I'll tell you all about it when I see you again (Ezio and Leonardo)

[tuttoelecito]

"Oh you found another one, how exciting"

Ezio jerked awake at the sound of his alarm, the gentle Italian voice echoing in his mind for a moment longer before he shook it away. That was the third time this week, the dreams were getting more common, and more vivid. Technically they were all different dreams, he was talking in a cluttered workshop or on a bench, or running across rooftops, leaping from buildings, getting in fights... but always it was the same him, in Renaissance Italy, and Leonardo was always there...

He wondered if they meant anything, but he also didn't want to think about it too closely, too worried that he would come to a conclusion he wasn't sure he liked. Nothing ever happened in the dreams, but there was always this feeling... a feeling that he always knew he couldn't do anything about, because of social and religious reasons that didn't make any sense to him in this day and age, but seemed so clear and obvious and scary when he was in the dream world.

His contemplations were not making any sense, in fact all they were doing was making him late, he glanced at his clock and swore, rolling out of bed and throwing on some clothes. Shoving his hair back into a ponytail he ran for the door and took off running down the street - resisting the urge that always followed his dreams, the urge to start climbing the walls and sprinting across the rooftops instead of the street.

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Re: Translation in hovertext if needed

[tuttoelecito]

One cramped underground ride and another sprint later and he was walking, breathless, into the office. He wished he was as fit as his dream counterpart, he hardly ever seemed winded or out of breath even after running the length of Florence, but then he supposed that sort of thing happened in dreams didn't it? He waved a hello to the receptionist and jumped in the lift, the ride up giving him a chance to regain his composure. Not enough for his PA of course, who took one look at his dishevelled appearance and nearly had a heart attack.

"Ezio, you have a meeting today, remember? It's very important, you're already late..." she jumped to her feet, coming out from behind her desk to fuss over him before reaching into a side room to fetch a suit he kept on site for these very occasions.

"Claudia, you worry too much, I'm only a little late. Give me the suit, I'll be ready before you know it." he held his hand out, unfazed as always by her admonishment. His long-suffering sister handed him the clothes with a disapproving frown (so much like their mother sometimes), he responded with a cheerful grin and disappeared into his office.

Successfully suited, hair combed into a much neater ponytail, and now ten minutes late for his meeting, Ezio emerged from the office with his business face on and headed into the meeting room.

"Sorry for being so late, I was- Leonardo," he breathed in shock, his Italian accent - softened by years of living in London - suddenly thicker as his lips formed the word with a familiarity that would be surprising if he hadn't heard himself say it several times in his sleep. How was this possible? There was no mistaking the man sitting at the table, sketching away (and that, too, was just so recognisable, how often had he interrupted Leonardo at work?) It was the man he'd been dreaming about.

[howexciting]

His breath caught in his throat as he heard his own name, in his voice. Even more surprising still was the view when Leonardo turned to face the representative. It was him. It was unmistakably him. But that couldn't be - the odds of that were one in hundreds of millions! Surely he didn't get enough sleep last night, and he was dreaming again, from an impromptu nap in the conference room? But even that logical explanation didn't stop him from thinking this was some beautiful twist of fate. That they had found each other again, at last.

Leonardo stood in a hurry, his art pencils clattering to the table with his sketch book. "I-I don't usually answer to my full name," he answers hesitantly in flawless English, smoothing out his suit's lapels. Leonardo just sounded so formal, in this day and age, and he'd gotten teased for it a few times as a child. But on this man's lips it sounded so... right. "But for you, I suppose I'll make an exception." He stepped forward, closing the distance between them, before extending his hand in greeting. "Molto onorato."

(He suddenly got this strange sense that he'd said those exact same words to this man before.)

[tuttoelecito]

The greeting was at odds with the shocked look on the man's face, his words might be professional but the surprise, the echo of clattering pencils, it all betrayed that Leonardo found Ezio's presence as strange and unexpected as he found Leonardo's. It might be because he had been lost in his drawing, so distracted that Ezio's arrival had startled him out of his reverie, and really wouldn't that be so like Leonardo? Only... there was a recognition, in those familiar eyes, he was sure of it. How could that be? They had never met before, and yet... He was the man from Ezio's dreams, his name was Leonardo, he was clearly an artist, there was no way to explain away this coincidence without stepping into the realms of the bizarre, and when one was already there, was it really so strange to think that Leonardo had been having the dreams as well?

"And you," he agreed, forcing himself to move instead of staring, slack-jawed, at the other man. He took Leonardo's hand, feeling the warm skin against his own and uncertain if he wanted to let go. "Ezio Auditore. Shall we get started?" Yes, best to focus on business, at least he knew where he was with that.

[howexciting]

Leonardo shook the man's hand, professionally, but then he paused, still clasping the smooth hand (that seemed too smooth for the work required of the Ezio in his dreams). The feeling that he should lean in and press his arm around the other was subconsciously there, the only thing stopping him from doing so being his logical side, telling him that this is impossible, unheard of, inconceivable...

"Forgive me if I'm wrong, Signore, but I have a feeling I've met you before. That name, it... ah, how do you say it... rings a bell? You wouldn't happen to have been at an architectural conference recently...?"

That's really the only explanation he could find, that he could reasonably assert for his dream's exactness on this man's features. His dream even got the little scar on his lip correct. He glanced at it for a moment, wondering where this Ezio had gotten it.

"I'm sorry, this is going to drive me mad - once I've seen a face, it's here forever," he said while motioning to his brain with his left (dominant) hand.

[tuttoelecito]

Ezio found himself being genuinely confused that Leonardo didn't try to hug him for just a moment, before he realised that they were just meeting for the first time and why should he expect a hug from someone he'd just met? That seemed odd. First meeting or not, he couldn't quite bring himself to let go of Leonardo's hand, and the other man didn't seem immediately inclined to either.

"No conferences," he confirmed "but I know what you mean, I feel as though we've met before..." that was a much more sensible explanation, they'd seen each other at some meeting or fundraiser or something and Ezio had just...started dreaming about him. A total stranger. That made perfect sense. Not.

His hand strayed to his lip when he saw Leonardo glancing at his scar and he smiled slightly "An accident, when I was younger, I...thought I was better at climbing than I was." he chuckled. It wasn't the kind of personal detail he'd normally share with someone, but it was a welcome distraction from thinking about his dreams and how familiar Leonardo was.