Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

When does it first begin? Is it that pretty tattoo on that girl’s arm, the one that is connected to her soulmate? The red string linking his grandparents together? The whispers in his hair that he’ll find someone just for him, the blinking zeros on his mother’s wrist?

No, of course not. None of that ever really hits home, especially when you’re just a little kid. Some are drawn into the magic of soulmates. At six years old, Kai’s just obsessed with giraffes. 

Giraffe birthday cake. Giraffe hat. Giraffe socks. Begging for the giraffe bed, which his parents do not give him and he cries for four hours, then forgets it--

Kai doesn’t really have the emotional capacity, let alone the understanding, when he falls asleep to a sudden glow.

Drifting off… but he’s still there.

He’s asleep…. But he’s still here. These days, the feeling is all too familiar.

Back then, he thinks it’s a nightmare. Gets scared. He can see his body, in the dark.

Why are small bubbles floating up? Why are they glowing? Where is he? Where’s–

And then day crashes overhead.

“Ah-!” Kai collapses into the grass. Yes, this is where it begins. Because as he’s rubbing sand from his palms, shocked at how he doesn’t feel any– someone is standing behind him.

It’s a kid with black hair. A cricket in his fist hops away, as he stares in shock. He’s wearing shorts like it’s summer.

Then he opens his mouth, and Kai doesn’t understand him at all.

“...Hi?” Kai says, completely befuddled. Jolting back, he looks around. Where’s mum? This totally isn’t where he’s supposed to be. He pinches his hand, feeling no pain.

“....!” Oh! A dream?

The other kid is tilting his head, waving a hand in front of him. It passes through the other boy like a ghost.

“...” Kai freezes. The black-haired kid waves his hand ahead of him again, passing right through. Slowly, Kai’s eyes widen and tears begin to gather at the corners of his eyes. A sniff.

He suddenly remembers that scary movie his cousin showed him. That mum got really mad about.

“I’m a ghost–!!” He bursts into tears. The other kid begins to freak out, totally not expecting that reaction. He says something else, but it passes through Kai’s ears like cotton. Kai cries and the kid tries patting him on the back. Of course, it passes right through.

That only makes Kai cry harder.

After ten minutes, he cries himself out. The other kid is looking for frogs under the rocks. He sniffs, wiping his eyes. The kid finds a worm instead and shows it to Kai.

“Ooh, worm.” The worm is placed in front of Kai. Then the other kid runs back over to the rock and grabs a different bug, putting it down right next to him. 

Kai wipes his eye, “That’s a slater.”

Another bug is placed before him.

Kai squints, “Ant?” He looks up at the black-haired boy. He’s holding a monster. He scrambles back, “Wh-what’s that?!” 

It’s black and got huge claws and a huge horn and it’s the size of a frigging spider, and this guy, he’s literally just holding it?! “Ueegh!” He’s shocked and disgusted, “I’ve NEVER seen that!” 

The kid looks at the Japanese rhinoceros beetle in his hand. The beetle looks back at the kid.

Then the kid lifts it up and starts running.

“N-no! Get away!” Kai runs but he doesn’t know where he is. There’s just huge bushes everywhere, literally everywhere. The kid corners him as he runs up to a tree, “Auugh!” He stumbles back in the other direction, running the other way.

The kid is laughing.

“MUUUM!” Kai yells, as if that will summon her to his direct location, which is actually Nagata, Japan. The other kid keeps running until he runs out of breath. Kai keeps going, and going, and going, until he looks behind him.

Bushes.

“...” Kai turns the other way.

Bushes.

His eyes go wide. He looks up. 

Weirdest freaking bird he has ever seen in his life, just sitting on a tree. Kai shivers.

He’s alone in the forest.

A quieter voice. 

“Mum..?”

And not a moment sooner, the scenery begins to shift. The sky falls away as if it’s melting, glowing bubbles rush down, and Kai is suddenly heavy.

“Oof!”

“Wake up sleepyhead,” His head isn’t sleepy, it’s normal actually. When he looks up, his older brother is holding a book that he obviously just pelted his head with.

Kai is still rattled by the whole previous situation, but most things in life are usually Noah’s fault and that’s probably why, so… 

“I’m gonna tell mum.”

“What?! But I didn’t even DO anything!”

“Yeah you did!” Kai says, incredulous, “I was– you were and then I was in the forest!” The older boy groans with frustration.

“You’re stupid.”

“NO I’M NOT!” The younger boy stands up from his chair, “MUUM! NOAH’S BEING–” Noah covers his mouth all of a sudden. Kai tries to fight him off, but Noah has a few years on him in the age department, unfortunately.

“You two! Stop fighting!” His mum walks in, hands on hips, “We’re going to the zoo, if you would just BEHAVE!” 

Kai thinks of the rhinoceros beetle, “Noooooo!” His older brother lets him go, puzzled.

“I thought you liked the zoo?” His mother also walks up to him. Kai runs up to her and wipes his whole face on her leg.

“Eww,” Noah comments.

His mother raises a tired eyebrow.

“Can we go to mcdonalds,” Kai says in a very small voice. 

“No,” She ruffles his head and pats his back, “We’re gonna have ice cream at the zoo if you behave.”

Kai goes still, face still hidden in her leg. “...Ice cream?” 

He gets the bubblegum flavour, Noah sitting next to him is eating mint choc chip, while his mother feasts on dairy-free custard. They are sitting on a rickety old bench and other zoo-goers are walking by. The zoo trip has gone spectacularly.

“Did you like the giraffes, Kai?” His mum converses.

“Yhmmh,” He nods. Bubblegum ice cream is the best one.

“Giraffes are UGLY,” Noah jumps down from the bench before Kai can whack him. Then he runs all the way to the hippopotamus statue and back because he’s the fastest. Kai’s hand inches towards the ipod touch in his mother’s bag.

She turns to him just as he touches it. It smudges.

“Ah, you have ice cream on you,” She summons a wet wipe from nowhere and cleans up his hands, face and the ipod touch. Then before he can go for it it again, she stands up. 

“Noah!” She calls out. He's already run back and reached the top of the hippopotamus statue. 

“Look mum!”

“Yes, I see you! Time to come back!” 

Noah shouts back. What his mother doesn’t see is Kai turning behind him and seeing the entrance to the bird exhibit. Noah shouts again. His mother tells Kai something without turning around and walks towards Noah.

Kai’s eyes are drawn to that very strange bird he saw today. It’s right here! It’s on the sign! 

No way!

Getting closer to it, he can hear the craws of various birds in their cages. And… there’s a huge exhibit. Kai runs all the way up to it. And that’s when he sees it: the really weird bird. It’s right there!

It must live here in the zoo!

No way! It really lives at the zoo?! Kai begins to bob up and down in excitement. 

A scramble of limbs hit concrete next to him, “Ah-!”

Kai turns, his hands still touching the glass of the exhibit. And there’s that kid from earlier today, that menace that chased him– no wonder he had a monster! 

He lived at the zoo! Kai starts to jump up and down.

That’s so cool!

He runs up to the kid, who had only just managed to stand up and was looking around the bird exhibit with wide, anxious eyes. He went to grab his hand, but it fell straight through.

Oh yeah he forgot about that.

“...!” The kid pauses and looks up at Kai all too suddenly. He starts saying something again, this time in rushed tones, but Kai doesn’t understand the words at all. Considering that, he just looks at him in confusion.

The kid stamps his foot and the words increase in volume, length, complexity and speed. Kai starts feeling like he’s in trouble, but not sure who, why, what or how. He turns back to the weird bird, but it’s already flown away.

Then fast footsteps come from the entrance to the bird exhibit, “Kai!” His mother envelops him in a hug from behind, “Don’t go running off like that!” Noah wanders in from behind her.

Then, “Woah,” Noah tugs his mother’s sleeve, “Mum, what’s wrong with Kai?”

“Huh?” His mother looks up from where she’s hugging him. 

Kai turns back, a yellow glow in his irises.

She lets go all at once, “Oh my gosh!” She glances around as if she’s trying to find a third kid, but then lightly slaps her head, getting to Kai’s level, “Kai, who’s your friend?” 

Her cheery voice snaps Kai’s worry of being in trouble. Kai starts jumping up and down again, “Guess what! Guess what!” 

“What?” A smile starts to grow on her face.

“His house is the zoo!” Her smile freezes for a split second, and then she recovers.

“That’s great honey!”

“And then– and then– Noah’s just– the forest monster and then,” Kai stops bouncing, feeling a great weight of information crash down upon him, “And yeah!” He smiles sunnily, hands behind his back.

Noah comes up close to Kai, “Your eyes are glowing.” Kai gasps and slaps his cheeks.

“Huh?! I don’t wanna go to the doctor!” His mother starts chuckling.

“You’re fine, Noah, I’ll explain when we get home. No, be patient. Kai,” she holds his hand, getting his attention on her again, “What’s your friend’s name?” 

Kai shrugs. He turns to ask the kid, but he’s already gone. 

“There’s no-one there!” Noah exclaims. And yeah, exactly.

“That was your soulmate, Kai,” His mother explains. His soulmate is a ghost, can disappear, has a pet monster and lives at the zoo?! 

“Can we go to the zoo tomorrow?”

“Tomorrow it’s grandpa’s lunch. Now say bye to the birds!”

Kai stares at the zoo through the rear passenger seat as his mother drives away. He can spot zookeepers driving around the karts that they use at the zoo. Zookeepers get to stay at the zoo whenever they want. When he grows up…

“I’m gonna be a zookeeper!”

“We know, Kai,” His brother drawls.

Glowing bubbles. The sky shifts. Kai was asleep– awake– something in-between, and before he realises it—

He’s standing on a dinner table. His foot slides through a plate.

“Wah!” 

Who the heck are these people!? No, there’s one, two, three, four… Kai tries to scramble off the kitchen table, but he accidentally steps in some soup, and he flinches back, but–

The soup’s totally fine?! He’s standing on the kitchen table! How come everyone just doesn’t care? They’re all eating, not even looking up?!

Then he looks around his greater environment.

Who’s house is this? “...Mum?” A dropped spoon brings him back to the table. 

Ah. One person can see him! 

The kid with black hair starts stepping back, a grey look on his face, “Ah…” One of the other people at the table begins to hurriedly tap at someone else’s arm, gestures at the kid, and then suddenly everyone at the table is looking at the kid.

Someone starts yelling. Kai covers his ears, looking in confusion as they all start gathering around the kid, talking excitedly. One of them picks him up and swings him around. Then the kid’s expression worsens and tears gather at the corner of his eyes.

Then he slips out from beneath them and he’s running away.

“Huh?!” Kai watches as he disappears out the kitchen door. The other people seem similarly shocked, but Kai can’t understand what they’re saying. One of them goes to chase after him, but another woman holds her back, shaking her head. 

She whispers something in her ear, she nods, and suddenly everyone’s sitting down at the kitchen table again.

These people are so silly! They can’t see anything! “Hellooo?” Kai asks, kneeling down in front of an old lady. She’s drinking tea and it’s like she can’t see him at all! “Can you see me?” She puts the tea down where his hand is, and it goes straight through.

“Uh…?!” Oh… 

Oh no. 

He’s… he’s a ghost again! “Ah–” His hand goes to another person, but it passes right through their head, “Wait–!” He reaches a woman’s hand, but their fingers slide right through, they don’t meet, “Can you see me now? Please?” 

The room is drawn out into the quiet sounds of eating. 

Kai sits in the middle of the kitchen table.

Slowly, he curls up into a ball. 

Then he gets the feeling of being watched. 

Oh. The kid is peeking at him from the side of the door. Once he meets Kai’s eyes, he flinches and disappears again.

“...” Kai’s eyebrows meet.

He gets down from the kitchen table, which is easy because it’s one of those low ones. He slowly pads towards the door. 

As soon as he crosses the doorway, the other kid shrinks back, like he didn’t expect him to be able to walk over to him. He doesn’t say anything.

Kai just looks at him.

The black-haired kid looks back. At this point, it’s clear that they both don’t understand each other. 

Now that Kai’s actually looking at him, this guy is shorter than him. Clearly the only way he was able to chase him was by wielding a deadly monster. If they fought, Kai would win. That thought puts a shred of confidence in him.

Oh, yeah! AND he’s a ghost now. 

He reaches out and touches the kids hair, and as expected, his hand phases through. The kid takes a step backward. Kai looks at his hand. It looks normal to him… but it’s totally not!

After a beat, the kid reaches out and tries to touch his hair, and yep– totally can’t feel a thing. His arm passes through his eye and there’s half a second of darkness. Kai blinks.

Huh.

Taking another step back, the kid starts to walk off somewhere. With a final glance to the people eating food that smells really delicious, Kai follows him.

The kid glances back and starts walking faster. Kai follows.

The kid looks again and breaks out into a run. Kai follows.

The kid goes into a room and closes the door. Kai follows.

Ooh, he can phase through doors! Wicked!

The kid stands there, in what must be his room judging by the train set on the floor, like he’s seen a ghost. Hehe, Kai’s a ghost now.

He raises up his arms, grin on his face, “Boo!” 

The kid makes a distressed sound and runs into the connected bathroom. By the time he closes the door and turns around, Kai’s already behind him. The kid’s back connects to the door, but Kai’s not looking at him, but the mirror.

His reflection looks so different! What?

He steps closer, checking his hands again, then at the mirror. Woah, it’s so different! What the heck?! In real life, he’s totally normal, but in the mirror he’s all glowy. 

The kid steps closer, trying to see what Kai’s seeing in the mirror, and they both jump at the same time.

“Ah!”

The kid’s eyes are glowing green ?! He turns back to the kid in real life, but his eyes are totally normal. Still green, yeah, but normal.

Reflection? All glowy and stuff. The kid is similarly, absolutely shocked by this. He comes up real close to the mirror to look properly. The green of his irises is glowing softly.

The kid runs right back to what must be his parents. Kai follows.

Once he re-enters the kitchen, the kid is already talking panickedly to the parents. Everyone at the table seems happy, however. Someone reaches out and pat’s the kids hair. It makes Kai miss his mum all of a sudden.

Stepping back, Kai walks over to the entrance where the shoes are. He sits down in a ball again.

He curls up.

“Mum….”

“Mrrow?” A sound breaks him from his thoughts. Kai looks up. It’s a black cat. It’s looking directly at him. 

“Cat!” He reaches out to touch it, and the cat jumps back. Like it can see him.

Kai grasps, stumbling to a stand. Can it see him?! He reaches out to touch it again.

His hand slides right through. Can’t touch it.

“...” The cat seems disturbed by this as well. 

Kai sighs, sitting down and curling up again. The cat comes up to him, trying and failing to nuzzle his leg. It walks through Kai’s body and sits down. Kai pouts, hiding his head in his arms.. 

…He wants to go home…

Someone walks into the hall. The cat meows and wanders over to them. And as soon as Kai looks up, the world is shifting. Colours fade, and his body is getting heavy. 

Glow droplets fall down, and he has to squeeze his eyes shut.

And…

“...!”

 It’s tomorrow.

Kai sits up in bed. It's morning. 

Carefully, he reaches a hand out to touch his alarm clock. “...” 

He’s not a ghost anymore! Kai scrambles out of bed, “Mum! Mum! Mum!” His mother is walking out the hall in ugg boots, yawning.

“Morning– oh, Kai,” 

“MUM IM NOT A GHOST ANYMORE!” He shoves his face into her pant leg, wrapping it with both arms. She chuckles.

“Did you have fun?”

Kai stills. He was supposed to have fun? “No…” Then he has the best idea, “Next time, you come.”

“Hm…” She kneels down to his height, “ If you ever wanna come home, you can walk away.”

Kai looks up at her in shock, “Really?!”

“Yep, that will make you come back here.”

“Back home?”

“Mhm!” 

“Okay!” Well, he knows what he’s doing from now on.

The next time he appears, he’s standing in a kitchen. Kai blinks. Some lady is cutting up vegetables, facing away from him. 

Kai carefully sneaks around her. There’s a clatter on the cabinet.

Kai looks up. Oh, that kid’s just scrambled to a stand up there. He’s looking down at Kai with a scared look.

“Damon!” The old lady tells him off, and the kid quickly sits down again, looking guilty. Then she starts lecturing him, but about what, Kai can only guess. It looks like the other boy’s in big trouble though.

Kai evacuates the area. Mum said he just has to walk away! He sneaks past the dad at the kitchen table. Then he ducks under the other lady, feeling like a ninja.

“Meow!” Kai freezes. The cat is looking at him. 

“Shh!” Kai tells it. He is making his escape. His hands reach for the front door, pushing past it, and everything shifts.

“...”

“...!” 

It’s tomorrow again! 

Kai sits up in bed, very pleased. He can go home whenever he wants! He needs to tell everyone this. So he does.

“And then and then– the cat, but it SEES ghosts–”

“I don’t care,” His brother frowns at the kitchen table, stabbing his sausage, “Soulmates are stupid.”

“No I’m saying the cat sees me, stupid.”

“You’re stupid!”

Kai stands up, taking a deep breath, “STUPID!!!”

His brother takes in an even bigger breath, grinning, “STUPID!!!!!!!!!”

Kai takes in a breath even bigger than ever before, so much his lungs are about to burst, “ STUPID!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ”  

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!”

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!” Their mother has popped off to visit the neighbours for five minutes.  

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” His best ear-piercing shriek completed, Kai looks up to see the black-haired kid from before staring at him in shock. Huh?

When did he get here? The kid looks scared shitless.

“YOUR EYES!!!” His brother shrieks, running away from Kai, “THEY’RE INFECTED!”

“NO THEY’RE NOT!” Kai runs after him, a fist in the air.

“THE VIRUS, IT’S RADIOACTIVE!” Noah runs behind the kitchen island, popping out from the other side as Kai chases after him. He jumps on the couch defending himself with a pillow, “HELP ME! I’M BEING TAKEN OVER!” Kai pelts the pillow full force with his little fists, “THE ZOMBIES ARE AFTER ME!”

“I’M NOT A ZOMBIE!” Kai is rejuvenated and whacks him with his full might. Noah drops the pillow and grabs a lightsaber from the top of the couch.

“DIE, DEMON!” He whacks Kai right on the head. 

Kai drops to the ground.

He begins to sniff. His eyes water.

“Wait!!” Noah throws the lightsaber away, “No I didn’t hurt you! I didn’t hurt you!” He hugs Kai while the younger boy pelts him angrily.

“IM! NOT! DEMON!” 

“GAH!” Noah is pelted in the stomach. He lies on the ground, rolling around, “MY NUTS!” This sets Kai into a fit of giggles and he takes the lightsaber from the floor.

“DIE, DEMON!” He whacks Noah with it, who begins fake crying and pleading for his life. 

Meanwhile, the other kid just stares at the scene in shock. Almost as if it is the first time he has witnessed such incredible violence. 

Kai turns around, feeling eyes on him, still holding the lightsaber.

The kid shrinks back. 

“...” Kai tilts his head at him. The kid looks really scared, but the doors right behind him?

Kai points at the door, “You know you can go home?”

“Who are you talking to?” Noah taunts. The kid, meanwhile, turns around and steps away from the door like it’s infected.

“No…” Kai clicks his tongue. The kid twitches, staring at him with wide eyes. He’s so weird!

“You can go outside!” Kai runs over and swings open the door, “See?” 

“...” The kid just stands there. He looks nervous. 

Kai points outside with fervor. The kid tentatively looks outside, and then at Kai.  

“Come on!” Kai points outside more, but the kid just stands there. He allows the door to swing shut, “Whatever.”

“You look so stupid,” Noah smirks from the side, “You’re talking to no one.”

“HUH?” Kai turns to him, “No I’m not!”

“Yes you are!”

“No I’m not!”

“YES you are!”

“No I’m not! MUUUUM!” 

“Mum’s not here!” Kai throws the lightsaber at him.

Half an hour later, they’re watching TV, and the kid is still here. Kai can’t stop his eyes darting off to the side and staring at him, cos he’s just standing in the corner like a statue. The kid’s eyes are on the screen like he’s never seen Sesame Street before in his entire life.

His mum comes in, “WHO PUT THE COUCH CUSHIONS EVERYWHERE?”

“NOAH!” “KAI!” They point at each other.

The kid slowly sinks to his knees behind the couch. 

His soulmate’s TV shows are all different. There’s cartoons, there’s variety shows, and ok usually it’s the boring news but sometimes they eat lunch and watch it!

Kai kicks his feet in the air, lying on his stomach in front of the TV. Usually he’d go home already, but this show is so awesome. There’s these monsters and they go in these little balls, and then you battle them and the fight scenes are so amazing it’s the best thing EVER.

Kai doesn’t know any shows like this. He’s so enraptured, any talking from behind him fades into white noise. He gasps as they find a freaking dragon monster.

Then suddenly his view of the show is blocked by the kid. He is looking down at him angrily. Kai looks up. Then looks behind him. The adults are… giggling? 

What’s going on?

The kid says something, looking like he’s on the end of his rope. He sounds mad… Kai blinks back, clueless. The kid clicks his tongue and begins shooing him away like a freaking cat – what the heck?! Then he tries pushing him off to the side, but of course, his hands go right through. He stomps his foot. 

Kai blinks at him lazily from the floor, totally unaffected. When the kid tries to push him again, he rolls away, as if the kid can move him. The kid makes a sound of amazement. The kid keeps pushing and Kai keeps rolling until his legs reach the cabinet.

The kid points at him, saying something again in a stern voice. Probably something like “stay there!” Honestly, from how he’s acting, it’s kind of obvious. Kai pokes out his tongue. 

He rolls through the kid’s legs, all the way back to the TV. The kid yells and chases after him. He looks ten times as annoyed as before, and the giggling from the kitchen table isn’t helping. Then once Kai reaches the foot of the TV, Kai rolls back the way he came. The kid plonks down in front of the TV, crossing his arms, looking like he’s about to cry from frustration. 

Kai’s legs hit the cabinet. Then he rolls all the way back to him, stopping next to him. The kid kicks him.

There’s a gasp from the table, “Damon!” Ooh, his grandma is angry! The kick did zero damage, though. Kai bops him on the nose. It goes straight through.

The kid glares at him.

“...” No response from the kitchen table. The adults can’t see him, after all. Kai’s lips curl into a grin. He makes attack noises and kicks and punches through the other kid like a martial arts master. Kai can see the shorter boy shaking. 

Then, the kid snaps.

“AARGH!” He starts punching Kai with a frenzy using his tiny ineffectual fists.

“WOAOOAG!” Kai counterattacks, blocking every punch perfectly so it doesn’t hit him at all with no help from his ghost powers, then sending a kick right to the kid's torso.

The kid goes under his arms and tackles him.

He runs straight through him.

“NOO MY ONE WEAKNESS!” Kai collapses to the floor, overpowered and dead. He sticks his tongue out, making a “grk” sound. The kid goes to his side and starts kicking him.

“Damon!” He’s being told off again. Kai blinks one eye open to see the kid being scolded by his grandma. The kid ignores and keeps kicking Kai. Then he stomps on his face.

Kai covers his eyes, “MY EYES!!!” Then he rolls away, getting up and jumping like a panther onto the low kitchen table. He stands up with a wide grin, showing his claws above his head, “POWER OF THE JUNGLE BABY!!” He jumps off the table and tackles the kid from above.

The kid screams , covering his face in the fetal position. But of course Kai lands right through him. Then he looks to Kai, who is in pouncing mode, ready to scratch off this kid’s face. He jumps.

The kid lands on his back, as if Kai really hit him! “DIE, DEMON!” 

“AAah!” The kid kicks his legs and tries to get him off with flailing arms, but Kai is immune! He goes for his face, making panther noises. The kid’s yelling something, and then two hands come from behind Kai, lifting the kid up off the floor. 

“Hey!” Kai pouts. That was his victim!

The kid is sniffling into the mum’s shoulder. Her eyes are slightly off, but she’s clearly frowning down at Kai. It’s scary.

Kai wilts.

The mother says something to him, and now Kai’s getting frustrated, because how the heck is he meant to understand what she just told him?!

“Damon?” She says into her shoulder, then more in a quieter tone. And huh…

…Who the heck names their kid ‘demon’? 

Whatever, this isn’t fun anymore. And someone turned off the TV… that kid ruined everything!

The next time the kid– Damon or whatever– comes over, he heads straight for the door.

Kai sticks out his tongue after him. 

Good riddance!

“Kai, are you being nice to your soulmate?” His mum asks from the other side of the table. They got McDonald's for lunch ‘cos Noah won in swimming again.

“Yes….?” Kai says not suspiciously. He can see the way his eyes stop glowing in the reflection of his glass of juice. Noah gasps.

“You’re— Aww….” Yes, Kai’s eyes are back to normal already. His mother raises an eyebrow.

“I hope you’re playing nicely. Or else I’ll have to talk to their mother.”

Kai looks at her in fear, “You can’t do that!”

“Yes I can. I can call her and tell her you’ve not been very nice.” Kai drops his mouth open. How did she know?!

“But–!” Kai’s eyebrows furrow again, “But she’s not English!” How the heck is that gonna work?!

“We’re American, dummy,” Noah informs him, kicking his leg under the table.

“It doesn’t matter,” His mother says, and she begins clicking on the phone. Then she reaches it up to her ear. 

“Nonono! I’ll be nice! I’ll be nice!”

“Hello, how are you dear? Yes, I’m doing well! I’m afraid Kai has not been playing very kindly recently. Is your little one doing okay?” Kai’s protests become a strangled noise and he sinks down in his chair, “Yes, okay, I’ll tell him right away,” She covers the receiver with a hand and turns to Kai, “She says your soulmate’s okay with playing again if you play nicely.”

Kai sinks down in his chair lower, “Okay…..”

“Thank you so much dear, now you have a lovely day! Ta-ta!” Noah’s snickering from beside her. 

Mum didn’t call Noah’s soulmate when he drew a penis on his arm. It’s not fair!

Kai pouts and eats his chicken nuggets.

The next time Kai appears, Damon’s grandma is cooking in the kitchen again. He peers out into the living room.

No TV. Awww.

But at the kitchen table, Damon’s sitting there with this old guy in a suit Kai’s never seen before. There’s this paper and stuff on the table.

Kai steps in nervously, but the old guy doesn’t pay him any mind. Kai walks up to the old guy, getting close, because he can. Wow, he smells weird. And he has whiskers on his chin. And his black eyes reflect everything, like the night sky.

And he doesn’t see him. 

Kai boops the old guy's nose, then bounds over behind the kid’s shoulder, “Watcha doin?”

Wait. Hold up.  

Is that the freaking ALPHABET? “Hey, I know that already!” No, wait, “The alphabet exists here?!” What?! But Kai can’t read the stuff they write on TV!

But this kid is already copying down the letters of the alphabet?! 

Then the old guy catches Damon’s attention. He underlines something on the paper, says a few more words, then goes, “Hello.”

“Hello,” Damon repeats with an accent.

“Hello,” The man enunciates.

“Hello.” Kai watches the scene with dawning horror.

So he’s gonna understand English?! Kai steps back in shock. That’s not fair! So not fair!! Who the heck is this old guy?!

And to top it off, the kid isn’t paying attention to him at all!!

Kai grumbles and leaves immediately.

“MUUUM!” He yells as soon as he wakes up. His mum startles from where she is folding clothes, “DAMON KNOWS THE ALPHABET!”

“Inside voice,” She chides, then tries to decode his message, “Who’s Damon, honey?”

Kai looks at her like he can’t believe she didn’t know this already, “My soulmate!”

“And he knows the alphabet?” Kai pouts and collapses back into bed.

“It’s not fair !” He writhes around. His mother pauses in folding laundry.

“What language do they use there, honey?”

“I dunno!”

“Do they say… hola! ”

“No.”

"Ciao! ”

“No…” Kai sighs like an old man, “I dunno…” He frowns at the ceiling.

“Do you know any words they say?”

“No…” Kai sighs depressedly. His mother hums in understanding and goes back to holding laundry. Kai stares at the ceiling.

“...”

His mother finishes putting clothes in the drawers and moves out of the room, “Hi.”

She stops, “Yes?”

“Hi!” Kai sits up, having the biggest eureka moment, “THEY SAY HI!” His eyes are wide. 

His mother puts a finger to her chin, “Hang on, could it be Japanese…?”

“What’s that?”

“Konichiwa! ” Kai scrunches his face up. They don’t say that.

“Nah…” He doesn’t think that’s right. But his mother tells him to stay there and returns with her ipod touch. Like a magnet, Kai goes over to her.

“Now, let’s see…” She goes on youtube. Kai begins jumping up and down.

“Can I see minecraft?”

“After this.” 

“YES!”

His mum thinks for a second, then pulls up a video of a cartoon. It’s like something he’d see on the TV in Damon’s house. Kai is enraptured at the song for 10 seconds, then sees something in the suggested videos.

“Oh!” He clicks the thumbnail.

“We’re watching this one now, Kai.” His mother clicks back.

“But it’s Ponyo!” Kai looks up at her, “Pleeease?”

“What is it?”

“Ponyo!” His mother clicks the video. The boy leans up to her, head bobbing to the song, singing it under his breath.

She ruffles his hair, giving him the ipod touch, “Japanese.”

Kai is too engrossed in the video. He looks up, “Huh?”

“Do you know where Japan is?”

Kai looks back at Ponyo, “Mhm.”

His mother just chuckles and walks off to make a phone call.

Chapter Text

A hand. “Teacher! Damon’s cheating!”

He grips his pencil, ignoring the prickling eyes of everyone in the classroom. If he just had a moment to write down this last equation–!

A pair of glasses looks up, “Ah, Damon,” Shit, “Will you talk to me outside?” 

The door shuts behind them.

Damon crosses his arms and looks away, trying to ignore the scratchy material of his school uniform. The windows across the lawn reflect the rainbow outside seven times, but more importantly, he can ever-so-faintly see his green eyes in the windowpane before that. 

Meanwhile, the teacher glances behind them, like he’s worried Kai will try and follow them. Like that idiot even cares.

“I’m almost done with the last question,” Damon says, as if that’s going to change his fate.

“Unfortunately, the school has a strict policy about this, it’s nobodies’ fault,” Damon was getting really sick of this guy’s catchphrase, “We’ll just have to do a makeup test earlier tomorrow, will 8am suffice…?” 

Damon sighs.

At least he gets to grab his things and leave ten minutes early, a small mercy. It’s only once he’s slid on his shoes and grabbed his umbrella that Damon feels like he’s being watched.

“Tch…” 

…He better not be hiding in the vending machines again.

The rain is pooling around his feet, the sound of it distant. The sun’s shining a little, but Damon pulls up his umbrella anyway. It’s only a matter of time.

Puddles don’t make noise.

“Sorry.” Speak of the devil. At least no-one’s around in the courtyard. Not yet.

“Would it kill you to sleep in half an hour?” Damon’s left eye twitches, “Or better yet, an actual human bedtime?” 

“Hey, I took melatonin! I had no control!” He regrets ever suggesting that infernal pill if it’s becoming this convenient of an excuse. Kai’s walking next to him, his loose shirt and shorts an utterly horrible fit for the autumn weather. Damon suppresses the urge to wrap him up in his scarf and walks faster.

Kai keeps up without breaking a sweat. Bastard.

“So when’s the makeup test?”

“I’m not helping you with chemistry anymore.”

“What?!”

“You’ve learnt enough,” Damon burrows his face in his scarf, “You need to learn.”

Kai grips his hair, “But my test is tomorrow!!”

“That’s your problem,” and my solution , “I have my own test to worry about now.”

“Ugh, dude… !” He’s never once stopped whining like a kid. It’s times like this that Damon can see outside himself for a split second, look at their relationship, and wonder why the hell he puts up with this.

It had to be brain damage from being in such close proximity to Kai so often, surely.

His gaze draws off into peach-grey clouds, tuning out Kai’s complaining from beside him.

If his life has made anything clear to Damon, it’s that soulmates are only soulmates because of the sheer amount of time you spend with this other person. His grandma calls him stubborn, but maybe it’s his stubbornness that necessitated this sort of soul bond. 

If Kai wrote things on his skin, he could see himself wearing long sleeves to ignore it. If a string was wrapped around his pinkie, he couldn’t see himself chasing it to the ends of the earth, he had better things to do. If there was a timer on his arm, it’d probably just give him anxiety.

Truly, being able to actually talk to Kai (talk, but never touch) was certainly the best-worst solution. These days, the feeling is all too familiar.

Back then, in this rain, it’s mostly annoying. Being followed around by a guy whose hair is starting to grow out too long. This is the third makeup test Damon’s had to perfect this semester, and Kai’s failed two classes.

Kai’s lucky his high school admittance doesn’t depend on an exam. 

It breeds weakness.

“Hey, are you listening?”

“Nope.”

Kai’s pinch to his cheek, as always, has no effect.

Twelve-thirty. On the dot.

Kai puts his hand up before his eyes even start glowing, “Sir, can I go now?” The room is filled with various conversations, nobody paying any mind to this daily occurrence. 

The chubby teacher glances at the clock, before raising an eyebrow at Kai, “Not yet.”

“Ugh…” 

Damon leans on the desk next to him and crosses his arms. Kai puts up his hand again, “ Now can I go?”

“Give me that worksheet at the end of class.” 

“Yessir…” Kai walks obediently out of the class, only to strut towards the library once he’s out of the teacher’s view. He messes with a lock of hair absentmindedly.

Damon yawns two steps behind him.

The librarian nods at Kai as the student enters, writing something down. He plonks himself at one of the centre tables, then types in his school password in his laptop so it looks like he’s doing work. The contents of the worksheet are observed by Damon, because he’s nosy like that.

“We learnt this last semester…” He mutters. Kai rolls his eyes and opens coolmathgames on a separate tab and makes it incredibly small.

Then the librarian walks behind him, so he slides the worksheet towards him and reads it greedily. Biology revision. So, so interesting. Hmm, what is the answer to this one? Damn, the question’s so hard he has to think– annnd she’s turned around. He flicks open the tab again.

“You’re gonna fail.” Jokes on Damon, if he doesn’t study, he still passes 50% of the time. Kai clicks on Bloxorz, “This is the fourth class you’re gonna fail.” No, he’s speedrunning this and posting it on Youtube actually. 

Turns out gaming channels get monetized ten times easier than those other two channels he tried. It’s not Mochi’s fault, Damon’s just terrible at taking aesthetic videos of his aging cat.

That, and the one with reposted memes was never gonna take off anyways. Them’s the rules.

“Kai.”

A hand waves in front of his face. 

The block falls into the abyss. He sighs heavily, pulling up textEdit.

Let me make money >:v

“Good luck doing that without a high school diploma.”

Kai pauses on the textEdit window for two seconds, before pushing back the urge and closing it for good. It’s the only way he’ll win the argument. Damon’s smirk comes from somewhere above his head.

“You know I’m right.” 

Kai heavily sighs and gets up from his laptop.

He walks into the section of the library that looks the dreariest and the most depressing. He checks to make sure it’s non-fiction then plonks a brick on the desk to a random page. 

Damon comes up.

“What’s this?”

“Report,” Kai opens up word and copies the first paragraph of the text word for word. Once he reaches the second paragraph, Damon’s still reading.

When he flicks back to Bloxorz, Damon’s still reading.