Jack Barakat Imagines

Vivid (Jack x Reader)

The story goes, or so Y/N has been told that you don't see color until you meet your soulmate. She'd heard all the magical stories of people making eye contact with their soulmate and the first color they see being their soulmates eye color.

It was all gross and romantic and not her thing at all but somehow she loved hearing the stories. Like her sister, who was sixteen and spilled coffee on a stranger in the street and made a comment about how his socks were two different colors before she realized what had happened, or her mom and dad who had been twenty-three and had given up when her dad switched to her moms university for grad school and was paired with her mom for a lab.

Y/N didn't have a cute romantic story, though, because she'd always seen in color for as long she could remember, but so had her neighbor and best friend, Jack, even though they kept it to themselves. They were what people called "unnaturals", people who'd met their soulmate so young they don't remember and are probably destined to be alone because it was probably in passing. Unlike, other "unnaturals" Y/N still saw in vivid color. The thing about color is that until you legally marry your soulmate, the farther apart you are the dimmer your world is. That fact gives her some hope that her soulmate is nearby somewhere.

Y/N had experienced dimming before. Like when Jack was on tour, but when he moved from Baltimore to L.A, everything became more muted permanently. Of course, she didn't realize it until now as she got off the plane to visit him, when everything started to brighten up. He was stood just past the gate, waiting patiently for his best friend when it happened to him, everything had become brighter after being muted for months.

It was at that moment that he realized that maybe Alex had been right, maybe Y/N was his soulmate. It all made sense, really. He'd been six months old when Y/N was born, eight months when his family moved next door to his. He had no recollection of ever not seeing in color. He'd never told his parents, but had confided in his best friend in high school when Alex had met Lisa during Spanish class. Alex had joked about it then, but now twelve years later, when Jack had told him that everything was darker, although still in color, he had brought it up again. Jack had laughed at him and told him he would know if Y/N was his soulmate. However, now that his world had literally just lit up in front of him when he saw his best friend, he wasn't so sure.

Y/N could feel it in her guts. Something was different and she wasn't sure how. Jack was looking at her differently, like she was his whole world. Before she knew what was really happening, his arms were tightly around her. She finally felt at home, her heart beating out of her chest but in a good way. It was almost as if the whole crowd was staring at them, knowing that they'd just figured out that them both being able to in such vivid color together wasn't just coincidence. His smile never left his face as he let go of her, fighting his brain on if he should just go ahead and kiss her. Ultimately, he decided to listen to his gut, pressing his lips to hers and never wanting to pull away but their lungs decided to go against that, demanding oxygen even if it was just for a few seconds.

Her cheeks were bright red and she didn't know if it was from how cute her best friend was being and blushing, or if she was just overheated from the lack of oxygen, but to him it was the cutest thing he'd ever seen. Her, flushed in front of him wearing his sweater in the cool fall air, the piercing green of her eyes that he'd fallen in love with all those years ago with feelings he felt he couldn't act on because she had a soulmate somewhere, as did he, but now he could. He could hold her hand, kiss her, let her know how much she meant to him and he was so glad.

Hours later, they're wine drunk and cuddled on his couch after Alex's impromptu "Jack finally grew a pair and admitted Y/N was his soulmate" party. Her head on his chest, half asleep and finally relaxed for the first time in months, he almost didn't hear her when she spoke.

"I'm glad it's you." It was hardly more than a whisper but it made his heart swell about ten times. He knew at that moment without a doubt that he would never let the colors go dim again. She was his, and they were going to be vivid forever.