A/N: All for moonrise31 and from one-line tumblr uni au prompts. Happy Birthday!!!

“I’m the er who set off the fire alarm with my awful cooking”

Taeyeon narrows her eyes. “It’s you.”

Jessica gives a nervous laugh. “Yeah, um. Sorry about that earlier. I was trying to make French toast.”

“French toast?” It must take some real talent to set off the fire alarm while making that.

“Yeah. I really like French toast, so I thought I’d try to make it myself.” Jessica’s mouth pulls down. “It didn’t turn out so well, as you can see. Not only did I end up with an empty stomach and a ruined pan, I made the whole building hate me.”

“I don’t hate you,” Taeyeon blurts out.

Jessica looks at her with surprise and then ducks her head, smiling. Her face looks a lot softer when she’s smiling.

“I once set a fire in the oven trying to bake pizza,” Taeyeon offers.

Jessica’s mouth quirks up. “Did it give it a flame-charred flavour?”

“No,” Taeyeon laughs. “I wish.”

“What happened after that?”

“Well, I was going to call the fire department, but my roommate somehow knew that baking soda can put out a fire and threw an entire box’s worth of it into the oven.”

“And it worked?”

“Yeah,” Taeyeon says, “and that’s how I’m standing in front of you today.”

Jessica laughs. “Well, I’m glad you are and you didn’t get burned.”

“Yeah,” Taeyeon says. “I am too.”

“are you asleep on that bench because of midterms, you’re homeless, or you’re dead?”

At first Taeyeon thinks there’s an abandoned pile of clothes on the park bench, but then she realizes that it’s – seemingly – a human being. The long brown hair that peeks out from the lump suggests that it’s a girl. It’s not the first time that Taeyeon’s seen someone passed out (hopefully just that) on a bench, but it’s the first time that she speaks to them.

“Are you asleep on that bench because of midterms, you’re homeless, or you’re dead?” she asks, totally not expecting a reply.

“None of the above.”

Taeyeon jumps.

“If I were dead, would I be able to reply to you?”

“I don’t know. You could be a zombie or something.”

“Or something.” The girl sits up, brushing her hair away from her face. A face that looks slightly familiar. “Hey, you’re in my philosophy class, aren’t you?”

“Uh. Maybe. I’m not very good with faces.”

The girl gives her a scrutinizing look. “I am, and yes, you are. What’s your name again? Tae-something?”

“Taeyeon,” she replies automatically.

“Are you homeless, dead or a zombie?”

“Uh, no?” It comes out like a question, even though she’s definitely none of the above, although sometimes she feels dangerously close to the last two when it’s exam time and she’s surviving on coffee, energy drinks and sheer terror.

“Okay, nice to know.” A smile, and an extended hand. “I’m Jessica.”

heard a scream and thought you were getting killed but it was just a spider

The glass-shattering scream makes Taeyeon wonder if a) her eardrums just burst, and b) if someone is getting murdered. She knew she should have just stayed in her room instead of going to the dorm lodge to buy an iced tea from the vending machine. This is what she gets for disturbing what she calls intense studying and what Yoona calls a “self-imposed exile from the world.”

There’s only one other person in the lounge, a girl standing a few feet away from the couch, who thankfully looks alive and unharmed.

“Are you okay?” Taeyeon asks awkwardly. She hears her own voice so she assumes that her eardrums are still intact.

The girl’s head whips around and she turns to look at Taeyeon. Her face is rather pale, her eyes startled; she looks vaguely familiar. Taeyeon thinks they’ve seen each other around in the hallway or when taking out the garbage, but they’ve never spoken to each other.

“Yeah,” she says, her cheeks colouring. “Sorry, I screamed pretty loudly there, didn’t I?”

Taeyeon fights the urge to rub her ears. “It’s okay,” she says. “What happened?”

The girl points with a shaking finger at a corner of the couch. “I saw one of them.”

“One of what?” Taeyeon asks, bewildered.

“A spider,” she spits out, like the very word is vile.

Taeyeon can’t help herself; she bursts into laughter.

“It’s not funny!” the girl says, even though it’s pretty hilarious. “It was huge, and it crawled onto my arm.” She breaks into a full-body shudder. “God, I have to shower for hours to wash its—spiderness off.”

The word spiderness almost sets Taeyeon off again, but she manages to control herself. “Are you the reason we’re always out of hot water?”

The girl gives her a baleful look. “This isn’t funny.”

“You have to admit… Um, what’s your name?”

“Jessica.”

“You have to admit, Jessica, it’s pretty funny.”

“I’m not admitting anything.”

“Will you admit where the spider is? I want to see it for myself.”

“Can you kill it?” Jessica asks hopefully.

“I don’t believe in taking an innocent life,” Taeyeon says solemnly.

Jessica gives her an incredulous look. “It’s not innocent! It attacked my arm.”

“You attacked my eardrums.”

“I’m sorry,” Jessica says, looking genuinely apologetic. “I know I have a high scream. I can’t help it.”

“It’s okay,” Taeyeon says, like the trooper she is. “Okay, point me to this spider. I’ll take it outside for you.”

Jessica beams at her. “My hero,” she says, and even though the lounge is air-conditioned, Taeyeon feels warmth flood her cheeks.