Wounded

Altair coughed softly before he grimaced at the metallic taste of blood in the back of his throat, gritting his teeth against the pain as he ran, the adrenaline was the only thing that fuelled him to keep moving away from the area as guards chased him down the dusty streets of Jerusalem clutching the wound on his side with a grimace; he hadn't seen the guard coming, he'd been a scared rookie with a sword who'd gotten lucky while Altair had fought off three other guards.

Of course that was no excuse, he had been careless, perhaps even a little cocky; traits he had tried for years to stop, but such impulses proved difficult to quell in the heat of battle.

He could hear the guards yelling orders to find him, he needed to get onto high ground; if he could hide long enough he could make his way to the bureau and face Malik's sharp tongue and insults about him being a novice, but that was better than bleeding to death, and at least Malik would tend to his wounds despite everything that had happened between them.

It had already been fours years since Kadar had died, and two years since Al maulims betrayal Altair was now the grand master, though he left the paper work to others in Masayf; there was little chance of him not being actively involved in missions; Though he admittedly wasn't as active as he used to be.

His wife Maria, the women whom he had spared in Acre, had given birth to two twin boys, whom he called Kamil and Marik, unknown to his wife he'd named the two boys after his once closest friends; Kamil, who had his mothers dark brown eyes and curly hair, reminded him a lot of Kadar which was why he was named after him; the other named Marik; who had a lighter shade of brown hair but his eyes were a golden yellow the same as Altair's eyes; was named after Malik.

However Maria had not been strong enough to survive the birth of her sons and tragically she died just hours after they had been born and named, and this meant leaving Altair to not only grieve her loss, but to also take care of the boys with a few nurse maids to care for them,as well as, to his surprise, Malik.

The one armed rafiq had been the one to teach him how to feed the boys; he'd been the one to check on them when Altair was away; he;d become like a second father to the twins and both boys loved the man dearly; in a way he hoped that the boys were helping to heal his old friends wounds, one he feared had never allowed to be closed

Even though Malik was his main advisor in Masayf, the other liked to make sure everything was running smoothly in Jerusalem's bureau and went to visit it at least once every couple of months to check on it, it was irony or perhaps even fate that Malik happened to be in the bureau at the same time as the Grand Master and when he is injured. Altair turned a corner and ran up the wall, up to a a hand hold and quickly climbing up to the roof, his wound now bleeding heavily without any sort of pressure to stem the blood flow.

He was sure somewhere up in heaven Allah was laughing at him for his misfortune.

Altair grunted in pain as he dragged himself over the edge of the roof; he felt himself becoming numb to the pain; that was never a good sign, pain was an assassins friend, it told you where you were hurt and how badly; if he was becoming numb to it it meant he didn't have much time left.

Pressing his bloodied hand back onto his wound he made a run for it jumping across the rooftops and making his way towards a roof shade and dived inside he could hear the guards not far behind him, they were cursing now he was out of sight, and were now scouring the rooftops looking for him; he lay down low in his hiding spot and waited with baited breath.

It was, with some relief when the Guards finally gave up and began to go back to their posts around the city. Once he was sure they were gone he slid out of the shade and staggered; his body was becoming weaker and more numb; he was just glad that the assassins bureau wasn't all that far away, just a few more rooftops...

Malik A'Sayf frowned as he heard the bells ring across the city; honestly did these novice's not know how to be subtle! It despaired him to no end how open handed they were; the old ways that their master had taught were ingrained into many of them. Altair had suggested they become more secretive, more underground to hide from their enemies, but as of such other assassins are not taking to this new method well.

In time it would work, in time they would adjust to it and he hoped that the creed would flourish under Altair's care.

Malik frowned as he paused in the middle of writing; Altair... he'd been thinking about him more and more of late, on not for a good reason either; after the birth of the twins Altair had mourned, he had admittedly been devastated at Maria's sudden death, as much as Malik had personally loathed the women (Once a Templar ALWAYS a Templar in his opinion), he had been a friend and comforted Altair; he had never seen the older assassin weep for anything, or anyone before, but he cried when Maria died, and on Malik's shoulder no less.

It was just after that that something strange began surfacing within him; whenever he looked at Altair he felt his throat tighten and he'd have to swallow in order to breath, when Altair smiled it made his heart leap in his chest and when the man washed and was shirtless, Malik almost had a nose bleed.

He didn't get it; he had seen Altair shirtless and MORE in their years training together, bathing together and generally having the time of their lives; true he had once had a SMALL crush on Altair when he had been a teenager, but he had been so worried about it, that he had confessed his sinful feelings to Al Maulim who assured him that his feelings would pass and he was very much 'normal' as long as he did not indulge in any sort of lustful act.

Malik had taken Al Maulim's words almost as words of god and had done no lustful acts despite the urge to do so, the feelings got stronger as they grew older and Malik found it increasingly hard to keep his oath of celibacy when Altair ran around shirtless during training.

After Kadar's death, sex was the last thing on his mind; and he thought, that it always would be; after all how could he feel anything but hatred towards the man that denied him of his brother and left arm! He had hated Altair, more than he thought he could ever hate anyone for what he had done and he had relished in that hate, it kept away his other feelings for the man and he was glad of it.

But he couldn't keep that hate, no matter what he tried, the more he saw Altair during his visits in Jerusalem, the less he started hating Altair, until eventually he didn't hate him at all; every time he saw Altair he could tell he was changing right before his own eyes, he looked older, wiser, and all the more guilty whenever he want to see him and Malik just couldn't hate the other any more; he had changed; really changed and he knew it was pointless to pretend to hate the other further, especially when Altair looked to have such a burden on his shoulders, weighing him down to the ground and that had pained him.

Altair; 'The one who flies' should soar in the sky, not be pinned down by what had happened.

So he'd forgiven him and they had become friends once more; Altair had saved the brotherhood from what would have been a massacre, they had fought alongside each other once again and restored order, and for a while that's all he felt for Altair; he was a friend and an ally and that was it.

But then, Altair had brought Maria to Masayf and almost instantly, the moment he'd laid eyes on the English women, he was consumed in jealously; every time she held the newly appointed Grand Master's hand and smiled at him, every time she kissed Altair and held him, or rubbed his shoulders when he was working; it made the rafiq's blood boil.

Maria was a pretty women and she turned out to be a kind women too, though extremely stubborn and feisty, which is probably why Altair had chosen her to bear his children and be his wife; he had loved her deeply, as had she and it almost killed Malik inside to see them together so intimately.

The only good thing to come out of their marriage were the twin boys; originally he had wanted to hate them, because they shared their mothers blood, but as soon as he set eyes on them he knew, there was no way he could bare hatred against any kin of Altair's and had silently sworn to watch over the boys in anyway that he could.

He grew to love the boys, and he enjoyed spending time with them; the only downside to this was that Altair was there a lot of the time and sometimes he couldn't look Altair in the face because he was having sinful thoughts again.

Malik couldn't take it one day, and he just gave into his desires; Altair had been away on a mission and no one would dare disturb him this early in the morning; he panted softly his hand inside his robes as he finally finally let pleasure fill his mind and body as he thought of Altair's body, the way he moved in battle, his smile, his eyes; all of it was enough to send Malik over the edge as he climaxed for the first time in his life he started at the ceiling panting his hand full of something warm and sticky.

After that it was like a dam had been broken, Malik jerked off thinking of Altair almost every god-damn night, he couldn't stop; he had tried and ended up with boner that took three times as long to go away.

In short Malik was fearing the worst; he was performing the worst crime a man could commit; lusting after another man; it was not like Altair would ever consider him as a bed mate, the man had proven he was straight and was quite happy right now being a single father. He would not open his heart to another now, Malik was sure.

He was foolishly in love with Altair.

Malik was faintly aware that the bells had stopped ringing and things had calmed down outside; he broke away from his thoughts and walked over to the cover that stopped recruits getting in before things were calm and pulled the grate back using a hooked pole, only to jump backwards, startled when a body fell into the bureau with a dull thud "By Allah!" Malik yelped; almost jumping a mile before he realized just who it was who had fallen into the bureau unconscious "Altair!"

He ran over and rolled the other over; the man was unconscious, a gaping sword wound in his side; it seemed he'd only just passed out from blood loss "Shit" He cursed as he used his one arm to literally drag Altair from sight before covering the roof entrance so the guards couldn't get in.

"Altair! Wake up you novice!" He yelled a bit as he shook him; when he didn't receive a response Malik got increasingly more worried; he undid the others large leather belt and tugged it off before undoing his robes; any lustful thoughts were none existent when he saw the huge gaping wound that was still spurting out blood "By Allah...no your not going to die!" He growled as he ran around the bureau gathering supplies he'd need; first and foremost he had to stop the bleeding otherwise Altair would die of blood loss alone, he hoped he wouldn't have to cauterize the wound.

He pressed an old rag onto the wound firmly and used the stump of his arm to keep it in place while his other arm rummaged around and got out the things he'd need; despite his lack of an arm he'd adapted and he could easily patch someone up. "Your not going to die on me today Altair...think of the twins" He bit, saying this more to the grand master than to himself, he hoped that in a way Altair could hear him even in such a weak state.

It took Malik only a minute or so to stop the bleeding on his side before he stitched up the others wound and wrapped his torso in bandages; it had been close but he had managed to save Altair's life though he'd be weak for a few days due to how much blood he lost. Gently Malik rolled the other male over and shifted him into the pillows so he'd he comfortable.

"...you novice, making me worry like that" He whispered his fingers twitched; he wanted to touch him, so badly; he had never touched Altair's face or his body before now and it was a prime opportunity to do so while the other was unconscious.

His fingers shook as his fingers stroked along the man's face; even though Altair was almost thirty he was ageing well for an assassin he didn't look a day over 25, with little in the way of wrinkles or grey hairs, his face was smooth and warm until he reached his face where the tell take scratch of three day stubble was.

His fingers moved further downward trailing over the others throat and down his chest, his fingers traced over scars, a mark of the hard life an assassin led but the scars did not disgust him in fact it was the opposite he thought they made the other even more exquisite than he already was.

He slid his fingers past the man's nipples and down his toned chest; rock hard muscle over flesh from years of harsh training and climbing buildings "...Altair" He breathed as he felt a familiar heat pool in his stomach, a tell tale sign of impending arousal. His fingers reached the others navel before it stopped. Malik froze not sure whether he should go any further then simply touching, even though he really wanted to; by Allah if anyone saw him if Altair caught him-

The thought alone of getting caught was enough for him to regain his senses and he withdrew from the other only pausing to drape a blanket over the sleeping male; he didn't seem to have a temperature, so it should be safe to just let him sleep it off; Altair was tough he'd be fine with some rest.

Malik however, feared that sleep would not come so easily for him "...fool" He muttered to himself as he retreated to his small room closing the door behind him.

This is my first attempt at writing Malik, I hope I didn't make him OOC . Not sure whether to continue this or not, to be honest I just wanted to dive into Malik's mind a and have a rummage around, and I guess I like Altair injured and bloody :P