Ships Passing In The Night ｜Markhyuck (OT21 AU)

Chapter 3

"You have no idea," Haechan muttered. He started to speak again, a room full of dream-onlookers be damned, but the teacher chose that moment to realise that he had a class to teach. Clearing his throat, the man straightened his tie and stared pointedly at Haechan, who took the hint and scurried to the back of the room and sank into his assigned seat with a groan. Slumping down onto the desk, he tucked his head into his arms, curling them around his face, and prayed for his alarm to go off and for him to wake up from this mess.

--

Haechan drifts through several different classes throughout the morning, like a dream within a dream. Nothing quite feels real except for the conversation he keeps replaying in his head, and the image of Renjun turning his back on him that haunts him every time he closes his eyes. He's aware of a group of people walking with him between classrooms, making comfortable conversation like he's not even there, but he can't remember any specific details.

Nobody attempts to engage him in conversation, which he's grateful for, but it's an odd dynamic. He always seems to exist at the centre of the large group, people coming and going but the current swirling to hone in on wherever he stands. He shifts a few feet to his left in the ground floor hallway at one point, just to see what will happen, and a few moments later the dynamic shifts to regroup around him. It's a weird feeling and one that he's not sure how to interpret, since he doesn't recognise a single face in the crowd, but there's a certain comfort that comes from the low hum of noise on all sides. Evidently, in this dream world, not everyone hates him.

Just Renjun...

He sees the older boy in one of his other classes but doesn't try to speak to him. Jaemin is in one too, and he smiles at Haechan when their eyes meet, but he doesn't seem to be a part of the entourage that Haechan seems to have at all times. He wonders what that means. Jaemin had seemed friendly enough first thing, but did that mean they weren't friends in this fiction he had created. He wondered if it was his brain's way of punishing him for what he'd said to Johnny the previous night--or the same night, since he was technically still asleep.

He didn't think his mind would be cruel enough to make his friends hate him in his dreams. He just needed to talk to them, to figure out who else was here, and to wait it out until he woke up. Lunch would be the perfect opportunity, he thought, as the loud bell chimed for the end of--he checked the title of the unopened book in his hands--modern history.

"Are you going to rehearsal today?"

Haechan jumped, startled by the sudden appearance of a figure beside his desk. Glancing up, he made eye contact with a slim girl with wide eyes and long, inky black hair. She was watching him expectantly, so he cleared his throat and pushed up out of his chair. She started moving toward the door, clearly expecting him to follow and leaving him little choice but to hurry out into the hallway behind her. Around him, he felt several others do the same, although they didn't crowd him as much this time. Just a constant, watchful presence at his back.

"What?" he asked when they were clear of the classroom.

"Rehearsal. At lunch. Are you going?" He had no idea what rehearsal she meant, so he shook his head.

"Not today. I need to talk to someone." He scanned the busy hallway, ducking to see around the heads of a few of his entourage, and spotted Jaemin walking a few paces behind the group. Slowing down, the crowd flowed around him, unable to keep him in the centre with the sudden change of pace, and he manoeuvred himself until he was next to his friend. "Where are you eating lunch?"

"Me?" Jaemin sounded taken aback for a moment but recovered well. His eyes flicked quickly over to the group of nameless students who had been surrounding Haechan, and then back to the boy at his side. "Uh, I usually eat in the main cafeteria."