acxnitum:

_{our characters can only see in black and white, but meeting their soulmate allows them to see in color. send me one of these doo-dads for a description of that.} 

_{color bleeds into his universe at
the tender age of nine.} 

_{third grade comes in a flurry of
sticky hands and floppy hair 
that his mother refuses to let him
cut. she likes to flatten it to his
head and laugh when he bats
her hands away, whining that
it makes him look dumb when 
she does that. secretly he likes
it, though. it makes his mom 
laugh, and years from now this
will be one of the only things 
he will be able to remember 
the sound of when it comes to
her.}

_{he is sitting on the swing, scott
at his side, promising that they’ll
be able to watch star wars together
soon because they’re best friends
and best friends have to watch 
star wars together, scott, we can’t
be best friends unless we watch 
star wars together.} 

_{lydia martin flounces up to them
with two other girls at her side,
but stiles doesn’t know them and
he doesn’t really care about any
of them anyway because girls have
cooties. except lydia asks for his
swing, and stiles looks at her like
she’s crazy because he’s still
using this swing, and no, she 
cannot have it while he’s using it.
then he calls her dumb.}

_{she shoves him out of the swing.}

_{as stiles watches her flaunt away,
the hard dirt beneath the swing 
wet under his butt and scraped hands,
with her head held high and her 
curly little pigtails bouncing against 
her shoulders, he realizes with
sudden clarity that they are a 
lovely shade of strawberry blonde.} 

_{it takes years for stiles to say 
anything about the colors to anyone.
which is hard, because he isn’t so 
good at keeping secrets. it gets
harder when his mom dies because
he has to deal with seeing all of the
colors fade from her skin, a burden
he bears by himself.} 

_{no one believes him when he says 
that lydia martin is his soulmate.
they laugh at him and shove him 
into the (blue, dingy blue) lockers.
jackson whittemore tells him he’s an
idiot for thinking something as ridiculous
as that. stiles is a nobody. but the
facts can’t be disputed.} 

_{telling lydia is not an option, because
he knows that sometimes the soulmate
bond doesn’t go both ways. sometimes
love is eternal and unrequited. and 
stiles is okay with that. he’s okay loving
lydia silently for the rest of his life,
if it means getting to see her succeed
and maybe one day having the chance
to be her friend. he’ll gladly take what
ever he can get.}

_{but things do eventually fall into place.
after puberty and werewolves and death
slot into their lives, the cosmos gift
stiles with the girl he’s always wanted.
a small consolation, perhaps, for all
of the sadness and hurt it has caused
for them all otherwise.}

_{stiles learns that she tastes like 
cherry lip gloss and that their bodies
fit together well. he learns every curve
and every hard edge that juxtapose
the creation of her. the contours of
her smooth skin, the way she curls
in when she’s sad. he’ll tell her, 
one day. he’ll tell her that it’s always
been her.} 

_{for now he’ll wait.}