Light in the Dark
Summary: Phil is the RA (Resident Advisor) for his local college where he manages the residents in his dorm building. But his junior year in college is about to take a turn when one of his residents, who’s named Dan, is blind. Soon, Phil develops a friendship with Dan as he soon discovers that they were meant for much more than just a platonic relationship. He just hopes that his Alpha abilities won’t scare away the timid Omega.
This is a chaptered work. This is chapter 1.
Word Count: 2,706
Warnings: medical disabilities (blindness). Nothing else should be but if you spot one, let me know!
Pairing: omega!blind!dan and older!alpha!phil
This story updates every Wednesday and Saturday.
Authors Note: I don’t know how I came up with this fic? And why it began so easily compared to anything else I have written? But I’m enjoying writing it so far. I was taking with some friends and I asked them if the trope of blind!dan was over done and they actually told me that they thought it wasn’t done enough so I was like “well, hell yeah, sign me up then!” I really don’t want to offend anyone and as someone who can see–mostly–normal, I don’t want to have anyone be upset with me. I’m doing as much research as I can and I’m hoping to do Dan justice as such an OC character with a disability that I’ve never experienced and don’t know anyone to have experienced around me. With that disclaimer out of the way, I really do hope you guys enjoy this!
Picking up the last box, Phil walked inside the now not so vacant dorm room and set it down beside all the others. There was an ache in his back now, one that would stay for the next twenty four hours at the use of exercise that he tries so hard to ignore.
He looked around, processing the fact that he was back in the same dorm for a second year in a row. But he guesses that that is what he gets for being an RA (Resident Advisor) for his dorm building again.
He didn’t think he had brought that much stuff with him, but looking at the boxes, he now knows that he brought way more than he actually needs. And on top of that, the freshmen arrive on his floor tomorrow at 11 so he needs to unpack everything before then.
This is his first year being an RA to freshman: last year it was sophomores. And to say he was intimidated was an understatement. He knew that he had no reason to be, he was an alpha and was meant to be strong. But he was still intimidated by the flood of students that had no idea how a college worked.
And he always had one who had no idea how their body worked either and he’d have to deal with the consequences of an in-heat Omega and Alpha’s that don’t know how to take their pills to control the scent of their ruts.
But he’d deal with that later if need be.
Phil sat down, plopping his body onto the cold tiled floor as he opened the first box and noted that it was all shirts. Pushing that aside, he went to the next one and so on.
Pawing through each box, he began to put things away in his dresser and decorate the rest of his dorm with miscellaneous other items that he brought from home. He was only an hour from his actual house but he still felt homesick. He was now even more homesick as an RA because he never quite got the opportunity to go home as often as he would like.
But he enjoyed his job.
He was just finishing hanging up his tapestry when he heard footsteps coming down the hallway. Peeking his head out of his door, he spotted a young male with brown curled hair walking slowly down the white stretch of walls. There was a tall blonde next to his side and they were both heading to a dorm room just down from Phil’s.
He was confused because freshman don’t move in today.
Walking out of his room, he slowly followed them as they turned into a room, the brown haired male hanging on to the hand of the blonde and they shut the door behind them. Phil continued down the hallway until he got to the room they disappeared into and read the name on the door.
Dan
Okay, this guy was Dan. Good to know.
Knocking on the door, he waited as he heard footsteps come. The door finally swung open as the female stood and looked at him from the doorway.
“Hi,” Phil began, “I’m the RA on this floor but I’m just curious as to why you’re moving in already?”
Phil looked around saw all of the totes and other boxes crammed into the small seven by nine room.
The girl perked up and smiled. “Oh! Dan had special permission to move in early and get used to the halls. The college told him he was allowed to given his circumstances.”
Circumstances? Phil wasn’t told that one of his residents had special circumstances.
Phil peered behind her again and saw Dan standing next to his bed. His eyes were staring straight ahead and he was folding a shirt in his hands, his fingers feeling every last stitch to get it right.
“Oh, that’s fine!” Phil finally spoke. “I was just curious because the college never told me they had someone moving onto my floor early.”
The blonde waved her hand away. “It’s fine. My brother just needs some time to adjust but he’ll be okay after a few days. He’s learned to adapt really fast to new surroundings and he’s really excited to start college! He never thought he’d have the opportunity.”
Phil nodded and forced out a smile. “Happy to hear that.”
Phil quickly said his goodbye just as a voice from the inside called shakily, “Beth? Who was that?”
Phil was gone down the hallway before he heard Beth reply.
While he focused on unpacking and finishing up his room, he couldn’t help but feel a little uneasy about this. He was confused as to why the college was letting someone move in and not telling Phil ahead of time.
He went into his phone and checked his email, making sure he didn’t miss anything. Which he didn’t, like he suspected. But that still didn’t help his confusion.
Maybe he’d go and talk to Dan tonight and get to know him. There is no hurt in that.
Phil sat down on his bed and pulled out his laptop, throwing together a quick email to his residents, welcoming them to move in day. He then finalized his list of things to go over at their first floor meeting the next night and decided to shut his eyes for a quick nap.
Phil never went to see Dan that night. He instead found himself too busy wrapped in in finalizing the candy goody bags for all of his new residents. By the time he was finished, it was already heading for eight in the evening so he assumed it was probably too late to bother Dan. So he ordered himself a pizza to be delivered and devoured that instead.
The next morning, Phil woke up to his alarm clock blaring at seven. He groaned and quickly shut it off before he catapulted out of bed and headed to the shared bathroom in the middle of the hall with his shower equipment. He had to admit that sharing a bathroom with fifteen other males was definitely not appealing. So he was happy to have to the first shower of the year to himself.
Or so he thought.
Wrapped in his dark blue rope with his slides on, he opened the door to the bathroom and was greeted by Dan, stood at the sink, washing his hands. He stared at him for a moment, wondering if Dan was going to say anything to him. But when Dan didn’t speak, Phil just ignored him and headed to the first shower, yanking back the curtain.
But apparently doing that frightened Dan because suddenly, Dan was grabbing a thin black cane from the counter and rushing out of the bathroom with it looming in front of him.
Phil watched as Dan exited, his breathing so heavy that even Phil could slightly hear it.
And that is when it hit Phil all together…Dan was blind. The cane Dan was using was his guide. Which completely explained why Dan needed extra time to get used to the campus.
Phil’s mind was blown…in a way. Mostly this was due to the fact that he can say he’s never been around someone who was blind. So to have a resident who was blind might be a challenge. Phil didn’t know if Dan was comfortable around others in such a small setting as the lounge. He also didn’t know if Dan would be able to read—no scratch that thought because a blind man can’t read anything Phil!
He would have to rethink his entire plan as an RA. All of his special notes he slips underneath his residents door won’t work for Dan. All of his movie watching nights wouldn’t work for Dan…or so he thinks.
But Phil wasn’t worried about that right now. He was more focused on getting his residents moved into their rooms and getting them situated. So he hopped into the shower, undid his robe, and started the water.
Nothing can be really as difficult as it seems, right?
Well, he was totally wrong.
Within the first half an hour of freshman moving in, he already had on student threaten to ‘kick the shit’ out of his roommate because his roommate moved one of his totes. Phil immediately took their names and contact the area director to separate the two males—clearly both Alphas. Then he had another student begin to cry when his parent’s left and Phil instantly had to comfort him…the male also reeked of omega which made Phil’s head spin a little bit. But he let it slide. And then lastly, he had another student break the door off from their dresser by doing God knows what with it so he had to put in a maintenance call. So it’s been a semi-productive morning for Phil and he already wants a nap and it’s not even noon.
But in this complete and total chaos, he never saw Dan once. He saw that at one point, the door to Dan’s room was slightly open but it was soon shut. Phil figured that was probably for the best considering that Dan shouldn’t get into he middle of this.
Phil had to knock on Dan’s door that afternoon though. For all of the other residents, he had just slipped the simple notice under their doors saying that they had a mandatory meeting at seven tonight, but he couldn’t do that for Dan.
When Phil knocked on his door, he was pleasantly surprised with how fast Dan opened it. And when Dan appeared in the doorway, Phil couldn’t help but see the beauty in him nearly instantly. His brown eyes were wide open but glassy and cloudy in the light. His brown hair was tousled but also neatly done in curls.
Phil had to admit that he was proper attractive. But he couldn’t think like that right now. He just needed to tell Dan of the meeting and then go.
“Hey Dan. This is Phil…your RA.” Phil managed to spit out. “All of the residents have a mandatory meeting at seven tonight in the lounge.”
Dan stared blankly at him before nodding slowly. “Okay. I’ll be there.”
And then Dan shut the door and Phil was left standing there.
Well, that went semi-okay.
Phil just turned around and went back to his room for the next few hours before the meeting began. He just hoped he wouldn’t do something to upset Dan in anyway. He doesn’t know why he was suddenly feeling protective over someone he didn’t even know, but he felt deep down that he needed to help Dan.
He hoped he wasn’t wrong.
Phil was surprised to see everyone show up for the meeting, and at a decent time too. By 6:55, all of his residents were sitting somewhere in the lounge, whether that be on the floor or in a chair. The only person who wasn’t there was Dan.
But when Phil heard the careful walking down the hallway and spotted Dan moving with his cane in front of him, he wasn’t worried about Dan not finding his way or showing up. In fact, he was almost shocked at the fact that Dan was now stood in the lounge and knew where he was.
“Okay, everyone!” Phil began looking around the room. “My name is Phil and I’m the RA for you guys this year. I’m currently a third year English language and linguistics major with a minor in video production studies. We can all go around the room and introduce ourselves and our majors. And then at the end, you are all allowed to ask me any question you would like!”
Phil clapped his hands together happily, hoping all of the rest of the room was just as excited for him. He looked around and noticed though that no one was speaking. So he took the initiative to call on someone.
“Dan!” Phil called. Dan’s head shoot up as he processed who was speaking to him. “Can you begin?”
Dan nodded. “I’m Dan and I’m studying law.” It was short and sweet and he wasn’t too keen on speaking anymore. So Phil let it move onto the next person.
As each person in the lounge said their name and program, Phil found himself noticing a trend. Many of the students were here for some type of English program or film program. This made Phil happy because he could connect more with his residents.
At the end, he allowed for them to all ask his questions but none really said anything. Not until a muscled blonde by the name of Brendon rose his hand and asked. “What did you present as?”
Phil at first was reluctant to answer but he decided to anyway. “I’m an Alpha.”
At that he could see many of the guys around the room grow excited with their expressions. “Wow. Don’t look like an Alpha.” Brendon retorted with a sneer.
“You don’t have to look like an Alpha to present as an Alpha.” Phil said with a chuckle. “Which is a good thing for everyone to know. Stereotypes are stereotypes for a reason but that doesn’t mean you have to fall into them. I’m an Alpha and I’m sure there are some in this room right now. But I’m also sure that there are some Omegas in the room too that do not appear to be Omegas but are.”
Everyone just started at Phil as he looked smug at his residents. He always loved when he could turn a negative comeback into a positive pep-talk. He clapped his hands together and smiled at them all. “Okay. Let’s end the meeting on that note. Everyone should go back to their rooms and get some rest for the night. Classes begin tomorrow and everyone needs to be prepared. If you are ever wondering where I am, I will leave my location on my door.”
One by one, all of the residents left the room and soon it was just Phil sitting there. Phil began picking up the discarded candy wrappers that were left from his goody bags being opened when he noticed that Dan was still standing in the corner.
Phil stood up from his crouched position and looked at Dan. “Hey, Dan. You can go back to room now.”
Dan turned his head towards the direction of Phil’s voice. But he looked hesitant to speak.
Phil waited and watched to see if Dan would say anything. Eventually he did.
“Are you really an Alpha?”
Phil nodded—which didn’t make any difference because Dan couldn’t see anyway—and said, “Yes, I’m really an Alpha.”
“Are you strong?” Dan asked almost immediately after Phil was done speaking.
Phil laughed to himself. “No. In fact I’m far from it.”
Dan smiled, a small petite smile. “I’ve never met an Alpha outside of my family before.”
“Not in school?” Phil asked.
“I was home schooled.” Dan said softly. “My parent’s always told me Alpha’s were big and powerful.”
Phil laughed at that and shook his head. “Most are but I’m not.”
Dan smiled at him before pulling out his cane and beginning to walk away. As he began to walk, Phil decided to call after him. “Why are you so curious about Alphas?”
Dan stopped in his tracks. He spoke quickly. “I’m an Omega.” He then trailed down the hallway to his room and left Phil standing in the lounge by himself.
For some reason, Phil felt pleased with that information. He wasn’t sure why but he liked knowing Dan was an Omega. Maybe it was because at the mention of such a thing, Phil suddenly got a whiff of sweet pheromones in the air that made the hair on his arms stand up straight.
But he wasn’t going to look that much into it or think too much about those minor details. He was going to head back to his room for the night and get ready for his first day of classes the next morning.
He could tell this year was going to be different for him. In a good way? He couldn’t tell just yet.
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