#ranser

Polyfrogs

“You see them yet?” Lardo asked, a little tooloudly for Derek’s tastes. He shot her a look. She made a wonderful personalassistant, as discreet as could be, but sometimes he wondered if she did thesethings just to mess with him.

“Not yet,” Derek told her. He leaned back againstthe banister. Of all the public events where it was necessary to uphold astrong image, masquerade balls were not one of them.

Lardo hummed. Her jet black mask gleamed in the chandelierlight. “If you have to extend the ball for a fourth night in a row, Idoubt your mother will be as accommodating, possible future fiancés orno.”

“I thought you liked planning parties?” Derekteased. “Wasn’t it part of your job description?”

“Yes and no,” Lardo said. “Compromise and improvisationare just one of my many, many talents.”

Derek eyed her until she smirked and added, “But I willsay this has been pretty fun.”

“Thought so,” he grunted, turning his eyes back tothe crowd.

His vantage point was a good one, but he debated aboutlifting the half-mask from his face. It was equally efficient at obscuring hisidentity as well as his eyesight. The risk was a little too high, however. Ifsomeone recognized the Prince, even hidden in a far corner of the ballroom,he’d have no chance of finding who he was looking for— either of them.

It hadn’t been hard to figure out where the dark haired boyhad come from, for all it seemed his first object of interest had never heardof the word “subtle” in his life. Though Derek hadn’t quite figuredout his name, there were only so many bakers in the nearby cities. It mighthave been easier with specifics, but with all the palaces resources at hisdisposal, Derek could have narrowed his place of work figured out in no time. Buthe was trying to use a more romantic approach.  All the young man had gushed about on thefirst night was how swell he found these parties to be, anyway. What did ithurt to throw another?  (Or two?)

The other one was harder. All he knew was that the was aredhead and couldn’t seem to stay by Derek’s side for more than a minute. Derekhad only caught him for a few moments on the second night, which was whatconcerned him the most. If the redhead had only shown up briefly on the secondnight, who was to say he would come on the third night at all? He was sure thatif only he could catch him once more, just once more minute in proper lighting,he could memorize the pattern of freckles that crept from under the teen’stattered mask once and for all. Then Derek could find him without throwinganother masquerade. Even if it meant he had to go door to door to every housein the kingdom to do it.

Without warning, Lardo nudged Derek’s side with her elbow.“Hey. You said one of them had red hair, right?”

“Why?” Derek asked, but as he followed her line ofsight, it was obvious. The freckled subject of his dreams was making his way toone of the side doors, but at that same moment Derek spotted the other one, theone who was all smiles and excitement, passing by at the exact same time.Heading in the opposite direction, of course. Derek cursed.

The red haired one was would probably flee sooner ratherthan later, but the baker’s son was more likely to disappear in to the crowd.Derek had never had to choose between them both at the same time before. He’dbeen lucky until this point. For a moment, he cursed the ridiculousness of theuse of masks at this ball, even though he had originally signed off on the ideain the name of romance.

“Tag team?” Lardo suggested. He nodded.

He headed one way, and she went another. There would nothave to be a fourth night of festivities if Derek had anything to say about it.

1. soulmates au

Ransom/Holster

Inspired by: x

Adam didn’t ever think about the names tattooed on hiswrist.

Well, no. That was a lie. He did think about it. He justdidn’t think about it constantly.

“Ransom and Holster” wasn’t the most commonsoulmark he had ever seen. Not that any two soulmarks were alike. They came inpictures or words or even weird splotches of color tacked on a person’scollarbone like an afterthought. Every soulmark came in various shades of weird,and Adam considered himself rather lucky to have one that came in actual words.

Adam could see where the “Holster” came in, alittle, if he tried really hard to compare it to his last name. And if hetentatively accepted the second person to be himself, it still left a bigquestion as to who “Ransom” was. Was it a nickname, like“Holster” could be? Was it derived in any way from his soulmate’sname, or was it like one of those things where “Dick” came from“Richard”? With so many people in the world who ended up withmysteries for soulmarks, it sometimes made Adam’s mind reel that he was luckyenough to at least get an idea of what to be on the lookout for.

So, yeah, Adam did thinkabout it. It was just that in the middle of his first official hockey practice atSamwell wasn’t exactly the best time.

He was talking to the other d-man he’d found so far, Justin.He seemed like a pretty alright guy, for all Adam had been speaking to him forfive minutes. Kind of handsome too, not that Adam was going to out and out sayso to the guy’s face. It was only his first day, after all.

Somehow they had gotten on the topic of old hockeynicknames. Adam was sure he’d be getting a new one now that he was in a newplace. He didn’t really mind. “Birker” had been alright, but it hadnever really been anything he absolutely loved. Not that he’d ever allowed hisold teammates to ever call him what was inked on his wrist. If“Holster” really did belong to him, he wanted it to come as naturallyas possible.

“Oluransi,” Justin said after Adam introducedhimself. “Back in Toronto, the boys called me Ranser.”

Adam nodded. It was a solid name. It would definitely catchtheir attention on the ice.  

A guy with a sick mane in the works and the thickestpornstache Adam had ever seen in his life skated by breezily, in an out with aquick comment like the words meant nothing to him. They hit Adam like a ton ofbricks.

“Oh shit!” The guy said. “We should call youRansom and Holster. Sick name for a pair of d-men.”

The word felt upside down and sideways all at once. Or, no,that was wrong. It felt more like the world hadbeen upside down and sideways all Adam’s life, and now the universe wasfinally reorienting itself.

Justin— Ransom—caught his eye. Their voices seemed to be in synch.

“Ransom and…”

“Holster?” Justin— his soulmate— finished.

Ransom and Holster. Ransom and Holster.

Something clicked in to place. Everything was sharp and in focus.

Adam looked at Justin. Justin looked back. They were bothbeaming.