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The Walking Dead game was not the most thrilling, in terms of action, Gilbert would say. It was chock full of scenes rather than the beat-the-shit-out-of-zombies stuff. At least, that's how it was at that moment and to be fair, he had started not too long ago. Alfred had mentioned it at their last episode marathon gathering -- depending on whose place it was, they watched different television shows. For Alfred, it was Star Trek, for Matthias, it was The X-Files, and naturally, when they hung around Gilbert's apartment, it was The Walking Dead.
At least the storyline was fluid. Depending on his answers, Gilbert would get different results. That was cool. And he liked certain characters more than others, so they had done a pretty good job with that so far too. He was going to wait until the end to pass judgment, though. And he could only pay for a couple game episodes at a time, so it would take him a while.
Just when the scene ended and zombies were trying to break into the store and he had to decide who to save along with a lot of button smashing -- Roderich opened the front door.
"I'm back," he called out.
"Glad to hear it," Gilbert replied, never taking his eyes off the screen. "Just a moment." He could hear Roddy's footsteps up until he was in the kitchen.
The picture went dark and another bit of storyline started. He turned around to see Roderich unwinding a scarf from around his neck. A plastic bag was on the table along with their mail for that day. Gilbert's gut flip-flopped for a moment, before realizing that no, it was impossible. Roderich couldn't have known.
"Were you aware that your glasses were finished?" Roderich asked and Gilbert's stomach plummeted.
He turned back towards the TV. "No, not really, why? Don't they, like, call you for that or, or something?" He pressed his thumb into the side of the controller, feeling the grooves and smooth, rounded edges.
"Yes," Roddy said and his tone was different, sharper. Oh God, he knew. "They said they left about a half dozen messages, but nobody ever picked up or responded. Gilbert, look at me. Did you do this on purpose?"
Gilbert slid down on the couch. He had been perfectly okay with paying for them and leaving them to rust. So long as Roderich didn't find out. Roderich's fancy shoes clip-clopped against the wood floors and Gilbert brought his legs up, as if he could somehow hide behind them. Or make himself so small he could disappear. At least a little less noticeable, maybe. He buried his head in his arms.
"You have astigmatism, Gilbert. You're straining your eyes when you don't wear them. Do you want them to get worse? Do you want to go blind?"
"I'm not gonna go blind," he mumbled into the fabric of his shirt.
"What?"
Gilbert lifted his head. "I'm not gonna go blind!"
Roderich hadn't taken his coat off. He was staring down at Gilbert with an expression that made Gilbert want to smother him in a hug. But he wasn't about to start wearing glasses. Roderich was not going to win this. He had given a little by going to see that eye doctor. He had compromised.
"Wear the glasses."
"No."
"Wear them, or so help me, I will sell your entire game collection to my students."
Gilbert felt his jaw slacken. "You wouldn't do that," he said and tried to shrug it away. "And besides, I wouldn't care."
"Fine then, not only will I do that, I'll also hack into your blog," Roderich said with a tilt of his head.
This time, Gilbert burst out laughing. "You can't do that! You don't know computers that well," he replied.
Roderich smiled then, and that sent doubt running through Gilbert's mind. "No, but all I need is a password," he said and turned around, pulling off his coat.
He didn't know his password, Gilbert kept that shit tight. Roddy couldn't possibly get his security questions. Unless. Unless he could. If he knew him well enough, maybe. But still. That was, like, highly unlikely. Yeah. Probably.
"Fiiiiiiine," Gilbert groaned, flopping his head back against the couch. "Give me the dumb glasses." He let his hand hang out off the armrest until he felt the plastic frames pressed into his palm. He unfolded them and slid them into place. Perfect fit.
Yes, he could see better now. A lot better. Wow, that was a lot of detail.
Roderich sat down next to him.
"And?" Gilbert asked, turning towards him. Definitely a lot of detail. Dang. "How do I look?" He fluttered his eyelashes with a little tilt of his head.
"Just like how you always do, except with glasses," Roderich answered with a straight face.
"Jerk!" Gilbert gave him a soft shove.
Roderich smiled and said, "Which is to say, very handsome indeed."
"Are you telling me that I'm handsome all the time?" Gilbert asked, a crooked smirk sliding in place.
Roderich rolled his eyes. "If you need me to tell you that, then you've needed glasses far longer than I originally thought," he said.
"Mhmm," Gilbert said. Roderich had always been pretty to him. Really delicate features and he had made fun of him for it at first, sure, but really, wow. The horrible glasses brought everything into such clarity, he could see the lines that made up his blue-violet eyes, just how his hair was ruffled from the wind outside, things he didn't really think he could miss. Or realize were gone.
Roderich raised an eyebrow before leaning in close. "Welcome to the dark side," he whispered. "You're one of us now."
He didn't.
"You didn't," Gilbert said.
Roderich stuck a bit of his tongue out at him, making Gilbert remember the stuffy Roderich who wouldn't smile for just anyone.
"That's it!" Gilbert shouted and attacked. When he stood up, Roderich was flung over his shoulder.
"Put me down!" Roderich said in between laughs. "No, really Gilbert, put me down!"
"Sure thing!" Gilbert replied and kicked open the bedroom door.