Byun Baekhyun sees the world in colours.

He loves looking at the blue sky, watching the white of the clouds mix and swirl around the endless expanse of the majestic canvas, creating a beautiful harmony that cannot fully be described with words. He loves walking through the bustling rush of the city, seeing the pop of red on a newly washed streetcar leisurely passing by or the dull green signs that mark public parking areas. He smiles as little children waddle around in their sunflower yellow rain boots and oversized violet raincoats as their parents fuss over them splashing around in puddles.

Colour is the perfect partner to life itself, from the various shades of different vegetables piled neatly in grocery stores to the red of blood coursing through everyone’s veins.

It is too beautiful to just simply ignore, from neons to pastels to even shades that are arguably taking the 21^st century by storm. There is something fascinating about the fact that even grey can have different undertones of cool or warm colours.

Every day Baekhyun wakes up to colour, a warm golden shine coming through his windows. Every night, Baekhyun goes to sleep seeing colour, magnificent blends of colours in his dreams.

--

Pink. Pink is the colour of Sehun’s freshly dyed hair as he trudges into their small co-owned art supply store on the corner of Queen and Jones. It is snuggly sandwiched between The Phoenix Bakery (the most direct translation from Chinese, or so the owner (Yifan) tells him) and The Rooster House, a quaint little coffee shop that’s quite popular amongst the locals. Opening their supply store was definitely a risky move for the two young men. Queen Street is rapidly become well know to foodies and self-denied hipsters (the rest of Toronto evidently knows better) as small coffee shops, bakeries and restaurants now dominate the once still street. The phrase “quality over quantity” is the main unspoken motto for those who run the businesses and for those who indulge in all it has to offer.

Maybe it’s because the two best friends decided to go along with that unspoken Queen Street motto that they now have a good business running with people coming from all over the city to buy their top quality supplies.

“Mornin’,” Sehun manages to get out before a long yawn takes over, his mouth opening wide enough for Baekhyun to see his back molars.

“Cover your mouth, you look ugly,” Baekhyun comments off-handedly as he sets up the cash register, checking how much paper is left in the receipt roll.

“Not as ugly as your face when you’re sleeping, let’s be real honest here,” Sehun retorts, disappearing to storage and emerging with a box full of brand new sketch books.

Baekhyun scoffs, heading over to Sehun to help him shelve the books, but only after he delivers a nice punch to Sehun’s ink-covered bicep. Sehun lets out a pitiful yelp as he shoots Baekhyun a glare, rubbing the reddening skin.

Baekhyun places two sketch books on the shelf before glancing at the spot that he just punched. There are jet black lines and shapes extending from the tops of Sehun’s shoulder down to his elbow in an artful elegance, much like Sehun himself.

Baekhyun notices a new tattoo starting in the crook of Sehun elbow and wrap around the upper half of his forearm. He raised an eyebrow.

“Newly added huh?” he jerks his thumb at Sehun’s newest addition to his quickly expanding collection.

Sehun nods, placing the remaining books on the shelf, examining the display before picking up the empty box with a blank look on his face.

“Appeared when I woke up this morning,” he says, running his hand through his bubblegum pink hair. “I should probably get the flow charts and compass out soon huh?” he asks with a slight grin. It doesn’t quite reach his eyes and there is a slight edge to his usual smooth, carefree tone.

Baekhyun places his hand on Sehun’s arm, unconsciously touching the newest addition.

“Hey now, don’t stress yourself over this. Just because your tattoos are appearing so quickly doesn’t mean that you have to go running off to look for Cinderella with the glass slipper in your hand.” Baekhyun looks Sehun straight in the eye. “He’s not going anywhere. You will find him when it’s the right time.”

Baekhyun grins and Sehun returns it, as they both head to the storage room again.

“You never know, maybe he’ll find you first.”

--

Baekhyun loves colour but the world does not. As Baekhyun makes he way to work, hands stuffed into the pockets of his worn jeans, he gets distracted by the vibrant red cardinal as it flys before him before perching on a tree branch. It chirps merrily, breaking the silence of the early morning. He stares at it as it leisurely cleans its feathers, stuck in a trance before the bird takes flight again, snapping him out of his daze.

As Baekhyun approaches the mint green door of The Rooster House, he notes that there were now cute little polka dots on it. The light beige-grey colour compliments the mint well and Baekhyun opens the door with a compliment on his lips.

“My colour recommendation, in my humble opinion, couldn’t have suited your door any better,” Baekhyun calls out as soon as he’s inside. A few seated customers who obvious weren’t regulars to Rooster glance at Baekhyun.

Minseok waves to him from behind the counter with one hand as he steadily holds a cup filled to the brim with a dark roasted coffee in the other.

“Baekhyun!” he greets warmly as he hands the cup to the middle-aged man in line with his signature smile. “As loud and obnoxious as always,” he jokes after he sends the man off with a “thank you! Come again soon!”

Baekhyun laughs as he approaches the glass counter. “The one and only!” he replies with a wink. Minseok chuckles with him. “What can I get for my favourite neighbor today?”

Baekhyun glances at the menu. “Um can you give me the sweetest thing you have…and a blueberry muffin?” he asks, taking out his wallet.

At this Minseok lets out another laugh. He punches in Baekhyun’s order before say “Don’t worry about this one. It’s on the house.”

“I would insist on paying but you know I like free things so thanks hyung!”

Minseok lets out another huff of laughter. “Anytimes Baek.”

When Minseok hands him his blueberry muffin and “a raspberry lemonade! It’s homemade,” Baekhyun thanks him one more time before heading towards the door again.

As he reaches the door, he notices someone out of the corner of his eye. There is a young business man slouched in the corner of the shop looking like a complete wreck. There are bruises under his eyes like he hasn’t slept for days and his hair is unkempt, random strands sticking out in different directions.

That’s when Baekhyun notices it. The man is gripping a coffee mug in his hand but there are small tattoos spiraling from his hand to his fingers but it isn’t the design that Baekhyun notices.

Baekhyun approaches the man with a tentative smile. “Hey um,” he clears his throat. He’s never been good with expressing his feelings, especially he has to be serious. “I feel like you need this more than I do. It’s blueberry.” He holds out the muffin, still in it’s paper bag.

The man looks up hesitantly before giving Baekhyun a lifeless smile, taking the bag from Baekhyun. “Thank you…She…Her favourite was blueberry,” he whispers softly, looking down at his polished shoes.

Baekhyun gives the man a sympathetic pat on the shoulder. “I hope it gets better for you,” he says sincerely before bowing slightly and heading out the door.

The man’s tattoos aren’t black. They are a fiery red. 

a/n welcome to my monstrous and sponatneous word vomit! (that was supposed to be a drabble haha) I asked people to send me some prompts on tumblr because I'm kinda horrible at coming up with prompts for myself and well, this came along. I got so excited that I created this new world ish not really because the only difference between our world and this one are the tattoos. If you're confused about tattoos and colours, it'll be explained more in the next chapter. subscribing, commenting and upvoting will make me extremely happy! seeya later!