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Every morning Elijah seemed to wake up with his heart pounding in his chest so hard that he thought it might explode. His cheeks would be flushed red yet he was always unable to remember exactly what had happened in the dream that had come the night before; all he could ever recall was there was someone in them, and every single time he fell in love.
Was it even possible to love someone whose face you did not know? Whose face you had never seen? Their voice never stayed, and yet, their dream-touch lingered on his skin, and as such Elijah had quickly learned how much their love had a particular affection for holding hands. Was it something they did with everyone, or was it just with him? Did it even matter, if for all Elijah knew, they were nothing but a dream?
There was a possible explanation, but it was… far-fetched, to say the least. Soulmates were mere speculation, a one in a billion phenomenon at best, something that happened to extraordinary people that would leave extraordinary lives. Not Elijah. Elijah was… ordinary, at most. Maybe slightly above the average in terms of dress sense, but nothing more. Nothing less, either , he reminded himself quickly.
And yet, there was no denying the way Elijah felt every time he woke up. Eventually he asked a friend about it, likely not the best idea considering said friend’s romantic nature, but there really was no one else to go to. Suggesting to anyone else that he was in love with what was, at this point, an idea, would sound insane, and that would be putting it nicely.
His friend told him that it was a soulmate almost straight away, as if it was instinct, and then decided to devote themselves to helping him find his ‘other half’. Celeste had always been… a bit extreme, but most people were like that on the internet. Apparently, however, a little sliver of the information managed to get out, and the rest of their friend group quickly hopped on the bandwagon; they always had worked something akin to a unit, but matchmaking? Matchmaking was a bit much for a whole group.
A year went by without any hope, then two, and Elijah was beginning to grow tired of it all. The dreams were still happening, even if they didn’t remember them, and it was almost becoming a medical concern. After all, when had they ever dismissed the idea of them just having some major heart complications? It was totally possible.
Despite all of Elijah’s attempts at finding an excuse, he knew that he had a soulmate. And you know what? That was fine! They could totally live without remembering the face of their ‘one true love’, they could survive, probably even thrive, without knowing their voice or their name. The dreams would be annoying, sure, but really, there were worse things out there than a silly crush.
Apparently, his soulmate had other plans.
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Cosmas had given up on finding aer soulmate ages ago. Really, who needed soulmates when there were plenty of other people to date? It was simple enough, and it wasn’t like ae was only capable of liking aer soulmate, so ae just… dated. Like normal people do. Except everything seemed to end in disaster when it wasn’t with a girl, and the after the second girl Cosmas had realised ae was gay, and really, it was a whole entire thing that had nothing to do with aer soulmate as all.
So yeah. Soulmates. Cosmas had one, that was for sure, but it wasn’t like ae needed them. Ae just… sometimes, after waking up, really, really wished ae could remember anything about them. Just for some semblance of a whole memory, right? Because, realistically, ae had a hard enough time remembering details of aer own actual real life, and to rob aer of aer dreams as well was just kind of rude.
Being the third in the Mars Crew to graduate gave ae some advantages, especially considering ae had already started streaming a couple of years beforehand. Money came easy enough, especially since ae was living with Celeste certainly helped ease things along. Together, they planned a whole meetup so that the moment the youngest of their group graduated, they’d all finally, finally be able to see each other in person. Fingers crossed the others didn’t mind Texas.
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Elijah was the last to arrive, although it wasn’t because there was any particular reason. He lived the closest (with some exceptions) to Celeste and Cosmas, and really, it was that lack of distance that persuaded him to take as much time as possible. The mere idea of meeting everyone in person was nerve wracking, but actually doing it was on another level entirely.
He pulled into the driveway, heart almost beating out of his chest. It was his dreams all over again, except this time it wasn’t some stupid soulmate causing it all, just pure, unadulterated fear. His palms were sweaty and his mouth was dry, and then he saw Celeste waving at him from the doorway, and things weren’t as bad anymore. Still bad, but… a little bit better.
Getting out of his car, Elijah took one, two, three steps to the door, head down the entire time. At the fourth step, he looked up, and it was almost like the breath was knocked out of his lungs. From the look of it, the same thing had happened to Cosmas too.
It was those dreams all over, playing in his head all at the same time, the laughter, the flirting, the gentle caresses, he could remember everything. He understood now, why he woke up with his heart fit to burst and his cheeks all red. Every single detail of Cosmas’ face felt as familiar as an old lover’s, perhaps because ae almost was, even though it was their first time seeing each other in person.
Celeste looked between the two soulmates, taking in their lovestruck faces for a mere few moments before understanding. She smiled and stepped away from the two of them, hurrying off to tell the others not to go near the front door for a bit. She had a feeling that the two had plenty to catch up on.