Chapter Text
One warm spring day, a young boy named Seungmin was sitting at the kitchen table in his family’s home, colouring some pictures with his mother.
The doorbell rang and so his mother went to go answer it, leaving the young boy unattended. Not that he got into any trouble, it’s just that without his mothers guidance, the marker he was using ended up on more than just his colouring page. It got on the placemat he had his picture on, it ended up on his shirt, luckily they were washable markers, and it ended up on his arm.
As his mother entered the room again after dealing with the person at the door she laughed at the mess her son made before noticing the marks on his arm.
“Oh silly Seungmin, you got it all over yourself silly boy. Are you trying to contact your soulmate already? You’re only four!” She says to the boy, who was still happily colouring away.
~•+*+•~
Elsewhere in the city, a boy named Minho, two years older than Seungmin, was playing outside when he noticed a bright purple line on his arm. He ran up to his mother and showed her the mark.
“Mom! Mom, look! I’m turning purple!” He exclaimed, pointing excitedly at his arm.
His mother looked closely at where her six year old son was pointing, worried he had hurt himself and was getting a bruise and was relieved to see it was only a mark from his soulmate.
“Oh Minho, you aren’t turning purple! That’s your soulmate! They must be playing with markers or something.” Explained his mother, laughing.
The young boy looked down at his arm again, slightly disappointed he wasn’t changing colours like he had hoped, but happy to hear his mom mention that the mark came from his soulmate. Because he knew his mom and dad were soulmates and they always told him how wonderful it was to have your soulmate with you.
“Oh, ok. I don’t wanna be a grape anyway.” He said before running off to play again.
~•+*+•~
Ever since Seungmin was seven, he and his soulmate have made some sort of mark on themselves to show that they are alright.
They do this because his neighbor one day was just out walking with her baby when she got a messy message scrawled on her arm from her soulmate. He had been overseas for work and got randomly attacked on the street and was left for dead, and so with his remaining energy told his wife he loved her and their baby girl and that he didn’t think he would make it home.
Luckily, someone had found the man before he bled out and he was able to be saved and return to his wife and daughter.
After hearing this story Seungmin wrote a message to his soulmate asking if they could do something everyday to ensure the other knows they are still there.
.-~•+*+•~-.
Years passed and now Seungmin is in high school. Still making and receiving his daily mark from his soulmate, whom he learned a couple years back was named Minho and two years older than him.
His family had just moved to a new apartment in Seoul and so he had to change schools. It was his first day and he was as ready as he could be walking through the doors.
Almost immediately he got turned around by the sea of students and had to ask someone for help.
He spotted a tall boy with long hair that was dyed blond and decided to ask him.
“Um hi, do you know where the office is? I'm new here.”
“Oh! Hi! I can show you!” The tall boy answered, grabbing Seungmin’s wrist and dragging him off in the right direction.
“Thanks…”
“Hwang Hyunjin! And you are, new kid?”
“Oh, right, sorry. I’m Kim Seungmin.”
The boy, Hyunjin, nods as they make their way into the school’s office.
“Mr. Hwang, to what do we owe the pleasure today?” Asks the elderly secretary as soon as they step foot inside.
“No reason, granny! Just ferrying the new kid here after he got lost!”
The secretary nods and looks at Seungmin.
“Hello there, you must be Kim Seungmin correct?” She asks.
“Ahh, yes ma’am, I am.”
“No need to be so formal, you can just call me granny like everyone else. And I’m sorry about him dear, I’m sure he talked your ear off the whole time he was taking you here didn’t he?”
“Granny!”
“Shush, go to class. I don’t think your parents will appreciate you being late again this week.”
Hyunjin just hangs his head and leaves the office after being reprimanded.
“Now, Seungmin. Here is your schedule. Did you need me to call someone to show you around?” She asks.
“Uh, yes please, if it's not too much trouble ma’am.”
“What did I say, call me granny, all the other students do. They say I’m the grandma of the whole student body. And I’ll call someone right away for you dear. Just sit tight.”
Nodding Seungmin moves to sit in one of the chairs in the middle of the room while she does what she needs to do.
After a couple of minutes, he grabs a pen, pulls up his sleeve and starts writing to his soulmate.
First day at my new school
and I’ve already gotten lost once
That’s got to be some sort of record Min
What are you doing now?
Waiting for the secretary to get someone
to show me around or something
Why?
Just curious
I gotta go, talk later?
Yeah, talk later
“Alright dear, your guide should be here soon dear, do you need anything else?” Asks the secretary, startled Seungmin.
“No I’m alright, ma’a-… granny..” he replies
~•*•~
The first half of the day passes by rather uneventfully, just full of the first day of school introductions and going over the plan for the semester. But when lunch time comes around, Seungmin runs into Hyunjin again who invites him to sit with him and his friends, which he agrees to as he doesn’t know anyone anyways.
Once the pair enters the cafeteria Hyunjin grabs Seungmin’s wrist and literally drags him to a table where three other boys are already sitting, one with round cheeks practically sitting on his friend that also has blond hair but cut into a mullet and his face covered in freckles, the third, sitting off to the side looking at the other two with a look that can only be saying, ‘oh my god, why am I friends with you?’
“Sunshines, Innie Baby! Meet Seungmin!” Hyunjin starts when they arrive at the table, “He’s new this year and he’s going to be joining us hopefully for the rest of the year!”
Faced with sudden puppy eyes from the taller boy, all Seungmin could do was nod awkwardly at him.
“Hi Seungmin! You can either call me Felix or Yongbok! Nice to meet you!” Greets the boy with freckles, Felix.
“Hey, I’m Jisung!” Says the boy with the cheeks who is now known as Jisung.
“And I’m Jeongin, Hyunjin, here's soulmate. Nice to meet you.”
After the introductions, Hyunjin sits in one of the empty seats and pulls Seungmin down beside him.
“So Seungmin! We have questions!” He starts, clapping his hands together.
“Uhh, ok? Ask away I guess?”
“First question is a two-parter, when’s your birthday? And what year were you born?” Asks Jeongin.
“My birthday is September twenty second and I was born in two thousand.”
“Dang it! I’m still the youngest!”
Hyunjin, Felix and Jisung all laugh at Jeongin, who Seungmin now knows as the youngest member of the group.
“So we’re older than you Seungmin! You can call us your hyungs if you want!” Announces Felix happily, “the three of us were born the same year, Jinnie over there is the oldest being born March twentieth, then Jisung is next, followed by me. We were born September fourteenth and fifteenth, so we like to say we’re twins.”
Nodding along to Felix’s explanation of their birthdays and how they’re older than him he realizes they never told him when Jeongin was born, a thought he voices out to the group.
“Oh! Sorry Seungmin hyung, can I call you that? I was born on February eighth, two thousand and one.”
“Ahh ok, and yeah sure, you can call me hyung, I don’t mind.”
The rest of the questions don’t really spark too much conversation as they continued to be asked, and eventually the bell rang, signaling the end of lunch and that classes would be starting soon.
“Oh hey! Before I forget Seungmin, let’s exchange numbers.” Jisung pipes up before they all disperse.
Voicing his assent, Seungmin quickly enters his phone number into the other four boys’ phones, telling himself which number goes with which person by texting himself on their phones with their names before heading off to locate his next class.
~•*•~
At the end of the day Seungmin rushed out of the building and headed straight to the bus stop so he could go to his after school vocal lessons that he had begged his mom to put him into. Before heading to the store to pick up some things that his mom had requested that he get.
Finally once he was home, after eating and cleaning dinner, Seungmin was able to escape into the sanctuary of his room.
Sitting down at his desk, he pulls out a slightly worn journal and one of his favourite pens, puts on his headphones and begins to write out what had happened during his day.
When he is almost through writing his journal entry, Seungmin pauses to think of how to write down his final thoughts. He begins fiddling with his pen absentmindedly, accidentally ending up with more than a few wayward marks on his hands and even a little bit on his wrists, the only thing jolting him back into the real world is when he feels the slight tickle on his forearm of his soulmate writing to him.
Hey, why do we look like we got into a cat-fight with
a person with pens instead of hands?
Sorry Hyung, I was thinking.
Didn’t even realize I was doing it
Oh, for your daily journal?
Yeah, the thing that you got me started on
because you didn’t like how my handwriting was
In my defence,
it looked like a four year olds writing
Sure, whatever you say Minho hyung
The only response that he gets at that is a very angry drawing of Minho’s little character he named Jureumi.
Oh wait, before I forget
I think I already made some friends!
Really? And on your first day too
Aww, my little Seungminnie is growing up so fast!
… why are you like this?
You love it, that’s why
Anyways tell me about your friends Minnie
There’s Hyunjin, Jisung, Felix and Jeongin
All of them except jeongin are my hyungs too
..
Hyunjin is the one who helped me when I got lost
this morning, i guess he decided to claim me?
They all kinda did
You found some extraverts to adopt my little
introvert of a soulmate huh?
I guess so
Oh, i have to go hyung it’s getting late
Alright, sleep well Seungmin
You too Minho hyung
~•+*+•~
Minho sighs as he walks into the building for the first day of his second year of university, already dreading the fact that his classes start so early in the morning instead of later like his friends Chan and Changbin.
Entering the room where his dance history class is, Minho scans the room for a good spot which he takes as soon as he locates.
The class starts out the same as they always do on the first day of school, introductions, going over the syllabus, already being assigned homework, and so on and so forth.
The only thing that stopped Minho from laying his head down onto the table and going back to sleep near the end of class was a message he got from Seungmin, his soulmate, who had managed to get himself lost on his first day of school in his new school.
They talked about what the younger was doing before Minho's class ended and he had to go.
After his dance history class minho had a free period, deciding to use that time to go get him and his two friends and roommates an iced americano each, texting them to meet him by the library that sat about at the halfway point between their dorm building, the campus and the coffee shop they tend to frequent.
~•*•~
When his two friends arrive at their meeting spot Minho gets practically tackled into a hug by the oldest.
“Bang Christopher Chan. What did we say about doing that?” Minho asks, using his most threatening tone and expression that he knows works on the one still clinging onto him like a koala.
“Sorry Min, but you got me coffee, and now Binnie owes me lunch since you didn’t physically attack me.” Chan explains, smiling rather smugly to himself.
“Whatever, I only got you guys coffee because they were doing a buy two get one free sale.” Minho scoffs at his companions, lying through his teeth about why he got them the drinks.
“Besides, don’t you two have your music theory class to get to in about fifteen minutes?”
Despite Chan and Changbin being two years apart they share a few classes with each other this semester, on account of chan having done a gap year after he graduated high school and when he did go to university he was late registering for some of the classes he wanted to take so now he has to do them this year.
At his words the two boys simultaneously pull out their phones and practically trip over each other in their attempts to start heading all the way to the other side of the campus for class.
After that rather entertaining encounter with his friends Minho also heads back onto the campus to go to the training rooms for the class he never bothered to learn the name of, but he thinks is something like a dance technique class.
Going through the classes his school day brought with varying degrees of enthusiasm, Minho finally is able to stop learning and start doing.
The dance club is the only extra curricular that Minho has, having joined last year as a freshman and returning again this year.
The designated room for the dance club is empty when he arrives, which makes sense as most of the club consists of upperclassmen who probably have a larger classload to deal with before they can come to the club.
Putting his name on the sign in sheet as well as the time he arrived, Minho gets right to work, stretching so he won't be too sore after he’s finished then setting up the song he wanted to work on the dance he was creating for as well as propping up his phone to record what he does so if he likes something he will know what to do or if he doesn't like something, what to get rid of.
~•*•~
Quite a few hours later, when he is dripping with sweat, taking a break and reviewing the footage of his progress. Minho goes to grab his water when he notices a large amount of pen marks scattered haphazardly on his hands and wrists.
“Whoa, nice hands Minho, clearly your soulmate is quite the artist” laughs one of the girls in the club, Jihyo, who had just entered the room along with her friends who are also in the club and two new faces that seem to have already been integrated into the group of seven, now nine.
“I didn't even notice it was there until right before you said something.” Minho starts, then pauses to look around at the room that suddenly feels quite small with ten people inside of it, “Did you want the room to yourselves? I should be going anyway.”
The girls all nod at his suggestion so Minho quickly gathers all of his things, enters the time he left on the sign in sheet and heads out the door, closing it behind him.
As he makes his way to his dorm he pulls out a pen from his bag and writes a message to Seungmin
Hey, why do we look like we got into a cat-fight with
a person with pens instead of hands?
Sorry Minho, I was thinking.
Didn’t even realize I was doing it
Oh, for your daily journal?
Yeah, the thing that you got me started on
because you didn’t like how my handwriting was
In my defence,
it looked like a four year olds writing
Sure, whatever you say Minho hyung
At that Minho stops his walking and draws a rather furious version of Jureumi to Seungmin for the rather sassy way he wrote that last sentence.
Oh wait, before I forget
I think I already made some friends!
Really? And on your first day too
Aww, my little Seungminnie is growing up so fast!
… why are you like this?
You love it, that’s why
Anyways tell me about your friends Minnie
There’s Hyunjin, Jisung, Felix and Jeongin
All of them except jeongin are my hyungs too
..
Hyunjin is the one who helped me when I got lost
this morning, i guess he decided to claim me?
They all kinda did
You found some extraverts to adopt my little
introvert of a soulmate huh?
I guess so
Oh, i have to go hyung it’s getting late
Alright, sleep well Seungmin
You too Minho hyung
.-~•+*+•~-.
The boys’ school year passes by relatively fast, Seungmin getting closer to the four boys he met at the beginning of the year, so close in fact that he considers them his best friends. Particularly Jeongin, who it turns out lives a few houses down from him and lets Seungmin come over anytime.
Minho excelling at his dance classes, doing alright in the mandatory classes that don’t have anything to do with his major, and hanging out with his two friends. He even manages to get a solo in the end of the year showcase through the dance club.
~•+*+•~
Soon enough it is the Tuesday before Hyunjin, Jisung, Felix and Seungmin’s graduation and Seungmin can be found curled up around jeongin on the younger’s bed.
“Are you sure you’ll be alright without us Innie? You won’t be lonely?” Seungmin askes worried for the boy.
“You’ve asked me that everyday for the past two weeks Minnie, my answer is still the same. I’ll be alright, and if I’m not I can always text or call you guys.” Reassures the younger.
Seungmin hums at the answer and finally releases his friend.
“Good, and I’ll come as soon as you need me, I don’t care how far my school is.”
“It’s only on the other side of the city, Seung. Now, are we sure you’ll be ok without me? I know you and the others are all going to the same school but we all know I’m your favourite.” Jeongin says with a smirk.
Shoving the younger Seungmin laughs, “Gross, I only hang out with you cause someone has to keep an eye on the little baby.”
Jeongin raises an eyebrow, “yeah sure hyung, whatever helps you sleep at night.”
“Brat!” Seungmin exclaims before tackling the younger and tickling him until tears come out of his eyes.
“Ok! Ok! Stop! You win hyung! You win!” Yells Jeongin through his laughter.
Seungmin sits up, victoriously, when he feels a tickle on his arm.
“Oooh! Someone’s soulmate wants to talk to him!” Teases Jeongin.
The elder just elbows his friend in the side “Not all of us had the luck to meet ours at fifteen like you did Innie.” Seungmin fires back, then looks to see what Minho is writing to him.
Hey Minnie, graduation is
coming up right away right?
Yeah, it’s this weekend
Why?
Just wanted to ask
Is it a crime to ask you questions?
No I guess not, is that all
you wanted to ask hyung?
Yeah that’s it, thanks Minnie
Bye~
Ok? Bye?
“Do you think he’ll show up at your graduation and confess his undying love for you like in the movies, Seungmin hyung?” Asks Jeongin, a glint in his eye.
“No, he doesn’t even know where I live. It doesn't work that way Innie. What movies have you been watching?”
Jeongin just shrugs and looks at the time. “Oh shoot, hyung, it’s getting really late. Didn’t you have to be home tonight?”
Seungmin nods and rises up off the bed, “Yeah, my mom wants to make sure I’m all ready for the ceremony and then I think we are going to see if I got accepted into my first choice university since the letter came today.”
“Alright, call me when you find out then hyung, but I doubt that they rejected you, the only reason the school didn’t make you valedictorian was because you only came this year.”
“Aww I knew you loved me, my little baby bread!”
Smacking Seungmin’s arm, Jeongin helped him gather all of his things back into his backpack and walked with him to the door.
“Ok see you at school tomorrow hyung, and I better get a call tonight where you tell me I was right about the university thing.”
“Will do Jeongin, don’t worry. See you tomorrow.” Seungmin says as he walks off in the direction of his own house.