Stephen
Everyone is born with a mark on their forearm.
Some have little stars or hearts. Some have random symbols or words or numbers. But everyone was born with one. These marks help you find your soulmate, since only they have the matching one. The worst part of having a soulmark, whenever your soulmate is in pain, the mark burns. The more severe the pain, the more severe the burn. Many believe this makes it easier to find your mate, but it doesn’t make the pain any less bearable.
Some didn’t want to find their soulmate, and if they did wanted to remain friends. Some believed you could find love with someone who wasn’t your soulmate. Some didn’t want to find love.
Stephen was one who wanted to find his soulmate, as many others did. He had a relatively simple mark, just the number 3000. He knew many people who had very intricate designs, like one of his colleagues had a dragon woven around her forearm. But Stephen liked his mark, and thought that it would be easy to find his soulmate.
Boy was he wrong.
He hadn’t exactly felt anything pain from the mark until around February 2008. It randomly spiked with an almost unbearable pain. He had been in the middle of surgery, when the pain spread from his forearm, so badly he could barely move. Thankfully, he was right handed and his mark, was on his left arm, so he didn’t make any unnecessary incisions. But, it still hurt like hell.
He later heard that the billionaire, Tony Stark had gone missing and wondered if his mark had anything to do with it, then chidded himself. There was no way in hell that he, was destined to be with Tony Stark...right?
For the next three months, his arm hurt more and more often, and he found himself checking the news daily for updates on Tony Stark's whereabouts. It was foolish, seeing as he didn’t even know if that was his soulmate for god's sake. But something about him just made Stephen believe it to be him.
The day he was found, Stephen was overjoyed, and he still didn’t quite understand why. He still didn’t know for sure that they were soulmates Maybe it was because you followed the news so frequently? A small voice told him. He wanted to believe it, but some part of him couldn’t just take that as the truth. So, he decided to talk to Christine.
“I don’t know..have you not been able to find a picture that his arm isn’t covered? That would help a lot.” Christine said the next day, after he explained the situation.
“All of the pictures I could find of him, either he had a bracelet of some sort covering his arm, or it was too blurry for me to see.” Stephen replied dejectedly.
“Well, how about you try to talk to him? Maybe you could find something out?” Stephen could tell that she was trying to give false hope, and no matter how much he appreciated her attempts, they didn’t really help.
“Yeah, because that would go over well. “Um, hi I think we’re soulmates because I stalked you for the last three months and when you got kidnapped my arm hurt for those three months.” Face it, Chris. It’s hopeless.”
“I guess you have a point…” Christine trailed off, until her eyes lit up, the way they always did when she had some sort of idea.
“What is it?” Stephen sighed.
“What if, you went to one of Starks many charity dinners? He hosts those all the time!” She exclaimed. Stephen did see that she had a point.
“Yeah, I guess. But, how would I fit in going to one of those high- class dinners?” He asked. Christine gave him one of her “looks”.
“Steph. I think with all this, you forgot, you’re Doctor Stephen Strange, the famous neurosurgeon. You’re more well known than you give yourself credit for. You’d fit right in.”
“Alright, I guess you have a point.” Stephen consented. “So, do you know when the next one is?”
“Actually, there’s one coming up in about a week or two.” She said excitedly.
“What a coincidence.” Stephen mumbled. “Alright, one last thing. Will you come as my unofficial date?” She rolled her eyes.
“Fine. But, you better do your absolute best to find out.” She said, and turned to leave.
“No promises!” He called over his shoulder. She gave a mock glare and with that, Stephen had a plan.
Well, half a plan.
13% of a plan?
An idea.