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Flower isn't used to people liking her. They see her as anti-social - which she is - and too blunt for their liking. She pretends like she doesn't care when she drives away whatever friends she manages to make.
But when she meets her soulmate?
Well, she still doesn't expect him to like her.
Maybe that's why it's so weird that he does.
There's no doubt that Fukase is a kind person, even to people who aren't kind to him in return. But when his eyes soften the moment he sees her, and he goes out of his way to verbalize his affections, she has a fleeting feeling that she's special. When he respects her boundaries enough to ask for a hug and not act disappointed if she refuses, it feels like he really cares. And if she does want him to hug her, the way he sighs like he could never want for anything else, it makes her feel so loved.
But she still can't believe it. Something in her still says that she's unlovable, and that she doesn't deserve any love, especially from someone like Fukase.
She distances herself on days like this, telling herself that destiny doesn't matter with a track record like hers. That he wouldn't be around her if they weren't destined for each other; that he wouldn't want to.
Flower is tempted to just ignore him when he knocks on her door, but his pleading isn't something she can just resist.
"What do you want?" She hopes she didn't come off too harsh. Fukase is a sensitive person, really. She'd never be able to forgive herself if she accidentally hurt his feelings.
"I just wanted to check in on you," He says, looking entirely unbothered. "Call it a soulmate's instinct."
Flower rolls her eyes. "There’s no supernatural property of having a soulmate past the mark, you idiot."
"So you're not feeling bad today?" His expression becomes smug when she doesn't have an answer. "That's what I thought. Come on." He gestures for her to lay on the couch, which she does with only a bit of reluctance. But he acts like it's so natural, to climb on top of her and snuggle into an embrace. It only makes her feel worse, like she's an idiot for doubting his love for her.
She just holds him as close to her as she can, burying her face in his hair and sighing. As much as she doubts herself, she loves this. She loves him. The way he's there for her and cares about her like no one ever has before, his stupidly endearing smile, just his presence brings her so much joy.
But when she cups his face in her hands to try to convey this, the words don't come out. She's too overwhelmed to scrape together the words she needs. Tears bubble out instead, and her hands move to her face.
"Flower?" He asks, seeming both concerned and panicked.
"I'm sorry," She says, so full of shame and guilt for worrying him. Her crying is nearly silent, but the tears seep into everything they can get their hands on, flowing freely onto both of them.
"Your first response to crying in front of someone is apologizing." He says it like he has to process it. "Okay, Flower, you have nothing to be sorry for. If anything, I'm proud of you for crying."
"What?" She hesitantly brings her hands down, and his go to the sides of her face.
"You must trust me a lot." If only he knew. She would trust him with almost everything, barring her very life. "And bottling up your emotions isn't good. I learned that the hard way." He smiles as he wipes her tears away, but the smile is weighed down by something she can't place. "Talk to me about it."
"I'm- I just-" Her initial problem presents itself again, and collecting herself is practically a herculean task. "People don't like me, and you do, and I'm not used to it- and- God, I love you so much but I can't say it without feeling like I'm coming off too strong! I don't want to scare you off, or disappoint you by being too distant, or-"
"Hey, hey, Flower, it's okay," He says gently. "I love you too. I love you for you and no other reason, not even the fact that we're soulmates. It's okay if you don't do everything perfectly, because I'm staying. You couldn't get rid of me if you tried." She can't help but laugh at that, desperately wiping away her tears.
"Thank you," She eventually manages, eyes still bleary and wet, but at least she's not actively crying anymore. He lays his head on her chest again, making himself comfortable and sighing overdramatically when he does.
She's actually pretty close to falling asleep when he looks at her again, energy sapped from all the crying that she's not used to. "Hey, Flower. There's something that's supposed to happen if soulmates touch each other’s marks."
"Not this again," She mutters, less annoyed and more fond. She thinks that all the stuff Fukase says about soulmates is a little ridiculous, but she goes along with it just to see him smile.
"Come on, just try it." He adjusts their position so that he can see her soulmark, right underneath her collarbone. Luckily, he doesn't need to pull anything down because she likes to wear tank tops to bed.
She's about to make some sort of quip about this moving along a little fast when he presses the palm that contains his mark against it, but then it hits her.
An overwhelming positive feeling washes over her, and it takes her a few moments to realize what's happening to her; it's his feelings about her. If pure joy is a thing, then she thinks she's found it, experiencing everything that Fukase feels about her. It's all love and happiness and comfort, and she almost cries again because the hole in her chest is filled instantaneously. It's clear that he's feeling something similar, pure wonder washing over his face and his smile is so damn gorgeous that she can't help herself.
She grabs his face and kisses him with no sense of grace or buildup, just a desire to express everything she's feeling in this moment. He kisses back with equal passion. She doesn't know if she'll ever have another moment that compares to this, even the slightest bit. It's pure, unfiltered euphoria rushing through her veins even after they pull away from each other, and he takes his hand off of her chest.
"How- how are you feeling?"
"Like I just experienced a supernatural phenomenon, how about you?"
"Like… God, I don't even know," He says, blushing and smiling. "Like you're the best thing that's ever happened to me." He says it so brazenly and with such love that it hits her directly in the heart.
"I love you," She whispers, pressing gentle kisses into his face. He looks absolutely blindsided by this, despite having just felt it directly. She laughs.
"This just proves that I'm right about this whole soulmates thing. You're never getting rid of me as long as I live."
"I would never want to," She says with complete sincerity.
They don't move from the couch for a long time.