shane woke up to the sounds of distant sirens, last nights drunken mistakes suddenly rushing through his throbbing head. he groaned, turning over and reaching for the glass of water on the nightstand next to his bed. he sat up, pain slamming into the back of his eyes.
"fucking hell!" he yelped, pinching the bridge of his nose. he slammed the water down and put on his glasses, standing up out of bed and walking to the bathroom. his breath stank, and he knew so.
he stopped at the mirror above the sink, disappointment flooding in as he felt the black mark on his cheek. he knew the girl last night had touched his face, multiple times. still no luck in turning that spot a bright, brilliant hue instead of the void that stared back at him every day.
he brushed his teeth and washed his face, the stubble on his chin catching the towel as he dried his mouth. he didn't have time to shave, he had to get to work.
he walked down the busy los ángeles streets, watching people go about their daily business. some people, shane noticed, would absentmindedly admire their colored spots. a girl holding hands with her girlfriend ran her fingers over the spot on her girl's knuckles. a man touched the spot on his lips as he ordered coffee. it seemed like everyone had a blue or yellow or pink spot to call their own. all shane had was the deep black imprint on his left cheek.
it didn't help that it was clearly a knuckle imprint. his first contact with his soulmate would be a solid punch to the face. great.
at least it was on a part of him that we always exposed. contact with a soulmate through clothing didn't register, and therefore didn't color the black spot. so if someone touched him, it would work, no matter what.
shane walked into work, greeting his coworkers and walking almost aimlessly towards his section of the building. he didn't like his job; all he really did was sit there and sift through emails, checking twitter and instagram every ten minutes. he did, though, thoroughly enjoy annoying the fuck out of his favorite coworker; ryan steven bergara.
shane decided long ago that anyone under 5'11 was full of rage, and ryan bergara was a classic case of such. he was 5'9, but would constantly insist that he was 5'10, which to shane, was utter bullshit. he was asian, with tanned skin and short black hair. if shane didn't hate him so much, and if the feeling wasn't mutual on ryan's part, shane would even go so far as to say attractive.
"bigfoot, comin' through!" ryan chimed as shane made his way towards his cubicle. shane smiled, glad that ryan had set the mood for the day.
"i wouldn't be so fast to speak, little guy." shane replied, his comebacks already locked and loaded after months of bickering. "you're practically a leprechaun, just a little shorter." shane shot back, a sly smile creeping towards the black imprint on his face.
"i'm five nine!" ryan said back in defeat. a shit eating grin covered shane's face as he knew he had won.
the day went normally, shane shooting paper balls over the wall of his cubicle and ryan throwing them back in anger, ryan spilling a half pot of old, freezing coffee in shane's lap, and the rest of their coworkers rolling their eyes every time either of them would open their mouths. about an hour of actual work had gotten done between the two of them.
by the time shane finished sifting through his work email, the clock struck five, and it was time to go home. shane's pants were mostly dry as he stood up from his rolly chair and pushed it in, gathering his things into a small laptop bag.
"hey!" a cheerful voice called, catching shane's attention and causing him to turn. jen stood in front of him, a small japanese girl with short, chopped hair. "everyone's going to the bar tonight. you in?" she asked happily.
shane looked to his right and pointed his thumb at ryan, who stood across the office filling his water bottle up. "is he gonna be there?" he asked.
jen raised an eyebrow. "yea?" she said curiously.
"nope!" shane decided immediately, turning away and zipping up his bag. he started to walk off before jen grabbed onto his forearm.
"shane!" she complained, stopping him after pulling forcefully on his thin arm. "stop being stupid! you haven't come to any of our nights together in weeks because of ryan!" she whined.
"don't you think there's a reason for that?" shane asked, pulling her into a cubicle. "i get enough of him here!" he whispered at her angrily.
"yea, why is that?" she scream-whispered back. "i've seen the way you look at him when you think no one's watching, shane. you don't hate him as much as you insist you do." she said softer, stunning shane. he stared back with wide eyes. "you're coming with us, and you have no choice." she decided, pulling him towards the elevator.
shane groaned, letting himself be pulled. this was going to be a long night.
—
shane called to the thin waitress on the other side of the bar, asking for another drink. he was on his fourth beer, but it didn't matter. he thought maybe if he got drunk enough, jen would take him home and he could get out of that stingy bar faster. he also didn't appreciate the wall-length mirror behind the bar. if he wanted to get drunk, he didn't want to have to stare at himself the entire time he did so.
he turned to his right and watched the drunk patrons dance to the shitty dj playing the bar. his eyes caught on a very, very drunk ryan, who moved across the dance floor like liquid; his swaying hips were captivating. shane's eyes traveled all the way down ryan, and he started to realize how tipsy he had really become. ryan snapped his hips forward, his head tilted back and his hair in his half-closed eyes. they met shane's with a sensual energy shane wasn't used to.
shane quickly turned back to his drink, his face flushed and hot, and his eyes wide. someone poked his bicep.
"ryan looks pretty great out there," a mocking voice beckoned shane. he turned to find a smug, sober jen. "and i think you've noticed."
shane huffed. "as if. he looks like a drunken idiot out there." he lied, which jen was well aware of.
"sure," she sarcastically agreed. "and i bet if ryan touched that black spot on your cheek he'd burn his finger with how red your face is right now."
shane's eyes darted to jen, a shit eating grin covering her face. shane's glare was good enough to shut her up, but not to wipe that grin off her face.
"shut up, jen. ryan's touched my face plenty of times. he's even punched me right on that black fuckin' spot," shane said, exhausted. "no pigmentation."
"ever without those gloves on?" she said, turning her barstool to the dance floor. she pointed to ryan, who was still donning the brown leather gloves he always wore.
shane stared an empty stare.
"shut up, jen." he simply said, turning back to the bar. he slammed down his beer and asked for another.
jen laughed. "i'm going to dance with ryan, because he's obviously having much more fun than you are." she said, getting up and starting towards where ryan started to stumble.
shane frowned. "that's because he's actually drunk!" he called after her with cupped hands. he looked down at the full glass of beer before him. shane wished he had less of a tolerance for alcohol. he was tired of drinking five glasses of beer and only getting tipsy.
he swirled his finger around the edge of his glass before getting hit in the back of the head with a glove. shane turned around, slightly annoyed, before realizing who had thrown it. a flushed, drunk ryan stood before him, with jen desperately tugging on ryan's arm.
shane's annoyance turned to rage.
"y-you're such an asshole, you know that?" ryan sputtered, leaning forward as if he was going to throw up.
"ryan, please, leave him alone-" jen pleaded.
"no, no, let the short man speak!" shane declared, dramatically throwing the leather glove over his shoulder and sliding off the barstool, walking up to ryan and looking down at him. "what makes you say that, little guy?"
ryan glared up at shane, his hands stuffed in his pockets. "you're one to talk about height, you lanky f-fuckin'... fuckin' idiot!" he managed to stammer out.
shane huffed a short laugh. "jen, take him home, please?" he said, starting to turn back to the bar. before he could sit down, ryan grabbed the back of his tan jacket, and pulled him back. the red hot anger was evident in ryan's face as he wound up, and landed a heavy blow right to shane's face.
shane fell to the ground, holding his cheek. it's as if ryan's punch had transferred his rage to shane, because now shane was getting himself off the ground and winding up to a seemingly terrified ryan. he stopped himself short as ryan lifted up the back of his hand and faced it to shane, showing him the bright cyan hue mixed with yellow swirls dancing on the back of ryan's knuckles.
shane's stomach dropped, but he didn't let it get to him. "you have a soulmate! good for fucking you! nobody.." shane started, but slowly cut himself off as wide eyed looks from jen and ryan settled on him.
"shane, your face..." jen said quietly. fear settled into shane, his body whipping around to face the mirror behind the bar. a red spot with black specks covered the left side of shane's face.
shane turned back to ryan, now with an equally as stunned expression. before he could react, all three of them were being escorted out of the bar by security.
——
shane ran his fingers over the cool cement curb under where he sat. jen sat to his right, who had a barely conscious ryan settling on her shoulder.
shane stared down at his phone screen, watching the way the black specs disappeared and reappeared in different spots among the crimson hue.
"are you okay?" jen asked quietly. the music of the bar sounded distant and muffled out on the quiet street.
shane nodded. "i guess so. it was a little... unexpected, but not really." shane said, matching jen's volume. "i guess i treated him like shit because deep down i knew that he would end up with someone that wasn't me, and i was jealous of that."
jen nodded back. "i meant the punch, but... that too." she said with a smile.
shane huffed. "the punch hurt a lot more than the spot." he said, making jen chuckle.
"you're okay to let him spend the night in your apartment?" jen said, pointing her thumb at a now asleep ryan. "i wouldn't trust him home alone like this."
shane watched ryan sleep rather peacefully. at least, peaceful for being on a street corner. "yea, i got him."
———
shane sighed as he got ryan through the door, finally. he locked it behind him and continued to guide ryan to the couch in his living room, ryan's black coat in his hands.
"shane, am i high?" ryan asked as shane got him a spare blanket.
shane sighed. "no, ryan, just really, really drunk."
ryan look at shane with a tilted head, confused. "then why are our spots colored?" he asked, sending a shiver of realization down shane's spine.
"they're colored because we're soulmates, ryan. we get to spend the rest of our lives stuck with each other ." shane said with drunken exhaustion evident in his monotone voice.
"oh." ryan whispered, settling down onto the couch. "i love you, mr.soulmate."
shane stopped dead in his tracks, staring back at ryan, who had now fallen asleep.
"i love you too, ryan."
———
shane woke up slowly, the bright sunlight burning holes in his head. he groaned, stretching out and grabbing the same half-filled cup of water from the morning before. he took the two aspirin pills that lay next to the cup of water on his bedside table. as he started to sit up, his bedroom door creaked open, and in came ryan, wearing the old t-shirt shane had left out for him.
ryan's eyes widened. "did we sleep together?" ryan asked groggily, almost afraid.
shane shook his head. "no, worse. look at your hand." ryan looked down at the blue and yellow spot on his hand. he brought it up to his face, studying the blotch on his knuckles. "you punched me in the face last night," shane continued. "and it's turns out we're soulmates."
ryan looked up. he noticed the red hue on shane's left cheek. he came over to shane's side of the large bed slowly, sitting down on the edge. he looked concentrated, like he was trying to remember a distant memory.
"did i tell you i loved you last night?" ryan asked timidly, his voice quiet. shane had never seen ryan so timid before in his life.
"uh, yea," shane said, scratching the back of his neck. "yea, you did."
ryan buried his face in his hands. "i'm so sorry," he said, muffled.
"no, ryan," shane worried, reaching out a hand to ryan's shoulder, but hesitating. he moved closer. "you didn't do anything wrong, i..." shane paused as ryan looked up at him, their faces inches apart. "you called me out for being an asshole at the bar, and i deserved it. i was such a douche to you because i knew you would never be mine, and that's no excuse, but i guess deep down i was so worried that i'd never have a soulmate and you would eventually meet yours and i wouldn't be able to-"
shane was cut off by ryan's lips. his eyes shot open wide, but slowly faded closed as shane melted into the kiss. it was a slow, steady embrace, each of them cautious and aware of the other. when they pulled apart, shane had stars in his eyes and his hand was pressed against the side of ryan's face.
"i'm sorry for punching you," ryan said, a wide smile across his face.
shane laughed, smiling and realizing that he could probably see ryan's smile plastered against every billboard in LA and never get tired of it.
"it was worth it."