Soul Mate Service (boyxboy)

Chapter 34

THADDEUS

From the very first day I'd been accepted into the social ranks of the Construction Unit crew, Mitty and I's usual lunch spot had transformed into a chaotic assembly of guys I'd never seen before in my life. (Mitty insisted they weren't strangers, claiming that I'd apparently been working alongside those same dudes for months, but honestly, how was I supposed to remember that?) And now, every day, I had the privilege of sharing my midday meal with a rowdy bunch of hooting and hollering dickheads.

Who knew that having friends other than Mitty would be so damn annoying?

I kinda fucking loved it.

"-And when she bounces on it like that, I'm not even ashamed to say that turn into a freakin' ten-second shooter, man! It's fuckin' crazy, dude." One of the guys sitting across from me shouted over all of the insanity. I'd quickly found out that it wasn't unusual for these Lunch Period conversations to get out of pocket with a quickness. In fact, it was almost expected.

Sure, it was a lil' weird at first. But luckily, I got used to the routine of the conversations switching from ration portioning to comparing dick sizes pretty quickly.

That guy - Bob or Pob or... Ricardo or some shit - then turned in his seat, only to grin stupidly at me from across the table. "What about you, bro? I bet Aria has you all tangled up in the bedroom-"

"Don't talk about him like that," I snapped instinctively through a low growl, the words spewing forth on pure instinct. Sure, I was cool with talking about their weird ass sexual activities. But speaking of Aria in that context was where I drew a very firm, very fatal boundary.

I was the only one who was allowed to think about Aria like that. Aria was mine, and mine alone. Point blank period. End of any and all fucking stories.

"Woah, dude, calm down!" Bob-Pob-Ricardo said, raising his hands up in surrender even as he still grinned over the table. "We get it, Aria is your perfect pretty prince!"

"Keyword: mine," I clarified, leaning back in my chair, attempting to exude the nonchalant, chill guy demeanor that I absolutely did not possess whenever it came to anything to do with Aria.

Onix chimed in then, longingly eyeing my empty lunch container that still sat on the table in front of me. "Can you at least share his cooking with us? Like, dude your lunches always look so amazing." He paused, eyes lighting up with a sudden realization. "Wait, do you think he'd make us all lunches if we asked?"

I clenched my teeth as the group of dickheads all turned toward Onix in mutual agreement, muttering bullshit like: "oh, do you think we should maybe go to his housing pod after Work Unit and ask?", and "he made me cookies once when we were in Instructional together and I just about died because they were so fuckin' good. I'm pretty sure I'm still dead to this day, actually."

Their bickering only lasted a few seconds though, mainly because that was the definitive limit to my dwindling patience.

"Aria only makes my lunches, alright?" I grumbled, the mere thought of someone else enjoying the exclusive privilege I'd cherished for months triggering a surge of selfishness. It was a wholly irrational thought - I know - but at this point I was so far gone that I'm pretty sure there was absolutely nothing that could stop me from hogging my Soul Mate and all of his talents all to myself.

That odd, undomesticated and possessive part of my brain that had only seemed to grow lately grunted in agreement.

Onix whined in exasperated frustration, a pout - yes a literal pout - forming on his lips. "Seriously, man, you're being a real buzzkill! My lunch today? One lonesome piece of fuckin' roast beef!" he complained melodramatically, holding up the meager remnants of said beef scraps. If I was being honest, it did look pretty damn pitiful, but that still didn't make it my problem. "Jeez, have some compassion for us lowly scavengers!"