Call It Even

Otabek stood from his crouching position with a frown, someone had been picking flowers from his garden off the row closest to the fence again. He scanned the road in front of him, despite knowing the thief would be long gone. The small robberies had been happening for a few days now, two or three more of the Camomile flowers were gone each day, and it frustrated Otabek. Nine flowers were gone now; Otabek decided he had had enough. Though the robberies were small now, the thief might start taking more, and Otabek couldn't afford to lose any of the products he could be selling. As he stomped up to the front door of his flower shop, a plan formed in his mind.

'This was a stupid plan.' Otabek thought to himself while he poured himself his thirteenth cup of coffee. His eyelids drooped as he stared out the front window of the store and onto the small flower garden he kept up in the front yard. It was five am, and Otabek had been here all night. That was his grand plan: stay up all night and watch the garden to see who came along and stole the flowers. So he set up a chair to look out the window, made sure he had enough coffee to last him the night, grabbed a blanket, and settled down to keep watch for the night. He had started to regret it at around two am, but it had been too late to quit then, so he persevered.
At five thirty, when nothing had happened all night, Otabek started to think that it had all been a waste of time, when something caught his attention. The man who owned the tattoo shop next door was exiting his store. Otabek had never talked to him, despite them being next door neighbors, but he had been informed by their mutual friend, Mila, that his name was Yuri. He had first met Mila on his flower shop's grand opening day. She had burst in with some freshly made piroshki and introduced herself, welcoming him and informing him that her best friend Yuri (whose grandfather had made the piroshki) owned the tattoo parlor next door. Visits from Mila became regular, but Otabek had never met Yuri. He'd noticed Yuri plenty of times: noticed how his eyes were so strong and determines, and noticed how he always wore leopard print in some form.
However Otabek hadn't seen Yuri around in a couple of days, and the man looked sadder than he'd ever seen him. Yuri tied his long hair back into a ponytail and took a deep breath before starting to walk down the street. To Otabek's surprise, Yuri stopped in front of his shop, leaned over the fence, and picked two Camomile flowers. Out of all the kinds of people Otabek thought might be stealing his flowers, Yuri was the last he would think of. Yuri continued walking down the street, looking sadder than ever. A wave of concern washed over Otabek and he quickly made a decision on what to do.
He stood and exited his shop, starting to follow Yuri at a distance, not wanting to be noticed. He followed Yuri through the winding streets, almost losing him once, but somehow Otabek followed him until he reached his destination. Trepidation grew in the pit of Otabek's stomach as he began to suspect why Yuri was stealing his flowers as Yuri entered a grave yard and Otabek followed. The grand ornaments of the graveyard seemed out of place in the cold and melancholy atmosphere, as if some architect thought it would be easy to cheer up grieving people with beautiful fixtures.
Suddenly Yuri stopped and kneeled in front of a gravestone. Otabek's suspicions had been correct. Flowers that Otabek recognized as the other Camomiles from his garden adorned the small and simple grave, and Yuri reached out a trembling hand to trace the letters on the headstone, which Otabek couldn't make out. Otabek heard Yuri speaking softly and moved closer to him to be able to hear what he was saying.
"I miss you so much," the younger man's voice cracked slightly, "it's only been a few days, but you're gone forever. Goddammit Grandpa, why did you have to go?" His voice sounded angrier now, "why'd you leave me alone?" Otabek heard his voice dissolve into sobs and frowned, realizing too late that maybe he shouldn't have come this close. He shifted, almost turning to go, but Yuri must have heard something because suddenly he was on his feet, standing chest to chest with Otabek and wiping away his tears.
Yuri's eyes widened in shock and recognition as he stared down at Otabek. Otabek did his best to keep his face straight and emotionless. They stayed that way for a few moments, not moving, not speaking, not until Yuri gathered up some courage.
"I'm sorry for stealing your flowers," Yuri muttered out, not taking his eyes off of Otabek's, seemingly avoiding the topic of what Otabek had witnessed.
Otabek felt his entire body heat up and knew his face was showing a bright blush. He knew those words, he would know those words anywhere. Those were the words that he had memorized, the words that he always would. Those were the words scrawled across his left hip, that he read and traced with his fingertips every day. His heart raced and he stared silently up at Yuri, too shocked to respond. Only when Yuri broke eye contact, a frown on his face, and moved as if to step away did Otabek speak. He said the first thing that came to mind, "If you give me a free tattoo we can call it even."
Yuri froze, his eyes snapping back to Otabek's shock showing on his face as his hand flew to the place his soul writing was located. With his hand tightly gripping his forearm he cursed colorfully, which made Otabek blink, did Yuri not want him as a soulmate? But then he found himself in Yuri's tight embrace with Yuri sobbing onto his shoulder. He hesitantly wrapped his arms around Yuri.
"It...it will be ok Yuri..." he said, unsure of how to respond in the situation. He had never been good with crying people.
Yuri nodded, "G-grandpa said he would make sure I was taken care of, that I wouldn't feel alone."
Otabek closed his eyes, feeling his hurting soulmate shake in his arms, "You won't feel alone Yuri, you'll never feel alone again."

A year later they visited the graveyard on the anniversary of Yuri's grandfather's death. Otabek and Yuri put together a bouquet of flowers carefully, choosing only from Otabek's best. Yuri made sure their were plenty of Camomile flowers in the bouquet, saying that they were his grandfather's favorite and that they were much important to their meeting to forget. Yuri laid the flowers on the grave and sat down next to it. Otabek hung back for a moment before Yuri motioned him forward.
As he sat down Yuri took his hand and began speaking to his grandfather's headstone, "Hey Grandpa, this is Otabek, my soulmate. I told you about him before. He's so wonderful, and he makes sure I'm not alone, just like you did." He bent his head down as tears filled his eyes and Otabek pulled him into his arms.
"I'll always take care of him," Otabek promised both the stone and his grieving soulmate.