Chapter Text
The first color you ever saw was blue.
Bright fucking blue.
The only reason you noticed was because you stepped outside your pitiful small town university and the color was everywhere; and you do mean everywhere. It blanketed the sky in an array of hues so vivid it might as well have been a dream. The color sprinkled itself like glitter into the flow of water and drained through the creases of tiles underfoot. It wrapped itself around the cut of people’s clothes and flowed down their torsos and legs as shirts and jeans. Before today you didn’t think anyone wore clothes that were not some shade of grey.
It pisses you off to no end, because this sudden onslaught of the color blue was triggered by someone you barely glanced at for more than a second in passing. You don’t recall who they are or what they looked like. With college distracting you from interacting with strangers on a regular basis, (not that you’d subject yourself to that anyway) you doubt you’ll ever find them. You don’t know why you’re so worked up over it honestly, the entire idea is complete bullshit and whatever deity might be in charge of the backwards fucked up planet you call home must have a shitty sense of humor if they think you’d ever find a soulmate. Right. Hah. Absurd, you’re going to spew an endless stream of “I’m-so-fucking-amused” chuckles. It will sound like a car engine dying. People will cover their ears and fall to their knees and beg for it to stop.
You, Karkat Vantas, finding someone who would not only tolerate the sight of your ugly mug and not eject the contents of their stomachs at a glance, but would also manage to have a brain so underdeveloped and puny that they manage to fall in love with said ugly mug?
What a thought.
Or not, there are two known types of soulmates: romantic and platonic. Maybe this mystery person will humor you and you’ll end up as “best friendz 4 lief!!1!!1!”. It occurs to you that blue seems to be the only color that you can see, everything else seems to be as dull a grey as ever. You had heard that once you've met or seen your supposed soulmate (platonic or otherwise) all colors would become known to you, which doesn't really make sense because then how would you know about your second soulmate if you ever found them? Luckily you have a good friend who has known her soulmate for years and is well versed in how the process works, and despite the mounds of work you have to get done, it’d probably be a good idea to stop by her place later to ask a couple questions and tell her what happened today; hell, if you’re lucky Lalonde won’t take the opportunity to probe your useless brain muscle. No thanks once was enough.
You trudge to your last class of the day while determinedly staring at your shoes in thought. Taking all morning classes allows you to get out and away from the bustle and hubbub of school by 2 in the afternoon; you have to get up earlier but it’s not so bad. It gives you time to work a part time job and finish all the ridiculous essays you have without your sleep schedule suffering any more than it already has the past couple years. Your constant sleep-deprived state often runs you into objects and makes you look like an idiot every day. Today’s chosen object? The glass door that opens into the English Literature building. You weren't looking and smacked right into it. Again. Rubbing the palm of your hand into your throbbing forehead, you push open the door and step into the heavily air conditioned structure. You stroll into the classroom and drop your bookbag by a seat near the door, then turn right back around to use the bathroom before sergeant no-smiles starts talking. When you return the lecture has already begun, but the professor hardly gives you an acknowledging glance, he’s clearly too busy not caring so long as your don’t disturb the lecture.
There’s a small slip of folded paper on the desk you placed your bag next to; you look around and fail to see anyone out of place, so you furrow your brows in questioning and slump into the chair to read it.
“hey! i don’t think you know me but we might be soulmates? like the platonic ones, i’m not gay, but i saw you in the hallway and your shirt was cool and i realized that it was this really vibrant shade of red and the color was super intense and eye catching and now i’m rambling oops. (hehe) well i’ll be at the coffee shop on Grainger Lane today around 6 if you want to meet? see you then! :B ”
The first thought the note gives you is why on earth they felt the need to tell you they weren't gay. Your face scrunches up when you notice whoever this is didn't bother to sign their name, and who still uses smilies? Are they a toddler or something? This is college not “Little Tykes Daycare for drooly, whiny human spawn”. They wrote in blue. It’s nice.
You cram the note in your jeans pocket and focus on surviving until the end of class so you can go home and think about what happened today. 4 hours. It’s going to be a long afternoon.
---
“Yeah so whatever imbecile wants to subject themselves to the misery that is knowing me decided to leave a note for me to meet them somewhere?”
“That sounded like a questioning tone Karkat, is something the matter? I would have figured you would be thrilled to meet your soulmate.”
A small flip-phone is wedged in the space between your shoulder and ear as you cook yourself a late lunch. You had returned back to your apartment after class, having several hours in between the time the mysterious note-giver would be at the coffee place, you basically just sat around glaring at anything that resembled a shade of blue. You gritted your teeth and let your mind wander. You hadn't even decided whether or not you wanted to go, and you still aren't really clear on how any of this occurred in the first place. So you forced yourself to stand up to call one of your oldest friends, Kanaya Maryam, to hopefully get some answers. It took a couple minutes for her to pick up the phone and in that time you’d decided to attempt to eat something before you settled on what to do about meeting with the stranger. When Kanaya finally picked up you explained your plight, while at the same time spinning a wooden spoon in a sludge that you’re going to refer to as “soup or something”.
“It’s just the whole idea is bullshit.” You say to her, frowning at the soup and stabbing at the bottom of the pot.
“How so?”
“I haven’t been able to see any colors besides blue all day and it’s driving me batshit up the fucking belfry. Am I just cursed to a monochrome misery with random patches of blue? Because let me fucking tell you only being able to see one color is not as great as you’d think for a long period of time, it’s actually, and say it with me kiddos-Super. Fucking. Distracting. I haven’t been able to focus since it happened!
Silence wavers on the other end of the line and Kanaya lets out an amused breath. “Oh so it’s colors you’re seeing is it? And is your anonymous buddy also seeing colors?”
“Red”, you tell her plainly. “Whatever the fuck kind of color that’s supposed to be.”
She lets out a light chuckle that cuts in an out with phone static. “It does fit that they’d see red with you.”
“What’s that supposed to mean.” You say, in more of an insulted tone than a questioning one.
“It’s intense and loud and- oh dear I suppose it’s just rather difficult to explain how a color looks to someone who is only just now experiencing them, but I assure you the color is very nice and much like you yourself Karkat! “
“Intense and loud.” You repeat back to her. “Gee thanks. I’m so touched.”
“I prefer lilac is all, it’s very calming and easy on the eyes, but red is such an important color, it’s the color of stop signs and birds and those tacky Santa hats people wear around Christmas.”
You had always gone off the fact that certain patterns in traffic directed everything, and you just learned to follow like a mindless animal, it hadn't even occurred to you that those types of things might also be connected to color. The more you learn about it, the more you realize exactly how much someone finding their soulmate early on can influence their life, as well as the life of the people around them.
“Wow.”
Kanaya makes an inquisitive chime and you shake your head, then remembering she can’t see you, sigh out a “Nothing.” You then backpedal to something she mentioned earlier. “What did you mean ‘Is your buddy seeing colors too’ what else would have happened?”
You hear another muffled voice from her end call her name and she nearly dismisses the comment entirely. “Oh nothing of importance I just find it amusing. You should come over after your little coffee date, we haven’t seen each other face to face in a very long while.”
You physically remove the phone from your ear to squint at is questioningly. Kanaya? dodging a question? Rather than actually telling you? What the literal fuck did she mean “Is your Anonymous buddy seeing colors too”. Are they supposed to go fucking blind? or maybe they’re supposed to decide instead it a good idea to stab curtain rods straight through their retinas and scoop out the eyes with a rusty spoon instead? You express your confusion to your friend on the other end and she chuckles.
“Go get ready for your date Karkat, I will see you later. I must leave now, toodles.”
“Where the god-giving fuck did you get the idea it was a date-” You try to retort, but the click from the other end signals the end of the conversation and you realize that you’ve been blabbing to her for almost an hour and a half and you’ve successfully burned the sludge were trying to prepare. Great. Folding your flip-phone, you place it on the counter and go to wash out the pot of sludge. Only you would be able to successfully fuck up soup. “Fuck I hope they don’t have high standards.” You grumble to nobody in particular. You watch a clock tick down to 6:00 PM and wait for time to pass very slowly. It couldn't really hurt to meet them could it?
---
You had decided to go meet the mystery idiot anyway. At the time you had just been complaining, but it really does get distracting only being able to see blue and grey, it’s as if this new color demands all of your energy and attention. You cram calloused tan hands into your jacket pockets and sigh. Here’s to hoping your platonic soulmate isn't as annoying as the color blue.
You find yourself at the coffee shop exactly 7 minutes before 6’oclock. The bell above the glass door makes a “ding-a-ling” sound that alerts the one and only patron of your arrival. Nobody’s here, of course nobody’s here, why would anyone be here at six in the fucking evening? it’s not early enough for drowsy students to get a coffee before afternoon classes and it’s not late enough for crammers to blunder in and order the largest size of espresso the shop is legally allowed to sell them without giving the buyer a heart attack after a couple sips in.
The patron you mentioned earlier bolts upright in his chair at the sight of you and then proceeds to get his foot caught in a chair leg. He goes crashing to the floor and you wince as he hits the floor with a solid “thud” followed by a pained moan. From the ground he waves at you and grins ear to ear, teeth gleaming and practically enveloping his face in glee. This dumbass looks like he couldn’t have been happier to fall flat on his face in your presence.
“Hi! I’m John!” He says with enough enthusiasm for ten people. He stares at you expectantly and his eyes flit up and down your face until they catch your own.
Oh god.
You make a sharp inhale and swallow the breath into the back of your throat. He’s just as much as a dunce you thought he would be, just looking at him makes your heart do this thing. A thing that constricts in your chest and makes it hard to breath. A thing that wraps itself around your heart and refuses to let go from sheer surprise and urges it to leap out of you and start dancing in elation. He mentioned in the letter that you may be platonic soulmates, is this what that feels like? Your heartbeat drums in your ears and seems to echo throughout your body. You look straight into his eyes, what you earlier thought to be just a nuisance turns into the most captivating and wonderful color in the room. The color in question?
The brightest.
fucking.
blue.