"I love you more than I have found a way to say to you".

~Ben Folds

Hunter

"There's no need for us to also celebrate Valentine's Day," I moaned at Calla, who was wiping the sweat off her forehead. "Not when our anniversary is two days before it".

"Does your soulmate agree on that?" she asked me back and sat down on the bleachers next to me.

"Well, we didn't talk about it but..."

"So, you don't know how he feels".

"Why have a special day to celebrate love? I didn't get it before and I still don't," I snapped back. My friend shook her head and he rested her elbows on the seat behind us.

"Damn, what's up with that?" Beth said, appearing to my left, practically out of thin air. "I was talking with my friend just now, you know, Alex, and he said almost the exact same thing," she went on shaking her head.

"Oh, really?" I questioned and turned to give a pointed look at Calla. "Her friend, Alex, agrees with me," I told her. She glared at me and turned to Bethany.

"Did you want to tell me something?"

"Eh, yeah, you see I won't be able to play in the game after the one this Saturday," she replied awkwardly.

"That's like a month away..." Calla said frowning.

"Yes, but it's going to be mine and Don's one-year anniversary and we are going to be throwing a little get together..." Calla couldn't help but roll her eyes.

"Fine, but inform Sebastian too". The girl smiled and headed off. A few moments later Calla turned to me again. "What do you plan on doing tomorrow?"

"We were thinking about it yesterday when he came over, and he has been talking about getting another tattoo. So, we decided on going and getting one each".

"Hold up! You, mister I-Judge-Every-Piece-Of-Art-I-Come-Across, are going to get a tattoo? What are you going to get?"

"I was thinking of getting the pride flag in separate six lines here," I told her and showed her the inner side of my right wrist, where I remembered the old cuts on my mother's arm. Calla blinked at me, her expression suddenly turning sad.

"Hunter..." she whispered and pulled me in a hug. "I bet it will look great," she told me.

I hugged her back, thinking back on the day I told my parents I was gay. My mother had actually teared up by my bravery.

***

The next morning came and it was our anniversary. After school, Alex came and picked me up, since his tattoo artist, who was also a friend, lived in San Francisco.

"You still haven't told me what you're getting," I whined at him.

"You'll see soon enough," he replied. I rolled my eyes and fell back on my seat. "Did you tell your father about this?"

"Does it matter?" I asked him, looking at him with the corners of my eyes.

"Eh, no... but still. Fuck, he must think I'm an awful influence. From Aurora dyeing her hair, to you getting a tattoo..." Alex muttered, shaking his head and smiling to himself.

"Relax," I said, laughing, "I told him and after I explained what I wanted to get. He didn't mind". He bit his lip and let out a deep breath.

"Yeah, are you sure about it though...?"

"Getting the pride flag in a place that reminds me of my mother? Fuck yeah, I'm sure". He smiled lovingly and didn't say another word until we got there.

"When Rowan told me that Alexander Richardson had booked two appointments, my panties exploded," a woman called as we walked inside. My eyebrows shot up at the remark.

The place was dark, as to be expected, with posters and drawings on the walls. Long curtains separated the room and I could hear a muffled buzzing of a needle from the other side of the curtain.

"Love," Alex said, shaking his head. "Her name is actually Love," he said through our bond, watching my confused expression.

A thin, tall woman came out from the back of the shop. She was clad in a pair of ripped black shorts and a dark purple corset. Colorful ink covered her tanned skin and her lavender curly hair bounced with each step she took. Immediately she hugged Alex and then she turned to me.

"It's so nice to see you, Alex, but who's the innocent eye-candy with you?" she said, making Alex laugh.

"That's Hunter, my soulmate. So, hands-off," he told her. Her eyes snapped to him for a second, and then back to me. Slowly, she extended her hand.

"Love Candy, I know, stripper name but I'm not," she introduced herself, making me bark a laugh.

"I'm Hunter Anderson," I said to her. As she heard me she shook her head and turned to glare at Alex.

"You, lucky bastard," she told him. She, then, clasped her hands together, "I'm taking you first," she said to me and pulled me with her behind the curtain. "Is this your first tattoo?" she asked me when I sat down at the leather chair she guided me to after we talked about what and where I wanted.

"Yeah".

"It's going to sting a little, but I'll try not to be rough with you," she told me, picking out seven different ink containers. She then put on black, latex gloves and with a damp cloth came to sit before me. "How long ago did your bond form?" she asked me as she turned on the needle.

As it began to break my skin I tried not to flinch by taking counted deep breaths. Alex had told me about how his first time felt so I was a little bit braced. In the end, I realized it didn't hurt as much as I had expected.

"Four months ago today," I replied after I got used to the needle's pain.

"Oh, so it's your anniversary?" she exclaimed and I nodded.

"How did you and Alex meet? Was it when he came for his tattoo?" I asked back, a few moments later.

"Nah, I once met him at one of Matt's parties, my now-ex boyfriend hanged out with Matt and I had tagged along with him. To my surprise, Alex was there, and actually I knew him from his YouTube channel. After talking all night long, we hooked up eventually," she said, whipping my skin with the cloth. "We stayed friends and when he needed a tattoo I offered to do it with a discount," she added.

"So, you know Matt?" I asked after she finished her story.

"Yes, I've had the misfortune of meeting him. How did he react to you being Alex's soulmate?" she replied.

"We haven't told him –or any of Alex's friends- yet," I answered with a scoff.

"Why not?"

"They don't know Alex is bisexual, so they might react badly to it," I told her with a shrug. She nodded with understanding.

"My soulmate is Rowan, my coworker. He's the typical tattoo artist, covered in piercings and tats, but he's quite effeminate". Now I as the one nodded in understanding. "I hate the whole alpha-male macho archetype. It is way too toxic and I don't have the time or energy to not wound any fragile male egos," she added with a roll of her shoulders.

"Yeah, the guy I was seeing before Alex also hated those guys. He said that they made him lose his interest in guys, even though he is as gay as they come," I replied, making her smirk.

"You might have to introduce me to him," she muttered.

Time seemed to pass faster now, and before I knew it she was done with the tattoo. The seven colors were located near the middle of my forearm, their edges overlapping a little.

"What do you think?" she asked me.

"I love it..." I muttered, not taking my eyes from it.

With a warm smile, she started explaining to me what I had to do for the next month or so, in order for it to not get infected. The instructions weren't difficult, so in a few minutes, we headed outside again. Alex rose up from where he was sitting, waiting for us.

"Your turn, hottie," she told him and before he could say a word she pulled him along.

Around an hour later, she pushed her head out of the curtain to see me. She urged me to go inside, with a huge smile on her lips. Alex was still sitting on the leather chair, with his shirt removed. On the left side of his chest, his skin was swollen and red, right over his heart. Written in big, calligraphy letters the word ALTER lied there.

"'Getting stronger' and now 'change'," I said with the corners of my mouth turned up.

"Yeah, well, it doesn't mean change," he replied and something shiny pulled my gaze from his chest to his lips.

"You got a lip piercing?" I asked, switching the subject. "Hold up, what do you mean it doesn't mean change?"

"Alter, Al for Alex and ter for Hunter," he explained with a hazy smile. My jaw was left hanging. "Happy anniversary, baby," he added and reached out for my hand.

I lowered so I could kiss him, but a hand appearing between our mouths stopped me. We both turned to Love, who had interfered. Her hand grabbed my forehead and pushed me away from Alex.

"See this little ring here? Yeah, I just pierced that. And I'm kinda obligated to say this, so both of you listen along. For you," she said looking at Alex, "No aspirin, no alcohol and not too much caffeine for the first two weeks. They will thin down your blood, making it harder for it to heal the wound. Also, don't drink any communal water, don't French kiss your soulmate and definitely no oral sex". At once we both turned red at her words.

"Two weeks without a kiss?" Alex muttered with a frown.

"Well, you can kiss just not French at least for the first week. As far as sex goes, though, wait two weeks. Please," she replied, waving her hands at us. The blush came back with vengeance and after we paid the little money she asked for we were on our way home.

"I still can't believe you tattooed our names," I said under my breath, on our way back.

"I used to look down at people who tattoo the name of their soulmate, but I don't know... I really wanted to do that. I also loved the fact that our names mashed together made out the word alter," he replied, shrugging. His tongue ran underneath his lower lip and he groaned. "God, how will I live for two weeks without coffee?"

"You'll have to find another way to stay awake," I replied, giving him a meaningful gaze. He rolled his eyes.

"She said no sex," he added, biting off the words.

"For you... she didn't say anything about me, though," I said back and watched as his eyes widened.

"Don't say things like that when I'm driving," he scolded me and I laughed.

"Then stop driving," I hushed, bringing my hand to his thigh. I watched as he took a deep breath and drove to the shoulder of the road. But before he stopped the car he shook his head.

"Not today," he just said and started driving again. I pulled back and looked at him.

"Okay... is everything alright?" I asked, my voice softening.

"Yeah, yeah... I'm just not in the mood," he said, not turning to look at me.

I nodded, not exactly sure what to say, and sat back in my seat. If he wanted to tell me something he could. He knew that. The awkward silence didn't last long since moments later we started talking about what we would be doing for the rest of the week.

We agreed on a casual evening at my place, since our tattoos and his piercing would still be healing. But we also agreed on another date, two weeks from now. My father and Aurora would be driving upstate, to my Grandma's place and we decided to have a dinner date at my place. Seeing, though, as we both had other plans that Saturday, we agreed on Friday night.

When we reached my house, he was frowning, as if he wanted to say something.

"Is something wrong?" I asked him.

"Fuck it," he exclaimed and brought his lips to mine. I pulled back, feeling the cool metal against my skin.

"We're supposed to wait," I muttered, staring at him.

"I didn't use tongue," he replied and gave me another quick kiss. "And you're crazy if you think I'm letting you go without a goodnight kiss," he added when he pulled back.

I shook my head huffing. "You're unbelievable".

"But you love me," he called as I climbed out of the car.

"How could I not?" I called back and closed the door behind me.