A/N: For Batarou week day 1 AU prompt: soulmates. I went for the 'colors show up on your soulmate's skin when you touch' variety, so it takes place during their first fight. :'D

Blow Your Mind

Garou takes notice of a certain something on about his third or fourth punch, and fortunately, his reflexes are fast enough to keep dodging as he thinks, because this sure is a development if there ever was one.

Metal Bat's face has gone a shimmering gold color beneath all the blood and bruises. And Garou knows exactly what that means. It's why so many people go around touching each other all the time, and why he tries to avoid it outside of fights.

He's never considered what might happen if he came across his soulmate in a fight – but that is apparently what's happening right now.

It won't change anything, he thinks as he ducks beneath another furious swing. Metal Bat doesn't seem to be in a position to notice or care, and Garou certainly isn't about to tell him. That'd mess up the whole hunter and hunted dynamic, and put a damper on Garou's quest, so he'd really rather not deal with it at all.

Metal Bat goes in for the kill with a snarl, and Garou flips out of his way again, leaving behind a series of jabs in his wake. More gold springs up, spreading over Metal Bat's arm in wispy tendrils.

Garou doesn't know what he's expected to do with a soulmate, anyway.

Settle down?

That's a good joke.

No. This is something best left undiscovered, un-thought-of, and especially undiscussed. There are much more important things to focus on at the moment….

He kicks out a leg at Metal Bat's forehead, and can't pretend not to be impressed when the hero's heels dig in and he refuses to be toppled.

…Garou has to admit, if he were to ever pick someone to "settle" with, someone as sturdy as this would be a contender.

That bat is already swinging for him again, though, and with increasing ferocity and strength to boot. There's something almost admirable about Metal Bat's tenacity. (Well, alright, maybe a bit more than almost.)

And then, somewhere amidst his blind rampage, Metal Bat just so happens to glance down at his arm.

"Hey –"

Garou, with no time to spare for this, elbows him in the face so hard he skids backwards, head snapping to the side. He leaves no room for retaliation, already in front of Metal Bat and readying a blow –

– Only for it to be split-second blocked by a baseball bat that brushes aside his perfectly poised hands.

"Hey!" Metal Bat tries again, wielding his bat defensively. "I'm tryna –"

This time, Garou aims for his ribs and sends him flat on his back.

"Bastard," Metal Bat spits, on his feet in a flash. "Listen, I think –" He lifts his bat, but he's not quick enough to keep Garou's kick from landing – although, again, he refuses to fall or be pushed aside. Stubborn. "Cease fire already!"

"Why should I?" Garou spins out of the kick, exchanging it for a punch that he throws extra weight into. It lands with a satisfying smack, Metal Bat spitting blood and stumbling even as he readies his bat once more.

"'Cause I think we got somethin' to talk about!" He swings right back at Garou, though, which seems counterproductive to any type of conversation.

"I don't think so," Garou says, dodging easily. He then continues to do so for the next five swings as well, flitting this way and that. More than once, Metal Bat strikes the ground, leaving behind mammoth cracks and sending shockwaves that lurch vehicles into the air – he seems to be getting stronger the longer this fight goes on.

Before he realizes what's happening, Garou's heel taps against the side of a building.

He is, effectively, cornered.

Well damn. Color him impressed.

In front of him, Metal Bat is close enough to keep him boxed in, but too far to touch without lurching for him. At bat's length, if you will; given that said bat is pointed at Garou's throat, he sure will.

"What's this?" Metal Bat asks, thrusting his bare, unoccupied left arm out to the side. The patches of gold catch on the sunlight, shimmering in the same light that glints off of fresh, wet blood trails.

Garou raises his eyebrows, sparing the skin a glance. "Looks like an arm."

The bat pointed at Garou's throat presses in, and sure, he could squirm his way out of this if he wanted to – it's just that right now, he's decided to take a breather while Metal Bat gets the questions out of his system. That's all.

"No shit," Metal Bat snarls, and Garou can see the blood between his teeth, staining them red, "I'm talkin' about what's on it."

"Blood?"

Okay, now that bat is making it hard to breathe, so Garou swats it away. He takes some satisfaction in the fact that Metal Bat sways forward with the movement, even though it'd be better if he had stumbled or fallen entirely.

"Quit playin' dumb! You know what I mean." With that, the bat comes swinging right back – only with much more force.

Garou dodges, and it cracks into the wall just beside his head. Deciding that his breath is sufficiently caught, Garou lunges for Metal Bat, hitting him full on the chest.

It would seem that Metal Bat's reflexes are also leveling up as they fight. He swings his bat around behind Garou, grabs the top of it with his opposite hand, and uses his momentum to pull Garou down to the ground on top of him, boxed in by the bat and his arms.

Slamming into Metal Bat's chest is the least graceful landing Garou's ever had. Beneath him, he can feel Metal Bat's broken ribs grinding, but the hero himself doesn't seem to notice, too busy pulling his bat in tight against Garou's back and glaring.

Of course, Garou had tried to slip out of this hold as they went down – but all that's managed is to get his face pinned to Metal Bat's pectorals.

What a day.

"Fucking hell," Metal Bat wheezes, breath rattling in and out, and he might actually puncture a lung at this rate, Garou thinks. Maybe he already has. "Can't we talk about this?"

Garou tries to push himself up off the ground and also Metal Bat, but is largely unsuccessful. "Talk about what?"

"I'm turnin' gold, dipshit!"

"Sounds like a personal problem."

There's a growl from Metal Bat, and his bat presses in tighter against Garou's shoulder blades. "You're turnin' red," he hisses, jerking his chin in the direction of one of Garou's hands, "look."

Turning his head leaves his cheek pillowed on Metal Bat's chest, and it's more difficult than he would like to lift his hand in his current position – but for some reason, he humors Metal Bat all the same. The observation rings true, of course. His hand looks as though it's been dipped in candy red dye; the color blooms up his fingers and over his knuckles, visible even beneath the bloodstains.

"So?"

"So," Metal Bat huffs, "whatta we do?"

In all honesty, Garou doesn't see what the big deal is. So what if they're soulmates. Are they supposed to just drop all of their own ambitions in favor of running off into the sunset together? "I vote we keep fighting," he says.

"Hah?"

It's a simple enough concept, Garou can't believe he has to spell it out. "Just because we're soulmates doesn't mean we can't have a knockdown, drag-out fight."

Metal Bat's eyebrows scrunch up, and he spends so long just lying there making that face that Garou starts to wonder if all the hits to the head are finally taking their toll. (But he can feel that pounding heart beneath his cheek, and it's exciting in too many ways.)

"I…guess you've got a point," Metal Bat says eventually.

"Glad we're on the same page." With that, Garou jabs one hand into Metal Bat's broken ribs and the other into his armpit. His hold on the bat destabilizes, and Garou slips free, springing up and away.

"Fucker!" Metal Bat isn't far behind, rolling to his feet and coming out swinging.

It's slightly easier to land hits on Metal Bat at first, Garou notices. He catches Metal Bat staring at his hands just a millisecond too long, and that's where he gets him – but it doesn't take long for their old rhythm to return.

Keeping Metal Bat at bay morphs into keeping Metal Bat on his toes, which is then swapped for Garou being kept on his toes. Garou feels lucky to have met with such a formidable foe…and maybe a tiny corner of his mind considers itself lucky to be stuck with a soulmate this combat competent.

If he's gotta have one, they might as well be strong.

As with all fights, though, this one is bound to end sooner or later, and Garou knows that it's over when he gives Metal Bat that last shove to the chest. He can feel and hear more bones cracking. There's no coming back from skidding over the concrete like that, either – not after the beating Metal Bat has taken.

Still. There's an odd feeling in Garou's chest as he turns to walk away. Something tugs on him, tells him he's not quite done here, but he deems it a ridiculous soulmate thing that he is above, and therefore ignores it.

Shame that in the end, Metal Bat was just another meathead. At least this means that taking down the Hero Association will be easy….

"Big bro Bat!"

Even as Garou whirls around on a dime, he realizes that he still wouldn't have been fast enough to dodge. Metal Bat is frozen, looming over him and oozing threatening aura, but that's all he does. Blood drips in a steady river down his face, his chest heaving, eyes intense.

And Garou can't look away. His muscles tense, ready to renew their fight if only he could stop staring at those sparkling gold markings.

"Zenko –" Bad sucks in a breath, "don't come any closer, this guy is –"

"No violence! You promised."

Garou finally manages to convince his instincts that turning away from Metal Bat is alright. When he does, he's shocked by the resemblance the tiny, approaching girl has to his current prey. "Your sister?" he guesses.

Metal Bat raises his bat, threatening. "Don't come closer," he repeats, and at this point, Garou isn't sure which one of them he's talking to.

But Zenko is there, anyway, stepping between them. "No! Fighting!" she insists, stomping one foot with each word. Her hands are fisted on her hips as she frowns at her brother first, and then Garou.

As she glances from one to the other, though, her eyes slowly go wider and wider until she's outright staring at them.

That's when Garou realizes: the gold is obvious, splattered all over Metal Bat's visible skin, and he's all too aware of the red on his hands, as well as probably the bits of his face that had spent time pressed to the bare half of Metal Bat's chest.

Metal Bat seems too on guard to notice her revelation, what with how he's still glaring Garou down and all. Now it's Garou who finds himself glancing between the siblings. He wonders if he'll be able to find an out before –

"You're soulmates," Zenko squeals, hands lifting from her hips to clap over her mouth.

– Before that.

At least it finally gets Metal Bat's attention off of Garou, as he's now blinking down at his little sister. "Zenko," he starts, "we're not –"

"You especially can't fight if you're soulmates," Zenko says with a decisive nod of her head.

Garou gives Metal Bat a once-over, eyes roving over him from head to toe. It's a little late for not fighting, he thinks. Any moment now would be a good time to walk away, before he gets too entangled. His initial target had been Watchdog, so he should head in that direction….

A tiny hand grabs Garou's with a surprisingly firm grip, stopping him in his tracks. He glances down to see Zenko leveling him with a glare that rivals her brother's. She's got ahold of Metal Bat, too, his face set in a deep grimace.

"No fighting. You two need to go on a date instead." She pulls on their hands, then, tugging with all of her considerable might until they meet in the middle. "Hold hands," she commands.

Metal Bat's hand closes around Garou's immediately, squeezing it with too much force to be friendly.

It seems to please Zenko, though, if the way she claps her own hands together is any indication. "There! Now c'mon, bro promised to take me shopping…."

Garou watches her start to walk away, and then glances at Metal Bat, who is visibly and audibly grinding his teeth.

"…We're not doing what she tells us to, are we?"

"Shut up," Metal Bat grouses. He follows his sister, dragging Garou along, and he's still bleeding, with a handful of broken ribs and who knows how many other injuries.

"Hold on, this is stupid." Digging his heels in works to slow Metal Bat down, but only a little bit. When Garou looks at their hands, he sees bright red and metallic gold clashing against each other. "Why are we doing this?"

Metal Bat gives a rough yank on Garou's hand, pulling him into a stumble. "Just put up with it ta make Zenko happy. I'll beat the snot outta you after."

There's a retort about Metal Bat being the one to get the snot beat out of him right on the tip of Garou's tongue – but he swallows it when, behind them, there's a very, very loud crash. It's reminiscent of a handful of collapsing buildings. Garou looks over his shoulder and spots a giant, undulating centipede.

"Uh. Weren't you going to take care of that?"

Metal Bat, squinting through blood and swaying dangerously on his feet, peeks back, too. "Shit," he says, looking like he's not sure which way to go. This only serves to make his swaying worse, though, and then he crumples.

On reflex, Garou catches him around the middle – only to let him drop the moment he realizes what he's done.

Zenko, of course, notices right away and comes dashing over, calling for her brother, who remains stubbornly unconscious atop Garou's shoes.

"I think we better get big bro Bat to a hospital before your date," Zenko says. She looks morose as she brushes Metal Bat's hair out of his mangled, bloody face.

Ah, well, Garou thinks.

Surely there are worse first dates out there.

A/N: This ship has really grown on me since I got into OPM. Been wanting to write for them, and when I saw this ship week coming up, I thought, might as well try now, haha.

Challenged myself to write smth for each day, so hopefully I have the courage to post them all OTL

Each one of these will be titled after a song on my accidentally-pop-flavored Batarou playlist, btw. This one was Blow Your Mind (Mwah) by Dua Lipa.

Thanks for reading!