“Bye hyung, thanks for the kitchen set, I'll definitely be using it.” Jaemin gave Taeyong a hug.

“Anytime.” Taeyong beamed. “Thank you for the cookbook. I'll definitely be trying some of those recipes out.”

“Oh Jeno~” Jaehyun called in a sing-songy voice, holding up a piece of mistletoe over Jaemin and Jeno's heads.

Jeno rolled his eyes at the elder's childish antics. It wasn't like he needed an excuse to kiss the love of his life, but it was a Christmas tradition, and who was he to break it? Grabbing his lover, he planted a smooch on his lips, which resulted in Taeyong cheering and clapping. Jaemin smirked when they broke the kiss.

“Well, guess we should get going.” he grabbed the bag of gifts they'd received and laced his fingers with Jeno's.

“Yeah, Merry Christmas, guys. See you next week for New Years.” Jeno said his goodbyes and followed his future husband into the cold night air, giving his hand a squeeze. “So, what's the plan?”

“Well, I was thinking a little Christmas lovin’ , and then maybe a bubble bath and some cocoa before bed?”

“Sounds perfect.” Jeno eye smiled and pecked his cheek. As they were nearing home, Jeno felt an odd sensation in his chest, and before either of them knew what was happening, he face planted onto the sidewalk.

Jaemin’s frantic voice filled the night air, and Jeno watched in confusion as his fiance attempted to give his- now lifeless body CPR.  Sensing a presence behind him, Jeno turned around, seeing two males staring at him. “Who are you…?” he eyed the scythe in Ten’s hand distrustfully.

“We’re reapers.”  Ten explained, looking rather pissed off.  “We collect souls.”

“So… I’m dead then?  Did I just die?” he glanced back at his body, seeing a different scythe- one that Jaemin didn’t appear to see- sticking out of his abdomen.

“Yes, but we have a problem.”  Ten elbowed Donghyuck in the side.  “We didn’t come for you…Someone else was supposed to die…”

“What?”  Jeno’s eyes widened, and he glanced at his fiance in horror before looking back at the reapers.  “Then is Jaemin supposed to die?” he gave them a pleading look. “Please take me instead.”

“We can’t.”  Ten snapped. “It’s not your time yet, or his.”  he sighed. “But numb nuts here-” he pointed at Donghyuck.  “Decided to play around and accidentally impaled you.”

“I’ve gotta be dreaming.”  Jeno shook his head before slapping himself, hearing Jaemin sobbing on the phone to 119 in the background.  He couldn’t bear to listen to it. No. This couldn’t be real.

"Just stay here.  I’ll be back.” Ten groaned and tapped his scythe on the ground before rising up into the air.  “Grab your scythe, and don’t let him go anywhere!” he ordered as he disappeared from view.

“I’m so sorry…”  Donghyuck finally spoke.  "It's my first day on the job."

Jeno stared at him for a moment, wondering where he’d seen him before. “Hey, you’re that singer… the one that… committed suicide last week.”  he blinked in realization.

“Guilty as charged.”  Donghyuck cracked a smile.  “Were you a fan?” he walked over and grabbed his sickle from Jeno’s motionless corpse.   

“I was…”  Jeno admitted slowly. It was a strange experience to be seeing his own dead body.  “We both were… we went to one of your shows for our first date.” he smiled fondly at the memory for a second.  “I figured you were living the dream. May I ask why you decided to end your life?” Jeno wasn’t sure why he was so calm.  Perhaps he was just still in shock, but there was also something about the reaper that made him unable to be angry or upset.  Whatever it was, it made the newly-deceased feel at ease.

“Well-”  Donghyuck began but was cut off by Ten clearing his throat behind them.  

“It’s great you’re all best buds now, but we need to hurry.”

“What are we doing?”  Jeno asked.

“You can’t go back into a body your soul has already left, but you can take another’s body.  I got orders from the higher ups that you’re to take the body of the soul we’re collecting and live out the remainder of your life.” Ten explained, gesturing for them to follow.  

“Isn’t that kind of cruel to the owner of the body?”  Jeno followed with Donghyuck by his side.

 “It’s not like he’ll be needing it anymore.”  Ten rolled his eyes. “It would be crueler to cut your life short before it’s your time.”  he led them to a house where a body was bleeding at the bottom of the steps. “This is it. After I extract the soul, you need to move into this body.  From this day on, you will live as Huang Renjun. It’s up to you to get your lover back, in fact, you may not even be able to.” he raised his scythe.

“But what-”

“No more questions.”  Ten shushed Jeno and plunged the instrument into Huang Renjun’s body.

Out came a scared and confused looking boy, who Donghyuck immediately offered a friendly hand to.  “Hey there. It’s okay. Relax.”

“Go.” ordered Ten, pointing at the body.

Jeno hesitated before slipping inside the new vessel, his world going completely black.

 

Jeno woke to quiet chatter and the sound of hospital equipment. Opening his eyes, he took in the sight of the three handsome men sitting in chairs across from his bed.

Upon noticing that Jeno was awake, the three jumped up, all speaking at once in a language that Jeno couldn't understand. He could tell it was Mandarin by the sound of it, and he could make out a few words, but honestly, he was clueless as to what they were all jabbering about.

“Who are you guys?” he asked in Korean, receiving three shocked stares in return.

“Are you serious?" One of them asked in rather good Korean. “Do you not remember us?”

Jeno shook his head, and it was then that he became aware of a dull throbbing in it.  Looking down at his hands, he realized something was off. They weren’t his hands. “W-who am I…?”

“I’ll go get the doctor.”  One of them rushed out.