If he's being honest with himself, waking up in a strange bed is not all that unusual. Rolling over and finding his bedmate missing isn't too far from reality either. He could even afford himself a few minutes of languishing, hauling a pillow over his head and blocking out the sun and trying to coax out another few minutes of sleep. He registers a dull headache -- too much wine the night before, which had followed an all-nighter that had him creeping across rooftops and climbing stone facades under the cover of darkness. There's a tightness in his ribs from where he'd caught a ledge hard.

Truthfully, what tips him off is the mattress. It feels divine. Unreal, actually; like the kind of featherbed a king or Borgia princess might sleep on. He relishes it for a moment and then throws the pillow off of him and sits up.

Just where did he fall asleep?

Just where did he wake up?

Ezio's eyes fall upon a black contraption on a countertop across the room. Everything is wrong. The cabinets are made a certain way, alien and yet undeniably familiar. The contraption is smooth and jet black with silver parts that might have been forged by a jeweler, and it is surely enough silver to feed a duchy for a year. There is a light, tiny, round, red. His mind registers very dully that it is a coffee-maker, and it was a gift from...

Who?

His feet hit the floor. He is not wearing pants, and somehow he thinks to dress before investigating further. He finds a wardrobe -- his wardrobe -- and he drags out good breeches and a fresh shirt, which he yanks over his head with little fanfare. He is still lacing up his trousers as he steps out into the hall. Bare-foot.

His heart skips a beat when he sees the doorplate of his neighbour's door. He turns and looks back at his own.

Ezio Auditore.

"Shit," he says. He isn't so sure this is a bad thing. On impulse alone, he pats himself down as if there might be a journal shoved in his pants, but he doesn't find it.

"Hello?" he calls down the hall. He gives the elevator at its end a dubious look, and then starts taking the stairs, round and round. "Hello? C'è nessuno?"

A beat later, and he thinks he might have heard someone.