Jinki has never felt this nervous before. He has had multiple times more pairs of eyes watching him before at his first hearing and they had all been open about their disapproval of Jinki’s carelessness. The atmosphere had been much more intimidating then and yet, Jinki couldn’t help feeling that even then he hadn’t been this afraid.

The Council, they were people he met all the time, people he knew how to deal with. The Elders, though, are a whole new story. Jinki was nothing in front of these superior beings. He had no say whatsoever against their judgement because their rulings were literally the words of God Himself.

Right now, Jinki could actually feel their judging eyes on him more than he could see them.

“That it was not his time, is what you mean?” the Elder one sitting on the left spoke after a long while of tensed silence, although Jinki really couldn’t be sure who was speaking since their voices boomed all around him anyway. He was only barely guessing by the movement of the shadows before him. Aggravation in the dully moving black smoke indicated to him which Elder one was speaking.

“I- I h-have seen his fate. It w-was not his time…” Jinki stuttered, losing control of his actions as time went by. When do angels ever stutter?!  At this rate, Jinki is going to give his own condition away very soon.

“The Fates are defiant beings, you should know that…”

Yes, Jinki did know that. But they have never been cheeky with him. Jinki always believed that because he was so serious all the time with his assignments, the Fates found it pretty un-funny to play jokes on him. Jonghyun, on the other hand, gets tricked on a very regular basis, so often that he had eventually given up depending on them to guide him with their assignments. This was the reason Jinki chose to believe the Fates when they had told him that Minho’s death would come naturally at an old age after spending a long, extraordinary (their exact choice of word) life.

Another drawn out silence settled in the courtroom. Perhaps it was too much for the Gatekeeper to take because he was the first to break it this time.

“Almighty Elder ones, he breached a very sacred line between life and death for no good reason. This has only happened before in the revival of heroes who changed the human world or lives lost to creatures of Hell. This angel had no rights to use his power in a manner such as this…”

Jinki’s chief was already looking like he wanted to protest but he never got the chance to because the Elder one sitting on the right spoke up for the first time since they had started this session.

“Lies, I smell. Fear, I smell. In the court of the Lord, they do not belong…”

Jinki’s stomach flipped over at that. There was the thing he had been dreading. He has been discovered. Now, all that was in his hands were how much he would allow the Elders to discover before they chose to decided to see for themselves.

“Forgive me, Almighty ones. I will admit to it. I made the decision out of fear.  I made a terrible mistake of not letting him know certain things because I couldn’t bring myself to. He found out on his own and it led to an unfortunate series of events that eventually brought about his death. I had to save him from my own mistake…” Jinki laid out the whole truth for the Elders to judge, feeling incredibly exposed. He couldn’t even lift his own head up to see their reactions out of fear and shame for his recklessness.

However, it occurred to Jinki even amidst all his fear and shame, that given the chance to relive those events, he would have done exactly the same things he did.

“More lies, I smell. Unaware, he is, of his own lies…” the same Elder, the one sitting on the right, bellowed. The voice made Jinki jump a little in his chair, his wings almost fluttering open in fright.

“Almighty ones, Lee Jinki is not the kind to lie. None of my angels are, him especially so…” the angels’ chief came to Jinki’s rescue. But it was to no use because Jinki could tell that the Elders were already convinced that he was a liar. It’s just Jinki’s luck, isn’t it, that they wouldn’t believe him even when he was telling them the truth.

“Comply, you don’t, son. No other choice, we have, but to see…”

~~~~~

“You’re making fun of me. That’s it! You’re making fun of me. I told you not to make fun of me!” Taemin exclaimed, jumping up from the spot on his bed that he has occupied for the past half an hour, unmoving and with a frown deeply set above his full-rimmed glasses.

“I am not, Taemin. I have a guardian angel too. His name is Jinki. He made me see that I was treating people wrong and that I had to change. Don’t you think that my change would have been too sudden for me to have wanted to do it myself?” Minho explained, leaning back in the chair that Taemin had offered to him. A computer on the working desk behind him was whirring on standby and it had been the only sound in the room earlier until Taemin had jumped up with his sudden ‘enlightenment’.

Taemin contemplated this for a while, turning away from Minho to have a monologue about this issue. At least that’s what Minho thought. Taemin could come across as a weird boy when you get to know him. Not the creepy kind that you want to stay away from, though, rather the interesting kind that you would like to get to know.

After a few more moments, Taemin finally faced him again.

“Alright. Let me ask you this then. Who is in trouble because of you and why aren’t you asking your angel for help instead of me?” Taemin asked.

The question got Minho all tongue-tied because saying that he was in love with his angel wouldn’t sound all that convincing at this point, right? In fact, Minho was glad that Taemin hadn’t put two and two together yet with what he had already said about saving someone he loved and revealing that he had an angel on the same day. This won’t be for too long though, because Taemin would most definitely guess after what he’s about to say.

“Because it’s my angel that’s in trouble…” Minho said in a low voice.

Taemin continued to stare at him blankly. Then he turned away for a while, whispering again before he faced Minho once again.

“Are you talking to your angel?”

“Maybe. Minho, how could you love an angel? I mean, loving is fine, but I understand that the love you speak of is not exactly the love I’m thinking about…” Taemin asked him back, dodging the question.

“Is your angel really here? I’m not lying Taemin. You can think what you want but I’m most definitely not lying…”

“Maybe. What I think is that you’re playing with me…”

“If you don’t believe me, ask your angel. He may have heard about all the weird things that has been happening to Jinki after he took me on as an assignment…”

Taemin turned away for a bit,

“He thinks you’re playing with me…” Taemin deadpanned.

Minho heaved a heavy sigh, slumping in his chair. Then the implications of Taemin’s words settled on him and he too shot up straight from his chair.

“Your angel’s here?! Can I speak to him? I have to!” Minho asked, looking at the empty space behind Taemin.

“Minho, calm down! You haven’t even told me why he’s in so much trouble yet!” Taemin told him, pushing Minho back to his seat and letting him settle down.

“Doesn’t your angel know?”

“He may. But it’s you that’s asking me for a favour so tell me…”

Minho looked up into Taemin’s face then, giving up on trying to find an angel in the empty space behind Taemin.

“He saved me from Death and now they are after him. But that’s not all. Jinki has also been worried about what has happened between us. It’s not… normal, Taemin, and he’s afraid that he might get us both in a lot of trouble for these things…” Minho explained very vaguely, still hesitant about giving away everything.

Taemin was silent for a while, as though he was listening to someone. Minho’s suspicions were then confirmed. The angel is here and he could finally do what he came here to do, if only both Taemin and his angel would listen to him.

“What exactly are those things that you and your angel did? How would it get you in trouble?-“ here Taemin pauses for a while before continuing, “-Explain without leaving anything out because… I might be able to help you then…”

Minho knew without needing to be told that this is Taemin relaying his angel’s words. That meant that he could not beat around the bush anymore.

“We…. I touched him…”

Taemin’s face showed his surprise but it was soon covered up with words that fell off his lips almost subconsciously.

“Yes I know, but that is all, right?”

“You know?” Minho asked with a raised eyebrow. Taemin seemed to collect himself at that.

“No. I mean, yes. No, I don’t. I mean… Just answer me, alright?” Taemin asked him back in some sort of a rush.

“Okay… No, that is not all. We… We…“ There was really no way around it, was there?

“Spit it out, Minho…”

“We kissed, alright?!”

Taemin gasped very audibly at that, slapping a hand over his mouth. Minho, on the other hand, stood there, immobile and just blinking stupidly. Tae