Pinky stood on the counter, holding out his hand with a patient smile as the Brain slowly climbed up. He took the offered hand and let himself be dragged up, only a little annoyed when Pinky opted to carry him the rest of the way to their cage. Brain groaned as he was gently set on their shared bed, aching limbs immediately giving way as he lamely reached for the blanket. He heard Pinky chuckle as said blanket was tossed over him and strong hands went to massaging his sore neck and shoulders. He let himself melt into the touch and took a rare moment to enjoy the pleasant warmth in his cheeks. Another chuckle. Brain closed his eyes and listened to his partner's soft humming.
Pinky placed a quick kiss on a spot behind Brain's ear, one he'd seemed to have grown rather fond of in the past month or so. The smaller mouse sighed, used to, though still slightly confused by, his companion's oddly intimate brand of affection. "It's very pretty, you know," Pinky said softly, almost to himself.
"What are you talking about, Pinky?" Brain responded a little disappointed by the broken silence.
"Poit. Your soulmark, Brain. What else?"
"I don't have a soulmark, Pinky. You know that."
"Yes you do," Pinky tapped the spot behind Brain's ear, "It's right here, silly."
Brain's eyes shot open, tiredness reluctantly leaving his muscles, "What?" He jolted up, accidentally bumping Pinky's snout as he did so, and frantically looked around as if he'd be able to see the alleged mark.
The taller mouse tenderly laid him back down, "Narf. Calm down, Brain. It's been there for at least a month already."
That assurance did not help the situation in the slightest. "A month!" Brain cried as he pawed at his ear, "But how? It's not as if we've met anyone of note in that time, and I certainly never had a soulbound with any of them... Do we even know who has the other mark?"
His friend stared at him incredulously, "I'm sorry, Brain, thought you knew- Troz. I have the other mark."
The Brain couldn't help the slight sigh of relief that escaped him, momentarily assuaged by the information. He took a moment to catch his breath and think. He scrutinized both what he could see of Pinky now and what he remembered seeing in the last month only to find no memory of him having a soulmark. He stared dumbly at his cagemate, miraculously at a loss for words in the face of an exceedingly simple issue. But Pinky, ever the empath, still answered the question his partner was struggling to ask, "It's on my thigh; where the fake one was." He pointed to the large mark which Brain was only now realising looked quite different from the original counterfeit. What had once been a basic star with some curvy lines about it had been replaced with a globe inset into what looked like a rose. The mark was elegant in its simplicity and all at once Brain was almost confused by the idea that it had ever not been there.
He didn't take his eyes off the design as he spoke, "But why would it happen now? After years of... this. Nothing has changed…" His voice trailed off as his hand trailed up to lightly brush the mark.
Pinky hummed thoughtfully, "What's supposed to change?"
Brain blinked up at him as he absentmindedly pet his thigh. "Well, obviously we should- I should… I-" he paused, collecting his thoughts. "I feel no different about you, Pinky. Your presence elicits the same emotions in me that it always has," Brain swallowed, significantly less confident in his words now that he'd actually said them. He waited anxiously for Pinky's response.
Said mouse began to open his mouth before shutting it again. He stared somewhere outside their cage, chewing on the inside of his cheek as he scripted his reply. "Are they good emotions?" he finally asked.
"What?"
"Zort- Are they good emotions, Brain? Do you like when I'm around?"
The Brain sputtered, "Of course I do. You're the only person I… tolerate." He cringed a little, the familiar expression sounding weak and cold in his ears.
His companion didn't skip a beat however, drawing Brain up to his chest and affectionately rubbing their faces together. "Then what does it matter?- Troz! We make eachother happy, that seems good enough to me!" Pinky quickly kissed his friend on the forehead before pulling back to look into his eyes.
"Pinky I-" Brain guiltily reached up to caress his partner's cheek, "I don't know that I love you… Romantically speaking, at least."
Pinky just leaned into him, "Narf- That's fine, Brain. You don't have to."
Brain bit his lip and watched as Pinky closed his eyes and sighed happily under his touch. "And what about you?" he spoke through the wad of cotton suddenly filling his mouth, "How do you feel… about me?"
The lab-mouse turned and placed a soft kiss on Brain's palm, "I love you. I won't pretend to know exactly how, but that doesn't really matter to me very much- Poit."
Brain smiled relieved, "At least I am, for once, not alone in my emotional confusion." His cagemate gave a dopey grin and held him a little closer to his chest.
He laid them down, pulling the covers on top of them and nuzzled into the crook of Brain's neck. "Goodnight, love," he said and drifted almost immediately to sleep.
The Brain chuckled a little, "Goodnight, Pinky."