Work Text:
A poster of the duo idol group, Re:vale.
The sharp ding of his phone’s message alert.
His own hands holding a pair of headphones and handing it off to someone else.
Light suddenly streamed through the windows, bringing the dream to an end as 17 year old Sougo Osaka slowly blinked his eyes open.
“Young master Sougo, it is almost time for breakfast.”
Sougo sat up groggily, his disheveled hair sticking out in every way. His family maid pulled back the heavy curtains keeping out the sunlight from sougo’s room, causing the teen to squint as his eyes tried to adjust to the sudden brightness.
“Would you like me to make your bed while you get ready? Your father has also requested that you join him for breakfast this morning,” the maid reported.
“Ah,” Sougo muttered. “It’s ok, I’ll make my bed myself. As for father, please let him know that I’ll join him shortly.”
“Understood.”
With that, the maid left Sougo’s room, shutting his door behind her with a click. Sougo groaned, forcing himself to shuffle out of bed. After giving his back a good stretch, he started making his bed. He picked up his pillow, about to fluff it, when he noticed a small gem right on his bedsheets- it was a brilliant azure, its color accentuated by the sunlight streaming in.
After a few seconds of staring, it finally dawned on Sougo.
“So those dreams… they’re glimpses of the future; some of the times that I’ll be spending with my soulmate,” he thought as he reached to pick up the gem. Looking at it more closely, he noticed how a couple of slightly different shades of blue lazily swirled around.
It was said that the color of one’s soulmate gem reflected their soulmate’s aura. Sougo wasn’t exactly sure how a color was supposed to show what type of ‘aura’ his soulmate had, but he assumed that his soulmate was someone who was as calm and bright as the clear blue sky.
An unstoppable smile tugged formed on Sougo’s lips as he clasped his other hand over the hand holding his gem and held it to his chest. The idea of having a soulmate felt foreign to him, yet he couldn’t help but feel giddy. His father had never even mentioned soulmates, let alone given him the talk about how soulmate gems appeared. Sougo suspected that his father may not be the best person to gush about his dreams and appearance of his soulmate gem to, but he still felt that he had a responsibility to inform his only living parent about an event as important as this.
It turns out, the teen was right about his dad not having as eager of a response as Sougo did.
A message notification from 「work」.
Rows of CDs passed by until his eyes landed on a certain section of CDs with the name “Re:Vale”.
His own fingers reaching for a set of headphones that was handed to him by someone else.
“Onii-chan, we’re going to be late!”
Tamaki suddenly felt his little sister pushing at his back, trying to roll him out of bed. With an irritated groan he pushed himself up to a sitting position.
“I’m up, Aya, I’m up,” Tamaki reassured his little sister, patting her on her head a couple of times.
Once Aya was sure that her older brother was conscious and fully awake, she nodded and headed off to finish getting ready for school herself.
“These dreams again huh,” Tamaki thought, as he quickly started getting ready for the day. “I haven’t seen them in a long time…”
Tamaki’s soulmate gem first appeared around a year ago, but he didn’t really think much of it. He knew most people made a big deal about finding their soulmates, but the young teen didn’t really put much thought into it, especially since the dreams, which were once so frequent, stopped after a few months…until their abrupt reappearance now.
Once he finished dressing himself, he grabbed his bag and keys, then poked his head out of his room and saw Aya all ready to go, waiting for him at the door. Before heading out, Tamaki reached for one of his desk drawers and pulled it open slightly.
Colored by slightly different shades of purple, his soulmate gem, set down carefully on a folded handkerchief, greeted him. He hadn’t had the urge to take out the gem in a while, but the abrupt dreams had Tamaki itching to reach out for it again. Instead of taking it with him, he pressed his lips together and pushed the drawer back in.
Tamaki didn’t want to think about soulmates...not at the moment at least. His priority was taking on enough part-time jobs to make sure that he and Aya will be able to go on with life.
“Besides,” Tamaki thought, as he closed and locked his front door, the image of his parents coming to mind, “being with a soulmate doesn’t always lead to a happy end.”
.
.
.
Apart from the occasional clacking of the keyboard keys, the study room Sougo and his friend, Mitsuki, were sitting in for the afternoon was comfortably quiet. Both young men had their eyes trained on their screens, deeply focused on their respective assignments.
Ding
The sharp sound of Sougo’s message alert resounded across the room, breaking the monotonous silence. Eyes still glued on his laptop screen, Sougo reached to his right to grab his phone with one hand.
“Mitsuki-san,” Sougo called, as he stared at his phone screen. “What is this?”
“Hm?” Mitsuki rolled his chair over to his friend’s side and took a look at the said message. A knowing grin spreading across his face. “Well...you said you wanted your old man to get off your back about finding a future partner didn’t you?”
“So you hired a rental boyfriend? Using my number? And arranged for us to meet tomorrow?” Sougo shifted his gaze to Mitsuki now, attacking him with a deadpan stare.
“Souuugo, you know I’m always supporting you 100%--”
“This was Yamato-san’s doing wasn’t it,” Sougo interrupted.
“Yeah, he was the one who originally gave that idea,” Mitsuki answered, comically fast.
Sougo groaned. “This is going to be so embarrassing. Maybe I should just text them and ask them to cancel our meeting. Please don’t tell me you guys paid for the service already.”
With a nervous smile, Mitsuki merely turned his gaze away from Sougo’s and started shuffling his feet. “Well…”
In response, Sougo buried his face in his hands. “Is there a refund policy?”
A small sigh escaped Mitsuki’s lips as he gave Sougo a couple of pats on his back. “Why don’t you just try it out? Just this once? Ask the guy if he could play as your boyfriend and meet your dad so that your old man will stop pestering you about a relationship every time he calls. You did say that he’s been getting more persistent since it’s our last year of undergrad.”
“First of all, this is such a weird favor to ask a total stranger. Second of all, if I did ask, and the person accepted, we would have to create an elaborate story and family background for him to fit my father’s expectations.,” Sougo murmured in distress, folding his arms on the table and putting his head down. “What if my father checks up on me in the future and he finds out this has all been a big lie--”
“You could always say you broke up, y’know. But we can cross that bridge when we get there. Also to be fair, the guy does work as a rental boyfriend, so asking that favor isn't that weird considering the circumstances. And hey, I can totally help you make up a story!” Mitsuki defended, with a light laugh. “Calm down though, Sougo. It’s only one meeting, for now. If things don’t really work out well, you can just not contact him a second time.”
Mitsuki’s gaze fell on Sougo’s soulmate gem, which was dangling from his phone as a little makeshift charm. The corners of his lips tugged up in a small, fond smile. Although Sougo didn’t talk as much about his soulmate or gem for a long time now, Mitsuki can still see how much Sougo treasured his gem, despite not having met his soulmate at all during these past few years.
“Hey Sougo,” Mitsuki called. “Do you still wanna find your soulmate? Or is that something you’ve given up on?”
Sougo lifted his head from his arms and faced his friend. “To be honest, I don’t think I’ve really thought about trying to meet my soulmate at all these days. Things have just been so busy, and you know my father...” Sougo’s eyes shifted down. “You know how he’s against me trying to find my soulmate because of time and—“
“Yeah, yeah, he doesn’t want you to be tied to a soulmate who’ll ‘bring shame on the Osaka name’,” Mitsuki interrupted, using air quotes to mimic the exact words Sougo’s father said.
A humorless chuckle escaped Sougo’s lips. “Yes, that.”
“I don’t get it though,” Mitsuki continued. “He’s so adamant on you finding a partner but shuts down the idea of soulmates. Why can’t he just accept that you do have one, and that there’s a chance that you two will meet, and that you’ll most likely end up with them in the end?”
“That’s something I don’t think he’ll ever talk to me about. All he said is that he trusts me to find someone ‘worthy’ and at the same time I know, one hundred percent, that he’ll turn down anyone I introduce to him.”
“How are you so sure?” Mitsuki asked.
Sougo sighed. “It’s my father. He’s never satisfied with anything...So, even if I did ask the boyfriend person to pretend to be my partner, my father will most likely not stop bothering me.”
“Hmm, well it still doesn’t hurt to try!” Mitsuki encouraged, patting his friend on the back a few times to show his support.
“It’s going to be so embarrassing,” Sougo groaned.
“What if the guy you meet ends up being your soulmate?”
“That’s...highly unlikely.”
“You should take your gem along! See if it changes color-“
“I wasn’t going to take my soulmate gem,” Sougo admitted. “I don’t want to seem rude, waving my gem in front of someone I’m supposed to be on a date with.”
Mitsuki hummed. “Well, that’s ok, it’s your gem. But at least ask the guy if he’d be willing to play pretend for a bit longer.”
“... Tomorrow’s going to be disastrous,” Sougo muttered, a distressed groan escaping his lips, emphasizing his current state of mind.
Sougo shifted in his seat and brought the coffee cup to his lips to take his 10th sip within the one minute he had spent sitting together with the young man named Tamaki. He glanced up from his cup, just in time to see his new acquaintance sitting right across the table finish up typing his text to, who Sougo guessed, was one of the people in charge of making sure their employees met up with their clients safely.
“This already feels incredibly awkward,” Sougo panicked internally. Out of habit, his fingers reached for his phone, which was safely tucked in his pocket, only to remember that he had removed his soulmate gem the night before.
“Um, so…”
“Yes--?!”
The young man sitting across from Sougo leaned back slightly, as if trying to distance himself from Sougo’s extremely nervous energy. “Uh, is there anything you’d prefer for me to call you? Like any pet names or...”
“Just my name is fine,” Sougo quickly cut in. “No need for pet names...please.”
“Sou-chan then?”
“...That works,” Sougo accepted. “What about you? How would you like me to address you as?”
“I don’t really care much about formalities, so my first name is good,” Tamaki replied.
Sougo sat in silence for a second. “Tamaki-kun… would that be okay?”
Tamaki nodded. “Yep! So now that we have that out of the way, did you have anything specific in mind that you wanted to do today?”
“This is actually my first time doing something like this, and to be honest, I didn’t even know about meeting with you until yesterday, when I received the company’s reminder text,” Sougo confessed as he turned his coffee cup in both hands. “I’m pretty much inexperienced with--”
“You’ve never been on like, a blind date or anything?” the other man interrupted.
“Well, just omiais,” Sougo answered, slightly surprised at the sudden interruption. “Some of my friends have also dragged me out to a goukon.” ( “Which did not end up too well,” Sougo mentally added.)
“Ahh, okay,” the young man followed up. “Mmm, I’m not as experienced as others on the team either, so I guess, let’s just try to go with the flow?”
Sougo nervously chuckled. “I...suppose we could…”
The duo ended up just wandering around the area, with them attempting to make small talk in turns.
Sougo’s eyes wandered over to the side, where he spotted a CD store. His attention now on the display shown at the large window, Sougo slowed down his steps.
“Re:vale! This exact poster...it’s the one in my dream,” Sougo realized. Struck with a slight moment of awe, Sougo recalled that when he first had the dream, Re:vale was just starting off as idols. And now, 4 years later, they’ve become one of the most popular idol groups in the country.
Noticing his partner’s change in pace, Tamaki took a few steps back and fixed his gaze on the display that had captured Sougo’s attention: a poster of two young men posing side by side, with the words “Re:vale New Single!!” printed right underneath.
“You like their music?”
Snapping out of his daze, Sougo turned to Tamaki and replied, “Ah, yes, of course! They’re amazing… They’re currently one of the top idol groups in Japan, and for good reason. Their music is...astounding. Their voices, their songs’ lyrics and melodies, they all blend together so beautifully! Whenever I listen to their songs I always get carried away. Re:vale is just so talented and…”
Realizing that he had started to ramble, Sougo stopped mid-sentence. Sheepishly scratching the back of his head, he mumbled, “Ah, sorry, I may have gotten a bit carried away…”
Sougo soon found that Tamaki didn’t even mind, since the younger man was already pushing open the store door and signaling Sougo to go on in. The two of them stood in place, almost comically, staring at each other, waiting for the other to move.
“... I thought you wanted to buy their single,” Tamaki finally spoke.
“I do but I didn’t want our date to start off with just...browsing a CD store,” Sougo replied. “I was just thinking that I’d buy their CD another time.”
“Don’t worry so much about this. Relax, Sou-chan,” Tamaki reassured. “A date’s something that’s supposed to be fun, not something strict.”
Sougo took a few steps closer to Tamaki. “If you don’t mind…”
“I like their music too! C’mon, let’s go. You don’t need to hesitate so much,” Tamaki replied and suddenly took Sougo’s hand in his, pulling the older man along into the store.
The two young men wandered their way over to the row of CDs with Re:vale’s tag. Tamaki’s eyes slightly widened as he scanned the CDs, suddenly feeling a sense of nostalgia.
“But I’ve never been here before...”
Before Tamaki could fully recall his dreams, he felt a whoosh of air as Sougo went straight for the new single, picking up a CD with sparkling eyes. Still holding the CD case between his fingers, he reached for the nearby headphones, which was playing a sample piece of the new song on loop. Sougo placed the headphones over his head and let his eyes fall shut and his mind relax, washing away any thoughts with the flow of the song.
“Ahh, Re:vale’s music is really the best,” Sougo sighed, awestruck by the melody. Once a few loops had passed, he lifted the headphones and offered them to Tamaki. “I’m sorry, I got over excited. I didn’t even ask if you wanted to listen to them first.”
“That’s okay, I didn’t mind at all. You looked so happy when you were listening,” the younger man honestly commented. When he reached out to grab the headphones, his fingertips brushed across Sougo’s fingers ever so slightly.
Zap
The two young men instinctively drew their hand back a little. The feeling of a slight electric shock still tingling on their skin.
“From the headphones…?” Sougo wondered.
“Must be the wire,” Tamaki concluded, brushing it off as he put on and adjusted the headphones.
Elsewhere, two gems in two completely different places, glowed with the dual colors of violet and blue, swirling as if forming a stormcloud.
The duo left the CD shop with Sougo having purchased the new single, along with a couple of other bands’ CDs and a satisfied grin plastered on his face.
“Are you happy we went in now?” Tamaki asked playfully.
Sougo nodded. “I just hope it wasn’t too boring for you.”
“Nah, I got to browse a bit too. And like I said before, I’m also a fan of Re:vale.”
As the day went on, the nervousness that had Sougo in a vice grip had loosened, and the young man found that he felt a lot more comfortable making conversation with Tamaki. Sougo could easily admit that Tamaki had an aura about him that was like a breath of fresh air.
In turn, Tamaki could say that being near Sougo was a unique experience. The older man didn’t pry too much about him, and whenever the subject shifted to music, his eyes would sparkle with excitement as he went on to talk about his favorite genre, artists he loves, and would even spurt out random music trivia, be it old or recent.
Walking side by side, casually conversing about little things such as hobbies, likes and dislikes, how their week had been, small complaints about college... it brought a smile and a wave of camaraderie to both young men.
“This feels nice…”
Simultaneously harboring the same thoughts, the two of them continued to wander around, searching for another place to visit.
The orange hues of the setting sun colored the sky as Sougo and Tamaki walked down the street, heading to the station side by side.
“To be honest,” Sougo started. “I didn’t really know what to expect from today,” Sougo replied. “I’ve never really done something like this before, and um, all of this happened because of my friends…”
“So,” Tamaki spoke. “Now that the day’s over, what did you think?”
“It was quite enjoyable,” Sougo earnestly replied. “Thank you for accompanying me today, Tamaki-kun.”
A wide, toothy grin spread across the younger man’s face in response.
Before they knew it, they had reached the gates of the station. A slight tug of impending sadness pulled at Sougo’s heart. To the unsuspecting young man, the day flew by in a heartbeat.
“I…” Sougo started to say as he looked straight at Tamaki’s face, “I didn’t think today was going to be this...relaxing.”
“Hm?” Tamaki tilted his head.
“I don’t mean to say that I came here expecting to have a bad time,” Sougo quickly backtracked. “Like I said, I had no idea what to expect and I’ve never really been on an actual date… Today was really pleasant and I’m glad to have gotten the chance to know your better. I hope it was as fun for you as it was for me.”
A few seconds of silence followed.
Sougo nervously continued, “Ah, of course, you’re probably used to this. I apologize if what I said sounded out of the blue—“
“It was,” Tamaki replied. “I had a lot of fun today too.”
Another pause. “The day passed by quite quickly didn’t it?” Sougo reached for his phone in his pocket, his fingers once again, unconsciously reaching for the gem that was usually attached, only to be met with an empty space.
An unusual burst of courage overcame Sougo, prompting him to grab his phone and tapping on the ‘add new contact’ button.
“If you don’t mind,” Sougo spoke as he held out his phone. “Would you like to exchange numbers?”
Almost immediately Sougo wanted to retract his request. What was even prompting him to be more forward than usual? His question, however, was already out in the open and there’s no backing out now.
“Oh yeah,” Tamaki casually replied. He plucked Sougo’s phone from his hand and typed in his number. “I’ll send a message to myself from your phone too, so I have your number.”
Sougo rigidly stood in place, slightly surprised that he didn’t make a fool out of himself. He quickly followed up, “I’m sorry, I’m not even sure if I’m allowed to ask for your number…”
Tamaki finished up typing and handed the phone back to Sougo. “It’s fine. We’re allowed to make our own choices. It’d be easier this way too, instead of going through the company all the time.”
“Oh, I see,” Sougo sighed in relief. “Then… does this mean that he’s willing to meet me more than once?”
“Today was fun, Sou-chan. We should meet up again sometime!” Tamaki suggested brightly.
An uncontrollable smile tugged at the corner of Sougo’s lips. “That sounds good.”
“Oh, Sougo, over here!,” Mitsuki greeted from a bench as he waved at the taller man. “I got your text. You said you wanted to talk? Did yesterday go well?”
Sougo threw himself on the bench, trying to catch his breath first, after running all the way from a lecture hall much farther away. After a few seconds, he raised his phone, bringing Mitsuki’s attention to his soulmate gem, reattached as a charm.
“It actually changed?!”
Sougo nodded. “I didn’t have it with me the whole day yesterday, but when I got back home, I noticed.”
“That’s so cool! I didn’t think I’d actually be right,” Mitsuki continued, his voice still layered with surprise. “You’re seeing him again yeah?”
“Mitsuki-san,” Sougo wheezed. “I think… I also saw some pieces of my dreams--”
“That basically confirms it right?” Mitsuki noted. “If he has a soulmate gem, and with the exact same color and shade as yours is right now, you can confirm it.”
“Yes,” Sougo agreed. “Yes, but I don’t want to sound insensitive. Isn’t it weird, asking someone I met once, about an intimate topic like soulmates?”
“Small talk about it is fine, isn’t it?” Mitsuki suggested. “I’m not saying that you should straight up ask him to show you his gem. Just, y’know, make some small talk. Also you said you saw some parts of your dreams, so it should be the same for him. I’m sure he’d wanna talk about it too.”
“I’ll...try…”
“You have the company’s number on your phone right? From the messages?” Mitsuki asked.
“I think so,” Sougo replied as he unlocked his phone and tapped on his messages. “Ah, actually Tamaki-kun and I exchanged numbers—“
“You did?” Mitsuki interrupted, pleasantly surprised. “You guys must trust each other quite a bit already. Since you have his number it’d be way easier to arrange another date then,” Mitsuki commented.
“Another date?” Sougo echoed.
“Or just hanging out,” Mitsuki added. “Just talk y’know, and have fun.
“That sounds easy but also not.”
“Please just communicate.”
“Yotsuba-san?”
Tamaki jumped slightly right as the music of the crane game stopped. He first looked through the glass, noticing how he didn’t even manage to release the King Pudding plush anywhere near the drop box.
“Ahh! I didn’t get it again!” He lamented, once his brain fully readjusted back to reality. “... One more try,” Tamaki muttered, reaching into his bag for his coin pouch.
“You seem to be distracted quite a lot today,” Iori observed. “Did something happen?”
Tamaki inserted a 100 yen coin, bringing the crane game to life again. “Mm, sorta…”
“Please be more specific,” Iori sighed. “Unless I jumped to conclusions--”
“I checked my soulmate gem this morning,” Tamaki interrupted. His hands meticulously pressed the left-right buttons of the machine, eyes scanning for the right moment to drop the plush.
“And..?” Iori prompted. Out of the things the dark haired boy expected Tamaki to talk about, soulmate gems weren’t on the list.
Tamaki pushed the last button, dropping the plush successfully into the chute. With a self-satisfied smirk, he bent down to pick up his prize. Holding it close to his chest, he replied, “I think I met my soulmate yesterday?”
Iori blinked. “That sounds more like a question.”
“I don’t really bring my gem out with me,” Tamaki murmured.
“I also haven’t heard you talk much about your soulmate before.”
“I don’t,” Tamaki confirmed. “This just happened recently and I don’t know what to feel. I never really cared much about these type of things.”
“Do you have any idea of who it could be?”
“Yeah.”
Iori’s head slightly jerked with realization. “You went on a date yesterday didn’t you?”
“Mmhm, for work.”
“So it may have been that person.”
“Yeah. I think I might have seen some stuff from my dreams too.”
“Well, if it’s bothering you, why not just talk to them and clear things up?”
“I will, I will.” The doors to the arcade slid open automatically as Tamaki and Iori made their way outside. “Guess I’ll just try to cross that bridge soon.”
「Hello, Tamaki-kun. This is Sougo.」
Tamaki’s phone rang with the incoming message. From his seat, he reached out and slid his phone closer across the table. After unlocking and reading Sougo’s message, he started typing his reply.
「souchan whats up」
「I was wondering if we could arrange another meeting soon? I wanted to talk to you in person about something. Of course, since I am messaging you directly and not to the company, you are probably not going to be paid for your time. If that is the case and it bothers you, I will gladly offer monetary compensation as well.」
Tamaki squinted at his phone screen. He could feel Sougo’s nervous energy radiating from the message itself. At the same time, a slight twinge of annoyance pulled at the back of his mind.
“I thought he had gotten more comfortable around me,” the younger man pouted. “And he’s typing so business-like. Weird.”
「souchan it’s fine. we exchanged numbers cuz its easier to not go through the agency remember? relax」
Tamaki tilted his phone, resting the top edge of his phone on his chin as he thought of how to word his next message.
「actually I wanna talk too. are you free this week?」
After some more messages back and forth, the two of them decided to grab lunch on the upcoming weekend.
Sougo placed his phone, with his soulmate gem reattached as a charm, on the table as he waited for Tamaki to arrive. He tapped on his phone screen, bringing the background to life.
“... 25 minutes early.”
The waiter came by to drop off a glass of water and hand Sougo a set of menus, which he accepted and placed on his lap. Just when Sougo grabbed the cup to take a sip of water, Tamaki plopped himself down on the seat right across his. The younger man’s sudden appearance caused Sougo to slightly choke on the water in mid-sip, forcing him to cough a few times.
“Sou-chan, you okay?” When Tamaki leaned over to pat Sougo a couple of times on his back, the dim glow of an object drew his attention.
As his coughing died down, Sougo took a glance at Tamaki, noticing how his gaze was drawn to the table...where his phone was.
“Ah, about that,” Sougo quickly uttered.
“You do have one…”
Sougo blinked. “Huh?”
“A soulmate gem,” Tamaki clarified. “You have one too.”
“That was what I wanted to talk about,” Sougo said.
“I don’t remember seeing it the last time we met.”
“It’s because I didn’t bring it with me.” Sougo took in a small breath. “I wanted to ask… have you had any dreams where you saw parts of our first date?”
The waiter came by a second time to drop off a second glass of water and a set of menus for Tamaki before giving a small bow and walking off. Tamaki gently cupped his hand around the glass and pushed it closer to him. “Yeah…”
Sougo took a sip of water. “I apologize, I’ll get to the point and stop trying to circle around the topic. You have a soulmate gem as well, yes?”
Tamaki nodded. “It’s the same colors.” He then brought out a folded handkerchief, swiftly emptying his own gem onto his palm, then placing it on the table, right next to Sougo’s.
The exact shades of blue and purple continued to swirl within both gems.
Sougo sat up straighter. “Well, that confirms it.”
All of a sudden, an ungraceful snort and a few laughs escaped Tamaki’s lips. “Sou-chan you’re so serious.”
“I’m...sorry?”
Tamaki crossed his arms on the table and leaned forward slightly. “Just cuz we found out we’re soulmates doesn’t mean things have to become different. We’re both still ourselves. Nothing’s changed has it?”
“I guess not,” Sougo agreed. After a moment of silence, Sougo let out a giggle of his own. “This is quite… normal isn’t it?”
“Normal?”
“I thought that meeting my soulmate would feel...I don’t know… a bit more grand? More obvious?” Sougo wondered. “It feels quite natural.”
“Did you want it to be grand?” Tamaki asked with a grin.
“No, I like how we met,” Sougo replied. He tapped his soulmate gem with his index finger. “Meeting my soulmate through my friends’ very random actions was something I didn’t really expect to happen. It’s a nice coincidence.”
Tamaki mimicked Sougo’s actions and reached forward to caress his soulmate gem. “Honestly speaking, I wasn’t too big on the idea of soulmates. I had other priorities, and just wanted to continue living my life. I also thought, what if my soulmate turned out to be a bad person? I would’ve been disappointed.” His eyes drifted to Sougo’s gem. “The morning after our date, I found that my gem had changed color, and by then, I remembered why some parts of our date felt so familiar to me.”
“How do you feel about soulmates now?”
“I’m… indifferent to the idea, but...” Tamaki paused. “I’m glad that it was you.”
If Sougo was drinking his water, he’d probably choke a second time. Instead, a light, slightly noticeable blush colored his cheeks.
“You’re pretty straightforward,” Sougo commented. “But I feel the same. I’m happy we met. We may not have had much time together yet, but I enjoy spending time with you, Tamaki-kun.”
“There’s nothing stopping us from hanging out more is there?” Tamaki said. “I wanna get to know you more! From that one date, I got like an ‘Intro to Sou-chan’ type of day, but I also want like ‘A Day in the Life of Sou-chan’ or a ‘Q&A with Sou-chan’ type of day.”
A fit of chuckles burst from Sougo. “You have such a unique personality, Tamaki-kun.” Since they were already on the topic of soulmates, Sougo was suddenly hit with the fact that he’d have to reason with his dad and let Tamaki know of his family.
“Sou-chan, are you okay?”
Sougo hadn’t realized that he had been chewing on his bottom lip. Snapping his head up, he reassured Tamaki, “I’m fine. It’s just… I should probably let you know about my family.”
“Ah, wait wait.” Tamaki held up his index finger, gesturing Sougo to stop. “You sure you wanna talk about it now…? You look like you’d rather not…”
Sougo was getting surprised at how many times Tamaki was able to read him so well in the short amount of time they’ve spent together.
“Well,” Sougo started. “I should let you know…”
“You can tell me later too,” Tamaki suggested. “If it’s something you’d rather not talk about now, just don’t.”
Sougo sat in thought for a couple of seconds. With a nod, he spoke, “You’re right. I don’t want to ruin this right now.” Sougo then raised his gaze to meet Tamaki’s. “If it’s ok with you, would you like to accompany me once more on another date?”
“This is already our second date isn’t it? Unless you’re also talking about a third one,” Tamaki teased, a big grin spread across his face. “We have this whole time, and then some more in the future.”
An equally large smile tugged on Sougo’s lips. Maybe getting tangled in his friends’ ideas wasn’t so bad.