“I can’t go,” Jinyoung announced. Minki looked up from his sociology textbook, blinking. “I’ve decided I can’t go.”

“A little context might help here,” Minki said, shutting his textbook. “You can’t go where?”

“Back to Korea for Christmas.”

“What? You mean, the thing you’ve been waiting to do ever since we got here?” Minki looked at him skeptically. “I know you’ve got it through your brain that you and Mark are soulmates, but don’t you want to confirm?”

Jinyoung shook his head. “He says he doesn’t mind if I do it, but…I don’t know. It just feels so important that nothing about us is dependent on that. I think a part of me will always be a little unhappy with myself if I don’t trust fully in the evidence inside me that already feels without question that he’s the one.”

“Wow. You really have changed, if you’re saying that.” Minki pursed his lips. “Still, it’s a little extreme, don’t you think? You’ll miss out on seeing your family. Plus, didn’t you buy your tickets already?”

“I know. But I’ll come visit them in the summer, and by then, I’m sure I’ll be fully used to the whole business of being soulmates with someone without official confirmation and won’t be tempted. And I luckily didn’t buy my ticket yet.”

“What? Christmas is just a few weeks away—that’s so unlike you!”

“My parents kept on going back and forth about when the best time for me to arrive would be, so I didn’t want to buy the tickets just to have them change their minds about which day I could fly in and force me to pay the fee for switching flights. Besides, there’s not that many people in LA flying out to Seoul for Christmas, so I wasn’t that worried about being able to find a seat if I had to buy the tickets a little later.”

“Huh. Well, I guess if you don’t have tickets, there’s nothing stopping you.” Still Minki was feeling a little bit aggrieved at having to go alone. He was somewhat wishing now that he could stay behind, too, and spend the holidays with Aron, though he knew Aron would probably be spending it with his family and Christmas wasn’t the dating holiday it was in Asia for Americans.

“I’m sorry,” Jinyoung said, noticing Minki’s tone. “It’s just this once. Mark and I…I just know this is going to be the most important relationship of my life, and I can’t just bank everything on us being soulmates. I need to take it seriously and make sure I’m not falling back and letting fate determine everything. I just want to do whatever I need to to make sure I’m going with my own emotions at the start."

“Is this what they call ‘maturity’?” Minki grinned. “Well, you’ve always been the responsible one of the two of us. I’m sure you two will be just fine.”

“What about you?” Jinyoung asked. “Will you still get your reading checked?”

Minki thought for a moment. “Yeah, I think so. I mean, I know it’s Aron, but he’s the romantic type, so I think I’ll be able to milk the whole ‘my red string is connected to you’ thing if I can get some official confirmation on that. He might even start crying.”

“Heh. I’d yell at you for taking advantage of the poor guy’s emotions, but he seems pretty happy to be taken advantage of by you.”

“It’s part of what he loves the most, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

It was another Aron Ramsay night, so Minki hit up the dorm kitchen an hour later for some pork chops with homemade marinade and chicken casserole. He was the first to arrive, so rather than taking a seat, he hovered at the counter where a be-aproned Aron was finishing things up in the oven.

“Jinyoung’s gone all noble on me and abandoned me during the holidays,” Minki announced. “He’s staying in LA.”

“At least you’ll still be seeing your family,” Aron said, patting him on the shoulder.

“I know. It’s just a weird feeling. He’s gotten all mature since we’ve come here, spreading his wings and flying and all that. It’ll take me a little to get used to it.”

“And you haven’t matured at all, Minki?”

“Not that I know of. It’s been nice meeting my soulmate and all, but you haven’t exactly matured me. I’m still the ingenious Picasso of chefs and lovable charmer I always was. I’m just…you know…less single and more physically satisfied than before.”

“Well, glad I could help in some way.” Aron tilted his head. “I have a thought.”

“Go on. Your thoughts are usually pretty decent.”

“What if I went to Korea with you?”

Minki blinked. “On such short notice?”

“Yeah.”

“What about your family?”

“I see my parents all the time. Plus, I’ve technically got family in Korea. I won’t necessarily have to foist myself on yours, if you don’t want me to.” He smiled. “You’re going to get your red string read, right? I don’t know… I just kind of want to see it along with you. The connection between us. It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity, right?”

“Not really. Jinyoung’s sister is a soul mater. She can make it visible whenever we show up in Korea and ask her to…though she may start charging us, after a point.” He paused. “As for foisting you on my family…well…I wouldn’t call introducing my parents to their future son-in-law ‘foisting,’ would you?”

Aron grinned. “All right. Now I absolutely have to go.”

“Do you have the money for it?”

“Yeah, I’ve been saving for an unspecified vacation for a while. I’d thought I’d take it after graduating, but now is good. And didn’t you promise me a tour around Korea, anyways?”

“I’m not sure it was a promise exactly, but I’m still good for it.”

“Then it’s settled. I’ll come with you. As long as your parents don’t mind their future son-in-law showing up at such short notice.”

“Yeah, they may be a little disappointed. I did talk you up like you were going to be this major celebrity before I left for America. I was so sure Jinyoung and I were going to end up with someone like Chris and Liam Hemsworth.”

“Hey, I’m handsome in my own way, right?”

“If you say so.” Minki grinned, poking his nose. “You’ve got a ier soul to me, at least.”

“So you can come to Colorado after all?” Mark asked as soon as Jinyoung told him he wasn’t going to Korea anymore.

“Mark. Your entire family is going to be there. I know I’m going to meet them all eventually, but I’d really prefer it if you introduced me to them slowly, little by little. I mean…I get that we’re in it for the long run, but you and I just got together officially a few days ago.”

“Really? It feels like we’ve been together forever.” He sighed. “You’ll at least let me do something Christmas-y with you before I leave for vacation, right? It’s our first Christmas together, you know, and your first in America…it should be special.”

“Considering what you did for me during Halloween, of course I have no problem getting a second round for Christmas. You’ll give me the full experience, right?”

“Of course. Except for the snow. We don’t do that part very well in LA.”

Jinyoung supposed a gift exchange would be a part of their pre-Christmas celebration, and immediately set his brain to what he would be giving Mark. He felt like it really was a bit of a strange situation—the relationship was fresh and new, in its earliest stage, but it really did feel like he and Mark had known each other for much longer than they had in actuality. Maybe that was part of being kindred souls, but the fact of the matter remained that no matter how well he felt like he knew him, there was so much he had yet to learn. He barely had any idea what to get him for Christmas, for one. He knew Mark was in to tech stuff, but it would be pretty difficult for Jinyoung to figure out what kind to get him, nevermind the fact that he didn’t really know what kind of things Mark already had.

He went out one afternoon when he didn’t have classes to browse the local shops. There were plenty of clothes he thought would look good on Mark, but since Mark seemed to prefer to wear his family’s brand, he wasn’t sure it was the best idea. There were also plenty of Christmas sweets in all the stores, but he didn’t like the idea of giving something that wouldn’t be long-lasting for their first holiday together. He debated the possibility of getting him something cute like a plushie, but that didn’t still feel meaningful enough.

Finally, he wandered over to a handmade jewelry kiosk near the food court. They were mostly selling pieces for women, so it looked like another strike out until a red ring underneath the display case caught his eye. It was made of wire and twisted in the front to look a bit like a subtle bow…exactly as if it were made of string.

“Excuse me,” Jinyoung addressed the shopkeeper. “That wire ring, there…do you think it would be big enough to fit a man’s pinkie?”

Considering the limited space he had to work with, Mark really came through for their Christmas celebration together. He’d bargained with all their dormmates for private use of the common room for the evening and then jazzed it up for the holiday. Kevin had set up a fake tree with a few token ornaments the week before, but Mark added more and wrapped it in tinsel, placing a red velvet tree skirt around the bottom for good measure. He also pinned stockings to the bookshelf and placed pine and peppermint scented candles around the room so it would smell just like the season should. As the cherry on top, he also set up his laptop to quietly pump out Christmas music as BGM.

“I love it,” Jinyoung said sincerely. “It’s just like I imagined an American Christmas.”

“There’s some things missing,” Mark said modestly. “Next year, I’ll make sure you get the real deal with all the food and a huge stack of presents under the tree. We'll snuggle under the blankets in front of a fire and drink hot cocoa…well, as long as we’re not in LA, that is. That kind of atmosphere works better somewhere else.”

“It’s fine, Mark. I think it’s perfect, just like this.” He squeezed his hand. “Merry Early Christmas.”

“Merry Early Christmas to you, too.” The warmth of the sincere smile on his face melted Jinyoung’s heart. “I’m so glad you’re here.”

Jinyoung smiled back. “Me, too. Although…”

“Yeah?”

“I’m a bit curious. If I hadn’t had my string read and come here deliberately…I wonder how you and I would have met? Did you ever have any plans to go to Korea?”

“Nope. It’s probably more likely that you would have ended up in LA on a vacation or something, right?”

“Maybe. It would have been harder, though. I wouldn’t have been as good at English without all that practice.”

“I wouldn’t have minded teaching you.”

“Yes, but you wouldn’t have time to teach me much, and I wouldn’t be able to stick around because I’d be using a travel Visa. We would have had to go through some crazy scheme or another to even end up in the same country as each other in the long term, nevermind the language thing. And to begin with, you would have had to make me love you much faster, considering that if my first impression was as bad as it was this time, there’s no way I’d give you any information with which you could find and contact me again.”

“Yeesh,” Mark said, scratching his head. “Maybe the whole soulmate system does have its uses after all. I’m sure by time I managed to win you over in this alternate version, we’d be in our 60s.”

“You still think you could win me over, in that situation?”

“Of course I do. Give me any situation in any lifetime with any obstacles or barriers you can think of, and I’ll always win you over, Park Jinyoung. We were made to be for each other, weren’t we?”

Jinyoung swallowed. “…it seems so, doesn’t it?”

“It sure does.” Mark kissed his forehead. “Still, the benefit of things unfolding this way is that I get to tease you for the rest of your life about how much you hated me when we first met.”

Jinyoung groaned. “Must you?”

“Of course! You were totally expecting some kind of movie moment when we first met, where I’d sweep you off your feet and you’d swoon in my arms, and instead I totally pissed you off! It was hilarious!”

“So you’re happy you disappointed all my romantic expectations?”

“If it means I got a genuine, real life romance with you instead of a movie script, I am thrilled. Besides, you were so cute when you were all huffy with me.”

“Oh? Would you like me to go back to hating you?”

“Don’t you dare.” He grinned, reaching out to play with Jinyoung’s ear. “Stick around, and I might give you some more realistic but far more enjoyable romantic expectations. And possibly a few more opportunities to get huffy with me, but I hope you’ll always find it in your heart to still love me, even when I’m being a brat.”

Jinyoung rolled his eyes, but in his heart he knew the truth—that he’d been attracted to Mark even when he’d thought he was a brat, and was looking forward to those moments where they messed around and tried to tick each other off just as much as he was looking forward to all the moments where they’d be sweet and content in each other’s arms.

“So, how does the gift exchange happen on Christmas morning?” Jinyoung asked.

“First the present has to be under the tree. That’s the most important rule.”

Jinyoung pulled the box out from his back pocket and tucked it under the tree. Mark did the same with a similar sized box wrapped in snowflake paper.

“Then we sit down in front of the tree.” They did so. “Then we hand each other the presents. Then we peel off the bows and stick them somewhere on each other’s bodies.” Jinyoung put his red bow on Mark’s forehead, and Mark placed his gold bow in Jinyoung’s hair. “Then we take off the wrapping paper, wad it into a ball, and throw it at each other.”

“Do all Americans do it like this?” Jinyoung asked, lobbing the ball of wrapping paper at Mark’s face.

“The ones with siblings do.” He held the unwrapped ring box in his hands. “So…we could open our boxes one at a time, or open them at the same time. What do you want to do?”

“The same time,” Jinyoung decided.

“Then, on the count of three. 3…2…1.”

Jinyoung pulled open the lid. Sitting on a square of cotton padding was a silver pinkie ring. Jinyoung lifted it up and turned it in his hands. The inner part of the ring was red, with the words ‘yours forever’ engraved just faintly enough for Jinyoung to be able to see.

Forever. A word he’d been throwing around his entire life, but now for the first time he felt like he truly understood what it meant. He’d always looked at is as a destination another person would take him to, the end result of falling in love. But looking at that ring in his hands and thinking of that invisible thread already there around his finger, he realized that it was not a separate entity after all, a far off place he’d walk towards for the rest of his life. Forever was bound up in everything, already with him, not a place but a person and a heart, not the result of love but the love itself. And no matter what path his life had taken or how things had unfolded, it would have been his companion on every step, guiding him to this realization no matter how or where he had it.

He looked over at Mark, who was turning his own ring over to study it. “Huh,” Mark murmured lowly. “It’s pretty amazing, isn’t it?”

“The gift?”

“Well, that too, of course. But how we can be so different and still be so the same. If that makes sense.” He slipped the ring on his finger, and Jinyoung did the same. If anyone looked at them, they wouldn’t look at all like couple rings given the entirely different design, but the exact same sentiment connected them both.

“Thank you,” Jinyoung whispered. “This is the best Christmas I could have asked for.”

“It’s not over yet. I still had something else on my wish list.” He reached over to his laptop, changing the playlist. “I told you, didn’t I? There’s something I always wanted to do with the person I loved.” A guitar started playing, and then a familiar voice…

Wise men say only fools rush in…

“T-That’s-!” Jinyoung stammered.

Mark extended his hand. “Shall we dance?”

But I can’t help falling in love with you…

Part of Jinyoung wanted to berate Mark for doing something so cheesy, but it began to feel a little less cheesy when he saw how Mark was looking at him. He took his hand, their new rings brushing together, and placed the other on his shoulder. Mark slipped a hand around his waist and began swaying him in time with the music, singing along.

Shall I stay? Would it be a sin if I can’t help falling in love with you?

Jinyoung smiled, feeling as if he would bubble over with laughter. There was something solemn about the moment—after all, this was Mark’s longtime dream, dancing to this song with the person he loved—but there was something lighthearted in it at the same time, effortlessly sweet and joyous—it was a moment just like them, both simple and deep.

Like a river flows surely to the sea, darling so it goes, some things are meant to be…

Mark twirled him, then brought him to a stop. “If I was truly clever,” he whispered, “I would have put some mistletoe right here.”

“It’s OK,” Jinyoung whispered back. “I have more realistic romantic expectations now. You can still kiss me.”

“And here I thought you’d already gotten me the perfect gift…” The hand against Jinyoung’s waist eased him forward, and they slowly started to sway to the music again as their lips connected, melding both the dance and the kiss together, pulled into the beautiful melody in the world behind their closed eyes.

Take my hand, take my whole life too, for I can’t help falling in love with you.

“It feels strange to do this without my brother around,” Jinyoung’s sister commented as she opened up her kit. “This was always his thing, more so than it was yours.”

“Times change, you know,” Minki said sagely. “Besides, I brought a pretty lovely alternative, didn’t I?”

“Oh, yes. Very handsome, this Kwak Aron.” Aron lifted his head at the sound of his name, smiling awkwardly. When he’d said he barely knew any Korean, he hadn’t been lying. “Still…” She sighed lowly. “You do know there’s a possibility that your thread isn't going to connect to him, right? There’s still a chance that the person Jinyoung’s seeing now was actually meant for you.”

“Don’t worry, noona. No one has debated the percentages more than me. And you know what? I think my opinion actually counts for just as much as ‘fate’. I’d like to think who I am had a say in this all along.”

“Minki. That thread has been on your finger since you were born, since before you had a say in anything.”

“Yeah, but it’s not just going to connect to someone at random. I don’t get how this whole thing works, but it must have known something about me and who I’d want if it chose a person this specific out of the billions of people out there. Unless it just stuck me to someone in LA for s and giggles.” He shrugged. “But I’m not worried. I’m already 100% sure. If that whole Rainbow Mosaic in the Desert wasn’t a sign of fate, I don’t know what is.”

“Huh?”

“Don’t worry about it.” He lifted his pinkie. “Do your worst, noona.”

“Is this it?” Aron asked in English. “The moment of truth?”

“What, are you nervous after all?” Minki teased.

“Of course not! Do I look nervous?”

“Yes.”

“Must be the low lighting.”

“So you’re not reconsidering the possibility of Jinyoung being your soulmate?”

“He’s not,” Aron said firmly. “Not that I don’t like him, but you’re different. This is absolutely different. There’s not a doubt in my mind.”

“Good.” He turned back to Jinyoung’s sister. “We’re ready.”

She wiped down Minki’s finger and sprayed it before turning off the lights. The glow of the purple light illuminated his red string, which was not tugging as fiercely as last time. He could hear Aron’s intake of breath beside him. “It’s so beautiful. I mean, of course it would be, it’s yours, Minki.”

“It’s yours, too. See?”

Jinyoung’s noona traced the purple light down the path of the string to where it dipped to the floor and rose again to where its other end circled around the finger of his soulmate.

Minki smiled. 100%. The most perfect percentage in the world.​

Take my heart, take my whole life, too

For I can't help falling in love with you

A/N: Hey guys!!! Thank you so much for reading! I hope you enjoyed!

Just some lil housekeeping items! I posted a YouTube video of my full GOT7/Markjin collection if you wanna check that out! Also, NEW FICS, duh! Next Friday will be a one shot, and the Friday after that will be the new multi chap!

As for now, thank you so much for your love and support of this fic. Let me know what you think!