Chapter One: The Beginning

-0049 d 07 h 23 m 47s-

Ian Hecox had never been a good time keeper. He had been late on his first day of primary school and he had nearly missed his train that one time he had visited his grandmother the very first time on his own. Although his mom had tried to force him into being punctual for school by turning all hands of their clocks in their home ten minutes ahead it still did not work. Ian was just terribly unorganised concerning time.

And so it was no wonder that he absolutely forgot about his countdown when there were better things to do like playing video games with David or going running in the sun-drenched streets of Carmichael.

One night though filled by too many thoughts to let him fall asleep had him sitting on his bed, leaned against the cold wall and staring down at the numbers on the inside of his wrist, constantly running down. He could vaguely recall a time in which he had been too young to know what those weird, fleeting symbols meant and they had soothed him, for it was a constant and gracious flow of them.

Now, the effect had changed.

When Ian stared at the numbers softly rewriting themselves, dark in contrast to his pale skin, he felt anticipation, if not even panic building up in his chest.

-0023 d 16 h 53 m 41 s-

"I can't wait, you know"

Melanie gushed, swinging elegantly next to Ian who grunted unintelligibly, kicking himself off the sandy ground. They were out while babysitting Melanie's little brother Joe who was sitting on the climbing frame, cheerfully scattering sand on anyone who would pass it.

"Don't do that"

Melanie shouted half-heartedly, did not make any attempt though to stop her swing.

"Don't pretend you don't care about it."

Ian sighed and averted her eyes, instead looking up at the cloudless sky.

"How long's yours away?" she asked.

"Mine? Oh, like about a year."

He lied, smoothly.

"I've got exactly 432 days left"

she smiled, dreamily, and unconsciously tracing the to Ian invisible numbers on her wrist.

"Seriously, I am so thankful for it, I can already plan what I want to wear on that day- I will know I have to shave."

Ian grinned and Mel rambled on and on, discussing whether she should wear something cute or cool that day. Ian listened, relieved that they did not discuss the countdown anymore.

He only interrupted her when Joe had started eating a sand cake he had baked.

-0007 d 13 h 26 m 05 s-

"One week and school starts again"

David remarked, killing off Ian's character for the about twentieth time today with one hand and reaching for his soft drink with the other. Ian made a face having a minor heart attack when he realized what day his countdown would run out on. Joshua groaned and listlessly threw his controller away when David had treated him with a nice kick into the face as well.

"Can't wait to get out of high school" he remarked, grabbing for the bag of chips.

"Well, they can suck it, because it's our last year, bitches."

David highlighted his last words with a brutal headshot.

"Seriously, I'm never playing this game with you again" Ian remarked "It's time you stop being such a lousy cheater."

"Ian's just a little bitch because he hasn't beaten me once in this game."

Joven laughed.

"It's time Matt comes back from his aunt's so that he can beat your ass and you stop being a d-bag about it."

"Whatever" David grinned "You wanna meet up tomorrow to have a Mario World Cup of Epicness?"

Ian and Joven exchanged a short look:

"Hell Yeah."

-0001 d 00 h 00 m 01 s-

Although Ian had more or less successfully pretended for the whole day he did not know what was going to happen tomorrow he did see the count of remaining days change to zero and he realized that they would stay like this for the rest of his life.

Soon, all of these numbers would come to a halt forever.

-0000 d 03 h 53 m 49 s-

Ian woke up, strangely on edge, taking in every single detail of his room that looked like always, messy and a bit dusty in the corners. But now, it seemed to mock him as if pretending everything was normal would make it easier.

"It was your choice to tell no one, Ian"

he muttered and decidedly stood up to head for a shower. He was quiet when he was eating his breakfast, but his mom took it as his usual grudge and anticipation on the first day back to school. When he finally left his house with his backpack and PE kit he pondered for a short moment whether he should have told his mother after all, just to dismiss the thought immediately.

No, he thought while entering the bus and searching the packed seats of stressed looking first graders and gum chewing teenagers for Melanie, it would do no good at all.

He smiled at her and she enthusiastically started talking about something he could bring himself to only listen half-heartedly to. Melanie was one of his favourite people ever, but she would be hysterical, loud and embarrassing about it. Ian knew her long and well enough to tell.

The ride continued and Joven entered after a while, sitting behind them and inventing a list with Melanie naming all the things they had to do for the last time today and agreed that they both certainly would not miss the welcoming assembly taking up their first period today.

Ian subtly glanced at his wrist.

-0000 d 01 h 33 m 14 s-

Finally, they exited the bus to be met by the great, ugly building they had so desperately avoided all summer long and it made Ian's stomach lurch when he thought of what it had in store for him today. They were joined by their friend Ryan and David who had come by bike, joking and laughing about something. Ian forced himself to laugh when they retold it, not even hearing what they were saying.

The corridors were filled, mostly by people Ian had not felt the desire to see again. He might have slammed his locker door a bit harder than necessary after stashing his track kit away, but it didn't resolve the tension in his chest like he had hoped.

-0000 d 01 h 03 m 47 s-

Assembly hall filled with hundreds of reluctant faces and they searched for a seat at the very back of the hall. Ian had never in his whole life managed to stay focussed for the whole speech the Head master always gave, rambling about a "fresh, new start", "amazing opportunities" and "values of the community of the school", but this year he did not listen to a single word, instead watching the numbers run and fade on his arm, his heart beating in sync with them.

-0000 d 00 h 13 m 24 s-

Assembly was finished and they all made their way to the different classroom, Ian looking at his time table to realize he had English first.

"You in my course? Awesome"

David grinned and raised his hand for a high five that Ian returned, feeling as if his arm was shaking uncontrollably when he raised it.

"Ugh, we're up on second floor"

they climbed up the stuffy, old staircase ringing with chatter and laughter.

Room 251 was already filled by most students, but a few seats were not taken yet. They slumped down in some chairs in third row and David started eating a tuna sandwich.

Ian's stomach rebelled already at the thought of food.

-0000 d 00 h 02 m 15 s-

His heart rate was out of his control and he was glad he was sitting. Subtly, he glanced around.

It's none of these idiots. Good.

He was tapping rhythms on his desk to distract himself, but he couldn't even fool himself.

-0000 d 00 h 01 m 00 s-

Panic bubbled up in his chest when he slowly saw the room filling, nearly every seat was taken by now. Where was she going to sit? He filtered every noise out, as if he was turning down the volume of a radio, mushy noise in the back of his head.

Half a minute left.

David was starting to reluctantly pack away his sandwich and turned to Ian:

"Hey, you have a pen?"

Ian wordlessly pressed a stylo into his hand.

17 seconds left.

What if she did not turn up?

15 seconds left.

What if there was nobody to come? Was that possible?

-0000 d 00 h 00 m 10 s-

What would happen if he would suffer a stroke? He didn't want to die yet.

His eyes frantically darted from his wrist to the door and back again.

Three seconds.

I will faint. Either that or vomit.

Two seconds.

I should have told mom.

One second.

I am not ready for this.

-0000 d 00 h 00 m 00 s-

The door opened with a crash, when someone entered with a huge stack of books piled up in a wobbly tower in front of them.

They did not steer to the last empty seat across from Ian, though.

With a sigh, the books were dropped on the teacher's desk.

Ian's heart stopped for an eternity when the person finally turned around, gave the class an insecure smile and said:

"Hi, I'm Anthony Padilla, and I'm looking forward to teaching you in English this year."

Hello again, my dear friends, it has been way too long since I've done anything on this website, but I haven't forgotten you! Hackers Always Lie. Sometimes. is also still in progress, so don't worry! It will be updated at some point. You cannot escape from it.

This is a new project I have started; it's a Soulmate!AU as you might have guessed and it was inspired by this post on Tumblr: post/85627609221/faggotsandcupcakes-xxarcane

I have also started an account on Archive of Our Own under the name of the_world_only_began_today where this and other projects are also being uploaded.

I am honestly sorry that I am such a horribly irregular uploader.

Have a lovely day,

Lucy