AN: Hey everyone! Welcome to I'm Thinking It's a Sign. Each chapter will be accompanied by a song and recommend you listen to that song as you read. The song for this chapter is "Bowspirit" by Balmorhea
Prelude: Spirit
Ever since Jacob Peralta was three-years-old, he knew the importance of the little countdown clock that was (somehow) tattooed on his wrist since birth. It is also important to note that this little clock does actually count down. On your skin. Your skin changes color by the second to reflect an accurate time. "An accurate time to what?" you may ask. Well, it is universal knowledge that this tattoo-clock counts down to when you meet your "Soulmate". Jake's family preferred the term "Basherte" or "Basherter", but that was neither here nor there. Basically, it was the big-love-of-your-life kind of thing that Hollywood made thousands of movies about.
Most children would gossip and wonder what their Soulmate would be like in person. They'd calculate the day out and dream of the inevitable romantic meeting, some imagining fireworks and life-altering jolts to the heart. Some of Jake's friends would even play-act scenarios and plan their weddings. Jake, however, did not participate in these games.
Jake was one of many unfortunate people whose clock was at zero and had been for a very long time. The clock, while precise, has some serious flaws. For instance, when Jake was only a baby his mother took him for a walk around Time Square for a fun day out. Jake's mother, who had bad eyesight, had a very hard time reading the very teeny clock on teeny Jake's arm. She was under the impression he had another month to meet his "Basherte", but alas, that was not the case.
On April 11th of the first year of his life, at precisely 12:47pm, Jacob Peralta met his Soulmate. Except for the fact that he didn't. As Mrs. Peralta was rolling her little bundle of joy in his stroller past the Paramount theatre, she walked right past another stroller. This stroller contained Jake's Soulmate. The problem with the clock was that it didn't calculate the exact moment you first meet someone, but the first time you're in close enough proximity to see them. There have been numerous accounts of people walking into huge crowds or spending the day at Disneyland and not being able to pinpoint where their Soulmate was. It wasn't until that night, when Mrs. Peralta was giving Jake a bath, that she realized his clock was at zero. This caused her to go into hysterics. When Jake was born it was made very clear to her that because his clock was set so low, it would be her duty to track down the other infant when the time was right. She was supposed to flag down the other parent and make sure they met back up when both of them were of a reasonable age to date. But she hadn't. And she was horrified.
Jake, being a forgiving and caring boy, never held any resentment towards his mother for her mistake. Whenever the topic of Soulmates came up, Mrs. Peralta's eyes would gloss over and Jake would have to calm her down.
"It's not a big deal, mom! I'll find my Basherte some other way!" he said with a sincere smile. It was true. There were a myriad of ways one could meet their Soulmate despite the problem that was known as the "Proximity Flaw". Soulmates that were affected by the Proximity Flaw would find each other again by other means. For one, they seemed to be attracted to each other (like magnets, but most of the time, yes they were attracted to each other sexually) and would feel pulls towards certain places. Many experts on the subject (of which there are many), site the overwhelming need to go to a particular college or the strong conviction to accept one job offer over another one as proof of the polarization of souls. Spiritualists would say these are examples of the soul calling out to its mate and even the most cynical of people couldn't deny the force when it came over them.
But how do you know you've found them? This is a topic as expansive as Biology. Sometimes a touch will set you a blaze. Sometimes the first kiss ties a knot around two hearts. Sometimes it's as simple as hearing them say your name. Pretty much every single poet in the entire world has written a poem on the moment they met their Soulmate. There's a bunch of beautiful metaphors and similes that try to describe it, but there are only two traits all of them have in common: 1. It's indescribable and 2. When it happens, you know.
Jake, though he was never as pumped up about it as the kids who still had ticking clocks, couldn't help but sometimes get wrapped up in it. It was exciting to know that somewhere out there was the absolute perfect person for you. Like most kids, Jake would fantasize about his person and what she was like. She would be beautiful, obviously and she'd like to play video games. She wouldn't be a nerd or a pencil-pusher, but super cool and chill about everything. She'd like music and think the world of him. Sometimes he would think of names he liked to see if any of them caused a reaction. Mostly, he would just list qualities he found attractive and assumed his Basherte would imbody all of those traits.
As Jake would soon find out, he couldn't have been more far off.
AN: Hey everyone! So I'm back with a weird idea I had after browsing some Soulmate AUs. This fic is going to be very music based with a song every chapter and playlists in between. The music will be very much a part of the experience so I recommend having Spotify open lol.
I'm gonna be hella busy with grad school and my pre-school classes, so don't expect my usual fast paced updating. It just won't be possible haha. I'll do my best to do a chapter a week though.
This was basically a prologue so there will be some fun interactions and stuff next chapter.
Thanks so much for reading and I hope you like.
The title comes from "Such Great Heights" by The Postal Service because I am Ben Gibbard trash.