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Taehyung woke up to his phone alarm beeping the start of a new day. He scrunched up his nose in confusion at the unfamiliar taste lingering in his mouth. It was the first of September, the cold morning breeze seeping through the cracks of Taehyung’s dorm room window. He pulled his blanket over his head, trying to shield himself from the coldness of the dawn, trying to mentally prepare himself for his morning lecture.
He tried swallowing, but the taste of honey and sesame oil wouldn’t leave his mouth. He brought his tongue around his teeth and inner cheeks, trying to make sense of what he was tasting. A faint aroma of chives and onions lingered in his mouth. He knew there was another essence too, a juicier substance, eyes widening in horror as he understood what food you could create from the other ingredients.
“Jimin!” Taehyung screeched, throwing his blanket off himself and stumbling up from his bed. Taehyung’s roommate and best friend Jimin was sitting by the kitchen counter, a spoon in his mouth and one eyebrow quirked up at the horrified blonde-haired boy. Jimin slowly removed the spoon from his mouth, careful of Taehyung as if any sudden actions would make the male blow up.
“Yeah?”
“I- I must have sleep-walked and eaten meat,” Taehyung said frantically, running over to the fridge in just his boxers and a ratty Naruto t-shirt. Jimin watched him in confusion as Taehyung started to dig through the fridge in search for the source of the flavours in his mouth.
“Tae you have all of your favourite foods in there, I doubt even sleepy you would go for meat.”
“But I can taste it Minnie,” Taehyung said frantically, peeking into the see-through cabinet with vegetables, lifting up the bag of carrots to see if there was some hidden meat beneath it.
“We don’t even have meat in the fridge, Tae, and I doubt you even remember what it tastes like.”
“It might be ten years since I last tasted it, but I remember meat like it was yesterday.”
Jimin rolled his eyes as Taehyung walked away from the fridge, starting to search through the cupboards instead. “Stop being so dramatic.”
“I can taste it clear as day, Jiminie.” Taehyung complained, turning back to the pink-haired male with a pout on his face. “It’s like- it's like I have the taste of skewers in my mouth."
“Maybe it’s your soulmate,” Jimin responded, stuffing a spoonful of vanilla yoghurt back into his mouth.
Taehyung stilled. Could it be?
Jimin’s snort knocked Taehyung out of his shocked state. The blonde walked up to the kitchen counter, slamming his palms down in front of Jimin. “Are you telling me. That my soulmate hint. Is the taste of lamb skewers in my mouth.”
Jimin nodded, not able to stop himself from bursting into laughter.
“I’m vegetarian, Jimin,” Taehyung wailed, lulling his head back in despair.
“T-That’s what makes it so funny-” Jimin howled, bringing a hand up to clutch at his stomach.
Taehyung groaned, slumping his whole upper body on top of the counter. “Yours was so cool, Jimin! I thought I’d get something like freestyle rapping that you got with Yoongi-hyung.”
“At least you’re being reminded what meat tastes like.” Jimin giggled, wiping a tear from his eyes.
Taehyung narrowed his eyes at his best friend, trying his best to look as intimidating as possible. “This isn’t funny, Jimothy. Is my soulmate out there stuffing his face with lamb every hour for it to be important enough to be a hint? Lamb skewers, Jimin. My hint is skewers.”
Jimin gave him an apologetic grin, fishing out his phone to tell his soulmate, Yoongi, about the news. Taehyung let out another groan, smashing his cheek against the counter.
“I’m going to strangle them.”
**
He tried his best to ignore the taste in his mouth, focusing on fiddling with the camera he had wrapped around his neck. He was making his way to his photography course, something that made him momentarily forget the lamb skewers. He couldn’t forget for long though, not after he had stepped foot onto campus.
The flavour had gotten more intense. Jimin had explained that it must mean that his soulmate had to be close by, probably also a student at the university. Taehyung fiddled with his camera, flickering his eyes up for a few seconds at a time, hoping to potentially see his soulmate. Of course he would only know if he’s found them through skin on skin contact.
Taehyung trudged along, dragging his feet in annoyance as he headed to his class. His eyes got drawn to the side, seeing a hunched figure slumped down the wall onto the ground. The brunette boy was pushing the headphones he had on further into his head, as if he were trying to push the music further into his ears. A tall, handsome platinum-haired blonde was rubbing soothing circles into his back, murmuring words that Taehyung doubted the brunette boy heard.
He stood still for a few seconds, the flavour in his mouth intensifying, feeling a slight invisible pull towards the slumped figure on the ground. He shrugged and kept walking. He had always been an empathetic person, maybe he would have asked him if he were okay, but the other male seemed to be taking care of him.
He relaxed as he made it to his class, the taste in his mouth subduing ever so slightly. He waved at Minjae, receiving a comforting pat on the head as he explained his soulmate hint to his classmate.
**
Taehyung was laying on Jimin’s thighs as he kept continuously huffing, the dull taste of lamb skewers making him more annoyed with his soulmate every passing minute.
“Have some gum.” Jimin said, getting tired of the blonde’s complaining.
Taehyung eagerly grabbed the packet from Jimin’s grasp, popping two pieces into his mouth. He let out a sigh in relief as peppermint enveloped his taste buds.
His chews started slowing down as his eyes widened in horror. The peppermint had disappeared, the meaty flavour coming back full swing. “It’s like chewy lamb, oh god,” Taehyung exclaimed, dramatically bringing a hand up to cover his face as he spat the gum out.
Taehyung huffed as Jimin pushed him off his legs, hopping off the bed to open the door as he heard a knock on it. He kept the hand on his face, not wanting to witness the two soulmates making out while he was in such emotional pain.
“Ah, heard you were going through some soulmate troubles,” Yoongi said as the two finally unlatched their lips, sitting down on Taehyung’s bed as the blonde was currently fully sprawled on top of Jimin’s.
“Why can’t I have it just like you two,” Taehyung complained, removing the hand off his face and pouting to the couple on the bed.
“You mean why can’t you have it like Jimin. I wouldn’t consider myself too lucky that I had to randomly burst into dance a couple times an hour.”
Taehyung grinned, remembering the time Yoongi went to supervise over an introduction to music production class, accidentally knocking over two computers as he erupted into spontaneous pirouettes.
He had a fond smile on his face as he saw Yoongi wrap his hand around Jimin’s waist, the pink-haired male leaning his head on Yoongi’s shoulder in return. He knew his soulmate would be worth the current taste in his mouth. He had watched Jimin and Yoongi being a gross couple for the past few years as Jimin had turned eighteen, hoping he could soon have the same feeling as what they felt.
“It just feels so sadistic from my soulmate that I’m forced to taste constant meat,” Taehyung whined, standing up to go and brush his teeth for the third time since coming back to the dorm. The minty paste gave him momentary relief, but after brushing for a minute the foam converted into what tasted like the mixture of honey and juices from lamb meat.
**
“I wish I had your soulmate right now so this wouldn't be so bland,” Jimin mumbled, stabbing into his salad aggressively with his fork. It was three days later as they were eating lunch before their next class, Taehyung slowly accepting the reality that he would have to live with the constant taste of honey and meat in his mouth. At least he cut down on calories as he didn’t need to put salad dressings anymore onto his lunches.
Taehyung was starting to lose hope in finding his soulmate. He had even gone to the extent of creepily walking around and accidentally bumping into people to see if they might be his soulmate, but it had been unsuccessful so far.
Taehyung leaned his cheek against his hand on the table, lazily picking at the salad from his container as his eyes drifted to a table close by in the cafeteria, recognising the same platinum blonde from a few days prior. He wasn’t sure, but it seemed like the brunette was next to him, but he had a black hood pulled over his head, hands over his ears. Taehyung watched horrified as the hooded male started to bang his forehead against the circular cafeteria table.
He watched the handsome male reach into his bag, pulling out a see-through microwaveable dish. Taehyung gasped as he recognised the honey-covered meat inside the dish, standing up, letting his chair topple over as he pointed a shaky finger into the table’s direction. Jimin turned to look, letting out a small squeal as he saw the lamb skewers.
The nearby tables had also curiously started to watch, hearing the commotion of the chair on the ground. The platinum blonde turned to look, eyes widening in realisation as he stared at Taehyung. The male nudged the slumped figure, the hooded male swatting his hand away.
Taehyung took a shaky step closer, all of his previous thoughts of strangling the male gone as he was actually meters away from his soulmate. Nervousness bubbled within him as the blonde nudged the hunched figure again, the male finally lifting up his gaze, locking it with Taehyung.
Taehyung managed to give a small nervous smile, quickly turning wary as the brunette looked at him with anger, shooting daggers right into Taehyung’s soul.
“YOU!” The brunette-haired boy yelled, stumbling up and running over from his seat and placing his hands onto Taehyung’s shoulders, causing Taehyung to stare at him slack-jawed, heart thumping in his chest at the hold over his white sweater. “Do you have any idea what I’ve had to go through because of you?” The male yelled furiously, starting to shake Taehyung’s shoulders. The brunette looked livid, hair pulled into multiple directions from frustration, dark purple bags underneath his eyes. The male’s large brown eyes widened in rage as he looked at the camera around Taehyung’s neck, making a grab for it.
“What the hell?” Taehyung yelped as the boy pulled the safety strap from around his neck. The male’s eyes looked manic, hovering the camera in the air as if he’s a second away from smashing it onto the ground.
“This. This thing is the devil,” the male sneered, hand shaking in the air from lack of sleep. Taehyung took a step back, watching his borderline psychotic soulmate. Taehyung stared at his pale face, the male clearly lacking a few days sleep, his clothes messy, but he could still tell the brunette was handsome. He had wide doe-eyes, even though they were currently filled with nothing but rage.
Taehyung took a step back as the brunette inched closer to him. He was scared for his camera, but he valued his own life over it. He glared at Jimin who was grinning at the situation. The platinum blonde male was also smiling at the couple, cupping his chin in his palms that he rested on the table, lamb skewers long forgotten.
The brunette kept walking towards him, Taehyung back-tracking until his spine hit the cafeteria wall, gulping as his soulmate approached him, Taehyung’s camera still in his shaky hand.
“W-What was your hint?” Taehyung asked, thinking if he could make a run for it, away from the livid male.
The male let out a chuckle, thrusting the camera into Taehyung’s chest, keeping it there as he stared intensely into Taehyung’s eyes.
Behind all of the obvious tiredness and rage, he really was pretty.
“My hint?”
Taehyung nodded hesitantly, pushing himself deeper into the wall as the brunette stood inches away, the only thing between them being Taehyung’s camera.
“I’ve had to hear the sound of a camera shutter.”
“Oh.”
“Every three seconds.”
“Oh.”
“It never stopped. No, not even during the night. Music didn’t help either, because the sound is in my brain.”
Okay, maybe his soulmate had it a bit worse than what he did.
Taehyung gave the brunette a gentle smile, hesitantly lifting a hand upwards. The male’s angry demeanour faltered, nervousness taking its place as he also realised that he was so close to his soulmate. Taehyung’s hand was shaking as he placed it on top of the brunette’s hand who was still holding the camera firmly against Taehyung’s chest.
He let out an exhale as he felt his soulmates skin on his own, feeling like all of the nervousness and worry left his body, letting a feeling of warmth spread throughout him.
His soulmate.
He instantly pulled the brunette into a hug, feeling the tension also leave the other male’s shoulders. “I’m Taehyung,” he murmured into his ear.
“Jeongguk.”
Taehyung smiled. The taste had left his mouth, and Jeongguk wouldn’t have to deal with the camera shutter again. Jeongguk looped his arms around Taehyung’s waist, accidentally dropping his camera onto the ground in the process.
Taehyung screeched as he heard the clatter of his precious baby hit the floor. He looked in horror as the screws started rolling away on the stone ground, the lens shattered into hundreds of pieces. He looked back up at his soulmate in disbelief, who had started rubbing his neck in embarrassment.
Jeongguk looked at him sheepishly, “S-Sorry. I’ll buy you a new one. I mean, uh, maybe in a couple years when I can afford it. In the meantime, would you want a lamb skewer?”