With a heavy sigh, I close the front door of the apartment behind me. Of course today was another terrible day at work, a day of crappy supervisors, annoying clients, and none of the tech working right, just as usual. But before I can get too mad, Ellis's chipper voice greets me. "Welcome home! I took the liberty of ordering pizza for dinner tonight, since I got your exasperated text messages around lunch and figured you'd appreciate not having to cook tonight," he says, smiling as his finger runs along the Braille book he's reading.
Slumping down into the nearby recliner, I can't help but smile in return. Even if I know he can't see it, I'm sure he can hear it. "Thanks, Ellis. You always have the right ideas at the right time," I reply. Usually, I cook dinner after coming home from work, not necessarily just because of Ellis's blindness, but also because I also have a certain knack for it. But tonight is definitely not a night where I'm in the mood for more work, so delivery sounds like just the thing.
Ellis gives me a wide grin. "Well, yeah, I know you'd be completely helpless without me. You can appreciate me later," he says, and we both laugh. The two of us have become great friends over this year we've spent together, and at this point, I don't even really want to imagine a life without him. The world is such a dark, cruel place, and nowhere is that more apparent to me than the hellscape that is my workplace. And yet, I know that I don't have it as bad as Ellis does, what with him being blind and all. But even with that disability, he never seems to get mad or disappointed. He always seems to have a cheerful, positive attitude that brightens my day just from being near him. As such, I always try my best to help him whenever he needs it, too.
Before long, the delivery boy arrives with the pizza, and we chow down, happily indulging in some greasy junk food just to forget all our worries for an evening. While we eat, Ellis pokes and prods me to rant and rave about the crap I went through at work, since he knows that venting does make me feel better, but I don't want to just start complaining without him asking. Like I said, the two of us have a certain chemistry that just works. Eventually, I'm all ranted out and we're both stuffed, which means it's time for us to move on to the lazy evening part of our routine. I turn on the stereo, soft music starts playing, and I move over to the couch, sitting down next to Ellis.
Once he notices me sitting down, he leans against me, giving off a content sigh. "So, would you like your little massage, then?" he asks.
"Yeah, I'd love that. I think that'd really hit the spot right about now," I reply. As the frustrations of my new job kept mounting, we've started a little tradition where Ellis would give me a massage. Nothing professional or anything like that, just a friend helping out a friend, but it's probably the highlight of my day nonetheless. And so, he gets to work, his hands moving along my arms and up to my shoulders before he begins rubbing them gently, and it doesn't take long before my eyes are slowly falling shut. Whenever he does this, I just can't resist letting everything go and losing myself in his touch. It's not even that he's particularly good at getting knots out of my back or something, it's probably just the feeling of knowing he cares about me the same way I care about him that makes these moments so precious to me.
However, after a few minutes, Ellis speaks up again. "Hey, Adrian... can I ask you something?" he asks, and the tone in his voice sounds just a bit worried.
"Sure, anytime. What is it?" I reply, a bit unsure just what it is that has him so nervous. He should know that I'd do anything for him, so what could it possibly be?
His question then comes after a deep breath. "Um... could you let me, er... touch your face? I'd really like to do that. I... I know you already do so much for me, and I shouldn't be asking something weird like that, but..."
At that point, I have to interrupt him. "Hey, it's OK, Ellis. You can touch my face anytime you want, alright?" I tell him, taking his hand and stroking it carefully.
Ellis takes another breath, then chuckles quietly. "Yeah, I should've known you'd say that. Even if it's really weird and kinda intimate... of course you'd say yes," he says, a smile returning to his face. "Thanks. I really do appreciate it."
The mood in the room takes a turn at this point, almost like the temperature is rising just from us both knowing what it is that's happening here. Ellis, being blind and all, has never actually seen my face before. In a way, he sees through touch. I'm sure this is something he's been thinking about for quite some time, and only now he's managed to summon up the bravery to actually ask the question. This is an intimacy level we've never gone to before.
I shift on the sofa, turning to face him, and he begins to touch my arms, slowly feeling his way up. Arms, shoulders, neck... and finally, he arrives at his destination. Carefully, almost tentatively, he begins