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ivyglow · 3 years ago

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this is so cute I- 🥺

tattoos cleanse the soul - mat barzal

summary: soulmate au! every year on your birthday your body develops a new tattoo, something your soulmate loves. you still don't understand how your soulmate could love a hockey team so much that the new york islander's logo would be etched on your ankle forever.

note: this is the first fic i've written in a very very long time. i love soulmate au!s and i literally have nothing going on so i decided to write this. i'd love to hear what everyone thinks <3

warnings: no warnings, just soft!mat

word count: 4.5k+

The tattoos started at 16. Like they do for everyone, from the day you turn 16 to the day you meet your soulmate, every human being develops a small tattoo somewhere on their body. A small tattoo dedicated to something the person holding the other half of your soul loved. Your first tattoo was a hockey skate, a small, yellow, CCM, hockey skate.

You always wondered what kind of tattoos your soulmate had. Did he have the cover of your favourite book somewhere? A tattoo of your dog? Maybe a small sunset somewhere? You were never sure, you never would be sure, until you met whoever it was that was meant to complete you.

But you sure knew what they loved. Hockey… and summertime. 8 years later and 8 different tattoo’s littered small sections of your body. First were the skates, then the stick, followed by a puck in the third consecutive year. The devastation on your parents faces when they saw the tiny Bud Light can on your wrist still brought upon second-hand embarrassment every time you looked at it.

Whoever your soulmate was, you knew there was no way they didn’t love hockey with their whole heart. But you could never understand how someone who loved hockey so much could love summertime just as equally, the only time during the year where hockey had the chance to be on break.

You had heard the theories from your friends and family. Growing up in a Canadian city meant everyone immediately jumped to someone who played hockey, likely professionally or semi-professionally. You usually disregarded the theories and ideas all your friends would throw at you every year on your birthday, it wasn’t until this year that you really started to question if they were right.

All your friends had found their match, somehow every single person in your multiple friend groups had found the person their soul had been calling out for. Except you.

Your leg was laid out on the couch in front of you, the left leg of your trackpants rolled up to reveal your ankle, and the newest addition to your collection of soulmate tattoos.

A small, black and white, New York Islanders logo was tattooed to the inside of your left ankle. Who the fuck loved the New York Islanders enough that their logo would appear on your ankle?

You were genuinely stumped the morning of your birthday. You were expecting another summertime symbol, another thing to prove that your soulmate probably enjoyed their summers and was probably a bit of a fuck boy if the remainder of your tattoos proved anything.

But this one was completely out in left field, in your opinion. Your best friend’s Tash’s sports tattoos were similar to your first ones, small symbols regarding the sport. Nothing ever reached the caliber of an entire teams logo permanently etched somewhere on their body.

The logo itself wasn’t anything special, you hadn’t cared for hockey until the tattoos started showing up all those years ago. You were content to learn what you could about your local team, so you had a fair share of knowledge about the Vancouver Canucks and eventually the Colorado Avalanche.

It didn’t matter anyways; the tattoos could keep coming. It felt like that’s what was going to happen anyways, there was no indication you were meeting your soulmate anytime soon, no coincidences from nature, you had essentially given up hope.

~~~~~~

Mat watched the little Blue Jay form that year. He had been wide awake the night of his birthday, amped up after the game against Pittsburgh. He watched it form on his wrist, his eyes tracing every inch as it slowly completed itself, the colours standing out against his skin.

None of his tattoos gave him any hint to who you were, every new one more vague than the others. He knew it wasn’t going to be easy to find you, he knew it took work and it took effort to find the person that was out there, the person that was literally meant for him. But Tyson’s all made so much sense, they all connected to his soulmate, they were the things she loved most.

Mat sighed, he knew Tyson’s only made sense because it had been his childhood best friend, someone he hadn’t seen in years when their final shared tattoo formed above their hearts. He knew his would make sense when he met you, knew they would all be perfectly connected to you, but for now it was frustrating.

The Blue Jay was added to the collection of random things you loved. He had a small paw print on his shoulder, mountains on the inside of his bicep, a sunset on the top of his spine and so many more. He knew they’d make sense when he met you, but God did it drive him insane that there was no connection between them at all.

Shaking the thoughts from his head, he felt a hand slap his right shoulder, a loud exclamation of “Barzy!” falling from the culprits’ lips.

Grinning at the sound of Tyson’s voice, Mat turned his head to acknowledge the man.

“Tys! Look who it fuckin’ is, been awhile eh?”

Mat was quick out of his seat, an arm thrown lazily around Tyson’s shoulder in a gesture of greeting. They hadn’t seen each other since the previous summer, strict NHL and bubble rules guaranteeing players were unable to see close friends and family for months on end.

As per every summer since the two friends had started in the NHL for their respective teams, this time of year was dedicated to catching up, enjoying the break they got from their high-endurance life styles, spending a significant amount of time on the lake and at parties.

That’s how the two found themselves here, their large group of friends slowly making their way through the front door of the lake house, loud exclamations and excitement as people were reunited, finally seeing each other for the first time in almost a year.

Mat was no exception to the excitement. Summer was his favourite time of year. He loved hockey, but something about the summer just cured every negative aspect of his life. The time with friends, the lake, camping, Bud Light beer, everything about the season was just the best.

And this summer was going to be better than the rest. 80% of their friend group had spent the winter months in some form of quarantine, whether it was work mandated or province mandated, they had barely had the chance to enjoy the outside world all year.

“So, Tash and her friends will be coming up tonight, I think? I forget when she said they were driving up, I know she said a few of them may have to work today so it may end up being pushed til tomorrow, but definitely today or tomorrow.”

Mat nodded his head. Tash was Tyson’s soulmate. Tash and Tyson had met as children and drifted apart, eventually finding their way back to each other after the two of them randomly came across each other in Denver the previous year.

Tyson had introduced her through FaceTime back in January, eager for the chance to make sure one of his best friends knew he had finally met his soulmate. Mat was ecstatic for him, happy to know that one of the most deserving people had finally met the other half of their soul. He wouldn’t deny that he was envious, who wouldn’t be? Mat was relatively old to not have met his soulmate yet, the average meeting age being between 17 and 22, and he was already halfway through his 24th year.

Everyone told him not to let it get to his head too much. Matt told him all the time that he needed to relax, he had met Syd years after the average age, he would meet his soulmate one day he just needed to stay hopeful.

“Who’s all coming up with her again? Just wanna make sure we have enough mattresses and stuff for everyone.” Mat gestured with his hand to the three boxes of unopened air mattresses that remained on the island in the kitchen.

“Well Tash is going to be sleeping with me, obviously. Nicola and Emily will probably share, and then Tessa and Y/N probably will too.”

Quirking an eyebrow at him, Mat didn’t recognize the final two names. “Tessa and Y/N?”

Nodded his head, Tyson continued, “Yeah, last minute yeses that I told you about, but you obviously weren’t listening. They both went to university with Tash, Y/N and her were roommates in first year. Sweet girl from the few times I’ve heard Tash FaceTiming her.”

~~~~~~

“Ugh, Tash. Seriously?”

You groaned as you watched her throw the third skimpy bathing suit in the cart in front of you. Accidentally leaving all your bathing suits in Denver before coming back to British Columbia for the summer wasn’t your greatest idea, but that’s what lead you here, the racks of Bikini Village demonstrating all the ways in which you could show off your body.

“Babe, seriously, this would look so hot on you so hush and just accept it.”

Rolling your eyes, you looked towards Tessa who had the same mischievous look in her eyes that your other companion did. “C’mon, Y/N. Tys has so many cute friends, and we’re there for two weeks, you won’t hurt your soulmate to get a little down and dirty with someone cute for a little bit.”

Gently tapping the other girl’s shoulder with your own, you rolled your eyes again at her comment. It wasn’t like you hadn’t done anything with people before, you had, quite a bit, with just a few different people. It’s not like you were holding out for your soulmate, but you were getting older, and you knew there was going to be a point soon where you would eventually come across them and you didn’t want to get involved or hurt anyone else when you eventually found them.

“I know that look, Y/N. Sleeping with someone doesn’t mean you’re going to date them and then find your soulmate. Live a little, you’ll figure out all your weird little symbols in time, stop stressing.”

You hadn’t told anyone about your newest symbol, just simply telling them it was another hockey one and they were content enough with that. You knew the logo was strange, strange that your soulmate could love a team that much, so you never really bothered to bring it up, not wanting to hear all the crazy theories that your friends coined.

“Are we driving up tonight? Or tomorrow?”

Tash shrugged, “Nic said there’s a chance she may cancel and if she cancels then Em definitely will too, so I’m still waiting for her to text me.”

Nodding your head, you weren’t surprised. Tash’s other friends were… interesting to say the least. They were flakey, and rarely messaged her, but they were some of the only people she still talked to from high school and she wasn’t willing to end the relationship because of everything that they had gone through together.

You had your fair share of those friends as well, one’s who invited you to random things during the summer, forgetting and remembering you on different occasions. It didn’t bother you, it’s not like you went out of your way to remain close with everyone from high school. Moving to Denver at 18 made that easy.

“Anddd, there it is. Nic cancelled, I’ll give it two minutes before Em sends through her cancellation too.”

You could see the annoyance on Tash’s face. Knowing she had been excited to spend the next two weeks with them was evident, she hadn’t seen them since the summer prior and all she had wanted to do was catch up with them and have all her future bridesmaids finally get the chance to really get to know one another.

“Ah Tash, I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine, Em just cancelled too. You gotta get the bikini’s now because I’m sad and it’ll make me happy.”

“You manipulative bitch…”

Tash grinned as she pressed her arms around you in a small but joyful hug. You knew she’d be fine, she’d likely just spend more time with Tyson, Tessa and you. Ignoring her laughs, you allowed for the employee to cash out the choices the two girls had picked for you, the total equalling more than you had ever paid for bathing suits before in your life.

You were quick to grumble about it as you tapped your card, eager to get out of the store before either girl could convince you to buy anything else. “Are we heading up tonight then?”

“Yup. Let’s get everything back to my house and packed so we can head up.”

~~~~~~

Mat could feel the annoyance growing quicker than he was expecting. Tyson and him had been sitting on the couch for the last hour, Tyson putting out every connection that his soulmate tattoos could mean.

“Maybe she’s one of those Snow White party Princess’s? You know, cause of the Blue Jay?”

“Obviously the mountains mean she’s probably from BC. You gotta explore near the mountains more, we’ll go on hikes this summer bro don’t worry.”

He was ready to strangle him, absolutely ready to strangle him. Mat knew he was being harmless, just trying to encourage him to think about it more positively and logically, but Tyson was driving him fucking crazy.

“Tys, please shut the fuck up. I’ve already thought about every single possibility as to what these stupid tattoos could mean. All I’ve gathered is that whoever they are, they’re obviously fucking scatterbrained.”

Tyson barely registered the rude way he had just spoken to him, choosing to focus his attention on the call that was coming through his phone. Mat watched as he pressed the phone to his ear, a happy smile plastered across his face. He couldn’t hear what was being said on the other end, but he knew without a doubt that it was Tash.

“Oh god, I’m so excited to see you. Mat’s already told me to shut up about you like fifty teams.”

More like five, but yeah fifty works too.

“Okay, drive safe. I’ll see you soon, love you!”

Obviously, Tash and her friends were expected sooner rather than later as Tyson deposited the phone back into the pocket of his shorts. “Girls are on their way now. It’s only three of them now so we can put away one of the mattresses.”

Mat and Tyson did just that, the few other people who were already there setting up a few other things around the house. The bar was fully stocked, the beer pong table was out with solo cups spread all over it, food was fresh in the fridge and cabinets. There wasn’t enough to last them two weeks, but a drive into town would take less than an hour to complete as long as two of them went.

Mat barely registered the sound of the lake house’s front door slamming open, a loud squeal ripping through the air before Tyson was up and gone from beside him and instead wrapped around the subject who had just broken his eardrums.

Trying not to grimace, Mat stood up to walk towards the new guests, not paying much attention to the two girls standing behind Tash and Tyson who were also rubbing their ears with a grimace.

The two pulled away from each other and Mat didn’t have time to think before Tash was throwing her arms around him, muttering ‘thank you’s’ and ‘how nice it was to finally meet him’, before pulling away with a large smile on her face.

Tyson was greeting the two other girls who had stepped into the house behind his soulmate, short hugs exchanged between him and her friends.

“Mat, this is Tessa.” Tyson gestured to the short brunette. Mat gave her a polite smile, and she responded with a shy wave. She seemed nice, if she could roll her eyes at the squeal Tash had erupted with then obviously she wasn’t too bad.

“And this, is Y/N.”

Something felt off the moment he made eye contact with you. He couldn’t place why, but something in his body felt off. Mat was quick to shake the feeling, chalking it up to the anxiety of being face-to-face and stuck with more than one pretty girl for two weeks.

~~~~~~

“And this, is Y/N.”

The first thing you noticed was how attractive he was, Mat Barzal. You knew he was attractive obviously; Tash had filled you in on how attractive all of Tyson’s friends were on the way to the house. The second thing you noticed was the immediate feeling that pooled in your stomach. It felt like a weird mixture of anxiety and uncomfortableness. You hadn’t felt like that before, so uneasy because of another person, someone who Tash talked so highly of because of how highly her soulmate talked about them.

“It’s nice to meet you, Mat.”

You were polite as you smiled at him, your voice floating throughout the room to him as you both continued to look at each other. He smiled and nodded his head back at you in acknowledge, a soft “You too” leaving his lips while he examined your features.

Tash gave you a weird look, similar to the look Tyson was currently giving Mat. Shrugging it off, Mat gestured to the stairs behind him.

“A few of our buddies cancelled, so you ladies can take whatever room is still available. Tash, you’re with Tyson. You can go put your stuff upstairs if you want.”

Tash was eager to oblige with his offer, looking back at you and Tessa pleadingly. Laughing as you rolled your eyes at her, you let her lead the two of you upstairs and past the boys.

You and Tessa decided on the biggest room that didn’t have anyone’s belongings inside of it and was still empty and available. Quickly disposing of all your bags, and getting changed into comfortable, more suitable lake house attire, the two of you met Tash in the hall. Well, more like Tash and Tyson who were too distracted by the feeling of each other’s lips.

“Yeah, been waiting to see how long I could stand here before they noticed.”

Quirking your eye at the man beside you, Mat grinned down towards you. “We’re at about 3 minutes now.”

“Ugh, gross.”

You were able to detach the couple when they realized it was more than just Mat awkwardly waiting for them to pull apart. The sheepish couple waved it off with a “we haven’t seen each other in weeks” before the group of you made your way downstairs.

You didn’t interact with Mat much for the rest of the night. More of his and Tyson’s friends had made their way to the house during the time you were upstairs, so both boys were eager to interact with all the people they hadn’t seen in months.

You, Tash and Tessa were introduced to every new person you passed, quick hello’s and introductions making their way in one ear and out the other. But you couldn’t shake the feeling that you had when you had first made eye contact with Mat. There was something weird about it, something unlike anything you had felt before, and you could just not wrap your head around it.

What you didn’t realize, was that said man had the same thoughts. He couldn’t understand the unease, the feeling he mistook for anxiety that was still coursing through his body. It was like a weird adrenaline, but he couldn’t place what it was.

See, the quirky thing about soulmates was that you didn’t know immediately when you met them. You didn’t feel the painless tattoo etching itself above your heart the moment you made eye contact with them. It was the feeling that you felt at that moment, when you first make eye contact with your soulmate that really connects you to them. It was uncharted territory for every soulmate pair when they first met.

There were the unlucky pairs who made eye contact but didn’t realize until far after their soulmate was long gone from their presence that they had met them. Then there was you and Mat, hidden away in a lake house in British Columbia, not realizing that either of you had met your other half..

~~~~~~

He couldn’t tear his eyes off the tattoo. The tattoo that was definitely not there hours before. The tattoo that was inked just above his heart. Everyone knew a tattoo above your heart, a completed tattoo above your heart meant you had met your them, had met the person who contained the identical mate to his soul. Mat had met his soulmate. She was in this house. You were literally steps away from the very spot he was standing in.

Mat was shocked, he couldn’t help as his pointer finger traced the small tattoo of the lake they were on, surrounded by trees with a sunset behind it. It wasn’t big enough to be obnoxious. But it was perfect. It was everything he had been waiting eight years for and more.

He knew that feeling earlier had to have been more than just anxiety, more than just an adrenaline. It was his body demanding that he acknowledge what was happening, demanding him to acknowledge what was right in front of him. And now his body was demanding he acknowledge what was just down the hall, unbeknownst to him, your body was demanding the same thing as you acknowledged the tattoo above your heart.

“Yo, Mat. I need my toothbru- woah. What the fuck is that?”

Mat turned towards Tyson, a look of pure bewilderment across his face.

“Oh my god that’s your matching tattoo. Oh my god.”

Tyson was basically saying exactly what Mat was feeling on the inside. He didn’t know how to react, how were you reacting? Were you freaking out with Tash and Tessa? Were you excited? Disappointed? Was he good enough for you?

“Oh, get out of your head, Barzy. She’s right down the hall! Is it Tessa? You looked like you were eyeing her up.”

Shaking his head vehemently, Mat watched as the realization peeked across Tyson’s face. “How didn’t I realize it was Y/N, I’m such an idiot. You were looking at her like your entire body was about to collapse, oh my God she’s literally down the hall. Go see her, you idiot!”

Mat was about to shake his head. He wasn’t ready. He had to prepare, he had to call his Mom. He needed her advice, right now, he couldn’t see you until he had her advice. What was he supposed to say to you? He didn’t even live close to you at any point in the year, he could feel the self-doubt bubbling up from the inside out.

The feeling inside him almost bubbled over when he heard the small knock on the bathroom door, the soft “Mat, are you in there?” coming from your voice almost prompting bile to come up the back of his throat. He had never been this nervous, never met anyone this nervous to meet their soulmate, to acknowledge that someone was their soulmate. But Tyson looked at him encouragingly, pushing him to respond, to open the door and acknowledge the woman on the other side.

~~~~~~

You could barely believe it when you saw the small, yet beautiful tattoo placed above your heart. The feeling you had all night finally made sense, the feeling when you first looked at Mat, the anxiety that had been bubbling in your stomach all night, trying to push you to acknowledge what was right in front of you.

You didn’t know if he would come to you, and you had waited far too long, countless sleepless nights imagining what he would be like, imagining what the person you would one day call your soulmate would be like. Was he kind? Was he handsome? Did he have ambitions, goals, passions? All those questions, all those imaginations were brought to the front of your mind when you finally realized who shared this beautiful tattoo with you.

There were absolutely no complaints about Mat. He was everything you had ever imagined and more.

That’s how you found yourself outside the bathroom door, your knuckles pressing against the door in three consecutive motions.

“Mat? Are you in there?” You murmured the words through the door softly, noticing the light peeking out from underneath the door, you didn’t want to wake anyone, and you knew you had seen Mat enter the bathroom just moments before you entered your room.

The door swung open, Tyson’s curls the first thing you acknowledged. A quick apology was about to pass your lips before Tyson slipped past you, leaving your line of eyesight to be filled with the stature of Mat Barzal, your soulmate.

“Nice tattoo.”

A slow smile crawled its way across the man’s face after your comment, “Could say the same to you.”

Before you even had the chance to move, Mat was stepping towards you and curling his arms around your body, pulling you into his chest while his nose pressed against your hair, breathing in your perfume and the smell of your shampoo.

You could smell the lingering scent of his cologne as you pressed your skin against his chest, but you were more focused on the muscles that rippled underneath your hands as you gripped onto his back. You were content to remain standing like that forever, wrapped up in the arms of the beautiful man you were blessed to call your soulmate.

The two of you stood like that for who knows how long, just taking in the feeling of each other, loving the feeling of being wrapped around one another. He was the first to pull away, a soft press of his lips to the top of your head before he did so.

“Can I kiss you? Is that okay?”

You smiled shyly at his request of consent to kiss you, before you gently nodded your head towards him. The kiss was quick, but firm. His lips were soft, like he had just put chapstick on, his hands pressed against your cheek while yours held his shoulders as you attempted to reach his lips without him breaking his back to bend and meet yours.

Pulling away from him, your hand trailed its way down his arm before entwining his hand with yours. “Can you tell me about my tattoos now?”

Mat laughed, nodding his head as he gently squeezed your hand. “Yeah, yeah I think I can. As long as you promise to tell me all about mine.”

“I’ll tell you about them in every detail as long as it means I get to finally be with you.”

Mat pressed his lips to yours in response, a content smile barely masked by the pucker of his lips. Everything he ever wanted, and more was standing right in front of him, his favourite things littering your body in little symbols, and he knew he couldn’t wait to tell you every little detail about his life, from this day, til his last.

#fic rec #mbarzal #*masterpiece*#i want more!

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