The Kids Aren't Alright [Slash] [BoyxBoy]

Chapter Three: [Levee]

My bedroom is almost completely dark. The only light comes from the little glow-in-the-dark stars taped to my ceiling. Voices from the T.V. my aunt fell asleep to hours ago drift to my room, just under my brother cursing at the characters in his video game.

What I can only assume is my soul mate's phone number slowly fades from my skin while I stare at it, paralyzed. A short sense of regret fills my stomach as my skin clears, but I quickly ignore it. Just the thought of having a conversation with them makes me nauseous.

Time crawls by as I turn over and over under my covers. Eventually the yelling and explosions from my brother's room shut off, and I hear my aunt move from the couch to her bedroom. As the house finally quiets down, I'm able to fall into a loose sleep.

The next morning at school, I feel essentially dead. Violet catches up to me at my locker, her eyes widening.

"Woah, you look different," she says. She narrows her eyes. "And tired. Did you sleep at all last night?"

I shrug one shoulder and pull open my locker. "A little bit."

She crosses her arms over her chest. "Well, you look like shit."

"Thanks," I mumble.

A wide smile spreads across her lips. "Wow! It's almost like you made a joke."

I blush and look away. After getting my things from my locker, I slam it shut and start towards my first class. She follows after me. "You look really emo today. Was that what you were going for?"

"Sort of. I guess."

She laughs. "You're a really indecisive person. Like when you changed yesterday."

"Uh, what about you?" I ask hastily. "I mean- Uh- Your outfit."

She quirks an eyebrow. "What about it?"

She's wearing high-waisted jeans and a leather jacket over a plain black tank top. It's something I would wear before I came out. I shrug and look down. "Uh, it looks good."

Violet just rolls her eyes. "Thanks, Lev."

We walk in silence after that, and I'm grateful for it. The responsibility of carrying a conversation was starting to get tiring.

I look up to make sure she knows where her first class is, stopping when I see the plethora of marks covering her arms and hands. "Holy shit."

Amused and a little confused, she looks at me with a raised eyebrow. "What?"

I blink. "Your- Your hands. Your arms!"

Her gaze flicks to the patterns and shapes rapidly appearing on her skin, and shrugs it off. "Oh, yeah, this is usually around the time they start up."

"They?" My curiosity overrules my fear of conversation.

She nods. "Yeah, you know. My soul mates."

"You have two?" I ask in shock.

"No," she laughs, "I have three."

I stop walking now, leaning against the locker and bringing a hand to my forehead. I've heard of people having multiple soul mates- It can't be perfectly even every time -but never met one. Never even been close to one, actually.

"So that makes you..."

"Pansexual." She acts like it's completely normal to have three soul mates. Like it happens every day. She was almost covered in marks now, everything but her face covered, as if all three of them came up with an ambush plan. She catches my eye and laughs again. "Come on, don't stare. I know it's weird. I can't help it."