A/N: We're going back to some Desomond/Shaun for this segment. Spawned from a concept I worked into my full-length fic. Shaun has an obsession with peppermint and Desmond is curious... ;) A LITTLE WARNING IN ADVANCE!!! This one is more a tip-of-the-hat to gluttony than something all out, just because it's difficult to work with gluttony, given the characters and their personalities. All of them are trained to do everything in moderation but... Dammit, I'm rambing. -_-' Enjoy and review.
Sixteen clumsy and shy: I tried to write that one, and it seemed to fit the character dynamic, given their interations in Solomon's Temple. (Altair being stupid, Kaddar being all over it with praise and Malik being the bitter opposite.) I'm glad you liked it.
Ranchdressing: Well... I was kind of thinking that the best group to do jealousy with would be the Al-Sayfs and Altair, just because it's something that's believable. The first time I played the game and Altair killed the old man in the temple and Malik yelled, but Kaddar went all "I worship the ground you walk on", the first thing I did was laugh and yell "MAN CRUSH!!!" while pointing at the screen. :3
Miss Ziya: I think Altair's arrogant prickishness is awesome! He reminds me of myself sometimes... XD It almost makes you wonder if he was training Kadar just to piss Malik off so they could have angry make-up sex later. XD
just a rambling romantic: Well everyone has to have a way to blow off some steam. And it was a party...
M.33 Atris: I have no doubt that Altair would just fly off the handle. Malik is a little better at keeping his emotions in check; he's the calmer of the two. But I felt that if I wrote it as Altair being jealous, it would look more like WRATH than ENVY and I don't want to ruin WRATH later...
marionette kadaj: Wow. Thanks for the awesome review. I'm really, really glad you liked ENVY so much. :3
Desmond was making coffee for himself when he first encountered it. He was reaching for the dark roasted coffee in the back of the cabinet when the little red and yellow box tumbled down and came to rest on the counter. "Celestial Seasonings Peppermint Tea". Desmond looked at the box for a moment before he shrugged his shoulders and started the coffee machine.
"Desmond." Shaun said curtly. Desmond nodded in his direction and watched Shaun pluck a teabag from the box and start heating a cup of water. He stretched to put the tea back in the cabinet above the stove and Desmond watched the Brit's shirt inch up with an appreciative smile. The bubbling sound of hot water steaming through the filter snapped Desmond from his less-than-pure thoughts.
Desmond poured the coffee into a mug, sprinkled a little sugar in and walked out of the room, leaving Shaun to worry over his boiling water. Subject Seventeen perched on the edge of the Animus 2.0, just because it was familiar and because it was really the only place to sit. Lucy was working on some program, Rebecca was trying to increase the processing speed of the Animus, and he knew better than to sit in Shaun's seat, if he wanted to try avoiding conflict.
"Alright, Des. You ready to go back in?" Rebecca asked, peering over the edge of the computer screen. Desmond shrugged and put the coffee cup to the side before he reclined into the plush red chair. He was glad that this one was upholstered; he could lay there longer and wake up with his ass not asleep. The horrific torture device at Abstergo always left his entire back tingling and more often than not left him with a crick in his neck that wouldn't quit.
He wasn't sure how long he'd been under when they pulled him from the system, but he knew that it had been at least a few hours, judging by how hungry he was feeling and how his legs were beginning to fall asleep... He also knew that Rebecca wasn't the one pulling him out of those long-lost memories. He rubbed his eyes and looked up at Shaun. There was a candy cane hanging between his lips that seemed a little more red than normal... Desmond shook off his thoughts and asked where Rebecca was.
"It's her turn to pick up food." Shaun mumbled around the "seasonal" treat. Desmond just nodded and had an urge to lick the red food coloring off the archivists lips. He reached for his coffee and brought it to his lips with a silent sigh, thoroughly expecting it to be painfully cold, but he found himself pleasantly surprised when it was hot.
"Figured you'd bitch less if the coffee was hot." Shaun shrugged. Desmond thanked him and sipped at the drink. He saw Shaun reach for a cup full of pale brown liquid and recognized it as the peppermint tea.
"Does that really taste like peppermint?" Desmond asked.
"Not as sweet as a peppermint stick, but yes." Shaun murmured, turning his attention to his computer. He muttered something about a corrupted timeline and needing to cross-reference some recorded memories from Ezio to fix the glitches. Desmond rolled his eyes. Shaun was always working on something.
Without another word, Desmond strolled into the living room and flopped gracelessly onto the couch, planning on closing his eyes for a few minutes. By the time he realized he was falling asleep, he was already dreaming of the Syrian sun and a baked mud roof and a lover whose name meant "Summer"(1).
He could smell Shaun before he could see him, as creepy as that sounded. It wasn't his fault Altair picked up on the alien smell of peppermint and wanted to wake up to investigate... Desmond opened his eyes and stared up at the historian, thoroughly unsurprised to see a pepeprmint stick in his mouth. It was darker outside now than it was before and he could smell Chinese food wafting through the door.
"What's your new obsession with mint?" Desmond asked as he sat up, straightening his hoodie and running a hand through his hair.
"It's not a new obsession, or even an obsession at all. The only candy I like happens to be peppermint and this town handmakes all the peppermint it sells." Shaun sniffed.
Desmond shrugged and shuffled out of the room, gratefully accepting the Lo Mein Rebecca handed him. He sat at the table and picked at the noddles until he woke up enough to fully appreciate how hungry he'd become over the course of his session within the Animus. He cracked his neck and earned a stern lecture from Lucy about how disgusting a habit it is. He rolled his eyes and continued eating, though faster this time, desperate to get away from the blonde's sharp glare and sharper words. He threw the empty box out and wandered into the Animus Room, a little curious as to what Shaun was doing.
The Brit was, as expected, typing away at his computer. Desmond looked over his shoulder and tried to understand the script scrolling across the page, tried to understand how Shaun could comprehend the meaningless symbols. Miles glanced at Shaun and stared for a moment. Shaun's glasses were awash with the garish reflection of the letters and numbers flying over the monitor, obscuring his rust-colored eyes, another peppermint stick hanging from his lips, almost forgotten, but not quite, his face somewhere between slack with boredom and peacefully relaxed.
"Done staring, Miles?" Shaun asked, eyes still on the screen.
"Just thinking." Desmond covered easily.
"What about?"
"What makes those peppermint sticks so special." Desmond continued to lie.
"Hm." Shaun didn't seem convinced. Desmond didn't rightly care. He continued to stare.
"Got anymore left?" Desmond aske suddenly. Shaun stopped typing, though symbols continued to appear on the screen from time to time. He pressed a few more keys and minimized the screen before he turned to Desmond.
"Peppermint sticks?" Shaun asked, a little confused at the sudden topic change.
"Yeah. Do you have any of them left? You did say they were the best."
Shaun plucked the peppermint stick from his mouth and tapped the spit-slicked end against his lips, seeming to think.
"Not for you." Shaun shrugged. He replaced the candy and turned back to his computer. A black and glowing blue flash overlaid the current reality before fading as quickly as it came and Desmond was overwhelmed with primal urges he didn't have the will to stop. He grabbed the arm of Shaun's plush chair and spun it so the historian was facing him. Shaun sputtered and started to curse, but Desmond crushed their lips together, taking the protruding end of the peppermint stick into his mouth and biting it off. The soft, sugary treat snapped and he retreated, suddenly anxious at gaguing the archivist's reaction. As Miles pulverized the soft, flavored sugar between his teeth, Shaun seemed to be coming to his senses again. He glared at Desmond and launched himself out of the chair, reattaching their lips and ravaging Desmond's mouth, even as the two of them fell towards the floor. Desmond took the majority of the shock from impact with a grunt, though he didn't let that stop him.
Kissing Shaun was nothing like kissing anyone else, Desmond noted. And it had nothing to do with something as foolish as a kissing style or anything like that. Shaun wanted to be in control. Desmond didn't want to give him control. It was more like a small war than a kiss; both men were desperate to keep the other from gaining the upperhand. All of Desmond's instincts screamed that he needed to get from under Shaun, told him that he was too vulnerable in this position that-- Desmond's mind blanked and a moan escaped him. Shaun's fingers were tangled almost painfully in his hair, and his tongue had taken the battle to Desmond's mouth instead of the neutral ground between. The brazen and unquestioning display of dominance was, oddly enough, a turn on for Desmond. But the moment he had his wits back about him, he bucked his hips and threw Shaun to the floor so he was the one on top. He kissed Shaun again, this time pushing the fight to the Brit's mouth. Everywhere his tongue touched tasted undeniably of peppermint, sweet and cool and tingling.
"So tell me," Desmond murmured, nuzzling Shaun's neck before he nipped at it, "How much of that peppermint have you eaten today?"
"Enough to send me into a diabetic coma." Shaun gasped.
"Is that such a smart thing to do?" Desmond asked with a lazily cocked eyebrow.
"You seem to be enjoying it."
Desmond chuckled and kissed the archivist again, this time giving in to that urge and licking the sticky-sweet food coloring from Shaun's lips. He was beginning to think that peppermint was his favorite candy too...
(1): My research could be off (wouldn't be the first time), but I've come to the conclusion that Malik Al-Sayf loosely translates to "Keeper of the Summer" or something of the like. I've found a few different variations of the possible meaning of that, some say it's closer to "Holder of the Sword", just because Arabic is a tricksy language. I personally prefer "Keeper of Summer".