Confessions

In which Leonardo tells the truth

As Leonardo sleeps, Ezio rides back and 'convinces' the judge to drop the charges against his friend. With this house relatively unguarded to Ezio's surprise, it was a task fairly easy to accomplish, although holding back his recurring anger was the hardest part. Ezio realises why he feels so angry - Leonardo means so much to him after all - but the extent of it is still like a punch to his gut. The last time he felt remotely like this were the days after his family had been hanged. Rage and pure grief had blinded his mind, had made him even more reckless than he had already been. Ezio likes to believe he's grown smarter with age, but his friends like to point out the opposite whenever they see fit. Maybe they are not entirely wrong, seeing as the mere thought of Leonardo coming to harm had him hurtling through the streets and willing to torture guards out of retaliation. Yet patience was the first thing his uncle had taught him in Monteriggioni, and Ezio had learned to keep in check.

After he's scared the judge into dropping Leonardo's charges - and into soiling his breeches much to Ezio's satisfaction - he goes to Leonardo's workshop to get him some fresh clothes, charcoal, and a notebook. When he returns to La Rosa della Virtù, Leonardo is still soundly sleeping and despite feeling bone-tired, Ezio sits on a chair beside the bed and decides to spend most of the early hours watching the older man sleep.

When Ezio wakes, his back and neck muscles hurt from the awkward position he's been in. He glances up at where he had hoped to see Leonardo, but he's not in bed anymore. Neither is he in the attic room and so Ezio goes down to the now empty common room and inquires. One of the girls tells him Maestro da Vinci is currently taking a bath and Ezio thanks her with a small bow. He hesitates for a moment, but takes the clothes he brought for his friend to the bathing room anyway. When he enters, he sees an outfit had been prepared for Leonardo and he wonders if his excuse to check in on him falls through now.

"I brought you some of your clothes," Ezio speaks up from the doorway, "but I see you've been given some."

"Ezio. Thank you. You can leave them here. I prefer my own."

Ezio thinks Leonardo still doesn't sound like himself. If anything, he sounds tired and his sentences are short and more uneloquent than he's used to. The words have no joyful ring to them. Ezio's chest constricts a bit and despite the invasion of privacy, he steps inside and closes the bathroom door behind himself.

Leonardo has bruises on his skin and he can't help but stare at the blotches of discolouration as if they are a mockery of painting. His thoughts of possibly invading Leonardo's privacy are overshadowed by guilt and anger.

"Leonardo, I ... who exactly is responsible for this?" He asks because he wants them dead. He asks because he would gladly kill half of Italy if Leonardo were to request it. But Leonardo only shakes his head.

"It's my fault. I was careless."

"Carelessness does not get you arrested for rape." A desperate sigh leaves Ezio's lips. This is one of the things he doesn't like about his friend. It's very much Leonardo's personality to shift blame to himself, even when he least deserves it. At times like these, Ezio hates the artist's pacifistic nature because in his place he wouldn't be so merciful and forgiving. Leonardo forgives everyone, except himself. A rueful smile settles on the artist's lips as he answers:

"It does if your pretty assistant hopes to get some coin from it. I should not have fallen for his tricks."

"The words of one boy are nothing against his maestro's, surely?"

"Maybe. But they ring truer if said maestro has already been accused of sodomy once."

"Falsely."

"No. The charges were dropped thanks to a patron of mine. But the accusation was true."

There's a silence between them then as Ezio thinks about what to say.

"Do you think less of me?" Leonardo asks quietly, as if he's afraid and regrets telling him. Ezio momentarily thinks he should know him better than that, should know better than to be afraid of his reaction. Although he is surprised to learn the truth, it does not change his opinion of Leonardo. It's merely a new piece of information about the man he calls best friend. A friend he cannot think of being without.

"Nothing you do can make me think less of you, my friend."

But his opinion of Leonardo has changed, at least a little. He's always trusted him but as of now, their relationship seems more balanced. He feels pride that Leonardo shares his secrets with him as Ezio himself has done countless times before. He feels trusted and valued. He feels as though his understanding of the artist has deepened a fraction, and maybe he now sees the artist as someone who is no longer so out of reach.

Ezio, who has spent his youth chasing after girls, has wondered at brief yet various moments how it would feel to kiss Leonardo. He has always accepted different sexualities like the existence of different brands of wine; in part because living in Florence made for an easy discovery of those brands. Though the thought of one loving a man like he does a woman is not foreign to him, Ezio's interest in men has never gone further than simple curiosity as to how different it would be from sleeping with a woman. He has never dwelled on it much until Leonardo had become a constant in his life. Yet he has repeatedly shrugged off the thought because Leonardo is his friend and Leonardo deserves so much more.

"Although be careful, Leonardo. We almost lost you today." I almost lost you, Ezio thinks. He often forgets that Leonardo is no Assassin, no matter how deeply he's submerged in their secrets. He does not live by their creed, does not live in the shadows but in the light, and has no way of fighting off those who truly oppose him. Ezio has always thought he would be able to protect him and to a certain extent that is true. As long as they keep their acquaintance under the cover of darkness and away from too many prying eyes, he keeps Leonardo somewhat safe from the Templars, but anything outside of that Ezio is powerless against. He has no control over the rest of the world and when it comes to Leonardo, he hates that thought.

"Don't worry. It was a weak moment, it won't happen again. All my assistants will be gone anyway." He almost laughs, but it's not a laugh that speaks of jokes; it's a poor attempt.

"It's not weak to fall in love."

"It wasn't exactly that," Leonardo interrupts with a mumble, and Ezio does laugh now, smirking at the blush that blossoms on Leonardo's face.

"Fine, but even you are human, Leonardo. As long as you let yourself be seduced by people I can trust – or kill afterwards."

Under the easy trust between them and their joined laughter, Leonardo seems to find the bits and pieces to his former self again and Ezio is proud to be the cause of his smile.

"Someday, Leonardo, you'll find someone who deserves you."

With that, Ezio leaves his brilliant artist to finish his bath.