[Fic] Strategy - 1/1
Jul. 9th, 2011 02:14 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
coley_merrinTitle: Strategy
Author: Coley Merrin
Pairing: Zhou Mi/Kyuhyun
Rating: PG-13
Genre: crack-ish (serious, not serious, randomness)
Summary: There’s a whole other world under Kyuhyun’s bed, and it takes two men and a fluffy dog to master it.
A/N: It tried to be crack. It tried to be serious. It tried to be a lot of things. It's just a little romp as is. XD All mistakes or liberties are definitely my own. But twas molded out of my craziness by![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
wobaozhewo. >.> But thank you for making it better. \o// <3<3
***
***
It had been the dog that started it. Though Zhou Mi had protested that Kyuhyun had said it so matter of factly. Like Niqiu had somehow known what he was getting them into. Sure, Niqiu had come into Kyuhyun’s room, a special visit from Zhou Mi’s parents’ house. Zhou Mi was thrilled to be around his dog again, anxious to show him off to absolutely everyone. Niqiu was very ready to be loved at will, and there was so much more of him to be loved. Not the first time he’d seen Kyuhyun around animals, but it was still something he enjoyed watching.
And Zhou Mi had been very intent on watching Kyuhyun mock wrestle Niqiu for one of his chew toys, when the shaggy head had gone up. Niqiu’s, not Kyuhyun’s.
And with a yip, the dog had disappeared under Kyuhyun’s bed.
“Do you keep food under there?” Zhou Mi asked, wary.
“No!” Kyuhyun retorted. “Only in the drawer. A mouse?”
Zhou Mi grimace in distaste. But Niqiu was his dog. So he dutifully got down, and stuck his head under the frame with Kyuhyun beside him.
Niqiu started growling.
“Come here, Niqiu,” Zhou Mi coaxed.
“You talk to him like he’s a person. Niqiu, come here!” Kyuhyun repeated.
But the farther Zhou Mi reached, the farther the dog seemed to get. Until he was scrabbling for a hold, and then screaming as Kyuhyun grabbed at him.
And then…
Nothing.
***
The dust was suffocating to Zhou Mi for a moment, burning his throat and causing him to cough uncontrollably. Breathing through his fingers and blinking, his eyes streaming.
It was dark. And where he sat, cold, what felt like dirty stone under his fingers, biting into his elbow and hip as he sat up. He tried to remember what he’d been doing, why he was on the floor in a room he couldn’t see in. Something wet poked against his mouth, and he recoiled, grimacing and flailing until he heard a sound all too familiar to him.
“Niqiu? Oh. Niqiu.”
The dog almost flew into his arms, and he breathed against the wriggling body, both calming and being calmed. But Niqiu being there, wherever there was, didn’t really make sense either. Had didn’t remember going out, and it was like no hangover he’d ever experienced. But that didn’t explain why he had a dog in his arms. A dog who yipped at him, as he clutched Niqiu tight in surprise, as a moan came from his right.
It took him a long moment before he realized that he recognized that moan.
“Kyuhyun?”
There was rustling, and he didn’t dare put his hand out. Visions of whatever lived in the dark, insects or horrible things, wouldn’t let him. And he didn’t jolt, much, with only a tiny yelp really, at the hand that landed on his knee.
“Zhou Mi ge?”
And then he did reach, much like Niqiu had leaped into his own arms. The dog ended up in Kyuhyun’s lap, and Zhou Mi pressed against his side, arms tight around Kyuhyun. That smell was familiar, and he honestly did try not to squeeze Kyuhyun to death.
“Where are we?” Kyuhyun asked, and Zhou Mi’s stomach dropped. They were in more trouble than he thought, if Kyuhyun didn’t know either.
“I have no idea. Do you remember?”
“The last thing I remember was trying to get Niqiu out from under my bed.”
“This isn’t under your bed,” Zhou Mi said warily. If it was, they would see some light overhead. But there was nothing like that. And it had been bright outside, shining in through the window to cast shadows under the bedframe.
But he remembered that, too, because he’d been caught off guard by Kyuhyun’s shirt slipping above his waistband as they got down to check on Niqiu. He’d been cursing himself for being some kind of pervert, but it was Kyuhyun’s back and he couldn’t exactly just ignore it. But he knew he’d torn his eyes away from Kyuhyun’s butt and tried to be helpful. It was his dog who’d shot under Kyuhyun’s bed despite any commands to the contrary. And he remembered hearing growling, so he wondered what kind of pretend enemy Niqiu had found. He remembered asking Kyuhyun if he kept any kind of food under his bed, and a hand clamping onto his wrist.
The sensation of falling.
And then waking up on a stone floor. No, it definitely wasn’t under Kyuhyun’s bed. Even if they’d fallen right through to whatever apartment was underneath.
“Keep ahold of Niqiu, and let’s find out where we are. Maybe there’s a light switch on the wall.”
They helped each other to their feet, a little wary in the total darkness. The wall he steadied himself on had an almost slimy film on it that went with the wet and dank air, and he grimaced, grabbing ahold of Kyuhyun’s shirt with that hand instead. Niqiu was protesting being carried, but only slightly.
“Do you have any idea—”
“Not yet,” Kyuhyun answered. And he edged closer, hearing a slight note of anxiety in those words. He was going to have to be stronger himself.
He heard Kyuhyun’s fingers testing the wall, searching, and they inched along, making sure even the floor under their feet was secure. They both stopped short at a new sound.
“A door,” Kyuhyun said, and Zhou Mi heard the thunk of wood as Kyuhyun pushed at it. “Let’s see if I can get it—”
With a thud, the bar over the entrance fell, allowing the heavy door to open. And his eyes adjusted to the sudden light. But not from a bulb, or the sun, or anything he had been expecting. But a…torch? He stared at the door, thick wooden planks. Like no door he’d ever personally been near.
Kyuhyun’s hand groped for him, closing over his wrist, and they stepped tentatively out into the corridor. It wasn’t well lit, but they could see. A series of torches along the wall strategically.
“What is this place?” he wondered out loud, the question barely more than a whisper.
“It looks like a dungeon,” Kyuhyun whispered back, his mouth parted in interest as he stared around them. “I don’t mean like a jail, I mean like a game dungeon. What kind of a dream is this?”
“Are we having the same dream?” Zhou Mi asked. “I don’t play these games.”
Kyuhyun pursed his lips. “But you’ve watched me.”
“Ow!”
He stared, aghast as Kyuhyun grabbed and pinched his cheek. Hard. Well two could do that. And as he pinched Kyuhyun, he realized the “oh shit” look spreading over Kyuhyun’s face wasn’t from the pain, it was because Niqiu had started growling. He stared in the direction Kyuhyun was, and blinked to see a shadow longer, and wider than a man moving on the floor toward them.
“What—”
“Run!” Kyuhyun commanded, nearly yanking Zhou Mi’s arm out of its socket to propel him. Niqiu was still growling and they ran, the heat from the torches blazing as they passed them.
“Through the door,” Kyuhyun gasped, and Zhou Mi spotted it ahead of them. He dared not look back, watching Kyuhyun push at the crude handle, and it took both their combined weight to get it open, and then back closed. When they had latched it, Kyuhyun dropped to a crouch, panting and staring up at him. He wasn’t sure what to say, what he could say even. He just knew he couldn’t stay still, jittering with so much confusion. The room they’d entered was small, but at least well protected by the door. And it had another torch inside of it, so it wasn’t totally pitch dark like the other had been.
“What was that thing on the floor,” he asked after moment, finally getting his brain back together. And making poor Niqiu squirm with how tight he was being held.
“I don’t know what it’s called,” Kyuhyun said, shoving his hair back off his forehead for a moment. “But it’s a kind of enemy that is in the floor, until you run into it and then it pops up and fights you.”
“Fights,” Zhou Mi repeated. “And not some kind of food fight. What are we supposed to fight it with? I don’t think Niqiu will scare it away. And it can’t get under this door, can it?”
“No, this should be considered a new area, so enemies won’t be able to get in or spawn here. Until we go back out. If it’s a video game. If. No offense, but you’re probably not the person I’d choose on this.”
“I wouldn’t choose me either,” Zhou Mi told him, not offended, but plenty anxious. “But why?”
“I’ve decided this is a dream,” Kyuhyun said. “My bed fell on us, and I’m in a coma. And I’m stuck in a game with you and the equivalent of monster finger food.”
Niqiu, who seemed to know he was being dissed, crawled into Zhou Mi’s lap as he sank to the floor. Breathing into the scruff of the dog’s neck didn’t make things better, and neither did wishing he’d just wake up. He could hear weird sounds from out in the hallway, and Kyuhyun was clearly still agitated. He was pretty sure dying in a dream about a dungeon with Kyuhyun wasn’t the best kind of dream his brain could conjure. Unless there was stripping that was going to happen.
He sighed again, staring from the brightly burning torch, to the rest of the room. As long as the light didn’t give out, they could stay in there a while. However long a while was in a dream.
“What about these chests?” Zhou Mi asked, reaching out to tap a metal fitting.
Kyuhyun’s eyes brightened from where he’d been perched on his knees with a frown. “Oh. Oh, maybe you are the right person to have. I didn’t even think…”
Together they got one of the heavy lids open. Zhou Mi put Niqiu down to help Kyuhyun to look through the contents. Thick leather clothes, guards, and daggers, in one chest. Heavy metal armor and swords, in another. And in a third, little bottles.
“The metal armor is the best for defense,” Kyuhyun said, thoughtfully, wandering between two of the chests. “But it really decreases speed and agility. But if we go out there again, we’re going to need something.”
Zhou Mi tested one of the arm shields made of out of metal. “I don’t know about you, but I can’t defend myself at all if I can’t move. This is heavy.”
“Yeah. Wow, that is heavy. So the leather is better. But we can each take a dagger and a sword. There are some lighter ones, not the huge broadswords. I’d probably cut off my own head with the big ones.”
Zhou Mi winced. “Please don’t.”
The bottles were marked very carefully. One was for healing, the other for hunger and thirst.
“Potions,” Kyuhyun said, staring at one of the little bottles with sky blue liquid in it. “Potions. I was expecting food or something.”
“Is there something in there that makes us the Hulk?” Zhou Mi asked.
They were both a little unsure of how to react. Or even what to do.
“At least it’s not poison,” Kyuhyun sighed, and put the potion bottle back in the bag it had been in, to slump back against the wall.
“Can we just stay here until we wake up?” Zhou Mi asked, sitting as close against Kyuhyun as was possible. Niqiu was in front of their feet, sniffing under the edge of the door.
“We could try,” Kyuhyun said. “But if that doesn’t work? The potions would run out eventually. And there’s no, er. Chamber pot or anything. For us, or Niqiu. And there has to be a way out of this. There always is.”
“Are you enjoying this?” he asked, aghast. And Kyuhyun wouldn’t meet his eyes.
“Not really, I mean not in that I want to get us hurt or anything. But it’s kind of cool? Getting to live part of a video game. It’s not something I’m familiar with or I could tell us which way we needed to go. Some of these can be real labyrinths.”
“Is that supposed to make me feel better?”
With a quiet sigh, Kyuhyun put a hand on his knee, which Zhou Mi immediately covered as Kyuhyun began to speak. “At least we’re here together, right? I wouldn’t have wanted to be here alone. It is cool, but it’s different when it’s just me trying to figure out things. So I’m sorry for what I said before. I am glad you’re here.”
“I guess I’m better than nothing.”
“And Niqiu growled at that monster earlier, so maybe he can help to warn us when something is coming when we go out.”
Niqiu looked up hopefully at the mention of his name, and clambered to Kyuhyun for a cuddle and a belly rub. Ah, the dog could be useful then. He let go of Kyuhyun’s hand, standing.
“Then we should find out if this armor fits, so we can go. Waiting any longer isn’t going to help us.”
For a moment he almost thought Kyuhyun was going to argue, but Kyuhyun nodded, standing with him.
They fitted the leather armor to themselves first. It wasn’t really all that much, but it was better protection than their jeans and shirts provided. He helped Kyuhyun to tighten his across his chest, and around his arms. It looked nice, in a weird kind of way. Definitely a strange fashion statement. And the leather for Kyuhyun’s legs framed his butt perfectly.
“It’s like extreme biking armor,” he tried to joke, getting a laugh out of Kyuhyun. But after he’d gotten on his own, bending his legs to test to make sure he would be able to walk and run all right, they found something that puzzled both of them.
A small, leather, covering. For a dog. Niqiu struggled as Zhou Mi fit him into it, but between both he and Kyuhyun they got the protection on. It was thinner than their own, but covered Niqiu from neck to tail. And with it, a collar with a jewel on it. But he got a tail wag out of it, so Niqiu had clearly learned from all of the other clothes he’d been forced into during his relatively short life.
“So I guess this was all made for us,” Zhou Mi said, stroking Niqiu’s head to let him know what a good boy he was. It was certainly no accident that there was armor made for a dog of exactly Niqiu’s size.
“Yeah,” Kyuhyun said, testing the weight of the daggers. “It goes back to me thinking it’s a dream. We have exactly what we need. Armor, food, weapons. For all three of us.”
“Can you conjure us up an expert sword fighter, then?” he asked, watching Kyuhyun strap on a leather sword belt. “We pinched each other, so whose dream is it?”
“I don’t know,” Kyuhyun said, and reached for a sword.
The scrape of the metal against the scabbard had both of their eyes widening. The sword wasn't heavy, but it was still a sword.
"Can you use that?" Zhou Mi asked, watching as Kyuhyun tested its grip.
"I don't know. This is a lot different than the musical. If we’re going to be defending our lives."
Zhou Mi had a dagger of his own, and a short sword. He’d have preferred a bag of rocks instead, but the little room didn’t conjure that for him. He carried the light bag of potions over his back, while trying to hold Niqiu with one arm. All the possibilities ran in front of his eyes. The monster in the floor could be waiting. There could be something, anything, else. What if Kyuhyun couldn’t find the way out? If he actually had to draw the sword, could he use it?
“Ready,” he whispered to Kyuhyun. And wasn’t sure he really was.
“Yeah, me too. Okay. Okay. Let’s do this.”
“What is it?” he asked, as Kyuhyun paused with his hand on the door.
Kyuhyun’s head turned, leaving him in partial profile. “I just hope we’re leveled up enough.”
And while he felt as unsteady as a dandelion seed on a wind gust, Kyuhyun reached out and took his hand. They had to do it. There was no other choice but to face it together.
He heard Kyuhyun muttering. Things like we came from the left, which means we came in that way. That means we need to go to the right. Exit. Right. Exit.
They collective held their breaths, as they eased the bar of the door up. All seemed quiet, making even the tiniest squeak of the hinges seem like a scream.
Zhou Mi dared only a quick glance to his left, as though doing that would conjure something. The world’s biggest spider, something. Kyuhyun’s hand tugged him surely along, and he could tell how frightened they both were, by how slick it was between their palms. Pausing at a junction, two dead ends to either side. It meant continuing on. A long, corridor. And then a turn.
As they neared the corner, Kyuhyun nearly broke his fingers, as a rattling snore rocked them. Kyuhyun turned into him, a whimper from his throat and they stood stock still, Niqiu trembling in his arms.
How brave and stoic and rational Kyuhyun was, Zhou Mi thought. Okay. Maybe not all of those, as he didn’t think one of the game heros would fear quite so much. But there was intelligence in fear. And courage, that Kyuhyun knew things he thought could help. And he was doing all he could to do that.
Kyuhyun peeked around the corner, hand still tight around Zhou Mi’s, and pressed back flat against the wall Zhou Mi was leaning against.
“Some kind of monster,” Kyuhyun breathed. “Asleep. If we can get by… Really quiet.”
Maybe they wouldn’t have to fight. He nodded, silent, willing Niqiu to not open his mouth. And their sneakers were quiet on the stone as they crept around the corner. It looked like some kind of malformed bear, snoring away. And Zhou Mi did his best to keep his eye on his feet, as Kyuhyun led him. He didn’t want to stumble on a stone, or something worse.
And they had just passed, just barely gotten to the point where Zhou Mi had hope, when Niqiu’s nose wagged.
And he barked.
The monster snorted, and there was no stoic. Or rational. Or anything else.
Just Kyuhyun yelling and jerking at his arm and racing down the hallway as though 100 rabid bears where chasing them. Sounds escaping him with every footfall and exhale, desperate pants and pleas. Jerked around corners, and through doorways as Kyuhyun desperately sought the exit.
And he nearly fell over Kyuhyun’s back, stumbling hard into a wall as they drew up short.
A huge worm, like a caterpillar, blocked their way. Just barely moving, but clearly alert to them.
“It has to be this way,” Kyuhyun panted.
“Do you have any idea where we are in this maze?”
“Not a clue. But maybe we can take this. It’s just a worm.” And the worm hissed. “A worm with gigantic fucking teeth?!”
They could stake it, like a vampire, Zhou Mi thought grimly.
“Maybe our food would stop it.”
“Unlikely.” Kyuhyun drew his sword. “Just don’t stab me in the leg, okay?”
Maybe Kyuhyun didn’t have faith in him, but he saw a way he could help anyway. Gingerly lifting one of the torches from the wall, and holding it in front of him. Kill it with fire.
The worm hissed, striking out with its blobby neck, and Kyuhyun slashed. The move awkward and desperate, and a tiny line appeared in the worm’s skin. It hissed again, and Zhou Mi swallowed the warning he wanted to shout. Kyuhyun didn’t need his distraction. If he had to, he’d shove the torch down the worm’s throat, and—
Niqiu began to bark, and Zhou Mi tried to shush him. Frantic on two fronts, not wanting to draw more attention, or endanger Kyuhyun.
Kyuhyun’s sword hit something hard as he struck out, and Niqiu kept barking.
It was then Zhou Mi noticed the stone on Niqiu’s collar lighting up with every bark.
Watching as the worm froze in front of them. Literally encrusted in ice.
“Who’s monster finger food now,” Zhou Mi crooned, cuddling Niqiu as Kyuhyun stared back at him, panting and relieved.
But the bear-like monster wasn’t finished behind them. The roar shook the corridor and he was the one dragging Kyuhyun that time. Careening though a complicated pattern of turns and hoping the iced-over worm gave the bear monster something to chew on.
“Zhou Mi! This way. Look!”
He didn’t see what Kyuhyun was so excited about, but he ran anyway.
“An elevator,” Kyuhyun shouted as they crossed the final intersection of corridors. “That’s our way out!”
Niqiu’s bark had his heart jumping, but the monster was still behind them. He panted, squeezing beside Kyuhyun on the tiny wooden platform as Kyuhyun jerked a whole bunch of levers.
“Do you know how to work it?”
“There’s usually only one,” Kyuhyun said, voice jumpy. “Maybe… This one.”
And they nearly fell to the ground as the elevator started moving. And with a last roar from behind them, they were between solid stone, and hugging each other in relief. From one unknown, to something he couldn’t even imagine. But the gears didn’t stop grinding, and they rested their trembling knees against each other. He kept a hand on Kyuhyun’s leg, as though that would make sure they wouldn’t be parted. And let himself doze to buzz of the long trip upwards.
***
And Zhou Mi woke up, not in a puddle of hoped-for sunlight, but inside of a metal box. Okay, it wasn’t a box. It was a… Suit? His mind inexplicably flashed to an iron maiden. But it was clearly not some place from the past, but a modern room.
He’d only barely figured out out to move - with the suit, since he couldn’t actually move his limbs within it - when he heard Kyuhyun’s voice loud in his ear.
“Holy crap, it’s a powered combat suit!”
Agonizingly, like his grandmother, Zhou Mi came to a sitting position, staring at a metal lump beside him. A metal lump currently holding up two metal-hands like he’d just discovered the secrets of the universe.
“You’re in one, too!” Kyuhyun exclaimed. “Hey. A dog-carrier. That’s cool. Oh man.”
Niqiu was indeed in a box slightly larger than the dog himself. It had a handle on it for carrying, and Niqiu was staring at him with rather wounded eyes. He never had liked being confined. But Zhou Mi was kind of glad, in that Niqiu couldn’t go running off, and it also meant that no matter where they were, Niqiu could breathe. If he was in a suit twice the size of himself, he was assuming it had to be for breathing. One less thing to worry about. Kyuhyun got him to his feet, where Zhou Mi tried to stay standing, as Kyuhyun worked out the suit controls with fiendish ease.
“Just look at the articulation. I’ve never seen one in those colors,” Kyuhyun said, staring through the bulging glass or whatever in front of his face as he waggled his fingers, and stared at Zhou Mi’s suit. “Is that a hat on your suit?”
Zhou Mi lifted his hands, wondering what he was supposed to be feeling for. Some kind of protrusion. Kyuhyun’s definitely didn’t have a hat. But it did have a strange rectangular shape where Zhou Mi assumed the “chin” of the suit would be. And it didn’t look like a normal accessory, based on his limited knowledge.
“Yours has a bow tie,” he finally pointed out, getting a word in between Kyuhyun’s joyful mumbling.
“It does not,” Kyuhyun immediately argued, trying to see. “It does. Why would I dream myself a— Never mind. Starcraft! We’re Marines! But who’s in charge? Who’s directing us?”
“And how do we get out of here,” Zhou Mi asked, his question a little more pertinent to his mind. He was in a gigantic space suit thing, and if their last two experiences were any clue, they were probably in danger. The word Marines made him anxious, because that sounded like combat to him. And he’d already been shot once. And if they were in a Starcraft level, then even he wasn’t that dumb. He knew there were guns because he was staring at some. And that worried him. “You know how I’m not very good at swords? I’m even worse at guns.”
“This is a base, I think,” Kyuhyun mumbled on, wandering around the room. There seemed to be weapons, some kind of rack for things, suits. Kind of eerie with no one in them. “Oh, here’s a map! It shows the mineral deposits and where they’re building.”
“But how do we get out?”
“There are always objectives. I… Based on this strategy, they’re under attack. And gearing up for worse. I think I know what level this is. All you have to do is survive.”
“Surviving sounds good?” he put out tentatively.
“By a massive Zerg force!”
Zhou Mi cleared his throat, patting at the little box that held an anxious-looking Niqiu. “Kyuhyun. Maybe you shouldn’t sound so happy about that?”
“There have to be missile turrets nearby. That would be fun to man.”
“Kyuhyun.”
“And I totally thought you would be a Protoss, I mean…”
Zhou Mi grunted. “Those are the tall ones?”
Kyuhyun grinned. “You were listening.”
“Yeah, well. You threw your toys at me often enough.”
“Action figures!”
And as though to punctuate Kyuhyun’s statement, the ground rocked under their feet.
“Oh, they’re attacking. Maybe zerglings, or…”
“Kyuhyun. Maybe we should wait it out in this room.”
“But,” Kyuhyun wheedled. “What if we stay here, and it doesn’t end, because there was something else we needed to do? We won’t go outside. We might…look.”
He picked up Niqiu’s pet carrier, having been sitting there wiggling his metal fingers to make sure he could do just that. And resigned himself to the fact that he had to follow Kyuhyun at any cost. Kyuhyun was a kid in a candy store. Albeit, a candy store that had the potential to get them killed. And maybe by staying close and keeping Kyuhyun from running out to high five one of those creepy looking insect guys would keep them both safe.
Or he could have hoped. Everything outside of their little room was in chaos. Other Marines - he gathered, since they had on the same kind of suits - were running around, grabbing weapons. Kyuhyun stood like he was basking in the sun, watching them be commanded until eyes swung their way.
“You two, to the north turret!”
“Yes sir!” Kyuhyun chirped, and dragged Zhou Mi away as fast as Zhou Mi could coordinate his suit to move. And to Zhou Mi, he spoke directly. “We’ll go with the others, so we’ll be safer. It means time is ticking down, so we won’t have much time to wait.”
He missed Kyuhyun’s guiding hand, but told himself to grow up. Kyuhyun didn’t feel the need to cling to him all the time, too lost in his glory. But he was exhausted, and filthy, and reeked of sweat. Even Niqiu seemed tired, and a bit nippy from his box. He didn’t even want to think of what Kyuhyun felt like, feeling like it was his responsibility to see both of them, all three of them, out safely. He just wanted to wake up.
Zhou Mi stared at the back of Kyuhyun’s suit as they moved, sound of gunfire startling him as Kyuhyun kept rambling. Kyuhyun was explaining the use of the missile turrets as they got to it, something about air defense, and whatever. He could feel the time ticking down inside of himself, and he just wanted to get out of the metal suit for good.
“What if we don’t make it? Or if we get attacked, or—“
“Hey. We’ll be okay,” Kyuhyun said, turning back and stopping them short. “This is when the game is still easy, and I’ve played this a million times. We’ll shoot down mutalisks, and we’ll keep ourselves safe until the time ends. Okay?”
Zhou Mi was an extraneous set of hands in the tower, with only a certain amount of optional stations. He was there in case someone got knocked out, probably. Kyuhyun received a short tutorial, sending Zhou Mi a thumb’s up. He looked less like a man going to war, and more like he’d been set off on some amazing shopping spree with unlimited time.
And Zhou Mi sat on the floor, unable even to touch Niqiu in his box. But Niqiu curled up as close to Zhou Mi as he could. Wincing as the turret trembled, as the sound of the missiles being launched and exploding screamed in his ears.
And then he found a use for himself after all. Leaving Niqiu near Kyuhyun’s feet, making sure missiles were being moved for quicker turnover. Watching with horrified fascination at the battle both in the air and on the ground.
All we have to do is survive.
So he cheered Kyuhyun on, Kyuhyun who was glazed and in the moment, so utterly focused. Eyes scanning the sky and— That was the look he knew, from when Kyuhyun gamed. The grim tension at times, the bursts of pleased congratulations at himself. And he began to think they’d be okay. Kyuhyun was doing all they could, and it looked like the horde outside was lessening under their counterattacks.
The all-clear sounded and Kyuhyun was frozen, as though he didn’t know what to do.
“We did it? We did it!”
He turned back to Zhou Mi, stunned, smiling. And nearly leaped for him, the metal of their suits clanging. Niqiu barked at them, unhappy to be left out.
They’d done it.
And the world exploded.
***
When Zhou Mi was a child, he had a stuffed bear that he had clutched at night. At one point it had been half as big as him, comforting and warming to his body. That bear had kept all the monsters away, and he’d told stories to it to fall asleep. When he woke, he felt like he had at five, with his cuddly bear. Sighing, and leaning into the warmth that he was cuddling against himself. The warmth that purred back, as he sighed into soft hair.
“Kyuhyun,” he breathed, content and safe.
“Muh?”
Zhou Mi’s eyes sprang open. Back of Kyuhyun’s head, check. Arm around Kyuhyun’s ribs, check. He breathed a sigh of relief at that. They weren’t alone.
“Kyuhyun. Oh, Niqiu?”
“He’s here.”
Zhou Mi pushed himself up far enough to peer over Kyuhyun’s shoulder. Niqiu was laying against Kyuhyun’s chest, head on Kyuhyun’s upper arm, and side-eying Zhou Mi as though he were angry for being left in that little box for so long. And taking it out on Zhou Mi by cuddling with Kyuhyun instead. What could he have done? Niqiu had needed to breathe, too. And gravity. And whatever else those boxes and suits did. But Niqiu still licked his fingers, when he petted the soft head. They were laying on grass, in some kind of woodland setting. No gunfire that time. That was good.
“Too bad Starcraft level didn’t take us back, even if I could’ve stayed there for years,” Kyuhyun said, yawning and rocking back into Zhou Mi. “Or wake us up. Or whatever we have to do.”
“I know.”
But if Kyuhyun was willing to lay like that against him, he’d almost be willing to go through another Starcraft level himself.
At least until Kyuhyun looked up. And nearly shrieked.
They scrambled in unison, limb over limb, a huge shadow on the ground that gradually got smaller.
“B-bowser?” Kyuhyun stuttered, hand painfully pinning down Zhou Mi’s forearm.
And then Zhou Mi got a glance at Kyuhyun’s green pants. And his own red ones.
“Mario?” he whispered, watching the gigantic turtle get closer. “But. Bowser would only come for Princess Peach.”
“I don’t—“
Niqiu yelped from the other side of Kyuhyun, and Zhou Mi lunged for him, missing by distant inches as a turtle lashed out at him. The turtle grabbed the curling dog by the scruff, and then by his middle and carried him toward Bowser.
“Princess Niqiu is mine!” Bowser proclaimed, as Niqiu barked and squirmed to get away. Still wearing the jeweled collar from before.
“No! Let him go!” Zhou Mi demanded, but had no idea how to stop him.
Every game he ever played flashed through his head, but Bowser was far out of reach by the time Zhou Mi got there.
“No,” he whispered, as Bowser just carried away his dog. His dog. He turned to Kyuhyun, who was scrabbling onto his feet. “We have to save Niqiu!”
And Zhou Mi could almost hear Mario music cheering him on. He didn’t know if Mario games were a specialty of Kyuhyun’s past or not, and Kyuhyun was clutching his hands, staring up and down their primary-colored outfits. His dog— They couldn’t eat dogs. Niqiu had to be fine. He just didn’t know what to expect next. Chased, shot at, perpetually running. He’d run then, for Niqiu’s safety.
“You’re bleeding,” Kyuhyun said, stopping him before he could going, with Kyuhyun following or not.
Zhou Mi hadn’t even noticed. But the line on his arm where the turtle had scratched him made his stomach clutch. If he could be hurt, Niqiu could be, or Kyuhyun. It stung, but it was hardly life-threatening. Not when Niqiu was in danger. But he gathered himself, as Kyuhyun fished in his big green pockets and emerged with a handkerchief to bind up the wound.
“Battle wound,” Kyuhyun joked, looking up as though to tell Zhou Mi he was trying to lighten things.
“I guess those combat suits were good for something,” Zhou Mi offered.
And Kyuhyun grinned, pushing him toward the trail they were supposed to follow.
“You’ll live. Hey, Luigi’s taller,” Kyuhyun said as they moved out of the trees. “So am I taller by default?”
“You can be,” Zhou Mi granted, not caring at that moment. And a thought occurring to him. “And it should be Prince Niqiu.
Zhou Mi adjusted the big red hat on his head and kept walking in the direction Bowser had disappeared in.
His hopes of a nice, leisurely trek were shredded, when they passed a particularly large tree. A huge gorge was between them and the rest of the forest. With little hanging bridges, moving bricks.
This world’s version of the Mario obstacles. He could barely run without falling. And to jump across all those moving, and not moving platforms seemed a recipe for something he didn’t want to think about.
The gorge dropped so far beneath them, that if they fell, it was certain death. But there was nothing else could they do. There was no other way across. And he couldn’t leave Niqiu with Bowser. They had no way to get home without him, anyway. And the thought of giving up made him sick, even as the thought of going forward made him sick as well.
He jerked, staring as Kyuhyun reached, took his hand. Smiling at him, albeit rather grim.
“We can do this. For Niqiu. We took down fucking Zergs, and battled dungeon monsters. We can do this. If it’s a dream… We have to be able to do this.”
Zhou Mi felt his arm, the little piece of cloth that had been tied over the wound on his arm. And he nodded.
“You’re right. Thank you.”
And they studied the ways the platforms moved. The little wavy bridges, the lazily floating blocks. And Kyuhyun the strategist had it all timed in his head.
They leaped together.
And again.
And again.
And sprawled onto the grass on the other side with twin groans. Zhou Mi had nearly moved too soon off of one platform, certain failure there, but Kyuhyun had gotten them back on track. It had been strenuous and ridiculous and his legs were shaking like a leaf.
He knew that wouldn’t be the last area they’d have to go through like that. Probably just the easiest one.
There was a block hanging in midair on their way to the next area, and they stared at it.
“Maybe it has money,” Kyuhyun suggested. “Yoshi? A super mushroom? Ooh, or a fire flower!”
Zhou Mi approached it, grim. And all he did was succeed in bonking his head when he leaped underneath of it. Clearly not one that had something in it. He could’ve broken his neck, and he slapped at the block with his hand. Stupid Mario world.
Zhou Mi didn’t bother looking back as Kyuhyun laughed at him the whole rest of the way to the next area.
It was a gorge, but a place they had to climb. Switchbacks up some kind of mountain, that moved and impeded their progress if they didn’t move fast enough.
“What do we do if we see an enemy? I can’t jump on them,” Zhou Mi mourned. “Oh. Maybe we can pretend you’re a turtle.”
And Kyuhyun threw a stick at him, keeping up as they moved area by area.
Kyuhyun stopped behind Zhou Mi, as they finally finished climbing. What was in front of them wasn’t another gorge, though they did have to move across some blocks to get to it. But they could see the castle. The castle where Niqiu was. But there were legions of all kinds of enemies in front of it. To get through all of those, they’d need a Trojan horse, at best. Trojan turtle probably, he amended.
“That’s not good.”
“We’ll— We’ll grab shells on the other side,” Kyuhyun offered. “Maybe we can sneak in that way.”
Zhou Mi nodded grimly. They had to at least get closer to find out.
The first platform they leaped onto went well, moving them closer to a row of blocks. They were steady under their feet, rubber soles gripping easily. But they hadn’t gotten to the end of the row, before the blocks began to shake.
“Why is it doing that?” Zhou Mi asked, grabbing Kyuhyun’s arm.
“I don’t know. Get back to the middle in case it’s going to change shape.”
There was no way there could be an earthquake in mid-air.
But getting back to the middle block didn’t help them. Because moments later, all the blocks dropped out from under them - and they fell with them.
***
Zhou Mi felt like he’d been tumbled out of an ice cube tray, bent over the point of a block like it was a giant clothes hanger.
And if Kyuhyun’s groans meant anything, he felt the same way. But he didn’t feel hurt, which was odd. Bumps and bruises, yes, but nothing broken. Kyuhyun was rubbing his head by the time Zhou Mi got onto his feet.
“We fell into a pipe!” Zhou Mi said, staring up with glee. “That’s why we’re okay!”
“Then maybe this is the way into the castle.”
They would have needed a bullhorn to have whooped any louder.
“Maybe we can get Niqiu without having to fight,” Kyuhyun mused, as they moved toward the castle via the underground walkway. It was just as dank and gross as the dungeon they’d been in, but Zhou Mi felt more secure. They were moving toward something - saving Niqiu - and not away from a monster trying to make them dinner.
And that Kyuhyun seemed hopeful that everything would go right, well. He wasn’t so sure. They’d always had the tools they’d needed, somehow. But to just sneak in and grab Niqiu seemed to easy. He pictured Kyuhyun’s grim face in the combat suit and kept walking.
“There’s always a boss battle,” Zhou Mi said finally.
“I know. I know. But have you been working out? Who’s going to grab Bowser and toss him into something? I sure don’t think I can.”
“We’ll find a way,” Zhou Mi said. They’d come that far. And at the end of the corridor, another pipe, horizontal. He followed Kyuhyun into it, crawling toward their destination - and Niqiu.
And as they emerged, the gray rock walls of the castle enclosing them, they ran. Every room on the lower level searched. Treasure, bedrooms, they ignored it all. Dashing up stairs to the next level. It was deserted, and they were wasting no time. He just kept his eyes on the back of Kyuhyun’s green overalls and kept running.
It was Niqiu’s barks that gave them their clue. He could probably smell them, and was anxious to get to them.
“If he’s been hurt,” Zhou Mi said, feeling utterly helpless.
Kyuhyun shook his head, gasping for breath. “He doesn’t sound hurt or weak. Don’t worry.”
As they turned carefully down the corridor, moving toward the sound, he wondered what he would’ve done had it been just himself. Found a corner and curled up. Or gone to find Niqiu on his knees.
“Kyuhyun, thank you. For everything.”
“Sure,” Kyuhyun said, as though he wasn’t listening. They paused in front of an immense wooden door. “I think he’s in here.”
Was Bowser in there, too? Or was he out massing an army to keep them out from outside, never knowing they were sneaking in. For such a huge door, totally against all laws of physics, it swung open at a touch.
They saw Niqiu immediately, nearly turning backflips in a jeweled cage. The collar was still on him, and he was pawing at the bars to get to Zhou Mi. Zhou Mi was ready to paw at the bars himself, both of them trying to figure out how the cage opened. If that was their goal, get Niqiu, then they just had to get the cage open.
And the cry send chills through him, when Kyuhyun found the latch.
Cringing. A shadow falling over them. Bowser, from out of nowhere. The boss battle they couldn’t escape. Zhou Mi wanted to run, his hand half in the cage and staring up.
“You— You can’t have him!” Zhou Mi half shouted, the sound more assertive than he felt. They could be squashed any second. It wasn’t like he really was Mario. He didn’t have super strength. He couldn’t even unclog a toilet. He was just in a costume, with his fake Luigi at his side.
And Bowser laughed.
But he couldn’t leave Niqiu there. Even as he tried to gesture for Kyuhyun to run, to get to safety. Kyuhyun.
Niqiu barked, tension heavy in the air, the jewels on his collar oddly lighting up again and making Bowser freeze.
But not coated in ice as the worm monster had been. Head turning as though he heard something they could not. Zhou Mi pried at the lid, freezing again at a sound of something heavy coming up the long hall. And as they gaped, a big green dinosaur appeared from the doorway, seeming to wink as he grabbed Bowser by the tail and dragged him away.
He stared at Kyuhyun, but there was no answer to be had between them. And the latch finally, finally opened. Allowing Niqiu to scramble up, and into his arms. And they more or less trembled together as Kyuhyun walked on his knees to get closer. Hugging them both.
Hugging them both.
***
Zhou Mi sneezed. Kyuhyun had so much dust under his bed, he was lucky to get out of there still able brea—
Kyuhyun’s bed? Kyuhyun was next to him, cheek stuck to the floor, and Zhou Mi shoved him to wake him up, getting a very confused Kyuhyun staring back at him.
“What?”
“We’re under your bed.”
He knew it was Kyuhyun’s bed, because there was a Protoss toy - action figure - staring at him from against the wall where it had fallen at some point. Beside that, a box of games that Kyuhyun had brought. And Niqiu, curled in front of them, licking in places Zhou Mi, who let the dog lick him, would rather not experience.
“Oh. I had the weirdest dream,” Kyuhyun said, touching his own forehead.
“Yeah. Me, too. Bowser—“
“Bowser—“
They blinked at each other.
“Starcraft?” Kyuhyun ventured.
“Marine suit. Missile turret. Dungeon?”
“Gigantic worm.”
The alarm on Kyuhyun’s face was almost enough to send him into a panic, and he reached for his arm. It hurt. And Kyuhyun lifted his sleeve, to see the bandage they’d placed there.
His arm had left a tiny bloody spot on the bandage. And he pointed slowly, getting Kyuhyun’s attention.
Because around Niqiu’s neck was a very familiar jeweled collar.
“Is this just another part of the dream?” Kyuhyun wondered.
“I don’t…know.”
And the door opening had them both turning, as though an enemy was ready to attack. Zhou Mi blinked through the pain as he hit his head on part of the bed support. But it wasn’t an enemy. It was Donghae, looking very confused indeed as Niqiu gave an encouraging yip.
“Why are you guys napping under the bed? Why are you laughing so hard?” Donghae demanded.
There was nothing they could tell him, or even try to, so they just kept trying to get themselves together until he gave up and left them alone.
It was kind of hard to get his breath, and his face hurt from smiling. And Niqiu seemed more like he wanted a nap, than any other thing. Maybe they’d figure out what it’d been, some day. But they’d survived. Kyuhyun raised a fist, and he bumped it with his own. Survived worlds with the video game master. The master who looked about read for a nap, just like dog currently trying to inch onto Kyuhyun’s chest.
Another grin crossed his face, and he let his cheek rest of the floorboards.
Dream or not, he had never been so glad to be home.
***
Author: Coley Merrin
Pairing: Zhou Mi/Kyuhyun
Rating: PG-13
Genre: crack-ish (serious, not serious, randomness)
Summary: There’s a whole other world under Kyuhyun’s bed, and it takes two men and a fluffy dog to master it.
A/N: It tried to be crack. It tried to be serious. It tried to be a lot of things. It's just a little romp as is. XD All mistakes or liberties are definitely my own. But twas molded out of my craziness by
wobaozhewo. >.> But thank you for making it better. \o// <3<3***
***
It had been the dog that started it. Though Zhou Mi had protested that Kyuhyun had said it so matter of factly. Like Niqiu had somehow known what he was getting them into. Sure, Niqiu had come into Kyuhyun’s room, a special visit from Zhou Mi’s parents’ house. Zhou Mi was thrilled to be around his dog again, anxious to show him off to absolutely everyone. Niqiu was very ready to be loved at will, and there was so much more of him to be loved. Not the first time he’d seen Kyuhyun around animals, but it was still something he enjoyed watching.
And Zhou Mi had been very intent on watching Kyuhyun mock wrestle Niqiu for one of his chew toys, when the shaggy head had gone up. Niqiu’s, not Kyuhyun’s.
And with a yip, the dog had disappeared under Kyuhyun’s bed.
“Do you keep food under there?” Zhou Mi asked, wary.
“No!” Kyuhyun retorted. “Only in the drawer. A mouse?”
Zhou Mi grimace in distaste. But Niqiu was his dog. So he dutifully got down, and stuck his head under the frame with Kyuhyun beside him.
Niqiu started growling.
“Come here, Niqiu,” Zhou Mi coaxed.
“You talk to him like he’s a person. Niqiu, come here!” Kyuhyun repeated.
But the farther Zhou Mi reached, the farther the dog seemed to get. Until he was scrabbling for a hold, and then screaming as Kyuhyun grabbed at him.
And then…
Nothing.
***
The dust was suffocating to Zhou Mi for a moment, burning his throat and causing him to cough uncontrollably. Breathing through his fingers and blinking, his eyes streaming.
It was dark. And where he sat, cold, what felt like dirty stone under his fingers, biting into his elbow and hip as he sat up. He tried to remember what he’d been doing, why he was on the floor in a room he couldn’t see in. Something wet poked against his mouth, and he recoiled, grimacing and flailing until he heard a sound all too familiar to him.
“Niqiu? Oh. Niqiu.”
The dog almost flew into his arms, and he breathed against the wriggling body, both calming and being calmed. But Niqiu being there, wherever there was, didn’t really make sense either. Had didn’t remember going out, and it was like no hangover he’d ever experienced. But that didn’t explain why he had a dog in his arms. A dog who yipped at him, as he clutched Niqiu tight in surprise, as a moan came from his right.
It took him a long moment before he realized that he recognized that moan.
“Kyuhyun?”
There was rustling, and he didn’t dare put his hand out. Visions of whatever lived in the dark, insects or horrible things, wouldn’t let him. And he didn’t jolt, much, with only a tiny yelp really, at the hand that landed on his knee.
“Zhou Mi ge?”
And then he did reach, much like Niqiu had leaped into his own arms. The dog ended up in Kyuhyun’s lap, and Zhou Mi pressed against his side, arms tight around Kyuhyun. That smell was familiar, and he honestly did try not to squeeze Kyuhyun to death.
“Where are we?” Kyuhyun asked, and Zhou Mi’s stomach dropped. They were in more trouble than he thought, if Kyuhyun didn’t know either.
“I have no idea. Do you remember?”
“The last thing I remember was trying to get Niqiu out from under my bed.”
“This isn’t under your bed,” Zhou Mi said warily. If it was, they would see some light overhead. But there was nothing like that. And it had been bright outside, shining in through the window to cast shadows under the bedframe.
But he remembered that, too, because he’d been caught off guard by Kyuhyun’s shirt slipping above his waistband as they got down to check on Niqiu. He’d been cursing himself for being some kind of pervert, but it was Kyuhyun’s back and he couldn’t exactly just ignore it. But he knew he’d torn his eyes away from Kyuhyun’s butt and tried to be helpful. It was his dog who’d shot under Kyuhyun’s bed despite any commands to the contrary. And he remembered hearing growling, so he wondered what kind of pretend enemy Niqiu had found. He remembered asking Kyuhyun if he kept any kind of food under his bed, and a hand clamping onto his wrist.
The sensation of falling.
And then waking up on a stone floor. No, it definitely wasn’t under Kyuhyun’s bed. Even if they’d fallen right through to whatever apartment was underneath.
“Keep ahold of Niqiu, and let’s find out where we are. Maybe there’s a light switch on the wall.”
They helped each other to their feet, a little wary in the total darkness. The wall he steadied himself on had an almost slimy film on it that went with the wet and dank air, and he grimaced, grabbing ahold of Kyuhyun’s shirt with that hand instead. Niqiu was protesting being carried, but only slightly.
“Do you have any idea—”
“Not yet,” Kyuhyun answered. And he edged closer, hearing a slight note of anxiety in those words. He was going to have to be stronger himself.
He heard Kyuhyun’s fingers testing the wall, searching, and they inched along, making sure even the floor under their feet was secure. They both stopped short at a new sound.
“A door,” Kyuhyun said, and Zhou Mi heard the thunk of wood as Kyuhyun pushed at it. “Let’s see if I can get it—”
With a thud, the bar over the entrance fell, allowing the heavy door to open. And his eyes adjusted to the sudden light. But not from a bulb, or the sun, or anything he had been expecting. But a…torch? He stared at the door, thick wooden planks. Like no door he’d ever personally been near.
Kyuhyun’s hand groped for him, closing over his wrist, and they stepped tentatively out into the corridor. It wasn’t well lit, but they could see. A series of torches along the wall strategically.
“What is this place?” he wondered out loud, the question barely more than a whisper.
“It looks like a dungeon,” Kyuhyun whispered back, his mouth parted in interest as he stared around them. “I don’t mean like a jail, I mean like a game dungeon. What kind of a dream is this?”
“Are we having the same dream?” Zhou Mi asked. “I don’t play these games.”
Kyuhyun pursed his lips. “But you’ve watched me.”
“Ow!”
He stared, aghast as Kyuhyun grabbed and pinched his cheek. Hard. Well two could do that. And as he pinched Kyuhyun, he realized the “oh shit” look spreading over Kyuhyun’s face wasn’t from the pain, it was because Niqiu had started growling. He stared in the direction Kyuhyun was, and blinked to see a shadow longer, and wider than a man moving on the floor toward them.
“What—”
“Run!” Kyuhyun commanded, nearly yanking Zhou Mi’s arm out of its socket to propel him. Niqiu was still growling and they ran, the heat from the torches blazing as they passed them.
“Through the door,” Kyuhyun gasped, and Zhou Mi spotted it ahead of them. He dared not look back, watching Kyuhyun push at the crude handle, and it took both their combined weight to get it open, and then back closed. When they had latched it, Kyuhyun dropped to a crouch, panting and staring up at him. He wasn’t sure what to say, what he could say even. He just knew he couldn’t stay still, jittering with so much confusion. The room they’d entered was small, but at least well protected by the door. And it had another torch inside of it, so it wasn’t totally pitch dark like the other had been.
“What was that thing on the floor,” he asked after moment, finally getting his brain back together. And making poor Niqiu squirm with how tight he was being held.
“I don’t know what it’s called,” Kyuhyun said, shoving his hair back off his forehead for a moment. “But it’s a kind of enemy that is in the floor, until you run into it and then it pops up and fights you.”
“Fights,” Zhou Mi repeated. “And not some kind of food fight. What are we supposed to fight it with? I don’t think Niqiu will scare it away. And it can’t get under this door, can it?”
“No, this should be considered a new area, so enemies won’t be able to get in or spawn here. Until we go back out. If it’s a video game. If. No offense, but you’re probably not the person I’d choose on this.”
“I wouldn’t choose me either,” Zhou Mi told him, not offended, but plenty anxious. “But why?”
“I’ve decided this is a dream,” Kyuhyun said. “My bed fell on us, and I’m in a coma. And I’m stuck in a game with you and the equivalent of monster finger food.”
Niqiu, who seemed to know he was being dissed, crawled into Zhou Mi’s lap as he sank to the floor. Breathing into the scruff of the dog’s neck didn’t make things better, and neither did wishing he’d just wake up. He could hear weird sounds from out in the hallway, and Kyuhyun was clearly still agitated. He was pretty sure dying in a dream about a dungeon with Kyuhyun wasn’t the best kind of dream his brain could conjure. Unless there was stripping that was going to happen.
He sighed again, staring from the brightly burning torch, to the rest of the room. As long as the light didn’t give out, they could stay in there a while. However long a while was in a dream.
“What about these chests?” Zhou Mi asked, reaching out to tap a metal fitting.
Kyuhyun’s eyes brightened from where he’d been perched on his knees with a frown. “Oh. Oh, maybe you are the right person to have. I didn’t even think…”
Together they got one of the heavy lids open. Zhou Mi put Niqiu down to help Kyuhyun to look through the contents. Thick leather clothes, guards, and daggers, in one chest. Heavy metal armor and swords, in another. And in a third, little bottles.
“The metal armor is the best for defense,” Kyuhyun said, thoughtfully, wandering between two of the chests. “But it really decreases speed and agility. But if we go out there again, we’re going to need something.”
Zhou Mi tested one of the arm shields made of out of metal. “I don’t know about you, but I can’t defend myself at all if I can’t move. This is heavy.”
“Yeah. Wow, that is heavy. So the leather is better. But we can each take a dagger and a sword. There are some lighter ones, not the huge broadswords. I’d probably cut off my own head with the big ones.”
Zhou Mi winced. “Please don’t.”
The bottles were marked very carefully. One was for healing, the other for hunger and thirst.
“Potions,” Kyuhyun said, staring at one of the little bottles with sky blue liquid in it. “Potions. I was expecting food or something.”
“Is there something in there that makes us the Hulk?” Zhou Mi asked.
They were both a little unsure of how to react. Or even what to do.
“At least it’s not poison,” Kyuhyun sighed, and put the potion bottle back in the bag it had been in, to slump back against the wall.
“Can we just stay here until we wake up?” Zhou Mi asked, sitting as close against Kyuhyun as was possible. Niqiu was in front of their feet, sniffing under the edge of the door.
“We could try,” Kyuhyun said. “But if that doesn’t work? The potions would run out eventually. And there’s no, er. Chamber pot or anything. For us, or Niqiu. And there has to be a way out of this. There always is.”
“Are you enjoying this?” he asked, aghast. And Kyuhyun wouldn’t meet his eyes.
“Not really, I mean not in that I want to get us hurt or anything. But it’s kind of cool? Getting to live part of a video game. It’s not something I’m familiar with or I could tell us which way we needed to go. Some of these can be real labyrinths.”
“Is that supposed to make me feel better?”
With a quiet sigh, Kyuhyun put a hand on his knee, which Zhou Mi immediately covered as Kyuhyun began to speak. “At least we’re here together, right? I wouldn’t have wanted to be here alone. It is cool, but it’s different when it’s just me trying to figure out things. So I’m sorry for what I said before. I am glad you’re here.”
“I guess I’m better than nothing.”
“And Niqiu growled at that monster earlier, so maybe he can help to warn us when something is coming when we go out.”
Niqiu looked up hopefully at the mention of his name, and clambered to Kyuhyun for a cuddle and a belly rub. Ah, the dog could be useful then. He let go of Kyuhyun’s hand, standing.
“Then we should find out if this armor fits, so we can go. Waiting any longer isn’t going to help us.”
For a moment he almost thought Kyuhyun was going to argue, but Kyuhyun nodded, standing with him.
They fitted the leather armor to themselves first. It wasn’t really all that much, but it was better protection than their jeans and shirts provided. He helped Kyuhyun to tighten his across his chest, and around his arms. It looked nice, in a weird kind of way. Definitely a strange fashion statement. And the leather for Kyuhyun’s legs framed his butt perfectly.
“It’s like extreme biking armor,” he tried to joke, getting a laugh out of Kyuhyun. But after he’d gotten on his own, bending his legs to test to make sure he would be able to walk and run all right, they found something that puzzled both of them.
A small, leather, covering. For a dog. Niqiu struggled as Zhou Mi fit him into it, but between both he and Kyuhyun they got the protection on. It was thinner than their own, but covered Niqiu from neck to tail. And with it, a collar with a jewel on it. But he got a tail wag out of it, so Niqiu had clearly learned from all of the other clothes he’d been forced into during his relatively short life.
“So I guess this was all made for us,” Zhou Mi said, stroking Niqiu’s head to let him know what a good boy he was. It was certainly no accident that there was armor made for a dog of exactly Niqiu’s size.
“Yeah,” Kyuhyun said, testing the weight of the daggers. “It goes back to me thinking it’s a dream. We have exactly what we need. Armor, food, weapons. For all three of us.”
“Can you conjure us up an expert sword fighter, then?” he asked, watching Kyuhyun strap on a leather sword belt. “We pinched each other, so whose dream is it?”
“I don’t know,” Kyuhyun said, and reached for a sword.
The scrape of the metal against the scabbard had both of their eyes widening. The sword wasn't heavy, but it was still a sword.
"Can you use that?" Zhou Mi asked, watching as Kyuhyun tested its grip.
"I don't know. This is a lot different than the musical. If we’re going to be defending our lives."
Zhou Mi had a dagger of his own, and a short sword. He’d have preferred a bag of rocks instead, but the little room didn’t conjure that for him. He carried the light bag of potions over his back, while trying to hold Niqiu with one arm. All the possibilities ran in front of his eyes. The monster in the floor could be waiting. There could be something, anything, else. What if Kyuhyun couldn’t find the way out? If he actually had to draw the sword, could he use it?
“Ready,” he whispered to Kyuhyun. And wasn’t sure he really was.
“Yeah, me too. Okay. Okay. Let’s do this.”
“What is it?” he asked, as Kyuhyun paused with his hand on the door.
Kyuhyun’s head turned, leaving him in partial profile. “I just hope we’re leveled up enough.”
And while he felt as unsteady as a dandelion seed on a wind gust, Kyuhyun reached out and took his hand. They had to do it. There was no other choice but to face it together.
He heard Kyuhyun muttering. Things like we came from the left, which means we came in that way. That means we need to go to the right. Exit. Right. Exit.
They collective held their breaths, as they eased the bar of the door up. All seemed quiet, making even the tiniest squeak of the hinges seem like a scream.
Zhou Mi dared only a quick glance to his left, as though doing that would conjure something. The world’s biggest spider, something. Kyuhyun’s hand tugged him surely along, and he could tell how frightened they both were, by how slick it was between their palms. Pausing at a junction, two dead ends to either side. It meant continuing on. A long, corridor. And then a turn.
As they neared the corner, Kyuhyun nearly broke his fingers, as a rattling snore rocked them. Kyuhyun turned into him, a whimper from his throat and they stood stock still, Niqiu trembling in his arms.
How brave and stoic and rational Kyuhyun was, Zhou Mi thought. Okay. Maybe not all of those, as he didn’t think one of the game heros would fear quite so much. But there was intelligence in fear. And courage, that Kyuhyun knew things he thought could help. And he was doing all he could to do that.
Kyuhyun peeked around the corner, hand still tight around Zhou Mi’s, and pressed back flat against the wall Zhou Mi was leaning against.
“Some kind of monster,” Kyuhyun breathed. “Asleep. If we can get by… Really quiet.”
Maybe they wouldn’t have to fight. He nodded, silent, willing Niqiu to not open his mouth. And their sneakers were quiet on the stone as they crept around the corner. It looked like some kind of malformed bear, snoring away. And Zhou Mi did his best to keep his eye on his feet, as Kyuhyun led him. He didn’t want to stumble on a stone, or something worse.
And they had just passed, just barely gotten to the point where Zhou Mi had hope, when Niqiu’s nose wagged.
And he barked.
The monster snorted, and there was no stoic. Or rational. Or anything else.
Just Kyuhyun yelling and jerking at his arm and racing down the hallway as though 100 rabid bears where chasing them. Sounds escaping him with every footfall and exhale, desperate pants and pleas. Jerked around corners, and through doorways as Kyuhyun desperately sought the exit.
And he nearly fell over Kyuhyun’s back, stumbling hard into a wall as they drew up short.
A huge worm, like a caterpillar, blocked their way. Just barely moving, but clearly alert to them.
“It has to be this way,” Kyuhyun panted.
“Do you have any idea where we are in this maze?”
“Not a clue. But maybe we can take this. It’s just a worm.” And the worm hissed. “A worm with gigantic fucking teeth?!”
They could stake it, like a vampire, Zhou Mi thought grimly.
“Maybe our food would stop it.”
“Unlikely.” Kyuhyun drew his sword. “Just don’t stab me in the leg, okay?”
Maybe Kyuhyun didn’t have faith in him, but he saw a way he could help anyway. Gingerly lifting one of the torches from the wall, and holding it in front of him. Kill it with fire.
The worm hissed, striking out with its blobby neck, and Kyuhyun slashed. The move awkward and desperate, and a tiny line appeared in the worm’s skin. It hissed again, and Zhou Mi swallowed the warning he wanted to shout. Kyuhyun didn’t need his distraction. If he had to, he’d shove the torch down the worm’s throat, and—
Niqiu began to bark, and Zhou Mi tried to shush him. Frantic on two fronts, not wanting to draw more attention, or endanger Kyuhyun.
Kyuhyun’s sword hit something hard as he struck out, and Niqiu kept barking.
It was then Zhou Mi noticed the stone on Niqiu’s collar lighting up with every bark.
Watching as the worm froze in front of them. Literally encrusted in ice.
“Who’s monster finger food now,” Zhou Mi crooned, cuddling Niqiu as Kyuhyun stared back at him, panting and relieved.
But the bear-like monster wasn’t finished behind them. The roar shook the corridor and he was the one dragging Kyuhyun that time. Careening though a complicated pattern of turns and hoping the iced-over worm gave the bear monster something to chew on.
“Zhou Mi! This way. Look!”
He didn’t see what Kyuhyun was so excited about, but he ran anyway.
“An elevator,” Kyuhyun shouted as they crossed the final intersection of corridors. “That’s our way out!”
Niqiu’s bark had his heart jumping, but the monster was still behind them. He panted, squeezing beside Kyuhyun on the tiny wooden platform as Kyuhyun jerked a whole bunch of levers.
“Do you know how to work it?”
“There’s usually only one,” Kyuhyun said, voice jumpy. “Maybe… This one.”
And they nearly fell to the ground as the elevator started moving. And with a last roar from behind them, they were between solid stone, and hugging each other in relief. From one unknown, to something he couldn’t even imagine. But the gears didn’t stop grinding, and they rested their trembling knees against each other. He kept a hand on Kyuhyun’s leg, as though that would make sure they wouldn’t be parted. And let himself doze to buzz of the long trip upwards.
***
And Zhou Mi woke up, not in a puddle of hoped-for sunlight, but inside of a metal box. Okay, it wasn’t a box. It was a… Suit? His mind inexplicably flashed to an iron maiden. But it was clearly not some place from the past, but a modern room.
He’d only barely figured out out to move - with the suit, since he couldn’t actually move his limbs within it - when he heard Kyuhyun’s voice loud in his ear.
“Holy crap, it’s a powered combat suit!”
Agonizingly, like his grandmother, Zhou Mi came to a sitting position, staring at a metal lump beside him. A metal lump currently holding up two metal-hands like he’d just discovered the secrets of the universe.
“You’re in one, too!” Kyuhyun exclaimed. “Hey. A dog-carrier. That’s cool. Oh man.”
Niqiu was indeed in a box slightly larger than the dog himself. It had a handle on it for carrying, and Niqiu was staring at him with rather wounded eyes. He never had liked being confined. But Zhou Mi was kind of glad, in that Niqiu couldn’t go running off, and it also meant that no matter where they were, Niqiu could breathe. If he was in a suit twice the size of himself, he was assuming it had to be for breathing. One less thing to worry about. Kyuhyun got him to his feet, where Zhou Mi tried to stay standing, as Kyuhyun worked out the suit controls with fiendish ease.
“Just look at the articulation. I’ve never seen one in those colors,” Kyuhyun said, staring through the bulging glass or whatever in front of his face as he waggled his fingers, and stared at Zhou Mi’s suit. “Is that a hat on your suit?”
Zhou Mi lifted his hands, wondering what he was supposed to be feeling for. Some kind of protrusion. Kyuhyun’s definitely didn’t have a hat. But it did have a strange rectangular shape where Zhou Mi assumed the “chin” of the suit would be. And it didn’t look like a normal accessory, based on his limited knowledge.
“Yours has a bow tie,” he finally pointed out, getting a word in between Kyuhyun’s joyful mumbling.
“It does not,” Kyuhyun immediately argued, trying to see. “It does. Why would I dream myself a— Never mind. Starcraft! We’re Marines! But who’s in charge? Who’s directing us?”
“And how do we get out of here,” Zhou Mi asked, his question a little more pertinent to his mind. He was in a gigantic space suit thing, and if their last two experiences were any clue, they were probably in danger. The word Marines made him anxious, because that sounded like combat to him. And he’d already been shot once. And if they were in a Starcraft level, then even he wasn’t that dumb. He knew there were guns because he was staring at some. And that worried him. “You know how I’m not very good at swords? I’m even worse at guns.”
“This is a base, I think,” Kyuhyun mumbled on, wandering around the room. There seemed to be weapons, some kind of rack for things, suits. Kind of eerie with no one in them. “Oh, here’s a map! It shows the mineral deposits and where they’re building.”
“But how do we get out?”
“There are always objectives. I… Based on this strategy, they’re under attack. And gearing up for worse. I think I know what level this is. All you have to do is survive.”
“Surviving sounds good?” he put out tentatively.
“By a massive Zerg force!”
Zhou Mi cleared his throat, patting at the little box that held an anxious-looking Niqiu. “Kyuhyun. Maybe you shouldn’t sound so happy about that?”
“There have to be missile turrets nearby. That would be fun to man.”
“Kyuhyun.”
“And I totally thought you would be a Protoss, I mean…”
Zhou Mi grunted. “Those are the tall ones?”
Kyuhyun grinned. “You were listening.”
“Yeah, well. You threw your toys at me often enough.”
“Action figures!”
And as though to punctuate Kyuhyun’s statement, the ground rocked under their feet.
“Oh, they’re attacking. Maybe zerglings, or…”
“Kyuhyun. Maybe we should wait it out in this room.”
“But,” Kyuhyun wheedled. “What if we stay here, and it doesn’t end, because there was something else we needed to do? We won’t go outside. We might…look.”
He picked up Niqiu’s pet carrier, having been sitting there wiggling his metal fingers to make sure he could do just that. And resigned himself to the fact that he had to follow Kyuhyun at any cost. Kyuhyun was a kid in a candy store. Albeit, a candy store that had the potential to get them killed. And maybe by staying close and keeping Kyuhyun from running out to high five one of those creepy looking insect guys would keep them both safe.
Or he could have hoped. Everything outside of their little room was in chaos. Other Marines - he gathered, since they had on the same kind of suits - were running around, grabbing weapons. Kyuhyun stood like he was basking in the sun, watching them be commanded until eyes swung their way.
“You two, to the north turret!”
“Yes sir!” Kyuhyun chirped, and dragged Zhou Mi away as fast as Zhou Mi could coordinate his suit to move. And to Zhou Mi, he spoke directly. “We’ll go with the others, so we’ll be safer. It means time is ticking down, so we won’t have much time to wait.”
He missed Kyuhyun’s guiding hand, but told himself to grow up. Kyuhyun didn’t feel the need to cling to him all the time, too lost in his glory. But he was exhausted, and filthy, and reeked of sweat. Even Niqiu seemed tired, and a bit nippy from his box. He didn’t even want to think of what Kyuhyun felt like, feeling like it was his responsibility to see both of them, all three of them, out safely. He just wanted to wake up.
Zhou Mi stared at the back of Kyuhyun’s suit as they moved, sound of gunfire startling him as Kyuhyun kept rambling. Kyuhyun was explaining the use of the missile turrets as they got to it, something about air defense, and whatever. He could feel the time ticking down inside of himself, and he just wanted to get out of the metal suit for good.
“What if we don’t make it? Or if we get attacked, or—“
“Hey. We’ll be okay,” Kyuhyun said, turning back and stopping them short. “This is when the game is still easy, and I’ve played this a million times. We’ll shoot down mutalisks, and we’ll keep ourselves safe until the time ends. Okay?”
Zhou Mi was an extraneous set of hands in the tower, with only a certain amount of optional stations. He was there in case someone got knocked out, probably. Kyuhyun received a short tutorial, sending Zhou Mi a thumb’s up. He looked less like a man going to war, and more like he’d been set off on some amazing shopping spree with unlimited time.
And Zhou Mi sat on the floor, unable even to touch Niqiu in his box. But Niqiu curled up as close to Zhou Mi as he could. Wincing as the turret trembled, as the sound of the missiles being launched and exploding screamed in his ears.
And then he found a use for himself after all. Leaving Niqiu near Kyuhyun’s feet, making sure missiles were being moved for quicker turnover. Watching with horrified fascination at the battle both in the air and on the ground.
All we have to do is survive.
So he cheered Kyuhyun on, Kyuhyun who was glazed and in the moment, so utterly focused. Eyes scanning the sky and— That was the look he knew, from when Kyuhyun gamed. The grim tension at times, the bursts of pleased congratulations at himself. And he began to think they’d be okay. Kyuhyun was doing all they could, and it looked like the horde outside was lessening under their counterattacks.
The all-clear sounded and Kyuhyun was frozen, as though he didn’t know what to do.
“We did it? We did it!”
He turned back to Zhou Mi, stunned, smiling. And nearly leaped for him, the metal of their suits clanging. Niqiu barked at them, unhappy to be left out.
They’d done it.
And the world exploded.
***
When Zhou Mi was a child, he had a stuffed bear that he had clutched at night. At one point it had been half as big as him, comforting and warming to his body. That bear had kept all the monsters away, and he’d told stories to it to fall asleep. When he woke, he felt like he had at five, with his cuddly bear. Sighing, and leaning into the warmth that he was cuddling against himself. The warmth that purred back, as he sighed into soft hair.
“Kyuhyun,” he breathed, content and safe.
“Muh?”
Zhou Mi’s eyes sprang open. Back of Kyuhyun’s head, check. Arm around Kyuhyun’s ribs, check. He breathed a sigh of relief at that. They weren’t alone.
“Kyuhyun. Oh, Niqiu?”
“He’s here.”
Zhou Mi pushed himself up far enough to peer over Kyuhyun’s shoulder. Niqiu was laying against Kyuhyun’s chest, head on Kyuhyun’s upper arm, and side-eying Zhou Mi as though he were angry for being left in that little box for so long. And taking it out on Zhou Mi by cuddling with Kyuhyun instead. What could he have done? Niqiu had needed to breathe, too. And gravity. And whatever else those boxes and suits did. But Niqiu still licked his fingers, when he petted the soft head. They were laying on grass, in some kind of woodland setting. No gunfire that time. That was good.
“Too bad Starcraft level didn’t take us back, even if I could’ve stayed there for years,” Kyuhyun said, yawning and rocking back into Zhou Mi. “Or wake us up. Or whatever we have to do.”
“I know.”
But if Kyuhyun was willing to lay like that against him, he’d almost be willing to go through another Starcraft level himself.
At least until Kyuhyun looked up. And nearly shrieked.
They scrambled in unison, limb over limb, a huge shadow on the ground that gradually got smaller.
“B-bowser?” Kyuhyun stuttered, hand painfully pinning down Zhou Mi’s forearm.
And then Zhou Mi got a glance at Kyuhyun’s green pants. And his own red ones.
“Mario?” he whispered, watching the gigantic turtle get closer. “But. Bowser would only come for Princess Peach.”
“I don’t—“
Niqiu yelped from the other side of Kyuhyun, and Zhou Mi lunged for him, missing by distant inches as a turtle lashed out at him. The turtle grabbed the curling dog by the scruff, and then by his middle and carried him toward Bowser.
“Princess Niqiu is mine!” Bowser proclaimed, as Niqiu barked and squirmed to get away. Still wearing the jeweled collar from before.
“No! Let him go!” Zhou Mi demanded, but had no idea how to stop him.
Every game he ever played flashed through his head, but Bowser was far out of reach by the time Zhou Mi got there.
“No,” he whispered, as Bowser just carried away his dog. His dog. He turned to Kyuhyun, who was scrabbling onto his feet. “We have to save Niqiu!”
And Zhou Mi could almost hear Mario music cheering him on. He didn’t know if Mario games were a specialty of Kyuhyun’s past or not, and Kyuhyun was clutching his hands, staring up and down their primary-colored outfits. His dog— They couldn’t eat dogs. Niqiu had to be fine. He just didn’t know what to expect next. Chased, shot at, perpetually running. He’d run then, for Niqiu’s safety.
“You’re bleeding,” Kyuhyun said, stopping him before he could going, with Kyuhyun following or not.
Zhou Mi hadn’t even noticed. But the line on his arm where the turtle had scratched him made his stomach clutch. If he could be hurt, Niqiu could be, or Kyuhyun. It stung, but it was hardly life-threatening. Not when Niqiu was in danger. But he gathered himself, as Kyuhyun fished in his big green pockets and emerged with a handkerchief to bind up the wound.
“Battle wound,” Kyuhyun joked, looking up as though to tell Zhou Mi he was trying to lighten things.
“I guess those combat suits were good for something,” Zhou Mi offered.
And Kyuhyun grinned, pushing him toward the trail they were supposed to follow.
“You’ll live. Hey, Luigi’s taller,” Kyuhyun said as they moved out of the trees. “So am I taller by default?”
“You can be,” Zhou Mi granted, not caring at that moment. And a thought occurring to him. “And it should be Prince Niqiu.
Zhou Mi adjusted the big red hat on his head and kept walking in the direction Bowser had disappeared in.
His hopes of a nice, leisurely trek were shredded, when they passed a particularly large tree. A huge gorge was between them and the rest of the forest. With little hanging bridges, moving bricks.
This world’s version of the Mario obstacles. He could barely run without falling. And to jump across all those moving, and not moving platforms seemed a recipe for something he didn’t want to think about.
The gorge dropped so far beneath them, that if they fell, it was certain death. But there was nothing else could they do. There was no other way across. And he couldn’t leave Niqiu with Bowser. They had no way to get home without him, anyway. And the thought of giving up made him sick, even as the thought of going forward made him sick as well.
He jerked, staring as Kyuhyun reached, took his hand. Smiling at him, albeit rather grim.
“We can do this. For Niqiu. We took down fucking Zergs, and battled dungeon monsters. We can do this. If it’s a dream… We have to be able to do this.”
Zhou Mi felt his arm, the little piece of cloth that had been tied over the wound on his arm. And he nodded.
“You’re right. Thank you.”
And they studied the ways the platforms moved. The little wavy bridges, the lazily floating blocks. And Kyuhyun the strategist had it all timed in his head.
They leaped together.
And again.
And again.
And sprawled onto the grass on the other side with twin groans. Zhou Mi had nearly moved too soon off of one platform, certain failure there, but Kyuhyun had gotten them back on track. It had been strenuous and ridiculous and his legs were shaking like a leaf.
He knew that wouldn’t be the last area they’d have to go through like that. Probably just the easiest one.
There was a block hanging in midair on their way to the next area, and they stared at it.
“Maybe it has money,” Kyuhyun suggested. “Yoshi? A super mushroom? Ooh, or a fire flower!”
Zhou Mi approached it, grim. And all he did was succeed in bonking his head when he leaped underneath of it. Clearly not one that had something in it. He could’ve broken his neck, and he slapped at the block with his hand. Stupid Mario world.
Zhou Mi didn’t bother looking back as Kyuhyun laughed at him the whole rest of the way to the next area.
It was a gorge, but a place they had to climb. Switchbacks up some kind of mountain, that moved and impeded their progress if they didn’t move fast enough.
“What do we do if we see an enemy? I can’t jump on them,” Zhou Mi mourned. “Oh. Maybe we can pretend you’re a turtle.”
And Kyuhyun threw a stick at him, keeping up as they moved area by area.
Kyuhyun stopped behind Zhou Mi, as they finally finished climbing. What was in front of them wasn’t another gorge, though they did have to move across some blocks to get to it. But they could see the castle. The castle where Niqiu was. But there were legions of all kinds of enemies in front of it. To get through all of those, they’d need a Trojan horse, at best. Trojan turtle probably, he amended.
“That’s not good.”
“We’ll— We’ll grab shells on the other side,” Kyuhyun offered. “Maybe we can sneak in that way.”
Zhou Mi nodded grimly. They had to at least get closer to find out.
The first platform they leaped onto went well, moving them closer to a row of blocks. They were steady under their feet, rubber soles gripping easily. But they hadn’t gotten to the end of the row, before the blocks began to shake.
“Why is it doing that?” Zhou Mi asked, grabbing Kyuhyun’s arm.
“I don’t know. Get back to the middle in case it’s going to change shape.”
There was no way there could be an earthquake in mid-air.
But getting back to the middle block didn’t help them. Because moments later, all the blocks dropped out from under them - and they fell with them.
***
Zhou Mi felt like he’d been tumbled out of an ice cube tray, bent over the point of a block like it was a giant clothes hanger.
And if Kyuhyun’s groans meant anything, he felt the same way. But he didn’t feel hurt, which was odd. Bumps and bruises, yes, but nothing broken. Kyuhyun was rubbing his head by the time Zhou Mi got onto his feet.
“We fell into a pipe!” Zhou Mi said, staring up with glee. “That’s why we’re okay!”
“Then maybe this is the way into the castle.”
They would have needed a bullhorn to have whooped any louder.
“Maybe we can get Niqiu without having to fight,” Kyuhyun mused, as they moved toward the castle via the underground walkway. It was just as dank and gross as the dungeon they’d been in, but Zhou Mi felt more secure. They were moving toward something - saving Niqiu - and not away from a monster trying to make them dinner.
And that Kyuhyun seemed hopeful that everything would go right, well. He wasn’t so sure. They’d always had the tools they’d needed, somehow. But to just sneak in and grab Niqiu seemed to easy. He pictured Kyuhyun’s grim face in the combat suit and kept walking.
“There’s always a boss battle,” Zhou Mi said finally.
“I know. I know. But have you been working out? Who’s going to grab Bowser and toss him into something? I sure don’t think I can.”
“We’ll find a way,” Zhou Mi said. They’d come that far. And at the end of the corridor, another pipe, horizontal. He followed Kyuhyun into it, crawling toward their destination - and Niqiu.
And as they emerged, the gray rock walls of the castle enclosing them, they ran. Every room on the lower level searched. Treasure, bedrooms, they ignored it all. Dashing up stairs to the next level. It was deserted, and they were wasting no time. He just kept his eyes on the back of Kyuhyun’s green overalls and kept running.
It was Niqiu’s barks that gave them their clue. He could probably smell them, and was anxious to get to them.
“If he’s been hurt,” Zhou Mi said, feeling utterly helpless.
Kyuhyun shook his head, gasping for breath. “He doesn’t sound hurt or weak. Don’t worry.”
As they turned carefully down the corridor, moving toward the sound, he wondered what he would’ve done had it been just himself. Found a corner and curled up. Or gone to find Niqiu on his knees.
“Kyuhyun, thank you. For everything.”
“Sure,” Kyuhyun said, as though he wasn’t listening. They paused in front of an immense wooden door. “I think he’s in here.”
Was Bowser in there, too? Or was he out massing an army to keep them out from outside, never knowing they were sneaking in. For such a huge door, totally against all laws of physics, it swung open at a touch.
They saw Niqiu immediately, nearly turning backflips in a jeweled cage. The collar was still on him, and he was pawing at the bars to get to Zhou Mi. Zhou Mi was ready to paw at the bars himself, both of them trying to figure out how the cage opened. If that was their goal, get Niqiu, then they just had to get the cage open.
And the cry send chills through him, when Kyuhyun found the latch.
Cringing. A shadow falling over them. Bowser, from out of nowhere. The boss battle they couldn’t escape. Zhou Mi wanted to run, his hand half in the cage and staring up.
“You— You can’t have him!” Zhou Mi half shouted, the sound more assertive than he felt. They could be squashed any second. It wasn’t like he really was Mario. He didn’t have super strength. He couldn’t even unclog a toilet. He was just in a costume, with his fake Luigi at his side.
And Bowser laughed.
But he couldn’t leave Niqiu there. Even as he tried to gesture for Kyuhyun to run, to get to safety. Kyuhyun.
Niqiu barked, tension heavy in the air, the jewels on his collar oddly lighting up again and making Bowser freeze.
But not coated in ice as the worm monster had been. Head turning as though he heard something they could not. Zhou Mi pried at the lid, freezing again at a sound of something heavy coming up the long hall. And as they gaped, a big green dinosaur appeared from the doorway, seeming to wink as he grabbed Bowser by the tail and dragged him away.
He stared at Kyuhyun, but there was no answer to be had between them. And the latch finally, finally opened. Allowing Niqiu to scramble up, and into his arms. And they more or less trembled together as Kyuhyun walked on his knees to get closer. Hugging them both.
Hugging them both.
***
Zhou Mi sneezed. Kyuhyun had so much dust under his bed, he was lucky to get out of there still able brea—
Kyuhyun’s bed? Kyuhyun was next to him, cheek stuck to the floor, and Zhou Mi shoved him to wake him up, getting a very confused Kyuhyun staring back at him.
“What?”
“We’re under your bed.”
He knew it was Kyuhyun’s bed, because there was a Protoss toy - action figure - staring at him from against the wall where it had fallen at some point. Beside that, a box of games that Kyuhyun had brought. And Niqiu, curled in front of them, licking in places Zhou Mi, who let the dog lick him, would rather not experience.
“Oh. I had the weirdest dream,” Kyuhyun said, touching his own forehead.
“Yeah. Me, too. Bowser—“
“Bowser—“
They blinked at each other.
“Starcraft?” Kyuhyun ventured.
“Marine suit. Missile turret. Dungeon?”
“Gigantic worm.”
The alarm on Kyuhyun’s face was almost enough to send him into a panic, and he reached for his arm. It hurt. And Kyuhyun lifted his sleeve, to see the bandage they’d placed there.
His arm had left a tiny bloody spot on the bandage. And he pointed slowly, getting Kyuhyun’s attention.
Because around Niqiu’s neck was a very familiar jeweled collar.
“Is this just another part of the dream?” Kyuhyun wondered.
“I don’t…know.”
And the door opening had them both turning, as though an enemy was ready to attack. Zhou Mi blinked through the pain as he hit his head on part of the bed support. But it wasn’t an enemy. It was Donghae, looking very confused indeed as Niqiu gave an encouraging yip.
“Why are you guys napping under the bed? Why are you laughing so hard?” Donghae demanded.
There was nothing they could tell him, or even try to, so they just kept trying to get themselves together until he gave up and left them alone.
It was kind of hard to get his breath, and his face hurt from smiling. And Niqiu seemed more like he wanted a nap, than any other thing. Maybe they’d figure out what it’d been, some day. But they’d survived. Kyuhyun raised a fist, and he bumped it with his own. Survived worlds with the video game master. The master who looked about read for a nap, just like dog currently trying to inch onto Kyuhyun’s chest.
Another grin crossed his face, and he let his cheek rest of the floorboards.
Dream or not, he had never been so glad to be home.
***
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2011-07-09 09:20 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-07-09 10:08 pm (UTC)...is Niqiu the biggest hero then? XD
no subject
Date: 2011-07-12 07:37 am (UTC)And Niqiu is definitely the biggest hero. XD
no subject
Date: 2011-07-09 09:21 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-07-12 07:37 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-07-09 09:38 pm (UTC)THE IMAGES
I CAN'T
also - niqimi is precious forever.
no subject
Date: 2011-07-12 07:37 am (UTC)Yaaay!
Date: 2011-07-09 10:22 pm (UTC)Re: Yaaay!
Date: 2011-07-12 07:38 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-07-10 12:36 am (UTC)Maybe not all of those, as he didn’t think one of the game heros would fear quite so much. But there was intelligence in fear. And courage, that Kyuhyun knew things he thought could help. I absolutely fell for this line though. <33 I love how you wrote Kyuhyun's gaming
obsessionhabit not as something all that lame, but actually something that would help them on their way. <3But if Kyuhyun has a portal to the videogame world under his bed, does this mean that Zhou Mi's wardrobe leads to Narnia? o.o
This was so wonderful <333
no subject
Date: 2011-07-12 07:42 am (UTC)....Zhou Mi's wardrobe might lead to Thailand, and a mall. XD
no subject
Date: 2011-07-10 12:41 am (UTC)But what detailed, seriously thought out crack. It was funny, it was serious, it was scary and it was wild.
no subject
Date: 2011-07-12 07:42 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-07-10 02:05 am (UTC)and i loved the inclusion of niqiu.
oh, and donghae being the savior dinosaur was awesome XD at first, being a whipped shinee fan, i was like dinosaur=jonghyun. but then i eralized that was the wrong fandom. haha.
i loved this! you can write absolutely anything brilliantly <3
no subject
Date: 2011-07-12 08:19 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-07-10 02:06 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-07-12 08:20 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-07-10 02:43 am (UTC)others would freak out.
Mario!!! lol
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Date: 2011-07-12 08:21 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-07-10 07:21 am (UTC)but seriously, i really loved this. it put such a huge smile on my face, you don't even know. thank you for writing something this insanely adorable and hilarious! ♥
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Date: 2011-07-12 08:28 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-07-10 07:41 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-07-12 08:29 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-07-10 01:39 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-07-12 09:06 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-07-10 11:07 pm (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2011-07-11 09:45 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-07-12 09:13 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-07-12 04:05 pm (UTC)what in the world is under kyuhyun's bed? lol ... or maybe what's under is bed is out of this world.
and niqiu as an important character! yay :D
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Date: 2011-07-13 08:03 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-07-12 09:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-07-13 08:05 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-07-17 02:34 am (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2011-08-14 08:09 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-09-10 10:33 am (UTC)