Round 1: Many Worlds Interpretation (Team AU)
Title: Many Worlds Interpretation
Team: AU
Rating: PG-15 (There's a bunch of swearing)
Fandom: Super Junior
Pairing: Kyuhyun/Donghae. Side Yesung/Ryeowook.
Summary:Kyuhyun has to travel through many universes to get his fiancÈ back.
Author's Note: It can get very confusing. There's at least five different versions of Kyuhyun mentioned.
Prompt Used: 2NE1 - Go Away
"There are a plethora of interpretations when it comes to explaining quantum mechanics. One of them is the many worlds interpretation..."
Kyuhyun's head fell onto his desk. Unfortunately before he could totally drift into sleep, the man next to him slapped him on the head.
"Pay attention. It's not Mr. Kim's fault that you were idiotic enough to test your gaming addiction and lost, as usual."
"Shut up, Jongwoon. The only reason why you're not ditching is because you're basically in love with him. Don't make me tell him who's sneaking in dry erase markers every time he runs out."
"Yo-you wouldn't. I'm your best friend! Look, I'm just trying to look--"
"If you were trying to look out for me, you would see that I need as much sleep as poss-"
"Cho Kyuhyun. It's nice to see you were paying attention. Explain to Kangin what many worlds interpretation is about," Mr. Kim asked, smirking at him in the process.
Kyuhyun glanced at Jongwoon for help. Unlike him, he knew that Jongwoon would be hanging onto Mr. Kim's every last word. Unfortunately for him, his best friend was glancing at his pants for invisible lint.
Bitch.
"Well, Mr. Kim, it's about how there are multiple worlds."
Mr. Kim fixed his glasses before replying, "That's obvious. I'm looking for more complex answers than that. How Is many worlds interpretation similar and different from Copenhagen interpretation? Consistent histories? Who came up with the many worlds interpretation? The more details the better."
"Err. Well, many worlds interpretation talks about many worlds and Copenhagen's interpretation talks about how this one guy interprets something different from the many worlds interpretation. Consistent histories is about how history is always consistent. As for your last question, whoever came up with the many worlds interpretation was clearly not creative, so I'm guessing a John Smith or something", Kyuhyun replied.
Jongwoon face palmed right next to him.
"Cut! What the hell was that? You're supposed to smile, not daze off with this pissed off look on your face," the director yelled.
Kyuhyun snapped out of his thoughts as his eyes roamed his surroundings. Cameras were everywhere, all pointing at him. People were either running around in the background with clothes and other miscellaneous things or standing behind said cameras. In the middle of the chaos was a very red faced man who looked like he needed a vacation.
"Where are they? They need to bail me out soon," Kyuhyun thought as the director kept rambling on.
"This isn't rocket science. All you have to do is smile and do cute things. You idols make it look like we're the bad guys. I'm not asking much from you. Now, we're going to start filming on 3, 2, 1 and go!"
Kyuhyun forced a smile on his face as he looked as his watch. His friends really need to get here soon or else he might mess up this universe's Kyuhyun's life for good. First the director wanted him to put up this paper collage by himself even though it was windy as fuck. Then he made him learn the lyrics to the stupid love song so he could mouth along to it as he's waving his arms around to an invisible person. After all these irritating things, now the stupid director wants him to smile? If it wasn't for the fact that Ryeowook would skin him alive and lecture him with a "you're going to ruin the events of another world because of your selfishness," he would have punched the director.
"Cut! Fuck this. Take a five minute break while I call your manager. This is ridiculous. You're a fu--" and Kyuhyun droned out the rest as he searched the set for his friends.
"Pssst. Kyuhyun, here!" Jongwoon whispered, motioning him into the alley.
"About fucking time," Kyuhyun snarled, "I wanted to punch the living shit out of that asshole. We stayed here for way too long. Why couldn't we just knocked out that guy that mistaken me for this universe's me and just go when we realized it wasn't the right me or Donghae?"
"Because," Ryeowook stepped out of the shadows as he was messing around with a PSP-looking device, "You don't want to mess around with this universe's Kyuhyun's life. It isn't fair to him if he lost his job. Anyways, I think this one should be the last world for today. We already went to thirteen worlds."
Kyuhyun was about to protest until he saw the bags under both his friend's eyes. He swallowed back his refusal and just nodded. Kyuhyun could tell that the other two were trying to suppress their sigh of relief as Ryeowook clicked a button on the UTPSP.
The ground started to shake. There was bright light. Then they were gone.
--
Lee Donghae. Boy was that man sex on legs. He would make Snow White piss in her dress because he had a darker shade of hair and a fairer complexion compared to her. His muscles were drool-worthy yet not disgustingly bulky. His body was lean yet not super skinny. However, the best thing about his fiancÈ was his smile. Even if Donghae lost all his arms and legs and gained five hundred pounds, it was okay as long as he didn't lose his gorgeous smile.
Kyuhyun was staring at said boy while he was undressing. Now, usually Kyuhyun would be the farthest thing from "creepy" or "holy-shit-stalker-get-the-fuck-away-from-me" but come on, Donghae is super hot (especially after playing football with his friends and has sweat glistening off his chest) and at least he had the decency to not make it obvious that he was staring.
"Hey Kyuhyun, I know I'm hot, but you're staring in a holy-shit-stalker-get-the-fuck-away-from-me kind of way."
Okay, maybe sometimes he got carried away.
"I wasn't staring. I'm just zoning out and just happened to look in your direction. I was up all night playing Starcraft. Don't get cocky."
Donghae rolled his eyes before replying, "Seriously, playing that shit for ten hours straight can't be healthy for you. Why don't you play football with me and some of the guys?" he asked while putting on a clean shirt.
"Aww, damn it," Kyuhyun thought before replying, "I can't play anything and you know that."
"You can try. For all you know, you could be naturally athletic. I can guarantee it's a lot more fun than Starcraft," Donghae reasoned before lying down on their bed.
"Nothing is more fun than Starcraft. Take that back."
"Hmmn, I will if you agree to play one game of football."
"You're evil."
"No, I'm a genius," Donghae retorted, flashing his billion-watt smile. In fact, the room seemed to get brighter and brighter to the point where Kyuhyun had to shield his eyes. The ground was shaking tremendously. There seemed to be an earthquake too.
"What the fuck? His smile isn't that bright."
The light and trembles continued to become more and more intense until it was almost too much to handle. Kyuhyun closed his eyes and prayed (believe it or not, even with all the swearing and him being gay he was actually very religious). He could hear Donghae shouting obscenities as he called out Kyuhyun's name. After some time, the shaking and bright light seemed to die down as if some higher deity was answering his prayers. When it was completely gone, Kyuhyun finally lowered his hands to reveal Donghae being held by...
" What the fuck? No, what the fuckity fuck fuck? Wait, what the... holy shit. I'm staring at a carbon copy of myself. What the hell?"
Donghae looked shocked also, judging from his open mouth and him staring back and forth between him and the stranger. The person holding Donghae was messing around with what looked like a PSP and smiled once he clicked something on it.
The ground started shaking. The bright glow was coming back. Both Donghae and Kyuhyun snapped out of their trance and started to move. Donghae tried to get out of the grasp of the intruder but was failing miserably. Kyuhyun was trying to pull them apart but was also failing. His hand was actually going through Donghae and the stranger. The light was burning the rods and cones in his eyes but he still tried to clutch onto Donghae. Unfortunately, his eyes felt like they were going to burn out and Kyuhyun eventually was forced to close his eyes. At a last desperate attempt he tried to grab Donghae and felt his hand close around something.
Like last time, the light started to fade away after a couple of minutes. The tremors stopped soon afterwards. After Kyuhyun determined that the light remaining was just the afterimage of the brightness beforehand, he decided to open his eyes. The first thing he looked at was what was in his hand. His hand was grasping the PSP that the stranger was toying with. Then, he looked up.
Donghae was gone.
So was that damn doppelganger.
Fuck.
"Kyuhyun, wake up. Ryeowook and I are ready for more worlds today," his best friend said as he nudged his friend awake.
Kyuhyun shook the reminiscence of his dream away and gave his grunt of thanks as he went to the bathroom to start fixing up.
It's been six months since Donghae has been kidnapped. The three of them have been through at least three thousands worlds since then and still couldn't find his doppelganger. Then again, there are an infinite amount of worlds to go through. Kyuhyun didn't need reminders of how unlikely it was that they would find his fiancÈ.
After doing his daily routine of washing his teeth, taking a shower, shaving his face, and changing into the usual snarky tee and jeans, Kyuhyun went outside to see that breakfast wasn't made. When he looked up at Ryeowook and Jongwoon, he noticed their nervous expression.
"Why isn't breakfast set up?"
"I think we should go out for breakfast today," Jongwoon suggested, looking at him hopefully.
Both Ryeowook and Jongwoon flinched, expecting Kyuhyun to start lecturing them both about how time was being wasted and that the more time they wasted, the farther Donghae was going to be. Unexpectedly, Kyuhyun actually nodded in agreement.
"Fine. Let's go. "
He could tell that they both were tired of all this universe jumping. After all, they didn't have that much to gain. Sure, Ryeowook gets to learn more about how the universe works and is going to write a paper about that but Kyuhyun knew he got all the information he needed two thousand eight hundred universes ago. At this point, his friends are only tagging along for him. They were burnt out and tired.
The three of them went to a local noodle shop. After ordering, they all attempted to make the conversation away from Donghae, anything physics related, or the past six months in general. Those three topics were generally over-talked, overanalyzed, over-everything. Kyuhyun was mostly silent during breakfast but did put some input whenever he saw his friends glancing at each other worriedly.
However, the conversation started to die off. The only thing lingering over their heads was the mission. Everything was based off of hope. Maybe they will find Donghae one day. Maybe Donghae won't be traumatized. Donghae might still be alive. Donghae might still want to marry him. After eating, the trio went inside the bathroom and locked it. Ryeowook took the UTPSP out of his pocket and started searching for a universe.
The UTPSP (as they liked to call it for Universe-transporting PSP) was an eccentric device. It looked like their universe's PSP gaming console but was a lot more complex. When turned on, the top of the screen has the universe "identifier", as Ryeowook liked to call it, that it is currently in. The identifier had a mix of letters, numbers, and signals and could be as small as one digit or letter to as large as an infinite amount of all three. In the middle of the screen are two options. The first is the home option (which Ryeowook somehow put the universe they lived in there). The second option is the full list of universes that they could select.
"Let's try Universe |-|0P3," Ryeowook suggested.
It's not like they had better options anyway.
After the bright light and shaking, the trio disappeared from Universe L032V51K.
--
When the bright light disappeared, they saw that they were in the same bathroom again. Preparing for the worse, Jongwoon opened the door cautiously. He poked his head out and then gave the other two the signal to come out. It was the same noodle shop they left not too long ago. Well, it was this universe's version of the noodle shop.
One of the few things that the trio noticed was that the UTPSP took them to the nearest object, place, human, etc that had the most amount of particles common with the wielder. That's why Kyuhyun always held the UTPSP. The UTPSP taking them to the noodle shop meant that somewhere within a hundred feet, something similar to Kyuhyun would be near.
"I don't see anything similar to Kyuhyun in here. He must be outside," Jongwoon reasoned.
They walked out, trying not to draw attention even though the waiters looked at them questioningly. Once the three of them got outside, they couldn't help but groan inside. The plaza was filled with people. It would be hard to identify the carbon copy through this many people.
"Okay. Kyuhyun, that other Kyuhyun must be somewhat similar to you since he took our universe's Donghae out of all the Donghaes we met. Where do you think he might be since there's about at least ten stores within the hundred foot's radius?" Ryeowook questioned him.
"Wow, Ryeowook I sometimes forget you were our teacher before friend. Before this whole chaos started, Kyuhyun used to be the biggest gaming freak. That's why he was never awake in your class. If he was shopping here for some unknown reason, he would be at that gaming store," Jongwoon reasoned while pointing at a nearby gaming store.
"Nah. I think if he was here and it's the one we want, he would be shopping at that sport's store righ- look! Another version of me is right there!"
The three were stealthy yet quick while rushing to the other version of Kyuhyun. He didn't notice them as he glanced at the football he purchased. Kyuhyun noticed how the other version of him looked sadly at the ball before walking off, with a PSP-looking device in his hands. Kyuhyun knew he shouldn't get excited as it might not be their guy (they had this situation happen on their nine hundred and sixty-two universe where another Kyuhyun had a UTPSP yet wasn't their guy since he was married to a dinosaur. No joke, he had pictures.) yet he could feel his heartbeat racing with adrenaline.
Once the doppelganger went inside a restroom, Kyuhyun motioned Ryeowook to go in to see if there were other people inside. Ryeowook came out a few seconds later with his thumbs up. Without further ado, they kicked the door open. A bunch of things happened at once. Jongwoon jumped onto the guy, Ryeowook grabbed the PSP-looking thing, and Kyuhyun locked the door.
"It's a UTPSP!" Ryeowook declared.
This universe's version of him looked shocked at the sight of him and struggled to get out of Jongwoon's hold while trying to grab his UTPSP. Jongwoon took out handcuffs and handcuffed the spitting image to the sink below.
"What do you want?" the other universe's version of him asked him crossly.
"You're the guy that took Donghae, aren't you?" Kyuhyun asked.
"Look, why does it matter? You took my UTPSP while I was transporting. You could have found another Donghae easily. It was a brief moment in your life that you could have fixed. You don't need my Donghae, he--"
"What? Your Donghae? Look, fucker, it may have just been a moment to you, but it changed every single one that followed for me. I went through three thousand worlds just to find you. You know why? Because, Donghae is my fiancÈ. I love him and it's not right that you took my universe's Donghae just because... wait, why did you? You said yourself that I could find another Donghae. Why couldn't you?"
His carbon copy looked at him sadly before replying, "I was married to my universe's version of Donghae. We were so happy. My life couldn't have been better. However, he died in some freak accident. I'm sorry, but he was the love of my life. So, I bought a UTPSP and searched. I wanted someone who was exactly like my Donghae. Yours was the closest I could find. The only difference they had was that he's obsessed with the sport you guys call football. We don't have that in my universe."
"So you use that as an excuse to kidnap him? Wait till I find out where you li--oh wait. Ryeowook, check his UTPSP for his home universe."
Kyuhyun couldn't help but get excited. After three thousand universes, he could finally have Donghae back. He hoped that Donghae was okay. They still needed to get married. Kyuhyun unconsciously twisted his ring in excitement.
However, before Ryeowook could even utter a word, his twin kicked the soccer ball to hit Ryeowook right in the face. Jongwoon, shocked, got the keys stolen. Unlocking the handcuffs from the sink, he punched Jongwoon right in the face before grabbing the UTPSP right out of Ryeowook's hand. He waved them goodbye as he ran out of the restroom.
"Catch him!"
The trio ran as fast as they could. They could see him clicking buttons on the PSP as he was running. Then, the ground started to shake as a intense glow started to appear.
"No! You bastard, get back here!" Kyuhyun screamed as he jumped as a last effort to catch him.
Kyuhyun's hopes shattered when he felt the cold, hard ground. He saw Jongwoon's hand and took it to get up.
"I'm so sorry," Ryeowook mumbled.
"Shut up. Why didn't you check the UTPSP for his home universe while he was talking? Just fucking leave me alone!" Kyuhyun snarled as he ran off.
--
Kyuhyun did what he always did when he needed help. His best friend may not be a miracle worker but he was what Kyuhyun needed when he was in tight situations. Sitting on the bed, he called his best friend and hoped that Jongwoon would pick up.
"Kyu, I'm kind of bu--"
"Donghae got kidnapped."
"What? Your fiancÈ? The one that you dedicate your blue veined piccolo performances to?"
"No time for jokes. This is actually serious business. Where are you right now? There's no time to explain over the phone."
"I'm with Ryeowook right now."
"Ryeowook? Wait, you mean Mr. Kim? What the fuck happened? Wait, no, explain that to me later. Just tell me where you two are. I actually think that he can help me."
"We're in his office. What's going o--"
Kyuhyun hung up on him and sprinted out of his room. Unfortunately for him, his room just happened to be on the third floor. The dorm supplied no elevators. By the time the desperate young man was out of his dorms he was already out of breath.
"Shit. The science building is like half a mile away from here," the frustrated man thought.
Kyuhyun was not an athletic man. However, if Kyuhyun stopped to think about how fast he was running, he would realize he was running faster than some of the track team. Once he got to Mr. Kim's office, he slammed the door wide open.
"What the fuck is this," Kyuhyun growled, shoving the PSP-looking object into Mr. Kim's hands.
He decided to ignore the blush on his teacher's cheek and his best friend's disheveled shirt.
"Okay, what's going on? How exactly did he get kidnapped? Sit down and here," Jongwoon said, tossing him a water bottle, "Drink some water. Did you run all the way here? You can't even pass gym class yet you managed to run here in three minutes. "
Kyuhyun took three gigantic gulps before finishing the water bottle. After crushing it with his hands he started to explain the story.
"I don't know man. I was talking to Donghae about Starcraft and football. All of a sudden, this bright light and earthquake just popped out of nowhere. Then, I--I saw another version of me. It was the strangest thing ever. He was holding onto Donghae and was messing around with the PSP-looking thing that Mr. Kim's holding. Then, the light and earthquake appeared again. The next thing I know, they were gone."
Jongwoon looked at him like he was crazy. Mr. Kim wasn't even paying attention to him and was pressing buttons on the PSP. No one said anything for the longest time.
"Kyu, I think you need sleep. No more Starcraft until you have a good nine hours of sleep," Jongwoon said gently while trying to pull his friend up from the chair. "I'll walk you to your dorm."
Kyuhyun snatched his arms away before snarling, "I'm not fucking crazy! This fucking happened and you know that I've gamed for sixteen hours straight before and no fucking delusions has ever happened. "
Jongwoon was about to argue with him but Mr. Kim beat him to it.
"I believe you."
If it wasn't for the fact that his best friend would probably skin him alive if he had so much as touched Mr. Kim, Kyuhyun would have suffocated the tiny man with hugs. He was about to vocalize his thanks but stopped when he saw the grave look on his physics teachers face.
"What is it?" Kyuhyun asked, feeling slightly nervous by the seriousness of his face.
"I think you may have to travel through infinite universes to get him back."
"Huh? What the fuck do you mean?"
Jongwoon looked at Ryeowook with a look of terror. Kyuhyun was completely lost and felt like he was about to burst at any moment.
"Kyuhyun, do you remember what I was lecturing in class today? The many worlds interpretation?"
"Mr. Kim, I don't need a fucking lecture right now. I need to know how to get my fiancÈ back."
"Listen to me carefully. You were somewhat right in your explanation today. The many worlds interpretation does talk about how there's many worlds, specifically an infinite amount. Supposedly, according to this interpretation, for every particle out there, there's an infinite amount of things it can and will do. That's why there are an infinite amount of universes. This may all be a long shot, but if what you said is true, that might have been another universe's version of you. Now, what I'm amazed by is this technology. It must make the person traveling be more dimensional or something..."
"Can we test it out then, Mr. Kim? Please, I got to get him back. I love him."
"This could be dangerous. We don't know how safe this object is. Plus, even if we go on this little journey, you realize that your fiancÈ could be in any universe? That's an infinite amount of universes."
"Ryeowook, he's my best friend and I'll tell you this with pure honesty. I never saw Kyuhyun like this. We need to do this with him. Me as the moral support and backup and you as the brains of the group. Plus, you always wanted to win a Nobel prize. I'm sure you will find enough data through this mission to find all the data you need," Jongwoon pleaded with his teacher.
"Okay, fine. However, we must get some gear together. Remember, the particles could have done anything. We might be facing things we never have even imagined existed."
"Thank you Mr. Kim," Kyuhyun whispered.
"Call me Ryeowook. After all, I'm having sex with your best friend."
--
Kyuhyun knew he shouldn't have yelled at Ryeowook like that. His frustration and anger clouded his mouth filter and it just spewed out. Honestly, Kyuhyun was grateful yet surprised that his friends stuck through all this traveling. Kyuhyun wasn't the only one that lost something. Ryeowook gave up his job and Jongwoon decided to leave college just so they could help him find his fiancÈ.
The sad young man finally felt the little droplets of rain hitting his face for the past minute or so. When he looked around at his surroundings, he saw that it was pretty dark. Even though everything happened in the morning, Kyuhyun somehow managed to dodge the other two to the point where it became night.
"Tonight of all times, why is it raining? It makes me look so pitiful," Kyuhyun chuckled out.
"You are pitiful," he heard his best friend reply.
Kyuhyun turned around to see his best friends smile at him awkwardly. He immediately stood up.
"I'm so sorry. I didn't mean that at all. I know I should--"
"It's fine. We know you're a snarky ass jerk. Now, can you stop avoiding us so we can go get Donghae back?" Ryeowook said, smiling at him in the process.
"Look, I've been thinking and I think I should go solo for now. You guys have given up too much for me. Plus, when was the last time you guys had properly gone out on a date and socialized by yourselves? Don't worry about me."
"Don't worry about us, man. Plus, who's going to help you tackle that bastard on his turf?" Jongwoon asked while smirking.
"Wait, what do you mean?"
"It means that Ryeowook remembered his home universe you idiot. He just didn't have enough time to read it out loud. You should bow down to my boyfriend after all of this shit is done. Now let's go. Someone needs to get married."
Kyuhyun didn't need to be told twice. He grabbed the UTPSP as the other two put their hands on his shoulder. The ground started to shake. There was the dazzling beam. Then they were gone.
Poll Round 1: Many Worlds Interpretation (Team AU)
Team: AU
Rating: PG-15 (There's a bunch of swearing)
Fandom: Super Junior
Pairing: Kyuhyun/Donghae. Side Yesung/Ryeowook.
Summary:Kyuhyun has to travel through many universes to get his fiancÈ back.
Author's Note: It can get very confusing. There's at least five different versions of Kyuhyun mentioned.
Prompt Used: 2NE1 - Go Away
"There are a plethora of interpretations when it comes to explaining quantum mechanics. One of them is the many worlds interpretation..."
Kyuhyun's head fell onto his desk. Unfortunately before he could totally drift into sleep, the man next to him slapped him on the head.
"Pay attention. It's not Mr. Kim's fault that you were idiotic enough to test your gaming addiction and lost, as usual."
"Shut up, Jongwoon. The only reason why you're not ditching is because you're basically in love with him. Don't make me tell him who's sneaking in dry erase markers every time he runs out."
"Yo-you wouldn't. I'm your best friend! Look, I'm just trying to look--"
"If you were trying to look out for me, you would see that I need as much sleep as poss-"
"Cho Kyuhyun. It's nice to see you were paying attention. Explain to Kangin what many worlds interpretation is about," Mr. Kim asked, smirking at him in the process.
Kyuhyun glanced at Jongwoon for help. Unlike him, he knew that Jongwoon would be hanging onto Mr. Kim's every last word. Unfortunately for him, his best friend was glancing at his pants for invisible lint.
Bitch.
"Well, Mr. Kim, it's about how there are multiple worlds."
Mr. Kim fixed his glasses before replying, "That's obvious. I'm looking for more complex answers than that. How Is many worlds interpretation similar and different from Copenhagen interpretation? Consistent histories? Who came up with the many worlds interpretation? The more details the better."
"Err. Well, many worlds interpretation talks about many worlds and Copenhagen's interpretation talks about how this one guy interprets something different from the many worlds interpretation. Consistent histories is about how history is always consistent. As for your last question, whoever came up with the many worlds interpretation was clearly not creative, so I'm guessing a John Smith or something", Kyuhyun replied.
Jongwoon face palmed right next to him.
"Cut! What the hell was that? You're supposed to smile, not daze off with this pissed off look on your face," the director yelled.
Kyuhyun snapped out of his thoughts as his eyes roamed his surroundings. Cameras were everywhere, all pointing at him. People were either running around in the background with clothes and other miscellaneous things or standing behind said cameras. In the middle of the chaos was a very red faced man who looked like he needed a vacation.
"Where are they? They need to bail me out soon," Kyuhyun thought as the director kept rambling on.
"This isn't rocket science. All you have to do is smile and do cute things. You idols make it look like we're the bad guys. I'm not asking much from you. Now, we're going to start filming on 3, 2, 1 and go!"
Kyuhyun forced a smile on his face as he looked as his watch. His friends really need to get here soon or else he might mess up this universe's Kyuhyun's life for good. First the director wanted him to put up this paper collage by himself even though it was windy as fuck. Then he made him learn the lyrics to the stupid love song so he could mouth along to it as he's waving his arms around to an invisible person. After all these irritating things, now the stupid director wants him to smile? If it wasn't for the fact that Ryeowook would skin him alive and lecture him with a "you're going to ruin the events of another world because of your selfishness," he would have punched the director.
"Cut! Fuck this. Take a five minute break while I call your manager. This is ridiculous. You're a fu--" and Kyuhyun droned out the rest as he searched the set for his friends.
"Pssst. Kyuhyun, here!" Jongwoon whispered, motioning him into the alley.
"About fucking time," Kyuhyun snarled, "I wanted to punch the living shit out of that asshole. We stayed here for way too long. Why couldn't we just knocked out that guy that mistaken me for this universe's me and just go when we realized it wasn't the right me or Donghae?"
"Because," Ryeowook stepped out of the shadows as he was messing around with a PSP-looking device, "You don't want to mess around with this universe's Kyuhyun's life. It isn't fair to him if he lost his job. Anyways, I think this one should be the last world for today. We already went to thirteen worlds."
Kyuhyun was about to protest until he saw the bags under both his friend's eyes. He swallowed back his refusal and just nodded. Kyuhyun could tell that the other two were trying to suppress their sigh of relief as Ryeowook clicked a button on the UTPSP.
The ground started to shake. There was bright light. Then they were gone.
--
Lee Donghae. Boy was that man sex on legs. He would make Snow White piss in her dress because he had a darker shade of hair and a fairer complexion compared to her. His muscles were drool-worthy yet not disgustingly bulky. His body was lean yet not super skinny. However, the best thing about his fiancÈ was his smile. Even if Donghae lost all his arms and legs and gained five hundred pounds, it was okay as long as he didn't lose his gorgeous smile.
Kyuhyun was staring at said boy while he was undressing. Now, usually Kyuhyun would be the farthest thing from "creepy" or "holy-shit-stalker-get-the-fuck-away-from-me" but come on, Donghae is super hot (especially after playing football with his friends and has sweat glistening off his chest) and at least he had the decency to not make it obvious that he was staring.
"Hey Kyuhyun, I know I'm hot, but you're staring in a holy-shit-stalker-get-the-fuck-away-from-me kind of way."
Okay, maybe sometimes he got carried away.
"I wasn't staring. I'm just zoning out and just happened to look in your direction. I was up all night playing Starcraft. Don't get cocky."
Donghae rolled his eyes before replying, "Seriously, playing that shit for ten hours straight can't be healthy for you. Why don't you play football with me and some of the guys?" he asked while putting on a clean shirt.
"Aww, damn it," Kyuhyun thought before replying, "I can't play anything and you know that."
"You can try. For all you know, you could be naturally athletic. I can guarantee it's a lot more fun than Starcraft," Donghae reasoned before lying down on their bed.
"Nothing is more fun than Starcraft. Take that back."
"Hmmn, I will if you agree to play one game of football."
"You're evil."
"No, I'm a genius," Donghae retorted, flashing his billion-watt smile. In fact, the room seemed to get brighter and brighter to the point where Kyuhyun had to shield his eyes. The ground was shaking tremendously. There seemed to be an earthquake too.
"What the fuck? His smile isn't that bright."
The light and trembles continued to become more and more intense until it was almost too much to handle. Kyuhyun closed his eyes and prayed (believe it or not, even with all the swearing and him being gay he was actually very religious). He could hear Donghae shouting obscenities as he called out Kyuhyun's name. After some time, the shaking and bright light seemed to die down as if some higher deity was answering his prayers. When it was completely gone, Kyuhyun finally lowered his hands to reveal Donghae being held by...
" What the fuck? No, what the fuckity fuck fuck? Wait, what the... holy shit. I'm staring at a carbon copy of myself. What the hell?"
Donghae looked shocked also, judging from his open mouth and him staring back and forth between him and the stranger. The person holding Donghae was messing around with what looked like a PSP and smiled once he clicked something on it.
The ground started shaking. The bright glow was coming back. Both Donghae and Kyuhyun snapped out of their trance and started to move. Donghae tried to get out of the grasp of the intruder but was failing miserably. Kyuhyun was trying to pull them apart but was also failing. His hand was actually going through Donghae and the stranger. The light was burning the rods and cones in his eyes but he still tried to clutch onto Donghae. Unfortunately, his eyes felt like they were going to burn out and Kyuhyun eventually was forced to close his eyes. At a last desperate attempt he tried to grab Donghae and felt his hand close around something.
Like last time, the light started to fade away after a couple of minutes. The tremors stopped soon afterwards. After Kyuhyun determined that the light remaining was just the afterimage of the brightness beforehand, he decided to open his eyes. The first thing he looked at was what was in his hand. His hand was grasping the PSP that the stranger was toying with. Then, he looked up.
Donghae was gone.
So was that damn doppelganger.
Fuck.
"Kyuhyun, wake up. Ryeowook and I are ready for more worlds today," his best friend said as he nudged his friend awake.
Kyuhyun shook the reminiscence of his dream away and gave his grunt of thanks as he went to the bathroom to start fixing up.
It's been six months since Donghae has been kidnapped. The three of them have been through at least three thousands worlds since then and still couldn't find his doppelganger. Then again, there are an infinite amount of worlds to go through. Kyuhyun didn't need reminders of how unlikely it was that they would find his fiancÈ.
After doing his daily routine of washing his teeth, taking a shower, shaving his face, and changing into the usual snarky tee and jeans, Kyuhyun went outside to see that breakfast wasn't made. When he looked up at Ryeowook and Jongwoon, he noticed their nervous expression.
"Why isn't breakfast set up?"
"I think we should go out for breakfast today," Jongwoon suggested, looking at him hopefully.
Both Ryeowook and Jongwoon flinched, expecting Kyuhyun to start lecturing them both about how time was being wasted and that the more time they wasted, the farther Donghae was going to be. Unexpectedly, Kyuhyun actually nodded in agreement.
"Fine. Let's go. "
He could tell that they both were tired of all this universe jumping. After all, they didn't have that much to gain. Sure, Ryeowook gets to learn more about how the universe works and is going to write a paper about that but Kyuhyun knew he got all the information he needed two thousand eight hundred universes ago. At this point, his friends are only tagging along for him. They were burnt out and tired.
The three of them went to a local noodle shop. After ordering, they all attempted to make the conversation away from Donghae, anything physics related, or the past six months in general. Those three topics were generally over-talked, overanalyzed, over-everything. Kyuhyun was mostly silent during breakfast but did put some input whenever he saw his friends glancing at each other worriedly.
However, the conversation started to die off. The only thing lingering over their heads was the mission. Everything was based off of hope. Maybe they will find Donghae one day. Maybe Donghae won't be traumatized. Donghae might still be alive. Donghae might still want to marry him. After eating, the trio went inside the bathroom and locked it. Ryeowook took the UTPSP out of his pocket and started searching for a universe.
The UTPSP (as they liked to call it for Universe-transporting PSP) was an eccentric device. It looked like their universe's PSP gaming console but was a lot more complex. When turned on, the top of the screen has the universe "identifier", as Ryeowook liked to call it, that it is currently in. The identifier had a mix of letters, numbers, and signals and could be as small as one digit or letter to as large as an infinite amount of all three. In the middle of the screen are two options. The first is the home option (which Ryeowook somehow put the universe they lived in there). The second option is the full list of universes that they could select.
"Let's try Universe |-|0P3," Ryeowook suggested.
It's not like they had better options anyway.
After the bright light and shaking, the trio disappeared from Universe L032V51K.
--
When the bright light disappeared, they saw that they were in the same bathroom again. Preparing for the worse, Jongwoon opened the door cautiously. He poked his head out and then gave the other two the signal to come out. It was the same noodle shop they left not too long ago. Well, it was this universe's version of the noodle shop.
One of the few things that the trio noticed was that the UTPSP took them to the nearest object, place, human, etc that had the most amount of particles common with the wielder. That's why Kyuhyun always held the UTPSP. The UTPSP taking them to the noodle shop meant that somewhere within a hundred feet, something similar to Kyuhyun would be near.
"I don't see anything similar to Kyuhyun in here. He must be outside," Jongwoon reasoned.
They walked out, trying not to draw attention even though the waiters looked at them questioningly. Once the three of them got outside, they couldn't help but groan inside. The plaza was filled with people. It would be hard to identify the carbon copy through this many people.
"Okay. Kyuhyun, that other Kyuhyun must be somewhat similar to you since he took our universe's Donghae out of all the Donghaes we met. Where do you think he might be since there's about at least ten stores within the hundred foot's radius?" Ryeowook questioned him.
"Wow, Ryeowook I sometimes forget you were our teacher before friend. Before this whole chaos started, Kyuhyun used to be the biggest gaming freak. That's why he was never awake in your class. If he was shopping here for some unknown reason, he would be at that gaming store," Jongwoon reasoned while pointing at a nearby gaming store.
"Nah. I think if he was here and it's the one we want, he would be shopping at that sport's store righ- look! Another version of me is right there!"
The three were stealthy yet quick while rushing to the other version of Kyuhyun. He didn't notice them as he glanced at the football he purchased. Kyuhyun noticed how the other version of him looked sadly at the ball before walking off, with a PSP-looking device in his hands. Kyuhyun knew he shouldn't get excited as it might not be their guy (they had this situation happen on their nine hundred and sixty-two universe where another Kyuhyun had a UTPSP yet wasn't their guy since he was married to a dinosaur. No joke, he had pictures.) yet he could feel his heartbeat racing with adrenaline.
Once the doppelganger went inside a restroom, Kyuhyun motioned Ryeowook to go in to see if there were other people inside. Ryeowook came out a few seconds later with his thumbs up. Without further ado, they kicked the door open. A bunch of things happened at once. Jongwoon jumped onto the guy, Ryeowook grabbed the PSP-looking thing, and Kyuhyun locked the door.
"It's a UTPSP!" Ryeowook declared.
This universe's version of him looked shocked at the sight of him and struggled to get out of Jongwoon's hold while trying to grab his UTPSP. Jongwoon took out handcuffs and handcuffed the spitting image to the sink below.
"What do you want?" the other universe's version of him asked him crossly.
"You're the guy that took Donghae, aren't you?" Kyuhyun asked.
"Look, why does it matter? You took my UTPSP while I was transporting. You could have found another Donghae easily. It was a brief moment in your life that you could have fixed. You don't need my Donghae, he--"
"What? Your Donghae? Look, fucker, it may have just been a moment to you, but it changed every single one that followed for me. I went through three thousand worlds just to find you. You know why? Because, Donghae is my fiancÈ. I love him and it's not right that you took my universe's Donghae just because... wait, why did you? You said yourself that I could find another Donghae. Why couldn't you?"
His carbon copy looked at him sadly before replying, "I was married to my universe's version of Donghae. We were so happy. My life couldn't have been better. However, he died in some freak accident. I'm sorry, but he was the love of my life. So, I bought a UTPSP and searched. I wanted someone who was exactly like my Donghae. Yours was the closest I could find. The only difference they had was that he's obsessed with the sport you guys call football. We don't have that in my universe."
"So you use that as an excuse to kidnap him? Wait till I find out where you li--oh wait. Ryeowook, check his UTPSP for his home universe."
Kyuhyun couldn't help but get excited. After three thousand universes, he could finally have Donghae back. He hoped that Donghae was okay. They still needed to get married. Kyuhyun unconsciously twisted his ring in excitement.
However, before Ryeowook could even utter a word, his twin kicked the soccer ball to hit Ryeowook right in the face. Jongwoon, shocked, got the keys stolen. Unlocking the handcuffs from the sink, he punched Jongwoon right in the face before grabbing the UTPSP right out of Ryeowook's hand. He waved them goodbye as he ran out of the restroom.
"Catch him!"
The trio ran as fast as they could. They could see him clicking buttons on the PSP as he was running. Then, the ground started to shake as a intense glow started to appear.
"No! You bastard, get back here!" Kyuhyun screamed as he jumped as a last effort to catch him.
Kyuhyun's hopes shattered when he felt the cold, hard ground. He saw Jongwoon's hand and took it to get up.
"I'm so sorry," Ryeowook mumbled.
"Shut up. Why didn't you check the UTPSP for his home universe while he was talking? Just fucking leave me alone!" Kyuhyun snarled as he ran off.
--
Kyuhyun did what he always did when he needed help. His best friend may not be a miracle worker but he was what Kyuhyun needed when he was in tight situations. Sitting on the bed, he called his best friend and hoped that Jongwoon would pick up.
"Kyu, I'm kind of bu--"
"Donghae got kidnapped."
"What? Your fiancÈ? The one that you dedicate your blue veined piccolo performances to?"
"No time for jokes. This is actually serious business. Where are you right now? There's no time to explain over the phone."
"I'm with Ryeowook right now."
"Ryeowook? Wait, you mean Mr. Kim? What the fuck happened? Wait, no, explain that to me later. Just tell me where you two are. I actually think that he can help me."
"We're in his office. What's going o--"
Kyuhyun hung up on him and sprinted out of his room. Unfortunately for him, his room just happened to be on the third floor. The dorm supplied no elevators. By the time the desperate young man was out of his dorms he was already out of breath.
"Shit. The science building is like half a mile away from here," the frustrated man thought.
Kyuhyun was not an athletic man. However, if Kyuhyun stopped to think about how fast he was running, he would realize he was running faster than some of the track team. Once he got to Mr. Kim's office, he slammed the door wide open.
"What the fuck is this," Kyuhyun growled, shoving the PSP-looking object into Mr. Kim's hands.
He decided to ignore the blush on his teacher's cheek and his best friend's disheveled shirt.
"Okay, what's going on? How exactly did he get kidnapped? Sit down and here," Jongwoon said, tossing him a water bottle, "Drink some water. Did you run all the way here? You can't even pass gym class yet you managed to run here in three minutes. "
Kyuhyun took three gigantic gulps before finishing the water bottle. After crushing it with his hands he started to explain the story.
"I don't know man. I was talking to Donghae about Starcraft and football. All of a sudden, this bright light and earthquake just popped out of nowhere. Then, I--I saw another version of me. It was the strangest thing ever. He was holding onto Donghae and was messing around with the PSP-looking thing that Mr. Kim's holding. Then, the light and earthquake appeared again. The next thing I know, they were gone."
Jongwoon looked at him like he was crazy. Mr. Kim wasn't even paying attention to him and was pressing buttons on the PSP. No one said anything for the longest time.
"Kyu, I think you need sleep. No more Starcraft until you have a good nine hours of sleep," Jongwoon said gently while trying to pull his friend up from the chair. "I'll walk you to your dorm."
Kyuhyun snatched his arms away before snarling, "I'm not fucking crazy! This fucking happened and you know that I've gamed for sixteen hours straight before and no fucking delusions has ever happened. "
Jongwoon was about to argue with him but Mr. Kim beat him to it.
"I believe you."
If it wasn't for the fact that his best friend would probably skin him alive if he had so much as touched Mr. Kim, Kyuhyun would have suffocated the tiny man with hugs. He was about to vocalize his thanks but stopped when he saw the grave look on his physics teachers face.
"What is it?" Kyuhyun asked, feeling slightly nervous by the seriousness of his face.
"I think you may have to travel through infinite universes to get him back."
"Huh? What the fuck do you mean?"
Jongwoon looked at Ryeowook with a look of terror. Kyuhyun was completely lost and felt like he was about to burst at any moment.
"Kyuhyun, do you remember what I was lecturing in class today? The many worlds interpretation?"
"Mr. Kim, I don't need a fucking lecture right now. I need to know how to get my fiancÈ back."
"Listen to me carefully. You were somewhat right in your explanation today. The many worlds interpretation does talk about how there's many worlds, specifically an infinite amount. Supposedly, according to this interpretation, for every particle out there, there's an infinite amount of things it can and will do. That's why there are an infinite amount of universes. This may all be a long shot, but if what you said is true, that might have been another universe's version of you. Now, what I'm amazed by is this technology. It must make the person traveling be more dimensional or something..."
"Can we test it out then, Mr. Kim? Please, I got to get him back. I love him."
"This could be dangerous. We don't know how safe this object is. Plus, even if we go on this little journey, you realize that your fiancÈ could be in any universe? That's an infinite amount of universes."
"Ryeowook, he's my best friend and I'll tell you this with pure honesty. I never saw Kyuhyun like this. We need to do this with him. Me as the moral support and backup and you as the brains of the group. Plus, you always wanted to win a Nobel prize. I'm sure you will find enough data through this mission to find all the data you need," Jongwoon pleaded with his teacher.
"Okay, fine. However, we must get some gear together. Remember, the particles could have done anything. We might be facing things we never have even imagined existed."
"Thank you Mr. Kim," Kyuhyun whispered.
"Call me Ryeowook. After all, I'm having sex with your best friend."
--
Kyuhyun knew he shouldn't have yelled at Ryeowook like that. His frustration and anger clouded his mouth filter and it just spewed out. Honestly, Kyuhyun was grateful yet surprised that his friends stuck through all this traveling. Kyuhyun wasn't the only one that lost something. Ryeowook gave up his job and Jongwoon decided to leave college just so they could help him find his fiancÈ.
The sad young man finally felt the little droplets of rain hitting his face for the past minute or so. When he looked around at his surroundings, he saw that it was pretty dark. Even though everything happened in the morning, Kyuhyun somehow managed to dodge the other two to the point where it became night.
"Tonight of all times, why is it raining? It makes me look so pitiful," Kyuhyun chuckled out.
"You are pitiful," he heard his best friend reply.
Kyuhyun turned around to see his best friends smile at him awkwardly. He immediately stood up.
"I'm so sorry. I didn't mean that at all. I know I should--"
"It's fine. We know you're a snarky ass jerk. Now, can you stop avoiding us so we can go get Donghae back?" Ryeowook said, smiling at him in the process.
"Look, I've been thinking and I think I should go solo for now. You guys have given up too much for me. Plus, when was the last time you guys had properly gone out on a date and socialized by yourselves? Don't worry about me."
"Don't worry about us, man. Plus, who's going to help you tackle that bastard on his turf?" Jongwoon asked while smirking.
"Wait, what do you mean?"
"It means that Ryeowook remembered his home universe you idiot. He just didn't have enough time to read it out loud. You should bow down to my boyfriend after all of this shit is done. Now let's go. Someone needs to get married."
Kyuhyun didn't need to be told twice. He grabbed the UTPSP as the other two put their hands on his shoulder. The ground started to shake. There was the dazzling beam. Then they were gone.
Poll Round 1: Many Worlds Interpretation (Team AU)