Chapter Text
“Oh,” Kun felt the thundering in his chest diminish.
It was like a bubble popping right in front of him, letting relief flood out from his chest. Johnny also had an extra mark. He had been worrying nonstop about it since finding out they were soulmates, but now he felt calmness fill him. He didn’t even know what to say.
“Oh? Kun?” Johnny’s nervous voice resonated through the speaker. “Are you mad? Are you disappointed?”
“Hyung, I have a mark too,” Kun let out a laugh, “and extra one, I mean.”
“Wait- Really?!” Johnny yelled, and Kun had to pull the cell phone away. “Hold on, are you serious right now?”
“Yeah!” Kun laughed again, giddy. “I’ve been worrying about it too, I was actually going to tell you before leaving, but I couldn’t bring myself to…”
“That’s okay, I couldn’t either,” Johnny sighed. “I have an idea, though.”
“I’m all ears,” Kun nodded enthusiastically.
“Let’s take a picture of our extra tattoo and send it at the same time,” Johnny suggested.
Kun’s heart began beating fast again. He had been so giddy about Johnny also having an extra mark that he had forgotten they might be different. Johnny knew this too, because otherwise he wouldn’t have been asking for proof. Kun nodded nonetheless. They were soulmates, weren’t things supposed to work out for them in the end?
He struggled to take a picture of his back, right between his shoulder blades, as his second tattoo liked to rest there. Kun ended up having to ask one of his parents for help, but eventually he had the picture in his camera roll and was ready to send it. He waited until Johnny was ready.
“Wait, wait-” Kun pulled the phone away and put Johnny on speaker before turning on his own camera.“Turn on your camera.”
Johnny was wearing a hoodie, and the hood was fully tightened around his face, making him look funny. Kun chuckled as he waved hello. Johnny waved back at him before taking a deep breath. They were both nervous, and it was quite easy to tell. After agreeing to do it at the count of three, they counted together and then pressed send.
The picture that greeted Kun was not the American kestrel he had been expecting. Instead, there was a gray bunny. Dread filled his stomach as he looked up. Johnny looked just as shocked as he felt. Kun smiled and tried to shake it off. They didn’t have the same mark, but that didn’t have to mean anything. Still, it felt… disappointing.
“B-But-” Johnny stuttered, but the words died in his throat.
“Hey, it’s okay, right?” Kun tried to remain optimistic, but he couldn’t hide the strangeness he felt in his chest.
“Kun, I-” Johnny scrambled for the words, but he didn’t know what to say, and frankly, neither did Kun.
“It’s okay,” Kun assured him. “It’s quite late, maybe we should sleep on this and talk about it tomorrow?”
He felt all of the exhaustion from before wash over him again. Suddenly, all he wanted was to go sleep and ignore whatever ugly feelings were pooling in his chest. He disliked seeing Johnny so affected and thrown off, especially when he was always so cool and in control of himself.
“Are you sure?” Johnny asked, looking back and forth between the pictures they had just sent.
“Positive,” Kun did his best to smile, “I think we both need it.”
They wished each other a good night before hanging up. Kun didn’t know how exactly he felt, but it wasn’t as positive as he would have liked. He didn’t want to think about it though, so instead he forced himself to fall asleep, convinced that they would solve it the next day.
Johnny was absentmindedly staring at this phone when he accidentally dropped it on his face. He yelped, bringing his hands up to rub at his poor nose. He had woken up at some point in the early morning and had abandoned all hopes for sleep. His dreams had been plagued by bunnies and birds and bunnies turning into birds. He was not feeling okay.
He grabbed his phone again and looked at the picture Kun had taken. After some research, he had figured out it was an American kestrel. It was so pretty and colorful and small. They both had small creatures as their other soulmates… Johnny sighed. He still couldn’t believe they didn’t have a shared tattoo. He had always known it could be a possibility, but he had hoped it wouldn’t be.
Soulmate relationships, and relationships in general, were always more complicated than simply sharing or not the same tattoos. Of course, it was easy if you only had one tattoo, and your soulmate also had only one, if you could manage to find them to begin with. But when there was more than one mark…
What if he found his other soulmate and they didn’t like Kun? What if Kun found his other soulmate and they didn’t like him? Johnny didn’t want to be forced into choosing, and he could never even imagine doing that to Kun either. But he was getting ahead of himself, what if that didn’t happen at all?
He sighed and put his phone away. His mental state was not in the right place to be talking to Kun at the moment. He needed to clear his mind and figure out where his feelings stood. Johnny decided to go and visit his friends. If anything could help him, was most definitely the opinion of those three crackheads. It would probably be wise to call them first, though.
“Hello Johnny,” Seungcheol picked up Jeonghan’s cellphone.
“Oh, Cheol?” Johnny smiled, closing the door to his dorm behind him. “Is Jeonghan asleep still?”
“You know him,” Seungcheol scoffed, “but also, you’re calling unbearably early, what’s up?”
“Would you mind housing a poor, lost soul?” Johnny left the dorms and walked down the campus to the bus stop.
“Did they already evict you?” Seungcheol sounded genuinely surprised, which just threw Johnny off.
“What do you mean already?!” He yelled, lowering his voice when he noticed someone glaring at him. “You three are so mean to me…”
“Just come already, I’ll leave the door unlocked,” Seungcheol laughed before hanging up.
Johnny made his way to their apartment while listening to music. He was listening to a few Chinese artists that Kun had recommended to him, but doing so made him miss his voice. It felt a bit silly, though, because he had just talked to him the previous night. Still, he couldn’t bring himself to call him, not yet.
Seungcheol, Jeonghan and Jisoo lived in an apartment close to campus. It was cozy and not very big, since the three of them were usually very clingy and liked to spend time with each other. Johnny kind of admired them for it, because their personalities could be quite contrasting, and he wasn’t certain how they had built their relationship around their situation. Maybe that was the reason he was there, they could give him advice.
Jisoo opened the door for him and greeted him with a handshake. He immediately offered him something to drink as they headed to their living room, catching up on what they had done during recess. Seungcheol joined them later, with a sleepy Jeonghan following right after him and complaining that they had woken him up.
“Okay, spill,” Jisoo pointed after a while, “why are you here?”
“Can’t I just visit my friends for pleasure?” Johnny pouted.
“The only thing you’ve done in the past month or so is have virtual dates with Kun,” Jeonghan pointed out, “so no, I don’t think you’re here for pleasure.”
“Did something happen with Kun?” Seungcheol asked. He was leaning back, one arm propped behind Jisoo.
“Why are the three of you so perceptive…” Johnny sighed. “I showed him my extra mark. He also had one…”
“Isn’t that good, then? I don’t get it.” Seungcheol frowned.
“It’s not the same mark,” Jeonghan immediately guessed. “That’s why our Johnnyboy is looking so gloomy right now.”
“It really isn’t,” Johnny grumbled, “I’m pretty sure that in the wild, his mark could potentially eat mine.”
The other three couldn’t help but break into a laugh, which only made Johnny pout harder. He was there to receive some attention and love, not to be laughed at because of his unfortunate situation.
“Yours is a bunny, right?” Jisoo asked, leaning forward. “What is his?”
“A sparrowhawk,” Johnny sighed. “How did the three of you make it work? Jeonghan and Jisoo don’t have marks for each other, right?”
“We don’t,” Jeonghan agreed “but marks aren’t a limitation for love, Johnny.”
“They are guides,” Jisoo agreed. “I mean, Seungcheol really, really disliked us in the beginning.”
“You were- are, brats, truly,” Seungcheol grumbled. “But it’s true, my marks for them indicate I was meant to fall in love with them, but they didn’t have that type of attachment, and yet… here we are.”
“Jeonghan is as much of a soulmate to me as is Seungcheol,” Jisoo smiled. “I’m certain you can make it work too, even though it’s a bigger number of people.”
“Just trust what you have Johnny,” Jeonghan nodded. “I know you’ll be able to work things out if it comes down to it.”
“I feel like you have more faith in me than I do…” Johnny sighed, leaning back into the sofa.
A week passed without either of them attempting to call the other. They still messaged everyday, mostly in the mornings and evenings, but both could tell it wasn’t the same. It bothered Kun a lot. His mind felt confused and fuzzy, and the safety he had felt during his second week in Korea had already vanished. Of course, he wasn’t the only one to notice things were off.
“Kun, can I come in?” His dad knocked softly on the door.
“Of course,” he nodded, putting his cellphone with the bunny picture away. “What’s wrong?” He asked once the door opened.
“That’s what I would like to ask you,” his dad smiled, sitting at the border of his bed. “Is everything alright with your soulmate?”
Kun sighed. He had known that at some point his parents would come to ask, because Johnny hadn’t said hi to them in a while, and they really liked him. He didn’t blame them, though, even he could tell that he was acting different due to the worry and stress the situation was putting on him. If there was anyone who could provide him with answers though, were his parents.
“Johnny and I have extra soulmate marks, but they’re different…” Kun explained, looking at this lap. “I have a bird, he has a bunny.”
“That sounds cute,” his dad smiled. “Must be a nice person.”
“You’re missing the point here…” Kun grumbled, twiddling his fingers.
“Am I?” His dad tilted his head. “I don’t think so, truly. You see, wouldn’t it be great if both of Johnny’s soulmates turn out to be great people?”
“And what about me?” Kun muttered.
“Oh, but you’re not worried about yourself, I know you well,” his dad chuckled.
“I don’t like this conversation, where’s papa? He would side with me.” Kun groaned, crossing his arms, making his dad laugh.
“He’s out at work, but you see, we’re a good example of why you shouldn’t be worried!” His dad crawled over the bed until he was sitting next to him, wrapping his arms around Kun. “You remember your dad and I aren’t soulmates, right?”
“I do, but you don’t really talk about it…” Kun muttered. “You never found your soulmate, and his already passed away.”
“That’s right,” his dad nodded. “I met his soulmate, actually, she was a beautiful woman. Your dad loved us both very much. She passed away long before we adopted you.”
“I didn’t know you had met her,” Kun’s eyes widened. “How…”
“The thing is, Kun, that even though we’re destined to love some people, it doesn’t mean we can’t choose who to love,” his dad shrugged. “Destiny is not an excuse. If you meet your other soulmate, you’ll love them as much as you love Johnny, and so will Johnny if he meets his other soulmate…”
“But?” Kun leaned forward.
“But love makes things work out,” his dad smiled. “Neither of you might ever meet your other mark. And if you do, it might even be that they are soulmates to each other, and you could go on a lot of double dates.”
“So you think it will work out,” he let out a deep exhale.
“I know it will,” his dad nodded, pushing Kun’s hair back. “But you two need to stop punishing each other first, your hearts crave for each other, and self-inflicted pain is not the way to go.”
“I have one more question though,” Kun muttered. “If you met your soulmate now… What would you do?”
“I would introduce them to your father, and we would work from there,” he patted Kun’s hands. “Not everything in life has to be a dramatic challenge, although you’re barely about to reach your twenties so I guess it makes sense you feel like this.”
“Are you calling me dramatic?” Kun frowned, pushing his dad softly.
“I am not not calling you dramatic,” his dad smiled, pushing him back. “Just don’t overthink it, alright? I’m gonna go prepare supper.”
Kun grabbed his phone again and stared at it as his finger hovered over the call button. He had put a picture of his Clydesdale tattoo as Johnny’s picture, and looking at it made his heart swell. He didn’t get to press the button, though, because Johnny called him first, causing him to yelp out of surprise. He answered and put him on speaker.
“Johnny?” He asked, unsure.
“Hey,” Johnny sounded a bit breathless. “So I’ve decided I don’t like this thing where we don’t talk.”
“Are you okay?” Kun asked, a bit concerned about how he sounded.
“Huh?” Johnny took a deep breath. “Oh yeah, I’m just running, to uh… You know, clear the mind?”
“Is it working?” Kun chuckled. It felt nice to talk to him again, it helped him breathe easier.
“Not really, no,” Johnny laughed too. “But Kun, I really didn’t like not talking to you this past week.”
“I didn’t like it either,” Kun sighed. “I was actually just talking to my dad about it.”
“What did he say?” Johnny slowed down, and decided to walk instead, trying to not breathe so hard into the microphone.
“In summary, that we should stop being so dramatic,” he grumbled, but Johnny let out a breathy laugh.
“I think he’s right, actually,” Johnny cleared his throat. “We don’t know if we’ll meet our other marks, why don’t we enjoy what we have now?”
“I agree,” Kun nodded. “I missed talking to you.”
“I did too,” Johnny’s smile could be felt through his voice, and it made Kun smile as well.
“I might also be falling in love with you,” Kun confessed. It made his heart skip a beat, but it was nothing compared to the reaction it produced on Johnny.
“You can’t do this to me Kun,” Johnny groaned. “You’re usually more reserved about your affection, what is this?”
“I will hang up on you,” Kun threatened, not liking that Johnny was teasing him.
“I’m sorry, I’ll shut up,” Johnny added quickly. “I’m also falling in love with you, quite quickly I should add.”
“Idiot,” Kun scoffed, but he was smiling.
“I’ll take it as a show of affection,” Johnny laughed. “I can’t wait to see you.”
“I can’t wait either.”
Johnny glanced at his phone one more time. He was sitting at one of those uncomfortable metal airport chairs, bouncing his leg nonstop. Kun’s flight had been delayed, so he had already been there for a few hours, and he was feeling very impatient. Kun had agreed to arrive a week before classes started so that they could spend time together, catch up, and finally talk face to face about their tattoos. However, they had already lost a full day and the sun was starting to set. He simply wanted to see his soulmate.
He looked up at the announcement chart and jumped to his feet when he saw that the plane had just arrived. Without thinking twice, Johnny headed towards the marked gate, nearly running. He stopped with the other people waiting for their loved ones to arrive, and gripped his cell phone tightly in his hand, waiting for a sign.
Kun crossed the gates with two suitcases behind him, looking around with expectation. He almost tripped over himself when he saw Johnny, standing behind other people and looking like he wanted to push them out of the way (he didn’t). He walked as fast as the suitcases let him, and Johnny met him halfway, embracing him in a hug that almost threw them both to the ground.
“Wait wait wait-” Kun laughed, trying to keep them from tipping over. One of his suitcases had fallen to the ground, but the other one still stood next to him.
“I missed you so much!” Johnny exclaimed, still holding him close.
“I missed you too but we’re in the way!” Kun complained, although he still wrapped his arms around Johnny’s middle.
“Okay, okay, let’s get out of the way,” Johnny chuckled, grabbing the fallen suitcase and pulling both it and Kun along with him.
“How long have you been here?” Kun asked, noticing Johnny’s unruly hair.
“Way before you told me your flight was delayed,” Johnny replied sheepishly. “I took a shower in the morning and then came straight here.”
“Don’t do that,” Kun shook his head. “You could’ve slept more.”
“I was excited to see you! What do you want me to say?” Johnny pouted. Kun let out a laugh and grabbed his empty hand, entwining their fingers.
“Can we drop these off and then go eat?” Kun gestured at his luggage. “I’m starving.”
“Of course, let’s go.”
They didn’t stay more than five minutes in the dorms as they dropped everything off and then went to have dinner together. They had both been up since very early in the morning, and the time they had spent in the airports (and flight), waiting, had made them both incredibly hungry. Johnny took them back to the little restaurant they had gone to together in one of their first dates, and ate until they were sated.
Since they were close to campus, they made their way back by walking. Johnny didn’t waste time before holding Kun’s hand, still marveling at the fact that he could finally touch him again after the few months they had spent away from each other. He listened to Kun’s story about his short trip with undivided attention, almost managing to trip twice because he was too busy staring at him.
When they arrived at the door of his room, Kun pulled him along, as if it was the normal thing for them. His luggage was neatly tucked in the corner of the room. They sat down on what Kun had claimed as his bed. He was going to have a roommate, but he didn’t know who it was yet, but he hoped it was either Junhui or Yanan, as he already knew them.
“Johnny can I ask you for a very big favor?” Kun said after a little while, looking at their interlocked fingers.
“Of course,” Johnny nodded.
“Can I look at your tattoo? The bunny one.”
The request surprised Johnny. They had talked a little more about their extra tattoos over the days, but they hadn’t actually tried to look at them again or made serious discussion about it. He wondered what Kun was thinking of, but he knew this was not something he had thought about lightly. He had probably spent the whole flight thinking about it.
“Of course,” Johnny agreed after thinking it over. He stood up and lifted his shirt just enough to show the area of the ribs.
Kun stood up right after him and crouched just enough that the rabbit tattoo was at eye level. That soulmark was small, and gray, and it always liked to nest right in that spot. Johnny didn’t see it often, so it was a little strange to have someone else look at it. He felt the tips of Kun’s fingers gently trace over it, and it made him shudder a little. Kun’s eyes were so focused on the mark, and Johnny suddenly felt a very strong urge to just…
“Kun can I kiss you?” The words were out of his mouth before he had even thought them out.
“What?” Kun stopped right where he was standing.
He looked at Johnny with a frown and Johnny pulled his shirt down, suddenly feeling very exposed. He was a bit embarrassed that those words had come out of his mouth, but he didn’t regret them. He had wanted to kiss Kun for a long time now, after all. Kun’s frown slowly transformed into a smile. He grabbed Johnny’s face with both hands and reached up to kiss him.
It took his brain a second to process that Kun was kissing him, but his body was thankfully not as slow. His eyes closed and he placed one hand tentatively on Kun’s middle, leaning into the kiss. The kiss was very soft, but it still made butterflies bloom in his stomach and break havoc inside. He felt Kun smile into the kiss, and he couldn’t help but smile too, their noses accidentally bumping into each other.
“I really missed you so much!” Kun exclaimed, wrapping his arms around Johnny’s neck.
“I missed you too,” Johnny agreed, still surprised at Kun’s boldness.
“Stay the night.”
“W-What?” Johnny stuttered, once again shocked beyond words.
“Just stay here, for tonight,” Kun laughed, “please.”
It was kinda hard, but they managed to cuddle together on Kun’s bed. It was warm, which was probably not ideal in the late summer weather, but it felt nice to finally be together again. They hadn’t even been separated for that long, but a lot had happened in that time. They deserved this, at least.
“Why did you want to look at my tattoo?” Johnny asked.
“Dad said that a bunny must mean you’ve got a very nice soulmate, or something like that,” Kun shrugged. “I was curious.”
“Are you worried about it?” Johnny turned his body just slightly to be able to look at him.”
“Not really,” Kun smiled. “Dad said that love finds the answers eventually. Let’s put it this way: we’re like a four piece puzzle, and we’re missing a couple of them.”
“And what will happen when we find them?” Johnny still didn’t fully understand, it made him a little anxious.
“When we do,” Kun leaned closer to peck the corner of his lips, and grabbed his hands tightly, offering comfort. “We’ll put the pieces where they go, and once we see how nicely they fit, we’ll make things work out.” He smiled.
“You promise?” Johnny asked. He had seen things not work before, but Kun sounded so certain, and he wanted to believe him.
“I promise.” Kun nodded, and Johnny chose to believe him.