Chapters: 1/3 • Rating: T • Chapter word count: 2222
Relationships: Park Jongseong | Jay/Yang Jungwon
Additional Tags: Fluff, Soulmate AU, is it really au if theyre soulmates irl?, jk theres magical skin sharing in this of course its au, Idol Park Jongseong | Jay, Non-Famous Yang Jungwon, Fan Yang Jungwon, Getting Together, Rating May Change, Other Additional Tags to Be Added
• • • • • • • • • • • • • •
Summary:
It happened one fateful day as Jungwon attended the fansign of his favourite idol, Jay.
His soulmate never wrote back to him. The doodles on his skin went unanswered every time he tried.
But, as he sat across Jay, a horrifying realisation came over him—their doodles looked identical.
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Read Chapter 1 under the cut:
• • • • • • • • • • • • • •
It seemed like all everyone wanted to talk about was soulmates, and quite frankly Jungwon was tired of it.
When he was five his grandma told him how everyone in this world had their other half, who would understand you with a single look, who loved you unconditionally. The one person whose destiny is linked to yours. And the best part was your skin was linked to their skin – every ink smear or paint smudge appeared on the others, so did every paper cut, or bruise. In the same place they had put or left theirs.
"But wouldn't that hurt?"
"No, they would only appear like an image, it wouldn’t be a real bruise. You also can't wash it away, the other would have to wash theirs or it would disappear with time."
"When will I get my soulmate?"
"That depends. Usually, you can start writing to your soulmate when you start going to school."
‘Start going to school’ his ass, Jungwon's soulmate looks to be the most loner kid ever. Heck, even Sooha, one of his terribly bullied classmates who sits by herself in the corner in every class frequently doodles to her soulmate. Jungwon's soulmate just doesn't want to decorate their skin apparently. Not in their style , or whatever.
He knows they're capable to draw and write, he's found a couple doodles on his skin over the years, ones he knows he didn't draw himself, but in the grand scheme of things he might as well haven't gotten anything for how big of a craze the soulmate stuff seems to be in the middle schooler life and just how empty his arms look most of the time.
And yeah, sure, Jungwon could initiate some communication with his soulmate more, but he’s tried that. Multiple times. And at some point it became blatantly obvious that his soulmate just simply wanted nothing to do with him.
Which is how he's found himself a mutual. Kim Sunoo last communicated with his soulmate in second grade, four years before he transferred to Jungwon's school when they found themselves in a bare-armed pact. While Jungwon's soulmate seemed to just ignore him, Sunoo was in a completely different boat. After a couple doodles he had done on his hand in second grade, his soulmate had responded with "don't write, it hurts. sorry" and Sunoo's mum had to explain that his soulmate appeared to have a rare genetic condition known as soulmate allergy.
So there they were, two friends who would rather discuss the morning cartoons than what their weddings with soulmates will be like. And quite frankly that seemed more fun.
Cartoons turned to comics, comics turned to K-pop. Jungwon was sure if he had become friends with any other boy, he wouldn’t have a shelf dedicated to very handsome idols’ albums at the ripe age of 20, but here he was. It’s not like he was dragged into this either. He knew very well that following Sunoo’s interests to spend more time with him likely entailed becoming just as much interested in the hobby as the other.
At first, K-pop seemed so interesting Jungwon did consider the idol life himself. Being on stage, traveling the world, seeing fans— it seemed so nice. On paper anyway. After a couple of years and a company change, he decided it was more fun to watch from the sidelines than be the player. So, he left.
Being in K-pop or even just a fan of it might’ve not been his life calling or plan, but it has been amazing so far. Jungwon was not as crazy about idols as Sunoo was, or really, as crazy as the average fan seemed to be. For the most part, he was just a casual listener, accompanying his friends to concerts and buying a couple of albums every now and then. He'd been a listener for years but there was only one person he'd consider himself an actual fan of.
Soloist Jay.
Which is who, on this rather cool April afternoon, he was attending a fansign of. Somehow the stars aligned perfectly and Jungwon won a fansign for the only idol he really cared about.
His first fansign. He couldn’t be more thrilled. Just a couple of people in the line before him and then he will get his chance to finally talk to his idol. He didn't consider himself a fanboy, to be fair, he just enjoyed Jay's songs more than other groups or soloists. Still—being here, a few meters away from him, was exciting.
Just as he thought there was nothing to ruin this perfect day, Jungwon felt a tickling feeling on the back of his left palm. As he looked down, a small grey star appeared next to a heart that had appeared a few minutes prior. Nice , he thought, although it was very, very not nice. It's doodling hour.
Every now and then Jungwon's soulmate would have what he called ‘The Doodling Hour’, when Jungwon’s hands would get decorated with the simplest little drawings. They'd appear periodically for around an hour and then be washed away. The doodling hours started only a few years ago but other than that development there were still no other attempts made to communicate with Jungwon.
Ignoring Jungwon’s doodles for all these years only to adorn his skin now in his twenties. It seemed like all the times his soulmate didn’t answer to him had been piled up and sent at once like the album group orders international fans organised.
As much as the whole soulmate thing annoyed Jungwon, he still found his heart warm up seeing the drawings appear at last, kind of like a small reassurance that his soulmate was still alive and well, even though he wasn't interested in meeting them.
But now was simply not the time. He was about to meet Jay for God's sake .
Now he was just third in line and another doodle appeared on the skin. A star, a heart and now a small four-petal flower mapped on his hand, and Jungwon wished he had worn one of his oversized hoodies that could hide them. For some reason it felt intimate to have his soulmate's doings presented for the world to see. For Jay to see. Somehow that seemed inappropriate.
With worry all over his mind he didn't realise the two people before him had left and it was his turn to finally meet Jay. He sat down, clearing his thoughts to focus on what he pictured as the highlight of his year, probably.
A shaky greeting escaped his mouth, and he mentally cursed himself. There goes all his cool and collected "not a fanboy" image.
"Hello," Jay casually greeted back, which took some nerves off Jungwon. "Are you okay? You looked like you had something on your mind."
Oh, there really was something on his mind. Not that he would vent this to his ult, but all his thoughts occupied at that moment was his soulmate. His stupid soulmate with their stupid doodles .
"Don't worry about it it's-" Jungwon suddenly stopped as his glace landed on Jay's hand. His question, though very sweet of him to check in on him, made Jungwon subconsciously look at Jay's hand. There, in an eerily similar arrangement laid a star, a heart and a simple flower and his mind turned even hazier. How did his stupid soulmate manage to print the same doodles on Jay’s hand too? "Wha- what's that?"
"Huh?" Jay looked down to where Jungwon was staring. "Oh, that's a common role-play thing people like to do with idols on fansigns when they ask to do the same doodle in the same place as theirs, so it looks like we're soulmates."
Jay’s voice made his mind calm down a little. Well as little as realising Park Jongseong, his favourite artist, had the same soulmate doodles in the same places as his did. The textbook soulmate test.
Truly no big deal at all.
Jungwon didn't know what to do in this situation. Surely this means what he thinks it means; Jay was his soulmate. How else would he have the same doodles in the same places?
Jungwon was usually quick to find a solution, but this time was far from a normal situation. So, he did the only thing he could think of - pushing his arm a little forward so Jay could see it and make the decision himself.
That seemed to work. Jay looked down to Jungwon's hand, and immediately glanced back up to Jungwon as the realisation settled in. The moment of shock in his eyes quickly disappeared however and Jay went back to what sounded like a rehearsed line.
"Here, I can show you."
Jungwon was glad at least one of them had thought about this possibility. On second thought, it made perfect sense, however. As an artist, your soulmate is either someone who knows you or who doesn't know you, and either in the industry or not, so you need to know how to act and what to do if you meet them and they're a fan. Honestly the company probably teaches them how to deal with this when they are trainees.
Jay takes the marker next to him and starts drawing a simple cat face on the inside of his own palm. Jungwon slightly opens his own palm and feels his cheeks heat up as he sees grey lines magically appear on his own skin, in real time in the same way Jay moves the marker in his hand, and now he's one hundred percent sure this is real; Jay is his soulmate. He looks back at Jay’s drawing. For such a simple doodle he manages to move the marker so elegantly and efficiently, like he's practiced this before, although Jungwon can't seem to remember ever seeing a cat doodle on his skin.
When Jay is done, he asks Jungwon for his hand and when he opens and sees the same kitty design just slightly greyer, he watches Jay inhale as the conformation settles in his mind too. Jay takes the marker and starts drawing but Jungwon never feels the cool wet marker touch his skin. Instead, Jay traces over the drawing in the air, and the lack of reaction makes Jungwon understand it's Jay's way of saying do not say it out loud, act like you are a fan just like the rest of them.
Jay closes the marker, leans back and smiles at Jungwon. "There, now we are soulmates."
"Yeah, thanks," Jungwon answers back, trying to follow Jay's ‘act normal’ request. Surprisingly that helps him remember what he initially wanted to do during his fansign. He takes out his copy of Jay's latest album and slides it forward. "Can you sign my album, please?"
"Sure thing." Jay takes the album and opens it, looking back at Jungwon. "Any favourite photos in the photobook I can write a special message on?"
Jungwon takes the sign. He might not have a favourite photo, but this might be one of the only ways the two of them can communicate truly privately at least at this time. So he makes one up on the spot. "The motorbike one."
"Good choice, good choice." Jay says and flips the booklet open on said page where he scribbles something. "What's your favourite song?"
Jay then closed the book and as he signed the front cover, he continued to ask Jungwon questions surrounding him being a fan. In turn Jungwon told him how big of a comfort Jay and his music have been to him and they fell into a conversation similar to what he has seen on other fansign videos. Minus the constant glances he gives to the doodles on Jay's hand.
Soon—too soon—the time is up and Jungwon is rushed to finish up. He stands up from the chair and waves a goodbye with the doodled hand. Jay returns the wave, a cat face on his palm meeting his own mirrored. He hopes their cats get to meet again soon.
When he walks out of the building he stops and takes it in. He was too dizzy back there and now with the cool spring air breezing through the busy street, his no less busy thoughts finally slow down and he notes the most important revelations.
One, singer Park Jongseong, also known as Jay, is the sweetest person on this planet, and also happens to be super professional. (Well, to be fair, Jungwon already knew that but it's good to have it confirmed in real life with a great example of handling a life-changing moment in public.)
Two, the very sweet and professional singer Park Jongseong, also known as Jay, is his soulmate. Jungwon's skin is linked with his favourite artist's skin. And for the first time in his life he thinks, maybe the whole soulmate thing wasn't so bad.
He walks to his motorcycle he parked a block away. Placing his backpack on it he took out the freshly signed album, caressing over the marker lines before flipping the photobook to the special message Jay left on the motorcycle pic he was yet to see.
He couldn't believe his eyes.
Three, the very sweet and professional singer Park Jongseong, also known as Jay, who was apparently his soulmate, had left his phone number.
• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
Thank you for reading! Reblogs are appreciated (:
• • • masterlist • • • next chapter • • •