Just The Galaxy Beneath Us

                                    

                                          
by: orphan_account
                          
Summary:
                          
Some people say it's nature's way of playing matchmaker. Every now and then, two people are born, meant especially for each other. When they both turn eighteen, their hearts start beating in sync and they start feeling things together. If one feels joy, so will the other, no matter how far apart they might be. Sometimes they'll see visions of each other – just little flashes of eyes and hair and skin, snippets of the person that fate has chosen for them. Sometimes they'll dream of each other. Sometimes they'll look down at themselves and realize that they're getting bruises and scratches that aren't theirs, but instead to someone who might be on the other side of the world.
                          
Four days after he turns eighteen, Harry feels the first skip of his heartbeat.

                          
Wherein Harry falls a little bit in love with his soulmate before they even meet.
                          
°•°•°
                          
Some people say it's nature's way of playing matchmaker. Every now and then, two people are born, meant especially for each other. When they both turn eighteen, their hearts start beating in sync and they start feeling things together. If one feels joy, so will the other, no matter how far apart they might be. Sometimes they'll see visions of each other – just little flashes of eyes and hair and skin, snippets of the person that fate has chosen for them. Sometimes they'll dream of each other. Sometimes they'll look down at themselves and realize that they're getting bruises and scratches that aren't theirs, but instead belong to someone who might be on the other side of the world.
                          
Four days after he turns eighteen, Harry feels the first skip of his heartbeat.
                          
It's small, subtle, and he almost doesn't notice it. He and Louis are kicking a ball back and forth across a field and it's autumn and he's complaining about how he misses the summer. It comes mid-sentence, mid-word, and when he feels the pang in his chest, he freezes. The ball hits him in the face.
                          
"Pay attention," Louis chides him, and Harry is: he's becoming quite aware of his heart and the person he's been fated for and the question what if?
                          
He doesn't know how he know – he just does. It's the same way he knows the sky is blue and fires are hot and the earth is round, except this is a person. He knows that they've turned eighteen.
                          
Louis will think he's odd if he says anything, so he doesn't. But later, when he's walking home and no one else is within earshot, he stops in the middle of the sidewalk and says, "Happy birthday." Only the air catches his words, but it's okay, he thinks, because perhaps they'll get carried across the world like that – to wherever his other half might be.

                          
___

                          
He gets his first hint during third period anatomy. The entire classroom is silent as it's apt to be whenever they're taking a test, and Harry is in the middle of filling in latissimus dorsi when, suddenly, he's not looking at his paper anymore.
                          
It's hazy, like a camera gone unfocused. He catches a glimpse of gold and maybe cerulean, but he's not sure. Their hair is cut short and–
                          
A sharp thwack yanks back to reality, to the classroom and the test and the irate teacher standing in front of him. "No dozing off, Mr. Styles," says the sharp-eyed woman, and Harry mumbles out an apology and picks up his pencil again.
                          
His pulse is racing at the thought of all the possibilities, and how is he supposed to focus on the human body diagram in front of him when he would rather map out and label another?
                          
"Fifteen minutes," their teacher reminds.
                          
The kid next to him makes a startled noise and continues scribbling furiously. Harry takes a deep breath and goes back to writing.