Two Vatos Locos Full of Carnalismo and Inamoratos

Chapter 1: I Woke Up to a Dream, and It Was the Best I've Ever Seen

Spencer had his first dream with his soulmate when he was twelve and he'd been sleeping over at Ryan's house. Ryan remembered it vividly, because Spencer had started smiling in his sleep and talking to himself. Then, Ryan hadn't been able to wake him up until it was well into the afternoon of the following day. When Spencer finally had woken up, he'd talked nonstop about a girl named Linda and how awesome he was.

Ryan became very excited for his first dream when he was thirteen after his best friend had his own first dream.

When Ryan was fourteen and in high school, he met Pete Wentz and they quickly became best friends. Pete Wentz had his first dream with his soul mate on the school bus on the way to a marching band competition. It was about a kid two years younger than him named Patrick who went to a rival high school. Spencer had been jealous because while Pete's soulmate lived only a few city lines away, Spencer's lived in LA while they all lived in Chicago.

Ryan was jealous because he hadn't had his dream yet.

When Ryan was fifteen, he met William Beckett and Gabriel Saporta, soulmates who'd known each other since they were babies. They'd had their shared dream while William was at Gabe's house and had just smiled at each other when they woke up, like they'd known it all along. Ryan didn't doubt they had known when he saw videos of them as kids.

Ryan was kinda pissed that he hadn't had his dream yet.

When Ryan was sixteen, he met a guy named Gerard Way who was a year above Ryan in his art class. Three weeks into the class, Gerard fell asleep in class during a lecture day and dreamed with his soulmate, Frank Iero. Ryan Ross had Frank Iero in his Economics class next period. He told Gerard the second Gerard was able to get the guy's name out. Needless to say, Ryan didn't see Frank the next period because he was too busy trading secrets and spit with Gerard.

Ryan felt a bit nervous that maybe he wouldn't ever dream with his soulmate.

Gerard's brother dreamed about his soulmate that lived in LA, possibly near Linda, so Mikey and Spencer planned to go to LA right then, that summer, when Ryan was seventeen and scared he wouldn't dream with his soulmate even into his senior year. Spencer was gone and Spencer was the only person who could really talk Ryan out of a bad thought, save Pete, but Pete was taking Patrick to Hawai'i because Patrick had never been on a vacation in his life. Neither had Ryan, but Pete wasn't in love with Ryan so who cared if Ryan had been on vacation or not?

Ryan had a horrible summer.

Ryan had a horrible senior year.

Ryan had horrible nights of lying awake and wondering what was wrong with him and why he didn't have a soulmate.

He went to a doctor, he went to a therapist, he even went to a fucking palm reader that had tons of hits and a cultish following. No one could tell him what was wrong with him. They tried to console Ryan with stories of persons who never dreamed, but still found their soulmates. Ryan knew those were bullshit. He knew the only reason you wouldn't have a dream would be if your soulmate was already dead. Stillborn or murdered or something awful.

Point was, Ryan's soulmate had to be dead.

He made a pact with himself. If Ryan didn't dream of his soulmate by twenty-one, he'd kill himself. The thought of facing a world that wasn't meant to be faced alone without anyone by his side made him sick. Pete had shouted at Ryan when he'd told him that, but Spencer had just nodded and smiled sadly. Ryan hadn't even tried to tell Gerard or Frank. He knew it would upset them most of all, after Gerard's own suicide attempt when he'd been sixteen. Everyone was getting ready to graduate and Ryan couldn't bring himself to bring them down with his loneliness.