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Daniel was terrified.
No - terrified was an extremely mild way of putting it.
He was so stricken with fear that he could barely move.
Yes, Daniel had suggested this entire thing, and yes, the dark was one of his greatest fears, but he never thought that it would be so difficult to overcome. After all, he had a guide and the person he loved most next to him. What else could he need? And that was exactly why he chose to come to this place for this special occasion.
After all, the restaurant boasted of its ability to change people’s perspective of the world and food. It was meant to be a ‘sensory journey’ that encouraged ‘social conviviality’. To Daniel, it seemed like the perfect place to go for a date.
But nope.
Even with Philip’s soothing words , Daniel could not get himself to move. He sat, rooted to his seat, paralysed with fear. Even when the guide had poured him a glass of some fancy red wine, he could not move to take a sip of the alcohol that could potentially calm his nerves.
“What was that?” Dan had almost shouted as he felt a slight sensation on his shoulder.
There was something on his back. He knew it for sure. He had heard the soft rustling of his shirt, what with his heightened sense of hearing in the dark. But he didn’t dare to move. He was torn between wanting to know what it was and being extremely scared of finding something scary behind.
Dan was an extremely logical person. And so, logically speaking, there would not be a moth in a restaurant, no matter how dark it was. After watching the Blair Witch Project, however, Dan had developed a slight glitch in his ability to think logically in the dark.
And it was because of exactly that, that Dan had started imagining that it was a huge moth sitting on his left shoulder. The situations that played out in Daniel’s head would have been amusing to most, but to Dan, it was his worst nightmares coming to life.
Dan started shaking. Only slightly at first, but soon enough, his entire body began trembling, fear overcoming him. His breaths came out in short pants as his brain went into overdrive. The sounds around him - the whispers of the other patrons, the clinking of wine glasses - everything just seemed to be amplified, causing greater distress.
“Sir! Are you alright?” The voice came from right behind Dan, as the pressure on his shoulder lifted.
But Dan was too far gone to realise that the phantom touch he had felt on his shoulder had come from his own guide, and not a mystical moth sitting on him. He was still quivering uncontrollably, even as the guide tried to calm him down.
Phil tried to reach out for him, but it wasn’t easy, especially when you couldn’t see anything. He knocked over what seemed to be the glass of wine, but Phil didn’t care. With a wet hand, Phil finally found Dan’s hand and he held it tight.
Using it as a guide, Phil made his way from across the table to a position that was much more intimate, pulling Dan into a hug as he whispered soothing words in his ear. It took awhile, but when Dan finally stopped shaking uncontrollably, his guide (and Phil’s), had immediately brought them out of the dark room to the well-lit bar.
----
Dan was in a flurry of emotions as he tried to regulate his breathing and calm himself down. He was safe now, and out of the dark. He could see Phil, seated next to him on one of the high stools at the bar, worry etched across his face. Dan tried to gather his thoughts.
On one hand, that was the scariest situation he had ever put himself in. Yet, he was extremely disappointed in himself. The date was meant not only as a challenge to himself, but also as a way for him to understand Phil better.
Exactly two years ago, Phil’s world had been plunged into total darkness after a car crash had caused fragments of glass to be embedded in both his eyes, rendering them completely useless. When Phil came to, he struggled a lot with the fact that he would never see again, and then he had struggled with getting used to his lack of sight. It took him almost an entire year to finally adjust into his new lifestyle, and whilst Dan had helped him through every step of the way, the younger man had always felt disconnected.
Whenever Phil went into one of his ‘moods’, Dan would try his best to console him. But seeing as Dan did not know what it felt like to be blind, his consolation never fully helped the other guy. Dan wanted to take this opportunity to finally put himself into Phil’s shoes, to finally experience Phil’s life for the past 2 years.
And it had gone horribly wrong.
----
Dan was upset with himself, but Phil appreciated everything Dan had done. Phil was never one for big gestures, and he knew Dan to be someone was wasn’t quite so adventurous. So the fact that Dan had willingly put himself in a situation that he knew would cause himself great fear just to be ‘closer’ to him, was something that touched Phil greatly.
He sat on the stool thinking about his best friend. They had known each other for over 10 years now, and had been a couple for just over 4 years. Phil knew everything about Dan at the back of his hand; and he knew that Dan was just about to go into one of his self-depreciating moods.
Reaching out for the other man, Phil pulled Dan into a warm hug, conveying his gratitude in the best way he knew how.