Color Me

Color Me

Sundays for Minseok were always the same. Sleep in after noon, gulf down the breakfast Yixing left on the table, and then wait around until 4pm, when he would get the tingling feeling in his arm that he had gotten used to, beautiful patterns showing on his skin that only someone truly talented could conjure. For the past year, he had been watching his wrists, tracing the drawings with his fingers as they appeared. Sometimes he would even pick up a pen or marker and come up with something himself, despite knowing his soulmate could very well do it better.

Minseok was well aware of his soulmate being a lot younger; you could only feel the connection once both were twenty one years of age, and Minseok had been waiting eight years, anxiety settling in his stomach when his friends started getting ink all over their bodies, or dreams that tied them together with their meant-to-be’s. Yixing was always reminding him that everyone had a soulmate, and the kid was probably just younger, but that didn’t help at all. If anything, it made him feel worse, like he was going to taint their innocence.

It was a relief when he woke up in the middle of the night once when he was twenty nine, checking his arms to see what made his skin crawl, and that was the first time he saw his soulmate’s sketches. He watched for a while, entranced, and felt a bubble of excitement go through him when there were words on his skin.

‘hi’

He had smiled stupidly, fumbling around his night stand for a pen, and then wrote back ‘hey’.

*~*

Jongin loved rainy nights. Not days, because that just ruined his routines, but during the night it was amazing, despite Baekhyun’s incessant whining of not being able to sleep. But it was a lot easier for him, and he usually drifted off listening to the pitter patter of raindrops on his bedroom window.

After turning twenty one, he had taken to drawing a lot more on his skin, being the only way for him to communicate with his soulmate at the moment. Jongin especially liked drawing roses covered in water, because one day he was taking a shortcut through the park and saw a bed of roses and the raindrops looked so pretty on the petals. He had run home, pen scribbling all over his wrist before copying the design on a piece of paper. That drawing earned him a 100 on his Art class.

His soulmate seemed to like them, too. Jongin loved it when they also drew something, even if they were just small hearts and smiley faces. They brightened up Jongin’s day.

Baekhyun liked to make fun of him when he got all misty eyed, but Jongin didn’t even care. He was in love, even if he had never met them.

*~*

If there was one thing Minseok had always hated, it was tardiness. He grew up in a family with strict values; one of them was that being on time was respectful and if you couldn’t show up early, then you shouldn’t bother at all.

So it baffled him how he had managed being friends with Yixing for so long, considering how the kid had the memory of a fish and the attention span of a hummingbird. Whenever they had little dates, Minseok would show up right on schedule, swinging the café’s door open and waving hello to the bartender. He always sat in the same booth, tucked away in a corner, phone in hand because he knew it would take at least another fifteen minutes for his roommate to show up and he took the time to catch up on Tumblr.

Except, that day he was met with the sight of someone else on his table, bronze skin shining under the sunlight as he hunched over a notebook. Minseok considered claiming ownership over those two seats, but that was considered rude and Minseok wasn’t rude, so he slid into adjoining table, Lu Han muffling a giggle behind his hand as he took Minseok’s order. Not that he needed to ask, because the man always ordered the same (Americano and a slice of apple pie). But he enjoyed striking up casual conversation with the Chinese man, even after his manager gave him the stink eye.

Minseok watched with his peripheral vision as the boy continued with his doodling, pink tongue hanging cutely from the corner of his mouth as he concentrated. Eventually, the kid tore his pen away from the notebook to settle over his left arm, carefully drawing something. Minseok gasped when he felt his skin crawl in his own left arm, and he looked down to see a beautiful bird being mapped out, and when his eyes shifted over to the table next to his, Minseok nearly died when he noticed it was the same bird.

“Uh, excuse me?” Minseok managed to squeak out, and the boy turned around with the cutest look of confussion on his face and asked, “Yes?”

Minseok merely raised his left arm with a sense of dread because maybe it was a mistake, but then the boy’s lips parted in silent ‘oh’ and then his eyes were crinkling up and the most dazzling smile Minseok had seen in his life was placed on his face and, honestly, he could have died right then and there.

Minseok felt himself smiling too, and the boy invited him to seat with him. He introduced himself as Kim Jongin, and Minseok tested the name on his lips, saying it twice under his breath just to hear it and Jongin blushed.

“I’m Kim Minseok,” he said back, making sure to put a grin on his face because his facial features were probably taking on that expression he pulled when he was nervous. Jongin watched him in awe for two seconds before he snapped out of it and smiled back.

They sat in silence for some minutes, staring at each other. Minseok drank in the sight of Jongin; full lips, droopy eyes and sleepy expression. He asked Jongin, shyly, if he could take a look at what he was drawing. He told him how he had been wishing to see his sketches in person for as long as they had been appearing in his skin, and Jongin blushed at the same time he handed his notebook over with his eyes casted downwards.

Minseok leafed through the pages until he stumbled upon a portrait of a man with a button nose and puppy eyes, and felt a twinge of jealousy at the detail; he had read somewhere that artists usually drew better when they felt attached to their source of inspiration.

“That’s my best friend, Baekhyun,” Jongin explained when he noticed Minseok lingering on that page, “He asked me to draw a picture of him for his birthday. It’s in five days and I still haven’t finished it,” he laughed a little at the end of his sentence and Minseok felt sort of relieved. Friend zone.

The weather outside was becoming gloomy and Yixing eventually messaged him, saying that he wouldn’t make it to their date. And despite the day becoming rainy and the tardiness of his friend even at cancelling, neither of them could find it in themselves to care, because they were finally, finally, getting to know their soulmate.

 

 

A/N: i have no idea what is up with the format, i'll try and fix it... When it isn't 1am lol

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seven_oh_seven 1489 streak #1
Chapter 1: Aaaahhh!! So cute and fluffy!! 10/10!!
rshshlv #2
Chapter 1: I like it so much :)
Thank you for your amazing story
653711 #3
Chapter 1: Wow it so damn cute,,,, jongin's description was perfect, cute...
This is my first time reading xiukai and​I love it...
Thank you for writing such a beautiful story...
2ndChance #4
Chapter 1: Wow this is really cute
i would love to read more >•< but it is fine as it is
Thanks for this short story
Pluviophilerose #5
Chapter 1: I was right this was cute and because how it was left it let's your mind wonder to just what happens now that they've met
Pluviophilerose #6
Before I even begin reading I want to say this look so cute and already has me jumping excitedly
jambydsy #7
Chapter 1: Aaaaaweee so cute
Viviannitta #8
Chapter 1: This is absolutely one of the cutest fics I've ever read , I'm happy I've read it before sleeping because I'm sure I'll have cute and sweet dreams.
eternityexo #9
Chapter 1: Short and cute story author-nim! I like it~! :D <3
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