Flatmates - Solangelo AU

TWO

TWO

Nico woke up to the smell of coffee and something burning. Glancing over at the clock, he bit back a groan. It was way too early for this shit. He waited a moment before pulling back his duvet and facing the world and whatever mess Will had made in the kitchen. On his way to the door he scooped up a hoodie off the carpeted floor and slipped it on before leaving his room.

The stench was worse when he opened his door. He could see literal clouds of dark smoke hovering around the kitchen. "Will?" He was tired, hadn't had his coffee yet, and admittedly a tad grumpy this morning, what with the smell and all. "What in the world are you doing?" Nico entered the kitchen only to see small flames in the pan on the stove, Will in a polka dotted apron, and what looked like pieces of charcoal popping up in the toaster. It was that moment when the smoke alarm went off.

Will gave a sheepish smile. "Making you breakfast?" He stood on a stool to turn off the smoke alarm, and Nico went straight for the stove. Covering the pan with a lid to cut off the oxygen, he used a towel to move it to the sink, turning on the tap. Once the immediate danger was dealt with, and the alarm turned off so he could think properly, he surveyed the room. The source of the fire were pancakes left alone on the stove, he assumed the charcoal in the toaster was at one point in the past, bread. The island was covered in flour, and as Will got down from the stool, he knocked a carton of eggs on the floor, causing most of them to break. Great. At least the coffee looked like it survived. Nico would need a lot of it to get through this morning alive.

Together the two boys started to put the kitchen back to normal. It wasn't a quick clean up, and somehow Will had gotten pancake batter on the roof, so that took some coordination to deal with, but they got it done. When you could finally see the surfaces again, Nico got up and poured himself a cup of coffee while Will boiled the kettle for some tea. He was genuinely surprised when he tasted his coffee. "I may not be able to cook" Will said, "But I make good coffee."

"You never drink coffee though, so how can it be this damn good?" Nico questioned as he sat down with his drink beside the blond.

"I work in a café. I kind of have to be able to make good coffee if I want to keep my job." Will laughed. Nico smiled back at him. Now that the mess was cleaned up, and the air was starting to smell a bit nicer courtesy of all the open windows and fans, he was beginning to see the humour in this morning.

"Can I ask why you decided to make breakfast this morning? I'm always up in time to whip something together for you to eat on your way to class. It's not a big deal."

"Well, I feel bad that you do all the cooking, and you've been really tired the past few days, so I thought that I'd try and do something nice for you. Sorry it just ended up in more work for you."

Nico's small smile left his face. "I don't need help. I cook, you clean. We have a system for a reason." He finished off his coffee with a gulp and retreated to his room. Nico hadn't meant to come off as rude, but he didn't need anyone to look after him. He was an adult for goodness sakes. Will was his roommate, not his parent. He had no right to call him out on his lack of sleep. Plugging in his headphones and starting his music, he pulled out his sketchbook to continue working.

His drawing made her come to life as best as he could. She was still fairly clear in his memory, but sometimes Nico still had to look at the few pictures he had of her. It made him sad, but time always blurred details. That's why he drew her. To keep her memory alive as long as possible. He heard the front door shut and he knew Will had left for classes. Ignoring the empty house, he buried himself in his art for the next two hours.