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It was a known fact that he didn’t have a soulmate.
That fact never really bothered him though and he rather enjoyed the freedom that came with flirting around with other people like himself. Sure, soulmates were a common thing in this day and age, but tons of people were born without soulmates or chose to never meet their soulmates or sometimes soulmates could even die before you met them. Did he wish he had been born with a soulmate? Occasionally, yes, but those times were rare and fleeting like when he saw his friends or parents happily together. It was a thought that formed somewhere at the back of his head ‘I wish I could have someone like that’.
Right now though…right now that thought was a bit different for him.
‘I wish that I could have had you’
“Aw, man! To think you’re going to be finding your soulmate soon. That means I won’t be able to flirt with you anymore,” he muttered under his breath, arms crossing over his chest, and an adorable little pout settling itself onto his face.
“Yeah, I’m so freaking nervous! Twenty minutes, huh? I’ll probably be in the grocery store at that time,” you muttered to yourself absent mindedly as you stared off into space.
You didn’t see the hurt that flashed through his eyes...
And he didn’t see yours either.
Neither of you had ever spoken a word about how you really felt for each other.
“Hey Yuji, did you know that you’re on my list of things to do tonight?” you asked with something of a sly smirk on your lips. He wasted no time in returning that smirk.
“Trying to squeeze out the last few minutes of your single life with me?” he asked as he stood up from his desk while grabbing his bag. You quietly laughed as you mimicked his motions.
“Well yeah! Who knows, my soulmate might hate cheesy pickup lines and this could be my last time using them,” you said sighing softly as you tried to picture what kind of soulmate you would have. Your stomach wretched at the thought and you swore it was taking everything in you not to vomit.
Your soulmate….according to your family and friends they would be the person that could bring you the most happiness in the world. They could complete you and take care of you and without them you’d lead a lonely life.
“I’m jealous of your dress,” the sound of Yuji’s voice pulled you out of your thoughts and you could already feel the smile spreading across your lips.
“Why?” you asked despite the fact that you really weren’t wearing a ‘dress’, but rather your school uniform.
“Because it’s touching your body and I’m not,” he replied quickly flashing you a flirtatious smile.
You exchanged pickup lines with Yuji until the two of you had to separate. He had Volleyball practice today and you had…you had to go and meet your soulmate.
Ten Minutes.
That seemed about right. It was about a twenty minute walk from your school to the convenience store right outside of your neighborhood. You would normally ride your bike, but unfortunately after a little mishap with Yuji your bike chain had come off and you had no idea how to fix it. Yuji said he’d do what he could the next time he came over, but he hadn’t had the time in the last week.
Nine Minutes.
You were frozen in place with your heartbeat pounding in your ears. The palms of your hands were sweaty and your feet suddenly felt like lead bricks.
“Oh? Are you excited?” an elderly woman’s voice spoke up from beside you and you almost jumped out of your socks when you realized how close she was standing next to you. “Ah, sorry, sorry, you were just standing here so I wanted to make sure everything was alright,” she spoke up before giving you something of a gentle smile.
“No, no, it’s my fault for just standing here,” you quickly replied giving the lady a sheepish smile as you rubbed the back of your neck.
“So…are you excited?” she asked against as she gestured toward your red clock. The timer was continuing to tick downward.
“Um…I don’t know. Were you excited?” you asked hoping that you weren’t coming off as rude for giving such an answer.
“I never met my soulmate…my numbers just abruptly stopped one day,” she explained simply as she slowly moved to take a seat at the bus stop that was located near the two of you. It took you a second to recall what it meant when a person’s numbers stopped counting and then when it finally did come to you it hit you like a ton of bricks. It meant that the person’s soulmate had died.
“Oh gosh! I’m so sorry for asking,” you said quickly while quickly bowing your head to the woman.
Eight minutes.
The woman laughed at your reaction before waving off your apology.
“No need to be sorry. It was a long time ago and I’m happy with the way my life turned out,” she easily responded to you.
“You’re…happy?” you asked before your brain could catch up with your mouth. Oh gosh, you probably just sounded terrible for asking something like that, but in a way it was a question you needed answering and maybe your subconscious knew that fact better than you did yourself.
“Of course, I am. I married my best friend and he’s been the perfect husband,” she replied and you could practically hear the love in her voice as she gently closed her eyes probably reminiscing about how her life had changed after she had married her love.
“I know this is going to sound rude, but wouldn’t you have been happier with your soulmate?” you asked and watched as the woman sighed in what you assumed was annoyance. She had probably heard that question a million times you imagined.
“Listen girl, it’s impossible to know if I’d be happier with or without my soulmate because I never met them. All I can tell you now is that I am happy with the way my life turned out,” the older woman responded bluntly and you swore her words had hit you harder than a ton of bricks. The bus the lady was waiting for was now approaching.
Seven minutes.
“Do you think I can be happy if I don’t find my soulmate?!” you asked the older woman rather loudly just before the bus came to a stop. The lady paused for a moment before turning to look at you with something of a smile on her face.
“Of course; after all, people are capable of creating their own happiness,” she said simply before finally entering onto the bus. You both gave each other one last smile before the doors closed behind her.
“Create my own happiness?” you questioned yourself before glancing down to the red number on your arm once more.
Six minutes.
“Shit! I have to get back to the school!” you exclaimed loudly before quickly turning around and bolting down the path you had just come from.
You were probably doing something stupid right now; actually, you were definitely doing something stupid right now. How many people actually gave up on meeting their soulmate? You had heard rumors of a few people, but it wasn’t actually like you had met any of them. It was too late to turn back now though and honestly you didn’t really want to anyways.
Three Minutes.
The minutes on your clock were starting to tick down faster than you thought and you silently thanked whoever was out there looking out for you when you passed by the school gates. It felt like your lungs and calves were on fire having never been much of an athlete yourself, but you were determined to keep going.
One minute.
You finally came to a stop outside of the gym that your schools Volleyball team used and you briefly wondered if it was possible to fight fate. For example, what if fate had predicted that you would try and defy it like this and your soulmate was actually in the gymnasium instead of at the convenience store? You forced yourself to stop thinking about that kind of situation especially since your clock was now down to mere seconds.
20 seconds.
You hurried to open the gym doors and ignored the eyes that quickly looked in your direction to see who was interrupting their practice.
“(Y/N)?!” the sound of Terushima’s voice quickly pulled your gaze in his direction and you quickly motioned for him to come with you. You were pretty sure you hadn’t seen the man move faster in his life, outside of Volleyball that is, and the expression on his face was one of pure panic. What the hell were you doing here? Shouldn’t you be with your soulmate? Oh god, what if your soulmate was actually some asshole who hurt you in some way? He’d kill them, soulmate or not, he would hunt them down and murder…them…
His train of thought paused when he saw you smiling at him. You didn’t seem hurt at all; in fact, you seemed extremely happy…so what were you doing here?
“Look Yuji, you’re my soulmate!” you exclaimed happily before holding your wrist out for him just in time for him to see the last second on your wrist change to zero.
He was shocked into silence. He didn’t know if he should be angry with you for doing something like this or extremely happy. Did you seriously just give up your soulmate to be with him? Not to mention, you timed it perfectly to make it seem like he actually did have a soulmate….god, you were just too much.
“You’re so stupid. Stupid…moron….idiot,” he whispered out, but you could tell he was trying his best to hold back his tears. You were going to retort, but the moment you opened your mouth all that escaped was a quiet squeak of surprise. He had suddenly grabbed your wrist and pulled him into his chest. You quietly laughed at just how sweaty the boy was, but chose not to ruin the moment with something like that.
“Hey, Yuji…are my undies showing?” you asked a sly grin pulling at the corners of your lips.
“No, they aren’t,” he replied simply before pulling back slightly from the hug to see the grin on your lips. Oh boy, he knew that smile all too well.
“Would you like them to?”