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Seven years. Seven months. Seven days. 19 hours. 56 minutes. 26 seconds.
You'll never forget that sequence of numbers. The first ones your Timer had ever read. Three sevens was extremely lucky, the nurse said after sanitizing the Timer and wrapping it in gauze and tape. It was all superstition, of course – Everyone turned out happy with their soulmate. No ifs, ands, or buts. If your soulmate died... you would soon follow. It was one of the common arguments against the use of Timers. It's terrifying to know that your other half was dead, and you'd soon be following, but they were so widely accepted and used that it didn't hold much ground.
Every child was told of their soulmate for as long as they could remember. Once you reached the proper age, you got a free timer, government funded. For girls, it was usually upon their first menstrual cycle that their body would take well to the Timer. For boys, it was usually more difficult. They required blood tests to examine levels of hormones and chemicals in their body to get a more accurate reading.
You received yours 5 months after your thirteenth birthday, three days after your first period. The panic of bleeding was quickly snuffed by the excitement of finally getting your timer. A few of the other girls and boys in your classes had gotten theirs. Some were blank, some read long dates, some read short ones. Sarah's timer read 7 days when she'd gotten hers, and lo and behold, one week later, a new student arrived at their school. Her soulmate.
Your mother did the math – you'd be 21 when you met your soulmate. That was the perfect age, she said. Meeting your soulmate was an exciting thing, and you didn't want to have to wait years and years for them. Your aunt didn't meet her soulmate until she was fifty-eight, but when you saw her with your uncle, she was unbelievably happy.
Going through high school, more and more people in your class met their soulmates. Sometimes you wished that you could meet yours so soon, but you tried to comfort yourself by remembering the fact that fate had decided the absolute perfect time to give your other half to you. Nothing could be done by rushing it.
In eleventh grade, on the first day of the second semester, you sat down in the only empty seat in your math class. The tables sat two, and next to you was a brown haired girl that you knew only as Molly. She was nice, and your small talk was pleasant. That was, until you rolled your sweater's sleeves up to your elbow, and she spotted your Timer.
"No way!" She exclaimed and pulled her bracelets up her arm – one advertised donating blood, the other was a livestrong band, "We match!"
She held your wrists next to each other, and she was absolutely right. Both Timers read the exact same numbers, "That's so cool! We're friends now, right? Do you have Senior privileges? Can you leave for lunch? Let's get Burger King."
And that's how you met your best friend and self-proclaimed platonic soulmate, Molly Jameson.
One night, after a month of being friends, she came over for a movie night. As the two of you sat in your blanket nest on the floor, surrounded by potato chips and soda, Molly turned to you and grabbed your shoulders, "I wanna make a deal with you."
"Okay? What kind of deal?"
"Let's be best friends, first off."
"That's easy. Okay-"
"Cool! Okay, secondly, let's make a pact. A little one."
"Is it a suicide pact? This sounds awfully like a suicide pact," You asked hesitantly, pulling away from her hands. Molly laughs hard enough to snort, and waves her hand at you in dismissal.
"No! God, no. I was gonna say, since we have matching Timers and all, right down to the very second, we'll meet our soulmates at the same time. Why don't we make a pact to try our absolute best to be with each other at that very moment. Let's meet our soulmates together. It's a one in a lifetime chance, and I kinda wanna share it with you. You've been such a good friend."
"Of course, Molly," You lean forward and yank her into a hug, "We're best friends, on the condition that you try not to make me agree to a suicide pact."
You and Molly get into the same college, and share an apartment together in the meantime. She goes for Marketing, you go for Software Development. Every day, the two of you toast your coffees together and read your timers. It seemed so far off – meeting your soulmate, spending the rest of your life with them. You wondered if your soulmate was looking at their own timer and thinking of you.
Sometimes, when it's the small hours of the morning and you're laying in bed, alone yet again, you run your fingers over the device in your wrist, thinking about the day you'd meet them. January 24th, 2015. It seemed so far away, but someday it would be upon you. The sun would rise on that day, and so would you – alone, for the very last time.
There were some people without Timers. Some religions who believed that it was against God's will to try and find a loophole in his grand plan. If you were meant to meet your soulmate, it should be natural. It shouldn't be forced, they argued. There were others who didn't want to believe that fate had already chosen their lover, that they were forced to be with a predetermined person for the rest of their lives.
Looking at those numbers, quietly blinking in the darkness of your room, slowly ticking toward the happiest moment of your life, you couldn't imagine going without it.
After graduating college, you settled in at a small development company that specialized in android apps. Molly had gotten a job in their marketing department. She wasn't kidding when she said the two of your were platonic soulmates. Just like fate was slowly guiding you toward whoever held the other half of your Timer, it was also guiding you and Molly in the same direction.
Your time was spent working, running your game review channel on Youtube, and enjoying your Los Angeles home. Between you and Molly, the tiny two-bedroom apartment was still a strain to afford, but such was the price of living in a decent area of town, in an apartment of decent quality.
When your Timer read just over six months, your mother gifted you with tickets to a convention back home. Knowing you would be dragging Molly along, she included a second ticket. Scraping money together, the two of you bought a hotel room and enough gas money to make the drive back and forth.
Molly had almost screamed in delight when she realized that you'd meet your soulmates at the convention – you would be able to keep the pact that you'd made so many years ago.
The first day, you spent it buying merchandise, watching panels, getting autographs. Molly asked why the two of you were trying to cram so much into the first day, until you explained that tomorrow - tomorrow! - you'd be meeting your soulmates. You weren't sure about her, but you wanted to spend every possible moment you could with them. Whoever they were. A small part of you briefly hoped that Jensen Ackles would be your soulmate, but you knew it was silly – he already had a soulmate.
You could wish though, right? What a man. That butt, wow.
That night, Molly sat on her bed, you sat on yours, and the two of you watched your Timers count down. As per its programming, both Timers let out a small chime when they reached twelve hours. You looked at the clock, and saw the time as 9:57. At this time tomorrow morning, you would lock eyes with your soulmate. You smiled at Molly, and her own grin was almost blinding.
"I can't stand it! I don't want to wait anymore!" Molly groaned, flopping back on the bed, making you laugh. You stood and gathered your pajamas and toothbrush, telling her that you'd be in the shower. She waved her arm in the air, her limp wrist flopping around comically. What a doofus.
You couldn't judge her too much, though. You laid in bed that night, rubbing your thumb over your Timer and thinking about tomorrow. It had the makings to be a perfect day – cheap continental breakfast with your best friend, meeting your soulmate, the Game Grumps panel at 10:15, and the rest of your life spent in the arms of your other half.
Just before you slipped into your dreams, you brought your wrist up and gave the Timer a gentle kiss, hoping that somehow, somewhere, your soulmate felt it.
Molly fidgeted in the Taxi next to you. It was 9:45, and you were stuck in slow moving traffic. She babbled endlessly about how you'd miss meeting your soulmates. No one else was with you except the Taxi driver, and he didn't even have a Timer on his wrists. You laid your hand on her bouncing knee and held it in place.
"Don't worry, alright? No where in the Timer's history have there ever been two soulmates that didn't meet each other. Just relax, they'll find their way to us," You soothed, and it seemed to relax her just a little bit, but her nails were still being bitten to stumps in the meantime. Traffic picked up soon after, and you pulled into the Parking Lot of the Convention Center at 9:56. One minute.
Your heart started to beat erratically as you stepped out of the Taxi, following Molly. Just as you shut the door, the Taxi lurched forward with a bang. You shrieked and stumbled back a few steps, your heart immediately pounding. Another Taxi, from the same company, hadn't braked quick enough and rammed into the back-end of the Taxi you'd just been in. Your hands shook as you crossed your arms tightly, trying to come down from the momentary high.
The Taxi driver from the second car immediately jumped out and went to your driver, asking if he was okay. It didn't seem like anyone was actually hurt. You looked down at the timer, and saw that there was only fifteen seconds left. That had to mean that your soulmate was in the back of the second Taxi. Slowly, you turned at the sound of a car door and your eyes met soft grey ones.
The timer chimed.
The only way to describe it was like a lock clicking into place. Your heart skipped a beat. Your stomach dropped, like a hill on a roller coaster. Everything melted away, except for those pretty eyes that you'd been waiting to see for so long – but you had seen them before. Pictures and videos. All of the breath escaped from your lungs. It felt like years before you realized that there actually was a world around you.
"You're even more beautiful than I ever could've hoped for," The first thing he said to you. His voice was so nice, even and soothing. It brought the air back into your chest, your heart started beating again. Your face broke out into a smile, and you threw yourself into his chest. He laughed quietly, and wrapped his arms around you. It felt so right, like you were made to be here.
"I'm Barry," He told you, and you're barely able to stutter out your own name, that you know who he is, trying to hold back tears. Nothing could make this moment more perfect. He pulled away and laid both hands on your jawline, giving you a full view of his million-watt smile. Your smile grew to match his own, and you were barely able to break away to look at Molly. She was speaking with the man that was in the car with Barry – you didn't recognize him as a Game Grump. He must be one of Barry's friends.
"Uh, I'm gonna go with Jason, if that's cool," You wave her off, and she doesn't waste any time in grabbing her soulmate - Jason's hand and heading into the building. Barry pulls you to a bench on the sidewalk nearby, and he sits down next to you. Your thighs are touching, his hand is wrapped around your shoulder. It feels like every nerve in your body is singing happily.
"God, I was so scared," He breathed out, and you turned your head to look up at him – he was a bit taller than you. Not by much.
"The traffic? I was a little scared-"
"No, not just that. I mean, yeah, that made me nervous, but that's not what I meant," His hand moved up from your shoulder to play with a piece of your hair, running it across his fingers and twirling it, "I got my Timer when I was twelve, and the numbers were blank for years. I was so scared. I spent so long thinking that I didn't have a soulmate, that I was going to be alone for the rest of my life."
He stops and finally pulls you back into a hug, resting his chin on the top of your head and squeezing you to his chest. You breathed in his scent and wrapped your arms around his middle, kissing the base of his neck gently, "Well, neither of us need to be alone anymore. You'll always have me."
"And you'll always have me... but I'm extremely late for the panel," He trails off, and you break away and pull him up from the bench by his hand.
"Well, let's get you on that stage then, don't let me keep you."
"You can keep me forever. I've waited for you for so long, I don't want to let you go. Everything about you is perfect," His eyes were adoring, and it made your heart clench. You felt the same way – from his messy brown hair, stubbly beard, even his purple flannel shirt was perfect. You couldn't push down your giddy feelings as you guided him into the building.
Once inside, he stopped at the security guard and asked for a panelist pass for you. The guard immediately turned him down, saying that – of course – panelist passes are for panelists only. Barry sighed in mild irritation before holding up his blanked-out timer and explaining that he'd just found you only ten minutes ago, and needed to make sure he could find you later.
That seemed to trigger the guard, because the man told Barry to go on ahead and he would have someone bring a pass to you. Barry turns around and gives you a quick squeeze and backs away, saying he really needs to get to the Game Grumps panel, but telling you to meet him in the Green Room at the back of the Convention Center at 3. By then, he would finally be done with the panel, meet & greets, and autographs.
You agreed, of course, and he literally ran off in the direction of the hall that his panel was in. An attendant approached you, holding a lanyard with a laminated pass dangling from it. She greeted you politely you and offered it, reminding you not to lose it or loan it to anyone, and to wear it at all times. She got another call on the walkie-talkie at her hip, and she gave you a short nod before heading off to wherever she was needed next. Poor woman looked frazzled.
Of course, you immediately headed to the Game Grumps panel. Surprisingly, you got in before Barry arrived on stage, standing in the back. Almost immediately afterward, Barry jogged on the stage and waved at the crowd before leaning toward Dan and blocking his mic from picking up what he was going to say. Dan's eyebrows shot up and started scanning the hall. Barry did the same, but his eyes landed on you like a magnet. He gestured in your direction to Dan, and Dan's face exploded into the biggest smile you'd ever seen. It was impossible to not return it.
Dan turned back to Barry and seemed to ask something. Barry looked troubled for a second, before responding. Dan uncovered his own microphone and sounded absolutely giddy as he spoke, "I just want to let everyone know that Barry has finally found his soul mate!"
To say the convention hall exploded would be an understatement. It took a few minutes for everyone to calm down, and unsurprisingly, the next question was asking who Barry's soulmate was. Immediately, he shook his head, "I met her twenty minutes ago. I don't know if she wants to be in the public or not, so you guys will just have to wait."
Even something so simple as respecting your possible wishes for privacy was enough to make you melt where you stood. The rest of the panel went by quickly, Barry giving you one more grin before he disappeared off the stage. You crossed your arms over your chest, hiding your panelist lanyard as you filed out of the hall with a group of people. You still had quite a bit of time before you had to meet Barry in the Green Room.
Fortunately, you were spun around and punched in the arm by none other than Molly, "You lucky fuckin' duck! Barry Kramer!? Barry of all people!" A few people around you had noticed her outburst, and were giving the two of you looks reminiscent of existential revelation. Cat's out of the bag, now. At least they didn't know your name.
"Shhh, you idiot, there's people around!" You grumbled, dragging her away from the vicinity of the convention hall and toward the smell of food. At a table, the two of you hunched together and she immediately started clapping her hands together in glee.
"This is so perfect. I can't believe it, oh my god!"
"I can't either, holy shit. He gave me a panelist pass so I can go into the Green Room later, when he's done doing his other stuff."
"You got a pass? Jason doesn't have as much sway, I guess. I just gave him my number and when he was done he was just going to call and meet me somewhere. You're so lucky. I wouldn't trade Jason for the world, though. He feels so right-"
"Barry is so perfect, Molly," You gush, leaning forward to run your hands down your face, "I am completely enamored with him, I don't know how I'm going to wait until 3 to see him. Ugh," You groaned, and Molly laughed, pulling your hands from your face.
"I feel you, girl. I really do. Jason wants to get married as soon as possible, how crazy is that? He said he wants to meet each others' families first, but he doesn't want to wait any longer than he already has!" You smile at her, imagining Molly in a white dress, standing across from Jason. It seemed like your life had flipped upside down in seconds.
"Barry and I haven't really talked about that, yet. I'm okay with whatever he wants to do. I think I'd probably make the drive to Vegas with him tonight, if he wanted to shotgun it," Molly's laugh was infectious. What you'd said wasn't that funny, but the both of you were so excited and giddy that it was impossible to stop. You probably looked insane to onlookers.
After finally getting food with Molly and putting around the convention to anything you'd missed yesterday, she finally broke away when you got to the Green Room door at 3, wishing you all the luck in the world and to call her in the morning if you didn't see each other at night. You waved her off and turned to the guard at the door, who scanned your pass and let you through. Down the hallway, second door on the right, he said. It was labelled.
Inside the specified room, you were met with a huge hug from Barry, who briefly lifted you from the ground before setting you back down, "Sorry, I had to," Barry smoothed your hair down before pressing a kiss to your forehead and turning you around. You weren't alone in the room.
Sitting on one of the couches was Dan and Ross, while Arin was on the floor across the coffee table from them, digging through a bag of merchandise. When he looked up and saw you, Dan grinned and leaped over the table, scooping you into a hug of his own, "It's so good to meet you, we've been waiting so long for you!"
"We?" You asked, and he gestured to Ross and Arin, who finally looked up from their phone and bag respectively, giving her large smiles and waves, "Suzy and Holly, too. They couldn't be here, though. You'll meet them soon. Probably. Suzy and Holly are their soulmates, you probably know that though, right?"
You nod, and after a moment of hesitation, you gesture to Dan's empty wrists, "You don't have one? A Timer, I mean."
"Nah, I'm one of those weirdos that wants it to be more natural. I don't wanna force it, I guess. When I meet them, I'll meet them, whether I have a Timer or not, y'know?" You nod in understanding, and Barry brings you over to Danny's vacated spot on the couch, squeezing in between you and Ross and swinging his arm around your shoulder.
"Have you guys decided where you're going from here on out? Me and Suze got married pretty much immediately," Arin explained, finally setting his bag aside and giving you his full attention. He'd retrieved a pair of Pikachu ears and placed them very primly on his head.
"Holly and I took it a lot slower though, everyone has their own ways," Ross leaned over Barry and explained, giving you an encouraging thumbs up. You looked up at Barry and shrugged.
"I'm okay with whatever you're comfortable with, Barry," He seems to ponder for a second. It wasn't something you'd thought about before. Would you want to get married right away? You'd marry him right now if he wanted to – you were his soulmate, and he was yours. There wouldn't be anyone else for you, and you didn't want anyone else. You'd be with him forever, gladly.
"Do you wanna move in with me, first? Let's take it a little slow."
"Of course," You leaned up and pressed a kiss to his jawline, and laid your hand on his chest, "I mean, I'd settle for one of those drive-thru chapels right now, but let's do it slow, soulmate."
At the nickname, he face broke out into a grin and he leaned down to kiss you properly, tuning out the three whoops of joy from the other three men in the room. It wasn't hard. Being with Barry felt as natural as breathing. You could feel his heartbeat underneath your hand, and you knew yours was beating in perfect sync.