Soulmates AU: Opposites Attract

Summary: The universe has a funny sense of humor. A soulmates AU.

Sutton is glad someone finds her soulmark amusing, because she most definitely does not.

“It isn’t funny!” Sutton protests the first time Poppy sees it and starts laughing.

It’s not that it’s bad, necessarily. The problem is that it’s a teacup. A teacup. There’s a curvy letter K on the cup, the lines of her mark a deep red. The color is fine. The location on her right arm just below her shoulder is fine. But the fact that it’s a teacup makes her wonder just what the universe is thinking.

“Oh, but it is,” Poppy says through her laugher. “What are the odds that a coffee addict’s soulmate is a tea drinker?”

Sutton flops back on her chair, adjusting her sunglasses and focusing on the sounds of shrieks filling the air and the distinct chlorine smell of the pool. “You’re the worst,” Sutton grumbles.

The one benefit to the soulmark is that it gets her out of terrible pick-up lines and potentially horrible dates from guys whose names don’t start with K.

“Oh,” Sutton will often say, trying to sound genuinely disappointed. “My soulmark has a letter K on it.”

Of course, she can’t use that excuse when she meets a Kevin who is obsessed with video games and spends the entirety of their date nearly spitting on her in excitement over one of them. At least, she tells herself after the date ends, her favorite coffee shop is just around the corner, and she can get the strong brew she loves.

She’s hoping to enjoy her coffee in peace, but just as she’s about to take her first sip a voice she’s never heard before says, “I don’t know if I should be impressed or horrified that you’re drinking that at almost 9 o’clock at night.”

Sutton scowls and glances up. The voice belongs to some guy (okay, an admittedly very attractive guy, with dark hair and dark eyes and a cheeky grin). He’s holding a to-go cup of tea. Of course he is, she laughs to herself.

She very deliberately takes a sip of coffee, and the guy laughs.

“You don’t know what you’re missing,” he says jokingly, taking a sip from his own cup.

“I could say the same thing to you. I’m drinking magical bean juice. You’re drinking leaves,” Sutton retorts with a grin.

The guy laughs again, and then his phone goes off. He groans when he looks at the screen. “It appears I will not be enjoying my tea in peace tonight. Enjoy your magical bean juice.”

He waves at her, a little half-wave, as he walks out. Despite his obvious affinity for tea, Sutton finds herself wishing he hadn’t had to leave quite yet.

~~~~~~~~~~

She’s in luck though, because she runs into him again at the coffee shop two days later, in the morning this time. She’s on her way to work, and the guy grins when he sees her and teases her about her double espresso.

“These leaves are amazing. You really need to try them sometime,” he says as he sips his tea.

He holds the door open for her when they walk out. Sutton can’t help but notice how good his cologne smells, and that he looks even more attractive in his red leather jacket.

“You know, you keep telling me these leaves are delicious, but I don’t even know your name,” Sutton points out.

“I don’t know yours either,” he answers cheekily.

“I asked first,” she counters.

His face lights up a little when he laughs. “Technically, you didn’t ask. But it’s Kenji.”

It makes her stomach jump a little, hearing his name. The teacup, the letter…Sutton brushes it off, even though a niggling voice in the back of her head tells her that maybe she shouldn’t.

“Sutton,” she says, and sees a surprised look suddenly cross Kenji’s face.

It vanishes a moment later, replaced by an easy smile.

“Well, Sutton. The next time we run into each other here, you should try the tea.”

She does, when they run into each other there the next morning. The tea isn’t terrible, she has to admit, but she much prefers her coffee. Kenji laughs at the way she gingerly takes a sip of the tea, and she laughs at the disgusted look on his face when he tastes his coffee.

“In my defense, this isn’t the best tea in town,” Kenji says.

“Oh yeah? Who has the best tea?”

He rattles off the name of a teahouse she’s walked by before, then gives her a sweetly nervous look. “Would you…want to go some time?”

“To the teahouse?”

“Yeah.”

Kenji is so adorably flustered that she has to tease him, just a little. “I mean, I could probably find it and enjoy some tea.”

The slightest flush that appears on his cheeks makes him look even more adorably flustered.

“I meant with me, Sutton. Like…a date.”

Sutton smiles behind her cup. “I could do that.”

When they walk out, Kenji asks, “Can I show you something?”

“Oh! Uh…” She glances at her phone. She has a little time before work. “Sure.”

Kenji leads her just around the corner of the building, to a quieter side street. He shrugs his jacket off, then rolls his right sleeve up. His soulmark is revealed to her, in a deep navy blue. It’s-

“A coffee cup,” she says out loud

“Yes,” Kenji says slowly.

“And an S. Can I…?”

She reaches her hand out tentatively, and Kenji leans in closer. Sutton traces over the lines, noting the way his soulmark seems to glow under her fingers. It’s like she’s always heard of and read about, the way the soulmark reacts only to your soulmate’s touch. But it’s far more intense and intimate than she would have expected.

In a daze, she drops her hand so she can roll her own sleeve up. Kenji reaches out automatically, his fingers touching the teacup bearing his initial. Her soulmark warms and tingles where he runs his fingertips over it.

“Sutton?”

“Yeah?”

“I really want to kiss you right now.”

She turns into him, gripping his shirt. His hand lowers, both arms wrapping around her waist. Kenji tilts his head down, his lips finding hers in a slow kiss that quickly turns deeper, a little hungry. She makes a soft noise of pleasure, and Kenji’s lips spread into a smile against hers.

“You taste like leaves,” Kenji murmurs when they part.

Sutton laughs quietly. “You taste like magical bean juice.”

Kenji grins. “Good thing you like magical bean juice, darling.”