Accidental Soulmate (H2O) [VeeMark]

13~

Trigger warning for directly implied/referenced sexual assault and mentions of violence.

In which Vee finds Mark and saves him.
~~~

Vee is going out of his mind. Nothing has been working out for him so far. Literally nothing. His motorbike broke down in the middle of bumfuck nowhere which made him miss the swim team's bus departure to Bangkok, and then it started to rain — and it wasn't just a light drizzle. He'd called Nuea but that fucker wouldn't pick up, so he had to wait for P'Yoo to come and get him with their dad's old truck. It feels like ages. Vee even starts to worry that he's somehow been forgotten, glancing anxiously at the hastily receding battery percentage in the corner of his phone screen until he can finally hear the rattling motor of a car in the humid distance, growing louder with each second.

His older brother laughs straight into Vee's face as soon as he sees his sorry state; wet hair plastered to his forehead and Converse all soaked through with mud. The white, sleeveless t-shirt is stuck to his upper body like second skin, where a damp patch on his chest causes it to go more or less see-through, showcasing a faint outline of his soulmark. He probably looks like a drowned rat. Fantastic.

At least the rain has stopped by now, pale sunrays filtering through the gloomy clouds, creating a silver lining around their curvy shapes. However, the country road is still muddy, making it hard to get through even with a truck, brown dirt splattering everywhere.

P'Yoo rolls the car window all the way down and sticks his shaggy head out to leer at his unlucky brother, one hand kept steadily on the steering wheel.

"Get in, Romeo," he says in lieu of a greeting while snickering obnoxiously, eyes a pair of teasing crescents. Vee merely gives Yoo a deadpan stare as he flashes him the middle finger, which only prompts more laughter from his brother.

Vee shakes his head ruefully at the obnoxious behavior and busies himself with pushing his deadweight of a bike around the car to load it onto the truck. His feet keep sliding in the mud as he struggles to guide the two-wheeler through the tracks in the road, knuckles going white as he clutches the handles. The helmet clatters noisily against the tank where it hangs around Vee's wrist.

P'Yoo doesn't even get out to help him. Instead, he leans comfortably back in his seat and turns up the volume on the stereo that blasts one of their dad's ancient CD-mixes, drumming his fingers to the familiar rhythm against the worn surface of the steering wheel.

"Are you eating lunch at home?" Vee's brother asks loudly over the music, glancing fleetingly over his shoulder, seeing Vee's form move just outside of his field of vision when he opens the tailgates and pulls down a ramp with a clamoring noise. "Mom wanted to know," he clarifies.

"No," Vee shouts from the back, panting faintly as he finally manages to push his bike onto the truck and starts strapping it up to keep it stable during transport. "I'm going to Bangkok once we're done here. Can you drop me off at the city center?"

"What? You're still going?" Yoo glances at the rearview mirror, where he sees Vee pull on the tie-downs, muscles straining in his arms. The plaid shirt he's got tied around his waist flaps around when he squats down to inspect the back tire on his motorbike. "It's going to be late when you arrive. Do you have a place to stay?"

"Yeah, yeah," Vee brushes off his concern as he stands up and jumps off the truck easily, starting to reel the ramp back up again. "I'll manage," he says through labored breaths. "Bar said there's room at the hostel the swim team is staying at."

"A hostel?" Yoo echoes skeptically, as if he hasn't spent a whole year after his graduation backpacking throughout the country with particularly no budget, finding himself sleeping beneath the bare night sky on too many occasions than he'd like to admit.