TW: Soulmates!Au

When the world around him burst into colour, the monotonous black and whites fading into a series of brighter tones, Chris found it overwhelming to the point that he had to close his eyes. Everything around him had been thrown into what he would later learn to be the colours of blues, yellows, reds, oranges and greens, each one sending shooting pains into the back of skull and made his whole head ache. At the age of 24, Chris had read multiple stories of how overbearing the experience would be but as time passed, Chris found the flicker of hope in his chest that was experienced every morning beginning to disappear as he gave up on the idea that he would ever find the person to turn his life into colour. Instead, he began to find comfort in the different shades of black and white that made up his day. Expect from now when they were torn from his life, shoving him into an unfamiliar setting where everything now looked completely different.

Slowly, he opened his eyes in turn, blinking rapidly as he adjusted to the world around him, taking in the sudden change of colour in each and every thing in the room he sat in. He saw how the sky outside the window had changed from a grey to a pale blue, how the coffee mug in front of him was now a vibrant red and how the book in the hands of the stranger opposite his table was mostly orange with a speckling of purple. It was then that he remembered. He had been watching the stranger on the opposite table out of the corner of his eyes, entranced by the way his smile seemed to light up a room as it almost reached his eyes. It had been then that the stranger glanced up and their eyes met in a split second of contact before Chris' world was thrown into colour and he was forced to look away. Was it him? Could he be the person? The story said that all it took was a fraction of contact with your soulmate for your world to burst into colour. And it would stay like that until your soulmate no longer lived on the Earth. Chris' eyes wandered back to the man at the table and saw the way he rubbed he rubbed his eyes with the tips of his index fingers before blinking rapidly much like Chris had done only moments earlier. He could see a fascinated expression on the other man's face and could see the way he ran his hands over the few objects resting on the table before him. And Chris knew. He knew this was the man he had dreamt of since he was a teenager, waited for everyday before eventually giving up and assuming he was never going to be found. And now here he was, sitting metres in front of him.

All of a sudden, Chris felt his hands shake involuntarily as his body was suddenly filled with nerves. What if the man didn't like him? What if he didn't get along with his soulmate? What if they weren't even soulmates and he had looked at someone else seconds later? What if the man was simply trying to get something out of eye? He took a deep breath and rose from his seat. There was only one way to find answers to his questions. He crossed the small distance between the two tables with the stranger he believed to be his soulmate and stood awkwardly as he sought the courage to speak. It was a few moments before he asked,

"Did that just- Did you just have..." He trailed off, unsure of how to phrase his question. Thankfully for him, the stranger knew what he was trying to ask and nodded,

"The colour? Yeah, feels weird to have everything in colour doesn't it?"

Chris nodded, slipping into the chair opposite the stranger, "It does, hurts my eyes. I'm Chris by the way."

The stranger offered his hand to Chris where he was met with slightly calloused and rough skin surround his own in a firm handshake, "Nice to meet you Chris, I'm Alex but call me Smith."

"So I guess this means we're soulmates then?"

"Yeah I suppose so."

It took a while for Chris to adjust to the combinations of colours that made up the everyday life, he still wasn't sure of the names of each different shade and tone of the different colours. For days, his fingers itched to map every colour in existence, to try and paint in vibrant colours. He had never been particularly artistic before but now with a whole world of colours at his fingertips, he felt the sudden urge to express himself. He had ideas for paintings, landscapes and abstracts that he never thought would be possible with just two colours to create. But now, it felt like anything was possible. To him, the world seemed like a completely different place even though it had only experienced a burst of colour. But that burst of colour made him see things differently, to relish in the little things of life. And having someone who knew exactly what he meant made everything so much better. From the day they had met in the coffee shop, Chris and Alex had been almost inseparable, spending every waking moment where possible together. Looking back, Chris felt stupid for feeling so nervous around the redhead because that moment of courage that where he walked over to the table was the best moment of his life. It was stupid to have so many worries in his brain because as soon as he sat down, they all disappeared, of course the other man was his soulmate. They both had the same interests, the same likes and dislikes and could turn every topic into an exciting conversation. The only problem was, although the ring that sat upon his finger symbolised forever, Chris knew that would never happen. He knew that forever ended eventually, whether it was in 50 years or in 5, there could never be a happy ending. When one of them died, the other would be plummeted into a world of no colour. As quickly as it had been taken from them, the world of blacks and whites could be shoved upon them involuntarily when they least expected it. And as selfish as it seemed, Chris couldn't help but secretly wish it would be him to die first because he knew that now he had experienced every colour in the world and every shade and variation, that a world without them terrified him. Because it meant a world without Alex, a world without happiness anymore...

Credit to Daisyith on Ao3