Chapter Text
Fili sighed as the slow chorus notes of Bohemian Rhapsody lowly sung in his mind for the third time. He’d hoped his One had finally changed the song, but he wasn’t so lucky. It was a great song, but hearing it multiple times a day could drive any sane person mad.
He glanced at Kili, who was already strumming his fingers along to the beat. “Rhapsody?” he asked.
Kili looked at him, mirth in his eyes, “Yeah, never seems to get old for them.”
Years ago, they concluded that their Ones, or soulmates, had known each other. They were probably close friends, maybe even siblings. There couldn’t be any other explanation; who else would have been singing the entire album to Hamilton for a week straight? They both had to be some type of music or theater nerds.
He looked out the window to the town of Cambridge, his home for the next four years, eight if he decided to go for his Ph.D. in mechanical engineering. Getting into MIT had been his and Kili’s dream since they discovered their love and talent for math and science. Opening their acceptance letters was one of his favorite memories. And one of his amad’s, if the way she had flattened and framed it was anything to go by.
“Oh, those apartments look lovely!” Dis exclaimed as she took a hand off the wheel and pointed at the towering apartments to her left. “Vili, we’re getting the boys an apartment next year.”
“Of course, âmralimê. And as much as I love looking for new apartments for their next year, we gotta make it to their dorm this year-Dis stop!” Vili, their father, yelped as Dis slammed the break. She hadn’t seen the upcoming yellow light “Dis, you gotta pay more attention. This is your fourth vehicle this year.”
Fili tuned out their banter as they devolved into a long-debated argument that he had heard several times before. He leaned back into the seat and closed his eyes, images of New Vassar and the MIT campus coming to mind. He was so excited to be here, in Cambridge, with the sounds of the city, the cars, and people, along with the heavy beat of music from the car beside them blasting Bohemian Rhapsody.
What a weird coincidence, he thought, that sounds exactly like…
His eyes snapped open as he looked at his brother, whose eyes were wide with disbelief as he came to the same conclusion.
Looking past Dis, he saw a bright yellow Jeep Renegade in the next lane, with the passenger side window rolling down and the voices of their soulmates belting lyrics to the same song that had been playing in their minds.
His heart stuttered as he saw curly dark brown hair spilling past the driver seat headrest and the lovely tawny skin of her shoulder. He never thought shoulders were elegant or attractive, but here he was in the backseat of his amad’s grey Hyundai, practically drooling over the shoulder of his One.
When she began to sing again, he thought her voice was the sweetest thing he ever heard. Sweeter than honey or berries, sweeter than any desert he ever tasted. She was a siren, and he would willing to swim through the ocean to beg at her feet.
Her head turned as she smiled and sang, and he could almost see her face as her car began to move.
“Amad, that car!” he yelled, interrupting their argument. He was panicking because his One was leaving. Mahal, he hadn’t even seen her face, he didn’t even know her name, how was-
“What? What car? Fili, what are you talking-”
“Amad, please! That yellow Jeep! Our Ones are in that Jeep!” Kili answered, his panicked voice trailing off as he frantically leaned up and clutched at the driver's seat in front of him, trying to follow the Jeep in question.
“What? Oh Mahal okay, okay lemme…” Fili didn’t hear her answer as the SUV suddenly swerved into the next lane, causing several loud horns to go off as she cut people off, Kili clutching at the back of her seat and Vili giving out directions as he frantically looked for the car.
Fili could only sit there in silence, a cold feeling of despair settling in his gut as he lost sight of the bright yellow car among the sea of traffic. He didn’t care to listen to the conversation between Dis and Vili. He could only gently pry his brother's hand away from its clutched seat. He leaned forward to hug his brother and could feel the way his brother shook as he began to cry softly.
The seatbelt cut into his neck and chest, but he didn’t care. He and his brother mourned how they had found their Ones, their soulmates, but hadn’t been able to see or meet them.
He lost himself in the memories of the moments that he had laid eyes upon her, the way her hair curled and brushed against her skin. The loveliness of her voice as she sang. He thought about how her hair would feel between his fingers and how her skin would feel beneath him, but each time the fantasy was broken when he looked toward her face and saw nothing.
~*~*~*~*~*
Fili was broken from his daze when the SUV was shut off. He pulled back, peeled Kili’s arms from him, and leaned back into his seat. A heavy silence lingered between the family of four, broken by the random sniffles from Kili.
Vili was the first to break it. “Mauk, we’re sorry.”
“We’d follow them, but chasing someone through American traffic in the middle of rush hour during move-in week…” Dis trailed off sadly
“...Is difficult and, more importantly, isn’t safe.” Vis finished
“More important?” Kili hissed, and Fili could see the anger in his face. “More important? Our Ones were in that car. I heard the singer of my soul, and I couldn’t even face her. I haven’t seen her face, and now she’s gone.” Kili cried brokenly, his shoulders shaking again. Silence filled the air again as Dis and Vili struggled to find anything to say.
Fili didn’t have to look at Kili’s face to know that tears were probably trailing down his face. He could feel his own hot tears slowly fall down his cheek and into his beard.
The silence stretched on.
“I’m sure that you both will find them again,” Vili murmured, “You’ll probably see them on campus, might even have the same classes if you’re lucky!”
Confusion filled Fili, “What?”
Dis and Vili turned to look at both sons, their brows furrowed in confusion. “On campus? You’ll probably see them at MIT.” Dis said.
He and Kili shared a look, Kili’s eyes more red-rimmed than his. Vili sighed as he spoke.
“Didn’t either of you see that bumper sticker? There was an MIT sticker on the rear windshield. Mahal knows I’m getting old, but I’m not that blind to not spot that giant thing..” Vili trailed off as Dis commented on his age, and their bickering about aging in terms of wine and cheese began.
Hope began to bloom in his chest slowly. “What?”
Dis turned to Fili again, “Yeah, they had a giant MIT sticker and some IKEA boxes in the backseat. They’re probably students too. I’m sure you both would love to sit and wallow in your angst for the rest of the day, but we have to get you moved in on time. We’re going to see if we can get a moving cart or something, Mahal knows I’m not moving all of your stuff by hand. Come out when both of you are ready..” Dis and Vili got out of the SUV and entered their new dorm, New Vassar.
Fili’s eyes trailed up the building, its appearance both unnerving and appealing with its orange and white brick. His past excitement and anticipation over moving into New Vassar and starting classes at MIT were overshadowed by the happiness and despair at their near encounter with his One. He closed his eyes and breathed, slowly and deeply, to calm himself.
Fili noticed Kili’s soft sniffles as he reined in his own emotions and laid his hand on Kili’s shoulder. “They’re here, Kili. In Cambridge, and hopefully, at MIT. We’ll find them again. We’ll find them.”
Kili looked at him and studied his face for a long moment. His shoulders slumped as the tension faded from him. “We’ll find them. Together, we’ll find them.”
They hugged once again in the back of their amad’s grey Hyundai Santa Fe, parked along Vassar Street, Cambridge, where a new chapter of their lives was just beginning, yet he couldn’t help wanting to back to the familiar, to his childhood home in Norway, with the rest of their family. He wanted to sip cider as he sat in front of the fireplace wrapped in blankets while listening to Thorin lull him to sleep with local tales of magic, dwarves, and dragons.
Instead, he drew back from his brother Kili and opened his door.