Me? Remembering to update this story when I post it on AO3? More unlikely than you'd think! Sorry for the wait!
Chapter Trigger Warnings: cuts/blood, a tiny little bit of ableism/ableistic language still
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Grian sighed softly to himself, brushing his hands down the front of his hoodie. Had to look presentable for his soulmate.
Well, at least as presentable as he could be on a Saturday, wearing a hoodie and sweatpants.
Grian raised his hand to the door in front of him and then froze. He dropped his hand. He grabbed his phone from his pocket and checked the text.
"Dorm 226, just knock when you get here."
Grian glanced up at the door in front of him.
Dorm 226.
God, why was he so nervous?
Grian raised his hand again, hesitating for a moment before letting out a deep breath and knocking.
"I'm coming!" He heard a voice call from inside. Well, at least that was familiar. It didn't sound like he was at the wrong dorm.
Thirty seconds later, the dorm room door opened and Grian gazed down at Scar.
Scar was sitting in his wheelchair, pushing himself back enough so he could open the door more for Grian. He was wearing just a simple tan t-shirt, blue jeans, and black socks. His hair was fairly messy and Grian found himself once again gazing at the way his scars curved over his cheeks and jaw. The way the stubble on his cheek parted and so perfectly outlined the scar on his jaw. His lips, so soft and-
"So.. are you going to come in or are we just standing in the hall?"
Grian snapped out of his thoughts as Scar spoke, blinking a few times to reorient himself.
"Sorry.." Grian mumbled as he stepped into the dorm. He kicked off his converse right by the door, but made sure they were well out of the way so Scar wouldn't roll over them.
"Well, welcome to my humble dorm. There's not much and it's kinda messy, but it's comfortable." Scar spoke, gesturing around the apartment.
Grian gazed around the dorm. Scar had a small table with a tv sat up against one wall with a small couch piled with several pillows and blankets sitting across from it. Tucked behind the couch, against one of the corners, was a desk with a computer set up on it, the home screen for Minecraft on the monitor. Across the room from the two was his small kitchen and a dining table with two chairs and an open side. And just between the tv and his kitchen table was a closed door that presumably went to his bedroom and bathroom.
"Definitely cleaner than Tango's side of our dorm." Grian laughed softly as he stepped further into the living room area.
Scar chuckled softly as he followed after Grian, rolling up next to the couch.
"Well, uh, make yourself comfortable. There isn't really much to do here." Scar spoke softly, awkwardly rubbing a hand on the back of his neck.
"Thank you.." Grian nodded as he took a seat on the couch, adjusting some of the blankets slightly.
"Oh, yeah, feel free to move those around as you need. I just use them for support whenever I sit there." Scar shrugged, folding his hands in his lap.
"Oh!" Grian bit his lip as he realized he had just sat down without asking, "Did you want to sit here?"
"Nah, nah, it's fine." Scar waved him off with one hand, "It's just for when I get tired of sitting here." Scar explained with a soft laugh, patting his hands on his wheelchair.
"Ah." Grian nodded slowly, looking down at his hands for a moment, unsure of what to talk about.
Instead, a soft scratching from Scar's bedroom door broke the silence and Scar perked up slightly.
"Oh, dang it. I'm coming, Jellie!" Scar called out, wheeling himself over to the door and pushing it open. The small white and gray cat pushed her way out of the bedroom, bounding across the living room and hopping up onto the couch. She seemed slightly startled to see someone else in her spot, but she quickly made do and settled into Grian's lap, nuzzling in between his hands.
"O-Oh.." Grian stuttered as he found himself with a new friend in his lap, slowly petting his hand over her head.
"Sorry about her. While I don't want to sit there now, that is her spot." Scar chuckled as he rolled back over by the couch, reaching a hand out to scratch under Jellie's chin.
"No, it's fine.." Grian reassured Scar as he gently pet down Jellie's back, gently scratching his nails into her fur.
After a few moments, Grian looked up to gaze at Scar. The way his oh-so-soft-looking, fluffy hair fell in his face as he tilted his head down to gaze at Jellie, the way his emerald green eyes shimmered with all the love and adoration for his beloved cat. The way Grian wished Scar would look at him like that-
What the fuck.
Grian blinked a few times, shaking his head to realign the off-the-rails train of thought he had just had.
Was.. Was he falling in love?
I mean, he knew this was his soulmate, but he underestimated just how head-over-heels he'd be.. And so soon..
Grian blinked again, focusing on the word around him, only to be greeted with Scar looking up at him.
"You okay? You're looking startled." Scar questioned softly.
"I'm fine.." Grian mumbled back, shaking his head a little, "Just got lost in thought."
"Happens to the best of us." Scar laughed with a wide grin on his lips. Oh, he looked so happy and cheerful. Maybe having him as his soulmate wouldn't be so bad after all.
"Oh, hey, I gathered up a few of my best photos, if you'd like to see them." Grian spoke, attempting to change the subject to distract himself.
"Oh, yes, please." Scar hummed, sitting back in his wheelchair.
Grian shifted, careful not to disturb Jellie- who was happily kneading against his thigh-, as he pulled his phone out from his back pocket. He quickly tapped in his passcode and scrolled through his apps to find his photos app.
The first photo Grian pulled up was of a sunset over a lake, tall pine trees lining the horizon across the lake, and a slight sandy beach in the foreground. The sky was lit up with beautiful pinks and yellows, said sky mirrored along the wavy water.
Grian turned his phone towards Scar to show him the image, watching Scar's face light up with a look of amazement.
"Whoa, that's so cool!" Scar gasped, lifting a hang up towards his phone before pausing and looking up at Grian, "May I?"
Grian nodded, letting Scar take his phone so he could get a closer look at the photo.
Scar looked the photo over slowly, using his fingers to zoom in on it, admiring all the little details.
"I've always loved the way the sun reflects across water." Scar spoke, handing Grian's phone back to him when he was done looking.
"My parents have a little lake house that we'd go to every summer. The sunsets were like that nearly every day." Grian spoke softly, a faint bit of nostalgia tugging at his heart at the memories of his childhood summers.
"Wow.. I used to love to swim a lot as a kid." Scar spoke softly, letting out a slow sigh, "I was almost a state-level swimmer when I was diagnosed."
"Ouch." Grian gave a sympathetic wince, "That sucks.."
"It's all cool now." Scar shrugged, "It's what got me into photography, so I suppose it's not so bad."
"I guess not." Grian smiled.
Scar sighed softly, gazing at Grian with a soft smile back, "I mean, I did get to meet you, after all."
"You're a sap." Grian spoke, rolling his eyes.
"My soulmate is the luckiest guy out there, to be paired with a guy like me." Scar joked with a grin before sighing softly, "Hopefully it's enough to get them to look past the wheelchair."
"If anyone can't look past the wheelchair, they're an asshole." Grian spoke, surprising himself by how easily that came out. Especially when, like two weeks ago, he was that exact kind of person.
"Thanks Grian." Scar's soft smile returned at Grian's comment.
"Ow-" Grian suddenly hissed, feeling Jellie's claws having dug through the fabric of his sweatpants and into the soft skin of his thigh. Scar's eyes widened slightly as he leaned forward enough to help try to untangle Jellie's claws from Grian's pants.
"I am so sorry. I just haven't had the energy to clip her nails in a while.." Scar explained softly, tucking a blanket just under Jellie's front so she would knead into the blanket vs Grian's thigh.
"It's fine." Grian waved him off slightly, "It didn't hurt bad."
"That's good." Scar sighed as he pulled back, Grian not missing the way he rubbed a hand over his own thigh. Did.. Was Scar really that oblivious? Like, Grian understood not picking up things over text because of a lack of tone and expressions, but this? Seeing someone in front of you being hurt and feeling a sting in your own thigh? Wouldn't anyone at least, maybe, question it?
"I- um, I could clip her nails for you if you'd like..?" Grian offered up softly.
Scar blinked softly for a moment, obviously not having expected the offer.
"You'd want to? She can scratch badly when her nails are sharp.." Scar warned softly.
"I've survived worse." Grian shrugged with a chuckle. I mean, he's survived this long with Scar as his soulmate, so yknow.. That wasn't a good thing to think, was it..? Shit..
"If you insist." Scar spoke, putting his hands up as he gave in. Moving his hands to the wheels of his wheelchair, he pushed himself backwards, rolling over to his desk and pulling open a drawer. A moment later, he returned, holding out a pair of pet nail trimmers out to Grian.
"Knock yourself out." Scar chuckled softly as Grian took the trimmers from him.
"Alright little Jellie bean.." Grian snickered at his pun as he gently picked up Jellie, maneuvering her onto her back in his lap so he could have a good hold on her.
Gently taking a hold of one of her front paws, Grian pressed his thumb against her paw pad, carefully spreading her toes until her claws were visible and it was easy for him to bring his other hand in and carefully begin to trim back her nails.
"Wow, you're a natural." Scar spoke softly as he watched Grian work.
"My family had cats when I was younger. It's easy to get stuck with the job when you're the only one to treat the cats nice enough to allow them to pick them up." Grian explained with a faint shrug, soon moving onto Jellie's other front paw.
"The only one to treat them nice??" Scar gasped, pressing a hand to his chest with an offended look, "Those poor cats."
"Luckily, I managed to convince them to not adopt any more before I moved out." Grian explained softly.
Suddenly, Jellie shifted in his lap, clearly uncomfortable with being held like that for so long, kicking her back legs up to try to push off Grian's hands.
" Ah! Ow-" Grian gasped as he felt some very sharp nails dig into his forearm, instinctively letting go of the thing that was causing him the pain. As soon as she was free, Jellie hopped off of Grian's lap and bolted into the bedroom.
"I- Oh, my god-" Scar covered his mouth as he saw blood suddenly dripping down Grian's forearm.
A moment later as the sudden shock had jumped into adrenaline, Scar moved, rolling himself into his bedroom and returning a minute later with a box of bandages and a washcloth.
"I am so sorry about her.. God, I shouldn't have let her go that long.." Scar groaned as he stopped right in front of Grian, reaching out to wrap the washcloth around his forearm, carefully and gently wiping away the blood that was on his arm.
"'s fine.." Grian mumbled, watching Scar as he cleaned him up.
Once the blood had been wiped away for the moment, Scar nearly ripped open the box of bandaids, pulling out a few and unwrapping them all the way except the small plastic flaps over the gauze. He wiped away the blood once more before quickly placing the bandaids over the small cuts on Grian's arm.
Grian sighed after the wounds were all covered, gently rubbing a hand over his arm, careful not to mess up the bandaids.
"There, all better." Scar grinned softly, proud of himself. Though, as he settled back in his chair, his eyes were drawn to something along his own arm.
Tiny, fragile, bee orchids were blooming from the skin and Grian watched as Scar lifted his other hand to gently trace over the petals.
"Geez, everyone's getting hurt today, my soulmate just cut up their own arm too!" Scar chuckled softly, seemingly not having connected the dots that might as well be a line by now.
"Scar.." Grian trailed. Was he really not noticing anything???
"I mean, I know everyone gets hurt all the time, but.. Wow.." Scar was still gazing at the flowers.
Grian sighed before slowly standing up, walking around behind Scar.
"Scar, please, open your eyes for one second." Grian spoke, leaning down, nearly over Scar.
"Huh-?" Scar trailed, watching whatever Grian was doing. And then he gasped as he saw it.
Grian had laid his arms directly next to Scar's, so that Scar could see how his orchids mirrored Grian's bandaids perfectly and the wilting poppies in his opposite hand matched exactly with the scabbed cut on Grian's hand.
"Oh, my god.." Scar trailed, moving his hand to trace over Grian's bandages again, "My soulmate.."
Grian hummed softly before pulling back slightly as Scar tilted his head back to look up at Grian.
"Can I kiss you?"