It is the worst day of Roman’s entire school career.

The first day of high school.

He’s dreaded this day the whole summer. While some people are buzzing with excitement to finally be the upperclassmen, he is here dragging his feet.

Not because he’s nervous. No. He’s far from anxiety. It’s the people.

There is only really like three people he can stand from school: Bell and Cross (practically one unit) and Marta.

Marta is just super cool. They don’t give a crap about what people think. When they use their speedster powers, they don’t have an ego about it. Instead being very transparent about the lack of control. It is refreshing.

Bell and Cross don’t have soulmates but are completely in love with each other. He can see it. Everyone else can see it. They do not. Yet.

Soulmates are a weird concept to him. He wasn’t even sure if he believed in soulmates until Bell and Cross. Somehow, even without destiny assigning them partners, they found each other. That’s true love.

With his parents’ divorce, he knows he is a bit jaded from that. They were soulmates but somehow couldn’t get along. Hence the divorce. How did the world just decide they should be together, and yet people who clearly should be, Bell and Cross, aren’t?

Passing a mini battle of fire and water, he rolls his eyes. People love flaunting their powers. His weren’t something that could be admired which he was glad of.

He likes to think of himself like a mosquito but a good one. One that sucks pain and painful emotions away.

As he walks towards the crowded building lost in his thoughts, a couple people bump into him, trying to get a look at the pointless fight going on in the school yard. All he sees is a flash of brown hair before he stumbles a bit, and he drops his notebooks.

Of freaking course.

His notebooks scatter with people just kicking them further form his reach.

He manages to collect all of them until he realizes his green notebook, the one where he writes down all his negative feelings in, is missing.

“Here.”

Spinning around, he is face to face with a girl. He’s never seen her before, and he’s sure of that. The shiny blonde hair and blue eyes would stick in anyone’s mind.

She’s holding out his journal.

“Thanks for the save.” He gratefully takes it back, and the relief is instant with it back in his grasp.

“No problem. My name’s Lucille, but I go by Lou,” she introduces, sticking out her hand.

Shaking it, he introduces himself, “Roman. Nice to know that not everyone are jerks.”

She laughs. “A lot of people are. That’s why I like animals better.” She winks and walks away.

Roman is stunned. There is something about Lou that is different.

“Roman!” He turns to see Cross (and of course Bell) approaching him. “Did you see that fight between Bobbi and Jonah?”

“No, I hardly pay any attention to anyone anymore.”

“Well a new kid stopped them. Without using any powers, he mopped the floor with both of them,” Bell explained.

She shuddered. Huge displays of powers scared her at times with absolutely no defense. When he glabced at it, the fight was pretty intense. Roman reached around Cross and presses his hand into her arm.

Expecting to feel her fear, he waits….but it never comes.

He doesn’t feel her fear. Not the flow of his powers at all.

“Roman? What’s wrong?” She asks.

“My powers. They’re gone,” he manages. He feels out of breathe just admitting that out loud. Usually, he can control his emotions well. Heck, he deals with others’ emotions. His shouldn’t affect him this much.

“It must be your soulmate,” Cross suggests. “Who did you have contact with?”

Going back in time, he knows that he had his abilities this morning. He absorbed his mom’s trepidation over a work presentation. Oh, maybe that’s why he was dreading today.

There wasn’t any physical contact until he got to school.

The new girl. Lou.

They shook hands.

“I’ve got to go,” he rushes away. He knows that they are probably worried. Finding your soulmate is a big deal. It gets around quickly, so even though he trusts them, anyone could overhear.

Good thing he hasn’t seen Amelie. Her telepathy would pick up on his racing thoughts instantly. He doesn’t need her to know.

He flings the door to the bathroom open, not caring that it slams into the wall as he throws himself to the single solitary sink.

He has a soulmate.

His emotions are mixed. Some part of him never wanted to meet his soulmate. With his parents, he never wanted what they have.

But at the same time, there is a small piece of happiness. It is comforting to know someone is out there for you.

“I don’t mean to interrupt, but can I use the sink?”

Being so wrapped up in his own mind, he must have not heard the door open.

In the mirror, Roman lays eyes on probably the brightest person he’s ever seen. The boy has brown hair that has great wave to it and forest green eyes. But it is his smile that seemingly brightens the room. There is something familiar about him.

“Yeah, sorry,” he finally responds.

Moving out of the way, the boy shove his hands under the faucet and turns the water on. His hands have crimson blood on them, coloring the water pink.

“I stopped a fight outside. I didn’t hurt anyone.”

When Roman’s eyebrow raise, his gaze shifting to the blood, he corrects himself. “Well I didn’t intend to hurt anyone.”

“Why not use your powers?”

“Mine have been acting up. Trust me it would have been easier if I could,” there seems to be skme hesitation in confessing that part.

“Did you see the fight? Was that what you were so focused on?” The look on his face could only be described as a puppy. It’s cute how concerned he is about an opinion of someone he just met.

“No. I met my soulmate, and I’m not sure how to feel about it.”

“Something tells me you aren’t overjoyed by it,” the boy observes. He can’t tell if he is just being obvious or the boy is perceptive.

“I don’t have the best connotation with soulmates with my parents. I just don’t know how to feel and then how to tell her.”

The boy shrugs. “Maybe just start with that. Soulmates should be a choice on both sides. She might not even know it’s you or someone else.”

Roman hadn’t thought of that. He’s right. He needs to find her and tell her as soon as possible.

“Thanks…..” It only him now that he doesn’t know his name.

“Jeremiah.”

“Roman.”

OoOoO

It is lunch, and Lou is within his eyeline.

As he works up the courage, she crouches down. A stray cat strolls right up to her. It meows and Lou appears to listen. She speaks and the cat meows back. It is like a conversation.

He is brought back to their first conversation. “That’s why I like animals better,” her words echo in his mind.

No, it is a conversation. His brain feels like it was hit by a truck. This means she still has her powers.

She isn’t his soulmate.

Fuck.

Everything is messed up. He was messed up.

If she’s not his soulmate, who is?

He glances at his lunch table where his friends are. Bell, Cross, and Marta are chatting. They appear to gesture to someone.

Jeremiah.

Then the epiphany hits him. If it was like a truck before, a whole entire army fleet slam into his brain.

The flash of brown hair that bumped into him before he met Lou matches Jeremiah’s hair color. Bell told him that the new kid didn’t use his powers to stop the fight. He told him that his powers were acting up.

Jeremiah is his soulmate.

And he divulged to his soulmate about his worries about having a soulmate but talking about a misinterpreted female soulmate.

Double fuck.

———

(This is dedicated to Pidge! They created both Roman and Jeremiah! This is my first story centered entirely around characters that other writers have made for me! I’m working on stories centered just around Amelie and Lou!)