Jongin liked to think that his obsession with teeth magic was merely an extension of his core identity as a romantic idealist. He'd lost his first tooth on his first day of kindergarten—also the day he met Yixing—and had put it under his pillow with the greatest of expectation. His parents told wonderful stories of finding each other through the Cadmus' clues, and Jongin had been ready for weeks, relentlessly messing with his loose tooth in the hopes of removing it faster. The next day, after dutifully placing the tooth under his pillow and wishing with clasped hands and closed eyes to be given someone amazing—the wishing didn't add to the magic any, but Jongin didn't know that and his father, Minseok, thought it was just too precious—Jongin woke to find his tooth replaced with a crisp sheet of paper and one word written in boldly slanting handwriting: "Dancer." When he got to school that day, Jongin had gushed to Yixing about his magical successes and afterward dragged both himself and his new best friend off to a beginner's dance class for children.

In mythology, the original Cadmus collected the first teeth to become the bringer of literacy and civilization, but the magic of his successors also brought Jongin a love of dancing—a love that, like everything else, he shared with Yixing. That alone kept him believing, even when Yixing said it was silly, and that people should be able to love who they want without some magical being dictating who their supposed soulmate was supposed to be. This was a conversation Jongin and Yixing had when they were seven and Jongin's latest tooth had turned in a notification that his soulmate was male, even though Jongin was pretty sure he only liked girls—and Yixing, of course. Jongin agreed that people could love outside of their soulmate relationship, but Yixing thought Jongin was making too much of a deal out of the whole "perfect match" thing. Yixing himself was the product of a first marriage and a mother he'd never met—a mother who was supposed to be his father's soulmate but who could never have made Yifan and Yixing as happy as Sehun had been able to. If it were up to the Cadmus, Jongin's kids would have two dads just like Yixing did, but the whole point of Yixing's argument was that Jongin's future didn't have to be that way if that wasn't what Jongin truly wanted.

"But I do," Jongin argued to his best friend, when at age nine he'd lost one of his last few baby teeth and had gotten a clue which all but confirmed something that his heart had secretly wished for since the very beginning. "I do want a soulmate, even if that soulmate is a guy, even if he's not the same ethnicity as me, even if he doesn't believe in this as wholeheartedly as I do. I can see how happy my mom and dad are and I want that for myself."

Yixing had sighed, amazed that his best friend could be so dense when it came to everything else, but so completely focused, intelligent, and coherent on this one subject. But they were nine year old boys after all, so Yixing's only response had been a vaguely annoyed "Whatever," and then the two had gone back to their Xbox.

The Xbox broke when they were twelve and had their first real fight—Jongin's parents were splitting up and Yixing was fed up that Jongin still seemed to believe in the idea that soulmates could exist when even the golden couple couldn't make their relationship work.

"That's just it!" Jongin had shouted, angry and hurt that the one person in the world who was supposed to understand him completely was no longer on his side. "I believe in this because that is all I have left to believe in!" When he'd let out a shuddering breath which hinted at an oncoming flood of tears, Yixing had instantly forgiven Jongin for the Xbox he'd thrown earlier, and wrapped his best friend in his scrawny pre-teen arms, cooing softly and asking about the fate of Jongin's final molar.

"What did it get you this time?" Yixing asked, still skeptical of the magic, but at least understanding Jongin's need to believe.

"It's the last one," Jongin had sniffled in reply, "and I wasn't ready. So I kept it and I've decided to wait."

Yixing knew that Jongin had had a crush for ages, and even at twelve, he was perceptive enough to wonder if maybe Jongin was afraid. Both knew that it was entirely possible that the information in the Cadmus' clue would not match up with the identity of Jongin's crush. Secretly, Jongin wondered the same thing—if he was afraid—even as he lay in bed four years later, tightly clutching the container that held his very last lost tooth.

He didn't really know what to do with it, despite his still constant assurances to Yixing that he still believed in soulmate magic and that "someday my prince will come." Over the years, as Jongin had collected fallen teeth, traded them for information, and then compiled that data to form a sketch of his perfect match, he'd become more and more convinced that his person had been right in front of him that whole time. Encouraged out of his fear by this conviction, Jongin had taken the remaining molar and was finally ready to place it in the Cadmus' hands.

Jongin felt that his courage was rewarded that next morning when he lifted his pillow to find a piece of paper much like that first one from when he was five. On the front it held the clue: "Things in love are closer than they appear," but on the back there was something new—writing, too. "Jongin," it read, "four fully grown wisdom teeth in exchange for a name seems like a fair trade to me. Good luck tomorrow, the Cadmus."

Jongin grinned as he reread the comforting words, stuffing the small paper quickly into his pocket when the dental surgeon—aka Yixing's dad, Sehun—stepped into the room and began to explain the procedure. Jongin wasn't sure he really cared at that moment because he just wanted those babies out of his mouth and under his pillow. When he woke up four hours later, though, pain medication and a hovering Yixing left all thoughts of teeth magic forgotten. Jongin was loopy, but Yixing knew how important the teeth were to his best friend, so he made sure to grab them from his dad before driving Jongin home.

As he drove, Yixing fiddled with the radio in an attempt to keep Jongin awake, at least until they got to their destination. When that didn't work, he tried making conversation, but his best friend's level of consciousness was far from lucid, so Yixing had no luck there either. Finally, Yixing resorted to poking Jongin hard in the arm everytime the latter's eyes fell shut for longer than 20 seconds.

"I love you," Jongin shared suddenly, after a particularly vicious jab from Yixing's pointer finger.

Yixing rolled his eyes—he'd seen enough of his dad's patients to know how bad it could be coming off anesthesia—but responded to Jongin regardless. "Yeah, Jonginnie, I love you too. We are best frie—"

"No!" Jongin interrupted, startling Yixing into slamming on the breaks. "Not what I meant," he muttered quietly, slipping back into oblivion before Yixing could press his best friend further.

After that, Jongin stayed asleep, even as Yixing dragged him out of the car, into the house, and up two flights of stairs to his bedroom. At the last minute as they exited the car, Yixing had remembered to grab the teeth off the dash, and was glad he didn't have to go all the way downstairs again in order to slip all four under a still-slumbering Jongin's pillow.

"I love you too," Yixing repeated softly, placing a sweet kiss on Jongin's forehead. "And I can't believe I'm saying this because the whole soulmate thing doesnt have to mean anything anyway, but I hope it's me." As he closed Jongin's door behind him, Yixing took one last lingering look at his best friend before he said, "I really really do."

Jongin's mind was still fuzzy when he woke up the next morning, but two things stood out to him: 1) He needed to look under his pillow because Yixing's a good friend and Jongin trusted that he would find his soulmate's name written there, and 2) "I really really do." He didn't know where the second came from, but those words were on a loop in his head even as he dreamt, so Jongin figured they must be important.

It's funny, though, how priorities reveal themselves, and how things that seemed important in one moment become completely obsolete in the next. That's why Jongin made a sudden choice not to look—not to see what name was written on that paper because he thought of Yixing's face hovering over him as Jongin emerged from dental surgery, and Jongin decided that if his teeth magic soulmate wasn't Yixing, then he didn't want to know. Instead, then, he lifted his pillow, grabbed the small paper without sparing it even a glance, and tucked the name of his soulmate into a box of keepsakes he'd started in kindergarten.

The altering of his prioritites was also why Jongin had rushed over to Yixing's as soon as Minseok let him out of the house—there had been tedious post-surgery maintenance to take care of first—and had literally pounced on his best friend the moment he opened the door.

"Xingxing," Jongin let out breathlessly, "it's you."

Yixing was confused. "Me?" He asked, his dimple appearing as if to emphasize how lost he was. "What's me?"

"My soulmate!" Jongin clarified impatiently. "My soulmate is you."

"Oh," Yixing responded, mostly because he didn't know what else one was supposed to say when confronted with the knowledge that they are someone else's perfect match. He scratched his head, still not quite believing that Jongin had just confessed, especially when Yixing had been dreaming of this moment for so long but never dared to hope that it would actually happen. "That's cool, I guess. Did your teeth tell you that?"

"Nope," Jongin declared proudly, stepping forward to peck an unprepared—though not adverse—Yixing on the lips. "My heart did."

Yixing chuckled under his breath at the memory of his and his husband's first kiss, simultanteously cringing as he recalled how cheesy Jongin could be when he thought the moment called for it. He was pulled from his reverie by a questioning call of "Daddy?" and rose from his seat, closing his and Jongin's photo album before venturing out of their bedroom to find their younger son.

"Lulu? Where are you, baby?" Yixing questioned, his voice echoing throughout the house.

"Kitchen!" was the reply. His child's voice sounded a little panicked, so Yixing quickened his steps, wondering what could be wrong. When he walked into the kitchen to find a red-faced Luhan crouched on the floor next to a crying Jongin, Yixing couldn't help imagining the worst. Noticing the slip of paper clutched tightly in Jongin's hand, Yixing rushed over, questions falling off his lips in rapid succession. "Is it Tao? Is something wrong? Is he alright? Did he—"

"It's us," Jongin interrupted—a bad habit that he still retained even after years of friendship and almost five years of marriage. He looked up at a startled Yixing, smiling at his husband through his tears. "You're my soulmate, truly."

Yixing was confused—though also unbelievably relieved that Luhan's twin was safe and sound—and his dimple appeared to prove it. He had literally just reminisced about Jongin's confession from when they were teenagers, so he already knew that he and Jongin were perfect for each other. Yixing was about to say as much when Jongin just shook his head and held out the paper he still held tightly in his hand.

"As promised, the product of your wisdom teeth: Zhang Yixing. Live happily, the Cadmus."

Yixing chuckled as he returned the paper to his husband and crouched along with Luhan to wipe Jongin's tears away. "I'm not surprised," he admitted. Jongin sniffled but still managed to look a little disgruntled, especially when Yixing paused in his comforting ministrations to pull out his wallet from his back pocket. "Here," he said gently, placing it into Jongin's hands. "Check behind my license."

Jongin's hands shook as he removed the driver's ID from its slot and unfolded a well-worn slip of paper that he found resting behind it. "I saved all my teeth," Yixing mumbled in embarrassment, "and traded them for this. I was eleven."

"But you don't believe in the importance of teeth magic," Jongin said in amazement as he read his own name off the paper from Yixing's wallet.

"You're right," Yixing admitted, kissing his son on the forehead and his husband on the lips. "I don't and I think it's silly. But you do believe, so this was for you. Just in case, I guess, because I at least have known that I was going to marry you since the day we met. Sure, we were five, but I didn't need the Cadmus to tell me something I already knew—my perfect match is you, and it always has been."

This is edited as of 07/15. If you were a fan of this story, feel free to check out my other work, and as always, if you liked it then please let me know by commenting, upvoting, and subscribing. I also just started a chaptered Sechen soulmate fic so go take a look if you'd like. Thanks!