Annie

Days on trial: 42

Jungkook had taken to Multivision like a duck to water. It had been reds and pinks first, and then oranges and browns, but he'd got stuck once he reached yellows. Anything after that seemed to be alluding him.

"The doctors don't seem concerned," he shrugged, walking with me up to the office. We'd taken our steaming coffees to-go, revelling in the chilly ocean air. The skies were grey today, and I was almost certain that they'd be the same for both Monos and Multis alike. "Said he reckons that I'm developing just like a natural Multi would. It's only been a week, so I'm not worried."

I nodded, letting the piping hot coffee pass through my lips and warm my entire body. The festive season was fast approaching, and my workload had increased, meaning that I didn't have as much time to spare for his story. 

Instead, we'd agreed that he'd meet me for my mid-afternoon coffee run - and this time I made sure to pick one up for Chloe too.

"How's Tiff coping with it all?" I couldn't help but ask. We both knew that deep down, it wasn't a topic of conversation I liked to embark upon - but the last time I had, it had sparked up a colour. Maybe it would do the same for him again?

Jungkook took a long, withdrawn sip of his coffee, letting out a facetious "ahh" once he had finished. "Crappy weather, isn't it?"

I stood still, watching him continue to saunter on. Eventually, once he realised I wasn't going to ignore his aversion of the topic, he threw his head back and groaned. "Annie," he whined, turning on the spot, attempting to give me puppy dog eyes.

I've said it before, but I'll say it again: the boy's an idiot.

"Why haven't you told her yet?!"

There was a roll to his eyes, which I scolded him for, as he walked to perch on the beach wall we had been walking alongside. He wore a long coat, brushed wool and black, which finished at his well-sculpted mid-thighs. With an equally dark polo neck jumper and trousers, anyone would have been forgiven for thinking he was still a Mono. Old habits died hard, I supposed.

"I was going to tell her," he sighed as I sat down beside him. I swivelled around so that I was facing the sea, whilst he remained facing the sparse street. "She came over the next day, but she just starting nagging about the place looking like we'd had a rager the night before-"

"Well, we had," I interrupted with a smile.

"You're not helping," he laughed, and I could feel his shoulder nudge against me gently. "I was hungover, and I just wasn't in the mood."

"You know that she probably would have stopped nagging if you had just told her why you were partying, right?"

"Oh Annie," he sassed me, voice laced in mirthless sarcasm. "Poor, dear, naive, darling, Annie. She'd have been furious that I hadn't invited her over, too. I'm seeing her tonight, I'll tell her then."

I scrunched my face up, pleased he couldn't see me. The sea air batted against my face, delivering cold harsh slaps, much like the one I knew Tiff probably would have loved to have given me if she had turned up that night. 

We both knew that the predicament he was in wasn't ideal, but it didn't feel like my place to say anything. We'd already argued over it once before, and frankly, I preferred his company when we were laughing.

"What about you?" He changed the direction of our conversation swiftly, not wanting to dwell on the undealt with issue of what he was -or wasn't- doing with Tiff. "What was your first colour?"

"Blue," I spoke nonchalantly, easily. "It's always blue."

"Why?"

His question was simple, but not one I had ever considered. No one had ever asked me that before; it had always quite simply been accepted for what it was. With other Multis, gaining colour was just the reality of their lives, but for Jungkook, it had been methodical, scientific, planned. He didn't look at colours in the same way that other people did.

Like the parent of a child who won't stop asking 'why', he was pushing the realms of my accepted knowledge, and actually making me think.

"I'm not sure," I finally admitted, a little hastily. I didn't want him to think I was vapid, not caring for my colours. "I spend a lot of time by the sea, watching the waves roll in. I was devastated when I lost blue after my last breakup."

"Tell me what it feels like," he spoke softly, the low murmurations of his voice tickling at the steadily beating organs beneath my ribs. 

It would have been far too outlandish to say the first thing that came to mind. I wasn't even sure it was true. I just knew I had to bite my tongue and refrain it from uttering: 'You'.

"It feels... Hopeful," I finally deligated, after a moment of pondering. A smile grew on my lips, fond memories of the colour coming back to me. "This landscape becomes an endless canvas of possibilities. I can sit here for hours when I'm a Multi and just breathe in the energy. It's fresh and invigorating. I can't wait for you to see it." 

He was silent for a moment, a small solemn smile gracing his lips. "Me either."

I knew it bothered him, the unmistakable unknown. I supposed it must have been daunting in a way - what if he never saw it? What if he'd reached the peak of the drug's capabilities? There was a whole entire spectrum out there waiting for him to feast on, and boy, was he hungry for it.

"There's one colour I can't ever seem to get," I admitted shakily. No one knew this. Not a single one of my past boyfriends, nor Chloe, no-one.  "At first I thought it's real colour must just be grey, but whenever Chloe does her nails that colour, I can't see them - and I know she'd never pick grey."

The admittance wasn't so much shameful as it was sobering. The shock I could hear in Jungkook's voice as he questioned it is exactly why I didn't tell people.

"So you mean to tell me that you've never been a full Multi?"

I stayed silent, contemplating his words. I'd never really considered it before, but perhaps I hadn't been.

"Maybe I'm the one who needs help becoming a Multi," I hummed quietly, though there was a faint ache in my chest at the realisation. It was dizzy and disorientating. Everything I thought I had known and the love I thought I had experienced seemed to fade into insignificance.

"It's just a sign you hadn't met the right one yet," Jungkook tried to offer support when he noticed the subdued tone of my voice. Nudging my shoulder with his own, he let the silence linger for a little while until he couldn't bear it any longer. "One day you're gonna see all the colours this world has to offer you, Annie. You'll live a life more vibrant than anyone else I've ever met. I'm almost sure of it."

"Almost?"

"First you've got to find someone who will put up with your annoying ass."

The pair of us laughed together, the harmony of our happiness quelling the discomfort I had been feeling in my chest. My eyes settled shut briefly, while my shoulders rocked ever so carefully as we revelled in the aftermath of his joke. Leaning my head against Jungkook's shoulder, I opened my eyes slowly.

It took me a second to notice it, as it faded in ever so subtly, but as the waves crashed in towards me, the sky seemed to become clearer. 

Brighter. 

Bluer.

Fuck.

a/n: not being dramatic but he's the most handsome man alive, in awe over that header image