a/n: okay, it's irrelevant but i'm sorry that this chapter title/story sub-title sounds like a Hallmark movie.

“I’ll miss you.” Jaehwan whispers an inch away from Wonshik’s lips with his arms wrapped around his soulmate’s neck.

Wonshik scrunches his face and, with the slightest of nods, responds, “I’ll miss you more.”

“I’ll miss you the most.” Jaehwan giggles, leaning in even closer.

“Could you please just kiss already?” Hakyeon groans.  The thing about living with a set of soulmates is the fact that they do lovey-dovey things all the time anywhere and everywhere.  In this particular instance, they are very publicly displaying their affection in the middle of an airport.

It’s infuriating, especially to Hakyeon, because he’s older than both of them and soulmate-less, not for a lack of trying. Hakyeon has been searching for Jung Taekwoon whenever possible since his sixteenth birthday, the day that three characters appeared neatly printed on his wrist.  Somehow his roommate, Jaehwan, found his soulmate without even trying.  One day Jaehwan is just as alone as Hakyeon, and the next he’s practically eating Wonshik’s face on the couch.

Jaehwan snorts, pressing his fingers against Wonshik’s lips to pause the moment before looking at Hakyeon, “I’m going to kiss him, but not because you told me to.”  Jaehwan remarks childishly and turns back to the love of his life to softly press their lips together.

“Jaehwan, you’re only going to be gone for two days!” Hakyeon shouts at them, averting his gaze before their kiss goes past sweet and into gross.  Although he says other things with his mouth, his heart really, really wishes that he could meet Taekwoon already so that he would have someone to be nauseatingly sweet with.  It’s not his fault that he’s jealous and alone; Taekwoon just needs to hurry up and find him and promptly fall in love with him.

Hakyeon looks at the other people biding their loved ones farewell.  Jaehwan and Wonshik aren’t alone in their lovers’ embrace.  A variety of soulmates populate the area in front of the security line, ranging from young to old.  He is one of the few people out of place; airports seem to be a place for family and lovers whereas friends are left at home, keeping the house warm until soulmates find their way to each other.

His self-pity party is interrupted by a strong squeeze from his side.  Jaehwan rests his head on Hakyeon’s shoulder, awkwardly but unrelenting, “When I get back, will you stop being such a sourpuss?”

Hakyeon gently pats Jaehwan’s arm since he can’t quite hug his best friend back.  “No.”

Jaehwan releases him before grabbing his shoulders to reorient him so that they face each other.  With a soft smile, he repeats his favorite piece of advice, “Hakyeon, you can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar.”

Hakyeon lets out a half-hearted chuckle, “You’re going to miss your flight.”

“I’ll miss you, too.” Jaehwan scrunches his nose up as he pinches Hakyeon’s cheek.

“I won’t miss you at all.”

Jaehwan winks, “Take care of Wonshik for me?”

“No.”

After a final chaste kiss on Wonshik’s lips, Jaehwan heads for the security line, departing from his best friend and the love of his life.

Wonshik throws an arm around Hakyeon’s neck as they wait for Jaehwan to disappear from their sight.  “What a man.” Wonshik laments as he offers one last wave to Jaehwan before he vanishes behind a divider, giving them permission to return to the car.

“Can you drop me off at work?” He asks as they walk through endless rows of parked cars.

“It’s a Sunday.”

Hakyeon hits his roommate’s shoulder, letting his annoyance escape a little bit, “I know.”

Hakyeon glances at the clock and promptly deflates, planting his face into the pile of papers on his desk.  Projects like this one and his flaky coworkers are probably the reason that he hasn’t found his soulmate by now.  Work keeps him from scouring the country for his soulmate, and it keeps him at the office late instead of being happy and in the arms of his faceless soulmate.

He’s nowhere near finished, but if he wants to get home at all, then he has to leave within the next five minutes.  He angrily runs his fingers through his hair; he’ll just have to come in very early tomorrow.  At this rate, he’s going to die from sleep deprivation before meeting Taekwoon.

Stress drips down his back as he packs the necessary papers into his accordion folder.  He promptly shoves the folder into his bag, which he throws over his shoulder after he zips it up.

He walks down a series of halls and finds his way to the elevator bay.  He presses the down button and lets a wave of exhaustion rolls over him.  Hakyeon leans against the cool metal door of the elevator as he waits.  He’s probably too nice for his own good; why did he agree to take on more work?  It’s almost Christmas for him too, then again Taekwoon hasn’t appeared yet.  What’s the harm?  he thinks to himself. If I can’t be with my soulmate on Christmas, then at least they can.

He pushes himself up when metal doors start sliding open.  He enters the elevator and presses the button for the ground floor.  It’s a two-minute walk to the metro station, and hopefully he won’t have to wait for very long a train.

He pushes the back the sleeve of his coat to look at Taekwoon’s name.  He has repeated it a million times, out loud and in his head, alone and in crowded rooms.  Sometimes he’ll slip it into conversations with strangers, as if he’s already found Taekwoon.  He imagines all the things they will do together and what he’s like.

He’s always imagined Taekwoon to be kind, someone that wants children and likes animals.  They’ll talk about nothing but treasure it anyway because they love each other.  Even if Taekwoon isn’t any of those things, Hakyeon will surely love him anyway, so long as the name Cha Hakyeon is on his skin.

Hakyeon presses his T-money card against the reader, which in turn allows him through the turnstile.  He walks toward the platform, pulling his cell phone out check the time.  He’s made it in time for the last train home.

He walks up just to the edge of the truncated domes when he hears giggling and excited whispering.  Hakyeon glances up to see two teenage girls pawing at each other and pointing at the only other person on the platform, a lanky man wearing a simple face mask to cover his nose and lips.

The girls nudge each other, trying to coax the other forward but ultimately chickening out.  The man’s stature is stiff, and he clearly dreads the moment when one of the girls will finally walk up.

Hakyeon debates it for a split second, coming up with a fake name to use when he saves whoever he’s about to save.

“There you are!” Hakyeon shouts, catching the attention of both the girls and the man.  His head tilts sideways, much like a cat.  He wasn’t expecting Hakyeon to be the trouble.  Hakyeon briskly closes the distance between them and throws his arm over the stranger’s shoulder.  The stranger stiffens even further.  “I was about to text you, but it’s a good thing that you made it before the last train, right Taekwoon?”  (So maybe the only name that he could come up with on the fly was the one on his wrist.)

The stranger’s eyes widen, but Hakyeon makes a face that begs him to go along with it.  A faint bell of recognition rings in Hakyeon head, but he doesn’t know why.   The stranger nods and lets out a weak, “yeah.”

The train pulls up, pushing cold air in front of it and creating a rather chilly breeze on the platform.  It comes to a stop, and Hakyeon deliberately steers them into a different car from the girls that wanted to bother the stranger.

It takes Hakyeon a moment to figure out why the stranger has familiar eyes.  They’re the eyes that belong to a man on a poster that Jaehwan idolizes.  The stranger is Leo, a rather famous singer.

The car is empty, aside from a drunk woman who is sprawled across two seats and using her bag as a pillow.

Hakyeon peels his arm off of Leo, offering a meek smile.  “I’m sorry.”

Leo just seems stunned. 

“I was trying to keep those girls from harassing you, but I kind of did the same thing.  You just looked so uncomfortable.” Hakyeon chuckles lifelessly as he sits down; what if he gets sued?  He can’t afford it.  He feels terrible on top of the fear of litigation; he's made someone uneasy.

Leo shakes his head, “I was uncomfortable.”  His voice is incredibly light and reserved, and Hakyeon suspects that it’s result of his general demeanor rather than the situation at hand. 

He takes a seat next to Hakyeon, rubbing his knees nervously.  He pulls down his mask to reveal his entire face.  He clears his throat, “Um, why did you call me Taekwoon?”

Hakyeon snorts, “It’s the only name I could think of.  Besides, it’s not like the general public knows your birth name, so y’know… it was supposed throw them off.  I don’t know it actually did that though because if I know you, why would I call you Leo? Actually, better question, why are you waiting for the metro?  Don’t you have a manger to drive you around?” 

Leo looks at his fingers, biting his lower lip before quietly explaining, “His soulmate is sick, and I don’t generally make him drive me around for eating purposes.”

“Oh.” Hakyeon feels a smile quirk on his lips.  He leans close to Leo, “My roommate would flip out if he knew that I was talking to you.  He’s a huge fan.”

“Are you?” Leo asks with a painfully curious and genuine look on his face.  Hakyeon finds it endearing that his fame hasn’t gone straight to his head.  He doesn’t assume that he’s enamored of Leo, regardless of whatever might be the reality.

Hakyeon shakes his head, “I don’t generally partake in obsessively fan-boying over people.  I do think that you have a very nice voice.”

“Thank you.”

Leo has turned the prettiest shade of pink that Hakyeon has ever seen.  He giggles at how easy it is to get Leo worked up.  Through the garble of the static, Hakyeon can hear the conductor announce that his stop is coming up momentarily.

Hakyeon stands up, grabbing the handrail and bowing slightly to Leo.  “It was nice meeting you, but this is my stop.”

“Why Taekwoon specifically?” He murmurs, still hung up on Hakyeon’s choice of name.

“It’s my soulmate’s name.  If you ever find Jung Taekwoon, let me know.” He jokes over his shoulder as he gets off of the train.  He turns to wave goodbye to Leo and finds that he’s standing.

“What’s your name?” He asks loudly, well, loudly for him anyway.

“Hakyeon.” He blurts out as the doors start to close.  “It’s Cha Hakyeon!” He shouts as the doors slide shut.  He waves goodbye as the train speeds away with a smile painting his face.

Hakyeon stands on the empty platform for a minute, smiling dumbly.  He doesn’t quite know why, but Leo revitalized him, at least for the evening.  He makes his way to the escalator, trying to quiet his heart down.  He presses his hands against his cheeks; he might have a celebrity crush. 

At least he knows that nothing will come of it.

How often does one meet a celebrity?  More than once at that?

Sitting on the couch, Hakyeon listens to one Leo’s albums as he thumbs through a food magazine.  He can’t really afford any of the luxurious appliances that the editors recommend using for various recipes, but he likes to pretend that maybe he could.  Meeting Leo has also sparked a mild (major if Hakyeon is being honest) interest in his music.

Wonshik plops down on the couch with a giant, whiny exhale.  “Hakyeon.”  He whines as he pulls on the sleeve of Hakyeon’s sweater.

Hakyeon looks at Wonshik to find that the younger has already set up a pouting face.  “Wonshik.”

“Jaehwan’s flight is snowed in.”

Hakyeon closes his magazine and turns to face Wonshik.  “Just spit out the favor that you want to ask of me.”

Wonshik shifts in his place, “I need you to be my date.”

“No.”

Wonshik flicks Hakyeon’s arm, “Look, my friend from college is soulmates with the guy that manages an artist that Jaehwan really, really likes.  I cannot just show up there alone after doing all of that begging.”

As Hakyeon rubs his arm to relieve himself of the slight sting from Wonshik’s flick, he complains, “Ow.  Also, why do I have to be your date?  Just be honest and say that your soulmate is stuck at an airport across the country.”

“Hakyeon, I will owe you a huge favor.  Plus, Jaehwan can live vicariously through you, so think of it as doing him a favor too.” He begs, rubbing his hands together with the most pathetic pleading face that he can make.

Carding his fingers through his hair, Hakyeon grits his teeth, “You are to make it very clear that I am not Jaehwan.  What exactly am I agreeing to?”

“A Christmas party!” He shouts, “Get your nice pants on, we’re leaving at 6:45 sharp.”

Wonshik uses the doorknocker, slamming the metal against the sound block three concise times.  Hakyeon is holding a bottle of wine with a ribbon tied around its neck in a bow.  He doesn’t know when Wonshik found the time to buy the bottle, but either way, it’s good to know that they aren’t coming to a party with a “celebrity” in attendance empty handed.

The door swings open, revealing a man in a very tacky Christmas sweater.  He instantly recognizes Wonshik, exclaiming, “You made it!”  He steps forward to give Wonshik a very large hug.

He turns to Hakyeon with a very wide smile, “You must be—“

“Hongbin, this is my roommate.” Wonshik interjects, earning a very confused look from Hongbin.  “Jaehwan couldn’t catch an early enough flight to make it back.”

Hongbin nods in apprehension.  “Well, the more the merrier.  Come on in; I’ll introduce you to some people.”

Hakyeon offers Hongbin the bottle of wine, his response to which was even wider smile.  Friendliness oozes from Hongbin in a very forward way.  Hakyeon supposes that he has no trouble making acquaintances into friends at all.

After being ushered in, Hakyeon quietly slips away from Wonshik, not quite interested in meeting friends of friends of his roommate.

He wanders between various discussions, not really trying to delve into the conversations that other people are carrying.  Hakyeon winds up in the kitchen where a variety of snacks, homemade and store-bought, are free for the taking.  Christmas songs softly play throughout the house, setting the mood as something cheery.

As Hakyeon picks up a cup of something that appears to be apple cider, he wonders if he’s supposed to be fawning over the person that Jaehwan idolizes.  He stuffs a gingerbread cookie in his mouth when someone yanks his elbow, almost making his cider splash out of the cup.

Bewildered, Hakyeon looks at the hand on his elbow, tracking it up to the face of the person who owns it.  Wonshik has a ridiculous smile on his face.  “I think you’re going to owe me.”

“What?” He mumbles through the food, sending some crumbs flying out of his mouth.  Wonshik drags, Hakyeon clear across the house to what appears to be a home office.

Hakyeon is ushered into a room with three other people, two of whom he recognizes.  Hongbin, Leo, and a boyish man with red hair stand in a semi-circle.  Hakyeon blinks rapidly; so Leo must be the mystery artist that Wonshik pulled all sort of strings for Jaehwan to meet.

“Hongbin, Sanghyuk, let us leave them alone.”  Wonshik says, curling his voice knowingly.

Sanghyuk drags Hongbin out while assessing Hakyeon from head to toe.

Hongbin accidentally slams the door a little too hard on his way out, leaving Hakyeon alone with a celebrity that he’s only met once.   He waves awkwardly, unsure of how to start a conversation with Leo.  (Perhaps it’s the small, teeny, tiny crush that he’s nursing, or maybe it’s the abruptness of their meeting.)  Luckily for Hakyeon, Leo speaks first, clasping his hands behind his back, “I found Jung Taekwoon.”

Hakyeon blanches, “I wasn’t, like, serious.  You didn’t need to…” Frankly, he’s surprised that Leo even remembers that he was looking for Taekwoon or that Hakyeon exists.

Leo clears his throat quietly, “It wasn’t hard.  At all.”

Hakyeon is speechless but also excited.  Maybe Taekwoon is somewhere at this party.  He won’t ever need to remember that he fell for Leo really quickly; he’ll have his soulmate.

Leo unclasps his hands and awkwardly rolls up his sleeve to reveal his left forearm.  He sticks his wrist out toward Hakyeon after taking a few steps forward to shorten the distance between them.

Hakyeon squints at the letters on Leo’s wrist.  Cha. Hak. Yeon.  Hakyeon doesn’t compute it right away, instead, he snorts with a grin, “Wow, your soulmate’s name is Hakyeon too?”

Leo just blinks rapidly; this took an unexpected turn for him. Hakyeon grabs Leo’s wrist, examining the name on the singer’s wrist.  “It’s funny because this Cha Hakyeon has really similar handwriting to mine.  It’s like identical…”

It takes two heartbeats for Hakyeon to come to the very embarrassing realization that it’s his name on Leo’s wrist.  “Oh.”

Leo, no, Taekwoon doesn’t say anything for a moment.  He places his free hand on Hakyeon’s shoulder, “Do I need to explain this in more detail?”

Hakyeon bursts out laughing; relief, nervousness, and embarrassment wash over him as he sinks to the ground.  “I just need to die really quick for a moment.”

“Please don’t.” Taekwoon pleads softly, getting on his knees so that Hakyeon doesn’t let go of him, “I have lots to say, and it takes me a while to say stuff.  So you’ll kind of need to stick around forever.”

Hakyeon plants his face into the floor, speaking against the carpet, “How am I supposed to tell people how we met?”

Taekwoon pets Hakyeon hair, “We met on a train. The rest is semantics.”

“You’re perfect.” Hakyeon sobs, still unable to lift his head from the sheer embarrassment of his own stupidity.

“We’re soulmates.” Taekwoon whispers, “We’re perfect for each other.”

As it turns out, Taekwoon does like children and animals.  He’s a big fan of coffee and rainy days.  Hakyeon was right about that much.  Taekwoon doesn’t like to waste words, so Hakyeon really has to pay attention when he talks because there is always a point, and it tends to be concise.

It takes three days for Hakyeon to say I love you.  Taekwoon blushes and whispers it back. 

(It takes four weeks for Taekwoon to admit that he liked Hakyeon a little bit (interpreted as: a lot) before finding out that they were soulmates.)

Hakyeon does owe Wonshik a little; after all, bringing Taekwoon to Hakyeon is the best Christmas gift he’s ever gotten.

(Oh, and Jaehwan absolutely loses his marbles when he meets Taekwoon for the first time. It scares Taekwoon, makes Wonshik very jealous, and amuses Hakyeon.)

//the end//

a/n: (t-money is the farecard used by the Seoul metro system.)

okay, so obviously this was written for someone.  i don't know who (yet) so i will just add my little old heartfelt note because i'm tacky.

dearest recipient,

tada. i hope that you like it at least a little bit.  i know that it doesn't encompass everything, but it's a soulmate!au with everyone making a cameo.  i'm sorry if it falls short of your expectations.  if you could give me any sort of feedback (positive or negative) that would be wonderful.

merry christmas/happy holidays.

your secret santa,
yehetno.