Jean Jacket almost ate OJ's Soulmate and that's a Nope (OJ/Angel Soulmate AU Part 1 of 2)
part 2
Ao3
Summary: Soulmate AU
Angel needs help with the injuries he received while nearly being devoured by the blood spewing, key spitting Umbrella Monster they called Jean Jacket. And OJ is there to help. But OJ's world shifts for a second time when he sees Angel's intricate soulmark design the bleach blonde has on his back. It just so happens to match the rancher's own mark. OJ doesn't know how to handle that information. So he puts off dealing with it.
Ch 1 is OJ's POV. Ch 2 is Angel's POV
A/N: the reason that poll was set to end tomorrow. I was working on this idea. The Nope RI I wrote didn't go over well. And while I was thinking about plot ideas I was thinking what would happen if they were soulmates. Then this fic happened.
Unbeta'd and posted from mobile so please forgive any typos.
Enjoy.
Word count: 2k+
Content Warning: blood and injury. Wound/Injury tending, worry/anxiety, social anxiety. Description of violence.
Post canon events
Ch 1: Otis Junior's not good with emotions
OJ Haywood freezes. He had been helping Angel Torres change the bandages on the cuts he couldn't reach. The hospital had given them strict instructions and OJ was meticulous on a normal day. He must have been focusing harder on getting the procedure down as the clinic nurse detailed it before to notice Angel’s soulmark. But now he noticed. He couldn't unsee the intricate design of the soulmark on Angel’s back, just below his shoulder blade. It managed to stand out even along the bruised and bandaged skin.
It matches the one hidden under his own shirt along his ribs. The marks would line up if OJ stood behind him. And OJ could imagine a scenario where if he went up behind Angel and pulled him close, the marks would touch. And nope, he shouldn't be thinking that now.
OJ had not expected that. What was he supposed to do?
“Is it bad? Did they get worse?” Angel asks. And the questions have OJ shaking himself. Right. Angel needed help. Everything else he can figure out later. First, bandages. Then pain meds for both of them. And then everything else. Yeah. He could figure it out. He'd tell Angel at some point.
OJ gets frustrated with himself after a few days of trying to figure out how to broach the topic. He can't just be like, “hey I know you had this bad break up recently, and then you almost died because I dragged you into a mess that got over 43 killed. And you were almost one of them and now you are suffering because of it, but guess what, you're my soulmate.”
Yeah, no. That was not going to happen. So he kicked that ball of stress further down the road to deal with later. He told himself he'd do it once they had healed up and Angel didn't need to rely on him for help and could make the choice to stay or go. Yeah, that was a plan. What he hadn't expected was his sister to notice something had changed. So one night when he was struggling to sleep, he checked to make sure Angel was still out cold in what was now Angel’s room in the partially repaired farmhouse. The money from doing a few interviews had helped pay to fix the roof enough to stay there. It was better than three people in a studio apartment in what? Burbank? Yeah. No. This was preferable. OJ needed space and familiarity if he was going to sort everything out. And he had a lot of shit to sort out. He is leaning against the newly repaired railing of the arena staring at the sky that had so recently held a monstrous predator that nearly killed all of them. Jean Jacket had almost killed his soulmate before he even knew he was his soulmate. And damn, did that make him frustrated. Holst hadn't just fucked up the plan. But he almost cost him his soulmate, and for what? A few seconds of damaged film? The selfish suicidal bastard. He glanced back to make sure the house was still dark. He shouldn't have been surprised to see his sister walking towards him. He sighs. Glancing up at the window of the room Angel was in. Why was everything so frustrating. They survived the impossible. Telling his soulmate they were soulmates shouldn't be this hard. Not after what they went through.
“You know you could just ask the guy out,” Em says because okay, yeah, he might be staring at the house more than glancing.
OJ shakes his head. “Not that easy,” he admits.
“Why not? You may not say shit, but not exactly subtle either, brother.” When he doesn't argue, and his shoulders slump. She knows he won't say anything. “What changed?” She asks, her tone now softer and less teasing. “Sure, the guy almost died to help us, but like, you look like a kicked puppy even more than usual.”
“I saw his soulmark,” OJ says.
“So you think he’ll just leave you someday? I mean, probably, but that doesn't-”
“Doubt it,” OJ stops her.
“Doubt what?”
“Cuz…well…” he gestures at his own mark as he struggles with actually saying out loud, because even if it is just to his sister, saying it aloud makes it so much more real. But his sister knows him. She gets him. And he can almost see the moment she figures it out because her eyes change. There is a glint to them he hasn't seen since Jean Jacket dropped out of the fucking clouds.
“No fucking way,” she says. “He's your-OJ! And you haven't told him! How long have you known?”
“Since he needed help with bandages after-” he starts to admit.
“What the shit, OJ?!” She shouts. “That was days ago!”
“Will you quiet down,” he tells her. He glances at the house, then over at the rebuilt stables. “Lucky is-”
“Bullshit, this isn't about Lucky,” she says, quieter this time. “You don't want him to hear.” Her emphasis on the pronoun needed no explanation. Not even to OJ who often misses the subtleties of social interaction. He understands.
“I have a plan,” he states.
She scoffs. “To what? Wait until his anxious stupid brain gives him a breakdown or lets it slip that he stays here because he's scared to be alone and then you tell him it's probably because he is so damn close to his stubborn ass soulmate and a bond that is so close to being completed but you're a dumbass and-”
“Okay! Point taken,” OJ concedes, because yeah, he feels it. Every time he helps Angel with the bandages it's like his fingers burn at touching his soulmate’s skin. It's like their soulbond straining to be acknowledged. And if Angel had noticed he hadn't mentioned it.
“So you going to tell him?” Em asks. “because if you don't then I might-”
“You wouldn't,” OJ says with confidence. And he is right, she wouldn't do this for him. Sometimes her brother needed a kick in the ass to do something he has avoided. So she might not tell Angel, but she was going to make OJ’s life miserable until he does. He nods. “Tomorrow.”
“I’m gonna hold you to it,” she insists, but she is smiling, because Angel might seem like an odd match for her brother. She knows better. Even in the short time they'd known the nerd, Angel helped bring OJ out of the shell he found himself in after losing their dad. OJ had focused on the horses and trying to keep the ranch going. He hadn't really let himself feel. And then this nerdy tech guy wouldn't leave them alone and doesn't even bat an eye at OJ's odd mannerisms. Nah, he got OJ. Sure he would awkwardly ramble and fill the silence, but it was actually kinda funny. And the way he didn't doubt their story. Wanted to help. And that shit makes sense to Emerald now. That was probably his soulbond pushing him in OJ’s direction without the awkward idiot knowing. They were both idiots. Idiots that souls were made to fit together. Yeah, she wasn't going to let her brother chicken out on this one. It was for his own good.
Angel looks so confused. Em has been proverbially poking and prodding at them all day, and the poor guy didn't understand where it was coming from. After an awkward dinner OJ decided enough was enough. It was now or never. He just hoped Angel wouldn't be mad that OJ knew and didn't say anything. OJ still hadn't figured out how to say it. So he did the only thing he could think of. He grabbed the back of the collar of his own shirt and pulled it off.
“What-OJ-why-what are you-”
It was almost comedic how shocked Angel was, and OJ hadn't even taken his undershirt off yet. Okay, maybe it was stupid that he worried Angel wouldn't want him. Because Angel’s eyes had a look to them that was somewhere between awe and thirsty as fuck. And subconsciously, OJ clicks his tongue and Angel goes quiet. And that was something that was happening more and more as time went on. Angel really just got him. It should have been more obvious to OJ that they were soulmates. Like, Angel never got annoyed when OJ did that shit. OJ never really thought about how weird most people felt about the way he acted. He knew he made people uncomfortable. But Angel had maybe rolled his eyes now and again, but he never complained. Never told him he was weird, or that it made him feel any sort of way about it. He just went with it. Listened in a way no one else ever did. He read between the lines OJ didn't know how to offer up. It made him realize how exhausting it had been with anyone before Angel. And damn, that was something. This soulmate shit was no joke.
“OJ?” Angel calls him and right. He was only halfway done. The cowboy pulled his undershirt off and could audibly hear the way Angel’s voice caught in his chest, or maybe his throat. Either way, it was out there now. There was no taking it back. Angel could see his mark and clearly put the pieces together. OJ forced himself to look Angel in the eyes. And there were so many emotions on Angel's face OJ had to look away.
“I didn't…” OJ owes him an explanation. So he makes his mouth and tongue cooperate. Because his soulmate is looking at him with confusion and maybe a hint of hurt. Betrayal maybe? Anger? OJ wasn't great at reading people. But Angel tended to broadcast how he felt. Em had said Angel didn't just wear his heart on his sleeve, it was more like a neon sign over his head. So OJ made himself continue. “I didn't know how to tell you. Going through so much already, because of me, and then Em found out, I didn't tell her but-”
He is cut off when Angel damn near lunges at him and kisses him.
OJ is too stunned at first to react but Angel eases him into it because of course his soulmate would know what he needs. They stay like that until they hear Em laughing and the artificial sound of a phone camera shutter.
“Idiots,” she damn near cackles. “I'm out of here, don't do anything stupid,” she tells them. Not even waiting to hear any sort of reply. The screen door snaps closed behind her as she laughs her way out.
“You're not mad?” OJ asks. And Angel huffs, a noise somewhere between a humorless laugh and a scoff.
“Nah, not like you did it out of malice or some shit. And I'm pretty sure that was the longest sentence you've ever said to me, so clearly you mean it.”
“I do,” OJ is quick to offer. He had meant it. “I had a plan.”
That earns a chuckle from Angel. “Oh yeah? What was it?”
“Tell you once we both healed up, so you wouldn't have any obligation to stay or need me any-” Angel pulls away and punches OJ’s shoulder. Not hard, more to make a point. OJ looks at him with confusion.
“Would've been waiting forever, because even before the cuts and shit, pretty sure I needed you. Just didn't understand why. Now it makes a lot more sense.”
“Yeah, Em pointed out that wasn't a smart plan,” OJ says, rubbing at his neck now that there was some distance between them and he realizes how stupid that sounded. His injured soulmate had literally been at his fingertips, and he had just been too insecure to act on it. Wasn't exactly fair to Angel.
“No, it wasn't, but…” Angel’s pause has OJ looking back up at him as Angel closes the slight distance again. “I'm glad she did.” And OJ feels something inside him shift when Angel’s fingers ghost over the mark on OJ’s torso. Fuck, this was more exhilarating than anything he'd been through. Like that moment he dove from Lucky into cover and he knew he had pulled the run off without a major flaw. He had felt fucking high. But this. This made that seem like nothing. OJ reached over and pressed Angel’s gauze covered hand flat against the mark and Angel must feel it because he is securely in OJ’s space again, grinning as OJ meets him halfway this time in a kiss that says everything OJ can't find the words to say. And anything the action might have missed was filled in when OJ leaned his forehead against Angel's and closed his eyes. OJ’s bad leg aches from him being on his feet for so long. And he can't even imagine how much Angel’s bruised body hurts. But neither of them want to break the moment. It's fucking magical. A soulbond forming. There were still a few steps they'd have to go through for the bond to be complete, but it was starting to form. And after all the shit they had been through. It was unlike anything they could have imagined. A trauma bond had nothing in a budding soulbond.
Angel chuckles. “You know you're really stuck with me now. You thought I was hard to get rid of before…”
“You think I actually tried?” OJ counters.
“That’s…yeah, that tracks. But I thought it was kind of obvious how even after saying I wasn't going back to the umbrella monster, yet I did. That I wasn't going anywhere without you. I mean I saw you in my clothes man, and that is seared in my brain now. Then you go and just start stripping in the living room. I-”
OJ cuts off Angel's rambling with a kiss because the guy had a point. Angel had no obligation to help them. They had actively tried to get rid of him. Told him they didn't need his help, told him to leave. But did OJ ever actually want him to? Not really. He liked having someone there that knew more about that shit then they did. And fuck, when Angel had told Holst that they wouldn't just send Lucky out like Jupe had. Angel had stopped Holst's planning before he could even argue. All because Angel knew Lucky meant something to OJ and Em.
And as if Angel could read his damn mind, Angel tells him, “Don't think I could have survived that shit without you.”
“Me either,” OJ says with absolute honesty. “Killed me to think Jean Jacket-”
“Ha, like you could get rid of me that easily,” Angel says. And OJ could appreciate that. Angel had put up one hell of a fight to survive. Luckily for both them, he had succeeded.
“Didn't try to,” OJ says “Don't plan on it either.” The smile that earns him makes the cowboy feel warm and fuzzy inside. They had a lot of shit they needed to work out, but they'd figure it out. They'd do it together. And that was all OJ needed to know.
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