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The earliest memory Yeosang had of his soulmate mark was when he was around 10 years old and he had asked his parents why he had a mark on his skin that just wouldn’t go away no matter how many times he washed. They told him about soulmates then, and that he had gotten his very early on but they weren’t able to find out who it was. Yeosang remembers feeling sad, but still upbeat, becoming obsessed with the mark and making up in his head visions of the mystery person who he had spoken to once upon a time.
He had always been a quiet and thoughtful person, he realised that he preferred if other people took charge of conversations or situations unless they really needed him to step in. Yeosang was more than happy to listen to those around him.
It gathered him a fantastic friend group with some of the best people he had ever met.
Meeting Mingi and Yunho was an experience - they were the first proper soulmate couple he had befriended and observed. Their love for each other was intense but still so light and airy at the same time, like they were never going to grow bored of each other.
Seonghwa was obviously a different story but the man had such an optimistic and romantic view of meeting his soulmate one day that Yeosang couldn’t help but immediately get attached to him.
When they all saw his own soulmate mark but with no partner in sight, it took them around one month for someone to finally mention it.
The thought made Yeosang giggle.
“Sangie, can I ask you something?” Seonghwa was the one that spoke up, setting down his glass of wine on the oak table as he turned to his friends. Yeosang smiled, nodding as he noticed that the other two had grown quiet as well, as if waiting for something. “Do you mind if we ask about your soulmate mark?”
Yeosang stared at the three of them and could sense how nervous they were. It was adorable, the fact that he knew they had clearly had conversations about this before bringing it up was very true to their nature. Like they were afraid of offending him somehow, or if it was a bad memory.
“Oh, that. Yeah I got it when I was really young - can’t remember who it is - so I never really mention it?” He explained, crossing his legs over and smiling at the thought of the words on his hip bone.
“So you don’t know who they are?” Mingi interrupted, his mouth falling open a little.
“No, I was too young, and the words are a little basic so I couldn't really find out either.”
“That’s… pretty horrible Sangie.” Seonghwa looked distraught, as if he couldn’t think of how Yeosang was coping with that his whole life, again, it was very adorable. With a chuckle, Yeosang patted the older’s leg softly.
“It’s fine. I’ll meet them again one day, I don’t mind. We just met too early.” He explained, shrugging his shoulders as he repeated the words he said to anyone that asked him about it. It’s not that he wasn’t sad that he didn’t know who his soulmate was - he was - but he knew that there was a plan in place. They’ll meet again. One day.
“What a beautiful way to look at it.” Seonghwa looked amazed at him, eyes sparkling with amazement as he stared at his friend.
“Thanks hyung.”
It’s why he felt no bitterness towards his best friend when he had found Hongjoong. Yes, he felt bad that the other was clearly going through a tough time but he knew that they’d work it out eventually - it just wasn’t going to be as easy Seonghwa had first thought. All he could do however was wait to be called for advice or help, Seonghwa deserved to love his soulmate and be loved in return.
Which was why when he saw the message Seonghwa had put in the group chat on the day of his first proper date with Hongjoong he was ready within ten minutes. Especially if all of Hongjoong’s friends were there. He wasn’t going to let Seonghwa be surrounded by strangers - he had to show support.
And also ask why they were allowed to gatecrash their date when MIngi and Yeosang asked were met with a resounding ‘no’.
When he got to the park - a picnic, how cute he thought - he sent a message off to his friend and before he knew it he had a full sized Seonghwa in his arms, squeezing him tightly.
He was introduced to all of Hongjoong’s friends, laughing around mostly with the one called Wooyoung - their energies, despite being loud and quiet, seemed to match up quite well - before Hongjoong and Seonghwa left to be alone for a little while. Probably a good idea, they deserved a quiet end to their date. But it did mean that Yeosang was alone with the other three, and being as reserved as he was, he wasn’t sure how it was going to go. Sometimes when he met others, they took the silence as rudeness. Which - sometimes it was - but mostly it was just he had nothing to say.
Wooyoung and San were curled around each other from the get go, clearly soulmates, and Yeosang simply smiled at the way they were so clearly in sync with each other.
He looked around to the other person left on their own, observing him quietly.
Jongho had soft brown hair, wide eyes and a cute mouth, broad shoulders and was dressed in a very simple chic way. He was definitely Yeosang’s type. The type, he figured, looked incredibly soft on the outside, but as he watched the other reach over to grab a snack from the middle pile, he could make out some muscles hidden under a black t-shirt.
On a mission, he softly scooted over to the side a little, grabbing some food from the middle pile, and nudged the boy with his shoulder as he got close enough, speaking in his uncharacteristically deep voice..
“I’m Yeosang, blueberry?” He asked, holding out the packet to the other boy, chuckling when Jongho jumped at the sudden interaction.
“Oh, yeah sure.” Jongho reached forward and grabbed a couple pieces of the fruit, putting them in his mouth.
“Those two look pretty cosy.” Yeosang looked over at the other couple again, watching them touch each other and laugh.
“Mhm. Soulmates.” Jongho said, shrugging his shoulders.
“I figured, it’s nice.” Both of them nodded to each other. “Want another?” Yeosang asked a few minutes later after a bout of silence, offering the blueberries again, figuring that the other was a quiet soul just like he was. Not that he needed to fill the silence, it was actually quite comforting, sitting here with Jongho beside him.
“Sure.” The boy took another few blueberries and slowly chewed on them.
Yeosang stretched his legs out a little, groaning to himself when he heard one of his kneecaps click, he really should do leg exercises a bit more often instead of focusing on his arms. But it was hard to get motivated when none of his friends were even willing to step foot into a gym with him at all.
Actually, now he thought about it, he looked beside him at the boy who most definitely had a few muscles on him.
“Want to hit the gym together some time?” Yeosang asked, tilting his head.
“Uh… sure? Yeah, why not.” Jongho replied, a little taken aback from the sudden invitation outside of their group, but seemed happy with it. “How’d you know I went?”
“Your arms, they’re pretty big Jongho.” He motioned with his hands at the other’s biceps. “So I figured I could get a new gym buddy as well as a friend?”
“Yeah, well you’re right, wanna swap numbers?” Jongho brought out his phone and swapped with Yeosang, letting each other write in their own numbers before passing it back. “Awesome, I’ll hit you up.”
“Perfect.” Smiling to himself, Yeosang stood up and pocketed his phone. “Well, Seonghwa seems unbothered by you guys so I’m gonna go. Later.” With a small wave, he shoved his hands into his jackets and began walking away. And he pretended that he didn’t hear the conversation going on behind him even though Wooyoung clearly couldn’t keep his voice down if he even wanted to.
‘Damn! You got his digits already?!’
‘Sure.’
‘Sannie! Did you know Jongho had game?! Because I sure didn’t.’
‘Hyung, shut up.’
‘Congrats Jongho, you’re finally becoming a man! We need to celebrate.’
‘Shut the fuck up Wooyoung.’
Yeosang laughed as he walked away from all of them - when Hongjoong finally fixed his shit out, he was going to have fun with this new group of friends.
…
“Over here!”
Yeosang jogged over to where Jongho was currently sitting on a bench beside a couple of weights, nodding a greeting at him as he sat his water bottle down and began doing a few stretches. Jongho seemed to have been here for a little while already, he hoped he hadn’t kept him waiting too long.
They had messaged each other almost instantly, both sharing their schedules so that they could immediately set up a point in time that they could go to the gym together. It was only a couple of days later after their first meeting.
“I’m gonna hit the treadmill first, work up a bit of a sweat.” Yeosang commented, leaning down to stretch his calves a little. “Plus, I’ve been meaning to do some more leg work these days.”
“Cool. I’ve already stretched and done a couple of laps on the rowing machine, I’ll be here if you need a spotter or anything.” Jongho put in one airpod as he smiled at Yeosang, picking up a weight as he began some bicep crunches.
Okay, maybe Yeosang stared at his biceps for a bit too long but it was unfair that the other was wearing a sleeveless t-shirt.
A hot guy with hot muscles. Ah, Yeosang’s weakness.
Shaking the thought out of his head, he moved over to the treadmill and set it up to his own preferred settings, placing an ear phone in as well, keeping it loud and as bouncy as possible - he needed extra encouragement for anything that dealt with running. It was the one thing he hated doing. He worked up a bit of a sweat for five minutes, swiping off the sweat on his brow before he slowed down to a walking pace, taking a few heavy deep breaths.
It always made him feel better - just a rush of exercise endorphins, it’s how he tried to explain it to his friends to make them accompany him but he was never successful.
Oh well! He had Jongho now.
Speaking of, Yeosang turned around to see where his new friend was before his breath caught on his throat.
The other boy was currently shirtless, doing some sit ups beside the bench he was on.
And whilst that was an interesting sight itself, it wasn’t what caught his attention.
It was the other’s soulmate mark. One directly on his lower hip, the location that exactly matched his own. He couldn't make it out clearly. A normal person may let it go, but Yeosang had to know, he had to know because there was a feeling deep in his chest that was begging him to double check, to look closer, to make sure he wasn’t going to throw something so important to chance.
In a bold movement, Yeosang stepped off of the treadmill and sauntered straight up to the other, kneeling down beside him. Without a word, Jongho stopped and stared up at the sudden appearance of his friend.
“Are you okay?” He asked, worrying that the other was just staring down at him without saying anything..
But he realised Yeosang was looking at his stomach - and not him.
Following his eyes, he saw that Yeosang had made eye contact with a certain mark on his lower hip, and Jongho gasped, suddenly rolling out of the way before standing up and running.
“Wait!”
Yeosang instantly got up as well, running straight to where the other was now standing in front of the large mirrors within the gym. Huh. He thought he really was trying to run away from him. But Jongho’s own eyes were wide, as he stared at the mark himself.
Surely not. Surely this wasn’t the first time that Jongho noticed what was now etched into his skin.
Right?
Yeosang carefully walked up to him, making eye contact through the mirror as he kept a respectful distance away. Not to scare him, he didn’t want that.
The tattoo was standing out like a star in the sky to both of them.
‘I’m Yeosang, blueberry?’
The shock on both of their faces when they reread it meant that two days ago, when they first talked to each other, they didn’t even realise that they were completing a soulmate bond. Jongho softly ran his fingers over the new mark, not saying a word, not yet. So Yeosang let him figure it out as he tried the same.
He had had his own mark for a long, long time. It only meant that they had somehow met each other when they were children - not that Jongho would know that. He probably didn’t even remember! Not that Yeosang did either, but he had been walking around with the mark for a long time, wondering how he was going to recognise his mate if he didn’t even remember what he said to the stranger when he was a child.
Never in his wildest dream did he think that he hadn’t even spoken then. When Jongho and Yeosang met, Jongho had said something to him but Yeosang had not. Not a word. And now Jongho was stuck with the word blueberry on his skin.
Yeosang couldn’t help but laugh.
And Jongho quickly joined in, a gummy smile appearing as he did.
“Why are you laughing?” Yeosang asked, moving a little bit closer as he did, the happiness in his eyes hard to miss. Jongho finally turned away from the mirror and turned to face the other, moving forward as their chests barely touched.
“I don’t even like blueberries Yeosang. And now it’s on my skin.” He explained, laughing to himself as he said it. Yeosang’s eyes went wide.
“But you ate so many that day!”
“Yeah because I’m awkward and you're beautiful and I couldn’t say no.” Jongho shrugged as if it was the most normal thing in the world.
“I can’t believe you…”
“What does yours say, by the way?” Jongho asked, looking down at the other’s hipbone as if he could see straight through his clothes.
“Ah. It says ‘Okay, let’s play’.” Yeosang smiled as he thought of the words, trying in his head to create a scenario of a cute young Jongho coming up to him and forcing him to play with him, even though clearly Yeosang hadn’t said a word back to him. “I got it when I was really young, and I can’t really remember how it happened. I wasn’t sure who you were.”
“Oh. I’m sorry about that.” The younger said, sighing a little. “That must’ve been hard, having that all this time and not remembering me.”
But Yeosang shook his head instantly. That wasn’t true.
“No, it gave me hope that we’d meet again and look - here we are.” Yeosang moved forward just a little, feeling the other’s hot chest touch his own. “How do you feel about it?” He asked, knowing that obviously Hongjoong had a bad view of soulmates, so he wanted to make sure that Jongho didn’t.
“Oh, I’ve been waiting for this moment my entire life, hyung.” He said it without a pause, making Yeosang’s heart flutter.
“Thank fuck.”
No more words were said between them as Yeosang moved his hand to the other’s neck to softly pull his face forward, their lips clashing in the middle, a sweet kiss being shared. This was way overdue for Yeosang but it felt incredibly right. This was the day he had been waiting for - and he wasn’t going to waste another single second of his life without his soulmate by his side. They fell into the kiss a little more before they began hearing a couple of wolf whistles around them to remind them of where they were.
“Ah, we should probably go somewhere more private, huh?” Yeosang asked, moving his hands down to the others to grab onto Jongho’s fingers. He wasn’t into affection at all, but with every single bit of contact he made with the boy, he felt electric.
“To my apartment then?”
“Absolutely.”
FIN.