#i started out thinking 'cute soulmate au' but i guess like...here take some traumatized ! reader instead

[slasherscream]

A/N: i love soulmate shit. it's my bread and fucking butter my dudes. so here's a soulmate au where you see your soulmate for the first time in mirrors. take a fucking sip, babes!

     billy loomis x reader x stu macher             ft. mirror soulmate au 

                                                     ——————– 

You’d always dreamed about the day you’d first lay eyes on your soulmate. What would they look like? Act like? Would you see and meet each other young? Have a whole lifetime of love ahead of you? Would you meet when you’re old? Have a lifetime of experience behind you but still have hearts open enough for love?

You tried not to obsess over the concept. Plenty of people didn’t have soulmates. You might be one of them. It would be fine if you turned out to be one of them. People without soulmates don’t all die alone or live a life doomed to ongoing misery. You tell yourself these things a lot.

You also tell yourself your young. Very young. It’s a rare few that ever meet their soulmate so young. Still, you feel like there’s always an itch under your skin. Like any moment now something incredible will happen. The incredible something. That special moment where you’ll just be standing in front of a mirror, or a shop window, or any number of things! And the surface of that item would warp and gone would be your own reflection, in its place would stand the reflection of your soulmate. Your true love. Somewhere out in the world, perfect and beautiful, just waiting for you. Or        realistically speaking maybe not waiting per-say but, you can always dream. At least in the privacy of your own head.

This is one of those rare moments you aren’t thinking about your soulmate at all. Not even subconsciously. You’re brushing your teeth and dancing around your bathroom to the radio. Having a good time all by yourself. Then it happens. The moment you’ve been waiting for since you understood what soulmates really were.

The mirror you’re dancing in front of shifts and changes. You don’t notice it at first, too busy rocking out. You do notice when you whip around to point a finger at yourself in the mirror only to not see … yourself. Instead you see two boys.

Two boys wearing identical, loose black costumes. Two boys who are soaked in blood. Absolutely covered in it. The bathroom around them covered in it as well. It paints a gruesome scene. In the tall one’s hands you see something white and your heart stops. A mask. Their faces are exposed but in that taller one’s hands is a mask. A Mask you know intimately well for someone who lives in Woodsboro, CA.

Your brain is starting to work again. Your soulmate. One of these boys is your soulmate. Then your brain throws out another thought, you know these boys. They go to your fucking school. They go to your school. The ghostface masks. All that red. Blood. It’s blood. Masks. The names, you remember them now, Stu and Billy. Billy and Stu, a dynamic duo rarely seen apart. How fitting, you guess, that they’re quite literally partners in crime for this.

You have just enough brain faculty left online to try and catalog how they’re reacting. You’re trying to see…. trying to understand which one of these boys soaked in blood is reacting to you. Reacting to the shocked and stricken look you have on your face, toothbrush hanging from your mouth.

They’re both staring at the mirror. Not like one is seeing you and the other is trying to imagine what their friend is seeing in the awed way people always feel when they’re around when someone discovers their soulmate. They’re both staring at the mirror. Both staring at you.

Billy looks shocked, isn’t moving a muscle, hardly looks like he’s breathing. Stu is a whirlwind of motion. He’s pulling at his hair and seems to be screaming. You can’t read his lips. Never had a reason to try reading lips before. You want so badly to know what he’s saying at this moment. It’s probably what you’re thinking, oh fuck oh fuck oh fuck oh fu c k-

You open your mouth to start to scream. That was the original intention. What you actually do is start throwing up. It burns. Your eyes start to burn too, with tears that quickly spill down your face. You can’t move to make it to the toilet or the sink. Just fall to your knees right where you are, sobbing and sick to your stomach. You wish your bathroom was smaller in that moment, differently shaped maybe. You know they can still see you where you are, curled up on the floor, but at least you can’t see them.

Them.

A whole life fantasizing about one, perfect person to love you and you actually have two of them. Two fucking serial killers. This is the exact opposite of everything you’d ever wanted from this moment. The exact opposite of everything you’d ever dreamed. It feels like your whole world is shattering. You start to scream now. Raw, and angry, and heartbroken you start to scream. Your parents coming running up to your room, barging into your bathroom. Panicked they ask you what’s wrong. Your mother is crying. You fall into their arms but don’t stop wailing. How could you? This is the worst moment of your life.

                                                     ——————– 

You should have told. Should have told someone. Should tell someone right now. People would listen. Would even understand the fact that you’d waited nearly a week to go to the police. How does one turn in their soulmate? Turn in their pair of serial killer soulmates?

You haven’t been to school. Your parents, having never seen you act the way you did …. that night, aren’t pushing you to go. They don’t know what happened. You couldn’t begin to tell them. To form the words. What would you say? How can you express such a sudden feeling of profound horror and loss? It had hit you like a train-wreck and wasn’t getting any easier with the passing of time.

You can’t eat. Can’t sleep. Can’t leave the house. You’re stuck in a mini paralysis. A living nightmare.

You’d only just managed to call your worried best friend that morning. Ask with a voice hoarse from endless crying if Billy Loomis and Stu Macher had been in class these last few days. Confused, they’d answered in the negative. You’d hung up promptly.

They hadn’t been to school either? Probably figuring out how they're going to kill you. Even though you’re horrified at what you’d seen you’re still heartbroken at the thought. They were still your soulmates. Your killer soulmates.

It’s why you hadn’t told a single soul what you’d seen. Without knowing them you’d loved them your whole life. Had made vows to yourself about loving whoever the universe saw fit to give you with the entirety of your heart. Some small part of you is still echoing those same vows. Repeating them over and over again, is what your heart does every time your brain tries to be logical. Tries to do what’s right. You feel like a monster. They could be hurting people right this minute. People you know! People you see every day, smile at, wave at. But still your silence persists.

You doubt they feel any sort of loyalty to you. Any sort of anything at all. They’re probably sociopaths. Or psychopaths. You forget which are the ones that can’t feel love. Nothing more than a loose end to them, probably. Just a problem to solve. Just another ghostface victim that isn't dead yet. Their secret will die with you when they kill you. Any day now, you think. It’s what you’ve thought every second since you saw them in the mirrors.

You can’t decide which hurts more, the thought of your own life being cut so short or knowing who will be doing the cutting. A dry sob escapes your throat and it hurts so badly. You can’t remember the last time you drank water. Can’t remember the last time you ate.

The doorbell rings. You ignore it. The doorbell keeps ringing. Your crying still, laying out on the couch. You’ve been crying a lot. When you shove yourself away from the cushions you immediately feel dizzy. You head to the front door anyway. You know you look terrible, whoever is there will take one good look at you and do the polite thing and go away.

You yank open the door.

You’d scream but your throat is too sore. All that comes out of you is a surprised little squeak that hurts more than it should. So much so that you grab your throat afterwards, whimpering from the pain (both physical and emotional).

Billy Loomis and Stu Macher are on your front step. Stu’s finger poised to press the doorbell one more time and Billy looking oddly stressed. More stressed than you’d ever seen him look. These are stressful times all around, you sympathize completely.

The part of you that cares whether you live or die wants to slam the door and start running away. The part of you that is already so tired of living like this, in constant fear and heartbreak? That’s the part that has you sagging against the door and wiping another round of tears from your eyes.

“Can we come in?” Stu asks, stepping up beside Billy who is doing nothing but staring at you. It’s not an angry stare… just a stare. When his face finally does shift it’s to fatigue. He looks just as tired as you feel.

It still hurts to speak so you just turn around and walk back inside, leaving the door open for them. You won’t beg. Won’t ask what they’re going to do to you. How they’re going to hurt you. You don’t have it in you to hear all that. You just hope they kill you quickly. It doesn’t have to be painless, even. Just quick. Quick enough so you can pretend your soulmates aren’t murdering you.

You don’t react when you hear the door closing or hear footsteps following close behind. You just walk to the living room and lie back down in the spot you’d been laying on for hours. Days. You close your eyes trying to already get used to darkness. You wonder if it will just be darkness forever or if they’ll be something waiting for you after the pain. You think you deserve an after of some sort for living through this type of hell.

Silence fills the room. You know they’re still there though. Can hear them settling in the chairs across from you. Your soulmates. You want to laugh and you do so, it’s manic and hoarse. Utterly painful to do. It’s unlike any other laugh you’ve had before. You don’t think this bit of throat pain will bother you too much in a moment.

“Are you okay, Y/N?” Billy’s voice for the first time, drifting through the open space oh so delicately. You’ve seen him covered in blood. Dripping in blood. He whispers your name like saying it too loud will break you. Maybe it would. Why does it matter? You’ll be dead soon.

“What are we waiting for here?”

“Huh?” This time it’s Stu.

“Just do it already.” You still haven’t opened your eyes. You don’t want to see. You remember dreaming of getting married. Of starting a family. Of just being madly in love. You don’t want to open your eyes to a reality so cruelly throwing all your dreams in your face.

“We’re not here to kill you.” Billy spits. The venom in his voice makes you open your eyes. Not jump. Just open your eyes.

He’s staring at you like he’s been waiting to look you in the eyes his whole life. He has nice eyes. Intense and brown. Perfect for getting lost in. The romantic that died in you brutally would melt. You just want to cry.

“No?” You croak back, it’s not really a question because you don’t believe him. Of course they’re here to kill you. But ghostface plays games doesn’t he? Likes to fuck with people before he kills them? Maybe this is what they’re doing. Coming here in normal clothes in the middle of the day. Luring you into security so when they kill you it’s all the crueler. The ultimate game.

“Here.” You’d closed your eyes again at some point and only open them because something is being pushed into your hand. A glass. Cold glass of water. Stu’s sitting beside you pushing water into your hands and he looks … you’d almost say worried. You settle on pitying. You drink the water anyway.

Wonder if it’s poisoned. But that’s not their M.O.

“Thanks.” Your throat hurts less immediately. You are actually grateful for the small kindness. It’s probably the last one you’ll experience.

“Stu, we talked about this-” Billy says and Stu springs up from where he sits on the couch beside you. It’s only when he goes do you realize he’d had his entire side pressed to your own. You miss the warmth you didn’t know you’d been soaking up. You’ve felt cold these last few days inside and out.

This is the first moment that peace dissolves. Stu’s hands are ripping through his hair, reminiscent of that night you’d first seen them in the mirror. Billy seems to be an echo of that night too. He’s so still beside the rise and fall of his chest. Like a snake ready to strike.

“I just want to-” Stu starts off nearly screaming before he folds into himself. Billy gets up then, eyes finally moving away from you. He puts an arm around Stu and turns the both of them away from you. You can see that his hand rubs circles into Stu’s back like he’s trying to soothe him. They talk for a moment. Quiet murmurs you can’t focus on. Probably working out last minute details. You’re so tired.

“Please make it quick.” You interject into the space softly, they turn back to face you. Staring at them both at once is …. a lot, but you manage. “As quick as possible, please. I just …. I don’t-” your eyes are stinging again.

You don’t want to cry in front of them. But you have so little control over the body you’ve been abusing and neglecting these last few days. The best you can do is tuck your face into your knees and hold yourself. You press your knees into your eyes so hard it hurts. The pain is grounding. Centering. Everything will be okay soon, you tell yourself.

“No one came here to hurt you.” Billy says tightly, like he’s trying not to be frustrated. He speaks the way someone who knows they’d signed up for an impossible, irritating task does. “We didn’t even bring anything we could use to hurt you.”

“There are things in the house.” You’re practically on autopilot. About to start offering up the kitchen knives in the same way a host would offer someone lemonade. “Lots of things. You’re both creative.”

“Jesus christ, Billy-” Stu practically whimpers.

“I know, Stu.” He answers back, sounding tired again.

“We didn’t come here to do anything to you. We just-”

“Then why’d you come?” You shoot back and with that Stu is crying. That shocks you. The first bit of real feeling in days. You shift uncomfortably in your seat even, at the sight of his tears. The heartbreak on his face. It looks like he wants to fall apart, and then he looks desperately to Billy like he hope’s the other boy knows how to keep him together.

“You’re our… you’re our soulmate. You’re ours. We’re-”

“Yours.” Finishes Billy, putting a steadying hand on Stu’s shoulder. Stu pulls himself together quickly enough. Like he’s on a mission even though his eyes are still misty, “Whether we all like it or not.”

And that is your breaking point. You’d never imagined that being said to you when you imagined your soulmate. Whether we like it or not- (stuck with me. stuck with them. stuck. probably hate me. You wish you could hate them. But some part of you loved them even with the way you saw them that first time, soaked in blood) you sob and it makes your body want to be sick again. Desperate gasps for air narrowly avoid becoming dry heaves.

They’re both crowding you now, panicked by your panic. Your distress. Hands on you. Arms around you. One boy on each side and God help you, you melt into their arms.

“Didn’t tell anyone. Should’ve. But I didn’t. Like it or not,” You would scream if you could, “Like it or not       I loved you before I ever met you. Dreamed about you. And I-”

Billy tucks you into his arms, pulls you into his lap and Stu follows, pressing into your back like he’s drawn to you magnetically. The back of your shirt feels wet. He’s still crying, you realize. It makes you cry harder.

“That wasn’t the way you’d always dreamed of meeting us as a kid?” There’s something about his tone that’s softer now. You're doing nothing but babbling really, making such little sense, but Billy is an expert at deciphering what people mean. He’s seemed to realize now that you don’t hate them, much as you should. You’re just confused. Upset. Rattled. But there’s no hate in the way you’re clinging to him and reaching back for Stu. No hate to be found in your eyes. In your voice. Your touch. Just hurt. They can deal with hurt. They can fix hurt.

“Understatement.” Even as upset as he is Stu laughs at your dry response. Nuzzles into the back of your neck with a sniffle.

“We have a lot to talk about.” Billy runs his hand through your hair. Keeps your head pressed to his chest like he wants to tattoo you there. Keep you there. Remember you there. This is such a cluster-fuck of a situation this might be his one chance to hold you.

“It can wait.” Mumbles Stu against your hair, arms coming up to encircle you and Billy both.

You agree. You don't want to think too much about how the hands on you have been covered in blood. Hurting people. They're holding you gently and you want, just for a moment, to be soulmates. Just a regular trio of soulmates in need of a moment of peace before they brave the worst shitstorm of their own making.

                                                     ——————–

[gypsin]

Thoughts on the Soulmate Trope

Here are some of my thoughts, notes & tips on writing the soulmates trope. (clearly, I’ve been thinking about writing my own soulmate fic someday and how I want to do it)

It’s also pretty clear that I went a bit overboard with my thoughts. So since that’s the case I thought I’d share.  Below are soulmate ‘quirks’, my thoughts on them, and ‘roadblocks’ followed by a general example and some ranting.

Enjoy!

Quirks: (These are mostly just the ones I can remember other people using.)

- writing on your skin shows up on your soulmate too.

This is basically just a pen pals trope. XD

-dream sharing

Always a fun one, but it takes a lot of creativity to be pulled off really well IMO.

-sharing/splitting injuries

almost a surefire hurt/comfort fic if you use this one, but some people use it like the ‘writing on your skin’ quirk and just hint at the connection with bruises and small cuts.

-telepathy

(especially in moments of physical or mental weakness)

-seeing something about the other that no one else can see

It could be anything from a weird/supernatural physical trait, (pointed ears/ fangs/ weird eye color/ mysterious tattoo, etc) to something even stranger (tiny spirits that follow people around, each others aura, flashes of who they used to be in a past life) whatever appeals to you and your story.

-shared birthmarks / soulmarks

Oh man soulmarks, it’s like one of the most popular quirks in the trope. And it’s really versatile too! For example, the position of the mark could indicate the kind of relationship it will be  (ex: over the heart = true love, on the hand = steadfastness and resolve)

And a lot of the time the mark is a clue toward who the other person is. it’s a great opportunity for symbolism in a story. Or you could just straight up make the soulmarks be each other’s NAMES, there are a billion ways you could play it.

-first touch/ eye contact triggers intense mental or physical reaction

(usually feelings of love coming from a past life or some sort of future nostalgia’?’) this is sort of the bread and butter quirk of the trope. Its main issue is that it makes for a SUPER short fic if the two people just fall in love at first sight/touch with no hijinx involved. But I’ve also seen it effectively mixed with quirks like shared emotions, telepathy, and dream sharing so it all depends on how you use it I guess.

-shared emotions/sensations

(intense anger, sadness, joy, pain, pleasure, etc)( intensity can likely be controlled or varies based on the situation) this is a fun one if you’re writing smut for sure, but it's interesting to play with all around too. It basically means every stressful/amazing moment gets shared with the other person and with a supportive couple that’s going to get you far in the fluff & hurt/comfort camps.

-intense need to be near each other

(can compel one or both to drop what they are doing and go to each other, especially in times of distress.)

the weird thing about this one is that I’ve seen it used alongside all sorts of other quirks, and it totally works. Like if one character gets hit by a car in a soulmates fic it's almost guaranteed that this quirk is going to hit the other person like a freight train for no good reason and they are RUNNING to the scene of the accident/hospital.

But it’s sort of unsurprising that it works considering the fact that the whole point of the soulmates trope is that the characters share a weird magical/spiritual bond.

- soulmates can hear each other sing no matter how far apart they are

I’ve seen this one before in a MLB fic and it was cute/silly as HELL. I firmly encourage more inventive and oddly specific quirks like this to fatten up the trope.

-the ability to share what the other is seeing and/or hearing.

(If it’s at will then it probably requires concentration for a clear picture/sound)

I’ve seen this one in movies and it’s pretty cool! But a lot of what’s makes it work is the story going on around them and not the romance itself. I’m not saying to neglect the romance but if you use this quirk you’d better have a super good story to go along with it because this one is all about how the character’s share their lives and situations with each other. If you don’t make those lives interesting then the quirk is wasted. But that’s just my opinion.

With soulmate AU’s you could have it so that everyone has the same quirk or You could mix it up and use all of them (In that instance, I would make some of these more common than others. ex: writing on the skin= rare, birth/soulmarks = semi-rare, first touch/ eye contact = common.) OR you could even make it so that nobody really knows about or believes in soulmates and make your couple an oddity.

Either way,  the point of the soulmate trope is that the side effect of the bond helps lead the couple together. But if you make it too easy then the relationship won’t feel genuine or earned.

Typically, you have one character who is cautiously hopeful about finding and falling for their soulmate (or is extremely eager about meeting their soulmate. See below.)

And the other character has hit some sort of roadblock that has to be overcome.

But they could both have their own issues on dating their soulmate too. It’s all up to the type of characters you're portraying and their circumstances.

Common soulmate roadblocks:

-not everyone HAS a soulmate or theirs died before they could meet and someone that doesn't have one gets jealous and tries to separate the couple.

-one of them is confused by the bond’s clues and think its leading them to someone else.

-one of them thinks the bond is wrong or that they've over thought it because they don't initially approve of their chosen partner / think their partner is too good for them /etc.

-the bond’s side effect gets in the way of their everyday life and they come to resent the other person regardless of if it's their fault or not.

-one of the characters flat out disapproves of their partner being ‘chosen for them’ regardless of who it is.

-one of them (or possibly a family member/friend) is WAY too eager about the soulmate thing and puts pressure on the other person to start a romantic relationship with their partner asap and ends up scaring them away.

-regardless of the bond they still don't find each other for years or were looking in the wrong places. (likely only find one another after they've given up) (god I hate this one, it's so sad)

-one of them gives up on finding their soulmate and goes out with someone else (only to find them during or after the breakup stages) (not fond of this one either)

-saw/ heard about a soulmate bond that should have been platonic turn romantic and then go up in flames.

-knew someone who's soulmate died and doesn't want to go through all that pain someday.

I suggest choosing at least two to make a more complex relationship that will feel earned. But you should do way more if you’re writing a multi-chapter fic. Just remember to stay consistent with the character’s situation and reasoning, and try not to overcompensate with roadblocks.

Example:

The setting is an Au where everyone knows their soulmate via soulmarks

Character A (female) wants to have a relationship with their SM and has a mark of a black fox on her shoulder.  

Character B (male) disapproves of their partner being ‘chosen for them’ regardless of who it is. This is probably compacted by the embarrassing fact that he has a pink butterfly on his shoulder. This has affected his day to day life and he resents his SM for it.

When they meet B see’s A’s fox soulmark (because she’s purposely showing it off so she can find her SM.) But he keeps his hidden.

B tries to avoid A but can’t completely. A does/says something endearing and B’s walls come down a little and they get to know each other. B starts falling for A.

From there you can go a bunch of different ways. You can end the story there by having A do/say something that makes B fall completely in love, reveal his soulmark and admit to his feelings, OR you can drag out the roadblocks you have by making B unwilling to admit to anything and have him agonize over it a while longer.

Adding roadblocks at this point is okay too.

Maybe A finds out B hid his soulmark from her and didn’t originally want to be with her and gets offended. Or Maybe A’s family is WAY too eager about the soulmate thing and ends up spooking B away again. Or you can add a jealous coworker or friend to try and sabotage the relationship and have B get jealous/ protective.

Just bear in mind that their mental states have already been covered in this example so you shouldn’t make any more mental roadblocks. Making B suddenly cut off A after they’ve gotten close because he knew someone who's soulmate died and he’s totally traumatized doesn’t make sense. Either lay out all the emotional issues at the start or keep quiet about them and lay it out later to make it a surprise. Don’t just ADD emotional issues into the mix randomly.

On the same note, I think other kinds of roadblocks get more leeway. Just don't constantly tease the reader with potential relationship development and then have some event or drama just as constantly interrupt/ruin it. People WANT to see the couple get closer. Don't drag out the story just because you can, you have to make it flow naturally. (but I feel like that should go without saying)