Emil had always been silently proud of the words etched onto his arm even though to most people they seemed plain, and sometimes insufficient. While others bragged about the long and detailed statements of their beauty and worth expressed through the most extravagant of words that were displayed on their arms, waiting anxiously for their soul mate to actually have the thought, to process it and fall in love, Emil always felt quietly content about his, even if his family disapproved and forced him to wear long sleeves constantly for it.
"It's going to be alright."
He treasured those simple words. At first, he had been as embarrassed about them as the rest of his family. It seemed such a frivolous thing for his future lover to think at the moment they fell in love with him, and Emil had been disappointed, almost angry at his lover for his seemingly careless thought.
He still remembered the day that those words took on a different meaning for him. He wasn't sure what did it, but out of the blue, on a sad Valentine spent tugging his sleeves down to not let even the last corner of the 't' be seen by any one, anxiety eating him up alive about whether or not any of his classmates might ask to see his soulmate's thought, as it was customary for people to show them while they still had them, it struck him all at once.
The words were anything but frivolous.
All his life Emil had rarely felt at peace with himself, battling with the feeling and belief that he didn't fit in anywhere. And suddenly the thought that this, these words, were what would make his soul mate realize he loved him, 'it's going to be alright', it suddenly felt that he was being accepted by this person even before he was sure that they had ever met.
And from then on it was his life moto. Because when he finally did meet his soul mate and when they finally did have this thought, then it would truly be okay. Forever.
Emil said all of this to his friend Leon, after hearing the boy's frustration about not being sure that he actually loved the person that he knew to be his soulmate, since he was the only one around when the words on his arm faded. Emil had never seen the words and Leon refused to tell him who it was. Emil thought that opening up this part of him would help his friend realize that the same applied to him.
But as his last words faded away to nothing Emil felt an odd sensation on his arm. Panicked he pulled up his sleeve, and watched the words he had engraved into his mind and heart disappear from his skin forever. He almost sobbed. How could he live without seeing them there, to remind him of all those things… his mind slowly caught up with itself. He glanced at Leon beside him and found the Asian boy giving him a gentle smile with softly glowing eyes.
"It's going to be alright." Emil finally whispered, as it was what he had been about to say before fate interrupted him. Leon reached over and held Emil's cheek in the palm of his hand with care.
"It is."