Brendon always envied those he saw walking down the street or sitting in a booth at the restaurant he worked at who looked like they saw the world in a whole other color. It was so easy to distinguish who had found their soulmate. Couples clinging onto each other as they pointed at the colors of clothes, lights, buildings. Individuals' faces lighting up at the sight of a flower or a new dress. Endless smiles and twinkling eyes. Brendon could be wearing a pink shirt and pink pants for all he knew. Luckily the last thing someone who could see color would care about are his clothes. At 22, he was getting really tired of everything being black and white, black and white. However, he knew that his case couldn't be fixed until he found his soulmate. Which should happen soon. He thinks.
When Brendon gets ready for another boring day at work, he goes to pick out his clothes. His closet is full of black, white, and grey. He picks out a while flannel shirt and black jeans. He's annoyed as he puts on his shirt, wondering if it's actually yellow or light blue. Brendon walks through his boring house to his boring car to the boring outside world. Boring, everything is boring. Brendon begins to drive to the restaurant, Jimmy's, that he works at everyday from 10am to 2pm. Everyday is exactly the same, exactly the same as before.
Before Brendon walks into Jimmy's, he makes sure to put on his name tag. When he walks in, he is immediately told to wait on table 7 by the manager, Patrick. Moving automatically, Brendon walks over to table 7 to introduce himself in the same way he does everyday. "Hello, I'm Brendon and I'll be your server for today. What would you like to drink?" he says boredly, not even having the enthusiasm to look at his customer. "I'll just have a water, please." says a smooth, deep voice from the booth. Brendon is taken aback when he looks up at probably the most beautiful man he's ever seen. He stupidly stands there taking in the features of this stranger's face. Big, adorable eyes, a small nose that Brendon finds so cute, and beautiful lips that now turn downward into a frown. Brendon's been caught staring. "Right" he says with an awkward cough. He scribbles down "H2O" into his notepad with blue ink. Brendon blinks again. Is it really? No, he must be imagining it.
Brendon stiffly walks to the kitchen to retrieve his customer's drink. He looks around and everything is still grayscale. He reassures himself as he pours water into a glass and brings it back to the table. As the man is ordering, Brendon can't help but to notice the red in the menu his customer's holding.
***
The next week horrifies Brendon. He definitely sees color now. He should be happy that he finally knows to avoid that bright green jacket that he always thought was grey, but there's a problem. Where is his soulmate? As weird as the thought is, Brendon knows it is the man he waited at table 7. Brendon drives himself insane with questions. "Can the man see color now too?" "How do I find him again." "I know I love him before I even know his name?" Brendon becomes paranoid, his heart beating tremendously faster when he spots someone who shares just one feature with the man he must find again. As Brendon leaves for work for the day, he stops to observe the things he never could before. The beige painting on all of his walls except for the music room which is maroon. The blue lamp, the orange blanket, the mint guitar, the aubergine chair.
When he walks through the doors to Jimmy's, Brendon doesn't mean to scan the room as usual, almost automatically. He also doesn't mean to let a loud, attention-grabbing gasp when his eyes find him. But before Brendon has the chance to walk over, Patrick is already in his face, telling him what to do. Brendon reluctantly obeys and begins to wait on table 15 which is occupied with a family of four. He keeps glancing at his soulmate who appears to be avoiding his gaze at all costs. After bringing the family their food, Brendon has had enough of being ignored. He storms over to the man's table and looks down on him angrily. His soulmate lifts an eyebrow in confusion but before Brendon can think he finds himself blurting out "I love you." The man looks even more confused but Brendon won't have it. He picks up the menu sitting on the table and practically shoves it in the man's face. "What color is this?" he asks angrily.
The man starts also angrily, "It's bla- it's... it's red." He finishes softly and looks up at Brendon with realization but still with that damn confusion. "I need to go." the man chokes out. "What! Wait, you can't leave! Don't you realize we're soulmates?! At least tell me your name!" Brendon yells incredulously after him as he follows him to the door. The man only glances back once, face still distorted like he can't believe that Brendon is his soulmate, before he exits the restaurant and Brendon follows him no more.
***
At the end of the following week, Brendon decides to actually leave his house for the first time during the week. He's been calling in sick everyday and he wouldn't call it a lie. He's felt sick ever since he was walked out on by the one person put on this earth to love him. Hell, he's been more than sick, he's been heartbroken. Even before they ever got together. Brendon's cried, screamed, and even wanted to pull his own hair out but he knows it won't change anything. He knows it won't change how he doesn't even have his soulmate's phone number, his soulmate's name.
Brendon gives up on beating up himself over it and decides to move on with his sad life, knowing that he sees color because oh yes he's met his soulmate, but he happened to literally run out of Brendon's life. So Brendon doesn't expect much as he takes a walk down the town's empty street with his head down and shoulders drooping. He sees the patches of green grass between the cracks on the sidewalk and hears the birds singing, but it doesn't make him happy.
After about 5 minutes of his walk, he sees someone pass him in his peripheral vision. He thinks nothing of it until he hears the person gasp behind him and start to walk back towards Brendon's back. Brendon then feels a warm and firm hand pulling on his shoulder, turning him around. Brendon barely manages to recognize the beautiful face before it's attaching its lips to his. Joy and happiness spread throughout Brendon as his soulmate's thumbs gently brush against his cheeks. Brendon wraps his arms around the man's waist and kisses him back with all of his built up passion. The kiss is perfect and spontaneous, their lips moving gracefully together in a way that Brendon knows will happen much more in the future.
The man eventually breaks the kiss looking at Brendon with sorrow but so much love. Brendon observes the handsomeness and wonderful colors of the man's face and the man seems to be doing the same. After a moment, he says, "Hi, I'm Ryan."
The End
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When We Meet (Ryden)
FanfictionAU where everything is black and white until you meet your soulmate.
