Rhys hummed, helping Hideo through a few more problems. "I used to work with numbers a lot when I was with my parents, though the text had to be raised for me to figure out the numbers. I can read braille, but I also can feel what shape numbers and letters make if they're raised, or make an impression on a piece of paper. I used that to work things out on my own. The harder stuff takes more time, and sometimes it takes me a bit for it to click. Writing it kinda helps." He was blabbing about nonsense, but he felt like talking for some reason. However, he clamped his mouth shut when he was done.
Hideo looked astonished. "If you could see my expression right now, I'd appear so baffled. I remember once thinking of the blind as those who only saw black, and couldn't even move an inch. You've proven my idea of it deathly wrong, and I could say I apologize." He said, with honesty. "You're a genius, Rhys, a freaking genius." He complimented the other, before a storm of other positive words flooded out of his mouth. Strong, awesome, epic, and other words of sorts.
Rhys blushed heavily and quickly, shoving his hands into his hoodie pocket and twisting the cloth between his fingers. He almost seemed to shrink into himself, teeth nibbling on his light pink lip. "I'm nothing special," he muttered, shy, "just really stubborn and independent." He certainly didn't 'see' what Hideo saw when it came to him. He didn't think of himself as a genius, or as anything or anyone spectacular. He was just a guy that happened to be blind.
"But you're spectacular!" Hideo said, waving his arms around. "If you won't accept it, I'll have to make you believe it, then." He sighed, with a quick laugh. He gazed at Rhys as he noticed little… "nervous" movements. The slight shrink really caught his eye. Had he made the other anxious? He laughed yet again. "But you needed help, too, don't let me get too off track," Hideo muttered, quickly.
"Right," Rhys said, curling his legs up so they were tucked against his chest, and moved his bag to the side while bringing out his history book and worksheet. He was glad of the change in topic, mostly because he was desperately willing the heat in his cheeks—almost scorching when he dwelled on Hideo's declaration to make Rhys believe his compliments—to dissipate. "Do you have anything else to work on? For your math?"
"Not really, just a few more of those problems, but you taught me how to work them out, so I need to help you out." Hideo said, confidently. He looked towards Rhys's book and papers. "So, what's it this time? The Mongols, Communism, whatever you need, I'll do my best." He said. He loved history, it was so rich, and he learned so much from it.
Rhys threw his hands in the air and flopped back into the back of the couch dramatically. "I don't even know? My teacher seems to have it out for me, because she teaches the class like normal but doesn't help mein any way possible. I'm horrible at remembering things like this, and the book she gave me isn't even braille. She loves her worksheets too." Rhys ended his rant with a huff and handed Hideo the paper. "Basically, she sucks and I'm failing," he summed up with a grumble, running his fingers through his snow-white hair, effectively ruffling it and making soft tufts to go everywhere.
Hideo loved it when people ranted, it amused him to the furthest extent. "Haha, Rhys, she sounds awful. Let me see now…" Hideo giggled, as he glanced down at the paper. It seemed to have been some battles, and which sides won them. "Ohh, I see, these are all about sides." He purred. Hideo remembered looking at a little information website about them. "Alright. So it says here, 'The Blues beat the Reds in the Battle of the Ages.' and then it asks, 'Were the Blues stronger, or weaker than the Reds?'." Hideo read, as he looked over more of the paper.
"Strength doesn't always guarantee a win," Rhys said instantly, then paused and scrunched up his nose almost adorably. "But I'm assuming they want the obvious answer of them being stronger, since they beat them." He lifted his hand and folded his sleeve over his fingers, then lightly chewed on the hem. School was pretty boring to him, but it saved him from being bored to death, both with the busy work and meeting new people, like Hideo.
"You actually have a fair point, I wish that logic was applicable on work," Hideo sighed. he noticed Rhys's nose scrunch up and thought it was cute, but dared not to tell him about it. "But yes, you're right. The next one asks for some proof in the passage as to why they were stronger." Hideo said, as he read a little of the passage. It was something about 'powerful guns' that would stick out, good minds also followed.
Rhys sighed and continued to chew on his sleeve, leaning back against the couch and folding his legs beneath him. "I hate history," he grumbled, but provided the suitable answer once Hideo finished reading part of the passage. He didn't really have it out for the subject itself—sure, it was boring—but his teacher's personal vendetta against him soured the relationship just a bit. His mind wondered slightly, thinking about what he'd do after this study session with presumably a new friend. He could go home once they were both done with the homework, go back to the quiet and lonely apartment. Or, Rhys could ask to stay a little bit longer, just to hang out with Hideo and fill up his free time.
Hideo laughed a little, pressing a hand to his own lips to silence the humor he found in Rhys's words. "Okay, this is the last question on this paper. It says, 'If you could choose a side to be on, would you choose Red or Blue?'. Interesting." He said, before indulging in a little thought. Personally, Hideo would have chosen the Red side. Red seemed to have lost, but it brought them together, whereas the Blue side has awful relationships between members. He really wondered what Rhys would choose.
Rhys sat up a little. A brain question. That he could get into. Unbeknownst to him, he would choose the same side as Hideo. "As someone that chose a loss to escape a bad relationship, I'd side with Red. A win means nothing if you don't get anything worthwhile out of it besides bragging rights. If you come out with something positive, even if you lost, that, to me, means more." Rhys hummed and cocked his head to the side, then smiled slightly and mumbled against his sleeve as he went to nibble at it again. "And, had I been on the Blue side, I would've switched because of the bad relationships."
Hideo smiled widely at Rhys's words. "Then welcome to my side of the world, Rhys." He said, using the other's name. It flowed off of his tongue as if it were honey. "You really gave off a good response, I'm astonished." He purred, as he gently fluffed Rhys's hair up. Hideo tended to fluff up the hair of his friends if he was delighted by them, and Rhys truly deserved it then. He picked up a little bit of Rhys's history stuff, and gently offered it to him. He knew Rhys would be satisfied by the fact history was over.
Rhys ducked his head and closed his eyes when he felt Hideo's hand in his hair, cheeks flushing a pale pink. "Hideo…" he whined softly, covering his mouth and nose with his sleeve-covered hands to try and hide his blush. He wasn't used to compliments or fond physical attention like he was getting from Hideo, so, to be blunt, he was realizing how deprived of it he's been. With a slow breath, his fingers slipped out of the fabric of his sleeves and gingerly curled around his history stuff after a bit of feeling around. "Thank god," he mumbled, sighing in relief. He was so glad he was done with history. And now to figure out what he wanted to do after this.
Hideo tilted his head, and his eyes filled with worry. Had he done something wrong, messing with the other's hair? Or was it alright? He couldn't tell. He laughed his worry away, with a careless smile. "I bet you feel relieved, haha." He said, before realizing something. The other might want something else to do! "Rhys, uh, what do you like to do?" He asked, wondering what the guy would come up with.
Rhys, after putting his stuff back into his bag, slowly combed his fingers through his hair, still puzzling over Hideo's affection. His eyes slipped over to the other's direction when he was asked a question. Well damn. He honestly had no clue. Once again, his cheeks turned a faint pink, but he didn't try to hide it, as he didn't feel the heat just yet. "Um…I don't know? I don't remember my parents letting me do anything that wasn't related to the family business."
"Oh wow." Hideo marveled. He turned back at Rhys to notice that the guy had been… blushing. Hideo tried not to panic, he didn't know why it was happening. love related things of all sorts freaked him out a little bit. "How about…" Hideo mumbled, as his brain fought to find something that would be alright for Rhys to enjoy. "How about we try a movie? I have a few you might like.." Hideo said, as his mind conjured it up. Movies, he supposed, would be generally alright for Rhys.
Rhys seemed to perk up a bit at that. He's heard of movies before but never invited to watch any, and as his apartment's TV had a remote that wasn't braille, he couldn't turn on one for himself. "A movie sounds good," he said with a smile, the hand in his hand dropping down. Along the way, his thumb pressed into the corner of his mouth, stretching out his smile a little bit more and making it crooked. He was fully aware that movies were largely visual, but he was good at picturing what was going on around him by listening and paying attention, so he wasn't worried about that.
Hideo walked over to a little movie cabinet, and looked through them all. He found one, specifically, that caught his eye. It was an action based film, with a simple romantic side plot. He smiled. It had a lot of sounds, and the characters really spoke, a lot. It was a subtly helpful move. "I got one, going to get it going now, also, how's popcorn sound?" Hideo rambled, asking Rhys about some food at the end.
"Amazing," Rhys said, setting his bag next to the couch on the floor and adjusting himself so he was comfortably curled up into the cushions. He decided that staring at the TV wouldn't be worth it, so having his eyes closed so he could be really focused on the sounds would be his best option. Really, he could walk around every day with his eyes closed. Rhys' lips twitched up slightly at that thought as he leaned over and rested his elbow on the armrest, palm pressed into his cheek to hold his head up.
Hideo started the film as he rushed into the kitchen to make their popcorn. He quickly opened two packages of it and put them both into his microwave. A few minutes would pass by, it wouldn't be a big deal. the golden kernels started to appear quickly after. Hideo softly sang a tune as he finished waiting on the stuff. As soon as the kernels stopped popping, he pulled the stuff out of the microwave. "Order up," he joked, bringing a bowl of the stuff to Rhys. he settled in beside the other, with a soft, warm sound passing his lips.
Rhys smiled in amusement and accepted the bowl of popcorn with a soft, "Thanks." He felt the dip in the couch next to him, indicating Hideo sitting down, and heard the sound he had made. Unconsciously tilting his head, an act he often did when paying attention to sounds, he tipped his head down towards the popcorn in his lap and closed his eyes. "And, uh, thank you for not treating me like I'm completely helpless," he added quietly, picking up a piece of popcorn and rolling it between his fingers, feeling the different bumps and the unique texture. "My friends mean well, but they always gotta be 'protecting' me, like bodyguards of the blind."
( Morning :) Hru? )
"I just want to make sure that I don't treat you differently, that's all I'm doing, really." Hideo modestly said. He blushed a little bit, and didn't fight to hide it. It wasn't like Rhys was going to see it. He slowly began to munch on his popcorn as the movie began with a bang. Apparently, a war had been going on between two groups of people. Explosions and loud shouts were prominent in the background of the film.
((Hello! I've actually hit quite the mental block, so I'm taking an indefinite hiatus from nb to recharge my brain and get the creative juices. I hope you don't mind!))
Rhys tipped his head when he heard the loud noises and explosions, eyes still closed, but he did have one final thing to say to Hideo. "And it means more to me than you think," he murmured, just loud enough for the other to hear. Rhys popped the small piece of food into his mouth, and focused on the audio of the movie, not expecting Hideo to answer him.
