Random AltMal Modern AU anyone?

"Altaïr"

No answer.

"Allllltaaaaiiiiiiir"

He got a grunt in reply. So Malik started slapping his stupid face. "Altaïr!"

Altaïr finally awoke, making a strangled noise as he swatted Malik's hand away. "Took you long enough" Malik said. "Come on, get some shoes on, let's go!"

Altaïr blinked sleepily at him, then turned his head to stare at the clock on the nightstand next to the bed. "Malik, it's four in the morning" his lover mumbled. "What do you mean 'let's go'"?

"I can't sleep. So let's go for a walk" Malik explained, incredibly fine with the idea of doing just that at such an ungodly hour. Altaïr simply stared at him for a minute, then closed his eyes and rolled over away from Malik, intent on going back to sleep. So Malik rolled him back over so he was facing the other man. "Walk, now, let's goooo"

"No" Altaïr whined. "Go back to sleep, Malik"

"Get out of bed, Altaïr" Malik ordered.

"Why should I?" Altaïr growled out. Malik leaned over and kissed him.

"That's why" Malik stated when he pulled away. Whether Altaïr was awake enough to actually realize being kissed had nothing to do with going out on a walk in the dark didn't seem to matter, because the sleepier man whispered a simple "Okay" and rolled out of bed. Incredibly pleased, Malik rolled out as well, scrambling around their bedroom for shoes and a jacket. His lover merely stumbled about, still not awake enough to actually know what to wear until Malik threw a sweatshirt at him.

Eventually they managed to get out of the room in knit caps, jacket and sweatshirt, and just their pajama bottoms. Malik shushed Altaïr as they snuck down the hall to the stairs, trying to be as quiet as possible to not awake the other occupants of their household.

"Malik, what if the boys wake up?" Altaïr hissed at him.

"Maria will handle it" Malik whispered back. "Do you have your phone with you?"

Altaïr nodded. "Then they'll be fine"

Altaïr rolled his eyes at him, yawned, and they made their way downstairs. After properly shoving shoes on their feet, they grabbed some keys, and managed to slip out the door quietly enough to not awaken anyone else. Outside, it was still dark as hell, and cold as hell, but Malik hardly gave a damn. Grabbing his boyfriend's hand, he pulled Altaïr down the walkway to their house and out to the sidewalk. And they just walked. Down the street to the corner and just kept going through their neighborhood until they were out on the main roads that connected their town.

They saw next to no one out there, the occasional lone car passing by but that was it. Down the street from their neighborhood, they crossed over into a local park they often brought their sons to, and Malik let go of Altaïr's hand to race over to the play set and start climbing on it like the monkey their seven year thought he was.

"Malik, what are you doing?" Altaïr called out to him. He didn't answer until he had hauled himself up to the very top of the set, sitting on one of the plastic towers.

"Perching right now I suppose!" he called back, grinning down at his boyfriend. "I'd say come join me but there's no room for you and you're probably to sleepy. You'd fall off and break your ass anyway"

"Okay yeah sure whatever" Altaïr yawned. "Did you have some coffee before bed or something? How are you even awake enough for this?"

And Altaïr did look ready to just flop over and fall back asleep right there in the sandbox. Malik honestly didn't have a clue. He had just woken up and he just couldn't get back to sleep and just decided he needed to go for a walk. He'd be paying for this later, but sitting up there on a fake tower for a children's play set, he just did not give a damn. "Let's go on the swings then!" he declared, jumping down from the tower. Malik had to grin at the small burst of panic Altaïr had when he did, the other man flinching and half lunging forward to catch him. But like the cat legend of old, Malik landed safely on his feet, shooting Altaïr a smug look before grabbing him and dragging him over to the swing set.

The chains holding the swings in place creaked under their individual weights, but Malik wasted no time in kicking his feet off to start flying through the air. "Hurry up slowpoke I'm leaving you behind" he teased at Altaïr, who was slouching in his seat, hardly moving his legs. His head lifted up a tad when Malik spoke, and with a sigh Altaïr slowly began pumping his legs. Even by the time Malik grew bored of the swings, Altaïr had still barely gotten off the ground, half asleep in his seat. So Malik waited until he was at the peak of his swing, then jumped off and failed the landing and crumbled into the sand with a loud "oof!"

That got Altaïr's attention, and he was soon hauling a laughing Malik up to his feet. "That kinda hurt" Malik chuckled, laughing more at the confused look on his lover's face. So Malik kissed him again, then dragged him out of the park. Altaïr was still too sleepy to care. Now out of the park, it was further along the road, passing different gated communities until they reached an intersection with a shopping center right across the way. Malik sat at the corner and repeatedly pressed at the crosswalk button, the logic of "maybe the faster the I push it, the faster the light will change". It was the longest light in his entire life, and there wasn't even anyone out on the road!

"Malik!" Altaïr snapped, pointing across the street where the traffic lights had changed, the signal to walk across was flashing.

"It totally worked and you know it!" Malik gloated as he bounced his way over the crosswalk. It was four-thirty in the damn morning and yet he felt more energetic than their five year old on Halloween. Altaïr took his sweet time walking across, taking up the whole twenty-two seconds the crosswalk gave them to get over it. Once he was by Malik's side, his hand was snatched up again, and they made their way into the shopping center proper.

No stores were open yet, there was hardly any cars in any of the lots, and Malik took it as an open invitation to start running over everything he could. From being "hardcore parkour" (their seven year old often shouted that) to playing "the asphalt is lava", Malik worked his away around the parking lot until he reached the sidewalk in front of the stores. His ever exciting companion trailed after him like a dog, head down, hands in his pocket, and yawning like crazy. But that was just the first parking lot. The next one over yielded the same experience, and the next one after that the same until Malik reached the end of the center and was staring at the hedge that separated the shopping area from the freeway off-ramp. Even at this hour cars still zoomed by on the highway, and rightly so as it was now five in the morning and it was the time people were getting out of bed and heading to work.

"Maliiiiiik" Altaïr whined as he caught up to him where Malik had ditched him by one of the grocery stores. "Can we go home now, pleaaaase?"

"I'm still not tired though" Malik whined back.

"Well I am! We can still get back before anyone wakes up. Let's go before I go sleep on a bench or something!"

"Okay look, we'll get some coffee, how about that? So you'll at least last the return trip home"

"You better hope someone's open right now then"

And luckily, there was. A little doughnut shop between the local Rite-Aid and Coffee Bean, not the latter not yet open however. But the owner of the doughnut shop, just opening up for business when they approached, told them they were free to stick around while he made brewed some coffee and started making his trademark pastry. Malik and Altaïr agreed, and crammed themselves into one of the small booths within in the store.

Malik squished himself right next to Altaïr, put his head down on his boyfriend's shoulder, and promptly fell asleep right then and there.

'Not tired, my ass' Altaïr mentally grumbled, but wrapped an arm around his love and planned to wake him up when the coffee was ready.

I don't know. This was cuter in my head. So don't ask.

But the shopping center and park and neighborhood they were in? That's my neighborhood cause why not.