NOT MY WOLRD, BUT MAYBE MY HOME

1.

The first thing Por registered was the smell of rain on hot pavement - familiar, and yet not. He was lying on a bench near a fountain he didn't recognize, in a courtyard that looked like his university but wasn't quite. The buildings were the right shape, the right cream-colored stone, but the signage was wrong.

A banner overhead advertised a freshman welcome week for a year that hadn't happened yet. Or had already happened. He couldn't tell.

His phone was dead. His wallet had his ID in it - but the photo was him, and the name was him, and the student number was one digit off from what it should have been.

"Are you lost?"

Por looked up. A guy was standing over him, backpack slung over one shoulder, head tilted with the particular gentle concern of someone used to strangers looking worse than they meant to. He had a soft face, sharp eyes, an expression that seemed built for patience.

"I-" Por started, and found he had no good way to finish that sentence. I don't know where I am. I don't know when I am. I don't know if this is my world. "I think I'm lost, yeah."

"You look pale. Did you eat today?" The guy crouched slightly, like Por was something that might spook. "I'm Tee, by the way. Comm arts, third year."

"Por," he said automatically. It was still his name, at least. That felt like solid ground when nothing else did. "I'm... also third year. I think."

Tee's brows drew together, amused and a little wary. "You think?"

"It's been a weird day."

That got a small laugh out of Tee - quiet, surprised out of him rather than performed. "Okay, weird-day Por. Come on, there's a canteen two buildings over. You can sit somewhere that isn't a fountain ledge, and we can figure out what 'weird' means."

Por hesitated only a second before standing. His legs felt unsteady, like the ground itself wasn't fully trustworthy yet. Tee noticed - of course he noticed - and slowed his pace to match without comment, hands hovering not-quite-touching Por's elbow, ready to catch him if the world tilted again.

It was such a small thing. A stranger slowing down. But in a place where nothing else made sense, it was the first thing that did.

"Thank you," Por said quietly, as they walked.

Tee glanced sideways at him, something unreadable and warm passing over his face. "You looked like you needed someone to say it's going to be okay. So - it's going to be okay."

Por didn't know yet how true that would turn out to be. But for the first time since he'd opened his eyes in a world that wasn't his, he let himself believe it, just a little.