San rose his head when Hongjoong strutted into the room. He had a broad smile on his face after just returning from Jongho. The chef had congratulated him on his first consistent patient and reminded him not to mess it up. The amount of money he had mentioned as an extra delighted Hongjoong's bleak and stony heart.

"Consider me tied down," Hongjoong smirked at the other man as he collected his schedule from the table. San had printed it out for him earlier. Sipping from his lukewarm coffee, Hongjoong read through it.

Park Seonghwa had a night shift this week. His sleeping hours shifted to the time between 8 and 2 in the afternoon. Hence why Hongjoong was in at the same time as the rest of the team this morning. Usually, he didn't need to go to the office every day if nobody required him to.

Hongjoong glanced at his watch. Park was a punctual man, which made his job easy. Having designated sleeping times wasn't common among people at that age. Still, fifteen minutes to go.

He sipped his coffee faster.

"How was he? Nothing too creepy, I hope?"

"No Beksinski, no. I might not be qualified if that were the case. But some alarm bells rang. I'll figure it out with time. If Jongho gets hold of his medical records, he will tell me." Hongjoong put his cup down and stuffed a folder into his bag. He didn't care about crinkled edges. Nobody was around to criticise him.

"Did he wear his uniform?" Pretentiously nonchalant, San typed away at his computer. The printed version of his paint flower laid next to him on the desk. Maybe he would frame it, like his other artworks.

Hongjoong shouldered his bag and collected his shoes from the ground. No need to wear them just to scale a single staircase. No matter how cold it was, it wasn't worth the ten seconds of putting his shoes back on.

"He didn't. I'll report back once he does."

San giggled into his workload. After saying his goodbyes, Hongjoong strode off. Outside, he greeted Mingi at his table as he wrote away furiously. His study material fanned out around him like an ocean of paperwork. Impressed that he found his way around, Hongjoong left the office.

Up on the third floor, it wasn't just as cold. Jongho made it a point to keep the temperatures up here level so that whenever an emergency jump was needed, they wouldn't catch a cold during their sleep. Hongjoong appreciated the carpeted floor as he set down the bag next to the working station. They had two chambers and two monitors up here. For him and San to be able to dive right to work if needed. San currently had no person to watch over, so Hongjoong was alone. When visited alone, the top floor always smelled wonderfully like old books.

Hongjoong logged in to the computer and searched for Park's profile. The monitor pulled up with the info that there was no definite indication of his dream behaviour yet. Time to wait.

Hongjoong got out his breakfast and kicked his legs up on the table. While he munched on his sandwich, he watched the first records appear. A counter estimated Park's pulse and another one read the brain activity to record the sleep cycle.

It took him a while to fall asleep. His thoughts seemed busy, occupied with something that distracted him from sleeping. Hongjoong assumed he took some sleeping pills since it completely evened out about half an hour later. Huddled into his warm hoodie, he watched over the counter. Either he sat here all day long while Park had a pleasant dream, or he would jump from his chair soon to hurry to his aid.

It was version two.

As soon as the computer algorithm began to translate the impulses from Seonghwa's brain into pictures, Hongjoong sprung into action. He activated the right chamber, his preferred one. The information of what he needed got calculated.

"Forest, running, no predator detected."

Hongjoong rid his hands of the last crumbs of his sandwich as he hurried into the room and closed the door tightly behind him. The anaesthetic lacing the air instantly settled in his brain. His sight blurred, artificial tiredness taking over him. Hongjoong curled up in a corner against the soft pillows. Within seconds he was pulled under and entered the weird stage of limbo before the dream fully constructed around him.

Hongjoong always referred to this as the loading screen. Knowing where he was going, he dreamt up everything he needed. A light source, good running shoes, and his usual attire. Tonight, Hongjoong was bold and went for a dangling earring, too.

With a flashlight in one hand, he ultimately found himself in a forest. The colours and shadows around him thickened as he entered the dream, as if buffering until all textures had loaded.

Park was in front of him. Running from nothing. The mere vibe of the dream seemed to scare him. Dark trees loomed over their heads and seemed to stare down at him. They stretched out their gnarly branches for him like a witch's fingers, with far too many knuckles.

Hongjoong went after him. He tried to stay quiet so he wouldn't scare Park any further. With enough distance, he followed the man.

The forest was unsettling. Endless and so ominous. Hongjoong had no idea what might jump out at him. In the distance and coming from everywhere at once, the creepy sounds of a music box hummed a lonely and weary song. The tunes would be soothing in any other setting, but here they were jarring. Every tune bore into Hongjoong's head like a nail, slowly driving him insane.

Ferns slapped against Hongjoong's shins as he leapt over logs and larger stones. He chased Park through what felt to be his entire dream. Neither of them tired. Even as they heaved for breath and would have long since stopped as physical people, the setting of the dream allowed both of them to continue racing. Further through the black forest, as if there were an end to it somewhere.

Tattered rags hung from the tree branches. At first, Hongjoong has assumed them to be more plants, but soon he identified them as clothes. Dresses, pants and shirts, all emptily swaying in the faint breeze. Shoes littered the ground, creating a path that trailed behind the dreamer.

Progressively, the shoes got more. They covered the ground in a dense layer, slowing Park down. He waded through them as if through water. While creating a path for Hongjoong to follow, he also shortened their distance from each other.

Dark shadows loomed behind Hongjoong. The trees seemed to have disappeared, only black darkness surrounding them. They forced their way through the tumbling shoes that now climbed to their hips. Dress shoes, sports shoes, high heels, children's shoes... Hongjoong shovelled them off left and right as he pursued the man.

After a few more steps, Park had no other choice than to try to swim through the shoes. No more ground stabilised their feet, and every blind kick to bring them forwards ended nowhere. As if wanting to swallow them, the weight pressed down on them, making it hard to stay afloat.

In the distance, the spooky tunes picked up in volume. Louder, as if the source came near.

Park swam through the vast and endless ocean of shoes in a frenzy. He trashed and squirmed, panic having his limbs flail.

As time passed, he sank more and more under the waves of shoes. With weak arms, he hit around, trying to find purchase. But as if the mess of loafers had become a pool of quicksand, it slowly dragged him under.

Choked, desperate sounds escaped Park when his head got swallowed. Only a hand still stretched into the dark of their surroundings.

Hongjoong pushed forward more. His fingers fumbled for his flashlight. When he reached out the long object to the weakly twitching hand, it wrapped right around it. Delicate fingers gripped the steel so tight that his knuckles turned white.

Hongjoong yanked, sinking into the mess of shoes himself as he did. They surrounded him with their uncomfortable edges and corners. Park's rustling pushed Hongjoong further in, and he held perfectly still, fully submerged by shoes once Park rose.

For a moment, he looked around, quite confused. He found neither the person who had pulled him out nor the flashlight he had gripped.

Hongjoong waited tensely. His heart hammered against his chest. Around him, the dream thinned out. With Park believing himself secure of danger, his fear of the nightmare disappeared.

When Hongjoong awoke in his chamber, he rolled to his knees. He was cold, feeling slightly shaken. In his years on the job, he had got into quite a lot of predicaments. And yet, he had never had to hide in a sea of shoes that ate people.

He needed a cup of hot tea.

Just when he reached for the door to pull himself up and leave, sleep dragged him down once more. Hongjoong slumped on the ground as he entered limbo a second time.

How had the dream changed? Still shoes? Hongjoong didn't know what to bring, so he went for his gun and a rope this time.

Seonghwa must have shaken himself awake and fallen right back into his restless sleep. This time, Hongjoong appeared in a living room. The two-room flat barely offered any spots for him to hide in. Quickly, he crouched behind the sofa. The darkness would have to offer him protection.

For a moment, everything was silent. A clock ticked away nearby. Outside the window, a car passed through. Hongjoong would have mistaken it for a normal night at home if the distinct feeling of a dream didn't cling to it.

A door to his left opened. A man stepped out, barely recognisable in the dark. He stumbled over to the kitchen aisle and searched around for something. Once he found it, a switch clicked. Fairy lights that rounded the kitchen counter flickered on. They bathed the scene in dull orange light.

Hongjoong finally recognised Park. His haggard face looked tired and worn, giving away how he usually felt waking up at night. Some incomprehensible murmurs tumbled from his lips. He opened the fridge and pulled out a bunch of clothes. Hongjoong bit back a smile at his in-dream confusion.

Since he had to watch over him, Hongjoong couldn't exactly avert his eyes when the man stripped. Instead, he ran them over the walls and his interior decoration, deciding the man likely had an immense love for plants. At least in this dream. He watched from the corners of his eyes how Park changed, buttoning up his shirt and fastening his belt. Now he wore his uniform. It clung to his slender frame as if made for him. For the first time, Hongjoong got an eyeful of his long legs and slender waist.

The intimate setting had him blush. He wasn't meant to see this.

Park tightened a holster with his gun around his chest. Once he had shimmied his tie into place, he ate exactly one cookie that he dreamt up to appear on the kitchen counter. The coffee machine whirred needlessly in the background as he turned to leave the scene.

Hongjoong carefully inched after him. It was impossible to know where the horror in this dream would wait. For sure, it would scare the dreamer even worse, since he currently believed himself to be awake and safe.

Park pulled open the door leading outside. Just as he stepped over the threshold, Hongjoong saw something move to his left. A gooey mass, black and indiscernible. It seemed to have glowing red eyes and a gaping mouth as it rushed after the officer.

Hongjoong's shots banged as he turned the thing into Swiss cheese. The clamour had Park return, panic clouding his features. Right on time, Hongjoong scrambled back into his hiding spot. His heart raced as he watched the officer glance around. Fear worried his alert face and one hand rested on his weapon. For safety, he peeked into his bedroom and the bathroom. Everything his flat had.

When Park found no intruder, his face softened. A careful smile settled on his lips when he relaxed.

Hongjoong found himself smirking back. Nothing more satisfying than seeing the conviction they were secure crossing a dreamer's face. As soon as they believed it themselves, he usually wasn't needed anymore.

When Hongjoong faded out of the dream, the smile on Park's face clung to his mind. An attractive smile that looked equal parts gentle and shy.

Hongjoong couldn't help but wonder how Seonghwa was in actual life. If he was an outgoing and bubbly person with dark nights, or if his pains followed him into his every day. Likely, he was popular in his job.

Hongjoong awoke to the sight of a yellow pillow. He waited for a few moments, unsure if the bad dreams would return. When nothing happened, he sat up.

All stats had evened out. Birds sang outside and the afternoon sun fell through the slanted windows to greet Hongjoong. Together with his crackers, the man sat down to write his report. Funnily enough, he remembered quite well what kind of cookie he had seen Park eat. His brain clung to the information in case it would be important later.