To see the world through human eyes.

“Okay, Gerard. Think.” I tried to calm myself down a bit, but my thoughts kept flying through my head as several birds in a small cage. Out of all the things I could’ve done, I forgot to look at his nametag. There I was, standing with my cup of coffee in my hand, having no clue what to do next.
Getting to know his name was a logical first step in getting to know him. At least, I thought it was. Going back now to order a coffee with still a full cup in my hand would be weird, so that idea was off the table.
“For God’s sake, just breathe.” I ordered myself. I soon found myself lightheaded because I somehow stopped breathing. Once my breathing pattern started to become normal again, I could think logically.
So, how do you introduce yourself to someone you know to the core, but to whom you are a complete stranger? How do you even become friends with someone you know everything about but barely knows about your existence?
I turned up at my job with my thoughts scattered all over the place. Helping customers wasn’t ideal with my state of mind, but I tried not to let anyone know. Conceal, don’t feel, and definitely don’t let it show.
I had to make a plan. Yes, I needed to do that. I didn’t care whatever happened, I just had to get to know him.
~
{1065 AD.}
“Oh, man, you should’ve seen his face!” Fredric snickered. He had been up to something again. This time it wasn’t hanging the lieutenant’s underwear on the flagpole. No. this time he pushed an officer into the Thames. He didn’t push him into a razing part of the river, it was rather shallow. But still.
It was funny indeed, but after the notorious “underwear-incident”, he was expected to behave. But Frank wouldn’t be Frank if he were to behave properly.
Repercussions this time were for him to clean out all the bunks of his division. He wasn’t happy with that, but hey, that were the consequences if you pulled off something like that for the second time.
We were building up our tents to stay here for around 3 months and the friendship between us had grown. It was nice to have him back and I was feeling better than I ever had before. With us being such good friends, I decided to help him clean out everything. Although it wasn’t my job, it was the least I could do to help him.
There was a long silence between us when we were cleaning everything, although I had to say it wasn’t an uncomfortable silence. It was just us being together in silence for a while.
“So, how come you don’t have a wife or girlfriend yet?” he asked me, somehow a bit hesitant.
“I- I just don’t, I guess.” I answered. When I turned to look around, his cheeks were beet-red.
“Why are you asking me that?” I questioned him in return. I started to get a bit suspicious. He wasn’t behaving like himself and him blushing vigorously like that gave off a vibe that something was wrong.
“I don’t know. You never talk about someone at home or some girl or something... I just don’t know, okay? Forget that I even asked it.” his voice became higher as he finished his sentence and he tried to wave it away as if it was nothing. He was somehow very nervous to talk about... –this. Or whatever it was that we were talking about.
“Okay man, don’t beat yourself up about it. It’s just a normal question, right?” I tried to lower the tension, but you could hear a pin drop. He was avoiding eye contact and tried to act like there was nothing wrong, but there was, I just knew it.
“Don’t you have a girlfriend at home?” I asked, trying to break the tension and to get us talking again. Something was bothering him and I took it upon myself to find out what that exact thing might be.
“No.” he blatantly answered.
“Okay. Well, that can be, right?”
“Yeah, I guess.” He snapped.
His answer was too blunt and a feeling inside told me something wasn’t quite right.
“Frederick, what’s going on?” I said with a tone that may have been a bit accusatory. I walked towards him and grabbed his arm to turn him around to face me.
“I-I...” was all he managed to get out, trying to avoid eye contact. His face turned a deep red colour.
“You can tell me. You can tell me everything, you know that.” I said to him.
At this moment he was standing really close to me. To me, it was almost like magnetic forces pulled me to him even more. A force that was even stronger than myself. I noticed his eyes flick to my lips a few times and that’s what changed the energy in the room. Our eyes locked and it was as if I could see all the moments we shared together. Our very first meeting in Hedeby, our first moment as friends, and the first time we poured out our hearts; it was all there.
Some time passed before we both realised we were standing way too close for someone who called themselves “just friends”. This was highly inappropriate. If someone found out, we’d both be lynched and killed after that.
The feeling that took over my body was electric. Our bodies were so close to each other that I could feel the warmth radiating off of him. We locked eyes for a second and without me noticing, I raised my hand and my fingertips softly grazed against his cheek.
Frederic’s gaze turned into a broken mess. His shoulders slumped and he turned his face away from me.
“This is wrong, so wrong.” He whispered.
“… What’s wrong?” I hesitated to ask him this, afraid it was a sensitive topic.
“Everything. This. You and me. Just, I’m leaving.” He seemed irritated and turned away to walk away from me. I got him by the arm just in time but he got visibly angry and scowled at me, his eyes turning almost black from anger. He pulled his arm back and looked at me with rage-filled eyes.
“Let me fucking go.” He hissed.
“Frederic, please!” I called after him, but it was no use. He walked away from me as quickly as he could.
~
{Present time.}
I spent my day at work planning on how to become friends with him. At first I needed to know his name and I knew exactly how I was going to do that. I would go back tomorrow and order my coffee at his register again. That sounded almost fool-proof.
I was still wondering what kind of personality he would have this time. In our previous lives, he was always the blunt and rebellious one. Where I was following the rules, he was the one breaking them and causing havoc, even when it was unintentional.
The day went faster than I thought it would, with my thoughts being only at the new barista in the coffee shop, I didn’t even knew what time it was. I was done with working before I knew it.
When I walked out of the building, it was already getting dark outside and I was suddenly aware of how hungry I was. I decided to just get some take-out because I really didn’t feel like cooking when getting home.
Walking through the cold air and the cracking leaves under my feet really cleared my head. The streets were really quiet actually, only a few people who were hurrying to get home to their families.
The smell that hung in the air was chilly but also very humid, it smelled like a Halloween’s evening. When you know something is about to happen but you have no clue what that particularly thing is going to be.
I decided to go for Japanese. It was looking like I had to get take out from a diner because the weather was about to change and I could see and hear that storm was coming. The Japanese diner I was planning on going to was a bit off the route, but that didn’t matter to me. The food was good, the quality was good, and so walking an extra five minutes didn’t matter to me.
When I walked in, the scent of delicious food greeted me. God, how I loved Japanese food. The lady behind the counter was smiling friendly at me. After I gave her my order, I turned around and took a seat in the waiting room. The Maneki Neko figurines waved fondly at me and as I was watching them, I got lost in thoughts.
How the hell was I going to get through the barista? I couldn’t exactly tell him that I have known him for over a thousand years. Can you imagine? “Hey man, you don’t know me but we’re friends from past lives!” Nope, not a chance in hell that that’s something I am willing to try.
A scream from outside was pulling me out of my thoughts. There was a fight going on on the other side of the streets. A guy with arms full of tattoos got in a fight with a bunch of guys from outside of the neighbourhood, I presumed. Ah well, as long as they’ll leave me alone I don’t care much.
“Mr. Way? Your order is ready!” the friendly lady behind the counter called me. I quickly stood up to get my food. I took the bag from the lady and gave her my money.
“Have a nice evening, Mr. Way!”
“The same to you!” I answered.
As I walked outside, I nervously looked around for the guys that were fighting a few moments earlier. I could still hear them, a lot of screaming and yelling came from around the corner. I decided to take another route to get home, at least one that would get me out of trouble.
{1065 AD.}
Something about our little conversation earlier didn’t sit well with me. He was so absent-minded when we talked and he continued to behave like that the rest of the day. Was it something I did or said? I didn’t notice anything strange about him until he turned the conversation to wives or girlfriends.
It’s so confusing. He is confusing. He confuses me. For someone who always fancied women, he unravelled some feelings in me I never knew I had before. He always did. He just had something special that couldn’t keep me away from him.
I mean, I couldn’t exactly kiss him, right? If I did and people found out we would both be killed. I had to face it; this situation was fucked up.
He kept ignoring me for a while, but I still captured his gaze from time to time. I tried to talk to him, but every time I came as much as he considered close, which was approximately 10 meters, he walked away. There was no way getting through to him.
I decided to just let it go for a while. If he wanted, he could come to me and then I’ll be there.
Eventually after a few weeks of him ignoring me, the tragic news came that the Normans invaded England. We all knew what that meant; it was time to march off to war. I wasn’t a soldier, but I knew some men who were; among them was Frederick.
I decided enough was enough and I had to see him. The troops would be leaving in 4 days, so I needed to get to him. Fast.

Notes