Author's Note: This is nothing spectacular, really, but I would still like to share some of my things with you all. This is a thought that came to me while I was playing, because sometimes you can press yourself against a wall to hide. Of course, I thought of a distant memory when the novice team of AltMal go off on a mission- and as usual, when a templar passes, Altaïr does as he pleases without consulting anyone first. Poor Malik is unusually flustered as well. OTL Please enjoy this small nonsense drabble!
Subtle
These feelings are not mine,
So they must be yours;
You slip them into me subtly
When I turn my back on you.
Altaïr shoved the shorter man against the wall violently and pressed himself dangerously close until they were chest to chest, nose to nose, legs practically intertwined. Malik stared up at him wide-eyed, his pupils dilated in the darkness and an angry question on the tip of his tongue, but Altaïr pressed his finger to Malik's lips hurriedly to hush him. He shook his head once in warning and then glanced over his shoulder with an uncharacteristically alert expression. A moment passed in awkward silence before Malik realized what his partner was doing, and he reluctantly closed his eyes, trying to focus on his surroundings as well.
He could still dimly hear the dull roar of the crowd in the back of his mind, but for some odd reason, all he could think about was the sound of Altaïr's carefully suppressed breaths, quick and shallow. He was painfully aware of his overbearing presence; the small distance between them; the warmth of his chest that seeped through endless layers of leather and cloth; the pungent smell of sweat and hay and musk that Malik had never been close enough to smell before, but that was still so undeniably Altaïr somehow.
A wave of warmth crawled up his neck and cheeks, despite the cool shade they were hidden in, and Malik shifted in discomfort. The small movement must have broken Altaïr's concentration because he quickly stepped away and let Malik out of the corner he had crushed him into in his haste.
"It is clear now," he murmured quietly, and the husky, low tone to his voice left Malik so bewildered that he even forgot to be angry at the man for pinning him to the wall in the first place. He only managed to nod mutely and adjust his hood before following Altaïr into a group of passing scholars; all the while wondering what in Allah's name had just happened.