Chapter Text
Gavin hated the bleakness of the world around him. He hated seeing everything in purely shades of black, white, and grey. He hadn't found his soulmate yet, like his parents did 27 years ago.
Their worlds were in color. They'd described it to him, using incredible words such as "turquoise, magenta, and lavender". He'd never seen the sunset, full of "bright yellow, vibrant orange, vivid red, and deep purple" and he hadn't known the color of his baby brother's eyes when he got to hold him in his arms. (as babies had color in their eyes for the first day of their birth) Mother called it "hazel". Hazel sounded nice. A word that rolled off the tongue. But it left the bitter residue of blandness. It was only a simple reminder that Gavin didn't know what it looked like.
His brother, George (or so they called him), had found his soulmate already, at only 23. He often made snide remarks about his ability to see in color to Gavin, but he didn't know quite how deep it really cut.
Gavin wasn't really sure about the whole "soulmate" thing yet. He wasn't one to stay nailed down with one person. The thing he was sure about was finally seeing colors. Violet sounded the nicest to Gavin. There was no way to describe colors to someone who couldn't see them, but the way violet made his mother smile when she saw it made him sure it must be the most wonderful color in the world.
His father was coming home from an afternoon of work the day it happened. Mother was in the kitchen, making bowls of potato soup and bacon for the family when the ceramic dishes she held in her hands crashed into the sink, shattering with sickening cracks.
Gavin ran in, only a boy of 8, to see what was wrong. His mother was just sitting motionless on the kitchen floor in front of the sink. He cautiously tiptoed around the table and up to her with George clinging to his back, carefully peeking around it.
"Mother?" He asked bravely, kneeling next to her and taking one of her hands in his.
She looked at him blankly. "Your father's dead, Gavin." She wasn't crying. Her face was void of all emotion, the utmost expression of grief.
Gavin grabbed her shoulders and looked at her closer.
"How do you know?" Unlike her, his breathing was becoming ragged. George was standing beside them, not knowing what to do. He wasn't entirely sure what she meant by "dead", but he'd heard about it before when his goldfish had gone away.
"I can't see color anymore, Gavvy." She replied, staring at nothing. Her eyes weren't his mother's eyes. There was nothing there. No glimmer of the twinkling bright irises shining back at him like usual. He knew, although those without color vision couldn't see, that her "green-blue" eyes had reverted to a dead grey once more.
He stared at her, shock lapping over his body. It overtook him and he crumbled, falling into her lap, his body heaving with sobs and moans. She didn't do anything to console her son, only staring blankly on.
George was too young to grasp the concept of death. He understood solely that it was when you left and never came back, and was a terrible thing. So, he sat innocently next to Gavin and held his hand and rubbed soft circles on his back as his brother cried.
And so they stayed this way until a uniformed policeman, who walked through the door left ajar by George, came to inform them of their father's death. This had no effect on the grieving family until the man requested they follow him, and his mother told Gav and George in a monotone voice to do as he asked.
His father was killed by a careless drunk driver who caused him to crash into a tree, but who was lucky enough to speed away unhurt. The Free family visited the funeral a few days later, where a long black cloth was placed over the casket in representation of the death of a soulmate. It was that day that Gavin made the decision to never drive. He didn't ever want to leave his family like his father did. His goal in life was to find his soulmate and see the world in all its colored glory and make the best of it all.
---
(18 years later)
"Shut the fuck up, Lindsay." Michael snarled, batting Lindsay's face away from his. She gave him an exaggerated frown as he got up from his seat on the couch to cross his arms menacingly above her.
"Aw, Michael, are you jealous?" She teased, pouting her lip at him. She'd recently found her soulmate, a gorgeous lady named Barbara, while in Canada on vacation.
"I swear to fucking god." He growled, stalking away from her to pace in his apartment's kitchen.
"I never noticed before- I guess couldn't have," she paused to giggle cruelly. "Your walls are fucking bland. And the couch doesn't match the carpet at all." She stood back, critiquing it all.
"Lindsay, I suggest you shut your mouth before I snap your neck." The angry man sneered at her. She simply laughed, knowing he was all bark and only the occasional bite.
Michael wanted to see color more than anything. He couldn't stand only white and all it's shitty shades for the rest of his fucking life. At 27, it was unbearable without it. The video games he played were bland as shit and he couldn't watch any videos, TV, or movies without getting bored from lack of vibrancy.
"But seriously, Michael," Lindsay said, becoming serious and walking toward him. "I'm sure you'll find your soulmate, too." He just huffed. "Remember when we were young and thought as soon as we looked each other in the eyes, our worlds would turn to color because we were so smitten?" She smiled at the memory. "But then we got closer and closer--"
"And nothing happened." Michael finished, sighing and running a hand through his curly hair.
"Well, we just aren't right for each other... like that. I like girls, you like guys, it's just as simple as that. So now we're best friends!" She grinned at him and moved into the kitchen. He had already deflated like a puffed-up cat that returns to its normal size again.
"Yeah. It still doesn't solve the problem of me not having a fucking soulmate, though. It happens all the time, people spend their whole lives looking and never find them." His mouth turned down one of its corners into a dissatisfied frown.
"But you have to look directly into their eyes, so maybe that's why. Walking on a street, you don't look into every passersby's eyes."
"No one does, Linds." He replied realistically.
"More people should. I never would have met Barb if I hadn't locked eyes with her in Canada." She tells him optimistically.
"What if my soulmate's in Canada, too? Or like the fucking Bahamas?"
"I wouldn't mind going with you to the Bahamas- okay, okay." She held up hands defensively at his glare. "Have you seen the statistics? Most people find their soulmates around where they live. Some bullshit fate-thing or like a 'magnetic attraction', but like with love and shit." She shrugged and extracted a gallon tub of ice cream from the freezer and two spoons from a drawer.
"That could be it." Michael sighed again, popping open the lid and digging into the chocolate fudge ice cream with his spoon. "I don't know, man, but it keeps me up at night..."
"I imagine it would. It kept me up, too." Lindsay replied knowingly, also dipping her spoon into the tub.
"Do you wanna go somewhere tomorrow? See if we can't find my true love?" Michael asked sarcastically, but he meant it. It was high fucking time already.
"Sure." Lindsay shrugged. "Maybe he'll be as gorgeous as my Barbara." She gazed out the window dreamily like she was in a cheesy romance film.
"Earth to Lindsay." Michael snapped his fingers in front of her to take her out of her trance. "If you want to, you can crash here but I'm assuming you'll want to go stay with Barb." Michael told her. Barb was great, but he was pretty sad that his best friend wasn't going to be with him all the time anymore.
"I think I could crash here tonight. She's super understanding and besides, I have the rest of my life to spend with her." Lindsay smiled sweetly.
Michael gave her a look like, 'Here with me? When you have her at home??' and she just giggled, giving him a pat on the shoulder. "It's okay, really. We can get up bright and early. Maybe he's an early bird." She shrugged.
He grumbled. "A husband who's an early bird. Fucking great."
"We'll have the best chance if we hit all of the hotspots of town. But you know, Michael, if you don't find him by the end of the day but you do find someone nice, you should at least just date him for a little while. You never know, maybe you'll warm up to him and that will be that."
Michael grumbled again. "Fine. If you want that." He rolled his eyes and she stuck out her tongue.
"Don't worry. I wouldn't have you do anything that I think wouldn't turn out the best for you."
"I know. Let's go to bed, asshole. We're getting up 'bright and early!' tomorrow." He narrowed his eyes at her playfully, but he smiled, watching her step outside to call Barbara. The prospect of a possible future ahead of him was nothing but enticing.
---
"B, I don't wanna go out tonight! I want to shoot more with the Phantom!" Gavin whined, giving Dan the best puppy dog eyes he could.
"Gav, we're going out tonight. We need some ladies (or guys) so we can see the actual beauty of what we're filming, remember? And, y'know, having a soulmate would be top, too." He reasoned.
"But--"
"And bevs, don't forget them. You can't find a soulmate without bevs."
"Okay, okay, Dan. We'll go. You're paying, though."
"No, no, B, your drinks, your bill."
Gavin sighed. "Fine, you smeggin' prick."
"Good. Let's go at four. Gives us plenty of time to look around before we start bevvin' up."
---
"Lindsay, this is a waste of fucking time." Michael groaned, looking fruitlessly at every face on the street. "It's almost six o'clock, and there hasn't been a single guy I've liked yet."
"Then let's go into that bar. It's our favorite, remember?"
"Fine." He grumbled, stalking with her into the crowded bar.
"Two beers, please." Lindsay told the rushed bartender, who served them quickly. Michael started to object, but Lindsay hushed him. "You can't be shitfaced for this."
Michael shrugged and took his beer to an empty corner booth, Lindsay following cheerily.
"What about him?" Lindsay said, sliding into the left side of the booth and pointing excitedly at a guy sitting at the bar.
Michael's quick eyes found the wedding ring on his left hand. "Married."
"Aw." Lindsay said dejectedly.
Michael spotted a guy in a booth four down from theirs. "He's kind of- what the fuck?" His eyes grew wide and he started laughing as the man also turned towards him. It was none other than Geoff, who was sitting with Jack, and across from them, Griffon and Caiti.
Geoff waved him over cheerily but Michael shook his head, his smile only growing bigger as the other three shouted greetings over at them as well. He merely pointed at Lindsay, who was waving back happily. Geoff nodded, understanding they were having a little alone time and averted the others' attention by sparking a new conversation.
"But B--" The faint chime of the doorbell rang as a couple of odd English accents floated in, alerting Michael's attention to the door.
"Piss off, B. Buy your own drink."
The voices caused Michael to wrinkle his nose. He never could understand what those British pricks were saying. His eyes traveled to the two entering the door, though, just out of curiosity.
One was tall and muscular, dark-haired, and looked like he could beat anyone he wanted to up (although he still managed to seem slightly timid compared to the other). The other made Michael's breath catch, which he covered with a hasty gulp of his beer. Lindsay noticed his reaction immediately, since her head had also lifted at the sound of foreign accents.
"Ohh, he's cute, Michael." She cooed, looking at the taller one.
"Yeah, but his friend-" Michael started, but he coughed on his previous hearty swig of beer. "Is- nice." He said, eyes watering. The other was also tall, but not nearly as muscled. He was very lean and tan with (he had no other way to describe it) swoopy hair. What really caught his attention was his absolutely care-free and cheery attitude. It pissed him off but allured him at the same time.
"Damn, they both are." She giggled at his good fortune. "Why don't you go say hi?"
"What, am I in third grade?" Michael snapped, shrugging off her hand from his arm.
The two Brits ordered a beer each and sat down at the bar to lounge there casually. Michael turned his gaze down and felt his cheeks heat up as the second man looked his way. He noticed Michael's reaction and nudged his companion quizzically.
---
"He's cute, innit he, B?" Gav muttered to Dan.
"Yeah, he's okay." Dan shrugged. He studied Gavin's face as he watched the curly-haired and freckled man from across the room. "Go talk to him, Gav." He pushed him off his stool a little bit, but Gavin being Gavin, he almost fell over, uttering a high-pitched squeal that was fortunately not loud enough to rouse the attention of the whole bar; but most especially the man slouched in the back clutching his beer tightly. The girl sitting next to him (the two seemed to not be together) giggled and said something, but the man only murmured something back and grinned slightly.
Gavin, always being one to brush off his mistakes, just laughed with Dan.
"Nah. I mean, I'd know if he's the one, right?" Gavin asked, leaning casually against the counter behind him.
"I mean, have you looked in his eyes yet?" Gav stared at the man bemusedly. He seemed to be avoiding eye contact altogether. Maybe he wasn't interested. Or maybe he just wanted someone to talk with him, his outgoing side said.
He gave the situation one last think over and chugged his beer, which only made him gag. After a hearty pat on the back by Dan, his watery eyes found the corner booth and he walked determinedly towards it... for a few seconds. He faltered when he realized he didn't have the slightest clue of what to say. But, he could feel Dan's eyes on the back of his head, and if he didn't keep going there was no one else to walk towards.
The girl's smile was warm and inviting, though. Maybe too inviting. Was she gloating? But there wasn't any time left to ponder that. Gavin had to decide how to approach this situation.
"Er.. Hello." Gavin feigned a casual air by putting his hands in his pockets and grinning crookedly at the two.
"Hey!" The girl chirped.
"I'm Gavin." He introduced himself with a smile, as his parents had taught him. It always made the best impression.
"I'm Lindsay." She smiled brightly, her hair glinting in the light. "Oh, that's Geoff! I'll be right back!" She excused herself to a booth a few down from theirs to leave them alone, as Gavin assumed.
"Can I sit?" Gavin asked politely and gestured to the booth across from the man.
"Yeah, sure." He answered.
"You are?" Gavin asked him his name, giving him a bit of a quizzical look at his resentment to look at him.
"I'm Michael." The man looked at him and smiled an adorable dimpled smile. A lock of his shiny brunet hair fell onto his forehead, which he promptly brushed back.
Wait... Brown? He could see brown? Gavin's eyes grew as large as saucers as he looked around the room with a frenzied fervor at the greens, blues, and purples.
"Gavin?" Michael's supple voice asked him, which snapped Gavin back to reality. His eyes... They were still grey. Gavin scrambled for a response, slapping on a fake smile.
"Sorry. Got a little distracted there." He laughed nervously, staring at his hands, which were the color of rich caramel. He almost wanted to cry, but Gavin Free never cried. He'd just need to try harder than he'd thought with Michael. He was his soulmate, for god's sake.
---
Michael didn't see color when he looked at Gavin. That's what he was afraid of. He didn't want the conformation that this was another man who wasn't his soulmate. Although, he did see a sudden spark of light in Gavin's eyes when he'd looked at him a couple seconds ago. But Gavin couldn't be his soulmate, since he wasn't Michael's, right? Lindsay did tell him to shop around, though, so he decided to give him one chance. And maybe more.
"So, what do you like to do, Michael?" Gavin asked, his finger making a small pattern on the smooth wood texture of the table.
"Michael." He corrected him.
"Michael." Gavin repeated.
"You don't say it right. Michael." He smiled, enjoying toying with the Brit's accent.
"Michael." Gavin put a little more emphasis in the "Mi" but he was obviously not trying very hard to stop saying it like 'Micool'.
Michael rolled his eyes. "Okay, dumbass."
Gavin laughed squeakily. He definitely wasn't bothered by much.
"So, what do you like to do for fun, Michael?"
Michael usually lied about this kind of thing because other people typically didn't want to hear that a full-grown man enjoyed video games more than anything in the world. But Gavin seemed like someone he could be completely honest to.
"Well, I like playing video games." He confessed. He was delighted to see Gavin's eyes light up like a kid on Christmas.
"Oh, Michael! I love video games! Do you like Halo and GTA? Dan's not very good, so maybe the two of us could play it together? Well, I mean, only if you want to." Gavin stopped himself sheepishly, realizing it might sound a bit weird to invite someone to hang out after just meeting for the first time.
"At least take me on a date first." Michael joked. Gavin just laughed, giving Michael butterflies.
"So, have you played The Last of Us multiplayer yet? It's absolutely top." Gavin said, steering away from the subject to get to know his potential partner more.
"Hell yes. I've been playing the fucking shit out of it." Michael leaned in, his eyes sparking with excitement.
They continued on this for a while, along with new games, childhood games, and shit they did for fun. Gavin liked filming in slow motion, and Michael liked voice acting. Both of them enjoyed being in front of the camera, another thing they had in common. Their conversation slowed after that, and when they reached the point of exchanging numbers, Gavin noticed Dan was gone.
"Oh, bugger me. He was flirting with some cross-eyed chick a few minutes ago. Can I call you if I can't find him?" Gavin asked guiltily.
"What, you can't drive?" Michael laughed. A fucking full-grown man who couldn't drive, Jesus Christ.
"Nah. Never wanted to." He brushed it off, standing up and stretching.
"I'll just stay with you until you find him. I live a few blocks away, so I didn't take my car." Michael shrugged, standing up too. He didn't see Lindsay, so he assumed she had gone home to Barbara, as she knew Michael was otherwise occupied. He opened his phone and noticed a short text from her confirming what he'd guessed. Geoff and company had also already left. He must have talked to Gavin way fucking longer than he thought.
Michael followed Gavin out into the street, leaning against the brick exterior of the bar as Gavin first called Dan, and when it went to voicemail, weaved in and out of the bars along on the street.
"He's probably gone home with that bird." Gavin sighed, half-angry, half-exhausted as he trudged over to Michael. Michael just gave him a look accompanied with a small grin that implied he was crazy.
"What?" Gavin asked confusedly.
"Your fucking British slang. It's ridiculous." Michael straightened up and shook his head, smiling.
"No it's not!" Gavin spluttered.
Michael just laughed. "Yeah, it is." Before Gavin could retort, Michael cut in. "Now, do you want to crash at my place or should I drive you home?"
"Dan's probably at home." Gavin shuddered, and Michael understood what he meant by that.
"Okay. You can crash on my couch. It's not very comfortable, though."
Gavin beamed. "It's okay. I can handle it." And, with a skip in his step, he walked alongside Michael down the bleak sidewalk to his apartment.