Work Text:
You're a beautiful butterfly
Burned with a branding iron
Onto my outside, into my insides
Is a simple sign
To show off your ownership
Burned into my naked skin
Onto my outside, into my insides
2007
Soulmate scars are just that. They’re scars. They behave like normal scars: they itch and they ache and they become a part of you. The only difference between a soulmate scar and a regular one is the time is takes to heal and the pain. A soulmate scar will appear in an instant, in its final healed form, with only an echo of the pain of its origin.
Kate got her first one when she was nine. A little nick just above her left ankle. She feels something brush against her skin and that’s when she notices the little white line half an inch above her ankle.
She shows her mom and is surprised when instead of chastising her for her clumsiness, Kate’s mom pulls her into her lap and tells her all about her dad. A logical man who loved animals, Oklahoma, and their family. Cathy knew they were meant to be when she burnt her hand while working at the local diner, and the cute guy at the counter dropped his coffee in response.
Every year she’ll get another couple like that. Teeny tiny little nicks and notches. Kate even adds a couple of her own from the rough and tumble of a childhood spent playing and working on her family’s farm. She loves the little scars. They tell her that her soulmate lives wild and free, just like her. Whoever they are, they’re experiencing life to the fullest. Kate is sure of it.
She’s twelve when she gets her first big one.
It’s a Saturday afternoon and the sky is bright and endlessly wide. It’s an ordinary day and Kate is in the barn, working on her math homework. Then there’s a searing pain at the back of her head. It’s the worst pain Kate has ever felt, even worse than the time she got tonsillitis and had to spend the week in bed eating only ice cream and her mom’s homemade soup. She clutches the back of her head and it doesn’t make it any better. But before she starts crying it’s gone. The pain disappears as soon as it appears. It’s like the high point of a storm. Unpredictable and changeable like quicksilver.
As soon as her legs are steady, Kate runs out of the barn in search of her mother. She tells Kate it must be another soulmate scar. Once again Kate finds herself in her mother’s lap her mom’s fingers comb through her hair gently and thoroughly until she finds it. A curved scar behind Kate’s left ear — much bigger than any else she’s ever experienced.
“That’s not an everyday injury,” Cathy murmurs into Kate’s hair. “Your soulmate is either brave or stupid, but they’re definitely a fighter.”
A fighter. Kate likes that.
2019
Tyler had never really given much thought to the concept of soulmates. He was pretty sure they existed in some form — the little scar on his right elbow he didn’t earn proves that — but the idea that there’s a mystical force pulling people together? Well, Tyler has heard his share of old wives’ tales in his time, and this particular one isn’t anything new. He has a certain respect for the mystical, but can’t just throw himself into belief willy-nilly. He needs a little more than stories.
Whether soulmates exist or not, Tyler doesn’t much care. He has his truck, his best friend Boone, and the endless open Southern sky.
Ever since he got his PhD and crashed out of academia in the same way he arrived, it has been just the two of them. Tyler got sick of the stuffy institutions and their perceptions of what education and research look like, and he decided to take up on his own. He would chase storms for the love of the game, and maybe educate a few folk along the way. Boone had been obsessed with weather almost as long as Tyler had been, but Boone had never been one for structure. Still, whenever they went for a drive and Tyler talked and talked, Boone drank up every word. Sometimes they’d end up on a wide, empty field, under stars and skies. Sometimes they’d fuck. Sometimes they wouldn’t. But they’d always look up at the clouds.
Chasing with Boone is the most fun Tyler has ever had. It’s made all the better by the way their minds work together. No one is chasing like them. No one gets as close and no one understands the fun in the fear like them.
For this storm, they’re trying something brand new.
They’ve been holed up in Kansas for this storm season and while they’re at the tail end it’s just ramping up for them. It’s the perfect time to deploy Boone’s latest invention. Something that if it works, will let them sit pretty in the middle of a tornado. Tyler and Boone will make eye contact with the tornado and live to tell the tale. If it works.
It’s impossible to fully test the strength of the augers Boone attached to the truck’s frame with all the possible variables of a tornado, but they’ve done their best. Tyler is ninety percent sure that they’ll come out this unscathed. He’s seventy percent sure the augers will hold and they won’t be so much as rattled. Either way, he installs harnesses.
When the storm — a nice steady EF2 from the looks of it — passes overhead, Tyler’s heart hammers so hard he thinks it’ll burst out of his chest. Boone grips his hand and they both yell through their fear until it turns to laughter.
They did it.
As soon as they’re out of danger, they tumble out of the truck on unsteady legs. Well, Tyler is unsteady. Boone does a backflip as soon as he’s out.
“We’ve changed the game brother,” Boone says excitedly, gripping both of Tyler’s shoulders and shaking him. They truly have. What they will see is a fucking rare sight. Not many see the eye of a storm and live to tell the tale. But better than just their sight and survival, they’re going to be prepared. They’re going to be going into tornados willingly, with intent, and with whatever they want to bring along the way. They can even bring a camera with them and bring the storm to an audience.
Even though his brain is alight with a dozen new possibilities, Tyler’s body is wrung out and there's a growing sense of nausea in the pit of his stomach. He’s used to the adrenaline crash that comes post-chase, but this is different. He turns to Boone, to ask how he’s feeling, but before he can open his mouth a burning pain shoots through his legs. Tyler falls to his knees clutching his thigh where the pain is strongest.
“Tyler? What’s wrong?” Boone falls to the grass with him, looking Tyler over for any sign of injury. By the time Boone lifts Tyler’s hands away from his leg, the pain is subsiding, leaving Tyler with only a sick sense of dread. From the lack of blood and the speed at which the pain came upon him, it’s clear what this is. Tyler doesn’t need to take off his jeans in a field to figure out that he’s gotten a new soulmate scar, but he does it anyway.
This scar is no joke. It covers almost the length of his thigh in one long, jagged line. Despite the obvious brutality of the injury, it looks like it will heal well. He can see the pinpricks of stitch marks and the scar is smooth and pale.
“That’s sick,” Boone says, before brushing his fingers along the tail end of the scar, a couple of inches above Tyler’s knee. Tyler slaps his hand away and pulls up his jeans. Nothing about this scar is good. It scares the hell out of Tyler. The pain of a soulmate scar isn’t anywhere near the reality of the wound that caused it. Tyler always heard it was only a fraction. An echo. Somewhere out there in the world, someone is experiencing something unimaginable.
Whoever Tyler’s soulmate is, he prays they get through it.
2024
Kate nolastname has Tyler’s attention from the moment he sees her.
Storm Par has become a regular sight around storm-chasing circles for a couple of seasons now, and although most of their skill is down to the amount of tech they have, they’re almost as good as the Wranglers. Almost.
But this woman is different. For one, she isn’t wearing a Storm Par uniform. She sticks out like a sore thumb in the middle of a bunch of suits and while she’s clearly riding with them, she doesn’t appear to be on their team. And then there’s the way she looks. Her eyes are on the Tornado Wrangler convoy, and that’s nothing new, but she looks at them with confusion, as well as curiosity. It’s not a combination Tyler is used to. Well, it’s not something he’s encountered in a while, at least. Everybody in storm-chasing circles knows who they are. They know who Tyler Owens is.
And Tyler Owens knows the big names. He doesn’t know her.
He tips his hat to her because it’s the polite thing to do and they’re colleagues of a sort. It doesn’t cost anything to be friendly, so he decides to introduce himself properly before she goes full-on Storm Par.
When she crouches down to pick up a dandelion, Tyler knew he was right. None of the Storm Par stiffs would be caught dead doing something so hokey and simple. Kate says she’s from New York but there’s just enough of a twang there to hint at her deception. Instead of calling her out on it, Tyler decides to lean in. If he’s right in his assessment, Kate will get annoyed with the city girl name eventually and tell him where she’s really from. She’s already gently amused and not at all charmed by his schtick, Tyler wants to keep pushing her to see what she’ll do next.
The more he learns the more Tyler wants to know. Kate is someone you can’t help but want to chase.
+++
It feels like a betrayal to admit, but Tyler sparks something in Kate that she thought was long dead.
At first, she thinks it’s just Oklahoma and the storms, and it is that, a little, but when she comes face to face with a tornado again her bones are chilled through and the dread paralyzes her. None of the buzzing potential she’d felt with the dandelions remained. The flicker of joy might have remained a fluke if it weren’t for Tyler. Tyler who taunts. Tyler who won’t leave her alone. Tyler who looks like something out of a 1950s movie. Kate sees the cell across the plain and she knows Tyler does as well, but still, she can’t help but play with him. It’s been so long since she’s just had fun .
And it is fun. Racing Tyler and his gang. Even when she doesn’t think they’re doing this for the right reasons, she knows that their joy is real. You can’t fake that. As their trucks and vans overtake Storm Par Kate can hear the hooting and hollering, and she sees the spark in Tyler’s eyes even between two panes of glass.
Tyler Owens is a lightning bolt through Kate’s being, waking her from her grief-induced coma, and reminding her of the joy of chasing. He brings her to life with his every step. The whole group is infectious with it. And God, Kate has missed being able to just talk science with people. Babbling about theoretical principles and gesturing wildly to someone who understands what a certain cloud form means to you, what those lines in the sky inspire in you.
Kate is alive again.
It’s easy to recognize that she and Tyler have a connection. It’s harder to make the jump to soulmate . It’s too presumptuous, too bold. Kate doesn’t operate like that. She works on instinct out in the field, but only because she has a base of logic and experience. She needs the same for Tyler.
Her first real evidence is the way her leg aches during the El Reno storm.
They’ve all been battered to and fro, and with all the frantic running, it’s more than likely that Kate could’ve pulled a muscle at some point, but still, this pain is different. It’s different, but it’s familiar.
When she’s about to pass through the eye of one of the biggest storms she’s ever faced she lets go of the wheel and her leg still throbs. There’s nothing left for her to do with the storm, not anymore, so Kate touches her thigh gingerly. When it doesn’t feel tender to the touch, she rubs the fabric with a little more force. There are a couple of bumps under her fingers that she doesn’t recognize. Kate knows it could be anything — she’s had more than enough opportunities to bruise or nick herself without noticing — but her head and her heart both tell her that it’s something different. She knows the sensation of her soulmate’s scars. He’s marked her again. It’s a comfort if she’s honest. Alone out here, Kate doesn’t regret much. But the throbbing spots in her skin remind her that the one true fear she has isn’t real. Kate isn’t truly alone, not even out here.
Kate promises herself that if she survives this she’s going to check every inch of her skin and she’s going to figure out who this person is. It turns out that the answer comes to her as soon as she’s back on solid ground.
In the end, all it takes is for Tyler to run over to her, his gait so clearly marred by an injury to his leg, for Kate to figure it out. She doesn’t have the energy to be surprised.
+++
When Kate leaves for the airport, she makes a choice. Before leaving her mom’s place she digs through the dresser until she finds a pair of shorts she used to love. The hem hits mid-thigh and only covers half of the scar that mars the skin. No one will miss it now. For the first time in so many years, Kate doesn’t feel fear when she looks at the scar, she only sees possibility.
Since El Reno, she and Tyler have been getting closer. They stayed in town for a few days helping with the clean-up efforts and he barely left her side. Kate is used to Javi’s hovering and in the past she’s had very little tolerance for it, but with Tyler it’s different. He never stopped her from doing anything, he just trailed after her like a lost puppy and fetched her whatever she needed. It’s something she could get used to.
Tyler never said anything about their scars and he never made a move. Not knowing that they’re soulmates is something that Kate understands, but the rest? They’ve been heading toward something more since the moment they met, so sue her if she’s a little disappointed. Tyler Owens puts out a vibe, and he’s been flirting with her for days now. Kate wants him to let go and give her everything he’s got. She’s ready for it.
That’s why she chooses the shorts.
Javi is dropping her off at the airport, just like he promised, but Kate made sure to give Tyler her flight details and she texted him when Javi picked her up. She isn’t surprised when she sees his truck. She isn’t surprised at his lack of surety. She sure as hell isn’t surprised when his eyes flick down to her bare legs and linger on the line of her scar.
“Chase me,” Kate asks, and of course, of course, Tyler listens.
Kate manages to fake looking at the departure boards for half a minute before she feels the heat of him behind her. When she turns and meets his eyes it’s the same as it’s always been, but it’s also brand new. They see each other properly now, with no remaining fronts.
The tannoy announces a storm, their third soulmate arriving just in time, and Tyler grabs her bag as they both turn in sync and run toward the doors. Javi is still sitting in the same spot and when Kate makes eye contact with him, he rolls his eyes and waves her on. She doesn’t pause or look back until she’s at Tyler’s truck. Finally.
“Wait, before we go,” Tyler starts and he rests her bag against the truck and puts his hands on her hips instead. “I almost forgot something.”
When their lips meet it’s long overdue. Tyler is gentle when he kisses her but there’s little hesitation. He holds her in place and kisses her again and again. Little precious things that start feather-light and grow and grow until his tongue slides against hers and the rest of the world melts away, leaving them all alone. Kate has a hand on his neck and her fingers slide upwards slowly, almost unconsciously, until her fingers brush against her half-forgotten target. Tyler sucks on her bottom lip as a parking attendant yells at them in the distance. And none of it matters because Kate can feel the scar she’s had for half her life, tucked just behind Tyler’s ear.
The Future
The first time they have sex it’s in an Oklahoma motel, to no one’s surprise. In fact, Tyler is glad that it happens this way. This is the perfect place for them.
It’s there that Tyler learns more about the world he’d always felt so sure in.
Tyler always thought that soulmate scars were identical but it turns out there is a truth he’s never realized. There is something different between him and his soulmate. The scars are identical in all but one way. They’re mirrored.
It means that when they fuck face to face — he’s happy to admit that they do it that way most of the time because even after that first, lightning-strike time, Tyler can’t stop looking at her, lest she melts away like rain — the jagged line of scarred flesh on their thighs line up and brush against each other. The double moon wounds he got in El Reno are almost healed by now and he knows they will scar because they line up with the smooth white circles on Kate’s milky pale thighs. In a couple of months, his thighs will look just like hers, only with a little more hair and width.
Kate is half of him and that discovery hits like a horse’s hind legs to the chest.
Even if it took until the airport to figure out she was his soulmate, he’d always known Kate was special. (Kate had figured out their connection well before that; Tyler had been a little slow on the uptake.) But it’s only now, when he has her naked and under and around him and inside his heart and mind, that he starts to understand the depth of what soulmate truly means. She’s the balancing half of his equation, the solution to a million formulas. When he’s inside her their breath mingles and dances, the Fujiwhara Effect in miniature. Harmony like he’s never experienced before.
He feels it every time she kisses him and her fingers thread through his hair and find the horseshoe scar behind his ear. He knows it every time Kate turns toward the sky half a second before he does. He trusts in that feeling every time Kate finishes his thought, or he does the same to her.
One day soon Kate will have to go back to New York. It'll be temporary, of course, because as sure as Tyler knows the storms, he knows that Kate Carter belongs in Oklahoma, but she will need to leave. Up until a few weeks ago, her whole life was there in that unfamiliar place. She’ll leave and Tyler will wait. New York isn’t the kind of place for a guy like him and he’s waited his whole life for Kate. He’s more than happy to wait a little longer.
And if she asks him to chase her all the way to New York, well, Tyler thinks he’s man enough to brave a new kind of storm.