The Universe Is Change

Part 1/2

Notes:

For UndeadRobins :)

I always have to twist tropes just a bit, because I'm ornery like that. Also, I've stolen some bits of dialogue from ep. 24, but I've adjusted them to fit my needs.

To begin with, Bai Yutong would like it noted that the entire concept of soulmates and soulmarks is ridiculous. Yeah, some people discover that they have these...weird shapes on their skin and they match someone else's weird marks and then they date each other. But it's clearly like the fucking Rorschach test and people just find matching marks with someone they're interested in.

Which is why when Qingtang pointed out that he and Zhan Yao both had a little heart shape on their shoulder, he rolled his eyes and asked "Yeah, so what?"

Zhan Yao echoed the sentiment.

(They were 14 years old at the time. That was the height of their eloquence.)

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As they got older, Yutong very carefully never looked at the mark on his shoulder, nor did he look at Zhan Yao's shoulder. Because his Cat was not his soulmate or some crap like that, he was a sometimes annoying guy he hung out with because their families were close.

Well, yeah, they were friends. But that was it.

He absolutely never did any research about soulmates or soulmarks but sometimes coworkers or dates or random people would gush about the topic, so he learned way more than he wanted to about the shit people believed.

"The marks can change," the baby gay who was chatting him up in the bar said. "If you don't accept your soulmate or if one of you changes too much."

"If a mole on your skin changes, you should go see a dermatologist," Yutong said, taking a sip of his whiskey and trying to not roll his eyes.

The baby gay frowned (prettily, though). "You don't believe in soulmates?"

"Nope." He took another sip of whiskey. "Romantic but impractical. How does it even work?"

That guy went home with someone else and Yutong shrugged as he finished his drink. He wasn't so desperate that he'd say things he didn't believe just to get laid.

Zhan Yao chuckled when Yutong told him the story later over the phone. "If you didn't want to have sex with him, there were other ways to turn him down."

"Ugh, why do I even talk to you?"

"Because you're at the police academy and you don't want to reveal you're gay."

Yutong sighed. "Just for that, I'm going to find another gay guy here so I have someone to talk to."

"That's childish."

"That's what you always say to me."

"Because you're always childish." Zhan Yao's smirk was actually audible and how did that work?

"Whatever. Good night."

"Good night, Mouse."

Yutong put down the phone and stared at the ceiling. Qingtang was out of her mind if she thought that man was his soulmate.

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Yutong graduated, joined the police force, worked his way quickly up the ranks by dint of being very good at his job. Li Jiankang, his first partner in homicide, claimed to have found his soulmate by their matching soulmarks on the inside of their wrists. If you squinted, it sorta kinda looked like a diamond, Yutong supposed.