A/N: I haven't really seen any soulmate aus for this fandom and I'm an absolute sucker for them, so I wrote one myself! AU where your world is black and white until you have skin-to-skin contact with your soulmate. Let me know what you think!
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Henry McCord had resigned himself to a colorless world long ago.
He was over twenty, had graduated college, had started grad school, was to be deployed within the next few years for foreign soil. He'd met dozens of people over the years- but never had his world shifted, never had the black and white landscape shifted into a blaze of colors.
He'd heard the stories- his parents had been soulmates, and as a child, he and his siblings had loved listening to the story of their hands brushing and how they'd both realized color was leeching into their worlds. It had sounded magical to their young ears- true love and fairytales enough to keep the world afloat.
As he'd grown older, Henry had come to learn that even soulmates had rough patches; faced strife- weren't perfect. His father wasn't a perfect man by any stretch of the imagination, and he saw the toll it could take on his mother. But then she'd describe the blue of the sky to him, or the green of the grass- or the kaleidoscope of green and brown of his eyes to him, a soft smile curving her lips, and he realized it was worth it, in the end.
His older sister, Maureen, hadn't waited for her soulmate. She loved her husband, even though she couldn't see color- was blissfully happy, content to see black and white for all her days with a man who made her happier than he'd ever seen her. He envied that happiness- envied that it didn't matter to her that he wasn't her soulmate.
He'd tried- he'd dated a girl through undergrad, and for a while, Henry had convinced himself it was love. But graduation came, and she was the one to break it off- she'd met her soulmate getting coffee, and he couldn't be anything but happy for her.
But it left him off-kilter, and he spent his first year of grad school feeling off balance and unsure of what direction to place his feet in. The fall semester seems to slip through his fingers- there's snow on the ground and holidays approaching before he even realizes, and he resigns himself to staying on campus to work on his thesis through winter break.
The plus of being on campus when most students have left is the library is nearly empty- he takes up residence in a study room, and spends hours pouring over old religious texts. His table is covered in papers scribbled with notes, crumpled candy wrappers, and stacks of books- he's glad he's chosen a room near the back, and he knows the librarian on duty, because it looks a bit like a dump.
He assumes he's alone, so he's shocked when he hears a voice.
"Wow. Do you live here?"
His head shoots up, his pencil shooting across the page and leaving a line across his notes- standing in the doorway is a girl with a messy bun- the soft gray must mean she's blonde, he remembers from his mother's stories, and she's got on a long-sleeved sweater and gloves, a scarf around her neck.
"Only until my thesis is done," he jokes, and it draws a surprised little smile from the girl. "I'm surprised to see anyone else on campus, are you a grad student too?"
"Oh god no, I'm undergrad. I'm staying through until spring semester, taking an ethics class to get ahead on credits," she answers, and Henry raises an eyebrow in interest. "I'm Elizabeth, by the way."
"Henry," he answers, extending a hand. They shake, the fabric on her glove soft against his skin, and she gives him another smile. "I was an ethics major. If you need any help- I'm around."
"I'll leave you to your thesis. Thank you, Henry," Elizabeth replies, a slow smile sliding onto her face, and she disappears out of the doorway.
Henry's heart doesn't entirely slow down until the sound of her footsteps disappear.
Over the next few weeks, Henry runs into Elizabeth across campus multiple times, until eventually, they simply start spending time together voluntarily.
She always has an amused little smile on her face- always a quick quip on her lips and a light in her eyes Henry was captivated by every time they interacted. She was smart- smarter than anyone Henry had every encountered.
And Elizabeth was always cold.
He'd asked about her constant gloves and scarves- she joked it was poor circulation, and she always had cold hands, hence the gloves. Henry didn't push, though he could tell there was something more there.
"Stop stealing my fries, religion boy," she slapped away his hand as they shared dinner one night in the barren cafeteria. Henry raised an eyebrow, retracting his hand and returning to his salad, and Elizabeth rolled her eyes.
"You won't even take the gloves off to eat?" he finally asks- Elizabeth pauses, swallowing the bite in her mouth, eyes on her plate, and Henry waits patiently.
It's been nearly three months- the spring semester started in four days, and Elizabeth had passed her ethics class with flying colors. He'd made strides on his thesis, and their friendship had blossomed into something…different, as the weeks had gone by. She challenged him in ways he'd never encountered before, and his life was so much better with her in it.
But she was holding back- something important. And Henry just wanted to understand- wanted to know what that was. Maybe he could help her, somehow.
Finally, Elizabeth lifted her gaze to his, and there's something calculating in it- considering. She takes a breath, and then she speaks.
"I wear gloves so I never meet my soulmate," she tells him in a soft voice fiddling with the gloves on her fingers. "I never want to have someone to lose."
Her eyes are sad when they meet his once more, and his lips tug into a frown.
"My parents died when I was in high school," she tells him, and his heart drops to his stomach. "Left my brother and I all alone. They were soulmates. It's easier, if I try to forget there's someone out there that's supposed to be perfect for me. I've already lost too much. I don't want to lose anyone else."
Her voice cracks, and tears fill soft gray eyes- Henry reaches forward, squeezing her gloved hands in his. Elizabeth slipped her hands closer as Henry moved forward, and unknowingly, Henry's bare fingers brushed against the skin of Elizabeth's wrists- and with a rush, the world shifted on its axis.
It wasn't all at once, like he thought it would be. Colors leeched slowly- gradually.
The first thing he noticed was the blue of her eyes- it was so bright, it was all he could see, especially as they widened in shock and awe and surprise. The pink of her cheeks was next, high in her cheekbones- then the blonde of her hair, but it was twined with shades, light and dark and whites all blended together. Her sweater is a color he can't describe- it's almost purple, but so dark it's nearly blue.
"Damn you, Henry McCord," Elizabeth whispers, voice thick with tears, but there's no accusation in her voice- there's almost a trace of amusement to it. "I was trying really hard to resist you."
"It was the ethics, wasn't it? Too sexy for you?" he teases, his own voice catching in his throat as his world is awash with color. Elizabeth separates her hands from his long enough to take her gloves off before she slides her hands back into his, memorizing his skin with her fingertips.
"Yeah, religion boy. It was totally the ethics," she whispers, eventually lifting one hand to trace his cheekbone, thumb brushing the soft skin under his eyes. "Your eyes are so many different colors. I never knew."
Henry leaned into the touch, letting out a breath, and Elizabeth swallowed, squeezing his fingers in hers.
"Help me be brave," she whispers, and he looks at her, her touch heavy on his skin. "Help me be brave enough to stop being scared of losing you."
Henry lifted his free hand to brush some hair behind her ear, touching his thumb to her jaw, feeling her pulse tick beneath his finger.
"I will never stop making you feel brave, Elizabeth," Henry tells her, stroking her jaw as she slid her hand around his wrist, holding tightly. "As long as you want me here, I will be here."
"I want you here. I want you here always," she whispered, turning to press a soft, quick kiss to his thumb. "I want this. I want you."
At that, Henry was out of his seat, rounding the table, he bent to kiss her while she still sat- she tasted like French fries and vanilla milkshake, and Elizabeth melted into him, sighing into his mouth. Her hands found their way into his hair, and after only a moment, she pushed herself up to standing, wrapping her arms around his neck until they were flush together.
When they pulled apart, they were both flushed, and Elizabeth smiled, touching his cheeks.
"I love this color," she whispered, thumbs brushing the pink skin. Fingers slid to the blush that spread over his chest, and the smirk widened. Henry kissed her again, and Elizabeth gasped in surprised, clutching at him.
"Do you want to go for a walk?" he asks when they pull apart, and Elizabeth looks at him before she nods, smile softening. "I want to see what a sunset looks like in color."
"I want to see so many sunsets with you," Elizabeth tells him, and the dead seriousness of her voice makes him pause, looking at her- she looks at him blue eyes fixed on him. "And sunrises. And snowstorms. Every color of the rainbow, Henry."
"We will," he promises, and the conviction in his voice must convince her, because her fingers twine in his, and she tugs him towards the door.
And he realizes he does mean it- with every fiber of his meaning. The loss of direction he'd felt earlier in the year is gone- the direction of his footsteps didn't matter as long as they were in step with Elizabeth's. The surety of that though leaves him breathless, and as they push through the cafeteria doors into the crisp January air, the setting sun on the horizon, he finds he isn't scared in the slightest.
Henry McCord is breathless, and hopeful, and in love with the woman who squeezes his fingers tightly in delight at the array of colors splattered across the sky for them to devour for the first time together.