#i also used to write in a hidden notebook during classes instead of making homework or taking notes

[kevinsdsy]

just ran into an old high school friend (i graduated from high school like 7 years ago??) and she asked me what i was doing and i told her i’m majoring in accounting and she went silent for a second and was like “really? you always wanted to be a writer.” and i swear a part of me actually died.

[steebharringt0n]

dream a little dream of me

as if navigating through pits and perils of high school is bad enough, your life gets thrown in a whirlwind when the universe chooses the last person you’d ever thought to be your soulmate - the red power ranger

pairing: jason scott x reader

warning: like a couple of curse words?

a/n: @mattysheelies and I cranked out some of our favorite AUs the other day and we fell in love with this concept. this is my first time writing Jason so I hope I did him justice. comments are super appreciated! also i went WAY overboard with this so sorry to the mobile readers! 

---

You can remember the exact night they began to happen. It was a warm spring night in Angel Grove, your bedroom window was slightly cracked open letting in a cool breeze to combat the growing heat that was starting to take over the small town. You were wearing your favorite pair of green cotton shorts and your oversized Angel Grove High sweatshirt.

You remember texting Trini right as your eyes started to become heavy, a conversation surrounding how gross Mr. Lawson from History class is. The last thing yours eyes saw before they found comfort in the darkness of your eyelids was your clock, large red numbers that flashed 10:32

There are four stages of sleep, you had quickly surpassed the first stage and took a nose dive into the second stage where it would become harder to wake one up. The third stage of sleep is commonly known as deep-sleep, where one would sleep through a thunderstorm, an alarm clock, or other environmental stimuli.

But the fourth stage, the dream stage, is where things started to get interesting.

You lived in a society where one was destined to a soulmate - like a red string tied to someone else, you were meant to be with someone for the rest of your life. It was a comfort knowing that there was someone out there just for you, like a missing puzzle piece. The only way one could know anything about their soulmate was through dreaming - their memories became your dreams and vice versa. 

When you entered the dreaming stage of sleep you found yourself suddenly thrown into what felt like a never-ending action movie.

You couldn’t move, just watch from your soulmates eyes - as if you were behind them. You were kicking, punching, fighting the familiar monsters that appeared on the television news station a couple days ago. Your heart sped up during this time, you twitched in your sleep with every hit your soulmate would receive.

The one thing that struck you however, was his red armor. He briefly glanced down at his hands when you caught a glimpse of it. Then came his nickname.

“Red! Let’s go!”

Through his eyes you saw the pink Power Ranger speaking to him. He was suddenly then surrounded by the rest of the Power Rangers, all of them in a fighting stance, standing firmly by his side as they prepared to battle whatever monsters came next.

You awake with a jolt, gasping for air as your eyes frantically scanned your bedroom. You placed a hand on your chest, trying to calm your beating heart. You whipped your head towards your clock, it blinked 3:23 AM.

You run your fingers through your hair, your mind racing as it tried to gather bits and pieces of the vivid dream you just had. You stayed up the rest of the night, restless and anxious from the memories that ran through your head. In the end, before you succumbed back to sleep, there were two undeniable truths,

One, your soulmate lived in Angel Grove, and two, he was a fucking Power Ranger.

You awoke 3 hours later for school. Your head still reeling from the night before. You felt like a balloon, holding in air that was about to burst - you had to tell someone about this, someone that the person you were meant to be with for the rest of your life was a super-fucking-hero.

You dashed your way to Angel Grove High, weaving in and out of traffic. As you stepped into the halls you spotted Trini by her locker. Trini had always been a good friend to you through your middle school years, and you were thankful that the both of you kept the friendship strong throughout the years. You quickly walked over to her, grabbing her by the arm and pulling her into a hidden corner. She looks at you perplexed by your alarmed behavior.

You wait for a couple of students to pass by you before you could tell her the news. You turn to face her, grabbing her by the shoulders,

“Trini, it happened”

She shakes her head, her face is twisted in concern, “What?! What happened?!”

A grin spreads on your lips like a cheshire cat, “The dreams, they’ve begun”

She thinks for a moment before she continues to talk. The dreams happen to everyone, just at different stages. For some they begin earlier, for some they may not begin until their late twenties. But you? Right in the thick of junior year. You can see the cogs working in her head, until it's as if a light bulb goes off. Her brown eyes slowly widen, and her mouth gapes open.

“Oh my god! No way!”

You squeal in confirmation, nodding your head furiously at her. But suddenly, you grow quiet. You pull her in closer, as if what you’re about to tell her could potentially end the world. It’s quite possibly your biggest kept secret, one that you’re about to entrust her with. Her face once again transforms back into one of concern as she watches your demeanor change. 

You then lean down towards her ear, whispering the undeniable truth to her,

“Trini, he’s the red power ranger”

Trini has been punched, beat up, kicked down many, many times. But this? This completely blows the wind out of her like no punch before. Her fingers find your bicep, gripping them tightly, trying to hold herself steady as the realization sinks into her.

Jason, her soulmate is Jason.

She knows she has to play it cool, she’s the yellow ranger for christ sake. You completely miss the way her face freezes in shock, and not in a good way. Instead she decides to play along. When you pull back to watch her reaction, she has a soft smile on her face, her eyebrows raised in complete surprise.

“Oh wow! Y/N! That’s so exciting!”

What more can she say? She has to be a supportive friend.

Right as you’re about to continue the celebration with her, Jason appears out of the corner. He stands at a tall 5’7, built sturdy with his signature blonde curl that hangs over his forehead. He has blue eyes that could give the pacific ocean a run for its money and a smile that could melt the coldest hearts. You glance up to meet the tall figure that cast a shadow over you and Trini, and instantly your heart starts to race. 

It wasn’t like you had a crush on Jason Lee Scott for practically your whole life. Jason was untouchable, he was like some mythical god in your eyes. But you both ran in different cliques, different hierarchies. Your relationship with Jason purely consisted of stolen glances - and his name doodled all over your notebook.

However, you soon came to realize a couple months ago that he only hung around 4 people, Trini, Kimberly, Billy and Zach.

This group of people perplexed you, they all ran in different cliques and yet they spent lunch together, spent study hour together, and you’re pretty sure you’ve caught them at movies together as well. The dynamic didn’t make sense to you, but then again, not a lot of things in life tend to make sense.

Jason gives you a smile, one where he bares his teeth to you, “Hey Y/N, Hey Trini, can I talk to you for a sec, I just had a question about the homework in Mr. Gibson’s class”

Homework in Mr. Gibson’s class is code for, we need to go over what we did right, and what we did wrong in our last mission. It was a rule he implemented after Rita’s demise and Jason takes his role as the leader of the Power Rangers very seriously. 

Trini quickly catches wind of what he means, stepping out of the corner and standing by his side. “Yeah sure, I’ll walk with you to the library”

Trini is currently battling with herself in her head. Should she tell Jason that his soulmate is literally inches away from him? Or should she keep this a secret? Either way, the big reveal should ultimately come from Jason - not from her.

Trini turns her attention back to you, not forgetting that you were still standing there. “Y/N, we can talk later in Mr. Lawson’s okay?”

With a soft smile donned on your lips, you nod at her, “Yeah, of course. I’ll catch you there later.” you pause, not forgetting that Jason was still there. Your heart speeds up as you make eye contact with him - you feel like a blushing school-girl (which you actually are) “I’ll see you around Jason”

He smiles warmly at you, “I’ll see you around Y/N”

You watch as the both of them disappear down the hall, a sense of wistfulness enters you - wishing that you could so desperately switch places with Trini. With a low sigh and your eyes cast down, you turn your attention back to finding your way to your locker, not looking forward to starting the school day.

When Trini and Jason arrive in the library, they quickly go to the back study room that’s always reserved under Jason’s name. It’s the only place where they can discuss their plans in private with the rest of the group without anyone interrupting them. Always under the guise of ‘we have a large semester project to work on’ the librarians don’t bat an eye when Kimberly, Billy and Zach arrive not even a minute later.

Trini shuts the door, her anxiety is starting to gnaw at her and her teammates can tell - it’s a ranger thing.

Jason waits for Trini to take a seat around the square table so he can begin his long awaited speech on how they should have cornered those monsters far away from the public, so that for next time innocent people don’t get caught in the mess, but when he catches wind of Trini’s face and how she’s gone from all smiley to something is terribly wrong, he takes a seat instead.

Kimberly’s eyes scan the rest of the group, wondering if they know what’s going on with her. But they all share the same blank stare.

“Okay Trini, what’s wrong, you’re freaking us all out here”

She paces back and forth, her eyes not meeting her teammates. She fumbles with her fingers, it’s a nervous tick that helps her keep calm during disastrous moments. When she doesn’t answer Kimberly, Jason takes charge.

“Trini, seriously what’s wrong? Is everything okay? Do you - “

She stops her pacing and turns to face them, all of them eager yet somewhat anxious to reveal whatever has been eating away at her for the past couple of minutes.

“Y/N’s soulmate is red Power Ranger - it’s you Jason, you’re her soulmate.”

The sentence slips out of her mouth like word vomit. Everyone tends to have the same reaction, Kimberly looks absolutely flabbergasted, Billy’s eyes just widened, Zach lets out an incredulous laugh, and Jason, well Jason just stays quiet, Trini’s not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing.

“Uhm, okay, wow … that is big news” Kimberly is the first to speak, but the tension in the room still hasn’t left.

Zach reaches over to Jason from across the table and gives him a pat on his back, “Nice man! She’s a cute one” 

But Jason is stunned, frozen - his eyes are glued to the floor.

He knows that this means - he’s seen Spider-Man a million times. It’s the same reason why Peter Parker keeps Mary-Jane in the dark, to protect her, because he knows his enemies will come straight to her. 

Logically he can’t tell her, he refuses to tell her. Once his enemies catch wind of who his soulmate is, Y/N will forever be a target, and if in the future they were to have a family? His family will be targeted and that’s a risk he refuses to take.

Realistically, he knows he has to tell her. The dreams have already started a week ago for him but he’s kept them to himself because he couldn’t quite figure out who the mysterious girl was. He lets out a small chuckle at his previous dreams - they’ve all been memories of him through her. He knows that Y/N has a crush on him, most of his dreams involved her staring at him from afar, doodling his name in her notebook, peeking at him through corners. It’s almost endearing at how much of a love-struck fool she is for him.

In the beginning he couldn’t make sense of who it was, it was just brief memories of a girl staring longingly at him but now that Trini has revealed who is soulmate is, the pieces of the puzzle are starting to come together and it’s all making sense.

“Jason, are you going to tell her? You can’t tell her, with great power comes great - “ Billy begins to ramble to him. Billy is a known comic book expert and he too knows what great dangers comes with telling loved ones their secret.

“Yes, I know Billy” Jason cuts him off, his tone turns irritable and he hates that he doesn’t have a solution for this.

Billy’s shoulders sink, and Jason takes notice. He turns back to his friend, a thin smile on his lips as he regrets his sharp tone with him. “I’m sorry Billy, I’m just … 

“Scared?” Kimberly offers. Jason nods at her - she knows that the inevitable will happen to her too, to all of them but this is uncharted territory and their number one mission as being Power Rangers is to keep humanity safe - especially their loved ones.

“But you have to tell her man, she’s going to find out sooner or later, why not just rip the band-aid off now?” Zach is always the optimist of the group, so Jason is not surprised when Zach tells him to go for it.

Jason stands up and faces his team, his blue eyes scan each one of them. He’s scared, no terrified of what’s to come next. The last thing he ever wants to do is to put anyone in danger, especially his soulmate. He lets out a deep exhale through his nose and he plasters on a smile for the sake of his team.

“Don’t worry guys, I’ll figure it out”

They can read his false smile from miles away, but he is their leader and they trust him - like they have all this time and Jason never fails his team.

The rest of the day goes by smoothly and it’s finally last period - the only class Jason shares with you.

He likes to get to class early to make sure he’s caught up on all the homework, but this time he’s here early for a different reason; to sit right next to you.

You walk into class and almost stumble on your way to your desk when you realize that Jason Scott is sitting in the seat where Nicole Hardy typically sits. Your body language becomes timid, you slowly walk to your seat, eyes gazed down to the floor. Jason notices it an instant and holds back the chuckle that is bubbling in his throat - your crush on him is so obvious.

You take a seat and stare straight ahead. Usually Nicole would make small talk with you but she’s moved to a seat behind (which she was not too happy about) and now you’re stuck sitting there in silence, not sure what to talk about with the blue-eyed blonde sitting next to you. There’s still a good 5 minutes before class starts so you just open your notebook and pretend to catch up on homework (and pray that Jason doesn’t see his name doodled with hearts all over the next page)

Jason turns his attention to you, he notices how your (Y/H/C) hair frames the delicate shape of your face, and how your teeth find purchase on your bottom lip when you’re deep in concentration. He finds it cute, charming almost. You could feel his eyes burning holes in you, but you pretend not to notice him staring. It isn’t until he speaks to you that you turn to face him,

“Last nights assignment sucked huh?”

You bark out a laugh and you want to mentally kick yourself for borderline sounding like a seal. He watches as you fidget in your seat, pulling back a strand of hair behind your ear. “Yeah! Those poetry terms weren’t too fun”

“Iambic pentameter? Like how am I going to use that in the future?” he jokes.

You laugh, “Tell me about it, I am never going to use blank verse, or enjambment in my life. Those terms kill me”

His laughter joins you and the joyful laughter catches the attention of Mrs. Gerald, an older, wirey, short lady whose thick glasses perch comfortably on her nose. She scowls at the both of you,

“Mr. Scott and Miss. Y/L/N, since you both seem to be having such a grand time together why don’t you two work together for next weeks project”

She stands up and walks over to the both of you, handing you both the assignment. “It’s due next Friday. Keep the laughter down or I’ll ask you both to hand in a thousand word paper on how poetry is essential in the modern world” she snaps at the both of you.

The smiles from both of your faces is instantly wiped away as she walks back to her desk. The assignment is in your hand but your head is elsewhere - you’ve been assigned to partner up with Jason Scott and you feel like screaming with joy. Jason offers you a sympathetic smile and you return it as Mrs. Gerald starts her lesson.

The rest of the period goes by smoothly, Jason can’t help but to stare at you every now and then. He starts to pick up on your little idiosyncrasies, like how your foot taps against the desk, how you would frown when you wouldn’t understand something, or the way you tapped your pencil 3 times against your notebook, stop and think, then continue to write.

As the final bell rings, Jason stands from his desk, pulling his backpack over his shoulder, “Hey we can meet at my house this Saturday to work on this?” he asks, waving the assignment in his hand.

You fumble around with your notebook, trying to play it cool and calmly putting your stuff away, “Yeah, sure”

“Here, let me give you my number”

He rips off a piece of paper from the notebook in his other hand and quickly scribbles down 10 numbers. He hands it over to your shaky hands (your palms are sweating and you hope he doesn’t notice) 

“Text me whenever I'm free all day Saturday”

He hopes he is, he hopes that no weird outer space monsters or creatures disrupts this time with you.

You nod at his statement, and he gives you a final smile and wave and you watch him walk out of the classroom. You let out a large exhale, one that you’d be holding in practically all class. You completely forget about the fact that your destiny is tied to the red ranger and become completely enveloped in the fact that you’re actually going to be hanging out with Jason Scott this weekend.

You curiously wonder if the universe has ever made any mistakes, because there is no way that the red ranger could ever make you feel the way Jason Scott does.

The rest of the week Jason is found sitting right next to you in English class and he’s more than eager to always strike up a conversation when the opportunity arises. The two of you joke about how Mrs. Gerald looks like a chicken if you squint your eyes and angled your head to the right. You exchange notes that hold in hefty discussions about music, movies and the latest happenings around Angel Grove. 

You can hardly believe that Jason is actually interested in talking to you. You’re not sure what weird spell you’ve put on him but you’re actually looking forward to the end of the school day now just to hold your little conversations together.

The conversations don’t stop at school however. With his number now recorded in your phone the two of you start to text non stop - even if it’s about the most trivial things. You find yourself texting Jason instead of Trini at night now

Your red ranger dreams still don’t stop though. They’re all mostly a mesh of the same thing, lots of fighting and lots of chaos but you start to learn a little bit about the red ranger the longer your dreams are.

He’s a selfless leader, one who protects others before him. He makes sure every single person who gets caught in the crossfires is safe. You wish you had half the courage he possesses, you most admire that about your soulmate. You often wonder what he looks like behind the mask. Does he have kind eyes or a cute lopsided smile? Is he a blonde? Brunette? Or even a red-head?

Whatever he looks like, you’re certain that you’re instantly going to fall in love with him the moment your eyes land on him.

Jason finds himself in front of Zordon later in the week. He tells him about his soulmate, and how she’s this cute little thing, bashful and likable - but ponders how in the world can he keep her protected when he’s out fighting intergalactic creatures. He paces back and forth in front of his mentor, his hands shoved in his pocket and his eyes are anxiously attached to his shoes.

“I - I don’t know what to do Zordon, if I tell her then I’m just putting her in danger - she knows her soulmate is the red ranger and if one of our enemies were to find out she’s my soulmate … she’s doomed” he stops his pacing and faces Zordon. He shrugs his shoulders, slapping his hands down his side, feeling completely defeated.

Zordon stays quiet as he observes the young man. It’s been almost a year since their battle with Rita, and Zordon has seen Jason transform from a troubled, insecure boy to a fearless leader who guides his team with confidence. 

“Jason, I don’t know too much about love and how it works here with humans … “ Zordon begins, “But I trust that whatever decision you make, will be the best decision for the both of you. You have guided your team in battle and have always come out successful. I trust you’ll do the same for your heart”

Jason always took Zordon’s words seriously, he had helped mentor him through his toughest times, and was a good person to seek wisdom and advice from. He felt a new found confidence within himself and felt entrusted that whatever decision he would end up making would be the right one.

Jason spent the rest of the evening gathering intel on their new nemesis - Lord Zedd. He had been sending threatening messages to the Rangers for the last couple of weeks, sending in his minions to cause chaos within Angel Grove. He knew that Lord Zedd would strike again soon, him and his team were fully prepared to take on whatever it threw at them next.

He just didn’t expect you to be caught in the middle of it all.

You found yourself walking back home from the movie theater, you and your friend Gina had plans to catch the latest chick-flick that were both dying to see. You didn’t live too far from the shopping center where the movie theater was housed, and since the days were becoming warmer, walking seemed more of a viable option for you. After the movie had finished you and Gina bid your farewells and you started the trek back to your house, cutting through a dark alleyway to save yourself some time.

You had walked through this alleyway millions of time, so you didn’t ever think that you would find yourself being cornered by strange looking creatures that seemingly appeared from the shadows. 

You glanced back behind you, hoping that there would be an escape but more of them just kept appearing, growling menacingly at you.

“Shit, shit, shit, shit” you muttered to yourself as they started to draw in closer. Fear pooled in your stomach as you started to realize how close you were to your demise. They started to circle you in, like a lion hunting it’s gazelle, you closed your eyes and expected some sort of impact, but a loud voice suddenly broke their concentration off of you.

“Hey assholes! Why don’t you pick on someone your own size”

You shoot your eyes open and almost out of thin air the red Power Ranger appeared. He was perched comfortably up on the roof - waiting for the right time to intervene. Coming up from behind appeared the blue, pink, yellow and black ranger, all ready to kick some monster ass.

The monsters soon turned their attention to the rangers, completely ignoring you as you watched, with your eyes wide and full of awe, the rangers take them down. 

Jason watched as his team easily defeated monster after monster. He then turned his attention to you. This was by far the worst case scenario, if Zordon hadn’t sensed Lord Zedds minions, who knows what could have happened to you.

You gazed up at the red ranger as he stood in front of you, his arms came up and he placed them on your shoulders, “Are you okay? Are you hurt?” he asked.

You shook your head, “N-No, I’m fine …”

Jason nodded at you, but before he could turn back to help out his teammates, he felt you grab his arm, “Wait! Red!”

You had to tell him, you had to let him know you were his soulmate. Jason whipped his head back towards you, and he watched as you took a shaky inhale, trying to calm your nerves, “I need to tell you red … that you’re my - “

“Soulmate, I know”

You frown at him, “You know? B-but how?”

His armored hand comes up and rests on your cheek. It feels cold but the gesture sends a warm sensation to your stomach, “I can’t tell you yet … give me time. Do you trust me?”

You nod at him. Jason gives your cheek a soft sweep with his thumb before he returns back to his teammates, finishing up whatever was left of those monsters.

You quickly take the opportunity to rush back home - but not before Jason watched you from afar, making sure that nothing else attacked you that night.

You dreamt of the red ranger again and this time it was his memories of encountering you. You awake with a smile on your face but your heart starts to feel conflicted - you were eager to spend time with Jason, but the more you dreamt about the red ranger, the more you felt like you were starting to fall for him.

Saturday shows up quicker than expected and you find yourself standing in front of Jason’s front door, your knuckle hesitantly knocks on the wood.

Jason runs to the door, opening it up and greets you with a large smile. He gestures for you to come in. You poke your head inside his house, your eyes scanning his foyer before he takes you over to his bedroom - posers decorate most of his bedroom walls, clothing strewn haphazardly around his floor, his bed messily unmade - it was a typical teenage boys bedroom. 

The both of you find yourselves sitting on his bedroom floor, legs crossed, english books wide open and notebook paper lined with messy handwriting. Soft music plays in the background to combat any awkward silence the two of you might encounter, but you’re both purely concentrated on the assignment at hand.

Instinctively your hand reaches over to the pencil that’s laying between you and Jason, but instead of feeling the hard, cold wood of the pencil, you’re met with a soft, warm hand. You glance up, (Y/E/C) meets his blue and you let out an awkward laugh, pulling your hand away from his as if you’ve been caught in the cookie jar.

“M’sorry” you shyly tell him as the color red takes over your cheeks.

“No, no, it’s your pencil, you take it” he tells you, grabbing the pencil and handing it over to you. You offer him a half smile as you take the pencil from him, jotting down notes from your English book. Jason watches you as chew the end of the writing utensil, forehead puckered, lips turned into a frown. You then perform his favorite quirk, you tap the pencil three times against the piece of paper, pause, think, then continue to write.

You glance up and catch wind of Jason’s smirk on his face, amused by your little actions. You freeze up, eyes widened in fear, “Do I have something on my face?” you question him, panic laced in your tone.

He shakes his head, amused by your sense of urgency. “No, no, you just do this thing - “

“Thing?”

“Yeah,” he pauses, licking his lips before he continues, “You uh, do this cute thing where you tap your pencil 3 times, stop and think before you start to write again”

Your eyebrow quirks up at the sound of the word cute, then a smile starts to spread on your lips, “Cute huh?”

It’s Jason’s turn to become flustered, and it makes your heart swell at how bashful the blonde suddenly becomes, trying to backtrack but stumbles over his words, “Not cute! I mean, not that I think you’re not cute because you are cute, but cute in like a quirky kind of cute”

Your smile evolves into a grin, “You think I’m cute?”

Jason is internally kicking himself in the head, but he’s been caught red handed, “Ah, yeah” he lets out a laugh, shaking his head at his choice of words, “I’ve been caught”

Bravery isn’t one of your best qualities, you almost passed out once when you were forced to play a tree during one of your elementary school’s plays. You swear it’s the adrenaline that’s coursing through your blood that prompts you to do what you’re about to do next. You reach over and place your hand over his, squeezing it gently.

With fluttering eyelashes and bashful eyes you gaze up at him, “For what it’s worth, I think you’re pretty cute too” you tell him.

Jason lets out a nervous laugh, he’s surprised at himself because he rarely ever gets nervous around a girl - but you’re his soulmate for christ sake; you both are tied together by destiny, the universe specifically made you for him, and him for you. 

He brushes his nerves away and he surprises you by leaning forward, tucking a strand of your hair behind your ear. His knuckles brush against the apple of your cheek and your breath hitches, heart starts to pound a little harder, as he scoots closer towards you.

“Is this okay?” his voice comes out like a whisper.

With a swift nod, you consent to his next move. His tongue sweeps towards his bottom lip and the next thing you know, his lips are gently brushing against yours. Jason isn’t too skilled in the kissing department, hell neither are you, but the way your mouths move together is like a perfect choreographed dance. He places his hand on your cheek, moving you closer to him. Tongues are then introduced and Jason quickly takes dominance - he tastes like mints and cinnamon and he savors the faint taste of your vanilla chapstick.

Your eyes slowly start to open when you realize you’ve been kissing Jason Scott for the past 2 minutes. 

Panic suddenly shakes your core and you come back down to reality. You push him away, panting heavily as you avoid his confused gaze.

“I - I’m sorry, was that too much?” he stammers.

You quickly start to gather your things, shoving all of your books and notebooks into your backpack. “I’m sorry Jason, I can’t do this.”

He shakes his head, feeling completely confused, “Can’t do what? Kiss me?”

You swing your backpack over your shoulder and promptly stand up, towering over the frowning boy. Your shoulders slump, feeling defeated. Kissing Jason Scott was once a dream of yours, but your effort is completely fruitless because you know you’re not meant to be with him. Jason Scott isn’t your soulmate, you both are tied to completely different people so kissing him just feels … wrong.

“Jason, you’re not my soulmate. You’re meant to be with someone else” you sadly explain.

Jason’s face turns stoic, he bites his tongue back. He wants so badly to tell you that yes! You’re his soulmate, and yes! He’s the red ranger, but he hasn’t decided how to tell you yet. He’s yet to cross that bridge.

“I’m sorry Jason, I really am, but my dreams have begun and I - I just can’t do that to him” you weakly tell him.

Him, her soulmate.

Jason’s lips turn into a thin line, “No, no, I understand …”

“I’m sorry Jason, I really am” your voices falters in pitch, trying to keep your emotions at bay. But it’s useless when he gives you this look that absolutely breaks your heart. His eyes become wide and you can tell, hell you know, he’s hurt.

You can’t stand to watch him any longer so you swiftly turn your back towards him and make a bee-line to the front door.

Jason is left alone in his bedroom, his music still quietly playing in the background. His thoughts are racing a million miles a minute. He now knows he has to tell you, he needs to tell you because he’s certain that he’s falling in love with you and he can’t hold back his feelings any longer.

You head home with your heart broken, your feelings conflicted and your mind reeling. You spend the rest of your Saturday moping around the house, your body planted on the living room couch and the remote control attached to your hand. You’re casually flipping through channels, but nothing seems to pique your interest. It isn’t until the rerun of The Office you were watching suddenly cuts off to a breaking news alert, a live feed of downtown Angel Grove. Another hoard of monsters have invaded Angel Grove and they’re advising people to stay inside while the Power Rangers take care of them. 

You jump off the couch, moving closer to the screen as if it’ll help bridge the distance between you two. Your eyes are glued to the TV, making sure to try to follow the Red Rangers every move. The dedicated news reporter stays a safe distance away from the tumultuous scene, but it feels as if you’re actually there. It was then your heart suddenly drops to your feet and you let out a horrified gasp. 

You can clearly see a sharp object pierce through the red Rangers armor. You watch as he stumbles around, trying to regain his composure. His hands dart over to his side where his armor becomes stained with blood. The other rangers run over to the wounded man, Blue and Black throw his arms over their shoulders while Yellow and Pink finish off the last hoard.

You feel utterly helpless. You want to scream at the television screen but instead frustrated, angry tears leak from your eyes. Sleeping that night becomes impossible for you, tossing and turning all night long. Your mind is hyper-focused on his well being, but how could you even help him when you don’t know who he is?

Arriving at school the next day feels like a large burden. You’re listless, tired, and hurt. You don’t even interact with your usual friends, and you’re absolutely dreading the final period. The last person you want to see right now is Jason. 

You trudge through the halls when you catch Trini, Billy, Zach and Kimberly huddled together, looks of concerns etched all over their face as they speak in hushed whispers. Trini catches a glimpse of you and perks up, the rest of the group follows - their gaze towards you is oddly sympathetic and you can’t pinpoint why. You give Trini a wave followed by a thin smile, she returns it back to you.

You enter 7th period and frown. Jason is nowhere to be seen, in fact, now that you think about it, you haven’t seen him all day. You feel relieved yet concerned - maybe he’s sick you conclude to yourself. With Jason not sitting beside you, 7th period English feels like much more of a chore, no one to talk to or to distract you from Mrs. Gerald’s monotonous lecture.

The rest of the day passes by without any incident, and you’re more than ready to tumble back into your comforter and pass out, hopefully catch a glimpse of your red ranger. Something in your gut tells you that he’s okay, but you can’t be too sure. You pop a couple of sleeping pills to help speed up the process and by 9 PM you’re completely passed out, drool leaking from the corner of your lips as light snores exit through your mouth.

The dream begins and it feels like you’re having an out of body experience. The first thing you notice is hands - actual human hands. They’re jotting notes down on a piece of paper, his legs crossed on the floor. It all looks vaguely familiar but your mind can’t seem to pinpoint it yet. This is completely different from the rest of the dreams you’ve been having. You can sense that he’s at peace now that he’s not cracking skulls and kicking ass. 

The red Power Ranger is a teenager is the first thought you have.

He then reaches across the floor, aiming to grab a pencil when you see another set of hands.

Those hands look way too familiar now, you recognize that bracelet, and the black hair-tie, they currently rest on your right wrist. You can feel your heart starts to pound in your chest. His head lifts up to view the person who owns those hands and you swear, you swear it was like an electric current sent a shock through your system.

His eyes warmly gaze up towards you.

It’s you, you’re in the red Power Rangers dream.

Jason Scott is your soulmate.

You shoot your eyes open, all of your sleep gone down the drain. Your breathing becomes erratic as your mind tries to quickly piece all of the missing pieces together.

And suddenly everything just makes sense - everything in this world, in life, makes sense. 

The painful realization then hits you like a load of bricks - Jason was the one who got stabbed the other night, it’s why he wasn’t at school. 

You jump out of bed, stumbling to throw on a pair of sneakers as you hop around your bedroom. You toss on your Angel Grove High sweatshirt and open up your bedroom window, hopping from ledge and onto your lawns freshly mowed grass. You pull your hair up in a messy ponytail before running towards your garage and jumping into your little brothers bike - the last thing you want is your wake up your parents by starting up your car.

Your calves burn as you pedal through the town of Angel Grove, cutting through homes and alleyways, all for the boy who’d been keeping this burning secret from you this whole time.

You finally reach the white house that looks over the ocean, dropping your bike on his lawn. You make your way towards his bedroom, the only one with the large window that looks out over the coast. You peer inside the large glass and see the blonde boy laying on his bed, his eyes shut, bruises littering his cheeks where his freckles are specked around.

Your heart clenches at the sight of him looking so broken. Your fingers carefully, and quietly pull back the window, opening it enough for you to sneak in without stumbling over your feet. You land in with a quiet thud and pause for a second. When silence continues to welcome you, you start to move towards Jason’s bed, your eyes scanning him more carefully.

You sit down beside him, feeling the bed shift in weight, but he doesn’t wake up. Your emotions have been a mess lately, your heart has been tugging you in two different places, but now that everything has been pieced together, you can finally breathe. You can finally accept what the universe has been trying to tell you since you’ve started these dreams.

That Jason had been your soulmate this whole time.

With shaky fingers, you reach towards his face. You brush away his curl that dangles from his head. He feels warm compared to your cold hands, but just knowing that he’s okay, that he’s alive gives you a sense of peace. You let out a deep exhale as you softly touch his bruises, making sure not to touch them too hard.

Jason slowly stirs in his sleep, cracking his eye open. He frowns, then jumps away from your touch, startlingly you as you dart your hand away.

“W-what? Y/N? What are you doing here?” he sleepily questions you.

You give him a watery smile as your emotions start creep their way up, “Jason … it’s you, it’s been you this whole time”

Jason is still half asleep, and the words don’t quite register in his head when you tell him this. He has completely forgotten that he has a massive stab wound on his side - The rest of the Power Rangers were able to convince his parents and everyone else that he was caught in a horrific car accident. Zordon has him on bed rest for a week - he knows that’s all it’ll take to fully heal Jason and his deep physical wounds.

Jason slowly, and carefully sits up, wincing as he leans up against his headboard. 

“Jason, don’t move, take it easy” you say.

He shakes his head, “No, no I’m okay, it’s not as bad, I’m healing up”

As he positions himself in a more comfortable position he starts to wake up, and it’s then he fully registers why you’re in his bedroom at 2:18 in the morning. His memories have finally lead you to him. He gives you a half smile, before he continues to talk.

“Caught me huh?”

You let out a half laugh at his lame attempt to joke about the situation, “Why didn’t you tell me Jason? Why didn’t you tell me you were my soulmate?”

There’s a hint of anger in your voice, and he understands, completely understands why you’re angry at him.

He moves his hand and places it over yours, squeezing it gently. “I couldn’t tell you. I needed to keep you safe as long as I could before I figured out how to tell you, but I guess my memories caught up with you”

You sigh heavily, “Jason, nothing is going to happen to me - “

“You don’t know that!” he angrily exclaims, “The other day you were cornered by those creatures!” he pauses before he continues, letting out a shaky exhale, “What if I can’t keep you safe?”

Your eyes desperately try to search for his blue ones, but they’re avoiding your gaze. His face is hard, but his emotions are starting to trickle out with each word he utters. Negativity invade his head space, blocking out any rational thoughts.

“Jason, that’s never going to happen and you know that.” you borderline scold him, your eyes darken with anger, the fact that that idea is instilled in his head makes you frustrated. Jason throws his hands down his side, feeling exasperated.

“Enemies will come looking for you” he begins to counter.

“So? I’ll learn to fight or something”

“What if you’re cornered like that again?”

“I’ll bring pepper spray big deal”

“What if you get kidnapped?!”

You roll your eyes, heaving out a large breath. “Jesus Jason, just stop, stop fighting what the universe has been trying to tell us for the last week.”

He throws his head back, eyes cast up on the ceiling. He knows you’re right, he just hates to admit it.

“Jason, look at me, please” you beg.

His hand is still gently placed on top of yours, so in an effort to show him that you’re in this for the long haul you place your other hand on top of his. He then slowly brings his head back down, his large blue eyes filled with emotion as they bore into yours.

“Jason Lee Scott, I love you and I am willing to fight by your side, do whatever it takes to make your job easier in protecting me, in protecting us, all of us” you gesture outside to the general public because you know that at the end of the day, his priority is to keep everyone safe - not just you.

His hard face softens as the 3 letter word leaves your mouth. His heart swells up three times the size as it beats wildly in his chest.

“You love me?” 

His voice becomes childlike at the question. Almost as if he can’t believe that he can be loved by someone else besides his family.

You let out a dry laugh, tears brimming your eyes as a watery smile takes over your lips. You remove the hand that was on top of his and you bring it to his cheek, gently brushing over the bruises that decorate his face.

“Yeah you big doof, you think I’d be up at 2:30 AM for just anyone?” your tone is much more playful with him and the tension in the room slowly starts to slip away.

He lets out a laugh, leaning into your soft touch. You both share a moment of tenderness as he then leans forward and rests his forehead on yours. The two of you shut your eyes and just completely live in the moment. Forgetting what tomorrow may bring, forgetting what happened in the past, and just living in right now.

“For what it’s worth,” Jason says, a smirk slowly creeping on his lips, “I love you too

A laugh leaves your lips as he mimics the same words you told him 2 days ago. Jason then instinctively leans in closer and presses his lips against yours. He pours all his pent back emotion into the kiss, his hands promptly then cupping your face. Tongues are meshed and lips are smashed in a passionate expression of love.

“I can’t believe it was you, it was you this whole time” you breathly speak as he starts to move his lips down south, peppering small chaste kisses down your neck.

“Surprised?” he pulls away briefly, his lips are all red and swollen.

You shake your head, “Honestly, I’m way more surprised that you were my soulmate - not that you’re a Power Ranger”

Jason cocks his head and you return him a smile before you continue to explain.

“You’re a good guy Jason, you’re not the typical asshole jock at the school. I’ve seen how you’ve defended Billy, how you’ve just become this better person - everything the leader of the Power Rangers should be. I just never thought that the boy I’d been crushing on for all these years would end up being with … well with someone like me”

Jason frowns as your voice turns undeniably sad at the end. He can’t find the right words to convey his thoughts, so instead he just sweeps you into his arms. You let out a joyful squeal as he pulls you towards his side and bringing you down to lay with him. Your head nestles into his chest, the sound of his heartbeat lulling you. You close your eyes and melt into his body, making sure to be mindful of the giant wound on his side. 

His arm wraps around your waist as he presses his face into your hair, taking a deep inhale of the strawberry shampoo that scents your hair. 

“Someone like you? Someone incredibly cute, funny, smart, loving, compassionate, kind, oh and did I mention very, very cute?”

Your giggles echos his bedroom as he starts to place kisses all over your head, “Okay, okay Scott, you can stop buttering me up”

“Just one question,” you ask, lifting your head up and propping yourself on your elbow. He looks at you amusingly, his eyebrow quirked. “How did you know I was your soulmate?”

He can’t reveal the identity of Trini, nor the rest of the rangers. It’s not his decision to make at the end of the day and he fully respects that. His mind then wanders back to his dreams, smirking at you before he speaks,

“Mmm, well your memories didn’t really do a good job of hiding your feelings towards me … subtlety isn’t really your strong suit” he says to you. Your mouth gapes, feigning hurt, and you gently jab his arm. He winces mockingly, rubbing his arm,

“Ooh ouch, you sure you’re not a Power Ranger? You hiding something from me?”

You roll your eyes, “Haha, very funny.”

Silence then nestles between the two of you. Crickets chirp in the background, the wind gently howls. The stillness of the night starts to lull you both back to sleep as you find yourself back laying in his arms. Jason’s eyes are slowly drifting shut when he hears you speak,

“Hey since I’m dating a Power Ranger does this mean I can hitch a ride in your zoid?”

His chest rumbles in laughter. “Ha - in your dreams sweetheart, in your dreams”

It was that same night as you slept in your soulmates’ arms that you decided to never question the universe again.

[thisisthepartwhereyou]

BEASTARS MINI-STORY #5: “Everybody Play the Game pt. 1” by JCL

---

We see Jack sitting alone by his writing desk in dorm room 701. He's got several books, documents and a notebook positioned ahead of him, suggesting that he is about to do some homework, but he is currently busy talking on his cellphone. We hear a voice coming from the other end.

???: "So you are sure that you can all come that day?"

Jack has his nose down a monthly planner-book, where we see that he has encircled a date with red ink: May 23rd. Within the circle he has also written "Game night at Yanni's with Legosi and the guys."

JACK: "Don't worry about it. I've double-checked with the others. There shouldn't be any problem."

The labrador retriever suddenly gets a puzzled look though as he adjust his reading glasses.

JACK: "But why is it so important that everyone is there? We've had game nights before with one or two missing. As long as it's four of us we can play most things." ---

We go over to the other side of the line and see that the one he is talking to is Legosi. He is standing out in the corridor of the first in the hidden condo, using the shared phone. He scratches his cheek.

LEGOSI: "Well, it's like this..." ---

We skip ahead for a bit. Jack is now sitting in the school cafeteria together with his roommates: Durham the coyote, Miguno the spotted hyena, Collot the old English sheepdog and Voss the fennec fox. They are eating their lunches, which today appears to be composed of rice, miso soup, tamagoyaki and a broccoli salad.  

JACK: "He's bringing Haru to game night. He wants us all to meet her."

The rest of the guys stare at him.

MIGUNO: "His girlfriend? The bunny?"

Durham looks a little skeptical. Next to him we see Collot stuffing his face with a big helping of the tamagoyaki.

DURHAM: "Why? Does he want to rub it in our noses that he has a girlfriend and we don't? I mean we already have Collot and his harem for that."

Hearing this, Collot turns to him and protests with his mouth full, with yellow crumbs flying out and staining Durham's sleeve as he does.

COLLOT: "I don't have a harem!"

Durham groans in annoyance, picks up a napkin and wipes his arm.

DURHAM: "Then what was all that chocolate you had in your locker last Valentines day about? Looking for a golden ticket or something?"

Jack sighs at their shenanigans, like a patient parent dealing with a group of dysfunctional siblings.

JACK: "I doubt that's the reason. He probably just figured it was time he introduced her to his friends."

Durham shrugs at this and takes a sip from his milk carton.

DURHAM: "Sounds like the adult thing to do."

Miguno sticks his fork into his salad, stabbing through a piece of broccoli before taking it up to his mouth.

MIGUNO: "Just imagine it, our little Legosi, all grown up."

Durham leans forward, resting his chin in his hand while adopting a pensive expression.

DURHAM: "Grown up Legosi."

Collot crosses his arms and looks up into the air.

COLLOT: "Grown up Legosi with a girlfriend..."

Voss (who unlike his friends is so small that he has to sit on the table while eating instead of on a seat next to it) is flicking his right ear.

VOSS: "... Who is a bunny."

JACK: "..."

It is quiet for a few seconds, with it seeming like the boys from room 701 is internally tasting the situation. It is then that Durham interrupts this quiet moment with a question that appears to be on everybody's mind.

DURHAM: "Am I the only one who wonders how the hell that works?"

Collot picks up his bowl of miso with his hand.

COLLOT: "No, I've actually been pondering about that too. I mean I flirt with the herbivore girls as much as I flirt with any of the carnivore girls, but that's mostly to be courteous."

He then proceeds to loudly slurp up its content (table manners is not his strong side). He then puts the bowl down again, licking the soup residue off his lips with his tongue.

COLLOT: "I don't think I could date one though... No matter how taboo-liciously hot they can be...!"

Miguno gives Collot a skeptical look and shakes his head at him (though whether it is because he agrees with this sentiment or just finds the word 'taboo-licious' disturbing is unclear).

MIGUNO: "I couldn't believe it the first time I heard it."

JACK: "Well they've been together for almost two years, so there has to be something..." (Though I honestly don't get it either)

DURHAM: "What I don't get is the attraction, on both sides."

Durham stretches his arms out in an expanding motion.

DURHAM: "I mean Legosi is HUGE, even by wolf standards."

He pulls his arms back, then holds his right hand raised about 20 centimeters over the table.  

DURHAM: "And bunnies in general are tiny! Don't you think it's a little bizarre for someone that big to be together with someone so minuscule?"

It is then that Durham remembers the presence of Voss, the undoubtedly smallest member among them, who is shooting him a glare from across the table.

DURHAM: "No offense."

The fennec gives him the finger.

VOSS: "None taken. And just so know, I don't think the size thing is that weird. I mean she could just be into big mammals. I can relate to that!"

Collot's face shrivels into a disdainful grimace.

COLLOT: "Yeah we all know about your literal giant fetish dude...!"

Durham scratches back of his head and closes his eyes.

DURHAM: "You know, I used to have a hard time picturing Legosi with a girl to begin with. I mean he's a great guy, but I always figured that he was a little too quiet and weird to ever get one. Then we have his obsession with bugs. I mean that's not an attractive hobby."

As he thinks back to previous moments with Legosi, we see a montage of the wolf being just... Well, HIMSELF. These include times when he is just staring off into space, eating an egg sandwich or letting a spider walk over his hand. As this montage ends, Durham turns to Jack.

DURHAM: "Hey Jack. You've met this girl before, right? What is she like?"

Jack blinks, then looks over his shoulder, as if he is thinking hard about it. He then appears to have reached a conclusion and gives Durham an answer:

JACK: "She's nice."

The group stares at Jack in silence. Durham waves his hand in an urging fashion; he wants more details.

DURHAM: "And?"

Jack shrugs.

JACK: "And cute I suppose... I dunno, I just met her once, so I can't really paint a bigger picture of her. All I got from her is that seemed perfectly pleasant."

Durham looks dissatisfied with this.

DURHAM: "But what about the important stuff? Like... Like..."

He struggles to come up with what he is trying to say. It is then that Collot leans over and fills in with the question closest to his heart:

COLLOT: "How big are her breasts?"

Durham snaps his fingers at this, like it was exactly what he was trying to relay just now.  

DURHAM: "Precisely!"

Jack's face twists into an incredulous expression.

JACK: "THAT is the important stuff?!"

COLLOT: "Well yeah, I mean Legosi is a big guy like me. It's a fact of life: big guys like big jugs. I mean if you make out, would you be satisfied with pinching and pulling a pair of steamed buns or do you want your hands full of anpan?"

Jack stares at Collot with disapproval and a deep blush on his cheeks.

JACK: "Where did you learn that? Sex harassment ed? This is Legosi's girlfriend we're talking about, how about you showing a bit of class?"

This makes the rest of the guys look a little self-conscious, recognizing that they talked in a rather insensitive way about someone they haven't even met yet.

DURHAM: "Yeah, you're right."

MIGUNO: "Important thing is that she makes Legosi happy."

Collot nods.

COLLOT: "M-hm."

Things get quiet for a few seconds again, with them just eating.

VOSS: "You know, I do think the size play's a keyrole, but I don't think it's a tiddie-thing."

Voss puts the thumb and indexfinger of his left hand together to form a circle.

VOSS: "I mean just picture it..."

He forms his other hand into a fist which he then proceeds to push through the WAY too smal circle of his other hand. This prompts Jack to scream out loud in protest, earning the group weird looks from all over the cafeteria.

JACK: "CLASS VOSS! CLASS!" ---

TEXT BOX: 1 week and 2 days later.

Skipping ahead of time, we see Jack, Collot, Voss (who is riding on Collot's shoulder), Durham and Miguno walking through town during sometime in the afternoon.

COLLOT: "So what are you guys up for tonight? I'd personally be into a game of Catch'em Scratch'em*."

VOSS: "Well, you all know what my favorite game is."

COLLOT: "Don't tell me you want to play Fivelimbs* again? I hate to say it, but you know how it goes every time."

Voss shoots him an annoyed look.

VOSS: "Don't trample on my dream you big galoot. Besides, I have a new, mind-blowing strategy!"

DURHAM: "Does it involve using your ears? Cause they you may have a fighting chance against the rest of us."

Voss flips Durham off again.

VOSS: "Eh, fuck you!"

Miguno, who seems to be pondering on something, speaks up.

MIGUNO: "I just had a thought."

DURHAM: "Please tell me you don't want to play Word Wriggle* again. I mean half the words you come up with isn't part of any earthly language!"

Miguno waves this away with his hand.

MIGUNO: "No, no... I was thinking, what if we're too scary when we're together?"

The others give Miguno a confounded stare.

COLLOT: "Us? Scary? Are you serious?"

VOSS: "Have you ever met us? We're like the cuddliest-wuddliest bastards you'll ever come across."

MIGUNO: "I am serious. I mean, when a predation incident occurs, people avoid us like the plague. But, don't you think that's partly because we're all together?"

In Miguno's background we see the entire group (including Legosi) at an earlier point at Cherryton, walking through a school corridor together. As they walk through the halls together, several herbivores get out of the way, looking uncomfortable and/or scared.

MIGUNO: "I mean, a single carnivore can to a scared herbivore be enough. But there's five of us, six with Legosi. One by one it's not that bad, but with all of us together... Could it be that we're extra intimidating that way?"

The group continues to stare at Miguno. Durham looks disturbed.

DURHAM: "What did you bring that up for?"

MIGUNO: "Well I was thinking... What if this girl is going to get scared of us?"

Collot shakes his head at this.

COLLOT: "No way. If Legosi doesn't scare her, how could we?"

MIGUNO: "Legosi is just ONE carnivore, but what if being a small room with SIX might be too much for her?"

The group seems to think about this. Durham crosses his arms and adopts a pouty expression.

DURHAM: "That is just crazy...!"

JACK: "Well... Maybe not that crazy."

Everyone turns to look at Jack, who looks a bit worried.

JACK: "It has been proven in studies that herbivores who feel surrounded by a larger than average group of carnivores can experience heightened levels of stress and feelings of isolation. With more sensitive animals, it has even lead to panic attacks."

The group seems to take this bleak information in. Voss sigh and look depressed.

VOSS: "Well I guess we can forget about Fivelimbs then."

Durham throws his arms out in annoyance.

DURHAM: "Well that's just great, now we have to worry about scaring this poor girl to death!"

Miguno scratches his head, looking about as worried as Jack about this whole thing.

MIGUNO: "If we do that, we could just jeopardize our friendship with Legosi...!"

COLLOT: "Easy now, lets not panic. We just have to make sure we don't do anything that could make her feel threathened or anything."

DURHAM: "Like what? File down our teeth and shrink to Voss size?"

MIGUNO: "Jack, you know a lot about scientific stuff about herbivore/carnivore interactions. How can we make her feel safe around us?"

Jack scratches his chin and seems to work the old brain box to remember some useful information on this subject.

JACK: "Well... This is just what I've read in books, but..."

He holds up a finger, like he is about to hold a lecture. We see a few illustrations appearing in Jack's background: One is a basic drawing of dog-like carnivore, standing next to a basic drawing of a small, rabbit-like herbivore.

JACK: "One thing with smaller herbivores is that they are usually very self-conscious about their size. The biggest reminder of this is whenever they have to look up in order to meet a large animal's eyes."

The rabbit look up at the dog with a nervous look, a red, dotted line being drawn between it's eyes and the dog's.

JACK: "Kneeling or crouching down to eye level when greeting them can therefor make them feel more at ease."

The dog crouches down, so that his eyes are on the same level as the rabbit's. Another, green dotted line is drawn between them.

VOSS: "Well that sounds simple enough."

A new illustration appears behind Jack: The dog-like carnivore and the rabbit-like herbivore are now sitting opposite one another at a table.

JACK: "Another thing is that herbivores can experience reactionary spastic movements in their legs whenever they see carnivores eat."

As the dog eats some spagetti, we see the rabbit's legs twitch with non-voluntary movements under the table.

JACK: "It's an old reflex. The sight of sharp teeth at work triggers an inherited, physical memory that is prompting the herbivore to run."

Collot scratches the back of his head at this.

COLLOT: "I guess we could cover our mouths while eating... Anything else?"

JACK: "Well then there is the question of space."

Yet another illustration appears behind Jack: We see the rabbit surrounded by several, carnivore-like shadows. Panicky sweats are radiating from it's head.

JACK: "Herbivore's can experience an exaggerated sense of enclosure if the room is small and feels crowded with carnivores."

Miguno looks relatively calm about that fact.

MIGUNO: "Well it's a good thing we decided to rent a table at Yanni's then. That's place is both public and spacious." ---

We now find ourselves in an alley near the town center. There is an establishment in the building in front of us with a large sign above it that spells 'Yanni's Games & Coffee' with a logo that features a cup of coffee with a pair of dice in it, as if they were sugar cubes. It has a large store window with a display featuring lined up board games, including Know-Edge-Ledge*, Cages & Keepers* and Hungry-Hungry Wolf*, some big novelty chess pieces and two Catch'em Scratch'em cardboard cutouts on opposing sides of the display. A black fold-up sign is standing outside on the sidewalk with a text on it written with colored chalk, listing specials (cucumber sandwich, cinnamon buns and Latte Macchiato) and recommended games of today (Whack-the-Weevil* and Whodunnit*).

TEXT BOX: Yanni's Games & Coffee: An establishment located near the town center. It's a cafe where you can rent a table for a few hours and play various parlor games. It's a gathering place for various clubs and a popular spot for both herbivores and carnivores to sit and relax while also playing games together.

The boys from 701 are standing outside of it, looking at it with mild awe.

MIGUNO: "Seems like they've boosted the place up since the last time we were here."

Voss, Collot and Durham stare into the window excitedly, while Jack inspects the sign.

JACK: "Must've gotten more popular with time... I guess more and more people need calmer means of relaxing these days."

LEGOSI: "Hey!"

The boys turn, and they see that Legosi, accompanied by Haru, has arrived. Jack smile as he sees them.

JACK: "Ah, Legosi! Haru!"

The wolf and the bunny walk up to them.

LEGOSI: "We didn't make you guys wait for too long?"

Jack waves this away with his hand.

JACK: "No, no, we just got here."

The rest of the guys walk up behind Jack, each of them giving Haru curious looks. Haru steps forward and gives them a curt little bow.

HARU: "Hi, I am Haru. Legosi's girlfriend. It's nice to meet you."

The boys stare at her with starstruck expressions.

COLLOT, VOSS, DURHAM & MIGUNO: (This girl is...)

Haru flashes a friendly smile that seems to generate sparkles in the air around her. The boys all wag their tales.

COLLOT, VOSS, DURHAM & MIGUNO: (...SO FRICKING CUTE!)

--- TO BE CONTINUED

[hailene]

Perfect Imperfection

Perfect Imperfection| part one

Characters: Jaemin x female lead, Chenle x female lead (the girl will go by the name of Aeri)

Genre: fluff, angst, writer!au, highschool!au

Word count: 2.8 K

Summary: Aeri is the teenager who writes. Finding inspiration in anything surrounds her, her ideas go wild once she meets the perfect character, Na Jaemin. As a writer becomes obsessive with their favourite character, Aeri grows a weird passion for the bright boy. However, she's so focused on painting Jaemin as perfectly as possible, that she ignores the furry of fiery hair that takes her to night walks and shows her secret places around the town. Despite knowing everything, she forgets that playing with fire means getting burnt. And that sometimes, when we remember to stop, it's too late.

part one》 part two》 part three

"You can't possibly expect me to accept your chocolate milk as apology for hitting me with a basketball, Hyuck." I sigh as try to figure out my time table.

"Oh c'mon, I didn't even hit you that ha-..."

"What was your name again?" I tease him, furrowing my eyebrows as soon as I realize that tomorrow I literally had two classes at the same time. "What the hell?"

"What's wrong?" Jeno asks me, peaking over my left shoulder to look at the paper in my hands. "Wow, sociology and physics at the same time? I knew you were an ace but that's a bit extra terrestrial."

I sigh.

"Tell me about it." I say. "I didn't even want to take physics this year but apparently, the principal made the other choice be chemistry."

I turn around to face Jeno with clear despair written across my face. Dramatic as I absolutely adored to be.

"And I hate chemistry."

"I know, hun." He sighs, knowing about my absolute lack of desire to study chemistry. "You should go to the secretary so you can solve this. I'll ask Jeongin to cover this class for you."

I smile and hug him tightly.

"Thanks, Jen, you're the best." I say and run towards the other end of the school hall, ready to get my shit together for the first time during the new school year.

As I was preparing myself to enter the office, the door suddenly opened, making me step back in bewilderment. A hazelnut-haired boy stepped out of the room, a sweet smile plastered on his lips. His puppy-like eyes made him look young, maybe even younger than me, but his body figure was saying something else. He was definitely new, judging by his clothes. Really, nobody bothers to dress fancy around here, unless they want to prove something. And this boy was too good-looking to have anything else to prove, except the fact that he's willed to study and be nice to everyone.

Fun.

All my thoughts vanished when we made eye contact, finally making me aware of my physical presence there, reminding me that I am not some ghost that he can't see and I can't keep staring at him forever.

However, he simply nodded his head in apology for startling me and left. I shruged it off and entered the office, ignoring that spark deep inside that was telling me he was perfect.

By the end of the school week, I actually manage to realize I wasn't missing it that much. The one and only thing that I was missing about school was the incredible desire to write that it was giving me. I could write novels and novels... just so I don't have to do my homework. I would write wherever, whenever. During classes, during lunch, with my friends or alone. It didn't matter. If I was getting stroken by some heavenly idea, there was nothing that could stop me.

The perfect character.

That's what I was doing too when Renjun came to me this evening, while I was sitting on the edge of the basketball court. He sat near me in silence for a few minutes, before actually voicing out the actual reason why he came in the first place.

"The writing contest is starting again soon." He says and I nod. "But miss Kang told me she doesn't want you to participate."

I turn around to face him, my eyes wide in disbelief. This contest has been one of my greatest motivations ever since middle school and I can't let her take this away from me. Why would miss Kang even do that? She loves me. Or at least so I thought? Have I done something wrong? Did I annoy her with my infinite questions regarding the use of tenses or anything of this kind? Hell, I knew I should've kept it lowkey...

"What? She can't do tha-..."

"I'm not done yet." Renjun says calmly. "She doesn't want you to participate because you'd win anyway."

I smile softly and sigh. Renjun has always been somehow gentle but ruthless at the same time. And he's my only friend who truly understands my passion for writing. Not necessarily because he'd be passionate about this too, but because he's interested in understanding the people around him. And honestly, that's one of the things that make him such a great blessing.

"So she told me to ask you if you'd like to be one of the judges." He continues and I look at him bewildered once again.

"She what?" I ask surprised.

"I know you heard it the first time." He smiles. "Is that an yes?"

"Oh my God, Renjun, this is... this is..."

My dream ever since I was like 12.

"Insane." I finish my sentence.

Renjun smiles in response as I close my eyes and sigh, trying to collect myself.

"So I think you accept the offer-..."

"Of course I do!" I say maybe a bit too loud.

I smile awkwardly, telepathically apologizing for startling him with my loud voice. He shrugs.

"Cool then." He says standing up. "I'll see you around."

***

"The try-outs for the basketball team are on Thursday and I barely heard anybody being interested in coming." Jeno sighs while sticking a poster on the notice board.

"Don't worry, I'm sure people will come." I say as I hand him another poster. "The basketball team is pretty cool after all."

"Because I'm part of it." He smiles sheepishly and I punch his arm. "Didn't hurt at all."

I stick my tongue out to him but he doesn't seem to notice.

"Why doesn't Renjun want to join?" I ask him and he shrugs.

"He's actually doing a pretty good job as unofficial manager so I can't really mind." My bestfriend says, looking at the posters he has pinned so far. "How many do we have left?"

"About ten." I say looking at the posters in my hands.

Jeno sighs. I wish I could do something to lift his mood. I wish I could make him believe the try-outs aren't going to be crappy, but I am not too sure about it myself. He loves the basketball team so much and he would certainly do almost anything for it. The passion that he has is inspiring, but sometimes, it's too much for his own good. However, I guess it doesn't really matter as long as he loves his job, does it?

"Let's go and stick those at each of the entrances and the notice board from outside." He says and I head towards the entrance of the building.

As I prepare to go around the corner, heading to the entrance hall, I suddenly bump into somebody, making me fall on the ground with all the posters that I was initially holding flying around me.

"Crap, I'm so sorry!" I hear somebody saying and the next thing I know is that somebody helps me stand up.

The hazelnut-haired boy I met on the first day of school at secretary's office.

Looking even finer than back then.

"Are you okay?" He asks me, waking me up from my thoughts once again.

I nod as I bend down to gather the posters. The hazelnut-haired boy rushes to help me, handing me the posters that he's gathered when we're done.

"Aeri, what ha-... oh, Jaemin? What are you doing here?" I hear Jeno asking as soon as he approaches us.

Jaemin? So that's the name of the hazelnut-haired boy?

But how does my bestfriend know him?

"I realized I'd left in my locker some books that I need so I came to take them." The boy in front of me answers with a bright smile on his lips.

God, he's gorgeous.

"Oh, the try-outs for the basketball team?" Jaemin asks pointing towards the posters in my hand. "I'm thinking of giving it a chance, to be honest..."

"Really?" Jeno says. "That would be awesome, we're actually pretty much in need of people at the moment."

"I guess I'll come then." Jaemin says happily. "Ah, do you guys need help with sticking these?"

"Well, unless you have anything else to do, sure, why not?" Jeno smiles, looking at me and reassuring me it's fine.

Fine.

"I'm Jaemin, by the way." He says, extending his hand in front of me, a charming smile plastered on his lips.

"Aeri." I say, shaking his hand.

"Wait, you're the girl from the secretary office, right?" He asks and I feel my face heating in embarassment.

"Uh... yeah..." I say and he chuckles.

"I was in a rush back then, I didn't even realize that I hadn't stopped to apologize for bumping into you." He says and a small smile makes its way up to my lips.

"Nah, that's alright."

We finish pinning up the posters while having small talk and Jaemin proves himself to be an actual kind and funny guy, which didn't surprise me that much. I could tell by his bright smile and the sparkles in his eyes that he had something special. That he would be somebody worth writing about. But there was a part of me that couldn't believe him. It couldn't believe his perfect fit for a prince from the fairytales. There had to be something twisted about him. A hidden side of him. And I was ready to find out what that was about.

***

I try to gather up my things as fast as possible after the physics class, pretty bothered by the fact that I didn't understand half of today's lesson. Well, true, that might also be because I was sketching out some ideas on my writing notebook rather than paying complete attention to the class. As I try to make my way out of the class, I bump into somebody. Why do I have to bump into somebody everyday lately? I drop my books like a loser and mentally slap myself for not taking time to put them in my backpack instead of deciding to carry them in my hands. I rush to gather them all and my eyes meet a furry of firey hair and I feel myself smiling.

Zhong Chenle. The actual sun of my year. And not just because of his newly dyed orange hair, but also because of his blinding-bright personality.

I've never been close to him, to be honest. We have never been closer than classmates are supposed to be because I simply couldn't find any reason for me to do otherwise. He was smiling to everybody, friends with everybody and nice to everybody. But at the same time, he belonged to no one, which is why I personally thought his new hair colour suited him perfectly, he was like the sun: warm but at the same time, far, far away.

He lifts his head to look at me while gathering his books and gives me a small smile that, if I didn't know him at all, I would take as a playboyish smirk. But no, that's simply his natural smile.

"Haven't seen anybody rushing so much out of the class lately." He chuckles. "You okay?"

"Just trying to leave the bad energy behind as soon as possible." I say and his loud laugh echoes in the class, some of the other kids throwing him annoyed glares. But he didn't care.

"People use to tell me all the bad energy dissappears when I step into the room." Chenle says and it's my turn to chuckle.

"Well, I guess the level of bad energy from this specific class is too much for you to handle."

I stand up and he does the same. I look at him and smile without being able to hold back. Then, I leave. But if I had looked behind me just once, I would have seen him looking back.

That evening, Jeno and Donghyuck came over with a box of cookies freshly baked by Jeno's mom. She loves me and Hyuck loves her cookies, therefore the combination. Despite the fact that it was supposed to be a study night, we end up talking about random things while emptying the cookie box.

"So, are you still writing if you're not in the writing contest?" Donghyuck asks me, his chipmunk cheeks stuffed with cookies, crumbs around his mouth.

"Of course." I say smiling. "I'm not writing just for contests."

"A mundane like you wouldn't understand." Jeno adds and I laugh at the sight of Hyuck's frown which made him look like an annoyed squirrel.

"As if you're not a mundane too..." he mutters.

"I am one of the chosen mundanes." Jeno smirks and Donghyuck rolls his eyes, making me roll back on my bed in laughter.

"Maybe... I would understand better if I saw..." I hear Hyuck saying and before I can react, I hear him standing up and heading towards my desk.

Heck no.

"Don't you dare, Lee Donghyuck!" I shout as I stumble towards him.

But I'm not fast enough. He picks up my notebook from my desk and opens it with pure curiosity on his face.

"Hyuck, Hyuckie, please just don't, it's really personal-..."

"Newton's first law of motion predicts the behavior of objects for which all existing forces are balanced." He reads and I stop in the midst of my action. "I mean... it's truly personal. So personal that I think I have written the same thing in my physics class last year."

He shrugs.

"Did you change the covers so I couldn't recognize which of these is your writing notebook?" He asks, searching through the tower of books and notebooks that was sitting peacefully on my desk. "That's actually really smart!"

However, all I can do is stare at the notebook in horror. I have certainly never written anything related to my school subjects in that notebook so how did that de-...

Wait a second.

I pick up the notebook Donghyuck originally opened and I flip its pages, searching for anything familiar. Anything that might assure me this belongs to me.

This is not my handwriting.

The physics class. The physics class. The physics-...

I freeze.

Class.

"Crap!" I mutter and both Hyuck and Jeno look at me confused.

"What's up?" Donghyuck asks. "Look, I mean... it's cool that you write about Newton's second law in your writing notebook but-..."

He stops when he sees me franatically shaking my head.

"That." I point towards the foreign notebook sitting on my desk like a cursed thing. "That isn't mine."

"Then whose is it?" Jeno asks confused. "It looks exactly like your notebook."

I know, right?

"It's Chenle's." I say but my voice comes out as a terrified whisper.

"Wait what?" Hyuck says, almost choking on his cookie. "Chenle? As in Zhong Chenle? That carrot head in your year who laughs louder than the fire alarm?"

I nod, too shocked to laugh at his funny but accurate description of my classmate.

"Why do you have his notebook?" Jeno asks.

I cover my face with hands and sigh, then take a deap breath to explain the situation to them as shortly as possible.

"We bumped into each other and I think we accidentally took each other's notebook." I say as the realisation hits me. "Guys, he has my writing notebook!"

I fall on the floor of my bedroom.

"I am screwed." I cry. "If he reads it, my life is over."

"Why?" Donghyuck asks confused. "Did you write about him-...?"

"No, you don't understand!" I shout. "Those ideas, those words, anything that I write there, all of it is... it's... it's personal! It's a piece of my that I wouldn't give to anybody-..."

I break off.

"Hey, it's alright, ask him to return it to you tomorrow." Jeno says, trying to calm me down but for the first time, it's useless.

"No no no, if I tell him that, he'll be fully aware of the fact that the notebook doesn't belong to him and his curiosity might make him read it-... DAMN what should I do?" I say as I pace around my room, massaging my head.

Suddenly, an idea pops in my head.

I turn towards my friend.

"Hyuckieee, my favourite friend... you know I love you so dearly..."

"Okay, what's up with that cringey smile and disgustingly fake affectionate words?" He asks, taking a step back.

"You'd help me right? I'm your friend and you love me so you'd help me, right? Right, Hyuck?" I ask, stepping closer to him.

His eyes widden in terror.

"For fuck's sake, Aeri, just say whatever you need, you know I hate when you do this."

I chuckle. That was the point after all.

"Give me Chenle's address." I demand. "As soon as possible."

"I don't know it." He shrugs.

"But you can find it out." I smile sweetly and he rolls his eyes.

I put on a dark hoodie while Donghyuck taps something on his phone. Jeno watches us patiently, moving his gaze between me and Hyuck occasionally.

"I texted you the address." He says, putting his phone back in the pocket of his black jeans. "But what are you gonna do? Break into his house?"

"Wait, Aeri, you're not gonna break into his house, are you?"

He chuckles and I say nothing as I take Chenle's notebook and my phone and head towards the door. When Hyuck realizes I haven't answered his question, his chuckles suddenly stop.

"Of course not." I say smiling. "Just surprise him. See you guys later!"

I close the door behind me, leaving them alone in my room.

"Was that really Chenle's address?" Jeno asks after some time.

"Nope." Donghyuck answers shifting.

Jeno looks at him expectantly.

"Jaemin's." He continues, an innocent smile on his lips.

Jeno sighs but smiles shortly after, shaking his head, amuzed by the whole situation.

"C'mon, man." He says standing up. "We have to visit the Zhong ressidence tonight."

A/N: Hello, everybody! This is my first tumblr fic, did you enjoy the first part? How do you feel about it so far? I'll update soon!

hailene x

[chimchimchoo]

Paper Cranes :: 2

Genre: Fluff/Angst

Word Count: 1,920

Pair: Jimin x Yoongi

Chapters: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 (of 7)

“Every Monday, Park Jimin would come into his white, sterile hospital room and leave a small paper crane at the end of his bed.”

The day was dark; the Sun was hidden away behind a blanket of thick, grey clouds. The birds outside were quiet and the wind was still. If the temperature dropped any lower, it could snow outside. Yoongi never had the opportunity to go outside and see the snow, as he always spent time in the hospital or locked himself in his bedroom, focused on writing music.

He thought about what it would be like, to bury his hands into the fluffy, white substance, to see his own nose turn pink and watch the fog come out of his mouth whenever he exhaled. He daydreamed about a snowball fight, or building a small snowman with a rock for a nose instead of a carrot.

Instead, Yoongi sat in his bed, sipping hot peach tea with the soft whirring of the oxygen machine beside him. A small knock interrupted the silence but he didn’t flinch. He was used to nurses coming in and out to check his vital signs and make sure the machines functioned normally. Yoongi kept his eyes on the window, ignoring the sound of light footsteps until he heard the dragging of a stool and a familiar, high-pitched voice.

“Min Yoongi, it’s really cold outside today.”

He turned his head to see the beaming pumpkin haired boy with pink cheeks and a thick, green scarf wrapped around his neck. He peeled off his winter coat, revealing a dark brown sweater that contrasted with his hair and light skin. Yoongi glanced away, concerned that he may have been staring too long. “You do realize this is a hospital, right? People tend to be alone so they can recover.” He muttered.

“But it doesn’t mean that they enjoy being alone.” Jimin responded, pulling out a thick book. Yoongi could have sworn he felt his heart flutter for just a moment, but forced himself to ignore it. He was wrong, very wrong. Yoongi enjoyed his time alone; he preferred it than having worried visitors that drained his energy. Right?

“Um, what is that?” Yoongi peered down at the book, gesturing it with his eyes while setting his tea down.

“Min Yoongi,” Jimin dropped the book down on his lap.

“Yoongi. Just Yoongi.” He flinched at the sudden heavy weight on his leg. How many pounds was this book?

“I found this in the library today, it’s a textbook of music and lyric writing. You were struggling with lyrics last week so I thought this would give you some inspiration.”

Yoongi didn’t have the heart to say it, but he was actually touched by the kind gesture. Since he could never leave the room to find inspiration, Jimin bought it to him. Why hadn’t he thought of that? “I might give this a read, maybe it’ll…kick me out of writers block or something. Thanks.” He tried to hide the admiration while flipping through the pages, skimming over the different terms he saw. Already, he came up with the next line of his composition.

“Do you have any siblings? Any family members that come to visit? Should I not come during certain times?” There he went again with the questions. That boy never stood a change to give Yoongi’s brain a break.

“I don’t get visitors often, actually. They visit once in a while, but it’s rare. My older brother is studying abroad and my family has jobs that restrict them from coming. I get more phone calls than visits.” He regretted saying some of these words, Yoongi wasn’t one to share about himself easily, but something about Jimin’s presence makes him feel like he doesn’t have to hold back much. “What about you? What brings you to this hospital?”

“Oh,” Jimin twirled the stool around, staring at the ceiling with a smile. “My dad is in Room 602, I visit him every Monday after class to keep him company.”

“He must enjoy that.” Yoongi responded, growing dizzy just from watching Jimin spin.

“I hope so.” Jimin replied.

Yoongi’s eyebrows furrowed. “What do you mean? He can’t possibly be unentertained with that blabbering mouth of yours.”

“He’s in a coma, for 11 months and 9 days now. But he will wake up soon…I know it. His vitals are getting better each day.” Jimin stopped himself, giggling from the dizziness and used the chair to steady himself. Yoongi only watched with a frown on his face. He couldn’t understand how that boy always had a smile, what kept him so optimistic? Yoongi couldn’t imagine having a family member of his own in a coma, especially for that long. Just the thought of it was too painful.

Jimin dug into his bag and pulled out some more papers and a pencil bag, scooting himself closer to the small desk on Yoongi’s bed.

“What are you doing?” Yoongi asked Jimin carefully spread out his papers on the empty side of his desk. “I have homework to do.” He beamed and ran a hand through his hair, pulling the pumpkin colored strands out of his eyes before focusing on the task.

Yoongi’s eyebrows rose as he watched, confused. He didn’t know if he should be annoyed that some kid barged in to do his homework, or comforted by his presence and the fact that he took time out of seeing his father once a week to be in the same room as Yoongi, someone he barely knew.

Realizing that Jimin was actually quiet for once, he turned his eyes away from staring too long, put the black headphones over his ears and continued making his music, occasionally skimming through the book. Every now and then, he would also peek over at Jimin, whose eyebrows furrowed in frustration over the math problems, not noticing that there was a small smile across Yoongi’s face.

------------

With a deep, raspy sigh, Yoongi peered out the window, taking a short break from writing lyrics for a few hours and thought of the snow again. It looked like powdered sugar when he saw it in movies, did it taste sweet? Or was it bitter like the salty ocean? Did it crunch under their shoes or melt into liquid?

A light knock was heard as a nurse walked in with a tray in her arms. “It’s time for another checkup Yoongi, today I need to draw some blood-oh, Jimin! I see you’ve made another friend.” She smiled as Jimin lifted his head and twirled his pencil. “I don’t know how you do it, getting to know everyone in this hall. But I’m sure they appreciate it the company, don’t you Yoongi?”

Yoongi didn’t respond as the nurse set the tray on a small table beside the bed.

“I like Min Yoongi the best though.” Jimin, you literally just met me last week, Yoongi bit his lip and held out his arm toward the nurse. “He’s around my age so I can talk to him more comfortably.” Jimin smiled as the nurse wiped Yoongi’s arm with a small cotton ball.

She picked up a needle, carefully searching for a vein before piercing it through his skin. Jimin didn’t flinch at the sight, as he must have watched the procedure hundreds of times with his father whereas, Yoongi’s eyebrows furrowed in pain, looking away. It must have been obvious how uncomfortable needles made him because he felt a warm hand on his free arm and glanced at Jimin.

“Hey, do you like the beach or the forest?”

“What?”

“Just answer it.”

Yoongi thought over it for a few seconds and opened his mouth. “Forest.

“Breakfast or dinner?”

“Dinner.” He replied quickly. “I’m not a morning person.”

Jimin smiled at his comment. “What’s your favorite thing to eat?”

“Lamb skewers.”

A flash of surprise appeared across his face. “You know, there’s a famous restaurant just down the street from here that sells lamb skewers. It’s supposed to be the best in this city! Let’s eat there, you will love it-” The nurse looked up and slightly shook her head toward Jimin, silently telling him he couldn’t leave the hospital that easily. “Or, I’ll just bring it to you!”

“You don’t have to bring me any lamb skewers, I can survive just fine on hospital food.” But Yoongi mentally wished he would do it one day. The thought of eating lamb skewers made his mouth water. He was sick of the bland food they served at the hospital.

“There we go.” The nurse muttered, covering the puncture with a Band-Aid and neatly set the tubes of his blood samples on the tray. “You’re all finished and it looks like your oxygen flow is steady as of now. I will be back later with your medication.” She smiled before quickly exiting his room.

“You’re not a fan of needles are you?” Jimin finally took his hand off of Yoongi’s arm and picked up his pencil. Yoongi realized he distracted him the whole time and forgot the nurse was even drawing his blood. He sighed in relief and silently thanked Jimin.

“No, no I’m not. I don’t like pain.”

“No one does.” Jimin chuckled quietly and continued his homework.

Just a few minutes later, the nurse showed up again with a small bag, hooking it over Yoongi’s bed before attaching an IV needle to his arm. To his rescue, Jimin shared a story of how he almost got kicked out of the dance room the first time he snuck in and had to clean the bathrooms for a week as a punishment. A faint smile appeared across Yoongi’s face as the nurse collected her things and left for good.

While Jimin focused on the last few pages of his assignment, Yoongi’s eyes wavered toward him, watching him erase a mistake on the paper. What about Jimin? Had he seen the snow before? Did he know what it tasted like? Did his hands go numb after having snowball fights for hours without gloves? What was it like to build a snowman with him?

“Min Yoongi,” The soft, high-pitched voice interrupted his thoughts. “Visiting hours are almost over, I still have to see my dad.” Just for a split second, Yoongi felt his heart sink, but he understood. His father was much more important after all.

“Hold onto that book until you finish it. I’ll pick it up when you’re done.” Jimin scrambled his papers into a notebook and shoved it in his bag. He made his way to the window next to Yoongi’s bed and checked to see if it was shut and secure. “Make sure you dress warm, there’s cold air leaking into the room.”

Jimin smiled, wrapping the green scarf around his neck and hung the winter coat over his arm. “I think my father will like you, you’re both really alike. Maybe he’ll have the honor of meeting you when he wakes up.” He gave Yoongi a small wave before skipping out of the room, leaving the door opened a crack behind him.

Yoongi couldn’t help but smile, but it went away as soon as he realized the room was empty again. All he heard was his oxygen machine and pacing steps of nurses rushing down the hallway. Perhaps Jimin was right. He may have been alone a lot, but did he actually like it?

Before Yoongi flipped a page of the book Jimin lent him, he spotted a small object from the corner of his eyes. Sitting at the corner of his bed was a small, delicate paper crane.

This time, the color was white, like snow.

[rirayofsunshine]

It always makes me sad whenever I write a song.

I come out of a song writing session with a slow sinking feeling of misery. Which, thankfully, doesn't happen very often because I don't write songs as much anymore... but, then, again, I'm pretty sure that the infrequency of my writing is the root of my sorrow.

Songwriting used to bring me joy. I started when I was 6 with a song entitled "Stupid Love" about how marriage was the best and worst thing in the world. How I understood that at 6, I have no idea. I remember my big, fat, and very round scribbles all over a McDonald's notepad that I won in a friend's birthday party. That was my first song. I don't remember the rest of the songs that filled up the pad. However, I do remember being so proud of myself after writing and cringing hard after reading it for the first time in my adulthood.

I never told anyone that I wrote songs because I was embarrassed. First of all, who is this kid who thinks she knows ANYTHING about love?! Secondly, I didn't feel like it was cool. Writing in diaries with a glittery pink padlock and a tiny key hidden in your underwear drawer was cool. And, yes, I cared about being cool.

I hid all my little filler notebooks (I upgraded from McDonald party favors) not because I was hiding something, but because I didn't think anyone would like my songs-- until Ms. Taylor Alison Swift made it cool to be a songwriter. When I learned that she wrote her own songs and worked her darnest to get record companies to produce them, I was inspired. I didn't exactly knock on the door of Sony Music, but I started to be more confident in my skills.

Slowly, I started showing my friends the lyrics of my songs. I allowed myself to write during class (sorry, not sorry) and ask for feedback from classmates. I would tote my thick clearbook of printed lyrics to school whenever I felt like bringing it. I was proud of what I could do. So proud that I wrote my high school class' graduation song a YEAR before the competition, submitted it with full confidence, and won. 500 voices rang loud and clear singing a song I wrote in that theatre on a day we would all remember. All I could remember at that moment, was crying while singing-- because, for me, it wasn't about recognition. It was about being able to express what I felt about my high school experience and saying goodbye in my own words and share that feeling with everyone.

I wrote songs about anything and everything. I wrote about my experiences, about my friends' romantic exploits (because I... didn't really have any), about book characters. Elizabeth Bennet, The Rose from The Little Prince, Bella Swan (yes, collective cringe), and Annabeth Chase, among others, were inspirations for my songs. Someone could tell me to write about something, and I'd have it ready in 20 minutes. In university, I would spend half of my breaks alone, sitting in quiet hallways, watching people, imagining situations, writing songs.

Years later, I'm sitting in the bathtub when a verse comes to me, and instead of being excited about it, I dread it. I hold a position for so long that half my body has dried, and I think long and hard about my predicament. Do I indulge and write a song? What if it sucks? I'm not as good as I used to be. I'm never happy about the songs I write. Heck, I rarely write any unless I'm particularly happy. What if I hate it? What if writing it will just make it clearer to me that I've lost it?

And here is when I decided to shift in mindset. I got out of that tub, did my skincare, and set off into writing mode. I wrote about closure and forgiveness. The process took an hour. Is it the best? Not really. Are there some lines I'm proud of? Definitely the verse that came to me in the bathtub. It's cheeky, a little mischievous, but, overall, very human. Have I written better songs, hell yeah. Did I get sad after writing? A little bit. However, I think I know what the problem is.

I no longer have time to myself. It's funny because unless you work on something and really put in the effort to turn it into a skill, creative works will only really come in bursts. Not that the process of creating when inspiration comes is bad-- but if you want to improve on a craft, you need to hone raw talent else it gets duller and duller.

My songwriting craft is as dull as a butter knife that couldn't cut through freshly baked bread.

Upon further reflection, there are a lot of things I used to do that honed this craft without me intending it. I used to listen to all the songs in an album if I liked one song from it and listen hard to the lyrics so I know where to categorize the song. Did it belong in sunny tunes? rainy days? wedding day? I was a freak of nature.

Also, I read A LOT. And when I mean A LOT, I don't think you understand. I've read the entire Percy Jackson series 5 times. Harry Potter twice. The Bible (YES, THE BIBLE) twice. I rode on every YA series that sprung, and I also read the novels in my aunt and uncle's room. I never left the bookstore without a purchase, and read Shakespeare for fun (I don't think it's much fun anymore). I would hide pocket books under my desk and read during lectures. I lived in a beautiful world of fiction, and my library card was always full.

Things were different then. I didn't have to worry about anything but a few homeworks and quizzes here and there. Right now, I'm trying to navigate through life in a responsible way... but I seem to have mistaken a responsibility for dullness. It is my responsibility to make time for the child inside-- the artist, the creator, the songwriter.

Despite my busy schedule and demanding bills... perhaps I need to take a few moments to surrender to the beauty of literature once again. Maybe then, I'd be less sad.