Work Text:
“I need somebody to remember my name
I need someone to remember me
I need something bigger than the sky." - Mitski, Remember My Name
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They’d been seeing each other for a few months.
And started making a mixtape together.
Somehow, they both just knew - a feeling - on what the first few songs to put on it would be:
Japanese Breakfast - Boyish Will
Will Joseph Cook - Something To Feel Good About
Dayglow - Can I Call You Tonight
Amy Stroup - Hold What You Can
Ashley Jane - How Lucky Am I?
Kina Grannis - It's Hard To Be Human
Father John Misty - Do You Realize?
Slowdive - Sugar For The Pill
They had come to a roadblock as to what the next song would be - they had enough songs to go over to the B side - but they listened through what they had so far together, sharing a headphone each - listening to the cassette on a Walkman.
They fell asleep together at Laura’s. The mixtape sat idle on the nightstand. It was like any other night. Except, the next morning - when they woke up - something was different.
Laura and Harrison had opened their eyes - the yellow morning of dawn seeping in through the window - confused yet knowing looks on their faces as they slowly looked at each other. They had both had a dream. The same dream. A long dream.
“Did you - ?” Harrison asked, staring at Laura.
“Did we - ?” Laura asked back.
“You said past lives.” Harrison said to Laura.
“You said soulmates.” Laura said back.
Silence stretched on between them.
They remembered. What hadn’t happened. What had happened. Laura more than Harrison with four extra years and some time travel. Harrison remembered what had happened each time, right before everything went black.
“I died.” Harrison choked out.
“I travelled through time.” Laura breathed.
“Through a cassette tape.” Harrison said.
“Through a cassette tape.” Laura said back.
“You saved my life.” Harrison whispered.
“By not meeting you.” Laura said, her words strangled.
“But it worked.” Harrison told her. "We still met, just... A little later."
“Four years.” Laura whispered, remembering the four years she had without him.
Harrison looked at her longingly. “We remembered.” He said to her, quietly.
The two of them were still processing the dreams which were apparently memories of a past life - past lives - that didn’t happen because Laura fixed it by having never met Harrison. But they had still met. Just a little later. And they had - somehow, someway - still recognized each other. Each getting a sense of deja vu. Remembering something even though they couldn’t place it.
“Because of… The songs.” She glanced over at the tape player.
Harrison followed her gaze. “Maybe. Yeah.” He turned back to face her and she did the same.
Laura cradled Harrison’s face in her hands. Harrison copying her. The two shared a passionate kiss, filled with years of a timeline - timelines - that never existed and one that did.