The Classics

Pairing: Chex (Church/Tex)

Description: It was a match made in heaven, is what they told them. They were born on the same day, so they HAD to be soulmates. Well, they weren't wrong. Personally, Tex would've liked to prove them wrong, maybe wake up in some hot sixteen year old model's body, just to say 'I told you so'. Really, she shouldn't have been so surprised when she woke up as her next-door neighborhood… can't say she was pleased though.

A/N: So blueleadercaboose is really great and they wrote a fic for my 'sixteen year switched soulmate au' and I decided to write for it too (Let's be honest, I was going to either way). Hope you all enjoy!

P.S. You should check out blueleadercaboose's fic though if you like this one at all)

It was a match made in heaven, is what they told them. They were born on the same day, so they HAD to be soulmates. Well, they weren't wrong. Personally, Tex would've liked to prove them wrong, maybe wake up in some hot sixteen year old model's body, just to say 'I told you so'. Really, she shouldn't have been so surprised when she woke up as her next-door neighbor… can't say she was pleased though.

Here's how it all began: Tex's mother and father, once having been punk-rock lovers in a world that didn't understand them, moved into a little suburban, American Dream of a home. Turns out, Tex's pop wasn't about settling down with some woman he picked up at a bar. They broke up. Also turns out, he knocked her up on the way out. Tex's mother took the pregnancy test, and well… not much she could do about it.

She could've aborted her, Tex figured out years later after her mother's tragic love-story was retold to her at seven years old via an intoxicated mom, but it was better this way. Kind of. Sort of. Not at all. Tex was born: Bethany Selina Allison (Or just Beth or Bethy). One night, Leonard Church's mother, a kind woman living next-door, heard Tex's mother sobbing from her open window and went next-door to console her. The rest was history.

Beth and Leonard (Leo, at the time) became best friends. By best friends, this meant Beth would convince Leonard to steal cookies for her and in return wouldn't punch him for another hour or two. It was love. It was sappy. It was a nightmare. They turned fifteen, and that's when people got talking. Little things really, a whisper about soulmates here, a murmur about birthdays there, a smidgen about 'Big Changes Around Here' over there. Nothing big.

They ignored it, Tex and Church, having outgrown their playtime names and making their own titles. They fit better, something they could latch onto and separate themselves with. They could take their names, and yell 'this is me'. The day they knew they were screwed was the day Tex's mother went into Tex's bedroom, half drunk, saw them watching TV, and announced that, yeah, they were lovebirds and needed to shut the fuck up.

And then they were sixteen. There was nothing too big on Tex's end, with her mom toasting with a 'Hallelujah' to Tex, explaining that all that soulmate crap was bullshit and that her soulmate was garbage. The reason she said this was because her soulmate died before she met them. Tex always wondered, somewhere in her mind, if it was better that way. She's never decided.

On Church's end, everything was… loud. His mom and dad were ecstatic, throwing a huge party with their colleagues to celebrate 'Leonard's Manhood'. Leonard escaped quickly that night, and admittingly cried for two hours in his bedroom thinking that maybe, just maybe, fate would mess up. What if he didn't wake up as Tex? What if he had always been wrong? He fell asleep that night scared and worn out, Tex not far from that.

They awoke, and again, it was history.

Tex- no- someone else awoke the next morning in Tex's bedroom to the sound of a bottle breaking a floor below them. 'Mom is up' passed through their mind, before they jumped up, because damn, mom hasn't drank in years, what were they thinking? Practically falling out of Tex's bed (Downstairs, Miss Tex laughed upon hearing her daughter's soulmate utterly fail at functioning), the stranger ran to Tex's bedroom mirror, and stared wide-eyed at themselves, before they grinned. He was right, goddammit, he'd been right!

Church jumped up and down in Tex's body, not caring if he wasn't himself and in the body of his best friend, not while everything was bright and brilliant in the world! God, Church had never felt so fucking alive… except maybe for that time that he'd beaten Tucker's high-score in Pac-Man, but come on, that had been his goal for three fucking years! Church smiled at his reflection, finding it odd yet fitting on Tex's face. He wondered, silently, if he should go right away to see Tex- er- himself…

A sudden ache hit Church like a ton of bricks, and the memory of Tex mentioning her period had started not two days ago echoed in his mind. God, how did girls live with this shit anyhow? He groaned, rubbing his skinnier stomach with a mighty need to return to his old body. Okay, yeah, maybe he should go find himself. With a goal in mind, Church stood up straight, took one last look at his reflection, and headed out the door to go find himself.

Tex awoke in Church's body much less noisily. The only reason she got up at all was because the sun from the blinds was in her eyes, forcing her to get up and out of bed. The room was Church's, she knew that much, but somehow… she walked to the mirror, and it was confirmed. She was Church. Tex wanted to hurt something, or someone, particularly the father she'd never known who'd forced her to be born. No… no, maybe she wanted to hurt her mother? She couldn't be sure.

Maybe… not maybe, definitely… Tex didn't want them to be right. All her life, someone had been right and she'd been wrong. Mom had been right when she had said that Tex would amount to nothing in her life. Mrs. Church was right when she had said that Tex should replace her bike or it would break on her. Even Church was right when he'd said he could beat Tucker's Pac-Man score, and she'd really thought she'd had it that time! Everyone was right it seemed… but Tex was wrong.

For a moment, Tex almost cried. She could feel it inside of her, in a body not built to keep everything as tightly locked as herself. Two, salty wet tears rolled down Tex's face, and she gritted her teeth and growled. Not just any growl, a real, throaty, animal growl that made her skin crawl. Then… she laughed. Tex wasn't sure why she started to laugh. Maybe it was because Church could cry faster than her, or because Church's growl was so much more squeaky and small. Either way, Tex couldn't stop until she built up the courage to leave Church's bedroom, and greet his parents.

"So what piece of shit crawled their ass into my daughter's body, huh?" Was the first thing said to Church as he walked down the stairs and into the kitchen.

Tex's mother, a bony looking woman with clear blue eyes, too big lips, a permanent scowl, and greying blonde hair sat in one of the old, mahogany chairs of the medium sized kitchen, a glare pointed at Church with an intensity he found both insulting and terrifying. "Um… excuse me?" Church asked, almost yelping upon hearing his own voice.

"You heard me, bitch." Tex's mother practically coughed out, her voice filtered in the worst way possible with the help of a continued smoking habit. "What's your fucking name, huh? It something scummy? I bet you're another slut, aren't ya?"

"My name is Ch- Leonard, Miss Allison." Church almost cried it out, worked up over Tex's mother's aggression. God, how did Tex live like this? "I-I-I-"

"Speak up, kid!" The mother ordered, pointing an accusing finger at Church. "Wait a sec… ain't you that deadbeat kid next-door? The one making goo-goo eyes at my slutty kid?"

Church was full-on sobbing at this point, a weak little sound he was both ashamed of in himself and some part of him needed to comfort. "I'm sorry!" He whined, running out the front door to hopefully find Tex.

Tex's mom groaned, shaking her head. "Sure knows how to pick 'em, don't she?" She asked no one, disapproving of her daughter's soulmate.

"Well, look whose up!" Mrs. Church exclaimed as Tex came downstairs, a deep scowl on her face. "I don't know what you like yet, but I know my boy Leo just loves pancakes! I'm sure you will too, once you taste 'em! Go on, take a seat and join the family!"

'Dear God', Tex thought, absolutely sickened by Church's overly cheery mother, 'This is too White-Family-Trash for me, I should've stayed in bed'. "Um… okay…" She eventually replied, taking a seat at the table, right next to Church's father.

Mr. Church looked up, folding and setting down his newspaper so he could give Tex his full attention. "Well, hello there, buddy!" He greeted, just as overly cheery as his wife. "What's your name?"

"I'm Tex." Tex explained, almost cursing out Church's dad, but thought better of it. She had heard plenty of horror stories about family's separating soulmates because they didn't 'approve' of them. "I'm the girl next-door."

Mister and Miss Church just shared the biggest grin, before laughing aloud, as if about some secret joke. "Well I'll be! Looks like you were right, Linda!" Mr. Church exclaimed, looking positively delighted. Tex wanted so badly to hurt him.

"Oh, it was written on them from the start, Dan! Don't even deny it, they were destined from day one!" Mrs. Church teased back, never leaving her spot from the stove.

All the while, Tex sat there, wondering just how she was going to live with these people for in-laws one day. Would she get used to it? Used to the sitcom worthy moments, used to the family picnics, used to walking a dog through a park like an American Dream family? Tex stared at the table, wondering just how she'd gotten into such a situation, in another person's body. What kind of sick joke WAS all this?

Then… Tex stopped. The doorbell rung, and in came herself- no- Church, who'd gotten in with the secret key under the doormat (Talk about predictable). He stood there, in Tex's body, looking terrified yet amazed. He'd been crying, Tex saw, and it made her both angry and worried. Must've been her mother's doing, Tex reasoned. No person could make a grown boy cry faster than Miss Allison, no sir.

And finally, as Tex stared at herself, this time through emerald green eyes that seemed less hollow if she looked at them at the right angle, she didn't see all her flaws, or the girl who would never be right about anything. She saw someone she loved, through this body. Church loved her. She loved Church. It was foreign yet almost enlightening in Tex's mind. And so, with a heavy heart and a deep breath, Tex cleared the distance and broke the final lock to returning to her body-

-A kiss.

It was cheesy, corny, and dumb. There were no fireworks going off, only the feeling of a switch being turned on, before Tex opened her eyes again, only to re-meet those emerald greens, this time, in the right body. She smiled, a real one, not a fake one to make everything seem alright. And things were alright, in a way. Church still had a stereotypical American Dream for a family and Tex still had an awful mother, but… it was okay. It would be, anyways.

After all, they were soulmates… they'd get through it.

A/N: I wrote this God knows when, but here ya go! Edited and sappy! Please R&R!

~CabooseHeart.