Foreign. Alien. A little weird, bordering on uncomfortable even. That was how Jinki would have described his first ever kiss (first because he was not doing this to save anyone’s life and there were no hands gripping the front of his robe to force him to stand still.) Jinki had always thought that these feelings are somewhat undesirable by even humans. Hence, being the god’s instrument that he was, shouldn’t he be resisting and trying to get away?

He was not, though. In fact, he remained exactly where he was, afraid to move even an inch lest he loses the contact on his lips. He had his eyes closed (because he often saw humans doing that) so he had to rely on his other new-born senses. He could not describe all that his sense picked up because like an infant, Jinki had no experience to go by, nothing to compare them to.

To see is one thing. To truly feel, as Jinki was discovering, was a whole new world. And Minho, well, he was the centre of that world right now.

Minho smelled nice. There was a subtle scent underlying the other smells around him that were much stronger. Jinki’s sense of smell chose to tune in to this particular scent unconsciously because it was inexplicably alluring and enchanting all at once.

Minho sounded different now. The small sounds he released as he tried to get Jinki’s lips to move along with his were no longer merely being detected by Jinki’s ears, but rather they were being interpreted into these weird electric signals that made his stomach feel like someone released butterflies in it.

Just then, Minho let out a small chuckle right against his lips, adding to the list of Jinki’s newfound favorite sounds. He seemed as though he was amused by something. Not long after, a pair of warm, big hands found his cheeks and guided him to tilt his head a bit before Minho’s lip glided in between Jinki’s.

The united effect of the warmth on his face and the light suction on his lower lips opened up a new sense for Jinki- the sense of taste. Jinki accidently parted his lips when Minho did that and instantly he received a taste of Minho. It was definitely something that Jinki wanted more of and so he parted his lips to move it over Minho’s, the action releasing a small wet smacking sound.

Jinki knew he was doing something right when he felt Minho’s grip on his face become more firm, more confident. He already knew how those fingers felt on his skin but it still doesn’t cease to amaze him how wonderfully warm they are. He was doing it. Finally. He was kissing Choi Minho.

He was kissing a human that wasn’t dying. He was kissing his human.

The realization pushed Jinki to press harder against Minho’s lips and copy what the other was doing to him, rather than make him pull back, cringing in guilt. It was amazing, beautiful, dangerous.

It was imperfectly perfect.

Minho pulled away after a while, a little too unexpectedly because he had Jinki almost falling to the front. Jinki’s own grip on Minho’s shirt on his chest, something that he didn’t even realize he was doing until now, stopped him from falling face first, though Jinki realized that Minho would have caught him anyway.

Minho’s chest was rising and falling rapidly underneath his fists, his jaw hanging loosely to allow him to breathe through his mouth. He met Jinki’s eyes with mirth lighting his own.

“Some of us need to breathe to live, Jinki,” Minho said when he regained his breath.

Jinki moved his hands away from Minho’s chest, looking away from the other in embarrassment for his loss of control for a while. He didn’t even realize that he was being that… eager but it made sense that he had been. If kissing Minho hadn’t just climbed to the top of his most favourite things to do after the discovery of his senses, then Jinki would deserve to be called heaven’s (and world’s) most notorious fraud.

A sneak through his peripheral vision showed him an equally embarrassed Minho, rubbing the back of his neck as he fought the smile on his face desperately. Jinki has seen so many things in his long existence that could be called cute and adorable but none of those things could even compare to the sight of Minho right now. Jinki fought to keep his own little smile hidden.

It occurred to the angel at that moment just how much he was acting like that girl that had confessed to one of his subjects a long time ago. The thought in itself was mildly disturbing.

“I missed you, Jinki,” Minho said in a small voice, snapping Jinki out of his own musings.

“I did too,” Jinki found himself answering without even thinking. He looked back up to find Minho letting one corner of his lips tug up. Jinki’s grip on the edge of the window sill tightened just a little from the way the expression made his heart jump. His heart has learned quite a number of tricks by now (from racing to skipping to clenching, you name it) and it was still learning, thanks to Minho.

“I should have listened to you that day. If I hadn’t gotten myself killed so stupidly, you wouldn’t be going through this now…” Minho said, sighing heavily.

“If you had listened to me, you wouldn’t be Choi Minho…” Jinki joked, mocking Minho’s insolence as he tried to ease the other’s guilt.

“What is going to happen to you now?” Minho asked, still looking down. His gaze was seemingly fixed on the sandwich lying idly on the ground, the one Minho had been carrying when he came in earlier.

“I don’t know. Another trial, I suppose. Until then, you’ll be stuck with me. I must at least carry out my responsibility properly; this could be my last…” Jinki said, trying to sound indifferent and like it didn’t mean that much to lose everything he has known his entire existence.

Minho was quiet. Too quiet. Jinki didn’t know why because he had eyes down cast again but he knew that Minho was thinking. Perhaps, a little too much.

“Minho, it’s-“ A body slamming against him and a pair of arms winding around his neck stopped Jinki from completing his sentence.

“I’m sorry, Jinki…” Minho whispered into his hair. Jinki could guess why he wasn’t saying that louder and his heart dropped (yet another trick his heart just picked up.) Jinki’s hands remain by his side, not knowing what to do with them. Minho’s, however, enveloped his head in a warm embrace and held it tucked below his chin.

Jinki felt safe, protected, loved. It felt nice to be on the receiving end. It almost felt like their roles have been reversed.

“I never meant to fall for you, Minho. I was not created for this. I came here to help you, not to complicate your life further and for that, I am the one who should be apologizing, Minho…” Jinki told him.

“I don’t want your apology. If it makes you feel better, I’m just as messed up as you for falling for a creature I used to refuse believing in…”

Jinki chuckled at that, knowing Minho was laughing along with him.

“Does that mean that we’re really doing this? Defying God’s will and going against every set rule in Heaven?” Jinki questioned, realizing how much like a rebel that made him sound when really he was sitting in his human’s room, being consoled by the other.

“And the laws of nature too, don’t forget that…” Minho added, reminding Jinki for once that they were indeed of the same gender, though the term didn’t really mean much to him before. Angels were never defined by genders anyway.

Jinki laid his previously idle hands on the other’s waist, turning his face to cozy up to Minho’s chest with his cheek. Should it feel this comforting? This kind of comfort was something Jinki only received when he had spent a substantial amount of time near the Oasis in Heaven. Minho’s embrace beat that out by just a little.

“God must be running late on his schedule today.”

“Why?” Minho asked and Jinki could almost hear the confused frown on his face in his voice.

“Because he hasn’t struck me with lightning and zapped me out of existence yet…” Jinki mused.

Minho pulled back away from him, only enough so that they could allow their eyes to meet. A small, heartwarming smile lit his face up.

“Do you think he’ll spare an extra bolt for me or will we have to share?”

It shouldn’t be funny. Nor should it make him feel this fierce stinging below his eyes. But Jinki couldn’t help but feel both those conflicting feelings at the moment. And he also couldn’t help but think- as the humans would put it very eloquently- how wonderfully ‘ed up’ his situation really is right now.

~~~~~

“This should not taste this good. It is impossible!” Jinki exclaimed. He placed his spoon back on the table in order to pick up the bowl in front of him and look underneath it and all around it. Finding nothing there, he placed the bowl down and started flipping the cereal box this way and that with a frown adorning his brow.

Minho bit his lip hard to not laugh out loud. He couldn’t risk embarrassing Jinki, especially not with the amount of trust the other has awarded him in trying to learn about his surroundings.

“It’s cereal, Jinki. Of course it’s that good…” Minho stated, glad that his idea of pulling out the cereal box from his secret stash of food to feed Jinki this morning, was rewarding him with this much joy.

“This is magical, I swear!” Jinki said with his mouth full of Minho’s favorite colorful treat while looking up at him with childish, gleaming eyes. Well, now he knew that there was someone else around his age (actually way older, no, ageless?) that shared his enthusiasm for cereals. Minho conveniently ignores the fact that the angel might as well be a five year old because he was just beginning to make heads and tails of his new senses.

“Well, hurry up. I have more magical things to show you.” Minho chided playfully, amused by the speed at which Jinki started scooping more cereal into his mouth then.

“Done. Let’s go!” Jinki stood up, ever eager to explore his senses with Minho. He did not know how much longer this bout of power-drained, human-like state of his would last so he wanted to make the most out of it. Minho, of course, was all too willing to guide him even though the fact that Jinki might go back to being the untouchable angel again very soon was bothering him quite a bit. He knew where to draw the line, though, so that his selfishness did not get in the way of what’s best for the other.

“Before we go though…-“ Minho hesitated for a while, giving Jinki a onceover. His flowing white robes would be a problem if they were going to go out. People might start staring and Jinki, who has been a silent bystander in the lives of billions up until now, might find it a little disconcerting to suddenly be the centre of attraction. Taking this into consideration, Minho decided that he should have the angel change into ordinary clothes.

Pulling Jinki along behind him by his wrist, Minho made his way back to his room for a quick change, grateful now more than ever that he was alone at home. He didn’t want to be stopped to be interrogated about the strangely dressed boy in the house, wasting precious time that could be spent with Jinki.

“Here. Put this on,” Minho ordered, handing the angel a pair of his jeans and a shirt, before adding as an afterthought, “You know how to, right?”

Jinki laughed at that question, rolling his eyes. He did not even bother answering the question as he began to undo the knot of ribbon on his chest that would loosen his robe. Minho turned away, feeling his face flare up with heat as he belatedly realized that he had not seen any more skin on the other, save for his face and hands.

Minho forced his mind to think of things other than skin, skin and more skin.

He’s an angel, Choi. Purity in human form, so quit fantasizing!

Minho’s mind finally was able to conjure up something less… hormonal. A picture of Jinki waking up from his sleep beside him earlier this morning. Nothing much happened the night before. Jinki had cried a little, bewildered by the wetness leaking from inside him which Minho had to explain to him while consoling him. They fell asleep with their hands clasped, the reason Minho was blessed with the sight that morning.

It would be rather cliché and ironic to say that jinki had looked like an angel. So Minho remembered thinking to himself just how human Jinki had looked instead. Slightly puffed up eyes from crying, hair far from falling perfectly in its place, lips chapped and cracking due to his unfamiliarity to the concept of staying hydrated; Jinki looked human in every possible way. Human was good. Human was approachable, attainable, tangible.

“Minho, I’m done…” Jinki called out to him, sounding a little uncertain.

Minho turned around to find Jinki in his slightly too large shirt and holding the waist of the jeans scrunched up in one hand as though the article was too big for him. Minho thought of two words.

ing. Adorable.

He grabbed a belt and helped Jinki pull it through all the loops and went as far as to help him fasten it in the front, all the while thinking thoughts of white fluffy clouds and pink cotton candies. Soon, they were both leaving the room and the house to wherever it is that their feet will carry them today.

Jinki was causing quite a stir on the streets in town. Of course he would. While everyone else is rushing around them in a hurry to get somewhere or do something, here was Jinki strolling on the pavement, his hands clasped at his back and his chest inflated in pride as though he was above the others and looking down upon them (literally.) Minho walked beside him at his pace, his hands tucked in his pockets.

“I remember you telling me that changing my clothes would allow me to blend in. Then, why are they all staring at me?” Jinki questioned in a whisper to Minho. An old woman passed them by, looking at Jinki curiously. Jinki simply bowed his head to her in a slow manner, like gentlemen in the Victorian age would. The woman looked at him even more strangely before scurrying away. Jinki looked baffled.

“You forget that the world has not seen charm like yours in a long time, Jinki. You also forget that you are no longer invisible to them,” Minho reminded the other. Jinki seemed like he was going to come back with an objection because he was obviously aware that people could see him now. However, he stopped himself when he saw Minho gesturing to Jinki’s hands with his eyes.

His mouth formed a small O as he