“What’s this divine smell?” Jongdae exclaims as he steps into the house. Jongdae seems to be in lifted spirits, possibly due to the last of his paperwork. He strides into the kitchen, beaming as he sniffs. Kyungsoo swears he resembles a very hungry feline.

“Jongdae, I forgot to ask, can you eat meat?” Kyungsoo inquires as he sees the angel leaning on the counter slab.

“We don’t kill beings. But we do eat flesh if we must. Once dead, all flesh – animal or plant, is the same. The soul is what makes a life, Kyungsoo,” Jongdae says with a small smile.

Kyungsoo nods thoughtfully. “You seem to be much different from what I imagined angels to be.”

Chuckling, Jongdae rests his head on both his hands, fingers spread across his cheeks. “Good different I hope.”

The duo stays silent for the next few minutes – Kyungsoo finishing up his dishes while Jongdae watches with interest.

“Do you know when Baekhyun is coming?” Kyungsoo asks the angel.

Jongdae smiles, a little surprised for some reason. Did he think Kyungsoo wouldn’t invite the reaper just because they don’t often see eye to eye?

“He should be back soon I believe. Would you like some help?” he asks brightly.

Kyungsoo shakes his head. “I’m almost done. You can set the table though if you want to.”

Before Jongdae could reply, a loud thud draws their attention to the main door. Baekhyun barges in, slamming the door in process and proceeds to his room when Jongdae calls to him.

“Baekhyun! Would you like to eat together? Kyungsoo made us dinner!”

The reaper turns to them and snorts. He walks towards the dining room slowly until reaching the human.

“Dinner? That this pathetic human made? Pfft! What makes you think I’ll eat something humans make?” he spits while glaring at Kyungsoo.

Anger flares inside Kyungsoo and before he can stop himself, he pushes the reaper away from him. “I don’t know what you have against humans, Baekhyun. But that doesn’t mean you can treat me like . If you hate humans that much, stop acting like an angsty human yourself! One would think you were a human too!” he pauses, a sudden look of realization on his face before continuing, “Wait… you were a human before! That’s why you’re a reaper now! You killed yourself too, didn’t you?”

Baekhyun’s face immediately changes from anger to shock and something else Kyungsoo can’t quite pinpoint. Just as quickly as it’s gone, fury takes over the reaper’s face again.

“THAT’S ENOUGH!” a loud voice stops them both. They look towards the voice and find Jongdae standing there, a bright red shine around him. He looks angry.

“Kyungsoo has prepared dinner for all 3 of us so we are going to sit down together and eat it without any complaints! If you guys still want to fight after that, you can go outside and do so. Am I clear?”

The other two nod meekly, surprised at how the kind angel looks so different now. What amazes Kyungsoo is how Baekhyun is obeying Jongdae. He never thought it possible that the snappy reaper would ever act like an obedient little puppy.

The dinner was silent for the most part. Jongdae, who seems like a small talk kinda person also kept mum, still angry from the outburst before.

But it doesn’t last long. As soon as Kyungsoo brings out the dessert, strawberry parfaits, both Jongdae and Baekhyun seem to lighten up. Kyungsoo swears he could see stars shining in the angel’s eyes. While Baekhyun still had the stoic face, Kyungsoo would bet his afterlife that the reaper’s mouth was watering. He made a mental note in case he could leverage strawberry parfaits in the future.

Maybe this is not the right time. After all, they just fought a few moments ago. But Kyungsoo couldn’t wait any longer and the duo seemed to have let go of the tension from before.

“So… I found a book in the house about soul bonds,” Kyungsoo starts hesitantly when the other two raise their heads from the dessert cups.

“They are to be made only with the reaper, right? There is no mention about guardian angels being in the equation. Or am I wrong?” Kyungsoo continues his question, growing more courageous by the second. “Also, the book mentions nothing about suicide cases being trained to be a reaper.”

Jongdae looks at Baekhyun who just shrugs annoyedly. Pursing his lips, Jongdae turns to look at Kyungsoo.

“There was a situation… so I had to get into it too,” he says, looking away guiltily. Before Kyungsoo could ask to explain, Baekhyun interrupts him with a scoff.

“I thought you didn’t wanna ask before someone tells you themselves?”

Kyungsoo scowls lightly, “Well being left alone in the house for days would make anyone start thinking more than they’d wish to.”

If Baekhyun felt guilty about it, he doesn’t show. Jongdae, on the other hand, looks even more pained and sorry.

Kyungsoo, despite curious to know what the ethereal beings are hiding, decided to leave it be for the night.

So instead, he asks something else.

“Is it weird that I don’t feel the time? I don’t know how to explain but it’s like everything is still.”

Jongdae smiles at that. “Yes, time doesn’t flow the same way for you anymore. You’re no longer tied down by it.”

As he lays on his bed, staring at the ceiling, Kyungsoo recalls Jongdae’s words. For some reason, he doesn’t feel as empty as he did when he was alive anymore.

Or maybe it was just that he’s not alone anymore? Just the reassurance that there’s two other people along with him is somehow warm.

It doesn’t make much sense, seeing how his family back when he was alive was very supportive and loving. His friends too. They were always there for him. Always caring.

So, why has he always felt so empty then?

Why has he never felt like anyone understood him? Why does he feel more normal with two guys, who are not even human, than he ever felt with people who loved him?