Blue Is the Warmest Color

Jack and Alex are fucking idiots, Rian and Zack are positive of it.

It's two weeks before Christmas and they were supposed to be having a movie night at Jack's house. However, when the couple showed up at the Barakat residence clad in sweatpants and carrying a box of microwave popcorn, they were pushed back out the door almost instantly with the second couple shouting something about the miracle of Christmas and holy shit it's snowing again!

Now, they had been in Alex's lemon of a car - the one with the broken heater - for nearly two hours and the snow was only coming down harder. Zack had curled up against Rian about half an hour ago and was dozing off. Rian still wasn't quite sure how that was possible with the boys in the front belting out Christmas music, not even caring that they looked lost. Like, really lost. "Are we there yet?" Rian groaned, trying his best to act like an annoyed best friend instead of a worried mother. Alex and him had fought on more than one occasion about Rian's overprotectiveness.

"Give us ten minutes. I swear you're going to love your Christmas present!" Alex squealed.

"Christmas isn't even for weeks yet! Unless you're taking Zack and I to an airport for a couples' vacation - without you two - why can't it wait until then?"

Alex deflated and glared at him through the mirror. "This was the only time we could get an appointment, okay? And I resent that."

"You'll love us in an hour, promise." Jack tried to lighten the mood. Rian didn't answer, not wanting to cause any further conflict and much preferring to watch his adorable beau sleep.

Rian didn't realize he was falling asleep until the car came to a halt rather abruptly, sending him and Zack smack into the seats in front of them. "What the hell?" Zack groaned, rubbing sleep from his eyes and trying to sit up.

"We're here!" Alex sang from outside the car. He bent over for a minute and no one could tell what he was doing until Jack ended up with half a face full of white fluff.

"I swear you're going to make me go blind!" Jack whined, directing a pointed look at the sleepy lovers exiting the backseat. While Zack gave him the finger, Rian ran over to smack the side of his head not yet cold and wet. Really, the two had gotten used to the teasing over the years. It stopped bothering them altogether in sixth grade, when they were placed in the same classroom and found out they weren't the only one in the world who failed kindergarten because they couldn't name the colors.

Alex had to stand in between Jack and Rian to stop a full on snowball fight from commencing. "Guys, we're already late for the appointment! I don't know when we'll get another one. Come on." He turned and walked toward what seemed to be the only place for miles. It lit up the dark December night like its own Christmas tree.

"You're talking us to a fucking optometrist for Christmas?" Zack growled suddenly, halting the group in its tracks. It wasn't a secret that Zack hated the eye doctor. When it was first discovered he was partially colorblind, he was taken to damn near every optometrist in the state. For whatever reason, Zack's diagnosis couldn't be determined for a long while. All the other three boys knew was that he was home schooled for his fifth grade year because of it and he cringed even when walking past the little glasses store in the local Wal-Mart.

"Zack, I swear you're going to like this. We won't let them hurt you." Alex approached him like he was a scared animal. Jack and Rian watched silently, prepared to step in if Zack attacked.

Surprisingly, the man didn't strike. Instead, he shrank. He hunched his shoulders over and Rian could have sworn he saw Zack shiver, and not from the cold. "Can't I just wait out here?" He whispered, voice nearly getting lost in the soft gush of wind.

"I think you would like it a lot more if you came inside." Jack cut in, bending down to meet Zack's downcast face. "This is the place I came to get my glasses. Do you think we would bring you here if we weren't absolutely positive it was safe?" Slowly, Zack shook his head. "Exactly. The doctor is a nice lady, I think you'll like her. She's been waiting to meet you ever since we told her about you and Ri!"

With baby steps and encouraging words, they made it to the front door of the office minutes later. The second Alex opened the door warmth rushed to meet cherry cheeks and frosty fingers, followed by a voice that twinkled in the boys' ears. "I was beginning to think you wouldn't make it! It's snowing pretty hard out there. I was just about to put the glasses away." The woman was tall and blonde, nearing her middle ages. She was a bit plump and her eyes shone bright. She wrapped Jack and Alex in a tight hug before waving back all four boys to her office.

No one noticed the vise-like grip Zack had on Rian's hand.

"Now," She started once everyone was seated comfortably. "Alex sent me your files, and I think I should have exactly the right glasses you're looking for."

"We're looking for glasses?" Rian questioned, giving Alex a sideways glance. "Since when?"

"Since now, fucker. Merry Christmas!" Alex's face was smug as he settled into Jack's arms.

The doctor - the nameplate on her desk read Dr. Moria Lynn - smiled fondly at Alex while rolling her eyes. "These are not just any glasses, though. I hear you both are colorblind?"

The Gaskarth family had money. It showed in Alex's high end clothing choices and the fancy vacations he took his friends on every summer - his car, though, well...no one was really sure about that thing. Rian and Zack had told the boy about the Youtube videos they saw of these glasses that let colorblind people see color for the first time months ago. They hadn't meant anything by it except how cool it would be to see color, but the conversation much have stuck with Alex much longer than it did with the couple. "Alex, don't mess with us." Rian wasn't sure who to look at, so he settled for going between Alex and Dr. Lynn.

Alex only grinned. "You ready to see the world in color?"

"I'll just go get them out of the other room, then, and give you boys a few minutes of privacy." Dr. Lynn could feel the swell of emotion contaminating the room, and like every patient she had done this for, she was sure Rian and Zack would be in tears by the time she returned. They did not disappoint.

Rian and Zack pulled Alex and Jack into a hug at the same time, the four a mess of limbs and boy and tears. The mumbled "thank you"'s, "don't mention it"'s, and "merry Christmas"'s were lost against winter jackets and shuddered breaths because oh my god was this actually happening?

"It's time!" Dr. Lynn sang, re-announcing her presence. Zack and Rian practically tackled her - out of excitement or gratitude, no one could tell. "Who wants to go first?"

"Zack should!" Alex shouted, much like a toddler who couldn't be controlled. Rian would probably argue that was what he was. "He's only got red-green colorblindness. We can wait for Rian's big reveal." While Zack's color blindness was only partial, Rian's was full on. He had only been able to see in blacks and whites and shades of gray for as long as he could remember; red, blue, and green were almost unbelievable concepts to him.

Both patients were sure Alex was pure evil. Rian could hardly wait to throw the glasses on his face, while Zack was more than a little skeptic still. He thought the doctor seemed nice enough, but so did so many optometrists before. However, this was Alex's gift...Alex's really expensive gift...

He didn't want to seem ungrateful, so Zack gently took his glasses from the patiently waiting woman. He squeezed his eyes shut as his slid them on. Even when they were situated, he didn't open them, almost as if he were scared of the upcoming outcome. What if they didn't work? What if his eyes really were too fucked up to be helped? Would he never see the holly reds and mistletoe greens his boyfriend kissed him under every year, the ones that everyone raved were simply the best part of Christmas? These questions just became more daunting now that the option to see color was possible. He had accepted there was nothing he could do about his condition, but now that there was a chance, he wasn't prepared at all to face it.

"Baby, we're all right here for you. You don't have to be scared, alright?" Rian's hands molded into the larger man's, who nodded vigorously, but still kept his eyes shut. "How about I put mine on, and then we'll both open our eyes together, alright?" This time, Zack's nod was relieved.

Everyone chuckled a bit as Rian pried his hands away from Zack's and mirrored his boyfriend's actions of squeezing his eyes shut and throwing the glasses on with trembling fingers. Whether the shaking was from excitement or nerves, no one knew. Jack guided the two's hands back together, as Alex was a bit preoccupied with recording the moment. "Alright! Open in 5?" Alex asked. The couple answered in grunts of agreement. "5, 4, pi, 3, 2...1!"

Their eyes shot open like bullets, and simultaneously their jaws nearly fell to the floor. This was color? This is what they had been missing out on?

Somehow, it just so happened that Rian was wearing a bright red shirt with his army green sweatpants. "What the fuck? They're so different! How could I never see this without these?!" Zack exclaimed, face alight with a beaming smile. His eyes flickered around the entire room, eyes feasting on any shades of the two colors he could find. "Red is my new favorite color. No, wait! That green over there on the wall. That's my favorite! Or maybe that lighter red shade...isn't that what you guys call pink? I love pink." Zack gushed. He was probably speaking more now than he had in weeks. His usual quiet demeanor was overwhelmed with excitement and pure awe.

His counterpart's reaction could have been called the exact opposite.

Rian hadn't said a word. His face was pale and the only direction he was looking in was the one right in front of him. Alex's face fell. Did Rian prefer his world of black and white? Was this a waste, the worst gift he'd given to date? "Ri? Did I mess up? I-"

He began to step towards his friend, dropping his phone to his side. However, Jack just pulled him right back and held up his arm again. "Just wait. He's probably in shock."

Alex's words alerted Zack to the issue at hand. Even Dr. Lynn was looking with perturbed suspicion. "Babe?" Zack tried, pressing harder into his lover's hands, only diverting their attention when he saw tears bubbling over Rian's eyes. "Is this too much? Should we take these off for now?" He asked, wiping away the tears.

The second Zack touched the glasses, Rian scrambled into action. His hands flew to Zack's wrist, caging them in place so tightly you could see the blood drain from Zack's hands. "What color are your eyes, Zack?" Rian asked, seconds away from sobs.

"B-Blue, right?" Everyone else nodded with agreement. "They're blue, Rian."

Rian's smile grew to be wider than Zack's. "They were the first thing I saw when I opened my eyes."

Their hands fell to each other's necks, pulling their head closer and closer until their foreheads were touching. One wrong move would ruin the intensity, the intimacy of this moment, and Jack, Alex, and Dr. Lynn held their breath. "Don't you want to see anything else?" Zack asked in concern.

Rian only laughed and shook his head. "I don't need to see anything else but you." Kissing Zack chastely, he pulled away and looked every person in the room in the eyes, as if he were about to deliver the most important speech of his life.

"Blue is my favorite color."