As Beolle, Beomgyu gets to be the shoulder for his partner, Goyangi's troubles. Because even past hiding civilian identities while fighting villains, they have a relationship that's special. Not bonded by blood, more than friends and more than co-workers; these two superheroes have a connection that's more important to Beomgyu than the feelings he holds for Goyangi.

So yes, he will encourage the other boy to pursue the person he loves; even if it means that Goyangi will never love him back.

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11:34pm.

It was nearly time for patrol, Beomgyu noted, pausing in his studies. Standing up from the chair he was seated on for the past two hours, the black haired boy stretched himself before crossing the room to peek out the door. The apartment he shared with his roommate, Taehyun, was dark and silent, indicating that the younger boy was safely asleep.

Beomgyu shut the door and locked it, careful not to make any noise lest the other woke up. Taehyun was a light sleeper.

"Cookies?" The high-pitched voice nearly made Beomgyu jump and he stared at the small floating creature with a playful glare. The floating red blob giggled and murmured a soft, "Sorry!"

Tikki was his kwami, a god-like creature of barely four inches that had powers. When combined through the medium of an accessory, kwamis could bestow humans with powers of the Miraculous. There were many Miraculouses based on animals but the two of the strongest Miraculous were the Ladybug and Black Cat miraculous.

Choi Beomgyu was the owner of the Ladybug miraculous. He went by the superhero name of Mudangbeolle, often shortened to Beolle by everyone for convenience.

"Thank you," Tikki whispered softly as she held the large cookie Beomgyu gave to her. It nearly enveloped her whole body and face but the size difference was adorable enough to make the boy give her a warm smile. He watched her nibble and eat the cookie for a few minutes, occasionally checking the blog site called 'CatBug', a civilian run fan forum based in Seoul that was also used as a tracking system for Akumas.

Akumas were butterflies consumed in the magic of the Butterfly Miraculous. While all miraculous were meant to be used for the good, there were times when they fell in the wrong hands and were used for evil. Out of them all, the Butterfly Miraculous was the most susceptible to being used for the wrong as it gave its holders the power to grant powers to others and make them their loyal follower. If used for the right, it was very helpful but in the wrong hands, it created villains with supernatural powers that wreaked havoc around the very busy city of Seoul.

Seeing as there were no recent akuma alerts, Beomgyu locked his phone screen and slipped it inside his pants pockets. He was already dressed in his pyjamas so that he could drop in bed the moment he was back but he also grabbed himself a jacket in case anything happened and he had to detransform outside the house. He also always kept a note in his room to Taehyun that he was out in case the younger boy came to check on him and didn't find him there.

Maintaining a secret identity and double life from your roommate was hard but Beomgyu made sure to go the extra mile so that Taehyun wouldn't get worried. As it was, his roommate tended to worry over him on a daily basis just enough to make Beomgyu wonder if he had accidentally contracted a substitute mom-away-from-home.

"I'm ready!" Tikki licked off the crumbs on her tiny paws and looked at Beomgyu with her wide blue eyes that always seemed to see through him. "Don't stay out too late tonight, okay? You need your sleep."

"It was one time," Beomgyu pouted, zipping up the jacket. "It's not my fault that I got lost. Seoul is a big city, you know? And I can't access my phone while I'm transformed."

"Now you know that you can access maps through your yoyo though," Tikki sighed. Then she straightened up and nodded at him.

"Tikki, spots on!"

A blinding pink light enveloped the room as Tikki got sucked into the small black stud earrings that were the accessory of the Ladybug miraculous. Magic overlapped the pyjamas and instead dressed the young boy in a red sleeveless full body outfit with black gloves and magically attached red mask with black spots all over. A black yoyo rested on his hip like a belt.

Beomgyu untucked the yoyo and carefully peered out the window to make sure that nobody was looking before he jumped out, swinging the yoyo in the nick of time to avoid hitting the concrete road.

The yoyo was the weapon of the Ladybug miraculous wielder and every miraculous had a different weapon as it had a different accessory. When Beomgyu had first tested out his powers, the children's toy was neither impressive nor encouraging but as it turned out, the Ladybug yoyo was much more than just a toy. It was indestructible, had endless string and was capable of letting him call the other miraculous wielders. And show him Naver maps, apparently.

Now Beolle, he swung across the rooftops and skyscrapers, swinging around with his yoyo in ease. His eyes flitted between the roads, the people and the buildings where he threw his weapon to as he patrolled.

Patrol didn't really have a set time and Beolle generally did it whenever he was free and Taehyun wasn't around or awake to notice his absence. It wasn't really all that useful since akuma alerts on CatBug were more quicker and accurate than searching every corner of Seoul on foot but patrol was just code-word for stretching his legs at this point.

So he wasn't really expecting to run into his partner at that time, just a few minutes to midnight. The sight of a familiar mop of blond hair lying flat on the rooftop of a building made Beolle trip and tumble down next to him, something that had the Black Cat miraculous wielder jumping up in defence.

"Ouch," Beolle smiled, rubbing his butt as he sat up to grin at his partner.

"Beolle," the blond haired boy sighed and then flopped back down where he was lying. The said superhero just crawled over to lie down next to him.

"Kitty," Beolle greeted him back lazily, eyes peering at the boy in habit as he tried to memorise every plane of his side profile.

"What would it take to make you call me Goyangi?" The blond grumbled without any real bite. Beolle liked calling him a lot of nicknames and he knew that Goyangi secretly liked them all. Gumneun Goyangi, or Black Cat, was his absolutely charismatic and smart partner that Beomgyu was head over heels for. They didn't spend as much time together as others would believe, as not knowing each other's civilian identities was a rule imposed upon them by their kwamis and the elusive 'Guardian' that Beolle had only heard of but never met.

If they found out each other's identities then they would have to give up the miraculous and Beomgyu didn't want to risk his miraculous ending up in someone else's hands. It was too anxiety-inducing to entrust Akumas and Hawk Moth, the Butterfly Miraculous wielder, to someone else when he could do it himself. He was fine not knowing who Goyangi was in real life, at least until Hawk Moth was defeated and giving up their miraculous would not leave Seoul unprotected.

"You know you like it," Beolle teased but the soft smile on his face curved downwards as he noticed the frown on Goyangi's face. The superhero turned his head to look up at the blank canvas of the night sky for a few minutes, wondering if the stars could be seen back in Daegu, his hometown. With all the light and air pollution, most nights in Seoul were starless. He bumped his right hand to Goyangi's left one, slotting their gloves fingers together lightly. "Do you want to talk?"

"I would like to," Goyangi admitted, "but it's something… personal. Something from my civilian life. I don't want to accidentally reveal anything that might reveal me. And in any case, it's so late. I'm sure you're tired and having to put up with me will only be more tiring."

"Honestly?" Beolle smiled, fingers tightening around Goyangi's. "I am tired. But it's not tiring to talk to you. In fact, if anything, it's relaxing for me. I like knowing that you trust me enough to rely on me, to talk to me about your problems. And as for your identity; between the two of us, we both know you're the one who's the most careful about not revealing yourself even by mistake. And I will try my best to forget if you accidentally divulge a detail or two, but no promises~"

The last line was said teasingly but it was enough to make Goyangi laugh under his breath. The sound made something warm flush in the red decked hero and Beolle ignored the fact that his cheeks also matched the colour of his outfit at that. His partner's laugh was one of his favourite sounds in the world, free and unabashed, but incredibly rare. After all, most of the time they met on a battlefield, fighting villains and saving civilians. There was hardly any room for laughing and joking.

"Alright," Goyangi slipped his hand out and it took all of Beolle to not outwardly pout or whine in disappointment. The cat hero sat up and Beolle followed suit, running his hand through his red tipped dark strands of hair to make sure they're not messed up from lying down. The blond boy didn't look at him and instead continued to stare out at the surrounding citylights. "It's… This is kind of stupid."

"Not stupid if it's making you feel sad," Beolle huffed, poking him in the cheek. The action made Goyangi flash him a grin and for the first time ever, the ladybug themed hero noticed that his partner was blushing. Honest-to-god red ears and flushed cheeks blushing. The sight, as endearing as it was, sent a pang to Beomgyu's heart.

"Have you ever fallen in love with someone?" The blond hero seemed incredibly embarrassed by his own question and it was all the confirmation that Beolle needed to know. Goyangi liked someone. Someone who wasn't him.

"Of course," he said with a smile, acting like Goyangi's words hadn't squeezed his heart painfully. "I am in love with someone too."

"You can choose to not answer this," the blond smiled, "but, are you close to them? Like, are they a friend or are they someone you are just acquaintances with?"

"I would say we're close friends," Beolle hummed, wondering if Goyangi thought the same about him. Did he consider him his friend? Or did he only see Beolle through the lens of a co-worker? Just his fellow superhero saving Seoul citizens from dying due to a jobless man out there playing with butterflies and people's emotions?

"Then, do you ever just get tired?" The question made Beolle raise an eyebrow in confusion. "Ah, I meant like… Do you ever think that they will never see you as anything more than a friend? That you'll always be just that to them, nothing more, nothing less? That you have no chance and admitting your feelings to them would only ruin what you have?"

"Every day," if his smile was every bit as painful as it felt, Goyangi didn't comment on it. But he could see the other hero searching his face in question. "I have felt like that so many times. All the time."

"Then, do you ever wish you never fell in love with them?" Goyangi's voice was timid, shy almost. It was quite unlike him because Beolle was used to the firm and reassuring voice his partner generally had in the middle of a battle. The question made Beomgyu's smile turn soft.

"No," he said simply. The surprise etched on the black cat wielder made Beolle chuckle. "No. No matter how much it hurts, no matter if they love someone else, I will never resent the fact that I love them. That of all the people I could have fallen for, I fell for someone who cares for me. That I entrusted my heart to someone who will treat it delicately even if they don't love me back like that. That if I were to confess my feelings to them, they would understand and reject me gently and give me the freedom to choose between whether to stay or go. Or, that's how I view them as a person. I know they are like that. I thank the universe that of all the people in the world that I could have fallen for, it was them."

Goyangi's mouth was parted, green tinted eyes wide in shock. The sight made Beolle giggle and he turned away to face the citylights as he finished. "Do you wish you never fell in love with who you did fall for?"

"I wondered about this all day," Goyangi admitted, following Beolle's trail of sight to the tall skyscrapers around them. Seoul was lively even in the dead of the night. "But hearing what you just said… I think I know my answer now."

Beolle just hummed, not pressing to know what Goyangi's answer was. He had a feeling that it would be similar to his. So he just raised his right hand and dropped it in his partner's blond hair and scratched behind the two black cat ears that were part of his outfit. The action made Goyangi screech and duck his head away, slapping Beolle's arm away in embarrassment.

"Don't do that!" The blond was flustered and beet red but it only made the dark haired boy giggle. "I am not a real cat!"

"We both know it feels good," Beolle jiggled the bell resting above Goyangi's collarbones with a suggestive grin. The words only made the other boy flush even more, something that immensely satisfied Beolle.

Even if Goyangi would never truly be his, even if he would never love him back… All he wished for was to continue having moments like this with him for the rest of his life.

✿

Beomgyu ended up skipping the rest of the patrol and instead left first to go back home, slipping in through his open window and flopping on his bed with a groan.

"Tikki, spots off," he mumbled in exhaustion and the pink light flooded the room once again before he was back to his pyjamas and Tikki floated above him disapprovingly. "I know, I know. But I couldn't just leave Goyangi alone and sad like that!"

"No, you couldn't," Tikki just sighed but let it slide this time, knowing how much her owner loved the other superhero. "It's nearly 2 o'clock now, go to sleep! You have a lecture at 9, you know."

"I'll just grab myself a glass of water," Beomgyu sat up and tugged off the jacket, throwing it onto the empty chair he had left abandoned two hours ago. "And it's only 1:46."

Tikki scoffed at the only but Beomgyu ignored it in favour of stepping out of his room and padding to the kitchen. He filled a glass in the dark until the light suddenly switched on, making him flinch.

"What are you doing awake, hyung?" Taehyun's words were followed with a yawn as he waddled over to where the glasses were kept.

"Was studying and lost track of time," Beomgyu lied easily, carelessly noting the well-kempt silver hair. Wasn't he sleeping? Taehyun's hair usually stuck out all weird when he woke up. "You?"

"Couldn't fall asleep but I'm sleepy," the younger groaned, thinking his head against the refrigerator door. He grinned at Beomgyu as he sipped the water from his cup. "Had too many thoughts going on but now I'm too exhausted to even think."

"Go get some sleep," Beomgyu ruffled his hair up fondly as soon as he finished drinking the water. "Don't you have a lecture at 7 in the morning?"

"Thanks for reminding," Taehyun grumbled, hand immediately running up to his hair but he made no indication of smoothening them out. "I feel envious of your online classes on these days."

"Told you I'm the smarter out of the two of us," Beomgyu teased as he slipped past the younger to reach the door.

"In your dreams," the silver haired boy scoffed from behind him.

Beomgyu didn't see the lovesick smile painted on his face as he said those words.

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