Glasses

Masamune never thought much about his eyesight. He could, after all, read books and manga just fine, so the fact that he maybe couldn't read the street signs that well wasn't important. The only thing he really needed to see for was driving, but his eyesight had been perfect back in college when Yokozawa had convinced him that getting a driver's license was one of the things he could do to look more responsible after the years he'd spent messing around.

After his first full month as head editor of Emerald Magazine, though, he found himself squinting around the office. The place was fully-lit and free of clutter, but he could barely see more than a foot or so in front of him, and he got a headache the more he tried to focus his eyes.

"Takano-san?" Kisa asked, noticing his boss looking somewhat distressed. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," Masamune said, and he sat back in his chair and picked up some paperwork. He could read it fine, as always, so he had no idea what the problem was.

The problem got worse as he was leaving Marukawa that night and smashed right into a light pole. He was grumbling to himself as he picked up the papers he'd dropped, and when he finally had them all, he looked up to see the one person he didn't want to see him in this state: Yokozawa Takafumi.

"Is this a one-time thing, or did you form a habit of smashing into things when I wasn't looking?" Takafumi asked in a sarcastic voice. He knew the answer, of course; Masamune was actually a fairly competent person, and the last time he had that kind of lack of coordination had been when he drank heavily and Takafumi usually ended up being the one to drag him back to his apartment at two am.

Masamune was still sitting there on the ground, rubbing his forehead where he had taken the brunt of the light pole. He wasn't sure what to say; on the one hand, he could probably get to his apartment just fine. He'd go on the subway and if he knocked into someone, it wasn't like he'd be the only person doing it. On the other hand, Takafumi would probably follow him home either way, so lying wouldn't get him very far.

"I think my vision is getting worse," Masamune finally said, rubbing at his eyes as he got up from the ground.

"You're not going to be much of an editor if you go blind," Takafumi commented, and he started following Masamune towards the station, just as he'd expected. "You ever thought about getting glasses?"

"Huh? Never," Masamune said. The harsh lights of Tokyo nightlife made it a little easier for Masamune to guide himself, but they also sometimes blinded him, and more than once, Takafumi had ended up directing him away from something. "I had twenty-twenty vision in high school, you know."

"So I've heard." Takafumi didn't sound convinced, though. "Vision is one of the first things to go when you get older, you know."

Masamune glared at him, or at least, in his general direction. "You make me sound like an old man," he said.

"At least go to the eye doctor's and get checked out," Takafumi said. Masamune nodded, if only to appease him.

Takafumi didn't end up following him all the way home, so Masamune was left to think as he got in the elevator for his apartment building. He wasn't a vain man, but glasses seemed like such a bother. Then again, he probably couldn't get contacts; knowing his line of work, he'd be constantly losing them in that mess of an office, and he couldn't afford the several backup pairs he knew he'd need.

Once the elevator hit Masamune's floor, the doors opened and someone stepped in. Masamune wasn't even trying to focus, though, so all he saw was a mop of somewhat light brown hair before he stepped out, and the doors closed between them. He was probably that new neighbor he'd seen moving in last week, but he hadn't been paying much attention.

Masamune knew he wasn't going to go completely blind, but his friend had been right when he said they didn't have much use for him if he couldn't see.

Two weeks later, Masamune stepped into the Emerald office. The cycle was just getting into full-gear, so it wasn't quite as bad as it would be in just a week. His underlings were starting to feel the pain, though, and he hit Kisa over the head with a rolled-up newspaper. "Kisa, wake up. If you have enough time to sleep, you should be using that time to get work done."

"Yes, sir!" Kisa said, and he started scrambling around for something to do. He still wasn't quite used to the new head editor and found himself being more formal than usual.

Masamune squinted down at his desk, where yet more paperwork had been placed. He could still read close-up, but the eye doctor had told him it was best to just wear his glasses as much as possible, to avoid strain. He sighed and took out the plastic-framed number he had picked out and plunked them on the bridge of his nose.

About five minutes later, his ears picked up giggling, and he looked up. Two women he recognized as members of Sapphire, the BL department, were looking in at him. "What?" Masamune asked, annoyed.

"I like your glasses, Takano-san," one of them said, and then they ran for it before they got a response.

Masamune just rolled his eyes and went back to work. That was not the kind of attention he needed.