Introduction: T Minus to T Zero

Sebastian groaned as he literally rolled out of bed. He hit the ground and winced and curled up, pulling the blanket with him so he was just a pile on the floor. He had the shades drawn since he worked nights and tried to sleep in till it was time to repeat. Still, the sound of the day filtered in like a forgotten television. Not that that neighbor's upstairs were all that quiet either. They'd been bouncing around as if they'd invited half the block to a bounce house. Come to think of it, what time was it? Why hadn't his alarm gone off? He rubbed his face and groped till he found his phone. He blinked at the glare till his eyes adjusted. Noon? He jolted upward then. He was many things, but late to work was not one of them.

"I can't believe my alarm clock didn't go off!" he growled, angry at himself for not double checking. He nearly tripped himself on his rush to the bathroom thanks to the blankets and barely caught himself on the nightstand. He made it into the bathroom despite the warm death-trap that had ensnared him. He started washing his face and reached for his towel when he saw a note on his mirror. He frowned at the flashy pink creature vying for his attention and read the words 'You don't work today, Dummy. -Love Suri.' He blinked while the neurons in his brain fired and tried to make their synaptic connections between the words what he knew to be true.

"Damn it! Today's the Saturday that I traded," he said to himself. "I could have slept in..." he pouted. Well, he was up anyway. Might as well figure out something to do this sudden free Saturday. There was supposed to be a wicked party tonight, but that was WAY later. Whelp, might as well enjoy a nice long soak. It certainly would help him after his near heart attack. Once he was done with that, he made his way to the kitchen to figure out what he could eat for breakfast.

"Let's see.... Eggs, no milk, annnddd don't know what the hell that was," he grumbled. The fridge really was bare, wasn't it? "Eggs and insta-ramen. Breakfast of champions," he mused. He really needed to go to the grocery store. Boo. He hated food shopping. He always bought way too much crap. He could always get take-out, but then he'd be wasting more money. He had a nice little savings he had worked really hard on creating, but something always happened to deplete it a little and he'd promised himself he'd only order take out once a week to go back to saving. Eventually, he wanted to move out of the apartments and get his own damn house. It didn't have to be a big place, but eventually, if he ever found someone, he wanted a real relationship with, he wanted a home. He wanted to be someone his partner could be proud of having. What he had now was just existing.

After making his sparce breakfast, he made himself his list. Hopefully this time he could stick with it and not fall for those crispy and savory chips. Or alcohol. He'd realized that he'd started buying more booze lately. He did not need to add that as one of his habits. Drinking at parties was one thing. Drinking home alone, another. "Alright, let's be productive," he mused and finished getting himself ready for the day. The blue in his hair was still vibrant so he didn't need to touch it up, thankfully. He added some light make up to accent his eyes and pulled on his simple dark jeans, black T-shirt of his favorite anime, and his jacket. He'd get dolled up for the party later so he didn't need to bling out just yet. He did add a black choker though and his favorite simple earrings. By day he preferred simple, casual.

Sebastian forced himself out of the house then and headed for the subway that would take him to the grocery store. Eventually he'd get a car for himself, but till then, this would suffice. He put on his cat ear headphones to blast his rock mix as he got in. He glanced around at the others in the subway car with him and offered a friendly smile. A couple were looking down at their arms where a clock could be seen. The sight made him sigh internally. 'Ignore it' he reminded himself and looked away. It would do him no good to be envious of someone else. It wasn't their fault he didn't have a soulmate or a timer. It may be harder for him to find his 'one', but maybe it would be a more genuine bond. He didn't have anything telling him who he 'had' to bond with. He leaned against a wall beside some seats, so he didn't get jostled when the subway moved. He'd leave the seats open for those who needed it.

Aria dragged his sleep-crusted self out of bed, squinting through his hangover as he shuffled unhappily towards the bathroom. At least his roommates were already at work, so he could have some time to pretty up without interruption. Skin care, carefully lengthening his eyelashes, brushing his hair, doing his eyebrows, styling his hair, bringing the slightest flush to his cheeks, hiding the bags under his eyes, until no one could tell how his head throbbed.

Today was, after all, his first day at work at his new job in this new place he'd blown into. And he couldn't fuck this one up. If he got fired again...maybe he'd have to admit defeat. But the manager he'd interviewed with seemed easy to charm, and a pretty face like his, with his soft, winsome voice and his bright smile, certainly raked in big tips even though he was an absolutely shit bartender. Usually he just liked to lean on the bar just so and let the patrons stare at him and wonder if he was a boy or a girl.

Before that, though, he needed new clothes. And some more stupid nonslip shoes, because his were worn down and scuffed, and he wanted to look fresh for his first day. So to the mall it was. And to several outlets and boutique around the mall. Though he'd fled home without two words to either of his parents, they let him keep the card, and a cool $25,000 limit made the temptation to overspend his meager self-earned budget strong. He did splurge a little, buying a nice new outfit that accentuated his collarbones and the slender curve of his waist and a pretty necklace and a good set of earrings. And a new tinted lipgloss. And some eyeshadow. Okay, no, that was enough.

Laden with an armful of bags, Aria entered the subway and sat down, preening under the looks of the other occupants of their car. Why they were all looking around like that, he didn't know, but perhaps it was because they were thinking he was just so cute and they wanted to talk to him.

Ezra had never been able to sleep in. Disallowed to by both circumstance and his circadian rhythm. He didn’t mind it. What he did mind was the fact that he didn’t have class or work this morning and had to make the decision of what to for himself. He got dressed in the dark, keeping his eyes studiously off his own body– and only once he finished did he push up his sleeve just enough to peer at the timer. As if he didn’t already know it was today.

Tracking the date. That was embarrassing, wasn’t it? Or since there was no one here to witness it, perhaps it was shameful instead.

He packed his upright bass into its bag, swapping out the endpin shaft and inserting the wheel. Then he hoisted the whole six-foot instrument up and wheeled it down to the subway, only texting Delgado once he was already on the train. The man might not be up this early, but he’d be home, and Ezra could let himself inside to practice. Delgado had given him a garage door opener. The train was bearable at this hour, almost pleasant–

Which was much less true a few hours later, after both his bandmates had told him, in no uncertain terms, he couldn’t wait out his timer in their garage. It’s not as if he didn’t want to see the thing through. And, in fact, it’s not as if he did want that. Ezra had fully committed himself to not wanting things to turn out one way or another. Besides, it’s not as if he had any control over it. Which was preferable! Fate was something that was done to you, much like everything else in life.

Admittedly, with regard to the parts he could influence, it might’ve been a bad idea to bring the bass with him. He pushed his way onto the train with a monotone stream of ‘excuse me’s, settling into what looked to be one of the less populated cars.

Normally he’d stand, letting the instrument rest on the floor and lean against his shoulder– but if he was going to have one opinion on how this went, that felt like asking for a headache. He’d prefer to not have a headache during the soulmate meeting.

It’d probably make a bad first impression.

So instead, he slipped into the furthest seat and sat down, facing his bass towards the exit door and attempting to block as little of the aisle as possible. The train schedule felt about as controllable as his timer; he did cast his gaze over the half dozen people milling around. Then he pulled his sleeve down more firmly past his wrist.

There was certainly a strange group of characters in this subway car, Sate couldn't help but look at all of them. Some of them were also looking around restlessly. He tried not to make eye contact with anyone, not wanting to ruin any potential moments, but a pale haired man caught his eye and he flushed slightly as he looked away.

The train bounced along the track as usual, and Sate gripped the pole for stability. He didn't like sitting on the subway, it always made him feel guilty when there weren't enough spaces for everyone, and so it was much easier to just stand. Usually that wasn't a problem, but apparently, today was going to be usual.

As they drew nearer to the university/medical center stop, a muffled voice came onto the PA system. "There is a delay on the track, please have patience as we--" without warning, the voice cut off abruptly, along with the lights, and Sate flinched as he was jerked forward, and then back, falling against someone next to him as he lost his grip on the rail.

"Sorry, sorry," he squeaked, struggling to get up in the dark. His hand made contact with someone's chest as he managed to sit up and he flinched away, embarrassed. Around him, there was a buzz of confused voices. After a few seconds, the emergency lights flicked on, but they were vague and front, only outlining the recovering silhouettes of his fellow passengers.

Sate clambered to his feet, offering his hand to the person he fell into, before realizing that the other person could probably hardly see him in the gloom. Flustered, he withdrew his hand with another mumbled sorry.

Just as soon as he'd managed a few deep breaths to compose himself, the lights flicked back on, along with the muffled, droning voice. "There has been a technical issue with the line, please be patient as we resolve this problem. We will have the car moving again shortly, please be patient while we resolve this issue, there has been a technical issue with the track. Please stay calm."

Sate however, was less than calm. He had just glanced down at his wrist, which was now firmly at 0:00. Zero minutes. "My time!" He cried out, then frantically looked at the disarray around him, trying to spot who else had run down their time durring the confusion.

Sebastian glanced around as one by one, people began to board the car. It was quickly becoming a bit crowded. He didn't mind crowds exactly, but in such a small space, it was a little unnerving. Besides, he was feeling like he shouldn't be so far back. Still, it meant he was out of the way and that was a good thing. He didn't want to stop someone from getting off on their stop on time or something and people on the subway could be downright rude about things like that. No, being in the back was better. Besides, he got some eye candy. There were quite a few cute and handsome folks in here today. And a cute service husky. He loved dogs. Couldn't afford one, but loved them all the same.

But why did everyone seem on edge? Had he missed something on the news? Everyone was checking their timers. That was strange. Usually or two would glance but this many people so focused on it? Well, whatever. It didn't concern him. He didn't have a timer. Must be nice to plan out a first meeting with your soulmate.

Sebastian was just leaning against one of the poles and pulling his headphones out when the pa system came on. He missed what the announcement was saying. Then everything changed. The lights shut off and the subway jolted. He cried out in surprise as he was tossed forward. He tried to grab the pole but it all happened too fast. Someone grabbed him and he gave a squeak and tensed. Tensing was probably a bad idea, but no stopping it. He fell with the stranger and winced as he landed on top of the other. Thankfully no groin kicking occurred. He supposed falling on someone was better than hitting the ground itself.

"Ouch..." he grumbled and rubbed his arm where it had hit the seats and rolled his sleeves up as the lights came on. "Sorry..." he murmured at the other and glanced back at the taller man. He was one of the sexy people he'd eyed earlier. He slowly extracted himself so he wouldn't elbow him anywhere and ran a hand through his hair as the shouts about timer's started to ring out. Three people had their timers run out? Numbers on his own arm suddenly caught his attention.

His eyes widened and he gasped, his mouth open in shock. Numbers. On his arm. WHAT?!

"My timer... it's at zero" he said a bit bewildered. He hadn't had one! Why did he suddenly have a timer? Why was it at zero? What did this mean? How.... this just didn't make sense! He touched the numbers and glanced up. He was so unprepared for this eventuality! What was he supposed to do? He suddenly had a soul mate?! They were here? Who was it? Why were there so many people in the goddamn car?! He wanted to hide. He wanted to laugh. Maybe he wanted to cry. He didn't know what the fuck he was feeling.

"W-Who all... has their timer at zero?" he asked out loud then. The fact that they'd all fallen over and the train wasn't moving was now secondary in his mind. He wanted to know who had their timer's at zero like him.... find his surprise soulmate before everyone got off the train and the person suddenly vanished as quickly as they appeared. He didn't want to be left out again.

When the car suddenly jerked, Aria, whose hands were full of bags and most certainly not holding on to any of the supports around him, also jerked, stumbling to the side as he dropped his things and held an arm out to try and steady himself. The plastic bench-like seats along the side of the car buckled his knees, and he pitched forward, sliding forward, his face bumping into someone's leg before he could grip the seat to hold himself steady. The person let out quite a yelp. He was only pulled back slightly by the abrupt halting of the train and a somewhat delicate touch pushing his shoulder back. Whoever it was, they smelled good.

Oho, who was this?

He blinked, slightly blinded when the lights came back on, but he looked up at the person who he'd bumped into, a beaming, flirtatious smile curled his mouth. “Hi,” he said. “Thanks for protecting my face.”

The boy gaped at him, and Aria blinked innocently back. Then, the red-head looked at his wrist. Of course he did. Aria sat up and turned away to hide a sour look. They all always did that. So obsessed with bullshit.

But then his ear perked up. Several people's time's had run down at once? His head turned again, the smile back in place, and his eyes picked out the people who were looking around, surprised. There was an odd number. If he could assert himself before anyone else came forward, perhaps he could have a little fun on someone else's tab?

"Look at that," he said, standing up, gazing at the faces around him. "Mine too. What are the odds." He pulled up his sleeve. It was a fake timer, but no one needed to know that. He was new in town, no one around to know that he'd always told people before that his soulmate had died.

"I'm Aria~" he announced at the red-head's request.