Work Text:
Noah absolutely hates his soulmate.
Since age ten he's had words tattooed across his wrist. The first words his soulmate is supposed to speak to him. It’s bold and black, and italicized. The last part is supposed to resemble how strong of an accent it’s said with.
People assume it was to help pin point exactly who their soulmate is. But, what language are they even basing this off? Canadians don’t have an accent to him, but they aren’t exactly the nations poster child. Every accent is an accent.
It better not be America.
‘Noah, isn’t it?’
How treacherous. It might not seem like a big deal. Some people got stuck with things like ‘hey hotstuff and ‘how many jellybeans do you think I can fit in my nose’. But he would argue his is worse.
People see it as a talking point, and worse: they know his name.
Every person he’s ever met has known who he is. And, for some reason, them knowing his name equals they think they are already on friendly terms.
Noah doesn’t want to be friends with just anyone.
He has standards that only two people have managed to meet. Okay, they didn’t meet them, but they are his friends anyway.
Izzy, who thought he didn’t have a soulmate for three months because he always wore long sleeves around her(It was winter).
And Owen, a big lovable idiot, also the only person who has managed to pull off the “Omg, hey Noah! I haven’t seen you in years!” joke, and actually become friends with him.
Oh, and Eva, but they just pretend they aren’t friends, which, it’s weird, but that’s the reason he’s beginning to see her as otherwise.
He attempts to keep his words to himself. For all of the reasons he listed above, but also, he doesn’t really want a soulmate. The whole system ruins everything.
Everyone who dates outside of the whole mark thing are ultimately only dating until one or the other finds their soulmate. Whether that be in two days or ten years. And that sucks. Almost no one his age is willing to take a stab at anyone, let alone him.
“Noah!” Nadia yells, pounding on the bathroom door, “Hurry the fuck up! We’re going to be late and I still need to brush my teeth.”
“Yeah, yeah.” Noah finishes up washing the conditioner out of his hair and turns the shower off. It squeaks noisily. They really need to fix that. He rubs at his hair with a towel, just enough that it’s not dripping, dries his body, and gets dressed.
When he opens the door he’s thrown by the arm and almost slams into the wall. He whips back around to glare at his youngest older sister.
“Took you long enough.”
Noah rolls his eyes, “Whatever.”
“Whatever!” She mocks and slams the door.
Noah returns to their shared room to grab his bookbag and then heads downstairs. Where his mom and eldest sister wait.
“Morning, No’” Noah’s mom says cheerily.
“Morning, Ma.” Noah responds, taking a seat at the kitchen table.
“Morning Noah!” his second oldest sister greets.
He doesn’t reply.
A smack to his shoulder.
“Good morning, Neasa.”
She smiles, “How are you this fine morning?”
Noah steals a piece of her toast, taking a bite before she can protest, “Meh.”
“Ah, same as always.”
She’s in a very dangerous-looking outfit. Leather pants, leather belt, cropped black shirt. Her hair is normal, the studio will most likely fix it to their desires when she gets there.
Neasa is a stuntwoman. . . stunt double? Both, when it fits. It’s a much more rare job. With the soul marks and all. You can’t cover them with make up. So Neasa not having one nets her a lot of bookings. Easy to adjust.
He nods.
Nadia stomps down the stairs, her mary janes making her journey much louder than usual.
“Looking good Nads!”
“Thanks, Nessie!”
Neasa glares at the nickname. Nadia sticks her tongue out.
Noah gets to his feet, interrupting their silent argument, “Can we go?”
It’s the first day of the second week of his sophomore year. He’s already over it.
“Yes, No’,” His mom sets aside her hand towel and grabs her keys, “Always so impatient.”
“Thank god you have to go to work early today, Mama, lets me wear my cute shoes.”
“You’re just going to get blisters by fourth period.”
Nadia pouts, “Whatever, at least I don't have to ride the bus in them. I almost fell on that blue-haired lesbian chick last time, and I swear her girlfriend was about to eat me alive.”
Gwen. Noah would consider her hair more of a teal, but he doesn’t feel it’s worth mentioning.
“Ready?” Mom huffs, grabbing her purse.
“Been ready.”
“Oh shut up, Noah. Let’s go!”
Nadia gets shotgun, as per usual. She’s older, faster, and cares way more than Noah ever could about sitting in the front seat. The drive is filled with annoying music and adamant chatter from the two girls up front.
When they pull up to the school Nadia kisses their mom on the cheek and hops out of the car, pulling her blue skirt down just a peg.
Noah waves and follows her.
Their mom drives off.`
A group of similarly brightly dressed girls steal his sister away with promises of K-pop before class.
As he looks around at all the kids roaming the halls he only has one thing on his mind. Okay, two things on his mind. One, ew. Two, Time to find Owen.
It doesn’t take long. He’s exactly where he is every day: At his locker making out with his girlfriend, who, yes, is Izzy, his only other friend.
No, Owen did not introduce them, he resents that thought. He’s the one who introduced them .
After their second meeting, they left him alone at the pizza bar while they shared their first kiss over the desserts. It was only a few minutes. But it was honestly the biggest betrayal of all his fifteen years of living.
He doesn’t care if they were soulmates.
The waiter tried to talk to him!
Noah clears his throat.
His friends separate with a loud smack, “Noah!”
Owen waves happily, shoving off his soul mark. ‘I bet I can fit more marshmallows in my mouth.’ It’s written in wingdings, but that’s what it translates to, roughly. They spent hours trying to figure it out after class last year.
Owen just thought his soulmate would speak to him in emojis or something.
“Hey guys.”
They peel themselves off the locker. Noah hates the way their hands immediately find each other. Show-offs. They follow Noah to his locker a couple of rows down.
“Arcade later?”
Noah thinks about it, shoving all but two of his binders into the metal box and slamming the door after, “Who’s coming?”
Knowing them, it’s not a simple one-two-three outing.
Izzy groans, “Not relevant.”
They begin their journey to homeroom, “Why not?”
“Because you won’t want to go if you know.”
Izzy slaps his arm. “Owen!”
Noah raises his eyebrows.
“There’s just going to be some new people .”
Mm. Yeah, that killed any want of Pokemon Mortal Kombat battling his friends. Meeting new people is always the same. Same lame jokes about his name, then slow disappointment when they realize he isn’t as sweet and friendly as his friends. Then dislike, once he starts making fun of them with his usual jokes.
Noah opens his mouth to decline, but he doesn’t a get single sound out.
“Before you say no!” Izzy says, “I’ll buy you a slice of cake. A slice. One.”
Damn, they must really want him to go.
“Two.”
Izzy glares, “One for you, one for me, and you can have a bite of mine.”
“Deal.” Noah agrees, knowing she’ll abandon her cake two scoops in.
Owen grins, “Sweet! It’s been a while since you joined us.”
“I went with you like once a week during the summer.”
“And school started 7 days ago.”
Noah smiles fondly, shaking his head.
They arrive at their classroom door a few moments later.
“Who else is going?” He asks, taking his seat against the wall.
“Gwen, Trent, Courtne- Stop making that face. She’s been… more bearable since she and Gwen got together. Uh. Leshawna? I think? Harold, if she does. Cody. Some new students?”
“One new student,” Izzy gives Owen a weird look, one that makes Noah reel back and make a mental note to interrogate Owen about it later, “the other is just some person Gwen invited.”
Gwen, always inviting people places.
Noah nods. Sounds. . . doable. Painful, stressful, and peace threatening, but doable.
-
It’s third period. First went fairly smoothly, Izzy only got yelled at for talking twice! New record.
Second as well, it’s just Science. Nothing crazy.
Third period is history.
There is nothing wrong with the subject itself, but, the teacher leaves much to be desired. They consistently get the little things wrong. It’s almost like they are such a compulsive liar they can’t even teach textbooks to them without twisting the truth just a little.
Like now.
“And George Washington, America’s ever first President.”
So far, so good, right?
“Not only did he lead them to victory at many battles during their conflict with the British, but he also was the first ever man to own a cat. Up until this point, only ladies were allowed to own those little furballs.”
Noah’s little hope devolves in a second. He stands, pushing his chair back with his legs.
“The U.S. wasn’t even the first people to domesticate cats,” Noah says.
“Yeah,” Someone adds incredulously, “I’m almost 100% sure that was the Middle East.”
The teacher glares, “You two always have something to add. I’m getting a bit sick of it. Besides, I meant in the U.S., not the world.”
“But-”
“But-”
Noah shares a look with the guy he has been debating the teacher with for the past week, for the first time.
He’s kind of hot. Longer, lighter, but still dark, brown hair. Sharp eyes, strong jaw. Facial hair cut into a square on his chin.
He smiles, full teeth, one side tilting up farther than the other, and throws his hands into the air, signaling for him to take the lead.
“But.” He starts, moving his gaze back, “Domesticated cats have been around longer than George Washington.”
“I know, but as I said, women owned those cats.”
Lindsay, the blonde two years older than everyone else, raises her hand. “I thought women couldn’t own anything when they were old?!? My boyfriend, Tylenol, he said that he would buy me anything I want so I could still have things when I’m old.”
She’s got the spirit. A parasitic spirit that ate a couple of her brain cells. But still. Spirit.
“Yeah.” Noah says, “What about that?”
The teacher’s nails are digging into his arms. Probably tearing off some of that thick arm hair with it. He could see those puppies from across the hallway mid-lunch rush, “Fine. If you guys want to say I’m wrong; Lindsay, The cats actually had their own secret society. Women owners were just their disguise.”
“Like Perry? The platypus?”
“Think more. . . Warrior Cats.”
He has got to be shitting them. Now he’s just doing this to piss him off. A league of cats at war? Next he’s going to tell them Toy Story is real. Woody’s gonna walk in the door any minute and give us a lesson on American war strategies.
Unfortunately, a few people in the room would believe him.
“Wow!” Lindsay exclaims, “I think I’m going to go with Perry. He rocks the fedora, and I don’t know any soldier cats.” She shrugs and instantly gets distracted by a text on her phone.
Noah opens his mouth to retort once more.
“Noah. Alejandro. Sit down.” When they don’t instantly follow his directions he follows up with, “Unless you want a trip to the principal.”
“I’ll just tell them you told me Thunder Claw or whatever was going to claw my eyes out in my sleep.” But he sits nonetheless. The office is on the other side of the school. Like a two-minute walk. It’s not worth the journey.
‘Alejandro’ seems to follow his lead quickly after.
“Thunder Clap is going to do what??” Lindsay asks. “I don’t think I like these World War lll cats. How old were the women they used to hide them?”
“Well, the cats were owned by the women in the year 1788.”
“Oh. Pshhh, That’s at least,” She sticks her fingers up one by one, counting, “seven years from now.”
Get him out of this class.
-
The rest of the day goes by without another hitch. Spent taking lame notes on lame subjects he doesn’t really want to remember, but will anyway. He texted his mom during lunch about going to the arcade after.
He was honestly kind of hoping she’d say no, but, as always, she agreed eagerly.
The trio makes their way to the establishment with a pep in their step. Izzy and Owen because, well, they are Izzy and Owen. And Noah because both of his friends hold one of each of his arms and carry him with their momentum. Like a human pogo stick.
When they pull up, he can see a gathering of people around a teal blob. Thank god for Gwen, she’s a great landmark no matter where they go. He only counts five. So there should be even more to come. They look happy. Talking adamantly to each other.
As the door closes everyone looks up in unison and breaks out into cheers. Trent's voice calls above all the noise, “Look who decided to join the party!”
Ugh.
“Don’t forget my cake.” He says under his breath.
Izzy doesn’t take her eyes off their friends, a tight smile plays at her lips, “Wouldn’t dream of it.”
Owen sits down in a free booth and Noah rushes to fill the leftover space next to him. Better to sit next to him than anyone else.
“We haven’t seen you in ages dude!” Geoff, who was not on the list of people going to be here tonight, slaps a hand on his shoulder.
Noah peels it off, “Funny. I feel like I’ve aged ten years since sitting down.”
Geoff laughs.
Noah rolls his eyes. What a himbo.
His soulmate, Bridgette, doesn’t seem to be here yet.
Owen dives into the pizza already at the table. He offers Noah a slice, but he declines. Maybe later.
Izzy tears him from the safety of his friend's blubber to play DDR. She’s really into it. Moving her legs wildly, jumping with every arrow. Noah thinks he even saw her add a spin in there a couple of times.
Noah just hits the arrows and that's it.
When the third song is over, Noah, by no surprise, got a far better score. It’s not Noah’s fault that the difficulty Izzy selected was extreme. And to be fair, he did select easy, but she didn’t get a score over ‘D’.
Trent started watching during the last, asking if he and Gwen could have a turn afterward. And who is Noah to stop Trent's attempts at wooing Courtney’s girl?
“Fine by me,” Noah replies, out of breath. He staggers off the little platform and makes his way back to the group, passing a number of other games he’s sure to get roped into.
“Hey, Noah!” Bridgette calls as he passes her on Skeeball. He catches a glimpse of the ‘nice one, girl-bro!’ as she throws her next sphere.
He grunts in response.
Cody and Harold are button smashing on some new fighting game that wasn’t there last time Noah came in. They don’t notice him as he floats by.
He practically collapses into Owen when he gets back to base.
“You look like you had fun.” Leshawna, one of the few people not playing, comments.
“We did!!” Izzy yells, clambering over their booth and sitting on the top, her legs fall over Owen’s shoulder, “I think I’m getting really good at that game. The arrows were so intimidated by me, they wouldn't stop turning red and disappearing in fear.”
“Izzy, you are so weird girl, but I like your energy.” Leshawna shakes her head, “Congratulations.”
Izzy grins, “Thanks!”
“Ew, Noah,” Lindsay frowns, twisted and leaning over from the table behind Leshawna. “You’re all sweaty.”
Noah turns his face to glare at her, sweat wiping off on Owen’s shirt at the action. “Die.”
Tyler pops his head up a second later, “I didn’t know you played sports.”
Courtney stomps over, looking pissed all over, tugging her girlfriend behind, “We need more players for six way air hockey. Players that don’t include Trent or Cody .” She says that last part under her breath.
Izzy raises her hand wildly, “Oo oo!! Me! Me! Pick me!”
“That’s why I came over here, nutjob.”
“Yesss! O’, Noah, Come on!”
Noah rapidly shakes his head, “Leave me here.”
“Oh, count me in.” Leshawna stands.
The four head off, along with Tyler and Lindsay(who are so certain they are going to in it’s crazy. Do you see who you are playing against?)
Ten bucks says they come back in tears.
Noah’s heart had finally gone back to it’s normal mediocre speed when a bag drops in the seat across from him.
Please don’t bother him.
They sit down.
Noah closes his eyes. If he’s asleep he can just dream his in bed sleeping.
The person clears their throat.
Noah sighs and sits up.
The sight jumpscares him.
“Noah, isn’t it?”
Noah’s heart stops. Then speeds up tenfold. It beats in his chest, so hard it’s all he hears in his ears. It feels like he just speedran twenty DDR songs on extreme. Then drank five of his sister's expresso shots. That’s…
He looks down at his wrist where the those exact words stare back at him.
His heart flutters one more time.
Then. He’s angry.
“Fuck off.”
Alejandro’s eyes widen. His mouth opens in disbelief, his eyebrows slowly scrunching back up.
This man is the reason he’s had to deal with years of agonizing interactions and social situations. The reason he wore long sleeves in the summer when he was younger, and the reason his cousins sometimes call him ‘cousin isn’t it.’
“Do you know how annoying it was to have,” He changes his voice to best mock was little of Alejandro’s he’s heard, “Noah, isn’t it?”
“You’re kidding.”
“No! What year are you from? Who even says that? Do you know how many people tried to talk to me because of you!”
“People literally ran from me because of you! Teachers glare at me on the first days of school! Not only am I Spanish, but I have fuck off in big black, bold, letters across the inside of my wrist!”
He lifts his arm, showing off the mark. Which were certainly big. Tall, a bit of an italic, but for the most part just thick. Hard to miss.
Noah laughs, “You’ve had fuck off written on your wrist for the past 5 years?”
Alejandro narrows his eyes, a smile playing at his lips, “ Yes .”
“That's what you get.”
Alejandro’s jaw drops, “I don’t even get a single ounce of pity?”
Noah shakes his head, smile wide, “No. You still put me through hell.”
“I’ve been wondering for years and years, what I could have done or said to make my soulmate say that to me. I never would have guessed it was just a simple greeting.”
“It was more than a simple greeting. A simple greeting is hi or what's up. You said my name. My name !”
Alejandro only raises his arm in response, shaking it quietly.
Noah scrunches his nose and shakes his head at it.
It's silent for a moment, both parties obviously trying to figure out what to say next.
Noah doesn’t even know what to think, let alone say. He had kind of decided he didn’t want a soulmate years ago. But this one is smart and funny, and good-looking. He kind of likes the Spanish accent.
“I’m kind of glad it’s you?” Alejandro finally speaks, more of a question. “I’ll be honest, I wasn’t expecting a boy.”
Noah feels his stomach drop, “Wait. Is that an issue?”
“No, no. I’ve had. . . crushes on boys before. Just, no one in my family has gotten someone of the opposite sex before-”
“It’s not really a run-in-the-family kind of thing.”
“No, I know! My family, they just kind of expected, wanted, and engrained it into my head that it needed to be a girl.”
Noah narrows his eyes. “But you’ve had crushes on boys?”
“Yes.” Alejandro exhales, then pauses. “Actually. . . you were one of them.”
Noah blinks, “What?”
“In class, I liked that you were sharp-witted and, I don't know, not afraid to say what you were thinking, I guess. We made a great team.”
Noah once again can’t gain control over himself. Every part of his races ahead. He likes that he doesn’t hold back. He liked all his rude comments in class, and possibly to his classmates.
They both go silent.
“Say something?”
Noah licks his lips. “You aren’t the worst soulmate I could have gotten.”
Alejandro smiles, “I can work with that.”
It turns out, he’s a bit better than not the worst. He’s actually really nice to be around. He’s not afraid to banter right off whatever he says and go in even harder on what they are talking about. Actual intellectual conversation. He didn’t realize how much he missed it. Needed it?
His best friends are both morons, his morons, but morons, they make it hard to actually talk about things sometimes.
It’s a lot easier with Alejandro.
“And, oh, have you met Duncan?”
Alejandro shakes his head, green eyes squished crescents looking directly at him.
“That’s a good thing.” Noah replies, “I wish I never met that shaved piece of broccoli.”
Alejandro tilts his head, “Sorry?”
“He has a green mohawk.”
“Practical.”
“Mhm. Anyway, yeah he tried to cheat on Courtney with Gwen. And Gwen immediately told Courtney. At first, she didn’t believe her-”
“Why wouldn’t she believe her best friend?”
“Well, Duncan said they were soulmates.” At Alejandro's confused expression, he explains, “Courtney doesn’t have a soul mark, but Duncan told her that she said his words sometime a couple of months before they got together. He just claimed he never told her because he was nervous. Courtney, of course, ate that right up.”
Alejandro grabs a slice of cold pizza. “That’s insane.”
“But then! Gwen actually revealed that they were soulmates.”
“What??” Alejandro chokes.
“Yeah, and she showed her her arm, and Courtney remembers how they met clear as day. It wasn’t some lame word like ‘asshole.’” Noah rolls his eyes.
Duncan was such a dickhead. Half the people he met called him an asshole off meeting.
“You didn’t know? They told me Gwen invited someone new.”
“I only knew she had a soulmate, not that she she knew them, or that they were a girl, or that there was a whole love triangle .”
“No offense, but if you didn’t even know this, why did Gwen invite you out?”
She invites a lot of people, but usually after knowing them for a while, or with good reason.
Alejandro looks away, “Oh, I just let gave her the answers to the English homework.”
That was suspicious.
“Isn’t your first language Spanish?”
“Yes.” He crosses his arms defensively over his chest, “But that does not mean my English grade suffers.”
“Oh, Noah!” Gwen cheers, a pouting Courtney attached to her. They must have lost air hockey. “You’ve met Alejandro.”
The winners and another pair of losers follow behind.
“Yeah, we, uh, we have history together,” Alejandro replies.
“We’re soulmates.”
Alejandro whips his head towards him. The crowd does the same. Might as well deal with it now, it's going to get out.
“Is Noah the guy you were telling me about?”
Alejandro looks nervous, “. . . Yeah, apparently.”
That’s why she invited him. She loves collecting her LGBTs. And he wasn’t lying about the crush thing. Which is. . . cute. It makes him feel light and dizzy.
“Woah!” Owen says, squishing Noah to the inside seat. He stares at Alejandro, “This piece of man meat is my little buddy's soulmate?”
Alejandro rears back, “Piece of what?”
“Is he good enough?” Owen throws an arm around his shoulder. “Noah needs a really good soulmate, he has a lot of things about him. Like sometimes he’s really mean. Oh, and he doesn’t like strawberry-flavored sweets. He gets really cold so you need to make sure he stays super warm or all his bones will shiver and make super annoying clacking sounds.”
“Thanks. Owen. That’s so kind of you.” He deadpans.
Alejandro keeps looking back and forth between them, a small snarl rising on his nose.
“Of courseee!” Owen cheers.
“Who is this?” Alejandro inquires, smile looking unlike any of the others he’s seen.
He’s jealous? Noah almost wants to ride this out. But it’s most likely not the best idea to start their. . . whatever they are going to be doing.
“I’m Owen!”
“He’s the Big O’!” Izzy supplies, rolling into Noah and Owen’s space.
“And this,” Noah pushes her leg back over to Owen, “is Izzy. Owen’s soulmate.”
“We’re Noah’s parents.” Izzy suddenly becomes serious, “So if you hurt him. You’ll have to deal with us .” she's back to smiling, “Just like we dealt with Duncan!”
Courtney rises from her slump, “What?”
“Don’t worry about it.”
“No, no-”
“ Anyway ! Alejandro, what are your intentions, young man?”
Noah groans, “You don’t have to answer any of their questions.”
“Well. I would like to take him out on a date.” Alejandro states, “to the Pokeman fighting game.”
Noah whispers over the table, “Pokémon.”
“The Pokémon fighting game!”
Izzy and Owen share a look. Then get out out the booth to let Noah free, “Bring him back soon. We want to play with him too.”
“Yeah.”
“I will endeavor to do so.”
“Don’t endeavor any part of anything!!” Izzy shouts, “Just play games and return him to us unendeavored.”
Owen nods rapidly.
Noah rolls his eyes at his friends antics. “Let’s go.”
-
An hour and six Noah victories later Alejandro finally admits he has never played a video game in his life.
“I am so good at everything else, I thought I would just be a natural.”
Noah narrows his eyes, “So humble.”
“I try,” Alejandro agrees wholly, “but for some reason, this machine does not punch when I want to punch, and you keep fitting me in the face, which is so unsportsmanlike.”
“One, this is a Pokemon battle, so you want to use magic too.” Alejandro blinks like he’s never heard a single word he’s saying, “Two, the character you keep picking is all face.”
“The pink thing? She looks like she would be good at tricking people to do her bidding. Cute but mysterious. I also like her hair.”
“She sings people to sleep.”
Alejandro opens his mouth, “I am able to do that? How?”
Alejandro doesn’t move to give him more room.
In fact, he takes one small step forward. Subtle, but Noah notices.
Noah shakes his head fondly, unable to stop his smile once again, “Press this button,” He leans over and points at the yellow button while holding the joy stick up, “And hold the stick up.”
A warm chest lightly skims his back. An arm follows the same path as his own.
He hears his breath hasten.
Then Alejandro places his hand over Noah’s on the stick.
He moves it to the left. “Like this?”
Noah looks back towards him, under his lashes, “I didn’t take you as the weaponized incompetence type.”
“Oh, I’ll do whatever it takes to get what I want.”
“Mm?” Noah whispers, “And what exactly is it that you want out of this situation?”
“You.”
Noah forgets to breathe but his face remains unchanged, “Do you think it’s working?”
“I don’t know, let me ask.”
He spins Noah to face him. Sending all kind of things flying to Noah’s brain.
Alejandro inches closer, “Can I kiss you?”
Noah doesn’t reply. He surges up, using the arcade box as leverage and presses their lips together.
Alejandro instantly melts, hands placing themselves behind Noah. One quickly snakes to his lower back after, and pulls him closer.
Noah finds himself having to change his own position.
His hands place themselves respectfully on his chest.
When they pull back, Noah has a hard time opening his eyes. He says, “No.”
Alejandro smiles, heart pounding under Noah’s touch.
“I thought I said no endeavoring!!”