<span style="font-size: 15px"><span style="font-family:Open Sans">Eivind was ill-prepared for the reaction he received to his gentle coaxing. Things he'd done before. Hell, there was the time after their first where Eivind slipped back inside of Blue before he was even fully awake. Eivind didn't understand, not initially, why this time it was different. Blue screamed, a noise of true terror, and he struggled out of the bed to land hard on the floor. He wasn't down long.. coming up preparing to defend himself. He'd grabbed the lamp. Eivind could smell the fear rolling off of him in waves, a thick, heady smell that made him want to vomit. What had he done? <br/>
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Eivind remained on the bed, staring, with Blue staring back at him like he still didn't recognize him, and then it all sank in. <br/>
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“Blue,” he called to his terrified lover, and watched the wheels turn in his mate's head. He put the lamp down, and Eivind knew what he thought now. Immediately he was feeling remorseful. Tears were flowing as Blue screamed Eivind's error. <br/>
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“I wasn't thinking. I'm so sorry, Blue,” Eivind admitted, taking responsibility for his actions. Why the hell hadn't he considered that this might freak Blue out? Their senses, for one, were different. Eivind knew that he would recognize Blue if he were wearing a mask and his body was completely obstructed, but then again, he could <i>smell</i> Blue. Human senses were more dull, he reminded himself. Eivind had cut off one of his stronger senses, his sense of sight, and roused him when he was asleep. He should have told Blue, and waited until he was awake. He'd been thoughtless. <br/>
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“I wanted to look right for your family. I wasn't.. thinking how you might feel about it.” Blue had been coping well, as far as he could tell. He'd never reacted with such unease to Eivind before. Not since the very beginning. <br/>
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“I forgot that you couldn't smell me like I can you. I.. don't know entirely what your senses are like. I forgot how heavily you rely on your sight. An insensitive mistake. I <i>should</i> have known. <i>I'm so fucking sorry, Blue</i>.” Guilt was written all over his face, and he was warring with the idea of snatching Blue back to him, to <i>show</i> him, but the defensive line of Blue's body hadn't faded completely. He was still uneasy, still upset, and still a little fearful. <i>Angry</i>. Whatever he'd dredged up hadn't faded completely even when Blue did recognize him. He remembered what had happened when he'd touched Blue when he didn't want to be touched. He didn't want to make him angrier than he already was. He wanted to make him feel better. He didn't want to make him scream at him more.  “I should have asked you to shave me. Then you would have <i>seen</i> that it was still me.” <br/>
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Eivind skulked off the bed, his movements smaller than they usually were as he approached Blue. He used the appeasement behavior he'd only ever seen to come closer to his weary mate, wanting to beg forgiveness and wanting to show Blue that he was still the same man. As he crawled, he was looking at the floor, not maintaining eye contact, the back of his neck exposed. <br/>
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“It's still me Blue,” Eivind told him, prostrating himself in front of Blue. It was the only thing he could think to do; to show that he was no threat in response to his mate's unexpected fear. “<i>Please</i> Blue, let me remind you that it's still me.”</span></span>