Dreamcatcher - Part 1
In the middle of the forest, stood a little boy. He looked around, unsure of what to do. How did he get here? He didn’t have the answer to that.
It was too dark, causing him to be afraid to move. What if he encountered a tiger or a lion if he started to wander around the forest? Worse, what if something more dangerous than animals appeared?
“Mommy! Daddy!” He started to scream, hoping his parents would appear. “Where are you? Kazu is afraid!”
No one appeared. Instead, a rustling sound could be heard from behind. What is that? He was scared and confused. What should he do? Should he stay? Should he run? He had no idea.
The little boy braced himself and turned around only to stand face-to-face with another boy. The other boy looked at him with a sleepy smile. Feeling relieved to see another human, the first boy quickly ran and hugged the other boy. The other boy was confused but he didn’t say anything as he returned the hug. The two of them sat together in silence, waiting for their parents to save them. The first boy felt braver having another person with him. As he was too tired, he shut his eyes and let sleep claim him.
“Kazu, wake up!” Ninomiya ‘Nino’ Kazunari was startled when he heard his mother’s voice. He opened his eyes, wanting to make sure it was really his mother. When he saw his mother looked at him with a smile, he quickly hugged her.
“Mommy, Kazu is afraid!” Nino whined, crying. “Where did you go?”
His mother ruffled his hair before she wiped his tears. “Nowhere,” She answered. ”I’m here, Kazu. Why? Did you have a nightmare?”
Nino was confused. He looked around, realizing that he was in his bedroom. Eh? How did he get back?
“Kazu was in a forest,” Nino told his mother.
“Awh, you must be afraid, ne?”
Kazu nodded his head. He was relieved to know that the dark forest was just a nightmare. His mother was with him again so there’s nothing for him to be afraid of.
However, when Nino went to sleep later that day, he was once again in the forest. At first, he was afraid. But, the same boy came again to accompany him and it gave him the courage to go through the night.
The cycle continued for a few years. Each time he went to sleep, he would be in the forest and the other boy would be there with him. They never talked, only enjoying each other’s presence in silence. When Nino got older, the other boy no longer accompanied him in the forest. Instead, he watched Nino from afar. If Nino encountered any danger in the forest, the boy would come and rescue him. But, whenever Nino tried to get closer, the boy would run from him.
This brought frustration for Nino because he wished to know more about the boy. At least, he should know the boy’s name. As he didn’t know how to address the other boy, Nino called him his ‘dreamcatcher’.
But, since he turned seventeen years old, he could no longer meet his dreamcatcher in his sleep.
A few years later...
“AAAAAHHHH,” Nino opened his eyes reluctantly when he heard a scream. He shouted in response when he noticed Jun was on top of him.
“What the hell!” Nino pushed Jun when he noticed Aiba was laughing at them. Jun ended up laughing together with Aiba as he landed on the floor.
“Aiba tried to wake you up but fail so I help him,”
“By screaming at my ear?”
“Well, you can’t deny it. It works and you’re now wide awake to go camping with us,” answered Jun as he threw Nino’s towel at him. “Now, stop pouting. Take a shower and get ready!”
Nino scowled at Jun and Aiba who stuck their tongue out at him. The two guys had been his roommate since his first year in university. He was shy with them at first. He felt like an outsider because both Jun and Aiba had been friends since elementary school. However, it only took a day for both of them to break his social barrier and the three of them became best friends since then.
“I don’t want to go. It’s our semester holiday and I want to play games all day,”
“Nino….” Aiba sat next to him, trying to look adorable to make him change his mind. “Next year will be our final year,”
“So?”
“Let’s do some activities together!”
“NO!” Nino immediately rejected the idea. Aiba pouted in return after the attempt to persuade Nino failed. Both Jun and Aiba had invited him to go camping with them. He was tempted to join them at first. Like Aiba said, it would be their final year soon so he wanted to make more memories with them. But, after Aiba informed him that his boyfriend would be joining them, he refused to go. He didn’t want to go camping with strangers.
“Jun, do something about Nino,”
Jun sighed in return when he heard Aiba whining. Nino stuck his tongue out at Jun, knowing that whatever method Jun used to persuade him won’t make him change his mind.
“Nino…” Jun began his tactic to persuade him. “Remember the last time you helped Ryo chan with the bookstore?”
Ryo is one of their classmates. His parents had a bookstore. Sometimes, he will ask them to help with the bookstore if a worker was absent from work. He will pay them if they help. Nino often lent his hand to help to get extra money.
“Yes…” Nino nodded his head. He didn’t know why Jun suddenly talked about Ryo but he had a bad feeling.
“Well, he gave me an envelope. He said it is your reward for helping him,” said Jun and he took out an envelope from the drawer before handing it to Nino. Nino took the envelope. Even without opening the envelope, he knew it was empty except for a few coins.
“Jun, are you sure this is the envelope from Ryo chan?”
“Yup….” Answered Jun as he flashed him an innocent smile. “I used the money to buy our camping equipment,”
Nino wanted to yell when he heard that. Why did Jun spend his money without his knowledge? Why did Ryo give the money to Jun and not to him? Why?
“I thought you're going to the camp with us. That’s why I use the money in the envelope to pay for your expenses for the camp,” Jun said without any hint of regret and that made Nino feel even more annoyed with his friend.
“Ah, whatever! I’m still not going,” said Nino. It was just a trick to make him agree to go camping. He knew Jun won’t spend his money just like that. “Give me back my money,”
“How about… I pay you back if you go to the camp? Plus the interest?” Proposed Jun.
Nino shook his head. No matter what, he didn’t want to go with strangers. Ahhh, why would Aiba invite his boyfriend along? He never met him before so he didn’t want to be left out when the three of them have a conversation together.
“Nino…. Is this because you don’t want my boyfriend to come? Don’t worry. He is not a stranger. You have met him before,” said Aiba, trying to persuade him once again. Both Aiba and Jun knew that he wasn't fond of talking to new people.
“Who?” He wasn’t interested to know about this before but he became curious when Aiba said Nino had met his boyfriend.
“Sakurai Sho,”
Nino blinked his eyes, trying to process what he had heard.
“Sakurai Sho?” Nino repeated, asking for confirmation. “Our tutor?”
Aiba nodded his head and Nino couldn’t stop laughing when he was certain he didn’t mishear. Wow, is this true? Sakurai Sho is their senior and now he pursues his studies in Master as well as becomes a tutor for one of their classes. He assumed that Aiba had a crush on Sho with the way his friend looked at Sho in the class and Aiba would always scold him whenever he said something bad about their tutor. He didn’t believe that both of them are in a relationship. He never saw any indication of affection from Sho’s side.
“What? You didn’t believe me? Matsujun, tell him the truth,” said Aiba.
“Well, Nino, there’s one way you can confirm that,” said Jun, smirking as he watched Nino.
Crap! Nino had fallen for the trap. He wanted to know the truth if Aiba was indeed in a relationship with Sho. Ah, better for him to just go. If it wasn’t Sho... Well… He can tease Aiba about it the whole time. If it was indeed Sho, he wanted to see what kind of couple they are. Furthermore, Jun will pay him back...so... well…. He has nothing to lose if he goes camping with his friends.
It was Sakurai Sho. Nino didn’t need to see who was inside the car to confirm it. He recognized the car. The big, ugly red car which everyone in campus knew belonged to smarty pants Sakurai Sho. Nino didn’t know what went through Sho’s mind when he bought the car. It didn’t suit him at all.
Sho parked the car in front of the hostel and then went out to help them with their things. Other students, who were outside, watched them with interest. A few students even gave a flirtatious smile to Sho which resulted in Aiba pouting when Sho returned those smiles.
"They are really together?" Asked Nino to Jun after Aiba entered the car with Sho.
However, he didn't wait for the answer. Something else caught his interest when he opened the door. Another guy was already inside. And when that person turned around to face him, Nino’s eyes went wide in surprise to see someone familiar staring back at him. He may not have seen this face for a while. But, he recognized the sleepy eyes.
It was not a mistake. The person in the car was indeed his dreamcatcher.
A/N: I apologize for not updating any of my stories. Instead, I posted a new story. I've written this a long time ago. But, I'm not sure how the story will go until recently. It was inspired by a Korean song entitled Dreamcatcher by Gfriend.
As for Cutie and the Beast, I'm almost halfway done with the next part. I'm having trouble getting the story out of my head. But, I will try to update it as soon as possible.
Let me know what u think of this story, please. I will really appreciate it :)