Wonsik sighed, looking out the window of the bus sadly. Beside him, he could hear his friends chatting away happily with the newest person to enter their group of friends. Wonsik wanted to be a part of the conversation, he really wanted to make the new person feel welcome, but he just couldn’t.

You see, this new person – Hongbin – was the soul mate of his friend Jaehwan. And his other two friends, Hakyeon and Taekwoon, were soul mates as well. Wonsik, in contrast, didn’t have a soul mate. Or at least he hadn’t found his yet. So seeing all his friends with their soul mates……..sometimes it really hurt.

Especially when they commented about the colour of something.

Wonsik hated that he had no idea what red was. Or what orange looked like. He hated that he was stuck with just black, white, and shades of gray. He wanted to see colour just like everyone else! He wanted that simple joy that everyone seemed to have found. And he wanted the share that with his soul mate just like everyone else.

Wonsik was pulled from his thoughts by the bus coming to a stop in front of his apartment building. He quickly got off, throwing a little farewell to his friends before the doors shut behind him. He hoped that they didn’t think he was being rude to Hongbin or anything. He could always apologize later when he next saw them.

“Excuse me!”

Wonsik turned slightly, catching sight of a young man around his age making his way over to him. The boy was tall, taller than him by a few centimeters, and had dark shades covering his eyes. He was smiling and Wonsik was struck by just how much he liked the other’s smile.

“Yeah?” Wonsik said, silently thanking whatever higher power there was that he didn’t stutter like a fool.

“I was wondering if you could tell me where the BtoB music store is,” the man asked, “the directions my friend gave me aren’t really that great.”

“Sure,” Wonsik nodded, his heart skipping a beat at the idea that the other was into music just like he was, “it’s two blocks that way and to the left.”

“Thanks,” the man smiled before heading over to another man not far away, “told you we should ask for directions.”

“Shut up,” the other man rolled his eyes.

“But did you listen?” the first laughed, “nope. You just kept insisting that your wonderful boyfriend would never give us bad directions even though he’s the most directionally challenged person I’ve ever met.”

“Alright, Sanghyuk,” the second man sighed, “I get it. You were right, I was wrong. Can we move on with our lives now?”

“Because you’re my friend,” Sanghyuk smirked, “I’ll cut you some slack. But just this once. Next time this happens, I’ll ride you about it for weeks.”

“I hate you,” the second man huffed, “you’re a true devil.”

Wonsik watched the pair walk off before he entered his building. As he made his way to his apartment, he found himself hoping that he would end up seeing Sanghyuk again. He….he had never felt a pull like this before with anyone. It was amazing!

--

“Sorry,” Wonsik apologized, winching when he saw the coffee stain ruining the shirt of the person he had bumped into.

“It’s alright,” the other person laughed and Wonsik looked up, quickly realizing that it was Sanghyuk, “things happen, ya know?”

“You’re that guy who asked for direction to BtoB,” Wonsik blurted, “Sanghyuk.”

“I, um, yeah,” Sanghyuk frowned slightly, eyes still hidden behind his shades, “how do…..oh! You must be the person I asked.” He paused for a moment, “how did you know my name?”

“Your friend said it,” Wonsik explained, turning bright red in embarrassment because he hadn’t wanted to say what he had said since it made him seem like a stalker or something, “I overheard and…..I just remembered.”

“Alright,” Sanghyuk nodded in acceptance of this answer, “well, it’s only fair that you tell me your name when you know mine.”

“Wonsik,” Wonsik told him, smiling a small, embarrassed smile, “Kim Wonsik.”

“Han Sanghyuk,” Sanghyuk grinned, “it’s nice to properly meet you, Wonsik.”

Wonsik decided at that moment that he really liked how his name sounded when Sanghyuk said it.

--

It wasn’t too long after this second meeting that Wonsik learned a very important detail about Sanghyuk. Honestly, it was something he hadn’t even noticed until one of Sanghyuk’s friends told him. And it was only after being told that he noticed all the little things Sanghyuk did that gave away this detail.

Sanghyuk was blind.

“But he doesn’t have that special cane,” Wonsik had frowned when Sungjae told him, “at least, I’ve never seen him with it.”

“He doesn’t like using it,” Sungjae had sighed, “the boy’s a bit of a stubborn jackass when it comes to using a cane. Or getting a guide dog. Or anything else that would help him.”

“It’s it dangerous?” Wonsik pressed.

“It is,” Sungjae nodded, “but I’m not gonna get into that fight with him. Not again.”

Wonsik hadn’t understood why Sungjae said that until he got into a fight with Sanghyuk about the dangers of him going without a cane. Needless to say, the subject was never brought up again.

--

“God damn it,” Wonsik sighed, dropping down onto Sanghyuk’s couch, “today so much.”

“What happened?” Sanghyuk asked, moving about the kitchen to grab something for Wonsik to drink.

“Dealing with Hakyeon today was just…..gah!” Wonsik scowled, “I have no idea what the hell happened, but he just went on and on about soul mates today. Like, was that really the only thing that he could think about?”

“Ouch,” Sanghyuk winced, “that’s gotta .” Wonsik noticed the slight tightness of Sanghyuk’s shoulders and felt bad for the other.

After learning about Sanghyuk being blind, he’d also learned about Sanghyuk’s feelings about soul mates. The blind boy hated the very idea. Well, hated was the wrong word. It was more that Sanghyuk was scared. Scared that his soul mate wouldn’t want a blind person, that they would see him as just some useless person who couldn’t do anything on their own. He was scared that he would lock eyes with his soul mate and never know.

Sanghyuk had confessed to Wonsik that he was scared he had already locked eyes with his soul mate and not realized. That was why he wore his shades. You had to actually see your soul mates eyes for everything to work, so if they had their eyes blocked by something…….

The whole soul mate thing also made Sanghyuk sad. A huge part of the soul mate deal was being able to see colour and Sanghyuk couldn’t do that. He hadn’t always been blind. He’d been a child just like Wonsik, raised on stories about how wonderful colour was. How magical it was. Sanghyuk had been filled with hope that he would get to see colour just like everyone else.

And then he lost his sight.

Once he lost his sight, people stopped talking about soul mates around him. Sanghyuk had always hated it when all conversation stopped the second people realized he was there. It made him feel…….it made him feel like he was some kind of freak. That he wasn’t normal. It sent Sanghyuk into a nasty downwards spiral of depression until he met Sungjae. Sungjae had helped him return to the person he had once been.

Wonsik couldn’t put into words how grateful he was that Sungjae had been there for Sanghyuk.

“Sorry,” Wonsik said, getting up and moving to hug Sanghyuk, “I shouldn’t have brought it up.”

“Hey,” Sanghyuk smiled slightly, “it’s alright. Things happen, ya know?”

“Still,” Wonsik frowned, “I don’t like it when you’re upset.”

“Careful about saying that out loud,” Sanghyuk teased, “your soul mate probably wouldn’t be too happy to hear you saying stuff like that.”

“I don’t care about my soul mate or what they think,” Wonsik said without thinking, only realizing afterwards how true those words were. He really didn’t care what his soul mate thought of his relationship with Sanghyuk. He loved Sanghyuk, so much so that he’d completely lost interest in finding his soul mate. He could spend the rest of his life in black and white and it wouldn’t matter as long as Sanghyuk was by his side.

“You don’t mean that,” Sanghyuk frowned.

“I do,” Wonsik assured him, “I don’t want whoever the universe picked to be my soul mate, I want you.”

“Wonsik,” Sanghyuk whispered, clearly unsure of what to say.

“I love you” Wonsik said, “I want to be with you for the rest of my life.”

“W-Wonsik,” Sanghyuk said, tears starting to run down his cheeks, “I-I love…..I love you. But...but if your soul mate comes along.”

“I will never leave you,” Wonsik promised, tightening his hold on Sanghyuk, “you’re the only one I’ll ever love like this.”

Before Sanghyuk could say anything else, Wonsik kissed him. It was something that they had both wanted for ages, they just didn’t realize how much until they were actually doing it. When they finally pulled apart, Wonsik pushed Sanghyuk’s shades to rest on top of his head. He wanted to look Sanghyuk in the eye when he pledged to love Sanghyuk forever this time, regardless of whether or not Sanghyuk could see.

He locked eyes with Sanghyuk and his world exploded into colour.

“Wonsik?” Sanghyuk questioned when Wonsik froze, his mind going to the worse possible reasons for the other to have frozen. Did his sightless eyes really disgust Wonsik that much?

“Sanghyuk,” Wonsik whispered, tears of joy making his own cheeks wet, “Hyukkie….I-I…..colour.” He tried to put it into words and failed, but Sanghyuk understood what he was trying to say.

“I love you,” Sanghyuk whispered between kisses, “I love you so much.”

“I love you, too,” Wonsik replied, words finally returning.

The couple stayed wrapped in each other arms for the rest of the night, confessing their love over and over and kissing like they thought the other would vanish if they stopped.

A/N: so last time I worked with this AU, I hated it. This time……idk. I still kind of dislike the AU, but the idea I worked with here……..I really love this idea. Haha I’m so confused about how I feel right now.