Fate (b&w to colour)

Gilbert had one particular spot that he liked to sit and watch the traffic go by. It was on the steps in front of his apartment building, right next to Main Street where people passed on their way to work. He liked to watch them go by, hoping that maybe, one day, his eyes would change and he could see the colours that his parents and his younger brother were always trying to describe to him. All his friends were finding their true love. They seemed to know something he didn't. Antonio was always talking about the colour of his boyfriend's cheeks when he was flattered and Francis was always telling him about how his fiancé's clothing clashed as if it wasn't just black and white to Gilbert. He desperately wanted to be in on this secret, to know the feelings they felt.
But alas, the only thing he could see was a dreary grey.
At least until that one Tuesday, that was. He was sitting in his usual spot, watching so many going about their day. Some elderly lady dropped her basket of oranges. She fell to her knees, desperately trying to pick them all up.
Gilbert decided to be his usual valiant self and help out. He brushed through the crowd of people, falling to his knees to collect the fruits.
But something was different. The oranges no longer looked pale and depressing. They were warm and bright. The he glanced up from the citruses to see that the lady's dress had become a shade of what could only be described as "spoopy".
"Vhat?" He looked around for anybody who may be doing the same. If he saw in colour than there must be somebody else in the crowd who could too. Right?
So why wasn't anybody stopping? Why wasn't anybody surprised to see the world morph around him.
He handed the oranges over and stood, trying to get a better view of the crowd.
But he saw nothing.
So he decided to go with that one unspoken rule.
If somebody couldn't see the person who had brought colour to their life, their one true love, then they would wait at the spot where their colour changed until they met up.
He sat down on the steps.
And he waited.

Days passed and he had memorized the faces of the regular passerby. There was that one girl that always had a flower in her hair who often walked alongside a dark haired man with glasses, a quiet looking Japanese man who came along earlier than everybody else, a blind blond man, always leading a white seeing eye dog, who often walked alongside a twin, and a tall man who wore a pink scarf. He saw each of these people daily, but none of them looked his way. He started to loose hope. Maybe gaining colour was just a fluke of his. Maybe he didn't have a soul mate.
"Mon ami, you are phasing out again." Francis waved his hand in front of Gilbert's eyes, pulling him out of his worries.
"I'm sorry...I'm just stressed."
"Maybe you should just let it slide." Antonio took a small sip of his coffee, looking around dreamily at the scenery of the cafe.
"I can't do zhat! I'd end up alone!"
"Maybe zhat what was meant to 'appen?"
"Oh Ja. Real assuring, Francis." Gilbert rolled his eyes. "I'm almost zhirty. Mein bruder found his in high school, yet here I am, middle aged und alone."
"You're 'ardly middle aged." Francis sighed.
"Like Jou guys could ever understand vhat I'm going zhrough."
"I dunno. Lovi was pretty hard to win over."
"As was Arzhur."
"But at least Jou knew who zhey vere. I've been in zhe dark ever since it happened."
"We told you to try zhe news network. Zhe put zhose ads up for people who can't figure out who zheir soul mates were."
"I tried zhat. Nobody answered it. Und zhen I vent to zhe Doctor to ask him about it, but he couldn't see anyzhing wrong eizher."
"I don't know what to tell you, Gilbert."
"I just vant to know...vhy haven't zhey tried looking me up? Are zhey nervous?" Gilbert stood up. "I feel like jumping off a bridge."
"Don't say that, Gil." Antonio pouted.
"I'm going home to vait some more."
"Be careful." Francis waived.
"Ja, Ja."
The Prussian stepped out of the cafe and started walking up the street toward his apartment building. It was about the time when he would usually be waiting, but Francis and Antonio had sidetracked him.
He finished crossing the street just as the blind guy and his brother were coming toward them.
"Alfred, please! I can take care of myself. Just because I can't see doesn't mean-" The blind male was shouting at his brother, pulling at his dog's leash with a firmness Gilbert didn't expect him to have.
"Oh please. You can barely function at home without asking for help. Face it. You need me." His brother was yelling back.
"I don't need a piece of trash like you to do jack shit for me!"
"Fuck off, Matthew!"
"No! You fuck off!" They were reaching the curb at that point. Al stopped and Matthew followed once his dog barked.
"Do you think I want to be taking care of you all the time? I'd rather be out with friends, but I'm stuck at home, making sure you don't mistake the salt and pepper. Sometimes I wish you weren't even born!"
"I HATE YOU!" Matthew shouted. He pulled his dog out onto the crosswalk, anger in his steps. The only problem was that the light hadn't changed from stop to walk. A red pickup slammed into him instantly.
"Holy shit!" Gilbert rushed out after him, a screaming Al at his side.
"Mattie? Mattie please! Be okay!" He knelt next to his twin, eyes watering. Gilbert stood there, shocked. The driver of the truck hopped out and started yelling. Al was yelling back.
Matthew's eyes opened slowly, but by then his brother was busy fighting with the truck driver.
"Whose there? Alfred?"
"Nein. I'm just a stranger. I'm going to help jou."
"Where's Kuma?"
"Jour dog?"
"Mmhm."
"He's valking around here. I don't zhink he's hurt."
Matthew's lips curved into a relieved smile. His eyes started to close.
"Vait. Stay avake!" Gilbert shook him lightly. His eyes reopened and he grasped onto the front of the Prussian's shirt.
Gilbert looked over to Alfred, confirming that he was now calling an ambulance. He looked absolutely stricken, like he had witnessed his parent's death.
"God! Is he alright?!"
"I don't know. How long until he ambulance gets here?"
"Just five minutes."
"Alfred..." Matthew reached out his hand for his brother. Alfred took it in both of his and kissed his fingers, crying silently.
"I'm sorry, Mattie. This is all my fault."
Matthew coughed. "It's okay. I shouldn't have walked off like that."
Gilbert didn't know what to do. He didn't know these people, but he felt like he had a duty to fulfil. He waited by their side, trying his best to keep Matthew from passing out while Alfred wiped tears from his eyes and begged over and over for forgiveness.
It felt like years had passed before the ambulance finally came through. Paramedics lifted Matthew into a gurney and carried him away. Gilbert and Alfred were allowed in the vehicle. They waited in silence, tensing up with every noise.
They were only a minute away when everything dimmed for Gilbert. The yellow stripe in the middle of the road turned white and the blue of the burger kind sign they were passing had darkened into grey.
He only had one thought swimming in his head.
He's the one.
Matthew was blind. Of course he couldn't see the colours. Of course he didn't know Gil had found him.
But now-
"CLEAR!" The ambulance zipped into its spot at the hospital but they were not allowed out.
Gilbert listened to the electric whine of the defribulater as the paramedics struggled to bring Matthew back to life.
"CLEAR!"
What had he learned about flatlining? That they gave up after a certain amount of time?
Gilbert lowered his head and prayed for his soul mate's well being. He didn't know what he would do if Matthew died. He had only just found him.
"CLEAR!"
With that shrill scream, Gilbert was assaulted once again with light. The sign above the hospital door shone the colour of love. He smiled. Matthew was back!

Hours later, Gilbert was stepping into the hospital room, Alfred at his side. He reached out for the blond's shoulder, stopping him from walking toward his brother.
"Can I talk to him alone first?" He asked.
"I don't even know you."
"Nein. But he's mein soul mate. I need to tell him."
"You are? Really?!" Alfred's pupils grew. "So you can tell him what it looks like? Colour, I mean."
"I can."
He smiled softly. "It was the one thing I've always wanted him to know about." He turned, heading out of the room and bumping into that same Japanese man who always walked to work from the crack of dawn.
The two blinked at each other for a few long seconds and Gilbert knew that Alfred had found the one.
He turned away from the scene and toward his own soul mate, sitting next to him. The blond had his eyes closed, but he wasn't asleep. He turned his head toward Gilbert, waiting for him to say something.
"Hey, Mattie, guess vhat."
"What?"
"I'm zhe love of jour life."

Gilbert had never thought that it would take so much pain for him to find the person he was meant to be with.
And honestly, he never regretted a single second of that hurt. It was all because of the warmth, the brightness, that Matthew had put in his life from that moment on. Sure, Mattie couldn't experience the colour that Gilbert was, but he was never spiteful over it. He seemed perfectly content to enjoy Gilbert's company over the aesthetic benefit lovers brought.
His smile, his touch, his voice, it brought him to pure ecstasy. Matthew had brought a lot more than colour into his life.

And here's day three! The only other fanfic I have to do is day five now! The rest are all drawings.