Dreams of Arcadia

13

"Ho- Hobi?" I asked distraught and the older man noticed me.

"Oh God Jimin... you're here, you're real..." he exclaimed and threw his arms around my neck, crying with relief.

"Hyung... what's all this?" cardboard stand-ups sat all over the living room, the BTS Member spread out on his sofa, bent over so that they could sit at all. Taehyung's stand-up had a plush Yeontan on his lap, next to Jungkook sat a brown Doberman. Actually, all the members had stuffed animals sitting around them that looked like their real-life pets.

"Don't look at me so judgmentally, I just missed you guys.... I was so lonely..." he defended himself.

"Why didn't you come to me?" I asked him and he shook his head.

"I didn't know you were here too... I thought I was having a nightmare for the first two days, then this weird Johnny substitute came and told me I was dead... he laughed at me because I had you sitting here as a stand-in... then when I heard that you were here too, I wanted to see you... but a naked guy came running past me, I didn't know if he was crazy, he was so fast, I didn't recognize him... no kidding, for a moment I thought it was Namjoon. After I calmed down, I tried to run to you again, this time I saw two streakers, so I gave up and came back here, trusting you to come and get me..." he said, upset.

"It's all right, hyung, I'm here now... but... it's pretty creepy here, I'll take you to my place... I've already found Tae too. Pack what you want to take, then we'll go check on Jungkookie, ok?" I reassured him and he let go of me, only to quickly run to his bedroom and come back a few minutes later with a big bag.

"Ok, we can go." Now in a better mood again, he took my hand and left his apartment with me.

"I swear, they looked us up..." I said, shivering, and he laughed.

"Yah, they're my friends, they're all cool..." he replied, but goosebumps still ran down my spine.

"I won't be entering your house of horrors again any time soon," I promised him.

"We're already a couple of idiots... I run away from naked people and you're creeped out by cardboard cut-outs..." Hobi giggled as we got into my car.

"Woah... these things drive here? I thought they were just some kind of decoration to make everything look real..." he said in surprise as I started the engine.

"Everything here is real, everything works, Hobi hyung," I explained to him and he nodded.

"Yes, it makes sense, when I thought that, I still thought I was in a dream. Do you know how long I pondered why I had naked people running around in my dream? I was looking for some kind of symbolism and was on the verge of running around naked myself," he said and now it was me who laughed.

"Well, maybe it's something you'd like to do? I won't stop you, but let me follow you slowly in the car... you know, in case you're thirsty and all... Not so i can stare at your ass the whole time, of course." I giggled and he slapped my arm lightly.

"Can you not flirt with me for once? One day I'll fall in love with you and then you'll ditch me because it was just a joke. Hmph." he complained jokingly, but grinned himself.

"Oh man, I'm curious about Jungkook's apartment, he has free access to every mattress store in town," I mused.

"I'm sure he's got more mattresses than the Princess and the Pea by now." Hobi laughed and I feared that he wasn't entirely wrong...