Kihyun drifts aimlessly through the streets paved with gold. Or, at least, he assumes it’s gold. That’s how mortals always describe his home, anyway. He isn’t too sure, as he’s never seen the stuff down on Earth, but whose he to question the mortals? He only lives here, after all.

“Yah! Kihyunnie!”

The angel turns, quirking up a brow at seeing a familiar form coming at him. Hoseok, a dear friend since their days back at the divine academy, crushes him in a warm embrace, and Kihyun is glad that he doesn’t need to breathe anymore. Otherwise, he’d have quite literally choked from the older’s strength.

”What took you so long to get back?” Hoseok asks, poking his lower lip out in dismay. A wry smile pulls at Kihyun’s lips as he shrugs nonchalantly.

“Some nosy mortal wouldn’t let me die in the alley,” he says, tilting his head to the side as visions of the man flash before his eyes. “I passed out before I could stop him from dragging me to his home. He patched me up, and I had to take the long way back.”

“At least you don’t have to request a new body for your next mission,” Hoseok offers, giving him a gentle smile. Kihyun hums, shrugging a single shoulder. Hoseok raises a brow, a teasing smirk coming to him. “… Sounds like a kind mortal, if he’s willing to help out a complete stranger. It’s rare to find mortals like that these days.”

Kihyun sighs wistfully, unable to disagree. Back in the old days, when there weren’t such stringent rules on the angels’ trips down to Earth, mortals were kind and compassionate. Mortals would be able to recognize angels for what they were, and they’d help each other. Mortals back then were pure, untainted.

But, then that whole Nephilim fiasco happened, and The Boss had to do the whole flood thing… Since then, angels were only sent down to Earth for special circumstances. Mostly, such circumstances were to save towns and cities from demonic influence. And, of course, this only required a certain type of angel, the warriors, and Kihyun has always been so fortunate as to be part of that class.

“He didn’t even ask what I was doing in the alley,” Kihyun muses, his eyes unwittingly shining with an intrigued light. “He just patched me up, gave me his number, and let me leave…” A strange sense of—is this gratitude?—swells within the angel as he remembers the beautiful mortal.

“… He gave you his number?” Hoseok questions, cocking his head to the side. Kihyun hums, nodding, before he realizes Hoseok doesn’t know what that is. As a harbinger of love, Hoseok hasn’t been down to Earth in centuries, since he could take care of all his assignments from a distance.

“A modern way of communication,” Kihyun explains, waving a dismissive hand. Of course, he won’t be able to use it here… A new emotion forms in his chest, and he knows from his years of failure as a warrior angel what this is: Guilt.

Damn side-effects, Kihyun mentally grumbles, shoving away all emotional response. As an eternal being, Kihyun doesn’t typically feel emotions. That is, until he spends an inordinate amount of time on the mortal plain. Then it’s all this guilt and gratitude and a whole mess of other things that he just isn’t equipped to deal with. So, he bottles them up and ignores them, focusing instead on the twinkle in Hoseok’s eye.

“You know I can smell attraction from dimensions away,” Hoseok tells Kihyun, causing the younger to ruffle defensively. He turns, aiming to get away from the conversation. After all, how is he supposed to get rid of his residual feelings when near a cupid?? They feed off all that mortal nonsense! He feels Hoseok follow him, and the older comes into his peripheral.

“Just be careful, Kihyunnie,” Hoseok advises, his tone much graver than before. “You know what happened the last time our kind got involved with them.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Kihyun states, keeping his voice devoid of all emotion. Hoseok shakes his head, clearly not believing the lie.

“Fine, if you insist,” he relents. As a being of positivity and love, Hoseok is never in the mood to argue unless harshly pushed in the direction. It’s one of Kihyun’s favorite things about him, honestly, as it’s a nice reprieve from having to prove he’s right about every little thing. “I’ve got to go work on a few cases. There’s this one mortal who’s been asking for help with her friend for years, and she’s finally about ready to crack and see the signs.” He rolls his eyes as if exasperated, despite the both of them knowing long stories like that are his favorite kind. “Where are you off to?”

“I’m just going to meditate for a while,” Kihyun answers. “Maybe I’ll finally be able to crack the code on how to defeat that damned demon if I mediate more and practice less. What do you think?” Hoseok guffaws at this, slapping his hand on Kihyun’s back as the lighthearted sound of mirth escapes his lips.

“Sure, whatever you say, Kihyunnie,” he says teasingly.

Kihyun smirks at him, wishes the older luck, and then veers off his current path towards one of the many temples around. He bows to whatever superiors that pass him, wishing them all a good day. They all glide effortlessly above the shifting terrain, its shining color morphing to a foggier, dingier sort-of shadow as their forms pass over it. He passes all the temples that are usually full this time of day, with their grand archways and towering columns, and makes his way to the temple furthest off the beaten path.

He enters the pristine hall, glowing white light all around as what few angels are here mill about on the outskirts. Kihyun nods to himself, satisfied, and drifts to the corner furthest away from the door. Here, no one will bother him. Here, no one will even notice.

The angel then takes his position, crossing his legs and closing his eyes. He focuses his energies to clearing his mind, to thinking of new methods he hasn’t yet thought of to defeat his eternal foe… Though, despite his conscious intention to silently run through the various battle scenarios he’s been through during the centuries, a different image comes to the forefront of his mind.

A smiling white-haired mortal looking at him with no annoying questions, but only concern and a pure heart. A phone number, long-lost now in the journey back home. A mortal left without closure, possibly worrying for this angel’s wellbeing and safety.

Kihyun snaps his eyes open, pursing his lips at the vision. He glances around, though its foolish. Of course none of those around would know what he’s just thought of with such fondness… He chews on his bottom lip in dismay, closing his eyes again to try and focus himself on the all-too important matter at hand.

He needs to defeat Minhyuk. The demon is too close to creating a permanent foothold on that town, and, if he does that, then there’s no telling what he’d do next. If Minhyuk grows too strong, controls that town, then the demons would be on the winning side of the battle, and then the entire cosmos would be thrown off-kilter. That’s not even to mention how much less safe the town itself would be for Jooheon—

Stop it, Kihyun, the angel tells himself as thoughts of Jooheon enter his mind once more. He opens his eyes, glaring at the white marble tiling and absolutely refusing—with total failure—to allow it to remind him of Jooheon’s beautiful hair, the haloing effect the light had had on it upon passing through the strands.

The guilt from before returns to him as he wonders what the mortal must be doing now. Would he really be worried about this virtual stranger not contacting him? He definitely seemed the type to do so…

Kihyun stands, brow furrowing as he leaves the temple. He gets the sense he won’t be able to ignore this, for whatever reason, so he needs to go give this situation some closure. He’ll go find the mortal, tell him thank you for his help, and then come back home.

Maybe then he’ll be able to focus on defeating his nemesis and keeping all Hell from breaking loose.

First things first: How is he supposed to get back to Earth so soon without raising suspicion from the higher-ups…?