Black and White

9- Nico

The next few days were uneventfully nice. It didn't take me long to adjust, my mother had always been kind of dreadful for me even though I cared for her. I was almost relived that she wasn't there to hurt me anymore. I would wake up in the Solaces guest room in the morning knowing Mrs. Solace was at work already and get dressed. Then I would go downstairs and grab my backpack for school.
Will would then rush down the stairs, kind of cute in his groggy, messy morning way, and pull my backpack off, telling me I needed to heal completely before I was to go back to school. He called school so he could stay at home and take care of me.
"I'm fine, Will, really!" I groaned, but he didn't budge, his hand firmly holding the handle on my backpack. "No. Extra. Stress. Until you are completely healed, do you hear me?" He raised an eyebrow. I sighed. "I hear you."
"Good." He loosened up, taking my bag off my shoulders and running his fingers through his messy white hair. His eyes shined, even though they were cloudy with morning mist, and he took my good arm and walked me to the kitchen for breakfast. We talked for a while as he made us coffee and pancakes, then went up to his room to relax. I had only been in it once, the first day. I smiled at the white walls, and he sighed. "I wish I knew what color my mom painted them. She decorated, you know, since I can't see it and she can." I nodded.
"I figured. It'd be kinda difficult to do it yourself- though I kinda wish you did so I could see it in wacky colors when I...if I..." I corrected myself, not finishing my sentence. He looked at me.
"You will." I sat down on his bed.
"You think?"
"I know."
"How?"
"You're worried that you won't fall in love with someone because nobody will love you. You know that's one of the dumbest things I've heard in my life?" I raised an eyebrow.
"How so?"
"See, I know this guy. You don't know him. And he's attractive and got a really nice smile and a great sense of humor, and he's been through a lot but he still stands strong. He's the kinda guy that would take a bullet for a stranger he had met that day, or defend his friends whenever they need him. So he doesn't have a soulmate yet. Why do you think?" I shrugged nonchalantly. "I don't know. He sounds like a great guy, he'll find his soulmate eventually. Someone like that's not gonna end up alone." Will shot me a pointed look, and realization hit me. "...Oh. You were talking about me, weren't you?"
"Yep."
"You think I'm attractive?" I grinned watching his face turned a dark shade of grey in a blush.
"I- uh- sure. I mean, yeah, why not?" I shrugged, letting the subject drop seeing how uncomfortable he was. "And what about you? Why don't you have a soulmate yet?" It was his turn to shrug.
"I dunno. Just haven't found the right guy, I guess."
"Guy?"
"Yeah. Problem?"
"No... I'm actually... I'm looking for a guy too."
"Oh." He was quiet. I glanced over. He was smiling. "What are you smiling about?" I asked. He chuckled. "Nothing, nothing. So tell me. Stuff about you."
"Okay. What do you want to know?"
"I don't know. Where you from?"
"Down the street."
"I meant originally, but that works."
"Oh. Italy." I played with my hands.
"Cool! Can you speak it?" He glanced at me, eyes shining again. "Yeah, but I don't often."
"Oh. Okay, how about... I would say favorite color.. but.."
"Blue."
"What?" He blinked at me in obvious confusion. "I like to think that when I can see it, blue will be my favorite color. I think it will be." He pondered that for a second.
"That sounds nice. I think... red. Hey, you wanna go get ice cream?" His eyes lit up.
"Yeah!" He helped my up and nonchalantly ran his fingers over my bandaged arm, taking my hand at the end. I shivered. "Let's go, huh?"
"Yeah." We walked into the sun, the heat warming my back through my shirt. I smiled, not realizing our hands were still intertwined. When we reached the shop, Will ordered for both of us while I lingered towards the back, breaking apart our hands to wander around. A nice looking couple sat at a table with ice cream cones. The girl looked about 16 and had wavy light grey hair. Her eyes were a soft grey in comparison to her boyfriends sharp, clear eyes. He smiled and tipped his cone, getting ice cream on her nose. I'd bet they could see color. "Come on, Annabeth, if we don't go now, Moms cookies will be gone by the time we get there." He stood up.
"Right. I don't want to miss those. Her cookies are freaking legendary."
"I'll tell her you said that." He smiled and she chuckled, and they left the shop hand in hand. I subtly watched them leave, then continued to look at the costumer photos on the wall.
"Hey." I jumped at the voice behind me. It laughed. "Sorry. I didn't mean to startle you." I turned around to see Will holding two cones of ice cream. I took one. "Thanks." We walked back outside, and I subtly stuck my foot out, tripping him so that he almost fell over but used my shirt to balance himself.
"Nico. What the heck, dude?" He asked, but I knew he wasn't serious. I shrugged.
"That was for the time you slathered my homework in peanut butter and I couldn't hand it in."
"I have to admit, that one was pretty funny. Especially the look on your face when you saw it." He chuckled, and we continued down the road.