ShaunxDesmond: To Build a Home

They’ve won.

It’s over.

Juno didn’t get her will, and neither did Minerva.

 Their relief coats them like armour, makes them feel invincible even though they’re exhausted and can’t quite bring themselves to believe it’s finally over and that they’re still somehow alive.

 Outside of the cave they sink down on the ground, shaking. They fall asleep like that, and when the morning comes and Rebecca and William find Shaun and Desmond curled up together on the cold grass, they both smile and decides they won’t mention anything to them. They’re both too relieved to be alive to care and honestly it’s been a long time coming, especially as Rebecca sees it.

 About a week later they’re finally almost back to sleeping normally again, even Desmond, who’s been bothered with vicious nightmares. He’s woken each night, screaming or crying, sometimes both and sometimes several times each night. Even so, he’s been rather okay during the day, because he’s grown accustomed to not getting enough sleep and it’s not the first time he’s been haunted by nightmares of things he’s experienced in the Animus and things which might have happened.

 Desmond can only relax again when he wakes up because Shaun is there with him. The Brit appears to have a calming effect on him, which is why they’re sharing a double bed, because Desmond would be far worse off if he couldn’t feel that other body next to his own throughout the night.

 There’s nothing sexual about them sharing a bed and waking up with their head on the other person’s chest; it’s a necessity, something they both need in order to feel safe and whole.

 After spending two weeks in the same safehouse, William decides to go back to the Farm again. Becca stays another week, becoming quite the mother figure, making sure Shaun and Desmond eat and shower and change clothes.

 When she leaves, she hugs them and tells them to take care and that she’ll contact them again sometime. She doesn’t say where she’s going, maybe because she doesn’t know herself. They’re fine with that, after all, they don’t know where they’re going either.

 Shaun and Desmond are only sure about one thing, and they both know they agree, even though they’ve never talked about it.

Wherever they go, they go together. They’ve become dependant of the other person and they’ve lived and learned enough to know there’s nothing wrong with it.

 It still takes them some months to leave the safehouse, and although they do almost nothing but stay inside and hiking in the woods when the cabin fever strikes, or go shopping for food and necessary items, they never find themselves bored.

 They’ve done so much in such short time, that relaxing on the couch or in the bed or outside when the weather and temperature allows it is something they don’t tire of. Shaun and Desmond spend their entire time together, barely parting when one of them needs to use the bathroom. They eat together, sleep together, lie and sit close enough to touch, so they never forget the other one is there.

 Desmond’s nightmares ease up, they’re not nearly as bad now, nor nearly as often or long as they used to be. Instead he dreams of someone he can’t remember when he wakes up, but he can remember what it feels like, and how similar it is to what he’s experiencing with Shaun, although there always seems to be something more.

 The people in his dreams seem familiar, but he can never remember them when he wakes up. Desmond wishes he could remember them, but he accepts the loss of knowledge in return for nights free from bad dreams.

 When they leave the safehouse, they go to an airport and take the first plane out that doesn’t go to a country they have bad memories connected to.

 They end up in England and take into a B&B in a small village they don’t care to remember the name of. Their stay lasts for a few days, allowing them both to overcome the jetlag, and while waiting for that to happen, they look up places available to rent or buy, preferably on the outskirts of a small town or village, somewhere with no neighbours and plenty of freedom.

 In the end, they find an English cottage surrounded by fields a few miles outside of a town, with no other house visible. They don’t bother with the name of the nearby towns now either; they’ve no use for it after all.

 It’s not in perfect shape, but they buy it nonetheless. Shaun says he would prefer they keep to the style of the cottage, and Desmond agrees. He doesn’t agree just because he, too, thinks it’s fitting, but because it will help him to stop thinking about what he’s been through.

 They work on it together, sometimes hiring professionals to do what they themselves can’t, but they take care of as much as they possibly can on their own.

It gives them the chance to build a home together.

 When they’re done, their home still keeps the rustic charm, but it’s been made easier to live in, with better plumbing, electricity and isolated walls that will keep the warmth in and the cold out.

 The cottage has two bedrooms, but they only use one; the other one is available for Rebecca, for whenever she chooses to contact them again.

Both the Brit and the American know she’ll just end up on their doorstep one day, and they’ll act like they saw each other just hours before.

 Autumn grows colder, and suddenly it’s November. When the snow first falls, they feel like children. When the snow sticks to the ground, they have snowball fights, build snowmen and make snow angels.

When they’re fatigued, they go inside and Desmond lights the fire whilst Shaun makes them hot chocolate with whipped cream and marshmallows, sometimes topped with caramel sauce.

 Desmond learns to drink and love tea, though not as much as Shaun does. Desmond still prefers coffee, but he chooses a cuppa over coffee when Shaun’s there.

 They don’t celebrate Christmas, but give each other one gift instead, just to honour the tradition in a way. They don’t decorate, or eat turkey or minced pie or anything, but they eat some Christmas treats and drink some wine.

 Shaun said they didn’t have to, but Desmond just replied that he wanted to try something new, wanted to know how Shaun had spent his Christmases. It is also the only safe way for him to honour Christmas.

 The gifts are simple; Shaun gives Desmond a pack of his favourite tea, and Desmond gives Shaun a bottle of mulled wine.

 New Year’s Eve is no different, though some of the locals have tried to invite them to celebrate, at least at the pub, but they decline them all, claiming they’re having someone over from abroad.

 It’s a simple lie they made up so they won’t appear to be a strange, reclusive couple, though they’re not sure if anyone actually buys it.

 Their evening is spent in front of the fireplace, calming music playing on the radio, and they cuddle up on the couch with a glass of mulled wine each.

 When midnight arrives, they kiss. Neither of them feels they have to, but it feels right, just like everything they’ve done the past year. It’s just another step in their relationship, something both have felt would happen sooner or later.

 It’s just the one kiss, and then they go back to listening to the music and the distant fireworks.

 The sudden arrival of Rebecca the day after doesn’t come as a surprise on either man; they’ve been waiting for her.

 Rebecca seems happier than they can remember ever seeing her, though it’s no surprise, even though she’s always been the most up-beat of them.

Shaun takes her shopping, and Desmond readies her room.

 The week she’s staying with them feels like something both men have been yearning for for a time now, even though they both hope she’ll leave soon, because they need some time alone, no matter how much fun the snowball fights are.

 Shaun and Desmond spend the week after she’s gone learning to know one another in a new way. They kiss, map out each other’s bodies with their hands and eyes and mouths, learns what they like themselves and what the other one likes.

 But even so, they don’t feel any different than before.

 A week after that, Desmond confesses to Shaun that he now knows who the people in his dreams were, and something in his voice makes Shaun nervous, but he just curls his hands around Desmond’s and listens.

 The night after they had kissed, they day Rebecca showed up, Desmond had woken up remembering who he had dreamt about, and it had no doubt been triggered by the kiss.

Now Desmond finally knew why everything felt so right with Shaun, and why he was the only one who had been able to calm him when haunted by the nightmares.

 It was because Shaun reminded him so of Malik, Desmond confessed, looking Shaun straight in the eyes, waiting for him to pull away at the mention of as assassin. But Shaun didn’t pull away, just signalled with his eyes for Desmond to go on.

 So Shaun learned that Altaïr had always loved Malik and that the King had felt the same for the Eagle, even though he blamed him for Kadar’s death and the loss of his own arm.

 “You’re my King, Shaun. And I hope I’m your Eagle.”

 Shaun shakes his head, a look of melancholy on his face.

 “Maybe we once were an Eagle and his King, but we’re us, Desmond. Nothing more, nothing less. And I wouldn’t have it any other way.”