Soulmate [~Mavin~]

Chapter 8

I DON'T CARE IF THERE'S NO OCEAN/PIER ANYWHERE NEAR AUSTIN. STFU AND ENJOY THE FLUFF.

But I still love you I didn't mean to shout.

The next day was Saturday and all the Achievement Hunters were going to the pier to go swimming and play arcade games and just spend time together and bond. They were all bringing their soulmates, as well, so everyone could meet everybody else. At this point, Ryan and Ray were the only two who hadn't met their soulmates yet, but Ryan insisted it was fine.

"It's no big deal. I've always known I wouldn't meet my soulmate until later in life. I'm enjoying my single life for now." He said and Ray just agreed quietly. They all decided to meet in the parking lot at 11:00. Lindsay, Barbera, and Michael all rode together. Geoff was coming with his wife and Gavin, leaving their daughter with a friend for the day, and Jack was on his way with his own soulmate and Ryan. Ray had told them he had somebody to give him a ride, and although Geoff offered several times, he said he could take care of it.

"Okay, if you're totally sure. We don't want to make anybody go out of their way to bring you." Jack said and Ray didn't reply.

So, at 10:45, Michael, Lindsay, and Barbera pulled in to the parking lot at the beach and sat around to wait for the others. Michael sat on the trunk of the car as he waited. Gavin, Geoff and Griffon arrived not long after and Gavin stumbled out of the car, running towards Michael and jumping up to hug him tight.

"Micool, my boi!" He hummed softly. Gavin pulled back from the hug and leaned in to kiss Michael breifly. Geoff made a gagging noise and Michael chuckled, pulling away from Gavin. They turned and Geoff introduced his wife, Griffon. She was pretty, with tattoos and a septum piercing. She had half of her head shaved and she looked to be a natural bleach blonde. She had a pair of pink Ray-Ban sunglasses perched on her nose, matching Geoff's favorite green ones. Jack, Caiti, and Ryan arrived moments later. Caiti was from Australia and Jack seemed so happy with her. She had longish brown hair and glasses and the hugest, brightest smile Michael had ever seen. He could see how much Jack adored his best friend.

"Is Ray the only one we're waiting on?" Ryan asked and Geoff nodded.

"Yeah. I really hope he's not making somebody drive him here and then just go back home." He said and the other mumbled their agreement. Just as Michael was grabbing his phone to call the Puerto Rican, he saw a silver Honda pull into the parking lot with Ray in the passenger seat. There was a light haired guy sitting in the driver's seat and they pulled up near the group. The engine shut off and Ray got out of the car while the other guy went to get something out of the trunk.

"Hey, guys." Ray said and they greeted him. He was holding his arms behind his back, trying to look casual about it. The light haired, tall guy came back with a small cooler and stood next to Ray, putting an arm over his shoulders. The others all just sort of looked at Ray expectantly. "Um guys, this is David... m-my soulmate." He said and dropped his arms to his sides. Michael looked at Ray's right arm and saw the big, swirly letters, and then looked to David's right arm, seeing the sharp letters and rose "tattooed" there. The names were large enough and intricate enough to mean that their relationship was romantic.

"It's nice to meet you, David." Jack said and stepped forward to shake his hand.

"It's nice to meet you too. You're Jack right? Ray's told me a lot about all of you." David smiled and everybody introduced themselves.

"So where are you from?" Geoff asked as they all headed towards the beach.

"I grew up in Washington State and moved here for collage so I can be an ER doctor." He said and Ray smiled, obviously proud of him. "I took my first six years back home, though. I moved here for my residency and Doctored about nine months ago. Hopefully I'll be able to stay and work here, too." He said and smiled down at his soulmate.

"We ran in to each other at the grocery store six months ago." Ray said. "I didn't even notice at first, but he came flying around the corner five minutes later blabbering about his arm and how he was dumb and..." Ray blushed. "Well, the rest is kind of history."

"Awee, that's so cute!" Gavin squaked and David chuckled.

They found a good spot in the sand and started to get set up. Michael managed to pull Ray aside, telling the others that they were going to grab a tidechart or some shit like that.

"What the fuck, man!? I was all terrified and confused that my soulmate was a dude and you didn't tell me you've got a guy's name across your forearm? And you've known him for six fucking months?" Michael glared at him.

"I'm sorry! I know we met a while ago but... fuck, it was confusing for us too! My parents still don't know and his parents took a few months to speak to him again after he introduced me over Skype." He sighed and ran his fingers through his hair.

"Right... I'm sorry. It's just... I consider you my best friend after Lindsay and I would have hoped you could trust me with something like this; especially since you've known him for so long."

"I know. I thought about telling you every time I saw you, but I could never do it. Even when you met Gavin and I could see that you two were going to fall in love... I was still scared."

"Of what?"

"Rejection." Ray said and traced the beautiful letters on his arm. He didn't even look, so Michael cold tell he did this often. "I don't even know. Can we just focus on now? You've met him and he's my soulmate and I'm in love with every Goddamn bit of him. He makes me really happy."

"Yeah, of course. I'm really glad you found him. You deserve to be loved by somebody so kind." Michael smiled and they headed back to the others.

"Where's the tidechart?" Gavin asked.

"They didn't have any left." Michael lied and Geoff rolled his eyes as he helped Griffon put sunscreen on her back. They all settled in and Michael groaned as Gavin sat directly on his chest.

"Hi Micool!" Gavin cooed.

"You fucking asshole, get off me!" He tried to push him off, but Gavin wouldn't budge. Michael smirked and, with a quick jab to the Brit's ribs, he sent Gavin squealing and flying to his feet.

"Micool, no!" He squeaked and Michael laughed. "I'm ticklish, boi."

"Oh, are you?" He smiled and ran,after him. Gavin made a bunch of bird noises like "ooooOOOOOOOOooooooOOOHHhh!" as he ran towards he water. It was Summer, so the water was warm enough to run right in. The two of them chased each other around in the surf for a while before falling in to the sand to the water lapped at their ankles. The others joined them at the water soon. Barb and Lindsay jumped waves a few feet out and Griffon was trying to get Geoff to shove a hand full of sand down his pants.

"No way! I'll be digging sand out of my ass for weeks!" He shouted, trying to get away from her.

Ray was trying to coax David out to a sandbar, but the blond was grinning and refusing to swim five feet. Caiti and Jack were building a sand castle, decorating it with shells and seaweed and driftwood. Ryan came and sat near Michael and Gavin.

"It's a really beautiful day." He said and the two agreed.

"This was a good idea. We should all go do stuff more often." Michael added and Gavin just hummed. Michael looked around him. Everybody looked so happy. They were all messing around and having fun. That's what happiness should be, and that's what it was. Just pure joy and being able to have no real worries on the world, at least in this moment.