Yesteryear

Leaving Florence

"Let's leave Florence soon. While we are still together."

Wooyoung raised his head from San's chest with surprise crossing his eyes. The other man smiled softly at him and displayed his dimples. Idly, his hand brushed through Wooyoung's hair and massaged Wooyoung's scalp in a way that had his toes curl.

"Where to?"

Wooyoung had taken two more days off during his time in Florence to stay with San. They had preserved Seonghwa's information well, and Wooyoung was ready to go home anytime, but he wanted to drag the sweet time he spent with his lover just a while longer. Without concerns, they could focus on each other fully.

"Where you live. Is it a place already? European cities are so old."

"Hmm." Wooyoung cushioned his chin with his hands so it wouldn't dig into the man's chest as he set it down. "I think it is, but it got destroyed a few times before it became what it is in the future. Chances are it's currently destroyed. We also won't make it there until I have to leave. It's far."

Disappointment crossed San's forehead. It smoothened back out when Wooyoung tipped forward to leave a kiss on his chin.

San's arms came up to wrap around Wooyoung's frame lazily. His loose embrace brought warmth to Wooyoung's naked back. Gentle fingertips tapped the rhythm to a melody only he knew on Wooyoung's skin.

"Do you have a different place you want to go, then? I've grown sick of Florence after waiting for you so long here. I have so many other beautiful places I want to show you, but we never have the time."

Wooyoung hoped he could make it up to San. That the places he adored were still as gorgeous to him in Wooyoung's future and that they could go together. He dreamed of the day when he could finally explain their institute to San and invite him over. Maybe around the early 2000s? Perhaps even in London already, even before time travel was possible for humankind. Prague would thrive by then, and their building had been part of a governmental complex back then. It was easy to point out to San with a matching year.

"Let's go to the ocean. It's within a manageable distance, right? And it's pretty." Wooyoung beamed at San.

For a moment, San stared at him in silence. Then a grin stretched over his lips once more.

"You're pretty," he replied, distracted. When he surged forward to kiss Wooyoung, Wooyoung fell into the action with a giggle.

They lounged around in bed for a while longer before they got dressed and packed their things. Since San travelled a lot, he hoarded no stuff. He just carried two bags with weapons and items that were dear to him. When he handed Wooyoung one of them for him to bear, Wooyoung spotted one of the iron hair pearls in a corner that he wore in his hair as well. He smiled as he clutched the bag to his chest and followed San out of his flat.

"What about your plants?"

"Someone will take care of them. I'll send a letter here after our trip to the ocean and tell my landlord I left."

Wooyoung liked that idea. San was free as a bird, freer even than Wooyoung, who could travel in time and location however he desired. Freedom suited San. It ruffled his hair in the warm breeze and kissed his tanned skin. Wild and untamed, San shone in freedom like a star.

The two of them got two horses in the outskirts of town and swung on their backs before they slowly rode through the warm afternoon. The sun hovered pleasantly over their backs, not yet intense enough to burn them with sweltering rays. Ever so comfortably, they rode side by side.

The street down to the ocean was filled with tool-filled carts from the peasants that tended to the surrounding fields. Children sprang around between early crops and the first seeds that needed to be strewn. The old mules that dragged the carts over the streets that the ancient Romans created centuries back flicked their cute ears at them.