"Your eyes are the most beautiful shade of hazel…"
Leonardo giggled a little. "You said that earlier."
"I know, but it's all I can think about when I look into them."
"Well why don't you stop thinking, come over here and go back to sleep."
Ezio obeyed, and as he held his love close to his chest he felt his eyes grow heavier until he could no longer keep them open.
Ezio woke up. It was just a dream. His heart sunk. Leonardo hadn't been there when he got back, but he had left a note pinned to the door.
"Ezio,
Thank you for delivering that painting for me. Unfortunately I got a message notifying me that a close friend is quite ill. He's stuck at home alone so I'm going to run some errands for him. If you wait until I return I'll pay you for the trouble, or if you are busy please come round tomorrow.
Thanks again,
Leonardo."
He had kept the note, partly so he could pretend it had blown off and not go to see him and partly just as a keepsake, to have something of his.
It was still dark outside, with the sky slightly purple hinting at the soon rising sun. As beautiful as Firenze always was, he much preferred it in the Midday sun, at this time it was easy to feel alone when the streets were empty.
The streets were completely empty. Nobody around to see anything you did. This gave Ezio an idea, he would be able to reply to the note without having to actually look to him, or talk to him, or stare down those hazel tunnels that consumed his thoughts.
He took to his desk to write a note, but stopped. He hadn't been able to do this last time, how was he supposed to do it now? He supposed it might be best to just dive into it. He took a deep breath, emptied his thoughts and started writing.
"Dear Leonardo,
Sorry for not waiting around for you, but I couldn't. I'm not going to lie to you why, I've been lying a lot lately and I don't want to hide things from you. That is why I'm writing this note. I'm also afraid of the consequences, which is why I'm delivering it when I can be sure you won't receive it right away."
He stopped and stared down at the paper. It was difficult to know where to go from here, how to introduce what it is that he really wanted to say.
"The truth is that I think I'm starting to fall for you."
To see it written it down there seemed to confirm what he felt whilst at the same time making him want to crawl into bed and never leave. If he stopped now this would all go away.
He knew that this was nothing but a self-comforting lie. He had to keep going.
"I know this may come as a shock to you. You probably thought I like girls, and this is true. But if I'm completely honest I have never felt this strongly about any girl I've ever met. Every time I'm with you I can't think straight. (There's a joke in there somewhere, I hope you like irony.) Just looking in your eyes, staring at your handsome face makes my heart leap. There's every chance that everything I've just written is making your skin crawl, an I suppose I understand if you never want to even be near me again. I just had to tell you the truth. I want to love you, and I desperately want you to love me, but that probably won't ever happen.
That's all I wanted to say.
Ezio."
He re-read the letter a few times. It wasn't anywhere near perfect, but it would have to do. He got dressed, climbed out of the window and onto the roof. The run to Leonardo's home took just a minute this way so nobody could possibly notice that he wasn't where he should be. When he arrived the lights weren't on and there was no sign of life. He climbed down and without breathing he took the letter from the inside of his coat and slipped it underneath the doorway for Leonardo to find in the morning.
The walk on the ground back to the Palazzo Auditore was quite pleasant; a warm breeze was flowing down the street and it was just light enough to see down the next street. Something told him he'd be able to sleep a little better tonight. Even if things didn't turn out just as he wanted, at least he knew he'd tried..
