Grey Is...

White(the guy in black) and Black(the guy in white)

Grey is… not a color nor a feeling
Grey is… happiness
Grey is… a memory
Grey is.. a life
Between
you… Black…

& me… White

—poem by White about what grey is

Grey is… is the life that nobody wants to live but the bond that everyone craves.

—Description by the author on her website

Grey is… is a slice-of-life web-comic about the friendship between Black and White, best friends who are the complete opposite of each other. Black is an angry young man who is controlled completely by his feeling, White is calm and collected and is ruled by his mind, together they balance each other out and bring contrast to each others lives.

However, that all changes when, seemingly without explanation White leaves Black. Two years later Black lives alone and works as a fashion designer, he comes home one day to find his door has been left open and White is standing in his apartment demanding a reunion hug.

The story explores their relationship as they both try to learn how to let go of their pasts and move on to a brighter future.

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Tropes used in Grey Is... include:

• Abusive Parents: Black got severely beaten by someone in his home right up until he graduated from high school and moved away with White. We are not told directly but it is implied that the one abusing him was his dad.
• Animesque: The author actually describes it as a manga and its reads from right to left like one.
• Bishie Sparkle: Black has them whenever he imitatesWhite.
• Cloudcuckoolander's Minder: White is very much this to Black, especially in the flashbacks to 2 years ago where we see a depressed anorexic Black who is only really happy when White is there to distract him. Even in the present time it is up to White to help keep Black from freaking out when he loses focus and can't remember things or when his boss starts nagging him.
  • It is also played with in that Black is the one with the job. He owns the apartment he and White live in and pays for a lot of their expenses
• Comically Missing the Point: Black does this from time to time, mainly because he has trouble understanding metaphors ands takes everything literally.
  • For example when White says that he's pondering the strength of the human heart Black assumes he's talking about peoples actual hearts and tells him that mending a few cuts doesn't make him a doctor.
• Direct Demographic The author regularly answers questions and takes requests for sketches from the fans on her website.
• Foil: Black and White are both the perfect foil for the others personality
• The Gadfly: Black likes to make people angry because he thinks that the faces they make are hilarious, it also lets him vent his own anger by being mad back at them
• Hair Contrast Duo: Inverted, while they do have opposite hair colors, Black with his rash personality and quick temper has white hair while calm introspective White has black hair
• Heterosexual Life Partners: Black and White, they're two heterosexual guys who just live together and spend all their time together.
• Homoerotic Subtext: Black and White, they bicker like a married couple and have no problem showing affection for each other, many fans took the subtext to mean the characters were gay until the author said on her website that they weren't.
• Living Emotional Crutch: Black and White are this to each other. Black needs White around to be able to think clearly and White needs Black to bring color into his world
• The Merch: You can buy keyrings, bookmarks and jewlery.
• Must Have Caffeine: White, especially in the mornings but it seems to be his drink of choice all the time. When he first gets back after two years away, the first thing he does after greeting Black is search the house for coffee
• Not a Morning Person: White, he likes to sleep in and if you wanna wake him up early you'd better have coffee
• Sleepyhead: Black frequently calls White this, he sleeps in late(in comparison to Black) and is always ready to take a nap during the day if he can find the time.
• Posthumous Character: Ameer, he dies sometime in the two years White is gone, we get to see a fair amount of him in the flashbacks though.
• Self-Harm: Black cuts himself the night after he remembers who White is while thinking about Ameers death, White knows and the next day calmly cleans and redresses the wound. White later says that he doesn't get it and asks if it's a new game he's playing, implying that Black didn't used to self harm before White left.
• Slice of Life: Described as such by the author.
• Unsound Effect: Check check check
• Webcomic Print Collection: Volume 1 can be bought from the website.
• Webcomic Time: In reality its been over a year since the comic started but in the story its been less then a month.
• You Are Better Than You Think You Are: Black thinks of himself as weak and not able to help other people, White who admires Blacks emotional strength disagrees and says something to this effect
• You Are Not Alone: Black and White need to remind each other of this fro time to time, this reminder is frequently accompanied by a hug