Chapter 1

After the final fight against Crassus and his legions from Rome, Agron, Nasir, and many former slaves escaped to other lands thanks to the sacrifice that all the rest of the cause did; every single warrior of the cause had died, except Agron and Nasir. Nasir thought this was the Gods giving them another chance in life to love each other freely in a house of their own. Agron considered going anywhere, he just needed his heart, his Nasir. Nasir had no idea where to go, he had nothing waiting for him in Syria, he was too young when he was taken by slavery, and he didn't remembered much of his natal home; Agron, on the other hand, remembered the Rhine clearly, but wasn't sure about going back; he had no direct family left there, and he was afraid that by going back, he would remember the time he and Duro got taken by slave traders.

For a long time, the rest of the cause followed Agron, as he was second in command, but after a while people started to divide, to try luck in other places of the world, but they kept on walking with Yakub, his beautiful son, they still had no idea where to stop, until they found a beautiful land far enough from Rome, but not so cold so Nasir wouldn't freeze to death. It appeared they had everything to survive, they had a river close by, a lot of vegetation and game. Soon they cleared a space cutting the trees and built a house with them, they had a city a few hours away, they had a few denari they could use, so they started slow and small, until they lived a simple but comfortable life with their son, for they raised him like their own, and Yakub loved his Vati and Wala. Eventually old age caught up with both of them. Agron died first, he was glad he was going first, he couldn't have dealt with Nasir's death, but before he left he made a promise, he would wait for him in the afterlife, and if for some reason he wasn't there, he would find him anywhere he went, past, present, future, dead or alive. Nasir and Yakub cried and Nasir made the same promise. He remembered the promise again when it was his turn to go to the afterlife, and was so happy he would see the love of his life again. His son had a good life and was free, he would go in peace.

Both of them felt like they floated in nothingness for so long, without finding each other, forgetting some things, but they always remembered each other, until one day Agron saw light again, but it had been so long, it was like he was born again, and alas, he did. For the Gods provide him with another chance in freedom with Nasir, for their love was so pure and strong. Nasir on the other hand, was not ready yet and waited 5 long years to return to the world of the living.

Alexander always had strange dreams and weird memories that were not his, he didn't know how to explain it at first, but after he saw what looked like the Coliseum in one of his dreams after a history class, he started to investigate. He read about Spartacus and his fight for freedom, and suddenly everything was clear as the day itself, alas he was 15 again and the year was 1998. Why was he here? In a new but very familiar body…

All of those questions fell behind when he remembered Nasir, oh Nasir, was he also there with him? What about Yakub? And if that was true, was Nasir in the same country, country? Same continent even! He had to find him, but how? If he had a different name, Nasir would too. At least the Gods blessed him with the same background; his parents were from Germany, even himself, but he was raised in cold New York. Was Nasir born in Syria again? Was he still there? How would he get to Syria? What if he moved? Where would he be now? Assuming if he was alive again. That night, before he went to bed, he prayed to the Gods, asking for Nasir, and that he could find him relatively soon.

University came along, and he went to Michigan, in this life he got very interested in kinesiology and the human body, until now he had been with no one, not one person caught his attention, he just wanted Nasir, and every year his libido for Nasir grew even bigger, he had the most realistic wet dreams, in part because they were memories of them together in bed in their own house, Sinuesa or Mount Vesuvius. He needed Nasir soon, or he would die alone.

The era of MySpace and chat rooms came and so he created everything with the name "GladiatorAgron" but to no avail. He still looked like himself, he went to the gym religiously, and kept his hair short like before. He got a lot of attention from people, men and women, but couldn't find the person he was looking for. He had a close group of friends in university, especially from his major. He liked university life, but he wanted to find Nasir. This was getting stupidly difficult, he couldn't really concentrate in class one day, it was also late and he was tired, so after class, he just went walking through the campus, the other part of campus where he never went. He had been five years here and he had never been in this part of university, it was the artistic part of the campus; they even had a small art gallery were students showed their work for free. He didn't really liked art so much as to go to see it in a gallery, but he was in a whatever mood, so he gave the artist a chance and went inside.

It was empty, it was too late to go see art he thought, but he looked at some paintings and he found them all right, he didn't know one thing about art but it looked pretty enough. He caught the movement of another person entering the gallery and he looked, as you do, for no reason, and his breath went away, he froze and opened his eyes wide. There he was, Nasir was right in from of him, and by the way he was looking at him, he also remembered that life in old Rome while they were fighting for freedom.

He took a few steps closer and dared to speak

"Nasir?" - he asked with fear and excitement and his voice

"Thank the Gods, Agron" – Nasir closed the space between them almost running and threw himself to his arms, those arms he knew so well, and kissed him with all the need he had, he had found him. He thanked the Gods internally.

"Oh, thank the Gods" – he said hugging him so strongly that he thought he was crushing the smaller man in his arms – "I was losing faith. Holy shit I missed you" – he said smiling and looked at him again. He was just as he remembered; his Syrian was with him, where he belonged.

"And if you hadn't found me now? Would you have gone to another one?" – he said smiling, he knew Agron would never do that, but he liked to tease.

"Never my love" – he said rather serious – "I told you, my heart would beat for no other".

"I never doubted you" – Nasir said and gave him a small kiss – "not then, not now".

"My love" – he said looking into Nasir's eyes with that distinctive German fire – "if you had waited as long as I've been waiting for you, you know what I want to do now".

"You're not the only one" – he said looking as willingly as before – "I've been waiting for this moment" – then he got closer to Agron's ear and whisper – "I've even been preparing myself for this moment".

Agron growled a little bit, he had never done that in this life, but this little Syrian was the death of him, and life itself at the same time.

"The closest place is my room" – he said in a sexy voice, the one he only used with Nasir – "what do you say we go there now?"

"Well actually, I was going to see the paintings and that's all the time I have, my dad is coming to get me from work" – he got closer to Agron – "we must be quick then" – he said smiling.

Agron smile that crazy German smile, he took Nasir's hand and started running in the direction of the dorms. He had never been so happy, and he could hear how Nasir was giggling, he was actually giggling like a happy child. He though he had never run that fast before, even when training, and so they got really fast to his dorm.

"Don't you have a roommate?" – Nasir said when Agron was trying to open the door with his key

"I do, but he left to his house because of a family thing he had" – he opened the door and let Nasir inside – "here we are".

"Well is not as cozy as our house was but, is better than our room in Mount Vesuvius" – he said laughing

"When the time is right my heart" – said Agron getting closer to Nasir – "we would build a new house, just for us".

Nasir was already taking his coat of, it was a little cold for him, so he had wear it, but not anymore, he was getting hotter and hotter by the minute. Agron reclaimed those lips he lived for and kissed them in another way, a needy way. He had been waiting for Nasir for years and he was at his limit, he needed to take the Syrian here and now, or he would lose his mind. Nasir was the same, he had been waiting for this moment almost his entire life; he got the whole picture much younger than Agron had, and at first he didn't know what to make of their relationship, but when puberty arrived he knew exactly what he wanted of the German. They took their clothes rather fast but Nasir wanted to say it anyway.

"In this life we use a lot more clothes that before" – he said while being kissed on the neck

"Clothes will always be a nuisance between you and me" – how he adored that smaller body, he had missed the Syrian more than he had though.

"Well, take the last piece of clothing and see if you still think I'm sexy" – he tug his boxers a little and Agron took them of slowly.

When Nasir was fully naked and a little bit flustered, Agron made him turned around to see all of him.

"I think you're even sexy-er than I remembered" – he said taking his own underwear of – "what did you do?"

"Just some grooming" – he said casually – "a bit of shaving, a bit of exercise" – Agron started to kiss his chest – "I'm glad you like it" – he said with a more forced breathing.

"Oh, I'll let you know how much I like it" – he said until he reached the other one's shafts and put it in his mouth. Gods, he had missed him.

"Oh, Agron, remember this is the first time and we don't have much time so I don't know if we could go all the way" – Nasir said very difficultly.

"Don't worry, we can do other things" – he said coming back up and pushing Nasir to the bed – "We can do other things for hours" – he started to find the lube he had in his nightstand drawer.

"My dad, remember?" – he had a big smile in his face – "I have a father now"

"Ah, trivialities of this life" – he put some lube on his dick and went south – "I think I would have been happier in a place for only the two of us. But I'm still very fucking grateful"

"Yes" – he said moaning, Agron was massaging his dick with lube – "the Gods were very good to us, even though you treated them so badly before"

"You put a good word for me for a long time" – he was kissing, and massaging the best he could with what he had in this life, he loved the inventor of lube.

"Oh, God please just…" - he was getting restless with the slow pace – "please"

"What love? I don't know what you want" – he said teasingly

"Faster, Agron faster!" – he took his arms and squeezed hard making his point

Agron took his hand and grabbed his own dick with Nasir's and started moving.

While Nasir moaned, Agron breath rapidly, he had been waiting for this, the love, the pleasure, everything, he felt intoxicated, how he loved this man.

"Holy shit this feels good" – Agron cursed – "I don't want to finish so fast" – he was a little bit disappointed of himself, he wasn't even inside Nasir.

"Oh God, just get on with it" – Nasir almost yelled – "I'm almost at my limit too".

Agron started that dance with Nasir that he knew too well, he started slow and end it up fast and sloppy, and as Nasir had said, they ended that quite fast, and they were both gasping for air, until Agron started to laugh.

"What?" – said Nasir with a smile

"I'm so fucking happy" – he said looking at Nasir – "I can feel my heart exploding with joy".

Nasir laughed with him and said – "I'm very happy myself, I'm so glad I came to see the paintings, even though I didn't even see them" – he laughed some more – "why where you there?"

"I was just walking, I don't even go to that part of campus, but I just felt like it at the time" – he turned to look at Nasir – "I guess the Gods sent me that way".

"I guess they did" – he said resting on his side and looking at Agron – "I feel so at peace right now. I don't know about you, but even though I have a family, I didn't really feel like I belong, you know?"

"I get what you're saying" – Agron said getting more comfortable – "I miss our friends and my first family. I miss Duro" - he was looking a little bit sad – "but I have you and that's better than having all of them" – he finished with a smile.

"That's a lot of people you're talking about" – he said not really believing Agron.

"That's how much I love you" – he said seriously – "you're my life babe" – they had never used terms of endearment like this, but this was a new life and a new time.

"I know honey" – he didn't even batter an eyelash to the word "babe" it just felt so right, so he said 'honey'.

"I wish we could sleep together tonight" – said Agron, missing him already.

"Well, I think we can, just not here" – Nasir said getting up from bed and looking for some tissue to clean himself.

"What do you mean?" – said Agron getting out of bed too and passing some tissues to Nasir.

"Well, my family knows I'm reincarnated and they also know about you" – he looked at the blank expression that Agron had in his eyes – "they know you are my soul mate" – he tried to clarify.

"…wha-how?" – Agron said clearly not getting the whole picture.

"Well, my parents believe in reincarnation, especially my mom, and my dad is a history teacher, so I told them when I was young, at first they didn't really believe me, but after some research and me talking about things I shouldn't know when I was 7, they believed me. So after that, I told them about you. At first I told them that you were the second commander of the cause, then I explained you were my friend, and then I told them you were my soul mate and that I was trying to find you. I told them in summary how we lived" – while Nasir was talking he was trying to get dressed again and look presentable, and Agron was just listening without moving a muscle – "It was difficult because my religion teaches that two men cannot lye together, but I got through them at the end"

"That's unbelievable…"- he could not believe Nasir's parents believed him just like that, he didn't told a soul about his previous life – "I didn't told anyone…" - he kind of felt guilty right now, he said nothing about the love of his life to no one.

"Were you afraid of people not believing in you and that they thought you were crazy?" – he sensed that Agron was sad and disappointed with himself, but Nasir didn't blame him. He felt like that for a while – "Don't worry, I felt like that for a while when I started my teens, but then I just brushed it off. I just needed you".

Agron looked at him for a little while before stating – "You are perfect, you know that?" – he said while hugging the smaller man by the waist and kissing the top of his head – "I love you" – this was the first 'I love you' in this life.

"I love you too" – said Nasir with his head on Agron's chest, he felt so content and then a thought came to mind – "….hey, what's your name in this life?" – suddenly he remembered about it.

"Alexander Scholz" – he was better now at accepting his new name, but every time he said it, it felt a little bit wrong – "you?"

"Nizar Safar" – he said with a smile – "very German and Syrian".

"Yeah, but your name is closer to "Nasir" than mine to "Agron" though, that's not fair" – he said with a smile.

"Well, get some clothes on and meet the Safar family" – he was halfway with his clothes, while Agron had just underwear.

"Don't you think it's a bit too soon to meet the family" - he said in a comical voice

"Well, my parents would like to see the guy who took the virginity of their 17 year old son, don't you think?" – he said smiling, but was a little concerned because in this life he was still a minor, and Agron didn't look like a minor at all.

"You're 17?..."- he saw how Nasir was nodding his head – "….. well, shit. I'm 22".

"5 years gap" – said Nasir with a smile – "well, some things haven't change".

They were fully clothed, Nasir told Agron to prepare a small bag with some essentials and a change of clothes, when his phone rang.

"Hi dad, I'm coming" – said Nasir answering his phone – "and I have a surprise for you, for the whole family actually" – he listened for a short while and then added – "I'll be there in a minute, bye".

They rushed to the main door of the university and saw a car parked there, and headed in that direction. To say Agron was nervous was a misunderstanding, he was scared shitless, he had never had to deal with Nasir's family before, not even a sister, brother, let alone a parent, and now here he was, moments away to meet Mr. Safar and the whole family. Well, fuck him.

"Hi dad" – said Nasir kissing his dad on the cheek, a thing in their culture – "this is Alexander" - he presented Agron to his dad, they shook their hands, and exchanged words of courtesy – "but I know him as Agron of the Rhine".

His dad got really stiff and awkward, and he looked at Agron for like forever it felt. Agron just stood there, not knowing what to do. What the fuck do you say to the father of your reincarnated soul mate? 'Hello, I know your son better that anyone, we had a whole life together, even a kid! We met while he was a body slave and I was fighting for freedom'. Yeah, nope, pretty sure that was not a good idea. Luckily, Mr. Safar talked at last.

"Hello Agron" – he presented his hand again so he could shake it – "I've heard many things about you. Is exciting and weird to finally meet you".

"Oh" – said Agron shaking his father in law's hand – "I feel the same way sir. I've been waiting for this moment for a long time".

"Dad, Agron is staying at home tonight" – he hadn't asked before if Agron could stay in their house when he found him, but it was a risk he had to take. He needed Agron by his side.

Mr. Safar gave a look to Nasir, and he said immediately – "I just found him, I'm not gonna leave him" - Agron saw that Syrian fire for the first time in this life and it was refreshing and wonderful, but he might have problems with his dad in the future.

"Nasir, it's fine, we can meet tomo-"

"No!" – Nasir cut him mid sentence – "I WILL NOT leave you. Every time we separate something bad happens" – of course he was talking about the past, and his dad knew that, but he didn't fully understand. Agron did, and felt extremely sad, he knew exactly what Nasir was saying.

"I know" – he said petting his hair, that in this life was shorter – "a lot of bad things happened to us when we got separated, that's true. But we were fighting a war Nasir, our lives were always on the balance" – he took Nasir's face in his hands and made him look at him and talked again – "this life is new, we're safe, we're not fighting a war, we're free".

"I don't care how good the moment feels" – Nasir said looking intently to Agron's eyes – "many times we felt like everything was going to go according to plan and then all hell broke loose. We lost a lot of friends because we got over-confident or separated; I don't plan on risking anything this time. The Gods gave us a second chance, and I'm not going to waist it now that I have finally found you".

"He can come" – said Mr. Safar suddenly – "but he would sleep in the guest room, understood?"

Agron felt like a bucket of good vibes felt onto him, and he nodded to Mr. Safar – "Yes sir" – he said – "your house, your rules" – he felt Nasir hugging him and he reciprocated the action. After a few seconds they got in the car.

It wasn't a very long trip really, but Agron felt extremely nervous, he didn't know what to do or say. At least Nasir was at peace and had his head on his shoulder. He could feel the peace and calm radiating from him. They suddenly arrived to the Safar's family home and got out of the car. Agron had calmed down a little bit in the car, but now he started to feel nervous again. It certainly helped to know that the whole family knew the situation but even so, this was weird and awkward.

"We're home" – announced Mr. Safar – "and we have a guest".

Mrs. Safar came in to the picture, she came from the kitchen and looked like a very nice lady – "oh, hello dear, I'm Nizar's mom, what's your name?" – she said while shaking his hand

He doubted at first, what to say, Alexander or Agron, but without even really thinking his mouth went – "Hello, nice to meet you, I'm Agron".

Mrs. Safar stayed still for a while and then she just said – "oh my God, you found each other..." – she said with a hint of preoccupation that Agron caught – "… oh sorry dear, I am happy for you both, but I thought this would happen later in life… when he would be an adult, you know".

"Mom, I'm going to be 18 soon" – said Nasir almost angrily – "and I was already an adult, and old man even".

"I understand completely ma'am, don't you worry" – he really understood Nasir's parents, he was a parent before – "I'm here under your rules".

"Well dear" – said Mrs. Safar – "welcome to the family" – she said hugging him.

Well, he didn't expect that – "oh, thank you for allowing me into your home".

"Nizar" – said Mrs. Safar – "you never said Agron had such lovely manners".

"Ma'am, it's not his fault" – Agron said quickly – "we never had to worry about parents or family before, we only had each other, for a long time, so he had never seen me talking with his parents before".

"I know this is going to sound weird Agron" – said Mr. Safar – "but I have to, kind of, put you to the test. Please sit on the couch, both of you".

Agron started to feel very nervous again, but he would do anything to be approved by the new parents of Nasir, so he took Nasir's hand and sited himself on the couch, and the interrogation began.

"I'm going to ask you a series of questions, and I will give you 3 seconds to think, and you both have to give me an answer. Since you lived together for so long, this should be a piece of cake" -said Mr. Safar - "do you both understand?" – both men nodded – "ok here we go. Who was Agron's best friend? One, two, three!"

"Spartacus" – answer both.

"Who was Nizar's best friend? One, two, three"

"Naevia" – answered both.

"Who was the other commander in the rebellion?" – he new Agron was the second one - "One, two, three"

"Crixus" – answered both.

"Where was Crixus from? One, two, three"

"Galia" – answered both.

"Ok, Agron these ones are for you. What name had the house of gladiators that Spartacus went?" – he knew because of Nasir.

"House of Batiatus" – answered Agron – "I went there myself with my brother Duro".

"Where were you from?" – Mr. Safar was running out of questions.

"The Rhine sir" – Agron said proud about that fact – "where is insanely cold".

Mr. Safar had another question, and he was very interested by the answer – "there were types of slaves in Rome, were there not?"

"Yes sir, they were" – he answered even though he didn't know why Mr. Safar was asking that question – "I was a few myself, but the last one was gladiator".

"What type of slave was Nizar?" – he asked quickly

"He was a b..." – he was answering but was cut shut by Nasir.

"No!" – Nasir made Agron look at him – "… he doesn't know".

Nasir looked scared, why? He didn't know, but he looked very scared

"Nizar has told us pretty much everything or answer most of our questions from his previous life, but he refuses to tell us what he did before Spartacus came along" – Mr. Safar told Agron – "we only know he was taking to slavery very young, but that's about it. And we don't know why".

"I don't want to tell you" – said Nasir a little bit angry – "and I don't have to either".

"Why?" – asked a concerned Agron and Nasir thought about it and talked to him in their old dialect, Latin, he hoped Agron still remembered.

"Prostitution or anything like that is looked down in my culture, people get disown or rejected by family and friends. Back home, people are stoned publicly to death in some places" – said Nasir very quickly – "my family had a very hard time knowing my soul mate was you, a man. I was very afraid, so please don't tell them" – he looked Agron in the eyes very seriously.

Agron understood, but he had to ask something, so now he started to speak in that old dialect he had never forgotten – "but that was centuries ago, why would they condemn you for something you were forced to do by the Romans?" – he wanted to understand Nasir's way of thinking about this issue.

Nasir spoke again and now there was no doubt in Mr. Safar's mind about reincarnation – "I'm just very afraid of what they would think, I know it was centuries ago and that I was forced, but I'm so afraid, please don't tell them" – he looked at his eyes once again and said in English – "please…"

"I won't" – said Agron going back to English too, with a very strong resolve, Nasir had never pleaded like that before.

"Thank you" – said Nasir in a very quiet voice.

Agron just limited himself to kiss his head lovingly.

"So you're not going to tell me…" - said Mr. Safar looking at both of them while they shook their heads – "…FINE! Don't tell me! I will stop asking" – he said defeated, throwing his arms to the sky – "Agron" – he said looking at him – "welcome to the family" – and he extended his hand to shook it once more that day.

"Thank you sir" – he said shaking his hand with a smile on his face – "it's an honor, and just call me Alex, that's fine".

"OK. Dinner's in 15 more minutes" – he said getting up – "I think you have some catching up to do".

"Yeah we do" – said a smiling Nasir looking at Agron.

Mr. Safar left and they stayed on the couch talking about his lives so far.

"So, what is your major in university?" – asked Nasir, getting closer to Agron.

"Kinesiology" – he answer, putting an arm around his back and tugging him closer – "I finish this year, and I've been getting some offers from different places, so I'm happy there. What do you want to study? Still into medicine?"

"Yeah; art is my hobby though, that's why I went to see the paintings. They show a different exposition every month. I've been going all this year" – he said looking at Agron.

"The whole year?" – he said a little bit surprised and saw how Nasir nodded – "damn, I could have been with you before…"

"But you didn't know" – said Nasir with a smile – "just like I didn't know you were attending that university".

"So, art huh?" – said Agron – "What type of art? Painting?" – he added.

"Yes, I paint a little now, I joined the art club in the 9th grade" – he informed to Agron – "but I'm not a genius, I just like it a lot".

"Well, I don't really understand art, but I'm sure you're really good" – he said confident – "do you have some paintings around?"

"I do, they are in the garage, that's where I paint" – he said and got a little closer – "do you want to see them?"

"Of course!" – he said trying to get up – "Please".

"Ok, come with me" – said Nasir.

They got up and when to the garage. There was a lot of painting supplies on a corner, and some canvases. He saw a painting from a far; the typical bowl with fruit, but it was really well done.

"I see some fruit" – Agron said – "that looks good".

"Oh, no" – said Nasir with some shame in his voice – "that's so old, and it was for an assignment. I have some more behind".

Nasir showed him some more paintings, mostly landscapes or animals but not really people, and then he got to the last one, and he felt something trembled inside him, it was a painting of the resting place of Spartacus, we're him and Nasir had buried him with stones and he had left the sword/shield Nasir had made with loving hands for him, when he could no longer took sword in hand. He felt sad and grateful to see that again. He had asked himself before if the body of his best friend was still there.

"When did you paint this?" – he asked with a dry throat.

"Years ago, when I joined the painting class in school" – Nasir said watching the painting with nostalgia – "is the only one that I have saved from those times, you know why"

"It's phenomenal" – said Agron with some emotion in his voice – "it's very well made"

"Thank you" – said Nasir hugging Agron from behind

"Thank you for showing it to me" – said Agron, he was very grateful to see this painting. He took in his hand the hand of Nasir.

"You're welcome" – he said and he kissed his back

Agron turned around to kiss Nasir, he hadn't done it since they got out of his dorm, he didn't want to disrespect or infuriate Nasir's parents, especially his dad, so he just had taken his hand or kissed the top of his head but that was about it. They looked pretty alone and in peace here so he took a risk and kissed that man again like he hadn't kissed him in a week, Nasir was very on board with this, he knew Agron was trying to be respectful so he didn't say anything about it, but now he would kiss him deep and hard, he also wanted to feel him again and again.

After a while they started to kiss more deeply, you could see the fire between these two, and that's what Safiya saw when she was looking for the couple so everyone could have dinner.

"That's kinda hot, but I'm starving" – she said with a smile in her face and laughed when Nasir released a surprised little yip – "dinner's on the table" – she looked at Agron up and down and added – "nice to meet you Agron, I can see physically why he loves you" – said almost laughing

"Shut up Safiya!" – if Nasir had had something on his hands he would have thrown it – "we're going"

"Well, you have to calm down first, little brother" she said smiling and pointed downwards – "you're kinda excited there"

"I hate you…" – he said slowly

"I love you!" – she said leaving the garage in a very high spirit.

"Fucking Safiya…I'm sorry" – he said turning to Agron – "she's nice most of the time"

"It was my fault, I'm sorry" – said Agron trying to calm down

"No it's not, she's like a fucking child sometimes" – he said and then laughed – "she also likes romance novels, so she was the first who believed me"

"Well, we should better get going, I don't want to anger your parents" – he said already calm and in control of his own body

"Ok, fine" said Nasir walking slowly – "although, I want to state that I prefer to eat you that to eat dinner" – he looked at Agron and he smile

"Me too" – he gave him a small kiss – "but I'm also very hungry, and I want to try Syrian food again. I can't wait"