PANG!

black and white, monochrome, grayscale, gloomy.

dull, gray, monotonous.

lifeless, even.

all perfectly perfect words to sum up soonyoung's life.

well, not soonyoung's life, more like his vision.

you see, kwon soonyoung was born with a particular aversion to color (as was the rest of the world-) which causes him to only see blacks, whites, and more than 50 shades of gray. and the only way to finally see color, to finally see what his already soul-bonded friends try so desperately to but fail to describe, is to meet his soulmate- which is a lot harder than it sounds.

being in uni, it sounded like an easy task for soonyoung. build a social life, make a few lifelong friends, and maybe one of them would be his soulmate.

..now he has 5 best friends he can't live without, and he still can't see what a rainbow is.

it's not like soonyoung wouldn't know when he met the one, first of all he'd obviously be able to see whatever color that's currently in minghao's hair, but according to what he's heard, magic is supposed to happen.

your heart is supposed to start beating crazy fast, then you lock eyes with the person and bubbles just start to appear out of thin air, and you can actually see a whole bunch of colors in them. then, a massive bubble is supposed to rise in between you and your soulmate, and once it pops..

"..boom! the whole world is in different shades and tints that aren't black and white, and you get to enjoy your life with your love! isn't that amazing??" seokmin exclaims, shaking soonyoung's shoulder slightly out of excitement.

they're outside, soaking up the sun on campus at lunch and picking at the questionable food while seokmin has been going on and on about what it would be like to meet his soulmate.

"yes minnie it sounds amazing, but aren't you tired of talking about it?" soonyoung sighs, putting down his chopsticks after failing to find something on his tray that won't put his stomach in a chokehold. "i should've made a sandwich.. uh, anyways, we need to take action! maybe our soulmates aren't at school? maybe they're across the freaking globe because i swear i've talked to everybody here!" seokmin laughs at the older and shakes his head out of fondness.

"not everybody, you've barely even touched the clubs you aren't a part of. hmm..." the younger hums while nibbling on a piece of what's supposed to be meat, rubbing his chin and looking around the campus for someone soonyoung might like.

"hyung!" seokmin gasps out, pointing at a guy under a tree writing something. "what about wonwoo hyung? he's nice, smart, and- don't pay attention to his outfit," the man was dressed in a turtleneck, an argyle sweater vest on top of that, a bowtie, and a dandy looking hat, complete with round glasses and slacks. "but he's in the hip hop club too, he's pretty good."

soonyoung groans. "no, i talked to him after class a few weeks ago, when he gave that presentation in lit that made us all look stupid? and mingyu likes him, so.." seokmin huffed, but was determined to find the older's soulmate, so he pointed to another guy sitting on a towel near the street with headphones on. "how about hansol? he's also in the hip hop club and he's pretty chill. he writes music with jihoon hyung!"

"another no, i'm pretty sure he bonded with chan yesterday. it's probably why he's just looking out into the street like that-"

"okay," seokmin drawls as he interrupts, letting a smile creep onto his face once he sees who's at the table near the uni entrance. "then why don't you talk to seungkwan?"

the older fixed him with an are you seriously suggesting that look, complete with a scoff and an eye roll, then he sees where seokmin is looking.

and of course he's right there with the biggest smile on his face, laughing at something jun said and lighting up the room that is the outdoors.

"w-why him? i know there must be other students who aren't bonded-"

"it's because you always stare at him in our classes." the younger interrupts once more and soonyoung scoffed again, this time with a very mature and not telling at all folding of his arms. "how could i? we only have chem together, other than that our classes don't line up."

"and how would you know that if you weren't paying attention to him? hmm?" seokmin grins, soonyoung's i don't care facade clearly crumbling before his eyes. "okay, fine. i'll talk to him. but first, could you be a dear and go get us something from the vending machine? i'm starving." the older was stalling obviously (but he was actually starving). even though he wanted to see what color was about and what having a soulmate was like, talking to someone you like was always a difficult task. so he put on a sheepish smile in attempts to sway seokmin, and it worked (like it always does).

"okay, it's a deal!" the younger beamed, getting up and walking backwards from the table.

but he didn't see the individual that was too busy reading to notice him.

"what do you w-"

and they collided, soonyoung wincing (and barely holding in a laugh) for the both of them. seokmin turned around and saw the guy on the concrete, book on his chest and eyes fluttering open. "are you ok-" the student started, only to feel his heart speed up. and from the guy's reaction, his did too. he sat up with a pained moan and grabbed his shirt, looking seokmin in his eyes.

meanwhile soonyoung stood up and went to help, concerned from their reactions. but before he could walk a step, bubbles started to accumulate around the two.

"you're joking." soonyoung deadpanned, watching the bubbles increase and watching the pair stare at each other in awe. then, a big bubble appeared from between them, and popped with an eerie echo.

"oh my god." seokmin covered his mouth, looking at the man and around him at the vibrant colors that replaced the monochrome. "everything is so pretty?!" he stood up, then looked at the guy again, offering him a hand since he was still on the ground. "what is even your name dude?? i've never seen you around here???"

"i'm joshua! or jisoo- i just transferred here what-" the man- joshua (or jisoo)- spoke with accented korean and seemed to be at a loss for words, understandably so.

"um, excuse me?? what just happened?!" soonyoung all but yelled, causing seokmin to turn back to him. "oh that's such a pretty color!" the younger took soonyoung's shirt between his fingers, so the older had to clear his throat to regain his attention. "oh, sorry.. your hair is a very pretty shade of black!" soonyoung blinked at him.

"really."

"sorry.." seokmin repeated under his breath. "well, since that worked out so well for me-"

"you fell on a dude."

"-how about you go and talk to him?" the younger ignored the older's interruption and soonyoung looked over where seungkwan was sitting, and saw he was getting up. seokmin was pushing him in that direction, whisper-yelling good luck while holding hands with joshua.

soonyoung literally has nothing to lose. if seungkwan wasn't his soulmate then he'd just spark a conversation, easy peasy.

so he jogged over to the table seungkwan occupied and gulped, kinda loudly judging from the stares he got. great start.

"um.." soonyoung started, feeling his heart pick up speed. he grimaced. is this the feeling feeling or am i nervous?

"hi?" he nervously said, only to see seungkwan put his hand on his breast pocket. "h..hi?" seungkwan barely got it out, he felt like his heart was gonna give soon.

then soonyoung laughed in surprise at the bubbles that circled them. he heard clapping from behind him, so he assumed it was joshua and seokmin. the only thing he was focused on was how pretty the bubbles were, and how they held a color that wasn't dark and dull. then he focused on seungkwan's face, smiling at him and reaching to hold his hand. then saw the huge, rising bubble, and then......

....pang!