AN: I seem to go on a break a lot, don't I? I'm really sorry, I've been busy with family and trips and I've just been really tired. But I'll be fine. Enjoy!

X

Time seemed like a constant thing, destined never to stop or pause or slow down. It was a bit of a complicated idea to many people but they disregarded it and moved on with their lives. Space was even stranger and majority couldn't quite wrap their minds around it, so they kept with time.

And these were the reasons that true love came in the form of time upon their wrists. Their hearts were certain that their lover came with the ending of their clocks and it was extremely rare where no one was destined for them, their clock an unforgiving zero.

That was the fear that Jerome Aceti had when he was five years old and was staring at his clock. It seemed…glitched, and he was scared to tell his mother. The numbers kept switching and fading out and fear had his fur on end.

There was a knock on the door and Jerome's mother–Willow– entered the room, kindness etched into her face. She was a loving Bacca and always supported her son no matter what, and she was quite popular among her son's friends.

"Jerome?" She asked softly. "Are you okay? I called for dinner about ten minutes ago."

The young Bacca jerked to attention, eyes quickly darting to his wrist once more. "Oh, sorry. I'll be down in a moment."

Jerome's mother followed his gaze and she smiled, showing white teeth. "Is this about your soulmate clock?"

He stared into his mother's eyes and nodded tearfully. "Yeah."

"Well, let's see it!" Willow encouraged him. "Is something wrong with it?"

"I don't know!" Jerome whimpered. "It's being weird and freaking out and I'm scared it's gonna become zero!"

Willow hummed thoughtfully. "You haven't met your soulmate yet, but I've seen this before."

"You have?" Jerome's eyes went huge.

She nodded, ruffled her son's fur and smiled widely. "You and your soulmate are spiritually bound. No matter what, you two were destined together. The glitching means they're close by, either in the town or neighborhood."

Jerome lowered his gaze. "What if they're a boy?"

Willow didn't hesitate as she answered, "I'll still love them the same as well."

The Bacca seemed to slump with relief and his mother laughed. "Come on down and have dinner, okay? I love seeing my handsome boy's face!" She squashed him into a hug and Jerome squealed. "Moooom!"

Willow released her son and headed to his door. "Trust me, everything will work out! Just you wait." She remarked, grasping the doorknob and heading into the hallway.

The last thing Willow saw before she closed the door was her Jerome brightening up with the biggest smile on his face, and it brought tears of joy to her eyes.

X

Five years later

Being ten years old was quite an accomplishment to Jerome. He had a few friends, his grades were pretty average, and life was pretty good since fifth grade was about to end.

He was sitting with Quentin, a Mudkip (but they all called him a fish), Adam, a boy with curly brown hair, sunglasses and an amulet that he explained was an heirloom, and Seto, a boy who was obsessed with magic and was determined to learn some stuff.

The end of school was a wonderful time for everyone and they were perched on the edge of their seats, eyes wide with excitement. Fingers kept drumming on the desk and smiles were widening.

Jerome and friends sat near the door, their bodies' already half out of their seats as they held onto their backpacks.

Out of the corner of Jerome's eye, he noticed a young boy with spiky brown hair sitting by the window. He seemed to be staring out the window, not focused on the clock like everyone else.

Clocks…

Jerome turned to his wrist with wide green eyes, starting to tremble as the clock glitched for several seconds.

His staring seemed to attract the boy, and he turned to meet Jerome's eyes. Almond met emerald and they couldn't move.

A small beeping sound tore Jerome away from the boy and he turned his attention back to his wrist.

Jerome's heart stopped.

00:00

RIIIIIIIING!

The flood of children suddenly swarmed the door, and Jerome was tugged out of his seat. "C'mon!" Adam urged. "We've gotta go; your mom promised a sleepover with popcorn!"

"Wait, Adam–" Jerome tried to say, attempting to find the boy with brown hair. "Adam, wait! That kid–"

"You can tell us later!" Adam said happily, meeting up with Quentin and Seto. "Time to celebrate! We're in middle school now!"

Jerome flailed his arms around but couldn't get out of Adam's pull. Tears streamed down his cheeks and the Bacca swore he felt his heart break.

Willow was waiting for the boys when they piled into her car, pride gleaming on her face. "Hello! Aren't you guys excited?" She cried out happily, pulling all four into a hug.

"We're in middle school now, Mrs. Aceti!" Quentin and Adam cheered. Seto just grinned.

Jerome stayed quiet. Concerned, Willow looked at her son. "Jerome?"

He gazed out the window, sniffling. Shock flared when he saw the boy with spiky brown hair look downcast as he headed by, walking with a young girl. The girl had poofy brown hair and patted him on the back, saying something back to him and bringing a sad smile to the boy's face.

"Wait!" Jerome yelped. "Don't go! No! Please!"

It was too late. They couldn't hear him through the window and they headed to another car, getting in and driving off.

Willow and the boys stared at him in shock. The beeping noise came again on Jerome's wrist and he didn't need to look down to realize that it had reset.

"I'm so sorry." Willow murmured. "But you'll have another chance, I promise."

Adam, Quentin, and Seto looked sad. "Dude, I'm so sorry." Adam whispered. "If I hadn't been such a complete idiot–"

Jerome shook his head. "No, it's okay." He rasped. "Another day."

They drove off in silence.

X

Jerome was looking forward to sophomore year. Seto carpooled with him, and Adam was meeting up with them with Ty.

"Dude, can you even set anything on fire?" Jerome laughed, punching Seto in the arm.

"I'm a wizard, you numbskull." Seto smirked. "But my magic lessons are paying off."

"Why don't you enlighten us?" Adam swung an arm over Seto's shoulder, smiling at Ty who came up behind him.

The wizard rolled his eyes but still smiled, and he closed his lilac eyes.

There was nothing for a few seconds, but then Jerome felt his tie lift up. Adam yelped as his sunglasses floated off and his extremely bright golden eyes shone. Ty's headphones came off as well and the smaller boy blinked in shock.

"Okay, okay, you're improving." Jerome giggled. Seto gave him a bright smile and let the items drop. Adam grabbed onto his sunglasses and put them back on with a grin.

"What's up guys?" Alesa stopped by the group, bright red hair trailing down her back. "Showing off some magic, Seto?"

"Well, it is my specialty." Seto smiled. "Hopefully by senior year, I'll learn enough magic to do the best senior prank ever."

"Dude, that would be amazing. Can you imagine the possibilies?" Adam sighed wistfully.

The entire group just gave Seto a thumbs up.

"Oh! I also met my soulmate over the summer!" Alesa said excitedly. Jerome felt his stomach drop and Adam and Seto gave him sad looks.

Middle school had been useless. Jerome had held onto the hope that maybe the boy had gone to their middle school, but no such luck. 6th, 7th, and 8th grade were somewhat okay and would've been horrible if he didn't have his friends to help him out.

Freshman year was average. Nothing really happened, except Adam finding his soulmate in Ty and when someone tried to bully Ty, Adam had whipped off his sunglasses, staring down the bully until he ran. Since it wasn't physical or even verbal, Adam got off scot-free and they had a celebration at lunch.

With freshman year came Alesa, who became Adam's best friend, and even helped him ask Ty to homecoming. She was always willing to help no matter what and Jerome and friends were grateful for her.

"So, who's your soulmate?" Ty asked, brushing his long bangs back.

Alesa blushed and called to a girl waiting with a boy. "Well, this here is Ashley, my one and only, and her best friend Mitch!"

An electric jolt went through Jerome at the name but he didn't move. Ashley had dark blue hair that faded to violet at the bottom and Adam laughed. "Fire and ice, cool. I like it."

Ashley giggled. "Yeah, we had that reaction too."

Mitch was staring intently at Jerome and the Bacca still didn't say anything. Ashley frowned and smacked him on the shoulder. "Mitch! Don't be rude!"

"Ashley," Mitch whispered. "I think that's him."

Another realization came to mind–the girl that was talking with Mitch was Ashley all those years ago. The one in front of Jerome was taller with more defined features and a filled out body but it was still the same girl, so that meant it was the same boy.

Mitch still had the spiky hair, and his eyes had never changed. The duo were still staring at each other until Seto, with a wave of his hand, used the air to push them closer together.

The rest of the group looked ecstatic. Ashley looked ready to cry and Adam looked ready to scream.

"Um, hi." Jerome said nervously. A huge smile broke onto Mitch's face. "Hi again."

The Bacca grinned and pulled Mitch into him, giving him a huge hug and inhaling his scent. Coffee, bonfires, and autumn leaves. Perfection.

Cheers rang out and then Mitch pulled away, cupping Jerome's cheeks. "I lost you all those years ago and I'm never going to do that again."

"Well, technically we didn't know each other–" But Jerome was cut off as Mitch put his lips on his and started their forever.

X

"Hey Mom, I'm home!" Jerome called out. Mitch stood next to him, fiddling nervously.

Willow appeared from around the corner. "Hi honey! Sorry about not getting you from school, I got really busy. How was it? Oh! Who's this?"

A huge smile grew on Jerome's face. Willow cocked her head, looking confused. "Jerome?"

Mitch's cheeks went a dark red and he held his wrist out. The female Bacca got closer, looking at Jerome and Mitch's wrists.

00:00

Tears filled Willow's eyes and she grabbed onto Mitch's arms. "Oh my goodness. You're him. You're the one who's destined for my son."

"Hi," Mitch whispered.

A watery smile appeared on Willow's face and she crushed him into a hug. "It's so nice to meet you. Keep my son happy."

Mitch nodded immediately and wrapped his arms around her trembling form. "Of course, Mrs. Aceti. I'm Mitchell Hughes, or just Mitch."

"Hello, 'just Mitch'." Willow laughed, wiping her eyes. "I'm going to tell you this once; if you ever need anything, or need to stay over or want to stay for dinner, you tell me, and I'll be there."

Mitch blinked and looked at Jerome, who had the proudest smile on his face. "Yeah, my mom's pretty amazing."

Tears filled Mitch's eyes and he nodded. "I'll remember that, thank you."

Willow clapped her hands together. "So I'm guessing that everyone's coming over for dinner?"

"Yep. Alesa found Ashley and they're really happy." Jerome smiled.

Willow gasped with excitement. "So many soulmates! This is exciting! Did Seto ever get a soulmate?"

Jerome and Mitch exchanged glances. "I…don't know." Jerome blinked. "I don't think he ever told us."

"Well, no matter." Willow went to grab her phone. "Pizza's on me tonight."

The duo cheered and intertwined their fingers, smiling at each other. Willow gazed at them with pride. "There's love in every gesture they do for each other. They really are destined together."

Well, of course, since they were written in the stars, through time and space.

Together.

X

AN: Wow I really like this chapter! I'm proud of it!

I like to imagine that while they're all eating at the pizza place, someone asks Seto if he has a soulmate and he just pulls back his wrist and the clock's been at zero the whole time and everyone gasps and Ty screams, "Who is it?!" And Seto's got that happy smirk and he says it's Brice and Adam chokes on his pizza or something like that.

"Why'd you never tell us?" "You never asked, duh."

I hope everyone's having a great day!