Jongdae was sitting silently on the makeshift bed/couch which resided in his ‘bedroom’ with a dark, dark grey blanket draped tightly around his lower body. He gently flipped through the notes he took in today’s religious studies lesson, which was usually a good lesson. Unfortunately, it so happened that the usual teacher, a middle aged woman with a talent for storytelling, was ill and the supply was a complete moron.

Like really, the old geezer just couldn’t wrap his head around the fact Jongdae wasn’t religious. ‘Why did you take this class then?’ he would ask and no matter how many times Jongdae replied ‘It’s fun sir’ the wrinkles on the elders forehead would get even deeper to show the complete lack of comprehension.

There wasn’t really anything weird about it. No, Jongdae wasn’t religious but that didn’t mean he didn’t enjoy listening to others opinions about religion, or better yet, answering the deep questions as to whether or not God exists and sych.

A lot of people, especially his friends, didn’t understand it at first, after all, at the mention of religion Dae would usually get pissed and flip at whoever started the conversation. However, it all came down to the delivery. If it was talked about in a factual way or where everyone had a say and tried to understand each other’s beliefs, like in the lesson, he loved it. But if the person started trying to get him to do something because ‘God says it’s the right thing to do!’, Jongdae would only get annoyed because it’s throwing their belief on him. He doesn’t appreciate that.

That’s really why he would get so annoyed at Yixing. He knows all of this and he still used the God card on Jongdae; and it was so frustrating.

Growing tired of his buzzing mind, the raven head decided it’s time to go to sleep. He closed the notes and leaned down to place them back inside his bag that stood by the ‘bedside table’. It was a normal table but nobody ever bothered to point it out.

Just as he was slowly heaving himself back up, his phone buzzed signifying an incoming text. Quickly, he scooped up the device, looked at the screen and groaned. Restricted number. In District Red that could mean anything, from a drug dealer to his cousin, Junmyeon. They blocked it so they wouldn’t be tracked.

Cautiously, Jongdae started reading the message.

Received From: Restricted number

[21:42]: The angel in the church in Ephesus is the one who cannot tolerate evil and tests those who say they are apostles but are not, and has found them guilty. Jesus admitted to the knowledge of what it has done, He knows how hard the angel works and how patient it has been. The one thing that puts the angel in favour, is the fact it hates what the Nicolatians do as much as Jesus does. However, the thing that Jesus has against this angel, as no one is perfect: it does not love him now as it did at first. Oh, how much it has fallen! If you have ears, then, listen to what the Spirit says to the churches!

‘That wasn’t quite what I had in mind.’ Jongdae thought to himself, mildly surprised. However, he didn’t let his already messy thoughts catch onto another hook and so he fell asleep. He could think about the text tomorrow, or in a week, or better yet, never.

-----------------------

Jongdae stretched lazily, throwing his head onto the back of his chair and looked around the upside down world. It’s been 15 minutes and the others were in a deep discussion about why they believed in God.  Jongdae was listening, he just wasn’t as interested as he had been, maybe, 10 minutes ago.

Who would’ve thought lunch could be so boring. A lot of the other  students seemed deep in discussion, showing each other things on their phones or something. He could only guess what intrigued them so much.

‘How interesting.’ Zitao mused, animatedly his chin ‘I would have never thought all of us had one reason in common for loving heaven.’

Luhan smiled ‘Well, I think this is a reason many people would have. After all, who wouldn’t rather believe in a place where all the people you miss are together than that you’ll never see them again and just disappear.’

‘True true.’ Zitao confirmed closing his eyes and nodding.

Jongdae sat up, realising that his friends moved onto a more interesting topic but was met with the five wolfing down their food.

‘Ah, I missed it.’ He thought a bit disappointed. That would have gone nicely in his notes.

So now, all he could do was finish his egg and cress sandwiches and do the normal banter.

That’s how it went, until Minseok’s phone went off. Without thought he took it out, most likely assuming it was his younger brother, but when his eyes widened in surprise they all knew something was wrong.

Yet before they could ask, more buzzing and ringing was heard not only from their table, but the tables surrounding them.

It was another message from the restricted number.

Received From: Restricted number

[12:40]: The poor poor angel of the church in Smyrna is mistreated by the people. Many claim only evil against it and the Devil is going to put  it to a miserable test. However, Jesus says the angel is in fact rich, He says that it should not be afraid of anything it’s about to suffer as if it stays faithful to Him, even if it means death, it will be given life as a victory prize. If you have ears, then, listen to what the Spirit says to the Churches!

And suddenly the phone showing made sense. Everyone has gotten the text from yesterday and, obviously, they were unable to find out who it came from. In all honesty, it slipped Jongdae’s mind completely.

‘Guys…did you get a similar message yesterday?’ Minseok asked, weary eyes scanning the table. When he received nods, he let out a slow breath. ‘I thought it was Yixing.’

Everyone nodded once again, in understanding. Yixing has sent them Bible passages before so it was the most rational thing to assume. But it wasn’t him this time. He got one himself and so did the rest of the student body.

‘Should we check where they are from?’ Yifan suggested, already getting out his Bible. He started skimming through, doing his best to figure out where the text reference could be, but upon failing he passed it to Luhan, who gave it to Zitao who then gave it to Minseok. It’s been 5 minutes and they still couldn’t find it.

‘Where are they?’ Minseok spoke to himself, going back to the beginning to make sure nothing was missed.

‘Revelations 2: 1 – 7’ Jongdae replied mindlessly, focusing on how the water in his bottle moved at the circular motion of his hand. Surprised, the other boy flipped to the given information and sure enough, the first message matched the text.

‘How did you know?’ He asked after reading and passing it to the other three. There was real curiosity in his eyes and Jongdae couldn’t help but blush lightly at the intensity of the gaze.

‘Studied it.’ He replied.

The others managed to find where the second text was from without help (‘If they didn’t I would really question their intelligence, it’s right after the first one’ Jongdae thought)and closed the Bible with a more or less satisfied thud. They couldn’t start discussing why the texts were received or who sent them as the bell rang, ushering them to their next class.

-------------------

Within the course of the week, more texts like those were received.

On Saturday, when Jongdae was revising for the biology exam on Monday.

Received From: Restricted number

[10:18]: The angel of the church in Pragamum is always in danger of being deceived. It lives where Satan has his throne, where Antipas, a faithful witness, was slain. It is praised by Jesus for never losing faith yet, there are things against this angel: he has people who follow the teaching of Balaam or who follow the teachings of Nicolatians. They have to turn form their sins, or Jesus will come with the two-edged sword ready! If you have ears, then, listen to what the Spirit says to the churches!

On Sunday, when Jongdae’s having a blast a party after a car race with Chanyeol and Baekhyun.

Received From: Restricted number

[22:23]: The angel of the church of Thyatira is the one who is full of love, faithfulness, service and patience. It is the only one who does more now than it did at first. There is only one thing that Jesus has against it – it tolerates the woman, Jezebel, who falsely calls herself  a messenger of God and leads people down the wrong path. If the sinners who follow her do not repent, a horrible fate will meet them! But all the others in Thyatira, they shall be no burden placed upon them. If you have ears, then, listen to what the Spirit says to the churches!

On Monday, when he’s having lunch with Junmyeon, the only family member he can genuinely say he loves, in between his classes.

Received From: Restricted number

[13:09]The angel of the church in Sardis is asleep. It has a reputation of being alive while it is dead; and Jesus tells it to wake up for what it has done is not yet considered perfect in the sight of God.  If it does not wake, then Jesus shall come upon it like a thief and it won’t even know when He came! How horrible would that be. If you have ears, then, listen to what the Spirit says to the churches!

On Tuesday, when he’s having a sleep over at Yifan’s with the others.

Received From: Restricted number

[19:18] The angel of the church in Philadelphia has followed Jesus’ teaching’s  and has been faithful to him. Therefore, Jesus has opened a door for it that no one can close and has promised it to make Satan’s followers, who disguised themselves as Jews, bow down at its feet. He will keep the angel safe from the troubles that are coming. All it has to do is keep safe what it has. If you have ears, then, listen to what the Spirit says to the churches!

And finally on Wednesday, when he was reading ‘The Raven Boys’.

Received From: Restricted number

[16:50] The angel of the church in Laodicea is miserable, poor, and blind. It is lukewarm, neither hot nor cold, therefore Jesus spits it out. It believes it is rich, but oh how wrong it is! It should buy pure gold from Jesus to become truly rich along with white clothes to cover itself and ointment so it can see. If you have ears, then, listen to what the Spirit says to the churches!

During Thursday lunch, Jongdae had to sit through a long talk about speculations where they came from, if there will be more, and what they mean. This was a very popular topic nowadays.

He didn’t say anything until Zitao exclaimed ‘What if they are from God and he’s trying to tell us something?!’ and before anyone else he replied ‘That’s ridiculous. 1, god does not exist and 2, if he did, why would he go out of his way to text you of all things and about what’s already written down in the bible?’

Judging by Zitao’s expression, he understood Jongdae’s point and sat back down, trying to come up with new ideas. Jongdae went back to eating.

------------------

‘I tell you, Sehun, sometimes I think they’re all just plain stupid.’ He moaned over the phone while trying his best to dust on top of the cupboard without making it come off the wall.

‘Oh ‘cmon, don’t be mean Dae.’ The other replied with a chuckle. ‘They haven’t studied it like us.’

‘Yeah but’ He moved on to the  countertops ‘The whole of revelations is about that. How could they still not have figured out that the messages refer to Peters visions?’

‘They might have figured that out, but not why they have received the texts.’

After a short moment of silence, Jongdae replied with an ‘Oh’ and ‘Didn’t think about that. Good point.’ he approved. He really haven’t thought about it in that light. ‘Well, I think someone’s just dicking with us. Anyway, you better go lover boy, you can’t keep our lovely Han waiting.’

Sehun 100% blushed at the teasing ‘You think he’ll say yes?’ He asked, concern audible in his voice.

Smiling brightly, Jongdae laughed ‘’Course he will! Now go on, we’ve all got your back!’

‘Thanks, I’ll tell you what happened after the date.’

‘You better! Take care now and don’t lose courage! Remember he prefers Taro over any other flavour!’

With a laugh, Sehun ended the call.

-----------------

After finishing his cleaning, Jongdae made his way out of District Red and to Yixing’s house for the promised hang out. Just the two of them.

Those were always different, Jongdae wouldn’t get as annoyed at Yixing if he quotes the Bible and they could tell each other everything, including things on their other fends. They weren’t bad things, but some information they would rather stayed between the two of them only.

Just before they were going to sleep, cuddled close together, Yixing voiced one last worry.

‘Jongdae, I’ve been having this dream recently. A trumpet like voice says “Come up here, and I will show you what must happen after this.” And then I’m somewhere else and I see this throne with someone sitting on it. His face is very shiny, like a lot of jewels put together but smooth, and around the throne is an emerald rainbow. There is always lightning, rumbling and thunder coming from the throne and in front of it are 7 torches burning and something like a sea of glass. Around it are 24 other thrones, in which people dressed in white with crowns of gold sit. And- oh that’s the worst thing- there are these 4 weird creatures like, at each leg of the main throne. One of them looks like a lion, the second like a bull, the third has a human face and the fourth looks like an eagle in flight. They have  eyes at the front and back of their heads and each of their wings, they all have 7 Dae, 7, the inside and outside is covered in eyes too and they never stop watching you! And-and-‘

Before he could say more, Jongdae pulled him into a strong hug and rocked gently from side to side. He himself had those nightmares recently.

‘I’ve had them too, Xing. It’s probably because we have read it not long ago. I’m here, you’re here. We’re safe Xing, it’s just a dream.’

‘Sometimes, I’m so grateful you’re an atheist Jongdae.’ Yixing murmured, holding the raven head closer in mutual comfort.

That’s how they fell asleep.

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A/N This is so easy to write, I’m really surprised. Please do tell me if there is a mistake or you have any feedback like 'You should have explained this more' or something. I hope it’s not boring and that you are enjoying it. Have a lovely week~~