Fenner woke up, paranoid that he would already be invisible. A quick check showed that he was still visible. Sighing in relief, he texted Albion to let him know, then got ready for school. His mum knocked on the door. “Hey sweetie, are you ok?” He gave her a peck on the cheek before heading downstairs for breakfast.

“It’ll happen any time this week, I just hope it holds off a couple days longer, but I’m not holding my breath on that.” She smiled, ruffling his hair gently. “You know, there’s a chance he could be your soulmate?” Fenner shook his head. “I don’t want to get my hopes up. I thought Ollie might remember me, but he also forgot.”

She smiled sadly at the mention of his first boyfriend; they’d only dated for a short while before he also forgot her son. She knew that if it happened again with Albie, someone who had managed to bring him out of his shell so much, he would be crushed. “There’s still a chance, though. Don’t give up hope, my love.”

Fenner nodded, before grabbing his bag and heading out. When he arrived at school, he spotted the one person he wanted to see - Albion. “Albie,” he called. The boy turned to look at him, a massive smile on his face. “Hi! Did you get any sleep?” Fenner nodded his head. “If two hours counts.”

Albion shook his head, “I really don’t know how you function on so little sleep.”

“Practice, my body is used to it at this point.” Albion frowned. “That’s…not good, ya know? Have you gone to the doctor for it or anything?” Fenner shrugged, “it kinda runs in the family. My mum only ever gets 4-5 hours sleep, her dad only got 3 hours each night though.”

Albion whistled out through his teeth, “that’s pretty insane. I could never,” he said grinning. “I love my sleep.” Fenner briefly thought of the boy’s troubled sleep from last time. “Right,” he responded.

The boys went to class as usual, and eventually the end of the day arrived, and they decided to go walk by the river again. “So, um, when people…ya know, forget you, how does it work? Like, is all evidence of you erased or something?” Albion asked hesitantly.

“Nah, they just don’t remember meeting or ever being with me. Pictures and stuff stay, which freaks my dad out. He has pictures of him holding me as a baby, but he doesn’t recall it at all.”

“That’s really sad.” Albion took the other boy’s hand, giving it a squeeze. “My dad died when I was a kid, so we both have memories of someone who isn’t like, here really, if that makes sense.” Fenner looked up at him. “Really? I didn’t realise. Sorry, that sucks. And yeah, I guess with my dad it’s like, a grandparent with dementia or something.”

They kept talking, deciding to move on to happier topics, and random facts about each other, deciding to leave the heavy topics for now. Fenner wanted to ask about his nightmares, but wasn’t sure how comfortable Albion was with talking about it.

“Hey, let’s take pictures! Just in case…something happens, and even if not, I want a picture with my boyfriend,” Albion blushed as Fenner smiled brightly at him. “Ok, sounds like a good plan.”

The two took many photos with the river making a nice backdrop, until it started to get dark.

They began to make their way home, and Albion decided he wanted to tell Fenner about his eye, he felt he cold trust him - after all, Fenner had told him about his family curse, and everything to do with it. He knew Fenner would understand. Taking a deep breath, he decided to just tell him.

“Um, so I’m actually blind in one eye.” Fenner looked at him suddenly. “What?!”

“Um yeah, in my left eye. I normally try and keep it a secret or whatever, but…just felt like you should know…or something.” He bit his lip anxiously. Fenner leaned forward, stroking his cheek. “Woah…that was…unexpected. Are you, like ok?” He had no idea what caused the blindness, and was panicking.

Albion laughed nervously. “Yeah I’m fine, I had to have surgery on it, and the doctor thinks I’ll be able to like see outlines and stuff if I give it some more time.” Fenner nodded, before placing a light kiss on his boyfriend’s lips. He pulled back, blushing. Albion grinned, nuzzling Fenner’s hand on his cheek.

“Can I ask when you…went blind?” Fenner was being cautious; this was clearly a sensitive topic, and he wasn’t sure how sensitive. “Hmm, it happened almost a year ago now. I was clumsy and got some glass in it is all,” he said lying. He didn’t want to lie to Fenner, but he wasn’t ready to tell him what really happened.

“Oh, I see. Your right eye is fine then?” Albion nodded, stopping a couple of houses away from Fenner’s house. “Yep, I’m all good. Pretty sure I’d feel better though if we…” he started, blushing as he cautiously held Fenner by the waist. The other boy’s cheeks turned a light pink, as he wrapped his arms around Albion’s neck. “I agree.”

Albion leaned in, hugging Fenner to him as they kissed; slow and sweet. Albion grinned against his boyfriend’s lips, before tugging on his bottom lip with his teeth. Fenner made a surprised sound, clinging slightly tighter to Albion’s neck.

“Fenner?” A voice behind the couple spoke up. Fenner immediately untangled himself from Albion, blushing even harder. “Oh, sorry to interrupt darling! Hi Albie!” His mother hurriedly walked past them. Fenner rested his forehead against Albion’s chest, extremely embarrassed.

“Fuck me why the fuck did it have to be my mum.” Albion laughed brightly, his ears still very pink. He squeezed Fenner to him, before letting go. “You should probably go home now,” Fenner nodded, giving him one last peck on the lips before waving the other boy goodbye.

As Fenner rounded the corner, Albion sighed. He had told him about his eye. It had all gone ok. He smiled at his new background, a cheesy picture of the two of them, Albion had his arm around Fenner, kissing him on the cheek.