I have seen cats fight. I’ve seen cats pussy out. I have seen a male cat hump a neutered male cat. Just because you personally haven’t seen something, doesn’t mean it never happened.

So yes, it was 100% definitely an attack on the eye. This was the only time that he had ever been aggressive towards us and imo it was justified. My brother was pestering the cat. The cat had his head down and was glaring, but not moving. I told my brother to stop it, because the cat obviously didn’t like it. My brother looked at me to answer, the cat used this moment of distraction to unwind like a spring and claw at my brother’s eye. My brother reacted by pulling away and had pulled back just enough to save his eye when the claw reached him. Given that my brother’s lower eyelid was bleeding, I’m certain that his eye would have been fucked up had he not pulled away. This was the only attack that this cat ever did towards us and it was enough, my brother never pestered him again. This cat also never play fought, he came to us when he was already nearly an adult.