Before You Tell the Truth

[madimpossibledreamer]

cover names taken from Olympic snowboarders.

Main Points:
Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Assassin's Creed (Beginning's End)
Summary: Rebecca approves.
Word Count: 850
Rating: Teen
pre-Shaun/Xander

         Rebecca had known Shaun had been taking Desmond’s death badly; hell, she’d held Shaun as he sobbed uncontrollably into her shirt and then pretended, like a cat whose dignity had been called into question, that absolutely nothing had happened, there was absolutely nothing to be seen here, nope. When she’d gotten the ‘come here now’ text followed by the ‘it’s not an emergency but get here as fast as you can’ text, though, she hadn’t known what to expect, because yes, absolutely, the historian had needed something to get over the realization he was in love with a dead man but they, sadly, didn’t have time for that. Existential crises and grief were just...not allowed, with Assassins.
         “Be with you in a moment!” the bartender calls, friendly, as he brings drinks to a couple in the corner. Guess there’s no waiters or anything, and he’s not too worried about anyone trying to steal the alcohol behind the counter, though maybe that’s just the fact that this place is pretty much empty.
         When she goes to sit beside Shaun, though...he’s not miserably drunk. He’s certainly not sober, but his eyes are alert, and the depression that had been hanging around him like a cloud is...not gone, but it’s also not choking her with its presence. “Good of you to join me,” he greets her, but his eyes aren’t on her. They’re looking past her—the bartender, she realizes, and if she’s not mistaken they’re directed toward a certain part of the man’s anatomy, too.
         Good on you, Shaun, she thinks, because he needs something and his restlessness had been bothering them both. “What, you needed a wingwoman? ‘Cause I am pretty awesome. No promises he won’t accidentally fall for all this greatness, though.”
         “Oh, for the love of all things Leonardo da Vinci,” Shaun snarls at her. “No, I need you to tell me…” he sighs, lowering his voice, heartbreak lurking on the horizon. “...am I just imagining things, or have we discovered something impossible again?”
         “Hey. Glad this guy’s got someone looking after him,” the bartender says from her left, and that’s...different, because she absolutely hadn’t heard or noticed him approaching, and that’s not exactly normal. The tone sounds familiar, too.
         “I do not need a keeper,” Shaun responds hotly, and the bartender shrugs.
         “Maybe not, but it sounds like you need a friend, and I’m glad you’ve got at least one.” This definitely isn’t Desmond—the eyepatch and the fact that he’s alive are kinda dead giveaways. But it’s pretty obvious the similarities are enough to have Shaun smitten, and he’s also handsome, and she is definitely going to play up the wingwoman angle for all she’s worth, because she totally ships it.
         “Oh, yeah, he needs it. He’s kind of a hot mess right now,” she tells the man cheekily, and he laughs, eye crinkling up with amusement, and Shaun can’t completely hide the fact that he’s actually charmed despite himself behind the protests they both ignore.
         “Hey, no judgment here. Disaster bi here. Sometimes that’s just life.” Oh. Oh this is adorable. “Xander, because someone here was flirting hard enough he forgot to ask for my name,” he adds, and he is quickly becoming one of her favorite people.
         Hopefully he’s not a Templar. She’d hate to have to kill him.
         “I read the article! I bloody know your name,” Shaun claims hotly—huh, there’s possible internet blackmail material? Blackmail, as in picture or no picture, Shaun’s probably going to read it a thousand times and be so embarrassed blackmail will be easy. She’s going to have to find it and then have it ‘mysteriously’ appear on Shaun’s desktop. Because he clearly needs to read it again.
         And if he hadn’t asked, he wouldn’t have introduced himself. “I’m Hannah. This is Daniel,” she indicates with her thumb.
         And Mystery Bartender Xander, well...he reacts, ever so slightly, like he knows those aren’t their real names. If she wasn’t looking for it, she’d have missed the split second reaction before he hides it. “Nice to meet both of you. So, anything I can get you?”
         She considers for a moment, because as nice as, like, a good wine or something sounds, she’s guessing she should stay relatively sober, with Shaun determined to get trashed on some combination of alcohol and desire. “Something delicious but light on the alcohol,” she decides, and the long slow blink is possibly meant to be a wink or something.
         “I’ve got you covered. Be back in a minute.” He does startle another patron when he walks—no, practically stalks silently back behind the bar, a predator on the hunt, and the only wasted movement is a slight sway of the hips she could have sworn she’d seen from Ezio that practically has Shaun drooling. And then...yep, he’s definitely showing off, movements sure and precise. There might even be fire.
         They don’t have long before they have to be on the road again, but Shaun’s definitely going to want to pry this mystery apart and she’d be absolutely heartless if she didn’t let him try.