AN: For Sophy for Drabble Game with the prompts TheoBlaise and soulmate!au
Thanks to Sam and Emily for betaing :3
those words of yours belong to me
1987
"Mummy, what does fuck mean?"
Miranda Abbott spits out her drink at her seven-year-old daughter's question. "Pardon?"
"What does fuck mean?" she asks again. "Theo has it written on his arm."
Theo's eyebrows fly upwards as he glances down at his arm. The words written there, the ones that are supposed to give clues to finding your soulmate, have changed without him realising it. He hadn't noticed the time, hadn't noticed that it had passed eight o'clock, the time the soulmarks change.
"Why can he say fuck and I can't?"
Theo wonders who the 'he' the words are referring to is, but is quickly pulled out of his thoughts by Hannah's mother's voice.
"Theodore!" she scolds. He cringes, waiting for his punishment, but it never comes. Instead, Miranda calmly says, "Theodore, that's not a nice word to say. Would you please cover your arms while we're eating our dinner?"
He nods and slips on the maroon jumper he had hung over the back of the chair.
When he gets home, it's a different story. His father takes one look at his arm and leaves Theo with an ugly bruise just underneath his left cheekbone — his response to everything since Theo's mother died had been furious anger.
"Soulmate or not," his father says, his voice taking on a darker tone than Theo has ever heard before, "I don't want you associating with people who have such limited vocabularies that they resort to swearing."
Theo refrains from asking his father what fuck means or why he's so against swearing when he does it himself. Instead, he just decides to ask Blaise if he knows what it means the next time they see each other.
1996
"So, what does the all-knowing arm say today?" Blaise asks, throwing his bag onto his bed so hard that it bounces off again.
Theo laughs. "Haven't looked. I was waiting for you; you know we always compare."
Blaise sinks down on the edge of his bed and rolls up his trouser leg. Theo smirks as he rolls up his sleeve.
"I still don't understand why yours is conveniently on your arm and I have to get mine on the leg of all places," Blaise says when he notices Theo's smirk.
Theo rolls his eyes. "At least yours is easy to hide. You remember the time my father punched me because my soulmark said 'fuck', right?"
They both fall silent and Theo silently curses himself. He can feel the tension in the air as they both remember their childhoods. Blaise's had been a significantly healthier upbringing than Theo's had — well, healthier than Theo's had been after his mum died — but neither of them had been particularly pleasant.
Shaking himself free from the thoughts, Theo looks down at his arm and groans.
"Yes, Professor Snape."
"Are you kidding me?" Theo moans, his voice full of disbelief.
He wants to cry at how ridiculous his arm has been recently. This is the sixth day in a row his sentence has been a vague statement that could belong to anyone in the school. He shows Blaise and the other boy bursts out laughing.
"Some best friend you are," Theo scoffs. "What does yours say then?"
Blaise tries to hold his leg up for Theo to see, but it's at a dodgy angle and he ends up falling back onto his bed instead.
He's still lying down when he says, "It says something about the Hogwarts house elves not cooking scrambled eggs right."
Theo's breath catches in his throat and he tries desperately not to let Blaise hear. He moves silently to the edge of his own bed until he's leaning off the end and peering at the words written on Blaise's leg.
"I wish the elves knew how to cook scrambled eggs; it's the only thing I miss about home."
He had said those words. Theo had. He had been talking to Draco at breakfast and he had complained about the scrambled eggs.
…
The following day, Theo makes sure to really think about what he says. He follows Blaise around more than usual, listening intently to the words he speaks in conversation. He tries to remember everything, even the insignificant comments. Theo needs to know if his suspicions are right. He needs to know if his best friend, the boy Theo is too afraid to admit to having feelings for, is his soulmate.
He is.
"Some best friend you are."
The words sit a jet black that seems to glow against Blaise's dark skin where it would usually blend in. It's like they're reaching into his soul and trying to draw out the truth.
But Theo isn't ready to admit it, not yet. So he just laughs. He laughs and wonders aloud what the best friend could have done to piss Blaise's soulmate off. And he curses himself for being hopeful that Blaise will see through the obvious cover.
Because his own soulmark isn't any better. His arm holds the words Blaise says to him every morning. Seemingly innocuous, but unquestionably Blaise.
"Bring me up a slice of toast, will you?"
…
Theo is silent as he gets out of bed an hour early the next morning. He slips into the bathroom to have a shower, but before he does, he faces himself in the mirror.
"Just admit it to yourself, Theo. You're in love with your best friend. You know you shouldn't be — he's your best friend — but you are, and you're going to have to deal with it until he works out that you're soulmates."
He knows he should stop there, but he doesn't. He can't help the self-deprecating nature he's developed as a coping mechanism.
"That's providing he accepts you as his soulmate, of course. Until then, you're just going to have to relax and face whatever fresh hell each new day brings."
He stops himself from continuing, from voicing aloud his darkest fears — that when Blaise finds out, he won't accept it and will leave Theo behind. It'll be easy for Blaise. His soulmark is on his leg. He won't have to look at it every day. Theo doesn't know what he'd do without Blaise in his life.
Before he gets in the shower, a dark chuckle forces its way up his throat. His father will hate this. Not only has Theo been best friends with Blaise, whose words got him into trouble for swearing when they were children, for years, but Theo's soulmate has turned out to be male. His father won't know what's hit him when he finds out.
Then a final thought enters Theo's mind. Blaise was the one who got him in trouble all those years ago, and Theo thinks it's about time he gets his revenge.
…
"You have exactly one hour to complete the potion to an adequate standard. You are to work alone and are not to confer with your friends. Begin."
Snape's words echo in Theo's head. Solo work would be perfect for this. He could sabotage Blaise's potion without ruining his own work. His mouth stretches itself into a smirk that he has to quickly wipe from his face. He can't afford to give anything away.
Theo takes an extra few seconds extracting his Potions equipment from his bag, meaning that Blaise heads to the store cupboard at the back of the classroom before him. Seizing the opportunity while nobody is looking, Theo lines the inside of Blaise's cauldron with a light dusting of a highly-explosive powder he had brought from one of the Weasley twins — as much as he doesn't like them, he can't deny Fred and George's brilliance and is a regular customer of theirs. He needs something to brighten the mood now Umbridge is causing the school to crash and burn, after all. He then mixes it into Blaise's pot of Standard Ingredient for good measure, just in case Blaise decides to clean out his cauldron first.
He doesn't.
Twenty-seven minutes into the lesson, Professor Snape is making his rounds and checking on his students' progress. He only leans over Theo's potion briefly — it's perfect, of course — before moving on to Blaise's attempt. Theo watches out of the corner of his eye as Blaise adds a measure of Standard Ingredient, stirs his cauldron counter-clockwise three times, and then jumps backwards in shock as the cauldron explodes, soaking both the countertop and Professor Snape's robes which start eroding immediately.
As he vanishes Blaise's failed potion, Professor Snape tells him, "I would expect this of Finnegan or Longbottom, but you, Zabini? Detention. Every night this week."
Blaise groans, and Theo has to cover his face to hide the grin that he can't control.
…
"I'm so relieved it's over," Blaise announces as he walks through the dormitory door. "Do you know what he's making me do?"
Theo is alone, just as he'd planned — he'd managed to get rid of Draco, Crabbe, and Goyle by telling them Potter had been parading around on the sixth floor — and he can't hide the amusement in his voice as he asks, "No, what?"
His eyes don't leave his book, though. He doesn't want to give anything away too early.
"Scrubbing the floors!" Blaise's voice is full of exasperation. Putting on his best Snape impression, he says, "'Zabini, you will scrub this floor until there is no sign of your little… mishap earlier. If I am not satisfied with your work, you will be continuing this next week. Do I make myself clear?'" He sighs. "Honestly, isn't this illegal?"
"Pass me my bag, would you?" Theo asks, ignoring Blaise's question. It was clearly rhetorical anyway.
Blaise picks Theo's bag up and freezes.
"What's this?" he demands, holding up the empty packet of explosive powder.
"I don't know what you're talking about," Theo says, the lie rolling off his tongue easily.
Blaise doesn't respond, and Theo looks up at him, his eyes widen in the perfect imitation of shock as he sees what Blaise is holding.
"Blaise, I can expla—"
"You can explain, I know," Blaise says, cutting him off. "You better have a bloody good explanation, Theodore Nott."
Theo searches for something to do with his hands, eventually taking up a decorative rock he thinks Draco was given as a Christmas gift and tossing it between his hands.
"I have a question first, actually," Theo says. "Who's he?"
Blaise looks around, obviously searching for whoever else was in the room.
"I should be more specific. When we were seven, who was it that taught you to swear?"
Blaise blinks, clearly thrown by Theo's question. "My mother's latest fling. I think his name was Daniel. Why do y—"
"Why can he say fuck and I can't?" Theo's voice is the perfect imitation of seven-year-old Blaise. "I believe that was the phrasing that got me in trouble."
Neither of them speaks. The only sounds that break up the silence are the dull thud of the rock hitting Theo's palms, and the rustle of the dark green blanket Blaise is pulling around himself. As the seconds turn to minutes, both deep in thought, Theo feels a warmth spread through his arm. He doesn't remember when it started happening, he thinks it's when he finally realised his feelings for Blaise were romantic, but he can feel the change of the soulmark now.
"It's eight o'clock," Theo says. "Go on, what's on your leg?"
Blaise shrugs the blanket back onto the bed and rolls up his trouser leg.
"You're in love with your best friend."
"I said those words," Theo admits. "This morning. I was giving myself a pep talk in the mirror. Pathetic, I know."
"You—" Blaise's mouth opens and closes a few times as he desperately grasps for the words to say.
"I'm in love with you, yes," Theo admits. "And by some miracle, at least on my behalf, we're soulmates. I'll understand if you don't want to talk to me again, th—"
Theo's final word is cut off by a cushion that has sailed through the air and hit him squarely in the face.
"You arse," Blaise says, laughter dancing at the edges of his words. "You sabotaged my potion because of something your soulmark said when we were seven? If you're looking for an apology, this isn't the way to get it."
"So, you're not mad we're soulmates?"
"Mad?" Blaise asks, laughter forcing its way up his throat now. "Of course not. I'm fucking relieved."
"Relieve— oh!"
Theo stops talking as Blaise practically launches himself across the room and onto Theo's lap. There's a moment of awkward laughter as they process what has just happened, and then they're kissing, and Theo knows there's a place for the two of them in the future after all.
Word Count: 2,135.
This is for:
Hogwarts Assignment One – Mythology;
Task 12 – Write about someone getting their revenge
Hogwarts Yearly Event – Insane House Challenge;
768. (song) My Best Friend - Tim McGraw
Hogwarts Yearly Event – 365 Prompts;
240. (relationship) Best Friends
Hogwarts Seasonal Event – Days of the Year;
Best Friends Day – Write about best friends. Alt, write a fic for one of your best fanfiction friends
Hogwarts Seasonal Event – Summer Prompts;
(word) fresh
Hogwarts Seasonal Event – Shay's Musical Challenge;
The Great Comet of 1812 – Write about someone falling in love with someone they shouldn't be in love with
Hogwarts Writing Club – Character Appreciation;
19. (word) apology
Hogwarts Writing Club – Disney Challenge;
C2 – Write about two people who have been friends a long time
Hogwarts Writing Club – Cookie's Crafty Corner;
Cast Off – (dialogue) "I'm so relieved it's over."
Hogwarts Writing Club – Book Club;
Aunt Lydia – (colour) dark green, (word) scoff, (word) punishment
Hogwarts Writing Club – Showtime;
10. (action) lying
Hogwarts Writing Club – Lyric Alley;
8. I know that there's a place for us
Hogwarts Writing Club – Ami's Audio Admirations;
11. Write a fic using a song for inspiration
Hogwarts Writing Club – Sophie's Shelf;
11. TheoBlaise
Hogwarts Writing Club – Em's Emporium;
6. Lin – Write a story set in Hogwarts
Hogwarts Writing Club – Angel's Arcade;
Tremor – (object) rock, (dialogue) "It's over.", (pairing) TheoBlaise
Hogwarts August Event – Sophie's Tearoom;
Double Chocolate Brownies – (emotion) furious
Hogwarts August Event – Romance Awareness;
Day 2 – Every night you receive a message about a random sentence your soulmate has said that day
Hogwarts August Event – Auction;
(word) hopeful
Hogwarts August Event – Dragon Breeding Club;
Swedish Short-Snout (Peter) – (word count) 2,135
Hogwarts August Event – Gobstones;
Pink Stone – Secrets
A – (item) blanket
P – (word) tension
T – (word) relax
Hogwarts Fortnightly Event – Love In Motion;
TheoBlaise
Camp Potter August Activity – Ice Cream Making Station;
Butter Pecan – (character) Blaise Zabini, (colour) maroon
Camp Potter August Activity – Fishing Pond;
Bait/Lure – (emotion) furious
Hogwarts Prompt of the Day;
Day 29 – (era) Trio