Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Rider slowly opened his eyes, and when he tried to stretch, became aware that his sheets were tangled around him, strangling his arms and legs. As he wrestled the sheets off of him, he also realized that he wasn't on his bed. He was on the floor.

Must have rolled off in my sleep again, Rider thought to himself. It only happened occasionally, but it was a thing that happened.

As Rider clumsily got up, he realized that everything was...clear. Usually when he woke up in the morning everything was blurry because he didn't have his contacts in.

Must have fallen asleep with my contacts in... Rider groggily thought as he picked up his sheets and plopped them back on his bed. Last night was quite the night...

Then he realized something was truly wrong.

This wasn't his bedroom. No, no, definitely not. It was much more messy, with clothes strewn across the floor, assorted photos and a couple pride flags on the walls, and a Splattershot tossed in the corner. The sunlight shone in from the window, showing that it was quite early, just an hour or so after sunrise.

Rider put his own hand in front of him, and his heart dropped to his stomach.

Why was his hand so light?!

Rider touched his face, frantically rubbing it. Something was wrong. Something was terribly wrong. He stumbled through the messy room, realizing how short he felt, then finally found a mirror, a full-length one placed against the wall.

And Rider didn't see himself in the mirror. He saw...Goggles, in his pajamas, staring with a horrified look back at him.

Rider, in Goggles' voice, screamed at the top of his lungs.

After Rider ran away from the mirror, tripping over a few random objects in Goggles' room, and curled up in a ball in the corner, he realized with horror:

If he was in Goggles' body, was Goggles in his body?!

————————

“Is he…dead?”

“No, look, he’s breathing.”

“Rider, wake up!!”

Goggles was awaken by somebody shaking him awake. He opened his eyes and saw three blurry figures standing over him.

“What…” Goggles muttered.

“Oh, good, you’re awake,” the figure in front of him said.

“Cmon, get up, we need to get to practice,” said another figure.

Goggles squinted at the figures, and could make out yellow-green tentacles on all of them. After a few more seconds, he could figure out who they were.

“Stealth Goggles…?” Goggles muttered, putting his hand out by the figure closest to him. “Is that you…?”

“Yes, it’s me,” the figure, Stealth Goggles, said.

“Why is everything so blurry…?” Goggles said.

“Because you don’t have your contacts in, idiot,” the figure Goggles recognized as Bamboo Hat said with an exasperated voice. The figure next to her, School Uniform, nudged her.

”Rider, please get ready,” School Uniform said. “We’ll be waiting patiently —” she glared at Bamboo Hat— “in the living room.”

Goggles groggily sat up and stared at Team Yellow-Green. He had so many questions. Why was Team Yellow-Green here? Why were they calling him Rider? Also, why was his voice so deep ?

But all Goggles could say was “Okay…” Then Team Yellow-Green left the room.

After they left, Goggles clumsily got out of bed, and realized something was wrong. He felt taller than normal. His skin was much darker than usual. And as he looked around, he realized he wasn’t in his room.

Could it be… Goggles thought. No, that’s only in that movie I watched that one time! Freaky Friday!

And yet, Goggles found himself stumbling around to find some sort of mirror. 

When he eventually found a mirror, he squinted into it to check his theory. Even though he could barely see, he could confirm that somehow, he was in Rider’s body.

Goggles stood there for a little bit, trying to let the information soak in. He thought to himself, this wouldn’t be too bad. It would be fun, living as Rider for a little bit! He could do this!

As Goggles looked around the blurry room, he concluded that he needed to get his contacts in.

————————

Rider was still curled up in a ball in the corner when the rest of Team Blue burst in, in their pajamas, looking just as panicked as Rider was.

“Goggles!” Specs exclaimed. “We heard you screaming, what’s going on?!”

“I…” Rider muttered, looking up at Team Blue in horror. Oh god, they actually thought he was Goggles. To them, it was Goggles curled up horrified in the corner, not Rider. The very thought just made him more terrified.

“I…I woke up…and I…” Rider couldn’t get the words out. How could he? He would sound crazy, probably.

“What happened?!” Headphones said.

“I’m…I’m not Goggles!” Rider exclaimed. “I’m Rider…but when I woke up…I’m in Goggles’ body for some reason…and I think Goggles is in mine…and…and…”

When Rider saw that Team Blue was staring at him like he was absolutely insane, he gave up on trying to explain his situation.

“What?” Bobble Hat said, wearing her ever-present smile. “Goggles, what are you talking about?”

“Yeah, sorry, but we don’t know what you’re going on about,” Headphones said. “Switching bodies? That only happened in that movie we watched that one time. What was it called again?”

“Freaky Friday,” Specs said. “Yeah, Goggles, we understand you’re feeling anxious, but this is kind of ridiculous.”

“But…” Rider said, even though he knew trying to explain was hopeless. He uncurled himself and sighed. He supposed he would just have to pretend everything was normal.

That meant he would have to pretend to be Goggles . The very thought made him nauseous.

“Sorry,” Rider muttered. “I suppose I’ll…just get ready.”

“You don’t have to apologize!” Bobble Hat said. “And yeah, you should get ready,” Headphones said. “We have morning practice in a couple hours.”

“We should all get ready,” Specs said. “See ya in a bit, Goggles.”

As Team Blue left, Rider waved vaguely at them. He heard Specs say, “At least he won’t be late again.”

When Team Blue was gone, Rider stood up with shaky legs. He needed to get ready. That meant getting dressed. He had seen Goggles naked before, considering he always ran into the square like that.

But still…

———————

It took Goggles a bit just to get to the bathroom, considering everything was horribly blurry. He didn’t understand how Rider could deal with this every morning.

When he got to the bathroom, Goggles looked around, squinting, for contact lenses. Luckily, he found them relatively quickly, even though they were small.

Now he just had to put them on.

Goggles took one of the contact lenses and attempted to put them on his eye. It wasn’t easy. With the contact lense balanced on his finger, he poked his eye several times, before he realized that the contact lense had fallen off. He bent down and started looking around for it on the floor. He finally found it, swept a bit of dirt off of it, and then started the process again.

After probably fifteen minutes of trial and error, Goggles finally had the contact lenses in, which meant he could finally see clearly. He looked at Rider in the mirror, who stood triumphantly with his hands on his hips.

It was so weird looking in the mirror and seeing someone else.

Goggles went back to Rider’s room and quickly got dressed, being careful not to make it so Rider ran into the square naked. That would not be good.

The leather jacket was kind of uncomfortable.

When Goggles was finally dressed, he looked in the mirror, and saw Rider in his usual getup staring back at him. He attempted to do the scowl Rider had on all the time, then laughed when he saw how silly it looked.

Then he remembered Team Yellow-Green had said something about practice. Turfing practice. That meant Goggles needed to get Rider’s weapon. The Gold Dynamo Roller.

After a bit of searching, Goggles found what looked like a case with the roller in it. He picked it up by the handle. It was heavy, but Goggles could deal with it.

When Goggles came into the living room, Team Yellow-Green was looking at him skeptically.

“Are you okay?” Stealth Goggles said with concern. “You took so long to get ready.”

“Absolutely not,” Goggles said, in Rider’s voice.

————————

Both teams, Team Blue and Team Yellow-Green, got to the square in about fifteen minutes or so. Coincidentally, they came at about the same time. Which meant Goggles and Rider saw each other in their bodies.

Goggles, in Rider’s body, briefly raised his hand to wave at Team Blue, then lowered it when he realized he shouldn’t do that. Instead, he attempted to do Rider’s usual scowl, which apparently looked fake because Team Yellow-Green all gave him that confused look again.

Rider, in Goggles’ body, walked up to Goggles. Everyone thought he was going to pants him, because they saw Goggles walking up to Rider. They didn’t know the true situation.

“Hey,” Rider said to Goggles, standing on his tiptoes so he could more or less whisper to him. “You know what’s going on, right?”

“Yeah!” Goggles said. “You and me sw—”

“Shhh!” Rider said, covering Goggles’ mouth. “Our teams are here!”

Indeed, both Team Blue and Team Yellow-Green were looking at Rider and Goggles, quite confused.

“We should talk somewhere else,” Rider muttered. Goggles just nodded, and Rider took his hand and dragged him away from the others.

“Okay,” Rider said, after looking around to make sure nobody was watching. “Do you know our situation?”

“Yeah, you and me switched bodies!” Goggles said. “Isn’t that funny? You’re so tall, and I didn’t know you were blind without contacts!”

Rider just sighed. “Yeah, that’s true. But that’s not the point! This isn’t a normal occurrence. We need to figure out what’s happening.”

“This is so fun!” Goggles said. “It’s like that movie Freaky Friday, except it’s…what day is it?”

“Tuesday,” Rider said, as he typed something into the search bar on Goggles’ phone.

“What are you searching?” Goggles said, looking over Rider’s shoulder.

“What to do if you and somebody else swap bodies,” Rider said. He pressed the search button and scrolled through the results. “I’m just getting stuff about…soulmates.”

“Ooh, soulmates?!” Goggles said.

Rider tapped on one of the results, which led to an article. “Let’s see here…” he said as he read it, Goggles also reading over his shoulder

In some occurrences, soulmates will swap bodies on the day they are destined to meet, or occasionally, some random day after they already met and have not realized they are soulmates.

“Oooh,” Goggles said.

“Well, I don’t believe in soulmates,” Rider said. “That’s ridiculous, being destined to be with somebody…or something like that. So that’s not what’s going on.”

“Just because you believe in something doesn’t mean it’s not real,” Goggles said.

“What’s this?” Rider said, scrolling further down the page. “Symbolism?”

“Ooooh, what does that say?” Goggles said.

Symbolism: If soulmates are revealed in this matter, that means both soulmates are idiots.

Both Rider and Goggles were quiet upon reading this. Then Rider said, “Yeah, it’s definitely not this soulmate situation. Because I’m not an idiot.”

“I’m an idiot!” Goggles said cheerfully.

“Alright,” Rider said, turning to Goggles. “We’ll find out why this is happening soon. In the meantime, we’ll have to act like everything is normal. That means you have to act like me, and I’ll have to act like you. Our teammates cannot sense that something is wrong.”

“Okay!” Goggles said.

“That means no humiliating me by pantsing somebody or getting naked,” Rider said.

“Yeah!” Goggles said.

“Okay,” Rider said. “Our teams are probably waiting for us, so we have to go back. Remember what I told you.”

“Okay!” Goggles said as he walked away. “See ya, Rider!”

Chapter Text

“Where were you, Rider?” Bamboo Hat said once Goggles came back.

“Oh, it’s nothing,” Goggles said. “I definitely wasn’t talking to…Goggles about how me and him switched bodies or anything. Yeah, I’m definitely not Goggles in Rider’s body right now, nor is Rider in Goggles’ body. Definitely not. And we surely didn’t Google what to do in that situation and find something about soulmates switching bodies.”

Behind Goggles, Rider did an annoyed facepalm. Nobody noticed, though.

Team Yellow-Green was silent for a bit. Then School Uniform said, “Okay.”

“Should we get to the training place, then?” Stealth Goggles said.

“Of course, of course,” Goggles said. “Like I said, everything is completely normal!”

“Yeah, of course!” School Uniform said, as Team Yellow-Green went off to the training place.

—————————

Goggles is so stupid, Rider thought to himself, as he watched his team go off to the training place.

His mind went back to what he had found on the search results. Soulmates switching bodies. Soulmates as in, romantic soulmates. The thought put butterflies in Rider’s stomach. Because he had never admitted it to anyone, but for the past month or so he might have developed a small crush on Goggles. Why would he tell anyone? Goggles was known for being an idiot, and it had taken Rider a while to come to terms with his own feelings.

And this explanation about soulmates…could it really be true? Rider always thought the concept of soulmates was a little silly, but then again, he and Goggles had literally switched bodies, and that was the only explanation he could find so far.

Could Rider and Goggles really be soulmates?

“Goggles!” Rider heard Specs say. He turned around to face the other members of Team Blue.

“Are you alright?” Headphones said. “You’ve been acting weird all day. Weirder than normal, that is.”

“Yeah!” Bobble Hat said. “You were going on about switching bodies with Rider earlier, and you were staring into the void just now! Also, you haven’t accidentally gotten naked once!”

“Yeah, are you feeling okay?” Headphones said.

“What?” Rider said. “Yeah…I’m okay. Just…not really feeling like myself today.” He did his best Goggles grin. “Should we get to practice?”

“Yeah,” Specs said. “Let’s go!”

As Rider followed Team Blue to the practice place, Headphones smiled at him and said, “I’m glad you’re alright.”

That’s when Rider started to feel guilty. For having to lie to Team Blue, and Goggles having to lie to Team Yellow-Green.

I just have to keep this up for a little bit longer, Rider thought to himself. Then we’ll find a solution, and everything will go back to normal.

————————

Goggles was at the Team Yellow-Green meeting, and they were currently discussing a strategy for Turf Wars. It felt weird, being at the Team Yellow-Green meeting. Goggles felt like he wasn’t supposed to be there, yet the others saw this situation as perfectly normal.

Goggles was trying to listen, nodding along while putting on a ponderous face. But his mind was somewhere else. He was thinking about what Rider had Googled earlier. Soulmates switching bodies.

To be honest, he liked the idea of him and Rider being soulmates. He liked Rider, both as a friend and…romantically, even. He had been wanting to ask Rider out for a bit, but didn’t know how to go about it. He was just the idiot of Team Blue, after all.

But if him and Rider were soulmates? That would be great!

“And I was thinking that two of us could get the opponents from over here, then the other two could activate our specials. What do you think of that, Rider?”

Goggles looked up to see the others looking at him. He snapped back to attention once he realized he had been zoning out. He nodded and tried to come up with something to say.

“Yes, that sounds good. This is all a…very good strategy.”

School Uniform and Bamboo Hat nodded, but Stealth Goggles looked at Goggles with concern.

“You okay, Rider? You’ve been acting…weird,” he said.

“Oh yeah, I’m fine!” Goggles said, hoping his nervousness didn’t show in his voice.

A small, awkward silence followed. Then Goggles said, “Hey, how about we have a Turf War with Team Blue? Just to…practice our strategy?”

“Team Blue?!” Bamboo Hat exclaimed.

“Yeah!” School Uniform said. “I mean, it’s not a bad idea, but…I thought you didn’t like them much.”

“I like them fine!” Goggles said. “They can just a bit…stupid at times. I’m saying we’ve done Turf Wars with them before, so like, why not…?”

Team Yellow-Green stared at him for a bit. The nervousness started to rise in Goggles.

I’m being out of character, oh my god, they see something’s wrong…

But Stealth Goggles said, “Yeah, that seems good! I’ll text Specs to see when they can do one!”

Phew!

————————

“I just got a text from Stealth Goggles,” Specs said, looking at his phone. “He asked when we can do a Turf War against Team Yellow-Green.”

At first Rider was confused. Then he thought, Goggles.

“Oh, that sounds like fun!” Bobble Hat said. “We should do one soon!”

“Yeah,” Headphones said. “Maybe in fifteen minutes or so?”

“Yeah!” Rider said, trying to sound enthusiastic like Goggles always was. “Which stage should we go to?”

Specs typed on his phone briefly, probably texting Stealth back. Then he said, “Stealth is suggesting Arowana Mall. How does that sound?”

“Yeah!” Bobble Hat said.

“That sounds fun!” Rider said. Arowana Mall did sound good. Nowadays it was one of his favorite stages, actually.

Because that was where he had first met Goggles.

————————

Soon, Team Blue and Team Yellow-Green arrived at Arowana Mall, ready for a Turf War. Everyone else thought this was just a normal Turf War, but for Goggles and Rider, it was anything but.

Please don’t do something stupid as me, Goggles, Rider thought over and over as he went with the rest of Team Blue to their base. He watched as Goggles went with Team Yellow-Green.

He was actually acting pretty convincing. That was a relief. Rider hoped it would stay that way.

…

The Turf War began, and the teams began to ink the stage. It had been a while since Rider had used a shooter weapon, but he managed to get by. They were relatively simple to use, after all.

Rider wondered how Goggles was doing with the Dynamo Roller.

—————————

Team Blue reached the center area first, quickly inking it in blue. As Rider inked, he looked around for Team Yellow-Green. Particularly Goggles, in Rider’s body.

Rider soon found Goggles. He seemed to be struggling a bit with the Dynamo, but the others didn’t notice.

Their eyes locked for a couple seconds, and Rider quickly looked away. It felt so weird, making eye contact with himself.

And yet, he knew that it was Goggles who was in there. That was another reason to look away, and also why he was blushing.

…

The battle continued on, and everything seemed to be normal, people getting splatted and whatnot. Team Blue was winning, because of course they were. Then near the one-minute mark, Team Yellow-Green decided to do their strategy. 

Goggles, along with Stealth Goggles, went to attack Team Blue, getting them all together and trapping them against a wall. School Uniform and Bamboo Hat snuck around behind them, their specials charged up.

Team Blue, though, tried to defend themselves from Goggles and Stealth. They weren’t just going to stand there, after all. Specs, in front of the group, flicked his Octobrush back and forth, while the others shot from behind him.

Goggles managed to avoid most of the attacks, but it proved to be difficult while holding a big Dynamo Roller. And the blue ink just kept coming.

Goggles began to dodge faster and faster, as School Uniform and Bamboo got closer and closer to Team Blue. Then as he dodged out of the way of Headphones’ charger snipe, he attempted to swing his Dynamo Roller again. But the heaviness of it caught him off guard, and he dropped it. Before he could register it, though, he had to quickly out of the way of Specs’ Octobrush again.

…

During the whole Turf War, Goggles and Rider had been able to act normal as each other, and their teammates were convinced that nothing was out of the ordinary.

But in the next few seconds, the ruse fell apart.

Because after Goggles, in Rider’s body, had dodged out of the way of Specs’ Octobrush, he went one way, and his clothes—well, they went another way.

And to everyone else but Goggles and Rider, Rider was standing there, naked, like Goggles always was.

Naturally, everyone was appalled. Goggles got naked all the time during Turf Wars. But Rider? The S+ Dynamo wielder, the smart one compared to Goggles? It was like a fever dream.

Of course, they didn’t know that Goggles and Rider were in each other’s bodies.

Goggles and Rider were also quite appalled. Goggles, when he got naked, at first had the normal amount of surprise he did when this situation happened. Then he was even more surprised when he remembered he was in Rider’s body, and this wasn’t supposed to happen at all. He stared at Team Yellow-Green and Team Blue, then promptly ran away and jumped into the water at Arowana Mall.

And Rider? Well, this was his absolutely worst nightmare. Goggles, in his body, humiliating him by getting naked ? How did that even happen ?!

Rider curled into a fetal position on the ground and started making a high-pitched whine of distress, trying not to look at the situation at hand.

…

Team Blue and Team Yellow-Green tried to continue the battle as normal. Goggles respawned after jumping into the water, luckily with his clothes on again. Then both teams carried on painting, Team Yellow-Green having given up doing the strategy for now. There were only about 30 seconds left in the battle.

Rider, however, did not join Team Blue to participate in the last 30 seconds of the battle. He stayed right where he was, curled up into a ball, making that high-pitched whine until the battle ended.

After the battle ended, Judd and Lil’ Judd started to calculate the results, as always. Both teams assumed Team Blue was going to win. They always did, after all.

But when the results were calculated, it was revealed that Team Yellow-Green won! Everyone was a bit surprised, but congratulated each other and said ‘good game’ and whatnot. Rider finally got up from the ground, just in time to see the results.

Probably because Goggles was on Team Yellow-Green this time, Rider thought. He always wins somehow.

———————————

After the results and everything, Team Yellow-Green came up to Team Blue in the locker room.

“Do you know what’s going on?” School Uniform asked. “With Goggles and Rider?”

“They have been acting strange,” Specs said.

“Especially Rider getting naked!” Bobble Hat said. “That was really strange!”

“Well, we think we have an idea of what’s happening,” Bamboo said.

“Really?” Headphones said.

“Yeah,” Stealth said. “Earlier, Rider told us that he and Goggles definitely didn’t switch bodies.”

“And it definitely didn’t have anything to do with soulmates,” Bamboo said.

“Yeah?” Headphones said. “If he said that’s not happening, then it’s not happening.”

“Well, that’s what we were going to talk about,” School Uniform said. “We’re thinking that might be happening.”

“What?!” Specs exclaimed. “Switching bodies?! That only happened in that movie we watched that one time, Freaky Friday!”

“Yeah!” Headphones said.

“Soulmates?” Bobble Hat said. “Soulmates can switch bodies?”

“It would explain everything that’s been happening,” School Uniform said. “Think about it. Rider and Goggles have both been kind of distant, staring into the void and whatnot. Goggles have been acting weirdly serious and smart, and Rider…literally got naked.”

“Yeah,” Bamboo said, cringing as she remembered that.

“And Goggles was also saying he switched bodies with Rider this morning,” Headphones said. “But he stopped talking about it.”

“But if that is the case…” Specs said, pushing up his glasses, “that mean Goggles and Rider would be soulmates!”

“Exactly!” Headphones said. “How would they be soulmates? They’re so different!”
“Soulmates can be different from each other,” Bobble Hat said.

“Exactly what Bobble Hat said,” Stealth said.

“We’ll have to talk to Goggles and Rider to confirm if this is really happening,” School Uniform said.

“Well let’s go!” Specs said.

————————————

Meanwhile, Goggles and Rider were alone, their teammates having abandoned them for some reason.

“Why did you do that?!” Rider exclaimed to Goggles. “Now you’ve surely blown our cover, and completely humiliated me in the process!”

“Sorry!” Goggles said. “I really can’t help it! It’s like it’s in my essence to get naked!”

“Goggles, you know that’s ridiculous,” Rider said, scowling.

Just then, the rest of Team Blue came towards Goggles and Rider. Goggles and Rider turned towards them.

“Hey, you two,” Bamboo said. “We know that something is going on with you two. You’ve been acting weird all day.”

Goggles had an anxious expression on his face, and Rider glared at him. Then Rider, realizing he shouldn’t be doing that, mirrored Goggles’ expression.

“Um…yeah,” Specs said. “Team Yellow-Green told us that it might be because…you switched bodies??”

“Because you’re soulmates!” Bobble said.

“What?!” Rider exclaimed. “Wh…where did you get that idea?!”

“Well, Rider told us earlier that you two definitely didn’t switch bodies, and it definitely wasn’t because you were soulmates,” Stealth said.

“Yeah!” Goggles said. “I literally said that wasn’t happening! Why do you think that’s been happening?!”

“Well, your excuse seemed oddly specific, for something that definitely wasn’t happening,” Bamboo said.

“Yeah,” School Uniform said. “Plus, if you two did switch bodies, it would explain everything that’s been happening.”

“Yeah, Rider literally got naked during the Turf War today, and that usually only happens to Goggles,” Headphones said.

“So?” Specs said. “Is that’s what been going on?”

“No—” Rider started to say, but he was interrupted.

“Yes!!” Goggles exclaimed. “We did switch bodies, and when we Googled it, it said we were apparently soulmates ! We’ve been trying to hide it from you guys, trying to pretend everything was normal, but that failed, apparently!”

Rider nudged Goggles in the ribs, before realizing it was pointless to pretend this wasn’t happening. They had already found out.

“Yes, that’s been happening,” Rider said. “And we’ve been trying to hide it from you.”

“Why didn’t you tell us earlier?” Specs said.

“I tried to tell you, but you didn’t believe me!” Rider said.

“Good point,” Specs said.

“Okay, now that we know what’s happening, how will we get them back to normal?” Headphones said.

Stealth typed on his phone for a bit, and scrolled down the same article Rider had been on earlier. Then a yellow-green blush spread across his face.

“Well?” Bamboo said. “Did you find a solution?”

“Um…” Stealth said. “It says here, for soulmates to reverse the effects, they have to…kiss.”

“What?!” Rider said. “What is this, Snow White?!”

“Either that, or it goes back to normal after 24 hours,” Stealth said. “But I assume you don’t want to stay like this for that long.”

“Okay, I guess it’s that solution,” Goggles said.

“But…but…!” Rider sputtered.

“It’s just one little kiss,” Goggles said.

“But…I’ve never kissed you before!” Rider said. “Of course I’ve kissed other people…but not…!”

“It’ll be quick,” Goggles said. “Then we’ll go back to normal.”

Rider sighed. “Fine.” He leaned in to Goggles, and Goggles leaned in to him. Their lips met in a kiss, just for a few seconds. Faint little sparkles appeared in the air. Then they pulled away from each other.

“Did…did it work?” Stealth said.

“That was quicker than I expected,” Headphones muttered.

Goggles, who was now back in his own body, touched and rubbed his face to make sure it was his. When he confirmed that it was, a grin spread over his face. “I’m myself again!” he exclaimed.

Rider, in his own body, sighed with relief. “I’m so glad that whole situation is over.”

“It was fun, though!” Goggles said. “Even just for a little bit, it was fun to see what it was like being you!”

“No it wasn’t,” Rider said. “I’m leaving.” Then he promptly walked away.

“Wait!” Goggles exclaimed, and ran after him.

————————————

Once Goggles caught up to Rider, he slowed down to a walk, and the two of them simply walked together in silence for a bit.

Then Goggles said, “So, I guess we’re soulmates, huh?”

Rider actually let out a small chuckle, rolling his eyes. “I never really believed in soulmates,” he said. “Sounds kinda stupid to me.”

“But that whole situation we were in kinda proved it,” Goggles said. “The kiss even worked!”

Rider blushed when he remembered the kiss. “Yeah…I guess so.”

“So soulmates are real!” Goggles said, smiling. “And we’re soulmates!”

“Yeah…” Rider said, his voice suddenly getting softer. His blush intensified.

Goggles walked up to Rider and took his hand. Rider sucked in a breath and stiffened. Then he relaxed a bit, but was still pretty flustered.

“Does this mean we’re…boyfriends now?” Goggles said, apparently not phased by the fact that he and Rider were holding hands .

“I…I don’t know…” muttered Rider. “I mean…fate says we’re supposed to be together…”

“Fate also says we’re idiots!” Goggles said. Rider just scowled.

Then Goggles smiled up at Rider, and Rider met his eyes. Goggles’ smile wasn’t the wide toothy grin he always did. This one was closed-lips, and was soft but genuine.

“Even though fate says we’re supposed to be together, it’s our decision whether we want to start dating yet,” Goggles said. “We shouldn’t let fate dictate everything, after all.”

“Yeah…” Rider said, surprised that Goggles could actually say something so smart.

To Rider’s surprise, Goggles then stood on his tiptoes and gave Rider a quick peck on the cheek. The blush on Rider’s face intensified even more, and he could only sputter nonsense from how flustered he was.

“In the meantime, I love you, Rider,” Goggles said. Then he ran away to join the rest of Team Blue.

…

As Rider watched Goggles leave, a small smile spread across his face, as he replayed the conversation in his head.

And he thought to himself, maybe the idea of soulmates wasn’t so stupid after all.