Soulmates: Vilde and Nikolai

A/N: I know the idea of Nikolai as a love interest is a bit strange. And originally I was thinking of a Vilde/Noora/William soulmates story so I went from putting her with one mean brother to a worse brother! I might still write it, but somehow I started thinking about Nikolai and then this happened. I liked Nikolai when we first met him in the series, it was later that I did start hating him. I don't condone what he did to Noora. This is just an AU, and he's not as bad as he was in the show I promise.

DISCLAIMER: I own nothing, just a fan of SKAM.

I was dancing with my best friend Chris, but when Kasper arrived at the party she instantly ran over to him and started kissing him. I thought they made a cute couple, he was a little strange but Chris herself was a quirky girl so it made sense that her soulmate was not just ordinary. My friend Noora was having an earnest discussion with William in one corner of the living room. She seemed upset about something, but their relationship had always been tempestuous from the moment they had become soulmates. It was still a little awkward to be around them as a couple, especially as the party was being held in William's apartment because the last time I had been here I had lost my virginity to William.

At the time, neither of us had known about our soulmates. You only found out you had a soulmate when you met them. Some people never met their soulmates, and I was disheartened as my Mamma and Pappa had not had the soulmate bond. Pappa had left Mamma and me when he met his soulmate, and I was only a toddler then. So the idea of a soulmate for me was soured, as my Mamma had told me not to bother waiting for a soulmate as I might never find one and it was a waste of time. William was a player, and I had known about that. I had also stupidly thought I was ready to have sex, that I could handle having just a 'fling' with William. Also, I was tired of being single while I saw my friends flourish with their soulmates.

Isak, my friend Eva's boyfriend's best friend, had gotten us invited to a party William was hosting as leader of the Penetrators. It was easy for Isak to get an invitation from William's best friend, Christoffer as they were soulmates. At that party, I had first met William in person. We had made out, and then a week later I had gone back to his apartment after another party. I had been drinking, which helped with my nerves being so unsteady but it also meant the memory of that night was a bit hazy. Which was good now that I wanted to forget it happened, but at the time I had wanted to remember it all very clearly. I had liked William, but in a shallow way. I thought afterwards it would be easy to remain unattached in feelings towards him but it had not. For William, it was all too easy. The next morning after we slept together he had given me a Penetrator hoodie and rushed me out of his apartment at 7am, pressing money into my hands to pay for the taxi he had called to take me home.

Since then he had callously ignored me, but I had ended up liking William even more. Except, it was not really him I liked, but the idea of what could have happened if I'd given my virginity to someone who cared about me, if it had been my soulmate. I had realized too late that I should not have listened to my Mamma, that I should have waited for my soulmate. A few days later I had given him his hoodie back, and he had humiliated me in front of my friends and his own. That had been the day he met Noora, and he had changed a lot since meeting her. She even got him to apologize to me, although I knew he had only done so for her sake. It took me a long time, but I eventually got over William. I had decided I would rather be single if I could not be with my soulmate so since then I had been on my own.

I went to the kitchen to grab myself a glass of champagne; I was not keen on the idea of dancing by myself. On the way I passed Ingrid, who was cheerfully dancing sandwiched between Eva and Jonas who she was in a tri-soulmate bond with. Ingrid had been soulmates with Jonas first, but then Eva had transferred to our school and her name had appeared on both Ingrid and Jonas. Ingrid had not been pleased at first as she was jealous of Eva bonding with Jonas. After a few months Ingrid had realized that Jonas loved them both equally and that hurting Eva by pretending to hate her was only making Ingrid feel guilty instead of happy as she had fallen in love with Eva too. Now they were all content, and Jonas was considered to be very lucky by many guys in school despite the fact that I knew Ingrid had a temper and Eva could be very stubborn - and if one of his girlfriends was upset with him, the other would also be upset with him. Personally, I was a little jealous as I had no soulmate but they had two soulmates. However, I loved my friend Eva and I was happy for her.

I took a few sips of my champagne, and as I glanced around the room I was amused seeing Isak being dragged off into William's bedroom by Christoffer. Christoffer was very possessive of Isak, having gone from being a fuckboy who slept around with random girls to being totally devoted to Isak. It had not been sudden, Christoffer had been very shocked to find out his soulmate was a guy and Isak was reluctant to come out but over time they had both faced up to their own issues and were happy together.

I had also seen my friend Sana dancing with Yousef, and as usual he was looking at her like she hung the moon and stars from the sky. Sana was very strong, and fiercely independent but she had allowed herself to trust Yousef, to be able to lean on him and not feel ashamed about it. Yousef was the only one who did not often feel the sharp lash of her words when she was angry as she was softer with her soulmate than other people.

I was on my third glass of champagne when I hesitated before bringing the glass to my lips. Sometimes I worried about my drink intake. My Mamma drank too much, and she was often depressed. I only drank at parties or with my friends, but even so I knew I should limit myself to one or two drinks which I mostly did. However tonight I was feeling lonely and I just wanted to feel a buzz and not think so much about the blank skin on the inside of my right wrist where my soulmate's name should be written. I decided to drink the champagne, but as soon as I caught sight of a tall, lean guy with a fair complexion and light brown hair I dropped my glass, feeling pain.

What I felt was a horrible, stinging pain in my arm. I looked down to see vivid red letters were appearing on the inside of my wrist in sharp, bold strokes of handwriting and rapidly forming a name.

Nikolai Magnusson.

I had a soulmate. I stared, wide eyed, at the soulmate mark that was now permanently a part of me. After the pain in my arm faded away, I bent down to start picking up the broken glass shards. I was somehow afraid to keep looking at Nikolai. It was strange that his name had caused me pain when it formed on my skin. Most often people described it as a sensation that was ticklish and gave them a pleasant tingle. Perhaps he felt opposed to our soulmate bond. It was extremely rare, but there were cases where soulmates hated each other or one soulmate hates the other soulmate. I could only fervently hope that was not the case with him.

Suddenly another pair of hands were there, holding onto mine tightly. I looked up to see it was Nikolai, staring at me with his pale green eyes.

"It's dangerous to pick up broken glass. Don't touch it," He warned me, briefly seeming concerned for me before he let go and came back with a dustpan and brush to sweep up the shards which he deposited in the bin.

"You must be Vilde," Nikolai smiled at me then, revealing the pointy canine teeth he had. He showed me the inside of his right wrist, where my name was written neatly in my small handwriting. The colour was a shimmery blue. "Can I see yours?"

I immediately showed him, a sense of relief that he had not rejected me as his soulmate warring with a sense of unease. There was just something about him that put me on edge, although I did not know why. Still, I was very happy to have met my soulmate.

He took hold of my wrist, admiring the soulmate name mark before smirking at me. "Red is such a nice, dominant colour."

I gently pulled my wrist out of his grasp, frowning at him. "The blue is softer, but it is still a strong colour."

"Did you take offence? I didn't mean it in a bad way," Nikolai placated me, his smirk abruptly fading away. "I'm sorry, Vilde. This is all so new to me, having a soulmate."

"It's alright. I-"

"What's going on here?" Noora interrupted, breaking me out of the bubble I had been in with Nikolai. William was standing close by, his hand on her shoulder as if to keep her from moving closer. "You stay away from Vilde, Nikolai."

"Noora..." William gently admonished her. "You can't stop this. Just look at Vilde's arm. She's already his."

Noora broke free of William's light hold and when she looked down and saw Nikolai's name on the inside of my wrist she looked disgusted. "No. It can't be true..." She unleashed a furious glare onto William. "I told you not to invite him! This could have been avoided and now she's stuck forever with a jerk like him."

"He's my brother, what else could I do?" William glared back at her. "Leave him off the party guest list though I knew he went out of his way to come and visit us?"

Noora crossed her arms and remained silent, her face a mask of stone.

"Noora, don't talk about him like that," I snapped, my surprise at Noora's negative reaction swiftly turning into anger as I defended him. "What did he do that's so terrible you hate him?"

"I don't hate him," Noora reluctantly admitted. "I just don't want him around me right now. He's manipulative and he tried to make me doubt my relationship with William. It was only when he found out I was William's soulmate that he confessed he was just lying to make William look bad."

"Nikolai? Did you really do that to Noora?" I asked, hoping he would deny it but as his face took on a hard expression I knew with certainty he had done it.

"Yes, I did." Nikolai admitted coldly. "William's been able to forgive me, but Noora is having trouble doing so."

"What did you expect?" I asked, hating that I had to survey him in a different light. "Why did you do that to her?"

"I'll tell you, but not right now," Nikolai gave me a listless smile that did not reach his eyes. "Not when you're looking at me like I'm a monster."

"Nikolai..." I reached out to touch his hand, feeling hurt when he stepped away from me. "I don't think you're a monster but this is a lot for me to take in. Noora is one of my closest friends, and by hurting her you've hurt me too."

Noora sighed heavily. "Vilde, I'm sorry. Only because I'm upsetting you, I won't forgive him this easily. But...I suppose there's a lot you need to discuss with him now he's your soulmate." She threw her slim arms around me and hugged me tightly, and I willingly reciprocated the hug. "Forget about the party and go spend some time with him. He's not the soulmate I would have wanted for you but I also know how much you've wanted to have a soulmate so I am happy for you. We both are, aren't we, William?"

"Vilde is fortunate to have my brother as her soulmate, actually." William crossed his arms. "My brother may have done some bad things in the past, but deep down he's a good person and he's been making an effort to be better. Besides, there's a lot of girls out there who would have been thrilled to be his soulmate. He's a Magnusson, and us Magnussons are amazing. And it's not like Vilde is a saint. She's made mistakes too."

Of course it would be William who put me down. It did not hurt me as much as it would have in the past, but it still was not pleasant to hear.

Noora hit William's arm. "Don't start with that Magnusson name nonsense again. Not everybody cares about your lineage and wealth you know. And we've all made mistakes in life, don't pick on Vilde."

"I'm not picking on her. I'm just being truthful," William replied, giving her a reproachful look. "And I want you to stop attacking my brother."

Noora coolly ignored William. "Goodbye, Vilde. Text me later when you get home," She gave Nikolai a mistrustful glance. "Nikolai, be very nice to her or you will be in big trouble."

She walked away, still ignoring William as he chased after her.

Nikolai and I had been walking around for a while, hand in hand. We had talked to each other more. I was starting to get to know him better, but I knew he was being very selective in what he told me. There was so much of him hidden, like he had built these walls up and it concerned me. I was worried about what I would discover about him in the future, but I knew it would be unfair to judge him too harshly. I too had many things I did not want him to find out about me. Like the fact I'd slept with his brother or that my Mamma and I struggled to get by. That Mamma was an alcoholic and I was afraid I would become one too in years to come. Yet now he was my soulmate, I felt more relaxed than I had in a long time despite all my concerns and fears. I felt that now I had him in my corner to support me, like I would support him. Chris, my lovely best friend, was always there for me and I appreciated her so much but the soulmate bond I shared with Nikolai went so far beyond friendship levels of support and comfort.

"Let's sit down and get a drink somewhere..." Nikolai glanced around, then smiled as he saw a brightly lit shop with rainbow lettering on the sign. "Perfect."

He pulled me across the road, though there was a car approaching in the distance. The driver of the car beeped his horn angrily as he slowed down to let us cross. Nikolai laughed and waved as the driver passed by us. My heart was racing from the close call. "Nikolai, you could have killed us. You need to be more careful."

"But we're fine. And wasn't it fun?" Nikolai grinned at me, his eyes sparkling darkly. "When you do something risky, doesn't it make you feel more alive?"

"You really scared me," I pulled my hand away from him. "And no, it was not fun."

"Poor Vilde..." Nikolai looked contrite all of a sudden. "It wasn't nice of me to scare you like that. I won't do it again." He leaned down, gently using his hand to tilt my face up towards his own. He was getting closer, so close I could see the little gold flecks in his eyes. I closed my eyes as his lips met mine, wrapping my arms around him to keep him near me. His kisses were soft and precise at first, but he soon used more pressure and the kisses started landing in a random pattern, on my lips and near my lips too. One of his hands was tangled into my hair and the other was firmly holding my arm. It was when he bit my lip harshly, his tongue demanding entrance to my mouth that the pleasurable haze he had put me in started to fade. I parted my lips, letting him caress my tongue with his own, but only briefly before I pushed him away.

"Nikolai, we shouldn't do this in public," I could feel the heat on my face, the pink flush I knew was now there an obvious sign of my embarrassment. "I should have stopped you earlier."

"I'm not going to apologize for making you feel good, but you are right. I'm just so pleased that I met you, and I got a little carried away," Nikolai embraced me for a few moments before letting go and smiling softly. "Don't worry, we'll take things slowly." He slipped his hand into mine and led me into the shop. Fortunately there was no queue, so we walked straight up to the drinks counter.

"Hello there," The young woman standing behind the till on the counter smiled at us politely. "What can I get for you."

"I want two large Mango teas with Strawberry boba, please," Nikolai presented his credit card when the worker had rung up the total bill and when he had gotten his reciept we went to stand at the other side of the counter to wait for our drinks to be prepared.

I nudged him with my elbow, giving him a fake stern look. "You know, you didn't ask me if I liked Mango tea."

"So you don't like Mango bubble tea?" Nikolai asked, giving me a skeptical look. "Fine, I'm sorry for treating my beautiful girlfriend to a sweet drink on a warm summer's day."

I laughed. "Alright, it's not that I don't appreciate it. Thank you, but... next time you can let me choose what I drink, not just decide for me."

Nikolai shrugged, a little smile forming on his face. "Okay, sure, that's what I'll do. Now go get us a table, and I'll bring the drinks over."

I did as he asked, unable to keep a big smile off my face as I settled down by a table near the window. I liked that he was already calling me his girlfriend. I was already starting to feel attached to him already liked him a lot, though I knew I had to not get too caught up in my feelings and . He was my soulmate but I still barely knew him after all. It was a strange coincidence that my soulmate was William's brother, and I would have preferred if it they were not related at all. I had been stupid with William, but although he was not the only one to blame he had also been very unkind to me and it had not affected him at all. If Nikolai ended up treating me like William I knew I could not bear it. It would be horrible.

Nikolai placed my drink in front of me then sat across the table from me with his own drink. Nikolai reached out to hold my hand across the table, and we both just sat in a comfortable silence, sipping our drinks and gazing at each other.

"Can I tell you something, Vilde?" Nikolai asked, when we had both finished our drinks. "Earlier you wanted to know why I tried to break Noora and William up." He took a deep breath. "You know, William's only my half-brother. His Pappa adopted me but he never treated me like a son. He was always very detached. I suppose I've always been jealous of William and I wanted to hurt him like I often did in the past. You can't tell Noora or William this but what she mentioned to you that I'd done...I'd planned so much more than just making her think William did not care for her. When I saw his name on her, I knew I had to stop the plan. Otherwise I would have lost him as a brother and he's the only one in my family who I actually care about. My Mamma never cared about either of us, she only married our Pappas because they were so wealthy. I know she drove my Pappa to an early grave, but fortunately for William's Pappa he realized what a demon she is and he divorced her."

"I..." I hesitated, wanting to know what else he had planned but it was probably better if I did not know. I decided to focus on the positive, which was that he was willing to tell me about his childhood. It might not be the whole truth, he may even be making some things up but still it was a good sign. I decided to tell him some things about me that were still private, but not deeper secrets like my Mamma's alcoholism. "Thank you for trusting me enough to tell me this. I want to tell you something, too. My Pappa left us when I was little, because he found his soulmate. He's never even tried to contact me since then, and I've written him out of my life. I don't have any siblings, but my best friend Christina – everyone calls her Chris, she's like an honorary sister to me. I never used to like the idea of having a soulmate, but then I made a big mistake and I realized I was wrong and how much of a blessing it would be if I did have a soulmate. And now, I do have you but it scares me too because I could lose you."

"You're never gonna be able to get rid of me now, Vilde," Nikolai promised. "I mean, I do have to go back to Stockholm in a few days, but I'm going to arrange to move here. I'll find an apartment near you and William."

I leaned across the table and brushed my lips against his cheek before sitting back. "Really, Nikolas? I'd love that, but aren't you studying over there?" ,

"I can transfer and study here. I actually hate International Finance but it will lead into a good career one day." He stood up from his seat. "It's getting late. I'll walk you home."

"That's okay, you don't have to do that," I stood up too, walking over to him and linking arms with him." I don't live around here, anyway. I'm gonna take the bus home, but you can walk me to the bus stop?"

The bus stop was only a few streets away, and we reached it sooner that I would have liked. "I guess this is goodbye for now."

"No, I'm going in your direction so I'll get on the bus too." Nikolai sat down on one of the seats, pulling me backwards so I would sit on his lap. "I had to book into a hotel for this trip, because I knew Noora wouldn't want me staying with her and this bus will take me close to where it is."

"You can't blame her for that," I took out my phone and navigated to Add New Contact then handed it to him. "Here, put your number in my phone."

Nikolai added his number then used my phone to ring himself. "There, now I've got your number too." He handed the phone back to me. "Vilde...what happened with William? That message you sent him, about him ignoring you - what was that about?"

I moved off of his lap and sat next to him so I could look at his face carefully. It was blank, with just mild curiosity in his eyes. I dreaded the idea of telling him what had happened between me and William. Yes, it was a mistake and it was in the past but it still made me feel guilty, made me feel like I had cheated on him. I knew it was stupid for me to feel like that we had not even known about each other when I had hooked up with William. It had also been stupid of me not to delete the texts William had sent me. They were so old now, and there were only a few confirming he would pick me up at Eva's house before a party and then some more texts from me which he had never replied to. "Why were you looking at my text messages?" I retorted sharply, giving him a glare. "It's none of your business."

Nikolai's face fell. "I didn't mean to, you had a new text from Noora and I clicked on it because I thought she might be saying bad things about me. It was wrong, I know that and I'm sorry. I backed out of her message but then I saw you had William in your message list. I didn't read any of your other messages, I swear, I just saw what was in the message preview with William. It doesn't matter anyway, let's not talk about if it upsets you." He gently tugged on my arm. "Come on, sit with me again."

"Alright..." I moved back to sit on his lap, and he locked his arms around my waist tightly. I rested my hands on his, turning my head to give him a kiss. "I'm sorry I snapped at you. I'll tell you all about what happened..." I looked away from him, quite relieved I was sitting not facing him as now I had to lie to him and I hated doing it. "That message, it's nothing. I was trying to get me and my friends into one of William's Penetrator parties for the sake of making connections for the Russ bus group I'm in with my friends. But we're not popular, so he just ignored my messages. It was a long time ago, I'm sure you saw that. It happened before he met Noora. I haven't texted him in ages, I should have deleted the messages already." I looked at him again. "But just so we're clear, you're not allowed to snoop in my phone anymore. I mean it, Nikolai."

"I won't do it again," Nikolai promised. "Look, the bus is coming..." He let go of me and we both stood up as the bus approached, Nikolai letting me get onto the bus first. We sat upstairs, and Nikolai insisted I listen to a playlist he had on his iPhone. I didn't want to disturb the other bus passengers so I plugged in my earphones and listened, with my eyes closed as Nikolas said it was the best way to listen to the music. It was nice, as we shared some of the same tastes in music and I liked hearing all the songs I had not heard before. I was so comfortable I leaned against Nikolai and it did not even cross my mind to think about watching out for my bus stop. I was really immersed in the music. So I was surprised when Nikolai shook me gently, and pulled out my earphones.

"Where are we?"

" have to get off, this is my stop. You looked so peaceful I didn't want to disturb you, and I didn't know where you lived," He took back his iPhone, and pulled on my hand. "Come on. Hurry up, Vilde, or the bus will leave."

I followed him as we practically ran down the stairs and off the bus. "It's okay, I should have been more alert. And...I wasn't looking forward to saying goodbye to you."

"Since you're here, why don't you spend the night with me?" Nikolai asked, giving me a hopeful smile. "You can take the bed and I can take the couch?"

"I should go home. I don't even have any night clothes and my Mamma will wonder where I am." Although I knew that was probably not true, my Mamma had seemed to be in a good mood in the morning but when she had a bad turn she would drink or go into a vegetative state where she did not care about anything and stayed holed up in her bedroom. "We can see each other tomorrow."

"Don't say no, Vilde,please," Nikolai brought a hand up to my face, moving a few strands of my hair back behind my ear gently. "You said yourself, you didn't want to say goodbye. You can text your Mamma and tell her you're sleeping over at a friends house tonight. You can borrow clothes from me, and I told you already that I won't rush you into anything. I just want you to stay over but we don't have to do anything besides sleep tonight."

"I..." I hesitated. I wanted to stay with him but I knew Nikolai had done it on purpose, making me miss my bus stop by distracting me with music. He just wanted to spend more time with me and I did not blame him for that but I knew I could not just let him get what he wanted all the time. Noora had warned me was manipulative, and I had not really believed her but now I did. I wondered how much of what he had told me about his childhood was true. He could have lied about it, and I had just believed him. "No, Nikolai," I averted my gaze, knowing I would change my mind if I looked into his eyes. "I'm going home, and I will see you tomorrow." I stated firmly.

"Vilde..." Nikolai seemed put out. "You're really going to leave?"

"Goodbye, Nikolai," I went up on my tiptoes and kissed him on the cheek. "I'll text you later." I turned away, it was difficult to leave but I knew it was the right thing to do. I stopped halfway down the street, and looked back to wave at Nikolai, who was still standing there watching me. When I got on the bus going back in the right direction for my home, I felt my phone vibrate and smiled when I read the text message I had got. It was from Nikolai.

I already miss you.

I wanted to text him back, but I decided to wait until I got home and looked at the text Noora had sent me.

Vilde, are you okay? Be careful around him, don't be too trusting of what of tells you. Text me when you get home so I know you're safe.

I answered Noora's text, but it took me a while before I could write an answer. I could not tell her that Nikolai had been reckless enough to almost get us run over by a car, that I could not think straight when he kissed me, that he had tried to manipulate me just to spend the night with me. I wanted her to be able to get along with Nikolai again one day. Finally I decided what to write to her.

I'm fine, nothing happened. We just talked and had a drink together. I'm on my way home and Nikolai has gone back to his hotel.

I knew Nikolai had some faults, but so did I. We both were messed up in different ways, but we belonged together. We were soulmates, after all.

Thanks for reading :)