~Chilled's POV~

"Chilled? Is it really fine for you to be here?" Gassy suddenly asks but I just shrug, staring off into the dark space, only harsh lights visible only slightly. Because of this I'm staring directly at the light bulb in the sky as bad as it might be for my eyes it's somethign different from the god damn darkness I've been seeing constantly.

"I dunno, As long as I don't try to move anywhere I should be fine, right?" I ask, smiling in the direction I think Gassy is in but I feel his hand pull my shoulder to spinning me around in the stool and facing a new direction. I laugh nervously in the new direction I think Gassy is in but I can just clearly hear him sigh, worried with my carefree attitude despite being nearly entirely blind.

"Just don't blame us when you lose a leg out here," Diction complains from off in the distance making me roll my eyes.

"I'd be pretty fucking talented to lose a leg in a plushy shop," I call out while imagining several scenarios. Ze allowed me to be here today as long as I continue to sit on the same stool and don't move no matter what. I've obliged thus far, so I really think I can be safe in such a place especially with Gassy and Diction watching after me. The door behind me opens just as I begin spinning in many circles on my stool, bored in the darkness but I'm suddenly halted and pulled into a tight perfume smelling hug.

"Oh my dear boy! How sad you look!" Mrs. Pennington practically yells in my sensitive ears, making me jump but I still return the hug, having not seen - or I guess heard Mrs. Pennington since I've gotten here, although I'm sure Ze told her about the whole situation.

"You're strangling the poor boy darling," Mr. Pennington says from farther away and the tight hug suddenly leaves me alone and staring off into the space I think they're standing at.

"I haven't seen you since you came back boy, you should have come out from your hidy hole sooner," Mr. Pennington calls out, slapping his hand on my back roughly before pulling me into a tight hug, even tighter than Mrs. Pennington's. This one just has the capability to strangle me but he lets me go a lot sooner than expected leaving me gasping for air.

"Anywyas, I heard there were new people over, is this true?" Mrs. Pennington calls out and I nod, continuing to spin in circles now that Mrs. Pennington can't yell at me for being inappropiate since yelling at a blind man is just rude.

"Yep, Ze's showing them to their new house - my old house," I explain as I slowly spin to a stop and glance in the direction I think they're in. "I think Ze's going to bring them to the shop when they're done over there," I explain further as Mr. Pennington holds onto my shoulder and spins me to a new direction so that I'm likely facing the correct way this time. Somehow it seems as if the doll shop is the place to go to whenever you're new to town, not that I mind since it only gets us more business by introducing the new guys here first. You always gain a connection to the first place you've been to after all. And I heard the family has a little girl, perfect for this type of shop. I feel my evil marketing side come up when I think about the methods I'd use with her mother to try and get her to buy the entire shop.

"Is Adam not planning on returning?" Mrs. Pennington suddenly asks and I immediately freeze. Today I've been doing an excelletn job avoiding thoughts of him but if Mrs. Pennington mentions him so suddenly my mind goes around the many memories I've made with Adam in a painful flash. I've avoided any sort of referece to Adam, any sentence using the work Adam, I even stay away from bananas nowadays. I just don't want to think about him anymore now that I'm pretty sure he's not returning anytime soon. He must have heard from someone by now that I'm blind and he still doesn't care anyways. Even if he hasn't and he suddenly does and comes over out of pity I would hate that he's only be coming out of pity on his previous lover. Oh, well, is lover the right word? Did we ever really go to that stage? I'm not even sure, neither of us really said we loved the other person. I mean, love is a very serious word. Right now, if I were to describe what I felt for Nanners in the past, it would definitely be love though.

"I don't think so, not this year at least. Maybe for Christmas," Gassy answers so casually it makes me feel guilty for immediately thinking all about Nanners, mostly the bad things that have happened. Mrs. Pennington sighs in disappointment just as the shop doors open once again and close after seveal steps in the room have been heard.

"Hey guys, let me introduce you to our new townspeople," Ze suddenly calls out and I turn to his voice, assuming the new guys are there with him. "The mother is Madeline, this little girl is Madison and this boy is Maxwell," Ze explains and I hear the people in the room all hurry to the little group as I just watch the nothingness. All Ma- starting names, huh? That's cute. I wonder what the father's name was, although from what I've heard the father isn't exeactly the best character out there. Suddenly I feel a hand grasp onto my leg, shocking me at the sudden touch but I glance down.

"Is there something wrong sir?" the young boy asks and I just stare into the blank darkness and smile gently.

"I'm fine, just blind," I explain and immediately the boy seems to panic.

"Wh-what? Oh re-really? Y-You're b-blind? I didn't know, I - uh - I've never known a blind person," the boy stutters and I just chuckle bitterly, although I'm the one who openly announces I was blind I still feel irritated with the reaction, as if I'm some sort of alien he's never seen before.

"Are you Anthony?" the unfamiliar woman asks and I nod, glancing around until the woman turns my seat to face them in the right direction. "Thank you so much for lending us your house."

"It's no problem, I wasn't using it anyways. Can't be alone with this whole thing," I explain, pointing to my eyes and the woman gasps.

"You're blind? Adam didn't tell us you were blind," the woman comments but I just shrug. "I assumed you were living with a new man," the woman comments and I shrug again, an action I've found myself doing awesome without the ability to see.

"I am technically. Anyways, how was Adam? Still into the whole stealing thing?" I ask mainly out of curiosity. I know he's in his old town again, the one he was a well known thief in so I just assumed he returned to his old career path.

"No, he's quit, actually," the woman announces and it's as if the entire room turns silent, Gassy and Diction may be the most shocked about this while I'm just feeling relieved he isn't returning to his crimed just because of me.

"Everyone leave the new people alone, we need to show them around town," Mrs. Pennington announces and guides them outside of the shop, after, of course, the mother is coerced into buying a small doll for her daughter. I spin around in my stool the moment they leave and I feel someone hit my head with their knuckles.

"Quit it, just because you can't see doesn't mean your immune to dizziness and falling and bleeding," Gassy mutters and I just roll my eyes and glance down to my feet, where I assume they are. Knowing about Nanners feels strange, as if I just crossed a line I wasn't supposed to cross. I just completely trambled over a road block leading somewhere I was never supposed to go to, well at least not now until they're done with the construction. Still, there is a light feeling in my stomach somewhere excited over hearing about him for the first time in days, something about how he is where he is far away from me.

"So he finally quit at the place we least expected him to quit," Gassy comments while the rest of us think about it. It's true, we never expected him to suddenly become good at the place that made him bad to begin with. I sigh and reach around until I find the counter behind me and lean on the counter. It seems as if he doesn't need me after all if he doesn't seem to be doing better without me over there, quitting such a dangerous thing. Although I should be glad I feel disappointed he quit on his own ambition rather than my word. I want to be an influence to him, even far away from him I want him to think about me as often as I think about him unintentionally. I really have nothing else to do after all, I'm just trapped in this darkness in the end without much ability to do anything different.

"Do you think he'll come back?" I ask suddenly, gathering the attention of everyone here. Just earlier Gassy sounded like he was so certain when he denied Mrs. Pennington, so easily saying that he won't return, that he'll just stay wherever he is. I want to see him - no - rather I want to hear him, to feel him, to smell his familiar scent again, I even want to - uh - taste him. It's just been too long without being able to be near him and now with him being mentioned like this my ache for him is just increasing more and more with each passing moment.

"Chilled, what will you do if he never comes back?" Gassy asks, making me hesitate. If I were to speak with Nanners and he told me he will never come back, what exactly would I do...?

"I'll come to him."

~Nanners' POV~

"You cheating bastard!" The man roars, slamming both of his huge fists on the table as I just laugh and back off from the table afraid if I continue leaning on it the table will collapse from underneath me.

"I didn't cheat, you just need to get good," I comment only fueling the anger of the lagre man who pounds his fists even harsher onto the table causing the thing to completely collapse onto the floor in broken wooden bits and pieces. I laugh as I stare at the broken table and several chess pieces scattered around the floor now. "And now we can't rematch," I note and now the man turns his fists towards me now that the table has perished. I quickly get up from my seat and slide the chair in front of me so his fists destroy yet another piece of furniture. The men who were on standby all charge forward and grab at the man to hold him back from unleashing his unnecessary wrath on me. I simply wave and shout out a friendly goodbye as I exit the tavern and stretch once I'm outside in the heat again. Lately it's been nothing but game after game, what to do after what to do. It's just so boring without anybody to mess around with or any families to save. I silenctly laugh when I recall the family I had sent over to the town around a week ago, it's been a while, hasn't it? I wonder if they're al fine now at their new home.

I once lived in that home so I'm assuming they're fine, since it is decently sized, the office can be a bedroom and there are only three of them so I'm sure they all fit comfortably in there. I wonder if they cleaned the place up, maybe all of the computers in the office have been moved out so the kids could be playing freely in there with toys. Ze owns the plushy shop after all, the kids should have plenty of toys to play around with and I gave the mother a lot of money and there should be plent of jobs, and even if there aren't I doubt Ze and Gassy would leave them alone. I hope Maxwell and Maddie are going regularly to and from school, and I hope that they aren't being bullied for coming from a poor town and family. I wonder how the schools are there, how they work with all of the kids. I should ask Gassy later if the schools are decent, or not Gassy so Ze will prbably be a better person to ask. Or Chilled.

Damn it.

I had been avoiding thinking about Chilled. I had been doing such a good job thinking about everything around him without thinking about him directly and yet I continually find myself thinking about him. I sigh as now that the first thought of Chilled comes up a train of thoughts come tumbling afterwards along with the memories of his adorable smiles and his familiar scent. Despite avoiding thinking about him, I truly, really, really, miss him. I quickly take ou tmy phone and call Madeline, tired of thinking of Chilled but I should check up on the family.

"Adam? It's been a long time," Madeline answers sounding a lot helathier than she was when she left here. I sigh in relief with just her voice and smile at the familiarity, remembering her.

"It has been. How are the kids? The house?"

"They're just wonderful and this house is the perfect size. You never told me your ex-lover was blind though, it awfully scared Maxwell," Madeline giggles and I smile, thinking about Maxwell's scared expression at a simple blind person.

"Yeah he's-" I pause immediately, barely noticing just what's wrong with her sentence. "Wait, mmy ex-lover? You mean Chilled? Anthony?" I ask, my chest slowly beginning to freeze up and guilt beginning to flow into my heart.

"Yes, the lovely young man. It's so sad, though he says he's been improving. He's trying hard." I hang up on her. As much as I'd like to hear about the kids and all I have to make sure about something.

"Nanners? What's up?" Gassy asks as he answers. "I'm working so I can't talk for long-"

"Is Chilled blind?" Gassy stays silent for a long time and I begin to hope he's just confused why I'd ask such a weird thing.

"No, he isn't. Why would you think such a thing? Later Nanners. Please stop asking us such weird things. You aren't even involved with us anymore," Gassy says simply before hanging up on me. I stare at the phone in disbelief, did he just so clearly reject me? I shake my head, feeling relieved Madeline was going a bit insane. It's only when I hear a familiar annoying voice around that I glance over at the man who had yelled at Maxwell for stealing. What's that bastard getting into now?