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When losing things important to you, everyone imagines it would be a large crash, a resounding sound, a heart wrenching noise. Instead, for Laurence, it was a rather dull crunch. Had he not been on edge and searching for it, the small sound may have even gone unnoticed.
-
Going back a few days ago, Laurence had noticed that the calendar had a date circled, reminding the Firbolg that soon he would need to renew his prescription. The tall teen had noticed more blurry vision issues along with squinting. Difficulty reading the board in class as well.
“I suppose this is a yearly thing, after all…” He muttered aloud, not quite thrilled. After all, new glasses meant headaches, doctor appointments, and inevitable worsening prescriptions too. None of that was exactly exciting for the introverted teen. Sighing, he made sure to make a note to call the optometrist for an appointment. Little did he know, in the future he would regret not immediately doing so.
“Laurence!” Oliver’s cheerful voice greeted him, and blue met gold as his friend walked in. He seemed to be relying more on his crutches than usual, but Laurence brushed it off knowing full well any sense of being pitied could annoy the ginger.
“Oh, hello Oliver. I was getting ready to come out and meet with you. You wanted to show me something?” The Firblog was intrigued at what his friend had been in such a rush to meet with him for.
“Yup! Come on!” The excitable elf was basically jittering with his barely contained feelings. It was still strange to Laurence how full of life the teen could be. Not that he didn’t truly find it to be wonderful.
“I’m coming, Oliver. Where are we headed?” While tilting his head, his ear twitched slightly in curiosity.
“You’ll see!” The ginger teased, and off they went. He led them both into a wooded area behind the school, with a smattering of trees and bushes adoring the worn path they followed. Sunlight streamed between the leaves overhead and overall made the trip breathtaking. Laurence couldn’t help the upturn of his lips at the sight.
“Ok! Close your eyes, we’re almost there!” Oliver called, slightly ahead on the path, too excited to slow down. His crutches left divots in the dirt behind him.
“Alright.” Conceded the older, closing his golden hued eyes and raising up his hands in defeat. He could take off his glasses and have the same effect, if these fell and broke, he’d be screwed.
“Walk straight. I’ll tell you when to stop.” His friend's giddy voice reached his ears and the tall teen slowly walked forth, careful not to trip on a branch.
“You can look now!” Blinking open golden eyes found a wonderful sight awaiting him. Lamprocapnos spectabilis, also called Asian bleeding hearts, laid in a field intermittently dotted with honeysuckle vines along the edges. It was both of their favorite flowers in one field. While not impossible to find, it was rather rare since honeysuckle tends to bloom closer to when bleeding hearts stop blooming.
“This is beautiful…” Laurence finally voiced.
“I know! I was so excited to show you this!” Oliver walked over, his limp slightly more pronounced, before he could continue his thought, a foot caught on a root, sending the ginger flying forward. His head making solid contact with Laurence’s chest sending them both careening for the floor. A dull thud resounded from the bodies hitting the ground. Both of Oliver's crutches flew in the process along with Laurence’s glasses.
“Ow… Sorry, Lorry!” The ginger apologized, backing off the other lanky teen.
“It’s fine, just need to find my glasses…” his voice trailed off, his hands gently patting the ground nearby. Squinting at the blurry shapes, a tentative hand felt the grass. If he broke them, the replacements would take almost a week to ship in.
“L-let me help.” Oliver moved to his knees, grabbing at one of his crutches. He moved toward where the other fell, and then just as he bent to get it, a dull crunch sounded. Both parties froze. They were in a quiet field surrounded by grass. The noise was distinctly glass in nature.
“Was that…?” Laurence looked over in the direction of the noise and heard Oliver quietly sigh.
“Yeah…”
Laurence went quiet for a second. No reason to be angry or upset. They had already broken after all. Next course of action is… “Oliver, can you help me home? I… well, you know how little I can see without those things.” He finally spoke, careful to sound neutral. His friend probably felt bad enough right now.
“Yes!” Oliver easily agreed, guiding his friend to a stand. “Honestly… I’ve been having a bit of difficulty walking today- I’m so sorry, we should’ve probably come here another time, I just…”
“Were you afraid the bleeding hearts would wither before we had time to do this again? It was quite a far walk…”
“Yeah… And I also didn’t want to cancel our plans together since it’s not like resting would help it…” He sounded slightly off, however, probably feeling guilty still.
“I’m not upset, Oliver. However, you’re going to have to be my eyes for a bit here. I was going to make an eye doctor appointment, but I forgot and now it’ll probably take at least a week even if they see me tomorrow.
“That’s fine! I’ll do my best!”
As some would say, those were famous last words. Not even 10 feet back, Oliver carefully walked Laurence straight into a tree branch.
“Ah!”
“Oops. You’re taller than I thought…”
This was going to be one long week.
The first day wasn’t so bad, seeing as he simply needed to be led into the cafeteria and to a seat. The harder part was preparing for bed.
“I’m not showering with you.”
Laurence blinked. “Of course not. I don’t shower with clothes on. What I do need help with is getting some night clothes picked out.”
“Huh, oh yeah I can do that.” The ginger rummaged around for clothes, finally handing off a not so ideal paring. Laurence took the clothes, and promptly turned into a wall.
Right, blurry vision. “Sorry!” A small snicker escaped him, and Laurence gave a small frown.
“Who broke whose glasses?”
“I’m coming, I’m coming!”
Oliver spent the extra time rummaging through his friends room, something he rarely had the privilege of doing without constant protective protests.
“Alright, I should be fine now. I’ll be sleeping early tonight since I can’t do anything anyway. I also can’t attend classes since I couldn’t see the board even if I got there in one piece. Just let my teachers know, and get notes and any assignments for me?” Laurence requested, settling into his bed where he was helped to.
“Yup! And remember, I’m right across the hall! Let me know if you need anything! I’ll be over tomorrow and help you with breakfast!”
“Thank you, and don’t go pushing yourself, I can still manage a bit on my own. I’ll make sure to call the eye doctor tomorrow.” Bidding his friend good night, Oliver made a quick trip back to his own room. Hopefully he could sleep, and his headache would go away…
Laurence blindly slapped in his alarm’s general direction, laying back down to stare at a blurry ceiling. Turning onto his side, the teen futilely squinted at the wall, attempting to make sense of the blurry shapes facing him. When he couldn’t, the Firbolg sighed and forced himself to his feet. He could at least brush his teeth alone… Or not. There was water everywhere and toothpaste just about everywhere but the brush when Oliver arrived. The elf just stared for a few seconds in disbelief.
“Lorry! You should’ve waited for me!” He cried, helping him get it on his toothbrush, and then attended to the mess that was the floor, wiping up the stray water.
“Sorry… I figured I knew how to do this without help.” He apologized with a small laugh, uncharacteristically embarrassed. The elf couldn’t blame him, he knew all too well the pain dependence brought.
“You know, maybe we should get you a walking cane just in case this happens again.” Oliver teased, splashes of water soon hitting him as Laurence swiped in his direction
“Yeah, bad joke…” He trailed off, cleaning up the fresh puddles on the floor around them.
Breakfast at least occurred with no incident and after walking his blind friend back to his room, the ginger set out for classes, armed with his friend's schedule to also obtain all his notes for him. The day dragged on without the brunette there, but Oliver pulled through with all the stubbornness he had. It also helped that he was feeling a lot better than yesterday, physically.
Laurence for his part called the doctor's office and then spent a good chunk of time spacing out, unable to do much else. Not being able to see was boring, especially when your vision was as bad as his. Thankfully, the school day finally ended, and Oliver basically ran the whole way there. They talked about class for hours, ate dinner, and Laurence got so caught up talking with him about math that he forgot to mention his very brave solo call to the optometrist.
“Oh! I almost forgot; I have a doctor’s appointment tomorrow. They said they could squeeze me in because of, well,” He gestured vaguely between the two of them “I was due for an appointment anyway.”
“That’s great! I’ll take you!” As if Laurence could take himself in this state… And so, with exciting news on the horizon, they both did the new little night routine and headed to sleep. Laurence could not wait to have independence again.
The following appointment went well, the doctor replying they could have them done and delivered out to the school in just two days. “Thank you. I know that’s faster than usual.” He thanked the doctor who brushed them off happily.
“I apologize again that we don’t have any of your prescription in stock here, not too many people around here with ones as strong as you” he said, once again offering a pick from the lost and found box, the strongest lenses in the box coming nowhere near what Laurence required.
Oliver, happy about the good news of the new pair, cheered and carefully led Laurence back. “You’ll be seeing all on your own again soon, It’s like a baby's first steps all over again” He teased “Also, get spares this time.”
“Oh, I will. You taught me a lot.” The older teen muttered, hoping to never repeat this again. “It was lots of fun, but I can’t do this again.”
“Agreed” Oliver said, letting go of Laurence’s arm, leading him off the curb, nearly faceplanting. Yeah, never again.
The teen was never happier to see glasses two days later.
“How do they look?”
“Great! And how does it feel to see?” Oliver responded, cheekily.
“Never been better.” Laurence responded, fondly shaking his head.