Work Text:
It’s a slow mid-September day at the optometry office. Normally the office is swarmed with patients, especially on weekends, so the silence and lack of work unsettles Naoki.
He’s the receptionist. Technically he’s supposed to be an intern studying under the optometrist, but he was given more tasks at the front desk because the actual receptionist is on maternity leave. Naoki doesn’t mind; as long as he’s keeping his mind active, he’s satisfied. Which is why his current empty to-do list makes him anxious. He finished sending reminders to tomorrow’s patients, he filed all of the paperwork for previous appointments, he memorized every eye anatomy diagram, every eye chart, the layout of the office, and every style of glasses that is organized on the shelves. There’s nothing to do now and his brain is melting from the heat—
Ring!
A girl walks in. From her style to her gait to the way she anxiously looks at him, Naoki quickly deduces that she’s a college student. His age. He welcomes her and asks if she has an appointment, knowing fully well that she doesn’t because there are none booked today. She shakes her head and opens her old glasses case. Her plastic pink frames are split in half right at the bridge. How does anyone break glasses like this?!
“Do you do walk-ins for glasses repair?” she asks. “I accidently broke my reading glasses last night and I need it to study.”
This is an optometry office, not a glasses repair shop, Naoki irritably thinks. He forces a smile. “We do allow walk-ins, but they are for eye examinations, not for repairing glasses. Did you want a copy of your prescription so you can order new glasses? Unfortunately, you won’t be able to receive them until two weeks later.”
The girl makes a face. “That’s really long. My exam is next week!”
“Might I suggest going to an actual glasses repair shop?”
“But I did,” she pouts. Naoki catches himself staring at her pink lips and quickly refocuses on her eyes. “They said they can’t fix glasses broken this badly. I thought maybe the eye doctor…” her voice trails off in embarrassment as she realizes the absurdity of her train of thought.
Naoki lets her feel the full extent of her stupidity. “…would fix your glasses?”
“Well, I bought them here. Maybe it’s still in warranty?”
Even if it is, there’s no way that damage is covered. “Very well, I’ll check for you. What’s your name and date of birth?”
“Kotoko Aihara, and, uh, September 28th…”
Naoki frowns. “This pair was bought five years ago. And you haven’t had an eye exam since then. I’m sorry, it’s way beyond warranty.”
“Oh. Then, may I get my prescription to order a new pair?”
“Our policy does not allow us to order glasses with prescriptions older than two years. Did you want to do an eye exam today to update your prescription?”
She sighs. “Okay… Are you the doctor?”
“No. I’m just an intern.”
“Can’t you do the exam for me?”
“Dr. Midori will do that for you.”
As Naoki rises to get the optometrist, Kotoko reaches over to grab his arm and mumbles, “I’m… just scared…”
“There’s nothing to be scared about.”
“It’s an irrational fear, okay?!” she hisses. “I just hate seeing my prescription go up and up.”
“It won’t keep going up if you regularly do exams and take care of your vision,” Naoki shakes her off. “Excuse me.”
Kotoko anxiously bounces on her heels as Dr. Midori enters, a genial woman who wears thick glasses herself. “Ah, Naoki, since it’s a slow day, why don’t you shadow me?”
Yes! Finally! Naoki nods. He can’t help but notice Kotoko’s face lights up knowing that he’ll be beside her. What a strange girl. Curiously, he’s not faring any better. Naoki keeps getting lost in the patient’s eyes and has to constantly snap out of his daze. Dr. Midori raises an eyebrow when his head shakes a bit too aggressively at a random time, much to his horror. Afterwards, the exam feels like it’s dragging on for an eternity. He’s relieved to be sent back to his desk to file Kotoko’s paperwork.
“Lucky you,” he says with little enthusiasm, “your prescription didn’t change much after all these years.” Kotoko squeals, making his ears hurt. “Go ahead and pick a new pair of glasses. But again, it will arrive in two weeks. Or one week if you want to pay a bit extra.”
He watches her flit from shelf to shelf. It’s another eternity as she plucks frames she likes, and Naoki wants to scream when she lays out her collection before him. She keeps trying them on, indecisive between six different pairs of glasses. Personally, he doesn’t like the purple chunky glasses, which crowd her face and cover her eyebrows. The narrow red one makes her face look pinched. Whoever invented the triangle frames should be jailed, the glittery gold one is garish, and that turquoise one darkens her complexion. As childish as her old pair of pink glasses are, they fit her best, and the similarly-styled replacement she’s trying on now brings out that blush on her face… and admittedly she looks cuter in it. As if on cue, Kotoko quietly pushes the other frames away and hands him the pair she just tried on.
“U-Umm… thanks for helping me decide.”
A horrified expression betrays Naoki’s cool demeanor when he realizes he spoke all of his thoughts out loud. He’s apologizing profusely and refuses to meet her eyes as he scrambles to place her order. He feels bad enough that he offers to prioritize her order, free of charge, and that she’ll get her glasses in a week instead of two.
~~~~~
Since his terrible mistake, Naoki can’t stop thinking about Kotoko. He’s been dreading her return ever since her new pair of glasses were delivered. On the office cell phone, he scans the auto-generated message about pickups before hitting send:
Hello Miss Aihara, this is Midori Optometry Inc. Your glasses order just arrived, please come by and pick them up. We are open Monday to Saturday 8AM - 5PM.
Reply STOP to unsubscribe.
He’s busy with patient paperwork and scheduling appointments when she loudly opens the door, bell clanging in time with her skips towards him.
Naoki bows after handing her a brand new case. “I apologize for being extremely rude and unprofessional last time.”
“It’s okay, you helped me make up my mind!” Kotoko beams, eagerly taking out the new pair. “Oh, this looks great! You have no idea how hard it was to study without being able to read properly. I tried taping my old pair but it never sticks. And it makes me look goofy…”
How much longer is she going to stay? I have things to do. Naoki bites his tongue to keep himself from speaking out of line, just nodding and smiling and nodding some more. He’s a bobblehead by the time she’s trying on her new glasses and asking if he really likes it.
“Hello? Naoki?” He cringes realizing he checked out of their conversation. Kotoko is looking at him with wide eyes behind crooked frames. “It’s not fitting quite well,” she pouts.
“I’ll adjust it,” he sighs. He gently shifts the frame on her nose, noting how one side doesn’t rest on her ear before taking them off her and going to the back to recalibrate it with heat. It takes several tries before the girl is pleased, and then she’s requesting if he can give her a final look.
Naoki fully stares at her face now. Yes, it’s balanced. The pink frames really do bring out the color of her cheeks. The lenses make her brown eyes and long lashes bigger, making her expression more animated… more sincere…more attractive…
He clears his throat. “You look great,” he manages. It takes a considerable amount of effort for him to turn his gaze from her eyes to the crowd of patients waiting for their appointment. Kotoko cheers before bouncing out, leaving him with the lingering memory of her wide-eyed expression.
~~~~~
The next day, Naoki finds himself staring at the calendar for no apparent reason. September 28, September 28. Why does this date sound so familiar? If he’s not wondering about this, he’s daydreaming of Kotoko’s eyes again. What’s wrong with him? The early autumn heat must have fried his brain.
He shudders, unhappily recalling his blunder on Kotoko’s first visit. He’s replaying their entire interaction and sits up realizing why today’s date is so special: it’s Kotoko’s birthday.
For reasons unknown to him, he wishes to send her a birthday message. Maybe he’s still feeling the effects of embarrassment, maybe he has a crush on her— NO! He is Naoki Irie, he doesn’t have time to entertain crushes, especially not stupid girls like her! What kind of idiot refuses to do regular eye exams and thinks optometry offices repair glasses?!
Naoki tries to distract himself by sending appointment reminders. An idea flashes through his mind. Before he can stop himself, his fingers are typing out a message on the office cell phone.
~~~~~
Kotoko jumps when her phone pings in the middle of her birthday party. She quickly swallows her bite of cake and reads the text message.
Hello, Miss Aihara, this is Midori Optometry Inc. We want to wish you a very happy birthday.
Reply STOP to unsubscribe.
A grin grows on her face. The face of the (super-duper, really really cute) eye doctor intern flashes through her mind. The silly part of her brain likes to think that this message isn’t all that automated and that it came from him personally, but he is clearly too shy to tell her directly.
It’s only confirmed when her friend’s aunt, who works as the main receptionist for the office and is on maternity leave, peeks over and laughs at the ‘automated’ message.