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Age 11
Silver cringed as the female voice in his head belted out another verse of the obnoxious song. All week the same ten songs on repeat. An unwanted soundtrack for Silver’s current mission. However, he wouldn’t consider the music appropriate for what he was doing. Or really what he would be doing, a heist, theft.
He turned over, putting his hands over his ears, as if it could do any good.
There was no running from the truth…
Whoever his soulmate was, had terrible tastes in music.
—------------------------
Age 17
Gold sang along to the music pumping through his sound system as loudly as he could, attempting to drown out the music in his head.
He knows he should be grateful he could hear anything at all.
Gold had actually been extremely worried for most of his childhood, he couldn’t remember ever hearing music. He knew sometimes children didn’t make it past infancy, it was therefore entirely possible that whoever his soulmate had been had already passed away.
Then- around eight, sitting in his room playing pool, Gold heard it, a soft melody, it sounded like something he’d hear in an old movie, he would never willingly seek it out, but it was the most beautiful sound he’d ever heard. He still remembers the panic, then joy, on his mother’s face as he slammed the door to her room open, jumping on the bed and cheering. She picked him up and they danced all around the room, even after the music in his head stopped (not that she was capable of hearing it, but she was more than happy to let Gold take the lead, knowing that her prayers to the Ho-Oh shrine had been answered and Gold’s soulmate was not dead as they’d feared).
Through the years he heard music only on occasion. He started to wonder if maybe his soulmate didn’t have access to a radio, maybe they lived in a region that was archaic. But each time he had a song in his head that only he could hear, he smiled, at least while he was young.
As the years progressed, the music became more varied, and when he was around 11 it was heard more often.
Unfortunately for him, his soulmate seemed to have the music tastes of his grandparents. Never once did Gold hear his preferred genre. He thought that maybe he’d heard a DJ Mary song but he was at a DJ Mary concert so the whisper of a song was probably just because it was so loud in the auditorium. He’d dragged Silver along to that show, apparently his bestie absolutely loathed the singer, and Gold was happy to (lovingly) torture him for the evening. Especially since Silver dragged him to every stupid Proteam Omega movie.
They had a complicated friendship.
It was more complicated because Gold found Silver irresistibly attractive. And had maybe dreamed of kissing him once or twice, then immediately felt guilty. Because he had a soulmate he’d been so desperate to find. It was a slap in their face to dream of kissing another, even if the thought of not being around Silver was heartbreaking. Even if maybe he didn’t want to find his soulmate and be with Silver instead.
Today though, Silver was once again visiting his father, and so Gold could listen to DJ Mary in peace (Silver always complained, he somehow hated her music, the freak). But that also meant that Gold had no one to distract him from the music bouncing around his head.
“ Good morning, heartache, thought we said goodbye last night, I turned and tossed until it seemed you had gone, but here you are with the dawn,”
Gold gave up, turning off his own music. He fell back against his bed with an annoyed huff. The song was familiar, one of his soulmate’s favorites. At this point, Gold could even begrudgingly sing along, which he did, even though he hated it.
“Stop haunting me now, can’t shake you, no how, just leave me alone, I’ve got those Monday blues, straight through Sunday blues”
Just as he went to sing the next verse his phone rang, he smiled when Silver’s picture popped up,
“Hey-”
—------------------------------------
“I don’t know, I almost don’t want to meet her,” Silver sighed, pulling a throw pillow to his chest.
His father raised an eyebrow, motioning for him to continue. Silver regretted bringing up the topic, it was just-
“All she listens to is obnoxious pop music, and even then it’s almost entirely DJ Mary. Gold’s dragged me to enough of her concerts, I know the type of girl that listens to her, vapid, hollow, dumb. It just sounds exhausting to deal with her…”
“Is it wrong that I don’t think I could love my soulmate?” Silver added quietly.
Giovanni watched him for several long moments. The fact that Silver was willing to open up to him was a gift in itself, but he needed to lay some hard truths on his son. Namely that he couldn’t judge his soulmate without meeting them. Unless, he did say she, maybe they had met already? Although Silver never mentioned meeting her, and he’d gotten pretty chatty over the last year.
“You’ve met her?”
Shaking his head, Silver frowned, “No, and every time I see a girl that fits the profile, I try to-” he cut himself off, his shoulders slumping, “I don’t find that type of girl attractive, I want to be with someone who challenges me, someone with fire, maybe a bit of a jackass, I want to be with someone who can-”
“Someone like Gold?” Giovanni cut him off, his hunch confirmed by the blush that spread across Silver’s fair skin from his cheeks to the tips of his ears, just as his late soulmate had always blushed.
“I know it’s not fair to him, he’s got a soulmate, he’s talked about them before, he hasn’t met them but, he will, and I can’t be the reason he isn’t happy,” Silver looked down, his thumb tracing the patterns in the pillow.
It really wasn’t fair.
Being around Gold felt so good, it made him feel loved, and safe, and like he had a home. Not to mention how gorgeous he found his best friend, those yellow eyes ensnaring him effortlessly, and his body- he was so athletic, so muscular. The mere thought of his female soulmate made him want to gag.
“Silver.” Giovanni’s voice was calm, he rested his hand on his son’s shoulder, giving him a reassuring squeeze, “When you think of a happy home, Gold is always there, right?”
Biting his lip, Silver nodded.
“And you seemingly know the type of person who listens to DJ Mary, because Gold listens to-”
Silver shook his head, he could see where his father was going, but there was no way Gold was his soulmate. It was too convenient, too perfect. Silver wasn’t that lucky. He didn’t get the happy home he’d always dreamed of.
“Let’s try something, and if I’m wrong, I’ll drop it,” Silver looked unconvinced, but allowed his father to continue, “We’ll play your favorite song, and then midway through you can call Gold while singing along, if he doesn’t say anything, you’ll know, and I’ll never mention it again,”
Silver’s deflated, nodding his head. He knew Gold wasn’t his soulmate, but maybe just maybe his father knew something he didn’t. Or more likely, the universe just wanted to remind him how much it hated him.
Giovanni fussed with the records, until the song that Silver loved the most began to play. His fingers lingered over Gold’s contact, a photo of his cocky smirk after a round of pool, it was Silver’s favorite. The song filled the air, normally relaxing him, Silver felt dread. He knew Gold wasn’t his soulmate, it still hurt. Just like the song said, he grew used to heartache.
“Call now,” Giovanni said gently.
He pressed connect, the phone on speaker so Gold could hear the music along with Silver, and moreso his father could hear when Gold didn’t say a word about the song. Except an annoyed quip about Silver having shitty tastes, which was usually the response when Gold allowed him to control the radio, rare as that was.
“Hey-” Gold’s deep voice greeted,
Silver closed his eyes, singing along, his voice wasn’t nice, and he’d make up some shitty excuse when Gold asked him why he’d called to play karaoke, “Good morning, heartache, here we go again, good morning, heartache, you’re the one who knew me when, might as well get used to you hanging around, good morning, heartache, sit down,”
A sharp inhale of breath, “Stop haunting me now, can’t shake you, no how,” Gold spoke the next words, seemingly from memory, his voice uncertain, not of the lyrics, but the implications.
Freezing, Silver’s hands shook around the phone. His eyes the size of the moon, staring at his father, his mouth in a little ‘o’.
“You’re with your dad still?” Gold asked, his voice breaking slightly as if he were trying not to cry, Silver couldn’t speak.
“He’s here, yes.” Giovanni answered for his son, a joy bubbling up in his own heart. Finally, he was able to fix something for his little boy.
“Don’t- don’t leave, I’m fifteen minutes away, play songs Silver knows and I’ll tell you what they are when I get there,”
The phone clicked off. Silver still didn’t speak. Giovanni couldn’t help himself, leaning forward and pressing a kiss against his forehead.
Giovanni took charge of choosing the songs, at least for the first three, the last one was Silver’s choice. Giovanni couldn’t help the chuckle as Silver pressed play. A DJ Mary song playing through the speaker of his phone (Giovanni didn’t have a single DJ Mary record, although now it seemed he needed to gather some for his son’s soulmate). He could also probably hire her for a private show, maybe when they had their public ceremony announcing their recognition of their bond.
There was a bit of commotion as Gold slammed the doors to the study open. Silver had the forethought to pause the music, as soon as the front door had opened. There was no way Gold knew what was playing.
Except- maybe there was a chance. Maybe Gold really was his soulmate.
Breath held, Silver watched as Gold stalked forward, he let out a little yelp as Gold grabbed him, pulling him into his arms and crashing their lips together.
His lips were more melodic than any music he’d ever heard.
—---------------------------------------
He was an idiot. And so was Silver. They were both idiots. No wonder they were soulmates.
Reluctantly, Gold pulled away from the kiss he’d initiated. He immediately committed Silver’s shocked expression to memory. He should have figured this out the first time Silver put music on. Actually, he should have figured it out as soon as he saw Silver, as soon as he knew Silver had been kidnapped until he was 8.
“First song,” Gold held up his index finger, glancing at Giovanni who wore a knowing smirk, “I don’t know the name but you like to listen to it when it looks like rain, there’s a line about a tin can,”
A single nod, Gold smirked as he continued, “Second song, he held up another finger, Summertime, I only know the name cause DJ Mary did a cover at a concert,” He looked suddenly sheepish, “third song was the one from that movie my mom likes, we watched it a few months ago and I got a bit overly emotional,”
Overly emotional was an understatement, Gold had been blubbering like a baby. He made them watch an action movie after to prove that he was manly. Silver smiled widely, Giovanni took that as an affirmative, although he wasn’t sure of what movie had the song.
“And then you played my favorite song, because of course you know it,”
This time, Silver pulled Gold in for a kiss, his arms wrapping tightly, refusing to let go.
They’d both get happy endings after all.
Giovanni shook his head fondly.
It seemed that both boys had multiple clues that they fully ignored.
They really were soulmates.