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ashton is six and he doesn't believe in colour.
he doesn't believe that there's this "red" or "blue" or that "yellow" thing. even though his friends tell him that colour is so beautiful, he tells himself that colour will not be as beautiful as the black and white world he lives in. who would want to look at "blue" when grey sounds so much better?
ashton is sixteen and is yet to see what this colour is.
"soulmates suck, write your own damn fate." he says to himself everyday.
most of his friends already met their soulmates and absolutely adored colour; michael changes his hair colour every month or so and it just looks like different shades of grey to ashton (calum tells him all the colours tho since he's the one who picks them).
this was the point in ashton's life where he actually considered the existence of colour. even though his mom and dad always talked about how that apple is red and the sky is blue. sadness and loneliness fills his monochrome self while he stares at his "pale blue" (according to his mum) ceiling and he scrunches up his nose. no, colour is non-existent.
ashton is nineteen and his world is still black and grey and white and honestly ashton has given up. he thinks that maybe he's being cursed by the gods because he doesn't believe in colour. and at this time, an exasperated sigh escapes his lips as he plopped on the "green" grass after 5 minutes of running. he looked at the grey sky and he remembers his mum telling him that his bedroom ceiling is as "blue" as the sky. he'd like to see "blue", it seems like a very good shade of grey in monochrome.
he picks himself up and starts jogging, still staring at the sky. ashton closes his eyes and shakes his head at the thought. when ashton opens his eyes again, he was met with another boy's wide eyes who was coming the other way. his eyes were... not grey. ashton stopped at his tracks as this beautiful boy slowly gained colour like this was some fucking fairytale and in that moment, all of his ideas about how colour did not exist went right out of the window.
"uh, hi, i'm luke." the boy smiled and ashton noticed a lip ring and wow okay this guy is hot. "and wow you are really really cute and your eyes are so amazing."
"i'm ashton and same." luke chuckled and rolled his beautiful eyes and ashton feels so hypnotized by this boy it's sickening. "wanna grab some cookies or something? i don't know..."
ashton offered his hand and the second their hands touched, everything just burst into colour. he looked up to the sky and saw how it slowly turned into "blue" and he noted that the sky did not compare to luke's eyes. a small thank you came out from a blushing luke and ashton couldn't help this stupid grin forming on his face.
and he decides that blue is his favourite colour from now on.