After their last encounter, Leonardo had only met his roughened friend a few times. Every time through the excuse of another Codex Page. His heart had been living its own life, beating wildly around that one man –merely thinking about him was be enough to trigger the same effects. He hoped that Ezio was doing his utmost to find those pages for the sole purpose of visiting him again. Indeed, this young artist was so lost in his feelings that he thought the man he so ardently wanted to own, felt the same way about him. Sadly, every visit was too short for anything to be able to happen between them, but he merely blamed the other man's bashfulness.
It was a quiet day, as is every Sunday and instead of joining the whole of Florence at the Duomo for High Mass, Leonardo savoured his minutes of silence at his workshop. He pulled a big papyrus over his workbench and searched for a pencil. Eagerly, he started sketching, although it may have seemed like the work of a madman to any other than himself or his assistants. Soon, an outline of a man was visible. Leonardo halted and looked down upon the paper. Caressing the paper as if it were a living and breathing thing, he then flung himself on a bench. "I could never capture the full essence of him," he sighed as he threw another glance towards the paper. He undid his trousers and held his member in his right hand. As if coming alive through the gentle movements coming from the hand, it grew bigger and harder. His left hand joined the moving of the right hand on the same pace but with a firmer grip. A slight moan escaped from Leonardo's lips. "Ezio-"
Suddenly there was a loud noise from the front door of the workshop. Startled, he tucked his erection inside his trousers and tried to tie up the cloth in the most camouflaging way as would be possible. More trampling noises entered the main workshop, filling the room with their loud jabbering. Right before the door to Leonardo's private study swung open, he managed to pull his shirt out of his trousers and over the obvious bulge. A panting Agniolo came falling through the door, and as he hit the floor with his face, the flaring face of Innocento appeared before he continued his loud babble. "An attack on the Medici family! Right before High Mass!" Leonardo startled "The medici?" As Agniolo got up, he joined the conversation "Giuliano has been killed by Francesco di Pazzi!"
"Incredibile" is the only thing Leonardo could utter.
"Lorenzo successfully fled for now, through the help of your hooded friend!" Agniolo eagerly continued.
"But he had already been stabbed apparently by two priests, so-"
"What? Who was stabbed?" Leonardo cried as he plunged forward.
"Aren't you listening? Lorenzo! So I don't think your friend will be able to do much."
Leonardo let out a sigh but did not yet relax, "So this means the Pazzi are trying to take over power in Florence by killing the Medici. But as long as Lorenzo lives, all should be well, giusto?"
An awkward silence filled the room until Innocento no longer could hold in his excitement over this whole conspiracy, "The Pazzi started assaulting the officials at the Palazzo della Signoria in order to put their own men in power! It is madness, the whole city is in chaos!"
Leonardo only now fully grasped the gravity of the situation the whole of Florence were forced to undergo. "Un colpo di stato," he muttered.
The next day, the whole town talked about the failed conspiracy of the Pazzi –an especially exciting topic was the one from Francesco hanging from the Signoria with his entrails dangling from the lifeless body. The whole event troubled Leonardo to the extent that he worried how Ezio might be involved in these state affairs, although him rescuing Lorenzo had brought him some solace. At the marketplace, especially, it created an even louder haze of noise than normally is the case. Even the butcher was selling his kidneys and livers as being the one from Francesco and Leonardo couldn't help but shudder at the idea. Returning to his workshop after his sumptuous breakfast, he found Ezio sitting against a wall, surrounded by busy assistants assembling, painting and sculpting around. "I am glad to see you safe and sound, Ezio," Leonardo said as he advanced towards to man for a tight embrace that might have lasted for slightly longer than etiquette prescribed.
"I see that you came through the troubles unscathed too," Ezio replied.
"I told you they leave me alone. They must think me either too mad, or too bad, or too dangerous to touch! But do have some wine, and there are some cakes somewhere, if they haven't gone stale –my housekeeper's useless- and tell me what's on your mind."
"I'm leaving Florence."
A short silence interrupted the amiable flow. Holding back the harsh words he wanted to say, Leonardo continued "So soon? B-But they tell me you're the hero of the hour! Why not sit back and enjoy it?"
"I have no time."
Again a silence fell but this time Leonardo could not keep his bright appearances and asked in a graver tone "Still got enemies to pursue?"
"How do you know?"
Leonardo threw Ezio a wry smile "Thank you for coming to say goodbye." It hurt him more than he would have imagined.
"Before I go," Ezio intervened, "I have another page of the Codex for you."
Now this was just the last drop. Leonardo questioned whether Ezio was really there for formal goodbyes or whether he was simply using him for deciphering those Codes pages? Showing a dark smile to Ezio, he replied "That is indeed good news. May I see it?"
"Of course."
As he cleaned his table of clutter, much to the annoyance of Agniolo whom was just tidying up those papers, Leonardo placed the Codex neatly in the middle and examined it. "I'm beginning to get the hang of this." He paused as he continued to strip the contents from the page with his eyes, "I still can't quite see what the general diagram in the background is, but the writing is becoming familiar. It looks like the description of another weapon. Aha! I see! Ezio, it's a design for another blade –one that will fit into the mechanism you attach to your arm if you need to use this one in place of the first."
"What's the difference?"
"If I'm right, this one's quite nasty –it's hollow in the middle, see? And through the tube concealed in the blade, its user can inject poison into his victim. Death wherever you strike! This thing would make you practically invisible!"
"Can you make it?"
"On the same terms as before?" Leonardo sneered.
"Of course."
As he set himself on the job, Ezio made himself comfortable on the chair and doze off. Night fell and Leonardo's assistants left the workshop one by one until the two men were completely deserted. With the shutting of the door behind Innocento, Leonardo took a break as well. He sat on a chair, facing Ezio, and started sketching –glancing at Ezio every now and then. After he was satisfied with his rough sketch, he approached the sleeping man. He faintly bit in the ear of his guest, whom woke up startled from the ticklish sensation.
"Leonardo!" he grumbled. Laughing it away, Leonardo jokingly said it was but a joke and offered them to have a little wine.
"What about construction of the blade?"
Swiftly a smart lie come over the lips of Leonardo: "Innocento went to gather some more material, we can't proceed without it."
With some reluctance, Ezio gave into the offer of the generous artist.
Cleverly, Leonardo made sure that his companion would have too much to drink while he would remain completely sober. Before long, Ezio was as drunk as a pirate and Leonardo guided him onto a bed mainly used by his assistants when they needed to pull all-nighters. Putting the big man down, Leonardo didn't raise himself up "You seem hot," he whispered into Ezio's ear, causing the man to twitch ever so slightly. With an indecipherable mumble as answer, the artist went ahead and unbuttoned the long robes covering the man. After the third layer, he became slightly annoyed "How many layers do you wear, amice? Isn't it heavy?" he said as Ezio, still lying beneath his own body, laughed. Finally, the last shirt had appeared and Leonardo unbuttoned it with shaking hands. As a hairy chest appeared, supported by very strong and prominent muscles, he ran his fingers through the soft curly hair, following its narrowing trail downwards until the trousers stopped him from going any further. Leonardo's heart was pounding heavily and he felt his face becoming hotter and redder by the second, making his hands shake even more than before so that he wasn't even able to unravel the trousers. Two strong hands joined the struggle until accomplished. Ezio snickered and mumbled something incomprehensible but Leonardo was determined to accomplish his original goal for which he had fed Ezio this drunk.
