"I'm distracted from the boy I've bumped into when the world around me begins to change. The grey and white I've seen ever since I was born into this world slowly begin to bleed away, like rain drops sliding down a car window, being replaced with bright, bright pigments. They cover everything, bring to life the world around me. The gravel underneath my feet is no longer a dull grey, the sky is no longer white, the bricks of the buildings no longer black. They're different, beautiful, bright, extraordinary, breathtaking. Colors, I realize. These are colors." x Natalie Grayson has lived her whole life in black and white. She's been waiting to meet her other half- her soulmate- who will make both of their worlds burst in color. It's what she's been dreaming of ever since she was little. She wants to know what color is, how it feels, what it looks like, if it's really as amazing as everyone claims it to be. On her seventeenth birthday, while walking back home through a sketchy part of town, she bumps into a stranger. Before she can even apologize, the last thing she expected happens: the black and white of her world begins to bleed away and is replaced with something else. Colors. When she looks up, Natalie isn't expecting to lock eyes with a rebel. But she does. She also doesn't expect him to run away. But he does.

Sometimes all you really need is a place to call home. *** Claire is lost and scared and utterly alone. Her family is in shambles after the death of her older sister Ina, and she's left to pick up the broken pieces of herself as her life heads into a downwards spiral of loneliness. Her heart leads her to 5:48, a little cafe by 33rd street, where she finds her new home. With a broken heart and a speech disability, Jasper has his heart and mouth sewn shut by the winding threads of hurt and fear. Painting and serving coffee in cafe 5:48 are one of his last few saving graces, but the smile he's been painting on himself will soon fade away as everything he's ever held dear slips away from his grasp. Ezra is out-of-sync and oddly cold by the way life has treated his young self. Abandoned by his single mother at an early age, he has grown up thinking that he is a mistake. His constant shaking hands are a reflection of what he often thinks of himself, but the delightful pastries he bakes for 5:48's customers are a reflection of what others see of him. Drew is a quirky rarity. He is a dash of loud, a pinch of exuberant, and a cup of eccentric - just like the meals he serves in the cafe as the only chef there. Behind his playful grins and outlandish clothes, however, are his jutting ribs, hollowed cheeks, and too-thin arms. Sometimes he cannot stomach being in his own skin as much as he cannot stomach food. This family has gone a long way from finding each other, and they'll be going a long way together too as reality comes catching up to them, threatening the newfound happiness they've found with each other. Secrets are revealed, pasts become presents, and lives are changed. Slowly but surely, they find their way back home. *** NOTE AS OF 08/2026: This is the old version of the story from 2012, posted in FULL. Another story that will be considered a reprise of this old version is in the works, and will be posted under the name "Hiraya House."

Katie Holmes is a caffeine addict. Between college, and taking care of her brother, it's acceptable. Though, it doesn't help that the cafe down the street is full of handsome baristas, including one William Cerak in particular who has a mysterious scar on his wrist. Synopses will be the death of my publishing career.