Work Text:
1.
An eclipse is happening.
Taehyun stands up from the tree he'd been peacefully dozing in, sensing the moment the Sun and Moon had started to line up in pure syzygy. It feels like electricity coursing through his body, the knowledge that he'll be able to meet Soobin again.
The Moon jumps off of the tree, and flies off in search of the Sun.
The sky surrounding him is dark blue, and, looking up at his domain, the Moon sees that it is scarlet, sitting stark against the sky like blood on water.
The wind whistles past him as he flies around, but everything goes silent when the Moon finally sees the Sun, who's flying around in search of his counterpart too.
"Soobin!" Taehyun yells, a blinding grin on his face, and Soobin turns around.
"Taehyun!" And the next thing he knows, Soobin is barrelling straight into him, pulling Taehyun into his embrace. Taehyun wraps his arms around him in turn, reciprocating the hug.
They stay like that for a fair amount of time, simply savoring the moment. You're here, the hug seems to say. You're here. You're here. You're here. When they disconnect, it's to the sight of the other, smiling brightly.
This—this feels right, Taehyun thinks. The Sun and Moon, together.
Euphoria travels through his fingertips up to his mind, and the Moon grabs the Sun's hand, leading him to a canopy of clouds. They sit down, legs freely hanging, and the first words out of both of their mouths is "How have you been?"
It's just like their very first encounter—back when they were less so fully-realized beings, clumsily stumbling around the maze that was their newfound existence—and the both of them laugh.
"You first," Soobin tells him. His eyes are in crescents, and the slight smile that hangs right on the edge of his lips takes Taehyun's breath away.
Taehyun smiles back. It's a soft thing, smudged at the edges with light-soaked joy and adoration. "I'm doing well, as usual. You?"
"I'm doing fine, too. Your sky's always so beautiful," Soobin says. He's looking up at the darkening sky, a trace of longing in his voice.
"Feel free to look at it, then." And there is something akin to pride in Taehyun's voice—something of his, something of the night is beautiful in Soobin's eyes; in the eyes of he who shines ever so brightly that he brings daylight to their world. "Though I do wish eclipses also happened during daytime. I would love to see what your sky looks like."
"That would be nice," the Sun says, moving to lean against his counterpart.
His eyes slowly flutter shut.
"It would be, wouldn't it?" the Moon asks, after a while, turning to the Sun.
Upon seeing that his counterpart is slowly falling asleep in front of him, the Moon taps his forearm, frowning. "You're falling asleep," he says.
Blearily, the Sun opens his eyes. "S'rry." He yawns. "Don' always get t' fall asleep."
"Why now, though?" the Moon asks, but his eyes are rapidly softening in the face of his sleepy counterpart.
The Sun looks more real, right now; looks less like the idealized version of him living in the Moon's head and more like every other deity—getting tired from their duties and saddled with their own respective issues. Not perfect, no, never perfect.
"Y'r safe," the Sun mumbles, falling back into sleep and burrowing into his shoulder, and the Moon lets him.
You're safe.
Soobin, you damned flatterer.
Unbidden, a soft smile comes to Taehyun's face. He presses a kiss into the crown of Soobin's head, presses a kiss and lets it linger for longer than just an instant, presses a kiss and lets himself drown in the moment, lets himself get pulled under by the romance of it all.
Taehyun looks up at the blood-red moon above him. It's stunning, honestly, their eclipses. He wishes this could last forever.
His eyes flutter shut, too, the warmth pressing at his side slowly lulling him to sleep.
When Taehyun's eyes next open, the sky is far, far darker, and he's on the cloud, alone.
2.
An eclipse is happening.
Soobin looks up at the sky—which is still bright blue, despite the eclipse he knows is happening—and immediately sets out to find his counterpart.
He has a long flight ahead of him, especially if Taehyun's waiting there.
The flight takes an hour, which, yes, is usually an inconsequential amount of time, especially for them who have existed for millennia, who stood witness to this world's birth. But for the Sun who wants nothing more than to spend the entirety of this eclipse with the Moon? It may as well have been the longest hour of his existence.
But nothing can ever stop the marching of time, no matter how slow it feels, and soon enough Soobin is back at the canopy of clouds they've unofficially dubbed their meeting place. The sky is dark, but the horizon is a bright orange.
Taehyun is there, jumping merrily from cloud to cloud, and he is beautiful.
Soobin rushes to get near him, uttering a loud "Hey!" as he waves the moon deity over.
"Sorry I took so long." is the first thing out of the Sun's mouth once they've sat down. His hand is scratching the back of his neck in embarrassment, an apologetic smile on the curl of his lips.
"It's fine," the Moon says, and oh, he must be an angel, the Sun thinks, as his counterpart smiles brightly and somehow assuages all of his doubts, even for just one single honeyed moment. "I wasn't waiting for too long anyways."
"Ah," the Sun answers, and he feels so slow in the face of his fluster, but he pushes on anyway. "That's good to hear."
The Moon smiles, again, and it's a fleeting thing, but it's probably one of the most beautiful sights that the Sun has ever seen—the way his lips curl upwards and the galaxy in his eyes seems to twinkle even more than it already does, the way his smile looks just perfect on his face, illuminating it with a cheery glow.
He wants to kiss a grin into Taehyun's lips—wants to feel that perfect, perfect smile against his as their domains intersect above them. He wants to hold Taehyun in his arms; give his counterpart every bit of affection he can manage.
(When all is said and done, really, he just wants Taehyun to know that he loves him, no matter how much the prospect of his feelings being known terrifies him.)
"Do you want to play tag?" Taehyun asks, and it snaps Soobin out of his reverie. "Me and Gyu play it all the time."
There's a mischievous glint in the other's eye as he says it, and Soobin finds a yes sitting at the tip of his tongue before he can fully realize what's happening.
"Okay, then!" Taehyun says, and there is such potent joy in his voice that a soft smile comes unbidden into Soobin's face. "You're it, then."
And then they're off—jumping from cloud to cloud, laughs sitting at the base of their throats. It's exhilarating; it almost feels like flying, his feet barely even brushing against the clouds as he tries to chase Taehyun down.
(And if Soobin pulls Taehyun into a hug whenever he tags him, that's a secret only he needs to know.)
3.
An eclipse is happening.
Soobin takes a breath. And then another. And then another.
He's talked it over with Kai, he's asked for advice from Yeonjun, he's decided it with himself—he'll tell Taehyun about his feelings, come next eclipse, and what happens, happens.
It had felt so, so freeing, then, finally feeling able to verbalize the feelings he holds for his counterpart, but now that it's that eclipse, Soobin feels sick. It feels as if there's a blockage in his throat, and he's constantly choking on those three fateful words he's wanted to tell Taehyun for so long—I love you. I love you. I love you.
When he lands on their meeting place—and isn't it so beautiful, that there is a place they've started to call their own?—Taehyun still isn't there, and Soobin feels like he can steal a few more breaths from the earth before his fateful damnation.
Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale.
He's thought about this conversation far too many times, trying to pick and choose what words he's going to say, trying to gauge Taehyun's reaction to a declaration of Soobin's feelings, trying to prevent their relationship from completely souring.
He's thought about the words that will leave his mouth—the words that should leave his mouth—but now that it's actually happening, Soobin can't help but to forget them, can't help but to lose himself in his fear.
(What if Taehyun ends up hating me because of this?)
Each potential ending unfurls in his mind like a roll of film, image after image of how exactly something could and would go wrong, roll after roll of dismal endings laid out for his mind's eye to inspect.
So hopelessly lost in his anxiety, Soobin doesn't even notice that Taehyun has already arrived, sitting down right beside him.
It isn't until a hand is waving in front of his face that Soobin actually registers Taehyun's presence.
He doesn't startle, though it's close. No, instead, he takes a steadying breath, looks Taehyun in the eye—and oh, his eyes are shining—and says, gently grasping Taehyun's hand in his own, "Can we talk?"
"Sure," Taehyun says, gingerly. "What do you want to talk about?"
This is it. Soobin takes a deep breath, tries to calm the heartbeat roaring in his ears, and says, "I- I love you." It's a quiet, timid thing, drowned out in the sound of Soobin's heartbeat.
Taehyun doesn't say anything, and for a single, awful moment Soobin thinks that he might have ruined everything, might have made his nightmares come into fruition—
But then, the dam breaks.
"I love you," Soobin repeats, and it's surer now, a certain declaration, uttered for the whole world to hear. "I've loved you for a long, long, time and I know that you may not feel the same, and I know about all of the proverbs but I've been filling my heart to bursting with you, to the point I simply had to say it, had to confess, lest I break—"
He's halfway through a stuttered apology when Taehyun leans in, and asks, "Can I kiss you?"
His face is close enough to Soobin's that the sun deity can see every detail of it; can see his eyes, still shining like a million galaxies, can see the faint color in his cheeks, can see his lips, pink and smiling and oh so kissable.
Soobin stares at Taehyun, utterly hypnotized, as if trying to map out his every feature and commit it to his memory.
He reaches out, hand coming up to trace his counterpart's jawline, gently cupping the side of his face.
Soobin doesn't say anything more, and only leans in, closer, closer, and closer, until their lips are meeting and everything finally feels right with the world.
Their kiss starts sweet. It starts shy and rounded at the edges, the tentative prodding of two people who have longed for this very thing for so long, of two people still unsure if this is even real or if this is their longing boiling over and making them believe they're living their dreams.
His stomach doesn't explode with fireworks, though it's a close thing—no, kissing Taehyun feels like this: like the soft shimmer of moonflowers, soft smiles, and soft glances stolen from afar, finally realized; like perfection, like the stars aligning, as if this had been what fate planned for them from the very beginning; like something being locked into place inside him, and suddenly, nothing else matters—there is only him and Taehyun. Soobin and Taehyun. The Sun and the Moon.
Kissing Taehyun feels like coming home, a serene embrace awaiting him as soon as he crosses the threshold of their hearth.
It's warmth, pooling at the pit of his stomach, scorching him whole yet not unwelcome. It's hunger, gnawing through his insides and being stoked by the spark burning brightly within him. It's blazing, overpowering want—that this moment could last forever, that he could capture this beautiful, beautiful feeling and keep it locked deep in his memory, that he could forever have Taehyun at his side, just like this.
He can feel the very same thing in his counterpart, too—in the shudders when their skin touches, in frantic grips as fingers card through strands of hair, in warm hands that wander fervently.
Soobin holds Taehyun's nape and slides his tongue into his parted mouth, a whimper forming on the base of his counterpart's throat, their bodies flush against one another as they deepen their kiss.
For a single moment, they disconnect, breaths coming in short, sharp gasps before one of them seals the gap again—neither of them wants to stop, neither of them wants to ever be apart; never again, not after this.
There's a smile on Taehyun's lips and a laugh on the base of Soobin's throat as their kiss only grows more and more desperate, trying to express every little thing they feel for each other through the kiss—It's always been you.
I love you, Soobin thinks reverently, as if this kiss was worship, and the feel of Taehyun's lips on his a blessing.
I love you. I love you. I love you. He whispers those three fateful words into Taehyun's lips, in those short instances that a gap is drawn between them.
The words are both prayer and promise—even after this eclipse will have long passed, if you let me, I will still love you, darling, as I always have, and you will have me to lean on for eternity if you wish, and you could tire of me, could leave me nursing a broken heart, and I will love you even then.
Soobin thinks this might be the most brilliant moment of his entire existence.
4.
An eclipse is happening.
"Gyu," Taehyun says, joy bleeding over into his tone even as he apologizes to his best friend. "Sorry, but I've got to go. There's an eclipse right now."
Beomgyu only waves him off, saying, "We can always just hang about later, Tyun. Hurry up and go!"
That's the last thing Taehyun hears before he's jumping off of the clouds and flying off towards him and Soobin's meeting place, Beomgyu's laugh cheerfully echoing behind him.
The wind whistles past him as he flies around, but everything goes silent when Taehyun finally sees Soobin, who's flying around in search of his counterpart, too.
"Soobin!" Taehyun yells, a blinding grin on his face, and Soobin turns around.
"Taehyun!" And the next thing he knows, Soobin is barrelling straight into him, pulling Taehyun into his embrace and pressing a swift kiss onto his forehead.
Taehyun wraps his arms around him in turn, placing a hand on Soobin's nape and pulling the sun deity into a kiss.
Soobin's lips tastes like caramel and sleep, and Taehyun often finds himself intoxicated in his lover, so deeply mesmerized by his beauty that he forgets about the breath sitting inert in the cavity of his lungs, forgets about everything except for the beautiful, beautiful being standing in front of him, forgets about everything and starts to revolve around his lover even as life drains out of him from the effort.
Good thing, then, that Soobin always seems to breathe life into him.
They stay like that for a fair amount of time, simply savoring the moment. You're here, the kiss seems to say. You're here. You're here. You're here. When they disconnect, it's to the sight of the other, smiling brightly.
There is a space in his heart, carved out long before he even realized its existence, and Soobin's love fills it perfectly, leaving no emptiness in its wake.
(And isn't it beautiful, how perfectly Soobin slots into every single empty space in Taehyun's heart, and how perfectly Taehyun does in turn? They were simply made for each other, and that is that—no far-reaching proverbs or separating binds can change that.)
"Hi, moonlight," Soobin says, gently cupping Taehyun's face. "How have you been?"
(His eyes seem tired; even if they're bright and there's a slight smile hanging on the corner of Soobin's mouth that Taehyun wants to kiss into a grin, and he already knows how this eclipse is going to be spent.)
Taehyun leans into Soobin's touch, closing his eyes, and says, "I'm fine, I was just talking to Gyu earlier. You?"
"I'm doing fine too. Kai was telling me about some of the new plants he's started spreading around with Air," Soobin says, leading the both of them to the clouds.
"Oh, yeah. Gyu told me about a few of them. Did Kai tell you about the one that only blooms once a year?" Taehyun asks, once they're seated, turning to Soobin, his head slightly tilted.
"Mhm. Queen of the Night, was it?" Soobin says, and Taehyun nods.
"Yeah. Gyu told me that it was beautiful, said that the flower smelled amazing," he says, and he can already see Soobin nodding off before his eyes so Taehyun stops talking and simply lays his lover upon the clouds, golden hair sprawled out and golden halo phasing through the fluff.
Honestly, Taehyun sighs, it'd be frustrating if he didn't know why.
But he does know, so Taehyun lays down beside him and presses a kiss into the crown of Soobin's head; forms I love you with his lips and whispers it into his lover's hair with all the devotion that comes with worship. The words taste like honey and cinnamon, leaving a sweet aftertaste as they leave his tongue.
Soobin shifts sleepily, an apology readied at the tip of his tongue, but Taehyun quiets him with a kiss, tells him, "Sleep." and kisses his eyelids closed, so he does.
And so does Taehyun, after ascertaining that Soobin really is sleeping, fully content to spend their eclipse like this.