Wooyoung's concentration wavered every time he as much as glanced in Sandalius' direction.

They had all laid down together and Linus got along with the young host, as if they didn't have an age gap large enough that they could be father and son. They talked about estates and politics and laughed about societal trivialities. Linus boasted a lot more about his fortune and his slaves than Sandalius did. The younger man took it with humour. He snickered and toasted at Linus' statements, but he didn't play into his gratification.

Wooyoung was entranced by his personality at the same time as he tried to concentrate. His glances at Sandalius lingered as he tried to find similarities to Suusaandar. While he dug around in his head whether he remembered any moles or birthmarks to go by, Sandalius caught his stares multiple times. In the beginning, he diverted his gaze politely and Wooyoung snapped his eyes at the fruit platter with an ashamed blush. After a few times, however, Sandalius looked back with just as much intrigue. His sharp eyes stood out in his carved features that might as well belong to the marble deities depicted in his gardens.

While Wooyoung was still busy figuring out how he could tickle the information out of Sandalius whether he had ancestors in the Persian ruled area of the world, he got included in the conversation of the two men so abrupt, he nearly missed it.

"So, what about you? What brought you to Rome? Visiting relatives? Searching for a wife?"

Sandalius eyed Wooyoung over the rim of his chalice. When their eyes met, the lord threw a playful wink in. Wooyoung didn't know how to interpret it.

"Ah no. I came here to get to know the city since I considered moving over here. I am a historian." Wooyoung had drunken more wine than he wished already. His distress towards the man opposite of him had him emptying cup after cup that the slaves handed him. The sight pleased Sandalius, but it loosened Wooyoung's tongue. He also suspected the Romans offered a high percentage of alcohol to unwind.

"A wise person, I see. And how do you find Rome?"

With Sandalius' eyes fixated only on Wooyoung, the time traveller shifted uncomfortably. That gaze that was so similar to Suusaandar's intimidated him. It stared right into Wooyoung's soul, as if Sandalius knew all of his secrets and played with him like a lion with his prey to see when he would break and spill them.

Wooyoung cursed the alcohol in his veins for making things even more difficult. Then he took another sip to wet his dry throat and answer.

"It's quite different from Faesulum. Louder and full of people," he spoke the truth. He voiced no harsh critique and Sandalius accepted his opinion with a nod.

"Hence why I told him to relax. Don't want the people up north to think the heart of our glorious world isn't worth visiting." Linus jumped back in with a slight slur to his speech. The wine dragged his words out as if it didn't want them leaving his throat. Wooyoung was glad for the interruption.

"You should take a present for your family at home. I can recommend them a wine that will have them running here the same day," Sandalius jested. Linus and the other lingering people at their table laughed tastefully. They didn't partake in the host's conversation uninvited, but their ears were perched as they discussed among themselves.

"I might take you up on that offer. My mother would have loved to join me, but there was no time. If I brought her the wine instead, her heart might be soothed." Wooyoung muttered into his cup so his eyes wouldn't get stuck on the slope of the man's body again. As a stranger, he knew how weird it was to stare that much. But as much as he reminded himself to leave it be, his gaze returned to Sandalius.

If he truly was Suusaandar's descendant? It wouldn't change anything. But Wooyoung could rest with an eased heart.

The conversation swayed back and forth. When Wooyoung was asked something, he replied as cordially as possible. Whenever he wasn't distracted, he gulped more wine down. The buzz of the alcohol warmed his stomach and brightened his view until the colours in front of his eyes blurred. Dancing lights illuminated the black night and the laughter of people became even more entrancing to him.

The party guests came and went, sometimes exchanging the people lying with them, but Wooyoung never left. He ate an infinite amount of grapes until his addled mind couldn't fathom anymore where they all came from. Pleasantly drunk, he didn't notice the ache in his side or how much Sandalius' features puzzled him.

"Is tonight one of those nights?" Linus asked sometime later. He could barely keep his head up, but Sandalius still perched on his divan elegantly, no matter how much he drank. In Wooyoung's drunken glow, he now looked just like the deities the Romans prayed to.

"I didn't prepare for it initially, but... I like your friend."

Wooyoung didn't understand he was meant. When he met Sandalius' eyes over his cup, they seemed to have got darker and more intrigued. Wooyoung blamed it on both of them replacing all water in their bodies with wine.

"What an honour. If you will excuse me, then? I shall make my rounds and see whom I find. Don't wait for me."

Linus dragged his body up from the divan and disappeared into the night. For a few minutes, Wooyoung didn't even notice he had left. Only when his constant staring got copied wordlessly, he picked up on the silence.

By the time Wooyoung's head spun from his drinking, he rested its heavy weight on the divan's slope on his arm. A servant brought him water to make up for his nausea. As he laid on his side and revelled in the buzz of alcohol, he didn't notice Sandalius leaving his place. When the touch of fingers to Wooyoung's jaw warmed his skin, he startled out of his stupor.

And oh, the man he looked up to was so beautiful. Sandalius' lips were dark with the colour of the wine and the smile they formed was equal parts charming and mysterious. Wooyoung's drunken mind was attracted to it like a fly to a lamp. He sighed into the feathery touch on his chin.

"Are you in pain? You seem to have injured yourself."

Wooyoung needed an embarrassingly long time to remember the bruise on his face. When he picked up his head to reply, it nearly crashed back down from gravity alone.

"'M fine. It doesn't hurt too bad." Rather than that, Wooyoung was just distracted from the pain. But he didn't need Sandalius to know that.

"I know how to help. I can provide you with a sip of ambrosia." Sandalius beckoned a servant closer to hand them Wooyoung's chalice over his shoulder. His eyes never left Wooyoung's drunken features. Through his fluttering lashes, Wooyoung saw the gleam of the alcohol in Sandalius' irises.

"Ambrosia? Is it medicine?"

Sandalius sunk to the ground next to Wooyoung to lean against the divan at his side. His fingers caressed Wooyoung's jaw still. The touch was warm and relaxing. Through the fluttering butterflies in his stomach, Wooyoung didn't question it. They were drunk butterflies and their bumps against his stomach uncoordinated. As long as they didn't make him throw up, he was fine.

Wooyoung adjusted his head to be closer when Sandalius leaned over him. Their breaths mingled with the headiness of the alcohol. In the mild night, Sandalius burned like a star. His raven locks tickled Wooyoung's cheek.

"Haven't you heard the tale? Ambrosia, the drink of the gods. It's rumoured to take you to heaven." When Sandalius' finger traced Wooyoung's ear, he whined. The soft tug on his lobe was playful, but Wooyoung's eyes threatened to flutter shut instantaneously. Amused by his reactions, Sandalius' lips quirked into a drunken grin. Did Suusaandar also have dimples? Wooyoung didn't know, and he didn't care. His eyes stuck to Sandalius' lips that were so near and yet so far.

When Sandalius shifted his weight on the ground and their shoulders knocked into each other, both of them giggled stupidly. Wooyoung reached out to stabilise his swaying companion. His fingers splayed over the naked skin of Sandalius' sculpted upper arm.

Once more, their eyes found each other full of unspoken questions and promises. Wooyoung remembered he had to answer.

"I- I haven't."

Sandalius hummed and took the cup when the servant returned. When he placed it on Wooyoung's lips, he leaned in close. Entranced by his handsome features, Wooyoung lazily opened his lips to allow the man.

"Then taste it."

The first drop hit Wooyoung's tongue in an explosion of taste. It was honeyed and sweet. If Wooyoung had been sober, he would have assumed that they spiced a special wine with some potent herbs to create the tantalising scent that had him yearning for more. When he spilt a few drops over his chin, Sandalius pulled the chalice back to let him swallow first. Wooyoung shuddered when the man leaned in to lick the wine off Wooyoung's skin. His hot tongue glided across his flesh smoothly before it flicked back between those parted lips.

Both of them had forgotten where they were as they regarded each other with heavy eyes. Wooyoung wanted to pull him in, wanted to share the taste of the ambrosia with him. Oh so gorgeous, Sandalius stuck to his side as if waiting for Wooyoung to do just that.

"How is it?" The man's voice had lowered further. It existed only in their shared space, only for Wooyoung. When tender fingers ran through Wooyoung's hair to tug at his roots, pleasure zapped through Wooyoung's very being. It tingled all to the tips of his toes and left him leaning into Sandalius for more.

"Is it real ambrosia?"

"No," Sandalius breathed against Wooyoung's lips, "we call it Cretic Wine. Its sweetness will ease your pains and help you sleep well." He whispered it enticingly, as if it were a secret. Wooyoung snickered at him, finding him cute when drunk.

The back of his mind tried to recollect his thoughts. He had heard about Cretic Wine before, knew that there was something special to remember about it. But he couldn't place his finger on it. Pleasantly buzzed as he was and with a beautiful man draped over his side, Wooyoung had no reason to think about unnecessary historical facts.

"Can I have more?" Wooyoung's throat was parched. He yearned for anything Sandalius could give him, be it wine, water, or even his fingers. Wooyoung wanted them all, and he wanted Sandalius to notice already.

"Of course," the host sang. His dimples flashed as he picked up the cup again. He pondered only for a moment before he took the next sip in his own mouth and leaned back over Wooyoung.

So nothing would go to waste.

Wooyoung's arm wrapped around the man's naked shoulder to pull him down. His fingertips brushed shyly over the tunic wrapped over his clothed side first before they slipped under the fabric. His entire arm connected to Sandalius' exposed skin as their lips found each other.

Sandalius' mouth was soft on Wooyoung's as he pried Wooyoung's lips open to feed him the wine. Wooyoung's throat bobbed when he swallowed its delicious taste that spread in every corner of their mouths.

They didn't leave it there. Drawn by the yearning in their veins, the two of them fell into a wet kiss. Sandalius' hand played with Wooyoung's hair and Wooyoung's devious fingers gradually slipped the toga further down that solid shoulder. He wanted to explore everything of the man, wanted to expose his beauty to the world.

While uncoordinated, their kisses were still gentle. They learned about how Sandalius liked to slip his tongue between Wooyoung's lips and how Wooyoung moaned the first time it happened. The sweet noises that Sandalius pulled from Wooyoung as they delved deeper into their kisses set both of their bodies ablaze. They wrapped closer around each other until Wooyoung's spinning brain couldn't tell where one began and the other one ended. It was never enough. He grew more desperate with the moments that passed. Every fibre of his being yearned for Sandalius.

When Wooyoung pulled him in impossibly tighter, Sandalius changed the angle of their faces. For a moment, their laboured breaths were one before the host descended back into their feverish kisses. Through their open mouths escaped needy noises that fuelled the thick tension in the air.

Wooyoung's head was a mess, no thought inside clear. But he couldn't care less. There was only one thing he wanted right now and judging by the way Sandalius' hand slipped from Wooyoung's hair to explore his body, he was just as willing to provide.