The doorknob clicked and twisted the door open as Talvi and Erik walked through. With the night flowing through glass paned windows, the apartment looked much different than the one he had stumbled into this morning. Still undeniably foreign.

This time he actually took a moment to scrutinize and inspect his house. Despite the funky hallway it wasn’t half bad. A small but nice galley kitchen to the right of the door, a messy living room with a chunky tv and remotes strewn about. The good thing is that it felt like home despite the foreignness.

Like an unforgiving sense of deja vu.

Talvi threw their jacket and keys onto the hooks beside the door, huffing as they slid off their chunky boots. Slowly, Erik followed in their steps, slipping off his shoes and jacket. The apartment was surprisingly cold without it on.

Leaning backwards just a half step, Erik flicked the gold lock closed.

“So this is really where I live? I saw it earlier but…still…” Shaking his head, Erik trailed off as he leered further into the apartment.

Talvi turned, their blond hair shifting with them, “You’ve seen it before?”

“Well, I was in here earlier. After I got down off the roof this lady told me that it was my apartment or something.”

Talvi twinkled as they smiled, like bright sunlight dancing over warm waves, “Uh…yeah,” He began to trip over his words, “the door was unlocked. I wasn’t trying to steal anything if that’s what you’re thinking. I was just…you know, trying to figure things out.”

“I didn’t think you were, I..just you-you were always the one who used to lock the door. Your shift always started after mine, so I-I guess I got used to not locking it when I went to work.”

The tiny wheel squeaked as the blond hamster ran on its wheel, turning like a windmill over and over, “We have a hamster? I didn’t see the cage before.” The cage was a medium size with thin metal bars running over the top half. A few plastic homes were half buried in wood shavings and hay.

Erik’s mind flickered back to the museum he had cleaned this foggy morning, the tall and overpowering statues though were still clear. He could almost envision a strolling Talvi, their eyes taking in each detail.

“Yeah,” Talvi rooted themself next to him and leaned over as they peeked into the cage, “his name is Choydion. I wanted a snake and you wanted a rat, so we met in the middle.”

“Choydion is the Mirasen god of chaos and trickery, that’s cute.” Choydion wasn’t paying attention to them as Talvi and Erik peered down at him, “Wait, how is that in the middle? A hamster is more like a rat than a snake.”

They smiled and shrugged, “Not sure, but it seemed like a good mix at the time. We got him…” They stopped themselves short of finishing the phrase.

“What?”

“We got him as our one year anniversary present to each other. We named him Choydion because we met at the museum, in the Mirasen area.”

They knew he didn’t remember anything, “Oh.” He looked away from the cage, “Sorry.”

Their eyes were set on something far away, past the thin lines of the hamster cage, “You can’t say sorry for something that’s not your fault. I just want you to feel better.”

“Can I ask…how did we meet?”

They took a moment to respond, their light voice breaking the silence, “My dad works at the museum as one of the anthropologists specializing in the Mirasen pantheon. There was one time that he’d asked me to drop something off because he’d forgotten it at home.” They shook their head lightly, Erik could almost see the shadows of the memories swimming in their eyes, “I don’t remember it is that he asked me to bring only that it was late when I was finally able to drop it off and my dad had to let me into the museum.”

“Him and I talked for a couple minutes in his office before I left, that was when I first saw you. You were cleaning the Modarr exhibit.”

Erik smiled at his own recognition, “The god of the skies.”

“I remember passing by you; your bright orange headphones were swinging slightly as you moved. And maybe it was because it was late but you had this look in your eyes. I can still see it clearly in my mind, it was like you were enraptured.” Erik replayed his short time in the Mirasen exhibit, his mind traced its way over to the Modarr statue, placing Talvi a couple feet from it.

Now, staring at Talvi he wished he could conjure the memory, not have to implant it into his mind. He wished he could remember their face back then, the thoughts racing through him as he saw her for the first time. Erik just wished he could remember.

“So I tried to strike up a conversation.”

“Tried to?” Erik interjected playfully.

“Well,” Their eyes twinkled like a far away star, “when I began talking I ended up scaring you. Apparently very badly because you screamed so hard that I think Canada heard it.” Erik chuckled, his cheeks heating up as Talvi described their first meeting.

It was hard to believe that Talvi was truly his partner based on that first meeting. Not that he was really complaining.

Talvi continued, “When you finally caught your breath I said sorry and tried again. Only for you to immediately trip over your words at the sight of me. A charmer since day one.” Talvi giggled to themselves, the apples of their cheeks rising higher and higher the larger their smile got.

“So much for good first impressions.”

Talvi looked him square in the eyes after he finished his sentence. Not breaking eye contact Talvi spoke with conviction, “It was a fantastic first impression. Three years later and I’m still here so I’d say it was probably better than fantastic.”

Maybe it's fate that this is the one subject that I can recite with more certainty than my own name.

“It all began in the museum I guess.” Erik noted. For a split second Talvi’s gaze drifted to the floor, like they were studying the grooves and cracks beneath them. Instead of following Talvi’s gaze, Erik studied Talvi.

A quiver in their lips as he watched made him sigh and press his eyes closed tightly. His chest suddenly felt heavy, “Why don’t we start getting ready for bed?”.

Talvi’s head bobbed a few times before raising. He could see the fatigue in their eyes, “Sure. That’s a good idea.”