Copyright © 1998,

Jim and Chris had been friends for several years. Jim, a tall blonde "beach boy" looked ready for the cover of GQ. He had the personality to match, too – outgoing, playful, and fun-loving. Chris was more bookish, but still managed to spend time enough in the gym to stay in good shape. A person not noticing his large biceps under his shirt could be forgiven for thinking he was more geek than stud.

Both were very comfortable with their attraction to each other, and luckily even managed to enjoy a bit of a leaning towards bondage games. Neither was a decided "top", nor a "bottom" - one evening might find Chris on the floor of the bedroom in a tight hog-tie, and the next evening Jim would be spread-eagle on their bed.

Recently, they had vacationed in Florida, enjoying the warm weather and hot bodies. A slightly tipsy Chris had admitted to Jim that the sight of a blind person being led down the boardwalk turned him on slightly. Jim had silently taken note of the fact.

Now it was June, and they had come to Miami for a couple of days of fun in the sun. As they stepped up to the car rental counter, Chris was feeling a bit surprised.

"Sir, I've got a convertible reserved for you for three days, returning on Monday. Is that all right?" asked the pleasant young woman behind the car rental counter.

"That'll be just fine," replied Jim

"Yes sir, and will there be any other drivers of the car besides yourself?"

"No," said Jim, smiling at Chris, "My friend has an eye problem. He won't be driving."

As they left the counter to claim their car, Chris caught up with Jim. "What were you talking about back there? My eyes are just fine."

"Remember last time we were here, and you said the idea of being blind turned you on?"

Blushing, Chris did his best to remain calm. "Well, I don't remember, exactly, I think I have an idea what you're talking about.."

"Good!", said Jim, "Then you wouldn't mind not being able to see anything this weekend?"

"Well, I guess.. What were you thinking of, I can't walk around blindfolded, right?"

"Closer than you think," said a slightly smirking Jim, as they stepped into the dark underground parking garage. Finding their car took only a minute, and the bags were quickly stowed in the back seat. Chris hopped in the passenger seat, and Jim slid behind the wheel. Jim reached into his shirt pocket and pulled out two small flesh-colored objects, which looked much like Band-Aids, except they were roughly egg-shaped. "All you're going to be seeing is the inside of these, this weekend", said Jim, with a smile.

"What are those?"

"Eye patches. I'm going to put them over both your eyes. With them on, you won't be able to see anything at all."

"You want me to wear those things all weekend long? In public?" asked Chris, his voice suddenly sounding a bit weak and gravelly - he was intrigued by the idea, but frightened by it a bit, too.

"Don't worry- I'll take care of you, and it's not as if we're going to be around friends this weekend. Don't you trust me?"

"Yeah, of course I do.. But I don't know about the idea of not being able to see for the entire weekend."

"Relax. I'll make sure you're okay."

"Can I take them off if it gets to be too much?"

"I think this needs to be all-or-nothing; if you don't want to put them on, I'll throw them away, and never mention it again. But if you do put them on, you are going to be blind for the next 72 hours, with no exception. You'll never see a bit of daylight here, never know where we're going, and the next thing you see will be the bedroom back at home, since you'll be wearing them on the flight going back, too."

Jim could see Chris' mind going at a hundred miles an hour. His brain was obviously telling him that this was a very bad idea, and he should be terrified by the very concept of being sightless for the next three days. His heart, though, was urging him to put the eye pads on. He wanted to be independent and be able to do things on his own, but he also wanted to find out what it really was like to be sightless. He took the pads from Jim and looked at them. The outside was covered with a soft, flesh-tone cloth, very smooth and flexible. Underneath the paper backing he could see a small, black cloth area. "That's the part that goes over your eye," said Jim.

He was uncertain. Yes, we really wanted this - but NO SIGHT for three days! Could he handle that?

"You promise you won't do anything to scare me?" he asked Jim, seeking reassurance.

"I won't promise anything, but I will take care of you if you put those on for me."

Chris sighed, and peeled the paper away from one of the eye patches. He closed his eyes, and waited as Jim took the adhesive patch from him, and placed it over his left eye. "If you want to take a last look around, now's the time to do it," said Jim. Chris opened his eyes - but his left eye would not open. He looked at himself in the mirror of the car, and saw that the eye pad matched his face well; unless someone got close to him, they'd never notice the difference.

"That's enough for now," said Jim, "I'm going to put the other eye pad on you now. Ready to be my 'blind friend' for the weekend?"

Chris took a quick look around, realizing that this was the last he would see for a long time! His last sight was of Jim, holding the eye patch out, ready to press it in place over his right eye. "I'm glad you decided to trust me," said Jim. Chris closed his eye, and felt as the soft pad was pressed over his closed eyelid. Jim took a moment to finish pressing the patches in place, smoothing them out, and making sure they were secure. "That's all there is to it, Chris."

He tried to open his eyes, but found that they were now useless to him. He brought his hands up to his face, and felt the soft cloth covering his eyes. It struck him as odd - the covering that blinded him was so thin that he could feel his eyes moving under it - but nonetheless, they rendered him sightless. He was surprised by several loud mechanical sounds, then a sound of an electric motor, and he realized that Jim was putting the top down on the convertible. He smiled to himself as he realized that he hadn't even noticed what color the car was - and now he would never know for sure!