The rainbow seekers guide to seeking rainbows

Will

Will hated lectures.

Professor Chiron's ones were better than some other professor's - gosh, they almost forced him asleep - but they were still lectures nonetheless.

He needed sleep.

With a sigh, Will shouldered his bag, and prepared to head home to where Nico had set up camp. He was going to have a shower and crash into his bed no matter its occupants - Halo was probably snuggled in the covers and would probably meow in protest, but Will didn't care one bit. He probably wouldn't even notice if there was a dead body in there. He was tired.

He hailed a cab to get home - luckily, Will hadn't been so tired that he had completely forgotten to pay the fare, which had happened once; the driver had been a kind and understanding one, thank goodness. His colours had simply swirled in an orange cloud of amusement as Will fumbled with his cash.

That man had been nice.

When he opened the door to his apartment, Will practically crashed into it. Maybe he should've gone to the earlier lecture, if only because his brain didn't work. But that meant postponing his dinner, and he liked his mealtimes the way they were.

Oh well.

"Will, you're back."

That woke him up.

Nico was sitting cross-legged on the floor, shirtless, with two sleeping cats on his lap. His colours were relaxed and calm, circling him at a leisurely pace, as blue and grey as usual. But it wasn't simply the sight of Nico without a top that shocked him - it was the fact that there was paint all over his back in messy little pawprints. It was clear that at least one of their pets had decided that Nico was an optimal walking ground.

And Nico hated being shirtless.

"I - what happened?"

Nico continued moving his arm - it took Will a while to realise he was painting. "Nothing much. Nocturne got paint all over my shirt, so I took it off to wash it - it's drying in the bathroom - and Halo decided to use that one as a bed." He gestured downwards to where Will could make out a black ball of fluff on a black piece of fabric.

Will sighed and went to put his lecture notes away.

"And?"

His colours retracted slightly in embarrassment, and Nico looked away with the air of an anime tsundere who had just been caught showing compassion. "And I don't have any more black t-shirts I can wear..."

Facepalming, Will turned to Nico.

"So you're either emo or shirtless. That's some dedication." He went into his room and found a dark blue t-shirt - that was the closest Will had to black, so it was going to have to do. "Put it on. I don't want you getting sick."

Nico scrunched his nose at the sight of the oversized garment, but he put it on anyways.

After he had a shower, Will was about to go to bed, but stopped when he noticed that Nico was still doing his thing - painting, he was still painting. Will wondered what Nico was painting.

"Can I see what you're doing?"

He didn't respond, but he shuffled over slightly, which Will took to be an invitation. Nocturne and Halo meowed in protest before moving away, Halo taking the black shirt with her in her teeth, her aura pulsing. Will walked over and crouched down beside Nico, watching the smooth brushstrokes as they streaked colour over the canvas.

Colour.

It was everywhere.

It took a while for Will to realise that Nico was painting by shade - whichever shade matched what he saw, he would use. But it meant that the colours were crazy. All over the place. What Will presumed to be the sky was a mess of pinks and blues. If he had to guess, Will thought the painting was of a person. A person with his back to the viewer, facing an ocean.