Chapter Text
The first time that they met, he thought that he would be killed.
The desert sand was hot underneath his feet and the sun beat down on his head, and the young man with the knife in his hand was close, pressing it against his throat so closely that a single twitch might cut through skin.
There was desperation in the young man’s green eyes, a deep-seated hunger.
He was relieved that taking him home and feeding him solution saved his life, though his decision confused him. It was only later in life that he remembered that it wasn’t the first time that they met. Not truly. In this life, it was, but there were other lives, surreal as it seemed.
His coworkers and his family found it odd that he had suddenly taken in a stray human being, and honestly so did he, but he knew that in the end it had been a good decision. Fingers slipping into his hair and lips pressing against his felt pleasant and unusual.
He did question it sometimes, because apparently his robber friend had other, more unsavory friends. He got some late-night visits from graverobbers who were not interested in compromise, had to deal with extortionists who did compromise by taking antiques he had found during digs, and in the end he ended up with a familiar knife pressed against his throat and tear-stained cheeks.
Maybe the past decade had been mostly a disaster, but his life before that had been much less enjoyable and the care he had felt in the touches he had received might make up for the disaster and heartbreak it all ended with.