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Your soulmate is already known to you.
Chris Kirkman repeated these words to himself like a mantra, long after they’d first been revealed to him. Beth, Beth, Beth being the subsequent chant, of course. Ithad to be Beth. Everything he’d gone through, the Emotion Lords, Beth herself, goddamn it. It only made sense. All signs pointed to their eventual lifematch. He smiled at the ceiling briefly before an all-too familiar paranoia crept up his chest and through his throat. He frowned.
So why was nothing going right?
More importantly,
Why did nothing seem to signal things ever going right?
Zackary Ryan was one thing. Plum was another. They had the right the experiment, of course. They were teenagers. Teenagers with hormones. Stuff was bound to occur. Chris had learnt enough from his experiences to know that rushing things never made them better or more prone to happening. However, he couldn’t help but feel there was a missing puzzle piece in this situation. Nevermind that Beth only seemed to grow colder, rougher with age — her coolheaded -ness was an asset to the team and a complement to his developing Emotion Lord powers, that was certain. Though sometimes it was as if she were forgetting they were friends, and friends were meant to have fun together from time to time.
Danny never seemed to forget, though.
He found himself smiling once again at the memories of Danny’s antics and affectionate gestures. Catbug had relayed to him the utter devastation that was evident in Danny when Chris was thought to be gone forever, and, don’t get him wrong, he wasn’t by any means happy that Danny had to suffer through such emotional trauma during that period of time. But the fact he cared so deeply further engraved that Chris Kirkman did have a best friend. Well, Beth, and Wallow, too, but things with the former were awkward more often than not lately, and… well…
He groaned in frustration, still unable to sleep.
He tried returning to his mantra, the conversation he’d had with Beth on respecting her choices serving to soothe him. She knew he was into her, but she didn’t think of him as desperate, at least not anymore. He sighed in relief to himself and kept muttering: Your soulmate is already known to you…
“Fuck’s sake!”
Chris raised an eyebrow at the all too familiar voice of Danny Vasquez shrilling from his room, followed by the clinging of metal gears and a whine. He rolled over to check the time. 2:47AM. What possessed Danny to be up this late tinkering, he didn’t know, but he’d be lying if he said he wasn’t curious enough to go check it out. He rubbed his eyes and slowly rose from his bed, careful to not make too much noise. Just as he was about to turn the doorknob, a crash came from behind, causing him to pull out his bee sword on instinct and swivel around. Before getting the chance of demanding the intruder’s identity, the Emotion Lord’s innocent wave sent him sighing in mild annoyance. He summoned his sword back and pinched the bridge of his nose.
“What kind of personal catastrophe do I have to prevent this time?” Chris asked, already dreading whatever answer his older self had in store.
“The one you’re about to witness if you go check on Danny, my boy!” The Emotion Lord announced, performing a handstand. Chris simply frowned deeper in response, confusion sinking into his features.
“I was just gonna ask him why he was up so late experimenting. I dunno, might be cool to check it out, or just remind him to get some sleep, I guess.”
“That right there, is ignorance,” He explained matter-of-factly, a pointed finger directed towards his younger self. “Stay in your room and keep it blissfully, or go there and lose it to further complicate your junk and increase your moop.”
“Huh? How even—”
The Emotion Lord pressed a finger to Chris’ lips before he could finish his question. “You have to trust me, Blondie!”
“This is only making me want to go more, come on.”
“You want more shopping bags this time around?” The Emotion Lord asked, placing his hands on his hips the way a mother would ask a child if he’d follow suit after all his friends jumped off a bridge. Chris shivered at the nod to that nightmarish gray mall and its horrible inhabitants. Regardless, Danny was his friend. If the Emotion Lord was speaking for Chris’ benefit over Danny’s, Chris wasn’t having any of it.
“Well, if you’re right, I’ll just get a single use time machine and stop this moment’s me from—”
As soon as he said it, another portal opened, and a Chris breathing as if he’d run a marathon popped his head and torso out to lock eyes with present Chris. The Emotion Lord sighed.
“You here to tell me not to do it?”
“Not exactly,” Future Chris replied in a somewhat nervous tone. “Just… it’s not bad. Not good, either. Just… Ack! Confusing.”
The Emotion Lord threw up his hands in frustration. “I told y—”
“But you’re better off knowing the truth,” He finished, determination permeating through the Emotion Lord’s doubt. Present Chris saluted him, and Future Chris returned the gesture before slipping back into the portal, which quickly vanished afterward.
Chris smugly rose an eyebrow and crossed his arms over his chest, turning back to his older counterpart. “Well?”
“Don’t say I didn’t warn you, kid.” The Emotion Lord shrugged, already disappearing through his own portal. Once again it was Chris, the moonlight seeping in through the window, and his emotions — all jacked up inside of him, of course.
He finally turned the knob and took some seconds to adjust to the hall’s light flooding in, rubbing his eyes in tired reflex. The closer he got, the clearer Danny’s voice became. Chris halted at about a meter from the entrance to Danny’s room, leaning against the wall.
“... I mean, I’ve come to accept it. The Wankerverse doesn’t owe anyone anything, which means it owes me, like, negative anything! Right? Does that make sense?”
Chris listed people Danny could possibly be speaking to in his head quickly.
A guest (Unlikely)
Himself (Perhaps)
Some new robot he’d created so as to not sound insane if discovered talking to himself (Very likely)
“You gotta hand it to him, though, he sure is resilient.” Danny remarked, his voice dripping with bitter sarcasm. Chris defensively perked up at this — could someone be messing with Danny? It sounded like it for sure, but he still did not understand how this all tied back to him. At least not to the point in which both the Emotion Lord and his Near Future Self came to warn him of. Well, maybe not a warning as much as a disclaimer.
“I know I’m supposed to be supportive and all that biz, but fuck, how can someone be so flipping blind?”
Chris hadn’t noticed how far he’d been leaning, though, and tripped over himself in an attempt to not fall over, causing a small ruckus. Dang it. He immediately turned to tiptoe back to his room, but was caught as Danny’s door slid open and his figure slipped into the hall.
“Chris?” He called, his voice suddenly deflated and completely devoid of its previous intensity.
Chris turned around slowly and offered his friend, his best friend whom he’d just betrayed by eavesdropping — Beth’s diary part two much? — an awkward smile. “Oh, hiya Danny, whatcha doing up so late?”
“Should be asking you. Hey,” he smirked, raising an eyebrow, “Were you eavesdropping?”
Chris bit back the surprise over Danny’s reaction. Well, he isn’t Beth. Of course he isn’t going to instantly flip out on you, dummy.
“W—whaaa? Me? Eavesdropping? You? Pff—”
“You’re a horrible liar, Kirkman,” Danny laughed, punching his friend lightly in the shoulder, “How come I never taught you how to do it properly?”
Chris sucked in his breath, childhood and preteen memories of problematic experiences flooding in. “You tried.”
“Oh, yeah, almost forgot how much of a goody-goody you were for a sec.”
Whatever Danny was hiding, he sure was a mastermind in acting totally dismissive of it. Maybe his lack of reaction was a conscious effort to redirect Chris’ attention, making him believe it wasn’t important enough that it’d make Danny upset being eavesdropped upon. The process was written all over his face, and Danny chuckled, albeit a little tense.
“I only do my out-loud erotica readings on Wednesdays, so you’re outta luck for tonight anyway, bud.”
“Aw, dang.” Chris said, trying not to lose track of what he had managed to get from Danny, given the latter would certainly start to be more careful when expressing his thoughts late at night. I’m supposed to be supportive... Whoever this person was, they had to be close to Danny. And a he. Wallow? How could someone be so blind? Perhaps he was referring to some of his reckless habits when it came to girls. But why would Danny make that his business? His dad? He sure is resilient. He’s still stuck in the See Through Zone, along with all the Courageous Battlers save for Mr. Tezuka. But Chris doubted he’d be speaking of his father in such bitter connotation. That left, of course…
“Earth to Kirkman?” Danny’s voice broke him out of his stream of thought. Chris shook his head and glanced at his friend, who was scanning him up and down with a worried stare. “You okay, man? I know I was tinkering around a bit and all, but you really have no reason to be up this late.”
“Ah, right uh,” Chris sighed, “I’m gonna be real with ya, Danny. I heard you while trying to fall asleep and I was coming here to check up on you, but the Emotion Lord told me not to, so as to save myself from finding something out that would ‘increase my moop’” he said, using air quotation marks on his last statement. It felt good to be real, if at least with one of his best friends. Danny nodded, a thoughtful look masking a slight tinge of anxiety behind his eyes. Chris continued. “I dunno, to be honest, I thought maybe you’d talk about wanting to get with Beth, or—”
And that’s where he lost Danny.
“Wait, what?” He asked.
“Look man, it’s 3AM, I’m sorry I eavesdropped, I just—”
“No, no. Kirkman. Gosh.” Danny’s expression was nearly impossible to read. “You really still don’t get it, do you?”
“I’m sorry, but get… what, exactly?”
A brief glance Chris could only describe as a pained one flashed across Danny’s parted lips and heavy eyebags, followed quickly, almost indiscreetly, by one of irritation.
“Whatever, Kirkman,” He turned to go back to his room, “Have fun smoochin’ Beth up in your dreams or whatevs.”
And, just like that, he was gone.
Once again it was Chris, the light sweeping across the hallway, and his emotions — jacked up to extreme levels, now.
He’d find a way to get Danny back. Maybe not bringing Beth into their every conversation was a step.
*
Danny crumpled up the blueprints Beth had let him borrow from her own diary and tossed them into a corner of his room absentmindedly, slumping into his chair and glancing back at the recording device. He’d even changed it so that the lights were alternating hues of blues and reds instead of greens, as Beth’s was.
Fucking idiot.
Who he was referring to, he no longer knew.