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“So.” Michele plopped down beside his sister, wrapping an arm around her and pulling her into a side hug. “My plan is to tell people that I ignored my soulmate in my dream because she was too young to go to, and if she wants to come when she has her dream that’ll be one thing. And then just tell people that she obviously decided not to come. You should probably go with a different lie. Unless…” He trailed off, smiling at Sara’s bewildered expression. “If there’s someone younger you would want as your soulmate, you could use the lie that they’re younger and I’ll tell people that my soulmate has a husband and two kids and doesn’t regret their choice or want me around. Then if Mila or Emil or whoever ends up with no soulmate or a soulmate they don’t want, they can use you as their lie, and both of you are covered.”
Sara’s bewilderment just deepened. “You’re… making plans for how to cover this up? You don’t want to tell everyone?”
“Come on, Sara.” He gave her a squeeze. “If we tell people that you and I are soulmates, they’ll make us take the test. I don’t need to be your soulmate to be your twin brother, so no sense in asking you to suffer through that.”
“But… if we’re soulmates…” Sara stared at her hands. “I know you’d never cross any lines without my permission, Mickey, but…”
Michele swallowed hard. “Sara, do you think this is what I wanted? For us to be soulmates?”
“Yes?” She blinked away the tears. “You’ve never let anyone near me, you snap people’s heads off for saying that I’m pretty or that they wish I could be their soulmate…”
“I love you, Sara, but it’s not what you think.” Michele let go of his sister, turning so that he could face her properly. “I have always wanted to see you safe, loved, and happy. When you found out who your soulmate was, I had no intention of interfering with them coming to you, unless it was a situation where I knew they were abusive or married with no intention of leaving another partner. And in that case, it would just be to make sure you knew about the other person or people, really. The abusive thing, well, anyone would do what they could to prevent their loved one from getting hurt, wouldn’t they?” He gently brushed away a tear. “I never wanted you to be my soulmate. Not for real. It made for a nice fantasy, but outside of that, I knew you’d never be happy. It will be more difficult, not having that soulbond to rely on for guidance on who will be good for you, but I’ll try to find a way.”
“You…” Sara threw her arms around him. “Mickey, you’re my soulmate. There’s a reason for it.”
“I am, and I’m sure there is, but neither of those are a reason for you to cross any lines you don’t want to cross,” Michele reminded Sara, although he held her tight. “I will confess, I do want to tell Viktor Nikiforov about this, just to see what he says about it.”
Sara giggled, and Mickey breathed a quick sigh of relief. They’d gotten through the worst of this. Or so he thought, as Sara looked up at him, purple eyes practically glowing. “Mickey? If we weren’t twins, if I were a year younger than you instead of a few minutes, would you try to have sex with me in here?”
Although his first instinct was to lie, Michele managed to catch himself before it made its way out. Instead, he gave it a proper thinking through. He was reasonably certain he wouldn’t have, but Sara deserved the honesty. “That would depend on you. I probably would have asked you if you would be willing, since you wouldn’t remember it, but I would never have just done it or tried to change your mind if you said no. Why do you ask?”
“Because…” Sara blinked once, slowly. “I’m curious. I want to know what it’s like. If you were younger, I probably would have asked for it in my dream. In this case, with us both remembering, it will be harder to dismiss as just a dream or fantasy. Do you still want to?”
Did he? Under any other circumstances, Mickey would be out of his pants already. This was too real, though. This was the real Sara, and she would remember it tomorrow as more than just a soul echo or imprint. If they were going to cross that line, ever, wouldn’t it be better to do so after they’d had the chance to process this, think about it, and really work through the implications? “I’d like to, but my feelings are mine to deal with. You being my soulmate changes a bit of the guilt I feel about it, but not my resolve. You don’t feel that way about me. If you have any concerns about getting confused or developing unwanted feelings, then I would prefer not to.”
Sara cut him off with a kiss. “That’s fair.” She leaned against him, and then burst into fresh giggles. “I’m just so glad that we live now instead of in the Middle Ages. You as a priest or a monk, I could see easily, but can you imagine me as a nun?” Michele could not, and his laughter joined Sara’s. That had been the usual fate for those people whose soulmate made marriage undesirable for whatever reason, or who didn’t have a soulmate. “Did I tell you… no, I wouldn’t have, because I was too afraid of this happening. I got a call from Uncle Beni yesterday.”
“Ugh. I can just imagine what he had to say.” Uncle Beni, really their great-uncle Benito, was a horribly old-fashioned, sexist, and hyper-religious pain in Michele’s ass. “Fuck him. Your duty to me is to be a good sister and a happy person. I hereby absolve you of any duty to be any kind of wife to me.”
“I’m glad to hear that.” She smiled up at him. “I think we should tell people the truth. I know you won’t stop me if Mila’s soulmate turns out to be horrible or she doesn’t have one and we decide we want to be together, or Emil, or someone else who you can bring yourself to trust to be good to me. It will get people to ease up on calling you creepy or spreading weird rumors about us, too. And then, if my feelings change now that I understand you better, I’m sure our friends and family would understand why we’d lie about it but we wouldn’t have to admit to it.”
“Wait, what?” Michele stared at Sara. “Why would your feelings change? I’m still your brother, and soulmates or not, it’s still…”
“Weird? Yes. Creepy, I know there will be people who will never say it’s not.” Her smile dropped, leaving her face completely vulnerable. “I misunderstood you badly, Mickey. I felt smothered by your possessiveness, thinking that you wouldn’t let me go even to my soulmate. The idea of you being my soulmate felt like a prison. I know better now. You’re protective, and while I still think you went too far, I understand why you did it. It doesn’t feel like a prison now. It feels like a home. I’m not saying things will change, but they could. I’m not going to try to force anything to happen, but if it does, I won’t hide it or try to stop it, either.”
“Fair enough, then. And you really want to tell people straight off? Like you said, they’d almost certainly understand us keeping it to ourselves. I don’t think seeing Uncle Beni and Viktor’s faces is worth going through testing to prove it, which you know we’ll have to if we want anyone to believe us. Especially if your feelings change and we end up deciding to be together.”
“Not having to coordinate lies or keep lies straight is. Not having to deal with fakers trying to save me from the overprotective brother forcing me to lie so he can keep me to himself is.” Sara nodded firmly. “I think we should tell people.”
“As you wish, then.” Mickey took her hands and gave them a squeeze. “Now, since we don’t have stories to get straight and we’ve ruled out other activities, what would you say to heading for the rink and doing some pair skating? You’ve never let me try a death spiral in the real world, but I’m pretty sure souls can’t get concussions!”