ASK: Hello! Could I request a Hanamaki soulmate au where when everyone sees the world in black and white, but when soulmates first make eye contact, they can see color? Thank you!
For as long as he could recall, Hanamaki didn’t give much thought to the world being in black and white. That’s just the way things were since birth; two toned. The full lack of color and the complete saturation of color with nothing in between. The status quo, normal.
But then, he started seeing people around him, his friends, begin to experience the world in a whole new light.
They were seeing color, which meant they’d found their soulmates.
It surprised them all a bit when the first of their tight knit group to experience this phenomenon was Oikawa. Ever the provincial flirt, Hanamaki considered that maybe, subconsciously, they all expected the setter to be a bachelor forever. But fate had other ideas and one day he arrived to school screaming about the beauty of the world. When they’d finally calmed him down, he told them how on his way home from the market the previous evening he’d come across his soul mate; and his whole world was literally changed.
After that, it seemed like a flood gate was opened. The next to find his was Iwaizumi, then Matsukawa. Hanamaki wondered if his turn would ever come.
“Not if you keep staring at the ground,” he sighed, tilting his head up and willing his eyes to open a bit more. If he were going to find her, he’d need to put a bit more effort in paying attention to his surroundings. A deep rumble indicated the approach of his train and he tugged his bag onto his shoulder. As he stepped into the car, he took hold of one of the handles and turned his attention towards the front of the train only to have a wave of pain shoot through his skull.
“Ugh!” he groaned, falling to his knees. It felt like his eyes were on fire! He clutched at his face, rubbing furiously over his eyelids trying to get them to stop stinging. What the hell was wrong with him? The world faded away, yells for assistance growing faint as his vision narrowed to a pair of y/c eyes.
Wait….color? He didn’t know the name of what he was seeing, but he knew it was something he’d never seen before. Which could only mean…
He sat up, hand against his head, vision still swimming but slowly everything started coming back into focus; glorious technicolor focus! Next to him lay a girl, also coming to and being assisted to sit up by their fellow passengers. Reaching out, he touched her shoulder drawing her hazy attention to his face. He watched as her eyes, also formerly squinted, widened when her focus returned.
“Y…you…you can see them right? The colors?” she asked a bit breathless.
“Yeah,” he confirmed, hand still holding her. His eyes fell to it, a blush coming on his cheeks. “Sorry, I just…you…”
“It’s fine,” she affirmed quickly, soft smile on her face.
“Hey you kids ok?” someone asked from the crowd.
“Yeah, we’re fine, sorry about that,” Hanamaki said standing. Turning, he extended his hand to her. “Let me help you…”
“_________,” she supplied placing her hand in his.
He drew her to her feet, picking up her bag and slinging it on to his shoulder along with his own. “Pleasure to meet you. I’m Hanamaki Takahiro. Um, would you..would you like to get some coffee or something?” He knew they both had school, but he didn’t want to part from her, didn’t want the opportunity to get to know her better right away slip away. He saw her hesitate, clearly the same consideration in her own mind but to his delight she nodded.
At the next stop, they alighted from the train, walking side by side, both unable to stop their heads whipping back and forth to take in what used to be familiar surroundings. Her gasp brought his attention back to her. “Just a second,” she requested, hurrying into a store. Confused, Hanamaki looked at the sign above the door, then smiled; a bookstore. He could guess what she was looking for.
A few moments later she returned, smile bright.
“Since we’ve never seen them before I figured we could use this,” she explained holding up her purchase. Across the cover he read: “Color Identification”.
He chuckled. “I like your practical mind.”
She blushed, averting her eyes to the ground. “Tha..thank you. Um, maybe instead of a cafe we could…walk around and see the colors?”
He nodded. “That sounds great.”
They began walking, her with the book open, excitedly pointing out all the colors she could identify quickly. Their impromptu exploration date lasted well into the afternoon, consisting of a respite at a ramen counter where they got to know more about each other. He talked about his volleyball team while she expounded on her extra curricular activities. The longer she talked, the more Hanamaki found himself falling for her. He knew there was no guarantee of love with a soulmate but being with her he felt his heart filling with joy.
“Hanamaki-kun, do you…do you have a favorite yet?”
“Hmmm?” he asked cocking an eyebrow.
“A favorite color? I know it’s probably too soon to have picked but-”
“Your eyes,” he interjected. In light of her stunned silence he went on, “I know it’s probably cliche and I’m most likely not the first to say it to their soulmate. But truly,” he leaned his chin on his palm, smiling, “your eyes are my favorite color.”
Her cheeks reddened and she hastened to change the subject but he smiled, knowing that even if they were just at the beginning of this journey, he couldn’t wait to see where it would lead. And he would do everything he could to fill her world with more than just color.
He would fill it with love.