Yeosang wasn't too furious with Jongho since he was floating on cloud nine, but he still didn't want to see him for the rest of the night. After they danced around each other for bathroom turns, Yeosang fell into bed to think about the evening and everything that had happened in the smallest detail. Jongho was quiet on his air mattress, not disturbing him again.

The next morning, Yeosang allowed him to speak. He was still high on his joy, but now also ready to have a normal conversation. And he wanted answers.

"Why did you do that yesterday?" Yeosang asked while he mashed some overripe bananas into his yoghurt, adding some frozen berries since he had long since given up buying those fresh.

Jongho perched on the couch, busy picking at his hands. He was nonchalant, obviously not accustomed to dating culture, but that didn't make his intervention hurt less. Yeosang had hoped to trust Jongho by now, but apparently not.

Couldn't he understand how important those small joys were to humans? Or did he simply not care anymore, since everything would be over soon?

"Have you known him for long?" Jongho asked, as if he had any business to question Yeosang. Irked but not commenting on it yet, Yeosang mixed in some nuts too and tried a bite.

"We've been working together for over six months, yeah."

"Where was he before that?"

Right. In smaller communities, everyone knew each other from a young age or parents arranged for fitting marriages. This modern, global concept was still odd to Jongho.

Yeosang sighed to himself.

"He's from here. Is that enough for you?"

Jongho peered down at his hands, his cheeks round and puffy from the angle of his chin.

"How did his kisses taste? Saccharine? Like ambrosia?" He asked without looking up and Yeosang almost fell over from perfect balance. For a moment, he thought Jongho almost looked cute and innocent, but he was blunt as ever.

"What are you on about? Want to put him in your harem?" Yeosang defended the blush on his cheeks, refusing to answer to that. What their kisses were like was between him and Seonghwa, nobody else. Well, maybe Wooyoung if he really wanted the tea, but that was it! Yeosang wouldn't gossip with a person he barely knew.

This time, Jongho looked up at him. He cupped his hands over each other.

"Why do you like him?" He finally asked, properly direct. It was a cultural difference, of course. To him, Yeosang's looks meant he took a feminine role and that he would search for a masculine counterpart. Though Jongho didn't wonder about homosexuality, he certainly thought of other gender categories. Seonghwa and Yeosang must look helpless to him.

Rubbing his forehead, Yeosang thought of a way to explain that.

"He is gorgeous and super kind. He looks after me and he is popular with the others, too. For human standards, he is perfect," he summarised, putting emphasis on personality over looks. If the world spun like Jongho wanted, they would all be part of a harem.

But Jongho didn't look convinced. His frown clung to old beliefs, and Yeosang couldn't blame him. It was difficult to learn everything he ever believed in anew.

"Hmm... He seemed rather suspect to me," Jongho just grunted ultimately, but he didn't argue. Nonetheless, Yeosang was insulted in Seonghwa's place.

"Why is that?" He would fiercely defend Seonghwa until the end of his days. Jongho had no place to judge. Even if Seonghwa might sound too good to be true, genuinely nice people existed nowadays.

"Why was he here?" Jongho wanted to know, and Yeosang really might not have made it clear enough that he was trying to court Seonghwa. Jongho knew they had been kissing and that he liked Seonghwa. Did he not consider it was for a permanent purpose like marriage? He didn't think Yeosang was just seducing him for a night... right?

"It was a romantic evening together to get closer. I told him I feel for him and we would like to be a pair," he spelled it out as he crossed his arms. This time, Jongho nodded with more conviction.

"Right. That answers my questions."

Quizzical, Yeosang just stared at him. He lost his desire to scold Jongho if it was their mutual miscommunication. Instead, his gaze fell on the dark spot crawling over Jongho's ever-turning fingers.

"What do you have there?" He asked, easy to forgive since the evening didn't end in disaster and Seonghwa knew what he meant to Yeosang. They had kissed and promised each other a second date, so Yeosang had nothing to complain about. Next time, Jongho would be more understanding.

Jongho held out his hand proudly to show off his find. When Yeosang drew closer, he spotted a dark bug, oval-shaped and iridescent with its hard shell. It was a pretty bug, but none he usually saw around.

"A scarab beetle. It found me here, that lovely messenger," Jongho cooed at the unsuspecting beetle that lost its way from home. And it must have come a far way.

"Huh. We had one in the museum once, but they are rare inside the city," Yeosang said, but he always liked those. Too big a spider made him nervous if too close to his bed, but there were some pretty cute bugs out there. Ladybugs and maybugs, for example. Though he knew he was blessed with harmless bugs in the European climate. Not that he found huge tropical centipedes boring, but he also enjoyed the distance he had to them.

"Maybe it was stuck in your coat?" Jongho suggested as the bug kept crawling over his fingers, comfortable with his presence.

Yeosang shrugged.

"Maybe. You can't keep it, though. I don't have what they need here. I'll bring it outside." He held out his hand so he could bring the beetle down the street to the edge of the nearby park. Jongho looked sad to part with it, but he handed it over to Yeosang without complaints. After putting it in a small empty marmalade jar so he wouldn't lose it, Yeosang wandered over to his shoes.

"What message did it bring? End of the world near?" He asked as he slipped into his warm boots and Jongho made a noise, not quite nodding.

"Another piece fell into place. I'll explain it to you soon."

Oh? That was new. Usually, he kept all his divine secrets.

"How gracious of you," Yeosang replied and Anubis pushed out his chest, prideful with the ironic compliment.

Yeosang left him to cool down while he brought the beetle back into its habitat. He peered around for the cats on his way back, but he couldn't spot them anywhere.

Hopefully, they found a warm place to curl up in.

After he jumped back up the stairs to get his blood flowing, Yeosang finally got to return to his meal. Jongho had also drawn closer, lured by the scent. Since Yeosang left bread around so he could make himself toasties whenever he got hungry, he nodded at those. Easy enough work that Jongho could do it and he healed inhumanely fast if he burnt himself.

They sat down together for their meal, and for a while, it was quiet. Yeosang thought about Seonghwa and about going over to Wooyoung's later to catch his best friend up and watch a movie together. Jongho was also deep in thought, but Yeosang wouldn't try to guess what he was thinking about.

After their meal, Yeosang left it to Jongho to wash the dishes while he watered his plants and checked if any were sickly now that the temperatures changed. But they all boasted with life, big and green and happy to see him, so he had nothing to worry about. He cleaned the dust off some bigger leaves and smelled the occasional flower peeking among the green forest inside his home.

After Jongho was done cleaning up, he perched on his air mattress with his newest addiction: the game Snake on Yeosang's old game pad. It only had that single game and it was ever repetitive, but Jongho enjoyed playing it so much that Yeosang wouldn't judge. Besides, he called the snake Apep and the dot it was eating Ra. He probably thought it was some prophetic sign to stumble into this game right now. But it kept him busy, so Yeosang didn't mind.

After cleaning the floor in his weekly routine, Yeosang glanced at the clock. Still some time to do things, but he didn't have the mind for a movie right now. His brain swarmed with Seonghwa, Anubis, Seonghwa, the end of the world, Seonghwa, and he just wanted to shut it off and not think for a while.

"Wanna go for a run?" He asked Jongho, unable to be mad at him for long. It was actually nice to have a roommate to do things with, as much as Jongho was often in his way. Sure, he mooched off Yeosang's paycheck and didn't work, but Yeosang didn't mind as long as he behaved.

Jongho lowered his console to nod. He sprang up full of energy, always antsy if he stayed inside for so long. While he searched Yeosang's old tracksuit he had handed down to the god, Yeosang also got dressed. Soon, he might allow Jongho to go train by himself since he trusted him to stick to his own business and not bother people by now. If Mingi caught him acting out one more time, he would put Jongho in a straight jacket.

On their way outside, Jongho's shoulder brushed close to Yeosang's. Irked, Yeosang looked up at him. He met pensive eyes.

"Did I ever tell you that you smell of fresh fruit and grass, even in winter?" Jongho asked him, and Yeosang cocked his head.

"No, you didn't." What was this now? Was he trying to flirt again? Was that why he had been so interested in Seonghwa? He did keep making advances (if one could call them that) to convince Yeosang he belonged to some harem.

Jongho put on the shoes they bought him. He hated them, not used to the pressure around his foot and to tying his laces. Whenever he took them off to rest his limbs, he growled an insult at them.

Not that his bones needed proper shoes so much, but he was easily cold and Yeosang was too embarrassed to be seen with him if he wore slippers in winter.

"Do you know why that is?" Jongho asked, as if suspicious this was another human aspect he didn't understand. Basic hygiene, perhaps? He wasn't so bad about washing up regularly. Would he like a specific scent of soap?

"It's no perfume, if that's what you are asking. Come on, let's go." Yeosang just told him, impatient to empty his mind and not put more nonsense into it. On his way out, he took along a can of cat food to leave outside in case the kittens came around.

Jongho followed dutifully as they pulled the door shut and went downstairs. It was already dark outside, the night cold with the light tumble of snow, but the air was refreshing and crisp. After Yeosang left the can of food in the cats' preferred corner, they took off together to make their way down the street and through the park, jogging side by side. They weren't talking anymore, and it was nice, in a way. Yeosang had the space to think about Seonghwa and their promise to continue their trip down the dating lane, and Jongho hung in his own thoughts. He didn't mind the snow anymore, though it easily made him shiver. He seemed interested in the facets of the world he didn't know by now.

Sometimes Yeosang hoped that maybe, just maybe, he could develop some empathy for humanity. Find Apep, make sure he wouldn't devour Ra. Or fight on Ra's side.

When they returned from their run, the can of cat food was empty and Yeosang believed to see a small orange tail disappear under a car when they came closer. Relieved, he threw away the can before they went back inside. The night was uneventful and calm.

As during every night now, Yeosang was left to wonder whether it would end.