Backseat Heroes

Leo.

Leo doesn't want to grow up in the shadow of his older brother's greatness. Sure, the world doesn't actually know who he is, or who his brother's 'mild-mannered alter-ego' is, but he still has this fear that he'll always be thought of as Aconite's little brother, and nothing more. Out in the open, he is fighting it. He plays guitar until his fingers bleed, he writes until his pencil's a nub, he draws until there's no more creativity left in his bones. But subconsciously - subconsciously, he's already accepting his status as 'kid brother.' He just refuses to go down without a fight.

If his brother, Archie, picks up on any of it, he doesn't let on. Maybe it's because he's always so busy, juggling his responsibilities as a hero and trying to earn money to help keep them afloat. Since their parents' untimely departure from the land of the living, Archie had certainly become a bit of a workaholic. Sure, they needed the money, but Leo suspected it went deeper than that.

He didn't press it, though. He never presses anything when it comes to his brother. With other people, sure, he can be as stubborn and headstrong as any donkey. It's his defining characteristic, actually, his refusal to give in. Archie, though...With Archie, he's a bit more lenient. Just a bit.

Of course, the fact that his brother could give him the worst migraine of his life with just one tap on the back of his hand has nothing to do with it. Nope. Nothing at all.

Leo doesn't hate his brother, and he doesn't hate the powers said brother possesses. What he hates is his inability to do anything, his lack of capability to get out of the shadows and into the light, and the fact that his brother is already there. Already in the 'promised land.' He can't explain it properly to anyone that asks, but it's the truth. His one wish it to make a name for himself. The one question is if he'll be able to make that wish come true, or if he'll be watching from the sidelines for the rest of his life.

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Paint. It coats his fingers, splatters his shirt, colors his hair. He doesn't mind it. In fact, he loves it. Of the things he likes to do, painting is his absolute favorite. It allows Leo to get his emotions, his thoughts, his ideas out of his head and onto a nice, big canvas.

His closet of a room is essentially a studio with a futon stuffed in the corner for those nights where sleep is absolutely essential unless he wants to fall asleep in the middle of the class again. Canvases of all sizes and shapes, some painted, some not, are crammed in every corner. Paint cans of varying colors cover the floor, along with paintbrushes. His desk is covered in various art supplies. In the corner, next to the futon, is the acoustic guitar he plucks away at when the paint fumes make his head a little fuzzy.

He was bent over an easel, humming along to the music blasting through his earbuds. The paintbrush in his hand was hovering over the canvas, as he mentally debated a very important question. Should he paint the girl's hair a light turquoise, or sky blue?

After a moment, Leo looked down at his palette, covered in all sorts of different paint colors, and shook his head. Lavender. Her hair had to be lavender.

He began to paint in the wavy purple locks, bobbing his head with the music. It was loud enough to probably cause some serious damage to his ear drums - and loud enough to mask the chaos happening just steps away from his closed bedroom door.

When he emerged from the bathroom later on in the evening, clean of any and all paint but still wearing his official 'painting outfit,' he wasn't surprised to see that his brother was nowhere to be found. Archie's proved to be quite good at avoiding being home for very long at all, going days at a time without stepping so much as one foot inside the tiny apartment the two brothers inhabit.

He doesn't see his brother's keys on the kitchen counter. He doesn't see his brother's phone, which he never leaves, on the ground next to the fridge. The smudge of blood on the wall goes unnoticed, too. Leo just grabs a granola bar and leaves the kitchen altogether, unaware that just hours before his brother had been stolen from right under his nose.

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It is a part of a leader's job to keep his head, even when faced with a catastrophic situation...Such as this one. However, to his frustration, Archie found that he absolutely could not keep calm. Not a bit. He was confused, he was uncertain, he was scared, and that pissed him off the most.

He's Aconite, leader of CRASH. His powers are supposed to induce dizziness, confusion, headaches, hallucinations and the like on others, not himself. He's supposed to be the calm-headed one. Why, then, can he not slow his breathing, or settle his thoughts, or keep himself from wanting to scream like a banshee?

He can't see. His head is pounding. He hears whispers, but when he tries to focus in on them, they stop, as if the whispering had never happened in the first place. Archie thinks he's tied up, but he can't tell. His usually keen senses are dull, so dull it's driving him crazy.

He tries to lunge forward, tries to escape in anyway that he knows how, thrashing like crazy, but it doesn't work. Nothing works. Wherever he is, he's stuck. Trapped. With no easy way out.

Archie can't be sure of what's going on. All he knows is that something's happened, something bad, and he's tied up in the middle of it - quite literally.

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A/N: Leo the angsty artist and his older brother, Archie the workaholic - everyone give them a warm welcome, yeah? Make sure to hit that gorgeous 'like' button up there, you know you wanna...