Archive of Our Own ^beta

Jaehyun sees colors whenever people are talking. After a tiring week conducting surveys for his thesis, he just wants to take a break from people and spend his weekend in his apartment. Jaehyun, being the popular guy that he is, obviously received enthusiastic responses from the students he surveyed— which he lowkey hated. He's thankful for the help but he hates the bright colors they exuded. The bright colors irritate him. The bright colors seem like draining him.

So after his last class where he submitted a few of his drafts, he went straight to his apartment. He took a warm bath, lit his scented candle, and lay on his bed. It was only a few minutes when he started dozing off but his sleep was interrupted when his phone rang. Much to his annoyance, he grabbed his phone and answered without lifting his head on his pillow.

"Jaeeeeee!!!" Jaehyun immediately distanced his phone from his ear. Johnny, his loud bestfriend.

"How many times do I have to tell you not to shout when you're calling me?" Johnny just laughed which irritated him more.

"Sorry, your highness." Johnny teased him more which made him groan.

"Jonathan, be quick or else I'll hang up. I need to sleep because I've been awake for I don't know how long now." Jaehyun stated.

"Okay, okay. I need you to go on a date tomorrow." Johnny said.

"Johnny I'm currently sleep-deprived. Spare me from your bullshits." Jaehyun answered.

"I'm serious Jae. I promised Doie I would set up his bestfriend with a nice date." Johnny said. 

"So, you set me up without consulting me first? I see how it is Johnny." Jaehyun said. "What made you think I'll go?"

"Because you promised you'd do something for me." Jaehyun stayed silent for a few seconds trying to remember when he promised him. "I knew you'd forget! Remember when I had to sweet talk one of your prof to accept your project in Business Analytics because you ditched his class to attend this one art exhibit?"

"Oh fuck." Jaehyun groaned.

"No fuck yet, it's only a friendly date!" Johnny teased him which made him groan again.

"Okay, okay. Just message me the details and I'll look at it tomorrow. I'm hanging up now because I need to sleep. Bye." Jaehyun ended the call after Johnny bid his goodbye. 

When he closed his eyes, ready to sleep, he realized he needed to go out again tomorrow, socialize with people, and sacrifice one day of his weekend. He groaned in annoyance louder.

-

Jaehyun sat in the farthest corner of the cafe to avoid people. Jaehyun is a pretty popular guy in the university, so he tries to avoid people as much as possible. He has the face, kinda smart, and friends with the social butterflies Johnny and Mark, who wouldn't want to approach him?

He woke up around 10AM. He planned to sleep as long as he can but he remembered he has to meet someone today. Johnny only messaged him that he needs to be in the cafe around 2:30PM. No details about who he's meeting up with, but according to Johnny, it seems like the guy actually knew him already. He just ordered one ice americano since he's 10 minutes early and doesn't want to continuously yawn later due to the lack of sleep. 5 minutes after the decided time, he was about to leave already. He's eager to leave and already planned what he'll tell Johnny but he heard the chime in the door signalling it opened. He looked at the door and found a guy walking in, he thought it was impossible but he saw the guy turned to him in slow-motion and flashed his smile— one of the prettiest smiles Jaehyun had ever seen.

The guy walked towards him and smiled again. Jaehyun thought he could stare at the smile forever. The guy is tall and slim, has pointed nose, brown highlights, and plump and pink lips. He's wearing a plain yellow shirt and jeans.

"Hi, I'm Jungwoo!" The guy enthusiastically introduced himself. Jaehyun was brought back to real life when he saw bright colors around Jungwoo when he introduced himself.

"Hello, I'm Jaehyun." Jaehyun replied shortly. He was lowkey looking forward when he saw him at the door but the bright colors around Jungwoo when he talked kinda caught Jaehyun off-guard. He already met a lot of people with bright colors around them, in fact, his friends, Johnny and Mark, also have bright colors when they're in their best mood but those colors are not as bright as Jungwoo's right now.

"I'm in my 2nd year, so lower than you. Same course with you, by the way. My bestfriend is Doyoung, which is kinda dating your friend Johnny…" Jaehyun kinda didn't pay attention to what Jungwoo is saying because the bright colors are kinda draining him but he was shocked when it slowly turned to dark violet. "...I'm sorry, I think I'm boring you out haha. You can tell me if you wanna go home already, I won't take it personally."

"No, I'm sorry it's just—" Jaehyun felt bad, Jungwoo was about to reply when Jungwoo's phone rang. He excused himself to answer the call and turned to his right.

"Hello"

"What? I'm in a cafe with someone right now tho…"

"Okay, okay."

Jaehyun is busy sipping from his iced americano. He didn't want to eavesdrop but Jungwoo caught his attention when he coughed and started singing softly. He's still on his phone. He's just singing softly so people won't turn their attention to him. A soft pastel blue and pink slowly wraps Jungwoo as he sings and it just made him and his smile prettier. Jaehyun was caught again by the guy in front of him.

Without the bright colors, he was able to appreciate Jungwoo's features more. He looks handsome and pretty at the same time. He looks so soft and innocent but his lips make him sexy at the same time. Those lips… He shook his head.

"I'm sorry. It was my sister, she's having a hard time making my niece sleep because she wants me to sing her a lullaby." Jungwoo explained while avoiding his gaze and his cheeks blushing. Who would've thought the bright guy earlier can be shy too. Cute. Jaehyun thought.

"No, it's fine. Are you in a band or choir?" Jaehyun asked.

"Uhm, no? Why?" Jungwoo confusedly replied.

"You have a beautiful voice." Jaehyun said and smiled.

"Is that a pick-up line or you're just complimenting me?" Jungwoo asked and laughed softly. For a few seconds, Jaehyun thought his laugh sounded like music to his ears.

"Depends on how you want to take it." Jaehyun replied and winked. Jungwoo laughed again softly which made Jaehyun smile. Jaehyun noticed there's still a hint of purple around him. "Is this your first date?"

"Uhm. Yes haha." Jungwoo replied. "Is it obvious?"

"Not really. If it wasn't me maybe it wouldn't be noticed." Of course Jaehyun would notice. He can tell a person's mood based on the colors he sees when they're talking.

They talked there for hours. They talked about the most random things like favorite bands, netflix series, ice cream flavors, and even ranted about their professors and subjects. They forgot about the time. Jaehyun even asked if he could take Jungwoo out for dinner, which the younger one refused because he already has plans. Apparently, both of them thought the date would only last an hour or two.

Jaehyun walked Jungwoo to the bus stop. They just walked in silence, but the silence this time was comfortable rather than awkward like earlier. They exchanged numbers while waiting for the bus and talked about random things again.

"So, that's it. I had a great time, Jungwoo." Jaehyun said when he saw the bus approaching.

"Me too." Jungwoo smiled. This time, the color he exudes is pink. Jaehyun smiled.

"Bye, Jungwoo." Jaehyun waved as Jungwoo walked towards the bus but before he hopped on, he turned back to Jaehyun.

"Bye! See you around!" Jungwoo happily said. There it is again, the bright colors that envelop him. This time, it doesn't irritate nor drain him anymore. This time his heart flutters. He realized maybe bright colors aren't that bad after all.