His Icy Blue

It was his favorite color.

Of course, it was the only color he could see. Like everyone pre-Soulmeet, the world appeared in shades of gray; black and white being the sharp contrasts which, his mother told him, meant the colors were particularly vibrant. He couldn't wait to see color, though he knew nothing would ever be as beautiful as his color.

The first time he pointed out an object that flashed his color – a cheap, plastic toy in a clearance bin – he was told it was blue. "Your shade of blue, Reki," his mother said as he clutched the small object tightly in his hands. It was the first color he had ever seen. "I would call it icy blue. I've seen it in pictures of places where there's a lot of snow."

"Snow…" Reki breathed, his eyes fixated on the object. He was only four years old and didn't understand the meaning behind this phenomenon, but he knew nothing in the world was more beautiful than his color.

He still had the toy. His mother bought it for him; there was no way his little, four-year-old self would let it go. It was a pointless toy, but to Reki it was precious. He slept with it every night, its unforgiving corners poking into his side whenever he rolled over in bed.

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Reki's mother explained what seeing his color meant two years later. From birth, the only exception to the shades of gray everyone could see was a single color, which was the exact same as their Soulmate's eyes. Her color was brown, an earthy color found in the soil of ploughed fields and the bark of trees. His father saw a shade of brown, too, since her eyes were also brown.

"And then we met, and I looked into his eyes for the first time."

"What happened?" Reki whispered, enthralled.

"Then the world exploded."

That frightened him, but she quickly explained that it exploded into color. "It was shocking, despite knowing someday it would happen. Colors burst into bloom around me, and though I'd found my Soulmate, I couldn't focus on him. I spun around in circles with my eyes wide, taking in everything and breathing in all the color I saw."

"What did papa do?"

"The same. People stopped and watched because they knew. They cheered for us, which made us realize we'd found each other."

"What is a Soulmate?" he'd asked, pulling a soft, stuffed bunny to him. He cherished it for the Icy Blue bow tie it sported.

"The love of your life."

"Love of my life…" Reki repeated to himself as she kissed him on the head and tucked the covers up to his chin. Long after she left, he lay thinking over this momentous information. He stared at his plush bunny, Yuki, and whispered again, "Love of my life…"

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"There," his mother said, satisfied. She stepped back and inspected her work critically. "Perfect."

Reki bounced on the balls of his feet next to her. He could see his color in the picture. Well, some bits of the picture. They'd found it at a souvenir shop next to the quiet beach where they'd spent their vacation. He knew the ocean was blue, so eleven-year-old Reki sat in the sand, staring out at the water, ignoring his little sister and trying desperately to catch a snatch of his color. Sightings were fleeting and his father explained the ocean had many colors that shifted with the waves. His Icy Blue was one of them.

The picture was in a bin of prints at the shop. The color didn't shift and slip away from him! He could see it! He pulled the print reverently out and held it with one hand, tracing the Icy Blue lines in the gray waves with his other finger.

Reki didn't have to ask. His mother gently took the print from his resisting hands, promising to frame the precious object and hang it in his room where he could see it from his bed.

The grays of his room blended into a blank muddle as he lay that night on his side - clutching his much-loved bunny to his chest, his chin tucked between floppy ears, the old plastic toy by his knees, and wearing Icy Blue socks his grandmother had found - as he stared at the print on the wall. He pictured that color in the eyes of…someone. He didn't care who. He closed his own and fell into dreams of Icy Blue waters shifting along a gray beach.

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It wasn't fair! It just wasn't fair! Reki angrily kicked at the base of his bed. He lay on the floor, seething in anger. How? How did his little sister meet her Soulmate before he did? He was seventeen years old! A ripe, old age and his world was still gray. He squeezed his eyes tightly shut, sick of the monotony around him.

Koyomi was fourteen! Why should she find her Soulmate and see the world in color? Hadn't he waited long enough? Hadn't he been patient? He kicked his bed again, despite being ashamed of acting like a child.

His sister – his younger sister – bumped into her Soulmate at the weekend market. She had gone there with their mother and met the eyes of a boy at his parent's vegetable stand. Koyomi wouldn't stop dancing around the house and singing, eagerly observing everything, even Reki ("Your hair is so bright!"). Reki wanted to be happy for her, but his stomach churned with jealousy.

His mother tried to soothe him, explaining that she was twenty-three when she found his father, but it didn't help. Twenty-three? That was six years away! Then his poor heart froze completely because he realized it could be longer until he met his Soulmate. Didn't his uncle meet his when he was in his thirties? Reki couldn't wait that long!

There was so much he wanted to tell his Soulmate. He hoped they liked skateboarding. He hoped they didn't mind that Reki talked a lot, or was over-enthusiastic about his passions, or was bad at math, or sometimes was thoughtless, or was weird because he collected Icy Blue things.

He rubbed roughly at his eyes, thinking mutinously of staying in his room. Koyomi's Soulmate and his parents were coming over for dinner and Reki knew he must join them. He wasn't sure he could put a smile on to hide his jealousy, but he also couldn't let his younger sister down. She was a pain, but he adored her.

The patter of two sets of feet approached his room and, a moment later, two tiny forces jumped onto his torso, forcing the breath out of his lungs. The giggling mass of his baby twin sisters rolled off, then jumped back on top of him. "Nanaka! Chihiro! Get off!" he yelled, but he was laughing, too. They lifted his mood with their giggles – enough for Reki to get up, wash his face, put a smile on, and go to meet his future brother-in-law.

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Reki stared out the window listlessly; the gray sky with puffy white clouds captured his attention because the droning voice of his teacher didn't. He idly wondered how different Sky Blue was from his Icy Blue.

With a sigh, he looked down at the sketchbook lying open on his desk where he'd doodled a new design for a skateboard. Oka would have to paint it, of course, since he couldn't see color. At least he could design well despite his lack of color perception. Reki hoped his talent would translate to a color-filled world.

'If I ever get to see color,' he thought darkly. It was one of those days where Reki's thoughts turned bad. Last night, he'd seen a Soulmeet before his race at 'S' and, as it had when Koyomi met hers, his stomach soured. He was sure that had thrown him off his game, leading to his terrible loss to Shadow and his hand injury.

"Tell the class your name."

"Langa Hasegawa."

Reki raised his eyes half-heartedly to see a new kid standing in front of the class. Reki wasn't too curious. He didn't have friends at school – most of the other boys didn't care about skateboarding – and with his mind sunk in negativity, he presumed this boy wouldn't either. The boy had turned his head to look at the teacher, who was saying something.

"Uh, I'm here from Canada."

Reki dropped his eyes back to his sketchbook, losing interest quickly. The guy seemed awkward, but looked cool. He knew the girls (maybe some of the guys, too) would be eagerly trying to catch his eye in the hopes they were Soulmates. Reki might at some point, but he was so depressed about the whole thing. He put his head down to fake sleeping as he heard the scrape of the chair at the desk beside him.

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"Hey! Can you stop that skateboard?" Reki yelled. He'd seen the new guy pop out of one of the buildings down the street from his workplace and something made him wobble and stumble off his board. It kept going, heading towards the busier street at the bottom of the gently sloping road. He hoped the new guy would catch it.

The new guy watched it go by, then gave chase; Reki was close behind. Thankfully, the new guy – Langa? – stopped the board and picked it up. He gripped the edges and stared down at the designs Reki had drawn and Oka had painted. Reki stumbled to a stop behind Langa, bending down with his hands on his knees, panting. He wondered if Langa could see the colors.

"A skateboard?"

"You saved my butt," he gasped. "Thanks, new guy!"

"New guy?"

"Yeah. You're the new guy in my class, right? Langa?"

In his peripheral vision, he could see Langa turn around. "Yeah."

Reki chuckled a little. "I'm Reki," he introduced himself. Having caught his breath, he stood up and finally got a good look at Langa.

And met his eyes.

His world exploded.

It was nothing like he expected. His mother, father, or sister didn't mention how his heart would burst. How his eyes would hurt. How his head emptied of thoughts. It happened fast, but in slow motion. It was like being on a roller coaster, screaming on the downhill, but also like being pulled slowly through a taffy puller.

He and Langa stumbled back from each other, Reki's skateboard clattering loudly as it hit the pavement. Reki barely heard it, as there was a rushing sound in his ears. His eyes ached with the amount of color assaulting his senses.

The color! He tore his eyes from Langa and looked up; looked to the left; looked to the right. He spun in circles, taking in everything, his mouth hanging open. Color! He would have to learn all the names. And so many shades! He didn't realize there would be literally thousands of them!

He stood on a normal street, surrounded by buildings, phone lines, and advertisements, but it was beautiful, and he couldn't decide where to look first. What about 'S'? He knew 'S' was full of colorful people! Didn't Joe say Cherry had bright pink hair? They'd seen colors since they were seven and Cherry's hair reminded Joe of the cherry blossoms that bloom every spring. Reki couldn't wait to see the color that inspired Joe to give his friend the nickname!

He stumbled over to the take-away restaurant next to him, pressing his face against the large window to stare at the picture menu pasted to the glass, his eyes wide to take in every color. Is this what food really looked like? He couldn't wait to eat dinner now!

And that made him think of his room. His house. His family! He would know his parents' eyes and what their colors had been. He'd be able to see the twins' eyes! And his grandmother's! He would know what color Koyomi's Soulmate had seen all his life!

The thoughts of Soulmates brought his chaotic mind to a screeching halt, every thought stopping and coming to one point. Soulmate. He could see colors. And that. That meant…

He turned slowly, pulling his hands from the restaurant window. Langa had his back to him, head tilted as he looked skyward. Five people stood close by, watching them; Soulmeets usually drew a crowd. One older woman had her phone out recording the moment. Langa? The new kid? Was his…his Soulmate? He'd found his Soulmate!

"L-Langa…" Reki said faintly.

Langa startled, whipping around so fast his long hair swung in front of his eyes, obscuring the color Reki had been chasing all his life. "Um, uh…" Langa gasped, shaking his hair out of his face. "Wh-what did you say your name is?"

"Reki."

They didn't say anything, just stared into each other's eyes. There it was – Icy Blue. His color. His mother was right. He could see every color in the world now, but Icy Blue was still the most beautiful one.

"Amber. Your eyes. Mom told me it was amber." It didn't make sense to Reki, until he remembered his own mother told him once that was the color of his eyes. "I-I have…" Langa stuttered, scrambling his hands at his neck, yanking on a cord until a stone pendant was revealed. "I could see this…"

Reki flickered his gaze at the object. "Is that? Is that my eye color?"

Langa nodded eagerly, stepping a few steps closer. "Yeah. Yeah."

"Oh, this is so sweet," the woman with the phone said.

Reki pushed up his sleeve to show Langa the bracelet Koyomi made – to give Reki a piece of his color to carry with him. "This is your color. My mom said it was Icy Blue. It's rare here."

"I saw amber a lot in Canada. During fall. Sometimes the leaves were this color. I love fall because you were always there."

"I saw you at the beach. Sometimes in the water. Mom bought me a print you're in."

Without realizing it, they'd closed the gap between them. Langa touched Reki's bracelet as Reki reached up to touch the piece of amber against Langa's chest. It felt warm and smooth. His other hand jumped a little when Langa's pinky brushed across the back of it. "Your hair is so bright," Langa said, moving the hand from Reki's wrist to the lock that always seemed to fall into Reki's face despite the headband he always wore.

"Yours is beautiful," Reki breathed. "It's almost the same color as your eyes."

"My Soulmate…" Langa's palm pressed against Reki's cheek and felt cool against his hot skin. His expression was awed as he studied Reki as intensely as Reki studied him. Reki wondered what Langa thought of him. Was Langa disappointed Reki was his? Did Langa regret meeting him? Did Langa hope for someone better? "Why are you frowning?"

"I-I…" Reki stammered. Normally he'd look away when asked that question, but he couldn't pull his gaze away from those eyes. "Um, I hope you aren't, um, disappointed in me."

Now Langa frowned. "Why would I be?"

Reki shrugged, feeling tears bunch up in his eyes. His emotions were so chaotic it was overwhelming. "I'm not, uh, like someone who's, um, like you. Like, beautiful." He felt so embarrassed.

"You're gorgeous," Langa said, sending Reki's head spinning. "And you're mine ."

A wave of affection doused him like the Icy Blue water he used to chase in the ocean. An entire universe of color awaited him, yet he couldn't seem to pull his eyes away from the only color he'd ever seen. Because his Icy Blue was here, now, looking back at him with an eagerness, shyness, and affection Reki had only dreamed about.

His mind was so muddled with thousands of thoughts that he couldn't form a response, but all he could think of was the one thing always on his mind when he wasn't thinking of his Icy Blue.

"Do you like skateboarding?"

Langa blinked his Icy Blue eyes a few times, nose scrunching up in an adorable way. "I used to snowboard."

"I can teach you!" Reki offered eagerly. "And you can teach me to snowboard someday!"

Langa's expression smoothed out into a smile. "I'd like that," he said. "But can I kiss you first? I've been waiting my whole life for you."

Reki would learn Langa was never afraid to barge headfirst into anything, but this was the first time he experienced it and it surprised him. He barely managed a nod before Langa bent his head, bringing his other hand up to Reki's other cheek. It felt warm and smooth, like the amber stone against Langa's chest. The small crowd around them cheered – they kept the kiss short because of it.

"Let's go to my house," Reki said. "I can't wait for you to meet my family."

"I'll call my mom. If it's okay that she comes over, too?"

"Of course!"

Reki dragged Langa home, passing through a colorful world, his hand firmly holding his Soulmate's and exchanging little kisses when the realization caught up to them again. He chattered ceaselessly about skateboarding, his family, his job, 'S', and everything else. A kaleidoscope of colors whirled around him - every shade available to his eyes - but as it had his whole life, only one color captured his attention. His Icy Blue above a wide smile as his Soulmate listened to him babble. Nothing else could be as beautiful.

A/N: Written for the Sk8 the Infinity Anemoia Zine - a Soulmate AU

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