#Malik and Desmond are penpals

[fanworldbuildingfun]

So… yandere!Altaïr x Desmond… where Altaïr has the social grace of a cat when it comes to romantic gestures and believes that killing people he thinks are annoying Desmond or a threat to his safety is a good sign of his affection. Since he can’t just give Desmond a feather stained in blood (that would be ‘tacky’), he gives him gifts that once belonged to his targets. (1/2)

(2/2) Desmond knows they’re from people he killed but mistakes them as actual sanctioned kills from the Brotherhood because everyone Altaïr kills are bad people anyway. Desmond knows Altaïr is giving him gifts that came from his targets but he just assumes it’s Altaïr’s way of giving gifts since Masyaf doesn’t give him extra money, only enough for travel expenses. Until Altaïr presents him a very familiar dagger. Al Mualim’s favored dagger.

So… Let’s start it off with the premise that Altaїr begins his courtship without informing Desmond of it

And that Desmond is not within the Brotherhood, or, indeed, had any direct contact with them

In the moment between touching the Eye and awaking, the only thing that Desmond felt was heat. Searing, piercing, all-encompassing heat that set every single nerve in his body ablaze. It left little space for anything but feeling it crawl through his body. He didn’t think he even had a chance to scream. But…

It softened, eventually. Concentrated on one side. Slid across his arm and clothing like a warm, unwanted blanket. A blanket he was… Laying on?

It took a few moments for Desmond to realize he was no longer in the Temple. He wasn’t even standing

And the ground beneath his body scorched

It takes a while for Desmond to reach a city, any city, and he is in no hurry to move on. So… He starts settling in. Find himself a place to stay. Makes nice with the locals. Avoids the guards. Rests.

Takes odd jobs here and there, from helping to carry things to a one-off where he penned a letter for someone and got paid for it

It takes him weeks before he even realizes the city he is in is Damascus, and even that comes because he overhears a merchant complaining about something or other being too expensive there. That makes Desmond realize just where he is, if not when. The when comes when Desmond goes out to do some recon on his own and almost manages to run into an Informant

(But that, is another story entirely… Suffice to say, the informant shook his tail – but left Desmond be the one to have to deal with them)

That… Complicates things, for Desmond. Because now that he no longer has the bliss of ignorance on his side, he has to be careful. Careful to avoid not just the guards and Templars, but to stay boring enough to remain off Brotherhood’s radar. He is just settling in, and he doesn’t even know if he wants to do more than keep himself in shape and run his slowly flourishing scribe business.

In the end, it was his decision to stay anonymous that did him in

Desmond developed a reputation for being a reliable, discreet scribe – and at some point, he ended up penning a letter for someone who would end up passing it on to the local Bureau. Where it would raise questions – because the hand it is written in mirrors Altaїr’s hand. What luck, then, that the man is in town – and can be sent to investigate the oddity?

And this is how Desmond and Altaїr meetTo the end of his days, Desmond would not be able to explain how he managed to keep a straight face when the door (and yes! He finally had a door!) to his house/office opened and in walked his ancestor. 

* * * 

From there I see Desmond managing, somehow, to play himself off as a civilian to Altaїr, and one Altaїr takes a liking to visiting. Mixing business with pleasure, as it were - because Desmond still has the habit of monitoring his surroundings, and with his livelyhood literally consiting of writing down information...

Sometimes, he is able to share more information with Altaїr than even the Bureau can provide. He just makes sure to wrap it out as part of casual conversation - sometimes as gossip, sometimes worded as an anecdote. A straight warning, when he can get away with it. Somehow, this ends up with him writing letters to Malik whenever Altaїr stumbles into his shop dead on his feet

(yes, I am using this as an excuse for Malik and Desmond being penpals. Altaїr even names Malik as his sibling, in what Desmond supposes is an attempted moment of discretion)

And that is where I can see Altaїr starting to go yandere. At first it’s well meaning - keeping away undesirables to keep one of his better informants safe. Then, as the talks grow longer and stray away from work matters - because he doesn’t want to see Desmond hurt

It’s not that he intended to start bringing Desmond gifts - it was something more of an... Overcorrection. See, one time during a friendly argument Desmond ended up throwing a feather at Altaїr, that somehow managed to get stuck in his hood. And it was somewhat of a reflex to use it the next time Altaїr had to get rid of a guard that paid a littlee too much attention to Desmond’s shop. And with Desmond acting just close enough to how a Dai’s role - it was as much of a reflex to present him with the bloodied feather when they next met

Altaїr took the panic on Desmond’s face as an aversion (it wasn’t; but Desmond went through several cycles of “oh shit he knows” in the few brief minuted it took for Altaїr to speak again) - and next time, it was a trinket he snatched instead

It takes a few gifts before Desmond’s belief that he managed to play incognito melts away like fog under morning sun

A set of cups he recognized from one of the assassinations he remembers Altaїr performing in the rich district

A sash from a particularly noisy merchant in the local souk

A bracelet he had once seen on a... Particularly lingy lady who would not leave him be whenever they crossed paths on the city square

And the hoard keeps growing, to the point Desmond is cautiously making sure everything is stashed out of direct line of sight. No need for someone else to recognize what these were, right? But it’s difficult, because Altaїr is visiting often these days - and Desmond doesn’t realize that the information he has been leaking to him is speeding things along Too fast, even. Because someone among Dai makes a note of this in their report to Masyaf. And Dsmond becomes a person of interest - to either be recruited, or removed Which... Doesn’t go nearly as seamlessly as it would have for any other person. Why? Because Desmond is known. And he left enough hints around people started questionin Al Mualim - Malik being chief of them. When Altaїr brought his own doubts to Malik? That was one of the last nails Naturally When Altaїr brought Al Mualim’s blade to Desmond Desmond finally had his full blown freak out