I See Through You

Chapter. 13

Ever since that incident, Leo stops by every night to see how I'm doing. He's even been skipping a few patrols to do it!

Which reminds me, it'll be a year we've met each other tomorrow. And despite that, there's something that just won't leave my mind no matter what.

He'll be over in a bit, and I hope he doesn't think my request is strange. Oh, what am I saying? Of course it is! Still, I hope he'll say yes.

When he arrived, I greeted him with a smile.

"What's up, Leo?"

"Hey, Val. Now there's the smile I like to see."

I giggled as I rolled my eyes.

Soon enough, I heard light steps coming towards the door. I heard it open.

"Hi, mom." I said.

"Hi, sweetie." She said. "Hello to you too, Leonardo."

"Mrs. Lopes." He said.

"Would like some coffee? Or would you prefer tea?"

"He likes tea, mom. And I think I want some too."

"Okay. Same as usual?"

"Yep."

"What about you, Leonardo?"

"I don't know. What's Val's usual?"

"Fennel or chamomille. But since we're out of it, it's lemon balm."

"Then, I believe I would like to have the same as her."

"Alright. I'll be back in a bit."

After that, we sat on my bed and started talking. We kept going on even after the tea we had.

Then, I took a deep breath. It's now or never.

"Hey, Leo?"

"Mm?"

"Can I ask you something... I don't know... Weird?"

"What would that be?"

"Oh, nothing that big, just... A silly request..."

"Well, what is it? Whatever it is, I'll try my best."

I smiled like an idiot. Whenever he says stuff like that, my heart skips the beat and my ears burn.

Still, I rubbed my arm.

"Can I... See you?"

He let out a sigh. "Val, we've been through this before. You can see more than--"

"That's not what I meant." I said interrupting him.

"Oh... Then... What did you mean?"

I took a deep breath. "What I meant was can I see you?"

"Uh... I still didn't get it."

My ears burnt even more, and my heart was beating loudly.

"Leo, you know I read braille, right?"

"Uh... Yeah."

"And you know how I do it?"

"You use your..." He stopped, as if he realized what I was trying to say. "Hands..."

I nodded as I also shrugged. "Sometimes they are my eyes." I joked. "Not like that crazy anime I heard of that a demon literally makes his eyes get on his hands. Or that character from that movie I heard of that literally had eyes on its hands." I laughed a bit on the end as I slightly shook my head.

"They just... Allow me to see things." I said as I smiled.

"So... Can I see you?" I asked again.

And this time, he took a while to answer.

"... Uh... It depends o-on... W-What you want t-to s-see..." He said. Damn, he sounds so nervous it makes me laugh a bit at him.

"Just your face. And the front of your upper body. I don't need to see your legs nor your shell. I just want to see how you look like." I joked trying to enlighten the mood.

He let out a sigh. "Okay, you can see me."

I smiled and got up. Then, I extended my hand to where I supposed he was.

When I felt him grabbing it and getting up, I started from there.

I carefully traced my fingers on his hand. I closed my eyes to focus more.

So I wasn't crazy. Three fingers instead of five, and a scaly skin instead of a normal human skin. Despite that, it surprised me that at the same time it was rough, it was kind of soft.

Then, I moved up to his arm. Large and strong. I could feel each of his muscles tensing up a bit at my touch.

"Relax. I'm as nervous as you are." I said.

He let out a small chuckle which made me smile.

Then, when I almost reached his shoulder, my hand went down to his sides. I frowned as I didn't feel a shell there as I thought I would.

I could feel him swallowing a lump on his throat as my hand got to his waist. I don't want him to feel nervous. So I move my hand to his chestplate, or rather, his plastron. It was rough but still pretty well defined.

Then, I put my other hand on his plastron and use it to see his other hand, arm and side.

When I was done, I moved my hands to his shoulders. I smiled a bit. Those ones I already know all too well after he let me lay my hand on one of them whenever I needed.

Then, I slowly moved to his neck. Thick and strong. God, is he that ripped?!

I tensed a bit when he gulped in nervousness. Actually, that made me do the same.

Anyways, after that, I finally moved to his face.

Slower than before, I touched his face as I tried my hardest to memorize every single possible detail. The scars he had - it surprised me he had a big one from his head to his cheek, and that it went across his right eye - the mask he told me he always used, his cheeks, where his eyes were, his nose, chin, and lips.

When I was done, I pulled my hands back and opened a huge smile.

"You are more handsome than I imagined you'd be." I said.

I didn't hear anything. It was as if he had swiftly left the room with his ninja skills.

"Leo?" I asked.

Suddenly, I felt his hand on my cheek. It was so warm I couldn't help but lean on it as my hand overlapped his, a smile on my lips.

We didn't say anything. For the first time in a while, none of us had anything to say, and yet, the silence between us was not weird, it was comfortable.

Then, out of nowhere I felt his breath hitting my face, the smell of lemon balm filling my nose.

And before I knew it, I felt something weird on my lips. Something soft and warm.

(What the... Is he... Kissing me...?)