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Johnny tossed and turned, throwing his blanket off of him. Groaning, he peeked up at the clock sitting on his bedside table. One more hour until midnight, his eighteenth birthday. Johnny has spent the whole day wondering what his soulmate tattoo would be. His wrist had started itching a few minutes before and he had to restrain himself from glancing over at it. He promised his life-long friend Jaehyun that he wouldn’t look at the tattoos without him, so even after twelve he would have to wait hours before he could see them. Johnny wasn’t necessarily scared of getting his tattoos, he was, however, scared of Jaehyun not getting matching ones in two years' time. He was sure he had been in love with the boy since they first met, and the thought of being with anyone but him made him feel sick. He tried not to focus on that too much and squeezed his eyes shut until he saw stars. He must’ve fallen asleep at some point because the next thing he knew he was wide awake and there was a sharp pain in his stomach. Johnny groaned at the pain and shoved the younger boy off of him.
“Sorry,” Jaehyun grinned, but Johnny could tell he really didn’t mean it.
“Whatever,” Johnny huffed, sitting up correctly.
Jaehyun gave him a moment to wake up completely before tugging on his wrist excitedly, “You haven’t looked at it yet, have you?”
Johnny shook his head in response. Jaehyun quickly flipped his friend’s wrist over to study the small tattoo.
“That’s weird.”
“What?” Johnny glanced at his wrist with concern.
Instead of there being one tattoo, there were two. On the left side of his wrist sat a tiny peach, a cute little strawberry sat under it.
“Isn’t there only supposed to be one?” Jaehyun asked in confusion.
“Yeah,” Johnny mumbled in confusion. “Maybe my soulmate has two tattoos.”
“Or, maybe your first soulmate will die.”
Johnny couldn’t help but laugh at Jaehyun’s wide eyes.
“Stop,” Jaehyun whined, “It’s a good explanation.”
Jaehyun whacked Johnny’s arm in embarrassment. He tensed up afterward, expecting Johnny to return the hit, but instead, Johnny only stared at Jaehyun with a small smile. Jaehyun blushed, nervously smiling back. His eyes lit up when he caught sight of Johnny’s personal tattoo behind his ear.
“Let me see yours,” Jaehyun requested, turning Johnny’s head to get a better look.
Johnny complied, waiting for Jaehyun’s reaction.
“It’s a banana,” Jaehyun giggled, “That’s so cute, it’s all fruit-themed.”
“Just a single banana?” Johnny grimaced, “Not even a bunch?”
Jaehyun laughed at his displeased expression, “What? Don’t like it?”
Johnny only scrunched his nose in response, walking towards his mirror to get a better look at it.
“I think it’s cute,” Jaehyun hummed, “Getting to have a tiny banana on your wrist.”
His smile faltered for a second, thinking of Johnny’s soulmate.
“Your soulmate’s gonna be lucky, they get a cute boy and a cute tattoo.”
Hearing Jaehyun call him cute made butterflies erupt in Johnny’s stomach.
The older took a deep breath, running a finger over the small fruits on his wrist before blurting out, “Lucky you then.”
The room went silent. Johnny burned a hole into the floor with his eyes, refusing to look at Jaehyun until he heard the younger's reply.
“What do you mean? I thought you didn’t know your soulmate until you got the matching tattoos?”
“We won’t know for sure until then,” Johnny turned, meeting Jaehyun’s eyes, “but I can feel it. It has to be you, I just know it.”
Jaehyun sat with his mouth hanging wide open, not sure how to respond to Johnny’s confession.
“And even if it isn’t,” Johnny continued, taking a seat next to the younger. “Honestly, fuck the soulmate thing. I know who I’m in love with, and no tattoos can tell me otherwise.”
Jaehyun was frozen in shock. He felt the same, of course he did, but saying ‘fuck you’ to the tattoos was practically unheard of. What if Johnny was wrong about them being soulmates?
“Come on, Jae. Say something, please?”
Just then Jaehyun realized how long he had been staring at Johnny in silence.
Embarrassed, he buried his head in the crook of Johnny’s neck, “I love you too.”
“What?” Johnny asked excitedly, lightly pushing Jaehyun off him.
“You heard me,” Jaehyun whined, the tips of his ears red.
“I don’t think I did, can you repeat that?”
“I love you too!” Jaehyun hissed.
Johnny laughed at the younger’s embarrassed face, pulling him into a hug.
“But what if we’re wrong?” Jaehyun mumbled after a moment of silence, “What if we aren’t soulmates?”
“Let’s not worry about that for now, okay?”
The tattoos were easy enough to ignore the first year of them dating. Johnny wore long sleeves everywhere he went and avoided glancing at anyone else’s wrist, just in case he was wrong. A month after Jaehyun’s seventeenth birthday his mom allowed him to move in with the then nineteen-year-old Johnny and his roommate Jungwoo under the condition that he still attend school and keep his grades up. Their relationship was solidified at this point, and everyone around them was convinced that Jaehyun would wake up with a banana on his wrist on his eighteenth birthday. The couple didn’t pay any mind to Johnny’s own tattoos. They had completely forgotten that soulmate tattoos were a thing, and the possibility of Jaehyun waking up with a different one.
Johnny’s twentieth birthday came sooner than they thought. They had lunch with Johnny’s parents and later had a small dinner with some close friends. Johnny sat tiredly watching Jaehyun clean up after all the guests had left. Jaehyun insisted on doing everything himself, so Johnny insisted on waiting for him to finish. Jaehyun put the last plate in the dishwasher then bounded over to his boyfriend, tossing his arms around his neck.
“Now that my birthday’s officially over,” Johnny leaned down, pressing his forehead against Jaehyun’s, “happy anniversary.”
They never did anything for their anniversary, Jaehyun preferred to let Johnny celebrate his birthday.
Jaehyun grinned, pecking Johnny’s lips, “I can’t believe it’s been two years. It seriously feels like your eighteenth birthday was yesterday. You’re getting so old.”
Jaehyun giggled as Johnny squeezed his sides as revenge, “I don’t wanna hear anything from you, you’ll be eighteen in a few days.”
Jaehyun’s mood dropped at the reminder, “Yeah, that’s right.”
Unwrapping his arms from Johnny’s neck, Jaehyun ran his thumb over his wrist, right where his tattoo would show up.
“Hey, hey,” Johnny comforted, holding Jaehyun’s hands in his own. “Don’t worry about that, we’ve got a few more days. Let’s stay stress-free until the time comes, hm?”
Jaehyun nodded sadly, snuggling into Johnny’s chest.
They spent as much time together as they could for the next five days. Jaehyun tried his best not to think of his upcoming birthday, but he couldn’t help but get distracted by it, especially in his more boring classes. He was exhausted, physically, and mentally, by the time the thirteenth came. He and Johnny decided to go to bed early that night to calm their racing hearts. They cuddled close together, and if Jaehyun wasn’t sure before, he was now. Johnny was his soulmate, and if some stupid tattoos said otherwise then fuck them.
Jaehyun fell asleep first, leaving Johnny wide awake, a thousand thoughts running through his mind. He had acted calm about the whole situation, but truthfully, he was terrified. He knew Jaehyun loved him, but if the boy’s soulmate ended up being someone else, Johnny wouldn't be able to blame him for leaving. All he ever wanted was for Jaehyun to be happy, and he would make sure that happens, no matter what the cost.