“coach, where should i meet them?” “at hub, the restaurant” the robotic voice of daniel’s electronic device replies. for once daniel decides to not question further and just go straight to the restaurant, it’s not like it’s the first time he’s paired up with someone, and it’s probably not gonna be the last.

 

 

*

 

 

daniel knows seongwoo is the one as soon as he steps in, the dark haired man smiles at him and “wow… is this guy him, coach?” “that is correct.” the electronic device tells him.

daniel then makes his way to the table, he and seongwoo sitting across each other “should we get done with it?” the guy suddenly speaks and daniel doesn’t really want to admit it but damn, even his voice is pleasant. “what do you mean?” “i mean we should check the expiration date” “oh right. uh- let’s count to three and check then?” “sure.”

“you’ve got twelve hours.” their coaches tell them simultaneously.

“i guess we should eat fast then.” seongwoo finally says and daniel can’t help but laugh when their pre-ordered meals arrive and seongwoo shoves the biggest amount of food he can fit inside his mouth.

 

 

*

 

 

“so we got a room.” “yeah,” seongwoo sighs and takes his coat off as he eyes the bed “do you wanna?” “wouldn’t that be weird?” “yeah, probably.”

so they lie down and stare at ceiling as the hours pass by. 

seongwoo blabbers through most of the time, trying to make things less awkward, trying to make sure he gets to see daniel laugh.

 

 

*

 

 

the next time daniel is paired up with someone he kind of hates it.

mostly because it’s a girl, and because they don’t really click together, and also because she’s just not seongwoo. yeah, it’s mostly that actually.

 

 

*

 

 

they’re at a wedding ceremony and daniel’s holding yoojung’s hand but neither are comfortable at all with this whole relationship thing.

“we’re only on the second year, there’s still three more and i’m sure i don’t want you holding my hand if you’re gonna do it as if i’m a corpse or something.” daniel gulps, because actually, she’s not wrong. so daniel holds her hand more intently, yet the only reaction is her rolling her eyes at him.

daniel’s eyes wander for a second and in the corner of the room he spots him, seongwoo, with someone that seems like his new partner. 

she’s pretty, daniel thinks.

 

 

*

 

 

it’s only a bit convenient their current partners know each other and leave them by themselves through the whole wedding thing.

the couple getting married is up at some sort of stage telling everyone about the wonders of the system and how happy they’re with each other. seongwoo, of course, mocks them, just for the sake of making daniel laugh.

“how long you going to be with doyeon?” “tomorrow, how about you and yoojung?” “three more years” “damn, i always get such a short periods” “you wouldn’t like to spend five years with someone, trust me” “i’m pretty sure i would, but it would have to be with someone like you.”

daniel swears he can hear his heart speed up at seongwoo’s words and he kind of wants to say something like, yeah me too. but all that comes out is half-hearted laugh.

 

 

*

 

 

daniel wants to quit this, he hates the system.

but he can’t really help it, he’s already dressed up entirely, ready to meet his new partner.

 

 

*

 

 

“you’re kidding me, coach is this right?” “yes, this is correct.” 

and there he is, sitting across seongwoo at hub once again, it’s all the same, except a little less awkward and maybe it’s just his eyes but seongwoo looks prettier today, he’s smiling a lot too.

“guess you’ll have to stick around with me again” “cheers to that, hyung” daniel raises his glass of wine, to which seongwoo responds by simply smiling.

 

 

*

 

 

“how about we don’t check the expiration date this time?” “that could be fun” “yeah, what if we’ve got like, twelve seconds left or something?” “maybe we should… do you think we should?” seongwoo’s laughing now, loudly, not holding back at all and daniel kind of wants to bury himself into the ground, seongwoo probably thinks he’s an idiot.

“yeah, let’s do it, you undress first” daniel is glad seongwoo finally stopped laughing for a minute but literally what? he wasn’t being serious was he? “what? why me?” “because i said so, c’mon, i wanna see your , i wanna see it” “god, you’re embarrassing” “my name’s seongwoo but-” 

daniel knows he’s going to crack a joke so he just stops him by doing what makes the most sense right now. 

he kisses him.

slowly then all at once, he swipes his tongue over seongwoo’s lips and enters the older’s mouth, letting out a soft sigh when seongwoo calls for his name. the way he says it, it echoes into daniel’s mind through the whole night.

 

 

*

 

 

after a few days it starts to get at him, daniel can’t help but wonder how much time they’ve got left, he can’t help but hope it’s a lot too.

 

 

*

 

 

so they invite a few friends over, jisung and jaehwan.

and of course daniel waits til everyone is completely absorbed by the movie they were watching so he can sneak out and check the expiration date with his coach.

“how much time do we got?” “five years” daniel sighs, he seems happy with the answer, until the coach starts loading a screen that says ‘recalculating‘ “you’ve got now two years. at this point daniel was already panicking “hey, what do you mean? is that because i told him i wouldn’t look?” 

before daniel knows the screen shows him he only has twelve hours. he shuts the device and joins his friends again to watch the movie “dude you literally missed the best part” “yeah?” he asks completely uninterested then grabs seongwoo’s hand, interlocking their fingers.

“gross.” jaehwan mutters under his breath and jisung tells him to shut up.

 

 

*

 

 

the next morning seongwoo is up early, daniel knows because he can hear him typing on his laptop “morning” seongwoo says, not looking up from the screen “working?” daniel asks and seongwoo nods, he then sits hext to him, he should know they don’t have much time left.

“hey, i wanna tell you something” “what is it?” “i looked…” “looked at what?” “the expiration date” “we promised we wouldn’t!” “i know!” daniel’s hands are shaking at this point and the way seongwoo’s looking at him right now he knows the other is about to cry “what did it say?” “we’ve got an hour now, but it’s because it changed” “then what did it say before?” “five… five years.”

seongwoo was really crying now, he even took his glasses off before getting up and slamming the door on daniel’s face. daniel would’ve called him, hell, he would scream til his lungs gave out, but that wouldn’t change the expiration date of their relationship.

 

 

*

 

 

“what even was the point of this, coach?” “the expiration date was changed to register your reaction to a break up of a meaningful relationship. but you already have a new partner.” “ that.”

 

 

*

 

 

“your final match has been found, ong seongwoo” “took you three weeks, coach?” “correct.” seongwoo smirked to himself despite the sadness he felt, he didn’t even want to meet his perfect match, he wanted daniel.

“so what now, coach?” “you can say goodbye to anyone you wish before going to your soulmate” “anyone i wish huh?”

 

 

*

 

 

of course he would meet daniel, it made sense in his head.

“so, you’ve got your soulmate now or something?” “uh, yeah, i haven’t met them though, i don’t even want to” “what? why?” seongwoo laughs lightly, like it’s a inside joke or something “i want to be with you, daniel” “but that’s against the system’s rule” “ the system, it, right in the . how can i possibly have a soulmate that isn’t you? that’s bull.” daniel’s heart swells and warms up at seongwoo’s words “that’s the most romantic anyone ever said to me.”

it’s probably the adrenaline rush or whatever but before daniel knows he’s taken seongwoo by the hand and they’re running out of hub.

when a guard comes up to them everything stops and dissipates slowly.

number of simulations done: 1000
number of escapes: 998

 

 

*

 

 

everything turns black and then seongwoo’s staring at the screen of his phone once again “ninety-nine percent match found, name: kang daniel.” his coach tells him. seongwoo doesn’t even have to look around much to find the guy in the picture.

when daniel smiles at him he knows he’s the one.