Archive of Our Own ^beta

To Soobin, the best time to enjoy the city is the middle of the night. It’s quiet. Calm. Peaceful. There are no people stressing around, and no real responsibilities to take care of because the rest of the city is sleeping.

It’s currently 2 am on a random November Tuesday, and Soobin shouldn’t be awake. He’s got classes in the morning that he really shouldn’t miss. More than that, he knows he shouldn’t be where he currently is. The winter breeze blows roughly against his naked arms and he’s freezing—he really should have grabbed his jacket before going out here.

There’s a long list of things he should’ve done that doesn’t include going up to the roof of his apartment building in the middle of the night to sit with his feet over the edge.

It’s just… he’s been stressed lately, and this ethical review that he needs to write for his current course is the straw that broke the camel’s back.

He can’t do it. He can’t write it. He needs a break.

Which is why he’s sitting here, feet dangling over the edge while he stares at the starts above. There’s a railing, so he’s not in danger of falling. He doesn’t want to fall. He just wants to sit there and take in the fresh air. Besides, the building isn’t even that high, just six floors, not high enough to instil fear in him.

The sound of the city had slowly died during the past hour since he came out here. There’s still some life to be heard, of course; it is Seoul after all. But he likes it like this. He likes the city semi-quiet.

Maybe the quiet of the night is why Soobin has no trouble hearing the sudden shout coming from above, causing him to look up abruptly. It’s too dark to see anything, but Soobin is sure he hears a swooshing sound that wasn’t there earlier.

He turns around at precisely the right timing to see a figure falling—although it happens so slowly Soobin thinks it’s more like floating—down onto his roof. Just a few metres away from him. At first, he is fully convinced that it’s someone with a parachute, since he sees something white spreading out behind the person’s back.

They touch down and land on their feet, albeit a bit unsteadily. As they stumble, arms out to get their bearings back, Soobin stands and steps closer. Numerous thoughts about assassins or secret agents in movies jumping out of planes run through his mind, and he wonders if it’s stupid of him to not feel an ounce of fear.

He blames the sleep deprivation for it.

The person—secret agent or whatever they are—doesn’t seem to notice Soobin even as he steps closer. He’s approaching from the side, and it doesn’t take long for him to notice that it’s a man standing there. They are around the same height, and Soobin would guess that he’s close to his own age.

After staring at him for several seconds, he realizes that the guy is in fact not wearing a parachute. Unlike an actual parachute, the white object behind the guy’s back doesn’t fall to the ground. Instead, it stays upright, like some weird, really big backpack.

The guy still doesn’t seem to have seen Soobin. He’s wiping his hands on his legs—which are clad in ordinary jeans, Soobin notices—and continues cursing under his breath.

“-gyu’s fault,” Soobin’s hears a few words here and there, which only serves to confuse him. “—can’t believe him…”

In Soobin’s mind, he is preparing to make himself known to this guy in a normal, natural way (by clearing his throat, maybe, or perhaps by giving a simple hello that wouldn’t startle the guy), but all of that is thrown out the window when the white thing behind the guy suddenly moves.

As they move and the guy turns slightly, Soobin suddenly sees what it is. What they are.

Wings. Two large outgrowths starting at the guy’s shoulder blades and reaching out almost far from his back.

In his realization, Soobin lets out a startled gasp, and he instinctively stumbles back.

The guy jumps, screams, and then whips his head around to look at Soobin.

“What the fuck,” the guy speaks, and it’s the most melodious voice Soobin’s ever heard. It catches his breath. It doesn’t help that he now catches a glimpse of the face of this guy, which even in the dark looks like something sculpted from above. Which, could literally be true, considering this guy has literal wings.

“A-are you an Angel?” Soobin’s stutters out, blinking stupidly at the guy (creature?) before him.

The guy’s eyes widen, and then the wings move even faster behind him. It looks like they are being folded in, like a bird tucking its wings in after a landing. Soobin’s eyes watch until the wings disappear completely from his vision.

When they’re gone from sight, the guy stalks up to Soobin and fists his shirt, hard. Flashes of scenes from the many action movies he’s seen run through his head, and he briefly wonders if he’s about to get beat up. He doesn’t think that question alone is enough to earn him a beating though.

The next thought that passes through his mind is him wondering if this guy is supernaturally strong, and if that means he’s about to lift Soobin up by the shirt. Weirdly enough the thought isn’t as frightening to him as it perhaps should be.

Once again, he’s blaming the sleep deprivation.

“You didn’t see anything,” the guy speaks firmly, eyes staring into Soobin’s intently.

“W-what?”

“You saw nothing here tonight. You went out for some fresh air and there was no one else on the roof with you. You got it?”

Soobin blinks stupidly. “Uhh yes,” he manages to mutter, and that seems to be everything the guy needs because then he lets go of Soobin.

“Now go. Leave.” He points angrily at the door, behind which sits the stairwell, and he looks so determined that Soobin doesn’t argue. He walks to the door and escapes down the stairs until he reaches his own floor, not looking back once.

In his bed, mere minutes later, Soobin’s mind is reeling as it replays what just happened. He doesn’t know what to make of it, although one thing is clear.

He saw something he wasn’t supposed to see tonight.

-

Soobin spends a lot of time thinking about the guy he saw in the middle of the night the next couple of days. It’s impossible not to, because he was the most interesting thing that happened to him in a long while.

He tells his best friend Taehyun about what happened, and although he can’t fully convince Taehyun that he hadn’t been hallucinating, he manages to get his friend to join him at the roof late at night both on Friday and Saturday. However, like all the other times he’s gone up there before, no Angel shows up unannounced. Each time, he goes back down to his apartment completely disappointed and sulking.

When a week has passed and there’s still been no sight of him, Soobin contemplates giving up. He’s been losing a lot of sleep, which isn’t exactly helping him feel any better. What is perhaps worse is that it’s causing him to fall asleep in his classes.

Or, like right now, falling asleep face down on a table in the café where Taehyun works.

Soobin usually goes there to hang out (and because Taehyun gives him discounts on his drinks) and he would often stay for a while to study as he waits for his friend’s shift to end.

It’s pure luck that Taehyun comes by to slam Soobin’s hot chocolate down on the table, awakening him forcefully, because when he’s rubbing his eyes seconds later, he catches sight of a customer entering the cafe that he’s never seen before.

Fist falling onto the table so he can use both his eyes, Soobin stares at the brunette that walks over to the counter to order. This guy is tall and slim, and he’s walking with a certain kind of stride that gives him an almost regal aura. Yet the outfit he’s wearing is nothing special. Worn out jeans and a white t-shirt.

Soobin’s heart rate picks up as realization dawns on him. Could it be? Soobin only saw him in the dark, so he can’t know if he’s right unless he hears the guy’s voice. As such, he strains his ears and uses all his focus to listen as the guy orders.

It turns out to not be hard, because the voice belonging to that angelic person sounds over the café as if everyone has gone quiet to listen to him. “One americano, please,” the guy says, and it’s definitely the same melodious voice that Soobin remembers. He’s positive; it has to be him. The Angel. The guy he’s been looking for at night.

Soobin watches as the guy waits for his order and is relieved when he sees him walk over to a table and sit down instead of leaving directly. When he sits down, Soobin sees his face in the light and is hit by his angelic beauty ten times stronger than he’d done that night.

He gives him a few minutes to enjoy his drink. The entire time, Soobin is at the edge of his seat, preparing to move in case the guy tries to disappear on him again.

At no particular point, Soobin decides it’s time. He pockets his phone and keys, grabbing his drink and then nearly stomps over to the table on the other side of the cafe.

The guy had been sitting slightly angled, but not enough to not see Soobin coming. When Soobin is a meter away, he looks up, and his eyes widen, mouth falling open, just as Soobin slides into the seat opposite him.

“Hello,” Soobin says, this time with no stuttering in sight. He’s prepared for days what he’s going to say when he sees the angel, because he’s not going to allow himself to screw it up.

The angel blinks slowly once. Twice. Thrice. Soobin considers waving a hand in front of his face to see if he’s still seeing him but refrains from doing so.

“Remember me?” Soobin asks, leaning back slightly in his seat so as to not come off as intimidating. “You know, from the roof last week?”

The angel sputters. “You remember?”

“Uh, yeah, of course. I wasn’t that tired that I’d forget seeing a—” he lowers his voice even though there’s not that many people around their table to eavesdrop, “guy with large freaking wings crash landing on the roof to my apartment building.”

“First of all,” the guy says, raising an angry finger, “I did not crash land. I lost my balance at the last moment because of my stupid brother—why am I even explain myself to you?!” He shakes his head, looking frustrated. “I told you to forget seeing me.”

“Yeah, and I got the hint, I didn’t tell anyone except my best friend. And he probably doesn’t even believe me.”

“You told—” the angel rubs his hand over the left side of his face, “humans, unbelievable. I compelled you to forget, using magic, so you should’ve forgotten!”

“Oh. That’s what that was? Well, it didn’t stick.”

“I can tell.” He shuts his eyes and groans. “I’ll be in so much trouble if I can’t erase your memory. Here, look at me, let me try again.”

Soobin pushes his hands away as he tries grabbing Soobin’s face and make him look at him. It turns into somewhat of a struggle between them over the table. “What?! No! I’m not gonna let you try to manipulate my memory.”

“You don’t get it, I have to—”

“Uh, what’s happening here?” Another voice speaks to their left, and Soobin looks up to see Taehyun standing there with his backpack. Huh, Soobin hadn’t realized he had slept for so long that Taehyun’s shift was already over.

“Nothing,” Soobin tries to explain, and it’s only then that he realizes his hands are in the grip of the angel’s. They both look at their joined hands at the same time and immediately let go. “This is, uh—"

“Yeonjun!” The angel fills in as Soobin struggles, and something inside of Soobin reels at the fact that he just learnt this hot guy’s name.

“Yeah, Yeonjun,” Soobin continues, trying to act natural, “we just started talking and, uh, I thought he could come with us to dinner?”

Yeonjun looks startled at Soobin’s sudden suggestion. Taehyun, on the other hand, looks smug.

“Oh really? I don’t know if I wanna interrupt your date, Hyung. I’ll just go home and we can have dinner together another day.” He glances at Yeonjun before leaning forward and whispering in Soobin’s ear. “Don’t screw it up, he’s your hottest catch yet.”

Before Soobin registers what happened, Taehyun is waving goodbye and disappears out the door.

Soobin and Yeonjun stare at each other.

“What does that mean?” Yeonjun asks suddenly. Soobin tilts his head in question. “The hottest catch? Have you caught other angels before?”

Soobin flushes red in an instant. “Oh my god, you heard that?”

For a second, Soobin could swear he sees Yeonjun’s eyes flash with something. It doesn’t seem like Yeonjun notices, so Soobin boils it down to his own imagination. Maybe a trick of the light.

“I have extraordinary hearing, you should know,” Yeonjun informs him proudly. “So what does it mean?”

Soobin sucks in a deep breath. “Nothing. He didn’t mean anything. He was just teasing. Can we go somewhere to talk, now?”

“Somewhere to have that date that he was talking about, too?” Yeonjun asks, and Soobin is unsure if there’s a teasing tone to his voice or not. Does this angel know about human customs or not?

“Yup. Exactly.” Soobin stands and holds his hand out in a way to show he’s not being intimidated by the angel’s teasing.

Surprisingly, Yeonjun takes his hand and lets himself be dragged out of the cafe.

“Just so you know, I’m only going with you because I need to figure out how to erase your memories,” Yeonjun states when they’re walking down the sidewalk, Yeonjun a step behind so that it feels like Soobin really is pulling him with him.

“I don’t doubt that,” Soobin responds. He isn’t planning on letting Yeonjun erase his memories, but at the same time he doesn’t really have a plan at all. Sure, he’d imagined scenarios of what he would say to the guy should he see him again, but now that he’s here, being dragging behind him, Soobin doesn’t really know what to do except go home.

Yeonjun doesn’t complain and lets himself get pulled by Soobin all the way back to his apartment. The only comment he makes is about how ‘flying would go so much faster’ when they’d been walking for 20 minutes. The comment throws Soobin for a loop, but he quickly accepts the straightforwardness.

Once inside Soobin’s apartment, Yeonjun is quick to make himself comfortable. He spreads out on Soobin’s couch, arms and legs stretching in opposite directions. It looks similar to a cat stretching its limbs, Soobin thinks briefly. One could argue that he doesn’t look as eager to erase Soobin’s memories as he earlier said he was.

“It is a lovely home you have,” Yeonjun says after sitting up. His head turns this way and that as he takes in Soobin’s small living space. Soobin really wouldn’t call it lovely; it’s a one room student apartment with a kitchenette close to his bed. Well, at least he has space for a couch, he reasons to himself.

“Thank you,” Soobin says a bit reluctantly, never having been complimented for it before. At least he can tell that Yeonjun is genuine by the amazed look on his face.

“I’ve never been inside a human’s home before,” Yeonjun comments. He picks up the remote lying on the coffee table just in front of him. It looks like he’s inspecting an archaeological finding with the way his eyebrows scrunch up and he’s turning the thing this way and that.

“Here,” Soobin says, walking up to his side and gently taking the remote from him. “It’s for the tv, you can press the buttons and turn the tv on, for example.” He shows Yeonjun as he does precisely that. The tv lights up and makes Yeonjun jump in surprise.

“I’m guessing you don’t have TVs where you come from?”

Yeonjun squints at the screen, eyes blowing wide as he takes in the movements on it. “That’s really weird. Is it some kind of spell to show somewhere else in the world?”

Once again, Soobin is thrown for a loop at the question. “Uhhh,” he says unintelligently, “it’s not a spell. Humans don’t do spells, I don’t think. But I guess you could say it’s showing another place in the world, in one way.”

Yeonjun turns his gaze on Soobin, and there seems to be a million other questions on his mind. He seems to come to some kind or realization, though, which makes his excitement flicker out, and a more serious expression take its place.

“Come here,” Yeonjun says, pointing at the spot on the couch right by his side. He looks demanding, like he expects Soobin to do as he’s being told.

“What?” Soobin eyes the spot Yeonjun’s finger is pointing at and thinks it’s a little too close for comfort. Still, he doesn’t want to be rude, so he goes to sit at the edge of the couch, literally as far away from Yeonjun as possible.

Yeonjun is not perturbed. Instead of insisting Soobin come to him, he simply scoots over until he’s sitting so close that their legs are touching. And after shifting in his seat so that he’s sitting cross-legged facing Soobin, they are even closer.

“Um… hi?” Soobin says, blinking stupidly as he watches Yeonjun’s face. It dawns on him that he just dragged a complete stranger into his home without any sort of plan. He had things he wanted to say, but now it seems he’s unable to formulate those things.

“Hello,” Yeonjun indulges him with a chuckle, before his face turns more serious again. And oh, Soobin realizes too late exactly what it is Yeonjun is doing.

Wide eyed, Soobin freezes in shock when Yeonjun takes his face in his hands and forces eye contact. Soobin feels like he’s being dissected on the doctor’s table, with the way Yeonjun is looking at him. 

They sit like that, connected by the way Yeonjun keeps holding Soobin’s face, for nearly a minute before Soobin starts getting uncomfortable.

“Um, Yeonjun? What is it that you’re doing, exactly?”

At that, Yeonjun visibly deflates. His hands fall down to his lap, and he closes his eyes to let out a frustrated sigh. Soobin feels the lingering touch of Yeonjun’s hands even as he moves back a little to gain some space between them.

“I was trying to make you forget,” Yeonjun says, eyes flickering open to meet Soobin’s gaze.

“It didn’t work.”

Yeonjun rolls his eyes. “I know. I realized.”

It is a bit absurd to be sitting here, with someone that Soobin knows has wings and magical powers that can (apparently) erase people’s memories, on his couch where he and Taehyun have movie marathons and watch soccer games together. If he fell asleep now and woke up with Yeonjun gone, he could probably convince himself this was all just a strange dream.

“Let’s try the regular way, shall we,” Yeonjun says, collecting himself and focusing his intense gaze on Soobin once again.

Soobin is about to ask what the ‘regular way’ means, but Yeonjun shows him before he has time to form the words.

“You never saw me on the roof. You were just out to get some fresh air, and then you went inside when you got cold. The first time you saw me was at the café today. You said hi to me first, and after we talked for a bit, you invited me to your apartment.”

The next five seconds, Soobin studies Yeonjun’s eyes, wondering what to make of that. It’s obvious that whatever magic Yeonjun is trying to use on him is not working, even though there seems to be some hope in Yeonjun’s eyes. Soobin has no choice but to squash that hope.

“Sorry but I still remember seeing you crash landing on my roof.”

Another frustrated sound escapes Yeonjun, whose expression turns sulky rather than mad. “I did not crash land!”

Seeing an opportunity to talk to Yeonjun and make him – at least momentarily – forget about erasing his memories, Soobin asks, “Well what were you doing then? It didn’t look like you were planning on landing on my building.”

“Ugh it was just because my stupid brother ditched me and I couldn’t find my way back home without checking the way. It was quite dark out, if you remember, and I’m not as well-versed in earth-navigation as he is.”

“Oh, so you were just stopping to check a map?” Soobin wonders.

“I’m assuming this ‘map’ thing is some kind of navigation system?” Yeonjun’s face lights up in interest as Soobin nods in response. “Wow, that’s so cool! That we have different words for things.”

Soobin, in return, becomes just as interested in Yeonjun’s world. “Where are you from, Yeonjun?”

A light lit up in Yeonjun’s eyes at the question, but then a hesitant look took over his face. “I—I’m not sure it’s a good thing for me to tell you.”

“You’re gonna try to erase my memories anyway, aren’t you? It’s not like I’m going to tell anyone.” Soobin bites his lip and bats his eyes, unsure whether a flirtatious approach would work but willing to try it anyways. “I’m just so intrigued by you, Yeonjun.”

“Ohh,” Yeonjun stutters. “I guess… maybe it won’t hurt.” His eyes flickers away from Soobin and he gets a dreamy look in his eyes as he thinks about his home. “I come from another realm, you could say. It’s not accessible from here, unless you’re an angel blessed with the ability to move between the realms, like me. My home, it’s— well, it’s quite different from here. It is never as dark as it is here. We are not so bound to the ground as you humans are, which I guess makes sense, what with your lack of wings and all. Oh, and there’s much more animals than what I’ve seen here, and quite different ones too.”

“There are a lot of animals here too, though, just not so many in the city,” Soobin comments, because just as he’d said, he finds it incredibly intriguing.

Yeonjun’s eyebrows shoot up.. “I haven’t thought about that. Maybe I should go looking for more animals, then. Maybe they’re not so different from ours then.” He seems to think a little before continuing, “I really love animals. My favourite animal is the Whimsiwing. Do you have those here too?”

“Whimsiwing?” Soobin asks incredulously, and he has to hide his mouth behind his hand to prevent Yeonjun from seeing the way he can barely hold back his laughter. “Umm no, not that I know of. What kind of animal is that?”

“It’s amazing,” Yeonjun says, and he claps his hands together in excitement as he explains his favourite animal to Soobin. “It’s a small animal, but it’s so pretty and so magical. It has iridescent, shimmering wings that create light showers behind them as they fly. They harness the energy of laughter and joy, which is basically how they gather enough energy to fly through the air. Because of that, they are drawn to places filled with positive energy, and they are said to bring good fortune to anyone that sees it.”

When Yeonjun finishes his explanation, Soobin finds himself awestruck, both by the explanation and the expression on Yeonjun’s face. He looks absolutely amazed by the mere thought of this animal, and Soobin can just imagine what it would be like to see one. “Wow, that’s a really cool animal,” Soobin admits, making Yeonjun grin. “Your home sounds really great.”

“It is great,” Yeonjun agrees. “But here’s not so bad either. I haven’t been here that much – it was Beomgyu who talked me into it, because he’s been going for years and he’s always talking about how much me and Kai are missing out on—”

“Beomgyu, is that your brother? Or Kai—”

“Oh!” Yeonjun claps as he realises he’s left some details out. “Beomgyu and Kai are my two little brothers—or, well, not so little anymore. But, um, Beomgyu was the one with me that night. He’s used to this realm and knows how to navigate, but he ditched me to go watch some ‘pretty human boy’ as he explained it… as if he couldn’t have done that any other time.”

“Oh, okay. So Beomgyu was the one to show you how to go here?”

Amused and intrigued, Soobin continues asking questions, and Yeonjun happily answers. A few minutes later, Soobin has heard about Kai, who’s the youngest of the three brothers, but still the most responsible and smartest out of all of them. And he learns all about Beomgyu’s prankster nature, and how he’s apparently pining for this human boy that he goes to see several days a week but has never talked to.

“He’s not even let himself be seen by the guy; can you believe it?” Soobin stares at him with obvious confusion, inclining Yeonjun to explain. “Oh, we have the ability to become invisible to human eyes, which I really should have been utilizing that night when you saw me, but I didn’t exactly expect anyone to be out that late…”

Having already gotten used to Yeonjun speaking his thoughts out loud as side comments, Soobin moves on by asking, “Well, why won’t he let him see him? Do you guys have some kind of law that says you’re not allowed to talk to humans?”

Yeonjun lets out a cute snort. “It’s funny that you ask, considering if that was the case, I would be an offender of the law by now. It’s not that we have ‘laws’ like you humans do. It’s more that we are not allowed to let humans see us as anything supernatural. I think the reason is that… well, my kind doesn’t really trust your kind. There’s a lot of history and stuff that we don’t have to get into, but basically it all boils down to people like me being safer with humans not knowing of our existence. And that doesn’t mean I’m not allowed to interact with you.”

“I see.” Soobin purses his mouth. “Will you get in trouble for being here, then, with me? You said so before, at the café.”

That makes Yeonjun go quiet. He studies Soobin’s face for a while, seemingly thinking something through. Whatever it is he’s thinking about, it doesn’t seem too serious since he ends with a shrug. “I don’t know. My dad sure wouldn’t be happy… but it’s not like I’m disobeying him if I literally can’t make your memories of me go away. Besides, I think it’ll only turn really bad if you’d tell anyone about me.”

“I did kinda already tell my best friend, though,” Soobin admits, feeling bashful. But how could he have known that he wasn’t supposed to tell anyone about the ethereal angel he saw landing with his angel wings right next to him?

“You did say so before, yes. You do trust your best friend, right?”

Taehyun’s expression from earlier when he’d seen Soobin next to Yeonjun flashes in his mind. “Yeah, of course I do.”

“So, if you told him not to spread it, would he keep it a secret?”

“To be honest, he probably thinks I was just hallucinating or dreaming, since it happened so late. But if I told him not to tell anyone, he wouldn’t. I’m sure of it.”

“Okay.” Yeonjun nods. He looks up, then, looking at something that Soobin probably can’t see. “I must go soon. Maybe I should try one more time with your memory, just in case.” He must see Soobin’s disappointed face and adds, “I’m sorry, it’s not that I didn’t enjoy talking with you… you seem really sweet. It’s just safer, for both of us, if it would work.”

After hearing more about Yeonjun and his world, Soobin understands more than before. This time, he doesn’t resist when Yeonjun asks him to come closer, nor is he surprised when Yeonjun touches his face again.

Yeonjun goes so far as to touch his forehead to Soobin’s in an effort to make it work. Still, Soobin’s memory stays intact. When Yeonjun is on his way out and stops by the door to look at Soobin, there is something in his eye that tells Soobin that maybe he’s not the only one who’s happy it didn’t work.

-

It takes little over a day until Soobin sees Yeonjun the next time. He’s taken fully by surprise, having thought he wouldn’t get to see Yeonjun again, when the knocking on his door turns out to be Yeonjun accompanied by two other guys.

He understands quickly that these are the two brothers Yeonjun was talking about yesterday. One of them is long-haired and dressed more casually than the other. He walks into Soobin’s apartment and finds a chair to sit in without trouble, while the other brother stays behind Yeonjun and keeps gaping at everything around them. Soobin supposes that the former is Beomgyu, who according to Yeonjun is well-versed in navigating the human realm, and the latter is Kai, the youngest. After he thinks he’s figured it out, it immediately makes sense.

“Um, what are you doing here?” Soobin asks when it’s clear that none of the three angels are planning to say anything. He looks at Yeonjun for a response, feeling more comfortable to rely on him than the two strangers that pushed their way inside his home.

For a moment, Yeonjun looks almost guilty. “I, uh, told my brothers about you, and they wanted to come see you for themselves.” He holds his hands up in the air as if in defence, “I swear I tried to dissuade them. I don’t want to make you into some kind of spectacle. It’s just hard to get them to listen to me, and they said maybe it’s just my magic that won’t work on you.”

“It’s a nice place you have here,” says Kai, still from behind Yeonjun’s back, although he’s taken a step to the side so he’s more visible now than earlier. “Sorry for barging in unannounced like that. I’m Kai.” He gives a little wave to accompany his greeting, which Soobin finds incredibly cute.

“Nice to meet you, Kai. You probably already know, but I’m Soobin.” He turns to face the other brother and raises an eyebrow. “And you must be Beomgyu, then.”

“You are correct,” Beomgyu says, and then he surprised Soobin by standing and walking up to him with his hand outstretched. “Nice to meet you, I heard some stuff about you from Yeonjun.”

“Beomgyu—” Yeonjun says in a warning tone, but Beomgyu ignores it wholeheartedly.

As soon as Soobin takes Beomgyu’s hand to shake it, he regrets it as it sends a jolt of electricity up his arm. He figures, with the way Beomgyu is staring at him, then, that he’s trying to use the same tactic as Yeonjun had the previous day to erase his memories.

He has to admit that for a second, he’d been worried it might work this time. But when Beomgyu lets go of his hand and looks at him expectantly, relief flushes through him.

“Soobin?” Yeonjun asks, making Soobin’s head snap to the side to look at him. “Do you remember who I am?”

An unexpected chuckle escapes Soobin. “Yup. It didn’t work this time either.” He looks back at Beomgyu, who has a mysterious look on his face.

After a handful of moments, he seems to break character and deflates. Suddenly, he looks quite similar to Yeonjun, and Soobin realizes there is some familial resemblance he hadn’t noticed earlier.

“I don’t get it,” Beomgyu says, looking between his brothers. “It’s never not worked before for me.”

Soobin jolts when he feels a hand land on his shoulder, but he quickly realises it is just Yeonjun giving him a comforting squeeze on the way to sit down on the couch. He watches him go before snapping his eyes back up when he hears Kai speaking.

“Maybe he’s a faerie?”

Beomgyu seems to think Kai’s words through deeply before he makes a face that says ‘worth a shot’ and turns to Soobin. “Tell a lie.”

“What?” Soobin asks, eyebrows scrunching up involuntarily.

“Tell a lie. Any lie.”

“Uhhh, my hair is blonde…?”

He sees Beomgyu’s eyes flickering upwards, probably taking in the very much non-blondness to his naturally dark brown hair.

Beomgyu throws his hands in the air. “Not a faerie then.”

“Could he be part faerie?” Kai ponders.

Yeonjun sees Soobin’s confused face and takes pity on him, explaining, “faeries are the only earth creatures that can withstand angel magic. Other than angels, of course.”

“Faeries and demons,” Kai comments, and Yeonjun is immediately flabbergasted.

“I think I would have known if he was a demon!” he says, with this incredibly miffed look on his face. With a huff, he grunts, “I’m gonna call Jungkook,” and stands. Soobin’s eyes follow him as he stalks out of the door, only returning to the other two in the room when Yeonjun is gone from his sight.

“Are you sure you’re not a demon though?” Beomgyu asks curiously when Yeonjun is done storming out of the apartment. He seems completely unfazed by Yeonjun’s reaction.

“Uh, yes?” Soobin says. When Beomgyu doesn’t look convinced, Soobin crosses his arms over his chest. “I would know if I was a demon, wouldn’t I?”

“Well, not necessarily,” Kai jumps in, “there are lower-level demons that are able to walk on earth without getting affected by the sun, like top tier demons would. Then there’s also half-bloods—”

“Oh my God, I’m not a demon!” At the mention of God, both Kai and Beomgyu’s eyes flare gold, and their aura seems to glow radiant for a few seconds. “What the—”

“Okay, so he’s not a demon,” Kai says, eyes turning towards Beomgyu.

“Could still be a half-blood,” Beomgyu mutters.

“What was that just now?” Soobin wonders, still flabbergasted by their physical reaction.

“You spoke the name of the lord. It’s holy, and when it’s spoken out loud it causes our angelic powers to activate,” Beomgyu explains as if it’s something simple. “A hell creature would not be able to speak the name of the lord without excruciating pain, which is why we can rule that option out.”

At that moment, Yeonjun comes back, closing the door gently behind him. The three of them look at him, causing him to freeze at the attention.

“What did Jungkookie say?” Kai asks when Yeonjun isn’t prompted to start talking.

“Uhh,” Yeonjun says, and Soobin thinks he must be imagining the shyness in Yeonjun’s eyes when he glances at Soobin. “He said it’s not very common, but it does happen. It’s hard to determine why exactly; it could be dormant faerie blood in his ancestor line, a protective spell or it could be, um, that he just has… a Pure soul.”

Soobin waits for an explanation, but it seems the other angels understood Yeonjun perfectly, and they all stay quiet. Which means he must ask about it himself. “Wait, what does that mean?”

Yeonjun shares a look with his brothers, as if they agree on not saying anything, because none of them answer Soobin. “We, uh, gotta go now, Soobin,” Yeonjun says instead.

Soobin doesn’t get the chance to protest because the angels move towards the door.

“But—” he blurts, momentarily frozen in his place as he’s faced with the possibility that he won’t get to see Yeonjun again. It’s not until he sees the door start closing that his feet start moving after them. “Wait!”

The three angels file out of Soobin’s apartment, heading towards the stairwell. They are going to the roof, because of course they are. Soobin follows them there.

It’s dark outside, but not as cold as the night Soobin saw Yeonjun for the first time. For a moment, Soobin stands frozen as he watches the angels aligning on the roof, next to the edge.

“Wait!” he yells again, running forward until he catches Yeonjun’s wrist.

“Soobin?” Yeonjun asks, seeming surprised that Soobin is still there.

“Will you come back?” he asks, the fear evident in his voice. “This won’t be the last time I see you, right?”

“Oh.” Yeonjun blinks, and he looks genuinely surprised. Then, as his eyes scan over Soobin’s face, a smile starts in one corner of his mouth. “I… yeah. Sure. I’ll be back. Someone has to make sure you don’t reveal our secret, right?”

Soobin nods eagerly and releases Yeonjun, taking a step back. He watches them with big eyes as they turn and move towards the edge of the roof. Just as he thinks they’re about to jump, white flashes at their backs, and Soobin is met with the sight of three pair of celestial wings.

All three pair of wings are white, yet they still seem very individual. Kai’s are the longest, which is suitable since he’s the tallest, but they also seem to have a somewhat different pattern of the feathers than Yeonjun and Beomgyu’s. Maybe Soobin is biased, but he thinks Yeonjun’s wings are the prettiest. He can’t even pinpoint what differentiates them from Beomgyu’s wings; they just look more elegant, somehow.

Whatever words had been on his tongue in answer to Yeonjun are forever lost as he watches the wings spread out behind them. The next thing he sees is how the wings flap once, twice, and then the three angels lift into the air.

Even when they are long gone, no longer visible in the sky, Soobin stays rooted in his place. He can’t believe that just happened.

-

A few weeks pass by before Soobin sees Yeonjun next. Soobin can’t say that he has forgotten about Yeonjun in that time, the opposite, really. He’s been looking for Yeonjun everywhere he goes, hoping to see that ethereal face again.

It’s not just Yeonjun’s face he’s been missing, though. He has found himself daydreaming about the way Yeonjun talked about his home, this other realm that he himself can only fantasize about. With everything else in his life being incredibly dull and borderline depressing, Yeonjun is a speck of colour added to his life.

So, of course he’s thinking about him. He keeps wondering when he’ll see Yeonjun again; and he holds firmly to it being when rather than if, because he trusts Yeonjun’s word. He continues to go up to the roof, trying to catch a glimpse of any flying figures out there.

When Yeonjun finally does return, Soobin is so entirely unprepared to see him that he ends up falling in a bush, butt first.

Soobin doesn’t think he could’ve been more embarrassed when he sees Yeonjun leaning over the bush with worried eyes. He senses his own face growing redder than a tomato and contemplates just staying in the bush and never coming out.

“Hi, need some help?” Yeonjun asks, lending his hand to Soobin without waiting for a response. Soobin supposes that means he doesn’t have a choice but to leave the bush and brush off his embarrassment as well as he can, then.

With ease, Yeonjun pulls Soobin back to his feet and helps him brush off his coat. There’s a leaf stuck in his hair that Yeonjun courteously picks out for him.

“Such a scaredy cat,” Yeonjun teases him when Soobin doesn’t seem capable of forming words.

“Ah—I…” Soobin staggers on the words in nervousness, briefly wondering if Yeonjun knows what a cat is, and if so, do they have cats in the angelic realm? Well, that will have to be brought up in a different conversation. “You surprised me, is all. And that wouldn’t have happened if it wasn’t for the uneven ground.”

It’s true, the surprise mixed with the slightly raised stone was what made Soobin trip. Add Soobin’s clumsiness to that, and you have the answer to why he ended up on the bush.

“That’s cute,” Yeonjun only says. He turns and motions with his head for Soobin to follow, and then they end up walking together in the darkness.

“It’s, uh, been a while since I saw you,” Soobin dares to say when they’ve been walking in silence for a minute. He’s unexplainably nervous, perhaps because he’s been building this moment up in his mind over the last few weeks, and now that Yeonjun is here, he can’t think of anything to say.

“It has,” Yeonjun agrees. He pastes on a big grin and tilts his head as he looks at Soobin. “Did you miss me?”

Soobin is about to blurt out a curt ‘yes’ when he sees how Yeonjun’s failing at holding his laugh back. He’s just messing with him. Snapping his mouth shut before he can think of a response, Soobin curses his own awkwardness.

“I’ve been quite busy,” Yeonjun continues as if he’s not noticing Soobin’s inner crisis, “but I’ve been thinking of you. I’ve been wanting to come see you. Is that weird of me to say?”

“No!” Soobin blurts, only to stare wide eyed at Yeonjun at his own bluntness. “I mean, no. It’s not weird. I wanted to see you too.”

Yeonjun smiles more genuinely then, and it lights up his face so much Soobin almost believes Yeonjun has a magical smile. “I had fun talking with you, last time. I wanted to talk more with you and learn more about this world of yours. And also…” Yeonjun looks away for a moment, watching the quiet world around them before turning his eyes back to Soobin. “Somehow, I find you resisting my magic intriguing.”

Soobin doesn’t really know what to say to that.

“Where are you headed?” Yeonjun asks, changing the subject swiftly.

“Just home,” Soobin says. “I was studying at school, and I was just gonna go home and eat some noodles or something.”

“Noodles,” Yeonjun echo. “No idea what that is, but it sounds fun. Care to share some with me?”

At first, Soobin blinks stupidly at him. He can’t really picture Yeonjun—a literal heavenly being—eating cup ramen with him in his small apartment. There’s just something about Yeonjun that makes him seem too important for normal stuff like that.

But then he notices the excitement in Yeonjun’s eyes. There’s a curiosity there that fascinates Soobin and makes him just as curious about Yeonjun.

“Okay,” he answers with a smile. “Let’s have ramen together.”

-

Days pass by, and Soobin keeps thinking about Yeonjun. It begins as small thoughts here and there, wondering what Yeonjun is doing, wherever he is. He knows that Yeonjun spends most of his time in the angelic realm, since that is where he works and lives. Even if Yeonjun had tried to create a descriptive image of his home realm to Soobin, the place is still very much a question mark to Soobin. Thus, he also spends some time imagining how a place that houses angels might look like.

This time around, Soobin doesn’t have to wait weeks until he sees Yeonjun again. Again, it happens very unexpectedly, but this time Soobin is nowhere near a bush when he spots Yeonjun, nor in any other type of embarrassing position.

He’s sitting in the cafeteria with his classmates, slowly picking through his lunch as he listens to their conversation. It’s one of those days where he just can’t be bothered to care much about anything, least of all his classes. They were given another exhausting-looking assignment that Soobin could just tell would require many a sleepless night from him.

It’s then, when he is feeling so tired of everything, that he suddenly catches sight of the most ethereal face he knows. At first, he is sure he’s hallucinating, because what are the odds of Yeonjun showing up there?

It looks like Yeonjun is struggling, standing near the entrance of the cafeteria and trying not to get run into by the mass of students wanting to enter. The look on his face is anxious, to say the least, as his eyes scan over the many heads in front of him.

Hallucination or not, Soobin cannot have Yeonjun looking like that. Just seeing the anxiety on his face makes Soobin almost physically ache. He tells a quick excuse to his friends before standing and leaving with his tray.

It’s not until Soobin is just a few steps away that Yeonjun finally sees him. “Soobin!” he exclaims, looking so happy to see him that one could think he just found his saviour. “There you are.”

“Hey, Yeonjun. What are you doing here?”

“I came to see you, like last time.” His smile falters slightly as he looks at Soobin. “Is that not okay?”

The knot that has been in Soobin’s chest the entire day slowly starts to unravel as he lets his thoughts fully focus on Yeonjun and Yeonjun alone. “No, it’s okay. I was just not expecting to see you here, of all places.”

Relief washes over Yeonjun’s face for a moment. “What is this place anyways?” he asks, looking around at the people around them. “It’s… different to the other places I’ve seen you.”

“This is my school,” Soobin explains. He takes one look around, sees people trying to push past them and coming a bit too close to Yeonjun for his comfort, and decides they should just leave the cafeteria behind. With little thought necessary, he balances his tray in one hand and grabs Yeonjun’s hand with the other. “This is where I go to study, and, you know, earn my education.”

“Oh really? It looks like this?” Yeonjun’s eyebrows shoot up. “But there are so many people here.”

“Yeah, that’s just the way it is here. A lot of people get educations nowadays.”

They walk for a few minutes until Soobin can pull Yeonjun into one of the empty lecture halls where Soobin will have his next lecture in about an hour.

“How did you find me here, anyways?” he asks as they sit down facing each other. He places his tray with his half-eaten food on the table before him but has no intention to eat it. The most exciting part of his lunch was the bread, and he finished that already.

“I just used a locator spell,” Yeonjun says as if it’s the most natural and simple thing. To him it probably is. “It led me here, but even though I could sense you, I had trouble finding you in the mass of humans in there.”

“Yeah, school is not exactly the calmest environment.”

Yeonjun hums, and then he takes great interest in Soobin’s food placed in front of him, which he hasn’t touched since entering the hall. “Aren’t you going to eat?”

Soobin glances down at the fried rice that’s most likely gone cold by know and shrugs. “I’m not that hungry.”

For a second, Yeonjun eyes him thoughtfully. “But eating is such a pleasurable experience, is it not? Like, when we ate those—what were they called again?”

“Noodles?” Soobin supplies.

“Yes! Noodles, yes. When we ate those together, it was a really nice experience, wasn’t it?” He waits until Soobin nods before continuing. “Exactly. Each meal should be like that, shouldn’t it? A nice experience. Did you now like the meal?”

Soobin thinks that he and Yeonjun might have quite a different view of food. Recently, food has become more a source of fuel to him than something to sit down and enjoy, which might say something about his mental state that he isn’t ready to accept just yet. But to Yeonjun, it seems that he’s quite passionate when it comes to this question.

“It’s not that I don’t like it,” Soobin says slowly, dragging out the words as he tries to figure out what’s the best thing to sat. “I’m just not super hungry. And it’s gone cold already.”

“Oh?” Yeonjun studies Soobin’s plate, his lips pouting out slightly as he thinks. Soobin finds himself mesmerized by the sight, so much that he nearly misses the way Yeonjun waves his hands and makes the air shimmer between them. “How about now?”

Blinking, Soobin looks around, wondering what Yeonjun’s talking about. He sees Yeonjun nodding towards his plate, then, and realizes that there’s a small cloud of steam rising from his plate. Startled, he picks up a piece of chicken and brings it to his mouth.

“Wha—” he chews, looking at Yeonjun in astonishment. “You heated up my food? With magic?”

“Yeah, it’s a pretty simple spell, I use it all the time.” He looks at Soobin’s hand, where he’s holding his chop sticks, as if waiting for something. Soobin is reminded of how much Yeonjun had been struggling to use them when he’d cooked noodles for the two of them, since apparently angels had other kinds of cutlery to eat with.

It takes Soobin a long time to realize Yeonjun is looking at him like that because he’s waiting for him to continue eating. Startled, Soobin takes another bite just to make Yeonjun happy, and he realizes that the dish isn’t as bad as he had initially thought. It had more been his lack of motivation to eat that had prevented him, earlier.

Yeonjun seems satisfied when Soobin takes several more bites without needing his prompting. He looks around quickly, before waving his hand in the air again. The shimmering is back, and then Soobin stares at the table in front of him, where two bottles of soda have appeared.

He recognizes it as the exact same brand as the one he had served Yeonjun when they ate together at his apartment. “Is that—”

“I figured you should have something to drink with that,” Yeonjun comments simply. “And I really liked this spritey thing you gave me last time. It’s also the only thing I know that you have here, except regular water, which I guess I could conjure instead if you’d like it better—water is an essentiality after all—”

“This is great,” Soobin says, and suddenly a giggle is pulled out of him in response to how cute he finds Yeonjun. All discomfort regarding his food and his lack of motivation to eat suddenly disappears, and he thinks that if it makes Yeonjun happy, maybe he can make an effort to care more about eating.

--

The next time Yeonjun pops up, it’s again at a totally random time. Soobin’s position as a scaredy cat is tested once again, as Yeonjun dives into his view when he’s sitting in a completely quiet corner of the school library at 11 in the evening.

“Hi Soobin,” Yeonjun says, his words completely innocent, yet they still manage to scare the living shit out of Soobin.

Without his permission, a short scream escapes him. Soobin is happy to see him, of course. However, when his scream seems to have alerted the librarian, one thing leads to the other and the next thing they know, they are being thrown out of the library.

“It feels like that might’ve been my fault,” Yeonjun says when the librarian is long gone, having closed the door for them for dramatic effect. Soobin is staring at the door with a disappointed pout on his face, which he immediately wipes away when he realizes it might make Yeonjun feel bad.

“It’s alright,” Soobin says, and then goes on to explain the reason why they were thrown out, emphasizing that he isn’t blaming Yeonjun for it.

Since it’s quite late, and Soobin still is in need of studying if he’s going to finish his lab report in time, they end up only spending the trip back to Soobin’s place together before it’s time to say goodbye.

“Maybe…” Soobin says, unintentionally giving Yeonjun a longing sort of look as he wishes they could spend more time together. “Maybe we should plan for when and where to meet instead, to make sure we both have time. What do you think?”

“Yes, that would be better, I think. Then I won’t get you kicked out or destroy your plans again.”

He’s cute, Soobin thinks and grins. “You didn’t mean to get me kicked out,” he reminds him, “and I don’t mind having you destroying my plans. But if we have, I don’t know, a day where we meet up, then we could empty our schedules to make sure we have more time to hang out.”

Yeonjun agrees heartily. Together they discuss times and places and end up deciding that Saturdays would be their day.

-

After that night, Yeonjun comes to visit Soobin every Saturday, and he always brings gossip about his work, or his brothers. He starts seeing Soobin as his place to vent, his place to relax and get away from his life for a little while.

Simultaneously, Soobin relishes in the time he spends with Yeonjun. The more time spent together, the more Soobin learns about the Angel. He finds that he’s not only interested in the intricacies of Angels and Yeonjun’s home realm, but also in the man himself.

There is so many small details to learn about Yeonjun, the way he talks when he’s excited, the pout that appears on his face when Soobin teases him or when he doesn’t understand something, the absolute elation in his eyes when he learns something new about the human realm.

Soobin finds that the more he learns, the more he wants to know about Yeonjun. He finds it odd, at first, because he’s not a people’s person and he’s never found another person this interesting before. He’s never longed to see someone like he longs for Yeonjun, nor has he gladly skipped out on his alone time to spend an entire day with someone else before.

After having to turn down Taehyun’s suggestion to hang out on a Saturday for the third time, his best friend starts to get suspicious, and it leads to Soobin finally admitting who he’s spending his time with. Along with the admission comes a very fond explanation of what he and Yeonjun has been doing the last couple of weeks since they started hanging out. It doesn’t take long for Taehyun to figure him out.

“You like him,” he states one day when Soobin is over at the café, not even bothering to question it.

“I—” Soobin starts to protest, but as soon as he thinks about it, he realises protesting is futile. It’s obvious, isn’t it? He has questioned himself during the last couple of weeks, wondering why he was thinking about Yeonjun so often, and now that he understands he feels stupid. He should have seen it coming.

“I think so, yeah,” he ends up telling Taehyun, who smiles in surprise.

“It’s nice to hear you’re not denying it,” Taehyun says. “Does that mean you’re sure about your feelings for him?”

Considering he just now figured out his feelings, he wouldn’t say he was absolutely sure about anything. “I don’t know. I guess I just don’t see the point in denying it.”

“That’s a good sign, at least.”

It is, and it isn’t. Soobin has been aware since the beginning, of course, that Yeonjun is an Angel, which means that he’s different. However, it’s very easy for Soobin to forget it, since Yeonjun can be silly and goofy and even stupid at times, he’s got flaws and bad days just like Soobin does. But as time goes on, and Soobin sees Yeonjun more, he starts to realise that falling for an Angel could turn out to be harder than expected.

Because seeing Yeonjun only once a week is starting to become painful. He finds himself missing Yeonjun the moment he leaves, and during the week he’s distracted more often than not by thoughts of what the Angel might be up to. During class, his mind wanders as he thinks about what movie he and Yeonjun could watch the upcoming Saturday, or if there are any restaurants he could take Yeonjun to with food he hasn’t tasted before.

He knows it’s starting to affect his mood, and he’s slowly falling behind in school too, but he chooses to ignore it. Before meeting Yeonjun, he’d been the same, and at least now he can pride himself with being happy while procrastinating instead of it being because of a depressive slump.  

No matter the fact that Soobin is aware and ignoring what feels like a slow descent into madness, Taehyun is not above calling him out on it.

“Why are you looking so gloomy?” is the first thing Taehyun says to Soobin one Wednesday when they’ve gone out to get food at a new Food truck Taehyun had spotted and dragged Soobin with him to try. It’s a cold December day, so Soobin is wrapped up in his favourite scarf, which he thought was concealing his facial expression better than it apparently was.

“I’m not gloomy,” Soobin says, flashing a natural smile his best friend’s way. He stands from the bench he had been sitting on long enough to make his ass freeze and grabs Taehyun’s arm to start walking. “I’m as happy as ever.” As usual, it doesn’t fool Taehyun.

“I watched you the entire way from that building,” Taehyun says, pointing over his shoulder to a point that is surely very far away. Soobin doesn’t look back, not wanting to encourage him. “You looked like you were in the music video for a heartbreak anthem.”

Soobin sends him a nasty look, that Taehyun doesn’t even see because his bangs hide his eyes from Soobin. “You’re exaggerating.”

“Maybe, but don’t say you weren’t thinking hard about something. I know you don’t have to tell me, but come on, I’m your best friend. You usually whine about your problems to me all the time.”

Soobin is about to say that he doesn’t whine, but then Taehyun levels him with one of his Looks that makes Soobin lose all fight in him. It’s true that he usually talks to Taehyun whenever there’s something bothering him, and so far, it has always made him feel better to vent to his best friend.

“Okay, fine,” he says, pretending to be annoyed about it when he’s actually relieved to have a listening ear. “It’s Yeonjun. I was sad because I was thinking about him, and I guess I just… miss him.”

Taehyun makes them both stop by a streetlamp, under which half his face is lit up and the other shrouded in shadows. “That’s all? You were upset because you’re missing the guy you’re seeing?”

“I’m not actually seeing him,” Soobin says, slightly frustrated, “we just meet and hang out. Just because I have a crush on him doesn’t mean anything.”

“Soobin, we both know that you have more than just a little crush. If it was just a crush, you wouldn’t look so heartbroken when you’re just missing him.”

Huffing, Soobin looks away from Taehyun’s half lit up face. “If you could only see the person you were interested in once every other week, you’d also be miffed about it,” he said, ending with a pout.

His words seem to confound Taehyun, judging by the tilt of his head and wrinkle between his eyebrows. When he asks why that is, Soobin has to come up with a lie quick, which is not his strongest suit. “He works quite… far away, so he can only come here on Saturdays.”

“But don’t you have his phone number? Or his socials?”

Soobin pout becomes more prominent. “He doesn’t even have a phone.”

“And you’re sure he’s the same age as us? Who doesn’t own a phone?”

Soobin just shrugs. Since Taehyun didn’t seem to have believed when Soobin told him about seeing an angel that day on the roof, he had decided that he’s not going to mention that again, especially not in the same sentence as Yeonjun. “He’s from… the countryside, you could say, so he’s not grown up with internet.”

Realizing that he’s starting to freeze again since they’ve stopped moving, Soobin starts walking towards their destination again. Taehyun quickly catches up, despite his slightly shorter legs.

“When will you see him the next time?” Taehyun asks, clearly sensing Soobin is not finished with the topic of Yeonjun.

“I don’t know, that’s the biggest problem. He said he might have issues to come this Saturday, so I guess it would be next Saturday at the earliest.”

“Well, maybe the not knowing is making it harder for you,” Taehyun deduces cleverly. “Maybe that’s why you’re suffering so much from missing him, because you don’t know when you will see him again.”

“I suppose that might be true,” Soobin shrugs.

“Maybe you should tell him that you need more regularity? I mean, not as a demand, but like as a request to make you feel more at ease? Or you could ask if you can contact him somehow, even if he doesn’t have a phone. Maybe his family has a landline or something.”

At the end of the street they’re walking down, Soobin catches sight of the food truck. His eyes zone in on it, while his mind is somewhere else completely.

He supposes he could ask Yeonjun that. They’ve gotten to know each other well enough to be transparent with each other, at least Soobin thinks so.

-

“Is there a way for me to contact you when you’re not here?” Soobin asks Yeonjun the next time he sees him, in the middle of their stroll around a park. Tonight, they have nothing on the schedule other than spending time with each other. Maybe they’ll go and get something to eat at some point.

Soobin can’t help but giggle when Yeonjun looks like a question mark at his question. He pulls out his phone and shows it to Yeonjun. “This is my phone. I use it to send messages to my friends and family. I can also call them to talk to them.”

“Oh, that’s what that is?” Yeonjun’s mouth becomes an ‘o’ as he takes in the look of the phone, turning it over in his hands. “I’ve seen you holding it, but I couldn’t quite figure out what it was. What did you call it again?”

“A phone,” Soobin supplies.

“Phone,” Yeonjun repeats, nodding excitedly.

“So, is there anything similar for you angels?” Soobin asks, lowering his voice at the last word out of habit.

“Well, we usually send messages through magical links,” Yeonjun thought aloud, pursing his mouth. “But I can see if I can find anything.”

The next week, Yeonjun returns bearing gifts. Or, more precisely, one gift that he has wrapped up in a piece of cloth, because apparently angels don’t have wrapping paper.

Opening the cloth reveals a pair of bracelets to Soobin. He’s immediately captivated by their simple beauty. The pearls are round and identical in form and color, one of the bracelets made up of black pearls while the other is white. The only flaw to their perfect symmetry is the fact that on either bracelet, one pearl has been exchanged for one of the opposite color.

Without thinking, Soobin picks up the black bracelet first. He looks up at Yeonjun’s face, hoping his own expression conveys his thankfulness even without having said anything yet. Not to say he isn’t going to.

“This is an incredible gift, Yeonjun,” he says, looking back down at the bracelet in his hands. “Thank you.”

Suddenly, Soobin jerks and nearly drops the bracelet, as something akin to an electric shock runs up his arm. He looks up at Yeonjun, searching for the source of the shock, only to see Yeonjun has picked up the other bracelet.

Of course, he thinks, they’re a matching pair. It’s one for me and one for Yeonjun.

Something warm spreads through him at that thought. He and Yeonjun wearing matching accessories that shows everyone around them that they go together. Even if they’re not technically together. Yet.

“Remember what you asked me last time?” Yeonjun asks. Soobin tilts his head and blinks, wondering if he’s hallucinating because he could swear he didn’t see Yeonjun’s lips move.

“What?” he asks out loud, face clearly depicting his confusion.

“You asked me if there’s a way for us to talk even when I’m not here, visiting you.” Soobin blinks multiple times, now fully sure of what he’s seeing. Or not seeing. Yeonjun’s lips stay closed, but Soobin hears his voice still, loud and clear.

It takes a couple of seconds before it clicks. Wide eyed, he fixes the bracelet with an incredulous stare. Like Yeonjun did with his phone, Soobin turns the bracelet around as if trying to figure out how it works.

“Here,” Yeonjun says, and it sounds slightly different, Soobin realizes, when he’s talking out loud like normal. It takes him by surprise when Yeonjun’s slender hands grab the bracelet, and even more so when he feels the gentle touch of Yeonjun’s fingers as he puts the bracelet around Soobin’s wrist.

“We’re matching,” Soobin says absentmindedly, missing Yeonjun’s touch as he retreats his hands to his lap.

“We are.” Yeonjun taps his lips twice, perhaps to pull Soobin’s attention to them when he continues to speak telepathically. It has another, additional effect on Soobin, and he blinks several times before he remembers to listen to what Yeonjun is saying. “I got you this so that we can communicate no matter where we are. There’s a magic charm on these bracelets, and as long as we both wear them, we’ll hear each other.”

Soobin smiles without need for conscious thoughts. “That’s…” Soobin jolts when Yeonjun’s finger on his lips stops him, and he swears he hears the beating of his own heart from how much Yeonjun is affecting him. He realizes quickly what Yeonjun’s purpose with his action is, and tries to speak again, although this time mentally. “That’s… really. Cool? Is it working?”

Yeonjun’s grin is enough of an answer to that.

-

As the weeks pass by, there’s no need for Soobin to miss Yeonjun between their meetups once a week, because he now can contact him at any time. And maybe he abuses it a bit too much, but he just can’t help it. Having Yeonjun in his life has made things start looking good again. Suddenly, he finds himself taking joy in the little things in life that he had dreaded weeks ago. He doesn’t even mind that much having to study for his many assignments and lab reports and exams and whatever else that’s a part of the university experience.

Not only has Yeonjun made Soobin look forward to waking up, but he has also become the most important person to Soobin. Not to undermine Taehyun or his parents or his other friends, but he thinks Yeonjun is on his own kind of level now. The romantic interest level, Taehyun had said when Soobin discussed these thoughts with him, which of course is true, but it somehow feels like that is too simple of an explanation of what Yeonjun means to him.

He wakes up thinking about Yeonjun, goes to school thinking about Yeonjun, and spends his evenings talking to Yeonjun. Maybe he’s obsessed, and maybe he should stop contacting Yeonjun every time he feels the need to talk to him. But Soobin has a suspicion that Yeonjun enjoys their mental conversations just as much as he does.

As part of their routine, Yeonjun still comes by every Saturday to visit Soobin. They hang out doing whatever they can think of. Soobin likes to think of their Saturdays together as dates, and sometimes they even feel that way. Times when Yeonjun links their hands when they walk together or brushes dirt off Soobin’s cheek with the gentlest of touches.

He hasn’t said it out loud—hasn’t dared to ask Yeonjun if they are something more than just friends. It feels almost like he doesn’t have to ask, not with the way Yeonjun’s eyes shine when they look at him. Not with the way he feels nervous yet at the same time so incredibly calm in Yeonjun’s presence.

One Saturday, months into their relationship, Soobin finds himself pacing around his small apartment. It’s late, and he hasn’t heard from Yeonjun since yesterday. If following their normal schedule, Yeonjun should’ve been there hours ago.

He’s about to call Taehyun, because he’s literally on the verge of freaking out and talking to his best friend always helps because Taehyun’s the best at saying the right thing and knowing how to calm him down, and—

The doorbell rings, and it’s so loud, has it always been that loud? Soobin flinches so hard he drops his phone. Well, it was already cracked anyways, he might as well leave it on the ground.

He feels his heartbeat in his throat as if his own body is trying to warn him of an oncoming panic attack. It all comes to a halt, then, when he looks through the peeping hole in his front door and sees the person he’s been worrying about all day.

Soobin doesn’t hesitate to pull the door open and welcome Yeonjun inside. The moment the door opens, however, the welcoming words on Soobin’s lips die when he sees Yeonjun more clearly.

“Hey Soobin, I’m sorry I’m late,” Yeonjun says, giving a small wave. He looks small and unsure, eyes flicking between Soobin and the apartment behind him, likely wondering why Soobin is just standing there frozen, not letting him inside his home.

“You-you’ve…” Soobin stutters, dumbstruck by the vision he sees before him. On normal days, Yeonjun makes him nervous enough to stumble on his words and embarrass himself, but never before has he been stunned speechless like this.

It takes him several seconds and having to gulp hard before he manages to force out the words, “you have pink hair.”

It’s true. Yeonjun’s hair, which Soobin clearly remembers as brown, is now the same colour as cotton candy. Soobin is stunned to say the least. It’s a stark difference to his previous look, making him seem even more otherworldly than usual. He looks younger, and softer somehow. Soobin is completely struck by his beauty, and it’s like he’s forgotten how to behave, how to talk and even breathe around someone this beautiful.

Soobin’s hand twitches by his side as if it wants to move up so he can touch, but he forces it to stay where it is. It’s just… Yeonjun’s hair looks so fluffy, and surprisingly very natural, not at all fried and frizzy like Soobin’s own hair that one time he had bleached it.

“I lost a bet,” Yeonjun responds, pouting and looking at the floor. His reaction pulls a bubbly giggle out of Soobin, which helps drag him out of his shock. He grins and steps forward, grabbing Yeonjun’s hand and pulling him inside the apartment.

“What was the bet about?” Soobin asks curiously as they sit down on the couch. He can’t take his eyes off Yeonjun’s hair, nor stop thinking about how much he wants to touch it. He just needs to know if it’s as soft as it looks.

“Ah, it was stupid,” Yeonjun says bashfully, scratching at his wrist absentmindedly. “It was all Beomgyu’s fault, anyways. If he hadn’t been so loud, I’d have succeeded.”

“Now you have to tell me what the bet was.”

Pouting, Yeonjun folds his arms over his chest, sighing. “Well, I told my brothers I wanted to bring you a gift, so naturally, Beomgyu had to go and bet that I couldn’t get it from dad—I mean boss’s office without getting caught.” Yeonjun goes slightly wide eyed at his misstep on the words.

“Your dad’s your boss?” Soobin questions as the words sink in.

Baffled, Yeonjun shrugs as if it’s not that big of a deal. “Ugh yeah, he’s like a very… highly regarded angel in our realm.”

Soobin can tell that Yeonjun isn’t very comfortable to talk about his dad, so he quickly steers the conversation back to where it was. “Alright. So, you got caught?”

“Yeah,” Yeonjun says with an irritated huff, crossing his arms over his chest. “I was invisible and all, so no one would have seen me. But then, I stubbed my toe, and Beomgyu for some reason thought that was hilarious, and then his cackling alerted someone who alerted dad and… yeah, he arrived in seconds and caught me red handed.”

Soobin laughs, both because he finds the story hilarious and because it’s so incredibly cute. The horrible feelings he’d been filled with just minutes earlier were already gone with the wind. “Did he scold you for it?”

“Not more than usual,” Yeonjun shrugs. “He put me on double shift for two days, which was why I couldn’t answer you earlier. He took my bracelet, even though he doesn’t really know what I’m using it for. But, um… I’m actually, technically, on my break right now, so I need to go soon.”

“What was it that you were trying to get from your dad’s office? That you said you wanted to give to me?”

“Oh,” Yeonjun smiles shyly, like he sometimes does even though they have known each other for a while now. “Well, since I missed your birthday, and I didn’t know until recently when you told me that you humans celebrate it by giving presents, I wanted to get something for you. It was… something I thought you’d enjoy. I’ll try to get it for you again.”

Soobin chuckles. “You’re so sweet hyung,” he says, because that’s something Soobin has started calling Yeonjun lately. They never managed to figure out whether Yeonjun was actually older than Soobin or not, considering time apparently does not move in the same way in the angelic realm, but Soobin decided that it felt the most natural to think of Yeonjun as older than him. “You don’t have to get me anything if it’ll get you in trouble again.”

Smiling, Yeonjun shakes his head. “It’s worth it. You’re worth it.”

With the eye contact they hold Soobin swears he feels something in the air between them. Is it only him, or does Yeonjun sense the same thing?

Without thinking, Soobin lifts his hand to finally reach to touch Yeonjun’s hair. The moment he makes contact, he briefly registers that the hair does in fact feel as soft and fluffy as it looks.

The next moment, he jumps in his seat, startled by the loud flapping noise and rush of air, indicating that Yeonjun’s wings have sprung out from their hiding place.

Sometimes, when Yeonjun gets flustered or when he’s too tired to keep them in, Yeonjun’s wings come out just like they’ve done right now. With how many times it has happened, Soobin has moved anything that could be in danger of getting knocked by the large wings out of reach, which mostly meant putting it under his bed. Sure, it makes the room seem bare, but Soobin is reminded why it’s worth it every time.

Thus, the appearance of Yeonjun’s wings is not so unexpected. Soobin would like to say that he’s grown used to it. Today, however, the sight of them makes his mouth fall open in awed shock for the second time in just a few minutes.

“Your—you…”

Yeonjun gulps and his face turns beet red in front of Soobin. But the human doesn’t notice, because his eyes are locked on the wings behind Yeonjun’s back.

“Oh my gosh. Your wings are pink, Hyung.” It’s only then that Soobin looks at Yeonjun’s face. “Why are your wings pink?”

“Part of the bet,” Yeonjun mutters, eyes downturned and hands fidgeting in his lap.

Soobin is so awestruck that he can’t help but reach out again. He’s never dared to touch Yeonjun’s wings before, but tonight he can’t help himself. The feathers that used to be white are now a soft pink, the exact same shade as Yeonjun’s hair, and it makes him look even cuter than Soobin could imagine.

As Soobin’s fingers finally meet Yeonjun’s wings, he sees the way a shiver runs down Yeonjun’s back. Then, he feels Yeonjun’s gaze upon him, and meets it steadily.

“Is this okay?” he asks, and it becomes merely a whisper as he realizes that their faces are suddenly very close to each other.

“It’s okay,” Yeonjun says with a nod. He sounds insecure, and Soobin wants to do everything in his power to stop that.

“Your wings are so pretty, Hyung,” Soobin tells him as he runs a hand over the top of his right wing. He revels in the softness, how it feels more like fur than feathers, even though he can see that it is indeed feathers that he’s touching.

“You think so?” Yeonjun asks, eyes big as they watch Soobin carefully.

“Mm,” Soobin hums. “Pink or not, they’ve always been so pretty. So majestic. So strong.” He runs his hand over the back of a wing, feeling the muscles there tensing as Yeonjun shifts it closer to Soobin.

They are in their own little bubble, sitting there so close in the silence of Soobin’s apartment. Part of him wishes he’d turned on some music earlier, so that his nervous breaths wouldn’t be so obvious. But maybe Yeonjun doesn’t notice, or he just opts to ignore it. Soobin wonders if Yeonjun feels the same kind of jitters. Looking at his face reveals nothing about the state of his nerves.

Even if the air around them is silent, the atmosphere is one of a kind. Soobin feels like he’s electric, like lightning is running through his veins. Being this close to Yeonjun makes him aware of his feelings as well as his desires.

It’s almost like there’s a force pulling him in. He looks into Yeonjun’s eyes and sees what he guesses is the same line of thought running through his head. It’s not only Soobin that is moving, ever so slowly, closer. Yeonjun’s eyes flutter, starting to shut, and Soobin does the same.

Only, when he thinks he’s about to meet Yeonjun’s lips, instead he hears a wince and opens his eyes to see Yeonjun having leaned back. His eyes are scrunched closed and he’s holding a hand to his temple.

“Hyung?” he asks, suddenly scared by the prospect of Yeonjun in pain.

When Yeonjun’s face finally relaxes, he lets out a frustrated grunt. “It’s my dad, I…” He grimaces up at the ceiling. “He’s asking where I am. I need to get back to work.”

“Oh.” Soobin feels like he deflates just like a balloon, going from tight strung to completely depleted. But he sees the dejected look on Yeonjun’s face and knows that the fact that nothing happened doesn’t mean anything bad for their relationship. “Okay. So, you have to leave now?”

Yeonjun nods. He sucks in a deep breath and the next second his wings are folding themselves into his back. When he stands, he looks down at Soobin with a gloomy look on his face. “I’m sorry that I couldn’t stay for long today.”

“It’s okay, Hyung.” Soobin stands and follows him to the door. “I’ll see you next week like normal again, right?”

Yeonjun nods jerkily. “Yes. Definitely.” He looks down at Soobin’s wrist and adds, “And I’ll try to get my bracelet back as soon as possible.”

“Great,” Soobin grins. “I’ll talk to you soon.”

Even though they have said their goodbyes, Yeonjun lingers. He looks undecisive, like he’s debating with himself over what to do.

Soobin’s eyebrows shoot up and he is about to ask Yeonjun what he’s thinking about when Yeonjun seems to come to a decision and makes his move. Suddenly, Yeonjun is close, and Soobin barely has time to register the lips on his before it is over.

Dazed and shocked, Soobin’s mouth falls open as Yeonjun takes a step back. There’s the biggest grin on his face, and Soobin feels his own face mirror it quickly.

“See you soon, Soobin.” Yeonjun looks so incredibly fond as he leaves. Soobin swears it looks like Yeonjun’s walk is different than he’s used to, as if he’s fired up by some new power source. When Yeonjun reaches the end of the corridor he looks back and gives a cute little wave. It makes Soobin’s breath catch in his chest.

-

Yeonjun gets his bracelet back one day later, and Soobin is so relieved when he hears his voice again that he almost feels bad for missing Yeonjun so badly. But after the kiss that they shared, no matter how brief it had been, he thinks that his reaction is not unfounded.

Over the next couple of days, he and Yeonjun speak whenever they can. It’s natural, as if nothing has changed. The kiss is not brought up, perhaps because both of them are too shy. But Soobin vows to himself that the next time he sees Yeonjun, he will not only ask about it, but reciprocate the action. Their first kiss had been Yeonjun’s move, and so he thinks it’s only fair that their second is his.

On Thursday, Yeonjun tells Soobin that he’ll be swarmed with work all day and won’t be able to answer him. What he doesn’t tell him – and which leaves a very unexpected surprise for Soobin – is that he has asked his brother to go visit Soobin to make sure he’s okay.

After school that day, Soobin as usual heads to the café where Taehyun works to do some studying and then hang out with his best friend. He sits down in his usual seat and waves to Taehyun when he notices him. Pulling out his books and computer, he looks down for a few seconds, and when he looks back up there’s a person sitting in the seat in front of him.

A surprised sound escapes Soobin and makes Beomgyu laugh at him. “What are you doing here?” Soobin asks the angel when he’s finally quietened, giving him an ugly look for laughing.

“Yeonjun asked me to check in on you,” Beomgyu explains with a shrug. “I was going down here anyways, and he thought it could do me some good to spend time with you.”

“Ah, so it’s more for you than for me.” Soobin smiles, wondering if Yeonjun’s goal was to get Beomgyu to soften up to Soobin.

Yeonjun often complained to Soobin that Beomgyu isn’t so fond of their friendship since it takes up so much of Yeonjun’s time. In Soobin’s eyes, he guesses that Beomgyu is just jealous. Or perhaps sad that his brother spends less time on him. He does seem like the attention seeking type.

“Whatever,” Beomgyu replies. “He asked me, so I’m here. Now, do what you normally do, I guess. Act like I’m not here.”

Soobin glances towards the counter, wondering if Taehyun has noticed the sudden appearance of the Angel. He watches his best friend for a few seconds, and when Taehyun finally senses his gaze, he sends a confused look back.

“Hey, are you invisible right now?” Soobin asks, looking back to Beomgyu, who’s busy inspecting his nails.

“To everyone but you, yes.”

“So, everyone who hears me will think I’m talking to myself? Great.”

Beomgyu snorts. His eyes snap up to Soobin’s face. “I mean, you already give off that weird, crazy kind of vibe, so I don’t think it’ll make much difference that you talk to yourself.”

The look Soobin gives Beomgyu is the most deadpanned, unimpressed look he’s given anyone in a while, and that says a lot considering the people he’s had to do group assignments with.

Of course, Beomgyu is unaffected. He smirks and leans back in his seat like he owns the place, then nods at the things Soobin pulled out of his backpack. “Shouldn’t you get to work?”

Rolling his eyes, Soobin opens his computer and logs in. “Please stay quiet so I can study,” he adds to Beomgyu, who just sticks out his tongue at him.

Surprisingly, Beomgyu follows Soobin’s request and doesn’t say anything for the next five minutes. The arrival of Taehyun next to their table makes Beomgyu choke on his spit, it seems, and Soobin doesn’t feel sorry for him.

“Your drink, kind sir,” Taehyun jests, placing Soobin’s caramel macchiato down next to his computer.

Soobin snorts but indulges him. “Thank you, mister. Calm shift today?”

Taehyun nods as Soobin takes a sip from his mug. “Yeah, nothing out of the ordinary. Still can’t wait to get off, though.”

“Yeah,” Soobin hums. “Wanna come over to my place and hang out after?”

Like always, Taehyun’s face lights up. “Yes, definitely. Just 2 more hours and then we’ll go. Think you can last until then?” He glances down at Soobin’s workload on the table.

And Soobin can’t help but glance up at Beomgyu. He has to control himself to not give any visible reaction when he sees the look on the angel’s face. “Yeah, I’ll survive.”

It’s not until Taehyun has gone back to work and is busy with a customer that Soobin kicks Beomgyu in the shin and asks in a loud whisper, “what are you doing? You look like you’ve seen a ghost!”

Beomgyu blinks, and suddenly his shocked expression turns into a dreamy one. “More like I’ve just met the love of my life. Who was that?”

“What? That was Taehyun, my best friend.”

“Oh my,” Beomgyu says. He leans his head in his hand, elbow on the table, and watches Taehyun where he’s working, observing him without Taehyun’s knowledge. “He’s the most beautiful human I’ve ever seen.”

Soobin is thrown for a loop. He remembers Yeonjun’s story about Beomgyu ditching him to go see some guy he was interested in back when Soobin saw him for the first time, and eyes the angel sceptically.

“What?” Beomgyu asks when he senses Soobin’s glare.

Not knowing how to bring up that he’s sure Beomgyu is just momentarily infatuated with Taehyun, and that he doesn’t appreciate superficial people that only go for looks, Soobin decides it’s best to just stay quiet. He shakes his head and tries to go back to his studies. He can see at the edge of his view that Beomgyu goes back to admiring Taehyun from afar, and for a while it stays like that.

Until Beomgyu lets out a long whiney sound that alerts Soobin to look up, only to see him leaning both elbows on the table, face in his hands.

“Uhh what’s going on now?” he asks slowly.

“I can’t deal with this,” Beomgyu mutters from behind his hands. “He’s so pretty~” He drags out the last syllable as long as he can. Then, he removes his hands and looks at Soobin, looking like an idea has popped into his head. “Hey. You’re his best friend. You’re hanging out with him later. Then you can introduce me.”

Baffled, Soobin asks, “Why would I do that? You don’t even like me.”

Beomgyu acts like he’s never heard anything so absurd before. “What. Me, not like you? Pfft, that’s not important here. Pleeeeease will you do this for me? I’ll tell Yeonjun I love you.”

A disbelieving chuckle escapes Soobin. Glancing back at the innocent, unknowing Taehyun, Soobin gives a thoughtful hum. On the one hand, he is in need of getting into Yeonjun’s brothers’ good book if he wants to build a relationship with him. On the other hand, he isn’t very fond of using his best friend for that goal. Also, he barely knows Beomgyu, and introducing him to Taehyun without knowing what his intentions are… it doesn’t feel that great.

“Actually, I’m not sure if I’m comfortable with that,” Soobin admits. “I mean, I barely know anything about you except that you’re an angel and Yeonjun’s brother.”

Beomgyu stares him down for several long seconds. “I see how it is,” he says, pouting like a baby. He keeps looking at Soobin with calculating eyes for a couple of long seconds before nodding. “I guess that’s quite honourable of you. It’s nice to see that you care so for your friend.”

“Thanks?” Soobin is slightly unnerved by Beomgyu’s response, feeling like he was let off too easy.

“You’re welcome.” Beomgyu smiles then, and the sight does not make Soobin less anxious. “Besides, it’s probably more beneficial for me to not be associated with you when getting to know your friend. Taehyun, you said his name was?”

“Yes, it’s Taehyun, but, what… what are you talking about.”

Beomgyu stands. “If you’re not going to introduce me, then I’ll have to do it myself.” He gives Soobin a very conceited look and adds, “watch and learn, boy.”

When Beomgyu leaves the table behind and heads to the exit, Soobin wants to shout at him that there’s nothing he needs to learn from him. In fear of being seen as crazy, he refrains from doing so. Instead, he stays in his seat, watching with suspicious eyes as Beomgyu re-enters the café, most likely visible to all eyes by now. He struts up to the counter and waits for Taehyun to notice him.

The counter is a couple of steps away, not too far for Soobin to catch their conversation if he focuses on them.

“Hello, what can I get for you today?”

“Hi, can I have whatever is the sweetest thing you have here?”

Soobin shakes his head when Taehyun answers professionally, asking whether Beomgyu would like something with or without caffeine. And then he facepalms himself when he hears Beomgyu’s next line.

“Actually, I’m not that interested in anything on the menu. It’s you I have my eyes on.”

At that point, Soobin looks away, both because he’s too embarrassed to listen anymore, and to give some privacy to Taehyun.

A minute or so later, he watches Beomgyu strut over to his table, where he sits down and waves the napkin with 10 neatly written numbers on it.

“Beomgyu wins again!” He straightens out the napkin in his hand, beaming down at it.

“My friend isn’t a prize,” Soobin hisses, glancing over at Taehyun only to not see him. He must’ve disappeared into the back of the café.

“Ah stop whining,” Beomgyu rolls his eyes. “Now, tell me what I do with these numbers.”

It turns out that Beomgyu, despite having walked on earth much longer than Yeonjun, also doesn’t own nor know what a phone is. The revelation pulls a hearty laugh out of Soobin, and he doesn’t seem capable of stopping until Beomgyu threatens to tell Yeonjun that Soobin is mocking him.

“No, no,” Soobin says, coughing as he tries to calm down. “I’m not—not mocking you. It’s just too funny—” He shakes his head and takes a deep breath so collect himself. “You went through all that trouble only to fail because you don’t own a phone.”

“Well, I’ll get one, then,” Beomgyu says determinedly. “You’ll help me, won’t you?”

“Hmmm,” Soobin drawls, pressing a finger to his chin in mock deep thought. “Why should I?”

“Because you don’t want me to tattle to Yeonjun?” The look Soobin gives him seems to make Beomgyu rethink that thought. “Or… because you want to help your friend find true love?”

Reluctantly, Soobin ends up agreeing to help Beomgyu, since it seems that Beomgyu is genuine in his interest in Taehyun. Together they sneak out of the café without Taehyun seeing them together, and Soobin takes Beomgyu to the nearest store where he can get a phone. It surprises Soobin that Beomgyu has money, but he’s thankful that he doesn’t have to pay for the angel with his own money.

Once they’re done buying the phone, Beomgyu makes him sit down on a bench outside and show him the basics of using it. Considering Soobin wants to go back to studying before Taehyun starts to become suspicious, he ends up only showing him how to call and text the two numbers in his phone (Beomgyu bullied Soobin into giving him his number as well). The rest, he tells him, he has to figure out on his own. It’s not like he needs to know much more than that anyways.

An hour later, when Taehyun’s shift is finished, the younger boy strolls over to the table where Soobin has been sitting trying to study since leaving Beomgyu with his new phone. The first thing that comes out of his mouth is,

“I got hit on by this guy before, did you see?”

Soobin doesn’t know if he’s supposed to act unknowing or not, but he supposes that if Beomgyu is serious about Taehyun then it will come out that he’s related to Yeonjun sooner or later. Better to just be honest, then. “I did. Has he texted you yet?”

Taehyun’s phone is in his hand and he giggles as he glances down at it. “He did. He sent some weird messages, but it’s pretty cute.”

After Taehyun shows Soobin the messages, which are choppy and filled with odd, mismatched words here and there (Soobin assumes Beomgyu hasn’t realized what autocorrect is yet), Soobin sighs. “Are you gonna answer him?”

He packs his stuff up and then the two of them exit the café together. The whole way back to Soobin’s apartment, Taehyun talks about Beomgyu and tries to get Soobin to help decide what to text him. Even though Soobin is not exactly elated about the way things are turning out, he at least can admit to himself that he’s happy that Taehyun is happy.

-

On Saturday, Yeonjun stands outside Soobin’s door, tailed by Beomgyu. “He insisted to come with me,” Yeonjun says, sounding as bummed about Beomgyu being there as Soobin is.

Beomgyu pushes himself inside Soobin’s apartment, not waiting to be invited. “I’m here for some advice about the ‘tellyphony’ thing. I can’t really figure out why my messages to Taehyun turn out so weird all the time. You need to help me.”

A bit reluctantly, Soobin sits Beomgyu down by his kitchen table and explains what autocorrect is to him. Beomgyu nods as if he understands, but when he tries to write another message, he still can’t seem to work around it. In the end, Soobin just turns autocorrect off for him, and Beomgyu showers him in praise once it is done.

“So, is he going to stay here the whole day?” Soobin asks Yeonjun after having left Beomgyu by the table and finding Yeonjun lounging in on the couch.

“I have no idea. My hope is that he’ll get bored of us and go out to try and find his boy.”

Soobin bites his lip and nods. “Mm yeah, ‘cuz I was hoping we could, um, talk about… you know, what happened last week.”

Yeonjun smiles and scratches his wrist nervously. His eyes flicker momentarily down to watch Soobin’s lips. “Ah. That. Yeah, I suppose we should talk—”

“Hey, is it alright if I invite Taehyun over?” Beomgyu exclaims, interrupting his brother midsentence.

Soobin looks up, flushed and upset that he couldn’t have even this moment alone with Yeonjun. “What? To come here?”

“Yeah! He knows you, and I want to see him.”

“Can’t you go out and see him, then?” Soobin asks. “Does it have to be here?”

Beomgyu stands and makes his way over to them. He holds his phone in his left hand, while pointing accusingly at Soobin with his right. “Yes. Because, I don’t trust you enough to leave you alone with my dear brother.”

“Beomgyu,” Yeonjun scolds, sitting up straighter. His expression is cold, getting close to anger, as he looks at Beomgyu. “I’ve been seeing Soobin alone every Saturday for months. Don’t try to be chivalrous all of a sudden. I can take care of myself.”

Beomgyu narrows his eyes. “Yeah, that still won’t make me leave. Not until I’m ready to trust Soobin with your heart.”

Yeonjun stands up and towers over his brother. “Beomgyu—”

“I already told Taehyun to come,” Beomgyu interrupts, holding up his unlocked phone which shows his conversation with Taehyun. “So you’ll just have to deal with it.”

A sound close to a growl escapes Yeonjun. “I’ll tell Jungkook that you stole his amulet.”

Beomgyu squares his shoulders, not one to back down easily. “Then I’ll tell him you kissed a human, and you’re planning to do it again.”

Soobin can barely keep up with the verbal fight between the brothers, but at the mention of their kiss, he gulps.

“You—” Yeonjun sputters, eyes widening at Beomgyu’s audacity. “First of all, I told you that in confidence. Second of all, don’t act like you’re not planning to do exactly the same thing with your boy.”

“I haven’t done it yet, though. I won’t be punished for just having thought about it—”

“Hey, guys?” Soobin stands and steps in between the brothers. “Will you just stop? Why are you fighting over this?” He looks Yeonjun in the eyes questioningly. “Okay, so Beomgyu doesn’t trust me. It’s because he’s protective over you. Let him stay here all he wants, then, until he does.”

Yeonjun keeps his eyes locked on Beomgyu even as he answers Soobin. “He’s being a little brat about it—”

“I know, okay?” Soobin takes Yeonjun’s hand in his reassuringly and waits until he’s got Yeonjun’s attention on him. He keeps Yeonjun’s gaze for two seconds, trying to radiate calmness. “But it’s just for today. I don’t want you two to get into trouble just because you’re momentarily mad at each other.” He turns his head and gives Beomgyu a pointed look.

The younger angel throws his hands in the air. “He’s the one who made the first threat. I was just protecting myself.”

Soobin just sighs heavily. “Let’s just move on. When is Taehyun-ah coming? Did you tell him how you know me?”

It’s ten minutes later that Taehyun shows up with a confused yet excited look on his face. Soobin invites him in, and he quickly heads over to Beomgyu, who’s taken a place on Soobin’s couch by now. 

Not trusting Beomgyu to tell a truthful story to his friend, Soobin ends up explaining to Taehyun how they’re all acquainted. Since he’s been talking Taehyun’s ears off at times about Yeonjun, Taehyun is well aware of how they know each other. Thus, after Soobin mentions Beomgyu is Yeonjun’s brother, there’s not much more explanation needed.

To try and get a little privacy for themselves, Yeonjun and Soobin end up offering to cook something while Taehyun shows Beomgyu how to operate Soobin’s game consol. Soobin’s apartment doesn’t have a separate kitchen, so Beomgyu’s eyes are on them as they leave the couch, but at least they’re able to talk without the younger butting in all the time.

“I’m sorry,” is the first thing Yeonjun says when they’re both hovering by the fridge. He speaks quietly, but Soobin is sure Beomgyu can hear them anyways with his enhanced hearing. “I, uh, had something else planned for today, but Beomgyu ruined it.”

“It’s okay,” Soobin says, smiling. “Life doesn’t always go according to plan. We’re still together, and that’s enough for me.”

“You’re cute.” Yeonjun grins and leans sideways on the counter, his eyes watching Soobin with interest. “I suppose you’re right. As long as we’re together, I’m happy too.”

They share a long look in which they both grin at the other, before Soobin turns and opens to fridge. As he starts pulling ingredients out, he asks, “So, what was it that you had planned to do today?”

“Um, remember that thing I was trying to steal that got me into trouble with my dad?”

Soobin chuckles at that. “Yeah, it was just last week, you know.”

“Well, I went back on my own, with no Beomgyu around to make me get caught, and managed to get it without problem. I was going to show it to you today.”

“Wanna tell me what it is?”

“No,” Yeonjun drawls, “that would ruin the surprise. I’ll give it to you next week instead.”

Soobin purses his lips, wanting to argue but deciding not to. He looks over his shoulder at the two on the couch, and wonders out loud, “why is Beomgyu so protective over you, anyways?”

“He’s being stupid. He’s got it in his head that it’s his duty to take care of me when I’m the older brother here.” Soobin sees Yeonjun send a glare at Beomgyu’s back, at which Beomgyu lifts his hand to pretend to scratch his neck, only to give Yeonjun the finger without turning around. Yeonjun just sticks out his tongue in response.

When Soobin gives him a questioning, unimpressed look, Yeonjun adds, “It’s probably because my last relationship didn’t turn out that… great. But he was nothing like you – he’s another angel, for one – and Beomgyu should see that after just one glance at you.”

Soobin looks at Beomgyu and thinks Yeonjun’s words through. Even if he doesn’t know the details of Yeonjun’s previous relationship, he supposes he can understand Beomgyu wanting to protect Yeonjun from more pain. He could see himself doing the same for Taehyun, if he believed the person trying to pursue him was truly bad for him.

It bums him out a bit that Beomgyu deems him too untrustworthy still. Even if he doesn’t exactly like Beomgyu, he’s willing to give him a chance. Especially since it seems like Taehyun likes him. He’s not about to ruin that for his best friend just because he himself doesn’t know Beomgyu well.

He tells himself that it’s not the same thing, that Beomgyu is more overprotective of Yeonjun because of previous events.

“Well,” Soobin says to Yeonjun, “I’ll just have to win him over, then.”

They make snacks and then join Beomgyu and Taehyun on the couch, where the latter is currently destroying Beomgyu in a game of FIFA. Beomgyu complains the whole time about the buttons on the controller making no sense, yet when Soobin offers to take over for him, he refuses. “I’m not a quitter,” he says, and continues the losing game.

The rest of the day passes by smoother than Soobin had expected after the near fight between Yeonjun and Beomgyu earlier. It takes an hour or two for the brothers to cool off on each other, and then they’re suddenly besties again.

Soobin tries his best to get into Beomgyu’s good book as the hours pass by. He manages to make Beomgyu laugh a couple of times, and even talks him up a bit in front of Taehyun. Still, at the end of the day he’s unsure if he’s succeeded or not.  

It’s quite late when Beomgyu and Yeonjun leaves. Soobin can’t help but look longingly at Yeonjun as Beomgyu is pushing him out the door, sad that he didn’t get to kiss Yeonjun like he had planned to.

“I’ll see you next week,” Yeonjun calls out before they leave, and Soobin can’t help but glance at Beomgyu to see what his reaction to those words is.

He’s still confused, though, because all Beomgyu does is roll his eyes, and then the door closes right in front of Soobin’s nose.

“Beomgyu hates me,” he whines to Taehyun, throwing himself face down on the couch. “He doesn’t accept me being with Yeonjun.”

Taehyun pats his head gently. It feels nice, and Soobin begins to relax. “You’re overreacting. He doesn’t hate you.”

“He does. He said he wouldn’t let Yeonjun be alone with me because he doesn’t trust me.”

Taehyun just chuckles. “I think it’s more that he’s testing you. I can tell that he likes you already.”

Soobin lifts his head and looks at Taehyun with a hopeful expression. “You think so?”

“Yeah, so you shouldn’t worry so much.” He grins and helps Soobin pull himself to a sitting position. “I think he can tell that you make Yeonjun happy, and that should be enough for him. He loves his brother a lot.”

“How do you even know that much about him?” Soobin asks, frowning. “You met him two days ago.”

That makes Taehyun laugh and cuddle into Soobin’s side. “He texts me a lot, you should know. Yesterday, he figured out how to use voice message, and then he basically told me his life story. It’s quite cute, actually.”

Soobin thought that if Taehyun found Beomgyu’s irritating actions cute, then he would just have to accept that his friend was already smitten with the angel.

--

“Why are we on the roof?”

Soobin stares out at the clear sky, before turning around to give Yeonjun a questioning look. The angel had led him out there soon after showing up that day, claiming that he had a surprise for him.

“I’ll show you,” Yeonjun says, and then he swings his bag forward on his shoulder. Soobin hadn’t even realized he had that with him.

Soobin watches with interest as Yeonjun sticks his hand deep in the bag – deeper than should be physically possible with the size of the bag. When he retreats his hand, he’s holding something white and feathery in it.

“Wha—” Soobin sputters when Yeonjun pulls the object up and spreads it out to show it in its full glory. It is quite obvious what it is then. “Are those wings? You stole someone’s wings?”

Yeonjun laughs heartily at his reaction. “No, silly. I stole a pair of extra wings from my dad’s storage. They are synthetic, and we use them when our real wings are hurt.”

“Oh.” When Yeonjun holds the wings out for Soobin, he takes them hesitantly.

The feathers are soft, but they don’t feel quite the same as Yeonjun’s wings. It’s clear that these are not real, but they still look functional enough to him. “Um so, what am I supposed to do now?”

“Well, I thought we could, you know, take them for a test ride? If you’d like to try?”

“Me?!” Soobin stares at the wings as if they’re going to start moving and fly away from him any moment. “Fly? With you?”

“Yeah?” Yeonjun smiles nervously. “I mean, you don’t have to, of course. It might be a bit frightening for a human, I suppose. I just—I thought it could be fun? To do it together?”

Soobin looks up at Yeonjun. He sees the uncertain hope in his eyes and realizes that this is something Yeonjun really wants to do. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have been so nervous about it.

Since meeting Yeonjun the first time, they always spent time doing stuff that was common in the human world. Going to cafés, eating takeout together, watching movies. It’s all been so natural to Soobin that he hasn’t even thought about how he has been the one to decide all this time. It’s only now that he realizes that Yeonjun haven’t been able to do the stuff that he loves.

Now he’s trying to do just that, to do something he loves together with Soobin, a way to show him a part of his life somehow. And Soobin is hesitating, why? Because he’s frightened? He’s scared of a little height?

“No, it’s okay, I want to try,” Soobin says, trying to let go of his fears. He’s not even that scared of heights, so what is it that makes panic claw at his throat?

The smile that breaks out on Yeonjun’s face is worth facing his fears, though, so Soobin just swallows and lets Yeonjun strap the wings onto him.

“Now this,” Yeonjun explains as he puts two metallic round pieces onto Soobin’s temples, one on each side of his eyes, “connects to your mind so that you can control them. It makes the wings behave exactly as if they were your own.”

“Okay,” Soobin nods stiffly. “And how do I make them work?”

Yeonjun steps back, looking Soobin up and down before his eyes fall on the wings behind his back. “You just think about moving them, like how you’re moving your arm, and they do just that.”

Move the wings? Soobin blinks and stares at the ground a few steps away as he focuses. He doesn’t feel anything at first, but then he thinks about how flapping wings look like, and suddenly a strong wind pushes him forward. Stumbling forward, he ends up being caught by Yeonjun’s arms.

“Woah,” he says, looking over his shoulder at the wings that must’ve just created the motion Soobin had been unprepared for. “They moved?”

“Yeah,” Yeonjun grins. “Wanna try it again?”

Soobin steps back and thinks about the wings moving gently behind him. This time, he feels it, and he can tell by Yeonjun’s expression that he’s doing something right.

They spend some time at the roof to make sure Soobin gets a feel of the wings and is prepared to use them in the air. When Yeonjun has taught him how to lift off the ground and hover in the air, the angel deems Soobin ready to go flying for real.

He holds out his hand for Soobin, who realizes he’s holding some kind of stone for him to take. “It’s an amulet,” Yeonjun explains when Soobin turns the thing over in his hand. “It’s to make you invisible to human eyes. I could’ve just put a spell on you, but I’ve never used it on anyone other than myself, and I didn’t want to risk anything. This should work without fail.”

After Soobin has pocketed the amulet, Yeonjun lets his own wings sprung out behind his back. They are still pink, just like his hair is, and Soobin finds that incredibly cute. He guesses that not many other angels out there have pink wings like his Yeonjun.

They end up standing at the edge of the roof, in almost the same spot that Soobin remembered having seen Yeonjun and his brothers fly away together so many months ago. It’s a bit surreal, to stand here, looking down at the pavement below, and think that he’s going to step off the roof and not fall to his death.

“Don’t worry,” Yeonjun says, as if he sees Soobin’s doubt. In truth, Soobin’s doubt is more of an intense fear of failing – and dying as a result of that – but he guesses that he is controlling his face rather well if Yeonjun can’t see that. “I’ll be beside you the entire time. And I promise I’ll catch you if you fall.”

Somehow, despite knowing there’s no way Yeonjun can promise that, Soobin believes him. Unsurprisingly, he finds that he trusts Yeonjun fully. The realization helps calm him down enough to nod when Yeonjun asks if he’s ready.  

“Just remember to fly,” is all Yeonjun says, and then Soobin is stepping off the roof with him.

A scream escapes Soobin before he can stop it. The air is rushing rapidly around him, deafening him. Yet Soobin still hears Yeonjun’s voice loud and clear in his head.

“Just fly, Soobin. Just fly.”

He knows Yeonjun won’t let him die. And he knows he can fly, because he just did it, albeit a feet or so above ground. So, he just has to do like he did then. He just has to think of the wings as his wings and make them flap behind his back.

He imagines a bird jumping off a roof and sliding through the air before taking flight and pictures his own wings doing something similar. As soon as he thinks it, he notices that he’s slowing down by the way the wind stops whining in his ears.

It’s only then he dares to open his eyes. When he sees that he’s gliding forward rather than falling down, he takes an exhilarating breath and imagines flying up. Up, up, up, he goes, away from the ground and the people who can’t even see him.

“It’s working,” he says to Yeonjun telepathically, only to realize that he can’t see Yeonjun. He tries to turn in the air, but he can’t really manoeuvre that well yet, so all he can do is turn his head to look back.

With a swoop in the air, Yeonjun flies into his view. The sight is magnificent, the way Yeonjun moves so perfectly, as if he was gliding through water.

As if putting on a show for Soobin, Yeonjun flies in a loop and spreads his arms, letting out a whooping sound that exhibits just how good he’s feeling right now.

Soobin doesn’t think he’s ever seen anything a sight as beautiful as this.

As they continue flying, Yeonjun teaches Soobin the nits and tricks to using his wings. He keeps praising Soobin the entire time, telling him he’s doing perfectly well. The entire time, Soobin feels on top of the world, both because he’s literally flying through the air, and because he’s got Yeonjun’s full attention on him.

It’s not until they decide to take a break that Soobin realizes that he’s grown quite tired from flying. Still, as soon as they land in the middle of a meadow they’d seen from high above, he lets out an exhilarating laugh. He hasn’t felt this good in a long time.

“You look really good with wings.” Soobin turns and watches Yeonjun walk over to him. His pink, beautiful wings are already folded away, even though Soobin’s are still standing high behind his back. Soobin thinks it’s funny, since it’s like the opposite of the truth, that Soobin is the one carrying the angel wings while Yeonjun walks like a human. Still, it doesn’t feel wrong to him at all.

Yeonjun seems to think the same thing. “You look like a true angel,” he adds. “It suits you.”

“It’s you who it suits best, Hyung,” Soobin says, because even though he loves the compliment, it’s the truth. Taking a step closer to Yeonjun, he continues. “You’re angelic, in the human sense.”

Intrigued, Yeonjun also steps closer, so that he’s close enough to thumb at Soobin’s shirt. “What’s the human definition of angelic, then?”

“Pretty,” Soobin says with little thought needed. He doesn’t know the literal definition, but he thinks that everything Yeonjun is is a good enough definition in itself. “Beautiful. Kind. Pure. Ethereal.”

“You think I’m all that?”

“That and much more,” Soobin says, his voice lowering unintentionally as he and Yeonjun come even closer to each other. It’s like they are pulled close like magnets, rather than consciously stepping towards each other.

He glances down at Yeonjun’s lips without caring if Yeonjun sees. If anything, he wants him to see and know how Soobin absolutely cannot resist him right now.

“Thank you,” he continues, eyes flicking up to Yeonjun’s again, “for today. I never thought I’d get to fly as an angel. I had a lot of fun.”

“Me too,” Yeonjun mumbles.

The way the light falls on Yeonjun’s face, slightly from the side, makes him glow in an even more otherworldly way than normal. He looks absolutely stunning, and Soobin can barely comprehend that he’s here, right in front of him. It feels like he’s dreaming.

“Yeonjun-hyung,” Soobin whispers, leaning even closer in, until their noses almost touch. “I’m going to kiss you now.”

His intention is to say it as a question, but it comes out more as a statement. Still, he waits, giving Yeonjun the option to resist.

But no words escape Yeonjun, and it’s only when glancing up at his eyes that Soobin realises Yeonjun has closed his. The next moment, Yeonjun’s chin tilts up and his lips open ever so slightly. Soobin sees it for what it is: an invitation.

He doesn’t need to think for another moment before he swipes in and catches Yeonjun’s lips with his own.

In contrast to their first kiss, this one is not swift and soft, but a fierce battle against their own desires. Soobin wants to taste everything that is Yeonjun, and he revels in the feeling that erupts in his chest when Yeonjun accepts his tongue into his mouth.

Soobin has kissed other people before, but he forgets all about them in that moment. It is all Yeonjun in his mind, this feeling that takes over him now belongs only to Yeonjun. He’s not entirely sure what it is, if it’s love or just desire, but either way he’s not scared of it.

While kissing, Yeonjun’s hands reach out to touch him. At first, his touch is shy and careful, but the longer their kiss continues, the bolder his hands become. Soobin shivers as he feels Yeonjun’s nails drag up the small of his back before landing and grabbing more roughly at his shoulder blades.

He pays little attention to where he places his own hand, the action of grasping Yeonjun’s neck in his hands so very natural.

Eventually, it comes to an end, but they don’t let go of each other immediately. Instead, they stand there with their hands on each other, breathing heavily and grinning stupidly at each other.

“I liked that.” Yeonjun is the first to break the silence after his eyes retreat from Soobin’s gaze. He lifts his hand to Soobin’s neck, and carefully traces his thumb over Soobin’s jawline.

“Me too,” Soobin tells him, and his voice sounds rough and lower than usual. “And… I like you, Yeonjun. I really like you.”

Yeonjun grins, and seeing his smile in this moment makes Soobin feel like every nerve ending in his body lights up and sparkle. It’s such a pure, beautiful sight that Soobin is almost overwhelmed by it. He wants to kiss Yeonjun again, wants to kiss him all over and worship him like he deserves to be worshipped.

When Yeonjun only grins and doesn’t say anything, Soobin presses a finger into his chest to prompt the words out of him. He’s surprised by how calm and not worried he is, so completely sure that Yeonjun feels the same as him. Still, he’d like to hear the words.

The movement pulls a giggle out of Yeonjun. “This is so surreal,” he says. “To think some months ago, you saw me crash landing on top of a building like an idiot, and now we’re standing here.”

“So, you admit you crash landed, then,” Soobin teases, earning him a light fist hitting his chest. He laughs at Yeonjun’s eyeroll.

“Anyways,” he says, smiling fondly, “I guess what I wanted to say was, I like you too. Much more than I thought possible.”

It becomes a little sappy, then, as Soobin can’t help but tell Yeonjun how much he likes him too. How he’s so happy to have got to know Yeonjun, and that he’s so amazed by him. But Soobin doesn’t really care at all about how it sounds, because it’s only him and Yeonjun there, and he needs Yeonjun to know what he’s feeling.

They stay at the meadow for hours more, spending their time laying around in the grass and going flying a couple of times. It easily becomes one of the best days in Soobin’s life, and he doesn’t want it to ever end.

Still, when the sun starts to go down and they have to make their way back home to prevent having to fly in the dark, Soobin doesn’t dread the end of this perfect day. Maybe it’s because of the kisses and whispered reassurances he and Yeonjun share as they return to Soobin’s apartment. It makes him realize that even if the day is over, this day has opened up a whole new future for him. Now, for once, he’s actually looking forward to the future.

-

A couple of blissful weeks follow, where Soobin is nothing but happy the entire time. Yeonjun comes by not only on Saturdays, but on weekdays as well, whenever he can manage to leave work for a short while. They get to know each other more and more as time goes on, and Soobin stays firm in his choice that Yeonjun is the one for him. There’s nothing that’s not working between them.

Beomgyu and Taehyun seem to work quite well too, it seems, if what Soobin is to believe what he hears from his best friend. The few times he sees Beomgyu, the younger angel seems at least less hostile around him. If he’s to believe Yeonjun and Taehyun’s words, Beomgyu likes him well enough. He’s not completely sold, but he thinks he and Beomgyu might just become friends if they give it some time.

Everything is as close to perfect as Soobin has ever hoped his life could be, until suddenly, it isn’t.

Out of nowhere, Yeonjun stops answering Soobin through the bracelet. Soobin isn’t immediately worried, since it’s not the first time Yeonjun has had to remove his bracelet when working. It’s the first time he’s taken it off in the middle of a conversation, though, so Soobin supposes that is a bit odd.

It happens on a Thursday, and Soobin still hasn’t heard anything from Yeonjun when Saturday rolls in. He’s been telling himself for the past three days that everything is fine, that Yeonjun will just explain what’s going on when he comes on Saturday.

But it’s just that. He doesn’t come.

Saturday comes and goes, and so does Sunday, Monday, Tuesday… With each passing day without hearing anything from Yeonjun, Soobin’s worries grow and grow and grow.

He talks to Taehyun, wondering if he’s heard anything from Beomgyu. It turns out, Beomgyu told Taehyun on Friday that he was going to be away for a while, and that he would call him when he could. After that, he too hasn’t heard anything from his boyfriend.

Soobin finds himself crippled with fear and worry for Yeonjun. Still, he forces himself to go through with his daily life, hoping that Yeonjun might pop up at any time. He keeps sending questions out via the mind link, hoping that at some point, Yeonjun will answer. Because he knows that Yeonjun would get mad if he found out that he let himself drown in his worries instead of taking care of himself, he tries to not fall too deep into his old habits.

It’s probably nothing to worry about, he keeps telling himself as a few days turn into a week. Yeonjun might just be very busy. Maybe he lost the bracelet, or it broke or something, and that’s why he hasn’t come back to tell Soobin why he’s unable to see him.

Considering Taehyun is not so worried about his own boyfriend’s sudden disappearance, Soobin doesn’t feel like he can dump his worries on him, in case it alerts him that something might be wrong with Beomgyu as well. Instead, he has to keep his fear and imminent heartache to himself.

-

Soobin comes home from school the Monday eleven days since he last heard from Yeonjun, to see a figure sitting on his couch. Whatever was in his hands drop to the floor loudly, and Soobin runs into the room in hopes that Yeonjun has finally come back.

Of course, he knows instantly that the person he sees is not Yeonjun. He’s not pink haired, for one, nor is he as comfortable in Soobin’s home as his boyfriend.

“Soobin.” Kai stands and faces him. Soobin immediately stops moving, caught by surprise by the agonized look on Kai’s face.

“Kai, what’s wrong?” Soobin immediately says, and he has to force himself to stay calm when all he wants to do is grab Kai and shake the answer to where Yeonjun is out of him. “Is it Yeonjun? Did something happen to him?”

It’s a stupid question, because even if Soobin has been trying to tell himself everything is fine, he knows that something must’ve happened to have Yeonjun disappear on him like this.

“It’s…” Kai motions with his hands to have Soobin sit down, and it doesn’t exactly help Soobin’s warring nerves. “It’s dad. He’s forbidden Yeonjun from visiting earth.”

Contradicting Kai’s serious expression, Soobin lets out a sigh of relief. That’s all? Yeonjun’s dad had grounded him?

“It’s not quite as simple as it sounds,” Kai continues, breaking Soobin out of his thoughts. He looks contemplative, as if he’s trying to find the best way to explain to make Soobin understand. “For angels… rank is very important. And the thing is, our dad is one of the highest ranked angels. He’s… a big deal. And Yeonjun is the oldest sibling, which makes him dad’s heir. He’s the one who will take over his responsibilities one day.”

Soobin nods to show that he’s understanding. It sounds quite simple to him, but perhaps Kai is dumbing it down a lot to him. “Okay, so why did he forbid Yeonjun from coming here?”

“Dad found out that Yeonjun stole the wings and showed them to you. Once he did that, he pulled everything out of Yeonjun, the whole thing about not being able to erase your memory, and then how he’s been visiting you ever since then. I wasn’t there, so I didn’t witness his wrath but… I can imagine what a scene it was. I think Yeonjun telling him that he was in love with you was the tipping point, according to what Beomgyu told me.”

“What, so your dad is going to punish Yeonjun for being in love with a human? Is it because I’m a guy?”

Kai looks down at his lap, where his hands are resting. “It’s not that. Bigotry is not accepted in the Angelic realm. It’s about Yeonjun endangering our kind by continuing to associate with you. It would be one thing if he only talked to you and was having a human kind of relationship with you, the way Beomgyu does with Taehyun. It’s another thing entirely that you know about his angelic powers, and that he utilizes them to talk to you. And that he let you use an angelic item, one that could not only cause harm to you, but that could lead to others finding out about us.”

“How does he know all that?”

“Well, he caught Yeonjun trying to sneak the wings back in their place. He also has the power to call forth the truth from you. He made Yeonjun tell him everything, down to the smallest criminal detail.”

“But… it’s not a crime! He tried his best to erase my memories, but it didn’t work! Then he kept visiting to just make sure I kept the secret. That shouldn’t be illegal!”

“It’s quite intricate, Soobin,” Kai sighs. “I assume he doesn’t believe that you’re resistant to our magic. He’s locked Yeonjun in his room and forbidden anyone from speaking to him until he’s decided on his punishment. I only know about all this because Beomgyu was in the room when dad rained down on Yeonjun.”

“Forbidding him from going to earth is not punishment enough?” Kai’s expression is answer enough. “What can we do? Is there anything I can do? Can your dad come here to see that Yeonjun wasn’t lying?”

Kai snorts out loud. “Dad wouldn’t set his foot here. He’s too much of a snob, unfortunately.”

“Then what can we do?” Soobin asks desperately.

“I’m not sure yet. I’m going to talk to Jungkook, he’s like our mentor. He might help me to find a way talk to Yeonjun. I’ll see if I can get dad to calm down somehow, too. I’m the youngest, you know, so he has a bit of a soft spot for me.”

Somehow, Soobin had trouble seeing how a man like the one described could have a soft spot for anyone. “Can I do something from here?”

“Wait until you hear anything more. I know it’s probably awful to not hear anything, but I’ll try to come back as soon as I can.”

Soobin nods in agreement, although he’s not excited to just wait around and hope that others will solve this for him.

-

Soobin finds out quickly that he’s not so great at waiting around. It had been one thing when he hadn’t known the full story and had just walked around waiting for the other shoe to drop. Now that he knows Yeonjun is in trouble, and that if they didn’t get him out of it, Soobin might never get to see his beloved again, he was on the verge of going mad.

Okay, so not going mad mad, but more like his mind being on its edge all the time, always close to a nervous breakdown. When he tries to tell Taehyun about it (since his best friend is quite good at reading Soobin’s emotional state), he just bursts into tears, no words even escaping him.

Small breakdown aside, Soobin tries to stay on the top of his game, doing as much research as he can about angels. There’s not much to find, really, which might have to do with that history between angels and humans that Yeonjun had told him about.

It’s been six days since he saw Kai when Soobin stumbles upon something quite odd in his apartment.

There’s a small animal sitting in the middle of the hallway of his apartment, just a few steps inside the door. It’s a coal black cat, with big brown eyes that pulls Soobin in.

He squats in front of the cat and carefully reaches out to see if it will let him touch it. The cat stares at his face, then his hand, as if can’t believe that he’s daring to touch it. Still, it doesn’t stop him, making no sound or movement at all. Soobin’s finger comes in contact with soft fur, and the cat immediately melts into his touch.

As he scratches behind its ear and watches it with confusion, Soobin thinks out loud, “I’m not that much of a nervous wreck that I forgot about taking in a stray cat, am I?” He tilts his head forward so that he’s face to face with the cat. “Where did you come from?”

As if the cat was offended by his words somehow, it jumps away from him and begins to stroll further into Soobin’s apartment. Like an idiot, Soobin follows it, staying one step behind in case the cat changes its mind and decides that it does not like him anymore.

It sprints away from him suddenly, surprising him in its speed. It rounds the couch, and as it disappears from Soobin’s view, a bright flash illuminates his apartment for a moment.

Soobin comes to halt, shielding his eyes with his hand. When he looks up next, he stumbles back as his eyes fall not on a cat, but a man a few years his senior.

He does not fail to notice that this man has the same eyes as the cat, albeit in a human shape.

“Hello, Soobin,” the man says, in a very calm yet slightly eerie tone.

“H-hello.” Soobin holds his hands up, having no idea what to do in a situation when there’s a cat-turned-human burglar in your apartment. “Who-who are you? What are you doing here?”

The man is dressed in an almost regal uniform, Soobin notices, and it matches the way he holds himself. He looks like he’s someone important, and it makes Soobin feel very small all of a sudden.

“I’m here to see you,” the man says, and Soobin wishes he would just stop being cryptic and spell it out for him loud and clear. “I usually do not give my name out freely, but seeing as you are someone dear to the sweet Yeonjun, I’m willing to make an exception. My name is Jungkook. Use it wisely.”

Soobin blinks stupidly, baffled by his way of speaking. It takes him three seconds before the name clicks in his brain. “Jungkook?! As in Yeonjun’s Jungkook? The guy he grew up with? The guy he always goes to for advice, Jungkook? That’s you?”

“I did just say that, yes.”

Suddenly, Soobin feels much more welcoming, and so he gestures wildly for Jungkook to take a seat on his couch. “What are you doing here, then? Do you know how to help Yeonjun?”

“I’ve been sent here to deliver a message,” Jungkook explains. Soobin nods eagerly, trying to stay patient when all he wants to do is to shake Jungkook and yell at him to just get it out. “Or, in fact, two messages. The first, of course, is from the lovely Prince Yeonjun.”

“Prince Yeonjun?!” Soobin nearly shrieks. Yeonjun never mentioned anything about being a prince… “You know what, I don’t care right now. Tell me the message. Please.” He adds the last word as an afterthought, guessing that if Yeonjun is a prince, then maybe Jungkook is someone highly ranked as well.

“Pince Yeonjun has been locked away,” Jungkook explains. “His father has not yet decided upon a punishment, but Yeonjun is afraid that it might somehow be involved with you. Thus, he used up the last of his energy reserve to push through his father’s magic and tell me to get to you. That is why I’m here, to deliver this desperate message to you.”

Soobin swallows, yet it does not help the growing lump in his throat. He stares at Jungkook, awaiting the message, hoping that it’s nothing heartbreaking.

“Yeonjun wants me to tell you that he is alright. He’s not harmed in any way, he’s just unable to leave at the moment. He knows he’s done wrong in his father’s eyes, and so he will take whatever punishment he will deem necessary. As long as no harm comes to you, he says he will be alright.

“He also said that you should not feel sad, that this is how it ends between you. See it as a happy ending, he said, a happy ending to a very happy story. He does not regret anything that the two of you have done together. He only regrets not being able to look you in the eyes and tell you he loves you, because he does love you, deeply.”

Soobin thinks that maybe he should be crying, but what he feels is only a spreading feeling of numbness inside. He can imagine these words in Yeonjun’s voice, can imagine the sadness on his beautiful face as he says this goodbye to him.

Maybe that’s why he’s not sad. Because he’s not ready to say goodbye. He won’t let go of Yeonjun that easily.

“Prince Yeonjun is such a melancholic romantic, isn’t he?” Jungkook asks Soobin. “He is such a pure soul; he deserves the whole world and more.” At that, Jungkook smiles to himself, as if he’s just said an inside joke that only he understands. Soobin doesn’t care much to ask him what that means.

“He does,” he simply agrees, instead. Rubbing a hand over his face, he tries to keep his spirit up as he reminds Jungkook, “you said you had two messages for me?”

“Ah, yes.” Jungkook nods slowly, and Soobin swears he sees sparks flying when Jungkook rubs his hands together. Suddenly, there’s a younger, mischievous look in his eyes that takes Soobin by complete surprise. “The other message is from the two princes Beomgyu and Kai. They have requested your presence at the royal palace, to help them rescue their brother.”

Soobin stares at him, waiting for him to announce that it was all a joke and tell him the real message. But Jungkook keeps looking at him as if he awaits an answer, and Soobin just doesn’t understand.

“What the hell are you talking about? My presence at the royal palace? Is—that’s in the angelic realm, isn’t it?” Yeonjun has told Soobin on multiple occasions that humans are incapable of entering the angelic realm because the lack of magic in their veins prevents them from taking as much as one step through the gates. It’s very unfair, Soobin thinks, seeing as angels can come and go as they want in the human realm. And they can perform magic. Completely unfair.

“You are correct,” Jungkook answers simply.

“Then you should know that I am a human, which means I cannot enter the angelic realm.”

The mischievous look comes back, and Soobin wonders how a face can change so much with only a small change of expression. “It is true that humans should be unable to enter the angelic realm. However, there are, as to many rules, some exceptions. And you, as we have seen in your ability to resist magic to be performed on you, might just be such an exception.”

“’Might be’ is not good enough, I think.”

“Well, there is a way to test it, of course. You see, the fact that you’re resistant to angelic magic tells part of the story, but it is impossible to determine your true heritage with only that.”

“Is this about whether I’m a demon or something? I told Kai and Beomgyu that I’m not, why can’t they just believe me?”

Jungkook shrugs, as if he doesn’t see why the question is so important to Soobin. “In one way, it is. In another, it is not. The simple answer is that together, we can determine if the princes’ new theory is correct.”

“You know,” Soobin says, pushing himself to his feet and turning around so he can stare this strange man down, “I’m getting a bit tired of your secrecy. Will you just spell it out for me. What theory are we going to test?”

“Well,” Jungkook says, “we’re going to test if you are the owner of a Pure soul.”

-

Jungkook explains it in what he says are simple terms, but it still takes Soobin some time to think it through before he thinks he gets it.

“A human with a Pure soul is one that, for one, is pure good,” Jungkook says when he starts explaining. “The meaning behind it is more than that, though. To have a pure soul means to be very close, spiritually, to the angels. It means the capability to see and speak to angels when other humans cannot. Also, a pure human soul is said to be so close to angelic in itself, that with the right blessings, the human bearing it can be turned into an angel.”

At that point, Soobin had been almost sure someone was fucking with him, because there’s no way that he is this pure soul person who is so angelic that he could be turned into an angel. Just no way. He’s just a normal guy, a bit introverted and nerdy and completely uninteresting. How could he, who’s never done anything spectacular or particularly angelic in his life, have a Pure soul?

Well, the crux here is that they don’t know if he has one, not yet. He realizes that it’s only a theory of Kai and Beomgyu’s, and should he really trust a theory made up by two guys who barely know him at all? One of which has held a grudge against him for no real reason at all?

“How do you suppose we test out this theory, then?” he asks Jungkook after he’s been given some time to just think.

Jungkook seems satisfied to finally get the question. “There’s two parts to the test. The first is quite simple, really. You just need to let me perform my magic on you.”

“What?” Soobin asks slowly. “But we already know that angelic magic doesn’t work on me.”

“Who told you I’m an angel, Soobin?”

Soobin blinks. Come to think of it, no one ever told him those specific words. The only times he’d heard about Jungkook, it had been a barely-there mention, or a retelling of a fond memory. Never had Yeonjun gone into detail about his mentor’s identity.

“Well, if you’re not an angel, what are you?”

Being asked that question is what makes Jungkook finally break out in a smile. As if on cue, sparks fly in the air, only when Soobin looks closer, he realizes that it resembles glitter more than anything else.

“I,” Jungkook drawls, “am born of the Fae folk. Do you know anything about Faeries, Soobin?”

Does he? He knows Yeonjun, or one of his brothers, had mentioned them when they first tried to erase Soobin’s memory. What had they said back then? “I, uh… I think they are resistant to angel magic, too.”

“They are indeed. They are also magical themselves. I’m guessing you are not aware, then, that faeries are part angel, part demon?”

“Uhh,” Soobin just says, very intelligently indeed, but Jungkook seems to take that as enough of an answer.

“Well, we are. And that means we can tap into darker magic than angels are capable of.” A part of Soobin finds Jungkook’s words menacing, but he holds strongly onto his belief that Jungkook is there to help him, somehow. “Now, what’s interesting for you to know is that another benefit of having a Pure soul is that one cannot only resist angelic magic, but darker, demonic magic. So, if my magic has no influence over you, then we are one step closer to ruling that you truly do have a Pure soul.”

“What will you try to do to me with your magic?” Soobin mumbles, trying to keep his composure.

“You saw me in my other form earlier. Perhaps I shall try to use a similar spell on you. Should it work, it might be a bit fun for you, don’t you think?”

Soobin wants to retort that it depends entirely on what animal Jungkook has in mind to turn him into. He stands tall, looking almost bored as he motions for Jungkook to go on and do it, as if it isn’t totally freaking him out that he might get turned into an animal any second now.

Jungkook steps up to him and lifts his hand. Soobin stays completely still, although he can’t help the way his eyes shut just when Jungkook’s sparkly finger is about to touch his nose.

There is a tingling sensation around his nose that for a moment has Soobin fully convinced that the magic worked and that once he opens his eyes he will find himself much closer to the ground. Before he can panic, however, he hears Jungkook say, “well, it seems those two might just be right,” and instantly his eyes snap open.

Everything seems as it should, and one look down tells him that he’s still in his own body.

“Umm,” Soobin fails to find words for a couple of moments as he realizes he’s quite winded. Maybe the threat of being turned into an animal had frightened him more than he had realized. “So, what do we do now? What will you make of this information?”

“It means,” Jungkook says thoughtfully, “that there’s just one more test. You must enter the Angelic Gates.”

-

The Angelic Gates are not what Soobin had expected. Instead of a pair of huge, shining gates lined by clouds in every direction, Jungkook takes him to a perfectly normal, human place in the middle of the city. It’s a gateway that leads to a garden, without doors or anything.

“This is the place?” Soobin asks, staring up at the gateway that is only about a meter and a half taller than him. He thinks if he jumps, he might just reach the top of it. “This is how we get to the angelic realm?”

“This is the place, yes,” Jungkook says, nodding. He’s got his hands in his pockets, looking much more casual now than he’d done back in Soobin’s apartment.

“But… what are the odds it’s here, in Seoul?” Soobin looks around and is surprised to see there are other people walking around in the vicinity.

“The Angelic Gates are not linked to a specific location,” Jungkook explains. “They are interdimensional, and they can be moved to wherever around the world they are needed. This just happens to be the closest suitable place to activate them.”

Soobin’s mouth forms a big O. “So, they are like ‘not here nor there’, kinda like in between both dimensions? That’s so cool.”

Jungkook gives him a bored look. “I suppose to you it’s quite a spectacle.” He claps then, and steps up to the side of the gateway, “Now, shall we open up the gate so that we can get to rescuing Prince Yeonjun?”

Liking that there’s no doubt in Jungkook’s expression, as if he’s already accepted that Soobin has a pure soul and that he will be able to help Yeonjun, Soobin agrees and quickly steps up to Jungkook’s side. He follows the directions he’s given then, to touch the gateway with his full palm and think of Yeonjun. Not a hard task for him at all.

“You will feel the magic run through you,” Jungkook explains, “and if the gates recognize you, they will show you the other side. If they do not, there should just be no reaction. I think.”

Soobin sends him a glare. “You think? You mean, you’re not sure that I won’t be harmed, if it doesn’t work?”

“I haven’t tried to invite a human to the angelic realm before,” Jungkook shrugs. “But angels aren’t hostile of humans. Logically, no harm should come to you.”

Okay, so that does not exactly make Soobin feel any better. Still, he will not let that perturb him, because he is determined to help Yeonjun. Should it not work, well… he’ll just have to deal with the consequences then.

He places his hand flat against the side of the gateway. The material is stone, and it’s quite cold under his palm even though it’s spring and quite warm outside. Next to him, he sees Jungkook do the same action, and is reminded of his job of thinking of Yeonjun.

So, he closes his eyes and visualizes Yeonjun. At first, he thinks about Yeonjun as he’d last seen him, when they’d been lying next to each other on top of Soobin’s bed, staring into each other’s eyes as they talked. Soobin doesn’t even remember what they had talked about in that moment, but he remembers how he felt. He had felt so warm and filled with happiness that it almost confused him how he could feel so good for doing something so simple as lie next to Yeonjun.

He doesn’t know how long he needs to keep going, but since Jungkook isn’t saying anything, Soobin’s imagination runs wild. He thinks about his first kiss with Yeonjun, and about the grin on Yeonjun’s face as he’d turned to leave then. Their second kiss replays in his mind next, and it causes the longing inside Soobin to flare up bigger than he’d let it the last couple of days.

Instead of continuing to visualise old memories, Soobin imagines where Yeonjun might be now, locked inside his room in what he guesses is the royal palace. He has no idea how the place looks, but he thinks he knows how Yeonjun spends his time there.

Yeonjun loves to fly, and he loves to play with the animals in the wild. So, when Soobin imagines him in his room, he sees him standing by the window, staring at the world out there longingly. He must feel so lonely and tied down.

“Soobin, you can open your eyes now,” he hears Jungkook say, and he obediently follows the command.

The space underneath the gateway has changed from showing the garden in Seoul, to now show a sunny, blurry world behind a shimmery layer of what almost looks like water. It looks almost like any kind of dimensional portal that Soobin has seen in movies.

There is barely any time to register that oh shit it worked before Jungkook is telling Soobin that they need to head in before the door closes.

“Just follow me,” Jungkook says, and then without preamble, he steps into the shimmery portal. Soobin is too stunned to stop and think things through, so he just follows after Jungkook as if he’s attached to him by a string.

The first part of him that pushes through the portal is his right foot, and as soon as it does, he feels a sensation similar as having dunked his foot in ice water. Cold spreads up his leg and each part of his body that goes into the portal feels it as he pushes forward. It is like he’s going straight inside a waterfall, giving him an unwanted cold shower as he tries to step into the Angelic Realm.

It’s so bad, so bone chillingly cold that he fears something has truly gone wrong and that the plan is not going to work after all. Then, it comes to a complete surprise that when he’s entirely through the doorway, the cold disappears in an instant. His eyes flash open, and he’s stunned by the world he sees.

Jungkook waits there, looking bored once again. “Well then,” he says, ignoring Soobin’s harsh breathing that came as a response to the cold. “Welcome to the Angelic Realm.”

-

The walk from the Angelic Gates to the royal palace is the craziest experience in Soobin’s life. Yeonjun’s explanation of the place has truly not done it justice, and so Soobin walks down the path with the biggest eyes, trying to take everything in at once.

There are indeed more animals around than Soobin is used to seeing back in his world. Some are quite similar-looking to animals he’s used to—there are horses running wild in a meadow not too far from the road, and a squirrel sits in the middle of their path, minding its own business and eating something green Soobin doesn’t recognize. Then there are creatures completely foreign to Soobin, such as the rabbit sized animal with black fur and two horns atop its head. It looks almost like a cat, Soobin thinks, but sort of more round and with shorter legs, not to mention its red eyes.

Then there are the flying animals. The sky is full of them, some bigger than others. All different kinds of colours flash by as he looks up and tries to catch sight of them; most of all, he’s trying to see if he can find Yeonjun’s favourite animal, the Whimsiwing. But most of the flying animals are like blurs in the sky, so he doesn’t get a good view of them.

As they walk along the path, Soobin realizes that so far they’ve only been walking at the outskirts of a city. In the distance, he sees the city start to form before his eyes, and he’s once again awestruck. Just like Yeonjun had said back then, the angels don’t seem to have been quite so restricted to the ground as humans when it came to building up their city. For all the buildings lining the earth, there are twice as many hovering high up in the air above. There must be some kind of magic holding them up, and it amazes Soobin how they don’t even drift with the wind.

“That building, at the centre there,” Jungkook says, pointing it out to Soobin as they walk, “is the Royal Palace. That is where we are heading.”

Soobin stares at the building in the distance, dumbstruck. “But it’s in the air. How are we getting there?”

“Since I work for them, I would just have to go to the visitors’ entrance. It has a magical lift that brings me to the entrance of the palace. For you, normally you would have to go through the system of applying for authorization to enter the palace, and to meet with the Royal Family. Since we’re not here on official business, however, we will have to sneak in with the help of the two princes.”

“Beomgyu and Kai will sneak me in?” Soobin gapes. “Won’t they get in trouble for that?”

Jungkook shrugs noncommittedly. “Only if you get them caught. I’ve known them their whole life; the princes are quite good at evading their father’s attention.”

Soobin spends the remainder of the walk flipping back and forth between worrying about screwing up the plan and being awed by everything he sees. The architecture of the buildings they pass—and those they walk underneath—is extremely different to the human-built ones, so much that he keeps wondering how they’re made.

Finally, after having walked long enough to have Soobin’s legs growing tired, they reach their destination. “This is where the princes shall be waiting,” Jungkook says as they walk past one building, entering an empty square. “Once we find them, my job shall be done.”

Soobin eyes him wearily, still unsure what he thinks of this guy. He’s been nothing but helpful, but the way he speaks keeps making Soobin unsure whether he’s doing this to help or if he’s simply been ordered to and has no other choice.

He’s just about to ask when the princes will arrive when he hears the unmistakable sound of Beomgyu’s voice from the other side of the square. “Soobin! Over here!”

They start making their way over to the princes. Eyeing Jungkook, Soobin comments, “I’m not sure I believe Beomgyu is as good at sneaking around as you said.”

“He is when it’s strictly necessary.” Jungkook shrugs. “Although, if you don’t remind him, he struggles with keeping quiet.”

“Yeah, I can see that,” Soobin nods, smiling a little at the sight of Beomgyu waving them over.

Both angel princes greet Soobin with a grateful smile and a clap on the back, which is more than he expected, really. Kai is a bit gentler, while Beomgyu seems to think Soobin might need a bit of a slap to wake up and see the importance of their upcoming mission.

“Thanks a lot,” Kai says to Jungkook, who nods in a royal manner. Yeonjun used to say Jungkook was like their mentor and friend, but he acts more like a bodyguard or a servant, in Soobin’s eyes.

“I will be at the palace should you need me,” Jungkook says, and the angels nod. Soobin shields his eyes when a flash of light erupts where Jungkook stands, and when he looks again, he sees the black cat having taken his place.

Cat Jungkook gives another royal nod, and then he starts strolling back the way he and Soobin came. Soobin watches him, still barely registering that the cat is the same as the person he spent the last hour or two with.

“It’s so strange to see you here,” Beomgyu admits to Soobin. “But now that you’re here, we know for sure that you’re a Pure soul. That’s wicked, isn’t it Kai?”

“It’s very cool,” Kai agrees. “We’ve heard a lot about humans with Pure souls, but since the Great War, we interact so little with humans that there hasn’t been a registration of one for hundreds of years. It’s become like a legend for us.”

“You know,” Soobin says, trying to not think too much about the mention of a war that he wasn’t aware of before, “I barely know what having a pure soul means. I mean, Jungkook explained it a bit, but it feels too surreal. It doesn’t feel like that’s me.”

Instead of standing there in the open square, Kai gestures for them to start walking. As they do, Soobin ends up in the middle.

“I understand that it must feel strange to you, to learn something about yourself you never even considered possible.” Kai smiles at Soobin, and Soobin quickly decides that he likes Yeonjun’s youngest brother quite a lot. “But it’s nothing bad, in fact, it’s a proof of your character.”

Soobin doesn’t know what to say in response to that, so he clears his throat and asks, “so, um, what’s the plan now?”

“Well,” Beomgyu says, drawing Soobin’s attention over to him, as they enter a street from which the Royal Palace is visible again, “we thought that the best way to convince dad to release Yeonjun is to take you to him. I mean, I’m not sure how he will react, but I think we can convince him that there’s no harm in letting Yeonjun stay with you since you’re a Pure soul and you could even go here to visit Yeonjun whenever he isn’t able to go to earth.

“But before we do any of that, we thought we’d try to sneak you inside Yeonjun’s room. He’s been quite drained since he sent that message for Jungkook to bring to you, he used up a lot of magic and I can imagine he’s feeling quite depressed.”

Soobin takes a deep breath, not enjoying the thought of Yeonjun all alone, thinking that everything is lost. “Will it be hard to get to him?”

“There will be guards,” Kai says, “but those won’t be a big problem. I’ve been working on some spells that will make it no problem to get past them. But then we’ll have to try to get past the spells on Yeonjun’s room. They keep Yeonjun in but at the same time prevent anyone else from entering. But that’s Beomgyu’s area.”

“Yes.” Beomgyu nods. “Leave that to me once we’re at his door.”

They make their way towards the Royal Palace. Soobin expects that they will go to the building Jungkook mentioned, the one with the magical lift, so he’s entirely surprised when they stop by a random street and head into the alleyway.

When they’ve reached the end of the alleyway, a dead end, Soobin couldn’t be more confused. “Where are we going? Is there some hidden magical entrance we can use?”

Kai and Beomgyu share a look and smile. “Actually,” Kai says, “to get to the palace unnoticed, we’ll have to fly.”

“Okay…” Soobin narrows his eyes, wondering how that’s going to work, since it doesn’t look like they’ve got any extra pair of wings with them, judging by their lack of any bags. He looks around, as if he’ll find the answer in the alleyway. “How is that going to work? Do you have an extra pair of wings laying around somewhere?”

“Actually, we couldn’t get our hands on any without alerting dad’s attention. So, you’ll have to go with one of us.”

“What, like on your back?” Soobin stares at Kai stupidly. “Will that even work, won’t I be in the way of your wings?”

Beomgyu grins evilly. “You’re right,” he says. He takes a step closer to Soobin, opening his eyes, and Soobin realizes what he’s about to say a moment before he says it. “You’ll have to ride in my arms, so that you’re not in the way of my wings.”

“Uhhh,” Soobin stares at Beomgyu and the way he’s wiggling his eyebrows at him. “I’d much rather ride with Kai, actually.”

Kai smiles sympathetically, and Soobin realises he’s already lost.

“Too bad,” Beomgyu says. “Kai has never flown with a passenger before, and we can’t risk having Yeonjun’s sweetheart fall to his death now, can we?”

Soobin clenches his jaw. “Fine.” He takes a deep breath, accepting his fate. “Let’s get this over with, then.”

He tries to ignore the stupid grin on Beomgyu’s face, but it’s especially hard not to react when he’s being lifted and then suddenly finds himself very close to Beomgyu’s face. It feels weird, wrong even, to be in Beomgyu’s arms like this.

“Don’t say anything,” Soobin grumbles when he sees Beomgyu looking at him, causing Beomgyu to laugh at him. “Just get in the air already. Please.”

“It won’t be that long of a flight,” Kai says reassuringly, and when Soobin looks his way, he sees that his wings are out. The next moment, Beomgyu’s wings spring out as well.

He senses that Beomgyu is about to say something stupid, so he puts his hands on his lips to shut him up. “Just start flying, won’t you—aghh!” He pulls his hand away quickly as he feels Beomgyu’s tongue licking across his palm and lets out a disgusted sound. Sending a disapproving look up at Beomgyu, he wipes his hand on the angel’s shirt.

“Stop being annoying, Beomgyu,” Kai says with a sigh. “Let’s just go already.”

Beomgyu lets out a snort but doesn’t argue any more after that. His grip around Soobin tightens, and the next thing Soobin knows, they’re in the air.

The wind hits him harder than he expected, and he ends up spending most of the flight with his eyes shut tight, fearing for his life. At least when he’d been flying with Yeonjun, he’d been in control of the wings himself. There had also been Yeonjun, who he trusted to catch him if he fell. He can’t say the same about Beomgyu, but at least Kai is also there.

The flight is indeed short, and soon Soobin’s feet hit the ground. He immediately steps away from Beomgyu, wobbling a little on his feet before he manages to stabilize himself.

“See, that wasn’t too bad, was it?” Beomgyu says cheekily, making Soobin roll his eyes.

“I’m gonna tell Taehyun that you’re bullying me, he’s gonna drop you so fast.”

Beomgyu’s face falls into an offended expression. “As if he cares that much about your opinion.”

“I’m his best friend of seven years,” Soobin argues. “You’ve known him, what, a month? Who do you think he loves the most?”

Soobin is sure Beomgyu is about to jump on him, but before he can do that, Kai jumps in between. “Hey, let’s not fight right now! We’ve got a job to do, remember? Helping Yeonjun escape?”

Soobin shrugs. He wasn’t that into the fight anyways, it was just very easy to rile Beomgyu up. “Yes, of course,” he says. “Tell me what the plan is.”

-

It turns out, Soobin won’t play much part in the rescuing of Yeonjun. Kai is going to use magic to take out the guards on the entire floor where Yeonjun’s room lay, and then Beomgyu will focus on getting them through Yeonjun’s locked door. Soobin thinks the latter part sounds way too extreme than it needs to be – can’t they use magic to unlock the door? But no, apparently their dad had put protective spells on top of the physical barrier that the door is.

Kai makes Soobin and Beomgyu crouch behind him and tells them keep quiet and to not breathe when he tells them to as he starts up his spell. Soobin grumbles a bit to himself, muttering about breathing being quite essential to his survival, but eventually he shuts up. It’s when he realizes that even Beomgyu is following orders and shutting up that Soobin realises he’s being unreasonable.

Kai’s spell takes a while, but once he lets out a successful (and silent) whoop, it’s clear that it worked like Kai expected it to. The next second, he tells them to hold their breath, and Soobin follows suit. Truth be told, Soobin doesn’t understand much of the spell itself, considering Kai was mostly waving his hands and mumbling words Soobin didn’t understand, but now that it’s working, he can see what effect it has.

Some kind of smoke starts to release from Kai’s hands, and it moves in the direction that Kai sends it. It belches out across the floor and filling the space in front of them, but never once does it run back towards them. Kai seems to guide it across the hallway, to where Soobin soon realises there are guards stationed all along the walls.

“Yes!” Beomgyu cheers when they see a guard at the end of the hall sway on their feet and eventually slide down the wall, unconscious. They wait a few more minutes and hear several thuds indicating more knocked out guards. And when the hallway has been completely silent for two minutes, Kai mumbles a few more words that cause the smoke to finally dissipate.

“Is it fine to breathe now?” Soobin questions even though all three of them have been breathing the last minute or so. Kai only grins in response.

They stand and start moving down the hallway. “Seems like it worked perfectly,” Beomgyu comments as they walk past the first unconscious guard, a woman with dark hair tied up in the tightest ponytail Soobin has ever seen.

“Yup,” Kai says happily. “Now it’s all up to you.”

“Way to put pressure on me, little brother,” Beomgyu says with a snort, which earns him a roll of the eyes from Kai.

After walking for a minute or two, they reach a door that looks exactly the same as the other doors in this hallway. “This is Yeonjun’s room?” Soobin questions, because he can’t make it make sense in his head. To him, Yeonjun is open and homey, and so, so unique. But this room is nothing special, being just one out of so many identical ones in this long corridor. He can’t imagine Yeonjun ever closing the door to his room willingly, nor can he imagine him being happy in a cold place like this.

“Yup,” Beomgyu says. “He doesn’t spend that much time in there usually, though. Me and Kai share a room downstairs, and he usually stays with us whenever he can.”

Soobin nods. That explanation makes more sense, it fits his image of Yeonjun better.

“Okay, so, now it’s my time to shine,” Beomgyu continues, rubbing his hands together in preparation. “You should take a few steps back, because this might cause some rubble.”

Soobin looks to Kai questioningly, but Kai just shrugs and steps back. Since he trusts Kai’s judgement, he follows, and then he keeps a watchful eye over Beomgyu.

The Angel goes to work in a similar manner as Kai, moving his hands as if trying to bend the air, while muttering words that Soobin is now sure must be some kind of ancient, magical language. He considers asking Kai about it, since he’s curious, but decides not to in case talking would distract Beomgyu. He can ask Yeonjun about it later anyways.

It takes a while, even longer than Kai’s spell did, but soon they start to see some result. Beomgyu’s spell is creating cracks in the stone, and it also seems like he’s managed to create some kind of physical force out of the air that he uses to punch the walls with.

Each forceful hit to the walls sends bursts of dust into the air, and Soobin can tell that whatever he’s doing, it’s working.

“Just a little bit more,” Kai mutters to himself, watching Beomgyu with an expecting gaze. “The wards are almost down.”

Soobin doesn’t ask how Kai knows that, assuming that angels can see magic in a way humans can’t. Any thought of it disappears the next second, anyways, when Beomgyu forcefully pushes his hands towards the wall. Dust fill the air, accompanied with an almost explosive sound, telling Soobin that Beomgyu has succeeded in bringing not only the protection spells but the door to Yeonjun’s room down.

The next moment, the floor shakes as the door comes crashing down, together with part of the wall. The three of them have to quickly jump out of the way to prevent getting squashed by the stone.

The aftereffect of the explosion makes the air vibrate around them, and the echo can still be heard throughout corridor. It’s a wonder that no guards come running immediately, since Soobin is sure the crash must’ve been heard throughout the entire section of the building.

In the silence that follows, Soobin stares into the room trying to catch sight of any sign of life. Beomgyu doesn’t have the same patience as him, though, and so he pushes Soobin hard enough to make him go stumbling inside the room.

At first, the dust in the air makes it hard for him to see much of anything. The further into the room he goes, however, it becomes thinner, and he sees the room take form in front of him.

Yeonjun’s room is large, bigger than Soobin’s apartment and then some. There is furniture along the walls: ancient looking chairs, a beautifully carved wooden table, mirrors that reach up to the roof, a dresser. Yet, he can’t see anything personal, no objects that tells him that this room truly belongs to his most beloved Yeonjun.

Yeonjun’s room is so large that Soobin has to take a turn around a corner before he reaches what seems to be the sleeping quarters. There’s a huge bed in the middle of the room there, and it’s a canopy with white curtains closing it off from the rest of the room. But there’s a slit in the curtains, a tiny little opening, through which Soobin can see a bundled-up heap of blankets.

“S—Soobin?” he hears from the direction of the bed. It makes him do a quick double take, because at first glance he hadn’t caught sight of anything living under there. Now, as he looks more carefully, it still takes him a second before he sees Yeonjun’s head sticking up from where he’s buried underneath the heap.

“Yeonjun—” Soobin breathes out. His body kicks into motion, pulling the curtains away and throwing himself onto the bed before Yeonjun even has the chance to sit up properly.

He’s got Yeonjun’s lips caught in what he is sure is the most desperate kiss of his life. It’s been weeks since he saw Yeonjun, and he’s been so worried that suddenly he can’t keep himself back.

Perhaps Yeonjun feels the same way, because he kisses Soobin back just as fiercely, albeit with a somewhat confused aura surrounding him. He grabs at Soobin’s hips as if to keep him in place, while Soobin’s fingers travel upwards to take a strong grip in Yeonjun’s hair.

It’s not until the need for air prevents them from continuing that they break apart, both panting against the other’s mouths. Yeonjun gently lifts Soobin so he can raise himself from his lying down position, sitting up to lean against the wall, and then he frantically starts to caress Soobin’s face. There’s a desperate, scared look in his eyes, not exactly what Soobin had expected to see on him.

“Are you really here?” Yeonjun asks, voice quiet, near a whisper. “It’s not a trick, or a dream, or anything… you’re here?”

“I’m here,” Soobin says. He searches Yeonjun’s eyes, trying to convince him, but only feels a stab of hurt in his chest when he sees the emotions running across Yeonjun’s face. He puts his own hand over Yeonjun’s where it’s stopped moving, cupping Soobin’s cheek. “I’m really here.” Slowly, he leans forward and pecks Yeonjun’s lips. “Promise.”

“How?” Yeonjun looks like he might just let himself believe it. “How are you here, in this realm?”

“Your brothers had a theory. That the reason you couldn’t do any magic on me was because I have a Pure soul. Humans with pure souls can enter the angelic realm, you know? They made Jungkook come and get me, and he helped me figure out that I could enter this realm.”

“Pure soul,” Yeonjun mumbles. His eyes scan over Soobin’s face, landing on his lips as he adds, “of course you have. I should’ve known.” He allows himself a smile, then, as he gazes up into Soobin’s eyes again. Proudly, he exclaims, “my boyfriend. The first human to enter the angelic realm in hundreds of years. That’s amazing. You’re amazing.”

Soobin mirrors his smile, and then a sudden wave of emotions hits him. “I missed you. I was so worried when I didn’t hear from you, I didn’t know what to do but just keep waiting.”

“I missed you so much,” Yeonjun responds. “It was awful, being locked in here without being able to contact you. I don’t even know how long I’ve been locked in here, but I know that I missed you every minute of that time.”

They kiss again, perhaps this time to ensure themselves that the other really is there, and that they are sharing the other’s pain.

But there shouldn’t be any more pain, Soobin thinks. Yeonjun is right here, right in between his hands, not in a faraway realm. He’s right here, and Soobin won’t let him go.

When the kiss ends, Soobin scoots off Yeonjun and sits next to him on the bed instead. He sits as close as possible, basically pasted against Yeonjun’s side, and intertwines their hands immediately. “Will you tell me what happened?” he asks, wanting to hear the story from Yeonjun’s point of view. “I only heard some of it from Kai.”

Yeonjun tells the story of how his dad caught him red handed when returning the extra pair of wings. He says he had been so careful not to alert him, but he guesses his dad was keeping an extra close eye on him since that first time he was caught trying to steal the object.

“At first he didn’t suspect anything, he was just mad that I had stolen the wings without permission. I tried to evade his questions about what I had stolen them for, and I thought it was working, until he started asking me where I went every Saturday. I don’t even know how he knew I leave home every Saturday, because it’s not like he is that interested in my life normally. But, I guess something I said alerted him, and then he sort of forced the truth out of me.” Yeonjun brings Soobin’s hand up to his lips and kisses the back of it gently. “He was so angry, he wouldn’t even listen to me when I tried to explain. Even though he knew I was telling the truth because he literally forced me to, he didn’t believe that it could be true that my magic didn’t work on you. I don’t know why, if it’s that he’s scared of humans gaining too much power again and that he doesn’t want to entertain the thought that humans with pure souls still exist, but he kind of flipped and wouldn’t let me explain at all. Then he locked me up and said he would let me stew in there to think about what I’d done, until he had figured out what he should do with me.”

“That… doesn’t sound like a great father figure,” Soobin thought out loud. “No offense…”

“No, it’s fine. Normally, he’s not too bad, but… I think he’s scared, more than anything. And fear makes people do bad stuff, sometimes.”

Silence wraps around them, and Soobin feels a strong need to change the subject. He doesn’t want to talk about Yeonjun’s dad anymore, and since he will need to meet with him very soon anyways, he’d like to forget about him for at least a moment.

“I heard something quite interesting,” he says, immediately catching Yeonjun’s attention at the change of topic. He looks up at Yeonjun’s face and grins. “I so happened to hear that you’re not just a common angel, Prince Yeonjun.”

Surprise alights Yeonjun’s face, and he tries to hide away behind his hand as the blood flushes to his face. “You heard that, huh?”

“Mhm,” Soobin says. “Prince, huh? How did I not know my boyfriend is a royal?”

“It’s not a big deal,” Yeonjun tries, the embarrassment clear on his face still, but Soobin loves to tease him too much to give him mercy just yet.

“Not a big deal? You’re the crown prince, from what I’ve heard. How is that not a big deal? I can’t believe you didn’t tell me.”

Yeonjun pouts in that way that petty way that Soobin loves. “I’m not royal when I’m at earth, though.”

“That’s not true.” Soobin brings Yeonjun’s hand up to his lips and make a show out of kissing it like a commoner would kiss the hand of the king. “You’re royalty to me, wherever you are.”

His words pull a giggle out of Yeonjun, and Soobin finally feels accomplished. Nothing is better than the sound of Yeonjun giggling, he thinks.

Soobin goes on to tell Yeonjun about Jungkook’s test and the possibility of him being turned into an animal. It once again makes Yeonjun giggle, and he starts to ponder what kind of animal Soobin would suit as. When Yeonjun goes on to list a number of animals—most of which Soobin has never heard of—Soobin just watches his face and thinks about how happy he is to have him back. All the worry and constant near panic he’d been feeling for the last few weeks were completely gone already, healed by the sight and sound of Yeonjun’s laughter.

Yeonjun giggling is perhaps the cutest thing Soobin has ever seen. And he’s been to petting zoos with puppies and kittens. It’s the way his eyes squint, creating small wrinkles at their corners, and how he shows all his teeth while laughing. The sound of his laughter is tickling something in Soobin’s chest, in an absolutely incredible way.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” Yeonjun asks, making Soobin realize he hasn’t been listening to what Yeonjun has been saying at all, having been too busy admiring him.

“Like what?”

“Like, I don’t know, you were just staring, and I could tell you weren’t listening—”

Soobin can’t stop himself; he leans in and kisses Yeonjun once more. It lasts for one, maybe two seconds. Then he leans back, a grin growing on his face. “I was just thinking how cute you are,” he admits. “That’s why I was staring. I couldn’t help it.”

The surprised expression on Yeonjun’s face morphs into a shy yet delighted one. He grabs Soobin’s hand and studies it, gently running his thumb in circles over the back of it. “You’re so sweet.”

The two of them look at each other for a moment, and it seems like they both have something they want to say. But neither of them speaks first, as a third voice sounds from the direction of the door.

“This is really sweet and all, but haven’t you guys made out enough by now? Can me and Kai come in now?”

“Fuck off!” Yeonjun calls out towards the door, to which he gets an answering cackle from Beomgyu before the two angels step through the doorway.

“Sorry, can’t do that,” Beomgyu says, smirking as he jumps onto Yeonjun’s bed, making the entire thing shake under them. “If we want to fix things with dad today, we better not make him madder than necessary.”

“Which means,” Kai adds, “that we shouldn’t let him find out that we just destroyed part of your room, or that I just knocked the entire guard unconscious with an untested spell.”

“You did what?!” Yeonjun exclaims.

“It was so awesome,” Beomgyu says, grinning proudly at Kai, “he made a fog spread through the hall and as soon as they breathed it in, they just slumped over. We should totally try to optimize it, maybe we can figure out other spells to use when—”

“Beomgyu,” Soobin interrupts with a pointed look, “not the time.”

“Fine,” Beomgyu grunts. He shoots Kai a look. “We’ll talk more about that later.”

Yeonjun just rolls his eyes at him. “Well, I guess we should get out of here before dad finds us, then.” He swings his legs over the side of the bed, but when he tries to stand, he sways on his feet and hits the bed with his butt.

Soobin is on his feet next to him immediately, a worried look on his face. “I’m just a little shaky,” Yeonjun reassures him. “I haven’t been out of this bed for days, so my legs are gonna be a bit wobbly.”

“Hold onto me then, Hyung.”

Yeonjun does just that, and when he’s on his feet he beams up into Soobin’s face. Like always when he finds Yeonjun cute, Soobin can’t help but peck his soft lips. It’s like a reflex at this point.

The action causes Yeonjun’s brothers to let out strangled disgusted grunts. In retaliation, Yeonjun grabs Soobin and captures his lips in a firmer, more passionate kiss. It causes the other two to let out even louder displeased sounds, which only eggs Yeonjun on.

Soobin feels a bit dazed when the kiss ends, and he can’t really meet Kai or Beomgyu’s eyes as they agree that it’s time to leave the room behind. He feels his cheeks burning for the next minute, and wonders if he’s ever going to not get flustered by Yeonjun’s passion.

They walk down the hallway, passing by a couple of the unconscious guards on the way. Soobin seems to be the only one who feels guilty for doing that, so he forces himself to not look at them and just focus on what Yeonjun is saying.

“How do we get an audience with dad?” Yeonjun asks. “He’s not exactly going to be happy to see me if he realises I escaped his imprisonment.”

A booming voice comes from behind their backs, making them all jump and turn. “He’s going to be more than just a little unhappy.”

The moment his eyes fall on the man behind them, Soobin feels like his lungs tighten in fright. He fights against squirming and stepping back, thankful for Yeonjun’s firm grip on his hand that keeps him grounded.

The man standing there is not taller than Soobin, but he gives off an atmosphere that makes him seem to stand on a pedestal looking down at them. He looks partly like Yeonjun, with the same nose and cheekbones and the same posture. While he seems older, must be older since he’s the father of the three angels next to Soobin, his face doesn’t show many signs of old age. If he was human, Soobin could easily have guessed he was in his early thirties.

“Dad,” Yeonjun breathes. “I—”

“I was alerted by the explosion and knew it could only have been related to you,” Yeonjun’s dad says, and the way he speaks is so authoritatively that Soobin feels like a kindergartner being scolded by a teacher. “Beomgyu?” He adds, eyes falling on his next oldest son with a raised eyebrow.

“Yeah it was me,” Beomgyu says nonchalantly. “I just broke down the door, it’s nothing you can’t fix in an instant anyways.”

The way Beomgyu speaks to his dad shocks Soobin, and he braces himself for a yelling match. Everything he’s heard about Yeonjun’s dad suggests he’s strict and unforgiving, so it’s to Soobin’s great surprise when the man rubs a hand across his face and mutters, “these children.”

The man shakes his head and straightens his posture again. “Let’s not have this conversation here. Meet me in the great hall.”

Simple as that, the man turns and leaves them there. Soobin gapes at his back, completely dumbstruck. “Wha—what the hell?” He turns to look at Yeonjun, who has an unreadable look on his face. “He didn’t even seem that mad?”

Yeonjun sighs heavily and meets Soobin’s eyes. “Trust me, he is. Just because he’s not yelling doesn’t mean he’s happy with me.”

“Well,” Beomgyu jumps in, sounding completely unbothered, “right now it seemed like he was madder at me than you. You know how much he hates construction work.”

“You mean he’s mad that you destroyed the door to Yeonjun’s room?” Soobin asks.

Beomgyu shrugs. “He can’t be that mad about it. It’s not the worst thing I’ve blown up in my life.”

Soobin tries to not think too hard on that comment, and instead he looks at Kai, who’s been quiet the whole time. When their eyes meet, Kai gives Soobin a small smile.

“Dad is always like that when we disobey his orders, but he loves us too much to really punish us,” Kai says reassuringly. “I promise that you don’t have to worry too much.”

“Yeah, worst case scenario is that he banishes all of us from earth,” Beomgyu adds. “Which, of course, would suck, but it wouldn’t kill us.” He slaps Yeonjun on the back as he walks ahead and starts going down the hallway in the direction their dad went. “He’ll probably try to erase your memory, too,” he calls over his shoulder to Soobin, “but we all know that’s not going to do anything. If not even Jungkook’s magic could affect you, nothing will.”

Soobin stares after Beomgyu, mouth falling slightly open. He senses eyes on him and turns his head, locking onto Yeonjun’s gaze. It’s hard to read what emotions Yeonjun’s eyes hold, but Soobin is sure there is some worry in there.

“Come on,” Soobin says, tugging a little on Yeonjun’s hand. “We better get this over with, right?”

They begin walking after Beomgyu, albeit at a slower pace. Kai walks a few steps behind them. It seems that both angels are deep in their own thoughts, because neither says anything the entire time. It’s not until they stop outside of a room with a tall entrance that Yeonjun looks Soobin in the eye again.

“I’ve already told dad everything about us,” he says in a small, guilty voice.

Soobin squeezes his hand. “I know.”

Yeonjun looks down at their hands, then at Kai behind them. Kai seems to understand what the look means, and he nods before slinking in between the doors, leaving the two of them standing outside for a short while longer.

“Should I be worried?” Soobin asks, eyebrows shooting up in concern.

Yeonjun shakes his head but keeps looking down. He reaches out to take Soobin’s other hand as well, then he moves so that he stands completely facing him.

“It’s just… I don’t really know what’s going to happen. I don’t know if he’s going to change his mind, or if today will be… the last time I see you.”

He sounds so sad and small all of a sudden, and Soobin can’t have that, not even for a second. “It won’t be. I have hope, and the only way he’ll get me to leave you is if he throws me out the door himself.”

“Soobin—”

Shaking his head, Soobin let’s go of one of Yeonjun’s hands to grip his chin and gently tilt his head up, until he’s forced to look Soobin in the eye. “Don’t give up just yet, okay? You have me, and Kai and Beomgyu, and even Jungkook on your side, okay? If your dad loves you, he’ll see reason eventually. He’ll see that our love won’t hurt anything.”

Yeonjun’s eyes fill with tears, but they don’t well over. He nods, and when he licks his lips Soobin can’t resist to lean forward and kiss him desperately. After, he leans his forehead on Yeonjun’s. They stay like that for a long moment, breathing each other in and giving each other strength.

“Our love,” Yeonjun mumbles eventually, making Soobin open his eyes and look into his.

“Our love,” Soobin confirms. “I love you, Yeonjun. I truly, truly love you, and I don’t think I can ever stop loving you. Which is why I won’t just give up on you. I’ll stand up to your dad if it’s the last thing I do.”

A tear slips out of Yeonjun’s eye, but he looks less sad now. “I love you too, Soobin,” he says, voice shaking slightly. “So much.”

Soobin’s insides go up in an explosion of butterflies and rainbows and whatever other metaphorical depiction of feeling truly loved and in love. He kisses Yeonjun again, just because he can, but also because he needs to. Even if he has hope and has to show strength in front of Yeonjun, he can’t help feeling a sliver of worry that this will be the last time they see each other.

“Okay,” he says when he steps back out of Yeonjun’s personal space. They keep holding firmly onto each other’s hand as they turn to the doors, and Soobin braces himself as he reaches for the handle. “Let’s do this.”

-

The room is even grander on the inside than Soobin could have imagined. Tall stone walls of line the room, climbing up to an impossibly high ceiling. It looks a bit like a throne room from the many series Soobin have watched in his life, but much lighter. It’s like Yeonjun had once told him, that this place doesn’t seem to get as dark as earth, because even if two big windows are the only source of light in there, the entire room is lit up.

In contrast to the type of throne rooms Soobin is acquainted with from his shows, this one doesn’t have a huge single throne standing lonely on a pedestal. Instead, there are five tall chairs standing behind a long table, just one step above the rest of the room. Along the side of the room, there are also long tables, perhaps for visitors to sit when enjoying a nice meal.

Soobin finds himself surprised again when he sees Beomgyu and Kai standing up by the table, talking animatedly and looking down at their dad, who is half sitting half standing against the table.

It looks too… normal, too much like Soobin’s own dad that he can’t wrap his head around it. This man, this angel, is supposed to be the… the king? Is that how they call it? If Yeonjun is the crown prince, then it must mean his dad’s the king, right?

But right now, he does not look like a king, and not only because he’s not wearing anything especially royal-looking. He looks more like a dad that’s disappointed in his teenage sons.

Together, Soobin and Yeonjun walk up to them, but they don’t seem to notice them until Yeonjun speaks.

“Dad.”

The brothers turn to look at Yeonjun, but it’s their dad’s gaze that falls heaviest on them. Soobin feels his gaze like it’s a laser burning its way across his skin and can’t help but hold his breath in trepidation.

“Yeonjun.” As Yeonjun’s dad’s eyes shift from Soobin over to his son, he stands and looks at him for a long moment. “This is the human? The one you hold dear?”

“Yes,” Yeonjun says without pause. His expression is firm and confident, but Soobin can tell that it’s mostly an act. Still, he can’t help noticing how attractive he finds Yeonjun in right this moment.

“Your brothers have told me how they brought him here—”

“Then you know already, don’t you?” Yeonjun interrupts. “You must have known the moment he stepped his foot in our realm, didn’t you?”

“I felt the presence of a human soul in my kingdom, yes.”

“Just a human soul?” Yeonjun questions, and the tone in his voice makes his dad’s expression twitch.

It feels like Yeonjun is challenging him, and Soobin’s anxiety builds and builds with every passing second. He has no idea where this is going or how Yeonjun’s dad will react, so all he can do is hold on to Yeonjun’s hand and try to build up his confidence to speak when needed.

“Yeonjun,” his dad says forcefully. The expression on his face is grave, a mix between deep concern and anger. “I know you’re young and impressionable, and that you think you’re in love, but he’s just one boy. He might be lovely, as you say, but he’s just a regular human boy. Is that really someone fit for the Crown Prince?”

Yeonjun’s face shifts into anger. “How can you say that?! You’ve preached about love and the power it has to us our entire lives, but now that I’ve found the one I want to spend my life with, you say he’s not fitting? Well, you know what, I don’t give a rat’s ass about what you think.”

For a few moments, Yeonjun’s voice echoes around them in the large room. Then, silence settles heavily around them. It’s an eerie type of silence, especially to Soobin who doesn’t know where he stands in this situation. The fact that Yeonjun just used a human term that he taught him a while ago also makes the entire situation even more surreal to him.

Yeonjun is breathing heavily next to him, still deep in his anger while awaiting an answer. Soobin kind of expects an explosive response, as Yeonjun’s use of words were meant to offend the king.

Unconsciously, Soobin’s eyes flicker over to Kai and Beomgyu, both of whom have tense expressions on their faces. He locks his gaze with Kai for a moment, and the younger angel nods once in a way that’s probably meant to reassure him.

It’s Yeonjun who breaks the silence after the stare down between him and his dad has been going on for way too long already. “I know you know that he has a Pure Soul. That’s the only way he can step foot in here. Does that mean nothing to you?”

The King closes his eyes for a second as if to calm himself. “Have I not taught you better than to speak to me with such disrespect?” he says, the volume of his voice growing as his frustration grows evident in his tone. Yeonjun flinches but keeps his composure. “I am your father, I am the one who raised you and taught you our ways, do you think I do not know the implications of a Pure soul?” He shakes his head, and the look is his eyes makes it clear that he’s not about to give Yeonjun any say as he continues. “Relations with humans are forbidden for a reason, Yeonjun. You may not have been a part of the Great war, but I was. When we changed the way we live to ensure as little contact with humanity as possible, our existence changed for the better. You need to trust me that—”

Suddenly, it’s Beomgyu that’s interrupting their dad and raising his voice. “Come on, that’s bullshit and you know it!” All eyes whip over to him, but he seems undeterred by the attention. “Our entire history, we’ve interacted with humans, and we’ve learnt so much from them. We took great inspiration from their architecture and their ways to preserve food; who knows where we might’ve been if we did not learn from them! Sure, wars come and go, but that doesn’t mean all humans should be condemned as evil. I’m sure we did quite some damage on them too during those times.”

“Beomgyu.”

“No, let me finish.” Beomgyu says, and Soobin notices how he’s clenching his fists by his side. “I know that the war happened long before we were born, but that doesn’t mean we don’t understand your fear. And I’m not saying we should go revealing ourselves to the entire human race and hope that they’ll accept our existence. What I am saying is that forbidding all contact with the human world is bullshit. And forbidding love… that’s the most insane thing you’ve ever considered.”

Kai steps up, straightening his back. “It’s especially insane that you won’t accept their love, considering grandma was just like Soobin.”

It’s like the air is punched out of the room. Soobin is confused more than anything, but the angels seem completely knocked off kelter.

“She was, wasn’t she?” Kai asks their dad. “I’ve read grandpa’s biographies, and he doesn’t mention it much, but it’s evident that their love story begins on earth. She was human, but she was turned into one of us, wasn’t she?”

Now it’s their dad that’s clenching his fists. Suddenly, he looks smaller than he did before, as if he’s lost some of his spark and realized that he’s surrounded. That he’s outnumbered.

“You’re right,” he finally admits. “But those were different times. We haven’t familiarised ourselves with humans for a long time. You are all young, you don’t understand what we lost in the war—”

“Are you really expecting my relationship with Soobin to start another war?” Yeonjun asks. He’s lost his anger now, it seems, and his voice has a hint of hysteria to it. “You’re not making any sense, dad! I fell in love with someone I trust with my life, and you think that’s too dangerous?”

“Yeonjun, just because he has a pure soul doesn’t mean you can trust him—”

“I fell for him before I ever knew about his pure soul! I would have chosen him even if he was just a ‘regular human boy’.”

“Dad,” Beomgyu says. “Why can’t you see reason? What are you so afraid of?”

The older angel seems to grow even angrier at the way his sons are questioning him. He straightens his back, and his aura becomes somehow even bigger yet. “I’m your father and your ruler, and you will listen to me.”

Before any of them figure out what to say to that, the man steps down and stalks past Yeonjun and Soobin, fleeing the room. Soobin whips around and feels the lump in his throat grow until words spill out of him.

“Wait! Sir, please wait!”

He takes a couple of steps forward as if to follow him, but to his surprise, the man stops.

Soobin realises he didn’t really think this through and has to gather his thoughts real quick.

“Please, don’t do this. Don’t punish Yeonjun for falling in love. Or Beomgyu. They don’t deserve this kind of treatment. I don’t know what kind of ruler you are, but you don’t seem like a cruel person. But if you think your role as ruler means you get to dictate who they’re allowed to love or not, that makes you a bad ruler. And more than anything, a bad father.” Soobin looks down, hoping he’s not doing things worse by insulting the man. “I don’t mean to insult you, sir, but I just… I can’t let you do this. I know I have no say here, that I’m just a powerless human, but the one thing I do have is your son’s heart. Just like he has mine. If you force us apart, you’ll only make Yeonjun despise you. Is that really what you want?”

It"s not Yeonjun that speaks next, nor his dad, but Kai, who steps around Soobin and runs to his dad’s side. “Dad please.” He wraps himself around his dad’s arm, hugging and pulling at it at the same time. It makes him look like a little kid trying to get his dad to agree to give him candy. “You’re not this cruel. I know you’re not.”

“This isn’t about whether I’m cruel or not,” the man says, clenching his jaw.

“Then what is it about?” Beomgyu asks.

“I don’t want to lose my sons!”

The King’s words ring loudly around the hall, shutting the rest of them up in an instant. His previously calm face has turned emotional and hysteric now, eyes widened as he finally lets his inner fears out.

“What do you mean lose us?” Yeonjun asks, his voice less hostile than before. He looks unsure and confused, as if the sudden outburst completely shifted his composure.

It’s Kai who understands first. “He’s afraid you’ll leave,” Kai says, voice dripping with empathy. Soobin is hit with the thought that the way he says it makes it sound like Kai has the same fear as his dad. “That if the two of you fall in love with humans, you’ll want to stay with them in the human world.”

“Is that true, dad?” asks Yeonjun.

The older angel looks away, avoiding their eyes. “It’s more than just that. I don’t want you to get hurt. I don’t know the human world anymore, and I can’t trust that nothing will happen to you if you keep going there.”

“We get that, dad,” Yeonjun says, stepping up to Soobin’s side now and interlocking their hands. “We get that you’re worried about us, but preventing us from living our lives is not the way to keep us safe. It’s just going to make us miserable.”

Yeonjun’s dad studies them for several long seconds. Time drags on, but still he says nothing.

“Dad,” Kai pouts and leans his head on his dad’s chest as he hugs him. “Please let them be together. Yeonjun is so happy with Soobin, isn’t that what matters most?”

“Mom would want us to do whatever our hearts desire,” Beomgyu comments.

Their dad’s eyes narrow, and Kai removes himself from his side in worry. “Yes, but she’s not here right now, is she?”

“Then, maybe I should call her down here. You know how quick she answers her sons’ distress calls.”

They stare each other down for five seconds. Soobin finds it intriguing the way Beomgyu stands his ground and seems to be winning against his dad.

Eventually, their dad deflates. He looks over at Kai, and then shifts his gaze over to Yeonjun. A slow sigh escapes him.

“Of course I want you to be happy,” he says, slightly reluctantly. “You’re my son, and I love you.” The man sighs heavily, as if he’s got the weight of the world on his should (which Soobin supposes that, in a way, he does). His eyes shift over to Soobin, then. “But… this is hard for me to accept.”

Yeonjun steps in front of Soobin as if to shield him. “Dad—”

“Let me talk to him alone for a minute,” the king interrupts. He fixes Soobin with a judging gaze, one that seems to be filled with questions that he apparently wants answered in privacy.

Yeonjun sputters and tightens his grip on Soobin’s hand. “But—”

“Yeonjun,” his dad stops him. “Don’t disrespect me even more by assuming I am going to hurt the boy you love. My magic will not affect him even if I tried. I simply want to ask him a few questions.”

Trying to placate Yeonjun, Soobin squeezes his hand and gives him a confident nod. It makes Yeonjun sigh in defeat and slowly, carefully, he pulls his hand from Soobin’s grip.

The entire walk out of the room, Yeonjun keeps throwing glances over his shoulder to make sure Soobin is still fine. Soobin keeps his composure and smiles, while on the inside he’s totally panicking at the thought of having a one-on-one conversation with the King of the Angels.

As soon as the doors fall shut behind the three brothers, the King walks back to the long table and goes to sit on top of it. He motions for Soobin to do the same.

When Soobin sits on the table facing the King, it feels so surreal that he wonders if he might actually be dreaming. How is it real that he’s here, in front of the King of the Angels, and he’s making him sit on top of a table to have a serious conversation?

The King doesn’t seem to want to play around, as he goes directly to the serious questions. “Are you as devoted to my son as he is to you? Will you hold his heart dear, and stay with him through thick and thin?”

“O-of course,” Soobin responds automatically. When he has had time to think, he adds, “I’ve never loved someone like I love Yeonjun. He is the reason I get out of bed in the morning. I don’t know where the future will take us, or if he’ll have me, but I hope I can spend the rest of my life with him.”

The King is staring Soobin down after his admission. His judging eyes makes it seem like he’s trying to look through Soobin, as if trying to see into his soul. The fact that Soobin doesn’t know if that’s something angels can do or not quickly makes him uncomfortable. It feels like a test, the most important kind of tests that he absolutely cannot fail.

When the gaze finally softens, and the king nods, Soobin feels like a deflating ballon as the tension in his shoulders release. “You seem like a good kid,” the King tells him. “The fact that Yeonjun went behind my back to see you for almost a year is proof enough that you’re something special, but now I can see your devotion in your eyes.”

“Th-thank you,” Soobin says shakily, holding the eye contact for another second before he cannot keep it up any longer.

“If we disregard my discontent with my son dating a human for a moment,” the King continues, “there is only one other thing that concerns me right now.”

Soobin swallows. This must be the worst conversation with a significant other’s parent that he’s ever had to live through.

“When the time comes for marriage and Yeonjun’s coronation, will you vow to stay by your side? Will you allow a heavenly blessing to be put upon you, and drink from our fountain of life?”

Soobin’s breath hitched, because what the fuck?

Marriage? Coronation? Heavenly blessing? Soobin is utterly confused.

“I, uh, I don’t think I know what any of that means.”

The King’s gaze is even more intense than before as he bores his eyes into him. “What I’m trying to say is, that if you want to stay with Yeonjun, there will come a point where you will have no option but to allow the transformation into one of us. Will you accept that, when the day comes? Because it will come. Yeonjun is my heir, hence he will be king one day, and he will need someone by his side to rule this kingdom. The only question is, will that someone be you?”

Oh.

Considering that before today, Soobin hadn’t known that Yeonjun was a prince – let alone the fact that he himself had a pure soul that meant he could one day become an angel – he hasn’t had any time to think this through. While it is scary to think of himself going through that transformation, and possibly having to leave his entire life behind, the answer still comes easily to him. If he has to, he will choose Yeonjun every day of his life.

“I want to stay with Yeonjun, no matter what. And if that means I will have to be one of you, then I think I’ll just have to get used to the idea of not being human any longer.”

Surprisingly, the King cracks a smile at his response. “Alright. Soobin was your name, right?” He waits for Soobin to nod, then continues. “Well, Soobin. Even if I don’t like the situation, I think I can grow to like you. As long as you stay true to Yeonjun, I’ll allow you and my son to pursue this relationship.”

Soobin is utterly surprised. He doesn’t know what he expected, because he wouldn’t have left with a negative outcome, but he also didn’t think the King would accept him so easily.

“Oh, thank you—thank you sir. I promise I will love Yeonjun until the end of my days.”

“I don’t doubt that,” the King says, and then he surprises Soobin again by holding out his hand for him to shake. After they’ve done so, he lets out a heavy sigh and rubs at his temples. “Now, I’m sure my sons have tried to eavesdrop, but will you be so kind to fill them in on what we agreed upon. I am in need of solitude for a great deal of time if I’m to recover from this ordeal.”

Some seconds later, Soobin steps out of the throne room, feeling like his brain is filled with cotton after that whole interaction. The moment he closes the door, the angel brothers are on him, all three asking questions at the same time.

“What did he say?”

“Did he yell at you?”

“Was he mean to you? Tell me what he said to you, I’m gonna—”

“He said it’s fine!” Soobin calls out to silence them. The brothers stare at him in surprise, not used to him raising his voice, but they shut up just like Soobin wants them to. “He basically gave us his blessing, as long as I promise to be faithful to Yeonjun.”

“What?” Yeonjun questions. “He gave us his blessing? Just like that?”

“Yeah? Kinda?” Soobin doesn’t want to think too hard about the ‘transforming into an angel’ part of the agreement right now. He knows he will have to accept it at some point, but it’s still too fresh in his mind. It’s something he and Yeonjun should discuss, and they will, but Soobin hopes that it will be okay if he postpones the conversation for later.

“Is he not gonna come out?” Beomgyu asks, sending an annoyed look towards the doors.

“He said he wants solitude,” Soobin says with a shrug. “Whatever that means.”

A pout appears on Beomgyu’s lips. “But I want to talk to him about Taehyun. If Yeonjun is the only one to get his blessings I’m gonna be so pissed.”

“I’m sure he’ll be fine with Taehyun,” Kai assures him. “The main battle is already won, now that he’s accepted their relationship.”

Yeonjun rolls his eyes and goes to attach himself to Soobin’s side, while Beomgyu answers, “true! I’ll talk to him later then.” Once glance at the couple had him making a disgusted face and turning to Kai. “Wanna ditch these lovesick losers and go see Taehyun?”

Kai’s boisterous laughter rings through the entire hallway as he lets Beomgyu drag him away, leaving Yeonjun and Soobin to themselves.

Soobin shakes his head fondly at them. Then he turns his head to watch Yeonjun’s expression and finds the Angel looking worried.

“Did he really say he was okay with it? With us?”

“I think so, yes.” Soobin tilts his head down so he can boop his nose with Yeonjun’s, smiling. “He said he could grow to like me, which I guess means he’ll tolerate me, as long as I stay true to you.”

A disbelieving sigh escapes Yeonjun. “That’s… I didn’t think he’d ever accept it so easily. But I guess your charm and lovability won him over, ah, I should have known.”

“I think he trusts you, more than anything,” Soobin responds. “I barely said anything in there, I just told him the truth.”

Yeonjun throws his head back, a blissful expression on his face as he lets out a relieved breath. “This is like a dream,” he says, tilting his head back to look at Soobin. His bright, beautiful smile is back, and it makes Soobin feel all warm and gooey inside. “It’s still so crazy to me that you’re here, much less that we essentially got my dad’s blessing just now.”

“We should enjoy it while it lasts,” Soobin jokes, wiggling his eyebrows.

Thankfully, Yeonjun laughs. He looks around for a moment, before an excited look settles on his face. “Let’s get out of here, yeah? I have a whole realm to show you.”

A flickering thought of his human responsibilities momentarily appears in Soobin’s mind, but when Yeonjun takes his hand and pulls him along, laughing as he lists off all his favourite places he needs to show Soobin, they quickly die down. Right now, he’s content with staying in this moment forever. Here, where Yeonjun is happy, and they can finally be together without any hindrance.

Maybe it will not always be as easy as it feels right now. There will be hard days, hard periods when his and Yeonjun’s relationship will be tested. That’s life, and Soobin knows he won’t be able to escape it. But that’s the thing. Even if he knows they will come, Soobin isn’t scared of future hardships. He trusts in Yeonjun, and he trusts in his own love for the angel. Together, they will overcome anything life throws at them.

One day, he will have to think about Yeonjun’s father’s questions. He will have to make a decision that will change his life forever. But that day is far in the future. He will have all the time in the world to enjoy his humanity and learn all the intricacies of angels through Yeonjun until then. And when the day finally comes, he and Yeonjun will already have decided together.

Until then, Soobin is going to enjoy every single step of the way. With Yeonjun by his side, he knows it’s going to be a wild ride, and he can’t wait for what the future will bring them.