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thenyoumightaswellwrestleangels · 1 month

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Is there a home to be found in these history books (is there something good to be held in these hands)

Day 4 of Thank You, Haikyuu - event masterlist here

pairing: bokuto koutarou x reader (gn) x akaashi keiji

length: 7.3k

genre: archeologist au !! fluff, hurt/comfort

warnings: they get trapped in an ancient tomb but they make it out in the end obvs, there's a lot of talk of privilege and financial obstacles and burdens, we don't all get to choose the life we live, you get what I mean

a/n: we can't even talk abt how late I'm posting this there's a finish line and I'm crawling to it

tags: @love-and-lore

"Darling, this is not all coming with us to Cairo," Keiji's voice is tired as he stares at his kitchen table and the various bags and bins and piles strewn across the wooden surface. Koutarou pauses where he's standing in their home, a climbing harness hanging off of his shoulders as he tugs at the carabiner to test it.

"Of course not, Keiji," he says simply. "That bin's staying here." Keiji looks wearily at the small box at the end of the table and then steps forward to shift some things around, carving out a space for himself and his laptop across from his partner.

"Why are they sending us out there again, anyway?" Koutarou mumbles, his hands busy sifting through a pile of carabiners and harnesses, all moderately the same, while Keiji opens his laptop and begins clicking through files.

"Well, apparently they've found something new - they think we might be able to actually find the tomb now… let me look," Keiji murmurs, squinting at his screen. Koutarou, half wearing three different climbing harnesses, jingles across the kitchen to grab Keiji's reading glasses and place them gently on his face. Keiji murmurs his thanks and clicks open one of the files he's been sent by their research facility, scanning through it.

"So?" prompts Koutarou, picking up a water bottle and shaking it to see if it's empty.

"Well, apparently there was a sarcophagus recently taken to the British National Museum that some of the other researchers think was related," Keiji says slowly, scrolling through the documents as Koutarou frowns and picks up another water bottle.

"The tomb of Ammit has been lost for centuries - no one's been able to find it," he whines, earning a sympathetic look from Keiji over his laptop. "It's a waste of time for them to send us looking again."

"Most likely, yes," Keiji sighs wearily, just as fatigued by the endless search as his partner. "But it's still our job to - oh my god…" But then he stops, leaning in and squinting at the files on his laptop. Koutarou perks up at the change in Keiji's voice and rounds the table once more, four water bottles held in his arms as he stands by his partner's shoulder and peers down at his laptop.

"What is it, baby?" He murmurs. Keiji leans back in his chair, taking his glasses off so that he can rub the spot between his eyebrows.

"It's been stolen," he says bluntly.

"What?"

"The sarcophagus in Britain… " Keiji says slowly. "There was a break-in at the museum the night it arrived. The cartonnage of the sarcophagus was taken, but nothing else was damaged or stolen." Koutarou's frown deepens at his words, leaning in further to scroll through the document and look over the evidence that's been sent.

"Looks like a professional job," he says tightly. Keiji hums in agreement. "Looks… clean, tidy, precise."

"Looks like…" Keiji trails off, letting Koutarou finish scanning through the file before straightening and looking down at him.

"Looks like our thief's back in the business," Koutarou finishes. Keiji's lips press into a thin line and he clicks on another email that contains flight information for the two of them.

"And… it looks like we're taking a trip to London first."

Thankfully, the two of them realized when they touched down in London that the museum had done an excellent job of cataloging and filing everything meticulously before the break-in happened. Once the two of them had arrived and flashed their credentials, they were given access to the winding back rooms of the museum and the images and information that they'd indexed of the sarcophagus.

"Look at these photos," Keiji says quietly, his eyes focused on the files in front of him as he hunches over a table, boxes strewn around him. Koutarou stands and leans over his shoulder, humming in understanding at the sight.

"That's the stolen cartonnage, yea," he mumbles. "But why take that?"

"It's the pattern on it," Keiji explains thoughtfully. "It... it looks like a star map."

"Oh my god," Koutarou perks up, grabbing Keiji by the shoulders to shake him slightly in his excitement. "This is it, Keiji - this is the map to the lost tomb."

"Likely, yes," Keiji responds, and he can't help but let a small spark of excitement bleed into his own voice.

"Can you read it? You can read it, right?" Koutarou grabs one of the photos, staring at it and narrowing his eyes.

"I can," says Keiji lightly. "But this map is thousands of years old… the stars looked a lot different then. It'll take some time for me to sort it out." Koutarou just shrugs at Keiji's words, unbothered by the timeline.

"Good thing we have that long ass flight to Cairo," he offers, but Keiji's busy pursing his lips and squinting at one of the photos. "What is it?"

"There's something else," Keiji says slowly. "It's… it's like it's in some sort of code. There should be a cypher somewhere for this." Koutarou frowns at his words, scanning through the images that are strewn across the table as he crosses his arms over his broad chest.

"There's nothing else here… they said the entire sarcophagus was catalogued, right? And nothing else was taken besides the cartonnage?" Koutarou looks to Keiji for confirmation and the man nods, frowning as he sifts through the photos again.

"I'm sure of it," he says firmly. "If there is a cypher, it was never here."

"If our little thief's already been here, we have to assume they're on their way to the tomb already - they might have more information on this than we do," Koutarou says, an annoyed edge hardening his voice. Keji scowls at the thought.

"Yes," he says as he stands, slamming the file closed. "But that doesn't mean they'll figure out how to read the map faster than me. Come on."

It's three days into their stay in Cairo that the hotel suite Koutarou and Keiji are staying in is broken into - but the three of you have been practicing this song and dance long enough that, by now, they know your steps. That's what you assume, at least, when a light is clicked on and Keiji's frowning face appears in the doorway, eyeing the way you have your hands on the documents and files that are spread over the kitchen counter.

"Kou," he calls into the room behind him, keeping his gaze locked on you as you remain frozen, leaning over the counter. There's a part of you that refuses to acknowledge that you've been caught, that refuses to face the fact that you've gotten sloppy, rushed in a way that you aren't normally.

But then Koutarou's standing next to Keiji in the doorway, the corners of his mouth tugged down into a deep frown as he glares at you, and you can't really think about anything beyond fight or flight.

"Most people would be asleep at this time of night," you quip, straightening to round on them and face them both fully. There's no point, you think, in us all dodging one another again and again.

"Most people don't worry about their hotel rooms being broken into," Keiji responds dryly. "Why don't you step away from the files."

You cross your arms, instead, rocking back on your heels and humming in mock thoughtfulness.

"Do you know," you ponder aloud, ignoring the weary sigh that escapes Keiji, "how much Ammit's ushabti is being sold for if it's found?"

"We don't really concern ourselves with black market pricings," Keiji shoots back as Koutarou lets his eye flicker down to the way you shift your stance, balancing evenly on your feet as if ready to move, ready to run at a moment's notice.

"Well, fortunately for all of us," you quip back. "I do. There's big, big money for anyone who gets their hands on it and I, personally, would love for those hands to be mine."

"If you have a point, I'd suggest getting to it before the police get here," Koutarou snaps, but you just grin.

"You wouldn't call the police on me. Who else in your life shows you this much of a good time?" But at the matching frowns of the two men, you sober and press your lips together, sighing through your nose and switching tactics.

"How's the, uh, star map coming along? Hm?" You say instead, letting your eyes wander down to the files on the counter once more. This time it's Koutatou's turn to grin and laugh and you snap your head up to scowl at him.

"Oh," he says. "Oh… you haven't figured it out, have you? That's why you're here." You bristle at that, a small, quick sort of thing before you right yourself and glare at him.

"Well, what can I say, not all of us went to school for this," you offer dryly, but your comment is ignored as Keiji steps forward. He walks past both you and Koutarou to stand on the opposite side of the counter as you, gathering documents into his hands and shoving them back into files.

"I'm not sure why you think," he says quietly, a sharp edge to his voice. "That we'd ever help you find the tomb."

"Because," you say breezily, the lack of concern in your voice making him pause. "You don't have the cypher." That's enough to make both of them freeze, Keiji dropping the file he's holding down onto the table and Koutarou stepping towards you, an action that makes you brace yourself on your feet and angle yourself towards the open window behind you and the lock that you'd broken to get in.

"You have the cypher?" Koutarou asks bluntly. You grin a bit wickedly and reach into your jacket, pulling something out of the inner pocket and placing it on the counter between you and Keiji. When you lift your hand, a shining, golden scarab sits on the cool marble, intricate designs of blue lapis winding around it.

"If you open it," you point out, "the cypher's inside… it's not much to crack, really, but I've already done that part, anyway." Keiji picks up the scarab, holding it up to the dull, yellow light and turning it over as he looks at the symbols on it.

"How long have you had this?" He murmurs distractedly.

"A while," you shrug. He shoots you a scathing look and you smile.

"But why… why are you giving it to us?" Koutarou asks, stepping forward to peer at it as it sits in Keiji's hand.

"I'm not," you say simply. "I'm just letting you look at it." Koutarou arches a brow in question and you continue. "See, here's the thing. You can't figure out the map's code. I… can't figure out how to follow stars from thousands of years ago. I figure… we can help each other." Keiji grips the scarab tightly in his hand and scowls at you.

"Why do you think we'd do that?" An annoyed edge seeps into his voice. "We have the scarab now." You just look at Keiji rather patronizingly and raise a brow.

"I've been running circles around both of you for three years," you point out "Do you really think I couldn't get that back if I wanted to?" Keiji just sniffs indignantly and places the scarab back on the counter between you, crossing his arms instead.

"Either way," Koutarou jumps in. "Why do you think we'd help you? You're a thief, you've been stealing from us for three years. We could just call the police on you right now."

"Yes, it is interesting that you didn't," you say, snatching the scarab up from the counter and grinning when Koutarou shoots a hand out just a bit too slowly to stop you. "But, by the way, I'm not sure me raiding a tomb before you have a chance to is really me stealing from you." Keiji scoffs at your words and Koutarou scowls as he points a finger accusingly at you.

"We don't raid," he snaps. "We're researchers. Most of those artifacts, we catalogue and leave behind, only to find the dig sites looted by you days later. We're trying to preserve history. You're trying to stomp it out."

"Not to mention," Keiji adds, "you do have a habit of hacking into our systems and pilfering my research. If nothing else, that has to be stealing from us."

"Alright, alright," you hold your hands up defensively, the scarab safely in your pocket. "I'm suddenly feeling a bit unpopular here."

"You've always been unpopular here," Koutarou says dryly and you measure him with an unimpressed look.

"Whatever," you say pointedly, clearly trying to steer the conversation away from their moral judgements. "Do we have a deal or not?"

"No," the two of them snap at you at the same time, making you click your tongue in annoyance and rock back on your heels, your arms crossed firmly over your chest.

"Then you won't find the tomb," you shrug. Keiji huffs and looks at you disapprovingly.

"Neither will you," he points out, but you just shake your head.

"I can always find someone else to read the map. You, on the other hand, won't be able to do anything with that code without the cypher… ever." The two of them glare at you for a moment, twin looks of annoyance boring into you before Koutarou speaks again.

"If it would be so simple for you, why don't you just do it on your own? Why come to us at all?"

"Because I need to be quick about this," you offer quietly. Keiji gestures for you to elaborate as he leans forward to prop his forearms on the counter and look at you closely. "Well, it's like I said. There are a lot of eyes on this tomb right now and I'm not the only seller going after it."

"Ah," Keiji nods in mock understanding. "So it really is just about stealing profits."

"Oh, bite your fucking tongue," you snap tiredly. "You've got too much moral high ground to care about the fights I have with other thieves." You say the word in a mocking sort of way, impersonating the way that the two of them have spit it at you in the past. Keiji just hums thoughtfully and stands straight again, exchanging a look with his partner. In response, Koutarou merely shrugs in an unbothered sort of way and turns to you once more.

"You know," he points out, "even if we help each other find the tomb, we'd never let you loot it."

"Yes, I had thought of that," you say rather sourly. "But I suppose the artifacts being safely passed over to you two means that no one else can grab them, either… I don't get a profit, sure, but neither does anyone else."

"Do you care that much about winning this game of yours?" Keiji asks bitterly. You fix him with a hard stare.

"I care that much about keeping my livelihood intact and operational," you point out plainly. "Do we have a deal or not."

"Fine," Keiji sighs, rubbing a hand over his forehead to ward off his oncoming headache. "We'll map out the location of the tomb together. You won't take anything, you won't touch anything, you'll get nothing from this," he says harshly. You purse your lips in annoyance.

"And in return… you two will say nothing of this," you request firmly. "I don't need the cops sniffing around here looking for me and I'm sure you don't need the headache of all that questioning. Agreed?"

"Agreed," Koutarou nods firmly. You sigh and roll your shoulders back, willing away the tension in them. It's a horrible deal for you, really - and you know that, of course. But sometimes, you think, losing is worth it to drag a few others down with you. You're sure your newfound partners wouldn't agree - but you're also quite sure you don't care.

It's three more days and nights after that of all of you pouring over the sharing information that you'd gathered, Keiji focused on tracing routes over maps and planning out the logistics, while Koutarou busies himself with preparing for the expedition. It's… tense, of course, the two of them weary of any sudden backstabbing from you while you remain alert, half-convinced that they will have called the authorities on you in any of your moments of relaxation.

But perhaps they're more understanding than you thought they were, because the path to the tomb that the three of you can finally journey to remains undisturbed by their assumed betrayal. And perhaps you're a more honest person than they thought you were, because you remain faithfully helpful and measured throughout the voyage.

When you're finally faced with the entrance of the tomb, crumbling and half buried under centuries-old mounds of sand, there's a spark that zips through the three of you at the thrill of it. It's a sort of static in the air, a tangible kind of hunger that's shared amongst you as you look into the dark, gaping maw of the tomb's entrance.

"This is going to be dangerous," Koutarou says honestly as he kneels, pulling grappling equipment out of his bag.

"You're welcome to stay here, then," you say flippantly, and a little breeze of delight blows through you at Koutarou's responding cheeky grin.

"Not a chance," he quips back, tossing a climbing harness to Keiji.

"I didn't think you usually came out on the actual expeditions," you say as you watch him heft on the harness. Keiji looks at you pointedly, like you should already know the answer.

"I don't… but this is different," he says simply.

"Why, because I'm here?" You ask, half-jokingly. When he stays quiet, though, you frown. "What do you think I'm going to do? Off him in the middle of the desert and steal the ushabti?" Your voice catches with disbelief and Keiji looks at you almost apologetically - almost.

"I think," he says carefully, "that it would be a bad idea for anyone to be out here alone. Koutarou isn't always by himself on these expeditions - we have colleagues, you know."

"In Cairo?" You point out. Koutarou just shrugs.

"Yea," he says easily. "Our research facility operates pretty globally." You hum in annoyed understanding and secure your own climbing harness, preparing to grapple down into the depths of the ancient tomb.

"What about you?" Koutarou prompts. You look at him, puzzled.

"What about me?"

"Who do you go with?" He clarifies. You just shrug your shoulders, shuffling a bit on your feet.

"I… don't," you explain. "I do this on my own." Koutarou gawks at your words and Keiji pulls a sour face.

"That's not safe, you know," he chastises. "What if something were to happen to you?" He's walking past you towards the tomb entrance as he speaks, and you step quickly in front of him to block his path, leaning in to look at him closely.

"What, are you worried about me?" You tease. He looks past you pointedly, a blush beginning to show on his cheeks as the rising sun peaks high in the sky, bathing the endless golden dunes around you in a hot, wavering glow.

"It's time to get going," he says in lieu of answering, and Koutarou barks out a laugh at the spectacle of it all.

"Uh huh," you agree in mocking seriousness, throwing a grin to Koutarou over Keiji's shoulder. It's… nice, you realize in a painful sort of way. It's not just the safety of going with them that assures you, but something else… something that makes your heart thump a bit too loudly in your chest.

It feels almost like… home - the thought comes to you in a striking, panicky sort of way as the three of you grapple down into the tomb, the realization making you waver as your hands tighten on the rope. Fortunately - or rather unfortunately, the shifting of the sand above the three of you and the winds of the wide, endless desert begin to blow the dunes. As sand begins to trickle onto your heads, larger rocks and debris from the once-standing structure begin to crumble under the force, caving in above and in front of you.

There's a bit of a scramble, Koutarou grabbing you by the harness when the three of you land on your feet and hauling you back as what was left of the entrance caves in completely, bathing the three of you in endless darkness and the quiet of the world below. As you and Koutarou both crack open large emergency glowsticks from your bags, the light of them illuminates the smooth, sandstone walls and the way that Koutarou's hand is still rooted on the front of your harness, his arm wrapped around you from behind to pull you to his chest.

You clear your throat pointedly and he lets you go like he's been burned, an apologetic, sheepish sort of grin crossing his face in the hollow light of the glowsticks. Keiji, all the while, is using the light to poke around the passage that you've all found yourselves in, searching for a way through the debris,

"We're… trapped," he says haltingly, and you turn to shine your light onto the crumbled pile of sand and stone that was once the entrance, as if illuminating it will show some crack in the darkness, some way to escape.

"What?" You snap.

"There's always a way out, though," he says patiently. "You just have to find it." Keiji dutifully ignores your obvious disbelief at his mentality as he continues staring at the fallen rocks.

"That… might be difficult," Koutarou's voice has Keiji straightening and you turning to the sound, walking slowly down the passage to where he's approaching you.

"You can't wander off like that, Kou," Keiji says tightly, but his partner just shoots him an apologetic sort of look.

"It's really not a big deal - I get stuck in places like this all the time!" He says brightly. "That's what the satellite phone is for - I've already sent a distress signal, they'll come and dig us out."

"Right, your globally sourced colleagues," you say dryly, but Keiji makes an indignant sort of sound.

"All the time? What do you mean you get stuck like this all the time?" But Koutarou's already shining his light down the passage he's wandered down, showing you the beginning of the twists and turns in it.

"It's a… maze, I think," he says slowly. You make a humming, high-pitched sound as you peer down through the endless paths.

"Of course," you say sarcastically, "because things really just weren't bad enough before."

"Did you bring the scarab with you?" Keiji asks quickly. You frown and pull it from your bag.

"Obviously, yes," you say as you hold it out to him, letting him snatch it from you and begin pulling it open under the light of the glowsticks. It stirs something in you, something nervous and longing deep within the recesses of your soul, the way that the three of you begin to work together and fall into step.

You suppose, as Keiji finds whatever he's looking for within the scarab, that the three of you really have been in step for all these years, you dancing around them and remaining just out of reach so constantly. You wonder, sort of guiltily and sort of earnestly, if they ever think of you when you get to dig sites before them and snatch artifacts, or when their crates are stolen in transit before they make it home, or when they're researching on-site and they go back the next morning to find their site plundered.

You wonder, through it all, if you've really been alone this whole time, or if the shadows that you leave behind have intertwined enough with them to keep you company in the sprawling, endless deserts of this life of yours.

Keiji's voice, thankfully, interrupts your desperate spiralling as he announces that he's found the key to the path through the maze and Koutarou puts his hand on your shoulder, a concerned look on his face at your ashen, hurt demeanour.

"The scarab has more in it than just the cypher," Keiji mumbles, squinting as he looks at it. "I'll lead… if we're waiting for the rescue team to get here, we might as well find what we came here for."

As you step slowly after him, your legs weighed down by the heaviness of Keiji's words, you begin to wonder what you really are doing here. You consider, with a hint of panic, what you've been doing all these years, trailing after the two of them and keeping yourself just out of reach, just far enough away from something that you could call home.

Nightfall, within the depths of the maze, feels odd. The three of you know that it's time to rest only from the watches on your wrists and the fatigue that begins to weigh you all down. Laying in thinly padded sleeping bags on the hard, sandy floor, with the darkness stretching endlessly in every direction, sleep is hard to come by even for those of you who find yourselves used to nights like this.

Somewhere to your right, Keiji sighs and rolls over again, shifting his back against the hard rock as if somehow he'll be able to find some comfortable space, as if trying over and over will yield a new result.

"Why do you do this?" he blurts out into the darkness eventually, seemingly too wound and uncomfortable to sleep.

"Me?" You ask.

"Yes, you," he clarifies, and his voice… is kinder than you remember, gentler than you think you've heard before. "Why did you choose to make this your life? Sleeping on the ground alone in a tomb chasing after stolen pieces of history."

"Well…" you begin carefully. "Why did you choose this?"

"That's different," he says quickly. "What Koutarou and I do is different."

"It's not, really," you say nonchalantly, but you hear the rustling of Koutarou sitting up on the other side of you before his voice rings through the darkness.

"It is," he assures. "We educate, we preserve, we… we're here to pass history forward, not to destroy it."

"Sure," you say easily, but Koutarou, you realize, isn't finished with his tirade.

"What you do is different - you're desecrating these sites, not saving them." You're quiet for a long moment after that, listening to the thump of him laying back down and shuffling endlessly to try to find some kind of comfort where he lies.

"I don't desecrate them," you say quietly, finally, your voice quiet enough to almost be swallowed by the vast emptiness of the night. Kieji makes a humming, indignant sort of sound and you continue. "I don't. There are others who do things a lot worse than I do. I… I've always done it as respectfully as I can."

"There is no respectful way to steal from the dead," Keiji says firmly, a finality in his tone.

"I wouldn't," you begin, your voice wavering as you continue in a halting sort of way. "I wouldn't do it like this… if I had a choice."

"There's always a choice," Koutarou says easily, but you scoff and sniff angrily.

"You don't understand," you say, your voice thinner and weaker than you ever would've liked - and than they've ever heard before. "There's not always a way out… not for all of us."

"I didn't mean -" Koutarou starts, admittedly panicked by your wet sniffling, but you just barrel on.

"Not all of us have the money that you do have," you say earnestly. "We can't go to Ivy League schools and get degrees and good jobs. And if you don't have that, then you go off and do it on your own - just a little, just, you know, for the fun of it… to say you did it once. To say you lived the life you'd wanted, just once."

Keiji says your name quietly, a strained sort of guilt pulling at his voice, but you've started now - you've let the floodgates open and you find yourself unable, really, to close them back up again.

"And then you find something that sells," you continue, tears beginning to drip down your cheeks, disappearing into the blackness of the endless passage as your voice carries on, melting into the vast darkness. "And then something else, and then something else. You think about how you have enough money now to go to school, to get that life that you didn't have before…"

"And then?" Koutarou asks quietly, a sombre care in his voice that makes your heart clench painfully.

"And then your little sister wants to go to university. She wants to but she can't afford it and you think that you'd do anything to make sure she doesn't turn out like you. And then your mom gets sick and she's got medical bills that she can't pay on her own and… and it all just seems so selfish, to try to use your hands for something good when all that's going on."

Things are quiet for a bit too long after you speak, nothing but your stifled, sniffling hiccups heard as the two men lay in silence on either side of you. But then Keiji speaks, very cautiously, very slowly.

"I think," he begins, "that anyone who gives up their life to help others like that has done more good with their hands than most people do in their entire lives." As he speaks, Koutarou reaches out to you, through the endless darkness, to take your hand in his and intertwine your trembling fingers with his own.

"And I think," says Koutarou gently, "that there are some people who wouldn't really understand that… if they grew up with privilege and opportunity. I think that people like that would be wrong to judge people like you." You squeeze his hand gently, just once, before letting go of him, rolling onto your side so that you can put your back to him.

"But they are still those people," you say quietly, the stretching darkness swallowing your words. "And I am still this thing." You've miscalculated, though, of course, because turning away from Koutarou has just put you face-to-face with Keiji. He slides closer to you on the rough, stone ground, reaching to brush the tears from your cheeks with gentle thumbs as he cups your face in his palms.

You wonder, in a bit of anguish, when touch had ever been this kind, this loving, and it brings fresh tears to your eyes that stream down your cheeks.

"You can't cry so much right now, darling," Keiji says gently, wiping the tears dutifully from your skin. "We're rationing our water and we're stuck down here." You laugh wetly at his words, sniffing once more.

"I thought there was always a way out?" You quip gently, a quiet sort of jab at the blind privilege that the two men have often displayed. But they take it in stride, both of them, which is apparent by Koutarou's quiet, muffled laugh and the delicate kiss that Keiji pressed to your forehead.

"What can I say," he begins softly. "I worry about keeping the people I care about safe." That sobers you greatly, and you feel Koutarou's hand reaching through the thick darkness to grab onto your hand again.

"There will be a way out this time," Koutarou squeezes your fingers gently. "We'll make sure of it."

You do find it, eventually, the heart of Ammit's tomb where the sarcophagus lays. And there it is again, of course, that static-like hunger that hazes the air between the three of you - the feeling of the grandness of it all, of standing in places uncharted and finding things long lost.

You think once more, as you exchange shining, hope-filled looks, that there really is such little difference between what you are and what they claim to be. Perhaps, you think as you peer down at your hands, spreading your palms to stare at them under the glow of the Koutarou's light, perhaps these hands of yours can shape something good, after all.

You don't look for the ushabti - you figure that, since you've sworn not to take it, there's no point in searching. You know, by now, that there's no use in pushing for something impossible. So you stand, instead, off to the side while Koutarou and Keiji commence their business of taking photos and cataloguing and doing whatever else it is that they do.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" Keiji says quietly, standing next to you for a moment to look you up and down over his glasses, as if he's waiting for you to kick the lid off of the sarcophagus and loot whatever you find inside.

"Yea," you say instead, your voice quiet against the thrumming power of the tomb. "It is."

"It makes it all worth it, right?" Koutarou chirps happily, an excited bounce to his step as he moves around the space like it's home to him, like he's settled into the comfortable grooves of this life that he's built.

As the two of them work, stepping around each other with the ease that only comes from calling someone home for so long, you spend your time standing under the dull hue of the glowsticks, staring at the ancient sarcophagus in front of you - at the grave of someone who died thousands of years ago. As you peer at it, at the intensity and the endlessness of it all, you wonder what it is you're really doing here. As history crumbles behind you and the future stretches on ahead, you consider, for a halting moment, if you really have the time to keep yourself hidden away like this. You wonder if there's space in the endless turn of time for you to stray so far from home.

The walk back to the entrance of the tomb, after the whole spectacle, is slower than you'd like - there's an itch under your skin now, a desperation to breathe in the clear air of the endless sky and get away from this place of becoming - this place of taking. With every step that you take, you feel the weight of your life grow heavier, dragging you further down into the sands as you consider everything that you are and are not and maybe could've been if you'd given yourself the chance.

The relief that you feel is immeasurable when the three of you finally plod back to the entrance and find Koutarou and Keiji's rescue team hauling rocks and debris away, a sliver of light growing and growing and becoming something more in front of you, bathing you in the shining, golden glow of the sun once more.

Koutarou bounds forward, eager to see the team as he waves to them.

"Konoha, hey," he calls. "You took too long."

"You're lucky we came at all, Kou!" The man, clearly joking, calls down as he throws two grappling lines down. You stare at the two twin ropes as Keiji and Koutarou step forward, and Keiji is about to call up that they need a third when you stop him.

"Don't bother. There's… there's no room for a third. You just go, I'll come up after you," you say quietly, and the two of them stare at you hard for a minute before Koutarou speaks up.

"There is," he assures. "We'll make room. We'll… we can make space."

"But," Keiji adds. "It's up to you. We'll go up and…"

"I'll follow," you say easily, smiling a bit as the sun finally hits your face, ricocheting past you and into the endless passages that dig their way deep below the sands. "I'll be right behind you - I always am." That's reassurance enough, thankfully, and they begin hauling themselves up out of the tomb. You, once more, you find, are left to chase after them, never given quite what they've always had.

Konoha, when you pull yourself up, makes a comment about the two of them picking up a stray. When Koutarou reaches one firm hand to haul you up by your climbing harness, effectively picking you up with one of his arms, you try not to take the quip personally.

"You alright?" Koutarou's eyes are gentler than they should be when he asks you, the sun bathing the world around you once more as he brushes sand off of your shoulders.

"Of course I am," you say gently, and as you stare out towards the endless, rolling dunes of sand and the way that the desert stretches on infinitely, you can't help but feel as if you've stepped out into a different world. You feel almost as if a part of you was left down there, in that timeless tomb, and nothing will ever fall into place in quite the same way ever again.

"Alright, come on you two," Konoho claps a hand onto Koutarou's shoulder and jerks his head towards the paramedic on the team.

"I feel fine," Koutaoru nearly pouts as he watches Keiji already beginning to be checked over.

"You've been in a hole for three days, so you'll have to forgive me if I don't believe you," Konoha responds dryly, dragging Koutarou along with him and away from you.

It's easy after that, you find, to sort of just… slip away. By the time the paramedic's finished checking over Koutarou and Keiji, you're nowhere to be found, disappeared into the line of the horizon and the endlessness of the life that you've chosen to live.

"Do you think they'll come back?" Koutarou asks quietly, fiddling with Keiji's fingers as he stares out toward the immensity of the desert.

"I'm sure they will… when they're ready," Keiji assures quietly, but his brows furrow as he, too, stares out, and he wonders where in the endlessness you are.

It's later that night, in fact, in the peace of their hotel suite, that you tap your knuckles gently against the balcony door. As Koutarou scrambles to his feet to let you in, Keiji smiles at the understanding that you've done that entirely for their benefit - that you could easily come and go from any locked part of their life if you wanted.

"You came back," Koutarou says as he brings you into a crushing hug. You look at Keiji over Koutarou's bicep as it squishes your cheeks together and he laughs at the sight, swinging his legs up and off of the bed to come save you.

"I'm glad, darling," he says quietly, extracting you from Koutarou's embrace to hold you delicately in his own hug, letting his partner press a kiss to the crown of your head during the process.

"I just… I just came to say goodbye," you say weakly, stepping away from both of them.

"No -" Koutarou starts, but you smile sadly and he snaps his mouth shut.

"I am sorry, you know, for all the trouble I caused you both," you continue, twisting your fingers nervously as you look between them. "I don't think I really cared about it but… but I - I do now and I'm sorry."

"It's alright, darling," Keiji says softly, a care in his voice that rattles you.

"Anyway," you plow on, "I won't do it anymore."

"What?" Koutarou says, bewildered.

"I won't - if I know it's you, I'll stay away," you continue. "I promise, I'll… when I see you, I'll duck. If I hear your names on a job, I'll back out. You won't have to worry about me anymore."

"And if we want to?" Koutarou challenges, and you hesitate at his words.

"Well, why… would you?" You say slowly, but your choice of words just has him rolling his eyes before grabbing you by your arm and pulling you forward until you stumble against his chest and he can slam his lips to yours.

Keiji, while he looks on, goes to the nightstand next to their hotel bed and pulls out a business card, scribbling something on it. By the time you and Koutarou part, your face heated and lips reddened, he's pressing it into your hand. In your dazed state, you don't even check to see what it is - you just look to Keiji in expectation.

He laughs, an honest, unencumbered sort of thing before holding your face gently in his hands and pressing a firm, sweet kiss to your lips.

"It's a mutually shared sentiment, I promise," he murmurs as you part, his lips brushing against yours as he speaks before he finally pulls away. It's then that you finally look down at the card in your hand and see the stamp of their research facility on it.

"What's this for?" You mumble, staring down at it.

"I'd really rather you didn't keep yourself from us," Keiji says easily. "You know, our department is always looking for more contract employees, people who are willing to travel and work wherever's needed, whenever's needed."

"The three of us work well together," Koutarou adds, his thumb brushing over your cheekbone gently. "It'd be nice to do it again."

"Oh, sure," you murmur, thumbing the corner of the card. "And, uh, what's their policy on hiring criminals, do you think?" Keiji frowns at your words, feigning thoughtfulness.

"I don't think you've ever been charged with anything," he says simply. "Why ever would they think you're a criminal?"

"Now that you mention it," Koutarou copies Keiji's fake consideration as you gawk at the two of them. "We never did discover who that thief was, did we? It's a shame, I mean, but I guess that's one of life's great mysteries."

"I suppose it is," Keiji nods solemnly, ignoring your spluttering shock. "And, you know, if the thefts suddenly… stopped, well, I can't imagine people would keep caring about it, can you?" They both look to you then, waiting for your confirmation as you stand, dazed and staring at them.

"Well… sure," you say eventually, a breathy quality to your voice. "I mean… I guess some things just… go away. I guess there are things we get to just… put down."

"Exactly," Koutarou says, booping your nose and laughing at the way it scrunches up at the contact. "Let your hands relax," he coos, swinging your intertwined hands with his. "Just put it down." You sigh at his words, letting yourself relax against the two of them - much to their delight as Koutarou wraps his arms around you, keeping you upright. "Stay here with us tonight," he continues softly, a gentle plea in his voice. "Don't disappear just yet."

"We'll pick it up when someone needs to," Keiji offers softly, taking your face gently in his hands to press fleeting kisses across your cheeks. "We'll give these hands of yours a break."

It's three weeks after that, when Keiji and Koutarou are en route to Greece, when their phones both ping. It's a group chat made by an unknown number, with coordinates and the pictures of a cypher sent to them.

"Huh," Koutarou says as he and Keiji both flick through the photos. "This feels… familiar, doesn't it?" Keiji smiles at his partner's words, looking down at the messages. They both know their thief well enough to know that it's you, and they recognize the folder in the background of the photo - the stamp in the top right corner that shows the symbol of their research facility.

They know that this is what it looks like when you use those hands of yours for something good.

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