If you asked Sungjong to pinpoint the moment their lives-- their afterlives-- began to change, he would say, without hesitation, the moment Hoya was reaped. Hoya was ready to go and had been for a very, very long time. Fragile and sick in bed, he went with Sungjong willingly, almost relieved. It was when Dongwoo offered him his heaven that Hoya began to hesitate. He understood that hesitation because he'd felt it himself, for whatever reason he couldn't even remember now. Sometimes, when offered their own heaven, the place of eternal rest that all souls were entitled to, a soul would pause like this. Whether it was fear or curiosity, it didn't matter. Sometimes heaven was turned down, this is how you became a reaper, and Sungjong had been at it for many, many years since Dongwoo had reaped him at seventeen. He'd seen many souls since then and many hesitations, but only one, personally, that led to a new reaper and that was Sunggyu.

Whatever Hoya's reason was, Sungjong couldn't guess, but they gained a new colleague that day, and the boy who still looked fragile and naive, though he was no longer skinny and pale with sickness, was taken under Dongwoo's wing. He'd looked almost overwhelmed by Dongwoo's wide smile, but never once showed any signs of changing his mind.

Things began to change with Hoya because Hoya didn't take to being a reaper like Sunggyu had. When Sunggyu had been reaped he'd been a young soldier in battle. He'd been stiff and cynical and when they'd offered him heaven he'd refused immediately. Sunggyu had taken to reaping souls like he was born to do it-- which was funny to think about, being born just to die and reap souls-- he kept his soldier mannerisms for a long time before he loosened up, but he never stopped taking his job seriously.

Dongwoo was the opposite of Sunggyu in almost every way. He was informal and loud and happy. He made souls smile. He made the, often, morose bearable in most cases. Dongwoo, who had been Sungjong's teacher in everything that mattered in his afterlife, taught Sungjong that death wasn't the end, and it didn't have to be sad, even if you never chose your heaven.

Hoya, though he'd turned down heaven and made no signs of changing his mind, was resistant to reaping in almost every way. His first reap was spent on the ground, shaking until Dongwoo had dropped beside him and rubbed his back until he calmed. The second reap went smoother, but he clearly wasn't comfortable. How Dongwoo stayed so happy was entirely a mystery to Hoya-- one that drove him insane, Sungjong could tell.

It wasn't long after Hoya that they'd met Sungyeol, though it wasn't by fate. It turned out that Dongwoo had known Sungyeol's great-grandmother and reaped her when her time had come. Sungyeol had come from a long line of psychics, which is how his great-grandmother had seen Dongwoo and befriended him and how Sungyeol saw them. When they met him, Sungyeol was only eleven, but he grew, and eventually inherited his great-grandmother’s antique store, Paradise, which he came to find out wasn't a plain old innocent antique store at all. Sungyeol's great-grandmother’s antique store discreetly sold and traded supernatural and occult items to those who knew how to ask for them. Really, Hoya was the only one surprised even though they'd been frequenting the shop for twelve years.

When Sungyeol became the owner, he decided to share the upstairs bedrooms with them and Paradise really became their home, which was a first for Sungjong since he'd been reaped.

They needed somewhere to eat and sleep too, Sungyeol had been surprised to learn. They functioned like humans, even if humans couldn't see them all the time, and when they did, no human ever saw them twice. They always appeared different, and hovered at the edge of a person's memory. It was hard for anyone to remember they'd met them at all, and if they did it was just another random face. That was being a reaper.

It was nice to have Sungyeol on their side. He even came in handy with souls and their decision to take heaven. They found it was comforting to souls to talk to someone who hadn't been dead for a couple hundred years-- and Hoya didn't count.

The action that really changed everything was Hoya's chickening out on a reap and passing it along to Sunggyu.

More often than not, Sungjong didn't reap souls but instead fetched the soul's heaven key. This way he and Sunggyu worked in synchronization. Things moved faster and Dongwoo laughed at them, preferring to do it on his own, believing it made the process more personal, and on this Hoya agreed. But just the once. He and Dongwoo almost never agreed.

Kim Myungsoo's key was the most beautiful key Sungjong had ever seen.

No heaven key looked the same and Sungjong had never seen a key that wasn't beautiful, but Kim Myungsoo's key was probably prettier than Sungjong's own key. He handled it gently when he received it, and it felt heavier than any key he'd ever held. Lee Sungjong had held a lot of heaven keys in his reaper career.

Kim Myungsoo, who had died at twenty one in a heinous car accident on a slippery road, did not want to die.

It was nothing new, meeting souls who refused to believe they had died or threw a fit about dying or fell to the floor, sobbing because they couldn't believe it. Sungjong had seen it all, but he'd never seen a soul so adamant about not cooperating. Myungsoo was a ball of furious energy, staying at the scene of his death while police and ambulance showed up and a crowd gathered. He tried anything to get people to notice him; he shouted and hit things and it wasn't until he'd worn himself out that Sunggyu nodded his head at Sungjong and Sungjong had knelt beside Myungsoo, who was exhausted and shivering in a way that told Sungjong he was finally understanding what was going on. Sungjong waited until Myungsoo met his eyes before he held out Myungsoo's heaven key.

"This is for your heaven." He told Myungsoo. "You're going to be okay, all you need to do is take this." Myungsoo was already shaking his head. "You won't do any good here until you take this. These people can't see you now. You're dead." He told Myungsoo gently.

"My brother." Myungsoo pleaded.

It was common for souls to worry about those they'd left behind, "He'll be fine. It may take a while, but the living keep on living."

"No." Myungsoo said firmly, all the shakiness gone from his voice, determined now. "I won't leave him. I will stay here forever like this if I have to. I can't leave him all alone."

"Souls who don't chose their heavens go mad and hell hounds come for them, Myungsoo. How would your brother feel if he knew his brother’s soul was ripped apart by hell hounds? No heaven, no afterlife, just oblivion. Would he want that for you?"

Myungsoo shook his head, "There has to be another way." His eyes made desperate pleads to Sungjong even when he was quiet.

Sungjong was about to answer when he heard Sunggyu's gasp and his head snapped up. Sunggyu was looking towards the accident, eyes tracking someone closely, but Sungjong didn't see who it was because suddenly Myungsoo was scrambling up off the ground.

There was a boy there, maybe a year or two older than Myungsoo, and he looked a wreck. Immediately Sungjong pinned him as Myungsoo's brother when he began wailing and screaming at the wreckage and the cops that tried to hold him back.

"Woohyun!" Myungsoo shouted, "I'm here! Woohyun please-- it's okay, I'm right here."

Of course, it got Myungsoo nowhere except for gasping and hiccupping wetly until he was exhausted again and Sungjong's shoulder was wet from where he'd held onto Myungsoo, his throat tightening in response to Myungsoo's grief.

If they could, they tried to prevent reaping around family members, or making the process as quick as possible, to avoid just this. Sometimes though, it was just impossible, and they had to bear it. Sungjong had done it more than enough times to handle it without breaking down himself, so when he found that his chest hurt for Myungsoo so much that he felt his eyes prickling, he wondered why Kim Myungsoo's death was different.

Sunggyu was completely lost to him, watching the brother breaking down just fifteen feet away from them, probably swept up in these brothers’s grief like Sungjong was.

"There has to be another way." Myungsoo sobbed, "I won't leave."

"There is another way!" Sungjong had to shout before Myungsoo would open his eyes again. Sungjong had embraced Myungsoo when he'd lost it at the sight of his brother, and he put his hands on Myungsoo's shoulders. "There is only one way to stay. Are you sure you won't take your heaven?"

"What is it?" Myungsoo ignored Sungjong's last shot.

Sungjong his lips, hoping Myungsoo wouldn't regret his choice. "You refuse your key and you come with us. You become a reaper."

"A reaper? Like, I would... what. What does a reaper do?"

"I'm a reaper. Sunggyu and I are."

Myungsoo watched Sungjong's face for a very long time; Sungjong could see him thinking hard. "Will Woohyun be able to see me?"

"He won't be able to recognize you. You'll look like a different stranger every time you meet him. He won't even remember." Sungjong told him honestly, and his heart clenched when another heavy tear slid down Myungsoo's red cheek. "It's better than nothing."

"Yes." Myungsoo agreed "It is. I'll do it."

"Are you sure?" Sungjong asks him one last time.

"Yes." Myungsoo tells him, looking at his brother.

When Sungjong glances back up at Sunggyu again, Sunggyu is also still staring at Myungsoo's brother. It should have tipped him off.

Alright. I don't mean for this fic to be long and I really didn't expect for this to take long but APPARENTLY SPRING BREAK DOES NOT MEAN UPDATES ALL DAY ERRY DAY IT MEANS LETS DRAG JENNA AROUND PLACES SHE DOESN'T WANNA GO AND MEET PEOPLE SHE DOESN'T WANNA MEET i swear my grandmother is trying to get me married ok i feel like i was 13 yesterday i am not ready for this ;__;