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It was supposed to be a chill night out with the crew. It was Bradley’s 35th birthday and he wanted to relax, already feeling his body ache with new pains with every year. The crew, on the other hand, had a different idea. Since they all got to celebrate everyone else turning 30 with big parties and nights out, they knew they had to do it up for Bradley.
And up they did, because when Bradley wakes up to an unfamiliar room, it’s with the biggest headache and being blinded by the Sun. He cracks an eye open and sees Advil with a large glass of water on the bedside table.
After gulping them down, he grabs the bedsheet to put over his head to block the sunlight streaking in to blind him, but he stops. Moving a big too quickly, things are blurring together which he’d blame on his hangover, but he’s never experienced this before.
There are hues of color blending together. The walls were blue but now they’re lighter in comparison to the what he thinks are orange bed sheets. The brown door is lighter than the brown wooden desk across the room.
What the fuck?
He’s never seen these shades before and that can only mean one thing.
I found my soulmate. I found them. I found… Who did I find?
“Bradshaw! Get your ass up so we can get breakfast!” Phoenix yells from somewhere before the door.
“Nat!! Come here!!” Bradley yells frantically while looking around the room.
The door opens and she’s leaning on the door frame lamely with her arms across her chest. “What?” She’s wearing her hair down which is a dark brown instead of black like he thought it was, an oversized shirt, yellow, that’s hanging over a shoulder that belongs to Coyote and bright pink shorts peeking from underneath the hem. The colors are so vibrant in contrast to her hair. When he finally looks back up to her face, she looks concerned. “What’s wrong?”
“Is all of your clothes so loud?”
“You’re one to talk.” She pushes off the doorframe and turns to walk away, but stops. “You know what colors I’m wearing?” She turns back, almost searching for the answer rather than waiting to listen for it. “Can you see colors?”
Dumbly, Bradley nods.
“Oh my god, you found them?! Who is it?” She runs across the room and jumps on the bed to get the inside info like she’s a kid gossiping at a sleepover.
“I… have no clue.”
“What do you mean?”
“I can’t remember anything from last night.”
“Nothing? Like, not even when it happened?” Disappointment coats her voice, but it doesn’t seem like she’s trying to guilt him into talking. As if he could remember there was anything to talk about.
“The last thing I remember was being at the Hard Deck and I know I couldn’t see it then.”
“Wow, so you don’t remember the majority of the night?”
He was taking shot after shot supplied by every member of the crew and a few additional ones he bought for himself. It’s no wonder he doesn’t recall the rest of the night, he lost count after 9.
“How long were we out after the Hard Deck?”
She sucks in a breath through her teeth, “we went to a couple bars after that, and I think you and Fanboy got lost in a Walmart?”
“Walmart? What the hell? Why were we at Walmart?”
“Apparently you told Payback it was life or death?”
Bradley shakes his head. “I can’t remember why.”
She lightly chuckles, “I figured as much.”
There’s a knock on the door and suddenly Bradley feels breathless.
He’d always figured the man at the doorway had light hair and light eyes. He remembers his mom having light hair and her saying she was blonde and his eyes were similar to Mav’s, a lighter shade compared to his own. Mav said his eyes were green, so he figured that’s what he could expect. But nothing could have prepared him to see Hangman in full color.
Long legs that seem golden leading to a pair of dark blue khaki shorts. His tan skin making his white t-shirt stand out as it stretches against his chest. His hair was blond, but darker? It’s not necessarily a light brown, so a dark blond? Is that a thing? But his lips are more prominent now. Before, they used to blend in, but now Bradley can see the light shade of pink to them. But it’s his eyes… they were like Mav’s so they must be green, but god he’s never seen such a beautiful color.
As Bradley studies Hangman’s face, he notices a slight color change to his face. A pink dusting across his cheeks, barely noticeable with his tan skin.
It quickly disappears as Hangman’s trademark smirk appears, “sorry to interrupt the girl talk, but I’m hungry and we’re five minutes from leaving without yall.” He walks in and opens a drawer to grab a pair socks and his tennis shoes.
“Shut up asshole. Javy wouldn’t leave me behind.” She nudges Bradley to get him to stop staring at the other man and to look at her. She looks like she’s asking for permission, so he nods. “Rooster found his soulmate last night.”
Hangman’s eyes widen and Bradley couldn’t be more happy to see more of them until the man turns around and walks away with a, “that’s not a reason to make us late for breakfast.”
Another nudge to the ribs lets him know that he’s been staring after the other man a smidge too long. “He look better in technicolor?” she whispers.
Bradley ducks his head in embarrassment and shakes it with a small laugh. “Better than I could have imagined,” he quietly replies.
“You know…” a mischievous smile overcoming her face, “sometimes soulmates are revealed to be people we already know.”
“Get real.” He playfully pushes her away.
“No, really! There’s forums about how it happened years after the first meet!”
“There’s no way it’s Hangman. He would’ve said something.” He gets up out of the bed, he now realizes is Hangman’s and they must be in his and Coyote’s apartment, to head to the bathroom near the living room. “Also, he has a boyfriend. It can’t be Hangman.”
Bradley walks through the doorway and sees Hangman and Coyote standing close together, Coyote looking at Hangman with furrowed eyebrows as Hangman cuts him off the second they notice him. He’s frowning and looking down.
“Everything alright?” Bradley asks warily.
Like a light switch, “Yep! Just telling Coyote here your big news.” Hangman pats at Coyote’s chest.
Bradley rolls his eyes but doesn’t miss the push Hangman gives Coyote to move him toward Bradley. He’s a bit surprised by the hug Coyote is giving him, tightly at that. “Congrats dude!”
“Thanks Coyote.”
It’s been weird moving from restrained animosity to slight cutting remarks with Hangman after the mission, but it was so easy to accept Coyote as a true friend. He’s kind, caring, and always knows how to put Hangman in his place.
It probably helped that him and Nat finally got together. They aren’t soulmates. Nat’s soulmate is actually her childhood best friend she still talks to at least once a week. That’s another unsure fact about soulmates, sometimes they’re platonic.
Apparently, Coyote met his soulmate and they were already married with kids. Bradley doesn’t know the specifics, just that Coyote was fine with the whole situation.
As Coyote and Bradley move apart, Hangman moves to the living room and grabs a deep green hat Bradley’s never seen before. “Now that’s over with, is her royal highness ready to go?”
“No, she’s still gotta go to the bathroom and get changed.” Phoenix says as she walks in and leans up to Coyote ducking down for a peck on the lips.
Bradley flips the room off and goes to the restroom.
________________
Going to the diner the morning after a birthday became a tradition after the third one. It was never too busy to make their group wait which is saying something when their group always landed with 8 or 9 people. Omaha, Harvard, and Yale almost always decided to sleep in rather than continue with the team bonding. Bradley is sometimes apart of that group.
When they pull up, the huge corner booth they usually grab is already filled with the other five of their breakfast club.
“Didn’t think you were gonna make it!” Fanboy yells across the diner disturbing the other patrons.
Bradley smirks, “can’t bail on the birthday activities. Not even if I wanted to.” He cocks his head to gesture over to Phoenix presumably walking behind him.
Like she already knew he would blame her, “Just cause he’s old doesn’t mean that he gets a pass this time.”
Hangman announces, really, “He made us late. We should’ve just left him to nurse his hang-“
Hangman stops. Bradley slid into the booth while Phoenix and Coyote slid into the other side leaving the space next Bradley wide open.
Quietly “-over alone.” Bradley looks up and sees Hangman just staring at the space next to him before he finally sits. Bradley stares at his profile for what seems like forever while Hangman is messing with a leftover straw wrapper, avoiding eye contact with everyone.
“It was his party,” the rolling of Halo’s eyes is clear in her voice which makes Bradley look away from Hangman, “if we forced the other lunatics to come out for their birthdays and not him, we’d never hear the end of it.”
He’s waiting for Hangman’s snarky response, but there’s nothing. The man is still messing with the wrapper.
“We’re glad you made it Rooster.” Bob pipes up from the middle.
“Thanks Bob.” Bradley smiles back at him.
“Anyway,” Phoenix grabs everyone’s attention. “Bradley has big news!”
All eyes are now on him except for the green ones he desperately wants. “It’s not that big of a deal.”
Hangman subtly scoffs, but no one seems to acknowledge it, like it was so quiet only Bradley heard.
Before he could comment on it, “just tell us anyway,” comes Fritz. The guy loves to gossip and spend his off time at the Hard Deck hustling pool, so it won’t be long until Penny and Mav find out.
Takes a breath before he gets bombarded with questions, “I found my soulmate.”
“Congratulations!”
“Who is it?”
“Wow!”
“Where did you meet them?”
“What’s their name?”
“So you see colors now?”
“Did you know them before?”
“What do they look like?”
“Can we meet them?”
“How did it happen?”
“Did you meet them at the bar?”
Phoenix finally cuts off the gaggle of reporters so Bradley can answer them.
“I don’t know. I don’t remember.”
“You were pretty fucked up when we left the bar. And you kept drinking after that,” it comes across like she thinks it’s funny, but under the nervous chuckles, Bradley can tell she’s concerned.”
“Why did you start the night so strong?” Fritz leans forward with grin like he already knows something.
Bradley blows out the breath he didn’t realize he was holding. Cause that’s why he’s in this mess, isn’t it? Why he can’t remember who his soulmate is, let alone the rest of the night. Why he drank so many shots because he wanted to forget.
The night started off great, everyone watching as Fritz took some poor sucker’s money to buy them another round. Bradley was getting antsy cause Hangman still hadn’t shown up, so he volunteered to grab the next round. Fritz handed him the money. No big deal.
And it wasn’t, until he was waiting at the bar and his eyes moved like magnets to see Hangman walk in with someone’s arm around his waist.
Guy was tall, as tall as Bradley probably, with black hair styled to look messy but swept back. He was broad, broader than Hangman, and his arm tightened around Hangman’s waist to pull him closer. The guy leaned in to whisper something in the blond’s ear which made him giggle. And lean closer. And plant a light kiss on the guy’s cheek.
Bradley couldn’t stop staring. His future was shattering right before him. He doesn’t know what his face looks like at the moment, but from the way Hangman’s face changes from a flirty smile to wide eyes and fear when he locks eyes with Bradley it can’t be anything good.
“Rooster! What’s taking you so long? Thought you ran off with my money for a second.” Fritz came up behind him and knocked him out of the apparent staring contest he was in.
Easy smile in place, or at least he hoped it was, “Nothing, just thinking about what we should start off with.” Bradley glances back over to the door and Hangman is no longer there.
“What’s it gonna be boys?” Penny asks.
“A round of b-“
“15 shots. Whatever this doesn’t cover, just put it on my tab.” Bradley cuts Fritz off. Penny looks at Fritz, then back at Bradley before going off to put something together she knows the pilots would like.
“15? There’s only 11 of us.”
“Hangman just got here… with someone.” The last part much quieter than the rest. No one knows about how he feels about the man, or so he thinks
“And the other two?”
“For the birthday boy!” Penny puts a small tray of shots for them on the bar top. “I let those last few slide.” She winks before turning away to her next customer.
Bradley picks up two, handing one to Fritz. “So the birthday boy can thank the guy buying the first round properly.” They clink ‘em, shoot ‘em, and leave the glasses on the bar to bring over the rest to their group.
The group starts cheering and exclaiming over the shots, passing them around. Bradley sees Hangman and his… friend in the corner of his eye. Bradley turns toward them with the last three shots. There’s space between the two men. Hangman looks stiff while the guy smiles and introduces himself.
“I’m Bradley.” He holds the tray out with their shots to grab. “Saw you walk in, had to make sure everyone got one.” As much as he’s avoiding his eye, Bradley can see Hangman slowly reach for his shot.
“Thank you, but I don’t drink.”
Bradley leans in to fake whisper, “more for me then.” He winks and moves to the center of the group.
They toast Bradley and take their shots. He looks over at Hangman for a second only to see the guy looking back at him. He grabs and takes his third shot in less than ten minutes.
He remembers two more shots, a bunch of beers, and avoiding Hangman. After the sixth is when things start to get blurry or lost altogether.
“I think I remember someone on their birthday getting so drunk they begged us to go home to watch Legally Blonde and cried the entire time?” Fritz rolls his eyes at Bradley’s answer and, thankfully, drops the line of questioning only for it to be picked up by Fanboy.
“I don’t think I’d ever seen you drink so much!”
“You only turn 35 once. Unless you’re Hangman and plan to be 30 for the rest of your life.” Bradley laughs and gets a few others from the table.
The table goes quiet, waiting for Hangman to bite back. But he doesn’t. The blond just sits there, focusing on his straw wrapped. Bradley looks over at him and thinks maybe he didn’t hear him.
“You’re awfully quiet this morning, Hangman.” Bob quietly pipes up.
“Yeah man. That a new hat?” Payback asks with a knowing smile.
Bradley watches as Hangman looks up for the first time since he sat down. “Shut it.”
Payback puts his hands up in innocence but the grin on his face says he isn’t so.
“Where did you get that hat?” Bradley can’t help but to ask. He knows the hats that Hangman usually wears and neither of them are for baseball teams or teams based out of California. “Didn’t take you to be an A’s fan.”
Clipped. “I’m not.”
“Then why do-“
“Rooster!” Coyote yells across the table, “what are you gonna do?”
Rooster snaps his head back over to where Coyote is sitting. “What do you mean?”
“You gonna go find out who your soulmate is?” He can see Nat eyeing Coyote, just as confused as he is for the guy to be so interested in soulmates.
“Nah, I think it’s hopeless. I’m sure one of us would’ve noticed if someone last night started yelling about seeing colors last night.”
“Maybe it was a bartender? And they had to stay professional.” Fanboy chimes in.
Halo is nodding along. “Yeah Rooster, you can’t give up! You gotta at least try.”
So try he does.
________________
How he ends up driving to Penny’s house in the middle of the morning is understandable. How he ends up driving to Penny’s with Hangman in his passenger seat is beyond him. He slightly recalls Phoenix volunteering the blond to go with him and Coyote forcing him into the Bronco, but it’s the protesting and wide stare from Hangman that sticks out in his mind.
“You don’t have to come with me if you already have plans. I can figure this out on my own.”
“Do you want me to come with you?” Jake, still out of character, quietly asks.
I want it to be you. “I don’t mind the company, even if it is you.”
Jake scoffs, “whatever Rooster. Let’s go get your man.”
Bradley freezes as he starts the truck, “how do you know if it’s a man?”
Jake stumbles over his words, “what? I don’t- I didn’t- It’s just an expression.”
Bradley didn’t push it.
And that’s how he ends up on Penny Benjamin’s front porch and Hangman is at the end of the sidewalk leaning against the Bronco waiting for him.
“Bradley? What are you doing here so early?” She asks as she opens the door.
Bradley takes in the brown hair and her light green eyes. It makes him wonder how many people in the world have green eyes since he knows quite a few already. A sudden flash of green eyes flits through his mind, registering them from last night.
“Hey Penny,” Bradley leads, “I was wondering if any patrons last started talking about finding their soulmate?”
“Not that I can remember. Why? Did someone find theirs?”
“Guilty.” Bradley winces.
“Bradley! That’s great! I’m so happy for you!” She pulls him into a hug and rubs his back. He doesn’t tense up like he used to when first getting to know her as his godfather’s girlfriend and not just the bar owner of his local haunt. She pulls away from him and holds onto him for a second. “Does Pete know?”
“Not yet. The crew only know because we had breakfast this morning.”
“Quite early considering how much you were putting away.” She bites her lip before asking lowly, “do you want to talk about it?” Her eyes quickly glancing to behind him at the man by his truck.
Bradley shakes his head. “Nothing to talk about. I’m just trying to find my soulmate now.”
“And you’re sure it’s not him?” Pointing her head toward the man in question.
“What?! It’s not him. If it was it would’ve happened years ago. Plus, I’ve been with him all morning and he would’ve said something by now.” Penny raises an eyebrow at him. “Phoenix and I stayed at his and Coyote’s apartment last night. Nothing happened… I think.” She raises the other eyebrow. She was worse than Mav getting him to talk with her micro expressions. Quickly, “I was really drunk and I don’t really recall a lot of last night, but like I said if it was him he would’ve owned up to it by now. I mean, it’s Hangman.”
Resigned, “Okay. I didn’t see you getting close to anyone or anybody hanging off you last night. I’ll double check with Jimmy, but it probably happened after you all left.”
“Thanks Penny.” He nods and walks back towards Hangman who looks like his contemplating something.
“Good luck Bradley! And you too Hangman.” Penny yells after them.
Bradley looks back to wave at her and sees her waving and smirking. Looking back at Jake, he’s got those wide eyes again.
Concerned, “You alright?”
“Yeah, it’s just… a lot.” Hangman doesn’t look at him and turns to get back in the truck. Once they’re settled in and Bradley starts the truck, “did she say anything?”
“Nope, thinks it probably happened after we left.” Bradley stares at Jake’s profile, waiting for an answer, for anything but nothing comes.
He’s pulls away from the curb and heads to the club.
________________
The club was a bust.
Nobody there was working last night, but one of the security guards took pity on him and let them see someone security footage.
It was pathetic and embarrassing. Bradley was either planted at the bar drinking and wasting away or being pulled to the dance floor by Phoenix for a song and slinking back to his stool.
Meanwhile, Jake was dancing and laughing with his friend and the rest of their group. There’s an instance where both men disappear for a period of time which make Bradley sick, not wanting to think about where or what they were doing.
Bradley can feel the energy shift in the blond next to him.
Finally it shows everyone leaving which is their cue to leave to the next bar.
The drive to the next bar was quiet. Neither man wanting to be the first to or knowing how to break the silence.
So to break it, Bradley turns on the radio. Fleetwood Mac fills the truck with Emerald Eyes and that’s when Bradley realized it’s connected to his phone.
“Oh shit,” Bradley whispers. When did he put this playlist on? He reaches into his pocket looking for his phone with the other hand still on the wheel. “Have you seen my phone?” he asks.
“It’s right here.” Jake hands him the phone while both are avoiding looking at each other.
Bradley quickly switches the playlist before the next song about green eyes starts. And that’s something he could ask about. “Do a lot of people have green eyes?”
“Hm?” Jake’s staring out the window.
“Green eyes? Are they common too? Like I remember learning in biology that it was rare but like Mav has green eyes, Penny has green eyes and so do you.”
“Huh? Never thought about it.” Jake still hasn’t looked away from out the window.
Quietly, “I think my soulmate has green eyes.”
Jake snaps his head over so fast he must have whiplash. “What makes you say that?”
“Earlier, when I was talking to Penny, I had like a flash of a memory I guess and it was green eyes. I think it was the first thing of color I saw.”
“You remember last night?” Jake asks, staring him down while worrying his lip. His body language has changed too, more inwardly positioned than the open position he was in a moment ago.
“Not really? Just that.” Bradley pauses and then adds, “they were beautiful though.” Bradley looks over at Jake who’s staring out the window again, but his body language has stayed the same.
________________
When they get to the final bar, Jake recognizes the lady at the bar immediately from last night. Bradley watches as he sidles up to the bar probably turning his charm up to 11. No, it does not bother Bradley to see Jake flirt with someone else, he has no right to be upset especially since Jake has someone already.
Jake’s gesturing over his shoulder to him so he makes his way over.
“Oh, this young man? Yeah, he sat there at the end of the bar the whole night. I think some black haired beauty picked him up once or twice to dance but you were mainly parked right there alternating the beer and water I gave ya.”
“No one else came up to me or anything?”
“No… I don’t- Oh! There was that blond guy!”
“Him?” Bradley hurts his thumb to point next to him.
“No! This guy was a bit smaller and shorter and had glasses.”
“Bob?”
“Don’t know, but he came up out of nowhere and y’all made out for a few minutes.”
In unison from both men, “What?!”
“Yeah. I thought the guy was shy when I saw him walk in, but the way he grabbed you, wow I’ve never had someone grab me like that.” She subtly winks at Hangman.
“You made out with Bob?!”
“I don’t know! Hold on, let me call him.” Bradley walks away and calls the bespectacled man.
“Hey Rooster, did you find him?” Bob asks easily down the line.
“I don’t know, are you seeing any color?”
“Me? No. Why would it be-“
“Bob?”
“I forgot. I kissed you last night.”
“According to the bartender you were holding my mouth hostage.”
Nervous chuckles. “Yeah, that sounds more accurate. There was this guy who kept bugging me on the dance floor and would not leave me alone. So I kinda used you to get him to stop.”
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah, he left me alone after. Sorry for taking advantage of you like that.”
“Thanks… so… no colors on your end?”
“Nope, sorry Rooster.”
“It‘s alright. Bye Bob.”
“Bye. Good Luck!”
As Bradley heads back to the bartender, he hears Jake say “God this place is an eyesore. Why would anyone choose these paint colors?”
He can see colors? He found his soulmate? Since when? Is it the guy from last night?
“Cause the owner hadn’t met their soulmate yet when they were painting. When they did, they planned to change it, but it grew on them. Stop changing the subject, you should tell him.”
“Tell who what?” Bradley enters their conversation.
Jake waves off the question to ask his own. “Nothing. Was it Bob?”
“It was Bob.” Jake’s eyes widen. “But no colors.”
“Oh, so no leads then?”
“Nope. Thank you for you help though.” He addresses the bartender as they head out.
“Good luck boys! You tell ‘im, alright?”
“Yes ma’am. Thank you.” Jake replies and pushes Bradley out the door.
________________
All that’s left is the Walmart not too far from this bar. Jake is still quiet.
At the risk of really breaking his own heart, “So you can see colors.” A statement more than a question.
“What?” Jake looks at Bradley through the corner of his eye. Why the hell is Jake so jumpy today?
“You told the bartender the walls were bad colors or something.”
“Oh uhm yeah.” Jake turns into himself again.
Maybe that’s why he’s been quiet, afraid to tell everyone that he’s found his soulmate because of how they reacted to Bradley’s revelation. “Guy’s lucky.”
“What?”
“Your guy from last night. You’re both lucky to have found each other.”
“It’s not him.” Jake quietly says, but Bradley caught it.
“It’s not? Who then?” Bradley asks as they pull up to the store.
Jake looks out the window for where they stopped. “Why are we at Walmart?”
“I don’t know. Nat said we all went our separate ways and I ended up at Walmart with Payback. Maybe someone in there remembers me?” Bradley shrugs.
“You can’t be serious. That’s such a long shot!”
“You never know, the bartender remembered me.”
“Yeah because you were sitting at the bar. Do you even know what you were doing here?”
“No, but I must’ve had a good reason.”
“This is a waste of time.” Jake says with a little frustration.
Sighs. Defeated. “You’re right. This was pointless. Let’s just go.” Bradley turns the ignition and starts driving off.
Silence until finally, “I’m never going to find my soulmate. It just wasn’t meant to be.”
“Rooster…”
“Don’t. It’s fine. Really.”
“But I-“
“I know what you’re gonna say.” He can hear the click from when Hangman shuts his mouth. “That it’s not a big deal and I can have fulfilling relationships outside of it.”
“Wait-“
“I should be grateful it happened cause now I can see colors at least.” Bradley blows out a held breath. “You’re right. It’s fine. I’m fine with not knowing, heck I might be better off not knowing.” He pauses. “I just wanted a love like my parents.”
________________
They get back and both Phoenix and Coyote ask how the search went. When Bradley reports back the findings: nothing, they both look disappointed. Bradley goes to the living room and pouts on the couch.
Like she had already knew what the outcome would be, Phoenix pulls out orange sherbet from the freezer and two spoons. Bradley is about to offer some to the other two men across the room, but sees that they both disappeared behind Hangman’s door.
As Bradley and Phoenix watch another episode of Arrested Development, his phone dings. It’s from Maverick.
Just heard from Fritz you found your soulmate.
Sounds like you and Hangman finally made a move.
He furrows his brow in confusion.
It’s not Hangman, I don’t know who it is, but if it was Hangman, he would’ve said something
Sure.
He pockets his phone and it starts dinging more. He goes to grab it but stops in his tracks when he hears a door closing. Looking up, Coyote is walking out of Hangman’s room with a self satisfied smirk.
The phone keeps dinging. As Coyote tells Phoenix that everything is fine. Hangman just needed some time to himself. I hope he’s alright.
Finally Rooster sees the group chat firing off.
Coyote: So what happened at Walmart? And how did Fanboy and Rooster get lost?
Fanboy: I was not lost
Fanboy: I knew where I was
Payback: You said you were at an aquarium.
Phoenix: Aquarium?
Payback: It was the wall of fish aisle
Fanboy: Was I wrong?
Payback: YES!!!
Bob: Sounds like you were.
Rooster: I got lost?
Fritz: I wanna go see the fish 🐠🐟
Halo: They still have the wall of fish tanks?
Fanboy: Bob noooooo
Yale: we should go to the aquarium.
Coyote: And Rooster?
Payback: They did! 🐟
Rooster: I still don’t remember.
Payback: It took twenty minutes to find him!! He was hiding in the clothing racks!!!
Fritz: why pay when Walmart is free!
Yale: Harvard agrees with me
Rooster: what
Bob: why
Coyote: Nat just snorted, pushed Rooster over and called him dumb.
Payback: Said he couldn’t make a decision and needed to focus. 😏
Omaha: I have pictures.
Fritz: send them!!!!
“I knew I should’ve just stayed home for my birthday.” Dings of incoming text messages still going off in the background.
“That was never an option and you know it.” Phoenix knocks her shoulder into his. A door slams. The open door to Jake’s room signals that the man left the apartment in a hurry.
“Christ.” Coyote just shakes his head looking over at the front door.
“Uhm Bradley?” Nat asks. She’s looking at her phone, the texts message that were just sent.
Bradley looks down and there’s a few asking for pictures of their Walmart adventure. The pictures come through and there’s a few of Fanboy with his face pressed against the glass and one of Payback pulling him away from the fish while Fanboy is trying to pull away to go back to the fish. The next one is of Bradley sitting on the ground with two green baseball caps in either hand. The next photo is where he turns them, seemingly asking Omaha which one to get. They’re A’s caps.
Bob: Hangman’s hat?
Fanboy: omg he’s holding the same hat
Halo: Isn’t that the hat Hangman was wearing this morning?
Payback: He wasn’t sure which one was the right color.
Fritz: hold up, is what I think happened what really happened?
“What the fuck?” Bradley says louder than he expected to.
“Did you know this whole time?!” Nat hits Coyote with a decorative pillow.
“It wasn’t for me to tell!” Coyote puts his hands up to stop the pillow from hitting his face repeatedly.
“To tell what?” Bradley asks, finally looking up from the text messages.
“Rooster, I know you’re not that dense, man.” Coyote says as Nat finally puts the pillow down.
“Shit. What do I do?” Bradley looks at Nat like she has all the answers cause she usually does.
“Hurry your ass up and go get your man!” She pushes him to get up from the couch and towards the door.
Bradley flys out of there with no real idea of where Jake could have gone. He calls and calls him with no answer. All texts go unanswered and unread as well.
It’s not until he gets a separate text from Fritz that he finds out that Hangman showed up at The Hard Deck and he’s downing a ton of beer.
________________
There he is. Sitting at the bar with a beer in one hand and the hat in the other. Penny has a hand on his shoulder and is leaning in, whispering something to him. Penny nods at Bradley and walks away from Jake with two pats to the shoulder before working with another customer.
Bradley slips into the chair next to him undetected and thinks about how he should start this conversation. It was you? Why didn’t you tell me? So you’re my soulmate? It’s okay if you don’t want me as your romantic soulmate cause these things sometimes end up being platonic only.
Bradley is so far into his head, he barely registers the self deprecating chuckle coming from next to him.
“Bradshaw. As I live and breathe.” Jake pounds the rest of his bottle and signals Penny for another.
Carefully. “Hangman. You look good.”
“Ha. Right.” Penny slides a bottle in front of Jake and another for Bradley.
“Uh, can we talk about this outside?”
“I don’t see why. There’s not much to say, right?” He takes another long swig of his beer.
“I think there’s a few things we should say.” Bradley takes a sip of his.
“No worries Rooster. Like you said, you’ll find a fulfilling relationship outside of this.” Jake polishes off his bottle and moves to stand.
“Jake, hold on. We should really talk about this. Why didn’t you tell me?” Bradley pleads.
“No, it’s alright. I don’t need to. Penny! I’ll take care of my tab tomorrow.” Bradley looks at Penny nod at Jake and turns back to see him walking out the door. He throws a twenty down, knowing it’s too much just for his and probably not enough to cover Jake’s.
Rushing out the door, he sees Jake is just walking down the road. “Jake! Wait!” Jake is still just walking leisurely towards nothing in particular as Bradley catches up. “You’re my soulmate, aren’t you?”
Jake stops right under the over hanging street lamp. Quietly, almost a whisper. “Yeah. I am.”
Bradley’s heart bursts at the confirmation. “We drove all over. You’ve known all day and you didn’t say anything? Why?”
“I didn’t know how to tell you. I didn’t want to disappoint you.” Still sounding meek.
“I don’t understand. How could you disappoint me?”
“I heard you this morning, Rooster! You told Phoenix that it couldn’t be me. Like it was the worst possible idea.”
“That’s not what I meant!”
“That’s what you said!” Jake voice breaks. “You wouldn’t even consider me!”
“We’ve known each other for years! It’s not common for people to suddenly become soulmates 15 years after they first met.”
Mumbled. “Doesn’t mean it isn’t possible.”
“And you have a boyfriend!”
“He’s not my boyfriend.”
“Sure seemed like it when you walked into The Hard Deck yesterday. And the footage from the club where you disappeared.”
“We were just messing around and we broke it off when we weren’t on the dance floor. Besides, it’s not like you haven’t been going home with random girls either.”
“Yeah but I didn’t bring them to your birthday!”
“Your birthday is on Sunday, excuse me for thinking we were celebrating tonight, you know, on a fucking Saturday!”
“You know what, fine! If you don’t want this, we don’t have to do this.” Bradley gestures between the both of them. “We can go on with our lives and just pretend like nothing happened!”
“That’s not what I want!”
“What do you want, Hangman?”
“I want you! I want us! I want a life together! I want a relationship like the famous Bradshaw’s cause the one I saw in my parents were anything but!” Panting from the emotional reveal.
“You do?” The anger bleeds away and Bradley asks hopeful.
“Of course I do. I’ve always wanted you.” They stare at each other for a moment. Jake looks to the ground as he asks, “do you want me?”
Bradley goes forward til he’s a step away from Jake. so that he can reach for Jake’s head to catch his eye again. “God Jake, I’ve been in love with you since I first saw you.”
Jake puffs a breath of disbelief and it warms Bradley face. Bradley slowly leans in until their lips lock in a chaste kiss. They pull apart to just hold on to each other.
He’s found his soulmate.
“Wait, how did this happen? Like we have been around each other for the past year.”
“Last night, you took an Uber to my place and I pulled you to the kitchen to give you some water. I turned around with your glass and you planted this hat on me.” Bradley can barely make out the blush blooming on Jake. “You uhm, you caressed my cheeks and said it was perfect.”
Bradley gazes into Jake’s eyes, dopey smile growing and agrees with his drunk self. “It really is.”
________________
New text from Mav: Spoke to Fritz again. Told you so.