/author shyly comes in/
Hey guys... it's been a while, right? Nah, just 4 months.

Sorry for making you wait so long for this chapter, I will just say that I've never been this badly stuck with a chapter before (and that I honestly almost gave up a few times, this story will kill me someday).
I think I had too high expectations for this chapter, since I was really looking forward to write it...
But this story is just, yeah, so difficult to write sometimes ;A;
Anyway, sorry for the long delay.

On the other hand, thank you so so much for your support, this story got featured thanks to you and I'm very grateful! I admit I was surprised first, but it helped me a lot to get back to this :)
Welcome new readers, thank you for joining the adventure ^^

I hope all of you will enjoy this chapter. I can't deny I don't like it as much as I'd like to.

           He struggled for a moment, his lids and brows twitching with hesitation. His usually closed eyelids felt somewhat heavy, and numb, but it wasn’t a surprise since he wasn't used to make those muscles work. He frowned deeply, lips slightly parted as he focused all his attention on the action. It seemed to take ages before he eventually managed to crack his eyes open.

His lids barely parted, but it was enough for the sudden overload of light to attack his eyes, making him wince and shut them close again within a second. His body tensed while he hung his head low in reflex. His heart began to pound faster, thumping against his ribcage with both fear and excitement. He inhaled sharply through his nose, trying to calm down.

He kept his eyes shut a long moment, mentally preparing himself for the second try. Adrenaline was rushing through his veins, leaving him deeply overwhelmed but somehow also helping him to overcome his fear.

After a couple more minutes, he took another long, shaky gast of breath and tried again. He fought the strange heaviness of his lids and this time it felt easier to force his eyes open. His sensitive orbs peeked between the slits of his lids, but quickly had to hide back as he closed his eyes right away again. The dim light of the bathroom wasn’t too bright, but for someone like who had seen nothing but darkness for years, it seemed too much.
Yet he didn't give up.

He sat down on the tilled floor, scared that his trembling legs would betray him, and then he tried for the third time. He opened his eyes, closing them after a second, only to give it another try a few seconds later. He repeated the action over and over, until he slowly but progressively started to adjust to the light.
It stung and a painful pressure appear on the back of his eyes. His orbs began to tear up, reacting to the excessive amount of light, unhappy with the harsh treatment they were receiving after years of not being used.
He could sense a strong head-ache building up under his skull, but he kept trying, until he found himself blinking continuously. The vague glimpses he caught of blurry forms around him made him eager to keep trying.

He shifted his position, placing himself back to the light so that he wouldn’t get it straight into his eyes, and it helped a bit. And then, eyes blinking, he tried to look.

Keeping his head hung low, his gaze first fell on his own body. His wet orbs flickered right and left for a long while, confused. His vision was blurry and he could barely see anything, but after a moment he managed to somehow distinguish the shape of his limbs.

He lifted his arms and brought his hands in front of his eyes, experimentally trying to see what they looked liked, and a grin broke on his face as he vaguely identified the form of his palms and fingers, skin white and contrasting with the semi-darkness around him.

Boldly, he snapped his head up, wanting to get some sort of insight of the bathroom, but his gaze became unstable and his eyes just flickered all over the room, unable to really settle on anything, as if they didn’t know where to look. His head began to spin, dizziness erupting down his stomach and quickly spreading through his body. The pain at the back of his eyes intensified, blood pulsing through his head and his temples, and his sensitive orbs began to burn and throb.

He couldn't see much in this state. He managed to get glimpses and flashes of things around him, but there was too much information, too many things to identify at the same time, and it made him feel sick.

He began to tremble and felt unbearably dizzy, to the point he cautiously let himself slid down and went to lie on the cold floor to fight the nauseous sensation.
His sweaty skin pressed against the chilly tilled floor and he gasped quietly. Stubbornly, he kept his eyes open a little longer, staring at the dull grey and blurry wall before him, until he found himself not able to fight the pain any longer. He closed his eyes and whimpered.

"Hae?" Hyukjae's voice called from behind the door. "How are you doing? Is everything alright?"

The boy released a shaky gasp. "My head hurts, Hyukkie", he replied.

"Don't try too hard if it hurts", the elder instantly said back. "I guess it's normal. You haven't used your eyes for so long, it'll need a bit of time."

"Yes", Donghae tiredly uttered. He felt exhausted and overwhelmed. He didn't know how long he had struggled with his eyes but the experience had drained him from all his energy.

"Are your eyes shut now?" Hyukjae inquired. Donghae just hummed in approval. "Don't open them, I'm coming in", the elder added.

The boy held his breath as the door was carefully opened and Hyukjae stepped in. He squeezed his eyes shut, heart pounding nervously, but didn't find the strength to protest as he felt the other approach and crouch down next to him. Fresh and soft fingers brushed over his cheeks and his forehead, brushing away his damped locks, then lingering over his closed lids.

"Does it still hurt?" Hyukjae asked and Donghae weakly nodded. "You've been in the bathroom for a long time. Let's get you showered and then you can rest, okay?"

The cursed boy only nodded quietly. He lay on the floor as Hyukjae picked up his blindfold and tied it back around his eyes. Relief took over his discomfort as his curse was concealed again, and he relaxed.

Hyukjae undressed him with gentle hands. Donghae heard more rustling sounds and he understood the man was undressing himself as well. He felt his body being cautiously caught by a pair of strong arms and carried to the shower cubicle.
Hyukjae held Donghae against him as he turned the water on, and he kept him in his embrace as he helped the boy to wash himself. Donghae enjoyed the gentle treatment, fully leaning against the elder as he was soaped and massaged.

"You did well", Hyukjae breathed out, praising him, as he rinsed the younger's hair. "I'm proud of you."

"Really?" the boy felt his heart swell up with joy hearing those words. "But I didn't really see anything."

"It's okay, your eyes got a shock. It could work better next time. Do you want to try again?" he asked, turning off the water.

Donghae slowly nodded. He was tired, both physically and emotionally, but sensing the elder being genuinely happy about his progresses made him feel proud and braver. Hyukjae had that power on him, being able to give him more courage and strength, when he thought he had lost all of it.

They stepped out of the shower and, again, Hyukjae helped him. He dried both of them with a pair of towels, before he helped Donghae into his pajama and got himself dressed too. The boy yawned, feeling his whole body heavy and his skull throbbing. The shower hadn't helped much with the head-ache.

They toddled back to the bedroom and Donghae tiredly slid under the warm duvet. He lay there, waiting for Hyukjae to join him. His ears caught the sounds of doors being opened and closed, of hushed voices from Kyuhyun’s room, and a joyous bark from Choco. Then it was opened and closed again, and quiet footsteps headed to the kitchen.
Hyukjae returned with some pills for the boy’s head-ache. Donghae obediently gulped down the medicine, showing no hesitation as he knew Hyukjae would never give him something bad.

He was exhausted and his brain was pulsing painfully under his skull, so when Hyukjae joined him under the quilt, he naturally snuggled closer to the elder and hugged him with his weak arms. Hyukjae pulled him into a gentle but firm embrace, murmuring soft words of praise and comfort into his ears, his hands rubbing circling on his back to lull the boy into sleep.

Donghae remained quiet and motionless, waiting for slumber to take over him. He was so tired and still dizzy, and he just wanted to sleep it off, yet minutes passed and he found himself helplessly wide awake.