ambrosia [NCT DREAM]

14. Dreamscape

Jaemin dug into his backpack to find a Hello Kitty shirt in the bottom, squished by a peanut butter and jelly sandwich that had been in there for gods-know-how-long.

He sighed and took off his camp tee, replacing it with the Hello Kitty one instead. He took off his pants and threw them across the new cabin, before running and jumping into his bed.

Today had been overwhelming, if that word was even enough to describe it.

The game ended in a tie, since lightning struck not one, but two players and ruined it in the second inning. And when everyone dispersed and left the diamond, they kept treating Jaemin like he was made of silk or gold or something. Asking to hold things (he wasn't holding anything) or being super smiley for no reason at all. It confused Jaemin, as he was super bad at social cues and had no idea why they were being so... nice? But like, fake nice?

He didn't get it. At least his small group of friends and Renjun stayed constants. He liked that they didn't change how they treated him just because he was claimed. The others didn't change how nice they originally had been and Renjun didn't stop shooting him dirty looks into the evening.

And now, he had a new cabin to sleep in. Cabin One -one of the ones he never got to explore or see- was finally his. Well, his and his brothers's. cabin, apparently, because he has one of those now. Onew told him that Jungkook doesn't come to camp often anymore, but when Jaemin asked more about him, he kept quiet.

He sighed and shut his eyes, heavy with sleep. His head hit the pillow and within seconds, he was out.

But that night, Jaemin didn't have his usual dreams. Not the normal school dreams where he forgets his homework (or worse, his pants) or a dream about falling or even a wet dream about the pretty girl in his geometry class.

He didn't know where he was or how he ended up here. Jaemin had never dreamed of this place before and if he had, he certainly doesn't remember it.

Jaemin woke up in a office building just then, high up in the sky. It reminded him of the Empire State Building in New York City that his sixth period class had seen on a weekend field trip to, reigning above the clouds at an alarmingly tall height. Maybe that's where he was, he wouldn't know; he never entered the building himself.

The weirdest part is that he felt real. It didn't feel like a dream, because he could read the missing poster on the bulletin board behind him despite the letters being faded and the characters being in neither Korean, nor English. In fact, Jaemin had no idea what language those characters even came from, as he'd never seen it before. But faintly, he could read it somehow.

He looked around at himself, realizing he was still in his Hello Kitty sleep shirt and wearing no pants other than his boxer underwear. Jaemin blushed before also realizing that the building was empty except for himself and one other person.

A young woman sat at a desk, clacking away at her keyboard and nodding at the screen. She was immersed, not noticing Jaemin at first. She would have looked normal, apart from her being at least eight feet tall and having a freakishly youthful face.

Jaemin cleared his throat, peeking over the edge of the large desk and waving his hand. The woman stopped typing and stared back, cracking a grin.

"Oh, hello! You're here for the big guy, I assume? Appointment for Na Jaemin... that's you, right dear?" She singsonged, pointing at something on her screen that Jaemin couldn't see. The lady seemed unbothered with Jaemin's ragged hair and lack of pants.

Jaemin was confused, but nodded anyways; There must be a good reason this woman knows his name, only question is who's the "big guy" and what does he want?