secondchances | return to paradisa

"Yeah? What's that?"

She's bracing herself for something that's going to make her roll her eyes.

He gives her a look. It's almost cautious -- it makes him wish he had a hood up or something.

"Just a conversation I had with Molotov," he says, casually, and then he stands up. "But perhaps now is not the time. We have a kitchen to inspect."

"What? No, you don't get to say that and then change the subject! Sit back down," she says, and it's not very commanding, but she's not getting up. He'll have to inspect the kitchen himself if he keeps going.

Ezio pauses mid-step. She's stubborn. She's famously stubborn, and he knows that, and he shouldn't have said it, but admittedly, it's a little fun to push her buttons, too. He leans back towards her, but he doesn't sit.

"It isn't very romantic right now."

"It's not gonna be any more romantic when I kick you down the stairs," she points out.

Just like him to be in this situation, isn’t it? With Cristina, it was always push and pull, push and pull, getting berated for little things and teased and prodded at, and he liked it until he realized he couldn’t go back to her — couldn’t go back to being who he was with her, anyway. And then there was Caterina, capricious but tenacious, a deep well of inspiration for him, but she wouldn’t want him. Maybe in a decade or two, if he was even there to see it. He couldn’t be sure that she’d ever be his equal, or that she’d permit it.

He ponders Stephanie’s lovely face, amused that he is about to get his memories smacked into him.

She could be his partner.

He says, offhand: “I told her that I am in love with you.”

Love wasn't surprising between close friends. She loved him, sure. She knew he loved her. He most definitely liked how she looked, and while she didn't always comment on his appearance, she'd have to be blind not to notice him.

He's charming, hot, and funny. He'd become her friend despite some glaring moral differences, and she loved him. Not so much as a brother--you don't flirt with your brother unless you're a Borgia, right?

God, what a weird thought. Moving on.

Every time he was with someone else, she didn't like it. That, she remembers. It was jealousy, plain and simple. Yet they still spent inappropriate amounts of time together, being far too handsy, far too intimate, but never that intimate. Yet still, she was never entirely happy when there was another woman in the picture.

"Uhh. In love?"

Just to be sure she heard that right. No need to spiral into her thoughts if she misheard.

He nods, real curt. Still waiting for the smack, a little. But daring to hope a little, too.

“I do not mean to upset you by saying that, but it’s true.”

While her expression might be sufficiently blank, her face is turning redder by the second.

"Right. So... was that a recent development or...?"

"No."

Ezio combs his memories. There are a lot of blurs, actually, but he feels very certain of one thing.

"It has been the case for a long time."

She's so warm she can feel her hair stick to the back of her neck thanks to sweat. Gross.

"But you still slept around like it was going out of style." Which is part of the reason why she was determined not to just be another mark on a bedpost or whatever. Of course, after a time, she wondered if that would be the case, and now and then when he was being really cute, she wondered if she'd even really care.

Very unfair of him, certainly. Some habits do die hard, if they even die at all. But for her, he might have tried. He'd learned to be faithful for other women -- and he could have done it again.

"You had a boyfriend for much of the last year," he remarks.

Except he supposes she still has a boyfriend, somewhere in the universe. Hey, he can be jealous, too.

"What does that have to do with anything?" She asks, crossing her arms. Boyfriend or not, she still spent a lot of time with Ezio. Oh, she remembers that being a problem. Along with the whole assassin thing, too.

She's feeling oddly burned and she has no idea if she has the right.

"I never could make a move towards you if I didn't wanna be ditched when the next hot chick showed up."

Which might be a little unfair, or might hint as some insecurity, but the mouth, it runs.

He watches her for a second, feeling sorry he ever mentioned it, feeling sorry that he isn't the kind of man who could be enough for her. He could reach for her and try to pacify her, but he feels it would only make it worse. He lingers close just the same, dropping to a knee in front of her.

"Dolcezza," he says, knowing pet names probably aren't welcome just now, but it comes out anyway. "Women could move on me every hour of the day, and still I would turn down every one if I thought I had a chance with you."

Her face is on fire. She feels more embarrassed than upset. Taking a deep breath, she gives him a helpless look.

"I only had a crush on you for about one million years," she says, and then drags a hand down her face. "Oh, my god. That's what this is. Some missed connections, Paradisa style, but it's just us. We're the missed connection."

It's probably just a coincidence, but she's not going to be convinced otherwise, now.

It could be for them. Knowing Paradisa's sense of humour, it very well may be, but it almost doesn't matter what Paradisa wants -- there's something nice about hearing her say something he's suspected himself for some time.

"I know," he admits. "But you have always had more principles than me, hmm?"

Ezio dares scoot a little closer, putting a hand on her knee, and he smiles.

"See? Not very romantic."

Looking down at his hand is a good excuse not to look right at him and his dumb, handsome face. A handsome face she thinks about kissing, because why not? But she just sits where she is, feeling the sweat from her pits dampening the barely-a-dress she's in. Oh, yeah. Apparently wasn't wearing deodorant. Real romantic.

"I do remember kissing you. It wasn't the castle making me." Tim hadn't really liked that, and Steph couldn't blame him for it. "My principles didn't always stick, huh."

Ezio edges closer still, letting that hand settle on her thigh proper; he smiles at her even as she looks down, relishing that flush a little. It's not so bad, maybe.

"Ah," he teases, gently. "A little more than mine, at least, but for you... I would have tried. Honest. I thought you knew how I felt."

"I knew you loved me, but not... love love." Just saying it makes her ears heat up. "If you would have freaking told me and not Molotov, I... would not be sweating through my clothes right now!"

Unlikely. There would just be a much more massive freak out. She wouldn't be surprised if he could feel the heat radiating off her though her thigh. Oh. Yeah. Hand on thigh. Not uncommon, but she thinks maybe she should take his hand.

So, she does.

"I thiiiink... I think I am in shock."

He chuckles, and when she takes his hand, he gathers it between both of his and kisses her knuckles and looks up at her. Same way as usual, nothing changed there; he looks at her like he adores her, because he does. What difference is there?

"Sweetheart," he says; it feels funny in English. "Breathe. You knew, in your heart. I am certain of it."

She really hopes he doesn't notice her palms are sweaty. But hearing him call her sweetheart makes her crack a smile, and after her brain processes why that's funny, she does laugh.

"What? Don't--no, that's wrong. Please, bring back the dolcezza," she laughs, buying herself a moment or two to absorb the rest of the words. And then she does breathe, taking a deep breath and holding it in her lungs before slowly getting it out. It's not every day your super hot close friend that you've had a thing for says he's in love with you. And it never happens in the magical castle you met in, that you now find yourself in again, maybe, left to figure out how to not potentially starve to death.

Steph watches him for a long moment.

"So what do you know, in your heart, about how I feel?"

"Dolcezza, then," he corrects himself, and he kisses her knuckles again, and then once more for good measure. He doesn't care how sweaty her palms are.

She's lovely, and it's amusing to watch her tumble over this moment that is not at all something he could have planned for that morning, but he knows it is right to have said it.

"I think you're happy," he admits. "But I will survive if you do not feel the same, Stephanie. My heart will mend."

It would be real awkward if she didn't feel anything. He's so dumb, too.

Steph lifts a brow.

"Seriously. I've just said I've had a crush on you for eternity, and I let you put your hands all over me, pinch me, cuddle up, we just found ourselves in this mess and I've sat on you... when did you ever see me do that with anyone else? Oh. And I've hated all your girlfriends. Sorry."

Some more, some less. Hate might be a strong word, but she's making her point, here.

He is so dumb, but he’s dumb in love.

“I thought maybe I was just so irresistible that I overcame your better judgment,” he teases. He also recalls, with near blinding vividness, that time he completely palmed her ass and that she let him. The past years have been the slowest burn of his life, and yet he wouldn’t trade it for anyone. “We’re both blind — and I hated Tim too. If you’d had more than one of those I might not have been able to bear it.”

He was very obvious about his feelings for Tim. Maaaaybe, Steph thinks, he could have been a little more obvious with her about his feelings towards her. More words, less ass palming.

"We're really doing this love confession, this-is-what-was-really-going-on thing right now in this creepy, abandoned castle... okay. Cool. I'm not one for romantic crap, anyway. It works."

Which doesn't really give Ezio much to go on.

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