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The day of Seungkwan’s 17th birthday, he woke up relieved.
He had a schedule that day, but his hyungs had said they’d try to get in a birthday celebration in the evening.
Seungkwan was the maknae of a trio called BooSeokSoon, or simply BSS, who took the world by storm with their looks, their talent, and their amazing back and forth dynamic.
Truth be told about his debut, there were more people he had wanted to debut with. More talented people that had been left as trainees or adapted into their company’s production team.
But, he couldn’t complain.
Soonyoung and Seokmin were amazing, both as people and to him, and he couldn’t have asked for better people to debut with.
And the fact that he hadn’t switched that day meant that his soulmate wouldn’t have to go through the pain of getting through their schedule (they even had a live stage, Seungkwan cringed thinking about all of the stuff they would have had to cancel.
“Seungkwannie?” Soonyoung cried, and Seungkwan gave out a noise of affirmation.
“Yeah, it’s me,” he mumbled, and Soonyoung jumped on top of him, Seokmin joining soon after.
“Happy birthday Kwannie!” Seokmin exclaimed.
“Thanks hyungs,” he said, and let them join him in bed, the three of them forming a big, warm cuddle pile, even if Seokmin’s feet were the temperature of Antarctica.
“I made breakfast,” Seokmin said proudly, deflating upon seeing the look on Seungkwan’s face.
“I tried some,” Soonyoung added, “you should give it a chance, because I don’t think this one is secretly laced with laxatives!”
Seungkwan busted out a laugh, Soonyoung joining in soon after, and Seokmin pouting as the two laughed at his expense.
“Come on Seungkwannie,” Soonyoung eventually urged, “you need to eat before our schedule today, so get up and get dressed!”
The other two exited his room, probably going to their shared room to also get dressed before breakfast, and before their schedule today.
Finally alone with his thoughts, Seungkwan couldn’t help but wonder when he was going to actually meet his soulmate. They must have been younger than him, since he didn’t swap that day, or they could be dead, but if that was the case, people usually get a sign in their dreams, or they wake up in front of their soulmate’s grave.
Neither of those things had happened to Seungkwan, so he assumed they were just a year or something younger.
It would be nice if he could switch maybe in two months—when they were resting between comebacks—or maybe next year—when their careers had solidified a bit.
Realistically, nothing could be worse than Soonyoung and Jihoon, who had switched while in the same room, completely awake and preparing for BSS’ debut, Jihoon having been assigned to produce some of their songs.
Seungkwan thinks he had never heard a higher pitched scream than when Jihoon had come face to face with himself in his studio.
(They laughed about it now, but Jihoon had avoided Soonyoung for a week and Soonyoung had cried the whole time because he thought that Jihoon hated him. It wasn’t a good time for any party involved, but when they eventually sorted it out they became the most disgusting couple Seungkwan had ever seen.)
Turns out Seungkwan really had nothing to worry about, since a little over a month later, he woke up in an unfamiliar room, to someone talking to him in a language he didn’t understand.
“Vernon! get the hell up dude!”
Seungkwan woke up feeling strangely refreshed, which was weird, because they had all stayed up the night before partying for Seokmin’s birthday before their afternoon schedule, which was their last appearance on a music show for their debut ep.
He came face to face with an unfamiliar girl and scrambled back, falling off of the bed and landing on his butt, startling himself even more awake.
“Dude, what are you doing? come on, it’s time to open presents. I swear I got you something good this year!” the girl said, again in the language Seungkwan identified as English.
“Uh…” Seungkwan tried to remember the English soulmate terms he had learned in high school, the ones they taught just in case your soulmate was from another country.
“S-soulmate?” he stuttered out, and the girl’s eyes widened.
“Mom! mom this isn’t Vernon it’s Vernon's soulmate!” she yelled, Seungkwan picking up the words ‘Vernon’ which seemed to be the name of the body he was inhabiting, and ‘soulmate’.
He heard footsteps pounding up the stairs, and took the few seconds it would take for the person to arrive to scan his eyes around the room, eyes landing on posters of some girl groups (which he mentally hummed appreciatively at. This Vernon had good taste in music), then a poster of his group, and a solo poster of him.
Wait…
Seungkwan stood up, ignoring the girl beside him and going up to the poster, pointing at it.
“Yeah, Boo Seungkwan. My brother loves him, so I guess as his soulmate you’re going to have to compete for his attention,” she laughed as if she had made a joke, and Seungkwan laughed along nervously, even though he didn’t understand what she had said.
Suddenly, another woman and a man showed up in the doorway. Seungkwan assumed they were his soulmate and this girl’s parents. He could see the resemblance.
He waved shyly at them, and the woman smiled at him, pointing at him and then making her hand look like it was speaking.
“Language?” she asked.
“Uh…Ko-Korean?” Seungkwan said, thankful the English lessons that his company had assigned were coming in handy here, even if all of his English flew out of the window the second he had to speak it.
“Oh, that’s good,” the man said, in full Korean, and Seungkwan relaxed.
They spoke Korean. Thank god.
“Oh! He’s Korean!” The girl exclaimed, and he smiled at her.
“Yeah,” he said. Oh, the voice he was using sounded really smooth in Korean.
“Why were you pointing at the Seungkwan poster?” she asked him.
“I am Boo Seungkwan,” he responded, and her eyes widened.
“No way,” she whispered, and he rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment because the look she had on her face was nothing less than a look of complete adoration.
“Come on,” Seungkwan forgot that Vernon's parents were there, and turned to look at them, “let’s go downstairs, we can’t let this breakfast go to waste!”
From his breakfast with Vernon's family, he learned that they were in LA, and that they did usually live in Korea but had taken a vacation this year for Vernon's birthday, and because his mom had wanted to see some relatives in the US, which they were going to do tomorrow.
Seungkwan also learned that, because of his arrival, these plans had been cancelled, and they would be flying back to Korea that afternoon so that Seungkwan and Vernon could meet up and switch bodies again.
Seungkwan figured out, through a series of google searches, that their scheduled appearance on the award show had gone without a hitch, and nobody online had found anything suspicious about his behaviour.
Sofia, Vernon's sister, had informed him how Vernon had been following his progress since pre-debut, and how he had been his favourite idol for so long. He wondered what Vernon's reaction had been, waking up from the small nap Seungkwan remembers taking after Seokmin’s birthday bash, and being in his favourite idol’s body.
He had also taken some time to look in the mirror, and he was damn glad Americans seemed to have so many mirrors in their houses because Seungkwan felt like he could look at Vernon's face forever. He seemed to be the perfect mix of hot, cute, and Leo Di Caprio, and if Seungkwan knew Seoul, which he did despite having grown up in Jeju (he was not a country bumpkin, Soonyoung needed to let that go), Vernon would have been very popular with the ladies. And Seungkwan. If Seungkwan had ever seen him at a stage or a fan sign, or even on the street, he was sure he would have completely melted.
He put his own number into Vernon's phone, but in doing so saw some familiar names, like ‘Seungcheollie hyung!!’ and ‘Chan ah (needs to stop changing his name in my phone)’.
It seemed there was a really good reason why Vernon had been following him since pre-debut since he was friends with some people Seungkwan had trained with.
It was a wonder they hadn’t met before then, since Vernon could have easily asked for them to introduce them, and met his idol, but from descriptions of the other he had heard, he was really respectful of his idol’s space, even if he had never met them before.
Seungkwan felt a warm feeling spread through his chest. That was so cute.
He really appreciated that, Vernon not using their mutual friends to meet them. Knowing Seungcheol and chan they had probably offered—Chan more than once—but the fact that Seungkwan had no memory of getting a text asking if someone else could meet him, and no memory of seeing Vernon's handsome face in real life, made him think that Vernon had turned them down.
How sweet.
“Can you tell me anything else about Vernon?” he asked, perched on Vernon's bed as his soulmate’s mom re-packed his suitcase, the one he would be taking back to Korea the next day.
“You really want to know about him don't you?” She teased, and Seungkwan blushed, “that’s sweet, that you think of him as your soulmate instead of someone who is just another fan, and who you would just ignore as soon as you found out he was a fan.”
Seungkwan smiled at her, “do you know Choi Seungcheol and Lee Chan? Vernon has their contacts in his phone?” she nodded, and Seungkwan continued, “they’re really close friends of mine, and Vernon really could have contacted them at any time and gotten a hold of me, but he didn’t. I felt like he wasn’t just another fan before, and when I found that out I knew he was just…amazing. Any other fan would have probably invaded my privacy, or at least asked for my number, even if they weren’t going to use it, but when I put my number in Vernon's phone, it wasn’t there before. Even though I haven't met him, I seriously feel like he’s not only a genuinely good person but a loving and caring one too. I promise to take good care of him.”
When he looked back at Vernon's mother after his mini-rant, she was smiling widely and her eyes were shining.
“I’m sure you will Seungkwan,” she said, and he smiled back, enveloping her in a hug. Even though he hadn’t met Vernon yet, he had had the time to meet and connect with his soulmate’s family, which had been a really good experience.
But, despite how much he enjoyed being in Vernon's body, he wanted to get back into his own, get into contact with Seokmin and Soonyoung again.
So, as they were leaving America, he texted his own number, letting Vernon (who presumably had his phone) know that they were coming to Korea.
He also wished the other a happy birthday and saw a bunch of exclamation marks appear on the screen before he got on the plane, turning the phone on airplane mode and relaxing in beside Sofia for a long flight, even though he ended up falling asleep five minutes after the plane levelled out.
When the plane landed, Seungkwan wanted to be the first person off, to get to his soulmate faster. He rushed them through customs, tapped his foot impatiently the entire wait at baggage claim, and speed walked towards the entrance of the airport, a large crowd coming into view the closer he got to the right exit.
There was a path right through the middle, and he dragged Vernon's suitcase until he caught a glimpse of Soonyoung, leading the group of three, Seokmin, very, very close behind, and himself, Vernon, looking very anxiety-ridden, but pushing to the front of the group as soon as he saw Seungkwan.
Seungkwan let the suitcase drop to the floor and started running, ignoring the screaming as confused fans watched ‘Seungkwan’ push through Soonyoung and Seokmin to get to someone they didn’t know.
He also ignored the sounds of cameras flashing, catching the famous trio’s every movement, and just kept running, colliding with his own body and wrapping his arms around it, feeling Vernon do the same.
They stood there hugging for a long time, long enough for the fan’s screams to bring him back to his senses.
He pulled back, watching Vernon's emotions flicker over his face, love, adoration, fear, anxiety. He didn’t realize he was that expressive, but he couldn’t say he minded when it was Vernon controlling his body.
“Vernon,” he whispered, and Vernon's—his—face split into a smile.
“Seungkwan,” Vernon said.
“I liked your posters,” Seungkwan said, and a bright flush made its way up Vernon’s face, “ I also signed your album. Also, I am me. Happy birthday.”
Vernon let out a laugh.
“What an amazing birthday gift,” he said, and Seungkwan hugged him again.
He evaluated his options while in Vernon's arms.
Recently debuted artists came out about having soulmates all the time, and never seemed to lose fans except for less loyal ones and solo stans. He could do it too, tell the world about him and Vernon, but not without Vernon's permission first.
“Can I kiss you,” he whispered into Vernon's ear, and Vernon tensed up against him
“Seungkwan, I-your career? What will this do to your career? What if it gets totally ruined because you kissed me? I couldn’t live with myself!” Vernon whisper yelled, and Seungkwan smiled at him.
“I don’t care. Vernon, I literally just want to kiss you in front of this large group of people, in front of a small group of people, hell, I just want to kiss you, but I won’t do it without your permission. Can I?” Seungkwan asked.
Vernon sighed, thinking for a second before…
“Yes.”
Seungkwan cheered mentally and pressed his lips onto Vernon's trying to not think of it as kissing himself.
He felt a weird tugging feeling in his gut, and when he opened his eyes, he was looking into Vernon's.
He glanced down at his hands and, confirming it was his own body, he looked back at Vernon, who was staring at him in awe.
Seungkwan let out a giggle at the adorable expression on Vernon's face and leaned in again, kissing him in his own body.
When he pulled back, the beautiful expression of pure awe on Vernon's face was enough to convince Seungkwan that he could handle any repercussions of his decision if he had Vernon by his side.
Right now, his soulmate was all he needed.