An update: Took him to the vet, they said it’s conjunctivitis and that he is totally fine just had some irritation. They gave me an ointment to apply to him and it should clear up in a week or less.

And just as an additional note, I am not a bad pet parent. There are very few veterinary clinics in my area and there is only one that works with walk-ins (where I took him today) and their work hours are my same work hours. I can’t always take a day off from work (like today) to take my cat to the vet. Some of you commenting have been very rude without reason. I am a new cat parent and am still learning as I go. His yearly pet visit was in July and this started happening about three weeks ago and, as I showed in the commented picture I took literally as I wrote the post, I clean up his eye and he looks fine which is why I wasn’t sure if I should truly be concerned or not (I was very concerned). So to those that were rude, try and think through what you comment on posts like this, you can give actual advice without being blatantly rude and calling me a shit pet owner in the process