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“Have you ever thought about the soulmate thing?” Severide asks him one night while they’re watching the game at Molly’s.
Casey hadn’t been too sure about coming to Molly’s since the breakup with Dawson and considering that was where he met Pridgen’s ex-wife and he’s currently making his work-life hell, he really didn’t think coming to Molly’s was good for him. It was like it was cursed.
Severide, though, has decided to make it his mission to get Casey out and about, to live life and be beyond work. Casey’s half-sure that he thinks he deserves better than Dawson getting to live out her dream without a care in the world for him, but also because the last time he’d been at Molly’s had been when he’d been drinking too much and Herrmann cut him off. Severide trusts Casey to help him with his limit.
“Uh, only if I’m in the mood to think I’m cursed, why?” Casey questions.
There was a general rule about soulmates: everyone had one, but you could meet and be with your soulmate (as a friend or dating) and not know it because you only got your soulmate mark when you were both ready to be together without anything holding you back.
It wasn’t entirely clear what determined you were both ready to get the mark, especially if you’re already dating. Andy and Heather had dated for nearly three years before their marks appeared, and despite the questions, Andy never could explain what it was that held them back.
Casey figured that he’s probably cursed in some way because he truly believed Hallie had been his soulmate until she broke it off with him before her passing, and he knows Dawson wanted to believe they were soulmates, but she just needs to see her “dream job” through, first.
He can’t think choosing a job over a soulmate is soulmate behavior, so he’s pretty sure she’s wrong. But if he’s cursed, then, she’s right.
Severide laughs. “Cursed? Really?”
Casey shrugs as he takes a swig of his beer. “I thought Hallie was my soulmate, even though we’d been together for a decade and never got a mark, if she is or was… well, cursed. And a worse option is Dawson, who thinks the mark hasn’t appeared because she needs to see through her dream job first or some such nonsense. Which means that if she is – I am less important than a job. So, cursed.”
“Maybe it’s Pridgen’s wife,” Severide teases. “Then, you’d really be cursed.”
“You’re such an ass,” Casey says, throwing some peanuts at him. “Why are we friends?”
Severide laughs, eyes full of mirth. “Because even if I’m an ass, you’re still smiling more now than you have in a while.”
Casey laughs and shakes his head. “Yeah, well, sometimes, I’m not sure what I’d do without you.”
“Feeling’s mutual,” Severide assures him and there’s something in his eyes that Casey can’t quite decode, but it sends a strange feeling, almost like butterflies, through him.
“Good,” Casey manages, but before he can dive into where Severide’s question comes from or the weird feeling he has, the guys come over to join them, joking about how they had to wash the windows in the cold the other day and the conversation gets forgotten.
***
Casey’s in trouble.
He knows that the situation is his word against Pridgen’s (with the exception of Severide and Welch) and he knows that it puts Severide in a tough spot. Welch is unlikely to go against Pridgen for Casey’s sake (he never should’ve started shit with him on Dawson’s behalf) and he can’t ask Severide to stick his neck out for him.
“No, you should just agree with Pridgen’s side of things,” Casey states when Severide tells him about what Pridgen told him. He had two days before their next shift to make a decision since he told him the moment that they got home, sharing coffee and bagels for breakfast. “I’ll handle whatever comes my way.”
“They’ll demote you, if they let you stay with the CFD at all,” Severide counters. “They want a head to roll, and they don’t care if it’s Pridgen’s or yours.”
“And Pridgen just threatened to do the same to you –”
“And I don’t care about that,” Severide retorts. “I was willing to give up 51 months ago and I only came back because of you! If I lose my job, I don’t care – I don’t want to be at 51 without you.”
“I – I thought 51 meant the world to you?” Casey questions, stuttering a bit. “You love 51 and Squad 3, I don’t want to be the reason you lose it.”
“You’re more important than some job,” Severide retorts, and his words send a thrum of warmth through him. “You’re the most important thing in my life – I don’t – I can’t… I’d rather lose 51 and Squad 3 than you.”
Casey doesn’t have the words to express what that means to him. So, he just moves around the counter to hug him, throwing his arms around his neck and burying his face in Severide’s neck. He feels Severide’s arms wrap around his back, one hand lifted to his hair, the other rubbing circles on his back.
He knows that it’s clear to Severide that he’s the first person in a long time to tell him that he’s more important than anything else. And after Dawson chose Truck over him a few months ago, he really needed to hear this.
He really needed someone to mean it and he knows that Severide doesn’t say much that he doesn’t mean.
“I don’t want to be there without you, either,” Casey admits. “Without you, I don’t know how I would’ve survived the last few months. You’re the only one that even remotely seems to care about my side of things at the house right now.”
Severide hums. “If it doesn’t go our way, we’ll – we’ll figure it out together. I’m sure two decorated lieutenants could find a way to make things work and if not? Well, I still got that guys’ number up at Grayslake, bet you could make a go of things with construction up there.”
Casey lets go, and laughs. “Pretty quiet up there.”
Severide laughs. “We can make it loud if we have to.”
He smiles, shaking his head and looking down at his coffee. “Yeah, as long as we’re together, we can make anything work for us, I’m sure.”
“Definitely,” Severide assures him and it’s when he picks up his cup of coffee that he sees it.
A name on his right wrist. Written in black ink but outlined in color: Kelly Benjamin Severide.
“Oh, oh, oh…”
He should’ve realized. He should’ve known.
Soulmates.
Severide looks over at him, looking confused, and just to be sure because he does worry that he’s cursed he reaches for Severide’s right wrist and pushes up his sleeve. There in black ink with color outlined around the letters is Matthew Gregory Casey.
“Soulmates?” Severide questions, looking a little shocked, but also quite happy. “Makes sense, doesn’t it?”
He’s searching his eyes for confirmation that Casey’s as happy about this as Severide is, and Casey lets out a relieved breath. “It makes perfect sense. All those rumors about how some soulmates are drawn together and can’t resist each other even when they don’t know – all the fighting we’ve done, but we’ve always made up. I just – yeah, it makes sense. No wonder I couldn’t stand the thought of you just disappearing after Shay.”
“No wonder I felt I had to come back just from a two-minute conversation with you,” Severide says, moving his fingers over Casey’s mark. “I’ve been thinking about soulmates a lot since then. I think Brittany helped me figure it out, odd though that is.”
Casey hums, running his thumb over Severide’s mark. “The rule is that we have to be ready, fifteen years of friendship certainly took us long enough.”
Severide laughs, bringing a hand to run through Casey’s hair, down his face to his chin to get him to look up from where he’s looking at the mark. They weren’t standing very far apart in the first place, so looking up into his eyes and seeing them flitter between his eyes and his lips makes it clear that he’s less interested in talking and more interested in sealing the deal.
He leans forward and kisses him.
The moment their lips touch, he feels sparks of butterflies in his stomach, and a warmth spread through his wrist. He knows when he looks back at it that it would be filled with color, rather than just outlined, but he doesn’t need to see it right now.
No, now, he wants to enjoy the feeling of Severide lips against his. The taste of coffee and cream cheese, the way their noses brush and Severide’s tongue begging for entrance.
He brings his hands to Severide’s waist, pulling them closer together as Severide buries his hands in Casey’s hair, directing the kiss as they move smoothly together like two puzzle pieces finally clicking into place.
He can feel the way that they’re both quite turned on right now and breaks the kiss, just for a second, to ask, “Bedroom?”
“Yes.”
He didn’t really need the confirmation, but it’s still good to hear. “Lead the way.”
“Gladly.”
***
“So how are we celebrating tonight?” Severide asks him as they get in Casey’s truck after shift. “I’m all for the fun at-home dates we’ve had since we got together, but Pridgen is gone, we won and I know that Herrmann wants to celebrate at Molly’s, but I didn’t know if you want to go there and –”
“And show you off? I absolutely do,” Casey finishes for him. “You’re my soulmate, Sev. We beat the evil chief, and now, we get to enjoy being soulmates at 51 together. It’s brilliant and I’m not hiding that from anyone. Especially not at the firehouse.”
Severide gives him a brilliant smile. “Good because I am really looking forward to telling everyone about you, about us. It’s going to be hilarious and I’m going to enjoy every minute of it.”
Casey reaches over and grabs his hand, bringing it to his lips to kiss the back of his hand. “Good because I can’t wait to tell the whole world about us and show you off. You’re mine and everything’s right with the world.”
“So, definitely not cursed, then?” Severide teases.
Casey laughs and shakes his head. “With you as my soulmate? Definitely not. I feel damn lucky to have you.”
“Me too,” Severide assures him.
“Good,” Casey says, and he means it. He feels like the world is finally doing him a favor by giving him his perfect soulmate and he wouldn’t have it any other way, even if it took fifteen years to be ready for each other, it was worth it.
Every minute of friendship was worth it to get here now and know that they’ll get to spend the rest of their lives together – forever soulmates.