Chapter Text
Chapter One: Mark Me, Baby. I’m Yours.
Geoff is born with pale arms.
The doctors check him over inch by inch. They look on his upper arms and on his armpits. They look between his fingers and in his elbow joint.
When they’re satisfied they hand him to his mother and declare that he’s blank. It’s not a big deal, it’s a pretty normal occurrence actually.
It simply meant he was older then his soulmate.
It was three in the morning when Geoff woke up to a searing pain in his wrist.
He bolted up in bed, letting out a high pitched shriek.
"Geoff?!" His mothers voice is distant even as she crashed into his bedroom, not even turning the lights on before running to his bed and falling on her knees by his bed. "Honey, what’s wrong? Did you have a nightmare?"
"It burns! It burns!" Geoff screamed.
He kept screaming, the words flooding out as tears dripped down his face.
"Sh, it’ll be okay honey," she assured. Her fingers were cold against the searing pain as she pried his fingers away from his wrist. To keep his hand from snapping back against it, she twined their fingers together and brought the cold hand to her cheek.
Geoff let out another scream as another stab of pain shot through him, “Make it stop! Mama, make it stop!”
His mother glanced down at his wrist before gasping. Her hand tightened on his fingers and she pressed a kiss to his palm, as his body rocked with the shock of the pain pounding against his wrist. “Oh honey, mama can’t make it better. She can’t make it stop.”
"I want it to stop! I want it to stop mama! Make it stop."
She shook her head against his hand, repeating her words over and over again as he screamed.
Geoff Ramsey is five years, six months, and thirteen days old when his soulmate is born.
Geoff hummed softly to himself as he tapped his pencil against his wrist.
The crossed scepters, one black with a white gem and one yellow with a red gem, had appeared on his wrist a little over a year ago but it still fascinated him. It was a splash of color that hadn’t been there for four years of his life and it was hard to adjust to.
Unlike some of the other kids, Geoff’s mark wasn’t easy to hide when the Alabama heat made long sleeves practically impossible to wear without making yourself sick.
Today was one of the days when Geoff absorbed himself in tracing the mark with the eraser of his pencil in order to avoid the jealous glares, sharp as knives, coming from the few kids that didn’t have marks yet.
It seemed like the Christmas holiday had only made them worse.
"Geoff, why don’t you give me the answer to this problem then."
His head snapped up, looking at the board where the math problem was scrawled in her loopy numbers. He squinted at it for a minute before opening his mouth, “I think the answ-“
His voice cut off into a scream as his legs crumbled under him.
"Geoff?!" she screamed. The teacher was young, inexperienced in dealing with this. She looked just as scared as he felt. "Geoff, what’s wrong?!"
"Zoey!" a voice snapped from the doorway, Mr. Ender from the class next door he registered vaguely. "I heard screaming, what’s going on?"
"Oh god, Rythian! I don’t know what to do he just collapsed and-"
"My arm!" Geoff ripped out from between clenched teeth, his six year old voice squeaking out at the end.
Mr. Ender’s hands were on him suddenly, holding him at the shoulders as his classmates where herded out into the coat room by their teacher.
Before she stepped out with them, Rythian reasoned, “And get the nurse! It’s gotta be his soulmate being born.”
"He’s already marked, Rythian!"
Geoff barely registered the shock fluttering on the teachers face before his body slumped the rest of the way down, the hand not shaking in pain giving up it’s grasp on the desk. His head hit the floor with a loud thump.
[/\]
Two weeks, later he found himself sitting on a stool in the nurses office.
An ice pack pressed against his left eye and the skin his tee-shirt showed was littered with bruises.
"I’ve called your mom. She can’t be here until after school so you’re going to stay in here with me," Nurse Riley declared as she stepped back into the room. She dropped a stack of books, the paper ones they used for learning cursive and the English and Social Studies textbooks and worksheets in front of him. "When your eye stops hurting you should get to work on it. But Geoff this is the second time this week that you’ve been in here like this."
Geoff looked down at the tiled floor before murmuring, “It’s fine as long as I can protect them.”
Her gaze dropped to his arm, her eyes examining the way the underside of his wrist were the marks were was the only part of his arms still clean of bruises.
After a moment, she declared, “Well, your doing a poor job of it.”
"I protected them, didn’t I? I didn’t let anyone touch them," Geoff shouted, his stomach churning as anger bubbled inside him.
"You did but you didn’t protect yourself. You should be glad it’s only first and second graders now but one day…" She stopped, cutting herself off with a shake of her head. "I know some people who can help you if you can get your mothers permission."
He asked, “Help me how?”
"They could help you leave them with bruises instead of you. Strictly self defensive but-"
"I’ll do it! I want to protect them! No matter what!"
Riley flashed him a smile before adding, “You might regret that one you meet Aly.”
[\/]
Nurse Riley opened the door for him, letting Geoff step into the bright yellow entrance hall. The air conditioning washed over him, and he let his eyes drift shut for a second.
"Right then," she declared as she poked his shoulder to get him walking. Geoff glanced around as they walked down the hall. The entrance was painted a off white color, marred with what looked suspiciously like bloodstains, and there was a office build into the wall. At the end of the hallway was a glass door, and through it Geoff could see a large boxing ring were a girl with long hair was slamming her fists into a males stomach. On the opposite wall to the office was a closed wooden door.
Riley stopped him at the office window and glanced around as she spoke, “They must both have class, usually one of them is out here. I’ll go check the-“
The wooden swung open, cutting her off, and a brunette women in loose green shorts and a sports bra rubbing at her shoulder stepped out. Another women, decked out in the white outfit with a black belt tied around her waist followed after her laughing.
"You flung me too hard," the brunette complained. "I have teenagers practicing in there, ya know? It’s not that easy to fix someones hook when you can’t throw one yourself."
The other just laughed before saying, “You’re the one who wanted me to throw you though. You’ve seen me do it to a hundred people before.”
"I thought I could resist!"
Riley cleared her throat before calling, “Guys! Attention please.”
The brunette glanced over before grinning, “Hey.” Panic settled in her eyes after a moment and she added quickly, “For the record, my shoulder is not dislocated again. So, don’t hit me. She just threw me too hard.”
"I didn’t even throw you," the other murmured. "It was just a flip."
Geoff let out a soft sound before asking, “You can flip people? That’s amazing.”
"I can," she answered. She looked over at Riley, "Is this the kid you told us about?"
"Yeah."
The brunette bent down, looking at him carefully. Her face split into a grin after a moment, and she managed to look both wild and caring as she asked “You wanna learn how to box?”
"You’re a boxer?!"
"Yup. You can be too." She held a hand out for him. When he slipped his small fingers onto her, she glanced at his wrist only once before straightening, "Riley and Bella will file your paperwork and we’ll go see if I have gloves and a helmet in your size for you to borrow."
"He’s only seven," the other women, Bella Geoff assumed, called, "and his paperwork isn’t filed yet! Please be careful Aly! If he gets hurt-"
"It’ll be fine! Unlike you, I don’t throw children into walls!"
Belle laughed, “I only do that to the kids who show promise.”
[/\]
"Whoa!" his mom exclaimed the next morning when he came running down the stairs. "I thought all the bruises had cleared up from the last time. Did you get hit while you were at school again? I’m going to strangle that principle for-"
"It wasn’t the kids, mama," he answered. "Nurse Riley took me to that dojo she told you about remember?"
Her mouth fell into an o after a moment, “Ah. Okay, I do remember you telling me she was showing you the place after school. But the bruises…”
"Ms. Aly had me get in a ring with one of the other kids so she could see how I did. She said I would have to start with the other seven year olds but that I could probably move up soon since I was picking it up quickly. And Ms. Bella flipped me when she was teaching me a bit! It was so cool!"
She chewed on her thumb for a second before questioning, “It sounds tough honey. Are you sure you want to take the classes?”
Geoff grinned and gave a quick nod. He ducked down, pulling papers from his backpack, “Yeah! It was really cool! I just need you to sign the health care and payment forms before I can go back.”
She hesitated for a minute before sighing, “Go grab me a pen.”
The twelve year old walked down the road with his sports slung over his shoulder, stuffed full of his clothes and equipment for boxing and kenpo. A blue Gatorade was stuffed into one of the side pockets.
He song softly to himself as he walked, his fingers laced together and his arms behind his head, “She says we gotta hold on to what we’ve got. Doesn’t make a difference-“
"Hey freak!" Geoff’s eyes narrowed instinctively as he turned around. A group of boys he recognized from school stood behind him with arms crossed over their chests and their pockets heavy with change to use at the arcade across the street. "Cover up those marks. It’s an insult to those of us who actually have someone out there."
"Oh shut up," Geoff answered, rolling his eyes as anger boiled inside of him. "At least I’m going to be loved by someone. Do you even have a mark yet, asshole?"
From the way fire flared in the leaders eyes, Geoff guessed he didn’t. The boy took a step towards him and, as per the contracts he had to fill out when he had reached his first brown belt, Geoff warned, “You really don’t want to pick a fight with me.”
The boy let out an ‘oooh’ that rung with sarcasm, “And what are you going to do to me? Your mama ain’t here to protect you today, boy.”
"You’re right, she isn’t. She’s a little busy working somewhere that isn’t the street corner I saw your mother on five minutes ago," Geoff quipped.
He blinked. When he opened his eyes, a body was flying towards him.
Even though he had been expecting it, it was more instincts than a well thought out plan that had him grabbing the boys arm and snapping it before flinging him to the ground.
He took one look at the rest of the gang before kicking off the sidewalk in a full sprint, hearing the pounding of their sneakers following him almost immediately.
The sick crack of a bone rung in his ears.
[\/]
Geoff rounded the corner, ducking into the alley and pressing himself against the bricks. He held his breathe until he saw all five pairs of shoes pass by him.
He took a few deep breathes before dissolving into hysterical laughter.
He was sure to anyone passing by the street he must have looked crazy but he couldn’t stop it.
Fear spiked down his body, he had just snapped a kids arm and it was way different then practicing the motions on a dummy in class.
All he could do was stand there against a brick wall.
He didn’t know when it happened but at some point his laughs turned to sobs and he slipped down the wall.
His chest heaved as he stared at his wrist, tightening and constricting, and wondered if protecting something as easily broken as skin was even worth all the trouble.
He could barely breathe when he heard a kind voice question, “Kid are you okay? I thought I heard crying.”
"I’m-I’m-" Geoff tried to choke but instead the only thing he felt was a stinging pain before darkness flooded over him.
[/\]
He woke up to a sharp, steady, beeping.
"Mom?" he croaked out, his throat dry.
"I’m right here honey. I’m right here," she soothed. His mother squeezed his hand before guiding him up into a sitting position and passing him a glass of water.
He took several sips before asking, “What happened?”
"You collapsed in an alley. The lady who found you thought you were having a stroke."
Geoff questioned, “Did I not? Have a stroke that is.”
She gave a small, almost bitter, smile and tapped his wrist with one finger.
Fear pulsed through him and he grabbed it with his other hand, “Are they, okay? Because-“
"They’re fine, honey. Just take a look."
He looked at her for a minute before pushing the fear down and lifting his hand. He flipped his wrist over and gasped.
Two theater masks had appeared under the Tetris block. One of them was dark red and angry. A wispy line connected it to a light pink mask with a bright grin and a red tongue sticking out.
Geoff gaped at it for a moment before blurting, “He’s twelve years younger then me!”
"Twelve years isn’t that long. There’s a girl at my work whose thirty and she only just got a mark last week." His mother smiled a bit as she added, "How do you know it’s a he?"
He blinked several times. “Did I say that?”
"Yeah."
"It’s just…" he traced the new lines with his pinkie. "A feeling I guess." After a minute he added, "What a little shit though. He waited to show up until I was adjusted to the idea of two."
She flicked his arm, “Language.”
"You shouldn’t hit a hospital patient, mom."
She must have seen how his eyes stayed locked on the new mark, though, because she stood up after a moment, “I’m going to get you something to eat then. Stay here and don’t cause any trouble.”
"Geoffrey," his mother murmured as she dabbed the wet cloth against his cheekbone. He winced, not at the pain the motion sent stabbing through his head but at the usage of his full name. "You should go back to class."
He snapped his head up, her hand falling away from his face, and hissed, “I’m not going back. What if I hurt someone else?”
"Protecting yourself is exactly why you took those classes in the first place. You enjoyed them as well, didn’t you? You were so excited when you won your first Junior title."
"It doesn’t matter mom!" he snapped. Something dark sank in his gut and he looked away. When he noticed his right hand inched towards his left wrist, like it wanted to seek the warmth of the marks engraved there, he moved so he was gripping his jeans. After a moment, he hissed out, "They were pointless anyway. They were right…I’m just some freak with three soul-"
"Don’t you dare talk like that," his mother declared. She put a hand on each of his cheeks, directing him so he met her eyes. "You are so much more then that. You are a fantastic boy and a three time Junior boxing champion. You’re one of the best kids in your kenpo classes and you spend your Saturdays helping Ms. Bella with the little kids. Geoff, those three soulmates of yours are going through the exact same experience as you. Possibly without all the support you have. Do you think they would be able to get through the day if they knew you were talking like this?"
"Don’t talk like that," Geoff murmured, feeling tears well in his eyes. He rubbed the heels of his palms against his eyes, "Fuck! I don’t even know them why should I care what happens?"
"You care because you love them," she whispered. She leaned forward, wrapping her arms around him. "When you were four you used to sit in the seat at the grocery store and rattle off all the foods you thought your soulmate used to like and when you were nine and didn’t want to go to the dentist you went right away when I told you your soulmate would be sad if you were in pain from your cavity. You don’t have to meet someone to love them."
Geoff felt the tears fall against her shoulder, “I hate this.”
"I know. I know," she murmured rubbing his shoulder.
[\/]
She laughed when she pulled away from him several minutes later, his body finally done shaking, and wiped at his face, “Well that was all very emotional.”
"Yeah." He agreed after a moment. He gave her a small smile before saying, "I don’t know if I’m ready to participate again but I’ll go by class tomorrow. Hopefully sensei and Ms. Aly will understand why I’ve been gone for so long."
"Of course they will honey. Everyone knows how much what happened affected you," his mother declared with a small smile. "Now come on, let’s go get some ice cream. It’ll make us feel better."
Geoff smiled as he pushed himself on to his feet and followed her into the kitchen, “Do we have any- Ah!”
"Geoff?" she whipped around, staring at him as he stared a this wrist. "Geoff are you okay?"
"Yeah," he hissed out from between clenched teeth. "It just…It burns."
"What burns?" Geoff shook his head as he squeezed his eyes shut. "Honey, I can’t make it better if you don’t tell me what it is."
"You can’t make it better anyway," Geoff answered. When he noticed the way she was looking at him, he added, "It’s my wrist mom. I think it’s happening again."
She let out a sharp bark of laughter before adding, “They always pick the best times to be born, don’t they?”
Geoff just nodded in agreement as he settled into a chair, bracing himself against the burn in his wrist.
"Mr. Ramsey since you are paying so much attention," the teacher drawled, his voice dropping with sarcasm, "why don’t you come answer number five."
Geoff gave him a grin as he caught the pencil that had been balancing on his nose, “Sure.”
He hummed to himself as he walked down the aisle of desks. His arms swung at his side, his marks fully visible with it’s bright colors and he could hear the whispers fulling him down.
He thought for a second when he reached the board before picking the marker up, mentally moving the numbers in his head.
As he was scribbling his answer down, he felt a sharp pain go through his left wrist. His fingers shook for a second before he managed to get himself under control.
"Mr. Ramsey, if you refuse to answer the problem I’ll have to give you an F for your participation grade."
"You don’t use a participation grade so to add one to my grade just to fail me would be more than a little petty, yeah?" Geoff shot back. "And the answer if x equals seven to the power of five but I can’t move my hand right now."
The teacher sounded angry as he sneered, “And why is that Mr. Ramsey?”
"My arm feels like it’s on fire. Must be my soulmate."
"That’s impossible," piped in one of his classmates. "Mine happened last month and I was in so much pain I couldn’t stop screaming. It was worse then the time I broke my arm on the football field."
"Yeah well. I’ve gone through it four other times, not that any of you forgot that." At least a few of them had the decency to look embarrassed when called out for the rumors "I’m going to the nurse then."
"Mr. Ramsey I will not stand for these lies," his teacher declared. "Mr. Fields is right, you would be in too much pain to be standing the way you are if you were truly being branded. Considering you already have…four that’s highly improbable."
"Look asshole," Geoff sneered, and normally he would have delighted in the way the teacher reeled. "I’m in a lot of pain right now, I’ve been in a lot of pain for my whole fucking life because of people like you, and I am not dealing with your shit. I’m going to the nurses office, and if I ever hear you say anything about my soulmates in the tone you just used I will make sure you never see your testicles again."
He spun on his heel, the marker still crushed in his grip, and walked out of the room scowling.
Geoff took a deep breath before looking down at the burning skin of his wrist as black lines inked their way into him. He ran a hand through his hair as he started walking, his boots echoing in the empty hallway.
"You better be the last one, you little shit."