A/N: When I first worked this fic, it was just the first part of the story. Talking with my friends Sam (queerafdonna / iLizewski) and Beru (yaboimadej / berufromtumblr), I decided to make a full fic of this. I know it's a story that will get little no feedback, but It's fine. I wanted to give it more to this couple that I actually like, and wanted to explore.
So, of course, I want to gift this fic to my friend Beru for her birthday that was this April 12th. I had a few problems and was busy as hell, but she knows it was ready and waiting for me to post for her. I love you, Beru. You are an amazing friend and support. I hope you like this!
Colorfool
Maybe the worst part about being paired up with Eric Forman in the lab wasn't even the fact that he was funny and nice to talk to, therefore distracting from doing the assignment, but the fact that his sight was starting to change and it was all so unfair.
Because– because.
Eric was straight, he had made it clear to him and Buddy was okay with that. Except that he wasn't. Because Eric was his soulmate, it was painfully obvious with each passing day and he couldn't help the sighs leaving his body every time he thought about it, every second he discovered a new color.
"So," Eric started as they sat down together for their class, "I've had finally started to see in color. Can you believe that? I've been in love with Donna my whole life and it's until now that I'm finally seeing in color!"
Buddy blinked a couple of times, swallowing before looking at Eric with a small smile. "I bet she's been seeing in color her whole life."
"Uhm," He sighed, his expression had changed from excitement to pain in seconds and Buddy reprimanded himself for that. "Not really. I don't know why… I mean, I know. Sight starts changing during puberty if you find your soulmate, blah, blah, blah. But ever since we started "going out" … Well, none of our sights changed, you know? "
"I'm going to risk sounding like an asshole," He said, Eric looked at him immediately with amusement sparking in his eyes.
"You already do."
"Oh, hush!" Buddy pinched his nose with a frown, making him laugh. The sound made him smile and fill his lungs with Eric's smell, suddenly he started to recognize another color, it made the greens seem less bright and he slowly recognized it as the blue of his identification chart. "As I was saying… Have you thought maybe you are rushing into conclusions?"
"What you mean, man?"
"That maybe you are not each other's soulmates and that's why nothing has happened."
"But– but–" Eric started to struggle with his words, Buddy smiled a little, like trying to comfort his friend and himself, too. The soulmate system was flawed. Not everyone got to be their soulmate's One and this was his case, maybe it was Eric's, too. "I like her, for real."
"Yeah, you two not being soulmates doesn't mean you don't. Or that she doesn't." He tried to amend his doings. "Just that… you won't be seeing in color."
"But I am!"
Student's murmurs died down at Eric's outburst and Buddy looked around, praying for the ground to swallow him or for a cat to eat Eric's tongue. As much as he liked the boy, Eric was too dramatic to help a conversation out in public.
His cheeks went red and Buddy smiled, that had been the first color he saw, two days after he met Eric. According to the chart his parents bought him for this very special occasion, he still had a few colors and combinations to uncover, and the most time he spends with Eric, the more he saw.
"Boy, why I'm always so loud? I hate myself sometimes…" He murmured and Buddy looked up at his face, wanting to correct him and tell him there was nothing to hate about him. But he didn't. "Anyway, what I was trying to say is… I am. I've started to see in color."
Buddy smiled at that. "Yeah? What do you see?"
"Red." He smiled a little. "Brown and… black? It's not like the black of the normal, you know… Like, your hair." He signaled. "I can see it, it's totally black. And your eyes are brown."
"Well, it's only a matter of time for her to start seeing in color, too." He said, not wanting to truly think about it.
Eric went silent then and didn't had a chance to speak as their teacher came in and started to put their work for the day in front. Buddy sighed, trying hard not to think how Eric's colors seemed to be all his, just like when he had started to see in color, too.
The red of his cheeks, the brown of his hair, the green of his eyes, and now the blue of his favorite hoodie.
Must be a coincidence.
If he thought of it, all of the colors he's been seeing can be found on Buddy's everything. From his favorite jacket to his car, and the color or his hair and eyes. It was weird, almost like if he was made to see his colors.
Eric looked at himself on the mirror of his bathroom, slowly giving himself The Red Look because he was, in fact, a dumbass and shouldn't been thinking like this. His soulmate was one, and that was Donna, even if she couldn't see in color yet and the only color of hers he was seeing was her hair.
Today he had woken up to another color. His chart said it was some kind of cream, a combination. Combinations were supposed to be advanced and it made sense to him for he and Donna had been in love even before they knew what love was about. Even now, when his best friend was being an asshole about it, even now he was sure he and Donna were gonna be it.
Like his parents, who quickly found each other and saw in color in questions of weeks. They were mean to be, too, he and Donna…
… He and Donna weren't working out.
Eric frowned, sighing as he got in his car with her, ready for school. It was damn cold and his cheeks felt warm, Donna's nose was red and she soon started to say how much her parents had fought this morning, and God- they needed to chill.
"Anyway, enough of that." She declared as they moved towards Hyde's neighborhood. "Are you seeing more colors?"
Eric tried a tiny smile and nodded. "Skin color! I mean, I can't see your yet, but the chart says is a skin tone."
"Cool." She sighed, the car went silent in their tangible disappointment. "Don't tell that to Hyde."
"Is he still bothering you?" Eric looked at her from the corner of his eye, but kept driving.
"Yeah..." She swallowed visibly, it was a sight he didn't like at all. "I mean; he is my friend. I really care about him. It's… flattering, but then it's creepy, you know? And... I feel like I'm being a bitch, though."
"What—why?" He stopped in front of Hyde's house, he wasn't outside yet, so they still had a few seconds."
"I don't know." Donna shrugged. "I feel like I'm not being considerate enough with him. I mean, look at him—"
As they both looked, they saw Hyde in his front door, looking inside, his yelling barely audible to them. Things with his mother weren't going ok for a while by now. It was sickening.
"Yeah, that doesn't mean he can be creepy. Seriously, if he keeps like this, you should tell Bob. And my dad. He'll kick his ass."
Donna only nodded, since Hyde had entered the car, greeting them both. The air was awkward between the three of them alone lately, and Eric almost wanted to drive even faster to pick up Kelso and have another party to talk with instead of this… whatever it was between the three of them.
But school day went as normal, with all of them together for lunch, even Jackie. He wasn't sure how or why, but she had become somehow part of their group but didn't deserve the basement's key. Ah-ah, no way she was getting one. Yet, he had gotten an extra key earlier this week and his father had asked for who it was, he had only said 'a friend' but wondered why he didn't say who.
Red didn't insist, though, so that was enough at the moment. And looking at the key, he walked through the corridor to Buddy's locker and found him talking to some jock he never thought would be friendly to anyone who didn't knew how to held a football ball.
Then again, Eric reminded himself, Buddy was not only popular but rich, he somehow frequented this people and survived their stupidity. He blinked a couple of times, waiting while changing his weight to one foot to another, as Buddy smiled up to the jock who was, like, purposely trying to make him smile.
Wait.
Could this guy be into his friend? Eric blinked a couple of times, his chest getting tighter because—because. Dating a jock couldn't ever possible be a good idea and he needed to tell Buddy, that there were better boys out there for him. Right?
His friend finally dismissed the other dude, finally looking to his locker and slowly realizing Eric's presence. Maybe Buddy was into the guy, too, since he hadn't noticed him standing there. Uh. Just a week and a half ago he had been told by him he liked him, and now he was into someone else.
Eric shook his head, trying to get away from those bullshit thoughts of his. This was like Donna all over again, he wondered if other people felt like him when someone seemed to make a move on the person he liked.
Wait.
What?
"Hey!" Buddy greeted, his voice prevented him from thinking too much about his own shit. Eric smiled at him and remember why he was there in the first place. "Everything okay? You look kinda angry."
"God, no. I'm not angry. Just worried—about you!" He saved his ass. Of nothing, really, what the hell he was thinking?
Buddy frowned at that. "Why?"
"Uh..." Eric scratched behind his neck, he was being stupid. That of him being jealous of his friends' other friends was old. "Well, you should be careful with those jocks. They can be savages."
"I know." Buddy answered, his expression suddenly serious as he left a book and put on his bag two more. Eric distracted himself looking into his locker, there was a picture of two girls he assumed where his sisters and another of him and a dog. "It's okay, Zach is nice. He just invited me to a party at his house this weekend."
"You going?"
"Maybe." He sighed. "I don't like getting in with boys I know are ashamed of themselves. Not my style."
"Oh?" Buddy closed his locker and started to walk, Eric followed him noticing how he had gotten tense. It hit him then, what he was talking about and Eric swallowed. "Oh, I see..." He cleared his throat and tried changing the subject. "Well, I—I got something for you." He searched for the key on his hoodie's pocket, soon showing it to him.
"A key?"
"Yeah." Eric smiled. "It's the key to the basement, only official members get one."
Buddy stared at it before taking it from his hand. Their skin touched and his cheeks felt warmed, Eric swallowed and put his free hand over his chest, wondering.
"Thank you." Buddy smiled at him. "Do you need me to take you home?"
"Oh, no. I got the Vista. Don't worry."
"Okay." They fell into silence then, slowly walking to the parking lot were Fez, Donna, Kelso, Jackie and Hyde were already waiting for him. Eric sighed at the sight, he hated it when Jackie didn't bring her father's car. "Hey, guys."
His friends greeted Buddy, Eric saw Donna and Hyde looking at each other with arched eyebrows and man, they needed to be more discreet. He couldn't understand Hyde's apparent dislike of Buddy, and the way Donna seemed to get away from him every time he was with them.
But he and Jackie got into conversation, he heard them talking about the party he had been just invited and Jackie almost begged him to go with her, since Kelso was once again grounded—poor idiot. Eric sighed, because Kelso wasn't grounded, he was just searching excuses to not see Jackie.
Why stay with someone you can't stand? Kelso was the most ridiculous person he has ever known.
He never expected Eric to give him a key to his basement.
The place seemed to be some kind of holy mausoleum dedicated to his childhood adventures and dreams of being as free as he had felt as a boy. And while Buddy thought some of Eric's ways unhealthy, he wasn't about to lie to himself that he was excited to add this key to his key chin.
By now, he could recognize the blue and white of his key chin, too. The gold and silver of the keys, and the black of the basement's TV. If the information of his chart was trustworthy, he had only a few more combinations to discover, and his sight would be complete.
Eric had stopped tell him about it after his official date with Donna. It hadn't gone good, was the only thing he was told, and now they were back to square one with the friendship thing.
"Out of the chair, man." Hyde told him like almost every day since he first came into the Formans' basement. Buddy blinked a couple of times, frowning at the sight of the older boy, but stood anyway.
God, was Steven Hyde annoying as hell. Eric often told him he had met Hyde at a bad time, and maybe he had, but Jesus Christ. Maybe it was the fact that he had sisters he loved, and a bunch of girl-friends, but there was something he just couldn't quite like of him.
His treatment of both, Donna and Jackie, for a start. And his lack of self-awareness about it. Buddy couldn't understand why Donna was still friends with this dude, but it wasn't his place to start a war in a place he had just been accepted in.
"Buddy, are you staying for dinner?" Eric asked him when his ass landed in the couch, besides his legs as he was sitting in the couch's head. "Mom made some fried chicken."
"Uh, sure." He answered with a little smile.
Now, Eric. He was sending him weird signals. Or maybe he was just nice to all his friends. But for the way Hyde had shook his head and Fez started to complain about not being invited to dinner, maybe he wasn't imagining things.
"You can stay, too." Eric finally gave in to Fez's cries. Kelso immediately asked for a seat, too. "Okay, you know what? Stay. All you, stay for fried chicken, I'm just… gonna tell mom I'll eat rise or something."
Laughs echoed the room and the door opened as he was walking up to the stairs. Looking at the entrance, Buddy saw a sad-looking Jackie walking in with Donna behind, shopping bags on their hands.
"Prom shopping?" He asked with a smile, Donna nodded to him but focused her attention to Jackie. "Hey, are you okay?"
"Buddy!" She called with all the drama her tiny body seemed to have 24/7. Passing everyone until she was sitting at his side, he finally saw the small tears on her face and something cough his attention in the corner of his eye.
Hyde had moved uncomfortable on his seat, but was putting his attention to Jackie.
"Who am I gonna go with to prom?" She whined. Buddy swallowed and looked at Donna, she only nodded at him and he sighed. "Do you have a date?"
"Sort of..." He answered, putting a hand on her shoulder. "I'm going with Jane Hal and Zach is taking Mimi Smith."
"Oh." Her attention seemed to spark at the mention of those names, her eyes shone in excitement and he sighed, realizing he had distracted her enough from her broken heart. Donna smiled at him and gave him a thumps up, she sat down to the other extreme of the couch and left her bags in the floor. "So, you and Zach are official?"
Hyde laughed at his side and Buddy wanted to slap his leg out of the center table, but did nothing. Yet, before he could answer, he called to Donna at Jackie's side.
"Donna, man, can I talk to you for a second?"
"I'm going to prom with Eric." She answered, immediately going defensive.
Hyde shook his head. "It's not about that. Besides, you know I'm against prom."
Buddy rolled his eyes, Jackie had done the same and both were smiling at the other in silence as the other exchange was taking place. Fez seemed entertained enough in this gossip to notice, Kelso too distracted on the TV.
"Okay..." She answered, slowly standing and going to the door with Hyde close behind. She looked at Jackie when Hyde left the basement, as if asking help and Jackie mouthed a small 'good luck' before the redhead disappeared through the door, closing it after her.
"You two have become good friends." He commented, Jackie looked at him, then at something on his chest and blinked a couple of times before nodding.
"I hope so..."
Before he could assure her about it, Eric's voice announcing everyone was getting chicken filled the basement and he was distracted for a couple of seconds as he walked to Hyde's chair and sat down, making a whole circus out of his desire of not sitting near Jackie as if she was infected of something. His hand flied to his shoulder, smacking him slightly.
"Don't be a dick, Eric." He told him half joking, half serious. Jackie smiled at him again, and Eric mocked his words while readjusting his body so he was facing them both.
"What you cryin' about now, Jackie?" Eric asked and Buddy rolled his eyes. "Is it prom? You should go stag with the rest of the rejects from the Cheer Squad."
"Eric." Buddy reprimanded him, Eric seemed to think about it a second, then swallowed and lowered his stare. "Don't bother here."
"Uh," he crossed his arms over his chest and softly apologized, "Sorry, Jackie."
Jackie didn't seem to mind anymore, but she looked at Eric as if thinking of what she was going to say next.
"Hey, Eric? Have you kept seeing new colors?" She asked.
"Uh?" He seemed uneasy about it, his arms still crossed over his chest and his shoulders suddenly tense. "Well… yeah. Just a few ones."
"Which ones?"
"Mmm… Why do you wanna know?"
"Well, just to know if you will match Donna or not at prom." She commented, it made Buddy look at her. "What?"
"You can see in color?"
In her tense silence, Buddy understood that yes, yes she did. And for the way she had lowered her eyes, she knew who her soulmate was and she wasn't willing to say so out loud. So chances were, it wasn't Michael Kelso after all. Good for her.
"Hey, Jackie?" Eric called her, she looked up at him again, still distracted. "Good luck finding a date."
Buddy and Zach didn't match, Eric noticed as he saw them walk inside the school's gym after the jock had gotten out a cigarette and Buddy seemed to keep him company. Just for the sight of it, Eric understood the blond boy wasn't seeing in colors. He and Buddy were not soulmates.
"Thanks for taking me to prom, Eric." Donna said at his side, both sitting on the VC after awkwardly dancing for a bit inside. The air was fresh, her dress was blue, and she looked beautiful. "You are a good friend."
"You are a good friend, too." He smiled. "Thanks for coming with me."
It had stopped hurting to call her his friend. She had been that for so many years, it was easy to go back to normal with the passing weeks and he was proud of himself for not making a scene out of any of that. Seeing Hyde being rejected and awkward around Donna for invading her space had been a good lesson, he hoped they were okay as friends, now.
"How is the color situation going?" She asked him and Eric sighed, looking up at the sky filled with stars. "Any idea who it may be?"
He shook his head, lying. Because he had an idea, he just—wow. It was even difficult to think about it. Donna kept silent then, looking as more students left the gym to walk to their cars and make out for the rest of the night, or part to cheap hotel rooms to feel like complete adults.
To be honest, he would like that, too. But maybe waiting for the right person, or something like that, wasn't such a bad idea. Look at poor and miserable Jackie.
"Didn't you start to see colors little after you met Buddy?" Donna's voice echoed softly at his side. Eric kept his eyes to the entrance.
Kelso went out the gym, Pam Macy at his hand. They rounded the building and he just knew what the hell they were about to do. He shook his head and wished he could unsee most of Kelso's bullshit.
"Yeah." Eric answered. "He did, too. It was, like… just a few days before Zach started to flirt with him." He commented. "But I don't think Zach is seeing colors, you know? His clothes don't match, not with Mimi or with Buddy, anyway."
She didn't say anything else but he could feel her eyes on him until he looked at his side, to his friend. Donna smiled at him, there was something in his face she wasn't telling him and Eric wondered if it was exactly what he already suspected. But it was not—he wasn't ready for that. Was he?
"I don't—" He said, but she sucked on a breath and her eyebrows went high, a smile forming on her lips. Eric looked in front of them, to the gym's entrance and he saw, he just damn saw. "No way!"
"Oh, my God!" Donna laughed at his side. "What could Jackie possible have on Hyde to blackmail him into prom?!"
They laughed together as the strange image of his friend and Jackie walking to the entrance of the building got into their skulls. It was so funny to watch as both were making their way between bickering like the children they were. Whatever had gotten into Hyde, whatever dirt Jackie had on him, it was probably too good to not try to get it out tomorrow at the basement.
"Uh." Eric exclaimed, gaining Donna's attention. "They match!"
"What do you mean?"
"Her dress is purple, his shirt and—those thingys of his suit are purple, too." He answered, moving his hands to indicate what he was talking about on his own suit. "The flowers on her hair, her corsage, it all matches!"
"Uh..." Donna tilted her head and smiled, looking at them as they entered the room.
They were silent after that, still looking the direction the other two had taken.
"You know..."
"Jackie can see in color."
"Hyde sees in color."
As they both talked at the same time, they looked at each other, surprise on their faces.
When Hyde first started to try and get Donna, it had been because he was sure she was the reason he had started to see in color. Eric had the same idea, but Donna's eyes reminded in monochrome and there was nothing none of them could do about it, but accept the fact that even if she didn't believe in the soulmate system at the end, she wasn't interested like that in any of them.
Hyde had started to see in color way before Eric did. It was like if the second he had hit puberty, his eyes started to see and he was confused as hell. Eric figured, he would, too, if it was his case. But he had started to see in color at the same time someone close to him had, and that boy was now leaving the building alone, eyes glued to the floor.
"I'm guessing Hyde thought I was the reason he was seeing in color?"
"Sort of." Eric answered, but his attention was on Buddy's somber expression. "Uhm, I guess Jackie and Kelso are soulmates."
"I don't think so..." Donna said, jumping off of the car. "Kelso hasn't seen a single color yet. Jackie didn't tell him she can see in color, though. She says she's been seeing in color since..." She smirked, shrugging. "Let's just say, since she became a teenager."
Eric nodded. "Same as Hyde. I wonder what it means."
"Really?" But he wasn't listening to her anymore, Eric stood with his hands on his pockets, eyes following the colorful form of Buddy Morgan going to his car. "Eric?"
"Just… a second." He said, looking at her and signaling to Buddy. Donna followed his finger, saw what he meant, and nodded.
"I'll be inside burning Hyde."
"Great, leave some for me."
He didn't truly see as she walked away from him since he soon started to walk directly to Buddy, jogging a little when he realized he was about to enter his car and probably leave. The sound of his movements must had warned his friend, since he immediately looked up and seemed surprised to see him approaching.
"Hey!" Eric greeted, Buddy closed the door of his car and put his hands inside his pocket, shoulders tense. "Everything alright?"
"Yeah..." He softly answered, soon crossing his arms over his shoulders and Eric knew no, he wasn't okay. "Just tired, I want to go home."
"So soon?"
Buddy blinked, then looked down. "Just tired."
Eric's head tried to think if he had right to call him out on his bullshit. They hadn't been friends for as long as he's been with all his gang, so maybe going all righteous on Buddy was stepping a line he should be more careful to pass. But he still looked defeated, sad to say the least. Whatever was happening it was serious.
"Yeah, you look tired." Eric said, scratching the back of his head before walking closer to his friend, leaning his back on the cold of the car. Buddy followed his lead after a few seconds. "Not leaving with any of your dates?"
"Zach is drunk." He answered dry, Eric tried to imagine how a drunk jock may be. How an ashamed-to-be-gay drunk jock may be. Fuck. "Jane is going to Mimi's afterward, so it's just me."
"Did that asshole did something to you?"
Eric's voice sounded strange, like if the mere thought of Zach hurting him made him angry and it was a tone Buddy didn't knew existed in Eric Forman. He was mostly polite and nice, sarcastic at much, maybe a little bit unfair when it came to Jackie and his sister, but not someone that got angry so easily. He decided to not think much into that, his heart had gotten too much already for a night.
"He just—" And for some reason, he couldn't find it in himself to say the truth. "He said something, but he is drunk. Nothing to worry about."
"What did he said?"
"Uh..." Buddy leaned his back on his car's door at Eric's side, not sure of why he couldn't say it. "He sort of made fun of me in front of his friends, that's all."
"That's… that's not good."
His hypocrisy was something else, Buddy looked at him and wondered if Eric ever realized what he was saying. That he was one way with his friends but treated other people very—odd. He figured he had his own demons and when he grew older, maybe he'll be able to realize those faults.
Because, hey… Eric was constantly making fun of the people he didn't like.
"You know," Buddy started, not sure of where this was going, "people like me are actually used to it. Not everyone understands, so—It's okay, for real."
"No, it's not."
Eric walked to stand in front of him. He was somehow taller than him, Buddy was sure they would look aesthetically good if they could be a thing, if he was brave enough to tell him about his suspicion about their colors.
In reality, he may never say a word. Call it fear or plain stupidity, but sometimes to be safe was the best one could do. Especially when he wasn't sure what it meant to be looked at the way Eric was doing in that moment.
"You started to see in color little before he asked you out. If that idiot is your soulmate, I urge you to not give into that." He changed his weight from feet to feet, one of his hands was hidden on his pocket. "I mean… I'm a true believer of the soulmate system, but—But if things are like that, then it's flawed for some people. You deserve better."
If he kissed him right now, would Eric ran again? Would he freak out even more. Buddy kept himself in line and only smiled, truly grateful for his friendship and his words. Nothing will make him feel better from the kind of rejection Zach had given him, but Eric was a good friend at the end of the day. A good soulmate.
"You know, there's… something you have wrong in there." Buddy suddenly said, his tongue felt heavy. Why was he doing this? His heart hammered inside his chest but he blinked doubt away and decided to speak. "I didn't start seeing in color for Zach."
"No?" Eric sighed in relief. "That's great, man."
In his distraction, his free hand landed on the car, besides Buddy's waist and Buddy looked up from it to Eric's face. He could just direct him into the truth and let him know, he could straight up say everything and hope for a good answer. He could just shut up.
"It was after I met you."
"Oh!" Eric looked at him, his eyes big and bright. "Yeah, that's true! Me, too. I mean—It was like, two days after? More or less… Ugh, when Hyde started with his bullshit."
Buddy looked at him, defeated, a few seconds before nodding, his lips in a white line. "Yeah."
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing."
The silent that surrounded them wasn't awkward, but it was filled with something he didn't had a name for and wasn't sure he wanted to know. Eric hadn't move from his place in front of him, hand still putting him between the car and his chest, and face looking for something on Buddy's face.
And then, no previous notice, Eric's lips were softly touching his. Like if he was trying something, and maybe he was, but the tenderness of it was warm enough to distract Buddy from any other thought than the fact that his soulmate was kissing him and every color they had been discovering have been associated to the other, and maybe there was hope after all.
It didn't stop there. When the kiss was over, Eric's nose caressed his slightly before he was kissing him again and Buddy finally noticed both his arms rounding his waist and the fact that he had moved to put his hands on his shoulders.
They continue kissing, protected by the other cars in the parking lot and all the noise coming from the gym, until both needed air and none was able to deprive the other from it any longer.
Panting, Eric's finger seemed to harden their touch on his body and he looked up at his face. Eric was red, the first color he saw little after meeting him, and there was a small trace of fear deep in his eyes, but his smile was as clear as day anyway.
"Uhm..."
"What took you so long to figure it out?" He murmured.
"Uh..." Eric swallowed visibly. "Let's—let's not talk about it right now. Maybe later? Hopefully? After a date?"
His hands moved from Eric's shoulders to the back of his neck, caressing the hair in there. He looked so handsome all cleaned up and in color, and his awkwardness was only cute to him. Maybe they did belong to the other.
"Alright."
"Uh. Nice!"