Chapter 1

It was silent in the dorms, save for the sound of hard knuckles rapping against a single door. The sound echoed and bounced off the walls, reverberating down even to the end of the hall, quiet as it may be. Andy reckoned there was something to be said for that, like an ominous foreboding warning him to turn on his heel and walk away from this. What was he even doing?

A personal favor, he reminded himself as a sigh escaped his lips, bracing himself back on the balls of his feet impatiently. The wood of the door was smooth and cool beneath his fingertips, and he found himself once more tracing over the crisp brass of the number. This was the right room, wasn't it? Of course it was. Thirty seven, just like Dr. Rossini had told him. 

I'll give it one more minute. One more minute and then I'll-

"What do you want?"

The voice that cut through the haze of Andy's thoughts was clipped and abrupt, and he found himself wincing in spite of himself. He paused for a moment, and listened again. It was quiet, almost far away, as though whoever was on the other side hadn't bothered to get up and make their way to the door. He supposed, under the circumstances though, that that made sense.

"Hey, sorry for disturbing you. I'm Andy, I'm a TA in one of your granddad's classes. He asked me if I could-"

"Go away." It was flat, no room for discussion if the man on the other side of the door had his way. But then, Andy had been warned of exactly that. 

A sigh escaped him once more, biting back as much frustration with the situation as he could as he slid his hand down to the knob, giving a small turn to test it and finding it unlocked. The door swung open without fanfare, and Andy stepped inside, the click clacking of his cane filling the new space as he made his way forward. 

"Sorry, no can do." He called back, trying to figure out what way the voice had come from. All he needed was the humiliation of telling his boss that he'd failed before he'd ever even gotten inside because he'd tripped on something. "Your grandpa was pretty clear, even called it a favor. Can't really say no to my boss, you get me?" He stumbled forward at the small scoff, making his way towards the noise with a victorious little huff. "Besides, this is all I have on my schedule today." 

His toes tapped around until he found a chair, finally sitting down and settling down the cane beside him. "So let's try this again. I'm Andy Hermanez. I'm a TA in your grandpas class. And you are…"

"Do you always make a habit of breaking into others homes?" Marcello snarled, but venom was missing from the tone. "Marcello. I'm Marcello Rossini. You don't need to be here, you know. I'll tell him you came. I don't need yours or anyone else's pity. It's fine. I'm fine."

He hated how hollow it sounded to his own ears. 

Two weeks. Two weeks he had sat in his dorm, refusing to move more than absolutely necessary. He had memorized the safest route to the bathroom, to the shower, learned how his surroundings felt under his fingertips. But no more than he absolutely had to. It was like a bad dream he kept waiting to wake up from. And yet, it continued all the same.

The accident still felt like a blur. He could barely recall the details even. He'd been in the backseat of his parents car. He'd gone home for the weekend against his better judgment, and they'd proved him right as they'd once more spouted comparisons to his younger brother, unaware of how each word cut their oldest son. How it solidified the resentment in his heart for all of them. He knew it wasn't fair. But fairness changed nothing; none of it was fair, not really. He had been desperately praying for it all to stop, when suddenly it had. There was a bright flash of white, and then nothing but darkness.

He'd awaken in the hospital a week later, dazed and confused, clutching at his eyes. The darkness had continued. He couldn't see…. He couldn't see! A scream had torn itself from his lips before hands had held him down, stopping his panicked thrashing as something was pressed into the iv he'd barely even been aware was in his hand. 

Marcello's body had grown heavy, falling back into the bed, unable to do more than just listen as he was told what had happened. A trucker had fallen asleep at the wheel, his semi had swerved into oncoming traffic. A terrible accident, they'd said. No one was at fault really, it had just been misfortune that theirs had been the car hit. Wasn't it a miracle he'd survived! Sure, he'd lost his sight in the accident courtesy of some glass fragments, but sometimes miracles weren't perfect. At least, he was alive!

Except it didn't feel like a miracle to Marcello at all.

 He'd asked about his parents, and that was when the room had gone silent. They hadn't made it. He'd known it immediately, guilt threatening to swallow him alive. He'd caused this. He'd prayed for this. He'd caused this, he'd caused this, he'd-

"Mmm, sometimes I'm here for a bit of home invasion. Telling the cops I'm blind usually gets me off the hook though." Andy's voice was teasing, but there was a hint of dryness to it. Of course. Doctor Rossini hadn't even apparently told his grandson why he was coming. To be expected, he supposed. 

"You're blind?" Marcello questioned, sitting up a bit straighter in his chair. Huh. That part was at least a bit of a surprise. Curiosity tugged at him, even as he shifted to draw his knees up into himself, wrapping his arms around them and resting his chin atop them. "Were you in an accident too?"

"Nope." Andy popped the "p" loudly, reaching up to stab a hand through his hair idly. "I was born blind. Look- I don't love this any more than you do. Feeling like I'm being paraded around as some token disability or something. But your grand dad is really worried about you. And I have a lot of respect for him, he's been good to me. So I want to do what he asked, ok? All I'm asking is for you to hear me out. If after you do that, you still want me to leave, I will. Can you just work with me on that much?"

The room was silent for a long moment, before Marcello once more spoke. "Marc. You can call me Marc. Only my parents really called me Marcello anyways. I guess, at the very least, I can hear you out. It's not your fault grandpa decided to waste both of our time."

A sigh of relief slid past Andy's lips, his shoulders slumping as some of the tension left him. Maybe he'd have a chance to salvage this yet. "Your grandpa wanted me to help you adjust to your new reality. I've never been able to see, so I know how to navigate the world without sight. I know it must feel like the world is ending right now- I can't blame you for that. I think I'm probably luckier than most, I don't know what I'm missing out on. But you're so young still. Twenty one is nothing at all, you have the rest of your life ahead of you. I just want to help you figure out what it's going to look like, alright?"

Marcello worried his lip between his teeth as he rolled the older mans words over in his head. He supposed there was no real harm in letting the man- Andy, he corrected- help him. He was more aware than most thought that what he was currently doing wasn't going to work forever.

Hell, it barely works now.

"Alright." He conceeded, his voice more meek now than before. "I suppose that would be okay- I could use some help, I know I can't stay in my dorm room forever." Not for lack of wanting to try. If he never had to be near another person, it'd be too soon. He could hear the pity in most people's voices, and it made him sick. But that was notably missing from Andys. He supposed it might be nice to have someone in his corner. For once. 

"This… is where I tell you the part you aren't going to really like." The part that Andy wasn't too fond of either. "He's asked that I move into your dorm. I know that may sound weird, but my roommate is moving out in a week, and your grand dad knows I was worrying about it, and you have a double to yourself and-"

"Let's do it." Marcello hoped he sounded more confident than he felt in that moment, as he gave a nod to no one at all, gritting his teeth and readying himself for what came moving forward. "But don't go through my shit. I mean it- I'm not a people person, and I can't handle people who are clingy and overbearing. We can go over house rules or some shit when you settle in."

"Deal." Andy agreed. "Anything else?"

"Don't go reporting everything I say and do back to my grandfather."

"Done and done." Andy agreed, reaching out to awkwardly clasp the others hand in a shake. It felt so delicate and small in his own… He shook the thought from his head. "Roommates it is. I'll start coming over tomorrow with stuff, I don't really have much. Do you have a cane yet?"

"I don't have anything yet." The response was flat, the younger man unable to keep the bitterness from making its way into his voice. 

"Alright. So step one- tomorrow I'll take you shopping."

Fuck. That was exactly what Marcello had been dreading. Still, he shook the others hand in return. It was a deal. Whether he liked it or not, this was reality, and he had no choice but to accept it.