I'll be your Wingman

Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN THE ASSASSIN'S CREED CHARACTERS

Leonardo couldn't sleep that night. All his thoughts went helplessly back to Ezio. When he tried lying in bed, he felt a tremendous pressure on his chest, causing him to bolt upright, coughing and wheezing for air. "Is this what it feels like…?" Leonardo whispered to himself, grabbing a fistful of cloth that rested over his heart. "Heartbreak?" He curled up, forehead resting on his knees as his stomach lurched. He got out of bed, lit a few candles, and went to the canvas that had some sketches on it, currently just faint outlines of faces and body positions. Picking up the charcoal once more, he pulled sat on the stool and began working once again, hoping that if he could finish this portrait, everything would just disappear and go back to normal.

He had difficulty remembering Serena's features as he focused on her first. He tried to remember the day he met her in the street, though not a very happy meeting, he could remember that she was very beautiful, so that's what he tried drawing her as. He remembered Ezio talking about her, her dark hair –so long and beautiful–, her eyes –so stunningly green–, and her smile –so sweet–, Leonardo drew it as such. He drew a rough sketch of a windowsill with Serena looking out of the window, the smile that Ezio loved so much on her face.

Then he focused on Ezio, the outline of his body currently in the shape of him jumping to the window, in that same flying form he had seen earlier when Ezio had jumped into his window. He stared at the outline as the memory of it came back into his mind. The way Ezio soared through the sky like he had wings, the way he looked like he belonged in the air. Leonardo furrowed his brows, gripping the charcoal as he let his hand rest on the wood of the easel. For some reason, the outline didn't look right now; it didn't quite capture what he saw. And how could you capture something like that? "You can't…" he heard himself saying as he licked his thumb and started erasing the outlines. They disappeared after a few strokes of his thumb, leaving black smudges on both the canvas and his thumb. He put the charcoal down once Ezio's body was fully erased, leaving only the outlines of his face, which was facing in the direction of Serena, away from him. Leonardo reached up slowly and gently touched the canvas, where the outline of Ezio's face was drawn. He wished silently that it would somehow look at him, but it didn't move.

Picking up the charcoal again, Leonardo started sketching another outline of Ezio's body. He remembered everything about it, he'd seen Ezio without his armor on, he knew how muscular his arms were from hanging off of roofs. He knew how broad his chest was when he had to treat some of his wounds once after an assassination had gone wrong and he had gotten shot with an arrow in the middle of his chest. Leonardo's heart had nearly stopped that day, seeing Ezio standing at his door, bleeding, stumbling inside. He had fallen into Leonardo's arms then, sending them both to the floor. Leonardo had frantically tried to keep Ezio awake with stories as he removed the arrow and stopped the blood from flowing. The assassin has slept for two days straight then, Leonardo keeping a watchful eye over him for any signs of him getting worse. Thankfully, he woke up fine one morning, smiling like always.

Leonardo noticed that as he came back to the present, he had sketched out Ezio perched on the windowsill as he was earlier, his hand holding Serena's chin in a gentle grasp, only two fingers actually touching while the others were against his palm. His other hand was gripping the windowsill for leverage, his feet angled inward towards the room that Serena was in. His cape and the tail of his robe sketched in a way to look like Ezio has just sailed down from above, both creased and folding in on themselves. His expression was a soft smile, but the smile was not Serena's, it was Leonardo's smile, the one that he showed around the artist. It wasn't a fake smile that was fortified with defenses so you couldn't read it; it was a real one, showing how much he trusted Leonardo. Leonardo put down the piece of charcoal and began gathering the necessary paints for the portrait. He started mixing colors, getting the right shades he needed for Ezio's tanned skin and Serena's pale skin. He got the reds and the whites necessary for the Assassin robes, and also the blues and a hint of black for the night sky, putting them all out on a palette.

Long before Leonardo was finished, it was morning. The gray sunlight spilled in from the window, making the almost used up candles useless. He blew them out and allowed the sunlight to do the lighting for him. Leonardo wasn't hungry, but nonetheless took out some bread and wine from a cupboard and placed it on a surprisingly clean table. He poured a glass of wine for himself and sipped at it, resting his head on his hand, as the morning grew older and the town started to awake.

There was a soft knock at his door, slightly startling him. "Come in."

The door opened, and shut, his assistant walking into view. "Buongiorno, maestro."

"You're here rather early," Leonardo took another sip of his wine.

"I was worried about you. You didn't seem like yourself yesterday." So he did pick it up, his assistant was smarter than he thought.

"Sto bene," Leonardo smiled, putting down the wine glass. "Oh…Regarding this personal project. If a man named Ezio Auditore comes here. Tell him I am away, even if it is a lie." He gave his assistant a hard look, as hard of a look as he could, considering he just had a night with no sleep. His assistant nodded, curious, but respectful of the artist's private wishes. "Grazie." Leonardo stood up, and stumbled, falling to the ground, dizzy.

"Maestro Leonardo!" Leonardo's assistant flew to his side, helping him up. "Are you alright?"

"Si…Just a bit dizzy…Take me to the stool. I will rest there as I work on my project."

"That is not resting…" his assistant sighed, but obeyed, allowing Leonardo to put his weight on him. They both shuffled over to the stool, and Leonardo sat down on it…well, rather crawled on it and pointed to the palette that was on the desk. His assistant retrieved it, as well as a paintbrush, and handed both to him, a small grazie escaping the artist's tired lips.

"Remember what I told you," Leonardo dipped the paintbrush into the paint and began his work, first painting the night sky. His assistant nodded, though he wasn't sure Leonardo saw him, as he was suddenly very into his project.

Early morning turned into late morning, the gray sunlight turning a soft gold, allowing Leonardo to have more light to work with. His eyes remained glued to the canvas, the brush expertly making streaks of dark blue for the sky. His assistant flashed a worried look over his shoulder, starting to try and clean up the paper-covered desk. When Leonardo got like this, he tended to forget about himself. The thoughts of eating and sleeping escaped his mind, leaving only thoughts of the project, and the way he was acting with this one, the case was peculiarly bad. He made a mental note in his mind to get some food into the artist as he heard a hard knock on the door.

"Get that," Leonardo demanded, lack of sleep, food, and being disrupted from his project the cause of irritation edging at his voice. His assistant rushed to the door, sketches still in his hand from cleaning the desk as he opened it.

"Si?" he asked, seeing a young man in strange robes at the door, a hood covering his face. The only thing visible on his face was his mouth, which was curled downward in a frown.

"Is Leonardo there? Please, I need to talk with him. My name is Ezio, Ezio Auditore." Bells rang in the assistants head, and he could feel the air in the workshop grow stale and cold, even though the door was open. This was the person that Leonardo didn't want to see?

"Mi dispiace, but maestro Leonardo is not here at the moment," he closed the door slightly, not allowing Ezio any view inside of the workshop.

Ezio's mouth tightened into a scowl, "Do you know where he is? My message is very urgent."

"No," The assistant replied simply.

"Will he be back tomorrow?" Ezio's voice seemed strained, like he had just ran all across Italy.

"Non lo so," the assistant shrugged and began closing the door, deciding the conversation was over. Ezio stopped him though, a hand keeping the door open.

"Tell him…tell Leonardo I need to talk to him." His eyes were visible to the assistant now, and they were swimming in a mix of emotions, ones he couldn't hide, even from a stranger. He then turned swiftly on his heels and walked briskly away, soon disappearing into the crowd of early-morning townspeople. The assistant closed the door and looked back at Leonardo, who had stopped mid-stroke, listening to the exchange between the two.

"Are you sure that was okay?" the assistant asked, walking back into the room. Leonardo nodded slowly, continuing his brush-stroke and noticing that it left a smudge that he would have to fix later.

"It is for the best…" Leonardo said softly, dipping his brush for more blue paint and continuing his work of the night sky.

Ezio continued visiting the workshop day after day, asking the same question;

"Is Leonardo there?"

"No," the assistant would reply. Ezio would always leave, his shoulders hunched a bit lower, his lips a bit more creased downward at the corners. The assistant would always close the door after the assassin left, and find Leonardo frozen, either mid-stroke, putting his brush back up to the canvas, or refreshing the paint on it. After a few seconds he would continue what he was doing, acting like Ezio had never visited.

These little routines continued for five days straight. On the sixth day, there was a loud banging on the workshop door.

"Leonardo! Leonardo! I know you're in there! Leonardo!" It was Ezio, yelling his name. Leonardo looked up slowly from the completed portrait. Colors blended and complimented each other. The moon radiated in the top right corner, an eagle just to the left of it, but the main focus was Ezio, so expertly detailed, so wonderfully painted, it would be hard to keep your eye off of him. Even as you would follow his arm to Serena's chin, you would just be tempted back to the perching assassin.

"Get the door…" Leonardo whispered through cracked lips, then he realized he was alone. His assistant had not come in for work yet. Using the stool for support, he struggled to his feet, multiple days without food and sleep weighing down his body. He was paler than before, his blonde hair was straw-like now, and his eyes had tired circles under them. Teetering, Leonardo slowly made his way to the door, where the pounding continued. He felt the same pounding in his head, making him dizzy, causing him to stagger and fall to the ground with a loud thud.

Ezio heard the thud, and felt his heart drop to his stomach. He pounded harder, causing his hands to become red. "Leonardo!" he nearly screamed. He heard footsteps and whipped around, hidden blade at the ready, before quickly sheathing it as he saw the assistant standing behind him. "Quickly! Leonardo is not responding!" He grabbed the assistant by the shoulders and pushed him to the door.

"I knew I should've spent the night…" Ezio heard the assistant mumble as he fumbled in his pockets, retrieving a key and unlocking the door. Ezio nearly pushed the assistant to the floor as he hurdled through the door, stopping immediately as he saw Leonardo, unconscious on the floor.

"Leonardo!" Ezio ran to the artist's side, picking him up and holding him gently, he saw how pale he had become, how thin he had become as well. "A dottore! We need a dottore!" he held Leonardo close to him, suddenly protective of the artist.

The assistant nodded and ran out, going to retrieve a doctor. Ezio continued to hold Leonardo, shaking his hood off of his head and gently touching Leonardo's face. His cheekbones were poking out, somewhat sunken, their usual roundness absent as he had refrained from eating while working on the portrait. "Leonardo…" Ezio leaned down, touching his forehead with the unconscious artist's, his brown eyes looking at Leonardo's closed ones. He wished that they would open, that he would see the usual azure blue, shining with happiness and glee. "Open your eyes Leonardo…" he found himself whispering. The artist did not comply though, his eyes remaining shut, his body remaining limp in the assassin's firm hold. Ezio pressed their foreheads together further, if that was even possible, and breathed heavily, his heart thumping worriedly in his chest.

The assistant returned quickly, the doctor in tow, Ezio's head snapped up in alarm as they came through the door. The doctor bent down and reached out to Leonardo, to Ezio's surprise, he held Leonardo closer, more protectively against his chest. The doctor gave him a stern look, and Ezio reluctantly let Leonardo lay on the floor, using his cape as a make-shift pillow.

"Oh dear, this isn't good at all," the doctor said after examining Leonardo, touching his face, his sides, everywhere. It made Ezio mad for some reason. "He is extremely weak. By the look and feel of his body, I would say he hasn't eaten or slept in days." The doctor turned his attention to the assistant, paying no heed to Ezio.

"He gets like this sometimes," the assistant explained. "When there is a project that is of great importance to him, he tends to forget himself. This portrait seemed really special." He walked over and picked the canvas that was nearly dry, only a few thick blotches of paint struggling to stay wet. After looking at it, he handed it to Ezio. "It seems to be yours."

Ezio took it hesitantly and looked at the masterpiece. To call it beautiful would be demeaning. He realized how…detailed he was compared to everything else and couldn't help but stare at it for awhile. He didn't exactly hear the doctor ask for a new bottle of strong wine, he didn't hear the assistant clutter around the cabinets and cupboards, he didn't hear the pop and the swishing of liquid, but he did smell the strong scent of new wine.

He did hear though, the sound of Leonardo groaning as he woke up from his unconscious state.

"Leonardo!" Ezio almost threw the canvas to the floor, then with careful thinking, put it down gently and then scrambled over to the artist, hovering over him. "Leonardo, are you alright?"

"Ezio…? What are you doing here? Why am I on the floor? Why is there a dottore here?" Leonardo looked around quickly, very confused at the events. Ezio sighed softly, despite looking horrible, Leonardo seemed to be acting normal, for right now.

The doctor got behind Leonardo and put his gloved hands on Leonardo's shoulders. "Let's get you up," he said, lifting him from up the floor, some help from Leonardo's assistant. Leonardo grunted with extreme effort, no energy in his body as his vision started getting black, and he started getting dizzy again. He shook his head clear though, and smiled kindly at the doctor.

"Grazie."

"Get something to eat, capire?" the doctor stared at him through his mask, to give him the stern look this time. Leonardo's smile turned sheepish, and he nodded slowly, his assistant already meandering to the cupboards to retrieve some bread, cheese and glasses for the newly opened wine bottle. The doctor patted Leonardo's head and he exited, saying he would retrieve his payment later.

Leonardo was left staring at Ezio, who was in turn staring at him as well, the busy clinking of dishes the only noise in the room. The silence between them was starting to get to the both of them, neither knowing what to say at this point. It was at this time that Leonardo's assistant put down a plate with a few pieces of bread and some cheese in front of the both of them, accompanied with some glasses that he filled up. He then left, looking hard at Leonardo when he started to protest. The silence fell again, even harder without the sound of clinking dishes.

Ezio was the first to break the silence, "Leonardo…" Leonardo flinched at his voice and snatched up a piece of bread and smeared cheese on it, literally shoving it into his mouth. Ezio watched, falling silent again as Leonardo ate the bread, realizing it was an excuse not to talk. His brown eyes then flicked over and saw some cheese on Leonardo's cheek that the blonde hadn't noticed. Reaching over he wiped it away with his thumb, feeling the blonde freeze under his touch. He retracted his thumb, Leonardo's gaze following it, and licked the cheese off of it. It tasted oddly delicious to Ezio, and he saw that Leonardo was flushed a deep red. "I'm sorry Leonardo."

Leonardo had settled down, and was stirring the wine in his glass absentmindedly, looking up when Ezio spoke. "For what?"

"For not realizing you were doing this to yourself. I was too busy with Serena to notice." Ezio avoided Leonardo's gaze. "But after you refused to see me, or while your assistant sent me away, I couldn't stop thinking about you. Even when I was with Serena. All my thoughts came back to you somehow. I couldn't focus on anything, and my feet would always lead me somehow back to your workshop."

Leonardo blinked at what he was hearing, certainly this wasn't…? He reached out to Ezio, who now had his head in his hands, fingers gripping his hair, causing some loose strands to fall out of its binding. "Ezio…il mio ami – " a gloved hand caught his wrist, gripping tightly, burning brown eyes were suddenly staring into his blue ones.

"Don't say it Leonardo," Ezio said. "Don't call me a friend. Don't lie." Leonardo faltered, his wrist beginning to ache with the rough grip it was being held in.

Leonardo took in a deep breath, shutting his eyes as he softly spoke, "Ezio…il mio unico amore." He felt the grip on his wrist lighten. Opening his eyes, Leonardo saw that Ezio's face was frozen, but the assassin's eyes were swirling in emotion.

"Leonardo…!" Leonardo felt himself being pulled forward, felt his body being enveloped by strong arms, felt the missed beat in Ezio's heart. "E mi, Leonardo, e mi." Leonardo looked up at Ezio, eyes wide and mind disbelieving what it had just heard. The artist found himself wrapping his own arms around the assassin, embracing him tightly, burying his face into Ezio's chest. They stayed like that, just holding each other, sharing each other's warmth, and this time, the silence was welcomed.

"Leonardo?" Ezio asked after awhile, wondering if the artist had fallen asleep.

"Hmm?" Leonardo looked up from Ezio's chest, and found a finger tracing his jaw-line, guiding him closer to the assassin's face. He could feel Ezio's breath on his face, and couldn't help but flush slightly as Ezio stopped guiding him when their lips were barely centimeters apart. A smirk was on his scarred lips as he whispered softly, "Ti amo," leaning in and kissing Leonardo. Leonardo was stunned for a few seconds, both by the kiss and the words that came out of Ezio. He soon melted into the kiss, returning it with fever, putting his hands on the armored shoulders of the assassin. Through the kiss he felt Ezio smile, and lean into Leonardo, deepening their lip-lock. They continued their heated kissing, new-found feelings fueling their emotions. They only pulled away to stare into each other's eyes for a few seconds, panting, before continuing their kisses.

Leonardo started feeling dizzy from the lack of air, and pulled away, opening his mouth to get a gulp of air before his mouth was recaptured again, Ezio nearly tackling him to the floor as Leonardo was bombarded with kisses again. "E-Ezio…" Leonardo mumbled against Ezio's mouth. The assassin pulled away, frowning slightly, but it disappeared when Leonardo's finger pressed against those kiss-bruised lips, stroking them, and running up and down the scar a few times. "There will be plenty of time for more…yes?" Leonardo smiled softly up at Ezio, who was huffing slightly. "For now, can we eat?"

Ezio smiled fondly and took Leonardo's hand in his, kissing it softly. "Of course, il mio unico amore." As he let Leonardo sit up and finish his meal of bread and cheese, his brown eyes caught sight of the corner of a canvas, the one drawn and painted for him by Leonardo, the one Leonardo struggled over. "You'll have to do another portrait of me Leonardo," he said, putting an arm around the artist and pulling him close.

Leonardo's eyes brightened, their usual cheery sheen returned. "Of course Ezio!" Ezio smiled and made a mental note to get rid of that portrait.

(It's done! Thanks guys for reading this. And I'm sorry for any Italian in any of the chapters that I might have messed up. This is probably because I took one year of middle school French and three years of high school Spanish...This was a lot of fun to write, and might have been a bit difficult at places, but it was worth it! Please R&R if you guys enjoyed this, and I'll be sure to write more stuff like this!)