Archive of Our Own ^beta

Jungkook receives his first minor message when he's eight years old: a bruise on his right knee that turns an ugly shade of purple but doesn't hurt at all. After that, he receives more minor messages: scrapes, papercuts, and a small gash on his ankle. They're all signs that he has a soulmate.

He's twelve when he gets his first real message. He feels a tingling on his left wrist, and pulls back his sleeve to reveal the word Hello? written on his skin. He rushes out of his bedroom to show his mother, grinning all the while.

"I have a message!" he cheers, waving his wrist in the air.

His mother quickly finds him a pen. He's nervous when he sits with her at their kitchen table and writes back his first reply. Hello, I'm Jungkook.

His mom holds his hand as he waits for a response, anticipation thrumming through his veins.

It's a few minutes before Jungkook feels the tingling sensation of a message again, higher up on his arm this time.

Is anyone there? the message says. It's also written partially on top of the message Jungkook wrote.

Jungkook looks up at his mother, confused, and finds her brow furrowed, her mouth curving down into a frown when her expression was joyous only moments before.

I'm here, Jungkook writes back.

This time, even five minutes later, there's no reply.

Hello, I'm Jungkook, he writes again, but like before, he doesn't get an answer.

"Why can't they see my messages?" he asks his mom. He doesn't understand.

"Oh, Jungkook," she says, tears in her eyes. "Do you know what a Blank is?"

Jungkook knows that messages are always reciprocal. If you get messages from your soulmate, then they get your messages too.

But Jungkook's mother explains that sometimes they aren't -- that sometimes someone can receive messages but not send them -- and that these rare people are called Blanks. She tells him that he's a Blank and that that's why his soulmate can't see his replies.

"Why not?" he asks, but she tells him that no one knows.

"How do I fix it?" he wants to know, but she doesn't have an answer for that either.

"I can still find them, right?" He's scared now because he's never heard of a Blank before and his mom looks sad.

She pulls him onto her lap and kisses his forehead as she explains that being a Blank will make it harder for him to find his soulmate since there's no way for them to communicate fully. It'll also be hard because once his soulmate gets older and realizes that they aren't ever going to receive any messages, minor or otherwise, they're going to think that they don't have a soulmate.

But she reminds him that only forty-percent of the population get messages at all -- that most people don't have soulmates and still find people they love and who love them. She tells him that no matter what, he'll find someone who makes him happy, even if he never finds his soulmate.

It's meant as a comfort, but the thought of not finding his soulmate makes him uneasy. He has a soulmate out there somewhere -- someone who's also looking for him. He doesn't care if he's a Blank. He wants to find them more than anything.

He hopes his mom is wrong. He hopes that, maybe, as he gets older, his soulmate will start being able to receive messages from him, but they don't. Jungkook writes to his soulmate anyway. He asks them their name, where they live, and what their favorite anime is, but there's never any reply.

His soulmate writes to him often for someone who doesn't get any messages. They don't write any identifying information about their life, but they write puns and jokes that make Jungkook laugh. Most of the time though, his soulmate just writes things like, Hello? and Please reply if you can read this. If anything, they seem sad that they don't get any replies.

So Jungkook starts looking up jokes to write back to them. He draws pictures too -- laughing puppies and grinning rabbits -- just in case his soulmate sees them. Just in case Jungkook can cheer them up.

Jungkook doesn't get messages that often, but when he's fourteen, for months, he receives almost no messages at all. Only every few weeks, late at night, does he find a message on his skin.

His mother tells him that she got messages infrequently and late at night like this when his father was completing his military service. It gives Jungkook important clues: his soulmate is likely male and if they entered the service directly after high school, then his soulmate is about five years older than him.

It doesn't make finding them any easier, but it does help explain some of the messages he gets.

Hello?

I'm lonely. Please be there.

What sound does a cow make when it laughs?

Moo ha ha

Is anyone there?

Jungkook sends back words of reassurance and writes some jokes of his own, upset that his soulmate can't see them. He wishes, for the hundredth time, that he knew who they were so he could tell them these things in person or write to them another way -- anything to keep them from thinking that no one is getting their messages -- anything to keep them from thinking that they don't have a soulmate at all.

When Jungkook turns seventeen, he starts taking photos of his messages and posting them on Blank websites, but the only attention his posts garner are from other Blanks wishing him good luck.

His mother reminds him that it's okay if he doesn't find his soulmate, and that the majority of people don't have one.

Jungkook has one though. And it's not just that.

Most people who don't get messages by the time they're twenty-one, stop hoping for them at all. Then they stop writing on their skin. But Jungkook's soulmate is around twenty-two now, and they still write to Jungkook. His mother says this means that his soulmate is a hopeless romantic, but Jungkook thinks it means that they're the opposite of hopeless, and it makes him more determined to find them. He's not going to give up on his soulmate if they, not even knowing if he exists, haven't given up on him yet.

Jungkook enters the service after high school. It's exhausting and isolating, and he thinks about his soulmate going through a similar experience five years ago.

It's his soulmate that helps him get through it. A papercut on his index finger or a Hello? on his wrist become things he treasures. They make him feel a little better -- a little less alone -- and the rare days when he finds a silly joke written across his arm become the highlights of his whole military experience.

After he finishes his service, he moves to Seoul and starts university. He's always wanted to be a veterinarian, and he's worked hard to be able to study his chosen profession.

His first year is as exciting as it is overwhelming. He somehow manages to learn to live on his own, get a data entry job with one of his professors, pass all of his classes, and make some new friends.

His second year, he moves in with one of those new friends. Jimin is two years older than Jungkook but only one year ahead of him in the same program. He's also almost inseparable from his soulmate, an artist named Taehyung, who is over at their apartment so often that Jungkook considers him his unofficial third roommate.

It's shortly after Jungkook moves in with them that he lifts up his sleeve to see the word Hello? on his left wrist when Jimin and Taehyung are hovering nearby. They both gasp at the sight.

"You have a soulmate?" Jimin asks.

Jungkook fiddles nervously with his sleeve when he explains that he's a Blank and that he hasn't had much luck in finding them.

Lots of people are wary of Blanks, falsely believing them to be bad luck or inherently unfaithful, but neither Taehyung nor Jimin seem put off by Jungkook's admission. On the contrary, Taehyung jumps out of his chair in excitement.

"I've never met a Blank before," he says. "What's it like?"

Jimin elbows him in the side. "Don't be rude."

Jungkook tells them about his soulmate who's still writing him messages even though they're in their mid-to-late twenties and how much he wants to find them.

They're supportive of him, but it's because they know that he's a Blank that they notice how sad he is about the situation -- how he frequents Blank websites despite not having any luck with them yet, how he spends hours crafting messages to a soulmate who isn't able to read anything he's writing, and how he watches them sometimes will longing in his eyes.

Jimin points all of this out six months later when he suggests gently, "Maybe you should try dating."

He understands that Jimin and Taehyung are just looking out for him, but he's uncomfortable with the idea. It feels wrong to date someone when he's still determined to find his soulmate and his soulmate is still determined to find him.

Jungkook's been getting fewer and fewer messages over the years, but nearing the end of his second year of university, Jungkook stops getting them at all. He tries not to worry too much at first. He has an ink smear on his thumb that isn't his so he knows his soulmate is still out there, and when his soulmate was in the service, he once went three weeks without a message.

But when three weeks of radio silence turn into four, and then turn into five, Jungkook can't help but fear that his soulmate has stopped writing because they've finally stopped hoping for a response.

It makes Jungkook want to cry, and he finds it hard to focus on his exams. Jimin and Taehyung do their best to cheer him up -- they bring him sweets and cuddle up next to him on the couch as they show him their favorite cat videos -- but he still feels like he's living in a state of shock.

Then, a week into his vacation, he walks into the bathroom one morning and sees something new in his reflection in the mirror. There are bright red hickeys on his neck.

It's only then that he fully understands that his soulmate has moved on.

He cries for two full days, but on the third day, he doesn't feel as sad anymore.

He remembers that his soulmate never knew that he existed and that he was lucky that they held out for as long as they did. He knows, too, what it's like to be lonely. At the same time it hurts, it's oddly comforting to know his soulmate has found someone -- that they aren't alone anymore.

That's why even though they'll never see it, he takes a pen to his skin and writes, It's okay. I'm happy that you're happy.

Jimin and Taehyung take care of him. They shower him with affection and distractions and give him people to talk to.

It's months later, when Jungkook's starting to feel like a person again that Jimin and Taehyung bring up the topic of dating again.

They want to set him up with a friend of their friend Yoongi -- someone named Seokjin. They tell Jungkook that Seokjin likes bad jokes, that he doesn't have a soulmate, and that he's handsome, but the thought of dating still makes Jungkook's stomach flip unpleasantly. It feels like a betrayal to his soulmate, even though he knows his soulmate has someone else now.

But Jimin and Taehyung are adamant.

"Seokjin's a hot commodity," Taehyung tells him, waggling his eyebrows. "He won't stay single for long."

"At least meet him," Jimin says.

But it isn't until Jungkook wakes up with more hickeys on his neck and new, conspicuous bruises on his hips that he finally agrees.

It's how he finds himself at a get-together at Yoongi's with Jimin and Taehyung and their friends, Hoseok, Namjoon, and Seokjin. He's met them all before on multiple occasions except for Seokjin who, when Jungkook arrives, is flailing his arms in the air while making silly faces at Taehyung in an attempt to make him laugh. Jungkook isn't sure what he expected Seokjin to be like, but it isn't this tall, broad man with a beautiful face and a big smile.

The second Jungkook sits down, Taehyung pushes Seokjin onto the couch next to him and then vanishes with the promise to get them drinks.

"Taehyung isn't subtle," Seokjin tells Jungkook with an amused grin. "Hi. I'm Seokjin."

"I'm Jungkook," Jungkook offers. He's nervous and doesn't know what to say, but Seokjin doesn't let them lapse into awkward silence. He tells Jungkook that he's an actor and model, and that when he's not working, he's an amateur chef.

It should sound like Seokjin's bragging, but it doesn't because Seokjin cracks a lot of jokes. The jokes remind him of the ones his soulmate used to send him -- the ones that used to bring him comfort when he was lonely or sad -- and he thinks that's why Seokjin's humor makes him relax. He laughs, and when Seokjin asks him about himself, he finds it easy to tell Seokjin about his love of animals and about how ironic it is that his and Jimin's apartment doesn't allow them.

By the time Taehyung returns with their drinks, Seokjin's arm is over the back of the couch, resting behind Jungkook's shoulders. It's overly friendly for someone Jungkook just met, but Jungkook finds, strangely, that he doesn't mind.

He's not sure about dating Seokjin though, so he ignores Jimin and Taehyung's offers to set them up. He mostly goes back to his usual routine, especially with classes, working, and studying taking up almost all of his time.

It's three weeks later that he runs into Seokjin at a coffee shop. He's in front of Jungkook in line, and when he spots Jungkook, his face lights up and he asks if Jungkook has time to chat for a bit.

They end up at a table by the window, and Seokjin tells him a humorous anecdote about the set of a television show he was recently on. Jungkook mentions a project he's doing on canine anatomy when Seokjin asks him about his studies, and that prompts Seokjin to show Jungkook a photo of his parents' dog. Jungkook spends the next half-hour looking at dog pictures and videos on Seokjin's phone, and he's surprised by how quickly the time flies by.

When he reluctantly gets up to go to class, he's relieved when Seokjin gives him his number.

Jimin and Taehyung are excited by this development, but Jungkook is content just talking to Seokjin. They send each other memes and dog pictures, and after Seokjin makes a comment about video games, Jungkook starts talking to him about his love for Overwatch.

They text every day for a full week, and maybe it's because Jimin and Taehyung keep talking about dating and Seokjin in the same sentence, and maybe it's because he's curious what Seokjin's reaction will be, but he tells Seokjin that he's a Blank.

oh, cool, Seokjin texts back.

So it doesn't bother you? Jungkook asks.

Seokjin's reply is instant. there's nothing wrong with being a blank. A few seconds later, he adds, does it bother you?

Sometimes, Jungkook answers. I wanted to find my soulmate for a long time. But they don't know they have a soulmate and I know they're with someone else.

i'm sorry

It's okay. They're not alone. That's what matters.

It takes a few minutes for Seokjin to reply this time, and when he does, he writes, you're a good person, jeon jungkook.

Seokjin's in Daegu for two weeks with work, and though Jungkook's only met him twice, he's impatient to meet up with him again.

He's happy when Seokjin invites him over for dinner when he's back in town. Seokjin's apartment is much nicer and much more spacious than his and Jimin's, but he also has Mario-themed lamps in his living room and a way about him that keeps Jungkook from feeling remotely self-conscious.

He makes lamb skewers while Jungkook watches and Seokjin wasn't lying when he said he was a chef. The meat is delicious, as are all the other dishes Seokjin prepares as well.

"I'm not much of a good cook," Jungkook admits half-way through the night when Seokjin asks him what he likes to eat, but his answer prompts Seokjin to invite him over for cooking lessons.

It becomes the way he spends his Saturday nights when Seokjin is in town, and a much needed break from work and school. Jungkook goes over to Seokjin's and Seokjin teaches him to cook. After they eat the fruits of their labor, they end up on Seokjin's couch. Sometimes they play video games, and other times they watch movies or dramas together.

It's on one of these Saturday nights that they watch a drama that has a Blank side character.

"I used to wish I had my soulmate's phone number," Jungkook tells Seokjin afterwards, after the Blank character ends up alone and the credits roll. "Since I couldn't write back, I wanted to message them instead."

"That's kind of you." There's something wistful about Seokjin's expression and Jungkook understands why when he adds, "I used to have this gut feeling that I had a soulmate, but I never had messages, not even minor ones. I would write to them anyway." He snorts. "It's pretty typical."

"That still sucks though," Jungkook tells him.

Seokjin shakes his head. "It's okay. I haven't been upset about it lately."

"Why? What happened lately?"

Seokjin puts his hand over Jungkook's and grins at him winningly, but Jungkook still isn't expecting it when he says, "I got lucky and found you."

The following Saturday he doesn't go to Seokjin's only because Jimin invites all of them out for dinner to celebrate Taehyung selling a collection of his recent paintings. At the restaurant, Jungkook sits next to Seokjin, but it's been a particularly exhausting week for Jungkook so after they order, he leans against Seokjin's shoulder and finds himself dozing. He tunes into the conversation again when he hears Jimin saying his name.

"He's at your place every weekend. You're practically dating already."

"Are you meddling in my love life again, Park Jimin?" Seokjin asks, laughing, but Jungkook feels Seokjin's hand brush through his hair affectionately, and he keeps his eyes closed as Seokjin changes the subject to speculation about Taehyung's mysterious buyer.

The thing is that Jungkook likes Seokjin, and he's honest enough with himself to know that he likes Seokjin in a way he hasn't felt about anyone else before. He wants to date Seokjin, he really does. He wants to spend time with him more than once a week. He wants to hear his terrible jokes and watch his face light up when he laughs. He wants to make him dinner and finally beat him at Mario Kart. He wants to figure out all the different ways they can make each other happy.

He wants Seokjin. He's just not sure he's ready for that.

Not when he realized, only a few days ago, that he hasn't seen any hickeys or other telling bruises on his skin for months. Not when he feels pangs of guilt that it took him so long to notice. Not when he feels even more pangs of guilt that he isn't as worried about his soulmate as he thinks he should be, even though he hopes, truly hopes, that they're okay.

Seokjin's fingers card through his hair again, and Jungkook buries his face in Seokjin's shoulder, wondering what he's going to do.

Jungkook knows Seokjin likes him too. It's the little things, like when Seokjin sends him texts to wish him good luck on his exams, like when Seokjin makes his favorite foods when he finds out he's had a hard week, or like when he wakes up with his head pillowed in Seokjin's lap to find Seokjin smiling down at him.

There's something undeniably electric in the air when the two of them are together, but it never goes any further than that.

Until it does.

A month later, after they watch a truly terrible action movie, Jungkook is laughing at a joke Seokjin made about the protagonist's tendency to pose unnecessarily when Seokjin gently cups Jungkook's cheek and kisses him.

It surprises him, but it's a soft kiss and it feels nice, so he presses his lips back against Seokjin's.

He's never been kissed before, and he doesn't know what he's doing, but Seokjin does. With a hand at the nape of Jungkook's neck, he changes the angle and guides their lips together again. Jungkook worried he'd be bad at kissing, but Seokjin makes it so he doesn't worry at all. He shows Jungkook what to do and laughs it off when their noses bump or Jungkook opens his mouth too wide.

He makes kissing easy and Jungkook likes it when Seokjin climbs onto his lap, straddling his thighs, and pushes him against the backrest of the couch. He likes it up until he wonders, idly, if soulmate still has someone to kiss.

Then he freezes, his whole body going still.

Seokjin's voice is gentle, and so is the hand he runs across Jungkook's cheek when he asks, "Are you okay?"

Jungkook hears his heartbeat echoing in his ears. He shakes his head, and pushes at Seokjin's shoulders so he knows to get off of him.

"Jungkook?"

But Jungkook can't do this. Not when he's still thinking about his soulmate.

"I'm sorry," he says. He wants to say more, but he's about ten seconds away from bursting into tears and it's not Seokjin's fault at all. "I'm sorry," he says again, and he doesn't look back as he runs for the door.

Thankfully, Jimin is home when he gets in. He takes one look at Jungkook's tear-soaked face and pulls him onto their couch, curling around him in a warm embrace.

"I like Seokjin," he says after he tells Jimin about the kiss. "I really like him."

"So why are you upset?" Jimin asks softly.

"I feel like I'm betraying my soulmate, but--" A sob escapes Jungkook's throat. "Now I've hurt Seokjin too."

Jimin rubs soothing circles onto Jungkook's back as Jungkook cries into his shirt, and it's only after his breathing isn't as ragged that Jimin asks him, "Did you feel betrayed by your soulmate when they started seeing someone?"

"A little," Jungkook admits. "Then... then I was relieved that they had someone they liked."

Jimin hums. "So what makes you think that your soulmate wouldn't also be relieved that you have someone you like?"

Jungkook hadn't thought about it that way.

Jimin lifts Jungkook's head and wipes his tears away with his thumbs. "I remember how glad you were that your soulmate wasn't alone anymore."

Jungkook feels new tears forming in his eyes. He tries to look away, but Jimin doesn't let him. He holds Jungkook's face in his hands and forces him to meet his gaze. Then he smiles.

"Can't you see? It's not a bad thing for you to like Seokjin. You deserve to have someone too. You deserve to be happy."

Jungkook lies awake in his bed that night.

He thinks about how good it felt to kiss Seokjin.

He thinks about Seokjin, who he misses and who he hurt, and who's left him twenty increasingly worried texts.

He thinks about how focused he used to be on finding his soulmate and how he hasn't thought about his soulmate much at all lately.

He thinks about what would happen if, by some miracle, he found his soulmate tomorrow and how it wouldn't bring him the same relief and joy he always imagined it would, not anymore.

He thinks Jimin's right -- that his soulmate, of all people, would understand.

Still, in the silence of his room, he holds his left wrist, where most of his messages appeared, and whispers an apology to his soulmate.

It makes him cry again, but he feels something fundamental inside him shift, and when he wakes the next morning, he knows that he's finally ready to let go.

It takes him the whole morning to work up the courage to see Seokjin. He's fearful Seokjin will be angry with him, despite his texts, but when Jungkook shows up at his doorstep, if anything, he seems relieved.

Jungkook interrupted his lunch, but he starts preparing Jungkook a bowl of the ramyeon that's still steaming on the stove. There are bags under his eyes that Jungkook hates he was the cause of, but before Jungkook can apologize, Seokjin is beating him to it.

"I'm sorry," he says, expression earnest. "I never wanted to force you or make you uncomfortable."

But Jungkook just shakes his head. "No. That's not-- I got worried about something but I'm not worried about it anymore. It wasn't anything you did."

"Still, I shouldn't have kissed you like that."

Jungkook bites his lip. "I liked you kissing me."

Seokjin blinks at him. "You did?"

"I'm happy when I'm with you," he admits and he can feel his cheeks heat. "And I'd like it if you could maybe... kiss me again?"

Seokjin blinks some more, but then he's smiling softly at Jungkook, even though his eyebrows are raised with surprise. "We can definitely do that."

Seokjin puts the bowl he just finished putting together for Jungkook on the counter. He's careful to telegraph his movements as he enters Jungkook's space, like he's making sure Jungkook knows what he's doing and can stop him at any time, but Jungkook wants this, and he meets Seokjin halfway when he leans in to kiss him.

Like before, it feels nice. Like before, it's easy. But unlike their first kiss, Jungkook has no interest in stopping, and when Seokjin moans against his mouth, he's the one who pulls Seokjin in closer and refuses to let go.

They officially start dating.

They still spend Saturday nights at Seokjin's apartment, but Jungkook starts going over to Seokjin's place on other days and times now too, sometimes just to cuddle or study. Seokjin visits his and Jimin's apartment too, much to Taehyung and Jimin's delight.

Seokjin becomes increasingly tactile. His hand, more often than not, rests against Jungkook's lower back or rubs gentle circles into his neck. So Jungkook starts touching Seokjin more too. He leaves his hand on Seokjin's thigh when they sit together, and he massages Seokjin's tense shoulders when he gets home from work. Jungkook lies against Seokjin on the couch when they watch television together, and it seems like they kiss every chance they get.

He likes that Seokjin is thoughtful and observant. He notices that Jungkook is nervous about physical intimacy at first, unused to it as he is, and he offers Jungkook both awful jokes to break the tension and encouraging words to make him feel more at ease.

Jungkook thinks he's becoming a good kisser with Seokjin showing him how he likes to be kissed. He also thinks he's learning other important things too, like how Seokjin enjoys it when Jungkook is a little rough with him, pushing him up against walls and lifting him into the air. He learns that Seokjin loves being kissed on his neck and shoulders even though he's not allowed to leave any marks because of Seokjin's work. And he learns that he likes it when Seokjin takes control, pinning Jungkook against his sheets with a single-minded determination to wring as much pleasure out of him as he can.

They try different things, and like kissing, and it surprises Jungkook how comfortable it is and how fun it is -- it surprises him just how well they work together.

Seokjin's birthday is at the beginning of December, and Jimin and Taehyung help Jungkook throw him a party at their apartment. They mostly eat take-out and watch a movie where Seokjin has a minor role, much to his embarrassment. They also get him a cake and make him blow out so many candles that Yoongi asks if they own a fire extinguisher.

As the party winds down, Jimin and Taehyung argue that they can clean up, and practically shove him and Seokjin out the door.

Jungkook traps Seokjin against the wall the second they get to his apartment, and Seokjin laughs happily as he wraps his arms around Jungkook's neck and his legs around his hips, letting him support his weight. They grind like that, Jungkook kissing a spot under Seokjin's ear and enjoying the noises he makes.

"I don't have a shoot until January," Seokjin tells him, and it seems like a non-sequitur until Seokjin tips his head back giving Jungkook better access to the long line of his neck.

Jungkook wets his lips when he realizes what Seokjin's asking for, and then he's leaning in and giving Seokjin what he wants. He mouths at the skin at the base of his neck, relishing in the way Seokjin keens when he uses his teeth. Seokjin shudders against him when he does it again, and that's when Jungkook decides they should move this to the bedroom.

When he deposits Seokjin onto the bed, Seokjin grins up at him and raises his eyebrows. "Aren't you going to give me the rest of my birthday present?"

Jungkook snorts, amused and fond, and dutifully climbs on top of him.

Jungkook wakes up the next morning face down in Seokjin's bed, surrounded by his scent. He hears movement and lifts his head to see Seokjin pulling a t-shirt over his head, his hair still wet from a shower. He flushes when he sees the sheer amount of hickeys he left on Seokjin's skin. There's messy lines of them stretching from his neck to his shoulders, and even across his collarbones.

Seokjin catches his gaze and swats at his behind affectionately. "Get up and I'll make you breakfast."

Jungkook yawns and buries his face in his pillow. Seokjin lets out an exasperated huff of laughter, but leaves him be, and it's not until he hears Seokjin shuffling around in the kitchen that he pulls himself out of bed.

He's still half asleep when he takes a shower, so it's only when he's standing in front of the sink, a towel wrapped around his waist, that he does a double-take. In the mirror, his neck and shoulders are covered in a ridiculous number of hickeys.

He takes a deep breath, and then another.

He pokes at one of the hickeys in disbelief, but there's no soreness. They're minor messages.

He shouts for Seokjin.

Seokjin runs into the bathroom a moment later, clearly panicked. "What happened? Are you okay?"

He turns to face Seokjin and he can tell the moment Seokjin notices the marks on his skin. Seokjin's eyes go wide and, for a second, he just stands there, staring. His hands are shaking when he reaches out and traces his fingers over them. Then his eyes meet Jungkook's and search his like he's making sure they're seeing the same thing.

Without looking away, Seokjin pulls off his shirt and turns towards the mirror. There wasn't any doubt, but one look at their reflections side by side makes it clear that their hickeys are a perfect match.

Seokjin makes a noise in his throat, and his legs give out from under him. Jungkook catches him under his arms and slowly lowers him to the ground.

"Is this really happening?" Seokjin asks, his hands tight on Jungkook's shoulders.

"I'll get a pen," Jungkook says, feeling just as shell-shocked.

His whole body is unsteady as he gets to his feet and hurries to the living room where he grabs a pen off the table. He sits down in front of Seokjin on the bathroom floor and presses it into Seokjin's hand.

On his left wrist, Seokjin writes a word that Jungkook has seen hundreds of times.

Hello?

Jungkook's wrist tingles and he raises it between them just as that same word materializes on his skin.

Jungkook blinks down at it and loses his breath.

He can't believe it. His soulmate is Seokjin.

Somehow his soulmate is the same person who made Jungkook laugh within thirty seconds of meeting him, who taught him to cook, and who delights in kicking his ass in Mario Kart.

Somehow his soulmate is someone he already loves with his whole heart.

It's Seokjin who bruised his right knee as a child and gave Jungkook his first minor mark. It's Seokjin who left him jokes on his arms when he needed them the most. It's Seokjin who wrote him all those messages, even though all evidence suggested that he didn't have a soulmate at all.

He's yearned and dreamed about his soulmate for most of his life and his soulmate has been Seokjin this whole time.

Seokjin has tears falling down his cheeks and he's staring at Jungkook in awe as the pen drops from his grip onto the floor.

Jungkook carefully picks it up. Then he picks up Seokjin's wrist. With trembling hands, he adds his own handwriting underneath the message, and knows that this is the first time Seokjin is able to see his reply.

Hello, I'm Jungkook.

It feels like a revelation -- like a missing puzzle piece slipping into place. He's giddy with it, almost impossibly so, but Jungkook has known for a while now that he doesn't need his soulmate to feel loved or complete. Even if his soulmate wasn't Seokjin, Seokjin is the one he needs -- the one he's chosen.

Still, it settles something in him that he knows now, for sure, that his soulmate is happy.

Seokjin rubs his thumb over Jungkook's reply, and when he starts laughing, his shock and utter joy is audible. Jungkook laughs too, tears in his own eyes, and he grins as he presses their foreheads together. He holds Seokjin close, and they stay like that, embracing each other, for a long, long time.

At some point, Jungkook manages to put on a pair of sweatpants and they make it to the couch.

Seokjin writes messages on his left arm and marvels at the way they appear on Jungkook a moment later.

Jungkook shows him what happens every time he tries to write back -- how Jungkook's messages never go any further than his own skin.

Seokjin frowns, clearly upset by this -- by how many messages he's realized he's missed -- so Jungkook tells him the things he's always wanted to say. He writes them too. On Seokjin's arms, he leaves bits and pieces of the messages he's sent over the years.

Thank you for the jokes.

I want you to be happy.

I'm here.

Seokjin starts to cry again. "I thought... I thought I didn't have a soulmate, but someone was getting my messages all this time." He looks at Jungkook like he can't believe he's real. "You were getting them all this time."

He ends up with his head on Seokjin's shoulder as Seokjin explains how he was certain he had a soulmate when he was growing up, and how devastated he was when he never got any messages -- how he kept holding onto hope well past the point when he should've given up. He finds out that Seokjin did, in fact, check Blank websites, but that he stopped visiting them when every visit ended up leaving him doubtful and discouraged. And when he asks about Seokjin's penmanship and why he didn't recognize it, thinking of the barely-legible chicken scratch he's seen in the margins of Seokjin's scripts, he discovers that Seokjin can write neatly but only if he wants to.

Jungkook shares more about his childhood, and tells Seokjin how he kept refusing Jimin and Taehyung's attempts at matchmaking until he woke up covered in hickeys. Seokjin blushes at that, and explains that for the past three years, he's dated a few people and had some hook-ups as well, but Jungkook reassures him that he's glad that his soulmate had someone. Or someones as it turns out.

Mostly, they cuddle together on Seokjin's couch the way they have for months, but this time, every so often they stare down their wrists in wonder.

"I really am lucky I found you," Seokjin says as Jungkook feels the press of a kiss to his hair. "And I'm so happy it's you."

Jungkook's heart swells with affection and he lifts his head so he can kiss Seokjin on the lips. "I'm happy it's you, too."

When Jungkook finally goes back to his own apartment, he has Jimin and Taehyung's attention from the moment he walks in the door. If they didn't already know where he was for the past two days, his lovesick smile would give him away.

Jimin's smirking when he asks, "So... how was your extended birthday party with Seokjin?"

But when Jungkook tells them that Seokjin isn't just his boyfriend anymore, but also his long-lost soulmate, Jimin and Taehyung go from lounging on top of each other on the couch to directly in front of him in an instant.

"Really?" Taehyung asks, his big eyes peering at Jungkook, his mouth already stretched into a smile.

As if on cue, Jungkook feels a tingling on his forearm. He pulls down his shirt sleeve.

What color are hamburgers?

Jungkook slips his phone out of his back pocket. He knows the answer to this one so he texts back, Burgundy.

Jimin and Taehyung look between his wrist and his phone, struck silent for a moment, but then they start cheering and pull him into a hug. When they part, they're just in time to watch a small drawn heart appear on Jungkook's skin.

Jungkook grins at it. He loves Seokjin, would love him just as much even if he wasn't his soulmate, but he can't deny how happy he is that he can finally reply to his soulmate's messages -- he can't deny how happy he is that he now has an extra way to let Seokjin know just how much he's adored.

He texts Seokjin back a heart emoji and feels his heart soar.