Soulmate AU. Brief mentions of violence and blood, although neither of those things actually happen.

Everyone had a black stain on their skin in the place their soulmate would touch them the first time they met. Most of the time people had their stain on their right palm, waiting until the day they shook their soulmates hand and the stain would turn all sorts of colors. Some people had them in other places, typically on their arms or hand.

Virgil hated where his mark was. It was a handprint, which sounds like it would be a normal mark like anyone else had, except that his was on his cheek. He couldn't imagine why his future soulmate might slap him when they first met, but he was sure that was what his mark meant. Why else would a complete stranger touch his face? He wasn't sure, and he didn't know whether or not he wanted to find out.

When Virgil awoke that morning he already knew his day was going to be awful. Apparently he had slept through his alarm, and was now running late for his job. He didn't have enough time to do anything except throw on some appropriate clothes and rush out the door, meaning that the mark on his face he usually hid with makeup would be visible for the entire day. Realizing this made his stomach twist itself in knots, but there was nothing he could do unless he wanted to get in trouble with work.

If those two simple things alone weren't bad enough, of course Virgil had to miss the bus too. With no other choice but to walk, Virgil started on his way down the street hoping to make it on time. He pulled the sleeves of his hoodie down over his hands, doing his best to focus on the soft material instead of how his eyes burned with tears.

As he hurried on his way Virgil stared down at his feet; he knew where he was going well enough, and he didn't want anyone to see him in case he did start crying. He didn't think this was that bad of an idea. At least, he didn't think it was until he ran into someone.

Both of them seemed to have not been paying attention, and as they had both been moving quickly were both knocked down. Virgil was frozen in shock for a few moments, not entirely registering what had happened to him. When reality finally hit him he immediately felt his already existing worry over being late increase. It's my fault, his thoughts screamed. They're going to yell at me and I'll be even more late and then my boss will yell at me and-

"Hey, are you okay?" The man who Virgil had bumped into broke him from his trail of thoughts, finally getting him to look up and face him.

The man looked concerned, and only seemed to grow more concerned when Virgil looked up at him. He very slowly reached out a hand that Virgil had to try not to flinch away from, touching his cheek so softly Virgil wasn't sure it was really there. Virgil suddenly noticed the tears coming from his eyes as the stranger carefully wiped them away, frowning.

"Are you hurt?" He asked suddenly, eyes growing wide and hand pulling away from his face. "Your cheek-it's red!"

"Wh-what?" Virgil reached up to touch his own cheek, wondering if he was bleeding. He didn't feel hurt, but he wasn't sure. After checking his own hand for anything he found it clean, and glanced up at the other man wondering what he had seen. It was then he noticed the strangers palm, inhaling sharply in surprise. "Your... your hand, it's-we're-"

After looking down at his own hand, which had now turned a dark shade of purple along with Virgil's cheek, the stranger smiled. "Soulmates," he breathed, looking back over at Virgil. "We're soulmates!"

"Y-yeah..." Virgil mumbled shyly, still watching the mans hand while he brushed his fingers over his cheek. He wasn't hit. In fact, his soulmates touch was the exact opposite of what he had imagined. Instead of angry he was concerned, and instead of harmful it was soft and sweet. Virgil couldn't help it as a few more tears fell from his eyes, unable to believe anything that was happening.

"Are you okay?" His soulmate asked for the second time, once again bringing him from his thoughts. Virgil felt his heart melt at the concern on his face, now that he knew it was his soulmate. "You aren't hurt at all from falling, right? Why are you crying?"

"It's... it's nothing." Virgil insisted, letting the tiniest of smiles grow on his lips. "It's not important now. I'm... right now, they're happy tears. I can't believe... it's, well it's you."

"Yeah," his soulmate laughed, and Virgil loved the sound. It was the most beautiful thing he had ever heard. "I know how you feel. This is crazy..."

There was a moment of silence, both of them taking the time to study each other's faces. Virgil's eyes lingered on every feature of the mans face, going from his beautiful brown eyes to each and every freckle that littered his cheeks and nose. Then his eyes landed on his smile, and Virgil was sure his heart was nothing more than a melted puddle then. The mans laugh was the most beautiful thing he'd ever heard, and his smile was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. Virgil was content to simply sit and stare at this man forever, until he spoke again.

"Oh, right! My name's Patton," the man, Patton, laughed. His cheeks turned red at the realization it had taken him this long to mention his name, and Virgil just smiled, wiping at his eyes that he realized still had tears in them.

"That's a cute name," he mumbled with a nervous chuckle. "Fits you."

Patton's face flushed a darker red and he smiled wider, thanking Virgil quietly. Virgil felt proud to be able to make the other smile, and realized that he really wanted to do that more.

"My name's Virgil," he spoke again, nervous to reveal his own name that he thought was embarrassing. "Or Virge, for short."

"That's an awesome name!" Patton gushed, and Virgil felt his cheeks burn to match his soulmates. Virgil was quiet for a moment, contemplating something before finally opening his mouth to speak again.

"I'll have to call my boss so he knows where I am," he started nervously. "But would you like to go to a nearby cafe or something, and talk? To find out more about each other."

Patton smiled reassuringly, nodding his head. "That sounds like fun, Virgil. I'd love to."

IM BACK IM SO HAPPY ITS TAKEN SO LONG AHHHHH

Even tho I was gone like forever I wrote all but one of my books chapters (there are 6 completed) just in this last week. I've been so busy, ahhhh

I'm still gonna be staying at my grandparents tonight so no new oneshots till I'm back home, but in about 2 hours I'll be posting the next chapter of Parenthood (I'll always update those three books at 6PM, and I will try to put my schedule in my profile description but I'm not entirely sure if it'll fit).

Anyways, pretty sure I gotta go help my grandparents with yard work, so I'll get off now haha. Thanks for reading, and for being patient since it's taken so long for me to get back to writing. *

* ahhh I really need to check which ring pop suggestions I've already used lol, I have a lot of old screenshots I need to delete. Anyway, take care of yourselves! Love you guys. Bye!-Bob