[FOR KRISHOISLOVE] LIKE A DREAM
RECIPIENT: krishoislove
TITLE: Like a Dream
RATING: G
LENGTH: 2031
WARNINGS: None
SUMMARY: Luhan finds a faerie circle and dances with a handsome stranger.
FINAL NOTES: recipient, all your prompts were super cute and I'm so sorry that I only had time for one (and that it's so short). Nevertheless, I hope you like it!
He knows he shouldn’t be out here, but he honestly couldn’t help himself. Luhan has a craving for adventure and as soon as he heard talk about it he knew he’d have to come.
Luhan’s village is small, and situated in a sparse stretch of land between endless fields and a vast forest. The people that live there are simple, and are more than happy to lead the provincial life of a farmer.
Luhan is not one of them.
His entire family is made up of farmers, as far back as he and his parents can remember. They live to cultivate the land, and Luhan has been reminded of that one too many times by his father. But, instead of feeding the animals and spending all hours of the day in the yard picking fruit like other children, Luhan would escape into the field and lay there for hours, staring up at the sky and dreaming. He has even hidden in the forest on occasion, but it is far too easy to lose his way and end up stuck there after the sun sets, when the friendly shades of green disappear and menacing branches and vines became even more apparent, drawing dark shadows across marshy ground. Villagers have had to go looking for him in the past, but now he just spends nights among century-old trees until the sun rises and he comes home to a frown from his father and a knowing smile from his mother.
He has taken steps to make sure that tonight he will not get lost. After his parents went to bed, he snuck outside and quickly made a makeshift torch, sneaking into the woods and lighting it at the edge of town, borrowing the flame from a still-open store.
Now he just has to find out where they are.
*
“A faerie ring?”
“Yes.”
Luhan’s head snaps up. He’s been trying to sell potatoes to a disagreeing traveler for too long, and the man has now moved onto his apples. Luhan needs some gossip. As always, the widows of the town are happy to supply.
“What on earth-”
The eldest of the group scowls. “This is no good. Harvests will spoil because of it. Their kind needs to stay away. We want nothing to do with them,” she spits, entirely too loud.
The other women deflate. “Maybe they are good? The rains might come early this year if they-”
“There is no good when it comes to them. Only bad.”
The haggard man asks a question about the quality of these apples and Luhan quickly pulls them out of his grasp and informs him none too kindly that his stall is closed. His parents will have his head but the bakery in town is always generous to Luhan in their purchases so maybe he can get rid of his goods there. But he’ll do that later.
“So where is it?”
The women jump and hold their hands over their hearts. Then they see it’s just Luhan and waste no time in fawning over him, pulling his cheeks and patting his hair. He groans inwardly. He’ll be twenty come next spring, and he’s quite done with being treated like a child.
He tries again. “You mentioned a faerie… something?”
“Oh, don’t worry about that. Go back to your stall, someone might steal your goods,” they say, eyes wary as they push him back to his cart.
Luhan frowns, brushing dirt off his jacket as he heads back. They spare him one last worried glance before hurrying away. The boy frowns. A faerie ring, they had called it. Sounds fun.
*
There is light in the forest. After a few minutes of walking, Luhan finds it. He was beginning to think that this was all a joke, an old wives’ tale-literally-to predict a poor harvest. But no, there is a steady glow of light in front of him and as he gets closer, the light gets brighter.
If anyone had asked him after this what it had looked like, he wouldn’t have been able to explain it. The light wasn’t harsh-not like that of a lantern or even the steady light of a fire. It was, to put it in the simplest terms, a glow. It seems like it’s moving, and when Luhan draws closer, he finds out why.
There are tiny lights, more than he can count, floating in the air, then flitting around. One draws close to where he is half-hidden behind a tree and he sees that they’re not lights. They have tiny, translucent wings and little appendages they wave in the air as they move.
And then the music starts.
It’s soft. Luhan doesn’t know much about music, he has only heard the jaunty tunes they play in the village during festivals, but this is much different. It’s lilting, inviting, and warm. As soon as Luhan hears it, his only thought is to move forward, towards the strange music and the flying lights.
Then there's a sound of gentle sighing and Luhan realizes that it's the tiny balls of light. They're singing. It's mesmerizing, the gentle hum of unintelligible words, and Luhan finds himself stepping further forward. The beat picks up the closer he gets, the lullaby taking on a lively tune and transforming into something that can be felt as well as heard.
And then the dancers arrive.
One second there's no one and the next multiple persons are twirling around, clapping their hands and laughing. It's like their only purpose is to dance in this little clearing with the strange music and the flying lights.
He doesn't realize he's moving forward again until there is only a row of bushes separating himself from the celebration-of what, he doesn't know.
More people join, seeming to be stepping right out of trees, to join the fray. The group grows larger, pushing their unmarked boundaries so that Luhan is almost in their midst. He begins nodding his head in time with the joyful melody, a smile on his face.
“Why are you sitting there?”
Luhan jumps at the tinny voice. He looks over his shoulder and sees a ball of light, slightly tinted blue. “I-um-” What is he supposed to tell the creature?
“Join!” The little thing demands, tugging on Luhan’s thick sleep clothes, very out of place among all these vibrant people who seem to be wearing outfits made from reeds. He really can’t say no to the sight of the little person trying to make him join in, so he stands and steps forward, the little one cheering in delight and perching himself on Luhan’s shoulder.
There is no organization, no clear lines or pairs or groups. Each person (thing?) seems to be dancing differently, and Luhan is still trying to make order from madness when an arm sweeps around his waist and tugs him forward.
The long-haired woman with a wiry body and pinched features is the first person he dances with. She pulls him into the crowd, laughing as she twirls around him and trails nimble fingers over his chest, back, and shoulders. Luhan feels himself falling into something akin to a trance, eyes trained on her as she dances about. He doesn’t even notice the being on his shoulder stand and fly away. He simply can’t take his eyes off this girl, who even seems to be glowing. Then she grins and he’s being pushed over to someone else.
The second, also a woman, has short straight hair that brushes her rosy cheeks and a small grin that grows only when she glances down at the ground. Luhan spends a while dancing with her, the tune carrying on in the background as she shyly twirls around him, movements small and calculated. She laughs in delight when he dances around her, and she guides him, showing him how to dance to the upbeat music with minute shifts of her body until finally he’s got it, matching her step for step and managing not to run into any of the other dancers.
The music changes to something quicker and she beams in response, turning and darting away. Luhan stares after her, wondering if he should follow. Before he can, someone steps in front of him and cuts off his path.
“You’re new.”
Luhan blinks, staring at the man in front of him. Wow. He has to physically hold himself back from ogling him. He’s a little shorter than Luhan, but he radiates energy in a way Luhan doesn’t think he ever could. Short black hair, wind tossed, frames an angular face and supple skin-complete with a dimple. Luhan doesn’t think he’s ever seen anyone quite like this man before. Doesn’t think he ever will.
“Shall we dance?” He asks, dimple deepening, and Luhan nods.
The music is louder, and though the musicians must be growing tired, it's far more upbeat. The man pulls Luhan close, grinning as the latter trips over his own feet and struggles to keep up with the fancy footwork, but they quickly strike up a rhythm, narrowly missing each other's feet and laughing breathlessly when they run into each other. Luhan gladly spins when the man leads him to do so, but when he turns around, he's alone and the strange man is nowhere to be seen.
He's grabbed by another man-kind face, nice laugh-but it's not the same. Luhan doesn't feel the same electrifying excitement that he did with the other man.
He has to find him.
Luhan searches high and low for the stranger, tolerating each time he is pulled away from his search for a dance, though he's growing frustrated.
The night is almost over, the pinks and yellows of dawn ticking the edges of the horizon and Luhan knows he doesn't have long left. He doubts something as magical as this would carry on to daylight, when any old mortal could happen upon the farries and disrupt their celebration.
He begins to grow frantic when the crowd thins out. He sees sprites and almost translucent beings step into the trunk of a tree and disappear from sight. He watches faeries fall to the ground, shimmering, bodies exploding in a bright flash, and then in their place lies a flower.
The sun is rising. The music is almost over. Luhan's giving up. Perhaps he had passed the man already, and hadn't even seen him. The thought saddens Luhan, but he turns to head home anyway.
Only, he can't, because his wrist is grabbed and then he's being pulled into someone's chest. Luhan looks up and gasps.
"I demand a second dance," the man says, dimple deepening with his grin. He takes his eyes off of Luhan for just a second, to look at the sky. "Looks like we have just enough time."
It's more of a waltz this time, steps slow and careful, but they lean into each other so that there's still the comical jumble of legs.
"The next time someone tells me that men are bad dancers," the man begins, voice muffled by Luhan's shoulder, where he's resting his head, "I'll tell them to dance with..."
"I'll tell them that they simply must dance with Luhan." He smiles and Luhan's gut flip-flops. They take a few more steps before the man draws away and sighs. "I'm afraid our time has come to an end."
Luhan starts. "But I don't know your name!"
The man smiles. "It is Yixing."
Luhan keeps his hold on the man, determined not to let him go.
"Luhan," Yixing begins, struggling in his hold, "I need to rest."
Luhan realizes he's being selfish and quickly draws back, staring at his feet. "But," he pauses, bites his lip, thinks that this is a stupid question to ask. But he needs to know. "Will I see you again?" He closes his eyes, not wanting to see Yixing's no doubt annoyed expression.
Instead, Luhan feels lightest of pressure on his forehead and hears, "Of course you will." Then, there is a blast of light behind his eyelids.
Smiling, Luhan opens his eyes. When he looks down, there is a small bell-shaped flower in the lightest shade of purple at his feet.
TITLE: Like a Dream
RATING: G
LENGTH: 2031
WARNINGS: None
SUMMARY: Luhan finds a faerie circle and dances with a handsome stranger.
FINAL NOTES: recipient, all your prompts were super cute and I'm so sorry that I only had time for one (and that it's so short). Nevertheless, I hope you like it!
He knows he shouldn’t be out here, but he honestly couldn’t help himself. Luhan has a craving for adventure and as soon as he heard talk about it he knew he’d have to come.
Luhan’s village is small, and situated in a sparse stretch of land between endless fields and a vast forest. The people that live there are simple, and are more than happy to lead the provincial life of a farmer.
Luhan is not one of them.
His entire family is made up of farmers, as far back as he and his parents can remember. They live to cultivate the land, and Luhan has been reminded of that one too many times by his father. But, instead of feeding the animals and spending all hours of the day in the yard picking fruit like other children, Luhan would escape into the field and lay there for hours, staring up at the sky and dreaming. He has even hidden in the forest on occasion, but it is far too easy to lose his way and end up stuck there after the sun sets, when the friendly shades of green disappear and menacing branches and vines became even more apparent, drawing dark shadows across marshy ground. Villagers have had to go looking for him in the past, but now he just spends nights among century-old trees until the sun rises and he comes home to a frown from his father and a knowing smile from his mother.
He has taken steps to make sure that tonight he will not get lost. After his parents went to bed, he snuck outside and quickly made a makeshift torch, sneaking into the woods and lighting it at the edge of town, borrowing the flame from a still-open store.
Now he just has to find out where they are.
*
“A faerie ring?”
“Yes.”
Luhan’s head snaps up. He’s been trying to sell potatoes to a disagreeing traveler for too long, and the man has now moved onto his apples. Luhan needs some gossip. As always, the widows of the town are happy to supply.
“What on earth-”
The eldest of the group scowls. “This is no good. Harvests will spoil because of it. Their kind needs to stay away. We want nothing to do with them,” she spits, entirely too loud.
The other women deflate. “Maybe they are good? The rains might come early this year if they-”
“There is no good when it comes to them. Only bad.”
The haggard man asks a question about the quality of these apples and Luhan quickly pulls them out of his grasp and informs him none too kindly that his stall is closed. His parents will have his head but the bakery in town is always generous to Luhan in their purchases so maybe he can get rid of his goods there. But he’ll do that later.
“So where is it?”
The women jump and hold their hands over their hearts. Then they see it’s just Luhan and waste no time in fawning over him, pulling his cheeks and patting his hair. He groans inwardly. He’ll be twenty come next spring, and he’s quite done with being treated like a child.
He tries again. “You mentioned a faerie… something?”
“Oh, don’t worry about that. Go back to your stall, someone might steal your goods,” they say, eyes wary as they push him back to his cart.
Luhan frowns, brushing dirt off his jacket as he heads back. They spare him one last worried glance before hurrying away. The boy frowns. A faerie ring, they had called it. Sounds fun.
*
There is light in the forest. After a few minutes of walking, Luhan finds it. He was beginning to think that this was all a joke, an old wives’ tale-literally-to predict a poor harvest. But no, there is a steady glow of light in front of him and as he gets closer, the light gets brighter.
If anyone had asked him after this what it had looked like, he wouldn’t have been able to explain it. The light wasn’t harsh-not like that of a lantern or even the steady light of a fire. It was, to put it in the simplest terms, a glow. It seems like it’s moving, and when Luhan draws closer, he finds out why.
There are tiny lights, more than he can count, floating in the air, then flitting around. One draws close to where he is half-hidden behind a tree and he sees that they’re not lights. They have tiny, translucent wings and little appendages they wave in the air as they move.
And then the music starts.
It’s soft. Luhan doesn’t know much about music, he has only heard the jaunty tunes they play in the village during festivals, but this is much different. It’s lilting, inviting, and warm. As soon as Luhan hears it, his only thought is to move forward, towards the strange music and the flying lights.
Then there's a sound of gentle sighing and Luhan realizes that it's the tiny balls of light. They're singing. It's mesmerizing, the gentle hum of unintelligible words, and Luhan finds himself stepping further forward. The beat picks up the closer he gets, the lullaby taking on a lively tune and transforming into something that can be felt as well as heard.
And then the dancers arrive.
One second there's no one and the next multiple persons are twirling around, clapping their hands and laughing. It's like their only purpose is to dance in this little clearing with the strange music and the flying lights.
He doesn't realize he's moving forward again until there is only a row of bushes separating himself from the celebration-of what, he doesn't know.
More people join, seeming to be stepping right out of trees, to join the fray. The group grows larger, pushing their unmarked boundaries so that Luhan is almost in their midst. He begins nodding his head in time with the joyful melody, a smile on his face.
“Why are you sitting there?”
Luhan jumps at the tinny voice. He looks over his shoulder and sees a ball of light, slightly tinted blue. “I-um-” What is he supposed to tell the creature?
“Join!” The little thing demands, tugging on Luhan’s thick sleep clothes, very out of place among all these vibrant people who seem to be wearing outfits made from reeds. He really can’t say no to the sight of the little person trying to make him join in, so he stands and steps forward, the little one cheering in delight and perching himself on Luhan’s shoulder.
There is no organization, no clear lines or pairs or groups. Each person (thing?) seems to be dancing differently, and Luhan is still trying to make order from madness when an arm sweeps around his waist and tugs him forward.
The long-haired woman with a wiry body and pinched features is the first person he dances with. She pulls him into the crowd, laughing as she twirls around him and trails nimble fingers over his chest, back, and shoulders. Luhan feels himself falling into something akin to a trance, eyes trained on her as she dances about. He doesn’t even notice the being on his shoulder stand and fly away. He simply can’t take his eyes off this girl, who even seems to be glowing. Then she grins and he’s being pushed over to someone else.
The second, also a woman, has short straight hair that brushes her rosy cheeks and a small grin that grows only when she glances down at the ground. Luhan spends a while dancing with her, the tune carrying on in the background as she shyly twirls around him, movements small and calculated. She laughs in delight when he dances around her, and she guides him, showing him how to dance to the upbeat music with minute shifts of her body until finally he’s got it, matching her step for step and managing not to run into any of the other dancers.
The music changes to something quicker and she beams in response, turning and darting away. Luhan stares after her, wondering if he should follow. Before he can, someone steps in front of him and cuts off his path.
“You’re new.”
Luhan blinks, staring at the man in front of him. Wow. He has to physically hold himself back from ogling him. He’s a little shorter than Luhan, but he radiates energy in a way Luhan doesn’t think he ever could. Short black hair, wind tossed, frames an angular face and supple skin-complete with a dimple. Luhan doesn’t think he’s ever seen anyone quite like this man before. Doesn’t think he ever will.
“Shall we dance?” He asks, dimple deepening, and Luhan nods.
The music is louder, and though the musicians must be growing tired, it's far more upbeat. The man pulls Luhan close, grinning as the latter trips over his own feet and struggles to keep up with the fancy footwork, but they quickly strike up a rhythm, narrowly missing each other's feet and laughing breathlessly when they run into each other. Luhan gladly spins when the man leads him to do so, but when he turns around, he's alone and the strange man is nowhere to be seen.
He's grabbed by another man-kind face, nice laugh-but it's not the same. Luhan doesn't feel the same electrifying excitement that he did with the other man.
He has to find him.
Luhan searches high and low for the stranger, tolerating each time he is pulled away from his search for a dance, though he's growing frustrated.
The night is almost over, the pinks and yellows of dawn ticking the edges of the horizon and Luhan knows he doesn't have long left. He doubts something as magical as this would carry on to daylight, when any old mortal could happen upon the farries and disrupt their celebration.
He begins to grow frantic when the crowd thins out. He sees sprites and almost translucent beings step into the trunk of a tree and disappear from sight. He watches faeries fall to the ground, shimmering, bodies exploding in a bright flash, and then in their place lies a flower.
The sun is rising. The music is almost over. Luhan's giving up. Perhaps he had passed the man already, and hadn't even seen him. The thought saddens Luhan, but he turns to head home anyway.
Only, he can't, because his wrist is grabbed and then he's being pulled into someone's chest. Luhan looks up and gasps.
"I demand a second dance," the man says, dimple deepening with his grin. He takes his eyes off of Luhan for just a second, to look at the sky. "Looks like we have just enough time."
It's more of a waltz this time, steps slow and careful, but they lean into each other so that there's still the comical jumble of legs.
"The next time someone tells me that men are bad dancers," the man begins, voice muffled by Luhan's shoulder, where he's resting his head, "I'll tell them to dance with..."
"I'll tell them that they simply must dance with Luhan." He smiles and Luhan's gut flip-flops. They take a few more steps before the man draws away and sighs. "I'm afraid our time has come to an end."
Luhan starts. "But I don't know your name!"
The man smiles. "It is Yixing."
Luhan keeps his hold on the man, determined not to let him go.
"Luhan," Yixing begins, struggling in his hold, "I need to rest."
Luhan realizes he's being selfish and quickly draws back, staring at his feet. "But," he pauses, bites his lip, thinks that this is a stupid question to ask. But he needs to know. "Will I see you again?" He closes his eyes, not wanting to see Yixing's no doubt annoyed expression.
Instead, Luhan feels lightest of pressure on his forehead and hears, "Of course you will." Then, there is a blast of light behind his eyelids.
Smiling, Luhan opens his eyes. When he looks down, there is a small bell-shaped flower in the lightest shade of purple at his feet.