Work Text:
Humans are born unable to see color; this is a well-known fact. Only after coming in physical contact with your soulmate are you able to see color. For as long as Peter can remember, he has heard people talk about the colors. One of his best friends in elementary school met his soulmate at just ten years old. For the rest of their friendship, he tried to explain the colors to Peter; what they looked like and how they made him feel. The problem with trying to explain colors to someone who has never seen them is that they have no idea how to relate those descriptions to actual vision. Sure, Peter could still see differences in shades of light and darkness but, from what he has heard of color, it is something entirely different.
It doesn’t bother Peter that he still has yet to meet his soulmate; he is only 16 after all. Also, with everything that happened last year at homecoming, he had decided to take life a little slower. So here he is on another night of swinging through Queens, on the prowl for any crime that might be underway. After swinging past a few more buildings, he decides to rest on a rooftop, perching himself on the edge. After taking a quick look-around to make sure no one would be able to see, he pulls his mask off. He adjusts his hair for a more comfortable feel and looks out upon the borough that he calls home, and then across the river to Manhattan.
One thing that always did bother Peter about his colorblindness was not being able to know what his hair and eyes really looked like. He could tell that both were a darker shade, appearing slightly blackish in his own vision. Others that could see called both of them the same color: brown. He thinks it’s such an ugly name for something, let alone a color.
Huffing out a sigh, he goes to pull his mask back on and swing home when his phone starts to vibrate in his pocket. He pulls it out to see Happy’s name indicating he was calling him. “Hello?” Peter answers.
“Hey, kid,” the man on the other end responds, “Boss wants to see you tomorrow. I’ll be at your place to pick you up around one and drive you to the new Avengers place, so be ready for me.”
“What’s it about?”
“I don’t know, but Tony wants to see you in person so it must be important. Remember, be ready for me tomorrow.”
“Ok, see you tomorrow Happy.” Peter hangs up the phone before thrusting his first up into the air. Ever since homecoming, Mr. Stark had started to take Peter a lot more seriously. He even gave Peter an official “internship” at Stark Industries. Peter liked being around the man. To most others, he seemed like a jerk and a typical rich guy. Peter always has a way of seeing the best in people, however, and he saw all of the things that made Tony a good guy. The things that Peter looked up to in him.
Peter snaps out of his thoughts and places his mask back on. He readies himself to jump off the side of the building when he hears noise in the alleyway a couple of buildings to his right. He taps into his enhanced hearing just in time to hear “No!” rip from somebody’s throat. A gunshot rings out, sending Peter reeling backwards from the pain in his ears. Still in pain, he pushes himself to move forwards. He leaps between the tops of the buildings before jumping into the alleyway, landing on the wall opposite the building he just jumped from. He makes his way to the ground and uses the night vision on his HUD to see in the pitch-black darkness.
He finds a person lying on their side a few feet away, their limbs sprawled out away from their body. Rushing to the person’s side, Peter flips the boy over to see his shirt stained in a dark shade; blood. “The bullet missed his heart by two millimeters,” Karen informs Peter, “He is losing a lot of blood, however. Peter, he requires immediate medical attention. It’ll take you about three minutes to get to the nearest hospital on foot.” A route pops up on the suit’s HUD, guiding Peter to the end of the alleyway with a left turn at the edge. Peter hoists the young man into his arms and starts running, ignoring the ringing still pounding in his ears and the sudden sharp pain in his eyes.
----------
Peter bursts through the doors of the emergency room, calling out for help. A few nurses soon flank him, analyzing the state of the boy in his arms. Another soon arrives with a bed, which Peter gingerly places the boy onto. “What happened?” one of the nurses questions.
“I don’t know,” Peter responds, “I was just nearby when I heard a gunshot and I found him lying in an alley. Whoever did it got away before I could get there.” His words are laced with a slight amount of both resentment and resignation.
“We need to get him into surgery now,” a doctor says as she arrives by the bedside. They reel the bed away, pushing it through a set of double doors.
“Will he be okay?” Peter asks one of the nurses. She flashes him a gentle smile and puts her hand on his shoulder.
“Thanks to you, Spider-Man, he should be.” Peter lets out a breath he didn’t even know he was holding before collapsing into a nearby chair, resting his head in his palms. This was why Peter did the whole Spider-Man gig in the first place. Without him, that guy likely would have bled out in that alley and died.
After taking a few moments to collect himself and taking notice of the stares and whispers he was receiving, he pulls himself up and makes his way to the exit. Peter swings his way back to his apartment, entering through his bedroom window as usual. He pushes the spider symbol on his chest, his suit expanding and falling into a pool at his feet. Rolling into bed, he has one last thought of the boy who he carried to the hospital tonight before falling into a deep sleep
The Next Day
Peter blinks a few times, adjusting to the onslaught of late-morning sunlight streaming in through his window. He pulls himself up to a sitting position and rubs his eyes, which still feel as though they’re burning. When he opens them again, he starts to freak out; everything looks different. His walls, his floor, his desk, even his own skin all look different. “Aunt May,” he says, barely above a whisper. “Aunt May.” Slightly louder now. “Aunt May! Aunt May!” The sound of running footsteps soon ends as Peter’s bedroom door flies open.
“Peter!? What’s wrong?” she asks, her voice laced with concern. She rushes to the boy’s bedside, sitting down on the edge of the bed. Peter’s eyes continue to dart around the room, looking at everything and anything. It all looks different, every last thing.
“Aunt May, I think there’s something wrong with my eyes.” Peter responds in a small voice, “Everything looks different, nothing looks the same! Not even my own skin!” Peter starts hyperventilating, his breaths becoming more and more erratic.
“Peter,” she grabs his face with both of her hands, “Just calm down and take deep, slow breaths, okay?” She begins to model the breathing exercises she had learned earlier in her own life, helping the young boy calm himself down. Once Peter starts breathing normally again, she inquires, “What do you mean everything looks different?”
“It’s not all just shades anymore, I think…I think I might be seeing colors.” May places both of her hands over her mouth, absorbing the implication of what Peter just said. Suddenly, Peter jumps out of bed and runs to the bathroom. He slides to a stop in front of the mirror and his breath catches in his throat as he sees himself. His mouth hangs agape as he slowly reaches for the top of his head, running his hand through the curly locks of what has to be brown-colored hair. A thought then crosses his mind and he thrusts his head forward, almost slamming his face into the mirror. He stares into his own eyes, which also have to be what people call brown. He can’t help but think that the color is nowhere near as ugly as the name implies.
May arrives a few seconds later, leaning against the door frame. Peter tears himself away from his reflection to look at her, taking in her features in what he stills assumes must be color. He can’t help the smile that spreads across his face before he wraps his arms around his aunt. “Oh my god. May, I can see color!” May smiles to herself as she hugs her young nephew back. “Wait!” he interjects as he suddenly separates from her, “But that can only mean one thing.” May can literally see the gears in his head turning as he pieces two and two together. “I met my soulmate! Yesterday, I-I-I…I met my soulmate!” His voice calms down to barely above a whisper as he says, “But, who was it?”
----------
Peter spends the next hour pacing around his apartment, thinking of all the people that he came into contact with yesterday. He had never really thought of how many people he touched in a day before, and it was adding up to be a lot. May had to leave not long after Peter’s revelation, her work insisting that they needed her. Without her, Peter was just left alone with his thoughts, and it was driving him slightly insane. Finally, he decided to slip back into his Spider-Man suit, giving himself a mental note that it had to be washed soon. Opening his window, he climbs out onto the fire escape before swinging away into the city. It was a long shot, but Peter believed his best chance in finding his soulmate was to re-trace his steps from yesterday.
Several Hours Later
Peter’s attempts had all proven to be in vain so far. One of the people that he could definitely remember encountering yesterday was a girl in Astoria Park. She was there again, which Peter realized was a major coincidence, but she said that her vision was still monochrome. Despite all of his setbacks, however, Peter is still in awe at the world around him. The same places that he had been to and seen looked completely different. The park was even more full of life now that everything had its correct color shining through. It’s almost too much for him to handle, everything being so rich and vibrant where before it was all just different shades.
Peter was just about to give up, having exhausted his list of places and people, when he remembered the boy that he had carried to the hospital last night. He felt so stupid for forgetting, as he had planned on going back to check on the boy anyway. His mind began to race again as he swung to the hospital where he had dropped the boy off the night before: What if he actually is my soulmate? What’s his name? What would he think of me? And what the hell was he doing in that alley last night? Before long, Peter lightly dropped to his feet right outside the hospital’s main entrance, the glass doors moaning slightly as they made way for him to enter the building.
Anxiety suddenly hits him like a brick wall, the feeling starting in the pit of his stomach and surging all throughout his body. Despite this, he pushes himself forward and makes his way to the front desk. A few people stop him, asking if they can take pictures or get his autograph or whatever. He apologizes, stating that he has very important business, and pushes himself onwards. When he reaches the desk, the receptionist is busy typing away at the computer, her eyes glued to the screen. “Excuse me,” Peter mutters. She looks up and her eyes widen at the sight before her. “Hi,” Peter gives a slight wave, “I brought a guy into the emergency room here last night and I was just wondering how he’s doing.”
“Um…yes,” the woman responds, “I had heard that Spider-Man himself had swung in here last night with some boy who’d been shot. Let me go check on his status, and I can let you know.” She pushes away from the desk and turns around to walk away.
“Would I be able to see him?” The receptionist stops, turning back to Peter.
“That is a matter of whether or not you’d have the family’s consent, as well as the patient’s.” Peter’s head droops slightly. “Tell you what, since you are the person that saved his life, I will make a point to ask them.” His head shoots up again, trying his best to give the woman an appreciative look through his mask. She then disappears down a hallway and Peter finds himself sitting in another uncomfortable waiting room chair in this same hospital.
----------
The woman returns what feels like an eternity later to Peter, with a smile on her face. “Good news, Spider-Man. The patient, his family, and his doctor have all agreed to you seeing him. You can follow me to his room.” Peter has to stop himself from nearly jumping out of his chair. The anxiety, while still present, has begun to mix with excitement. This boy could be Peter’s soulmate; the one person in the world that he is destined to be with. They make their way down multiple different hallways and up a few floors before reaching their destination. The receptionist knocks on the door, listening for a quiet “Come in.” before turning the handle and holding it open for Peter.
The second Peter steps into the room, he is wrapped up by two sets of arms. He is startled, but his spider-sense isn’t going off, indicating he isn’t in any danger. The two strangers pull away, revealing themselves to Peter. A man and a woman, both of their eyes are red? and puffy from crying, with new tears now spilling out. “Thank you so much, Spider-Man,” the man chokes out, “For saving our baby boy.” The woman nods her head in agreement.
“Hey, mom, dad, lay off him. He’s obviously here to see me,” a weak voice laced with sarcasm speaks up. Peter looks past the two adults in front of him and his eyes land on one of the most beautiful people he has ever seen. His skin, eyes, hair, all of it adds up into what Peter is 98% sure is his soulmate. The boy, who is probably around the same age as Peter, smiles back at the spandexed hero. Peter makes his way over to the bed, sitting down in one of the chairs to the side. “Thanks for saving me, Spider-Man. The doctors said that if you hadn’t gotten me here, I would have died.” Peter smiles to himself, taking in the joy that he still gets from helping others.
“You’re welcome,” Peter responds, “And…I was actually hoping you could help me.” The other boy’s brows knit together in confusion. Peter leans in closer, the boy giving him a questioning look. “Can you see color?” Peter asks, almost quiet enough that the boy can’t even hear him. The boy’s look becomes even more quizzical.
“What?” he responds. Peter lets out a deep sigh and takes a minute to collect himself.
“Can you…s-see colors?” The boy starts to lean more towards Peter but stops when a pain shoots through his chest. He winces and Peter’s hands shoot out before he can stop them, helping the boy lie back down.
“Y-yeah. When I woke up this morning, I almost had a panic attack because everything looked so…so…”
“Different?” Peter supplies. The boy silently nods his head before his face lights up.
“Wait,” he says, “were you not able to see color until today either?” It’s moments like these that Peter thanks everything that he has a mask on; his facial expressions tend to betray him when he tries to convey emotion. “Oh. My. God. Am I Spider-Man’s soulmate?” He looks between Peter and his parents in total shock and disbelief. In that moment, Peters decides “fuck it.” He rips his mask off and shoots forward, capturing the other boy’s lips with his. It takes the injured boy a few seconds of shock to realize that the Spider-Man is kissing him. After a few more seconds, he wraps his arms around Peter’s neck, pulling him in closer and reciprocating the kiss.
It doesn’t last long, and Peter keeps his eyes shut for a few more seconds after he pulls away. When he finally opens them, he discovers the other boy studying his face. “You look different than I thought you would,” he says. He reaches up and places his hand on Peter’s cheek, gazing into the young hero’s eyes. “So much more beautiful than I could ever have imagined.” And that is how Peter becomes 100% sure that this boy is his soulmate. Between their kiss and the looks that they give each other, the boy’s parents are sure as well.
“My name, my real name, is Peter.” The other boy strokes Peter’s cheek and presses another kiss against Peter’s lips.
“Peter; I love that name. My name’s (Y/N).” Peter could just sit there all day long, the two of them staring at each other. That is, he could have until Tony Stark came barging into the room, expecting Peter to be in some sort of terrible danger as he was in a hospital room. It took Peter all of two minutes to explain everything to Tony, including how he had forgotten his phone at home and how he had been searching for his soulmate. Seeing the boy across the room laugh at the entire situation only made Peter even more sure that he is the one.