Here to Stay Ch. 02

"You sure do," Emmett heard Pete chime in. "How was the wedding?"

"It was wonderful," Emmett answered.

Cecelia looked the two over. Emmett was clearly quite happy, as told by his mannerisms. Gavin, however, possessed a longing behind his eyes. She watched as he looked down at Emmett affectionately, and realized that he was completely hooked.

"They'll end up together, you know," Cecelia told her husband softly as Gavin and Emmett walked up the first flight of stairs. "Mark my words, they are made for each other."

"I think so, too, and even if I didn't, I wouldn't argue with you," Pete answered. "I know better than that," he smiled.

Emmett and Gavin finished the last flight of stairs and walked to the door of the apartment. Gavin opened the door for Emmett, and Emmett walked in and proceeded straight to his room. Gavin went to his room, changed into a pair of comfortable shorts and tee-shirt, and hung his suit in the closet. Just as he was doing so, he heard a small crash and what sounded like pieces rolling all over the floor, and a shouted, "Goddamn it!" He rushed out of his room and knocked on Emmett's door.

"Hey, Emmett, everything okay in there?" Silence ensued, but Emmett finally spoke quietly.

"Uh, wow, this is embarrassing, but I could use a little help. Come on in," he replied.

Gavin opened the door and stopped at the sight. Emmett was sitting on the floor in his tux pants, wearing no shirt, cufflinks and shirt studs rolling all over the floor. The box for them was lying in the corner, where it had bounced after it had been thrown against the wall. Gavin, however, couldn't take his eyes off of Emmett. Even sitting down, Emmett's muscular stomach, torso, back, and arms were apparent. His hair was messed up, and his eyes and face glowed with exasperation. Gavin knew that he would never see anything sexier, so he took in the sight. He wanted so badly to wrap Emmett in his arms and never let go, but reality wouldn't allow for that.

"Uh, Gavin, you okay?" Emmett asked, intruding on Gavin's reverie. He could feel Gavin was still there, but couldn't hear him.

"Uh, yeah, sorry. Let me help you clean these up." Emmett could hear the edge in his voice. "What happened here, anyways?"

"I got them all out of the shirt, but I couldn't find their designated places in the box," Emmett said, looking down. "I guess I just got really flustered."

"That's okay. I can't even imagine how frustrated I would get if I couldn't see." Gavin paused, then realized. "Oh, god, I'm sorry. I didn't mean for it to sound like that," he said quickly.

"No, it's fine. I understand what you meant. It's not like I can beat around the bush anymore, either. I can't see, and that's that. It's okay to mention it and talk about it. I'm way past that phase," Emmett said.

Gavin collected all of the pieces that were strewn about, put them in the box, closed it, and handed it to Emmett after he had stood up.

"Here. I don't know where you want them," Gavin said softly.

"Thanks, Gavin. I don't know what I'd do without you." Emmett wrapped his arms around Gavin in a hug. Emmett was a naturally touch-oriented person, as he was blind. However, touching Gavin felt different. Gavin, though, didn't know what to do, but finally wrapped his arms around Emmett as well. The embrace lasted no longer than ten seconds before Gavin stepped away, blinked, and tried to swallow the lump in his throat.

"No problem," he croaked, walking out of the room and into the kitchen. He sat on one of the chairs at the bar, wondering what had happened. He had never been moved so much by anyone before, nor had he ever responded so much to someone's gestures, mannerisms, appearance, and touch. Before long, Emmett wandered out into the kitchen in lounge pants and a tight sleeveless shirt, yet again stealing Gavin's captivation and breath.

"Want something to drink?" Emmett asked, completely unaware of Gavin's situation. "You sounded a little dry in there."

"Sure. Some water would be great," Gavin said, pausing and thinking. "Wait, what am I doing, sitting here letting you get it for me. You should be sitting down and I should be getting you a drink." Gavin didn't expect that statement to irritate Emmett, but it did. A lot. Emmett turned around from putting ice cubes in the glasses, fire in his eyes.

"Listen, just because I'm blind doesn't mean that you need to wait on me hand and foot. Believe it or not, I could probably function without someone most of the time, but there are isolated instances, like the one you just witnessed, that I could use a pair of eyes around here. Don't ever make the mistake of thinking that because I'm blind, I can't take care of myself. I'm not incapable of being independent. Is that clear?"

Gavin had gotten out of his seat and walked over to Emmett by the time Emmett reached his rhetorical question. Before Emmett could do anything about it, Gavin had scooped him up in his arms.

"I know you're quite capable of doing it yourself. The problem is, I want to do it for you," Gavin stated pristinely, setting Emmett down in one of the chairs. "Meet your match, Dr. Clark."

Emmett didn't know what to do. He was so impacted by the gesture he couldn't speak. At the same time, however, he was so angry that Gavin had belittled him. The entire time he was filling the water glasses, Gavin watched the change of emotions flutter through Emmett's eyes. Then they shut, and Gavin's heart sank.

"Here's your water," Gavin said, then walked over to the couch, picked up a book, and sat down to read. Emmett was livid at Gavin's brusqueness. He walked over to the couch, found Gavin, grabbed the book from his hands, and threw it across the room. He then sat down on the table in front of the couch, facing Gavin. Gavin noticed his eyes were still shut.

"Do I have your attention now?" Emmett asked angrily.

"Uh, yeah," Gavin whispered, surprised. Emmett opened his eyes, showing both his sadness and his fury.

"Good. Now, let's get something straight. You are not going to take my life and my independence away?" He was interrupted by Gavin's finger on his lips.

"Emmett, I'm so sorry," Gavin apologized sincerely, holding Emmett's face between his hands. "It was supposed to be a funny, harmless gesture. I'm sorry. I'll let you do whatever it is that you do on your own." Emmett suddenly blushed and shook his head out of Gavin's grasp, trying not to notice the sparks from Gavin's touch and the knots in his stomach. He was so speechless from the gesture that he just sat there, staring into what happened to be Gavin's eyes.

Gavin was absorbed in Emmett's gaze.

"You have the most beautiful eyes, Emmett," Gavin whispered into the silence. Emmett immediately shut his eyes, blocking the world from seeing his emotions. Gavin let out his breath slowly in disappointment as Emmett got up.

"I think it's time I went to bed," Emmett said, walking down the hall and shutting his door.

Gavin turned out the lights, walked to his room, and sat on the bed. Looking up at the closed door across the hallway, he put his head in his hands and started silently crying. He knew that Emmett would keep his eyes closed around him now, and he knew it was his fault.

"Why did I say that? Damn it," Gavin cursed, waiting for sleep to overtake him, but it never did. He wished he had the drive to walk across the hall and apologize, but he didn't. He couldn't let Emmett see him like this. Gavin lay awake, staring at the ceiling, small tears dripping down out of his eyes. He didn't know why, or how, but everything Emmett did affected him. Finally, Gavin just spread out across the bed, giving up on sleep.

Across the hall, Emmett had been thinking about his roller coaster of emotions that evening. He knew that Gavin had feelings for him, and he also knew that he had feelings for Gavin, but Emmett wondered what would happen if it ended disastrously. He crawled into his bed and sighed, the thoughts in his head silencing themselves, unable to hear Gavin's barely audible sobs across the way.