Leonardo was buzzing about in the small room, energetically going to and fro from various projects and ideas. It was no wonder he never got anything finished, he could never concentrate long enough. There was just too much to do, to much to see and explore. Zoroaster wished he could see the world the same way, see the fascination with every little detail. He had to duck when he entered as a bird flew overhead. "Next time you set a bird free, can you do it outside?"

"Zo! Look at this!" Leonardo didn't even bother with small talk, that the way he always was. Zoroaster pretended he didn't mind. The artisan took him by the shoulder and lead him over to the desk, pointing out his drawings of some new contraption. "What do you think?"

Zoroaster raised an eyebrow. "What is it?"

"It's a new device! Look at this," he pointed out three lines near the top of the swirling image. "These keep the whole contraption aloft."

"Aloft? You mean-"

"It's a flying machine, Zo!"

"Well that explains the bird."

"What bird?"

"That bird."

"Oh yeah, that bird."

Zoroaster just rolled his eyes and went to open a window for the poor thing. God only knew how long it had been trapped in here.

"So, what do you think?" Leonardo diverted the conversion back, hoping for some shared appreciation of his new invention.

"It's incredible."

"Good, I want you to test it."

That brought him up short. "What?"

"Test it. Look, there's a seat there. It's designed to keep up a person." The artisan looked hopeful, so confident with himself.

"Keep up? I thought this thing could fly."

"Well, it can't get itself of the ground. Once you're high enough it'll keep you up, though."

Zoroaster clenched his jaw. "You want to chuck me off a building, strapped in to that thing?"

"Well-"

"Leo, I'm not getting in that thing. Get Nico!" Zoroaster back away a few steps. As much faith as he had in Leonardo, there was no way he was risking his life for one of his experiments.

"Nico had something to do, I'm not sure what."

"He didn't happen to suddenly have plans after you told him what your designing?"

Leonardo paused for a moment, furrowing his brow. "...Oh."

"I'm not going to risk my life for one of your tests. I'm sorry, Leo."

"Why not this time? You've risked your life for me before. Not that I'm not grateful, I'd do it for you I a heartbeat, but what's so different this time? You said the design was incredible." Leonardo ruffled his hair, and Zoroaster felt a pang of guilt as he realised he had hurt him. I'll always risk my life for you, he wanted to say, but not for one of your mad experiments.

"Because this is mad, Leo!"

"So? What's changed?" Zoroaster had to admit, he had a point there. All of his schemes were crazy, this was no different. It's just that Leo didn't realise Zoroaster's priority wasn't knowledge and discovery, it was just him.

Zoroaster just sighed, he didn't like the way this conversation was going. "You know what, Leo? Find another guinea pig. I'm getting a drink."

"You're not a guinea pig, Zo..." Zoroaster wanted to ignore him, turning for the door, but he couldn't help it. He turned back.

"Not a guinea pig? What else am I? All you do is talk me into your mad schemes and experiments!" He slammed his mouth shut before things could escalate, but as soon as Leonardo went to speak he couldn't help continuing. "What's worse is, I'm not even your main guinea pig. You only need me when Nico isn't around or isn't stupid enough to go along with whatever crazy plan you've come up with."

He could tell he'd taken it too far. There was no backing out now. "Then why are you still here? If that's all you think you are to me, why do you always come back?"

"You know damn well why I do, Leo!" It's because of who you are, Leo. You see all the beauty in the world that I don't and it entrances me. You entrance me.

"I don't know why you do half the things you do so just spit it out!" Leonardo was more annoyed than angry now, and Zoroaster wished he could be the same. He was never good with anger.

Leonardo was almost ignoring him now, looking back at his sheets as he continued the conversation. That was typical of him, to distract himself with his work and shut out everything else as soon as something important to somebody else was happening. Zoroaster walked to the other side on the room and clutched at the surface before him. "No. Not like this. I'm not doing this now."

The artisan was barely paying attention. "Doing what? Zo, what the hell are you talking about?"

Zoroaster tightened his grasp on the table before him, digging his fingers into the hard wood. "You really don't have the faintest idea, do you Leo? You, who knows everything, can't see what's right at the end of your nose." He spoke through gritted teeth. He needed a drink.

"Zo I honestly have no idea what you're talking about, but I'm kind of busy right now so can we postpone this?"

For a brief moment, Zoroaster froze. His voice went quiet, his rage fading into something else. "Yeah, you're always busy. And there's always some mad scheme that you'll rope me into, some crazy invention that could kill me. But I'll always go along because that's just how it works, right?"

Leonardo slowed his pace, placing a last sheet of paper on the desk. He turned to face his friend, but found Zoroaster's back towards him. "You're upset."

"Of course I'm upset, I'm in the middle of an argument."

"No, this isn't the same. You're not angry, you're not annoyed anymore. You're... Sad. Why are you sad?"

Zoroaster forcefully pushed himself from the wooden table, running his hands through his hair. "You're busy, Leo. Get back to work."

"No, it can wait."

"It's for Lorenzo, it can't wait."

"Yes it can. He expects me to be late. Why are you upset?"

"Why do you even care? Since when do you give a crap about anything but your maps and your constellations and your inventions?"

"Zo..."

"Forget it Leo."

Leonardo crossed the room in one long stride and placed his hand on the other mans shoulder, turning him so they were face to face. "You're never like this. What happened?"

Zoroaster met his eyes for the briefest moment before turning his head away. "It doesn't matter. I'm going to get a drink."

He started for the door but Leonardo blocked his path. "I'm not just going to let you walk out of here Zo. I need yo-" he faltered for the briefest moment before continuing his sentence, "you to tell me what's going on."

Zoroaster clenched his jaw. He had no idea how to get out of this, how to proceed from here.

"What are you hiding from me, Zo?" The artisan looked earnest, those large eyes staring into his own as Leonardo turned his head back to face him.

For a moment, Zoroaster just stared at the artist. For a moment, he wished he had the skill to draw like the artist did. He wanted to capture that expression and keep it preserved forever. But that wasn't possible, so he did the next best thing.

He kissed him.

AN: Not sure what I'm going to do with this. At the moment it lacks direction and is mostly dialogue, which I'm not so keen on. If I can think of a decent plot, I may incorporate it into a larger fic.