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The first of the many daily inconveniences, Kenjirou clasped his fist over his mouth to keep from laughing, hoping to be subtle. [Taichi, turn that off. Pay attention in class.]
In the class 5 room next door, Taichi sat slouched at his desk, one earbud snuck into his ear and a youtube video playing on his phone.
Kenjirou sat at his own desk, experiencing the same visual and auditory stimuli as Taichi and choking back another grin at the video’s content. He let his eyes wander the walls and other students in the classroom, trying to block out the second presence in his head. He focused on his teacher and the lecture notes on the board, scribbling his own bullets in a notebook, ignoring Taichi until the video narrator made a joke and Taichi snickered under his breath, ripping Kenjirou’s mind back to his best friend. [Dude. I’m serious. Turn it off. I’m having a hard enough time following this lesson without you distracting me.]
[Stick in the mud.]
[You should be paying attention to your own class.]
[Why do I have to listen when I can listen to you listening?]
[Then listen to me listen. Don’t watch videos.]
[Okay, fine.] Taichi’s eyes dropped onto the desk and he picked at a splinter in the wood with a finger. [It’s always easier to listen to your thoughts than listen to my teacher. She doesn’t explain it as clearly as you do.]
Kenjirou felt the nudge of affection in his mind and pride swelled in his chest. Taichi kept prodding into Kenjirou’s mind with his own, leaving behind traces of emotions and fleeting thoughts, still just as distracting as the video. Kenjirou blinked and drew his gaze back onto his teacher and his notes. Taichi’s thoughts were still there, but Kenjirou had long ago learned to block him out. It was like a sunlight glare on a TV screen, always present in the back of Kenjirou’s mind, but easy to ignore when he focused on the image on the screen. Still, awareness of the glare brought it back.
[That was a weird dream we had last night, huh?]
[Quiet, Taichi. Paying attention.]
[Do you think it came more from my thoughts or yours?]
[I don’t know. I don’t really care.]
[Kenjirou?]
[What.]
[I miss you. It’s so loud. You think so many thoughts at once.]
At times, Kenjirou found Taichi’s thoughts clearer to hear than his own and he figured it would be the same for him. Taichi would be able to precisely hear the wave of thoughts through Kenjirou’s head, the knowledge he was blushing, the silent “Am I thinking a lot of thoughts at once?” the even quieter “I love you,” and the longing to be closer to Taichi again. Kenjirou glanced at the clock on the wall. [Three hours until lunch.]
A warm feeling spread through Kenjirou’s mind as Taichi’s memory recalled the feeling of holding hands under the table or hooking their legs together, sometimes the best feelings they could achieve all day. As pleasant as the memory was, it didn’t have the same effect as actually feeling Taichi’s fingers intertwined with his and Kenjirou went back to taking notes. He tried not to scowl, his heart longing for his soulmate, the glare of Taichi’s thoughts intruding on his mind.
The next few hours passed slowly and they fell into their normal rhythm of helping each other out with classwork, Kenjirou pausing his literature work when Taichi got called out to do a math problem on the board in front of the class since poetry would only be a distraction and Taichi had always found comfort in having another set of eyes on his work.
[Thanks for correcting me on step two,] Taichi communicated as he took his seat again.
[No problem. I would’ve had to feel your embarrassment second-hand and I don’t like that any more than you do. Just be glad I pay enough attention for the both of us.]
[That’s what I’m trying to tell you, I don’t need to pay attention in class. I learn everything I need to know through you.]
[You can argue this all you want, but I’m not going to let you watch videos in class. Because then I end up watching the video too and now no one’s paying attention and we both fail.]
[Shh, your head gets so loud when you’re debating and someone’s going to notice you staring daggers at the wall.]
Kenjirou blinked back into the present, noting that he was indeed glaring at the wall. He schooled his expression to focus gently on the teacher and he exhaled, willing the last ten minutes of class before lunch hour to pass by quickly.
As soon as the bell dismissed them, Kenjirou packed up his supplies and fled the classroom, catching sight instantly of his best friend walking toward him. He fell into step with Taichi and let the backs of their hands brush together. The contact wasn’t nearly long enough for any sort of effect on their minds but it felt good anyway.
They sat down together at their usual table with the other members of the volleyball club. The dialog between their minds had been substituted for an audible conversation, more for the sake of everyone else around them, unaware of their telepathy.
The familiar table was quickly dominated by the louder members of the group while Kenjirou and Taichi switched back to talking silently to each other, mostly making teasing comments about their teammates back and forth.
Taichi lifted a bite of his food to his mouth and Kenjirou flinched as he tasted it too. It would clash horribly with his own meal once he started eating. He’d become pretty good at judging what foods worked well together and what didn’t since he’d started sharing a mouth with his best friend. Instead of putting up with competing tastes, Kenjirou shifted his foot to touch Taichi’s under the table and for the first time in hours, the only thoughts in his head were his own. Some of the tension in his shoulders was released and he saw Taichi loosen up next to him as well as they were freed from their forced way of life inside each other’s heads.
Lunch ended far too quickly and they had to separate again to walk back to class.
The second half of the day was always harder than the first somehow. They sat through classes diligently then walked together toward the volleyball gym. It was here that their abilities proved to be most valuable and most annoying at the same time.
The glare on the screen of his vision, Kenjirou saw Taichi’s perspective of the court as well as his own. It got in the way of his sight sometimes, but in the last year and a half together, they’d become experts at utilizing each other to watch more of the court at once. Kenjirou found his mind occupied with Taichi’s thoughts as well and they strategized as a team, using both their perspectives and joint cognition to make good calls for the whole group. It was extremely effective most of the time with all the time they’d spent working to develop their skills together.
When the opportunities arose for them to work together directly on the court, it was better than ever. Taichi spiked one of Kenjirou’s tosses to the other side of the court successfully and came in for a high-five. The contact was too brief to unlink their thoughts from each other, but any contact they had felt good. And it was the closest they ever dared to get to one another while others were watching.
Practice ended with satisfied feelings flowing between their minds while they listened to Washijou talk to the whole team.
[Stop being tired.]
[I don’t just get to decide that, Kenjirou.]
[Well, your tired thoughts are making me feel tired and I don’t appreciate it.]
[Maybe you could give me some of your not-tired thoughts and help me out a bit.]
[Taichi. Wake up— fuck, Washijou’s talking to you.]
Kenjirou blinked to clear the glare from his mind, watching the coach stare with narrowed eyes at Taichi, just as visible in Kenjirou’s eyes. He almost opened his mouth to speak, hearing words spoken to Taichi as if they were spoken to him. It wouldn’t be the first time he’d slipped up and it was never easy to excuse.
Taichi nodded slightly, pretending he had been paying attention.
Washijou moved his gaze back around the group of athletes. “Serving. Everyone’s serves need to be stronger. It may not be our signature move, but that doesn’t mean we can leave it undeveloped.”
[Let’s come in early on the weekend and work on serving. Tournament season is coming up soon and we can’t be half-assing anything.]
[Sorry, you lost me at ‘early on the weekend.’]
[Shut up. You know we improve faster when we’re working together.]
[I used to have such relaxing weekends before I met you and had to share all your stupid motivated thoughts.]
The volleyball team huddle ended when Washijou dismissed them to finish cleaning. Kenjirou kept his distance from Taichi to complete his own task then head into the locker room to shower. They made no effort to talk to each other out loud, keeping their conversation silent between their minds even as they met up by their lockers, pulling out their belongings. Both locker doors slammed and the two turned toward the door when Tendou inserted himself between them, his own backpack flung over his shoulder.
“Ooh, Taichi got in trou-ble for serving!”
[Not this again. Go away, Tendou.]
[Your curse, buddy.] Kenjirou stifled a smile, keeping up his pace toward the door.
Taichi scuffed his shoe against the floor as he walked. “I’m probably going to come in early on the weekend to work a little extra on serving. Tournaments are coming up and stuff.”
The smile on Tendou’s face was blinding as he launched into a ramble about how proud he was of Taichi for working hard.
[Huh. Coming in early on the weekend to practice serves? What a novel idea. Wonder where you got that notion from.]
[Shut up. It is a good idea. Doesn’t mean I have to like it though.]
Kenjirou stumbled to a halt as they cleared the gym and Tendou suddenly darted out in front of him, bending down to look at his hand, signature ridiculous grin still plastered on his lips. “What do you want,” Kenjirou grumbled, taking a step away like Tendou was some sort of wild animal.
Tendou glanced up between the two. “Taichi, don’t space out on me while I’m talking to you! I’m trying to be a good senpai, but you’re staring at Kenjirou’s hand or something!”
[If he doesn’t leave us alone soon, my hand will be the last thing he ever sees.]
Taichi smirked. [Sorry, Tendou-san. Just tired.]
[Out loud, dumbass.]
[Fuck.] “Sorry, Tendou-san. Just tired.”
Only laughing, Tendou skipped around them and put an arm around both their shoulders, pushing them together. “Is it a hand you want to hold, Taichi? Come on, let me play match-maker. You guys would be a cute high school fling, don’t you think?”
Kenjirou pulled away so he wasn’t touching Taichi. As much as he relished the feeling of only having his own thoughts in his head, he wanted Taichi’s too at that moment.
[Get him off me.] Taichi stumbled as Tendou hung over his shoulders, trying to walk in sync with him.
“I’ve told you this before, Tendou-san,” Kenjirou walked a few steps ahead, “I’m not dating until I meet my soulmate. There’s no reason to start something you know isn’t going to last. I’m in no rush to be in a relationship. High school is too busy anyway for dating.”
“No, no, no! High school is the best time to experiment!” Tendou abandoned the fruitless quest to climb on Taichi’s back, running ahead to bat at Kenjirou’s hands. “You want to be a virgin when you meet your soulmate and have no idea how to french kiss? And what if you never meet your soulmate? Then you’ll have wasted your life on abstinence for nothing! Besides, you two are cute together; the whole team thinks so. Really, it’s too bad you’re not soulmates. You two could be the cutest.”
Kenjirou felt Taichi’s amused grin and rolled his eyes in response. He pushed Tendou out of the way to lay a hand on the door of the dorm. “Too bad that kind of thing doesn’t operate on popular vote. Goodnight, Tendou-san.”
“No fun!” Tendou took a few more stabs at Taichi with his fingers before Kenjirou unlocked the door and they shut him out in the hall.
The instant the door was closed, Kenjirou locked his arms around Taichi’s shoulders and they stumbled backward together to collapse onto one of the beds, mouths already pressed together and hands roaming desperately for bare skin contact. Taichi pulled Kenjirou closer, tight enough that it could almost be painful if it didn’t feel so good.
It was ironic, Kenjirou thought, as he cuddled closer, that the one situation when he couldn’t hear Taichi’s thoughts as clearly as his own, he knew what he would be thinking anyway.
“We should just come out with it,” Taichi mumbled into the side of Kenjirou’s neck, hand slipping underneath his shirt. “It’d be easier if we didn’t have to pretend we didn’t mean anything to each other.”
“You know we don’t have a choice yet. Almost no one finds their soulmate as young as we were when we met. We’d be treated differently. And—” Kenjirou’s voice caught in his throat as Taichi left a line of gentle kisses along his collarbone. “And we wouldn’t be able to cheat on classwork.”
Taichi pulled them both down on the bed, letting Kenjirou lay peacefully on his chest. “We could date though, like Tendou-san said. We could pretend we were just having a fling and then we could at least hold hands in public and it wouldn’t be as weird.”
“It’s kind of exciting though, keeping the secret. And it makes the end of the day that much better when we can finally be alone.” Kenjirou rested his head next to Taichi’s. “I’m happy where we are right now if you are.”
Sitting up again, Taichi pulled away from Kenjirou, letting his thoughts be heard as the connection severed. Kenjirou heard Taichi thinking about the few people they knew who had their soulmates. It was hard to live with their secret but it was likely just as hard to have everyone’s eyes on them, forced to sit through class touching so they couldn’t share answers.
Kenjirou picked at a fingernail. [I know too much forced contact hurts some couples. They long for time apart from each other the way we long for time together. That’s how I want it to be. I want the end of the day when I finally get you to myself to be the best part of every day, not because I need a break from your thoughts, but because I love you.]
[This is kind of a curse, isn’t it. Too much of either being together or being apart hurts.]
The brief throb of heartache in the back of Taichi’s mind hit Kenjirou full force. [We’ll get better at finding a balance. We have the rest of our lives together.]
[Yeah. Thank you for taking care of us. I couldn’t ask for a better soulmate.]
Smiling, Kenjirou leaned back into Taichi’s arms. They sat in welcome silence, nothing more they needed to say.