I remember blue

Oneshot

Dan doesn't remember much about the day he went blind. He was very young, 2 years old. He has certain memories. He remembered walking towards his father in the kitchen, and his dad was smiling. Then he remembered that he fell over and could not see anymore and his dad was screaming. He remembers the doctor telling him he had experienced an 'aneurysm' which could have killed him, but the doctors fixed his brain. They had done everything they could, but Dan had permanently lost his vision.

Dan remembers even less about the day he lost his parents. He was feeling nauseous in the car, a convenient effect of his blindness. Suddenly his head smashed against the carseat and he felt himself flip upside down. He heard policemen and paramedics talking and then he felt himself being lifted out of the car. He was 17. He remembered when he first arrived at the hospital, people kept on offering their arms and wrists to walk him to his parents. It kept him steady, but it didn't feel right.

Dan remembers almost everything about the day he met Phil. He was 19. Because he had no family, the past two years different volunteer "helpers" had guided him around school, home, and everywhere else. None of these people cared, however. They were polite, and nice, but none of them cared. They did what Dan needed, and nothing else. Phil was different.

"Alright Dan, this is your new assistant, Phil." Dan smiled weakly.

"Nice to meet you." Dan offered, reaching his hand for Phil's wrist. Phil's skin was cool, and soft.

"You guys are free to go." Dan followed Phil outside.

"Which car is yours?" Phil asked. His voice was deep, with an interesting accent. Dan had trouble trying to guess where he was from.

"It's a red honda civic." Dan said.

"Red? I thought you were blind." Phil joked. Dan laughed.

"That's offensive, you know?" Dan laughed, giving Phil's wrist a squeeze.

"I'm just kidding. I see it, just follow me." Phil said, then started walking.

"Like I have a choice." Dan mumbled. Phil helped Dan get into the car and then sat behind the wheel.

"Where should we go?" Phil asked.

"What do you mean?"

"I'm assigned to help you for the next six months, we should get to know each other. How about ice cream?"

"Seriously?"

"Yeah, why not?"

"Well, sure."

"Why do you seem so surprised?"

"I've never had an assistant as cool as you."

"That's because I'm the coolest."

They drove and talked a little while, getting some Mcdonalds ice cream.

"So Dan, what do you do for fun?" Phil offered.

"Listen to music, read, play piano." Dan spoke.

"You play piano?" Phil sounded surprised.

"Yes, I just find the middle C and I can play around it. Only a couple songs, I'm not that good." Dan muttered.

"The fact that you can play without seeing the piano is amazing, I can't play guitar even with sight. Believe me, I took classes in high school." Phil sighed. Dan grinned, licking the ice cream.

"I could teach you, if you want." Dan began. He heard Phil turn to face him.

"Really?" Phil sounded ecstatic.

"Yeah, I guess." Dan laughed. The car kicked into motion as Phil eagerly drove home.

Later that night, Phil asked to start lessons immediately. Dan had never taught anyone how to play piano, and someone with sight? How?

"Um, sit down." Dan said. He heard Phil sit down. How was Dan supposed to do this? He lifted Phil's hands and placed them at the piano. Then he hit some keys until he found the middle C, and put Phil's right hand there.

"Okay, so these are you're first, second, and third fingers." Dan explained, touching each of Phil's fingers. "So when you're playing music, you switch between them." Dan put his hand on top of Phil's, and began to play a short tune, pressing on Phil's fingers like keys.

"Try that." Dan instructed. Phil probably had tried his best, but Dan had a lot of work to do.

Dan doesn't remember anything about what the lake looks like. His parents had took him a couple of times over his teen years, but all he remembered was the cool water and the hot sand.

"Happy birthday, I can't believe that now you're 21. That's the legal drinking age for America, did you know that?" Phil said. Dan giggled.

"No." Dan answered, his toes dipping in the icy cold water. He felt the warm sand underneath his towel, and the shade from the umbrella above him. Phil was sitting next to him, lying down.

"What are you thinking about?" Phil asked.

"When we both signed off of the assistant program because we didn't want anyone else." Dan confessed. Phil laughed, and moved closer to Dan.

"What are you thinking about?" Dan asked.

"Not thinking, just looking." Phil replied. There was an awkward silence.

"Oh my god, I'm sorry, that was insensitive, I-" Phil started.

"It's fine." Dan settled. "What are you looking at?" Phil thought for a second. Dan could tell when Phil was thinking rather than not saying anything.

"Theres a really big lake. It's very blue. Do you remember blue?"

"Yes."

"It's blue. It's very dark blue. And in the middle of it is a sandbar. It's shaped weird, like this." Phil paused to trace the shape onto Dan's arm. "And there are lots of seagulls on the sandbar. They are looking into the water for fish. And the light looks really pretty on the lake, its like sequins. Around the lake there are different groups of people. Theres some girls, maybe on a break, in bright swimsuits and they are taking a picture. There is a bunch of old guys and they're fishing. One of them looks like they've caught a crab. It's bright red. There's a family, a mom a dad and two daughters. They are running around the shore and the daughters are trying to jump the waves. And in a little nook which is kind of like a cave, is the perfect seat for sitting. If you get into the right position your toes touch the water. And there are two boys sitting there, and one of them has black hair and one of them has brown hair. And the one with the black hair is leaning in to the one with the brown hair..."

Dan felt Phil's warm breath against his mouth as he spoke. Before Dan realized what was happening, Phil was kissing him, and then Dan was holding onto his arms, his arms that had led him through so much, which were here and his and now. Phil couldn't believe that he was kissing this boy, this work of art, this emerald. Dan couldn't believe he was kissing this man, this mystery, this doofus.

Dan remembers everything about his first kiss.