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Gabriel has a pair of perfectly balanced scales on his wrist. And one morning, when he is six years old, his dad sits him down and tells him all about them.
Soulmate tattoos are meant to represent whatever your soulmate is most passionate about. And scales are usually meant to represent justice.
Turns out, justice is the same as fairness (and Gabriel knows all about that. Lucifer is always stealing his candy and that definitely isn't fair). Gabriel thinks that's pretty cool. His dad tells him that his soulmate might be a lawyer or a judge - or somebody who just really believes in helping people.
Gabriel wonders what his soulmate's tattoo might be. He isn't really sure what he's passionate about, yet. He really likes candy, and Harry Potter - perhaps the tattoo might be a chocolate frog!
Gabriel's dad's tattoo is a big pile of books. He tells Gabriel that his mom loved to read, more than anything. And then he looks sad, so Gabriel hugs him extra tight and offers him one of his special lollipops.
===
Sam's tattoo is a dragon. A green, scaly dragon, curled up comfortably on his wrist, with wisps of smoke coming out it's nostrils. It's pretty damn cool.
Sam does his best to find out who his soulmate might be. He reads lots of books about dragons - fiction and non fiction - but they don't tell him anything. He watches Dean's friends closely when they come over to play Dungeons and Dragons. Sam isn't particularly impressed by any of them.
When they're both fourteen years old, Jessica Moore asks if he'd like to try kissing. Sam asks her her opinion on dragons. She looks at him weirdly.
"They're ok, I guess?" She says. Sam can't help but be disappointed.
He kisses her anyway because he doesn't want to hurt her feelings.
He sort of gives up on his search after that, and concentrates on school. He really wants to go to college, more than anything. Hopefully he'll find his soulmate along the way.
===
Gabriel isn't really sure what he wants to do with his life. He's not stupid (in fact, according to his teachers, if he tried hard, he would probably be one of the smartest people in his year). But he doesn't really want to go to college. He doesn't want to be like his brothers (they're all 'in business'). In fact, the only thing he really enjoys doing is writing.
He's been writing his own stories since he was a kid. Fantasy stories, with knights and kings and jewel thieves and dragons. He illustrates them too, with lively ink drawings filled with colour. His dad has tried his best to put Gabriel off writing. Which is stupid because Chuck is writer himself - a relatively successful one, too. His books have a cult following. But he says that it's rare for a writer to make it big and he doesn't want Gabriel to end up as a starving artist type.
Gabriel tries not to be hurt by his dad's discouraging words, but it's hard. He wants to write more than anything. But he goes to college anyway. Stanford, because it's far away from his family and his grades are good enough to get him in. He doesn't quite give up on his dream of writing, but he puts it on hold for a bit and focuses on his studies.
And the parties.
Gabriel meets Kali at a party. She's gorgeous - so far out of his league he's actually stunned that she even talks to him. And smart. And she seems to genuinely like him. And, as an added bonus, she's a law major. After about an hour of talking to her, Gabriel begins to think she might just be The One.
She takes him back to her room and shows him her tattoo. It's a bar of gold - practically glimmering in the dim light. Gabriel is a little bit puzzled by it. He likes money as much as the next guy, but it isn't really a priority in his life.
He stops worrying about that when Kali pushes him back against the mattress and gives him the best sex he's ever had.
===
Sam enjoys college. He's been looking forward to it so long, he had feared he might find it anticlimactic. But he's loves the course, his lessons and teachers. Even his roommate, Brady, is pretty cool. He does leave his underwear on the floor a lot, but he also reminds Sam to eat and sleep, and takes him out to parties.
In fact, Sam finds himself harbouring a little bit of a crush on Brady. He doesn't say anything though - he's too shy and doesn't want to ruin their friendship. But things come to a head when they're both too drunk to do anything about it.
They're staggering home from a party - arms wrapped around each other to stay upright. Sam doesn't usually drink heavily but he'd had a test the day before and wanted to let his hair down. Brady is muttering to himself (he's too slurred to be properly understood) and Sam isn't really listening - until Brady says something that's almost like a magic word.
"-fuckin' dragons!" He mumbles, slumping further against Sam's shoulder. That word is enough to sober Sam up enough to listen closer. He doesn't have a clue what Brady's actually talking about but he's absolutely sure it had something to do with dragons. His heart hammers in his chest, and he decides to let go of all his inhibitions.
He walks both of them over to a wall. Brady grins at him dopily - he has his arms around Sam's neck now. Sam lifts his chin up so they're eye to eye and leans in before he can even think. He kisses Brady solidly, and for a moment, he thinks it's going to be ok - Brady is kissing him back, a little bit, reaching up to tangle a hand in Sam's hair - and then pushing him away gently.
They look at each other. Brady's eyes flicker downwards Sam's lips and he shakes his head a little. His hands slip down from his chest and he takes a half step backwards.
"I like you, Sam, I like you a lot but- I have someone waiting at home." He sighs. Sam blinks, surprised.
"Your soulmate?" Sam asks, feeling confused and a little bit broken. Brady nods once and looks anywhere but Sam's face.
"Her name's Lilith. She's..." He shrugs helplessly. "She's nothing like you, Sam."
Sam isn't sure what to say to that so he forces a shrug and a smile.
"It's okay, man. I understand. I'd feel the same way."
He pats Brady's shoulder awkwardly and starts walking home. Brady doesn't follow him but he doesn't look back.
===
Gabriel and Kali have been together for five months, and although he'd like to kid himself that they're a match made in heaven, it hasn't all been a perfect dream. But they're okay. Kali is too smart and too beautiful for him but she seems happy with him. He isn't quite convinced that they're going to spend the rest of their lives together, but when he thinks about his future, Kali always seems to be a part of it. A job, a home, a wife. He thinks it's what he's always wanted.
Neither of them are exactly happy, or fulfilled, but they cling to the fact that they might be soulmates. Until one morning, Kali wakes Gabriel up with a kiss and puts her hand on the side of his face. She runs her fingers over his unshaven cheek. Her expression is unreadable.
"I have something to tell you." She says quietly. And immediately Gabriel knows it's all over. Kali is never quiet.
"I... met somebody. His name is Baldur. He's a friend of my father's."
Gabriel feels something in his chest constrict painfully, and wonders if this is what heartbreak is. Kali is still talking but Gabriel doesn't hear her, its like there's water rushing in his ears.
Kali leaves his bed half an hour later and he wonders what he's going to do with his life, because his future just walked out the door.
===
The bus is packed to the gills when Sam gets on, clutching a cup of takeaway coffee. He stands in the aisle. There's a man sitting on the seat next to him, with a sketchbook open on his lap. He's plainly good at drawing - pictures flow easily from his pen - a castle, a knight. A dragon.
Sam stares at the picture of the dragon on the page. It's as familiar as his own name. Almost automatically, he pulls back the sleeve of his hoody and stares at the tattoo on his wrist, even as the bus lurches around the corner and he is throw forward.
The coffee goes everywhere. It isn't hot, thank god, but it makes a mess. All over the floor, Sam, the man and the sketchbook. They both swear in harmony, and Sam tries his best to apologise - to his soulmate.
But the man isn't listening, he's clutching his sketchbook to his chest and moving down the aisle to get off the bus. He doesn't even acknowledge Sam's apologies (which is understandable). Helpless, Sam watches him go. What else can he do?
Later in his room, he despairs. He should have done something! Anything! Charlie tries to comfort him as best she can but Sam is inconsolable. He's lost his soulmate forever, he's sure.
Charlie purses her lips and grabs her laptop. She's silent for a while, then she looks up.
"What did you say he looked like? Blond hair, shortish?" She asks, typing furiously. Sam nods sadly. He'd been perfect, gorgeous. Exactly Sam's type.
Charlie is quiet again for a while and then thrusts her laptop at him.
"I hacked the college database. If he's a student, he'll come up on here. It's just a matter of scrolling through until you find him."
Sam stares at her like she's gone insane. "Charlie. I appreciate it, but there are literally thousands of people at this college. And you could get in serious trouble for this!"
Charlie gives him a look. "Sam, do you want to find your soulmate?" And he nods, because of course he does. Charlie rolls her eyes. "Get scrolling, then."
===
Gabriel's had a shitty day. He got mediocre marks for a paper he worked for hours on, and on the way back some klutz spilt coffee all over his sketch book. He'd been very apologetic but Gabriel just hadn't been in the mood to listen.
It's 2AM now, and he's still awake. He can't sleep. He can't get the guy from the bus out of his head. Klutz or not, he was gorgeous. Gabriel feels sort of bad for being so brusque with him.
There's a knock on his door. Gabriel can't imagine who it might be. They're definitely persistent because they keep knocking even when Gabriel ignores them. So he struggles out of bed.
He opens the door and raises his eyebrows. It's hot, tall and clumsy from the bus. He looks like he hasn't slept. Gabriel is suddenly very aware that he's wearing nothing apart from a pair of boxers.
"Uhm. Hello." He says, because it's 2AM and his brain hasn't caught up with him yet.
"Hi, uh. Sorry to get you up. I'm Sam and, uh-" He seems to give up on talking then, and pulls back his sleeve and thrusts it in Gabriel's face instead.
The light of the hallway is just good enough to show Gabriel a tattoo. A dragon, a green dragon. The very same dragon that's been stuck in Gabriel's head for days. That he's been drawing non stop.
He looks from the tattoo, back up to the face of the person who it belongs to.
His soulmate?
He steps forward and stands on tiptoe (hot tall and clumsy is very, very tall), to press a kiss to this beautiful man's mouth. An arm curls around his body and pulls him close and it feels so right Gabriel could honestly cry. His heart feels like it's going to burst.
They pull back and look into each other's eyes and Gabriel knows somehow, in that moment, that this man is his future. And everything is going to be ok. He lifts his own wrist to show Sam his own tattoo. Sam smiles and caresses it with his thumb.
"Sorry about your sketchbook." He whispers. "I'll buy you a new one." And Gabriel can't help laughing, because god, his dad was so right.
"Sounds fair." He whispers and kisses Sam again, just because he can.