Hongbin stared, fascinated, at his reflection.

 

He'd been going through his morning routine, washing his face and brushing his teeth, when he glimpsed himself in the small mirror hanging on his bathroom wall. Tossing his toothbrush in the sink, he scurried toward the full-body mirror in his bedroom. He was pretty sure that that wasn't there when he'd dived face first unto his bed last night.

 

There were geometric shapes on his left shoulder, down to his chest forming… something. He wasn't quite sure what it was but it was pretty. Hongbin had half a mind to be mad, he should have at least informed him. It just wasn't his body after all. Instead, looking at the swirls of ink on his skin, warmth bloomed in his chest. It was really pretty, he thought, he could be mad some other time.

 

 

 

The slanted scrawl appeared a few minutes before his lunch break. He'd been doing some inventory on the number of food bags left in their storage when he saw it. He smiled at the short did you like it before responding. He wrote an even shorter yes!! on his right hand before affixing his signature on the bottom of the page he'd been working on.

 

 

 

 Hongbin was four when he started to understand the slanted scrawls that kept appearing on his skin. The first one he read had said hello. The next one have a nice day. The most complicated was, I hope you learn how to read this soon if you can’t yet. He later found out that the latter was the most written thing on his body.

 

In a way, the scrawls taught him to read. It was easy because they were everywhere; his palms, his arms, sometimes on his tummy. There was that time when they run out of space and appeared on his leg. The scrawls had been bigger, then, and rounder.

 

He'd been five when he started responding to the scrawls. His penmanship had been harder to understand. His characters not fully formed and coinciding with each other.

 

Your soulmate, his mother had said, shares almost the same body as you. Hongbin had freaked out thinking that his soulmate was inside him, communicating through the scrawls. His mother had laughed. She ran her hand through his hair as she did so. No, darling, that’s not how it works.

 

She told him that when two souls are meant to be, they almost share the same body. Almost, she emphasized, smiling at the frowning boy.

 

These two souls are held by two separate bodies, yet, are still connected. What one soul does with their body reflects on the other soul's body as well. Any scar or marking you carve into your skin appears on your soulmate's too. She had told the young boy. In this way, you have to take care of yourself to take care of the other.

 

Hongbin had nodded and his mother had smiled fondly. Her eyes crinkling. He wanted to ask why his mother didn't have the writings on her skin. You'll understand better someday.

 

That night, with a pen clumsy in his still small hand, he had written on the smooth expanse of his arm what's your name. He copied the characters his mom taught him to write earlier that day. Dinner was steamed chicken with heaps of side dishes and rice. He remembers because moments later the scrawl answered Taekwoon.

 

He found out that Taekwoon was three years older than him. He'd been writing to Hongbin as soon as he could properly hold a pen.

 

 

A few years later, when Hongbin is a bit older and a bit more coherent, he asked Taekwoon what he did those times Hongbin didn’t respond. He’d answered I waited. Hongbin tried to apologize, the pen’s tip scratching at his skin as he wrote the characters. Writing and rewriting the words in his simple and limited vocabulary. Taekwoon had said not to worry about it, Hongbin can make up for it by writing to him daily.

 

They talked every day.

 

How was your day?

Good.

Bad.

I learned how to bounce a basketball today.

The book we read at class was boring.

Dad brought home a puppy.

Mom told me to study more.

What do you wanna be when you grow older?

I dreamed of you last night.

I don’t like the dark.

I like sweet things.

Is it weird to like someone else when I have you?

One of my friends was soulmates with the new kid.

Will I ever get to see you?

Did you look at the sky today?

I wonder what it’s like to touch you.

Do you like me?

I like navy blue better.

Is it okay to say I love you?

You too? I love their music!!

I like you, hyung.

 

Except for that time when, instead of the usual black ink on his skin, there'd been a long scar near his ankle. Hongbin had been eleven, then, he thinks. Taekwoon never responded, but Hongbin sent comforting messages anyway.

 

 

 

Jaehwan came bounding in his office as he's clocking out. The white of his doctor's coat was stained by something Hongbin didn't want to know.

 

He'd told Jaehwan of how he'd woken up with a tattoo. His friend and co-worker had been enthusiastic about the information. He'd almost ripped Hongbin's button-up when he came to work that morning. "I'll show you at lunch break," Hongbin promised. Now he was regretting it.

 

"Hurry up, Binnie," Jaehwan whined. Hongbin rolled his eyes at the other man, "stop whining. Someone might hear you and assume things."

 

"Ew. I know you're good-looking, Hongbin, but I have a soulmate."

 

"Well, I wasn't the one whining let me see let me see, hurry up, Binnie, and let me see."

 

"Less talking, more stripping, Lee Hongbin," Jaehwan said. His finger pointing at the still clothed Hongbin.

 

"See," Hongbin muttered to himself, taking off his white coat. "His poor choice of words will start some weird gossip."

 

Jaehwan gasped dramatically. Hongbin had removed his shirt, standing half- at his cold office. The inky mass of shapes stark against his fair skin. Jaehwan reached out a hand, letting Hongbin know he wanted to touch.

 

"Just do it," Hongbin said. He knew he was blushing. Jaehwan's cold hand on his cool skin made his heart beat fast. This felt intimate but wrong. It was wrong. The hand felt wrong on his skin. He closed his eyes, thinking of someone else’s touch.

 

"Are you done yet?" Hongbin opened his eyes some minutes later. Jaehwan's hand still on his chest. The other man smiling knowingly at him. "You're no fun, Binnie."

Hongbin rubbed at his tattoo, almost reverently. He noticed that another message had been written. He grabbed the pen on his table. I'm glad. Then, I wanted it to be a surprise.

 

Did it hurt?

 

 

"So, did your soulmate tell you what that's supposed to be?" Jaehwan asked, peering into the scribbles on his hand.

 

"Not yet," Hongbin answered, still looking at his hand.

 

"At least it's pretty. Unlike the one my soulmate got." Hongbin looked up and laughed at Jaehwan's look of distaste.

 

"Don't laugh at my misfortune, Binnie!! I mean, sure, how many people in their right mind would ink yolo you only live once onto their skin? Maybe one out of a thousand, maybe a million, so why did my soulmate have to be that one?? And now I have it too!! Ugh."

 

"Look at it positively, hyung, at least you aren't the only one."

 

"Well, I wouldn’t even have it if it wasn't for him. Sure, he asked for my permission, but he should have told me what it was. It's a good thing it's coverable."

 

Hongbin laughed at Jaehwan's continued rant about his soulmate's poor life choices and warped perception of aestheticism. The new writing on his hand read it was worth it. Hongbin smiled.

 

 

 

What’s this supposed to be anyway?

Hongbin scrolled through his phone, waiting for his dinner to heat. He had to rush to the nearby café for his lunch and had been busy with work the rest of the day. All the excitement over his tattoo is taking its toll.

 

Apparently, Jaehwan told Sanghyuk, who told Hakyeon and now everyone in their friend group wanted to see his tattoo. “Don’t be stingy, Choco,” Gongchan had told him. “Send us a photo, then we’ll stop pestering you.” So, he did. His friends tended to fixate on the weirdest things.

 

You don’t remember?

 

Hongbin scrunched his nose in thought, pocketing his phone before grabbing for his pen. No, am I supposed to?

 

You were seven, I think

 

Hongbin’s eyes widened at the writing on his arm. He hastily got up from where he’d been lounging on the couch. Pulling his shirt up as he walked to his room. He stared at the seemingly random shapes inked on his skin, then laughed.

 

 

 

He remembered being seven and asking Taekwoon if he’d mind if he wanted to get a tattoo. Not now, maybe when he’s older. When they’re both older. Something permanent. Something just for us. Taekwoon said that he won’t mind and that Hongbin should tell him what he wanted to get.

 

The younger had told him about the game he’d been playing where these two characters had combined and formed another character. They’re kinda like us, hyung.

 

How so?

 

Because they are two different people, but together they become one body. They're a lot like soulmates. Like us.

 

That’s pretty smart, Hongbin-ah.

 

He’d drawn the character on his chest. The bulky figure running over his shoulder blades almost to where his heart would be. Taekwoon had written that his drawing was nice. And asked if he could show Taekwoon a picture of this character someday.

 

Hongbin had written sure!! Then as an afterthought, a bit hesitant, he wrote, but when will I meet you, hyung?

 

Someday, I promise

 

I hope it’s someday soon

 

I hope so, too

 

 

 

He pulled his phone from his pocket then hit speed dial. The line had barely rung when the person on the other end answered.

 

“You’re telling me, that this thing you impulsively inked on our skin is the same thing that I clumsily drew when I was seven?”

 

“Hello to you, too, Hongbin.”

 

“Well?”

 

Hongbin could hear Taekwoon smiling at the other end of the line. “It’s not the same thing, exactly, since you didn’t draw this one. But yeah this thing I got inked into our skin was inspired by that clumsy drawing you made when you were seven. I had it revamped a little”

 

“Why?”

 

“Because, Bin-ah, I know you wanted to do something like this but you didn’t like needles.”

 

Hongbin spluttered. “No, hyung, I meant, why that drawing? That drawing was a sorry attempt at copying some video game character I played that time.”

 

“That’s why I had it revamped.”

 

“You’re not answering my question.”

 

“Does it need to have an explanation? Can’t I do things just because I think you’ll like it?”

 

“Don’t talk like that,” Hongbin whispered into his phone. “I miss you more when you talk like that.”

 

“I miss you, too.”

 

Hongbin moved to his bed, nearby, burrowing in his blankets. They’d lost Taekwoon’s scent some time ago. “When are you coming home?”

 

“Two days, I think. Wonsik needs to finish some stuff here, then I’ll bring him home.”

 

“Jaehwan should treat me better. I had to endure two weeks without you just because he used up all his vacation days. How’s Wonsik doing, by the way? The scar on Jaehwan’s temple didn’t look good.”

 

“He’s fine, getting stronger. He’s nervous meeting Jae for the first time but he’s willing. I think the near-death experience made him realize that he needed to meet his soulmate.”

 

 

“I can’t imagine living this long and going through that without you,” Hongbin mumbled. Taekwoon wasn’t sure if he was meant to hear it. Hongbin’s stomach grumbled. He remembers the meal he was heating. “I gotta go. Good night.”

 

“Good night.”

 

He waits for the I love you written on his arm before getting up.

 

 

 

The sound of clinking glasses made everyone pause and turn toward the sound. Jaehwan, in his red and pink suit, stood tall and smiling at the crowd. He held a microphone in his left hand.

 

“The thing about Hongbin,” he starts. “Is that he’s a huge sass and a bit of a pain in the .” Everyone laughs. “But you’ll love him anyway.” Jaehwan turned to see Hongbin cringing. He laughed at the other before continuing.

 

“The first time I met him, our hands were both covered in ink. While mine looked like I’d dipped it in a vat full of the stuff. His hand had been full of scribbles. He’d read the ones written on his left, then wrote on his right hand. I told him how my soulmate was in an arts college and had the tendency to fall asleep doing his projects. The way he looked at me was almost sarcastic. He’d muttered a that’s good? Then wrote something on his arm.” More laughs. He could hear Wonsik’s deep laugh somewhere to his left.

 

“Another thing about Hongbin,” Jaehwan looked at his friend, smiling in a way that said he knew something that the other wasn’t willing to admit. Hongbin buried his face on Taekwoon’s shoulder, expecting the worst. “Is that he’s a closeted romantic. He’s a grade-A sap.”

 

“We all knew that Taekwoon was going to ask Hongbin to marry him, but no one knew when it would happen. How it would happen. A lot of people were surprised when they announced their engagement. They all thought that they’d been married for a long time.”

Someone from the crowd yelled their agreement, causing another round of laughs.

 

“Apparently, Taekwoon had proposed over dinner. Home cooked because Hongbin loved Taekwoon’s cooking. Only god knows why. The only decent thing he cooks is pasta. I heard that the wine was fancy, though.”

 

Why isn’t his speech ending soon, Hongbin wrote on Taekwoon’s hand. Taekwoon took his hand in his own, giving him a warm look. He smiled at the goofy face Taekwoon was making.

 

“Taekwoon didn’t go down on one knee nor did he put the ring in Hongbin’s wine or his food. He, let me quote Hongbin, he ing wrote the words on his arm jaehwan!! There, in big bold letters, still in his usual thin scratches, will you marry me? Will I marry him? Of ing course, I would. I said yes!!” Jaehwan had raised his voice a little while reading the message on his phone, sounding nothing like Hongbin. “And as expected of a sap such as Binnie, he had the words permanently inked. If we have time later, we could ask the grooms to show us their commemorative tattoo of that fateful day.” Taekwoon laughed, Hongbin looked at him, offended.

 

“Now, you don’t really know this two if you don’t know about their constant love letters. No, I’m not talking about pages of lovely poetry and prose. I’m talking about their constant talking through writing on their palms, their arms. How the words written on their skin were as intimate as bedroom whispers.” Jaehwan heard Hongbin groan. He figures he barely has a few more minutes before the younger pulls the mic away from him.

 

“When they’re not together, they wrote. They wrote to each other mundane things. Yet, it felt a lot like intruding whenever one of them has a pen in hand, talking to the other. You won’t even think about reading what they wrote. They both have bad penmanship, I tell you.”

Jaehwan saw Taekwoon laughing and restraining Hongbin.

 

“Even if the fates hadn’t written who we were supposed to be with, I imagine that you two will still find each other. You two won’t need hints. On this day that two had become one, a toast!” Jaehwan said, glass raised.

 

 

 

“I should have asked Hyuk to be my Best Man instead,” Hongbin grumbled. He was lying on his stomach. His words were muffled by the bed covers. It was late into the night and the day had felt like a dream. A really stressful, really tiring, and really happy dream.

 

“Hyuk would have made a joke that if he was the best man then why didn’t you marry him.”

 

“Hmm,” Hongbin hummed in agreement. “But at least he won’t tease me in front of everyone about the engagement tattoo.”

 

“Hmm.”

 

Taekwoon’s weight made the bed dip. Hongbin turned and propped himself on the pillows. Pulling his husband, his husband. His. Mine. Pulling him close. With Taekwoon partly on top of him.

 

Taekwoon kissed Hongbin’s forehead then stared at the mass of ink on the younger’s chest. He’d seen Hongbin lots of times. He’d seen this tattoo twice as much given that he had it on his chest too. He traced the shapes and the edges then kissed Hongbin where his heart would be.

 

He lay beside the younger. Hongbin moving to put his head on the crook of Taekwoon’s arm. Taekwoon running his hand through Hongbin’s hair. Still slightly damp from showering.

 

“I liked Jaehwan’s speech. Though he did get a few things wrong.”

 

"He did?” Hongbin’s tone was drowsy. His eyes half closed.

 

“You proposed to me first.”

 

“I did?” he asked. Hongbin looked up at him. Taekwoon watched Hongbin watch him.

 

Taekwoon’s other hand drifted to the tattoo on Hongbin’s chest. Fingers gently tracing shapes, “you did.”

 

 

 

They’re kinda like us, hyung.

 

How so?

 

Because they are two different people, but together they become one body. They're a lot like soulmates. Like us.

 

That’s pretty smart, Hongbin-ah. And you’re drawing is nice. You should show me a picture of this character someday

 

sure!! but when will I meet you, hyung?

 

Someday, I promise

 

I hope it’s someday soon

 

I hope so, too

 

Taekwoon waited a few minutes. He thought that their conversation ended there. He was about to ask more about Hongbin’s game when the latter’s response came. When I get tattooed, hyung, can I ask you to marry me?

 

Why?

 

Because I don’t think that we need to stay apart when they’re together. We should be together too!!

 

Right, Taekwoon thought, the characters. Hongbin had written something more beneath that. Will you say yes, hyung?

 

Taekwoon smiled at the thought of the boy he hadn’t met yet. Will he?

 

Yes, Hongbin-ah. I will.