Chapter Text
Yuuri had always seen in blue. Shades of lapis, cobalt, and cerulean, made up his vision. At first, he hadn’t complained. His mother had told him that it was normal to see the world in one colour - that everyone did at the beginning of their lives.
“Your soulmate’s eyes must be blue, darling,” His mother had crooned to him one day, when he had asked so eagerly why he could only see in one colour.
“What’s a soulmate?”
Hiroko Katsuki smiled gently down at her little boy as she reached for him, and plucked him up into her arms. “A soulmate is your perfect match my love, the yin to your yang, the sun to your moon,” She said as she brushed Yuuri’s dark hair back from his face. “Your soulmate is the person who loves you most in the world, you’re both two sides of the same coin.”
“Is that what Otōsan is to you? Is he your soulmate?” Yuuri asked his mother curiously.
“Yes, Yuuri, your father is. Before I met him, I could only see the world in brown, dark streaks of coffee and hazelnut. Then I met your father, and suddenly the world was clear. Vibrant. As if someone had cleaned the lenses on my eyes!” His mother sighed wistfully in recollection. Yuuri gazed at her in awe, excitement brewed inside of him and a wide grin flashed across his chubby cheeks.
“So, when I meet my soulmate I’ll be able to see different colours? Like you do, Okāsan ?”
“Yes, my darling boy! You’ll be able to see the golden of the sun, as it peaks over Hasetsu at dawn, the rosy pink sky as the evening draws to a close, and the chocolate brown of Vicchan’s fur as he scampers to greet you after practise!” Yuuri giggled as Vicchan’s ears raised from across the room in interest at the mention of his name. “Every colour you can imagine my love, vermillion, violet, lemon, lime, carmine, amber and marigold! There’s a beauty in this world that comes with colour, Yuuri,”
Yuuri beamed at his mother. Joy overflowing his little body, he couldn’t wait to meet his soulmate! He wanted to meet them right now. He wanted to see Vicchan’s fur, and the colour of his mother’s eyes. The true colour of the ice as he glided across its surface. Maybe it was carmine, or marigold? The possibilities were endless.
His mother popped him back down on the floor, patted his head once, and then turned back to the sink to continue rinsing the cutlery from dinner. Yuuri was almost out the door when he stopped dead, and turned back to his mother in confusion.
“But wait! Mari can already see in colour, Mama!”
Yuuri’s mother froze at the sink, her hand clenched around a bowl. Slowly, she released the bowl back into the soapy water. “Yes, she can, sweetheart,” She said hesitantly.
“Then how come I’ve never seen her soulmate?” Yuuri crossed his arms defiantly across his chest, a pout manifesting on his lips as he glared at his mother. “I want to meet Mari’s soulmate!”
The room went silent. His mother, who was usually so cheerful, so energetic, had fallen quiet. She didn’t turn to face Yuuri, she stared down dully into the soapy water, and tried to ignore the ache in her chest as she said quietly:
“Your sister doesn’t have a soulmate, Yuuri,”
Yuuri dropped his arms and stared wide-eyed at his mother’s back. Mari didn’t have a soulmate? He didn’t understand. Wasn’t everyone supposed to have a soulmate? His six year old mind couldn’t comprehend the idea of not having one. Of not seeing the world in blue.
“Not everyone has a soulmate,” His mother seemed to hear his thoughts. She’d started moving again, and talking in a casual tone. As if she was discussing the weather. “Some people just happen to be born without one,”
Yuuri’s fingers squeezed into his t-shirt. He couldn’t imagine not seeing the world in blue. In a way, he was envious of his big sister. She didn’t need to wait around for a soulmate to see colours, she could already see the scarlet roses, that his mother had so often described to him, and Vicchan’s eyes as they glowed mahogany in the sunlight. Mari didn’t have to rely on anyone to make the world beautiful for her, Yuuri did. Yet, he had a feeling that not having a soulmate made the world less somehow. That the colours would seem to lack something. A lack of love perhaps? Mari may have been able to see in colour, but she didn’t have a soulmate. The person who was meant to know her better than anyone, the one to love, and cherish her most in the world, and that, Yuuri thought, was somehow so much worse.
“It must be so lonely,” He murmured, closing his eyes and moving his fingers up to his eyelids, rubbing over them gently.
“Yes,” His mother sighed in resignation, despair lacing her tone. “It must be,”