It was like bringing home a wild animal.

You see it lying there, looking helpless, possibly injured, your poor heart breaking at the sight of this poor animal. And you think it's a great idea to pick it up and take it home, nurse it back to health. But then once you get it there, it wakes up, and you're reminded that is indeed, still a wild animal. And it will fuck your shit up if you're not careful with it.

Alex hadn't meant to bring home. But when a man in white dropped in front of him in a flash of golden light, he just really couldn't ignore that. He really should have called someone, like the cops or the paramedics….But no, instead he treated this mysterious man like a lost dog, and dragged him up to his apartment loft.

And things were fine until the mysterious man woke up. And !then things went to hell. He sure did act like a wild animal, attacking Alex at first sight, all snarls and growls like he was a giant dog. And he pinned Alex down like he was nothing, and started barking out something in…something, the language wasn't all too important at the moment. Especially when the man suddenly had a knife at his throat.

Needless to say, it was the most concerning bring home a wild animal encounter Alex had ever been stupid to put himself in.

x-x-x-x-x

His name was Altaïr. He came from Masyaf, in Syria. And that's all he managed to tell Alex before their glaring language barrier got back in the way. This Altaïr's (if it was his real name) English was rusty at best, if this was like, a couple centuries ago. Alex just vaguely understood half the stuff he tried to tell him. Trying to speak in other languages did not help either. Spanish, German, some French. At least Alex thought it was Spanish, German, and French. It sounded like those languages, he was pretty sure it was, but since he still didn't speak any of it, it didn't do either of them any good.

So they were left with communicating in broken English. They somehow managed to work something out, explain a thing or two, no matter how odd it sounded to one another's ears. Once Altaïr knew how to use Alex's name though…Things quickly turned into…

"Alix! Esplain this box to me!"

"Alix! This box holds the cold in! How?"

"Alix! These books, you have so many! Are you rich?"

"Alix!"

Alex was tempted to push the other man out the window in hopes of sending the wacko back to where he came from.

x-x-x-x-x

"Dr. Mercer? Sir? Sir!"

Alex snapped out of it, blinking wearily at the paper in front of him, lifting his head up to stare back at his assistant. "I'm sorry, did you need something?" Alex asked her.

"I just wanted to see if you were alright, you look exhausted, sir" his assistant said, looking at him with a worried expression. Exhausted, yes, that was a good word to describe him. Almost as if on cue, Alex let out a huge yawn and leaned back in his hair.

"You're not wrong. I just…haven't been sleeping well" Alex shrugged. "The neighbors…they got a new baby. And it just won't stop screaming…You know how kids are"

A lie. Though sometimes it felt like he was dealing with a child. He kept Altaïr confined to the apartment while he was at work, and every day he kept coming home to some new disaster the strange man had created. Then at night the man would just not sleep, he would not shut up, he didn't know the meaning of "LOWER THE FUCKING VOLUME" with the TV, nor did he understand "PLAY WITH THE MICROWAVE ONE MORE TIME AND I WILL BEAT YOU OVER THE HEAD WITH IT".

Something about the twenty-first century just amazed the apparent time traveler, which only caused endless amounts of grief for the scientist. He didn't know what to do with him half the time. Alex was essentially taking care of a three year old who, while couldn't pronounce Alex's name right, was perfectly capable of throwing butter knives like daggers, and wanted snap necks whenever his favorite cartoon didn't come on the air at the right time. A dangerous…oversized three year old. The thought alone was tiring.

Thankfully, Alex's assistant left him alone after that, and he could resume attempting to get some work done.

x-x-x-x-x

"What the fuck have I told you about sitting too close to that thing?" Alex growled at his guest when he got home later that evening, a mug of coffee in his hands. Altaïr didn't even glance up at him, amber eyes glued to the TV screen not even a couple inches away from his stupid face. Alex let out a grumble and crossed over to the man, and pulled him back a foot by the collar of his shirt. Altaïr whined at him in that old as hell Arabic, but remained attentive to his show.

Whatever.

Alex dropped his backpack by the couch and entered the kitchen part of the apartment, physically feeling the pain of seeing his kitchen in total disarray. Altaïr liked cooking for whatever cracked up reason. He wasn't good at it, however. Alex suspected he just liked making messes for the fun of it, and eating whatever he happened to make was an afterthought.

Like eggs. Altaïr loved eggs. Loved cracking them, dropping them in pans and bowls, or just in the sink, or just over whatever, and maybe occasionally actually cooked them. Alex had already resolved to just not buy more, but the giant child would whine and bitch at him until he went to the store to replenish their egg stock that would only be depleted the next day.

At least today, the clean up was easier, and Altaïr remembered to the stove off instead of letting the burner stay on all day. Clean up under control, Alex turned back to the tiny kitchen table to retrieve his probably now cold coffee, but found that it was missing. The cup part of it was, the lid was still on the table.

"Altaïrrrrrrr!"

He honestly didn't know how he did it. For as loud and demanding as he could be, somehow Altaïr managed to be just as quiet. Quiet enough to sneak around behind Alex's back, do whatever the hell he wanted, then go back to his prior activity like nothing had ever happened. At least Alex turned around in time to stare at him from across the room and watch the man taste over priced coffee for the first time.

His face was priceless. It was like Altaïr couldn't decide if he thought the drink was too sweet or not, and he kept licking the roof of his mouth like a dog with peanut butter. But he took another drink anyway, as if he needed to make sure that this was exactly what he was tasting. He made the same face again, but never let go of the cup. He was such a fucking moron. Alex promised himself to make a pot of regular black coffee in the morning for his guest to try.

x-x-x-x-x

"Alix, I wish to go out" Altaïr asked him one afternoon that the scientists had off from work. Alex paused momentarily before pushing his glasses back up the bridge of his nose and resuming his work at his computer. Even on his days off, he couldn't stop working. There was just so much to do, so much to get done, he really didn't want to stop, not at the rate he was-

"Alix" Altaïr repeated, suddenly hovering over him. "I said, I wish to go out"

"You have no where to go" Alex stated simply, pressing on and trying to block the other man out. He had to get this done. Gentek would love this, it would completely revolutionize their work, he just had a few more sequences to work out and then-

A pair of hands reached down to grab his wrists. "It matters not. I just wish to go" Altaïr said. "Get your shoes on, you must come with me"

Alex's wrists were released, and the other man was bouncing away to find his boots. Alex remained frozen in his spot, not completely sure if he wanted to do anything with the man after that, but his mind was made up when a pair of sneakers were chucked at the back of his chair. So yeah, he needed to get moving.

He hadn't dared to let Altaïr out of the apartment since he brought him in. Though Alex suspected that Altaïr had taken the opportunity to sneak out through the window when he had the chance. Never mind it was a five story drop from the window to the ground, if what his neighbors had been trying to tell him was true, a drop like that didn't bother the man.

He could only pray that Altaïr wouldn't suddenly ditch him to go climb everything like a monkey. But he seemed content with just walking, just getting some blood flowing through his legs again. Even if those pants didn't fit him quite well. Alex had bee meaning to go out and actually the guy some clothes that were his size so the fucking gremlin would stop stealing his own clothing. Didn't even have a sense of fashion for this century, just threw on whatever looked cool out of Alex's closet. Maybe now was the time to go take him shopping…..

"Alix! Look at that!" Altaïr suddenly exclaimed, and sprinted out into the middle of traffic.

Fuck maybe not.

"YOU MORON GET THE HELL BACK HERE!"

x-x-x-x-x

Everything hurt. A simple walk turned into chasing a grown man around Manhattan, who nearly got hit by over a dozen cars, or would climb over them, or just slide over them like in action movies. A grown man that thought it was a brilliant idea to start climbing buildings like he was fucking Spider-Man and didn't think about getting arrested until the sirens could be heard from the next block over.

Alex even went as far as to make the mistake of taking Altaïr to Central Park. The human dog went nuts, marveling at how green everything was, and all the trees, and just, not knowing what to do with himself at first. Then he discovered that some of the trees were perfectly climbable, so oh he did that no problem. Climbed trees, chased pigeons, and parkoured his way over and around every single structure he could find.

Somehow Alex managed to pull him out of there before someone called the cops on them again. Got him out, and brought him to a little Italian place he loved going to when he was in college. Alex didn't realize how tiring the day was until he sat his ass down in a booth, and felt ready to just fall asleep right then and there. He wasn't cut out to be someone's babysitter, especially for someone who didn't seem to have an off button.

Didn't even bother with the pizza he ordered when it arrived at their table, just slid down in his seat and closed his eyes. Altaïr was positively ecstatic, babbling on excitedly about the pizza, the restaurant, everything he had a word for in English. Alex barely payed attention it, mostly tuning him out and dreading work the next morning.

[break]

"Why are you not married, Alix?" Altaïr asks him one day as their stuck in the apartment doing laundry.

"That sort of commitment shit's just not for me" Alex shrugged, and it intended to leave it at just that. But since he replied, it meant that the conversation would go on for as long as his roomie wished.

"But why? This is women's work. Your wife should be doing this for you!" Altaïr motioned to the pile of clothes around them with the one hand that didn't have all five fingers on it.

"Welcome to two thousand nine, bucko. Things change" Alex huffed. "Does your wife do shit like this?"

Altaïr actually paused to think on it. Was he actually married? Holy shit. You couldn't tell by looking at him, he didn't wear a ring. Granted, the finger for that was missing, so maybe that made sense but…

"No, she doesn't" Altaïr suddenly laughed. "Perhaps some things have not changed"

Double holy shit.

"Wait, you're actually married? Since when?" Alex asked, dropping the shirt he was busy folding.

"Many years now. Our second son was born not too long ago" Altaïr said proudly, his chest actually puffing out. Married. With two boys. The fuck?

"Then why are you here?

"They said I would not be missed. A second would not pass while I am gone"

"Who's they?"

Altaïr gave him a large grin. "You will learn in time" he said cryptically, and then the conversation ended there.

x-x-x-x-x

She was big eyed and perky today, a big smile on her face, and she was practically vibrating in place. She cried out his name when Alex opened the door up, and launched herself into his arms. He hugged her back, easily lifting her off her feet as he did, earning a delighted cry from her before setting her back down.

"Sup, sis?"

"Not much. How ya been, bro?" Dana asked him, reaaaaching up to ruffle his hair.

"I've had better days. Make yourself at home"

And she did. Or at least, Dana would have, had she not stopped in her tracks at the sight of his roommate. Her jaw practically hit the floor, and her face went positively pink when Altaïr flashed her a charming smile.

"Hallo" he greeted her, crossing over to her to lift up her hand and kiss the back of it. "So nice to meet you"

Dana looked ready to melt into the floor out of pure happiness. She glanced over her shoulder at Alex, mouthing to him "Is he even real?". But she turned back to Altaïr, all smiles and giggles.

"Nice to meet you too, I'm Dana Mercer" she introduced herself.

"Mercer? I see. I am Altaïr" he said back, letting her hand go.

"You don't happen to work at Bad Weather, do you?"

Altaïr's head cocked to the side. "Bad Weather?"

"Yeah!" Dana exclaimed, and addressed the both of them. "There's this bar over in Brookyln, and it's totally great. And the bartender looks just like him" and she motioned to Altaïr. "You guys should totally go sometime, you would have so much fun"

"Bars aren't our thing, Dana" Alex muttered, actually wanting to leave his own apartment if it meant not watching his sister get all hot and bothered over Altaïr.

"Perhaps not yours, Alix. But I" Altaïr said, glancing down at Dana. "Would love to go some time"

Alex gagged at the face his sister made.

x-x-x-x-x

"I thought you were married" Alex growled at him when Dana finally left hours later.

"Yeah, so?" Alraïr shrugged, not seeing the problem with it. "I already tell you, I am not missed. My wife will not know. Not like she does't do the same on her own time"

Alex picked a pillow off the couch and launched it at Altaïr's stupid, smug face.

x-x-x-x-x

It smelt burnt. It tasted like crap. The coffee at a police station was better than this. But Alex put creme and sugar in it regardless and with a pained face, drank the coffee Altaïr made for him. Altaïr stared at him eagerly, waiting for a positive response on the drink. He got points for trying, he did, he really did. And it was very sweet of him to make that morning's coffee. He had been trying to save Alex time to get ready in the morning by starting a pot before Alex woke up. The gesture was appreciated but mud was still better at this point.

"Well?" Altaïr asked. "Do you like?"

"It's strong" Alex answered. "Man, I'm not falling asleep any time soon. It's great. Thanks Altaïr, you're the best"

Alex didn't have the heart to make that eager smile disappear. But it was great seeing it go from eager to utterly delighted.

ch 1/2

Uhm, apple shenanigans?