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squirrellysemanticsTitle: Better in the Wind
Fandom: AC2
All characters owned by Ubisoft
Pairing: Shaun/Desmond
Rating: PG-13 for some swearing
He had to have her.
Desmond spotted her sitting under a tree, all by her lonesome. He’d been watching her for days. This new safe house had a rear window that was about damn near perfect for spying on her. She was breathtaking. Just a peek was enough to put a smile on his face.
It had been three weeks – three weeks!- since he’d felt the sun shine on his face; Lucy keeping him on a short leash since their mad dash from Abstergo. It was driving him fucking insane. He was still a prisoner even if the warden had changed. It didn’t help that Rebecca and Shaun were permitted in and out of the house at will as they scrambled to replace what supplies they’d had to leave behind in their haste to escape.
Her beauty had hooked him in since he’d first laid eyes on her and right now he needed her more than anything.
After an afternoon in the Animus, Lucy had ordered Desmond off to bed like an errant child. God, he needed some air. It would have to be tonight- the weather clear, conditions perfect. She’d be there. Waiting for him.
He bode his time until the cover of darkness made it a little easier to evade security cameras. Grabbing a few tools before a shimmy through an open window and he was gone.
“Hello there, my lovely,” he murmured softly as he approached, hands eager to caress her seat.
Her body was sleek. Good lord, the lines of her. Over 1300 cc’s from a big V-twin engine. He knew she’d purr like a kitten once he’d got her started. Harleys were slow and overrated, owned by old men with tiny dicks and fat wallets. This Honda Fury, however- fuck, his mouth was watering already.
Her owner probably had more money than sense. No one else would leave a fifteen thousand dollar bike outside, alone like this. Little bits of leaves and branches wedged to her front tire were evidence of her disuse. It was a crime against humanity that she should go ignored for so long.
He planned on remedying that.
There was no bike lock. Goddamn it was like she was begging him to take her. No one would miss her if he went out for a short spin. He pried off a side cover and inspected the bundle underneath. It had been a while since he’d last done this. Being sixteen and on the run forced you to acquire a lot of illicit talents. Battery wire… starter wire…
“What the bloody hell do you think you’re doing?”
Son of a bitch.
Desmond looked up to see Shaun with arms firmly crossed in front of his chest as if trying to hold back the full extent of his annoyance.
“How’d you find me?”
“I’m psychic. The Assassins don’t keep me around just for my stunning good looks.”
Desmond counted the seconds in his head, waiting for the explosion.
“I read your file, you moron!”
Ha! No way would Shaun resist an opportunity telling him how much of a fuckup he was.
“You gave up nine years of anonymity to get a license for a motorbike. Besides-” It was kind of cute to see the historian fidget uncomfortably as he pushed his glasses further up his nose with a finger. “I spotted you at the window last week, mooning over this thing like a love struck school girl.”
That threw Desmond for a loop. He’d thought he’d been more careful than that. He cleared his head with a shake. “C’mon, man. I’m going nuts stuck in that house! Just let me have a little ride and you can lock me up again.”
“Lucy will have my balls for a necklace if she finds out I let you go!”
“She’ll only know if you tell her.” Sudden inspiration washed over him. Was it going to work? Desmond shot the other man a sideways glance. “Have you ever been on a motorcycle before?”
“What?” The word weighed in with a metric ton of suspicion. “No.”
“Why don’t you come with me?”
“Me? Ride with you?“ Shaun blinked owlishly at him. This was also oddly adorable. “On that thing?”
“It’ll be fun!” He gave the Englishman a little conspiratorial eyebrow waggle. “That way you can honestly say you never let me out of your sight.”
You could see Shaun’s mind crank into overdrive, measuring out permutations of various actions and their consequences.
Please. C’mon. Please. You’ll like it. I promise.
“All right.”
Desmond’s smile was incandescent.
------
“Only get on and off the bike from the left hand side. Don’t take your feet off the pegs until I tell you that it’s safe. Don’t lean into a turn- I’ll take care of all that.” Desmond rattled off final instructions, counting down on his fingers. “You can look over my shoulder but don’t keep switching sides. It screws up the balance.”
“Yes, yes!” Shaun was curt in his impatience. “Let’s go before I regret this even more!”
“Well, then!” Desmond levered the kickstand up with his foot. “Mount up!” He found it fascinating how Shaun studiously avoided touching him as much as possible to settle into the passenger seat. Reaching for the wires, the bike hummed to life just as he knew she would. “I recommend holding on to something.”
“If you call me your bitch, I’ll knife you in your sleep,” he felt Shaun hiss in his ear. There was a concession as arms wound their way around his waist with surprising timidity.
They were off. No helmets, which was not at all safe, but it was hardly the stupidest thing they’d done in the past year.
Desmond took it easy at first, getting used to the feel of her, how she easily handled the weight of two men, the power underneath him ready to spring forward at his command. It was spectacular.
He had mapped out the route in his head. A section of open road that looped right back to their starting point. No traffic. No interference.
Wind whistling in his ears.
He felt free.
The heat of the other man warmed his back against the night chill. He could feel Shaun start to relax against him, comfortable enough to peer around to enjoy the view.
“Check that out!” Desmond lifted his hand from the clutch to point to a beautiful old house up ahead, covered in detailed wood work and stone.
“Will you just drive, Miles?” The outraged response didn’t mask the slight shift of Shaun twisting slightly to curiously study the house as they blazed past.
A long stretch of straight road ahead was irresistible. He gunned the throttle in his eagerness, wanting to test her speed. Shaun let out a small yelp and Desmond could suddenly feel every inch of the Englishman press against him as the man latched onto him in fear.
“Hey!” He had to shout back at his passenger to be heard over the rushing air. “You okay?”
Shaun’s chin dug into his shoulder as he clung tighter still. “Couldn’t be better!”
Desmond eased up on the throttle. It wasn’t often he got to share something he loved more than anything with another human being and he’d be damned if he’d ruin it by terrorizing the other man.
“What are you doing?” A hint of stubble scraped against his neck as Shaun bellowed straight into his ear.
“Slowing down!”
“Well, don’t! Make it go faster!”
Desmond couldn’t mask his chuckle at the petulant order.
“Your wish is my command.”
Opening the throttle up propelled them forward like a horse out of a starting gate. Shaun’s little whoop -a wonderful mix of panic and delight- synched perfectly with a hoot of joy from Desmond as they sped through the night.
--------------
Lucy paced in front of the two men, threading her hands together as if this was the only way she could avoid strangling them both. She halted in front of Shaun, fingers flexing. “Where did you find him?”
Here it was. Crunch time. Holding his breath, Desmond tried hard to not look guilty as he wiped away the remnant of a bug that had splattered itself across his forehead. It would be so easy for Shaun to simply tell her the truth. There would be no repercussions for the historian and Desmond would be in a world of hurt which he imagined would be seen as win-win.
“Just round the corner at the doughnut shop. Silly bugger has a bit of a sweet tooth apparently.”
She looked between the two, not quite sure if she was ready to believe that. The blonde turned on Desmond, ready to tear him apart. “What the hell were you thinking taking off like tha-”
“Leave him alone!”
They turned in surprise at the Englishman’s bark.
Looking professorial, Shaun looked down on them over the top of his glasses. “It might be better to let him out of his cage once in a while. That way he wouldn’t need to make a run for it to have a bit of fun.” His face twisted with a hint of disgust. “Otherwise we’re no better than Abstergo, really.”
Lucy opened and shut her jaw as if the mere thought of being compared to the Templars was enough to rob her of the ability to speak. “Next time. One of us. Needs to know.” Turning on her heel, she retreated to her station to simmer.
Energy had Desmond bouncing on the balls of his feet.
Shaun looked at him dubiously. “What’s the matter with you?”
“Next time,” he parroted, the words bringing with it a flood of ideas. “Next time, do you want to learn how to ride?”
A ghost a smile crossed the other man’s face. “Perhaps.”
Desmond returned the smile in full.
Wind whistling in his ears.
