Chapter Text
The day Pat realises they are soulmates, Pran is dressed almost all in white. Even the wall behind him is a dull grey, providing no advantage of being able to experience colours again.
Altogether, it is a sharp contrast to the colourfulness around them. The graffiti-decorated wall to their side (from Pat’s position, the big yellow eyes and the red mouth of a tiger which they peek through are the dominant eye-catchers) even have green plants penetrating through them. Korn, who is laying on the ground not far from him, has a coat with two different shades of blue. Even Pran’s seemingly-fellow architecture students wear their signature red vest.
He had been able to tell all of that earlier, actually, when his sight solely consisted of grey shades. He has always been good at distinguishing them, but it was not so much due to talent as practice; years and years of having colours appear and vanish around him over and over again on a daily basis.
But three years ago, as a blurry flash of what barely deserved to be called green rushed past Pat’s field of vision and out of the door, the scarlet, gold and emerald of the Christmas decorations were consumed by a world limited to their metallic matches, turning to silver, pewter and slate. Ever since then, Pat lost his privilege of seeing colours for what seemed like the rest of his life.
Until just a few days ago, the evening before the first day of the second semester, when he entered the lobby of his dorm. He was playing a game on his phone with one hand while holding his favourite chocolate popsicle with the other when he stopped in his tracks with the realization that he was seeing the colour of the dessert. As vague as it was, he was confident that his colour sight- was returning to him, especially once he returned his eyes to his phone’s screen and noticed how it already looked much more vibrant, just as he knew it should be whenever he played the fruit-filled game.
Could it be that the dorms had brought back the forgotten fitting environment he had once had in his own home and school?
He hurried up the stairs, not even bothering to wait for the lift because he could not wait to affirm his supposition that the colours around him would become stronger the closer he got to his room, and he was right. The beige carpet which stretched throughout the corridor and the light-green emergency exit signs did not have to be interpreted as such anymore, which proved his theory.
Even without seeing all the colours of the rainbow right there and then, it was enough to bring him into a fit of giggles as he practically skipped the rest of the way to his door, which is placed right next to a strong red fire extinguishers cabinet. He even did a little twirl to better celebrate the red of his shirt, a sleeping bud which was opening up at last, and landed facing his new neighbour’s door.
As far as Pat knew, no one had lived in the dormroom opposite his during his first semester, but to his surprise, now there was a navy blue hanger on the bronze handle with a weird drawing of a white double smiley, which was turned on its frowny side, and holes at each end
Pat was so drunk on happiness that he was almost tempted to knock on the door and embrace his neighbour in a too-warm welcome hug, but caught himself at the last second. He compromised with turning the sign upside down and hanging it from the red-framed hole, which had been at the bottom, making the smiley turn happy.
Ever since that night, the colours have come and gone, but it is as expected. While he has been one of the lucky people who can experience colours for as long as he can remember, and most possibly way before that, he has never been able to control his colour vision. Even back in his school days, before the Christmas contest of the tenth grade, it was rare for him to enjoy colours for an entire day. Back then, they only showed themselves to him either while he was home or at school, although not constantly, as well as with a few unexpected places, like school field trips.
Days with no colours at all were also rare, though, and that could occur out of nowhere, to the point where figuring out the pattern was impossible. The only fact he knew for sure was that travelling away from home with his family always caused it. Even though Pat knew his love for his family was immense and unconditional, not being able to find hints of colours anywhere during those times made him feel so guilty that he stopped mentioning it, especially to his parents. Like them, he had no idea why he lived with colours when most people may go through a whole lifetime without ever seeing them. There are even those who claim the concept of colours is a deception and only shades exist, refusing to even refer to what they see as grey.
But his parents are not like those people; they believe in colours. Although they had not believed in the possibility that there were times when Pat could see them, as the only known instance of this phenomenon is while someone is within a certain proximity to the person they would like to spend the rest of their lives watching the colourful world around them with the most.
Or, as people like to refer to them, soulmates.
Therefore, as a young kid, seeing colours only at kindergarten, school or at home made no sense. The radius in which colours are visible varies in each pair, but every time he went to hang out at the houses of the children who lived the closest to him the colours would fade or vanish entirely. A researcher they had visited back then had deemed it was strong visual imagery, that allowed him to imagine what colours would look like.
Pat argued to tears with that researcher, refusing to have someone belittle the truth of his experience, although out of pride than anything else; even as a kid, he knew he had no way to prove it or give a rational explanation to it, and so even his arguments with his parents came to an end.
Right now, back in the present, he can feel those tears again, although this time he can hold them off. And it is silly, really, that once Pran comes back into his life out of nowhere, he only bothers to wear khaki. Just like last time, it is a hue that seems barely worth having his colour-vision awaken for - and yet, despite the festivity of colours around him and out of everything around him which begs to be looked at and reappreciated, Pat has his full attention on the blandest part of the whole area.
Instead, the only thing on Pat’s mind is the brown of Pran’s eyes- the only element in his life that he has never seen become grey, yet it is only now that he understands why.
Although, it may be more correct to say that it is only now that he believes in it.
After years of assuming that it was about feeling at home - even his speculation about the recent change in his life had been about developing a sense of security in his dorms, and soon in the university in general, where no one can destabilize his life by taking a familiarity out of it - he finally understands what the colours have been trying to tell him all along.
But it was the wrong time for that; they have been standing here and staring at each other for too long, while reality around them is still in black and white to everyone else. Even if they themselves could see more than what this dichotomy offered, they are stuck in dualism yet again for the sake of their friends.
And so, until he can find the proper time to ask Pran whether he knows what it means, all he can do is brace himself for Pran, who reacted quicker to the shock of their reunion, making an advance toward him with his fist raised high as if he is ready to make Pat see white again with his strike.