OUR INK

「fluff 」「soulmate au」

top!jeno
switch!jaemin
bottom!renjun

[in which two boys thought they had everything, and their soulmate bond would've said as much...but it seemed fate decided they had room for one more]

requested by: @2004Mali

renjun had a few words he would've used to describe his life. things like mundane, normal, uneventful and, if he was feeling particularly uninspired, boring. it was like the whole world around him was spinning on its axis of beauty and excitement, yet forgot to pull him up onto the ride. the universe was precious, wasn't it? if not, there would've been no need for soulmates, for fate, and for decisions.

he didn't have any of those yet...

most fated lovers found their mark or trait when they were twelve. scientists had tried to study and prove why it was the bonds were discovered at that set time, on a random birthday like that...but it was impossible. it was essentially magic.

renjun's was pretty common to be honest — a tattoo. it formed on the back of his hand on the expected date, and promised him that he had a special someone out there waiting for him. the whole fun of it was in waiting to see who it'd be. there was no such thing as 'gay' or 'straight' or 'bisexual' and any in-betweens — just 'fate'. the male's own parents were soulmates too, but their trait had been pain-sharing...which was amusing more than anything.

his mark was a strange one though. the whole thing was some sort of image, and the male had researched it a little since links tended to recycle themselves and reappear throughout history over and over. this one was pretty rare, he discovered, and the internet liked to call it 'the tree of life symbol'. what that meant, he hadn't a clue. but it looked cool, and to a twelve-year-old, that was all that mattered.

so, as he flopped against the counter of the convenience store he worked in, the crushing boredom of his reality set in. it was already nine in the evening, and he still had hours to go since he signed himself up for the late shift in hopes of having time during the day. his heart pounded against his chest, and the soft beat lulled him into a state of calm and peace.

soulmates jeno and jaemin were, rather obviously, the happiest they could've ever been. having found one another when they were sixteen probably helped, and their bond grew little by little everyday. adventures were plentiful now that they knew they were destined for each other, and hopefully nothing would ever change that.

through uncertain times such as school, exams, finding part-time jobs, sex and everything in between, they had seen each other through it all. jealousy was prevalent in the general crowd who both knew them and/or had seen them.

there was no doubt in either of their minds that nothing could've happened or gone wrong...and maybe this was fate's way of having just a little bit of fun. their soulmate marks were the tree of life after all, stained on the backs of their hands where they could choose to hide it or show it off.

this night in particular was a fun one. the two boys were high on laughter and life after a killer concert in the local arena. jaemin's ears were ringing with nonexistent sirens, while jeno's shoulders felt like they'd been crushed under rocks from holding his grown ass boyfriend up all night. the sight was one for sore eyes though, and everyone thought it was cute.

"ugh, i've lost my voice," the younger chuckled hoarsely and tried to clear it with an induced cough. he patted his chest and found it did little to help him at all. that didn't matter, though.

"my eyes are seeing double of everything," the ravenette walking a few steps behind him pointed out while reaching forwards at nothing. "i've only been drunk twice, but this was what it felt like. kinda loopy~"

"i-is there like, a double me?" jaemin asked cutely and turned to face him whilst walking backwards. the darkness spilled across the street they stumbled through alone, but lampposts illuminated the way. "can i call the other jaemin something cool?"

"there is another you, but i've already decided it's nana."

"nooo~" he whined childishly, "baby, call it jeremiah."

"bro, that isn't cool. that's stupid."

"mean," the blonde pouted, but he didn't seem to mind as much as he pretended to. it actually made him laugh to see his adorable lover reaching out and misjudging the depth of what was situated around him. he looked...insane.

"wait, quickly strip naked while there's two of you!"

"dude, no," jaemin cackled and started to prance over to a street light and swing from it, "wait 'til later, hm?"

"ugh, don't swing from that. i'm gonna get motion sickness..."

"nono?"

"fuck, my stomach!"

"hey, wait!"

needless to say, the two decided to get some medicine in a remote little store not so far from where'd they'd emptied the contents of the older's stomach. jaemin's ears still rung from the noise pollution and damage at the concert, and he sort of wanted to ask if there was a cure for that as well as some medicine for vertigo, or whatever it was his boyfriend was experiencing.

the pleasant chime from above their heads welcomed them into the shop, and immediately they were met with the smell of now stale bread from earlier in the day, the slushies spinning in the machine, bleach and disinfectants yet possibly the spray of an aerosol to cover it all up.

"hi?" the blonde called while clutching jeno's arm, "is anyone here?" he peered towards the kiosk and groaned with a small foot stomp to find the guy sleeping on the job. "unbelievable."

"can't blame him," the ravenette yawned. "i wanna die right now too. it's quarter to two."

"oh. well, i'm going to crack him out of his sleep like the little bitch i am, and you should go find some stomach medicine down by that aisle," jaemin pointed to the very back corner where he could spot what appeared to be packages.

"kay," jeno hummed, wandering off without him and leaving his lover to approach the tired shop assistant.

the young male nervously played with his sleeves and tapped on the countertop, right by the boy's head of brown hair. it flowed in small curls and waves across the white surface, and god did it smell incredible, even from where the twenty-year-old stood. a fusion of cinnamon spices and apples.

"excuse me?" he mumbled, retracting his hand and finding that he hadn't managed to succeed. jaemin chewed the wall of his cheek and arched his brow, waddling to the side to bend down a bit and attempt to see the male's face. to his dismay, the other was laying with his arm shielding it....an adorable sweater paw present. oh my god, stop. that's so fucking cute!

"hey nana?!" jeno called far louder than he needed to, accidentally waking the cashier in the process...yet not before proceeding to yell, "these are condoms, not medicine!"

"fuck, jeno not now—"

"like, we probably need those too—"

"bro!" the younger snapped and tightened his fists to throw them up and face the male in the corner who was slightly out of sight. "of all the fucking times—"

"huh?! i still can't hear you. my ears are a mess. aren't yours?"

"can i help you boys?" the staff member suddenly cut in, eyes bleary and exhausted, yet his demeanour would've suggested otherwise...probably because he was paid to be nice. "you need condoms?"

"no, not really," jaemin muttered shyly and shook his head with an unfortunate amount of regret. "actually, we just came back from the concert up on the main street's arena, so our ears are fucked up and my boyfriend's seeing double from all the neon lights."

"ah, that sounded like a fun time. i wanted to go, actually, but obviously i needed to work."

the younger jutted his lip out and showed a bit of sympathy for his case. but really, he was admiring each and every visual detail of what had initially started out as a normal boy, but was slowly evolving into one appealing face. "that's a pity, huh? why couldn't you take the night off?"

"dunno, just didn't want to be unreliable, y'know?"

nice reason, dude. love that in a guy, the blonde smiled to himself, but there was nothing on this planet that would sway his attention from his boyfriend, and some cute cashier wasn't about to change that. he was a firm believer of fate and her mystical ways of tying things together, and jeno was simply perfect for him. "that makes sense. i hope it all pays off for you in the end. the hard work, that is."

"yeah, me too." renjun then elicited a short sigh and relaxed up for him, "anyway, you're not looking for condoms then. what's up?"

"oh! do you have stomach medicine?"

"nana, i told you there wasn't any here!"

"fucking hell, jen, stop tuning in randomly!"

"huh?!"

"yeah, we do sell that. hang on a second," the adult chuckled fondly at their dynamic and reached down under the counter to root through a few things. jaemin subtly peered down and — without that much guilt — checked out the guy's ass while he was distracted.

jeno trailed over while he was doing so and was frantically rubbing his eyes and shaking out his hair. he seemed irritated and destroyed by his own body's inability to cope with loud settings and ridiculous lights that could've probably murdered an epileptic soul. "do they have that medicine here?"

"mhm, this guy's getting it for us."

"ah, okay. i could've sworn i saw a raccoon, but it disappeared."

"you're a crackhead, lee jeno. i love you."

"love you too."

"oh, here it is!" renjun beamed before emerging with a box littered in korean scripture. "read the instructions, obviously, but it settles stomachs for hangovers and whatever. i'm sure it'll do the trick."

"thanks so much," jaemin cheered and impolitely opened the container before paying to hand two of them to the tallest in the shop. the ravenette gratefully took them and dry swallowed both to relieve the dull ache pinching his temples and the swirling of his tummy.

"and, can vertigo be cured?" the blonde then turned back to the smallest. "like, with tablets?"

"i don't know about that. and if it can, we wouldn't have those," renjun confessed. "sleeping it off works well though, and you two clearly just need to rest. i'm glad it looked so fun though. maybe i'll try it next time."

nana clutched the box closer to his chest and tried not to spill nonsense and ideas that most likely made no sense or wouldn't fit the moment. but he wanted to invite this nameless stranger to come with them when another event occurred, and to visit them sometime to get to know them. he was so precious, it felt too tempting. "um, not to be weird or anything....but what's your name?"

"my name?" the brunette furrowed his brows, nudging his name tag with his sweater paw, "renjun. huang renjun."

"oh, that's so pretty~" the younger cooed. "i'm jaemin, and this big idiot is jeno. as you could probably tell, we're—"

"boyfriends," the smaller finished for him with a soft smile. "mhm, heard the whole condom conversation, remember? yeah, i guessed it when you mentioned you were together before anyway."

"mhm..." he hummed in agreement, but his attention and focus were waning as he captured contact with those intense, sienna irises. they were teasing him with their beauty, simply luring him in by existing. jaemin hadn't noticed he was leaning forward a little before jeno tugged his shirt and pulled him back gently.

"is that everything?" renjun chirped happily, jabbing the medicine's price into the keypad and finding the total so far. "sure you don't want water or anything?"

"that would actually be really nice," jeno grinned and produced a thumbs up extremely innocently. the older had smiled and returned to it through his jumper at first, but that expression faltered and faded as he noted the tattoo on the back of the male's hand.

"where..." he whispered with a hint of worry in his voice, "where did you get that mark?"

"hm?" the taller brought his hand up and chuckled happily, like he was more than happy to repeat a story he'd already told a hundred times. "this is my soulmate mark."

"your...what?" the brunette croaked with a dry throat, pulling his own hand into his chest with his other and gritting his teeth. he couldn't let them know. he'd have destroyed a beautiful relationship if he selfishly squealed happily and showed of his own exact same tattoo. it was impossible.

"it's so nice, isn't it?" jaemin started to ice the disastrous cake with cream. "we looked it up before, and it apparently represents—"

"virtuous, full and fertile love."

the couple paused their dreamy heart-eyed explanation of their bond (which they hadn't yet admitted to by accident) and glanced at renjun in complete unison. "you know it?"

"huh...oh, yeah. i," he cleared his throat and swallowed dryly, "i love soulmate stories and stuff. i know about all the possible tattoo marks and stuff, y'know?" fuck, stop digging yourself a hole! you know nothing about bonds!

"that's so sweet," jeno instinctively reached out and squished renjun's cheeks. jesus, he hadn't meant to. and jaemin was already wearing a look of dread as he did it on complete impulse. yet the cashier panicked at first, then...

...leaned into the touch?

his breathing picked up and his chest was constricted with pain and excitement as jeno found he couldn't stop himself from moulding his cheeks. jaemin sunk his teeth into his tongue and wondered what the fuck was happening, because his lover was never the type to just befriend others or act familiarly. this was insane. "nono, maybe don't do that."

"i'm sorry," the older whispered, slowly pulling away yet maintaining eye contact needily. he wanted to do that more, yet he couldn't for the life of him explain why.

"well," renjun coughed, shaking it all off and rubbing his face to either worsen the redness on purpose or make it go away altogether. "th-the medicine is...it's..." he blinked in confusion and tried to read the screen, but it all suddenly looked like greek to him as his world spun. "it's..."

"i feel lightheaded," jaemin murmured, touching his own forehead to check the temperature. "can we go home now, jeno?"

"yeah, let me just..." the ravenette was too busy watching as renjun stumbled back and started fanning his face with his covered hands, like he was way too hot. in fact, the whole damn shop was suddenly like a bloody furnace. "hey, you okay?" why the fuck am i sweating?

"so warm..." the chinese boy whimpered and pulled his sleeves back without even thinking to alleviate some of the heat. with that, the marks they all shared quit the burning, the pining to reunite and instead concentrated that fire into the hands where they could truly connect and say that the relationship was officially complete. "ugh, fuck i'm gonna pass out..." renjun whined. "my head..."

"you're joking," jaemin breathed in and out through his nose, for his lips and palate were all parched and dry from the flaming bond tearing around inside him. "that's our mark."

"is this why we never felt the 'click' when we met?" jeno suddenly wondered as he slowly dropped to a crouched position to relax and gather his bearings. "nana, all those times people told us this happened, and we never understood what they meant!"

"this is ridiculous."

yet it wasn't at all insane or stupid. it took about another ten minutes for the flames of love and fate to calm down inside, yet the three were left feeling a state of bliss and wholeness. their bodies couldn't have felt more alive, even if their brains were having meltdowns about the whole ordeal.

renjun apologised over and over, as if this was all his fault...but it wasn't. and jeno couldn't stop pulling at the boy's hand and admiring the mark he knew so damn well. he would study it, stare at it, relate to it, and eventually let it go....just to pull at it again. jaemin was still transfixed on the fact that his soul was metaphorically broken into thirds all along, and not halves like he'd always assumed. their worlds were all thrown around, turned upside down and then spun back to shape again where all their belongings and memories were a scattered mess.

"does that mean we should start dating?" the oldest eventually asked as they all sat in one of the aisles to hide a little, two facing one. his knees were pulled to his chest as he eyed the boys up skeptically. "it's a bit...silly, isn't it?"

"but fate—" jaemin protested. he didn't want to defy her when she'd always done so well.

"no, he's right," jeno interjected and played with a dustball by his leg. "we can't expect our whole dynamic to suddenly work and slot together just because there's another guy with our tattoo. but i do want this to work, renjun, so i have a question for you."

"and what's that?" he smirked, half expecting a sex joke or something.

"do you want to come and get a coffee with us tomorrow? maybe we could talk more, and bond more. you'll know when the time is right to ask us out, and we'll obviously say yes. so for now..." he cracked a small smile, "how about we start from scratch?"

dear lady fate, thank you so much for finding two incredibly different boys for me, yet two gentlemen all the same, renjun thought while cutely agreeing and pinky locking with both of them across the aisle. they seem pretty sweet already, but i'm still nervous as hell.

"ugh, my butt hurts," jaemin whinged and started to get up. "and i want pizza!"

"it's nearly three, dipshit!"

i'm sure since you figured we'd be good together, then we will be. so thanks, i suppose. i was starting to get lonely.

word count: [3083]

thanks for reading, bbies~ i hope it was okay!
honestly, it's nice to write for a bit and drop studying for a little while, and this was a good excuse to. plus, it feels like it's been a hundred years since i've written with pure fluff on my mind~

i hope this was what you were looking for, 2004Mali, and thanks for requesting!

love you guys!
-lily