Paper cuts & Paper rings | JayWon

39. Listen to me

"Hey, are you listening?" Riki mutters with a soft pout and Jay nods quickly. He picks himself off the cuff of his palm to which Riki shakes his head with a slight sigh."

"It's no use," Riki cries out and places his head on the table, "I know I'm hopeless—"

"No, you're not." Jay flicks the side of the younger's forehead, and he furrows his brows, clearly annoyed at his seemingly innocent gesture, "What are you even on about anyways?"

And with that, Riki curls his fingers into a fist and bashes Jay right in the centre of his head. "Exactly – can you pay attention to me?"

Jay laughs and apologises with pleading hands. "Okay, okay I'm sorry."

"As I was saying," Riki clears his throat and his stern expression is quickly broken into a fleeting grin, "I suppose I'm not so useless after all." He hums in a singsong tone and Jay is left only in more confusion.

"What?"

"Nothing." Riki turns away and smiles childishly to himself, "Aye, I'm still talking here!" he snaps when Jay rests his head on the table.

"What is it, Riki?" He exasperates and Riki takes in a deep breath.

"First, are you alright?" Jay nods quickly. "I just wanted to take your mind off of all this stuff that's happening, so I just played this silly game – trying to annoy you and all but I actually tried to keep your attention with a dumb story but clearly it wasn't doing much..."

Riki trails off and Jay can't help but laugh. "Thanks, Riki, but if you ever do have anything you want to confide – I'm your guy."

"Yeah, sure," Riki punches his shoulder playfully as he reaches over for the straw of his beverage, "...there is actually something I've been dying to tell someone."

"What was that Riki?"

"N-nothing!" He suddenly pipes, his voice increasing in octaves and Jay laughs at the younger tone.

Jay fiddles with his cup and takes a sip of the untouched boba; he wasn't really fond of the drink, but it was a nice gesture, so he drank the sweet tea anyway.

"This feels like the end," Jay mutters with a forced grin as he squeezes the plastic cup tighter in his large grip. "Or maybe I'm just really emotional these days but..." he trails off and becomes unable to hold eye contact just as Riki had once done.

"What do you mean, Jay?" Riki sets a cautious hand on his shoulder, "I know it's nearly the end of school and we'll be off with our finals, but I don't think that's what you mean." He smiles warmly to himself.

"It feels like everything around us is dissolving," He exasperates with a broken chuckle, "I mean weren't Jake and Sunoo supposed to be coming here as well? We rarely ever get to see each other anymore and no... that's not it..." he laughs to himself when Riki opens his mouth to speak, but Jay perfectly counters him.

"I just everything feels different so much more tense and unnatural," Jay curls his hand into a fist on the table, "You get what I'm saying... don't you?"

"Ever since all of that went down nothing ever felt the same," Riki quietly admits, "But that doesn't mean it's the end right? It might feel like it, but we still have a fighting chance – our little group accepts us and so did your parents, who say we can't change others?" and it's only then that Jay realises.

"Accepts us?" Riki's eyes fill with tears but he's quick to blink them away, his unfaltering smile something even Jay couldn't understand.

"Well... um, I don't know never mind," He spits out in a jumbled string of words.