Finding your soulmate comes in different ways, like one’s tattoos would lightly form in the other’s skin, or when they would meet, infinite colors can be seen. There’s been stories of soulmates being able to just know when they meet eyes.

 

Well, not that Jungkook can relate.

 

He grew up with soulmate stories from his parents, siblings, and friends. His parents met when his mother had gotten a butterfly tattoo on her foot - his father meeting her the next day when he came in for his own. His brother found his soulmate ‘by chance’ in an arcade, and everything seemed brighter after that. He came home describing all the new colors he’s seen, and Jungkook is left with a better imagination.

 

His best friend growing up was Park Jimin, who was older than him by two years. When he had gotten accepted into the same university, Jimin naturally helped the younger move in. Jungkook takes credit in Jimin meeting his soulmate that day. His name was Kim Taehyung, a clumsy guy, who bumped into Jimin and saw his wrist.

 

Ever since Jimin turned eighteen, him and Taehyung had wrote small messages and doodles to each other on their own skin. It was one of the most romantic ways to meet Jungkook has ever heard about.

 

Of course, soulmates come in many forms.

 

He’s read plenty of articles about soulmate best friends or siblings or even child and parent soulmates.

 

They could start showing signs from childhood to the start of adulthood. There aren’t any stories of any intimate soulmates meeting after the age of eighteen. However, he’s heard of plenty of stories of best friends meeting in all kinds of age groups.

 

Jungkook keeps reminding himself of these stories as his twentieth birthday passes. It gets hard after awhile, when all of his friends are older and finding their soulmates left and right. They’ve all gotten signs since they could remember, but Jungkook can’t find a single mark on his body, not to mention new colors.

 

It’s a Saturday morning when he finds an article about an older woman’s story of her soulmate. Growing up she got different pattern or hints of her soulmate every birthday. When she woke up for her eighteenth, however, she didn’t find anything. She found her soulmate - a name, and by the time she found him, he already had a funeral and headstone.

 

That article had Jungkook laying around the house all weekend.

 

Being born into the world without anyone to connect with - being tag 4% - scared him to death.

 

He wallows in this possibility for another week, and forces himself to start back up with his activities. Workouts in the morning, classes, work, and then dance.

 

At lunch, Jimin brightly reassured him with a smile that, “don’t worry too much! If your soulmate is taking too long to grow up, I’ll beat him up!”

 

“You can’t physically keep yourself from growing up” Taehyung says unhelpfully, earning him an elbow to the ribs.

 

Jungkook rolled his eyes.

 

Life rolls on, he supposed.

 

—- —— ——

 

The first one caught his attention on the way out of the shower.

 

The little purple bruise sat on his knee, old enough to have started turning green in the center. Jungkook glared at it for a moment - because what the hell?

 

Then, he reminds himself of many things.

 

1 - he was a dancer - bruises are normal

2 - he had a habit of wandering into the dorm without a light

3 - Kim Taehyung and his clumsiness must’ve rubbed off on him.

 

He sighed. Jimin has plenty of bruises on his knees, he tells himself. Then, Jungkook presses on, continuing his day. In the back of his mind, however, something nags at him. The voice says but you never had a bruise before.  

 

By lunch, Jungkook has added on three more bruises on his knees and a sore hand. He continues with the excuses - maybe he landed harder than intended yesterday with Hoseok’s new move. Maybe he was writing lyrics more intensely than he realized today.

 

Everything didn’t really hurt, but by the end of the day Jungkook wanted his bed.

 

Which leads to him sleeping through three of his alarms the next morning. Jungkook, the buffest one of his friends, missed his workout.

 

“What’s with you today?” Jimin asks when they set their trays down.

 

“Maybe an off day?” Jungkook shrugged. “I've been feeling sore today.”

 

They both shrug it off, but it continues throughout the week, until Taehyung and Jimin slams their trays onto the table one day. It shakes the younger awake from his mini nap, to the point there he has to catch himself from falling. The bruise on his arm from this morning throbbed.

 

“What the hell?” He hissed, sitting up with a sigh.

 

Taehyung frowned. “What's been going on with you? You've been so sluggish all week.”

 

“I don't know” he sighed, “even when I sleep it feels like I could never sleep enough.”

 

Then, Jimin spots one. A purple little mark the size of the fingerprint that bloomed on his wrist when he didn't seem to notice. Jungkook traced his best friend’s eyes and snatched it back with a huff.

 

“The hell was that”

 

“Nothing” Jungkook sighed, “I don't know, it's weird it's been going on for awhile.”

 

Taehyung has this slightly erted and scandalous look on his face that makes him want to wipe it off himself. When he sees his friend’s worried face, he softens, and rolls his sleeve up to show. There are a couple on his wrist and a few more scattered up.

 

Jimin seemed a little sad. “Jungkook, I know you've been down on the whole soulmate thing, and I understand you may want something intimate but I just want you to be careful--”

 

It makes him laugh, despite himself; despite the touchy subject. “Look, I'm not hooking up with anyone. And I'm not getting bullied. They've been showing up randomly ever since I've been pretty sleepy and stuff. I don't know why.”

 

“What do you mean everywhere?”

 

“I don't know like my knees and one on my back. I thought it was because of dance but it's not really adding up.” Jungkook is getting annoyed at this point - bruises were no big dea