"All I'm saying, Des"— hic —"all I'm saying is that, perhaps you should… should…."
Whatever Shaun thought Desmond should do was anybody's guess. Shaun, his head swimming from his last swig of wine, was now completely engrossed by the moon rising over the horizon, and was oblivious to whatever he'd been saying not a moment before.
Desmond took a drink from the same bottle. "I should what?"
"Hm?"
"You were telling me what I should do."
"Oh, I dunno, mate. Not like it matters. You never"— hic—"listen to what I have to say anyways."
Desmond shrugged. He wasn't wrong.
They sat on the roof of the Auditore Villa in comfortable silence — save for Shaun's occasional hiccups — and watched the moon as it rose higher into the night sky. Every minute or so they'd pass the bottle of wine between the two of them until Shaun tipped the bottle up only to realize it was empty.
"Bollocks."
"Think any stores are open this late in Monteriggioni?"
Shaun groaned. "Probably not."
"Well, only one way to find out, right?"
"That's"— hic —"that's a terrible idea. You know you're supposed to stay"— hic —"out of sight. Bloody hiccups."
"Oh come on, Shaun. I've been stuck inside for what feels like months now. You think Abstergo is sitting around at a grocery store in the middle of small-town Italy waiting for me to show up? If you don't wanna come, that's fine. I can go by myself." Desmond stood up and made towards the edge of the rooftop.
"No, no. You're not going alone. I can't very well return to the Sanctuary empty-handed now, can I? Lucy and Rebecca would have my head if I let you go alone." Shaun followed after Desmond, nearly losing his balance in the process. Sloped rooftops were not conducive to walking while drunk.
Now adept at free-climbing, Desmond had no problem scaling down the wall, even after half a bottle of wine. One, two, three quick drops and a small jump later Desmond was safely on the ground. Shaun, on the other hand….
"A little help, please?" Desmond looked up to see Shaun's legs dangling comedically as his feet failed to find a ledge. There was no way this was going to end well. Desmond scaled the wall once more, stopping just below Shaun's feet. He grabbed one and put it on a ledge. One step at a time, Desmond helped Shaun down the wall.
"Alright, just another couple feet." Back on the ground, Desmond watched as Shaun… slipped and fell. The force of the fall knocked him backwards into Desmond, who tripped over Shaun's feet and they tumbled to the ground together.
Red from embarrassment, Shaun pushed himself off Desmond.
Desmond, not to be deterred, stood and brushed himself off. "Come on, let's go see if the store is still open."
"Do we have to now?" Shaun groaned, pushing himself to his feet.
"More wine will make you feel better…." Desmond saw his tempting start to work.
Shaun deliberated for a moment, then relented. "Just…don't tell Rebecca"— hic —"what happened, okay?"
Desmond had no intention of telling Rebecca. But Shaun never said he couldn't tell Lucy….