As soon as Sanghyuk learned about soul mates, he started begging his parents to let him dye his hair. He wanted to find his soul mate so badly, he wanted to be like his parents and older sister. His parents were reluctant to let their five year old dye his hair, so they came to an agreement with him; he could start dyeing his hair when he hit high school and he had to wait at least a month between colours.

Sanghyuk didn’t like it, but he agreed.

So when he hit high school he made sure to hold his parents to their word and started dying his hair.

“Purple?” Hakyeon asked when Sanghyuk sat down beside him, “looks good, Hyukkie.”

“Thanks,” Sanghyuk smiled slightly, “I really like it.”

“Hence why you’ve done purple before,” Hongbin spoke up, looking up from his phone, “at least seven times.”

“It looks good though,” Hakyeon frowned slightly, “I like it.”

“Shouldn’t matter what you think,” Hongbin shrugged, “you aren’t his soul mate.”

“You think they like purple eyes?” Sanghyuk asked, “Or do you think they hate it and wish I’d pick a different colour?”

“Do I look psychic?” Hongbin laughed, “You’ll have to wait and ask when you meet them.”

“Does Jaehwan have a favorite colour for his eyes?” Sanghyuk asked.

“Never asked,” Hongbin said, considering, “you think I should?”

“Don’t know,” Sanghyuk shrugged, “you aren’t really a fan of dying your hair, so don’t feel like you have to.” Jaehwan, in contrast, liked to dye his hair. It was when he dyed it a nice, minty green that he and Hongbin found each other.

“Personally,” Hakyeon spoke up, “I hate whatever colour my soul mate has done.” He pouted slightly, not at all pleased with the bright red eye colour he was currently stuck with.

“I think it looks cool,” Sanghyuk said.

“I guess,” Hakyeon replied, “they aren’t that bad.” Hongbin rolled his eyes at how transparent Hakyeon was.

“Oh,” Hongbin started slightly as he received a text from Jaehwan, “hey, you guys will never guess what Jaehwan just said.”

“What did he say?” Sanghyuk asked, not even bothering to guess what Jaehwan could have said. He wouldn’t have been able to guess.

“There’s a new kid in his class,” Hongbin replied, “Kim Wonsik. Guess what colour his eyes are.”

“Purple?” Sanghyuk said, sitting up a little straighter, “what about his hair?”

“Blue,” Hongbin grinned, “same shade as your eyes.”

“For real?” Sanghyuk breathed, eyes wide with excitement and disbelief.

“Is Jaehwan sure?” Hakyeon asked, trying to grab Hongbin’s phone, “tell him to get a picture or something.”

“I’m not going to ask him to take a picture of a total stranger,” Hongbin rolled his eyes, “especially in class. Especially when the teacher is right there.”

“We can stop by before lunch,” Sanghyuk said, grabbing Hakyeon’s arms and pinning them to his sides so he would stop going for the phone, “can you ask Jaehwan to keep him there until I get there?”

“He’ll see what he can do,” Hongbin replied after sending off a text and receiving the reply, “but he makes no promises. He’s sitting between Jongin and Taemin, so those two might drag him off with them.”

“Those two,” Sanghyuk laughed fondly. Jongin and Taemin were super friendly. Overwhelmingly so. Jaehwan and Sanghyuk got along with them pretty well.

“You can tell them about the situation,” Hongbin suggested, “they’ll probably drag this guy over here the second the bell rings.”

“Yeah,” Sanghyuk nodded, sending off a quick text to the pair as the teacher entered the room signaling the start of class.

--

“Sanghyuk!” Jongin grinned, “we’ve got him.”

“You sound like you kidnapped him,” Hongbin laughed.

“Well, we kind of did in a way,” Taemin said, thinking over what he and Jongin had done, “we just kind of dragged him over here without warning.”

“You alright?” Sanghyuk asked the blue haired youth that Jongin and Taemin had been dragging behind them.

“Yeah,” the boy, Wonsik, replied, “just a little sh--.”

Wonsik paused as he noticed the colour of Sanghyuk’s hair and eyes.

“Oh,” Jongin grinned, “look at his blush.”

“Hush,” Taemin advised his friend, “don’t spoil their moment.

“Your eyes,” Wonsik finally said, “they match my hair. And your hair…..it matches me eyes.”

“Yeah,” Sanghyuk grinned, proud to say that his hair and eyes did match Wonsik’s eyes and hair perfectly.

Wonsik tried to say something, but words failed him. Thankfully his growing smile told Sanghyuk exactly how he felt. Sanghyuk smiled as well, moving to hug Wonsik tightly.

“I found you,” Wonsik whispered, holding Sanghyuk as tightly as he could, “I really found you.”

“Did you think you wouldn’t?” Sanghyuk questioned.

“No,” Wonsik replied, “not with how often we both dye our hair. I just didn’t think I’d find you so soon.”

The pair held onto each other all through lunch, reluctantly parting ways when class resumed.

--

Wonsik chuckled as he watched Sanghyuk and Jaehwan fooling around. Hongbin rolled his eyes beside him, but anyone could tell that he found his boyfriend and best friend’s antics amusing. In fact, the only one who didn’t look amused was Hakyeon. Instead of watching the pair messing around, Hakyeon was reading his history textbook.

Wonsik frowned slightly as he watched Hakyeon. The dark haired teen always seemed to do stuff like this when he was around. The second Wonsik showed up, Hakyeon would stop whatever he had been doing and got silent. And Wonsik didn’t have to be a genius to figure out why; Hakyeon liked Sanghyuk. And since Wonsik was Sanghyuk’s soul mate, Hakyeon didn’t like him.

When he had first come to this realization, he’d gone to Hongbin. He’d hoped that he was wrong, but Hongbin had confirmed it. Hakyeon didn’t just like Sanghyuk, he was in love with him. Had been since they were five years old and Sanghyuk had protected him from some bullies. Hakyeon had never said anything, though. He’d always known how much Sanghyuk wanted his soul mate, always known that his feelings were never going to be returned. But he had hoped.

Wonsik showing up had killed that hope.

Wonsik didn’t know how to feel about any of that. Yeah, he felt bad that Hakyeon was hurting, but he refused to feel guilty over being Sanghyuk’s soul mate. He loved Sanghyuk too after all. It would be one very cold day in hell before he gave Sanghyuk up to anyone.

But he also wanted to be friends with Hakyeon. He knew that Hakyeon was important to Sanghyuk, his soul mate had told him that Hakyeon was like a brother to him. Thus, not getting along with Hakyeon was unacceptable. Both he and Hakyeon would be in Sanghyuk’s life forever and he refused to spend all that time with Hakyeon hating him.

He just…..didn’t know how to change things.

--

Hakyeon glanced over at Sanghyuk as the teen pulled Wonsik into a quick kiss. He quickly turned away, trying to ignore the pain he felt. Wonsik was Sanghyuk’s soul mate, he had no right to feel hurt that Sanghyuk was with Wonsik. He’d always known that this was going to happen, this pain he was feelings….he’d brought it on himself. He had no right to feel jealous.

He just couldn’t help but wish that he was in Wonsik’s place.

When he was a child, before Sanghyuk started to dye his hair, Hakyeon had often hoped that he was Sanghyuk’s soul mate. He’d imagined a perfect little life with Sanghyuk, one complete with marriage and children and all that kind of stuff. He hoped for it so much that he was convinced that his dreams would become real, that the universe would see how much he loved Sanghyuk and make him his soul mate. The day that Sanghyuk dyed his hair for the first time, Hakyeon had sat in front of the bathroom mirror, waiting for his eyes to change to match Sanghyuk’s new hair colour.

But his eyes didn’t change.

They stayed black.

Hakyeon had cried for hours after that. He mourned for a love that would never be, could have never been. Hongbin had stopped by at one point and held him while he cried. Hongbin had warned him about this, about the dangers of falling in love with someone who wasn’t your soul mate. Hakyeon hadn’t listened and in that moment he wished that he had. He wanted the pain to stop so badly.

Three weeks later, his eyes changed for the first time. He’d never hated the colour gold more than he did in that moment. As Hakyeon looked at his reflection, it felt as if the colour and the universe were laughing at him. To make it worse, Sanghyuk had told him that it looked great, that his soul mate had good taste.

Hakyeon grew to resent his soul mate, almost as much as he resented Sanghyuk’s. He wished that his soul mate would never find him and that Sanghyuk’s would never find him either. He wished that Sanghyuk’s soul mate would never come along and Sanghyuk would eventually get sick of waiting and finally notice him. He knew it was horrible and selfish, but he couldn’t help himself.

And then, after two years of Sanghyuk dyeing his hair, Wonsik appeared.

Sanghyuk and Wonsik started dating, taking their time to get to know each other since both wanted this relationship to work. Hakyeon hated to admit it, but Wonsik was good for Sanghyuk. He’d known Sanghyuk for most of his life and he had never seen him that happy. Sanghyuk had never smiled that much before Wonsik came into his life.

Hakyeon’s heart hurt so much. But so long as Sanghyuk was happy, he would suffer silently.

“Hakyeon?” Wonsik suddenly asked, “hey, can we talk?”

“What do you want to talk about?” Hakyeon asked, trying to keep his hatred for the other out of his voice.

“I know you don’t like me,” Wonsik frowned slightly, “and I know why.”

“I haven’t been very subtle, have I?” Hakyeon scowled, wondering how Sanghyuk felt about his dislike for Wonsik. Was Sanghyuk planning on talking to him about it? Was Sanghyuk angry with him?

“Not really,” Wonsik replied, “I wish I knew what to do to make you feel better. You’re important to Sanghyuk and he doesn’t like seeing you upset.”

“And you love Sanghyuk,” Hakyeon sighed, “you want us to get along for his sake, right? You don’t want to see me like this because it upsets him, right?”

“You’re a good person,” Wonsik told him, “that’s why I don’t want to see you hurt like this. Well, seeing how it upsets Sanghyuk is part of it, too.”

“You’re perfect for him,” Hakyeon sighed, looking Wonsik over carefully, “and you make him so happy. I guess…….I guess I can’t hate you for that.”

“I wish there was a way to make you feel better,” Wonsik sighed, “I really do.”

“I love Sanghyuk,” Hakyeon said after a moment, “I’ve loved him since I was five. I’ll probably love him forever, but…….but maybe one day I won’t love him the same way you do.”

“Take your time,” Wonsik said, pulling Hakyeon into a hug, “love takes time to get over, especially when you’ve been in love for as long as you have.”

Hakyeon started to cry and Wonsik just held him. He silently prayed that his love for Sanghyuk would lessen over time, would transform into the same kind of love Sanghyuk had for him; brotherly. Many, many years later, his love for Sanghyuk would become more brotherly in nature. He would find his soul mate and they would be happy. But that day wasn’t in the now. In the now he still loved Sanghyuk and he was hurting.

--

“Hey,” Sanghyuk said, looking up at Wonsik from the other’s lap, “I have a question.”

“Hmm?” Wonsik hummed, idly playing with Sanghyuk’s hair.

“Do you like when I dye my hair purple?” Sanghyuk asked, “or would you rather a different colour?”

“I like it,” Wonsik replied, “it looks good on you.”

“I know,” Sanghyuk laughed, “you’ve told me that before. I mean, do you like having purple eyes?”

“I do,” Wonsik said after a moment, “I really do. What about you? Do you like having red eyes?”

“I do,” Sanghyuk grinned, reaching up and pulling Wonsik down for a kiss, “I love you.”

“I love you, too,” Wonsik replied, “I’m so happy I finally found you.”

A/N: do I feel bad for poor Hakyeon right now or what? Over all, I’m really happy with how this one turned out. Only two more to go!! Are you all excited?