Archive of Our Own

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Deep under the waters, where the moonlight cannot reach and humans don’t attempt to go, Beomgyu swims carelessly among the darkness. Most fishes and creatures are fast asleep by this time, and it’s up to him to keep them safe — be it from themselves or something from the surface. Beomgyu takes pride in being the type of god that cherishes his domain instead of believing that the oceans are only an obligation. He loves each and every creature that comes from the water, and the creatures love him back the same way.

Nighttime is when he finds himself the most active for some reason, swimming from side to side in search of something that he cannot put a name into. Most of the time, the ocean is dead silent, waves swaying lazily around him, some fishes batting their fins close to his scales in respect as they pass by. Beomgyu likes to stay close to the deeper side of the sea, to visit the supposedly monsters that the other sea-creatures talk about. The leviathans, the ones that look scary but are the most lovely ones among the seas.

But tonight, something doesn’t seem quite right. Beomgyu has this aching feeling, a shiver that runs through his scales and stops at the tip of his horns. The other creatures seem to be feeling the same way, for they whisper to him about how scared they are. Beomgyu tries his best to calm them down, but it turns out to be in vain as the ocean shifts in a blink of an eye and turns into high tides. He barely has time to hold himself as the tides swing aggressively from side to side, taking everything with them.

The creatures beg for him to make it stop, but Beomgyu has no idea what is happening. He’s not furious, he’s not angry, he’s not the one commanding the tides to act impetuously. The leviathans and fishes from the deeper waters retreat to the bottom, the fishes from the upper side try to run from the angry waters. It’s a chaos that threatens the peace that his domain should be sporting, and that makes Beomgyu unsettled. 

The sea is not supposed to answer anyone else but him, so why is it acting in such a way when he’s not the one commanding it?

Beomgyu swims faster to the surface, in the hopes that the answer will be there. Maybe some god is tampering with him again, playing a prank after Beomgyu refused to join the spring solstice again — it wouldn’t be the first time, but he thought he was clear enough when he almost drowned the whole world in retaliation. His tail moves almost on its own, body restless as the chants of his name coming from the underwater creatures never cease. He breaks the surface in time to see a big wave almost reaching the skies, kissing the darkest of moons he has ever seen in eons.

The skies are the darkest shade of purple available in this world, looking almost black and unreachable to Beomgyu. A million stars shine among the darkness, so many white spots that his hands itches to try touching them, collect one and keep it to himself — but he’ll never do such, the stars in the skies are not part of his domain. When he looks at the direction the wave is coming from, he’s surprised to see someone perched on a thin stroke of silver.

A soft laughter echoes in the emptiness of the open seas as soon as the wave reaches the moon and splashes back to where it belongs. Beomgyu feels a shudder run through his spine, the sound twinkling in his body and singing like a hummingbird inside his ribcage. He’s awestruck, frozen in place as he watches that person keep giggling as another wave tries to reach them, going so high in the sky that Beomgyu almost forgets that it’s unnatural of them, that they’re not reacting that way because of him.

“Who dares temper with my domain?” Beomgyu inquires, voice rumbling like thunder all over the waters. The wave falls down as soon as the words are out, leaving the moon alone, giving him a better view of whoever is controlling his domain against his will.

Black hair with stars attached to it the same way the starfishes do with the mermaids underwater, sparkling and making the person look almost ethereal. White robes with silvery embroidery covers the large but delicate body above, looking a little bit darker because of the lack of light coming from within. Beomgyu pays close attention to the scepter in their hands, made of pure gold and with a moon and star at the top, speaking silently about this person's identity.

The moon deity, the one that Beomgyu only hears about from his close deity friends, the one that was meant to marry the sun deity but never got the chance to do so, the one that steals loving sighs and desiring looks from other deities. Beomgyu has never seen him this close before, almost at arms’ reach if he ever desires to touch him like that.

(Beomgyu never thought about it, until now.)

“Forgive me,” he says with sincerity, bowing slightly in utmost respect. “I didn’t think I was holding such powers, I only wanted to see those shiny fishes close to the surface.”

It sounds so childish to Beomgyu’s ears. A deity tempering with his domain in such a scale to the point of scaring leviathans, and all of it over the shiny fishes that Beomgyu gets to see every night? It sounds so innocent and naive, like the moon deity is nothing but a curious boy who doesn’t know a thing about the world instead of an all-knowing eons-old creature like Beomgyu.

The bird keeps singing inside his ribcage, and Beomgyu doesn’t understand why since birds aren’t supposed to sing at night.

“How are you able to do so?” Beomgyu asks, atop one of the high tides that almost reach the moon, blueish long hair sticking to his skin — above the surface, his human form is the one he uses in order to not frighten the other deities, not most know about his real form. “No deity should be able to hold this much control over a domain that it’s not theirs.”

“The moon controls the tides, depending on which phase,” he replies, matter-of-factly, followed by a muffled chuckle behind his robe. When he looks at Beomgyu, his eyes are slightly dark, but with a twinkle of silver that it’s impossible to miss. “I thought the sea deity would know that better than anyone.”

Beomgyu knows that he’s being made fun of at that moment, and if this was any other deity, he’d perhaps make the tides higher enough to swallow and get them to the bottom of the ocean. But something about the way the moon deity laughs shyly and keeps himself behind a veil of silver amuses Beomgyu in ways he hasn’t felt in so long.

For a moment that feels like an eternity, he almost forgets that something is happening beyond this small crack in time and space that he made in order to approach the moon deity. For a moment, there’s only him sitting in the highest of tides, almost kissing the new moon as he stares at the moon deity in complete devotion. The bird pecks at his ribcage, trying to break free but unable to do so, Beomgyu is already looking down at the chaotic tides under them and the cry of the creatures underneath him brings him back to reality.

“Make it stop,” Beomgyu orders, looking back at the deity with the most serious look he can muster. “You’re scaring them rather than making them comfortable.”

The moon deity gasps at Beomgyu’s words, looking down at the tides with a frown as his eyes turn completely black. It looks like the night skies, starry and dark at the same time. The tides do not cease or stop, and that makes Beomgyu annoyed because he feels powerless compared to whatever the moon deity is doing. The creatures keep begging, but the deity in front of him doesn’t move a single muscle to stop it.

“Forgive me once again,” he says, sounding so heartbroken that Beomgyu feels hands clasped around his own. “I didn’t mean to—”

“This never happened before,” Beomgyu thinks out loud, a hand over his chest, exactly where his heart lies.

Why does he feel this way over the sadness spreading in the moon deity’s face? It shouldn’t matter, he barely knows him.

“I’m deeply sorry,” the moon deity pleads again, holding his scepter until his knuckles turn white. “I’ll go back to the skies and far from the sea, perhaps the tides will come down this way. I don’t have any control over them, it seems.”

How amusing. He can make the tides act all impetuously, but cannot actually control them. It almost looks like they’re acting on their own, trying to reach somewhere that Beomgyu has never actually looked at. He looks at the moon, sure. He likes the moonlight over the waters and he enjoys the gleam that comes from it, how it prevents the world from being swallowed by darkness. But he never actually looked at the moon, looked at the sea deity sitting on it, looking down at the world in the solitude of nighttime.

Beomgyu wonders if the moon deity feels lonely, maybe that’s the reason why the tides want to reach him so much.

“You sure ask a lot for forgiveness,” he snorts, hands playing with the soaked ends of his own dark-blue robe. “Perhaps, ask for permission the next time you decide to come close to the sea. I’ll be able to control it if you can’t.”

The moon deity looks at him with widened eyes, blinking back in surprise. “You’re not forbidding me to approach your domain?”

“If you were lying about your intentions, I would’ve known that,” Beomgyu says, taking one of the shiny fishes that the moon deity wanted to see into his hands, trying to calm it down. The moon deity watches it with delight, a small smile on his face upon seeing the tenderness Beomgyu displays with the fish. “Be gentle with the fishes next time, they get easily scared by roughness.”

“Oh, I’ll keep that in mind,” he hums, hesitantly moving his hand down until he can touch the fish in Beomgyu’s hand. He startles when the fish jerks, jumping back into the waters that are slowly calming down. The moon deity giggles, dimples showing and eyes closing slightly. Beomgyu feels hypnotized. “Do I need to be gentle with you too in order to receive the joy of your company, My Lord?” The moon deity adds as an afterthought, looking hopefully at the sea deity.

Beomgyu swallows dry, taken aback by the sudden question. “Excuse me?”

“I…” his eyes widened again, almost as if he’s surprised by his own words. Silence befalls them, the only sound coming from the high tides under them. The moon deity closes his eyes and says something under his breath that Beomgyu cannot decipher, but he doesn’t have time to dwell on it as the deity looks back at him with shyness. “Forget it, please. It’s almost daytime.”

That statement captures his attention, eyes shifting from the deity in front of him to the slowly clearing skies. The darkness from before slowly turns into lighter splotches of colors; light blues, oranges, pinks, lavenders, beautiful shades that anytime would make Beomgyu happy but he’s far from feeling such. It won’t be long until Yeonjun, the sun deity, takes his place in the skies and walks among the lands with sunlight on his robes.

In the back of his mind, Beomgyu finds himself wishing for his time with the moon deity to not end so soon — strangely, he enjoyed the deity’s company more than he thought he would.

“Call for me the next time you decide to approach the sea, and I’ll come to you.” Beomgyu says, watching Soobin get up from the place he was sitting, balancing his feet in that thin line of silvery that he was sitting above. “But with only one condition.”

The moon deity raises one eyebrow. “And that shall be?”

“Give me your name, moon deity.”

And that was the first time Beomgyu ever asked for something in his whole existence. He never took anything for granted, always content with whatever swings his way or to live completely far from the other deities that don’t understand his need for loneliness and space sometimes. For the first time, watching the moon deity open the brightest smile that could rival the sunlight, Beomgyu wishes for something — he wishes to know about him, to spend the nights close to him, to understand if the moon deity’s loneliness is the same as his.

Maybe they could be lonely together, to share the loneliness and darkness of the night together like they did tonight.

“You can call me Soobin,” he says in a whisper only meant for Beomgyu’s ears, looking up at the skies before slowly disappearing. “Farewell, Beomgyu .”

Beomgyu doesn’t think much about the fact that the moon deity knows his name, it’s not that big of a matter when you’re such a known deity like him. What he does think about, is how the tides calm almost instantly once Soobin is gone, but there’s a lingering longing in the waters, as if the sea misses the moon, like lovers having to part ways. Beomgyu feels strangely excited for nighttime to approach, he cannot wait to see Soobin again, with the stars in his hair and dimples in his cheeks when he smiles, giggles that feel like sunlight and secrets that Beomgyu wants to unravel like a pirate seeking treasures.

🌓

Soobin comes back a week after their first encounter. The tides still move out of Beomgyu’s control throughout that whole time, but Soobin doesn’t show up at all whenever Beomgyu reaches the surface and looks at the sky. The moon is still a blotch of darkness in the sky with only a thin line of silver, but Soobin is nowhere to be seen. Beomgyu spends most of that time in the dark waters, keeping the sea monsters and leviathans calm until sunlight comes and the high tides cease completely.

Maybe it's presumptuous to say that Beomgyu spent that whole week looking forward to seeing Soobin again, sitting high and magnificent atop of the moon and giving his silvery glow to the world of the living. And when that day finally happens, Beomgyu cannot put a name on the strange feeling that grips at his core and makes him swim faster to the surface when moonlight falls above the water.

It’s been only a few days since Soobin’s return, but Beomgyu feels like he has already spent a whole eternity with his company. Soobin sitting with his legs dangling and Beomgyu perched on the highest of waves he’s able to create in order for them to be close. Things turned out to be easier than Beomgyu thought it’d be. Soobin, as shy and quiet at first interaction like he was during the new moon, proves to be uniquely different once the ghost of shyness moves away from his body and gives way to a more carefree and alluring personality that Beomgyu imagines that not all deities have the chance to see.

It’s a new thought that breaches his mind whenever he thinks about Soobin — the thought that maybe he’s the only one that has the chance to see the moon deity in such a way, laughing full-bodily and with eyes crinkled in the corners, the sound echoing in the darkness of a nighttime made only of them.

Beomgyu cherishes the night more than the day.

When the moon is in the first quarter, Soobin looks fascinating. Half of his face is shrouded in the silvery glow of moonlight, making his skin almost gleam; the other half covered by the endless darkness of the night but still so mesmerizing that Beomgyu almost forgets that this isn’t how Soobin is supposed to look normally. It’s no secret that his beauty is beyond anything Beomgyu has ever seen before in the lands and the skies, the reason the other deities fancy Soobin more than necessary, the reason why the tales about his beauty being the reason why the night is so dangerous — and that is enough to frighten him more than the thought of possibly losing his domain.

Because falling for Soobin means longing and that it’s not something Beomgyu is akin to feeling right now.

“I wish I could see all the creatures you speak so fondly about,” Soobin sighs deeply, looking at the starfish that attaches itself to Beomgyu’s hair, the same way the stars in the skies keep tangled in Soobin’s hair.

It’s something that is visibly noticeable whenever Beomgyu starts rambling about his domain and all the creatures under his protection and care, how Soobin always pays attention and has his eyes filled with curiosity and fondness, with a tiny speckle of sadness. Sadness that comes in the form of how much he wants to know more about Beomgyu’s domain, about the creature he talks about, to see with his own eyes all the sea monsters that Beomgyu talks so fondly about even if they were supposed to be scary.

Soobin has a longing that makes Beomgyu’s heartache, that fuels a dormant desire to steal the moon from the skies and bring him deep underwater, to keep Soobin to himself and never again see sadness or loneliness or longing in those dark eyes of him.

“Maybe you could,” Beomgyu mumbles, hoping the night will swallow his words before they can reach the moon deity’s ears.

“Don’t be silly, Beomgyu,” Soobin says fondly, fidgeting with his scepter. “I cannot leave this place.”

“But Yeonjun does.”

And it’s true. Yeonjun walks among the lands more than any other deity from the skies that Beomgyu knows, and it’s something that has been itching in the back of his mind lately. If Yeonjun can walk in land and live among humans and other deities, why can't Soobin do the same? In Beomgyu’s eyes, their powers are almost the same and the tales he heard speak very clearly about how Soobin and Yeonjun are parts that complete each other. So why is Soobin stuck in the endless loneliness of the skies at night when Yeonjun can enjoy the whole world during the day?

It doesn’t make sense to him — it only fuels his desire to steal the deity away and see if someone would actually miss him the same way Beomgyu had missed him that past week.

“Yeonjun is the sun deity,” Soobin says, matter-of-factly. He looks somewhat different when he talks about the sun deity, not actually looking at Beomgyu and shifting until the dark quarter of the moon almost covers the lightened part of his face. “I’m not almighty like him.”

Beomgyu frowns, suddenly feeling angry. “Who told such a lie?”

“I don’t need anyone to say it, I know my place.” Soobin states, the lightness between swallowed by this tense air surrounding the deities and keeping them inside a bubble made of suffocating feelings. “Besides, I’m only a shadow of what he is.”

“Why do you speak so lowly of yourself?” Beomgyu pleads, hands itching to try reaching the moon’s face, but he knows that he’s not supposed to touch him like that. “Soobin, you’re just as important.”

“For some, I know I am,” he says, not looking at Beomgyu while talking and that makes the sea deity unsettled. 

He wants Soobin to look at him, he wants to see Soobin’s eyes as he speaks about something that probably was never meant to be brought up as a topic between them because they’re still strangers no matter how hard Beomgyu wants to think otherwise. Deep in his heart, he feels like he has known Soobin for so long that the feeling creeps in his bones and tangles around his veins. His heart beats in a melody meant only for the moon to hear, his body craves for a closeness that he cannot understand, his whole being wants Soobin and only Soobin.

And at the same time it’s an incredible feeling, Beomgyu is deeply scared of it.

Soobin finally looks at him as if reading his mind, but it’s not the look that Beomgyu was hoping to see — not sparkling eyes, not crinkled eyes because of laughter, not filled with curiosity over his domain and the deity that controls it. No, Soobin’s eyes are filled with loathing and hatred, not over Yeonjun, but over himself as he says, “But how can I not feel like a shadow when his glow is the one that supposedly makes my glow possible?”

“Huh?” Beomgyu’s anger dissolves into confusion. How come Yeonjun is the one that casts this beautiful pale and silvery glow of moonlight when his rays are made of burning and bright yellows? “But you have your own glow.”

“You’re so naive, Beomgyu,” Soobin scorns, spiteful in ways Beomgyu has never seen do before. “I’m not a star like Yeonjun. I do not have my own glow, all I have is the reflection of him over me. That’s the reason why the moon has phases.”

“But you’re shining down on the sea right now,” Beomgyu points out, opening his arms and showing the moonlight casting over his midnight blue robes and the calm ocean under them. “You’re always shining down on me, Soobin.”

“All thanks to Yeonjun,” he snorts, looking away at the dark side of the moon.

Silence befalls the night, like it always has been in the past before the moon met the sea. Beomgyu used to enjoy the silence that came with nighttime, the calmness that was strikingly different from the flamboyant and boisterous cacophony of daytime. But that was before, in a time where Soobin has not made the tides high enough to touch the skies only because he wanted to see colorful fishes, in a time where Beomgyu has not seen the moon deity sitting on a thin line of a new moon and giggling as water splashed him, in a time where the sea deity has not fallen at first sight for the moon deity.

Now, all Beomgyu wants to do is reach out and touch Soobin’s face, to make him look at him and hear that his glow is more pretty than the one Yeonjun casts over the living world once daytime comes. Soobin has to know that, he has to know that someone in this world loves the moonlight even if it doesn’t actually belong to the moon deity. For a second too long, Beomgyu ponders over his words and his burning desire to touch the moon, but he holds himself back from moving his hands from the place they stay, opening and closing his hands as he thinks that words are more than enough — even if it’s not enough for him.

“Doesn’t matter to me,” Beomgyu says, his voice and words enough to bring Soobin’s attention back to him. The moon deity looks at him with furrowed eyebrows, confused by the sea deity reaction. “I like your glow, I like the way you shine the most when night falls, I like—”

You. It goes unsaid, and Beomgyu is glad that he was able to hold himself back from accidentally spilling a secret that it’s meant only for him to know. A secret that he’ll bury back in his heart and keep there because this talk has only reminded him of a fact that Beomgyu has forgotten in his silly thoughts about stealing Soobin away and keeping him to himself as a selfish deity would do.

Soobin was betrothed to Yeonjun, two deities created for one another and meant to be together. That’s the reason why Yeonjun lends his glow for Soobin and makes him able to produce moonlight. How could he forget about something so crucial such as this? How could his foolish heart and mind erase completely the reality in order to feed him with unreachable fantasies about the moon deity perhaps falling for him too and giving his heart for him to take care?

Beomgyu is so stupid, so stupid that he almost feels like allowing himself to get washed away by this big wave he made to reach the single being that he’ll never be able to actually reach.

“Thanks, Beomgyu,” Soobin says, genuinely grateful. 

When Beomgyu looks back, Soobin’s eyes are sparkling so much that one could easily mistake them for stars, or that the stars got tired of being in the skies and decided to attach themselves to his eyes. Beomgyu wishes he could not fall even deeper for Soobin 

“I like shining down on the sea too,” Soobin admits with a soft chuckle. “It makes it easier to see all the amazing creatures from your domain.”

“Only the creatures?”

Soobin raises one brow. “Are you perhaps trying to get some compliments out of me?”

“Maybe,” Beomgyu admits sheepishly, looking away in embarrassment — he can only hope that his cheeks are not flushed by his embarrassing approach at trying to get a compliment about himself from Soobin. He wishes he could read the moon’s mind, to know how the moon sees him. “But I suppose the moon deity already has someone.”

“Excuse me?”

“Yeonjun, right?” Beomgyu says, not daring to look at Soobin while speaking. “Isn’t the sun and moon made to complete one another as the tales say?”

“That’s far from the truth,” Soobin laughs, with a tiny bit of sorrow lingering in the end of the melodious sound. Beomgyu still can’t look at him, but he can see from his peripheral vision that Soobin has his fingers drumming around the scepter and eyebrows slightly furrowed in thoughts. “I suppose the tales are right to some extent. I was brought to life in order to be Yeonjun’s other half and for us to eventually complete each other, that’s partially the reason while he offers me part of his glow in order for me to bring moonlight to this realm. But somewhere in our path, we never got together in the way the tales speak of.”

The information takes less than a minute to get digested by Beomgyu’s brain and for a wave of foolish hope to drown him. Perhaps there is a possibility of his secret feelings to see the moonlight and be free to lightly drizzle over Soobin, in the same way the waves were doing that first night he saw the moon deity. Hope is what led so many humans to their demise in all ways possible, and now Beomgyu can understand the reason why.

“You’re not betrothed to Yeonjun?” He asks, looking at Soobin in time to see the moon deity looking back at him with something gleaming in his dark eyes.

“You see, the sun has a single heart divided in two parts. One belongs to the earth, the other belongs to the horizon, and that’s something that cannot be changed even if tales tell it otherwise. A love not meant to prevail, but the sun doesn’t care about these foolish rules as long as he can have the two parts of his single heart by his side.” Soobin talks as if telling a story that no one will ever know — and maybe that is an universal truth, no one will ever know that the moon and the sun are not lovers like they expect them to be. Soobin sighs, but there’s no sadness or defeat in that as he continues, “There’s no space for the moon in the sun’s heart, and that’s not something I loathe him for. We came to the conclusion that the friends’ route would be the best for us. As much as I adore Yeonjun, sometimes he can be a little…”

Soobin seems to be looking for the best word to describe someone as flamboyant as Yeonjun without using that one. Beomgyu has not much to say about the sun deity, they only talked briefly in the few encounters they had when Beomgyu was obliged to leave his domain and mingle with the other deities. He knows about Yeonjun only from what Taehyun and Kai talks about — and with the knowledge that both the horizon deity and the earth deity knows Yeonjun to quite some personal degree, he can understand why they’re always bringing the sun into topic.

“Intense?” Beomgyu suggests.

“I was going to say annoying, but intense work too,” he laughs, hiding it behind the sleeve of his white and silver robes. “He’s a great friend, don’t misunderstand me. But I’m not sure we would work as lovers.”

And that’s all Beomgyu needed to hear to let the waves of hope whisk him away from the shore and lead him deep into the strange feelings he has been nurturing over the moon deity. Soobin is not betrothed, Soobin doesn’t belong to anyone but himself, Soobin who only goes after Beomgyu when night falls. Maybe it could be a naive thought coming from a deity that never felt love this deep for someone before, but Beomgyu wonders if Soobin feels the same as him.

Oh, how beautiful and painful would it be if the moon loved the sea back.

“I’m sorry,” Beomgyu mumbles, playing with the water moving around his hands.

Soobin frowns slightly. “What are you sorry for?”

“It must be difficult to have the whole world carrying along the misconception of you and Yeonjun being something when you’re only friends,” he replies, soft and playful as he looks at Soobin with a smile on his face. Soobin smiles back, still fidgeting with his scepter as he usually does when Beomgyu acts playful around him.

“I never gave it much thought,” he mumbles, voice no louder than a whisper floating in the air. “Not until I fell for—”

“Oh, it’s almost daytime,” Beomgyu says out loud, not noticing that Soobin was speaking. The clarity of daytime is slowly breaking the darkness in the sky, colors showing up in a canvas that was completely dark once. “I suppose you have to go now.”

“Yes,” Soobin hums, something that feels more out of obligation than actual desire to part ways.

Beomgyu looks back at Soobin, both a little crestfallen over the knowledge that they’ll have to part ways for now until nighttime comes again. This is perhaps the part that Beomgyu dislikes the most when it comes to his nightly encounters with Soobin, bidding farewell feels like spikes clutching around his heart, even if he knows that he’ll see Soobin later again. Whenever their time reaches an end, Beomgyu can’t help but wonder how a life where he could see Soobin whenever he wants would be like, to touch the moon deity and spend all the time available with him.

It’s a mindless thought, but he can’t help but envy Yeonjun for being able to see the moon deity whenever he wants.

“Before you do, I have something for you,” he says, before Soobin can get up from the place he sits at the whole night and go back to who knows where he stays during daytime. “A gift.”

“A gift?” Soobin’s eyes sparkle with curiosity, looking back at Beomgyu with a hundred stars inside those orbs. “But I have nothing to offer you in return.”

“Gifts are not meant to be given and expecting something in return. Your company is already more than I could ask for, Soobin,” Beomgyu admits.

In any other time, this would be the perfect start of a confession followed by Beomgyu saying what he’s feeling for the moon deity. But this is not the time, and he knows that clearly as he gnaws at his lower lip and holds back whatever is threatening to come out. He looks down at the big wave he’s sitting atop, gently reaching his hand inside the dark water and bringing out the gift. It’s nothing big or opulent as the moon itself, but Beomgyu wants Soobin to take this with him — wants Soobin to think about him whenever he looks at, wants Soobin to miss him enough to come back every night without missing.

“Beomgyu,” Soobin breathes out in wonder as the sea deity creates another wave to take the gift closer to the moon.

“It’s a conch shell,” Beomgyu explains as Soobin takes it, gentle hands cradling the shell as if it was fragile. “If you ever miss the ocean when daytime comes, you can put it close to your ear and hear the sound of the waves crashing at the shore.”

“It’s beautiful,” Soobin says, slightly breathless as he looks at the dark conch shell with some speckles of silver. Beomgyu found it deep in the sea, left behind by another creature that found a better home, and he knew immediately that he had to give it to Soobin. A shell that looks like the moon and comes from the sea, a fitting gift. “I don’t even know what to say to you.”

“There’s nothing to be said,” Beomgyu chuckles, suddenly shy as he feels the moon deity looking at him with something that he cannot put a name on. Gratefulness, perhaps? Beomgyu truly regrets not living among the other deities enough to recognize feeling easily. “You must love the ocean a lot to keep coming back every night, and the sea creatures are glad to have your shine upon us. Take it as gratitude for what you do for us.”

“I do love the ocean, like I never loved anything before,” Soobin confesses in a sultry tone, bringing the shell close to where his heart is supposed to be, eyes never once straying away from Beomgyu’s face as he gets up from his spot. “Thank you, Beomgyu. I’ll cherish this the most from now on.”

“You better get going,” Beomgyu coughs, embarrassed at the intense way Soobin’s looking at him while keeping the shell close to his chest. “Yeonjun must be waiting for you.”

“Maybe he is, but I’m pretty sure he can wait for a little bit,” he wiggles his eyebrows, before bringing the shell close to his lips and letting it touch the same way a gentle kiss would feel like against skin. “Farewell, Beomgyu.”

“Farewell, Soobin,” Beomgyu pushes out between gritted teeth, still thinking about that single brush of lips against the shell and how he’d selfishly destroy the whole living realm to be the one receiving that kiss.

Beomgyu lets the wave crash back to the sea, allowing it to take him down literally and metaphorically as he gets swallowed by his domain and his feelings for the moon.

🌕

Full moon comes in the shape of Soobin almost filling the whole sky as the high tides try to reach him. All Beomgyu can see when he breaches the surface is Soobin, in all his powerful glory. Silvery and full, impossible to miss it out as he excitedly waltz in the sky to the sound of the harsh waves crashing back to the sea. It’s a sight to behold, one that Beomgyu takes a few minutes to contemplate before the moon deity notices him and makes another wave appear, bringing the sea deity close to him.

"I learned something about you!" Soobin says excitedly as a greeting, waltzing back to the closest side of the moon to Beomgyu, clapping his hands before sitting down majestically, scepter appearing on thin air in his hand.

Beomgyu doesn’t remember ever seeing Soobin this excited before. Sure, the moon deity has his peaks of happiness whenever Beomgyu speaks about the sea creatures or when Soobin shares some good memories of his past, but never to this extent. Soobin is beaming with moonlight, shining so bright that Beomgyu feels light-headed to the point of fainting. He looks so beautiful, punching the air out of the sea deity’s lungs and filling it with moonlight and the scent of the night flowers that only bloom when Soobin is around.

There was never a way to deny his deep feelings for Soobin, but lately it has been more than he could handle. Beomgyu feels like a star about to combust whenever he’s around Soobin. He wants to let all the thoughts devouring his mind roam free from his mouth, to linger around Soobin’s ears until the moon deity finally has the knowledge of how he’s holding the sea deity’s heart in the palm of his pale and gentle hands. 

"Hello to you too, Soobin," Beomgyu chuckles, amused by the childlike enthusiasm in the deity’s face. "I see you're quite excited tonight."

"Full moon,” Soobin says sheepishly, looking down at the waves. They’re strong, but not as strong as when the new moon happens. “And believe me when I say I'm holding back my powers a lot to not scare your babies."

"I appreciate it," Beomgyu hums, in a mix of embarrassment and gratitude. The sea creatures have come to understand and not panic whenever Soobin controls the tides — it probably has something to do with the fact that their ruler has feelings for the moon, but none actually speaks about that directly with him. "And holding back your powers means you get more excited."

"Not at all," he shakes his head, leaning forward until he’s all Beomgyu can see. Full moon makes Soobin so shiny that Beomgyu wants to be soaked in moonlight. "I'm excited because of what Yeonjun told me."

"And what did he tell you?" Beomgyu asks, slightly breathless.

"That you have a different form! One that only the underwater creatures can see!" Soobin replies, eyes glimmering like a million stars inside them, blinking back at Beomgyu with curiosity and anticipation.

Beomgyu takes a minute to understand his words and the reason for such excitement. His form, the one that he uses whenever he’s underwater and that he never allows any other deity sees — with a few exceptions such as the Taehyun and Kai that saw it once accidentally. He wonders how Yeonjun knew about it when the few times they crossed paths, Beomgyu always used his human-like form. And even more intriguing, how he chose to talk about such a thing with Soobin, who probably didn’t even know that some deities take other shapes in their domains.

He can’t help but question himself why Soobin is so excited over this when his underwater form could be leaned more into the scary deep water creatures that everyone is scared of rather than the adorable fishes that Soobin has been seeing lately. He’s stuck in an internal battle of allowing Soobin to see it or keeping that a secret because he’s self-conscious.

What if Soobin finds him disgusting and frightening? Beomgyu isn’t ready to have his bubble of happiness burst. Especially now when he knows that there’s a possibility of things happening between them since Soobin doesn’t belong to Yeonjun.

"Is that really true?” Soobin continues, not even a second after dropping such news on Beomgyu’s lap. “I know I shouldn't believe in Yeonjun because once he told me that he couldn't walk on the living realm, but we all know that's a lie. I think he was trying to make me feel better for the fact that I can't leave this place, but anyways!"

"You're very talkative tonight,” Beomgyu points out, delighted.

"Oh.” Soobin leans away, suddenly self-aware by his proximity and nonstop blabbering. "I'm so sorry, I didn't even realize. I... I'm sor—"

"Why are you apologizing?" Beomgyu frowns, cutting him off before Soobin can utter another word. "I like your voice, Soobin. I like hearing you talk. It's just that... It's nice seeing you this excited. I don't think I ever saw you like this before except when I told you about the sea monsters."

"They're fascinating! How else was I supposed to react?"

Any of his self-deprecating thoughts of Soobin finding him disgusting disappears in thin air. Of course the moon deity would find interesting sea monsters and what people usually pretend to not exist. Of course he’d be all this excited over knowing about his other form and the possibility of Beomgyu looking like the sea monsters he describes with all details he can, an exquisite beauty that people usually don’t understand because of fear.

It makes him wonder how Soobin would react once he sees him in the sea dragon form he uses under the surface of the sea.

"So I deem that you think my other form is fascinating too?" Beomgyu asks, trying to get a hold of Soobin’s thoughts that he cannot read.

As bright and clean as the full moon looks, Soobin is nothing but impossible to read underneath what he shows, be it on his face or his eyes. Beomgyu only knows what Soobin allows him to, and at this point it’s proving to not be enough. He knows for once that Soobin enjoys his company and talking to him all night, he knows Soobin enjoys the small gifts and the stories about the sea creatures, he knows that Soobin doesn’t feel as lonely as he used to before Beomgyu came to him; but it’s not enough.

It’s not enough because Beomgyu wants to know if Soobin feels the same as him, if Soobin looks forward to nighttime to see him, if Soobin is holding back a confession that’s always hanging on the tip of his tongue like Beomgyu has been doing.

"I never saw it and Yeonjun doesn't tell me much because he didn't want to make you uncomfortable by talking about the form you use when you're underwater since there’s probably a reason why other deities don’t see you like that when you cross paths with them," Soobin keeps babbling, gesticulating with his hands in large and big motions, a pout appearing on his lips from time to time as he speaks. When he looks at Beomgyu, it’s impossible to not see the honesty pouring out of his eyes. "But if it's something about you, I know for once that it'll always be fascinating."

Beomgyu blushes, lilac spreading through his cheeks as he looks away, embarrassedly scratching his neck. "I— Uhh— Thanks, Soobin."

"You're blushing," Soobin points out, surprised as he leans a little to take a better look at the soft lilac in Beomgyu’s cheeks. With the full moon glow blasting on them, there’s no way to hide his flush and embarrassment from Soobin’s curious eyes. "I think I never saw you blushing before."

"'m not blushing," Beomgyu mutters, covering his face with wet hands to prevent Soobin from looking at him and making him blush even more. "Stop looking at me."

"Who else am I supposed to look at, if not at you?" Soobin teases, the smile in his voice impossible to not hear.

Ever since they’re conversation about his relationship with Yeonjun and the knowledge that Soobin is single and only friends with the one he was supposed to be married to, a new side of him bloomed. A teasing side that Beomgyu never thought Soobin could have, one that has been proving to be a test of strength for him.

"Well, I don't know," he whines, still keeping his face covered until he finally feels his cheeks slowly ceasing the warm feeling. "How come you got to know about my other form? Yeonjun just said that randomly?"

"Not randomly, per se.” It’s Soobin’s time to feel embarrassed, looking at his scepter — something that he does whenever he’s feeling that way, a little habit that Beomgyu picked up with so many nights spent together. "He knows that we've been spending all night talking, and he saw the shell you gave me because I'm always keeping it close to me when we're not together. We briefly talked about you, and he brought that up."

"I see."

Silence falls, like the waves crashing back before new ones come claim their places as Soobin’s emotions take hold of the tides. There’s times when silence comes and it isn’t unwelcomed, they soak in the feeling of each other’s presence only. But tonight, the silence feels heavy instead of light and pleasing. There’s things left unsaid between them, a conversation that it’s supposed to happen but none of them have mustered the courage to do so. 

Beomgyu wonders if this is what it’ll feel like when he finally allows words of love to come out of his lips. Perhaps, some things are better left unsaid for the sake of silence remaining light and pleasing between them.

"Would you let me see you?" Soobin asks in a low tone, sounding almost unsure.

"You want to see me?" Beomgyu swallows dry. "But you see me all night."

"Your other form," he says with an eye-roll, smiling right next to show that he means the act in an affectionate shape rather than annoyance. It doesn’t last for long, overshadowed by uneasiness again as he asks, "Would you allow me to see?"

And how could Beomgyu deny him such when Soobin never directly asked for something before, never demanded things from him nor pressured Beomgyu to speak or show anything that he didn’t want to? Beomgyu may be a goner for Soobin since the first night they saw each other, but Soobin has never once made Beomgyu feel uncomfortable with anything.

If he wishes to see his other form, Beomgyu would gladly show him.

"If you really want to," Beomgyu sighs, looking at Soobin with a playful gleam in his eyes. "But with one condition."

"What is it?" Soobin asks, a slight crease showing in his forehead. "I'll do anything!"

It’s a dangerous choice, the one he’s willing to make right now. He could take back his words and just show his underwater form for Soobin and spend the rest of the night together talking about it. But Beomgyu wants to be sure of things before showing him such an important part of himself. Beomgyu takes one deep breath and allows the high tides around him to be the last sound he hears before uttering what he hopes won’t be something he’ll regret in a few minutes.

"A kiss."

Soobin holds his breath, repeating in a more confused tone, "A kiss?"

"Yes, that's my condition,” Beomgyu nods, trapping his lower lip against his teeth.

"A kiss," he repeats, shifting in place as he looks visible unsure of it. "Beomgyu, I—"

It was a mistake, after all. Beomgyu doesn’t even need another minute to completely regret his reckless choice that led to Soobin feeling uncomfortable in front of him.

"Shit, I'm sorry," Beomgyu stresses out, hands running through his midnight blue hair, almost bumping against his horns in the process. "I was just joking. Fuck, what was I thinking saying this? I can show you whenever you want, forget about this. It was stupid anyways, and—"

"A kiss, that's all you want?" Soobin interrupts him, any semblance of unsureness replaced by seriousness.

"Soobin, you don't have to—"

"I want to," Soobin states, no gaps for Beomgyu to keep checking if he isn’t no longer uncomfortable with his very serious joke. "Tell me where to kiss you."

Beomgyu is too taken aback by the sudden shift in Soobin’s reaction to notice the moon deity slowly approaching until he’s almost at arm’s length, his opulence almost breathtaking seeing from this close. As much time as they spent together, they never stayed this close to each other — Beomgyu always on the sea, and Soobin always on the moon; close but never close enough. And now that they’re close, Beomgyu feels like fainting in Soobin’s arms as the daytime approaches them.

"Whenever you want," he breathes out, head spinning. "I don't care. You don't even have to actually kiss me. I don't want to make you feel obliged to do such and—"

"Beomgyu, can you please stop blabbering for a second?" Soobin admonishes, huffing light-heartedly. Beomgyu shuts his mouth almost instantaneously, going completely frozen in place. "You're not forcing me to do this, I'll kiss you because I want to."

Soobin wants to kiss him, willingly and because of his own desire to do so. Beomgyu doesn’t have the time to think too much about what all this means, the strong scent of queen of the night clogging his nostrils and bright moonlight coming from Soobin alone making him close his eyes. 

"Stay still," Soobin orders, voice no louder than a whisper that feels like the only thing Beomgyu can actually hear, all the other sounds turning into white noise. "Don't move a single muscle."

"I won't."

Time works differently in that moment, at least in Beomgyu’s point of view. A second turns into an hour, every move feels like time freezes for an uncountable time until it restarts again, creating a loop that Beomgyu finds himself stuck into; Soobin feels so close, but never close enough for Beomgyu to feel him. Beomgyu still obeys to his order, palms stretched out on his legs, chest heaving in anticipation, eyes closed and lips parted in waiting, looking like a statue about to receive the blessings of gaining life thanks to the moon.

Hands cradle his face, cold and gentle as it holds Beomgyu like he’s made of porcelain rather than flesh. The scent of queen of the night gets stronger until he almost feels like he’ll choke from it, the weight of Soobin’s body against his and the material of his robes brushing against his hands, and then shy lips brushing against his.

Beomgyu feels like water in Soobin’s hands, as the moon deity kisses him and holds him tight so Beomgyu doesn’t slip through his fingers from the sensation of having Soobin this close, kissing him. He goes against the orders in a second, arms circling around the moon deity’s waist and keeping him close, kissing back like a starved man that was given the chance to have a final meal before facing imminent death.

The kiss creates a crack in time and space, a place made only by the moon and the sea finally touching is where one would find Beomgyu and Soobin. A place that no one can go except for them. Soobin moves his hands until they’re entangled in Beomgyu’s hair, kissing him eagerly, gone is the shyness and unsureness both were being held by. 

Beomgyu kisses him with his whole body, like the high waves that crash around them, desperate and insistent; while Soobin reciprocates in a more tender tone, like moonlight shining down those waves in the hope of calming it down, but still equally desperate. It almost feels like they’re both in the same harmony, conveying their feelings in that kiss that was meant to not last this long nor mean this much — at least not for Soobin, who only agreed because he wants to see Beomgyu’s other form.

Soobin is the one that stops the kiss, pulling away almost against his desires. Beomgyu tries to go after him, still dazed by a kiss that he never thought he’d get to have in his existence. His arms are still around Soobin’s body, preventing him from slipping away as he soaks in the moonlight shining directly and only at him. Soobin seems to be equally dazed, eyes glimmering and lips in a shade of pink that makes him almost mesmerizing in Beomgyu1s eyes.

He wants to kiss Soobin again, over and over again until his lips are always pink and his eyes are filled with the same emotion they convey right now. An emotion that could easily be mistaken by love, if Beomgyu wishes to be delusional.

Beomgyu sighs, drunkenly. "That was—"

"I have to go," Soobin whispers, eyes widening as if broken from a spell. He retracts his hands and pushes Beomgyu’s arms away from his waist, scurrying out of their little crack in time and space, abruptly forcing them to go back to a reality that Beomgyu isn’t ready to face. "Shit, I can't believe I did this."

"Soobin?" Beomgyu calls, still out of it. The lack of weight against his and not around his arms too soon for his mind to understand what’s happening. "Soobin!"

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have..." Soobin starts, but cuts himself off as he floats back to the moon. He takes one look at Beomgyu, eyes apologetic as he mutters, "I'm sorry."

Soobin is gone before Beomgyu can properly understand everything that is happening, unable to prevent him from leaving so soon. Daytime is still far from reaching the living realm, but Soobin is already gone like he was never there in the first place. There’s no more moonlight or a full moon staring back at Beomgyu, clouds covering the deity and swallowing everything in darkness. Time passes too fast for him to comprehend, mind and body still stuck in that crack where Soobin was in his arms kissing him passionately.

The high tides never cease, gigantic waves still trying to reach a moon that is no longer in sight. Beomgyu remains frozen in the same position Soobin left him, even when Yeonjun breaks through the veil of night and brings the sun back, all waves ceasing their insistent search and going back to swaying lazily and calmly on the surface.

Beomgyu lets his body go down until he reaches the bottom of the ocean, hidden in the darkness and wondering what exactly he did wrong for Soobin to react that way.

🌗

Beomgyu floats above the surface, arms and legs open like a starfish as he stares at the evening sky. The sun is lazily making its descent on the horizon and the skies are filled with colors that make it even prettier than before. Pinks, oranges, lilacs, blues and new colors that mix between those that he doesn’t know the name of. Beomgyu stares and stares, dreading the end of another day when he usually would be very happy about the moon coming to grace this realm with its silvery glow.

It’s been six nights since the kiss incident, a new phase of the moon coming to the sky and with it, the lack of Soobin sitting on the moon and looking down at him in waiting, moonlight blasting over the sea as if calling for Beomgyu. 

On the first night, he thought it was only a coincidence. Soobin would still be a little embarrassed after the kiss they shared and decided to give it at least one night of space between them. On the second night, Beomgyu started to think that maybe it wasn’t that much of a coincidence the lack of the moon deity showing up, but he tried to think positive as he watched the sun claim this realm once again all by himself. By the fourth night, there was not an ounce of doubt that Soobin was totally avoiding him. The moon still showed up in the sky, but Soobin was nowhere to be seen and Beomgyu had officially spiraled in his own misery.

How could a single kiss do this much damage?

Tonight, he knows that Soobin won’t show up again and he’s no longer looking forward to seeing another empty moon. Still, Beomgyu keeps waiting by the surface thanks to the minuscule and stupid sliver of hope that tries so hard to maintain itself alight. He won’t come again, Beomgyu tells himself but remains floating above the water and watching the sky slowly turn black.

"You're quieter than usual today,” Taehyun says in lieu of greeting, walking above the water with his lantern hanging by a thread in his waist. 

The grayness of the horizon deity makes a striking contrast with all the colors around them, but that’s what makes Taehyun so bewitching.  A monotone deity amidst a colorful canvas, impossible to not look at him with his gray outfit and hair, his big eyes that look so full even if the gray makes it look empty. With his scepter in one hand and lantern dangling by the waist, Beomgyu almost forgot that this is the time the horizon deity comes to help the boats sail back to the land as night approaches.

"Hello, Taehyun," he greets, not moving a single muscle as Taehyun stops in front of him. "I didn't even see you there."

"I could tell," Taehyun snorts, leaning against his scepter as he looks down at Beomgyu, something unreadable in those gray eyes full of knowledge and secrets. "How have you been, Beomgyu?"

That’s a question that he has no proper answer for. In all honesty, Beomgyu doesn’t actually knows how he’s feeling, mostly because he’s been pretending to ignore the way his heart aches whenever Soobin isn’t waiting for him when nighttime comes, or the guilty that lays heavy on his back when he remembers Soobin’s face after the kiss, or the sadness over the possibility of never seeing the moon deity again because of his selfish desire to receive a kiss that maybe wasn’t meant for him. Beomgyu is feeling everything and nothing at all, hyper-aware of his emotions and numb to all of them at the same time.

"Same, same,” he settles for, shrugging off as he stands up from his lying position.

Taehyun doesn’t seem to buy the nonchalant answer, eyes slightly narrowed as he tries once again to urge a more eloquent answer from the sea deity. "Anything else you want to tell me?"

"I don't think so," Beomgyu replies, looking down at the colors from the sky reflecting in the water. "Why do you ask?"

"Maybe because it's been six days and there's no sight of the moon deity," Taehyun says, aiming from the same nonchalance that Beomgyu’s been using.

Hearing Soobin’s title is enough to make his heart clench inside his chest, painfully aware of the missing presence of the deity that used to be always there in the moon. As it seems, he wasn’t the only one that noticed the absence of the moon deity. And if Taehyun noticed, you can be sure that Kai will notice too, which will lead to Yeonjun getting in business and Beomgyu doesn’t even want to think about the possibility of Yeonjun having to bring Soobin back by the ear and force them to fix a mess that he created out of a selfish impulse.

"And why would I know about that?" Beomgyu gnaws his lower lip.

"Because a little birdie told me that you've been quite acquainted with the moon the past month,” Taehyun says, a hint of playfulness in his tone that would make Beomgyu feel embarrassed if he wasn’t too dull and miserable over talking about Soobin.

Beomgyu sighs, defeated. "I suppose that your 'little birdie' goes by the name of Yeonjun, right?"

"Who knows," he says, fiddling with the lantern attached to his waist. "It could be Hyuka. He has lots of contacts around this realm."

To this day, Beomgyu still gets amazed by how Taehyun always finds ways to insert Kai in conversations even when the earth deity isn’t around. It was only a matter of time until they got together, Beomgyu knew that from the moment Taehyun talked to him about a deer centaur that he met while helping boats reach the land in safety. Beomgyu doesn’t blame him for falling in love that easily, Kai is made to be loved by everyone. With fluffy brown hair filled with flowers and leaves that the forest creatures put in him, and his cheeks slightly blushed, added to the innocent eyes that always look for the bright side of all situations, it’s impossible to not fall for him.

Beomgyu can see why Taehyun feels the need to talk about Kai all the time, it’s one of the things that unconditional love does to one — and if he wasn’t spiraling in misery, he’d be finding ways to talk about Soobin too, like a fool that fell for the moon.

"I wouldn't doubt," Beomgyu agrees, reminiscing how the earth deity seems to know all the other deities and creatures from their domain. One too many times Beomgyu has caught the sea creatures talking about the tall, gentle deer centaur that helps them get back in the sea when they get stranded in the sand. "It almost feels like even the creatures of my domain adore him too."

"It's impossible to not adore him," Taehyun says matter-of-factly, adoration pouring out from each of his words. "That's why I'm fond of him from the beginning."

" Fond is a very light word for what you feel for him,” Beomgyu snorts, smiling for the first time that night upon watching Taehyun’s semblance shift to a mix of embarrassment and annoyance.

"Is fond a very light word for what you feel for the moon deity too?" Taehyun retorts without missing a beat, cheeks dusted in a more dark gray tone.

"Excuse me?" Beomgyu sputters, almost choking. "Where did you get that from?"

Sure, Beomgyu was never the best at hiding his emotions or his strong opinions over some topics whenever he’s forced to attend the solstices festivals, but he thought he was doing a good job at keeping his feeling for the moon deity hidden from any prying eyes. He knows that Taehyun is never around when night falls, busy enjoying the few moments he has with Yeonjun and Kai. So there’s no way he has been watching their interactions all this time, right?

"I'm not stupid, Beomgyu," Taehyun replies, as if reading his mind and answering the questions. "I can see you coming to the surface and watching the empty skies every night, you’ve been doing it for the past few days without missing. Did you forget the horizon is my domain? I've been watching you and Soobin get closer."

"That sounded very creepy," Beomgyu mutters, embarrassed by the notion of Taehyun watching him blush and fish compliments out of the moon deity — worse, Taehyun has probably watched them kissed, watched Soobin run away like a frightened animal, watched Beomgyu drown in self-pity. What a living nightmare the one Beomgyu is finding himself stuck to. "And if you know the answer, why bother asking?"

Taehyun wiggles his eyebrows, crouching down until he’s eye-level with Beomgyu. "For the pleasure of hearing you admit your feelings for once.”

"Not happening," Beomgyu sticks his tongue out. "Besides, I'm sure you already know what happened."

"As opposed to what you think, I'm not always watching you both," he comments. "I do have my own things to do."

At least one thing to cross out of his nightmarish list, Taehyun wasn’t watching him get the best kiss of his existence and be dumped right after. Perhaps, luck has been on his side that night, for one thing rather than what he really wanted.

"Such as using the nighttime to be all lovey-dovey with your partners," Beomgyu says suggestively, never missing the chance of watching Taehyun get slightly embarrassed whenever the topic about him and his lovers get into the conversation.

"Exactly," Taehyun hums, the tip of his scepter nudging at Beomgyu’s forehead.. "And if you were honest with your feelings, you'd be doing the same with Soobin."

And Beomgyu has thought about it, in one of his daydreams about Soobin reciprocating his feelings and things working between them. He thought about nights spent together in each other’s arms, laughing and talking and enjoying every second together as if it’s the last. He thought about taking Soobin to the depths of the ocean, to show him all the creatures that hide in the dark and how lovely they can be. He thought about reaching the sky and going back with Soobin during daytime, to see the place the moon deity goes when he’s not shining down at the living realm.

Now, those dreams seem as far out of reach as Soobin himself.

"It's complicated,” Beomgyu admits in a weak whisper, looking dejected.

"From what I saw, there weren't any complications,” Taehyun says, trying to sound optimistic.

"For starters, he ran away after kissing me and vanished completely," Beomgyu chuckles humorlessly. "That's why the moon isn't around. I think I did something wrong but I'm not sure what."

"He kissed you?" Taehyun asks, surprise coloring his semblance as Beomgyu looks at him.  "Well, that must mean something. You don't have to blame yourself for his reaction."

"How can I not do it when the one I'm in love simply vanishes after giving me what I've been yearning for?" Beomgyu asks incredulously. Of course Soobin must’ve run away because of him. There’s no other plausible reason for that reaction after the way they kissed. "It feels like it's my fault that he's choosing to hide away rather than showing up. Soobin is very kind, maybe he doesn't want to face me and tell me that it was all a mistake and—"

"You're overreacting," Taehyun interrupts him, one single finger over Beomgyu’s blabbering lips to silence him immediately. "Soobin is very kind indeed, but he'd never do something that he isn't one hundred percent sure of."

Beomgyu frowns. "Huh?"

"If he chose to kiss you, it's because he had already thought that over," Taehyun explains, as slow as he can so Beomgyu can understand it without any gaps for him to overthink.  "There's an actual reason why Soobin doesn't walk among humans like Yeonjun does."

"I thought he was forbidden because he's only an extension of Yeonjun,” Beomgyu says, remembering the story that Soobin told him in one of the early conversations they had. A time where his feelings for Beomgyu wasn’t a leviathan ready to leave the dark bottom of the ocean and destroy the surface world.

"That is partially true. Soobin couldn’t do that in the past, when he and Yeonjun were still supposed to belong to each other,” he says, playing with the small crystals in Beomgyu’s face chain, the lukewarm touch of the horizon receiving the last rays of the sun. “Soobin has been allowed to walk in the living realm from the moment that they decided to be friends only.”

It’s too much information dropped all of the sudden on him, Beomgyu is having a difficult time understanding it even with Taehyun patiently chewing it and giving it in a platter for Beomgyu to swallow. Soobin could be walking the living realm all this time but still chose to be all alone sitting on the moon and only watching everyone interact? It makes no sense.

"I'm not quite understanding what you're trying to tell me,” Beomgyu says, still frowning and more confused by the minute.

"Oh Beomgyu, you're hopeless," Taehyun chuckles, affectionately as he cradles Beomgyu’s face. "Soobin doesn't walk in the living realm because he likes watching the sea during the day. He's been watching you and your domain for the longests of times. That's why he chose to be friends with Yeonjun rather than love him, because he has been fond of someone else since the moment he was created. The first thing the moon saw when it reached this realm wasn't the sun, or the skies, or even the horizon; it was the sea."

"Taehyun—"

"The first thing Soobin saw was you, and he's been in love with you since then," he continues, ignoring the call of his name coming from the deity in front of him. "Yeonjun's heart has belonged to me and Hyuka for quite some time, but Soobin's heart has been yours since the moment he was created."

What was already too much information for him, turns out to be more than he can compute in his brain. He’s about to explode from the excess of information, his hyper-aware mind only able to catch bits and pieces of everything that Taehyun just dropped on him. Soobin could walk among humans. Soobin never loved Yeonjun. Soobin likes watching the sea during the daytime. Soobin has given him his heart even before Beomgyu knew him.

Soobin’s heart belongs to him, and Beomgyu didn’t even know that until now.

"You're joking."

"Why would I joke about this?" Taehyun pulls away, raising one eyebrow. He nudges Beomgyu’s forehead with his finger this time, flicking it next to get the deity’s attention back on him rather than inside his own mind. "If you haven't been stuck in your loneliness deep underwater, you'd know about the tale of the moon and the sea that the living have been telling nowadays."

"Why did he run away then?" Beomgyu asks, slowly coming to terms with all the information Taehyun gave him.

"Because the same way you've been facing difficulty with your feelings, Soobin has been going through it too," Taehyun explains, leaning his chin atop his hands. "There's a reason why he never tried to approach you before that new moon, why he acts the way he does when he's around you, why he's been longing for you and why he indulged in that kiss you two shared."

Beomgyu can’t totally comprehend what has been given to him, but one thing he’s sure of. That stupid, almost burnt out flicker of hope spread into a wildfire that is ready to burn anything that crosses his path. All his dreams with Soobin in it replay in his head, all the conversations and interactions seen in a new light. Soobin always kept the shell that Beomgyu gifted him nearby, Soobin always excited to hear the stories and give Beomgyu compliments when the sea deity fishes for it, Soobin finding him fascinating and wanting to see his other form. Soobin not hesitating for a second when Beomgyu asked for a kiss.

Soobin loving him back, perhaps in the same intensity that Beomgyu’s loving him since that first new moon.

"But I don't understand," Beomgyu thinks out loud, clinging to all the scattered thoughts in his mind. "Why stay away when we both have been longing for each other?"

"That's not something you have to ask me ," Taehyun says. "You'll only find your answer if you talk to him."

"I don't know where he is," Beomgyu huffs, fists splashing water as it hits the surface in frustration. “I don’t know if he’s avoiding me or some—”

"He's sleeping.” A new voice says. so imposing and strong that Beomgyu almost cowers from the sound of it.

From behind Taehyun, Beomgyu can see that the sunrise has reached its end, darkness swallowing the world and a weak moon plastered in the sky with no deity sitting atop it. Someone walks their way like a beacon of firelight in the night, red-orange hair burning brightly along with his long robe made of sunlight, yellowish and blinding — nothing like the soft and gentle glow of the moonlight that Beomgyu misses so much. The sun deity looks so out of place at that moment, walking above the sea during nighttime, a star that wasn’t supposed to be there.

"Yeonjun!" Taehyun says excitedly as he feels the sun deity’s hand on his shoulder, jolting up and throwing himself at his arms in a hug. Yeonjun smiles brightly, his glow seemingly tenfolding by having Taehyun in his arms, almost blinding Beomgyu in the process. "You're earlier than expected."

"Sunrise is already over, darling,” Yeonjun explains, placing a kiss on the top of Taehyun’s head. “I guess you’ve been quite distracted while chatting with Beomgyu.”

"I had to help him cross that pitiful bridge of longing and misunderstanding between them," Taehyun says, keeping himself attached to Yeonjun like a moth attracted by the light. "I couldn't bear seeing him stare at the empty sky for another night."

Beomgyu wants to complain and ask them to stop talking as if he wasn’t there, but something about Yeonjun and Taehyun together in that way feels like Beomgyu will be invading their personal space by uttering a single word. He’s never seen the sun and horizon deity together like this before, never one to snoop in his friend's personal business — especially his love rendezvous with his lovers.

"I'll remember to thank you more devotedly later," Yeonjun says sultrily, nuzzling Taehyun’s cheeks and ripping a giggle from the horizon deity. Beomgyu feels like he’s watching something not meant for his eyes, and he’s almost glad to hear Yeonjun greeting him a second later, using his imposing tone again. "Beomgyu."

"Yeonjun," Beomgyu greets back, slightly nodding in acknowledgement of the sun deity’s presence. Taehyun is no longer reachable for being the mediator between the two supposedly strangers, too busy hugging Yeonjun tight and hiding his face in the robe of sunlight. "I suppose you've been seeing Soobin every night still."

"Full moon takes a lot of his power, it's not easy for him to control so many things at the same time, especially powerful ones such as the tides and human women. When the third quarter and waning crescent comes, he uses that time to fall into slumber in order to restore his powers," Yeonjun explains in a lazy tone, one hand around Taehyun’s waist and the other gesticulating equally lazily. "Besides, he's been using it more than usual this month."

"I'm sorry, I think," Beomgyu mumbles, a little intimidated by the sun deity.

"There's nothing to be sorry for," Yeonjun laughs boisterously, all his imposing facet gone in a second as he looks at Beomgyu with gratitude in his bright eyes. "If anything, I've never seen Soobin happier than lately. He's beaming even during daytime, almost as if he's been creating his own light."

"He has his own light," he says, more to himself than for any of the others to hear. Still, Yeonjun has probably heard it, the corner of his mouth tugging up in a smile. "Let me see if I understood it right. He's sleeping, not ignoring me because of what happened between us, correct?”

"That's right," Yeonjun nods. "You just had the misfortune of kissing him on the last day of the waning crescent."

Beomgyu’s eyes widen, squeaking as he says, "How do you know that I kissed him?"

"I'm his confidant, same way he is mine," Yeonjun says with fondness, winking at him but failing drastically as he closes both eyes in the process. "That reminds me, forgive me for talking about your other form with him. I thought he already knew about it."

"No worries," Beomgyu brushes it off. "I suppose I have to thank you for that or else we wouldn't have kissed."

"Now, if you excuse us, we have a certain deer centaur to go visit," Taehyun states abruptly, leaning away from Yeonjun’s chest but still keeping his arms around him. The sun deity beams at the sound of going after Kai. Taehyun looks at Beomgyu, just to make sure that he’s fine for now. "Don't look so sad anymore, Beomgyu. The moon always comes back eventually.”

Beomgyu knows that, but he doesn’t want to wait anymore to see Soobin. Not when they have so much to talk about, not when he's almost this close to faint for longing over someone that could’ve been his lover from the beginning.

"Enjoy your night," Beomgyu says. Taehyun is the first one to turn his back and walk away, light steps above the water but excited to go back to the lands and find their other lover.

"We sure will," Yeonjun says, eyebrows wiggling. He takes one look at Taehyun’s figure, before turning back to Beomgyu and leaning down, whispering, "And just between us, the waning crescent marks the last phase before a new moon, it lasts only a day. Tonight is a waning crescent."

"Thank you, Yeonjun," Beomgyu says, genuinely thankful for the sun deity’s support.

"Be patient with him, please. He's still getting the hang of his own feelings now that you're both interacting," Yeonjun pleads, straightening up. "He really likes you."

And when Beomgyu is yet spending another night all by himself while watching a moonlightless moon with no sight of the moon deity around, he no longer feels that dreading and miserable feeling that’s been chewing at his insides ever since Soobin vanished after their kiss. This time, he feels hope and a love that makes him feel like that night when they kissed — engulfed in the scent of queen of the night and with the feeling of Soobin’s cold hands on his face. Lips brushing against him, the sense of finally feeling complete.

"I really like him too," Beomgyu utters, to no one this time even though that should’ve been his answer when Yeonjun said that Soobin likes him. He looks at the moon, smiling at the thought of his beloved sleeping right at this moment. "You have no idea how much I like you, Soobin."

🌑

Nothing could prepare Beomgyu for what awaits him when a new moon shines down on the living realm.

Yeonjun’s words have been hammering on his head ever since morning came once again, sunlight pouring endlessly on the ocean and lighting up all the corners for Beomgyu to see. Tonight, Soobin will probably come back with his restored powers and perhaps ready to swallow the whole world with the high tides. Beomgyu should be scared by that, but he feels jittering from the moment sunrise starts to happen.

The waves are stronger than before by the time the sun has completely reached down the horizon and it’s no longer in sight. Beomgyu feels like he’s back on that first night he met Soobin, the strong waves and that sense of impotence over his own domain coming back with full force — but this time, Beomgyu welcomes it instead of trying to push it to a stop. From underwater, he can see the swaying reflection of the single sliver of moon that shows, the rest of it engulfed by the darkness of the night. Beomgyu waits underwater, a nagging voice at the back of his head telling him that there’s a possibility of Soobin not showing up because of the same reasons he had been using to hurt himself.

Both Yeonjun and Taehyun had said that Soobin likes him, but what if Soobin has mixed feelings after the kiss?

Beomgyu has no time to drown in self-pity again, something fastly breaching the surface and diving deep underwater takes him out of his self-deprecating thoughts. He stays in place, watching the approaching glowing figure swimming down and down until it gets close enough for Beomgyu to discern its face.

Soobin, in all his silvery glory, hair floating away from his face and white robes swinging with the tides. Compared to Yeonjun, he doesn’t look out of place amidst the darkness of the ocean. Soobin looks like this is the place he can find home in, a place that could belong to him the same way the moon does. The sea seems overjoyed by the presence of the moon deity, the harsh waves slowly shifting to a more gentle swaying as Soobin approaches Beomgyu.

"So that's what you look like!" Soobin says once he’s face to face with Beomgyu’s underwater form — the one he promised to show but never got the chance to.

The moon deity looks almost mesmerized as he stares at Beomgyu. His sea dragon shape is bigger and larger than his human form, with blue coral horns in his head and midnight blue scales over his dragon body, twinkling in light blue and white when moonlight shines over it. Beomgyu never gave much thought to his image in his domain, the creatures compliment him and Kai once said that he was very pretty. Nothing compared to the anxiety of not knowing what Soobin thinks about him in this form.

Actually, Beomgyu is going through so many emotions at the same time that he feels like he’s been tossing and turning around by the high tides that Soobin is controlling right now.

"Soobin?"

"You're beautiful, Beomgyu!” Soobin says, extending his hand until his soft palms are touching the horns atop his head. The largest of smiles resides on Soobin’s lips, eyes full-blown in an adoration that Beomgyu would expect to see in any other situation but never in Soobin looking at him. "The prettiest thing I've ever seen, I lo—"

"Soobin. How? What?" Beomgyu sputters, interrupting the moon deity mid-speaking. He can’t help it, not when he’s overwhelmed to the fullest. Soobin shouldn’t be here, shouldn’t be touching him, shouldn’t be looking at him this way. "What are you doing here?"

"I've missed you too much, couldn't wait a single minute," Soobin admits, eyes closing as he smiles harder. "Besides, you owe it to me to show your other form."

Beomgyu expected lots of things from their first encounter after that kiss, most of them sorely negative things such as Soobin cutting ties with him or talking about how he could never love him that way. Beomgyu expected a lot of things, but none of those would be Soobin smiling so beautifully at him while touching him so gently like that night when they kissed. He almost feels undeserved, unprepared to such tenderness when he had been preparing his heart for imminent pain.

Soobin never ceases to surprise him, not even once.

"I'm…” Beomgyu starts, unable to keep going. Words apparently decided to flee from his mouth, not a single coherent thought available in his head that is still fighting to settle in one emotion instead of thousands at the same time. “I don't know what to say."

"Oh, sorry. Did that bother you?" Soobin pulls away, eyes widened. Beomgyu has to hold back a whine. "How stupid of me. I was just so excited to see you that I didn't think about how you’d feel with me seeing your other form unannounced. Forgive me, Beomgyu."

And it’s so ridiculous, how Soobin is asking for forgiveness when he did absolutely nothing wrong. Beomgyu wants to pull him closer and never let go, to hope that this simple motion is enough to convey all things he’s feeling and has been feeling for the moon deity this whole time. The love, the longing, the devotion, the desperation, the need, so many emotions battling against each other.

Beomgyu takes Soobin’s hand and pulls the deity with him as he swims to the surface in less than a minute. When his face reached out of the water, it already morphed into his human form, Soobin by his side looking at him puzzledly. Beomgyu takes a better look at him, making sure that the Soobin by his side is the real one and not something made up by him because of how much he misses the moon deity.

The dimples look the same, the eyes are a little confused but holding a million stars like always, the same way his jet black hair has a few stars scattered there. His lips and his cheeks are pale, missing the pink that Beomgyu found so beautiful when he saw after their kiss. His robes look the same too, almost translucent thanks to the wetness. Soobin is exactly the same one Beomgyu sees every night, and that’s enough to make him out of breath.

"Soobin..." Beomgyu calls, breathlessly.

"That's my name," Soobin chuckles, tilting his head as he looks at Beomgyu. "Are you fine?"

"You're back," he breathes out, pulling Soobin into his arms and hugging him. It feels real, it feels exactly like when he had the other in his arms that night. Beomgyu leans his head on Soobin’s chest and breathes in the queen of the night aroma that comes from him. It’s like coming home after being stranded on a desert island for months. "You're really here, right? I'm not making you up because of how much I miss you, right?"

And it’s such a stupid question because he already knows that the Soobin in his arms is the real one, but he can’t help it. A whole week without Soobin was proving to be a curse, to watch the empty moon in the sky and not know of Soobin’s whereabouts. He can’t help acting so stupidly, he can’t help pouring out the longing he felt this whole time without the only one he’s ever loved.

"You missed me?" Soobin asks, with a tinge of surprise that feels so out of place. how could Soobin even ask something like this when it’s more than visible how much Beomgyu missed him.

"More than you could ever imagine," Beomgyu admits, pulling his face away so he can look at Soobin from up close. His heart beats so hard and loud that he knows that Soobin is probably hearing it from their proximity, but he doesn’t care. He won’t miss the chance to confess his love tonight, he can’t wait another night to let Soobin know. "You're here."

"I'm here, Beomgyu," Soobin breathes out, leaning his chin on top of Beomgyu’s head, slightly nuzzling it. "I'm sorry for running away like that and not coming back the other night. I was too weak to come, and I couldn't reach you to tell you what was about to happen to me. I’m deeply sorry."

"You have no idea how much I’ve suffered these past days, Soobin," Beomgyu sniffs, the overwhelmness finally catching up to him in the shape of heavy waves around them, more powerful than when only Soobin controls them. "I thought... I thought you were avoiding me because of the kiss."

It sounds strange to talk about the kiss like this, but Beomgyu knows that he cannot postpone it for longer. He can’t let this turn into a secret, something not meant to be spoken out loud and brushed it off until it becomes a memory that will make him question if it was even real in the first place.

"Never!" Soobin says hastily, hands around Beomgyu’s shoulders as he pushes the sea deity away to look at him with widened eyes. It goes from desperation to embarrassment as he eases the grip on Beomgyu. "I... I could never do that. Avoid you because of that , I mean."

Beomgyu knows that they should probably talk more about the kiss and the implicit meanings behind that single reckless choice of Beomgyu, but maybe this is enough. Soobin doesn’t look like he regrets it and that’s more than Beomgyu could’ve asked for. The kiss is the least of his priorities right now, but it’s nice to have something crossed out of the short list.

"Soobin, never leave me again like that," Beomgyu pleads, the grip around Soobin’s waist tightening for a moment. "I beg you."

"Oh, Beomgyu," he sighs wetly, holding Beomgyu’s face as he looks deep into his eyes, both watering.. "I won't, please believe me when I say this. I'll never disappear again without telling you."

It’s more than enough for him. A promise that Soobin won’t disappear again, that whatever they have right now won’t turn into forgotten memories with time, that Soobin won’t push him away like Beomgyu has been thinking would eventually happen when he comes back. Beomgyu feels relief wash over his body, almost turning into water between Soobin’s hands.

"I was so worried," Beomgyu mumbles. "I thought you hated me."

"Hate you?" Soobin stutters, blinking back at him. "Who in this realm could hate you, Beomgyu?"

Beomgyu looks away in embarrassment. "You ran away so fast after kissing me and I—"

"I'm really sorry for that. I was..." Soobin swallows, cheeks slowly gaining a very faint pink that makes him adorable. "Embarrassed, to make it simple"

"Embarrassed?" Beomgyu repeats, eyebrows furrowed. "Why?”

A long and extended moment of silence falls between them, only the waves crashing back to surface acting as background sound to them. Beomgyu feels weird, not sure exactly why his skin is itching and his heart feels like it’s about to crawl up his throat and leave through his lips. Soobin keeps holding his face, lips shut tight as he looks thoughtful until he exhales deeply and snorts to himself, leaving a confused Beomgyu to stare back at him.

"Beomgyu, why are you so blunt?" Soobin asks in disbelief. "I like you. I was embarrassed because I've liked you for so long and suddenly you're talking to me every night and sometimes your eyes and your words seemed to give me openings to believe that you felt the same, you gave me gifts and you complimented me whenever you could, but I thought that was only part of who you are and that you did that to anyone you’re close to. And out of nowhere you ask me for a kiss, even if it was a joke, and I foolishly fell for that because I thought that it was my only chance to get something that I really wanted."

Beomgyu’s eyes widened, not in complete surprise because he partially knew about Soobin’s feelings beforehand, but nothing could prepare him to hear a full confession coming after a long beat of silence. Beomgyu feels hazy, thankful that Soobin is holding him or else he’d start floating away close to the moon hiding in the darkness of the night. “Soobin—"

"I never wanted anything in this life so much like I want you," Soobin continues, his eyes pouring out the same desperation as his words, as if Beomgyu wouldn’t understand fully. "During my slumber, all my dreams were filled with seawater and the sound of waves crashing against the shore, with the taste of your lips and the feeling of your horns on the palm of my hands and your face chain touching my cheeks. Beomgyu, I want you so much that sometimes I don't even know what to do with it."

He’s breathless by the end of Soobin’s confession, lips half-open as he tries to will his heart to stop beating so hard to the point of being able to break his ribcage. All he can utter in a dazed whisper is, "You want me too."

"You just heard me say— Wait a minute," Soobin stops, blinking at Beomgyu with surprise this time. " Too ?"

It’s unbelievable, Beomgyu almost feels like laughing until his stomach hurts. How could both of them be so oblivious to the feeling? How could Beomgyu doubt for a second that Soobin didn’t feel the same when everyone else has seen how in love the moon deity is for the sea deity? And how could Soobin not have realized how Beomgyu has been completely devoted to him? He can now understand why Taehyun decided to make an intervention and tell him about Soobin’s feelings, or else this conversation would’ve never happened and they would twirl around each other in an endless waltzing.

"Soobin, you say that I'm blunt but you're one too if you haven't seen how much I want you too," Beomgyu retorts, shaking his head fondly as the moon deity looks at him with eyes as wide as the full moon. "I'm in love with you, from that very first night that we met during a new moon exactly like this one. I've been holding myself back because I thought you belonged to Yeonjun, and when you told me that you didn't, that's when I started to act bolder. I gave you gifts in the hopes you would think about me if you weren't, I blatantly asked for compliments because I wanted to know what you think about me. And when I asked for that kiss and you said yes, I don't even know how to put my feelings in that moment into words."

"I love you.” Soobin beats him up, hastily letting those three words out before Beomgyu can say something. "My heart never belonged to Yeonjun and could never because from the very first time, it belonged to you. You didn't know me until that new moon, but I've known you for all my existence, Beomgyu."

"I'm sorry for that. I wish we had met earlier, because I know that I would've fallen for you the same way I did now," Beomgyu confesses, putting his own hands above Soobin’s still holding his face. "Allow me to make up for the lost time, Soobin."

"There is no lost time, Beomgyu," he says, smiling with his eyes and allowing Beomgyu to see his adorable dimples that look exactly like the pits he can see in the moon. "This is the right time and the right moment. I don't care about the past, my heart never stopped being yours and won't cease to do it now."

"I love you so much," Beomgyu breathes out, feeling so happy that he can barely hold himself back. If one of those high waves came his way and swallowed him whole, he wouldn’t even mind from how happy he is upon having his feelings for Soobin being reciprocated. "I can't bring myself to say any other words because nothing seems to suffice for what I'm feeling."

"If words are not enough, then show me your feelings by kissing me again," Soobin asks, hands snaking away from his face to find a home in Beomgyu’s nape. "Please, I've been dreaming so much about it that I want to make sure that our first kiss wasn't something I made up."

"I'll kiss you a hundred times if it's necessary, Soobin,” he promises, his own hands finding their place in Soobin’s waist, exactly where they belong.

Their faces move closer until all Beomgyu can scent if queen of the night mingled with seawater, a combination that he never thought you’d work but fits perfectly as their lips connect in a soft kiss. He knew that kissing Soobin again would feel the same way as the first time, but the surge of emotions have a new tone to it because of the knowledge of Soobin’s feelings added with the longing from the past days. It’s sweet and filled with a shared desire, a harmony that makes the high tides calm down and the moon to shine brightly even if it’s a new moon.

Beomgyu tilts his head to kiss Soobin deeper, tongue prodding at his open lips, dipping inside and leaving the moon deity gasping softly in his arms. Hands fist at his hair, lightly pulling and slightly bumping at his horns as their tongues meet eagerly. Beomgyu discovers new crevices and spaces that he hasn’t had the chance the first time, along with rediscovering the ones he had the chance to reach that night. It doesn’t feel new to him, it feels like learning again something that he thought he had forgotten but hasn't. Kissing Soobin is like coming home deep underwater, in his favorite form and engulfed by the moonlight that comforts him.

Tonight, the ocean tides are stronger than it ever happened in any other new moon, the moonlight is casting down all over the sea and shining every spot that it can reach. In the middle of it all, Beomgyu and Soobin remain in each other’s embrace until the sun peeks through the sky and demands to swallow the night. 

And when that happens, the moon deity and the sea deity part ways with heavy hearts but with the certainty that when nighttime arrives, Beomgyu will be waiting for Soobin with his arms wide open.