Widget Text Without Focus

According to my recent experiments,Widget Text won’t display under certain situations. I have 2 widgets I use as Item Icons, one with a button, one without. The one with the button, which is focusable, can show Text objects, like an ‘E’ in the corner to signify that an item is equipped. The non-button one however, cannot. Even a constant Text with no binding won’t appear unless I make it focusable, which I do not want as they aren’t supposed to be buttons until a character is chosen.

Can it made so that Text can show without a need for an focusable parent? I suppose I can try a workaround using a picture of the letter since the Image on the Non-button widget are showing, but still, not sure why need Focus capability to adorn a sub-widget with Text items. Am I missing a different setting?