Shiro lay in his bed, staring at his left forearm. He wasn't sure how long he had been laying there, just looking at the writing on his arm. Tomorrow was the day. Tomorrow was New Year's Eve and he'd finally get to meet his soulmate.

The smile on his face was so big that he was sure his face would hurt tomorrow. He did his best to stop smiling and calm the butterflies racing in his stomach but his efforts only seemed to increase his mirth. He was just so damn happy.

Shiro never really expected this day to come. Before his accident, he'd been perfectly content with waiting for his souldate to appear at its own time. Sure, he'd feel a twinge of disappointment on January 1st when he'd look down at his arms and realize they were bare of markings. But that was fine. He just went on with his life, feeling completely reassured that he'd meet his soulmate sooner or later. He put his blind trust in fate.

And then his accident had happened...and Shiro had just given up hope.

It sent a shiver down his spine and a sour taste to his mouth to remember the years following his accident. He'd been...in a very, very dark place for a long time.

He shook himself out of those negative thoughts. This was not the day to dwell on his past nightmares. Tomorrow was going to be a good day. Tomorrow was the day he'd been waiting for years. Shiro smiled again. He wondered how his soulmate would be? Shiro didn't really care, he'd love them no matter what. He just wanted a face to put with the overwhelming adoration he felt in his chest.

The clock on his bedside table read 11:45 pm. Just 24 more hours. Shiro should really go to sleep. The thought left his head almost as quickly as it entered. Instead, he traced the outline of the souldate with his right hand. He stared at both the beautiful script and his prosthetic. He took in a shaky breath. Shiro chose to believe it wouldn't be a problem. A surprise, undoubtedly. Maybe even something they needed time to adjust to. Shiro would give them all the time in the world. Shiro would give them anything. He eventually drifted off to sleep, feeling like a kid on Christmas Eve.

This was exactly the reason why he shouldn't have let himself stay up so late last night. Now he was very very late to meet up with Matt. Shiro was frantically looking all over his apartment for his scarf. He hadn't had anytime to eat breakfast or pick out an outfit. His soulmate was going to be very unimpressed when they finally met later that night.

Once he finally located his scarf on the floor of his closet, Shiro left his apartment as quickly as possible. He rushed through the streets of New York. It was even more packed than usual. Once he finally got to his destination, he spotted Matt waiting outside the hotel.

"I am so sorry," Shiro said once he was finally in front of Matt.

Matt laughed at his out of breath expression. "No worries," he reassured. "It's great to see you again." Matt gave him a quick hug before snickering. "Why are you so winded? Haven't been staying in shape lately?"

Shiro chuckled. "I'm still working up to where I was," Shiro admitted.

"Well, too bad you're here so late. Pidge and her friends were hoping to say hi before they went off," Matt commented.

Shiro was disappointed to hear that. "Well, I guess we'll just see each other in the new year."

"That's the plan. So, where are you taking me today?"

Shiro let out a sigh. Of course Matt was going to use him as a tour guide. Well, if that was the case, Shiro imagined he was entitled to some breakfast first. "Mind if we stop by this one cafe so I can eat breakfast?"

"Sure thing," Matt agreed. He followed as Shiro started walking down the street. "So, you overslept? Doesn't sound like you."

Shiro nodded in agreement. He was usually very punctual. "I couldn't fall asleep last night."

"Aw, were you that eager to see me?" Matt teased. "I keep telling you to come visit us in Chicago. It's not like it's that far away."

Shiro tried to hide his cringe at how unsuccessful Matt hid his real resentment. Matt was an amazing friend. He had been since freshman year of college. They'd even kept in touch and visited regularly when they went to different grad schools. It was just after Shiro's accident that a rift came between them. A rift Shiro had created. Matt had visited as much as possibly that first year. But Shiro was too lost to really appreciate it. And then he couldn't bring himself to care about anything, let alone reciprocating the visits. And now, well Shiro would say it had only been 14 months since he had finally started putting his life back together. That involved a lot of hours at the hospital and even more hours with his therapist. The fact that he was reapplying for grad schools the last few months weren't helping either.

"This upcoming year, I'll definitely visit," Shiro reassured him. "Besides," Shiro began, "I may just end up in Chicago come fall."

Matt stopped walking and stared up at him.

Shiro let out a deep breath. Saying it allowed like this, it always made it seem more real. It made him feel like there was more to pay if he failed. But that was part of getting his life back on track. He had to be open his with friends and family. "I've been applying to a couple grad schools. I want to finish my PhD."

"Shiro…" Matt seemed completely thrown by this. And then he smiled and Shiro let out the breath he was holding. "That's awesome, Shiro! Wow, My dad will be thrilled. He always wanted to offer you a job at the company. What's your research proposal? Which programs have you applied to? You know my old man would've written you an amazing recommendation letter!"

And it was as if all those months and years of tension and silence had never existed between the two.

After breakfast, Matt and Shiro tried to find all of the open tourist sights near them. There weren't as many as usual, most having closed down for the holiday, and the few that were open were packed. Matt didn't really seem to care though. It wasn't his first time in New York after all. Shiro only cared about the fact that talking to Matt was as easy as it had always been. They talked extensively about his research proposals and the merits of each of the programs he had applied to. After academics was exhausted, Matt began to fill the time with hilarious anecdotes from both his tragic dating life and Pidge's "dysfunctional, but well meaning" group of friends.

"There is no way that's true!" Shiro objected.

"I swear!" Matt insisted. "For an entire two months, Lance and the others had a cow! A full grown cow in the dormitories."

"How the hell did the RA not find out?"

"Apparently most of the other people on the floor were in on it," Matt said. "I still couldn't believe it when Dad came home baffled at the fact that he had to go to campus because his child had been hiding a cow in their dormitory."

"Why? Why would they do that?"

"Beats me. All I know is that after they were caught, they found Kaltenekar a nice home in a friendly farm somewhere in Illinois."

"How much trouble were they in?" Shiro asked.

"Not much. I think everyone was kinda impressed that they'd managed to pull it off," Matt admitted.

"We were never that crazy in college, were we?"

"Ha!"

"What?" Shiro asked, bewildered.

"Says the reigning keg stand champion!"

Shiro felt himself blush. How had he forgotten about that?

"And let's not forget your fuckboy status," Matt teased.

"I was not!" Shiro's blush was burning his whole face now.

"Well, maybe not. You were always too nice for any of your victims to call you that."

"They were not victims!" Shiro argued. "You're making me sound like a wild, partying frat boy." Shiro sipped at his coffee to put a pause on the conversation. He wasn't going to deny that he'd partied and gotten laid very frequently in his college days. He was hot and charming and he knew it. Thinking back to that time made him feel older than his 27 years of age. Those times felt like forever ago.

"At least I never threw up in the middle of-"

"Hey! That was once!"

"Wasn't once enough?" Shiro commented. Matt gently punched him as he increased his pace down the sidewalk. Shiro laughed as he followed after a disgruntled Matt. How long had it been since he'd felt this care free? Since he'd been able to think about the person that he used to be and not be overwhelmed by depressive thoughts? Long enough, he thought.

The rest of the afternoon went by just as smoothly. The conversation flowed easily between the two friends, and Shiro was extremely happy to know that he could count Matt as a friend after everything that had happened. They had a classic New York steak at a random restaurant that was open and had seats.

Before Shiro realized it, they were making their way towards Times Square. "So, I told Allura and Coran that we'd meet them at the pretzel booth."

"That's terribly specific," Matt replied.

"Don't worry, we know which one."

Shiro couldn't help but laugh at the look on Matt's face when they finally reached their destination. "How in the world is anyone supposed to find us in this crowd?" Shiro did his best to keep his smile on his face. Matt was dead right. It was like trying to find a needle in a haw stack. Shiro felt panic worm its way into his system. Maybe he should've planned more for this night rather than expect everything to work out on its own.

He tried taking calming breaths as Matt kept looking around. "Shiro!" He turned around to see Coran approaching them. He tried to smile at the man but knew he hadn't really managed it. All he could do was force air in and out of his lungs. "Oh dear," Coran said once he got a good look at Shiro.

"Hey, are you alright," Matt asked. Shiro was about to automatically nod his head when he realized that no, no he was definitely not okay. Wow, he felt like such an idiot. How could he have expected everything to just fall into place?

"It seems the nerves for tonight are finally getting to you," Coran commented.

"Nerves for tonight?" Matt asked. "Why should he be nervous?"

Right, Shiro hadn't had the guts to tell Matt about his souldate. He hadn't really wanted to think about it all too hard, afraid that this would happen. He was vaguely aware of Matt and Coran talking to one another, but Shiro couldn't bring himself to make out what they were saying. Their voices just joined the rest of the noise surrounding him.

He needed to control his nerves. Shiro was already feeling light headed and ready to throw up the contents of his stomach, even while he felt something lodged in his throat.

Focus. Just focus. Whatever happens tonight...you'll deal with it one step at a time. Just like you've done with everything else. You'll survive tonight.

Someone was putting something cold and plastic into his hand. Water? Yes, it was a water bottle. That might help. Shiro brought the water bottle up to his lips and began gulping down the cool liquid. Once it was all gone, he held it back out to the general direction it had come from and someone took it from him.

Deep even breaths.

"Shiro? Are you alright?"

Instead of responding, he took a few more steadying breaths before opening his eyes. Matt and Coran both looked extremely pale. With one more deep breath Shiro nodded his head. Then Matt shoved his shoulder. Shiro almost fell on his ass.

"Why the hell didn't you tell me?" Matt yelled. "You haven't said anything this whole day. You've just let me ramble on about my life as if this wasn't a very important day for you!"

"I'm sorry," Shiro replied. "I just didn't want to think about it until I needed to."

"But why?" Matt asked, frustrated. "You have no plan? How do you expect this to work?"

"I'm not sure," Shiro admitted.

Matt seemed ready to hit him. "Is this some self-pitying stuff?"

"What?"

"Do you not want to meet your soulmate? Do you think they'd be better off without you or some crap like that?" Shiro stared at him for a few moments. He could see the pain in Matt's eyes. That had been what Shiro had told Matt during one of his low points, when he was trying to push everyone away from him. He glanced over at Coran and found a similar worried expression on his face. Allura and Coran had been toeing the line on how much to push him on the souldate matter for months. He hadn't realized exactly what it was that was worrying them so much about his reluctance to plan for this night.

It wasn't any self-deprecating crap as Matt had put it. It really wasn't. Shiro wanted to meet his soulmate. He wanted to see them and hold them and learn everything there was to learn about them. He believed that there would be some sign or force or something that lead him to his soulmate tonight. Mainly because he still wanted to believe that after all the shit he'd been put through these past few years...he wanted to believe that fate or the universe or God still had something good in store for him.

So Shiro told them both this.

"That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard," Matt declared. But there was no longer any real anger behind his glare.

"I think it's very brave."

Shiro turned around to see Allura smiling at him. He hadn't noticed her arrive.

"Alright, it is now 10:45 pm exactly. Why don't we walk around and see if your gut pulls you in any particular direction." Allura suggested.

So that's what they did. He mainly let Allura and Coran lead them around the different stands. He was grateful that conversation seemed to flow easily between them and Matt. His mind wasn't focused enough to really add to the conversation. They stopped randomly to either grab snacks or for Matt to buy ridiculously overpriced souvenirs.

Before he knew it there was only fifteen minutes left before midnight. Coran and Matt kept glancing at him, as if expecting him to suddenly take off running somewhere. He was about to complain about this, when there was a sudden change in the atmosphere. He saw Allura and Matt staring at something and turned with them. All the ADs in Times Square suddenly read "Souldate" with an arrow below it. Shiro followed the arrows from building to building until one of the buildings had an arrow pointing down to the ground. Shiro admitted to himself that he'd never expected such an obvious sign from the universe.

"How did they do this?" Allura asked beside him. Shiro couldn't care less.

"Oh my god!" Matt exclaimed. Shiro watched him turn around in a frantic circle, staring up at the ADs. Something seemed to click for Matt. "Oh my god, I'm going to kill them!" Before Shiro could ask what he was talking about, Matt took off in the direction of the building with the downward facing arrow.

"Matt!" Shiro yelled after him. Well, he was going to head in that direction anyway. Allura, Coran and him ran after Matt. Matt seemed to be pretty pissed since he didn't care that he was shoving his way through the crowd. Shiro had no idea what Matt was so upset about but Shiro just wanted to make sure he got to the building in time. So he let Matt continue to shove and push people as they slowly made their way across the Square. When Shiro looked back up, the original ADs were already airing. Shiro's nerves increased as the looming building kept growing taller in front of them.

In what seemed like an eternity and a split second, Matt suddenly broke through the crowd yelling "Pidge!" Shiro and the others followed him towards what he assumed were his sibling and their friends. Shiro's heart was racing so quickly that he could barely hear whatever it was that Matt was saying. He let his gaze wander around the others present until his gaze landed on him.

There he was. Shiro just knew it was him. He stepped away from his friends. His soulmate's gaze snapped towards him as soon as he did. Wow...those had to be the most stunning eyes he'd ever seen. Was it just the lighting are did they actually have specks of purple? Shiro didn't realize he was smiling like an idiot until his soulmate started walking towards him and he realized his smile couldn't get any bigger.

Suddenly his soulmate was right in front of him. "Hi," Shiro said. The word sounded so stupid. Especially when he was feeling so much at that moment.

"H-hi," his soulmate replied. Shiro wanted to touch him and he was completely baffled as to why he wasn't already. He reached out slowly, giving his soulmate ample time to pull away if he wanted. But he didn't. Shiro's hand enclosed his soulmate's gloved one. And then his soulmate was reaching out to take his other hand. He noticed the surprise when his soulmate's hand felt the metal of his prosthetic. A pang of panic hit him then. But before the thought could develop into anything, his soulmate was squeezing his hands and continuing to smile up at him. All Shiro could see in his eyes was adoration and acceptance.

Shiro wanted to cry. He wanted to wrap this beautiful human being in his arms and never let go. He wanted to ask for his name! But most of all he wanted to kiss him. And at least he might be able to do the last one fairly soon. "Six, five, four," Shiro began counting down with the crowd. Shiro gently leaned down a bit, letting his soulmate make the decision. Shiro could see amusement run through those incredible eyes. "Three, two, one." He felt his soulmates grip on his hands tighten as he pushed himself up on his tiptoes to press their lips together.

It was like coming home. It was pure and magical and better than anything Shiro could've expected. Shiro pulled away gently and smiled down at his soulmate. "Happy New Year."

"Happy New Year," his soulmate responded.

Shiro was positive that it would be.

"So...did anyone get a good angle on that kiss?"

"Oh, yeah, I recorded the whole thing," Lance stated. "This is going straight to my story."

"I got some really good shots of them too," Allura piped up.

"Should we remind them we're here?" Matt asked.

"Don't you dare," Hunk and Allura said.

"Alright, Pidge," Lance began, "Give me your arms." Pidge tore their eyes away from the beaming couple and held up their arms for Lance's annual inspection. He pulled back their sleeves as far as they would go and rotated their arms in every which angle. "Nothing."

As many other people in the crowd began to do, Allura and Matt also subtly started checking their forearms. Pidge watched as Matt's face went from shocked to confused to pensive to horror. "What does it say?" Pidge asked, nearing their brother. All the others immediately crowded around Matt to read his forearm.

2:47 am, March 27th, Cancun Playa Delfines.

Lance's scream of delight startled many of the people around them, even Keith and Shiro broke out of their happy bubble to look at all of them.

"Spring break, here we come baby!" Lance yelled.