#this is the last of my fanwork classification fills i'm FREEEE

[etapereine]

they say we're buried far (just like a distant star)

tour de france fanwork classification, stage 20: trope -> soulmates (133 words)

also on ao3.

primož knows, realistically, that he can't actually feel the mark on his right shoulder blade. that's not how soulmate marks work.

and yet.

the burning on his back and side, two weeks after he leaves the team in cluses.

the pressure on his shoulder, even as they come over the top of the plateau de salaison hand-in-hand.

the familiar ache of a phantom pain, watching from his couch as jonas raises the trophy above his head.

he's never been able to decide if it's better or worse that soul marks aren't always reciprocal. maybe it's the mentor in him, that inescapable need to protect a younger teammate.

the mark doesn't go away when he pulls on his new bora-hansgrohe jersey. there'd been a part of primož that had sort of thought it might.