I got the idea for this fic from a random prompt generator a while back and thought this would be perfect for Sylorenz week lmao This is going to be a three chapter fic, and this first chapter is for Day 2 and the Soulmate AU prompt. The song that goes along with this first chapter is The Other Side by Aerosmith! Thanks for reading!
"Hey Felix, Annette! What's up?"
Sylvain sat down next to his childhood friend and his girlfriend at their table in the dining hall, his tray full of food hitting the surface and causing some of his soup to splash out.
"Ugh, watch it!" Felix scowled as some of the soup fell onto his arm, and Annette giggled as she wiped it away for him.
"Yeah Sylvain, you shouldn't waste food like that."
"...That's not exactly what I'm mad about…"
Felix let out a moody grumble as Annette continued to dote on him, and Sylvain couldn't stop a smile from spreading out over his face. They had been at the Officer's Academy for only a month, and Sylvain was surprised that Felix of all people had been able to find his soulmate already.
It all happened during class one day, when Sylvain had been sitting in between Felix and Annette. Annette had run out of parchment while taking notes, so she scribbled a few things onto her arm to write down later. Felix had suddenly complained to Sylvain about his arm tingling, and when Annette looked over to see if she could help, they all saw that her notes had appeared on Felix's arm in the exact same place.
Sylvain didn't know why soulmates were chosen this way, but from what he observed by watching Felix and Annette interact ever since that day, he couldn't help but think that it was actually fate. Felix had always been prickly and generally difficult (even more so after his brother's death), but when he was around Annette, he revealed a softer side that even Sylvain hadn't seen before.
"Heh." Sylvain let out a dry chuckle as Felix and Annette turned their attention back to him. "You guys really hit the soulmate jackpot, huh?" As the two lovebirds flushed a bright red and tried to sputter out a response, the smile on Sylvain's face turned bitter.
Sylvain hated to admit it, but he was more than a bit jealous of what Felix and Annette had. His own soulmate was still out there somewhere, and it had been a cause of conflict within his family. His father was adamant that his soulmate must be a noble woman capable of helping to pass on the Gautier crest, and if that were not the case, Sylvain had been told right to his face that he would be married off to someone more fitting.
As much as Sylvain wanted to tell his father to fuck off, he was hesitant due to what had happened to his brother. In addition to being born without a crest, it had been discovered that Miklan's soulmate was a commoner, not to mention a man as well. That was more than enough to get him disowned by their father, and Sylvain had not seen his brother since. Even though Sylvain had never gotten along with Miklan, he didn't think he had deserved this fate, and Sylvain did not want to suffer the same one.
Sometimes Sylvain wished that he'd never meet his soulmate, because then he wouldn't have to run the risk of being torn away from them if they weren't up to his father's standards. He didn't think he could handle falling in love with the perfect person only to have that ripped away by his family's political bullshit.
"Aw, Sylvain, don't make that face," Annette said, her face falling as she patted his arm, "I'm sure you'll find your soulmate soon enough." Felix let out a snort and rolled his eyes.
"Yeah, and he'll be lucky if they don't immediately kill him for annoying them all these years." Annette's brow furrowed at Felix's words, and a mischievous grin spread across Sylvain's face.
"What, you mean like this?" Sylvain said as he reached across the table and plucked the pen that Ashe was using to do his homework right out of his hands. Ignoring his protests, Sylvain bit his lip in concentration as he started drawing on his arm. Felix scoffed and looked away, but Annette curiously watched him draw, and her face turned bright red and she quickly averted her gaze.
"Sylvain! That's so inappropriate!" Annette complained when Sylvain finished his very detailed sketch of a certain part of the male anatomy. He just laughed and shrugged as he admired his handiwork.
"C'mon Annette, I'm just making my poor soulmate's life a bit more interesting. They're probably some stuffy noble stuck doing some boring paperwork, just dreaming of the day that they meet their handsome and charming true love whose artistic talents are second to none!" Sylvain laughed again as he waved his arm in front of her, and she rolled her eyes and sighed.
"Ugh, you're hopeless," Annette grumbled, turning her attention back to the bowl of soup in front of her. Sylvain continued to snicker as he stared down at his arm. Throughout his childhood, ever since he learned that whatever he drew on his own skin would appear on his soulmate's as well, he took great pleasure in drawing the most lewd and inappropriate pictures that he could think of. Obviously, he had never been able to see their reaction to his masterpieces, but Sylvain wished that he could see the look on their face right now…
"I cannot believe this!"
Sylvain turned his attention to the door to the dining hall, which was thrown open by an absolutely furious-looking Lorenz. He immediately stalked to the table next to Sylvain's, where most of the other Golden Deer students were sitting, and thrust his arm in Claude and Hilda's direction. Sylvain loved seeing his insufferable rival all worked up, but when his eyes wandered down to Lorenz's arm and he saw exactly why he was upset, all of the color drained from Sylvain's face and his jaw dropped to the floor.
"Ugh, it happened again!" Lorenz exclaimed, waving his arm dramatically in front of his two friends, "That ingrate of a soulmate of mine has drawn something lewd on me!"
"Oh wow, that's pretty detailed." Claude raised an eyebrow as he studied Lorenz's arm, while Hilda tried and failed to stifle her giggles.
"I'm glad they decided to start drawing on you again, 'cause I really didn't believe your dramatic retellings until just now." Hilda laughed even harder when Lorenz pouted at her and turned up his head.
"How rude! I would never joke about a matter such as this! My father was furious the first time that it happened because he thought it was me that drew it. Ugh, as if I of all people would engage in such a vulgar practice," Lorenz ranted, his seething gaze passing over the dining hall until it came to rest on Sylvain, who was still wide-eyed and frozen with shock.
"And just what are you staring at, Sylvain? I'll have you know-" Lorenz started, but his eyes wandered down to Sylvain's arm and he froze mid-sentence. A few agonizing moments of silence ticked by, before Lorenz's face contorted with rage and flushed a deep red.
"You!"
Lorenz's tone was murderous, and he stalked up to Sylvain. The shock of the realization that his insufferable rival was his soulmate had worn off, allowing Sylvain to shoot up from his seat and meet Lorenz halfway.
"This has to be some kind of fucking joke!" Sylvain said as he narrowed his eyes at Lorenz, whose glowering face was mere inches from his own.
"I am inclined to agree with you for once, as much as I loath to admit it."
"Well, there's one way to find out for sure!" Hilda chimed in as she suddenly appeared next to them and plucked Sylvain's pen out of his hand. She reached out and grabbed Lorenz's arm, and before he could protest, she quickly drew a large heart over the pulse point on his wrist.
The silence in the dining hall was deafening, and all eyes were glued onto Sylvain. His eyes were locked onto his own wrist, and his jaw hung open in disbelief when he felt a prickling sensation as an exact copy of the heart that Hilda drew on Lorenz's wrist appeared on his own.
"Well, this is certainly a surprise! Congrats you two, you're soulmates!" Hilda said, her face absolutely beaming at this incredible turn of events. Lorenz yanked his wrist from her grasp before turning back to Sylvain and grabbing him by the collar, his fingers going white as he gripped Sylvain's shirt with shaky hands.
"How dare you defile my skin with such profane images!" Lorenz hissed, shaking Sylvain slightly as the latter reached up to grab Lorenz's wrists and push him away.
"Really? That's what you're upset about?" Sylvain's hands clenched into fists as the two men angrily circled each other. "The fact that I'm stuck with an insufferable snob like you for the rest of my life seems a bit more important!"
"How dare you!" Lorenz straightened his back and scoffed, "That's rich coming from a shallow, flippant bore such as yourself!"
"Why you-"
Before Sylvain could stop himself, he grabbed a plate from the nearest table and chucked it at Lorenz, the saghert and cream smashing right into his rival's face. Laughter erupted from Sylvain as Lorenz seethed, but it was short-lived as Lorenz suddenly slammed right into Sylvain, knocking him onto one of the nearby tables. He tried to push himself up, but was immediately slammed back down when Lorenz shoved his shoulder with one hand, and the other slapped a meat pie right into Sylvain's face.
"G-Guys, you should stop!"
"Yeah, get 'em Lorenz!"
"C'mon Sylvain, don't let him win!"
As the cheers and jeers from their classmates erupted around them, Sylvain kicked Lorenz off of him and tackled him to the floor. He managed to get Lorenz into a headlock, but a swift elbow to his ribs knocked the wind out of him, allowing Lorenz to break free. He grabbed Sylvain's collar and pulled his free fist back, and Sylvain followed suit, but before either could land a punch, a loud, angry voice penetrated through the noise of the crowd.
"Stop this at once!"
Someone had grabbed Sylvain's arm, and he looked up to find a rather pissed off Seteth grabbing Lorenz with his other hand. The eager crowd of students who had been watching the brawl quickly dispersed at the arrival of the strict second-in-command of the Archbishop.
After being scolded for much longer than Sylvain really thought was necessary, he eventually found himself serving the first night of his two week detention cleaning all of the classrooms, right alongside his insufferable rival-turned-soulmate.
"Ugh, I cannot believe this…" Lorenz mumbled as he scrubbed the chalkboard, and Sylvain rolled his eyes as he continued sweeping the floor.
"Well, you better start believing," Sylvain said, sighing as he leaned on his broom, "We both saw it happen right before our eyes."
"I know that, Sylvain." Lorenz threw his cleaning rag down on the nearest desk with a huff. "It's just...gods, how am I going to explain this to my father?" Lorenz's tone shifted from annoyed to slightly panicked, and Sylvain watched as he worried his bottom lip between his teeth.
"Yeah, I know what you mean. My brother was already disowned for his soulmate and crest situation, dunno what they're gonna do about me now…" Sylvain trailed off and massaged his temples with his fingers. He didn't even want to think about the conversation he was going to have to have with his father about this.
"But hey, let's look on the bright side!" Sylvain let out a humorless chuckle as Lorenz cast a dubious glance his way. "Disappointing our families is one thing we've got in common at least."
Lorenz snorted and rolled his eyes, but Sylvain thought he saw a slight grin tugging at his lips. "...You are certainly not wrong."
"I wonder if we're compatible in...other ways too," Sylvain said, smirking as he propped his arm up against the chalkboard. He leaned into Lorenz's personal space, his face mere inches from his own, and Lorenz's narrowed his eyes as he turned up his nose at him.
"I'm probably getting my hopes up though. I've seen your pitiful displays of flirting...if you can really call it that." Lorenz's face turned red as he sneered at Sylvain's taunting, and he straightened his back, glaring down at Sylvain as he leaned closer, their noses almost touching. Sylvain glared right back, incredibly annoyed with the fact that Lorenz was taller than him.
"Oh, you're one to talk," Lorenz hissed, "When is the last time that you managed to properly court anyone?"
"At least I have courted people before!"
"How dare you!"
"Tch, it's a waste of time debating this. I bet you're a terrible kisser too." Sylvain barked out a mocking laugh, but he was surprised when Lorenz went silent for a few long seconds. When he did speak again, Lorenz's voice was low and had a threatening undertone that made a shiver run down Sylvain's spine.
"I'll just have to show you how wrong you are, Sylvain."
Sylvain opened his mouth to offer a snarky retort, but he found that difficult, as Lorenz's lips suddenly captured his in a forceful kiss. Sylvain's surprised noise was muffled, and Lorenz pinned his wrists to the blackboard, effectively preventing him from fleeing.
His eyes went wide when Lorenz shoved his tongue into his mouth, and even though Sylvain could tell that he was pretty inexperienced, Lorenz was actually not that bad of a kisser. Sylvain really, really hated to admit that, but he found himself not caring as much and decided to enjoy himself. When Lorenz's grip on his wrists loosened, Sylvain's hand moved to grab his waist and pull him closer, while his other hand moved to the back of Lorenz's head, his fingers tangling in his soft, amethyst hair.
Lorenz's hands clung to Sylvain's back as they continued their heated kiss, but eventually they both had to pull away to breathe. Sylvain took a few moments to really appreciate the sight of Lorenz's flushed cheeks, bruised lips, and disheveled hair, before he smirked and let out a chuckle.
"Well, well, well, color me surprised, Lorenz! I honestly didn't think you had that in you." Sylvain grinned when Lorenz sputtered, his face somehow turning an even deeper shade of red.
"T-That was...I just-You forced my hand!"
Sylvain greatly enjoyed watching his rival-turned-soulmate flounder before him, and he made a show of slowly licking his lips, finding that the taste of Lorenz still lingered on his tongue. He wanted more.
"Hm, I feel like this detention could use some...spicing up." Sylvain's voice dropped low as he moved towards Lorenz, who backed away from him but was halted when his legs hit a desk. Sylvain continued to move closer, until Lorenz was forced to sit on the desk, and Sylvain moved his face mere inches from Lorenz's as he placed a hand on his thigh.
"How about it, Lorenz?" Sylvain whispered, his lips barely grazing Lorenz's as he spoke, "What do you say we go ahead and disappoint our fathers some more?"
Lorenz was quiet for a moment, his narrowed eyes boring into Sylvain's, but an amused smile slowly spread across his face. He lifted a hand to Sylvain's face and caught his chin between his fingers, tilting Sylvain's head up as he brushed his thumb over his bottom lip.
"Well, my father is most likely going to kill me after finding out about this soulmate situation, so I might as well...indulge myself while I still can." Sylvain's eyes widened with shock at Lorenz's words, but he didn't have time to react before Lorenz pulled him into a heated kiss that quickly escalated into something more passionate. Sylvain was pulled upon the desk with Lorenz, and both quickly forgot about their task of cleaning to partake in a much more...enjoyable activity.
Sylvain still wasn't so keen on the idea of Lorenz being his soulmate, but he couldn't deny the fact that this was the most fun that he had ever had in detention.