"Haha, and they thought we hated each other, how pathetic." | OxO Valentine's RP | Male/Male | Closed!

Rhys stared up at Hideo with a dumbfounded look. "No…" he said slowly, then shook his head with a soft laugh, running his fingers through his hair to pull it back away from his eyes, making their hazy look the focal point of his next statement. "I guess I have to outright tell you." He wasn't offended by the other's ignorance, more amused than anything. Usually, people picked up on it by now. His eyes flicked up to look at Hideo's face, though they weren't quite centered on the other guy's eyes. "I can't see."

Rhys shook his head and dropped his hand, letting his hair fall back into his eye. "No color, just vague shapes. Different shades of grey and black." He ran his fingers up and down the strap of his bag again, the texture bumpy and rough against his skin. "And I've lived with it all my life, so I'd hope I'm able to act normal, for the most part. Some things are still difficult to navigate." He twirled his hand around to indicate the school. "Crowded places being one."

Rhys felt the corner of his lips tilt up without even thinking about it. Hideo was definitely something else. Most people thought of him as some fragile being that couldn't live without other people helping him out. This guy, though, he was more intrigued by how he lived than helping him out. "It's…difficult, sometimes. I usually use my hands to help me figure out where I am and where everything else is."

Rhys tilted his head as he thought about that, unconsciously following after Hideo by the sound of his voice. He's never really analyzed what he saw when he dreamed, just that it was a part of life that wasn't very important. "Hmmm, I never really considered that. But, ah, I don't see anything, just like when I'm awake." He tilted his head the other way, teeth lightly biting down on his bottom lip and slowly releasing it. "But, I think I've had frequent nightmares. I can't really remember."

"Sleep's another thing," Rhys said, sliding his hands in his jean pockets. "My sleep schedule's been all out of wack from birth." He's never talked about his blindness like this before. Usually, he didn't want to talk about it, but Hideo was curious about the differences and similarities, about how Rhys's life was compared to his. It was kinda nice, this change. "Nightmares are the same whenever I have them, so I'm used to it. Never remember them after I wake up."

Rhys ran his knuckles up his jaw and cheek, then ruffled his hair when he got that far. "It's more I get tired during the day and can't sleep during the night, since I can't see it. Y'know how people are supposed to have a natural sleep-schedule? Well, mine's out of alignment. As for forgetting nightmares…" He shrugged, lightly curling his fingers around his hair and closing his eyes. He's never talked about his nightmares before, didn't want to bring up that insecurity. "I wake up terrified for a bit, but then it kinda… fades away? If it doesn't, I grab a snack or do something to distract myself."

Rhys opened his eyes and followed the moving blob of black that he now knew as Hideo, trailing his hazy gaze along what he presumed to be his arm. He couldn't see much beyond simple buildings that all sort of blurred together in one shape to him. "I'm just going to take your word for it," he said with a small smile, stepping just a bit closer to Hideo while keeping a respectable distance between them. He'd rather not get lost or separated from the energetic guy.

(Rhys can't see color, just a friendly reminder)

Rhys stayed close to Hideo to prevent the chance of getting left behind, humming in acknowledgment when he was told where to put his things. He heard the struggle the door gave the other boy, and he tucked that bit of information into the back of his mind. Useless? Maybe, but he never knew when he'd need half of the stuff he's learned from his close observations. Life sometimes liked to surprise him with a pop quiz. "You live with anyone?" Rhys asked as he followed Hideo inside, fingers feeling the sides of the doorframe so he didn't run into anything. The pace of his heart sped up at the unfamiliarity of this new place, and he unconsciously and regretfully latched onto a bit of fabric of the back of the other boy's shirt.

((that's fine! Some blind people can see simple blobs of color, he just happens to be someone that can't, even if he's curious as to what it looks like))

"Sorry," Rhys murmured when he realized he had grabbed onto Hideo, tucking his hands into his hoodie after he was pried off of the other's clothing. Using his foot to gauge where Hideo was sitting and how much space he had, he sat down and put his bag onto his lap. "You want to do math first?" he asked, looking in the direction of the male sitting next to him.

"Oh, you're solving for x?" Rhys asked, leaning closer to Hideo as if he could actually see the paper the problem was written down on. "Basically, you work backwards to find the missing variable, which is x. So in order to get 12, you would've had to multiply something by 3. To undo multiplication, you divide the product by one of the numbers to get the other."

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.

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.

"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?"

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.

"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.