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There were a few things Charlie knew for certain.
- He was gay. That was a fact. He liked boys.
- He was a bit (very much so) jealous of his friends, Tao and Elle.
- The universe created a perfect match for him, his soulmate.
Charlie had always known he was gay, he supposed. When he was younger he used to feel the way about boys the way other boys felt about girls. At the time he didn’t really understand it but he definitely didn’t wake up one day and think ‘oh look, guess I’m gay now’. The idea that Charlie liked boys was akin to saying the sky was blue. Duh, that much was obvious. The fact that he was gay never bothered Charlie, not in the way most people would expect. He never struggled with internalized homophobia but he did have a hard time when he compared his relationship to his friends’. Charlie had three friends, Tao, Isaac and Elle. Charlie met Tao first when they were 11. He was an outgoing, talkative boy that practically ambushed Charlie into a friendship. Not that Charlie particularly minded at the time, he was a very lonely boy. Charlie met Elle the following year. They were both the shy kids who ended up getting paired for a project because no one else wanted to work with them and Tao wasn’t in that class with Charlie. They both ended up flourishing under their friendship with one another and Charlie introduced Elle to Tao. The trio met Isaac when they got into secondary school. He was being teased and Tao stood up for him. Isaac didn’t speak to them much at first but continued to sit with their little group at lunch. The four of them had been inseparable since then. Charlie loved his friends more than anything. They always made him feel safe. The issue wasn’t the fact that he was gay. Nope, their little friend group was queer enough that Tao being cishet made him the odd one out.
The issue came when Charlie compared his journey to finding his soulmate to his friends’ which brought Charlie to point number two. Charlie was more than a bit jealous of Tao and Elle. Charlie brought Elle to Tao, hoping to add Elle to their group and ended up handing Tao his soulmate. That day Charlie watched as the twin butterfly shaped soulmarks on his friends’ wrists glowed. He watched as the two of them stared at each other in awe and stumbled through their introductions to one another as soulmates. It was incredibly rare to find your soulmate as young as Tao and Elle did and Charlie had the pleasure of watching them fall in love as they grew and changed. Charlie was happy for them, he was, but he was also a little more than excited that Isaac was added to their group. Purely selfish, Charlie wanted someone else to talk to who hadn’t found their soulmate. Charlie was rarely so lucky. Isaac was aro/ace which means he didn’t have a soulmate. He revealed that to their group a few months after they met, quickly adding that it was ok because he didn’t need a soulmate when he had friends like them. So, yeah. Charlie was a bit jealous. A bit jealous because his entire friend group didn’t have to worry about finding their soulmates because they either didn’t have one or they had already found theirs which brought Charlie to point number three. He had a soulmate out there somewhere. Charlie’s soulmark consisted of little leaves that wrapped around his wrist and continued up wrapping around his arm until they stopped at his mid-forearm. Everyone’s soulmate identifying marks, or soulmarks were different. The only person who had the same mark as you was your soulmate.
There were a few things Charlie didn’t know for certain.
- He didn’t know who his soulmate was.
- He didn’t know why he hadn’t found him yet.
Oftentimes when a person was close to their soulmate, there was just the faintest glow of their soulmark like a little warning sign. Charlie always thought it tickled when the little leaves lit up but this was the fifth time it had glowed that day and he was beginning to get a little more than annoyed.
“I think the universe is fucking with me at this point,” Charlie grumbled to his group of friends as they sat at their usual picnic table for lunch.
“Oh?” Elle asked, raising an eyebrow at him. Charlie sighed, rolling up his sleeve to show the faint glow. “Ah,” Elle said. “I mean that’s a good thing, right? It means he’s close.”
Charlie huffed. “Yes, I’m overjoyed,” he deadpanned. “This is the fifth time today. FIFTH! If I’m going to meet him, I would like it to be sooner rather than later because this,” Charlie paused, gesturing towards the leaves on his arm. “Is driving me insane.”
Isaac let out a snort but didn’t look up from his book. Tao stared at Charlie and Charlie knew he was going to say something just a little bit stupid. “Shall I start listing people who haven’t found their soulmate yet? Would that be helpful?”
Charlie narrowed his eyes at Tao as Elle sighed loudly. “We get new form groups tomorrow. You never know, Charlie, maybe you’ll find him then,” Elle said gently. If anyone else had said that Charlie would’ve scoffed and rolled his eyes but Elle tended to have a comforting effect on all of them.
Charlie sighed. “Maybe you’re right, Elle.”
Something shifted between Tao and Elle because Tao grabbed Elle’s hand and gave it a squeeze. Elle’s eyes were trained on a group of rugby boys, specifically Harry Greene. Harry was usually the one who spearheaded the bullying about Elle being trans. Charlie had heard rumors about soulmates being able to sense each other’s emotions if they had a strong enough bond but he wasn’t sure whether that was the case with Tao and Elle or if they just knew each other that well.
“Is it true?” Charlie asked, nodding his head towards the pair. “Can you guys, like, feel each other’s emotions?”
Charlie asked this partially because he was interested and partially because he wanted Elle to focus her attention elsewhere. Charlie was all too familiar with that sinking feeling when he saw someone who bullied him for being gay. Elle’s eyes drifted over to Charlie and she blinked for a moment before looking at Tao. Tao shrugged.
“I mean, yeah. I don’t know, it’s not like I can feel Elle’s emotions like they’re my own. It’s sort of like I’m experiencing them through a wall if that makes sense,” Tao explained. Charlie tilted his head. It didn’t make sense. Tao sighed like he wasn’t certain how to explain it in a way that Charlie could understand and Charlie knew Tao would never try to dismiss his soulmate questions.
“It’s sort of like something goes off in your brain and you can feel them but at a distance. It tends to only be when the emotions are particularly strong,” Elle explains softly. “Like you’re aware that they’re not your emotions but you still feel them just not like you would experience your own emotions.”
Charlie hummed. He supposed that made sense. He filed that under ‘things he would have a hard time believing if soulmates weren’t real’.
“Is it weird?” Charlie asked, causing Elle and Tao to shrug.
“It was at first but now it’s just normal,” Tao replied simply.
Isaac looked up from his book and smirked. “This soulmate business is a bit weird, don’t you think?” he teased, causing all of them to laugh. Isaac had a tendency to say things like that when he learned new information about soulmates but now he said it because he knew it would make the others laugh.
The next day, Charlie followed his normal routine. In hindsight, there was no indication to Charlie that it was a particularly special day. He got up, got ready for school, picked at his toast, rode the bus with his sister, Tori, to school, chatted with his friends, and went to his locker to grab his books. The biggest difference about today was that the school was getting new form groups which was hardly exciting to Charlie. If anything it was a bit of an inconvenience. Charlie was shy and he didn’t really like having to talk to people outside his friends and family.
Charlie sighed as he looked at the writing on his hand. ‘New form group: B25.’ He shut his locker, his books tucked in under his arm and made his way to the classroom where his form was. Charlie tried to keep his face even as he walked up to Mr. Lange to get his assigned seat. He could feel the bubble of anxiety sitting in his chest, threatening to burst.
“Well, if it isn’t Charlie Spring,” Mr. Lange greeted. Charlie held onto his backpack strap tighter.
“Hi, sir,” Charlie replied, doing his best to keep the nervous edge out of his voice.
“Come to join the ranks of Hamlet House?” the teacher asked, shuffling through various papers.
“Apparently so,” Charlie deadpanned.
“Let’s see. Where did I put you on the seating plan?,” Mr. Lange began. “Ah, yes, you’re over there.” Mr. Lange paused to vaguely gesture at a table which could have been any one of the three tables in that general direction. “Next to Nicholas Nelson. He’s in Year 11 so only one year older than you. One of the rugby boys too, I think. I’m sure you’ll get along swimmingly. Or you can just sit in silence for the rest of the year. It doesn’t really affect me in any way whatsoever,” Mr. Lange finished with a sarcastic, cheery smile.
Charlie let out a small groan, looking over to the table. He couldn’t see Nick due to the various students in the way. Charlie had heard Nick’s name before, he’d have to be completely oblivious not to. He knew a total of two things about Nick which was that he was popular and he played rugby. Charlie scowled. He did not want to spend the rest of the year sitting next to some homophobic rugby lad who probably didn’t know his ass from his elbow.
Charlie took a few steps forward as he pushed through the students.
Oh.
Nick Nelson was beautiful. He had strawberry blonde hair that fell into his eyes as he sat and wrote in his planner. Even from a distance, Charlie could tell the boy’s face was dusted with freckles. He sat taller than Charlie did and honestly, he was more built than most guys at Truham which Charlie thought was unfair. Charlie could vaguely see Nick’s soulmark wrapped around the outside of his wrist but he was too far away to make it out. Charlie sucked in a shaky breath. He took another step forward and Nick looked up at him. God, he was so, so attractive which Charlie thought didn’t bode well for him at all. Charlie wasn’t paying very much attention to much else as he took off his jacket and placed it on the back of the chair next to Nick. When Charlie sat down, Nick’s eyes flitted around Charlie’s face.
“Hi,” Charlie breathed. Nick sent him a small smile.
“Hi.”
Charlie had been too wrapped up in staring to notice the bright glow coming from his soulmark. He was too busy trying to still his wildly beating heart to notice the rush of giddiness and the feeling under his skin around his soulmark. What Charlie did notice was Nick’s soulmark. The other boy’s sleeves were rolled up to his elbows and Nick’s soulmark was on display. It was exactly the same as Charlie’s and it was glowing.
Charlie gasped and looked back up to meet Nick’s eyes. Nick blinked like Charlie’s gasp pulled him out of a daze and looked down at his wrist. Nick’s eyes found Charlie’s, looking a bit dumbfounded. Charlie scrambled to roll his sleeve up. Sure enough, the twin trails of leaves were glowing. Charlie’s cheeks heated up as he looked back to Nick, vaguely moving his arm to show the other boy. Nick smiled widely and let out a small giggle as his eyes flickered back and forth between their wrists. Charlie wasn’t sure what to say but Nick looked back at him, his brown eyes dancing with happiness.
“I’m Nick and I think you may be my soulmate.”