It'd been a relatively awful day compared to usual. You know how it goes, your shoe is untied, you have to stop to get gas when you thought you had enough, you found your boyfriend of three years fucking a girl.
It was great, really. You stormed out with tears brimming from your eyes, and it seemed you weren't the only one crying. Sprinkling rain turned into pouring rain, and as you drove to nowhere in particular, you could barely see in front of you.
The whole 'to nowhere' part was pretty important, because you had no clue where you were. You parked your car alongside the sidewalk somewhere and opened maps on your phone, but as it was loading, it shut off. Dead.
You tried to start up the car again, but it just wouldn't. You looked around to see if you could make out any buildings or such, but you could hardly see a few inches in front of you, the rain and fog too much.
You let out an enraged grunt and flipped off the sky. "Fucking rain," you muttered to yourself, attitude rapidly declining.
For a moment, you thought you saw beams of light from a light pole, but you couldn't tell. You glanced at your red fox charm dangling from the rear view mirror. Greys just mixed in with each other, but the pop of colour was nice to see, and despite red being a colour that's supposed to offer aggression, it calmed you.
You crawled into the backseat, laid down the best you could on your side, and let your mind drift away, the raindrops' dances on the car's roof lulling you to sleep.
Your mind barely registered the tapping as you slowly brought yourself back to consciousness, marking it off as the rain. Your eyelids fluttered open, finding the roof of your car. Yawning, you sat up and stretched out your arms.
It took you a few seconds for your mind to process everything and quickly rushed to roll the window down. The man, who'd been knocking on your window, seemed like he'd been knocking for a while.
"Hello?" you said, more of a question than a statement. Your eyes automatically lifted to the man's bright red hair, kept out of his face by goggles.
"What're you doing?" he asked, his gruff voice rough and impatient.
"Er... Waking up? Where am I?" you said, just realising you could see around you, finding you're in a neighbourhood. As your eyes wandered, they latched onto your red fox charm then back onto his hair.
"Answer my question, wouldja? And to answer yours, you're parked in front of my house. And I'd like to know why," he said, an seemingly unreasonable menace lacing his words.
"Well, it was raining, really bad, and I couldn't see where I was going," you recalled, thinking about the whole chain of events, "and I parked to try to figure out where the hell I was, then my car wouldn't start, and since it was raining, I had to sleep in here."
He pinched the bridge of his nose. "Why the hell were you driving in that weather, dumbass," he said, more to insult than to receive an answer. "And quit staring at my hair, ever see a ginger before?"
You rolled your eyes. "First, I didn't start when it was pouring, it started raining that heavy while I was driving. And second, I didn't meant to. Sorry, it's just that—" you paused.
"What?"
"Nothing."
There was a moment of awkward silence.
He was the first to break it. "Kid."
"Are you calling me a kid? I know it was a reckless thing to keep driving as it got heavier, but c'mon. I'm 24."
"No, why would I—No. My name is Kid. Eustass Kid, I just realised I didn't give my name before. Jesus fucking Christ, woman," he snapped.
"(Y/N). That's mind. And as much as I simply love chatting like this, I need a phone charger, you think you can help?"
He sighed. "Come in." He started walking up to his house, and you followed. It had a rocky pathway up to its porch that you walked along, following the male, Eustass Kid.
You chortled, thinking of his name. 'Kid.' What'd happen once he became a grandparent or something, his grandchildren calling him 'Grandpa kid'. He shot you an odd look as you snorted, but shrugged it off.
When you entered, the first thing you noticed was the utter mess and chaos the place was in. There was a long-haired male lying on the couch with a striped mask on. He wore jeans and a plain tee.
Chip bags, soda cans, pizza boxes, and clothes were scattered around the living room, and the same in the kitchen to your left.
"I'm a mechanic," he said, shuffling through a pile of junk, eventually pulling out a phone charger, plugging it into the outlet.
You plugged in your phone, thanking him. "I can pay for it, if you can fix my car up now," you said.
"Planned on it. In the meantime, you can... I dunno, hang out in here, I guess. Killer, wake up," he said, walking to the couch. "Killer!" He tipped the couch so the masked man fell.
He hummed as if nothing had happened, questioning the redhead's antics.
"I'm fixing her car, alright? She's staying in here, 'kay?" he said, pointing back at you.
You waved nervously with an awkward smile. Kid walked out through a door into what you saw to be the garage, his red hair disappearing behind the door.
"Hey," he said. "My name's Killer," he said, sticking his hand out.
You took it and shook his hand. "(Y/N). So, do you know how long the repairs will take?"
"Dunno, depends what's wrong with it. In the meantime, you can occupy yourself with stuff here, like movies," he offered.
"Sure," you agreed. "Do you live here too?"
He nodded.
"It's a—er—nice place..."
He laughed. "Yeah, it's messy, I know. Aside from that, any movies you like?"
"Not particularly... I like horror," you said, eyes scanning the room a bit more, eyes landing on some crushed Coca-Cola cans.
"How about... the Poltergeist?" he asked.
"Sure."
He put the movie in and you sat on the couch, the male joining you in a moment.
"Do you like red?" he asked, catching you off guard.
"Er... Yeah, you could put it that way, why?"
"You kept staring at Kid's hair and the coke cans. And every time something red comes on, you focus on that."
"I can only see red," you said. "The doctors said part of my brain and eyes were damaged, so it can only process red coloured waves. Aside from that, I'm practically colour blind."
"I see... Ever tried those types of glasses for colour blind people?"
You nodded. "But nothing happens, my brain simply can't process the colour waves, so nothing happens. So red just kinda pops, I can't help but look at it all the time, you know?"
"Yeah."
You watched the movie for a while in silence before you spoke up. "Hey, why do you wear the mask?"
"To hide what's underneath it," he said simply. "I'd prefer people not to look at me differently when they see my face, though I bet they already do 'cause of the mask," he tried to joke.
You nodded. "I see..."
"But," he contradicted, hooking his fingers at the bottom of his mask and turning towards you. He pulled it up, and silence filled the room. "Sorry, that must've been weird..."
"No worries, not at all. It's just your face, so what? I quite like it, too," you complimented, shooting a kind smile.
A light red coated his cheeks, and he slowly lowered his mask again. "Thanks..."
The door opened with a small thud from the doorknob hitting the wall, and you turned towards Kid.
"It's just about fixed."
"Really? Oh thank God, thanks! What do I owe you?" you asked frantically.
"I said about, it'll take another half hour or so. Next part is a bit tedious, just came in for a break and to talk about the cost."
Killer sighed. "It's on the house," he interrupted. You opened your mouth to protest, but he cut you off. "Don't worry about it."
"Are you sure?" you asked hesitantly.
"Apparently," Kid snorted, grabbing a can of coke from the fridge and drinking at least half of it in a gulp. "I'll let you know when I finish."
He headed back out, leaving you and Killer alone again.
"So, want to do anything else or keep watching?" he asked.
You hummed. "Dunno. Do you have a room, or do you just sleep on the couch every night?"
He let out a huff of amusement. "Yeah, wanna head there?"
"Sure, why not?"
You followed him down a hallway, leading you to peek into a room on your right. "That one's Kid's."
You swallowed, looking at the dark walls that had metal and punk-rock posters hung up, the trash all around, and the unmade bed.
"It... looks like he never grew out of his emo phase," you commented quietly.
"I know, he acts like one too. Refuses to clean it or let me clean it. Just waiting for the day when he starts insisting that 'it's not a phase' and he doesn't plan on outgrowing it."
You laughed and followed him a little further until you enter a room on your left. You rub your eyes and fake gasp.
"Woah, I thought I'd lost all sense of organisation, but is this... what they call clean? I thought I'd forgotten!" you exclaimed sarcastically.
"Yes, in this household, it's a very rare sight, something many people never think they'd ever see again after stepping into this structure of filth," Killer added, sitting on his bed.
"Salvation!" you exclaimed, spreading your arms out in his room.
You chuckled before sitting next to him, looking at his shelves.
"So, how'd you end up here in the first place?"
"Well... I guess I was driving and I was kinda mad at the time. And then the rain got so heavy I couldn't sleep, then my car broke down, then I fell asleep. Then Kid woke me up, and now I'm here."
"Huh. What happened?"
You furrowed your eyebrows a bit. "I was in a relationship with someone for about 2 years, and I found him with another girl," you said, eyes focused on the ground.
"Sorry to hear, poor guy. Lost a pretty fantastic chick," he complimented, and you could hear the smirk in his voice.
Your face grew a soft red, and you smiled. "Thanks."
____
It's been a few years since then, and Killer had shown you to a surgeon named Trafalgar Law (regrettably, according to Kid) who'd been able to tamper with your brain and allow you to see colours other than red.
And the dim greys turned into bright colours. And interactions here and there turned into love, somehow, and you and Killer were happy together.
You closed your eyes, listening to his heartbeat as you lay with your head on his chest and your arms wrapped around him. He held you, his warmth transferring to you comfortingly, and the morning sun's rays peeked in through the window. It was the perfect day for your 3 year anniversary to land. It was the perfect day for Killer to have propose.