Work Text:
~
One thing that had always bothered Wonwoo was this: he ate so much meat and protein, but never gained any muscle. For his entire life, he had been scrawny, and he had tried for years to put on some weight. He had succeeded, but not by eating meat and carbs. Wonwoo had only put on weight because his darling soulmate was a freak, and ate only sweets.
Seriously, Wonwoo felt bad for the kid’s dentist. Even so, sweets had become an acquired taste for Wonwoo, and he indulged his soulmate by making something sweet for breakfast every morning. Sometimes it was pancakes, other times it was just cereal, but Wonwoo always made sure to satisfy his soulmate’s tastes before his own. His friend Seungcheol called him a dumbass for that, and told him regularly that his soulmate had Wonwoo “wrapped around his finger”. Wonwoo could admit that, yes, he was quite fond of his soulmate, but who wasn’t? He had learned all that he could about finding your soulmate, and he was convinced that it would be sometime soon. “It has to be” he would tell himself. Wonwoo knew that his time would come, and if his soulmate was as wonderful as they seemed, he would wait forever to simply be in their presence.
~
Wonwoo was an idiot. A full blown imbecile. He and his family were on a short trip during the week, and he had completely forgotten about the time zones, and woke his soulmate up with squid. He felt terrible because,
His soulmate wasn’t a big fan of seafood anyway, but he couldn’t stop his thought of them sometimes.
He woke them up like that.
The moment that Wonwoo felt the coldness on his teeth, he squirmed in his seat. “Wonwoo, is everything okay?” his mother asked, concerned. He gave her a thumbs up as he took a gulp of apple juice (he just kept it on him at all times at this point). His mother seemed to understand that her son’s soulmate was causing him trouble, but the boy was still writhing in his seat. “Could I get a glass of milk?” she asked a passing server. The woman nodded, and returned soon with the milk.
Wonwoo’s mother passed the glass to her son, who thanked her immediately. She had known of the communication system between her son and his soulmate, and found it incredibly endearing. She loved that the two already had a special bond before they found each other. “What was that all about?” Wonwoo’s father spoke up, and eyed his son carefully. “His soulmate was more than likely just woken up by the taste of squid.” His mother whispered, and his father’s eyes widened as his mouth formed a silent “O”. The man patted his son’s back a few times. “Your mother pulled the same stunts on me. Don’t worry about him being mad.”
Wonwoo’s parents had always referred to his soulmate as a “he”. His mother said it was, “motherly intuition, Wonwoo. Don’t ask questions you won’t receive straight answers to’. His father would believe his wife if she told him that the Earth was sinking in space, so it was no surprise that he believed her “motherly intuition”. Wonwoo was also very okay with believing that his soulmate was a man.
A man with an affinity for cherry candies and apple juice, but a man nonetheless.
~
“Seungcheol, you are really not helping me write this paper by singing AOA at the top of your lungs.” Wonwoo was going to gouge his eyeballs out if he had to see his buffoon of a best friend imitate the choreography to ‘Miniskirt’ one more time. He loved the boy to death, but he was the worst study partner in all of recorded history. This class was already kicking his ass, and he had two other assignments to finish after this one.
Wonwoo groaned into his hands, and tugged at his own hair, contemplating if he wanted to kick Seungcheol out of his house, or leave and save himself some trouble. He came to a decision very quickly when the song shuffled to ‘Excuse Me’, and Wonwoo practically flew out the door, leaving a startled Seungcheol yelling, “You’ll never make it without me!” behind him. Wonwoo rolled his eyes, and replied, “That’s my line!” before Seungcheol could say anything else.
~
Walking to the library had become something intimate between Wonwoo and himself. The walk was long enough for him to think, but not long enough to get lost in his own thoughts. By now, he was able to identify every crack in the sidewalk, and when they had appeared. He didn’t know when he started tracking time by things he tasted, but he knew that that’s the only way he could remember his childhood.
He remembered when his eldest brother left for college, and the salty tears that rolled down his cheeks when he realized he had lost his best friend. His soulmate had eaten tangerine candies to cheer him up, and three cracks appeared in the sidewalk that Winter. He remembered the bitter taste of cherry chapstick the first time a girl had kissed him, and the sweet bite of a real cherry when he soulmate reminded him, “I’m still here.” Only two cracks had appeared in the sidewalk that Summer.
By the time the sidewalk was repaved last Spring, Wonwoo was sure that his soulmate was somewhere near him.
This Autumn, he was going to find him.
~
Wonwoo waved to the older lady at the front desk of the library, and sent her a small smile. She was the same woman who had handed him his awards in Grade School for being an advanced reader, and he had always adored her. Two boys about his age were sitting at the table that Wonwoo usually occupied, so he sat at the one across from them.
One of the boys, Seokmin, was a very bright spirit who was in his Calculus class. The other boy was Kim Mingyu, one of the only people that Wonwoo had ever been afraid to talk to. Mingyu was the definition of tall, dark, and handsome, with a smile that put the sun to shame, and Wonwoo just could not face all of that without breaking into hives or something. Wonwoo heard the two whispering to each other, and saw Seokmin point towards him, earning him a slap on the shoulder from Mingyu. Wonwoo tried his best not to laugh, but just ended up puffing his cheeks.
He watched the two converse animatedly about something, and saw Mingyu’s face change with nearly every sentence. “He’s like an excited puppy”, Wonwoo thought to himself. Seriously, Mingyu looked like he was about to start wiggling his butt with excitement.
All three turned at the sound of the library door opening again, and a man came in holding a box of pizza. Wonwoo heard Mingyu say, “It just wasn’t meant to be, Seok,” before he paid the delivery man, and brought the pizza back to the table. God, Wonwoo was starving, but he was so interested in what Mingyu was doing that he almost forgot about his hunger: he had his thumb pressed between Seokmin’s eyebrows, and was rubbing the area gently as if trying to relieve a headache.
Wonwoo wasn’t sure why, but he was so entranced by how softly Mingyu was touching Seokmin’s skin. His looks contrasted so much with what Wonwoo assumed his personality was, and it was captivating. He was so light and gentle, and Wonwoo wanted Mingyu to touch him like that.
The two boys resumed talking, and Wonwoo continued to watch them closely. He had determined that he wasn’t going to get anything done, and had settled for watching the way Mingyu’s lips pouted when Seokmin said something he didn’t like. It was only when the spice of peppers hit his tongue, that Wonwoo remembered he shouldn’t be fawning over someone who wasn’t his soulmate. He directed his attention back to the paper in front of him, and tried his best to ignore the taste in his mouth, and Mingyu’s whispers.
~
Wonwoo had no idea what happened. One minute, he was trying to think of a synonym for the word ‘outcast’ (Ostracize!!), and the next minute, Kim Mingyu was standing in front of him in all his statuesque glory, asking if he would like to join the two for pizza after very cutely explaining that he knew quite a bit about Wonwoo (Wonwoo was very proud of himself for not screaming when Mingyu called him a “pottery prodigy”. How Wonwoo kept his cool, he would never know).
To say that he was excited to talk to the boy was the understatement of the century. Wonwoo’s entire body was thrumming with anticipation, and he was only slightly embarrassed by his obvious excitement. Mingyu was so adorably nervous towards him, that Wonwoo couldn’t keep the smile from his face. He thought for a moment that he was creeping the boys out by being so smiley, but Mingyu only looked fond when Wonwoo explained a calculus equation, or corrected Seokmin’s grammar.
~
By 9:00pm, Wonwoo knew that he was in too deep. Not once in the few hours they’d been studying had he thought of his soulmate. He felt so incredibly guilty, but not guilty enough to stop admiring the way Mingyu’s whole face lit up when he finished a problem, and the way he pouted his lips when he ran out of apple juice for the third time, and how gently he rubbed the back of Seokmin’s neck when he had been looking down for too long.
Wonwoo had always reasoned away his worries with the idea that he could look as long as he didn’t touch. But that was the problem: he wanted to touch Mingyu. He wanted to trace the apples of his cheeks, and learn if his ears were sensitive like his own; he wanted to run his fingers through the boy’s hair to ease his stress, and tell him that calculus is only the devil if you let it be; he wanted to caress the dips of his spine, and kiss his broad shoulders until the tension eased, and he prayed that his soulmate couldn’t taste the bitter guilt on his tongue.
~
Everything was going swimmingly until Seokmin made a mad dash for the toilet, which led to some serious worrying for Wonwoo. “He’ll be okay.” Mingyu explained when Wonwoo was ready to whip out his phone and call an ambulance. “His soulmate’s family eats exotic food every Wednesday, and Seokmin usually always hates it, but his soulmate still makes him try it. He must’ve lost track of the time, or he would’ve been in the bathroom before it hit him.”
Honestly, Mingyu’s voice alone was enough to calm Wonwoo down. The boy could’ve said “spork”, and he would’ve relaxed. Wonwoo didn’t want to say that though, so instead he said: “I understand that. My soulmate and I have a similiar problem, but we’ve developed a communication system for when one of us doesn’t like something.”
Mingyu choked. Wonwoo instinctively began rubbing circles on the boy’s back as he had done with Seungcheol so many times. He thought momentarily if the action was too intimate for two people who had just formally met 4 hours ago, but quickly decided against it. “I’d do this for anyone. This is the polite thing to do” Wonwoo told himself.
Mingyu regained his breath a few moments later, and Wonwoo had to stop himself from wiping away the tears that had formed in his eyes from coughing. “You okay?” was what he settled for instead. Mingyu nodded quickly, and muttered a “Thank you” to Wonwoo before composing himself and asking, “What kind of communication system do you and your soulmate have?” Wonwoo relaxed at Mingyu’s raspy voice, and smiled softly at the boy.
“It’s kinda funny actually.” Wonwoo began, repositioning himself so that he was facing Mingyu. He looked at Wonwoo with so much affection, and he forced himself to ignore Mingyu’s heartfelt gaze.
“We have really different tastes, so whenever I eat something they don’t like, they drink milk to tell me they don’t like it. It’s the same way with things they do like, except they drink apple juice instead. Why do you ask?” Wonwoo swore that he could hear Mingyu’s stomach drop with the way his expression changed.
The tears reappeared in Mingyu’s eyes, and Wonwoo was about to reach out and caress the boy’s cheek, afraid he had done something wrong, when Seokmin entered and Mingyu’s face neutralized.
“Sorry about that. My soulmate is eating squid of some kind. It was disgusting.” Seokmin explained as he trembled at the horrors he had just experienced. Wonwoo chuckled half-heartedly, but kept his eyes trained on Mingyu’s blank expression. In an attempt to salvage the conversation, Wonwoo figured it wouldn’t hurt to mention his own experience involving squid and his soulmate.
“The same thing happened to me the other day! I just got back from a vacation, but when I was there, I ate squid and didn’t realize it was early morning here. My soulmate was not happy.” Wonwoo laughed, but he didn’t miss the way Mingyu’s face fell, and his golden skin turned pale. Wonwoo thought that Mingyu might have actually stopped breathing. He and Seokmin watched the other as he looked up at the clock, back at them, and took a deep breath. “I’m gonna head home. I’ll see you guys tomorrow.” Mingyu sounded numb, and Wonwoo couldn’t let him leave like that.
“Hey, Mingyu?” Wonwoo grasped the other’s hand in his own, and forgot about his soulmate for a moment. “Could I possibly have your number?” He watched Mingyu blink dazedly a few times before he handed his phone over to Wonwoo to enter his information. Wonwoo couldn’t do anything except smile as he mumbled, “I’ll text you” and brushed his hand over Mingyu’s to return the boy’s phone.
Mingyu smiled, and Wonwoo was relieved to see that some of the tension fell from his shoulders. He left shortly after Mingyu, bidding Seokmin goodbye, and savoring the sweet taste of cherries on his tongue.
~
The entire walk home, Wonwoo was in a state of panic. What if Mingyu was one of those people that was super uncomfortable with the idea of soulmates? What if he didn’t believe in them at all? What if Mingyu’s soulmate was dead and he had lost his sense of taste? Wonwoo had said so many things wrong, and Mingyu’s behavior reflected that very clearly.
He had forgotten to ask if Mingyu was comfortable with talk of soulmates, too caught up in the conversation they were having. He argued with himself for almost and hour on whether or not he should text Mingyu and apologize. Eventually, Wonwoo decided that apologizing would be the right thing to do.
Me: hey, it’s Wonwoo. just wanted to make sure you were
okay. you seemed a little shaken up when you left :(
Wonwoo was in the middle of giving himself a pep talk, and telling his cat, “It’s totally fine if he doesn’t answer, right Jinnie? Completely fine. He’s not obligated to answer me” when his phone lit up with the name “Kim Mingyu”.
Kim Mingyu: hi, wonwoo. i’m okay; just remembered
something i have to finish for tomorrow. no big deal :)
Wonwoo released a breath he didn’t know he was holding. Mingyu wasn’t mad at him.
Me: ohh, okay. i was afraid i freaked you out talking about my
soulmate. i know some people are sensitive about that stuff,
and i had forgotten to ask if you were ;-;
Wonwoo thought for a moment that he probably looked a lot like a love sick puppy gazing down at his phone and smiling at Mingyu’s name. He shook his head at the thought of being lovesick, reminding himself (for the third time since he’d gotten home 20 minutes ago) that he had a soulmate, and so did Mingyu. It wasn’t his place to think like that.
Kim Mingyu: noo, you didn’t freak me out! i’m not sensitive
about soulmate stuff at all! i’m pretty interested in it actually :D
Wonwoo couldn’t keep the smile from his face. Mingyu was so kind and easy to talk to, and it made Wonwoo’s heart ache because Mingyu wasn’t his. He had told himself for years that “fate works in cruel ways” and “time will lead you to your soulmate”, but he was beginning to think that he might need to leave fate behind, and follow what his heart wanted, not his soul.
His heart wanted Mingyu.
~
Wonwoo woke up the next morning with a throbbing headache, a fever, and in the middle of vomiting. His mother rushed into his room as soon as she heard the odd rustling of Wonwoo trying to detangle himself from the blanket, and the sound of him choking on his own tongue. After fifteen minutes of freaking out from his mother, he had a cold rag on his forehead, clean sheets on his bed, and a very numb tongue.
“Wonwoo, you have to tell me what hurts, or I won’t be able to help you.” his mother pleaded with him. Wonwoo sucked in the biggest breath he could, and mumbled past his tongue, “It hurths to brink, Mom. Am dyint’.” The woman sighed and laid her hand against her son’s forehead again.
“You’re not going to school today-” “I gussed ‘at.” “-but I do want you to eat something so you’ll vomit instead of dry-heaving.” “How considera’ ob you.” “Jeon Wonwoo, I brought you into this world, and I can take you out of it just as easily.” Wonwoo tried to stick his tongue out at his mother, but ended up just scrunching his eyes, and earning a laugh and a flick on the forehead from her.
Suddenly, her face brightened and she grabbed Wonwoo’s tongue between two fingers and asked, “Can you feel that?” “Mo!” Her eyes got very wide, and Wonwoo would be lying if he said he wasn’t scared. She quickly reverted to a neutral expression, and patted her son’s cheek. “I’ll make you some soup, honey.” His mother was a horrible cook, so to avoid eating expired canned soup, Wonwoo decided it would be best to go back to sleep and pray that he woke to the taste of sweet apples.
~
The next few hours were a blur for Wonwoo. HIs mother came in and out of his room every hour or so to check his temperature, and looked, dare he say, excited that it was steadily rising. By 1:30pm, she had voiced her excitement with a giddy, “You’re at 101.4!” and Wonwoo was afraid that the woman was actually trying to kill him.
He vaguely remembered his conversation with Mingyu over text, but he was pretty sure he agreed that the boy would come over after school. Wonwoo had sent him the address and immediately regretted it once he realized how absolutely disgusting he looked. “There’s no use trying to fix myself up now.” Wonwoo thought, laughing slightly because he could barely lift his arms, let alone make himself look presentable.
When his fever hit 103.2 (his mother was actually slightly worried at this point), Wonwoo could hardly keep his eyes open. He felt like all the fluids in his body had rushed to the side he was laying on, his vision was cloudy, and he could feel his stomach clench in pain, but all he could focus on was the fact that Mingyu was coming.
That thought alone eased him into a sugary, black sleep.
~
Wonwoo woke to a cold hand on his cheek, and sparkling brown eyes trained on his own. He breathed out a groan (that was his normal reaction to being woken up), and waved sleepily at Mingyu. The other boy smiled, but there was something sad about it. Wonwoo wasn’t sure what it was, but he wanted it gone.
“Why you lookin’ at me like that?” Wonwoo asked. His tongue was far less numb than earlier, so he could actually articulate his words now. Mingyu just stared at him with genuine affection in his eyes, and Wonwoo couldn’t hold his gaze for much longer. So, he flicked him in the forehead. After a quick flinch from Mingyu, the boy leaned forward and whispered even though they were alone in the room and the door was shut: “I’m just really glad you’re okay.”
Wonwoo wanted to melt into this boy’s arms and never leave. The only thing stopping him from spilling his feelings for Mingyu was the returning taste of apples in his throat, and the guilt that was following close behind. Wonwoo nearly lost it when Mingyu brought a hand to his cheek, brushed away a few stray hairs from his sweat-covered forehead, and made small circles on his cheek with his thumb. Wonwoo couldn’t help but to lean into the touch.
“Hey, Wonwoo?” Mingyu was still whispering, and Wonwoo could’ve fallen asleep in that moment. He hummed in response, and the betrayal in his gut began to fade as Mingyu got impossibly closer.
“You’re my soulmate.”
Wonwoo felt too much at once. His eyes flew open because, honestly, that’s the only part of his body that he had control of at this point, and he filled his lungs to the brim, and just stared at Mingyu. There was a trace of joking or other intentions in his eyes, and Wonwoo was very confused. He sat up slowly, and Mingyu followed, reaching for his hands. He must’ve sensed the hesitation Wonwoo was feeling as he intertwined their fingers and simply waited for Wonwoo to collect his thoughts.
Wonwoo was truthfully not sure if he would ever be able to organize his thoughts ever again. This man, this unbelievable masterpiece of a human, was his soulmate. Never in a million years would Wonwoo have guessed that his soulmate was someone so gentle, loving, beautiful, and sweet. But here he was, and it made perfect sense. Mingyu looked at him like he’d lived a thousand lifetimes, and still never seen anything as perfect, and Wonwoo truly believed him.
He gave Mingyu’s hand a gentle squeeze, and tears streamed down his face as the boy met his eyes. He was smiling, and for the first time in Wonwoo’s life he understood what the word “home” really meant. Mingyu’s soft hands were back on Wonwoo’s cheek, wiping his tears, when Wonwoo remembered something:
“My mom wanted to know if you liked her tacos last week.”
Mingyu’s laugh was dazzling, and Wonwoo decided that he would be perfectly content to hear it every day for the rest of his life. Their hands found each other, and finally, finally, Wonwoo could feel Mingyu’s skin beneath his fingertips, and he could practically taste the sugar that had made a home on his tongue as he whispered,
“Tell your mom that I loved the tacos.”
~
Seokmin was always screaming around Wonwoo, but usually not at Wonwoo. “Ha! Wonwoo you owe me $20!” Two thoughts ran through Wonwoo’s mind:
“Shit, I don’t get paid this week.”
“We made a bet on whether or not my soulmate was my soulmate, and just brought it up in front of my soulmate, oh my god.”
Unfortunately, the second thought prevailed, and Wonwoo tried to avoid Mingyu’s questioning stare as he asked, “Did you guys bet on whether or not we were soulmates?” Seokmin was red in the face from trying so hard to contain his laughter, and Wonwoo was not finding this situation to be funny at all. “He said, and I quote: ‘There is no way that enormous puppy of a human is my soulmate’, to which I responded, “Bet.” And we did.”
Wonwoo groaned and tucked himself into Mingyu’s side before muttering, “I’m sorry, Gyu.” into the boy’s chest. Mingyu wrapped both arms around Wonwoo’s shoulders and laid a soft kiss on his forehead before mouthing something to Seokmin, who turned and left.
“Wonwoo,” Mingyu mumbled, tilting Wonwoo’s chin towards him. That was the third time he had done that now, and Wonwoo’s heart still fluttered a little. Mingyu planted a soft kiss on Wonwoo’s forehead, and his eyes shone with affection as he moved to place two equally gentle kisses on both cheeks. A peck on the nose, and a delicate kiss on the lips, and Wonwoo smiled against Mingyu’s lips, finally understanding what The Taste Of Your Future meant when it said your soulmate, “tastes like all of the goodness in the world.”
Mingyu’s smile was something that Wonwoo would always be eternally grateful for, especially when it was directed at him. “So, you think I’m a puppy, huh?” There was no real question behind it when Mingyu asked, but Wonwoo answered anyway. “Yeah, you resemble a puppy,” he took a moment to run his thumb across Mingyu’s knuckles. “Both in your personality and your looks.” Wonwoo’s smile fell slightly when he remembered that he was the reason they were in this position in the first place.
“I’m sorry that we made a bet on something serious. At the time, it sounded completely outrageous that someone like you would be my soulmate.” Mingyu was very obviously confused, and Wonwoo could imagine his ears flicking forward like a perplexed beagle. “Someone like me?” Mingyu questioned. “You know, you’re so-” he wasn’t sure how else to express what he meant other than vague gestures towards Mingyu. “And I’m so-” Wonwoo gestured towards himself, thinking of his small stature, his cold appearance, and the too-sharp angles of his face.
Mingyu looked as if Wonwoo had just told his mother that her lasagna was horrific at the dinner table. He had this “How dare you?” look on his face, and, honestly, Wonwoo was super confused by it. Mingyu grabbed onto both sides of Wonwoo’s chair, and turned it so he was completely facing him, before looking him straight in the eye. Wonwoo kind of wanted the earth to swallow him whole. Mingyu’s intense stare was something else.
“Wonwoo, I can tell you with full confidence that I have no idea what I did to deserve you. There was probably a bet involved; I don’t know. But I can tell you that I know you- the most wonderful, intelligent, and stunning person on this Earth- deserve the world. And if I’m your idea of ‘the world’, then I will do my best to be what you deserve.”
If the earth had swallowed him two minutes prior, Wonwoo was positive it would have spit him back up because of the backflips his heart was doing.
He was a goner. A goddamn goner for this boy. Wonwoo knew that he probably looked so disgustingly in love, and the old lady at the desk was probably about to lose her lunch because of it, but he didn’t care. He was so enamored with Mingyu; so absolutely encaptured that he didn’t know what to do with himself other than replan his entire life, and add Mingyu into everything.
Sugar covered Wonwoo’s tongue, and he knew.
Knew that Mingyu felt the same way.
Knew that Mingyu was just as gone for him as he was for the other boy.
Knew that he was in love with Mingyu, and yes, Kim Mingyu was his soulmate.
“Kim Mingyu, I am absolutely enraptured by you.” Wonwoo whispered, and he couldn’t imagine a more perfect moment. Nothing could compare to the way Mingyu’s entire face lit up, and the way his heart felt so full.
In the span of just two weeks, Mingyu had carved a place for himself in Wonwoo’s heart, and Wonwoo felt so content to hold him there.
Wonwoo was surrounded in everything that was inherently Mingyu, and, yeah, he could live the rest of his life like this.
And nothing could be sweeter than that.
~