~Heaven Sends~

            Although Sehun was currently trudging up several flights of stairs, there was only one thing on his mind, and it was the fact that he couldn’t have felt any more relief for the long awaited arrival of summer. His favorite season meant that he didn’t have to attend classes at his nearby university or do anything remotely related to said university – now he had all the time in the world for himself (until the next academic year began, of course). Very soon, he was going to push past the heavy doors leading to his apartment’s rooftop, where he kept the potted plants he had tended to in secret. He could finally do what he’d always wanted to without much concern for time, and he was indeed going to take this precious time to water his plants.

            Just as the graduate student was about to open one of the doors, something outside of the windows caught his eye. It was the figure of someone standing on the rooftop, but the identity of the person was indistinguishable due to distance and the glare of the brightly shining sun. A curious Sehun quickly headed outside, a bit of water leaking out of his watering can due to his careless handling. Despite the creaking of the large door, this unknown person appeared far too occupied with whatever they were doing to turn around or even hear Sehun’s approach. No one was really allowed on the rooftop and Sehun had never encountered anyone there before, so he didn’t know why there was someone else present now.

            As quietly as possible, Sehun walked towards the figure, wondering if they were engaged in an illegal or criminal activity of some sort. Maybe he’d be able to catch them in the act. Upon closer inspection and the sight of light brown hair, Sehun realized that the person standing on the rooftop was none other than his neighbor Luhan from the apartment building next door. He was a graduate student just like Sehun and they’d met each other on a few occasions, enjoying a pleasant conversation or two but they weren’t too well acquainted with one another yet. (Honestly, the only reason Sehun even remembered Luhan at all was because he was admittedly very handsome, and his face was one that he wouldn’t be able to passively forget.)

            At this very moment, however, there was something very, very different about Luhan, and it was obviously the pair of feathery wings attached to his back. The wings were huge and seemingly powerful enough to lift a full grown man like Luhan into the air with ease and could have practically carried him anywhere he wished. The individual feathers themselves were long and of a magnificent white, as pure and glistening as snow in the depths of winter. Sehun knew there was something different about Luhan that made him stand apart from everyone else, but he didn’t think that it would be something like this. He could only observe in complete and dumbstruck awe as the giant white wings on Luhan’s back twitched and swayed with the movement of the air while the man hopped up and down, clearly struggling to do something. He muttered incoherently under his breath, frustration evident in his tone.

            This wasn’t a sight anyone could just see any other day. Aside from his wide eyes and parted lips, Sehun could feel the weighty watering can loosening in his grip. Before he could even adjust his fingers around the handle, it slipped right out of his hand and plunged onto the ground with a great thud and splash. Everything around the fallen watering can was soaked, but that would be the least of Sehun’s problems because Luhan was finally aware of his presence. The older man immediately spun around to face Sehun, a mortified expression contorting his usually handsome face.

            “W-What are you doing up here?” Luhan barely managed to choke out as the wings on his back were rapidly decreasing in size. He fidgeted in place, his nervous habits emerging as a result of the precarious situation he suddenly found himself in.

            By the time Luhan’s wings had fully disappeared from Sehun’s sight, the younger man had also regained his ability to speak. “What the hell was that?!” He carefully approached his stuttering neighbor, who took a step back each time Sehun took a step closer. He wasn’t listening to any of the excuses that were constantly pouring from Luhan’s mouth. He could only think of the angelic wings he’d just seen, the incredible image burned into his mind. “There’s no point in trying to hide it. I already saw them – your wings. I need an explanation. Now.”

            Luhan sighed loudly in apparent defeat, and Sehun knew that his questions were finally going to be answered. He crossed his arms over his chest, waiting for the shorter man to speak again. “Fine. I’m going to tell you everything, but make sure you keep it a secret, alright? You can’t tell a single soul about this. This could be considered a serious offense in Heaven.”

            “Heaven?” Sehun was usually open to the existence of such places, but he never thought their existences would be confirmed as long as he was alive.

            Luhan ran a hand through the front of his brown hair. “This is probably going to sound ridiculous to you, but it’s the honest truth…” With another brief sigh, Luhan murmured, “I’m an angel.” Had this been any other circumstance, Sehun would’ve scoffed in disbelief and brushed off the confession, but he’d already seen the wings, which were pretty much irrefutable evidence to back up Luhan’s claim. “More specifically, I’m your guardian angel. I’m sure you already have an idea of what we’re supposed to do – we watch over the human we’re assigned to and make sure that no undeserving harm comes to them.” That made enough sense to Sehun as he’d run into Luhan far too many times to be a mere coincidence, especially in consideration of the fact that they lived in separate apartment buildings. So his very attractive neighbor was also his guardian angel. This was obviously shocking information, but all Sehun could do now was accept it as it was.

            “Well…what were you doing just now? Jumping up and down with your wings out? Anyone else could’ve seen you, you know. That’s really risky.” Sehun pointed out as calmly as he could.

            Luhan was clearly relieved by the calm front that Sehun had put up – there were so many different directions that this situation could’ve gone, and most of them weren’t any good. As his personal guardian angel, Luhan was already aware of Sehun’s relaxed personality, but he’d never encountered anything like an angel throughout his entire life. Experiences like these were known to bring out certain sides of people or even change them. Sehun seemed to be an exception to this possibility, and Luhan was more than glad. He could trust him.  “As I’ve already mentioned before, I’m a guardian angel. There are several different types of angels, and the position of guardian angel is actually the standard default. As a guardian angel, I would like to advance and pursue other positions – but first, I need to enter Heaven…and this is where my problem comes in.” Luhan slightly lowered his head, rubbing the tip of his sneaker against the ground. “I can’t fly. If I want to become a full-fledged angel, I need to be able to fly to Heaven, but I’ve been struggling to do this… You just witnessed another one of my many, many failed attempts to fly.”

            Sehun cocked an eyebrow. “You already have wings…but you don’t know how to use them?”

            “I don’t know… I don’t know what I’m doing wrong. I just want to go to Heaven – at this point, I’d honestly do anything to finally be able to fly.” The latter part of Luhan’s statement caught Sehun’s interest, and he narrowed his eyes thoughtfully. He could probably do something about it. Would Luhan accept his proposal? There was only one way to find out.

            “You said that you’d do anything to be able to fly?”

            “Yes, anything.” Luhan’s eyes lit up as he realized where Sehun was going with this.

            “What if…I decided to help you learn? What would I receive in return?” There was no way that Sehun was going to give away his summer time for free. He had to benefit from this somehow.

            “Hmmm…” Luhan pursed his lips in deep thought. There was a brief pause before he finally said, “There actually isn’t much I can offer as a mere guardian angel…but how does a miracle sound? One miracle in your time of desperate need. This is something outside of my usual guardian angel duties, but I’m willing to give this up in exchange for learning how to fly.”

            The corner of Sehun’s lips curled up as he extended his hand out for a shake. That was just what he needed to hear. He wasn’t a materialistic person so he didn’t care for those other kinds of offers anyway. “It sounds like it’d definitely come in handy someday. You have yourself a deal. I’ll help you learn how to fly, and you give me a miracle when I really need it. I have to ask for it though.” Luhan didn’t say anything, but it was clear that he agreed to the deal as he took Sehun’s hand and shook it, a wide smile replacing the frown on his face.

            The two shook their hands firmly, sealing the deal and grinning at one another. Sehun had all summer to freely teach Luhan how to fly, which shouldn’t have been too Herculean of a task. Luhan already had everything that he needed, which were just his angel wings. How difficult could it possibly be?

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            “Hi, Sehun. What are all of these for?” Luhan questioned as he stared in awe at the many colorful balloons that the human brought with him onto the rooftop. They were going to meet up here on the rooftop of Sehun’s apartment building whenever they were both free for the promised flying lessons. Luhan approached Sehun and attempted to grab one of the balloons to touch but the taller man quickly moved them out of his reach.

            “For this first lesson, I’m going to tie all of these balloons to your wings. They’ll serve as your training wheels to help you float in mid-air. I’ll remove the balloons as you get the hang of things. How does this plan sound?”

            “It sounds like a good idea. Let’s try it.” Luhan turned around and allowed his large wings to spring out from his back. Sehun hesitated for a split second, still not yet accustomed to the sight of the angel’s beautiful wings. Once he regained his senses he began searching for a part of the wings that would be ideal to tie a balloon to. He sifted through the many feathers on Luhan’s wings, touching them as he searched. They were just as soft as they looked, Sehun noticed. He eventually found the perfect place to attach the balloon, grabbing it by the string and wrapping it around the feathers in the area. “By the way, be careful with my feathers, they’re a little delicate – “ The angel let out a pained yelp as Sehun reflexively withdrew his hands from his wings. Luhan whimpered and reached around his back, gingerly the area where the feather had fallen off.

            “Oh…sorry. I tied the string too tight and your feather fell off. Did that hurt?” Sehun sounded too nonchalant to be apologetic and Luhan pouted at this. Sehun crouched down and picked up the fallen feather near his feet, examining it as he stood up. He blinked in surprise as he watched a feather grow out of the area where the other one had just been plucked.

            “It really, really hurts to have a feather plucked out like that. I mean, it’ll quickly regenerate, but it still hurts a lot.”

            Sehun hummed, thinking while he gazed at both the feather in his hand and on Luhan’s wings. “This gives me another idea.” Luhan turned around to look at Sehun but immediately regretted his decision as he saw the somewhat devious expression on the other man’s face. “I’m going to pull out one of your feathers each time you fail to fly or follow directions. This punishment method will deter you from making any mistakes.” The angel sighed in anticipation of all the feathers he was sure to lose and all the pain he was definitely going to feel, but he nonetheless accepted Sehun’s proposal. He was going to do whatever it took to be able to fly, regardless of what he had to go through to eventually achieve his goal.

            However, as Sehun finished tying all the balloons to Luhan’s wings and the angel began his attempts to fly, the human realized that everything was much easier said than done. Luhan was finally off of the ground and a few inches in the air (thanks to the balloons) but he wasn’t actually doing any of this himself. From behind, Sehun observed the angel still struggling to fly. There was something he wasn’t doing right, and it was definitely the manner in which he was flapping his wings. Sehun knew this was the root of the problem as the air that should’ve been propelling Luhan’s flight was being blown directly at his face instead, like an undesired high-powered fan. He’d already plucked a few feathers out for Luhan’s first failed attempts with the balloons on (the angel’s loud whimpers gradually became high-pitched shrieks) but it appeared that Luhan was only going to lose a lot more.

            “Luhan, try moving your wings this way.” Sehun instructed, making the intended motion with his hands. It was clear that Luhan was growing tired from the physical aspects of his attempts but he still pushed himself to do everything that Sehun told him to and the latter couldn’t help but find that determined quality of the angel to be admirable. It still didn’t change the fact that none of this was working and Luhan was still unable to lift himself any higher into the air. “There should be less grunting and more flapping.” Despite Sehun’s instructions, Luhan was still doing something wrong and blowing air right at him. Of course, Sehun walked over to pluck out a feather each and every time that this happened. Luhan couldn’t even struggle or really react anymore. “At this point, you’re just wasting energy – “

            Sehun let out a sigh as Luhan remained in place, slouching and panting heavily. He was pretty much done now, seeing that he couldn’t possibly exert any more effort because his energy was totally drained from useless flapping. The only notable result of this first lesson was the fact that Sehun was carrying two large handfuls of angel feathers. “It’s good that your feathers regenerate quickly. Otherwise, you’d probably have several bald spots on your wings right now.”

            Luhan didn’t have a comeback for that. All he managed to say was, “Can you untie these balloons and help me get down?” This was probably going to take a lot more lessons and time than Sehun had originally predicted.

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            Sehun invited Luhan over to his apartment for this next lesson, and while the angel waited outside in his living room, he went into his bedroom to grab the bag sitting in the corner. He carried it into the living room with him, where Luhan stared at it with curious eyes. “For today’s lesson, we are going to fix one of the major problems of your flying method by watching bird documentaries. Since I work part-time at a video rental store, I decided to take the liberty of renting these out so we could watch them and study the birds together. Your wings are very similar to that of birds, so it should at least be helpful in some kind of way or another.”

            Luhan seemed reluctant. “I don’t know about this idea, Sehun…”

            “You need to see these. You kept blowing air at me