Project: Neverbound (A Double Life AU fanfic)

16 - Goodbye Infinity

Bdubs felt at the clock on his belt, making sure it was still there. With all his years of having it, the gold was no longer nearly as shiny as it was before. Dullness and several scratches covered the once perfect surface, but it still worked, and he didn't mind anyway. Impulse had offered to fix it before many times, or at least polish it up again, but his bound always refused. The imperfections made it feel more personal, like the clock had been through all the things he'd been through too. And it might as well have been, because he really did bring it everywhere with him.

But now there was confusion in the mix. He held onto the clock for all this time believing it was a gift from his mother, when in reality, it was from Keralis and Skizz. In a way, it made him really not want to lose the clock now. He always wanted to keep it, of course, but the thought that it came from his two dead friends made it all the more impactful.

He kept that thought to the side though, still believing that what he saw could not be real. It could've been, or it couldn't. And he was going to find out which one it was tonight.

He turned around again to see a sleeping Impulse, the moonlight just barely lighting up their little room. Bdubs smiled. As horrendous as the vision was, his thoughts eventually trailed him away from what he witnessed and onto what happened afterward, which was the first time he met Impulse. Sure, the way they met as soulbounds was the most generic way they possibly could've: make an appointment with your doctor, run a few tests, wait a month or two for the results, and bam, there's your bound. But long before that, before either of them even considered the possibility of being bound in the first place, there was the day right after the disaster, when Bdubs had ran so far away from his hometown that he ended up on the edge of the forest across from a completely different town, one that Impulse just so happened to live in.

As hard as it might've been to believe, with his fixations on gadgets and trinkets being seen as an indoor activity, Impulse enjoyed being outside. When Tango and Zedaph were still around, Tango having moved away the year prior and Zedaph currently in the hospital for a broken foot, that was all he'd do during the weekends he got to spend with them. With Tango's unrelenting energy and Zedaph's goat half drawn to the greenery, they were happy to spend time outdoors with him too. So there he was, poking his head around the forest's edge by himself. And there Bdubs was, believing he just ran away from a massive storm and was merely crying to himself because he believed he was lost. The blood that was supposed to be drenching his clothes was replaced with water, and it made him shiver in a cold way instead of a fearful way.

When Impulse inevitably stumbled onto the shorter, he wouldn't lie, he thought Bdubs was a child. You could imagine the whiplash after Bdubs admitted he was a 17 year old highschool junior at the time, but that didn't matter much. If it were up to him, Impulse would've brought Bdubs inside his house, but his parents weren't keen on letting a stranger in. Still, with enough begging, Impulse was able to bring him water, food, and clothes as he waited on the front porch. Even if the clothes were all way too big for him coming from Impulse's wardrobe, he was still thankful for the help and waved a solid goodbye as his godparents were contacted and came to pick him up.

The look on both of their faces when, around 3 years after the fact, they met again after being told they were soulbound to each other, was no doubt priceless. For sure, it was always meant to be.

Bdubs almost felt bad for leaving in the middle of the night like this, but he assured himself it would only be for a few minutes, maybe a little bit longer if he went slowly down the road. He just wanted to talk to Doc, that's all. But, just in case, he scribbled a quick note and left it on his own pillow for Impulse to pick up if he awoke while Bdubs was still out. With that precaution in place, he walked down the stairs and out of the front door, holding the sleeves of his mossy green hoodie over his hands to counter the freezing cold of the night.