Soulmate AU in which the first words your soulmate says to you are written on your wrist.
I fiddled with time (because I'm the author and I have eternal power and can do that) so the meeting will be a different then the cannon one.
Hello! I have decided to branch out into the world of Yowamushi Pedal since I recently fell in love with the show and with the T2! I've also been meaning to write a soulmate AU, so here's one for the two adorable second years of Sohoku! Yet again I messed with time, so expect some changes from cannon! Please enjoy!
Teshima Junta was born perfectly healthy, and their was no hint that he would have any issues finding a soul mate.
Teshima was eleven years old when he came to his mother in confusion, asking about the rather large question mark that had appeared on his wrist.
Shocked, his mother had rushed him to the hospital, and they had confirmed it.
The question mark was the first thing Teshima's soulmate would 'say' to him.
Now that was confusing within itself.
Teshima had grown up through middle school curing the mark, watching everyone around him gaining their own words but only having a black, bold question mark several inches in length inked on his own skin. It was such a struggle for him he often cursed fate and swore that destiny had everything wrong if all the two of them could do for him was make a freaking question mark appear on his wrist.
Teshima found himself mulling this over as he looked down at the question mark symbol, clear on his pale skin. He was a first year in highschool, and was heading up the hill for class when a panting breath came from behind.
He turned just in time to see a boy with amber brown hair and eyes to match pedaling up the hill on a road racer, a determined look on his face to reach the top.
Thats a really nice bike...
He thought to himself as the boy passed him by.
When the boy vanished around the corner, Teshima felt an odd throb in his heart, as if he didn't want to see him go. The black haired high schooler dismissed it, early morning, first day of school jitters, that was all.
He'd sworn to quit road racing after middle school, but for some reason, he found himself filling out a slip for the Sohoku cycling club.
Teshima was still rather befuddled about why even as he suited up in his biking jersey to attend his first practice.
Certainly it had nothing to do with the fact that he'd seen that brown haired cycling boy from earlier carrying a slip identical to his to turn in.
He was introduced to the second years, whom he'd be working with for the longest time, and instantly took a liking to Tadokoro.
It was so rushed the first few practices, not the mention he was paired with a different senior to ride with, that Teshima never even got around to introducing himself to the amber eyed boy.
After several weeks of non stop pedaling with Tadokoro, he decided that he needed a second opinion, especially from how he got this weird throb in his heart every time he tried to introduce himself to the shy brown haired boy and was practically avoided every time.
"Tadokoro-san, can I ask you something kind of strange?" Teshima began, pulling up next to Tadokoro on his bike, it was a leisurely flat that they were currently on, so it was the perfect time to pose the question.
"Sure!" Tadokoro responded, loud as usual.
Teshima hesitated before sighing.
"I get this really weird feeling in my chest every time I see that brown haired boy who's in the club. He practically avoids me, too!"
"Who, Aoyagi?" Tadokoro asked.
Teshima very well nearly fell off his bicycle, his heart felt ready to fly out of his chest at the name for no reason at all.
Why was this boy causing him so much confusion?
Tadokoro cackled.
"Theres a reason he doesn't want to be introduced to you. He's seen you around and you're pretty chatty. Issue is, Aoyagi doesn't talk. Like, at all. So he probably wouldn't want to get chummy with you."
Teshima felt slightly hurt by this reasoning but nodded.
"One more thing..."
Teshima spoke up before Tadokoro could suck down a massive lungful of oxygen and go powering away.
"Yeah?"
"I don't have any words...I just have this giant, weird, stupid question mark on my wrist. Do you have any clue what thats about?"
Tadokoro looked surprised, then snickered.
"Huh, well, it could always just mean that your soulmate isn't a talkative guy."
Teshima looked up at him, raising an eyebrow.
"Why are you so sure it's a guy?"
Tadokoro cackled again.
"You're so smart in classes, but in reality, you're pretty dense!"
He grinned at Teshima before taking a massive breath.
"I'll tell you everything if you can catch me by the end of the lap! ORA ORA ORA!"
It was safe to say, Teshima never caught Tadokoro.
Teshima decided he may as well confront Aoyagi directly. He'd never spoken to the boy and he found it rather dumb that Aoyagi was avoiding him simply because he was cheerful and liked to hold conversations.
So, after classes one afternoon, practice had been cancelled, Teshima walked over to the bike rack that he knew Aoyagi locked his bike at.
Sure enough, the brown haired by was kneeling in front of his bike wheel, removing the lock from his bikes frame.
"Hey, thats a really nice bike, I've been wanting to tell you that for a while!"
Teshima exclaimed in a chipper tone, smiling.
He yelped in surprise when Aoyagi jumped up so suddenly it was like he'd just caught on fire.
The brown haired boy promptly tripped over the bike behind him and tumbled backwards, banging his head on the frame of yet another bike.
Teshima shouted out in pain when he felt a jolt in the back of his own head.
Now how on earth did that make sense?
"Are you ok?" Teshima ran forward and seized Aoyagi by the arm. It was like electricity, touching him, but the black haired boy ignored the foreign feeling in favor of pulling Aoyagi to his feet.
"Sheesh, that was quite the jump! I didn't mean to scare you. I'm sorry."
Teshima apologized.
Aoyagi stared into Teshima's eyes with a disbelieving look on his face.
"I'm sorry...I...uh..." Teshima backed off, releasing Aoyagi's arm when he realized that he'd never actually let go.
Teshima then started rambling, he had a tendency to do that when he was flustered.
"I shouldn't have bothered you, and I scared you and made you hit your head! I'm such an idiot I should just leave you alone, I mean, come on I didn't need to talk to you right here I mean throbbing in my heart aside I shouldn't have just shouted out to you about your bike of all things I really should leave now good god I need to shut up I'll just leave..."
Teshima spun on his heel, face turning red with embarrassment and made to run off before he could annoy Aoyagi further.
Aoyagi let out what sounded like a panicked gasp and seized him by the hand.
Teshima was spun back around by Aoyagi's grasp and Aoyagi looked up at him meaningfully, shaking his head and holding up both hands. Signaling he wanted Teshima to stay.
Aoyagi then darted over to his backpack, rummaged around, and produced a flip phone.
He tapped something into it, then held it up.
There was a question mark displayed on the screen.
Teshima felt a powerful flood of emotions just then, and it was about to get worse.
Aoyagi pulled back the sleeve of his school uniform and held up his wrist, stepping next Teshima so he could properly read what was written there.
.
.
.
Hey, thats a really nice bike, I've been wanting to tell you that for a while!
.
.
.
"Oh..." Teshima forced out.
Aoyagi tapped something else into the phone and held it up.
Teshima squinted and read aloud.
"I am mute. You're mute?"
He looked at Aoyagi, who nodded conformation, then mimed speaking with no sound coming out.
Teshima's eyes widened.
"Thats...thats why..." Tears welled up his his eyes and he hurried to roll up his own sleeve, offering it for Aoyagi to see.
That bold black question mark was there.
Aoyagi's eyes darted down to the screen, where that same question mark was still visible in the black text.
Teshima started laughing.
"The first thing you ever 'said' to me! It makes sense now! I get it! I've been so confused for the longest time, but now I get it! For a while I thought I didn't even have a soulmate!"
Teshima looked down, suddenly worried when he saw that Aoyagi was staring down at his shoes appearing guilty.
"Hey, it's not your fault!" He insisted.
Aoyagi looked up at him in surprise.
Teshima smiled widely.
"Don't feel guilty, you could never have controlled it, I don't want you to feel bad. I'm just so happy to finally meet you! I'm Teshima Junta."
Aoyagi nodded, then tapped at his phone again and held it up.
"Aoyagi Hajime. This is great!" Teshima exclaimed, a grin spreading across his face.
He and Aoyagi rode their bikes to a nearby cafe, where they spent the next three hours chatting until the sun was starting to set.
By chatting, it was more like Teshima doing most of the talking while Aoyagi nodded, wrote a few things on a whiteboard he'd pulled from his bag with a dark blue pen, and made soft gasping noises, which seemed to be the most he was capable of. After the first hour of this, Aoyagi produced his notebook from his bag, it seemed to be a fresh one, for he turned to the very first page and started scribbling something.
By the time another hour or so had ticked by, Teshima was getting interested in what his soulmate was taking so much time to write down.
"Whatcha doing?" Teshima asked curiously, straightening up in his seat in an attempt to see Aoyagi's paper.
Aoyagi shook his head and put a finger to his lips.
"It's a secret? Really?" Teshima pouted.
Aoyagi smiled softly and shrugged.
Teshima sighed dramatically.
"Fine fine! So where do you live? I live just off this road a few blocks down."
"Ah!" Aoyagi let out one of his astonished gasps, Teshima had no idea how, but he could already tell what Aoyagi was thinking before his newly found soulmate even had to reach for his whiteboard and pen.
"You leave on the same street? Really?"
Aoyagi nodded happily, he had a small contented look on his face.
Teshima smiled brightly.
"That's so cool! We can bike to school together!" He cried.
Aoyagi furrowed his brow just then.
"How far down the road to do I live?" Teshima guessed.
Aoyagi's face brightened a bit at how easily Teshima was able to read him.
"Well, my house number is 546."
Aoyagi reached for his whiteboard, setting his notebook down so Teshima couldn't see the page he was writing on.
He popped off the cap of his pen and scribbled three characters down.
Teshima read them off.
"531? Wow! We live so close together, it's amazing we've never run into each other before!"
Aoyagi added something beneath the number.
Teshima read it again and then hummed.
"Oh, you only moved here last year, that must be it. What middle school did you go to?"
Thus, the conversation continued, Aoyagi eventually abandoning his whiteboard because Teshima managed to guess what he was about to 'say' before he could even uncap his pen.
Teshima jumped when he phone went off.
He pulled it out and read the text.
"Ah, crap!" He cried.
Aoyagi looked up at him, alarmed.
"I didn't tell my mom I was staying out late! She's worried!"
Aoyagi looked concerned.
Teshima put a hand up.
"No, no, don't feel bad! You're my soulmate and I just met you for the first time! She'll understand!"
Aoyagi seemed to refocus on the page he was drawing on before glancing between it and Teshima a few times.
He let out a satisfied huff and closed the book.
Teshima pouted.
"I wanna see what you were doing." He whined childishly.
Aoyagi put his finger to his lips again as he packed up his bag and stood, tucking his whiteboard under his arm and slipping his pen, which had an eraser on the end, into his pocket.
They biked home, and Teshima stopped briefly in front of Aoyagi's house.
"Can I see you again tomorrow? It's Saturday, so we could spend the day together if you want? We could go cycling in the park! Not anything crazy of course...just for fun?" Teshima was losing confidence.
Aoyagi smiled and nodded at the idea.
Teshima grinned brightly again, happy that he hadn't been rejected.
"Great! I'll meet you on the corner at eleven!"
Aoyagi nodded to confirm this and then wheeled his bike around to the back of his house, where he hung it up in the storage shed, before making his way inside.
"Welcome back, you were certainly out late!" He heard his mother call from the kitchen.
Aoyagi entered the kitchen, dropped his backpack onto the floor, and sat down at the breakfast nook before dropping his head onto the table with a sigh.
His mother walked over and rubbed his back with her hand soothingly.
"Hard day?" She asked.
Aoyagi shook his head into the table, normally, when he returned home and instantly collapsed, it meant he'd had yet another day of struggling without a voice through classes.
This time was very different.
He looked up at his mother and she took in the odd, bright little half smile on his face.
Her own face brightened at the sight.
"I heard a voice outside, did you make friends with someone? At first I was worried they were harassing you, but you seem to be in a better mood then usual."
Aoyagi took up his whiteboard and pen and drew the shape of a heart before sighing again.
His mother looked down at him in surprise.
"Don't tell me..." She murmured.
Aoyagi then scribbled four words down in dark blue under the heart.
'I met my soulmate.'
His mother let out a joyous cry and threw her arms around his shoulders.
"Didn't I tell you you had nothing to worry about! Oh, this is wonderful, and you were out late bonding with her! Where is she from? She goes to the same school as you, doesn't she?"
Aoyagi pulled away with a frown before clearing his whiteboard and writing something else.
'HIS name is Teshima Junta. HE lives on this street in house 546. HE'S in the cycling club with me. We are in the same year. I am meeting HIM again tomorrow. HE'S really nice.'
Aoyagi's mother let out a soft mumbling, she was reading under her breath, then looked down at Aoyagi seriously before bursting into laughter.
"You think it bothers me that your soulmate is a boy? Ridiculous! I'm just so happy you've met! And so early in life, too!"
Aoyagi gave a soft sigh of relief before his mother whisked off into the kitchen, shouting all sorts of questions at him. Aoyagi started compiling a list on his whiteboard in an attempt to actually answer most of them by the time his mother decided to swoop in again.
The entire time, Teshima's face didn't leave his mind.
Another happy sigh escaped him as he pulled back out his notebook, and he allowed his mothers chatter to settle in the back of his mind like white noise.
Teshima entered his house after leaving Aoyagi and kicked off his shoes carelessly.
His mother came barreling around the corner, looking furious.
"Where have you been!?"
Teshima gave an air headed sigh before flopping onto the couch on his back.
"What the hell do you think you're doing I am talking to you! I was so worried! You're lucky your father isn't home yet or he'd be so angry!"
Teshima's eyes were quite literally heart shaped.
"I think this whole fate and destiny thing has something right after all."
His mother's anger vanished instantly.
"What?" She asked weakly.
"I met him, my soulmate."
Teshima murmured.
"His name is Aoyagi Hajime. The reason I don't have any words is because he's mute and can not speak. The first thing he did when we spoke was type a question mark into his phone and hold it up at me. It was the first thing he ever 'said'."
His mother was speechless.
Then her roaring voice picked up as she dragged her son upright and into a hug.
"I told you you had nothing to worry about! You should listen to me more, you didn't need to be so concerned about it, you little fool! You should know that if you weren't ever going to have a soul mate I would have told you, now you are going to go do your homework so you can tell me about this Aoyagi character! Scoot!"
And now she was pushing her curly haired son towards the stairs, Teshima was still so out of it with pure glee that he allowed his backpack to be thrown into his chest and himself to be hustled upstairs to do his homework without any sort of complaint.
The next day Teshima woke up and looked to the clock, it was ten thirty, he normally work up earlier, but he'd forgotten to set his alarm the day before.
Why was that again? He'd been really distracted yesterday for some reason.
Of course, it didn't take him long to remember.
"I'm meeting Aoyagi at eleven!" He yelped, sitting bolt right up with a mass of curly black hair sticking up in all places.
He dragged on cargo shorts and his favorite red star tee shirt, and threw himself into the bathroom.
By the time he clattered down the stairs, it was five till eleven, and he was still struggling to convince his hair to lay somewhat flat and get into a ponytail.
"You're going to meet your soulmate?" His mother guessed when she saw her son trying to put his sneakers on, only to realize that he was trying to put the left shoe on the right foot.
"Yeah, but I overslept!" Teshima cried as he finally got his shoes on, shoved his phone and wallet into his pocket, and ran out the door and into the garage to retrieve his bike.
"See you later!" He shouted over his shoulder, recalling that his mother was still standing in the door.
"Have a good time!" His mother managed to say through her fits of laughter.
"Stop laughing!" Teshima cried before he pedaled off towards the corner.
Once the corner came into view he saw Aoyagi seated on his bike, drawing in that notebook of his again.
When Aoyagi heard the spinning spokes of Teshima's bike he slapped the notebook shut and returned it, along with his pencil, to his backpack, which he then swung over his shoulder.
"Sorry to keep you waiting! I overslept!" Teshima explained sheepishly.
Aoyagi shook his head and held up his phone again, this time displaying the time.
"Ten fifty nine, huh? I'm a whole minute early." Teshima laughed before he pushed off the ground and started pedaling.
Aoyagi nodded and smiled softly again.
Teshima decided, then and there, that fate and destiny had been wonderful to him after all.
Thats it! Please review and let me know if you want me to do a epilogue or any other YowaPeda soulmate pairings!