Warning: This story contains an age difference, which isn't too bad, but may be questionable to some. Alfred and Ivan are going to be two years apart, with Ivan being the older of the two. However, Alfred is only seventeen, while at the beginning of this story, Ivan will be nearing nineteen. No, they aren't going to do anything inappropriate with each other. After all, this is a T rated fanfiction. But I have heard people in my life complain about age differences of two years, as if they're the most scandalous thing in the world. Considering that one of the people involved in this relationship is still a minor, that makes it worse.
A/N: So, I decided to try my hand at a soulmateAU. Though, this one will be a little different from the soulmate fanfictions you've probably read. You probably often find the ones where two characters, who are destined to be with each other, have the first words their soulmate is going to say to them on their hand or wrist. Though there are many interesting ideas that can come out of that concept, I wanted to do something a tiny bit different. Instead of words, everyone has a special mark somewhere on their forearm that represents both themselves and their partner. Only one other person has the same mark as you would, and that is your soulmate. However, once you find your soulmate, the mark disappears, and most of the time, you start to form a bond with them. Before the mark disappears, though, it will let you know how close your soulmate is by becoming warmer. It is also supposed to give you hints on what your soulmate is like before you meet them. Someone called a matchmaker specializes in reading marks and helping people find their soulmates. They can also host weddings and give relationship advise.
If you reject your soulmate, you will be cursed for the rest of your life, as it will cause the person you were supposed to be with a lot of emotional and physical pain. Most people are happy with their soulmates, though, so they don't do this. Unfortunately, this leads to a lack of support for those who can't quite fall in love with them, as they assume that person is heartless. Even if this is not always the case.
Gosh, sorry for the long author's note! I'm definitely going to try to avoid making them this long in the future.
Alfred was seventeen, and he couldn't help but worry if he'd ever find his soulmate. He'd visited the matchmaker multiple times, in order to figure out how to better find the one he was destined to be with, yet there was no such luck. Even when the mark on his arm grew warm since the beginning of summer, signifying his soulmate was near, he still worried he'd never meet his soulmate. What was near to him could mean something entirely different to the mark on his arm. The warmth was faint, so it was possible this meant his to be (or not) partner was twenty or more miles away, and his mark was overreacting to the supposed 'proximity'. It wasn't uncommon for these marks to grow warm when one's soulmate was at an unreasonably far distance.
Sure, one could say he still had decades to find his partner. However, this would be assuming he didn't have a time limit in which he'd meet the love of his life. The problem was, he'd been informed by the matchmaker in his town he was destined to meet his soulmate during his teen years. He only had three years until it was too late. Unless the matchmaker was wrong, but it was rare for them to be wrong. It was more probable for his soulmate to die before he was supposed to meet him, instead of the matchmaker being wrong about when they were to meet. He dreaded the idea of the one he was destined to be with dying before he ever had the chance to meet him. Which was why he would always give the mark on his arm constant attention. Any time the warmth grew too faint for his liking, he panicked.
Another cause of concern for Alfred was the fact that, since he would end up being cursed if he rejected his soulmate, what could he do if he ended up hating the one he was destined to be with? Sure, most people were happy with their soulmates, but there was still the possibility of ending up with the wrong person. Happy endings didn't happen for everyone. His future partner could be abusive, and he would have no way of leaving him without being cursed. Not that he already wouldn't be cursed if his soulmate turned out to be a terrible person.
To make matters worse, based on what the matchmaker was able to tell him from reading the mark on his arm about his soulmate, wasn't appealing to him. According to the mark on his arm, the one he was destined to be with was a tall male, native to a cold country. He was going to meet his future partner in the town he currently lived in, as they were going to be an immigrant to his native country. The problems with this description was that he had never been attracted to another male before and he wasn't a fan of accents (he assumed there was a high chance this person would have an accent).
He was willing to give his soulmate a break about having an accent, as for one, it wasn't something one could overcome in a day, and two, it would be shallow for him to not care for someone based on the way they spoke. Besides, it wasn't as if he loathed people who happened to speak differently from him. It simply wasn't attractive to him.
It was the fact that Alfred's soulmate was a male was what caused him the most concern. He wasn't against same sex relationships, but he wasn't sure if he was the right person for them. He'd only ever been attracted to a couple girls throughout his life (though, these attractions were nothing more than a small crush, as he understood he couldn't be with these girls). Even when he tried to be attracted to another member of his gender, nothing happened. Perhaps his soulmate would be an exception, or maybe he was a bisexual, and wasn't aware of it, since he was rarely ever attracted to anyone? He hated how his destiny caused him to question his sexuality. His life would be easier if he was certain he was going to be attracted to his soulmate.
As if his current situation wasn't stressful enough, his mother refused to cease in her pestering about his soulmate. She was excited to find out who this person was and sometimes would go on a tangent about how he should try harder in finding them. She would often give Alfred advice on how he could find the love of his life. "Find out if there are any foreign exchange students." she often said, "Does your mark become warmer when to go to certain parts of this town? Hang around those areas if it does.", "Maybe you could try hanging out on the college campus. There are a lot of people from other countries there who are around your age." Why she was so excited about his soulmate, Alfred had no clue. Maybe she loved the idea of her son growing up and marrying someone?
In fact, it was all thanks to his obsessive mother he was now hanging around in the library at the local university. Sitting around in a library for a couple hours with nothing to do but to play on his phone was not how he intended to spend his Friday evening. However, he was becoming annoyed and worried, due to his mother's rants about how he needed to find his soulmate soon, or else he was going to be lonely for the rest of his life. Besides, he was aware of the fact that he was going to have to explore the college campus at some point, anyway. After all, his mother wasn't wrong about it being a potential place to find his soulmate.
His mark agreed with her as well. In fact, ever since he entered the library, it's warmth had grown intense. More than it ever had in the past and it was making him an irritated, sweaty mess. It wasn't as if he was ignoring what his mark wanted from him. He'd searched the room for anyone who fit his soulmate's description, and had come across a potential candidate. However, upon catching sight of this guy, he hadn't experienced that warm and fuzzy feeling in his stomach people claimed they had when they first caught sight of their soulmate. Either there was something wrong with him, or this person wasn't his soulmate. He hoped it was his second assumption.
Alfred sighed, and figured it would be best for him to leave the library and search other areas of the college campus in order to find his soulmate. He wanted the warm sensation on his arm to go away, as it was driving him crazy! However, as soon as he stepped a few feet toward the entrance of the library, the heat on his arm intensified; causing him to flinch and hold his right arm. He didn't want to move, as he feared this would make the burning sensation worse. Did this mean the person near by, who he believed could be a potential candidate, was his soulmate? Should he wander toward him, in order to find out? A part of him urged him to do so, but at the same time, he was afraid to make the burning sensation on his arm worse.
The person sitting near Alfred also flinched when he came nearer to him. Sure, he'd been aware of his mark becoming warm to an irritating extent, but he hadn't paid it much mind, as he figured it was another false alarm. It wasn't uncommon for these marks to make errors, and his had the tendency to fool him once in a while. He had glanced around the room earlier, in order to find someone who fit the description of his soulmate. However, he had no such luck, or had he somehow managed to miss them? It wouldn't had been the first silly mistake he made that day. He was exhausted.
He turned his head to study the room once more and was shocked to find someone who fit his soulmate's description standing near by. He had a hand placed on his arm, as if he was in pain, which caused him to have sympathy for the poor stranger. Was this because the other was, in fact, his soulmate, or was there something wrong? It wasn't uncommon for someone's mark to hurt when the one they were destined to be with was nearby. Either way, he wanted to check to make sure everything was okay, so he stood from his seat and strode over to the stranger.
When he was next to the stranger, he placed a hand on his shoulder and asked, "Are you okay?"
Upon being touched, the heat on Alfred's arm intensified, causing him to gasp in pain. He was relieved when a moment later, the pain vanished, and he was left dumbfounded. He glanced at the area where his mark had been causing him pain and his eyes widened in shock when he found it was gone. He couldn't help but stare at his arm for a few moments, but it wasn't long until he became aware of where he was and who he was standing next to. He figured it would be best to compose himself, so he turned toward the stranger who was now officially his soulmate, and replied to the question in a calm voice, "I'm fine. I just..."
Alfred lost his trail of thought when he made eye contact with the stranger. The other was gazing at him, and appeared to be in a trance. As if he caught sight of the most beautiful person in his life. He became even more interested upon making eye contact with him. Though Alfred couldn't help but be confused by the situation. Shouldn't he be even more interested than the other was with him, or at least happy? This stranger was unique, to say the least. He had purple eyes that could put any gem to shame. His hair was fair to an unusual extent, yet on him, it was easy to consider it natural (and it probably was). His touch was gentle, despite how large he was. He should've had a warmth in his stomach, but instead, there was emptiness.
The stranger gave him a smile and said, "Hello. What's your name?"
Alfred figured it would be best to at least try and act enthusiastic himself. He was going to be with this person for the rest of his life, so he might as well be pleasant company for him. Besides, what if he only needed more time to grow attached to this person? It wouldn't hurt to form a bond with the other by being friendly himself. He might learn to love him. He answered his soulmate's question, "Alfred."
"It's nice to meet you, Alfred," the stranger replied, "My name's Ivan."
"It's nice to meet you too."
Alfred stood there awkwardly, unable to come up with a way he could continue the conversation. Though, he was relieved to find that Ivan was having the same difficulty as well. Yet, it didn't take too long for his soulmate to ask another question, "Do you go here? I don't think I've ever seen you around here before."
"No, I'm actually a high school student."
"A high school student?" discomfort at this statement was obvious in Ivan's voice, "You aren't under the age of sixteen, at least, are you?"
"I just turned seventeen two months ago."
"Well, I guess that isn't too bad," Ivan replied, though there was still uncertainty lingering in his demeanor, "I'm only about one and a half years older than you."
There was another awkward silence, until Ivan asked yet another question, "Are you taking classes here as well as going to high school? If so, you must be very smart for your age."
"I wish I was that smart," laughter was obvious in Alfred's response, "No, I'm not anything special. I'm only taking one AP class this year. As well as one other challenging class my father forced me to take. I wanted to make my senior year as easy as possible."
"One AP class is still good. At least it means your challenging yourself a little. Do you like the AP class you're taking?"
"It's okay, I guess."
Alfred glanced at the clock, and was shocked to find it was already ten minutes after five. He swore he checked it not too long ago and believed it was only fifteen minutes after four. He wasn't the best when it came to keeping track of time. His mother would be at the college campus to pick him up any minute now. He returned his gaze to Ivan and explained, "Look, it's nice to talk to you, but I have to go now."
Disappointment decorated Ivan's features, but he wasn't pushy, "Well, do you think you could stay a minute longer, so that we can exchange phone numbers?"
"Sure."
Ivan was delighted by this response and retrieved his phone from his pocket with new vigor. After the two exchanged phone numbers, Alfred left, while his soulmate called after him, "I'll be sure to talk to you soon."
"Bye," was all Alfred said as he walked out of the library.
He couldn't help but be disappointed, to say the least. He hadn't had a spark of excitement all throughout the short conversation between him and the love of his life. Sure, it was his first encounter with his soulmate, which didn't mean he was obligated to fall in love with Ivan within seconds, but this still didn't reassure him. His soulmate was delighted to meet him, and though he didn't believe the other was even attracted to him yet, it was still obvious he was interested in forming a relationship with him. The fact that he himself wasn't interested in Ivan made him embarrassed. Was he being too hard on himself? Did he only need more time to bond with his soulmate before he could be interested in him?
Alfred wandered to the nearest parking lot on the college campus, to find his mother's care parked in one of the spaces. Upon catching sight of the car, he quickened the pace at which he walked. He entered the car, and as soon as the door was closed, he was attacked with a question, "So, did you find your soulmate?"
"Yes," Alfred said in response, causing even more chatter from his mom, "See, what did I tell you? I knew you'd find him there!"
Alfred remained silent as his mother continued with a raid of questions, "So, what was his name? How old is he? Do you know what country he's from?"
"He said his name was Ivan, though I don't know his last name yet," Alfred tried his best to be patient with his mom, despite not wanting to talk about the topic, "I'm guessing he's going to be nineteen soon, and it's hard to tell what country he's from based on the way he speaks. His English is almost perfect, though it kind of sounds like he's from Russia."
"Wow, interesting," his mother remarked, "You should invite him over some time. I want to see what he's like! Maybe you two can get to know each other better this way."
"Yeah, I guess that would be a good idea."
Alfred turned his gaze toward the window as his mother pulled out of the parking lot. He contemplated everything about his meeting with his soulmate, I hope I can become more interested in my soulmate later on. I'm going to be miserable for the rest of my life if I can't desire to be his friend at the very least. I guess first encounters with soulmates aren't always the best, though. It's hard not to be awkward about it.
A spark of hope flowed throughout Alfred's body as he concluded, Perhaps the second time we meet, I'll be a little more enthusiastic. There's no way I could be the only one who wasn't interested in their soulmate at first sight! It would be ridiculous if everyone immediately fell in love with them the moment they met them! No, there's nothing wrong with me. I'm sure things will work out.