Madness

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Jisung settled down, sensing no danger and finding the shorter male before him to be nice enough. Logically, fighting a dream was pointless. They were supposed to be enjoyed, right? So chatting to a pretty boy was supposed to help him sleep. That's what he needed to tell himself to calm down.

"Anyway, what are you doing here...Chenle?" He tried the name out loud, earning a cute nod from the other.

"I don't know, to be perfectly honest. I woke up here, much like you, and have been trapped inside this cottage ever since."

"Really?" He assumed this was all some sort of response his brain was creating. Jisung wasn't ready to grasp any other explanation. "Why can't you leave?"

The older tapped the clear barrier, a small glow being left where his skin touched. It disappeared in an instant though, intriguing Jisung. The pinkette tried as well, crawling up to the force field and smacking it with his hand. Like for Chenle, it glowed a blueish hue in a circular shape then settled again.

"Can't you just...shut it down? Like, isn't there an off switch?"

The older rolled his eyes like he had heard that idea a hundred times. "No, there isn't. I've never been out there....where you are. And I guess you can't come in here either."

"Guess not."

Both sat in silence for a minute, taking in each other's appearance. Jisung tried to read the other boy, wondering why he looked so sad, even when sporting a smile. Was this all part of the dream too?

Chenle broke the quiet with a question, "How did you disappear last time? It was like you materialised out of nowhere, started hitting yourself, then faded away again. How?"

"Oh, believe me, that wasn't intentional. I fell asleep in class, then woke up when I fell out of my seat. It was so embarrassing," the younger explained.

Chenle frowned, "You went back to your world? So quickly?"

"Is that what you call waking up?"

"B-But I'm not sleeping. I wake up here everyday, and nothing changes. I want to go home too."

Jisung sat back, resting on his hands behind him and staring at the other intently. This was a strange scene to see while asleep indeed. Not once had he dreamt something this.....weird.

The older leaned in, pressing both hands against the barrier. "So what's it like? Where you're from. Tell me about it since we have an eternity."

What's he talking about? The pink haired teen thought, shaking it off and not even bothering to question it further. "It's normal. Y'know, school, friends, homework, football, shopping-"

"Woah, woah, woah," the shorter interrupted him, "Football? Homework? I haven't heard about those in ages. Is the curriculum still impossibly hard?"

"God yeah. It takes me hours just to do my homework. I don't even get to go gaming with my friends much these days."

"Gaming?"

"Yeah. Like video games and stuff. Fun things. Oh well, I'll get over it eventually," Jisung chuckled, but Chenle was still trying to wrack his brain to remember what video games were.

"When I was still at home," the white haired male began, "I used to go on walks with my little sister, help my father with the business...which I can't remember......and swim in this lake near our house."

"Wow, you're so old fashioned," Jisung smiled, finding an undeniable charm to Chenle that he had never seen in anyone else their age. "I like it."

The older beamed, looking down at his hands for a moment before glancing back up to see a puff of bright glitter.....and no Jisung.

"J-Jisung?" He whispered, looking around frantically and hitting his hands against the barrier. "Jisung!"

His voice got louder and louder before he realised he was grasping at nothing and that the younger was gone. He knocked his head off the invisible surface, "Take me with you....."

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