#Soulmates Au

[dogpawsswapgod]

Final chapter! Death loop has them! btw what ever happened to Jayce?

"Took You Long Enough"

a CaitVi soulmates AU inspired by and featuring the art of @somewillwin

[eastherdeadlive]

Four weeks and 28 insomniatic nights later...

Behold!!

Violets to ashes

A Caitvi fanfic au inspired by the AMAZING artist, @somewillwin

Enjoy y'alls <3

( will be updating weekly;) )

[giustoart]

Last week, on twitter, was Iwaoi Week!

Let me share the pics I made for it 🩵💛

My fanarts are based on various fics made by oomfs for the event!

[phantomphangphucker]

Phic Phight - The Core Cuddlers Confession

For: @rgbyshipper101 @jadenoryuu @lostlitany @underforeversgrace @jewishicequeen

Danny and Phantom have managed to keep things a secret for nearly four years, regardless of Danny’s parents making that progressively harder and harder. But maybe they, mostly Phantom, got a little too comfortable with the situation they’ve got going.

Danny rubs his forehead, glaring down at the homework in front of him, he doesn’t know why anyone would need calculus. Sure he knows why he needs it but still, Danny just didn’t want to have to take two more science classes. It was either he take two science classes or one math class, sure his dumbass didn’t clue in that that was because calculus was fucking hard. His teacher wasn’t happy, he wasn’t happy; but he got a goddamn spare. A spare that actually gave him some proper time to spend with his body buddy. His little ghostie. Normally he could just meet with a ‘trusted’ teacher or the class advisor about finding and thus needing at school time with his soulmate; an aid option pretty much all schools put in place for kids who either couldn’t or didn’t want their folks to know. But Danny gets the wonderful luck of his soul mate being literally dead. Guy just pops out of a portal and bam! Danny’s got his ‘other half’ and now they both literally need each other to be healthy… and happy for that matter. Not only does Danny think that Lancer -the only teacher he even mildly kinda trusted- wouldn’t go for ‘gotta let my spooky boo externally cuddly with me!’, but also frankly Danny doesn’t want to deal with the goddamn ‘necrophiliac’ jeering if Dash and co. found out. Ugh.

Everything was fine, perfectly peachy, before his parents figured out how to basically suck ecto-energy out of things to generate electricity and shit. And especially before they decided to make amplifiers for it in and around the school, you know, to solve the whole ‘Casper High is a ghost hot spot’ problem. Except that was a problem because Danny and thus Phantom were mostly there for seven hours a day! If he could leave school during lunch or skip class and leave then he’d have been fine, but no Vlad and his stupid teenagers should wear trackers because of all of the abductions rule.

Fucking jerk.

Even if he had a point. Still. JERK.

Danny letting his head fall down and thunk on the desk/papers, “ugh this isn’t helping anything”. At least if Phantom was here and not out throwing fisticuffs Danny could try to hash this shit out with him, not that Phantom was any better at goddamn calculus than Danny was. Guy was a sorta god, not a mathematician.

Didn’t help that Phantom seems tired, meaning Danny’s tired, thank you mom and dad for your crazy ass inventions and thank you ghosts for still wanting to spar in a town that’s using your presence for free energy. Stupid cores. Granted the other ghosts got a nice free pass back to the zone via the ‘Phantom Thermos Express’ but Phantom just got Danny. Sure technically Phantom could go to the zone too but the too frequent and too prolonged separation just drained both of them more. Been there tried that. At least Phantom sends him a little soothing ping, likely picking up on a bit of the annoyance; no human can hide their emotions from a ghost for shit, even more so when you’re soul mates apparently.

Scratching his head a little before jumping from a somewhat soft knock on his door… not soft enough to be Jazz and she’s at college anyways, but weirdly soft for his mom; definitely not his dad though. Danny lifting his head a little, “yeah?”.

“Sweetie? Are you busy at the moment?”.

Oh fuck, he’ll beat himself with his own text book and give himself a concussion that Phantom will have to fix, if there’s about to be an invasion and she wants him ‘safely in the dungeon’. “Not really no. I’m just sitting here deeply regretting my math related choices”.

She of course opens the door, laughing slightly, “you wanted a spare, mister”, and moves to sit down on his bed. Not a great sign, but definitely a sign that there wasn’t an invasion on the horizon. So no having to fling off a warning alarm ping down the currently strained emotional line and panic his spooky, yay.

Danny leaning back in his chair and quirking an eyebrow at her, “so, what is it?”.

His mom eyes him a little, concerning, “so…-”. That’s not a good start, last time she started a surprise conversation like that it was ‘cause there had been a whole ass blob ghost stuck in his hair. “-do we need to put spectral blockers in your room?”.

What? Okay he gets that his room is horribly contaminated, more than the rest of the house is even, but they know that’s just because of a mixture of the crap kept in this house and himself. And it’s not like she could have seen Phantom in here, since there wasn’t any cameras and Phantom never just hung out in Danny’s room alone. Why would the guy? It was a hunters house! And he’s pretty sure no other ghosts just chill in his room ever. That situation with Elle was a massive outlier. So he makes sure his eyebrow looks very dubious, “…why?”, blinking, “I’m pretty sure no ghost is barging in here trying to steal my model rocket ships or homework, they’re welcome to take the homework if they want to though, not gonna complain there”.

The look she cuts him is absolutely judgemental, he just smirks before dropping it and rubbing his neck when she frowns a little. Him sighing, “okay seriously, what is it?”.

He’s not sure whether or not to be thankful when she just cuts to the chase. “Why is Phantom sneaking into your room almost every night? Is It threatening you? You know you can tell us if a ghost is harassing you right?”.

Zone fucking damnit he’s told Phantom to stick to invisibility around his house! Sure that’s kinda hard when the guy is running low on energy, but still! Danny blurting out, “what ghost!? No ghost is entering my room!”. She stares at him.

“I’m not being threatened or anything, mom!”; what is he actually supposed to say though? Like really?! He can’t exactly easily explain away a well known town ghost just barging into his room all the damn time! Oh and his anxiety and shock is probably gonna make Phantom want to rush back to him, hopefully that doesn’t result in him taking a hit or something. But hey, at least Phantom’s not stupid enough to fly into his room with his mom right here… hopefully.

She’s obviously misunderstanding his not so mild panic, her furrowing her brows in worry, “are you sure? Me and your father are good hunters even if Phantom is a tough one”.

Ha yeah in no world would his parents be able to actually beat up Phantom unless he let them, which well, he might. Dumbass. Lovable dumbass but still. He glares a little, response less panicky this time, “no mom seriously”.

She does not look impressed with him, “well if that ghost isn’t harassing or threatening you then what is It doing coming into your room at all hours of the night?”, crossing her arms, “I know you teens are a lot more tolerant and even fond of that spook, but that’s still a ghost and I would hope you’re not giving It Fenton Tech”. He one hundred percent totally was. She sighs, “and even if that was what you’re doing, doing that here? If you’re going to be doing something you know we won’t like at least be smart about it. And at night? Please tell me you aren’t part of the ‘Phan club’ that’s romanticized Phantom”.

Danny absolutely can not help full body cringing at that, that whole club was so embarrassing in both his and Phantom’s opinion. Not to mention the amount of stalking it’s led to. Putting his face in his hands, “mooomm no, just no. Nothing is going on, I swear”.

“Do I need to instal motion sensors and a net trap and ask Phantom myself?”.

Danny -like a fellow dumbass. Phantom was clearly in good company- speaks before his brain can catch up with his mouth; an ability usually good and reserved for witty comebacks not digging Danny into a hole, “I mean I wouldn’t object to him being all tied up”…. By the time that comment catches up with him he’s very glad his hands are already over his face. Fucking hell he is a moron.

“Want to repeat that without mumbling it into your hands?”.

Danny’s, “…no?”, is a smidge actively pathetic. At least at this point Phantom shouldn’t be worried since he can probably pick up that whatever nerves and shit Danny’s giving off is embarrassment induced. He’s not looking forward to the pestering he’s gonna get from the ghost later though, stupid ghosts and their love of gossip.

“Danny from where I’m sitting and from what I’m hearing it sounds like you’ve been letting some teenage ghost sneak in and out of my house through your bedroom window, and like you absolutely are part of that fan club. And did you really think I wouldn’t notice the human-shaped blur zipping into the exact same window constantly?”.

Danny groans, she wasn’t going to drop this and, like, what can he even say? “I tell him to go invisible”.

He can feel her staring at him for a beat, “you… tell him to go invisible”.

Danny looking back up at her, “yeah…”.

She pinches the bridge of her nose and squeezes her eyes shut a little, “at least you’re not the one being stupid”.

“Um. Your welcome?”.

He’s not surprised to get glared at this time, him giving her a definitely nervous wobbly smile and a little chuckle. She stands up, making him crane his neck as she crosses her arms down at him, “I am not impressed and you need to give me even one good reason to not basically force a Spector deflector on you”. Oh that would be bad, he hated those things since they rather painfully forced Phantom out and kept him out; not to mean toon made it so Phantom couldn’t even touch him without being in pain. Combine that with tired and low on energy and Phantom’s ecto being sucked dry for free town energy, both of them would wind up mildly comatose and ClockWork would show up to lecture them again. Omnipresent in-laws were the worst.

Danny blinking and glaring a little right back, “shouldn’t ’I like him’ be enough?”.

“With a human, Danny. A human. Not a ghost. Why a ghost? I understand why you wouldn’t be interested in Tucker, but there’s tons of fit lean boys at school if that’s your type”.

“Oh zone, it’s not about a type!”. Though yes, Phantom was his type. The fluffy sparkly hair, the green freckles, lean and fit but not super muscular, the glowing eyes almost always filled with amusement, and the stupid little stars he’d make for Danny’s amusement.

“Then what Danny?!”.

Shit Danny distracted himself a little, and being tired wasn’t helping; his own core almost aching with it.

Then, because of goddamn course, Phantom thunks into the wall below the window, sticks an arm in and hoists his chin up onto the sil. Danny turning his head to stare at the ghost, “seriously?!”, getting up, completely knocking the chair over, grabs a blanket, and smashes the blanket down on the ghosts head, “you have got to be kidding me! what’s wrong with you!”.

Phantom flails slightly before just grabbing the blankets like a spider, baring his teeth a little, “I, am tired”, huffing while his form vibrates faintly, “and I want my space cadet”. To be fair to the guy, the pull was absolutely there; after all cores learned to adapt to the general needs and wants and likes of their soulmates.

Danny whining back a little bit, “I know but this is like the worst timing”. Phantom just scrunches up his face in response.

“Oh no you don’t”, his mom fists up the back of Danny’s shirt and yanks him and thus Phantom inside. Danny’s back basically smashing into his mom’s stomach, Phantom all but head butting his chest, and the blankets getting smushed between the two boys chests. Danny jolts away from his mom like she’s on fire and gets Phantom behind his back protectively, why the guy is still holding the blankets between them Danny has no freaking clue. Maybe it had to do with the urge to slip in and cuddle up with his mates (Danny’s) own core? Danny glancing at his ghost then looking back to his mom, “uh. Please don’t shoot?”.

“I don’t mean to cause trouble, Mrs. Fenton?”.

“You don’t mean to,” she glares at both of them, “and yet here you are, floating in my house, a hunters house, after entering via my son’s window. You see the problem, right? What the hell are your intentions with my son, ghost”.

At least they’re not getting shot at! Though if this was a few years back then they definitely would be. His parents weren’t great but they were better. Plus her giving him, giving Danny, a faintly worried look means this is legit more about Danny than ‘ghosts’. And hey, maybe Phantom will have a better way out of this conversation than Danny?

“There’s absolutely nothing suspicious about this”.

Saying THAT makes it sound like there is something suspicious, asshole. Danny kinda wants to hit him.

“Do you take me for a fool, Phantom?!?”.

“I’m just a little guy in another little guys comfy room. He has nice blankets!”.

Zone the guy’s just gonna piss his mom off at this point, and there is absolutely no getting out of this at this point, blurting out, “he’s my soul mate”.

Phantom sags in the air dramatically, finally drops the freaking blankets, and basically smushes his collar ‘bone’ and neck into Danny’s shoulders. Danny wants to melt into the touch more than a little bit, core vibrating happily; pushing his shoulder blades back automatically. Phantom groaning, “oh thank the Ancients, I thought you were never gonna do that and I did not wanna be the one to and I am very tired and would like to board my very lovely spaceship right now I got stabbed so many times”, looking at Danny’s mom, “please stop sapping my ecto to fuel your town, it is, like, so annoying and tiring. And unlike my fellow spookies my soul mate has yet to give his corpse the boot so no I will not be ‘fucking off’ to the Infinite Realm and that will not do anyone any good”.

Danny glaring at him slowly, “and I’m not dying anytime soon”.

Phantom grins stupidly, “oh I’m not complaining, it’s nice to feel a heart beat again”, pulling a couple faces, “the lack of emotion awareness is super annoying though, I’ve been trying to piece if you needed help for like half an hour”.

“Well excuse me for not being made partly of emotions”.

“You’re excused”.

Danny, and Phantom for that matter, jumping when Danny’s mom snaps, “what do you mean soul mate”.

Uh, well, hmm, well him and Phantom are touching so… man this was gonna be the only time Danny’s legit happy about that whole soul mates cores glow when they’re in contact with each other thing. Danny just kind of awkwardly grabbing the hem of his pj shirt and yanking it up, revealing the faint blue glow coming from inside his chest. Phantom glancing at it, chuckling, nodding to himself and just… phasing into Danny’s body aka fleeing this entire situation like an asshole. Danny wobbling slightly and dropping his shirt hem, glaring at where Phantom was, “really man?”.

‘I am not kidding about being tired. Walker showed up and was being such an ass’

Ah okay that made even more sense, Walker always gave Phantom the run around and also made him do a shit ton of damage control.

‘Exactly! So now space wants his squishy little space ship’

Geez stupid needy ghosts.

‘Hey!’

His mom jerking forward and putting a hand tentatively on Danny’s shoulder, and basically staring at his eyes, “what was that? What did Phantom do? Are you okay? Soul mates, Danny?”.

Danny makes a point to stare back at her, so that she one hundred percent can see that his eyes are not green, and if Phantom decides to be a funny guy and flash his eyes over Danny’s, then Danny’s gonna zap him one.

‘Boo. You’re no fun’

Danny thinks Phantom can just deal with it and not make this situation worse or more awkward, thank you very much.

‘Hmpf’

Danny clears his throat awkwardly and puts a hand on his mom’s wrist, “I’m fine, mom. He’s just resting from getting into brawls for the past however many hours”, swallowing, “and, ah, yeah. Soulmates”. She saw his chest, his core, it’s not like he can fake that shit. Everyone’s cores glowed when they were with their soulmate, that’s just how shit worked. Like the universe was trying to make sure people didn’t miss their person once they found them. He still thinks it’s weird that people in the past didn’t even have cores, ghosts might be annoying sometimes and gossiping asses but the world being more spiritual, more connected to the zone, was worth it to have cores. She glances down at his chest and pulls her hand away from him, so he lifts his shirt up again. The glow was brighter this time, because of fucking course it was, their cores were literally melded together right now or over lapping each other, however exactly it worked. Plus there was two cores there now. She blinks, “it’s… brighter”.

Danny nodding awkwardly, “er, yeah. Two cores and, uh, his is, like, all, um, cuddled up with mine now”. Ghost cores were a hell of a lot more intimate and active than human ones were. Cores were an addition to human bodies, while a ghosts body was an extension of their core. A bodies soul manifesting in a more physical state, and a soul manifesting a body in a more physical state. Him swallowing, “ghosts, interact, with things with their cores remember? Including each other”. Sometimes Danny felt a little bad he couldn’t really do anything with his core back beyond tugging on their bond or zapping Phantom’s core when they were in contact like this, but Phantom didn’t really seem to mind.

‘A living core can’t play at fighting for dominance, and I like my dominance’

Oh geez there’s absolutely no way to stop himself from blushing a little at that; Phantom, of course, laughing at him immediately. He absolutely drops his shirt because now he one hundred precent feels over exposed. Almost blurting, “he’s not hurting me I swear”, sagging a little because he might as well just be goddamn honest at this point, “kind of the opposite actually”. Again with the whole ghosts cores were more active thing.

She stops staring at his chest to eye his face, “are you sure, Danny? And what do you mean the opposite? And what about It- about Phantom resting?”. He can appreciate the sorta correction.

Danny looking to his bed and then back to her, “I’m sure, but could we, maybe, sit down if this is going to be a whole conversation?”. She blinks once before nodding and awkwardly following him to sit on the edge of his bed. Danny rubbing the back of his neck and mildly trying to ignore the way she’s still staring at him, “ghost cores interact a lot more, they actually communicate. I don’t just get or give faint pleased purrs and hums or hints of my persons emotions and them hints of mine. I’m pretty much an emotional open book to him and I get specific emotional replies back from him some. There’s words and specific tones, pulls and pressures”, shrugging a little, “stuff a living core isn’t really, you know, normally meant for. So mine kinda expels energy more, hence the whole I’m a contaminant thing”, and chuckles a little awkwardly.

“So you’ve known the why for that the whole time?”.

Danny cringing a little and glancing around, “yeah, sorry”, clearing his throat and looking back to her, “and ghost cores are more, ah, needy? of each other so all of everything is more draining than normal when we’re apart”. Normally human soul mates just got emotional, grumpy, bummed out, and unmotivated when apart too long. While ghosts could and would outright de-manifest their physical forms back into their cores, but that was extreme since ghosts cores could actively connect and communicate across the ectoplasmic atmosphere of the zone and shit. That even sorta worked in Amity! Before his parents started sucking the town dry of its free floating ecto anyway. Grumbling a little, “especially with the lack of free floating ecto in town now”.

She blinks at him before putting her elbows on her knees and knitting her fingers over her mouth, staring at forwards, “is… is that why you’ve seemed more tired lately?”.

‘Oh so they have noticed’

Okay there’s no reason to be an ass, there was no reason for them to think too heavily that had anything to do with him being tired. He was in his senior year of high school, of course he was more tired! School was harder, university was a looming threat; adulthood neigh! His friends were more stressed, he was more stressed; it made sense his folks would think it was school and nothing else. Clearing his throat, “part of it for sure, yeah. Phantom wouldn’t really get all that tired fighting, since he could just replenish from the free floating stuff and nothing else was draining him. And he could just send his own energy through the portal and all the free floating stuff at me when he was in the zone for a while”. Sighing, “and the amplifiers at school plus the stupid trackers, I really hate those things, makes it difficult for me to get any good physical touch in during the day since he gets drained so much if he leaves my body, my core, and stays inside the school. The spare’s nice but the amplifiers drain him, so he needs a good core cuddling after”; what ever the amplifiers did manage to suck from Phantom through Danny’s skin the guy just replenished easily due to their cores close contact making the self generation easy for the guy.

She looks back to him, eyeing his chest with a small amused glint in her eyes, which is legit relieving to see honestly. “So Phantom is… hmm, ‘core cuddling’ you right now?”. Danny, of course, blushing instantly, because as cute as it was it was also absolutely embarrassing to be called out on. Sam and Tuck teased both of them enough as it was! And ClockWork’s silent amusement wasn’t much better!

‘I’ll take amusement over Clocky’s judgmental stares any day!’

Oh so would Danny. If ClockWork decided to stare judgmentally they absolutely could and would follow you around and do just that for multiple hours. After all, time was merely an optional concept to them. Phantom’s told him the tale of ClockWork doing that for three days to him once!

‘Never again’

It was very effective.

Danny glancing around, “he needs to rest and replenish”, grumbling a little, “and fine, it’s nice”. Sure sometimes Phantom tried to interact with his core way beyond what a human core was capable of, making Danny’s wires get jumbled up or crossed or whatever, but eh it was usually an accident or something the guy tried not to do more than once or twice. Like when the guy tried to poke at what Danny’s Obsession was, something humans don’t have and that ghosts have a hard time grasping humans not having. Phantom was still pretty insistent that Danny’s would be space though, Danny’s not gonna argue on that.

His mom sighing and rubbing her forehead some, “and that ‘rest’ is needed partly because of the Fenton Ecto Sifter?”, sighing again, “somehow everything we make seems to wind up hurting you somehow”.

‘Whelp. Now I feel like an Ass’

Danny giving what he can of a feeling of a supportive pat to the guys core, it vibrates back in a way that rattles his chest a little, him shrugging, “I mean, I’m always either connected to or housing a ghost so”, rubbing his neck, “and we both know you guys mean well. You’re trying to help the town with its weird level of ghost problems and sure there’s some bigotry, but like, less than there used to be”.

Her eyeing him, glancing at his chest and back up, again, she was going to be doing that a lot for the next while, wasn’t she? “If it wasn’t for your core I’d have a hard time believing you aren’t being manipulated here. Even then I still want to ask if you really like Phantom, like a ghost. Natural instinctual attraction or not”, shaking her head, “I know the answer yes, of course. Same as it was a yes every time Vlad asked if I really liked your dad”.

Danny really doesn’t get how Vlad’s still so interested in going after his mom when the guys got Plasmius. Like really dude. Sure sometimes people dated outside of their soul mates even after they found said soul mate, but that was usually with all parties being a-okay with it. Or, you know, people just being asshole cheating douche bags who seemingly didn’t give a shit about hurting others or themselves. Phantom was definitely not in the ‘willing to share’ category.

‘Ha ha. No’

Yeah neither was Danny himself.

Danny chuckling a little, “mom, I’d have to be blind and deaf to think you and dad don’t love each other”.

“Exactly”.

Danny nodding and swallowing, “yeah. So, uh, obviously I like like Phantom, and he’s pretty jazzed about me. But it’s, uh, not like we both aren’t aware that it’s weird”. One of them was alive! The other was dead! One was a mostly average space crazy wannabe astronaut and the other a freaking death god. One had ghost hunter parents and the other had literal time god for a parent. Frankly it was a good thing both of them were already slightly weirdos beforehand.

“And he… actually feels that same way about you? Likes you like that?”.

Danny can’t help but glare at her, “yes mom, if anyone can attest to ghosts having emotions it’s the guy who can freaking feel them. Especially when Phantom can be a sappy corny shit head”.

‘Oh you love it’

Sure, maybe he does, doesn’t make it any less corny though.

She blinks, “language”, shaking her head, “and they feel the same? They feel just like human emotions?”, blinking again and tilting her head a little, “I can’t imagine how that would be possible?”.

Part of him wants to brush this off as bigotry but he’s mature enough now to know at least some of it is just pure genuine confusion. Genuinely not getting how it’s possible. So he doesn’t give her too much of a hard time, “if anything his emotions are more. Ghosts are always feeling something, there’s always emotions, and they always hear and feel and pick up on them too. Humans don’t. Hence his little comment about my lack of emotion awareness making it hard to tell what’s up earlier. Ghosts seem to communicate with raw emotion a lot, even with people who aren’t their soulmate”, rubbing his neck, “I’ve learned how to a little, with Phantom any way. But eh. And I definitely think he comes off ‘more human’ because of learning stuff from me”.

‘Oh yeah you living guys are terrible for misinterpreting things and fall for bullshit. Your lack of purpose and odd ways of bonding’.

Rude! But yeah propaganda didn’t really work with ghosts for a reason. “Like ghosts literally have a ‘manipulative’ emotion, they can tell when another ghost is being manipulative so ghosts never hide when they’re being like that, so he was always confused by ya’ll accusing him of being manipulative when he wasn’t. Ghosts don’t know that humans can’t just tell”, shrugging, “lots of things like that”.

She hums, nodding a little, “I guess I’ll just have to take you word for it”, looking at his face, “but how long has this been going on? You and… and Phantom? How long have you known?”.

Danny flushing almost immediately, he knows damn well she wasn’t going to like the answer to that, “uh, since the beginning? The portal opened up and he just kind of came out of it crashing into me, and we both just got bashed into the wall by the impact. Then, well, you know how it works”, coughing awkwardly, “the tingling and core purring and feeling like you just got dunked in an ice bath. Like a card being jammed in a card slot”, furrowing his brows, “also different though, like my core was trying to dissolve my insides to soup. Phantom actually got gooey and, uh, scared the crap outta me by dissolving into ecto on top of me”, rubbing at his chest a little because he had absolutely freaked out when that had happened. He had found his person and they had gone and dissolved into goo on him! “That’s uh, the first time he went, uh, inside me. His core basically ramming into mine, which yeah wasn’t great. He knows how to not be too much now”, chuckling awkwardly, “living cores aren’t really meant for direct contact like that, you know”.

“Alright I’m not impressed this has been going on that long, but-”, sighing, “-I understand you not telling us, especially back then. With how close-minded and firm we were”. Danny just nods a little so she continues, “and I would have freaked out if your dad had dissolved on me too, so that I completely get. You not saying anything because you were focused on It-him. I’m guessing Phantom, entering you, didn’t freak you out too much purely due to his core touching yours and how that felt?”.

Danny clearing his throat and nodding slightly, “yeah, it basically blitzed me out and made me feel like a sensitive over exposed live wire that was constantly being grabbed at, pretty sure I saw some colours that don’t exist. Like rubbing up against a cold sun filled with static, flickering thoughts and feelings I definitely couldn’t make sense of. He freaked a little over me being a limp ragdoll on the floor for, like, an hour or two”.

She cringes, “I’m glad Phantom is gentler now”.

Yeah so is Danny.

‘I just think of your core like it’s an egg! Easy to crack or break but holding something lovely’.

Danny putting a hand over his chest, over his core, when Phantom sort of swirls or twists around it like a cat. Purrs get exchanged of course, while Danny nods at his mom, “yeah. And just to make it clear, I didn’t have to ask him to be nicer, he just did that on his own. Don’t think I need to point out that he’s the protective type. No ones allowed to hurt me, including him”. It was really really obvious.

She blinks but actually smiles a little after a beat, “ah so Phantom started playing at protecting the town because of you then”.

“I wouldn’t say he’s ‘playing at’ any thing. He’s legit protecting mom, whether you guys like to see it that way or not. And sure fine, me living here is definitely part of it”. It was literally the guys Obsession after all, not that Danny would be saying that. You don’t out a ghosts Obsessions.

‘I would take over your mouth if you tried anyway’

Danny mildly hates that the first thing that brings to mind is ‘kinky’ and he is ignoring the mild smirk emotion thing he’s getting from Phantom.

She doesn’t look like she really believes him but she’s not outright saying he’s lying either so… eh it’s something. “Alright. Okay”, sighing heavily before nodding and smiling at him, “well, a soulmate is a soulmate, regardless of it being odd and me not being super happy about it”. What a way to both accept and not accept it. “Though I am happy knowing that someone capable has been looking out for you with all this ghost madness, besides just me and your dad. But I’m going to insist that Phantom at least tries to go about this in the human way. We’re human, you’re human. It- he comes over for supper, eating or not. Me and your dad judge the ghosts worthiness, while both of us work to ignore the ghost part”, sighing again and scratching her head, “maybe it’ll become less ignore and more okay with eventually, I don’t know Danny”.

Danny looking away and shrugging, “I, uh, never really expected okay. And I didn’t want it to be a big deal or cause issues. I wanted to just keep on keeping on, you know? And fine, I’m protective of him”. Which was working somewhat okay for him! He’d have liked to keep doing that! But if they do wind up becoming okay with this, with ghosts as a whole even maybe, then it’d be amazing.

“I can’t say I blame you, your aunt Alicia did the same with your grandparents”, giving Danny a bit of a look, “though I’m glad you didn’t have a fake marriage with someone just to continue to lie to us”.

Danny can’t help snorting at that a little, “I mean Sam and Tuck would totally go for that but no”. Sam would be on board purely to piss off her parents and Tuck was a weirdo who’d go along with just about anything.

She laughs a little too, good, “and I do want you at least talking to Mr. Lancer about this because, sweetie, you’re not cut out for calculus”.

Cut deep why don’t you.

‘Ha’.

Oh shut up. “And what? Tell him I’m mated to a ghost? Like sure, now I don’t have to worry about him calling you guys about that kind of statement but still”, glaring a little, “and that still wouldn’t solve the issue with the amplifier or me not being able to get out of said amplifiers range without a tracker going off”.

His mom looks suddenly a lot more awkward, “we could… code the Sifter to ignore his specific signature, the amplifier wouldn’t matter then. We’ve… had complaints over not already doing that”.

Okay that slightly ticks him off just a little bit, “you deserve to get complaints over that if you’ve been able to just do that this whole time”, groaning and putting his head in his hands, “your guy’s Phantom hate is really annoying, and not just because of the mate situation. That too but, ugh, you know what I mean”. Then he gets that fizzing sensation behind his eyes and can feel the little pricks of annoyance from Phantom, guy clearly had a thing or two he wanted to say. Sighing into his hands, “Phantom also has an annoyed thing or two to say about that“.

“We… we thought we were doing what was best for the town and by that do you mean, overshadow you? Instead of… coming? out?”.

Danny, still talking into his hands, “he’s still recuperating”. The eye fizzles gets a little more persistent, but hey at least he sorta asks now unless someone really pisses him off or he got over protective of Danny… Dropping his hands to look at her, quirking an eyebrow.

She sighs slightly, readjusts to be sitting up a little straighter, and nods at him, “alright, but Phantom better not get up and start puppeting your body around”.

That’s fair enough he supposes. And Phantom, the guy who is definitely not known for self restraint in this relationship, promptly flares his green eyes over Danny’s. Phantom crossing Danny’s arms at her and laying into her immediately, “I get that you guys have this whole ‘we’re ghost hunters and we don’t like ghosts’ thing going and that yeah this town has some bizarre ghost issues”, rolling Danny’s eyes, “how you guys keep attracting gods I do not know”, glaring at her again, “but being actively and knowingly malicious towards me is just kinda dumb since y’all do need me because again with the whole attracting gods thing-”. Okay Danny knows they don’t actually believe in the whole gods are ghosts thing. “-whether you believe they’re gods or not-”. Oh hey look Phantom’s valuing his input. “-oh shut up you, I always value your input”. Way to go making himself look crazy in front of Danny’s parents. At least all Phantom does that time is glare at nothing and give Danny’s core a little bit of an internal smack.

His mom blinking at Danny/Phantom, “is, is Danny still aware in there?”; she was very clearly tense but trying not to show it.

Phantom rolling Danny’s eyes, clearly not impressed that that was the part she was choosing to comment on, “I’m not actually over shadowing him. Just using a couple of things, with permission”. Sure the guy could do that without permission too but that wasn’t important right now; and it wasn’t something he was wholly opposed to either. “Enthusiastic permission sometimes”. Oh zone he did not need to say that! And Danny was gonna fight for his mouth back if the guy says something like that again.

At least Danny’s not the only one that found that statement embarrassing, his mom flushing a little and coughing, “right…”, clearing her throat, “maybe me and Jack have let our, opinions, cloud our judgment slightly-”. Danny seriously doubts she realizes how surprising that is to actually hear her say even if he’s heard it multiple times in the past year. “-but not having a way to at least weaken a clearly strong ghost is far more foolish. And frankly, the only reason I’m rethinking that, with you, is because of my son being your soulmate”.

And Phantom… Phantom sticks Danny’s tongue out her and makes a, “bleh”, sound. The fizzing fading as Phantom just gives Danny back his full control. Danny blinking a couple times before shaking your head, “that was real mature”.

‘She hasn’t earned my maturity’

Oh for fucks sake.

“You okay sweetie?”.

Danny sighing and making a point to give his mom a small smile, “I’m fine, he’s just being pouty”, shaking his head and frowning a little at her, “and mom, I get where you’re coming from with the strong thing but seriously, the town likes and has accepted Phantom, it’s way past time you guys did too”.

Her sighing and sagging a little, “I’ll… try, but as for accepting you two together, I stand by having suppers together”.

“Ah technically-”.

“I don’t care about technically’s, mister. Suppers without this, body sharing situation”.

“Yeah yeah yeah”.

“And I’ll call Mr. Lancer if you don’t”.

“Mom!”.

She smiles a little and shakes her head, “no buts. You can’t not have physical time with It- him, with him, and I’m sure the school will let you have a private library room for forty minutes”, narrowing her eyes a little, “just to hang out of course”, then sighing, “because yes, I… don’t think this relationship should be made public”. Danny absolutely can’t help flinching at that. It’s not surprising that she wouldn’t want anyone or, forbid, the whole town knowing about the Fenton son having a ghost for a soulmate. She winces, “I don’t mean it like that, I don’t mean it negatively. Just that, well, Phantom has that Phan club I accused you of being in, and I’ve seen the mobbing chasing videos”.

Danny blinking and cringing, rubbing his neck, right yeah, that. “Heh. Yeah. If it’s anything, he doesn’t like all that either and fine yeah that would make me trying to finish school a lot more difficult”.

“Yes, it would. Just like you not telling Mr. Lancer currently is”, her shaking her head slightly, “I’m not saying you have to tell him which ghost, but if you do I highly doubt he, of all people, would go harassing you about it”.

Okay that was fair, Lancer was pretty chill like that. And it wasn’t like a guy who side hustled as a drag queen was gonna give a crap about Danny being gay af, “oh I know he won’t, I’m just, not great at telling people things like this?”.

“Clearly”.

Danny wincing, “hah, yeah, sorry, again”, swallowing, “but you are going to Phantom proof the Sifter? Like, actually do that? Because yeah, that’s definitely not helping”, gesturing around a little, “makes him tired, and me tired, it’s messing with our communication, he can’t be in the zone for a long time, has to spend more time in me, yadayada”.

And she… she actually ruffles up his hair for the first time in this entire conversation, “yes, Danny, I meant what I said. Especially if it really is causing that many issues. Even if I did fully oppose this, which I do not, trying to break up soulmates is pointless, cruel, and never works. Like it or not, Phantom’s your soulmate; you have proof of it. And knowing your father he’ll act like he never ever once even had a problem with Phantom’s entire existence”, smirking, “he’ll probably even whip out the baby photos”.

Danny sputtering a bit, “what- no. Uh, he’s, um, probably already seen them anyways so there’s no point totally no point”.

‘Oh I definitely haven’t’

Danny blinking, blurting out, “wait you haven’t?”. That's weird, Danny would have thought ClockWork would have just shown the guy purely to mess with both of them.

‘Naw, Clocky says that’s totally your parents job. I will have so much fun with that’

What no! Ghost baby photos weren’t nearly as bad as human baby photos! Ugh!

“Do I want to know why you’re blushing? And what would make you think he’s seen them already?”, levelling Danny with a bit of a glare, “that ghost better not be snooping through our personal things. Our weapons are a different matter, he’s a ghost I expect that kind of snooping”.

Well he’s glad she can acknowledge that a ghost going through ghost hunter weapons was reasonable. “Uh, he’s just bugging me about the, baby photos comment”, and rubs his neck, “and his parent has a weird power set”.

She blinks at him, “his… parent”.

Danny quirking an eyebrow, “yeah?”. And wait shit right his folks still don’t believe that ghosts can reproduce or that adoption is a thing. “Uh, Phantom was literally never alive. A born ghost”.

She blinks harsher this time, “I… I think I’m going to want to revisit that later”, and then mutters, “that shouldn’t be possible”, to herself. Danny should probably refrain from giving her any more world shattering news today.

‘Like her son’s parent in law being the literal manifestation of time and older than the universe itself?’

Yeah! Like that!

‘Or like her son’s soulmate being the literal manifestation of death?’

That too. Definitely that too.

‘Then there’s also that you’ll probably be some kinda Ancient too when you finally kick it. Probably space. Eh definitely space’

Oh fuck him so much.

‘Who knows! Maybe you’re already an Ancient and just the Ancient of life! And that’s part of why we’re soulmates!’

That’s a massive mental plot bunny and an existential crisis that he doesn’t need to deal with right now… or ever possibly.

Danny shaking his head out, “uh yeah, probably a good idea”, pouting slightly, “but please get dad to at least spare me for a little while?”.

She still looks a little too wide-eyed but she does smile at him a bit meanly, “oh I don’t know mister, you’ve avoided it for almost four years already”.

“Moooommm”.

“I’ll hold him off for two diners, just two, but only if you tell him yourself about this”.

Oh zone. Was that worth it? Because yeah… dad, dad absolutely would just pull out the photo albums immediately. Especially once he found out they were soul mates and not ‘just a couple’ and that Danny and Phantom had been a thing for multiple years. And those ‘two dinners’ would give his dad some time to take shit in and calm the fuck down… damnit. At least an omniscient parent in-law didn’t need time to adjust to things!!! Danny sagging a little, groaning, “fine”.

She smirks at him, “good because he’s home and waiting”.

“Wait what!”.

“Do you really think I’d see Phantom going into your room all the time and not talk to your dad about that?”, she ruffles his hair again, sighing, “I convinced him to let me ask you about it alone, since he can be so, well, excitable”.

Okay… that was fair he thinks. His dad could be worse than FrostBite and Pandora, which was saying something.

‘Pandora only gets super excited about you because you can use weapons weirdly good’

Danny thinks Phantom is just jealous. Danny nodding a little at his mom, “yeah that’s true”, glancing at his desk, that shit was so not getting done tonight or ever possibly. Clapping his legs and pushing himself to stand up, “well I guess there’s no point in not just bitting the bullet now, huh?”.

She giggles at him faintly, “not really no. But are you sure you don’t need to lay down or sleep with Phantom ‘resting’?”.

Danny blinking, slightly confused, “no? I was tired and he’s still resting but I’m not tired now because he’s got some rest. That and I’m not being drained now from the, you know, connection picking up on him getting drained and hurt and stuff. And core contact is still physical contact so that helps too”.

She eyes him like she’s trying to sus out if he’s being honest or not, “hmm, okay”, getting up and walking with him to his door, “he’s probably worry tinkering with the toaster, again”.

Danny glaring as they head down, “I hate that stupid toaster”.

“But your dad loves it and that’s what matters”.

His mom gesturing him into the kitchen, “well go on”. Startling the hell outta his dad, who sends a couple pieces of toaster or random tech maybe, flying, “Danny-boy!”, tilting his head at Danny, “Mad’s talk to you about that darn spook?”.

Danny whines a little, shifting on his feet. Beating around the bush with his dad wasn’t only pointless but also dumb, “uh, yeah. About that-”.

“Is It breaking in!? Do I need to fight It!?! Did you manage to befriend a spook somehow!?! Does Phantom like space things and that’s why It’s busting into your room!?! Did you dare It to repeated duels for the Fenton family honour!?!”.

Oh goddamnit dad. “You don’t need to fist fight my freaking soulmate, he’s had enough of that tonight!”.

‘I mean, I’m not that tired now’.

Danny thinks Mr combative can chill out and not offer to fist fight Danny’s dad; especially since said dad would definitely say yes and probably eagerly.

His dad stills and blinks, “your soulmate!?! YOU FOUND YOUR SOULMATE!?!”, and suddenly Danny’s being bodily lifted up and swung around, “that’s amazing Danny boy! And he’s a ghost hunter!”, pausing and lowering Danny a little, not enough for Danny’s feet to actually be touching the ground but enough for his head to stop spinning a little, “a ghost ghost hunter. But still!”, and then continues swinging Danny around a couple more times. Eventually putting Danny down, his mom steading him while his dad chuckles awkwardly, “sorry ‘bout that kiddo! But a soulmate! Wow!”.

Danny shaking himself off violently, “uh, yeah. Zinged and everything”.

His dad laughing a little again, “ah I remember when me and your mom zinged”, then frowning a little and bending slightly to be just a little bit more on Danny’s level, “but why was your soulmate trespassing in the dead of night like on some sitcom? You could have dragged him in through the front door?”; rubbing his neck, “you know, when I imagined meeting my son’s soulmate, I pictured a barbecue. Handshakes. Possibly a back breaking hug. Not espionage!”.

‘Not espionage, he’s says. As if I’m not literally a ghost busting into a ghost hunters home’

Oh Phantom’s clearly a bit offended that the sneaking around might not have been super needed with Danny’s dad, at least now anyways. “Dad. He’s a ghost. One you’ve actively talked about dissecting in front of me???”.

His mom flinching while his dad goes wide-eyed, “oh”.

“Yeah. Oh is right”.

His mom sighing and putting a hand on Danny’s shoulder, “obviously that’s not happening, not now and not ever”. His dad nodding immediately, “I, uh, that hasn’t even been on the table for at least a year, and it never would have been if I’d know, that’s for sure”.

“Good?”. What is Danny even supposed to say to that? If either of his parents was actively cool with trying to chop Phantom up now he’d start throwing fists himself!

‘I’d totally be your cheerleader. I’d rock the outfit and everything’.

That was a mental image that Danny doesn’t know what to do with.

“So how long have you known?! Did he rescue you like a princess? Or did you bump into each other on the Nasty Burger roof? Was it a meet cute!”.

“What?!? No! Oh my zone dad”, Danny groaning and putting his head in his hands immediately. Ugh why are his parents so embarrassing??? Danny, at feeling his eyes fizz up again, just gives up. Let Phantom say whatever dumb shit he clearly wants to. Phantom not moving Danny’s hands from his face, snickers, “I yelled catch before body slamming him into a wall when your portal yeeted me out at him”. Yup. Stupid.

It almost sounds like his mom jumped, “P-Phantom! A little warning, both of you!”.

Phantom moving one of Danny’s fingers to peek a green eye out and smirk at Danny’s parents, “I will not apologize”.

Danny’s dad blinking at the green eye, “I’m confused and don’t want to jump to conclusions”. His mom sighing and turning to the man but keeping an eye on Danny/Phantom, “Phantom being a ghost and Danny being a human has apparently made things a bit weird”, sighing, “and we need to make the Echo Sifter Phantom tolerant”.

The man laughs, rubbing his neck and straightening back up fully, “ah yeah, I guess draining the ecto out of Danny boys soulmate would be pretty rude of us”.

Phantom fully dropping Danny’s hands and eyeing the large man, “ya think? I’m strong so I don’t care that much but it’s still annoying as fuck”. Dude can’t just be swearing at his parents!

Danny’s mom chastising him immediately, “language”; his dad doesn’t look super impressed either.

“You literally shot at me last week I think I can swear a little, as treat”.

Okay no Phantom can shut up now. At least the guy doesn’t fight him on giving him back control when he pushes for it. Danny shaking his head out, “don’t be a dick”.

“Danny!”.

Danny pouts at her and shakes his head again, eyeing his dad, “uh, ghosts are more involved with their cores so he kinda just, um, cuddles up with mine and recovers after fights and sh- stuff. And you know, the whole doctor recommended physical contact”, rubbing his neck, “explained it to mom”, and nods his head at her.

She nods at his dad herself, “it’s just part of being soulmates with them. So yes, Phantom is around, under Danny’s skin, a lot. Most of the time probably”, and looks back to Danny questioningly.

Danny wiggling his hand back and forth in the air, “eh? It depends, he was away more pre-Sifter, since we could still be connected via all that free floating ecto-”.

He’s legit not surprised when his dad interrupts him, “-so we need to stop depleting the town quite so much?”.

“That’d be nice yeah”.

His mom giving him a bit of a judging eyebrow, “only enough that what you guys are doing works again though, this town does not need to be contaminated enough to start growing ecto-plants”.

‘I for one don’t see the issue with that’

Of course he doesn’t, he’s a ghost. Granted Danny doesn’t take much issue with it either but that’s because Danny was firmly ‘ghost friendly’ and had been around ghost flora and fauna plenty enough. “Yeah yeah, okay”.

Both of them nod firmly at him, his dad going wide-eyed seconds later, “wait if he’s here then that means I can get the photo albums!”.

No no no no, Danny looking, panicked, at his mom immediately; trying to beg with his eyes. She smirks at him a little before turning to his dad, “Jack hon, no. We’re having some proper suppers with his soulmate first”.

“But he’s had supper with us?”.

“We didn’t know Phantom was there and Phantom wasn’t even out with us. Those don’t count”.

His dad deflates a little, “ah I guess you’re right”.

She nods strongly, “and they’re soulmate meet and greet suppers, not a research chance”.

“Aw but-”.

Danny can’t help but chuckle a little over how his dad shuts up immediately at her glaring. These ‘suppers’ were going to be weird and awkward as shit though. And he still had to talk to Lancer, ugh. Because yeah, fuck Calculus.

End.

Prompts: Maddie has been noticing the ghost boy actively going into her son’s room. What could the ghost boy want with her son? (Could be halfa Danny or split Danny) Soulmates AU (can be platonic/romantic/familiar/nuanced) Drs Maddie and Jack Fenton have created a new source of green energy that feeds on the ambient ectoplasm in Amity to simultaneously generate power and weaken those pesky spooks. Good dad Jack reveal! Anything involving Danny and Maddie's relationship. Fluff or hurt/comfort, good parent Maddie

[tearwolfe]

awesome magic soulmates rivals to lovers AU 🔥

[samishin]

My gift to @alecthewreck for The Breakroom 2024 Holiday Exchange Event.😊 I'm a sucker for soulmate AUs and I thought the prompt you gave sounded perfect for reed900💙💙

Thank you @thebreakroomds for hosting! I had a lot of fun💙

[ghcstao3]

ghostsoap soulmates AU where it’s just never quite the right time, but the universe refuses to keep them apart for too long until it is.

so they have chance encounters throughout their lives, momentary meetings every few years at irregular intervals, always inexplicably drawn to one another. they meet as kids, the very first time too young to remember. the next time, simon is just a few months away from his life taking a turn, his father turning to drink and drugs.

they meet as teens and as barely-adults at concerts and pubs. once, they cross paths at a grocery store. neither of them know the other is also in the SAS. neither of them know simon was days away from being sent into the mission from hell.

then they meet a few years later again, only simon is behind a mask. only they seem to be sticking around each other a little longer than usual.

only now it seems that fate has finally decided it’s the right time for them to be together.

[mysnoopyvalentine]

can't help myself

kim doyoung x reader

word count: 12.3k

genre: soulmates!au, fluff, parallel universes, strangers to lovers (ish)

warnings: implied sex, kissing, swearing

playlist: Can’t Help Myself (NCT 127), I’m In Love with You (the 1975), Say Yes (Loco, Punch)

summary: In a skeptical culture where soulmates don’t always live happily ever after, you begin dreaming of your ideal man long past the average age of soulmate visions. You may love Doyoung in every universe, but does that really mean you’re meant to be? Even when the Doyoung of your reality is an idol?

✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦

It happens when you least expect it.

You get ready for bed early on New Year’s Eve without the intention of staying up late to ring in the new year.

Your phone vibrates on the nightstand, displaying the contact picture of your best friend Meg.

It would be easier to ignore it and pretend like you’re busy, but you know that Meg is nosy enough to check your location. She’ll see you’re at home in an instant and call you a million times anyway.

“Hey,” you feign ignorance as you pick up. “What’s up?”

“I know that your ass is not at home right now,” she groans. “You should’ve told me! I would’ve taken you out with me and David!”

“Come on, you know I don’t really go out for New Year’s anymore.”

You stopped doing so a couple of years back due to the fact that it just made you feel more hopeless for the upcoming year. You have plenty of luck in your career and general day-to-day life, but the men you encounter in the dating pool are horrendous. New Year’s was just one of those holidays that made you feel lonely even in the midst of a fulfilling life.

“I know you hate third wheeling on New Year’s Eve, but I still feel like it’s a good opportunity to try meeting someone. Come out and meet us downtown!” Meg insists.

You look at the clock. 9:59PM. That’s not nearly enough time to get ready, uber downtown, and desperately try to ensure a New Year’s Kiss. You don’t have the energy to flirt with strangers these days, anyway. “Hell no. I’m good.”

Meg tries to persuade you for the next five minutes, but no amount of free drinks, food, or money can convince you to leave your place. At the end of it all, she finally concedes. “Fine, stay home.”

“That was the plan,” you say coolly. You love her, but her persistence in treating your singleness as a condition to be cured grates on your nerves.

“Want me to manifest a soulmate vision for you tonight instead of a New Year’s kiss?”

You snort. “Now you’re really being delusional. I don’t think my soulmate exists, considering that I’ve never had a single soulmate vision in all these years.”

The concept of your soulmate was the fallback argument of most people as a last-ditch effort to prevent you from giving up on dating. Usually it comes off disingenuous, like they’re just dangling a carrot above your head for romantic motivation. Meg and David, however, are soulmates—meaning they serve as a genuine reminder that soulmates do work out. Sometimes.

Everyone knows the common signs of a soulmate bond. First, the visions: 90% of all soulmate pairs report experiencing a series of visions about a stranger. They don’t appear as a background person either—soulmate visions are vivid experiences characterized by their extreme detail. Most of the time each soulmate experiences the other’s memories. Rarer, some soulmates would even share visions, allowing them to interact before meeting in the real world.

Dreams are the most common manifestation of this phenomenon, but there’s enough people that don’t have theirs linked to sleep to justify the term ‘vision’ instead. Most pairs start seeing their other half during their teenage years; others, like Meg, meet their soulmate so early that they barely experience any visions at all.

For those who do experience them, one fact is absolute across the board: all accounts of soulmate visions end once you see them in person.

The second, less pleasant aspect of having a soulmate is the intense physical reaction towards seeing them physically for the first time. Symptoms appear spontaneously with fainting, vomiting, and migraines being the most common. Around 30% of soulmate encounters end up with at least one party requiring some form of medical attention.

On this night, experiencing dreams of a stranger or feeling violently ill don’t sound like the most appealing things on the planet. You’ll pass.

Meg says your name, snapping you to attention. “…You really don’t have to ice me out for a soulmate joke, I can just stop.”

“No, you’re good. The soulmate thing is funny.” You force out a laugh. “If I happen to have a soulmate vision on New Year’s Eve, maybe that’s a sign that things will actually work out.”

“Oh, shut up, there’s no way for him to resist if you do have one.”

If. The word bounces around in your head. Of all people, even Meg wasn’t sure that you had a karmic link waiting for you.

“Well, you shouldn’t let my singleness ruin your night with David. I’ll talk to you guys later.” You hang up the phone before she can answer.

You see a text notification pop up on your phone, but you place your phone facedown on the nightstand instead. You lean onto your side and turn off your lamp.

The quiet of your apartment has your mind churning. Even if you do have a soulmate, would it even work out?

While a good number of the population encounters their soulmate in real life, the amount of successful relationships resulting from that encounter are surprisingly low. Confidence in soulmate pairings had lowered with the younger generations, especially with researchers studying the science behind soulmate dreams and reactions. Hopeless romantics believed wholeheartedly in soulmate pairs, while more pragmatic people posed the same question—if scientists are able to explain why dreams and physical reactions happen between two people, is there anything truly fated about it?

You’re not certain where you stand on the matter. Scientists aren’t close to discovering anything concrete anyway, so you deal with this big philosophical question in the best way you know: ignoring it.

No use thinking about it anyway, when you’re long past the average age of experiencing initial soulmate dreams.

You let your mind wander elsewhere as you close your eyes and drift slowly to sleep.

That’s when he appears.   

✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦

Flowers surround you in an open field. The sunlight warms your face, and the breeze carries the soft, fresh scents of springtime. You balk as you look down at your hands; you’re holding an artist palette in one hand and a paintbrush in the other.

An easel right at the edge of your vision catches your eye. You turn towards it in hopes of making sense of the situation—maybe this dream was fulfilling a brief childhood dream of becoming a landscape artist—but you feel your heart drop.

The painting lacks any landscape at all. Instead, it depicts a near-finished portrait of the most beautiful man you’ve ever seen.

His eyes, dark but warm, catch your attention first. Combined with his pouty lips and slender face, he’s the epitome of your type. What’s the most striking to you, however, is the gentle nature captured in his expression. The pose you’ve chosen depicts his shoulders turned away from the viewer, yet his gaze stares at you directly. His lips are curved slightly upwards in a playful smile, as if he’s just teased the viewer. Unequivocally handsome features softened in all the right places.

There’s a quiet sound of shoes shuffling on the grass. A tuft of black hair peeks up from over the canvas.

“Do you need anything else from me?”

After a beat of silence, a full head pokes out from the side of the easel, and everything stops. It’s the man from the painting in front of you—smooth skin, soft smile, and perfect everything in all. He says your name once in the tone of a question, sending a shiver down your spine.

“Is everything okay? Are you upset because I moved?”

You open your mouth to speak—to clarify that no, everything is not okay and ask who are you, anyway? —but something else emerges from your lips entirely.

“You can move. I’m almost done. Do you want to see it?”

The words are yours, technically. You feel and hear yourself saying them, but your thoughts and emotions are completely disconnected from your body. The same goes for your movements; this artistic version of you mixes paint absentmindedly.

The man from the painting fully emerges from behind the canvas, revealing his full height. He’s dressed in jeans and a simple white button-up. His face in the spring daylight looks otherworldly; it’s clear why you’d chosen to paint him in this lighting. You’re certain that you’ve never seen him before, in your real life, but something about him feels familiar. Comfortable. He walks up beside you, peering at his likeness from over your shoulder.

You shift your weight from left to right. “Do you like it?”

He hums. “Well…”

You scoff. “You can be honest.”

“I’m kidding,” he laughs. It’s the kind of good-natured laugh that’s both contagious and friendly.

You’re about to say something else when he wraps his arms around your waist, pulling you into his chest.

“You know I think you’re a genius,” he says softly in your ear. “That’s one of the reasons why I fell in love with you.”

He presses a kiss to your forehead as you feel your dream fade away to consciousness.

✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦

Light passes through a gap in your curtains and warms your face, waking you up from your springtime dream.

You sit up, blinking out the sleep from your eyes.

Your phone is in your hand and Meg’s number is dialed before you can even think by yourself.

“Happy New Year, bitch!” Meg’s voice chirps over the phone. “What’s up?”

“I think I just had a soulmate dream,” you say, breathless.

Silence. Then, her scream peaks the mic on her phone and nearly makes your ears bleed. You wince and move your phone away from your face to put her on speakerphone instead.

“You’re messing with me!” She shrieks. “There’s no way!”

“That’s the thing.” You rub at your temple, as if that will stop the ringing in your ears. “I’m not completely sure. Most people see their partner’s past memories, right?”

 There’s some clicking on her end. “I wouldn’t really know, but I can look it up for you.”

“Most soulmate visions involve seeing past memories from your soulmate’s perspective,” she reads. “However, at least 20% of soulmate bonds report experiencing a vision of their futures instead. Does this sound like you? Did it seem like you were seeing something from the future?”

“Not unless I suddenly gain enough art skill to become an artist.”

For once, Meg is speechless. “You’re kidding.”

“Not kidding. I was painting his portrait. A very well done, professional looking portrait.”

“That’s crazy,” she snorts. Like you, she doesn’t even try to entertain the delusion that it could be a future version of yourself. You can barely draw a stick figure. “Well, some people see parallel versions of themselves, apparently?”

“Parallel versions?” You echo.

“Apparently some pairs claim that they see each other, but in other versions of reality,” she reports. “Sounds kind of romantic to me.”

“What’s the percentage of that?”

“No official numbers on it because it’s so rare. Mostly anecdotal stories.”

You snort. “Yeah, right. Sorry to get your hopes up. All that soulmate talk before bed probably just made my brain a little overactive.”

Meg’s line is quiet. “Well, I don’t think we can really rule it out yet.”

You don’t let yourself dwell on it. As many soulmate skeptics as there are, there’s an equal amount of people embellishing stories to try to strongarm others into believing. You’d believe in the idea of parallel universes when there’s something more than an online reddit thread to go off of.

“You can hold out hope. I’m moving on.” You rack your brain for other topics. “I still have that date tomorrow with that guy, if that makes you feel better.”

Meg floods you with questions—What are you wearing? Where did you decide? Can you send me his profile? You would normally regret opening yourself to too much questioning prior to any date, but you’re just relieved to steer her away from the concept of your soulmate.

The rest of your day goes by normally. You’re a little more fatigued than usual, but with the day off from work you’re able to finish all of your errands with extra time to rest.

You’re relaxing in your room as you watch YouTube videos on your TV with a face mask cooling your face. You open your laptop absentmindedly to parse through your emails.

One promotional ad catches your eye – Try a Spring Art Class for Free! You click it; the ad is for a local crafts store that you’d visited for a friend’s birthday gift. The store lists five promotional classes. You hover your cursor over a hyperlink titled Fundamentals of Portrait Drawing.

You nearly slam your laptop closed as you come back to your senses. One beginner class wasn’t going to turn you into an artist. You don’t have time to balance a whole craft with the demands of your full-time job, anyway.

Your phone vibrates. It’s Evan—your second date for tomorrow.

Excited to see you! He texts.

You type back a similarly empty message before turning off your phone. Your first date with him had been fun enough to warrant a second, but you don’t expect much this time around. That was a recurring issue Meg didn’t let you live down—every person you talked to seemed to be lacking in at least one area. Your ideal partner needed to be communicative and emotionally intelligent. They also needed to be ambitious with their own goals and community. All while having romantic chemistry with yourself.

Evan was lacking in the communication department, and you’d felt your interest wane since the first date. You wouldn’t have even considered the second date if it wasn’t for Meg in your ear to nag that your standards were too high. Sometimes, although you’d never admit it out loud, you wondered if you were even capable of a romantic love like that. It seemed too easy for everyone else.

At least your time with Evan would be mindless and relatively expectation-free. With that in mind, you drift off into an easy sleep.

✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦

Lips brush against your forehead as light as a feather. “Are you awake?”

You grunt your assent without opening your eyes.

A huff of laughter followed by another peck. “Very convincing.”

You blink your eyes open at that. A pair of dark brown eyes gaze back at you in the dim light. Your heartbeat, already strangely fast for someone asleep, quickens in your chest at the sight.

It’s the man from the painting. He’s propped his head up on one arm as he smiles down at you in open affection. His bangs are pushed away from his forehead, although the black hairs still cling slightly to his skin. His bare chest heaves as he breathes in deeply.

You sigh. “See? I’m awake.”

He laughs louder this time. His eyes crinkle when he laughs and his smile—his real smile—exposes a faint pink line of gums over his teeth. You understand why another version of you would be compelled to capture his likeness through art. You couldn’t explain it to someone if you tried; there’s something about his presence that’s ethereal.

“Why are you smiling?” He asks.

You kind of look like a rabbit, you want to tease, but, again, you’re unable to move your mouth on its own accord.

“Just looking at you,” your voice responds nonchalantly.

His smile softens at that. He reaches his free arm over and caresses the side of your face. His hand follows the length of your neck before travelling further down your back. Your bare back. It dawns on you that, underneath the silk covers, you are completely naked.

Your breath catches as his hand rests on the curve of your hip. His thumb draws small circles around the skin, which makes the nerves underneath electric to his touch.

“Hey now,” you laugh shakily. “What are you trying to do?”

He only raises an eyebrow before pressing light kisses down your neck. “What do you think?”

Your heart flutters. Against your thoughts, your mouth mutters, “I think I’m going to be extra tired taking care of the kids tomorrow morning.”

His kisses drift back up and stop with a final peck behind your ear. “I’ll look after them in the morning. You sleep in.”

“That may be the sexiest thing you’ve ever said to me.”

He huffs a laugh but pulls away from you.

You lean forward to re-close the space and plant a soft kiss on his cheek. “I’m joking. What’s wrong?”

His expression turns thoughtful. “Do you need me to pick up more things around the house? Leave work earlier? I know having two under the age of five is rough already…”

Your heart warms. You run a hand through his hair, smiling as he leans into your touch. “I love you and our kids more than I’ve ever loved anything else. Our life together is perfect.”

He presses a kiss into your open palm. His eyes turn playful. “You know what could make it more perfect?”

“What?”

He catches your lips in his, kissing you deeply. Your lips move against each other in a way that’s clearly familiar—soft to the touch but intense enough to take your breath away.

“Well...” He murmurs against your lips in between kisses. “What do you say we turn two into three?”

You’re pulled out of the scene before you can hear yourself respond.  

✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦

You hear the wind rattling against your office windows as you leave for the day. It’s a chore to even get outside in the first place, on account of the wind pushing back on the lobby door.  When you finally manage to exit the building, the wind threatens to blow you over with each gust.

You curse under your breath. It’s just another inconvenience added to today.

You’d shot out of bed with your heart pounding through your chest. Even someone like you couldn’t deny the obvious truth of the situation—you had officially experienced soulmate visions. While it’s unclear why your visions manifest this way, you cannot ignore the magnetic pull and strange familiarity tugging at your core whenever you see him. It’s unlike anything you’ve experienced before.

And you hate the idea that people might be right; that someone’s entire universe could halt and re-align at the drop of a hat with no rhyme or reason. Bitterness lines this worldview for you—clearly, you had been able to make a name for yourself without the promise of a fated partner. You love your job, you love your friends, and you’re at peace. All possible because of the time and effort you invested into yourself.

You’ve considered cancelling your date with Evan multiple times to fully sort out your emotions, but you push on. Your date with him feels like something bigger–a loose end that might tie all the chaos in your life together in a cohesive picture.

Evan leans against the brick walls of the restaurant. He straightens his posture as you approach. He’s much taller than you remember; you’d basically been sitting the entire time during your first date, and honestly you’d begun to forget specific features about him.

“Hey!” He grins as he holds the door open for you. “How have you been?”

“Pretty decent, all things considered,” you say as you duck under his arm. “Same old stuff.”

He laughs at that–a little too hard, considering what you said was not meant to be funny at all. “Come on. Nothing exciting on your side of the city?”

Yeah, let me tell you about the sensual yet also incredibly domestic dream I had about another man, you think. He’s probably my soulmate too, by the way.

“That weather is probably the most exciting thing about my week,” you lie with a pinched smile.

Evan lets out a laugh that’s again too loud as he pulls out your chair for you.

Throughout all of the small talk and pleasantries, you can’t really fault Evan for anything specific. He’s polite, relatively cute, and likeable. He actively listens and remembers the small details from your stories while also contributing to the conversation. He also seems really into you; his gaze lingers on your features and hangs on to every word you say.

You try to be an attentive date, but your mind keeps drifting elsewhere. You order another drink, but each sip of alcohol seems to make your mind swirl away even farther.

What do you say we make two into three?

Considering you don’t have a serious partner, you hadn’t thought about the possibility of kids in a long time. The caring tone that he used towards you still makes your heart race when you think about it.

Our life together is perfect.

Your own voice feels like a weapon stabbing at you over and over. It’s one thing to exist in these visions already; experiencing them without free will seems to shove all the possible outcomes down your throat. Is there really someone out there that can make you feel that way?

“Ready to head out?”

You snap back into attention as Evan stands by, waiting to pull your chair out for you. You appreciate his acts of chivalry even when you don’t deserve it.

Partially out of guilt, you let him take your hand as he walks with you through some nearby Christmas lights that the city has failed to take down. The atmosphere is perfect; there’s hardly any other people nearby, the weather has calmed down, and your date is kind and attentive.

Yet everything still feels wrong.

When you draw closer to your initial meeting point, he strokes the top of your hand with his thumb. “May I kiss you?”

Under normal circumstances, you would not kiss him right now. But another part of you urges you to try it. You technically know Evan more than the mystery man from your dreams. The likelihood of you feeling something with him should be just as high.

You nod with a swallow. Evan leans forward and presses his lips to yours. It moves too quickly, at first–he’s so nervous that he nearly misses your mouth, and you’re so on edge that you almost forget to reciprocate.

All to say that your first real kiss in forever is a complete dud. You move your lips mindlessly and calmly against his until you withdraw with a polite smile. Evan, for his part, looks mesmerized.

“Thanks for today,” you say with a smile.

“I…” He runs a hand through his hair. “My offer to drive is still on the table, you know. I could drive you back to your place. Or mine.”

Your stomach drops. “I–”

You must have a look on your face because Evan cuts you off before you can say anything else. “I’m just joking.”

It’s not a joke, clearly, but you accept the out. “I have some errands to run, and I don’t want to make you go all over the place for me.”

“Right,” Evan says after a pause.

The moment lingers another beat too long.

“Today was a lot of fun,” you lie. “I’ll talk to you later!”

You turn on your heel and walk away casually until you turn the corner. Then, you duck into the nearest convenience store and call an Uber.

Later, you hear the disappointment dripping from Meg’s voice.

“No, it was the right call to do what was comfortable for you,” she hums. “But did you really have to be thinking about your soulmate the entire time?”

“It’s hard not to when I just found out that I actually have one!” You frown, as if she can see you. “I tried.”

“I know,” Meg sighs. “Well, let’s hope you see him in your dreams again soon.”

An entire month passes. Specifics about the contours of your soulmate’s face and details of his body start to blur from your memory, but what you remember most is the kindness dancing in his eyes. The care in which he spoke about you and your little family. You fall asleep early each night in anticipation only to be let down in the morning.

Instead, it happens next on an irrelevant day. Your shoes are kicked off after a long day of work, and you’re halfway across your living room when a bright light sears behind your eyelids. You throw yourself onto the couch with what little consciousness you have left before plunging into darkness.

✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦

Meg brushes a stray hair into place. “There you go.”

The soft tones of a piano drift through the glass doors in front of you. You see the blur of a crowd outside, although it’s hard to discern through the frosted glass panes.

“Does everything look okay?” Your throat feels tight and your voice comes out breathy.

“Beautiful.”

“I’m scared,” you hear yourself whisper. “What if I’m believing in soulmates too blindly?”

Meg snorts. “A little late for that, don’t you think? If anything, you’re giving me the hope that I’ll meet my person. The two of you are absolutely disgusting together; if this doesn’t work out then all the rest of us are fucked.”

You don’t respond.

Meg rolls her eyes, tugging your arm to turn you to the left. A floor length mirror leans against the wall. It contains a lettered seating chart for all your guests with some names familiar and some foreign. You swallow at your reflection through the text.

It's truly an image out of a dream. Fabric drapes and hugs you in the ways you’ve always wanted. Your bouquet is made of elegant white flowers apart from a few blossoms popping out in shades of light pink. You’d so long put romance in the back of your mind that it’s jarring to see yourself like this. You smile at your reflection, embodying the image of elegance.

“It’s time then,” your voice rings, more confident than before.

The doors open in front of you, causing the crowd outside to rise from their seats. The piano transitions into a slow melody. The flower girl, waiting by the entrance with her mother, steps a few paces in front of you to begin dropping pink petals.

You walk down the aisle with your head held high. If you’re still shaken by your cold feet minutes prior, it doesn’t show anymore.

You’re not surprised to see a familiar lean figure at the end of the aisle. You are surprised, however, when he sees you for the first time.

His face lights up in pure elation. His smile broadens so big and wide that his gums peek out a little. There’s a light shine to his eyes that makes your heart clench. It’s as much your reaction as it is for this version of you. It’s almost too much to bear. He already looks ridiculously handsome in his wedding tuxedo, but the open emotion in his face (for you) makes him all the more mesmerizing.

You stop in front of him. This version of you has grown a little shy; your face warms as you raise your eyes up slowly to meet his.

You barely hear the officiant over the sound of your pounding heart. It’s only once the vows start that you catch what’s being said. What he’s saying.

“One thing I want to start off with is saying that we weren’t supposed to meet that day. I was helping my best friend, Taeyong, who was too hungover to pick up his phone that he’d left at a girl’s house…”

There’s a slight pause as a chuckle passes through the crowd. One groomsman—presumably Taeyong—rolls his eyes with a smile. It’s clearly a story that everyone knows well.

“The last thing I ever expected was for the girl’s very cute roommate to open the door. Let alone have the realization that they were the soulmate I’d been seeing in my dreams.” His eyes lift up, sparkling and happy. “Meeting you that day changed the entire course of my life. You are the best thing to happen to me…my best friend, confidant, and greatest love. Your love and endless faith make me a better man. I promise to protect you and be there by your side when things get hard. I promise to show up for you in all of the little moments—not just the big ones. I choose to love you in this lifetime and all the others that may be. I love you.”

You feel your mouth moving, but your mind races from the realization. This lifetime. All the others that may be.

This, like the dream of yourself as an artist, was not your life. Was Meg right? Were these glimpses into other versions of yourself?

You’d been completely different in the first vision. There is no chance of you becoming an advanced artist at this point, that’s for sure. The second dream had no identifying differences, other than the fact that you had two children with this man. This version of you seemed more like yourself, but Meg was the biggest outlier. She clearly hadn’t met David and doesn’t even fully believe in soulmates.  Additionally, you’d been out of college for years—meeting him during school could not be a future possibility. Soulmate visions of other universes seemed so rare and far-fetched that you’d found it easy to dismiss it as a tall tale, but you didn’t know what else could explain this.

“I…” You startle back into this reality as you speak your own name. “…vow to take you, Doyoung, as my lawfully wedded husband, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death do us part.”

Doyoung, you think as he slips the ring onto your finger. I finally know his name.

“By the power vested in me by the support of this community and strength of your love, I now pronounce you wed. You may kiss.”

Doyoung squares his shoulders to yours. He’s a little too stiff in the movement, which makes you giggle. The sound of your laugh relaxes a smile to his face. He tilts your chin up with his hand so that your eyes meet his.

“I love you,” he whispers before pulling you, finally, into a deep kiss.

His lips are velvet soft and fit perfectly to yours. The crowd erupts into whoops and cheers that begin to fade into the background.

Not now, you think, distantly. It would be nice to stay here. For a while.

You’re pulled out against your will. You let yourself be lost in Doyoung’s touch until the end.

✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦

You type and erase strings of characters on your phone.

“…I enjoyed our time together, but I think we should see other people,” you read aloud. “Too dramatic?”

Meg waves a hand dismissively. “Who cares? You’re not seeing him again.”

“He’s a nice guy, Meg.”

“He’s boring, and you’re being toonice,” she replies. “Just send it.”

You do a quick onceover of your message before pressing the send button. You immediately turn your phone off and flip it upside down.

“Now that was dramatic.”

You glare at Meg from your position on your couch. She sits on the other side, scrolling through something on her laptop.

“So!” She says with a flourish. “What’s the plan?”

“…The plan?”

 “Do you want to meet Doyoung?”

You’d had a handful more soulmate visions since learning Doyoung’s name. Your lives together spanned endless locations intertwined with different professions—from what you gathered from your visions, other versions of you had met Doyoung through school, work, and even a particularly strange meet-cute of being his regular barista. The peek into these various lifetimes left you curious and a little bit weary; each subsequent vision was harder to leave than before, and you’d experienced so many that slipping in and out of these other realities felt like second nature.

Without fail, however, Doyoung stays the same. Each version contains the same kindhearted nature you’d glimpsed ever since the first. You’ve never seen the same version of Doyoung twice, but you feel like you’ve known him your entire life.

Yet even so, the idea of hunting down your Doyoung sends a wave of uncertainty through you. It has nothing to do with him and everything to do with you.

“I…don’t know if I want to meet him,” you admit out loud.

You expect the worst reaction from Meg—a shriek, gasp, or even straight up shouting—but instead, she purses her lips. “Why?”

“I’m not sure he’ll be very impressed with me,” you say. You try to pick up your phone to look busy, but you glimpse Evan’s name on your screen instead.

Thanks for letting me know. I hope you find—

You put your phone back down.

Meg stares at you. “You think he’s going to be unimpressed because you have your shit together?”

“Well—”

“What if he’s a loser?”

“He’s not!” You shriek. In truth, you have no idea what your Doyoung does or where he is.

“Then what do you know about the Doyoung here that’s so larger than life?”

You don’t answer.

Understanding flickers across Meg’s face. She groans. “You didn’t even look him up?!”

You cross your arms. “I don’t think I want to know.”

“You’re so impossible,” she types furiously into her computer. “Do…young…”

You roll your eyes. “Like you’re gonna find him by googling his first name only.”

“It’s unique enough,” she protests, whirling her laptop screen around toward you. She wiggles her eyebrows. “Imagine if a guy this hot appeared in your dreams?”

Everything muscle in your body freezes. A strangled noise rips out of your throat.

Meg’s jaw drops, and she looks between you and the screen with open disbelief. “You’re fucking shitting me right now.”

Doyoung’s picture smiles at you clear as day from Meg’s laptop. Singer and Actor.

Wordlessly, you reach over and click the images tab. Pictures of Doyoung—your Doyoung—flood the entire page. He’s photographed in various styles, even modeling with big brands. You’d known that he was ridiculously good-looking, but you hadn’t expected something like this. You even recognize his friends Taeyong and Johnny that you’d seen in some visions; they’re clearly friends in this universe too, seeing as they’re posing in many group pictures together.

“That’s him…” you whisper.

“Holy shit.” Meg regains her senses and starts clicking through different website links rapidly. “Holy shit, dude! He’s famous!”

“I can see that!” You say as panic rises up your chest. Of all the perfectly normal Doyoungs you’d seen, your Doyoung had to be a celebrity?

“I was going to tell you to find him anyway, but this is insane!” More clicking. Meg shows you a digital tour poster that reads NCT 127 – THE MOMENTUM. “Dude. They’re touring. I’m buying tickets.”

Your head spins. You’d meet him by buying tickets amongst all of his fans. Your soulmate has a fanbase.

“Don’t,” you choke out.

“How else are you going to find him? Stalk him?”

She’s right. Regardless, you feel tears pricking in the corners of your eyes. Your voice comes out so quiet that it’s barely audible. “I’m scared.”

Meg’s expression softens. She sets her laptop aside as she envelops you into a hug. “I know. Let me just buy the tickets for you for now, and then we can think about it more. It’s in two months, so you have some time.”

You nod with a sniffle.

“Besides,” Meg smiles as she pulls back. “All of your visions have pretty much been sickly sweet, right? I doubt anything will change now.”

✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦

Doyoung pulls you out of a restaurant through a gathering crowd. Flashes go off all around you.

Most of the group is made up of women shoving their cameras in your faces while completely hiding their own. There’s a slight murmur amongst them that’s still eerily quiet.

You pull the brim of your hat down lower, the fabric of your mask higher as you try to shield yourself from the attention.

Security opens the door to the black SUV first, ushering Doyoung inside first. It’s a brief pause that’s long enough for a fan to get you within her sights while security is distracted.

“Ugly whore!” She screams as she arches her arm back. You react too late as a plastic cup hits the back of your head. A cold liquid drenches you starting from your face and drips down your entire shirt.

You stand there in shock. Flashes and shutters sound off rapidly around you. The only thing that moves you, finally, is the security staff member physically lifting you into the backseat. The door slams after you, drowning you in silence.

The driver turns to hand you a towel, which you accept with trembling hands.

“Looks like our whereabouts got leaked, again,” you laugh, but the sound falls flat into the silence.

Doyoung’s eyes rake over your appearance. His expression contorts into hurt.

You want to massage the deep frown from his face, but you can already feel the tears threatening to surface. Instead, you dab at your clothing to dry what you can. The fan must have thrown a soft drink of some kind, since the drink leaves behind a sticky residue on your clothing and skin.

Doyoung looks like he’s on the brink of tears himself. “This is my fault,” he says simply.

You expect your voice to come out weepy, but it comes out hard instead. “It’s not.”

“It is.”

“It’s not! This is the work of people who don’t understand boundaries! You should be able to enjoy your free time without being stalked!”

It’s clearly a point of contention that’s been hashed out before. He settles into silence for the entire drive. The car eventually stops in front of a high rise building that the two of you walk into together. It’s clearly your shared apartment, traces of him and you strewn throughout the space.

“You should go shower and clean yourself off,” he says absentmindedly as he types something into his phone. “I’m going to make a quick call.”

You still hear Doyoung’s voice through the door when you emerge from the shower.

“Right. I was just hoping….yeah, you’re right. I’ll talk to…No, that won’t be necessary. Thanks.”

 You pull on your clothes and exit your bathroom into your master bedroom in the most nonchalant way you can manage. You falter still when you see Doyoung sitting at the edge of the bed with his head in his hands.

You join him on the edge of the bed. “Doyoung?”

He looks up at you; his eyes are rimmed with red. “Hey.”

“You talked to your manager? How was it?”  

“As expected,” Doyoung says while avoiding your gaze.

“Is your company going to take any action?”

He frowns, then takes a deep breath. “They said they’ll do what they can.”

“Which means?”

“Just that. They’ll ‘do what they can,’” Doyoung's voice drips with sarcasm, “but it’s unlikely to actually deter anyone. These things might still happen to you as long as you’re with me.”

As long as you’re with me. Alarm bells ring in your head.

“Don’t.” The you of this reality must pick up something more because your concern swiftly rushes into anger. “I know this fuck-ass company is recommending you some fuck-ass solution. I thought we said that we would handle this together. We survived the leaked photos in the media—we can handle this.”

Doyoung doesn’t look at you. “It’s my idea.”

For the first time, the weight of this reality’s emotions flood over your own. You feel her shock down to your core, which is quickly replaced by raw heart ache. Your throat is so tight that you’re barely able to choke out the words. “Okay. Say it, then.”

“I can’t keep watching this happen to you because of who I am. There’s still three years before my contract ends. Who would want to go through any of this for that long?”

“I would,” you say quietly, “I will for you. What we have is too special to throw it all away.”

“I can’t let you do that.” Doyoung’s shaking his head. “It’s not fair to you.”

“Who decides what’s fair to me? Isn’t that my choice?” You snap, your temper flaring up again. “It’s pretty unfair that you’re disregarding my entire opinion in this.”

“We’re soulmates,” he murmurs. “Meaning you felt a biological pull when we met.”

Your heart drops. “What the hell are you saying?”

 “You didn’t have much of a choice but to be drawn to me. Despite my lifestyle.”

“You don’t believe that. You believe in soulmates more than anyone.”

He avoids your eyes by opting to stare at the ceiling instead. “Well, maybe I’m starting to think differently.”

“So this is it, then?" Your voice trembles. “After all it took to just find each other in the first place?”

“I’m leaving tonight." He still doesn't meet your eyes. "This apartment is yours, but I won’t be coming back.”

You’re still absorbing his words when he rises toward the door.

“Doyoung.” Your voice is laced with despair. Still, you force out the words. “Say you don’t want me.”

“What?” His brow furrows.

You stalk after him, only stopping when your noses are nearly touching. “Say you don’t want me. Say that all of this was a mistake, and you don’t need us anymore. If you’re going to end it like this then you need to take ownership of it.”

Doyoung's mouth flattens and his bottom lip quivers. He takes a deep breath before exhaling and meeting your gaze. “We might be soulmates, but I no longer think that we belong together in this life. I wish the best for you, and the best for both of us is separating.”

It’s the worst he could say. Agony swirls in your chest. You collapse to the ground in a mess of sobs before he’s even left, but he continues out the door without looking back.

This version of you haunts the rooms of your house in a broken haze. You take to combing through every drawer, cabinet, and shelf as you search for anything that belongs to Doyoung. Nothing is safe; everything from clothing to picture frames get thrown onto the ground between bouts of hysterical crying.

Internally, panic courses through you. You’ve never felt stuck in a vision like this. Or felt the emotions of a vision so strongly. Everything about this vision is too real; this version of you feels everything so poignantly that you struggle to differentiate between your emotions and the emotions of this reality. You can barely think for yourself. Every sob comes equally from your soul.

Finally, when it’s deep into the night and your eyes can’t swell up any further from crying, you’re released from this nightmare. The you of this reality is left alone in a dreamless sleep.

✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦

That’s only the first of a month-long string of visions. You’re thrown into visions at least once every day. They change between elated moments of intimacy to tormenting heartbreak at the flip of a coin. Destined to be together one day, doomed to fail the next. It gives you karmic whiplash.

The hardest part is dealing with the other versions of you. It’s increasingly difficult to separate your thoughts and emotions from whichever reality you’ve entered. Sometimes you stay so long that you think that you’ll be trapped in another body forever. Even when you finally return, all of the emotions follow you out.

After the latest nightmare, you wake up gasping for air. Not real, you remind yourself. You dig a nail into your palm until it bleeds, just to confirm that you’re in control of this body. Not my Doyoung.

You rub the sleep out of your eyes, pausing as the back of your hand comes back wet. God, were you crying?

Shaking your head, you get up despite the heavy ache of your muscles. Your neck is so tight that you feel like it could snap off your shoulders.

Your phone lists a barrage of text and missed call notifications from Meg. A series from an hour ago that starts with a brunch request and ends with I’m coming over.

Sure enough, Meg sits at your dining table. There’s some take out containers on the table in front of her along with two cups of coffee.

“Sorry I missed your calls,” you sigh while taking your seat across from her. “Visions.”

Her eyes scan over everything from the deep bags under your eyes to the gaunt lines underneath your cheekbones. You ignore it and bite into a piece of toast.

“I’m worried about you,” Meg says.

You grunt and take a swig of coffee. “Why?”

“You look like you haven’t slept in ages.”

Your tone comes out too harsh. “Well, no one told me that soulmate visions during nighttime actually take away from any REM sleep. I’ve been having them almost every night for the past, you know, two months, so I don’t think I’ve really slept in a while.”

“I never really had many,” Meg mumbles from her spot. “So I didn’t know.”

“Sorry.” You know that you’re behaving like a colossal asshole, but you can’t help it. You’re haunted by what could come next. Visions of Doyoung plague you night and day. You still have yet to achieve full autonomy within a vision, which means that you’re trapped inside another’s body as you witness interactions that you will never have—different people, different universes, and different outcomes. It’s terrifying.

“There is a way to end it,” Meg starts again. “I have the tickets.”

You tighten your hand on your cup. “No.”

“Why not?”

You slam your hand down on the table. “Because sometimes it doesn’t work out, Meg!”

Her eyes widen.

“I’ve seen so many universes where it does work, but I’ve seen the pain and hurt that’s possible when it doesn’t,” you continue. “I love him in all of them, but better versions of me still fail to make it work. There’s no way that I stand a chance when Doyoung’s literally an idol with a million options at his fingertips.”

“You never know,” she reminds you softly. “He could be seeing you too, for all we know.”

“And with his infinite number of resources, he’s never tried to find me?”

That shuts her up.

“I’m starting to lose it, Meg,” your voice is barely louder than a hush. “I don’t know what’s real and what’s not half of the time because of these visions—it’s like my soul is fighting to be outside of this reality. Isn’t that a sign? All these other versions of me have so much more to offer. I’m the worst version of myself, and he’s the best.”

Meg reaches to grab your hand. “You’re not the worst. Not even by a landslide. Your soul is just trying to be helpful by showing your amazing connection.”

“For this life it’s only an amazing outcome for me,” you say, sourness oozing back into your voice. “I can’t do that to him.”

“You can’t do this to yourself, either. Have you considered that you’re already doing something to him?”

This time, she’s lost you. “What do you mean?”

Meg sighs, a sure sign of her patience finally running out with you. “There’s no way in hell that he’s not experiencing some sort of vision himself. Isn’t that worse for him, since he’s touring? You’re probably disturbing his practice and rest time.”                                                         

You’ve been so caught up in living these alternate lives that, admittedly, you hadn’t considered the insane work demands of an idol. For all you know, he could be experiencing all of these visions at the same time. You had no way of knowing if your Doyoung was also witnessing everything without a chance to speak for himself.

 “It’s definitely worse for him,” you mumble.

“Exactly! And what’s the way to relieve you both of this? Meeting! Taking the chance of this concert in our city to let you both free!”

You hang your head in your hands. “Why do I have to ambush him like that? Isn’t that a lot?”

“You…” Meg stabs a finger in your direction. “…are not a celebrity.”

“Thanks for the reminder.”

“Doyoung…” Meg pulls up the promotional images of him to show you on her phone. “…is an idol with crazy fans. He doesn’t know where to find you. I’m more than sure he has fans all up in his DMs claiming to be his soulmate on the daily. This is the only way you won’t get tackled by his security guards.”

You consider it. Even if he was guaranteed to not want you, even if he is universes above your league, you could at least free the both of you from these relentless interruptions.

I’ll miss it, a small part of you thinks. Being able to feel what we could be. What we are, just in different lives.

You push those thoughts to the back of your head. “Fine. Let’s end it.”

“Finally,” Meg exhales.

“You do realize that we’ll have to fight all of these fans to be as close as possible, right?”

“Don’t worry,” your friend says with an evil smile. “I have my ways.”

✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦

Meg lives up to her word. After a series of begging and bribes to other fans, you’re at barricade on the far right. To your horror, she’s brought a sign with your name on it in bright neon green letters. You’d try to dissuade her, since there’s no guarantee that Doyoung’s even seen you in visions, let alone heard your name, but she refused to back down.

“Maybe it’s so strange that it’ll catch one of their eyes,” she argues.

It’s certainly catching the eyes of other concertgoers, who glare at you.

Past the surrounding people, you find it hard to remove your anxiety from the situation. You’d tried to influence the tone of your visions leading up to the concert by consuming NCT 127 variety content and their overall discography. In reality, it made the visions worse. Watching Doyoung’s public image in action grated at your psyche; instead of heartwarming, it reminded you painfully of the talent disparity between you two. Not only did it make your visions more taxing, but it also made them more likely to occur. With any hope, even if he didn’t see you, you wouldn’t go unconscious into a soulmate vision.  

Your heart hums with anticipation as the lights dim and the low bass reverberates through your body. The monitor displays a brief, pre-recorded video of the members wearing and removing gas masks. The scene switches to the faces of the six members in a row. You lock onto Doyoung’s image on the screen.

The fans around you scream at the top of their lungs. Your ears ring and numb your senses. Amidst all of the energy you suddenly feel a panicked flush of shame.

Had you really paid this much money for this experience based on what could be hallucinations? Wasn’t it a little…egotistical to assume a man at this unattainable level of fame could be your soulmate?

You swallow the lump in your throat as the big screen splits to reveal the members standing in glass boxes. The box closest to you is Jungwoo on the far-right side of the stage. Your eyes scan down the line, skipping over Mark, Yuta, Johnny, then—

Doyoung

Your first kiss, different every time, yet always leaving sweet fulfillment.

Torn apart by circumstances outside your control.

Finding each other despite all odds.

A soft breeze as you say I do.

Kids, seemingly in every timeline—

It’s as if the world stops. You nearly fall over in place as memories flood your head. They’re both yours and not; movies of past lives—together, good and bad—superimpose over the other. It’s much, much more than what you’ve experienced in your visions. No one has properly prepared you for the feeling. Your head spins and throbs as the memories tuck and cram themselves into any available space.

It’s as physical as it is emotional. Your body writhes as your head feels like it will explode at any second. You’re panicked, overrun by the happiness and sorrow and confusion clouding your judgment. You can’t even tell which of these emotions are yours or theirs. The bright, flashing lights make it so much worse. Bile climbs up your throat before you force it back down with a swallow.

“Hey!” Meg pulls at your forearm. “Are you alright?”

“…Yeah,” you stammer, gasping for air.

She pats the top of your hand, which is paling from the intense grip on the barricade metal. You release your hands and rub at your tender palms.

She processes your appearance for a brief moment before her eyes widen. “No way.”

You nod, too exhausted to reply.

“We were right? Holy shit!” She screams, which ignites the searing pain behind your eyes.

You sway a little. “Did he react at all?”

“I couldn’t tell because of the smoke,” she frowned. “It seemed like he came out a little late.”

Doyoung performs on the stage in front of you. He doesn’t seem disoriented in the slightest. You do notice his eyes flit over the crowd occasionally, but it seems in line with what the other members are doing.

She quickly drapes your arm over her shoulders to stabilize you. “So what, now is the time for the sign?”

You don’t answer; regardless, she unfurls the poster. Her attempt to massage out the wrinkles are largely unnecessary—it’s already past the point of no return—but you can appreciate the effort. You’re barely able to stand up without her help.

Nearly half of the concert passes without any progress. Doyoung has stayed mostly away from your side of the stage, and when he is on your side his line of vision seems to skip right over you.

“How does he not fucking see you?” Meg shouts.

You shrug. Strangely enough, this is the most relaxed you’ve felt in weeks. It’s as if all of your usual nerves have left straight on vacation.

All the snippets of memories are too much to sort through now, but there’s now two sentiments that are finally crystal clear to you throughout all lifetimes.

First: Doyoung must want you too. Either of you can choose to not pursue this connection.

Second: If it is meant to be, love will find a way.

Clearly, your Doyoung exists in an entirely different plane of existence from you. Sure, you might be soulmates, but that didn’t mean that he would choose you. That was his right, as was yours. At this point, you’re ready to accept any outcome.

Still, when the unit has transitioned to a series of ballads, you feel a flicker of annoyance. While your chances of being with him are slim to none, a small part of you craves that acknowledgement.

Can’t Help Myself, your favorite from the album, starts playing. You’ve thrown all expectation to the wind and start singing to the lyrics, even as Doyoung crosses back to your side of the stage.

Meg, on the other hand, raises the sign even higher while she screams Doyoung’s name in a way that is completely inappropriate to the tone of the song. It’s incredibly embarrassing but also endearing.

You’re half-laughing, half-cringing, until it works. Doyoung’s eyes rake over the sign, squint at Meg, then drift over from her to lock onto you.

Mine, your mind says.

Doyoung collapses onstage.

You’re even less prepared for this than you were before. The memories return and suppress all other thoughts. The terrified cries and shock of the crowd completely overtake your senses. It’s all too much.

Your eyes roll to the back of your head. Your body folds over the barricade and hangs there like a ragdoll.

“HELP!” Meg’s voice screams over all the others. “PLEASE, MY FRIEND NEEDS SOME HELP!”

You feel someone grasp your shoulders and pluck your body out of the crowd. Then, you lose consciousness.

✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦

Doyoung sits on your living room carpet with your daughter in his lap. He flips through the thick pages of a children’s picture book, sounding out words for her and pointing at each picture.

You stare at his side profile. You’re not under any other will; you’re completely you, from the present day, down to the neon green outfit. The same version of you that’s presumably passed out at his concert. Most importantly, visions should stop once you’ve finally seen your soulmate in person. You shouldn’t be here at all.  

“What’s wrong, my love?” Doyoung mumbles.

You startle. Then, you blurt: “Are you real?”

He laughs softly. “Am I real?”

Cautiously, you settle down to sit on the floor next to him. He says nothing, stroking your daughter’s hair as he waits for you to speak first.

The fact that you can speak unsettles you. After months of visions, why is this the vision that lets you have full autonomy? Why in a moment like this, with Doyoung and your daughter relaxing in the living room?

“How did we meet?” You ask suspiciously.

He raises an eyebrow, but answers regardless. “Through work.”

“Which is?”

Thankfully, he’s much more patient. “Well, I was a trainee,” he starts, “and you were about midway through your rookie year.”

Your mind goes completely blank. “Me, an idol?”

Your daughter rests her head in Doyoung’s lap, eyelids fluttering with sleepiness. Doyoung puts a finger up to his lips.

“Am I your soulmate?” you ask in a lower tone, even though you already know the answer.

“Yes.”

“Was it always obvious that we would end up…like this? Together?”

He snorts. “We broke up after I didn’t debut.”

Your heart stops. “You didn’t become an idol?”

“We were broken up for six months before you reached out to me again.” His slightly sour expression softens. “You were going through a lot of things at the time. There’s no resentment there. You asked me for a month to get to know each other again as friends, then the rest is history.”

“Weren’t you mad that I ditched you once I debuted?”

“No.” He thinks for a moment. “Maybe at first. We all know that line of work is demanding, and you continued to show up after we worked everything out. You proved to me that you’d choose us over everything, and we haven’t looked back since.”

“Choose this, choose that…” You grumble as irritation pricks at you. Then, you hang your head back and wail like a child. “I’m so confused! I don’t know what all these visions are trying to tell me…”

Doyoung doesn’t respond.

“I’m not sure where I end and their memories and feelings begin,” you confess, as if this Doyoung will know what you’re talking about. “They’re not really mine, but they feel like a part of me. I’m scared that I’m getting swept away by the soulmate bond. How am I supposed to choose? What if the skeptics are right, and this whole thing has been a physiological or psychological reaction that can be explained by science?”

You expect him to be offended; by now, you know that his deep belief in destiny and timing are at the core of his being.

Instead, he says, “What if it is?”

You blink. “I don’t think a soulmate is supposed to say that.”

“Well, when we’ve talked about this before, it always comes down to the same last questions.” He thinks for a moment. “Say we get to the end of our lives and find out that the concept of ‘soulmate’ can just be explained as a physical reaction. Will you feel like you wasted your time? Your life?”

“God.” Your eyes flit to your sleeping daughter. “That’s heavy.”

Doyoung shrugs. “That’s kind of what it boils down to. What do you want to happen, regardless of fate?”

“I don’t know. I just want to be happy.”

“I see,” he says noncommittally. Doyoung’s expression is neutral. Your daughter has other ideas as she whimpers a soft cry in her sleep, which prompts him to pick up your child and cuddle her in his arms. “Do you think I can make you happy?”

The sight makes your heart clench. It triggers an ache for a life that isn’t yours; you feel guilty for intruding on this version of life. This Doyoung doesn’t belong to you.

You open your mouth to reply, but the dream lightens and fades around you. This Doyoung smiles at you one last time before you’re ripped out of this reality.

✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦

Doyoung’s first soulmate vision occurs on his eighteenth birthday. It’s something that he can’t forget even if he tries. A dream of the two of you, childhood best friends, experiencing the flutter of a first kiss. He remembers the shyness in your face along with the grounded sense of familiarity; even at eighteen, he feels that he’s known you for his entire life.

Doyoung holds your existence close to his chest. He’s already teased enough for being a romantic as it is, and he treasures your connection too much to let others weigh in. It’s only deep into his trainee period that he even divulges anything to Taeyong and Johnny in the late hours of the night.

Visions of you shimmer in and out of his life in ephemeral flashes. Sometimes you’re the only thing holding him together when his throat burns from vocal training and his muscles ache from dancing. He clings to the borrowed memories from these other lives like a promise. There’s no doubt in Doyoung's mind that your life will touch his eventually–it’s not if, it’s when.

Then his visions stop right before the tour. You’ve been such a constant in his life for the past decade that the absence of you leaves a gaping hole behind. He misses you. He’s always tried to find you, but with only your first name to go off it’s nearly impossible. Added onto the fact that, as an idol, maintaining his privacy is of the utmost importance. He doesn’t want to even think about the entities that would exploit the knowledge of Kim Doyoung’s soulmate. 

He retains his professionalism while panicking on the side. What did it mean for his visions to disappear? The disappearance on New Year’s Eve specifically feels like an omen–Doyoung swears to himself that he’ll find you once and for all when the tour ends. All his performances are dedicated in his heart to you and your safety.

So when he registers a poster with only your name on it, he can hardly believe his eyes. The girl attached to the poster is certainly not you, so he keeps looking. 

When Doyoung sees you for the first time–finally, sees you in this life for the first time–all he feels is relief and elation. You found him.

Then a wave of nausea overtakes him, and he collapses on stage. 

After the fact, staff tell him that he laid unconscious for ten minutes. To him, he spends lifetimes. 

He’s inundated with visions of this reality, for once. Doyoung sits through the nightmares with you and sees your health deteriorate with each one. It pains him to see you so overwhelmed. Sure, he had the occasional vision where the two of you didn’t work out, but ten years had given him more than enough time to parse through the philosophical questions of it all. He can’t imagine experiencing this sudden influx so late or needing to decide so quickly. There’s a rush of guilt in knowing that you’ve experienced far more negative visions of him than positive.

It’s his first time seeing you in this universe, too. You’re different from all the other versions, of course, but the core things that make up your identity are as clear to him as ever. Your ambition and drive to make things work despite all odds. Your tenacity. Your deep loyalty and care to your loved ones. 

Doyoung feels at peace. It’s still you.

He wakes up with the wide eyes of the staff all around him. They immediately have someone check him out, and even the medic is perplexed when his only symptom is a mild headache. 

“So strange,” he frowns. “Someone in the front row of the crowd fainted around the same time.”

Doyoung's heart races. “Are they alright?”

“I believe the patient is being held in one of the medical tents.” 

When he’s cleared to perform, Doyoung pops a painkiller, drinks some water, and adjusts his outfit to go out there and finish the show. Before he leaves, however, he pulls his manager aside to whisper some instructions in his ear. He raises an eyebrow but then nods.

Be there soon, Doyoung thinks as he runs to join the others.

Doyoung leaves it all out on the stage. It’s his best, most earnest performance to date.

It’s easier than usual to slip away from the main group, since today’s show had been particularly exhausting. Most of them assumed that Doyoung felt sick and told him to go rest. It’s only Johnny who eyes him sidelong, but he doesn’t say anything in the moment as he heads out to eat.

Doyoung’s heart beats wildly in his chest as he paces in front of your hotel room. He’d met Meg, thanked her for the sign, and questioned her relentlessly on your condition. Meg, from what he could tell, seemed amused as she answered each of his questions. No, you weren’t awake. Yes, the medic said all of your vitals were normal. Yes, it was likely just a fainting spell similar to his own. Yes, you would probably want to see him.

Meg emerges from the hotel room with a nod. Doyoung’s chest tightens as he takes a deep breath to open the door. 

You’re sitting upright in one of the hotel beds while focusing on alarm clock next to your nightstand. 

“Meg, this is much nicer than something you’d usually choose–” You stop mid-sentence as you turn your head to find Doyoung in Meg’s place instead. “Doyoung.” 

Sure, he’s heard you say his name before but hearing it in the flesh makes goosebumps prick up along the surface of his skin. “Hi,” he breathes your name out loud for the first time.

Your expression is wide and dazed in shock as you stare at him. “Is this a vision? Or am I dead?” 

He feels tension between his shoulder blades relax as he laughs. “We’re both very much alive. Together,” he adds at the last minute.

You look down at your hands. “...I see.” 

Your sudden shyness reminds him so much of his first soulmate vision that he wants to gather you into his arms and never let go. Instead, he asks. “How are you feeling?”

“Better,” you pause. “How were you after collapsing?”

“I was only out for a bit, then I woke up pretty much good as new.” He leaves out the part about seeing your entire soulmate realization journey. “Did you see any vision while out?” He sits in the hotel-provided office chair and rolls it forward so he’s hovering next to your side of the bed.

You grow shy again, this time at his proximity. “I did.” 

“Me too,” he admits. “It’s hard to believe that we won’t see any more.” 

You snort. “Not that we saw them for very long to begin with.” 

Doyoung’s breath catches. He knew the differences between your visions but explaining it out loud to you in person feels extremely different. “...I actually saw my first one just over ten years ago.” 

“Ten years ago?” You nearly shout.

“Frequency of them is on and off, but I started getting them when I was eighteen.” 

He watches your face twist in different expressions as you process the information. Shock and confusion appear first before it settles into something resembling guilt. He lets you get lost in thought. To Doyoung this is just a part of his story that he’s long since accepted, but he knows all of this is brand new for you.

When you finally speak, it’s something that he doesn’t expect. “I’m sorry!” You blurt out. “I hope you know that I don’t expect anything from you.” 

He tilts his head in confusion. “Expect anything from me?”

“I would’ve tried to find you even if you weren’t famous,” you’re talking so fast now that your mouth can barely keep up. “I’m not trying to take advantage of your fame.” 

“I didn’t think that.” Doyoung’s taken aback. Did you see him as the kind of person who would assume the worst? “I tried to find you a few times, but the visions weren’t exactly helpful in finding specific details about you. Meg’s sign was the first time I’d seen your full name.”

“Oh.” 

Your nervousness is palpable. He wishes he could transfer all your bad experiences to himself. Anything to take your pain away.

“Would you prefer it if I left?” He asks softly. “I can give you more time to— “ 

“No,” you cut him off firmly. You hesitate, just for a second, before reaching for his hand.

Now you’re both embarrassed, but you force your words out. “I don’t really understand what any of this means, still. I also don’t hold it against you if you’re disappointed. There are probably a million more interesting versions of me.”

If anything, he’s disappointed that you feel the need to self-deprecate. He sorts through his mind for a way to encompass how he’s felt about you for the past ten years, but it all seems too long winded.

Finally, he settles for a simple squeeze of your hand. “I’m happy it’s you.”

You squeeze his hand back. “I’m happy it’s you, too.”

Doyoung feels the blush blooming onto his face. The space between you is warm yet fragile. Through the haze of his giddiness, he tries to reign himself in before he scares you away. “I know this is still a lot for you, so I can meet you wherever you need me to be.”

The edges of your mouth twitch upwards in amusement. “That’s what I thought you’d say.”

He blinks. “It is?”

“You’re the one who’s seen soulmate visions for ten years with no closure, but you’re more concerned about me,” you lean forward, eyes sparkling like you’re withholding a secret. “Even though I’m the reason why you collapsed at your own concert.”

“It’s not your fault!” He huffs, but you’re already laughing at his pouting. “It’s not!”

You wipe a tear from your eye. “It just made me feel relieved that it’s really you. I’m happy.” After recovering from your laughing fit, there’s a streak of makeup smudged along your upper cheekbone.

“You said that already.” Without thinking, Doyoung wipes the mark away with the pad of his thumb.

Your breath hitches. Doyoung freezes, which means that his hand effectively freezes on your cheek in turn. Then, finally, you turn your head toward his hand and press your lips on the skin. You smile.

The bashfulness in the air is replaced with something thicker and more intense than before. Doyoung’s eyes drift down to your lips.

“Can I kiss you?” The words come out low and raspy. It’s surprising to even him. It’s probably too soon. He should have more self-control, damn it, but he can’t help himself. Every cell in his body craves to be closer, closer, closer.

Instead of a reply, you close the distance between you.

He’s lost track of how many first kisses he’s witnessed through other versions of himself, but this one tastes sweeter than all the rest. It’s more than just a kiss; it’s acceptance. As you lose yourselves in the other’s touch, it feels like a vow.  

“Doyoung,” you mutter between kisses.

“Mhmm?”

“Doyoung!” You pull back briefly, chest heaving for breath. “I still don’t know what I’m doing.”

His heart drops. He knows this risk-averse and self-sabotaging behavior of yours. If not addressed, you’ll convince yourself to choose the safest route to protect yourself. It’s now or never.

He clears his throat. “As I said, I will meet you wherever you need me to be. It’s okay if we start off slow or just as friends. Regardless, I would love to finally get to know you. This you.” He clears his throat. “So I hope you’ll consider it.”

“Of course I want to get to know you,”you say without hesitating. You bite your lip. “Without a doubt, I know that I can care for you and fall in love with you. The last few months have convinced me of that, but I’ve also seen that love can only carry us so far. You want to try pursuing something, even knowing that other versions of us have failed?”

“We won’t fail,” he says with a calm confidence.

“How can you be sure?”

“I’m choosing you—this reality with you. I will do everything in my power to take care of you.” His voice drops to a low tone. “So please trust me. Choose me too.”

With those words, you’re a goner. Truth be told, you aren’t sure if you stood a chance in the first place. He’s too easy to trust and fall into. Doyoung is everything you’ve dreamt of and more.

“Okay,” you say with a smile. “I’ll choose us too. As long as you’re really sure you want to be stuck with me.”

To know you is to love you. Doyoung’s decision was made from the moment he first saw you in his dreams.

“Of course I want to,” Doyoung says as he pulls you into another kiss. “I’ve loved you in every lifetime.”

[aphroditelovesu]

Yandere Apollo w/Soulmate!Reader Headcanons (Romantic)

❝ ☀️ — lady l: Who asked for soulmate au with Apollo? It's more of a soft yandere, but I hope you like these hcs! 💞

❝tw: soulmate au, obsessive and possessive behavior, soft!yandere, implied death.

❝☀️pairing: yandere!apollo x gender neutral!reader.

Apollo always wanted someone to love, someone he could pour out all the love he held inside, be completely devoted to that person and be completely theirs. Apollo always wanted to be loved unconditionally and in return he would love with everything in him.

He wanted more than anything to find his soulmate. The true person he belonged to, the person he would spend all eternity with.

Apollo desperately searched for love, in search of his soulmate, the person who would complete him. He had several affairs, hoping that one of them would complete the missing part of him, but it always ended in tragedy and he knew that none of his past lovers were his soulmate.

So he remained alone for centuries, hoping to one day find the one to whom his heart and soul belonged. Apollo sometimes spent his days wandering among humans, hoping to bump into his love, but that never happened. He was tired. He had become desperate for love, to be loved and this shaped him completely. Apollo was no longer the same.

Until one day he found his soulmate. He found you. The person he had searched for for centuries, the half of himself that was missing. His soulmate.

Apollo would never forget the day he discovered that you were his soulmate. The way his heart began to pound in his chest, his breathing became heavy and his hands sweaty. Soulmate, was all his mind screamed.

During yet another of his pointless visits to humans, Apollo found himself walking aimlessly somewhere when he felt something different. Something inside him clicks, something connecting him to somewhere or someone. He followed what was calling him and was breathless when he discovered what it was.

Among lush forests and bustling cities, he saw a young human with a radiant aura, enveloped by the essence of wisdom and compassion. He saw you and saw the red thread of destiny that connected you. You were his soulmate.

Delighted and stunned by the discovery, the god approached disguised as an ordinary human man, wanting to get to know that luminous soul better. You welcomed him with open arms, eager to discover more about this mysterious man and why he enchanted you so much. It was only after a few weeks together that Apolo revealed the truth. He was a god and you were his soulmate. You felt like you might cry at that moment.

You have always wanted to find your soulmate, all your friends have already found the missing part of them, except you. And your soulmate was not only the most handsome man you've ever seen but also a Greek god, literally. You hugged him tightly and kissed him. Soon you were both undressed and sweaty, the love shining through and the consummation of your bond was made. You were officially soulmates.

Everything was rosy at first, but eventually, Apollo changed. His fear, and his trauma of being alone for so long changed him. He became more possessive and controlling every day. You started to feel suffocated. Apollo, however, didn't care.

He tried to compensate for his possessive tendencies towards you with presents, from jewelry to gifts that he could bestow upon you, in addition to giving you the gift of immortality. He wouldn't lose you to anyone, not even the god of death.

Your soul was linked to his, linked by the thread of destiny that united you as one. It said that Zeus was the one who separated humans from their soulmates and Apollo was so happy that he finally found you that all that mattered to him was that you stayed with him. After all, you were destined to be together.

Apollo's love had become increasingly possessive and needy, the god demanded you all the time. He became clingy, not wanting to be away from you. He's already spent too much time away from you, he wouldn't do it again.

How delirious he was could not be said, but felt. You felt the fear, the dread that Apollo had of losing you and that was what made you susceptible to the god's manipulation. He's just in love with his soulmate. That's why he acts like this.

That's how you end up stuck with your soulmate for all eternity. But for Apollo, in the warmth of true love, they transcended the boundaries between the divine and the mortal, uniting as soulmates destined to remain together for eternity.

Thus, the Greek god found his soulmate, a union that shone with the light of the gods and the purity of human hearts that would later be contaminated by the obsession that controlled him. There's no else to go but his side.

[dogpawsswapgod]

New chapter! Tobias has a theory!

"Took You Long Enough"

A CaitVi soulmates AU inspired by and featuring @somewillwin

[steviewashere]

Romantic Soulmates AU where Steve and Eddie are not soulmates.

Not even the slightest. Nope. Their marks don't match, maybe their scents don't blend, maybe their pain isn't felt in the other. Whatever it is. Whatever the trope maybe. They just aren't fated to be compatible.

However, does this stop them?

Fuck no.

Eddie doesn't believe in it. Doesn't want to believe in it. That there's only one person out there for him. Just a single person assigned by the universe. No way is that real. That he can't possibly find romance and love and fate in another human being. That's impossible to him.

Steve doesn't believe in it either. Not because it's impossible. Nothing like that. But his parents? They're soulmates. Supposed to be compatible. But they fight constantly and consistently. Slamming doors, screaming matches, cheating on each other. How could they be meant for each other, but at the same time very obviously resent one another?

They don't believe in it. But, something about the space they come to share, the words they exchange, just how intertwined their lives are without the designation of the universe on their backs?

It's like they're meant for each other. That being together, that's their fate. And it's not a bad one. It's not an unhappy one. They just migrate to each other.

And their lives, romance and all, end up just as they should be. Perfect.

[noriee404]

[azherwind-art]

Ink Soulmate Pt.11

Masterpost

<==First <=Prev Next=>

Phoenix is missing Larry now...

Thank you so much for waiting! Hope you're still interested in the story, if you'd like to see one update ahead feel free to check out Patreon!

Now also available on Webtoon!

[wildernessuntothemselves]

Soulmate(s) | Part 1

Genre: smut, fluff, angst

Word Count: 3.7

 Summary: In a world where you get the name of your soulmate tattooed on your skin the night you turn 21, there should be no reason to even think about fucking around with anyone else. Why would you when you know that the perfect person who is made just for you is somewhere out there waiting for you to find them? 

So how the hell did you end up messing around with your two best friends and what are you going to do if neither of them ends up being your soulmate or worse, what if one of them is your soulmate?

Warnings: fem!reader, soulmates au, this is not a light fic, there will be backstabbing and manipulation, sub!soobin, dom!gyu, also sub!gyu, dom!oc, masturbation, handjob, blowjob, dry humping, dirty talk, mentions of panty stealing

It feels so wrong doing this but so right at the same time. You know you’re not supposed to mess around with anyone other than your soulmate. In a world where you get the name of your soulmate tattoed on your skin the night you turn 21, there should be no reason to even think about fucking around with anyone else. Why would you when you know that the perfect person who is made just for you is somewhere out there waiting for you to find them? 

And it's not like you have much longer to wait. You're 20 now, just a few months shy of turning 21. You'll know your soulmate's name soon enough. But maybe that's why you're doing this. The idea of only being with one person forever and ever is both exciting and daunting. To only belong to one person–for them to have your first touch, your first kiss, your first everything… It felt a bit overwhelming. That’s how you had somehow convinced Soobin to do this with you. 

He is one of your two best friends. Honestly you could’ve equally asked Beomgyu, your other best friend, but he’s such a loud mouth you're scared he would’ve exposed you unintentionally. 

So Soobin it was, and he is good. He is sweet and shy and his lips feel heavenly against yours. You can tell he is as nervous as you are, hands timidly holding onto your sides as you clumsily kiss each other. Despite both your inexperience, it still feels good, and for a brief period of time as you’re kissing him, your worries and fears fade into the back of your mind and you think you’ve made the right decision.

It makes sense to explore such an intimate experience with someone you feel so comfortable with. If anything, it may make you better prepared to be mentally and physically present when you do meet your soulmate since you’ll already have gone through these nerve-racking firsts and learned what you like and what you don’t like in a zero-stakes environment. It would take a lot of the stress out of the equation for you. Yes, this seems more and more and more like a good idea by the second. 

But of course, it wasn’t a good idea and you’re stupid to think you could get away with it so easily. 

“What are you doing?” You hear Beomgyu's loud voice gasp and you both immediately pull away from each other. 

“Umm… nothing.” Soobin says dumbly after a long period of silence, making Beomgyu roll his eyes. 

“Sure didn't look like nothing. Are you two fucking?”

Now it was your turn to gasp and smack Beomgyu's shoulder. “Don't be disgusting. We were just kissing.”

“How long have you been kissing for?” He pushes curiously and you groan. “Just now. Just this once. I just wanted to know what it feels like before I'm bound to my soulmate forever. Please don't make this a big deal.”

You’re pleading your case, hoping he’d understand why you did this and not expose your ass. But of course, that wasn’t what was on Beomgyu’s mind. “Why didn't you ask me?”

You cringe at the offended tone in his voice. Of course, he’d make this into a competition. “I thought about it but I knew you wouldn't be able to keep your mouth shut.”

“What are you talking about?” He scoffs, now seriously offended. “I'm great at keeping secrets. I didn't tell Soobin that you have a crush on him. I didn’t tell you that I've found a couple of your underwear under Soobin's pillow.” 

You and Soobin's eyes widen comically. 

“Oops.” Beomgyu grins. That bastard did it on purpose. “Well, I guess the cat's out of the bag. I like you both too and I want to be involved in whatever this is.” 

Hold on. Hold on. Soobin likes you? Beomgyu likes you? What the hell is going on? This is too much information at once for your brain to process, and you try to ignore the way it all makes your heart flutter in your chest. You can't think about this too much. Your soulmate's name will be revealed to you soon. It is useless to think about what feelings who has for who.

“There is nothing to be involved in. This is over.” You proclaim and Soobin shoots Beomgyu a glare as if to say ‘thanks for blowing it’, but Beomgyu ignores him and instead rushes to protest, “Why? Why the sudden change of mind, baby? You were very into it just a minute ago.”

You scowl at him. Baby? “Yeah that was before you ruined it.”

“Oh come on, don't tell me you don't want some of this.” Beomgyu says greasily, pulling you by the hips and pressing your body against his body. 

Despite what the warmth of his body does to you, you keep the unimpressed look on your face, knowing Beomgyu can do little else but get you in trouble.  “Beomgyu, I am seriously going to throw up over you.” 

“Okay, okay, I'll tone it down.” He says, but doesn’t make any move to take his hands off you or separate his body from yours. “But seriously, I really want to try this too. I'm nervous about my soulmate too. What if I don't like them?”

You give him a look as if he's stupid and he clarifies, rolling his eyes, “I know I will love them obviously because that’s what’s written for me but what if I don't like them? You understand me?”

“I do.” You hesitate. Is a love you have no choice over really love? 

“But I know I like you. Both of you. And I want to experience this with you before I belong to someone else forever.” You’ve rarely seen Beombgyu look so genuine before–your best friend usually would rather be caught dead than serious–and you know he really means it. 

You finally relent. “Okay.”

“So can I get a kiss?” He asks gleefully and you look at Soobin who shrugs. You look back at Beomgyu and sigh. Oh well, what have you got to lose? It’s not like you don’t have feelings for Beomgyu, and may or may not have always found him to be really pretty–not that you’d tell him that of course. If his head gets any bigger, you’re not sure he’d be able to walk into rooms anymore. 

With that in mind, you bend down, pressing your lips against his. But Beomgyu wasn’t shy or reserved like Soobin and he immediately presses into the kiss fully, deliberately, taking your breath away before you even realize it. 

His lips are insistent against yours, guiding the kiss into something passionate, something that has your fingers tingling and the breath taken out of your lungs. 

But when you feel his tongue press against your lips, seeking to deepen the kiss even more, you have to pull back. “Beomgyu, no, too much.”

“Why not?” He whines, and his deep voice that's gotten even deepers causes you to shiver, the heavy look in his eyes making you want to melt into a puddle. 

You know some things about sex. You all do as it's encouraged for you to know what to expect when you finally meet your soulmate. So you know that look in Beomgyu's eyes too well and you have to say that being on the receiving end of it was making you weak in the knees. He’s always had smoldering eyes, and when you combine that with the desire and want he’s regarding you with right now, it’s hard not to burn up under his gaze. 

You gulp down the saliva pooling in your mouth. “Not so fast.”

“Please, baby.” He bends to kiss down your neck, his breath erupting a trail of goosebumps in his wake. Why the hell is he so good at this? Did he do this before? No, that’s crazy. 

You push him away before you lose it. “No, Beomgyu.”

“You're such a tease.” He groans, his rolling eyes landing on Soobin and he smirks. 

“Aw, did that get you excited, baby?” He grins, pulling Soobin into his arms just like he had you, but this time Soobin was looming over him. It didn't make a difference though. Beomgyu was still in control. “Be a good boy and stay still.”

He kisses Soobin and, fuck, you never thought about it before but seeing your best friends kiss was the hottest thing you've ever witnessed. Beomgyu is just as passionate kissing Soobin as he had just been kissing you, and it’s not hard to see why Soobin was so affected by the sight–except Soobin doesn’t protest when Beomgyu pushes his tongue into his mouth, and as soon as it touches his, he lets out a pathetic moan that has you dripping in your underwear. 

You see Beomgyu's smile into the kiss–fuck why was his cockiness so sexy?--before he presses even harder, muffling the rest of Soobin's moans. 

They're both messy–wet kissing noises filling the room and making you press your thighs together for some relief. They’re the ones kissing but you feel like you're the one going crazy. Seeing the filthy way Beomgyu was kissing the taller male, making him submit to him… it makes you almost turn into a puddle.

Finally, after a good five minute makeout session that has both you and Soobin struggling to catch your breath, Beomgyu pulls away, and you swear Soobin lets out a little mewl in protest. 

“Did a little bit of kissing get you all hot and bothered, Binnie?” You look down to where Beomgyu was looking and blush when you see Soobin's pants bulging out. 

It's not like Beomgyu was any better. He was hard too, but his demeanor was enough so that Soobin didn't realize the irony of his statement. 

You didn't expect him to actually do it but Beomgyu reaches out to cup Soobin's bulge, making the both of you gasp. That draws Beomgyu's attention back to you and he grins. “You like what you see, baby?”

He looks down and you realize you are touching yourself now. But you don't care. You just want this to continue. You're too horny to think clearly so you just nod. You’ll deal with consequences of crossing this boundary later when your brain isn't swimming in sex hormones. 

“Want to watch me jerk him off?”

You nod again enthusiastically and Beomgyu grins, turning back to Soobin to undo his pants. 

“Let's put on a good show for her, huh, baby?”

Soobin whimpers as Beomgyu pulls him out of his pants and starts jerking him off. 

“Fuck, so big.” You mutter mindlessly and Beomgyu turns to you, scoffing, “Yeah? Bet he can't even use it if the way he's humping my hand is any indication.”

“Of course, he doesn’t. This is new to all of us.” Your retort breaks into a pathetic gasp as your own fingers rubbing your clit mercilessly, copying the way Beomgyu's long fingers rub Soobin's slit. But Beomgyu’s not interested in your smart-assery.

“Why don't you take off your underwear, princess? Show us what's under that tiny skirt you’re always teasing us with.” Beomgyu demands, making you blush. Teasing them? You never intended or even thought you were doing that. 

“I wasn’t teasing.” You frown, pace faltering as your brows furrow in confusion. 

“Oh, but you are.” Beomgyu laughs, “Tell her, Binnie.” 

You look to Soobin who seems to be bowing under the pressure of the pleasure from Beomgyu’s touch as well as your curious and disbelieving gaze. 

“Yeah. You a-are a tease.” He mutters lowly, not meeting your eyes. “You don’t have t-to wear skirts so short around us. We’re still men.” 

“Hence the panty stealing.” Beomgyu adds and you snort, trying not to think too hard about what they’ve just admitted to because what the fuck? The fucking perverts! How could you have not known? “Hence? Surprised you know that word, Gyu.”

But Beomgyu doesn’t let you derail the mortifying yet somehow flattering conversation. “You’re teasing right now. Come on, let us see that pretty pussy.” 

Your body heats up, your face burning and your ears feel like they could fall off any second. You never thought that one of your best friends, the guys you practically grew up with, would be spouting such filth at you one day and basically admitting that they’ve both been seeing you in a more than platonic way and using you as spankbank material to jack off to you without you being none the wiser, and you certainly didn’t expect how fucking hot you’d find their depravity. “Can't have poor Binnie here feel like he's the only one exposed.”

“Why don't you take off your pants then and jerk both of your cocks together so he wouldn’t feel alone?” You counter to try and take some of the heat off of you but Beomgyu just laughs lightly, leaving you to wonder how he can be so calm about all of this when you feel like you’re one second away from spontaneously combusting. “You'd love to see that, wouldn't you? Dirty girl.” 

Before you can squabble more, Soobin lets out a loud whine. “Beomgyu, please I'll cum” 

“Will you? Is it turning you on to be jerked off for her to see and play with her pretty pussy? Do you wanna show her how much your big cock can fill her up if she lets you fuck her?”

Fuck, that is so hot and so wrong. There is no way you’d let Soobin fuck you if he’s not your soulmate, but just the idea of doing something so taboo clearly gets to the both of you. You shudder when you see Soobin cry out, staring at your hand playing with yourself under your skirt as he cums, covering Beomgyu's hand and clothes with his seed. 

Beomgyu grabs the taller boy by the neck and pulls him into a rough kiss, muffling his moans of overstimulation as he pulls even more cum out of his now red cock. You can’t take it anymore, your body finally succumbing to the obscenity unfolding in front of you as you cum watching your two best friends make out. 

“Good boy.” Beomgyu drawls, pulling back from the kiss to look at your shuddering body coming off your own orgasm and smirks. 

“God, you're both so easy.” He proclaims cockily, and as the fog of your high clears, you go back to being annoyed at his attitude, letting it coarse through you and burn off the embarrassment you feel at what you’ve just done. Who does he think he is? Of course, you're easy. You're all virgins here. He probably is easy too despite his bravado. He is just better at hiding it for some reason and it’s getting on your nerves. You’ll show him. You’ll prove that he’s just as pathetic as the both of you. 

With that in mind, you stalk towards him, roughly pushing him down on the bed behind him before straddling him. You rest your soaked underwear on top of the bulge in his pants and give your hips an experimental roll that pulls a choked moan out of him and makes his hands fly out to grab you by the ass, pushing your crotch further against his cock. 

“Oh fuck, yes. Ride my cock, baby.” He groans, his hips eagerly bucking up against yours. 

“Who is easy now?” You attempt to gain the upper hand, but Beomgyu doesn’t care, easily giving it up to you.

“I don't care just keep going, fuck.” He mutters, his hold on your bruising as a string of truly pitiful moans and whimpers fall out of his pretty lips, almost giving you whiplash. He crumbled so easily. 

“You were acting all cocky and in control, making fun of Soobinie for being eager but look at you now, acting even worse, saying anything just to have something rubbing against your needy cock.”

You don't know what came over you, but putting Beomgyu in his place brought you immense pleasure. He is usually so loud and bratty and you can do nothing about it, so it feels good to finally have found a way to get the best of the brat. 

“God, I can feel your wet pussy even through all the clothes.” He whines, and you should feel embarrassed. You should find it mortifying that you're so wet he can feel it even though you're both still fully dressed but the needy look on his face and the desperate way he is clutching onto you just makes you feel powerful. 

“Yeah? Wanna make a mess in your pants for Binnie to see?”

He looks at the other boy who is now back to being fully hard and stroking his cock over the scene playing out in front of him. 

“Yeah. Wanna cum for you.”

“What do you think, Binnie? Does Beommie deserve to cum after the way he was just acting? Or should I leave him all wet and horny?”

Beomgyu shivers and shakes his head. “No, please.” He turns to Soobin, panicking. “Binnie, baby, didn't I make you cum?”

“I don't know. You were very mean, making fun of me.” 

You grin, loving that Soobin is playing along in tormenting Beomgyu. After all, it's not too often that you get to get back at the little shit. 

“No, baby, I was just putting on a show. Please.” He puts on his best puppy dog eyes as he tries to justify himself but you all know it’s bullshit. He fucking loved every second of tormenting Soobin just as you love every second of tormenting him. 

“Shut up, Beomgyu, before I have Binnie shove his cock down your throat to shut you up.” You were only making empty threats, but seeing the way Soobin bites his lip at that and jerks himself off harder makes you actually want to do it. 

“Oh, do you wanna fuck Gyu’s throat, Binnie? Finally shut up that loud mouth of his?” 

“Please.” The tall boy steps closer, but waits for you to give the go ahead. You look back down at Gyu who looks a bit scared but does not protest. “What do you say, Gyu? You wanna cum, right?”

“Baby–”

“Come on, don’t be such a tease.” You mock him, pushing two of your fingers into his mouth and moving them in and out as if you’re fucking it. “You wanted more right?” 

He nods, gagging a little as you push your fingers in too far. “Yeah. You’re gonna be good and get Binnie off with your mouth?” You ask, grabbing his tongue between your thumb and index finger and pulling it out of his mouth so he can’t speak, but he nods. 

“Good boy.” You reward him by pulling the head of his cock out of his pants and thumbing at it with your saliva covered fingers. He throws his head back, mouth hung open in a loud moan, and you motion for Soobin to go ahead–the power rush you’re getting from bossing the two boys around making Beomgyu’s pants sticky with your arousal. 

Soobin can only get half of his cock into Beomgyu’s mouth before the other boy is choking, but it’s difficult for Beomgyu to protest when you’re grinding against him so deliciously while your index finger teases his weeping slit mercilessly–not that he would be able to say much anyway with the older boy’s cock stuffing his big mouth. 

Soobin on the other hand can say a lot, and he’s spouting off all sorts of exclamations and curses at the feeling of Beomgyu’s warm, wet mouth around his member. 

“Fuck, this feels amazing.” He groans and turns to you, “Can I use him every day?” He asks you cheekily and you grin as you hump against Beomgyu harder. “I’m sure he wouldn’t mind. Look at him, he’s soaking my hand with precum. He must love having cock in his mouth.” 

You hear Beomgyu garbled moans around Soobin’s cock and you question him. “What’s wrong, baby? Is Binnie using his big cock right this time?” 

Beomgyu whines again and you laugh at him, but Soobin doesn’t find it so funny, not with his cock getting the full brunt of all of Beomgyu’s vocalizations. “Oh god, I’m close. Can I cum on his face?” 

You grin widely. “Of course, Binnie. I’m sure Gyu wants to help out his hyung any way he can. He’s so needy he’ll let you cover his pretty face in cum because he knows that will earn him a reward. Isn’t that right, baby?”

Beomgyu pulls away from Soobin’s dick, gasping out, “Yeah, want you to cum, Binnie.” 

“Good boy.” You drawl, rocking yourself against Beomgyu’s dick and making him moan out. “Please, cum. Please.” 

You don’t know if he’s begging for Soobin to cum or for you to let him cum but it doesn’t matter as the effect is immediate on Soobin who empties his balls on the pretty boy’s face, and the sight of Beomgyu covered in Soobin’s cum pushes you over the edge too. 

As you shake and spasm, you make sure to grab Beomgyu’s dick and jerk it off harshly, and within seconds, he too is cumming, making a mess of himself even more as he covers his body with his own cum. 

“Fuck, fuck!” His back arches as his orgasm racks through him, almost throwing you off, before he falls back to the bed and convulses with the aftershocks of his orgasm. “Holy shit.” 

Holy shit is the right phrase because wow, this was amazing, way better than doing it alone and guiltily conjuring up faceless apparitions of companions that in weak moments take the form of one of your two best friends. 

No, the real thing was much better, but as the fog of the pleasure lifts off and only the mess of your crime scene is left behind, the guilt and dread sink their claws into your stomach. 

Your eyes dart between Soobin who is slumped on the chair next to the bed catching his breath with his cock still in his hand to Beomgyu who is still under you, absolutely soaked in all your combined fluids as he struggles to catch his own breath–both of them still sporting that dazed blissful look on their faces, not having yet joined you in realization land where the only thing running through your mind right now is ‘Oh, dear god, what have you done? What does this mean? And where the hell do you go from here?’

_________________________

A/N: surprise drop lol. i am still working on the yandere iron age gyu twoshot but it's much more difficult to write so have this in the meantime. hope you like it and let me know what your predictions for this series is

[minty364]

DPXDC Prompt #128

No one was quite sure what happened, They had gone after Joker and while Batman was hesitant to allow Hood along he had gotten better about his anger and everyone else was busy with other rouges. one second Red Hood had a gun in Jokers face the next, there was a shift in Hood like he wasn’t himself anymore. Unfortunately it finally happened for Hood, his soulmate had reached 20 years of age and the two switched places. The person controlling his body now though was Danny Fenton who happens not to like clowns.

Danny was panicking and not realizing he was holding a gun pulls the trigger causing the Joker the go flying and Danny’s panic to increase 10 fold. He whips his head to get a look at his surroundings and that’s when he panics further and slowly places the gun on the ground and slowly raise his hands into the air. There in front of him was Batman and he knew he was in trouble. Still panicking he squeaked at the dark knight’s approach, “I’m sorry!! I- I guess I’m this guy’s soulmate. I didn’t mean to hurt anyone”

Jason meanwhile wasn’t fairing any better. He was pissed the clown was right in front of him and he was so close! He was in this scrawny body, his soulmate happened to be in Gotham but by the looks of it, he was in rough shape, a small fever was forming and it seemed like he had bandages wrapped around his torso. Jason doesn’t know what happened to him but he’s taking him to Alfred, he wasn’t going to let his soulmate bleed out in an alley even if he did have the worst timing.

Part 1 :

[mentallyadinonugget]

✮soulmate!ellie x soulmate!reader

tags: sfw, some fluff, vvv vague loser ellie, slightly deranged/feral reader, & soulmate au obvs.

word count: 2.3k

*. ੈ✩‧₊˚༺☆༻*ੈ✩‧₊˚

*. ੈ✩‧₊˚༺☆༻*ੈ✩‧₊˚

Growing up, you never quite grasped why people believed that having your soulmate's very first words permanently etched into your skin was so undeniably romantic and a true blessing. Perhaps it offered them hope that there’s someone destined to love them, their other half. Meanwhile, most of the folks you encountered had the sweetest meet-cutes and even more charming phrases like, “I’m sorry to say, but you have the most beautiful eyes ever” or “Hi, I saw you from afar and simply couldn’t resist introducing myself.” Your parents, on the other hand, had the most cringe-worthy first interaction imaginable, and heaven forbid you ever bring it up; it only inflates their already inflated egos. Maybe you were just a tad jealous.

Even the more common lines felt agreeable to you, like “Hi, what’s your name?” or “And that’ll be $9.99, tax included.” You knew it would’ve been confusing to receive something like that, but God knows you’d prefer it over what your “soulmate” actually said to you. You scoffed every time you glanced at your right arm, a constant reminder of how the person who’s supposed to love you eternally uttered, “Are you actually deaf, or is your head just wayyyy too up your ass all the time to hear anything?” Ah yes, folks, that’s the love of your life right there.

Whenever someone would mention their insipid, showy, dense soulmate’s first words like “You smell like tulips” or “Mister, wait, you forgot your wallet,” you couldn’t help but feel that pang of jealousy. But could anyone really blame you? People often tried to convince you that maybe it would be funny when you finally met or something vaguely similar, but you always silenced them with a glare, not wanting to hear another word about it.

Today was probably the worst day of your life. You got into a huge fight with your parents about something so silly that you couldn't help but laugh right now. You dropped some good manchow soup on your white T-shirt while getting up to get your plate to the dining table. You weren't sure what you were angrier about, your T-shirt or your soup. Just as you thought things couldn't get worse, your teacher sent a text in the group chat assigning all students extra work so late at night, ruining all the plans you had for the weekend. You couldn't pinpoint what pushed you over the edge or the reason why you were sneaking out to get fried shrimp at 4 in the morning. It was just one of those days.

You were out in your Hello Kitty pajamas and even comfier sweatshirt with your headphones in. You mumbled to yourself, "I would rather lick my tongue with a cheese grater than have someone I know from school see me like this." You texted your best friend, "Should I get the sweet chili or BBQ sauce?" But before you could get a reply back, you were tackled to the ground by someone on possibly a skateboard. Your palms and knees were scraped and bloodied. RIP Hello Kitty pajamas.

You got up to see this pale girl with short brown hair, a baggy T-shirt, and shorts. Her nose was bleeding slightly. Honestly, you would have found her quite attractive under any different circumstances, but right now you couldn't give less of a fuck about what she looked like or what she was wearing. You were having the shittiest day in the history of shitty days, and now your Hello Kitty trousers were ripped and you were covered in blood. Your sweet dreams of getting fried shrimp were shattered. So before you could even think about something reasonable, some vile words left your mouth. To your surprise, she didn't hold back either.

"Can't you see where you're going, you bumbling shit muffin?" you shrieked.

"Are you actually deaf, or is your head just wayyyy too up your ass all the time to hear anything?" she yelled with the biggest sneer on her face, getting way closer to your face than you'd like her to be. You could now clearly see the freckles on her face, her bloodied button nose, her green eyes, and the way her eyebrows furrowed in frustration. Maybe you would like that, tbh.

It took you a minute to realize what just happened.

oh

Oh.

What the fuck

What the absolute fucking fuck, this can't be happening. Not when I look like this, at least you thought, and by the looks of the girl's expression, you were so sure that she was thinking the same thing. Her features softened slightly, and she let out a small chuckle, faintly blowing air in your face. “Oh my god, it’s you,” she exclaimed, her smile getting bigger. But once again, you couldn’t register what you were about to say and started screaming, “YOU FUCKING ASSHOLE YOU RUINED MY LIFE!” as you lunged at her, trying to punch her. She caught you with such ease you would’ve considered it hot if you weren’t so angry at the moment. “I’M THE ASSHOLE??? When YOU’RE the one who called me a shit muffin?” She barked a laugh. “Do you know that all my friends call me shit muffin now? I guess I do have to give you points for creativity.” She amused, and guilt took over you. All your anger vanished. “I’m sorry, I guess,” you murmured, avoiding eye contact. Before you could react, she grabbed your chin and enforced you to look at her. “What was that?” She leaned in, cupping her ear, pretending to hear you better, smirking a bit. “Oh, eat cock,” you rolled your eyes and pushed her away. “Sorry to disappoint, but I don’t swing that way.” She beamed. “I can’t believe it’s you,” she grinned ear to ear. “Why? I let down your expectations?” You half joked now that you finally started to believe that this was indeed happening. God, you were so nervous. What if she thought you were ugly, like a troll, or you frightened her by trying to knock her teeth in? God, how could I be so fucking stop, you introspected.

“W-what? NO, absolutely not. You’re beautiful,” she went on apprehensively, her cheeks quickly reddening as she said it.

“Please forget that I’m not this much of a loser on a daily basis,” she groaned, hiding her face in her hands and sitting down on the sidewalk. You couldn’t help but giggle. God, she was cute. “If it makes you feel any better, I thought you were hot before I punched you,” you said. “TRIED to punch me. I dodged that actually,” she boasted, wiping fake dust off her shoulders. This time you actually laughed. “Oh my god, you’re so lame,” you exclaimed. “NO I’M NOT,” she put up a performance which made you laugh even harder. You didn’t get it, but the girl was staring at you with the biggest smile on her face. “I’m Ellie, by the way, Ellie Williams,” she put her hand out for you. “(y/n)(y/ln),” you replied while shaking it. You got up and pulled her with you, both of you walking for no reason. It was quite peaceful, honestly.

“Well, miss y/l/n, what are you doing here at 4 am? Early morning run?” She asked, breaking the silence.

“Yeah, as if,” you scoffed and started telling her about your appalling day, and to your entertainment, she made stupid expressions, exaggerating her emotions on everything you said, putting a fake sword through her heart when you told her about how she’s the reason you don’t have your delicious fried shrimp with you right now. And in return, Ellie told you about how much she likes skateboarding, and she was trying to learn this new trick but kept making a lot of noise, so her old man Joel told her to take it outside. She told you how cool the trick is and even attempted to show it to you, failing miserably and making you laugh once again. You then noticed the blood on her face was beginning to dry up, so you asked her to come with you to some public bathroom.

You took out your pocket hanky and began to wet it, putting it on her face, cleaning all traces of blood, while she continued to yap about her other interests, which included dinosaurs and space, and it weirdly didn’t surprise you. You cleaned yourself up too and came out.

“I’m truly sorry for ruining your super awesome pajamas,” she forged an apology, her smile unwavering. “I’m sorry for almost breaking your nose; there’s nothing I can do about that.” You bowed to her, mirroring the energy she had given you, though deep down, you felt a twinge of guilt.

“Well, there is something you can do about it,” she said slyly. “And that is?” You raised an eyebrow. “Your number, maybe? And a date, but only if you want to, of course! You totally don’t have to hang out with me just because we’re soulmates. I mean, who even believes in that anymore? You probably don’t want to; we just met, so it’s reasonable. I could be a serial killer for gods sake.” She laughed nervously, glancing down as she played with her fingers anxiously. “Yes, I’d love to go out with you, Ellie,” you interjected, stopping her from rambling further.

“Oh, thank fuck” she exclaimed, relief washing over her as she pumped her fist in victory. “Ellie, what the hell? Just give me your phone, and I’ll type my number in for you.” You chuckled at her excitement. “So, where are we going?” you asked Ellie.

“Oh, don’t you worry about that; I know exactly what you’d love,” she smirked to herself. “Yeah, yeah, sure, whatever. But right now, I have to leave and get back home before my parents figure out I snuck out, okay?” you said, glancing at the time.

“What? No goodbye kiss?” Ellie teased, and before she could make another witty comment, you kissed her cheek and dashed away. “You better make it worth my while, Williams!” you called back as you fled.

As you neared home, a funny feeling crept in—maybe this soulmate business wouldn’t be as awful as you had imagined. Meanwhile, Ellie stood there in shock, her hand caressing her cheek where your lips had just lingered. She was utterly confused, yet her radiant smile remained unyielding.

Ellie Williams was utterly, truly, and tremendously fucked up over you, but luckily, so were you. _____________________________________________

Hi pretty ppl! this was my first ellie fic and I know this is a bit too long but I was having so much fun writing it I couldn’t stop im sorry okay 😞 if yall like it ill make a part two I just know

once again constructive criticism is more than appreciated but if you want to be mean do not interact with this at all