“You wear… contacts?” Eli stared up at his boyfriend.
“Yes,” Thrawn admitted. “For a couple of years now,”
“Huh,” Eli tilted his head. “I didn’t know you needed contacts…”
“In order to fly a ship and train in the academy, I needed to be able to see,” Thrawn explained. “My brother helped me get to the doctor to get me contacts,”
“I see…” Eli hummed. “Well, you can’t wear contacts while ya sleep, hon, ya need to remove ‘em,”
“...I can’t,” Thrawn’s lips pursed. “I… get the engulfed with darkness the moment I remove them, and I need to see the way to my bed,”
“Darkness?” Eli frowned. “Thrawn… are ya… blind?”
Thrawn nodded, though it was slower than he wanted. Was it a sensitive topic? “Yes… I am,”
“Oh,” Eli gave a hum. “Were ya… born blind?”
“...yes,” Thrawn gave another slow nod. Ah. That’s why. “A Chiss is usually born with glowing red eyes, shimmering through the darkness of a room… but I was not. The moment my eyes opened, they did not shine. They did not glow. They were dull, and we could not afford to fix them,”
“Fix them?” Eli asked. “Have Chiss found a solution to fixing blindness?”
“Only for newborns, but even then, it would be a process,” Thrawn explained. “A special eye drop is set in the eyes of each blind newborn, and it should be dropped every day to help the child to see… but it was expensive,” He let out a sigh. “My family was in poverty, only able to buy food for one day per day. By the time I finally had managed to gather enough money to fix my eyes, it had been already too late,”
His voice slowly grew quiet. Eli’s eyes softened, reaching out to caress his cheek. “May I… see your eyes?” he requested.
Thrawn’s breath hitched, but he gave in with a small nod. Eli smiled and gently reached out to remove the contacts from his lover’s eyes. His eyes saddened, finally seeing the dullness of the red in the other’s eyes as he set the contacts aside.
“Oh, Thrawn…”
“Is it… that terrible?” Thrawn swallowed.
“No… No, no, not terrible,” Eli shook his head. “Just… different, but…” He smiled and kissed him softly. “Your eyes are beautiful, no matter how they look,”
Thrawn felt his face flush before he gave his own smile. “Thank you, Eli…”
“You’re welcome, honey,” Eli giggled. “Now, let’s get to bed,”
“Without… my contacts?” Thrawn tensed a little.
“Don’t worry, baby,” Eli held his hands gently. “I’ll be here to guide ya to bed. Just trust me, alright?”
Thrawn hummed. He gave a smile and squeezed his lover’s hand in response. “I trust you,”
Eli’s smile widened. He slowly led Thrawn to the bed, placing him beside the wall to keep him from falling off the bed. He laid beside him, hands never leaving his own, to make sure he knew that he was still there, even as Thrawn closed his eyes to sleep for the night.
