Chapter Text
It was an ordinary day, just like any other, with rain trickling down the bus window, making wobbly line patterns connecting the dots between each other. Though, to a certain person, this was no ordinary everyday. To a certain person, this was a pretty special day.
As a dark haired brunet sat silently and lonely by a bus’ window. He was wearing a castleton green jacket with a hood. It was a bit soaked from the walk in the rain he’d taken an hour or so ago. He sighed as he let a hand through his messy damp hair. He rustled his star command toned backpack, taking a look at the paper binder once more.
This rainy Tuesday marked the day he moved into the university campus, where he’d be spending the next few years on getting his degree in journalism as well as a degree in communications. He knew this was the field he wanted to pursue, a dream come true. He always had a knack for writing and investigating interesting and peculiar cases to use for writing. He had secretly even created an account on a small platform under a pseudonym, where he would share them from time to time. Of course the attention he got wasn’t a lot, but he was pleased with the very few that did click on his article/blog post.
The bus soon came to a stop, as it had rolled into the campus parking lot. Tony once again let out a sigh, as he got his backpack and headed out of the bus.
Once he got out, he went over to the luggage storage for the bus. The driver came a few steps behind him. He was a man in his late 40’s. The man was quite lean, wearing some prussian shade classic fit trousers which were held up by a pair of suspenders, a neat white classic button up shirt, and topped off with a pair of sunglasses on his head. To Tony, it seemed illogical to have shades when the weather outside is nothing but dark clouds and rain, but he knew little about fashion choices people made. Okay, he’d be a bit of a hypocrite, if he said he knew nothing- he himself had tried to make an effort to spruce up his own wardrobe before he had left for university. He had a desire for a bit of a change in his look, he had been sporting almost since elementary school.
The man lifted out a decent sized suitcase from the compartment.
“I believe this is yours, young sir.” Said the driver kindly, as he set the suitcase beside the young man. The 18 year old snapped out and nodded.
“Yes. Thank you.” He said politely, as he took his luggage by the pulling handle. The man smelled the air and let out a deep breath.
“Ahh, nothing like those university years. I remember them like they were yesterday. The parties, the new environment, away from family and parents. Especially the annoying older siblings.” The man said, recalling his years in university. He gave a look over at the boy.
“Make sure to study hard, but also enjoy your years here, haha. Weekends are full of small student parties. Be sure to catch a few. They are truly one of a kind experiences.” Tony nodded in response to the man. The dark brunet was surely going to attend one or two. That was one of his goals he hoped to achieve. The young adult stood there for a while, lost in his thoughts. The sound of the driver talking again, snapped him out.
“Hey, you should probably get going, or you’ll get soaked.” He said, and in that moment Tony remembered that he was currently standing outside, and it was pouring from above. The dark brunet nodded and he hastily threw one backpack strap over his shoulder, while the other hand started pulling the suitcase on wheel towards the university ground entrance. He gave a farewell wave to the old man, before he was finally alone again.
A slight tremor went through as he set foot on campus. It probably was his slight anxiety and unfamiliarity with his surroundings. He had grown up in Hurricane, and it was basically all he knew. He really rarely had traveled outside of the town. This was sort of a new experience for the boy in the soaked hooded jacket.
After coming out from the administration building, he set foot towards the dorm buildings on the west campus wing. The territory certainly was large, and he knew well he’d be scavenging the area and looking for the best quiet places to spend time and study, when his dorm room would not suit his mood.
The 18 year old passed by the central garden area, where there were neatly placed benches, which unfortunately glimmered with raindrops, killing the desire to sit on them and give the legs a rest. The fountain had caught his attention before, but now standing a few mere feet away, he saw the beauty and ‘awe’ of it. His keen eyes could catch every mere detail that the carver had made. It was surely a work of well-done craftsmanship. An ‘itch’ to look up the author and place of origin of the statue was circling through his brain cells. “That would surely make an interesting blog post…” He thought to himself. But then he pushed that thought away, once he thought it through, when it could potentially leak his real life identity, which he did not want to happen.
A few minutes later, the young adult stopped. He was soaked, but finally he had gotten to the outside door of where his supposed dorm should be. The door was quite heavy, even if it seemed light at first. “Might be a pain to open and close daily… but at least it meant the building was safe, right?” The observations were being made, as he made his way up the staircase, to the 4th floor. Yes, his dorm was on the 4th floor. Did he like that?- No. But he could manage it.
He unlocked the door, once he got up. Walking in, he expected to see his dorm mate or be at least greeted by clothing or something- a sign of life. But to the dark haired brunet’s notice, no one was here. Did he not have a roommate? Was he alone?
After getting his suitcase and backpack to his bedroom, he looked around the place. Getting a feel for what he was going to be working with. There was a neat little kitchen tucked against the wall of the living room, which on its own could have been the biggest room that the apartment had. There was also a cosy looking bathroom with plenty of space for both a shower and bathtub. “I must be seeing things. That can’t be real. Can it?” As the boy continued to look around, he found the bedding closet. The scent of recently washed sheets and pillowcases escaped into the apartment’s rooms. It certainly was a nice surprise.
Once he had searched and turned every nook and cranny of his new home, the new university student laid down on the bed. He was exhausted from the trip here. It was far from long, yes, but that didn’t mean it didn’t put a dent in his energy.
The adult noticed that his right arm’s underside seemed to have a black-ish smudge. He wetted his index finger with saliva in an attempt to rub it off, but it didn’t seem to go away. “Just my luck.” He cursed under his breath. Where in the world had he gotten his hand smudged now. He started examining the smudge, as to determine its origins, but then the boy went pale. After a few denying head shakes, he lifted his arm up again, turning his arm’s underside into his line of sight once more. The fears were confirmed on the second glance. It was what he thought it was.
Words!
It was unexpected. The brunet had not gotten words on his arm for a really long while. It felt surreal. Like the very first time he had gotten them, as a seven year old. He remembered well, that initial shock and joy that was brought to him that time. How his parents explained to him the significance of them.
In the world, every person has had their soul bound to another person, since birth, but only at the age of seven words from their soulmate about them would start appearing on the dominant arm’s underside.
Tony had gained the words at the start of elementary school, and had lost them at the end of middle school. It was awkward for him as a teen then to not have his soulmate’s words decorating his arm. To avoid any nagging or petty stares from his peers, he never showed his arms. He wore long sleeves ever since then.
Tonight, having gotten them, was a slight smidge of hope, that his soulmate hadn’t left him on this planet alone.
As he broke out of his thoughts, he looked at his arm, excited to read what they had spelled out, but they faded as soon as he laid his eyes on them. He cursed under his breath. The first time in ages that he had gotten words, was when he got into his thoughts and head and didn’t even read them. He felt like he could punch a wall from the frustration.
“Hey, you are alive. Uh… I love you…” He mentally hit himself for the last line. Why did he have to be like this? He felt so stupid, so childish. Couldn’t he muster up something better to say?
He groaned to himself. It was quiet, but loud enough to echo through the small hallway of the dorm. He sat there in silence for what felt eternity, but of course, it was just a single sole minute.
He got up from the bed. And made his way to the kitchen. Maybe a coffee could cheer him up, and ease his mind from his slightly miserable life. As he threw the coffee powder into a medium sized mug, which was decorated in orange and yellow stripes. The water boiling in the kettle kept his mind from running back to the small event that just had happened 7 or so minutes ago. He sighed, as he took the kettle off the stove and poured the hot water in the mug.
While stirring the milk, he felt a slight tickle under his shirt’s sleeve. He rolled up his sleeve and in that moment he felt like he could faint.
Words! There were words again!
This time he quickly read them out, not wanting to repeat history.
~ My soulmate is loving ~
The words brought the 18 year old to tears. Why did words have such a power over him?
He caringly traced over them, as if they could be damaged, wiped off like the smudgiest pen. He let out a slight smile at the thought, he might some day finally meet his soulmate. It was another thing to add to his list of ever growing wants and needs. He pulled his arm closer to his heart, as if wanting to cherish the short moment a bit longer. Alas, the place on his arm where the words were a few seconds ago, was clean fair skin once more.
With a sigh he let his arm fall back down against his side. He looked around the room, before getting hit with the scent of cooling coffee. The young man immediately turned his attention back towards the mug he had poofed out of his mind.
Picking it up, he sat down on the couch and turned the TV on, which, even if nothing worthwhile was on, slowly lulled him to sleep. He gently rested his head on the couch cushion and rested his body fully on the comfortable sofa. The last thing he had on his mind was the coffee, and the promise that tomorrow held.