Vernon’s feet don’t stop tapping the floor impatiently as the teacher drones on about something, waiting for her to finish so that he knew how he did.

“Would you stop?” Chan hisses from his desk right next to his. “I’m trying to focus, here.”

On Vernon’s other side, Seungkwan speaks up. “Cut him some slack, we get our test back today.”

“So? If he doesn’t take notes now, he’ll fail the next test,” Chan replies.

“Boo, Lee, do you have something to share with the class?” The teacher asks suddenly, stopping her lecture.

“No ma’am,” the two chorus apologetically.

As soon as the teacher returns to her lecture, Chan shoots Seungkwan an accusatory look that the older ignores.

“I’m sure you did fine, Vernon-ah. We studied the whole week, and you knew everything like the back of your hand. Relax,” Seungkwan says, patting Vernon’s shoulder sympathetically.

He ignores the electric shock that his best friend’s hand left in favor of replying, “You don’t know that.”

“Well, you aren’t going to do well if you just wait anxiously and not take notes,” he retorts. “While you’re dying of despair and anxiety, you’re already failing your next test.”

“I don’t see you taking notes,” he replies.

“Unlike you, I’m good at multitasking,” he mocks playfully. “C’mon, take some notes. You know Chan won’t share.”

“Damn right I won’t,” Chan mutters.

“Alright, I’m going to hand back your test from last week now,” the teacher says finally, and Vernon feels his nerves come back at full force, making his leg tap the floor at an excessively fast--and loud--pace.

Chan looks like he’s gonna explode. Thankfully, though, he doesn’t make any effort to stop him, letting his incessant tapping continue as the teacher walks down the aisles, handing students their tests.

It seems to take her forever to actually find his test. With every test that she hands to someone else, his nerves rise higher and higher, until he’s sure he was going to pass out before he even gets his test back. He desperately needs a good grade on this test to pass the class, and if he doesn’t get that...

“Hansol Chwe,” she says finally, handing him his test. Her face remains unchanged, and she doesn’t spare him a single glance before moving on to the next person.

He almost doesn’t want to flip his test over. What if he failed? What will his parents say? All of his hard work would be for nothing, and they would be so disappointed in him and he hated disappointing his parents.

“Just flip the test over, hyung,” Chan whispers, finally deciding to be supportive. “You did well.”

“How do you know that?” He breathes. Is this what a panic attack looks like? Is he having a panic attack?

“Because you studied with me and Seungkwan and look, we both did well,” he says, showing his test grade of 100. When Vernon looks on his other side, he sees that Seungkwan has gotten a 94. The two of them are giving him reassuring looks, not trying to flip it over for him, but letting him calm his nerves.

Vernon flips the test over.

There, in a big red circle in the top right corner of the front page, is the number 91.

He got a 91.

He got an A.

He’s going to pass the class.

“I did it,” he whispers, slowly get excited. “I did it, I passed, I’m gonna pass the class!”

Chan grins. “Good job, hyung! You did it!”

“Yeah!” Seungkwan pats his shoulder, leaving little jolts in its wake. “High five, Vernon-ah!” He says, holding out his hand.

Immediately, he smacks his hand against his best friend’s.

Not a moment later, his vision goes dark.

He wakes up to a white ceiling. He’s not quite sure where he is, but he knows that he’s lying on a somewhat comfortable bed, and that it’s slightly cold in the room.

Suddenly, Chan’s face comes into view, and he jerks, startled.

The youngest of their trio looks apologetic. “Sorry, hyung,” he says. “I didn’t mean to scare you.”

“Chan,” he says, still not used to using honorifics the United States didn’t have, “Where am I?”

“The hospital,” he informs him. “I told your parents that I’d watch you until they got off work.”

He sits up easily, despite the fatigue seemingly permanent set in his bones, “Why am I in the hospital?”

“You and Seungkwan are soulmates,” Chan says bluntly.

It’s like he had just realized that there actually wasn’t any ground beneath him and he was going to fall down indefinitely. His stomach felt uncomfortably light, and there was a tingling in his toes and fingers, like they were trying to remind him of something.

He looks down at his wrist and sees the name Seungkwan Boo written in his best friend’s handwriting. It makes his head spin.

“Oh... kay,” He says slowly, mind still trying of make some sense of everything, “but what does that have to do with me being hospitalized?”

“Do you remember what happens when you find your soulmate?” Chan prods.

“Your heart becomes visible to everyone, your senses become enhanced, and your soulmate’s name is engraved on your wrist,” Vernon lists.

“Okay, but what’s another side effect?” Chan prompts. When Vernon shows no comprehension, he sighs and answers himself, “electricity, hyung. You and Seungkwan electrocuted each other when you high-fived.”

What? “But, wait, what, I can’t, tha-that doesn’t make sense!” Vernon says. “If that was the case, then wouldn’t this be normal? Why are you so worried?”

Chan sighs again, exasperated, and he says, “It would be normal if you touched palms when you first met. How long have you two been friends, again?”

Vernon has to think a bit because although it feels like Seungkwan’s been in his life forever, he knows that’s not the case. “One-two years? Something like that,” he says.

The way the younger’s eyes widen is almost comical, if Vernon wasn’t so confused as to why his answer is so surprising. “Hyung, you do remember that the longer you go without touching palms with your soulmate after you meet them, the stronger reactions you’ll both have when you finally do touch palms?”

Things are starting to finally fall into place. Vernon gasps, asking, “so because I never touched Seungkwan’s palm for two years--”

“The electric buildup was so strong that it electrocuted you and knocked you both out,” Chan finishes grimly.

“Where’s Seungkwan?” If he was hospitalized, then where was Seungkwan? Was he okay?

“You’re really bad at this whole observation thing,” the younger now looks frustrated. “He’s right next to you.”

Turning, Vernon saw his best friend, sleeping peacefully despite being surrounded by monitors. “Is he... will he be okay?”

“You both will be discharged tonight,” Chan tells him. “You guys weren’t hurt that badly. The doctors just wanted to make sure there weren’t any negative side effects of the electricity.”

Vernon nodded slowly. Now that he didn’t have to worry about Seungkwan or his health, just their potential future. As romantic soulmates.

.

After he gets discharged from the hospital, Vernon spends most of his time thinking about the events of the day.

He got an A on his test.

Seungkwan high-fived him.

They passed out.

They’re soulmates.

His best friend, who’s seen him at his best and at his worst, who he’d always imagined being his best man at his wedding, is his soulmate. The universe is trying to tell him that his best friend is supposed to be his groom, not the best man, and it’s ing him up. It’s hard to reconcile the platonic--or supposedly platonic--feelings he had for Seungkwan with the supposedly romantic nature of soulmates. It’s like Vernon had been trying to get out of a doorless, windowless room, and life finally pointed out that he had been standing on a trap door the entire time, and yanked it open and let him fall down into whatever the hell reality was without giving him a moment to prepare. At the very least, it makes his head spin.

Is he supposed to have Seungkwan as his romantic soulmate? Is he supposed to fall head over heels in love with him? Is he going to turn into one of those sappy, lovesick boys from those shows Sofia watches? He doesn’t know anymore.

“If you think any harder, you’re going to think yourself into a ditch.”

Vernon’s startled so much he rolls off the bed and faceplants on his bedroom floor. The worst part? Seungkwan’s not even laughing, obviously feeling as awkward as he is.

It takes some effort for Vernon to sit upright and face his best friend, not because he’s a weakling--he really isn’t--but because he’s not sure what he’s gonna see when he finally faces Seungkwan.

When he meets his best friend’s eyes, it’s like looking into a mirror. They really are best friends, he notes, when he realizes that they’re on the same page. They have no idea where they stand anymore.

“So... uh...” for once, Seungkwan is speechless, and it just makes Vernon even more unsettled. It feels so startlingly unfamiliar but nostalgic, and it hurts but he doesn’t know what to do about it. “Soulmates, huh?”

All Vernon can do is let out a shaky “yeah” as he stares at Seungkwan. “Definitely... not what I had expected,” he adds afterward.

“Me neither,” his best friend says. “Honestly, I always thought you’d be my wingman, not my actual man.”

Seungkwan laughs, and it’s like all is right with the world again. He sits on the floor next to Vernon, and the two of them fall silent, taking in the sound of each other’s breaths.

Finally, Vernon sighs, and turns to his best friend. “So... what now?”

For a few minutes, Seungkwan doesn’t reply. Then, gently, he lays his head on Vernon’s shoulder. It should have startled him, because Seungkwan’s never done that before... but it doesn’t. It feels natural, effortless, like they’ve been doing this forever.

It’s just as easy for him to link his fingers with Seungkwan.

“This is nice, isn’t it?”

He hadn’t expected that to be what Seungkwan would say, but nevertheless he replies, “Yeah, it is.”

“Then let’s keep doing it.” Seungkwan’s eyes are focused and determined, and for a moment Vernon thinks they’re actually kind of... beautiful. “Let’s just do what feels right. We shouldn’t care if we’re supposed to be romantic because we’re soulmates. We should care that we stay us.”

It’s like everything slots in place: they don’t need to be like the romantic soulmates on TV, or like the ones they see in real life. They just need to be them, and that’s enough.

“I like this,” he says. “I’m glad you’re my soulmate, Seungkwan.”

Seungkwan just snorts. “To think we had to find out because of a high five.”