To the nonny that sent me that ask about ‘Desmond/Claudia and Ezio's/Auditore family reaction’ yesterday, @saberamane informed me that this might have been a question of how Desmond and Claudia would work as a couple and I’m so sorry for the mistake. I wrote Claudia!Desmond a day or so ago when I got this ask and I assumed this was connected to it.
So here’s how I think Desmond and Claudia could work.
For a modern day setting:
If we’re going to set it in a school setting, Desmond would be a close friend (maybe even best friend) of Claudia’s older brother Ezio.
Claudia would have a crush on him and think he’s so cool. Duccio? Duccio who?
As there’s a bit of an age gap in this case (since Ezio is 2 years older than Claudia), Desmond would see Claudia more as a little sister.
Honestly, I can totally see Claudia using that Auditore boldness and courage of hers to ask Desmond out herself. Desmond would be surprised but he’d say yes because he doesn’t want to hurt Claudia’s feelings.
In the end, Desmond has fun with their date and they start dating.
Lots of awkward dating moments, maybe even a bit of “when you were little-” “oh my god, don’t talk like that, it’s embarrassing!” which is just Claudia trying to stop Desmond from seeing her as Ezio’s little sister.
There’s really no need for any angst in this setup, just a lot of teenage awkwardness if they’re both in high school and the whole sorta-kinda-friends to lover trope.
Claudia being absolutely ecstatic and jumping around whenever she gets a milestone with Desmond (like they hold hands “oh my god, you guys hold hands!” “yeeeeesss” “sqquueeee” or Desmond kissing her hand “dreamy sigh”)
This is a Claudia who never had to face such tragedy at such a young age so she’s happy, a bit bitchy, and a hopeless romantic.
Although her bitchiness is where her Auditore fire shines the most and everyone learns early on that Desmond is off-limits thanks to that.
Maria and Giovanni approve of their relationship because they know Desmond is a good person. Giovanni gave him the shovel talk once and Desmond took note of it. Maria asked for his help in cooking once and gave him a very different shovel talk while she was cutting the head of a fish and Desmond is terrified.
Federico keeps out of it. He knows how much of a horror show Claudia can be when she finds out they’re butting in so he just keeps out of it. Absolutely not going to touch that with a ten-foot pole (he will, of course, try to threaten Desmond if he ever hurt his sister but Desmond would just go “Dude, you know nothing you’ll ever do to me will ever be as scary as what Claudia will do to me, right?” “…… point. I’ll help her hide the body.” “It’s cute you think Claudia needs help hiding a body.”)
Ezio… oooohhh boy. Ezio isn’t sure if he should be supportive or not so he just complains about how Claudia is stealing Desmond’s time from him. Even going as far as “Bros before h-” “Dude, she’s your sister.” “You get what I mean!” Everyone knows it’s Ezio’s way of coping with the changing relationship between his best friend and his only sister. He does start calling Desmond his brother which embarrasses Claudia and Desmond.
Petruccio loves Desmond because he thinks he’s so cool. Desmond likes to listen to him talking about birds and is very supportive of Petruccio wanting to go birdwatching once he gets better.
Ezio and Claudia definitely made a contract that states how many hours Desmond needs to hang out with Ezio and be with Claudia every week. This is their version of ‘sharing’ Desmond. Desmond knows about it and he’s just “Don’t ask. Just… don’t ask.”
In a non-school setting, Claudia met Desmond when she went to Bad Weather. They flirt and started dating, standard stuff.
Desmond would be a stranger to the Auditores so Maria and Giovanni would absolutely be wary of him and they won’t say it out loud but they think Claudia can do better than a bartender in some seedy nightclub/bar.
Federico would be cool with Desmond as he doesn’t actually think Claudia is serious with him. He’s hot but they’re not gonna last. He does form a friendship with Desmond and he hoped that they break up but stay as friends so it won’t be awkward if Federico hangs out with Desmond even after that.
Ezio knows Claudia is serious about Desmond and he’s the most critical of Desmond. Full-on big brother scrutinizing Desmond while Claudia is going “oh my god stop it you’re embarrassing!”. This, strangely enough, makes Desmond like him the most of the Auditores.
Petruccio is only one year younger than Claudia so no ‘so cool’ from him at this point. He also sees Claudia is serious about Desmond and he’s the nicest of them……… He is also the one who got a background check on Desmond… just to be safe. XD
So, for the canon setting, @saberamane made a good point that, for the entire family to have a reaction to Desmond in this setting, this would mean Desmond would have to be in a relationship with Claudia when she was a teenager. Unless we do deage Desmond, it’ll be iffy for us (but not for the time period) so… in this scenario, may I suggest:
Time-Traveled Desmond x AC Brotherhood Assassin!Claudia:
In this scenario, Claudia would be an Assassin already and being a badass.
Desmond would also be younger than her for once and be the one having the whole “damn, she’s hot when she kills someone.” and “oh shit, I can’t think like that to Ezio’s little sister!”
Just Desmond being the awkward one because he’s attracted to Claudia but knows he can’t do anything about his feeling because Claudia’s Ezio’s sister.
Claudia, on the other hand, is both annoyed at the way Desmond is copying Ezio in terms of thinking she needs to be protected and thinking fondly of the way Desmond is trying to not show he’s attracted to her and always seemed apologetic whenever he realized he’s been trying to baby her.
Again, it would be Claudia who would act first and Desmond would be unable to resist her Auditore charm and her own brand of stubbornness.
Pegging will be involved. Desmond being swept away by Claudia’s passion and ‘adventurous’ soul.
The only real angst potential of this setup I can think of other than the whole ‘Claudia having to keep telling Desmond to stop trying to protect her, she can take care of herself!’ thing would be “We can’t ever tell Ezio we’re together” “You make it sound like you’re cheating Ezio with me.” “No, you know that’s not what I mean!”
Just Claudia feeling that Desmond is always prioritizing Ezio over her which will definitely become messy quickly.
Although, this will lead to Desmond finally admitting the truth to her and they’ll make up because Claudia would understand why Desmond carries such deep loyalty to Ezio.
On the other side of this entire thing, Ezio knew they’d been having an affair the entire time and he’s just drowning it with wine as he tells Leonardo “My little sister is growing up. She’s found someone that I can’t find a reason to beat up!”
Ezio would definitely bless and approve of their relationship (not that he’d tell Claudia that because he knows Claudia would punch him if he even hints that they needed his approval or blessing or anything of the sort) and he can’t even try to give Desmond the shovel talk because he likes Desmond and he’s happy that they’re together.
Before Claudia and Desmond got together, Ezio was planning on adopting Desmond XD
