you can hear it in the silence | patpran soulmate au

1. it's a little bit funny (taylor's version) ♪♬

On May 15th, 2022, the clock strikes 2:05pm and... nothing happens.

Huh.

It's not like Pran expects his soulmate to be listening to music at the exact time of his birth, but he still kind of hopes for it. Because then he would have an instant acknowledgement that yes, he, Parakul Siridechawat, does in fact have a soulmate.

But he already knew how unlikely that was, so now it's his duty to make himself known.

Since it's his nineteenth birthday, it is customary, traditional even, for him to listen to a song for his soulmate. Just in case they're older than him and out there waiting.

The first song.

It's how you introduce yourself to your soulmate. It only really happens once the younger one is of age, then the older responds with their first song. It's supposed to encompass how you want to care for the other and how you want to be cared for. It's an idea of what each person wants out of their relationship whether it be platonic or romantic or an unsureness of either.

It's a promise.

There's even a specific genre for it, but Pran thinks they're all so cheesy and lacking any real emotion. When he and his best friend Wai had set out to find their first songs at fifteen, they both decided to choose ones that were not created for the purpose, but rather ones that were made from passion and just to be.

Although, if his soulmate is younger than him, he won't hear it.

(And yes, Pran already knows his soulmate is a man because he is very, very gay. Unless it's a platonic connection, which then it could be any one, he supposes, but he already knows in his gut that it's romantic. He doesn't know how, he just can feel it.)

But instead of playing his song, Pran waits a little longer, hoping for a little longer.

A couple of minutes pass in silence. He's never liked the silence, always needing a classical song in the background whenever he does things such as cooking or cleaning or art. But this kind of silence is worse. Because now he's expecting someone else's noise to filter through his ears.

His phone vibrates in his pocket and he answers the call without checking who it is because he could guess. "Hello mare," he says.

"Did you hear anything?" she asks, her usual monotone voice slightly curving at the edges to reveal that she's excited. And even if Pran couldn't distinguish it, he knows that she's probably more happy about today than he is since this morning when she called to wish him a happy birthday she told him so.

"No," Pran replies.

"What was your first song?" she then asks.

He's never told anyone but Wai what his first song is because he finds it too personal. But his mother's constant questioning over it for the past year leading up to today has made him agree that he would tell her after he plays it for his soulmate.

Which he still hasn't done.

He pushes down a groan and even though he knows she's going to be disappointed, Pran still replies honestly. He gulps, "I haven't listened yet. I've been waiting."

"Waiting for what?" his mother barks. "You have to do it so your soulmate, if he's older than you, knows that you're of age." And he already knows all of that because she told him, for the hundredth time that morning when she went on for about thirty minutes reminding him that on her own nineteenth birthday there was no noise on the other end after her song finished and how she had to wait a couple of months before his father's noise filtered through and how he needs to make sure to do it right away so his soulmate knows he's finally there.