Summery: Reader meets her soulmate and invites him to dinner.
tw: None
a/n: Soulmate au!
wc: 1k
Master List
The concept of soulmates was one almost everyone knew. No matter your background, status, or gender. One thing connected humanity, and that was the concept of soulmates. Everyone had one. On everyone's wrist was a timer. A countdown. Once you meet your soulmate it reaches 0. Some people don't get to meet their soulmates till they were old, some get to meet their soulmates when they're young. Some people never get to meet their soulmates.
I stared wistfully at my wrist watching the seconds tick by. It was getting awfully close to the time where I meet my soulmate. The person I am destined to be with forever. The person to love me and stay with me when times were rough. My father hoped that the person I'm supposed to be with will be wealthy and bring fortune to our family. My mother hoped that I will be happy and truly love whoever I end up with. I couldn't care less about wealth. I just hope that whoever I end up with will love me.
I left the house like every other day heading off to my job. My family wasn't the most wealthy, but we weren't completely poor either. I walked by a couple newsies and entered the sewing factory. I hated my job. It was hot, cramped, we got no breaks, and if you got hurt you were expected to continue working. The bell rung and all us girls got to work right away. It was 6 a.m. and I got off at 5 p.m. I was lucky to get off earlier than the others.
We all slaved away for hours. Sweat, blood, and tears were shed as a few girls got hurt. Less than normal though which was good. I felt bad as the man who watched over us refused to let a girl, who seemed only to be the age of 8, get her hand bandaged. I felt myself become distractingly hungry yet continued to work. The sounds of sewing machines were the only thing I heard as they didn't like us talking to each other. After what seemed to be ages the dismissal bell rung, allowing us to leave the building. We exited out, one by one through the tiny doors. I wiped my brow trying to rid the sweat, when I noticed the numbers on my arm revealed that I would be meeting my soulmate soon.
Too soon.
I didn't look presentable and I was an exhausted and hungry mess. My hair must look frizzy and my clothes were dirty. I felt like I could collapse and according to the time on my wrist I meet my soulmate in 20 minutes. The moment I've been looking forward to is now a moment I dread. I'm going to make a terrible first impression. I bit my lip feeling completely and utterly frustrated. Tears started to rush to my eyes but I willed them back. I weaved between people on the streets trying to make it home as fast as possible.
The thought of dinner and my parents filled my head slightly comforting. I can eat and go to bed. The warm soup my mother said she was going to make made my mouth water. I could practically smell and taste it already! Then I could lay down on my firm and slightly uncomfortable mattress and let sleep take me away to a far away land. The thought made my eyes droopy and the sleep I've been fighting almost controlling me. I bumped into someone snapping me out of my haze. I looked up at them feeling more alert.
"I'm so sorry!" I exclaimed, the words spilling out of my mouth. I couldn't help but notice the stranger I bumped into was extremely attractive. From the brown curls that rested upon his head to his hazel eyes, to his plump lips, to his tan skin that was slightly covered in dirt. He seemed to also stare at me for a bit before apologizing back.
I glanced at my wrist, a habit I made when I met someone new, and noticed that it had stopped ticking. My countdown has completed. The newsboy who stood in front of me was in fact my soulmate. The nerves I felt earlier today where gone, due to exhaustion or his presence I couldn't tell.
"Well it seems that you're my soulmate newsboy," I said with a tired smile. His eyes widened and he looked down at his wrist, his mouth slightly parting as he saw that it showed 0. He looked back at me with astonishment which flustered me. "How about you come with me, we can have dinner with my family." He seemed incredibly nervous and I could understand why.
"My name is (y/n) by the way," I said ready to hit myself for forgetting something so simple.
"M-my name is Mush," He responded with a small smile, his voice just as beautiful as him.
I nodded as I started to walk, motioning him to follow me (which he did), "You don't have to meet my family so soon. Yet I would like to meet up with you sometime."
"I would like that too!" He said eagerly causing me to giggle slightly. "A-and I wouldn't mind meeting your folks. I just wasn't prepared for dis."
Understanding him completely we stood in front of the apartment building I lived in, "So would you like dinner then?"
He nodded opening the door for me to enter. My parents were excited that I finally met my soulmate, trying to make him feel as welcomed as possible (even if he was just a newsboy at the moment). My father was slightly disappointed but didn't make a fuss. My mother wouldn't stop gushing over us as we blushed at the remarks they made all night. How they would help plan our wedding and how they wanted grandchildren. Mush seemed happy though and that's all I cared about.
GET READY FOLKS, BECAUSE DATING MUSH IN A MODERN! HIGH SCHOOL! AU WOULD HAVE TO INCLUDE…
so if you are dating mush, let me just say,,, good luck and wow, are you lucky
mush is hella cute, but my god can he be annoying
he will always try to talk to you in class, even if it’s during a test
and he has no concept of a quiet voice
and what he talks about,,, can be so weird??
you will be in english class but he’s talking about the physics of throwing a paperweight at race from across the room and knocking him unconscious
that may or may not have been the result of you threatening race...
but he can also be very out of it and not process a word of a story you have been telling him for the past day and a half
but let’s just get one thing straight, mush is a vvv affectionate person
he is pulling out all the stops
hugs where he nuzzles his face into your neck and kisses your shoulder
hand holding where he whispers sweet nothings into your ear and rubs the back of your hand
kisses where he traces patterns into your skin
kisses
just,,, kisses
he’s big on them, if you haven’t noticed
so another thing that i have to talk about is pet names
because you obviously have the average “handsome” for him in everyday circumstances
but if you ever call this boy smart,,, he melts
no one ever focuses on that when it comes to him, and if his significant other thinks of him as something other than a pretty face... well, then... he’s made it
and mush has his names for you, too
he’s really partial to “sweetheart”
but when he’s being sarcastic he will definitely call you “prince/princess”
okay, another huge idea i have with my man mush is prom or any kind of school dance
he loves them
so much
he is definitely more into the activity before the actual dance, but he likes going to the actual dance too
he lip syncs every song
but he can’t dance for the life of him, and he knows this. so whenever he dances it is almost always over the top and you laugh the hardest
but he will slow dance just for you, although it’s more swaying than anything and he’s mostly just looking at you in awe
he’s kind of a hopeless romantic
also, your pictures for the dances are always iconic
but back to regular school
you are the couple that everyone is in awe of
even the teachers ship it
you are usually rolling your eyes at his story and he is usually raising his eyebrows at your comments
you guys definitely have inside jokes about the teachers at the school and everyone thinks you guys are being all flirty with each other at the back of class when really you guys are making fun of the teacher
you guys are each others study partner
but i sure do hope you guys are studying in a public place if you want to get anything done
because mush is the king of getting sidetracked
you guys go to all of the school activities, btw
his instagram is basically full of pictures of you guys at school events
his captions are usually just heart emoji’s
also, you guys never text each other but instead communicate through snapchat
also, i imagine mush wearing a lot of beanies in the winter. you definitely steal them
and he let’s you because you look cute in his clothes
"How do you manage to look so damn good at two in the morning?"
The girl smiles, pouring some of the liquor into her cup and trying to ignore the racing of her heart.
"You're drunk," she says, turning and facing him.
"You're beautiful," Mush replies, shrugging as he takes a drink.
The comment would've made anyone else turn away from embarrassment, but this has always been her relationship with the boy. She tries not to take it personally, knowing that this is how he acts whenever he's had more than his fair share of liquor, but she can't help the way her heart skips a beat when he talks to her like this.
"You sweet talking me, Mush?"
"Always."
She smiles again, shaking her head as she takes a drink. The bass pumps through the speakers as she hoists herself up onto the counter, swinging her legs as Mush comes to stand in front of her.
"Don't let anyone else hear," she teases, "might make the other girls jealous."
"What other girls?" Mush replies lowly, setting his cup next to her.
"You flatter me," she can't hide the blush that spreads across her cheeks, staring down at the liquid in her cup, "and you're ruining guys for me, Mushy, no one else talks to me the way you do."
"Suppose it's because I don't want them to?"
Mush barely speaks the words, placing his hand on the counter as he leans forward.
"Suppose I'm curious as to why?"
She speaks in the same low tone he does, heart practically beating out of her chest. Mush avoids the question.
"Wanna play a game?"
"Depends."
"Let's play chicken."
The boy places a gentle hand on her knee, and she sets her hand on his shoulder.
"First to break loses," she whispers, although neither of them are really listening.
It keeps going like this, slow touches accompanied by the fast beat of the music in the background. Mush's hands end up on her hips, and hers resting on the back of his neck. He gives her half a smile, eyes darting down to her lips.
It's never gone this far, never reached a point past flirty remarks and red cheeks, and he wouldn't-
Apparently he would.
She feels a pair of warm lips on her own. This is dangerous, this is new territory, a point they'd never reached in the past.
The alcohol takes over, and she kisses him back, fingers tangling themselves in his hair. Mush pulls back, and immediately plants his lips on her neck.
"Oh god, Mush," she breathes, eyes shut as she tilts her head back.
"Jesus, you sound amazing," Mush mumbles against her skin, "can't believe it's taken me this long to figure that out."
He puts his lips on hers again before she can respond.
"Oh, shit, sorry."
The voice makes them finally break apart, wide eyed and heavy breathed as they turn to face Tommy, who stands with a smirk on his face.
"Didn't mean to interrupt, just wanted a refill," he teases, "don't mind me, it's about time you two figured it out anyway."
Mush shrugs, and goes back to kissing her despite the other boy standing two feet away. She tries to protest, but the feeling of Mush's lips on hers is too good to stop. Besides, if people didn't want to see public displays of affection, they wouldn't be at a high school party.
"The way you talk to me," she breathes, half a smile on her face, "no one else does that."
"Good," he says, "I don't want anyone else to talk to you like that. I want you all to myself."
"You're drunk, Mushy," she whispers, removing her hands from his shoulders and dropping them in her lap, "I wouldn't be saying any of this to you if I thought you would remember it."
"I'm not drunk," Mush replies, "in fact, that's my first cup of alcohol tonight," he gestures to the half full cup on the counter next to them, "knew if you thought I was wasted you wouldn't hide how you feel, and I wanted to make sure you felt the same."
The girl gapes at him, eyes wider than usual.
"You..." she stops, trying to collect her thoughts, "Mush, I..."
Mush takes a step back, shoving his hands in his pockets.
"S'okay if you don't," he says, "I don't expect anything, I promise. We can just pretend this didn't happen, call it," he stops, smiles wistfully, "call it a party favor."
He leaves the kitchen, the girl frozen on the counter.
"Shit," she breathes, hoping off of the counter and making her way into the living room.
She pushes her way through some of her friends, searching the crowd. She finds Blink, and makes her way over to him.
"You seen Mush?"
"Whatcha need him for?"
The girl rolls her eyes, and barely holds herself back from punching him in the shoulder.
"I need to talk to him, where is he?"
Blink shrugs, and points over to a group of boys.
"With Race 'n Al," he says, "probably chugging something gross."
She pushes her way through the boys, and much to her relief sees Mush standing next to Tommy.
"Mush!" She shouts over the music, the boys eyes going wide at the sight of her.
"Look, Y/N, I'm sorry I-"
She cuts him off by pressing her lips to his, hands cupping his cheeks as his secure a spot on her hips. They ignore the cheering of the people around them, kissing the boy and tangling her fingers in his hair again.
"Do you really think I would have let it get that far if I didn't feel the same way?" She questions, shaking her head.
"You saying you have a crush on me?" Mush smirks, teasing as he runs his thumb over a mark he left on her neck earlier that evening. "How flattering."
"Hard not to," she replies, "like I said, you ruined guys for me."
He kisses her again, leaning her back against the wall.
"God darling," Mush finally pulls back, kiss swollen lips turning into a smirk, "I don't ever wanna stop kissing you."
Hi! Can you do a Mush one where he's trying to ask the reader out but reader being so scared and shy says no. Even when it tries to be more obvious of the fact he likes them, they keep on saying no. Mush gets kind of mad because he's frustrated so reader just blurt out "i'm scared of you" or something like that and well just fluff and stuff at the end :) Thank you so mush (pun) if you do it!
I friggin love puns
You weren’t sure why the majority of the people in the cafeteria before school weren’t there to eat breakfast, but that’s certainly how it looked when you surveyed the tables for your friends. Somebody else had gotten to your usual table first, but you were sure your people were there somewhere.
If they weren’t, there would be words.
Across the lunchroom, your eyes caught on a face. You registered the way that face lit up at the sight of you before you registered whose face is was. Your stomach swooped with recognition before you consciously had his name.
Mush.
You grinned when he stood up and waved you over.
“Albert missed his bus, so we lost the table,” he explained when you got to the table that gave you a painfully direct view of the sun rising.
“Friggin’ Albert,” you sighed.
A few of the guys reached over to swat at Albert, who didn’t bother fighting back. “I overslept,” he sighed. “Don’t act like you haven’t done the same thing.”
“We aren’t in charge of saving the table,” you scolded.
He flipped you off. You grinned, but Mush crumpled up a napkin to throw.
“My hero,” you crooned.
Breaking off a piece of his Poptart for you, he gave an insincere grin. “Anything for you.”
“Any big plans for the night?” Usually you would all go to see his football games together on Friday nights, but the end of the season brought a wave of freetime that none of you knew what to do with.
“Nah,” he said. “You?”
You shrugged. Homework, maybe. You didn’t want to say so and sound like That Party Pooper, but it was nice to get homework out of the way early so you could have quiet Sundays. “Party of one, I guess. I’ve got a date with Stranger Things.”
Mush gave a heavy swallow, and your eyes narrowed. He was making The Face. Crutchie pointed out The Face when Mush saw you in his spare football jersey on Friday nights. Jack mentioned it in regards to how Mush looked when you made jokes during presentations. People would laugh, you would smile, and ‘Mush falls apart.’
You should not like The Face. It was a blatant painting of feelings, and you had been trying to find ways to kindly kill his feelings since the school year started. Senior year brought college talks. College applications. The slow, certain separation from your friends in anticipation of leaving each other behind. Dating somebody who made you want to stay would only make things harder.
“Speaking of,” he began, “maybe I could crash? I’d bring pizza and popcorn.”
You could say yes. You wanted to go out with him - you would have said yes any other year. This year was a death sentence for relationships, so while you could say yes, you shouldn’t.
“That’s a great idea,” you said brightly. “Hey! Guys!” You bellowed down the table, and everybody turned to look at you. “Stranger Things marathon at mine. Mush is bringing pizza, so you’d better bring money to pay him back.”
Some of the guys said yes, some of the guys said no, and disappointment etched itself into Mush’s face.
“Truth or dare, Y/N?”
“Truth,” you said. Race’s nose was still running from eating a handful of crushed red pepper, so you felt like playing it safe.
“Who do you have a crush on?” Henry singsonged the words, managing to sound like a middle schooler in the process.
Your eyes darted over to Mush on their own accord. He sat up from his slouch on the couch, and his eyes were focused on the way your hands were folded on your lap. You dug your nails into your palms, hoping that your face was blank of emotion.
You had been quiet for too long.
You forced a laugh. “Geez, way to get creative, Hank.”
He wrinkled his nose at the nickname, no doubt hating his father for calling him that when you all arrived at his house. “Classics are well-known for a reason.”
“Ugh. Juvenile,” you sighed.
You couldn’t say Mush.
Lying was more juvenile than the question was.
“Ben Wyatt,” you said smoothly. “I’d arm wrestle Leslie Knope for him.”
There were some sighs of disappointment from around the room.
“You’d lose,” Jack said. “Leslie is a powerhouse.”
“For Ben Wyatt,” you said honestly, “I think I’d stand a chance.”
You pretended not to notice how long it took Mush to get a water refill. You pretended not to be guilty, and you pretended that you didn’t regret not saying his name.
You had been pretending too much lately, and it was taking too much of a toll. With your luck, you’d ruin things with Mush even though you hadn’t dated him at all.
Mush grinned at the end of the commercial for some new action movie. “That looks awesome.”
“Yeah, it looks alright.”
“We should see that,” he said eagerly. “You and I can go opening weekend.”
You bit your lip. Nope. Bad idea. Not an outright date request, but close enough that he may get his hopes up. “I’m sure the guys would love that! Finch is all about movies with people punching each other.”
“Actually, I was thinking -”
“I’ll put it in the group chat,” you powered on. You grabbed your phone and typed it out quickly, ignoring the frustrated look on Mush’s face.
“You look really nice today,” Mush told you.
“Thanks.” You brushed the words off, knowing that you would get flustered if you focused too much on them.
“No, really,” he insisted. He seldom let you get away with sidestepping compliments, and it was simultaneously the best and worst thing he could do. “That sweater makes your eyes pop.”
“That’s a terrifying image, thanks.”
He gave a surprised snort of laughter. “Gross. Kind of an interesting mental image, though. Don’t deny it.”
You grinned. “What’s the sweater doing? Squeezing too tight?”
“That sweater squeezes you just right,” he blurted, and averted his eyes in obvious horror. You thought you heard him whisper a small ‘Jesus Christ,’ but you couldn’t be sure.
“Thanks,” you said again, and this time it wasn’t insincere at all.
He inched his chair a little closer to yours, and you moved farther away under the guise of pulling a notebook out of your backpack. He was not fooled, if the slump of his shoulders was indicative of anything at all.
“Y/N,” Mush said quietly, “I’m getting tired of this.”
“Of what?” You frowned down at the physics lab the two of you had finished. When you finished early, the two of you would use crayons to decorate the back. You had done it all semester, but if he didn’t want to - “You don’t have to help, if you don’t want to.”
“What? No.” He gripped his red crayon tighter. “I’m talking about this thing with us.”
“Okay,” you said. “Is there something specific?”
He gestured between the two of you. “This - this almost. If you don’t want to date me, that’s fine. I really thought that you’d know I would get over it. But don’t pretend you don’t know what I’m getting at, and don’t let me think that maybe you’ll say yes the next time.”
Your throat went dry, and it became impossible to swallow. He was right - you had known what he was doing. You had known that he knew that. Still, it was painful to have him call you out on it.
“I’m sorry,” you said. You reached over, squeezed his hand once, and let go. “I was being a jerk.”
“Do you want to go out with me?” There was no hope in his voice this time, and his eyes were tired.
You said nothing. You didn’t want to lie, and to tell him the truth would be unfair.
“Y/N, please answer. I’ll take whatever you say, but you have to say something.”
Silence.
His brow furrowed, and it was possibly the first time he had looked truly angry at you. “Y/N, I swear to God -”
“No,” you snapped back. You weren’t angry, but you were cornered. “No, I will not date you. I am scared to date you, so I won’t. Don’t ask anymore.”
Mush pursed his lips, started to speak, and pursed them again. “Okay,” he finally said. “Okay, I know that I said I’d accept your answer, but I think I’ll need a little more than that.”
“Nope. That’s all there is.”
“No. Nononononono. You don’t get to call me scary to date, and leave it there,” he said.
“I didn’t call you scary,” you argued. “I called myself scared.”
“What’s the difference?” The weariness was gone now, and though there wasn’t hope, there was something. Not his signature Face, maybe, but something that made you think that he wouldn’t lay down and accept your answer after all.
You couldn’t find it in yourself to be unhappy about it.
“We only have one college in common,” you said.
“What?”
“The colleges we applied for - we only shared one. I don’t want to do long distance. I don’t want either of us to sacrifice things to make it work with each other.”
His lips quirked into half a smile. “You have to do that no matter how close you are.”
“But it would be harder,” you argued. “It would be hard, and you’re worth the work, but I don’t want things to get ugly and fail.”
“Any relationship can fail!” He was half laughing now. Half amused, half confused. “If you don’t do something because it might not work out, you’ll never do anything.”
“But this -”
“Do you like me?”
“Yes,” you said in a small voice.
“Good. I like you too,” he said. A hint of The Face came back, and his eyes were bright. “Do you think that there’s a chance - no matter how small - that we could make things work? That you’d want to make things work?”
“Yes,” you said, and smiled a little. Of course he was going to talk you into dating. Or course you were going to fall for it. You weren’t sure why you had thought there was any other way, but it was clear that there wasn’t.
“Has being scared of something ever changed the situation?”
“No,” you sighed.
“So let’s do this,” he urged. He didn’t grab your hand, no, that would be too forceful. He would never corner you in a way that truly made it impossible to escape. He did, however, put his hand near yours on the table. Near enough for you to touch him, if you spread your fingers a little. “Let’s try this out. I know that it might not work, but maybe it will. I think that you’re worth the risk, Y/N.”
You sighed, pushing your hair back. It was an exasperated sigh, a fond sigh. A surrender sigh. “Alright, Mush. You’ve worn me down. Let’s go out. Nobody else there, and no excuses.” You shifted your hand over and squeezed his fingers.
He beamed. “Awesome. If anybody can handle distance, it’s us.”
“And we don’t know that we’ll have to,” you said. It was a reminder for both of you, really. “We haven’t gotten acceptance letters yet. We might be at the same school.”
“That’s the spirit,” he said.
“So, what’s the plan for the date?”
“I’ve given you plenty of options,” he smirked. “Your turn.”
You smacked his hand, standing to turn in the lab. “Blow me away, Mush. Make this worth my while.”
“You’re dating me. That’s worth it, and then some.”
You rolled your eyes at him, but were inclined to agree.
