Expect probably some quicker updates for this story. Maybe? Been on a real kick for it lately.
Lols I've literally been shipping thesebara idiots since chapter 6 because I am predictABLE GARBAGE lols
Altair found Chris, alone, in the gym. That was weird. He did a double check to make sure he hadn't just overlooked Ehan but no, the big man wasn't around. If someone could do depressed seated leg curls in the gym it was Chris without Ehan. "Why the long face?" Altair asked him. Chris looked up at him.
"Oh, hey Altair," Chris said but didn't stop doing leg curls. "Freaking Munahid came by and 'borrowed' Ehan. Had to talk about something before the next training stage. Which, by the way. When is this shit gonna be over? Not that I don't love getting the moral shit beat out of me, but it's getting old."
"As long as it takes, till I feel you kids can handle things correctly if things get really bad. Take a break, come with me," he added.
"Am I in trouble?"
"No. Just c'mon," he motioned with his fingers and Chris stopped using the equipment. He wiped down the leather seat and followed Altair across the gym. Altair took them up a flight to the pool level where they'd spent the day not too long ago. Up here was also as close to a 'track' as you could get and there was a hundred meter dash area that ran parallel with the pool and a place to practice your long and high jump. With their enhancements Assassins broke every unenhanced record set by top athletes of the world. It was basically cheating of course and novices were discouraged from participating in sports or athletic activities on their pilgrimages. They were enhanced and combined with their training it was unfair to normal people who'd trained their entire lives for those events. Of course there were other organizations who had semi-enhanced people like Assassins and liked to use them to win competitions they had no place winning or even being in. It was unsportsmanly and the Assassins frowned on it considerably. But here they were free to be the insane jumpers, runners, and swimmers they'd been born as.
There was also a bleachers set up to people would watch the runners or swimmers if they wanted. Usually, like now, there were kids sitting in the bleachers, watching the adults. Some of the older novices might also participate if acknowledged. People liked showing their children the world they'd come to know when they grew up, and what their bodies could really do once they'd grown into them.
Altair sat in one of the higher bleachers and Chris sat next to him. Immediately Chris looked like one of the kids visiting their parents at the gym sitting next to Altair. It just reminded him that Chris was so young. All of Alpha was young. They were twenty-five at best except for Munahid and Ehan who were both twenty-nine and that was besides the fact that Ziio and Federico were barely even twenty-one. Altair forgot that, that his Alpha was young. He'd only had them a few years and he forgot that. Forgot they weren't his old brothers and sisters and that they didn't know things as well as they should, weren't as skilled and would still need time to really live up to their rank. Utah had reminded him that. And so the training.
Chris fidgeted while Altair waited a bit to collect his thoughts. "So what happened last time," he started. "It can't happen again."
"I wasn't trying to hurt anyone. I just used the live one on the wall."
"I don't mean that," Altair said. "I mean Utah." Chris' brow furrowed. "What you did in the Grand Temple. Something like that is unacceptable."
Chris hunched a little then tried, "I was just trying to save you. Munahid authorized-
"I know he did. But I expect you to know better. Munahid is still getting used to his authority since I made him my second in command. He's still used to taking orders from Giovanni, and me. He was freaked out and made a poor choice when he told you to blow that place up. Do you know what that did?"
"Uh-
"Utah attacked Colorado shortly after we left. Once it got itself in order and figured out who was dead and had finished grieving the loss of some holy men, some very high standing holy men, and high power politicians, they attacked Colorado." The entire time Altair's voice was normal and conversational. He wasn't here to yell at Chris and knew the kid didn't respond to yelling either. Heather had yelled at Chris enough since he'd come back from his pilgrimage for her and Altair both. "If Munahid told you to kick a hornet's nest would you do it?" Chris shook his head. "Then why did you think it was okay to blow up the Grand Temple?" Chris looked away.
"I'm not here to lecture you on your past failures. They're as much mine as yours because I didn't train Munahid well enough. He was scared because it was Utah and because he thought he was going to lose three of us, he made a bad call. I've already chewed him out about it. That's why we're doing this training. To see where we're weak. Where we can improve. Understand?" Chris nodded. "Understand?" Altair asked again, harder this time.
"Yes, sir," Chris said.
"Good. Now, what happened in the sim is also unacceptable. I know you didn't aim to hurt anyone but the fact is you brought live explosives into a simulation. What were you thinking?" Chris looked at his lap. "I asked you a question, Christopher."
'"I panicked," Chris admitted. "I saw they had Lisa and I just freaked. I didn't even think really. I just saw her and knew I needed to get her down from there. So I used one of my grenades to blow a hole in the wall to make sure everyone knew to get out of my way."
"You realize you made a mistake, right?"
"I guess-
"You blew a hole in a sim. The Red Queen spammed my inbox with so many messages and pings about your stunt I couldn't even delete them all without interfacing. Then she saw me interfacing and locked me in to yell at me some. Do you know how dangerous that is? Sim material is designed to break in certain ways and when it is retracted in ways it isn't programmed in it malfunctions. You broke the sim room. It's out of commission for five weeks while tech fixes it. And that's besides the point that you could have hurt someone from the blast or from falling debris or structure collapse. You could have killed someone Chris."
"I'm sorry," Chris said.
"I don't want to hear you're sorry. I don't care if you are or not," Chris looked up at his mournfully. "I want to hear that you'll watch your behavior. Control yourself. This is ridiculous behavior for someone like us to have. What if Lisa had actually been in danger and you freaked out, used your grenade and it hit a building support? You could bring a building down with you in it." Chris was still just looking down. "From now on you're not allowed to have live explosives on your person in the fortress." Chris looked up. "Starting now. I sent a member of Charlie, not Heather or her second, to your room and rid it of all pyrotechnics. From now on you will only use sim explosives or when we're in the field until I think you can handle them since you obviously can't. If I find you in possession of them there will be consequences.
"Now, give me your grenades," he held his hand out. Altair knew Chris had two on him. Always did.
Chris started at Altair. "I trusted you, Altair."
"I trusted you too. But trust is earned Chris. This is two incidents in a row where you acted out of line and destroyed something against code," Altair said. Chris didn't move. "Hand over your grenades."
Chris hesitated and then reached into his bag and pulled out three of them. "I'm sorry," Chris said again.
"I know, kid," Altair said as Chris handed him the smaller than palm sized ovals with circle pull pins grenades. "Trust me, I don't wanna do this. I know you feel safe with them. But I can't have you with them in our home when you can't control yourself."
"Is this like… you'll take my number if I fuck up?"
Altair's face softened a little. "No. I don't think it'll have to be that drastic. If you continuously are insubordinate to my orders on this, yes, consequences will progress into losing your rank. I have faith in you. I know you don't need them around. You just think you do." Altair put the grenades in his pocket. "Find something else that makes you feel safe instead."
"Like what?" Chris asked as Altair got up. His job here was done. He'd had that talk with Chris that they'd needed to have and he could tell Heather to stop fucking pinging him about demoting Chris.
"Your sister. Or Kanwai maybe?" Chris just blinked at him, not understanding how Altair knew he and Kanwai were a thing. "See you at the next training session," Altair waved with his fingers and walked down the bleachers.
He left the gym after that and called a fortress-wide elevator. He had to wait for it despite being one of the small number allowed to use to use them. Without proper clearance you had to go area by area. Was to keep elevator traffic congestion down as much as it was to hinder any invaders they might have. If all the stairwell doors were locked you had to take the elevators and people without authorization could only go sector by sector, slowing their progress before the inhabitants of the fortress showed up to destroy them. Had worked pretty well for the European fortress for a while before the people invading them had decided they were okay with collateral damage and had dropped a warhead on them. It'd destroyed half of the underground fortress leaving those still alive to flee for their lives, their home destroyed beyond saving.
Finally the elevator came and Altair took it up to nearly the very top of the fortress that was underground. Floor seventy-five was part of the three level armory and where they kept grenades, rockets, and other things that exploded. Charlie did a lot of their training up here under the watchful eyes of the armory tech who were around to step in on the off chance that something went horribly wrong.
Heather was, predictably, there, waiting for him. She looked so fucking smug and it did nothing for her. "You put down your rabid dog yet?" she asked him as he went up to the check-in desk.
"I'm just going to quote Faiz and say that gloating is beneath a lady of your standing," Altair said blandly and signed in. He didn't need access to the armory but even just visitors needed to check in. Failure to do so got you looked into. He dropped the grenades off. "Simmons here?" he asked the tech at the desk who was fiddling with some electronic gizmo. They looked up, nodded, and pulled up a screen, sending out a ping before ignoring Altair again.
Altair turned back to Heather. "Your men find anything in his quarters?"
"Twenty-five pounds of plastic," Heather said, horrified. "And various detonators. Also found some gunpowder and a few bullets. We checked everything and then had a sniffer dog triple check that we hadn't missed anything."
"Did you?"
"No, but we were being careful."
"Good. Glad to see you can do your job without being petty… right?" he asked her.
"I'm a professional," she scoffed.
"So then I don't need to worry about what I'll find when I go check on it later will I?"
"No," Heather said.
"Okay, good."
Simmons showed up then. He was an older guy with a bald spot and soft at the edges. "Altair, what can I do for you?"
"I need to restrict access to a Third Class," Altair said.
Simmons' brows rose. "You could have done that with Clyde here," he motioned to the man at the desk.
"I could have," Altair said, "But I didn't."
Simmons brow furrowed seriously. "Alright. Who is being restricted then?"
"Christopher Douglas, Third Class, code name, Alpha-Three. He is under no circumstances to be given any more explosives or armaments until further notice if ever."
"Christopher? That nice boy? What did he do to get such a ban?"
"He destroyed a sim room with live detons," Heather jeered.
"Heather, be quiet," Altair growled at her. "He got a little excited and used a live grenade instead of a sim one during an exercise. He's on probation until I decide otherwise."
Simmons frowned, "That is very serious. Very well. Clyde," he snapped and Clyde stopped fiddling with whatever he was fiddling with and sat up straight. "Bring up access for me," and he leaned over to the desk. The screen popped up again and Simmons worked through a few screens. "Alright, Altair. He's blacklisted. His thumbprint doesn't even allow him access to the armory now."
"Good," Heather said.
"Heather, one more word and we'll be talking to Mario," Altair glared at her. "And it'll be cause I kick your ass."
"Try it pretty boy," she sneered. He bared his teeth at her but restrained himself a bit more. He turned back to Simmons. "Thank you," he said to the demo-man.
"Of course," Simmons said. "Hate to see it though. Liked the work, was good at it, asked good questions. But if he's being reckless with that fire power. Well," Simmons shrugged helplessly. "Can't say I blame you. Hope it works itself out."
"Me too. Charlie also recently brought back some plastics and detonators to the armory. Make sure they're handled with extra care."
"More than usual?"
"Well… Chris is kinda weird. He liked to keep some in his room. I don't want any accidents."
Simmons frowned. "He alright?"
"I don't think so. Gonna work on that next."
"Good luck-
Altair spun and nailed Heather in the gut with his knee. She doubled over clutching her stomach. She retched dryly, coughing like she wanted to throw up both her lungs. "I said shut up Heather," Altair growled. "You broke him first and I picked him up. You don't get to say anything about my squad. I catch you throwing your shit around again and I won't just kick your ass. I'll actually take this up the chain." Heather just wheezed, holding her stomach.
Altair turned back to Simmons. "Sorry about that," he said.
"It's alright. Not everyone knows how to ignore Heather's mean mouth. You kinda get used to ignoring it." Altair smiled a little at that. "We'll be careful with the plastic Charlie brought in, thanks for the concern." Altair nodded, shot one last look at Heather, and grabbed an elevator without waiting to see if she wanted to go down too.
—
To not even a bit of surprise Munahid found Ehan and Chris in the gym. They were lifting weights, Ehan laid out on the bench while Chris spotted for him. Of all of Alpha Ehan and Chris were the most muscular. Munahid stood off a bit to watch for a few seconds. It was impressive really. Ehan had no business needing to be as strong as he was since he was their sniper. Probably was because of Utah. Ehan never wanted to be weak like that ever again. Chris was still Charlie to his core and carried around a lot of extra weight in explosives, plastic, and electronics to both detonate and disarm bombs and needed to both be able to keep up with Alpha and carry all that stuff. Alpha suits only took the burden so much. Charlie suits were better at handling the weight than Alpha ones so he needed to pick up the slack his suit couldn't handle.
Chris noticed him and looked down at Ehan and over at Munahid. Ehan still finished his rep before Chris helped him ease the bar into the cradle. Ehan sat up, sweating up a storm even as he tried to use the hem of his shirt to mop part of his face. "Hey," Ehan said.
"What's up, Munahid?" Chris asked, leaning on the bar purposefully casual so everyone could see how big his arms were. There were plenty of girls and boys around who were looking too. How did Chris actually survive with a libido the size of Texas?
"I need to talk to Ehan. So sorry, stealing him," Munahid said.
Chris groaned. "Seriously? He's the only one I can get to come to the gym with me anymore."
"Cause you weird everyone else out," Ehan muttered. Munahid laughed and Chris was incredibly offended. "Now?" he asked Munahid.
"Yeah. I figure before we have to do more training we should talk."
Chris gave them a look. "Talk before training? About what?"
"Nothing you need to worry about, Chris."
"Is Ehan getting promoted? Because if he is I call bullshit," Chris complained.
"He's not. And if he was you should be happy for him. He's older than you," Munahid scolded him. "And been through way more hell than you."
"I guess," Chris grumbled, folding his arms. Munahid knew he was just being grumpy because Munahid was taking his workout buddy.
"Alright," Ehan sighed and got off the bench. He picked up his bag and took out a towel. Before leaving he wiped the bench down and then his head and arms. "Tomorrow, Chris," Ehan said.
"Yeah yeah," Chris said. "Now who's gonna spot for me?" he complained.
Munahid looked at the people who'd been eyeing Chris earlier. "I'm sure you'll find someone," Munahid assured him. Chris just scoffed as they left. "So I was-
"Wanna clean up," Ehan said before he could finish.
"Alright," Munahid said. That sounded fair.
They had to take two elevators to get to Ehan's place on floor forty-six. One to take them from the general training halls down to floor fifty-five on an area elevator and then they could take a local elevator down from there. They didn't talk the way down which Munahid knew Ehan liked, especially since all the elevators had other people in it going down from the gym, the sim rooms, or the hospital. They got off at the right floor and Ehan let Munahid go first. Weird that Ehan was letting Munahid show him to his own home.
Ehan unlocked the door and they walked in. Ehan's quarters was a single large room made up of two different sized rectangles. He had everything crowded along the walls so that he had as much floor space as humanly possible to do what he liked to do, which was work out and exercise or do yoga by himself because Ehan liked to do everything by himself. Except when he went to the gym with Chris of course.
Munahid fell onto one of the padded chairs as Ehan disappeared into the bathroom to clean up. As he waited he looked around. Ehan liked collecting butterflies and had quite a display of dead and mounted ones on his wall. He also had moths. Munahid smiled remembering Ehan trying to raise them in his room shortly after they'd returned from their pilgrimage. They'd done just fine but he hadn't been able to enjoy them since they'd both been training for their placements in the fortress which could take months to an entire year. All his butterflies had died before he'd had a chance to enjoy them. After that he'd just ordered already dead and mounted ones from the web to enjoy instead. Good to see he was still enjoying his butterflies, he'd started that almost eight years ago now.
Ehan didn't take long and he came out of the shower in just a towel and went to get his clothes he'd forgotten to grab from his wardrobe quickly before ducking back into the bathroom. That didn't stop Munahid from glimpsing the scars on his chest. At least Ehan still trusted him enough to let Munahid even have a chance to glimpse the holy text carved into his chest. Munahid rubbed his own chest at the thought. Thankfully his parents both had strong middle eastern genes despite being a generation removed from the fortress and he was hairy enough that it hid the scars. Ehan not so lucky with an American mother.
Munahid just waited for Ehan to come back out. When he did he walked right over to where Munahid was and pulled a chair around so they could sit opposite each other. Ehan said nothing, and just sat there, leaned forward and tense. Munahid leaned forward a bit as well. "So," he started. Ehan just sat there. "What's going on?" Ehan stayed silent. "Cmon, E. Talk to me. I know you fucking talk. You talked a whole lot before Utah." Ehan gave him a look, "Well more than you do now. Cmon, gimme something here," Munahid said, motioning at Ehan aggressively. "You've been all weird since we got back from our last mission. What is going on?"
Ehan didn't say anything and Munahid leaned back in the chair. He saw Ehan was going over what he wanted to say carefully in his head. Munahid could wait. Seconds ticked by into minutes but Ehan still didn't say anything. Munahid did his best not to get annoyed with him. Ehan was his best friend. Shit really his only friend. They were both all alone honestly. Munahid considered Altair his friend and all of Alpha is family but they were work friends, work family. When they'd come back from their abnormally long pilgrimage they hadn't spoken to any of their year mates. Even after their physical and mental recovery you didn't just get better from the trauma they went through. Same thing with Diyari. He'd get better but he'd never be as he was. Both of Munahid's parents were dead and he had no siblings.
But Munahid had Ehan and Ehan had him.
Munahid waited a bit longer before saying, "You gotta say something. You said not in the sim. So here we are."
Ehan didn't say anything for a few more seconds. "That was messed up, what Rauf did, you know?"
"I mean what do you give fake resonance to to someone who isn't close to anyone who isn't part of the sim?" Munahid said.
"You resonate with anyone?" Ehan asked.
Munahid blinked. Ehan had never asked him that. They never discussed it and it was rude to talk about it anyway. Your resonance was your own business. "Little, here and there. Nothing worth talking about. Why? You disappointed it was me and not who you resonated with?" Ehan shook his head. "Don't resonate either?" A nod. "Heh, well isn't that just like us, huh?" He stopped talking because he saw Ehan wanting to say something.
He waited. Ehan didn't say what he wanted to say. "E," Munahid said gently and leaned forward with a slight smile. "Nothing you say is gonna make us less friends. You know that, right? You're my best friend, from the start, to the end."
Ehan swallowed and breathed out. Munahid waited. "I… uh-" he rubbed his mouth and suddenly looked shy and unsure. Words he'd never in a million years to describe Ehan.
"Cmon," Munahid coaxed. Ehan spoke into his hand and Munahid only caught the mumble. "What? Put your damn hand down, I can't understand you."
Ehan dropped his hand. "I thought I hated it. I hated everything about that training sim while it was happening. But, with a few days between it and now I know I didn't hate it. I was just scared. Scared it changed things. Maybe it does. I don't know. I just know… I liked resonating with you."
Munahid needed to take a few seconds to first appreciate that Ehan had just talked more than he usually did in a single exchange and then he actually processed what Ehan had said. His brow furrowed moment then he rose an eyebrow at Ehan. "What now?" he asked as a way for some clarification. He thought he knew what Ehan was getting at but Ehan wasn't always the best at saying what he meant.
Ehan took a deep breath to steady himself. Maybe Munahid hadn't reacted as Ehan expected, which was in a negative way, because he didn't seem as tense as before. "You're my best friend," Ehan said. "Always have been. I don't want that to change."
"It hasn't," Munahid said. "You've just been in a mood lately and I don't understand why."
"I don't actually want to be your friend, Muna," Ehan said and before Munahid could even feel hurt Ehan continued. "I want more than that."
Munahid sat back in the chair, taking it in. He blinked a bunch as he worked through what Ehan had told him. "Oh," he said and had no idea what to do with that. He scoffed in a laugh, "That certainly explains why you didn't like Maelin at all," he joked. Ehan said nothing. He just sat there. Waiting. Munahid mulled it over for himself a bit. "Does this change anything?" Ehan just shrugged. "You were doing so good before. Not talking now?" Another shrug. They sat in silence and if it hadn't been so familiar it would have been awkward. You just got used to silence around Ehan. It let Munahid think and Ehan wasn't about to say anything now.
Eventually Munahid just ran his hand through his hair. "I dunno," he said. "I just, I dunno," he shrugged at Ehan. "Do you feel better now, telling me?" He laughed a little when Ehan shook his head. "Well, you're still my friend. And is this a gay thing or a me thing?" Ehan didn't really show an interest in people like that. Before Utah he'd fooled around with kids their own age and had been outgoing enough to convince girls they hadn't strictly grown up with to fuck him. Munahid knew that he didn't do that now, too self-conscious about the scars but it was worth asking. Ehan just shrugged. "You're so helpful you know?" Ehan just gave him a sarcastic look. "Fuck off, really." Ehan smirked a little. Munahid got up with a sigh. "So, I dunno," he shrugged widely at Ehan.
"I'm glad you told me though. Really, I am. I like to know what you're actually thinking and not just making me guess at this shit. Talk to me more."
"I'll try," Ehan said in a quiet voice. And Munahid's chest ached a little that Ehan would even think he needed to say, "I don't want to lose you."
"E, you won't," Munahid assured him. "You're still my best friend. And we're both in Alpha. We can't be too weird, the kids'll talk," and that made Ehan crack a little smile.
"Like they need more to gossip about."
"Exactly. So, let's just play it by ear."
"I always do that."
"Yeah," Munahid sighed a little. "I dunno what to tell you, E. I wish I did. That I could tell you anything to that. But I'm actually an idiot in case you didn't know?"
"I did," Ehan said flatly. "You liked a temporary agent who had a partner. That's pretty stupid."
"It is," Munahid said and flushed a bit at that. He really thought everyone had forgotten by now. He supposed Ehan wouldn't. "I just wanna know. How long?" Ehan said nothing. "What? Cmon, tell me." Still nothing. "Is it a length of time that will make me feel bad?" Ehan just have him a look. "Okay. I'm gonna leave now. Figure this out," he ruffled his hair. "Or something. Fuck. I dunno."
"I'll see you at training," Ehan said.
"Yeah. Right. Good," Munahid said before making his escape.
He stopped right outside the door and leaned against it with a sigh, looking at the ceiling. "Good one," he told himself. What was he supposed to do with this?! He hadn't known what he expected when he'd confronted Ehan but it sure as shit hadn't been an actual confession. With a groan he pushed off the door and headed for home. He really wished he had someone to talk to about this but the only person that came to mind for talking about something as deep and serious as this was Ehan. He walked down the hall to his room and went in. He had a lot to think about.
Munahid stayed in his room for a few hours before his wall screen started throbbing with a white light as a way of an alarm. He had an appointment and was loathe to miss it even though he really didn't want to get out of bed. He didn't care he was acting like a shitty teenager who was coming into their EVs and resonance (or lack of) at the same time and hid in their room to avoid overstimulation, he really didn't want to leave. But the appointment was more important. So with a groan Munahid pulled himself off his bed and out of his room.
He grabbed two elevators down to the nursery, signed in and went to the AWC room. To his surprise, he saw Altair there with one of his sons Munahid couldn't remember the name of. The little one who's other father was Rauf. He and the child were looking over a book and Altair had an empty notepad on his thigh, a pen stuck behind his ear. They seemed very serious about the book.
Munahid went over to father and son and Altair looked up at him. "Munahid, what are you doing here?"
"I'm visiting my son," Munahid said awkwardly.
Altair blinked before remembering. "Oh right," he said. "Well don't let me interrupt."
"Are you going to be here for a bit?" Munahid asked.
"Little bit, why?"
"Could you stay? I… wanna ask you some stuff and I know we'll be uninterrupted here"
"Sure. Should I be worried?" Altair asked slowly.
"No. I just really need to talk to you."
Altair sighed, "I guess. I was really hoping to have the rest of the day off from being an adult after I had to discipline Chris, but sure."
"I appreciate it," Munahid said.
"I mean what good am I if I'm not here for you all, hmm?" Altair smiled a little and Munahid really did appreciate Altair in that moment. "I'll be here a while. I might leave to take Sef back, but I'll be back."
"Okay," Munahid said before crossing the rest of the way to the doorway that led to the baby room.
He knocked and a nurse came, smiled at him and showed him to where he could sit. Like always they handed Si'u to him and stood around a few moments to make sure everything was alright before fogging the glass and leaving them alone. Si'u had already grown a lot since Munahid had first held him only a few weeks ago. Before he'd been so small. A premature birth the nurses said. Very rare nowadays, even by women who decided to carry instead of using an AWC. It meant Si'u was small and underdeveloped though the nurses assured Munahid that his heart was normal and he had quite a set of lungs on him. Munahid didn't come down enough to know that. Si'u was always so quiet when Munahid was around, half awake and half asleep most of the time. Sometimes he'd wake up and look up at Munahid with his narrow black eyes and clench his little fist. Today he was sleeping and hadn't even woken when the nurse had deposited him into Munahid's arms. Every now and then his food twitched but other than that the infant slept soundly.
Unfortunately, because Si'u was premature he had to be kept separate from the other babies. Not to mention he could have all sorts of strange Utarian germs from his donor. So for both reasons he was kept in a warmed plastic shell of a box with holes to allow hands to enter. It kept Si'u warm because he was too small to do it himself and kept him separate from the other babies.
Munahid still couldn't believe himself he'd actually requested and been accepted as Si'u's guardian. He was a madman and had no idea what to do with kids. His own parents had ignored him for the most part. Just another pair of Assassins joined during a Season with only thought to how their genes would make a good Assassin. Munahid didn't have parents like Altair and Rauf who after they'd been joined had hit it off. They'd come and seen Munahid a few times while he grew up but kept visits short. He honestly didn't remember what they looked like unless he looked at a picture of them especially now that they were both dead. He knew one thing about Si'u though. He didn't want to be like his parents for Si'u. So in that he was already doing way better than his and he'd turned out alright. So Si'u would be even better, right?
Before Munahid knew it his time was up. The nurse came back and said he was done. Other people wanted to come see their children too and only one person, or couple, was allowed in the baby room at once. So Munahid gave Si'u back to the nurse. Si'u still hadn't woken and continued to sleep as the nurse put him into his plastic incubator. As the nurse showed him out they asked if Munahid wanted to make another appointment. There was an opening in eight days if he was interested. He said yes and they marked it on their screen so Munahid would be pinged about it and he could add it to his schedule.
Altair was still out there with his son. Except now the little boy was using the pen Altair had had to draw on the empty pad, which was still on Altair's thigh. Altair was looking over a different book. He glanced up when Munahid came out. "You look refreshed," Altair teased him.
"Don't be rude," Munahid said. He sat next to Altair to see what he was looking at. It was a baby name book. It took Munahid an embarrassingly long time to remember Altair had been joined again this season. He didn't know he'd forgotten when for the entire week after it had happened Altair had done nothing but complain about it since the other donor of his new kid wasn't Rauf and he was bitter. "Any luck?" he asked, nodding at the open book.
Altair sputtered his lips. "Not even a little. It's impossible cause I haven't seen Malik down here to ask him. Not that he'd probably even care what I called them."
"You'll figure it out. Make sure you run it by Rauf so you don't name them something lame."
"Why does everyone assume I'll pick a bad name? I named Darim," Altair was honestly a bit insulted by the entire thing, which was more than a little amusing. "Anyway, what did you want to talk about?" All of Munahid's words left him in an instant. He couldn't talk and just kinda stammered a second. As he did someone else came in and went up to the door for their appointment. "Muna? You okay?" Altair asked.
Munahid just blurted out what he was thinking, "Did you know?"
"Uh… know what?" Altair rose his brow at him.
"About Ehan?"
Altair squinted at him. "Munahid, just start at the beginning. I have no idea what you're talking about if you just jump into the middle."
"Did you know Rauf was going to do that during the last exercise, with me and Ehan?"
Altair frowned. "No. He told me about it when he gave me the debrief. It wasn't very nice since it was like a trick. I've since let him know that that was a really stupid exercise for a bunch of young, reckless, twenty-somethings to be faced with."
"Have you noticed Ehan's been acting weird lately?" Munahid asked.
Altair gave him a look. "Munahid, I know you two are very close but to the rest of us Ehan is always weird. He's even weird to me and I can read him almost as well as you."
"I mean more weird?"
"No, not really. Maybe a bit more sulky but that isn't anything terribly significant. Why? Something happen?"
"You could say," Munahid said slowly.
"What happened?"
Munahid sighed. "If I tell you, please don't tell anyone."
"Of course not," Altair said with earnest.
Munahid hesitated anyway despite knowing Altair wouldn't tell. "So apparently Ehan is interested in me? And why do you not look surprised at all? Did you know?" he demanded.
"I guessed," Altair said with infuriating flippantness.
"What? How?"
"Because I saw him," Altair said easily. "Is this the problem you were talking about?"
"Well… yes?" Munahid had no idea now.
"What's the problem?"
"I'm straight?"
"Are you sure?"
"Pretty sure?" Munahid just felt confused really. "I think? I don't know." He slumped in the chair and put his hands over his face.
"Daddy, look," the little boy drew Altair's attention away from Munahid for a few seconds to show him what he'd been drawing on the pad. "It's a fishy."
"That's a nice fishy, little man," Altair said. He took the pad off his thigh and put it on the chair next to him. "Why don't you draw over here so I can talk to Muna."
"Okay," and the boy happily stood and bounced a little in front of the chair to keep drawing.
"Munahid, hey, stop acting like the world just ended," Altair chided him.
Munahid glared at him from between his fingers. "My best friend just told me he's in love with me, it's basically the end of the world."
Altair laughed. "Why?"
Munahid lowered his hands a bit. "I'm not like that."
"You sure?"
"I think so?" Munahid was still unsure about it. "I was hoping for some advice here you know, not just question my sexuality."
"Well maybe you should," Altair said in a surprisingly reassuring voice. "And did he say love specifically or are you making mountains out of molehills like I know you do?"
"Rauf gave us fake resonance for each other. Ehan said he wished we have real resonance. So I don't think I am," Munahid said.
"Do you want to too?"
"I honestly didn't even think about it after it was over. And is that what it really feels like?" he asked Altair.
Altair smiled a little. "Yeah, it really feels like that."
"No wonder Diyari and Jari are so useless all the time," Munahid huffed and Altair chuckled. "But I still don't know what to do. I don't know if I can look at him the same now that I know. He's my best friend. I don't want to hurt him."
"Of course not. But you might have to." Munahid frowned deeply. "Which is why I keep asking you if you're sure you're straight? Rauf thought he was straight before he hooked up with me."
"Yeah but you're you," Munahid said, squinting at Altair.
"What's that mean?"
"Don't let it get to your head but you're really attractive. That happens to people like you."
"Flattery gets you nowhere," Altair chided him. "But that doesn't mean anything. It isn't like I made Rauf bisexual. I just made him realize he isbisexual. Which is common in the fortress by the way," he reminded Munahid. And oh Munahid knew about the rampant bisexuality in the fortress, especially in the upper novice levels. Everyone in charge liked to pretend that keeping boys and girls separate worked but it only worked half the time. Novices always found ways around to bang those of the opposite sex resonance or not and if the opposite sex wasn't available same sex usually worked just fine too. Half of Munahid's year mates were bisexuals. The rest had been a mix of straight, gay, and every flavor in between.
"I have never, even once, been interested in dick except when I get to be a dick," Munahid said and Altair laughed. Munahid smiled at that one. It had been good.
"Daddy, Moony said a bad word," the boy pointed accusingly at Munahid.
"Yes, he did, Sef," Altair agreed.
"Nani says if you say bad words you have to sit in timeout."
"Kid, I'm already in timeout," Munahid sighed. "I came to your dad for advice, that's pretty much as much in timeout as you can get."
Sef frowned at his father. "Don't worry Sef, he'll have his timeout." He looked back at Munahid, "Excuse me," Munahid nodded and Altair got up, picking up his son and taking him out of the room.
Munahid slumped in the chair and waited for Altair to come back from dropping Sef back off at the nursery. He folded his arms frowning. Like he hadn't been questioning his sexuality since Ehan told him. That had been all he'd been doing.
Altair came back and Munahid perked up a little. "Sorry," Altair said and Munahid just shrugged. "What were we talking about again?"
"Ehan likes me and I'm not gay."
"Oh right," Altair nodded. "Though he said he just wished you resonated. And let me tell you, there are plenty of different types of resonance."
"Yeah?"
"Mhm. There's what me and Rauf have for instance, which everyone knows about. But did you know Rauf is a weird and resonates with like a dozen people other than me?"
"What?" Munahid stared at Altair.
"Yeap. And that's just the ones he kept track of. Apparently he has a very weird and high rate of resonance. Very annoying when you're growing up and confused. And then I resonate with someone else and I can't fucking stand him. Like I can't even be in the same room with him or we start fighting."
"Wow. I didn't know that," Munahid said.
"And did you know twins resonate too? Not like how we think about it though. More like they resonate at slightly different frequencies than each other so they have very high resonance, but apparently there's a dissonance to it. Sally told me about it once that she didn't even know until Sarah found she resonated with Micheal. And there is of course a lot of lesser resonance that pulls people together. Like Giovanni and I had some-
"You're fucking joking," Munahid cried.
"Nope. But it's nothing like what Rauf and Achilles induced in you. I don't even feel it it's so minor, but it allows you to be aware of the other in a way. It was more like a closeness of family, like how I feel with my boys. I know when Darim's done something I won't like before I even talk to him. That's a type of resonance too. The exercise we did was just everyone being forced to experience the loudest form, which can be kinda annoying honestly."
"You would say that," Munahid grumbled.
"It can be," Altair insisted. "You can't hide anything from each other. You feel it. And trust me, it is super annoying to try to be sleeping and you're hit by an unexpected feeling from your partner. And if one of you can't sleep neither can the other if you're in the same room. That's why nights before missions I always sleep in my own quarters.
"Ehan said he wished you resonated, but really he has no idea what that even means," Altair rolled his eyes a little. "And it isn't like friends can't resonate."
"I don't think he meant it like that," Munahid said.
"Maybe not, but there isn't much either of you can do about it. Personally, I'm surprised Ehan even told you his feelings. You know how he is," Altair sighed.
"I… kinda forced him," Munahid admitted.
"Really?"
"He was acting so weird. I had to know what was wrong."
Altair was quiet a moment. "For reference, what is Ehan being weird like for you?"
"Well he was talking more than usual and I didn't have to initiate a conversation."
"That is weird," Altair agreed. "And I think you need to just think about what you want out of your relationship with Ehan, however, it will be."
"I don't want to hurt his feelings."
"Then think of a way not to."
"I feel trapped, though! Anything except 'yeah, we should hook up' will hurt his feelings."
"Ehan is a grown ass man who has been through horrible things, he will get over it," Altair assured him. "And for that matter, you're also grown. Why can't you just tell Ehan what you're telling me?"
"Cause I don't want to ruin our friendship."
"Ehan did that already. Kinda. You can easily pick it up and fix it but the fact that you're this worked up about it means what you had will come back. You need to make a decision about what you want to do. I can't make it for you. Wish I could, but I can't." Altair was so rational about it and Munahid still felt lost.
"Say you were in my place. What would you do?"
Altair thought about his answer. "I'd think long and hard about it and about what I'd be willing to attempt to keep my friend. In the end I'd try it out at the very least. But I'm also pan as fuck so there's that. You shouldn't make yourself love someone Muna," he said. "But you can always try to. And I know. You're straight," he said before Munahid could say it. "But you might not be. Try it out. Tell Ehan you're trying it out and it might not work out. Like I said, he's a grown ass man, he'll get over it."
"You sure he will?"
"It's Ehan," Altair said as a way of explanation.
Munahid closed his eyes a minute. Then he opened them and looked at Altair. "I don't feel any more certain after this but I don't feel totally lost now."
"Well, at least I helped somewhat," Altair chuckled.
"I was really hoping for some more concrete guidance. Like do this Munahid, it's the best idea."
"See, wouldn't do that," Altair said. "You need to come to the decision yourself. I know you like it when I tell you exactly how to do something but this isn't Foxtrot anymore, Munahid. You're second of Alpha, you gotta figure stuff out. Including stuff like this."
Munahid breathed deeply through his nose and nodded. "Okay," he said. His head was still swimming but he was swimming now and not drowning. "Okay. I uh, think I need to go do some more thinking."
"Good. You do that," Altair said and patted his back. "And don't be afraid of your choice. Just make it calmly and rationally. No good plans were ever made on rash decisions and panic. I'm sure Ehan knows you'll need a while to think about it. So take it."
"I will," Munahid nodded. "Thanks."
"Of course, still don't know why you decided to come to me about this. But you're welcome."
"You're the only person I know who has any actual relationship experience who isn't Diyari and Jari who are absolutely worthless," Munahid said and Altair laughed again. He got to his feet. "I guess I'll see you around. Next training day." Altair nodded. Munahid frowned even as he left.
—
Not knowing why he was here Malik left the elevator. The nurse only glanced up at him when he signed in. He'd only come here once since he first met Rauf down here. He thought coming to visit an AWC was weird. Even when he'd been joined with Jessabelle they'd hardly ever come down here. What was the point of it? There wasn't a baby in there for most of the season. As it was this year's children were probably smaller than his hand still. There was nothing in those AWCs. They'd only visited late in the season when there was something to see and they'd clear the otherwise opaque glass so you could see your kid before it was born.
Shaun, as usual, had needled him about going down to his AWC and he'd finally felt weird enough about not going to go do it. Shaun and Rebecca had been down to the nursery constantly when they'd been joined during the season. It had all Shaun had talked about for nine months and Malik had had to suffer through seven months of drama of the two of them trying to decide on a name and fighting over half of them.
Malik really hoped he didn't have to endure that with Altair. Honestly, Altair was way more invested in this kid. Rebecca sent him scolding messages at least once a week telling him Altair was down in the nursery visiting their kid. Malik honestly didn't care as much. He'd let Altair think of a name or something and Malik would either say yes or no but he didn't care enough to look over it. He'd cared enough about Tazim because he had had feelings for Jessabelle and hadn't minded being joined a decade ago. Now? Malik still got annoyed thinking he'd been forced to join with that idiot.
"Of course," he muttered to himself when he opened the door to the AWC room. There was another couple in it, hunched over towards one another and ignoring everyone else. Altair was sitting by himself a distance from them, legs kicked out, leafing through a book of some sort. Malik ignored him and just walked down the line of AWCs to his.
Honestly, Malik felt stupid standing there. He wasn't a man of the god, never had been. He was a tech guy, practical and rational. Whatever inside that AWC was barely alive and certainly not human. Certainly didn't care to know Malik was standing there looking at the opaque white glass. Late in the season lights would show up along the bottom of the glass, illuminating the face to distinguish sex. Red for boys, yellow for girls, and orange for parents who wanted to be surprised and not know the sex. Malik stood there though, so he could tell Shaun he had to get him and Rebecca off his case about never visiting the nursery anymore.
He felt Altair before he heard or saw him. It started as a prickle at the nape of his neck and flared across his shoulders like a bad feeling from their resonance. It wasn't an unpleasant feeling but it made Malik feel an unpleasant emotion he never unpacked too thoroughly and just designated it 'loathing'. Altair came to stand next to him in an easy posture. Malik narrowed his eyes and looked at him but said nothing. He'd let Altair say something first.
Or that was his intention. The feeling of being touched along his right side where Altair was standing on drove him kinda crazy. Finally he looked at Altair with a scowl. "What do you want?" he asked and tried to keep himself civil, which wasn't easy when the last time they'd met Altair had literally thrown him out a window.
"Would you believe me if I told you to talk to you?" Altair said, calm and cool and looking very tired. Good. Malik hoped he was tired because Malik was tired too. Tired of him and they'd only been near each other less than a minute.
"That's funny cause I have nothing to say to you. Unless you're up for me yelling at you some more about that stupid stunt you pulled the other day? Cause I could do that all day," Malik growled.
"It was effective," Altair said.
"It was stupid and had that not been a sim room you would have killed your hostage."
"If it hadn't been a sim room I would have had my parachute," Altair said.
Malik just bristled. He just had an answer for everything! He could still remember when he'd tried out for Alpha after he'd come back from his pilgrimage. Altair had already been in Alpha three years and had the answers then too. Even when the answer sucked Altair had an answer for everything. What an infuriating sort of person. "What do you want?" he snapped out.
Altair gave him a mild look. "I'm sorry for throwing you out the window," he said. Malik leaned back a bit.
"Did you just… apologize?" Malik asked. He didn't remember Altair ever apologizing to him about anything. He squinted at Altair distrustfully. "What do you want? You wouldn't be nice if you didn't want something."
"I don't want anything. Rauf said I needed to make nice before the end of the season or I'd regret it having to try and raise a kid with someone who hates me. So I'm trying here. Maybe you could try the same?"
Malik gave him a skeptical look. "Yeah, right," he said sarcastically.
"I'm serious, Malik. We've known each other our entire lives." Not an understatement. They were the same age so they literally had grown up together, shared the same room growing up, and seen each other every day of their lives until they went on their pilgrimage. "We didn't always hate each other."
"By your memory," Malik scoffed.
"It only happened cause we resonate. I can't help it, neither can you. I remember being twelve and being as good of friends with you as the rest of our year mates. Don't act like that didn't happen."
"Is there a point to this? Cause it isn't just cause we resonate. You're an asshole."
Altair rolled his eyes. "So are you. I'm still trying to be the bigger man to make sure at the end of the season we aren't fighting like Assassins and Templars in front of our kid."
"And if I don't want to?"
"Then you're more petty than I thought." That struck a cord. Malik didn't like to think himself petty but he knew he was being petty here. He just hated giving an inch to Altair. He hated letting Altair get to him and convince him he should be doing what he was doing another way. Most resistance, least resistance, didn't matter. Malik hated doing what Altair said as much as Altair loved telling people what to do. He was Alpha-One for goodness sake! That was all he did all day was tell people what to do and they obeyed with unflinching loyalty. He even had Rauf doing whatever he said and that just grated on him so hard. But Malik could see Altair wasn't just trying to get his way here. This was an actual, legitimate, concern that they were going to bicker and fight in front of their kid. Potentially that could spill over into arguing in front of Tazim. Malik didn't want Tazim to see that part of him. Tazim knew he could have a temper, hell Tazim was almost as bad as him, but Malik did everything in his power to make sure Tazim never saw it.
Malik sighed and folded his arms. Altair said nothing. He just waited. Bastard knew Malik was giving in. He could probably feel it. Malik sure as hell could feel Altair's curiosity on how Malik would respond. He knew Altair knew he'd just poked Malik in a way that could make him angry. The fact that it was also true didn't help.
Finally, he looked at Altair and unfolded his arms. "Truce, I guess," he said and offered Altair his hand.
Altair's eyes widened. Had he actually expected Malik to deny him and say fuck off? Thinking that, that sounded exactly what Malik would usually do. "Truce," Altair shook his hand.
Malik squeezed his hand, "So let Rauf hang out with us again."
Altair squeezed back. "I told you. I haven't told he can't. He just didn't want to start shit. If you wanna hang out then do something. I'm not threatened by you hanging out with Rauf."
Malik yanked his hand out of Altair's. "Good."
"Good."
"Fine. Bye," and Malik stormed off angry. Fucking prick. Malik hated him. He hated him he hated him he hated him. He was very glad when the feeling of resonance faded and Malik was back to feeling like just himself again. No more ghost sensation or feeling like he could feel Altair's warm breath everywhere. Malik rolled his shoulders as he signed out. He was waiting for the elevator when Altair came out of the AWC room and signed out as well.
Malik stubbornly didn't look at him and the elevator came. He got in and pressed the button before looking back. Altair was standing right there on the other side of the threshold but didn't stop the doors when they closed. The elevator went up and Malik made a point to remind himself to tell Shaun he wasn't going down to the nursery again and to send Rauf a message about meeting for lunch one day.
If you like the story consider leaving a comment. I really appreciate it.
And for the questions/comments I have gotten:
So I will tell you the weird kids are not clones. Interesting thought, but not a thing. I can't even give you a hint either cause you'd figure it out.
For Altair and Malik's kid. The sex and name of the baby has been decided for years, it's just taken me a long time to get to it. While I could be super predictable to name it Kaley or Duncan that's more a Desmond thing than an Altair thing lols. I will give you a hint on what the name will be. It's the name of a character in another of my fics that is… significant to both Altair and Malik lols.
Also you don't know there isn't a Kaley in the fortress with her own lil Duncan already ;)
About the polar caps melting and my map. So I didn't decide/consider the rising waters until literally last chapter, that's why the map does not reflect the current thing. And like with all my old stuff, take it with a grain of salt. Stuff that's 2+ years old should be taken as mostly out dated unless I referance it later on lols.