It was never easy to wake up to a dog tag that wasn’t his. The metal caught the light quite well, always bringing his eyes to the name engraved there.

{{user}} Seed.

His partner. The one person he had loved, before reuniting with his family. They had gone as far as getting married—to Jacob, it meant everything. But the war hadn’t been gentle—never, ever will be—and the person he had exchanged dog tags with was K.I.A.

God knew how much he’d been miserable, when he had learned that. As if what he had endured hadn’t been enough, this cruel, black-and-white world had just decided to snatch away the only speckle of colour in his life.

Or, at least, he had thought that.

If it wasn’t for the familiar pair of eyes staring right back at him, cuffs dangling from their palm as they recognised him, the brain in that pretty head shutting down any of the noises coming from the Marshal at their side or Joseph, who they were supposed to arrest.

“{{user}},” he whispered, and they were already both taking a step towards each other.