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1.
It was late in the evening. All of The Wu group were hanging out at Pete’s place, gathered around the tv. Tong, Yok, Niran and Pete were all sitting on the sofa, right in front of them sat the trio: Tao, Thua and Jack with a big bowl of popcorn. On their right side sat Fei on an armchair sipping on her drink while Jia Hao layed on the floor drunk out of his mind. The movie had long since became background noise. Most of them were still facing the television, but conversation drifted around the room, overlapping with the dramatic dialogue on screen. Empty candy wrappers sat on the glass coffee table, and a warm light made everything sleepy. Pete was curled up on one end of the sofa, tucked into the cushion. At some point during the movie, he dozed off. His shoulders slightly twitched as he tried to unconsciously squeeze himself in to the sofa. Niran noticed first. He glanced over in the middle of Jack’s story, pausing for only a second before reaching for the blanket. With a quiet tug, he placed it over Pete and adjusted it so it wouldn’t slide off. The movement was absentminded, almost automatic. Then he settled back into his seat and returned his attention to the conversation as though nothing had happened. A small silence followed. Yok’s eyes flickered to Tong. Tong noticed too. In front of them the trio raised their eyebrows. No one said anything. The movie continued playing and Niran remained completely unaware. Or maybe he was pretending to be. Fei lowered her drink, watching Niran settle back into his seat. Tong caught her eye and tilted his head as if to say Did you see that? She glanced towards her nong. Niran had never been that person who let people in easily. Growing up, he’d spent more time on his own than with anyone of his age. Even when he did make friends, there was always a certain distance he kept. Then Pete came along. For the first time in years, she watched him genuinely relax around someone. Trust someone. Maybe Niran has finally found a friendship that mattered enough to him that he paid attention to things other people overlooked. Maybe he wanted to be helpful because for the first time in his life he didn’t want to lose something that was important to him. That would make sense. It would explain a lot.
2.
The afternoon air was humid as the Wu trio made their way down the sidewalk. They weren’t headed anywhere in particular. Just walking. Hanging out. Killing time.
“… and then I delivered the wrong order,” Thua was saying.
“No way.”
“I swear.”
Giggles filled the streets. As they were passing bars and restaurants, Jack glanced through one of the windows and stopped. “P’Pete!” The others nearly walked passed him. “Where?”
Jack pointed. Inside, seated at a small table near the back were Pete and Niran. Neither of them noticed the trio outside. Pete was talking, hands flying in every direction while Niran looked thoroughly entertained. For a moment everyone simply watched.
Tao narrowed his eyes. “Ok, question.” he said. “When was the last time P’Pete ate a meal with us?”
Silence. The trio looked at each other.
“I…” Thua started, “Actually I don’t know.”
“No, seriously. Think about it!” Tao said dramatically. “Last week I asked P’Pete if he wanted to go eat meat skewers with me and he literally said: Let me see what Niran’s doing first.” remembered Jake.
“He said what?!”
“Word for word.”
The group stared some more.
“I mean…” started Tao looking thoughtful. “It makes sense.” The other two looked at him.
“The soul bond.”
“Oh!”
“Right!”
That was true.
“They probably just feel more comfortable around each other,” Jake said.
“Maybe it’s easier to eat together,” Thua added nodding. The explanation made sense. After all none of them have been soul bounded before. How were they supposed to know what was normal?” Tao made a pleased sound and started to turn away from the window.
“Wait.”
“What?”
Slowly, Jack pointed toward the restaurant again. The other two slowly followed his gaze. Inside Pete was holding out a fork, Niran leaned forward without hesitation and cleaned the food off the fork. A second later, Niran picked up a napkin and cleaned the corner of Pete’s mouth. Pete just smiled and carried on eating like they’ve done it a hundred times before. The trio stared with their mouths agape. “Soul bond?”
“Yeah. Must be the soul bond thing.” Thua let out a dramatic sigh. “I wish P’Pete would feed me…”
They all agreed looking extremely distraught by the fact Pete never fed them food.
3.
The group was scattered across Pete’s backyard, the conversation had split into three different topics at once, everyone talking over each other in the way friends did after spending too much time together. Most of the group were on their second drink except the ones who don’t drink and Jia Hao who was on his fifth. “Alright,” he announced suddenly. Everyone ignored him except Tong who politely asked. “What?”
Jia Hao pointed vaguely across the yard. “Those two.”
Across from them, Pete looked up from his drink when he heard Jake and Tao drunkenly laughing at Thua’s hundredth attempt at telling a lame joke. At almost exact same time Niran looked up too. Their eyes met. Both of them smiled. Neither looked surprised. It was just a second too long before Niran looked away.
“They keep doing that!”
Tong frowned. “Doing what?”
Jia Hao stared at him. Then at Pete, then back at Niran.
“The eye thing!” Jia Hao looked genuinely frustrated. Tong joined in the staring and tried really hard to see clearly. The trio were still having a lame joke competition. Niran shook his head with a slight smirk. Pete wasn’t looking at the person telling the story. He was looking at Niran. Not in an obvious way, more like he was checking his reaction first. Niran looked to the side and caught him, he llooked away immediately and Niran smirk only grew.
“See?” Jia Hao slurred crossing his arms.
Tong watched for another minute. Every time one of them spoke, the other seemed to notice instantly, they kept checking on each other like one of them might disappear.
Tong thought about it seriously. “How long has this been happening?”
“I don’t know, does it matter?” sighed Jia Hao.
“I think I figured it out.”
“I told you!”
“I suspect it’s because of the side effect from the Soul bond. Recently Pete kept mistaking us for Niran. It makes it easier for him to keep his eyes on the real Niran for the time being.” confidently concluded Tong while fixing his glasses.
Jia Hao blinked.
“I need another drink.”
4.
Dinner had already been ordered and the group was waiting for Niran and Pete to arrive from a mission to detain yet another yao. After glancing at the clock, Yok wandered over to the window and peeked through the curtain. Sure enough, she saw two familiar figures walking up the hill towards the house, she was about to announce their arrival but something kept her from speaking up. She continued to quietly observe, Niran looked exhausted, his steps were slow and shoulders slumped. Pete, meanwhile, seemed determined to keep them moving, dragging him up the path. Yok frowned, her eyebrows narrowed. Pete wasn’t pulling on Niran’s sleeve… or his shirt… or his wrist. He was holding his hand. Just… holding it. Like it was the most normal thing in the world. Yok looked around the room and found Jia Hao already staring with a raised eyebrow. One look was enough, he moved to her side and squinted into the distance. They were quiet, feeling like they were witnessing something they definitely weren’t supposed to notice. Before them Pete gave Niran’s hand another gentle tug, seemingly giving him words of encouragement. Niran didn’t seem to complain and let himself be pulled forward without protest, without letting go. Neither of them seemed remotely aware of the two set of eyes watching their every move.
“Well,” Yok whispered.
“Yep.”
The peaking duo looked away just before Pete and Niran could notice them.
5.
The living room was dark except for the glow of the TV. Controllers, candy wrappers and blankets were scattered across the room. It had gotten dark hours ago and nobody from the trio felt like making the trip home. So they stayed. It wasn’t unusual, Pete’s place, technically Niran’s place had practically become the hangout spot. By two in the morning, they all fell asleep, the trio scattered on the sofa and Niran and Pete in their room. The house was silent. Thua woke up suddenly, for a few seconds he couldn’t figure out why. His teeth. He’d forgotten to brush his teeth. “Aw, come on…” he muttered. Carefully climbing over his sleeping friends he headed upstairs. The hallway was dark, except for the light coming from under the bathroom door. Thua rubbed his eyes. Did someone forget to turn off the light? As he got closer, he heard voices. Pete and Niran. He paused. That was odd, why were they both awake? The closer he got the more clearly he could hear them talking, then came the unmistakable sound of water. Thua came to a stop. “Wait..” Inside Pete giggled and Niran mumbled something in return he couldn’t hear.
“Move.”
“I’m trying!”
“You’re literally standing in front of it!”
“There isn’t enough room.” whined Niran.
“Yes, because of your big shoulders!” laughed Pete.
“Aw! I thought you liked-”
Thua stepped away, eyes wide. There wasn’t enough room? In the shower? His brain stalled. The water. The voices. The fact that both of them were definitely in there. At the same time?! He spun around and sprinted downstairs. A panicked silent sprint, the kind where every step somehow made a creaking sound only because he was trying really hard not to. He dropped to his knees on the sofa “Jack!”
Nothing.
“Tao!”
Still nothing. He shook their shoulders.
Jack groaned. “What?”
“Tao!”
“What?” said Tao as he opened one eye.
Thua dramatically glanced around. “You have to wake up!”
“We’re awake.” they said in unison.
“I just discovered something.” Thua said as he pointed upstairs. Immediately intrigued, Jack’s eyebrows shot up. “What?”
Thua leaned closer. “They shower together.”
Silence.
“I said, they shower together.”
“Who?”
“P’Pete and Niran”
Jack and Tao stared.
“No they don’t.”
“Go to sleep.”
“YES THEY DO!! They’re doing it right now!”
Jack sat upright immediately.
“What do you mean right now?!”
“I went upstairs to brush my teeth and they were both in the bathroom.” Thua whispered.
“Maybe they also forgot to brush their teeth…?”
“No.”
“Maybe-“
“Nope.”
Tao was now also sitting up.
“How can you be so sure?”
Thua lowered his voice even further. “I heard them bickering about space.”
The room fell silent.
Tao slowly turned. “… Space?”
“Mhm.”
“In the bathroom?”
Thua was nodding vigorously, looking like his head was about to fall off. Nobody could go back to sleep. All of them were thinking the same thing. They wanted to go upstairs and verify but nobody could move, they just stared at each other. Upstairs the floorboard creaked. The three heads snapped towards the ceiling.
“Everyone shut up!” Thua whisper-screamed. Then the unmistakable sound of a door opening. Nobody dared to move. Rushed footsteps and whispers filled the otherwise quiet house, the whispers and giggles continued down the hall. Then a door opened and clicked shut.
Silence.
“Soul bond?” said Tao, scratching his neck.
+1
The forgotten charger wasn’t discovered until they were already half way down the street. “Wait,” Tao said, stopping so suddenly that Jack almost walked into him.
“Do you two have my charger?”
“No.” Jack and Thua said at the same time.
“The one you were both using yesterday?”
“Oh,” Jack winced. “I thought it was P’Pete’s. It’s probably in his room.”
Groans immediately followed.
“P’Pete’s room?” Tao asked. “As in upstairs?”
“What? Are you too lazy?” Thua teased.
“No, but we never go up there.”
That was true. Everyone hung out at Pete’s house constantly, but almost exclusively downstairs. The living room sofa had practically molded itself around their bodies. The kitchen and backyard were familiar territory. The upstairs wasn’t.
Tao sighed dramatically and turned around. “Fine. Let’s go.”
The trio turned back toward the house. Inside everything felt familiar until they reached the staircase. The moment they started climbing, it felt oddly strange. Even though they were technically never denied access.
“When was the last time we were up here?” wondered Jack.
“Middle school?” Thua guessed.
The hallway was quiet with light spilling through the window at the far end. Everything looked the same as they’d remembered.
“P’Pete’s room is down there,” Jack said. The trio followed casually, still bickering about whether they’d ever actually been upstairs during high school. Then Jack slowed, just slightly and Tao immediately noticed.
“What?”
Jack didn't answer right away. At the end of the hall, Pete’s bedroom door was cracked open. Jack pointed. For a moment nobody spoke, Tao frowned.
“What now?”
Jack still didn’t move. Thua stepped around him and then he understood. Niran was standing in the middle of the room and Pete was standing in front of him. Close, really close. The room looked different as they’d remembered. More sunlight filtered through the blinds, there was more colour, more books on the shelves , more pictures on the walls and most importantly there was more… bed? There was one large bed with two pillows. But neither Jack or Thua could focus on any of that for long, because Pete and Niran were facing each other with their foreheads touching. Their first thought was, again, soul bond. Maybe they were transferring negative energy. Maybe Pete was having a crisis, maybe Niran was having a crisis, maybe they were having a shared crisis? “Oh,”Thua whispered.
“Yeah.” Jack whispered back.
Tao squinted. “Are they doing the thing?”
“The thing?”
“The energy thing.”
“The soul bond thing.” Jack clarified.
Thua nodded slowly. “Probably.”
The three of them stood there for several seconds, waiting, watching. Trying to figure out what was happening. Pete and Niran just stood there, their foreheads resting together.
“How long does negative energy transfer take?" Tao asked.
“No idea.”
“Maybe they have a lot of negative energy.”
It made sense. Tao nodded.
Then Pete smiled. Not a normal smile, a soft one. The kind none of them had ever seen him use before. Niran smiled back. The trio’s eyes collectively widened. Before anyone could develop that thought further, Niran tilted his head and Pete leaned forward. They started kissing. The hallway went completely silent. All three of them froze. Every thought left Tao’s mind. Jack blinked once, twice, three times. Thua’s mouth slowly fell open. Inside the room Pete and Niran were still completely unaware they had an audience, the kiss they shared was short and tender. When they pulled apart, they were both smiling ear to ear. And that was somehow worse.
Tao finally found enough brainpower to speak. “I don’t think that’s how soul bonds work…”
“Nope.”
“Definitely not.” Jack agreed.