I have to say it, I am really satisfied with this fanfiction. I like it a lot and it's rare, I tend to be quite frustrated by my own writing, but I am actually proud of this one. I played with my mother language (italian heheh) and with that few I know of french, I hope you like it!
Eight hours and seventeen minutes.
That was the time the high-speed train took to bring him to Tours. It was hell. If the outside was hot, the inside was like North Pole; if it was cold, the train was like the insides of Vesuvius (and thank god it hasn't erupted since 1944). He hated trains, but they were the only way to go to the center of France: airplains were definitely too expensive, he could barely buy a train ticket with his pay.
Once he was in Tours he had to take a coach that would have brought him to Amboise: there were no direct trains from Florence. The coach trip at least was short and normal, good temperature and good people. Train people were mostly frustrated and irritated: well, who wouldn't have been with sclerotic temperatures and uncomfortable seats (so uncomfortable a rock would have been better)? But all of it was nothing if it meant that he could see his love, Leonardo.
He had moved to Amboise a few years before to follow his art studies and he had left Florence by plane (for what he had been told, Leonardo had silently cried for the whole trip and Ezio had felt like shit for weeks, even if it hadn't been his fault). They had talked a lot about that, the younger man had told him that it was okay, he had to follow his dreams and they could have seen each other once in a while when they could. He would have given his goddamn soul to stay by his side and not leave him but circumstances were difficult: Leonardo was so full of work he had managed to return to Florence just five times in those years and Ezio was the only one who could move more frequently, the problem was the money. Leonardo always insisted on borrow some (his pay was good enough) or pay the ticket himself but Ezio never wanted. He felt like it wasn't right.
So there he was, at Florence's train station at 6.30 a.m. of Friday, waiting for his call: he was really excited (even if he was extremely tired), because he couldn't go the month before due to debts and pay delays. Leonardo got really angry because he could pay himself but Ezio couldn't help it: he was proud and wanted to do things on his own without bothering the others. It was two month he didn't see him: obviously webcams didn't count, he wanted to caress him, touch him, smell him, kiss him. He missed him so much.
"Train for Tours, France approaching at platform number 2, mind the yellow line please."
He stood up from the metal bench where he was half dozing, picked up his bag and put it on his left shoulder: he got closer to the edge of the platform, paying attention to the yellow line. He watched the train getting closer and approaching the platform, messing up his dark and long hair as its speed moved the air. It slowly stopped, opening the doors, and Ezio waited for the people to get off before climbing the high metal rungs and going inside the first carriage on his right. He sat down closer to the window, his favorite place for a trip, and put the bag between his legs, resting his head on the seatback.
"Scusi (Excuse me)," a young woman claimed his attention, shyly smiling at him, "could you please help me put my bag up there?" she finished, pointing the space for luggage above the seats.
"Of course, signorina (lady)." Ezio answered, returning the smile with a charming one, and then he took her bag and placed it on the shelf with no efforts. The young woman smiled again, same shyness across her face, and thanked, before sitting down next to him.
At least this time the temperatures were alright: it was April, not too cold and not too hot. No need for air conditioning or heating. The train started a quarter later and Ezio fell asleep after an hour of meditating, gripping his bag with legs and hands to have control of it: theft was frequent, even on trains. He slept slightly quiet (for what he could), no one and nothing disturbed: in fact that was strangely a quiet trip, no stupid people, no crazy temperatures, no...oh, well, seats were the same. He regained the lost hours of sleep a bit (he was tired as hell from the hard work of the last weeks, he had slept just 5 hours per day because of his two jobs, and that morning he had woken up at 5 a.m. to get ready in time), letting him lose 4 useless hours of trip.
In the last three hours he had lunch (a simple sandwich he had made at home the night before), read Carrie (he liked that book so much, he had read it like three times), beat his record in Temple Run (making a score of 9 millions, he felt so cool) and sent a message to Leonardo, telling him the remaining time before he would arrive at Tours. Strangely the artist didn't answered and that made him feel a bit uncomfortable: it was stupid, he know that, because it could simply be that he didn't have credit or the messages just didn't arrive. Anyway he couldn't stay quiet, the discomfort didn't leave him and he remained with his mobile between his hands for the remaining hour, while he was looking out of the window wondering about what Leonardo was doing.
"We are now approaching Tours station."
He sighed in relief, as he stood up and picked up is backpack, heading towards the exit and waiting for the train to stop at the platform.
Leonardo ran like a rocket outside the building, losing papers behind him and running back to pick them up, cursing and struggling to hold everything in his hand and keep the mobile against his ear using his shoulder.
"Giacomo, s'il vous plaît (please), could you clock my time card out? I forgot to do it when I left and I am in a huge hurry!" he asked, running towards his red Golf GTI and cursing again as he remembered he had the hands too busy to take the key in his suede long coat.
He pushed his chest against the car window to hold the papers still, while his hand searched for the key in the pockets and finally pulled it out. He opened the car and put the key between his lips, before grabbing everything back and opening the door.
"I don't like the way you asked me that...I don't think I will do it." the voice on the other side of the phone chuckled.
Leonardo rolled his eyes and finally threw all the damn papers on the posterior seats, next to a huge bunch of red roses that he carefully took and moved to the passenger seat, before getting inside the car. He inserted the key and started the car, holding the clutch and putting on the mobile headphone to free his hands from the phone. The radio automatically turned on and classic music spread inside the cabin: for how much Leonardo enjoyed it, that was not the best moment, so he immediately turned everything off.
"...Salai. Please." he called the other one by his artist name (Giacomo surely was megalomaniac or something like that, he wasn't a real artist but he liked to feel like that) as he engaged the gear and released the clutch.
"Mh, fine. I will do it."
"Merci merci merci (Thanks thanks thanks), make sure you do it, it's really important." Leonardo insisted as he moved the car and took the main street that headed towards the highway.
"Sans doute (Sure) and you make sure to reach Tours before Ezio arrives. You're late, crétin (idiot)."
"I know that, thanks!" the blonde sarcastically thanked as Salai ended the call.
He took the highway the fastest he could, crossing the french countryside, and didn't stop looking at the clock on the panel. He was late as hell, he thought, cursing under his breath and speeding up. He prayed not to get caught by the police because he was around 10 km/h up the limit. He knew it was wrong but he couldn't help it: he was afraid he would miss Ezio at the station. Fortunately the road was clear and when he got across a car he could easily pass it without danger. When he finally entered Tours, a half hour later, he found himself blocked into traffic.
"Come on!" he honked to a retard that made the traffic light go red due to his slowness. "Oh thank you very much!"
He slowly inhaled and exhaled to calm down but panicked again as he looked at the clock once more: Ezio's train must have arrived 15 minutes before. He had to hurry or his lover would have already taken the coach. He noticed the blue LED of his mobile light up and turning the screen on he saw Ezio's message.
"Will be at Tours in 1h can't wait to see you"
It definitely cheered him up, but it also worried him because that hour had long passed. The traffic light became green and he sank his foot on the accelerator, passing the asshole in front of him that decided to turn left at the last moment without using the blinker.
"Dio mio (My god), use the damn turn signal! Who the hell gave you the driving license!?" he shouted, speeding up down the road.
When he drove, Leonardo used to become really nervous. Too many stupid people with the driving license, he wondered how they had got it when he had worked hard to deserve it. He finally made it to the train station but then...no parking. He snorted hard as he rounded the station like three times before someone finally cleared a parking space. He stopped, lighted up the turn signal indicators and put into reverse, adjusting the car to park.
It wasn't perfect, he had never been very good at parking, but at least the car wasn't in the way so he didn't care much and got out of the red vehicle, picking up the mobile and running straight inside the train station. He looked up at the arrival board and blanched: Ezio was already there.
Where was he? Was he already at the coach station? Or worse, on the coach itself? He wouldn't have made it to the coach station of Amboise in time if he was already on the way. He put the hands in his own blond hair, pulling and messing up as he tried to think straight. He looked around, looking for his lover (hard try, since there were a lot of people there, it was Friday after all), praying that he was still there.
His heart skipped a beat, his face relaxed and a wide smile spread across his face.
There he was, standing in line at the ticket office. He was the last one.
He quickly reached him, trying to be the fastest he could to get on the same line behind him without being noticed by the younger man, who was pulling out of the jeans pocket his iPod.
He gently tapped his shoulder.
"Scusi, sto cercando un bell'uomo (Excuse me, I'm looking for a beautiful man). Could you help me find him?"
His heart began to pound furiously as he heard that voice. He immediately recognized it and his whole body responded to the strong emotion that it raised. For how much he wanted to play along the game, he couldn't resist: he turned to face the man behind him and his heartbeat skyrocketed at the sight of his lover, his wide smile across the delicate lines of his face, his long blonde messed-up hair, his sky-blue cheerful eyes, his mild paint scent. He definitely missed him too much. He literally jumped between his arms and happily claimed his soft lips, wrapping his arms around him and holding him tight.
Leonardo actually didn't see that coming and wavered a bit, not expecting Ezio to kiss him like that in public (he was the first one to be hesitant in doing such things with so many people around) but didn't pull away: he rather hugged him even tighter, deepening their kissing and forgetting about anyone else. His hand ran through his long brown hair, enjoying its smoothness and softness, while the other lightly rubbed his back. Ezio turned his head to better their kiss even more and take a deeper taste of the artist's lips.
They were so close, so pressed to each other they both thought they could become one just kissing like that. After some time had passed, the blonde male pulled back, slowly parting their lips, and rested his head against Ezio's, still holding him in a sweet embrace.
"I missed you, so much." the other whispered against his lips, his breath gently tickled them.
"I missed you too, mon amour (my love)." Leonardo chuckled at his own french pronounce: still imperfect after all those years.
"I like it when you speak French like that." the dark-haired male smiled, the erotic hint behind his tone: just like Ezio.
"Actually I hoped to speak Italian for a while, it's been too much since I last heard it."
Ezio released him from his hug and took his hands between his.
"Va bene, parliamo un po' di italiano allora (Okay, let's speak some Italian then)." he grinned at his lover.
"Molto meglio (Definitely better)." Leonardo sighed in relief.
He liked to speak French, but sometimes he missed his mother language too much, especially when thinking about his lover's deep voice.
"What are you doing here anyway?" Ezio suddenly asked. "I would have come to Amboise in thirty minutes anyway."
The artist smiled and began to walk towards the exit, pulling Ezio behind by his hand.
"I wanted to see you immediately. I couldn't wait." he whispered, kissing the back of Ezio's hand, as he reached his red car and pulled out his key. Actually, there was something more.
His lover suddenly burst out laughing, making him frown a bit as he couldn't understand why he was laughing like that. He didn't complained much, because he missed Ezio's laugh a lot.
"What are you laughing at?" he simply asked, smiling a little embarassed.
"You still don't know how to park properly, Leonardo caro (dear Leonardo)?" the other male struggled to answer through his laugh.
Well, yes, the car was awkwardly parked: it wasn't straight and half of it was literally on the sidewalk. The blonde artist poked out his tongue at Ezio, making such a face that made the younger man laugh even harder. He knew that he wasn't really fooling him, it wasn't Ezio's attitude to cruelly make fun of someone, so he didn't pouted or something. He was too happy to be angry or offended. He waited for Ezio to stop laughing with a smile on his face and when the man wiped off his tears and headed towards the passenger door to open it, Leonardo stopped him.
"Aspetta (Wait), let me open it for you." he said, making him sign to step back.
Surprise spread across Ezio's face as he moved back, letting the artist move in front of him: he looked at him strangely as Leonardo stole a glance at him over his shoulder before opening the door and shifting to the side.
That time was bright red that spread across his cheeks as he saw a bunch of beautiful red roses lying on the seat where he should have sat. He knew what they were for, he didn't forget about it, he was simply waiting for a private moment to give him his own present, carefully hidden in his backpack: he simply didn't expect that, but he regretted nothing. It was all perfect, even if they were in front of a train station. The blonde male shyly smiled as he placed his hands on his arms and gently squeezed.
"Happy tenth anniversary, Ezio."
The only thing Ezio could do then was jump between his arms once again and kiss him harder than before, the same thing Leonardo would have done some time later in his house, when the dark-haired male pulled out of his backpack a huge set of brushes and paints.
"Happy tenth anniversary, mio amato Leonardo (my beloved Leonardo)."