//I put a few SRaaO references in this :) \\

Scott laid awake, prepared for yet another night of sleeplessness. Sure, he had heard of the fabled 'If you lay awake at night, it means someone's dreaming about you' But he never believed in it. Especially when he eventually fell asleep, and opened his eyes to his own dream, one of a stranger.

Besides, it was proven that faces you see in dreams are ones that are a mix of people you've seen
before in your dreams.
Or your soulmate, the one your soul is bound to find, but Scott had given up on thinking about his soulmate. Since he was young, Xornoth, his younger twin brother, had found his soulmate.

And the taunting that ensued caused Scott to hate his soulmate.
So, he shook off his uneasiness towards the person he'd seen in his dream, squeezed his eyes shut, and he tried to fall asleep.

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

Scott blinked his eyes open, adjusting to the surroundings of his dream. Luckily, tonight was a lucid dream night, so Scott explored the area.

Tonight, it was a small flower field, one covering a cliff. There was a small willow tree close to the edge, so Scott walked over, careful to not crush the flowers below him. It may have been a dream, but he loved nature, so he was as careful as possible to not harm the small flowers.

Once he got to the tree, he noticed a blonde male sitting below the tree, the same male he'd seen every single time. Normally, he was faceless, a common trait if you haven't seen or met your soulmate yet.

But this time, he had a face, and honestly, Scott felt like he was drawn toward him.But he hadn't met this male, so he assumed he'd either seen him out of the corner of his eye at college or at work.

So he sat next to him and sighed. He knew his dream was coming to a close, the edges were growing more white, and the male next to him had begun to fade. But, he was happy he at least got to see the other's face.

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

He opened his eyes and rubbed them, slamming his hand down on his alarm clock. He sat up and looked at the time.

"6:30. I have some time before work." He murmured to himself, before grabbing his phone and checking his email. Luckily, none of his courses had been rescheduled to that day, and most had rescheduled around the coming snowstorm. He sighed and stood up with a stretch.

He looked towards his closet for his work uniform, checking that he had indeed washed it the night before, and hadn't forgotten.

He saw the familiar green tee, with the small rose symbol on the front. he grabbed it and slipped it on before grabbing a pair of black jeans and changing into them.

He unplugged his phone and set it in his pocket, left his room and went to his kitchen. He passed his longboard, which hung on the wall.

He had since given up boarding due to a few injuries. Next to the board was a notebook, a small blue one, with a very messily written 'Scott's journal' on it. It was covered in stickers, most of which were peeling off from years of being stuck on the cover.

Scott glanced at the board and notebook longingly, but he shook it off and returned to walking towards the kitchen. He sighed, before grabbing a yohgurt cup from his fridge, and a spoon from the drying rack on the counter.

He began to eat the yohgurt, as he searched for his keys, before remembering he lost them at Xornoth's the night before.

Scott groaned, trying to think of a way he could get to work before he stole a glance at his longboard again. He sighed and grabbed the board. Finishing the yohgurt, Scott threw his spoon at the sink and left his apartment.

Once he was out of the building, he reluctantly stepped onto the board, checking to make sure that nothing had happened to it in its years of little use.

To his surprise, nothing broke or made noise, so he put his full weight on the board, and kicked off, riding down the busy city street.

It only took him about twenty minutes to make it to work, so he hopped off his board and popped it up. He walked into Rose Cafe and set the board near the door.

"Hey, Scott!" Lizzie said with a smile, from where she was setting the cupcakes on their display.  "Remember, my brother, Jimmy, is coming in to help for the next few days. He's got some time off from his art school, so he came to visit."

"Alright. What's he doing?"

"Decorating the cakes! Since our last skilled decorator quit like a month ago."

"Alright."

"I also see you took up boarding again."

"Lost my keys, it was my only way to get here on time. Now let me clock in, and I can set up the register and help you with the displays."

"Oh no, Scott! I've got the displays under control. I don't need any help."

"I can lend a hand if you do then."

Scott smiled and went to the back, clocking in and grabbing his apron. He put it on, tying it around his waist before he walked over with a small brown box, with multiple small thin orange envelopes inside. Scott took out the envelopes and took the money out of them, sorting them into the register.

He turned on the machine, typed his password into it, and added the total amount he placed inside.

"Alright, the register's done. When's your brother coming in?"

"In a few minutes. He's running late because some asshole parked their car in front of his last night and no one's in the house that it's in front of."

"Oh, damn."

"Mhm."

Just as they finished their conversation, a blonde walked inside. The blonde of his dreams, quite literally, he was the same person from his dreams.

"Hey, Jimmy!" Lizzie exclaimed, standing up from her seat on the floor.

"Hey, Liz."

"Okay, so Jimmy, this is Scott, Scott, this is Jimmy!"

"Hi-" Scott said, hoping his voice didn't sound odd. Because honestly, this was awkward.

"Alright, well Jimmy I showed you the ropes yesterday, so if you want, you can start on the orders. Scott, Katherine's gonna be here soon, so you should start with the cakes."

Scott nodded and went to the back, moving around to grab the ingredients. Jimmy followed him after a few moments, and he sighed.

"So, Scott, I assume you already know the dream stuff?"

"Mhm."

"I'm sorry if I keep you up. I tend to rest early because my classes are really early."

"It's fine. So, I guess we're soulmates?"

"We're soulmates indeed! And since we've found each other, we can share dreams and talk with each other in them!"

"Yep."

"Why do you seem so upset."

"I guess I've just always repulsed the idea of soulmates."

"Why?!"

"Bullying. My own brother found his when we were young so I just grew to hate them."

"Oh... I'm sorry! I would've been here, but when Ma had me, Liz and Pa were overseas, and because she died during childbirth, I was put in Fostercare. So I found Lizzie through an ancestry thing."

"Wow."

"Mhm! But yeah, so, why don't we stay as friends for now, and see how it works out! Soulmates don't have to date, y'know."

"I know."

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

Later that night, Jimmy and Scott had their first shared dream. It was in the same flower field as before, and Jimmy was under the same tree as before. It turns out that he spends his dreams here as well, and he'd always sit in the same spot.

"Oh, Scott! I guess this is our first shared dream, Yeah?

"I guess it is."

"Well then. Want to make flower crowns? Sometimes things will manifest outside of the dream, once you've met your soulmate of course, and I want to see if it works!"

Scott nodded, and they began to pick different flowers, red and blue ones mainly before they made their flower crowns.

Jimmy put his finished one on Scott's head, and Scott did the same to Jimmy.
Just as they finished, the scene began to turn white. "I guess we're waking up, huh?" Jimmy murmured, before waving goodbye to Scott. "Seeya at the cafe!"

"See you."

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

When Scott awoke to find a red flower crown on his chest, he smiled softly.

Because it was at that moment that he realized he loved Jimmy.

//when formatting goes: fuck you lol. i had to fix it three times-\\