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There were plenty of things that Charlie enjoyed. He enjoyed the sound of rain hitting his window. He enjoyed playing his drums when he was particularly frustrated. He enjoyed making playlists for every and all occasions. He enjoyed reading LGBTQ+ literature. The thing he enjoyed the most, though, was spending time with his friends and his soulmate.
It was a quiet Saturday night, rain hitting the windows of Tao’s house as Charlie sat in Nick’s lap surrounded by his friends, Tao, Elle, Isaac, Tara and Darcy. The group had originally come over for one of their sacred film nights but it had descended into them all chatting about various things. Charlie’s attention had been split between listening to Darcy tell the story of how she met Tara and the feeling of Nick’s fingers on his hips.
“And we’ve been together ever since,” Darcy finished, a proud smile on her face as she wrapped an arm around Tara’s shoulders, pulling her soulmate in close.
“That’s such a cute story,” Elle said, fingers intertwined with Tao’s. Charlie felt Nick nod.
“You know what?” Nick began. “We’ve been friends for over a year now and I don’t think I’ve ever heard the story of how you two met, Tao and Elle.”
Charlie smiled. There was always a flash of happiness he felt when Nick and his friends interacted. It had been a long time since his friends became their friends but it was a bit of an uphill climb to get his friends to welcome Nick into their group.
Tao let out a chuckle and shook his head. “I mean, I don’t know. We met when we were 12-”
“Wait! Let Charlie tell it!” Elle exclaimed. “He always makes it sound so cute.”
Charlie let out a sound between a laugh and a snort, rolling his eyes fondly. “You act like it isn’t a cute story,” he teased. Elle shrugged.
“You make it sound so whimsical. Will you tell it? Please?”
The group added in their various agreements, looking at him hopefully. Charlie let out a laugh and shook his head.
“Alright, alright, gather round, children. It’s story time.”
Charlie was a particularly lonely 11, almost 12, year old boy. He had exactly one friend, Tao Xu and that was it. He liked to think he had a certain amount of self-awareness for an 11 year old and he thought his loneliness was likely due to his shy behavior and outwardly anxious demeanor. It didn’t help that his best friend was an outspoken loudmouth who sent dirty looks to anyone who looked at them the wrong way but Charlie didn’t mind so much. It was nice to have a friend. However, his shyness and lack of friends really didn’t do him any good when it came to group projects. He was sitting in English after vaguely hearing his teacher say something about pairing up for a group project when he looked around the classroom for someone who might want to work with him. He felt an overwhelming sense of dread as he realized there was literally no one he knew on a surface level that he could work with. Charlie was in the midst of a panic induced spiral when he felt someone tap on his shoulder.
“Um, hi, I’m Elle.”
Charlie looked at the girl in front of him. She was tall and had long curly hair that bounced as she moved. She was rocking slightly on her toes and her eyes shifted around anxiously. Charlie knew her vaguely. She had just moved schools recently and he had heard people whispering in the hall about her being trans. He wasn’t really sure why that was a big deal to people but kids were mean. He knew that better than anyone.
“Hi,” Charlie replied, not really sure if she was introducing herself for fun or if she was going to ask him if he wanted to work together.
“I, um, I don’t really have anyone to work with and I didn’t think you do either?” she said but it came out like more of a question. Charlie nodded. She let out a breath. “Would you like to work together?”
Charlie sent her a half smile and nodded again. “Yeah. That’d be cool.”
Over the course of a few days, Charlie had learned a lot about Elle. He learned that she liked art, films and making her own clothes, thought most people at their school sucked and Charlie was her first friend. He liked Elle. She was funny and kind and creative and sarcastic and Charlie thought of her as his second friend, like, ever. They were sitting in class, working on their project when they broached the topic of soulmates.
“Have you found yours yet?” Elle asked. Charlie frowned and shook his head.
“Not yet.”
“What do you think she’ll be like?”
Charlie looked at her for a moment before bursting out into laughter. Elle raised an eyebrow at him, clearly unamused by his lack of response.
“Sorry, sorry,” he replied before lowering his voice, looking around to make sure no one was paying attention to them. People never did. “I like boys,” he whispered. Elle’s eyes widened for a moment before she nodded and mimicked zipping her lips and throwing away the key.
“Gotcha. Thank you for telling me.”
“Anyways,” Charlie continued. “I’m not sure. I hope he’s nice and funny and likes me for me. I don’t know, I’d probably just settle for someone tall.”
Elle let out a laugh. “I think that’s a great soulmate.”
Charlie hummed, sending her a small smile.
“What’s your soulmark?” she asked. Charlie tilted his head slightly and rolled up his sleeve, showing her the trail of leaves that winded up his wrist to his mid-forearm. He wasn’t sure what to say about it. No one had ever really asked to see it and he and Tao didn’t talk too much about soulmates other than the odd comment. They were pretty young so it wasn’t exactly something in the forefront of their minds.
“It’s pretty,” Elle said with a smile.
Charlie blushed a bit. “Thanks. What’s yours?”
Elle pushed the sleeve of her shirt out of the way to reveal a simple butterfly outline on the right side of her wrist. Charlie’s brain kicked into gear. Had he seen a soulmark like that before? It was vaguely familiar but it was a relatively simple mark so maybe he hadn’t.
“I like it,” Charlie replied, sending her a nod. She smiled and that was the end of the conversation. By the time the end of the lesson rolled around, Charlie knew he had to introduce Elle to Tao. He wanted his two friends to meet so they could form a trio of outcasts. Strength in numbers and all that.
“What’s your plan for lunch period?” Charlie asked as they packed up their stuff. Elle shrugged.
“I normally just go sit in the art room by myself. Why?”
“Do you want to meet my friend, Tao?”
Elle blinked for a moment and nodded, letting Charlie lead her over to the picnic tables where they usually sat.
“Sorry if Tao says anything to you, that’s just how he is. He doesn’t mean it in a nasty way,” Charlie explained as they walked. Elle nodded, looking a bit distracted, hand ghosting over her soulmark. Charlie shrugged and led her to the table where Tao was sitting, staring at his wrist in confusion.
“Hey Tao! This is Elle. She’s been my partner for class and-” Charlie cut himself off, looking back and forth between Elle and Tao. He felt a smile grow on his face as he saw the glow emanating off of their wrists. He watched as Tao and Elle looked at each other with twin looks of wonder on their faces, blushes creeping across their cheeks.
“Oh my god!” Charlie exclaimed, bouncing up and down a bit in excitement. “Oh my god! You guys are soulmates!”
This seemed to snap Tao out of the daze that he was in, walking over and standing in front of Elle. It was kind of funny because Tao was quite short and Elle towered over him a bit. Tao stuck out his hand and sent Elle a smile, a blush high on his cheeks.
“H-hi, I’m Tao.”
Charlie had to hold back a laugh because he couldn’t recall a single time that he had ever heard Tao stutter. His outgoing best friend never seemed to look nervous or embarrassed but he was definitely both of those things at that moment. Elle smiled shyly and took his hand, shaking it a few times.
“I’m Elle.”
They stared at each other in awe and wonder, not letting go of each other’s hands. Charlie was beyond excited for them. What are the chances that he befriends two people who turned out to be soulmates?
“I, um, I think we’re soulmates,” Tao said, dropping Elle’s hand. Elle let out a giggle and Charlie watched Tao melt, looking at Elle like she was the most beautiful person he had ever seen.
“I think we are,” Elle replied with a soft smile.
Charlie let out an excited giggle, making the pair snap out of their daze to look at him.
“Sorry! Sorry! I didn’t mean to ruin the moment. I just got excited. Carry on with your soulmate staring or whatever.”
Tao scoffed and rolled his eyes at him. “We weren’t staring, Charlie.”
Charlie grinned widely and hummed. “I think you were.”
“We absolutely were not!” Tao defended. Elle let out another laugh at their antics, making Tao look at her again with the same look of awe. Charlie thought it was adorable.
“Come on, idiot,” Charlie said fondly, shaking his head. “Let’s sit so you guys can actually meet each other and not just stand there,” he continued, a teasing tone to his voice.
Charlie watched quietly for the rest of lunch as the pair interacted. It was a bit awkward. To be fair they were 11 and 12 so that wasn’t surprising but Charlie thought they were perfect together.
“Shut the fuck up. That is literally the cutest story I’ve ever heard,” Darcy said, cooing a little.
Tao and Elle were blushing slightly. “Charlie, I hate the fact that you made it abundantly clear how short I was. That’s just cold,” Tao complained but the smile on his face remained. “The way you tell it is very cute though, I suppose,” Tao continued, like it was painful for him to say that. Charlie laughed and shook his head.
“They were practically a married couple right from the get-go,” Charlie explained to the rest of the group.
“I’m just imagining a little Tao and a tall Elle staring at each other and I think that’s one of the cutest things ever,” Nick teased. Tao let out a scoff.
“You’re on thin ice, Nelson,” Tao snapped, making the group laugh. Elle tucked herself close to Tao’s side and smiled at him fondly.
“We were pretty cute,” Elle said. Tao looked down at her and softened.
“Excuse you. We’re still cute,” Tao teased gently, pressing a kiss to the top of her head.
“Yeah. Yeah we are.”