[PRP] Now See Here (Oliver & Horace)

[Melancholies]

Oliver blinked real slowly, real carefully. "Um." He looked around the room, at a loss for any sort of support. Ollie knew how to console Shiloh, but that was about the gist of it. It also included punching, the occasional back-to-reality slap, and a couple of snarky words that could only be surmised as 'brotherly-love'. He wasn't about to try and whack Horace out of his blind stupor.

"Okay, so you can't see. And you doubly can't see the couch. Okay, okay..." He looked around again, and then finally back up at Horace. He had to reach a little, but he was waving his hand in front of his face, "Anything? Nothing? Not even a shadow?" His brow furrowed.

"Maybe you should uh—" He glanced at the clock on the wall, "—stay here for a while? Or I could drive you back to your place. I can drive. Probably better than you." (now wasn't the time, Ollie), "Your vision came back to you the last time though, right? Maybe you just have to wait it out..."

He turned his attention to Horace's tea, which was now getting cold. This was probably the biggest tragedy of the afternoon.

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

"Captain obvious. I can, uh..." Horace squinted, as though it would make his blindness better. He pushed up his glasses. "Sometimes I think I can see dark shapes, but not like your couch. I don't know if it's real or my brain imagining shapes." Keep it calm, he told himself. Treat it clinically.

His head swung towards the sound of Oliver's voice. "You can drive? I never would have thought... I mean, ********.. I don't know how long it will last - I think.. I'm okay with either." Horace didn't think Oliver would ever drive because of the way he'd reacted before. Thinking about that was a nice distraction, though.

"Can you help me sit or something?"

melancholies

 

[Melancholies]

"I mean, of course I can drive. I have my licence." His cheeks flushed; thank god Horace was blind or whatever. He didn't have to see his sheer embarrassment.

He went to work clearing off a better spot on the couch, making sure all the nic-nacks on the table were cleared away sufficiently and also working to shoo the cats off (they were so interested! The large human was standing and wobbling and acting so silly!) "Anyway, I don't like it much, but I can still do it. That's all that matters." He huffed quietly, "But yeah, maybe it's better if you stay here for a little bit. We can worry about calling the optometrist later if you're blind for longer than eight hours or whatever."

He reached forward, but then hesitated, "Oh, um." He pursed his lips, "I'm about to touch you okay? Try not to shock me," And quieter, he added, "I mean, I won't be mad about it, but like, don't."

Taking a deep breath he did just that, his hands gently reaching forward to grab Horace's arm in an attempt to lead him to the couch again.

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

"I just... didn't think you... did. Sorry," he said, lamely. If Horace could have seen where Oliver was, he would have looked away in embarrassment.

"I wonder if it would be more like, blind for more than four hours, like those weird super erection commercials." He immediately tensed, trying to guess where Oliver's touch would come from. Despite his deliberate, carefully measured breathing, Horace still felt a shock run across his skin as Oliver touched him. "S-sorry!" This was okay, it was just Oliver, they wouldn't touch for long, it was okay.

Horace supposed he should focus into the darkness and try to figure everything out, but he was so tired, and coming down from freaking out and well, if he died, he hoped Oliver wouldn't hate him for the body disposal needed. "Wanna watch a movie while we wait?"

melancholies

 

[Melancholies]

"Christ, it's alright." He rolled his eyes (thank god Horace couldn't see) as he gripped his arm. There was a shock—of course there was a shock—but he didn't flinch since he was moderately expecting it. Dumbass. "It's alright..." He reiterated.

Once Horace was safely seated, he went to reach for the remote. Goodbye, classical music channel, hello whatever the hell happened to be on next. "You know," He said as he was flipping channels, the volume still low on the television, "It's rather hard to crack a comment at the watching movies thing." Even though that was a comment all on its own.

"Do you like musicals? Elliot has a bunch." He turned to look at Horace.

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

Horace was still tense as he sat. He really, really, really didn't like this. It felt like he couldn't control the situation (because he couldn't) and that made him feel weak, powerless. He was supposed to leave those feelings behind, wasn't he? His hand rubbed over each other, lingering over the ridged scar on his finger. Concentrate.

"Well, asking if you wanted to listen to a move seemed weird." He laughed a little, forced, but there, and smiled int he general direction of Oliver. "I like everything - you can put on whatever. Your favorite musical, then."

melancholies

 

[Melancholies]

"I guess, but isn't that half of what you do with movies anyway?" He looked back, even though he knew Horace couldn't see him. "I like the listening part a lot more anyway. There's a lot of sciences and stuff that goes into sound production, y'know. It's the same thing with video games," this coming from Oliver, one who clearly did not play many video games, "The sound score can completely change the mood of the piece. Anyway." He scuttled away to look through the DVD cabinet.

"Uhh, you seem like a Phantom of the Opera kind of guy. That has a lot of sad romancy-shmancy stuff in it, right?" He'd never seen it, oops, "Chicago? Oh, oh, Cats."

Cats.

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

He snorted. "I'm a one hundred percent kind of guy." He pushed his glasses up, a reflexive move done enough time he held zero chance of poking himself in the eyes.

"Uh, Phanton of the Opera if it's the one with Gerard Butler. I always felt so bad for the phantom, even if he's a d**k." Horace settled further back onto the couch, wishing he was home and wrapped up in a blanket like a burrito. A blind burrito. Stop thinking about it, he admonished himself. "Would I still be hot if I had to wear a half mask," he mused.

melancholies

 

[Melancholies]

Oliver was silent. "I have no idea who Gerard Butler is." He confessed this genuinely. Then he turned to Horace and gave him a look—a really good look—and said, "I'm not sure if you need a half mask. Really, it would only take away from what you already have going for you."

Was that supposed to be a compliment? Oliver was kind of bad at those.

"Cats then. We're watching Cats." He loved cats, that is, the animal and not the musical. "I've never seen it, but I love cats." Somewhere in the distance Chai murbled. "There's one named Mr. Mistoffelees though. I guess they all have weird names? I mean, they are cats." Life would be so much better as a cat, he decided.

Then again, it wasn't much better as a raccoon, so he retracted the thought.

"If you want," He said as he plopped the DVD in, "I can grab one of the cats for you to hold."

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

"Gerard Butler plays the phantom. Kind of hot in a 'dad' kinda way." Not really Horace's type, but he appreciated a bit of everything. At Oliver's words, he almost twitched awkwardly. Compliment or not, it was close enough that Horace felt his face heat up. "Aw, you like my face," he tried to tease. This would be a lot easier if he could see Oliver's expressions.

Cats. Horace hadn't seen it, but literally everyone knew that one song about turning faces to the moonlight and not being beautiful. "Do we only watch depressing movies together? And yeah, I'd like a lap cat, unless you feel like being a lap raccoon." Too much?

melancholies

 

[Melancholies]

"Well, there's nothing wrong with it." He said with a huff, "And anyway, how can a musical about singing cats be sad? I've never seen it, so I wouldn't know." But really, it just didn't make sense for it to be sad, "Maybe we're just gluttons for punishment? Or maybe watching sad things is cathartic in a way." He shrugged as he looked around for Chai.

"If I decided to be a raccoon, then I couldn't talk anymore." Oliver pointed out, "Unless, that's what you want." But he paused, and in a moment of rare sincerity said "Sorry, I shouldn't tease."

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

Horace snorted. "We must be masochists. And just wait and watch." He swung his head around slowly to look more intently at Oliver. Well, where he thought Oliver was.

"As much as I appreciate your fur and your absolute willingness to crawl into my lap, voices are best for now." He grinned, knowing Oliver hadn't meant it. "I'll keep it in mind for the next times you get sassy." And he couldn't deny that he kind of really wanted to touch Oliver's tail when he was in that kind of half-form. He didn't think Ollie would let him and, besides, that was weird to ask.

melancholies

 

[Melancholies]

Ollie snorted, "Yeah yeah, whatever. You got the pretty face and I guess I got the harmonic voice, right?" He stooped down to pick up his tea cup and tapped one of his nicely groomed fingernails against it. The sound was light, sharp, tink tink tink. Horace wouldn't know it sounded exactly like the treat jar, but Chai would.

Here she came now, eyes wide like saucers, tail poofy and upright. Oliver scooped her up before she had a chance to protest (not that she would, sweet precious baby).

"If you shock my cat," Oliver said as he approached Horace again, "I'm kicking your a**." His own person was one thing. His precious daughter was another. He sat down on the couch again, pressed play on the television, and slowly leaned over to deposit the cat in Horace's willing arms.

The Semblance of Unity

 

[The Semblance of Unity]

"Who says I can't have it all?" There was an odd kind of clink and he frowned. "Luckily, I don't shock animals much." Especially when he knew they were coming. Horace gathered the cat closely, sinking his fingers into her fur. Wonderful.

"Thanks, Ollie," he said after a moment.

melancholies

 

[Melancholies]

"Then by that train of thought, you should really only shock me half of the time, right?" He was still considerably snarky, even after the apology. It's just how Oliver was. Chai meanwhile was absolutely thrilled and set to work immediately kneading the lap she was placed in, a myriad of squeaky sounds coming from her delicate kitten chords.

"Anyway, it's no problem." He yawned as he watched the movie work into motion, his legs pulled up onto the couch comfortably. "Let me know if you need anything else or whatever. Chai'll stay there if you keep petting her."

She murbled.

"If your vision ever comes back, I'll show you my scrapbook." He offered as incentive.

The Semblance of Unity