"Curiosity"

by Agar

Rating: Mature for language and homosexuality

Summary: Ezio just can't leave well enough alone, forcing Leonardo into confessing more than he wanted to.

Disclaimer: Assassin's Creed and all related titles are the property of Ubisoft and people who are not me. I am merely a poor college student who likes to play with the toys in their sandbox.

Author's Notes: My first AC fic! I actually haven't played the game because I don't own a 360 or PS3 *cries* so please forgive any mistakes. Everything I know I learned from fanfiction, the AC Wiki, and YouTube videos of the gameplay. The sole reason I even got into AC was because the second one featured Leonardo da Vinci, who I have a major case of the streaming thigh sweats for now. From there I discovered the awesomeness of Ezio, and Altair, and Malik... *drool* So much hot man meat. Of course I had to write a Ezio/Leo fanfic!

Translations

Grazie – Thanks

mio amico – my friend

Si – Yes

Signorina – Lady, specifically an unmarried woman

Buona notte! – Good night!

"Curiosity"

by Agar

Part I

Leonardo's workshop was quiet except for the hiss of breath Ezio would let out whenever the needle passed through his skin. Earlier in the evening he'd been caught by the glancing blow of a guard's sword underneath his ribs, though luckily the wound was not serious. A few stitches would take care of it, and so he found himself in the home of his friend, half undressed and covered in blood, again. The long gash was nearly sewn shut expect but for one last painful, stinging inch, and he resisted the urge to tell Leonardo to hurry. Instead, he took another long gulp of wine from his cup, though it did little to dull the bite of metal pricking his tender stomach and the disquieting sensation of string being pulled through his flesh. To distract himself, he examined the many odds and ends chaotically decorating Leonard's studio.

"You need an assistant."

"I don't want one. They get underfoot and steal," Leonardo said without looking up from his work. He kneeled at Ezio's feet to better reach the wound, who was slumped in the only chair at Leonardo's table.

"This place is a mess."

"I happen to like my mess the way it is. An assistant would only try to organize it and I'd never be able to find anything again. Hold this—" Leonardo handed him the end of the thread while he tied off the last knot. Without asking, Ezio released his hidden blade and cut off the extra as he had a hundred times before. "Grazie. Now what I would really like you to do is dodge next time so I don't have to do this again. You are a terrible patient, mio amico," Leonardo said as he stood and brushed the dust of his knees.

"Si, I'll be sure to tell the guards how inconvenient you find fixing their handiwork to be."

"See that you do," Leonardo replied humorously and began washing the blood from his hands in a basin on the table. He wrung out a wet cloth and passed it over so the assassin could clean as well. Ezio took it and absentmindedly swiped at the blood on his abdomen, not bothering to tie his shirt up after to let the wound dry, then handed it back. "As always, you are welcome to recover here. Feel free to use my bed, I will be working for a while longer before I retire."

Ezio snorted. "A while longer" for Leonardo really meant, "I'll fall asleep at my desk, then wake up before you do anyway." "I cannot take your bed. I will not impose on you more than I already have."

"We have this argument every time. You need the rest, Ezio. I know you move from one mission to the next, never getting a break. You've hardly healed from one injury before you gain another." He waved the bloody rag at Ezio menacingly. "Don't think I didn't see those bruises I remember from the last time you were here. Come," and he motioned for Ezio to follow up the stairs to his bedroom.

Grimacing as he stood up, Ezio complied, his legs feeling like lead with each step up the stairs. He held back a yawn while Leonardo ushered him through the door and light the bedside lamp. Like the studio, Leonardo's bedroom was cluttered, but not with incomplete art since his window faced north and received only indirect sunlight ill-suited for drawing. Instead it featured a battered wooden wardrobe, a wide end table with a glass oil lap, and a large, comfortable bed that dominated the small room (a gift from a wealthy, female patron of Leonardo's who had hoped to make her way into said bed). Ezio collapsed gratefully onto it, sighing as he melting into the goose down mattress and soft sheets. His bed was nothing like this and as much as he enjoyed the chance to sleep on it he always felt guilty for depriving Leonardo of his own bed. Especially since it was such a decadent, pillow covered nest of velvet and fine linen, smelling faintly of the fresh herbal soap used to wash them.

"Now stay there before you do something stupid like jump out the window and reopen your stitches. You'll ruin all my hard work," Leonardo chided as he pulled out an extra blanket from the oak chest at the foot of the bed.

Ezio chuckled into the pillows, then winced when the motion pulled at the aforementioned stitches. "You know me too well."

"Of course I do, you're my best friend."

"You mean only friend," Ezio said bluntly, though the words were not intended to hurt. He tugged on Leonardo's sleeve, pulling the other man to sit on the edge of the bed with him. "I've noticed you have many patrons, Leonardo, but few companions."

Leonardo toyed with the hem of the blanket, not looking up. "You have keen eyes. No wonder you're such a good assassin."

Ezio ignored the attempt to change the subject. "Why do you isolate yourself so? I have never seen you with a woman."

"My work is my life. I cannot imagine any woman wanting to play second fiddle to a painting."

"Isn't that the truth! Rosa is demanding enough. At least I have the excuse of my assignments to escape her and her merry band of thieves."

"And I can barely escape my patrons," Leonardo joked, gesturing to the bed.

Ezio grinned. "I imagine Signorina Ginerva was quite disappointed to find out all you intended to do in this bed was sleep."

"I wasn't about to be bought by a bed, no matter how nice it is," Leonardo scoffed.

"Mmmm, I'd be quite happy to accompany Signorina Ginvera if a meant a bed half as nice as this." Ezio raised his eyebrows suggestively, leaving no doubt what kind of company he meant with the beautiful noblewoman.

Leonardo rolled his eyes and stood. "At least it would take more than something as paltry as material wealth to earn my affections," he shot back, walking to the door with a smirk the assassin couldn't see.

Ezio's jaw dropped. "Did you just call me a cheap slut?"

"Buona notte!"

A/N: You ARE a cheap slut Ezio. :D Sorry guys, so sexy-time yet, that will be in part 4.