Chapter Text
Jimin remembers being told about soulmates when he was three. “You see this thing on your wrist?” his mother had asked, tracing her fingers over words he couldn’t quite discern yet. She grimaced as she saw them, but continued on. “That’s the first thing your soulmate will say to you. Wow, they’re… fiery, by the looks of it.”
“What does that mean, Eomma?”
“I guess you’ll see soon enough,” she sighed. “Anyway, your soulmate is your true love, right? The one you’ll spend the rest of your life with.”
“Like in the dramas you watch all the time?” She laughed, caressing his hair fondly.
“Yes. Like in the dramas I watch all the time.”
Jimin quickly fell in love with the idea of soulmates, the idea that someone was meant to be with him and him only, that they’d live a happy life together and be perfect for each other in every way. This illusion was somewhat dismantled when he was five and learned to read.
“Now, kids,” his teacher said, “why don’t you read what’s written on your wrists? We can all see what exactly your soulmate’s going to say to you.” Jimin squealed, excited, and pulled up his sweater sleeve, slowly making out the words tattooed on his arm.
Go feed yourself to the fucking sharks.
“Jimin, honey, why don’t you read your out–” The teacher paused. “Oh. Oh, dear. Um… Taehyung, you read yours out loud instead, all right?” Taehyung happily complied, reading something about the benefits of lamb skewers. “Why don’t you go to the principal’s office?” she asked in a low voice.
“What does it mean?” Jimin asked, staring at his teacher innocently. She shook her head.
“Just go to the principal’s office.”
-
It’s been thirteen years since then, and Jimin knows very well what it means. He’s reminded every time he’s a bit too drunk and someone asks about his tattoo, and he shows it to them and is greeted with a grimace. He’s reminded every time Taehyung goes to a lamb skewer shop in hopes of finding his soulmate, joking that maybe he should take Jimin to the aquarium. He’s reminded all the time, and he hates his stupid soulmate for ruining his life.
(Though he must admit, if someone’s going to say something that rude to him and he’ll still fall in love, the person must be pretty cool otherwise.)
But he can’t focus on his maybe-terrible soulmate at the moment, because he’s going to college. “We’re roommates!” Taehyung yells in his ear as they start unpacking.
“You’ve been saying that for the past three months,” Jimin groans, face planting into his new bed. “Please, for the love of god, shut up.”
“Never,” Tae cackles. “And for your information, I’ve only been saying that since I found out, a month ago.” He pauses. “You know what we should do? We should visit Jin’s diner.”
“Or we could just finish unpacking?” Jimin suggests meekly. Taehyung shakes his head, pulling Jimin out into the hall despite his protests.
“We’re going to celebrate!” he whoops. “Come on!” Jimin sighs.
“Fine, but I’m not paying for the fifty million hamburgers you’re going to order.”
-
Yoongi had never liked soulmates. Everyone else – even his best friend, Hoseok – spoke endlessly about the power of true love, as if that was a thing. All Yoongi knew was that his parents were soulmates, and they’d left each other when he was eight. “Therefore,” he argued every time someone brought the topic up, “soulmates aren’t really a thing.”
He especially didn’t like soulmates because his had apparently said the most generic thing as a form of greeting - sorry. “What sort of idiotic person says sorry the first time they meet their goddamn soulmate?” he complained.
“Yoongs, they probably wouldn’t know that you’re their soulmate the first time you meet them,” Hoseok said. Yoongi glared. “And besides, your tattoo will turn colors when they say whatever phrase, remember? So it’s all good.”
“Whatever,” he huffed, determined to somehow stay angry at his stupid soulmate. “I don’t care.”
-
Yoongi does start to care just a little bit when he sees an actual Greek god walk into Jin’s diner the day before school starts. “What are you staring at?” Jungkook asks, following Yoongi’s gaze. He grins knowingly. “Ah.”
“Shut up.”
The Greek god is short – maybe even shorter than Yoongi, though he can’t tell from this distance – with bright orange hair and biceps that Yoongi can see even through his blazer. Why he’s wearing a blazer to a diner is beyond Yoongi’s comprehension, but it looks good on him. Inhumanely good. Ridiculously good. Yoongi might be a little more gay right now.
“Ah, our stonehearted friend is finding love,” Jin coos, walking to their table. “You’re not subtle at all, by the way.” Yoongi turns scarlet.
“Not subtle about what?” he asks, trying to play innocent and cursing himself when he stutters. Jin just sighs.
“Maybe he’s your soulmate,” Jungkook says hopefully, eyeing the boy next to the Greek god. Yoongi snorts.
“Maybe he’s yours,” he says, nodding at the boy. Jungkook elbows him.