[No fever anymore(For now, let's cross our fingers) and 12 fricken hours of sleep woo] [But updates will still be slow until further notice <3]

[So apparently sick me comes up with ideas??? Because I've been trying to come up with an original soulmate AU for like...a month... and this popped into my head]

-----------

Soulmate AU where you receive a heart scab on you [Mainly your wrist] when your soulmate performs an act of love for you. Scab only goes away when healed [Even if picked at it grows back] Only heals once your Soulmate has stopped thinking about you [After said Act of Love] for over a couple minutes]

Jeremy's POV

Jeremy hadn't always believed in the whole heart scab ordeal. However, this was his thinking only for a short amount of time, that was before he started attending school. Once School began, they started popping up. Jeremy remembered his first heart scab.

It had popped up sometime during school perhaps, maybe afterwards, but Jeremy hadn't noticed it until afterschool. Most likely because the scabs take a little bit of time to form. He'd noticed an itchy sensation growing on his wrist, and when he went to scratch it he felt sudden pain. Jeremy rolled up his sleeve to reveal a scabbed over patch of skin, in the shape of a nearly perfect heart. That's when Jeremy realized that this tale indeed was not a myth, and he was ecstatic.

Now, In middle school, nearly a quarter of his school had found their soulmates, and even though that was the minority, Jeremy couldn't help but feel like he was one of the only ones in the world missing out on this pleasure. Most people found their soulmates in highschool or college, while it may seem to be obvious who your soulmate is once you know them, it's quite a struggle as to finding them in the first place. This is the case because it's a difficult task to meet your match, as the scabs appear to even the smallest acts of love, such as a hug. Now, Jeremy knew it was possible for a soulmate to give the other a hug without meaning it and a heart scab wouldn't show up, but the point being- it wasn't an easy journey. Not to mention your soulmate could be someone you've never met, and they're just someone out there feeling a spark of excitement and love at the idea of their soulmate, which would be you, and apparently count as an act.

While Jeremy had been so excited at the thought of a soulmate at first, he now wished the whole thing was a myth after all. And yes, a lot of kids felt this way, but Jeremy felt like he had it way worse than anyone else. Whoever his soulmate was, was a love-o-holic. Jeremy received nearly eight scabs a day, sometimes it even reached up to fifteen, though they would only stay for a half an hour at most before disappearing.

Jeremy couldn't help but wonder sometimes who his soulmate was, what were they like? Were they a girl or a boy? Why couldn't everyone just choose their soulmates? He'd heard about people going against the scabs and falling in love with someone other than their soulmate, though the majority of the time it ended up in a divorce or a break-up.

So here Jeremy was, scratching his arm, as per usual, while tuning out his math teacher. The scabs drove him nuts and everything thought he was on crack because of them, probably one of the reasons he only had a few friends, though not the only reason.

"Mr.Heere?"

Jeremy stopped mid scratch to look up and see his whole class, including his teachers, looking over at him, and he felt his heart beat pick up, "Y-Yes M-Ma'am?" Jeremy swallowed nervously.

"I should hope you don't have drugs on you? Hm?" The teacher raised an eyebrow.

"N-No ma'm."

"Bug bites perhaps then?" She hissed in disbelief.

"Th-they're..." Jeremy absolutely hated to admit to receiving his scabs, it was honestly embarrassing to him, thus why he covered them up with his Jean Jacket, however, he could either tell the truth or go to the principal's office for drugs he didn't even have. Jeremy sighed in defeat, "They're just the scabs..." He murmured.

"Yeah Right..." Jeremy winced as he heard a student snicker the remark from the back of the room.

"Let's see then, if you're telling the truth you wouldn't mind showing us your heart scabs?" The teacher smirked, still not believing Jeremy's story.

Jeremy shrank down, his face turning bright red, though he knew he couldn't dodge this, so he crept towards the front of the class where the teacher pointed for him to stand, obeying her will and turning to the class, he rolled up the sleeve of his jean-jacket to reveal about seventeen heart-scabs. Jeremy's eyes widened himself as he had never had this many before, and this for sure did not help his anxieties in front of the astonished class, even the disbelieving teacher from before was now gaping as she saw the marks lining up and down his wrists.

Jeremy felt his face flush up more as half the class began to clap with amusement, letting out jeering flirty whistles and yelps.

The teacher cleared her throat before waving her hand for silence, "That's enough, that's enough." She muttered, "Go back to your seat Mr.Heere, and try not to get so distracted with your love life next time."

Jeremy just gave a small nod and waddled back over to his seat, slumping down as far as casual would let him, wishing he could just disappear. He still tuned out his math teacher, but this time he tried to keep his eyes on her as he rolled down his sleeves once more, noting to never touch is arms even again in this class period.

Several minutes later, kids were still giving glances to Jeremy, who ignored them in return, pretending he didn't see them- though, his blushing face said otherwise.

Whoever Jeremy's soulmate was, they had it coming for them when he met them.

Michael's POV

Michael absolutely adored the whole concept of soulmates. The vibe, the love, everything! He'd always believed in the heart-scab tradition and had been absolutely overjoyed when he received his first one. It had been in eighth grade. That day had been one of the best days of his life. There'd been this tingling sensation on his upper wrist and when he pulled up the sleeve of his old blue-hoodie, bam! Right there was the real deal. And the best part? The marking hadn't gone away for hours. Whoever his soulmate was must really like him, he might not even know Michael!

Well, Michael hoped his soulmate was a guy. He was gay after all- or at least, he was pretty sure he was...? He knew this because, begrudgingly admitting, Michael had had a crush on his best friend, Jeremy Heere, since around Middle School, and girls really just didn't do it for him...thinking of any sort of...actions with them just seemed absurd to him. For awhile, when he was younger, he had wished and prayed that Jeremy was his soulmate, but Jeremy had always denied receiving hearts and Michael knew he would have received at least one if he was Jeremy's soulmte- heck, probably more than that, Michael always seemed to be performing love stunts for Jeremy- though he wished he didn't, he tried to keep his gay thoughts out of his head most of the time, he didn't want to fall too hard for a guy who would never return his love back. Plus, Michael had never seen a single heart on Jeremy's wrists, and true, the guy always had his signature jean-jacket on but even once when he'd seen his wrists- nothing. Of course, Michael rarely saw the other boy's arms, as he would never force him to show him his arms without permission, the one time he had seen was during a sleepover, though rarely anybody got scabs at that time of night- unless they were... anyway...

Michael snapped out of his thoughts when he felt the cafeteria bench he was sitting on rock back and forth and Jeremy flopped down to sit beside him with a groan, burying his face in his arms on the table. Michael sighed with a smile, "What's wrong this time bud?"

Jeremy looked up at Michael with a bright red face, "Stupid mother friggen math teacher embarrassed me in front of the whole class!" Jeremy hissed.

Michael frowned, putting an arm over Jeremy's shoulder, "Sorry about that- teachers suck." Michael sighed.

"It's true." Jeremy huffed.

"What was it for? Late homework?"

Jeremy rested his chin on his arms, "Something like that." He sighed.

"Hey, well why don't we go play video games at my place later, huh?" Michael smiled.

Jeremy shrugged, "Alright." He smiled, "That sounds cool." He sat up.

Michael shuffled through his own bag and pulled out two sandwiches, tossing one to Jeremy, "Forgot your lunch again, I presume?"

"How'd you know?" Jeremy grinned.

"Dude, I've been bringing you lunches everyday for nearly the whole year- I get used to 'patterns'."

Jeremy chuckled, ripping the plastic rap off of his meal and digging in, "Pwobabwe cwos dees awr sow gwood." Jeremy spoke around his food.

"Chew first or you'll choke." Michael chuckled.

"Swowy-" Jeremy swallowed, "I mean, sorry." He grinned.

Michael sighed, grabbing a napkin from the table's dispenser box, "Dude you have jam on your face." He shook his head and wiped the jam from Jeremy's cheek, both their faces sharing an equal shade of red for a moment before Jeremy broke away to scratch his arm, Michael frowned, "That rash again from last month?"

"Y-yeah." Jeremy stuttered, "It pops up every now and then."

Michael frowned, "That's never fun- it's not contagious though is it?" He raised an eyebrow.

Jeremy shook his head, "N-No it's not." He stopped scratching.

"Good, cause' then I couldn't hug you." Michael grinned.

Jeremy rolled his eyes, "Dork." He leaned forward, and to Michael's surprise, hugged him. Jeremy hated hugs. Yet he was doing it anyway.

Jeremy's POV

Jeremy didn't really understand why he hugged Michael. He just felt like he needed to, for a breather, and apparently if he scratched his hearts enough he got the same sensation of feeling high, as he had recently found, thus prompting him to hug Michael, to feel the other boy wrapped around him and- oh god not again. Jeremy couldn't help it, he hadn't really wanted to be Bisexual at first but how could he not? His best friend was Michael Mell and while that might not be a big deal for the majority of the school- it was a huge deal for him. And a sort of realization hit Jeremy as Michael tightly squeezed him back. His arm. His arm was getting itchy. Unimaginably itchy, to the point where it stung. Jeremy flinched away from Michael, pausing a moment to examine the boy. And it didn't take long until he noticed that Michael too scratched his own arm just for a second before going back to his sandwich. Jeremy felt his heart nearly stop as a sudden fire of hope began to burn and slowly light throughout his whole body. He opened his mouth to say something but his beginning voice was drowned out by the bell.

Jeremy watched as Michael hopped up, zipping up his bag and swinging it over his shoulder, "Welp! I gotta go!" He grinned at Jeremy.

"Y-yeah- I'll see you at your house." Jeremy stuttered.

Michael saluted to him in a friendly manor before skipping off to class, leaving Jeremy to sit and wonder if his hope just might be fueled a bit more.

***

Jeremy couldn't concentrate on the game of Sonic that he and Michael were playing in the other boy's basement, he claimed he wanted to give his thumbs a break as Michael began playing one-player, which he seemed to be content with. Jeremy couldn't help but have the nagging feeling of hope tug at him- and his wrist for that matter, he didn't know how much longer his heart strings could stand it until- "Do you know who your soulmate is?" Jeremy blurted out.

This question obviously caught Michael by surprise as his character, Sonic of course, faltered and fell, causing him to die, which made an pretty easy and quick stopping point for Michael as he pressed the home button to pause the game, turning in his personal galaxy-themed beanbag to look at Jeremy, "I have an idea."

"Y-yeah?" Jeremy made the mistake of letting his hope rise, "D-Do I know them?"

"I'd say pretty well." Michael smiled.

"P-Pretty well?" Jeremy felt the same kind of pleasurable sting on his wrist.

"Yeah, you knew him before I knew him."

"H-Him?" Michael Mell you better spit it out- is it me or not Jeremy could hear his thoughts scream in his head, "S-So who do you think it is?"

Michael's facial expression bubbled with excitement, "Rich!"

With that Jeremy felt a sudden sheer burst of pain erupt from his wrist and he accidently let out an audible gasp of pain.

"I know right? Shocker!" Michael squealed, "I think it's because I dropped my books early and he bent down to pick them up for me at the same time I did- classic move- and our hands brushed and later I felt the same feeling on my wrist and-"

"H-Hold on." Jeremy hissed through the pain, "G-Gotta go to the restroom- b-be right back." Before Michael could respond, Jeremy was racing towards the bathroom and slamming the door shut behind him.

Once in the bathroom Jeremy immediately flicked on the lights and the fan, thankful for the loud blaring of air from the fan above him as he let out a shriek of pain.

When Jeremy practically ripped up the sleeve of his Jean-Jacket he revealed the decaying of the heart scabs on his wrist, they slowly seemed to burn and sizzle, sinking deep into his skin as Jeremy fumbled with the hand towel, biting down on it hard to muffle the scream of agony he produced. The previous heart-scabs were now leaving deep scars of shattered looking hearts. Jeremy had heard of this happening.

It was possible for someone to have two soulmates, this worked out in two ways, one, all three people got together in a relationship- or said person picks one of the two to be their only soulmate- leaving the other with scars as their previous love begins to rip away from them. Jeremy had gotten the confirmation he wanted. But at what cost?

Michael's POV

Michael couldn't help but feel a bit disappointed that Rich was his likely soulmate- he supposed he could learn to love the guy but, honestly, he didn't really know, he barely knew anything about Rich. Well, at least Jeremy knew some things about the little short dude, they had been...friends...? Bully to friend to whatever they were now. Well, he'd have to like the guy now, they were probably soulmates- how else would he have gotten the heart? It made sense anyway, Michael rarely got the hearts and he and Rich hardly knew each other- so it would make sense that he wouldn't receive that many hearts from a guy who barely knew him.

However, Michael still felt a twinge of sadness that Jeremy hadn't been his soulmate, he'd wanted it so bad but...well, nothing could be helped now, this was all a process and if he was meant to be with Rich then Rich would probably make him just as happy as Jeremy did- if not more that is.

Michael's thoughts were broken as a muffled scream pierced through his ears, causing him to instantly leap up as he identified the voice as Jeremy, he booked it towards the bathroom and came to a halt at the door, knocking on it, "Jer? Jer are you alright?" He only heard some quiet whimpers in response. Michael grabbed the handle of the doorknob and burst into the bathroom.

In all of Jeremy's pain he had, thankfully, forgotten- or more so, didn't have enough time- to lock the bathroom door.

Michael looked in horror to find Jeremy huddled in the corner of the bathroom with blood oozing down his arm, Michael of course always loved the chance he got to peak at Jeremy's wrists to maybe catch a glimpse at a heart- but now- now he wished he hadn't seen a single inch of it right now.

Jeremy's eyes were red and puffy from his cries of pain and his forming wounds has begun to bleed once they had stopped burning.

Michael collapsed across from Jeremy and gently grabbed his hand, "D-Do you mind if I see it?" He whispered gently.

Jeremy just turned his head away with no response, so Michael proceeded.

Michael extended the arm for Jeremy and his eyes widened as he gazed across the blistering burns of shattered and broken hearts that were scattered all across Jeremy's arm, Michael fought back tears of pity and pure sadness as he looked into the dull eyes of the boy he loved, "J-Jer how did this happen...?" Michael's voice was barely audible as shock over took it.

"..." Jeremy was silent for a moment before speaking, "Y...You..." He murmured out.

Michael shook his head in confusion, "Wh-what?"

Jeremy bit his lip and weakly clenched his hand, "You. You did this M-Michael." Jeremy couldn't hold back a sob he'd been forcing down.

Michael felt his own warm tears began to roll down his cheeks as he kept his gaze on Jeremy's arm, "Wh-wha- how?"

"...Are you oblivious?" Jeremy hissed back.

Michael knitted his eyebrows into a look of hurt.

Jeremy sighed, looking away from the boy, "Michael you, you're my soulmate."

Michael felt as if the whole entire world had just fallen onto him and was crushing him, he couldn't breath, he couldn't move he couldn't-

"Or you were at least." Jeremy muttered bitterly and winced as the hearts began to sizzle a little more.

"Wh-why wouldn't I b-" Michael had a sudden slam of realization hit him hard in the head, "H-He doesn't mean a thing to me compared to you, Jeremy!" Michael whimpered.

"Well apparently the hearts say otherwise." Jeremy held his knees to his chest but let out a yelp of pain as his other arm held the same wounds.

"H-How did these get here though?"

"What do you think?" Jeremy sniffled, "Every single day of my life...there's barely been a single day where a heart-scab doesn't pop up- everyday it hurt me to see them because I thought that I'd never find that person and I began to think- maybe it's Michael- just maybe! But you obviously don't get hearts so there I go again building up my hopes before they all come crashing down on me!" Jeremy rubbed his cheek against his own shoulder to dry it.

Michael gently released Jeremy's hand, "You don't think I get hearts?" Michael fumbled with the hem of his red-hoodie's sleeve until he revealed a small scar, pointing to it, "This was my first heart, I got it April Twenty-Sixth of Eighth Grade and it didn't go away for a god damn day, Jer."

Jeremy's eyes seemed to widen against the puffy skin surrounding it.

"W-was that you?" Michael whispered.

Jeremy looked away with a shrug.

Michael frowned.

There was a few minutes of silence, a few minutes that truly seemed to drag on for what felt like an eternity, an eternity for the both of them of the pains that love brought along with its package, then...

Michael grabbed Jeremy's hand gently, to the other boy's surprise.

"Michael what are you d-" Jeremy's face flushed up a bright red as Michael pressed a kiss to one of the blisters, he hissed in pain before feeling a sudden tingling.

Michael withdrew to look down and see a scab was forming over the previously shattered heart, mending it into a full one. He smiled, pressing more kisses along the arm.

Jeremy let out a light giggle as he tingling now filled his entire arm, then soon the next as Michael pressed his lips up and down it. Tears brimmed at the corners of Jeremy's eyes and this time he willingly let them fall.

Michael smiled as he scooted into the spot between Jeremy's side and the sink, wrapping his arm around the boy as he watched the newly formed scabs turn into fully healed patches of reddened skin.

Jeremy looked down at his arms in astonishment, "N-No scabs....No s-scabs!" His voice was full of pure joy as he rubbed his hand against the smooth skin.

"Well, those hearts will always be there- but yeah." Michael smiled

"Ah, it just looked like scrapes." Jeremy shrugged it off, wiping the tears from his eyes, and turning to Michael, pointing to his arms.

Michael looked down to see a handful of scabs forming and healing themselves into patches of darker skin, though completely smooth when he rubbed his hand across the flesh, "Well...I guess this means you did give me that scar, huh?" Michael grinned.

Jeremy nodded happily, his face turning a deeper shade of red.

"Which means..." Michael paused a moment, "Jer that scab stayed there well over sixteen hours- were you honestly thinking of me for that long?"

Jeremy let out a small squeak, "M-May-b-be?"

Michael giggled, "That's fine by me," Michael pressed a kiss to Jeremy's damp cheek.

"I never wanna' feel pain like that again." Jeremy sighed as he cuddled into Michael's side.

"I promise I'll give you all the love I have, Jer."

"A-All of it?" Jeremy smiled.

"All of it." Michael kissed the fluffy curls of Jeremy's hair.

"I love you, Micha." Jeremy wiped some remaining tears on Michael's shoulder.

Michael leaned his head against Jeremy's, "Love you too, Jerbear."

Jeremy closed his eyes and leaned into Michael,
"I promise the next heart will last forever."