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Ray sighed as he walked home. The day had been exhausting, especially because Michael wouldn’t help any of the customers that had soulmates. He didn’t understand why the man found it so creepy. Ray thought it was cute to see people communicating through thought. Plus they didn’t have to worry about other people hearing their conversations. It sounded great to Ray and he really couldn’t wait to find his soulmate. He wondered all the time who they were and what they'd look like. Were they tall? Short? Were they a girl? A boy? What color were their eyes? The thoughts took up most of his time during the day and honestly it was why he dosed off into dream land behind the counter at work most times.
Slipping out of his thoughts he made it home and went up the stairs to the third floor and unlocked his apartment door. Shuffling into his little apartment he smiled and locked the door behind him. As he trudged into his room to change out of his work uniform he slipped back into his thoughts.
He always loved his tiny apartment but he’d love it more if his soulmate was here. His smiled dimmed at the thought. Sure he had Michael but he was so lonely. He’d been hoping that he’d move in with Michael when he first got down to Texas but Michael was living with Lindsay then. They’d been friends since middle school and Ray didn’t want to intrude so he got his own apartment and a job, having to crash at his friend Ryan’s house most nights. As he thinks back to it now, that was probably the moment he saw how amazing having a soulmates was. Seeing Ryan with his soulmate was incredibly adorable. It took one look at the two to know they were in love. It was also amazing how a tiny woman like her could control someone like Ryan with just a glance and a thought. Ray longed for a relationship like that so he couldn’t understand what could possibly be Michael’s problem with soulmates hearing each other's thoughts.
With a sigh he shook the thoughts from his head and shuffled into the kitchen, a t-shirt on and sweatpants riding low on his hip as the draw string was as tight as it could be. They were Michael’s that he left there last weekend, he remembered, but didn’t care enough to change out of them. He’d probably forgotten about them anyway. Ray frowned as he realized his fridge was empty and after a quick search of the cabinets he realized that, they too, were empty.
“Looks like I gotta go grocery shopping.”
He mumbled to himself with a frown. Shuffling back into his bedroom he pulled on a pair of shoes and grabbed his hoodie, pulling it over his head. He grabbed his keys, wallet and phone, stuffing them into the front pocket and locking up his apartment again. He started the short walk to the grocery store around the corner and sighed again. He had a feeling this was gonna take a while.
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It had been about 30 minutes in the store and Ray had gotten about half of what he needed. He went through the list in his head again and looked up to the signs on top of the aisles. He spotted what he needed and started toward the aisle when something caught him so off guard that he jumped about eight feet in the air.
‘It's happening... It's actually happening... I'm buying broccoli.’
Ray stopped and blinked at how random that was, looking around for someone near him who had said it but there was only a man a long way down the produce section, staring at the bag of broccoli he was holding. He didn’t know whether to laugh or ignore it because clearly it hadn’t been spoken, but it had been thought. Did that mean…? Ray looked hard at the man placing the broccoli in his cart before he decided to test it. He started toward the aisle he was originally going too but stopped at the front of it.
‘What kind of ramen should I get? Hm.’
Ray watched the man’s head snap up out the corner of his eye and held back a smile. He couldn’t jump to conclusions. Just a little more time.
‘I guess shrimp will do. I had chicken last time.’
He started down the aisle, naming off the contents of the aisle as he went just so the man would know it was him, until he got to the ramen and smiled.
‘Ah here it is.’
Plucking it off the shelf, he noticed the man had followed him down the aisle and as Ray turned to go back the way he came he say the man was staring at him and they finally got a good look at each other.
He was the definition of tall, dark and handsome and Ray didn’t even try to hide the fact that he was checking the taller man out.
‘Holy f*ck, he’s hot..’
The thought rang out at the same time in both of their heads and their eyes widened as they both heard the other. The man immediately blushed brightly and Ray blushed a bit too. He was nervous but excited. This was his soulmate, standing right in front of him and god he could already feel himself falling.
“Uh- hey, my name’s Joel. Joel Heyman.”
Ray smiled and looked up at him shyly.
“I'm Ray. Ray Narvaez Jr.”
There was a moment of silence before Ray broke it.
“So uh- we’re soulmates, huh?”
Joel nodded with a smile, Ray knowing the man was just as nervous as he was.
“Yeah. Um- Do you wanna like- Uh- We can-“
Ray smiled wide, chuckling a bit.
“How about we finish shopping and get to know each other, yeah?”
Joel grinned, his eyes twinkling with the same excitement that lit up Ray’s.
“I’d love that.”
And that was what they did. They fell into easy conversations and banter, learning more and more about each other the longer they stayed in the store. By the time they were in the checkout line, Ray could definitely say he was head over heels for the guy. He found everything Joel did to be adorable. The way he talked with his hands, when he stumbled over words, and especially when he would throw in unnecessary curse words to emphasize something; everything. And Ray know that Joel felt the same, if his thoughts were anything to go by. He’d catch the man staring more times than not, only one thought running through his head.
‘God, he’s perfect.’
Ray would blush and send him a shy smile, feeling a sense of giddiness and self-consciousness embrace him with the words. They ended up paying for their groceries when Ray realized that he had too many bags to carry himself and grinned. An excuse to stay with Joel longer? Yes, please. Joel was giddy too, and happily accepted the task of holding the rest of Ray’s bags if it meant spending more time with the Puerto Rican. As they left the grocery store, Ray realized that he’d come in not even looking for his soulmate and now he was leaving with him walking right beside him, them knowing more about each other than anyone have and will ever know about them. Ray smiled softly as a thought unintentionally crossed his mind.
‘I’m not so alone anymore.’
Joel physically stopped at that, looking down at Ray with an unreadable expression. Ray realized the other had stopped almost immediately and looked up at him questionably. Joel opened his arms wide and engulfed Ray in the best hug he’d ever received. Ray smiled as he buried his head in Joel’s neck and Joel tightened his grip.
“You don’t ever have to worry about being alone anymore, Ray. If I have anything to do with it, I’ll be around so much you’ll get sick of me.”
Ray giggled before he took a deep breath and let it out as a content sigh.
"I’d never get tired of you, Joel."
Joel smiled at his answer and pulled back a little to kiss him on the forehead.
“Well then, let’s get back to your apartment. We got dinner to make, yeah?”
Ray grinned wide, reluctantly pulling all the way back from the hug.
“Hell yeah. Let’s make some dinner, Donut.”
Joel grinned before sending Ray a fake pointed look.
“I’m Caboose, Brownman.”
Ray chuckled, just grinning at the quickly deteriorating serious look on Joel’s face.
“Yeah sure, Donut. Whatever you say.”
With a shared smile, the two stepped forward toward Ray’s apartment and toward a new, less lonely life.
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