Soulmate AU -- Frank/Gabriel
(Dedicated to the lovely goldenwingedtrickster
Timers were a fickle thing. Many people watched their with anticipation, wishing they could go faster so that they could meet their soulmates sooner. Others knew that wishing for faster time wouldn’t be worth the effort so they waited patiently. But it didn’t stop the sometimes giddy or terrifying feeling of looking down at your wrist and seeing how much time you had left before you met your soulmate.
Even angels had their own timers. Usually their soulmates were other angels, so it wasn’t much of an issue to meet them amongst themselves. Others had humans for soulmates so they had to wait until their soulmates were born to be with them, watching over them as guardians until their soulmates were ready to meet them face to face.
Gabriel was no exception. As one of the archangels, he had thought he’d find his soulmate rather quickly. But time dragged on; The War between Michael and Lucifer occurred. Lucifer was banished, and then thrown into the Cage. Michael became aloof, Raphael was withdrawn, angels were arguing and fighting left and right. Gabriel ran away from Heaven to pose as Loki the Trickster god.
Still his timer ticked on, showing the many centuries he had left until his soulmate was born. So many centuries before him.
Of course, Gabriel fell in love with a gorgeous creature, the goddess Kali. She was limber, and handsy, and she could be frightening enough to bring men to their knees. The archangel had fallen hard for her, and she for him, and their fling was filled with fun and romance. But fate did not have them together, as their timers still ticked, and Kali’s was closer than Gabriel’s. If angels had hearts, then his was heavy when they finally had to end it between the two of them.
For the rest of his waiting, Gabriel fooled around doing his tricks and seducing many lovers. He was bored, and impatient. Why wasn’t his timer programmed to meeting his soulmate earlier?
Time continued, and soon Gabriel was enjoying his new lavish apartment, watching some Full House. Not exactly the best show for some action, but it was plenty funny and kind of adorable. He was reaching for a new candy bar when his eyes flicked to the timer on his wrist, widening in realizing that he only had eighteen more years. And according to his quick calculations, his soulmate had been alive for almost four months now. Without wasting any more time, he spread his wings and took off, searching every corner he could think of in hopes of catching a glimpse of his soulmate.
He found his soulmate soon enough, in a small town called Bayport, just outside of New York in Massachusetts. The Hardy household was still glowing with the arrival of their first child, and Gabriel could feel the slight tug of the baby’s soul calling out to him.
Flying in quietly during the night, he knew that technically he was breaking the rules. He still had eighteen years on his timer. The kid wouldn’t be ready until then for a more formal meeting. But he still couldn’t resist going towards the crib to look down at the tiny baby inside.
Almost immediately, he knew he had found the right one. Still so young, but his soul was the brightest thing Gabriel had ever seen, warm and soft, the soul of a Righteous Man in the making. He already had a head full of dark hair that was soft to the touch when Gabriel reached down. The babe didn’t stir, not once, except to let out a sigh in his sleep. Gabriel smiled as his Grace reached out to touch the child’s soul as well, curling and intertwining for a few brief moments. Checking the timer he found with happiness that their timers were counting down at the exact same time.
“Glad I finally found ya,” the archangel whispered. “I’ll watch over you, kiddo, don’t worry about a thing.”
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Frank Hardy did not have time for his timer. He didn’t have time to worry about it, or wonder about his soulmate. He was too busy with school, and cases, and homework and the swim team and a social life and his volunteer job.
The timers had become a big thing among his peers. Several people had already found their soulmates, either at jobs or school events, or parties.
Even Frank’s younger brother had found his soulmate, but his case had been rare. Second grade, Joe had met a boy named Phil Cohen and their timers had set off the moment they touched. It sent their teacher into a bit of a tizzy and both the Hardys and the Cohens had been beside themselves. Of course at that age neither of the boys understood what their timers meant but they had been joined at the hip ever since, their friendship eventually developing into the romantic bond that their timers had indicated. Frank was happy for them and all, but all that PDA was starting to get to him.
Besides, by this time Frank had learned a few important details about himself. His life as a detective was too dangerous to really afford a romantic attachment to anyone. He could get killed at any moment during a case, and he couldn’t bring himself to let someone knowingly enter his life with the knowledge that at any time he could be murdered by someone evil.
The second thing he knew was that sex would be impossible. He didn’t seem to have a libido. Not once was that a part of his “wondrous” puberty years did he experience sexual arousal or attraction. When he had embarrassedly asked his doctor if this was normal, the doctor had replied his libido should get back on track once he met his soulmate, even though Frank had seriously doubts. The very thought of potentially having sex was enough to almost send him into a panic attack. And he knew that he couldn’t have a soulmate if he couldn’t have sex, depriving of the unknown person from something that they would expect, and possibly breaking the heart of a girl who would no doubt dream of being a mother.
The third thing, and the most important, was that Frank felt like he had been claimed already by someone or something he couldn’t see. Everywhere he went he felt eyes on him, eyes that held love rather than hate. More times than not he caught a glimpse of someone in his peripheral vision, someone watching over him. Several times he’d been plagued by nightmares only to wake up slightly to feel a warm hand across his forehead, chasing the dreams away and replacing them with softer ones. Once or twice he thought he heard wings.
He remembered once as a child trying to tell his mother about his experiences, and she had smiled, saying perhaps he had a guardian angel keeping an eye on him. As he got older, he sort of scoffed at the idea. Angels didn’t exist…did they?
Still, as it was, he didn’t trust his timer. In fact, by the time he turned eighteen, he decided that he must have a defective one. Someone like him didn’t deserve a soulmate. He wasn’t normal, he was practically broken in some aspects, and he just couldn’t allow himself to hope. So he buried himself in cases and made the decision to never look for someone who didn’t exist.
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The night before his timer was supposed to reach the end of the countdown, Frank was working on his History essay on the computer, his eyes already a bit tired from overuse, and the screen wasn’t helping any but he had to get a good grade in this class. Hopefully it would keep his GPA up until he got into a good college, hopefully somewhere out of Bayport. Not like he hated his town, but he felt like he needed some time away.
“You nervous?” Joe asked as he came into the bedroom and made himself comfortable on Frank’s bed.
The elder brother winced slightly, knowing how much of a slob Joe was, and wishing he wasn’t wearing his dirty shoes on the bedspread but deciding to overlook it for the time being. “Nervous about what?” he asked.
“Your meeting,” the blonde teen replied, nodding to Frank’s timer. “It’s going off tomorrow night. Are you nervous about it?”
“No, not particularly,” Frank replied absentmindedly as he quickly had to retype his latest sentence on his essay.
“Because I’m not going to meet them.”
There was silence for a few moments, save for Frank’s typing as he avoided his brother’s eyes.
“Dude,” Joe said, baffled, “it’s your soulmate. This is the biggest meeting you’ve been waiting for. What do you mean you’re not going to go out to find them?”
“I haven’t been waiting for this Joe. My timer is defective, I’m not going to look anywhere for them because I don’t have a soulmate.”
“Everyone has a soulmate.”
“Not everyone.” He glanced briefly at his brother, seeing the confusion on his face. “It’s been proven some people in the world have defective timers, or don’t have them at all. I’ve figured out I’m one of the few who has a defective one. Please don’t try to make this into a big deal.”
“Try not to make it into a big deal? Frank, your timer isn’t defective! How do you think your soulmate will react when they realize you’re nowhere?”
“That’s not my problem, because I don’t have one.”
“NO!” Frank slammed his fists against the desk top, rattling some of the pencils and effectively shutting his brother up. “I don’t have a soulmate Joe! I’ve never had one! My timer is stupid, it’s broken, just like I am! Now if you’re done trying to make me disillusion myself, you can leave!”
They rarely fought, which is why Joe looked so stunned at his brother’s outburst. He couldn’t imagine being without Phil, or going through life thinking his timer was broken. But he could see the anger on Frank’s face and knew better than to argue. Without another word, he left the room, closing the door behind him.
Frank took a few deep breaths to get his anger under control, rubbing his eyes before reluctantly turning his attention back to his paper. He had to turn it in by second period class tomorrow.
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The next night, instead of going into town, Frank headed off towards the piers near the bay. He just wanted to stay away from crowds for the night, his desire to be alone overwhelming his desire to curl up in bed and stare at the wall.
Besides, sometimes he liked to watch the sky unfold as the stars came out. He liked to do a little bit of a scavenger hunt looking for constellations and making up his own.
He reached the piers when his timer was only five minutes away from reaching the end of its countdown. He sighed before searching for some flat rocks to skip, seeing how many he could get in one toss.
He knew what would happen. His timer would reach zero, and he didn’t experience the explainable urge to go looking for his soulmate. He didn’t have the uncontrollable instinct to reach a certain destination and wait until someone else’s timer went off with his.
He’d been right all along. He didn’t have a soulmate. His timer was defective.
Five seconds away from reaching zero, he suddenly became aware of someone behind him, hearing the rustle of wings and footsteps coming towards him. Turning, he saw a pair of eyes he’d only felt over the years, a bit startled by the whiskey colored irises looking at him like he was the only thing on this planet. The man they belonged too was wearing casual clothes, his dark blond hair combed back and twirling a lollipop in his fingers.
Their timers went off at the same time.
Frank stared at the man in front of him with a slightly stunned emotion. “You’re my soulmate?” he finally blurted out.
“Yep,” the man replied, grinning a little. “The name’s Gabriel.”
“Exactly.” Those eyes danced with mischief as Frank suddenly caught glimpse of the shadows extending from the man’s back to shape large and powerful looking wings.
Okay this was sensory overload, or he was dreaming.
“Not a dream kiddo,” Gabriel said, stepping a little closer to him. “You can’t believe how long I’ve waited for you, Frank. It’s been a pretty lonely number of millennial.”
Frank rubbed at his eyes a little, still a bit overwhelmed. “But angels don’t exist,” he remarked numbly.
“Sure they do. You just haven’t met one yet until now.” The archangel smiled sympathetically. “Your timer aint broken kid. You were made for me.”
“Your timer must have been really long.”
“Oh it was. Since the beginning of time, when humans began walking the earth. I’m not all patient so the fact that I waited for you means something.” He smirked a little.
“I don’t understand...” The teen looked at him as if he were still dazed. “You’ve been on earth this whole time?”
“I was mostly posing as Loki, the Trickster god. And I also acted like a human sometimes, so I learned a lot about everything.” He shrugged. “Fun day when you people discovered sugar.”
Frank looked down at the pier for a moment before looking back up at Gabriel. “I can’t have sex,” he said a bit helplessly.
“It’s alright. You don’t have to. I love you just the way you are.” He smiled again, softer. “I’ve watched over you since you were a baby, kiddo. I watched you grow up into this amazing person who I adore unconditionally. And if you’re not ready for a relationship with me yet, that’s okay too. I can wait some more.”
“No,” he blurted, feeling his face heat up with Gabriel raised an eyebrow. “I’d...I’d like that. Just...can we take it slow?”
“Of course we can.” He reached out and gave Frank’s hand a squeeze, his Grace swelling with happiness when the teen’s fingers intertwined with his own. “You know... You’re pretty adorable when you blush.”
“Nuh uh, no way! I’ve got billions of years of stories just for you, and I intend on telling you everything.” He grinned again. “Good luck in getting me to shut up.”
“I’m gonna need it,” Frank muttered. But he smiled again when Gabriel pulled him a bit closer. Somehow, he felt better knowing that his idea that he had been claimed was correct.
