Jongin is in second grade when he asks his first inquiry regarding the words tattooed under his right wrist. He traces every dip and every rise of each letter that formed on his tanned skin, his curiosity only growing with each passing second. It is after their family dinner when his mother discusses it with him.

His mother sits on the couch, with him following suit and sitting right beside her. She grabs his arm gingerly and stares at the words with a gentle smile on his face. “Honey, dear…” Her mother starts as she begins to caress the words inked on her son’s skin. “This is how you will find your soulmate.” She says with a fond smile on her face. She looks down on the tattoo and continues. “These will be the first words you’ll be hearing from your beloved.”

Chanyeol is with Baekhyun, enjoying their respective lunches when they notice two boys from the lower batch roam around the canteen, stopping by each and every table for a few seconds before moving on to another. Chanyeol shrugs it away and focuses his attention on filling his hungry stomach, the scent of his mother’s cooking doing wonders to his stomach.

A pair of hands slam against their table, causing both of the fourth graders’ lunches to jump underneath its force. Chanyeol looks up to see a tan young boy with a bright grin on his face, determination glinting in his eyes. He moves his attention towards his companion, a skinny pale boy tugging insistently on the other’s shirt. “Jongin, stop it. You’re so embarrassing—“ He hears the pale boy say and Chanyeol can’t help but grunt in agreement.

But the other boy is undeterred by his companion’s complaints and blurts out a hopeful, “Come on, say it!”

Baekhyun’s eyebrows furrow, completely perplexed by the younger’s words. “What exactly do you expect—“ He starts off with a snappy voice, only to be cut off by Chanyeol’s monotonous, “Baek, slap me in the face.” Baekhyun turns and his eyebrows furrow even more, and he follows Chanyeol’s line of sight and finds the other’s focus on his wrist. Oh, God. Underneath his wrist, the words Come on, say it! are written legibly for him and Chanyeol to see.

Baekhyun turns and looks back up at the younger kids and sees their equally shocked faces. Despite the tan boy’s perseverance and determination, it is obvious in his expression that he didn’t expect immediate results.

The first to speak is the pale boy. “Wow, you actually found your soulmate.” The awe is obvious in his tone of voice, and so is disbelief.

The tan male doesn’t respond, however. Still in the state of shock of finding his soulmate so early on in his life, all he could do is stare at Chanyeol and Baekhyun turns his head to find Chanyeol simply staring back at his supposed soulmate.

But then an idea crosses Baekhyun’s mind. “Hold on a second.” Baekhyun stands up and grabs the tan male’s wrist and finds Chanyeol’s exact words imprinted on the skin. Baekhyun grins and giggles in giddiness.

That seems to snap Chanyeol out of his trance. “What?”

Baekhyun returns to his sitting position and beckons the other two to sit right across them. He turns to Chanyeol and says, “I have my name on your soulmate’s wrist!” Baekhyun beams at this. “That means you’ll be stuck with me forever. Best friends forever!”

Thirteen-year old Jongin is seated comfortably on a bean bag in Chanyeol’s room – the latter’s mother insisted that they spend some quality time together as soulmates – when he admits he hasn’t had his first kiss while they are half-way through a racing game.

Chanyeol tilts his head at the other’s statement. “Really?” He asks, though his attention is still focused on the screen, tailing Jongin’s car at second place.

“I was like seven or eight when I met you,” Jongin shrugs, his fingers moving expertly on the game console. “How am I supposed to have my first kiss when I met my soulmate at such an early age?”

Chanyeol grunts in affirmation. “Fair point.”

Jongin stays silent for a few seconds, his attention drifting from the game to his thoughts and back to the game, over and over again. He worries on his lower lip, contemplating whether he should even ask the question bugging his mind for the past few seconds. “So, how about you?”

Chanyeol doesn’t reply, his eyes focused on the television screen. With a sigh, he pauses the game and turns his body to face Jongin. He tilts his head as he stares at Jongin’s face, who now has turned his body as well to face the older. After two blinks, he leans in quickly and presses a soft, chaste kiss on Jongin’s lips, retreating with a large grin on his face. “Now, I have!”

Jongin visibly reddens at the stolen kiss, resisting the strong urge to raise his hand and let it hover above his lips. His first kiss…

But he doesn’t let his emotions show on his face, and ends up complaining with a, “Well that was a lame first kiss.” He sticks his tongue out at Chanyeol and turns his attention back to the screen, a mischievous smirk playing on his face.

Chanyeol scoffs. “Sure, Jongin, whatever you sa—“ Chanyeol stops mid-sentence as his brain finally registers the reason behind Jongin’s smirk and the sudden change of background music playing in the background. He turns towards the television screen and quickly scrambles for the game controller. “Yah! That’s not fair!”

Jongin only cackles loudly.

The day after their sleepover, Chanyeol is harshly nudged awake by his mother, telling him to wake the other up from his deep slumber to eat lunch. The two soulmates headed off to sleep hours past midnight, which resulted to them sleeping through breakfast. With a grunt, Chanyeol pushes himself up into a sitting position, a hand flying up to rub the sleep out his eyes.

He turns his head towards the other side of the bed – Chanyeol’s room doesn’t have an extra bed, though his bed is a large one, allowing the two of them to share beds during sleepovers at the Park residence ever since they were little – and finds Jongin lying on his back with his left arm draped over his eyes, his mouth left slightly agape with soft little snores escaping his thick lips.

What catches Chanyeol’s attention though was the unfamiliar words scribbled on Jongin’s wrist. His eyebrows furrow at the tattoo which prompts him to look down at his left arm, finding the words inked on it just the same as ever. However, his eyes travel to his other arm…

And there he finds the exact same words written on Jongin’s wrist on his.

Chanyeol shakes Jongin violently, his brain going into a full-panic mode and needing a companion to deduce the meaning of the new tattoo.

Jongin startles awake into a sitting position, his heart beating fast and his arms flying up aimlessly. Finding himself in a familiar setting, he wills himself to calm down and snaps at Chanyeol. “What the hell was that?”

Chanyeol ignores the snappy tone Jongin used on him and instead, shoves his wrist in front of Jongin’s eyes. “We have a new tattoo!”

Jongin flushes at the sight of the vulgar word printed on Chanyeol’s skin but he ignores it and looks down at his own wrist, and finds the words “What the did you do?” inked on it, very much alike with Chanyeol’s.

Jongin’s eyes flick from his wrist to Chanyeol’s and back to his own, not knowing what to make of the new addition to their skin. “W—What does this mean?”

“I don’t know.” Chanyeol whispers. “What the did we do, Jongin?”

Author's Note: I'm sorry it took so long! I know, I know, it's been a year and a half. Truth is, I took a break from writing because it just didn't give me the same satisfaction as it used to. I'm taking meds now to improve my mental health and my old hobbies are coming back to life. Hopefully, the second chapter won't take too long!