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Satsuki was…odd, to say the least. Or he was to Shio anyway. And not odd in a nuisance kind of way, or in a way that made Shio’s life difficult. Odd was just the only word his ten year old brain knew to describe him.
Father had introduced him into the family nearly three months ago and in those three months Satsuki had not said one word. Not to him. Not to outgoing Hibaru. Not even to father. No one could engage him in conversation. Anytime someone tried it would only result in narrowed eyed silence.
And that was another odd thing about Satsuki, he was always glaring. Ever since father brought him home he had his eyes narrowed. Shio didn’t understand why Satsuki would have any reason to hate them. Father never deigned to tell Shio where Satsuki came from. Only that he was an orphan, like Shio himself, and would be living with them from now on. Whatever the reason, it was still unsettling to have a stranger seemingly glaring at you all the time.
Oftentimes, Shio would turn around to find Satsuki peering around the corner at him. Violet eyes narrowed, peeking out from fluffy lilac bangs. The weirdest part was that even when Shio had obviously caught him spying, he would keep staring. It wasn’t until Shio cleared his throat or acknowledged that he saw him that Satsuki would scurry away. Of course not before bumping into the doorframe and then nearly face planting as he dashed down the hallway. He was clumsy too, always dropping things or tripping on seemingly nothing.
All in all, Shio just thought that Satsuki was an odd kid that was probably mute and had some boundary issues.
But all those assumptions flew out the window one Saturday morning.
It was in the late morning, probably around 11. Shio was sat at the barstool up against the marble island, hands and forearms resting on the counter while his father was giving him strange metaphors about bullet primer and courage.
Kongo rambled often about this or that and it mostly sounded like nothing, but Shio knew that the man was no idiot. Kongo did not get to where he was now by being a moron. So even if the man appeared to be spiraling into madness, Shio hung onto every word because it was probably important. Who knew when something he said in passing would be important later in life.
Halfway through the speech about having a chivalrous heart, there was a loud thunk. Shio and Kongo both turned to locate the origin of the noise only to find Satsuki sprawled on the ground, hand over the left side of his head. It appeared that he had run into the doorframe again. Shio didn’t know how he kept doing that. It was getting impressive at this point.
“Shoot! You okay?” Kongo, the caring man that he was, immediately rushed over to help the lilac haired boy to his feet. The small boy nodded his head.
“What the hell happened?” Kongo asked still checking Satsuki’s face for any bumps or bruises.
“He ran into the doorframe.” Shio answered knowing Satsuki wouldn’t. “He does it all the time.” Satsuki’s face flushed bright pink at the embarrassing reveal.
“Really?” Kongo asked incredulously. “Do ya not see it or somethin’? I mean it’s right there.” The bigger man pointed his finger in the direction of the door.
Satsuki’s head slowly followed the movement of the hand, however, his eyes couldn’t seem to grasp where said hand was pointing to. He moved his head right to left telling them that he couldn’t.
Kongo made an unidentifiable noise in his throat. “I’ve noticed that a lot to be honest.” The man continued his thoughts. "That you run into things and trip over yourself. You really need to be more aware of your surroundings Satsuki. I don’t understand how you keep running into things. You’ve lived with us for three months, you should know where things are by now.”
The smaller boy nodded politely, his face so pink it would put a cherry blossom to shame.
Shio didn’t really get it either. Tripping over himself was understandable. Maybe the lilac haired boy was just clumsy, bad on his feet one might say. But Shio would think by now that Satsuki would know the layout of the house enough not to keep running into the same stuff all the time. It made no sense.
Not to mention he had a lot of audacity to be glaring at everyone when he kept making the same embarrassing mistakes over and over again. Maybe if his eyes weren’t narrowed all the time he might be able to see. He looked like Shio’s crotchety old teacher when she loses her glasses. She would run into things too, squinting as she tried to locate her surroundings. Even the things that were right in front of her and she knew were there would be bumped into. But that was because she couldn’t…she couldn’t see.
….Wait….Oh how could he be so stupid to not have figured it out before? It was all making sense now.
“Dad,” Shio started as the pieces clicked together in his head, “he’s not aware of his surrounding because he can’t see.”
“Huh?” Kongo’s booming voice exclaimed in surprise. “Whaddya mean?” Shio rolled his eyes. His father could be so obtuse at times.
“I’m saying he needs glasses.” Shio clarified. That was why he ran into things. That was why he tripped over himself. Everything was probably very blurry and therefore limited his depth perception.
“Really?” Kongo looked down at Satsuki’s meek frame. He then proceeded to do what Shio would call the most Kongo-logical move.
The larger man held up five fingers and put them as close to Satsuki’s face as possible causing the smaller boy to lean back slightly.
“Can ya see how many fingers l’m holdin’ up?” Kongo asked and if Shio rolled his eyes any harder he’d get a headache.
Satsuki quietly observed the hand in his face, eyes widening and narrowing slightly before he gently peered up at the older man.
Though he may have an imagined it, Shio swore he saw a look of guilt and nervousness cross his face. Like he was scared what would happen if he didn’t know the answer. Shio couldn’t picture why that would be so he chalked it up as something he misunderstood.
Finally, Satsuki shook his head.
“Okay, well what about here?” Kongo shifted his hand farther away. “Can ya see now?”
Satsuki shook his head again.
“Damn,” Kongo moved his hand to the back of his head and scratched his scalp, “you really can’t see.”
“I told you.” Shio couldn’t help let slip.
“Why didn’t ya say anything earlier?” Kongo inquired, only to be met with a subtle shrug and avoidance of eye contact.
Kongo huffed a sigh of exhaustion which only served to place a look of shame of Satsuki’s face. The younger boy chewed his bottom lip, his brows furrowed, and he began scratching his left arm anxiously.
The silence from Kongo was short-lived however, as his demeanor instantly changed from tiredly confused to motivated. “Well, what’re we standin’ here for? Let’s get ya some glasses!”
With the gusto and bravado only Kongo had, he swept Satsuki off his feet and threw the child atop his shoulders, the purple haired boy making only a small squeak as he went.
“So ya don’t trip on the way there.” Kongo beamed, making sure Satsuki was secure, before heading towards the door.
Shio slid off the bar stool and followed them. Someone needed to be there to communicate properly to the staff of the eyeglass place. God knows Kongo and Satsuki couldn’t.
Shio sat in the lounge chair in the optometrist’s office watching Satsuki get his eyes checked and confirming for the third time that he, in fact, could not see shit.
Once that was over they went onto trying on different pairs of glasses. Pair after pair was tried on but none of them seemed to fit Satsuki’s face. Especially not the ridiculous looking ones father had picked out.
“Hmmm…” Kongo muttered, scratching his beard. “Maybe we can getcha another pair somewhere else?”
Satsuki didn’t respond. He looked a bit worn out, as anyone would be after dealing with Kongo for two hours. Shio could tell that the lilac haired boy was not used to dealing with so much stimulation for such a long period.
As Kongo talked animatedly to the optometrist with Satsuki hiding behind him, Shio glanced around at the many options of eyeglasses. There really was nothing that stood out to him and nothing that screamed Satsuki, though Shio didn’t know exactly what that was yet. The glasses on display were all just kind of boring and—wait!
“These!” Shio’s exclamation slipped out faster and more loud than he intended and he felt a blush creep across his cheeks as all eyes turned to him.
Trying to act unbothered by the stares, Shio jumped from his chair, rushing over towards the item of interest. He snatched the pair of glasses off the rack before making his way towards the trio.
“Here,” Shio held his hand out for Satsuki to take the glasses, “try these.”
Satsuki took them cautiously and examined them in squinted eyed interest. The lenses were round with a gold brow line frame. He didn’t know what it was about that pair but something about them drew Shio in.
“Those?” Kongo questioned apprehensively. “Ya want him try those on?” Shio was nearly flabbergasted that his father would have the gall to sound like that after all the gaudy pairs he picked out. Hypocrisy at its finest. The optometrist looked at the lilac haired boy expectantly.
After a moment Satsuki nodded, apparently feeling the same magnetic pull to them as Shio, handing them to the optometrist to put the corrected frames in. The man did so and then handed them back to Satsuki to try on. The boy put them on his face, adjusting the ear pieces, and shuffled over to the mirror.
Only seconds after looking, Satsuki let out a small gasp of excitement grabbing the attention of the three people with him. The lilac haired boy turned around to reveal a small but joyful smile, showcasing the tiniest inkling of dimples on his cheeks.
The glasses framed his face perfectly and the bright gold frames stood out against his pale hair color. Alone the two didn’t look like they would have gone together but looking at them combined, it was like they were made for one another.
“Huh? Those do look pretty good! Good job Shio!” Kongo conceded. Shio restrained himself from giving another eyeroll and a snarky “I told you so.”
Before Kongo could even ask the expected question, Satsuki was already nodding his head rapidly.
The older man clapped his hands together. “Alright! We’re back in business!” He pivoted towards the optometrist. “How much? Ah! It doesn’t matter! If my boy wants ‘em, then whatever the price, he’ll get ‘em!”
As the two adults began discussing price, Shio found himself wandering over to another rack of glasses. Sunglasses this time. Maybe father would let him get some sunglasses along with the purchase of Satsuki’s eyeglasses. He picked up a pair of fancy and expensive looking ones, already envisioning himself wearing them.
Shio was taken out of his sunglass fantasy when he felt a light tug on his shirt.
“Shio?” A soft voice, as timid as a mouse came from behind him. The named boy froze before he rapidly spun around to find Satsuki standing behind him. So he could speak.
“Uh…yeah,” Shio was a bit stunned as he just thought Satsuki was mute or something, “what’s up?” He tried to be casual about this revelation in case any egregious reaction might have the lilac haired boy clamping up again.
“Thank you.” Satsuki whispered.
“For?” Shio figured what it was for but he never liked to assume. The last time he made an assumption about Satsuki he felt like an idiot.
“For helping me get glasses.” Satsuki replied.
“Oh, yeah, sure, no problem.” Shio said nonchalantly before he tagged on, “But you really need to learn how to speak up for yourself. Especially with dad.” He leaned down some to meet Satsuki at eye level before murmuring, “Sometimes he can be a bit clueless so you gotta be direct with him, okay? I’m telling you now so you don’t have to learn the hard way like I did.”
Satsuki giggled and it made Shio smile and chuckle along with him.
“What’re you two boys laughin’ about over here?” Both boys straightened up as they heard Kongo approach.
“Nothing much.” Shio shrugged.
“Yeah, nothing much.” Satsuki mimicked in a softer tone.
“So, he does speak!” Kongo exclaimed ecstatically. Satsuki blushed furiously at the man’s loud proclamation.
“Yeah, and you’re gonna scare him back into not speaking if you don’t stop shouting.” Shio chastised harshly.
Kongo released a booming laugh. “Alright, alright!” He grabbed both boys by the shoulders. “Are you two ready to go home? Satsuki’s glasses are all paid for.” Well there went Shio’s added sunglasses.
“Sure.” Shio replied with Satsuki nodding his lilac head in agreement.
“Good! And we can get somethin’ from the market on the way back, how’s that sound?” He glanced between the two children, giving them his signature grin, “I think that’ll give you two plenty of time to start gettin’ to know each other.”
“Yeah,” Shio shifted his eyes to Satsuki who met his gold irises with his violet ones, “I think we’re gonna be talking a lot more now that we can really see each other.” He smiled and Satsuki met it with a small grin of his own.
“I think I’d like that.”