A Calculated Risk (~Leo x Klaus~)

Chapter 1

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Klaus couldn't breathe. All the blood drained from his face, and his fingertips went numb. His heart sped up to such a fast pace that he was worried it might crawl up and out of his throat. The panic that struck him was not entirely foreign, as there were always dangers thrown at him and his team. The information he had just received from his underground network, however, was a different matter altogether.

Someone had put a hit out...on Leo.

It wasn't so surprising. Leonardo Watch was a great asset, nearly their best asset in Libra's fight against the Blood Breeds. Without Leo's all-seeing-eyes, they could never discover a Blood Breed's True Name and seal them away. Every one of Libra's team members were skilled and essential to their work, but for years they had been fighting with force alone, which wasn't always the best solution. Higher classes of Blood Breeds were strong enough to escape them, or at the best, be contained. And even then, it took all of them working at peak capacity.

Since Leo had dropped into their laps, quite by accident, they had been beating more of the monsters than they ever had in such a short period of time. It was still very much a group effort as before; none of them would succeed working alone. But Leo's gift fit as the missing piece of their team puzzle that none of them knew they had been missing. Leo's eyes were such a powerful weapon, and it was only after he'd joined that Klaus realized how truly blind they had been without him. Being able to shed layers of illusions, pinpoint missing items and criminals, pierce through the mist of The Void itself...such an ability was so precious that Leo had been an invaluable resource for nearly every case. Even if it was in a small, seemingly unimportant part of the investigation. Leo's vision was utilized so often that when he wasn't on-hand it was almost frustrating for them to do without him.

To think of losing him...for good...to an assassin's bullet, or worse...

Klaus swallowed hard, keeping his face calm. Leo was sitting a few dozen yards away, and he didn't want to let on that something had startled him. His persona of level-headed leader had to be maintained for everyone's sake, including his own. Leo and Zapp were sitting across the coffee table from each other, playing a game on their hand-held consoles. They would occasionally swear at each other, accuse each other of cheating, or generally cause a ruckus like they were siblings. While Klaus let his eyes linger on the oddly charming scene before him, he felt his chest tighten with the desperate need to protect Leo. To banish all possibility of these being his last hours alive.

He'd come to care for Leo very much since he'd met him over a year ago, groveling on the floor of this very office and begging for their help. The deep affection had crept up on Klaus over time, without him realizing it. And when he had, it was too late. His heart was already Leo's.

The first inkling of his attachment revealed itself to Klaus during Leo's first critical case. The one that was brought to Libra specifically because Leo was the only one who could help. He had cast his divine vision on that dismembered, twitching Blood Breed hand manacled in a briefcase. The charred remains that had claimed the lives of so many other operatives, trying to wrest the fingers apart for the paper it clutched. But Leo had not needed to use force. He had been able to read the scrawl of Blood Breed True Names on that madly rustling scrap of paper, the letters burning violent red across his vision. The power of it had shocked through Leo hard enough to make him recoil and fall to the floor. It was a first, and very unpleasant, experience for Leo since being granted his all-seeing-eyes. The continuing effects of interacting with such power, the sensitivity and awareness in his vision that he couldn't shut off, had startled Leo greatly. Klaus had wanted to reassure him, to comfort him, but had no more knowledge of the situation than Leo did. If Abrams hadn't been there to guide them through it all, Klaus wouldn't have been of any help. That thought had nagged at him. Made him realize just how much he wanted to guard Leo, and how helpless he'd felt when he couldn't.