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All Souls’ Eve. It was supposed to be the happiest day in any young adult’s life - where everyone who had turned twenty-one from last October 31st to this one gathered for their soulmate awakening.
It was probably the day all young adults, herself included, looked forward to the most. But now that it had come and gone, Daisy just felt slightly sick.
She had always thought she would find someone on All Souls’. She had never imagined she would lose someone, let alone two someones.
Obviously, now that she knew, it made perfect sense. Of course Fitz and Jemma were soulmates. Of course.
But as she had stood there in the crowded auditorium, she had only been thinking about herself.
And, really, who could blame her? After tonight, anyone she touched could potentially be her soulmate. After tonight, all it would take was a simple brush of skin and she would know.
She remembered thinking it was sweet how Fitz reached for Jemma’s hand to reassure her right before midnight struck. And she remembered the look of wonder that had passed over both their faces when the clock chimed, how they had dropped their gazes in perfect synchrony to their joined hands.
Daisy shook her head bitterly, glaring down into her glass. She was happy for them, she really was.
She just wished their happiness didn’t come at the cost of hers.
Of course, she instantly felt selfish and guilty for even thinking that. Fitz and Jemma weren’t just going to drop her just because they were soulmates now; they were far too good people - and good friends - for that.
But she also knew that their friendship would never be quite the same again.
Sighing, Daisy swirled the shot around in her glass, then tipped it back and downed it in one swallow. She smacked her lips as the liquid burned its way down her throat, relishing the slight sting it brought to her eyes.
She had to be the only person on the planet spending All Souls’ Eve unhappy that someone had found their soulmate.
“Hey, it’s Daisy, right?” a vaguely familiar voice asked from off to her right.
Daisy turned around to see a tall, buff guy she recognised from somewhere-or-other drop into the barstool next to hers.
“I’m Mack,” he said, holding out a hand for her to shake. “Your friend Fitz and I are on the same engineering course.”
“Oh, right, yeah,” she said, shaking his hand and willing herself to shoot him a friendly smile. “You’re a friend of Bobbi’s, too, isn’t that right?”
A slight grimace flickered across Mack’s face. “Yeah,” he said, dropping his gaze to the bar. “That’s why I’m here, actually.”
Intrigued, Daisy raised her eyebrows. “Oh?”
Mack chuckled good-naturedly, lifting a hand with a slightly embarrassed smile and dropping it to the bar again. “It’s stupid.”
Now Daisy was really curious - and who knew, maybe someone else’s problems might take her mind off her own. “I’m sure it’s not stupid,” she said with an encouraging smile. “I know we don’t really know each other, but you can tell me.”
Her eyes widened as a thought occurred to her. “Wait… you weren’t in love with her or something, were you?”
“Barbara?” Mack’s eyes widened almost comically. “Oh, hell, no. I mean, not that she's not a great person, she’s just really not my type.”
“Mmm,” Daisy nodded, nudging her glass. “So why are you here, then?”
Mack was silent for so long that she started to feel embarrassed, cursing the alcohol for loosening her tongue. She had always been an outgoing kind of person, but a drink or two tended to lower her filter.
“I’m sorry, that was kind of personal,” she said, ducking her head and feeling her cheeks heat slightly. “You don’t have to tell me anything. At all.”
Mack looked startled, like she had jolted him from his thoughts. “What? Oh, uh, no, it’s no problem. I, well… You know what, I’m just going to say it.” He took a deep breath. “My two best friends just found out they were soulmates tonight. And the thing is, I’m really happy for them, but I just -”
“- wish things didn’t have to change,” Daisy supplied. “You know that they’re not going to stop being your friends, it’s just going to be different now. You can’t help but think that despite what they say, you’re going to be stuck as the third wheel, left feeling lost and alone while they share something really special and magical.”
Mack stared. “Yes, that’s it, exactly! How did you know?”
She spread her arms in an ironic gesture. “My two best friends found out they were soulmates tonight, too.”
“Oh,” Mack said. And gave a disbelieving laugh. “There I was, thinking I was the only one.”
She shot him a wry grin. “If it makes you feel any better, I thought I was the only one, too. I never thought I’d run into someone else who was just as miserable as me on All Souls’.”
“I’m not miserable,” Mack protested.
She gave him an arch look, gesturing around them at the run-down, seedy bar. “Then why did you come here?”
“Okay, fair point,” he conceded. “I’m a little miserable, maybe. But then I feel like such an asshole, you know? All Souls’ is supposed to be this magical, happy night, and there I am being bitter and spoiling their night.”
“Exactly!” Daisy cried, probably a bit louder than she should’ve, but whatever, alcohol. “You know you should be happy for them, and you are happy for them, but at the same time you’re kind of mad at the universe.”
“Precisely,” Mack said, nodding emphatically. “And you can’t help but wonder if it wouldn’t be a little easier if you had found your soulmate, too. Then you wouldn’t have to be stuck feeling so left out all the time.”
“Right?!? You’re a cruel bastard, universe,” she said, hugging her shot glass.
Mack gave her a wry look. “Cruel bastard or no, I feel a lot better now that I’ve met you. Got some of it off my chest, you know?”
“Yeah,” Daisy said, because she really did feel better. The problem somehow seemed a lot less overwhelming now that she knew she wasn’t the only one dealing with it.
Mack stood up, offering a hand to help her out of her chair. “In that case, there’s really no point in staying here.”
He had a point there. This place was the worst.
Still, Daisy couldn’t miss the significance of the hand offer. What if…
No point agonising over it. Either he was, or he wasn’t, and there was only one way to find out. Taking a quick breath to bolster herself, she put her hand in his.
Nothing happened.
She let the touch linger on for a second longer than she probably should have, just in case she had missed something, but eventually she had to admit that Mack definitely wasn’t her soulmate.
“Well, now that that’s out of the way,” Mack said, pulling her to her feet, “would you like to come over to my place and play Halo while we complain about cosmic unfairness some more?”
Daisy could feel a slow grin spreading across her face. He might not be her soulmate, but damn if an offer like that didn’t instantly make him her friend.
“That,” she said, giving him a wide smile, “sounds absolutely wonderful.”
//
It became an unspoken agreement of theirs to text each other Halo? whenever Fitz and Jemma or Hunter and Bobbi became too much for them, and they would meet up at whoever’s place was nearest for a long night of videogames and moaning to each other about the unfairness of the universe.
Getting it out of their systems was wonderfully cathartic, and it helped more than she had ever imagined to talk things out with someone who understood exactly what she was going through. Somehow, their complaining always turned into trading jokes and cringe stories, and Daisy always left feeling refreshed and great about herself again.
It really wasn’t that surprising at all, then, when she realised somewhere in the middle of their fifteenth sympathy session/videogame party that she had found a new best friend.
No-one could replace Fitz and Jemma, of course. But Mack filled the hole their soulmate bond had made, and understood her in a way the soulmates couldn’t.
It was great.
Mack caught her grinning at him, and asked, “What’s up, Tremors?”
She rolled her eyes at the nickname (Mack insisted he had never met someone who shook the controls so much while playing Halo - therefore, Tremors.)
“Nothing, dork,” she said, knocking her shoulder into his and shooting him a fond smile. “You’re just a really good friend.”
He lowered his controls to smile at her. “Yeah?”
“Yeah,” she agreed, smiling.
“Well, so are you,” he said, bumping her shoulder back.
Daisy was still smiling as she left his house an hour later, and she was so lost in her affectionate, happy thoughts that she completely forgot to watch where she was going.
“Oh!” she gasped as she walked smack-bang into someone coming the opposite way, the collision knocking all the air out of her lungs with a whoosh as she tumbled to the ground.
“Ow,” she said, rubbing her head as she sat up slowly.
“Oh my God, I’m so sorry,” a guy’s voice said, sincere and apologetic. “I didn’t see you there at all! That’s what carrying around ten anatomy textbooks will do for you, I guess. Anyway, are you okay?”
“Fine,” she said, tipping her head up to get a look at the person she had unceremoniously crashed into. He was tall and rather good-looking, with blond hair and blue eyes and yep, a giant stack of medical textbooks in his hands.
“I’m really sorry about that,” he said, flashing her a sincere smile over the stack of textbooks. “I shouldn’t be carrying around this many textbooks, but I was too impatient to make two trips.”
“No problem,” she said with a wry smile. “This one’s as much on me as it is on you. I was totally not watching where I was going.”
“Well, that’s a relief,” he said with an entirely too attractive grin. Shifting the stack of books to one arm, he offered the other one to help her up. “Anyway - here, let me give you a hand up.”
“Thanks,” she said, feeling the corners of her lips tug up in response to his grin. Infectious smile, much? Shaking her head at herself, she reached out to grip his hand and pull herself to her feet.
And -
Whoa.
Where her hand touched his, it was like a thousand tiny sparkles had settled on her skin. Her whole body filled with a giddy, tingly kind of euphoria, like every cell in her body was going “Eureka!”
“Whoa,” she said aloud, looking up at the guy with wide eyes.
He looked about as shocked as she felt, but slowly, a smile began to spread across his face. His blue eyes sparkled as he pulled her to her feet, his lips turning up at the corners in a way she found entirely too cute.
Daisy couldn’t help but smile back, running her thumb along the back of his hand to feel the little sparkles tingling through her body again.
Wow, wow, wow. The best way she could think to describe it was like all her happiest smiles had been rolled into a bundle of tingling sparks and sent tickling through her body.
It was amazing, and she couldn’t keep the grin off her face.
They probably looked like a giant pair of idiots, she reflected, standing in the corridor holding hands and grinning like they might explode of giddy happiness.
But she couldn’t find it in herself to care, because she had just found her soulmate!
“This is insane,” she said, looking up from their joined hands to shoot him a wide, incredulous smile.
He gave a short laugh, dropping his gaze to their hands before looking up at her with something like awe in his gaze. “Yeah. I mean, I know all the stories, but I never thought it would be -”
“- like this,” she finished, grinning up at him as she traced her thumb over his palm again.
Well wow. This feeling… it was like she would never stop smiling.
“I’m Lincoln, by the way,” her soulmate said, finally looking up from their linked hands to smile at her. He had a really nice smile, she couldn’t help but notice - all sparkling eyes and dimpling cheeks and his whole face lighting up.
She smiled back. “Daisy.”
“Pleased to meet you.” He said it like he still couldn’t quite believe it was real, which, fair. She felt much the same way.
Just… wow.
Lincoln ducked his head, glancing down at their hands again, before looking back up at her with frank blue eyes. “Honestly, I never thought I’d find this today,” he admitted, looking at her with a combination of awe and affection that made her flush pleasantly.
“I know what you mean,” she said, flashing him a wry grin. “I mean, I was just visiting my friend, and…”
She stopped mid-sentence as her brain caught up with her words, and she realised. Mack.
She felt like someone had dumped a bucket of cold water over her head, snapping her back to reality with an icy shock.
“Oh, my God,” she breathed, dropping Lincoln’s hand and ignoring the little pang of loss that pulsed through her body. “Mack!”
Lincoln took a half-step forward, like he might reach for her hand again, but stopped himself. “Is everything okay?” he asked carefully, his blue eyes concerned. “Who’s Mack?”
Of course she would get such a nice soulmate. She ran her hand through her hair the way she always did when she didn’t know what else to do, tugging at the short curls and wondering what on earth she should say.
Eventually, she settled on “Mack’s my friend."
"Okay," Lincoln said slowly, his face still very clearly confused.
Daisy sighed, fisting her hand in her hair. "He's… this is a problem."
"Was he in love with you?" Lincoln asked, shifting his anatomy textbooks awkwardly from arm to arm.
Fair enough. She would probably have thought something along the same lines if she had been in his position.
"No, no," she assured him. "He just… how to say this. We kind of bonded over not having soulmates."
Understanding flashed in Lincoln's blue eyes. "And now you have a soulmate."
"Yeah," she said, unable to stop the quick, happy little quirk of her lips at the thought.
He grinned back, but his face sobered up quickly. “So, uh, what are you going to do?”
Daisy chewed her lip. That was the problem, wasn’t it?
The easiest outcome would be to tell Lincoln to leave and pretend this had never happened. That way she got to keep their friendship intact without any problems or awkwardness.
That wasn’t fair to Lincoln, though - and it also wasn’t fair to her. Cliché as it was, she had never felt anything like that tingling, giddy happiness that coursed through her when she and Lincoln touched hands. It was effortless, like she had always been meant to touch him - which, she supposed, she kind of had.
And anyway, what kind of asshole sent their soulmate away right after meeting them?
But the thought of ruining her friendship with Mack… she didn’t even want to imagine it. Losing Fitz and Jemma had been hard enough, and she hadn’t even really lost them.
It would only be ten times worse with Mack - they had, after all, bonded over the way soulmate bonds changed things with their best friends. If he had to lose her the same way he had lost Hunter and Bobbi… she didn’t even want to imagine that aching loneliness and pain.
"I… don't know," she told Lincoln honestly, looking up and scrubbing a hand across her forehead.
He bit his lip, giving her a long, considering look.
"Tell you what," he said at last. "You don't have to decide right now. I'll give you my number, and then I'll go on to my lecture. You can call me whenever."
Daisy stared up at him, her lips parted slightly in surprise. She really did have the nicest soulmate ever, didn't she? It would have been perfectly in his rights - expected, even - for him to insist that she just suck it up and tell Mack, but here he was, offering her an out.
He raised an eyebrow slightly, and she found her tongue. "Thanks," she said, shooting him her warmest, most sincere smile.
Reaching down, she dug into her pocket and found her phone, swiping her finger over the lock and handing it to him. As she did, their fingers brushed for just a second.
She drew in a sharp breath.
Lincoln gave her a quick, apologetic smile, moving his hand away and leaving Daisy to stand, conflicted, as she watched him enter his number.
On the one hand, she really wanted to reach for his hand and bask in the feeling of absolute rightness and effortless happiness that came with the touch. But on the other hand, she knew that it would be cruel to him and to her, when neither of them could be sure they would even see each other again.
The thought made her flinch, which was honestly a little ridiculous. She had only known this guy for about five minutes, after all!
But then again, he was her soulmate.
Lincoln interrupted her train of thoughts by handing her phone back, making sure to shift his hand away before their fingers could touch.
Before she could second-guess herself, Daisy reached out and grabbed his hand. Little tingly tickles zipped through her body as she laced her fingers through his, licking her lips and tipping her head up to look at him.
"I'll call you," she told him, meeting his eyes and pouring a promise into her gaze.
Lincoln's eyes softened as he looked down at her, sweeping his thumb in a gentle circle over the back of her hand. "Okay," he said with a soft smile.
And then he was gone.
Daisy watched him round the corner, a small smile tugging at her lips as she glanced down at her phone.
He had entered his contact as Lincoln, and in the notes section he had added, we'll figure this out together.
She tucked the phone back into her pocket and smiled, walking slowly to the parking lot of Mack's building.
Yeah, she had a big decision to make.
But she had a really great soulmate to help her through it.
//
Daisy thought long and hard over the problem, but in the end she admitted to herself that there was really only one answer. She couldn’t deny she had a soulmate, that would only hurt her and Lincoln.
She would have to tell Mack eventually.
But first, she needed to gently prepare him for the idea.
The soulmate conversation wasn’t one they had had before, and she regretted that now. They both knew perfectly well they would find their soulmates eventually, so why on earth hadn’t they talked it out with each other?
Well, no. She knew why.
But, things were different now. They had to have the Conversation.
She felt only a little guilty for misusing the system as she texted him, Halo?
He answered within a few minutes, My place in twenty?
Closing her eyes, she pressed the phone against her forehead and took a deep breath to bolster herself. See you, she texted back.
She stared down at the phone in her hands for a second or so more, then made a quick decision and swiped over to Contacts. Before she could second-guess herself, she called Lincoln’s number.
He answered on the second ring. “Hello?”
“Lincoln,” she said, just the name enough to bring a small smile to her lips. “It’s Daisy.”
“Daisy,” he repeated, sounding surprised. But pleased, she thought. Definitely pleased.
“Um, yeah, hi,” she said, juggling the phone awkwardly as she pulled the apartment door shut behind her and locked it. “I called to tell you… I decided what I want to do.”
“Oh?” He was trying not to seem too curious, she could tell, and she appreciated that.
“Yeah,” she said. Took a deep breath and just said it. “Wanna go out with me?”
A surprised laugh crackled, staticky, over the line. “Really?”
“Absolutely,” she said, unable to stop a small, happy smile from playing across her lips.
She could just hear the grin in Lincoln’s voice as he answered, voice warm, “Well, in that case, Daisy, I would love to go out with you.”
She grinned. She honestly couldn’t help it. But something about the silence on the other side of the line told her Lincoln was doing exactly the same thing.
He sobered quickly, though. “What about Mack?” he asked, voice full of concern. “What are you going to tell him?”
“I’m… going to do it in installments,” she said, reaching for a curl of hair and looping it around her finger. “Drop hints in conversations for the next few weeks. I’m still not sure how I’ll actually tell him.”
“That’s a good plan,” he said. “The installments, I mean. Prepare him beforehand so it’s not as big a shock.”
“Exactly,” she agreed, leaning against her car door. “I mean, it’s not a perfect plan. But it’s something.”
“Something is better than nothing,” Lincoln agreed. “And, um, if you need any help figuring anything out… or you just want to talk, you know… you can call me. Anytime.”
Daisy felt a warm glow of fondness spread through her body. Her soulmate really was unbelievably nice.
“Thank you,” she said, and she meant it. “But I’d rather talk to you face to face. When are you free?”
“For my soulmate? Literally anytime,” he joked.
She rolled her eyes, surprising herself with the affection behind the gesture. “Be realistic, you dork,” she scolded. “Missing a lecture is stupid, even if I am your soulmate.”
“Good point,” he said, and he was grinning again, she could just tell. “I’m free the whole morning tomorrow, does that work for you?”
“Ten,” she said, tapping her fingers against the car door in a decisive gesture.
“Perfect,” he said, voice all warm and fond and making her want to melt into a pile of soulmate-shaped goo. “Meet you at Afterlife?”
Oh, he was definitely her soulmate. Afterlife Coffee’s espresso was - as the slogan said - like something straight from heaven.
“Deal,” she said.
She was still grinning like an idiot as she hung up, pressing the phone against her lips for a second.
Reality came crashing back as her car-keys dropped from her hand to the floor, jangling obnoxiously loudly against the bricked floors.
Right. Car-keys. Mack. The Conversation.
As she drove, she wondered how on earth she was going to broach the subject - other than complaining about them, she and Mack usually talked about soulmates as little as possible.
But as it turned out, it was a lot easier than she had dared hope - she wasn’t even the one who brought up the subject at all.
“What do you think it’s like?” Mack asked, lowering his controls mid-Halo to raise his eyebrows at her.
Daisy snickered. “What, losing? I think you’re about to find out.”
Mack rolled his eyes affectionately and bumped her shoulder with his, hitting Pause despite her “hey!” of protest.
“I meant, what do you think it’s like to have a soulmate?” he asked.
For a moment, Daisy was so shocked she could only blink stupidly at him. Then her brain caught up and she blurted, “amazing.”
“I, I mean,” she stammered, realising her mistake and backtracking as fast as she could, “it must be pretty great to have all those stories about it, right?”
Mack nodded slowly, but his gaze was troubled. “Yeah… But is it worth losing a friend over?”
Daisy felt as though her blood had turned to ice. Had he read her mind or something?
Oh, God, did he know?
“I…” she began, and swallowed hard.
But Mack beat her to it, waving a hand. “Don’t worry about it,” he said with an air of carelessness that seemed almost forced. “I guess I’m just in an extra somber mood today, ’cause Bobbi and Hunter were totally off in their own world.”
Daisy did her best to smile at him, but her insides were churning all over again. Oh, God, what was she going to do?
He obviously thought that getting a soulmate would mean losing each other - and how could she tell him after that? How could she go, oh yeah, Mack, you know how Bobbi and Hunter are always off in their own little soulmate world, leaving you behind? Well guess what, that’s me too, now! Great, see you.
She couldn’t do it.
But… she had made Lincoln a promise just that morning.
Oh, God, this was such a mess.
“Sorry,” she managed to grit out after a minute of white-faced, horrified silence. “I gotta go… bathroom.”
Mack didn’t say anything, but she saw the concerned look on his face as his eyes followed her out of the room. It shook her up badly.
Closing the door behind her, she sank down slowly onto the bathroom floor and dropped her head onto her knees.
Okay, she imagined her foster mom May saying. Keep calm and take stock of the situation. Once you know that, you can figure out how to solve the problem.
She didn’t think it would be that easy, but May’s advice had never failed her before.
Okay. The situation.
She had a soulmate, and she had asked him out on a date the next morning (which, in any other situation, would be a great thing.)
The problem was, she and Mack had gotten so close because neither of them had soulmates. How on earth did she tell him about her soulmate without breaking the friendship that had literally formed because neither of them had soulmates?
There was no way she could do it.
Unless…
Unless she didn’t tell Mack about her soulmate!
If he didn’t know she had a soulmate, he couldn’t get upset about losing her because he wouldn’t know he had lost her. If he didn’t know she had a soulmate, he couldn’t feel like he was being left behind, because he wouldn’t know he was being left behind!
For the thousandth time in her life, Daisy sent a stream of silent thanks to her foster mother. The May Method had helped her out so many times in life, and it hadn’t failed her this time, either.
She would have to ask Lincoln if he was okay with it, of course. But she didn’t think it would be a problem.
May, she thought, getting up from the bathroom floor and checking her reflection in the mirror (a little pale, still, but her big smile made up for it), you are a genius.
//
As it turned out, she was right about Lincoln - and the universe was right in picking him to be her soulmate.
Their date at Afterlife Coffee went better than she had even dared hope - after some slight awkwardness in the beginning, they got along like a house on fire, talking and laughing like they had known each other for years.
And it really did feel like she had known him for years. After just a few hours, she knew the names of his parents and sister (Corrine, Luke and Amanda) and would probably be able to point them out in a crowd; she knew his weirdest fear (peanut butter, since the time Amanda smeared his whole mattress with the stuff) and teased him about it; and she knew he was studying to become a doctor, hoping to specialise in pharmacotherapy so he could help people through withdrawal (because there had been a year, the toughest one of his life, where he had fallen in with a bad crowd and really struggled to give up drinking.)
In return, he knew all about how she had bounced from foster family to foster family until she found a home with May and Coulson; how her weirdest fear was walking alone down a dark hallway after an incident involving Fitz, mop-in-cupboard pranks and Paranormal Activity; and how she was studying computer science because she was trying to devise a program to make the foster system better for young orphans.
What she liked most about spending time with Lincoln was the feeling that she could genuinely tell him anything. Maybe it was because he was her soulmate, maybe it was because he was just such a nice person, but whatever the reason, she felt like there was nothing she couldn’t tell him.
And, you know, he was really funny. He had a love for stupid puns, which made her roll her eyes and punch him lightly, but she was grinning all the while.
There was something about Lincoln and smiling - it was like whenever she saw him, she wanted to smile.
It was nice. Really, really nice.
And that was before she had even kissed him!
That, as she found out, was something entirely different.
She had kissed people before (honestly, which twenty-one-year-old could truthfully say they hadn’t?) but it had never been anything like this. It had never been special.
With Lincoln, it was special.
He was walking her home after their coffee date (she had said he didn’t have to, but he had insisted, and she got to hold his hand and feel the soulmate tingles all the way so she wasn’t really complaining.) They were talking and laughing, their linked hands swinging between them, and Daisy was basking in the warm, comfortable glow of contentment - so much so that she barely even noticed when they got to her room.
“This is you,” Lincoln said, giving their joined hands a gentle tug to stop her.
“How do you know?” she asked, quirking her eyebrows playfully at him.
He rolled his eyes, nudging her shoulder gently with his, and she had to fight to keep the smile from spreading across her face. “You told me, remember?”
“Did I?” They had come to a stop in front of her apartment’s door, both of them reluctant to let go of each other’s hands and say goodbye.
His gaze was soft as he looked down at her, full of a warm kind of affection that made her body tingle in a way that had nothing to do with their soulmate bond.
“Yeah,” he said, his eyes still full of that soft, warm fondness. He shifted a slight step forward, gently untangling their fingers to cup her cheek, and Daisy’s breathing shuttered as his warm hand brushed against her skin.
She closed the last bit of distance between them, pressing up on her toes and tilting her head to look at him. They shared a long, warm look before her eyes fluttered closed.
Their first kiss was soft and slow and perfect, his one hand cradling her cheek and the other wrapped around her waist, pulling her gently against him.
He tasted like coffee and happiness, and Daisy felt as though time had slowed right down while her heart-rate sky-rocketed. The space around them evaporated, until all she was aware of was the press of his lips against hers, and a feeling like an electric shock of joy shooting through her body.
When they had to break apart for breath, she pressed her forehead against his, letting reality rush back around them with the slow grin that spread across her face.
If this had been a movie, she would have been glowing golden with happiness.
“Well,” Lincoln said, looking down at her with an expression that could only be described as star-struck.
She ducked her head, a laugh on her lips as she bumped her nose gently against his. “Yeah.”
“I guess I’ll… see you?” he asked, phrasing it like a question towards the end as he carefully untangled his fingers from her hair
“You will,” she promised, placing her hand over his on her cheek for a moment and biting her lip as a surge of giddy happiness flooded through her. “Same time, same place tomorrow?”
“I’ll be there,” he said, giving her hand a quick squeeze before taking a step back. “Just you try and stop me.”
“Now why would I do that?” she asked playfully, tilting her head as a grin tugged at her lips.
He gave a short laugh, ducking his head and flashing her a last smile. “Then I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Yeah,” she said, still feeling a little out of it, but happier than she could ever remember being before.
She watched as he walked away, the grin refusing to fade even when he was long out of sight.
Closing her eyes, Daisy collapsed against the wall, sliding slowly to the floor and tipping her head to grin up at the ceiling.
Oh, she was in so deep. But it was the best feeling in the world.
//
Honestly, Daisy was living an enchanted life. She had found her soulmate (and spent most of her days in a dreamy, happy daze because of it) and was still as close as she had ever been with her best friend.
Some deep part of her knew it couldn’t last, that there were just too many little things that couldn’t be sustained, but she pushed the thought firmly down. For now, everything was absolutely perfect, so why go about worrying about what-could-be’s?
Of course, that was when the universe decided to tell her that she really, really should have been worrying about what-could-be’s.
She and Lincoln had met up at Afterlife Coffee, as usual, and he was walking her home when they noticed a little boy in tears on the side of the road.
“Hey, hey, hey, little guy!” Daisy said, untangling her fingers from Lincoln’s to drop down beside him, wiping at the smudges of dirt and tears on his little face. “What’s wrong?”
“M-my puppy,” the little guy sniffled, pointing into the park across the street. “H-his leash broke, and h-he ran away.”
“Oh no!” Daisy exclaimed, looking up at Lincoln and widening her eyes. “Linc, won’t you see if you can find him?”
“‘Course,” Lincoln said, giving her and the little guy a warm smile and jogging over the street.
Daisy smiled at the little boy. “There, you see?” she said. “Lincoln will find him for you in no time.”
“Thank you,” he said, blinking away his tears to give her a watery smile. “You’re a very nice lady. What’s your name, nice lady?”
“I’m Daisy,” she said, holding out her hand for him to shake.
He took it, brown eyes looking seriously back up at her. “Ace.”
“I’m pleased to meet you,” she said, reaching out to pluck a little piece of leaf from his curly hair.
“Do you really think Lincoln will find my puppy?” he asked, taking the leaf from her and spinning it between his fingers.
“Of course he will!” she said warmly, brushing some hair off his forehead. Looking up, she caught sight of Lincoln crossing the road again and grinned. “In fact, there he is now! That’s your puppy, right?”
“Mindy!” Ace called happily, rushing over to scoop the little dog from Lincoln’s arms. He nuzzled his head into her soft fur, and she wagged her tail happily.
“Thank you,” he told Lincoln seriously, still holding the puppy close. “And thank you, miss Daisy.”
Daisy smiled down at him, getting up and looping her arm through Lincoln’s. “It’s no problem,” she said warmly. “We’re glad we could help.”
Ace tipped his head up at them, his brown eyes curious. “Are you two soulmates?” he asked.
Daisy turned her head to share a smile with him, the soft sparkle in his blue eyes making her chest flood with warmth. “Yeah,” she said, leaning over to give him a quick peck on the cheek. “We are.”
Crash.
Daisy jumped, almost pulling Lincoln’s arm out of its socket as she whipped around to see the source of the noise.
And there, a tray of coffee and muffins smashed on the ground beside his feet and an expression of pure shock on his face, was Mack.
//
The world fell off its axis.
Daisy kept hearing the crash of the tray dropping to the floor as her vision tunneled to the look on Mack’s face.
Shock. Horror. Betrayal.
“Mack,” she said, dropping Lincoln’s arm and raising her hands, her voice catching in her throat as the gravitas of the situation sank in on her. “Mack, I can explain…”
Mack shook his head slowly, his eyes flicking from her to Lincoln and back again. “Did you just say he’s your soulmate?”
Daisy swallowed hard, struggling to form words past the painful lump that had suddenly formed in her throat. “I…”
“Daisy,” he said, taking a step forward and locking eyes with her, his gaze hard. “Tell me the truth. Is this man your soulmate?”
She gave Lincoln a helpless look. No, no, her mind was screaming silently. This isn’t how it’s supposed to go!
Mack wasn’t even supposed to find out at all, and now he had learned about it in the worst way possible - not even from her!
He was going to hate her so much.
But what could she do? She couldn’t lie, not like this.
“Yes,” she said quietly, looking up at him with eyes pleading, though she knew it was in vain, for him to understand and not hate her.
Mack took a step back, shaking his head incredulously. “I don’t believe this.”
“Mack, I am so, so sorry,” she said through the thick lump in her throat. “I know I should have told you, but I just… I couldn’t bear the thought of losing my friend, or of causing you that pain again.”
Her gaze had blurred with tears as she went on. “I’m so sorry I kept it from you. I promise I didn’t do it because I didn’t trust you or anything like that. I did it because I didn’t want to hurt you. And I know you can’t understand that, but…”
“Daisy,” Mack interrupted, holding up one hand. “I get it.”
And to her total shock, he started to laugh.
“I… can’t… believe… this,” he wheezed in between laughs, shaking his head. “Here I was, trying to figure out how to tell you about Elena for weeks now, and you already had a soulmate!”
Daisy blinked rapidly, her mind struggling to process what she was hearing. “Tell me what?” she stammered, shaking her head as if that would clear it. “Who’s Elena? What’s funny?”
Mack sobered up quickly when he saw how confused and hurt she still was. “Elena,” he said, his voice uncharacteristically gentle, “is my soulmate.”
What.
The.
HELL?
“So you see,” Mack said, when she failed to reply except for doing her best open-mouthed goldfish impression, “I really do get it. I know exactly how you feel, and why you did what you did.”
“Wait,” Daisy said, raising her hands in a time-out sign. “Wait, wait, wait. Let me get this straight. You have a soulmate too?”
Mack’s gaze softened in the way Lincoln’s always did when he looked at her. “Yeah,” he said simply.
Daisy shook her head slowly, her mind racing to catch up.
That meant… that had to mean… he didn’t hate her.
He didn’t hate her. He understood.
She shook her head slowly, not quite believing it yet. “How long?”
Mack tilted his head to one side, considering. “Uh… about three weeks, now. You remember that time when you told me I was a really good friend? Yeah, it was right after that, as I was taking out the trash. I crashed right into her, would you believe, while she was jogging.”
It was Daisy’s turn to stare at him in numb astonishment. “Wait… you’re not serious? That day?”
“Yeah, why?” Mack asked, obviously confused.
Daisy gave a slightly hysterical laugh. “Because that’s the day I met Lincoln!”
Mack stared at her for a moment in mute shock, then burst out laughing.
And after a moment of incredulous silence, Daisy joined him.
“So you’re telling me,” she said, when she had calmed down a bit, “that we met our soulmates on the exact same day?”
“And tortured ourselves over it, needlessly, for the same three weeks?” Mack added.
“Oh my God,” she said, hiding her head in her hands and groaning out loud.
“My sentiments exactly,” Mack said dryly.
She looked up and met his gaze, actually letting herself believe it for the first time. Mack knew about her soulmate, and he wasn’t mad. She wasn’t going to lose her best friend at all!
Daisy gave a slightly watery laugh, and launched herself into Mack’s arms. “This is such a mess,” she said, only slightly muffled in his shirt.
He laughed, a deep rumble in his chest that made her really grin for the first time since that awful shock five minutes ago. “Isn't it just?”
“But I’m really happy about it,” she said, taking a small step back to smile at him.
Mack hugged her tight again. “Me too.”
Daisy stayed in his embrace for as long as she could, then patted his arm to let him know she couldn’t really breathe anymore. Mack hugs were the best, but they tended to get a little, well, bone-crushing after a while.
She stepped back, and caught sight of Lincoln making his way back up the road towards her. Oh, he was the best. He must have taken Ace and tactfully retreated as soon as he heard Mack’s name.
“Are you good?” he asked when he reached her, brushing his thumb lightly across her cheek and looking down at her with concerned eyes.
She gave a small laugh, stepping closer and snuggling into his side. “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you how good.”
“Oh,” he said, quirking his eyebrows. “I was not expecting that.”
She rolled her eyes and turned around so she was facing Mack again, looping her arm through Lincoln’s and leaning comfortably against him. “Mack,” she said, “I’d like you to meet Lincoln, my soulmate.”
If the word soulmate gave her a warm, glowy feeling in her stomach, it was nothing compared to the sheer, delighted happiness she felt when Mack grinned at Lincoln and shook his hand. “It’s great to meet you.”
There was only one thing missing now. And right on cue -
“Mack?” a voice with a distinctly Spanish accent asked, and Daisy turned her head to see a pretty brunette woman standing a little uncertainly behind Mack.
“You must be Elena!” Daisy said, untangling her arm from Lincoln’s and holding it out for the other woman to shake. “I’m Daisy.”
Elena’s eyes widened, and her gaze darted immediately to Mack, shock written all over her features. Obviously, she had gotten the whole soulmate-friendship story, too.
“Oh, no,” Daisy said, waving her hand and shooting the other woman a reassuring smile. “It’s cool. I’ve got a soulmate too.”
Elena’s eyebrows shot up. “Are you serious?”
Daisy laughed and shared a glance with Mack, still not quite believing how good this had turned out. “Yeah,” she said. “Quite serious.”
“Well, then,” Elena said, shifting her shopping bag to the other arm, “would you like to go on a double date?”
Daisy couldn’t have stopped the grin that spread across her face even if she had tried - but why would she try?
“You’re my new best friend,” she informed Elena. “That is the single best idea I’ve heard in a long time.”
And, though she never thought she’d say this, she found herself thanking the cosmos for making Fitz and Jemma and Hunter and Bobbi soulmates when it did. Because if it hadn’t, she would never have met Mack, and she might never have met Lincoln either.
As she walked down the road, talking and laughing with one arm looped casually through Mack’s and the other laced with Lincoln’s, she thought -
Maybe the universe did know what it was doing.
The End.