neighbors | solangelo au

1.2

tw;; ment. death, and kinda depression??

Nico woke up at fucking six in the morning. This is summer break, he complained to himself. I'm supposed to be able to sleep until 12 if I want. He considered trying to go back to sleep, but the sun shining through the window was warm and inviting, and also way too bright to sleep in; Nico was almost blinded when he opened the curtains.

Nico went downstairs in his pajamas, wishing he'd put on slippers when his feet hit the cold marble hallway. The coffeemaker was running in the kitchen, so Nico's father must have been up and working (as usual); coffee was one of the few areas in which they were alike (there were actually more similarities between them than Nico knew, or liked to admit, but that was beside the point).

He emptied the (sadly only a quarter of the way full) pot into a cup, then grabbed his phone from where he'd left it on the table in the living room and pressed his earbuds into his ears. He had just hit play when he heard piano music from upstairs.

"I fucking hope it's a good day," he muttered, and abandoned his phone on the couch to make his back upstairs.

Maria was sitting in front of the piano, playing. Nico leaned against the doorframe for a few seconds, praying to every god he could think of that Bianca would wake up and help him; she was so much better at this than Nico was. Eventually, though, he went in, and came to stand to the right of the piano and his mother.

She actually looked up at him and smiled. It was a good day; on the bad ones she kept her gaze fixed on the black and white keys, and looked through people instead of at them. The in-between days were like trying to function with a week of sleepness nights: she heard and saw them, but even getting her to leave her bed for longer than a few minutes took endless coaxing. The piano was contradictory; it appealed to her in both extreme emotional states.

Nico smiled back at her. "Hey Mom, how're you doing?"

"Great," she replied, flicking her brown eyes back to the piano and beginning to play that song from the movie Up. "Is your sister awake yet?"

"I don't think so, but Dad is."

"Oh, is he working again? I was kind of hoping we could all do something together."

Nico nodded. "I think he's in his office; he's always working."

Maria smiled and Nico looked at the lines that crinkled at the corner of her mouth. "Yes, he's very dedicated, isn't he?"

"To his job, yes," Nico replied, perching on the edge of the piano bench and settling his coffee cup between his hands.

Her face broke for a moment, then went back to the happy expression she was wearing a few seconds before. Nico cringed, realizing he probably shouldn't have said what he did.

He quickly changed the subject. "Have you had anything to eat?"

"Not yet," she said, removing her hands from the piano. "We could go make pancakes, though, if you want."

"Alright," Nico replied.

Maria swept up from the piano bench and left the room. Nico trailed behind and considered the feeling of vague nostalgia that his mom's good days brought for him. He didn't remember much before his mom was like this; he was two when his aunt died and Maria's mental state had gone sharply downhill from there. It was strange, he thought as they walked into the kitchen, good days made him miss something he never had.

Nico finished his coffee and put his empty cup into the sink as Maria started pulling things out of cupboards and drawers.

.