This is a story inspired by an Insta post I saw by soldmysoultomarvel. Peter lives in a black and white world where the only way to see colours is by meeting your soul mate.

Peter is 21 and Wade is 27 in this story.

BROWN

Peter always wondered about colours. His dads tried to downplay their beauty so he didn't obsess over them quite as much but he'd made Aunt Natasha tell him all about them and they sounded fantastic.

See the kicker was you could only see colours if you met your one, true soul mate. In a world of billions of people, Peter wasn't very optimistic about his chances. That didn't stop him from being curious though. He was always fascinated by the associations people formed with colours. He'd once heard Uncle Steve say an odd phrase 'Green with envy'. He was really flabbergasted by that. Did people change colour when experiencing envy? He'd never asked for fear of sounding like a dumbass but it always niggled at the back of his mind. How did people associate colours with emotions? How did they even come up with names for them? Like Purple. Purple sounded so ridiculous, it made him wonder what it looked like. Or Brown. Brown was always just associated with Brown University in his head. Yes, a stupid association he knew but he thought it would fit. He supposed if he ever saw the colour Brown he would feel the same way he had felt getting accepted to Brown University. Grand yet with a little sense of belonging.

Peter sighed. He was getting mopey. He was only home for the a week and he didn't intend to trouble his dads with his pensive musings. Everyone was coming over today to celebrate his return from college and he was thoroughly looking forward to meeting them. He tried to not dwell on the fact that everyone arriving had already found their soul mates. Except for Wanda, of course. He was glad she'd be there to wallow with him. She was five years older than him and in a perverse sort of way, Peter was happy that at least one person in the room could share what he had started to look on as his disability.

He put on a tee and went down to the dining hall.

"Hey, dad. Good morning." He called out nonchalantly to Stephen who turned around with a smile on his face.

"Hey, Pete. Pancakes?"

"Sure."

Stephen could tell something was wrong just by looking at Peter. The kid didn't have the same bounce in his step.

"You okay, Pete? Something on your mind?"

"Just…" Peter half-heartedly tore his pancake, playing with it. "Brown, I guess?"

"What happened at college?" Stephen asked misreading the situation.

"Not Brown. Just brown…like the colour." Peter peered cautiously at Stephen to gauge his reaction.

It took all of Strange's willpower to not scoop his baby up and tell him everything would be all right. That wasn't what Peter was looking for. He was a grown boy now and deserved to be treated as such.

Picking up his on plate of food Stephen sat across from Peter and continued "What about brown?"

"Just what it looks like I suppose. When are Clint and Aunt Natasha coming over?"

If Stephen found the abrupt change of topic odd, he didn't mention it.

"I told them to come by noon. Plenty of time for your Dad to wake up."

Peter snorted "Late night dad?"

"Very. Tony was working all night…on the couch."

"Ah! Gotcha. Trouble in paradise?"

"Tony is the trouble in paradise. He refuses to grow past the age of 10."

Peter laughed "But you love him anyways."

"But I love him anyways and so will you, Peter. There is someone out there who is just the right fit for you and you will find him. You will see all the colours there are to see out there."

"You sound so sure." Peter's chest felt heavy but he refused to break down in front of dad. He lowered his head to hide his fears and doubts.

"I am sure. I've seen every kind of magic there is out there, Pete but till today nothing I've found compares to first holding you in my arms. You're my marvel and if I have to scrounge every galaxy to hunt down your soul mate myself, I will."

Peter smiled a little "Thanks, Dad."

"Mm-hmm. So how's college? You met any interesting people this year?"

"There's a Yale transfer, Ned. He seems pretty ok. And of course, there's MJ."

"Where is MJ these days? It was impossible to separate the two of you last year but I haven't seen her around much for a while."

"Yeah." Peter scrunched up his face. "She met her soul mate."

"Oh."

Stephen was wondering how to react to that when Tony walked in mussing up Peter's hair.

"Hey, kid! You blow up the Uni yet?"

"You're already in trouble Stark. I wouldn't push it." Tony always managed to get on the last nerve of Strange.

"Oooooh. I'm scared!" Tony mimes fainting, all the while stealing a bite from Peter's plate.

Despite everything, Peter could feel his mood lifting. He was home. He was loved. The soul mate could have another day.