Marked ❤️

Chapter 2

Steve groans as he hears his alarm go off in the morning. He sits up in bed as the blanket falls off his chest. He sighed, remembering the hazel eyes from the day before as he got out of bed, pulling on pants. He grabbed his t-shirt, passing the mirror as he began to pull it on. He stopped, noticing a mark on his shoulder. He stopped in front of the mirror, removing the shirt as he inspected the black mark on his right collar bone and shoulder. It was tree branches in the shape of a wreath. "NAT!!" He turned around when he heard Natasha rush into his room. He brought his hand up to his shoulder, "look."

Natasha smiled, running her hand along the mark, "look at you. You did meet someone yesterday."

He shrugged, "but what does it mean?"

"I don't know." Natasha shrugged as she inspected the branches. "Looks like a laurel wreath. I don't know Steve. Who was she?"

Steve blushed as he pulled his shirt on, "I'm not sure. We didn't really get to talk much. She rushed out of the class before we could."

Natasha grinned, "well you'll just have to go to class again. When is the next one?"

He groaned, "not until next week."

Natasha laughed, "you'll be fine. You waited this long. What's one week Steve?"

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"Oh no." Daphne groaned as she looked up into the mirror, seeing the marks on her left collarbone. There were three stars along her collarbone, one red, one white, and one blue.

"What's the matter?"

She looked up as her sister, Amelia, entered the bathroom, nudging her out of the way of the mirror. Daphne brought her hand up to her mark, "nothing."

Amelia chuckled, grabbing her hand, inspecting the marks, "aww. Daph. Who are those for?"

She shook her head, "I don't know."

Amelia grabbed her sister's hand as she tried to walk away, "hey. Did you meet someone yesterday?"

Daphne nodded, "there was a new guy in my art class. We didn't really talk though."

Amelia laughed, "because you ran out before you could?"

Daphne blushed, "maybe."

"I thought the point was to meet people and put yourself out there and move on."

Daphne groaned, "I just couldn't talk to him, okay?"

Amelia sighed, "yeah, okay. Get dressed, we need to get to the bakery."

Daphne nodded, going into her room, looking at the mark again as she sighed. She pulled on a sweater, hiding the mark.

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Steve felt his heart racing as he entered the art class. He sat in the same spot, seeing the spot next to him where Daphne had been before, empty. He stopped the teacher, pointing to Daphne's chair, "where is Daphne?"

The teacher smiled and shrugged, "she called this morning and said she wouldn't be able to make it today."

Steve nodded, feeling his heart sink to his stomach as he stared at the empty chair. Maybe she knew who he was and that scared her away. Maybe it wasn't her at all. He shook his head, no, he knew it was her for sure. He couldn't stop thinking about those amber green eyes and red brown hair. Was it possible for her to be his soul mate but he not be hers? He groaned internally, not really knowing how this was supposed to work. What if he did find her and she didn't like him? What if they didn't get along?

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"Steve! How was class? Did you see the girl again?" Natasha grabbed Steve's arm as he passed her in the hallway. She saw he was upset as she removed her hand, "what's the matter?"

He shook his head, "no. She wasn't there. I don't know why. This is stupid. This whole soul mate, soul mark thing. It doesn't even make sense! How do we even know we would be compatible? How do I know she would even like me? It's obvious she knew who I was and is now avoiding me because who could possibly want to date Captain America?"

Natasha chuckled, "come on Steve. You are putting far too much pressure on yourself. And of course you're compatible, that's the whole fucking point to soul mates."

He rolled his eyes, crossing his arms, "language Nat. Ladies shouldn't talk that way."

She laughed, taking a step towards him, "I'm no lady, Rogers." He scoffed as he began to walk away but Natasha stopped him again, "just calm down Steve. Don't get yourself so worked up. Maybe she had something else to do and she couldn't make class today. Don't overthink."

Steve nodded, "yeah. Okay. If you need me, I'll be in my room."

Natasha sighed as she watched him saunter off down the hall to his room, obviously feeling defeated. She looked down at her star. At least Steve knew where his soul mate was; she was somewhere in the city. Natasha's soul mate could be anywhere in the world. She ran her thumb along the star, taking comfort in the fact it still appeared, knowing he was somewhere out there. Maybe he was even running his own thumb along his mark as she did. She sighed, retiring to her own room as she tried to stop thinking about him.

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"Thanks for coming to help me today, Daph. I know you had to miss your art class."

Daphne nodded at Amelia as she swept up the floor of her sister's bakery at the end of the day. "It's all good. I might not go back anyways."

"What?! Why?" Amelia came out from behind the counter to approach her sister, "isn't that where you met him?" She pointed to Daphne's marks.

Daphne shrugged, "so? If it's so important for us to be together then we'll meet somewhere else, right?"

Amelia sighed, "why make it more difficult than it needs to be? Why are you trying to circumvent your destiny?"

Daphne groaned, handing the broom to her sister, "I don't want a destiny! I just want to be left alone!"