Stray Kids & Ateez One Shots & Imagines

Heart on my Hand (Seungmin)

Content warning: soulmate AU, none because sometimes the best smut is no smut <3

word count: 2368
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Your alarm beeps annoyingly and you wake up and turn it off groggily before looking down at your tattoo like you do every morning. The little heart on the palm of your hand is still black. You silently pray that today will be the day it will finally find its color.

When you turned 18 and the little tattoo first appeared, you were excited. It's supposed to be a hint at how you'll meet your match. You assumed the heart meant you'd meet someone on Valentine's Day. Every February 14th, you dressed up, eagerly hoping to find your person. Year after year the tattoo remained unchanged and your hope at ever meeting your soulmate dwindled away.

You began surrounding yourself with heart-shaped objects, thinking that you'd accidentally drop a heart ring and they'd return it, thus fulfilling the prophecy of a heart in your hand. It never worked, though.

You wish your tattoo had been something else... something more obvious. Your sister has a plane on her thumb and found her soulmate while traveling for a trip. She'd been unable to lift her carry-on to stow it in the overhead bin and someone stopped to help her. His hand grazed against hers, and the suitcase tattoo on his pinky lit up in a pretty shade of violet at the same time as hers. They knew right away they'd found their person.

My brother had been even luckier. He never had to undergo the chaos or desperation of seeking his soulmate based on a maddening tattoo. His appeared when he was just 7. It wasn't very common to meet your soulmate so young, but when one does, their tattoo appears in color right away. He and his soulmate had been assigned desks next to each other in elementary school. His tattoo is a pencil and his partner has a book...the items they'd had on their desks at the time.

Today you're turning 24. You've lived with this little mark of loneliness for 8 years. It taunts you, reminds you that you haven't found love. You've heard stories of people who live forever with a black mark. For some, their soulmate had died before they'd had the chance to meet. You wonder if that's your future... to end up alone.

You hope not. You've never even kissed someone, having wanted your soulmate to be your one and only person. You'd wait forever for that moment, and the idea of never having that intimacy with a partner is your biggest fear. It fills you with anxiety and makes your heart race just thinking about it.

"Happy birthday!" your roommate knocks on your door, flinging it open right away and tearing you out of your spiral.

You plaster on a smile, despite feeling depressed in this moment at the reminder that you've gone through another year without meeting your person.

"I'd sing, but I know you don't want to hear that," she jokes, holding out a heart-shaped cake with a candle on it.

You laugh, and she holds the plate lower for you to see it. It's light pink with white trim. You see 99% positive it's strawberry and cream inside which sounds delicious.

"Make a wish," she grins.

You eye her playfully but close your eyes and commit to your wish. You've wished to meet your soulmate every year since you'd turned 18. You had gotten more specific each year in case the wishing gods had magic loopholes you needed to abide by.

You don't feel like being disappointed again this year, though, and wish for the perfect slice of birthday cake.

You blow out the candle and Ava cheers. "Don't tell me your wish! It's bad luck!" she reminds you with a knowing wink.