Sorry, My brain has been broken.

Mitch is 14 when his mom first sits down to talk to him about his soulmate. She tells him how when he turns 18, whatever scar or bruise or mark his soulmate experiences, he will too, and in return, his will experience the same effects. Mitch nods his head politely but urgently, not really wrapping his brain around the whole concept because he just wants to get back to playing Mario Party.

-------

The first time Mitch gets a mark, he's nineteen. He's in college now and Nathan, his roommate, has just dragged him to a party being thrown by some guy he doesn't know but thinks he remembers Nathan saying he has a class with him. Mitch feels like the walls are spinning, either from the few shots he's taken or maybe because the apartment they're inside of is thumping from the music and the huge crowd of people dancing. Mitch is giggling with Nathan as they dance to some techno song, girls around them are swaying their hips seductively and Mitch feels the bass of the song beating along to his heartbeat, feels the rush of laughter and freedom and alcohol running through his veins.

When he wakes up, Mitch slightly winces at the streams of light from the sun that make it through his curtains and his mouth feels extremely dry. He also feels the extreme need to pee, which motivates him enough to hobble out of his bed and the warmth of his blankets to the bathroom. It's when he's washing his hands that he notices it. On his collarbone, a bright, fresh, love bite.

Mitch's head is spinning, trying to remember if it was possible last night he found some boy in the crowd and had a quick makeout session that caused this, but he wasn't that drunk last night. He was tipsy, yes, but as he places his hands on the corners of the sink, he distinctly remembers he didn't do anything with anyone.

That's another thing about Mitch, he knows people his age are incredibly careless about hooking up with others, claiming it's all fun and casual until they meet their soulmate, but Mitch absolutely hates that. Sure, he's made out with some guys, but he's still a virgin. Which Nathan reminds him about every single day.

He runs a hand through his hair, starting to feel disappointed, a little sad even. The love bite isn't that big or anything, but the small flush of red that clashes against his tan skin, isn't something he wants to think about anymore. He's in the kitchen now, starting on making a cup of coffee and grabbing a banana when a disheveled Nathan trudges in, bare feet dragging on the ground. Mitch has always handled his alcohol better than him, but then again Mitch is smarter and knows his limits.

Nathan ungracefully sits down onto a stool next to the countertop, immediately resting his head against the cold tile, moaning about how awful the day is already. Mitch just rolls his eyes and sets a mug of hot coffee in front of him. Nathan finally lifts his head to look as Mitch, who still hasn't bothered to put a shirt on, and raises his eyebrows in surprise. "Who did you get with last night?" Nathan teases and Mitch freezes.

Mitch coughs as he grabs his mug of coffee, mumbling, "No one."

The corners of Nathan's lips that were in a smile fall and his eyebrows furrow while Mitch shifts his weight back and forth on his feet. "Oh, I'm sorry Mitch, I just figured-" Nathan starts once he figures it out, that this must be on his soulmate's body, but Mitch cuts him off.

"Yeah, I know. Kinda bummed too," he confesses. Nathan gives him a sympathetic look, but Mitch just places his mug down and starts walking towards his room, muttering that he was just going for a run.

And if he feels a small ache in his knee while he's running, Mitch makes nothing of it.

-------

Mitch is in the library the next time he gets a mark only a week later. He's printing out a paper he just finished for a class that's due tomorrow when he feels a sudden sharp pain in his ankle. So much so, he has trouble walking to the printer. Mitch sits down once he makes it back to his bag, pulling up his tight jeans on his left leg to see two red slash marks  on the inside of his ankle. The slash marks are throbbing now, but Mitch is thankful as the pain begins to dull down as he works on his homework, wondering and slighting hoping that whatever his soulmate just did, that they're alright.

-------

Mitch works at a nearby bakery on the weekends. His other co workers are mainly old women, but he doesn't mind getting to man the counter with them or help in the back room, making a couple pastries here and there or cleaning up. Mitch is mopping the tile floor in front of the display cases when the familiar ding of a bell on the door sounds, but he doesn't bother to look up, only when he hears a yelp. He widens his eyes in surprise seeing a boy now on the wet floor and offers him a hand to help him up.

"Sorry about that," Mitch apologizes to the boy, who he notices has a striking pair of blue eyes that contrast his pale skin and blonde hair.

The boy, who's around his age he assumes, smiles widely at Mitch, "Not your fault, I should've been paying attention to where I was going. I think I was too excited about getting a good blueberry muffin," he finishes off and Mitch can't help the fact that he was smiling now too.

"Mitch, I told you to put up the signs about the wet floor!" Janet scolds him behind the register and Mitch can't help but feel guilty again. The boy doesn't say anything but frowns a little, causing his lips to pucker slightly which Mitch finds adorable.

"Here, just-," he starts, dropping the mop and making his way behind the counter, grabbing a blueberry muffin from the display case. He puts it in a paper bag and hands it to the boy. "It's on me, sorry again about the fall," Janet is beaming at Mitch's act of kindness, but he's more focused on the blonde boy's bright smile and the quick thank you, before he's headed out the door.

And if Mitch feels a slight bruise on his elbow later as he shuts the supply closet door, he doesn't make the connection.

-------

Mitch gets bruises frequently now. They appear almost all around the same time though, in the afternoon, then properly forming at night. It's something that Mitch doesn't totally understand, especially with this big bruise on his upper arm, until Nathan makes a guess one night that maybe he plays a sport. Mitch figures he has to be right, and if not, he's extremely worried that his soulmate is either seriously clumsy or in danger, because no normal person gets bruises this often.

-------

Mitch is working his shift at the bakery again, slighting dancing along to the song playing on the radio and air guitaring, except with a mop, which is making all the ladies giggle at his silliness. He pulls out a fresh batch of blueberry muffins out of the oven later and his mouth practically waters at the smell of them. Janet smacks his hand as he reaches to grab one, scolding him to save them for the customers and if he's lucky he can have one if there's any still left by the end of the day.

The bakery is busier than usual today, Mitch is working the front register quickly as a huge rush of college kids come in, wanting a snack in between classes and meeting for study sessions.

After the small rush dies down, Mitch goes to the back to help take some of the fresh loaves of bread out of the oven to cool down and then be sliced. As he reaches for a pan, the hot metal barely grazes the exposed skin of his arm that isn't covered by the oven mitt, long enough to leave a burn. He hisses and rushes to the sink after he puts the pan down, running cold water on the burn, hoping it doesn't blister.

Kyle, the head baker, shakes his head at Mitch once he sees what happens, but gives him the aloe to help the pain and Janet gives him a blueberry muffin.

-------

Mitch is at the local laundromat washing his clothes and reading a book, enjoying the monotonous hum of the clothes tumbling in the dryer and the swish of the clothes in the washer when someone taps him on the shoulder. Mitch looks up from his page to meet eyes with the same boy who slipped in the bakery a couple weeks back. The boy smiles in realization.

"Hey, is this one taken?" He asks, pointing to the washer next to Mitch's.

Mitch shakes his head no and the blonde haired boy gives him a small smile. He focuses on the boys profile as he leans down to grab some clothes and place them into the wash repeatedly. He has freckles on his neck and his hair looks to have natural blonde highlights that Mitch is slightly jealous of.

He's in a tank top that looks like it was a t-shirt but the sleeves are cut off and it's wrinkled and his calf muscles look like the size of Mitch's thigh. The boy looks out of the corner of his eye to see Mitch staring at him, which causes Mitch to feel guilty being caught, a blush rising to his cheeks as he looks away and pretends he was reading his book, but he stares at the dirty checkered floor instead.

The boy plops down in the seat right next to Mitch after he begins his wash, despite there being plenty of chairs to sit in.

"You go to USC?" He asks Mitch, and Mitch just closes his book and nods. "Do you wash your clothes here a lot?" The boy asks now and Mitch shrugs.

"Yeah, I do. The campus ones are too expensive."

The blonde boy whistles and nods his head. "I know, that's why I'm here. The training room finally busted my ass for mixing my regular clothes with my football stuff that they wash for us," he says with a laugh. It's loud, Mitch thinks, but not the loud annoying kind, the loud comforting kind. The kind he doesn't mind getting to hear.

"You play on the football team?" Mitch asks him now and the other boy nods his head excitedly.

"Absolutely love it. Don't know how much longer I'll last though," he says and Mitch notices the change in his voice.

"What do you mean?"

"My knee's been having issues lately and I'm getting behind in classes because of practice and stuff," he shrugs as Mitch's dryer signals that it's done.

Mitch stands up and grabs his basket, dumping his clean clothes inside before sitting back down and folding them. The boy starts laughing and Mitch looks up from folding his black t-shirt, their eyes locking for a moment.

"What's so funny?"

"My mom would love you, you actually fold your clothes!?" The boy cries out in disbelief and Mitch's smiling now with narrowed eyes.

"No wonder your shirt is wrinkled," he teases the boy, nudging his side slightly with his elbow at a wrinkle.

The boy rolls his eyes but has a smile on his face that disappears when the washer starts making weird noises. His bright blue eyes widen ( Mitch also notices the different specks of blue in them and they are just so so pretty) and jumps up to his washer.

Mitch stands up too and cautiously makes his way over as the boy opens it up and groans. He moves his head to one side wondering what's happening.

"I think they're all the same color now," the boy frowns and Mitch giggles.

"Were you raised in a barn? Who doesn't know how to do laundry by now?"

The boy pouts his lips and Mitch finds it just as adorable as he did the first time he saw it at the bakery. "I was born in Texas actually," He corrects Mitch, "but it was hard to remember after not doing mine for a while and especially with you staring."

Mitch blushes and learns his name is Scott before he leaves with his laundry folded, a smile on his face, and his cheeks flushed.

-------

Mitch is still getting marks and bruises, not as frequently, but they still happen. Thankfully there's been no more love bites, although there was a nasty bruise on his shin that he only discovered when Nathan kicked him to stay awake while studying in the library. Over the past couple of weeks, Scott has become a slight regular at the bakery and in the laundromat. Mitch discovers that they have very different taste in music and that he loves talking to Scott because he makes him laugh. But at the same time he's getting quite worried. Mitch can't have a crush on Scott when his soulmate is still out there, it feels like cheating. Just wrong to him.

Mitch is walking down the stands with Nathan inside of the College stadium to watch the football game Scott invited him to, settling down into the seat. Nathan is sitting next to the boy that threw the one party they went to where Mitch discovered his first mark the next morning, Nick, Mitch thinks his name is.

He rubs his left knee as the football team finishes warming up and head in to huddle up. The game starts and Mitch watches them play, only slightly interested until Scott gets subbed onto the field. It happens quickly. Scott sends a pass and then the next thing Mitch knows, Scott's lying on the grass clutching his left knee and the pain in his own knee has reached unbearable.

But in his pain, Mitch finally makes the connection. Scott has a bum left knee, his left knee is throbbing and aching in pain. How that one time Mitch said he hates that people hook up with one another so carelessly and Scott admitted he got so drunk at the last party he went to that he hooked up with some guy and woke up with a love bite and felt extremely guilty, making him not want to go to parties anymore.

How Scott has little cuts on his fingers from playing guitar, something he told Mitch when he caught him air guitaring with the mop at the bakery, like Mitch  now does. How Scott gets bruises from football and Mitch has a ton. Or one weekend when he and Nathan went and got new tattoos and Scott complained to him how his upper right arm has felt tingly but painful as he put his laundry in and Mitch got his tattoo on his upper right arm.

Mitch watches Scott being taken off the field on a stretcher with tears in his eyes from the pain in his knee and mouth open at realizing Scott was his soulmate. Scott is his soulmate. Nathan touches Mitch's arm and asks him if he's alright but he just shakes his head no and gets up out of his seat watching as the trainers take Scott under the tunnel, out from the field.

-------

Mitch hasn't seen Scott for a week. He doesn't know where he lives on campus and he hasn't been to the bakery or the laundromat. It's making Mitch very anxious, he's constantly tapping his feet, which Nathan shoots him dirty looks for, and he can't concentrate. Mitch doesn't know what he's supposed to do when he sees Scott again, that's the other problem. Do people go up to each other and just say, 'Hey, you're my soulmate?'

But then Mitch wakes up the next week with a long ugly scar on his left knee and he doesn't know what happened to Scott but it's pretty scary. He hasn't gotten any other marks or bruises since Scott got hurt in that football game, which means he obviously hasn't played since then.

"He got surgery on his knee. He's not allowed to play anymore," Nathan shrugs and tells him after Mitch raced out of bed to his room and asked if he knew where Scott had been recently. Mitch frowns, hoping Scott isn't too sad or disappointed about that because he remembers in the laundromat how he told him he loves playing football.

"He's my soulmate, Nate," Mitch whispers quietly and he hears Nathan inhale sharply. "I have this nasty scar on my knee now," he explains and Nathan just mutters that everything is going to be alright as he comforts Mitch.

-------

The next week Mitch is at the laundromat, still reading the same book when he hears little crutch noises from the entrance. He turns to see Scott looking tired in a grey hoodie and some sweats, a mesh bag filled with dirty clothes hanging off his shoulder. Mitch immediately wants to curl up with him and give him a good cuddle, but instead he makes his way to him and takes the mesh bag for him

"Thanks," Scott says, giving Mitch and odd look because he's smiling wide, he can even feel his dimples that are out on display.

"Hey," Mitch says, happy that all his anxiousness before has seemed to have disappeared the second he saw Scott. He puts the laundry load on for him, taking two quarters from Scott who's already sitting down in one of the plastic white chairs.

"Hey, been a rough week with these things," Scott motions with his crutches. "I sure do miss those blueberry muffins though," he grumbles, clutching his stomach in fake agony. Mitch laughs as he sits down next to him. He's just so giddy and happy that Scott's here because everything feels so simple with him.

"What, you didn't miss doing your laundry?" He teases, and Scott shoots him a narrowed glare.

"Can't really say that when you're the one folding everything for me," Scott rolls his eyes while Mitch is more focused on the way Scott's left knee is much more swollen than the other. Scott must catch him. "I've got a really nasty scar there now, makes me look like Frankenstein or something."

Mitch nods, "I know," as he slowly lifts up his left pant leg.

He can feel Scott physically freeze up next to him and his mouth opens. Mitch doesn't say anything but turns his head, and suddenly their faces are close together and their eyes connect. He lifts his hand to feel Scott's face in his palm, tracing his jawline and watching Scott swallow and lick his lips before dropping his hand to Scott's right arm, watching him nod his head, signaling it's okay. Mitch pulls the sleeve of Scott's hoodie up, smiling slightly when he sees a small scar there, exactly where Mitch burned himself at the bakery a few weeks back.

"So..." Scott whispers with a small smile, putting it together and Mitch nods his head.

"Yeah," Mitch doesn't wait any longer before moving closer and connecting Scott's lips to his.

Mitch's stomach is exploding with butterflies bigger than he's ever had before and his mind is rushing like the sound of the ocean's crashing waves. Scott's lips are soft but still firm and it's simple and gentle, but Mitch can still feel the blood rush to his face and the back of his neck and shivers slightly when Scott's hands come up to cup his face and everything around him has become buzzed in the background. Mitch pulls away slightly grinning but Scott reconnects their lips again and Mitch feels like he's floating when Scott's tongue traces his bottom lip, because he doesn't remember that kissing someone could feel as good as it did right now.

When they both finally pull away with flushed cheeks at the sound of Mitch's wash being done, he jumps up with a giggle and Scott laughs, throwing his head back and his eyes look brighter than before.

"Laundry and then blueberry muffins?" Scott offers and Mitch nods his head eagerly.

Mitch purposefully shakes his ass as he bends to move his wet clothes into the dryer, and Scott's laugh echos again. Mitch knows everything turned out just right, even if they both do have Frankenstein scars now.