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Kenya learned what curse words were at a very young age. Not because he had bad parents, or hung out with the naughty kids at school. No, his first exposure to vulgarity had been imprinted in his skin since the day he turned five. At five years of age, all children got their mark, or “Soul Script” as people tended to call it. The first words your soulmate would ever speak to you. And Kenya’s just happened to include…
“Mom, what does ‘asshole’ mean?”
Needless to say, Kenya’s poor mother was not expecting to be explaining that sort of rude talk to her son who had barely just started kindergarten. But really, she didn’t have much choice but to do so.
Kenya strutted about the house for days afterward, proud that he had such an adult word on his skin. And fact that it was a naughty word only made him prouder. But as time wore on, “asshole” was not the part of his Soul Script that he fixated on. It was the adjective just before it. For not only would an asshole, at some point, apparently steal his soulmate’s phone, it would also be, for some unfathomable reason, a pink one. And Kenya thought that part was oddly specific.
But if he kept a closer watch on the pink amusement park characters, or any other abnormally rosy people he came across, well. It wasn’t without reason.
Soon enough though, as Kenya made it through high school, and then university without hearing anything even remotely similar to the words just below his collarbone, he began to accept that he might never find himself in a situation so unique as that.
Now happily employed at the Ueno Zoo as one of the head zookeepers, Kenya had more than enough work and excitement to keep his life occupied. His favorite place to be, of course, was the vivarium. Surrounded by warm air and lazy lizards and snakes of all sizes, it hardly felt like work at all. Feeding time in particular, was a highlight of the day. He especially loved the iguanas, having one for himself at home. If ever he was in charge of a class fieldtrip, Speedy would come along with him, riding across his shoulders and dozing as he lead the amazed youngsters around the park.
Most days, he hardly gave his Soul Script a second thought.
***
Zaizen Hikaru, on the other hand, had almost the exact opposite problem. He too, was graced with a rather rude Soul Script, but after the second grade, he stopped counting “hell” as a bad word. Though these days, he heard it often enough. His best friend, Akaya Kirihara, was not the most polite person he’d ever met.
The problem with his Soul Script, etched across the skin covering his ribs, is that he’d come very close to hearing it. More times than he could count, actually. If he were being honest with himself, and Zaizen liked to think he was, at least most of the time, it was probably his own fault.
Together, he and Akaya ran something they liked to call a “daredevil blog”. Every week, they’d post a video of one of them – usually Akaya, as he was a better cameraman and Akaya simply didn’t care if he got hurt – doing something wild or crazy or stupid. And sometimes all three at once. They’d amassed quite the audience over the years, and, after one of their viewers suggested it, started taking payment for specifically requested acts. And it had paid much better than they had been expecting it to.
More than a fair few of their videos included trespassing. Which meant Zaizen heard some version of “what the hell are you doing in there” quite often. But never that phrase exactly. Which was beyond frustrating. It had nearly gotten him and Akaya arrested on multiple accounts, when he’d heard the beginnings of his Soul Script and stopped to listen, only to find that the word order was wrong, or that it was missing parts.
He’d started wearing cordless headphones, after a particularly close call. He was debating getting Akaya an earpiece, so they could at least communicate between themselves on their little excursions, when his best friend ambled into their tiny apartment kitchen, yawning and scratching his chest.
“’Mornin… Anything interesting today?” He plunked down in the chair across from Zaizen, making a lazy attempt to smooth down his wild hair, now even more violently tousled from sleep.
Zaizen rolled his eyes. “It’s one in the afternoon you ass, you missed morning. But yeah, we got a new request. Paid in full, already. This guy must really wanna see this.”
Akaya perked up. “Ooh! What is it? Come on, tell me!”
Narrowing his eyes, Zaizen scanned the email they’d received. “I’m getting there, hold on. Forgot my glasses in the bedroom… It looks like they want us to go to a zoo, pick a random animal, and…” he sighed, already imagining all the ways in which this would not turn out well, “sneak into its enclosure and take a selfie.”
Akaya blinked, letting the information sink in, before he burst out laughing. “Ha! That’s fuckin amazing! Creative too. We’ve never done anything with live animals before! What if we get a tiger? Or a bear? That would be so scary, but if we did it we’d be legends, Hikaru!”
“That’s a bit of an overstatement. And did you hear yourself? You want to get up close and personal with a tiger? You’re insane,” Zaizen said flatly. But once Akaya got that that look in his eye, there was no deterring him. “…I’ll tell Shiraishi to expect us in the ER at some point today, then.”
Whooping, Akaya ran off to his bedroom, while Zaizen tried very hard not to think about some of the possibilities of what animal they might encounter. He was less than fond of snakes or things that crawled. He didn’t especially want to encounter anything larger than he was, either.
Zaizen took a second look at the amount deposited into his account. It would pay the rent this month and then some. They couldn’t afford not to do this.
Resigning himself to possibly being mauled, Zaizen got up, making a mental list of everything they might need.
Three hours later found them both at the Ueno zoo, dressed and ready to go. They’d brought lock picks, rope, ski masks; all the standard equipment, stowed in backpacks slung over their shoulders. This time though, each carried a can of pepper spray in their sweatshirt pocket, just in case things did go sideways. It wouldn’t hurt the animal – that was the last thing they wanted – but it would ensure them a head start on any possible escape.
“Here. I got us a map!” Akaya pulled out a thick, folded pamphlet and opened it. Across the paper were little circles, each with a different animal inside. “Close your eyes Hikaru, and point to a spot.”
As quickly as possible, Zaizen tried to memorize the location of the petting zoo before he did so. Unfortunately for him, he did not see Akaya flip the map upside down. He reached out and tapped the paper. And opened his eyes.
“Holy shit, we’re going to die.”
“What? Hippos are fat, we can easily outrun them.” Akaya shrugged, not fully grasping the shitty situation they were about to willingly put themselves in.
Zaizen was beginning to regret his remarks about the tigers. He’d much rather take one of them. But they literally agreed to this. No going back now.
They made their way across the park, weaving though excited children running about and parents pushing strollers. Several times they go sidetracked by other exhibits; Akaya just had to see the Komodo Dragons, and Zaizen couldn’t pass up the opportunity to look at a giraffe up close. He’d never tell Akaya, or anyone, but their tiny little horns and big ears were very, very cute.
And if he was subtly trying to stall for time, that was no one’s business but his own.
But finally, they made it. The enclosure was large, mostly water, and sunken into the ground. The fence itself was hardly a challenge, but the fall would be a bit far, and they wouldn’t be landing on solid ground. Which meant swimming. And that was even more dangerous than being on land, where hippos were concerned.
Together he and Akaya took their time scoping the place out, looking for the best entry and exit points, as well as spotting the animals themselves. By the looks of things, there were at least five that they could see, two on the small island in the middle of the water, and the other three mostly submerged by the water’s edge. Considering the murkiness of the pool though, there may very well be more. It was impossible to tell.
Given that it was later in the afternoon, the crowds were beginning to dwindle, and migrate back towards the zoo entrance. The keepers had not yet arrived for evening feeding. If there was any time to do this, it was now.
Akaya hitched a leg over the railing.
“Give me a sec. Gotta clear my head.” Zaizen turned away, walking a few steps to look into the exhibit opposite him. A flock of flamingos waded through shallow water, just feet away from the fence. He watched them, phone held loosely in his hand as he hung his arms over the fence, taking deep breaths.
Slowly but surely, he began to calm down. He closed his eyes, just for a second.
In an instant, a particularly bold flamingo, entranced by the light reflecting off his screen, snatched his phone right out of his hand.
“Hey!! Give that back!”
Akaya whipped around just in time to see the flamingos scatter as Zaizen scrambled over the fence into their enclosure.
Kenya was the first one to hear the shout and the splash, as he was just beginning to make his evening rounds. Dropping his bucket of steaks intended for the big cats, he rushed over to the source of the sound.
He was met with a flurry of pink feathers and squawking flamingos, very much upset by the sopping wet man chasing them about the area. Quickly, Kenya hauled himself over the fence, hoping to subdue the intruder before any birds were injured.
Zaizen barely had time to react when he saw the zookeeper barreling toward him, managing to put up his arms to guard his face just before he was knocked cleanly to the ground. He attempted to struggle free, but the keeper had him soundly pinned down.
“What the hell are you doing in here?” He growled, glaring at Zaizen between strands of shaggy, mouse-brown hair.
Zaizen, too shocked still to process what he’d heard, responded without thinking. “That pink asshole stole my phone! And I had to get it back!”
The man above him froze. “What did you just say...?”
And then, Zaizen’s brain caught up.
Quickly, Kenya scrambled away, sitting up to get a proper look at the man before him. His heart had skipped a beat, no, it had stopped entirely. He could hardly believe it. Finally, finally, after all these years, he’d found his soulmate.
“Show me your script,” he said breathlessly, hurriedly unbuttoning his uniform with slightly shaky hands, pulling away the collar just enough to reveal his clavicle.
Zaizen did the same, hiking his sweatshirt up so that his own mark could be seen.
For a moment, the two of them could only stare at one another, enraptured by the words on their skin.
“I…I’m Kenya. Oshitari Kenya.” Finally he broke the silence, wanting to properly introduce himself to his soulmate after flattening him to the ground.
“Zaizen Hikaru. But…call me Hikaru.” The small smile he received made Kenya’s stomach flutter. Even soaking wet and covered in mud, he couldn’t deny that Zaizen was very attractive. Dark eyes and darker hair, with piercings lined all the way up the shell of his ear. He’d definitely hit the soul mate jackpot, based on looks, at least.
Zaizen, usually ready with any number of snappy comebacks, was struck dumb in the face of Kenya’s crooked, happy grin. He barely fought down the urge to reach out and run his fingers over the dark scars on his cheek, wanting to know the story behind them. He was about to ask, too, when a flamingo pecked him on the shoulder.
“The fuck!” Zaizen hissed, jumping up and rubbing his shoulder as he glowered at his attacker. He’d completely forgotten that he was in here with the birds.
Kenya got to his feet as well, and began calmly shooing the flamingos away. He bent down, picking up Zaizen’s phone off the ground in their wake. “Come on.” Kenya handed the device over, watching as Zaizen checked to make sure it wasn’t damaged. “We gotta make sure you aren’t hurt. I think I have some spare clothes for you too. You don’t wanna walk around smelling like that!” Kenya laughed as Zaizen’s cheeks pinked and he sniffed the arm of his sweatshirt. He might be used to the smell of bird droppings, but from the look on Zaizen’s face, he certainly wasn’t.
Akaya was waiting for them outside the fence, smirking like a madman. “What a way to meet your soulmate, Hikaru. Full of mud and smelling like shit. Good thing he works with animals for a living, eh? You’ll fit right in!”
He got a punch in the shoulder for his snark, but it didn’t stop him laughing to himself as Kenya lead them to the staff rooms.
Once inside, Kenya ushered Zaizen toward the locker rooms. “Here, you can shower. I’ll grab you some towels, okay?” He disappeared to grab everything, and came back a moment later, only to catch an eyeful of Zaizen’s very toned and very touchable abs. “I- towels! I’ll just- here you go.”
Dropping the pile on a nearly bench, Kenya quickly left the room before he did anything… well, anything that he shouldn’t do to a man he just met, soulmate or not. He returned to find Akaya lounging on a chair, feet propped up on a plastic folding table.
“So, you’re Hikaru’s soulmate, huh?”
“I guess so, yeah.”
“Guess it’s a good thing we didn’t get into the hippo cage, then! But damn, we still gotta do something…”
Kenya looked up, frowning. “What? Did you come here planning to screw with my animals?” He reached down for the radio clipped to his belt, ready to call for security, should he need it.
Akaya put his hands up defensively. “No! I mean, yeah we were gonna trespass on purpose, but not to cause trouble like that. It’s part of our work. Doing stunts like this.”
Twenty minutes later, Zaizen returned to the main lounge, towel-drying his hair. He was now sporting an Ueno Zoo t-shirt and jeans, both just a bit too big for him. And they smelled distinctly of Kenya. Zaizen wasn’t planning on giving them back any time soon.
Kenya turned to him from where he sat across from Akaya, and smiled at him. “So, Mr. Daredevil, Kirihara here tells me that you have an…interesting line of work?”
Zaizen shot Akaya a hard look, getting only a half-hearted shrug in return. “Yeah. It pays the bills.” He was reluctant to say anymore, lest they get themselves into even more trouble than they were probably in.
“Don’t worry, I’m not gonna turn you in or anything. I’d hate to put a damper on what has honestly been a fantastic day. Probably not so much for you, though. I won’t make it worse, in that case.”
Zaizen visibly relaxed. “Thank you. I- We owe you one.”
“Mmm.” Kenya hummed. “And I know just how you can make it up to me.” At Zaizen’s questioning look, he continued. “You still need that selfie, right? The zoo’ll be closing soon, so you’re out of luck today. But if you don’t mind coming back… I could give you a special tour?”
Seeing Kenya’s unsure, yet hopeful expression, Zaizen was very much reminded of a large puppy dog. Utterly adorable. “I’d love that.”
“Awesome. Here, I’ll give you my number. You should have it anyway, given that, you know, we’re fated to be together and all.” Zaizen handed his phone over, and Kenya put in his information. Once returned, he saw that Kenya had added a heart and pawprints emojis next to his name. Zaizen didn’t think he should find that as charming as he did.
Kenya glanced at the clock, and sighed. “I guess I should show you both out. We’re closed in ten.” As much as he wanted Zaizen to stay, he knew his boss would give him hell if she found out. He was probably going to get chewed out for missing out on feeding as it was.
The walk to the entrance was much too short for their liking. Seeing his friend lingering, Akaya rolled his eyes and said he’d wait outside the gates.
“So… I guess I’ll see you around?” Zaizen offered lamely, unsure of what else to say.
But Kenya just smiled. “How about this Saturday? I’m here all day, but only as an extra hand. I can give you a behind the scenes look at everything. And just. Hang out. If you’re cool with that.”
“More than cool with that.” Zaizen took a hesitant step forward, narrowing the space between them. In the dying light of the sun, Kenya’s brown eyes looked as if they were flecked with gold.
Kenya reached out, closing Zaizen’s hand in his own. “Awesome…” he breathed.
Their first kiss was soft and unsure, and Kenya’s lips were just a bit dry and scratchy, but for them, there was nothing more perfect in the world. Zaizen shifted his hand to lace their fingers together and squeezed gently as they pulled apart. Even in the warm glow of the sunset, both could see the blush on each other’s cheeks.
“I…I guess I’ll see you Saturday.” Zaizen murmured. He didn’t want to leave. But he knew there would be time enough for them later. He leaned in again, pressing a quick kiss to the scar on Kenya’s cheek, before turning away and walking through the gates.
Kenya watched him go, skin tingling pleasantly where Zaizen had touched him.
He made a mental note to give the flamingos an extra special treat tomorrow. After all, those ‘pink assholes’ had more than earned it.