A/N: please read the note at the bottom when you're done, thanks :)
The buzzer ringing on the door woke Malik in the morning. He groaned, rubbing sleep from his eyes as he sat up. Altair shifted besides him, pulling the bed covers tighter around his body before falling back to sleep. Malik sat on the edge of the bed, shirtless with dim sunlight that leaked through the gaps in the blind streaking his back. It was half eight in the morning, Kadar would be at school hopefully and they had the day off.
Giovanni had been considerate about the situation, giving them the day off to allow Altair to gather himself together, getting over the shock would take several days. Pulling some jogging bottoms over his boxers and plodding through the apartment he went to the door. Miss Higgins stood on the other side.
"Oh Malik, did I wake you? I'm so sorry, but there's an Italian man wanting to get into your flat downstairs" Malik sighed, ruffling his hair with his hand, he had totally forgotten about Ezio.
"Okay, I'll go get him, thank you Miss Higgins." The old lady shut the door. Shrugging on one of Altair's hoodies that lay idly over the back of the sofa, he went down stairs, leaving his hood up to hide his bed hair. Ezio was stood in the small, dark hallway at the bottom of the stairs, his hair tied up with red ribbon and wearing the same clothes as the day before. A rucksack hung off one shoulder.
"Ezio, c'mon, I'll put some coffee on." yawned Malik, beckoning the Italian up the stairs. Surprisingly, Ezio didn't say much, he seemed oddly distant as he followed after the elder.
"I have some washing, do you mind if I wash them now?" Ezio said, unzipping his bag as Malik put coffee on.
"Yeah go ahead, I've got washing as well, put them in with ours." Opening the door to the bathroom, he sorted through the basket. Kadar's clothes were bundled on top, spilling over the edge of the wicker, but hidden at the bottom was Altair's hoody, sleeve and chest patched with blood. He cursed colourfully at Altair's stupidity; and hoped Kadar hadn't seen the coopery stains.
"Shouldn't you be at work?" Malik asked as he carried an armful of washing towards the washing machine.
"No, I booked the morning off, so I'm working late tonight." Ezio said putting his own clothes to wash and shutting the round, plastic door. "What about you?"
"Giovanni gave us the day off; some things happened last night...you'll no doubt find out about it tomorrow." Pouring out two cups of coffee, Malik sat down at the breakfast counter, pinching the bridge of his nose. Ezio added milk and a spoonful of sugar to his and sat across the table. Smiling slightly, Malik brushed back the hood from his head and said,
"So, who did you hook up with last night?" Ezio swallowed a mouthful of the warm liquid before replying.
"Why do you think everything I do is some kind of conquest to get laid?"
"Because I normally is, now spill." Ezio sighed nudging off his parka jacket and placing it on the other stall.
"Well, for your information, it wasn't a woman I stayed with last night." Malik blinked, slightly confused at first. Well he never knew that Ezio was... then again, he did like his tight clothing and did flirt with everyone.
"Oh really, now that I never would have guessed!"
"No, not like that, he is a friend, only a friend. I ran into him on the way to meet you and his place was closer and I couldn't be bothered the walk so I stayed at his, on his couch, with no contact of any sort." Malik laughed as Ezio got flustered.
"It's fine my friend, I'm only joking." The door to the main room opened and Altair trudged in. without even glancing at the two men, he reached above the top cupboard to pull a dusty packet of old cigarettes from the shadows. He went into the fridge and got a six pack of beer before heading back into his bedroom. Malik cast his eyes down as Ezio scowled in confusion. He waved a hand in a 'don't ask' way before downing the dregs.
"Make yourself at home Ezio, I'm sorry I can't be more of a host but I've got a situation that will take a lot of dealing with." Ezio nodded and made his way to the TV as Malik left. He went into his bedroom to find the window open and no Altair in sight. Pulling on some old jeans and a check shirt, he started to make his way through the window. The building they lived in was fairly old, so with its many hand and foot holds, it was easy to get onto the roof.
Altair sat on the edge, one leg dangling over the side of the building whilst he leaned his arm over his raised knee. A cigarette poked out the corner of his mouth and a can of beer balanced on his thigh.
"So this is how you're going to deal with it, drink and smoke and hope it'll all go away." Malik said hauling himself up to sit besides the other man. Altair didn't look at him, the rims of his hood hiding any expression he may have shown. Smoke slithered out of his nostrils, twirling into the cold air. The clouds were dark and it was going to rain soon.
"Go away, Malik." Altair muttered, drinking his beer and allowing its cheap and bitter taste to fill his mouth. Malik's mouth twitched in annoyance, Altair was doing a good job of pissing him off.
"For the love of Christ Altair, you're going to have to talk about it at some point; tomorrow there will be a meeting with Giovanni and the rest of the brotherhood to sort out what we need to do. I advise you start talking now to get the more...personal details off your chest." Altair growled, grinding out his cigarette on the roof tiles before grabbing the packet again. Malik got to the packet before he did and threw it off the side of the roof. It tumbled downwards, cigarettes pouring out of the open packet and raining onto the street below. Altair breathed heavily through his nose, fists clenching. Malik was pissing him off now.
"Stop with the self pity and grow a pair, I know it's hard..."
"You don't know shit Malik, sure you know what used to happen, but you won't ever know how it felt!" Altair snapped, grabbing the collar of Malik's shirt in a moment of pure anger. Malik's hand instinctively went to Altair' wrist, ready to twist or break it if he were to attack. They snarled at each other, aggression spiking both their eyes. After a few moments Altair clamed, relaxing his hand so that his palm lay flat on Malik's chest. Malik covered that hand with own in reassurance.
"I'm scared Malik, scared of what he'll do." Altair whispered, afraid of admitting the fear that twisted his sickened stomach. Malik bowed his head, coffee black eyes tracing over the scar on Altair's forearm. Altair sighed, hand sinking back into his lap.
"It's no longer a question of if he finds us." Altair looked out across the rooftops, "it's a question of when."
A/N: just a few things to say. One: thank you for the reviews, they are inspiring and I defiantly owe art work for the amount of good reviews I've had :)
Two: I've had a review pointing out my grammar mistakes, ah I knew it wouldn't be long until one cropped up. So here's the deal, I'll take a bit longer in the editing process of my chapters, this may mean you'll have to wait slightly longer for updates :( if anyone wishes to beta this story, PM me and tell me how it works and I'll think about it.
Three: would you guys like a proper sex scene soon?