A/N: Prompt was "with you I found peace in hell." I interpreted it quite literally... xD

~~

Jinyoung hated his job.

He wasn’t even too sure he could call it a job. It was more like...a lifestyle? A state of being? His inherent nature?

Whatever it was, whatever he was, he loathed it with every fibre of his deplorable existence.

Who said the denizens of Hell were all nightmarish fiends with an unquenchable bloodlust and burning desire for chaos? All Jinyoung wanted was some peace and quiet these days, not to be faced with crying moans and pleas for mercy as he sliced his scythe through his victim’s fraying soul bond, effectively severing the cursed soul from its deceased body.

Jinyoung’s lip curled in slight disgust as the swirl of black entered his sack-’o-souls, carelessly tying the top in a knot to prevent his harvest of the day from escaping. Slinging his scythe over his shoulder, he gave one last disdainful look at the grotesque body on the floor before taking his leave through the window.

And quite literally through the window, meaning he passed through the glass like the specter he was rather than shattering it like a normal, live, human being.

Because Jinyoung was a reaper, a collector of damned souls condemned to Hell, and he despised it more than anything.

~~

The travel into the underworld was an unpleasant one, but Jinyoung had thousands of years to grow as apathetic as possible to the experience. What he’d never been able to do, though, was to completely block out the cries of despair that filtered through the fog separating the path from the Fields of Punishment, and he always found himself grimacing as he hastened through that stretch of travel.

Pity was the last thing he felt for these souls, because if they were here they most definitely deserved it. It was still a bit unnerving, though, and always grating on his already irritable mood.

Luckily, the Courthouse was just beyond that, and Jinyoung huffed a sigh a relief once he dumped the souls he’d gathered that night down the collection chute located just beside the front steps of the dauntingly large building.

The Courthouse was a rather unoriginal name, but very accurate in describing its function - while all the souls reaped by reapers had been predetermined as unworthy of heaven, their exact sentence to be carried out here in the miserable Underworld had yet to be determined. And thus, to be judged was each human soul’s first stop in Hell.

The Courthouse itself was constructed from all marble and steel, an odd combination but the clashing result elicited that exact feeling of uncomfortableness that was intended by design. The pillars holding up the canted ceilings were pretty standard, but the rest of the exterior had been carefully decorated with the standard amount of skulls, gorey images of decapitation, spilling guts, and the like.

It was quite ugly, in Jinyoung’s opinion, and not all that intimidating due to the ridiculousness of the whole picture, but it seemed to scare the human souls less so who was he to complain. The going-ons of the Courthouse had nothing to do with him, and in that sense, reapers were more like the delivery boys of the Underworld than anything else.

Just another reason why Jinyoung was bitter he’d been stuck with this job of all things for the rest of damned eternity.

Stuffing his now empty soul sack into one of his cloak pockets, Jinyoung was just readying himself to head back home for a few hours of rest when his vision suddenly became obstructed, an almost uncomfortably warm heat pressing up against his back as a teasing voice cooed into his ear.

“Jinyoungie~ I’m back~”

Jinyoung snorted, rolling his eyes beneath the clawed hands that were still covering his eyes. He  didn’t try to shrug off the fiend’s hold, though, only pushing the hands away from his face so he could see again.

“Congratulations, you want a medal? How many lives did you manage to screw up irrevocably this time?”

Jinyoung’s voice could only be described as dripping with sarcasm, but his companion didn’t seem to mind, chuckling as his arms shifted down to wrap around Jinyoung’s waist.

“Aw, babe, are you still angry about last week? I already told you I’m sorry.”

The fiend latched onto his back was clearly attempting to soothe Jinyoung’s temper, but the sweet endearment only made Jinyoung grimace.

“I never said I was angry, Mark. And let go already, I wanna go home, I’m tired.”

Jinyoung’s tone was impatient, but his willingness to call the fiend by name was clue enough that he wasn’t too bothered anymore by whatever it was he’d been angry about before. Mark was immediately delighted, swinging the reaper around to face him with a beaming grin.

“Can we go over to my place?” Mark asked excitedly, and Jinyoung swore he was nearly blinded by the brightness of Mark’s smile.

“Sure,” Jinyoung found himself agreeing before even realizing the words had left his mouth, and by then it was too late. Mark had let out a whoop of victory, fingers firmly intertwining with Jinyoung’s before extending his wings, tugging Jinyoung along at a pace so fast he actually had to put in effort to keep up.

Dazedly, Jinyoung found himself questioning how exactly Mark managed to have that effect on him every time. It was natural for fiends to be charming, to appear deceptively innocent, but that was only supposed to work on humans. And Jinyoung, well, he hadn’t been anything close to human for the past millennium.

But then again, Mark did used to be an angel, so maybe it did actually make sense. Not that anyone would be able to tell just from looking at Mark - from his wine-red hair and leathery black wings to his dangerous horns and wicked sharp claws, he looked exactly like the original fiends that’d been raised from the fiery pits by Lucifer himself.

While it wasn’t unheard of for fallen angels to become reapers, or gatekeepers, it was incredibly rare for them to become fiends and demons. Most Fallen were simply too bitter and angsty to adapt to these more intense roles in Hell. Not to mention, they often came with a passionate hatred for everything the place stood for, even despite their state of being Fallen. It was rather unavoidable, though, since that that belief had been practically woven into their previous sense of self as guardians.

Mark, however, had apparently possessed a slightly sadistic streak even as an angel. A defective product, if you will, and no matter how hard he tried to suppress it, it was only a matter of time before his impure nature caused his Falling.

Fortunately, that trait seemed to serve him quite well here down below, as it hadn’t taken him long at all to adapt to his current lifestyle of luring humans into committing sin rather than protecting them.

That brightness about him though… on second thought perhaps it didn’t have anything to do with being angel after all. Maybe it was just Mark himself.

“Hey, Jinyoung, you said you were tired, right?”

Jinyoung jolted out of his thoughts, only now realizing they’d already arrived at Mark’s place.

Hell was a dump but it was a surprisingly civilized dump, and the apartment complex Mark lived in was one that had been remodeled just the last century. Mark waved open the door with his hand, pulling Jinyoung inside swiftly and not stopping until they’d reached his bedroom.

“Yeah, I’m exhausted,” Jinyoung’s answer was slightly delayed, finally letting go of Mark’s hand to rub his eyes. “Yesterday was also terrible because - wait, WAIT-”

Jinyoung broke off, flustered, when Mark suddenly reached over to undo Jinyoung’s cloak, making quick work of the clasp and going straight for his inner robes next. Jinyoung only managed to hang on to his undershirt before Mark finally stopped, peering up at him with a confused look.

“What?”

The tips of Jinyoung’s ears were flaming, but he only appeared indignant as he responded to Mark.

“What do you mean, what? Why are you taking my clothes off?” Jinyoung demanded, taking half a step back from Mark.

It wasn’t like Jinyoung innocent, let’s be honest he was the exact opposite from that, and it wasn’t like he and Mark hadn’t done quite literally everything they could do together already. They’d been together for almost a century, after all, since pretty much right after Mark’s arrival in Hell.

But Mark had never been so forward, always preferring to take the romantic route. Again, something rather unheard of in fiends and demons, but that was what Jinyoung had come to expect from Mark. This sudden change now was more than enough to throw Jinyoung off guard,  and he’d never been one to respond well to surprises.

“Why wouldn’t I?” Mark still only looked bewildered by Jinyoung’s reaction. “Weren’t you planning on taking a nap? Are you planning to sleep in that or something?”

Immediately, Jinyoung felt horribly stupid, embarrassment leading the flaming sensation in his ears to spread to his cheeks as well.

“Ah, no, I just, yeah,” Jinyoung stammered, trying to come up with an excuse to save the situation before Mark caught on, but with the sudden expression of comprehension dawning on Mark’s face, he knew it was too late.

“Ohhhh. I mean, we can do that too, if you want,” Mark smirked at Jinyoung knowingly, taking a step to close the distance between them. His eyes had darkened, speckles of black visible in his scarlet irises and Jinyoung didn’t have the chance to protest this time before Mark captured his lips with his own.

Expecting the contact to be fervent and passionate, Jinyoung tried to brace himself, but yet again, was left surprised. The kiss was gentle, a warm, comforting pressure with just the quickest swipe of tongue before Mark backed off, amusement twinkling in his eyes.

“Oh, come on,” Mark’s voice was laced with affection, claws retracting as his hand circled Jinyoung’s wrist. Once again, he tugged Jinyoung to his bed, and this time Jinyoung followed without protest, not yet recovered from his heated embarrassment but also with a new warmth spreading in his chest.

Jinyoung was quick to burrow under the covers, laying on his side to face Mark, who’d similarly curled up beneath the blankets. Their legs naturally entangled, hands yet again finding their way to each other, and Jinyoung found himself finally able to relax, the tenseness of his shoulders and residual irritation from the day melting away like snow greeted by the noontime sun.

Mark watched on fondly as the change came over Jinyoung - it was like watching all of his edges soften at once, and when Jinyoung produced his first genuine smile of the night, eyes crinkling with his signature wrinkles, it was like a whole new person had taken his place.

“Now there’s the Jinyoungie I know,” Mark scooted closer to nuzzle his nose into the crook of Jinyoung’s neck. “Must’ve been a rough day, huh?”

“Mmhmm,” Jinyoung mumbled, tilting his head to bury his own nose in Mark’s hair. Mark smelled of embers and earth, quite generic things for a being of Hell, but there was also a flavor of briskness, something that reminded Jinyoung of the tang of fresh air from above ground, and it never failed to set him at ease. “Wish I had as much fun reaping souls as you do bullying humans.”

Mark barked out a laugh against Jinyoung’s shoulder, finally pulling back slightly to press a kiss against the underside of Jinyoung’s jaw.

“Well, it’s never boring for me, that’s for sure.” There was mischievous glint in Mark’s eye, and he sported a matching devilish grin. Jinyoung raised an eyebrow, his free hand coming up to brush Mark’s bangs away from his face.

“I’m just waiting for the day when you finally turn on me…” Jinyoung narrowed his eyes at Mark as if to survey him suspiciously.

“Nah, I get it out of my system with the humans,” Mark said dismissively. “Besides, you reapers are too scary to mess with, with your scary scythes and all.”

They both knew Mark was just joking, but he said it in such a serious manner, they both simply stared at each other blankly for a few moments. Jinyoung was finally the first to lose it, bursting into laughter at the mental image of chasing Mark all around Hell with his scythe. Mark, too, immediately followed with his own high pitched peals, and they were nearly in tears by the time they finally managed to stop.

“Okay, okay, maybe not,” Mark amended, a giggle still attempting to bubble up his throat. “But we can discuss how scary you really are later. We’re gonna miss out on prime nap time otherwise.”

“Mmhmm,” Jinyoung agreed, also trying to be serious but couldn’t quite keep a grin off his face as they both scooted in closer to each other until they were nearly chest to chest, hands tightly clasped in between.

“Thanks, Mark,” Jinyoung mumbled as his eyes slipped shut.

“Love you.”

~~

Jinyoung hated his job, and he hated living in Hell, too, to be honest. But a certain fiend made life just a little more bearable in the Underworld, so he might just be at peace with his situation for the time being.

Or, at least for the foreseeable eternity.