“Love arrows are toxic, and are hereby officially canceled,” Aphrodite declared as her opening announcement of the meeting. She said something afterwards, but Mark couldn’t hear through the groans of his fellow cupids.

 

“That’s ridiculous!” someone yelled.

 

“It most certainly is NOT!” Aphrodite yelled over the din of complaints. “In this modern era, we can’t just go around using something that compels feelings of love! What about choice? What about agency?”

 

“But you’ve said only a gazillion times that love isn’t a choice!” someone else protested. “Love is an irresistible urge! A compulsion of the soul!”

 

“And our arrows haven’t forced anyone to do anything for centuries,” another yell came from the back of the room. “All they do now is send emotional triggers to their brains so their pitiful mortal mental processes can register the fact that they’ve met their soulmate. You should know—you designed them!”

 

“But can we be sure those emotional triggers aren’t heightened by the arrows unintentionally?” Aphrodite pressed. “We’re deities of love—our romantic energies surely leak into their bodies through our arrows and make them more susceptible to giving into their physical impulses.”

 

“And how is that a problem?”

 

“It’s like we’re putting them under the influence! We’re mucking with their heads! We’re taking over the wheels of their decision-making centers! All of the above is toxic behavior! T-O-X-I-C!”

 

“Fine, then fire us!” one of the cupids yelled. “Let them deal with their romances themselves and assign us some other job like… like…rescuing girls from bad Tinder dates.”

 

“I can’t fire you! How will mortals ever find their soulmates if you don’t help them?”

 

“You just said our help was toxic!”

 

“It is, currently. But we can revise your roles. Make you more modern, socially conscious cupids.” She pursed her lips. “Here’s my thought. Rather than dropping in, shooting arrows, and vanishing never to touch a couple’s life again, you can become more like guardian angels. Watch over a relationship in its beginning stages. Make sure it goes smoothly. Nudge the two halves into each other’s company and make sure they’ll have plenty of opportunities to spend time together and start feeling those emotional triggers that will clue them in to what’s going on without the toxic help of our toxic arrows.”

 

There was an immediate chorus of groans about how time consuming and inefficient this would be given how sluggish and stupid mortals were about their emotions. Mark couldn’t help but agree. With his arrows, he could usually hit several couples per day, even considering the fact he was a terrible shot and took several tries to actually land a hit. With this new system, he would probably have to dedicate a week or two to a single couple—nevermind the fact that cupids worked in teams, which meant double the waste in time and labor resources.

 

“Of course I realize this could cause efficiency issues!” Aphrodite huffed as everyone around her continued to loudly complain. “That’s why we’re going to do a test run of the new system before we do an industry-wide shift. I’m going to select a cupid team to try out this strategy, and if they show good results, all cupid teams will adopt it.”

 

“Are the rest of us still allowed to use arrows in the meantime?”

 

Aphrodite grimaced. “Yes, but each target must be sent a Love Arrow Terms and Conditions report via e-mail before any shots are taken.”

 

Mark could only imagine such a thing ending up in a spam folder and being ignored, but whatever helped Aphrodite sleep at night.

 

“As for the cupids assigned to the trial case,” Aphrodite said, pulling out her clipboard. “Mark and Jinyoung, please stay for an extended meeting with me about this. Everyone else is dismissed”

 

Oh?, Mark thought, ears practically pricking upwards like a rabbit. If Aphrodite had given any other name but Jinyoung’s, Mark would have been fuming at the prospect of being assigned to the trial run, but being on a team with Jinyoung again was too good to pass up. They’d only been paired up one other time before—on a case involving a shy, cute high school girl and her giant of a classmate—and hilarity had ensued since he and Jinyoung were terrible marksmen and their targets had been running track in gym that day and they hadn’t been able to land a shot to save their lives. It had been the most memorable day in Mark’s existence—which was saying something, considering he was immortal and most days seemed to run together for him. There had just been something unique about Jinyoung that had somehow left its stamp on Mark’s memory.

 

The rest of the cupids filed out of the meeting room, leaving just Mark, Jinyoung, and Aphrodite. Mark and Jinyoung exchanged a quick glance, and Mark felt his chest warm up a little at Jinyoung’s smile. Jinyoung definitely looked like the personification of love, even more so than Aphrodite herself did.

 

"As you've probably guessed, you will be the cupid team managing the trial run of my 'non-toxic guardian angel' strategy," Aphrodite began. “I chose you two because you’re both the worst at shooting arrows, so you were the most likely to be open to an alternative. You are open to it, aren’t you?” She eyed them suspiciously.

 

“Of course,” Mark said immediately. He knew better than to be contrary to the Goddess of Love without a room full of people separating them.

 

“I’m all for canceling arrows,” Jinyoung said. If not for the slight twitch in his lips, Mark would have believed him, too, even though he knew that Jinyoung hated anything that wasn’t efficient. He wasn’t a good marksman, but was a really good actor.

 

“Good. I think all the cupids will find this new guardian angel system suits them just fine. You already have the wings, so why not add the halos?” She grinned. “Anyways, I’m assigning case KRCYJIJB as the trial run.” She grabbed a folder in her stack and handed it to them. “You’ll be guiding Choi Youngjae and Im Jaebum in Seoul to an awareness of their soulmate status sans arrows. They’re due to meet in a few hours at a house party for a mutual friend’s birthday.”

 

“So what is exactly is our role in getting them together?” Jinyoung asked. “Just…silently overseeing?”

 

“Yes, and giving them little boosts as needed. Supportive boosts, not controlling boosts. You’re not allowed to force them to do anything. Just guide them gently down the right path, but make sure they’re taking every step of their own volition.”

 

Mark still wasn’t 100% clear what she meant, but doubted asking her would really help. If she didn’t realize that providing little external nudges was basically akin to the little internal nudge their arrows provided, she was deliberately blinding herself to the matter and wouldn’t be swayed no matter what they said.

 

“So when can we label our mission complete?” he asked instead.

 

“When they have their first kiss,” Aphrodite said decisively. “And no, you’re not allowed to just use your invisibility to humans to just smoosh their faces together whenever you feel like it. It has to be a kiss they decide upon.”

 

Mark exhaled. That probably wouldn’t be too difficult. If he knew anything about humans, it was that they thoroughly enjoyed kissing. If these Youngjae and Jaebum guys were at a house party, they could very well end up tackling each other onto a couch and Frenching like there was no tomorrow, just like your average house party.

 

“We’ll do our best and report back to you with our results,” Jinyoung said formally.

 

“Wonderful. Feel free to use this meeting room to plan your strategy. I’m counting on you two to make this happen!” Aphrodite grinned and blew them both a kiss before regally gliding out of the door.

 

As soon as she was gone, Jinyoung wrinkled his nose. “This is pointless,” he said.

 

“Agreed.”

 

“She’s basically made our job ten times harder than it needs to be.”

 

“100%.”

 

“And what was so toxic about the arrows? It’s not they forced you to hand yourself over body, mind, and spirit to someone. They just helped the heart and brain communicate together to get that ‘so this is love’ realization.”

 

“I think she’s just going through a woke phase.”

 

“Probably. And honestly, I should be jumping for joy since I hate using bows, but still.” Jinyoung finally smiled again. “At least it’ll be fun working with you again. Remember last time?”

 

“Exhausting our entire quiver on a single couple? Yup.”

 

“I still can’t believe I couldn’t hit the guy,” Jinyoung groaned. “He was huge, and I still couldn’t land a shot. I wouldn’t have been able to show my face to you ever again after that embarrassment if you hadn’t been just as bad.”

 

“That’s what I’m here for. Helping people shine by comparison.”

 

“Really? I thought you were here for your good looks and charm making up for your lack of archery skills.”

 

“Yeah, that too. Not that it matters. The humans can’t actually see me.”

 

“Well, the rest of us can, and I suppose that counts for something. Morale, maybe.” Jinyoung smiled. “Anyways, we should get down to business. This profile says Youngjae and Jaebum are both college students, but attending different universities. Jaebum’s older and studying production design, and Youngjae’s younger and studying music therapy. Any preference?”

 

“I’ll take Youngjae,” Mark said with a shrug.

 

“Then I’ll handle Jaebum. I guess our main mission will be making sure they meet and chat each other up at the party. If we can’t have them kissing by the end of the night, we should at least get them to the point of exchanging numbers…somehow.”

 

“By supporting not controlling,” Mark said, imitating Aphrodite’s voice.

 

Jinyoung snorted. “Well, let’s see how that plays out. I suppose we should go stake out our targets. See you at the party?”

 

“Yup. Hopefully we’ll make better guardian angels than archers.”

 

“I can’t imagine this going any worse than last time went,” Jinyoung said optimistically. “Let’s make this couple happen!”

 

“Excuse me, Jinyoung, but don’t you mean ‘help this couple unfold naturally, of its own volition’?” Mark asked drily.

 

“Uh, yeah. Let’s do that. Right.” He frowned. “Let’s get…unfolding.”

 

---

 

The house party was a little different from what Mark was used to. The host, BamBam, was definitely of the extra variety and kept yelling “TURN UP!” and “YOLO!” at random intervals, but the guests themselves were all fairly relaxed and mild-mannered. They were drinking, but seemed more interested in playing harmless party games than anything particularly wild or inappropriate.

 

Youngjae, who Mark had been shadowing since that afternoon, arrived pretty early and camped out near the iPhone BamBam had set up to blast music, and was regularly messing with the playlist. Every once in a while, someone would come up with him to catch up, but he wasn’t mingling much.

 

After a few moments, Mark caught sight of Jinyoung in his peripheral vision. He was hanging around an attractive guy with piercings who was chatting with BamBam nearby the snack table. Jinyoung caught Mark’s eyes and mouthed ‘get Youngjae over here!’

 

Mark glanced over at Youngjae. He was so immersed in arranging and rearranging his playlist that he didn’t seem aware at all that the party host was nearby. Mark couldn’t think of what to do to snap Youngjae out of it short of knocking the phone out of his hand, but at the last minute got the idea to shoot up the volume of the speakers the phone was plugged into. This not only startled Youngjae, but attracted BamBam and Jaebum’s attention over to Youngjae’s area.

 

Mark could see Jaebum’s lips forming the question “Who is that?”, and sighed in relief. Sure enough, seconds later BamBam was bringing Jaebum over, Jinyoung trailing behind.

 

“This is my friend Younjae,” BamBam screamed over the noisy bass. “Youngjae, this is Jaebum. We used to go to high school together.”

 

“I wanted to compliment your music selection,” Jaebum yelled over the speakers. “But you’re playing it a little bit loud, don’t you think?”

 

“Yeah, I don’t know how that happened,” Youngjae yelled back, finally turning down the volume. “I must have pressed the wrong button or something. Anyways, it’s nice to meet you, Jaebum!” He smiled widely.

 

Mark had been on the scene of so many meetings between soulmates that he could quickly recognize the slight shift in the tension of the air. The unspoken communication between mortals was so easy to decipher that it was baffling to him how poorly they could read one another. It was evident right from the beginning that Jaebum thought Youngjae was cute, and equally clear that Youngjae was willing to be hooked by Jaebum’s praise of his taste in music. Neither of them seemed aware of this fledgling mutual initial spark, however, and instead spent the next few minutes letting BamBam awkwardly lead the conversation while they took turns studying each other surreptitiously.

 

“I’m going to get BamBam out of the way,” Jinyoung said after a moment, sighing impatiently at this not-too-promising slow start. He went back over to the snack table and knocked the bowl of chips over as noisily as possible. Immediately, BamBam whirled around and started cursing. “Hold up, guys, just a second, I need to go pick that up…”

 

Youngjae and Jaebum barely seemed to notice BamBam leaving. They moved closer together, seamlessly filling his space as if he’d never been there between them at all. “So,” Jaebum said. “Are you this party’s unofficial DJ, or something?”

 

“Kind of. I guess you weren’t at BamBam’s last party when he was in charge of the music.”

 

“I wasn’t. What happened?”

 

“One of his friends works in a recording studio, and for a laugh he let BamBam record a track using his equipment. So BamBam wrote this song called ‘Party,’ and he played it over and over and over again the entire night, and if anyone tried to change it, he’d yell ‘you better show some respect!’ and change it right back.”

 

“Oh yeah, that song,” Jaebum said with a laugh. “He played it for me like a hundred times after he first made it.”

 

“So I thought I’d take one for the team and rescue the music this time. I’m almost done putting together the playlist.”

 

“Well, don’t let me stop you. Playlist away. I just hope you don’t mind me peeking over your shoulder to see what you’re adding while giving my unsolicited advice.”

 

Youngjae grinned. “Oh? Are you a music snob?”

 

“A little. I want to get into production, so I’m 100% a snob about the technical stuff.”

 

“Are you going to try and mansplain it to me? I should warn you, I know a thing or two about music.”

 

“But the question is, can you out-snob me about it?”

 

“Is that a challenge?” Youngjae’s grin widened. “I can be pretty condescending when I want to be.”

 

“You? With that kind of smiley face?”

 

Jinyoung touched Mark lightly on the elbow. “I feel pretty weird just standing around and listening to this whole dialogue,” he said as Youngjae and Jaebum continued to talk easily together.

 

“Aren’t we supposed to be supervising?” Mark asked. “Besides, it’s not like they can see us.”

 

“Still, I think we can supervise at a bit of distance. They seem to be on the right track, anyways.” Jinyoung pulled him a little to the side, towards a vacant corner of the room. “It’s kind of interesting, though. Getting to linger around for the flirting instead of just moving on to the next target.”

 

“A bit,” Mark agreed. “Mortals have an interesting way of going about things.”

 

“I personally think the gods are weirder.”

 

“Oh, there’s no doubt about that. I still don’t know what’s up with Zeus’s technique of turning into animals left and right.” Mark snorted. “Or Aphrodite. Going on about arrows being ‘toxic’ when she was one of the most toxic people on the planet centuries ago.”

 

“The gods are always so convenient with their selective memory.”

 

Over by the speakers, Youngjae burst into raucous laughter at something Jaebum said. Mark couldn’t hold back a grin at the ridiculous sound of it. “Jaebum’s going to be a goner,” he predicted. “After hanging around him for half the day, I can confirm that Youngjae is so damn cute.”

 

Jinyoung turned to him with slightly narrowed eyes. “He’s your type?”

 

Mark blinked a little in surprise. “He’s a mortal, so no.” Cupids were invisible to mortals, so it wasn’t like they could attempt to hook up with them like the greater gods could. And even the greater gods—Zeus included, much to his eternal frustration—couldn’t just hook up with them indiscriminately anymore. Seducing and reproducing with mortals had led to a whole lot of trouble in the past, and now came along with a strict set of rules that made it more trouble than it was actually worth.

 

“I meant your general type,” Jinyoung said. “Like, if you met an immortal like him, you’d be interested in them?”

 

Mark shrugged. “I don’t think much about being ‘interested’ in anyone, honestly. You know what happens when cupids like us get involved in that.”

 

Jinyoung frowned. Aphrodite had become more reasonable with time—if you could call her recent persona “reasonable”—but she still hadn’t forgotten her anger at the original Cupid, her son, who had betrayed her by loving the mortal Psyche who had been her rival in beauty. Psyche had won out in the end and had been able to become immortal and stay at Cupid’s side, but for all of his successors in power, an opposite fate awaited them should they fall in love in neglect of their duties to provide love to others. If a cupid fell in love, they were banished from the divine realm and left to live out the rest of their existence as mortals.

 

“Would that be so terrible, though?” Jinyoung asked eventually. “Honestly, the mortal world doesn’t seem too terrible nowadays. And considering that we kind of at being cupids with the whole lack of archery ability thing, I would have thought you wouldn’t mind giving your current life up.”

 

Mark shrugged again. He would be lying if he claimed he’d never thought about it. But at the same time, being a cupid was what he was used to. It was all he’d ever known. Maybe he wasn’t all that fantastic at it, but there was no guarantee that he’d be all that fantastic at being a mortal either.

 

“Anyways, you like cute, huh,” Jinyoung said, folding his arms across his chest. “I wouldn’t have guessed.”

 

“I never said I did. I just meant that if Jaebum thinks Youngjae’s cute now, there’s more where that came from.” Mark glanced sidelong at Jinyoung. He was cute in his own way, wasn’t he? Mark had always thought that, that there was something endearing about him, something that made you instantly fond of him.

 

“Hmm.” Jinyoung lifted an eyebrow. “Well, I guess it’s not a bad thing that you don’t mind being around your target considering that we’ll probably stuck with them awhile under Aphrodite’s inefficient new strategy.”

 

“What, you don’t think they’ll kiss tonight?”

 

“Absolutely not.”

 

“Why? I mean, they look pretty into each other, right?”

 

“Yeah, but in a kind of careful, tentative way.” Jinyoung pointed to another duo across the room who were leaning in to each other and talking quietly, frequently brushing hands and touching in little ways. “That’s the kind of couple that will be making out by the end of the night,” he said. “Jaebum and Youngjae are going to need a little more time. Which is fine by me.”

 

“Really, Mr. Efficiency?”

 

“Yeah. I don’t want this new strategy to work so easily, or we’ll all be spending the rest of our existences stuck in impossibly long assignments. If our couple recognizes their soulmate status tonight, it will convince Aphrodite to scrap our old ways for good, and our old ways worked.” Jinyoung smiled a little. “Besides, who knows how long it will be until we’re assigned to something together again? Might as well enjoy it.”

 

Mark grinned. “I’m with you on that one. You and I never get to talk.”

 

“And now you have me here, a captive audience. You can tell me absolutely anything you’ve ever wanted to.”

 

Lucky for them, Jaebum and Youngjae stayed planted by the speakers talking to each other about music for most of the night, so they never had to split up to monitor their respective targets. Mark and Jinyoung stayed in their corner for a good two hours ing about Aphrodite or swapping stories about past assignments, laughing and joking with the freedom they’d never been able to before. Being a cupid was a largely silent role, but Mark found he enjoyed talking, at least with someone like Jinyoung where the flow felt easy and natural. Jinyoung was both a fantastic listener and an entertaining storyteller, so Mark never felt either unable to get a word in edgewise or forced to carry the conversation by himself.

 

Eventually, the party started winding down. Youngjae looked regretful, but he finally took a step back from Jaebum. “It’s been great talking to you,” he said. His body language was screaming with how much he meant it—his cheeks were practically throbbing with how much he’d been smiling. “But I’ve got an early day tomorrow, so I should probably go.”

 

“Yeah, I enjoyed it, too,” Jaebum said, smiling back. “I can’t believe someone like you hangs around with BamBam, you’re much too good for him. But I guess that means I’ll see you around some other time, right?”

 

“Definitely!”

 

“I’ll look for you at the next Bamstravaganza, then.” Jaebum shook his hand. “Take care of yourself, Choi Youngjae.”

 

“You, too.” With a little wave, Youngjae started heading away.

 

“They didn’t exchange numbers?” Mark asked in alarm. “Should we do something?”

 

“But how can we encourage them to exchange numbers?” Jinyoung asked. “That would involve way too much interference on our end that it would risk entering into ‘forcing’ territory.”

 

“But how long will it take for the next ‘Bamstravaganza’ to happen? How many parties does this guy throw? Maybe it’ll be next weekend, but it could take over a month. They don’t attend university together, so it’s not like they’re just going to randomly bump into each other.”

 

“Unless we arrange for it to happen, as their guardian angels of love,” Jinyoung said drily. “Out of curiosity, where does Youngjae live?”

 

Mark gave him the address.

 

“Great, Jaebum’s pretty close. It wouldn’t be impossible to get them to bump into each other at a nearby store. Maybe we can dump their milk this evening so they’ll need to buy some in the morning?”

 

“There would be way too many convenience stores and nearby grocery stores to choose from. Plus, who knows if milk is an urgent item for them? Maybe we should clog up their toilets and force them to run out to get plungers. I don’t know about Jaebum, but Youngjae has absolutely no practical cleaning items in his apartment.”

 

“Jaebum doesn’t either, but who flirts while buying plungers?” Jinyoung paused. “I’m thinking devious and foolproof. Let’s slide fake notices that their national IDs are expiring and give them an exact deadline to go to the government office for renewal? That way they’ll absolutely be in the same place at the same time, most likely stuck in a super long line together.”

 

“Clever.”

 

“Don’t act all surprised. It’s what I’m known for.”

 

“And here I thought you were known for your humility.” Mark grinned. “Anyways, I guess this really is going to take some time. I’ll look forward to working with you, Jinyoung.”

 

“Let’s just hope you’re not sick of me by time this is over, Mark.”

 

---

 

Mark felt pretty bad for Youngjae’s freak out the next morning over the expiration notice, but it was almost worth it for the comical shock on his face when he literally ran into Jaebum just seconds after bursting into the local government office.

 

“J-Jaebum?” he gasped out, gaping.

 

“Youngjae?” Jaebum said, looking equally surprised. A moment later, his face cracked into a grin. “What a coincidence. I wasn’t expecting to see you so soon.” Jinyoung, who was standing behind Jaebum, shrugged innocently. Mark flashed him a thumbs up.

 

“I honestly wasn’t expecting to end up here at all, so it really is one hell of a coincidence,” Youngjae said. “I got this notice randomly that my ID was expiring.”

 

“Same! Do you remember them mentioning that these things expired when we got them the first time?”

 

“No. But I was seventeen back then and didn’t really care about the details, so maybe they did.”

 

“Huh. Well, I guess it wound up being a happy coincidence, if we got to run into each other. I realized I’d never given you my Katalk, and I was kicking myself because there’s this arts festival coming up next week I thought you might like to go to.”

 

“Really? That sounds up my alley.”

 

“Great! I’ll send you the details.”

 

As the two messed around with their phones, Jinyoung sidled up to Mark. “Worked like a charm, huh?”

 

“Absolutely. You know, your talents are wasted as an archer. Are you sure you don’t like this new strategy?”

 

“I like it only because our targets are disgustingly cute together and because you’re my partner. Stick me in a weeks-long assignment with two jerk soulmates paired with a crabby cupid and I won’t enjoy it so much.”

 

“Fair enough. So it looks like our targets are meeting up next week now…what are we supposed to do in the meantime? Continue stalking them?”

 

“We could, I guess. But I was thinking you and I would be better served going to target practice.”

 

Mark groaned. “You’d go there willingly? Don’t you get sent there enough on a mandatory basis? I know I do.”

 

“If you go by choice, they don’t assign you a cupid-drill-sergeant. You can just practice shooting at your leisure on your own or with a partner. And we do need the practice.” Jinyoung smiled sheepishly. “That’s why we never get paired up, FYI. We both , and why would you send two people who both on the same assignment? I asked Aphrodite, and that time we got paired up for that high school couple was an administrative error.”

 

“Oh.”

 

“So if you ever want to see me again after this, maybe we should stop so much. If you do actually want to see me again.”

 

“Of course I do,” Mark said, elbowing him. “You’re fun.”

 

“No one else seems to think so.”

 

“Everyone else has no sense of humor.” He sighed. “Fine, I’ll go to target practice with you.”

 

“Victory!”

 

“Don’t get too used to it.” Mark glanced over at Youngjae and Jaebum enthusiastically arranging their get together, their body language practically screaming their joy (which made Mark feel better about the fact both were going to end up royally pissed when they found out their expiration notices were a scam). Oddly, he felt a little envious of them. They had all kind of options to meet and get to be around each other and talk when they had something to say to each other. Cupids just had assignments, target practice, and strategy meetings. It had been enough for Mark for his entire existence, but comparing it to what was waiting ahead of Youngjae and Jaebum made him feel a little empty for the first time. What would it be like to live the kind of life they did, instead?

 

A lot of mortal troubles and headaches culminating in a heartbreakingly mortal death, Mark answered for himself. You really have nothing to envy them for.

 

But when he looked into their smiling eyes, he wondered if any of that would make them less happy, in the end. Maybe having each other would make the eventual end of their lives more heartbreaking in a way, but at least they would have used their hearts thoroughly and for the best and most beautiful of all purposes before they stopped beating.

 

---

 

For the hundredth time, Mark’s arrow whiffed over the target and disintegrated in the air, only to reappear a moment later in the quiver he was using. “I give up,” he said, throwing down his bow in exhaustion. “I’m just not meant for this.”

 

“Funny how that works,” Jinyoung said. “We were born just like the rest of the cupids from the essence of love and desire present in the world, so you’d think it would be our Fate to actually be good at what we were brought into existence to do.”

 

“Maybe some kind of mistake was made. Maybe we were supposed to be Muses or Sirens and someone sent us to the wrong part of Olympus.”

 

“Don’t let the Fates catch you saying that.”

 

“I’d make a good Muse, don’t you think?”

 

“I’d think you’d make a fantastic Muse.” Jinyoung rose to his feet. “Guess it’s my turn.”

 

“Good luck.”

 

Jinyoung grabbed the bow and nocked an arrow, pulling back the bowstring. When he released, the arrow didn’t even come close to the target before dropping to the ground.

 

“Your form was wrong,” Mark said.

 

“Well, if you know so much, then fix it for me,” Jinyoung sassed back.

 

“I don’t know how the right form looks.”

 

“So how do you know mine was wrong?”

 

“It doesn’t look anything like the stance of the statue of the original Cupid in the atrium.”

 

“So you know enough about what that looks like to know I’m wrong, but not enough to help me fix it?”

 

Mark groaned, but reached around to adjust Jinyoung’s position. Right when Mark was leaning forward to extend Jinyoung’s forearm, Jinyoung abruptly turned his head and bumped his nose against Mark’s.

 

“What are you doing?” Mark asked, flushing and withdrawing quickly.

 

“Entertaining myself,” Jinyoung said lightly.

 

“By booping me?”

 

“Booping? What’s that? I thought what I was doing was a nuzzle.”

 

“No, booping is what mortals do with their pet. Bumping them on their nose quickly. A nuzzle is different.”

 

“I don’t get the difference. Demonstrate.”

 

Mark rolled his eyes, but nuzzled Jinyoung a little on the cheek. “It’s less a poke and more of…I dunno…a caress.”

 

“Hmm.”

 

“Why are we doing this, again?”

 

“I just think it’s useful to know the ins and outs of mortal romance, given our job. Maybe Jaebum and Youngjae will nuzzle or boop before the big kiss happens.”

 

“Actually…I wouldn’t be surprised,” Mark admitted. They both reminded him a little bit of animals, so it would fit.

 

“See? These kinds of things are useful for measuring chemistry.”

 

“Aren’t you just trying to avoid practicing your archery?”

 

“Maybe a little.” Jinyoung lowered his bow. “Don’t you ever get curious?”

 

“About what?”

 

“What it feels like? The things mortals in love do?”

 

“Kissing, you mean?”

 

“That…and the parts after.”

 

Mark tilted his head. “I don’t know…not really?” Although, it had flickered through his mind momentarily once or twice over the past few days, out of nowhere.

 

“Why?”

 

“Because…those are acts of love. And we’re beings whose essence is pure love. Wouldn’t it just feel like nothing to us?”

 

“Maybe. But I think it would at least have to feel a little different. I don’t think it’s possible for us on our own to have an essence which entirely matches what is supposed to be felt in its truest form by two people.” Jinyoung shrugged. “Besides Aphrodite has an even greater essence of love, and she sleeps around all the time. She must get some enjoyment out of it.”

 

This was a fair point. “Well, she cursed our kind plenty after what happened with the original Cupid, what with the whole invisible-to-mortals and banished-forever-for-falling-in-love thing. I would not be surprised if she put some kind of us Rejexus curse on us just to top it off.”

 

Jinyoung burst out laughing “us Rejexus?”

 

“A good, Roman sounding name for it, right?”

 

“Adding –us at the end of everything doesn’t make it Roman.”

 

“Whatever, Jinus Maximus.”

 

“Nice one, Markus Minimus.” Jinyoung lifted his bow again. “I bet it would feel good, if something as small as a nuzzle does.”

 

“Hmm?”

 

Jinyoung fired his shot, which missed by a lot. “Better than this, anyways.” He lowered his bow again. “We really do at this, you know. Being cupids.”

 

“Yeah.”

 

“Maybe it wouldn’t be bad if you started to wonder about things a little more. About being something else.”

 

---

 

He didn’t tell Jinyoung, but he’d already begun very much to wonder.

 

It was being around Youngjae and Jaebum that did it, he thought. The moment they met up at the arts festival, their body language was so electric and they looked so damn happy that Mark felt that sense of emptiness rising to the surface again. He was so used to flying away after the arrow hit instead of watching the love story unfold that he hadn’t realized what he was missing and how beautiful it was to watch love slowly blooming to life in another person’s heart and eyes.

 

“You came!” Jaebum said, as if he’d somehow deluded himself into thinking Youngjae wouldn’t.

 

“Of course I came! I’ve been excited about it all week!”

 

“Have you?” Jaebum looked visibly pleased. “It’s really crowded already, isn’t it? Is there any particular section you wanted to visit first?”

 

“There’s going to be some trot at the main pavilion, right?”

 

“Ah, you’re a trot guy?”

 

“What, you’re not? Have you no national pride?”

 

“I don’t mind it. I guess it depends on the singer.”

 

“Of course. All music depends on the singer’s delivery. But I like trot in particular for the use of vibrations. Vibrations can have a huge impact when it comes to therapy.”

 

“How so?”

 

“Oh, tons of ways. Have you ever heard of Tibetan singing bowls?”

 

“So,” Mark said to Jinyoung as Youngjae explained the workings of singing bowls. “How much longer do you think these two have before the kissing starts? I think they’ll kiss before splitting up for the night after the event.”

 

“No way,” Jinyoung said. “At minimum, it’ll be another two dates. But I think it’ll be another month.”

 

“A month?”

 

“Yeah. Neither of them seemed to be actively trying to get into a relationship when they met at the party, so they’re not in a rushing mindset, unlike people deliberately trying to hook up with someone through Tinder or at a bar or club. They’re also probably going to go through an anxious period where they’re not sure if things between them are platonic or if there really is a mutual attraction, especially since they’re two guys and won’t immediately assume the other is a match uality-wise. Also, I don’t get the feeling either of them has had a lot of dating experience, so there’s also the element of them really having no idea what they’re doing.”

 

“Whoa. You’ve really thought this out.”

 

“I think a lot about the couples I’m assigned to, even if I can stick them with an arrow and leave right away. I like thinking about their after-stories. I like living vicariously through them.”

 

“Hey, maybe you should consider falling in love after all and getting banished so you can become a mortal.”

 

“Uh, clearly I think it about it constantly, haven’t you picked up on that?” Jinyoung rolled his eyes. “But I can’t fall in love just by wanting to. And I certainly can’t do it alone.” He paused. “Well, I guess I could, technically. But I’m hoping to avoid that unrequited love thing, although sometimes it just seems so inevitable.”

 

“Really? This coming from someone who knows soulmates are a real thing?”

 

“They’re a real thing for mortals. I don’t know if the same rules apply to immortals. Especially us lesser ones.” He shrugged. “Maybe that’s why I wonder about things so much. This is me trying to figure it out.”

 

Mark nodded. He was beginning to understand that feeling.

 

They followed Jaebum and Youngjae to the trot performance and joined in the audience. Mark glanced around. There were a lot of couples in attendance, some holding hands, other leaning their heads on their partner’s shoulder. Was this what a date was like? Mark glanced at Jinyoung. No one else there could see him, but in Mark’s sight, he was as real and solid as any mortal. If he turned off a few rational switches in his mind, it would be easy enough to pretend they were two mortals spending a special afternoon together.

 

Is that something I would want to do, though?, he wondered. If it was with Jinyoung?

 

He indulged in the fantasy a little deeper. He thought of himself and Jinyoung being two college guys like Jaebum and Youngjae, going places together, sharing things they enjoyed. Pondering over that electrical crackle of tension and wondering what it meant, but delighting in it even without the full understanding of it. Staying up late the night before dates humming happily (Youngjae had done this the night before) or grinning stupidly at nothing (Jaebum was apparently guilty of this, according to Jinyoung).

 

What would it feel like?, Mark wondered more directly now, with the image of Jinyoung clear in his mind. Would I feel something if I kissed him? Would I start wanting to do more?

 

Jinyoung looked at him and smiled, and the crackle of tension slipped out of his fantasy and into reality. He felt the jolt of something running through him, and felt awkwardly aware of himself in a way he wasn’t used to.

 

“What are you thinking?” Jinyoung whispered, even though no one could hear him.

 

“Why are you asking?”

“You’ve got a look on your face.”

 

“I always have some look or another. I can’t help it.”

 

“This is a different kind of look, I mean.”

 

“I can’t see myself, so I have no idea what kind of a look it is.”

 

Jinyoung tsked, but let it drop.

 

Mark tried to let it drop, too, but the new awareness inside seemed like it wasn’t going anywhere. He’d heard somewhere that it was hard to unlearn the things you discovered about yourself, but it struck him as an oddly mortal problem to be having.

 

---

 

Jaebum and Youngjae both enjoyed the arts festival and enjoyed being together, but somehow that didn’t fully compute in their heads and they were now in the middle of one of the most awkward goodbyes Mark had ever had the misfortune of witnessing.

 

“Thanks for coming out,” Jaebum said, shuffling his feet. “Really.”

 

“Yeah,” Youngjae said. It came out quite wistfully. “Anytime.”

 

“So…um…I guess I’ll be seeing you at BamBam’s next thing?”

 

“Yes. Of course.”

 

“Good…well…uh…good night?”

 

“Good night.” Youngjae took a step forward, as if he meant to hug Jaebum, then quickly took two steps back. Neither of them seemed to want to turn around fully and walk away.

 

“Good night,” Jaebum said again, and then a moment later seemed to remember he’d already said this based on the embarrassed look on his face. “Uh…hey…”

 

Youngjae’s expression turned hopeful. “Yeah?”

 

“You know how I mentioned today I’m helping out with production on the musical my university is putting on?”

 

“Uh-huh?”

 

“Well…we’re starting rehearsals, soon. And, um, we can’t just demand the whole orchestra show up this early in the production, but I think it would be helpful if our actors had more to practice with than a tape recording, but we haven’t found an accompanist yet who can work with our schedule, so…if you have time…maybe you could sub in for a while. Rehearsals are every Tuesday and Thursday beginning at four.” He took a breath. “I know you don’t go to my university so maybe it would be weird, but-”

 

“Yes,” Youngjae said.

 

“Yes?” Jaebum repeated.

 

“Yes. I’d like to help out. If that’s fine.” He looked so happy and relieved that Mark couldn’t help feeling genuinely happy for him.

 

“Of course it’s fine!” Jaebum also looked massively relieved. “It’ll be really simple, I promise. And, well, it’ll be fun to have you around.”

 

“Then I’m more than happy to do it.” This time, Youngjae stepped forward and actually followed through with hugging him a little. “See you then?”

 

“Right.” Jaebum said, a little too nonchalantly as if he was trying to hide how happy he was about the hug. “See you then.”

 

Jinyoung sighed a little. “That,” he said longingly.

 

“Hmm?” Mark asked.

 

“That. That right there. What’s so good about being an immortal if we don’t get that?”

 

Mark was about to ask what he meant, but then shut his mouth. He couldn’t play the idiot anymore. He knew exactly what Jinyoung meant. He could practically hear the notes of joy that Youngjae was struggling to keep himself from humming and feel the megawatt smile Jaebum was literally biting back. And there was a huge ache inside of him in the empty spot where all that wanted to exist.

 

---

 

“What do you mean you’re still working on it?” Aphrodite shrieked. “It’s been weeks!”

 

“Ever heard of a slow burn?” Jinyoung asked.

 

“Slow burns do not happen to couples with cupids as guardian angels! Have you really been nudging them?”

 

“As much as we can, but we don’t want to control them,” Mark said innocently. “So we’ve mainly been stuck doing little things. I have Jaebum’s cologne pumping through Youngjae’s apartment so he’ll constantly think about him.”

 

“I make sure all of the songs Jaebum associates with Youngjae play during his morning commute,” Jinyoung said.

 

“They’re over the moon for each other.

 

“Completely crazy.”

 

“You should see how they stare at each other at rehearsals. It’s cute, but pitiful at the same time.”

 

“Completely heartwarming.”

 

“They just don’t know yet how much the other person is crazy for them.”

 

“Completely oblivious.”

 

“Then clue them in,” Aphrodite hissed. “You’re making my new strategy look bad.”

 

“But clueing them in directly would be controlling their relationship,” Jinyoung deadpanned. “T-O-X-I-C.”

 

“Argggghhhhh!” Aphrodite threw her head back. “FINE! Give it a few more days! But if you keep this up, I’m going to cancel this trial run, declare you incompetent, and try again with a new test case.”

 

Jinyoung frowned, but stayed quiet, apparently not wanting to get her angrier. Mark decided to do the same.

 

“You two clearly need to rework your tactics,” Aphrodite continued. “I suggest you take your time here today at HQ to take a long, hard look at what you’re doing and determine why it isn’t working. I want results!” With that, she dramatically stormed out of the room.

 

Jinyoung turned to Mark, sighing lowly. “Jaebum and Youngjae are doing fine.”

 

“She’s right, though. It is progressing a little slowly.”

 

“That’s because they meet at play rehearsals. What are they supposed to do? Confess in front of the entire cast? Kiss onstage? Screw on the piano?”

 

Mark shrugged. Truthfully, he was fine with it dragging on a little longer himself. Jaebum and Youngjae weren’t kissing yet, onstage or otherwise, but they were having so much fun working on the musical together it didn’t seem to be frustrating them all that much. Meanwhile, he and Jinyoung got to sit in the back of the auditorium and talk. Their favorite subject was still mortals. Now that they had already broken several taboos about wondering too much about mortal life, they continued to wonder away, discussing the issue as in depth as they could. They speculated about what marriage would be like. Having children. Driving a car. Having an actual job with no required archery use.

 

Mark was imagining it a lot even outside of his discussions with Jinyoung. At first it was hard, since he was only putting a nebulous placeholder beside him as his life partner in these earthly adventures, but as soon as he imagined himself with Jinyoung instead, the entire mortal realm opened up to him in his imagination. He could envision them owning a dog and walking it in the park. He could imagine them going to school together and sharing a dorm room. He could picture them watching TV dramas on the couch together, Jinyoung’s head nestled against his shoulder, Mark slipping in the occasional nuzzle into his soft hair.

 

He was still imagining them kissing, too, but these imaginations still weren’t as fully fleshed out as the others. What did it feel like? Was it really something someone like him could experience, or was it not meant for a lesser being who existed for an entirely different role to understand?

 

And did thinking of doing it with Jinyoung mean he was falling in love, a different kind of love than what already fueled his essence? Mark glanced at Jinyoung out of the corner of his eye. Being around him had a different feeling than being with anyone else. He’d felt that from the very first time they’d worked together. And talking with him was more enjoyable than anything he’d ever done, and he hated the thought of never getting to work with or spend time with him again. Was that what this was? Was this how Youngjae and Jaebum felt for each other, the thing that made them keep coming back together time and time again, the thing that made them soulmates?

 

“By the way,” Jinyoung said, cutting into his thoughts. “Youngjae and Jaebum did make a little physical progress last time. Did you notice?”

 

Mark shook his head. “What happened?”

 

“That time Jaebum sat down at the piano with Youngjae, there was a little footsie going on. They played it off as accidental and got all embarrassed, but they were into it.”

 

“What’s footsie?” Mark asked.

 

Jinyoung grinned. “You don’t know?”

 

“No, or I wouldn’t be asking, clearly.”

 

“OK, this time, I’ll demonstrate.”

 

Mark waited, but Jinyoung just seemed to be sitting there as normal on the opposite side of the table. Then, suddenly Mark felt the weight of Jinyoung’s foot pressing down on his. It stayed like that for a moment, and then Jinyoung’s foot slowly lifted and teased against his ankle, then lifted again to slowly run up his leg.

 

Mark’s breath caught suddenly, and he quickly bit down on his lip. He didn’t get what about it was so alluring, but there was no denying that the delicate and tantalizing press of Jinyoung’s foot against his skin was. He glanced over at Jinyoung, meeting his full and heavy gaze which seemed to strike him differently than it ever had before. They held each other’s eyes, and Jinyoung’s foot went a little bit higher, the inner part of his leg. They both took a ragged breath, and right at that moment Mark’s heart flooded his body with desperate triggers to his brain, adamantly pressing hard down on the switch that processed everything he was feeling and clued him in to exactly what it was, as if he’d been struck by a love arrow that was finally, finally bringing about his big, momentous “a-ha” moment.

 

This is it, he thought, eyes widening. I’m—

 

“Productivity seems very low in this room!” Aphrodite’s shrill voice came from over the PA system. “Less silence, more strategizing please!”

 

Both Mark and Jinyoung had almost fallen out of their chairs in alarm at the unexpected interruption, and now Mark’s face was heating up belatedly at what they had just been doing. Zeus almighty, he thought. I’m in love with Jinyoung. Can Aphrodite tell? Am I going to get banished immediately? Do I want to get banished? Could I really make it as a mortal? Am I ready to have a lifespan, an endpoint, an inevitable death?

 

But still in the midst of all his panic, a warm feeling rose to the surface. I love him. I love him, and maybe it’s possible for me to get a life together with him, a life where I can kiss him and hold him and spend every day trying everything in the world with him.

 

“S-So the footsie thing proves progress is being made,” Jinyoung choked out, glancing at the PA warily. “But I guess we can nudge a little more. Set the auditorium lights to a mood setting when all the actors start to leave for the evening.”

 

“We could set the speakers up to play a slow jam and have them turn on ‘accidentally’,” Mark said in agreement, in case Aphrodite was still spying on them.

 

“It shouldn’t take much to get them kissing, they’re clearly ready for it.”

 

“Completely.” But what happens to us when all this is over?, Mark thought to himself. Are we ready for it?

 

---

 

“So, have you really not been able to find an accompanist at your university to take over?” Youngjae asked lightly, tucking sheets of music into his backpack. Rehearsals had wrapped up for the night, but just as Mark and Jinyoung had hoped, Jaebum and Youngjae were lingering in the auditorium as the rest of the actors and production staff headed out. “I thought I was just a sub?”

 

“Ah, is the schedule becoming an inconvenience for you now, Youngjae?” Jaebum asked, looking worried. “You should have said.”

 

(“So whipped,” Jinyoung muttered under his breath. “It’s so funny to see him go from all bossy and critical with the actors to this melty with Youngjae. He’s only ever like this with his cats at home, usually.”)

 

“No, no, no, I’m actually happy that I can keep working with the production,” Youngjae said quickly. “I was just worried that your search for an accompanist wasn’t going well. I can sub for as long as you need.”

 

“Great. And…yeah…it seems all the people I’ve asked at school can’t work with our schedule, so I haven’t really been able to find someone,” Jaebum said.

 

(“He’s lying,” Jinyoung informed Mark. “He hasn’t asked anyone to take over for Youngjae. He wants to keep having an excuse to see Youngjae twice a week, and he’s worried they won’t be able to be together as much if he finds an actual replacement.”)

 

“I’m sorry for your sake, then,” Youngjae said. “But I’m actually a little happy that I can stick around. I love musicals. It’s been so fun working on this one. And you’re really cool to watch as a production assistant.”

 

“Am I?” Jaebum asked, trying to sound chic and slightly indifferent about it, but epically failing. “You think it’s cool?”

 

“I do,” Youngjae said. “I mean, you’re usually a stuck up music snob, so it’s a nice switch.”

 

“Oi!” Jaebum barked as Youngjae cackled manically. “Trying to pick a fight with me, Choi Youngjae?”

 

“Bring it on, Im Jaebum!” Youngjae taunted.

 

Jaebum hopped onto the piano bench with Youngjae and started roughly tickling his waist. Youngjae’s defense was seemingly trying to blast his eardrums with wild laughter and yells, but Jaebum was determined, using his arm to wrap around him and pull him closer so he couldn’t escape.

 

“This looks like our moment,” Mark said. “Time to set the mood lighting.”

 

“Right,” Jinyoung said, though there was a weird lack of conviction in his voice from how it normally was. He opened the fuse box, fingers hovering over the switches that would turn off the bright stage lights and leave just the aisle lights and the dimmer auditorium overhead on to set the mood.

 

Over at the piano, Jaebum had let up with tickling Youngjae a little and was now letting him catch his breath. “You shouldn’t mess with me like that,” he was saying now. He probably meant it to sound teasing, but his voice came out thick and husky. There was no way of hiding what exactly was on his mind.

 

Youngjae tipped his head back, looking up at him, still out of breath. You could also see exactly what was on his mind through his entire body. He wasn’t burning slowly anymore. He was very much beginning to blaze.

 

“Now,” Mark said to Jinyoung.

 

Jinyoung's fingers twitched over the stage lighting controls, then abruptly shot down to the switch which controlled power to the entire room and jammed it to “off”.

 

The room was blanketed in darkness. Mark could hear both Youngjae and Jaebum yelp from across the room. “A power outage?” Jaebum sputtered. “Now? I mean…is there a storm? Is it even raining?”

 

“What do we do?” Youngjae asked frantically. “I can’t see anything!”

 

A moment later Jaebum had his cell phone pulled out and its flashlight lighting up the space around them. “This is so weird…my weather app says it’s warm out, with no wind or rain.”

 

“Maybe there’s a circuit problem in this building,” Youngjae said. “Should we call someone?”

 

“Yeah…I guess the university has some kind of emergency maintenance number.” Jaebum sighed, clearly in frustration. This wasn’t how he’d wanted it to end. This shouldn’t have been how it ended. “Come on, let’s get outside. It’s creepy in here.”

 

Mark turned to Jinyoung, not that he could actually see him through the pitch blackness. “Why did you do that?” he asked in annoyance. “They were going to kiss!”

 

“I didn’t want them to,” was Jinyoung’s soft reply.

 

“Why? Isn’t that what we’re here for?”

 

“Maybe. Maybe that's why you're here, but I’m…I’m not here because of them.” He heard Jinyoung take a sharp intake of breath. “I’m not ready for this to be over. Don’t you get it? This is our story, too, and even if they’re ready, we’re not, and our chance…my chance to be with you for more than just this…it’s all over as soon as they kiss. I know this was their moment, but…I want our moment. I don’t want to be a cupid or a guardian angel or exist only to make other couples happen. I want to happen. I want to happen with you.”

 

Mark had always thought mortals were slow at processing things. They always needed to "take a moment" to let things sink in, and sometimes they missed things entirely that their heads just outright failed to process. But after hearing Jinyoung's words, he needed to take that exact same kind of moment, not only to make room for another “a-ha” moment now that he knew Jinyoung loved him back, but also to fully grasp what it meant for their future. They were going to become mortals--there was really no question of that anymore. But was it going to happen immediately, as soon as he informed Jinyoung he loved him back? Would they lose their wings and be stranded on the earth without a single parting word to the life they'd once known?

 

All the same, Mark knew he had to say it, no matter what the fallout was. But the problem with "taking a moment" was that time didn't stop as he reached this conclusion. Instead of his immediate response, all Jinyoung heard was an awkward stretch of silence and no visual clues to go with it. And maybe Jinyoung had already waited too much and his heart simply couldn't bear it anymore, because instead of waiting, he leapt to his feet.

 

"It was too much to ask, wasn't it?" Jinyoung whispered. "To just expect you to be like me when I'm the one who came out wrong. You know, I always thought you were the exact ideal of what a cupid should be, from your face to your wings. Maybe I let the fact that you have one thing you're not good at trick me into thinking you were different like me, but I was wrong. You're a cupid. You're a perfect, selfless, love spreading cupid. But I'm not. And I'm done pretending to be one. It really is over, after all."

 

Mark could hear the sound of Jinyoung's wings unfurling and him launching away into the surrounding darkness. “Wait!” he yelled, but the sound of Jinyoung's wings was already growing more and more distant. He couldn’t even see where he was or where he was going. Mark flicked the power switch back, flooding the room in light, but Jinyoung was gone. And Mark had no way of knowing if he even still in this realm, or if he’d fled back to Olympus.

 

Mark went outside. Youngjae had apparently headed home, because Jaebum was standing alone in the parking lot. There was no Jinyoung in sight.

 

Jaebum tore his hands through his hair, throwing his head back. “,” he groaned. “It was…we were so close! !” He kicked a nearby trash can, but it only wobbled a little, and Jaebum was now cursing at his hurt toes.

 

“I’m sorry,” Mark said, but Jaebum couldn’t hear. And he was sorry. Their stories had wound up intertwined by fate, but Mark didn't want the setbacks of his own story to detract from Youngjae and Jaebum's. Jinyoung had been wrong--he hadn't needed to claw for more time by slowing down Jaebum and Youngjae's progress to win Mark over. All he'd needed to do was wait for those few moments Mark had needed for his slow, practically mortal brain to process the most important emotional trigger of his life.

 

And now…where was he? How were they supposed to happen if Jinyoung wasn’t giving him the chance to see it through?

 

---

 

Mark went back to HQ on Olympus and found Aphrodite in her office.

 

“Where’s Jinyoung?” he asked.

 

"Oh, you don't know?" She made a face. "I told that boy he was being all dramatic again and that he should have a proper talk with you, but it seems he didn't, did he?"

 

“What do you mean?” Mark asked anxiously.

 

“He came in here announcing that he’d fallen in love and wanted to be banished and condemned to a mortal life, effective immediately.”

 

Mark stared at her in horror. “Without me?”

 

“Pardon?”

 

“Oh…um…nothing.” He took a breath. Better to assess the situation fully before jumping to action. “Did you…did you banish him?”

 

“No. He still hasn’t completed the assignment on his contract. I also told him if he didn’t get back to his post with target Im Jaebum, I’d send him down for some quality time with Hades in the underworld.”

 

“So…you’ll banish him once the trial run is finished?”

 

“Yes, without a single regret. He's never been particularly good at his job, you know. But I suppose it’s not the kind of job one can do when they’re too ‘in their feelings’ as people these day say.”

 

“What’s so wrong with that?” Mark asked sharply. “Why shouldn’t his feelings be important to him?”

 

“If he were a proper cupid, the most important feeling to him should be spreading love to others. That’s what he was created to do.”

 

“Well, he did! He spread it to me! And you know what? I feel whole. I feel more whole than who I was before with just the love I was born from. You know how that is, right? It’s the reason why you took lovers, why Cupid fell in love with Psyche even though you were both created to spread love to others, just like us. It’s not enough to just take in love and give it on your own. It’s always incomplete unless there’s someone taking and giving right along with you. Why should only the mortals and greater gods get to feel that? Why shouldn’t Jinyoung get to feel that, too? Why shouldn’t I?”

 

Aphrodite looked at him for a moment, then smiled slowly. “Because,” she said. “Because you’re not a lesser divine being, after all. If you were, you would have never felt incomplete. You would have felt whole from the beginning, doing what you were born to do. You’re not a cupid, Mark. You’re a mortal.”

 

Mark blinked. “But I’ve…I’ve lived eternally. I’ve done everything a cupid does, up until now. How can you say I’m not a cupid?”

 

“Do you feel like one in your heart? Do you feel like you’re capable of devoting your eternity to fulfilling the love of others, with no thirst for that manner of love for yourself?”

 

Mark shook his head.

 

“Then you’re not a cupid. It’s that simple. If that definition doesn’t fit you, you have a different definition waiting for you.” She sat back with a smug smile. “And that’s fine. As soon as your last contract is complete, you’re who you want to be. You’re not a cupid. I’m not your boss. You don’t have to shoot another arrow in your life. If you want to go ahead and love Jinyoung, you go ahead and do just that.” She sighed. “I told Jinyoung the same thing, but he thinks it’s just him. He thinks you haven’t reached the same realization he has. I’m pretty sure he intends to go down to earth, slam Jaebum and Youngjae’s lips together, end the contract, and live a lonely mortal life of misery pining for you. Personally, I think that’s dumb. Toxic and dumb. I suggest stopping him.”

 

“O-Of course!” Mark said. “But you’re really…you’re really OK with this?”

 

“I’m not as unreasonable as you think.” She paused. “Well, maybe I was, back in the day. But I’m woke now, right? I’ve evolved. And I’m totally supportive of the cupid non-conforming. I wish it hadn’t happened during what was supposed to be a brilliant new strategy trial run, but as long as I can write off its failure due to unforeseen circumstances, I can at least give it another try.” She glanced at her watch. “Go on now, you have a contract to fulfill. I think it deserves a better ending than the one Jinyoung’s attempting to settle for, don’t you?”

 

---

 

Mark landed in the mortal realm right in the middle of Youngjae’s apartment. Youngjae was sitting there in the dark, squeezing a pillow tightly in his hands. Just a second later, right after Mark had caught his bearings, he opened his mouth and yelled “YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH, IM JAEBUM!” at the top of his lungs.

 

“If you do that one more time, I’m calling the cops!” someone yelled from next door. Youngjae didn’t seem to notice or care. He whacked his pillow a few times, then tossed it across the room.

 

Poor guy, Mark thought. He really wanted that kiss, didn’t he? As someone who was also hungering for the resolution of an incredibly slow buildup, he could relate.

 

Seconds later, Youngjae’s cell phone buzzed. He grabbed it, revealing a message notification from Jaebum. COME OUTSIDE I NEED HELP IM BEING ATTACKED, it read.

 

“What?” Youngjae yelped, leaping to his feet. He bolted for the door, shoving his feet into the first pair of shoes he could find and charging down the apartment steps. Mark followed after him. He had a bad feeling that Jinyoung was now very much interfering directly against all cupid policy, which to Jaebum would translate to an invisible force making him inexplicably do things.

 

Sure enough, when Mark made it outside, he saw a very freaked out looking Jaebum being dragged forward by his shirt by a coldly determined Jinyoung. Jinyoung froze for a moment when he saw Mark standing behind Youngjae, but then steeled himself and shoved Jaebum forward with all his might, straight into Youngjae. “NOW KISS!” he yelled angrily, for effect.

 

“J-Jaebum,” Youngjae stammered, catching him before he fell. “What’s going on? Who’s attacking you?”

 

Jaebum jolted back, very much not in the mood for kissing after his shock. “It’s a ghost!” he yelled. “I swear to god, some kind of ghost has been haunting me recently! I’ve been hearing a lot of strange noises in my house, then all of a sudden when I was waiting for the maintenance guy to come to the auditorium, the ghost started dragging me to your apartment, and it…it…just shoved me into you, right now!” He glanced around him in alarm, looking ready to fight his unseen tormentor.

 

Youngjae stared at him in bewilderment for a moment, then burst out laughing.

 

“How is this funny?” Jaebum asked, looking wounded.

 

“It’s just…just such a weird excuse,” Youngjae gasped out between his laughter. “I mean…if you had just said you regretted that our almost-kiss got interrupted back in the auditorium, I would have understood. I feel the same, you know. You don’t have to invent a ghost as a reason to come and see me.”

 

“I’m not inventing-” Jaebum started to protest, before stopping himself short. “Wait…you also…?”

 

“Of course,” Youngjae said, taking his hand. “You?”

 

“Of course…yes…for a while…” He blinked a few times, as if determining if this part was real, too. “I…I really, really like you, Choi Youngjae.”

 

Youngjae grinned. “I really like you, too.” He started leaning in closer.

 

“Um…” Jaebum swallowed. “I’m pretty damn happy to hear that, but at the same time, I don’t want you to think I’m the kind of idiot who would pretend to be haunted just to kiss you.”

 

“You don’t have to be embarrassed,” Youngjae said in what was a credibly quiet voice for him. “I don’t mind, as long as you still go through with kissing me.” He leaned in more.

 

You could see every thought of his supposed haunting growing small in Jaebum’s eyes, made inconsequential by the greater feeling of reciprocal love waiting to make everything within him complete. He reached around, holding Youngjae by his waist, and leaned in to meet him.

 

Most first kisses between mortals weren’t what movies made them out to be, Mark usually thought. They were shy and hesitant, and a little awkward as the two people adjusted to the shape of each other. It was hard for mortals to shake off the expectations of what they wanted it to be and just let it be as it was.

 

This, however, was a full-on cinematic kiss. Maybe it was the long wait and build-up that had done it, but there was no hesitance in this kiss, and any awkwardness quickly dispelled in how much they both genuinely wanted each other. They swallowed each other up in their arms and kissed and kissed as if there was a full orchestra playing behind them and a universal exhale of pent up breath accompanying their connection.

 

"It’s over then,” Jinyoung said softly. Mark turned to look at him. His wings were dissolving from his back, the feathers vanishing one by one. He was staring at the ground hard, refusing to meet Mark's eyes. “It’s over.”

 

“No,” Mark said firmly. “This looks more like a beginning to me.”

 

“Of one story. It’s the end of another.”

 

 “Our story?”

 

Jinyoung finally looked up at him despairingly. “There’s not an ‘our.’ We’re not even the same beings anymore. I’m a mortal. I can feel their kind of love. I can feel it in all its painful, mortal glory. And you’re a cupid. All you feel is love, but not the same love. Not my love.”

 

“What a shame,” Mark said. “You were a pretty observant cupid, but you make an incredibly oblivious mortal.”

 

“Excuse me?”

 

“Am I standing right in front of you?”

 

Jinyoung’s brow furrowed. “…yes?”

 

Mark reached out and poked his nose. “Did you feel that boop?”

 

“What are you trying to prove?”

 

“If you were a mortal and I was a cupid, would you be able to see me? Would you be able to feel that?”

 

Jinyoung’s mouth fell open a little. “But…Aphrodite said I would officially be part of the mortal realm when the contract was up…when they kissed. Was she lying?”

 

“No. She said the same to me.”

 

“W-What?”

 

“I’m a part of the mortal realm now, too. That’s why you can still see me, and why I don't have wings anymore. I’m not a cupid, either.”

 

Jinyoung reached out, gently touching Mark's back where his wings had used to be. His touch felt different than it had in the past, more solid and firm. “But why?” he murmured.

 

“Because I can feel it, too, the exact kind of love you feel. In all its beautiful, painful glory.” He took Jinyoung’s hand. “You know, some stories require you to wait two seconds for an answer to happen. You tried to shut the book on us way too soon.”

 

“Us?” Jinyoung echoed.

 

“Yeah. Us. As in you and me. We. Together. Doing all those crazy mortal things, just like we talked about. Just like we imagined privately, without telling each other.” He squeezed his hand. “I want us to happen, too. I want you to happen with me.”

 

“Oh,” Jinyoung said. It was just one small word, but it was filled with so much emotion, made so heartbreakingly beautiful by the raw humanity of it, showing all the vulnerability of a mortal heart but with all the strength of the hope that had been salvaged for mankind in Pandora’s box.

 

“Yes,” Mark said back. He nuzzled his forehead against Jinyoung’s. “Seriously, I feel like the way we were going, you should have been the one saying this to me. You realized what you were feeling first. Why am I the one with the big monologue?”

 

Jinyoung finally smiled. “Because maybe I needed to hear you say all that.”

 

“Maybe. But I feel like you and I have done a lot of talking recently.’

 

“A lot of wondering, too. Not enough actual experiencing.”

 

“And the thing is, I still want to know what it all feels like.”

 

“All right, then,” Jinyoung whispered, as their lips drew nearer to each other. “Allow me to demonstrate.”

 

Ambrosia. If Mark could choose one word to describe what it felt like, it would be that. The very nectar of the gods. Maybe it was because just like with ambrosia, you didn’t think so much about how exactly it tasted, but more about what it did to you. The feeling of warmth inside. The power filling your veins. The sense that you were sitting at the highest height of the heavens and could yet still go higher.

 

And best of all, it fed the new form of love inside him, the love that was not just of his own making, but made together with him and the person he intended to spend the rest of his life giving it to.

 

Just as he was about to press into Jinyoung deeper, he heard a noise behind them and pulled away. Youngjae and Jaebum were standing there, staring at them with the most uncomfortable expressions Mark was sure he’d ever seen.

 

“Where did you guys come from?” Youngjae said. “I swear to god, we were here alone and you guys just showed up in the middle of me and Jaebum trying to enjoy a good make out and started arguing about nonsense and then trying to steal our kissing spot. We were here first!”

 

“And normal people don’t use the word ‘mortal’ like you two were just using it,” Jaebum said accusingly.

 

“Are you roleplaying?” Youngjae persisted.

 

“Is this a drama shooting location?” Jaebum asked.

 

Mark and Jinyoung exchanged a look. They were mortals now, and had a whole new life to build. Making contact with the other mortals--their fellow mortals--would be a good place to start.

 

“Sorry,” Mark said, shrugging guiltily. “We’re…um…auditioning for a drama and got a little caught up in the moment while practicing. We didn’t realize you were there.”

 

“Well,” Jaebum said critically. “You kind of . Your partner’s great—I especially liked all the emotion he put into that ‘oh’ line, and he really sold that ‘allow me to demonstrate,’ but you…that boop was weird and your kissing looked amateurish.”

 

“Well, we’re hoping to get a lot of practice on that part in,” Jinyoung said, eyes traveling back to Mark’s lips as if he was planning on kissing Mark in front of Youngjae and Jaebum again.

 

“Jaebum, can you please not go into production mode right now?” Youngjae said. “We were in the middle of something, remember?”

 

“Of course I remember, Youngjae, I’m just giving these guys some parting words of advice before we go into your apartment and pick up exactly where we left off!” He turned to Jinyoung. “What university do you go to?”

 

“I haven’t enrolled anywhere yet,” Jinyoung said.

 

“Well, I hope you’ll consider KRU. We could use someone like you in our theater department, if your audition doesn’t work out.” He pulled a business card out of his pocket and handed it to Jinyoung. “Anyways, be a little more careful next time. I’ve got this guy over here who I was two seconds away from asking out before you clowns interrupted.”

 

Youngjae beamed. “Oh? Were you really? This I have to hear.”

 

“You will. Let’s just go inside." He took Youngjae’s hand.

 

“Congrats!” Mark called after them. “You guys are freaking cute together!”

 

Jinyoung biffed him on the chin playfully. “Heh. Are you sure you’re not a cupid anymore?”

 

“Of course. What kind of cupid can’t shoot an arrow and takes over a month to get two people that in love with each other to kiss?”

 

“A pretty damn bad one, I guess.”

 

“Let’s see if I can’t make a better mortal of myself.”

 

“Let’s see if I can’t do the same.” He reached out, touching Mark’s cheek. “I thought it was a fantastic kiss, for what it’s worth.”

 

“I’m sure I have a lot to improve on, though.”

 

“Want to do a little practice?”

 

“Still such a taskmaster, aren’t you?”

 

“You love it.”

 

“Yes,” Mark said, pressing his thumb against Jinyoung’s full lower lip. “I love it very much.”

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