*(Disclaimer: I do not own the Assassin's Creed series. All characters and places associated with the Assassin's Creed series are all own by their respective creators and I have not made a profit with them in any shape or form)
Jason9000: Hello, I'm new to the Assassin's Creed franchise. Thought I post this. This may be a one-shot or a series of small stories depending on what you reviewers say and what I want. This is based solely on our favorite male Kenway characters and their lives in each setting. Well let's get started.*
Haytham opened the door to his house and put his brief case down. It was a rough day at the office. People were screaming and yelling about the stock market crash, companies calling in and checking the status of their stocks, people wondering if their money in the different companies was still safe, and there were even a few calls about whether the hurricane would delay shipments of their bought products. Needless to say, it was a very stressing day for Haytham.
Haytham walked into the kitchen rubbing his head, thinking about what he would make for dinner when he saw his father sitting at the counter drinking some rum straight out of the bottle.
Haytham gave his father a confused expression before opening his mouth. "How did you get in here father?" He asked him.
The older man turned. They years were finally catching up to him. His once blond hair was turning grey. He had a few wrinkles on his face that deepened whenever he made a frown. However, his eyes still held the spark that was there since he was a young man.
"Came in through the front door, how else?" He asked shrugging his shoulders.
"But…the front door is locked and I thought you lost your key…" Haytham said slowly.
"I did," Edward responded taking another swig out of the bottle.
"Then how did you get in here?" Haytham asked him.
Edward shrugged his shoulders. "I picked the lock and unlocked the door. By the way you may need to fix the lock. I'm not sure if I broke it or not," He said.
Haytham took a deep breath to calm himself. Of course his father would break the lock. His day was stressful enough, now he had to go out sometime over the weekend and fix the front door.
"Of course you did…but you still haven't answered my question. What are you doing here?" He asked again.
Edward put the bottle down and faced his son. He stood up from the chair and stretched for a moment before answering. "I was in the neighborhood and thought I drop by. Picked up Connor from school. He sent me text saying he was done early with tutoring that Aveline girl after school. Better than taking that damn bus. I know how he's stuck on there for over an hour since he's the last stop."
Haytham's facial expression changed and his eyes narrowed at his father. "Connor has a key…why didn't you let him use it to open the door?" He asked tersely.
Again Edward shrugged. "He was too busy getting his backpack out of the trunk of my car. I wanted to get in here and lie down for a bit. Its long drive hauling Adéwalé's stuff across the country to his new home in California," He told him.
"Wait where's Adéwalé now?" Haytham asked him.
"He's out spending the night with his cousin. He hasn't seen him in a year so he's going to spend the night there. So don't worry lad," Edward said.
Haytham nodded and opened the fridge. He was thinking of cooking the steak he bought two nights ago and it looked thawed out enough. Perhaps some rice and some baked potatoes would do as well. He had the sour cream Connor liked to put on his potatoes and even bought some of that A.1 steak sauce he loved so much.
Haytham brought out the steak and out it on the stove. He went to fetch the bag of rice and potatoes from the pantry when his father blocked his way to the stove.
"You relax and go rest Haytham. I can tell you had a long day at the office in light of that stock market crash yesterday," He told his son while taking the food from his hands.
Haytham sighed heavily and mumbled a 'Thank you father' and went to take his jacket off. He hung it up on the coat rack and went to sit in the living room. He got the remote and turned on the TV. He skipped past the news since he didn't want to hear about the stock market crash again. He settled on some nice classical symphony to calm his mind from the music channel. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes.
After sitting like that for ten minutes his father sat down next to him. Haytham opened his eyes and yawned.
"So how bad was Abstergo hit by the stock market crash? Did you lose your job?" He asked his son bluntly.
Haytham snorted. "After today I wish I did. No, I'm apparently too valuable to let go since I'm the only one in my department that actually had written records of everything printed off the computers and filed away. The crash hit so fast and hard, we couldn't even retrieve some of the old data from the computers that are receiving information 24/7. Birch was practically on his knees, kissing my feet when I informed of where the printed copies where," He told him.
Edward laughed at him. "And to think they thought you mad making sure the big transactions were printed out that happened every hour and that you were wasting paper. It's amazing how many people tend to forget that everything wasn't always done electronically," Edward said.
Haytham nodded in agreement and hummed a bit to the tune that TV was playing. After a minute Edward opened his mouth.
"What kind of music does Connor listen to? This way I know what to get him for his birthday in a few months," Edward asked him.
Haytham opened his mouth to answer the question, but closed it. He looked down at the floor in thought. To be honest he didn't know Connor's music preferences. He didn't know much about his son, since he was a very reserved and shy kid. The boy was sixteen years old and Haytham didn't know his music preferences. Heck he didn't know he had a son, till he heard that Ziio was in a terrible fire accident that killed her a year and half ago. The next thing he knew, he got a phone call from Ziio's mother explaining what happened and asked him if he could take care of Connor.
Connor was hard to deal with at first. He rarely spoke and when he did he was just so angry. Haytham figured he blamed himself for what happened to Ziio. He didn't know the specifics, but from what Oiá:ner told him Connor tried to save her, but couldn't since it would have cost him his life. Ever since then Connor dedicated his time to working out and now he was a powerhouse that reminded Haytham of himself from his high school years.
"To be honest I don't know…I have no idea what is on that iPod of his since he only listens to it when he mows the lawn or ploughs the driveway in the winter," Haytham told him.
"It's not that heavy metal, screaming music is it? I don't understand why kids see that as music. You can barely understand it half the time. What's wrong with Elvis?" Edward asked grinning.
Haytham rolled his eyes. "Father the time of Elvis is over, get over yourself. And no he doesn't as far as I'm concerned. He wouldn't be having an iPod or living in this house if he listened to that yelling garbage. That's not music, that's giving people a migraine. No I don't know his music preference," Haytham said.
Edward grinned again. "Well then let's find out shall we? Don't see why it would hurt to ask him."
Edward then ran down the hall with Haytham briskly following him shaking his head. His father could act like such a child that it made it wonder how he got to where he was today.
They were outside Connor's room and knocked on the door. There was no answer. Slowly Edward opened the door and stepped in with Haytham behind him.
Connor's room was rather dull. There was a queen's size bed with two pillows with grey pillow cases, his bed sheets were black, and the drapes on his windows were a dark brown. There was one poster on the wall and it was a wolf staring menacingly down at them. There was a small book case with some books. His book bag was thrown right in front of his dresser across from his dresser was a desk with a lamp, a wastebasket, and a chair.
Connor was currently sleeping on his desk with a history book opened in front of him. It was opened to a random page about Columbus arriving in America. His face was buried into a binder that had his work.
"Look around and see if you can find his iPod," Edward whispered as he began his search.
Haytham shook his head in annoyance. Let the boy rest! There was no reason to sneak around his room like some common thieves. They could ask them when he wakes up. Haytham sighed quietly to himself and also began searching when his father started waving at him to help.
Edward checked his backpack to see if it was in the pouches with no luck while Haytham checked his bed. They searched around the room with no luck. Haytham was about to tell his father to get up when he saw it.
It was on the table close to Connor's outstretched hand. Connor's headphones were tangled and they saw its earbuds in his ears. Edward waved at his heads to grab it, but Haytham shook his head in a firm 'no' manner. Edward glared at him and raised an eyebrow in the typical 'I am your father, now do what I say or there will be consequences' look. Haytham sighed again and he slowly crept up to his son.
Careful he placed his hands on the iPod. He was thinking of how to take it without waking him up, but noticed that the headphone wire went under Connor's arm.
"Just take out the headphone part that attaches to the iPod! That way he shouldn't wake up," Edward whispered to him.
So Haytham careful pulled out the headphones slowly. Connor stirred a bit and twitched, but merely kept snoozing away. Haytham waited a few seconds then quickly retreated with his father behind him.
They sat down in the living room and looked at it. Haytham tapped the home button and swiped it, but noticed there was a passcode.
"Damn, I don't know the passcode…and we can't plug in to many numbers otherwise, it may lock us out and then Connor will be pissed," Haytham said.
Edward's face was scrunched in thought as he was thinking of what to do till he snapped to attention. "Just press the home button twice. If he had played any music then just hit the play button and a song should come on," He told his son.
Haytham did so and pressed play. Immediately a song turned on. He read the title and it was called 'Wagon Wheel' by Darius Rucker.
Once the song started he knew what genre it was. His mind snapped back to some memories of him and Ziio from so long ago. Especially a very painful one where they happened to go to a concert for Ziio's birthday and he got so drunk that he couldn't remember anything that happened two hours after the concert started even to this day.
"Wait I know this song. This is a country song. It was on the radio on a station that Adéwalé and I were surfacing, driving on the interstate. I usually don't listen to country music, but this wasn't too bad," Edward said smiling.
The music was blasting its lyrics, but Haytham had gone pale as bad memories of him throwing up in a bathroom the next day after the concert entered his mind. It was the worst hangover he ever had. Ziio never let him live it down and it still gave him nightmares on how he just couldn't remember what happened after those first two hours…
"No…no…not again. No way. I already had to deal with this with Ziio. I don't think I can take it again!" Haytham cried.
Edward started snapping his fingers to the beat and was humming with the tune. "Come on Haytham it's not so bad. I usually hate country music, but I find this one to be pretty good. I didn't know Connor liked this genre," Edward said.
"That is, because you never asked." A voice said by the door.
They turned and there was Connor leaning on the door frame with his arms crossed. His eyebrow was raised in similar to fashion to what Edward did earlier. He had a blank expression on his face. For a moment Haytham thought he was looking at Ziio.
"Care to explain why you stole my iPod?" Connor asked coolly.
"We didn't steal it boy! We only borrowed it without permission!" Edward explained.
"Is that not the same thing?" Connor asked them both.
"Look we had every intention of giving it back. I just wanted to know what genre of music you liked so I could get you a CD or tickets to a concert for a musician that you liked," Edward told him.
Connor merely walked over and grabbed the iPod. He turned down the volume on the music so it was barely noticeable.
"Fine, but please next time just ask me. I found it to be both amusing and strange that you two were stumbling around in my room," Connor said.
Haytham snapped out of his state and glared at his son. "If we woke you up why did you pretend you were asleep and make us look like fools?" He asked irritated.
"It was amusing as I said, also I wanted to know why you were in my room in the first place. When I heard grandfather whisper about my iPod I knew it was about my music preferences," Connor responded.
"I saw the steak, rice, and potatoes in the kitchen. I will be happy to help make dinner," Connor told his elders.
Edward sat up and grinned. "Come on then. Let's see if you inherited your grandma's cooking skills eh? Lord knows Haytham is atrocious in the kitchen. I'm surprised you haven't died from him accidentally poisoning you," The eldest Kenway said getting up and walking to the kitchen.
"His cooking skills have improved…somewhat," Connor said smirking at his father before following his grandfather into the kitchen.
Haytham glared at his son and rubbed his forehead. He could already feel another migraine coming on.
"Why don't you put that song on repeat and blast it over that old rubbish Haytham listens to Connor? I want to know the lyrics," Edward called from the kitchen.
Haytham could already feel a third migraine forming already.
*Jason9000: And done. Well that's all since it's past 1 am here. This might be extended into a series, I don't know. It's up to whether I have time and if people like it. And just to let you know, I love country music and the song 'Wagon Wheel' by Darius Rucker so don't think I hate the genre I happen to love it myself. Well hope you enjoyed, please leave a review.*