Timer
Title: Timer Pairing: Miles x Reader Rating: PG Word Count: 5,368 Summary: Soulmates AU where people get timers that count down until they meet their soulmate. If your soulmate hasn’t gotten a timer, you get dashes instead. Which you have. A/N: So, I really love Soulmate AUs so if you get an idea for one, let me know! It can even be a different version (maybe first words tattooed on the person). Also, this probably isn’t the last you’ve seen of this Miles x Reader version.
When the timers first became popular, you had to admit, you thought they were a terrible idea. It was the further and more invasive commodification of love. It was, in your eyes, sucking all the fun out of being young and dating people, seeing whether or not you were yet capable of finding a lasting bond with another human being. Sure, everyone was looking for their soulmate at your age, the earliest you could get a timer implanted in your non-dominant wrist, but it was less organic. It wasn’t about whether or not you met someone and if you meshed with them, it was about meeting someone and checking each other’s wrist, hoping and praying that they’d hit zero at the same time and beep like a kitchen timer. Plus, the worst part in your opinion was timers only worked if both parties had them implanted. Otherwise, you’d have a blank timer implanted in your wrist, mocking you.
That fact was what your best friend used to finally convince you. As shitty as you thought that must have been for someone, she pointed out that you were willingly forcing that upon your future husband. The thought made you uneasy, and it ate away at you until finally, two weeks after she brought it up, you begrudgingly agreed to get your timer. She had beamed at you, tapping her fork to her plate next to her half-eaten lunch, reaching over the table of the diner you were eating on your day off to grab your hand and squeeze it excitedly with her other. As you looked down at your hands, you caught the glint of light that bounced off her timer.
She had eight months, four days, sixteen hours, seven minutes and thirty seconds until she met her soulmate.
When you two finished lunch, you both headed to the storefront where you’d be getting your new addition. It was weird that something so life altering was offered in the same way a cell phone was, but it was always marketed as something minor, a neat addition to an already digitalized lifestyle. There weren’t places you could go that you wouldn’t see advertisements of couples holding hands, showing off zeroed timers. There’d be “your time is coming” advertisements on TV. They had become so normalized that something that should have been more serious was just a run of the day thing, like getting your ears pierced.
“You’ll be fine, I promise,” your friend Lindsay told you, squeezing your shoulder as the two of you walked into the store. “It only hurts for a minute.” She paused before adding under her breath, “And then you’re sore for like a month.” You gave her a worried look and she flashed you a smile before steering you towards the nearest employee. You were glad she was here, at least. It was something you were nervous about because it was a big deal, but at the end of the day, you had been thinking about getting one for a while now. As against it as you had been in the first place, you were starting to really understand the appeal and you had to admit, the blank timer for your future someone wasn’t the only reason you were getting this. You were curious, you had to admit.
“Can I help you ladies?” asked the employee as you two reached him where he stood, next to a counter. He had a beard and glasses, and his nametag said “Jack.”
“I…uh…I want a timer,” you explained awkwardly.
“Well, you’ve definitely come to the right place,” he told you, giving you a warm smile. “There’s just some paperwork for you to fill out, and then we can get you fitted.” He reached under the counter, pulling open a draw and taking out a manila folder that he dropped on the counter in front of you, and holding out a pen. You took the pen, glancing over at Lindsay, who nodded encouragingly.
As you started to fill out the paperwork, he began to tell you information about how the actual timer installation process went. After explaining that it was going into your non-dominant wrist, and that you were going to have to keep a bandage over it while the skin healed to keep down the chance of infection. You listened, nodding very once in a while to show that you were still listening.
“Nervous?” he asked you as you finished the paperwork, which was mostly yes or no questions that you just had to tick a little box.
“Just a little.”
“Don’t be,” he told you. “I was too, before I actually got mine. Back before I even worked here.” He held out his inner wrist to you, showing off a zeroed out timer.
“How long ago?” asked Lindsay, who was still standing next to you, being the reassuring presence you needed to keep you from panicking and walking out. You wanted to get the timer, but it was still a pretty big deal and big decisions always freaked you out.
“Two years,” Jack informed. “We got married last summer.” He reached into his pocket to pull out his phone to show the both of you his lock screen: a picture of him and his wife at the altar. “I was skeptical of the timer thing, I get it. But it was honestly one of the best decisions that I’ve made. Why are you so nervous, if you don’t mind me asking?” You shrugged, unsure of how to phrase it without making yourself sound like an idiot.
“She’s worried that her timer will be blank,” Lindsay cut in. “But it’ll be fine, right?” Jack laughed.
“I had the same fear,” he told you both, “But you’ve got less of a chance now than I did when I got mine. I got mine about a year after they launched Timers, back when it was still that big debate. I figured I should see for myself. But mine wasn’t, and you have way less of a chance since they’re so commonplace.”
Between your friend and the guy who was leading you towards a sterile room telling you things to calm you down, you finally pulled yourself together enough to sit down in a chair long enough to hold out your non-dominant wrist to Jack. He offered you a smile as he sat down once everything was set up. It took a couple minutes of making sure everything, including your wrist, was sterile and then it was implanted. You swore loudly as it was because it hurt like a bitch, but then it was over and Jack was peeling the plastic film off of the face of your timer.
“Just give it a minute to boot and calculate,” he explained as you moved your wrist towards you to read it. You watched as the word ‘loading’ flashed on the thin screen for a couple seconds. You held your breath, looking from it to Lindsay (who was standing next to you so she could see it too) and back.
After what seemed like an entirety, it went completely blank. And then your timer popped up on the screen. Except, it wasn’t a timer at all. It was those dreaded dashes that could only mean one thing.
“Oh shit,” Lindsay sighed, “[Y/N], I…” she trailed off as you looked up at her, tears welling in your eyes.
A blank timer. Of course it was a blank timer. Life was a cruel, ironic bitch and you had a blank timer now permanently in your wrist, mocking you.
“Hey, don’t even worry about it,” Jack said in a quiet voice, turning away from you and turning back, white gauze bandage. He took your wrist gently and wrapped the bandage around it, shielding you from your worst case scenario. “By the time you get to take this off, it’ll probably have a time on it,” he told you, stripping off the gloves he was wearing and tossing them in the trash bin.
The two of you, once you had paid for someone to install one of your biggest and unavoidable worries, headed for the second place you had wanted to go after lunch: the movies. The two of you liked to sit through movies in the afternoon with the old folks and laugh at how terrible the movies were. Plus, it was cheaper to do it during the lunchtime hours. It helped take your mind off of you dashed-out timer, at least for a little while. You just hoped Jack was right and when you took the bandage off, it’d be ticking down the minutes until you met your soulmate.
Except, when you did take it off, it was still blank.
And it was blank eight months, four days, and two hours later.
You were excited when Lindsay finally met her soulmate, a guy named Michael, and you had been there when she recounted the story excitedly, beaming. As she told her story, she waved her arms around emphatically, and absentmindedly, your eyes kept finding the zeroed out timer on her wrist, and you felt a pang of jealousy and disappointment every time your eyes caught it. You rubbed at your timer, and nodded along as Lindsay continued to recount every last little detail of their first lunch together.
Three months after her timer finally hit zero, Lindsay invited you out to lunch with her and Michael. Of course you agreed as you were excited to meet him because a, you had heard so much about him and b, he was your best friend’s soulmate. You were going to have to meet him sooner or later, and sooner than the wedding was preferable. Still, you hadn’t quite been able to shake the funk of your blank timer, despite the fact it had been nearly a year since you got it implanted. Being around a couple in love was going to be hell, but for Lindsay, you’d endure it.
Michael wasn’t what you expected. Not that you expected anything in particular, but still, you were surprised when you met the baby-faced ginger. He was loud, but he was nice enough to you and the way he was at Lindsay was enough to put you at ease. Lindsay talked enough for the both of you; her telling him things about you and visa versa. The first time the two of you had time to talk to each other was when Lindsay excused herself to go to the bathroom.
“So…” Michael trailed off awkwardly, putting his cup back down onto the table and pointing at your wrist. “How much longer you got?”
It was a common enough question, just like what your job was or how your day went. You got it a lot, but even after almost a year, you still deflated every time someone asked.
“Your guess is as good as mine,” you sighed, as you did every time someone asked and you turned your wrist out to face him. “Dashes for days.”
“That blows,” he stated, “How long?”
“Almost a year now.”
“Wow, that is...” he trailed off, “rough.”
“You don’t need to tell me,” you muttered, picking at the fries on your plate, stacking them instead of eating them. “The exact reason I didn’t want it in the first place, and the irony is not lost on me so please don’t.”
“You get that a lot?” he guessed.
“Every fucking time,” you told him. “I just wish I never got the stupid thing.”
“I get it,” he said, “I’ve got a couple friends who refuse to get them. I have one who refuses because of the dash situation. I could try to persuade him to get it, see if that helps?” You looked from your fries to him, a small smirk playing your all too commonly somber face.
“And say what? ‘Hey, Lindsay’s friend has dashes and let’s be real, you two are probably soulmates.’ Like, I don’t think that’s going to work,” you said, “And I wouldn’t wish that on anyone…hence why I got it in the first place.”
Lindsay showed back up then, and thankfully the conversation was dropped from there. You went back to picking at your fries, eating one or two as the two of them made plans to do something later in the day. She had already invited you, but you weren’t too interested in being the continual third wheel.
After lunch, you parted ways with the two of them, frowning down at your wrist and sighing as you headed in the opposite direction of the two of them. You had to do something about that, you know you did, but it wasn’t like you could just take it out. So, you did the only logical thing you could manage to think of and promptly bought bracelets to wear over the timer so that it’d cover the stupid dashed thing completely. It didn’t totally take your mind off the matter, but it helped.
It worked, for a while. It also didn’t help that a few months after you and Michael meeting, Lindsay informed you that you were going to be her maid of honor. Admittedly, you two had figured this out long ago, but it was becoming real now. Michael had proposed and they were getting married. You were excited for her (and a little amazed that it took almost a year because timers usually meant that people got married not soon after they zeroed out) and for the time being, you could focus on something other than moving your bracelets around in vain to catch a glimpse of your timer.
Blissfully, as soon as the wedding planning went into full swing, you didn’t even have time to think about your timer. You were there to help Lindsay decide on things like dresses and seating arrangements (and that task alone took the two of you almost a month because people) and pretty much anything else she needed. You sort of served as an impromptu wedding planner, really. You made phone calls, made sure everything showed up on time and was going well. Tack that onto the official Maid of Honor duties, and it was miracle it was all getting done. There was no time for you to look at your timer.
When you were standing off to the side of Lindsay at the altar, handing her Michael’s ring and taking her bouquet, you couldn’t help but be insanely happy for her. She looked like she was on top of the world in the moment she turned around to do the pass off, and behind her, you swore you saw tears in Michael’s eyes. You knew you, as well as the rest of the bridal party by the sounds of sniffling you heard from behind you during a quiet moment, were definitely crying.
“If anyone has a reason these two should not be wed, speak now, or forever hold your peace.”
Your eyes darted around the crowd, watching to see if anyone was going to object. You locked eyes with a couple people, none of which made any movement to stop the wedding. It was silent in the room, as if everyone was waiting with baited breath to see who would jump up and declare their love for someone. You continued to scan the room, locking eyes with a guy sitting towards the front of the groom’s side.
Two quiet but audible beeps went off simultaneously.
“You said her timer didn’t sync,” you heard Michael say quietly. “When we got Miles to finally get one.”
“She didn’t say anything,” Lindsay whispered back. You looked away from the guy you had locked eyes with like a century ago to look helplessly at Lindsay and Michael, who were both looking at you. You glanced down at your timer, pushing the bracelet out of the way to see that instead of dashes on the screen, there were zeros.
You had just zeroed out. In the middle of your best friend’s wedding.
“Why didn’t you say anything?” she asked, turning around to look at you. You stared at her with the same surprised expression you had since you saw that it was your timer that had just beeped.
“I…I didn’t know,” you stammered, standing there with your mouth slightly opened. Before anyone could say anything else, someone behind Lindsay cleared their through. You both looked up, and you remembered that this wasn’t the time for this conversation.
“As that is not anyone protesting, by the power vested in me, I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride.”
The next few minutes were a whirlwind of excitement. The two of them kissed and then everyone was heading out of the building. The wedding party was ushered into a room as everyone else headed out, where you’d wait until they were all at the reception hall so you could take pictures. As soon as Michael and Lindsay were done fawning over each other, both turned to you. Without a word, Lindsay grabbed your wrist, pushing your bracelet aside to look at your timer.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” she asked excitedly.
“I didn’t notice, honest,” you told her. “I was busy helping you guys get everything together for the wedding…and I fucked it up.”
“What do you mean you fucked it up?” Michael asked.
“I…we zeroed out during the ceremony and it wasn’t exactly inconspicuous,” you explained. “Guys, I’m so sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry,” Lindsay said, pulling you into a hug the best she could in her dress. “[Y/N], this is great news!”
“Yeah, it’s fine,” Michael said, patting your arm while you and Lindsay hugged. “Besides, I already knew it was going to happen.” You and Lindsay broke the hug and both gave him a confused look.
“Who did you think went with him when he got it?” Michael asked, raising an eyebrow. “When he synced, I had kind of hoped it was you. From what Lindsay told me, and from the few times you and I had, you know, heart to hearts or whatever, I thought you and Miles could be it.”
“So, his name is Miles?” you asked. It was so weird to hear about someone that was apparently your soulmate. It was even weirder to know that the other existed but you hadn’t even met yet.
“Yeah, Miles. He’s the one I told you about. The one who didn’t want the timer because of the dashes thing,” he explained. “I might have…used you as an example to guilt him into it.” Michael struggled, pulling at his collar and looking away. “When he wasn’t, and we did the math, I had kind of hoped it was you because he was meeting his soulmate at the wedding.”
“Michael texted me during the entire thing. When we trying to figure out dresses for the bridal party. When you didn’t come out of the dressing room screaming that you weren’t dashed out anymore, we figured it wasn’t you after all,” Lindsay said, still beaming. “But it turns out you did and you two are going to be great and I cannot wait for you to meet him.” She paused. “After pictures.”
“And everything else I have to do today,” you said, “Like the speech and all that.”
It wasn’t long after that you all were being ushered outside for pictures. You were pulled aside by one of the three bridesmaids who was curious to know about your timer. You smiled slightly as you showed off the zeroes. It didn’t really feel real to you and you didn’t even have time to properly process what was going on. The two of you talked in the few moments you had free when you weren’t being placed in positions for pictures. You had a bit more of a chance to talk to Michael about his friend, your soulmate, but he was pretty stingy on details. He would just shrug after every question and tell you to ask him yourself.
“Lindsay!” you whined in exasperation after he did that for the sixth time. “Make your husband tell me something.” She laughed, patting you on the arm before turning to Michael. Even though you could only see his face, you assumed the two of them were making faces at each other because Michael would change his expression into something else silly every couple seconds.
“Fine,” Michael sighed after his face fell back to its normal self, “I’ll tell you one thing, and one thing only.” He looked straight at you. “Your future last name is Luna.” He laughed as you looked from him to Lindsay. She laughed too, patting your arm again.
“You wanted something, he gave you something,” she pointed out. When she caught sight of the exasperated look on your face, she laughed again, shaking her head. “You’ve got all the time in the world with him, [Y/N]. I promise, we’ll introduce you the first chance we get.”
The first chance wasn’t coming any time soon, though. After you all arrived at the reception hall, you were running around again. As the impromptu wedding coordinator, you were tasked with making sure dinner was served at the right time, making sure the first dance went without a hitch, and about seven other things that popped up. Every time you’d walk past the table where Miles sat, you’d catch his eye. Your heart would leap into your throat and you were always torn between going over and talking to him and going back to what you were doing. Yet, every time he looked like he was going to approach you, you’d suddenly feel the urgent need to go do whatever you were doing.
After the Maid of Honor speech (which you managed to almost make it through without crying but you did start towards the end), you were too busy getting a couple more last minute things done to meet Miles during dinner. Sure, you stopped to eat, but there were a couple last minute things to do. In fact, you didn’t even stop to talk to Lindsay and Michael until it was time to throw the bouquet.
“How was meeting Miles?” Lindsay asked as you nudged her to let her know it was time.
“Wouldn’t know,” you said, “Haven’t done it yet.”
“What do you mean you haven’t done it yet?” Michael asked, following after the two of you. “You’ve been right there almost every other minute!”
“And I’ve been busy,” you pointed out, “Someone’s got to run the show and as you don’t have an official coordinator, I’m doing the things. And you’re welcome.”
“Thank you,” Lindsay said, giving you a one armed hug. She fell back to fall into step with Michael, and you continued to tell the DJ to round up the single ladies for the toss.
It didn’t take long to get the single ladies gathered together on the dance floor. Yet when you were standing off to the side, you were pulled in by the other bridesmaids and put right up front. When Lindsay tossed the bouquet, you saw her look over her shoulder directly at you and tossed it so it almost just happened to fall into your hands. You looked kind of surprised as you looked down at what you were holding, but it was definitely the bouquet.
After the ladies cleared the dance floor, the guys started to file out. Michael looked from you to the garter he had taken from Lindsay’s leg and then to the group of guys. He shook his head, and headed straight to the group it.
“Fuck it,” you heard him say as he passed you. He stopped in front of Miles and promptly shoved the garter into Miles’ coat pocket.
“Wait, what?” Miles asked, pulling out the garter as Michael headed back over to Lindsay, patting you on the shoulder as he past. You and Miles looked at each other, and you offered him a nervous smile that he mirrored. It took less than a nanosecond for the two of you to get shoved together, and a chair was there for you to sit on. The two of you laughed awkwardly as people, including Michael and Lindsay, yelled good-naturedly at the two of you.
“Come on, Miles! You know what to do with that!”
Miles blushed, looking from the piece of fabric in his hand to you, seemingly unsure of what to do. You bit your lip, and looked over at Lindsay, who was looking back at you expectantly. You sighed and sat down in the chair behind you, secretly crying tears of joy that you were sitting down for what felt like the first time tonight.
“Just get it over with, I guess,” you told him, shrugging. “They won’t leave it alone. What a dumb wedding tradition.” He just nodded, bending down on one knee in front of you. He fumbled around with the bottom of your dress, not looking you in the eye as he messed the skirt. Slowly, he put the garter over your shoe, and up your leg. He stopped not far above your knee, but his hands against your skin were enough to make you blush.
“I meet my soulmate for the first time the same time I stick my hand up her dress for the first time,” he stated, looking up at you. “I’m Miles, by the way.”
“[Y/N].”
The two of you looked at each other for a long moment, his hands still under your dress. And then you both laughed. Or really, you laughed and he giggled. He fucking giggled.
You stared at him for what felt like at least ten seconds with a serious face but then you beamed and giggled too. Wow, you thought to yourself, that was absolutely adorable.
“We should probably move,” Miles mentioned as he looked around and realized that people were still watching you. He stood up, taking a step back to give you room to move. The two of you headed off of the dancefloor, and before you could decide where you were going to go, Miles turned to you.
“There’s a garden outside,” he stated, “Do you want to…go for a walk or something?” he suggested, nervousness laced in his voice. You bit your lip, looking around to see if there was anything else you needed to do. When you caught Lindsay’s eyes, she motioned for you to go with him. You made a face and she just shrugged, making that motion again. Taking it as her relieving you of your coordinator duties (what was even left, anyway?), you turned back to Miles and nodded.
“Sure, sounds good,” you told him. You followed him out of the hall and outwards the garden, taking it in as you walked through. You hadn’t actually seen the garden when you had come over to make sure the reception was being set up this morning, and you had never stepped foot near the building at all before today. The garden was something out of a fairy tale with large hedges that towered over you with all sorts of pretty flowers growing in them. There were lights on strings wrapped around the frame that had been built around the entire garden. Miles picked a bench that was in the gazebo that was also covered in lights and flowers that you didn’t recognize.
“So, this is…interesting,” Miles said slowly, easing himself onto the bench. He tugged at the cuff of his shirt until his timer was exposed and held it out to you as you sat down next to him. You took off your bracelet, secretly glad to be able to properly flex your wrist for the first time in a long time and held your wrist next to his, showing off your own blank timer. It looked smaller on him than it did on you, but it was the same one. They were identical, both displaying a set of zeros. It was definitely comforting to see two of them.
“Yeah,” you agreed, “Especially considering I didn’t want one.”
“Me either!” he said, and you looked up at him to see him looking back at you. “You know…because of the dashes thing,” he added, frowning. “I’m real sorry about that, by the way.”
“Don’t even worry about it,” you told him, shrugging. “I mean, we got here and they’re zeroed out and that’s all that matters.” The two of you smiled at each other and after a while, Miles took your hand in his, your timers pressed together.
The two of you talked for what seemed like hours, just getting to know each other. You had assumed since the ceremony that when you two finally got to talking, it’d be awkward, at least at first. It was surprising just how easily this conversation was happening. It felt natural and it was exciting, learning about a new person. While you had always imagined that it would be hard and probably scary getting to know someone that you knew for a fact was your soulmate, but the truth was, it was more exciting than anything else. The imagined expectations weren’t there, at least in your mind, and it was fine. It was fun, even.
After a while, it started to get chilly and you had suggested you return to the reception hall. Miles agreed with your idea, and still holding your hand, led the way back to the party. When you re-entered, there was a slower paced song being played and there were couples out on the dancefloor. In the back of your mind, you wanted to dance but you didn’t because you didn’t have anyone to dance with. Except, you reminded yourself, you did. Miles was still holding your hand, and you were heading towards the dancefloor, probably going back to his table to sit and talk some more.
You squeezed his hand to get his attention. “Hey, Miles?”
“Yeah?” he asked, looking at you instead of where he was going, but continuing to walk.
“Do you maybe…want to dance?” you asked quietly, suddenly feeling like maybe it wasn’t such a good idea after all. It was one thing for something to happen in your brain and something else entirely for it to happen for real. Miles stopped walking, seemingly contemplating the idea for a moment before he nodded.
“I would love to, [Y/N].”
The two of you headed onto the dancefloor and after a moment of shuffling, trying to figure out whose hand went where, the two of you fell into steps that matched the music the best you could, smiling at each other. It wasn’t long before you heard someone address you both.
“The two of you are cute together.”
You looked around to see who had said it, spotting Michael and Lindsay dancing less than an arm’s distance away, looking at the two of you. You blushed slightly as you caught Lindsay’s eye.
“Thanks,” you said quietly, looking down at your feet instead of at anyone’s face.
“Sorry,” Miles apologized, “About the whole…timers going off during the wedding thing. Not on purpose.” You nodded, still not looking at anyone as you tried to will your face to stop burning.
“Don’t worry about it,” Michael said, “We’ve already planned ways to disrupt your wedding.” You looked up then, to see Miles looking at you with his eyebrows raised.
“[Y/N], I say we don’t invite them to the wedding,” he suggested, smiling mischievously. You couldn’t help but smile too, giggling.
“I mean, I guess that could work,” you agreed, “I guess I’ll have to find a new maid of honor, though.”
The two of you laughed as Michael rolled his eyes and he and Lindsay danced away from the two of you, back towards the middle of the dancefloor where they had been when you decided you wanted to dance. Miles gently pulled you closer to him, sighing contently as you moved your hand to lean your head on his shoulder.
It was then that you decided that spending the rest of your life with Miles as your soulmate maybe wouldn’t be such a bad thing after all, even if you did have to wait it out with a stupid, anxiety-inducing dashed timer.It might have been soon to say, but it definitely seemed worth the wait.
