Okay, everybody ready for the first part focusing on Desmond? Well, ready or not, here it is. A few years later in the timeline.
For reference:
Desmond: 21
Lucy: 21
Shaun: 21
Ezio: 18
Leo: 18
Altair: 34
Malik: 35
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Disclaimer: You know the drill.
Desmond didn't usually try to dwell on the past, it just seemed to happen. Even with as close as he was to his brothers, he suffered from short bouts of depression as he got older; mostly due to not having real parental figures in his life since he was little. Sure, he had Altair and Malik but they were always his brothers; he never thought of them as he would've his mother and father. It never seemed to bother Ezio though, maybe it was something about being the middle child.
As he grew older, he began to feel like living with his brothers anymore was becoming too troublesome, the Brotherhood had to go into hiding after an incident a few months prior so most active members were undercover leaving Desmond and Lucy bartending since neither had ever really been good at school.
Said incident had been between Altair and Al Mualim, leaving the elder hospitalized and eventually dead due to a heart attack unrelated to his injuries. But in the meantime, the Brotherhood had to get back on it's feet and Altair had been almost unanimously nominated for the job as their next leader; the only other votes had gone to Malik in part by Altair, Ezio, and Desmond.
Desmond hadn't moved far from his brothers' house but being out of it was enough. In all their years, the trio had finally caught up to one another. He, Altair, and Ezio might've passed for triplets, even having the same scar on their mouths, except that age does what it wants; while Altair was in no way deteriorated from his younger years, his face had aged a bit, still not nearly "old" looking yet, however.
It wasn't uncommon for Ezio to stop by the bar where Desmond worked between classes, since he'd just begun going to school at the nearby college. Altair had made Desmond promise not to sneak their younger brother any alcohol because he'd find out about it one way or another. But the youngest was still adamant about scoping out his older brother's workplace.
"Hey Des," he greeted happily, sitting on one of the stools.
"What's up Ezi?" Desmond replied, before cocking his head. "Where's Leonardo?"
Ezio chuckled. "It's Thursday, remember? He's got class right now."
Desmond pouted. "Well sorry I haven't cared yet today."
Lucy laughed from beside Desmond. "He's been like this all day, Ezi."
Lucy waitressed during most of the hours Desmond worked, she'd also gotten him the job after they met practicing parkour at a jam one afternoon. After that they'd been in an on-and-off sexual relationship that Lucy thought much more of than Desmond ever would. He called himself straight but Ezio noticed he'd never held onto a relationship longer than a few weeks, Lucy'd been a miracle until he realized Desmond didn't have any kind of feelings for her. He was planning on talking to Altair about it later. "Really?" Ezio laughed. "Get your head in the game, big brother, Altair wanted me to convince you to come over for dinner."
"I can-" Desmond began but-
"He'd love to," Lucy insisted.
"Why are you making my decisions for me?"
"Because you make shitty ones, someone's gotta do it for you."
Desmond grumbled in annoyance. "You're welcome to come along too if you like Lucy," Ezio said.
She smiled. "Sure, sounds good."
"Grea-"
Just then a distinctly British voice cut across the bar. "Hey! What're you doing in here again?"
"Uh oh," Ezio muttered before standing up.
"Didn't I tell you not to come in here anymore?"
"Lay off Shaun," Desmond said. "He's my brother, I'm watching him."
"No minors at the bar, Desmond, you know the rules."
Desmond rolled his eyes. "See you at dinner, Ezi," he said.
"Later," Ezio replied before skipping out of the bar.
"I told you to tell him to stop coming here, there's no telling the kind of people he'll attract that we don't need here."
"Right, right, I know. He comes anyway, no matter how many times I've told him to stop."
"Yeah," Lucy replied. "But he's a good kid, wouldn't harm a fly."
Desmond resisted to urge to laugh. Shaun looked unconvinced. "Just make sure it doesn't happen again."
Shaun returned to the back while Lucy sighed, sitting on the counter. "Stupid Shaun, does he have to be such a jerk all the time?"
Desmond shrugged and leaning on the counter.
Lucy laughed. "Man, you really are out of it today."
No, Desmond thought to himself. I just find our boss oddly attractive.
.o.o.o.o.o.
At dinner that night, Malik was out helping the other teachers with night training. Altair had decided to cook since he hadn't needed to go to headquarters that day. Ezio was sitting on the couch watching the news when Desmond came in with Lucy. Desmond chuckled. "Really? You're watching the news?"
"Not by choice," Ezio replied with a frown. "My history teacher has been demanding we do current events and I didn't feel like looking through a newspaper."
Lucy laughed and sat on the couch across from the duo already seated. "Really? I like the news. I wanted to be a weathergirl when I was little."
"Ew," Ezio whined. "That has to be the worst job."
"How?" Lucy asked.
"You have to stand in front of a camera and be so…" he thought a moment. "Perfect for so long, it seems silly."
"Hey guys," Altair said walking into the living room, wiping his hands on a dishrag.
"Hey Alty," Lucy greeted happily.
"Enjoying your night off?" Desmond asked with a smirk.
Altair slumped his shoulders and rolled his eyes. "This'll be the last one for a while. We're sorting out the rest of the legal to-do's tomorrow afternoon so I'll be buried in work for a while; especially after I find out what he left for the next-in-line." He scratched his head. "I'm just never sure with that crazy old man."
In thee front door burst a sudden flurry of motion that was Leonardo. "Ezio! Ezio! You have to see this!"
The blonde, bearded young man was barely sitting down before he had half his art portfolio and box strewn across the table. "I thought you had class tonight," Ezio said, dodging a flying paintbrush.
"I did," Leonardo said, trying to concentrate on finding something. "But the art show's tomorrow so our professors let us off for the night since we'll be in late tomorrow."
Ezio frowned. "Why didn't you tell me there was an art show tomorrow night?"
"Because…" Leonardo said, a look of satisfaction crossing his face as he found what he was looking for. "I was waiting to see if I actually got anything in, our professors told us weather or not we did a week ago but he didn't tell us what." Leonardo held a folded sheet of paper out to Ezio. "This is just your invitation to the show, extended also to your brothers if they want to go."
"So what did you want to show me?" Ezio asked, glancing over the paper.
"Right, right," the blonde man said, sifting through his portfolio until he was looking at a stack of photographs of other paintings he'd done, but were left at school. "I actually got in a couple, one's a surprise but I wanted to show you the other two."
He thumbed through the photographs quickly, there were only a few, until two landed on Ezio's lap. Altair looked at them over his shoulder. Both were beautifully done; one a religious painting, definitely resembling something done in the Italian Renaissance period. The second made Altair laugh, it was a painting of a photograph he'd taken of Ezio and Desmond sleeping on the couch together when they were little. Ezio made a face. "Where did you get that picture to paint it?"
Leonardo was grinning. "You forget, photographic memory" he replied.
Altair shook his head. "But you even got that itty bitty freckle Desmond had on his cheek; it disappeared when he was twelve."
"Is dinner done yet?" Ezio asked.
"In, like, ten minutes," Altair said. "And I'm not just stalling for Malik."
"Better not," Ezio grumbled and sunk into the couch as a particularly interesting story came on the news.
Concerning Al Mualim's death; "An elderly man sent to the hospital weeks ago died of a heart attack last Sunday. The authorities have yet to discover who it was who injured this man and suspect fowl play, howeve-"
Desmond looked to Ezio, who was holding the remote and looking agitated. "I don't need to hear this again."
Altair looked almost upset. "Hey Al," Desmond said softly. "We've known since he died that had he not had the heart attack, he would've survived. This isn't your fault."
The eldest brother sighed. "It doesn't matter. C'mon, dinner's probably done."
Altair returned to the kitchen and Ezio's face was somber. "He's been like this since we found out he'd be taking over," he spoke in hushed tones. "Malik's doing all he can to brighten him up a little but he's taking it kinda hard." He looked into Desmond's eyes. "As much as it's probably a good thing you moved out, you think you could stop by more often when all of us are home. It's gotten kinda quiet without you."
Desmond shrugged and tried not to look in his brother's eyes. Lucy's hand was suddenly on his shoulder. "We should get to the kitchen, Alty's waiting."
She walked out followed by Leonardo as the brothers both stood up. Desmond chanced a glance at Ezio's face. He smiled slightly. "Why so serious? You look too much like Al when you do that."
The front door opened and in shuffled the form of Malik. "Hey guys," he greeted, clearing his throat. "Dinner ready yet?"
"Yeah, Altair just finished it," Ezio replied.
Malik walked past them to the kitchen. "Can I talk to you later?" Desmond asked Ezio lowly before they went to the kitchen as well."
Ezio's face turned curious, looked onto Desmond's eyes; he noted that extreme shift from his older brother's usually confident aura. "Sure, what about?"
Desmond shrugged. "It's not really important but I kinda wanted to talk to someone about it and Altair's been a little too stressed lately."
Ezio smiled. "I'll always be around when you need me Des, you don't have to ask; what else are brothers for?"
.o.o.o.o.o.
Dinner was a noisy affair, as usual. Afterward Lucy and Leonardo both left, having other things to do and Malik and Altair retired to their room for the night. Sitting across from each other on the couches, Ezio and Desmond were quiet for a while. "What did you want to talk to me about?" Ezio asked finally.
Desmond let out a long and heavy sigh. "I don't love Lucy," he said.
Ezio snorted. "I could tell that much. What do you really have to tell me?"
Desmond's eyebrows furrowed. "Was it that obvious?"
Ezio rolled his eyes. "Please. You've seen Altair and I, it's not in our blood to be so distant from someone you're 'in love with' when they're sitting a foot away from you."
"Well," Desmond drawled. "What would say if I told you I had a crush on someone."
"I would say I'm not surprised and I'd ask who it is my brother needs help seducing."
Desmond almost laughed, but not quite. "My boss."
