A/N: Oh boy, it's been a while since I've posted on here!

Long story short, my interests have changed A LOT. My writing has improved a ton. I've gravitated towards using AO3 to publish my work. I figured that I should post some stuff on here, it's a shame to let a perfectly good FFN profile go to waste, right!

Just letting you know, part of this story has already been put on AO3. Anyways, hope you enjoy!

"Alright, boys!" Connor McKinley said cheerfully, as he emerged from his and Poptart's room, clapping his hands. "The new missionaries should be here any moment, and we certainly need to be ready."

Elder Neeley grinned from where he sat on the couch. "Finally! We've been waiting all day!"

Elder Church nodded, he was sitting next to Neeley. "Also, are we gonna show them the new tap dance routine we've been working on?"

Connor frowned. "Should we? It might need some more work, maybe we should just stick to some of the old routines."

Elder Michaels spoke up. "I think we've practised the new one enough! We can workshop it with them."

Connor laughed softly at everyone's enthusiasm and held up his hands. "Okay, we'll do the new one."

Poptarts pushed open the door of his and Connor's room, frowning. "Hey, Connor! I told you to wait up while I threw away my poptart." He walked up to Connor, and playfully jabbed him in the side. Connor flinched but smiled sheepishly at him. "Sorry, I was just so excited about the new recruits!" He apologized.

Poptarts laughed and sat on the couch right next to Church.

"So, the two new recruits are called Elder Price and Elder Cunningham, right?" Asked Elder Davis, from where he was standing.

Connor nodded and strode over to the chalkboard on the wall with the names of all the pairs and elders. "Yes, and it's right here if anyone needs a reminder." He scanned over the names, to make sure everything was correct and in place.

He clicked his tongue as he scanned the room. "Elder Neeley, where is Elder Schrader?"

Elder Neeley sat up. "Oh, right, he went to the bathroom."

Elder Church frowned. "Hopefully he doesn't miss the new recruits!"

The door to the mission hut was pushed open, and Connor heard both Elders shuffle into the hut. "Hello?" One of them asked.

Connor turned towards the Elders sitting on the couch. "The new recruits are here!" He cheered, then strode over to Elder Cunningham and Elder Price. He met the taller one's eyes, and- oh. He stopped mid-step, and his eyes widened as his world was suddenly washed with color. Connor gaped as he stared around the room, amazed and shocked at this new world that had been revealed to him. Instead of dreary old greys that were all he had ever known, vibrant hues surrounded him, overtaking his senses.

"Elder McKinley? Elder McKinley, are you all right?"

Connor snapped back to attention at Poptart's voice. "Oh! Right! Sorry," he said with a small embarrassed smile, but his smile faded as he stared at the man who must be his soulmate, and who he assumed was Elder Price. No. No. Of all people, his soulmate had to be Elder Price. The perfect Mormon poster boy. And it was painful as Connor realized that his soulmate wasn't even a girl, and that Heavenly Father had definitely made a mistake with him, if that was even possible. He had to push aside those thoughts for now, though, as he still had to introduce and welcome Elder Cunningham and Elder Price.

He closed the distance between himself and the new pair of Elders with a few steps, then stuck out his hand. "Welcome!" He said with a forced smile. "I'm Elder McKinley, the district leader for this part of the Uganda mission." He scanned the taller man's face, for any sign of shock to show that Elder Price had also gotten his colored vision. However, there was nothing.

Instead, he just smiled and shook Connor's hand. "Great to meet you."

Elder Church was by their side a moment later. "My name is Elder Church. Originally from the great city of Cheyenne, Wyoming!"

"Elder Michaels, from Provo," Michaels said as he also walked over and shook hands with the two new recruits.

"Are you alright?" Poptarts whispered into Connor's ear. Connor jumped, he hadn't even realized that Poptarts had even left the couch.

"Yeah," he whispered back, casting a reassuring smile towards him. Poptarts nodded, satisfied with his response, then went to introduce himself. "Elder Thomas! But the Elders here all call me Elder Poptarts because I love them so much!"

Connor pointed at two of the unintroduced elders. "And that's Elder Neeley and Elder Davis."

Elder Price laughed. "Wow, that's a lot to remember!"

Connor nodded, amused by Elder Price's statement. There was a reason the Elders wore nametags.

Connor told Elder Price and Elder Cunningham to sit down, and he ran through everything he usually said with new recruits. He also got the same responses from them, just as expected, especially with the 'zero baptisms' thing.

Elder Price reacted pretty badly to that part, actually. His body language showed clear signs of frustration, to the point where his partner leaned over to talk to him about it. "Hey, are you alright?" Cunningham asked, frowning.

Elder Price straightened up and partially regained his previous air of confidence. "Oh, it's nothing, I'm just feeling a little confused, that's all."

'Oh boy, do I relate,' thought Connor, reflecting on how Elder Price hadn't shown any reaction at all to colored sight. Surely he would've freaked out, he was such a 'perfect' Mormon boy, and Connor could only guess that he was intensely homophobic, and would cause a scene at finding out his soulmate was a boy. Connor reminded himself that this was not a time to angst over soulmates, and he had to take care of the new recruits, regardless if one was his same-gender soulmate. "Oh, confused?" He asked, pasting on a smile. Around him the other Elders also 'oohed' at this. "Well I know just the answer!"

He bobbed up and down on his feet as he started to explain. "I mean, that is perfectly fine Elder! There are a lot of thing in Uganda that aren't… exactly wonderful. But when you feel feelings that you'd rather not feel, there's a simple cure. Just turn those feeling off!"

Elder Price raised an eyebrow at the explanation for the cure. "Really?"

Church jumped up from where he was sitting. "Yeah!" He said, swinging his arm for emphasis. "We've all done it, it's super easy! You feel better in no time, it makes for a much better life! Take me for example, my father abused my mother, but I just turned it off."

Poptarts nodded in rapt agreement. "I missed the death of my sister due to cancer, and I felt pretty bad about it for awhile, especially considering that I could get cancer too, but I turned off those awful feelings and felt better too."

Connor grinned at his fellow Elders, glad that they were throwing out their own experiences. He guessed that he should name an experience too, and also realized that this would be a good time to drop hints to Elder Price. "When I was in fifth grade, I actually had a crush on my friend Steve Blade. I had really weird dreams about us." He shrugged, and searched Price's face for a sign of something, but after realizing that he wasn't going to give an indication of his thoughts, he added, "but I turned it off of course."

Elder Price shrugged. "Well, I don't think it's bad that you're having gay thoughts, as long as you don't act upon them."

Connor somehow kept his smile plastered on, even as his heart started to rip in two as he realized that his soulmate might be dropping hints that he didn't want to have a relationship with Connor(even though it might've never happened anyways). At least he didn't seem that homophobic, that was a plus... Connor thought of a way to distract himself from the current line of thought. "Actually, the other elders and I happen to have a tap dance routine that was inspired by the concept of turning it off, if you'd like to see it."

The other elders cheered softly and even before Price or Cunningham had a chance to respond Connor was yelling, "Places, places, everyone!" The elders gathered in their formation and started their routine, and within moments Connor wasn't thinking of any soulmate issues, and was fully into their dance. After a minute, the routine was over, and all the elders stood in their final positions for several seconds before breaking off in laughter and smiles.

Connor swivelled to face the two new elders again, glad to see that at least Cunningham seemed to be enjoying it (he was cheering and clapping), even though Price seemed rather confused from where he was standing. Connor sidled up next to him. "So how do you feel?" He asked, with a hopeful grin.

Elder Price shrugged. "The same."

At this Connor let himself pout a little. "That's a shame."

"I guess," Price responded, but he didn't seem to care much.

McKinley smiled at him before facing a bit away and saying to himself, "Okay, listen, imagine that your brain is made of tiny boxes, now find the box that's gay and CRUSH IT!" The last two words were louder than he expected, and he flinched slightly before looking around as he realized that everyone had hear him telling himself to stop being gay.

Instead of shaming him like Connor expected, Price just frowned at him and said, "I'm not gay," and Connor realized that he must've thought that comment was directed towards him. Before Connor could respond and possibly clarify, Elder Cunningham cheered, "Alright, it worked!" and the other Elders cheered along.

Elder Price shifted awkwardly, unsure how to react to being called gay, so Connor cut into the conversation with "I'm sure the new recruits are tired. I'll take them to their rooms."

That stopped the conversation like Connor had hoped. He also added, "Our routine was great today, keep up the good work!" To give another conversation topic, then he grabbed Price's hand, as Cunningham followed behind, and led him to Price and Cunningham's room.

"This is it!" He said cheerfully as he opened the door for them. "Home sweet home, room sweet room. The best you're gonna get for another 2 years, unless miraculously we get more funding."

Cunningham grinned. "Oh, this is going to be so fun! Isn't it, best friend?" He beamed at Price, who was just slowly shaking his head. "Yeah. Sure." Price responded.

"Well, I'll just leave you to it," Connor said, and he shut the door behind him, and immediately slumped down. There was no one around to see him turn into a nervous wreck, which was what he was going to be this entire mission if Price showed no sign of colored vision.

Kevin woke up to his alarm that he had set for 6:15 am(15 minutes before normal wake-up, just to show everyone how serious he was about the mission), and within 10 minutes he had somehow been able to wake up his mission companion, the over-enthusiastic Elder Cunningham who could probably sleep through a rock concert (not that Kevin really knew what rock concerts sounded like, he was basing this theory off just what he had heard about such concerts), and had also gotten dressed. He prayed and did his exercises and was down in the living area 10 minutes before breakfast.

His district leader, who had been acting so strange yesterday, was there too, and when Kevin greeted him he yelped, seeming to not have noticed him since they were reading a book.

Kevin stared at him with a raised eyebrow at his reaction, and Elder McKinley cleared his throat. "Sorry Elder, you startled me, that's all." He smiled at Kevin.

Kevin sat next to him. "So, who usually makes breakfast?"

"Usually we rotate, today is Poptart's turn."

Kevin looked towards the kitchen and was surprised to see Elder Thomas (Elder Poptarts? He wasn't sure if it was proper to call him by his nickname) in the kitchen, he hadn't noticed him before. He waved at Kevin, then went back to stirring a pot of… something.

Kevin waved back before turning back to talk to McKinley. "How long have you been on your mission?" He asked, trying to break the ice with his District Leader.

"I've been on my mission for 3 months," McKinley said, setting his book down. "It certainly has been… Interesting."

Kevin looked around, thinking once again about how unfortunate he was to have been sent to Uganda. "Yeah," He responded with a frown. "It has."

"You warm up to it a bit."

Kevin glanced back at McKinley. "What?"

"Uganda. You warm up to it. I know it seems like you never will, but you come to like it. It's a different lifestyle, which opens you to be ready for other experiences," McKinley explained.

Kevin nodded slowly, thinking that over. "Huh."

"Also," Elder McKinley added, "Why would Heavenly Father bring you here if he didn't have a plan."

A smile started to form on Kevin's lips. Of course Heavenly Father had a plan for him, why wouldn't he? And Kevin was sure that that plan would take him to Orlando.

"Breakfast is ready!" Elder Thomas called, bringing Kevin out of his fantasy of Orlando. He looked around and realized that other Elders started to trickle into the room during his conversation with McKinley, and they all went and sat at the dining table.

Elder Thomas passed around bowls of some sort of rice dish, and they started to dig in. Kevin zoned out for most of the breakfast conversation, other than when Elder Cunningham would eagerly try to get him to participate.

Kevin picked up his plastic glass of water, then froze as he lifted it to his lips. Something was wrong with his vision. He rubbed his eyes, then looked back. While the world was still mostly just it's dreary black-and-white that was all he ever new, there was something about his cup that he could only describe as…

No, it couldn't be color, he thought to himself. Who could have been his soulmate? He'd heard stories of people meeting the love of their lives and the world instantly lighting up in beautiful hues known as 'color'.

This couldn't be it.

The world still looked almost exactly like it had before. Other than a faint trace of what Kevin guessed was color.

He set down the cup, and tried not to think about it for the rest of the meal, but he couldn't help it. Just another thing that had gone wrong already. He could sort of see color, but in a weird unordinary way, and he wasn't sure who his soulmate even was.

Kevin finished his breakfast and impatiently waited for the others to finish as well, eager to study and go out to talk to the villagers. He also wanted to talk to Cunningham about this, because he was the person he knew best and could trust most. He tapped his finger on the table absentmindedly, and when the other elders said they were finished he leaped out of his seat, took his dish to the sink, and returned back to his room alongside Cunningham.

Cunningham was enthusiastically chattering to Kevin, something about Star Wars and how he would love to have a marathon of the movies with him one day, but Kevin was mostly tuning him out till he got to their shared bedroom.

When he closed the door behind them, he immediately shushed Cunningham. "Elder, I need to tell you something."

Cunningham stared back at him. "Tell me something?"

Kevin nodded slowly, than hesitantly added, "I need your advice on something."

Cunningham gasped loudly, his eyes widening. "You need my advice?"

Kevin nodded rapidly. "Yeah, something strange happened at breakfast. I was picking up my cup and I… I… I saw color."

Cunningham gaped. "You saw color?" He said loudly, and Kevin shushed him again, not wanting the other Elders to hear.

"Yeah, yeah," he whispered to his mission companion. "But it was weird. I mean, it is weird. It doesn't feel that different, and I only barely noticed. Is… Is that what happened to you?"

Elder Cunningham shook his head. "It was the most amazing thing, it's so different and vibrant!"

That felt like a punch to the gut for Kevin, feeling like there was something wrong with him and his vision, that Elder Cunningham was having an easier time with his soulmate than him, Kevin Price, perfect Mormon boy extraordinaire! Then again, Cunningham only noticed color half an hour after it happened, so maybe it wasn't as extreme as he led others to believe...

"Wait, who's your soulmate? Is it a girl from our old church? Someone from school? A villager?" Cunningham let out a loud gasp, "Another Elder?"

Kevin shook his head instantly. "No, no, it's probably just someone from church or school, it's not an Elder, I'm not gay."

Cunningham blinked. "Oh, okay. Who do you think it is? Do you think you'll see them again? Did you meet them right before starting our mission?" He chattered, rapidly asking question after question.

To be honest, Kevin wasn't exactly sure, and his gut turned as he thought about the possibility of never knowing who his soulmate was. No, he just had to trust in Heavenly Father, right? He'd take care of him and lead him to a full and successful life with a good wife, several amazing children, and a high position in a church in Orlando.

"I'm not exactly sure," he admitted, and Cunningham drooped a bit, before perking up once again.

"Well, you'll just have to pray to Heavenly Father, right? He'll listen to what you ask and give you what you want!"

Kevin smiled a bit, comforted by the confidence in Cunningham's voice when he told him that Heavenly Father would gladly give him what he wanted.

"Well, we should probably head out to start speaking to the villagers soon, right? Let's start our studies so we can get to that."

Elder Cunningham nodded excitedly. "Yeah! Let's go get some baptisms!"

Kevin plopped down on his bed and patted the spot next to him, indicating where Elder Cunningham could sit. He sat down next to him, and they started their studies.

A/N: Alright, there goes chapter one! I hope you enjoyed this, please leave me a review if possible, and chapter two will be out in around a week and a half!

Also, my writing WILL improve around chapter 4/5, I took a break from writing for about 2 months in between chapters, so the first few chapters are from October!

Anyways, see you around! ~ OO