After having spent what felt like an eternity in the showers with the excuse that the twit had spoiled his clothes with milk that soaked right through his black pants, Shaun returned freshly showered with slightly wet hair, back to the room where the Animus was. Of course he had provided himself with fresh clothes and he had to admit that he did not like to shower with the broken lock either. Yet, it was a necessity by now. He had no choice in this if he didn't want Desmond to break down in the bathroom without anyone around to help him. Due to the lack of his favorite pullunder, he was wearing a dark green sweatshirt now, yet had rolled up the sleeves at his arms. He walked back to his laptop and right next to it was a cup with his favourite tea – still steaming hot. Attached to it was a post-it.

„Sorry!"

He could not say that this was a handwriting he knew well. So it was neither Rebecca's nor Lucy's. It must have been Desmond scribbling this on the note. He let out an annoyed sigh.

„What is it?", Rebecca asked him, looking over to the Brit. Desmond was in the Animus again already.

„That ignorant American forgot the milk.", Shaun replied in a bugged tone. Of course that wasn't the reason for the sigh. But he had an image to uphold. He couldn't let the others know that he in fact appreciated the gesture and thought it was a nice idea – and a smart move at that. Of course the girls would think the sorry was about the milk when really it was only about the fact that Desmond could not help Shaun out himself, apparently.

Would Shaun only know how glad Dez was that he had evaded that for now.

„Oh, Shaun you're such a jerk!", Rebecca complained. „He made tea for you! He actually asked me how long you let the tea bag in your cups so it would be just the right timing, too! Not that I'd know that, of course, but he did ask at least!"

Admittedly, the Brit didn't really listen anymore while she continued to rant about him and his ignorance. Quite ironic, actually. In his mind he imagined the still flustered Desmond standing in the kitchen, bearing in his mind what they had just done while he tried to fulfill a simple task like making tea for him in an attempt to make up for his lack of help. Ah, of course he might have managed to talk him into playing with him and finish what they had started but Shaun just enjoyed the little hide-and-seek game they had started by keeping it a secret. And seeing the American startled, embarrassed, horny and confused at once was just priceless. Sometimes he didn't want that to change, ever.

Another part of him though longed for more. Yet, maybe there never would be a ‚more'. Maybe there would only be this. What they had now. With the world as it was, Abstergo as it would chase them, hunt Desmond down and eventually finding them – for it was only a matter of time until they would – he might not even have a chance to get to a proper kind of relationship with that twit that made his head all fuzzy and his brains work in illogical patterns when he was around. Truth was, even if Desmond thought that Shaun was confident about what he was doing all the time, he was not. The thought of rejection was constantly on his mind. And he found it was exceptional that Dez had not yet rejected him fully but instead seemed to embrace what Shaun gave to him so far. A certain kind of insecurity of course was normal in their current situation, even more so for Mr. Desmond I-thought-I-was-straight Miles.

A waving hand in front of his face returned him to reality and he tuned Rebecca's voice back into it.

„-lloho! You still in there? Ah, what am I even complaining about?! Of course you wouldn't listen anyway. Damn British bastard." She punched his shoulder in a rather soft way and returned to her own laptop, sitting down.

He smiled at her back. Yes. That was Rebecca how he knew her. And not even she knew everything about his own history, thoughts and preferences. She actually might have thought he'd be straight. The thought made him actually smirk before he sat down and returned to his work in the field.

Some hours passed until they practically forced Desmond out of the Animus again. He was a little out of breath and startled, looking around just to find Shaun next to him on the seat Rebecca took usually. The golden eyes seemed piercing, yet alarmed when he looked into the face of the Brit. It made a shiver run down Shaun's spine and his lips curl to a smirk again.

„I figured you might need some rest.", Shaun explained calmly.

When Desmond finally sat up and looked around, he realized they were alone. His eyes returned to Shaun, still breathless, but now because he held his breath. He couldn't even tell why he did. He just seemed to forget about breathing.

„Desmond?" His voice sounded so smooth in his ears.

„Huh?"

„Breathe."

There he realized that he had forgotten about it indeed and with a little, weak smile, he drew a breath and released the air from his lungs again a moment later, repeating the process. While he did, he could watch the Brit frown.

„Are you okay?", the redhead asked him. Between his eyebrows was a little crease. Desmond hadn't even realized it was there until now. Maybe he just hadn't seen him in a worried state yet.

„Yeah.. Yeah I'm alright.", Dez replied and now finally averted his gaze from Shaun's face, stroking over his own with the palm of his right hand. „I just.. how long was I in there?"

Shaun looked at his watch, then back at him. „Six hours.", he replied. „The girls didn't want to pull you out because we are making good progress with your long sessions. But now that they went to bed I figured you might need some rest."

„Since when are you worried about me?", Desmond asked, a little startled by the soft and understanding tone Shaun's voice had taken on.

„Oh, that might be since we all know how important you are to prevent Abstergo from dooming the world, really. Probably you did not realize this yet but your body holds the DNA necessary for our cause to succeed, so if you would become sick and your body would not continue to serve its purpose, we might end up having a capable assassin by mind with a non-functioning body which could not end our mission and lead it to success. So of course I am more concerned about our cause and the tools to achieve our goal than-"

„Shut up" Desmond just breathed, grabbing Shaun by his collar and pulling him into a kiss now that seemed more needy than Shaun might have thought possible. Yet, it now was the Brit who was confused. Where the hell did that come from? And since when was he so confident?

Dez though kissed him and, in his own mind, was worried that Shaun now might pull back or deny him entirely, maybe laugh at him. None of this happened though. The Brit let his fingers trace the ones grabbing his sweatshirt and wander down the arm of the younger man, sliding along his biceps to find his shoulder and a moment later Desmond's collar. His tongue slid over the soft, inviting lips of the barkeeper, who now in fact parted his lips for Shaun to explore him. A chance the geek took without hesitation, glad that he was greeted by Desmond's tongue in return. He slowly got off of the chair and slipped closer to Desmond so he wouldn't have to lean over like that, kneeling down beside him on the edge of the Animus 2.0, supporting himself with the free hand on it, one leg stretched out behind him to give him a bit of support on the ground as well while the other was kneeling.

They were both breathing another's air, into their kiss, sharing their oxygen while their breathing sped up, their kiss intensified. Shaun's hand at the collar wandered down over Desmond's chest, further down to his stomach, the hem of his shirt, pushing it up a tiny bit, just enough to let his slim fingers slip underneath it to feel the warm skin covering the growing muscles underneath. A sound of appreciation fled from his lips into their kiss, then Desmond pulled out of it and gasped for air once.

„Wait" He swallowed hard and it took him some seconds to continue. „What.. what are we doing here..?"

Shaun had to snort in an amused way, eyes slowly opening to meet the gaze of Desmond. „I thought you would know. You initiated it.",the Brit murmured.

Desmond shook his head a little and released Shaun from his grip. „I… wanted you to shut up..", he said lowly, almost startled, probably by his own action.

„So… you decided for kissing me rather than telling me to be quiet.", Shaun asked, perking up an eyebrow.

„I.. I said shut up.", Desmond now spoke defensively, making Shaun laugh.

Hearing the voice of the Brit in a laughing but not mocking manner confused him even more. His laugh seemed to be so light-hearted and relieved in some way he could barely believe it was Shaun's. And for a moment, he wasn't so sure if he was really and actually here with Shaun and not in some dream again, until he spoke up again.

„Right before you kissed me, you twit. Indeed." He seemed to have laughed about something on his mind. Never had Desmond wished to have a look into it before, or at least not as badly as he did now.

„I… I was confused!", Desmond claimed. „I thought—You pulled me right out when I was kissing that woman!"

Shaun smirked, watching how Desmond evaded his gaze and blushed deeply. „What did I tell you about lying to me, Desmond?"

How the fuck did he manage to make his name sound so smoothly and inviting, a hum in his voice that was luring to taste those lips again?

„That… I should not try. Because I couldn't.", Desmond replied lowly, resigning.

„Oh. Good. You remember. After your show I thought you wouldn't." The geek smirked, then got up. „You might need a moment for yourself, I assume. Should you need me, I will be in the kitchen. You must be hungry."

With those words, he turned away from Desmond and left him to himself for a moment so he could contemplate on the situation and reflect again what had just happened, who had initiated it and maybe even find out why he did it.

It took him no longer than ten minutes before he followed Shaun and entered their little kitchen. He looked at him, standing at the counter, pouring milk into the tea.

A minute of silence passed. He wanted Shaun to break it, but the Brit didn't seem like he would do something like that any time soon.

So Desmond muttered after a while: „I… I let you down. This uhm.. morning..? Earlier, I mean."

Still, Shaun did not reply anything but turned around to him, his cup in his hands and sipped his tea calmly, his eyes resting on Desmond's face. He could feel the heat creeping up his cheeks, a blush starting to bloom there.

„I… made you tea. Did.. did you see it? Was.. it okay?"

Still no answer.

„Come on..!" By now he seemed restless and sounded desperate. „Shaun, please, just.. just say something. Please?" His face showed a perfect puppy gaze, his eyebrows pulled up, making his eyes seem bigger, which were a tiny bit shiny thanks to the dim light in the kitchen, and his mouth a little pursed up.

Finally, after another ten seconds, Shaun's lips curled to a smirk and he put down the cup on the counter, stepping closer and obliterating the space between them with two steps. „You forgot the milk.", he said lowly, but his voice did not sound scoldingly or amused now. It sounded husky and more like he had said ‚Get out of your clothes right now and here' instead of telling him how to improve.

A shiver crawled up Desmond's spine to his neck and settled there in a faint tingle that would not cease. A little lost in that thought of how he would undo his clothes and get out of them within three seconds he had not even realised Shaun's hand had lifted and was now occupying the space in his neck, covering exactly the part that was tingling. Or did it prickle because of the hand?

„What do you have on your mind, Desmond?" Again his name. And again, Desmond felt like his knees would become weaker under the pressure of his own body.

„I…", Dez began, but swallowed. He could not tell him that he wanted to know what it felt like to do more than just kissing or jacking off. He couldn't tell him that he was between wanting to touch him and being afraid to touch him. He couldn't tell him any of this. And he by far could not tell him what mental cinema Shaun caused him to have. „I am tired", Desmond ended a little belated. „Six.. six hours were a really long time. I think… I think I will skip eating and go right to bed.." He dropped his gaze. Coward.

Shaun's fingertips stroked over Desmond's nape, then the Brit leaned in and let his lips touch those of Desmond again. „Then you should sleep.", he murmured against them a moment later. „Sometimes it is good to listen to what our bodies say and act accordingly. And there is nothing wrong with it, Desmond. Bear that in mind." His fingers released the twit in front of himself and Desmond could not bring himself to another word. He turned and left the kitchen again, heading for his bedroom.