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Three months. Three months after that whole ordeal. Three months after that horrible New Year’s eve, where the King in Yellow decided to infiltrate my mind.
It’s been three months since I saved Avery Demayo, three months since I gained infinite knowledge, and three months since Avery broke into my dingy apartment—trying to get me some medical attention.
Now, I try to live a life with a sense of normalcy. Cramped inside of a two-bedroom college dormitory can make one with infinite knowledge feel… a little bit more normal I guess.
It’s a regular Friday evening. It’s probably the first time in a while that I’ve been able to enjoy a Friday evening. No more hospitalizations, no more weekends spent unpacking my stuff in Avery’s apartment, no more infinite knowledge torment from the King in Yellow. Snuggled up on the couch together, we spend the evening binge watching all of Avery’s favorite movies. He’s effortlessly adorable. The way he he’s curled up next to me in his minecraft pajamas that he unironically owns, nibbling his curly golden hair, emerald green eyes fixated on the screen. Fuck, he’s so pretty.
Besides Avery, nothing else matters, I already know what happens. I don’t even need to watch the movie to find out the ending. In fact, I can’t even begin to make out whatever is going on in the screen. Avery turned down the lights and the movie is so dark that the only thing I can make out is a blob of orange light.
Even with “The stupid minecraft piss god” as Avery says, I’ve learnt to live with Hastur. Whenever he gets restless, he’ll just start to randomly give me useless bits and pieces of information I don’t need but, recently I keep him busy acting as my audio accessibility.
“You’re holding a bottle of soy sauce,” or “That’s a picture of my vessel fishing on the wall,” or “The analog clock reads 7:45.”
You know, things I’m not normally able to see, Hastur tells me what it is. It’s a sort of symbiotic relationship thing going on.. I suppose. I don’t really mind it.
click
“Eugh.. Avery, why’d you turn on the lights..?”
“I’m going to go refill our popcorn, just gimme a sec!”
Avery then whisks away into the kitchen. He rustles through the small kitchen pantry, before grabbing some microwave popcorn.
“Derek darling,” Avery inquires.
“Hm?”
“What time is it?”
The analog clock is on the other side of the living room.
Hastur what time is it?
…
Hello?? My audio guide where are you?
…
It would be funny if you’d stay blind.
QUIT IT! Hastur, you bastard.
The clock just kind of looks like a circular black and white blob. I squint just to even make out the letters, but the hands of the clock look like they’re phasing into the walls.
“Derek?”
As I get up from the cozy couch, Avery stops me in my tracks.
“Derek, can you read analog clocks?”
“Uhm.. yes.”
“So why are you getting up to read it? It’s like 9:33. Can you not see it?”
Fuck, I may have been discovered.
“No.”
“No way..”
Avery moves back and holds out his hand with fingers up.
“My prince, please you don’t need to do this—“
“How many fingers am I holding up?”
“Avery, my eyesight is fine—“
“Honey, just please answer my question. How many fingers am I holding up?”
I’m squinting to even see what he’s holding up. That looks like.. More than one that’s for sure. But, probably not enough fingers to be five fingers. As I step forward to take a closer look, Avery stops me in my tracks.
“Uh-uh-uh ~ You’re not moving anywhere buddy.”
This is mildly entertaining. Watching you suffer—
SHUT THE FUCK UP HASTUR.
“Do you have four fingers up?” I ask.
Avery sighs.. “Darling, I’m holding up three fingers. I wasn’t even that far away from you, I was on the other side of the room!” Avery saunters over to me and leans his head on my shoulders.
“Why didn’t you tell me earlier ~ ?” he says. I can feel my cheeks warming fast, colour rising before I could stop it.
“Tell you what?”
“Tell me that you can’t see! I’m honestly surprised that I couldn’t catch it earlier. I mean, staring at a screen for how long—hours? They do numbers on you.”
He sighs with a soft smile, staring off into the distance that is the floor. I can see the realization settling in—I don’t need telepathy to figure out that he feels guilty for not realizing earlier.
“You know Avery.. I’ve always worn glasses.”
“Really? I’ve never seen you with glasses before.”
“Uhm.. about that. They broke.”
“And you haven’t replaced them yet??”
Oh boy, this might be a long one.
“So, you remember when I posted that letter that I made for you? Before you.. somehow found me?”
“Mhm?”
“Yeah, when I passed out, I think my head hit my desk pretty hard, with said glasses on my face.”
“Oh, is that why have that scar on your nose?”
“Yeah, and my glasses had really thin metal frames that could be bent quite easily. I mean they weren’t even proper glasses, they were makeshift ones. I just kind of took some of those bendable metal and formed them into glasses and put my frames in there. They were my favorite pair too--in fact they were my only pair. Bent them into thin rectangular shapes with the gold bendable metal used for soldering stuff you know?”
Avery lets out a slight snicker. “Yup, sounds just exactly like something you’d do.”
“I’m not quite sure what happened, but I think with the force of my head bashing straight into my desk, my lenses shattered and the glasses are bent beyond recognition. Come to think of it—I don’t actually know where they are right now.”
“Really? Then we should go get your eyes checked, we really need to get you some glasses. What’s your power?”
“Power? Like, in Rise of Kingdoms—?”
“No, no. I mean your glasses power, you know! What do you call it again..?”
He starts pacing around me, muttering his little “ta ta ta ta ta” as if he’s creating a drumroll in his inner monologue.
“There we go!” He exclaims. “Perscription that’s the word! What’s your prescription?”
“Last time I checked, probably.. -4 in both eyes?”
••• An awkward silence fills the room.
“Derek. You need glasses. No wonder you’ve been having so many headaches all the damn time! It’s cause you can’t see shit! And the fact that you've literally been possessed, BUT STILL!”
“Look, I’m sorry Avery, I just thought I looked dorky with them!”
Avery marches straight over to me, and cups his hands over my face.
“You’ve practically been torturing your head by having the piss god possess you, now you won’t even use glasses! You won’t look dorky with glasses!”
“I’ll look like a dork love. I already look like a nerd—no—I already am a nerd.”
“Derek, you’ll look adorable with or without glasses. In fact you’ll be adorkable! Hehe! My adorkable Derek.”
“Ppft-“ I let out a small snort. “Adorkable? Seriously?”
“For a lack of better words, yes. Wait speaking of, If you haven't worn your glasses for so long, how have you been able to navigate stuff??"
"..Let's just say I gave Hastur a new job."
"Like what exactly?" he asks me, crossing his arms and raising up an eyebrow.
"...Do you know those.. audio accessibility things on phones that blind people use to navigate..?
"Oh-my GOD Derek! You're telling me that ever since you got possessed, you have the ability to see the future, the past, see in people minds, and yet you can't see? You're telling me you're all seeing, and you can't see?"
"Essentially yes."
"Oh my god Derek.. Okay you know what, tomorrows plan of action: We go to the store and get you some new glasses! We can even make it look like the pair you lost!"
"That sounds good. But maybe not golden."