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Thorne wasn't unused to life without glasses. His vision wasn't a wreck like his brothers and he operated fine when he wasn't committed to the half-hearted hipster look. But there was something nauseating about having woken up to his cat launching things from the dresser, and even more nauseating about the sickening crack that had come from beneath his foot the moment he'd moved to stop Millicent before she could get to the plants.

Rather more distressing was the fact that now he had to find an optician to fix the lenses. A quick google search had led him in the right direction, but by the time Thorne appeared at the shop, his anxiety had almost gnawed a hole straight through his chest.

Which meant he didn't watch where he was going until he'd nearly bowled another man over. Thorne stumbled to the side with a swear, his voice crackling from disuse. "Uuchlaarai," he said, and then realizing the mistake o the wrong language, "Damn - I mean. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to run into you like some sort of wrecking ball."

Of course the one place he would run into someone like a blind man would be at an optics shop.

Thorne's automatic response to any physical contact was thoughtless and restless. His fingers found Nasir's arm and gripped, ready to either save both of them from a fall or hurl any threat out of the way. It was old instinct, and Thorne had to steel away the sudden adrenaline rush that came from the closeness of contact with someone else.

"You say that as though it were your fault," Thorne said, his voice dipping and raw with amusement that hid the tremor of restlessness and anxiety now prowling in his veins, an aftertaste of the adrenaline. "I'm the one that ran into you. Here - " Sliding around the other man, Thorne bent, picking the fallen glasses up and offering them to Nasir. "I promise I'm not this clumsy on a regular basis. Only recently, it seems."

His laughter came like a low rumble of thunder, deep in his throat. The comment was regarded with a raised brow and Thorne tugging his lower lip between his teeth in anxious amusement before blowing a raspberry and retorting, "Is that a compliment? Are you sure you're not completely blind?"

Thorne watched Nasir, his head cocking to the side slowly, idly. The anxiety in his gut still churned, reminding him unpleasantly that he wasn't really good at human contact anymore.

His lips quirked into a wry smile. "If only it were, but I'm stealing the blame." He pressed one of his hands to his neck once he was sure that Nasir wouldn't fall over and let out a hum deep in the base of his throat. "What a myriad of problems you have," he said, his voice low with tease.

Thorne tilted his head at the unsure look, wondering about the other just as much as he probably wondered about him. This was a moment in time where he should just walk away - after all, what was one small collision course accident in the grand scheme of things?

Still though.

"I'm sure there's some merit to the concept of a hot mess," Thorne said blatantly, his teeth flashing in the mockery of a smile. "But I don't think I constitute that."

Thorne let out a low rumble of laughter at the expression and cocked his head, running a hand through the mess of his hair. Yes, he knew he was being something of a little s**t. But Nasir's reaction was - it was great.

His smile curved across his face at the mention of hot messes and he shrugged, fingers catching the belt loops of his worn black jeans. "How unfortunate," he teased, enjoying the banter, the falsified sense of something normal happening for once in his life. At the mention of why he was here, Thorne remembered his reason in the first place.

He pulled the broken lenses from his bag and sighed, rubbing a singular paint stain from one of the rims. "Definitely worse. I honestly think my cat lives to make me poor."

Thorne laughed at the look, grinning at the other with a hint of sheepishness. He rubbed his hands against the back of his neck, glancing down at his own cracked lenses.

"So I've heard. I'm new in town though. All of this - it's a first." He glanced at Nasir. "Literally everything. Sometimes I just think it's not my cat but everything in Ashdown out to get me."

His mouth quirked with devious amusement.

"Even the men."

Thorne was laughing now, his grin only a shade shy of devious amusement. He tilted his head at Nasir, eyes wicked and wil.

"Really, now?" He flicked his glasses up, letting them swivel against his finger out of habit. "I'll have to watch my step then. I'd rather keep my life as boring as possible. I have enough trouble staying sane with a cat - I don't need a town trying to kill me too."