[[ SHINee ]] Parallel Lines 3/7.
Title: Parallel Lines.
Author: sacryde_riots.
Fandom: SHINee.
Pairing: Onew/Minho, with a side of Jonghyun/Taemin.
Rating: PG-15.
Summary: Trust Minho to get himself sent to a parallel universe the one day he has the dorm all to himself.
Status/length: Incomplete, 2,500 words.
Author's Note: This fic is kind of AU and kind of not. Dedicated to my angel tana2507, my girl ficcy_irl, and my sunshine hewasmyking, because without them, I probably never would have written anything again. ♥ Ignore the blatant SNSD reference, 'kay?
Previous Chapters: 01, 02
*****
Minho stood in front of the little bookstore for the second time that day, staring in through the windows like a soldier facing a battle, as if one step inside could change the rest of his life.
What the hell is wrong with you? It's just Jinki, Minho thought to himself, rubbing the back of his neck in hopes that maybe his heart rate would slow even just slightly. He knew that he was making a bigger deal out of this than he probably should, but... he couldn't help it. He had to know why, in this world, there was no Jinki. Of course there was a Jinki, just... not his Jinki. The Jinki in this world had the same face, the same voice, the same mannerisms, the same body, the same smile. By all means, it should have been the same Jinki. But this one didn't know him. Why, when everyone else knew him, did Jinki have no idea who he was? What had happened that Jinki may as well have not existed in his life here? He needed to know. Not just to sate his curiosity, not just for the sake of knowing, but there was a voice somewhere in the back of his heart, screaming that he had to know, or else he would never be able to go home. So with heavy footsteps, he took that first step into the bookshop, knowing that if he ever planned on finding out the answers to his questions, he had to play his cards right this time. It was all or nothing.
The lighting was still dim, as he'd expected, and the air still pressed heavy on him like a symbol of exactly how much was riding on this. He shook the feeling off and pressed forward, past the cooking aisle, the autobiographies, and the self-help section, until he spotted that same desk Jinki had been napping on earlier. Only, this time, Jinki was standing there fully alert, eyes wide and suspicious as he noticed Minho.
Minho froze, his heart leaping in his throat for a split second. He closed his eyes for a moment and swallowed, trying to gather his resolve to not call Jinki "hyung" again, and when he opened his eyes again he found that he could smile at the man who regarded him as a stranger, despite the slight twang of pain in his heart.
"Do you have internet here?"
Jinki blinked and nodded, a heartbreakingly bright smile finding its' way across his face as he pointed to the lone computer seated in between the sci-fi shelves and the children's section. He made a move to come from behind the desk, but Minho shook his head and muttered that he could figure out how to work it himself. Jinki nodded and turned his attention, as unfocused as it seemed to be, to a paper on the desk filled with numbers. Minho smiled slightly, remembering just how good Jinki had always been with numbers, before making his way to the computer, feet feeling as if they were full of lead.
Minho quickly sat down at the small table, pulling up the search engine and steadying his hands over the keyboard, only to freeze as he realized that he had no idea what to search for. He had no way of knowing where exactly he was, or what this was, so how was he supposed to find out how to get out, or why things became like this in the first place?
Steadying his fingers over the keyboard, he first tried searching "trapped in a dream," but came up with nothing that even came close to his reality. He then tried "can't escape dream," and "stuck in a dream," but came up with nothing. Minho frowned, his head dropping as he rubbed the back of his neck, feeling a slight feeling of frustration rise in him. Why was there nothing on this dream? Why was there no indication whatsoever of what exactly this was? Was he really going to be stuck here forever? Minho racked his brain, trying to come up with something, anything, that might link him to what was going on. His fist clenched and unclenched over his neck, surely scratching it a few times with his nails, but Minho barely even noticed.
"Jinki! Did we get in that new sci-fi book? The one about.... what was it, the parallel world?"
"There should be a few copies in the back, dad!" Jinki yelled from his place behind the desk.
Minho felt his shoulders tense, the sounds surrounding him suddenly turning to white noise as he typed in "parallel world" and hit the enter key before he even had time to think about how ridiculous that sounded. He clicked the first page and scanned it with his eyes, jaw clenching and eyes narrowing. His heartbeat was up again, threatening to spill itself out of his chest, but he paid it no mind. The words on the screen seemed familiar and yet foreign at the same time, something he could read but not fully understand. There were so many terms he wasn't used to - hyperspace and dimensional division being the most confusing - that he knew he wouldn't be able to figure out much from the article, even if he somehow felt a pang in his chest, as if he knew this is what he was looking for.
He stood up, slowly, hands shaking at his sides as he walked to the desk where Jinki stood. Jinki looked up and smiled that achingly bright smile of his before noticing the serious look attached to Minho's face.
"Do you," Minho started, fighting to unclench his teeth, "know much about parallel worlds?"
Jinki blinked, nodding his head and pulling out a notebook labeled "sci-fi" from beneath the desk, flipping through its' pages until he seemed to find the one he was looking for. Minho couldn't help but let a small smile quirk his lips as he noticed the notebook; it was the same one Jinki used back at the dorm to keep track of the information he found interesting. He really was the same Jinki, somehow.
"Parallel universe or alternative reality is a self-contained separate reality coexisting with one's own. The terms 'parallel universe' and 'alternative reality' are generally synonymous and can be used interchangeably in most cases, but there is sometimes an additional connotation implied with the term "alternative reality" that implies that the reality is a variant of our own. The term "parallel universe" is more general, without any connotations implying a relationship, or lack of relationship, with our own universe. A universe where the very laws of nature are different - for example, one in which there are no relativistic limitations and the speed of light can be exceeded - would in general count as a parallel universe but not an alternative reality. The--"
"Wait. What?"
Jinki paused from his notes, looking up at Minho with a grin. Minho felt his knees start to give out, not only from the smile itself, but from the realization of how much it affected him even while his brains were being scrambled by so many words he didn't quite recognize.
"Basically... you know how we have a solar system, with Earth and Jupiter and Mars and all of that? Well, beyond all of that, it's been said that there are other universes running next to ours on parallel lines. No one knows what they're made of, because no one has been able to see them yet, even though there are people out there who claim to have been transported to one. Usually they say that the world is exactly like their own, but also completely different in some ways."
"Why would it be different?" Minho asked cautiously, gnawing gently on his bottom lip, trying not to seem too eager.
"Well, it's completely impossible according to scientific research, so I don't know," Jinki said, shrugging his shoulders simply.
"But wherever there's scientific research, there are also people who debunk those theories, right?"
Jinki looked at Minho with a raised eyebrow, not quite suspicious, but more curious. Minho tried to pay no attention to it though, digging the nails of his fingers into the palms of his hand and waiting with bated breath, though he tried as hard as he could to keep his voice from sounding too anxious.
"Of course. Mostly what they say is that the parallel universe is more of a mirror world rather than something entirely different. Where another person with the same name, the same face, the same personality, and the same relationship as all of us lives. But since it's a mirror world, things change depending on what that person really feels."
Minho felt himself freeze, his mind spinning. He could almost feel himself start to shake.
"Like.... for example, say you're living the life of a normal high school student, but inside your heart, you want to be a singer. In the mirror world, you would be a singer, loved and adored by millions. If you're an only child who's always wanted a lot of siblings, in the mirror world you would be part of a huge family. Things like that."
Minho let out a long whoosh of air, almost feeling as if he should bang his head on the desk in front of him. Instead, he merely closed his eyes and rubbed the back of his neck nervously, scratching the skin to bring himself back to his senses. A mirror world, huh? That would make a whole lot of sense, considering the way he had been thinking before he'd been sent here. That he'd wanted to be a normal person in a place where he'd be able to do things even with a scratch on his face.
"How are people sent there? And how to do they get out?" Minho asked, looking up at Jinki with his head bent, a serious expression lining every feature on his face, seeming to surprise Jinki a little.
"Most of the time, the theorists say that people are sent there either by complete coincidence or by some kind of divine intervention. Since it's a mirror world, it reflects on what that person truly wants at the moment. I think.... I read somewhere that if the person wants to get back, they have to fix some of the things that have been wronged."
"Wronged. Like being a high school student instead of a singer," Minho muttered, running his hands nervously through his hair, "and what do they say about relationships? Like.... friends and family and whatnot. Do those relationships always stay the same?"
Jinki frowned, thumbing through his notes for a minute before coming up, nodding his head. "Typically, they stay the same, except for the ones the person isn't satisfied with."
Minho froze, feeling his stomach clench as his eyes met Jinki's for the first time during the entire explanation, feeling as if the wind had been knocked out of him. There was a brief moment where he felt the urge to yell about how stupid that was, how there was nothing he was unsatisfied about with Jinki, how he was perfect the way he was. And then he remembered all the times being close to Jinki had hurt him. When he'd see Jinki getting jealous over Key's relationships with people outside of the group, when Jinki would whine about how he needed someone to wash his back, when Jinki would get upset over something and no matter how much Minho wanted, he could never console him because of the safe distance he always kept between them. No matter how much it hurt, he'd always made sure that he and Jinki stayed as close as bandmates should be, but never any closer. Because if they were too close, he knew he would give in.
"What.... what would the unsatisfactory relationships turn into?" Minho asked, tensing his shoulders and waiting for the impact he knew was coming.
"Hmmm, well that would depend on the relationship, wouldn't it?," Jinki muttered to himself, seeming to think for a moment. "Let's see.... if you're enemies with someone, but you don't like that you're enemies, you would probably be best friends. If you only know someone from a distance, where there's no real relationship, I imagine you'd be lovers or something equally close in the mirror world," Jinki paused, frowning as he looked at Minho directly, all traces of a smile wiped from his face, "Or if you're in love with someone, in the mirror world, they wouldn't even exist to you."
Minho choked, nearly falling back from the impact of just those words. He kept a calm face plastered on, knowing that he had to seem interested without seeming anxious. But.... damn. It hurt.
"Isn't the opposite of love hate, though?"
Jinki laughed, a wide grin spreading across his face as he shook his head, seemingly over the moment of seriousness he'd just had. "No, not at all. Don't you know the phrase 'the opposite of love isn't hate, but indifference?'"
Minho closed his eyes and shook his head, gathering his breathing to a steady pace. So that was it. The entire reason he'd been sent here, the cause of this whole thing, had been one-sided love. Fuck.
"So that means I.... I mean, the person who's put in the mirror world, can't get back to the real world without first fixing or completely breaking that relationship?"
"Basically," Jinki grinned, pulling out a book from the side of the desk, putting it in front of Minho, "you either get over it, or get into it. Or so they say."
"What's that?" Minho asked, nodding towards the book because he didn't trust his finger to point without shaking just yet.
"It's my copy of a book about parallel worlds. Since you seem to be so interested, I thought I'd let you borrow it if you want," Jinki offered, smiling again. Minho had always thought that Jinki smiled too much, but he was grateful for it in this world. In this world where nothing seemed to make sense, where Key was average and Taemin wasn't being pawed by noonas, where he wasn't a member of SHINee anymore, at least there was that smile. That smile, which always led him through the toughest dreams and the even harsher reality, that Jinki always used to cover up any trace of sadness, was here. And no matter how much was wrong with this entire situation, Minho took comfort in knowing that at least Jinki's smile still existed.
"Thank you," Minho said quietly, noticing the way the brightness of Jinki's smile seemed to turn itself up a few notches. He took the book and bowed slightly before turning around and walking calmly out of the shop. Once he hit the pavement, he ran forward as fast as his legs could carry him, toward wherever his feet decided to take him, the only thing running through his mind being that blindingly bright smile on the face he loved the most.
*****
TO BE CONTINUED...
A/N: So this was the chapter I decided to out myself as a total geek. *facepalm* Well, I hope you guys enjoyed it, and that it didn't bore you too much. ^^;; If you have any ideas on how I should make the story or my writing better, just let me know. ^^;;
Also, the first explanation Jinki gives, before having to re-start, was taken from the wikipedia page on parallel universes. So credit for that goes to them, even though I came up with most of the ideas about the parallel worlds on my own. /geek
Thank you for reading this! I hope you liked it. ♥
Next Chapter: Chapter 04
Author: sacryde_riots.
Fandom: SHINee.
Pairing: Onew/Minho, with a side of Jonghyun/Taemin.
Rating: PG-15.
Summary: Trust Minho to get himself sent to a parallel universe the one day he has the dorm all to himself.
Status/length: Incomplete, 2,500 words.
Author's Note: This fic is kind of AU and kind of not. Dedicated to my angel tana2507, my girl ficcy_irl, and my sunshine hewasmyking, because without them, I probably never would have written anything again. ♥ Ignore the blatant SNSD reference, 'kay?
Previous Chapters: 01, 02
*****
Minho stood in front of the little bookstore for the second time that day, staring in through the windows like a soldier facing a battle, as if one step inside could change the rest of his life.
What the hell is wrong with you? It's just Jinki, Minho thought to himself, rubbing the back of his neck in hopes that maybe his heart rate would slow even just slightly. He knew that he was making a bigger deal out of this than he probably should, but... he couldn't help it. He had to know why, in this world, there was no Jinki. Of course there was a Jinki, just... not his Jinki. The Jinki in this world had the same face, the same voice, the same mannerisms, the same body, the same smile. By all means, it should have been the same Jinki. But this one didn't know him. Why, when everyone else knew him, did Jinki have no idea who he was? What had happened that Jinki may as well have not existed in his life here? He needed to know. Not just to sate his curiosity, not just for the sake of knowing, but there was a voice somewhere in the back of his heart, screaming that he had to know, or else he would never be able to go home. So with heavy footsteps, he took that first step into the bookshop, knowing that if he ever planned on finding out the answers to his questions, he had to play his cards right this time. It was all or nothing.
The lighting was still dim, as he'd expected, and the air still pressed heavy on him like a symbol of exactly how much was riding on this. He shook the feeling off and pressed forward, past the cooking aisle, the autobiographies, and the self-help section, until he spotted that same desk Jinki had been napping on earlier. Only, this time, Jinki was standing there fully alert, eyes wide and suspicious as he noticed Minho.
Minho froze, his heart leaping in his throat for a split second. He closed his eyes for a moment and swallowed, trying to gather his resolve to not call Jinki "hyung" again, and when he opened his eyes again he found that he could smile at the man who regarded him as a stranger, despite the slight twang of pain in his heart.
"Do you have internet here?"
Jinki blinked and nodded, a heartbreakingly bright smile finding its' way across his face as he pointed to the lone computer seated in between the sci-fi shelves and the children's section. He made a move to come from behind the desk, but Minho shook his head and muttered that he could figure out how to work it himself. Jinki nodded and turned his attention, as unfocused as it seemed to be, to a paper on the desk filled with numbers. Minho smiled slightly, remembering just how good Jinki had always been with numbers, before making his way to the computer, feet feeling as if they were full of lead.
Minho quickly sat down at the small table, pulling up the search engine and steadying his hands over the keyboard, only to freeze as he realized that he had no idea what to search for. He had no way of knowing where exactly he was, or what this was, so how was he supposed to find out how to get out, or why things became like this in the first place?
Steadying his fingers over the keyboard, he first tried searching "trapped in a dream," but came up with nothing that even came close to his reality. He then tried "can't escape dream," and "stuck in a dream," but came up with nothing. Minho frowned, his head dropping as he rubbed the back of his neck, feeling a slight feeling of frustration rise in him. Why was there nothing on this dream? Why was there no indication whatsoever of what exactly this was? Was he really going to be stuck here forever? Minho racked his brain, trying to come up with something, anything, that might link him to what was going on. His fist clenched and unclenched over his neck, surely scratching it a few times with his nails, but Minho barely even noticed.
"Jinki! Did we get in that new sci-fi book? The one about.... what was it, the parallel world?"
"There should be a few copies in the back, dad!" Jinki yelled from his place behind the desk.
Minho felt his shoulders tense, the sounds surrounding him suddenly turning to white noise as he typed in "parallel world" and hit the enter key before he even had time to think about how ridiculous that sounded. He clicked the first page and scanned it with his eyes, jaw clenching and eyes narrowing. His heartbeat was up again, threatening to spill itself out of his chest, but he paid it no mind. The words on the screen seemed familiar and yet foreign at the same time, something he could read but not fully understand. There were so many terms he wasn't used to - hyperspace and dimensional division being the most confusing - that he knew he wouldn't be able to figure out much from the article, even if he somehow felt a pang in his chest, as if he knew this is what he was looking for.
He stood up, slowly, hands shaking at his sides as he walked to the desk where Jinki stood. Jinki looked up and smiled that achingly bright smile of his before noticing the serious look attached to Minho's face.
"Do you," Minho started, fighting to unclench his teeth, "know much about parallel worlds?"
Jinki blinked, nodding his head and pulling out a notebook labeled "sci-fi" from beneath the desk, flipping through its' pages until he seemed to find the one he was looking for. Minho couldn't help but let a small smile quirk his lips as he noticed the notebook; it was the same one Jinki used back at the dorm to keep track of the information he found interesting. He really was the same Jinki, somehow.
"Parallel universe or alternative reality is a self-contained separate reality coexisting with one's own. The terms 'parallel universe' and 'alternative reality' are generally synonymous and can be used interchangeably in most cases, but there is sometimes an additional connotation implied with the term "alternative reality" that implies that the reality is a variant of our own. The term "parallel universe" is more general, without any connotations implying a relationship, or lack of relationship, with our own universe. A universe where the very laws of nature are different - for example, one in which there are no relativistic limitations and the speed of light can be exceeded - would in general count as a parallel universe but not an alternative reality. The--"
"Wait. What?"
Jinki paused from his notes, looking up at Minho with a grin. Minho felt his knees start to give out, not only from the smile itself, but from the realization of how much it affected him even while his brains were being scrambled by so many words he didn't quite recognize.
"Basically... you know how we have a solar system, with Earth and Jupiter and Mars and all of that? Well, beyond all of that, it's been said that there are other universes running next to ours on parallel lines. No one knows what they're made of, because no one has been able to see them yet, even though there are people out there who claim to have been transported to one. Usually they say that the world is exactly like their own, but also completely different in some ways."
"Why would it be different?" Minho asked cautiously, gnawing gently on his bottom lip, trying not to seem too eager.
"Well, it's completely impossible according to scientific research, so I don't know," Jinki said, shrugging his shoulders simply.
"But wherever there's scientific research, there are also people who debunk those theories, right?"
Jinki looked at Minho with a raised eyebrow, not quite suspicious, but more curious. Minho tried to pay no attention to it though, digging the nails of his fingers into the palms of his hand and waiting with bated breath, though he tried as hard as he could to keep his voice from sounding too anxious.
"Of course. Mostly what they say is that the parallel universe is more of a mirror world rather than something entirely different. Where another person with the same name, the same face, the same personality, and the same relationship as all of us lives. But since it's a mirror world, things change depending on what that person really feels."
Minho felt himself freeze, his mind spinning. He could almost feel himself start to shake.
"Like.... for example, say you're living the life of a normal high school student, but inside your heart, you want to be a singer. In the mirror world, you would be a singer, loved and adored by millions. If you're an only child who's always wanted a lot of siblings, in the mirror world you would be part of a huge family. Things like that."
Minho let out a long whoosh of air, almost feeling as if he should bang his head on the desk in front of him. Instead, he merely closed his eyes and rubbed the back of his neck nervously, scratching the skin to bring himself back to his senses. A mirror world, huh? That would make a whole lot of sense, considering the way he had been thinking before he'd been sent here. That he'd wanted to be a normal person in a place where he'd be able to do things even with a scratch on his face.
"How are people sent there? And how to do they get out?" Minho asked, looking up at Jinki with his head bent, a serious expression lining every feature on his face, seeming to surprise Jinki a little.
"Most of the time, the theorists say that people are sent there either by complete coincidence or by some kind of divine intervention. Since it's a mirror world, it reflects on what that person truly wants at the moment. I think.... I read somewhere that if the person wants to get back, they have to fix some of the things that have been wronged."
"Wronged. Like being a high school student instead of a singer," Minho muttered, running his hands nervously through his hair, "and what do they say about relationships? Like.... friends and family and whatnot. Do those relationships always stay the same?"
Jinki frowned, thumbing through his notes for a minute before coming up, nodding his head. "Typically, they stay the same, except for the ones the person isn't satisfied with."
Minho froze, feeling his stomach clench as his eyes met Jinki's for the first time during the entire explanation, feeling as if the wind had been knocked out of him. There was a brief moment where he felt the urge to yell about how stupid that was, how there was nothing he was unsatisfied about with Jinki, how he was perfect the way he was. And then he remembered all the times being close to Jinki had hurt him. When he'd see Jinki getting jealous over Key's relationships with people outside of the group, when Jinki would whine about how he needed someone to wash his back, when Jinki would get upset over something and no matter how much Minho wanted, he could never console him because of the safe distance he always kept between them. No matter how much it hurt, he'd always made sure that he and Jinki stayed as close as bandmates should be, but never any closer. Because if they were too close, he knew he would give in.
"What.... what would the unsatisfactory relationships turn into?" Minho asked, tensing his shoulders and waiting for the impact he knew was coming.
"Hmmm, well that would depend on the relationship, wouldn't it?," Jinki muttered to himself, seeming to think for a moment. "Let's see.... if you're enemies with someone, but you don't like that you're enemies, you would probably be best friends. If you only know someone from a distance, where there's no real relationship, I imagine you'd be lovers or something equally close in the mirror world," Jinki paused, frowning as he looked at Minho directly, all traces of a smile wiped from his face, "Or if you're in love with someone, in the mirror world, they wouldn't even exist to you."
Minho choked, nearly falling back from the impact of just those words. He kept a calm face plastered on, knowing that he had to seem interested without seeming anxious. But.... damn. It hurt.
"Isn't the opposite of love hate, though?"
Jinki laughed, a wide grin spreading across his face as he shook his head, seemingly over the moment of seriousness he'd just had. "No, not at all. Don't you know the phrase 'the opposite of love isn't hate, but indifference?'"
Minho closed his eyes and shook his head, gathering his breathing to a steady pace. So that was it. The entire reason he'd been sent here, the cause of this whole thing, had been one-sided love. Fuck.
"So that means I.... I mean, the person who's put in the mirror world, can't get back to the real world without first fixing or completely breaking that relationship?"
"Basically," Jinki grinned, pulling out a book from the side of the desk, putting it in front of Minho, "you either get over it, or get into it. Or so they say."
"What's that?" Minho asked, nodding towards the book because he didn't trust his finger to point without shaking just yet.
"It's my copy of a book about parallel worlds. Since you seem to be so interested, I thought I'd let you borrow it if you want," Jinki offered, smiling again. Minho had always thought that Jinki smiled too much, but he was grateful for it in this world. In this world where nothing seemed to make sense, where Key was average and Taemin wasn't being pawed by noonas, where he wasn't a member of SHINee anymore, at least there was that smile. That smile, which always led him through the toughest dreams and the even harsher reality, that Jinki always used to cover up any trace of sadness, was here. And no matter how much was wrong with this entire situation, Minho took comfort in knowing that at least Jinki's smile still existed.
"Thank you," Minho said quietly, noticing the way the brightness of Jinki's smile seemed to turn itself up a few notches. He took the book and bowed slightly before turning around and walking calmly out of the shop. Once he hit the pavement, he ran forward as fast as his legs could carry him, toward wherever his feet decided to take him, the only thing running through his mind being that blindingly bright smile on the face he loved the most.
*****
TO BE CONTINUED...
A/N: So this was the chapter I decided to out myself as a total geek. *facepalm* Well, I hope you guys enjoyed it, and that it didn't bore you too much. ^^;; If you have any ideas on how I should make the story or my writing better, just let me know. ^^;;
Also, the first explanation Jinki gives, before having to re-start, was taken from the wikipedia page on parallel universes. So credit for that goes to them, even though I came up with most of the ideas about the parallel worlds on my own. /geek
Thank you for reading this! I hope you liked it. ♥
Next Chapter: Chapter 04