Work Text:
The cathedral pews smelled like old wood and pamphlet paper. Yunho was around six years old. He knelt with his elbows on the floor and his chin propped in his hands. He had a clear view of underneath the pew in front of him—all the slacks and skirts and pairs of Sunday-best shoes in a neat row.
Strangely, instead of the drone of a sermon, Yunho heard someone whispering loudly. He followed the sound, crawling down the space between the pews. He pressed his face to the floor and noticed a large shape under a pew a couple rows ahead.
Yunho flattened himself and shimmied around the legs of seated churchgoers. He crawled in between an old woman, who always gave him candies after service, and her granddaughter, who he knew from Sunday school.
The strange shape under the pews turned out to be a grown-up. Yunho reached him and saw that he was lying on his back with his eyes shut tight and his hands folded in front of his chest. He muttered like he was praying.
Yunho joined him under the pew, lying flat on his stomach. He poked at the crown of the grown-up’s head.
The whispering stopped, and the guy tipped his head back to see who had poked him.
Immediately, he smiled and turned himself over so that he was eye-to-eye with Yunho.
“No way!” he cried, his voice echoing off the walls of the cathedral.
Yunho frowned and shushed him. What kind of grown-up didn’t know to be quiet in church? He was also wearing checkered pajamas. Yunho's parents never let him wear pajamas to church.
“You’re tiny,” the guy said in awe, quieter this time, “I bet I’m taller than you right now. That’s crazy.”
He squinted at Yunho almost like he recognized him.
Sure enough, he asked, “Do you know who I am?”
There was something sort of familiar about him, but Yunho couldn’t think of his name at all. Maybe he was a friend of Yunho’s parents? Or instead of a grown-up, was he a big kid in the youth group?
“Not really,” whispered Yunho.
With a playful giggle, the guy held out a hand for Yunho to take. Yunho's hand disappeared in his.
“I’m Wooyoung, your friend from the future. I’m your favorite, too. Remember when you wake up that I’m your best friend in the world.”
Yunho frowned again. The face of a boy he knew from school popped into his head. “You’re lying! Mingi’s my best friend.”
Wooyoung let out a tortured sigh. “You remember Mingi but not me?”
“Why’re you praying on the floor?” asked Yunho.
Wooyoung rotated again so he faced the underside of their pew.
“Not praying. Trying to summon a dream,” he said, closing his eyes again and pressing the tips of his fingers to his temples.
Yunho rested his chin on the backs of his hands, staring at the top of Wooyoung’s head.
“That makes no sense.”
“Yes, it does.”
“No, it doesn’t.”
“Well, why are you crawling around on the floor? Doesn’t make sense for you to be down here, either.”
“Yeah, it does. You can see everyone’s shoes.”
Wooyoung propped himself up on an elbow to glare at him and bumped his head on the underside of the pew.
"Ow."
Yunho covered his mouth and snickered.
"You’re a weird kid," Wooyoung loud whispered. Then he put a finger to his lips, laid down again, and shut his eyes tight.
Yunho supposed he was concentrating, but it looked like he’d just chewed on a lemon.
A loud crack split the air overhead. It sounded a lot like lightning. Yunho flinched and drew in a breath.
Wooyoung’s eyes flew open, and he wriggled out from under the pew.
Yunho followed him, and as he stood up, Wooyoung whooped in triumph with his face turned toward the ceiling.
Instead of seeing the rafters of the cathedral as they usually looked, Yunho saw a huge split in the air with shimmering edges.
It reminded him of a big crack in a wall, except it was growing wider and wider and opening to...another place.
Instinctively, he hid behind Wooyoung. But while he was more afraid by the second, Wooyoung was laughing. His laugh was high pitched and gleeful.
“It worked! Oh my god, it worked! That’s Yeosang’s apartment!”
The rift overhead was several feet wide and crackled like it was made of electricity.
Wooyoung moved through the pews until he was in the center aisle. Reluctantly, Yunho clung to the back of his shirt and followed him.
Briefly, he wondered if this was what Jesus returning looked like. It didn’t seem right for Jesus to come back from an apartment in another world, though.
“Wooyoung? What’s happening?” he asked shakily.
Wooyoung seemed to remember he was there, and he took Yunho’s smaller hand in his own. He pointed at the split in the air.
“See that? That’s my dream. I just came from there. I’m not completely sure 'cause I've never done this before, but I think your dream and mine are sort of bumping into each other. You know?”
Yunho didn't know. He didn't understand at all. He crowded closer to Wooyoung's side and swallowed hard. “Can you put it back how it was?”
Bravely, he looked up and focused on the other place beyond the rift. Through it, he and Wooyoung were viewing everything from above. There was a sofa and gray carpet. Something was playing on a TV, and a couple people were walking around. One of them glanced up and made eye contact with Yunho, and Yunho hid further behind Wooyoung.
Instead of answering Yunho, Wooyoung reached toward the opening as if waiting to catch something. A moment later, a pillow from the sofa dropped from Wooyoung’s dream. It fell all the way from the ceiling into his hand.
Yunho blinked in confusion and stared at the pillow. It didn't look strange or dreamlike. Although it did have a cartoon drawing of a floppy-eared dog on it.
Letting go of Yunho’s hand, Wooyoung jumped up and down and punched the air.
“How’s that for some dream physics!” he shouted.
Then he turned around and tousled Yunho's hair. He gave him the pillow.
Yunho gaped at him, completely bewildered, but hugged the pillow close anyway. He watched, spellbound, as the rift in the cathedral's ceiling started to close. The silvery edges of the crack in the air met at either end and slowly drew together like a zipper until the dream apartment disappeared and nothing was left. There was only an empty cathedral ceiling, Wooyoung, and Yunho with his fingers curled into the pillow.
When Yunho woke up, he was clutching one of his extra blankets close to his chest. For several minutes, he lay there remembering the details of his dream.
It had been a while since he had dreamed he was back in his home church. And he had no idea what sci-fi fantasy plot he had read or watched lately to make him dream up Wooyoung opening a portal to another dream world. It was also strange that Wooyoung had talked to him in his dream like he knew Yunho as an adult.
Yunho grabbed his phone off his nightstand and squinted at the screen while he opened his notes app. He was definitely writing everything down.
After a few minutes, he tapped on a familiar contact on a whim. Yeosang answered after a couple rings.
"Hey...this is going to sound crazy, but did you buy any new couch pillows recently?"
