Chapter Text
***Changkyun POV***
It was Thursday the next time he had a day off. Kihyun had already been in Hong Kong for two days and Minhyuk had gone back home. It was grey outside again. Raining. The water was building up in puddles, soaking into clothes and streaming down pedestrians’ umbrellas in heavy rivulets the longer that time passed. Somehow Changkyun’s umbrella had a hole in it that hadn’t been there the last time and he was having to resist squirming as water came through the hole in droplets sometimes, small trickles others and slid down the side of his neck soaking bits of his shirt and unpleasantly tickling at the nerves on his currently overly sensitive skin. It was only marginally better at this point than trying to rough it in his jacket and slightly too long jeans that were now soaked up to just above his knees in lukewarm rainwater and sticking uncomfortably every time he shifted. He was on his way to the train station trying to make his way back to the club where the last battle had been held.
The ride to Seoul was quiet, somber even, without his brother or one of his friends to keep him company. The same woman that was usually on the train either coming or going was there again her faint snoring was barely audible over the sound of the car rolling over the tracks. She looked exhausted, he noted, even as she was always sleeping when he saw her there were still dark circles under her eyes and she didn’t seem to be resting fitfully even in this moment. He wondered for a small moment what would cause her to have to keep coming back and forth like this. She traveled to Seoul every week. For all he knew every day she was on this train in that exact same spot at the exact same time going to only God knew where to do only God knew what. She was older than him. Maybe not as old as his grandparents but possibly around the age of his dad or the age his mom would be now if she hadn’t died. Thinking about his mom only made him think about his dad. They’d gotten into another argument the night before. At least he'd spoken to him... last night's argument had made it almost a full two weeks since he’d met and lost his soulmate.
The news about Kihyun hadn’t done Changkyun any favors. When his dad found out about it he was that much more intent that Changkyun find his own soulmate. Changkyun had called the club every day to ask if someone had come looking for him, well, their missing soulmate, and every day the answer was no. Being banned from the club had probably been the worst thing about all this. He couldn’t exactly wait up there for someone he hadn't seen properly to show up and hope that this time he recognized them. That hadn’t seemed like a logical idea in the first place, but here he was now trying to see if the owner would lift his ban early so he could do just that.
Either that, or see if anyone was there the night of the fight and might have been able to tell him what happened or who was involved so he could narrow it down. The club probably had a list of everyone that was banned, but the more he thought about each of the faces and people who he’d scuffled with from that group the less likely it seemed like one of them was the person he was looking for. He wanted to say the person he was looking for had been blond, but that seemed like it might be mixing itself with a different memory. If they were blond that would definitely narrow the search.
Most guys, unless they were idols, rappers, foreigners or Minhyuk didn’t dye their hair blond around here. It just didn’t suit a lot of people and they knew it so they avoided it. He also wanted to say that the person’s hair had been short. Which definitely would narrow it down. He only knew two girls around here that kept their hair short and neither of them were blonde. Jeongyeon was a brunette and Amber had pink hair now and it had been an electric sort of blue the week of the competition. So it definitely wasn’t either of them. Unless someone new had come in there was hardly any chance that it had been a girl. Couple that with the memory from the day after where he’d heard someone mention a girlfriend he was almost certain now that it had to have been one of the guys there.
Changkyun knocked on the door to the club about an hour before they were actually supposed to open. One of the bouncers, a burly man with broad shoulders and an impatient set to his mouth came to the door.
“We don’t open for another hour, kid, come back then.” He said gruffly and moved to go back inside.
“I need to speak to the manager about something,” he said. The bouncer paused.
“We already have a full staff.” The bouncer had paused then thrown the words over his shoulder still trying to retreat back into the no doubt warm dry air of the club.
“I’m not looking for a job. I’ve been calling every day for the last week about my soulmate.” This caused the bouncer to pause his shoulders slumping down on his frame and he ran a hand over his mouth.
“Oh. You’re that kid.” His voice had lost the hard edge. It still sounded gruff, but had lost the dismissive quality from before. “We haven’t had anyone come asking. You were one of those kids that got in the fight right? I’m really sorry I can’t let you in. Bosses rules, but if you have a description of the person, even if they don’t come asking directly, I can see what I can do. Just do me a favor and wait for another week, kid.” He said. They both knew what he meant. ‘Just wait’ meant ‘don’t die’ for the next week.
Changkyun’s breath rushed out in a defeated sigh when the door shut in his face he pulled his phone free of his pocket and decided he’d text Minhyuk. It wouldn’t be fair of him not to visit when he was already this close.
IM -Hey Min.
Minhyuk- Sup Kyunnie? U find your soulmate yet?
IM-Not yet. I went back to the Club today. Bouncer said they still can’t let me in, but he’d keep an ear out for anyone asking.
Minhyuk- Boo. You’d think they’d make an exception for something this serious.
IM-Dude it's still rare that people even get sick if they miss their soulmates. He’s probably like the rest of the world and figures it isn’t that deep.
Minhyuk- That isn’t the point. It’s still common enough that we have to have special doctors fighting to cure it.
Minhyuk- Rare or not it still happens
Minhyuk- It isn’t just some unlucky draw. It’s proven science.
IM- I GET it Min. Can we not talk about this? I hear it enough from my Dad.
IM- I’m sorry…
IM- I just… it still freaks me out you know? I don’t know why I’ve just always been like that.
Minhyuk- I know. So, if it wasn’t your soulmate what did you want to talk about?
IM- I was just trying to see if you wanted to hang out before I headed back to GJ
Minhyuk- Do you even have to ask?
IM- Thought so.
A few minutes walk to the nearest bus stop and a ten minute ride later he was climbing off the bus and grinning at one of his best friends. Minhyuk was holding tightly onto someone’s hand. Changkyun frowned guilt gnawing at him. He hadn’t known Minhyuk was on a date. Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea after all.
“Hey, man. Why didn’t you tell me you were already out with someone? I would have rain checked.” He walked up and gave a light punch to Minhyuk’s arm as a greeting.
“Why? The two of you were going to have to meet anyway. You’re my best friend and he’s my soulmate.” Minhyuk shrugged his shoulders and stepped away from the person he’d been happily clinging to presumably so that he could properly introduce them.
“Soulmate? Since when?” Changkyun asked, a wide grin spreading across his face. It was good that Minhyuk had found his soulmate too. He and Kihyun deserved to be happy. Changkyun couldn’t wait to finally meet his soulmate and share that person with his two best friends in return. He wasn’t jealous of Minhyuk’s happiness. If anything this gave him hope. What were the odds that all three of them would find their soulmates this soon in their lives and one right after the other like this?
“Well… That’s kind of a funny story. I met him before Kihyun found out about Hyungwon.”
“And you didn’t think to tell either of us?”
“I was going to.” Changkyun snorted like he hadn’t entirely believed it, but Minhyuk continued anyway. “I was. If Ki hadn’t called a 119 I was going to tell you at the next battle. Hyunwoo wanted to come with me and watch the show. Isn’t that, right?” Minhyuk looked back at his soulmate where he was still kind of hiding underneath his hood and lagging back.
“Yeah, it sounded like fun. I’ve been there before. One of my roommates competes in those things. The owner of that club is pretty cool too; although sometimes he has to put his foot down. Actually there was one weekend where this guy hopped off the stage and started a fight right in the middle of a battle but I couldn’t stay too long.” Hyunwoo got more comfortable as he told the story and Changkyun once again felt a stab of annoyance at his brother’s reckless behavior and how selfish he himself had been to be wrapped up in his own problems without thinking about how many other people had their saturday night plans ruined by him hopping off that stage. Rather than dwelling on it he just turned back to Minhyuk.
“So why didn’t you tell us at the cafe? We needed some good news after the… After finding out Kihyun and Hyungwon were soulmates.” Changkyun didn’t know how much Minhyuk had already told this guy and he didn’t really feel like sharing his problem with a stranger just yet either.
“It just didn’t seem like a good time. I mean Kihyun had his whole thing with Hyungwon, then you’re having your problem too, and I just didn’t feel right about it. Besides I kind of wanted to see the look on your face.”
“Cruel Min. You are cruel.”
“Not now you dumb ass. In about three seconds. Changkyunk this is my soulmate Son Hyunwoo.” Minhyuk said. Hyunwoo finally looked up at his name, the shadow of his hood coming away from his face and Changkyun’s eyes widened. He pointed at Shownu and then back at Minhyuk and then back to Shownu again.
“You?! You were the soulmate he was talking about on the show? You lucky lying idiot! How the hell did you keep this a secret?! Dude you gotta tell me everything that happened when the mic was off.”
“Good to know you actually listened to the show,” Minhyuk said.
“I have always listened to your show man come on, give me some more credit than that. I can’t believe Shownu is your freaking soulmate. Kihyun is going to be pissed considering who he got stuck with.” They both laughed a little at the thought of their other friend’s reaction.
“We can tell you more when we get somewhere dry if you want man. We were actually headed over to my place to play games. I think Hoseok is still there, but my other roommate is out with his girlfriend so we need another player to make the teams even. You can take his spot. Unless you really were serious about the rain check. I’m sure Hoseok would appreciate not having to be a third wheel to the two of us.” Hyunwoo said starting to move in the direction opposite of where they would have gone to get to Minhyuk’s from where they were.
“Don’t even answer that, Changkyun, you’re coming with us. We need to get you meeting other people anyway. Who knows who your soulmate is and since they all three were supposedly there that night and Hyunwoo is my soulmate maybe one of the two is yours.” Minhyuk unintentionally blurted out Changkyun’s secret and immediately looked guilty.
“You lost your soulmate at the club?” Hyunwoo asked, looking at him curiously.
“I didn’t lose them… Not exactly anyway. I just kind of got thrown out with my older brother before I knew I’d met them.” Changkyun was kicking at little pebbles on the sidewalk focusing on the clattering sound they made as they went across the cement and imagining it as the noise they’d make bouncing off of Minhyuk’s head. In case it wasn’t painfully obvious, from the time he told Kihyun’s cousin at Kihyun’s birthday party that Changkyun had a crush on her, if you wanted a secret kept you didn’t tell it to Lee Minhyuk.
“You’ll find them. Besides, I'm sure you will remember something about them as time passes and it will make finding them easier.” Minhyuk said.
“Yeah…”
“It's only been a week. You have time.”
“Mhmm.”
“And when Kihyun gets back we are going to search the city until we find them. The five of us can probably cover a lot of ground. Especially with Hyunwoo on our side and enlisting Hyungwon’s help. He owes us for the camera anyway.”
“Mhmm”
“If you 'mhmm' one more time dude I’m having Hyunwoo lock you in the hall and never letting you hang out with us again.”
“Yeah Min… wait what?” He quickly turned around to face them from where he’d gotten ahead of them horrified that he’d never have the opportunity to hang with his idol like this again all because his best friend wanted to be petty.
“That’s what I thought.” Minhyuk grinned and Changkyun was interrupted before he could make a remark.
“That’s the building. We should probably hurry. It looks like the rain is going to start again any second.” Hyunwoo muttered only just loud enough to be heard and walked up to the door putting in a keycode. The three of them stepped in and like it had been on a timer, the bottom fell out of the sky and rain was pouring once more. Changkyun cringed a little at the thought of having to go home in that mess after a while. He at least didn’t have to drive, but the walk to the bus stops and train station were still going to be bad enough to more than make up for that. He sat his umbrella by the door eyeing the thing before following them up the stairs; knowing he’d need to buy another one the next time he was out. Things just kept piling up against him.
“If you’re worried about trying to go back home in that mess you can spend the night at my place. Don’t you have a class on campus tomorrow anyway?” Minhyuk offered, seeming to just be able to tell what Changkyun was thinking like always.
“I do. May take you up on that,” he replied.
“Here we are. Hey Hoseok did you order pizza like I asked? We may need to get another one. One of Minhyuk’s friends came with us.” Hyunwoo called into the apartment as soon as he opened the door.
“Are they hot?” Came a muffled reply from somewhere else in the space.
“Just call and get another pepperoni pizza ordered like I asked. You can hit on him later if you want.” Hyunwoo shouted back and smiled sheepishly when Minhyuk smacked him on the arm. Changkyun laughed open and rumbling. He hadn’t been able to just relax and hang out with friends in a while not without some bad news or another following it. Maybe this would be just the thing he needed to clear his mind.
“Got the pizza ordered. They said it should be another ten minutes since we called another one in.” What had to be Hoseok informed them coming around the corner with a six pack of Pepsi in one hand, a bottle of soju tucked under his arm and shot glasses for the four of them in the other.
“Sounds good. Thanks man.” Hyunwoo took one of the glasses once they were set down on the table and poured Minhyuk a drink followed by his own then sat the bottle back on the table.
“No problem. You got it last time. Thank god Jooheon and Joy weren’t here though I don’t think my wallet could take the amount of extra soju it would take to have another game night with her. Shit, I’m so rude, Lee Hoseok, Med student, I live here with the giant teddy bear over there that calls himself an MMA fighter.” Hoseok’s focus had shifted to Changkyun and he waved giving off a bright smile. Coming from anyone else Changkyun thought he might laugh at someone calling Shownu a teddy bear, but coming from this guy he could definitely see it. Hoseok was blond, fair-skinned, and muscular, more muscular than Shownu and that was saying something.
“Lim Changkyun, barista, underground rapper, and Minhyuk’s best friend. I live in Gwangju. I was just up here trying to see about something that happened at the last battle. Minhyuk said you guys needed another player and I didn’t have much else to do.” Changkyun introduced himself, grabbed a Pepsi off the table and sat back down.
“Don’t like Soju?” Hoseok asked in the middle of pouring his own shot having noticed that he’d chosen the soda over the alcohol.
“I do. I just figured I’d wait for the pizza. Can I ask you something?’
“Yeah, shoot.”
“Hyunwoo said you guys were at the last battle, did you happen to see what happened? I had someone bump into me there and I’m trying to find them.”
“You mean like a Cinderella moment? Girl of your dreams and all you got is a lousy shoe.” Hoseok asked, busy fiddling with the console and trying to get their game set up before handing out the controllers.
“Yeah… something like that,.”
“Well if you are asking did I see you with some random girl that day, then no. The fight was a mess and I can barely remember anything other than busting up my knuckles a bit and bruising my arm somehow. I did see you though. It’s kind of hard to miss someone hopping off the stage and starting a fight with a guy twice his size. Sorry I couldn’t be of more help.”
Minhyuk gave Changkyun a look at the mention of Hoseok bruising his arm and Changkyun just shook his head as if to say “not now”, to which he earned a disappointed scoff. He just wanted today to be normal. Besides, if Hoseok was his soulmate he’d probably be able to find out the longer they were around one another, and he could do it without possibly worrying someone else that there was something wrong with their soul bond. As it was he hadn’t seen either of the man’s arms because they were covered by a sweater to stave off the chill of the apartment.
After that the conversation kind of died off except for a few curses and taunts here and there born out of pure old fashioned competitive nature. Hoseok had won 4 of the ten races. Changkyun won four also, and both Hyunwoo and Minhyuk had won a round a piece. There was a knock at the door all of them looked around expecting one or the other to go handle it. When no one moved Changkyun shook his head and gave a slight laugh.
“I guess I’ll go. I’m starving anyway so since I’m doing this the first slice is mine, right?” He stood and grinned earning booing and a few loose couch pillows thrown in his direction. He opened the door to find the pizza guy waiting expectantly with three boxes of pizza and another six pack of Pepsi in his arms.
“Sorry about the wait. Here, keep the extra tip money and have a good evening, alright?” He said pulling an extra 18000 won ($15) out of his wallet for the delivery person and adding it to the money for the pizza that had been waiting on the table by the door.
“Thanks,” They bowed and left grinning as they pocketed the tip money. Changkyun was about to close the door when someone called out.
“Hey hold the door!” A blond guy with a medium build and a skinny woman with long legs, pencil thin heels and a jacket over her shoulders hanging onto his back came running for the door. They were soaked and Changkyun moved out of the way as quickly as he could, not wanting to risk the pizza. He opened the door wider and they came in skidding to an ungraceful stop no doubt because of the guy’s wet shoes.
“What’s up everyone?” The newcomer greeted shifting to let the girl down gently. “Oh hey pizza, just in time.” He said excitedly after the woman had climbed down and Changkyun pulled back from him earning an amused smirk.
“It was in the deal I made with the others. First slice is mine.” Changkyun said by way of an explanation and started walking back to the living room.
“You guys gave him my slice?” The newcomer asked in a mock offended tone and clutched at his heart dramatically.
“I live with a bunch of traitors.” He also said and the girl giggled.
“You weren’t here, Jooheon, can’t call dibs if you aren’t home. Besides, Changkyun is a guest. Guests get their choice of slice.” Hyunwoo replied.
“Hey! What about me?” Minhyuk demanded.
“You are my soulmate, you get the first bite of whatever I’m eating. It’s in the rules.” Hyunwoo rationalized and Minhyuk nodded, seeming to happily accept the other’s logic as law. Changkyun was trying not to laugh at the exchange as he sat the boxes of pizza down and picked out the largest slice he could find out of the three boxes. The pizza was still fresh. Cheese stretched out between Changkyun’s slice and the rest of the pizza in messy strings and the others watched longingly. If he hadn’t known any better he could have sworn he heard Hoseok’s stomach growl.
“So who’s winning?” Jooheon broke the food’s spell and everyone looked up.
“It’s a tie. Me and Changkyun.” Hoseok said.
“I got the winner, okay?” Dimples and half moon eyes made up the wide smile they all got next followed by Jooheon happily munching on his own slice of pizza. Joy delicately grabbed her own and set it on a napkin before nibbling at it and then the others got their slices. Things went on like that until the last slice was eaten. Everyone talked and laughed and cracked inside jokes. Loving looks were exchanged between the two couples to their significant others and Hoseok would go out of his way to dispel the awkwardness every time it happened. Whether it was to make himself more comfortable or Changkyun was anyone’s guess. The two wound up bonding and were shoving each other and trying to get the other one to crash their character before the final race. After another three rounds of Mario Kart Changkyun was finally declared the winner. Jooheon took his eyes off of Joy and tapped Hoseok on the shoulder holding his hand out for the controller which was handed over reluctantly after a wan smile in Changkyun’s direction. Changkyun returned it and then smiled at his new opponent.
“Never seen someone so eager to lose.” He teased as the other sat down to his left. The side where his t-shirt was barely hiding his soul mark.
“You’re kidding, right? Hey guys, who has the highest score here?” Jooheon asked the others. Everyone pointed at the dimpled guy sitting at his girlfriend’s feet near the other end of the couch, even Minhyuk, who just gave a lackadaisical shrug when Changkyun looked at him.
“Who knows maybe it will change today.” Changkyun said not letting the idea deter him.
It didn’t change. Three rounds later and Changkyun had gotten second in every one of them competing with both Hoseok and Jooheon.
“And that’s three for three.”
“Oh, come on. I call bull on that last one. Hoseok cheated and spun my car out.” Changkyun argued.
“Wonho? Cheating? That’s unheard of.” Jooheon gave a look of mock alarm before grinning and ducking out of the way of a hand full of flying popcorn. It hit Joy and she let out the most disgusted sound before brushing the kernels off of herself and right on to Jooheon.
“Wonho?” Changkyun asked. Hoseok pointed at himself and grinned, but was noticeably more quiet than before. In fact everyone seemed to have stopped what they were doing. It was only a moment until Changkyun was finding out why.
“Babe, come on,” Jooheon protested light heartedly, swiping at the popcorn and throwing a bit back at Hoseok when he could. It was obvious though everyone else was having a good time Joy hadn’t been.
“What? It’s disgusting and your friend threw it so you deal with it. I’m going to change.” Her voice was tight and her lips pursed into a thin line as she stood brushing off the last of the kernels and walked to what Changkyun guessed was Jooheon’s room. Her heels clunked on the wood floors. Everyone busied themselves with something else trying not to focus on the drama that all of them except Changkyun apparently had known was coming.
“Joy don’t be like that. We were all having fun together. It was an accident. I forgot you were behind me when I ducked the popcorn that’s all.” Jooheon had chased after her trying to get her to come back and calm down.
“Oh... You made a new friend and were having a good time and just forgot about me. I get it. I’m sorry I interrupted your fun Honey. You should just go back to the others. I’ll get some clean clothes out of my drawer and see you tomorrow.” It was like the woman had made a complete one-eighty in personality. One minute she was acidic and harsh and the next she sounded like a kicked puppy. Changkyun almost felt sorry for her until he saw the expression on Hoseok’s face. Changkyun gave the other a confused look and Hoseok leaned over to talk to him.
“Don’t fall for it bro. She does this. Give it about three seconds.”
Sure enough a moment later Jooheon was coming over to apologize.
"It was nice meeting you, but I think I'm going to take Joy home now. I'll see you next time Minhyuk. I’ll be home sometime tomorrow guys." Jooheon addressed all of them individually. His face was drawn and his head bowed a little. He had a guilty frown and looked like the world was weighing him down at that moment and there Joy was by the door looking the picture opposite. She was something, wearing her cheshire smile and fluttering her perfectly manicured fingers by way of a very smug goodbye then stepping out of the door and leaving Jooheon to catch up to her.
"Who wants more soju?" Hoseok asked, drawing everyone’s attention. Three glasses slid across the table and things returned to what he assumed had to be normal.