Love is a game (Love in the air collection)

The Window

Rain had spent his entire life fighting for survival. The world he was living in was falling apart, literally. The scientists could only speculate that it had something to do with the earth's orbit shifting too far out of balance. It didn't matter the cause anyway, the result was that the earth had been given a terminal diagnosis of around 25 years and that had been 26 years ago.

Catastrophic natural disasters were almost a daily occurrence somewhere and world wide governments had collapsed before Rain had even been born. Some small communities tried to keep law and peace but most places you had to be careful not to fall victim to roaming gangs.

The only things that helped Rain keep his sanity are the dreams and the window.

The dreams he has had all his life, always of a boy a few years older who protected and cared for him. The window was new, it had been there for only a few days. Just long enough for Rain to discover no one else could see it.

The world that Rain saw on the other side was beautiful. The colors so soft and vibrant. Nothing like his dying world where everything felt washed out and old. Even more beautiful was the man. Handsome and sensuous were the words that came to Rain's mind. Also the way he looked at Rain with caring and love made Rain want to melt on the spot.

This was him, the one he had dreamed of, so close he could have touched him, held him, but separated by the glasslike window just like the two worlds.

Now Rain put his hand up to the window and the other man did the same. Rain felt sadness, longing and desire to touch wash through him and saw that same emotion echoed in the other's expression. So close and yet a world away.

Something had gone wrong. Phayu frowned as he read back through his calculations. Everything looked right but where there should be a door large enough to pull his boy through there was a window instead. He had managed to thin the aether between the two worlds only enough to create a window. He looked up now to see the boy pacing back and forth. Phayu wanted to go and try to comfort him, but he had to figure this out. They were running out of time.

Parallel worlds, once thought to be the realm of science fiction and speculation had for many decades now been known to be scientific fact. Phayu, though young, was one of the lead experts in the field. He had dedicated most of his life to it, all because of this boy from his dreams.

Now he was so close and Phayu still couldn't touch him or speak to him, only look.

To make matters worse, they now knew that the boy's world only had days left. Phayu was getting desperate. He could only hope his colleagues Sky and Prapai would be able to see a solution when they arrived.

Phayu looked up to see the boy was trying to get his attention. When Phayu walked over the boy pointed to himself and then to the floor where he written Rain and even drawn a little cloud with raindrops in the dust. He pointed at the word then to himself.

"Clever boy." Phayu said. "So your name is Rain?"

Phayu picked up a piece of paper and wrote "Phayu." Drawing a tornado icon after it.

Rain mouthed the word, then beamed and pointed at him. Phayu smiled and nodded.

"Clever boy," Phayu repeated, mouthing the words carefully for Rain to see this time. Rain's smile became even brighter. Hang in there good boy, Phayu thought. We will figure this out.

Phayu was relieved when Sky and Prapai arrived. Pai immediately started double checking the data while Sky questioned Phayu about the process he had used, step by step. Suddenly Pai stopped, flipping back and forth between two pages of data.

"Phayu, I think I found the problem. The door is only substantial on our side, Rain shouldn't even be able to see it. By all intents and purposes it should be like a one way mirror into his world."

"But he can see in."

Pai shrugged, "I'm only going by the data, perhaps it's because of the connection you two share. Not everything can be explained, like the dreams you have."

Phayu nods, "So what do we need to do?"

Sky answered, "Rain will need to duplicate the process on his side, but will that be possible? He'll need equipment and will he be able to understand?"

"He will definitely understand, he is very clever. The equipment though," Phayu frowned in thought. "Sky will you make a list of what he'll need and show it to him?"

When Sky did that Rain took a long time to think about it. Phayu couldn't help but be nervous, what if Rain couldn't get these things? What would be there next step? They were all common household items in his world, but who knew about Rain's world. Finally Rain nodded to Phayu's relief.

While Rain was away, Sky gathered the schematics he would need, Pai kept studying the data, and Phayu paced. He couldn't help but worry because Rain's world was dangerous, but the boy had lived there for 19 years. He must know his way around. Surely he would be okay for just this right?

Despite telling himself to be positive he was beyond relieved when Rain came back with a box of parts.

Sky immediately set about showing Rain what to do through the schematics and some of his own drawings. Phayu was right, Rain picked up every instruction given almost immediately and worked carefully putting everything together.

Pai had finished going through the data, "by my calculations, once we open the door completely, Rain will only have a few minutes to come through before it closes."

Phayu nodded, that should be plenty of time. Rain just needed to be ready to move immediately.

It took Sky and Rain almost a full day to put together what they needed. Phayu was getting nervous, they were cutting this close. If this didn't work they wouldn't get another chance.

Finally everything was ready. Please let this work, Phayu thought desperately.

"Do you have anything you need to bring with you before we start?" Sky wrote to Rain. Rain shook his head and pointed to himself, which seemed to mean, 'Only me'

Sky nodded, "Let's do this in 10, be ready." He wrote and held up 10 fingers. Rain nodded, he was ready. Phayu held his breath as Sky lowered his fingers one by one.

It all happened in what seemed like an instant. Rain switched on the equipment and was running straight into Phayu's arms. He hugged the boy to him in relief as the door closed.

"I dreamed of you," Rain said shyly, looking up at Phayu.

" I dreamed of you too, sweet boy," Phayu said, stroking the boy's hair.

"I always knew you would come for me." Rain said.

Phayu nodded, not surprised, hadn't he always known Rain was real and not just a dream as well?

"Welcome to our world, Rain," Pai said, throwing an arm around Sky's shoulders, "I am Pai and this is my husband Sky. We are Phayu's colleagues and friends."

"Nice to meet you," Sky added.

"Nice to meet you?" Rain said uncertainty as if the phrase was unfamiliar to him, but then he said more firmly, "Nice to meet you!" and smiled.

Rain adjusted quickly to his new world. He often looked at things in wonder that Phayu took for granted, like how easy food was to get, or the pretty flowers people grew for decorations.

At first, Phayu would find him sleeping in odd places like the closet or the bathtub, as if Rain wasn't sure how safe it was to sleep and needed to change sleeping places and narrow his environment for safety sake. Eventually he did feel safe enough to sleep in a bed though, especially with Phayu by his side.

********

Notes:

Picture prompt from Bread and Tea

With the following idea prompts
Phayu/Rain in separate universes, can see each other through window
Rain's world is a dystopia
Rain will die if he doesn't get to Phayu's world
Window was an unsuccessful attempt at making a door.