Prompt:

AU: Soulmate AU - First Words

TW: Swearing

WC: 1,003

Date: February 29th, 2020

It wasn't that Patton minded the idea of a soulmate, in fact, Patton loved the idea. He loved the thought that somewhere in the world there was someone out there who would be perfect for him. Even at a young age, he knew what soulmates were, there were always unlikely soulmates on the TV shows that he watched, or Soulmates who didn't want to be together but were always pulled together by a force they couldn't deny. Patton found it all so pure and romantic, so he was excited, even at the age of 5, when the words appeared on his skin. That was the problem. He was very young when his parents had to explain what the word 'bitch' meant and that it was a bad word. Patton looked at the sentence on his arm with less excitement. 'Gurl, that bitch did what?' did not seem like the type of thing he wanted his soulmate to say.

It had been a shift, no longer was his soulmate this person who would be Patton's other half, they were someone with a foul mouth, someone Patton wasn't supposed to emulate, someone Patton was supposed to be wary of.

He grew up fearing his soulmate, and though that fear faded with time, his doubts never did. He wanted to believe the best in everyone, even his soulmate. Patton wanted to believe that this was just a mistake, but he had such a stigma about those words. His parents had taught him it was bad, so showing people his sentence wasn't something that he liked to do. He hid it, constantly wearing his cardigan no matter the weather. People didn't seem to push it, Patton was able to hide his soulmate from the world.

His friends in high school would have none of that. When they learned about the sentence on his arm, Virgil and Roman were ecstatic. The two of them had found each other when they were younger and though they fought constantly, they really were made for each other. Without even discussing it they both had decided to slip that sentence into almost every conversation they could. Both of them, though they wouldn't admit it, enjoyed cussing, but even more, both of them wanted Patton to become more comfortable with the words on his arm. Eventually, Patton learned to just shut them down by shouting "language!" at them. The two would giggle and the conversation would move on.

It was a little thing, but it worked. Patton became more comfortable with the words on his arm. He didn't even realize it was happening. His sleeves got shorter, his smile grew more sincere until his cardigan was wrapped loosely around his neck instead of tightly on his arms. His friends really were the best and even after high school, Patton kept in contact with them.

Logan ended up at an Ivy League school, Roman was working his way through college to get a theater degree, Virgil, wanting to stay close to Roman, was learning to be a stagehand, and Patton was working at a grocery store until he could afford to go to school to become a vet. His job at the supermarket wasn't glamorous, but it was something and he was always happy to lend a helping hand.

He was stalking the shelves, whistling as he worked, but being quiet so that he didn't disrupt customers. Patton kept his head down and tried to think of new food-based puns as he lined the shelves with tin cans. He barely noticed the man walking around his aisle. "Gurl, that bitch did what?"

It was habit by now, he didn't even realize he was saying it until the words came out of his mouth. "Language." Patton blushed as he realized what he said, hoping the stranger didn't hear him.

"What did you say?" He had been heard. He knew saying something like that to a customer was rude so hopefully, he could diffuse the situation.

"I'm so sorry sir, it's just a joke between my friends and me."

"That's not what I asked, what did you say?" The man was intimidating, dressed in a black leather jacket despite it being summer, sunglasses still perched on his face, barely sliding down so that Patton could see his brown eyes. He balanced a cup of coffee and his basket in one hand while holding his phone in the other.

"I said 'language'?" His voice wavered at the end, wondering if this guy was going to get a manager involved. Patton wasn't expecting was a small smile to curl up on his face.

"Gurl, let me call you back, I have some business to take care of." With that he put his phone in his pocket, pulling out a pen and grabbing Patton's arm.

"Whatcha doin?" Patton tried to remain calm, looking up at the man with a smile and not fighting him. This was a bit nervewracking. He didn't want to get in trouble, but he had never been attacked by a customer before and he was probably overdue.

"Well gurl, it seems as if we are soulmates." He was looking at the soulmate tattoo on Patton's arm before he bit the cap off of the pen and quickly wrote his name and number under the sentence. "Call me after you get off, can't keep a busy man from his job for too long."

There was a flutter in Patton's chest as he looked at the tattoo that Remy was now showing off, and he couldn't help but smile. His whole body relaxed. "Yeah, okay, can't wait to get to know you, kiddo."

Remy couldn't help but smirk at that and pushed his sunglasses back up before grabbing his phone out of his pocket and dialing someone.

Patton had been nervous about his soulmate for a while. He had assumed that a bad word would mean a bad person, but Remy seemed nice if a little intimidating. Patton didn't expect his soulmate to be so dang hot.