(Poster made by AnneOnym at Spotlight Posters)

Written by: "WhiteChristmas" 

Pairing: Myungya 

Prompt: Soulmate AU - Watches that count down the second you meet your soulmate, or the red string of fate. 

Myungsoo can see the numbers counting down over other people's heads, the ones that say that they're about to find the love of their life. And yet he can see nothing when he looks in the mirror. 

00:00:00:00

(Words: 2,341)

Myungsoo can't even remember when he first began seeing them. It must have been when he was a young child, because he can vaguely remember tugging at his mother's hand and asking her why the teen girl in the line at the supermarket in front of them had numbers over her head. His mother had taken him to doctors and to psychologists to try and find out what was 'wrong' with him, until finally she settled on it being a lie.

And so he was branded as a liar at a young age, and he learned to keep his mouth shut and his thoughts to himself. 

That was actually really hard to do when he finally realized what the numbers were. Of course, he had had theories before, that maybe they counted down to someone's life ending, but that never explained why he usually saw it on younger people. Oh, occasionally he would catch a glimpse of numbers above the heads of older folks, but usually those glowing golden numbers appeared over the heads of those in the budding years of adulthood. Late teens to late twenties were most often the age range that he saw it, and that was the biggest clue.

The final revelation came to him when he was sitting in a pizza parlor, enjoying a celebration of victory for his soccer team in high school. One of his teammates, a boy named Woohyun, had gotten up to go fetch something or other, and when he came back, the numbers were gone. What was strange was that Myungsoo had begun to ignore the numbers, finding that amongst a group of high school students, probably about two thirds of them would have the numbers while the others did not. But to have Woohyun leave the table with them shining golden and return without any? Strange. Myungsoo wished that he had actually been paying attention to the countdown, but he was so used to ignoring them. 

His best friend Hoya nudged him in the side with an elbow, and answered his blank stare with a sharp grin. "Stop staring at Woohyun, will you?" he teased, leaving Myungsoo to stutter and backtrack about how he hadn't been staring at the other boy.

Three weeks later, the mystery was solved. Woohyun was dating a girl named Eunji and everyone could tell that he was in love with her. And the clincher? He had met her at her work, the pizza parlor, on the day that they were celebrating their victory.

Myungsoo began paying more attention then, and found that his theory was right. The numbers counted down to when someone was going to meet their soulmate, and the more he thought about it, the more he wondered why some people didn't have any. Maybe they had already met and lost theirs, while never realizing that they would never find someone who matched them so perfectly? That thought saddened him, though, because when he looked at his best friend, there were no numbers. Nothing that said that Hoya would ever meet someone who perfectly complimented him, and while that could have made Myungsoo happy (especially since he had long ago admitted to himself that he would like to be the one to make Hoya happy), it made him sad because he knew that he'd never be that perfect match for him.

After high school, they all went their own separate ways: Myungsoo to New York to study photography while most of his friends stayed in Korea for one goal or another. Hoya stayed so that he could focus on dance, and while it was hard to say goodbye to everyone, it was especially hard to say it to him.

Myungsoo had wanted to badly to confess to him, that day at the airport, when they were both standing there with a strange, awkward tension between them. Hoya had finally broken that, though, by giving the taller boy a big hug and wishing him luck in his journey.

That had been five years ago, and only now was Myungsoo returning to Korea. His eldest friend Sunggyu was getting married and he had cajoled and begged Myungsoo to be his wedding photographer. Myungsoo had protested, stating that a more experienced wedding photographer would be better, but in the end Sunggyu had gotten his way. Myungsoo would do it, despite having his area of expertise be in the realm of landscape.

He couldn't deny that returning made him incredibly nervous. He had hardly spoken to anyone since graduation, mostly because life had simply pulled them all in different directions. Sunggyu had stayed in touch because of his own persistence, but Myungsoo hadn't made an effort to keep up with the others. Especially Hoya. He knew that his reasons for that last had been that he knew the heartbreak that awaited him when Hoya finally met someone, started dating, had a life and maybe a family. It would be too much for him to want to handle and so he'd left it all behind readily.

"Damn Sunggyu," he mumbled to himself as he exited the plane, his carry-on bag slung over his shoulder as he hurried into the airport proper. Who got married in the middle of winter? Snow was blowing across the tarmac, cold and wet and clinging to him, and by the time he stepped through the double doors and into the warmth of the airport, his hair was dripping with the rapidly melting snow.

"You made it!" An overexcited voice shouted and he found himself enveloped in a massive hug, and though he wasn't quite sure who it was, he awkwardly hugged the person back. Surely he knew this person...

When Woohyun pulled away from the hug, his grin shining bright, Myungsoo had to laugh. He should have known; who else would launch themselves like that? It was strange, though. Once again, the shorter man had golden numbers shining over his head.

Myungsoo fought not to stare at them, pushing his shock away just like he pushed the smile onto his face. "Hi, Woo," he greeted warmly, steadfastly ignoring the glowing numbers and focusing on the shorter man's face instead. He could think about what the reappearance of those meant later; right now, he had a lot of catching up to do.

Woohyun talked happily the whole time they walked through the airport, and he grabbed Myungsoo's suitcase without a hesitation while the taller man took up his camera case from the luggage rack. Woohyun only paused in his chatter while Myungsoo checked over all of his equipment, his experienced fingers checking everything to make sure that it had survived the trip okay. He really hated flying with all of his photography equipment; he was always afraid that it would break. When he was satisfied that all was well, he packed the case closed once more, and Woohyun took that as a sign to start his stories anew.

Myungsoo couldn't keep the smile off of his face as they drove from the airport to Sunggyu's house. He may have pushed his friends away when he moved so that he wouldn't have to miss them, but he found that it hadn't worked. Woohyun made him feel like he had never left, the other's steady, happy chatter filled with stories and information that Myungsoo had missed out on, yet he never tried to make him feel guilty.

Apparently Dongwoo had gotten into medical school. Dongwoo. Their dinosaur. Woohyun had chortled over the look on Myungsoo's face, and simply agreed that they were all as shocked as he was. He continued to fill in Myungsoo about all of their lives, and when they reached Sunggyu's home, a little girl with round cheeks and red ribbons in her hair came running out of the house to meet them. Woohyun swept her up in his arms and pressed a kiss to her cheek, then introduced Myungsoo to her: his daughter, Bomi.

It wasn't until a bit later that he got the story from Sunggyu, when everyone else had left and the buzz of his arrival had died down. The wedding wasn't until three days later and Myungsoo was staying at Sunggyu's house at the older man's insistence. They sat at the kitchen table, Sunggyu sipping tea while Myungsoo nursed a steaming hot coffee, and Sunggyu told him about Woohyun.

He had married Eunji, apparently; only two years out of high school. It hadn't surprised any of their friends, despite the young age of the two lovebirds: They had been so in love with one another. Myungsoo was wondering if his assumption about the number's pointed to finding one's true love was completely off base, but then Sunggyu continued his story.

After the birth of Bomi, the whole family had been in a terrible car accident. Eunji, and the child she had been carrying at the time, had both been killed at the scene. Woohyun had been injured, but Bomi was miraculously safe, and while her father recovered she had stayed with her grandparents. It had taken more than just his body's recovery for Woohyun to be strong enough to be a good parent, but he loved his daughter fiercely and he had recovered. 

So. As Sunggyu readied dinner (ramen from a packet - Myungsoo had laughed at that), he mused over the story. So one could have more than one true love. His lips curved in a smile as he realized that the numbers over Woohyun meant that his friend would find happiness again, and Myungsoo couldn't have been happier for him. Maybe it was just about timing, then, and the way that people fell in love in certain periods of their lives. Wouldn't that mean that maybe someone who simply wasn't mature enough to love deeply while in high school simply wouldn't show their numbers yet?

It was with that thought that he found himself standing in front of the bathroom mirror, peering into the air over his head to try and find even a hint of the golden numbers. To his dismay, there was nothing there, nothing to show that he would ever fall in love. He had dated, of course, and at one point he had thought that he might be in love with someone, but one day the numbers had popped up over his boyfriend's head and he knew that he was not the one for him. It had been hard to see, but even as he'd nursed a broken heart, he knew deep down that he had had the thought of someone else keeping him from truly loving. 

Hoya.

Even now, lying in bed in Sunggyu's guest bedroom, his heart pounded in anticipation of seeing the other man again. Five years since that awkward airport goodbye, five years since he'd even seen Hoya. He'd refrained from looking him up on social media, mostly because he didn't want to see him with other people, but now he almost regretted it.

He tossed and turned most of the night, barely getting any rest, but he finally fell into sleep about five in the morning. He woke late, because of that, and showered and dressed quickly before going downstairs to find that the house was empty. A note was left on the counter, telling him that Sunggyu had gone to meet with his fiancee, and that Woohyun would come pick Myungsoo up to bring him to the rehearsal dinner and subsequent party that evening.

Myungsoo fixed himself a bowl of cereal from Sunggyu's pantry and lounged around the house, reacquainting himself with his friend's life by looking at all of the pictures hung on the walls and above the mantle. His fiancee was beautiful and Myungsoo could see the happiness on both of their faces when they were pictured together, and he couldn't help but to hope that Sunggyu had found his soulmate in her. 

An hour before he was supposed to be picked up, he dressed in a nice sweater and slacks, making sure to style his hair nicely so that he could at least pull a good impression from all he people that he either hadn't met or hadn't seen in a long time. He pushed aside the nagging little voice that told him that he was doing it because Hoya might be there, but he couldn't push away the blush that spread across his face at the thought.

Five minutes past the time when Woohyun was supposed to be there, Myungsoo started panicking. Had he forgotten? Had something happened? The worry built up and he found himself looking out the front window again and again, hoping to catch a glimpse of Woohyun's grey car.

That was why he saw him first.

Myungsoo's heart felt like it stopped in his chest when he looked out the front window, fifteen minutes past time, and saw that it was not Woohyun's grey car parked in the driveway, but a black one. And getting out of the driver's seat was none other than Hoya.

He looked really good, dressed in plain grey jeans and a red sweater, his hair dyed brown and styled in a messy look that made him appear as if he'd just rolled out of bed looking that good. Myungsoo's mouth went dry at the sight of him, but it was the golden numbers over Hoya's head that caught his attention.

He had never had those in high school, and their presence now was a small confirmation to Myungsoo that he was right about the maturity thing. But from the angle of the window and the way that the walkway wrapped around the house, Myungsoo couldn't make out how many numbers were left. Not that he should be looking. He gave a sigh and shook himself, pushed away the urge to make sure he looked okay, and then, when Hoya knocked on the door, Myungsoo opened it.

And just like that, the golden glow over Hoya's head hit 00:00:00, and the shorter man looked up to smile at him. 

"Long time no see," he said.

THE END

Author's Note: Oh wow okay. So I hope that you don't mind that I twisted the prompt a bit. I was trying to get an idea for the string of fate or the watches in my mind in a way that I could write it, and this popped into my head. I hope that you enjoyed it! Merry Christmas!