Part of him wishes he had, now. But he’s not sure Jamie would have been better off, not sure he’d be safer now. He’s tried to check in on his baby brother once or twice, but he’s never managed to actually do it. It’s too hard and he thinks he’s too weak.

But he’s gotten the hang of letting other people see him. He’s reunited with his former roommates and introduced them to Ace. She’s dragged him along to meet her friends and to meet the only family she has left. So it’s time for him to do the same, to introduce her to the only biological family that matters. (He won’t admit it, hasn’t said anything to Ace or to them, but the thieves are his real family now.)

There are a few perks to being dead, it turns out. One of them is the lack of a heart-beat and he appreciates that he can’t feel his thundering away in his chest. He knows his stomach would be in knots if he still felt that sort of thing. But despite the lack of physical symptoms, he still feels nervous about this whole thing.

He won’t say it, but he wishes he could hold her hand.

Ace has to be the one to knock. Kit would do it, but he doesn’t wanna burn any excess energy, considering the amount of effort it takes to reveal himself to… well, anyone other than her. Jamie is in college now; Kai and Ace helped Kit track him down. Kit guesses their parents are still paying for things, based on how nice the apartment building is, but he can’t say he blames him.

It’s weird when Jamie opens the door. He offers a confused, but polite smile to Ace, who gives him her trademark grin in response. She starts to offer a greeting when Jamie’s eyes find Kit and, well, he looks like he’s seen a ghost. And seeing as he has, Kit can’t blame him for that either. He feels like he’s seeing one too, if he’s being honest.

It’s been years since he’s seen his baby brother and Jamie’s not really much of a baby anymore. Taller, maybe taller than Kit. His cheeks have lost the baby fat and Kit’s never seen him with facial hair. It’s just some five o’clock shadow, but it’s still the sign that his brother’s growing up. He’s sure their expressions are mirrored. He’s sure Ace will tell him about it later.

“Kit?” Jamie’s voice cracks as the word escapes, despite it being barely above a whisper.

He forces a smile. “Hey, Jamie.” He’s not sure what else to say, looks at Ace, remembers why he came here. “And, uh, this is Ace. My girlfriend. I wanted you to meet her, you know?”

Jamie spares another glance at Ace, tries to offer a smile, before his gaze is back on his brother. “Where have you been? What the fuck?”

“Long story. Can we come in?”

He purses his lips and Kit can’t blame him for being mad. He hasn’t mentioned being dead, so now it just looks like he bailed and left the younger man to deal with their parents by himself. And, well, he did, at first, but now? Not so much.

Jamie offers a nod, opens the door a bit wider, steps out of the way. Ace follows Kit inside. He doesn’t need to use the doorway, but one step at a time.

They sit in the living room. Well, Ace sits. And Jamie sits. If you look closely, Kit hovers, but only if you know what you’re looking for.

“I am dead,” he starts, because Kit is blunt and this is how he handles things. Ace elbows him, probably both to illustrate the point and to remind him to be a little more gentle with his baby brother. He launches into the whole story, glossing over the handful of years where he was actually alive but their parents lied about it. He’ll tell Jamie about that one day, but that day’s not today. Today is mostly to check up on Jamie and to introduce him to Ace, because she’s important and he deserves to know about her.

“So you were the only one who could see him at first?” he says, studying Ace.

She nods. “We think it has to do with the numbers, maybe? But we’re not really sure.”

Kit can see that Jamie has questions about that, but he doesn’t really want to get into how Ace’s powers work.

His gaze falls back on Kit and honestly, he’s never been so nervous around his little brother in his life. “So what took you so long to swing by?”

He shrugs, reaching for Ace’s hand and just letting his own float above hers. It’s comforting in its own weird way. The best they can do, he supposes. “Just waiting for the right time? I had to figure out a way for you to see me, first. And then I had to figure out if I really wanted to haunt my little brother.”

“I’m taller than you.” Kit’s brows furrow in confusion at the response and Jamie elaborates, “I’m not exactly little anymore.”

Ace laughs and the sound has Kit relaxing a little, drawing a smirk to his lips. “Yeah, well, you’re always gonna be small stuff to me. Jesus, you had a growth spurt though, didn’t you?”

He nods, looking back at Ace again. “Yeah. Seems like we both missed a lot, huh?”

“You have no idea,” Ace answers and this time it’s Kit who’s laughing.

“Sounds like you guys have had some adventures.”

“She’s trouble,” Kit says, grinning over at Ace.

“Oh, so it’s my fault?” she teases.

He puts on his most innocent face. “What trouble can a dead guy possibly get into?”

Jamie snorts. “Even I don’t believe you’re staying out of trouble without her.”

Kit shrugs, unable to deny that and changes the subject to something simpler, brings up school, tries to learn about his brother’s life. Jamie’s studying law, apparently, and wants to become an environmental lawyer. He hasn’t told their parents and won’t, until he graduates. They’ll probably stop paying for school if he does. Kit doesn’t blame him for keeping that one a secret. Kit wouldn’t blame him for keeping any of it secret.

Jamie asks about Ace, about how they met, about how the whole ghost/living person thing works. She explains the pun of her name, that it doesn’t matter that he’s dead-- even if it would be nice if they could at least hold hands. She gives him the abridged version of their meeting story, which is almost as weird as the full version, really. He’s not sure Jamie understands all of it, but he still nods along and listens to what she has to say. They play a board game, because it was something they did when they were kids. Kit tells him Ace will win. She does. She says she didn’t cheat. Kit’s not sure she can actually ignore the numbers completely, even when she tries. But he can’t read her mind-- thank god that shit didn’t follow him to the grave-- so he’ll never really know. It gets late; they decide to head home. Kit promises to visit more often. Jamie says he’d like that.

He comes back a few days later, while Ace is busy doing something with Cham. He doesn’t knock and walking through the wall scares the shit out of poor, unprepared Jamie. He apologizes for the broken cup and he’d clean it up if he could, but Jamie’s left to pick up the mess.

“Knock, dude. Knock or you’ll give me a heart-attack.”

“Sorry. I’ll work on it.” He watches for a few minutes as Jamie mops up the liquid before beginning to sweep up the glass. “Did you like her?” he finally asks, the question soft.

Jamie pauses, looking over at his brother. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you care about anyone that much.”

He shrugs. “Ace is… special.”

“So I noticed,” he answers, resuming the sweeping. “She seems… wild. But so are you.”

“Think she’d make a good sister-in-law?” he wonders.

“You’re dead; you can’t get married,” he answers, frowning slightly and looking over at Kit once again. The broom continues sweeping without Jamie bothering to touch it. It seems he’s gotten the hang of the telekinesis better than Kit got the chance to.

“Logistics. I’ll worry about it later. I do think I’d like to call her my wife one day.”

He smiles, a soft laugh escaping. “Mom and Dad would hate her.”

“Mom and Dad hated me.”

“I’d like to get to know her better, but yeah. I think I could get used to calling her family.”

Soulmates will always find each other. That’s what the title means. Two people meant to interact, meant to change one another. Sometimes, it’s beautiful and amazing and full of love and hope.

It’s the ghost of a drug addict meeting a girl with a gambling problem. Picking up the broken pieces of each other and putting them back together into something new, something better.

Or the ghost of a gambling addict meeting a boy with a drug problem and figuring out all the ways in which they fit together, the ways in which they both belong in the spots they’re standing.

It’s the son of two villains meeting a hero who doesn’t see all the ways which her powers can change the world. Finding a way to be more than the world expects of them, more than they expect of themselves. Falling apart, drifting apart, and having the universe-- or a girl with world jumping powers-- show them how lucky they are to be together.

The son of a politician meeting an Olympic swimmer. Scheming together to overthrow corrupt politicians. Falling in love. While their siblings scheme their own plans together and watch the way the pair make each other smile.

But sometimes-- sometimes it’s ugly and awful. Sometimes it isn’t even love at all. It’s a passing acquaintance or a toxic codependence.

It’s a blue eyed boy with a nice smile but an attitude problem coming across a blonde girl itching for a fight. A boy the capitol didn’t favor because of the attitude against a girl the capitol favored for hers. She kills him, because it’s what you do in the games and he lets her, because he never wanted to fight anyway. He doesn’t haunt her. Neither of their souls linger in the world.

A drug addict meeting a gambling addict and getting a drink together. The bad habits only spiral from there. They encourage each other in the worst possible ways but neither of them can seem to leave. It ends more broken than it began.

Two people who know the same telepath, but take different routes in life and never meet. The telepath mentions the telekinetic to the semi-psychic. After hearing about him a few times, she thinks he sounds like an asshole. She’s not wrong. They never meet. And their lives are different for it.

Soulmates find each other. Always. Under every circumstance. A knight meets his princess. A prince meets his knight. Two ordinary people, living ordinary lives stumble into each other. Two heroes, two villains, aliens, witches, mermaids, humans, a cat and a dog with a strong friendship. It’s not always love. But it is change. It does mean something.

kit dies and none of them are ready for it. they tried, oh did they try to keep him clean, but it wasn’t enough.

the funeral is small. viv suggests they try to contact his family. kit’s never talked about them, but he must have one. kai knows the truth, not because kit told him but because kai looked it up once, if only to move some stuff around and make sure the warehouse was legally in kit’s name. (he’ll have to update that again, he thinks. a project for later.) so it’s just them, really. a few people from the neighborhood that knew kit, but it’s a small affair.

the warehouse feels… weird, without kit. it’s something none of them have ever talked about but it was his warehouse, his home. theirs, too, but not in the same way. there’s something missing now.

they rework the cooking and cleaning schedules. they clean out his room, donate most of his stuff. viv cries. kai’s never seen her do that before. kai cries, makes sure to call all of his siblings, tells them how much he loves them. (it worries them and he knows it, but he needs to do it anyways.) robin cries, too, misses his own sisters, doesn’t call them. he tries to hold it together in front of everyone. he doesn’t really succeed, but no one is up for judging.

someone has to be in charge. somehow it becomes kai. he keeps kit’s rules in place, because they’re good rules, and they decide that the warehouse is open for anyone who needs it. within reason, of course. they’re not going to house a serial killer. or an additional one, depending on how you view viv.

vivian is… less herself, for a bit. the only time kai has ever seen her be serious was when she saved his life the night they met. it’s weird to see her smile less. she’s always seemed so unfazed by things. this fazed her.

robin gets clean. it’s rough. he asks his roommates for help and it’s not fun. there’s a lot of puking and robin feels like shit. at some point he thinks he’d be better off dying. but he does it. because he can’t put kai and viv through this again. and though his powers are still their own form of hell and he doesn’t know how else to dull them, this seems like a wise decision. after all, it’s the only thing kit’s ever asked him to do. he just wishes he had done it while the other was still alive.

It’s weird to tell his roommates about Ace, but he knows he can’t just not mention her. Kai saw the soulmark when it turned black. He asked questions, despite knowing how Kit feels about questions. He hoped that the black mark would mean the end of things, but then there she was.

He hoped she would realize that he’s not worth her time, that he’s not the type of person anyone deserves to be stuck with, but of course, the marks know what they’re doing and they were paired for a reason, so she sticks around. They get along and he grows unreasonably attached to someone who’s already dead.

(Will they be united when he dies? Get to enjoy some sort of afterlife together? Even if it just means wandering earth together forever, he thinks he’d be okay with that.)

Regardless, he’s attached to her and he’s pretty sure he’s on the path to falling in love. Maybe not there yet, but this is the closest he’s ever come to feeling that way. So he’s gotta mention it to his roommates.

It’s his turn to cook dinner on the night he decides to tell them. Normally Ace would be here with him, making some snarky commentary about his shit cooking, but she’s off with Cham or Kavi or both of them, which means now’s as good a time as any to mention her to the other thieves.

Dinner is spaghetti, because it’s hard (not impossible as they all know, but still hard) to mess up spaghetti and he wants to get at least one thing right tonight, in case everything else is the mess that usually comes from Kit trying to do anything.

Despite the perfectly good kitchen table and chairs— bought from a thrift store, but paid for with stolen money— they eat dinner in the living room. They always eat dinner in the living room and sometimes Kit wonders why they even have the table, but he’s made no effort to be rid of it.

He pokes at his food for a little while, not hungry enough to take a bite, before he finally tells them, “I met my soulmate.”

Kai looks at him, brows furrowing in confusion. “Did you have more than one mark?”

He shakes his head, rolling up the sleeve of his shirt so that Viv can see the black mark too.

“Doesn’t that mean they’re dead?” Viv asks, looking at the darkened mark with a sadness that seems out of place on her usual cheery face.

He nods. “She is.”

“Then how—” Kai begins, but Kit already knows where the question is going and cuts him off.

“Apparently, soulghosts are a thing. Not an uncommon one either.” It’s something he’s still processing, so he’s not surprised to see the look of confusion his friends exchange.

“I’m not gonna lie, dude, that sounds kinda shitty,” Viv points out.

He nods in agreement. “Yeah, try living it. It gets shittier. I, uh, I like her. A lot, actually. Which, I didn’t think would be a thing even before the mark turned black.” He supposes the universe only gave him one soulmark because he only needed one. Ace is it. She’s perfect for him. There’s just the one, very, very, big problem. Her being dead. “But it’s definitely a thing.”

“Are you gonna be okay?” Kai asks, ever the concerned one. Kai is such a Mom Friend, even when he’s as much a criminal as the rest of them.

Kit offers a shrug, because he doesn’t know the answer and he tries to avoid lying to them. “As okay as ever, I guess.” Which, more often than not, isn’t very okay at all. “She’s uh, starting to be more visible to people who aren’t her soulmates.” She’d said something about the B team being able to see her the other day, although not without a lot of effort on her part.

“Soulmates?” Viv questions. He doesn’t blame her. It’s still weird to him to be matched up with someone capable of so much love when he’s always felt capable of so little.

Another nod, before continuing his previous point. “If she can get the hang of it, I’d like you guys to meet her.”

Kai smiles. “We’d love to.” Vivian nods, echoing the sentiment. He appreciates the level of support they offer, they’ve always offered.

“Do you wanna tell us about her?” Vivian prompts and normally he’d bring up the questions rule, but in this case, he’ll make an exception. Because yeah, yeah he does. He wants to tell the world about her, but the world wouldn’t care. His friends will.