“I wanna help,” Seamus said and Tobias’s eye’s shot up to look at his friend.
"No. It’s not gonna work. You were right.”
“I know you can do this, please, just let me help you.”
“I said no!” Tobias screamed and turned around. His hands shook at his sides and his body felt hot all over. He knew that having optimism would just end up disappointing him. “Just leave!”
“I’m not leaving you. Just like I said two years ago. I’m not leaving you. And I never will,” Seamus said tenderly and walked towards the man who was falling apart in front of him.
“Don’t,” Tobias said as Seamus picked up a forgotten ball on the ground.
“Please just let me in. You don’t have to bottle everything up.”
“I-I can’t,” he sobbed.
“Yes, you can,” Seamus said and placed the ball lightly in Tobias's hand.
Tobias finally gave in and tossed the ball into the air. Once again, the ball didn’t hit his hand.
“Put your eyepatch back on, your right eye is distracting you,” suggested Seamus.
“I don’t know where it is.”
“I’ll find it,” Seamus said and ran around the room, spotting the cloth in the corner of the gymnasium. He walked behind the tall man and tied the eyepatch on. The white of the fabric stood out against Tobias’s raven hair.
“Just one more time,” Seamus said.
He repeated those words until Tobias served the ball just as well as he did with perfect vision.
***
It had been three weeks since the incident at the gym. From then on, Seamus took Tobias to the gym on the weekends and practiced with him. He kept him active. He kept him distracted while his eyes healed.
Tobias’s left eye had healed completely two weeks before and his right eye was clearing up. Tobias saw a blurry world in his other eye, and dark gray patches were still present.
“What do you want?” Tobias called out from his room.
“Just come out. You wanna see this!”
“No!”
“The teams here!” Seamus said as Daniel closed the door behind everyone.
“Jesus Christ,” Tobias mumbled and ripped off the covers that warmed his body.