Keith juggled his paper bag of groceries in one arm, trying to keep it from falling apart as the rain poured around him. He unwisely tried to pull out the umbrella tucked under his arm, and the bag slipped a bit in his grasp, nearly decorating the sidewalk with milk and fruits. Grumbling, he stepped under an awning and set down the bag. Finally gripping the umbrella, he made to open it; and it immediately jammed. Keith cursed to himself some more, and pushed out on the rider repeatedly, with increasing fury. All this achieved were scrapes on his fingers.

The rain was so cold that he barely noticed the warmth creeping through his shoulder. If he was focusing, he would've recognized the distinctive feeling that was like getting a shot, but duller. He was still occupied with his umbrella when he noticed someone's presence. He'd been alone on this street just a second ago, but now he felt more than heard someone breathing close to him. He glanced up to see a boy around his age, dressed in a preppy school uniform, standing with his eyes closed, face turned up to the rain. The boy's hands were turned up ever so slightly. He was ethereal, like some heavenly vision; Keith's cheeks colored as he became aware of his thoughts, but he couldn't look away. He was transfixed. The boy just stood there for a while, seemingly unaware of Keith. Watching him, Keith's free hand unconsciously rose to rub his warm shoulder, and he realized he was looking at his soulmate. The realization shook him, and his hand jolted, finally opening the umbrella with an unwelcome jerk. The sound and movement had the boy finally turning to look at him. Their eyes met, and all the water in the world paled in comparison to the ocean in this boy's irises. Keith's lips were parted, and he was at a complete loss for words. The boy smiled shyly, which turned into a full-fledged haughty smirk as he stepped forward. Suddenly aware of himself and his surroundings, Keith brought the umbrella up to cover the boy, his soulmate. His chivalry was a bit belated, because the rain was torrential around them, and this boy should've been soaked through, but... But he wasn't. The rain poured on and around him, but he stood there, completely dry.

"I don't think I'm actually here," the boy said with a sheepish smile, his hand coming up to ruffle his own hair. It was fluffy and brown, and looked incredibly soft. Keith was struck with the urge to run his fingers through it. His own hair was plastered to his head and neck, bangs obscuring his eyes. The bag of groceries sat abandoned at his feet, water filling and probably tearing the paper. Whatever. Who needed a bag to carry groceries anyway, he thought idly.

"Um..." Wow, Keith was meeting his soulmate for the first time, and he was being exceptionally eloquent; he suppressed the urge to roll his eyes at himself. The boy's face twisted into a teasing look of amusement.

"What happened? Cat got your tongue?" He snickered, pointing to a tattoo on his own wrist.

Keith's fingers came up to his shoulder again in response. The red mark he was looking at of a lion curled around flames was the complement to his own tattoo, which he could only ever see if he twisted in front of a mirror. Keith stared at his soulmate's wrist, still awestruck.

"You don't talk much, huh." His voice was silk. The words were teasing, but the tone held no malice—only amusement and curiosity. How was he being so calm about this, Keith wondered. It wasn't every day you saw your soulmate.

"Where are you?" Keith managed to voice the question that had just materialized in his mind. His brain was finally starting to work again, and he realized his soulmate must be somewhere dry, and that something must have triggered this telepathic visit.

"At school," the boy all but whined. He huffed and pouted, and Keith felt it in his chest. This was not good for his health. "In the desert," he elaborated. "Where is this?"

"Seattle," Keith supplied. Where else would there be such obnoxious, ever-present rain?

"Lucky. You have no idea how lucky you are, man. I am stuck at school with sand filling my lungs every time I step outside. I miss water." His hands came up to feel the raindrops dance across his palms. "It feels so real. It's almost like I'm here."

"But you're not," Keith provided helpfully, finally daring to reach out and touch. He could almost feel the boy's smooth brown skin under his fingers. He wasn't quite corporeal, but there was a dense warmth where the boy's figure filled the space before him.

"What's your name?"

The magic that bound them also had strict rules on what they could share and how much, and how often. But he tried to answer, "Keith."

"Lance," his soulmate replied. So first names were apparently fine. Lance. Keith repeated the name in his head. It sounded musical to him, and he smiled before looking away. It was suddenly too much.

Lance, as he was apparently called, also looked away. His hand was at the back of his head again. So it was a nervous habit, Keith noted. That was cute.

Lance's finally looked at the sad paper bag on the ground. "What..." he trailed off questioningly.

"Groceries," Keith explained.

A laugh bubbled out of Lance and his shoulders relaxed, some of the earlier nervousness slipping away. If his name was musical, it was nothing compared to his laugh. Keith could've written symphonies with that sound.

"It's day here," Lance observed out loud. Stepping away from Keith to turn his face up to the rain again, seeking out the brightness of the still-lingering sun.

"Is it not where you are?" Keith questioned, curious about the distance that separated them.

"It's dark here. Just past sundown."

"Tell me more." Keith didn't know where the question came from, but he asked it nonetheless.

"Okay, um, I'm in my dorm room. My roommate is already asleep. I can almost still hear his snores even here, wow. Oh yeah, I have a roommate! He's a great guy and my best friend. His name is Hunk."

"You go to boarding school," Keith guessed.

"Yupp,' Lance popped the 'p' with annoyance. "It sucks. Like, royally. I miss home the whole time I'm here."

"I wouldn't mind probably going away for school. Isn't it nice to have a change from always being around the same people?

Lance looked at Keith curiously, head tilted to the side. "Why would I want to live practically in the middle of nowhere just to go to school? Why would I want to live at school?" His voice was getting more indignant with each question, and Keith smiled in spite of himself.

"I don't know," he finally answered. "It can get pretty tedious being around the same people all the time. I would probably like a boarding school. What's it like there?"

Lance turned contemplative. "Well, it's not all bad I guess. I mentioned Hunk. He's so great. I really lucked out with him. And then there's Pidge."

"Pidge?" Keith interrupted. "What kind of name is that?"

Lance chuckled. "I know. I said the same thing when I first heard it. And that's only half of it. His last name in Gunderson."

Pidge Gunderson? Keith wanted to question why they were talking about some kid named Pidge Gunderson on their first meeting, but he didn't, because Lance was so animated when he talked. Keith wondered if he was always like this—if he always moved his hands about that much, if his eyebrows always moved so exaggeratedly, if his eyes were always that expressive. Lance was still talking about this Pidge, and Keith tuned back in.

"He's some sort of genius. He's really really cool, but has this loner vibe? It's kind of mean, like 'I'm better than you' but at the same time, he's really tiny and has a nice voice, so it never seems off-putting? Even when he's cursing at you? It's hard to explain."

Keith wasn't sure he understood, but he just wanted to hear Lance keep talking. He wanted to prolong this moment. The rain raging around him was practically forgotten. His shirt was soaked through by freezing rain, and the only part of his body that was warm was his shoulder. But he didn't mind, not when Lance was standing in front of him, talking to him. How would he deal with a lifetime of this, he wondered fleetingly, given that this was his soulmate? He filed that thought away to dwell on later, because he didn't want to ruin the moment by thinking too far ahead. The magic that was making this moment a reality—however virtual—would take care of the technicalities.

Lance described Pidge's genius with computers. He talked about boarding school teachers, and how they were so mean, but how there were a few who made it bearable. He talked about which subjects he hated (physics and math), and which ones he liked (language arts and music). Keith's ears perked up at the mention of music. Keith wasn't being asked to share anything, but he now had a point in common, a connection. It was odd how desperately Keith's subconscious was searching for a way to bond with Lance, when they were literally fated to connect. But he needed something that would validate to Lance the magic that bound them. He was ready to tell Lance about his own love for making music, when Lance suddenly changed the topic.

"Hey, can I see your soulmark?"

Keith raised his eyebrows. He didn't know where he got the confidence to say, "I'm not taking my shirt off for you in our first meeting." The flirty tone was entirely unintentional, and was probably the result of misfired synapses in his addled brain. But he knew the hit landed when Lance blushed, and let out a flustered,

"O-oh."

Keith smiled an almost imperceptibly naughty smile at Lance's state, when suddenly Lance turned to look behind his shoulder. Keith blinked and Lance was gone. Keith was left behind, soulmark cooling to match the ambient temperature, feeling the ice cold of the rain in his bones.

Lance breathed in the salt air of the ocean deeply, savoring every molecule. After four years at a landlocked boarding school, he didn't take a single moment of coastal living for granted—not anymore. He felt every grain of wet sand beneath his feet and every tiny droplet of mist against his skin; he heard every call of the gulls and every rush of the sea against the shore.

When he was younger and Varadero Beach picnics were a weekly affair, he used to run at the ocean and dive into it. He hardly used to be able to wait to get in the water. But today, this was his first visit here in a year, the last time having been summer vacation after junior year.

A man free of school now, at least until college started, he approached his element almost reverently. He let the water graze his toes, then lap at his arches. An audible sigh of contentment escaped him at the tease, and he finally let himself descend. Enveloped by the cool ocean, he finally felt he was truly home.

He submerged himself and kicked smoothly into some lazy strokes. His wrist was entirely underwater, which was why he didn't feel the warmth there. At least not until there was another indication of his soulmate's presence: a shadow above his closed eyes, blocking out the sunlight but offering some of its own glow. Keith.

Lance smiled before he even opened his eyes to take in the sight of what was sure to be a surly but undeniably cool-looking Keith. Unfortunately, what he wasn't prepared for was that in the three years since they were first revealed to each other, they'd really gotten the hang of these VR experiences, and Keith had prepared for a visit to the ocean before coming. So when Lance opened his eyes, he was not prepared for the vision that was Keith in red swimming trunks. He slipped right back underwater for a moment, nearly forgetting how to float.

Reminding himself that this was just Keith, and that the two of them had read each other cover to cover by now, Lance cleared his throat. "What triggered it?"

They'd figured out by now that strong emotions tended to open the connection. That first afternoon in the rain, it had happened of its own accord. The tether had been so delicate that it had broken when Hunk's stirring in his sleep had distracted Lance for a moment. It had taken them a while to figure out how the visits worked, but now they could choose to go once an emotional trigger opened the connection. The better they got to know each other, the more real each visit felt.

Keith raised an eyebrow at Lance's question, as if the answer were obvious. "You're really really happy right now."

Lance's irrepressible smile gave him away to the truth in Keith's words.

"My soulmark was practically burning a hole through my shoulder," Keith elaborated. "It felt like it was on fire. So I came to see what was up."

"I'm home," Lance explained, unrestrained glee manifesting in an awed undertone. "Finally."

Lance's happiness was infectious, and Keith inevitably caught it. "So this is the Lance in his natural habitat."

"I am totally a mermaid," Lance agreed cheerily. The two settled to swimming around, making eyes at each other. By now Lance was used to not drawing attention to his incorporeal soulmate that no one else could see.

He thought back; how long had it been since they'd seen each other?

"More than two months," Keith answered, because apparently Lance had asked the question out loud.

It took Lance a moment to remember because, "Honestly, I feel like you're always with me."

Keith rolled his eyes, kicking away from Lance in the water. "That's a terrible line, even for you."

Lance didn't mind the words because he knew they were just a way to cover up Keith's rising blush, obvious even in Keith's intangible form.

"I was taking my physics final," Lance said, because he remembered now. "And you showed up out of nowhere."

"You were so stressed out," Keith recalled. "It's what called me to you."

"Pidge was sitting next to me, and watching her breeze through the test was making me even more anxious. That was when I'd just found out she's a girl!" Lance reminisced. "You didn't even help or anything," he complained belatedly. "All you did was stand there and stare."

"What else was I supposed to do?" Keith demanded, indignant. "Do the test for you?"

In response, Lance splashed water toward him. Pouting, Keith turned to swim away; and Lance gasped. He'd just gotten his first ever glimpse of Keith's soulmark. He'd been dying to see it; but after that first meeting, he hadn't mustered up the courage to ask again. And now here it was, in all its glory: a blue lion curled around waves of water. How fitting, he decided. Keith was still drifting away, seemingly still miffed. But Lance recognized it for what it was: an invitation to give chase, which he did. Lance caught Keith loosely around his waist from behind. He brought his fingers up to brush the glowing mark on Keith's shoulder. "I can almost feel the warmth," he noted excitedly, before letting go. As discreet as he was trying to be, he was drawing some curious glances, including a couple from his sisters who were lounging on the beach. And while Lance would be thrilled to share the knowledge of his soulmate with his family one day, he was content to keep these visits a deeply personal experience for some time more.

Keith turned to face him, cheeks slightly flushed. They were very close now, almost chest to chest. And Lance could finally see how low down his shoulders Keith's blushes descended, something he had always secretly wondered.

Mentally chiding himself, he forced his eyes back to Keith's face, where he found a knowing smirk. He had the sudden urge to kiss the smug look right off his face, abut he held back. He knew from cringey past experience that that would break the connection, ending the visit. Instead he splashed water at him again, and this time a laugh bubbled out of Keith.

"You're really really happy now too," Lance beamed.

Keith stopped to look at Lance fully, and said casually, "I think I'm dead."

"What?"

"It's just so easy to confuse heaven with reality when I'm with you."

It was Lance's turn to actually die. He was deceased. He'd been expecting Keith to pay him back for that line from earlier, but he hadn't expected this. Lance hadn't even begun to recover from the blow when something twinkled in Keith's eyes and he started stepping backward as if he was suddenly walking on land. He probably was, given that he wasn't actually here.

"Lance, I recognize this place now; I know where this is." He paused, waiting for it to sink in, intense gaze never leaving Lance. "I've seen Varadero Beach in my family's old vacation pictures. I know. Where. You are. Lance." Each word was punctuated by another step backward, until the magic kicked in and he fizzled away, leaving Lance to muffle his belated squeal by biting into his knuckles. Keith knew where he was. Keith could visit him for real. They could actually meet. They could properly touch. They could kiss. Breathing shakily, he turned his face up to the sunlight, feeling it permeate his very being. This was actually happening.

Out-takes

Lance fingered the slightly warm red lion on the inside of his wrist, eyes rolling of their own accord. "What is this? Is my soulmate a gryffindor? I hate gryffindors."

Hunk, calm as ever, glanced over at him. "Bruh. You are a gryffindor."

"Nonsense."

"Listen. Every quiz you've ever taken, official and buzzfeed, has gotten you the same result."

"I reject them all. I am slytherin: ambitious and strategic. Gryffindors are obnoxious, glory seeking-"

"They're also courageous and have hero-complexes. All of which you are, by the way."

"What? When have you ever seen me in a situation where I could demonstrate courage?"

"Iverson was yelling at Pidge and you stepped in, without regard for your personal safety. We all know how injurious to health Iverson can be."

"That's evidence for me being Hufflepuff, if anything. Not gryffindor."

"Forget it. I'm not having this conversation with you."