A “Red String of Fate” Soulmate AU for @andrewjsten for the @tfcfemslashnet exchange!
Dan’s red string shows up her freshman year of high school and she steadfastly ignores it
Dan Wilds does not have time for soulmates thank you very much she has exy practice and needs to make money appear from no where if she’d like to eat tonight
Allison was born with her string
It was a highly publicized thing, like everything else in Allison’s life would be
Allison could never date without speculation, without ruthless teasing, so she simply stops giving a shit about her soulmate
Honestly fuck them if they’ve given her this much trouble before even meeting yet
Renee’s string shows up when she’s nine years old and she rolls it up and tucks it into her pocket
She thinks of the string like her own little secret and plans to keep it to herself for as long as she can
Sometimes the girls at the club comment about Dan’s string, either about how lucky she is to know she’s got someone out there or with sympathy because Dan can’t always hide it during her acts and nothing could be worse than having grabbing hands reaching for her soul connection
Allison keeps her string coiled around her upper arm
She doesn’t care who sees it, but the next person who tries to touch it is gonna get a broken arm and they do
Renee still keeps her string in her pocket and tries not to think about it on most days
Renee hates the color red, these days
When they get to Palmetto Renee has her string hidden, Allison’s is on display like a dare, and Dan is out of shit’s to give
None of them are actively looking for their soulmates, but as soon as all three of them walk into the locker room together for the first time Allison’s string tugs itself gently off her arm and reaches towards the other girls
Renee’s has sprung from her pocket like it’s finally alive and Dan’s is actively fighting from where the other girl had it wrapped around her neck like a necklace.
“Interesting,” Allison says, as their strings connect
All three of them can feel the connection, can feel the electricity running through their bodies, can feel this love
“I don’t have time for this,” Dan growls, glaring at the strings like they’ve personally wronged her
Renee doesn’t say anything at all
Dan tries to turn away and get changed for practice but Renee reaches out to her
“We’ll talk about this later, yeah?”
“Like shit we won’t,” Allison declares and for now they drop it
After practice they go back to their dorm room and all sit down on the floor facing each other
“So, soulmates huh?” Allison says with a wiggle of her eyebrows
“It’s a difficult concept to believe in,” Renee admits, “but I’d like to give this a try if you guys do.”
“I’m stuck with you two for five years, guess we better figure our shit out,” Dan says
Dan is not wholly optimistic about this endeavor
She doesn’t like these girls, she doesn’t need these girls, and these soulmates of hers can go to hell
Where were they when she needed them?
Allison is even less optimist, if possible, but she’s always been a romantic, if a slightly cynical one
Renee is the most at peace with this, however it turns out, because she has herself and she has Stephanie, and she has God, but she’d love to have her soulmates too
Renee and Allison get their shit figured out first
Even if all three of them put up a united from for the team, it’s still cold behind closed doors but Allison and Renee get along better
Somewhere between Allison helping Renee dye her hair and Renee showing Allison how to pick locks they fall into friendship and quickly into something more
They tell Dan and she just shrugs, “You’re soulmates, it’s fine. Just don’t fuck until all hours of the morning we have practice.”
She doesn’t join their relationship and Renee doesn’t pressure her, even if Allison wants to
Dan pretends she’s not jealous, she doesn’t have time for this, she has a class one exy team to captain and she can’t be distracted
When Christmas break hits Renee talks Allison home to Stephanie and Dan stays at Palmetto
She stays in the dorms and she works out at the court and she spends time with Wymack and Abby
Abby’s the one who asks her about her soulmate, because Dan’s string is in her medical file
And Dan, despite everything inside of her telling her not to, tells Abby everything
When Renee and Allison get back from break it’s to find Dan standing nervously in their dorm room
“Soulmates,” she says. “They can be platonic. Or romantic. Or something else. Obviously you guys are something and I don’t want to fuck with that. And I don’t want to fuck with my game. I need this scholarship. But, I guess, if you’re okay with it I wanna give this a shot. Soulmates.”
Allison grins like she’s something predatory and Dan almost regrets saying anything at all before suddenly she’s being wrapped up in a hug by the tall blonde followed by a gentled hug from Renee and suddenly they’re all dogpiled on a very small dorm bed
