InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "HUG THE PORCUPINE!"

ąųdįţǫŗę (mentori) wrote in valarlogs,
@ 2017-01-23 19:26:00

Entry tags:

!complete, ezio auditore da firenze, john crichton

Who: John Crichton and Ezio Auditore
What: Professor meets professor
When: Recent!
Where: A cafe on UCI's campus
Rating/Warnings: PG and kid-friendly
Status: Complete

John was stood looking mournfully at the selection on offer for the hot section in the canteen. None of it appealed to him if he was honest, everything looked like it had been out and under the lights for 3 hours longer than it should have been and the sandwiches didn’t look much better. Trying to decide if he could stomach eating anything in front of him or if he could be bothered to go off campus, John noticed someone he didn’t recognise walk up from his left to join the queue. Frowning briefly, he realised he vaguely recognised him from around campus. “Hey, you’re the new guy, for...the art department, is that right?” he asked.

Merda, this was bleak. Ezio hadn’t expected to encounter such a sad selection in one of the campus’ caffetterie, but here he was - stuck during lunchtime, just a quick break to be taken in between his classes, and debating the lesser of two evils. Or three or four, or - well, nothing looked very appetizing at all.

“Sì, Art History,” he responded when he realized someone was speaking to him. He looked up and smiled crookedly, in kind of a sympathetic way because it seemed the other man was having the same dilemma Ezio was. “There is so much of...fried foods.” Like chicken and burgers and pizza (though don’t get him started pizza, he’d be here all day).

But anyway, manners were nice to have. “Ezio Auditore,” he introduced himself. “And I might bring my lunch from now on.”

John sighed and turned his attention back to the food in front of them. “I can’t say I’d blame ya bud, can’t say I blame ya,” he lamented, looking at his watch. “If I had more time I’d say let’s go down to Baxter’s Bakery and grab something, but it might have to be fried...something,” he gestured at the food. Truth be told he’d eaten worse in his Dreams, fried Dentics were not as amazing as first thought. “I’m John by the way, John Crichton. I work in the science department,” he extended his hand to shake Ezio’s. “Nice to meet ya, how are you finding things round here?” he asked as he gestured to something labelled hopefully as fried chicken which the guy behind the counter started serving up for him. Truth be told it looked more like some kind of fried rat instead.

“What is Baxter’s Bakery?” Ezio asked with interest, and obviously he meant besides a bakery. Panetteria. He would not mind checking out more local places - he had much to learn about this area, so recommendations from colleagues did not seem to be a terrible way to start. “Oh, and yes - “

He shook John’s hand with a piacere, a pleased to meet you in Italian. In southern Italy, cheek kisses were common - but not for business. Besides, in the States, it did not seem so acceptable anyway. “Things I am finding to be good, I cannot complain. I was much excited to take this teaching position - it is my first one out of schooling.”

If you can’t beat them, join them. A useful phrase. So he selected a can of Coca-Cola and a turkey sandwich - at least it had mayonnaise on it, so it would not be entirely tasteless? “What sort of science is it that you teach?” he asked.

“Baxter’s Bakery is a great little place not too far from here, but it’s best to go when you’re not rushing to be somewhere straight after lunch, he said as he moved along the counter picking up a can of coke as well. “I can take you there sometime if you like? There’s a little bookshop near there too which is run by a lovely couple of girls,” he told his new friend as they moved over to sit at one of the tables.

“That’s cool, so what brought you out here then? You’re from...Italy, is that right?” he asked, taking a mouthful of his food. “I’m an astrophysicist so I teach all things space,” he grinned.

A place with sweets and then a place with books? Well, how could Ezio turn that down. Those were two of his favorite things. “I would like this,” he said, settling at the table and unwrapping the sandwich. “I have much to learn, when it comes to navigating the area. I am from Firenze - Florence, a beautiful city. I have just earned my dottorato di ricerca, and took the teaching job in the States. It is my first job after schooling.”

And he had needed something of a change, coming across the pond. Italy, his home, was beautiful - but there was a lot of unfinished business there when it came to the murder of his family, and he’d be tempted to fall down a dark path.

“Astro...physicist?” His eyebrows shot up. “This sounds...intense.”

“Well if you let me know when you’re free I can show you those two little haunts if you’d like,” John offered with a smile. “What sort of things are you interested in seeing?” he asked curiously. He might be able to ask Sarah if she knew of places of interest for Ezio to visit too. “I’ve never been to Florence, but I’ve heard it’s beautiful. I imagine it’s quite a bit different to here,” he chuckled. He’d love to go visit Europe sometime and lately he’d been contemplating a holiday with Sarah and Kira back to London, maybe they could make a detour to Italy at the same time.

“Astrophysics can be intense I suppose, but like you must have a mind for words, I’ve got a mind for numbers and stuff,” John reasoned with a friendly smile and a little shrug before taking another bite of his lunch.

“Most on the weekends, usually,” Ezio thought about it, and he did prefer to use his weekends for navigating the area rather than staying stuck in his office doing work. A professor seemed to be almost constantly ‘on the go’ but it was important to take time to recharge too. Especially since he was new to this country, and he would not learn all it had to offer by sitting at home. “I cook much in my spare time - little of it there is - “ he flashed a smile, “So I am interested in sampling much of American cuisine.”

So far he hadn’t been too impressed, especially by the ‘Italian’ knockoffs, merda, but he would keep trying. “And the local museums and beaches. Your mind for numbers takes time to have fun too, I hope?” he asked, taking a sip from the soda can.

“Cool, well how about this weekend we meet here and I can show you the walk down to the bakery and the bookshop,” John offered, poking at his food a little while he spoke. “Cooking’s good, I have to admit to not being all that adventurous but that’s mostly because I too lazy,” he joked, grinning up at Ezio. “Probably not as much fun as I should have,” he shrugged, looking back down at his food. “My girlfriend probably would like it if I didn’t spend quite so much time with my head down marking papers, let’s put it that way.”

This weekend, a time for bakery and bookshops? Ezio would not say no to that. It sounded nice. “Perfetto,” he agreed with a smile. And now to make more headway on this turkey sandwich but it actually was not terrible. Perhaps better than the sad excuse for pizza this caffeterie had, but attempting to eat that would just make him really, really depressed for the rest of the day. “I will pass along my mobile phone number. Or actually - “ He removed his from his laptop bag, “...tell me yours, and I send you a text message.”

There, once that was done. “And si, is a good time to be romantic for the lady friend,” he spoke wisely. Well, most any time was a good time to be romantic, yes? One did not need a special occasion. “Perhaps pick her up something sweet at the bakery. If she likes the sweets.” But who did not? He felt sorry for those people.

“Yeah, sure,” John nodded, pulling his phone out of his inside jacket pocket and sharing his number with Ezio. “Give me a call when you’re free and I can meet you here,” he suggested before tucking his phone away in his pocket again.

“Yeah, I need to think about that a bit more. I was thinking of taking her on a trip for Valentine’s day actually, somewhere in the States but I’m not sure where yet. If I can afford it I was thinking of going to Europe in the summer, but we’ll see,” he shrugged. “In the meantime, something sweet from the bakery sounds like an excellent idea my friend,” he grinned up at Ezio and patted him firmly on the shoulder. “What about you? Any lady friends in your life? Or guy friends, I shouldn’t assume,” he gave a little chuckle and held his hands up defensively before returning to his food.

Ezio laughed a little. He was not offended, though he did tend to swing both ways. Mostly, he did not care what gender his partner was. And he’d happily flirt away with pretty much anyone as well. “Ah, sadly, there is no one,” he confirmed - but who knew, perhaps he would meet someone after his trek to the States. American men and women were certainly something, were they not? They had to be, to elect an orange man with tiny hands as their commander-in-chief.

“Valentine’s Day - very romantic though, there are plenty of options for you and your lady friend here. We call it La Festa Degli Innamorati in Italy - a day for lovers.” And Italians, they were lovers. If he did say so himself. “These days, what people do is they attach a lock to a lamppost, inscribe their names on it, and throw the key in the Tiber river. Is supposed to mean they will be together forever. I am not sure if it always turns out that way,” he winked. Eternity, such a nice idea. But not always practical.

“You’re kidding, a handsome guy like you? That’s not right, man,” John smiled at him. “Oh yeah, I think I heard of that place,” John nodded as he vaguely recollected a news story from a while ago. “Weren’t they trying to get people to stop doing that because they were worried the weight of all those locks was making the bridge weak or something?” he frowned. “Besides, I’m not sure if that sort of thing is right for Sarah, she uh...she has a thing about commitment. Or she used to, not sure how she feels about it now,” he shrugged.

“It is such a silly idea - most of the Valentine’s Day things are imported from the States anyway,” Ezio shook his head; yes, much like Halloween, the country seemed to have adopted things - though at least pumpkin spice latte’s hadn’t really caught on yet. Not in a country so prideful about their coffee. “Your lady friend is...how they say, commitment-phobic?” he asked. “She might come around one of these days. But some are for marriage, and some are not. Me, I could see it eventually. Even if I was not, if it was important to my partner I would do it.” Being in relationships, they required a certain amount of compromise. He certainly thought so.

“I think it’s more the concept of being tied down to someone for all time that would freak her out. She’s much more of a free bird kind of gal,” John smiled as he thought about her and how they got together. “Not that she isn’t committed to me, I know she is, but I think naming it and having a contract would be a step too far for her, y’know? I always thought I’d get married but...maybe it’s not meant to be,” he shrugged.

“You will see, yes? Then there is that not much changes with the contract. Besides that you cement the commitment forever,” Ezio teased. But then again, nothing was forever - that was the sad truth in life. The only certainty was death (and taxes, if you followed that old joke). “But I say, as long as you both are happy. We must grab happiness in this life when we can.”

And that was his piece of wisdom for the day - he gave them out for free, his lunch companion was so lucky, wasn’t he?

“Absolutely my friend, absolutely,” John grinned, raising his can of coke to clink with Ezio’s in a toast. This could be the start of a beautiful friendship, John thought to himself.