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Lance knew his soulmate had purple eyes. Everyone was born with one eye colored ¾ of your designated soulmate’s eye color. In Lance’s case, he had one fully blue eye and one that was ¼ blue and ¾ purple. The moment he would make eye contact with his soulmate, he wouldn’t be able to look away for a few intense moments, then the extra color would fade back, like it was never there. Sometimes, if you never met your soulmate, the color would just turn gray, and you would know your soulmate died.
That was what scared Lance the most. His mom had a cousin to whom it happened and she seemed to be a little not well in her head ever since. He prayed each day that he would just meet them, so they could love each other. Maybe it would only be platonic (he hoped not) but at least, he would know who they were.
His job of barista in a Starbucks wasn’t only to get money, it was also a very efficient way to meet a lot of people. So far, he was unlucky, but he was only 19 and some people met their soulmate only later in life. His best friend’s parents for example, they were in their 30s when they finally met. Lance hoped for a closer meeting. He was just so impatient about it.
Today however, he tended to hope he wouldn’t meet his soulmate. The day had been long and stressful, he looked terrible in this late hour and it was a day bad enough that his vision was getting blurry. He had maybe 30 minutes left before he needed to close the shop with his co-worker, and Romelle made sure to help the best she could. She was such a nice girl.
“How are your eyes?” she asked.
“Still very blurry to be honest. It gets better and suddenly drops again.”
“Do you want to eat something?”
“Nah, won’t help. I’m good, don’t worry.”
He was cleaning their workspace, that didn’t need him to exactly see perfectly. The day was almost over thankfully, then he would walk home and with a little luck, he would wake up the next morning with perfect vision. He doubted it but couldn’t hurt to hope.
A few minutes later, Romelle had to go into the backdoor and left him alone at the counter. It was a very calm evening, so he didn’t stress to be left alone with his blurry vision. And if someone came in, his hands knew exactly what to do at this point.
And 5 minutes later, he heard the ringing of the door opening and smiled.
“Welcome to Starbucks! What can I get you tonight?”
He looked at his screen, something he never did normally, waiting for the customer to order.
“I’d like a Tall Iced Macchiato, vanilla flavored, please.”
Lance’s heartbeat jumped a little for some reason. He typed the order, knowing exactly which button he needed to press.
“Do you want any extra whipped-cream?”
“Nah, I’m good. I just want this coffee.”
He sounded tired and Lance was pretty sure he just yawned. His vision got better slowly, so he took that moment to look at the correct total for this guy. He then leaned over the counter and met his stare for the first time.
His smile dropped a little. His vision became so clear and saturated with colors that it hurt his eyes. The other looked at him with as much surprise as himself. In the violet eyes of the other, he noticed his right eye had some blue slowly draining from it. He felt his own right eye tingle but he couldn’t stop staring at the other and not even blink altogether. When he could finally move and breathe again, his vision became blurry once more.
“I can’t believe it… the one day I look like shit and I’m finally meeting you…”
“Where? You look beautiful.”
Lance laughed a little and held his hand out to the customer. To his soulmate. He took it and held him tight.
“I’m Keith.”
“My name is Lance. Nice to meet you, Keith.”
“I’m happy to meet you too.”
Lance heard the smile in his voice. At least, he really was happy to meet him, even if he looked like he had been run over by a truck. How Keith didn’t think he looked terrible was astonishing. He heard the backdoor opening and he was pretty sure Romelle stopped dead in her tracks.
“What’s going on?”
The burnette laughed again and turned his head a little to her.
“Well, I just met my soulmate, and I can’t even see him with how blurry it is for me.”
“Blurry? What? Are you OK?!” asked Keith in a hurry.
He let go of Lance’s hand and the brunette felt someone come close to him. It wasn’t Romelle, judging by the absence of that floral perfume she always wore. Plus, the person in front of him had black hair. He smiled a little.
“It’s OK. I just had a bad day. Some people get headaches, while me, my eyes just stop to focus.”
He felt a hand cup his cheek and took it with his. The palm was warm but the tips of the fingers were cold. No surprise this late in november.
“I’m OK. Don’t worry.”
“I can’t. I waited years to finally meet you, and you can’t even see me right now…”
“I will, soon. I just need to rest my eyes.”
He felt how close Keith was to him. He was in his space, and Lance accepted gladly. With his other hand, he traced down Keith’s arm to travel to his chest then his back, to press him closer so they were chest to chest. He heard a cute “awww” close to them and knew it was his co-worker. Romelle was a romantic, the scene before her was probably close to one out of the romance novels she loved so much.
Lance pressed his lips to the black hair close to his head. He felt the shiver on top of the skin. And the sigh Keith breathed out.
“I love you already.” he heard, Keith’s voice trembling a little.
“That’s good. I was afraid you would run away if you saw me looking like that…”
He felt a few little shook of the head.
“Like I said, you’re beautiful. And I don’t care what you look like. I waited too long. It feels like centuries since the last time I was able to get so close to you.”
Lance smiled. He felt the same. He wounded his other arm around Keith, and felt his arms hugging his torso as well. They were pressed fully one to the other, like they would be pulled away forever if they let go.
“Please, don’t leave me. Take me home with you…”
“I will, I promise.” said Lance while kissing the expense of skin close to his lips.
They breathed out a single sigh in chorus, like their souls resonated together. They probably were.
Keith would wait patiently, drinking his coffee, while Lance and Romelle cleaned and closed the shop. He would take Lance’s arm with his and they would travel in the streets of this late november night to Lance’s apartment on campus. They would get warm and comfy in Lance’s combo couch/bed, exchanging stories about themselves for the other. Lance would trace Keith’s face, hair and arms to at east know some part of him until his eyes finally decided to let him see the beautiful boy before him. He would wake up the next morning, his eyesight perfect, to see just how lucky he was to have Keith right next to him in the bed. And he would kiss him as good morning and be hugged tightly by his soulmate.
It was worth the waiting.