A Chemical Imbalance (BoyxBoy Soulmate Au) **ON HOLD**

Before the Disaster

Waking up in the middle of the night directly before the first day of school hadn't had been on Rhys Brysen's agenda.

In fact, he had planned to sleep in today. The first day always was the busiest, what with all the freshman hurriedly attempting to locate their classes, so he had told himself that he'd show up around the third or fourth day, when students were situated enough. Being a junior this year, he already had the school's building memorized by now, so getting around was never a bother to him. It took him only two days to understand the layout, after all. He could spare the first few days of frantic mess.

And yet, here he was, getting out of bed at nearly three in the morning to let his dog, Miller, outside, before sluggishly making his way over to the kitchen in a half-walk, half-limp attempt to pour himself a bowl of Frosted Flakes. Grrreat.

One spoonful of sugar in and Rhys had received a text from one of his only friends. Well, one of the individuals among the list of people he could tolerate well enough, to be specific.

New message from ᴛᴏᴏ ʙᴜsʏ ᴍᴀᴋɪɴɢ ᴍᴜsɪᴄᴀʟ ʀᴇғᴇʀᴇɴᴄᴇs ᴀɴᴅ ǫᴜᴏᴛɪɴɢ ᴠɪɴᴇs ᴛᴏ ʜᴇᴀʀ ʏᴏᴜ

Rhys physically groaned. Poppy Belle. He first met her in grade four. She was much more open to sharing her thoughts than Rhys was, and if her loud, multicolored hair didn't already give it away, she had a mythic reputation for being quite the extrovert.

ARE YOU READY KIDS (Sent at 2:58)

With an annoyed eye roll, Rhys texted back.

Fuck off, Captain (Sent at 2:59)

In about less than a second he got a message back.

I CAN'T HEAR YOUUU (Sent at 2:59)

What the hell do you want? (Sent at 3:00)

First day of junior year, my dude, ready for itt?? (Sent at 3:01)

More like dreading it. Imagine all the forced socializing and participation. (Sent at 3:01)

Sounds absolutely terrifying indeed, but hey! Maybe you'll find your soulmate or something (Sent at 3:03)

Rhys frowned at the mention of a soulmate. The way it went in this world was that two soulmates connected to one another in a different way than two separate soulmates, and that they had to find each other with their given clues. Poppy's mom and dad, for example, had been give each other's name's on their wrists. Turned out the two were best friends since first grade and never started anything between each other in fear that it would ruin their fates of being put with a different person, and that their relationship would end in heartbreak. Basically, they friendzoned each other. Things worked out in the end, though, and the two had been ecstatic to find out they were meant to be.

There were varied ways that everyone would find their soulmate, and no two pairs ever shared the same ways of connecting.

Most everyone in Rhys' grade had yet to find their soulmate, much like him, but on the contrary to his fellow classmates, Rhys wasn't all too excited about discovering who he was supposed to be with. It meant someone would have to deal with all his stubbornness and condecendence, so if anything, he'd much rather ignore it until it slapped him in the face. Plus, people in general always made him want to crawl into a hoodie and decay.

Yeah, I guess (Sent at 3:06)

Love that enthusiasm, champ

Lmao what are you doing up at three anyways? School starts in another four hours you nerd (Sent at 3:07)

I just woke up, I don't know. What are you doing awake? (Sent at 3:09)

Pfftt totally not redying my hair for the fifth thousanth time or anything, yknow how it goes (Sent at 3:11)

Uh huh. (Sent at 3:12)

YOURE JUDGING ME YOU'LL SEE IT AT SCHOOL IT LOOKS GREAT AND I'LL SAY I TOLD YA SO

Aight well I'm washing this off now before my hair falls out so ttyl ilyy (Sent at 3:13)

With a sigh, Rhys put his phone down and drained the remainder of his soggy cereal that Poppy had distracted him from eating. He didn't have any plans for what he could do before school would start, mainly because he didn't hang out with anyone other than her, so decided to simply watch The Office until it turned to seven.

Walking back to his room, he grabbed his laptop and quickly logged into Netflix, beginning to stream the fifth episode of the third season.

If anything could keep him sane, it was this show.