Chapter Text
William Henry Whalen III looked very elegant on Pete White's arm. Clearly his soulmate was refined enough to have some lovely handwriting. When the writing had been less clear he had hoped the first name was Wilhemina or something. For a few years he was certain Wilhemina was some sort of European minor princess or at the very least an old money New England heiress who attended stuff like yacht races and finishing school.
His privacy cuff was rose-gold studded with a few tasteful rubies. Pete liked the way it looked against his skin and he peeked at the marking every night before bed with the exception of that week he realized it said 'William' and had a bit of a panic over his sexuality. After the panic subsided Pete decided that a high class guy was nearly as good as lady and maybe they'd have a nice threeway with a Danish duchess or something one day.
“You really think your soulmate is someone rich, White?” Rusty poked him in the arm in their shared freshmen dorm room. “I mean wouldn't they have found you already with their money to hire private investigators?”
“Well maybe they weren't looking hard enough, there are a lot of Peter Whites in the world. Lord Whalen is probably Dutch or something. He probably hasn't searched outside of Europe yet,” drawled Pete lounging on their shared sea foam green couch.
“It doesn't say 'Lord' on your arm,” said Rusty. “I've seen it so you can't fool me like you did our RA.”
“Which is unfair because you have never shown me yours, pally,” Pete replied. “You took advantage of my sense of fairness. I thought you'd show me yours.”
“No way, White. Do you know how many people have been trying to find out the name of Rusty Venture's soulmate? And how many have succeeded? The answers: everyone and no one. I haven't even shown it to my own father.”
“I bet it's an embarrassing name,” he teased. “I bet you already met them and you're too embarrassed to admit you're soulmates. Is she ugly? Oh wait no, it's totally a guy-”
“Don't even try to guess because you're not going to find out.”
Pete figured he'd won the discussion anyway because Rusty was blushing scarlet enough to rival his own complexion.
“Whatever, you're just jealous that one day you'll be visiting me in me and Lord Whalen's manor while you're just at your sciencey compound,” Pete smiled at the image. “And you better bring something nice to the wedding. I don't want William Whalen III to think I have cheap friends.”
Several years later Pete managed to buy a trailer because no manor had appeared. In fact no Lord William ever appeared, but he and Billy had a nice roommate arrangement.
“White! You gotta see this! My mom sent us Nana's antique china cabinet and the good china!” Billy shouted from the door as the delivery man wheeled in the boxes. He thrust a letter into Pete's hands as he wondered aloud where the best place was to put the cabinet.
'For my darling boys, please enjoy these in good health and good company! All my love, Mom'
Which was pretty sweet of Billy's mother, but what really caught his attention was the embossing at the letterhead which read 'From the desk of Rose Whalen.'
“Billy?”
“Yeah?”
“Did your mother get remarried or something? Or does she keep her maiden name or something?”
“What are you talking about, White? She's got the same last name as me, Whalen.”
“So you're William Whalen?”
“How have you not known my full name? We've been living together for a year! It's William Henry Whalen III, you have to have seen it written down somewhere.”
Pete was told he fainted then and when he finally came around Billy had an expression that was equal parts smug and exasperation. “So you finally figured it out?”
“You could've warned a fellow.”
“Us geniuses are used to waiting for others to catch up,” Billy kissed him on the nose. “But I'm still going to tease you about it.”