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Soulmates.
Medkit had always found it perplexing. He thought it insane that some arbitrary tattoo on your shoulder indicated who you were meant to be with. He never understood those people who made their soulmate tattoo their entire personality, who thought it was this great symbol of romance, love, and devotion. Things were more complicated than just sticking two symbols on strangers and expecting them to fall in love with each other.
Still, he was forever stuck with this insignia—a complex illustration of a butterfly, shades of purple and blue swirling inside its two-dimensional wings, on his right shoulder. Although Medkit wasn’t a tattoo person, he could appreciate good art. Honestly, he had forgotten all about the mark as the years passed. The entire idea wasn’t that exciting or interesting to him, and he didn’t care enough to check people for the symbol. Why should he let the gods or the universe or whatever decide the person he was going to be with? He was his own person.
These thoughts circled his mind as he prepared for the phight, checking over his gun and ensuring it was working properly. Sometimes his gear would just refuse to work if he hadn’t gotten enough sleep or whatever, which was frustrating, since he was the resident healer. It could be stressful, constantly being relied on for your team’s every health need. Still, it was his job. He was considered a doctor, after all, even if he didn’t actually have a medical license. He had a gear with healing properties, and this is what he was doomed to do until his untimely demise, as if he were some sort of Greek hero who spited the gods.
He heard the Flipside’s announcement signaling for the phighters to begin gathering in the stadium. Sighing, he finished his inspection and put away his gun, grabbing his medkit from a locker room bench and mentally preparing himself for the round coming up. He knew that Scythe was going to be on his team, but he had no idea about his other teammates or opponents. Banhammer or Subspace would be quite unfortunate, but otherwise, he didn’t have particularly strong opinions on anyone specific.
As he left the locker room and entered the stadium, he scoped out his allies and competition. He had a pretty good lineup, with pretty much all of the hard-hitting phighters on his side. One particular opponent of his, however, held his attention.
Subspace T. Mine.
The medic sighed. He didn’t know what was worse: working with Subspace or working against Subspace.
The Blackrockian noticed his gaze and waved, a fake smile painted on his face.
Medkit flipped him off in response.
⊱ ────── {⋆⌘⋆} ────── ⊰
The round was going pretty well. His strong team composition allowed him to relax a bit, not needing to heal nearly as much as he usually would. He sat near the sidelines, healing his allies and mindlessly shooting at adversaries when needed. Despite him, his eyes kept falling back towards Subspace, who was gleefully stealing kills and scoring assists as if it were child’s play. One particular stare caused the two to make eye contact, and Subspace’s grin widened as he began beelining towards Medkit.
Shit.
Medkit began backing up, pointing his gun at the other man as if it could do anything. When that didn’t stop Subspace, he broke out into a full sprint, the pink-horned demon doing the same. He ran to a secluded part of the map, Subspace following closely behind.
Medkit realized that he had reached a dead end; an alleyway surrounded by buildings. He turned around just in time to catch a mine to the face, the explosion sending his back into a nearby brick wall and tearing parts of his clothing. He swore as Subspace approached him with a wide smirk on his face.
“Caught you, Meddy.” Subspace knelt so that the two were face to face, pulling down his gas mask to reveal rot spreading across the bottom of his face.
“Why are you chasing me down?”
“I should be asking you why you’re continuously staring at me.”
“Go back to your team, asshole. I’m not worth your time.”
“But why should I waste such an easy kill?” Subspace menacingly held a mine in his hand, ready to detonate it. Medkit knew that he was too weak to withstand any more without being killed, and being murdered by his enemy was a less than favorable outcome. Looking around for a way to get out of this situation, he noticed a sharp piece of debris that had been dislodged during the explosion. Swiftly, he grabbed it and shanked his attacker square in the leg with it. In response, Subspace doubled over with pain, clutching his wound. Using his last bit of strength, he stumbled to his feet, limping away. Turning around to see if the scientist was following him, he noticed something strange.
Subspace was staring at his shoulder.
Medkit stopped as Subspace continued staring, exclaiming as he did so.
“Well, would you look at that?”
“Is this some sort of trick to distract me so you can finish me off?”
“Quite rude to talk to your soulmate like that!”
The teal-horned demon’s eyes widened in shock as he registered what Subspace had just said. Slowly shifting his gaze towards one of his shoulders, he found that if he paid attention and tried to look beneath the rot, a faint butterfly identical to his own could be seen.
Medkit felt his throat closing up. After all this time, how could he not have noticed? Every encounter, every moment they spent together in Blackrock, how did he never realize the truth?
He and Subspace were soulmates.
Tears began to well in Medkit’s eyes. He wished that this was all a nightmare, that he would wake up in his bed, sweat sticking his sheets to his body. Yet he knew the truth. No matter how hard he tried to deny what he had witnessed, he knew.
He was in such a state of shock that he didn’t notice Subspace approaching him, a mine still in hand. He could only watch as Subspace limped towards him and tilted his chin up, glancing at his lips before holding the mine close to his head.
“What a coincidence,” Subspace quipped as the mine detonated.
⊱ ────── {⋆⌘⋆} ────── ⊰
Medkit de-summoned his gear as he began to walk to the nearest bus stop, pissed off and tired. Scythe had to run off somewhere after the phight, so she wasn’t able to give him a ride. It was a bit unfortunate for this particular evening, since a longer drive home meant his mind was able to run rampant. He heard footsteps approaching behind him, and he whipped around, hoping it wasn’t anyone he recognized.
Unfavorably, it was Subspace.
As soon as he had the healer’s attention, he began to rattle off. “Listen, Meddy. I know you still have feelings for me somewhere deep inside.”
“I don’t-”
“Don’t try to deny it. Why else were you staring me down the entire phight?”
Medkit’s mouth shut.
“Exactly. And with us being soulmates and all, we should reform our relationship.
He raised an eyebrow. “Excuse me?”
“I mean, neither of us are in a relationship, and if this soulmate thing means that we’re destined to be together, then shouldn’t we-”
“Over my dead body. Fuck off.” And with that, Medkit exited the stadium, leaving Subspace on his own.