Archive of Our Own

Alex smiles as he watches a shooting star from his window.

"Did you wish for something?" His little brother Luca is nearly on top of him.

"I can't tell you! Then it won't come true."

He looks back out at the pitch-black night.

He knows he'll meet his soulmate someday.

When the words first appeared, George couldn't stop staring at them. The night before, there hadn't been anything; now six words make their way up his leg.

Six heartbreaking words.

If he just focuses on his ankle, he can pretend that the only word on his body is the Soulmates that curls around the bone.

George rolls his socks back up. He doesn't tell his parents that his words have appeared.

Alex doesn't notice the words when they first appear on his wrist. A small two-letter word on the inside of his wrist is inconspicuous, escaping attention until his pen slides across his hand, huge blue line running from his palm to the "O".

He smiles.

Alex spends the rest of class doodling around his word, placing a happy face inside the 'O'. He's one step closer to meeting his soulmate.

George steps into the lecture hall, swarmed by other classmates. The sea of students push him forwards. Maybe he should have entered on the other side. He ends up picking a spot three rows away the front, partly to escape the crowd heading towards the back. A few more ambitious students take a seat in the first row, taking out notebooks and unfolding laptops. George unfolds his own.

"Can I sit here?"

George looks up. Long hair obscures the face of the asker, pointing at the chair on George's right. "Ok."

The asker sits down quickly, unfolding his laptop. "Did you buy the textbook yet?"

"No?"

"I've got the PDF from a friend, I'll email it to you." He slides his laptop over to George. George types in his school email hesitantly before passing it back. "Did you get it?"

George checks the mail application. "Yeah, I did. Thanks-" He squints at the email name. "Antonio?"

Antonio grins. "No problem."

"Can I sit here?" Alex hopes the glasses wearing student isn't saving a seat for another in this crammed midsection.

"Ok."

Alex's heart skips a beat. He stands there frozen for a few seconds, letting an eternity slip by. Inhale. Exhale. Judging from the student's lack of an interested follow-up, they're probably not his soulmate. He drops his bag on the desk, taking out a notebook and writing utensils before sitting down.

"I'm Charles, by the way." Charles extends a hand.

"I'm Alexander, but just call me Alex. Nice glasses."

"Alexander!?" The sheer enthusiasm with which Charles pronounces his name makes him smile. He's never had someone emphasize the second half over the first. Charles whips off his glasses. "Ah, these are for style."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah." Charles pulls out his phone. "Can I have your number?"

"Ok."

George feels his heart jump out of his chest when he sees his mark.

"You alright?" Lando leans over to look at his screen.

George tabs out as fast as humanely possible. "Yeah, I'm good. Just some work from another course."

"Hey, just because I'm your lab partner doesn't mean you're passing without any heavy lifting." Lando smiles. "Give me your Discord."

"My Discord? I don't have one."

Lando sighs. "Then make one, right now."

After making sure the TA isn't looking, George opens up Discord on the lab PC. "There. It's george63."

Lando leans over to look at his screen. "Got it. Hey, accept my friend and invite requests."

"Who's your essay partner?"

Charles sighs. "George Russell."

Alex shakes his head. "I wish she let us pick our partners."

Charles smiles. "I like it. What better way to write an essay on soulmate than one picked for you by fate?"

Alex opens his email. He doesn't recognize the name at all. His heart drops. What if this is his soulmate?

George opens the door of the study room. His essay partner - Charles Leclerc - sits at the table, tapping his fingers to the music on his earphones.

"What are you listening to?"

Charles pulls one earphone out. "Aida's Marcia Triunfale." Clearly George's cluelessness must show on his face, as Charles elaborates. "It's one of Verdi's operas. Star-crossed soulmates from warring countries fall in love, despite political circumstances."

"How does it end?"

Charles' gaze pierces his soul. "It's an opera. They both die at the end."

"Oh."

Charles slides the other earphone back in, humming the song. George closes the door of the study room.

Alex types furiously on his computer. After his teammate is a no show, he's stuck writing the entire essay by himself. He's sent the prof a thorough email and he hopes she has some pity on his ditched ass. Until then, he's going to have to type out the essay himself. He's grateful it's more personal than scientific - that way he doesn't have to slog through academic articles.

His thoughts about soulmates however, are currently not at all generous. Maybe playing devil's advocate will at least make his essay unique. He's not usually one to focus on the negative, but it's therapeutic to release all his frustration: how random setups can lead to disappointments from differing expectations, society's emphasis on soulmate partners, the struggle for platonic soulmates, and the difficulty of those who have a common phrase as a soulmate mark.

"Soulmates are just a false hope." He rereads, barely noticing the click of the door. Maybe it's finally his teammate.

"Ok." Someone else looks back at him, before hurriedly closing the door.

He doesn't even look at his wrist, instead scrolling down to the bottom of the document and making a note to write about desensitization.

George opens the door of the correct study room. His hand is shaking.

"What are you listening to?"

Charles doesn't look away from his screen. "Roméo et Juliette."

George grins. "I know this one! They both die at the end, right?"

Charles' gaze pierces his soul; however, the edges of his mouth curl up slightly.

George slides into the seat next to him, plopping his notebook on the table. "I've learnt. Aren't you proud?"

Charles smiles. His eyes soften. "Of something you learnt during high school? Maybe if you were five."

The squeak that comes out of his own mouth is utterly embarrassing, but he takes out his books and plops down next to Charles anyways. Nothing has to change if he doesn't want to.

Seeing his so-deemed soulmate next to Lando by the doors of the university gym is not what George expected. He almost turns straight around before it sinks in again. He doesn't know. And maybe, despite all that he believes about soulmates, he's nice.

He gives them a quick tour around the facilities: which lockers are least likely to get broken into, where all the machines are, the pool hours, etc. Right when he's about to leave, his soulmate - Alexander - grabs his hand.

"Aren't you going to stay?"

Lando shoots him an expectant look. George shakes his head. "Sorry, I've got a physics tutorial to get to."

The way Alexander's brow furrows in concern makes his heart pang in an indescribable feeling. "Did we keep you for too long?" He glances at his watch. "I hope you'll still make it."

"Yeah, I will." George looks down at the ground. "Anyways, see you around."

He gets to the room a few minutes late, reassured by the fact that his TA would never punish him for that.

"Oh, George, I have your problem set." Nicholas interrupts his explanation of one of the questions to take out a sheet from his folder and hand it to Geroge. "We're just taking it up." He tilts his head to the side. "You okay?"

George sighs. "Is it that obvious?"

"Well, it's either your problem set or something else, but considering you haven't even looked at your problem set..."

"Right."

"Wanna get lunch later?"

George glances at the clock. "Sure."

"Great, same place as usual then."

He's halfway through a distracted rant during lunch when he sees a familiar face in the distance.

"Alexander~!" He watches as Charles runs across the seating area and nearly barrels into Alexander's lap. There's more than a small twinge of jealousy at the action, especially considering he didn't know that the two knew each other.

"You know them?"

"Huh?" Nicky's words snap him back to reality. "Yeah, Alex is Lando's friend and Charles was my essay partner for SOC100."

"Alex, eh?" Nicholas' smile turns smug before he chuckles.

George blushes. "It's Alexander. We've barely talked. I don't even know his last name."

"But you know his mark already, don't you?"

He slaps Nicholas' arm. "Maybe. But I'm not going to do anything about it." He twirls his fork. "I already know he doesn't like soulmates."

Nicholas pauses before grabbing his fork. "That doesn't mean you can't win his heart otherwise."

Alex doesn't really know what to do around George. At first, it had been a one-off thing - the tour Lando organized. Somehow, it's barrelled into the merging of their two collective friend groups - which seems to have been the same friend group all along. Board game nights, voice chats, and video game nights keep them all close-knit, but despite that, George is the person he knows the most and the least about. He and Nicholas seem to have something going on about working out with the least amount of clothes possible (maybe he's spent too much time looking at those pictures), he lives off-campus but close by, he's a physics major, he's the person who walked into his study room by accident and Charles’ essay partner but-

George has never given his opinion on soulmates. No matter how much everyone shares and overshares - they have a dedicated soulmates channel in the discord group for a reason - George has never stated what he thinks on the matter. Alex has heard loads about what Charles says everyone's opinion is - perhaps the most dedicated busybody of them all - but the one thing he can't believe is how much Charles says George stares at him whenever they have those conversations.

"Hey, Alex, one of your friends is here."

Alex grabs his gym bag. "Thanks, Max."

He opens the residence door only to find George staring back at him.

"Hey." George's breathy tone and fluttering eyelashes never fails to get to him. "I need to talk to you about something."

"Alright," Alex steps out, closing the door behind him. "Can we talk on the way?"

"Sure."

He follows George without complaint as he weaves into the trees on campus.

Whatever it is George wanted to say, it seems like he's too busy staring at the leaves towering above them; so Alex speaks first. "Do you believe in soulmates?"

"Huh? Yeah, I guess." George's expression resembles that of the deer that stroll around campus: both comfortable and uncomfortable at the same time. "What about you?" Alex looks away as George winces at his own voice crack.

"When I was little, I was always excited that my soulmate was just around the corner. But later I realized that meant I would have to rely on them to tell me we were soulmates." He laughs. "Ok is used so much in daily conversation, it's nearly impossible to tell..." He doesn't miss George's sharp inhale. That's when he knows. "But when I called my mom, she reassured me. Soulmates are just like that. You may not expect the way they come into your life or how they fit in, but they were chosen for you with the ending in mind."

"With the ending in mind..?"

"Not everyone gets a happy ending with their soulmate, but usually they are a better person for it. Soulmate-repressing cultures have proved that time and time again."

George clears his throat. "About that, I have a confession to make." He turns to face him, reaching out for Alex's hand. "I-"

"I know." Alex grabs George's hand, flipping over his own wrist so that George can see it. "There's only so subtle Lando can be."

George stammers. "But Lando didn't know. I didn't even tell anyone! I think Nicky maybe figured it out but -"

Alex laughs. "When Charles knows, everyone knows."

George lets out a sound between a relieved cry and a laugh. "Oh god, you're right." He wipes his eyes with his free hand. "Will you forgive me?"

Alex nods. "Yeah. I already have." He pauses. "As long as you pretend that you still haven't confessed so that we can hold one over them."

George grins. "Sounds great, I'm in." He laughs. "I guess we're partners-in-crime then."

Alex hums. "I think that's a better title than soulmates."

"Do you think we can change it on the documents?"

Alex smiles, gripping George's hand tighter. "Yeah, maybe if we try hard enough."

The sun shines through the trees. They're still nowhere near the gym, but he knows that they'll get there eventually.