Mabsuli Blood || txt

Twenty: Moonlight

That same night...

Beomgyu wasn't an insomniac. In fact, he loved sleeping. Call him Sleeping Beauty because he could sleep for hours no matter the circumstance and look hot as hell doing it. Not even true love's kiss could wake him up.

But even sleep lovers have their sleepless nights, and this night in particular was Beomgyu's. It was well past midnight and he was still up, sitting on his windowsill and looking outside. Not that there was anything interesting. The castle grounds were quiet except for the faint steps and dark shadows of the guards on watch. All lights were off in the village as well. The only thing even remotely interesting was the sky. It was a full moon that night, the stars around it glowing faintly. What bothered Beomgyu in his Non-Sleeping Beauty (even though he was still beautiful) mindset was how dull their light was. He wanted to see it better, brighter, like how it looked in the—

Of course! That's what he should do! Nothing like sneaking out of the castle past midnight to go to the one place you shouldn't be going to. But he's been doing it for years, and if he hadn't gotten caught yet, he doubted he ever would. Besides, he was bored and too awake for his own hyperactive ass.

So he slipped on his cloak and, after using Sense to make sure no one was around, slipped out his room and to the courtyard where their secret passageway lied. It was Soobin and Beomgyu who discovered it one day while having a casual sword fight (with pool noodles as swords) and they'd been using it ever since. They even introduced it to Yeonjun, and the three would sneak out and mess around the village every once and a while. Unfortunately, those times had become less frequent considering Soobin's responsibilities as heir, but Beomgyu still used it often.

He just loved breaking all the rules.

Something came over him as he started walking towards the entrance to the passageway, eyes darting towards the corridor where the Verdel bloods were being housed. Specifically a certain brunette prince. Beomgyu didn't understand why the idea of sneaking out alone suddenly didn't sound appealing. He'd done it plenty of times before. But in the span of a few weeks, he had become used to Taehyun's company, and now doing things alone seemed mundane. Especially after their Cookie Heist. Even if Beomgyu still didn't understand why Taehyun was there—or why he liked it so much—he couldn't deny that it felt nice to have someone else at his side that wasn't the two older Akabri princes for once.

And for the second time, he found himself knocking at Taehyun's door not knowing if he was even awake or not. But it seemed luck was on his side again, for the door opened and there he was. Taehyun seemed taken aback by Beomgyu's presence, but was quick to recover and offer him a smile. "Hey," he said.

A simple word shouldn't be enough to make Beomgyu's heart flutter, but it did. And paired with a smile? Kang Taehyun could just take all his uwus.

"Hi," Beomgyu softly greeted back with a smile of his own, and Taehyun would be lying if he said he didn't find it adorable. "You up for another adventure?"

"Oh?" Taehyun raised an eyebrow and leaned against the doorframe. "And what are stealing this time? Ice cream perhaps?"

"I was thinking we steal back our freedom. You have a cloak?"

"Yeah, why?" Beomgyu's smile widened.

"I wanna show you something, but we have to sneak out of the castle. You up for it?"

Now, Taehyun was never the rule-breaking type. But with that smile and excited gleam in Beomgyu's eyes and the way he looked so small and squishy in his cloak, he physically couldn't bring himself to say no. Besides, the prospect of being with Beomgyu was exciting. And not for any sort of mission. None of that even crossed Taehyun's mind as he nodded and said, "Always."