A Little Less Than Five Years Ago (Ant. & Lud., closed)

Juan obeyed with a cheeky grin. "Perhaps not," he said indulgently. "I, of course, am glad you did. Tell me, querido, what have you been up to since last we spoke? I had una visión pequeña about you the other day...nothing particularly life-altering, especially when my German is still not very good. I think you got a new apartment? Or perhaps the person you spoke with did." He shrugged, a motion made very awkward by the fact that he was lying down.

---

una visión pequeña - a little vision

Ludwig frowned. "What did the person I was speaking to look like?"

He hadn't moved anywhere, but it was quite possible that he'd been scoping out apartments for Karl to use as surveillance. He'd had to pull some strings in order to get a few more days off so soon after his last vacation, and one of them had included calling in a favor from a co-worker to take over a surveillance assignment while he was away.

"Ehhhh...like all of you Aryan bastards," Juan rolled his eyes. "Blond, blue eyes, a little taller than you...I drew a picture, I'll find it for you later. In the mean-time, you have an appointment with my back."

Ludwig snorted, pouring some of the oil into his hands and rubbing it to warm it up. Carefully, he placed his hands on Juan's back and moved in slow, firm circles, starting from the middle of his back down towards his waist. "I'm guessing that some of what you heard might have been along the lines of, What kind of view does this apartment have? followed by my looking out the windows? Perhaps I also said that I will only need it for a few weeks, and my brother will be the one to actually use it?"

---

Green text is German.

"Hmmm..." Juan closed his eyes. "Yes, that sounds right. The second part especially. I am trying to learn your language, but the sounds hurt my mouth even more than English does," he said petulantly.

---

green text is German :3

The German hummed, flexing his fingers and working the muscles evenly. "I appreciate the effort," he said. "What you saw actually happened about a week ago. One of my co-workers was doing me a favor, but I had to set it up for him first."

"Ah. Ahhhhhh," Juan repeated, the second time more a moan than a commentary on the conversation. "Mmmm, what favor, querido?" He squinted up at Ludwig as well as he could without shifting.

Ludwig shrugged while continuing to make his way up Juan's back centimeter by centimeter. "To take over an assignment for me so that I could visit. It's a bit unusual to ask for vacation so soon after taking a few days."

Juan nodded. "I appreciate you coming to visit, though. And, oh, right there."

Ludwig nodded, working on the spot that Juan had indicated. "When you had the vision about me, were you intending to have that vision? Or did it come about randomly?"

"Ehhhh...that's actually a good question. I wasn't trying to have a vision, but I suppose I was thinking of you. And I'm pretty sure there's a distinct difference." He tapped the bedspread as he thought. "There's usually some kind of trigger for my visions. Either it's something that will affect me, or it's something that will affect someone I know. Or it's something I was thinking of. The rest, I can't pin down any real pattern."

Ludwig frowned to himself as he moved his way up to Juan's shoulderblades and shoulders. "Was your ability this strong when you were younger?"

Juan flexed a muscle when Ludwig found a knot. "No. Only events that had a direct impact on me or my family - though that could be said to be direct impact. Then it was people I knew. Then it was things I thought about. Only in the past year or two has it been things I can't see an impact from."

Ludwig's eyes narrowed. If the Division was supposed to be helping Juan to control or suppress his ability, why was it getting stronger? Could it be that it was getting stronger with age, or could it have been...

He hummed. "Perhaps it grows stronger as you age," he murmured, his hands traveling until they found the knot again. "Is this where the knot is?"

"Sí...and I shudder to think it is stronger with age, but that is also the only thing that makes sense. The research with the Division was roughly when I started receiving 'random' visions. The rest of the growth predates them, back to when I was wishing for them to stop every day fruitlessly."

"Have they stopped being a daily occurrence?" Ludwig asked. Perhaps the Division was helping to suppress Juan's ability, if only a little bit. He was sure that Juan would appreciate not having to take so much aspirin after receiving a vision.

"They were two and three times a day for a while. Now it is one and two. Sometimes whole weeks of just one a day." He shifted his head into the pillow more. "I live for those weeks. Especially when the visions come late in the day, or at least near siesta time...then I can sleep off the headache."

Ludwig worked a bit more firmly at Juan's back muscles, hoping to loosen them. He'd seen Juan flinch earlier from a vision. With any luck, he might be able to help him relax enough to rest. He slowly worked his way to Juan's shoulders, using his thumbs to massage the man's neck. "...I'm sorry."

Juan frowned. "For what? You don't cause the visions. My brain does that all on its own. I don't think you're a man given to apologies, mein freund. Don't be foolish on my account," he scolded, made irritable as usual by the mentions of his powers and the Division. There were so many more enjoyable topics to discuss with Ludwig. Why were they never talking about those things?

"I can still show sympathy for a friend in pain," Ludwig pointed out gently, laying his hands flat on Juan's back and stroking from the man's shoulders down to the small of his back and back up. "I may not be the cause of your pain, but I can be sorry that your ability is more burden than blessing."

Juan relaxed slowly where anger had built tension back up. "Of course, of course. I'm sorry. Visits from my mother always put me in a foul mood, and visions don't help."

"I wonder why," Ludwig said with a trace of sarcasm. "With family like that, it is easy to see why you would wish to avoid joining a religious order, or even practicing religion with any kind of enthusiasm." He pressed down a bit more firmly when he felt the tension in Juan's back muscles ease. "I would ask why your mother objects to you owning a flower shop instead of becoming a priest, but if your back muscles tense again, I will be hard-pressed to massage them."

Juan barked in laughter, not a particularly joyous sound, but it was amusement. "Madre thinks the visions are a gift. She thinks I am wasting God's gift by not using them to do good works, or that I am not recognizing His hand in my life by refusing to join the clergy. I don't recall if I told you this or not, but...I told my parents I was bisexual when I was fourteen or so. They said I could either leave or they would send me to seminary school. I left. They've retreated a bit, but they still prefer that I join seminary rather than embarrass them by potentially settling down with a man."

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madre - mother

"I would have thought parents would love their children, no matter what their children might or might not do," Ludwig admitted quietly. "Then again, I had caretakers, not parents, so my upbringing wasn't necessarily typical. If it makes you feel any better, a number of my co-workers believe that the abilities people manifest is the result of evolution as opposed to some divine plan by a creator that no one has seen or heard from except in stories where he appeared as a burning plant to a man who was likely delirious from having traveled in the desert for years on end."

Juan laughed a little more sincerely. "I believe they love me. I just also believe they would love me a little better if I did what they wanted. As for the existence of God or lack thereof - I make no claims to speak on that. I have said before and will again that no kind God gives a child visions like those I received when I was younger. Either the visions are something other than Divine Will, God is not kind, or there is no God. That is my personal view on the matter. Even if I were to profess Christianity, though, I would not join the clergy - not under Pope Benedict XVI. He is a cruel man who endorses an interpretation of the Bible I have sincere problems with."