Fixing Nico [boyxboy / yaoi]

Epilogue

~ NICO ~

We did end up watching a marathon of Disney movies. I still remember today - an entire year later - how bright Andy's hazel eyes glowed as the television flickered blue across the hollows and hills of his face, and a mountain of blankets rose up around us like a fuzzy fortress encasing us. Andy and I were like city: we were always so full of life together. We were both beautiful and ugly, hot and cold, happy and sad - we were million different things, but somehow, we were still one. Together, we were two mismatching parts that somehow made a whole. We fit.

'You're grinning awfully wide, there, Nico.' A soft, sweet chuckle filled the air besides me - I turned, that beam still plastered on my face, and gazed at Andy. His one hand was fixed on the steering wheel of his old Toyota Corolla, the other fiddling idly with my iPod plugged into my portable speakers - I'd insisted upon buying a speaker set for Andy's care because, after all, the radio never seemed to be playing My Chemical Romance, Black Veil Brides or Pierce the Veil. And I happened to own every song they'd ever made... What can I say? I was a committed fanboy.

'Well?' Andy demanded playfully. 'What's so funny? Did I mess up my eyeliner?!'

I giggled at the mental image of Andy cursing The Fates for his misfortunes as he frantically rubbed his eyelid with makeup remover. 'No,' I confessed, 'I was just think about how much I love you.'

Andy's eyes softened. They were the kind of eyes that looked a drab brownish-green until you studied them closely - only then could you decipher the shards of emerald, hues of honey-brown, flecks of gold and sprinkles of aqua that seemed to made a kaleidoscope of his irises. I reached a hand forwards and flicked an unkempt chunk of dyed-black hair from his eyes. 'Keep those beautiful eyes on the road. You don't wanna be another car crash statistic, do you?' I laughed.

'You,' Andy snorted - although he did train his eyes unfailingly on the highway - 'are a prime example of someone who's payed a little too much attention in school.'

I glanced out the window, a smile still playing on my lips. 'I love road trips,' I sighed quietly to myself. Flaxen hills rolled across the horizon, little meadows of dry gold-and-green grass dipping in between the steady mounds. Stubby wooden fences lined the roadside, cows grazing lazily on farm-land, their shining like new coins under the brilliant Australian sunshine. Little ponds dotted with reeds and lillypads were like mirrors to the deep blue sky. Cars drove steadily across the highway's freshly-laid asphalt. The occasional handmade sign flecked the roadside; bright, boxy words and exclamation marks tempting travellers with freshly-baked cookies, regional honeys and marmalades, and, as always - "The Best Coffee in NSW!". Nestled in between the rising golden hills and vast green landscapes, little clusters of buildings huddled together - towns featuring one long road, some run-down shops, and big, flat houses with backyards the size of public parks back in Sydney. And, as always, scattered besides the highway were skeletal and decaying remnants of somebody's home. I'd always thought I was like an abandoned house: I was broken and ugly, I'd been trashed by graffiti and stripped bare to the bones, the foundations of the building peeking through its rotting wooden walls... falling to the ground. Standing, but only just... 

But I was no longer that abandoned house. Now, I was standing tall. Now, my rotting core had been stripped, sheltered and repaired. Now I had a paint job and a doorway, and windows of glass and reflected the dazzling sunlight as if I had my own star hanging on the window pane.

And the best part? I'd needed no Home Repair Team to rebuild my crumbling ruins. I'd done it myself.

Despite Christian's promises - despite his intentions, both heroic and villainous, and the ways his blue eyes seemed the exact colour of the sky, seemed to shine like I'd found my guardian angel - despite his whispered words: I'll fix you - despite everything and everyone...