(Quick note for those who started reading this when it was first published, we failed to mention it's a soulmate au, as will be demonstrated in this chapter. Also THIS ENTIRE BOOK FROM THIS POINT ON IS FILLED WITH POSSIBLE TRIGGERS SO THIS TRIGGER WARNING DEALS WITH EVERYTHING IN THE REST OF THE BOOK! FROM MENTIONS OF ABUSE ALL THE WAY TO MENTIONS OF SUICIDE ATTEMPTS AND SELF HARM. Read on at your own risk.)

(John´s POV)

It felt like he was hiding a lot of things from me. What it was, I couldn't tell. I want to find out though. I could already tell that he did… Some things to himself. We weren't close enough that I could bring it up, though. Until we got closer, I could only hope that he would begin to take care of himself. Alex was… Very strange for a foreigner. Most people would talk about where they came from, and boast about it. Alex on the other hand, hasn't really talked about it. The only way I could tell he was an immigrant was because he smelled like sea water, and he had a hispanic accent.

I woke up early to go to Laf and Herc’s dorm, when I had noticed something strange. I checked on Alexander, and there were skin colored stains across the sheets. He was twitching softly as he slept, and there were markings across his skin? It looked like he was hiding his markings with makeup or something. So, to further investigate this, I went to the bathroom, and I pulled some paper towels out from under the sink. I got the towels wet and I put a little soap on them. I crept back to his bed, and I cleaned his cheek enough to get the product off, but not enough to wake him. My eyes flew wide at what I saw. Turns out he had very dark skin, just a couple shades up from Laf. Littering his skin were giant patches of white. I looked around at his visible skin and it looked like the white patches covered his entire body, and in several designs. He mumbled softly as he began to wake up.

I quickly took a picture, bolting to Laf and Herc’s dorm. I threw their door open in pants, showing them the picture. Laf was wide eyed, and Herc touched his cheek for some reason. I sat on their couch and I studied the picture. Huh. He was kinda cute! I smiled as I started thinking of my soulmate. We still haven't met, but we are hoping. And from the brief description I had of him, Alex kind of reminded me of him. Thinking of that, I smiled wider and I wondered if my soulmate was awake yet. Time to test it I guess. I pulled a pen out of my pocket and I began to write. ‘Are you up yet?’

My eyelids drifted closed a little bit with a warm smile as I watched words appear. ‘Yeah! I just woke up. And… My foundation is covering the sheets… I should have used setting spray. I didn't, and now I bet my roommate knows I have Vitiligo.’

I sat and thought. Vitiligo? Bedsheets? It kind of matched Alex's scenario. Huh, crazy coincidences, right? ‘Aww! Love! I bet your roommate won't bother you on it.’

‘Yeah? And what if he does? Like everyone else did on my island!’

‘Wait… Did? You got off of the island?’

‘Well, shiza. That was supposed to be a surprise. Yeah. I'm in America now.’ I grinned and bounced. It wouldn't be long now. ‘Hey, I gotta go. I have to cover my marks before my roommate gets back. Te amo!’

‘Te amo!’ I smiled and set the pen down. This was amazing! My soulmate is in America, and safe. Laf walked towards me with a cup of coffee. He bent down a bit as he handed it to me. I took it thankfully with a smile. I re-read over the words written across my arm. What if we see each other and don't know it? We could have easily walked past each other. Who knew? All I knew was that we would meet some time.

Once I was calm, I walked back to the dorm quietly. Alexander may have fallen asleep again- nope. He was sitting on the couch, cross legged, and attempting to fix his ukulele. It was a pale, faded green. The face had several cracks, and the fingering board looked like it had fallen off several times. It looked like someone had actually thrown it and tried to destroy it. I sat on the other end of the couch, watching him work. “What happened to it?...” I asked.

He was off. And so was his filter. “Oh. My dad broke it. He said ukuleles are girly, and that I shouldn't ever play something peaceful like a ukulele. He broke most of my instruments because they were, quote on quote, girly.” He huffed and pressed the fingering board harder.

My eyes flew wide. “But there are plenty of male musicians!”

He nodded knowingly. “I know. But, my dad is a dick…” His eyes filled with a distant rage, more covered by sorrow.

“What did he do?...” I stiffened, thinking of my own father.

“Oh, nothing really. He would just hit me, scream at me because of my defects. Which are NOT my fault.” I nodded softly, slowly getting mad at his father. Being gay is a good excuse. Having defects however, was a horrible excuse.

“If you don't mind me asking… What are your defects?...” He stiffened and stared at the floor. “Oh.. I'm so sorry. You don't have to answer!” I panicked.

“No… No it's alright… I… I have heterochromia, vitiligo, and a thing you would never grasp the concept of.” He sighed, his eyes wavering.

“You don't have to tell me if you don't think I'll understand.” To be honest, the curiosity was burning me on the inside.

“Umm… I’m… both sexes?...” He flushed and stared at the floor while I remained silent. Both sexes? How is that even possible? “I shouldn't have said that. I’ll… I’ll go. I understand if you want to change dorms. No one would want to be around me.” He stood and began to walk away. But then I grabbed his wrist. He looked down at me with large, brown eyes.

“Please… Stay and make me understand. I want to be there for you.” He cocked his head. Why did I say that? It sounded like I loved him… I did love him. Wait… I did?! I couldn’t love him though! I’ve only known him for a day! Maybe I could settle for a crush. Yeah. Crush. Let’s go with that. My god, this is starting to sound like a fanfiction scenario. I looked at him as he stared at me strangely.

“You… want me to stay?” he said, sounding surprised and a little confused.

“Yeah. I like you a lot!” Oh my god I need to shut up! He’s going to think I’m in love with him! I mean, sure, I had a crush, but for all I knew, he was straight. Probably homophobic too, or worse. He could have connections with my father. My paranoia started to build up, but it lessened slightly as he smiled at me. He took my hand lightly and cautiously as one hand went to his hair to twist on a curl.

“Well… No one has ever said anything like that to me before.” My eyes widened in shock. How could nobody have ever complimented such a beautiful person?

“What?! How?! You're so beautiful!” He giggled and blushed lightly, putting the hand that was in his hair over his mouth. Woah… That giggle just gave me life. I smiled and stood up next to him, obviously deeply in love. CRUSH. I MEANT… HE… WAS MY CRUSH… NOTHING ELSE!

“Well… if I'm going to be with you this year… I may as well give you the truth.” He sighed and motioned me to the bathroom with him. (No. We did not have sex, for all you dirty minded people.) He started washing off the makeup. Which by God, there was a lot. He turned back to me with a shy smile when he was done. Oh god, he had me completely helpless. I don't know how he didn't see the hearts in my eyes. “There’s… one more thing.” He turned back to the mirror and put a hand to his eye. He removed a dark brown contact, revealing his icy blue eye. So thaaaat was why his left eye was duller than his right…

It looked like he was hiding more things, but oh well. Who was I to judge? I was hiding much more. Though, with the makeup removed, that made more than just Vitiligo visible. I noticed a scar on his neck, recognizing it immediately as an attempted suicide scar. And I… had the exact same scar… But, me being me, I didn’t say anything about it, choosing to simply let it go. Enough had been revealed about him today, and I could tell he didn’t really want to let me in on any more secrets. So I turned my attention to his eyes. “You know, I really like your eyes,” I said with a soft smile. My god, could I sound any less like a love-struck teenage girl? That’d be great.

“Really? You actually like them?” he asked, surprised by my comment.

“Yeah! They’re unique and beautiful. They’re really pretty.” Nope. I cannot stop sounding like I’m totally crushing on him. I mean, sure. I am, but he doesn’t need to know that.

“Most people hate it…”

“What? How could they possibly not like them?”

“They’re two different colors. It’s not normal.” Alex looked down. I grinned wider with a very faint blush. I hugged him tightly. Wait… WHY DID I HUG HIM?! I’ll use the excuse… It looked like he needed it. He tensed violently and stood still with wide eyes.

“Yeah, but that's what make them that much more beautiful.” He coughed lightly. While I was hugging him, the realization of how small and thin he was struck me in the face. My eyes flew wide and I put one hand on each of his shoulders, pushing myself back in shock to examine him. “H-have you been eating properly?” I asked quietly.

“Uh… of course I have! Why wouldn't I?”

“Alexander… I want you to eat something for dinner tonight. Please.”

“Uhh… Uhh… I’ve already eaten! Uhh.. Yep! I ate… This morning when you were gone!” Oh my god. He was a horrible liar.

“You’re lying to me.” He tensed and readied himself to take a hit. Did he think I was going to hurt him? Why would he think that? “Alex, if I can call you that. I'm not going to hurt you. Ever.” He nodded softly and slowly looked up at me. He suddenly hugged me tightly, and I almost cried. He thought I was going to hurt him. If he thought someone like me was going to hurt him… Then what happened to him?

~~

AAAAAND SCENE! That's Chapter 2 for ya! Like we said at the beginning, the rest of this book is filled with triggers. This is not a light, happy story people. So we're just warning you, we're not going to have trigger warnings everywhere. If at any point you start to feel triggered STOP READING!!!!! Take care of yourself!

So we hope you liked the chapter. We plan to have the next one out soon-ish. Until next time!

~MishaIsOurOverlord1

~owenasnk