Prompt: Sunggyu can't see colors, everything is black and white around him, but he can see Woohyun's shiny gold-brown eyes' color and the pink of his lips (only after he kissed them).

Sunggyu has heard about colors how vibrant and vivid they were. He’s heard people describe their feelings by using colors too. Blue was sadness. Green would be envy. But red could be different things: embarrassment, anger, and sometimes lust. But he couldn’t understand those analogies because he couldn’t see them, the colors. Well, he could see some. To him the world was just shades of gray, black, and white.

He did feel like he was missing out on part of the human existence. It was hard not to. Teachers would lecture about an artist’s brilliant use and blending of color. He couldn’t see the beauty he heard about sunrises and sunsets (he tried though, but it looked no different than a storm rolling in. It wasn’t worth the hours of sleep he missed). And even simple things, like cakes, greeting cards, balloons, and flowers, it was frustrating to not see them like everyone else.

Even living day to day was a slight struggle. Sunggyu had been told so often that his outfit clashed that eventually he resorted to only wearing black, grey, and white. When things were color coded, it was hard to tell what was what. He had almost been fired because he failed to find the folder with the blue tab (Sunggyu hadn’t told his boss about his ‘deficiency’ before the fact, but couldn’t hide it any longer). And he couldn’t tell you how many times he absentmindedly drank something and spat it back out because he didn’t notice it was something else.

But that’s not to say he wasn’t happy. He was perfectly content in  life and functioning well, very well. He was a lawyer at a major firm and lived at the rich and exclusive end of the city. He’d recently bought his parents a car and gave his sister a rather expensive wedding gift. He was their precious son/dongsaeng; he was loved greatly by them (and greatly babied by them).

And he had friends too, but not many of them. But that wasn’t because they thought he was weird or strange for his disability. He didn’t have many friends because he was shy. But the friends he did have loved him like a brother.

But something was still missing. Excitement, he hadn’t felt excited for a while. He had just fallen into a dull routine and thought that this monotony was all a part of becoming an adult and growing up. So he didn’t mind it that much. He just missed the sparks jolting through his skin, exciting his heart, but he missed them in a nostalgic way. It was something that kids had, and he was an adult. He was too old for it.

A part of his routine was to go out drinking at his favorite bar with his friends every Friday night without fail. But this was something he looked forward to, no matter how repetitive it was. Dongwoo would always laugh too loudly, earning glares from patrons who weren’t used to him yet. Sungyeol would drink too much and end up crashing on Sunggyu’s couch (his apartment was just down the street). And Sunggyu would rant ceaselessly about some new intern who couldn’t even get his coffee right. But there was comfort in this routine, and it helped to take the edge off of a stressful week.

But this week, Sunggyu could feel the tension in his shoulders tighten at Dongwoo’s announcement: he was bringing someone new. Sunggyu would’ve been okay if it was Myungsoo. He had met  Sungyeol’s friend Myungsoo several times before and liked him. But Dongwoo was bringing a complete stranger whom he himself hardly knew. “He’s new to the city. He’s just moved in this week. He doesn’t know anybody, and he looks like one of those types who’s used to going out often. So I invited him.”

“Dongwoo,” Sunggyu couldn’t hide the annoyance in his voice, and he didn’t want to. He was upset. His routine was messed up.

But Dongwoo didn’t care. He always wanted to push Sunggyu to do something new. After all, Dongwoo could’ve made Sunggyu do something much worse. They could’ve gone to a different bar.

“Hyung! He’s already on his way. I can’t ask him to leave,” Dongwoo argued.

Sunggyu leaned back in the booth and crossed his arms. “Technically you can. You just won’t.” Sungyeol just rolled his eyes at his hyung’s remark and took a long swig from his drink. It was going to be a long night.

“Oh! He’s here! Woohyun-ah, over here!” Dongwoo waved his coworker over to their booth.

Sungyeol, who was sitting next to Sunggyu, leaned over to the elder and said in a low voice. "You know, you can stand to make some new friends. It's not going to kill you." Sunggyu narrowed his gaze on the other, deepening his frown. Sungyeol sighed and reached for Sunggyu's empty glass, "Or it might, you big pansy. I'll get you a refill." And then he got up and left the booth before Sunggyu had anytime to reprimand him for his insolence.

And almost as soon as Sungyeol had slipped out, a new body was there to take his place, an unfamiliar one. “This is Nam Woohyun,” Dongwoo introduced the man as he slipped back into the booth. “My coworker.”’

Sunggyu looked up and studied the man next to him. He had a dark grey sweater covering his light grey skin. His pitch black hair had probably been carefully styled that morning, but had gotten messy and deflated throughout the day. Then the man turned to him and put on a polite smile. “It’s nice to meet you.”

Sunggyu froze right after their gazes met. His silence and sudden stiffness caused Woohyun to shift in his seat uncomfortably. But the elder couldn’t help it; something was wrong. Then Sunggyu felt a sharp pain shooting through his shin. Dongwoo had kicked him and was now gesturing to Sunggyu to be nice and say something back to Woohyun. “Uh yea,” Sunggyu spoke through his dry throat. “Kim Sunggyu…it’s nice to meet you too.”

Things didn’t get much better after the introductions. The conversation between Sunggyu and the newcomer ceased there. Realizing that talking to a wall would be a more fruitful conversation that talking with Sunggyu, Woohyun turned his attention to Dongwoo, and they chatted about work, about the people and the projects. Shortly after, Sungyeol came back with Sunggyu’s much needed refill, and the two of them talked to each other about their week. But unfortunately for Sunggyu, Sungyeol was more extroverted and tried to include Woohyun. And soon those two were talking with each other after realizing that they were fans of the same baseball team. Sunggyu liked the team too, but something was wrong with Woohyun and that deterred him from joining in the conversation. Instead, he sat there, nursing his drink and watching the other three talk. His eyes carefully studying the newcomer’s irises. It…it can’t be.

Suddenly, Woohyun’s eyes connected with Sunggyu’s, and the elder coughed and looked away. Woohyun sighed, “I’m going to get another drink.” He got up from the booth and headed over to the bar.

“He could’ve at least ask if we wanted one,” Sungyeol grumbled as he watched his nearly empty drink swirl about in his glass. Dongwoo snorted at his friend and shook his head. Sungyeol really had a one track mind sometimes, and on Fridays, it mostly centered around drinking. But Dongwoo’s attention was soon pulled towards the eldest.

“Dongwoo,” Sunggyu began. After Dongwoo turned his flighty attention in his direction, Sunggyu leaned forward and whispered, “There’s something wrong with your friend’s eyes.”

“Huh?” Dongwoo looked about in confusion. “What do you mean?”

Sunggyu chewed on his lower lip, not really know how to explain it. “They look weird,” he finally settled on whispering back. “Can’t you see it?”

Dongwoo pulled back and his eyes darted back to his coworker at the bar. He tucked his lip as he looked. “They look normal to me,” he admitted, scratching the back on his neck. Dongwoo then turned to face his friends again. His gaze met with the tallest who was still looking into his empty glass as if he was willing it to fill with beer again. “Yeol?”

Sungyeol looked up from his glass and gestured over to Sunggyu. “Gyu-hyung’s right. He’s got shifty eyes.” He began to demonstrate, his own  pupils darting around. “They keep flying all over the place.” He then shook his head, his eyes returning back to normal. He grabbed his glass again and cradled it in his hands.  “I don’t trust him,” Sungyeol finished.

“Ai!” Dongwoo complained, giving Sungyeol a light slap on his forearm. “He’s just nervous. Give him a break.”

Sunggyu shook his head, but the other two did not notice because now Sungyeol was slapping Dongwoo in retaliation and Dongwoo was laughing as if the open-palmed hits tickled. Sunggyu sighed, and his eyes flitted over to the man at the bar now drumming his fingers as he was waiting for his drink. That’s not what I meant.  Sunggyu sighed once again, catching sight of those eyes. He tried to take a swig of his drink to take his mind off of them, but it was empty. Sunggyu tapped Sungyeol on the shoulder. “I’m going to get another drink,” he announced.

Sungyeol slid out of the booth, allowing the elder to get out, and handed him his own empty glass. “Get me one too while you’re at it,” he demanded. Sunggyu shot him and angry glare as he took the glass. “Please?” Sunggyu grumbled ‘fine’ and made his way to the bar.

“Take it easy, hyung,” Dongwoo called after him, his voice laced with worry. Sunggyu waved the other off. Dongwoo always underestimated his tolerance, probably because Sunggyu seemed intolerant of other aspects of his life…especially change.

Sunggyu squeezed himself between a couple other patrons at the bar. The bartender recognized the regular quickly. All Sunggyu had to do was show the empty glasses, and the bartender nodded and knew exactly what they needed. It wasn’t hard to figure out when Sunggyu and his friends ordered the same thing every week for years. It was routine for the bartender as well.

Sunggyu placed the empty glasses on the bar and out of the corner of his eye, he surreptitiously searched for Woohyun, the biggest change in his life right now. And like with most change, Sunggyu didn’t like him either. Apparently, Woohyun had taken notice.

“What’s your problem?” Woohyun growled underneath his breath as he squeezed himself in between Sunggyu and another patron.

“Huh?” Sunggyu pretended not to pay attention and looked down at the light and dark grey grains of the wooden bar, his finger  following the patterns.

Woohyun brought his face down closer to the bar. His gaze met with Sunggyu’s. He looked angry. “You’ve been glaring at me all night. Why?” he asked.

“You look weird,” Sunggyu blurted out, getting defensive all of the sudden. Sure, he probably shouldn’t have glared at him, but he wasn’t doing it on purpose. If Woohyun looked normal, he wouldn’t be staring. In a way it was all Woohyun’s fault, in Sunggyu’s mind.

“Tsk!” Woohyun scoffed and pulled away. “You’re a jerk.” He turned his face away from Sunggyu, obviously hurt.

“No, no,” Sunggyu found himself retracting his previous comment. “Your eyes” Sunggyu gestured, trying to grasp in the air the words that he couldn’t find. “They aren’t..normal.”

Woohyun whipped his head back toward Sunggyu and narrowed his gaze to sharp points. “Look who’s talking!” he argued, digging a finger into the other’s chest. “You’re in no position to make fun of my eyes.”

Sunggyu groaned and batted away the other’s hand. “No, I meant the color is off,” Sunggyu froze after those quick words fell from his lips. He must have noticed it subconsciously, or just denied that it was the problem. But the color was off, at least for Sunggyu. It…might actually be a color. Sunggyu shook his head. No, it’s impossible.

“What?” Woohyun asked, laughing in disbelief. “You’ve never seen anybody with brown eyes before?”

Brown? Was he actually seeing it? Sunggyu didn’t answer right away. He couldn’t. He just stared at Woohyun, more softly now but just as curious. Woohyun’s eyes fell out of their smiling crescents and widened, revealing the deep, warm color Sunggyu was seeing for the first time. The edges of his irises seemed to melt softly into the white of his eyes. They looked friendly and inviting, but also confused because Sunggyu had been staring for a bit too long. “Sorry,” Sunggyu apologized with a sniff. “I think I drank too much.”

“Yea probably,” Woohyun chuckled, the warm color now disappearing behind his dark eyelashes as he smiled. Sunggyu found himself laughing along too, mostly out of exasperation. “You’re not making any sense.”

But Sunggyu’s laughter soon dissipated, and he hit Woohyun in the shoulder. “Yah, what’s wrong with my eyes?”

After Sunggyu’s realization, the rest of the evening passed rather pleasantly. Even drunken Sungyeol was more pleasant than he normally was and was coherent enough to walk on his own to Sunggyu’s apartment. And Woohyun wasn’t so bad. He was funny and friendly, a bit dumb at times, but Sunggyu could actually see them get along well in the future. And it was almost as if Dongwoo had anticipated them becoming friends, if his satisfied and knowing grin at the end of the night was any indication. But Sunggyu’s stomach felt heavy at the same time. He couldn’t see color. He shouldn’t see color, but why were Woohyun’s eyes an exception? And Sunggyu gaze was unconsciously attracted to them. It was for him not to. That warm brown was the variation in his dull palate. But Sunggyu was afraid that all of his staring was creeping Woohyun out because the other did notice. It was hard not to.

However, it seemed like Woohyun actually enjoyed Sunggyu’s attention,  and he began showing up every Friday night at the bar, sliding up right next to Sunggyu in the booth. And one night, Sungyeol in all of his tipsy glory, attempted to flirt with the bartender that he’d been harboring a crush for. Dongwoo  had went up with the other, attempting to be his wing man. Dongwoo had perhaps taken the role as wing man too literally because he was excitedly was flapping his arms as he was loudly talking about how great of a person Sungyeol was. “And Sungyeol is a very sensitive soul. He cries ALL the time. One time he cried at a wedding because he thought the wallpaper was beautiful!”

“HYUNG!” Sungyeol practically leaped on top of the other, slapping a hand over the other’s large lips. “I was joking. That was a joke!” he insisted to the female bartender, who was rolling her eyes and laughing at the scene in front of her.

Sunggyu leaned over and whispered into Woohyun’s ear (but maybe a little too close because his lips brushed a little against the shell of his ear), “He really did. It was my sister’s wedding.”

“Really?” Woohyun asked as he pulled away, laughing both at what his hyung had said and from the ticklish hot breaths and lips on his ear. Sunggyu pulled away too, laughing, but it quickly stopped in his throat.

On Woohyun’s ear, a new color was blooming. It was lighter than brown, but maybe looked even warmer because of it. The color of the ear, however, was quickly changing from the light color to a darker one. Sunggyu could see the blood vessels of the other’s ears rising to the surface. Sunggyu swallowed hard. He was not only seeing a flesh-tone for the first time, but blush as well. And that’s when Sunggyu realized that his fingers were unconsciously reaching out to touch the blushing ear. He coughed and quickly retreated his hand, ing them deep within the pockets of his jeans.

“Hey, I’m going to get another drink. Do you want one too, hyung?” Woohyun asked, already grabbing both of their glasses. Sunggyu just nodded blankly, eyes fixed on the empty seat across from him. But it wasn’t empty for long. Dongwoo suddenly appeared in his line of vision, with a great frown on his face.

“Sungyeol sent me back here,” he grumbled. “He said that I was ruining things.”

Sunggyu scoffed, “You were only telling the truth. It’s not your fault that Sungyeol’s ashamed of it. Beside look,” he nodded over to the bar. “It looks like they’re hitting it off.” Dongwoo followed the elder’s gaze and found that Sungyeol was laying his head listlessly on the bar (probably cursing Dongwoo under his breath) and the bartender was giggling fondly and patting his back gently.

A smile quickly replaced the frown on Dongwoo’s face. “I knew they would. The noonas always fall for Sungyeol,” he remarked with an excited giggle. Then he turned his attention back to Sunggyu. He wiggled his eyebrows. “Speaking of hitting it off, you and Woohyun seem to be getting along well, hyung.”

And while Dongwoo had been saying this, Sunggyu was already looking at that ear which had just returned to its normal tone. The color contrasted greatly against the light grey that enveloped the rest of his skin, and Sunggyu felt irritated by it. It was like it was teasing him, only giving him a small glimpse to the possibility of shades that he’d been deprived of his whole life. Dongwoo then coughed, garnering Sunggyu’s attention, with a sly smile on his face. “Yea, he’s a good kid,” Sunggyu remarked, looking down at the table.

Later that night, Sunggyu had to try again. He had to know what it was that made Woohyun’s skintone appear. And so when they were exiting the bar, after calling it a night, Sunggyu immediately wrapped an arm around Woohyun’s shoulder. He then leaned in to whisper something, but then realized that he really had nothing to say. And so he whispered the first thing to come to his mind, “Call me later, okay?”

“O-okay,” Woohyun stammered back, and when he pulled away, Sunggyu was disappointed to see the normal grey tone. It hadn’t changed. What made it worse was that Sunggyu could see it quickly darkening. Woohyun was blushing again. “I’ll see you later, hyung. Bye Dongwoo-hyung! Bye Sungyeol. Better luck next time,” he joked and patted Sungyeol on the head (the bartender seemed to ignore most of his advances). Sungyeol tried to kick him in the shin in response, but Woohyun dodged it while chuckling and waved goodbye as he walked down the street.

Sunggyu waved back, sighing sadly. After he was done waving, his hand fell from the air and touched his lips. He recalled how they brushed against the shell of Woohyun’s ear the first time. Is that really it? Do I really have to do that? “Hey, Dongwoo!” he called out to his friend, who was apologizing profusely to a distraught Sungyeol.

“Huh? What is it?” Sunggyu walked up and pecked him on the cheek. Nothing happened, except for Dongwoo giggling happily (Dongwoo was the kind of person who enjoyed skinship so much that he didn’t really question why or how he got it). And his cheek was still the slightly marked light grey that Sunggyu was familiar with for years. Sunggyu sighed. So it’s only Woohyun.

Sungyeol pushed Sunggyu. “Yah! Don’t kiss him. He doesn’t deserve it. If anyone needs to be kissed, it’s me!” he argued.

Sunggyu smirked. “Fine. Then come here,” he joked, leaning closer and closer to Sungyeol.

“No. NO! Not you! Hyung is disgusting! I meant a woman. I want to be kissed by a woman! Go away!”

The next morning, Sunggyu woke up to a phone call. “Hello?” he answered groggily, his mind a bit hazy from the drinking last night.

“Hey,” a deep but hesitant voice answered back on the other end. “Do you want to meet up for lunch?”

Sunggyu glanced over to the alarm clock. It was late in the morning, but he was in the habit of not rolling out of his bed on Saturdays until late in the afternoon. “Why?” he whined, kicking the sheets off of his legs.

“But last night you told me to call you,” Woohyun sounded terribly confused. “I thought that…”

Sunggyu dragged a hand down his face, groaning. He had forgotten what he’d said last night, and he wouldn’t have thought that Woohyun would act upon it. “Yea, yea. Let’s get lunch.”

Somehow, Sunggyu did manage to drag himself out of bed after finalizing plans with Woohyun. And after throwing on jeans and a sweatshirt, hardly looking like the serious lawyer that he was, Sunggyu began to make his way to the restaurant where they said that they’d meet. Thankfully, it was close to where Sunggyu lived, and so he could take his time getting there, which he did. It took him a half an hour to lazily walk what should have taken him only fifteen minutes. By the time he got there, Woohyun was already waiting for him on the bench outside of the restaurant. He too didn’t look like the professional consultant that he was. He had a sweatshirt as well, with a pretty obnoxious pattern on it. Sunggyu snorted. It suited Woohyun, somehow. And then he smirked, realizing that he had the perfect opportunity.

He carefully and soundlessly walked up behind Woohyun and whispered into his still grey ear, making sure that his lips touched the shell of the other’s ears. “How long have you been waiting?”

Woohyun jumped up, turning towards Sunggyu with a wide grin, and Sunggyu’s smile widened too, seeing the warm flesh color slowly spread on the other ear, overtaking the grey. “Hyung! You came!” he exclaimed happily.

Sunggyu cocked his head. “Yea, why wouldn’t I?” he teased.  Woohyun didn’t respond and only shrugged, still grinning broadly. “Come on. Let’s go inside. I’m starving.”

Halfway through the meal, Sunggyu remembered that this was the first time met alone, without Sungyeol and Dongwoo, and not on a Friday. But it felt like they had been doing this for a while. It hardly felt divergent from his regular schedule. At some point in time in the last few weeks, they must have become friends, close friends too, judging by their banter. And those warm brown eyes never seemed to leave his, and Sunggyu concluded that that exact shade of brown was quickly becoming his favorite color.

But during the meal, Sunggyu was growing increasingly jittery. He had figured out the secret to unlocking color. His lips were the key. And he was yearning to see more, noticing how the shades of grey meld and change across Woohyun’s skin. And that pitch black hair, was it possible that it wasn’t black at all? His eyes fell onto Woohyun’s ears again. Only the tips were actually colored. The lobes were still dark. His heart began to quicken as his fingers tapped against his own thigh nervously. Was he actually getting excited? He hadn’t felt this way in a while. He didn’t think he could feel this way again.

Eventually, he saw an opportunity again, and so he took it. While Woohyun had bent his head, searching for the right bills in his wallet, looking quite cute as he scrunched up his face in frustration. Sunggyu leaned forward and kissed him on the crown of his head. His heart just about stopped in anticipation. “Your hair!” He gasped as soon as he saw a bright and vibrant color.. It made Woohyun’s eyes and skin look so subdued in comparison. This color was meant to attract attention.

 Woohyun looked up, chuckling. His shoulder jostled up and down. “Did you seriously just notice that I dyed it?” he asked, his grey fingers touching the bright strands that Sunggyu had just kissed. “Hyung, I dyed it purple ages ago!” he exclaimed. And then he bent his head and point at his crown. “Look it’s already growing out.” And sure enough, at the top of the colorful strands, black was peeking through. But Sunggyu leaned in closer. It didn’t appear to be entirely black. He could see some undertones in a very similar hue to Woohyun’s eyes, brown. But then his eyes traveled back down to the bright ends, taking them in between his fingers. So this is purple. He could see why it was the color for royalty now. It stood out. Sunggyu liked it.

But then he heard a slight whine from under his hand. Sunggyu quickly retracted it and returned to his seat. A dark grey was painting Woohyun’s cheeks as he touched the purple streaks that were around Sunggyu’s moments ago. He needed to have more self control. He couldn’t just kiss Woohyun whenever he wanted and expect the other to be okay with it. After all, they were just a bit more than strangers at this point, hardly knowing each other for more than a month.

But judging on Woohyun’s smile and the fact that he didn’t even question Sunggyu randomly kissing him on the top of his head, maybe Woohyun really didn’t mind. Maybe he liked it.

And so Sunggyu ended up kissing Woohyun’s hair again before they parted that afternoon, watching the rich purple soak the formerly black hair. In fact, it soon became how he greeted Woohyun, said goodbye, or just praised him for being cute. But it was all an excuse to watch the purple slowly overtake his head. He did it so often, Woohyun only had a few grey strands left on his head, mostly collecting at the base of his neck (which Sunggyu deemed wildly inappropriate to even attempt kissing there). But much to Sunggyu’s chagrin, the purple was fading away, and Woohyun’s natural color was overtaking it. And everytime Woohyun would remark about fixing it, dying it black altogether, Sunggyu objected loudly, saying that the purple suited him.

And then one Friday night, Woohyun finally commented on the other’s excessive skinship. “Hyung, you’re a pretty affectionate person,” Woohyun remarked with a forced laugh as he patted the area where Sunggyu had just kissed him.

 “Huh?”

Woohyun played with the beer glass in front of him. “Do, uh, do you always kiss your friends this much?” he fought to get out, shooting a glance over to Dongwoo and Sungyeol who were trying with the bartender again.

“Honestly…no,” Sunggyu answered. Sure he was more open about it with Dongwoo, but it never came to the level of his with Woohyun. He sniffed and looked away from Woohyun’s warm eyes and bright hair. “Does it bother you?” he asked, fearing the answer.

“No! I like it,” Woohyun objected a bit too loudly. Sunggyu faced him again. His brown eyes were hidden again behind his eyelashes, smiling so broadly. “I like it a lot.” He then cleared his throat and restrained his smile a bit. “It's like getting kissed by my mom. Should I start calling you Umma?” he teased, knocking his shoulder into Sunggyu’s.

Sunggyu pushed the younger away from him and punched him in the forearm. “Shut up!”

“Umma! “ Woohyun whimpered, rubbing his hand up and down his new sore spot. “Stop hitting your son!”

“At least call me Appa, you punk!” Sunggyu objected taking a long drink from his beer. Woohyun only chuckled happily in response, watching the elder drink with careful eyes.

Someone else was watching Sunggyu carefully, and Woohyun too. Maybe trying to set up Sungyeol with the bartender was fruitless, but he found another couple that he might be more successful with.

The next Friday, Sunggyu arrived to the bar early and still in his suit (it had been a stressful week and a case that had been a pain in his neck was finally settled. He wanted to celebrate). Normally Dongwoo was the first to come, so Sunggyu didn’t expect  that he would wait much longer for the other to come. However, half an hour and a drink later, neither he nor Sungyeol showed up. He was about to leave with a heavy heart, sad that he couldn’t celebrate with his friends, when he saw a bright mop of purple bouncing into the bar. Woohyun must have redyed it recently. Even the dark roots were covered. Instead of sliding next to Sunggyu, like he normally did, Woohyun sat across from Sunggyu, announcing that Dongwoo and Sungyeol  “couldn’t make it.” And when Sunggyu asked why, Woohyun shrugged, “I don’t know. I think they’re busy.” He didn’t pay their friends’ absence much mind and instead, leaned forward and wiggled his eyebrows. “Hey, since they’re not here, let’s try something new.”

Sunggyu rolled the glass in his hand and cocked an eybrow. “Like what?”

“There’s this Chinese restaurant I’ve been wanting to try, just across the street,” Woohyun suggested with a cheeky grin, as if he were hiding a secret.

Sunggyu nodded and looked out the window. The restaurant was visible from where they were sitting. “I’ve been there before. It’s good,” he muttered. He chewed his lip as he thought, noticing that Woohyun was anxiously anticipating an answer from him. Sunggyu nodded. His normal Friday night was already not so normal with the absence of the other two, and besides, he wanted to celebrate. “Okay. Let’s go.”

And Sunggyu didn’t regret going along with Woohyun. The change of venue was exactly what he needed to lift his spirits, and somehow Woohyun always knew the right (and somewhat dumb) thing to say that would send Sunggyu laughing. All of the stresses that he had built up over the week melted away. Eventually, Sunggyu realized that he wasn’t the only one still in his suit. Woohyun was also not wearing his usual jeans and pullover. He appeared to be wearing his clothes from work, fitting to his body more tightly than the pullovers and sweatshirts that he was used to seeing Woohyun in. Sunggyu was about to comment about it, but that was also the moment that the bill came and Woohyun not-so-secretly pushed it towards Sunggyu.

Sunggyu pouted, glaring at the thin black folder and looked back up to Woohyun who was smiling broadly. “What? You’re older, and you make more money,” he argued, bouncing in his seat.

 “I should’ve figured that this was trap,” he complained but was already reaching for his wallet. When he had taken it from his back pocket, he made a show of it, shaking it. “Alright! I’ll pay this is, but just this once.”

Woohyun nodded and said, “Thanks, hyung. I’ll make it up to you later.”

“You better,” but Sunggyu doubted if Woohyun actually would. This wasn’t the first time Woohyun had somehow left him with the bill (in fact when Sunggyu had confronted him before about it, Woohyun argued that Sunggyu’s money was his money, and his money, in turn, in was Sunggyu’s because they were friends. But Woohyun still never paid for a single thing because Sunggyu was ‘the hyung’). But what Sunggyu didn’t know is that there was more than one way to repay a debt.

 When they left the restaurant, they began walking home together along the tree-and-streetlamp-lined streets. A couple weeks prior, the two finally discovered that they only lived a block from each other, which also led to Woohyun randomly stumbling into his apartment, making Sunggyu wonder if Woohyun was treating his apartment now like he treated his money (but Sunggyu got his ‘revenge’ on the other, barging into Woohyun’s apartment announced and hiding his remote).

In the soft lights from the streetlamps, Woohyun’s hair shown even more brightly than before. And while he was admiring the brighter and deeper shade, he had noticed a patch of grey hiding underneath the purple. Sunggyu wrapped his arm around Woohyun’s shoulders and pulled him in, kissing that grey patch away. But unlike all of the other times, Woohyun stiffened under his touch, and a frown appeared on his face. Sunggyu immediately dropped his arm and pulled away.

“Why’d you do that?” Woohyun asked, his eyes were fixed on the passing trees.

Sunggyu sniffed and also diverted his gaze. “You were being cute?” He wasn’t too sure why he did it himself. He was slowly losing his self-control.

“Hyung,” Woohyun spoke, his voice not as strong as it normally was. Sunggyu turned to face him, and Woohyun was looking right at him with his curious brown eyes surrounded by a sea of grey. “I’ve been meaning to ask you…Do you like me?”

Sunggyu stopped in his tracks for a beat, taken aback, but he quickly rejoined his place by Woohyun and continued walking. Woohyun didn’t mean it the way he thought; he was sure of it. “Of course,” he said with a reassuring smile. “You’re my good friend.”

“Just forget it,” Woohyun grumbled, picking up his pace and hunching his shoulders.

 “Huh? What happened?” Sunggyu jogged to keep up with him. He then cut in front of Woohyun, blocking him. He put his hand on the other’s shoulder and shook him until Woohyun looked up. “Why are you acting so pissy now?”

“Because I am pissed!” Woohyun retorted, shaking the other’s hand from his shoulder. His hands were deep in his pockets turning into fists. “Hyung, do you know what you’re doing to me?” Woohyun asked Sunggyu, his eyes widening. “You can’t just kiss me like that!”

“You,” Sunggyu stammered, “you said you liked it.”

“That’s because I like you!” he yelled back. Sunggyu wasn’t expecting that and couldn’t find the words to speak. He couldn’t even find a single thought in his head. It was empty. And so for a while, nothing but Woohyun’s angry pants and crickets chirping in the background passed between them. Woohyun wasn’t able to stand the silence for any longer. His expression softened as he repeated, “I like you, Sunggyu. More than a friend.” But the more he spoke, the more his feelings began to take over him. “Hell, I even threatened Yeol and Dongwoo-hyung not to come tonight so that I could do this. So I could confess. But you’re making it so damn hard because you’re so dumb!”

“What?!” Sunggyu stepped forward and was about to say some firey words himself. After all, this was Nam Woohyun who had just called him dumb, and he wasn’t exactly the sharpest tool in the shed.

But Woohyun, with his way with words, was able to stop him. “Sunggyu, you like me too,” his voice was so strong, so sure. He even lifted up his chin, gazing down at Sunggyu, acting haughty. And Sunggyu could only laugh.

Sunggyu snorted, “Pbft! Someone’s full of himself.”

Woohyun lowered his chin, and his eyes darted away. “Hyung, you like me, right?” his voice was much less confident.  “I mean, you kiss me and hug me a lot. We get along well. Even Dongwoo-hyung and Yeol think so too.” The more Woohyun spoke, the smaller he seemed, both in voice and stature. His gaze finally fell on Sunggyu again. Those brown eyes searching all over the elder’s face. “I’m not crazy.”

Sunggyu smiled. His chest felt warm and tight as his heart thudded in his chest. He thought that these symptoms, this excitement, was because he was finally seeing colors, and it just happened to be Woohyun. But maybe it wasn’t such a coincidence as he thought. Maybe he actually felt something more for the other than just a close friendship. And yes, Woohyun could be annoying, but it was an annoying that he could live with. It was an annoying that he liked.

“Maybe,” Sunggyu finally answered. “Maybe I do.”

Woohyun’s eyes stopped darting around and fixed on Sunggyu’s. “Really?!” he exclaimed.

Sunggyu shoved him playfully. “Yah! You were the one insisting that I liked you two seconds ago,” he teased.

Woohyun chuckled,  “Yea, but you’re confusing.”

“And you’re sneaky,” Sunggyu retorted, and he began walking again. Woohyun fastened himself to the elder’s side, leaning onto him but keeping his hands in his pockets.“I knew this evening was a trap.”

“It’s our first date!” Woohyun chirped, leaning even more on the other.

“What if I said I didn’t like you?” Sunggyu argued.

“Then it would be our last,” Woohyun quickly answered. Then he finally took his hand from his pocket and wrapped it around Sunggyu’s waist. He whispered into Sunggyu’s ear,  “But, come on hyung. There’s no way you’d refuse me. You like me. You think I’m y.”

Sunggyu took off the hand from away his waist. “I never said that. You’re ridiculous,” he cheerfully snapped back. Then he turned to the right. They had already reached his apartment complex. He turned around to wave at Woohyun who was still following after him. “Good night.”

But before Sunggyu could reach the door handle to the apartment lobby. Woohyun jogged up to him and grabbed his wrist. “Wait! Where are you going?” he asked, moving his hand quickly from the wrist to intertwining with Sunggyu’s hand, and pulled the elder away from the door.

And Sunggyu let him. “Home,” he answered as he walked away from it.

“The date’s not over yet,” Woohyun spoke in a hushed voice and quickly pressed a kiss on Sunggyu’s lips. But in his excitement, Woohyun had missed slightly, kissing mostly the corner of Sunggyu’s mouth and cheek. It was evident when he pulled back. Most of Woohyun’s lips now had color too. It was brighter than his skin, but not his hair. But Sunggyu liked it more than the purple. It was more subdued, and even more alluring. And the lips were now glistening in the lamplight, looking even more alluring…and even delicious. Sunggyu knew what color this was without being told. This is red. His grey thumb traced against the colored lips. He wanted to see more of it.

 Sunggyu kissed the grey corner of Woohyun’s mouth, but his lips had also touched a part of Woohyun’s cheek. And seeing that color spread across there, Sunggyu couldn’t stop. He pressed several more pecks, filling in the right side of Woohyun’s face. And as he was tracing his lips to the center of the other’s face, planting a soft kiss on the end of his sharp (and cold) nose, Woohyun whined, “Hyung…” Sunggyu pulled away immediately; he had forgotten that they were still in public. But he was rewarded for his rash actions. He saw the soft, red blush blooming behind his now colored cheeks. Sunggyu smiled, running his thumb over the blush, wanting it to deepen. “Come on. Let’s go inside,” Sunggyu whispered.

“Okay.”

As soon as Sunggyu locked his apartment door, Woohyun eagerly sought the other again with those red, hungry lips. But Sunggyu quickly took control again, pinning Woohyun to the wall in his hallway. The left side of his face was still annoyingly grey, and Sunggyu ready to fix that. He showered the other with light and innocent pecks, pressing his lips slightly against the other’s skin. It was just a bit more than brushing his lips over the other, but he still imagined in his mind that his lips were the paintbrush, and Woohyun his canvas. As he was doing this, Woohyun’s hands traveled  to  his lowerback, pulling in Sunggyu by his beltloops. And after their chests met, the younger’s arms wrapped tightly around Sunggyu waist, but Sunggyu was still preoccupied with filling in the other. The face was almost done. Sunggyu pulled back Woohyun fringe, exposing his forehead and hairline. And Sunggyu got to work on that. But there was a black spot over his left eye that refused to change color, no matter how often he went over it. Sunggyu then ran his thumb over it, noticing that it was raised. “Hehe. It’s a mole,” he concluded.

 “Sunggyu…” Woohyun called to him, but Sunggyu didn’t notice/care. His lips were moving down, grazing Woohyun’s sharp jaw. Woohyun then lifted his chin, giving Sunggyu more room to work. But as Sunggyu’s lips hit his chin, Woohyun had had enough. He gripped the back of Sunggyu’s collar and pulled him away. “Sunggyu-hyung,” he whispered  like a plea.

Sunggyu looked up, and his eyes met with Woohyun’s heavy-lidded ones. His heart jumped to his throat. He had been so busy painting his ‘masterpiece’ that he had forgotten to consider what kind of effect this would have on Woohyun. The younger was pouting and panting. The red lips parted, revealing its dark grey and black interior. His warm brown irises were overtaken by dilated pupils. But they still showed a want and a need in them, and maybe something else. Care? Love?

Before Sunggyu could figure it out, Woohyun leaned in and took Sunggyu’s lips with a hungry passion. He had officially taken the reins from the other, pulling the elder in closer by the lapels of his jacket. And with a  tilt of his head, Woohyun invaded the other’s mouth with his tongue, tasting every inch. But Sunggyu made sure to have his lips touch every part of the other as much as he could. It resulted in a very sloppy kiss. But Woohyun had moaned softly, so he must not have minded the roughness of the kiss. In fact, he made it even rough, taking in Sunggyu’s lower lip between his teeth and tugging at it.

And when they had pulled away to recover, Sunggyu was shocked to see Woohyun’s dark red tongue running across his lighter lips. He hadn’t expected that the tongue would look like that. It had always been a light grey before. But now, against Woohyun light red lips and off-white teeth, the tongue stood out even more. And so when Woohyun leaned in to renew the kiss, Sunggyu pulled back in surprised. Even though it was for a second, it didn’t take long for Woohyun’s face to crumble into confusion. And so Sunggyu quickly tried to play it off as if he was teasing. He smirked and took Woohyun’s hand. “Come on.” It was about time that they relocated into the bedroom.

 When the crossed into the bedroom, things seemed to amplify, and the clothes seemed to shed from the bodies as if by their own will. Now with Woohyun’s grey and fleshtone speckled skin laying against his black sheets,  Sunggyu’s eagerness to see more seemed to grow. Next was his neck, which Sunggyu not only ran over with his lips but also his tongue. And when he nipped at the other’s adam’s apple, it elicited a small moan from the Woohyun, who was working on ing Sunggyu’s shirt. In his impatience, buttons were being torn off and flying onto the bed. Sunggyu, however, didn’t care one iota for his shirt (no matter how expensive it was) because Woohyun was already shirtless. And his chest was begging to be filled in, beginning with the darkest part of it. Sunggyu leaned down and took a in his mouth, it lightly. He pulled back, seeing the color bloom under his skin. The fleshtone against the darker, browner . Wanting to see more, Sunggyu planted open mouth kisses on his way to the other dark spot. Groaning, Woohyun dug his hands into Sunggyu’s hair, massaging his scalp as if it was some reward for all of Sunggyu ‘work.’ Getting worked up, Sunggyu tugged at Woohyun other with his teeth. Woohyun yelped in pain, but Sunggyu was almost proud to see the red bite marks around the brown skin. He ran his thumb over it apologetically, and Woohyun hummed happily, easily forgiving the other. Smiling at this, Sunggyu kissed the first thing his lips could reach, which happened to be the crook of Woohyun’s elbow of the hand in the elder’s hair.

Woohyun retracted his hand and let out a short chuckle, staring at the wet mark that Sunggyu had just left at his elbow. “Hyung, what are you doing? Do you have some weird ?” he joked, but then

Sunggyu immediately averted his gaze, taking his lower lip into his own mouth. He was caught. He’d known that he’d have to tell Woohyun about his condition. It would’ve been easier if he wasn’t able to see color at all still, but only being able to see the other in color complicated things. It seemed fantastical, fake…crazy. “No,” he denied in a shaky voice.

 “Hul! You do! Just look at your face,” Woohyun jeered, pointing a finger at the other’s face and then using it to tap his nose.

Sunggyu sat up, straddling the other. “No. No I don’t,” he adamantly denied. Woohyun also pulled himself up, resting his back against the headboard. He cocked an eyebrow, challenging the other. Sunggyu couldn’t deny that he was practically devouring the other’s skin with kisses like a cannibal. Sunggyu sighed. “It’s just that,” he began, but he then looked into Woohyun’s eyes in all seriousness. “Promise not to laugh?”

“Okay,” Woohyun answered with a chuckle. It wasn’t exactly the tone that the elder wanted to hear.

 “Seriously!” Sunggyu said empathetically.

Woohyun sighed and grabbed Sunggyu’s right hand. The smile was gone from his face, and the laughter from his lips. He latched their pinkies together and shook them in a promise. “There. I promise I won’t laugh,” he tone was serious but his brown eyes were sparkling mischievously. He must have sensed Sunggyu’s continued reluctance because he began to beg, “Now tell me.”

Sunggyu tightened his hold on the other’s pinkie. “And don’t tell me I’m weird.”

“I promise. Trust me!” Woohyun exclaimed, putting his free hand over his heart. He detached their pinkies, opting to locked their hands together instead. He squeezed it tightly, reassuring the other.

It finally worked. “I…I can’t see colors,” Sunggyu confessed.

 “You’re colorblind?” Woohyun interjected; his eyes were full of worry.

Sunggyu shook his head. “It’s a little more severe than that. Most people who are color blind have a hard time differentiating between red and green.” He looked down watching his thumb rub against Woohyun’s still grey hand. He couldn’t stand seeing the pitiful look in Woohyun’s eyes anymore. “But I couldn’t see any color...”

“Hyung…”

“Until I met you,” Sunggyu finished, rendering Woohyun speechless for once. Sunggyu brought up his free hand and rubbed it against the younger’s temple; Woohyun leaned into the touch. “At first it was just your eyes.”

At that, Woohyun’s eyes widened. “My eyes?”  he whispered in surprise.

“Eung,” he confirmed. He then turned his attention to their interlocked hands, bringing them up to both of their views. “And then every time I kissed you ,” he kissed the back of Woohyun’s hand, watching the color spread and the colorful veins appear beneath his skin. He kissed it again with a smile on his face, clearly enjoying whatever he was seeing. “color would appear.” He caressed the new color under the pad of this thumb, and he looked back up at Woohyun who was still speechless. “It’s weird, isn’t it?”

Woohyun shook his head, but his face was still blank. “Why me?”  he asked.

“I don’t know.”

Finally, a smile grew across the younger’s face, easing Sunggyu’s heart. “It must be fate then,” Woohyun concluded. And Sunggyu responded with a snort, shaking his head in disbelief. But that didn’t faze Woohyun.  He leaned in closer to Sunggyu, their lips almost touching. “So…does this mean you want to kiss every inch of me?” he asked in a husky voice.

Sunggyu’s eyes automatically flew to the other’s armpits, seeing the dark hair peaking out of its crease. He grimaced. “Maybe not every.”

Sunggyu then felt the hot breaths of Woohyun’s voiceless chuckle fall upon his lips. “I know where you can kiss next,” he proposed.

Woohyun fell back against the headboard after Sunggyu pushed him. “How about you can kiss me there first,” the elder retorted.

Woohyun pouted and pointed to his lips, “I meant here, hyung.”

“Right,” Sunggyu responded with a roll of his eyes. But he had to admit, he liked how the younger’s lips would increasingly darken and glisten the more that they kissed. Maybe giving in just this once into Woohyun would be harmless (which is a complete lie, because Sunggyu gives into Woohyun time and time again. Once was never enough).

 The next morning, Sunggyu woke up to see a mess of black sheets next to him, empty but still warm. He then heard clanking and soft cursing over in the next room, which was the kitchen. Grinning, Sunggyu was more than happy to leave his bed before noon this Saturday.

He shuffled into the kitchen, seeing Woohyun already up and making coffee. Well, attempting to make coffee. Woohyun was unfamiliar with Sunggyu’s coffee machine and was just pressing random buttons hoping that one of them would magically make the coffee appear. As he was doing this, he lifted up his shirt, scratching his back, unaware that Sunggyu was watching and admiring his own work. Woohyun’s lower back was practically a patchwork of flesh and grey. Sunggyu smirked. He had time to fill the rest in later. He had a long time.

But then Sunggyu noticed that the nape of Woohyun’s neck was still colorless. He walked up and kissed the grey away. “Good morning,” he whispered with his lips brushing against the nape, watching the color appear.

Woohyun hummed happily, but it quickly turned into a frustrated whine as he realized that he had failed to plug in the coffee maker. He plugged it in, and the coffee maker began to bubble and brew.

Sunggyu laughed at the other’s cuteness, giving him energy so early in the morning. The laughter abated as he saw a grey patch on the younger’s neck. I thought I got that. He kissed it. The mark remained. He did it again. “Huh? Why isn’t it disappearing?” he complained.

Woohyun’s hand flew up to touch the tender spot on his neck. He winced after putting pressure on it. “It’s probably a hickey. Aish! Did you really have to make one so high?” he voice sounded upset, but Sunggyu could see the corners of the younger’s mouth  twitch up into a smile.

“Sorry,” Sunggyu apologized and continued to kiss the dark spot. His lips then continued down to his shoulder, planting light pecks at he went.

Woohyun leaned away, exposing more skin for the other to lavish. “I think I’m going to miss this when you finally fill me in,” he mused as he reached behind, rubbing his hands up and down Sunggyu’s sides.

 “Here,” Sunggyu said as he kissed the base of the other’s neck. “It’s already in color.”

“Then why?”

Sunggyu pulled back and leaned against the fridge next to Woohyun. The two met face to face for the first time that day. Sunggyu smirked, hiding a new secret. The truth was he like the feeling of Woohyun’s warm skin against his lips, especially when he could feel it prickle and shiver at his touch. He liked how at Woohyun’s neck, he could practically taste the other’s heartbeat under his tongue. But most of all, he liked the look in Woohyun’s eyes when he did this, how needy and inviting he looked. How damn loveable he looked. But these things you don’t tell a lover, or at least not so early.

So Sunggyu shrugged and changed the topic, “So are you going to make me breakfast too?”

“I will, but you have to do something for me first,” Woohyun challenged, leaning against the counter. He grinned cheekily. “There’s a spot that I know you didn’t kiss last night.”

Sunggyu rolled his eyes, forseeing that Woohyun would use this against him until he actually did it. “Alright,” Sunggyu gave in. He stepped in front of the other and slowly lowered himself onto his knees. He could see Woohyun’s knees buckle in anticipation. Luckily, Woohyun was only wearing his boxers, so Sunggyu could get this over with quickly. Sunggyu bent down and kissed the back of Woohyun’s knee. Giggling at his own accomplishment and seeing the color bloom there, Sunggyu got back up. And before Woohyun could object, Sunggyu himself whined, leaning against the other and rubbing his tired eyes, “Now will you make me breakfast, Hyunnie? I paid for dinner last night. You said you’d owe me.”

“Fine,” Woohyun gave in. Woohyun wasn’t the only ‘tricky’ one in the relationship, which just made it all the more fun and exciting. He watched the elder shuffle off cutely to the table and slouch down into a chair. He grabbed a skillet and opened the fridge to retrieve eggs. “Today’s your lucky day, Gyu,” Woohyun announced to the man who looked like he was falling asleep again. “I’m a really good cook.” He the range, but Sunggyu still wasn’t looking at him. Woohyun raised his voice as he continued the prep work, “Handsome, cool, and talented? I’m the perfect catch. Yes, very very lucky.” He glanced sideways at the elder, who was finally watching him fondly.

“Yea I’m really lucky,” Sunggyu’s voice might’ve been dripping with sarcasm (because he didn’t want to inflate Woohyun’s ego anymore), but he meant every word of it. Because of you my life is bright.

And he decided that Woohyun’s eyes were definitely his favorite color.