Bellamy didn't talk about his soulmark, mainly because of what it said but there were other things that confused him. He didn't know if his soulmate was a girl or a guy or non-binary or trans; since he was pan he didn't care but he really wanted an image of his soulmate to think about while waiting for them to cross paths. As a stereotypical cis-male he was obsessing over their identity but as a pansexual man who was covered head to toe in glitter and wore a yellow and blue striped speedo to Pride last year with his impossibly black hair dyed neon pink, he didn't care. And so both sides of him were in a constant feud over his soulmate. It didn't help that his two best friends and roommates both found their soulmates within a month of each other just two months prior and have been nagging Bellamy about what his forearm said ever since.
Of course, they would give it a rest and gave him just enough time to let his guard down on the subject when one of them brought it back up.
"What are your soulmate's first words to you?" Miller asked when Bellamy was three whiskeys in and he caved. It didn't matter because the whole situation with his soulmate was going to suck .
"'Can you move out of my way, I'm trying to find my girlfriend.'"
"Oh shit."
"Yeah, I know."
"That's got to be rough."
"You're telling me, I don't know who they are and I keep trying to picture them and nothing feels right."
"What do you mean?"
"I'm pan, I'm open to everything and yet a cis-female doesn't feel right, a cis-male doesn't either, nor do trans or non-binary... I've thought of a million possibilities and I can't picture who my soulmate could be."
"So the cis-male in you is feuding with the pansexual you are for their identity? It doesn't matter but it does."
"You get it."
"No, I'm gay and I have Eric. I don't understand but I'm trying."
"You suck," Bellamy said with a groan as he dropped his head back against his chair.
"I'm trying to help. I mean, I guess we could go to events in the city just to find them. There's a gallery opening Eric mentioned, his boss's daughter owns the gallery. I think we should go. Get you out there to meet new people."
"You know I'm not an art guy."
"Not true, you look at Greek sculptures and art all day everyday, that's art."
"That's history. This is modern."
"Do you really think looking at the human form from three thousand years ago is different than looking at it now? It's not. Art imitates life and what not."
Bellamy scoffed. "You're an idiot, how is your soulmate a surgeon?"
Miller laughed. "I'm dense when it comes to art. Sarcasm, wit and business are my specialties."
"And they all go so well together," he deadpanned before looking at the TV. "Gears of War?"
"You're drunk."
"Halfway. You know the more I drink, the more likely you'll win."
Miller contemplated it for a moment but they both knew they were going to play. "True. I'm in."
They did start going out more. They didn't go to the aforementioned gallery, but bars with theme nights and some gigs for local bands. Bellamy met a lot of different people, slept with them too, but none of them said the words on his arm and he was fine with it. He didn't want any of them to be his soulmate.
He didn't know what he pictured his soulmate to be but it wasn't any of them which he guessed was good considering none of them said "Can you move out of my way, I'm trying to find my girlfriend."
He figured he'd meet them when they were both ready, even though they were in a relationship, he was their soulmate and it would happen when he least expected it. He tried putting it on the back burner in his mind and not think about it.
It was almost a year after Bellamy told Miller about his soulmark when they went to Arkadia Gallery, Eric's boss's daughter's gallery and it wasn't their first time there either. It was a new showing, still modern but he liked these better than the last two showings they went to. Then again, he was always drinking so his opinion was a little skewed.
Still drinking, he was admiring a sculpture in the middle of a small hallway when he heard those words uttered in a high, annoyed tone.
"Some manners," he grumbled before realizing what was exactly said and whipped his head in the direction to find the most perfect woman he's ever laid eyes on and she was staring at him with wide blue eyes full of realization.
"I did say it nicer three times before I snapped and finally got your attention."
"I'm sorry." He stepped back to let her go by to her girlfriend.
She walked past but turned around and looked at him. "I'm, uh, I'm Clarke, by the way. We should at least know each other's names before our current lives implode."
"We should at least find out if we're compatible before you end your relationship, not all soulmates are compatible as more than friends."
"Like my parents?" she offered. It was one of those things about soulmates that everyone just knew , telling each other the harder things about themselves was just easier because they're made to understand each other.
"Maybe. Mine too."
"Maybe we'll get lucky."
"Maybe. I'm, uh, Bellamy."
"Should we exchange numbers? Find each other again? We'll keep running into each other regardless now."
"Yeah." He pulled his phone out of his pocket and unlocked it. Opening the phone app before handing over his phone and he noticed her doing the same.
He typed his number into her phone and added himself to her contacts under "My Idiotic, Oblivious Soulmate (Bellamy)" before taking a photo, glad he got a hair cut a week prior or it would have looked horrible as opposed to the tousled curls he was currently adorning.
He watched her adjust her blonde curls before taking a photo herself. She locked his phone before handing it back to him and said goodbye and something about her girlfriend wondering where she was and Bellamy waited until she passed and was out of sight when he opened his phone to find her contact as "My Rude, Hopeful Soulmate (Clarke)" Well, if nothing else, they had the same sense of humor.
Now after meeting her, he couldn't picture his soulmate as anyone else.
