I FORGOT TO PUBLISH THIS EARLIER I'M SO SORRY THE SCHEDULE REMAINS

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Wooyoung was plagued by nightmares. Images of blood-red snow and the slit throats of innocent children had him jerking out of his sleep in the middle of the night. The morning had yet to breach the horizon and the storm outside was unforgiving in its howling. Even in the cold temperatures, Wooyoung sweated. When he glanced at the fireplace next to his body, it had glimmered down since the last time someone fed it. With shaking fingers, Wooyoung grabbed some more wood that San had collected. The piece was nearly too heavy for his jelly-like arms to lift, but he dragged it over to plop it down on the residue of embers. Sparks flew into the air as he collapsed back onto San's side.

The warm body of the Viking pressed up to Wooyoung lengthwise, only feeding into his feverish temperatures. San kept him so warm that Wooyoung was ready to melt into a puddle on the floor.

When San noticed him shifting around, he stirred, too. Wooyoung laid still, hoping the man would fall back asleep. Their aching bodies needed the rest.

Yet, Wooyoung's breath stuttered in his chest the moment San reached to wrap an arm around Wooyoung. Pulling him in close against the other man's chest, San nuzzled into his hair. The sweet act had Wooyoung's heart jump. He gritted his teeth around the sobs of guilt that threatened to resurface.

San's fingertips soothed Wooyoung's skin when he noticed his ribcage fluttering under its staccato breaths. Through his thinly veiled whimpers, only his gasping breaths escaped Wooyoung. The tears on his face were silent, but this time, he cried them with his heart instead of just out of shock.

Wordlessly, San held him tight so Wooyoung wouldn't fall apart. From time to time, his lips pressed kisses against his nape and assured Wooyoung's burning heart of his support.

It took them a while to calm Wooyoung's hiccups back down. By the time his muscles unclenched and he sunk into San's side fully, the sky outside had brightened into a lighter shade of grey already.

"I'm stuck here," Wooyoung croaked as soon as he found his voice again. San shifted his face between his shoulder blades, never taking it too far away so Wooyoung wouldn't get cold.

"Stuck?" His hand trailed up and down Wooyoung's ribcage. Sensitive to the touch, Wooyoung shuddered.

"I need to return to my time or else I will get in trouble. But I need a door for that, and my magical talisman. I lost it when I arrived."

For a moment, everything was quiet. When San retracted his arm to rustle with his clothing, Wooyoung immediately missed the weight of his grip.

"This talisman?" The hand was back, and when it opened, it exposed the remote to Wooyoung. With big eyes, he stared down at the intricate device that always reminded him of an alarm clock with a single button and the date he could adjust with the tiny wheel at the side.

Wooyoung gingerly picked it out of San's hand and turned around. His features gave his disbelief away when he searched San's gaze. Sheepish, the Viking smiled at him.

"It looked valuable. I found it among your clothes back on the ship."

Wooyoung couldn't form a single word of thanks. Instead, he just surged forward to pull San in for a hug. The Viking responded immediately and engulfed Wooyoung with his muscular arms. Small and protected in his grip, Wooyoung allowed himself a moment to breathe.

"A door might become a bigger problem. Risking to return to the village might not end up as harmless as yesterday." San's breath brushed against Wooyoung's neck. In response, Wooyoung held him tighter. In the short amount of time that he knew the immortal, he had already done so much for Wooyoung. The historian's gratitude reached deep into his soul to wake emotions he hadn't thought possible to have.

"Will you have to leave so soon?" San rose his head to ghost his lips over Wooyoung's forehead. Wooyoung wanted to blame their closeness on the quest for heat, but his heart jumped and stuttered in his chest when he blinked his eyes open to gaze at San's jaw.

"Sadly, yes. This epoch isn't made for me. And if my friends find out I went missing, they will send someone after me who might get into just as much trouble. But I will return."

"When?"

"I don't know that yet. But I hope it will be soon and that I can find you again. As long as you pursue your condition further, our paths will cross again," Wooyoung said. When he angled his head up so their gazes could meet, San pressed a fleeting kiss to his lips.

"Good. Then I will wait for you. For now, let's find you a door."

They gave up on resting to utilise the early morning hours. After San had stripped from his leg warmers to give them to Wooyoung since he had no pants and they had exchanged coats since Wooyoung felt cold faster than him, they set out into the snowy forest again. Today, the skies were clear. Icy and beautiful; the snow glinted under the blue sky and blinded their eyes.

Wooyoung was wobbly on his feet as he followed in the traces San left in the snow. The broad back of the Viking was adorned by his axe again that he had cleaned before they went to bed. Whenever Wooyoung wasn't busy stumbling, he stared at the intricately carved runes on the blade and grip instead.

"Will you return to the village after you sent me home?" Wooyoung asked him after a while of silence. It was uncomfortable for him, but San seemed unbothered by it as he stomped through the snow. When he replied, Wooyoung was glad to hear his voice again. Since he couldn't look at him from his position, he felt less lonely as long as the immortal talked.

"Maybe. I can explain our affair to them later and apologise. It's not yet time to move on." San's breath dissipated in the crisp air as he rose his head to look out into the wilderness. His braids that he had redone after they got messed up in the fight fit snug to the side of his head today. Wooyoung had simply tied his hair back so it wouldn't hang into his eyes.

"Is moving on difficult for you?"

It was a dumb question, but Wooyoung wanted to hear his answer, anyway. He was curious how many wives and husbands, how many romantic partners San had left behind. Since he didn't age, waiting for them to grow old with him posed a risk. Maybe leaving sooner was a merciful alternative.

"I grew used to it after some time. I miss that what can never be again. I carry many fallen cities and people in my heart, but there is nobody to share them with. No way to go back."

Wooyoung gnawed on his cracked lips. He wasn't cruel enough to bring up the prospect of time travel to the man again. Maybe, just maybe, Wooyoung could take him back into the times he treasured if he found him in the present age. He didn't know if it was physically possible since San's existence at the same time would lead to a paradox, but he would love to find out and bring a smile to San's lips, if possible.

"By now, I approach most of what I meet with apathy. I know I won't be able to keep it and that the happiness it brings is only temporary. So I relish in what I have but I don't get attached. Most of those I take as lovers know I am flighty."

The words out of his mouth were depressing, but the gaze that San gave Wooyoung over his shoulder burnt with intensity. Because Wooyoung was the first one to break a trot that San had lived for over two thousand years without a way to end it. Wooyoung's heart surged at the fire in those dark eyes.

"A wise friend I had in Rome taught me that. I wonder what became of him," San added to lighten the mood again. Wooyoung was sure that had to be Seneca.

Awed by San's wisdom and the grace he dealt it out with, Wooyoung focused on their footsteps again. From time to time, they crossed trails left by foxes and deer, but they met no other animals than a squirrel and some birds.

"What about you? What life do you live in a future far beyond here?"

Wooyoung doubted he could explain a lot to him without confusing him entirely. Maybe in a few years, when San knew what cars and computers were, Wooyoung could explain his world.

"I live in a world where we don't carry weapons anymore because it's so safe. Many people are wise and educated, just like the Romans, but we don't monger war anymore. I am one of the educated people of my time." With a proud grin, Wooyoung pushed out his chest. He promptly slipped and nearly fell, but he caught himself before San had to turn around. Sheepishly, he pushed his hair behind his ear.

"Fascinating. And your people wish to be like me?"

"Yes, in that peaceful future, they can confidently say that immortality is something to strive for. If everyone was immortal, nobody would have to feel lonely and we could learn and study until all eternity."

Astonished, San glanced at him again as if he had to check if Wooyoung swindled at him. When he met the historian's pleased grin, the Viking gave a gasp of disbelief.

"You are right with that. In a future as harmonious and stable as yours, I imagine life is also easier. But what if it gets boring? I have a purpose in my quest to find out what happened to me and I adore to travel and learn. But I met people barely your age who had enough of the tiresome task life can be."

"If we find a way to make people like you with scien- magic or so, then we will also be able to turn them back. Then they could live for however long they pleased and their brains wouldn't get addled by age. Many new great inventions would come with it. And when they lived long enough, we can turn them back to normal and they die on a peaceful route."

San slowed to hold a thick branch out of the way for Wooyoung. Some snow scattered down from it when he lifted it. When he didn't move away, Wooyoung and he came to stand together under the branch that powdered white flocks into their hair. Wooyoung stared up at San wordlessly.

"So you could turn me back to normal as well?"

Wooyoung nodded after just a moment of consideration.

"It would take some more years to get there, but we probably could. And you could live life on a normal path." Wooyoung's whisper was low between the two of them. He avoided all judgment when he said it, and San appreciated that. His eyes shifted into a far distance as his imagination provided him with what he would be like if he aged naturally.

"If you had the choice... To start ageing again and to travel into any time you have lived in so far? Would you take it? Where would you go?"

They picked up their walk again and San let got of the branch. His steps were slower now, less stiff. Wooyoung trudged behind him curiously while his thighs ached against the constant path uphill.

"Greece, maybe, or Babylon. I spent a few peaceful years in those places when there were no wars and no political dispute. If you met me in Greece, I wouldn't have taken you against just one pillar. The times were good back then."

Wooyoung blushed. The smirk in San's voice continued on.

"Babylon was relatively recent after I stopped ageing. It was the first time I could live a regal and noble life with everything I wished for. I would never try to become a king since too many eyes would watch me in such a position, but being on top without responsibilities was bliss."

That hadn't been hard to see. Suusaandar had glowed in the blooming city like the flowers in the gardens he adored so much. The memory lingered in Wooyoung's mind.

"But I wouldn't take it."

"Hm?" Wooyoung focused on him again. The Viking peered at him over his broad shoulder again and his expression was disarmingly open and gentle.

"I wouldn't stop my eternal life. I've grown to quite like it. You told me that the future is worth waiting for and holds many interesting new options. And it will always be like that as long as humans are around. So why would I stop learning?"

Wooyoung grinned at him.

"I like that," he said. The positive outlook San had on his condition soothed his heart, that still wept for the man's loneliness.

With a cheerful smile that had San's eyes disappear into crescents, he looked to the front again to lift the next branch out of Wooyoung's path.