Work Text:
“Papa,” nine-year-old Yukhei calls for his father’s attention during breakfast. “Papa, what are tits?”
His question made the older choke on his coffee, and his mother, who was spreading butter on her toast, accidentally dropped the butter knife, making the utensil clang loudly against the marble tiles of their floor.
“Yukhei,” his mother gasps in horror, “Where did you learn that word?!”
“Is that a bad word?” Yukhei asks with furrowed brows. LIfting the hem of his green Voltes V shirt, he points to his side, where five words were written. “I woke up this morning and they were here, like magic! But I didn’t write it. I tried to wash it with soap and water but it won’t go away. It says, ‘Wow, nice tits, very firm.’”
With a sigh, his father took a huge gulp of his coffee, while his mother picks up the fallen knife, placing the soiled utensil in the sink and returning with a new one.
“You know how we told you stories about soulmates?” his father began, and Yukhei nods earnestly. “Well, everyone has a soulmate. And everyone has a soulmate mark. It will randomly appear, and the words are the first words your soulmate will directly say to you.”
Yukhei nods in understanding, taking a huge bite of his pancake smothered in honey. His father relays the story of meeting his mother, about their marks, and the general idea of soulmates, anf Yukhei took everything in stride, as much as his mind could grasp.“Okay, so what are tits?”
His mother doesn’t drink coffee in the morning, and she hates his father’s coffee because it’s bitter. But this time, she does, stealing his father’s cup from his hands and finishing the contents with a grimace. “I think that’s a conversation for another day, Yukhei.”
__
At twenty-two years old, Yukhei has had his fair share of dating. None of them were his soulmate, no, but a few came close uttering the words almost similar to what was tattooed on his side. It was almost kind of weird, sure, but the words were always a good topic among his closest friends. He thinks that compared to his friends, soul-threes Johnny, Taeyong and Jaehyun, his was tame.
Because Johnny may as well have the entire café menu on his forearms, with “ One venti mocha frappuccino with two pumps of mint whipped cream blended instead of topped, please thank you” on his left, while his right bears “One venti iced americano with four extra shots, hold the water please and one oreo cheesecake, please don’t judge me, it’s not mine.”
Taeyong has the sentences, “That’s 4.89, I hope that tastes good ” as well as “ Red M&M shirt guy, you dropped your pen .” And Jaehyun’s tattoos were, “ 7.69, do you have 21 cents so I can give you 3? ” and “ My name is Taeyong, not M&M guy .”
So yes, in comparison, maybe Yukhei is lucky, because at least the tattoo is on his side, which he can easily hide. he can't remember how many times Johnny has been accused of cheating on a test just because he was a lot of words written on his forearms, which he tried desperately to hide with the sleeves of his hoodies.
Yes, Yukhei will take the side tattoo, thank you very much.
__
Yukhei wakes up with a raging headache, groaning as sunlight filters through the blinds and hits his face. Looking around, he panics upon the realization that he is in an unfamiliar room, only for it to die down the moment he sees a framed photo on the bedside table, and the events from the prior night came crashing to him.
Right, Mark threw a party at his brother’s villa by the beach, and he invited some twenty other people he’s friends with. Yukhei doesn’t know everyone, nor had he had the chance to mingle with them. Johnny, Taeyong, and Jaehyun were present, as well as Kun and Ten from the Performing Arts department, among others.
With another groan, he forces himself to stand up, thanking the deities that he’s not hungover. Johnny and Mark were in the kitchen, along with Hendery and Xiaojun (whose names he learned approximately thirty seconds ago), drinking coffee. Making a cup for himself, he takes a seat beside Johnny, savoring the hot liquid before laying his cheek on the glass cover of the table.
“Oh, hey Jun!” Mark calls, and Yukhei winces at his friend’s loudness. “Where are you going?”
“Your boyfriend apparently wants to feel the sand under his toes,” the other replied, a good few meters away. They have a nice voice, and Yukhei would have been enticed to look at the owner, but his head feels too heavy to raise.
“Have fun! And tell Donghyuck I love him!”
While Yukhei doesn’t hear a reply, he does hear everyone around him giggle, including Mark, and so he lets himself imagine that Mark was given the dirty finger or something similar, not that he’d tell them.
“Dude, you’ve been scratching your side for too long now,” Johnny nudges him.
“Huh?” Yukhei turns to him, almost disoriented. “What?”
Johnny looks at him worriedly. “You’ve been scratching your side the moment you got here. You got allergies or something?”
And when Yukhei finally noticed it, he was indeed scratching his side, where the words are. There’s an invisible itch seemingly under his skin, one that he couldn’t explain, and he settles for the only answer he can manage. “I don’t know.”
“Oh, oh!” Johnny’s eyes suddenly lit up. “Could it be...you’re meeting your soulmate?”
At this, Yukhei perks up, and Johnny’s statement brought several pairs of eyes on him. “What do you mean?”
“Before I met Jaehyun and Taeyong, I was feeling this tingling in my arms,” Johnny explains. “It wasn’t painful, but kinda annoying.”
“I experienced that too!” Mark pipes up. “One day my left shoulder was involuntarily twitching. And after three days, I met Donghyuck!”
“We had similar experiences,” Xiaojun offers, smiling at Hendery. “Quite a lot worse than you, actually. My right leg randomly cramped up several times, and after two weeks, Hendery and I met. He experienced the same symptoms as I did.”
“It was weird! One moment I was standing on the bus listening to music, and then the next, I was sitting on the floor and I couldn't move my leg. The grandma thought I was pretending just so I could mug her.”
Soulmate.
Yukhei waited for so long to meet them. If what they’re saying is true, then he hopes to meet them soon.
What was it like, he wants to ask them, but he stops himself from doing so. If he is indeed meeting his soulmate within the next few days, he'd rather bask in the feeling later, once it happens, looking forward to the unknown of tomorrow.
Hopefully they can expound why they mentioned my chest on our first meeting.
__
“Junnieeee,” Jaemin drapes an arm around his shoulder. “Why aren’t you swimming? Do you want me to rub sunscreen on your back?”
“And have you make fun of my mark?” Renjun scoffs. “No, thanks.”
Jaemin guffaws loudly, catching their friend's attention and prompting Donghyuck to run over to them, crashing by Renjun's stretched legs. Donghyuck hugs him tightly despite his protest of not wanting to be wet, but Donghyuck is the epitome of evil and simply hugs him tighter.
“Are we making fun of Renjun?” Donghyuck grins, laughing when Jaemin nods.
“When have you guys not?” Renjun scoffs, pretending to bite Donghyuck’s fingers when his cheeks were smushed.
“I offered to put sunscreen on his back but he won’t let me!” Jaemin whines dramatically. “Here I am, being an amazing friend, and you’re brushing away my efforts to take care of you!”
Without Renjun noticing, Donghyuck lifted a part of his shirt and poked him on the side. The result is instantaneous, Renjun shrieking and trying to get away, with Jaemin holding him down while Donghyuck tickled his sides. Renjun made the mistake of turning on his stomach, because then he’s completely defenseless, and both Jaemin and Donghyuck began attacking his ass instead, pinching and poking his perky behind.
“Once you meet your soulmate, we still better have the rights to use your ass as a stress ball,” Donghyuck punches each word with a poke on his flesh through the thin material of his shorts. “We were here first, we demand exclusivity.”
“Stop poking my butt!” Renjun struggles to no avail. “Go poke your own!”
“Oh, honey,” Jaemin says, voice dripping with faux sweetness. “We would, but we’re flat cakes. Only yours is worth poking, your mark says so. ‘Cute butt, very soft’. ”
“Speak for yourself, Jaem,” Donghyuck scoffs. “I have an ass.”
"No you don't," Jaemin makes a face, laughing loudly when Donghyuck punches his arm.
“When I meet my soulmate, none of you is coming near me,” Renjun finally managed to escape their hold, but only because they let him. “I’m flying somewhere with them, away from you two.”
“No you won’t. Not if we blackmail you with that Lion Heart dance cover in your full ensemble, Jun-fany Hwang. ”
“Damn it, Na Jaemin!”
__
Renjun was pulled for an impromptu shoot that afternoon, with the culprits none other than Na Jaemin and Lee Donghyuck. He supposes Mark Lee is at fault by an extension as well, an accomplice to the crime, for being Donghyuck’s soulmate, as well as Jeno, for being Jaemin’s.
The moment Jaemin got his phone back for him after countless photos were taken, Renjun made a dash for it, uncaring of the way his friends were shouting for him to come back. Figuring that he’s a good distance away from them, he slows down to a walk, picking up some of the most beautiful seashells washed ashore.
He glances back every now and then, watching as the waves died in the shore and the water goes back into the vast sea, erasing his footprints which were the only evidence of him taking the very path. It's nearing sunset, and the skies are a mixture of red and orange and purple, and the some of the clouds are lined silver. Renjun pondered whether to take a photo with his phone, which he eventually decides against, instead relishing in the moment of actually witnessing the present.
He had no idea how long he had taken a walk until he came across Jaehyun and Taeyong, who were walking with one of Mark’s visitors, going to the direction he came from.
“You never met, right? This is Yukhei, Renjun,” Taeyong introduces the two. “Renjun, Yukhei. Renjun, you should join us on the walk back, I think the others wants to play beach volleyball.”
Renjun’s eyes fleet to Yukhei, and they smiled politely at each other, before Taeyong abandoned Jaehyun to hook arms with him. He easily falls into a conversation with the older, but at the back of his mind, there’s an urge to just look back and make small talk with Yukhei.
His side is tingling, but he pays no mind.
The net has been set up, and there were four teams of threes. Renjun sat on the sand, cheering for Donghyuck and Jaemin who were on one team. With them was Sungchan, and they were against Ten, Winwin and Yangyang. Rather than being competitive, they were more playful, and Renjun can’t count how many times he laughed when the ball went into the waters and it was Mark who had to fetch it back.
Donghyuck’s team won, and the moment they dispersed, the next teams took their place. Jeno, Jaehyun and Yukhei formed one team, and Johnny, Hendery and Yuta were on the other. They were more competitive if not a little dramatic, especially when Yuta made a dive to catch the ball.
But as though hypnotized, his eyes follow Yukhei’s every move, smiling and cheering when he does a spike, and frowning when he misses the ball. After the first set, they all went shirtless, and Renjun let his eyes particularly wander at Yukhei’s body. He’s tanned and toned, and there’s an image of a majestic lion inked on his torso. His arms and stomach were defined as well, but Renjun’s eyes were on his chest.
I want to poke his pectorals .
Pectorals, because Renjun’s not some kind of a pervert, and he’s just curious about them. Just a little poke, maybe have his palm lay flat across one, or maybe even his head. Just pure curiosity, would he be able to hear his heartbeat given how thick his pectorals are? Do doctors need to connect their stethoscopes to a speaker when Yukhei goes for a checkup?
Before long, the game ended, and they all ate together outside. While the game was ongoing, Taeyong, Doyoung and Taeil started cooking, and they all enjoyed grilled meat and sausages, as well as ramyeon. They were in their own little group, and some people mingled with others, but Renjun stayed with Donghyuck and Jaemin, occasionally making polite conversations with the others when prompted.
Renjun finished eating first, leaving his friends with their respective soulmates with the excuse of wanting to take a walk alone, joking that he wants to burn all the calories.
He trudges along the familiar path he took earlier, walking on the firm, wet sand, but not close enough for the waves to wet his feet when they meet the shore. Again and again, he watches with fascination as his footprints were erased by the waters, claiming the earth as its own.
Despite it being an excuse at first, he appreciated his alone time, feeling his social battery drained after being surrounded by a lot of people, especially not knowing them well enough.
Aside from that, there’s an unexplainable but incessant buzzing he’s been feeling under his skin the moment he woke up, and it’s making him fidgety.
He’s been walking for a good twenty minutes, although the distance was not that far, considering he was taking small and slow steps and enjoying the sound of the waves and the cool wind. Deciding to make his way back, he noticed that there were only a few people left, and he felt kind of guilty that he did not help with the clean up.
Despite his brisk walking, it still took him more than ten minutes to arrive, and it was only Yukhei who was outside, still in his shirtless glory, pouring water over the embers of their bonfire. Noticing him, Yukhei gave him a beautiful smile and he responded with one of his own, not trusting himself to utter a single word.
He walked to Yukhei's direction, with the intention of helping him out, maybe carry the bucket back since it's literally the only thing he could offer. But as if cursed (or maybe blessed) by some cliche K-drama gods, the moment Renjun is a mere three steps away from Yukhei, he trips on a stray branch, and he closes his eyes, bracing himself for the impact of his fall on the sand.
In front of Yukhei too!
Renjun definitely fell. He’s sure of it, if the fact that he’s lying horizontally against the earth isn’t enough proof. His palms were spread in front of him, but instead of feeling the coarse sand under his fingers, he feels something more tangible. More solid. And he can't help but try to clench his fingers around the solid mass.
Opening his eyes, he gapes in horror as he realizes that Yukhei is in front of him—under him, to be exact, and his palms were on his ti–pecs.
Pectorals.
“Wow, nice tits, very firm.” A squeeze. Renjun’s mouth definitely worked faster than his brain, as did his hands, only realizing a moment later what he did and said. With a whimper, he closed his eyes and laid his head on Yukhei’s chest, even before he could process what he did once again. For why did his brain-to-mouth filter decide not to work right now? “Oh my god.”
It takes Yukhei a good five seconds to reply. “Cute butt, very soft.”
Wait, what?
It takes him a moment to realize that Yukhei’s (large!) hands are indeed on his butt, but it takes him longer to process the words uttered to him. Yukhei's hands were just...there. On his butt. Not squeezing them like Renjun did.
But Renjun can't bring himself to feel bad about what he did, because he wants to do it again.
“Wait. Nice tits? ”
“Cute butt? ”
Renjun has read stories of soulmates’ first meetings. There were sweet ones like at the library, unexpected ones at public restrooms, some exaggerated ones like during a fan meeting. He's fantasized about his, with different scenes—in the park, at a library, in an airplane.
But now that it happened, all thought flew out of his head. He doesn’t know how to categorize his own, what genre this first meeting is.
Because technically, it’s romantic. They’re at the beach, under the stars, and it’s only the two of them, and he’s even laying on top of Yukhei.
Despite his embarrassment, he raises his head to look at Yukhei, hoping that the other doesn't notice how red his cheeks are. “Nice to finally meet you, soulmate. You do have nice tits.”
Okay, maybe he shouldn't have said the last part, but then again, his brain-to-mouth filter decided to break today. Right in front of his soulmate.
But Yukhei grins at him, almost shy. “Nice to meet you too, soulmate. And cute butt, I said what I said.”
"We should probably get up and talk, don't you think?" Renjun mumbles against Yukhei's skin, palms still pressed against the warm planes of his chest.
"We should," Yukhei replies. But neither of them made a move to get up, and Yukhei instead wrapped his arms around his waist. "Five minutes."
This is definitely romantic, Renjun decides. They've gone past hugging and immediately goes to cuddling, regardless of the circumstances. They’re under the stars, he complimented Yukhei, and Yukhei called his butt cute. Nothing can get any more romantic than this.