soulmates lovers and other useless human relations

xiv

[A/N: Have this really funny story time; when I was younger I used to have musically and made a fan account for Sadie sink literally called @/sadiesink. Today I was looking through tik tok and thought, wouldn't it be funny if I could log back into it and own an original account with just her name? Like no other 'fanacc' or spaces or underscores. So I tried and I did and now I just have an account with her original name with a thousand people following me, thinking I'm Sadie sink 😭😭]

A hissed curse had danced out of the lips of black guard as - what he could by now only guess to be the seventh - pallet was pulled and snapped over his head. He cringed and immediately dug the handle of his umbrella into the dirt ground of the lakeside village, catching his balance as his free hand shot up to rub the now sore spot.

He was so ready to rage quit.

And yet, the worried tone of the teacher relieved him, albeit just a little.

"Oh, I'm so sorry!" You cried, carefully vaulting the pallet over to his side. Thanks to your huff, you both kind of awkwardly stood there while waiting for him to regain his composure - a tired sigh leaving his lips when he finally did. "I'm sorry. Does it hurt a lot?"

He shook his head softly - trying not to cause himself more harm than others already had. "No, I just- I just need a minute." He gruffed.

"Of course! Come, take a seat." You guided the tall man to sit on a wooden crate nearby. He gave a sweet thank you before summoning his umbrella - the supernatural tool allowing for his partner to appear.

"Oh?" Xie Bi'an hummed as his feet landed on the floor. He had noticed Fan Wujiu, but funnily enough decided to address you first with a gleeful smile. "Hello Y/N. It's been quite some time since I've last talked to you; how have you been?"

"Ah- good!" You chuckled awkwardly, looking back and forth from them both. While white guard excused himself to take care of his partner, you focused on the cipher machines that continued to sound out and go off in the background. "Excuse me for a minute you two, I'll be back."

On the nearest cipher machine was Naib, his brown hair being kept down by an adorable green hat - matching with his outfit that Martha had dared him to wear. (Something about some bet they made over the weekend. Not that you'd know anything about that.) Hearing you, he looked up and nodded his head in greeting, scooting over to give you a side to work on his cipher.

"Hey, you lost them? You did a really good kite."

"Ah, not exactly." You hummed, stopping just beside him. "You see, Fan Wujiu had a really rough day today and I think I just put the cherry on top of his shit day by hitting him with a palette."

Naib stopped his clicking on the machine, turning to you with wide eyes. "You got a palette hit in? That's a first."

"That's besides the point."

He smiled cheekily, his teeth shining. "Yeah I know." He mused, finally stepping away from his cipher. "So we're going sacrifice?"

"Honestly; he'd probably get a kick in out of sending us all back to the manor so yeah, why not?"

The man nodded, taking off his hat to slick back some bangs before putting it back on. "Alright, I'll go get Norton, you go get Aesop. Is Wu Chang by the ship?"

"Yep!" You smiled, walking off to a cipher machine by the smaller ship at the back. "He's sitting on a crate by the shack on the shore!"

"Got it!" He finished, using his elbow pads to rush off towards an exit gate.

Once reaching the shivering pole of the cipher machine just behind a wooden wall, you quietened your steps - deciding to frighten the embalmer you loved to much. Hearing the clicking on keys and the turning of the gears, you smiled and gripped onto the side of the wall. Urging all your energy to your legs, you suddenly rushed out with a shout, smiling at the man behind the machine.

However, to your complete dismay, instead of relishing at the sight of your silver haired boyfriend, you were met with the tall figure of Norton Campbell.

His fingers froze and wide eyes turned to you in a fright, the machine not wasting a second to spark up and crack a streak of electricity at the man, prompting him to lift his arms and cover his head. Once it had calmed down, he lowered his arms and turned to you in both surprise and pure confusion.

"Oh my god, I'm sorry- I thought you were-"

"Aesop?" He finished sadly, seeming to have lost all prior surprise. He nodded, pulling a soft smile on his lips. "That's alright. It was harmless."

"Right." You hummed awkwardly, turning to rush out of the tense situation. Quickly remembering what you came here to do to begin with, you hesitantly turned back around, watching as Norton stared at you. "Uhm... you see, Fan Wujiu isn't really having a good day so we're going to give him a win. We're going to the shore now to let him chair us."

He held a straight face before blinking, snapping back to reality. "Oh, right. Uh, I guess I'll go with you then."

You nodded but said nothing more, walking off towards the shore of the lakeside village. Sadly, it would still be a few minutes until you both reached it, and with the numbing pain coursing through your forearms from the shock Norton had gotten after making him miss a calibration - you dreaded spending even another second with him. Rolling up the sleeves of your cardigan you looked down at your arms, skin pink and warm, twinning those of the prospector.

A hiss was the only thing that caught the attention of Norton, turning his gaze to you as you walked beside him. "Is that-"

"From the cipher - yeah." You sighed, rolling the sleeves back down.

He frowned, his steps slowing. "I'm sorry, I should really be more considerate of you."

"Considerate?" You scoffed humorously. Shaking your head. "Norton, I literally beat the shit out of you the other week. Don't worry about me."

He chuckled and nodded his head. "Yeah you're right, I can't believe you were good to go on your matches after just three days. I was still struggling with the bruise on my cheek."

"That one made it really hard to smile."

"I agree." He smiled, turning to smile at you.

You hesitated but gave a smile back, being mindful to keep the distance and advances between you both strictly friendly. "Hey, Y/N?"

"Yeah?"

Norton passed by a palette, waiting on the other side for you. "Do you think we could start over?"

From the horizon you could start making out Aesop, Naib, Fan Wujiu and Xie Bi'an. Becoming grateful for the fact this awkward interaction would have to last much longer. Still, he had asked a much dreaded question, and it would be rude to ignore him after going out of his way to be respectful towards you. "Start over? I'm really sorry Norton, I'm with Aesop-"

"No, no. I mean as friends." He clarified, smiling again. "I guess it does hurt to see my soulmate with someone else but it's the twenty first century. Soulmates aren't mandatory, you can choose who you want to love and if you want to love him then I'll support you. But can we be friends then?"

You hummed, grinning when seeing Aesop spot you and the prospector - the embalmer rushing to your rescue, leaving Naib to continue breakdancing to the two very amused hunters. "I think I could do friends." Turning to him, you played with the fabric of your loose cardigan. "But you've got to promise to be nicer to both Aesop and I from now on."

He brought up a hand to rub the back of his neck bashfully, giving a friendly laugh. Aesop had by now arrived, wrapping an arm around your torso while staring the prospector up and down as if inspecting for any suspicious behavior.

"I promise, I'm really sorry about that."

"Apology accepted." You smiled, turning back to Aesop as the three of you walked towards the two hunters to end the game.