Park Chanyeol was a very lucky man. He met his soul mate at a very young age, a rare gift at this time. The two met each other at the hospital. At four years of age, the two of them were to receive their immunization shots to enter elementary school. Chanyeol and his mother sat together quietly in the waiting room, the little boy tense about receiving his first shot. After a while, his mother relieved the younger by asking him if he ever wondered what colors were.

“Colors?”

“Yes, they’re really lovely, Yeolie. There’s so many of them. It’s hard for me to explain, maybe when you’re older you’ll start to see them.”

Just then, another mother and her son entered the waiting room. The two sat across from them, the boy already beginning to wander towards the play area from boredom. Chanyeol felt a nudge at his shoulder, and saw his mother tilt her head towards the play area as if to say, ‘go make friends.’

When Chanyeol walked into the little kids’ area with building blocks and stuffed animals, he instantly wanted to cry. The room had suddenly taken a shift in tone quality; the walls were popping out and the blocks had different assortments of wondrous tones instead of the monochrome grey scale he was used to. The boy he was to befriend had the same expression as him: wide-eyed, gaping mouth, with a mixture of fear and curiosity. They looked at each other and the boy smiled, walked over to him, and held out his hand.

“Hello soul mate.”

­―

“Wait, so explain how this color thing works again?”

Baekhyun downed the rest of his juice and faced his best friend in disbelief. They were twelve years old now, the duo inseparable ever since their parents found out.

“Okay, so basically scientists in the year-”

“Oh my God. Not this part. The other part.”

“Ohh, right.” The boy took a bite from his sandwich and took a moment before swallowing. “You and me, we’re soul mates.” Chanyeol watched as he took another bite from the sandwich. “When we met that day, my mom just finished telling me about colors and stuff.” Baekhyun waved around the bitten peanut butter and jelly around, describing the memory as if it were yesterday. “So, when everything turned from grey to blue and red and purple and green, I knew you were my soul mate.”

“But what if-”

“Don’t get negative on me, Park Chanyeol I swear I will un-soulmate you.” With those words, Baekhyun wagged his floppy sandwich at Chanyeol’s face, causing the other to burst out in laughter.

The two were always put in the same classes, even when they started middle and high school. They weren’t in love yet, per say. The adults around them called it a ‘budding relationship’ between the two. Many of their teachers have never seen a case like this in their lives, so they did their all to ensure that they got seated close to each other. They didn’t mind seeing the smiles on their faces anyways.

―

“Good morning, my sunshine.”

“What if I want to have a neutral morning, Chanyeol?”

The taller smiled at the familiar sarcasm he had grown to love. He placed a kiss among the straightened bangs and took a sip from Baekhyun’s coffee. They were twenty years old now, living in a new apartment in a new neighborhood. To Baekhyun, his vision was as clear as day, the colors never faltering in beauty. Chanyeol would often come home to a new type of flower on their windowsill with a name tag on its pot (once, his love named a lilac ‘Larry’).

But to Chanyeol, the reds and greens were slowly fading from his sight. He could no longer feel the yellow of the sun on his face, or the cool blue tone of spring water. He decided to keep this from Byun Baek, concluding that it was simply a fault in the system.

“I was thinking that maybe after our classes we could-” A cough consumed the male’s voice. “-go watch a movie-” Another fit of dry cough. The taller blinked: once, twice. The color of Baekhyun’s sweater had changed from navy blue to a decaying fall sky. These chronic coughing spells started around the beginning of that year, interrupting Baekhyun’s speech every so often.

“How about we take you to the hospital again instead.”

“And ruin the first day of spring? Don’t be such a downer, Yeol.” The latter finished off his coffee and smiled wearily, a recent addition to Baekhyun’s collection of expressions. He stood up from the kitchen table and Chanyeol watched as he the television set. “Watch the last episode of ‘Hello Monster’ with me?”

―

“Wait, wait- wait, sorry-”

The smaller of the two lowered the couch to the ground, wiping the sweat off his brow. Chanyeol eased his side down as well, walking over to support Baekhyun as he had another coughing fit.

“We can move the couch another day, Baek-”

“No- We… we’ve been meaning to do it for months now- we…”

Chanyeol took the other’s smaller frame into his arms and carried the body upstairs. Their new home was beginning to seem cooler to the giant: the walls were a faded pastel blue, carpet grey, and furniture bland. Baekhyun said that he had painted the walls a ‘beautiful blue,’ and that the furniture was beige to match the carpet. Chanyeol could not see any of the colors at this point, making him wonder if there was a problem with himself that was making his lover sickly.

“We’ll go to the doctors again. They have to-”

“They keep saying the same thing, Yeol. There’s nothing wrong with me, maybe it’s just-”

“It’s been three years, Baek…”

As the male laid Baekhyun’s body on the bed, the smaller smiled up at him. He lifted his hands to cup around Chanyeol’s cheeks and jaw, his eyes a sparkling grey in the giant’s eyes.

“I’ll be fine, I promise. Tomorrow, we can move that stupid couch together, alright?”

―

“When did the coughing start to occur?”

“About four years ago.”

Chanyeol played with his thumbs as he waited outside of Baekhyun’s private room. His back was facing the window, not being able to handle the sight of tubes coming from the man’s mouth.

“Have you two ever gone to the doctor?”

“All the appointments were made during my work hours… I couldn’t show up to any of them. Baek- uhm… he told me that the doctor couldn’t find anything wrong.”

The doctor nodded and put his hands in his pockets. He took a deep breath, his name tag moving as he did so.

“Chanyeol, if you could, I would like for you to take a few deep breaths. Alright? Good. Now,” the doctor sat next to Chanyeol and took off his glasses. “In his records, it said that his father had passed away from idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, correct?”

The taller could only nod, remembering the first time Baekhyun had sneaked out of his bedroom to his house just to cry in Chanyeol’s arms that night.

“At his first appointment with this complaint, around the middle of March, the doctor had diagnosed him with the same illness. Has he never told you?” Brows furrowed, Chanyeol turned his sadness into anger, standing up from the chair to stare through the window at his tubed up love. His fist clenched and unclenched, his wedding ring digging into his palm each time.

“After diagnosis, the average lifespan varies from three to five years…” Chanyeol honestly could care less about what the doctor had left to say. His memory went back to when it all first started.

The memories flew by in fragments. First, of Baekhyun’s smile in full HD, the yellow sunlight adding depth to his clear skin. Then slowly, the visions began to change. The sunlight dulled against the windows, and Baekhyun had added a new smile to his collection. He began to see the changes so clearly, he wanted to punch himself in the face. A hint of sleep deprivation became visible under Baekhyun’s once warm brown eyes. His lips were cracked and his sweaters began to pile up. The memories had started with being outside: walking around at parks, shopping for miscellaneous items, at amusement parks, and at parties. Steadily, the places became more stationary and at home with Baekhyun resting on the couch or bed, eyes shut and lips slightly open. The memory of the couch appeared, and by now, Chanyeol had felt tears run down his face.

Baekhyun had slowly faded away from him as did the colors.

Chanyeol understood exactly how the colors worked now. Byun Baekhyun has been the light and beauty of his life. The boy was always there, whether it was to help him tie his shoes, or to kiss him good night, he was always present in his life. He gave Chanyeol happiness and laughter; he allowed Chanyeol to experience the most beautiful things in life, just like how colors add an essential aesthetic to our eyes. So when the colors began to fade, it was not Chanyeol’s love diminishing before his eyes. It was a sign that Baekhyun was living his last moments, sharing his last laughs and smiles.

Baekhyun brought Chanyeol the beauty of various pigments, and now that he was leaving, the colors decided to go with him too.