Work Text:
The Colors of this World
If someone asked you whether you would want to live in a black and white world without knowing what colors are or with the knowledge what green and blue are and the images of that in your head, what would you choose?
Not that long ago, Aris would've said the second without a doubt. Cause how could living in a black and white world be that bad if you already knew every color and could remember them?
Well, he didn't think so anymore.
In this world you are only able to see colors once you met your soulmate. The second you lay eyes on them for the first time is like a firework and suddenly everything makes sense and it's bright and beautiful.
But the thing is, once they die, you are left to feel the colors fading from you till everything is gray and black once again. And that feeling is horrible.
After his soulmate Newt died in a car accident Aris had tried to make notes of the colors he had seen,so that he could always remember the beauty of the world but it didn't work out.
Already a week after Newts death the descriptions of his hair sounded dull and Aris couldn't picture the color of his eyes or skin or clothes anymore.
He couldn't take it. As soon as the last bit of color faded from his grasp he made the decision to take his own life. But as it came to actually doing it, he couldn't.
It was as if Newt was standing right beside him with a judging glare saying: “Don't you dare, Aris! If you bloody kill yourself just because of me I'll never forgive you or myself! Please don't. Please live on and try to find our beloved colors again,yea? You are still so young. I'm sure it can happen again for you and it will be just as great as the first time.”
Aris cried a lot on that day and for the rest of the week he felt even worse than before, but he didn't do it. He held on, cause he knew that would be exactly what Newt would want from him.
He didn't plan on finding a new soulmate though. Sure, colors were awesome and it would feel great to be able to remember Newt in colors again, but at the same time the mere thought of being in love with someone else just felt like betraying their relationship.
So it hit him with quite a shock as he went to bed one evening and had the short flash of blue on his mind. He immediately sat back up and turned the light on.
He didn't really notice anything different at first,but then he noticed that in the gray and black was a very light different hue.
“That's blue!” he thought totally overwhelmed. It wasn't as bright as it once was, but he couldn't remember how blue his curtains had been anyways, so he didn't think about it too much.
Against his will not to get a new soulmate he was getting quite excited about this. But the thing was, that he had been in the city all day and he had seen a lot of different people, so there was no way that he would find them at all.
Aris sighed and ruffled a hand through his hair. “It's not like I want to find them anyways..” he murmured to himself but he couldn't help thinking about the other person he knew nothing about.
What if it was the first time for them?
What if they were super excited about it and wanted to find him?
Only to discover that they wouldn't.
And what if they don't get a second chance?
You never know how many soulmates you could have. There are endless possible outcomes so it can't be predicted by anyone.
“Come on you bloody Greenie! It's okay. I want you to get on with life and you could make someone really happy. Also, I am totally sure that it would make you happy too. It's been almost four months and you are still as worse as the first week. At least go to the same places and look what happens. If nothing at all happens, you can still decide to let it go, okay?” he practically heard Newt say.
“Okay! Okay, fine...I'll go check out the city again tomorrow and see what happens” he thought before taking a deep breath and laying back down onto the bed. Aris turned off the light and fell asleep very slowly.
When he woke up the next morning he almost just stayed in bed. He really didn't want to go to the city again. All the people happily walking around with their families or soulmates just depressed him.
But then he decided against staying in bed and got dressed anyways. Aris had discovered a nice coffeshop yesterday, so he was gonna pick up breakfast there and maybe just wander around window shopping or something.
“Also-” , he reminded himself, “Soulmates aren't always romantically involved.”
Aris had met a lot of people whose soulmates had been more like siblings or in rare cases you even had the luck to be born by your soulmate. That means that you don't live a second in a black and white world unless you are given away for adoption,but considering that parent-child soulmates are super rare they wouldn't give each other up and if your soulmate was your sibling it was even better, because siblings rarely leave each other anyways.
When he had ordered himself a tea and a chocolate croissant he sat down next to a big window, watching the different people walking by. He wondered if some of them had put on bright colored stuff or if they just put on whatever as he was forced to do because of the grayness around them.
Not that long after he settled down, two guys sat down on the table behind him. Aris had just seen them shortly as they came through the door, but his first thought had been how could it be, that two black and white figures could still be so bright and attractive to him.
He hadn't planned to listen in on them exactly, but when they spoke up quite loudly he couldn't help but listening.
“Jesus Christ, Minho, I'm telling you, it has to be an accident that you think your sight changed at the same time as mine did. I mean, I love you and the thing we have, really, but we have been together such a long time, don't you think that something would have changed a lot earlier than yesterday??”
Aris grinned a bit to himself and waited for the other guys, Minhos, respond.
“Yeah, well, Thomas how exactly do you expect to find your soulmate when all you know is that he was somewhere in the city yesterday? That's quite impossible if you ask me. And okay, maybe it was just a crazy accident that I got a color too, but if we both don't have a chance to find them we should just forget about it, don't you think?”
Aris wasn't sure if he should say something to them or just ignore it and go away. On one hand it would seem totally embarrassing to assume that he could be the soulmate of one of those two or even both, because why should he be, seriously? But at the same time he would never know if he didn't talk to them, because on the first look you get one color but only if you talk at least once with your soulmate does the world get completely colored in.
“Whatever..I'll just ask them something completely harmless and then I'll know without seeming like an idiot.” Aris decided and finished his drink before turning around to them.
Thomas didn't notice that, because he sat with his back facing Aris, but Minho saw the motion directly and looked at Aris confused.
“Hey, sorry to bother you, but do you know how to reach the cinema from here?” he asked the first thing that came to his mind.
At the sound of his voice Thomas turned around now too and faced him with a confused look.
Then they both started talking at the same time. “No, I-” “Yeah, sure, you just-”
Aris huffed grinning as they both stopped talking at the same time too.
Thomas smiled sheepishly and started again.
“Well, I don't,because I actually don't come often here, I live a bit outside the city in a smaller village, but Minho lives here and knows his way around pretty well.”
Minho nodded grinning happily. “Yeah, I know where it is and actually we don't have anything to do so we could take you there if you want?”
Aris agreed. He didn't really have anything else to do, so why shouldn't he have some fun for a change?
After they arrived at the cinema and quickly decided on an upbeat comedy movie, Minho bought some Popcorn and they went inside.
The movie wasn't that good,but Aris still enjoyed being outside of his house and having some socialization for a change. Just as the film ended and the curtains started closing, he suddenly froze in place. The curtains that had been a dark gray at the start of the movie were now a bright red.
“But how is that even possible?? I didn't do anything except watching the movie. Is my soulmate somewhere in the cinema and I saw him without really looking?” he wondered and couldn't help looking around a bit. Nobody else seemed to have any change though, so he gave it up and stood up while stretching. Only then he turned to the other two, just to notice that they were looking at him as if he was the most beautiful thing they've ever seen.
Aris wrinkled his nose and looked at them. “Uh..guys is everything okay with you?”
Thomas nodded at the same time as Minho started to shake his head and as soon as they noticed they grinned and stood up also.
“Yeah, everything's good. I just noticed that you're wearing a really interesting colored shirt.” said Thomas smiling and gave him a once-over.
“Really? What color is it?” he asked curiously, because he hadn't been able to see this morning, but when he looked down know he suddenly saw that it was a dark green color with some silver lines on it. Astonished he looked back up at Minho and Thomas who were both grinning now.
“Well, I guess we should introduce ourselves again and maybe go somewhere together to talk?” Minho suggested and the three of them went out of the cinema and into the start of some sort of new adventure. Aris felt like he could feel Newt smiling approvingly until the feeling faded.
“I guess you've gone to heaven now, huh? I'll miss you..But thanks for pushing me in a new direction.”