Work Text:
We are genetically engineered. Everything about our life is, more or less, due to our genetic code. A couple of millennia ago, therefore, quite recently, a totally unexpected mutation occurred. It had changed the way we, as humans, perceive love. Everything comes down to the timer we are born with. It only stops when we find the one.
People wander aimlessly on the streets hoping to meet their other halves. If someone asked Newt, he'd tell them it's not really the perfect place to do so. There had always been cases in which soulmates pass each other, once in a lifetime, missing the digits count down to 0.
“Hello, do kiss me.”
“Do what now?”
“Kiss me, we're running out of time!”
And that's how Newt found himself, palms on a stranger's neck, in the middle of the best kiss of his whole life – the only one at that, but he was pretty sure of its quality. A stranger who broke off, said a whole-heartedly 'thank you', and started to casually walk away.
“Fine, fine, go on then, nice talking to you too, nice meeting you, T... T... T... Thomas?”
Newt was distantly aware of a beeping sound coming, suspiciously, from his timer wrist. Before he could figure out exactly what he was doing, he broke into a run.
The stranger walked faster. Newt ran faster. The stranger was now running too. Newt was dying. The stranger was also dying.
They were at a crossroad, leaning on the walls of some building, panting, their timers beeping furiously, in sync with their hearts.
“Do you want anything from me?”
“I don't really know. You're Thomas.”
“Yeah? How do you know that?”
“We're in the same school, you know. I'm Newt.”
“Newt?”
“Isaac.”
“Isaac Newt?”
“Isaac Newton.”
“Isaac Newton? Like the physicist?”
“Exactly.”
“Well, Isaac Newton never really found his soulmate, but we are, you know...”
“Mated?”
Complete and utter silence. Newt was starting to snicker, trying to contain himself. Thomas wasn't any help, as he had already burst into maniacal giggles. In a couple of moments, they were doubling over with laughter, while still hearing the beeps.
Some say we are not allowed the freedom of choice. Some say love should happen by itself, others think it might need a slight push. There remains the question: is the timer really our whole life? For me, it certainly proved to be.
Isaac Newton, for the school paper