Joshua woke up bright and early for church that morning, and before following him downstairs, Jeonghan made a point of placing the tiny flower he saved on Joshua’s now-made bed in hopes that its visibility would return by the time they got home.

Joshua’s mother was already at church by the time Joshua was eating breakfast, and Joshua used the opportunity to speak to Jeonghan.

“Good morning, Jeonghan,” he cooed in his slightly raspy morning voice as he flipped the pancakes he was making.

‘Good morning, Joshua,’ Jeonghan thought, smiling softy. He felt airy on the inside, as if someone had removed all his troubles and filled him with light. 

“You said good morning, too, right? I…felt it,” Joshua chucked, grabbing his plate of pancakes and placing them on the table before sitting down.

“Can you move the chair, Jeonghan? Can you sit with me?” he asked. His voice bounced around the room before returning to him, but he didn’t feel small. He knew Jeonghan, who was trying desperately to move the chair, was replying to him. He simply couldn’t hear him.

The chair moved inch by inch as Jeonghan tried to pull it. Moving the little flower had been easy. Moving the chair? Not so much.

Joshua didn’t even flinch at the chair’s seemingly unassisted mobility. He simply laughed again and stood to pull out the chair for Jeonghan to sit down.

Jeonghan sat and smiled brightly, very happy that Joshua couldn’t see the effect his acknowledgement had on him.

“After church today, I’ll visit Mrs. Yoon,” Joshua said before placing a forkful of pancake in his mouth.

Jeonghan’s heart sank a little.

‘Take care of her, Joshua. Please,’ he thought.

Joshua looked at the, to his eyes, empty seat across from him in awe.

“I’ll take care of her, Jeonghan, don’t worry,” he stated.

Jeonghan was amazed.

“I know what you’re thinking,” Joshua continued, “but I can’t hear you. Just… I keep getting urges to do things. There’s a voice at the back of my head telling me to. I assume that’s your doing?” 

Jeonghan smiled again. He hadn’t felt happy like this until he met Joshua, albeit under unideal circumstances. He didn’t quite know what he was doing, to be honest. He just knew it worked. He would take what he could get.

______________________________________________________

Jeonghan was never really one to enjoy church. He went with his mother sometimes, but he wasn’t actively involved like Joshua was. The one thing that he liked about church, however, was that there were other guardian angels there, watching over a few of the younger church-goers. Jeonghan decided to socialize with them to kill time. No harm could come to Joshua in the church, anyway. It was protected by Seungcheol himself.

“Hi,” Jeonghan started, speaking carefully to the other angel. He had adorably messy blonde hair and wide eyes. He looked absolutely adorable, and even younger than Jeonghan. Jeonghan found himself wondering how he had passed away.

“Hello,” the other boy said quietly, his words slightly accented, “My name is Minghao.”

Jeonghan smiled at him, “I’m Jeonghan. Nice to meet you. Is this your assignment?” He asked, gesturing to a brown haired boy sitting near where they were standing. He didn’t look much younger than Jeonghan either. Minghao nodded, “His name is Jun. I was assigned him because we’re both originally from China.”

That made sense to Jeonghan, considering the slight accent Minghao had.

“Have you communicated with him?” Jeonghan asked, tilting his head slightly. Minghao smiled brightly and nodded,

“I see him in his dreams sometimes, and he talks to me when we’re alone.”

“Are those the only ways you can communicate with him?” Jeonghan asked, curiously.

“Actually, no. I can move things sometimes when they’re not too heavy. I’ve been getting good at it.”

Jeonghan nodded. There wasn’t any other ways he could learn to communicate with Joshua, then. He’d just have to make do with what he had.

_______________________________________________________

Joshua kept his promise, which made Jeonghan extremely pleased.

On the walk to Jeonghan’s mother’s house, Joshua found himself whispering in conversation with Jeonghan about the activities that were going on in the church, and, while Jeonghan didn’t really care much about the activities, he listened intently anyway. He was simply satisfied with the sound of Joshua’s voice, and found the boy’s passion unbelievably captivating.

Jeonghan found himself on a familiar street, and was almost excited to see his mother, had he not been certain her sadness would make his heart ache.

“It’s okay, Jeonghan,” Joshua reassured, knowing what Jeonghan was feeling, “If you want to leave, just… do whatever it is you do. I’ll leave.”

Jeonghan laced his fingers between Joshua’s, and Joshua used his other hand to knock on the door.

“Hello? Ah, Joshua,” Jeonghan’s mother opened the door wearing a shirt Jeonghan was sure was his and puffy, red eyes. She had been crying.

“Hello, Mrs. Yoon. May I come in?”

Jeonghan’s mother dabbed her eyes with the back of her sleeve and opened the door a little wider, mumbling an ‘of course,’ and allowing Joshua inside.

“What can I do for you, dear?” She asked as they sat at the table together.

“I came to see how you are,” Joshua smiled gently at her and she nodded.

“I’m… I’ve been better,” she admitted, laughing bitterly before her eyes clouded with unshed tears, “I cleaned out Jeonghan’s room today.”

Joshua’s eyes cast downwards. He didn’t have much experience with loss. He didn’t know how to comfort her.

“I see,” he started cautiously, “You know, Mrs. Yoon, I’m sure Jeonghan knows you love him very much. He loved you very much, I’m sure.” Jeonghan squeezed Joshua’s hand again, knowing very well that Joshua probably couldn’t feel it.

“I hope so. I just… I can’t stop feeling so bad. My only son; my baby, he’s…. he’s gone. He’s never coming back,” she started crying, and Joshua gripped onto her hand, causing Jeonghan to release his hold. Joshua rubbed the back of her hand with his thumb.

“Those who pass are never gone, Mrs. Yoon. Jeonghan is still here with you, and he always will be.”

It almost felt like a secret. Joshua knew something that she didn’t. It felt unfair.

Her eyes met Joshua’s then, terrifyingly devoid of tears. She looked empty, and Jeonghan took this opportunity to notice how her cheeks began to hollow slightly.

“He’s gone, Joshua. He’s not here. Jeonghan is dead, and he is never coming back. I stopped believing in things like that the moment he died. If he was still here, he would be watching over me. He would be protecting me from these feelings. He would be protecting me from myself. If Jeonghan was still here, I wouldn’t be hurting so badly, Joshua. Jeonghan is gone.”

Joshua stood, giving Jeonghan’s mother a hug and humming softly to her like he had before. And again, she started crying.

“I’m sorry, Mrs. Yoon, I really am. But you’re not alone. Jeonghan is still here, and I believe that very firmly. He wouldn’t just leave you alone. And… and I’m still here, too. You’re not alone.”

Jeonghan felt himself crying, and he knew that Joshua could sense it from the pained expression he wore.

After Jeonghan’s mother had calmed down, Jeonghan had tried to tell Joshua to go home. He wanted to stay with his mother, but it wasn’t fair to expect Joshua to deal with this by himself. Joshua obliged after giving Mrs. Yoon one last reassuring hug. But despite his mother feeling better, Jeonghan couldn’t stop thinking about what she had said.

If Jeonghan was still there, he should be watching over his mother. So why wasn’t he?

______________________________________________________

“I’m exhausted,” Joshua whispered. His mother was asleep, but he didn’t want to take any chances. He headed to his bed, pausing only to pick up the little flower that Jeonghan had left.

“I already believe you, Jeonghan, no need to show off,” he chuckled, placing the flower on the side table before pulling back the blankets and lying down. He gestured to the space where he assumed Jeonghan was to get in with him, and Jeonghan was again happy that he was invisible, because he didn’t want Joshua to see his blush.

“I can’t have you sleeping on the floor now that I know you’re here,” Joshua laughed quietly before yawning and snuggling into the blankets.

Jeonghan grasped Joshua’s hand, smiling to himself.

“I can’t wait to see you again, Jeonghan. Good night,” Joshua whispered.

‘Good night, Joshua.’

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I'm pretty satisfied with the length of this chapter! What do you guys think? I know this chapter wasn't that exciting, but there's a lot coming up in the next few, so please anticipate it~

Again, thank you so much to my subscribers, viewers, upvoters, and my new commenters: LlamasLegs (Hi Amy~~), jeonhans, and shawol95!

The comments really do motivate me a lot, and I'd absolutely love to hear all your thoughts on what's happened so far and what you think is going to happen~

Thank you~!!