A/N:Okay. I kinda slashed everyone together. XD I couldn't really resist it though... I hope you guys enjoy it!!
It was wrong. It was never supposed to happen like this. It was supposed to go differently. He was attracted to Lucy, wasn't he? Wasn't she a gorgeous blond bombshell that was damn good at solving her own problems and taking care of herself? Wasn't that ever man's dream? So why wasn't she the blond bombshell that kept sneaking through his mental barriers? Why did he find himself looking for Shaun right out of the Animus instead of Lucy, or even Rebecca?
Shaun's cold words and frigid logic drew him back to 1191 and Altair's secrets with Malik, reminded him of the physical and emotional hurt he'd lived through as Altair when Malik's arm was lost and his brohter killed. But Shaun's harsh words were often followed by slightly gentler ones that showed his anger and bitterness were borne of logic and not hatred, much like Malik's anger. When Shaun spoke coldly and sarcastically, Desmond repressed Altair's animalistic urge to do unspeakably pleasureable things to the Brit.
Then there were Shaun's moments of mental alacrity, those moments where he would discover something new and his eyes would light up and he would solve an ancient problem using a new technique or a new problem using an old technique. Those were the moments when Desmond was whisked away to the fifteenth century and he was caught up in something very akin to boyish admiration strongly undertoned by lust. It was no longer Shaun that he was looking at. It was the bright-eyed Leonardo, seeing not the problem, but the solution that no one else had thought of. It was when Shaun gave up his sarcasm for brilliance that Desmond struggled with Ezio's desires.
With Shaun so readily bouncing between his moments of sarcasm and brilliance, Desmond found himself perpetually caught in a tidal wave of desires and urges and lusts that weren't entirely his own. But ones that he didn't necessarily disagree with either...
It was when he saw Lucy that things became confusing. He felt some odd sense of attraction there, one that was simply superficial and one that reminded him of a deeper attraction that he couldn't readily place... It was when he was dreaming of Jerusalem one night that he finally realized why it was so hauntingly familiar. His attraction to Lucy was reminiscent of Altair's attraction to Maria, who's strength despite her disability (being a woman in a "man's world") was so close to Malik's. His attraction to Maria that was more based in continuing his lineage than any deeper emotion.
What Desmond realized that no one else did was that it wasn't Maria that saved Altair from his sorrows over Ahda. Just like it wasn't Rosa(1) that helped Ezio forget about the sorrows of the deaths of his father and brothers. Altair had Malik. Ezio had Leonardo.
It was a night when Rebecca and Lucy had gone to pick up some fast food and other supplies that Desmond realized his Malik, his Leonardo, was Shaun. And his Maria, Rosa, was Lucy. Lucy and Rebecca had been gone for nearly half an hour when Shaun began cursing at his computer screen. He muttered something about firewalls and continued pounding at his keyboard. Desmond wasn't sure what happened next or who moved first, but the next instant that he could remember was one where he had pushed Shaun against the wall and they were kissing like the world was ending around them. He remembered hearing Altair's murmur of approval and a long list of Italian words from Ezio that had something to do with him certainly taking "way too much goddamned time to realize what the fuck was going on".
It was another half hour before Lucy and Rebecca returned to find Shaun's computer's screen decorated with a screensaver, something the poor machine rarely was left alone long enough to experience. The answer to that riddle was not far off. Shawn was sleeping on the small bed with his head on Desmond's chest, clutching at the fabric of Subject Seventeen's shirt like a child would cling to a blankie or a teddy bear. Desmond, though he slept as well, was wrapped around Shaun protectively. Altair whispered to Desmond that someone was approaching when the door opened and Lucy and Rebecca entered the room and Ezio reminded him that there was a knife in the drawer nearby, should he need to use it.
There was no mistaking the dark growl that slid through Desmond's lips, though his eyes were still closed, as Lucy tried walking to the bed to wake them up. His consciousness that was Altair was determined to protect this foreigner that reminded him of his Malik, and his mind that was connected to Ezio would rather die than lose someone so like Leonardo.
"Probably best to let sleeping Assassins lie, Lucy." Rebecca mused.
"What do you think brough all this on?" Lucy asked when they walked out of the room, closing the door behind them.
"Could have something to do with the bleeding effect. There's no real record of Altair orEzio settling down with a woman, just rumors of mistresses and illegitimate children." Rebecca reminded her friend.
"You don't think..." Lucy sent a glance to the door behind her.
"Just something to think about." Rebecca shrugged.
It seemed Desmond shared more than hightened abilities with his ancestors. It seemed his taste in men was close to traditional as well...
(1) This assumption is based on Ezio's "birthday' cut-scene when Rosa tells Ezio she found the shipping manifest from the ship that went to Cyprus and they almost kissed, but Leonardo showed up.