Darkness

Discussion

Being Avi's boyfriend filled Scott with pride. When he told Mitch and Kirstie the next day during their game night the woman squealed, jumped up and hugged him while Mitch just grinned and raised his eyebrow. 

"Told you so" he said and reached for the bottle of wine, poured himself a glass. "Why isn't he here?"

"Esther actually took him to the pottery store on 61 Main Street, they have this...I don't know if it's a workshop? But he's doing things. With his hands, and clay. Messy."

Kirstie gasped. "Sculpturing! That's fun!"

Scott shrugged. "Yeah, I just hope he's having a good time. He wasn't sure if he wanted to go but you all know Esther."

"Working with clay is horrible. It gets stuck under the nails and-" Mitch stopped when he saw the look on his best friend's face. "Alright, sorry. I'm happy if he's happy." The brunette man took a sip of his wine and turned back to the board game. "I own Park Street with the hotel by the way, you have to pay me a big fat amount of money, Scotty."

The baritone sighed before he handed Mitch the money and looked back to Kirstie who rolled the dice. "I hate fucking Monopoly" he mumbled and followed Kirstie's movement on the board with his eyes. "North Carolina Ave, that's mine."

She handed him the money and Mitch took over. "Do his parents know?"

"Not yet, no. They usually talk on Sundays." 

Kirstie hummed. "I'm happy for you, Scott. For you and for Avi too. He deserves a man like you and I think you two make a wonderful couple. But why did it take you so long?"

"I didn't want to rush or pressure him to do something he wasn't comfortable with. He had to adjust to his new life first, and the wound Caleb left needed time to heal. Now that he's doing better and is more confident it's easier for him to focus on something like a relationship."

Mitch looked up and took his wine glass. "But didn't you two kiss like..weeks ago?"

 "Yeah, but again, I didn't want him to force him to something he wasn't ready for. We talked for almost an hour during breakfast this morning and he had to promise me to prioritize his physical and mental health as well as his feelings before everything else. I don't want to be the boyfriend of someone who isn't confident enough to put themselves first."

"Fuck, your parents really raised you well" Mitch mumbled almost in annoyance and emptied his glass. "Let's call it a night, Ladies. I win, clearly, Scott is broke and you," he looked at Kirstie, "are in jail." He held the bottle up against the light coming from a large lamp behind the couch. "Another 40 bucks gone."

Kirstie shrugged. "It was good though. My turn next week?"

"I have to cancel for next week" the baritone said and got up to take the glasses to the open kitchen. "I want to take Avi to the museum and bring my camera. I managed to get my hands on VIP tickets for Yayoi Kusama's Infinity Mirrors."

The Italian man gasped. "How?! Are you fucking kidding me? I've been trying for weeks!"

But Scott chuckled. "Well, Avi has a disability and-"

"You're fucking using him just to- oh that's dirty, Scott."

"It's not" he simply said. "I'm taking him to the museum. He's my boyfriend. I want him to be able to experience the exhibition without countless of people surrounding him because otherwise he'll freak out and have a panic attack. Just because he's blind doesn't mean that he isn't allowed to go to a museum anymore."

"Scott" Kirstie said and frowned, "Avi can't see. Why do you want to take him to an exhibition where he can't touch the art?"

The baritone looked at her. "He can touch the art. It's a multisensory exhibition, there are things to touch, there is music. He might not be able to see but he can still experience it with his ears and hands."

But his friends didn't seem as confident as he was. Kirstie pulled out her phone, typed and then showed him a website. "Take him to this museum. It's a place where he can touch 3D replicas of famous painting like the Mona Lisa or Van Gogh's Starry Night. And they have audio guides, too."

She handed him his phone and Scott started reading. He began to nod and then looked up at her. "You're right, that sounds way better. I didn't know that something like that exists!" He shared the article with himself and then handed Kirstie her phone. "Thank you!"

"You can of course still go to the Infinity Mirror exhibition but I think Avi would like the other one more."

"Yeah, probably. And I want to take pictures of him with the things created by Yayoi. Her pumpkins, and he's pretty handsome. Maybe I can get the results printed in 3D and increase his self esteem a little. He always thinks he has to hide."

Mitch tilted his head and frowned. He sat up. "Why?"

"Because of his eyes. He refused to take off his sunglasses when we went out to eat yesterday. He doesn't want people to think that he's staring at them and he keeps his head low all the time.." Scott sighed softly. "I don't know why. He made such big improvements and now he's starting to hide again. Maybe something happened during his last walk to the park, I don't know."

"Then you should ask him before it gets worse. It took you long enough to get him out of his apartment, don't allow him to start hiding again."

"It's not that easy, Mitch. I have to talk to Shelly and ask her if she knows how I can support him. She's his mama, she'll know what to do."

"And you're his boyfriend, you're with him right now. You can figure it out yourself. Get him out, up on his feet and walking. Go hiking with him. Nature."