Chapter 2
"Hey, where we're you two?" - said Mrs. Safar happily – "we were looking for you"
Nasir could see Safiya trying not to smile – "I was showing Agron my paintings" – he tried his best to act as normal as ever – "but as soon as he heard 'Syrian food' he came running" – he said smiling.
"Oh, so you like Syrian food?" – Mr. Safar asked.
"Well, I love food in general, but my favorite is Syrian, apart from German of course" – said Agron while sitting at the table.
"It's there a Syrian place or even dishes out there that are Syrian?" – asked Safiya, she had no idea if there was a restaurant and was really curious.
"I have no idea actually" – said Agron rising his shoulders – "I never looked if there was a Syrian place here, cause I only wanted to eat Nasir's food" – everyone stared at him but Nasir – "so, I haven't had Syrian food since my previous life"
"Well, I'm sorry Agron" – said Mrs. Safar with a smile – "I'm afraid Nizar hasn't cooked anything ever" – she saw Agron's confused face – "in this life at least, but I would love to see if he still has that ability" – she turned to look at his son.
"I do" – he said a little bit shy – "I just didn't want to cook for other people" – he knew how selfish that was – "I'm sorry"
"Nasir" – Agron called him – "you cooked for your family before, you could do it again" – he tried to be subtle, Nasir was afraid of what his family would say about their previous lives and he though he shouldn't tell everyone about Yakub.
"Yeah, well, we'd see" – said Nasir – "Syrian food is not the same as before of course, but is pretty similar" – he pointed out while his mother served Agron.
"Thank you ma'am" – he said taking the plate from her hands – "I'm sure I'm going to like it"
"There's some baklava in the kitchen" – said Safiya – "if you want, I can get you some after dinner"
"Oh, thank you that would be great" – Safiya was nice like Nasir said.
"Baklava doesn't taste the same either" – Nasir said with some nostalgia – "the flour and the filling are slightly different. They're pretty similar, but they're not the same" – he said it in an almost apologizing tone.
"It's ok, I'll try them either way" – Agron said and dived into his food – "mmmmm, this is good" – he said looking at Nasir's mother
"Thank you, I'm glad you like it" – she said eating from her plate – "Nizar doesn't really think so"
"I'm sorry, it's just not the same" – said Nasir – "but it's not bad"
"Well, Nasir is right, it doesn't taste the same, but it's very similar" – he said trying to talk without food flying from his mouth – "and is still good"
"Thank you again, I'm flattered" – said Mrs. Safar.
"So tell me" – said Mr. Safar – "what do you study at Michigan?"
"Kinesiology" – responded Agron – "this is my last year"
"And do you have any work offers so far?" – he really cared if this lifetime Agron had some carrier aspirations, he wanted his son to be with someone ambitious.
"I do have some sir, in fact I'm doing my last internship in one of them" – Agron knew he was a "good catch" so he wasn't worried about that.
"Hey, how do you prefer we call you, Alexander or Agron?" – asked Safiya suddenly – "I tried to call Nizar "Nasir" once and he almost killed me.
Agron laughed and said - "Yeah, it's really weird for someone else to call me Agron, please just call me Alex. That's fine"
"And Alex, where are you from?" – asked Mrs. Safar.
"I was born in Germany like before, but was raised in New York" – answered Agron – "Nasir told me he was born in Syria too, like before"
"Yes he was, and we stayed there for the next 5 years and then we moved … for opportunities and safety reasons" – Mr. Safar said and when he said that a heavy atmosphere fell in the room.
"I'm sorry you were forced to move" - said Agron a little bit sad.
"Don't be" – said Safiya in high spirits – "I love my country, but we are better here, we have a better life"
"Besides, you are here" – said Nasir lovingly.
"Do you have any siblings Alex?" – asked Mrs. Safar trying to change the subject.
"Yes I do, I have a brother called Dan and a sister called Greta" – said Agron between putting food in his mouth – "and you are just two?" – said talking to Nasir
"No, we're five, but the other three are way older and have their own families" – said Nasir – "two of them are still in Syria, but in a safer place" – said almost finishing is plate – "the other one is in L.A, not getting cold like we do"
Agron laughed – "oh right, this is cold for you, I'm just dandy. In Rome I was frying under that unforgiving sun" – he said finishing is plate.
"The Roman sun was fine for me" – said Nasir remembering those days of training with gladius in hand under the sun, while he felt the look of a certain German man. Agron remembered the same and they looked at each other with longing.
"Have you ever thought of going back to Rome?" – said Safiya suddenly, and looked as they had strange looks in their eyes – "you know, see the Coliseum?" – she explained as if they didn't understand at first.
Nasir got really serious and replied in a very low voice – "Never again will I step into that cursed land if I can prevent it"
Agron on his own accord answered - "Nor I will step into that God forsaken arena, just like the arena of Capua where my brothers almost died, more than once, for the entertainment of the Romans"
Everything turned really heavy and you could cut the air with a butter knife. No one really wanted to talk, especially Safiya, who was being stared down by Nasir and Agron with angry and sad eyes. But Mr. Safar talked rather quickly to defuse the tension.
"Excuse Safiya, she is nosy and doesn't think before opening her mouth" – said looking intently at her so she would understand.
"..I'm sorry… I didn't know it was such a big deal" – said becoming smaller on her chair, she looked at Nasir and he was throwing daggers at her direction and she felt worse, until Agron spoke.
"We burned it once, you know?" – said as topic of conversation, he was sure that Nasir's family was not 100% sure about the whole reincarnation memories, so he would give him some anecdotes to remember – "the arena in Capua I mean" – he looked at Nasir so he could tell the story along with him.
"Spartacus idea to free some friends from certain death at the arena" – continued Nasir, looking at his new family, who were listening very carefully, they had never heard a violent story from Nasir's past life before.
"When we were there, I said I was doubting his 'crazy idea', but Crixus and Onemaus, our doctore in the ludus, were there, and they had a lot of disadvantage" – Agron kept going with the story – "the doctore was the 'trainer' for the Gladiators and every ludus had one"
"I had been wounded badly in a previous battle, and I had a giant sword hole on my side" – said Nasir, pointing at his not existing old scar from saving Naevia from the mines – "so I couldn't go" – said remembering how Agron told him 'this time you stay and I go' and kissed him for the first time, he turn to looked at him and Agron knew what he was thinking, so he smiled.
"Me and Spartacus dressed as Roman soldiers and infiltrated the arena, while a group of rebels went under the public seating space and splashed the place with oil" – said Agron remembering how long it took for him.
"They targeted a pillar, put some chains around it, set it on fire and pulled" – Nasir narrated with an obscure smile on his face. His family didn't know who was talking, they didn't know this side of Nasir.
"The Romans fell and burned while we killed the other guards and gladiators. Spartacus tried to kill Glabber, a Roman general, but failed" – he made a dramatic stop – "that opportunity anyway, he killed him after"
"Then, you all came back safe" – said Nasir smiling to Agron.
"The Gods favor me little man" – he said as he had said many times before when they were slaves.
"Called me that again and they shall turn from you" – Nasir answered with a big smile while he pinched Agron's thigh
"Ow, stop" – said Agron laughing – "last time you gave me a kiss after that sentence, not a pinch"
"You deserve it for calling me that again after centuries" – they were in their own little world and Nasir's family was forgotten.
"Ok, fine, my bad" – he said raising his hand in sign of surrender – "Thank you for dinner Mrs. Safar, it was delicious" – and Agron changed the subject just like that.
No one said nothing, they were just staring at the couple, trying to process the new information, and like always Safiya spoke first – "I thought you weren't a gladiator Nizar, why were you in a fight?"
"I wasn't, but everyone at the Rebellion had to learn, at least the basic, in the beginning I was so bad, but in the end I was one of the principal fighters, and we always fought together" – Nasir answered to her sister pointing at Agron, while he nodded.
"..Then,… you killed people? – said Safiya not really believing it.
"Yeah, too many to count, but less than Agron, I'm sure" – he felt proud of that fact and then he saw the astonished face of his family – "we were at war, what did you expect? It was kill or be killed… or tortured and crucified…" – he didn't look at Agron, because he didn't want to be obvious, but he took his hand under the table and squeezed lovingly.
"We were fighting for freedom, we were fighting for our rights" – said Agron, trying to soften the blow of this new information - "and many died without being free, we were owned like we were things. That's not a way to live"
It took some time but eventually Mr. Safar spoke – "we know that you were fighting for the right thing, we just didn't know that Nizar also took lives in the past. We thought he helped doing other things… it's hard for me to think about my son killing other people" – he was saying but got cut short by Nasir.
"Monsters dad, not people, Romans were the most insensitive bastards you could ever meet, if it was a slave, you could do anything to them, even kill them, and no one said anything, because you weren't consider as a human being. I may not be proud of some things that I did in my previous life, but I'm proud that I could kill, slaughter and avenge so many" – Nasir said with his head held high and a mixture of anger and sadness in his voice, he was remembering the time Agron came back from the death, with useless hands and shattered pride, all because of the Romans, and some tears scared his eyes.
"Are you ok?" – asked Safiya in a small voice.
"I'm fine" – he said wiping those tears quickly – "I just remembered something" – he got up after that – "common Agron" – he told him while he tugged him by the hand – "I'll show you the rest of the house"
"Ok, thank you again for the food" – he said standing up – "excuse me" – he left with Nasir to the backyard. He felt Nasir was still crying, in silence, but he was crying, and seeing him cry broke his soul.
"Hey, hey, hey, come here" – he said hugging him as tight as he could without hurting him – "we're fine here, we're safe"
Nasir sighed and separated himself a little bit from Agron – "I know that, I know crucifixion is not a thing anymore, but it still hurts. I couldn't believe when I saw you among all those people, but then when I got closer it just broke me inside so fast, but I couldn't show it, you were in such bad shape, I had to be your pillar that time, but it hurt, it hurt so bad" – he went back to full hug mode.
"I know, and I was the fool that left and the bastard that broke your heart, I will never forgive myself for that stupid decision" – Agron said resting his head on Nasir's head – "I'm so fortunate that you would still be with me after that" – that hurt him a lot.
"How can I not? I can't live without you Agron, I love you too much" – he said looking at his eyes – "but if you do something stupid again I will punish you" – he managed to say in a cheerful note.
Agron laughed – "Deal, you can punish me how ever you want" – he said moving side to side – "just don't leave me or cheat on me"
"Never. I never did and I never will, you're mine and I'm yours" – he said and kissed him lightly - "Forever"
They took the advantage of the night veil to kiss properly and they kept hugging a little longer, until Nasir decided to show him the rest of the house, like he had said.
"Well you can see the backyard better in the light of day so, let's go inside again" – said Nasir, taking Agron's hand and guiding him through the house – "Well, the first floor you kind of saw it all, there's a studio down the hall, it's my father's and then it's just the second floor with the rooms" – he said while going up the stairs.
"We just met and you're taking me to your room, aren't you a little bit too easy?" – Agron said in a playboy voice.
"That sounds so bad!" – said Nasir in faked shocked voice – "the door on the right is Safiya's room, the one on the left is mine" – he said while he looked at Agron with playful eyes – "remember that"
"I will you minx" – Agron said while he was being directed towards Nasir's room.
"It's a little bit messy because I didn't know I was going to meet the love of my life today, so sorry" – said Nasir and showed Agron his room.
"It's totally fine, it's not messy at all" – Agron said sitting on the edge of the bed – "I think my room was worst at your age"
"What I want to know is what are we going to do now" – Nasir said rather seriously.
"What do you mean?" – Agron answered.
"I mean, where are we going to live now? We have to move in together - he really wanted to know, because now that he found Agron, he wasn't going to leave him.
"Nasir" – he said looking into his eyes – "I have nothing to give you right now but my love, I'm a student, you are a student, you are not even an adult" – he could see how Nasir started to get defensive – "babe, as soon as I can get my own place, and offer you some stability, I will drag you to my side, but for now I…" – he was cut short.
"I don't need big things, I just need you, a roof, food, and maybe a space to paint, that's it" – he saw how Agron was going to contradict him – "honey, we finally found each other, don't ask me to cast you aside because of how things work now, I can't do that" – he looked so sad – "I can work part time, so I can help you pay for stuff, or I'd do all the house work, like before. We don't know when you are going to be able to get your own place, let's just rent together and figure things out" – Nasir said, caressing Agron's cheek – "we used to take one day at a time remember? And we did fine for ourselves"
"Yes babe, but it was so long ago. I want to be able to give you everything you need, I've always wanted to give you everything that you deserve and more, and I couldn't before…" – again he was cut short by Nasir.
"Agron, you have given me everything and more, but I don't need you for that, I can work on my own and figure it out by myself if I had to" – he said very seriously – "I need you because I love you, not because of the things that you give me. Please" – he said in a begging tone – "it is going to be very difficult to sleep without you, don't make me live without you" – he said pouting.
Agron sighed – "We can't move in right now" – Nasir was opening his mouth already – "BUT, we could when I graduate, which is in 2 months, but I can't before that, I have to finish my internship. We can go look for apartments after that"
"2 months?! No! … well, it would go by quickly I guess…" – Nasir said.
"But your parents have to be ok with it, I'm not going to kidnap you, you hear me?" – Agron said in a threatening but playful tone.
"SIR, YES SIR" – Nasir said answering like in the military and Agron laughed – "but you have to be with me when I tell them" – he said negotiating.
"All right, fine, I will" – he gave Nasir a quick kiss – "Now, please show me where am I going to sleep tonight"
"Well, why don't you sleep right here?" – Nasir said seductively, caressing the bed.
"Yeah, right" – Agron said grabbing his things and standing up – "common, show me so I can settle in and go brush my teeth"
"Boo, not fun" – he said standing up also and going out of the room – "is the last door to the left" – Nasir said walking towards said door – "it's a small room but not so much that is unpleasant" – he opened the door and reveille a small but cozy room – "the bathroom is to your right"
"Well, I remember worst, this is completely fine" – he said letting his backpack on the bed and taking his toothbrush – "can you give me some toothpaste? I left it in my dorm" – he added showing his toothbrush.
"Of course, common, let's go the bathroom" – Nasir said guiding him to the said room – "We need to shower after that very pleasant exercise we did back in your dorm" – he said seductively – "wanna save water?"
"All right, you need to stop" – Agron said half laughing half serious – "you know I would love to do that, but we are at your parents house and we can't" – he said putting the toothbrush in his mouth – "and stop being so seductive, where did that come from?" – he said with the toothbrush in his mouth, Nasir had some seductive powers, but he rarely used them.
"I miss you, that's all" – Nasir said putting toothpaste in his toothbrush – "I miss you in every way" – he added to explain what he was saying – "if you know what I mean" – he said gliding his finger through Agron's chest in a downward motion.
"STOOOP" – he said grabbing Nasir's finger while laughing with the toothbrush in his mouth – "I love you and I miss you too, but stop suggesting things I can't do in this house" – Agron said looking at him.
"You could go to my room in the middle of the night and wake me up in a sexy way" – Nasir kept pushing, trying to whisper with the toothbrush in his mouth – "I wouldn't be mad"
"Yeah, because you are super silent and won't wake up anyone, right?" – Agron answered sarcastically, finishing the brushing.
"Ah, so you think you fuck as a God now?" – he said that sentence again, finishing his teeth cleaning time.
"I only speak upon evidence given" – what after life? This was the best thing to have, young again, almost all your memories back, with your soul mate back at it again.
"I'm bursting with joy" – Nasir said theatrically while hugging Agron by the neck.
"I'm very, very happy" – Agron responded, he was not a person that showed emotions, but to Nasir he showed everything - "Hey, question. Have you ever seen someone from before?" – he asked, knowing that Nasir would understand what he was asking.
"No, never… for some time, I thought that maybe I was the only one back, but no, no one" – Nasir answered, while he put his face in Agron's neck.
"Hey, lovebirds" – 'fucking Safiya' thought Nasir – "I need to use the bathroom"
"You need to stop ruining our moments" – said a playful Nasir – "find a boyfriend or something"
"And you need to stop showing this much affection in common areas of the house" – she said pushing him outside the bathroom – "I live here too remember? Also, better me than mom or dad"
"That's true" – Nasir said, he made a small reverence and said – "the sanitary is all yours"
"Thank you, brave soldier" – she said not knowing Nasir's past.
Nasir looked at her dead in the eyes, and with a smile he said - "I'm no fucking soldier" – turning around and going to his room with Agron behind him, who was smiling.
