the courtyard [j.hs] ✔️

[5]

Jaelyn

Turns out that I have a sprained ankle. I need to ice it, rest it, for a couple days. Elevation could be needed, but they don't see it happening.

I begged my dad to let me stay home Monday, and let me stay at Opal's. It took some begging and excuses, but he reluctantly agreed.

I was currently laying lazily on her couch, being babied by her mom. I watched her walk over, handing me a bag of ice. Gently placing it on my ankle, she smiled, ruffling my hair as she walked away.

Opal was outside, drawing on her driveway, like always. I was bored, so I tried to quietly hop towards the door. I stopped halfway, taking a rest, and checking to make sure her mom wasn't running out of her room.

I continued hopping, finally reaching the doorknob. I opened it, sticking my head out the door. "Opal!"

She spun around, dropping her pieces of chalk. "Yeah?"

"I'm bored," I tell her, hopping my way out of the doorway. She ran over, helping me to a chair out there before going back to drawing. "That looks like something Yoongi would like."

"He requested it," I managed to see the blush rising on her cheeks as she turned away. I smiled softly at her, she was developing a crush. It was cute, but I often worried because when she got a crush, she went in hard.

"That's nice of you, are you going to show him when you're done?", I ask, looking over at the upstairs window of his house. I saw the curtains and blinds moving slightly, as a figure ran away from the window.

Watching her work her magic for you? Cute.

"Yes, I was about to call him down," she explained, looking up when she heard a door open. Yoongi was making his way over to us. "But never mind."

"Opal, I'm not looking yet, I have to talk to Jaelyn," he told her, covering his eyes making his way toward me.

"Okay, if she gets mad, you have to crawl so she has a chance to get you," she warns, reciting one of my rules while I'm crippled.

"What's up?", I greet, while he plopped down next to me. He looked distressed and nervous. "Correction. What's wrong?"

"Why would there be something wrong?", he was talking quickly, while he looked away from me.

"Spit it out," I pull his shoulder toward me, while he faced me again. "I'll punch you."

"So threatening," he mocked, smirking at my raised fist. "I'll tell you if you put your hand down."

"Deal," I drop my fist, waiting for his answer.

"I need you to come over to my house," he blurts, while I leaned back from him. "Not like that! Hoseok is blaming himself for your ankle."

"Why?"

"He says that he shouldn't have thrown you in the way he did," he keeps talking, words spilling out of his mouth carelessly. "You have to come tell him that it isn't his fault. I personally don't want to deal with his miserable self."

"I'm crippled, help," I say, pushing off of him to stand up. I wrap an arm around his neck, while he helped me hop down the driveway. "I have to go solve a problem."

"Yeah, Yeah," Opal waves me off, analyzing her work. "Wait, problem?"

"Are you deaf?", she flips me off, while I laughed. "I have to help Yoongi get someone off his back."

"Don't kill anyone," she looks at me pointedly, raising an eyebrow.

"No promises," I wink at her, continuing to hop my way across the street. After getting onto his side of the road, I pause, stopping at the end of his driveway.

"What?", he suddenly asks, looking at my foot.

"I'm tired," I answer, smiling like an idiot. He rolls his eyes, tugging me along as he walked. "Slow down!"

After much struggle, he opened the door, as I hopped up the small step. I felt the cold air of his house, taking in the small room I was in. I hoped into another hallway, while Yoongi pointed to where he was.

I hopped into the room, leaning against the wall near me. They were all talking to each other, barely noticing the new person in the room.

"Yoongi said one of you is a problem," I speak up, catching their attention. "Who would that be?"

They all pointed to the reddish-orange haired guy sitting on one end of the couch. Hoseok looked sad, and I immediately hated it.

"Ah, it's you," I said, dropping to the floor. I crawled my way around the long couch covering me, popping my head out at the end. "I've hopped enough."

That cracked a smile on his face, while I pulled myself up onto the couch. I bounced over until I was next to him. I poked his cheek, retracting my finger like I didn't do it.

Taehyung watched us from the corner of his eye, trying to keep his smiles in. I looked over sneakily at Hoseok, slowly leaning back against the cushion. I grabbed his cheek, wiggling his face.

He hissed, pulling my hand off by my wrist. I used my other hand to squish his face making baby noises.

"Be happy," I say, squishing his lips together. "It's not your fault."

He frowned lightly, while I released his face. He looked away from me, trying to focus on the TV. I stood up, standing directly in front of him. I bent down at my waist, grabbing his cheeks again.

"It's not your fault, I mean it," I sincerely say, feeling the many eyes burning into my skull. "Don't blame yourself for my foot."

"But I-", he starts, but I put a hand up.

"No buts or anything. If you keep blaming yourself, I will have to punish you," I stand up, crossing my arms over my chest. He followed my gaze, visibly gulping. "I'm too lazy for that, so stop being such a sad person."

I sat back down next to him, looking at Yoongi for a second. I saw a small smile on his face, while he watched Hoseok. He cared for his friends.

"Tell Opal to come get me later, I'm too tired to hop back over," I look over at Yoongi again, while he practically ran out of the room. "People and their crushes."

"He told you?!", Taehyung blurts out, Jimin's hand slapping over his mouth. He mumbled something else.

"No, but it's so obvious!", I leaned forward, smiling at that. "She's got a crush on him too."

"Really?", Jimin looked surprised as he dropped his hand from Taehyung's mouth.

"I think I'll know when my best friend likes someone, it's pretty bad," I smile evilly, preparing to spill her secrets. "She never draws for people, unless she truly likes them that way. She was drawing something because he requested it, plus she got red."

"Shouldn't you be keeping this a secret from us?", Jungkook asks, spinning around to face me.

"No, anyone could see it, except Yoongi," I nod, hearing the door open again. "Welcome back."

Opal walks in, followed by Yoongi. They sit next to each other while I carefully elbow Hoseok. He nods, impressed by my observation skills.

They both casually talk, laughing at each other's simple jokes.

I looked over at everyone, occupying themselves with a game on their game system. I couldn't care which one they had, as long as they were having fun.

Hoseok was still oddly quiet, so I glanced over at him. He was staring intently at the floor, obviously thinking about something. It had his full attention, while his eyebrows furrowed, and his lips rolled together.

I grabbed his face, pulling it up to face me. I narrowed my eyes at him, watching as he blinked a few times to gain focus. "Stop overthinking it."

"I'm not," he responds, while I watch his face to see if he was lying. He wasn't.

"Okay," I gave a small nod, still holding his face. "Don't be thinking too much. It'll go too far."

His eyes flash to past my shoulder while I drop my hand, laying it on my lap. He felt awkward now.

Well, oops.