I had a fun time with it the last time I wrote a soulmate AU, so I decided I'd like to try another one. I went with the one where a timer on your wrist counts down until you meet your soulmate, but since it plays a large role in the story that Seymour and Audrey don't think they can be together at first, I tweaked it a bit so the timer counts down to your first kiss with your soulmate.
While he was growing up, Seymour heard people say that Skid Row had a higher than usual amount of people born without a soulmate. He didn't have any way to know for sure, but he believed it. Skid Row was the sort of place where people found themselves short on everything, from money, to happiness, to just plain good luck. Why wouldn't they be short on soulmates as well?
As soon as they saw that Seymour had a timer, the other boys at the orphanage said it had to be a mistake. He wasn't the only one there to have one, but there were also plenty who didn't. He had seen quite a few of those people throughout his life so far. Instead of numbers counting down, or the blank wrist that came when a timer ended, they were born with black zeroes that would never fade. Seymour did find it odd that he, of all people, would get lucky enough to have someone fated to care about him. He certainly didn't have anyone who cared about him at the moment.
He wasn't good enough at math to sit down and work out exactly how long he would be waiting. He still had well over a hundred thousand hours left to go, and the number was so large that it was too daunting to even begin trying to divide it into days, months, and years. Maybe it wasn't worth worrying about it yet. It was still so far away that the possibility hardly felt real yet.
As he grew older, Seymour decided that he preferred keeping his timer covered. It wasn't unusual, many people kept their wrists hidden for one reason or another. Sometimes there was a big, important reason, or it could just be that they got fed up with the way it slowed down their day when they had to deal with strangers trying to see what was or wasn't there. He'd never worked up the courage to ask Mr. Mushnik about his reasons for always wearing long sleeves.
In Seymour's case, the reason was that he always felt a little like he'd been kicked in the gut every time someone took a reluctant glance at his numbers with an unmistakable expression of, 'Please, not this guy.' And he would then feel even worse when they breathed a little sigh of relief after seeing that their times didn't match up.
He was very clearly going to make for the world's most disappointing soulmate.
People typically assumed that Seymour hid his timer because he had zeroes and was too embarrassed to let others see. He couldn't blame anyone if they thought so. He was sure he seemed like exactly the sort of guy who wasn't good enough for a soulmate.
So he was caught off guard one day, when he found himself being asked, "Seymour… do you have a tima'?"
Audrey had been hired a few months ago, and they were still learning to understand each other. They were both shy, and the friendship between them had felt much like a flower bud. It could easily be ruined if you tried to tear it open before it was ready, but care and patience would allow it to blossom.
Perhaps the blossom was opening further, if she wanted to start talking about more important matters.
As he looked down at his sleeve and hesitated, Audrey quickly spoke up again with, "I'm sorry, was it rude to ask? You don't have to tell me."
Seymour looked up again and cleared his throat. "It's alright, I don't mind you asking. And… yes, I do have one."
He was pleasantly surprised that Audrey didn't look as if she suspected him of lying, but there did seem to be something else weighing on her mind.
"Then, um… could I ask you something else about it?"
He nodded, and came over to sit down on the stool placed across from her at her arrangement table. He'd never had anyone want to talk about timers with him before, and he wondered what might be on her mind. All he knew when it came to Audrey was that she did have a timer of her own, and she usually covered it with her sleeves, a bracelet, or a small scarf tied around her wrist. He hadn't looked on purpose, but occasionally a bracelet would shift while she was working, and he would glimpse it just long enough to see that the numbers were changing.
Audrey stared down at the table and took a deep breath as she worked up the courage to ask her question. "When you meet your soulmate, would it botha' you, knowing that… that they'd kissed otha' people, even though their tima' hadn't run out?"
It wasn't something he'd thought about before, and he paused for a few seconds to consider before answering. "Do you mean if they were already in love with someone else? I guess that would be hard to hear, but I wouldn't want to break anyone up if they were already together."
"No, I meant…" Audrey's face was turning a bright red, and she was still avoiding looking up to meet his eyes. "If she did love you and wanted to be with you, would it botha' you that she'd been with otha' people before?"
Seymour shook his head without pausing to think that time. "I can't see why it would."
Audrey smiled faintly. "I'm glad to know some people feel that way. I have this date tonight, and…"
She decided not to finish the sentence, and Seymour was left unsure of what she was worried about. That the date could turn out to be her soulmate, but there might be a reason he wouldn't want her? Or that she already knew her date didn't have a timer that matched hers, and her soulmate might be upset if she went out with him anyway? Maybe that she liked the guy but was worried about pursing anything if her timer still had a long way to go?
He didn't think he should ask, and only told her, "I'm sure everything will be fine tonight. Anyone would be happy to be on a date with you."
Audrey's smile grew wider, and one of her hands moved to brush over her bracelet. For just a moment, he thought that she might be considering asking if they could check whether or not their numbers matched. And instead of her dreading the idea, it almost looked as if she might possibly be hoping for it. But then she shook her head and moved her hand away, and he chalked it up to his imagination.
Seymour knew that Audrey had gone through many relationships as they continued working together, and plenty of them appeared to leave her feeling rather unhappy. But none had ever been nearly as bad as the dentist she was currently dating.
Mr. Mushnik wasn't a friend she could confide in the same way she did with Seymour, but things had gotten bad enough that her boss was aware something was wrong without her needing to say it. She'd already heard a good deal of scolding about how she should be smarter about who she was dating and find a good, clean kind of boy.
And one day, the rant ended with him saying, "Look, I know not everyone wants to sit around every night, but you'd be much better off waiting until you find your soulmate instead of hanging around with a creep like that."
Audrey drew in a sharp breath as she clutched a hand over the scarf tied in a tight knot around her wrist, and Mr. Mushnik stiffened at seeing the look on her face.
"Don't tell me that leather-clad degenerate is your soulmate?" He demanded.
Unable to find her voice, Audrey only nodded. She looked across the shop just long enough to see Seymour staring at her with wide eyes, then fixed her gaze firmly back on her wrist. Her eyes began welling up as she thought of how she could no longer stand to look at the spot when it was uncovered. It only reminded her what a horrible situation she was stuck in.
Mr. Mushnik seemed at a complete loss of what to say next, and only eventually managed, "... alright then."
He immediately walked off to shut himself in his office, and Audrey promptly broke down crying.
Seymour didn't know if there was anything he could possibly say that would help. Finding your soulmate was supposed to make you happy, and it broke his heart that she was miserable instead. If anyone in the world deserved to find a prince charming, he knew that it had to be Audrey.
Audrey practically threw herself into a hug the moment he walked over and tried to ask if there was anything he could do. And if holding her until she felt better would do any good, he would stay with her for as much time as she wanted.
