Hello! This is my first time uploading a story. ^_^

yaoi warning, Desmond x Shaun - fluff fluff fluff(:

Set in Brotherhood, a couple of days after they arrive at the Sanctuary.

I'm assuming they stay there for a little more than a week before the game ends, so I'll be posting this in order of the days, so it may amount to 8 or 9 chapters in all?

This is Day One.

The city of Rome faded to white as Desmond Miles exited the animus. He sat up and rubbed the back of his neck, lying down for so long had knotted his back. The assassin took a moment to let his eyes adjust and then looked for the familiar sight of Rebecca smiling down at him from her computer, but as his vision sharpened he realized it wasn't Rebecca at the controls, but Shaun.

"Could it take you any longer to move? Why don't you hurry up so we can leave?" Desmond didn't bother answering Shaun's typical sarcastic statement. "Where're the girls?" Desmond slid his legs off the seat of the Animus and twisted to pop his back. Shaun crossed his arms and looked at him impatiently. "If this had been a panic situation, your sluggishness would have gotten us both killed. Lucy and Rebecca have already left to buy supplies. I'm sure you've noticed, what with your raiding the icebox every time you have a chance, but we're almost out of food. We've had to start buying double what we used to, with you and you endless gut." Desmond could tell Shaun he was waiting for another reply he could sneer at. The younger man decided to ignore the condescending comments and rose from his seat. "Did you tell them to get beer?"

Shaun scowled.

Desmond savored the warmth of the sun on his face as the two assassins walked side by side down a cobbled street.

"I've figured out that we're going to eat, but you haven't told me where yet."

"There's a friend of Lucy's who runs a diner roughly a kilometer from here."

"Aren't you afraid we're going to run into any Templars?"

"If you can keep from being an idiot and pressing your face against an open window, we should be just fine."

Shaun ended the conversation by suddenly increasing his pace and walking several yards in front of Desmond. The younger man had to jog to keep up with him.

"Isn't it convenient that Lucy knows someone so close to our base?"

"Can't you keep your mouth shut for five minutes?" Shaun was obviously annoyed; Desmond had interrupted him while he was in deep thought.

"Hey, it's a fair question."

"No, it's a stupid one. Why do you think Lucy chose this place? She probably has a lot of contacts near here."

"Oh, yeah, of course."

"Idiot."

"Hey, Shaun –"

"WHAT, Desmond? What could you POSSIBLY wish to know? What my middle name is? Why the sky is blue? Ten ways to commit suicide?"

The two men glared at each other.

"Why are you taking me to this diner instead of, you know, Lucy? Or Rebecca, of course."

"That's exactly what I asked her, Desmond. That's exactly what I'm asking myself right now."

"So she asked you to?"

"Oh, brilliant deducing skills on your part! No, I asked to, because we're so chummy."

"You could have just given me directions and left earlier."

"Well it's not that simple, is it? Lucy's afraid you'll have another bad hallucination and wander into the street."

"Oh, right, the hallucinations…"

"Your answer tells me you haven't had one yet. Good, keep it that way. I don't want to babysit you more than I have to."

"So you'll be paying for my food?"

"Go away."

"Desmond. Desmond!"

Desmond shook his head to clear his thoughts. A blue-tinted horse ran through Shaun. Crap, that's not supposed to be there. But he couldn't help smiling at the thought of a horse running the other man over.

"What are you smiling at? Pull yourself together, we're here."

"Here?"

"The diner, obviously. Good Lord, can't you remember anything?"

"The diner, the one with Lucy's friend. I remember."

"Wonderful. And you remember the password to get in?"

"Password?"

"I'm only kidding, Desmond, don't look so confused. Get a sense of humor!"

"Well, I-" But Desmond was at a loss for words. Shaun smirked and pushed open the door to the diner. A bell rang and a plump, cheerful looking middle aged woman looked up from the booth she was sitting in. "Welcome! Oh, you, young man, didn't you come here with Lucy before? Yes, I remember you! Shaun, wasn't it?"

"Yes, ma'am. " Shaun replied politely. Desmond gave him a sidelong look. The other man's expression had seamlessly changed from an arrogant grin to a well behaved smile. "And I'm, er, Desmond, another friend of Lucy's." Desmond introduced himself, tearing his eyes from Shaun.

"Splendid to meet you, dear! I'm Molly, come, sit here and order anything you'd like!" The rosy woman bounced into the kitchen to leave the two assassins to their menus.

It was a homely diner, not very big, with retro red booths and a checkered floor. Desmond couldn't remember if he'd seen the name, and it wasn't printed anywhere on the front of the menu. Heopened his menu and skimmed through the choices. Something caught the corner of his eye, something with a blueish tint.

Not again…

The diner was crowded with people. Women in long, tight dresses, and beggars playing music for money chatted with one another silently. A group of prostitutes gestured provocatively at men passing by them. Desmond's eyes clouded over as they usually did during more severe hallucinations.

Shaun glanced over the top of his menu, poised with a remark about how unusually quiet Desmond was. Instead he saw that the other man looked completely unaware of his surroundings, and seemed to be following things with his eyes that weren't there. He leaned over the table and gave Desmond a hard slap on the cheek.

Desmond blinked several times and rubbed his eyes with his sleeve. The illusion disappeared and he was back in the diner again.

Desmond opened his mouth to complain about the slap, but the other man cut him off. "How long was that one?" Shaun didn't seem particularly interested in the answer, but he was still studying Desmond for further effects. "Not too long, twenty seconds or so." Desmond lied. Shaun didn't look entirely convinced, but nodded and looked back to his menu.

The hallucinations are getting worse…

The two men ordered and ate in silence. Desmond studied his reflection in the window, searching for any physical signs that the bleeding effect might have caused. Shaun made a face at him. The two exchanged ridiculous expressions for a moment and then continued eating.

The two assassins rose simultaneously from their seats after a waitress had cleared the table and the bill had been paid. "Bye, dears! Come back soon!" Molly called from behind the register. Desmond smiled and waved at her as he pushed the door open and the bell rang to mark their exit.

Shaun wanted a quiet, short walk back to base. He kept the pace at a swift walk and took a different route back than he had when they'd come here.

"Hey, this is a different way than before."

Shaun mentally cringed, but Desmond's persistent talking could not be avoided. "That's right." He looked over his shoulder to Desmond when he didn't receive a reply. Desmond's eyes were hazed over, and he walked at a bit of an angle, as if following a different street. Shaun stopped walking and put a hand on the other man's shoulder to stop him and snapped twice in front of his face. Desmond returned to reality and put a hand to his temple. "Thanks." Shaun's eyebrows raised and he nodded in reply.

When they returned to the base, Desmond was ushered back into the animus by Lucy and Rebecca, who had returned earlier, and Shaun returned to his own computer.

"Hey, bud, you feelin' alright? You haven't been doin' much for about an hour." Rebecca's voice came through the animus and Desmond realized Ezio was kind of just standing there near a bench. "Oh, uh, yeah, sorry, I've got a lot on my mind…" Shaun's laugh floated to him. "Can't stay out of the past when he needs to, and can't focus on it when he has to." No one could see, but Desmond made a face between a smile and an annoyed look under the screen of the animus.

The screen on the animus retracted, and Desmond's eyes adjusted to the dim light of the base. Lucy leaned over the animus and smiled at him. "Sorry, we had dinner without you…" Desmond smiled. "Nah, it's fine, I'll just get a yogurt or something." Lucy beamed. "Night, Desmond."

"Night, Lucy."

The female assassin left the room to stand guard. On her way out she unplugged the large lights, and the room went dark. A lamp in the corner was the only source of light now. It cast gloomy shadows on the assassin statues that lined the walls. Desmond put his arms behind his head and stared up at the ceiling. A clicking noise caught his attention and he propped himself up on his elbows. Shaun was at his desk, typing. "Huh?" Desmond mumbled.

"Hello to you too, Desmond."

"What're… what're you doing up?"

Shaun didn't feel it was right to tell Desmond that Lucy had decided it would be best to keep him under constant surveillance, to keep track of how many hallucinations he had and their lengths. Determine the state of his "problem".

"I've still got work to do."

"The bulb in your lamp burned out a couple nights ago, didn't it? Need me to go get you a new one?"

"No, thank you."

The relationship between the two was very complicated. They could be passing insults back and forth, or offering each other help, or having a friendly chat. Shaun seemed to be in a good mood tonight, and Desmond wasn't quite tired yet, so he took a chance at pulling up a chair behind Shaun's and tried to make sense of what he was doing. The other assassin typed extremely fast, and always seem to be switching between sending an email and going through lines of encrypted text. After a while Desmond was hunched over with his elbows on his knees and his head resting on his hands.

"What is all of that?" He asked, referring to the lines of code speeding down Shaun's monitor.

"Ezio's memories, not many of them are glitched, but these are the ones that are."

"Not many? That list is endless."

Shaun chuckled. "It's on a loop, and these are memories we're talking about, each of them is quite long. I'm looking for the irregularities that are stopping them from working correctly."

"So I'm going to have to do all of that?"

"Yep."

"Any hints about the future? Er, the future of the past?"

"It doesn't work like that."

Another ten minutes of silence passed, Desmond slipped closer to sleep.

"How are you doing that so fast? Isn't it hard to find 'irregularities' if the text is going too fast to read?"

"I've got a program helping me, but if I do find one I press a button and the computer with double check the last minute of code."

"Mmhmm…"

Both men sounded groggy. Desmond had almost fallen off his chair and Shaun's eyes were red. His fingers had slowed down considerably as he typed, until he was barely moving them.

"Desmond."

"Mmm?"

"You should sleep."

Desmond nodded and yawed. He rose slowly from the chair and placed it back at Lucy's desk.

"Night, Shaun."

"Night, Desmond."

Desmond found himself atop the Abstergo building. The sky was a colorless grey, and nothing moved across the landscape. The entire area was comfortably lit by an unknown source. There was no sun in the sky, and the buildings several hundred feet below him looked washed out and oddly shaped. There was a wall behind Desmond, and a door leading onto the upper floor of the building. He tried the handle, but his hands slipped over the smooth surface of the nob and he couldn't get a grip. Desmond turned back and stepped closer to the edge of the building. There was a heavy fog in the air when he peered over the edge, hiding the town below. The assassin stepped off the edge of the building and fell straight to the ground.

Desmond woke up by throwing himself out of his sleeping bag. He hit his head on a metal box and cried out in pain. Desmond drew his knees to his chest and clenched his hands on his throbbing head. "Desmond!" Lucy crawled out of her sleeping bag and rushed toward him. "Are you alright? What happened?" Desmond groaned and pushed himself to a sitting position, one hand still holding his head. "Bad dream." Lucy sympathetically wrapped her arms around his neck. Desmond blushed and used his free hand to return the hug. "We should get some ice for your head."

"Don't worry, it's nothing."

"You're sure?"

"Yeah, if my head swells I'll look tougher."

Lucy laughed. "Okay, tough guy. Try to get another hour of sleep, alright?" She stepped away from Desmond and smiled.

"Yeah, alright."

Shaun watched from across the room. He felt oddly envious of Lucy.

Desmond tried to sleep, but was plagued by visions of the Abstergo building. He spent the next hour staring at the ceiling and checking his watch.

End of Day One! Review please! I'd love to know what you think. Please point out any typo's or bad grammar you may find. :D