Jonghyun’s life was by no means a special one. He had just finished another day of high school and was heading home to another night of tortuous homework. His house wasn’t very far from school, thank goodness, but he did have to cross a few major intersections to get there. That day a truck driver had had too much to drink and ran a red light. Jonghyun would have been hit had it not been for the angel.

Jonghyun had closed his eyes, bracing for the impact and the on coming pain when he felt a pair of warm arms wrap around him protectively and lift him into the air. When he opened his eyes a second later, he was on the sidewalk on the other side of the street in the arm of a handsome boy with high cheekbones, lips more fit for cupid than an angel, and beautiful white wings.

The angel smiled at him and he swore his heart skipped a beat.

Jonghyun was 14 when he met his guardian angel.

***

At 15, he had long since grown use to the idea of the mythical being real. It hadn’t been difficult, considering his very own guardian angel spent everyday from dawn to dusk with him.

His angel’s name was Key and it was his job to look after Jonghyun, his protected. He helped Jonghyun do his homework, made sure he ate every meal, and protected him from anything dangerous or harmful. Somewhere along the way, he had also became Jonghyun’s best friend.

Key was a bit of a diva. He nagged him about his fashion choices and his bad habits, and went on endlessly about how careless he was about leaving his school books at home. But he was also kind and caring. Key was the one who convinced him to take up an instrument and start composing. He listened to all Jonghyun’s problems and gave him useful advice. The angel was always there for him and Jonghyun was grateful that he had someone to rely on.

***

At 16, he had been picked up by an entertainment company and shoved into a dorm filled with other boys while he trained and waited to debut. Invisible to everyone but his protected, Key found Jonghyun drifting away from him since they could never talk in front of others.

Key watched his protected grow stronger and work harder than he ever had before. Every time Jonghyun did something that was one more step toward his goal of being an idol, Key felt himself glow with pride.

 But at night. when it was only him and the stars and sound of Jonghyun’s soft breath as he dreamed, Key let himself long for the past. He missed the days when it was just the two of them. He missed being able to talk to his protected, to encourage him, to give him advice. He missed being able to tease Jonghyun about his messy hair in the morning without being ignored so that the other trainees wouldn’t think he was crazy.

He missed Jonghyun even though he was still by his side every day.

***

At 18, Jonghyun debut with some friends he had made as a trainee. He smiled at Key after his debut stage before getting ushered into a van by his manager and the angel felt his heart swell and his cheeks burn.

Key had never been more proud and more lonely.

***

At 19, Jonghyun and Key didn’t talk anymore. The angel couldn’t even be in the same room with him. The tension between them had broken one night, after Key had spent hours in silence while Jonghyun laughed and messed with his band members while they practiced. The angel had yelled at his protected and Jonghyun had yelled back. They both said terrible things they didn’t mean but knew would tear the other down in one blow.

But Key still watched over Jonghyun, because what’s the difference in watching over from a far than up close and in silence.

***

At 20, Jonghyun had his first kiss with a boy and Key felt himself cry as he watched but he wasn’t sure why.

Maybe he missed Jonghyun more than he let himself admit.

***

At 21, Jonghyun and his first boyfriend had a messy break up. Key sat on the roof of the apartment across from Jonghyun’s and watched over him through the dorm window as his sobbed into his pillow. His band members tried to cheer him up in all the wrong way and Jonghyun ended up locking them out of his room so he could cry in peace (Key felt most smug because the people who talked to him more than the angel didn’t know how to comfort him but he did). 

Key watched over him quietly as Jonghyun started tearing love songs out of this notebook that he had written for his boyfriend and thrown them into the trash. For months the songs had stayed in his notebook, unseen by their muse, since every time Jonghyun brought his boyfriend over, all he wanted to do was make out. His ex had never given him a chance to share what was most important to him since he didn’t care about anything he had to say in the first place.

When Jonghyun had finally cried himself to sleep, his guardian angel got to work and pulled every scrap of paper out the trash and taped them back together. Even if they were a painful reminder right now, he would want his compositions later. There was nothing his protected loved more than his music, not even his ex-boyfriend. Then the angel set them on his desk with a small bag of his favorite candy and gently kissed his protected’s forehead to bless him with a dreamless sleep.

“Silly boy,” He whispered in a voice raspy with disuse. “Why would you care so much about someone you couldn’t share your music with?”

Then he left.

***

At 22, Key slipped up and Jonghyun saw him for the first time in three years.

When the moon was new and there was nothing but stars to pin the sky back in place, Key let himself be close to Jonghyun. While his protected slept, he lay on the bed next to him, like they had done from when their first met nearly 10 years ago to his first days as a trainee, and his hair. When Jonghyun slept, he was 14 again and any moment he could wake up and smile at Key in that puppy-like way of his and ask him to play a game. 

But Jonghyun never asked him, never smiled at him, and never woke up. He slept through the  nights that Key looked forward to the most and was never any wiser.

On a night when clouds covered the stars as well as the moon and there was nothing but shadows pressed against the dorm windows, Key went to Jonghyun’s side. He ran his fingers through his protected’s hair like he always did, gently untangling any knots and working out any gel that had’t gotten washed out in his quick shower earlier. But when Jonghyun’s hair was smooth and tangle free again, he didn’t want to leave. Key sat by Jonghyun and watched him properly, up close and personal, for the first time in years. 

There was a comforting contentment in being this close to his protected that just didn’t come from watching over him from a far. 

As Key sat there, he found that he had so much to say to his protected. Three years of silence had been terrible and so much had happened that Key wanted to talk about but knew he never could. Jonghyun never did anything more than listen.

Key’s mouth opened but no words came out. He closed it again and he withdrew his hand from Jonghyun’s hair. 

What was the point is saying anything? Jonghyun couldn’t even listen while he was asleep.

The angel sighed and started to stand up when hand reached out and grabbed his wrist.

“Don’t go…”

Key’s head whipped around and stared at his protected. “…What?”

“Don’t leave me…” Jonghyun’s voice was barely above a whisper. His slowly cracked open his eyes and gazed up at his guardian angel. “I miss you. Please don’t leave me again…”

Something inside Key broke as he stared down at his protected. Jonghyun looked so sad, so vulnerable , and Key knew he could never leave his side again. 

He reached over and cupped Jonghyun’s cheek in one hand and leaned over him until their foreheads touched. He closed his eyes a willed himself not to cry but didn’t realize that his tears already when dripping on to Jonghyun’s cheeks beneath him.

“I’m sorry. I won’t. I’ll always be here for you.”

It was at 22, after three years of silence, that Jonghyun and Key shared their first kiss.

***

At 23, Jonghyun had convinced his manager to let him have his own room. It wasn’t hard to do, since he composed many of the band’s tracks and his musical equipment was spilling over into his roommates side of the room.

Key loved the new arrangement since it meant he could have conversations with Jonghyun when he first woke up in the morning again. He could kiss him awake as well, and since Jonghyun had told him it was is favorite way to get up and Key was more than happy to oblige.

The summer that year was hotter than normal, so on his days off Jonghyun preferred to lounge around and share lazy kisses his with angel than to brave the heat to go out with his band mates. If the other members noticed anything unusual about the amount of time Jonghyun spent in his room alone they said nothing and let him has some privacy. 

Key discovered he had a knack for coordinating outfits when Jonghyun wouldn’t wake up one morning so he went ahead and picked out an outfit for him to give him a few more minutes of well earned rest. The outfit ended up being a hit so Key assigned himself the role of Jonghyun’s personal coordi.

Jonghyun may have mumbled complaints about being treated like a barbie doll but he didn’t seem to mind too much when Key stole kisses from him while helping him change quickly in the morning.

***

At 24, a fan came to Jonghyun during a fan sign and asked him when he would get a girlfriend.

Jonghyun had smiled and said they typical idol response of being too focused on his band to think about a relationship.

But when the girl left and the next one asked him when he looked for in a girlfriend, Jonghyun began to realize how unconventional his relationship was.

Key had been a part of his life for ten years now. He was a normal everyday thing to Jonghyun but to everyone else he was invisible. Literally. Jonghyun could never tell his fans he was happily in a relationship with someone they couldn’t see. But he couldn’t imagine himself with anyone else. Key and he were like ill-fitted puzzle pieces. They made up for what the other lack but weren’t perfect. They fought and argued like everyone else but at the end of the day they made each other better people.

***

At 26, his company came to him and inquired about his lack of a love life. The other members in his group had at least shown interest in dating but Jonghyun seemed to be interested in nothing but his work.

After being grilled for half an hour, Jonghyun irritatedly admitted that he was in a relationship with a childhood friend.

His manager paused. “Why haven’t I seen her? You’re not that good at hiding things.”

Jonghyun grimaced slightly at the manager thinking he was straight. “We have a long distance relationship. They travel a lot for their work.”

Key stood in the corner of the room with his mouth wide open and a look of shock on his face. He had never expected Jonghyun to ever tell anyone about them let alone his manager. With his hand covering his mouth, he turned away so Jonghyun couldn’t see the tears of joy welling up in his eyes.

***

At 30, Jonghyun confessed to his fans that he was in a relationship with someone at a press conference. There was an uproar of joy and his fans all yelled their congratulations to him. They had all been worried he would never settle down and find happiness. One of the members in his band was already married and the rest had at least had one relationship.

Jonghyun bowed to them to show his thanks and to make a plea. “The person I’m in a relationship is very important to me. They have been a dear friend of mine for nearly twenty years now. However, they’re very shy and prefer to have a private life. I haven’t told you about our relationship before now on their request because of this. I hope that you’ll respect my partner’s wishes and allow them to continue to have this privacy.”

Key stood right next to him on the stage, beaming at the audience.

***

At 40, Jonghyun’s band had finally broken up after many years and many albums. They were all still good friends but they moved on to other work. One started managing a new boy band made up of trainees from their old company. Another started working more seriously as an actor. Their leader went on to form his own entertainment company that was very successful. 

Jonghyun, however, never stopped composing. He bought a small little cottage out in the country and moved in with Key. With no one else for miles, they had more freedom than they had ever had before. Key could tended to the garden while Jonghyun was inside at their baby grand piano creating his latest masterpiece. Sometimes Key would sit by his side as he composed and help him write the lyrics and sing them as he played. Jonghyun often told him his voice was beautiful and that it’s a shame recording equipment couldn’t pick up his heavenly voice.

Key and Jonghyun could walk hand in hand together through the woods by their cottage and talk animatedly without having to worry about Jonghyun being caught talking to seemingly no one.

***

At 50, Jonghyun was invited to a ceremony that recognized artists for their accomplishments. He was given more awards than he could carry and Key began to realize that he would always be in a constant state of being proud of his protected.

***

At 60, Jonghyun got very sick. He was taken to the hospital and stayed there for many weeks. The doctors were amazing at how optimistic he was, despite his illness being terminal. When he was asked about it, Jonghyun simply said he had lived a full life already and done everything he could think of wanting to do.

What he didn’t tell them was that his guardian angel was always by his side to reassure him. Though the years had finally caught up with Jonghyun and his face begun to droop and was creased with the wrinkles of a thousand smiles, Key still looked as young and as beautiful and they day he had first saved Jonghyun’s life. The angel teased his boyfriend endlessly about his gray hairs (“You dyed it gray too many times when you were young. I knew exactly how you were going to look when you got old.”) and aching arthritis (“What did I tell you about spending all those nights composing instead of sleeping?”) but he still cared for his protected. When the pain became too much for Jonghyun, Key would gently presses his cupid bow lips against where it hurt and kiss away the pain for him.

***

At 65, Jonghyun may have been trapped in a hospital bed but that did not stop him from composing. Key had taken over writing everything down for him. Every morning he would sneak out of the hotel room before Jonghyun woke up and pick a bouquet of flowers from a nearby garden to place in a small vase at his bedside. When Jonghyun woke up, they would get right to work and start writing all of the melodies that came to his head. 

It was the greatest out pouring of songs he had ever had. Each one was more beautiful and touching than the last. When one was completed, Key would sing it once for Jonghyun. His protected loved his voice more than any other in the world. He said it brought him peace. When Key had finished singing, Jonghyun would tell him who he wanted the song to be given to and Key would write the name across the top.

***

At 66, Jonghyun’s condition was getting worse. Key no longer went out in the morning to get flowers. He spent every second with his lover. With every passing day, Jonghyun’s grip on Key’s hand was getting weaker and weaker and the angel was getting more and more afraid.

One day, when Jonghyun was a bit more quiet than normal, He looked out the window at the bright blue sky. 

“Would you open the window for me?” He asked Key. “I haven’t smelt the sunshine in a while.”

Key nodded tersely and gave Jonghyun’s hand a quick squeeze before slowly getting up. He opened the window and a warm breeze came in. The many folders of songs littered across the room fluttered in the wind and Jonghyun took a deep breath of the fresh air.

“You use to bring me flowers…” He mused.

“Yes,” Key went straight back to Jonghyun’s side and took his hand in his own again. “I stole them from the hospital garden.”

Jonghyun chuckled. “I feel loved.”

“Only the best for you, Jjong.” He smiled softly and brought their hands to cheek and gently nuzzled them.

“Would you bring me some more?”

Key’s eyes flew open.

“Just this once.”

Key was silent and his grip tightened slightly. “… Promise me you won’t go any where without me.”

“I’ll be here when you get back.”

Key gave him a lingering kiss. “I’ll be right back with your flowers.”

The second he stepped out of the room be sprinted down the hall, as if it was a race against the clock. Key skipped the elevator and instead ran down the stairs. He was sweaty and out of breath by the time he reached the bottom but he didn’t stop. He ran to the gardens and quickly grabbed the first flowers he saw. He turned to leave but before he could even take a step toward the hospital, he felt his mouth run dry.

There was no point for him to go back to the hospital room any more. 

He could always feel Jonghyun’s presence. Even when they were fighting and he flew a hundred miles away, he knew where Jonghyun was.

But right now, he felt nothing.

Key felt like half of his heart had been taken from him and shattered in a million glittering peaces that had no hope of ever being put back together. A screamed ripped out of his throat and tears began to stream down his face. 

Jonghyun was gone.

***

Jonghyun woke up to the sound of the voice he always thought was the most beautiful in the whole world. The voice was singing his favorite song, the one he composed for the one he loved the most many years ago. But some how, the song had never sounded so peaceful.

Something soft touches his temple and then someone gently shakes him.

“Come on, lovely, I know you’re awake. It’s time to get up.”

Jonghyun opened his eyes and slowly sat up. He felt like he had had a long long. He was rejuvenated. All of the stiffness in his old bones were gone and the chronic pain that even Key couldn’t kiss away was gone.

Around him, there was white for as far as he could see. There was just the endless nothingness.

“I wasn’t sure what would happen when you passed,” Jonghyun turned around and found that he had been laying in Key’s lap. “Sometimes angels are separated from their protected after they pass on.”

“But you’re here.” Jonghyun was pleasantly surprised when he heard his voice. His voice didn’t have the roughness that came with old age any more.

“I am,” Key beamed at him. “And so are you.”

“Where are we?”

Key heaved a sigh and looked up and what should be the sky. “Forever.”

“Does that mean we’ll always be together?” 

“Yes,” Key smiled and wrapped his arms around Jonghyun’s waist, giving him a quick peck on the cheek while he did so. “You’re stuck with me for good.”

“Thank doesn’t sound too bad. Could be worse.”

Key pretended to be offended. “What’s that suppose to mean?”

“I means I wouldn’t mind spending forever with you.”

“You’re still a sap, Jonghyun.”

“But you love it.”

“Yeah, I guess I do.”

“You guess?” It was Jonghyun’s turn to pretend to be offended.

“Well, it could be worse. I could have said ‘I guess I love you.’”

“But I don’t need you to tell me that.”

“Why not?”

“Because I know you love me.”

Key smiled and booped his nose. “I know you love me, too.”

A/N: Hey guys! I wrote another one shot. I know I haven't been very active lately but, ya know, exams are coming up and they are kicking my . I'm also in the middle of working on a large jongkey project. UWU That probably won't be up in months but it has been taking up a lot of my writing time. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed The Angel! Please tell me what you think about it!