Tick Tock (Destiel Soulmate AU)

January 19th, 7:42:51 AM

Today was the day.

Castiel hummed absently as he tied his shoes, excited and energetic. It was finally happening today, the most important day in his life. He checked his wrist for the thousandth time since he woke up that morning, just to check just this once more that it was true and not an illusion of his mind. It wasn’t. The timer was ticking away, counting down just like before and Castiel grinned, showing teeth and all.

Time till meeting:

0:0:0:8:19:16

His mom wanted him to dress nice today, you’re finally meeting her honey, and had almost stuffed him into a Polo and dress pants until his twin sister, Anna, protested, telling their mom that the girl would want to see the true Castiel Milton, not some dressed up prep version. Anna hadn’t even gotten her timer yet, and Castiel figured that since she was horrifically late and had probably given up hope of ever finding the one, she was trying to make it the best for Castiel.

Everyone got their timer by the age of 20, but mostly everyone got theirs around 16 or 17, or you could become lucky and be like Anna’s 4th grade classmate, Garth Fitzgerald, whose timer appeared when he was only 9 and was so startled by it, it counting down from 10 seconds, that he screamed and tripped in the cafeteria and landed right at the feet of Bess Myers as his timer clicked to 0 seconds. Needless to say, they were married young. Anna was 7 months shy of 20, and there was no sign of any timer, which was extraordinarily late. 

Castiel had gotten his timer when he was 15, early, magically appearing on his wrist at 4 years, 2 months, 6 days, 2 hours, 18 minutes, and 47 seconds. It had happened in the middle of his Geometry class, and felt great, like Anna’s laughter when she laughed so hard her stomach hurt, and when his dad made horrible tasting pancakes for the whole family every Sunday morning, and everyone was too happy with the feeling of love and family in the air to tell him how much they sucked. Castiel had fell out of his chair in the middle of class and nearly had a huge asthma attack, which was also impossible because you couldn’t have an attack on being too excited, and when he got home he had yelled about it and his mom and sister and even his dad, had cried. 

His dad ruffled Castiel’s hair on his way out, making his dark hair stick up even more than usual at all odds and ends, and he desperately tried to smooth it out to no avail, as usual, leaving the house with shouts of encouragement from his family, such as “good luck baby!” and “go get ‘em kiddo!” and his particularly favorite one from his sister: “Use protection Cassy!”

Castiel knew that it was gonna happen at seven seconds after 4:02, and it was only 8:00 in the morning, but he was on his toes and his heart raced faster than those race cars his cousin, Gabe, was obsessed with on TV. It is happening today he told himself, emphasizing each word, and adrenaline coursed through his veins faster and faster, until he was almost unable to breathe and he told himself he had to stop or he would be late to his class.

The day dragged on what seemed like to be forever, the seconds and minutes tripping over themselves in a massive effort to run backwards, to move as slowly as possible. Castiel felt like he was holding his breath in the entire day, his lungs refusing to work in anxiety of the upcoming occasion, and of course there was no point in concentrating because what the hell, he was finally meeting her today. He wondered what she would be like, tall or short, brunette or blonde, funny or serious. He pondered over the small things, what her laugh sounded like, what kind of eyes she had, if she preferred chocolate or vanilla. Whoever she was, Castiel decided, she was going to be perfect.