Cas had never seen colors. They were there in the books that his mother used to read to him. Trees had green leaves, they said. Apparently the sky was blue. They said that the soil was brown, and that the rainbows were red-orange-yellow-green-blue-purple, but he couldn't tell. The world was represented in shades of gray. Around some people, he saw different shades and tints of different colors. Around Rachel and Anna, he saw light pink-grey and cheerful yellow-gray. Around his mother, there had been blue-grays.
He could manage perfectly fine in grayscale. In fact, lots people couldn't see in color. His mother was happily married, and she didn't see in color. Well, relatively happily. She had passed away years ago- Cas didn't remember her very much. The concept of those diluted colors-the ones he could barely remember, unless he was seeing them right then and there- having contrast, being on their own and separated from the dull, empty gray felt completely alien and was the stuff of fairy tales. He never considered for a moment that he would, or could be able to see them.
Until today. He didn't know which one of his classmates it was. There were a bunch. The lunchroom was crowded that day, but one of them was his soulmate. And he had no idea which one. He knew what to expect- if his soulmate left the room, the colors would darken slightly. If they passed away, the greyscale would return. It was in so, so many romance books, which he wasn't supposed to read, but everyone- everyone read anyway. They were the few books in which colors were described which weren't meant for children. Funnily enough, they were almost always written by single people.
Not many people were lucky enough to meet their true love, and many people saw in tints and remained happily enough. Cas didn't think he would ever meet his- and much less in high school. It wasn't what Cas had expected it would be. It wasn't a sudden revelation of love. It was sudden and highly unexpected. The world suddenly gained a new…depth. Except it wasn't depth. It was an entirely new feature, which he slowly realized was color.
The colors in the lunchroom clashed. A shade of what Cas would later learn was called lemon yellow was on the ceiling while light blue was on the walls. The floor was a paisley pink. The person who painted and designed the room made it for people who could only see in gray. He looked around in amazement- people had colors, too! What were just different shades of the same dull blank were now colors- beautiful unnamable colors that Cas would only later find the names of. He looked down at his own clothes- they were a strange shade- somewhat like the walls- except darker, and richer. All he knew about color came from the books. The sky was supposed to be a shade of brilliant aquamarine blue. The trees were an emerald green. The sun was a gold-yellow, a sparkling orb of beauty. Your lover's eyes were the color of the sea after a storm, whatever that meant. If water was a glittering blue, and the stormy clouds were green-blue-gray, he supposed that was somewhere in between.
But which one, was the question. Which one of this sea of students was the one?