Michael Clifford Shorts

BGM - Can You See My Pain? (I'm Worried About You) - Soulmate AU

THIS ONE'S FOR YOU KAY!

Prompt: you can see all the colors until puberty, then you only see in a color that corresponds to your soulmate's mood

Michael:
"How are you today Y/N?" Rosie, the nice sophomore you were tutoring in precalculus asked you as you sat down at your usual table in the library.

"I'm alright," you smiled politely, "have you started the new unit yet?"

"Yeah we started it yesterday," Rosie said offhandedly. Clearly she was distracted. You loved tutoring her, and it was a good way to help pay for rent, but sometimes it was hard to get her to focus. Especially when you could see the excitement burning in her eyes.

You gave in and asked, "anything else that's new?"

"It happened! I only see green right now!" Rosie squealed and promptly got shushed by a fellow patron.

You reached over and patted her on the shoulder, "I'm so happy for you! I told you there was someone waiting for you." Rosie was somewhat of a late bloomer, usually girls started seeing in monochrome in the eighth or ninth grades, she had told you before that she was worried she didn't have a soulmate at all.

"I know! But I was still so worried! Oh Y/N, it's wonderful isn't it? Knowing there's someone out there made just for you?" She dreamily grinned and sighed. You watched as your charge leaned forward and propped her chin on her hand. It seemed likely that her soulmate was seeing pink; Rosie looked lovestruck. You doubted you'd be getting any work done at all.

"So, if we open the book to 321, I'm sure we'll find-"

"What color do you see right now?" Rosie asked. Obviously she wasn't listening to anything you were saying.

"If I tell you will you focus?" You sighed. You weren't getting paid to babysit her, her parents would be upset if she didn't do well after all the time the two of you spent studying.

"Sure," she nodded and looked at you expectantly.

You somewhat doubted she actually would, but it was your best hope in the moment, "blue," you said curtly. Honestly, you had been seeing blue too often lately, and you were starting to worry, not that you'd tell Rosie.

Rosie's face fell, "blue? Doesn't that mean sadness?"

"It might," you shrugged, "different colors mean different things to different people."

Either way, Rosie looked a little put off, "so green could be sadness instead of health and safety?" Her bottom lip poked out and you could see her starting to become distressed.

"Oh Rosie, I don't know what it means, you might be able to figure it out if you see what colors are most common during what parts of the day, but you can't let it get to you, at least not right now," you rubbed down her back. Now you were both distracted and she was nearly in tears.

"You're right," she sniffled and wiped at her eyes, "they're probably fine. I shouldn't worry." She took a deep breath, "precalculus."

You nodded and opened the textbook, "precalculus," you confirmed.

...

Michael tried not to be so sad, but it was hard when all of his friends had their soulmates and were building their lives together while he was alone. He was happy for them of course, he enjoyed their company and seeing them so happy together, but he couldn't help feeling small and alone when he got home and walked into his empty house.

Luke suggested getting a dog to help him out, Calum would make a point to spend time just the two of them, and Ashton would always tell him how it was just a matter of time but Michael still felt alone. He wanted to know where you were, and what was taking so long.