imperfect love | soulmate au

♤ catastrophe & wotsits ♤

"ash, you're obviously not good. you've torn your finger to shreds," you applied pressure to the wound to reduce the bleeding, "talk to me, youngie."

ash finally looked up to you, holding eye contact momentarily before diverting his attention to the board at the front of the room.

"i'm just thinking about yesterday. minsoo, the fight, everything," he began, you nodded your head at him, allowing him to clear his mind and not interrupting, "fuck, why me? she killed the man i loved, and i'm expected to love her? i'm starting to think this whole soulmate this is fucking bullshit. the universe has it all fucking wrong, i can't love that, that monster. and, and look what she did to you? and for what?"

"the part that's pissing me off the most, is that i feel bad, i pity her. i can feel the connection we have. i fucking hate her, but for some fucked reason, i feel like i need her."

you felt choked up as your friend spilled his bottled up thoughts, words dripping with emotion. you pulled him into a tight hug, allowing him to calm down for a few moment before you pulled away to cup his hollow cheeks.

"you're allowed to feel like this, youngie. honestly, i feel like the universe is fucked up too. don't suppress your emotions, you'll end up drowning in them and you won't be able to get back. instead, live them. grab onto everything they make you feel. and that's how you'll move forward. youngie, just do what you feel is right, no other influences. just, you."

you pulled your lips into a thin smile, releasing your grip on his face, feeling kind of proud at the little motivation speech. you barely had time to relish the moment when your chemistry teacher told you to stop flirting and distracting the lesson.

jinyoung looked slightly more comfortable after unloading his emotions, his tense shoulders relaxing as he slouched in his chair. you kept an eye on him during the lesson, your worry seeping through at some points forcing ash to adamantly reassure you that he was fine.

♤ ♧ ♢ ♡

soon lunch rolled round and the four of you managed to snag a table in the corner of the hall, away from preying eyes. kibum and hyemi were squabbling over some trivial issue, as usual, and ash just observed, smiling in content.

he'd been grateful that you'd paired up that chemistry lesson, as he felt more integrated; he had spoken to three more people and he was only a few steps away from having friends. good friends, he hoped. friends he could lean on and reminisce good memories with. friends that would support and uplift him, even when he was being spiteful, or slightly more introverted. his brows relaxed from the screwed position they were in, the corners of his lips upturned slightly as he pushed around the food on his plate. 

"hey, ki and i were thinking about going bowling later, he's got a coupon and it expires today," the brown haired girl spoke sipping on her juice box.

"can't today, wonwoo wants to work on our biology project," you frowned, slightly upset at the fact you'd miss out on bonding time.

"shame, dude, shame... ash?"

"yeah?" the mulleted man questioned, slightly confused.

"come bowling with us, dude. it's gonna be fun, ki's paying."

"i'm what!" kibum spat, in complete astonishment.

"shush, bro. so what d'ya say, ash?" hyemi asked, using puppy eyes to convince the frozen man to join them.