*WARNING. THIS IS A VERY VERY VERY LONG CHAPTER.*
Okay doing Tiana because I think Sokeefe is getting is getting a bit repetitive because I don't have many ideas *cough*suggestions please*cough*
Btw this is a soulmates thing where when they sing their soulmate sings. I know, cliche but eugh whatever.
Tam's POV (human btw)
"Hey man, wanna go to a party tonight?" His best friend flicked his blonde hair out of his eyes and smirked. "Might finally get some chicks."
Tam threw a pillow at Keefe's head, scowling, but knowing it was true. The only girl who had ever liked him was in third grade, and she didn't count because it was on Roblox.
"Fine," he grumbled after Keefe dodged the pillow. "Where?"
Keefe checked his phone and plopped on his single bed, which was on the opposite side of the college dorm from Tam's. "There's a girl named Marella's house. It's on the other side of town. The whole of year 10 is invited, so it'll be big."
"Okay. Let me just figure out what I'm gonna wear."
*
Keefe pulled up to the house, and they gaped. The house, sorry, mansion, was huge.
Loud music could be heard for miles, and bright lights flashed out of the large windows. As they walked up to the front door, Keefe said something, but Tam couldn't hear him over the blonde girl in a short skirt and tank greeting them.
They walked in and were engulfed by the crowd. Keefe was quickly swept away, so Tam went over to the table with food. As he was eating a red velvet cupcake, his favorite, he spotted a beautiful brunette girl in a cute outfit.
Although she looked stunning, the look was kind of ruined by her anxious expression, with perfectly shaped eyebrows knitted together.
Her face looked like it was caked in foundation, even though it didn't need to be. She disappeared into a dark hallway, and Tam frowned, finishing the last of his cupcake. Where was she going?
Biana's POV
Biana was not having a good night.
Her brother's grip on her arm had been far too tight that evening. He'd dragged her from place to place, conversation to conversation, like she was a doll, not a sister. Ever since their parents had died in a car crash three years ago, he had become her legal guardian since he was nineteen and she was fifteen. He tended to be way too overprotective though.
She sniffed deeply after she'd finally gotten away from her brother and had proceeded to cry on the staircase for the past two minutes.
The shadows shifted from the hallway near the staircase. She hastily wiped her eyes.
"Wait," came a deep voice. "You don't need to do that."
She turned, and a cute boy with black hair and silver bangs was reaching out for her, quietly. "It's okay to cry," he said gently, sitting next to her.
That made her tears well up even more.
She wiped her face again, and streaks of her makeup came away on her jumper sleeve.She swore, and the mystery boy tilted his gaze towards her. "What's up?"
She winced. "Got makeup on my... my stupid jumper. I just... I don't know."
He nodded, and she looked up at him. "I get it," he said. "Jumpers are a very big deal, you know?"
She snorted, and her tears sped up.
He paused for a long moment. "Are you okay?" he asked finally.
She shrugged and decided to let all her problems out on this stranger. I mean, what else was she gonna do? Run away? "My brother doesn't listen," her voice was supposed to be full volume, but instead, it came out in a whisper. She hated that she was so weak that she couldn't even say that at full volume
"No?" he asked, his voice sounding wary.
She winced. "Yeah. My brother wants me to be something I'm not. He wants... He wants someone perfect. I couldn't be perfect if I tried. I mean, look at me," she chuckled. "Even as much makeup as he demands I wear can't cover it up."
The mystery boy remained quiet.
"He's always so mad when I do something wrong, and no one ever sees it. It's just for me, you know?"
He went very still.
Biana took a deep breath. "Sorry to lay all this on you," she said. "But sometimes it just... it really hurts."
"What made it hurt so bad tonight?" he asked, his voice mostly removed, in a way that made her heart crack.
"He wants me to marry my friend's cousin," her voice cracked. "He thinks that's all I'll ever be worth, anyways. She's the daughter of the mayor. I'm only worth what I marry into, so I need to marry as well as possible," she laughed bitterly.
"He probably just wants what's best for you," the mystery boy said quietly.
Biana shook her head. "I want to meet my soulmate," she said. "I want to at least know who they are before I marry anybody," her voice aching. "But my brother thinks it's not worth it. He's outright said he doesn't care what I think. I need to get over my hopes of ever finding them and just... realize that they'd never want me anyway."
He said nothing.
She shrugged. "But I can't marry Dex. He's great," more tears fell from her eyes, "But I don't see him that way. Neither of us like each other. I'd like to at least marry someone I like," she tucked her face into her knees. "I'm sorry," she mumbled, even though she knew it was muffled. "This is way too much information."
"Have you told anyone?" the mystery boy asked.
Biana shrugged. "Sophie, my friend. Dex knows. But... other than that, no. No one else will believe me."
"I believe you," he reassured her.
She scoffed. "You don't even know me. You don't know my brother, either."
He slowly reached his arm out towards her, gently looping it around her shoulders, giving her plenty of room to back out if she wanted. She didn't.
She leaned on his shoulder.
He hugged her ever so slightly.
After a moment, she stood up. "I should probably head back," she said, as Sophie tore past them, her hair a mess. "Yeah," she said, "I definitely should."
The mystery boy nodded at her, and she turned, heading for the ballroom.
"Hey, wait."
She turned back, looking over her shoulder at the boy with silver tips in his hair. He had taken his time to sit and listen to her sob-story without ridiculing or criticizing her. He had accepted everything she had said as the truth. It was a pity she would probably never see him again.
She had never had anyone do that immediately when she told them. They always had some kind of disbelief.
But he hadn't.
He smiled. "What's your name?"
"Biana," she said softly.
The mystery boy grinned at her slightly. "Well, Biana, your soulmate would be an absolute idiot not to want you."
She felt her cheeks heat up and was suddenly grateful for the amount of makeup she had on.
"Thanks..."
"Tam," he introduced himself.
"Thanks, Tam."
And she fled..
*
Tam's POV
Three days had passed since the party, yet it seemed Marella couldn't resist having another one. Her parents must be away on a business trip, as no self-respecting parent would allow their child to spend so much money.
Tam had already finished dinner before the party, so he decided to explore the house this time. Ever since he stumbled upon the ping-pong room, he had been itching to discover more. He had a general sense of the house's layout, but a part of him wanted to get completely lost in its labyrinthine halls.
Perhaps he hoped to stumble upon a cozy spot where he could curl up with his book. So, armed with his phone and book, he set off on his explorations.
After a few turns, he found himself in an entirely new area of the mansion, one he had never seen before and wasn't sure he was allowed to access. It felt reminiscent of Belle in "Beauty and the Beast," venturing dangerously close to the forbidden west wing. But he continued down the halls, oblivious to any potential dangers lurking within.
The doors were large and made of wood, while most of the furniture in the rooms was covered in white sheets, as if someone had dressed them up as ghosts. Tam closed those doors, shutting out the darkness that seeped from the rooms and letting in the faint light that remained. The music in the background became muted.
He continued walking, listening intently and peering out of windows, searching for something exciting, new, different, or distracting. The halls gradually grew darker, with fewer windows along the way. Undeterred, Tam shrugged and kept walking. Then, he reached a brightly lit hallway that stood in stark contrast to the rest. It caught his attention, and he paused to stare at it.
All the other lights were off, but these were on.
Raising an eyebrow, he scanned the walls and doors, trying to make sense of the anomaly. After a moment, he shrugged off his curiosity and walked down the brightly lit hallway silently. He wondered if there was a light-sensitive system in place to conserve electricity, but the mystery intrigued him.
Then he heard it—a tinny noise, as if it were coming from a soup can.
Tam halted in the hallway, turning toward the sound and noticing an open door nearby. Without second-guessing himself for more than a few seconds, he quietly approached the door and peeked inside.
He caught a glimpse of a girl he recognized from a few days ago, practicing intricate dance steps. The tinny music served as her only accompaniment as she moved gracefully, her arms pretending to rest on an invisible partner's shoulders.
Tam watched her in awe for a moment.
Then, she stumbled slightly, and an expletive escaped her lips, making him wonder if she had a natural talent for swearing or had picked it up somewhere.
Frustrated, she kicked at the floor, her hair swaying around her. "Damn it," she snapped, momentarily breaking free from her spiral of vulgar language. "Why can't I get it right?"Tam took a step forward. "Do you need a partner?"
Biana jolted, her eyes widening with surprise. She pressed a hand to her chest, catching her breath and gasping as if there were no air. "Stars above," she said, "You scared me."
"I'll announce myself better next time," Tam replied, a faint smirk playing on his lips. "How have you been, Biana? I tried to find you at school after the party, but it was as if you had vanished."
"What's your Spotify?" she asked, avoiding his question.
Tam blushed. "I-um-"
Biana giggled. "You're sweet, aren't you?" she said brightly. "Very sweet."
His blush deepened, and his words came out incoherently. "Uh... Well... It's, uh, ShadyTam356."Biana's giggle washed over him, causing his whole body to tingle with delight. "That's cute," she said cheerfully.
As she pulled up his Spotify account on her phone, Tam couldn't help but feel flustered. It was somehow a hundred times more nerve-wracking than being asked for his phone number. "Uh," Tam managed to say, "Well, I blame my assorted parent issues."
Biana smirked. "Parental issues can lead to great music taste," she said. "That's why I like Linkin Park so much."
"Oh," Tam replied, understanding the sentiment. "What a mood." Then he paused, gazing into Biana's teal eyes. "By the way, how is everything going with your brother?"
"Terrible," Biana replied simply. "As always. The other night, he spent a good chunk of time telling me I wasn't thinking clearly. Sophie sort of understands, but my brother won't even try. He..." She trailed off, cutting herself off mid-sentence. "You don't need to hear about that. I assume Keefe is already quite a handful for you."
"Keefe is definitely a handful," Tam admitted, not questioning how she knew Keefe. After all, he was one of the most popular guys at school. "But I don't mind having my hands full. It's better than having them empty, don't you think?"
Biana remained silent, her perfect dark brown waves cascading over her shoulders. A long moment passed before she turned her attention back to the phone in her hand. "You don't have any musicals on your playlists," she noted.
"I'm not really into musicals," Tam explained. "But my soulmate is."
"Oooh," Biana said, her voice filled with a mix of brightness and dulled enthusiasm, as though the concept of soulmates made her both glow and sputter. "What kind of musicals do they sing?"
"A whole lot of Hamilton," Tam replied. "Also, Hadestown and Les Misérables. You know, random stuff."
"Surely there's a song they sing that you enjoy," Biana said, her voice filled with enthusiasm. "I mean, they're your soulmate!"
Tam grinned, his response deliberately slow. "I guess there is one song I like," he admitted."What is it?"
"Fight For Me," Tam replied. "From Heathers."
Biana giggled again, her laughter sparkling like stars. It sent shivers of delight through his entire being. "The one that starts with the chorus 'Holy Shit!'?"
Tam shrugged. "I suppose I actually like quite a few songs from that musical."
"Teenage suicide," Biana deadpanned, quoting the lyrics. "Don't do it."
"Our Love Is God."
She squinted at him, a slight furrow forming between her eyebrows. His gaze trailed down her face, brushing over her scars. Biana caught his gaze and instinctively brushed her hand over her cheek, as if trying to hide behind it. "I know," she said. "They're terrible."
He hadn't been thinking about her scars at all, but his words wouldnt come. "I got them from a car crash. The one that killed my parents," she explained slowly. "I wasn't wearing my seatbelt and got thrown through a window. Somehow, I survived." Biana traced her finger carefully over the scars, which stood out like white and purple marks on her naturally tanned arm. "I wasn't supposed to. A doctor said I should have died, like them. I should have died three times over. But instead, I got these as a reminder."
"Oh," Tam responded, eloquently. "Ouch."
She shrugged. "It took a long time to heal, and it took me even longer to get used to them."
Biana blinked at the scars, her eyes filled with a mix of acceptance and uncertainty. "Sometimes I still don't think I'm fully used to them, even though I've had them for years now."
"Years?" Tam asked, surprised.
"Yeah," she replied softly. "I got them when I was ten. I'm fifteen now."
Tam whistled softly, glancing around the room. The golden and brown hues of the wood and the intricate embellishments shone in the dim light. "When I was ten," Tam began, "I was writing."
"Writing?" Biana inquired.
"Writing letters," Tam clarified. "To someone who would never read them. But it made me feel sane, knowing I was getting everything out of my head."
"Everything... what?"
He bit his lip. "My parents are super toxic, especially towards my sister. They've always been worse to her, so I never felt I had the right to take any of it to heart. She never cried or broke down in front of me, at least not from what they did to her. So I wrote... I wrote letters."
"To whom?"
"It varied," Tam explained, his eyes catching on a glittering flower design on the ceiling painted in gold leaf against a creamy-white background. "Sometimes I wrote letters to Gerard Way. I was super emo. Other times, I wrote letters to my parents or to my soulmate. And sometimes, I wrote to myself in the future or to people I was angry with. It was a way to vent."
Biana sighed and sat down next to him. "You were out there developing healthy coping mechanisms at ten, while I was obsessively picking at my scars and trying to get rid of them in every way I could."
"You did what you felt you had to," Tam reassured her. "Everyone does what they think they have to, whether it's necessary or not. It's all about convincing yourself."
Biana fell into silence, contemplating his words for a long while. Then she stood up and extended her hand to him. "Will you dance with me?"
A wide grin spread across Tam's face as he nodded and took her hand.
*
Tam went with Biana to the garden.
Because that was the most poetic place anything could ever happen. In a garden, surrounded by flowers. Why wouldn't things happen there?
Biana sighed, tilting her head up towards the sky through the tree branches. "This is my favorite place in the gardens."
He smiled at her, her beauty washing over him in a way that made him never want to blink again. "It's almost as pretty as you are," he said.
She turned and looked at him, a small smile playing around her lips. "Yeah?"
He nodded. "Nothing's quite as beautiful as you are, of course, but this place is fairly close."
She bit her lips, trying to keep her smile from being too wide.
His focus snapped to her mouth and he internally swore up a storm.
He tilted his head back against the tree. She followed him. The bark scratched into his scalp.
Then, she asked, "Do you think you'll like your soulmate?"
He gazed out over the flowering bushes. The green branches of the tree above them breathed with rustling in the soft movement of the wind. "I'm not sure," he said, "I hope I will."
Biana nodded. "Me too," she said. "I really hope my soulmate likes me."
Their conversation shifted about, brushing back and forth from topic to topic. They laughed under the tree, and Tam's eyes wouldn't leave her alone, trying to absorb as much of her glory as he could.
And she threw her head back, laughing at some tactfully sarcastic comment he'd managed to make, her dark brown waves falling over her shoulders, and his entire body lit on fire. He was so glad the heat in his cheeks couldn't turn into real flames, otherwise his entire body would have been combusting.
"Why do you keep looking at me like that," she giggled.
"Like what?" he asked, his eyes still on her.
"Like I'm something special you want to never let go of?"
"Maybe you are," he said, but then stood up.
Her cheeks were bright red, and he smiled at her, holding out his hand. "Will you dance with me? Again?"
Her eyes widened, and she took his hand, standing up. "But there's no music?"
He shrugged. "We'll make our own," he said. "We don't need anything but ourselves."
She smiled, and her teal eyes sent lightning bolts through him, and his hand was tingling with electricity he didn't know what to do with as her fingers stayed in his.
"You know any Lana Del Rey?" he asked.
She shrugged. "A little. None of her newest album, for sure."
"Blue Jeans?"
"Never heard of it."
"Videogames?"
"I know that one," she said, her smile lifting. "Want to sing it?"
And the two of them launched into song, perfectly in sync, and they both knew all the lyrics. Tam spun her around, flowers brushing against the skirt she wore that swished around her ankles in a purple circle. "It's you, it's you, it's all for you," he could have died, in that moment, her singing voice sounded like it had poured out from heaven from the lips of an angel, and he honestly wasn't being dramatic.
"I heard that you like the bad girls, honey? Is that true--"
"It's better than I ever even knew, they say that the world was built for two," He spun her in a circle, and her teal eyes sparkled.
"Only worth living if somebody--"
"Is loving you--"
"And baby now ya do," her voice was chipped at the end, mimicking the way Lana hit the notes in her song.
He grinned at her, and they danced to music only their ears could hear.
Once they finished, slightly breathless, and very flushed, as any self-respecting teenager would be after singing a romantic song and dancing in a royal flower garden, they collapsed in the grass that smelled like sunshine and lawnmower. Biana rolled over on her side and looked at him, long and hard, the crease between her eyebrows puckering just a little.
"What?" he asked.
"Goth," she said, and he yelped in disapproval, sitting up.
"It's emo," he said, annoyed, "Honestly, don't you ever--"
Biana had broken off into a fit of giggles, and his arguments stopped in his mouth.
She poked him in the side, still a fit of laughter. "Your face," she said, her eyes so happy he could have kissed the sun, "Your face-- It was hilarious."
He rolled his eyes, fondly, his lips turning into a smile on his own face.
"That's not her best song, though," he said, "You know?"
Biana blinked, and shook her head. "What's her best one?"
He considered, for a long moment. "Honestly," he said, "National Anthem or Lucky Ones."
"National Anthem? As in "Star Spangled banner?"
He nodded.
She snorted. "Very American."
"What's wrong with that?"
"Nothing," she said, cooly, fluttering her eyelids, "But I like to think the British are better."
He rolled his eyes. "You wish."
"I am British, aren't I?" She said, tilting her head to the side. "I'd like to think I make this place worth it?"
"You do," he said, "But one country isn't necessarily better than the other."
"Like you don't run about like a chicken with its head cut off on a random day in the middle of the summer in order to blow things up?"
Tam raised a finger, and took a breath, but then realized he had no argument, as he lived in a glass house. He scratched at his face.
She smirked, and he was reminded of a cat. But then her face shifted and she asked, "What is "Lucky Ones" about?"
Tam blinked, abruptly, at the change in subject. "Well," he said, "It's about soulmates."
"Yeah?"
He nodded, the heat of the sun raining down on his black t-shirt like a reminder that this topic always made him feel funny around Biana.
A good kind of funny, he thought, but always funny.
"Yeah. It's about a boy and a girl realizing they're meant for each other, and seeing that for once in their lives, they're the ones who got lucky in love. They're the lucky people, not the ones in movies and TV shows or like that one acquaintance who always rubs it in your face how much luckier they are than you?"
Biana smiled, and it was tinged with some kind of sadness. "Beautiful," she said, "Do you know the lyrics?"
He nodded. "It's my favorite of hers. I could play it for you."
She shrugged. "There's no wifi out here," and she tilted her head to the side. "Sing it."
He flushed, but nodded. "If you insist."
He took a deep breath, letting the oxygen flood his whole body, and then he opened his mouth, and sang--
"Every now and then, the stars align--"
But it wasn't only his voice.
It wasn't only his voice.
Biana's eyes were wide and disturbed as she sang along with him, lyrics to a song she didn't know, or she couldn't have known. "Boy and girl meet by the great design--"
"Could it be that you and me are the lucky ones?"
Their voices moved together in the same pitch, the same speed, and he was too caught up in the bizarreness of it to stop himself from continuing, "Everybody told me love was blind--"
"Then I saw your face and you blew my mind--"
"Finally, you and me are the lucky ones this time..." He trailed off, finally, and Biana stared at him, some kind of horror and love written on her face like a three year old had drawn on her in black sharpie.
They looked at each other, unmoving, stunned, stilled, frozen.
Tears flooded Biana's eyes, and she whispered, so quietly he could barely hear it, "It's you."
He couldn't move, couldn't breathe, couldn't look away from someone who sang a song at the same time, same way, same beat, perfectly, despite not knowing the song itself.
"It's you," she said, and this time it was louder. "You're... you're..."
He didn't say anything, and focused on regaining the sense of the physical world around him.
"You're my soulmate."
And he made himself turn and look at her. "Hi," he said, even though his voice shook. "I've been waiting my whole life to find you."
Something caught in his throat as he said it, and something warm and soft and --she smelled like sweet pea perfume and something sweeter like sugar or the outside of a cake-- was flung around his throat and she was sobbing into his neck.
"Hi," she whispered, from where her face was buried in his shoulder, "I've been longing to meet you."
Extra extra extra long chappie for you guys cause I was bored🥰
Oi Oi🥖🥐
Ur_Bestie_Millie💖✨