It's dusk when Blake wakes up cuddling Dewi. He stiffens a second before relaxing again. How many chances is he really going to get to be in this position? He wants to enjoy it while he can.

After a while, Dewi starts to stir. Blake carefully detangles himself so as to not get caught clinging to him and slips away to the bathroom. He freezes when he catches his reflection in the bathroom mirror.

No, no, no… How long…? His soulmarks were showing again. Those ugly vines were on full view for all to see… Dewi could see them...

Blake’s glad he slipped away before Dew woke up. He’s about to make it disappear again when he notices something… Another rose, this time a black one beside the left side of his mouth. What kind of clues were that? A red flower on his side and a black one on his mouth…. Were they his soulmate’s favorite colors? Physical features? Was the position supposed to help clue him in to what the colors mean? The whole thing was just so… frustrating.

A noise from the other room distracts him. Right… he has more pressing matters to think about… Namely, hiding the massive crush he has on the boy he was cuddling not ten minutes ago. He hides his soulmark and walks out.

“Morning, sunshine…”

“Blake... it’s, like, almost night….” There’s an uncomfortable silence for a second or two before Dewi backpedals a bit. “I mean, I can understand the confusion… I think that’s the best sleep I’ve gotten in a while so it does sort of feel like morning…”

“R-really?” There’s no way it has anything to do with Blake, right? It’s just a coincidence…

“Yeah, but now I’m hungry. What do you say we go grab dinner?”

“Sure.”

Twenty minutes later found them sitting at the buffet with a plate of food each. At one point, Blake gets a bit of food on the side of his mouth and Dewi reaches over to get it for him without thinking. Blake instinctively shies away from his hand, some part of him afraid of Dewi being able to feel that which isn’t visible. He stops when he sees the sliver of hurt in Dewi’s eyes. Shit. Wrong thing to do… How to fix this?

“Sorry. I was just surprised…”

“It’s fine. You just have… uh…” Dewi gestures to his mouth. Blake purposely wipes the wrong side. “No, no, right here…” Dewi goes to wipe it away and this time Blake stops himself from pulling away.

“T-thanks…” Dewi’s eyes widen slightly. “What?”

“I…” He looks a bit... embarrassed? “I don’t think you meant to…” Dewi seems to be having trouble knowing how to word things. “Your marks suddenly appeared…”

There’s a split second of panic on Blake’s face before he’s burrowed into the hoodie he has on. “Sorry… I don’t know why they’ve been randomly appearing lately. Has…? Has anything like that happened to you before?”

“Not that I know about, but why are you apologizing?”

“My marks.... They’re creepy. You shouldn’t have to see something so grotesque….”

Dewi goes to slide Blake’s hood back down to better look at him. “They’re not creepy or grotesque. It’s actually quite stun-” He freezes when Blake’s face is visible. “That… wasn’t there this morning…”

“I know…” Blake’s voice was little more than a whisper. “It showed up while we were asleep…”

“New beginnings…”

“What?”

“That’s one of the meanings of a black rose. They can represent new beginnings...” Dewi smiles at Blake like they’re the only ones in the restaurant.

“R-really? Would you maybe know what meanings are behind the other one too?”

“The blue rose? It’s usually associated with a love that’s considered impossible… Most of the time it isn’t impossible, the person just thinks it is…” Dewi notices the confused, almost shocked look on Blake’s face. “Oh… not that one…? Wait, did you not know you have a blue rose on the back of your neck?”