Work Text:
Wild curled up into himself, embracing the odd warmth that spread through his body.
It was an early morning for Wild; he wasn’t one to wake up early, but he also didn’t sleep in. He normally just… woke up.
Opening his mouth, he noticed how dry his tongue felt. Great, he thought; now I have to get up and get some water. He gradually opened his eyes, soaking in every moment of sleeping in a real bed. They had ended up in Time’s era and with enough sun in the sky to make it to Castle Town, find a tavern, and promptly pass the hell out.
With his eyes fully opened, he had to blink a couple of times for the blurriness to go away. Only… it didn’t.
Oh. He frowned. Right, I’m blind as hell.
Wild, sadly, had pretty messed-up eyesight. Zelda had told him before that his vision used to be 20/20, whatever that meant, but the whole being blown to smithereens, revival, and not using his eyes for over a century while sitting in a magical basin of water kinda totaled his sight.
At first, he didn’t think it was abnormal until he went to his first stable and couldn’t see that the stable hand was a guy, and he was barely 4 feet in front of him. They had offered him some temporary glasses, and he used them to get to Kakariko village. From there, they had given him a more permanent pair of glasses. Eventually, after he met Purah, she gifted him what he deemed her best creation, long-lasting contacts. They were the best thing to have ever happened to him (aside from his lovely girlfriend, Zelda) and made his glasses the backup. He had to take them out every 2 to 3 weeks and wear glasses for a day to give his eyes a rest before he could go back and wear another pair.
This was the 3-week mark, and his eyes needed the rest.
Groaning at the day this would be, he blindly searched his nightstand until he smacked his hand on the corner of the wooden desk and gave up. Squinting at the table, he finally found what he was looking for, his Slate.
Licking his lips, he scrolled through his endless inventory, which Legend had unkindly called “hoarding,” until he saw a pair of black browline glasses with a piece of wrapping around the bridge. Watching the fuzzy lines materialize his glasses, he slid them onto his face, feeling a little out of place after not wearing them for so long.
There, everything came into view as he blinked, vague shapes became pieces of furniture, fuzzy lines became wall trim, and ornate paintings. Scanning over his brothers, he noticed how Warriors’ and Time’s beds were empty, not unusual for the pair, early birds as they were. Twilight was bound to wake up soon, same with Legend, and possibly Hyrule, but then again, he did heal most of the chain last night.
Wild made his way out of the shared room and down the well-worn steps of the inn they had collapsed into last night. He spotted a lone female traveler at a table sipping on what looked like tea, a bartender-slash-server preparing to serve breakfast to those in need, and his brothers sitting at a booth seat near a window.
“Hey, Wild, how’d you sleep?” Warriors called, leaning back against the cushioned chair with a steaming mug in his hand. Beside him was Time, who waved wordlessly. Light streamed in through the window, rain softly pattering on the panes.
“Hey, I slept alright. You two?” He wandered over, noticing the bags under Warriors' eyes and the slight shake of his hands. Oh.
“Oh, y’know, couldn’t sleep an’ all.” Warriors shrugged. Wild easily saw through his lies but decided against prying. Everyone has their nightmares, he supposed.
“Hmm,” Wild hummed, plopping himself down on a chair.
A comfortable silence fell over the trio, only broken once by Time going to get a mug of coffee and get Wild some tea. None of them had mentioned his glasses, which he wasn’t surprised by. Funnily enough, they were the only two who had seen them before, and the chain had been traveling together for almost a year.
First, Warriors and Wild got stranded in the middle of nowhere, and his eyes began to burn. They found a small stream, and he, very wobbily, took out his contacts. Time had seen him with his glasses after Wild had showered, he didn’t say much, just asked if his vision was an issue, which it isn’t, and then shrugged and left. Thinking about it now, he doesn’t know how the rest of them haven’t seen his glasses. Coincidence is an odd thing.
Soon, Legend ambled down the stairs, bumping slightly into the wall, which was something Wild definitely didn’t laugh at.
“What’re you laughing at, four eyes?” Legend groaned, flopping onto a chair across from Wild, and put his chin on the table. “When did you get glasses anyway?” He squinted at the champion.
“Found 'em,” Wild joked, a smile creeping up his face as Legend rolled his eyes, "Nah, I don't have the best eyes on planet earth." He reiterated, mouthing a thank to Time, who handed him his tea.
“Mhm, last time I checked, your eyes can’t just stop working overnight.” Legend retorted. Time gave him a deadpan look with his one eye, electing a quick, “-sorry” out of Legend.
“I usually wear a device that helps me see.” He supplied, which seemed to be enough for the Vet.
Hyrule was up soon after, saying nothing more than, “They look good,” and promptly falling asleep on Time’s shoulder, who didn’t seem bothered in the slightest, and actually cracked a smile at the motion, scooting ever so slightly closer to Hyrule.
Something bloomed in his chest; he wasn’t worried they wouldn’t like them, he knew the chain was better than that, but he was still comforted by the fact that they just went with the flow. Taking a sip of his tea, he frowned when the steam fogged up the glass, causing Wars to chortle at him. Wild shot him a fond glare, and the captain simply raised his hands in surrender, as if to say, "wasn't me." The champion scoffed, continuing to drink his Earl Grey
The sun had fully risen by now, and most of the chain was up, save for Sky and Wind. Twilight merely smiled, ruffling Wild’s hair and calling him “nerd.” Four yawned behind the man, stating that “Wild’s not a nerd just because he’s got glasses, it’s because he knows a weird amount of stuff about mushrooms. He knows a weird amount of stuff in general.”
He stuck his tongue out at the smith, who merely smirked and accepted the piece of toast that Wars handed him.
Eventually, Wind bounced down the stairs with way too much energy for 7 in the morning and made his way over to their growing group. He began greeting everyone, caught in a small conversation with a now more awake Hyrule before his eyes caught Wild’s face, and oh Hylia, that look, dammit.
Iris’ flashing like he just found treasure, he grinned widely, “Hey, Wild! When’d you get those?”
“I’ve always had these; I just normally wear something similar to Vet’s ring.” He shrugged, gulping nervously. They were just recently in his era, meaning they wouldn’t be for a while, so if Wind took his glasses and broke them, he’s so beyond screwed.
“Yeah? Can I see them?” Wind asked. No, no Wind, you may not borrow these, they can break, no, you can no no no wa-
“Sure.” WHAT-
Taking off the frames, he passed them off to Wind, who surprisingly held them gently, at least from Wild’s perspective, he couldn’t really see. He began thrumming his fingers against the table nervously. He knew he trusted these people by now, but he and Wild had recently gotten into an argument about tyrant kings, and as much as Wind was a respectful, good kid, he was still a pirate through and through. Theft wasn't entirely out of the realm of possibilities, nor was breaking the poor things.
“May I try them on?” There it is—that question. He'd heard it so many times from the kids in Kakariko or Hateno, or sometimes adults who were too curious for their own good. He normally refused or placed the glasses on the children himself, making sure they didn't run away. But Wind was his brother whom he'd come to trust. Inhaling deeply, he nodded.
“Yeah, just be careful with them,” Wild added, sipping his tea.
He watched as the vague blue and tan blob slipped on a thin black line, and immediately took them off.
“What the hell? You’re blind!!” Wind yelled, holding the frames in his hands.
“Yeah?” He grabbed the lens out of Wind’s hands, who just continued to stare in disbelief. The world came back into focus, and he couldn’t help but chuckle at Wind’s bewildered face.
—
They had finished breakfast when reports of black blood monsters came flooding in. They began making their way to the encampment of monsters, the sun beaming down on them. Sweat collected on Wild’s nose, causing the glasses to slip down. Pushing them up for the millionth time, Time announced that they were close to the horde of monsters. The Old Man sent Twilight a pointed look, and the rancher ran off to the nearby woods. Wild quirked an eyebrow and exchanged a glance with Legend, who had an oddly peaceful expression on his face, but his eyes betrayed him. Shining bright with violet understanding and slight concern.
Brushing the odd exchange off, Wild continues forward, slightly fastening his pace. Already off-put by the non-verbal conversation he and Legend had, he huffed in annoyance when he felt a sharp tug at the front of his hair. His overgrown bangs had often gotten caught in the joint where the front-frames ended and the temples started. It was as painful as it was agitating, causing him to have breakage-fringe where he had to snap the hair to get it out of the hinge.
As they ventured closer, the group huddled up behind a large boulder, preparing battle plans.
“Two lizalfos, three bokos, one darknut, and a group of keese. All black blood, assuming the reports were right.” Twilight listed off as he jogged back to the chain, one hand over his necklace.
“Okay, Wind, Sky, you two are together. Time and I will go and distract them while you sneak attack. Wild and Twilight will follow. Hyrule, you can help with defense but I would suggest staying back to heal when needed.” Warriors ordered, instructing the rest of them.
Twilight crouched down beside him, hand on his sword. “Ready, nerd?” He teased, bumping shoulders with him.
“I am if you are, dipsh-” Suddenly, a loud clanging sound rang over the clearing. Time and Warriors were beating their shields. That’s the cue.
Wind and Sky rushed up behind the distracted bokos and slashed down its back. Black blood flew out from the wound, splattering all over Sky.
Not long after the chaos of the fight descended on them as they all fought the beasts. Wild fell into a well-learned rhythm with Twi as the pair worked flawlessly together. Swipe, slash, duck, slash, parry, slash on repeat. The fight seemed to be in their favor until it took a turn for the worst.
Now Wild had fought with his glasses before, he had to if he wanted to survive, but it had been a very long time since then.
“WILD!!” Four called out, but it was one second too late and before he knew it, he couldn’t see.
The once clear battlefield was now fuzzy lines and blurry faces. He still held himself well but couldn’t exactly make out enemy from brother.
“I CAN’T SEE!!” He called out to anyone near, which was a surprisingly close Sky.
“I gotcha champ, I think Twi’s got your glasses.” He assured his blind brother, who squinted at the scene before them. “I’m going to clear a space for you to run to Hyrule, he’s on your 4:00.”
“Thanks, sorry.” He grunted, slashing at a dying boko.
“You’re good, don’t apologize for something out of your control,” Sky replied, a steady smile on his lips as he sent an ending blow to an annoying lizalfos, “Just go find Hryrule, okay?” He ordered as he opened a rough path to a green and brown hyrulianoid figure.
“Thanks.” Wild nodded, bolting through the fraying fight.
“Hey champ, how’s life?” Hyrule asked casually, wiping red off his fingers with a pink towel- it wasn’t always pink.
“Oh, y’know, can’t see so I got benched.” He huffed as he plopped down onto the sharp grass.
“Yeah, that’s understandable. Does someone have your glasses?”
“Yeah, Twi.”
“That’s good.” The traveler added, not looking up from his workspace.
–
“Hey, champion, your glasses.” Called Twilight, jogging over to his protege. “That was pretty dangerous, don’ ya think?” Ah, this was the thing that they do where they ask a question without asking one.
“I promise Twilight, that’s only happened a few times. Besides, I live in my contacts, it’s fine.” He answered the underlying question, to which the rancher simply nodded and clapped him on the back before handing him the frames. Thankfully, they were untouched. Good.
The landscape came into view and Wild finally had been given his sight back.
Thank Hylia he doesn’t live in these retrenched things.