Impossible || Druig

04

"Soro", Druig's voice was confused this time, edging on suspicion. "Can you not tell me?" Soro was hugely embarrassed now. He had managed just fine for thousands of years and now he slipped up. Shame crept up his gut and he shook his head. 

"I can't see", the words were small and he hunched his shoulders as a childish shame filled him. "I mean, I can. Sort of. Just not well". His face was blazing and it felt like he was confessing a sin.

Druig's hands reached out to rest gently on his shoulders. They were of similar height and it was easy to lean into him. "Since when have you not been able to see?" His voice was gentle.

Soro shrugged. "Since the beginning I guess. I don't remember anything from before coming to earth, you know this".

"Soro. It's been thousands of years", Druig's voice was frustrated now. Soro couldn't tell by his facial expression. The mind controller grabbed him by the arm and began tugging him down towards the Domo. "I'm sure Phastos can help". The grip on his arm was firm but not bruising. Druig was strong but the other eternal was stronger. He could break the grip if he wanted to.

"Druig", Soro whined. "It's embarrassing". He allowed himself to be reluctantly tugged.

"What's embarrassing?" Thena voiced. The blonde appearing around a corner to join them as they descended the stairs. She was as beautiful as ever and completely unruffled by the fight earlier. Not a speck of dust while Soro felt grubby.

"Soro can't see", Druig replied, a huff of frustration in his tone.

"I can see!" He exclaimed in protest.

"Ah. I was wondering about that", Thena nodded wisely. "He is always squinting when Makkari is signing next to him. Also he only stares at people from a distance". Soro gaped at her in betrayal.

"Oi!"

"Phastos!" Druig called jovially as they reached the corridors of the Domo. The mind controller now seemingly enjoying Soro's embarrassment now that the shock of the revelation had worn off. Soro made grumbling noises as he was led towards the other Eternal's workshop, no longer dragging his feet but still making sure to walk slower than Druig.

"I'm busy!" Came the reply.

"Not enough to ignore this!" Druig shouted back as they reached the man's lab. Soro had always liked the plants behind the glass windows at the end of the room, but he had no idea what they were. If he got closer then they were just colourful blobs. Phastos was stood in the centre of the room, his customary golden projections hovering in the air before him. The large man turned to them with a frustrated huff.

"What is it now Druig?"

"Soro can't see". Druig pushed Soro in front of him. Thena hanging back to seemingly enjoy the show.

"I can see", Soro hissed. "Just not well. But I'm fine. Have been fine so far. This is not needed". He turned to go but Druig caught him by the shoulders again. The mind controller bringing him in close.

"No no no. You are letting Phastos make you something that allows you to see things properly. No arguments". His voice gentled and he squeezed Soro's shoulders, volume dropping low enough that only the two of them could hear. "Then you can tell me what colours my eyes are, alright?" He flashed him a small teasing smile.

"Fine", Soro huffed, ears burning. He really did want to see Druig's face properly and not just from a distance. He turned to Phastos. "What do I need to do?"

"I can't believe that you've been walking around for thousands of years without being able to see anything within five feet of you", Phastos exclaimed after he had forced Soro through a variety of tests. It had been humiliating, giving wrong answers to things that he knew was easy. The worst had been reading (which he had taught himself during hours alone at night with the papers and letters across the room. His hands drawing them big enough that he could make them out). Druig and Thena had stayed for all of it. Thena a calm presence in the corner of the room while Druig sat by the windows, chewing on a roll of bread he had stolen from Phastos' lunch. The mind reader frowning the entire time.

"I was perfectly fine", Soro grumbled for the millionth time in the last hour. "I'm not dead".

"Only because you are a long range fighter", Thena voiced. "If a deviant got a lucky shot then you wouldn't have seen it coming". 

"She's right. It was risky and dangerous. Why didn't you tell us sooner?" Druig scowled.

"At first I didn't know it was different", Soro rubbed the skin under his eyes, hair brushing over his face. "Then it was almost five hundred years and I was embarrassed. It's worse enough that I can't remember Olympia, not that I am defective too".

"You're not defective", Druig stood up, voice softer. "Makkari can't hear and that doesn't mean she's defective. You're not either".

"Makkari can't hear because her body is adapted to go through multiple sonic bombs and break the sound barriers a hundred times a day", Phastos spoke up as he messed with some pieces of glass and metal in the corner. His comment unhelpful and Druig shot the man a look.

"My eyesight being terrible has no explanation", Soro pointed out.

"You could say that Ikaris' inability to be a decent person to anyone other than Sersi and Ajak is defective", Druig reasoned. The comment startled a laugh from Soro's chest and he was giggling.  The blue eyed man beamed. "See. We aren't perfect".

"I'm done!" Phastos announced. He crossed the room and pushed something onto Soro's face. "The glass should reflect the light in a way that compensates for your eyes. If they are uncomfortable then I can adjust them. How do they feel?"

Soro blinked, mouth open as he gazed down at himself. The new glasses hooked around his ears and resting comfortably on the bridge of his nose. He could see that there were little delicate patterns of gold in the purple accents of his armour. He had never been able to see them before. Wide eyed, he looked up and around the room. It looked the same as before but his feet were already taking him over to the glass to peer at the colourful plants. One was green with red spiral tendrils sprouting from it's flower. He could see them.

"Oh", he breathed. "Oh!" He jumped and turned to Druig. The man was closer now and it only took a few steps until they were face to face. He could make out the dark lashes of his eyes and the strands of his fringe that swept over his forehead. The pink of his lips and the colour of his eyes. "They're blue like a storm", Soro beamed. "I can see them!" He exclaimed. "Phastos!" He sprinted across the room and wrapped his arms around the bigger man.

"I could have done this a lot sooner if you had just told me", the man grunted as he was hugged.

Soro didn't care. He let the man go and ran back to grab Druig by the arm. His golden wire framed glasses staying even though his cheeks hurt from smiling too hard. "Come with me. I need to see everything". Druig chuckled as he let himself be pulled from the room.

unedited