you missed your imaginary friend. Since talking about cinema and art, he had opened a lot more to you. You learned that he was a Lucky Cyan fan, which you could have never imagined and found incredibly funny that your mind had made that up. He had a fine taste on music and it was incredibly interesting listening to his recommendations. When he showed interest in a topic, he did really knew a lot of things about it and had fascinating insights. Anyhow, the thing that amused you the most was how much he knew about the office gossip and the news about heroes, despite categorically denying any interest in them.

Another shift in his attitude was that he had started to give you small treats. They appeared in the form of a soda can on your side of the desk, a cup of coffee or a few candies. He didn't make a big deal about them but you knew he secretly watched you taking them with a somewhat pleased face. It made you notice that he was, in fact, quite handsome.

More things to add to your symptoms of loneliness. Maybe making a list for your future therapist was a good idea. With all of this in mind, you finally drifted off consciousness.

There was a fire in front of you. The flames danced menacingly inside the windows of a building across the street, illuminating the dark night. There were people screaming at the top of their lungs and the sirens could be heard in the distance, getting closer and closer. The atmosphere was oppressive, the smoke in the air made your eyes water and your throat got uncomfortably dry. But the worst was the heat. You felt it burning your skin as if you were inside a giant oven.

Your heart dropped when you heard someone was crying in one of the highest windows. Help. You needed to find help. You spun around to run, there had to be someone nearby that could help and you were going to bring them here. However, you ran headlong into a man. The color white flooded your field of vision and an arm tightly enveloped you.

"You know, I'm getting fond of your company, but this is not the best moment."

With a loud snap, several people suddenly materialized in the street. They seemed to be various families, there were also two dogs, a few cats and four lovebirds inside a really big cage. All of them were in various states of disarray, covered in soot. They stared at each other in confusion and some of them began to sob, others to cry or laugh.

"You should go." Said the man that had you trapped, your attention snapping back to him. There was something familiar in his voice. You craned your neck and were welcomed by a pair of orange tinted glasses.

"X! You've saved them!."

He let go of you and raised his arm.

"Wait!, Wait! Can I have your autograph?" You stopped him by taking his raised arm with both your hands. He tilted his head, looking a little amused. You had a distant though of being grateful this was only a dream, otherwise you would be freaking out about touching Hero X himself.

He took out a handkerchief and a pen from an inner pocket of his jacket, an signed it with a big X.

"Here it is." He put it in your hand. "Now it's time for you to wake up."

You startled awake in your bed with a loud snap still resonating inside your ears.

That had been a peculiar dream. So lucid you still were scared to your bones and the smell of smoke was present inside your nose. Taking a moment to breathe, you stared at your ceiling. Hero X had looked so real too… this time you were really grateful for your weird mind. You moved to get out of bed, but noticed there was something in your hand. It was an elegant piece of cloth with a big X signed in black ink.

"What…?!"

── °. ⋆༺☾𖤓༻⋆. ° ──

"Did you see the news? X saved a lot of people from a fire! It only took him one second!" A woman with pink hair was chatting loudly with her coworker, right behind you.

You tried to hide a flinch. Even if you actually were in the fake office, you had seen in FOMO that X saving all the occupants of a building had indeed happened in real life. The only explanation you found was that you had fallen asleep right after hearing the news and you didn't remember it.

However, there was a problem with that explanation: it didn't justify why you had a pretty much real and signed handkerchief hidden in your room.

Could it be that you had obtained some kind of power to recreate objects from your dreams? It would make sense if your trust value had increased but, it was the usual number so it wasn't the case.

Maybe you were losing your mind after all? If you were actually there and had some memory loss it would explain it, but you were sure you were dreaming. As sure as you knew you were in a dream right now. It was a good idea to make a doctor's appointment first, just in case. If everything was normal, then you could move on to the trust vale theories without worry.

"You're awfully quiet today." Your coworker was looking at you with a faint tint of worry in his eyes.

"I just have a lot of stuff in mind— I'm surprised you don't know, since my mind made you up and that."

He turned slightly in his office chair to look directly at you. Behind you two, your colleagues started laughing loudly at a bad joke about the last tournament.

"I may have trouble telling what is and what is not real from time to time, but for once I'm sure that your mind didn't made me up. The same way it didn't made up that excel you're procrastinating on." He said pointing at your screen.

A grunt escaped your lips. "Why are you like this? Let me have some rest, this is starting to look more and more like having two jobs."

"You don't say!" A little smirk appeared on his face. "You know, I actually have a second job too."

"Really? Which one?" You were surprised at this new information, but it made sense since he really looked like and overworked salaryman.

"It's a secret."

"You have a secret job? Are you a spy or something?" He had such a normal appearance that he would actually be an incredibly good undercover agent. "Are this tasks you are giving me actually some kind of illegal stuff?"

"Oh no, those are for making my life easier." He covered a yawn with his hand and slumped forward, resting his head over his folded arms on the table.

"Are you ok Boss? You look particularly tired today."

"You know, you can call me by my name."

You would do if you didn't forget it every time you woke up. It saddened you not to have a name to call him by. You were definitely getting attached to him. Once he had let down the barrier he had around himself, you had found that you absolutely loved spending time with him. More than once, you had caught yourself wishing he were real . He looked so cute sitting there, his head resting on his arms as he stared intently at his smartwatch. You took a moment to appreciate his pretty eyes, the shape of his lips and his chiselled jaw.

Driven by a sudden impulse, you leaned closer to him and brushed his bangs aside with one hand. Before you had time to back down, you planted a light kiss on his forehead.

"Why— why did you do that?" He stuttered a bit, looking anywhere but at you.

"Why not? This is just a dream, and you looked cute."

He blinked a few times with his lips slightly parted, completely at a loss for words.

── °. ⋆༺☾𖤓༻⋆. ° ──

The sun was slowly sinking behind X City's skyline, gold and amber reflected by the countless skyscrapers windows. The streets below grew darker as the sun disappeared behind the buildings and the first lights flickered on in offices and apartments. You were admiring the privileged view perched atop a roof, a light breeze caressing your skin. This could be the restful dream you needed, even if it was at an odd hour for you, but then you heard someone clearing his throat behind you.

He was sat on the edge of the rooftop parapet, clad in a white suit. With a leg crossed over the other and his relaxed posture he looked like he owned the city. In a way he did, given his position in the hero ranking.

And he was friendly waving at you. It took you a moment to regain your senses and wave back, awkwardly getting closer to him.

"Why are you sleeping at this hour?" He asked, sounding quite intrigued.

"I went to visit my family this morning and have a doctor's appointment tomorrow, so I had to try to at least take a nap." You didn't have the opportunity to casually chat on a rooftop with Hero X everyday. So it was time to overcome any shyness you could feel around him. This was a dream after all.

"I see, so we may not have much time before you wake up… What about a little stroll?"

He stood with fluid movements and walked pass you with both his hands inside his pockets, expecting you to just follow him. As he reached the edge of the rooftop, he extended a hand toward you and you grabbed it. After that, with effortless calm, he stepped one leg over the parapet and snapped the fingers of his free hand, pulling you along with him.

For a split second, panic gripped you. Your stomach dropped as gravity twisted and the world around you melted into different shapes and colors. His hand holding yours was an anchor and the only thing keeping you from losing all sense of space and time.

You stood even if there wasn't a palpable floor below you, mesmerized at how everything that surrounded you was painted in vibrant light blue, with different geometrical shapes scattered around in yellow, reddish-purple and other colors… Wait.

"Why do the world look like your soda brand, X?" You asked breathlessly.

He smirked and pointed behind you with his chin. "Not the whole world."

You spun around without letting go of his hand and found a captivating view of the city from a different angle than before. It looked like you were watching through a huge window, or a screen.

"Are we… are we inside that giant billboard of your soda?" You had seen it before. It was in front of the rooftop you two had been a moment ago.

"Bingo. We'll reach our destination faster this way."

He then pulled you towards the side of the giant screen. After a certain step the blue hues disappeared abruptly and were replaced by the bright pink of a cosmetic brand.

You two kept hopping from billboard to billboard. You watched with your mouth agape how everything changed from pink to neon lights to a cartoony aesthetic in a hypnotic succession. Was this how his power worked in real life too? You were so absorbed by the sight that you almost lost your footing the moment you found yourself under the open sky with sand below your shoes.

"The beach?"

He let go of your hand slowly, the feeling of his fingers brushing yours sent a light shiver through your body.

"Well, you always say you would prefer having dreams about the beach."

A soft smile appears in your face. "You're not wrong, I really need a vacation."

Without thinking too much about the fact that you were on the beach in the middle of the night with the strongest Hero, you took off your shoes and walked toward the shore. The water was warmer than you had expected. You stood at the water's edge and let the waves brush against your skin. It was dark, but you could see well enough thanks to the full moon. It's light reflected off the water, creating a beautiful sight.

A hand made its way to the small of your back, warmth radiating through your body from it. X was at your side, his shoes in his other hand and his trousers rolled up.

"Shall we?"

He hadn't been lying when he suggested going for a walk earlier. The two off you strolled along the beach beneath the moonlight, with the soft murmur of the waves accompanying your conversation.

It was the most relaxed you had felt in months. Under different circumstances, you might have stopped to wonder why you felt so comfortable walking alongside the most powerful hero in the city. But there was something about him that made you feel like you could trust him without hesitation. Something in the way he spoke, in the little gestures he made… he reminded you of…

"My office friend is going to be so jealous, he sure could take a day off like this too."

"You are right. He could really use a vacation." He said with a hint of longing in his voice. "Oh, it's time, you're about to wake up."

You both stopped in front of each other. Being this close to him, you could take a proper look of his features and it was clear he resembled a lot your tired co-worker. Well, that explained why he was so handsome, your mind had modeled him after Hero X no less.

"How do you know I'm—"

"You're flickering."

You glanced to your arms. Was he joking? You didn't notice anything amiss.

"It isn't easy to spot." As he said that, he tucked a finger under your chin to raise it delicately, so you were looking him directly in the eyes. "There's no more time, I had a wonderful night with you."

He leaned in unhurriedly, telegraphing his movements. But you were transfixed while he pressed his lips right beside the corner of your mouth. Warmth spreading on your face, you woke up on your bed with the fresh smell of his cologne still lingering on your skin.

── °. ⋆༺☾𖤓༻⋆. ° ──

Last night had been really different from what you were used to. You couldn't help but play on repeat the dream over an over on your mind. The travel between billboards, the moonlight reflecting on X's silver hair… and the kiss. You still felt the phantom touch of his lips near your mouth.

You felt like you were walking on air while you were on your way to the doctor. Around you, people were walking either hurriedly or absorbed by their phones. Navigating through the sea of people at this hour was difficult. Everyone looked like an homogeneous mass of worries and haste. But someone stood out.

He was at some distance ahead of you. He could have easily blend with the crowd if it wasn't for his height. Towering above most of the people around him was your friend from the office. The dream office, the one you were sure your brain has made up.

And you also were sure that you weren't sleeping right now.

Had you seen him before and your mind was simply replicating his face? What were the possibilities of you two crossing paths again?

Forget the doctor, you were following this guy.

You put into practice all the spying methods you knew from movies. Walking behind him from a save distance, blend with the crowd, watch him from his reflection in mirrors and shop windows… It took you around ten minutes to lose him.

What a letdown. You looked desperately everywhere, but he had seemed to vanish into thin air.

A paper coffee cup materialized in your field of vision.

"For you."

It was his voice, there was no mistaking it. You looked to your side and there he was, with his black suit, his bowl cut and his glasses.

"It's nice to finally meet you in person." He said with a small awkward smile.

You were left speechless, just like he did when you kissed his forehead.

"So, everything was real?" You asked, your voice betraying how shocked you were.

"As far as I can tell, yes, everything was real."

"But how… I was so sure I was dreaming."

"You were." He simply states. "Want to take a walk?"

You nod and finally take the cup he had offered. You both stroll in silence for a while. Your mind was a hurricane and he let you process everything at your own rhythm.

"You knew all this time?" You finally said after finishing your drink.

"Given that you would materialize out of thin air and disappear at my side, yes, I guessed something was up. But for our colleagues, they only could see you if you talked to them, so they are just confused about your weird schedule."

"Well, I do really have a weird schedule." You laughed, this situation was hard to assimilate. "Why didn't you say anything?"

"I wasn't sure if you were there to spy me at first."

"And you've been using me to get part of your job done for fr—" You started to say but then it clicked. You stopped walking abruptly. "Wait— your second job! All this time! You! Oh my god!"

His demeanor changed subtly them. X winked at you with an enigmatic expression and leaned closer to you.

"It's a secret, remember?"

He had whispered it to your ear, and after that he kissed the corner of your mouth just like last time, but you were not having it. Grabbing his tie with one hand, you pulled. He made a little noise of surprise that you swallowed when your lips touched. A hand traveled to your waist while the other found its way to the back of your neck, lightly caressing your skin. When you both parted to breathe, his face had softened.

"Let me make it up to you. What about I start by treating you to some cake? Today is my birthday after all."

"You'd better. You owe me plenty of cakes for everything I've helped you with." You teased with a big smile. "Happy birthday dream buddy."

He regarded you with a warm smile and offered his hand to you. Taking it, you let him guide you.