Eyes Are the Windows to the Soul

Yellow

Kevin walked home from the beach in eerie silence. He had nothing to truly think about and when he was thinking it was something random from a random part of his head.

Back at his temporary apartment he cleaned the place up a bit, letting more light in from the small window in his living room. The place wasn't very fancy, the couch was made of grey fabric like his life. And it faced the other barren wall. Kevin decided to fill the space with some of his old photographs. He tacked them to the wall in a collage hastily. He knew he could just print more, but putting holes through them was still damaging.

Stepping back he looked at the now almost full wall. There were groupings of colors starting with red and escalating through a rainbow. He had seen this setup in many peoples houses and particularly enjoyed it with his own works, each one telling a story he crafted in hope. Even with the majority of that wall covered, he still had more photos printed out and pretty looking. He brought a few of his albums with him from Seattle just for inspiration, and with Jamie coming over to see them he was sure it would spark a lot more in his head.

He looked over to the clock realizing that it was almost six, he quickly texted Jamie the address of the place and sat back on his couch one leg crossed over the other as he flipped through an old photo album, one of his earlier ones. It was full of photos taken in his home town. They weren't all that good, but you could see Kevin's flare in them, more hope than he had now. They were fresh and hadn't been done before.

Kevin liked challenging society's view on beauty and attractiveness with more obscure visions. Because of this most of his fan base was probably old people who once lived in the scene era, or even teens in their emo phase. The clock ticked down to 6:04 and Kevin heard a rapping on his door. Quickly, he stood up and opened the door, ushering Jamie in.

******

Jamie was in complete awe at the apartment. He never really came to this side of town but the inside of Kevin's rented out apartment was completely new to him. He forgot some people could afford things like this. Kevin noticed his awe and smirked quirking an eyebrow.

"What's the big deal mailman?" He asked laughing slightly as he beckoned Jamie to sit on his couch. Jamie followed and sighed, sitting. Lots of people always called him "the mailman" but when Kevin said it it sounded almost seductive. "Do you want something to drink, tea coffee?"
"Uh sure... if it's not too much trouble I'll take tea. Chamomile preferably" Jamie was surprised at Kevin's acts of chivalry, he always placed Kevin as the kind to only care for himself and no one else. After boiling the water he poured it into two small white mugs. They came with the apartment apparently. Jamie started flipping through a white modern looking photo album as Kevin walked back with steeped tea. He set them on the black coffee table as Jamie found insane photos in this first album. Some were beautiful to the eye but most had some hidden emotion only Kevin could understand. Jamie looked at it curiously, but only as an outsider. He could see why Kevin could build up a fan base, there were plenty lost people out there. Just most of them didn't understand the person behind the photos. Jamie turned the page and gasped 

"Wow..." He whispered, staring at the other photos. Pictures of humans in abstract format. Their bodies looking absolutely alive, but their eyes were dead. Maybe that was a camera thing, Jamie thought. To make eyes look without depth. One photo really stood out to Jamie. It was a pale girl in pink clothing, she had black hair and smiled brightly. The room around her was rustic and the light focused more on her face while darkness seeped into the rest of the photo like ink. Something was off though, her body was normal, her face too. But her left eye was pushed out by flowers seeming to grow from her brain. "How did you even photograph this?" Kevin looked over Jamie's shoulder and quickly slapped the book closed moving it to his other side. This confused Jamie. The photos were good, maybe sensitive? "S-sorry" he stuttered out not truly understanding what he did wrong. He smiled at Kevin and looked into his eyes which seemed to reek with internalized anger and confusion. 

"It's fine." He grumbled, he should have looked through the albums first. Why did he even bring this one with him? It was just a reminder of all his pain. Kevin was scared, the more he thought the more he would recede into his own mind. Jamie tapped him on the shoulder, realizing his stress. 

"Hey..." Jamie shook a hand in front of Kevin's face, bending down when this didn't work and grinning easily in his face. Kevin laughed slightly as Jamie continued to make childish faces at him. The older man was adorable. Kevin didn't know why this was so endearing, but it made him laugh more until he was in a surprisingly good mood. He looked back at Jamie and smiled to him. If anything Jamie deserved that smile for staying. "Uh.. can I look through this one?" Jamie pointed to a dusty mahogany photo album with the stamp of a moon in it. Kevin nodded watching carefully as Jamie turned the pages gasping in approval at the beautiful scenes in front of him. Kevin leaned back again in a cocky way. He was proud of his work, most of it at least. And now Jamie understood why. They were all magnificent. As he finished the first book he flipped to the next, a sleek black leather book. It was thinner than the last ones and only housed a few photos. Most of them were better than the last ones. They shined through and looked less of what society would expect, this was something Jamie would actually place in his apartment. "I really wouldn't be able to do something better than these..." Jamie said aloud laughing to himself. Kevin was a master at his work, he flipped the page in hopes for more, but there were just empty slots. He looked at the grey-ish filter like plastic, just waiting for more images. He flipped through the rest of them until he stopped at the last page seeing a picture of himself on the cliff ledge. 

As he lifted the photo tenderly out of the plastic turning it in his hands. When he moved to place it back in the case he noticed a label with bold letters printed in it. 

"Important Photos" this label seemed like nothing, but to Jamie it meant something more. He was important, his photo wouldn't be lost with all the others. 

"Those are the good ones. The photos that have done the best, the ones I like the most." Kevin smirked as he placed these words. Enjoying Jamie's soft blush. 

"But what about now? Where did all of this go?" Jamie asked while Kevin stood up and walked over to the kitchen again, placing his mug into the sink and washing his hands, something about him just despised germs. 

"It's still here, baby. But locked up in society... We're all nothing without art."

Jamie laughed at his last statement "yeah, you're right. I don't know where I'd be without writing or theater or art in general! That world is my death!" He exclaimed dramatically gesticulating his emotion. Kevin laughed slightly again, he liked this side of Jamie, it was something he hadn't seen much in their "Business only" relationship. 

As it grew later with their small talk and Jamie flipping through pages and pages of Kevin's photos. He looked at the time and decided it was time he should go. After all, he always needed to get up early for work. Kevin showed him to the door and as Jamie was about to leave, Kevin stopped him looking him in the eyes. 

"Would you consider us... friends?" He asked, showing a sensitive side of him no one had really seen before. Jamie knew he could do a lot with that, sensitivity was something he was used to showing, but after Garnet and various past failed confessions he was sure not to abuse this. 

"Sure! If you uh.. want to be..." 

"Yeah, I would like that. Thank you~" Kevin's eyes shimmered with a small amount of hope, so small it would be very hard to detect had Jamie been thinking of anything else. He smiled and walked out the door, waving behind him. He shoved his hands into his pockets looking at the street while he walked away. 

Friends... He had made a friend. A person he had known for a few weeks, and he found himself asking what their friendship would even look like.