0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Chapter 34; Fast Cars

Giovanni stared at him, his hand still molded against the top of his son's head.

Ezio was pressed tightly against the door of the car, fingers tangled around the safety belt his eyes pleading even as moisture dripped steadily down his cheeks. "I w-went back and he was there, sleeping. I-I knew… I knew if he found out what I'd done that he'd kill me, then he'd find Leo and take him back because Leo doesn't like violence, because he's so afraid of them and would do whatever he was told to keep from being hurt. I-I couldn't let that happen. You have to understand that, I couldn't let that man h-hurt him again!" He swallowed, looking as if he might vomit; "S-so I just—" his hands curled and pushed forward gently, just barely half an inch, but it was substantial enough that Giovanni knew.

"You…" he cleared his throat and brushed Ezio's hair behind his ear then started again; "You did what you had to do to protect yourself and your friend… it was an ugly circumstance and I—I'm sorry for that."

"D-do you hate me?"

"No."

"Are you angry?"

"N—"

A car behind them blasted its horn, and Giovanni looked up, noticing traffic had eased and he was just sitting there in the middle of the road. He growled, rolled down his window and waved them around, cursing under his breath as he pulled into an empty parking spot, the emergency flashers blinking. Then he turned and took Ezio's face between his hands forcing their eyes to meet. "I am not angry with you."

"You promise?" It came out in a whine, his whole body shaking, like a dog that had been kicked too much, his gaze hopeful but wary at the same time.

"I swear to you. I am not angry. I feel sick because you were forced to do something like that to protect yourself and your friend. I don't really know what to say or how to comfort you with this. But I promise you, Ezio, I am not angry, I don't hate you."

"Am I going to go to prison?"

"Why would you go to prison?"

"Because I killed him. I did something awful—Y-you should hate me! I'm a bad pers—"

Giovanni's fingers shifted and he covered Ezio's mouth. "Look at me. Now, I want you to be entirely, brutally honest with me, understand?"

He hesitated, looking fearful, but nodded and the hand was removed from his mouth.

"Would this man have hurt you? Would he have killed you for what you did?"

Ezio nodded and tried to speak, but Giovanni pressed his index finger to his own mouth in a universal sign of silence, then his hand went back to Ezio's cheek.

"If he would have killed you for disappearing then what you did was justified. You were protecting yourself. If you don't believe me call your brother and ask. He's the family lawyer, remember?"

"H-he hasn't taken the bar yet—"

"He still knows the law, it just means he can't practice… Would you like me to call him?"

Ezio shook his head; "Don't tell him."

"I won't tell anyone… I love you, Ezio, your mother loves you too, nothing you could ever in a million years, do would change that."

He swallowed past the tightness in his throat and nodded, taking slow deep breaths, eyes closing so he could reorganize his thoughts. That horrible secret hadn't made his father change his mind. Hadn't made his family turn against him. He felt weightless, grounded only by his father's hands and the press of their brows together. "You won't hate me if I turn out to be gay will you? You won't be angry?"

Giovanni chuckled softly; "No, I won't hate you. And why would that make me angry? As long as you are happy I'm happy for you… Hell, if shaving your head and dying yourself purple made you happy—"

Ezio felt himself laughing, a choked almost startled sound because he hadn't been expecting his father to say something like that and he gripped the older man's shoulders.

"Anything else you need to say?"

He shook his head and let his breath out in a sigh. "Maybe one thing."

Giovanni hummed questioningly.

"Thank you."

"For what?"

"For not hating me because of… because of what I did. And thank you for talking with me, even though it makes you uncomfortable."

"You did what you had to do and you're still alive because of it… And I'll gladly forgo my comfort if you need to talk again. The books I've read since you came home say it's not uncommon for someone to find sex completely unappealing after something like what you endured, so I'm happy for you that you're able to put that aside and think about it."

Ezio relaxed back into his seat; "Do the books say anything about what I should do if I've got a crush on someone?"

Giovanni blinked as he pulled slowly back out onto the street; "You've got a crush on someone?" His lips curled up just a little and his cheeks turned pink. "That's kinda' cute."

Ezio covered his face and groaned; "Claudia warned me about this! You're not going to do that thing like you did to Federico and Petruccio are you?"

"What 'thing'?"

"She said you giggled like a school girl and slipped condoms into their wallets and embarrassed them."

"I did not." He looked anything but innocent.

Ezio glanced at him rubbing the remaining moisture from his eyes, trying to let himself completely sink into the lighter mood. "You're such a liar."

"So… Can I ask who it is?"

"You can ask, but I'm not telling."

"Please?"

"No."

"I promise I won't 'giggle like a school girl'."

"It might not be a true crush at all anyway. I think it's just because he's had a big impact on my life."

"He?" Giovanni's lips started curling even more.

"Don't, I can see it in your eyes, don't do it."

"Can I get a second hint?"

He rolled his eyes, feeling like he could actually breathe now, "No."

"Please?"

"Papa, I don't even know if it's a real crush or if it's something like Stockholm Syndrome. I'm not even going to do anything—"

"Well, depending on who it is, maybe you should."

"What!" He stared, his mouth hanging open.

"Well, if it is just a crush it'll go away sooner or later. If its Stockholm Syndrome your decision making will start becoming intricately tied into this person and Marjory will pick up on it and we will be able to get help for you."

"And if it doesn't fade?"

Giovanni shrugged. "I spent six months in Italy to find out if it was just a crush… I ended up getting married to her." He grinned roguishly.

"W-well, what if it doesn't fade and he… he doesn't like me that way."

"Well, first thing to do before you commit yourself to finding out… Ask him. If he doesn't—doesn't like men, then you can move on. And you'll have discovered something about yourself in the process."

His nose wrinkled up, "Discovered what?"

"Well, until you've had experience and know for sure, I'd say you were open to both."

"Both what?"

Giovanni laughed quietly; "Open to both sexes, Ezio. Get to know and trust yourself and you'll be able to trust other people."

He nodded and let out a hissing breath. "So, I should get to know him better too? And go from there?"

"That's what I did with your mother. Besides, if it is just a crush and it fades, you've made a new friend."

He nodded and reached for a tissue out of the glove compartment, groaning in his throat. "Why is it that whenever you cry your nose gets stuffy."

"It's not always stuffy, some of it is swelling. Your mother has drops that are supposed to help that."

"Drops for her nose!"

"Women do insane things to stay looking like china dolls… Your sister is constantly dieting and it doesn't matter what you say to her she's convinced she's the size of your aunt Valencia!"

Ezio laughed, a loud almost choking sound and he bent over his knees trying to breathe.

Valencia, his mother's older sister God bless her, had been born with a genetic mutation that made her grow almost a full two feet taller than she was supposed to have, and a resulting hyperactive thyroid had left her weighting almost four-hundred pounds. She owned a big and tall boutique for women in Venice and was quite popular there… She also happened to hate Giovanni with a passion for absolutely no reason. Maria speculated that it was because Giovanni had chosen her over the elder sister and the bigger woman was just jealous. In all truth it was simply because Valencia just wanted to be pigheaded.

"Why are you laughing? It's a serious problem! My little girl thinks she's the size of that witch!" He was grinning as well.

"J-just watch the road, I want to make it home in one piece, thank you! I have to work tomorrow."

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Ezio took the train the next morning with Petruccio, enjoying the tunnels and scenery while his younger brother texted nonstop.

"Hey, did you know our schools are going to be only like a mile apart?" Petruccio looked up grinning. "Eli's gonna be a veterinary surgeon."

"I didn't know there was a difference between a veterinarian and a veterinary surgeon."

He waggled his hand like a seesaw in the air. "She'll have an emphasis on smaller animals. Like ferrets and cats and stuff, and I'll be working with birds… There's this avian sanctuary in Colorado that houses raptors injured by hunters or accidents. They do internships… But you have to be eighteen to apply."

"Why do you like bird's so much?"

Petruccio just glanced up at him and grinned.

Shaun looked on the verge of a murderous rage when the train pulled to a stop. Eli was standing beside him, dressed terribly unusually in a short black and gray plaid skirt and what looked to be one of her older brother's shirts, buttoned only half way down with the trailing ends tied into a knot under her breasts and what Ezio thought was his younger brother's red tie.

Petruccio turned pink and stared at her as he stumbled off the train, his legs stiff. Ezio gave him a good natured push toward the girl and looked around for Desmond…

But Desmond wasn't there.

"Where's—"

"His test is today." Shaun groused, watching how his sister seemed to be preening, batting her eyes and scuffing the toe of her checkerboard shoes against the concrete. "Oi, stop that." He glared at her, then said something in a language Ezio didn't know.

Eli poked her tongue out at him and saluted. "Whatever you say Sir Wanks-a-lot." Then she laced her fingers with Petruccio's and pulled him toward the exit. "Come on, I've got to find bed sheets for the dorm and I want a bitching poster to hang on the wall so the bint they've put with me thinks I'm a Satanist and leaves me alone."

"What's a bint?"

"Oh, love, I've so much to teach you."

Ezio wanted to salute her and wish her good luck as they left, but Shaun stole his attention.

"Right, we can either go to the office and wait until The Idiot and the Madman come back, or we can go have a real lunch and some proper tea. Your choice, just so long as I can catch a smoke first."

"Lunch sounds good."

"Thank God… If I have to force myself through those greasy chips and a fucking fruit salad again I'm going to injure someone." They marched out of the depot and down the stairs. Shaun lit up as soon as his feet hit the sidewalk, and they were traveling briskly away from the print shop to the west.

"I was on Google Maps last night and found a little restaurant not far from here that serves vegan food."

"I thought you said you weren't vegan?"

Shaun looked at him with doe eyes; "You actually remembered that! My God! I tell Desmond at least three times a day and he still thinks I'm vegan. Won't even so much as pick up a grilled cheese for me even though I tell him to! It's always fucking CHIPS!" He puffed angrily. "He's an idiot! Fucking useless!"

"You really must hate him."

"Hate is a strong word… I don't hate anybody." His hands shook; "I just wish I'd never met him and I DESPISE how STUPID he is! It's as if everything he does he does only to set me off!"

"Like what?"

"The grilled cheese! I asked him to bring back a grilled cheese from that diner on the corner last week, and he brought me CHIPS and a fruit salad! I've gotten to the point that I hate fruit salad. It makes me want to-to pelt him with grapes!" He stuffed the burnt end of his cigarette into the ashtray on top of a garbage can as he passed, then pulled out a new one from the pack and lit it as well. "We were doing mock reports the other day, using one another, and he wrote my name weird. The top of his 'S's' are smaller than the bottom. And the way he crosses his 'T's', makes them look like tridents!" He made a swooping motion in the air to illustrate his point; "You know he makes his 'J's' backward?"

"There's a 'J' in your name?"

"No, there's a 'J' in his name, but he makes it backward!"

"There's not a 'J' in his name."

"What?" he blinked stupidly; "Yes there is, 'Desmond James Miles'."

"No, it's 'L-A-M-E-S'. The person who typed up his birth certificate spelled it wrong, so he's just kind of owned it. Only he pronounces it like 'llamas' instead of 'lames'. That's how he got the nickname 'llama boy'."

"Llama boy?" He scoffed; "It's fitting."

"My mom thought it was cute." He looked around, feeling an uncomfortable ache starting to build in his ankle and leg; "Is it much farther? And if it is, can we take a cab back?"

Shaun grunted noncommittally and kept puffing away.

"Hey, back at the train station, what language were speaking to your sister?"

"It wasn't a language. It was code I created. I call it Beagle."

"Beagle? Like the dog?"

"I like dogs. I basically told her to keep her mits to herself."

"I'd be more worried about my brother."

"You obviously don't know a thing about Elizabeth then. She's mad I tell you… Stark raving." He smashed his cigarette out and jerked his chin toward a dark red awning hanging over the sidewalk about half a block up. "There it is… If the reviews are to be trusted it's a nice place. As long as they have bread slathered in cheese I'll be happy."

Throughout the entirety of lunch, Ezio discovered that Shaun liked to talk. A LOT. And all he seemed to want to talk about, or in actuality complain about, was Desmond.

"He snorts when he laughs! And the way he just prances around all the time like he's God's gift or something. And he's forever STARING at me." He attacked his food, a giant grilled cheese and a bowl of tomato soup. "I catch him sometimes, just STARING at me with this doe eyed moronic look on his face, like he's gone brain dead… sometimes I just want to slap it off!"

Ezio just nodded and crumbled more crackers into his chili.

"And he licks his lips, keeps them chapped, and has this tube of balm in his pocket! Pulls it out and scrubs his mouth with it like a three-year-old with a fucking crayon!"

The chili was very good.

"And he thinks he's showing off climbing all over creation. He thinks he's Altair incarnate! I swear he does! Thinks he's such tough shit. I hope he falls out of a tree or off a fire escape… It'd serve him right! Be stuck in the bloody hospital with his arms in casts and his legs in traction." He chuckled darkly. "That would be the day."

The tea was good too, Shaun had been right about that.

"That girlfriend of his is the funniest thing though. She's a flaming lesbian with that roommate of hers, whats-her-name the annoying one with the black hair, dresses like someone from an eighties science fiction? He's so pathetic he can't even see what's going on right under his nose!"

Salt, where was that salt shaker?

"And have you seen the way he dresses? When he takes off that ridiculous jacket just look at him. You can see the brand of his underpants when he bends over! He won't wear a belt, God forbid he should wear a belt!"

"You like him don't you."

And Shaun spat tea out his nose. He coughed and choked and darted from the table toward the bathroom with his face red and a napkin clamped over his mouth.

Ezio chuckled to himself and enjoyed the last of his chili in silence.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Altair's office seemed oddly empty without the PI there. Even more so with Shaun being unnaturally silent. Reading notes and going through a stapled pamphlet Altair had given him outlining procedure and the Do's and Don'ts of the business.

Ezio sat in the chair opposite Altair's unoccupied one with the books his mother had given him opened, working through some English and Mathematics. He was determined to complete it all and get a GED before Christmas. He wasn't sure what he would do after that, but it was a goal to work toward. It was a raspberry in the face of every person who'd hurt him. A, 'fuck you this is my life I won't let what you did ruin me.' His education had become very important to him. It represented normalcy and everything he was working for. His health, his independence, his sense of safety.

There was a noise in the hall and Ezio lifted his head.

A few seconds later Altair shuffled in dragging Desmond by the hood of his jacket. "Sit down and stop worrying so much."

Desmond had his hands over his face; "I failed, I know I failed. Oh, God I'm such an IDIOT!"

"Well, there's something we finally agree on." Shaun murmured to himself.

Desmond dropped into his chair and bent his head between his knees, gripping his ankles and panting as if he couldn't breathe. "When can I take it again, I know I failed!"

"Don't worry about it." Altair toed off his shoes and padded behind his desk, popping open the window. The noise from the street wasn't as bad as it usually was. Altair stuck his arm out, feeling around on the side of the building and after a moment, pulled his hand back inside holding a strip of duct tape on which there was stuck a key.

Ezio blinked at it; "What is that?"

Shaun sighed miserably; "That's the key to the filing cabinet… Malik, is a fucking snoop—"

"Hey, watch your language." Altair pointed at him and narrowed his eyes darkly. "Malik may be a snoop, but he's not a 'fucking' snoop."

Shaun turned back to his paperwork with his lips pursed.

Desmond whimpered and kept mumbling that he'd failed and they'd never let him take the test again.

Altair rolled his eyes at him and peeled the tape off his key, shutting the window with a snap. "Okay, good news and bad news… Good news is there are only two sets of photos left for you to look at. Bad news is, I'm at my limit and I can't take anymore cases at the moment." He tapped the key against his fingers. "I make it a point not to have any more than five workable cases open at once, that way I'm least likely to get distracted or forget about one."

"You've had more summons and shit than five at once you liar." Desmond glared at him hatefully.

"Those are easy, open and shut, two hours at the most on a good day. Workable cases take longer. The FBI can handle these."

"The FBI will shove them to a back burner like they've been doing the other ones." Desmond mouthed a crease in the knee of his jeans, and Altair really looked at him for a minute.

"Des, you're folded up like a paperclip, that can't be comfortable."

"I'm very flexible."

Shaun muttered something.

"What did you say?" Desmond glared daggers at him.

Shaun shook his head and his lips curled up maliciously. "Just commenting on how such a position could be beneficial for certain activities."

"Fuck you, Hastings."

"You'd like that wouldn't you." Shaun grinned at him, nose wrinkled up in disgust; "Admit it! You just want someone to bend you over a table and fuck you up the ass. You'd squeal like a schoolgirl and beg for more, wouldn't you."

Desmond moved like a cat, straight sideways as if he'd passed through some sort of portal or pulled a move like something out of the Matrix, and grabbed Shaun around the waist.

Altair cursed under his breath and shoved the key into Ezio's hands, jumping at the two young men wrestling on the floor. "That's it! I warned you! I warned BOTH of you!"

Shaun squealed and Altair jerked him back by his ear. Desmond flailed and tried to crawl away a look of absolute horror on his face but Altair grabbed him too.

They swatted and kicked at one another childishly even as Altair pulled and forced them to their feet, their shoulders hunched, heads turned to the side, wincing and whining.

Altair pulled them, his socked feet thudding, out the office door and down the hall. He shoved Desmond at the door to the storage room, still twisting his ear. "Open it."

Ezio stepped into the hall and watched.

"Des, open it!"

He whimpered but pushed the door open and let Altair lead them in.

Ezio followed simply because he was curious as to what Altair would make them do in this strange room. It looked slightly different than it had when he'd peeked into it before. The bird swing like apparatuses hanging from the rafters were gone, just a bundle of rope looped around a ceiling joist. And most of the boxes had been stacked in one corner.

Altair shoved both Desmond and Shaun toward the wall and stomped to one of his display cases. He opened it and turned then threw something at the Brit's feet.

Shaun jerked backward at the thunk of something sticking in the mat but Desmond just crossed his arms, and glanced down at what Altair had thrown. "You can't be serious."

"If you two are so intent on killing one another, at least make it quick. All that slapping and scratching, you look like preteen girls having a hissy-fit." He crossed his arms loosely over his chest. "Now, Des, I know for a fact you can fight better than that… so Giggles, you get the knife."

"That seems totally unfair, I won't do it." Shaun crossed his arms as well. "You're barmy."

"Well if you want a gun you have to bring it yourself."

"Fine." Desmond kicked off his shoes and went to the center of the room, fists raised; "Come on. I'm tired of this shit."

"You're acting like a little child!"

Altair was grinning dangerously. A slight, barely visible thing. "Pick up the knife."

"No."

"You scared?" Desmond's face wrinkled up mockingly and he twisted his fists at the corners of his eyes, frowning dramatically.

Shaun growled and bent, it took two tries, but he was able to pull the knife out of the floor and he held it before himself defensively. "Come o—"

And Desmond grabbed his wrist.

Ezio watched with wide eyes as Desmond twisted the Brit's arm behind his back, knocked the knife from his grip, kicked his legs from under him and pushed him to his face on the floor.

Shaun hit hard, the wind knocked from his lungs in an audible bark, the younger man's free hand grinding against the back of his head. His glasses skittered off somewhere near Ezio's foot.

Altair padded over, Shaun could barely focus on the older man's toes wiggling in his socks.

"You gonna stop with the gay jokes, or do I let him pop your shoulder out of socket."

Shaun growled, and twisted, his shoulders arching—

Ezio heard a loud POP, and Desmond was suddenly on his back. Shaun rolling to his feet gripping his left arm, he sneered; "You're fucking kidding me right? I've had worse than that rolling out of bed!" He leaned heavily against the wall for a second, forcing his shoes off and lifting his dangling left arm up and down, rolling his shoulder. There was another pop as it relocated and he darted toward Desmond.

Altair barely had time to kick the knife out into the hall before the two young men were nothing but a flurry of combat moves and curses. He stumbled back to stand beside Ezio with his eyes wide, watching. "He knows jujitsu… How the fuck! Did you know Giggles knew jujitsu?"

It was frighteningly dance like. Desmond's personalized mash of street fighting, karate and what moves Altair had taught him from his military days, against Shaun's expert, fluid movements.

"Aren't you gonna stop them?" Ezio's face had gone pale and he looked a little nervous. "They're fighting in a room full of knives and vinyls… You should stop them."

Altair whistled shrilly; "Stay away from my fucking records or I'll kill you both, understand?"

They moved away from the boxes.

"I still think you should stop them."

Altair flapped his hand disinterestedly; "Let'em fight it out. They're a pain in the ass when they're together and I'm tired of it. Come on." He scooped up Shaun's glasses and the knife he'd kicked into the hallway then went back to his office.

After a moment Ezio followed him.

"Are you sure it's safe to let them do that, alone?"

"Yeah, they won't kill one another and if they do Malik'll help me hide the bodies… He gets off on that kind of shit."

Ezio looked horrified.

"I was joking… come on." He took his key back and opened the file cabinet.

Ezio didn't recognize either of the boys in the photos, but kept staring at them for a little while longer, so he could collect himself.

Everything his father had said the day before was still ringing in his head.

'First thing to do before you commit yourself to finding out… Ask him.'

"Hey, Altair?"

He hummed and raised his head from whatever paperwork he'd been reading over.

"Do you—uh—Are y…" He sighed; "What are you?"

His eyebrows scrunched; "What do you mean… like my heritage?"

"No."

"Well, I'm not religious," he scratched nervously at his neck.

"No, I mean… I mean sexually."

He paled, eyes widening, then color leapt to his cheeks; "W-what are you talking about."

"Do you like women?"

He swallowed thickly; "Who wants to know?"

"I'm just curious." He wetted his lips and glanced at the floor then back up; "I'm trying to find myself, you know? And I—"

"Maybe you should be talking to your father, or your therapist about this."

"I already have… they both said the same thing. If I'm making you uncomfortable—"

"No, no, it's not that. It's just…" he rocked back in his seat and rubbed his face with both hands.

There was a thump and a loud curse from the other room as Shaun and Desmond continued fighting.

"It's just—I don't want to make you uncomfortable, Ezio."

"You won't."

He sighed weightily, his brows bowing slightly, and after a minute he spoke. "I've been with a few women, but I've also been with a couple men. I'm kind of— picky when it comes to sex."

"Like what?"

His blush deepened; "W-well—uh—D-do you know what bondage is?"

He nodded.

"I've got kind of a… W-what I mean is, I—uh— like being handcuffed and tied up and shit by c-certain women."

Ezio giggled. "Was that woman you were with at the barbecue…"

He shook his head; "No. She… Maybe in another life, but not now." He chuckled nervously. "She just got me drunk and I did something stupid."

"What did you do?"

"Not what you're thinking… I'd rather not get into it, if you don't mind."

He nodded and was quiet for a few seconds. "What about men?"

He flinched and looked up at the ceiling, slouching into his seat; "Men? Well it really depends on the man… I like kinda' switchin' it up sometimes, but I haven't been with another guy in years."

"How many?"

"A long time."

"How did you know?"

"Know what?"

"How did you know you liked men?"

Altair stared at him, then gave his head a little shake and looked at his hands, flexing them open and closed. "I—uh… I p-pitched my first tent in front of the whole high school boy's swim team when I was twelve. It was kind of obvious after that." He laughed quietly under his breath and his hands kept flexing, his eyes focused on the gap of his missing finger; "Look, Ezio. I'm glad you're finding yourself and all, but my sexuality is kind of a sensitive subject for me, and—" His teeth sank into his lip and for a long moment he was quiet. "I lost my career and my family because of it so—"

"What do you mean? I thought you were a PI?"

"I am… but Malik, K—Malik and I were in the military together."

"Oh, yeah… I saw a picture of the three of you in your room. That was his brother with you wasn't it?"

Altair's eyes flicked upward; "What?"

And the bottom of Ezio's stomach dropped out, realizing there may have been a reason those pictures had been stuck away in that book and not displayed in frames.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0