Hongdae at half past nine on Saturday night was still bustling with crowds, bathed in the blaze of neon lights. Jinyoung quickened his pace, wanting to escape the ocean of people and the cold autumn as fast as possible to the safe haven of his quiet and warm apartment. He always hated noisy spaces, so he tried to stay away from crowded street as much as possible. However, Hongdae was more bearable than any other crowded street. It was because in the midst of the noise of chatterings and cheerings, there was music.

Every steps he took, there would always be music, whether it was jazz, pop, hip hop, electronic, you named it. Some played instruments, some danced, some mimed. Whenever the sound of one performance faded out, another would replace it. No matter how much Jinyoung wanted to escape the mass of people pouring over the street, he would always found himself stopping for a song or two whenever there was any performance that caught his interest. Just like that night.

Jinyoung’s feet refused to move any further when they stepped into a flock of people surrounding a duo consisted of a boy and a girl. Their voices complemented each other beautifully. The girl’s voice was as clear as crystal, cleansing the tired minds from their haziness, and he swore he could hear honey dripping from the boy’s, melting the eardrums of his listener, accompanied with engaging melodies that was born through the girl’s skilled fingers running across the tuts of her keyboard. However, there was something else from their performance that made him couldn’t look away.

It was the boy. He was dancing along to the 70s r&b soul song they sung, expressing the song through his body. It was the first time Jinyoung saw something like that. His moves was sharp, full of force, yet it flowed smoothly and Jinyoung could see grace embracing the tip of his fingers. He was using headset microphone so it didn’t hinder his move. It was amazing how he could still sing stably while dancing like that. His face was filled with many different emotions which changed as he danced, reflecting the feelings the lyrics contained. It was just like a one-man musical with only the street lamps as the lighting and the street as the stage. The boy himself, though not the most handsome Jinyoung had ever seen, he could say that at the moment the dancing singer was the most attractive person he ever met with the amount of charisma he exuded with every motion swiftly flowed through his body, captivating the eyes of all the audience.

Our time, short and precious
Your lips, warm and luscious
You don't have to wear false charms
'Cause when I wrap you in my hungry arms

Be real black for me
Be real black for me

Your hair, soft and crinkly
Your body, strong and stately
You don't have to search and roam
'Cause I got your love at home

Be real black for me
Be real black for me

In my head I'm only half together
If I lose you, I'll be ruined forever
Darling, take my hand and hold me
Hold me, hold me, hold me, hold me

You know how much I need you
To have you, really feel you
You don't have to change a thing
No one knows the love you bring

Be real black for me
Be real black for me

The crowd applauded and cheered as soon as the song ended. The boy, though sweating profusely in the middle of the autumn, didn’t seem out of breath as he smiled brightly and bowed to the audience with the girl.

“Do you like our performance?” he asked, which was answered with an ear-bursting yes.

“Unfortunately, that’s our last song for the night,” he said, and his smile widened as the audience cried out in disappointment.

It was the girl’s turn to speak. “Don’t worry, you can find us again on the third Saturday of every month from 7 p.m. here. We’ll be waiting for you, thank you for watching!”

The duo waved their hands and bowed again, greeted by jolly clapping of hands. Jinyoung pulled away from the crowd to continue his walk home, feeling slightly disappointed that he didn’t came here earlier. Now he could only saw them again in a month. He wanted to watch more of the performance, especially the boy. Somehow, he couldn’t took his mind off of the boy. He was truly the opposite of Jinyoung, filled with life, bursting with energy, and he felt so colorful in his eyes. Maybe Jinyoung was a little bit jealous of it, that was why.

When he finally reached his apartment, it was dark, void of any human presence. Jinyoung didn’t need to text Jackson to know where he went, seeing his one and only roommate was still in the honeymoon phase with his beloved boyfriend. Not bothering to turn on the lamp, he went straight to his room. Only then he the lamp. He threw himself on the bed without taking off his coat. He closed his eyes, basking in the comfort the darkness brought after being exposed on the light all day long. It soothed a little bit of his exhaustion away.

Jinyoung forced himself to open his eyes again a few minutes later, couldn’t afford to let himself to fall asleep without changing his clothes or washed up. He blinked his eyes to get his eyes used to the slightly dim light that filled the room, bright enough not to make them hurt. As soon as his sight was focused again, a black bucket hat hanging on a hook at the back of the door pulled his attention, dragging his mind back to the boy he met at the corridor.

It had been two months since he met that guy. He had been searching for him, yet to no avail. The only hint he had was his counter-clockwise swirl, so he had been looking at the back of every black haired people he met. Day by day, he lost hope more and more. Maybe it was time to give up. By far, only two of them had counter-clockwise swirl, and he ran after them only to find out that they weren’t his bucket hat guy. Which made him remembered something.

The dancing singer earlier was also black haired. And he had counter-clockwise swirl on his head.

--

Jinyoung sipped on his coffee nervously for the nth times, and back to fiddling with his fingers again, a cycle that was continuously repeated even after his third cup. He ignored Jackson’s annoyed look until the other exploded when he stood up and started pacing across the room.

“Stop being so antsy, would you? It’s not like you’re going to meet your blind date mate.”

Jinyoung glared at him. “I won’t be as nervous if it was just a blind date mate. It’s someone I might be cohabitating with in the future. How can I not be nervous?”

It had been a month since Jackson announced that he was going to move in with Mark, his lover. The news, of course, threw him off guard. Fortunately, before Jinyoung could start panicking about having to pay the rent which was usually divided for two by himself, Jackson reassured him that he would only move out when he got a new roommate, and that he would help him search for them. It was a relief, really, since Jinyoung had way too few acquaintance in opposite to Jackson, being the social butterfly he was. Then a week ago, Jackson told him that he already found someone, and today they were going to meet him.

The thing he was most nervous about was because he had to live with someone he didn’t know. Jackson was one of his only friends since high school so he was fine living with him, but he rarely did well with strangers. He believed Jackson wouldn’t introduce this person to be his roommate if he was a bad person, and Jackson said he knew him well since they were friends. However the one Jinyoung didn’t trust was himself.

“You know how bad I am with strangers, right? What if I mess it up? What if I make it so awkward he feels uncomfortable with me and think he doesn’t want me as a roommate? What if I could never find a roommate? Ugh, should I just move to a smaller apartment and live alone?” Jinyoung rattled as his fingers made a mess of his own hair, his feet never stopped moving.

“Whoa, calm down, you worrywart. I’m sure it’s going to be alright. Besides he said he has met you before? Don’t you know anyone called Im Jaebum?”

Jinyoung abruptly stopped to look at Jackson, puzzled. “He said he met me before?” He scrunched his eyebrow, trying hard to remember anyone by the name, but nothing came up.

“I have a senior called Park Jaebum, but I don’t know any Im Jaebum,” Jinyoung answered after a long thought.

“Really? Then how does he know you?” Jackson asked, which was replied by a confused silence until the sound of the doorbell broke it.

“That must be him,” Jackson said, and Jinyoung stared anxiously as Jackson stood up and walked toward the door. Suddenly he felt so shy he wanted to hide in his room. However, turned out his curiosity won since his feet brought him to follow Jackson.

The door revealed a boy wearing a grey hoodie with black leather jacket over it, black ripped jeans, and white striped sneakers. His charcoal hair was so straight it fell flat on his forehead, and quite long it swallowed up both his eyebrows but not enough to cover the twin moles over his left eye. His eyes was small it disappeared when his mouth stretched into a wide smile that almost filled his whole face, showing two rows of white pearl teeth. It seemed familiar, but Jinyoung couldn’t remember where he saw it.

“Hey, man!” Jackson greeted the newcomer happily. “Come in!”

The ever energetic guy flung his arm around the boy’s neck and dragged him in. Since the boy was about the same height as Jinyoung, which meant taller than Jackson, it caused him to bend forward. The boy laughed and pushed Jackson away playfully.

“Don’t feed yourself with the illusion that everyone is as short as you, Wang Jackson,” the boy spoke for the first time since he arrived, and Jinyoung raked his brain hard to remember where did he hear that voice before. Jackson pouted and hit the boy’s upper arm.

“Don’t feel superior just because you’re taller than me!” he whined. Then it seemed like he just suddenly remembered that Jinyoung was also there. “Oh yeah, let me introduce you to your soon-to-be-roommate, Jinyoung.”

The boy turned to him and smiled, holding his hand out for a handshake. His grip was firm on Jinyoung’s hand, and it was warm despite the harsh cold winter he just walked against outside. “Hi, I’m Jaebum. Nice to meet you.”

“Jinyoung, nice to meet you too.”

“So, so,” Jackson tugged on Jaebum’s free hand, “you told me you’ve met him before, but he said he didn’t remember you. How can it be?”

Jaebum smirked, throwing a meaningful gaze at Jinyoung, who knitted his brows confusedly as he couldn’t decipher what it meant. “I never expect him to remember me, considering his circumstance back then. I can never forget such a beautiful person, though.”

Jinyoung felt his cheeks burning. Jackson slapped Jaebum’s shoulder, hard enough to jerk Jaebum into releasing Jinyoung’s hand. “Stop flirting with him.”

Jaebum threw a wronged look at the shorter boy. “I’m not, I’m just being honest.”

Jackson sighed. “Okay, enough. Now, let’s get down to the business. I’ll show you my and your soon-to-be room,” Jackson said, pulling Jaebum away from the living room. Jinyoung stayed, trying to calm down his flapping heartbeat. Never once someone talked so blatantly to him like that.

“I like it, I’m totally going to live here even if I have to kick you out myself,“ Jaebum grinned as they came back a few moments later.

“Whoa, calm down, dude. I’ll pack up and leave by myself in three days so you don’t need to waste your strength. So, it’s a deal?”

“Deal.”

“What about you, Jinyoung?”

Jinyoung thought for a moment. He began to doubt whether living with someone who seemed like a player would be alright. But Jackson seemed so eager to move in with Mark, only staying out of consideration for Jinyoung. He didn’t have the heart to hold him back any longer. Jaebum didn’t seem like such a bad person anyway.

“Okay, deal. Please take care of me.”

Jaebum beamed up, smiling so brightly and childlike Jinyoung felt the corner of his mouth lifted up too. “Me too.”

“Um, but, if you’re going to live with me, there’s something you need to know,” Jinyoung said. Well, it was inevitable for him to know sooner or later, so he might as well break it down now.

“What?” A hint of curiosity could be heard in his voice.

“There’s a reason why every lamps in this apartment except Jackson’s room aren’t so bright. I have some kind of situation.”

Jaebum kept silent, waiting patiently for him to finish. Jinyoung took a deep breath before he continued.

“I’m an achromat.”

Jaebum’s eyes widened in shock, signaling that he understood what it meant, yet somehow Jinyoung still felt the need to explain it.

“In other words, I’m totally colorblind.”

--

Jinyoung heard a knock on his door. “Come in,” he said loudly so the person behind the door could hear it.

The door opened slightly, letting a glimpse of light slit through the darkness. Jaebum’s face appeared through the crack.

“Are you sleeping?”

“No. What’s up?”

“Dinner is ready, but if you don’t want to eat now, I’ll wrap your share so you can reheat it later.”

It had been two weeks since Jaebum officially became his roommate, and turned out he was a better one than Jackson. On the first day, when they sorted out how they were going to share the chores, Jaebum offered to cook for both of them in exchange of Jinyoung doing all the laundry. Jinyoung was absolutely delighted, since he could save up more that way. He thought Jaebum would be as useless as Jackson and he were in the kitchen, yet it turned out he was quite a decent cook. His cooking had became Jinyoung’s new favorite food he would never passed on.

“I’m coming,” he said.

Jinyoung pushed himself off of the bed and walked toward the door. He blinked as the light welcomed him, letting his eyes adjust to it. As he did that, Jaebum had already left his side to bring the food to the living room and set it on the table. Jinyoung felt his stomach growling at the smell, so he took the steps toward it and sat down on the floor, waiting for Jaebum to bring the tableware.

“You could’ve helped me a little bit, you know, I’m not your wife,” Jaebum grumbled when he arrived and rest his buttocks beside him. Jinyoung only grinned as he took the chopsticks to feast on the sweet, sour, and spicy fried chicken in front of him.

“Itadakimasu~” Jinyoung said, copying the anime they just watched together this afternoon. Even living together only for a short while it was already evident that Jaebum was the total opposite from Jinyoung. Being a fine art major student in painting department, Jaebum always lived surrounded by colors. And even though not at the same level as Jackson, he was a pretty outgoing person, fortunately so because it had a big part on making Jinyoung warmed up to him easier which let them cohabitating in a comfortable environment. However, despite their major differences, they matched on many minor things so well. They both like watching anime, for example.

Jinyoung brought the chicken to his mouth with his chopsticks, greedily ripped out the meat from the bone. He moaned as he savored the taste on his tongue. He continued stuffing his mouth as if he was inhaling the food, not paying attention to Jaebum until he felt the latter’s eyes on him.

“What?” he asked, sounding muffled as he kept munching the food inside his mouth, throwing a questioning look at the other.

“What are you doing in that pitch dark room if you’re not sleeping? I’ve seen you do that before. I’m just curious, no need to answer that if you don’t want to.”

Jinyoung swallowed the food down before answering. “It’s nothing big, I just like doing that sometimes. In the dark, all I see is a pitch black world, everybody does. At that moment, I see the same color as others in the same situation, and I can feel like I’m not really different from the others. That’s the only reason, really,” Jinyoung chuckled, “I’m so silly, right?”

Jaebum shook his head. “Not at all. I understand your reason. And since I got to know you better, I’ve always thought black is so you.”

Jinyoung laughed. “What? Is it because I’m colorblind, so I’m colorless?”

Jaebum shook his head again, harder this time. “No, of course not. Black doesn’t mean you have no color. When you mixed three primary colors, you’ll get black. A black object absorbs all the colors of the visible spectrum and reflects none of them. What I mean is, I think you have all kind of colors inside you, but for some reason you won’t let it be shown. It’s such a shame.”

Jinyoung was at loss of words. He never expected that kind of answer, never knew that black could be seen in such a perspective. He had always thought black and white weren’t colors. That was why he, a total colorblind, could see it, and since he could only see them, he was also colorless.

“I’ve always thought I want to be the one who let those colors that were trapped inside you out for the world to see. So, Jinyoung…”

Jinyoung held his breath, drowned inside the depth of Jaebum’s eyes.

“...won’t you let me?”

_________________________________

P. S.:

So, Jinyoung is colorblind. I was inspired after watching Han Woo Tak on While You Were Sleeping, I like him so much <3 So, I did some researching about colorblindness and found out there was much more of total colorblindness than the drama showed, which kind of make me feel a little bit disappointed of the drama because now that I've read many of achromats' experiences Han Woo Tak doesn't feel so real anymore. Still love the drama and Han Woo Tak though ;D

Anyway, I try to portray Jinyoung as an achromat only based on my research on the internet, so forgive me and let me know if I make any mistake on it so I can fix it and do better for the next chapter. Thanks for reading, I wish you like it :))

Edit: Forgot to mention the song (+_+)

Roberta Flack ft. Donny Hathaway - Be Real Black for Me