Chapter Text
2011
Phil keeps his soulmate tattoo covered most of the time. It’s easier that way to just avoid the relentless scrutiny of the Toronto media. He only removes it when he showers at home, away from the prying eyes of his teammates and the press. Underneath his leather cuff is a rudimentary crown which is unhelpful because crowns can mean anything from company logos to royalty to family coat of arms and after going through page twenty on Google Images Phil just gives up. The tattoo’s still a faint grey color, not yet turned the black of having met your soulmate.
He doesn’t like to look at it. Most people’s turn black by the time they turn eighteen and Phil’s already over twenty and he’s beginning to think that he’ll never meet his soulmate. His parents and siblings are optimistic, though Amanda and Blake met theirs pretty early on and Phil doesn’t think it’s fair that he’s still waiting for his. He’s not envious of them, he just feels like he’s not a part of the club that everyone else is in.
He’s playing a game against the New York Rangers and trying to ignore the dull roar of the crowd. There’s a forward on the other team that’s giving the Leafs a fit. Phil hadn’t seen him before, but then again there are a lot of people in the league who he doesn’t know. His wrist starts aching in the middle of the second period, but Phil can’t remember a slash or a hit that could have caused it. He ignores it, though and continues to play throughout the game. He’s had worse injuries before and doesn’t feel like a sprain.
They lose that game, though Phil had a decent performance, and he hurries through the line of Rangers shaking all of their hands. He heads home, ready for the night to be over because he’s fully aware that there were more expectations for him.
Even though he showered at the rink, he takes another one at home, trying to get off the remaining sludge from the game. He’s not really paying attention but he glimpses a black mark on his wrist. He pauses and looks directly at the mark. It’s now a black crown.
“Fuck,” Phil says aloud. He hops out of the shower and turns his wrist to the mirror. A black crown. “Motherfuck,” he yells loud enough so that Stella curiously wanders towards the bathroom and scratches at it.
Phil lets her in, but doesn’t pay any attention to her. He met his soulmate and he didn’t even realize it. Of course, that would just be his luck. He calls Amanda up almost immediately.
“I met my soulmate today,” Phil says not even allowing Amanda to greet him.
“That’s great!”
“I don’t know who it is though,” Phil says.
“What do you mean?” Amanda asks.
“I met them today and I have no clue who it was. The tattoo turned black but I don’t know when.. Do you know how many people I met? How many autographs I signed for fans today?” Phil’s voice is edging on hysteria.
“Calm down,” Amanda says. She pauses until Phil’s breathing returns to a somewhat normal pace. “Did your wrist start hurting?”
“Yeah,” Phil says.
“Do you remember exactly when?” Amanda asks.
“I think during the second period, but it could have been earlier and I just didn’t notice,” Phil says.
“Okay, well that assumes it was during the second period. So it’s probably a Ranger,” Amanda says.
“Goddamn it,” Phil says. If Amanda’s right then it’s another hockey player and Phil hadn’t wanted to be with another hockey player. There were already three in the family and he wanted a normal life at home.
“Hold on, I’ll e-mail you the current roster of Rangers,” Amanda says. There are a few that are already bonded. They have been out in public, have families and Phil can eliminate those, but most of the Rangers still have their tattoos covered up. Phil can’t blame them because he does the exact same thing, but after he’s Googled the Rangers and their personal lives he’s only able to narrow the list down to about a dozen possibilities. He can’t say definitively if he’s touched some of them in the past and it requires skin to skin contact to activate the tattoo which is a part of the job, but not something that would have necessarily been affected if they had previously touched before through gloves or padding.
He sighs and tucks the list into his hockey bag hoping that along the way his teammates’ gossip and new information with help narrow down the list. Amanda seems optimistic though and some of her positivism rubs off on Phil. There are twelve possibilities and that’s twelve more than he had had at the start of the day. Phil still has no clue what the crown symbolizes, maybe his soulmate is a royal descendant? Who knows, but it’s a start.
The next day he hesitates before putting his leather cuff back on to conceal the tattoo. Most people wait until their tattoo turns blue- the sign for requited love and permanency to stop wearing the cuff- but Phil wonders if he showed his and the media wrote about it, maybe someone would come forward. Then he thought about that plan and how that plan could backfire terribly and puts the cuff back on. He figured he’d look out for any news about a Rangers player getting the black ink and then move from there, but in the weeks to follow, no headlines of the sort are printed. Phil stops looking. He still has the 2011 Rangers roster tucked in the bottom of his gym bag, but his optimism fades. Maybe Amanda was wrong, maybe it wasn’t a Rangers player. Then a darker thought started to creep into his mind. Maybe they just didn’t want
him
.