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It had become a tradition, of sorts, that on your 18th birthday you would be gifted a Timer. People would get a Timer implanted in their wrist which would count down to the exact moment you would meet your soul mate.
XXX
Zayn went to the local timer shop with his dad on his 18th to get his. He hadn't really known how to feel - he outwardly tried to make it seem like he wasn’t bothered, but inside he was excited. Although he was loath to admit it he loved the idea of soulmates. Someone who was out there that would complete you – who would be your other half.
----d --h --m --s
It was blank. "That's not too uncommon you know." The sales rep said. "It could just mean that the other person doesn't have one yet, I mean after all they might not be 18 yet. Don't worry."
Zayn tried not to show his disappointment. His father embraced him and murmured in his ear "Don't worry son, I know there's someone out there for you, just be patient." Zayn blinked back the tears and hugged his dad tighter.
XXX
On Liam's 18th birthday he and his entire family all walked down to the Timer shop together, even Louis came. Liam had thought Louis might not come - he didn’t agree with Timers and had refused to get a Timer on his 18th. Louis’ mum and dad had got together before they had gotten Timers. After Louis had been born they had both gotten one - they hadn’t been soul mates. They had split up. Louis had never gotten over it.
Louis and Liam had been friends for forever and Liam had been certain that Louis was his soul mate - had never been more certain of anything in his life.
250d 11h 21m 53s.
That’s wasn't what it was suppose to say. Liam's stomach had fallen through the floor but he had had to pretend to be happy while his parents and sisters had congratulated him. His eyes had met with Louis' and his heartache had been reflected in them. The timer was supposed to be blank. Louis was his soul mate.
Throughout the years Liam and Louis had only ever been friends. Louis had always been scared that this would happen, had insisted they never went further in case they weren't soul mates. He didn't want things to be awkward when Liam got his timer and they weren't soulmates. It didn't seem to matter too much - they started to drift apart anyway.
XXX
Zayn had been sat at the table eating dinner with his family when his timer beeped.
250d 11h 21m 53s
Zayn couldn't stop the smile from overtaking his face when he saw it. His dad clapped a hand down on his shoulder and smiled.
"This calls for a toast." His mother announced, standing up from her chair to get the wine and some glasses.
XXX
Liam started uni about a month after he got his timer and Louis went back down to London for his second year. They didn't mention the timer. In fact for the first time in Liam life he wasn't in constant contact with Louis - they didn't talk at all during the first term they were both at uni. Liam desperately wanted to text him and tell him all the amazing things that were happening but then he would see his timer and stop.
XXX
Niall got his timer implanted on his 18th birthday.
0406d 01h 58m 52s
A year and a month, or there abouts. Niall was going to meet his soul mate in just over a year. He let out a woop and hugged his dad.
"Not long at all son." His dad said.
"Let's celebrate!" Niall cheered, making sure to shake the sales rep hand on the way out.
XXX
Louis got his timer on his 20th birthday as an ironic birthday present to himself. If Liam could have a soul mate that wasn't Louis then why couldn't Louis have a soul mate that wasn't Liam. Louis was lucky that the timer shop was open on Christmas eve.
0000d 00h 25m 43s.
That was less than half an hour. The rep beamed up at him and said something ridiculous like congratulations but Louis felt sick.
Not only did he have a soul mate that wasn't Liam he was going to meet them in less than half an hour. Louis numbly left the shop without a second thought.
He wanted to go back to bed and pretend this hadn’t happened.
XXX
On Louis’ 20th birthday Liam walked around to Louis’ house to drop off his present – they hadn’t talked for a couple of months but Liam refused to give up.
Liam had just knocked on Louis’ front door when his timer beeped. His heart stopped. He looked around but there was no one in sight. He looked down at his timer.
0000d 00h 25m 43s.
Louis’ front door swung open to reveal Louis’ mum. “Liam.” She said brightly. Her smile dropped slightly when he saw Liam looking at his wrist.
“It changed.” He said dumbly.
“What?” Jay asked.
“My timer, it just changed!” Liam said. “Is that supposed to happen? Is that a thing that happens?” He asked sounding strangled.
“Come in the house dear. It’s freezing.” Jay said, ushering Liam inside. Liam remained staring at his timer being manhandled by Louis’ mum. “Now explain what happened.” She said, sitting them down on the couch.
“It changed.” He repeated, showing her his wrist.
0000d 00h 22m 23s.
“It didn’t say that before?” Jay asked, sounding patient.
“No it said like 100 and something days. Now it’s only 20 minutes. Has that happened before? I’ve not heard of that happening before.” Liam rambled, he could feel himself panicking. He wasn’t really over the fact Louis wasn’t his soul mate, he couldn’t possible cope with the fact that he was going to meet his soul mate in 20 minutes.
“Okay Liam, I need you to breath for me.” Jay said gently, stroking Liam’s arm soothingly.
“Where’s Louis?” Liam asked. He needed Louis.
“He went out love, I don’t know where. He didn’t say, just that he would be back soon.” Jay was now soothing over his back. “Do you want a cup of tea? Glass of water?”
“Glass of water would be nice. Thank you.” Liam said quietly. “Sorry for this.”
“Don’t be silly Liam, you’ve practically been my kid since you were a baby.”
0000d 00h 13m 17s
Jay came back with the glass of water and Liam accepted it with a shaking hand. “When did it change?” She asked.
“Right after I knocked on the door.” Liam took a gulp of water and tried to calm down. “Could I possibly borrow a computer? Maybe google it?” He asked – if Jay didn’t know what was going on the internet might.
“You can use Louis’. It’s just in his room.” Jay said with a smile and Liam bolted up to the room that was practically half his until he got his timer.
0000d 00h 10m 12s
He googled “timer changing countdown”. But ended up with a load of adverts and companies trying to selling his timers.
0000d 00h 05m 03s
He googled “changing soul mate countdown” and he got a bunch of yahoo asks of people asking if there’s any way to change the countdown – make it longer, make it shorter. He was halfway through the FAQs page on the official timer page when his timer beeped.
“Liam.” He heard Louis gasp from the doorway. And Liam hadn’t thought about actually meeting his soul mate – hadn’t thought about being in Louis’ house while the counter was so close to zero. But Liam’s eyes flicked down to Lou's wrist where a brand new timer sat on his wrist.
“Louis.” Liam choked and moved across the room before he could think about it. He framed Lou’s face into his hand and kissed him soundly. Louis made this choked off whimpering sound and kissed Liam back.
“I don’t understand.” Louis whispered against Liam’s lips.
“My timer changed. It changed because it’s you.” Louis eyes moved down to where Liam’s timer was on his wrist and his eyes went wide. He backed away and started shaking his head.
“It’s still counting down Li.” Louis said sounding distraught.
133d 16h 12m 32s
And that didn't make any sense – that’s what it was before it changed. “But it changed.” Liam whispered feeling his heart break again. “It changed, and then it beeped when you came in. It’s you Lou. You’re my soulmate. I know it.” Liam could feel tears gather in his eyes. He can’t have imagined it. He can't have.
Louis looked dejectedly down at the floor. Liam grabbed at Louis’ wrist desperately and brought it up to look at it.
133d 16h 10m 58s
He checked his timer. He put their timers next to each other. They were the same. They were counting down together.
“Lou?” Liam asked but Louis looked just as confused, staring down at their timers too.
In the end they went to the shop Louis just came from and explained what happened to the sales rep. “Oh gosh! I don’t actually…this have never…erm I’ll have to phone head office.” She stuttered out and moved out the room leaving Louis and Liam alone.
“I was so upset." Louis started when they had been sitting in silence for a couple of moments. "When you got a timer." Louis elaborated, Liam reached out and grasped onto Louis’ hand, squeezing it tightly."It said you were going to meet your soul mate and it wouldn’t be me.” Louis said miserably into his chest. “I thought maybe if I got a timer, knew I was going to meet someone else then maybe I would get over you. But then it said I was gonna meet my soul mate in like half an hour. And I just stopped thinking you know, just went straight home. And there you were in my bedroom, and it was like all my dreams had came true. You know?”
“God I know Louis. When I got the timer and it wasn’t blank I was heartbroken, like I should have been excited but I wasn’t. Then it changed, I was going round to your house to give you your birthday present and it changed. I freaked out and didn’t even think about the fact I would be in your house when it counted down to zero.”
“Idiot.” Louis laughed, but he still sounded sad. “What does this mean?” Louis asked - looking at Liam to fix the situation like he always did.
“No idea Lou – lucky for us these guys are open on Christmas eve.” Liam replied, pulling Louis into him and hugging him tight.
A while later the woman came back into the room, Liam straightened up but Louis cuddled closer. “Sorry for the wait, we were trying to find out what had happened.”
“It’s okay.” Liam replied automatically.
“Well what’s happened with you boys is extremely rare but not unheard of. What it means is that you both have one than one soul mate.”
“What?” Louis asked, tensing next to Liam and squeezing his hand painfully.
“So you two are soul mates – the timer beeped and zeroed when you saw each other.” Liam and Louis nod. “Well that was it declaring that you’ve met each other and now it’s counting down to you two meeting your next soul mate. Which explains why yours changed.” She said indicating towards Liam. “It was counting down because only the other person had a timer, then when Mr Tomlinson got a timer you were predetermined to meet him first so it changed to count down to his meeting. Then once you met it changed back to the previous person.”
“We have another soul mate?” Liam asked and the woman nodded. Liam felt overwhelmed. He couldn't imagine loving anyone as much as he loves Louis. “Thanks.” Liam said politely. “Let’s get home Lou.”
Louis nodded into Liam’s shoulder and they walked hand in hand back to Louis’ to break the news.
XXX
Harry had been desperate to get a timer since he had heard about them, he was practically bouncing on the spot when his mum and Gems had taken his to the timer shop on his 18th birthday.
"I can't wait. I hope I don't have to wait too long. How do you reckon it works? Like do I pick where to be and they just turn up? I wonder what their like." Harry rambled as the rep held his arm still to implant the device.
0174d 00h 05m 45s
Harry pouted.
"What's wrong?" His mum asked.
"I wanted to meet them sooner than that!" Harry whined.
"For god's sake Haz! That's so soon. Some people have to wait decades!" Gems shouted, hitting Harry over the back of his head. Harry still pouted, he had wanted it to say like an hour. He wasn't sure he could stand the waiting.
XXX
Niall was sitting in the 6th form common room one cold February morning when his timer beeped. Niall startled and looked around, there was no one in there that he hadn't already met before - that he wasn't already friends with. He looked down at his timer.
0174d 00h 05m 45s
That was definitely not what it said before. That was less than what it said before.
After a major panic, asking practically all his friends, asking all the teachers, googling extensively he ended up at the shop where he first got the timer.
"I have more than one soulmate?" He asked, his mate Eoghan let out a laugh. "It's not funny!" Niall whined, and gave his mate a punch to the arm.
"It kind of is though, I mean of course you have more than one soulmate, no one person could handle the Nialler right?" Eoghan laughed, attempting to get Niall in a head lock.
XXX
"Did you book tickets to mine this weekend on purpose?" Liam asked Louis when he met him at the train station. Liam hadn't particularly thought about it but both his and Louis' timers had 1 day left. It was weird for Louis to be more organised than he was - in fact not weird, down right strange. Liam hadn't even thought about them being together when the timers ran out, had figured fate would handle it, or however these things work.
"Of course I did Liam - I didn't buy them by bloody accident did I?" Louis said flicking Liam in the head as a reprimand.
"You know what I mean Lou." Liam countered, jabbing Louis in the side which then broke out into play fighting and running around the train station like loons.
"I wonder what their like." Liam asked while they're walking hand in hand to Liam's halls. They had somewhat avoided the conversation that there was going to be a third partner. Him and Louis have been dating properly since the soul mate discovery but every so often Liam looked at his wrist he couldn't help but feel guilt that the third person wasn't there. Like they were leaving them out. Louis always flicked him on the forehead before he could get too far into those thoughts.
Louis got this look on his face. "I'm sure they'll be amazing - after all they'll have to be to be worthy of us." He said sticking his chin out and Liam laughed - Louis was just as nervous as Liam was.
The next day, when the timer was closer to zero Liam and Louis decided to go to a pub near Liam's halls. Louis had rationalised that just because they had met one soul mate in one of their bedrooms doesn't mean they would be so lucky the second time round.
0000d 00h 03m 21s
Liam's leg was tapping away like mad and his eyes were darting around desperately, looking at everyone in the pub. Louis hand fell firmly on Liam's leg to stop it from jiggling. "Will you calm down you'll shake the whole pub if you keep that up." Louis said, squeezing Liam hard just above the knee cap making Liam jerk his entire leg and knock the chair opposite.
As he did a bag fell off the chair that neither of them had noticed when they had sat down, a book fell out and opened up on a sketch of batman.
"Woah." Liam said, going to pick up the bag and the book.
"I think that's mine." A voice said just as all 3 of their timers beeped. Liam looked up and it was quite possibly the most beautiful boy Liam had ever seen.
"Holy crap." He heard Louis say from behind him.
The boy's eye flicked between both of them. "Not to sound rude but, which one of you is my soul mate."
"Both." Louis said, jumping up from his chair and offering a hand. "Louis, and this is Liam. Apparently it's a threesome kind of deal."
"Zayn." The boy said while he shook Louis' hand. Liam picked up the stuff from the floor before standing up and offering it to Zayn.
"Both of you seriously?" He asked, moving to sling his bag over his shoulder and looked down at his wrist. His expression furrowed. "That's not right." He muttered Louis and Liam both peer at his wrist.
0186d 12h 06m 03s
"How many soul mates do we have?" Louis exclaimed, looking down at his timer
0186d 12h 06m 00s
Liam's read the same.
"I'm so confused." Zayn said.
"Let's sit down and discuss this over a pint, yeah?" Liam suggested
XXX
"So we're all soul mates with each other and there's still another to come?" Zayn asked. He was sat across from Liam and Louis - his soul mates - while they were trying to explain what the people at the timer shop had told them.
"Basically." Liam replied. "I hope that doesn’t freak you out too much, I mean you seem really nice and I'd quite like to get to know you." Liam then smiled wide and sincere in a way that pulled at Zayn's heart slightly.
"We'd like to get to know you." Louis corrected, kicking Liam under the table if the way he jerked and then Liam grimaced was any indication.
"It's just a bit crazy, when I first got the timer it was blank and I thought I wouldn't ever get a soul mate, and now I've got two." Zayn paused and his eyes flicked down to the countdown on his wrist. "Three." He corrected. He looked up and Liam was looking at him with massive puppy dog eyes. "What?"
"It's just, well when I got mine and it flashed up the countdown to meet you I was kind of sad because I thought Louis would be my soul mate, but then he got his and it turned out we were soul mates but like then on top of that we get you as well. And somebody else." Liam explained.
"What Li's trying to say is we’ve pretty much hit the jackpot, like look at you. Are you or model or something? Bet the next one's a hobo or something, our luck can't keep running this good." Louis said with a cheeky smile and Zayn laughed at them.
"So was that your drawing of Batman?" Liam asked tentatively.
XXX
Niall was going to meet one of his soul mates in London. He hadn't really planned it, he had just applied for unis in London without thinking. He had booked a flight out a month before uni started - he would be crashing with Brez until he could move into halls and get used to living in London.
He was in a little hipster café that Brezzie sometimes played at, sat in the corner trying not to puke everywhere.
0000d 00h 03m 02s
He was going to meet his soul mate soon. He had to remember to breath. His drink sat untouched on the table. He wondered what his soul mate was like. He wondered if they knew that they had more than one. Or maybe it was just Niall with more than one. What would that mean?
Niall took a deep breath and swallowed - he really didn't want to throw up.
The door to the café opened with a chime and his timer beeped. His looked up and was met with the sight of a tall, long hair boy smiling ridiculously at him making his way across the café.
Niall stood up as the boy approached and as if they both knew what to do they were hugging each other tightly as soon as they were within distance.
"Harry." The boy whispered into his neck.
"Niall." Niall replied with a laugh.
When they separated Niall looked down at his timer.
0082d 23h 21m 12s
"Wait. What?" Harry asked, grabbing onto Niall's wrist and looking at the timer with a frown. Niall grabbed at Harry's wrist and brought it level with his.
0082d 23h 20m 45s
Niall let out a sigh of relief - they were counting down to the same moment.
"I don't understand." Harry said, pouting adorably.
"I'll buy you a drink and then I'll explain everything."
XXX
Harry had moved to London with his sister Gemma to try and become a singer. He currently worked in a bakery and did gigs on an evening. He had walked into a café he regularly sung at and his timer had beeped. There had been his gorgeous, Irish soul mate who shone like the sun. Then on top of that it turned out that they were going to meet someone else! Another soul mate.
"Cool." Harry said after Niall had explained. "Like were all gonna be soul mates together, it's going to be epic."
Niall had laughed and squeezed Harry's hand. Harry was not so subtly trying to sitting as close to Niall as possible (he had plastered himself to Niall's side) and was trying to touch Niall as much as possible (he held one hand while the other rested high on Niall's thigh).
"So can I kiss you now?" Harry asked and Niall laughed brilliantly before leaning in and snogging Harry thoroughly.
XXX
Liam woke up wedged in between Louis and Zayn - they were staying at Lou's uni house for the weekend. It was the day they were meeting their other soul mate.
They hadn't really talked about it but Zayn and Liam had decided to go to Louis' for it, like that would somehow make the soul mate be at Louis' uni, or at very least live in London. Liam knew it was hard for Louis to be by himself in London while Zayn and Liam had each other.
He wondered what this person was going to be like - Zayn's fitted in so well with Louis and Liam that he wasn't worried. It's had been hard to take in that Liam had not only one soul mate but three but over time he was getting used to it.
"Where should we go?" Louis asked sleepily, cuddling into Liam a bit further. Zayn was still out cold behind him and probably would be for another few hours - Liam wasn't entirely sure what would make Zayn actually get out of bed at a respectable hour but if he ever found out he was going to hoard that information like it was gold.
"I dunno." Liam replied with his voice croaky from sleep. "Where do you want to meet our next soul mate?"
"Does it matter?" Louis asked with a smirk Liam could feel against his chest. "I'm half expecting for our timers to just keep going and going and end up being soul mates with everyone and their fathers."
Liam laughed. "Hmmmm maybe. Zayn's not been too bad though."
"Zayn's the best." Zayn mumbled into Liam back, tightening his arms around his and cuddling further in between Liam's shoulder blades. Liam and Lou barked out a laugh.
"Let's just go for a walk near the time and see where our feet take us?" Liam suggested.
"Boring." Louis chimed leaning back so he can look at Liam with a smirk plastered to his face. Zayn let's out a huff of laugher which sent a shiver down Liam's spine.
"Fine, where do you want to go Lou?"
"I don't know, somewhere cool, like the zoo, or a go kart track." Louis started listing.
"Or an art gallery" Zayn piped in, voice still thick with sleep.
"Zayn were not finding your soul mate, we're finding our soul mate. It's got to be somewhere we all find cool." Louis said.
"Zoo would be nice, never been to London zoo." Liam said cheerily. "Although bit expensive isn't it."
Louis rolled his eyes and gave the I love you but stop being an idiot Liam look. "It's our soul mate Liam. Can't be cheap and nasty with them."
"Zoo it is then." Liam said brightly. Zayn made a mumbling sound of agreement.
XXX
"We should go somewhere fun." Harry announced from where he was stood naked in the middle of Niall's uni room doing yoga.
"Hmm?" Niall replied - no one could blame him for being a little bit distracted.
Harry rolled his eyes at Niall and climbed onto the bed to join him. "We should go somewhere fun." He planted a kiss on Niall's lips but pulled away before Niall could deepen it. "Like when I met you, or like when I was going to meet you, I though where would my soul mate be. So I got on the tube, well I mean I got on a bus first, but that was to get to the tube stop. Well not THE tube stop, just a tube stop. Remember I told you, it was when the man shouted at me because I stood on his bag." Harry leant back and smiled at Niall - which Niall took as the signal that he was finished his "story".
"Somewhere fun then." Niall said and Harry dipped down and gave him another peck. "Where?"
"Hmm I don't know, where's like the fun-est place you can think of." Harry said, flopping down next to Niall and elbowing him in the stomach in the process.
"I dunno, the zoo?"
"The zoo it is!" Harry cheered jumping up from the bed and picking out his favourite head scarf.
"Do you think the other person will be okay with this?" Niall asked, he had been worried about whether the third person would understand and accept that they had more than one soul mate, what happened if they weren't okay with it.
"Of course they will." Harry said breezily. "Who doesn't love you?" He stated like it was a fact, like this was something that everyone knew.
Niall took a deep breath and tried to focus on Harry's calmness.
XXX
Liam and Louis managed to get Zayn out of bed and they got to the zoo with time to spare on their timers.
"Do you think they're going to be okay with there being three of us?" Liam asked Louis quietly while they stood by the tiger enclosure to let Zayn do a quick sketch of one of the tigers lounging in the tree.
"Of course they will Li, wouldn’t be our soul mate if they weren't. Anyway, us three are awesome, they'd be an idiot not to see that." Louis reassured him.
They were at the penguin enclosure when they heard a booming Irish voice declare "I fecking love penguins!" The three look up in unison and all their timers beep together.
The Blonde Irish boy looked over at the three of them standing and staring and grinned. He was hand in hand with a tall and lanky boy with long brown curly hair. They made their way over to them both smiling widely.
"So which one is it, because we might have something to explain." The Irish boy said, holding up their joined hands as some sort of explanation. "We're both you're soul mates." He announced, holding his free hand out wide in a sort of ta-da style.
"Four." Louis said in a choked voice. "I have four soul mates. This is your fault Liam." Louis announced hitting Liam in the arm. Liam spluttered.
"How is this my fault?!" Liam demanded.
"You could never do anything by halves. If anyone was ever going to have four soul mates it was you! And don't you laugh Malik." Louis accused pointing his finger at Zayn who was badly trying to cover his amusement. "You're too beautiful, of course you needed four soul mates to make up for that!" Louis said flailing his arms slightly.
"Well you're too loud for one person to handle, that's why you got four." Zayn answered smoothly and Louis' face looked stunned, stopping his rant. Liam couldn't help but laughing.
"Well Harry here is definitely too needy for approval to ever manage with one soul mate, so it's probably a tiny bit his fault too." The Irish boy chipped in, smiling at them all.
The lanky boy - Harry pouted and shoved the Irish boy. "Well you're too...too Irish." He said which made everyone laugh.
"I'm Niall by the way. Me and Haz here were all kinds of worried about explaining this situation turns out we needn't have bothered from the looks of it."
XXX
They were walking towards the exit after they had continued around the zoo together, getting to know each other. Harry casually put his arm around Niall and dragged him into his side. "You're the sun." Niall raised his eyebrow at Harry and let him continue - knows it's best to try and let Harry continue and explain himself otherwise they'll get nowhere. "That's why you deserve four soul mates, because you're so bright and warm that it would be selfish to keep that all for one person."
Niall felt a swell of emotions inside, he swallowed them down and gave a small chuckle. "You're a right soppy twat something Styles." Harry just smiled at him and leant down to kiss his temple. "You deserve four soul mates too." Niall said quietly, then looked up at the three boys walking in front of them, the three boys he just met today but already felt so close to. "We all do." He said firmly and Harry nodded.
XXX
Louis' uni house was free over Christmas holidays, what with all his house mates going home, so he (read: Liam) organised a Christmas weekend for them. The house was decorated and Harry had made the dinner (having banned the rest of the boys from helping knowing the outcome if they did). They were all sat around in the living room, eating off their knees because Louis and his housemates didn't own a table.
"To soulmates." Liam toasted, raising the plastic glass of cheap sparkling wine he had brought.
"To us." Louis said raising his glass.
"To love." Harry said.
"To you guys." Niall said.
"To the Timers." Zayn concluded. As the glasses met in the middle all the timers were in view.
0000d 00h 00m 00s