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The new girl in class is pretty, really pretty . The type of pretty that makes Kun avoid all eye contact and turn one hundred and eighty degrees on his heel just to prevent having to speak with her. The rest of the boys in his class think she is pretty too, they crowded her the moment she came in and are trying to catch her name, her class schedule, if she has a boyfriend. All except Leo, of course.
Leo doesn’t think she’s pretty, not because she isn’t pretty, but because he simply can’t see her.
“What’s she look like?” Leo reaches out a hand, soft unmarred skin nearly touching Kun. He is wearing a pair of cheap sunglasses that sit crooked on his face. Someone had slapped them off of him the day prior and Kun knows that Leo’s family doesn’t have enough money to buy another pair, so Leo still wore them, even though they were certainly biting into the side of his head.
Kun takes Leo’s hand, gentle like he always is with Leo, and closes his eyes. He projects the image of the new girl through his mind and into Leo’s. He pictures the girl’s smooth chestnut hair, her clear skin, button nose, her dark brown eyes. When he finishes, he reopens his own eyes, faced then with the image of Leo smiling. It makes him blush and then glance around to make sure no one is looking in their direction.
“She is pretty.”
“I guess.” Kun says, looking back over at his shoulder to get another look at the new girl. He can understand why the others found her pretty, why Leo did, but he doesn’t feel the same.
Leo finally pulls his hand back, severing their connection. “I wish I could see her.” Leo says, then quickly corrects himself. “I mean, see her see her , not just through your eyes.” Leo says stuff like that often, especially after Kun shows him something new or beautiful, and every time Kun says the same thing.
“I’d give you my eyes if it was possible.”
“Shut up.” Leo says, as he always does. “You’re so stupid.”
And for the time being, the matter was left to rest. Until, eventually, when Kun would hold his hand again and show him a cute dog or a sunset or a meadow. Kun would offer his eyes again and would, no doubt, be met with similar responses once more.
<>
They’re twenty and twenty-one when Kun moves them both to Spain. At first Leo is reluctant, worried about having to learn an entirely new country when he barely even knows his own city. Leo had gotten a job answering phones at an insurance company and was concerned that he wouldn’t be able to find a new one come their move to Spain. Kun puts his worry at ease quickly, however.
“You won’t have to get a new job if you move with me, Leo. That’s the whole point. This letter says that they’ll pay me to do hero work. They’re offering me a starting salary of sixty thousand euros!”
“Is that a lot? I don’t know how much that is.”
Kun does some mental math as quickly as he can, but ends up guessing anyway. “It’s like almost a fifteen million pesos* a year, it’s a lot of money, Leo. You wouldn’t have to work at all if you didn’t want to.”
“And why exactly do you want me to come? Wouldn’t it be better if the new superhero didn’t have their blind friend tagging along as a mooch?”
Kun grabs Leo’s hand as he sits beside his friend. As he often does now that he’s older and his powers are stronger, he projects what he thinks his own face looks like into Leo’s mind. It’s about as close as they can get to looking into one another’s eyes. “You’re not a mooch, Leo, you’ve never been a mooch. I’m not asking you along because I think I need to take care of you. I’m asking you along because I want you to be by my side in this new chapter of my life.” Leo squeezes his hand. “So are you going to stop sulking like a toddler and join me, or what?”
<>
Working as a superhero isn’t all about saving lives and doing fluff interviews for news stations - well, there’s a fair bit of that, but it’s not all there is. Kun spends a healthy amount of time in a gym, lifting weights and running on treadmills while attached to a thousand little wires and a handful of doctors scribble notes down on clipboards. He asked his manager if all that was really necessary when his powers were literally standing still, maybe touching someone, and just thinking really hard - and he was hit with a resounding yes .
He also spends a lot of time meeting other supers. He meets ones with powers that make them extraordinarily strong or fast, or powers that make them turn into animals or grow plants straight from their skin. Most of them are just ordinary people like him, just with a little something extra, but a few are so far up their own ass Kun wonders if they ever know when the sun is up.
In contrast, Leo spends his days either enjoying the balcony of their shared apartment - slathered in sunscreen so he neither tans nor burns - or indoors listening to the television discussing the more famous heroes of Europe. Whenever they are able to eat dinner together (mostly contingent on Kun’s schedule) Leo talks his ear off about the more popular members of the Spanish Hero Association.
“And they just signed Neymar Jr., he’s some Brasilian teenage hero who really made a name for himself down there. He’s supposed to be joining the Barcelona Youth Faction next month, so you might run into him. I guess he’s able to temporarily paralyze people with just a prick from his fingernail. Kinda crazy, huh? You never heard about stuff like that when we were kids. It was all super strength this, super speed that, and this guy can light himself on fire. The gene pool is getting more creative.”
After dinner they watch the sun set onto the city below them. He doesn’t have to touch people to project images anymore, not with all of his mental training, but with most people he can only do it for a few seconds. Things have always been easier with Leo, though, and he barely has to try to keep what he’s seeing flowing from his mind and into his friend’s. He thinks it might have to do with the fact that Leo is blind and unlike other people Kun’s projections don’t have to compete with information already being fed to the brain through the receiver's eyes. Or it’s just because Leo is Leo and by definition he is closer to Leo than he is with anyone else. Whatever the reason is, he’s glad it’s so easy, it makes it easier to keep the image steady and uninterrupted in Leo’s mind.
He doesn’t realize that Leo has fallen asleep until fuzzy images of Leo’s parents, him, and the river nearby their childhood home float into his mind. It startles him out of his chair when he realizes what those images mean.
<>
His agent is beyond happy to hear that he’s discovered a new ability. Projecting images? Great, good enough to get you into Spain. Seeing into other people’s minds? Now that might be good enough to get you on a first team.
When he tells Leo, his friend is at first uncomfortable. So Kun promises him to never read his mind without his permission. Leo crosses his arms at this promise. “Why would I ever give you permission to read my mind?”
“Maybe you have something really scandalous to tell me and it’d be easier to show me than to tell me! What if one day you decide you want to become a footballer and you want to start your own club so you need to project the image of your crest into my head so I can draw it out for you!”
“That’s scarily specific, Kun. Is that what you think about while you’re running on the treadmill?”
“That and pasta.”
<>
The first team in Barcelona is very close. Close enough that when he joins they invite him instantly over to a giant barbeque they’re throwing that weekend with everyone’s wives and children. He asks if he should bring anything and they all tell him no, definitely not. Leo makes him take a bottle of wine.
He feels stupid holding it while he and Leo wait for his team captain, Xavi Hernandez, to open the door. Leo nudges him while they wait. “Wipe that frown off your face, I can feel it burning into my brain.”
“Shut up.” He says back, shuffling around on Xavi’s front porch. “They said not to bring anything, why did you make me buy wine?”
Leo rolls his eyes behind his sunglasses. He only ever wears them now when they’re out of the apartment because Leo is self-admittedly still self conscious about having his eyes out for everyone to see. Of course now his sunglasses aren’t falling apart at the seams, they’re worth six hundred euros and were a splurge Sunday gift from Kun after his second paycheck.
“Would you stand still, you’re going to dig a hole in-,”
The door opens and Xavi ushers them inside. Kun greets him with a hug and when Xavi reaches out a hand to Leo, Kun discreetly shakes his head. “Xavi, this is Leo , my roommate from Argentina.” The realization of exactly who Kun has brought with him to the party quickly hits Xavi. The first team knows some things about ‘Kun’s Roommate Leo’ and one of those is his general aversion to touch. “Leo, this is Xavi, my team captain.”
“Nice to meet you.” Leo says quietly, one arm reaching out to latch onto Kun’s closest arm.
“It’s nice to meet you too, Leo. Kun doesn’t shut up about you.” That pulls a laugh out of the small man. “I see you brought wine,” Kun hands it over. It’s nothing special, only slightly more expensive than he’d buy for himself, but Xavi appears impressed nonetheless. “Everyone else is out in the backyard, Geri got the football out so, fair warning, things have already gotten a bit rowdy.”
Sure enough, when they get outside Gerard Pique is kicking a football as hard as he can in the direction of a regulation sized net. When his foot strikes the ball Kun can tell that he briefly turns his leg to stone, causing the ball to fly like it had been hit by a steel bat. At the net, Andrés Iniesta snaps his fingers, creating a shock wave just strong enough to force the ball down to the ground.
“Hey! Not fair! No powers!” Geri cries from the other side of the yard.
“You’re one to talk! Don’t think I didn’t see your little trick!”
Kun is glad then that he brought Leo along, especially when by the end of the night Leo is chatting and socializing amongst his teammates. Had he known he would come to regret it later, he would’ve never let Leo leave their apartment.
<>
After meeting the first team for Bareclona, Leo spends almost as much time with them as Kun does. Much to his horror he spends enough time with them to eventually get photographed by paparazzi and written about in tabloid magazines.
Neymar, who in the year since his arrival at the youth team has somehow managed to latch himself to Leo’s side (thankfully with only one accidental prick from his paralytic nails), is the one who brings the magazine into their training facility.
Leo is there, not working out but rather discussing the financial benefits of investing in Super Trading Cards, when the young boy runs over to him and collapses in a fit of giggles. Leo carefully reaches out for him, unable to tell where he can put his hands as Neymar wiggles around and laughs. “What’s got you so worked up?”
“Wh-Where’s Kun!? This is too funny for you to not see!”
Kun, who had been following Leo with his mind all day, saunters over to them. He grimaces at Neymar. “Mind your nails, kiddo, I’m not carrying Leo’s fat ass home today.”
“My ass isn’t fat.”
Kun rolls his eyes, he’ll debate that at a later date, for now, he stays focused on Neymar. “What’s so funny- oh. Oh, wow. Uh, well at least it's a good photo?” The image is in Leo’s head almost as soon as it’s in his and he doesn’t have to look at Leo to know he’s blushing. “We can - can contact someone to, uh,” okay, so he didn’t go into PR for a reason, but he’s sure if they all put their heads together they can come up with a convincing lie so that the media leave Leo alone.
“It’s fine,” Leo says. “It’s a little odd for me, but honestly I’m surprised I haven’t been photographed on our balcony by now.”
Kun frowns, violent images of predetermined retribution already start flashing through his mind. “If that ever happens I’ll find the photographer and-,”
“Too graphic for child ears!” Leo shouts, his hands up in the air. “Relax, would you? Or I’ll start calling you my big brother. Again .”
“You sunbathe on the balcony! Half naked most of the time. It’d be a violation of your privacy!” Leo’s eyebrows move like he’s rolling his eyes behind his glasses. “Seriously, Leo, if you want we can find a way to take care of this. I know you’re not used to being in the public eye like the rest of us.”
Leo shrugs. “It’s alright. It’s not like they’re saying anything bad, right?”
<>
Rumors of Leo being Kun’s secret lover spread like wildfire after the first time they’re photographed leaving their apartment together. The image is a little blurry, but it’s obvious that it’s them. And while, yes, they are holding hands (which is not unusual for them, thank you very much!) Kun finds it a little strange that the media jumped from Leo being a friend of the first team to being his lover.
“It’s a good photo of you,” Leo says, his dark brown eyes scanning across the image projected into his brain. His sunglasses are long forgotten on their kitchen counter, shed like a second skin the moment the two of them re-entered their home. “I keep forgetting you dyed your hair. It looks nice.”
Kun runs a hand over his head, fingers combing through the brown and white locks. It’s grown a bit since he first got it done and he hasn’t ever had the time to get it retouched. “I’m glad you think so, everyone else thinks it looks boyish.”
“It kind of does, but I like it. Should I dye my hair too?” Leo shakes out his hair like a puppy might shake out its ears. It’s still the same soft brown it always has been and Kun isn’t sure he can take Leo dyeing it any other color.
“It’s probably best if you stick to brown.”
Leo shrugs. “Probably, not like I’d get to enjoy it anyways.” Kun clenches his jaw. He knows Leo doesn’t mean it in a deprecating way, but it still makes him upset. The universe had not been kind nor fair when it took Leo’s eyes and he cursed it on a daily basis. “You’re right though, my hair does look nice brown.” Kun rubs his temple, unaware that he had started projecting. “Maybe I should get a haircut though, it’s looking a little shaggy.”
“No haircuts for you, you’ll pick something ugly, I just know it.”
<>
Two years into his contract with Barcelona he discovers another capability of his powers. One that takes him from being the first team’s glorified communication device to him being a member of their on the ground rescue and strike team. He shows his new ability off to his teammates with glee.
“Sit down.” He says, pulling on Geri’s arm to get the taller man to get down on the ground. “Otherwise you’re going to fall down.”
Gerard rolls his eyes, but sits down nonetheless. “Just, no one stick anything in my mouth.”
“I’m going to do that now that you’ve said it.” Neymar mutters, unhappy about not being allowed to be Kun’s guinea pig.
“Okay, everyone shut up. Geri, prepare yourself.”
The image he projects into Geri’s mind is nothing more than colors and shapes and letters - and a lot of them -, but it makes the man lurch in pain and then release an undignified shout. Kun continues to overload Geri’s mind with information until eventually he falls onto his side and presses his hands to his head. Xavi gives Kun a concerned look. “You can stop now.” Their team captain helps Gerard to his feet and waits until the other man says he’s okay before releasing him. “So,” Xavi says to Kun. “How does it work?”
<>
Nearly six more months pass before the consequences of introducing Leo to Barcelona’s first team and his subsequent involuntary pseudo-fame come to a head.
Leo, for the most part, doesn’t spend much time outside of their apartment if it’s not with Kun. So, when Kun returns home from training one Thursday night and Leo is nowhere to be found, he’s instantly suspicious. First he pulls out his phone and (as quickly as he can on nine keys) sends a text to Leo and then a few of the guys on his team. Just to cover his bases, he tells himself, because Leo is Leo and while he can be chaotic in small doses he’s not the type to up and leave without saying anything.
Two hours tick by and with no response from Leo (and responses from his teammates that suggest they don’t know where he is either) Kun begins to panic. He calls his agent who gives him the phone number of the captain of the Madrid Faction and suggests that he involve them in the search as well. Kun makes the call, the whole time hoping that Leo hasn’t somehow blindly found his way to Madrid of all places.
Serigo Ramos is full to the brim with jokes and childish insults, but when Kun explains the situation he sobers up. “Leo? The Leo that you and the rest of you culés keep getting photographed with? The real teeny tiny guy? Isn’t he just like a dude? He’s not rich, is he? Because if he is then I’m rescuing him on my own - the pay lately has been shit.”
“Ramos, slow down. Focus up here.”
“Right, sorry, let me put my captain hat on.” The line is quiet for a second. “Okay, I’m good.”
“Did you… literally put a captain’s hat on?”
“…no.”
“Ramos, I need you to take this seriously.”
“I absolutely am! That’s why I put the hat on! Would you stop terrorizing me, gordo, and just give me the rundown on how you want me to help.”
Once given the orders, Ramos quickly organizes his team to sweep Madrid while Kun and the rest of the Barcelona team tackle their city. And he’s hopeful, for a bit, because they have two entire teams full of superpowered humans on the lookout for just one blind man. But then their search comes up empty. And so does Madrid’s.
Neymar, who at almost seventeen is only months away from joining the first team, goes so far as mass texting all of the Under 20 heroes that he knows - and he also comes up empty.
Geri tries to calm him down, but Kun tells him to ‘fuck off’ and projects exactly what kind of pain he wants to inflict onto Gerard at that very moment. It shuts the big man up with a snap of his jaw.
<>
The man who kidnapped Leo is some moron who thinks that Kun won’t rip him limb for limb and instead will transfer three billion euros into an offshore bank account. Like he said, moron.
Even better - the video that they send of Leo tied to a chair is enough for Kun to connect to him again. He isn’t sure how he does it, or if he could even do it for anyone that isn’t Leo, but he connects.
At first all he gets from Leo is black and gray static, as is per usual of the other man, but when he projects an image back of what he can see (currently a whiteboard with all of Leo’s possible locations) the image starts to change.
Leo imagines letters and soon they begin to form wavy looking words. Images are easy, but words have proven difficult in the past and they still do now. It’s like Leo is writing words in the sand and someone is coming in after him and kicking sand back on top of some of the letters. Just to focus long enough to get a few words causes Kun’s head to pound, but he pushes through the pain.
His eyes open and in a flash he scribbles down the words Leo projected to him. “I don’t know how he did it, but he gave me an address.”
“An address? How does he even know where he is?”
Kun stands with the address in his hand and approaches the map pinned to their meeting room wall. He points somewhere on the map. “Because that’s the apartment right below ours.”
<>
Xavi puts up a force field around the entire apartment complex, ensuring no one can get in or out unless he allows it, while the others prepare themselves on the first floor.
Kun rubs at his temple, trying to stave off the headache that his last communication with Leo caused. “He says they’ve got powers, definitely one with electrocution abilities, but he isn’t sure about the others. And he counted at least four different voices.” He tightens the bulletproof vest around his chest. “I’ll pull up the rear, Geri, you're on point. Alright. Well, let’s not fuck this up.”
<>
They move out of that apartment. Kun buys a huge house in a gated neighborhood with a yard big enough for Leo to get a dog. Leo sunbathes in the grass now - and still doesn’t tan. Kun pays for a pool to be put in and eventually life shifts from raw and emotional to a new, pleasant normal.
Kun also tells Leo how he feels.
“Sometimes,” he begins, watching as the clouds shift along the purples and red and oranges of the sky. “I think that I was made for you.” Leo grabs his hand, an indication that he’s listening. “I think that when your eyes were taken from you, the universe made me, to be your eyes. And I think that’s all I’m here for.”
Leo’s face matches the reds of the sky. “Shut up, you’re so stupid.”
Kun smiles. “Maybe.” He brings Leo’s hand up to his mouth and kisses his knuckles.
Leo shuffles around until his head is against Kun’s shoulder and then he closes his eyes. He points towards the sky. “That cloud kind of looks like a bowl of pasta, doesn’t it?”