Chapter Text
At first, Charlie quite enjoyed the songs that their soulmate was listening to. Occasionally, there would be something like soft pop playing in the background, or sometimes it would be light thrums of acoustics and LOFIs that he assumes are probably times wherein his soulmate was probably working. Sure, he can enjoy Watermelon Sugar playing for a bit here, and Love Story playing for a bit there. He likes these genres of songs, Charlie admits to himself, thinking that his soulmate’s music taste may not be that bad actually. However, what he can’t take, is the repetitive pop songs that were so damn loud that it’s distracting him.
It’s gone worse ever since they came back from the holiday break. For instance, this very moment.
Yeah, you got that yummy-yum
That yummy-yum, that yummy-yummy
Yeah, you got that yummy-yum
That yummy-yum, that yummy-yummy
Say the word, on my way
Charlie raises his eyebrows. Really? Justin Bieber? And Yummy? Oh, God. He lets out an exasperated sigh, taking a seat on one of the benches next to his friend Isaac while they wait for Tao who went to buy some apple juice for himself (and possibly buy another one for Elle accidentally- which Charlie found endearing, to be honest. They all miss Elle, yes, but Tao definitely misses her the most. Even if the latter won’t admit it easily that he misses his soulmate so much.)
“You okay?” Isaac barely raises his head from the book he was reading when he asks Charlie. Sometimes he’s just amazed at how Isaac could concentrate on reading his book outdoors with lots of noises while he can barely process a paragraph when there’s a loud scratching noise caused by the wind on his bedroom window. (Maybe he should ask Isaac for tips, yeah. Charlie ponders.)
“Yeah, it’s just that Justin Bieber’s voice is oh-so-kindly gracing my soulmate’s playlist again, yeah.” Charlie grimaces. His friend stops reading, this time closing his book and properly tucking it into his messenger bag. “That sucks. Couldn’t you tune it out, though?” Isaac asks.
He did try Isaac’s suggestion before, yes. He tried tuning it out of his head before by focusing on piano and nature music, wishing that his soulmate would take a hint. Either his soulmate was being a dick or they genuinely can’t hear his passive pleas of going back to the soft pop music because they never work.
“Apparently not.”
Charlie Zen Time, as he’d call it, was just as ineffective as using physical earplugs to lessen the music mentally playing on repeat.
Isaac pats his back sympathetically. “How do you deal with yours, anyway?” Charlie whines puffing his cheeks lightly with his eyebrows creasing after. Isaac shrugs, stretching his arms in the air lightly. “It’s just really chill for me, to be honest. Not much noise or anything.”
“Hello my lovely friends, guess what I bought again,” Tao says airly, approaching their table and grasping 2 apple juice bottles in each of his hands.
“Just blast Officially Missing You in your mind, hopefully, Elle would get the message already. If you haven’t dm-ed her, that is.” Charlie teases, earning a soft jab at his side.
“Ow!” He feigns a hurt expression, which Tao reciprocated with a delighted chuckle. “What? At least I don’t actually have horrible taste in music to annoy Elle. Particularly my soulmate.” His friend gave him a pointed look.
“Hey, their taste isn’t so bad, usually! They love Troye Sivan.” Charlie found himself defending his soulmate. It wasn’t a lie though, Charlie thinks they do have similar tastes from time to time. (They just need a little fixing on the disturbing amount of EDM and pop songs in their mind.)
“Yeah, yeah.” Tao waves his hand dismissively, pulling down his beanie. “Justin Bieber already toned down!” Charlie grins once he realized that the song in his mind is slowly fading away to give way to a more toned-down hum of one of the songs from the Beatles.
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Walking to their forms after their short little meeting was definitely nerve-wracking for Charlie. He didn’t want to face a lot of people after what had happened recently, to be honest.
Putting up with the getting outed to the whole school fiasco took a toll on him. A lot of people made horrible jokes and snide at him months ago. He’d cope with all of the negativities surrounding him by listening to obnoxiously loud songs to drown out the unspeakable thoughts lingering at the back of his mind.
His soulmate probably sensed his distress over their link because he wasn’t listening to his usual songs that probably don’t sound as angry as looping Ignorance non-stop. Part of what calmed him down from spiraling was the soft thrums of Talk To Me that resonated from his mind his soulmate. He broke down crying hearing the song, eventually comforting him to sleep that night.
It became a routine that following weeks wherein his soulmate would share with him lovely songs that helped him feel a tinsy bit better. (Read: This is probably part of the reason why he tolerates the EDM pop songs right now, Charlie thinks.)
He’s grateful that there’s simply white noise in the back of his mind at the moment. It’s a better state of mind as a nerve-soother compared to Justin Bieber, Charlie affirms. His soulmate was probably preoccupied with something else at the moment to be so quiet.
Lost in his own thoughts, he mechanically opens the door of the classroom and approached their professor’s table. He nearly jumps in surprise from the cheerful greeting directed at him. “Oh, Charlie Springs! Had a good holiday?” The teacher greets Charlie lightly as he was shuffling on the stapled papers (assumingly to find Charlie’s name on the Class seating arrangement)
“Erm, I think it was okay. Good morning Mr. Lange.” Charlie shifts awkwardly, tugging on the bottom of his coat as he waits for his assigned seat. After a few seconds, Mr. Lange finally looks up from the paper and points him to one of the corners of the room with only one occupied seat by a ginger messy-haired stranger who seems to be writing? scribbling? doing something.
“Ah yes, you’re beside Nicholas Nelson this year. Nick’s in Year 11, so only a year older than you, I presume. Please get along with him, yeah?” His teacher pats his back before sending him to scurry to his assigned seat already.
He hesitantly takes a step forward, making his aforementioned seatmate look up hastily from his paper and beam with excitement. Charlie would be lying if he said he didn’t feel his heart skip a beat from the incredibly comforting warmth that this person was radiating.
“Hi.” Charlie said breathlessly, a clumsy smile creeping into his mouth. He pulls back his chair beside the latter without breaking off eye contact.
“Hi.” Nicholas Nelson smiles back with so much friendliness in return.
Swimming in my t-shirts
No matter the weather
Say what you mean
And Oh talking to Nick Nelson right now had definitely been an exhilarating experience when his soulmate, for some good reason, coincidentally decides to play I Want To Be With You at the exact moment. Charlie found the song too cheesy for his taste during normal days, yes, but the song somehow felt amazing at that moment with its hopeful tune doing crescendos along with the beating of his heart. God, There are sparks with Nick Nelson and the music. Charlie wants to deny it, but his long-plastered shy grin to the aforementioned says otherwise.
I want to be with you
Needless to say that he enjoyed his first forms with a bubbly and vibrant Nick Nelson together with cheesy love songs playing in his mind, very much. Maybe his term won’t be that bad after all, Charlie hopes to himself as he chuckles along with a silly joke that Nick told him as they did their paper together.