Warnings:  Purposelessness, a bit of gore

The moments are brief and maybe actually alright, so I won't mark the whole chapter; just marked the chapter top just in case.

Waving the Min couple out of his office, Baekhyun smiled at how they held hands now when their arrival had been just short of a brawl. He shut the door and reviewed his notes, typing and scanning them into his computer. He had a three-month check-in and then a six-month check-in, both which had no problems where he had to intervene, then he was done for the day. Baekhyun had just locked his door when Yveil zoomed up to him and whispered to him all secret-like.

“Your sweet and sour man is at the entrance and in a suit. I got tuxes in the back for an emergency fancy date.”

He still cringed playfully at the nickname, but the info made a smile bloom on his face.

“Thanks, Yveil. No fancy date though. He just came off work.”

“What? You knew? Wait, did you ask him out?”

“No, since neither of our circumstances are stable, but we’re going to literally be seeing each other more often so…”

He ended his sentence with a shrug, but that didn’t stop the female secretary from squealing and giving him a big bear hug.

“I’m rooting for you!” She whisper-shouted before shoving him forward. “Go get your man!”

Though petite, Yveil had a strong arm, and Baekhyun practically stumbled out into the lobby from the push. He caught himself before smashing his face into the corner ficus, luckily. Unluckily, Chanyeol and Dongsung saw his impression of an ungraceful pinwheel, and he felt the blush steam his face when Chanyeol rushed over to him.

“Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. Uhm, I just need to put some files away and then I can—”

The papers slipped from his fingers, and he looked around the angel’s shoulders to see Dongsung winking and waving the folders in his hand.

“Nevermind. I guess I can go.”

Chanyeol smiled, and Baekhyun held his arm on the way out because Chanyeol offered and because he didn’t trust the jelly in his legs after seeing a literal angel smile. In the elevator down, Baekhyun played with Chanyeol’s hair, noting its shagginess, and offered to cut it for him. They talked about random and funny things and even some hushed mentions of what heaven and hell were like. Not once did Chanyeol ask Baekhyun how his work was because he already knew what happened, so Baekhyun didn’t mind.

Once they got to his apartment, Chanyeol started on dinner for him while he went to shower. Coming out of a warm cleansing and sitting down to eat the angel’s bulgogi stir-fry rice made Baekhyun internally squeal. They sat and ate together before jumping onto the couch and finding a movie to watch. Baekhyun had been surprised by the number of new releases Chanyeol had already seen. He didn’t think that guarding humans would let the angel watch cinema, but Chanyeol just grinned and said that he had his ways.

Mid-way into a popular movie about collecting space junk and corrupt paradises, Baekhyun caught Chanyeol’s hands gripping, releasing, and gripping his shirt. He had learned that the angel did that whenever he was nervous or anxious about something. He wasn’t sure if Chanyeol wanted to talk about it yet though, so Baekhyun pressed himself closer, and the angel eventually relaxed. As the credits rolled, he glanced over and saw Chanyeol squinting at nothing in particular.

“Yeol?”

“Yeah?”

“Something on your mind?”

“Yeah, but it’s okay.”

Baekhyun shot him a deadpan look, and the angel scrunched his eyes.

“Well, I’m still worried about the situation with my old teammates…”

He nodded, feeling those same sentiments. Although Baekhyun adored having Chanyeol around and spending so much time with the angel, he knew that the circumstances that brought Chanyeol to his side were dire.

Baekhyun was in danger and so was Minseok and the other angels and demons who had been on that mission. He had managed to call into Minseok’s workplace and get him and his angelic coworkers a leave from work at least. And he already knew that telling their boss that they had a mutual friend’s funeral to attend was a way better excuse than what Minseok or Chanyeol could’ve come up with since they both at lying.

Chanyeol gave him the rundown of the trial and why a demon becoming an angel was a big deal, with or without Hayong’s crime. With how the angelics were approaching the mission now—focusing on Hayong ‘and Yixing’s’ possible hands in kidnapping souls—Baekhyun thought that they didn’t seem all that concerned with protecting the accidental proxy or the two souls who were marked out as targets. Chanyeol thought it odd too, which was why he would’ve asked for a break from missions just so that he could protect Baekhyun if his commander hadn’t already personally assigned him to do so. The declaration threw Baekhyun into a blush fest with the angel once said angel realized what he said.

Now that Minseok had ‘escaped’ from his holding place, the angelics were running around in a panic. Baekhyun and Chanyeol could only hope that nothing bad would happen to their friends, and with so much going on, what he told Yveil was the truth. The definition and label of their relationship took a backseat. Baekhyun thought it was morally right, and it also bought him some time to figure out how a lasting relationship with a being who literally lived forever would work. So NOT thinking of that, Baekhyun wrapped his arm around Chanyeol.

“I’m worried too, but it’s not like we can do anything about it now. All our allies are scattered since the mission changed. I’ve also tried calling Minseok, but I think his phone is turned off. Or he was taken to a different place in heaven or hell.”

Chanyeol nodded, pouting, and Baekhyun felt himself pout too.

“Is it not possible to just port to Minseok? You guys are familiar enough with each other, right?”

“We are, but since they were arrested, the Erelim guards put enchantments on them that prevent him from porting and anyone from porting to them. Only the judges of the trial may and just for relocation.”

“Then port to the people keeping him?”

“By the time Hayong was declared a criminal, no one could port to her. I think it’s because her demonic aura was too weak. It’s also possible to block being ported to using a high-level skill.”

Baekhyun sank down the couch until his back made an acute incline with the plush. “Now I feel really bad just sitting here.”

Chanyeol shifted down with him, snaking his arms around him and pressing his cheek to Baekhyun’s shoulder.

“Don’t feel bad. This is an angelic matter.”

“But that’s my friend they arrested and when he was absolutely innocent. Then they couldn’t even protect him and allowed some dangerous demon to take him from an open area because that’s where they dropped him. Why does Hayong even need him? And why would she even want to be human?”

Baekhyun waited, half expecting Chanyeol to tell him something soothing or even joining his rant, but the angel didn’t. He cast a glance at the angel but didn’t see much other than the mop of black hair.

“Yeol?”

“Humans have more privileges than angelics,” he said softly. “It may not seem that way, but they do. The choice of relationships, the choice of work, the choice of self-worth—even if misfortune falls on them, humans get to make their lives in ways that we can’t. Our lives revolve around protecting humans. You asked me before if I had family, and truthfully, I dodged you. I have parents, yes, maybe a half sibling, but family does not exist as a concept to us, only as a definition of what it means to humans. Friendship in the way you see it is fleeting and rare amongst us because our teams our meant to fulfil a common goal and disperse afterwards. The things humans talk about and do to establish a connection with another are considered unnecessary and off-task if we are the ones to say and do them.”

He shifted his head so that it lay on Baekhyun’s chest, a comfortable weight balanced by uncomfortable words.

“Guarding humans for so long, I realized that humans may be vulnerable and weak and subjected under their own prejudices, but they have the power to change themselves and their society. Angelics wouldn’t ever think of such a thing.”

“Why not?”

Chanyeol chuckled, but it didn’t belong to his usual shyness or joy. This sound breathed out bitterness.

“Because then humans would die. We were created to protect the celestial throne, then humans, and if that’s our purpose, then anything else is extraneous. Humans need this system. If one human is saved and a thousand angelics die, then according to divinity, nothing was lost.”

Baekhyun gathered Chanyeol closer, hugging him tight and hiding his face into the angel’s hair. He pulled them horizontal across the couch so that maybe that clenching within Baekhyun’s chest could ease. The despair that had hollowed Chanyeol’s voice broke him on the inside, and everything the angel had said sounded so cruel.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t know— I didn’t know to see it that way.”

Chanyeol shifted, and Baekhyun melted as the angel pressed a kiss to his chest, right against his heart. He wanted to stay mad at himself for snapping and for being thoughtless with his accusations again, but warmth and comfort swept throughout him and forced his mind and body into a dreamy lull. Even the strength in his arms laxened around Chanyeol.

“Mm, better. You were starting to stress out. That’s not good for your heart, you know.”

“So you just kiss me calm? That’s weird,” Baekhyun mumbled back with a pout because he didn’t have the strength to put even playful bite in his tone.

“A touch would’ve done it, but I wanted to kiss you.”

“My lips are up here, dummy.”

The angel chuckled again, shy and kind again, and sighed.

“I’ve come to terms with it, so don’t feel bad. It’s not common for angels to think about stuff like this because they relish in what they believe is righteous, and demons would probably take a more… direct approach to solving the problem even if they can’t exactly figure out what they feel. I’m assuming that this is the root of why Hayong is doing what she’s doing.”

“Hm, okay. Hey, why is it that you’re the one trying to make me feel better when you were the one who was showing worry first?”

“Because I forgot that you wouldn’t drop the subject so easily. Most angelics would if it’s not related to the mission. I’ve been exposed more than once by my old team while talking like this too.”

“Oh, you said that Yixing and Minseok and most of the demons of Te-something were like that too.”

“Demons of Tehom, Chen and Kai. Yeah, they are exceptions.”

He hummed, too sleepy to reply that he remembered when the angel was telling him about the legions and glories. His eyes fluttered close and open as he fought the drowsiness. He wanted to stay awake for Chanyeol, to talk with him about all those things angelics found unnecessary, to listen to him and show him how it felt to have true friendship, but the calming kiss and now the angel’s drawing of slow circles on his arm sedated his body until a heaviness settled comfortably in his being.

He had almost drifted into dreamland when he heard the click of his front door. Voices murmured from the foyer, and he grunted as he slipped down to the floor into a sitting position. Yawning, he rubbed his eyes and looked to the door. He straightened upon seeing his not-government-agent-but-still-socially-awkward client walk in. Someone else trailed behind him and for a moment Baekhyun thought it was Minseok, and he jumped to his feet. He froze when he saw that it was a woman with long dark hair and nodded to her instead.

“Hey, Jong—Chen. And hello.”

Chen took his hand and tugged him forward, to the woman. He raised an eyebrow, but he didn’t see Chen’s face too clearly because the woman’s eyes snapped to black. All the light reflecting across them disappeared. Then Baekhyun blinked, and the images from the TV danced in her brown eyes like before.

“It’s not him. He’ll be old when he dies.”

Chen nodded. Baekhyun blinked again in confusion and felt chills slink down his back as the woman smiled at him.

“Please excuse me. Chen here wanted me to confirm that you are not Hayong’s most likely target.”

“And you saw that how? Me being old?”

“I’m Bae Joohyun, a nigheag. It’s really complicated, but basically I can predict how people will die, and your soul being absorbed by a frost demon is not likely your fate.”

“Uhm, that’s great? Oh, I’m Byun Baekhyun.”

She giggled and nodded before prodding Chen.

“Alright, you can take me back now. Then finish the rest of your mission. Make sure to explain to them what you explained to me. You can do this.”

The demon didn’t move, and Baekhyun just had enough time to shoot an S.O.S look to Chanyeol between the two’s shoulders. But Chen flicked his wrist and a black and red version of the portal Chanyeol had showed him once opened in his living room, and he stepped through without another glance. Joohyun waved bye to him, and the portal closed.

“So Chanyeol, want to explain that to me?”

“Chen seemed unresponsive when I let him in. Joohyun was the one who said that she came to make sure that you weren’t Hayong’s target.”

“Really? I didn’t catch that since she literally just told me that she saw how I was going to die.”

Chanyeol furrowed his eyebrows, confused, but Baekhyun just the light. He hadn’t meant that sarcastically. It sounded like Chen would return, so he shook out all the sleepiness and reminded himself to have a proper look at the demon.

Chen came back from the front door again, and Chanyeol led him into the living room again. On the surface, there wasn’t anything visibly alarming about the demon, but his curl-less mouth, those unfocused eyes, that blankness that concealed another emotion within—Baekhyun knew that Chen wasn’t himself. The man even lightly pushed him and Chanyeol to the couch so that they were sitting on one end while he sat on the other. His shoulders relaxed the tiniest bit then.

Then Baekhyun remembered what happened during their last session and the current situation, and he just wanted to slap himself for being so stupid.

“Chen, how’re you holding up?”

The demon stared into the coffee table.

“Hey, I know everything’s uncertain right now, but Minseok’s a fighter. Did you know that he once fought off a drunkard who had wandered onto campus and was threatening people with a broken liquor bottle? And he didn’t give up even after all that stuff happened with his family. He’s strong, and I know that you’ll do what you need to do to get him back.”

Chen’s head turned to him slightly, like the words had just caught his attention. So blank, so lost. Baekhyun felt his heart clench at the sight, and he scooted across the couch, slowly reaching forward to give Chen time to pull back if he wanted, then wrapped him in a hug when he didn’t. Baekhyun wasn’t expecting a hand to come grip the