Keep this in mind while reading.
(Also, c'mon, we all need this in our lives.)

In Jisoo's opinion, the whole ordeal about being able to see after falling in love for the first time was quite romantic but mostly unnecessary. When he was a child, it wasn't that troublesome. He was always the shy one who didn’t play with the other kids which, fortunately for his parents, lessened their worries about him getting injured. All he did during his childhood was listen to audiobooks while staring into the darkness surrounding him.

At the age of nine, his parents finally explained to him that a lot of people were able to see because they’d fallen in love already. This information confused him. Jisoo couldn't understand how people fell in love. They met and . . . and then what? There were no first impressions when meeting other people. But after giving the topic a thought, he could understand it a little bit better. Jisoo thought back to his meeting with Seungcheol, the first boy who ever befriended him.

✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

It was only a few weeks before his ninth birthday when his teacher made all the kids in his class play a game.

The rules were pretty simple — one person was chosen as the Runner, and for the Runner to win, they had to catch other people. When other people were caught by the Runner, they lost the game. The only way for the other people to be safe was if another person stood in front of them as a ‘wall’. As this game was customised for blind people, the Runner had to say a word when he touched the person, and the person acting as a ‘wall’ had to say something back. For blind people, it was mostly a game of trust.

Jisoo, being the shy boy that he was, just stood there on the side, not wanting to get in the way of his classmates. It wasn’t until his teacher came and dragged him to the centre of the room when his worst nightmare became a reality.

Since he’d been blind his whole life, he was used to people touching him, so this game wasn’t too troublesome. He stood there in the centre of the room, trying his best to ignore his classmates’ hands brushing against him and their loud chatter. There were frantic steps around him, and a few kids even bumped into him, but when the Runner caught someone near him, Jisoo panicked a little. He wanted to move away, but before he could, an icy cold hand touched his arm, and after a few seconds, someone stood in front of him really closely. Jisoo grasped the person standing in front of him by the arms for leverage. He felt calmness spreading throughout his body as he held onto the kid's cold skin.

“Gotcha!” the Runner shouted from somewhere close-by and the kid in front of Jisoo moved slightly.

“Try again!” another voice shouted back. It came from the same boy Jisoo was clinging onto so he held onto his arm a little bit tighter. He knew he was safe with him by his side.

A few seconds later, the boy moved away and Jisoo instantly became anxious. He tried to reach out and grab the boy again, but the moment he grasped someone's shirt he flinched, feeling a cold palm on his neck.

“Sorry,” a familiar voice said and the boy retracted his hand away from Jisoo’s neck.

“It's okay,” Jisoo meekly exclaimed. A few seconds later, a cold hand held Jisoo’s forearm again but only after it accidentally poked him in the stomach.

Jisoo smiled. It was refreshing to know that this boy didn’t reject his touch like some of the other kids. He’d even let Jisoo cling onto him earlier and that had never happened to him before.

“I’m Seungcheol. I don't recognise your voice. Who are you?” he asked, touching Jisoo's face softly.

“I’m–” Seungcheol's fingers were on Jisoo's lips and then there was a quick but gentle flick on his nose, making him giggle lightly. “Hong Jisoo.”

“Cool!” Jisoo could hear the excitement in Seungcheol’s voice, and he could tell that Seungcheol was smiling. “Let's stick together, okay?”

“You want to stay with me?” Jisoo asked shyly, trying to contain his own excitement.

“Sure! And later we can play with dinosaurs, okay?”

Jisoo felt his energy rising and a warmness spread throughout his body. He was finally accepted by someone who seemingly didn't mind his shy demeanour and Jisoo just couldn't feel happier.

“Okay.”

Weeks later, after Jisoo thought about how great of a friend he’d gained, he realised something important:

You don't need to see when you can feel instead.

✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

Jisoo loved staying inside his university dorm room. Every time he went outside, there was always a lingering fear within him that he would get lost or get hit by a car, even with his caretaker around. This time wasn't any different. One of his hands was clutching onto Soonyoung's forearm for his dear life and his cane in the other. He cursed at Seungcheol internally for wanting to meet in the city and not at a place that he was already familiar with.

“Soonyoung.”

“Hm?” The boy stopped humming and focussed his attention on Jisoo.

“Can you tell me what you see?” Jisoo asked gently.

“Hmm . . . Right now, I see a very handsome man. He has really soft features, his lips are a bit curled at the corners, a cute nose, and sharp eyes. Oh my God, he’s so pretty!” Soonyoung cooed and giggled.

Jisoo groaned and pushed his caretaker away a little. “And what do you see around this man?”

“Aw, Jisoo,” Soonyoung whined with feigned hurt. “Don’t you appreciate me complimenting you?”

“Thank you for complimenting me but I'm sure there are other, more accurate, adjectives to describe me.”

“Hey! Men can be pretty too!” Soonyoung argued, making Jisoo flinch.

“I didn't say they couldn’t. It’s just–” Jisoo huffed, “I can't see myself so I don't really know what I look like,” Jisoo explained softly.

“You’ll fall in love with someone soon and then, you’ll be able to see everything! Don’t worry about it,” Soonyoung said reassuringly as he patted Jisoo’s hand that was clutching his forearm.

“I hope so,” Jisoo murmured. He tilted his head upwards, enjoying the cool wind that caressed his face. It was a really warm day and even though he’d only been outside for a little over ten minutes, he already felt sticky from sweating so much.

“Here we are.” Soonyoung came to an abrupt stop. “I can already see Cheol sitting in the cafe.”

Jisoo couldn't stop the smile spreading across his face.

“Let's go inside.” Soonyoung pulled Jisoo along and they entered the small cafe together.

There were a lot of people inside, most of them being customers, but there were a few staff members helping the blind people and serving drinks and meals to tables.

Soonyoung pulled Jisoo towards Seungcheol while humming happily along to a song that was playing on the cafe's radio.

“Hello, Seungcheol!” Soonyoung greeted his friend loudly. Seungcheol stopped fumbling with his cane on top of the table and turned his head in the direction of the voice.

“Hey, Soonyoung and Jisoo,” Seungcheol said with his deep voice. Jisoo didn’t bother to hide the grin on his face.

Jisoo let go of Soonyoung's forearm and with his help, Jisoo carefully slipped onto the chair across from Seungcheol.

“Fancy seeing you here,” Jisoo said, making his two friends snort.

“Okay guys,” Soonyoung said as he rested his palms on the table. “Should I wait for you here or you will manage without me?”

Jisoo lifted his hand that was gripping onto the white cane. “We're fine.”

“Awesome, I’ll see you two later!”

Despite the noise around them, Jisoo faintly heard Soonyoung's steps on the tiled floor and the door slamming shut.

“Soonyoung's hyperactive as always?” Seungcheol stated, but it turned out more like a question. Jisoo felt a warm hand taking hold of his own.

“Yeah,” Jisoo answered curtly. Suddenly, something really cold was placed into his other hand which sent a shiver down his spine.

“I ordered a mango smoothie for you, is that okay?” Seungcheol asked. Jisoo could detect a hint of worry in his friend’s voice.

“Of course.” Jisoo lifted the drink to his mouth and took a sip. The cold drink was a blessing for such a hot day. “It's great!”

“Really? I'm glad then.” Jisoo could hear the smile in Seungcheol’s voice. “I think it's better if you try different flavours because–”

Jisoo moved his hand from Seungcheol's arm up to his face. Seungcheol stopped talking after feeling Jisoo's palm cupping his cheek.

“What is it?” Seungcheol's lips slowly turned downwards and Jisoo used his thumb to lift one corner up again.

“I just wanted to feel your smile. It's really pretty.” Jisoo felt something shift in his stomach as the embarrassment for his own cringe-worthy words hit right in the guts. Seungcheol smiled again though, so the cringe-worthy statement was worth it in the end.

“How can you say that my smile is pretty if you can’t see it?” Seungcheol grinned. He held Jisoo’s hand near his mouth so with every word that he said, Jisoo’s lips brushed his skin. “Did you just fall in love with me?”

“I don’t need to see it to know that it’s really pretty,” Jisoo said softly as he gently caressed Seungcheol's plush lips.

Jisoo wouldn't lie — he had considered Seungcheol as a potential boyfriend at one stage in his life. Actually, he considered this at many stages in his life but that was beside the point. Seungcheol was one of a kind. He was always understanding, selfless, friendly, and caring. Seungcheol was flawless in almost every aspect and only an idiot wouldn't appreciate him.

Jisoo was afraid though. He was afraid of his parents' reaction to their son having a boyfriend and not a girlfriend like they expected. Living with the possibility that he wouldn’t be accepted by his family was scary.

Falling for his best friend and potentially losing him? Even more so.

Seungcheol might even not like him that way despite being openly biual and the fact that he has soft spot for Jisoo. Jisoo knew he wasn't just an ordinary friend for Seungcheol but was that enough to build their friendship into something more? A big part of him thought it was just his desperation to see that made him want to use his best friend as a means to an end. But using his best friend for such selfish reasons would likely result in the end of their friendship. This alone would make Jisoo miserable. He couldn’t bare the thought of not having Seungcheol in his life so he tried his hardest not to fall in love with him.

But what he didn't know was, was that he had been slowly and unconsciously falling for his best friend for a long time.

These thoughts were the only things running through Jisoo’s mind lately and it stressed him out even more. It didn’t help him with his university workload at all.

“I wish I could see already,” Jisoo sighed as he carefully moved his hands to his drink.

“Yeah,” Seungcheol murmured sadly under his breath.

There was silence between the two of them until Seungcheol broke it with his cheerful chatter. He talked about an anime that he recently watched and Jisoo perked up at the mere mention of the topic. They talked about it until they finished their drinks.With nothing to drink and nothing to eat, Seungcheol suggested that they should go and see a movie together.

“Come on, Jisoo!” Seungcheol pleaded. “It’ll be fun.”

“You really expect me to go to the theatre and listen to a giant lizard’s blood-curdling noises for over two hours when you know for a fact that I’m afraid of lizards?” Jisoo asked sceptically.

“But . . . but you're not afraid of dinosaurs! It doesn't make sense.” Seungcheol took Jisoo's right hand in his own one and waved it around. “This movie is going to be lit!”

“That’s only because dinosaurs are extinct. Sure, they existed millions of years ago but there’s no way in hell that a Triceratops is going to come and cause havoc here,” Jisoo explained. “And how was Godzilla created again? Oh, that’s right: a nuclear bombardment. And do you know how a bombardment takes place? By warheads. Last year, there were over ten thousand warheads in the world. Do you know how many Godzillas there would be by now with only one warhead like that?”

Jisoo took a deep breath and fell back in his chair. Seungcheol was silent, the palm that held Jisoo's hand previously was limp now.

“How many?” Seungcheol asked in a serious tone as if he expected Jisoo to do the math.

“It's–” Jisoo frowned. He didn’t expect Seungcheol to actually ask that. “I don't know.”

Seungcheol snorted and burst out laughing, disturbing all the customers in the cafe.

If Jisoo didn’t despise violence, he would’ve kicked his best friend in the shin.

“Seungcheol, please,” Jisoo hissed but he couldn't stop the smile that was forming on his lips. Seungcheol's laugh was just so contagious.

“I'm sorry, but it won't be that bad! You can trust me!”

“You haven't even seen the movie yet! How could you even know that!?” Jisoo rolled his eyes.

“It's not like you’ll see anything anyway!” Seungcheol countered with a laugh. Jisoo's eyebrows shot upwards.

“Hey! You're talking to a blind man, that’s really offensive,” Jisoo scolded.

Seungcheol snorted. “So, are you coming with me or not? Can’t you let this one slide for your most favourite person in the whole world?” He gripped Jisoo's hand and lifted it to his face, positioning it in a way that Jisoo could feel Seungcheol's smile and dimple.

“Ah, really,” Jisoo sighed heavily despite feeling giddy. “Let's go.”

He stood up suddenly and Seungcheol flinched. It took Seungcheol half a second to realise that his best friend agreed to go to the movie theatre with him.

“Let's go!” Seungcheol collected their empty cups and placed them in the rubbish bin attached to the table.

Jisoo moved his hand cautiously until he felt Seungcheol’s body. He made Seungcheol hold onto his forearm and just as Seungcheol went to open his cane, Jisoo began to walk ahead of him, leaning on his own white cane.

“Huh?” Seungcheol frowned and tightened his hold on Jisoo’s forearm. “You're leading me?”

Jisoo put one earphone in his ear and pulled Seungcheol outside, letting the feminine voice in his ear tell him the street name they were on and about any obstacles ahead of them.

“Yeah,” Jisoo mumbled, smiling as he felt the slightly taller man hugging his arm.

“Why though?” Seungcheol rested his cheek on Jisoo's shoulder, rubbing it slowly which made Jisoo’s heart rate increase rapidly. Sometimes, Seungcheol acted so cutely and Jisoo had to try his hardest to stop himself from swooning in front of his best friend.

“You're always guiding me so I wanted to do it for you for once. Is that okay?” Jisoo asked with uncertainty and turned left. It was even hotter than before when he was walking with Soonyoung. Jisoo missed the air-conditioned cafe already.

“Of course, you can,” Seungcheol said softly and even with the hot sun shining down on him, Jisoo melted a little bit inside.

✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

Jisoo was usually a very calm man. He often wasn't angry and he didn't stress over such things like finals. He was a good student so he didn't need to worry about his exam results.

But when his friend joined him at the library when he was listening to an important audiobook, and kept blabbering for over half an hour, his patience was wearing thin.

“And then I told the lady–”

“Jeonghan, please.” Jisoo interrupted mid-sentence. “I need to finish this book for tomorrow. I told you a thousand times that you’re going to do fine on your finals, you're first in all your classes for a reason.”

His friend was silent, so Jisoo decided to play the audio again but then, not even a second later, Jeonghan let out a fake sob.

Jisoo sighed and ripped his earphones out of his ears.

“I thought I could trust you.” Jeonghan's usually high-pitched voice was on the verge of being screechy. “I thought we were best friends forever, Jisoo. Why are you treating me like this?”

Jisoo opened his mouth to apologise because, as usual, Jeonghan's manipulation to make him feel guilty had worked but a knock on his chair stopped him.

The man turned his head to the right side as much as he could without snapping his neck and frowned a little. A lot of people had knocked on his chair with their canes in the past hour that he was in the library. But no one had stood so close behind Jisoo as this person had. He could feel the warmth radiating from the other person. A familiar cologne made its way to his nose and it was only then when Jisoo relaxed.

“Ah, Seungcheol!” Jeonghan exclaimed happily and the frown on Jisoo's face was replaced with a smile.

“Stop harassing Jisoo, Jeonghan,” Seungcheol scolded lightly and cautiously slipped into the chair to Jisoo's left.

“I wasn't!” Jeonghan shouted indignantly, causing most of the students in the room, as well as the librarian, to shush him. “Sorry,” he whispered and bowed to all the people, even the blind ones.

“I heard you and I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news but–” Seungcheol threw an arm around Jisoo's neck and pulled him to his chest. “We’re best friends forever, no matter what!” He laughed.

Jisoo blinked rapidly and grinned, but stayed limp in Seungcheol's embrace. He wasn't a fan of public displays of affection.

“By the way, where's Mingyu? You two spend more time with each other than with your girlfriends so it's a surprise when one of you is alone,” Seungcheol said as he put his cheek on Jisoo's fluffy hair.

“Look who's talking! And how do you know he's not here? Maybe he's sitting next to me.” Jeonghan countered and folded his arms across his chest.

Seungcheol snorted and buried his nose in Jisoo's hair a little. “That kid is so noisy, I would’ve heard him on the way here.”

Jeonghan squinted with annoyance and pursed his lips. “Jisoo, your best friend is infuriating!”

“Jisoo, your friend is infuriating!” Seungcheol mocked the other man and grinned after hearing him huff with exasperation.

“Guys,” Jisoo spoke up and ignored the shivers running down his spine after Seungcheol started breathing down on his ear. “Stop fighting.”

“If not,” Seungcheol whispered slowly into Jisoo’s ear. “Will you punish me?”

Jisoo's heart started beating probably twice its normal speed and it felt like all the air in his lungs had left his body. With a burning face, he broke away from Seungcheol's embrace and slouched in his seat.

“What happened?” Jeonghan asked, looking at Jisoo and Seungcheol alternately. “Why Jisoo is blushing so much?”

Seungcheol moved his head in the direction from where he heard Jeonghan's voice and made an innocent face. “Oh, he's blushing? Why is that Jisoo?”

The said man pursed his lips and after resting his elbows on the table's surface, he hid his face in his palms.

“Please stop,” Jisoo mumbled, trying to calm his heart.

Seungcheol chuckled. “You're so cute, Jisoo.” He moved his hand up Jisoo's back and ruffled his hair.

Jeonghan remembered something and hit the table with his palm, causing Seungcheol and Jisoo both to flinch.

“Hey guys, do you know that Godzilla movie that came out recently? Mingyu and I-”

“Oh God, please, no.” Jisoo cut his friend quickly and let out a groan. Seungcheol burst out laughing and pulled Jisoo to his chest again, hugging him strongly and patting his best friend on the head.

“There, there. They won't eat you in your sleep, I promise.”

This time, Jisoo let himself bury his head into Seungcheol's chest and sighed.

“Don't remind me. If you sneak into my room and bite me one more time-”

“I told you that it wasn't me.” Seungcheol cut Jisoo's warning. “There was a mini-godzilla nibbling on your fingers!”

“Yeah, sure.” Jisoo straightened, pulling himself away from his best friend's embrace. “Now let me go back to my book, I really need to finish it by tomorrow.”

He put the earphones back in and played the audio. Seungcheol hugged his best friend's arm and rested his cheek on Jisoo’s shoulder. As Jisoo listened to his audiobook, Seungcheol played with his fingers, smiling to himself that Jisoo never minded his constant affections.

Jeonghan looked at his friends with a soft smile on his lips. He knew, deep down, that they wouldn’t stay blind for much longer.

✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

Jisoo liked his room. It wasn't too spacious, didn't have any unnecessary objects inside, and was quite simple overall. Jisoo's father told him that the walls in the room were lavender, but Jisoo had no idea what lavender looked like. People around him, who had already fallen in love for the first time, were often mentioning colours during their conversations.

“You dyed your hair! Is it auburn?”

“No, it’s burgundy!”

“This ice cream is as white as snow.”

“I want the yellow bananas, not the green ones!”

Jisoo tried to imagine the colours but he couldn’t. He had no grasp on what auburn would look like or what white, green, or yellow looked like either. It was beyond frustrating.