Uncharacteristic

I stared at the back of Loveall's head. The gold mixed in with the dark curls of the other's hair made the man look like a king. Yet there he sat, homeless and alone, in the front of the coffee shop. How did Loveall even find me? How did he know? I couldn't recall ever seeing him before. If he didn't have any real money, why did he appear to be clean. Was I just bias? Did I expect all homeless people to be covered in bugs and dirt? 

"Hey, Love." I shouted, Loveall turned so fast I nearly got whiplash myself.

"Rider!" He leaped up onto his feet and trotted towards me. 

I had to take a few awkward steps backwards to avoid his outstretched arms. 

"Stop it!" I snapped at him, but my rage dulled when I saw how red his eyes were.

"Are you…high?" I inquired. 

He is delusional! I thought to myself, yet, when he flinched at my question, I felt a strange sense of shame. Loveall looked down at the floor, that's when it clicked in my mind. His jacket torn, his hair was starting to stick together, was I so caught up in myself that I didn't notice? I should leave. 

"You homeless?" I asked, shut up shut up shut up. 

"Yeah," He whispered, the lion flashed in my mind, why did it show me Loveall sleeping on the ground? Part of me wished it wasn't true that Love was homeless, that this was all delusions of grandeur, and yet. 

"Why? Get a job." I'm such an asshole. 

"Thanks. I never thought of that." Loveall retorted. 

I stared at him, studied his face, "What's a Basileus?" 

He looked shocked at the word, shuffling uncomfortably, the other moved closer to me. Now I could smell him. 

"We need to talk privately," He murmured. 

As if I was taken over by a better person for just a heartbeat the words tumbled out before I could stop them, "Why don't you come to my place? Take a shower?" 

The voices in the back of my mind screaming, stop it! He's a bum, probably crazy. 

"I can order us some food, we can figure this out?"

The look Loveall gave to me, the smile, the genuine glee that sparked over his features. It was as if the wind had been knocked out of me.

"Really? For serious?" He asked, practically jumping where he stood, "I'd love that!" 

You're heading for a crash landing. Tell him no. Why am I suddenly being nice? I tried to reason with myself, but Loveall might be the only person who wouldn't think I was crazy. I looked past the other, locking eyes with a police officer who looked away heartbeats later. Are they watching me?  

As we made our way back to my car, all I could think about was the antichrist. The little boy's words still echoed. 

You're my favorite.

I felt as if the weight of the world was in my hands, just as I felt it when the boy was only a baby cradled in my arms.