Tango stretched as he walked out of the hallway, hearing the automatic door to the room close as he stepped out. Jimmy noticed him from across the room and got up from the table he sat at to meet his soulbound.
"Dude, what took you so long?" He asked. "Me and two other people walked out before you and we went in together!"
Jimmy also wanted to ask about exactly how many needles they stuck in Tango, because for the past 20 minutes he could feel every one of them. But he never got to that part, and he never bothered to continue.
"You know how they are," Tango responded casually, doing his best to refit his dark red fingerless gloves onto his hand without his unnaturally sharp nails cutting them up, "I tell them I don't know what kind of genes I got in me and they think I'm just dumb and try every other DNA test in the book,"
Right after he finished his sentence, a speaker box on the ceiling in the corner of the room blared to life, speaking in a robotic voice.
"Participant interviews have been completed. Final checkups around the area are being wrapped up and will be finished in approximately 10 minutes. Thank you for your patience and cooperation with the project."
"Right, well," Jimmy said, "I already met some of the guys and I was just watching them play cards, so if you wanna come with me that'd be great,"
"You say that like I have any other options," Tango laughed a bit, walking along with Jimmy, "I don't know anybody else here!"
"Tango, I guarantee as soon as we get to that table you're gonna know someone because their mother's boyfriend's sister was your 5th half cousin or something,"
Both of them laughed at this. Tango was notorious for somehow being connected to every person he met, even more so knowing that he had something to do with them. It was a miracle he wasn't related to Jimmy in some way, and sometimes Jimmy wonders if that's the real reason Tango agreed to be his platonic boyfriend.
Three people sat around the table Jimmy led Tango to. One of them was against the far wall, kicking his anthropomorphic fox legs (which Tango wrongfully assumed to be wolf at the time) up onto the table while still leaving plenty of room for the other two to continue their card game. A mask covered his nose and mouth as well as half of a scar that ran down from his left eye, and a bandana held the grey fox ears on the top of his head upward. Bandages wrapped around his upper arms and just below the knee of his legs, covering up the ending to his dark navy shirt sleeves and dark blue jeans. A dark green vest went over all of this, and a fox tail rested behind him on the seat. He seemed to be scrolling on his phone, but despite this, it was like his attention was devoted to the game, because any time the others asked him any kind of question or told him anything, he would answer them all with 100% sincerity and correctness.
One of the players weren't seated at the table at all. Rather, he sat on a wheelchair with a white and grey tabby cat on his lap that was purring to the soft pats she was receiving from her owner. Scars ran across this man's face like nobody's business, going across his right eye, left cheek, nose bridge, and from his chin to his upper lip. There were also a few small scars on his hands, and Tango had a feeling there'd be scars all over his arms too if he were to roll up his sleeves. He had fairly brown hair and a dark brown overcoat that went unbuttoned, revealing a very obviously tightly fitted white t-shirt underneath that detailed every bit of muscle on his chest. He had black trousers that were held up by a large brown leather belt (not like they had a risk to slip off anyway), and finally a pair of brown pointed-toed shoes. He gave off the energy of a wealthy mob boss, a humble business owner, and a broke gambler all at the same time, and Tango had no idea how he was pulling it off.
The last person at the table was the one person Tango recognized off the bat. His hair was a dark brown, so dark that the bright green streak in it almost made it seem black. He wore a white long sleeved tunic under a brown mini vest, along with brown pinstripe pants and dark brown boots with ribbed patterns on both sides. The only reason he remembered this person so well was because his clothing reminded him of Shrek, and no one else back in his high school years had a notable outfit like that.
"Joel!" Tango happily greeted. Joel looked up at Tango for less than a second before returning the same joyous energy.
"Tango!" Joel exclaimed, reaching across the table to give the creature a firm handshake. "I can't believe you're here, we haven't seen each other since, what, high school?"
Tango could already feel the "what did I tell you" energy radiating off of his partner.
"Yeah, it's been a good while. How're you and Lizzie doing?" He asked.
"Pretty good actually! We just had our 2 year anniversary a few weeks ago,"
That statement got Tango to notice the smooth silver ring on Joel's ring finger. "You guys got married?! Congrats dude!"
"Oh, yeah! I found out who my soulbound was too with all that time in between," Joel said, pointing with his thumb over to the fox-hybrid sitting diagonally from him, getting the grey-haired man to look over at the mention of him. "Etho's been a real team player since we found out though, I feel like I haven't been hurt by anything from him for a while now,"
"Yeah, 'cause you're always the one nicking your finger on a kitchen knife and waking me up at 2 am because you wanted midnight apple slices, someone's gonna have to be the responsible one here," Etho chuckled.
"Hey, if you had a nickel for every time that actually happened, you'd only have 2 nickels," Joel argued, "that ain't a lot buddy."
"Still weird that it happened twice," Etho said.
"Hey now-"
"You're an all star,"
No one at the table was ready for Etho's immediate Smash Mouth reaction. The whole group collectively bursted into a bubble of laughing and giggling, probably causing a whole lot of confusion to the other people around them. Speaking of confusion...
"Wait, guys, where's Norman?" Jimmy asked, finally taking a look around and realizing his cat companion was no longer with him.
"Uhh yeah Joel where is Norman?" Etho asked, turning back to his bound.
"Don't try to pin anything on me! I thought he was talking to Scar when he asked to watch the cat!" Joel said.
"Now hold on buster, I already have a cat to watch," Scar said, picking up the white and grey tabby from his lap, "Jellie is enough of a handful as it is thank you,"
"Oh yeah, such a trouble maker that one," Joel said sarcastically.
"Oh my goodness, NORMAN!" Jimmy said, rubbing his face in the palms of his hands before calling out to his cat, "Please come back so I don't look like an idiot for calling your name!"
"Oh, is this your cat?"
A group of 3 people stepped up to the table. The person off to the left had blonde hair and a pair of square glasses over his eyes, but the extent of his eyewear actually ended at the pair of steampunk goggles resting by the strap off his neck like a necklace. Off-white wings fell from the back of his shoulder blades, accompanied by a smaller pair of wings on each side of his head. He wore a red turtleneck sweater that just nearly avoided the definition of "oversized", black joggers, and black and white tennis shoes.
The person on the left had pitch black hair kept to a buzz cut and a goatee, dog-like ears poking out of the top of his head and matching the deep color. He wore a pair of blue jeans and black tennis shoes, and he also wore a sweater much like the blonde, but it was light blue and a white collar poked out from the top. There was also a chocolate chip cookie patch on it that went right over his heart.
The one in the middle was the tallest of them all, even taller than Tango, which surprised the creature a bit as he himself was a good 6'06". He had fairly brown hair and had the same dog ears on the top of his head that the man in the cookie sweater had. He had a pair of black shades that covered his eyes that paired with a black wristwatch to almost make him seem like a bouncer to a fancy club. He wore a red and white floral patterned shirt and had black suspenders holding up a pair of blue jeans that only went down to his knees. His legs were the curved legs of a dog, and he had a short, furry tail waving behind him. In his noticeably fuzzy arms, he held Jimmy's beloved companion, Norman.
As the 4 pairs of soulbounds were conversing over the runaway cat (the new three introducing themselves as Grian, BigB, and Ren respectfully), a teal haired boy sat in the farthest corner of the room away from them, wishing he could be even farther. The redhead half-zombie across from him finally caught on to his anxiousness.
"Are you alright Scott?" Cleo asked, taking a sip of the mango tea she got from the small vending machine just to the side of their table.
"Yeah, yeah I'm fine, just..." Scott answered, though he sounded somewhat unsure of himself, "y'know way back when we first met, when I told you I broke up with someone not that long before?"
Cleo almost chuckled. "Don't tell me your ex is one of those idiots standing over there,"
Scott groaned in frustration. "Yep, he's right there,"
"Oof, that's rough," Cleo said, "I'm guessing you two didn't leave on very good terms then,"
"No, not at all," Scott said, shaking his head slowly, "I thought after not seeing him for 4 years I wouldn't have to see him again period, but here we are. Just my luck..."
"At least it's not all bad," Cleo said. "There's like, what, 14 people here total? You could probably avoid him for the most part, and when you do happen to make eye contact from across the way, what's he gonna do about it? Cause if I'm looking at the right guy, he looks like the scrawniest white boy I've ever seen in my life."
A bit of air left Scott's mouth at their last statement, a smile creeping on his face for a moment. "Yeah, I guess you're right. Heh, at least I wasn't soulbounded to him,"
It seemed as if the universe wanted him to eat those words, because as soon as he finished that statement he felt a horrible pain in his elbow, and his real soulbound made a half-yelping half-laughing noise from halfway across the room.
"I GOT IT! I GOT IT!" Pearl cheered, laughing along with the blonde boy next to her.
"OW! PEARL WHAT THE HECK?!" Scott scolded.
"Did she actually just hit her funny bone on purpose?" Cleo asked, slightly concerned.
"Yup!" Pearl answered for Scott. "Your turn Martyn!"
"Oh no you don't! You even think about hitting yourself on anything and I'm pulling off the arm!" Cleo threatened. This was always her go-to threat with their bound, as her zombified body felt little to no pain when some stitched up parts were removed, but it apparently dealt a much greater deal of damage to Martyn.
As those 4 continued to give each other headaches, the last pair of soulbounds sat in the far corner away from them, currently reminiscing about times past.
"-I think... yeah, yeah that's them alright. I used to be on a mini soccer team with those two back in high school!" Bdubs said, pointing out to the crowd of people on the other side of the room. Mini soccer was something some of the kids in their high school did during any break periods where they could go outside. It was just like soccer, but the school only had an actual field set up for their professional soccer team, so the kids who weren't on the team had to use a much smaller area, and the rule of only having 4 people to a team popped up in order to work with the limited space.
"That's cool! Were you guys good at it?" Impulse asked.
"Oh we were the best!" Bdubs happily answered. "We even made it our team name! Tango was our goalie, and Etho could kick a ball so far and hard it wasn't even funny. I think one time we were practicing against each other and he kicked the ball towards me so hard that it hit me in my chest and bruised a rib,"
"Wait, was that what happened in junior year?" Impulse asked. "That hurt, thank you!"
"Oooh, I forgot you felt that. Sorry Imp," Bdubs apologized.
"It's fine, that was years ago anyway, plus it was the one thing that finally convinced my parents that I was soulbound to someone, so it was probably a good thing that that happened," Impulse said. "...Still hurt though,"
"Hey, don't act like you were in an empty boat, I had to feel all that too!" Bdubs said.
The door to the outside of the waiting room finally slid open, everyone turning their heads to face it regardless of whatever they were doing before. A woman with blonde hair and goggles sitting atop her head stepped into the room, her white lab coat flowing behind her.
"Hello everyone," she greeted, "my name is Professor Symmetry, and I'll be escorting you out to your temporary homes now,"
—
Tango and Jimmy spent the rest of the day unpacking their belongings and arranging them around the new house. They were let known of a few more things and were asked a couple of questions, but that was all they did before they were let loose.
One of the things they were told was that every once and a while they would be psychologically studied, and really all it meant was that a few questions would be asked and their answers would be recorded. Once a month one of the doctors at the company would check their health, and if any of the researchers came up with possible solutions to the soulbounding problem, the subjects would be presented with it on their checkup day.
Each of the houses were basically the same; 2 floors accompanied by a balcony on the top floor and a basement who's entrance was right below the stairs. They were told that the basements were so unbearably dusty and generally hazardous that they had to be cleaned professionally, but the people trying to contact the cleaning crew had not received any sort of message back, so the bounds were just told not to enter. It wasn't like they could easily enter anyway, since the trapdoor leading to the basement was already locked with a key that only the company's employees had.
After all was set and done, Jimmy took off his jean jacket and flopped onto the double bed, completely exhausted from all the work prior. It already reminded him a bit of the weekends at his family's farm, how much work and effort he'd put into helping his sisters tend to the chores and how much nicer his bed felt afterwards. Hardly a day into this venture, and he was already feeling homesick.
Tango didn't take long to follow him, taking off his fingerless gloves and his heavy black vest before laying down next to his soulbound. The sun was close to finishing its set, the warm oranges and pinks of the sky becoming darker and bluer as the minutes passed.
"How long do you think we're gonna have to stay here?" Jimmy asked, his voice a bit lower than usual thanks to his lack of energy.
"I dunno, maybe a good few months," Tango answered. He noticed Norman walking up to their bed out of the corner of his eye, but decided not to say anything.
Jimmy groaned. "This is gonna be a long few months..."
"But hey, we'll be walking out of here bound free! I'd say that's worth staying a few months for," Tango said.
"Yeah, hopefully..." Jimmy said, yawning. Norman finally jumped up onto the bed, walking right in between the couple and snuggling down.
"Norman! You have your bed right over there!" Jimmy said, pointing to the corner of the room where the cat bed was settled. The feline was not moved by this in the slightest.
"Aw, c'mon, you know you can't say no to this little boy," Tango smirked, giving Norman little head scratches. Jimmy smiled, rolling his eyes.
"Okay, okay, he can stay," he said, yawning one more time. "Goodnight Tango..."
"Goodnight," Tango said as he reached at the desk lamp on his nightstand to turn it off for the night.
This new place didn't seem so bad at all.