The name of his soulmate appeared just underneath his collarbone the day of his sixteenth birthday.

Rapunzel.

"Just like the fairy tail," Emma had observed with a giggle, running her hand over the letters softly.

Jack smiled down at his endearing little sister, reaching out to ruffle her auburn locks. His other hand moved up and his fingertips brushed along the name permanently etched into his skin with ease.

"Yeah," he grinned cheekily, "I'll get to marry a princess one day! A beautiful one with long golden hair and we won't even need doors at our home, we'll just use her hair to climb in and out!"

Emma had bounced in excitement, beaming up at him with her eyes practically sparkling. Her older brother chuckled at her antics, playing along with her. He acted as if he found it just as humoring as she did, like he wasn't feeling the chewing apprehension or nervousness over the fact that the name imprinted forevermore on his skin was the name of a girl in a fairytale.

Despite how much he joked about it with Emma at home, he didn't dare mention the name at school. When Merida Dunbroch awoke one morning with the name 'Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III' adorning her skin she was the laugh of the school for weeks. He couldn't bear the thought of being at the butt of the school's jokes. When kids brought up the topic of soulmates in class, his stomach furled and churned with anxiety. When he passed by a girl in the hall talking about the fairytale Rapunzel, he visibly winced.

It wasn't fair.

He shouldn't be so upset over this—after all, it wasn't like she had chosen her name—but he couldn't help the inkling depression that plagued him. He became resentful of the topic of soulmates.

How did a name even determine that they were so 'right' for each other? She could be someone so completely awful for him that their relationship would never work out. With a name like Rapunzel she was probably pretentious and stuck-up and hated having fun. And everyone knew that Jackson Overland was the personification of fun.


He was hallway through his second year of college when he finally met her.

It was at a Starbucks in town, and coincidentally their drinks had been completed at the same time. They looked so similar, lined up next to each other, and Jack was so tired from studying that he had barely heard his name, let alone had he bothered to read the name on the side of his drink to check if it were the right one.

"Um, are you Jack?"

A soft feminine voice stopped the brunette in his tracks. Fuck.

"I grabbed the wrong drink, didn't I?" With a heaving sigh, Jack turned around, not looking forward to interacting with a stranger, even if just to exchange their coffees. But once he saw who it was he froze upon sight.

Her beauty was almost ethereal. He felt something in his chest jump and pull towards her. The girl standing there had to be inhuman from how beautiful she was.

She giggled softly, an enchanting sound. "You did."

Suddenly nervous (when was the last time he had ever been nervous around another person, let alone a stranger?), Jack rubbed the back of his neck with one hand, chuckling anxiously. He lifted her cup to her, twisting it around to check the name.

"Sorry about that Rapun…"

Everything in his world stopped upon sight of the name scribbled messily onto the cup, identical to the name etched upon his chest.

"…zel."

And just like that, all the anger and hatred of the name drained out of him once he saw her smile. Suddenly all the pieces seemed to be connecting together and he didn't feel lost anymore.

Her hair was like sunshine and eyes like spring themselves, her smile infectious and bright.

Rapunzel.

Very slowly, a tiny smile started to grow on Jack's face. The first real and genuine one in a long time.