Chapter Text
Stardust.
Humans are made of stardust, and when a couple finds each other, that stardust bounds together to create a light that will shine for a certain period of time. When the story is over, that light won’t fade, it will transform into stardust again floating across space, awaiting until these two people meet again.
No matter what happens, the souls that are born intertwined will never let go.
✨
Pat prays for a miracle.
He's heard his father talk so much about that day that sometimes he feels as if he'd witnessed it; May 26th, 1999. Sheringham scored a last-minute equalizer to send the Champions League final into overtime which led to his beloved Red Devils winning the Champions League in extra time against all odds.
He hopes he can witness something like that today but it’s not looking good. Pat screams at the TV when he sees that the ref only added 3 minutes of additional time, which he thinks is bullshit - the Chelsea players are just fooling around wasting time - but hopefully, this is enough time for Manchester United to score the equalizer and send the game into overtime.
He knows it’s a long shot but all good stories always need some drama, and there’s nothing more dramatic than a last-minute comeback. He has to believe.
Pat watches with dread as the game clock gets closer to the 93rd minute. He blinks for a second and the next thing he knows the referee is blowing the whistle to signal that the game is over.
Fuck.
The bar erupts in loud cheers and awfully drunk singing of Chelsea chants. Pat wants to escape from there before…
“Ha!” Korn quickly throws an arm around his shoulder, making it impossible to run away, “Pat, you lost!!!” his friend laughs drunkenly at him. “Now you have to get a tattoo, my friend! What are you gonna get? Havertz's face on your arm?” Korn jokes.
“Fuck off man!” he playfully Korn shoves away and his friend bursts into laughter, “I'm not getting a stupid tattoo.”
Pat has a secret - he is terrified of needles -. His friends don't know about it because he's too embarrassed to admit it out loud, he doesn't know how they'll react if they found out their former fierce rugby captain is scared of something as ridiculous as needles. But the thought of having a needle poked into his skin is horrifying. He won't do that, even less to get a tattoo, a Chelsea-related one to make everything worse, that is absolutely sickening.
“But Pat,” Korn whines and clings to him, his best friend can be extremely annoying and clingy when he's drunk, even more than usual - and that is saying a lot - “we made a bet! And a bet is a bet!”
He doesn't remember agreeing to this, honestly, he hardly recalls anything of what happened at his last birthday party - he got blind drunk that night - but Mo has a recording of him and Korn agreeing to get a tattoo of the other’s team if either of them won the Champions League. Both of their teams have made it to the final and he lost.
He wishes his drunken self didn’t have so much faith in United. He doesn’t know how he’ll get out of this.
“Korn,” he tries to reason with his best friend, “I was drunk when I agreed to that bet, that shouldn't count.”
“Sorry friend,” Korn fake apologizes, a mischievous smile on his face, “but you gave me your word.”
Pat sighs in defeat. Korn is right, even if he’d been drunk he’d agreed to this, and he would never break a promise.
“Fine, I’m going to do it,” he accepts reluctantly, and Korn cheers loudly.
“But,” he adds, his voice turning serious, “I won’t get a Chelsea tattoo, okay? I’ll get whatever I want.”
Korn furrows his thick brows as if he were deeply concentrating before giving him a final answer, “it has to at least be blue, okay? I know a guy that specializes in waterco -”
He immediately cuts Korn off, “no thanks,” he replies before taking a sip of his beer, “I'll find my own guy.”
💐
“Sawadee krap, what can I help you with today?”
Pat opened his mouth to speak but no words came out of his mouth, he cleared his throat to find his voice but there was nothing.
He’s dazed by the sight of the man that had welcomed him to the tattoo studio.
He was so beautiful, Pat can’t think of any other word to describe him, he can't stop his gaze from wandering, looking him all over. He's wearing a casual white t-shirt and denim jeans but he is still the prettiest guy Pat has ever seen. His cheeks look so soft, like creamy, porcelain petals, he wants to pinch them.
He can see a purple and pink butterfly tattoo on his right forearm and a colorful music scale intertwined with a heart on the back of his lower arm. They look nice, he never liked Korn's tattoos but he likes these.
He also likes this cute and breathtaking guy. Love at first sig-
“Hello!” the guy repeats, waving his hand in front of Pat's face. He moues when Pat remains silent and dimples form on both his cheeks, and his chin. Pat thinks he's about to pass out.
“Um,” he starts but nothing comes out.
Say something Pat, don't just stand here like an idiot.
“I - um, I’d like a tattoo,” of course you do Pat, you're in a fucking tattoo shop, “an Etlingera elatior.”
“A what?” the cute dimpled guy asks him, confusion written all over his face.
“A torch ginger,” he simplifies shyly, hoping the common name rings a bell but the guy still looks lost, “it’s a flower, have you never heard of it?”
The tattoo guy shakes his head.
He wants to shake his head in disbelief as well, these people from Bangkok know nothing he thinks to himself.
“It's a very showy tropical pinkish red flower,” he starts to describe - he’s not getting anything blue, sorry Korn, - “it grows best during spring, it sprouts into a cone shape flower and its bloom resembles a torch, literally. Their leaves look like petals, it’s so beautiful. The flowers are commonly used for decorations or flower arrangements, and for some foods too, they have a sour-sweet flavor and you can add it to your curry or…”
He trails off.
Fuck.
He always does this when he’s nervous, he begins rambling nerd and random facts about flowers and plants. Paa says this is why he remains single because he’s a nerd.
Not because his timer is broken, making it almost impossible for him to find his soulmate. With a broken timer, he has no idea of the date when that's supposed to happen, for all that he knows, his and his soulmate's paths might have already crossed and he missed it or maybe he doesn't even have a soulmate.
He could've lived on the lookout, always attentive whenever a timer went off around him, to investigate if that person was his soulmate or not, but he didn’t have the energy - or the interest - to do that.
Why would fate determine who was the person best suited for him? That should be his choice.
“Do you have a reference image of the design you’d like?” the pretty guy asks, interrupting his thoughts.
“No,” he replies and the guy starts to look slightly annoyed, “sorry, it's my first time, I didn't know I needed to bring a design. The reviews said you were great at creating original designs.”
That's the reason why he thought this shop was a good option, he is creative - he couldn't be a florist if he wasn't creative, his work is art even if some people don't see it like that - but he wasn't able to come up with a design tattoo by himself and he wants something special, not a thing everyone else has.
“Oh, I am,” the guy brags, a confident smile appearing on his face, dimples showing. Damn, he likes it, “but I don't do flowers, sorry. My friend Louis though, he's done a couple of -”
“No,” he immediately cuts the guy off, “are you completely sure you can't do it?”
Pat knows he’s probably being ridiculous but he wants this guy, whose name he doesn't even know, to do his tattoo. There's something about him that is familiar, safe. He can't describe it, but he feels a connection, a magnetic pull towards this guy, it's something he'd never felt before. If he has to go through with this stupid tattoo thing then he wants it to be him.
“It's not that I can't do it,” the guy replies, “but I usually only make designs of things I already know how to draw, and I'm not familiar with flower drawing.”
“But wouldn't a change be nice? Why don't you take it as a challenge.”
It looks like he pushed the right button because the next thing he knows the guy is smiling at him, “I never back down from a challenge,” he smirks, a spark showing in his eyes, “but I’m going to need some time to practice.”
“That’s fine,” he replies. Honestly, he doesn’t have any hurry in getting the tattoo done, the longer it takes the better, maybe Korn will even forget about it…
“Okay, then I would appreciate it if you could provide me with photos of this flower and some…”
“Would it be better if you had real flowers to inspire you?”
“Excuse me?”
“I have a flower shop, it’s close to here and…” he’s interrupted by the continued buzzing of his phone. “Just a second please,” he apologizes before taking out his phone, he sighs when he sees a dozen of unread messages from his sister. She probably needs him back. He loves her and appreciates her offering to help in the shop while he was out but she knows pretty much nothing about flowers.
Pat, when will you be back?
I need your help with something.
Umm Pat, can we get purple Hydrangeas?
Did I even spell that correctly?
Pat!
Pat!!!
Hia!!! It's an emergency!* Come quickly!!
*A bride with lots of bahts!! Please hurry up!
He doesn't want to leave, he thinks he’s finally making some progress in convincing this guy to do his tattoo but they need the money and weddings always mean good pay.
Another message from his sister:
Pat, please hurry! I don’t think I can entertain her for much longer.
He fishes out his wallet and hands his business card to the guy.
“Just, stop by whenever you want,” he says hurriedly, already making his way out of the shop, “there'll be plenty of flowers waiting for you.”