Archive of Our Own ^beta

Hyunjin is sick of waiting. He wasn’t the only one, and impatience was hardly an unpopular personality flaw, but he couldn’t take it anymore. Hyunjin has been daydreaming of meeting his Prince Charming for as long as he could remember. He would be tall and charismatic. He’d have dark hair and eyes you could get lost in. Most importantly, his thoughts would ring in Hyunjin’s mind from the moment they met.

It was a love story everybody wanted. You find your link, and you’ll be able to hear their thoughts from the first time you make eye contact. They’re your soulmate, your perfect match. It was a goal for every true romantic, and Hyunjin definitely fell into that category, especially since his own parents were linked. It was tradition to Hyunjin; you could go back generations on his family tree tracing all the linked couples. He intended to join them.

At first, holding out for his link was normal; in high school, almost everyone thought they would marry their link. That was their one true love, after all! As they got older, more and more people started dating and falling in love despite having never met their link. Hyunjin couldn’t understand it. Why waste your time with other people?

Even his own friends didn’t seem to care about their mythical links. Some dated around, insisting they needed experience for if they ever met their match. Others thought links were bullshit. One had claimed he was just having fun until he met his link, then he’d proceeded to get engaged to the girl he was dating. It seemed Hyunjin was the only one who even cared if he found his link or not. Then, Jisung met Felix.

As the story went, Jisung was on his way to his first day of his new job when he looked through the window of a cafe about a block away from his office and noticed a cute, freckled boy working there. He didn’t have time to stop in the morning, but, come his lunch break, he’d made a point to visit the cafe. Jisung always said there was just something telling him he needed to go back. When he arrived, he walked right up to the register Felix stood behind. Felix looked up and met Jisung’s eyes just as he asked, “How can I help you?” Before Jisung could reply, his head started throbbing and he could hear a faint voice in the back of his head calling him cute, but short. Jisung made the connection, and the rest was history.

It seemed so random. When Hyunjin first heard Jisung tell the story, he hadn’t been able to stop thinking about it. He wasn’t jealous. At least, he didn’t want to be. But why did Jisung get to meet his link? Jisung had never actively searched for him. Hyunjin made eye contact with every person he could: on the train, in class, at stores.

Jisung had always thought all of Hyunjin’s efforts were ridiculous. He’d made fun of Hyunjin for his desperation a hundred times. Jisung always said that, if something was really meant to happen, it would just happen. Hyunjin had never once believed him, but now, Jisung had found his match. Hyunjin had never even had a real boyfriend.

It had now been almost a year since Jisung and Felix met, and they were attached at the hip. Every time Hyunjin wanted to hang out, Jisung would bring Felix along. Jisung rapidly went from not caring if he ever found his link to spending all of his time with him. Hyunjin swore he was happy for Jisung. He just didn’t think this was fair.

So, Hyunjin sits at his and his friends’ usual table at their favorite diner with Felix, awaiting the arrival of Jisung. Despite his internal turmoil, Hyunjin had grown to really like Felix. This, of course, only made him more serious about finding his link. Felix was sweet and a little weird and somehow perfect for Jisung, just like Hyunjin’s parents were for each other.

“Jin,” Felix sings, reaching across the table and poking Hyunjin’s cheek to get his attention. Hyunjin looks back at Felix, trying to shake off all of his daydreams about finding his link. “We should order pancakes.”

“Okay,” Hyunjin mumbles, rubbing his eyes thoughtlessly. “Yeah. Sounds good.”

“Are you okay?” Felix asks, closing his menu and giving Hyunjin his full attention.

“I’m fine,” Hyunjin insists. He quickly realizes he needs to distract Felix before he starts giving him life advice. “Are you and Jisung gonna do anything to celebrate your first anniversary? It’s soon, right?”

“Oh, yeah,” Felix confirms. “I don’t know. You know Jisung. That’s not really his thing.”

“He’ll never admit it, but I think he’d like it if you did something special,” Hyunjin suggests, fixing his hair absentmindedly.

“You think I should plan something? What if he already planned something?” Felix asks. Hyunjin winces. “Or what if he just wants to stay home?”

“Maybe it’s not a good idea,” Hyunjin concedes with a little nod.

“I’ll just buy him something nice. That’s all Jisung really wants anyway: stuff,” Felix decides with a sigh. “He’s really materialistic, you know.”

“I know,” Hyunjin confirms before taking a sip of his coffee. “Where is he, anyway?”

“He’s always late,” Felix says with a tiny sigh.

Hyunjin just fixes his gaze on the door. He wanted to make eye contact with any new patrons who happened to walk into the diner.

“What are you doing?” Felix says after a few moments. Hyunjin instantly feels his cheeks flush.

“Daydreaming, sorry,” Hyunjin mumbles in response. Felix frowns.

“Hyunjin,” he says sternly, “you are not going to meet your link in this diner today. I promise you that.”

Hyunjin clenched his jaw. His embarrassment fades into annoyance, quicker than he thought possible.

“How do you know?” he snips.

“The same people eat in this diner every time we’re here,” Felix explains, “and I know you’ve already made eye contact with all of them, so just relax.”

Hyunjin sighed, letting his anger flutter away. Felix was right. Maybe he’d meet his link today, but not in this diner, surrounded by the same regulars that were in here every time Hyunjin came by.

“Is Seungmin coming today?”

Hyunjin just shrugs in response. Seungmin had been Hyunjin’s best friend for most of his life, but they’d gotten even closer now that most of their friends had started settling down. Seungmin was the only person in their friend group who also had zero romantic prospects, meaning he was always Hyunjin’s date to weddings and the person he called whenever he had no one to see a movie or concert with.

“I haven’t talked to him. Why?”

“Just think you need to see him is all,” Felix says with a coy smile. Hyunjin kicks him under the table.

“I’ve told you a hundred times—”

“I know, I know. You’re very dedicated to finding your link, yada yada yada,” Felix says dryly. “I just think that you two have been on enough friend dates to consider going on a real date.”

“It’s not like that,” Hyunjin insists.

He really did mean it. Don’t get Hyunjin wrong; Seungmin was great. He was cute and kind, and he could always make Hyunjin laugh, even without telling any jokes. In some other life, Hyunjin could see them together, but, in this life, they just weren’t a match. He knew that because he’d looked Seungmin in the eyes for the sole purpose of checking multiple times, starting when they were in middle school.

“It could be like that, which is my point,” Felix clarifies with a sigh. “I dated people before Jisung, you know, and I don’t regret that, even if they weren’t my link. A relationship can be fulfilling and make you happy without all that.”

“Not for me,” Hyunjin declares. How was he supposed to settle? All that waiting, all that fantasizing, all just to end up dating someone who he always knew wasn’t his soulmate.

Felix just shakes his head, clearly giving up on the conversation.

Jisung arrives soon after, and he inadvertently makes Hyunjin feel even worse than he already does by sliding in next to Felix and kissing him good morning. As soon as he pulls away, Felix rests a hand on his neck to signal to him to look into his eyes. Hyunjin clenched his jaw in jealousy.

“Are you talking about me right in front of me?” Hyunjin asks. Jisung shakes his head, wrapping an arm around Felix before turning to look at Hyunjin.

“Why would we be talking about you?” Jisung wonders. Hyunjin’s mouth contorts in chagrin.

“I– no reason,” Hyunjin mumbles.

“You’re projecting about this stupid link thing again,” Jisung complains. “Honestly, Hyunjin, can’t you just let life happen?”

“Oh, yeah. Awesome advice. I’ll just sit here and see what happens!” Hyunjin grates sarcastically.

“That’s what I did,” Jisung reminds him. He gestures to him and Felix wildly. “It worked.”

Hyunjin rolls his eyes. He spends most of the rest of breakfast in silence, only interjecting every once in a while. It was hard not to be pissed at Jisung. He knew Jisung’s constant discouragements toward looking for his link came from a place of concern, but Jisung was still a person who had everything getting onto Hyunjin for wanting that same happiness. It wasn’t fair.

When their checks finally come, Hyunjin immediately grabs his and goes to the register to pay for his meal. He wanted to get out of there as soon as possible. Once he receives his change, he only gives Jisung and Felix a little wave in their direction before leaving the diner completely and heading back on his path home. Usually, he’d consider using a Saturday afternoon to go draw somewhere in public where he would encounter a lot of new people to attempt to link with. Today, he just sorta wanted to go home.

“Hyunjin! Wait!” Felix calls, following Hyunjin out of the restaurant. Jisung was nowhere to be found, which was odd for the two of them, to say the least.

“What’s wrong?” Hyunjin says. He turns around to look at Felix, expecting to see him holding Hyunjin’s wallet or phone or something else he had forgotten.

"Listen, I don't want you to think I'm like Jisung where I never worried about meeting my link," Felix admits. "I know how you feel. I dated other people, but I always wondered about him, you know?"

Hyunjin nodded. He guessed that was how most people did it; maybe not everyone was as completely consumed by searching for their link as Hyunjin was, but everyone wanted to find their soulmate. Hyunjin knew the thought had to linger in the back of people's heads even after they married other people.

"This is going to sound silly, but I want to say it, okay?" Felix warns, the hesitation in his voice obvious.

"Okay," Hyunjin mouths back. Felix was a strange guy; he always had been. It was hard not to be a little cautious when even he thought something was silly.

"When I was in high school, I went to this fortune teller by the boardwalk. Her name is Madam Luna," Felix recounts. For a split second, the thought is ludicrous, even to Hyunjin, but he supposed there were stranger things in this world than psychics. "I asked her when I would meet my soulmate. She told me we would encounter each other because of work, but we wouldn't be colleagues."

Hyunjin squints, thinking back to the story of Jisung and Felix and the cafe. Felix had been working, and Jisung had only walked past because he was on the way to his own job.

"So, what? You think she saw you and Jisung in her little crystal ball?" Hyunjin attempts to clarify. Felix shrugs.

"Maybe it was a coincidence. Maybe it wasn't. But I never believed her, and she was right," Felix explains. "It might give you some peace of mind, to believe in her and believe you know where he'll be. You could have breakfast with your friends without checking out random people dining nearby."

Hyunjin pauses. Was this rock bottom? Was asking a fortune teller to find him a boyfriend the lowest he could go? For a minute, he really thinks so, but then, he thinks about Jisung and Felix and how happy they are. He thinks about how Jisung never had to force that to happen. Maybe seeing this Madam Luna was a good idea.

"Okay," he says finally. "By the boardwalk?"

"By the boardwalk."

"Thanks," Hyunjin says quietly. Felix gives him a little nod, and, seconds later, Jisung exits the diner and approaches them, slinging an arm around Felix in the process.

"You sure bolted quickly when it came time to pay," Jisung teases Felix, squeezing his side in the process. Hyunjin sighed. Madam Luna seemed like a better option by the minute.

"I've gotta go," Hyunjin mumbles. "I'll text you later."

Jisung does a little wave in response, and Hyunjin quickly turns on his heel and begins to power walk away as rapidly as he can without looking like a freak. God, he needed more friends so he wasn't third-wheeling Jisung constantly.

As he walks away, in no direction in particular and with no real vision for the rest of the day, it occurs to Hyunjin he was only a ten or so minute walk away from the piers. What harm could it do? Worst case scenario, this all becomes a funny story he can tell Seungmin later. He could hear himself now: Some crazy lady told me that I'm going to meet my soulmate at Costco! What was the difference between this and when they'd play with Ouija boards as teenagers?

Before Hyunjin can really make a decision on whether Madam Luna is legitimate or not, he realizes his legs have made up their own mind and he's absently headed toward Madam Luna's shop. He convinces himself he can't turn back at that point. It would be hundreds of extra steps to turn back for his apartment now!

When he reaches the street of retail shops near the boardwalk, he finds Madam Luna's shop right away. In fact, he's a little creeped out that he never noticed it before. The window display was filled with spooky things like crystals and tarot cards and prayer candles, and the neon sign marking her shop had a big, light-up full moon next to the words, “The Clairvoyant Madam Luna's Fortune Readings and Divination Supply.”

Right as he turns the door handle to enter the shop, it occurs to him that a psychic being open at ten in the morning was a bit bizarre, but he pushes that thought out of his mind and tries to just focus on finding his link.

“Hello?” he says as he steps into the shop. It was dark, dusty and absolutely the kind of place Hyunjin didn’t like to find himself in. The walls were lined with shelving that carried what Hyunjin figures must be ingredients for potions. Were fortune tellers also witches? All Hyunjin really knows is that if you wanted bottled oregano it would probably be cheaper to just go to the grocery store.

In the center of the room, there was a round, wooden table with a single candle, a deck of cards and a row of various crystals. Hyunjin imagined Madam Luna pulling his fortune from the cards like in the movies. This all felt ridiculous to him, but he couldn’t stop thinking about how she’d known how Jisung and Felix would meet years before it happened. That had to mean something, right? It had to.

After a few moments, an older woman with long, black hair and her body wrapped up in a flowing robe appears behind the counter. Hyunjin thought she sort of looked like she’d be sleeping in the back, judging by her under eye circles and messy hair.

“Welcome to Madam Luna’s,” she greets dryly as she partakes in a pointless attempt to fix her hair. Hyunjin appreciated the effort, he supposed. “How can the mistress of the moon be of service to you?”

Hyunjin took a deep breath. How was an old lady in her pajamas making him so nervous?

“A friend of mine told me you helped him find his link,” Hyunjin informs her.

“His soulmate?” she asks. Hyunjin nods.

“Right, yeah,” Hyunjin confirms. “I really want to meet mine, too. He said you told him when they would meet.”

“I can do that,” she agrees with a huff. “Is that all you want?”

Hyunjin nods.

“Ten,” she states.

“Ten?”

“I’ll do the reading for ten,” she elaborates. Hyunjin raises his eyebrows. Had Felix really found Jisung for ten dollars?

He doesn’t question her, though. He pulls his wallet out of his bag and hands her over a ten dollar bill. At that price, he really didn’t have anything to lose.

She takes the bill, shoves it into the pocket of her robes, then walks out from behind the counter and leads Hyunjin over to the round table he’d noticed before. Hyunjin takes the seat across from her, suddenly a ball of anxiety. If Madam Luna was the real deal, this was it. He was going to finally know his path to his link, right here in this creepy shop.

Madam Luna lights the candle in the center of the table, then takes Hyunjin’s hand into her own and closes her eyes.

“What’s your name?” she asks.

“Hyunjin,” he replies.

“Hyunjin,” she repeats back to him. He feels weird, watching her like this, but he didn’t know where else he could look. He also hated holding her cold, wrinkled hands, but he couldn’t exactly pull away. “Your friend you mentioned… Are you close?”

“Not extraordinarily,” Hyunjin admits. “He’s my friend's boyfriend.”

“His boyfriend is your best friend?”

“One of them,” he confirms.

“You have another one?”

“Yes,” he decides.

“Hmm,” she mutters. For a while, there was silence. Madam Luna squeezes Hyunjin’s hand and focuses on the spirits or whatever, and Hyunjin just wishes this could all happen a little faster.

Suddenly, she opens her eyes and pulls her hand away.

“You’ve already met your soulmate, child,” Madam Luna announces. Hyunjin’s entire face gets a little rounder as his eyelids retract completely and his jaw loosens.

“That’s not possible,” he assures her. “I have been diligent about checking everyone I know.”

“Not diligent enough!” she sings back. “You went to school with him.”

“School?” Hyunjin practically gasps. “Like, high school?”

She nods, pushing a section of her long, dark hair out of her face. Hyunjin could feel his heartbeat in his throat. Was it really possible he’d been that close the entire time? Without Felix’s testimony, Hyunjin never would’ve believed her, not for a minute.

“Are you sure?” Hyunjin asks. Madam Luna crosses her arms, then blows out the candle between them.

“I have never been wrong,” she says, clearly annoyed anyone would dare to question the ten dollar psychic on the boardwalk. “Your soulmate went to high school with you. He was in your homeroom. Now, get out of my shop.”

Hyunjin is taken aback, but he supposed she wasn’t the first old lady to get defensive about her abilities. He thanks her, then grabs his bag and leaves the shop as quickly as he can.

The first thing Hyunjin does when he gets outside is call Seungmin. When he doesn’t pick up, Hyunjin calls him again. And again. And again. He’s on his sixth call whenever Seungmin finally picks up.

“Hello? Are you okay? What’s wrong?” Seungmin fires off frantically.

“Why would something be wrong?” Hyunjin asks. Seungmin offers him a dry, sarcastic laugh.

“You called me half a dozen times,” he snaps. “I thought something happened.”

“You thought wrong!” Hyunjin sings, completely dismissing Seungmin’s concern. “Meet me at my apartment.”

“What? I’m busy. I was gonna go hiking today,” Seungmin explains. Hyunjin wished he could pout over the phone. Looking sad was the easiest way to get Seungmin to do whatever you wanted.

“I need your help,” he begs. Seungmin sighs.

“Okay. I’m coming,” Seungmin agrees reluctantly. Hyunjin knew he could always count on Seungmin, at least.

Hyunjin practically sprints the two miles back to his apartment. He was, admittedly, very excited. While he went to Madam Luna expecting a vague answer that would only keep him wondering when he’d meet his link, he’d returned with thirteen candidates. If Madam Luna was who she claimed to be, Hyunjin could know who his link was by Monday.

When he gets inside his apartment, he immediately grabs his high school yearbook and flips to the page with the students from his homeroom. Glancing them over quickly, he wasn’t sure he saw his soulmate. The only person he’d ever wanted to hang out with in high school was Seungmin. None of the other guys had held his attention the same way.

Hyunjin continues to stare at his candidates wondering if it was truly possible any of them could be his link when he hears a knock at the door. He prances to the front of his apartment, ecstatic that soon he and Seungmin could begin their search.

“Hey,” Seungmin says, pushing his way into Hyunjin’s apartment as soon as he opens the door. Hyunjin could tell he wasn’t super thrilled to have his day uprooted by Hyunjin’s beck and call, but Seungmin had never been one to say no.

“You could wait for me to invite you in!” Hyunjin says, closing the door behind them.

“Knocking first was my courtesy to you,” Seungmin insists, taking off his baseball cap and running a hand through his hair absentmindedly.

“You’re a hero,” Hyunjin jokes.

He leads Seungmin over to his kitchen table, and Seungmin immediately groans at the sight of their high school yearbook dusted off.

“What is this?” Seungmin asks. “You hijacked my Saturday so we can relive high school?”

“I’m looking for my link, asshole,” Hyunjin informs him. Seungmin just looks at him quizzically.

“You think you’re going to find your link in that yearbook?” Seungmin questions. He manages to make Hyunjin feel like he’s being delusional, even though Hyunjin knew from the beginning it was an outlandish belief.

“Felix told me that, when he was in high school, he spoke to a psychic on the boardwalk,” Hyunjin explains. “She told him that he would meet his soulmate through work, but they wouldn’t be colleagues.”

“So?” Seungmin says. Hyunjin couldn’t tell if he wasn’t following or just thought this was stupid.

“So? So, that’s exactly what happened! He and Jisung met at Felix’s job! Jisung saw him on the way to his office!” Hyunjin exclaims.

“What does this have to do with them, Hyunjin?” Seungmin specifies, gesturing to the yearbook opened up to their homeroom’s page.

“I saw the psychic, and she told me I met my link in high school. She said we were in the same class, Seungmin,” Hyunjin admits. “We have to find him.”

Hyunjin can feel Seungmin holding back an eye roll. Seungmin had never really been enthusiastic about links as a concept. He’d never held Hyunjin back from looking for his own link, but Seungmin had certainly never joined in on Hyunjin’s extensive efforts. Hyunjin always found it odd, since Seungmin also didn’t engage in a lot of romantic pursuits outside of looking for his link, either.

“So, I assume he” —Seungmin points to his own photo— “is your first reject.”

“Not a reject, just not my link,” Hyunjin confirms.

“Are we sure?” Seungmin ponders with a laugh. He takes both his hands and cups Hyunjin’s cheeks, forcing them to lock eyes. “Do you hear anything?”

“I think you’re making fun of me, which is mean,” Hyunjin decides, hitting Seungmin’s hands away, “but, no, I don’t hear anything. It’s my goal to test all these guys just like that until I find my link.”

Seungmin pauses. The one thing that could never be doubted was that he cared about Hyunjin, at least.

“What do you need me to do?” he asks. Hyunjin grins.

“You’ve always been the brains,” Hyunjin says. Seungmin sighs, slowly peeling off his jacket and putting it over one of the chairs at Hyunjin’s kitchen table.

“I don’t work for free,” Seungmin informs him. Hyunjin waits expectantly for Seungmin’s terms. “I need coffee.”

“That I can do,” Hyunjin agrees. “The usual?”

“Please,” Seungmin confirms. Hyunjin grabs his keys off the counter and exits, leaving Seungmin alone in his apartment while he goes to get fuel from the coffee shop down the block.

When Hyunjin returns, he almost drops both drinks in his hands at the sight of what Seungmin has transformed his kitchen into.

“What is this?” Hyunjin laughs. Seungmin had very carefully scanned and printed out each of their classmate’s photos and taped them to the wall parallel from the kitchen table. They were sorted into a pyramid-like shape: Hyunjin’s picture on top, Jisung and Seungmin’s photos on the second row, and everyone else’s in two rows of six on the bottom.

“A visual,” Seungmin replies simply.

“It looks like you’re conducting a murder investigation,” Hyunjin jokes. He sets Seungmin’s coffee on the table in front of him before approaching the wall.

“I’m conducting a link investigation,” Seungmin corrects him. “These are the suspects.”

“Why are you and Jisung separate?” Hyunjin asks. He pauses to examine their photos. He has to hold back a laugh seeing Seungmin. He’d always been nerdy, but in high school, he was a glasses-wearing, brace face with a goofy haircut. Hyunjin always thought it was kind of cute anyway; somehow being a dweeb was fitting for Seungmin.

“We know who Jisung’s link is,” Seungmin explains, “and we already tested me.”

“Makes sense,” Hyunjin mumbles, though a part of him glances at the candidates still in play and is the tiniest bit disappointed with his options.

Hyunjin thinks there’s something to be said about the way Seungmin was willing to help him with this, even if he didn’t care about links and even if his first thought was that it was stupid. Even Hyunjin, who prided himself on his loyalty and dedication to his friends, would probably have laughed at all this and refused. Seungmin wasn’t like that.

“So,” Hyunjin says, turning around to face Seungmin, “what’s the plan?”

“I’m thinking we start with cyber research,” Seungmin says, gesturing to Hyunjin’s laptop on his kitchen table. “We can figure out who’s still in town and start there.”

“That’s perfect!” Hyunjin enthuses. “Let’s figure out who we can go see today.”

“Today?” Seungmin repeats. Hyunjin nods.

“I’m sick of waiting around, Seungmin! By the end of this weekend, we’re going to find my link. I’m sure of it,” Hyunjin declares. Seungmin nods, but Hyunjin can tell he doesn’t share Hyunjin’s excitement. Whether it was because he didn’t believe in psychics or because he didn’t like the idea of stalking people they knew in high school, though, Hyunjin couldn’t tell.

“Fine,” Seungmin agrees. “We’ll start today.”

“I love you,” Hyunjin squeaks with a little clap. He sits down in the chair next to Seungmin and looks at him like he’s expecting Seungmin to have already figured everything out. “What do you think we should be looking for?”

“Location, for one,” Seungmin decides. He flips open the notebook he’d stolen from Hyunjin and starts a list of information they should gather.

“Right! That way we can go see the ones who still live around here,” Hyunjin concludes.

“So we can stalk them,” Seungmin groans, burying his face into his hands. Hyunjin could tell he wasn’t excited to face people from high school again. He had largely avoided all of these people for the majority of his adult life.

“So we can investigate them,” Hyunjin corrects. “Also, we need to know what they’ve been up to since high school.”

“Why do we need to know that?” Seungmin asks. “Won’t you find that out yourself if they’re your link? That’s a part of dating, Hyunjin.”

“Because,” he scowls. “What if he’s married? or in a long-term relationship, even? I need to be cautious here.”

“What are you gonna do, then?” Seungmin retorts. “If he’s married, I mean, are you really going to try and break up a marriage?”

“No,” Hyunjin insists. “Well–”

“Hyunjin–”

“I’m just kidding!” Hyunjin claims, though Seungmin is still looking at him through furrowed eyebrows. “Maybe.”

“Hyunjin!”

“Look, he’s my soulmate, isn’t he?” Hyunjin reasons. “I’m not going to do anything, but don’t you think it’s kinda messed up if my soulmate is married to someone else?”

Seungmin doesn’t say anything, and Hyunjin hopes it’s because he can’t argue with that statement. A part of him knows, though, that Seungmin isn’t replying because he couldn’t agree less.

“Okay, I’ll start from the left, and you take the right?” Seungmin says suddenly in a thinly veiled attempt to change the subject.

“Okay!”

Seungmin flips the page in his spiral to begin his research. He starts to look up their classmates and write down what he finds in the notebook. Hyunjin does the same, though he uses his laptop and a word document.

The very first person Hyunjin searches for is Yang Jeongin. In truth, Hyunjin had real doubts Jeongin was his match. Sure, Jeongin was cute, but he and Hyunjin had done nothing but fight when they were in high school. Well, Hyunjin used fight loosely. Hyunjin found Jeongin annoying because he was a cliché, overachieving kiss-ass. He frequently expressed his belief Jeongin was annoying. Jeongin took the high road every time, but Hyunjin always thought it was because Jeongin knew his lack of a reaction made Hyunjin more mad than any insult could.

As Hyunjin scrolls through Jeongin’s Instagram, he only gets annoyed again. Jeongin had completed his undergraduate degree early and had gone to pharmacy school. God, what a try-hard. The more Hyunjin looks at Jeongin’s profile, the more he thinks they aren’t a match. Hyunjin shivered, imagining the sort of conversations Jeongin probably held. How many times could he tell you the same stories about his perfect life and excessive achievements? It made Hyunjin sick.

Hyunjin sees that Jeongin still lives in the city, and he pauses. Guess he had to start somewhere.

“Dare me to ask Yang Jeongin if he wants to meet up?” Hyunjin asks.

“Uhh, no?” Seungmin replies with a laugh. “C’mon, Hyunjin, you hate that guy.”

“But he could be my match!” Hyunjin declares.

“You think you never looked him in the eyes in high school? Get real,” Seungmin urges him with an eyeroll. “Even if he was your match, do you really want to date that guy?”

“I mean, he’s a pharmacist now,” Hyunjin points out.

“A pharmacist?” Seungmin repeats. Hyunjin nods. “Message him.”

Hyunjin giggles, following Jeongin’s account before sending him a direct message.

Hey Jeongin! It’s been a long time. Are you still in the city? If so, I would love to get coffee this afternoon.

“Sent!” he sings.

“I will give you one guess what fucking Seo Changbin does for a living,” Seungmin gawks, scrolling through his own profile.

“Nothing where he has to wear sleeves,” Hyunjin guesses with a laugh. “I swear, that guy was obsessed with his own arms.”

“Being sleeveless is not a job,” Seungmin says with an eyeroll. “He’s a sports journalist.”

“A journalist? Changbin?” Hyunjin queries. “That’s fitting. He never shut up. He’s probably the only person on this list I actually never made eye contact with because I was too busy avoiding him so I wouldn’t have to listen to him ramble for ten minutes at a time.”

“Fuck, does that mean he’s your match?”

Hyunjin and Seungmin both pause, realizing that, in all likelihood, if the psychic really was telling the truth, Changbin had to be a relatively likely candidate for Hyunjin’s link. It made sense, didn’t it? If they’d never looked each other in the eyes, they wouldn’t know they were linked.

“What paper does he work at?” Hyunjin asks.

“It’s Saturday,” Seungmin reminds him. Hyunjin processes that for a second.

“What sport does he cover?” Hyunjin quips.

“Baseball,” Seungmin informs him miserably. “Are we really going to a game?”

“Yup,” Hyunjin confirms.

Before Seungmin can even argue with himself about whether or not Hyunjin is kidding, Hyunjin has pulled up their local baseball team’s website. He navigates to the TICKETS tab.

“Do you want to sit by third base or in the outfield?” Hyunjin ponders, scrolling over the different sections to see what seats are available.

“Third base,” Seungmin replies, “but you do know he’s going to be in the press box, right? It’s not connected.”

“So? I’ll figure that out when we get there,” Hyunjin decides. Seungmin watches as he puts two tickets in his cart and checks out. “Only thirty dollars total? A small price to pay for true love.”

“I hate you,” Seungmin grumbles. Hyunjin just happily checks his email to find his digital tickets have already been emailed to him.

The two continue to investigate the other boys from their homeroom. One is a lawyer, which Hyunjin thinks is sort of charming. Seungmin thinks that makes him a snake. Another owns a restaurant. Hyunjin likes that he can cook; Seungmin wonders about the stability of owning a small business. One works in finance, another is a dentist. Hyunjin daydreams about the possibilities with both, and Seungmin pokes holes into his dreams.

“Oh, Lee Minho,” Hyunjin sighs dreamily as he scrolls through his posts. “He might’ve been a late bloomer, but he’s so worldly and sculpted by god now.”

“Worldly,” Seungmin repeats with a scoff. “What does that even mean? Rich enough to travel?”

“Yes,” Hyunjin confirms. “He speaks, like, four languages, you know.”

“So? You don’t speak three of them,” Seungmin mocks. Hyunjin elbows him. “What if, when you finally look him in the eyes, you actually hear his thoughts but they’re in a language you don’t speak?”

“Doesn’t matter,” Hyunjin assures him. “I don’t care what his thoughts are, just that they’re there.”

“You don’t care about... actually hearing your link’s thoughts?” Seungmin summarizes, puzzled by what Hyunjin was telling him. “Then why are we doing this?”

“Because it’s not about hearing their thoughts,” Hyunjin reasons. “I want to fall in love, not be a mind reader.”

Seungmin just looks at him for a minute, then shakes his head in defeat. Hyunjin can see he doesn’t want to discuss the topic further.

“Does Minho have a job or is being sexy and going on vacation supposed to be a career?” Seungmin asks.

“He owns a bookstore,” Hyunjin announces. “Good thing my best friend loves to read!”

“I would not be a part of you and Minho’s relationship,” Seungmin snaps.

“You know I’m basically illiterate,” Hyunjin reminds him with a tiny pout. Seungmin had tried to get Hyunjin to read all his favorite books, but it’d been a long, hard process because Hyunjin wasn’t so great at sitting still or paying attention to one thing at a time. Eventually, he’d listened to most of Seungmin’s recommendations on tape. Seungmin would probably never forget that. Most people just ignored the books he recommended.

“You do your best,” Seungmin observes.

“And you never give up on me,” Hyunjin smiles softly, reaching over and squeezing Seungmin’s palm to thank him. Seungmin pulls his hand away quickly, and Hyunjin looks over at Seungmin just in time to see him hiding his flushed cheeks in his hood. Hyunjin felt bad to have embarrassed Seungmin, but he genuinely did think the effort Seungmin made was sweet.

Hyunjin decides to let the moment pass to spare Seungmin’s feelings, and soon, they’re each looking at their last candidates.

“Did you find anything on Chan?” Hyunjin asks as he finishes making a note about the last suspect on his list.

“He works in IT,” Seungmin explains, “so unless you’re going to skip work on Monday to break into his office, that’s another one you need to message.”

“Check this out,” Hyunjin instructs. Seungmin leans over and rests his head on Hyunjin’s shoulder. He watches as Hyunjin copies the message he sent Jeongin, changes the name to read ‘Chan,’ then sends the message again. Both boys crack up in turn.

“What if they both want to get coffee this afternoon?” Seungmin asks, covering his mouth with his hand to stifle his own laughter.

“Then we’re meeting Jeongin at one sharp and Chan at half past one,” Hyunjin says as though it’s completely and totally obvious. Seungmin just laughs.

“We? I get to come to meet your soulmate?” Seungmin realizes. Hyunjin nods.

“I need moral support,” Hyunjin reasons. “How the hell am I gonna convince myself to go on a coffee date with Yang Jeongin without you to shove me through the door?”

“True,” Seungmin concedes. “At least he’ll probably buy your latte.”

There’s a ping noise from Hyunjin’s computer, and he rushes to check his inbox. Seungmin was beginning to wonder if Hyunjin was looking for his soulmate or just having fun pretending to be Nev from Catfish.

“Speak of the devil!” Hyunjin shrieks. He reads through the message, instantly repulsed by its contents. “Jeongin wants to meet for dinner tomorrow night.”

“He’s literally a doctor now and still simping for you,” Seungmin sneered.

“I don’t like the word ‘still’ there,” Hyunjin barks.

“Me either,” Seungmin agrees, “but it’s the truth.”

“We didn’t even get along in high school,” Hyunjin recalls.

“A lot of guys are attracted to people who are not interested in them,” Seungmin reasons. Hyunjin just scowls. “And that guy loved how much you hated him.”

“Whatever. I’m agreeing,” Hyunjin announces. As he’s typing up his response to Jeongin, Seungmin hears another ping from Hyunjin’s computer. After Hyunjin stops typing, there’s a pause while he reads the message. “Oh, our date with Chan is at two this afternoon.”

“Will you stop saying our?” Seungmin laughs.

“This is a joint effort!” Hyunjin declares. “Just like how we are heading over to Minho’s bookstore right now so we can find out if he’s my soulmate.”

“Right now?” Seungmin groans.

“Yes! If he’s my soulmate, I need to cancel on Chan,” Hyunjin reasons. Seungmin just nods in agreement. What else could he really do at that point? “Let’s go.”

Seungmin grabs his keys and leads Hyunjin out of his apartment and down to Seungmin’s car. He doesn’t put up any sort of argument. Hyunjin had made up his mind, and, whenever that happened, there was no use fighting with him. If you did, to Hyunjin, you were no longer on his side. Instead, you were just another person holding him back.

Hyunjin spends the entire drive over trying to remember any conversations he and Minho had had in high school and comes up blank. Maybe the fortune teller was right. Maybe Hyunjin hadn’t ever really known anybody he went to high school with at all.

“What do you remember most about Minho?” Hyunjin asks, glancing over at Seungmin, who had spent the ride prior to that listening to his music and tapping on the steering wheel.

“His locker was next to mine when we were sophomores,” Seungmin recalls. “He would always narrate everything he did. It drove me insane.”

“Narrate?” Hyunjin repeats with a grin.

“Yeah, he’d stand there and whisper to himself,” Seungmin explains as he pulls the car into a parking spot. “He’d talk about putting books away and running late. At first, I thought he was talking to me, and I’d reply to him.”

“That’s so bizarre,” Hyunjin says, stifling back a laugh. He liked the mental image of that, especially when you factored in what a nerd Seungmin had been for most of his life. It was difficult to convince the guy who built lego models as a hobby that you were a weirdo, but Minho had achieved it.

Still, everyone knew Minho had grown up. He’d found a lot more confidence as he’d gotten more handsome with age. Plus, his family was well-off, so he’d been able to spend most of his time pursuing the passion project that was his bookstore. When he wasn’t at his bookstore, he was on vacation. He was a catch, to say the least.

As they approach the door of Caulfield Classics, Hyunjin starts to feel the gravity of the situation weighing down on him. His soulmate could be inside. Was this really how Hyunjin wanted to come back into his life, by stalking him after a supposed psychic tipped him off?

“Are you okay?” Seungmin asks, stopping and turning to look at Hyunjin. Hyunjin just nodded. He couldn’t tell Seungmin how scared he was; Seungmin would think it was silly.

After Seungmin pushes his way inside, he immediately looks for Minho. Upon spotting him at the back of the shop, hunched over a book, Seungmin attempts to approach him, but Hyunjin just grabs Seungmin by his wrist and pulls him behind a shelf.

“What are you doing? He’s the whole reason we’re here,” Seungmin whispers in frustration as he pulls his arm away. Hyunjin just bit his lip.

“I need a second, okay?” Hyunjin snaps. Seungmin sighed, turning to look at the books on the shelf beside them. He hesitates when he sees one of his favorite books on the shelf near them.

“Oh, you told me to read this one,” Hyunjin mumbles, pulling a bright green book covered in flowers off the shelf.

“One Hundred Years of Solitude,” Seungmin confirms, gently touching the raised lettering on the cover as he spoke.

“Maybe I should get it. I’ve been meaning to get around to it—”

“This feels like deflection,” Seungmin accuses, narrowing his eyes and crossing his arms.

Hyunjin bit his lip with a little nod. He takes the book from Seungmin, looking over the back of the novel again.

“I do want to read it,” he offers as a weak assurance, “since you said I’d like it.”

“Hyunjin,” Seungmin says sternly. “Go look that man in the eyes.”

“What if he isn’t my soulmate?” Hyunjin asks. “What if he is?”

“Either way you have a date with Yang Jeongin tomorrow,” Seungmin taunts. Hyunjin scowls.

“Seriously,” Hyunjin whispers. Seungmin bit his lip. For someone who liked to hide behind humor to avoid emotions, he sure did tear down his walls easily when it came to Hyunjin.

“There’s nothing to be afraid of. You want to meet your match. If he is, great. If he’s not, we’ll keep looking. It’s simple,” Seungmin explains.

Hyunjin took a deep breath. It was comforting to hear Seungmin make everything seem so casual and inconsequential. Hyunjin worried about everything. Seungmin just dealt with things as they happened. Most of the time, it annoyed Hyunjin that Seungmin could be so flippant, but there was nobody who could calm him down the same way.

“Can you do the thing?” Hyunjin begs.

Seungmin let out a short, breathy laugh then nodded. He took a few steps back until he could peek around the bookcase at Minho. He examined him for a few seconds before returning to his spot in front of Hyunjin.

“Green sweater, glasses. Harmless, approachable. Nothing to worry about,” Seungmin says, describing how he’d viewed Minho seconds before. He had been doing this for Hyunjin since they were in middle school. Hyunjin referred to it as the real life version of looking up your friend’s house on Google Maps before you visit them. It made the situation more familiar, less scary. It helped. Of course, if Seungmin ever told anybody else about their little ritual, he’d deny it all.

“Okay. I’ll do it,” Hyunjin agrees. He marches right out from behind the bookcase and up to the register where Minho was. Seungmin peers around the corner, hoping he was being subtle. Somehow, he was more nervous than Hyunjin, though he was doing his best not to show it.

“Hi,” Hyunjin greets, putting the book down on the counter between him and Minho. His heart was pounding so loudly he couldn’t hear his own thoughts.

Minho looks up, and whenever he and Hyunjin’s eyes meet, absolutely nothing happens. The disappointment crashes over Hyunjin faster than he can get over his excitement in the first place. He was overstimulated, to say the least.

“Hyunjin! What are you doing on this side of town?” Minho asks. One look at his smile makes Hyunjin even more sad, if that was even possible.

“I– um–”

Seungmin hears the hesitation in Hyunjin’s voice and immediately comes out of hiding. What could he say? Coming to Hyunjin’s rescue was like second nature, even if he was awkward and often left Hyunjin embarrassed afterward.

“There you are!” Seungmin says, wrapping an arm around Hyunjin’s shoulder. “Already ready to check out?”

“Seungmin! Wow!” Minho chirps.

“Oh, hey, man!” Seungmin replies, taking the lead on a conversation Hyunjin wasn’t prepared for. “I didn’t know you worked here.”

“I guess you could say that,” Minho says with a tiny smirk. Seungmin knows Minho wants Seungmin to give him an opening to brag about owning the place, but he doesn’t.

“Cool!” Seungmin coos. Hyunjin could barely handle how fake he was being. Hyunjin wondered if Minho could tell or if the ability to detect Seungmin’s lies had been built up by Hyunjin over time. “It’s good to see you.”

“I’m happy to see you two, too,” Minho says with a bright smile. “I think everybody always kinda knew you’d end up together.”

Seungmin’s eyes widen, and he immediately pulls his arm away. Hyunjin knew he was going to have to take over the conversation then.

“We’re not—”

“Surprised either!” Hyunjin says, cutting Seungmin off with a big grin. He wraps his arms around Seungmin’s waist to make his point. Seungmin practically chokes on his own spit. Hyunjin didn’t know what came over him, but the idea of having to admit to Minho that Seungmin and Hyunjin were just hanging out made Hyunjin feel humiliated. It hadn’t even happened yet. “That’s funny you say that, though.”

“Is it?” Minho wonders, pushing his glasses up into his hair as he steps back from the counter. It was a little funny to Hyunjin how Minho had outgrown being a geeky, socially oblivious caterpillar and flourished into a rom-com lead of a butterfly. He was the kind of guy Hyunjin had fantasized about being his link: sophisticated and intelligent with a cozy job Hyunjin could daydream about. Some guy like that could still be Hyunjin’s link, and Hyunjin knew it, but it seemed less likely with each passing minute, especially with Minho ruled out.

“Yeah, I kinda just thought that’s something only we knew,” Hyunjin reasons. Seungmin bites the inside of his cheek to hold back a retort. Even if Hyunjin was too ashamed to admit he’d come here looking for Minho, there wasn’t a logical reason as to why he had to bait Minho into telling him why Hyunjin and Seungmin would be a good couple.

“Oh, c’mon,” Minho says, waving him off. “The entirety of high school felt like an inside joke that only the two of you were in on. You could’ve had a line of suitors awaiting you at your locker, and you’d pivot around to go meet Seungmin somewhere.”

Hyunjin glances over at Seungmin, and he can see his face has completely flushed red. He was doing that typical Seungmin thing where he tries to hide his face in the neck of his hoodie, but everyone could see. In fact, it almost made it more obvious.

“Some things are just meant to be,” Minho says decidedly, tapping his fingers on the hard, wooden table that held the cash register in front of him. Hyunjin feels a million thoughts pounding on his skull, mostly about Seungmin. Had they really always been like this? “You two aren’t linked, are you?”

Hyunjin shakes his head, glancing over at Seungmin. He’d never been what Hyunjin had imagined his link would be, but Hyunjin always thought Seungmin was cute, especially as they’d gotten older. Plus, he’d always been Hyunjin’s favorite person to be around, even when they were kids. Maybe that’s what Hyunjin needed in his link. He chased guys who were handsome and refined, but maybe cute and goofy was more his speed.

“Fuck links,” Minho declares. Hyunjin’s eyes widen. “You should be with who you want to be with.”

“Right,” Hyunjin affirms, though he wants to fight Minho on the matter. His link was who he wanted to be with. What wasn’t clear about your link being your one, perfect match? Why didn’t Minho get that?

“Anyway, you guys probably have better places to be,” Minho decides, though Hyunjin suspects he just wants to get back to his book. “Ready to check out?”

Hyunjin hands Minho the book, and, the entire time he’s being rung up, he has to resist the nerve to fight Minho over his statement against links.

“Thank you guys for stopping by,” he sings as he hands Hyunjin his shopping bag.

Hyunjin just nods, grabbing Seungmin by his arm and dragging him out of the shop. He doesn’t stop pulling until they’ve returned to the safety of Seungmin’s car and can climb in.

“Do you want to explain what the hell that was?” Seungmin asks as Hyunjin bangs his head against the dashboard. “Why did you lie to him?”

“Because I— I don’t know! I got embarrassed he wasn’t my link, and then, I didn’t want to admit we drove all the way there for him. What better way to cover that up than having a boyfriend?” Hyunjin explains.

“You are insane,” Seungmin announces. Hyunjin just knots one of Seungmin’s hands with his own and squeezes gently. “He wasn’t wrong, you know.”

“Excuse me?” Hyunjin says, clearly taken aback. Seungmin starts to panic, pulling his hand away.

“Not about us belonging together,” Seungmin insists, voice reflecting how flustered he felt. “About high school. It literally felt like there was a line to talk to you, and you spent all your time with me or fucking Jisung. Maybe we wouldn’t have to do this right now if you gave anybody a chance.”

“I don’t want anybody,” Hyunjin corrects him harshly. “If anybody was acceptable, don’t you think I’d have found somebody by now?”

“Oh, so before you weren’t interested in anybody, but, if they look into your eyes and you can hear them zoning out about what they’re going to have for dinner that night, they’re the love of your life,” Seungmin quips back.

“Yes,” Hyunjin declares with complete sincerity. “That’s it.”

There’s a pause where Hyunjin thinks about what Seungmin said and Seungmin thinks about whether he can keep doing this. Still, they both come to the same conclusion: Hyunjin’s happiness is the most important thing.

“Are you okay?”

Hyunjin looks up at him with a fake smile, then nods.

“You don’t want your link to be someone who names his bookstore after The Catcher in the Rye, anyway!” Seungmin declares.

Hyunjin nods. He wasn’t sure that was true, but he wouldn’t fight Seungmin on it. Besides, he didn’t know anything about that book anyway.

“Where to next?” Seungmin asks.

“Coffee with Bang Chan,” Hyunjin admits sheepishly. Seungmin groans. There wasn’t anything wrong with Chan, but if there was one person who avoided their classmates better than Hyunjin did in high school, it had to have been him.

“That’s your soulmate,” Seungmin teases. “I know it.”

“I hope so!” Hyunjin sings. Seungmin shoved him as they both erupt into laughter.

“You’re not supposed to agree!”

“Well, I do!” Hyunjin laughs. “I want to meet my link, Seungmin!”

“Fuck my life,” Seungmin groans, taking Hyunjin’s phone from him to see where they’re going. “Am I supposed to just watch you during your date?”

“Yes,” Hyunjin confirms. Seungmin just blinks at him like it’s the stupidest thing he’s ever heard.

“Okay,” Seungmin says after a few seconds, giving Hyunjin back his phone and finally turning on the car. “Just coffee?”

“Just coffee,” Hyunjin assures him.

On the fifteen minute ride over to the café where Hyunjin is due to meet Chan, Hyunjin attempts to distract himself by playing Seungmin new music he’d added to his library. Seungmin attempts to discuss the songs with him, but, still, it’s clear Hyunjin’s mind is elsewhere from the get go. Instead, Seungmin just listens quietly.

All Hyunjin can think about is Chan, picturing the two of them together and wondering if they’d be a good fit should Chan be the one. In truth, Hyunjin couldn’t really see it. Chan was put together, sensible and dependable. Those were all good qualities, but they were certainly ones Hyunjin didn’t have. Still, maybe that was what would make them good together. Maybe a dreamer like Hyunjin needed someone realistic to ground him.

As they walk up to the coffee shop, Hyunjin can see a tiny smile forming across Seungmin’s lips.

“What?” Hyunjin whispers, tugging on Seungmin’s sleeve to make him stop and look at him.

“Nothing,” Seungmin says back.

“Seungmin,” Hyunjin states again. Seungmin rolls his eyes, letting himself break out into a real, tangible smile.

“Who picked this place, you or him?” Seungmin asks.

“I did. What does that have to do—”

“There are two coffee shops in this part of town,” Seungmin points out. “You picked the one we never go to.”

“So?”

“So, Mr. Romantic wanted to keep his date away from our actual hangout spots,” Seungmin assesses.

“Shut up,” Hyunjin scolds. “I just don’t like drinking the same coffee all the time.”

“Sure,” Seungmin teases. Hyunjin knew Seungmin was right. He didn’t expect Chan to be his soulmate, and, in the event he wasn’t, he didn’t want Chan somehow starting to come to the coffee shop he, Jisung and Seungmin always went to. Seungmin liked the added bonus that, if Chan was Hyunjin’s link, their real coffee spot wouldn’t belong to Hyunjin’s fantasies from then on. “What’s the plan for when this guy isn’t your soulmate?”

“When he is my soulmate, I’ll signal to you, and you can leave,” Hyunjin says. Seungmin just stares at him expectantly. Hyunjin cracks after a few seconds. “If he isn’t, I’ll just have a single cup of coffee before telling him I have to get going. You wait until he leaves, then we meet at the car.”

Seungmin groans in annoyance.

“We get to go watch baseball then, right?”

Hyunjin nods.

“I will buy you food and take you to a baseball game. I swear,” Hyunjin promises, sweeping Seungmin’s hair out of his face absentmindedly. Seungmin just sighs. “What?”

“Nothing,” Seungmin whispers, pushing Hyunjin’s hand away.

“Okay,” Hyunjin resigns. “Ready?”

“Why are you asking me that?” Seungmin counters with a laugh, gesturing toward the door. “It’s your date.”

Hyunjin gives him a little shrug then enters the shop. It was his date, after all.

He’s relieved when Chan hasn’t arrived yet. Despite his supposed confidence when it came to arguing with Seungmin, even Hyunjin knows he isn’t quite ready to find out another person isn’t his soulmate.

“I’m gonna sit over here. You sit as far from us as possible,” Hyunjin instructs. Seungmin just nods at him before getting in line to get his own coffee.

As Hyunjin sits at the table alone, waiting for Chan, he finds himself looking over his shoulder at Seungmin, who was hiding in the back corner, sipping his drink as he scrolled mindlessly through his phone. Hyunjin eventually switches his seat to the other side of his table so he can watch Seungmin without it being so obvious. Did that make him weird? Was he creepy? Hyunjin couldn’t explain it. He just liked seeing Seungmin so calm and unbothered. Eventually, Hyunjin decides to send him a text message.

hey

Seungmin replies almost immediately.

Hi

Hyunjin bit his lip softly, thumbs hovering over his screen as he tried to decide what to say. He hesitates for a second then decides to just type what he’s thinking. It was only Seungmin, after all.

you look cute over there

He watches as Seungmin just stares down at his phone, like he has no idea what to say to Hyunjin. After a minute or so of this, Hyunjin assumes Seungmin isn’t going to reply to him. It took a lot of audacity, Hyunjin thought, to ignore his text message when they were in the same room. Regardless, Hyunjin sends him an 8-ball game request. He replies to that in less than a minute.

They go back and forth for a couple of rounds, and Hyunjin is overly invested in their game. He was losing, as always, but he was mad about it.

Eventually, someone sets their bag down across from Hyunjin and greets him.

“Hello!”

Maybe Hyunjin was an idiot. Maybe his attention span was something to marvel at. He’d completely forgotten about Chan and finding his link. The only thing he was thinking about was beating Seungmin at 8-ball. He looks up without a single thought, and he meets Chan’s eyes. He didn’t mentally prepare himself for even a second. He definitely wasn’t ready to find out if someone was his soulmate or not.

The answer is a resounding no. Hyunjin doesn’t hear anything. Chan is another failed attempt at finding his link. Hyunjin had expected himself to be a little more upset than he is. He supposed he never really thought Chan was his link. It was just too far-fetched.

“Hey!” Hyunjin sings back. He still wanted to be courteous. In a weird way, this was Hyunjin’s first date.

“I’m gonna grab us drinks before I sit down. What can I get you? My treat,” Chan says with a soft smile.

“A green tea latte,” Hyunjin requests sheepishly. Truthfully, he felt a little awkward letting Chan buy his drink knowing he no longer had any interest in him. Still, Chan nods and quickly gets in line. Hyunjin refocuses back down at his phone in hopes of continuing his game with Seungmin. Instead, he finds a text.

Not your link?

Hyunjin looked up and over at Seungmin, who was now watching him intently from across the way. Hyunjin decides the only way he can handle this is by flipping Seungmin off. Seungmin gives him a little frown, then picks up his phone and types for a few seconds.

I’m sorry, HJ.

The message makes Hyunjin feel a little warm inside. Seungmin was a good friend, no matter how pessimistic he could get. He’d been teasing Hyunjin all day about his quest to find his link, but Hyunjin knew he wouldn’t have come along for all this if he didn’t want Hyunjin to find his link and be happy.

Hyunjin completes his turn on 8-ball instead of replying to Seungmin’s text. Seungmin continues to pummel Hyunjin, and by the time Chan returns, Hyunjin has officially suffered defeat.

“Are you playing iMessage games?” Chan asks as he sets their drinks down in front of their respective chairs. His tone sounded almost judgmental, and it made Hyunjin a little uneasy.

“Oh, yeah. Just something I do with my best friend to kill time,” Hyunjin admits. He avoids mentioning Seungmin by name out of fear Chan would notice him in the corner and realize Hyunjin had brought an entourage.

“I can’t blame you. I have been known to play MineSweeper at my desk,” Chan proclaims as he finally sits down and takes a sip of his drink. “Some days are boring enough that even Solitaire is fun.”

“Ha, yeah,” Hyunjin agrees fakely. He couldn’t think of anything he related to less than the woes of curing your boredom with the games that come pre-installed on computers running Windows. “You work in tech, right?”

“Sorta. I kinda just solve all the technological problems for an accounting firm,” Chan explains. “Their systems have all been in place longer than I’ve been alive, so I just troubleshoot.”

“That must be boring. I would be crawling out of my skin,” Hyunjin attempts to sympathize. Chan just shrugs.

“It’s uneventful, but it’s also stable and consistent,” Chan rationalizes. “That’s what we really need, right?”

No. Hyunjin couldn’t imagine anything more suffocating than consistency. He liked things like reliability and stability in theory, but he couldn’t imagine that being someone’s only goal. Just the thought of it made him restless.

“Yeah,” he adds weakly. He certainly wasn’t going to argue with Chan. “You must have a bunch of funny stories about old people with computers. Like, I remember my grandmother used to always type ‘thank you’ after her Google searches.”

“Oh, yeah,” Chan admits. His eyes turned up with laughter. “There’s a lady in the office who uses a magnifying glass to read her emails instead of, I don't know, making the text bigger.”

“Oh my god,” Hyunjin mumbles. For a second, Hyunjin starts thinking about people like Jisung or Felix who went out with people before their link. Maybe he could be like that. Maybe he could go out with Chan again. Maybe he could have a boyfriend. The idea sends Hyunjin on a rollercoaster daydream of dates and hand holding and talking to each other constantly. He likes the idea. He loves the idea. He’s wrapped up in how desperately he wants to be like that when he realizes he hasn’t been paying attention to anything Chan has been saying.

Hyunjin tries to tune back into the conversation, but he just doesn’t care anymore. Chan has turned the topic into an opportunity to complain about work. Hyunjin supposed he could’ve expected as much. In the end, Chan was simply too stable for Hyunjin. Everything he had to say was boring, adult.

Hyunjin slowly removes his phone from his pocket, resting it on his thigh and trying his best not to look down too much as he navigates to his messages and chooses Seungmin’s name. He nodded along to Chan’s story like it was the most interesting thing he had ever heard.

call me

He sends the message, then adds a couple of exclamatory really? remarks aloud to make it seem like he was still listening.

“Yeah, I swear she needs me to teach her how to forward an email every other week,” Chan practically groans. Hyunjin offers him a scoff of sympathy. He did feel bad. Chan seemed normal, nice even. He just wasn’t Hyunjin’s link, and this conversation’s expiration was approaching rapidly.

Hyunjin glances down, wondering why the call hadn’t come in yet. To his dismay, Seungmin had replied to his message.

What? why?

He holds back a groan. How could Seungmin be so oblivious to the situation? Did this truly look like a good time from over there? Obviously Chan wasn’t his link. Hyunjin just wanted to leave. He wishes he could tell all that to Seungmin, but he can’t. It would be too much to type, too obvious to Chan he didn’t care about their conversation at all. Hyunjin settles for one word.

escape

A few seconds later, Hyunjin’s phone rings, much to his relief.

“Oh, I’m sorry. It’s my little sister. She wouldn’t call me if it wasn’t important,” Hyunjin lies. Chan nods.

“Go ahead,” he says, furrowing his eyebrows in worry. Hyunjin felt guilty, but he knew he had to push along.

“Hello?” he says. There’s no sound on the other end of the line. He glances over to Seungmin at his table in the back corner. His phone was face down in front of him. Hyunjin supposed that it made sense. If Chan spotted him, things would become glaringly obvious. All this meant was that Hyunjin was going to have to perform all alone. “Is everything okay?”

He paused, frantically looking between Chan and his watch and trying to put on his best concerned face.

“Do I need to come?” he asks. Again, he pauses as though somebody is answering on the other line. “I just– I’m kind of in the middle of something and–”

“Go,” Chan mouths softly.

“Are you sure?” Hyunjin whispers, meeting Chan’s eyes. Chan nods. It was what Hyunjin had expected to happen, of course. He refocuses on his imaginary phone call. “I’m on my way. I’ll be there in twenty minutes.”

Pause.

“Okay.”

Pause.

“Okay.”

Pause.

“Okay, I’ll see you soon.”

Hyunjin hangs up, and Chan is looking at him with all of the concern in the world.

“I’m so sorry about this,” Hyunjin says. Chan shakes his head.

“Trust me, coffee isn’t that important. Is everything okay?” Chan asks as Hyunjin gathers his things in preparation of dashing out of the shop.

“Yeah, yeah,” Hyunjin insists. “My sister just got herself into some trouble. She’ll be fine.”

“Good to hear,” Chan replies. “Well, it was really good to see you anyway–”

“Yeah! I’m glad we could catch up. See you later,” Hyunjin says quickly, before Chan can bring up potentially rescheduling or hanging out another time. He couldn’t say with certainty that Chan would even want to do those things, but Hyunjin didn’t plan on giving him the opportunity.

He races to Seungmin’s car in a parking lot around the corner, and he’s unbelievably thankful Seungmin was too stupid to lock his car, because that means he can climb in and lay low in case Chan walked by.

“That was horrible,” Hyunjin practically screeches in laughter whenever Seungmin finally returns to the car with him. Truthfully, he was riding some sort of high; he hadn’t really been expecting him and Chan to be a match anyway, and he’d never had the chance to just bail on a date like that before. He saw it all the time in the movies.

“Yeah, it was,” Seungmin agrees, laying his head on his steering wheel. “Did you invent a little sister in there? Are you insane?”

“How many times are you going to ask me that today?” Hyunjin taunts back. “I’m starting to think I’ve really missed out on this whole dating thing.”

“I’m sorry?” Seungmin says quizzically. He was completely dumbfounded by Hyunjin today.

“That was fun. He was boring and not my type at all, but I’ve never really been on a real date before,” Hyunjin explains. “I’ve never experienced it, good or bad.”

“That was your choice,” Seungmin reminds him.

“I know,” Hyunjin assures him. “Not everybody makes all the right choices all the time.”

Seungmin nods. He’d certainly made a lot of his own wrong choices. In fact, in comparison to Hyunjin, who was naive more than anything else, Seungmin was an everyday fuckup.

“Does that mean there’s going to be a second date?” Seungmin asks playfully. Hyunjin’s eyes widen.

“Absolutely not,” he denies. He opens up his messaging app and hovers over his conversation with Chan. “Should I block him? I’ve never gotten to ghost someone before either.”

“I hope that’s a joke,” Seungmin says with a sigh. He knew it had to be. Hyunjin empathized with and cared about other people too much to do something like that. He didn’t breathe without thinking about how it would affect the people around him.

“Mostly,” Hyunjin confirms. “I’d feel horrible.”

“Good.”

Hyunjin rolls his eyes, closing out of his phone and slumping back into the passenger seat.

“Is it finally baseball time?” Seungmin asks, voice suddenly caked in excitement. Hyunjin can’t help but let a little grin dance across his lips at the sound of Seungmin’s pure joy.

“Yes,” he confirms. Hyunjin watches Seungmin’s doe eyes light up as he starts the car, and Hyunjin finds himself thinking tonight will have been worth it even if Changbin isn’t his soulmate. Seeing Seungmin this happy was worth it.

“We have to go to my apartment first,” Seungmin enthuses. “I need to get my Twins hat.”

Hyunjin rolls his eyes dramatically to tease Seungmin, but, in truth, he found Seungmin’s fanaticism very cute.

Upon arrival at Seungmin's apartment complex, Seungmin parks the car but doesn’t even remove his keys from the ignition. He simply climbs out, calling to Hyunjin that he’ll be back in five minutes.

When three minutes turns to five and five turns to ten, Hyunjin starts to get bored. Naturally, the first thing he does is start to dig through the stuff in Seungmin’s glove box.

The first things he finds are a parking citation that Seungmin needed to pay soon and a copy of Seungmin’s registration and insurance. He starts to put it all away, realizing a glove box wasn’t exactly a prime place to snoop through, when he notices a stack of tickets in the very bottom of the compartment. Hyunjin pulls them out and begins to flip through them. Each ticket belonged to an event: concerts, movies, even game booth tickets from the boardwalk. They’re all dated, though some are marked in pen and some in sharpie and some in pencil. The dates went back years. Some of the dates Hyunjin couldn’t remember or recognize, but most of them he just knows are things he and Seungmin did together, especially the movies and concerts.

He’s still staring at all the mementos when Seungmin climbs back into his car, now wearing his baseball team gear.

“What are all these?” Hyunjin asks, waving the stack in front of Seungmin’s face. Seungmin’s cheeks immediately flush red. He snatches the papers from Hyunjin, then opens his glove box and shoves them back inside.

“You’re really nosy,” Seungmin sneers.

“You took a long time,” Hyunjin argues, as flimsy a defense as it was.

“It’s not 1850. You have a cellphone,” Seungmin snaps.

“Yeah, whatever. What is all that, Seungmin?” Hyunjin repeats. He wasn’t giving this up.

“They’re keepsakes,” Seungmin practically barks. He throws an extra team hat he’d grabbed from his apartment toward Hyunjin before turning on his car. “What do they look like?”

“Keepsakes of what?”

“Of happy times in my life,” Seungmin explains hastily. “Whenever I have a good day, I pick something to keep to remind me of that day. I put the date on it, and I keep it in my glove box, so when I’m sad, I can look at those and think of good times.”

“A lot of those were times we hung out,” Hyunjin points out.

“A lot of the times we hang out, I’m happy,” Seungmin claims. “Have you ever heard of a scrapbook? This sort of thing isn’t weird, you know.”

“I know!” Hyunjin promises. “I just didn’t take you for the type.”

“Well, now you know,” Seungmin mumbles bitterly.

For a while, they ride in silence, just listening to music. Hyunjin doesn’t mind. He likes having the time to think, even if he is just alternating between thinking about all those tickets in Seungmin’s glove box and the very real possibility that Changbin is his soulmate. For the most part, he lands on Seungmin’s tickets. He wished he had done something like that and eventually starts to brainstorm about what nights he would’ve kept a keepsake from. One night in particular comes to mind more than anything else.

“Hey, Seungmin,” Hyunjin says, turning down the knob on the radio. Seungmin glances over at him quickly in acknowledgment, then fixes his eyes back on the road. “Who was your first kiss?”

Seungmin just scoffs in response.

“You were,” he replies. He barely moves, just stares straight ahead and grips the steering wheel a little tighter.

“That was your first kiss?” Hyunjin questions in disbelief. At their very first high school party, Hyunjin had been dared by a kid in the grade above them to kiss someone in the room. Hyunjin panicked. He hardly knew anyone there. He hardly knew anything about kissing. But he couldn’t refuse. He’d look like a loser in front of everyone. It would be a stain on his entire high school career. So, he kissed the person he was most comfortable with, who he knew would never tell anyone if the kiss was bad.

“It was,” Seungmin laughs. “Sorry I wasn’t a heartthrob in middle school. I was very dedicated to Yu-Gi-Oh at the time.”

“I– I didn’t mean it like that,” Hyunjin stammers. “It was my first kiss, too.”

“So, what? You’re upset about that?”

“No,” Hyunjin insists. “I just didn’t know I ruined your first kiss. I wouldn’t have done that if I knew.”

“You didn’t ruin my first kiss,” Seungmin reassures him. “Does that mean you think I ruined yours?”

“No,” Hyunjin contends. He couldn’t fathom ever thinking that. He’d always been pretty satisfied with his first kiss; it might’ve been at a party with a boy he wasn’t even dating, but Seungmin would always be a big part of his life. The hopeless romantic in him had always liked that. Besides, he had never admitted it to anyone, but he had heard his heart pounding so loudly it felt like it was inside his skull for the rest of the night.

“Why would you have ruined mine, then?” Seungmin counters. Hyunjin sighed.

“I had a choice. You didn’t,” he explains.

Seungmin is quiet for a long time. Hyunjin doesn’t think he’s going to reply at all. For the first time, the silence between them isn’t comforting or casual. It’s defeating.

Finally, Seungmin makes a statement, eyes still fixated on the road: “I would’ve chosen you anyway.”

Hyunjin smiles to himself, but he doesn’t say anything else. He just lets the both of them think for the rest of the ride. He spends the ride thinking about all the time he’d spent with Seungmin over the years, and he sort of hopes Seungmin does the same.

When they arrive at the stadium, Hyunjin can tell immediately Seungmin is having more fun than he has had in a long time. He excitedly rambled on and on to Hyunjin about what players he liked and whether teams were good. In truth, Hyunjin couldn’t care less; anything anybody said to him about sports went in one ear and out the other. Still, though, he would never give Seungmin any indication of that. Seungmin was usually so calm and passive. Any time he was actually passionate about something, Hyunjin wanted him to talk for hours.

“And if the Twins win tonight they’ll have the best record in the league,” Seungmin emphasizes as they finally take their seats. Hyunjin just nods along, already mentally preparing for what he would say to Changbin later. He knew Changbin had to be the one. He was the most likely of any of their candidates to begin with.

“Do you think they’ll win this year?” Hyunjin wonders. Admittedly, he couldn’t even tell you what these teams were trying to win.

“I wish,” Seungmin says with a loud sigh. “The batting is just so inconsistent. They’re red hot one minute, and, next thing I know, the entire team is slumping.”

“That must be frustrating,” Hyunjin reacts for authenticity. Should he have gone home to change before coming out here? This was going to be the first time his soulmate saw him since high school, and he was wearing shorts.

“It is!” Seungmin groans. “We should watch more games together.”

Hyunjin nods, and, honestly, he really did mean it. Baseball was tranquil enough that he could draw while Seungmin watched. He very much liked the idea of the two of them curling up on his couch, ordering takeout and hanging out while Seungmin watched his baseball games.

Soon, the first batter comes to the plate. Hyunjin watches intently, but, admittedly, he doesn't understand much.

“I don’t get it,” he announces.

“What’s not to get?” Seungmin replies, shoving a nacho into his mouth. “Bat man try to hit ball.”

“Why can’t he just hit it?” Hyunjin asks, gesturing to the batter, who was behind in the count already. “Their entire career is to swing the bat at the right time!”

“It’s not that easy,” Seungmin insists. “Every pitcher throws the ball a little differently. They throw at different speeds, and the pitches reach the plate in different spots. It’s hard.”

“I could do it,” Hyunjin declares.

“No, you couldn’t.”

“Yes, I could! I should’ve been a baseball player,” Hyunjin decides. He steals a nacho from Seungmin, and focuses on the game, sighing dramatically when the batter strikes out. “They’re gonna lose!”

“We want them to lose,” Seungmin reminds him. “Our team bats second.”

“Oh,” Hyunjin mumbles. Seungmin just smiles at him, clearly amused by Hyunjin’s attempt to enjoy sports.

By the end of the second inning, Hyunjin has started to find his footing. He’s cheering at the right times (mainly by cheering whenever Seungmin cheers), and he’s asking questions that seem to imply he actually understands the game on some level.

“So, wait,” Hyunjin says, holding but a hand as though he’s calling for Seungmin to stop. “They don’t have to touch the plate when they have the ball for the runner to be out?”

“Not if they catch it before it hits the ground,” Seungmin clarifies, “or if they tag the runner directly.”

“Got it,” Hyunjin murmurs. A few seconds later, the inning comes to a close with a brutal double play. Hyunjin reacts accordingly, crossing his arms and complaining about the shoddy base running.

“You seem so invested,” Seungmin notes.

“I am!” he replies with a tiny smile. “It’s kinda fun.”

“You just wanna be knowledgeable for Changbin,” Seungmin teases. Hyunjin shakes his head.

“It’s because I’m here with you,” he states firmly. Hyunjin can see Seungmin’s heart melt a little by watching the way his eyes turn downward as he starts to regret making fun of Hyunjin. He can even see the exact moment Seungmin tells himself to get it together because his face snaps back to normal and he shoves Hyunjin for good measure.

“Please do not get all mushy when I’m trying to bro down,” Seungmin orders with a laugh. “There are no feelings in sports except anger when your team underperforms and boastfulness when your team wins a ring, got it?”

“Got it,” Hyunjin confirms with a tiny smile. He could tell Seungmin liked what he’d said; he was just embarrassed, as usual.

Two more innings later, Hyunjin is so invested in the game, he’s mostly forgotten about Changbin. The only thing he cared about was that the Twins had scored two runs last inning, bringing the game to a tie after the opposing team managed a homerun in the third.

“Ugh, I’m gonna go get some water while these guys bat. I feel like I’m bad luck,” Hyunjin muses.

“How did you decide that?” Seungmin queries, but Hyunjin is already crawling out of his seat. He was a real sports fan at that moment, convinced of irrational superstitions and a little bit nauseous worrying about how this game would end.

“I just feel like, every time I’m watching, they score runs.”

“You’ve only watched four innings!” Seungmin points out.

“I’ll be back!” Hyunjin says, completely ignoring Seungmin’s claim.

Hyunjin wanders out into the concourse, and he becomes immediately fascinated by how much stuff there is to do and buy and eat. There were stands and carts and booths everywhere. All he wanted was a bottle of water, but he became distracted looking at a vendor who was selling deep fried chewing gum.

He stood at the glass, examining the breading that had been placed around the gum. He couldn’t believe there were people who would eat this. He could barely breathe near it.

“Is it still chewy?”

“Yes,” the vendor answers. Hyunjin shivers at the thought, but he still buys a piece. He felt an obligation to, after having bothered the poor man being forced to sell such a disgusting concoction.

As Hyunjin is putting his change back into his wallet, something occurs to him.

“Um, weird question, but do you know where the press box is? I have a friend who is covering the game, and he wanted me to bring him dinner,” Hyunjin asks the vendor. The lie burned his throat. He felt silly, completely making up a story for someone who could probably care less.

“Second level. There are signs,” the vendor advises, expressly indifferent to Hyunjin and his lie. Hyunjin nods, then begins working toward the incline that leads to the second level of seating.

At first, he thinks he should tell Seungmin, but he can’t stop himself. Besides, wouldn’t it be weird, Seungmin standing there as Changbin and Hyunjin realize they were meant to be together?

Hyunjin hurries up to the second level, all while worrying about how exactly he was going to lie his way into an area that required credentials. He wasn’t even a good liar to begin with! He was the type of person who told their mom the truth whenever they got caught drinking or trying to sneak out. He was the type of person who never cheated on a math test in his life. Pretending to have a sister to get out of his date with Chan was the biggest lie of Hyunjin’s life thus far. Still, he keeps walking, following the signage.

Whenever he finds the entrance to the press area, though, he thinks the universe is thanking him for always being so honest. He was now the type of person who was looking at his potential soulmate as he leaned up against a wall, talking with what Hyunjin could only assume is another reporter. It had to be fate. It just had to be. What were the odds Changbin would leave the press box at the exact time Hyunjin came looking for him? There was only one explanation: they were meant to be together.

Hyunjin waits for Changbin to finish his conversation, then watches as he checks the messages on his phone. He was cute, that was for sure. For a while, Hyunjin just stands there, trying to think of what to say. It was hard to explain to somebody who you hadn’t seen in years that you believed they’re your soulmate because the Mistress of the Moon told you so.

So, Hyunjin decides to take the easy way out: obliviousness.

He walks right up to Changbin and intentionally bumps into him, causing his phone to go falling to the ground.

“Oh my god. I’m so sorry,” Hyunjin yelps. Changbin immediately crouches down to the floor to get his phone, not even bothering to look at Hyunjin.

“No problem,” he replies dryly.

“Wait, Changbin? Oh my god!” Hyunjin says, trying his best to lace his words with authenticity. Changbin doesn’t even look up. He was so focused on examining his phone for damage. “I haven’t seen you since high school!”

Just when Changbin looks up, Hyunjin dashes his eyes down to his feet. He wasn’t ready to find out. Not yet.

“Oh, Hyunjin, Hi,” Changbin practically mumbles. “It’s nice to see you. I didn’t know you liked baseball.”

“I love it!”

Another minute, another lie. He glances quickly up at Changbin, and he is deeply thankful that Changbin's refocused on his phone. He appeared to be replying to emails. Weird, but Hyunjin supposed he was technically on the job.

“That’s cool,” Changbin replies. “Are you here with someone?”

“Oh, um…”

He paused. He couldn’t bring up Seungmin. Not today. Hyunjin just knew Changbin would assume they were weird or codependent.

“My mom,” Hyunjin decides. He feels guilty for bringing his own mother into his lies.

“Oh, yeah. I remember how close you were,” Changbin recalls, like it’s nothing at all that he can remember those sorts of facts about someone he hasn’t spoken to in years. At that moment, Hyunjin really believes Changbin is his soulmate. He believes it so much he starts wondering if he needs to backread all of Changbin’s articles and if he’s expected to know about sports. He can’t wait to introduce Changbin to his mother, in fact.

In that moment of complete and total belief, it seems not only logical but romantic to reach out and touch Changbin’s cheek, prompting him to look up so their eyes finally meet.

Of course, when they do, he hears nothing except for Changbin awkwardly shifting away as he failed to find anything logical or romantic about some weirdo he knew in high school putting his hands on his face.

“Uh,” Changbin vocalizes, clearing his throat in the process as his way of showing his discomfort.

“Sorry,” Hyunjin whispers. “I thought you had something on your face.”

“Oh,” Changbin says back.

“Yeah, I gotta go,” he announces. “Um, here. Take this.”

Hyunjin shoves the fried gum into Changbin’s hands, then turns around and rushes back to the first level as fast as his feet can take him. He doesn’t know what to do besides duck into the closest bathroom and lock himself in a stall.

On a typical day, the vain perfectionist that was Hwang Hyunjin would never find himself sitting on the disgusting petri dish that is a public restroom floor, but, in that moment, Hyunjin feels like his heart has been broken. He knew that he and Changbin barely knew each other. He knew that Madam Luna could very well be a fraud. But he wanted to believe in her. He wanted to believe that he could find his link, that he could be happy. Instead, he was trying not to cry in the restroom at a baseball game. Maybe his tendency to believe in people was Hyunjin’s worst quality.

After a while, someone angrily knocks on the stall door, so Hyunjin is forced to collect himself and exit, no matter how shameful that is. He spends another five minutes at the mirror, adamant that Seungmin will not be able to tell how upset he is. By the time he actually returns to his seat, it’s the bottom of the sixth inning.

“What took you so long?” Seungmin questions, voice tinted with worry and eyebrows knitted together. Hyunjin bites his lip softly, wishing there was a nice way of explaining what happened.

“I went and saw Changbin,” Hyunjin says after a while.

“And…?”

“And he’s not my link,” Hyunjin confirms. Seungmin frowns, patting Hyunjin’s shoulder gently. “It’s okay, really. I mean, I have my date with Jeongin tomorrow, right?”

“My money’s still on that one,” Seungmin beams. He opens his mouth like he’s going to say something else, but then everyone around them starts to jump up and cheer. All Hyunjin can do is watch as his conversation with Seungmin flies away along with the ball a Twins player hit so far it sailed over the stadium’s seating completely.

The excitement of the homerun does, however, allow Hyunjin to comfortably return to the game. He still liked watching with Seungmin, even without the Changbin element. In fact, he liked it more, since he could tell Seungmin was happier once he realized Hyunjin’s interest wasn’t just about impressing the sports journalist.

Hyunjin and Seungmin spend the last three innings cheering and dancing and booing and yelling, and Hyunjin has so much fun he starts to contemplate when he and Seungmin can go to a game together again.

As they walk back to Seungmin’s car, Hyunjin starts to think maybe tonight wasn’t a waste. He felt like such a loser for breaking down over something like this. He barely knew Changbin. For all Hyunjin knew, he’d actually enjoyed the hellish insult that was fried bubble gum. He couldn’t be linked with someone like that.

“That was fun,” Hyunjin says, looping his arm with Seungmin as they walked through the parking lot. “It’s really easy to understand, too. I tried to watch soccer with Jisung and Felix, but I didn’t get it. They just ran back and forth.”

“That’s… We’ll figure out soccer another day,” Seungmin promises with a laugh. Hyunjin just nods.

When they finally load up into the car, Hyunjin takes a minute and sighs dramatically.

“Shall we recap our day?” he asks.

“I mean, we were both there–”

“Changbin, Chan and Minho are all confirmed to not be my link. We have three guys that don’t live in the area anymore,” Hyunjin recounts. Seungmin nods. “Add you and Jisung, that’s eight. That means we only have three options left to test tomorrow.”

“Including the unlikely Jeongin,” Seungmin adds. Hyunjin knew he came from a place of pessimism, but Hyunjin was focusing only on good thoughts. He’d had a nice night, even if Changbin wasn’t his link. He was still looking forward to tomorrow.

“Right,” Hyunjin confirms. “Plus the lawyer and the dentist.”

“What are you going to do if those are all wrong, too?” Seungmin queries. He finally turned on his car, clearly ready to just go home.

“Then we'll go on a road trip to meet the other three next weekend,” Hyunjin hypothesizes.

“Wow,” Seungmin murmurs as he pulls out of the parking spot. Hyunjin thought he seemed uncharacteristically focused on driving.

“What?” Hyunjin says, gently touching Seungmin’s arm. Seungmin swatted his hand away.

“Nothing,” Seungmin says, just as lowly as before. “I just– Are you sure we should be doing all this?”

Hyunjin thinks for a minute about how he’d felt when Changbin wasn’t his link, and the only answer that seems logical is a clear no. But then, he remembers that split second where he’d been so certain. The way his heart raced and excitement had filled his entire being felt like some sort of adrenaline rush. He needed to feel it again. He needed to find his link so he could feel like that all the time.

“Yes,” he confirms.

Seungmin just shrugs, refocusing on the road. Hyunjin wished Seungmin could understand. In his entire life, Seungmin was the one person who was always there, always supporting him. Even now, when Seungmin clearly just wanted this all to stop, he’d driven Hyunjin here, and he’d kept Hyunjin company all day, no matter what antics he wanted to get up to. Hyunjin knew he’d always have Seungmin. He just wished his search wasn’t a burden. If Seungmin could understand, maybe it wouldn’t be.

“Thanks for today,” he says before even opening his door once they arrive back at Hyunjin’s apartment. “I know you think all this is stupid, but–”

“I don’t think it’s stupid,” Seungmin insists. “I want you to find what you’re looking for.”

“Okay,” Hyunjin whispers. “I can tell it all seems silly, though.”

“Not to me,” Seungmin assures him. He wouldn’t budge, not for a minute.

Hyunjin supposed this is how it had always been; he and Seungmin had always gotten along, but that didn’t mean they had a lot in common. Hyunjin was adventurous and energetic. Seungmin was careful and slow. Hyunjin was headstrong and opinionated. Seungmin was laidback and understanding. Hyunjin’s mom had once told Hyunjin that if he was like the sun, Seungmin was the moon. They were a pair with nothing in common, and, in this case, the calm moon wasn’t going to say a single, negative word to the harsh sun. He just wouldn’t.

“Okay,” Hyunjin repeats. If Seungmin didn’t want to admit something was wrong, Hyunjin wasn’t going to push it. That’s the least he could do. “See you tomorrow?”

“Yes,” Seungmin confirms. “To go stalk a dentist.”

“Don’t chicken or on me,” Hyunjin urges with a laugh. Seungmin holds out his pinky, and Hyunjin tightly wraps his own around it in a promise.

Before Hyunjin leaves, though, a thought crosses his mind. He digs around in his jacket pocket and pulls out one of the tickets to the game.

“For your glove box,” Hyunjin says softly, handing the ticket to Seungmin. Seungmin laughs under his breath but takes the ticket from Hyunjin.

After that, Hyunjin crawls out of the car and heads up to his apartment. He runs through his nighttime routine, but before he can actually go to bed, he has one final obligation. He grabs the other ticket from the game from his pocket and a pen, circled the date printed on the ticket, then put the ticket in the drawer of his desk.

When Hyunjin awakes, it’s only ten, but he knows Seungmin has probably already been up for hours. When they were in middle school, Hyunjin would often wake up the morning after a sleepover and discover Seungmin was missing, having already showered and started his day by working on homework at his kitchen table. It always bewildered Hyunjin how Seungmin didn’t care if Hyunjin spent the entire day asleep in his bed or not. Really, Seungmin didn’t mind any of the ways Hyunjin made Seungmin’s home his own. Hyunjin could wander into Seungmin’s older sister’s room and gossip about people they went to school with or watch the news with his dad on the couch or help his mom make lunch by chopping vegetables in the kitchen. Seungmin didn’t bat an eye at any of it.

Hyunjin sends Seungmin a text that only says, “Up!” Then, he grabs the book he’s bought at Minho’s shop the day before and sits down at the table. He had meant it when he told Seungmin he wanted to read it. He’s roughly three chapters in when he hears the door to his apartment open.

“I’m here,” Seungmin announces proudly as he enters the kitchen, “and it’s before noon! Good work!”

“Thank you, thank you!” Hyunjin laughs, bowing to his imaginary applause. “Next, I’m gonna master getting up before nine.”

“Let’s not get crazy,” Seungmin jokes back.

Seungmin turns to look at the pictures taped to Hyunjin’s wall for a second. He moves Minho, Chan and Changbin’s photos up to the second row with himself and Jisung. Hyunjin cringes even remembering what they’d gotten up to yesterday.

Seungmin pulls out the chair next to Hyunjin. “Do you have a game plan for seeing the other two yet?”

“No,” Hyunjin admits with a sigh. “Help me.”

Seungmin rolls his eyes, grabbing Hyunjin’s laptop and opening it up. He navigates to the instagram of the lawyer and scrolls through it for a while.

“His parents only just got married?” Hyunjin asks, squinting at a photo of the suspect and his parents at what appeared to be a small wedding.

“Maybe one of them is a step-parent,” Seungmin suggests, “or maybe it’s a vow renewal.”

“A vow renewal?” Hyunjin repeats back, furrowing his eyebrows.

“Yeah, on my parents’ twentieth anniversary they renewed their vows. They had a little party, too, but it was mainly just us and a handful of their friends,” Seungmin explains. “Yours didn’t do anything like that?”

Hyunjin shook his head reluctantly. He didn’t want to admit it, but his parents weren’t exactly the lovey-dovey type anymore. When he was a kid, he could remember thinking they were so in love. They were the reason he wanted to meet his soulmate so bad in the first place! He wanted to be like them, find a love like theirs. Now, whenever he would visit, they seemed so distant from each other. It almost made Hyunjin wonder about soulmates. Shouldn’t you be in love with your link forever?

“Should you just message this guy?” Seungmin asks, clearly not as interested in the subject as Hyunjin was. Hyunjin shrugs. After a couple of seconds, though, he can’t resist making a joke. He tilts the laptop toward himself, navigates to his inbox, then copies and pastes the same message to a third candidate for his soulmate. They both laugh.

“Is this immoral?” Hyunjin wonders, suddenly a bit guilty. They’d done a lot of unconventional stuff yesterday.

“Yes,” Seungmin admits, “but at least it’s not as creepy as going to a stadium to look for Changbin.”

“Shut up,” Hyunjin laughs, elbowing Seungmin in the ribs.

“This is going to be such a romantic story for the grandkids,” Seungmin taunts. “Imagine telling them you sent the exact same message to two different guys before your husband.”

“If this guy is my link, all of this dies with us,” Hyunjin warns. Seungmin scoffs playfully.

“We’re not gonna tell Jisung we spent all weekend tracking down random dudes we haven’t thought about since high school so you could stare into their eyes because a psychic told you to?” Seungmin asks sarcastically.

“When you put it like that I sound crazy,” Hyunjin says with a pout.

“Well—”

Seungmin is cut off by a notification sound coming from Hyunjin’s laptop. Unsurprisingly, the lawyer agreed, just like Chan and Jeongin had.

“I’m starting to think I’m a real catch,” Hyunjin jokes.

“We should go,” Seungmin decides, rolling his eyes so hard he thinks he gets a glimpse of his literal skull.

They get into Seungmin’s car and head over to the cafe, engaging in their usual gabs about nothing in particular.

“You know,” Hyunjin says suddenly. “Once I find my link, my next mission is going to be finding yours.”

Seungmin sighs. Hyunjin didn’t get why. Wasn’t Seungmin lonely? All Hyunjin wanted was to fall in love, and it seemed like the furthest thing from Seungmin’s mind.

“Why do you care about finding my link?” Seungmin asks. Hyunjin frowns.

“Because I want you to be happy,” Hyunjin replies simply. It really was that obvious to Hyunjin. Seungmin was his best friend, and Hyunjin had always seen finding your link as an essential part of life. To him, helping his best friend find his link made perfect sense.

“I don’t need to find my link to be happy,” Seungmin declares, “and neither do you.”

“You shouldn’t force yourself to be lonely–”

“I’m not lonely!” Seungmin snaps. Hyunjin was beginning to get fed up with how touchy he’d been the past two days. Seungmin was always so calm, patient. The way so many things Hyunjin said elicited an angry response from Seungmin was foreign, and Hyunjin didn’t like it at all.

“You’re gonna be lonely whenever me and Jisung both have our links and you’re still refusing to look for yours,” Hyunjin taunts playfully in what he thought was an attempt to diffuse the situation. Seungmin just ignores him completely. Like every other time Seungmin got snippy, Hyunjin lets it go. It was never worth the fight. Seungmin always simmered down after a few minutes of silence. Fighting back just made both of them needlessly upset.

They arrive at the cafe and move to their same positions from the day prior. Just like the day before, Hyunjin watches Seungmin while he waits. Seungmin doesn’t seem to notice.

When the lawyer arrives, Seungmin is startled by Hyunjin gasping. For a second, Seungmin thinks they’ve actually found Hyunjin’s link. It was naive.

Hyunjin proceeds to put on the performance of his life, frantically gathering his things and explaining that his great aunt had a fall and was in the hospital. The lawyer insists it’s fine, just like Chan had the day before. Hyunjin leaves the cafe before he can even get a drink.

After the lawyer leaves, Seungmin exits, too. On the walk back to his car, he clenched his jaw so hard he worried about grinding his teeth. He’s even more annoyed when he climbs into his car and sees that Hyunjin is in good spirits.

“Well, next we obviously have to get to the retirement home—”

“What the fuck was that?” Seungmin snaps, cutting Hyunjin off in the middle of his joke. He just leans forward and rests his skull into his hands in defeat for a few moments. “Why am I constantly having to ask you what the fuck is happening?”

“I had to come up with an excuse! It was the first thing that came to mind,” Hyunjin explains.

“That was the first thing to come to your mind? Causing a scene like that?” Seungmin criticizes. Hyunjin shrugs sheepishly. Seungmin didn’t think Hyunjin had had a rational thought in two days. “What has gotten into you?”

“It wasn’t a big deal–”

“Oh, because you can just block him on Instagram? Hyunjin, this whole thing is making you crazy,” Seungmin says flatly. “You’re a lot of things, Hyunjin, but you’re not a fucking liar. But this stupid link thing has made you into a lot of things you’re not.”

“You really don’t get it?” Hyunjin asks. Seungmin raises his head to look at Hyunjin. “I thought you were just too awkward to look for your link, but you really just don’t care if you meet your soulmate or not.”

“What does that have to do with you telling people from high school the most random bullshit you can think of?”

“I want to meet my fucking link already,” Hyunjin states plainly. “I’m sick of being alone. I want to fall in love already. I don’t really care what I have to do to make it happen.”

Seungmin pauses like he has a lot to say to that, then he just doesn’t. Maybe he decided it wasn’t worth it, or maybe he just lost courage.

“You really think of yourself as being alone?”

“I didn’t mean it like that–”

“Whatever,” Seungmin grumbles, putting his car into drive. He wished he could just escape the conversation altogether. “Where to next?”

Seungmin and Hyunjin spend the afternoon attempting to disqualify the dentist. Their plan was simple enough. The dental office where he worked was open until 2 P.M. on Sundays, so Hyunjin made Seungmin drive over there. They waited in the parking lot until he came out, then Hyunjin got out of the car and pretended he had been servicing the pizza place next door.

As soon as Hyunjin had made eye contact with the dentist, Seungmin knew they weren’t a match. Hyunjin’s face had fallen so quickly. He rushed back to the car, letting the dentist drive off in his range rover without the pair ever actually speaking a word to each other.

This all leads Hyunjin and Seungmin back to Hyunjin’s apartment, collapsed onto his bed as they awaited the start time of Hyunjin’s final date of the weekend, this time with none other than Hyunjin’s nemesis, Yang Jeongin.

“What if his human disguise wears off? I could see his third eye,” Hyunjin hypothesizes dimly. Seungmin laid next to him, repeatedly throwing the tennis ball in his hands at the ceiling. Hyunjin had told him to stop, warning him that the neighbors would be upset, but Seungmin hadn't listened. Hyunjin knew this meant Seungmin was anxious, so he just let it go. He’d take the noise complaint.

“He’s way more likely to have a tail than a third eye,” Seungmin mumbles. Hyunjin sighs. It was easy to see Seungmin had a lot on his mind besides mocking Jeongin.

“Are you okay?” he inquires, sitting up so that he’s sitting with his legs crossed and facing Seungmin.

“I’m great,” Seungmin lies. He threw the ball over and over and over again. Hyunjin wonders if he really thought assaulting the ceiling was normal. Seungmin had resorted to bouncing this same ball because of many topics over the years, from his grades to his job to his family.

“Seriously, Seungmin,” Hyunjin says sternly, grabbing the ball from him. Seungmin frowns and wiggles his fingers to ask for it back. Hyunjin responds by placing the ball in his lap and knotting his hand together with the one Seungmin had stretched out to him.

“I’m just– what are you going to do if he isn’t the guy?” Seungmin ponders. Hyunjin paused. He hadn’t really expected Seungmin to be worried about his love life, of all things. “Are you just going to go back to making eye contact with random diner patrons?”

“Maybe,” Hyunjin admits with a shrug. “That’s what you’re upset about? Me looking at people at the diner?”

“No,” Seungmin snaps. Hyunjin isn’t convinced.

“I know you don’t get it, but maybe if you tried actually looking for your link–”

Seungmin snatches his hand back from Hyunjin, invoking shock and a complete loss of his train of thought in Hyunjin. Seungmin shakes it off. He didn’t have anything to say. Hyunjin grits his teeth together, trying to remind himself that fighting with Seungmin was pointless. He’d regret yelling at Seungmin as soon as they stopped talking.

”Look, it’s not shameful to look for your link,” Hyunjin says finally. “I don’t know why you’re so against finding yours, but–”

“Can we talk about something else?” Seungmin begs. Hyunjin clears his throat loudly. The hourglass counting down to Hyunjin losing his last speck of patience was rapidly draining.

“Whatever. I have to go get ready for my date,” Hyunjin declares. Seungmin doesn’t reply. He doesn’t even move an inch.

Once Hyunjin’s locked himself in his bathroom, Seungmin crawls out of his bed and over to the living room. A part of him wanted to just leave, but he’d promised Hyunjin he would be there waiting while Hyunjin suffered through a date with Jeongin. Seungmin had never broken a promise he made to Hyunjin.

For Seungmin, the next half hour is spent mainly staring at his phone, wondering what could possibly take so long. Hyunjin always took a long time getting ready. Seungmin had been known to get out of bed and leave the house within the same ten minute span, but Hyunjin could never do that, not even to run errands.

Still, though, Seungmin thinks every wait for Hyunjin is worth it. It wasn’t just because Hyunjin never had a single hair out of place and his outfits were all carefully curated as though he was expecting to meet Miranda Priestly on the street, either. It was because every wait for Hyunjin meant they were going to spend the entire night together.

Today isn’t any different, despite the circumstances. When Hyunjin finally exits his room, Seungmin feels his entire throat dry up.

“You look…”

Seungmin paused. Hyunjin just blinks at him. His hesitation makes Hyunjin want to go change. Seungmin contemplated sinking into earth upon realizing what he’s said.

“Nice,” he decides, though it definitely wasn’t the first or second or third word that had popped into his mind.

“Thanks,” Hyunjin says weakly.

They just stand there for a moment. Seungmin thinks it’s nice to have a second to figure out what the hell he’s going to say. Hyunjin finds every second that goes by excruciating.

“Listen, I’m sorry. It’s up to you how you want to approach your love life,” Hyunjin offers awkwardly. He didn’t really know how to apologize when he didn’t feel like he’d done anything wrong.

“It’s not about–”

Seungmin stops. Hyunjin just looks at him, waiting for him to finish his thought. Seungmin can’t choke out the words.

“No, you’re right. I’m sorry, too,” Seungmin says finally, letting whatever he actually wanted to say disappear. “We should go.”

The drive there is a whole lot of quiet. Hyunjin was still a little mad, and Seungmin was a lot embarrassed. It wasn’t a great combination.

“He’s already here,” Hyunjin complains as he checks his text messages once Seungmin has parked the car. “I feel like it’s a bad sign how much I’m dreading this.”

“Probably,” Seungmin agrees. “What’s your plan for when he’s not your link?”

“Don’t be so negative,” Hyunjin snaps.

“What’s the difference between what I said and what you said?” Seungmin laughs. Hyunjin shrugs.

“That you said it,” he admits with a sigh. “Should I play the imaginary little sister card again?”

Hyunjin watches as Seungmin contemplates the suggestion for a minute. Hyunjin hadn’t really expected Seungmin to think about it so much or even care at all, really.

“You said you wanted to go on dates,” Seungmin reminds him. Hyunjin nods. “You ditched your last two within five minutes. Maybe you should make this one last.”

Hyunjin purses his lips together.

“Maybe.”

When they enter the restaurant, they split up. Seungmin finds a booth in the bar area and settles in, ready to spend the next hour and a half playing games on his phone while Hyunjin sees to his date. Hyunjin heads back to the back corner of the building where Jeongin had said he was sitting in a text.

Somehow, even though Hyunjin had never gotten along with Jeongin well, Hyunjin still found himself wishing he would be his link. This was his last real chance. The last three candidates would require a roadtrip to even meet, and that meant, if one of them was Hyunjin’s link, he would be trapped in a long distance relationship. He didn’t want that, and he didn’t want Madam Luna to just be a hack after all. He wanted to look Jeongin in the eyes and hear all his thoughts. He wanted to realize they’d misunderstood each other in high school.

When Hyunjin sees Jeongin for the first time, he’s fidgeting with the centerpiece on the table, completely distracted by the flowers and their petals and stems. Hyunjin thinks he looks cute like that, overly concerned about ensuring that even the centerpiece is arranged perfectly. Detail-oriented was a good quality, Hyunjin thought, mostly because it wasn’t one of his qualities. Seungmin had always been the one in charge of stuff like that.

“Hello,” Hyunjin says, and he’s relieved to finally get the opportunity to make eye contact for the first time on his own terms. Jeongin gasps as he pulls away from the flowers, clearly unprepared for Hyunjin to have arrived when he did.

“Ah, jeez,” Jeongin murmurs.

“Sorry!” Hyunjin sings, smiling at Jeongin. He was practically staring at him, burning holes in Jeongin’s skin with his gaze as he desperately awaited Jeongin’s eyes meeting his own.

“No, that was all me,” Jeongin assures him. He finally looks up, and it’s just like Seungmin told him all along. Nothing. Not a sound. Hyunjin tries not to feel completely devastated, but that was hard. To put it in Seungmin’s terms, he hadn’t wanted to strike out again, especially since this play was game ending. Hyunjin didn’t have any more options. He didn’t have another date to rush off to as soon as he left this one. Jeongin had been his swan song, and here they were, out of tune.

Still, though, Hyunjin feels a little gooey looking into Jeongin’s eyes. Jeongin was successful. He was intelligent. If you factored out links, he was a prime boyfriend candidate. This, along with Seungmin telling him to stay, encourages Hyunjin to tuck his phone into his pocket and abandon any thoughts of leaving early.

“Gosh, it’s so good to see you,” Hyunjin exclaims as he finally sits down across from Jeongin. “How long has it been?”

“I don’t think we’ve seen each other since graduation,” Jeongin recalls with a smile.

“Oh, you mean when you gave that super boring speech because you graduated top of our class?” Hyunjin teases. Jeongin laughs, which Hyunjin is thankful for. He wasn’t sure if jokes about high school were appropriate.

“That speech probably would’ve been better if literally anyone else had given it,” Jeongin says, playing along with Hyunjin. Hyunjin’s pleased to see he actually has a sense of humor. He’d imagined Jeongin as stiff and awkward, unable to take a joke but not mean-spirited either. Essentially, Hyunjin had expected him to be as interesting as a cardboard box.

Dinner is a lot better than Hyunjin ever thought it could be. He has fun listening to Jeongin’s stories, even the ones he doesn’t totally understand since they have a lot of technical jargon. He listens to Jeongin enthrall about patients and trips he’s taken, and Hyunjin never gets bored or annoyed at all. Hyunjin was having a nice time, and he didn’t even want to call Seungmin.

Jeongin makes a lot of bad puns and is overly enthusiastic, but he’s a lot kinder and more thoughtful than Hyunjin remembered, though Seungmin would probably tell Hyunjin Jeongin was always like that. Hyunjin had villainized Jeongin in high school, even Hyunjin could admit that.

By the time they’re done with their food, Hyunjin is thinking about date number two. He could have fun with Jeongin while he looked for his link, couldn’t he? Jisung was right; Life wasn’t meant to be wasted waiting around for your soulmate. They were just a bonus.

“I swear, I’m always too full for dessert, but that little ice cream place a block from here looks so good,” Jeongin complains. Hyunjin’s eyes light up at the mere mention. He loved that place!

“Oh, god, you gotta try it!” Hyunjin enthuses. “Whenever me and Seungmin went, it was awesome.”

“You and Seungmin? So that’s still a thing?” Jeongin asks, fidgeting with his keys in his hands.

“What?” Hyunjin says, scrunching up his face in confusion. “Seungmin’s my best friend–”

“Oh, I know,” Jeongin confirms with a laugh. “It’s just– don’t other guys find it a little off-putting when you have your other half already?”

“It’s not like that,” Hyunjin insists.

“I mean, it’s just intimidating,” Jeongin explains. “I’m not a jealous person, but even I can see it’s basically like you already have a boyfriend.”

“We really don’t see each other like that,” Hyunjin declares, and he’s a little surprised when he sees Jeongin hesitate for a second. “I’ve always wanted to find my soulmate, and he’s obviously not my link.”

“Just like how I’m not your link?” Jeongin says gently. Hyunjin swallowed hard, suddenly swimming in regret. Jeongin bit his lip as they both struggled with where to go from there. He turns and offers the waitress a grateful nod whenever she passes by to pick up the check, but that’s it.

“Um, listen, Hyunjin, I had fun tonight and all, but I think it’s really obvious that I’m not what you’re looking for–”

Hyunjin scoffs dryly. How could this happen to him? Was he really being rejected by someone who he’d never even really liked?

“Thank you for dinner,” Hyunjin says softly. He immediately grabs his coat and makes a beeline out of the restaurant without even giving Jeongin an actual goodbye. He passes through the bar, and he doesn’t so much as call out to Seungmin. Still, Seungmin notices and slides out of his booth, sprinting to keep up with Hyunjin. When they’ve finally steadied their pace, Hyunjin just makes groaning noises to express his distress.

“What happened?” Seungmin asks. He sounded so concerned, panicked. Hyunjin wishes Seungmin wasn’t like that all the time. He was so concerned and caring and kind. Fuck that.

“I think I just got dumped on a first date with a guy who humble bragged about his college entrance exam scores as an adult,” Hyunjin explains. Seungmin’s eyes widened into shiny circles. Hyunjin wished he could just turn him off.

“You?” Seungmin exclaims. Hyunjin nods.

“Me!” he yelps back.

“He’s an idiot. He would’ve been lucky to even breathe near you,” Seungmin assures him.

“Well, in any case, he certainly wasn’t my link!” Hyunjin says. At first it seems like he’s going to laugh, but his voice breaks at the end of his sentence. He was frustrated, expended. How could he not be? Madam Luna was right about Felix’s link. How could she be wrong about Hyunjin’s? How could he be so wrong about every single person he approached?

“Hyunjin…,” Seungmin begins. Hyunjin just clenched his teeth to keep from saying something he didn’t mean. Anyone who met Seungmin knew he cared about Hyunjin a lot, but he was useless in moments like this.

“It’s fine,” Hyunjin says after taking a minute to breathe. He didn’t want a second-rate link. He didn’t want to meet his link if the time wasn’t right. He wasn’t going to cry because he wasn’t destined to be with somebody he’d disliked since he was fifteen. “We both know I would’ve been upset if my link was Yang Jeongin anyway.”

Seungmin laughs, shoving both of his hands into his hoodie pocket as they slowly make their way back to Seungmin’s car. Truth be told, this weekend was weighing him down to the point the idea of going back to work the next day had started to become appealing.

“Maybe next week we should look for your link instead,” Hyunjin suggests with a tiny smirk. Seungmin just bites his tongue to keep from saying something he’d regret. He was exhausted. This weekend was exhausting. The concept of a link was exhausting. Even Hyunjin was exhausting, and Seungmin had never thought that before.

“I don’t think so,” Seungmin says grimly.

“Why not?” Hyunjin ponders. “Listen, Seungmin, even though I’m disappointed, I’m not giving up on finding my link, and you should look for yours, too.”

Seungmin doesn’t respond.

“Besides, I had fun this weekend. A lot of fun, actually,” Hyunjin admits. “I may not have met my link, but I got to hang out with you. That’s just as good.”

“Ha,” Seungmin croaks. “Just as good?”

“Yeah, duh,” Hyunjin affirms. “If I have to be lonely, I’m glad I get to be lonely with you.”

“Lonely with me?”

“Yeah, you know, until we meet our links–”

“I met my link already,” Seungmin confesses suddenly. He stops in place, crossing his arms across his chest. He knew they were in for an argument, so all he could do was brace himself for impact.

“What? When?” Hyunjin asks, mouth agape. He turns around to face Seungmin, and all Seungmin can see on his face is surprise and shock and confusion. Hyunjin can’t quite figure out why Seungmin is painted with worry and sadness.

“Months ago,” he admits. He was closely inspecting the gravel beneath their feet, focusing on it so intently Hyunjin genuinely wondered for a moment if he saw something of note.

“Months ago? Seungmin, why didn’t you tell me? Why didn’t you introduce me?” Hyunjin interrogates, firing off questions as quickly as he could form them as he processed what Seungmin was telling him.

“I can’t introduce you to somebody I barely know,” Seungmin mumbles. He wished there was a lower volume than the one he was using. He wished he could be anywhere but here.

“What?” Hyunjin whispers. That’s all he has to offer: one, single word. It almost pissed Seungmin off. Could he really be so fucking oblivious?

“I don’t know him. I haven’t hung out with him. I have ignored dozens of messages at this point,” Seungmin states, finally raising his head. His frustration was somehow more powerful than anything his sadness or anxiety could muster up at the moment.

“Why would you do that?”

Seungmin takes a deep breath. It felt like if he didn’t say what he needed to say now, he never would. So, he does.

“Because I don’t want to hang out with him. I want to hang out with you,” Seungmin says. Hyunjin just shakes his head in response.

“I’m always going to be here, Seungmin–”

“Until you find your link,” Seungmin points out, cutting Hyunjin off in the process. “That’s the difference between us, Hyunjin. You have always wanted some fantasy guy who you’ve been building up in your head your entire life just because that’s what TV and books and movies tell you you should want. I have only ever wanted you.”

“Me?” Hyunjin says, voice cracking in the process. They can both see his eyes are filling with tears faster than he can blink them away, but Seungmin doesn’t stop. He can’t.

“You,” he confirms. “You never stop talking about how you have to find your link because you can’t wait to fall in love. But you don’t need the stupid fucking link to fall in love, Hyunjin. I am living proof you don’t need the stupid link.”

Seungmin starts to regret everything that he’s saying. Why couldn’t he just keep his mouth shut? Was it that hard to just shut up? He just didn’t know if he could live the rest of his life like this, in an endless cycle of wishing and yearning and hoping and getting his heart crushed over and over again.

“What am I supposed to say?” Hyunjin practically whimpers. Seungmin wasn’t used to hearing him like that, and, truthfully, Hyunjin wasn’t either. He was stronger than this. He was letting Seungmin talk at him without giving his side. Why was he letting that happen? Why was he letting Seungmin make him out to be the bad guy? “My parents were linked, Seungmin. My grandparents were linked. My great grandparents were linked. I don’t know anything else besides this, okay? This is the one thing in my life that has always been certain. No matter what, I have always known that the person I’m supposed to be with is out there, and I’d know when I met them. Why are you trying to take that away from me?”

“I’m not taking anything away from you!” Seungmin yelps. “I spent the past two days trying to make this happen for you!”

There’s a beat of nothing. No words or sounds or gestures. Then, Hyunjin lets out a dry laugh, rubbing the heels of his hands against his eyelids.

“I hate that that’s true,” he grumbles.

“Of course it’s true,” Seungmin says with a sigh, carding his fingers through his hair. “I would do anything to make you happy because, when I look at you, I know I am never going to feel this way about anyone else. And I don’t have to read your mind to know how you feel. And I didn’t have to spend my entire life waiting for you. You were always here, and I have always felt this way. I am always going to feel this way.”

Hyunjin doesn’t say anything, just avoids eye contact at any and all costs. Hot tears start to burn paths into his cheeks, involuntarily pouring out of Hyunjin’s eyes. Hyunjin feels Seungmin’s thumbs briskly move across his cheeks, pushing away the tears. It’s no use; in fact, it makes Hyunjin want to cry even more.

“You know what the worst part is?” Seungmin whispers, softly tilting Hyunjin’s head up so they can look at each other. Hyunjin mouths a tiny what?, but his throat is so dry he can’t make out the words. “I know you feel the same way about me.”

“It’s not that simple,” he wheezes.

“Yes, it is,” Seungmin insists. “Honestly ask yourself, did you actually want to be with any of those guys we tested?”

Hyunjin shakes his head feebly.

“And what is stopping you from being with me besides the fact you can’t read my mind?” Seungmin adds. Hyunjin feels his entire body go cold. He knew immediately. He’d thought about it a hundred times before. The answer really was simple, and Seungmin knew it too. Absolutely nothing.

“Seungmin, you know who you belong with. You know exactly who god or the universe or whoever decides this stuff wants you to be with,” Hyunjin argues through sniffles and hiccups.

“I do,” Seungmin confirms, “and it’s you.”

“Seungmin–”

“That crazy lady on the boardwalk told you you went to high school with your soulmate,” Seungmin reminds him, “and unless you want to go stare into Jeongin’s eyes some more, I’m starting to think she wasn’t talking about your link.”

Hyunjin feels like he’s been hit by a bus. Seungmin was right; Madam Luna had never once claimed she could find his link. She just told him she’d find Hyunjin’s soulmate. Maybe for Felix that was his link. Maybe for Hyunjin, it wasn’t.

“What if we break up?” Hyunjin queries, as calmly as he can manage in that moment. Truthfully, even having the conversation they were having now, Hyunjin found comfort in the warmth radiating off Seungmin, who was now so close Hyunjin’s hands were pushed against his chest.

“Not gonna happen,” Seungmin says decidedly.

“Being with your link is the only way you know–”

“Have you met my parents?” Seungmin presents as evidence. “They’ve been together for decades. They have two kids together. They are still in love.”

“Your parents aren’t linked?” Hyunjin concludes, scrunching up his face in thought. Seungmin responds by shaking his head. Seungmin’s parents had certainly always seemed happy. In truth, they probably got along better than Hyunjin’s own parents, who didn’t have much in common and frequently pursued their individual interests as a result. “Do they know who their links are?”

“They’ve never cared,” Seungmin explains. “Why search for your link if you found the person you want to be with?”

“That’s why you never looked for yours,” Hyunjin realizes quietly. Seungmin nods. “They really don’t regret not finding their links?”

“Not for a minute,” Seungmin promises. He takes half a step back and knots one of Hyunjin’s hands with each of his own. “That’s all I want: to be with you and to not give our stupid links another thought ever.”

Hyunjin pauses, and for the first time, he really lets himself think about how he felt about Seungmin. He thinks about all the days they’ve spent together, and he thinks about how he was at his happiest when Seungmin was with him. He thinks about how, if he had a glove compartment filled with keepsakes like Seungmin’s, they would all be from days they spent together. He knows then he doesn’t need a link. Hyunjin already had his soulmate.

“I want that, too,” Hyunjin admits. “I want you.”

Seungmin sighs softly, pulling Hyunjin close to him and affectionately meeting their lips. Hyunjin feels like melting into him, somehow perfectly in tune with Seungmin as he untangled their hands so he could hold onto Hyunjin’s waist.

After Seungmin pulls away, Hyunjin takes a few seconds just to look at him. He stares up at Seungmin, right into his big, sparkly eyes, and he doesn’t hear a thing.

And, for once, he’s okay with that.