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After twenty rounds of speed dating, Taehyung is ready to call it quits. It’s not that bad, honestly. Each round takes only two minutes. It’s a new kind of speed dating catered to the romantics – those who still think their soulmate is out there somewhere. Taehyung expects to look into the next person’s eyes and see a burst of blue, but alas, it is not to be. He sees pretty reds like Jimin’s, oranges like his own, pinks that could rival Yoongi’s, and a myriad of other colours, but nope, no blue.
The last bell rings and another person comes along. Taehyung looks up from the table with one last ray of hope. But instead of blues he sees greys, and realises sadly that the pretty lady in front of him is not The One. The disappointment is clear in her eyes, but she makes polite conversation and tries to brighten up the atmosphere, until an announcement comes through and ends the event.
“It was nice meeting you.” Taehyung smiles but he bets it’s more of a grimace. Wheein – was it Wheein? – pats him gently on the shoulder.
“Good luck,” she says, before walking off, leaving Taehyung with a hole in his wallet and a heavy heart.
As if mocking him, a text comes through from Jimin.
From: Chimchim
How’d it go tae
To: Chimchim
Bad T_T T_T T_T
From: Chimchim
Aw man you ok?
Taehyung doesn’t reply to that. Instead he shoves his things carelessly into his backpack and heads home quickly, barrelling into Jimin’s bed and squeezing himself between Yoongi and Jimin. Jimin strokes his hair and tells him it’s okay, you’ll find him, her? Soon. Yoongi, well, he grunts in dissatisfaction at his boyfriend comforting the intruder. Taehyung’s not too bothered by the colourful language. At least Yoongi has Jimin, what does Taehyung have?
No One, that’s what. All he has is an empty wallet until next month’s allowance comes in, and a pair of eyes that can’t see blue. Fuck soulmates.
“Tae, there’s another speed dating thing this Saturday!!!” Jimin waves a flyer frantically in his face, ignoring the blatant glares from quiet café patrons. Taehyung cringes. Jimin’s way too loud and way too enthusiastic.
“Thanks Jimin, but I’m not going.” Jimin’s face falls.
“But why? You told me you were gonna find that soulmate if it’s the last thing you did,” Jimin says, a poor attempt at imitating Taehyung. Psh, what nonsense, Taehyung never said that.
“I give up. It’s too much time, too much effort, and no guarantee.” He’ll just find someone he loves and get a boyfriend, like all the other people who can’t find their soulmates. Jimin gasps.
“You traitor! You told me yesterday that we were gonna go on double soulmate dates and do gross things and make people jealous. What happened to that, huh.”
Ideally, that’s what he wants, but reality isn’t that kind and Taehyung is only human. He’s spent all his savings on dating memberships and all his energy hoping to find his soulmate. Three years and nothing’s come up. He’s almost done with college, too – how will he have the time and energy when he starts work?
“I’m sorry, Jimin,” he says sadly. He is, really. Sorry he can’t go on double soulmate dates and do gross things and make people jealous. Sorry he can’t find his damn soulmate. On the bright side, Taehyung thinks, eyes trailing the cute guy who’s just walked in, he can still date and have a bit of fun. Cute guy has these big round eyes and a red beanie pulled over his hair, which flops down extremely attractively. “Cutie at 2 o’clock,” he tells Jimin, eyes fixed on the pretty boy. Jimin rolls his eyes but turns to look anyway.
“He’s pretty cute, I’ll give you that. But don’t you wanna find your soulmate? Y’know, the one whose eyes you’ll look into and see blue for the first time? The one you’ll spend your life with forever?” Okay, Jimin is downright evil. Taehyung should never have told him those things.
“Don’t you wanna see the sky and the sea, their wonderful blue?” Like Taehyung said. Downright. Evil.
“But what if I go my whole life not finding him, her?” Taehyung doesn’t want to pine after someone who might never appear. He wants to hold hands with someone as they walk down the street, cuddle in bed when it’s too cold to go out, feel that fluttery lightness in his chest every time a text comes through. It doesn’t even have to be his soulmate, at this point.
Cute guy scans the café while he waits for his drink and Taehyung feels a sickening anticipation fill his gut. Give him a break, he’s still weak to the idea of soulmates. He thinks cute guy sees him, but their eyes don’t meet, because the barista calls out his name and he’s soon grabbing his coffee and walking out the door. Taehyung sighs.
“You’ll find your soulmate eventually,” Jimin says, chewing on his straw. “Just like how I found Yoongi, with luck and a whole lot of hope.”
Taehyung and Jimin, they’ve always been a little hopeless. Jimin in particular is a romantic through and through. Even if he hadn’t coincidentally bumped into the scary senior with blonde hair and sent his books flying, Jimin would’ve found Yoongi eventually. Correction, he would have covered every inch of habitable land on earth before finding Yoongi. He’s just lucky it happened on campus.
Taehyung rests his head on the table. Why can’t he be that lucky.
Instead of going on more speed dating thingums (because calling them that discredits them, exactly what Taehyung needs), Taehyung camps out at the café, hoping to see that cute guy again. He heads to the café as soon as classes are over and stays there until late, mulling over his readings and looking up every minute just to make sure.
He doesn’t know what it is, but he can’t get the boy out of his head. Cute Guy isn’t even Taehyung’s type – he likes his men with high cheekbones and jawlines sharp enough to cut glass. Cute Guy is…cute, in that I wanna pet you and keep you in my pocket forever way. With plump cheeks and round eyes and a big nose. The kind of face Taehyung can’t associate with a powerful dick and a revving libido.
Seriously, who even cares about literature in medieval England, Taehyung decides, watching his highlighter roll off the table. Young and attractive 22-year-olds are supposed to be dating and fucking and having the time of their lives. He doesn’t want to give his kids a lame answer when they ask him what his youth was like. So he whips out his phone to text Jimin. Yay, excitement.
To: Chimchim
I’m bored what r u doing
From: Chimchim
Cuddling w the bf, u?
To: Chimchim
Ew. I’m at the café
From: Chimchim
Ur saltiness is showing…still looking for red beanie boy?
To: Chimchim
Yesssssssss have fun cuddling
Do you need me out tonight -.-
From: Chimchim
So kind of u to offer, yes pls:)))
To: Chimchim
That puts the sexile count at 13 k
Jimin doesn’t reply after that, and Taehyung figures he’s probably getting some bomb dick game. For a man so small Yoongi is pretty disproportionate. The café is open 24 hours anyway, so it doesn’t really matter. It means Taehyung’s chances of seeing Cute Guy are that much higher; at least until the earliest morning bus comes to take him home.
There are few people still in the campus’s café at 11pm, most students having returned to the dorms or gone home because of morning lessons the next day. Tomorrow is Taehyung’s free day, thank god. He can drown his sorrows in truckloads of sugar and pretend to be hardworking all night long.
Oh, life would be a hundred times better if Cute Guy came around again. Taehyung feels like a princess waiting for her prince charming.
Prince charming does arrive, a scooter and a tank top and sweats in place of a white stallion and stately clothes. But Taehyung’s not complaining – he can see the broad shoulders and toned muscles – nope, definitely not complaining. Cute Guy’s hair is wet like he’s been sweating it out at the gym or something (because Taehyung’s been here for five hours and it hasn’t rained at all), and wow does he look good.
Taehyung gets up from his seat and gives himself a once-over before powerwalking to the counter where Cute Guy is waiting for his order. He’s not missing his chance again. Cute Guy looks even better up close, and Taehyung considers changing his nickname to Hot Guy, because he’s taller and bigger than Taehyung and hell, his jawline is pretty sharp. Taehyung’s standing behind him now, takes a deep breath before tapping him on the shoulder.
Cute Guy turns around slowly, obviously confused, and Taehyung feels the air get knocked out of his chest when he sees his eyes. The colour blooms from his pupils and spreads beautifully, petals unfolding outwards until his eyes are filled with colour. Taehyung is seeing it for the first time, but it’s bright and calm and refreshing and familiar, the kind of colour he’d always imagined would go perfectly with the whites of clouds and the oranges of sunsets. Cute Guy looks equally shocked from seeing orange for the first time, and all Taehyung can think about is how they’ll be able to watch coloured sunsets together from now on.
“Hi, I’m Kim Taehyung.”
“Jeon Jeongguk.”
Jeongguk is the strings to Taehyung’s guitar, the straps to his backpack, the key to his lock (in more ways than one), the blue to his orange. Blue and orange don’t go well typically, but they do look perfect in a sunset, Taehyung thinks, his hand in Jeongguk’s warm ones as they stroll along the beach. There are plenty benefits to having a soulmate – for one, they can and do go on double soulmate dates and do gross things and make people jealous. They also sexile Jimin 13 times and more (haha, payback). Taehyung finally knows what the sky and the sea look like. He also sees the blue ‘e’ of the Internet Explorer logo, and the equally blue Twitter logo, and the darker Facebook logo.
There are so many shades of blue, Taehyung finds, but Jeongguk’s eyes are his favourite hue.