There's nothing much to say about this story, I just hope you enjoy it! I don't own Assassin's Creed.

Chapter 1, Friendship.

"Hey! Hey, Mal!" Ezio Auditore called, his voice filled with hope this bright, springful morning from where he stood, right beside the door of his classroom during a school break. His eyes scanned the area to find his friend at the far end of the class, sitting peacefully at his desk, reading God knows what. Malik had heard him, but chose to ignore him. He frowned, however, when his name was continuously called by his 'friend' and, unfortunately, classmate, Ezio. He had to force himself to look up from his book-which he so much intended to read until Ezio appeared-with an annoyed look.

"What?" he growled under his breath as Ezio hastily made his way through a few full or empty desks. He received curious glances or stares from other classmates that chose to stay in class during school breaks as he stopped beside Malik with a pleading in his eyes.

"Malik, I need your help!" he says, placing a hand on Malik's shoulder, a few dark strands of his slightly long hair falling over he eyes.

"You always need my help, Ezio." Malik quipped, yet Ezio acted oblivious to this as he continued his depserate babble.

"No, really! Remember the paperwork we were handed the other day in History?" Ezio asked, a look of hope on his face as he spoke.

"Let me guess, you haven't even touched them?" Malik snorted, "And you want me to help you with that?"

"You're such a good friend for understanding!" Ezio grins in relief, giving a light squeeze on his shoulder as he gave Malik a thumbs up and a wink. Malik swore he saw an glint in those golden brown eyes of his that he couldn't quite place. Malik didn't even protest.

"Why are we friends again?" Malik said sarcastically, almost rolling his eyes as he closed his book, knowing he wouldn't get any peace and quiet any longer. At least not when Ezio's around. Ezio's reaction was expected.

"Awh, come on, Mal! You know you love me!" he says, heavy accent rolling off his lips as he laughed and patted Malik on his back.

It had been like this since the very first day they started hanging out as kids, and really, Malik couldn't recall how and why they were still friends, considering their differences. Malik never complained about it though. Ezio's a good guy, he may be a little troublesome and a huge flirt when it comes to the beautiful ladies, but he's still a good guy. A good friend, if it can be any simpler than that. He didn't want their friendship to end, even though sometimes that wish was doubtful.

"Are you busy after school today, amico mio?" Ezio asked suddenly, his eyes focused on an attractive redheaded girl that chatted excitedly with a couple of her friends on the other side of the classroom. He winked at her flirtatiously when she stole a glance, her face nearly matching the colour of her hair when she noticed.

Malik payed no mind to the Italian's antics as he stared down at the cover of the book he was reading just minutes ago. "No, not that I know of. Why?" he asked, a curious look in his eyes as his gaze turned from his book to Ezio.

"Come to my house with me after school," Ezio said as he finally broke eye contact with the girl, focusing his gaze on Malik instead. "I wanna get the work done before tomorrow, at least."

"Do I have a choice on that?" Malik raised a brow and stared up at the other through his glasses, almost forgeting that he was even wearing them until he had to adjust them lightly with his fingers.

"Someone once told me," Ezio said with a grin, raising a finger as he spoke, "'One should always have the freedom to choose'," and Malik just chuckled.

"Alright, but you owe me, Ezio." Malik nodded and playfully poked the other's ribs, receiving a startled gasp.

"Hey-!" annoyed, Ezio went to say something else, but the loud ring of the school bells that echoed throughout the whole building interrupted him, jerking his head to the side as if he caught a glimpse of something from the corner of his eyes. Malik laughed as he watched Ezio rushing towards his own seat, accidentally bumping into the same red headed girl from before on his way. A teacher, tall and rather young for his job, entered the classroom and everything went silent as the lesson started.

Hours came and went until the end of the school day. As promised, both Malik and Ezio made their way towards the Auditore manor on foot. Usually, they would've went by car since there's always someone to pick Ezio up after school, but strangely, everyone was busy today. There was no complaining coming from either of them, though, and Malik actually liked walking, so all was good. Though, when Ezio was the only company present, it was tiring to even walk with the guy. He would often talk about all the people he flirted with that day, and they were quite a few since he hadn't stopped talking yet, Malik had to force himself to give occasional nods or hums, giving Ezio the impression that he was actually listening. Not that Malik ever cared about his affairs and daily visits to so many girls' houses, whose names Malik could never remember, despite Ezio mentioning them more than a thousand times. It was always like this, mind you, and Malik just dealt with the talkative Italian.

They crossed the street and walked a little more before Ezio spotted a lovely young lady just a few meters away from them, walking back and forth elegantly near a bus stop, her dark blue eyes unfocused as she looked around casually.

"Oh, she's beautiful.." Ezio muttered with a smile, the woman's beauty interrupting his one-sided conversation with Malik as his gaze settled on her figure. Malik had to blink to finally know what was going on.

"No, Ezio, don't you dare-" Malik tried to say, but he couldn't stop the other from advancing towards the lady with a charming smile. Malik stood his ground in surprise, not daring to follow his friend (and embarrass himself) as he watched in silence how the conversation between the two didn't even last a minute. He couldn't help but smile when the lady hummed and rolled her eyes, deciding to catch a bus somewhere else as she walked away from Ezio, though she didn't look annoyed.

"Aspetta! I wasn't ready. I was planning on being really charming. And funny! Can I just have a second chance?" Ezio pleaded, pulling his best puppy dog eyes as his brought his hands together infront of his, almost begging. The lady smiled, but she still walked away. Malik laughed at the whole scene and finally remembered one of the reasons on why he wanted this friendship to never end.

Ezio eventually laughed with him, patting Malik's back as they continued their walk towards Ezio's house, which wasn't a long one. They walked in silence in which Malik was thankful for.

"I hope your uncle isn't home," Malik says after a while, "He's weird." he admitted and Ezio chuckled.

"Nah, he's not there. Don't worry." Ezio sends him a reassuing smile and Malik raises a brow.

"Your whole house is empty?" Malik asks with curiosity. It was rare for the Auditore's house to be empty, there's always gotta be someone running within it's halls and rooms. That house was quite huge, almost mistaken for a mansion. Yes, a whole damn mansion, yet it was nothing more than an oversized house. Ezio glances at Malik with a thoughtful look across his face, as if the question had limited choices of answers and he had to choose wisely between them.

"Ah, well.. Not quite empty," he starts off, looking up at the sky and watching as a few puffy white clouds made their way through the endless blue above the boys' heads. "Despite the maids, there's my cousin, too. He's staying for a while." Ezio finishes with a grin and looks at Malik as the other blinked.

"Cousin, huh?" he says, disinterest clear in his voice as he clutched at the strap of his school bag that hang loosely over his shoulder. He knew Ezio had, in fact, a lot of cousins, though he didn't feel like asking which one was staying for a while. Malik just shrugged that subject off his shoulders as they both continued to walk a few more blocks, until they finally stopped right outside the door of the Auditore's large house.

"I hope you won't get lost in there, like the last time." Ezio joked as he unlocked the front door, opening it as soon as he was done, Malik had to roll his eyes at that.

"Let's just get that damn work over and done with," Malik groaned in irritation, being the one who entered the building first, the Italian just chuckled at his friend before following.

"Whatever you say, Princess."

I know, it's a little slow at first, but please bear with me!