AU: Soulmate
Tags/ Warnings: GN! Reader, mild language
Word Count: 2.5k
•──────⋅☾ ☽⋅──────•
In your sleepy state, the sun glaring in your eyes, your resentment of mornings only grew. You turned in your bed, not wanting to get out for the first day of school. The clock on your night stand blared in alarm beside you. Your palms were sweaty and a pressure held itself in your stomach.
Something was off.
You took a deep breath and twisted your body to find the small latch at the back of the clock to turn off the alarm. You pulled the blanket up and over your head, hoping for a few more seconds of peace, quiet.
Tick. Tick. Tick.
Your heart pounded deeper in your chest. Slowly, you sat up in your bed, covering your ear with your hands, pushing them down hard until it hurt. Still, the dull, steady rhythm of your internal clock was there.
Tick. Thump. Tick. Thump.
How could you have sought out comfort from the sound? In the sound? Your peace frayed at the edges, curling in on itself like a paper burning. You shook your head.
"Go away," you whispered. You could barely hear your own words. "Go away."
Your breath quickened and your eyes blurred with tears. Was there something wrong with you? Was this a cruel fake out of the universe?
Tick. Tick. Tick....
•──────⋅☾ ☽⋅──────•
The shop was quiet before the morning rush. The hush tones of your parents, which usually comforted you, did nothing for you today. Nothing could drown it out. You tried loud music and putting your head underwater, but the deaden sound wouldn't leave you.
"My lovely, lovely, child, how great it is for you to join us," your dad's voice sang with enthusiasm. He had looked up from packing extra onigiri for you. The moment his eyes met yours, his smile changed to a frown. "What's wrong?"
You swallowed. "I —"
"You can tell me," he said, eyes softening.
Deep down, you knew you could. Despite his jokes and quips, you knew that your dad would treat you with kindness and honesty when you needed it — and he always seems to know when you needed it before you did. But you couldn't. How do you explain that there was something...wrong with you? That you lacked and failed in destiny, something that your parents excelled in and that the universe deemed a mistake.
This couldn't have happened with him and your mom. They were strong. They had years to build and rebuild their relationship. You and Osamu...You and Osamu had a thread that connected you together, but it was still just a thread, thin and weak and breakable.
You wanted to talk to your dad, but your body wouldn't let you. Your mouth gaped open; you tried to force out words and nothing came out. Eventually, in a strained tone, you said, "School. I've got to go."
Your dad's eyes narrowed. "Wait, stop."
You turned reluctantly. You tried to smile at him but you could only grimace, not meeting his eyes. Your gaze averted to the ground. Your dad's footsteps grew closer.
Tick. Tick. Tick. The constant, the reminder. It echoed around your head and settled in your bones.
A warm embrace enveloped you. Your dad tucked you close to his chest, resting his chin on your shoulder. "It looked like you needed a hug," he murmured.
You sniffled and hugged him tightly back. You stayed there for a while, not caring about anything else.
You let go when you were ready. And when you stepped back, your dad smiled at you. "You're going to be late," he said, nudging you towards the door. "Go, or I'll poison your food."
•──────⋅☾ ☽⋅──────•
Osamu greeted his brother with a giddy smile that made Atsumu think Osamu was possessed by some cheerful demon on crack.
Atsumu kept glancing at his brother, who wore a light smile on his face, and it was only when they left the house and began walking that he said something.
"You're rather cheerful for a person who just got dumped."
"It's a good day," Osamu said.
He felt lighter. If he could have, he would have ran back to the onigiri store and told you that he broke up with Airi, but he remembered what you said. He didn't think you'd want to be the person who he got together with just after a break up. Osamu didn't want to be put in that position at all, so he decided to wait and give himself some time.
Obviously he was going to tell you that they broke up, he thought that it would be stupid to lead you on thinking he was with someone else, but he was going to make sure that it didn't affect the new friendship he had with you. He was more excited at the aspect of being friends with you first, now that you've posed the idea.
He wanted to know more about you while finding more about himself in life without his relationship with Airi.
Osamu felt, in a way, he didn't deserve you and Airi as his friends, but he sure as hell wasn't going to throw it away.
Atsumu nodded. "You should get dumped more often then. The cheerfulness is strange, but a good change from your usual."
Osamu's face fell into a menacing, deadpanned glare that was reserved for his brother. "I will kill you."
Atsumu rushed forward. "Now, now. What happened to happy Samu? Changing back so quickly?"
"He died. You killed him."
With that, Osamu rushed at his brother and they ran the rest of the way to school.
•──────⋅☾ ☽⋅──────•
You made it to school relatively okay. You weren't late; your fast pace brought on by your need to keep moving and your anxiety of being late to anything made a better pairing than you would've thought.
The larger crowd at the entrance of the school made you want to jump out of your skin and hibernate in a nice warm blanket. But when have you ever gotten those types of luxuries? You stopped and looked around. Everyone was in groups already, knowing each other from previous years or schools.
You did know one person. Unconsciously, you found him amongst the sea of people — it was rather annoying. You didn't know if it was his hair that made him stick out from others or the way he was surrounded by people who had the same sports bag as him that made him easy to spot. Maybe some part of you just knew that he would be there.
You had a thought on your way here. Maybe if you saw Osamu, physically reminding yourself and the world that he was your soulmate, it would do something, anything. The ticking made you doubt yourself. You were in a limbo. You knew you were soulmates; you felt it in your bones.
Movement from the corner of your eyes caught your attention but you ignored it.
You sighed and closed your eyes.
Tick. Tick. Tick.
It was dull, faint. But still there.
You kept your head down and quickly went in the opposite direction of Osamu, pushing past people until you found someplace else.
•──────⋅☾ ☽⋅──────•
At the entrance of the school Airi watched you as you watched Osamu. Osamu, of course, was none the wiser, like an idiot. She wanted to scream. Why were both of you being idiots? She took a step forward towards Osamu, ready to berate and nag in his ear until it fell off.
Airi hesitated and turned her head in your direction. She didn't know you, save from your one interaction with each other, but you seemed off. How could the person who smiled and gave her soulmate and his then-girlfriend food, not just go up to Osamu? Especially when they weren't strangers to each other?
She followed you instead.
Airi suspected that you didn't know where you were going, but she admired your pace and quick movements through the unknown area. After she became a little winded and tired, and you had gone far enough from the crowd, she matched your pace and caught up to you.
"(Y/N)!"
You turned sharply, your eyes wide.
Airi smiled despite her concern. Your face was scrunched up like you spent too much time thinking and rethinking. Your eyes were surrounded by an irritated red. "You walk fast," she said. "I've been following you for at least the equivalent of a block."
Your lip turned up. "You have to start with a good momentum."
Airi nodded. "I'll keep that in mind. I'm —"
"Airi," you finished. You bit your lip and started playing with the straps of your backpack. "You came in with Osamu at the onigiri shop. I'm —"
"(Y/N)," Airi supplied. "He told me."
"Oh."
Airi shuged. She was sad when Osamu told her. She knew that their relationship wasn't going to last forever, but she didn't expect for it to end just a couple of months in. Airi held no hatred towards you. One of her best friends found his soulmate. How could she be angry about that?
"We broke up," she said. Airi saw the way you closed in on yourself and quickly added, "He told me what you said though. I wanted to end the relationship. But I didn't come here to talk about that. If you want to know, I'm sure that he'll tell you."
You nodded.
"I wanted to see if you were okay."
"If I was okay?" you asked?
"I saw you outside and you looked...worse for wear."
You gave her a fractured smile, something that you probably thought was reassuring. Your eyes teared up and you started blinking. You bit the inside of your cheek. You shook your head. "Something's wrong."
"What?" she asked.
"Something's —" You turned your head to the side and pressed your hand to your ear.
Airi stepped forward hastily. "What is it?"
"The ticking. The clock," you said. "I can't hear anything else."
Airi reached forward and touched your arm. "But Osamu?"
"I know."
Airi looked around. How much longer until school started? "I'll be right back. Do move."
Despite her windedness, Airi ran back to the main entrance of the school. There were only a few stranglers there, everyone else had gone inside for the opening ceremony. But, if Airi knew Osamu as well as she thought he did, Osamu and Atsumu would still be standing outside to see who will be chicken enough to go in first.
She spotted them quickly.
"Osamu!" she yelled.
Both brothers turned to her.
"What are you still doing outside?" Osamu asked.
"You're going to break your perfect attendance," Atsumu snickered.
Airi ignored them both. "(Y/N) is over there. They said something is wrong and —"
Osamu ran off in the direction she pointed out before she finished.
"Who's (Y/N)?" Atsumu asked.
Airi furrowed her eyes together. "You don't know?"
"Know what?"
Airi snorted. "You're going to be late, let's go."
"What?" Atsumu said. He crossed his arms. "Like hell I am. I'm not losing to Samu!"
Airi pulled on his arm, dragging him to the door. "I don't care. Let's go."
•──────⋅☾ ☽⋅──────•
Fast footsteps came towards you. You flinched. "I'm fine, Airi. Just go inside."
"Good thing my name isn't Airi, then," a deep voice said. Osamu stood in front of you at least a metre away. He was breathing heavy, his chest raising and falling, but his voice was steady. He opened his mouth, concern lacing his eyes. "What can I do?"
Tick. Tick. Tick.
There was something different about telling Airi. You know about her, but you didn't know each other. The pressure was off and the words formed easily on your tongue.
"Please," he said. You didn't answer. Nothing would go past your throat like matter past the event horizon. Osamu's fists were tight by his side like he was physically forcing himself to not rush forward. "I want to be here for you. I am here for you. Please, let me be."
After a few moments, you whispered, "The clock." You avoided his gaze, favouring to look past him, through him. "The ticking."
The tension in his shoulder's dissipated. Osamu swallowed and took a cautious step towards you. "Is it loud?"
"What?"
"The ticking. Is it loud?"
"Yes."
"Can I help you?"
You nodded.
With a calm, almost blank expression, one that you knew was anything but expressionless, he walked towards you and placed his hands gently over your ears. He was close enough that you could feel the warmth from his body but far enough that you could still breathe.
Your breaths slowed.
The ticking faded, slowly down and beating to the steadiness of your heart. You were afraid to move. What if it came back? You took a moment for yourself, to reassure yourself that you were okay.
You brought your hands to Osamu's and slowly tugged them off your ears. You lowered your hands to your side without releasing his.
The ticking was gone.
"Is it better?" he asked.
"It's gone."
"Are you okay?"
You tilted your chin to meet his gaze. "You didn't hear anything?"
"No. It's been gone since I met you."
You bit your lip painfully. "Why?" you said more to yourself. "Why?"
Osamu searched your face. You didn't know what he was looking for, but from the glimmer in his eyes, you could tell he found it. "At the fear of saying something wrong, I need to tell you that Airi and I broke up."
"I know."
"And whether or not we did," he continued, like he needed to tell the first part to get to here, "you and I are still friends. I will always be your friend. We're soulmates, yes, but it is just the start of something bigger. It's a start because no matter who we are to each other, I have you in my life."
You held his hands tighter.
"If the clock comes back, we'll deal with it. If it fights, we'll fight back. But you have to know that I want to be with you. How can I quit something that is clearly at the beginning?"
You pulled him closer. "We're at the start."
"Yes," he said. "And it's going to be a very long story of our making."
•──────⋅☾ ☽⋅──────•
Ta daaaaaa!!! Yay! I actually finished a series! This was really fun to write and something (concept wise) that I've been thinking about for a while. It's a little open ended? In a way? But like it said, it's where their story beings unless you guys want a bunch of parts of them just being friends slkdjfals
I imagine that they'll be friends for a while....like a while until one of the fesses up.
Anyway, thanks for reading! What will I write next?
Vote for Bacon x dad agenda (GIMME GIMME GIMME -bacon) – Kiwi
Posted: 29/05/2023