Hello! This is a kind-of sequel to Essere Qualcosa, in that it does follow that fic, but you needn't read that fic to understand this one. However... you should read it anyways :D
This'll be a... two-shot.... or a one-shot with two chapters... whatever terminology you prefer.
The title, Punto privo di visibilità, I am told, means "blind spot." Like the literal kind, when you're in a car and such. Speaking of that, if the Italian is a little off, I'm sorry.. not quite up on my studying..
The inventions/bird reference... well.... can you tell I was reading about Leonardo Da Vinci's life? :) it was really interesting!
I think that about covers everything.
That being said, enjoy!
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"Is that all? That is half of the shipment! Where the hell is the rest?!"
"Nothing else was ordered!"
"Che cazzo stai dicendo? This is half!"
The roaring voices from the docks floated through the open window of the studio, increasing in roaring volume. Leonardo didn't notice, humming as he poured over a sketch on the table. His gaze flickered up to the wooden figurine on the table to study it again, before returning to the sketch, fixing the curve of a line.
"What the hell am I supposed to do with eighty-six boxes?!"
"What do I care?! Sell 'em! Burn 'em! Just take 'em!"
"That's like four times more than I'm supposed to unload!"
"Does that look like my problem?"
"Hey! Hey! Get back here and take these! You-"
Leonardo continued to hum as sunlight proceeded across the table. He could faintly hear the slosh of water against the canal stone, behind the sound of screaming from the men working at the docks.
"You! You are useless! Cazzo- go get that! Right now!"
"It's in the water!"
"Then get it!"
Leonardo didn't so much as look up when there was the sound of someone climbing through his window, in a reckless scramble to get inside. The intruded landed on the floor with a growl of frustration.
"I hate pickpocketing alert people" Ezio grumbled, "Dio mio, those men out there are vicious..." Footsteps, and Leonardo felt a hand at his shoulder. "Did you even notice?"
"Notice what?" Leonardo paused in his humming to ask, and Ezio laughed.
"You are the epitome of oblivious, caro mio." He kissed Leonardo on the back of his neck and wandered back to the window. "For the life of me, I will never understand why people leave maps in their pockets. It is too easy. And they are so obvious about where they keep their money..." Leonardo didn't have to turn to know that Ezio was picking out easy targets on the street, something the assassin barely realized he was doing. "What are you doing?"
"Nothing." The response was always, invariably, the same. Ezio went back to the table, looking over Leonardo's shoulder.
"Va bene. Always nothing. I was not aware that 'nothing' had become synonymous with 'a masterpiece.'"
"You are terribly behind." Leonardo set down his pen, turning to kiss Ezio's jaw. "It is nothing. I was bored."
"Of course. When I'm bored, I count cracks in the paint. And when you are bored, you create brilliant art. Predictable." He grinned, and Leonardo just laughed.
"Caro mio, when you're bored, you always come distract me."
"What can I say? You are far more interesting than paint." He tilted Leonardo's head back, pressed a kiss to his lips, "and everything else." His gaze shifted back to the sketch. "What are you doing?"
"It's a knight." Leonardo ran a fingertip over the delicate lines on the paper, "A French one."
"And... why a French knight?"
"Because" Leonardo said, as if the answer should have been obvious, "studying dock workers would have hardly been a challenge."
"Of course." Ezio had wandered into the kitchen, a note of amusement finding its way into his tone, "and this was... what, exactly?"
"Experimenting." He turned to see Ezio poking the destroyed mess the piece of papyrus had become.
"Uh... was this the... failed attempt?"
"No, no, that was the success. It turned to pulp when soaked in vinegar."
"And that is... good?"
"Of course. But I already knew it would. I wanted to find another liquid that could do so," he explained, as Ezio prodded the less-mangled pages, "I don't like the smell of vinegar. So I wanted something else to put inside the vial."
"Only you would try to improve perfection." Ezio smiled. "The vinegar serves its purpose perfectly." The vinegar he spoke of was part of the invention that allowed secretive documents to be sent without betrayal by messengers. If the contraption that held the document was forced open, the glass vial inside would break, destroying the contents. Ezio had marveled at the sheer brilliance since its creation, and Leonardo was unhappy with the strong smell of vinegar. He returned to the window, as the dock workers continued to curse at each other, boxes falling and breaking. "Are they always this loud?"
"No" Leonardo pushed back from the table, "only near Carnevale." He joined Ezio at the window, watching the dock workers fling boxes at each other and snarl insults, seeing only the curve of the wooden boxes, the frayed edges of the dock workers' sleeves, the liquid movement of the sails.
"Ah. That is soon?"
"Next week" Leonardo smiled brightly, "very soon!"
"Dio mio, te amo..." Ezio pulled him close abruptly, hugging him tight, drawing a surprised moan of delight from Leonardo. "I forgot it was next week..."
Leonardo bent over the sketch again, humming. Ezio's affection still took him by surprise, even after a month, but never ceased to delight him. Whereas he had failed to notice all the times Leonardo had hoped for a hug before, he seemed to have since realized that he had a touch Leonardo craved. The amazement was something Leonardo had never seen in Ezio before, the way Ezio seemed to constantly find something new to marvel at, and, more often than not, it seemed to be Leonardo himself. Leonardo had once asked him about it, and the answer had made him blush with an embarrassed delight.
"It's you that is so amazing, Leonardo" Ezio had said, "I keep finding more to fall in love with."
As Leonardo resumed working and humming, Ezio poked around the kitchen, adjusting the drawers that had fallen out of alignment. Upon checking the cabinets, he found that a previously empty space was now filled. Inside the cabinet were tiny birdcages, every single one empty. Leonardo smiled at the confused look on Ezio's face. Ezio came back over to him, wrapping his arms around Leonardo.
"Caro mio, where did all the bird cages come from?" he kissed along Leonardo's neck, thoroughly distracting Leonardo from answering. He moaned as Ezio's hands slipped under his shirt, warm against his skin.
"They-" Leonardo attempted to answer, quickly distracted as Ezio guided him away from the table, gently tugging him towards the stairs, "I don't remember..." Leonardo breathed, as Ezio, laughing, tilted his chin up, kissed him until he forgot everything else.
Leonardo had never known how liberating it felt, to forget the whole world.
x xxxxxxxx x
It wasn't supposed to cause problems, Leonardo knew that. The art collector had extended the invitation to the carnevale party merely because he counted Leonardo among his friends, and yet, as Leonardo left the man's house, he couldn't help the twinge of resentment.
Nothing would have made him happier than for Ezio to agree to attend with him, and he knew, he knew, that Ezio would never agree.
"Leonardo, you took just short of forever" Ezio's voice made him jump, and he turned, to see that Ezio had been beside him the entire time.
There were many reminders, that Ezio was still, always, an assassin. It was evident, in the way he instinctively slipped back into a blind spot as he followed along after Leonardo. It was second nature for him to follow outside the limits of peripheral vision; oftentimes, Leonardo never saw him coming.
"I didn't mean to... he talks a lot..." Leonardo said, as Ezio appeared beside him.
"Are you all right, amore mio?" Ezio questioned softly, and Leonardo ignored the worried gaze.
"I'm fine."
He wasn't an adept liar, but he was not a willing confessor, either.
X xxxxxxxxxxx X
Leonardo watched the tiny bird hop around inside the cage, making piping notes of a song. It had been the most lively at the market stall, hopping and whistling, and Leonardo hadn't been able to resist. He watched the bird's attempts at flying, as the workshop door opened and the sound of glass shattering could be heard.
"Mi dispiace, caro mio…" Ezio's voice, "I- oh, that's amazing…" Leonardo poked a finger through the wire cage sitting on the windowsill, as Ezio fiddled with the two-foot-tall model Leonardo had put together, based on the sketch he'd made a week previously. "I see your French knight was a success."
"Sì." Leonardo pried the door of the cage open, "vieni qui." The bird was happy to do as he asked, hopping out into the palm of his hand. "Bravo." He lifted his hand slightly, urging the bird to fly. After a moment of hopping, it tilted its head, and then flew away into the gathering darkness of cloud cover. Leonardo watched until he couldn't see the bird anymore, then turned away from the window.
"So that is where all the bird cages are from" Ezio was leaning against the table, that look on his face that Leonardo adored, when Ezio fell more in love.
"Sì. I hate seeing them in cages." He toyed with the door of the tiny bird cage, until Ezio's footsteps made him set it down and look up. Ezio tilted his chin up, those amber eyes meeting Leonardo's.
"Amore mio, is something wrong?"
"No. Nothing."
"Per favore? It worries me when you're not happy."
"It is nothing…" Leonardo traced a fingertip over the bracer on Ezio's right arm. "Really…" Ezio caught Leonardo's hand in his gloved one, gaze never moving from him.
"It also worries me when you try to lie about it."
"It should be nothing" Leonardo looked down, "a friend invited me to his carnevale celebration."
"Why is that bad?"
"That, in itself, is not." He kept his gaze on the ground, "but I would hardly want to go alone-"
"Leonardo, I-"
" And it would be more torment than anything else if you were to come as anything but as what you are to me" Leonardo finished firmly, making Ezio fall silent. "That is what is wrong. I want you to come with me. Would you?" The pained look on Ezio's face spoke for him before he could.
"No."
Leonardo had excepted disappointment, but not to such a crushing degree. He hadn't wanted it to mean so much to him, but it was hardly something he could control, and certainly nothing he could change. The lack of reciprocity had always been a fear of Leonardo's, and to stare it in the face when he least expected it was more than he could possibly handle. Leonardo drew away, ignoring Ezio's lingering touch and begins of protesting, walking away.
"Leonardo-" Ezio's voice was the last thing Leonardo heard before he closed the workshop door behind him. The clouds he had seen had begun to bring in a storm of rain, turning the streets dark and losing all other noise. Leonardo started off to his right, no clear destination in mind. Surely throwing Ezio out would have made more of a statement, he knew, but that was the last thing he wanted to do, because losing Ezio would have been losing everything.
All the same, Leonardo could never rid himself of the lingering feeling of distaste, at how someone could have such unintentional power over him. Ezio had not meant to hurt him, and yet, the pain was still there. The distaste would have eased into acceptance had Leonardo only known whether he had the same significance.
He had no way of knowing, however, if he meant that much to Ezio.
Leonardo stopped in a sheltered alleyway, leaning back against the cold stones. He wanted to believe that Ezio could solve the problem; he had, after all, done so many times before. He had proved himself wonderful at soothing the fierce anger at other's artistic criticism, at erasing the frustration that plagued Leonardo when his inventions failed to work, and at making it seem like the world would soon right itself, if only given time and patience. But if it was Ezio himself causing the problem, Leonardo had to wonder, had to doubt, whether Ezio was as powerless as Leonardo himself was to solve anything.
Ezio had said no, and Leonardo had known he would, but no matter what logic said, it still hurt. The self-conscious, lurking fear remained, that Leonardo loved him more than Ezio wanted. Evident in Ezio's instant response had been the dreaded lack of equal emotion, and Leonardo had never, never wanted to see that.
"I found you." While Leonardo was wet from the rain, Ezio was not, by some miraculous talent Leonardo couldn't find the voice to question. Ezio ran a hand through his hair, looking down at Leonardo, unreadable look on his face. "Oh… come here, caro mio…" It was too easy, to collapse in his arms and believe he could fix everything he always did. "I really am sorry, Leo" Ezio whispered, "it is my fault. Not yours. You have done nothing." Even as his words promised what he said, Leonardo couldn't dismiss the concern, couldn't. "I hate when I hurt you." He held Leonardo tight against him, and Leonardo could feel that even he was trembling, "Cazzo, Leonardo, what you do to me..." Leonardo sniffled, looking up at him, his you'll make it all better? look, shifting to a question. "No, I do not regret that. I love you and everything you do to me." Leonardo pressed a kiss to his lips.
"Even this?"
"Especially that." He offered a smile, and nudged Leonardo towards the entry to the alley. "Come, I will show you how to get home without getting wet." It only made sense, that Ezio knew even the awning-covered path. Leonardo held onto his hand, followed him through the rainy darkness.
Leonardo loved when Ezio didn't have any duties to perform by night, when he would curl up beside Leonardo in bed and still be there in the morning. Despite the added comfort of his lover's presence, Leonardo couldn't sleep. The steady beat of rain against the windows gave sound to the otherwise silent room, no moonlight able to filter through. Leonardo closed his eyes, breathed in the scent of spice. Ezio carded a hand through his hair, gentle touch soothing. In spite of his touch, his refusal continued to echo in Leonardo's mind, more painful with every time. Leonardo turned his face into Ezio's chest, silent tears wetting the fabric of his shirt, dashing hopes that Ezio wouldn't find out.
He knew Ezio hadn't meant it as an offense, knew it hurt Ezio to say it, but all the same, it hurt, made him wonder if he had done something wrong, if there was nothing he could do to change that, if it meant more than he even knew. The pain had come seemingly from nowhere, a blow he hadn't expected, creeping up on him from behind to deliver more pain than he could ever manage.
"Amore mio, please don't cry" Ezio whispered, "Per favore." Leonardo heard the hitch in his voice, "it breaks my heart." Ezio drew in a breath, not steady, "Even more so when it is my fault."
"Ezio..." There was nothing he could say, dissolved into tears, "Per favore. It would mean so much to me."
"My answer remains the same. No." Ezio held him tighter. "Mi dispiace, amore mio. I would do anything for you, if I only could."
He left no hope for Leonardo to have, just the reluctant acceptance that even for Ezio, there were impossibilities.
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Hope everyone liked that! As always, I love knowing what you thought, and reviews are just amazing :D
Love ya,
Sunshine