AU: Soulmate
Tags/ Warnings: GN! Reader, mild language
Word Count: 2.5k
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"In deep thought or daydreaming?" Osamu's voice carried through the empty shop.
Two days had passed. The first was spent trying to convince your parents to hire him without fully disclosing that he was your soulmate and had a girlfriend. That was truly a lovely experience. The second day was you teaching a very nervous Osamu how you did things and what to do which was another lovely experience considering that he only had experience in the kitchen and not with dealing with customers at the counter — the thing that your parents needed. The only other thing he did besides being a foodie was play volleyball.
To which you had said, "As long as you don't spike an onigiri in someone's face, I think you'll be fine."
You looked up as you wiped the counter. Osamu stood near one of the tables leaning on a carefully balanced broom. You were closing up and waiting for your parents to get back from the store. His face was unreadable, but not emotionless. In the couple of hours you spent with him, you noted that he wasn't very expressive. He'd work quietly when he was cleaning or preparing and was friendly and kind when he greeted people. He was different than you thought that he would be.
Honestly, when he said that he was willing to break up with Airi when he met you, it put a bad taste in your mouth. But now, you could understand why it was an instinctive reaction. Whenever you stole a glance at him, the light would always catch him at the perfect angle. His eyes were bright and his usual deadpan face would have a light smile when he noticed you. Oasmu's laugh was music, and his questions were captivating. He almost seemed too good to be true.
Is this how he saw you? What you saw and felt was real, you had no doubts about that, but it didn't mean he saw you the same way.
"Always a bit of both," you replied. He asked you this each day when there was a lull. It was his way to get you to open up, and you did promise that you wouldn't be strangers.
He smiled, and you stifled a flinch. "Care to share?"
"You first." You bit the inside of your cheek.
The world seemed to be pushing the two of you together under the name of "soulmates" but a part of you removed yourself from the equation. You had built a steady wall between the two of you that you wouldn't dare cross. It was only when he asked you this, that you let yourself indulge.
"I'm in Seoul right now," he said. His eyes glazed over and he licked his lips. You resisted the urge to snort. The other thing you noted was Osamu's love for food, the only time when his heart was on his sleeve and he became an open book. "I'm eating tofu soup, sweet and spicy fried chicken, and the waiter gave me free ice cream. It should be great, and the food always is, but I want more. One bite is never enough. One bite only makes you more hungry."
Daydreams. Deep thought. Daydreams. Deep thought.
"I'm in the park, on the swings," you said. "Birds sing, and children laugh, but I'm alone. I live for the feeling of falling and can't wait until it happens again. I really like the park in the mornings when no one is there; when the sun is just starting to shine and everything feels brand new."
Your replies are always shorter than his answers, afraid that you would say too much. In a way, it was easier being extremely vague because you had no doubts that Osamu knew what you were saying. Some conversations were easier than others. Some conversations were painfully awkward and led to dead ends, but nothing felt like a waste of time or a stolen moment. You had only known each other for a couple of days; maybe some things didn't feel right, but nothing felt wrong.
"Take me there?" he asked. It was interesting to see what truths he pulled out of your daydreams.
"Maybe."
He smiled. "'Maybe' is better than no."
Every smile was anything brick that you painfully laid. Osamu's smile held for another moment and slowly shifted to a quizzical look. "What is it?"
Did something on your face give it away? Did your doubt seep through? The same question that popped in your head whenever you saw him: Did he tell Airi yet? He would've told you if he did. Would he tell you?
You swallowed and opened your mouth to ask. Just get it over with, you thought.
"How are my least favourite employees?" your dad called out as he pushed the door open with a rough swing, which rebounded against the wall creating a loud slam.
Osamu, who had been looking at you, jumped, and the broom fell to the floor.
Your dad shook his head and tsked. "Slacking off, I see."
You scoffed. You weren't sure if you were happy about your dad's interruption, but it did snap your brain back to quips and easy conversation. "If we're your least favourite employees, then who's your favourite? You don't have a long list to choose from."
Your dad picked up the broom, handed it to Osamu, and then placed bags of groceries — both for your home life and the restaurant — on the counter you just cleaned. "Well, your mom, for sure."
You heard a hard thump before you saw your dad's back pinched forward and his face pinched in pain. Your mom stood at the entrance and your body was in a throwing stance. You glazed over the counter and saw an apple not far from where your dad was.
Osamu snorted and covered his face with his hand.
"I'm not an employee, you piece of shit," your mom sneered. "I'm co-owner, and you keep saying crap like then I'll demote you to employee."
Your dad lightly laughed, but his eyes were scared. "Sorry. You know I love you."
"I love you too," your mom said angrily, placing the remaining bags on one of the tables. "Put the groceries away."
She smiled politely at Osamu. "I'll be upstairs," she said. She exited the shop and used a separate entrance to go to the complex above the shop where the three of you lived.
You leaned closer to your dad. "Looks like you're going to be on the list soon enough. Can you still have a least favourite employee when you're one of them?"
"I can, and it's you." Your dad glared and tried to rub his back. He dramatically sniffled and whipped away non-existent tears. "Put the groceries away. My back hurts."
You scowled. "No, it doesn't."
Your dad nodded at Osamu as he walked out the door. "This is why you're my least favourite employee."
Osamu grinned at you. "There is never a dull moment in your family, is there?"
"Nope." You picked up some bags off the counter. "Welcome to my world, population of one. Help me?"
Osamu leaned his broom against the wall of the entrance and grabbed the bags your mom left with ease. "Does this count as overtime?"
You laughed. "If either of us deserves overtime, it's me. This borders on labour laws."
"It's good that I'm here then." The joke was obvious in his voice but your reply came out before you could think it through.
"You're in for a lifetime, soulmate."
You froze. Shit. Stupid parents for making your mind ease and your filter getting shredded to bits. Dread took over like a dark storm cloud over your head.
Osamu froze too, but not in the way you expected. His eyebrows raised, a surprised look took over his face, but then it moulded into something soft ... and a little sad. "A lifetime seems too short, then."
He grabbed the remaining bags and walked into the back room without another word. You didn't know if he left you there to process or because he didn't want to see your reaction, but you were glad that he did.
It was moments like these that filled you with joy and a quiet shame for enjoying it. Your wall had a crack in it.
Daydreams. Deep thought.
•──────⋅☾ ☽⋅──────•
Osamu was late meeting Airi.
His hand clutched a bag of leftover onigiri after his shift ended with you. Osamu didn't know what possessed him to say those words to you. He saw you and the way you kept your distance, but he wanted to make sure of something before he met Airi. He'd been waiting for a small opening with you, any chance or moment where you and your words weren't dancing around him in favour of the distance.
When you called him soulmate, he stopped breathing. Osamu would never need any more praise or reassurance if only he could hear you say that again. So, what he said after was nothing but the truth and when he saw the flicker in your eyes at his response, he got the answer he'd been looking for.
Since you pulled yourself away from him, it was hard to gauge where the two of you stood. He knew now that you were on the same page as him if only a few sentences away from him. Giddiness and determination filled him.
Osamu slowed his pace when he saw the back of Airi sitting on the bench where they were supposed to meet. The memories of today dulled and made him feel queasy. It was wrong of him to suggest breaking up with Airi the moment he saw you — he was ashamed to admit that it was the first thing that crossed his mind when his eyes met yours. Airi deserved better.
Every smile and laugh with you was laced with uneasy guilt. Osamu couldn't say it was love, but he liked Airi a lot. They were friends. They've never spoken about what would happen when they met their soulmate, but he guessed that today was the day. Osamu let himself keep you a secret before telling Airi. He wanted to make sure of something for himself, and it was proven in these days with you.
"Airi!" he called out.
She turned quickly and smiled at him. Airi got up and went for a hug and pecked him on the cheek. It was the same greeting they've had for months and it wasn't like all of Osamu's feelings for her went away; he still cared about her. But if Airi was the sunset, today, and everyday, would be the water, slowly disappearing behind the horizon until it was gone and only the memory of it left behind.
"What's up? We usually meet at one of our houses so I was kind of surprised when you wanted to meet here." Her gaze went past him and looked around. "I like this park, though. I don't know how I haven't been here before."
Osamu swallowed. His voice was shaky as he said, "I have to tell you something."
Airi frowned with a hint of concern on her face. "Is everything okay?"
"Kind of?" Osamu shoved his hands in his pockets and the bag of onigiri hit his leg, a reminder. "You know the person at the onigiri store we went to a few days ago?"
"Yeah." She let out a light laugh and nudged the bag by his leg. "Seems like you liked it since you went back."
Osamu hummed, trying to figure out how he was going to say it. The best way is the cleanest. "They're my soulmate."
Airi blinked. She took a step back from him, nodding slowly and shallowly. "Oh."
"I'm—" He stopped himself. In a soft tone, he said, "We've never talked about this — What would happen when we find our soulmate."
Airi kept nodding her head. Osamu wasn't sure if she heard her or not but he kept quiet. After another moment, she stopped and looked at him. There was a certain clarity in her face mixed with sadness. "They're your soulmate and...we knew that this wasn't going to last. We went into this on borrowed time and even if we didn't talk about it, we both knew."
"Yeah." Osamu nodded, but your voice echoed in his brain. "(Y/N) — the person from the store — they told me to not break up with you. Or that us being soulmates shouldn't mean that our relationship should be over."
Airi's eyes widened. "So what do you want to do?"
"I wanted to say that I'm sorry," he said.
"About what? It's not your fault, Osamu."
"Not about meeting (Y/N)," he said. "About telling them that I would break up with you when I met them. I know that you didn't know about it, but I wanted to apologise. It was wrong to just throw away our relationship as if it meant nothing. I loved the time I spent with you."
"Thank you," Airi said. Some of the tension went out of her shoulders and a small smile was on her lips. "As for what to do, I think that you already answered that."
A dull pain went through his chest. "Are you sure? Because I —"
"You met your soulmate," Airi said softly. "I know you, Osamu. Maybe not as much as your brother and some other people, but I know that once you met (Y/N), even if I didn't notice it, you felt something and you wanted more."
Osamu carefully went up to her, giving her a chance to pull away before giving her a hug. "Thank you."
"We were friends before. We can go back to that." Airi laughed to herself, pulling away. "They sound kind of amazing, though. Maybe I want to be friends with them."
"Get in line. I just became friends with them."
Airi smirked. "I'm liking them more and more. Such a shame that they're stuck with you for the rest of their life."
Osamu scoffed, a beaming smile on his face. Things were different now but he liked that some stayed the same. "Wait until I meet your soulmate. They have no clue what they're getting into."
Airi's jaw dropped. "Just for that, I'm telling (Y/N) about your nightmare that giant Atsumu was chasing you with a pair of chopsticks while you ran naked through grains of rice."
"Don't." Osamu's eyes narrowed. "It was a horrifying experience."
Airi pointed in a direction behind Osamu. "Which way was the store? I can tell them right now."
Osamu rolled his eyes. He raised the bag in his hand. "Want some onigiri?"
He couldn't wait to see you tomorrow. He would just need a moment to tell you, and everything was going to work out.
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There's going to be another part! It feels a bit strange...but I'm just going with it. Hopefully you guys like the final part!
As always, thank you for reading – Kiwi
Can I marry Dad? – Bacon
Posted: 15/05/2023