Written for today’s short affair prompt at Section VII; there’ll be a part 2 next week.

Summary: Depending on who you ask in U.N.C.L.E. HQ, you’ll get a different description of Illya’s eyes; Napoleon has descriptions–and stories to go with each one.

Notes:
There are two versions of this piece.  This is the light slash
version (also cross-posted to AO3).  There is a gen version on my
dreamwidth if you’d prefer reading that.
The two blurbs are around 90% similar.

Depending on who you ask around U.N.C.L.E. HQ, you will
always get a different description of Illya Kuryakin’s eyes.

You’ll get the usual epithets—pretty, blue, mysterious.  And you’ll also get a recurring theme of
“cold” and “ice” from a lot of people.
Illya himself encourages that description; he enjoys being seen as a
standoffish ice prince.

Ask Napoleon Solo to describe Illya’s eyes, however, and
you’ll get another story entirely—a lot of the time, you’ll get multiple
stories.

“Resourceful.”

That means you might hear the one about the two of them
successfully managed to communicate an entire escape plan to each other while
tied up at opposite ends of a THRUSH cell merely by blinking at each other in
Morse code.

“Transparent.”

That means you might hear the one about the Gurnius Affair,
and how Illya was superbly able to maintain the mask of Colonel Nexor while simultaneously
reassuring Napoleon with just a glance that he could trust his life in his
hands.

“Loyal.”

Then, you’d hear the one about the Summit Five Affair, and
how, even after Napoleon had confessed to being a traitor and had nearly the
entire organization believing it, Illya’s faith in him never once wavered.

“Kind.”

That could mean any number of stories—the numerous times
Napoleon woke up from unconsciousness and the first thing he saw were Illya’s
eyes looking down upon him in concern, the way Illya looked after their cat, the
numerous times Illya would support him after a long and weary day, his patient
words when the occasional failed mission could ground Napoleon’s spirit…  If Napoleon says “kind,” then you might as well
pull up a chair; you’re going to be there for a while.

“Concerned.”

Again, that is a multitude of stories, but, usually, it
means the first time he saw tears in the Russian’s eyes—after Napoleon had
taken a bullet for him on a mission during the second year of their partnership
together.

At that point, Napoleon will launch into all sorts of
unrelated stories about his partner; attempting to bring the conversation back
to the topic of describing Illya’s eyes will lead to just one more word–

“Everything.”

You won’t get a story behind that; those stories are very
secret, and kept close to Napoleon’s heart.
Illya means the world to him—more than the world, in fact.

He won’t describe how he can see the entire universe in
Illya’s eyes—not to you, anyway.  He
reserves that for Illya alone, when it is just the two of them, side by side in
bed in the darkness of the night.

But at that point, you’ve already realized what Napoleon is
trying to say—that true love exists, and that he’s found it in Illya—eyes and
all.