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Nathaniel woke up, an uncomfortable itch all over his body, his eyelids too heavy but he opened his eyes anyway. The world swirled around him. She did it again, he thought and closed his eyes, fighting the disgusting feeling in his stomach that comes with the drug his mother gives him. He breathed out.
He knew this kind of dizziness would disappear around noon, if he woke up at his usual time, around 8ish. He was too tired to try and open his heavy eyes to check it on a clock.
Nathaniel Wesninski cannot have a phone. It’s one of the few rules his mother and father agreed on. Beside the ‘you cannot be seen outside’ thing. And also ‘shut up’ thing. Well, they really-
Something heavy fell on the hallway Nathaniel’s door lead to. Than something was scratching the wooden flooring. It sounded weak, but persistent. As persistent as loud footsteps on the staircase, that were coming near Nathaniel’s door, alas closer to the scratching, that was right in front of Nathaniel’s door. Now it sounded desperate, like a cat, trying to climb a tree with it’s claws. No. Not a cat’s claws.
Human nails.
The steps grew louder and louder as they were getting closer and closer to the scratching.
Nathaniel knew what was coming.
His father.
***
“Done,” Andrew wiped off excess ink. “Now just the hygiene stuff and we’re done.”
“Great. When’s the last session? I want to bring my partner when you’ll be finishing it, she’s into that stuff.” Says the costumer, winking his eyebrows.
Andrew rolls his eyes with great effort. “I’ll check it in the book, but first, let me clean it. We did big part today, so expect to feel it for few days. You have the cream I gave you last time?” Andrew cleaned the workplace and wrapped the tattoo on his client’s shoulder, trying to be at least little gentle.
“Yeah, I think.”
“Great, use that this time too. If you run out of it before next session, just come here and I’ll give you more.”
“Thanks, Minyard.”
“Okay, you’re good. Now, the date.”
He got up and walked to the reception desk. His salon was just two little rooms with big windows heading to the sunny street. It was small, but it was full of Andrew’s effort for his kind of aesthetic drenched in blood, sweat and tears, and he loved it. His apartment upstairs was bigger than the whole salon, as it reached both sides of the whole building, meanwhile the tattoo salon was just on one side, on the other half of it was a garage of Andrew’s neighbour. His home never was too spacey, but he liked it that way.
“It’s…on…” he searches for the date and time. “8th, 5pm.”
“Great. Thanks again, man. See ya!”
Andrew just waves and when the client was finally out on the street, he sighs.
He’s tired, more than usually. His body was being burned last night. For hours he wasn’t able to calm down because of the feeling that his soulmark spread to all parts of his body, too sharp and painful to close his eyes.
His phone buzzes on the reception desk, but Andrew doesn’t check it – he knows who’s texting him. He expected him to show much earlier. Something must have come up when he’s arriving just now.
Andrew slowly walks to the couch he has for his waiting costumers and collapses on it, closing his eyes.
After a minute, the door’s ring chimes.
“Hands full of work, I see.”
Andrew doesn’t open his eyes. “Yes, Mr. Lawyer. As you can see, I’m too busy to take proper care of you.”
The person huffs. There’s a pause. “Something happened last night with them.”
Andrew finally opens his eyes, sighs and sits up. “It was like they were thrown into the fire. That’s much worse that the drug thing Sunday.” He takes a second, then says what he’s thinking about for past couple of weeks. “I think it’s getting worse, Kevin.”
Kevin doesn’t say anything. He takes off his jacket and sits next to Andrew. The couch creaks a little. Andrew feels the calming and pleasant buzzing of having his soulmate this close. He wants to close his eyes and just properly feel this emotion, but they have more pressing things at hand.
With Kevin’s upcoming final part of the trial, where he’s standing against an army of much more expensive lawyers of Moriama family just with his dad and small team of assistants, he needs to rest, to concentrate and be able to be in the moment 100 % of the time, but because of the soulmarks, he wasn’t able to rest properly and focus his job for weeks. They press charges in favour of Jean Moreau, who Kevin persuaded to do that when Jean finally was able to run away from the Moriyamas a year ago. Kevin said he could make Moriyamas pay. He built the team and they pressed charges and they think they’re winning this, but the last and most important part of the trial is tomorrow.
Kevin nods at his speculation. “I think so too. But why?”
“Don’t ask questions we cannot know the answer to.”
Andrew’s soulmate makes frustrated sound. “And what am I supposed to do, hm? Andrew, we haven’t slept in days because our third soulmate is probably suffering even more than usually. For years, it was just once a month or so, we can suspect it could be cramps or donating blood or some other bullshit that caused the fucking pain, but this? Since last spring, it’s getting… unbearable. It… fucking… hurts/.” Kevin clears his throat. “Not just the physical pain caused by connection of our soulamarks. But it hurts to just know somebody is… being…”
“Tortured,” Andrew finishes flatly. “Our soulmate is being tortured. Yeah, I know.”
Silence.
“After I win the trial… we could join some of the groups like Seth’s in,” Kevin quietly suggests.
Andrew smirks. “Such confidence about winning, Mr. Lawyer. And do you really think that our tortured soulmate will be signed in some ‘find your soulmate’ app?”
Kevin shrugs. “It’s worth at least a try.”
Kevin shifts a little, his tired body’s in too much tension and Andrew can see he’s getting uncomfortable on the small couch.
“Okay. Sign us,” Andrew agrees. Kevin’s right, they at least can try.
***
The thing is, Kevin already touched their soulmate. It’s surreal, when Andrew thinks about it, these days almost every night. Kevin touched them and thus was in near proximity of them. Kevin saw their soulmate.
But Kevin doesn’t remember it. He doesn’t know who it was.
When soulmates touch each other for the first time, the soulmark, until the first touch just black dot somewhere on the body of the person, grows into new picture, something like tattoo, but moch more permanent and flexible. Flowers, animals, just shadows of things, it can be anything.
Kevin has soulmark, the one he shares with Andrew, on his left shoulder – it’s sea turtle in pastel colours, captioned in the movement. The second one, one that showed on his back when he touched their third soulmate, is pine tree, looking strong and sturdy..
Andrew also often thinks about where his tattoo could be, if he ever touches their soulmate too. Or, which is much more unpleasant thought, but Kevin always assures him that’s not the case… well, or if it’s just Kevin, who got two soulmates and Andrew has just one. What if the third soulmate… isn’t his. It could be like that – just three people, all of them soulmates, but two are soulmates just for one person only.
When the third soulmate is in pain, Andrew can feel it, but maybe he feels just what Kevin feels, not like the direct pain form the soulmate, but just the ‘secondhand’ pain from Kevin. It may be possible. It is possible. He doesn’t fear many things, but this thought? It makes his insides swirl.
But one soulmate is more than enough for Andrew, he’s okay with Kevin. More than okay. Kevin is excellent. And that stupidly tall men would absolutely deserve more than one soulmate. He deserves whole world. He certainly deserves better than just one Andrew Joseph Minyard.
I am okay with them being just a ghost, he lies to himself. He holds this though close to his heart, but closer is the one where he has two soulmates. Two. It’s a super paradise he holds onto, because he’ll never grow old of childish dreams.
***
Nathaniel knows something is coming. Something bigger, than last time, bigger than ever before.
He can feel it in his mother’s rushed words, when she gives him calming drugs more and more often. He can feel it when his Father pinches his yet to be healed cuts on his calves – his father laughs and says something, but Nathaniel is too out of it to decipher what. He just knows it’s something big and bad.
It comes when he wakes up. Actually, he wakes up because of it.
“Going for a trip, Junior,” Lola says with too sweet voice. Nathaniel tries to get away from her arms that are reaching for him, but he’s too slow. “C’mon, now. You get out of the house, like, two times a years? Show some gratitude, we’re taking you to the downtown today, yaay!”
Nathaniel is now hold between two bodies so he could stand up, the third body, Lola, is trying to get him into some big scratchy sweatshirt with a large hood. He tries to slip out of their hold, but he’s too fizzy and they’re too strong for him. When Lola slaps his cheek, hard, he stops to struggle.
“Good. Boys, get him into the car. I’ll join you in few, need to check something with boss.”
The other two bodies pull the hood on his head, but it’s actually so big he cannot see anything except his sockless bare feet and floor as he’s being hurried out of the house.
Outside is dark, but the birds are singing nevertheless and they’re loud, loud enough to get to his fogged and fizzy brain. He can feel the drugs his mother gave him yesterday are wearing off.
He doesn’t know how many minutes pass as they sit and wait in the car, but when he hears the doors of the car, he jolts.
“Nathan got confirmed the position and time. When we get there, the show will begin.”
And then it was silence for new at least 35 minutes. Nathaniel felt horrible, he didn’t heat anything today and the drugs were wearing off, but his body didn’t appreciate it. He fought the upset stomach and pounding head with counting minutes. He also didn’t want to fall asleep and neither lost track of time. He needed to know how far from the house they are. If it’s far enough, maybe, just maybe, he could ru-
Car stops. 35 minutes’s not enough. Nathaniel braces himself.
“Allright, boys. Get out, I want some quality time with Junior.”
***
Nathaniel wasn’t stupid when he wasn’t high on drugs. He knew he was in this situation because they wanted his soulmate to suffer. To hurt.
Kevin
He forbade himself to thing about his name long time ago. It hurt much more to think about him than being on the other end of Lola’s knife.
If only he could do anything for his soulmate… Other than hurting him.
***
Kevin breathes in. Breathes out. He clears his throat and fixes his tie once again. He still feels like it’s not straight.
“Fuck,” he mutters.
It’s big day today. And he didn’t sleep well. He slept for like an hour tops. The pain was too much. Around two am, Andrew arrived at his door, full of rage and with bloody bags under his eyes. Same as Kevin’s.
“Come on,” the blonde just said, toeing off his shoes, than grabbed Kevin’s hand and took him to bed. Together, they slept much better than alone, they just never really talked about things like living together, getting married or so. They just… liked to be around each other every day, talk together, but living together seemed like something out of their worlds, even though they know each other for two and half years now.
Andrew borrowed some t-shirt and pants, but after few steps when he started for the bed, the pants fell down to his ancles. Kevin smirks from his spot on bed, tucked under covers. Andrew looks unimpressed. He’s also fucking tired. He steps out of them and goes to bed just in his black boxer briefs. Kevin is only in his loose underwear, he’s always running too hot at night, whereas Andrew’s almost always cold.
Andrew slips under the cover and they meet in the middle of the bed, Kevin’s legs entangling with Andrew’s, their chests getting closer and closer until they’re touching. Andrew puts his hand on Kevin’s hip, which makes the taller men sight in content.
“This is better,” he murmurs and Andrew just huffs. There’s silence for few seconds and than the both hiss and Kevin curses loudly when their soulmarks make them see white pain. They hug each other desperately.
***
In the morning, with just few minutes of sleep see and there, both men make themselves big coffees.
If it were on Andrew, he would stop Kevin. He wouldn’t allow him on the court today, wouldn’t let him out of the apartment, out of his sight. But this is something Kevin prepared himself and his whole team for months. It wasn’t Andrew’s call.
“I signed us up for the find-your-soulmate thing,” Kevin announces after some fiddling with his phone on the couch. He stands and makes his way to Andrew, who’s sitting on the kitchen counter.
“You care about the trial now, nothing else,” Andrew says with low voice, too tired to do try and put some emotion behind his words. But he knows Kevin is fine with this, that he understands.
“Can I kiss you?” Kevin asks when he arrives next to Andrew. “I need you.”
“Yes,” the blonde says and leans in.
They part when it’s time for Kevin to go. It hurts not to be together when they’re in this poor shape, but they’re used to much worse type of pain, so they’ll endure it. They knows they’ll see each other at the end of the day.
***
Kevin has to take too many breaks during the trial, but he was ready for it. He prepared himself and his team for any possibility that could happen to any of them. He prepared them and he’s fucking thankful for every member of his team – his dad, Dan Wylds, Allison Reynolds and Robin Cross, that they actually did their jobs and were completely competent to run the case even with Kevin’s breaks.
And they – win.
They fucking win. When Kevin hears the verdict, that they won and Moriyamas will have to pay, some of them just money but some of them with years in prison, and that they’re forbidden from any other further political activities and will be under close surveillance for certain amount of years to come… when he hears it, he closes his eyes, feels fantom pain on his arm where Riko broke it years and years ago when Kevin told him he’ll go to police after he found out what Riko’s family did with their money and political influence. With eyes closed, he breathes out, relaxes his shoulders and even though his body is aching all over because somebody is torturing their soulmate he feels at peace for few seconds.
He decides he’ll not come home right after the trial’s end, but he’ll go straight to Andrew’s. He wants to feel him, he needs to be next to him and feel the calmness that surrounds him when he’s in close proximity of one of his soulmates.
***
Nathaniel wakes up. More than waking up it’s like coming into consciousness again. He opens his eyes and wants to throw up, he can see the ceiling of the van and nothing else. His left eye is puffed out so much he can’t see anything with it because of the swelling and his neck is swollen and pulsing, he guesses it’s because Lola or Romero chocked him. Ribs on his left side are definitely bruised, he can’t really breathe without being in pain, he can’t move his bloody arms without flinching. His wrists are tied together by some old dirty rope that stings on his open wounds. He doesn’t know how much time passed since they took him out of the house, how much time he’s been in this hell of a car.
Nathaniel can hear Lola’s on the phone with someone, but he can’t really see her, he cannot move his head.
“…yeah, yes, we parked two three blocks from the liliput’s apartment... we did it. Hm… His ribs too… Yeah… HE DID WHA-“Lola almost screams.
He’s so tired.
“We’ll bring him back. If that bastard won, than-…. Yes.”
Nathaniel can guess his soulmate did something. Something that Lola and Nathan doesn’t like. Something that made them torture Nathaniel. Which means he did something right. He did something right even though Nathaniel’s such a bad soulmate.
Nathaniel knows they’re hurting him because they want to hurt Kevin. His father and Lola wants Kevin to fail something, or to just live miserable life, cursing his soulmate who’s being cut and drugged every other night.
He closes his eyes again.
I am such a bad soulmate…
“Romero, go grab some whisky or whatever, tonight’s not going to be good night. Grab some wasabi chips too, looks like Nathaniel is hungry too,” Lola says from the front seat where she called Nathan from the phone on the charger. He can feel her rage in her tone.
Nathaniel snaps his eyes open.
Lola picks up her cigarettes and with wide smile says: “I am going for a little break, but I’ll be right back, Junior, and we’ll have some more fun,” her manic eyes are full of promises of more pain and blood.
Wasabi chips are not for him. They’re for his wounds. When Lola brought them into Nathaniel’s room, she rubbed the crumbs of chips into his bloody legs and arms, to his open eyes… it stinged for hours, days maybe, because he had the chips on his wounds until his next shower day and he wasn’t too good at measuring time when he was in his room.
If he could do anything for his soulmate…
He feels Romero’s body move next to him.
He’s going outside, Nathaniel reminds himself. Lola went for a smoke, somewhere outside too, hopefully somewhere further away from the van that she won’t notice if Nathaniel…
This is my chance to save Kevin from me.
He decides in a split second.
When Romero’s closing the door, Nathaniel shoves him upfront with everything he has in himself which makes Romero stumble over. When Nathaniel sees Romero’s head is going to hit the door, he brings his legs up and shoves Romero on the door with big force. His head hits the side of the door, his eyes roll up and he falls on the ground in a second, unconscious.
Nathaniel is breathing hard, his ribs make him feel like his torso is on fire.
He runs.
***
Andrew closed and locked his salon in four, two hours sooner than normally, because he wanted to be able to watch the end of the trial on TV. He has good TV in his apartment upstairs, but he has an old one in studio and he feels too tired to bring his ass upstairs, so he flops on the couch in studio and turns it up.
The reporter is standing in front of the building that holds the trial. Andrew wants his soulmate next to him. He wants to hold him and make him feel better. But he supposes that Kevin will go drink with his colleagues and father after the trial, either if they win or lose. He shifts on the couch and makes himself more comfortable. It’ll be long night.
He jolts up when something, no… somebody yells something on the street in front of the salon. It’s a yell full of rage and disgust.
Andrew stands up and goes to front windows. It’s dark outside, but he can see two silhouettes outside of the pet shop next door. One of them is smaller and bent over their stomach, clearly in pain, the other, much bigger and the one yelling, is waving their hands in angry motions.
“Fuck off, I don’t take in some fucking junkies. Get lost! You clearly are in trouble with your dealer or something, I don’t want your ass in my shop or in my street. Go!”
Andrew feels something stir inside his body. He’s not a people person, but he can give other people second chances. He and Kevin often help at Renee’s shelter for youngsters. So he opens the door and says in the direction of the other two people: “Come here than.”
“What the fuck, Minyard. Go away, this men is obviously in some fucking dirty business and we don’t want that he-“
“Fuck off, pet guy. And you, come here,” he repeats to the bended person. They slowly makes their way to his salon.
“Minyard-“
“I tolerate your fucking barking dogs all year long, so fuck off, Ian, and go to your animals and care for them, if you don’t care about people.”
Ian curses for a minute, meanwhile the smaller person finally arrives in front of Andrew’s door. Now he can see they’re around same age and really, really fucking bloody all over. One big black eye and many wounds from something sharp on their face, grey shirt totally wet, some spots from blood some from sweat. They’re barefoot and their feet are red and bloody too.
“Go sit on the couch,” Andrew says quietly and frowns. He can feel something in the air. Not like… smell, more like some static energy.
He locks the door and goes for his first aid kit. He’ll need lot of antiseptics, but this is tattoo salon. He has more than enough.
***
When Kevin uses his key to open the door to Andrew’s salon that serves also as the only entrance to his apartment upstairs, he can feel something is different. Not necessarily wrong, but just… different. The salon is dark and weirdly quiet. The only light comes from the stairs that leads to Andrew’s apartment.
He opens his mouth to call for Andrew, but at the last moment he stops himself. He doesn’t want to disturb the quietness with his voice. He locks the door and slowly approaches the stairs that leads upstairs. There is blood on them.
Kevin shivers from fear and his stomach does a flip.
Andrew.
He runs the steps up and rushes into living room/kitchen situation that Andrew has going on right next to the steps. He’s ready to fight for his soulmate.
He’s not ready to find one of Moriyama’s people on floor, visibly unconscious and Andrew cooking something in the kitchen, relaxed and slowly moving his hips to silent rhythm.
***
Andrew knows the exact moment Kevin stepped into Studio. He can feel his presence and he wonders when he will notice the blood that the stranger left behind downstairs. He concentrates on the task he has at hand – chopping vegetables for the soup he’s preparing.
After rushed introductions (“I am Andrew, I own this place,” and “I am… I-… uh, can you call me… Ten?” at that point, Andrew considered very strongly he will kick this… Ten… out, but it was obvious that this person clearly doesn’t want to share his name, so Andrew let it be)
When Kevin appears on the stairs, breathing like a wild animal and ready to fight something, Andrew sighs internally. Because if it came to fight, if Andrew was defeated, Kevin wouldn’t stand a chance.
“Wh- what? Are you okay?” Kevin is confused and he furrows his brows, letting go of his ready-to-fight position and instead slowly approaching the blonde but with his eyes still on the lying figure.
Andrew nods. “I am. But this fool was wandering outside and asking for help, bleeding on the street. Ian kicked him out. I took him in.”
“And… is he… okay?”
Andrew doesn’t answer for few seconds. “I don’t know. I told him to make his way upstairs meanwhile I went for first aid kit and I found him like that. He’s been unconscious for around an hour.”
“And why didn’t you take him into hospi-“
“He said he doesn’t want to,” Andrew intervened and finished chopping vegetables. He puts them into brewing water on the stove. “Besides, if he could ask around someone on the street for help but didn’t think about calling himself an ambulance from someone’s phone… he obviously doesn’t want to hospital. I quickly eye-checked and none of his wounds are still bleeding, it’s just dried blood.”
Kevin swallowed. “Should I take him to bed?” he asks, but than shakes his head and before Andrew can answer, he says: “No, I won’t touch him. Doesn’t seem like something he would like, when he doesn’t like hospitals either.”
He can almost feel Andrew’s approval.
“Let me help you,” Kevin moves to the kitchen.
Andrew smacks his hip with spatula. “Go fucking rest, you idiot. Take the bed. I’ll make enough for you too. It’ll be ready in half an hour, I’ll let you know.”
Kevin, defeated, nods and without another word he goes to the bedroom.
The body on the floor moves without any sound, but Andrew notices.
“Took you long enough. Come sit and eat,” he says without taking his eyes up from the phone where he’s watching livestream of his favourite tattoo artist.
Stranger comes to sit next to Andrew on the barstool next to kitchen counter that serves as a dining table.
“Did you… police?” says the person as he grabs the spoon and starts to eat.
Andrew still doesn’t look at him. “Nope,” he does big emphasis on ‘p’. “Less talking, more eating.”
And as the stranger finishes his soup, Andrew finally snaps his eyes on him. “When you were out of it, my partner arrived. Don’t freak out, they’re as hungry as you, so they’ll join us now.”
***
Kevin wakes up with Andrew’s hand in his hair. He stretches, pops his spine and releases a relieved sigh.
“They’re up?” he asks, voice rasp.
Andrew nods. “Just finished eating. I didn’t want them to freak out before the soup so I told them about you just now. Come.”
“Okay,” Kevin stretches some more, his muscles rewards him with more relief for it.
He makes his way to kitchen and-
“N-…Nathaniel?”
***
Nathaniel didn’t really feel like anything. He’s numb, his body just feels… wrong. Like just a soulless body, moving his limps, doing movements. He burned his tongue with the soup but he noticed it just after he finished whole bowl. He doesn’t even think about how dangerous it was – sleeping on someone else’s… floor. Without any protection. He’s so tired and the pain his body is in right now is too sharp.
He closes his eyes and rests his head on his hands. His father could just walk though the door and finished him right on this spot, but he couldn’t care less. Maybe, if he died, it would solve everything. Maybe he won’t be hurting his soulmate with just his bare existence-
“N-… Nathaniel?”
He snaps his eyes open and finds with them the source of the voice. He could recognize this voice everywhere but he’s so sure that he’s not hallucinating right now. Maybe some of the drugs were still in his system, or the tattooed blonde put something in the soup, or-
“You know him?” the blonde asks, little threw out of it because of Kevin’s words.
Kevin nods, not really paying attention to it as much as he pays attention to Nathaniel. “ We were in school together for few months... we played lacrosse together. What’s this…” Kevin looks so confused. He absentmindedly rubs his chest where his heart is. Nathaniel knows what he means, he feels it too. The strange, unknown pull. He knows Kevin is his soulmate, but this? This feeling? He’s choking on it, it’s so strong and much bigger and natural than anything he ever felt before, bigger than pain, bigger than hate and rage he felt against so many people-
Kevin takes few fast large steps and then he’s crouching next to Nathaniel and then his hands are almost touching Nathaniel’s and-
“Can I? Touch you?” Kevin whispers.
Nathaniel makes a strange, painful noise in the back of his throat, but Kevin fortunately takes it as a permission that it is. Than he’s touching him and something in Nathaniel just clicks. He closes his eyes and let himself be pulled into fierce but still very gentle and careful hug.
“Oh god, oh my god, it’s you, it’s always been you, oh god, god, fuck, how- when- we touched?”
Nathaniel doesn’t open his eyes when he answers, his words muffled by Kevin’s shoulder: “During the fight on the field.”
“What?”
“It was like twelve kids just punching and kicking each other. You don’t remember? At some point, somebody kicked me so hard I landed on the floor and you tripped over me. I don’t know where we touched exactly.”
Kevin lets out weird noise, very close to the one Nathaniel let out minute ago.
“My mother saw it. Saw when we touched and I just- felt it. I was simply looking at you. My mother saw me and took me away. Away from court, away from father, and we ran. Away… from you.”
“But… why?”
“I am too tired, Kevin,” Nathaniel murmured.
“Oh, shit, right. Shit, where you’re hurt the most?”
“I don’t- uh, I think I have some ribs broken? I am not sure. I don’t know,” he says quietly.
“Shit, fucker fuck.”
“Yeah, my sentiment’s exactly.”
“Andrew, right now it’s not time for quoting fucking Mamma mia, okay? We need to- something.”
Nathaniel opens his eyes and looks properly on the men that let himself in his apartment. He’s short and blonde and all in black. His arms and every uncovered part of his body is covered in tattoos, save his face and neck.
“Andrew?” Nathaniel’s voice wavers and he hates himself for it.
“I already introduced myself, but I guess you were too out of it to register,” Andrew says with unemotional but somehow soothing voice.
Kevin helps Nathaniel on the couch.
“I can look at the ribs, Aaron taught me some basics of first aid. Also your wounds need to be cleaned as soon as possible.”
Nathaniel looks away from Andrew to Kevin’s eyes, searching for what, he doesn’t know, but it seems like Kevin does know.
“He’s good, Nathaniel. He’s-… We are… He can help you.”
“Move,” Andrew says in low voice to Kevin, who’s crouching next to Nathaniel who’s lying on the couch. Kevin retreats in a speed of light.
“Help him,” he pleads.
“Nathaniel, I am going to need to put get your shirt out of the way so I can see it. Can I touch you?”
And, well, Nathaniel wants to scream. Why are they like this? Why are they asking? Nobody ever asked. And here they are, like some pipedreams, hallucinations, that came true after especially cruel session with Lola.
He nods and adds: “Yes.”
And when Andrew’s hand finds his skin on his stomach, he screams for real, because suddenly his whole world burns in pain.
***
"Kevin?” Andrew says, seeking his partner’s support. When he touched Nathaniel, he just… opened his mouth, let out short scream of pain and than fell unconscious.
“I don’t… know, what’s happening,” he says it a little as a question. They watch unconscious Nathaniel, who’s body is slightly illuminating and the air is buzzing with energy, mostly from his open wounds on his stomach and some cuts on his face, where the blood is dry and making scrubs.
It last another few minutes, than the light disappears, buzzing stops and it’s quiet again.
Andrew looks at Kevin now, opening his mouth to say something, but Kevin freezes, his eyes on Andrew’s neck and he breathes in sharply.
***
When Nathaniel wakes up, the first thing is – he’s somewhere… calm. The air is clean, he’s covered with soft blanket and his body feels… light. But not in a weird, uncomfortable way. More like… it’s a pleasant kind of light, that kind, that makes you feel like safely centred piece in a puzzle.
He opens his eyes.
Kevin is sitting on the floor next to couch Nathaniel’s sleeping on, his head is on the arm rest of the couch and he’s softly snoring.
“Finally,” says the blonde. He tugs on the edge of his turtleneck, that ends almost under his ears – he looks kind of ridiculous and feel the weird urge to say it to him. He remains silent because he never felt this… giddy feeling.
“You were out of it almost 12 hours. You must be hungry, I can warm up some soup from earlier?”
Nathaniel nods and sits up a little. Kevin stirs a little next to him.
When he gets the soup from Andrew’s hands, he almost inhales it, he’s so hungry. Andrew notices and serves him second serving when he’s finished. He informs Nathaniel that he’s making breakfast, some eggs and bacon.
He wants to say something and that’s exactly the moment when he notices the wounds. They’re… not here. He makes panicked noise and sits up abruptly which wakes up Kevin who yawns and quickly rubs his eyes and lets out rusty “What?”
“He just woke up and he’s panicking, Kevin.”
“Oh, shit,” Kevin abruptly looks at Nathaniel. “Okay, Nathaniel, you are okay. Can I?” Kevin asks and makes a move to hold Nathaniel’s hand when he nods, his words still stuck in his throat and his breathing quickening.
“Okay, okay. When Andrew touched you, something happened. Your wounds healed, we think the ribs are okay too. And… everything, really.”
“How?” Nathaniel says something finally.
“We don’t know. But… it may be some soulmate’s thing?”
Nathaniel wants to laugh hysterically. What is happening to him? First, he meets his soulmate he wanted to avoid for ever and than he heals him? What the actual fuck?
Than Kevin starts to rub his hand and that makes Nathaniel to take deep breath and calm himself a little. Andrew moves closer to them. Nathaniel feels something inside him stirring and itching.
“When you said… soulmate’s thing. You think that when we are close, next to each other, that it heals us?” Nathaniel asks quietly, looking at their joined hands.
“I don’t know why it happened, but soulmates does not come with manual, but in history, there were times it happened. Not everytime and for everyone, but… it is possible. I think.”
“You need to shower and change,” Andrew says, still rubbing his neck, but it doesn’t look like he notices it.
“Right. I’ll get you some clothes. Bathroom is that way.”
Nathaniel is taking off his t-shirt when he notices it.
There’s fucking tattoo on his chest. A tattoo. Tattoo, that feels on his skin similarly as the one he shares with Kevin, but that is situated on his shoulder blades, the pine... His vision blurs fur a second. Another soulmate tattoo? But- He… he touched only…
He’s outside of the bathroom in a second and in the next, he’s in the kitchen, looking with wide eyes on Andrew, who’s stirring eggs with a spatula on the stove and with other hand he’s rubbing his neck.
„Andrew?“ Nathaniel whispers and the blonde looks at him.
In a split second, Andrew is next to Nathaniel, his hands hovering over Nathaniel’s and when he asks, Nathaniel says clear “yes.”
TWO MONTHS LATER
Nathaniel puts on the soft purple sweater Andrew gifted him last week and hops into his boots.
“Neil?” Kevin yells for him from downstairs.
“Coming!” he yells back, silly smile on his face.
“Don’t forget the sweater!” Andrew adds.
“I’d never!” Neil laughs and he feels so, so light.
Today it’s their fifth official date. Kevin’s taking them into his favourite Indian restaurant he swears Neil will love.
He makes his way downstairs to the studio and he’s greeted with sight of his two soulmates, arguing about which way to the restaurant is faster. Kevin is looking elegant in his coat and knitted scarf. Andrew looks more like the son of the devil, wearing his black leather jacket, big black boots (he bought same one for Neil too) and his neck without a scarf or anything, letting the red and blue phoenix shine on his neck. Neil has one of his own, on the chest right where his heart is.
“Neil?” It looks like Kevin was trying to get his attention few times already, but it just sometimes happens to Neil – he’s sometimes too lost in his head. But he has two amazing people to get him out of it.
“Yeah. That’s who I am now.”