For the fanfic ask meme (I'm so happy you're writing!): New Girl, OT5 or just Nick/Jess, the five people who love Nick Miller more than he will ever know (or, at least, understand).
Nick’s first soulmark was Winston’s handprint, a childish smear of deep green just below his right knee, where Winston had grabbed his leg when they were pretending to be zombies as kids in Chicago. It had shocked both of them; they knew you weren’t supposed to touch people without permission, and that soulmates were personal and something that adults spoke about in quiet tones, but neither had expected that stain of forest green on Nick’s leg, or how the palm of Winston’s hand would turn the same dark shade, like it had been dipped in paint, for the rest of his life. Then Winston had laughed, because of course the two of them were soulmates (what a dumb question, Miller).
He’d met Schmidt freshman year of college, when soulmarks were a thing that people tried for with every new person they met, the thrill of illicit touch turning into the routine of greeting. Both of them were shocked out of their mutual coolness by the appearance of an orange fingerprint, bright like a berry, underneath Schmidt’s ear where Nick had pressed his thumb. They’d stared at each other, flabbergasted, until Schmidt had blushed and started stammering something about never had met a soulmate before, how they were going to be the best of friends, he just knew it, and they’d both decided to room together that year after all.
When he’d met Jess, Nick had known he didn’t want to touch her. He was pretty sure they weren’t soulmates anyway, because he’d never be soulmates with somebody that petite and annoying, even if he did want to make out with her sometimes (sleeping Nick was a different guy). It wasn’t until he was sitting on a beach at night, not sure if he would find out if he was living or dying the next day, with Jess asleep next to him on the sand that he touched her, tentatively, on her bare shoulder. Crimson like blood blossomed underneath his hand where he touched her, spreading out like tendrils into her skin and wrapping around his own fingers. A shiver of dread and anticipation sunk down Nick’s spine like cold air before he shook her awake. He stared at his fingers that night, after the diagnosis came back clean, with the red curls of Jess’s soulmark on his skin new and strange.
Cece had never asked him about touching each other. She was an oddly private person for a model, discreet with her own soulmarks, which were often covered in makeup and concealer for her jobs. It wasn’t until her wedding, Schmidt and herself radiant with the moment, surrounded by the loft and their friends and family and love, that she’d leaned over to grasp Nick’s elbow and sky blue had stained both of their skins. Cece had smiled and leaned forward to kiss him on the cheek then, and Schmidt had clapped both of them on the back, beaming. Winson and Jess came up to them then, laughing, soulmarks, bright and dark, on the skin of all of them.
Nick closed his eyes and let himself believe.