Chapter Text
Soulmarks work in mysterious ways. The study of soulbonds is known as vinculology, and uncommon cases continually leave researchers scrambling to keep up.
The morning after the bonding reception, Porsche woke to an empty bed. He cracked open one eye and immediately regretted it — the window blinds were already wide open, and he had a splitting headache. So he shut his eye again.
Blindly, he swam around in the soft and fluffy blankets, stretching out limbs this way and that to try to find his soulmate, all to no avail. When he recognized the sound of running water coming from the bathroom, he captured Kinn’s pillow instead and snuggled it close.
With Kinn’s scent surrounding him, he fell back to sleep in moments.
Much later, he was just beginning to wake up for the second time when Kinn called out from the direction of the hall. “Porsche? Porsche, you can’t sleep all day.”
“Oh yeah? Try me.”
His headache mostly gone, he dared to open his eyes and peek out from his tangled nest of sheets.
“It’s almost lunchtime,” Kinn said from the doorway, hands on his hips. “We’re meeting Time and Tay in an hour.”
“Scheduling lunch for today was a horrible idea,” Porsche said, “and considering I know how many shots they each had last night, I’m sure they’re both regretting it right now.”
Kinn walked over and dramatically yanked the sheets off Porsche, making him yelp and flail onto his belly, scrambling after the warmth that was so cruelly torn away.
“C’mon, time to start the day, sunshine,” Kinn said and gave a cheerful little smack to his cotton-covered ass.
The smack wasn’t particularly hard (especially compared with what he knew Kinn was capable of), but it sent a strange shock through his body, like static electricity but more widespread.
Then the feeling condensed and settled… right on the outside of his left elbow.
A familiar but nearly forgotten tingling began.
“What the hell?” Porsche flopped onto his back and sat upright, and he clutched his elbow with his right hand.
“Porsche?” Kinn asked, mildly alarmed.
“Shh!” he replied, half hysterical. As though silence would help make physical sensations any clearer.
Kinn obligingly stayed quiet, his brows drawn together.
Porsche waited to see whether the tingle on his elbow would stop. It did not.
“What’s going on?” Kinn finally whispered, his eyes growing more frantic.
Porsche really didn’t want to worry Kinn, but… well, he also didn’t want to keep secrets. Not anymore.
“C’mon, c’mon, to the bathroom,” Porsche said. He rolled out of bed without uncovering his elbow. “Let’s go!”
Kinn protested, “Just tell me what’s going on!”
“I promise I will!” Wearing nothing more than his black briefs, and with one hand covering his elbow, he herded his soulmate to the bathroom.
When they entered, Kinn looked at him inquisitively. “What now?”
“Over here.” Porsche went to the mirror and saw himself standing there next to Kinn. The enormous ratchaphruek dominated half of his upper body.
He clutched at the place where his seed used to be and, angling his left side toward the mirror, slowly uncovered the base of the tree.
There was no visible change. He’d been half afraid that his mark was disappearing, although he’d never heard of such a thing happening before. Still, seeds and bondmarks were known to do weird things occasionally.
Yet the tingling sensation of growth continued.
“Porsche, you’re worrying me. Tell me what’s going on.”
“I don’t know what’s going on!” Porsche heard the frantic edge to his voice. “Sorry, sorry, I just can’t tell you because I don’t know.”
“Okay, okay.” Kinn held up an open hand and reached out to him, but Porsche pulled away. What if something strange happened when they touched again?
“Can you, um, take a few steps back?” Porsche asked.
Kinn looked like he wanted to do the exact opposite and crush Porsche to him and never let go. However, he did as Porsche asked and backed away. When he was just out of range for bondmark growth, the tingling faded and then stopped altogether.
“Stop!” Porsche said, and Kinn froze. “Shiiiiit.” He poked at the base of the tree, but nothing happened, and he couldn’t see anything different about it.
“Porsche? It’s something to do with your bondmark?”
“Yeah,” Porsche replied, not taking his eyes off the spot. “It’s acting like it’s growing all over again, or something like that? Like I said, I don’t know what the fuck is going.”
“Can I come closer?” Kinn asked.
Porsche nodded, and as soon as Kinn took a couple of steps, the tingling came back in full force. Porsche clasped his elbow again.
“Is it…?”
“Yeah.”
Kinn took a couple of quick steps back, and the sensation ceased.
Porsche looked at Kinn with wide eyes. “What do we do now?”
They started by canceling their lunch plans and visiting an in-house doctor. It was the same doctor who had stitched the graze on Porsche’s arm from the gunshot. Kinn stood in a corner of the room, outside of growth range, while Porsche and the doctor sat in chairs facing each other.
“I’m not that kind of doctor, gentlemen,” he admitted with a shake of his head. “There’s very little I can tell you that you couldn’t also find by searching the internet. What you need is a shaman or spiritualist.”
“Okay, but is there anything you can tell us?” Porsche asked.
The doctor tapped at the armrest of his chair and then said, “Probably the most important thing is that you two shouldn’t be worried about the condition of your bond, so stop looking so panicky, both of you.”
Porsche exchanged looks with Kinn, and then they both waited for the doctor to continue.
The doctor sighed heavily. “Yes, bondmarks sometimes behave in unpredictable ways, but more than half of the stories you’ve heard are people’s wild imaginations. There’s no recorded case of a bondmark disappearing. Whatever is going on, I have no concerns that there’s any threat to Boss Porsche’s mark.”
Relief washed over Porsche so strongly that his shoulders slumped, and he had to close his eyes for a moment. Kinn would have been inconsolable if anything happened to the mark — he would have certainly jumped to the conclusion that it was his fault.
“But we still don’t know what is happening,” Kinn pressed, crossing his arms.
The doctor shrugged. “My best recommendation is to simply wait and see what develops. Or, if you want to be proactive about it, try some things out. You say it feels like growth. I know you both know how that works.”
“What, you mean like bond affirmations?” Porsche asked. “Presence, affection, protection?”
“Precisely,” said the doctor.
Porsche looked over at the corner where his anxious soulmate stood rapping his thumb quickly against his own arm. Porsche made his decision and reached out to Kinn.
“Porsche!” Kinn hissed. “What if something goes wrong?”
Porsche snorted. “How long do you think you can keep your hands to yourself? Come here.”
Slowly, cautiously, Kinn approached. The tingling started as he drew near, and when he took Porsche’s hand, it increased.
“Any change on contact?” asked the doctor.
“Yeah, more of the growing sensation,” Porsche said. Kinn still looked nervous as hell.
“Boss Kinn, why don’t you try some affirmation?” suggested the doctor. “Try thinking some nice things about Boss Porsche.”
Kinn nodded and focused on Porsche. His eyes softened, warmed.
“Anything?” asked the doctor.
Porsche shook his head. “Nothing.”
“Hmm.” The doctor scribbled something on his paper form. “Boss Kinn, can you please try again with a little more focus?”
Kinn nodded, and his dark brows furrowed. He seemed to be trying to bore a hole through Porsche by shooting nice thoughts through his eyes like laser beams.
He’s the cutest thing in the world, and I would hug him right now if the doc weren’t staring at us, Porsche thought.
The sensation of growth spiked sharply, causing Porsche to startle. “Woah!” And as abruptly as the spike occurred, it just as quickly went back to normal levels.
“What was that?” the doctor asked, alarmed.
“I don’t know?” Porsche said. “There was a sudden rush for a split second.”
Something like wild determination was beginning to grow in Kinn’s eyes. “Let me try again?”
“No, wait, let me try something.” Porsche tugged Kinn closer by the hand and closed his eyes.
I love this man, Porsche thought, and the sensation of growth spiked again. A rush of emotion overcame him, and the thoughts flowed easily. I love that he’s mine. I love how vain he is and how he takes way too long getting ready to go out. I love how brave he’s been, standing up to his father more and more. I love the way he calls my name. I want to make him happy.
“There’s something you don’t see every day,” the doctor said with quiet awe.
“Porsche? Look, look at it!”
Concentration broken, Porsche opened his eyes, and the growth sensation receded to the baseline.
On his arm, around the trunk of the ratchaphruek, a bright green, leafy vine was slowly growing up the trunk, wrapping around to the front of it from the side.
“What… what’s happening?” Kinn asked. “Porsche has a second mark? That’s not possible, is it?”
Porsche shook his head quickly. “That’s not it. It’s not some random second mark, Kinn. It’s yours. It’s your bondmark on me!” What was his voice even doing? He sounded hysterical. He felt hysterical. “It responded the instant I thought about you.”
Kinn’s mouth opened, but no words came out. He worked his jaw, clearly struggling. His chin trembled.
Porsche swallowed hard. Kinn needed him.
Porsche shot a poignant look at the doctor and gestured with his head at the door, mouthing the word “Go” at him.
The doctor fumbled with his clipboard and stammered out statements of mixed apology and congratulations.
As soon as the door closed behind the doctor, Porsche rose from the chair to face Kinn. His soulmate still couldn’t get any words out, but the tears started to flow regardless.
Porsche gathered him into his arms, and Kinn wept.
4 months later…
“Stop worrying so much and just stick it to me!” Kinn said, mostly serious but still managing to tease.
“I’m sorry for being nervous, but this is kind of a big deal! I don’t want to get it wrong,” Porsche shot back.
“It doesn’t even matter if you get it wrong. It just has to be you,” Kinn insisted.
“Ridiculous,” Porsche grumbled. “I’m sorry for all the fuss,” he added, speaking to Namtan, Porsche’s mentor. She sat next to him to supervise the process.
Kinn lay on a reclining chair in a trendy, upscale tattoo parlor. The ink that Namtan had already done for him looked stunning.
From the ashen seed scar on the back of Kinn’s wrist all the way to the top of his shoulder, vibrant greens flourished on his arm, growing from a central vine that twisted and wrapped around his arm in a loving embrace. Numerous clusters of small red and pink star-like flowers dripped from the vine. The artwork was amazing; Kinn had selected the very best artist in Bangkok. Namtan specialized in bondmark manipulation, concealing them among larger tattoos, filling color into faded marks, and mimicking bondmarks. It was controversial, but Namtan took no shit from anyone about it. She took great pride in her work.
As she should. And Porsche would curse himself if he ruined it. He’d been practicing with her for three months for this day.
At the top of Kinn’s arm, right on the deltoid, one cluster of flowers had yet to be colored. That section had been left for Porsche.
He picked up the tattoo machine and hesitated.
“Come on,” Kinn coaxed. He reached up to brush his hand along Porsche’s arm. “I want to match already.”
On Porsche’s arm, the ratchaphruek no longer stood alone. A sturdy vine of rangoon creeper had grown up to encircle the trunk, spreading up to the lower branches of the tree, where the red and white flowers mixed in with the gold.
Kinn said it looked like the most beautiful sunset he’d ever seen.
“Leave a mark, love,” Kinn requested.
Porsche smiled and took a deep breath to steady himself, and he blinked away a bit of mist from his eyes. Then he gave a quick kiss to the outlined flowers and got to work.
Once again, he marked his soulmate as his own. It wasn’t the first time, and it wouldn’t be the last.