Akai Ito - Reggie (soulmate au)
.not my gif
Word Count: 3.5k
- Reggie x reader
Synopsis: you’ve been trapped for decades and gave up on the idea of knowing who’s on the other side of your red string. But what if he comes to you instead (on accident)?
Masterlist
Stand Tall - Reggie imagine
Flying Solo - Reggie imagine
Bright - Luke imagine
(This is my first soulmate au and I wish it would’ve ended up better than it did, but I hope you guys disagree with me and actually enjoy it. I don’t really have much time for writing requests, but if someone comes up with an idea for another Reggie soulmate au, let me know and I’ll try to write something when I have free time again. I’m a sucker for soulmate au imagines, I just never have the criativity for it. Also, let me know if you want to be tagged in any next Reggie imagines!)
—
Do you know that Japanese legend about soulmates? The one about the red string that connects the fingers of two people destined for each other? The one that says the string can stretch and tangle, but never break? Yeah. That is all true. Even though I sometimes wish it wasn't. Well, I'm the romantic type, who dreamed of finding out who was on the other side of my string, but then I turned 18 and died two weeks later. I wish I could say that I crossed over to the other side, but in fact I ended up trapped like a ghost with my father - since he died with me and was the reason of my death - many decades ago. Which means that whoever is on the other end of the string will never know who I am. So no, I don't like the idea of soulmates as much as I used to.
"Honey, why do you look like that?" I heard my father's voice taking me out of my thoughts and I realized that I spent a lot of time just looking at my little finger while I was sitting in front of the dressing room mirror.
"It’s nothing." I replied, turning on the bench to face daddy's blue eyes. "Did Willie arrive yet?"
"Yes." he replied, leaving the cup of tea on the table. "And, apparently, his three new friends too."
I broke into a smile. I always looked forward to meeting new people. This is often a little difficult when you spend most of your time in a ghost club hidden behind the facade of an abandoned hotel.
"Are you ready?" he asked and I took a quick look in the mirror in front of me before nodding and following him.
But when I poofed in the hall, it wasn’t on the stage beside my father, since my cue was only for dessert. I always waited at the top of the stairs to see his performance from a privileged view. As exhausting as it was to see the same musical performance almost every week, I couldn't deny that some of them involved and excited me every time. But when the music started and he went down from the stage to the space in front of the tables I felt that something would be different. I felt a twinge and it took me a while to realize it was on my finger. Yes, the one that I faced not even half an hour before.
I opened my eyes wide when I lifted my finger and felt the finger tighten a little more.
My soul mate was here, in this room.
I swallowed hard, thinking that there were only a few new ghosts here and new customers. Living customers.
"Let's go." I almost jumped when I heard my dad behind me again. "Are you OK, darling?"
I ignored your question. "Where are we going?"
“Why, William brought guests. We need to have a... conversation... with them.
I frowned when I detected an omission in his tone of voice, but said nothing when he took my hand and placed it on the crook of his elbow. As we approached the table right in front of the stage, I felt my finger tighten and my heart racing. Was it possible that one of Willie's friends was my soulmate? As we got closer I started to take their details. One had a big blue coat, with brown hair falling over his forehead. The blond in the denim jacket must have been Alex, the first Willie had met and apparently his soulmate. But the latter caught my attention the most - and also what caused my pulse to accelerate. White skin and pink cheeks, leather jacket and black hair tossed aside. Was it him?
"Told you, the guy's got skills." I managed to make out Willie's voice as we approached.
"So where'd he go?" said the boy in the leather jacket, turning towards the stage before turning towards us. “Oh wow! Found him! There is!"
“Hello, boys. Caleb Covington and this is my daughter, Y/N.” Dad introduced us, opening his free arm invitingly. I smiled when the boys looked at me, but my gaze was fixed on the leather jacket one. “Welcome to the Hollywood Ghost Club. Enjoying the show?”
"Yo, that was..." the one in the stained blue jacket started to say, gesturing to Dad and to the stage. “I mean… Did you… Like…”
"I know." Dad laughed.
"Right?"
I giggled at that. "I'm glad you're all enjoying it."
"This is Alex, Luke and Reggie." Willie took the lead and introduced them.
Reggie ... Why did my heart jump when I heard that name?
"Yeah, it's really nice to meet you." said Alex.
"'Sup?" Reggie said, holding up two fingers in peace and a goofy smile.
I had to bite my lip to keep from mirroring his smile.
"It's good to meet you guys as well." I said before smiling at Alex. “I'm really glad to finally meet Willie's soulmate.”
He broke into an embarrassed smile and blushed, while Willie just gave me a huge smile.
“Nothing warms my heart more than sharing this magic with new friends.” Dad said. “Please, sit. Sit. ”
Two new chairs appeared behind us so that my father and I could join the boys.
"Uh, thank you for the invite." said Alex.
“Of course, of course.” said Dad, crossing his legs and patting my knee before resting his hand on his own. "Now, my friend Willie tells me that you boys have some magic of your own."
Alex cleared his throat before speaking. “Well… Willie and I? I mean, I wouldn't call it magic, but, I mean ... ”
I had to cover my mouth with my hand to keep from laughing. I took a quick look at the other two boys and it was even more difficult to control myself when I noticed their somewhat surprised and embarrassed expressions.
"Oh, no." said Willie, resting a hand on Alex's shoulder. “He means your ghost abilities. You know, like, to be seen by everybody when you play with Julie. ”
Alex made a mortified expression before turning back to us. “Oh, not totally. Right. No. 'Cause when you said it, I was like' Is this what he said? ' 'Cause ... ”
Dad made a motion with his hand to indicate that everything was fine.
I leaned towards Alex, who was sitting next to me, and murmured. "Well, you're not entirely wrong."
"Yeah, but we can't really, uh, wave our arms and do all this magic stuff." said Luke, saving his friend from yet another awkward moment.
“Well, I've had some practice. Our gifts are so rare, so special. It's not often I come across other spirits who possess similar talents.” said dad. "It's no surprise we found each other."
I frowned. It's no surprise we found each other? What was dad thinking? It didn't sound like much of a conversation to help the boys like Willie asked.
"Yeah, that definitely..." said Luke, looking at dad with wide eyes.
I looked around the table, realizing that the boys were really amazed by all of this and my heart sank when I realized that dad had a malicious gleam in his eyes. He wouldn't want to imprison them, would he?
"If you'll forgive me, fellas, I gotta pay the bills, if you know what I'm saying." Dad said, already getting up. "I'll be back later to chat."
I took advantage of that moment to get to know them a little more and maybe find out if Reggie was really my soulmate.
"We have a little while before I have to make my performance." I said, getting up and adjusting my white dress around me. I looked directly into Reggie's eyes, feeling trapped by the light squeeze on my finger, but at the same time with a feeling of freedom blooming. "What do you guys think about introducing you to some lifers so that they can tell you some things that you missed in the last few years?"
~*~
I spent the next few minutes talking to Luke and Reggie as we walked among the lifers and occasionally asked them a few questions. With each moment I spent with them the grip on my finger increased and, when I noticed Reggie distracted while talking about Star Wars, I lightly touched my finger to his and tried not to widen my eyes when I could see the red string joining our fingers. I almost felt my heart stop when I realized that I finally found my soulmate, after so many decades of believing it would never happen. When I realized that Reggie had run away after hearing something about Han Solo, I signalled to Luke that I would go after him. I found him some time later walking away from a lifer.
"It's everything all right?" asking, raising my hand to support it on his arm, but I stopped halfway. I don't know if I wanted him to know that I was his soulmate. Not yet, when I had a bad feeling about what dad wanted with them.
"I'm starting to think it was better that I didn't ask anything about the movie." he snorted, going towards the table with me right behind him. He commented on the movie with Luke and Alex, who were seated and I almost joined them, but I saw my father approaching the table and stayed away, just listening and trying not to be seen.
"I take it you guys are enjoying yourselves?" said dad as he approached.
‘Luke and Alex quickly got up from their chairs. "Yeah, I mean, you'd have to be insane to have a bad time here."
“Well, entertainment is our specialty. So now, I understand there's something I can help you with.”
The boys started to explain something about an old acquaintance screwing them up, but I frowned when dad started talking about them being like them, born to perform music for large crowds. I knew there was something strange when he agreed to Willie bringing them. And then my dad invited them to be part of the house band and I realized that the risk was greater than I imagined. I knew he wouldn't just let them go when they argued that they already had a band. Dad was not the type to just give up on what he wanted. Dad got up and ordered the waiters to leave three huge plates of food on their table. I knew it was my time to perform, but I needed to do something for the boys.
"Listen to me." I interrupted them when they started eating. All three were confused when they looked at me and I tried to convey in my expression all the despair I felt. “You need to get out of here. ASAP. Go and never come back.”
I disappeared from there straight to the stage, taking daddy's cue for me to sing while he played the piano. However, I kept my eye on the three boys at the first table. I sang while I hoped internally that they would hear me and leave the club, but it some took time to happen. Willie got up from the table and danced with the other dancers in the empty space between the stage and the tables. I saw dad coming down from the stage and mentioning for dancers to take the boys out to dance. Alex received two male dancers. I kept my eyes on dad when he returned to the stage and took the cue to sing. I went down to infiltrate the dancing people and get to the boys to get them out of here myself. But I lost sight of them and when I returned to their table I realized that they were no longer there. I almost sighed with relief, until I realized that my father was also out of sight.
I left the hall as quickly as possible towards the entrance, praying that my father didn’t reach them before me. But what I saw almost made my heart stop. Alex thanked my dad for something before he passed him up the stairs and Willie was going towards him.
“Um… Caleb? You never said you were gonna… use your stamp.” I widened my eyes when I heard those words and hid in the pillar a little bit away from where they were. "You know what I'll do to them."
“Of course I do, William, but they're too powerful. I need them working for me. Now they'll have no option but to accept my invitation.”
My dad came down the stairs and patted Willie on the face before walking away. But I was already getting furious.
"Willie, how could you do such a thing?!" I exclaimed when I approached the boy.
"I... I..."
"You know how my father is like!" I hit my fists on his chest, even though I couldn't push him more than an inch. “You put your soulmate at risk! You put my soulmate at risk!”
"Your what?" he asked, confused.
"Reggie." I replied softly, feeling my eyes water. "Reggie is my soulmate."
Willie's eyes widened, but it took me only a few seconds to realize that he wasn't looking at me.
"Why, what a surprise." I also opened my eyes wide when I turned to my father. "Well, it looks like things are going to have to change around here."
It was all I heard before he blew dust on my face and everything went black.
~*~
The next few weeks were a blur for me. My dad always kept me tight on the inside of the club, and if I barely go out into the world before, I haven't gone out once since he found out about Reggie being my soul mate.
"Y/N." he caught my eye. I was backstage, just waiting for my cue. He wouldn't even let me interact with lifer customers anymore, and I haven't seen Willie since I got house arrested. I never imagined that my father would be so greedy and inhuman. I could only pray that Reggie and the others could get rid of his clutches. Even if it meant I never saw him again. "Camille!"
"Hm?" I turned to him with the empty look I had on my face since then.
"I'm going to get my band." it made me raise my eyebrow - the maximum reaction he would get from me, even if my heart was racing. "I hope you are either on stage or in the dressing room when that happens."
Of course he would keep me away. He wouldn't underestimate me.
"Okay, daddy." it was just what I said before disappearing into the dressing room, trying to think of something to get me - and the boys - out of that situation.
I looked around the dressing room and noticed a half-hidden jar. I smiled when I realized that dad was not as careful when he should have been. It was the jar that held his magic powder. It had no specific use, but I spent decades seeing him using the powder for a variety of purposes. I put it in a little bag, just hoping that I could replicate one of them. I went down the dressing room stairs carefully, looking around to make sure I wasn't caught. I stopped before the backstage and listened to see if I heard anything. Nothing but my father's performance already starting.
I leaned over a little and peeked out the door. One by one the boys disappeared towards the stage, however much they tried to resist. I waited until the music was over and my father came down from the stage to speak to the lifers before approaching the limits between the backstage and the stage to try to get the boys' attention.
"Y/N?" Luke asked, confused, when he saw me there.
"Come on, quickly!" I tried to murmur. "Before he sees it!"
"What is happening? Where's Willie?” asked Alex when they approached me.
"You need to get out of here!" I said, pushing them towards the door. "He is distracted right now, so go!"
"Why are you helping us?" asked Reggie.
I smiled with watery eyes. "Why, I can't leave my soulmate stuck here for all eternity."
And then, to confirm my statement, I intertwined our little fingers and raised our hands in front of his face. The red string was visible to everyone. Reggie's eyes widened, perplexed, before opening a goofy smile on his lips.
"Come with us!" he said immediately and I smiled sadly. He then touched my cheek and his touch almost made me throw the consequences in the air to follow him. "Please!"
“I need to do something first. It’s important." I said and looked at Luke.
He seemed to understand, because he pulled Reggie away from me. I watched as they disappeared and took a deep breath, gathering the courage to continue with my plan. I needed to find Willie. I left the backstage as discreetly as possible and it took me just a few minutes to find Willie distracting some lifers - even though he seemed distracted himself.
"Willie!" I called him and he came to me. "We need to go."
"Go where?"
"You know where."
"But I do not know." I heard my father's voice as I saw Willie's eyes widen. And I tried not to smile when I got caught. "I don't think you're going anywhere."
"Wrong answer." I said and turned around quickly, blowing daddy's powder in his own face.
He raised his hands to his face and tapped the dust away. He coughed just before opening his eyes. When he studied Willie's face and then mine with a confused expression, I realized that my plan had worked.
"Who are you?"
Even though my heart had broken a little when I heard these words, nothing could compare to the feeling of freedom that spread in my chest.
"Nobody important."
That was all I said before taking Willie's wrist and poofing us out of there. We appeared in a space behind a house, facing open garage doors. Inside, I found the three boys stepping out of a hug with a clearly alive girl. That must be Julie. I raised an eyebrow when I realized the boys were wrapped in a light and was even more shocked when they pulled away and Luke's stamp came off his wrist and was gone. Alex and Reggie's, however, just went a little opaque, but they didn't go away. What if...?
"Why didn't ours disappear?" asked Reggie and I smiled just at the sound of his voice.
"Perhaps because you need us." I said, drawing everyone's attention to us.
Willie stepped forward and crossed the distance to Alex. When they hugged, Alex's stamp was finally gone. Reggie turned to me smiling and barely gave me time to react before coming up to me and pulling me in a tight hug. I didn't complain, not even when he squeezed me even harder when his stamp disappeared too. After a while he separated from me just enough to take my face in his hands and kiss me. I reacted immediately, burying my fingers in his black hair and messing up the hairstyle my dad forced on him. When our lips parted, I felt my whole body tingling and totally breathless. Reggie lowered one of his hands to pull mine until his finger wrapped around mine, leaving our red string in plain view for everyone there to see.
"Hi soulmate." he murmured against my lips.
I felt my legs weaken with his hoarse voice, but I just placed a kiss against his lips before responding with a "Hi soulmate."
"What about Caleb?" I heard Luke's voice ask, taking us out of that torpor that enveloped us.
"I took care of him." I said, smiling when I saw that Luke was holding Julie against him and Alex was holding Willie's hand with his fingers intertwined. The string of all of them were visible.
"You should've seen her, she was amazing." said Willie, smiling brightly. He was also enjoying his newfound freedom.
"What did you do?" asked Alex.
"I erased us all from his memory." I noticed the sadness in Luke's eyes when he realized what it meant to me. "It's all right. It was time for me to go my own way.”
"Well, if you guys don't mind." said Reggie, hugging me and lifting me up. I needed to wrap my legs around his waist and my arms around his shoulders to keep our balance. "I'm gonna go get to know my soulmate."
And then we're gone. I didn't know exactly where he was taking me, but, honestly, I didn't care. I only cared about me, him and the eternity we’ll have together.
---
Taglist: @dpaccione @carnationcreation
