Suho opened his eyes and found himself in a small, overgrown meadow. He recognized immediately that it was a place full of familiarity, not far from his home. The long grass rippled around him in dark, silvery waves as the light breeze swirled around his arms and played with his soft hair. The sky was dark—nighttime most probably—with glittering stars dotting the black expanse, closer and brighter than they should be. It seemed as if he were to just reach out his arm, he could capture one in the palm of his hands.

Now, why was he here?

Turning his head slightly to the side, he came face to face with the sight of a rather large hill, one that impacted him with a huge sense of déjà vu. He wasn’t sure how, but in that moment he knew that he had been here before in this very same spot, at this very same time and it was then he realized that his feet were unconsciously leading him towards it. He climbed what felt like the never ending hill, the stars growing closer and closer, brighter and brighter, until finally it crested and something other than endless grass appeared.

It was a boy—a familiar one at that, though Suho couldn’t see his face, only his back as he was turned away, standing alone in the center. He wasn’t particularly tall, nor was he short by any means. His slim figure stood stoically, dressed in a pure white outfit, and his brown hair ruffled slightly in the cooling breeze.

“Um… Excuse me…?” Suho called out tentatively, reaching out his arm slightly to catch his attention. At the soft sound, the boy turned his head around quickly and in that one moment of eye contact a few things seemed to happen simultaneously. The sky suddenly felt very heavy over Suho’s shoulders; it was almost as if the blended colours of the milky way began to melt away and drip under their own weight, pooling in a thick layer over the horizon. The stars fell from the heavens, showering all around him in blinding flurries of light and Suho had to shield his eyes from the blinding whiteness.

When he dared open his eyes again, Suho found himself face to face with the same boy from before but this time he was dazzling, literally—a shining aura seemed to surround his entire being as his large, angelic eyes stared on innocently.  Suho couldn’t help his heart from beating faster and his entire frame from freezing on the spot as he took in the celestial sight of the being in front of him. The boy’s eyes pinching together as he smiled and outstretched his hand was the last thing Suho saw before a star fell between the two, breaking the connection with an overpowering wash of white light.

-

Suho’s eyes snapped open and he jolted up, slightly startled by the loud thump of his book hitting the hardwood floor.

It was that dream again.

He flopped back into his seat he had fallen asleep in and leaned over the armrest to retrieve his fallen novel, carefully flipping through each page in order to inspect any potential damage (noting with relief no page had been accidentally dog-eared). This was nothing new, really. Ever since years ago, though not entirely sure when they had started, Suho had always been plagued with that same reoccurring dream with the same shining boy and the falling stars. And to no surprise, just as it had been every other time, the moment that Suho woke up, he could never for the life of him remember the beautiful boy’s face. It frustrated him to no end because deep inside him, he knew that this dream couldn’t be just a coincidence—it had to mean something.

You see, Suho was a man unlike the other of sorts. Most of the time, you’d be able to find him with his nose stuck deep in a novel, sitting in his favourite armchair at home with the window next to him, showing a perfect view of the dimming sky light. Suho always had an affinity with the sky, the stars and the clouds. He’d always find himself gazing upwards in the pauses between pages and stories as if he were waiting for something to happen, though he didn’t know exactly what that could be or how long it would take. He would wait though, always unconsciously wait. Nothing in his current dull life could prevent his entire being from longing for something more, hoping and wishing for an adventure to simply drop out of the sky and take him away.

Little did Suho know how right he truly was. All of his patience would soon pay off when destiny decided to fall from the sky and into his life.

-

Late one night, while Suho was spending his time being typical Suho, something perplexingly atypical happened. In the midst of flipping a page in his extremely worn out copy of Peter Pan, Suho looked up out the window and saw something that made him freeze on spot—there in the sky was an unmistakable bright spot of light and it was falling. Now realistically, it could have just been a meteor, a comet or maybe even a drifting piece of space junk re-entering the Earth’s atmosphere, but Suho couldn’t contain his urge to scramble out of his seat and out the door, making sure to shrug on a light cargo jacket as he ran.

Unsure where he was really headed or what he was even looking out for, Suho found himself heading towards the park near his house. It only seemed fitting as this was the exact setting where all his unexplainable dreams took place. Reaching the foot of the large hill took shorter than Suho had expected and when he tilted his head up he could’ve stumbled and fallen over right there. Although he was there for this very reason, in that moment, Suho could not believe his eyes even in his wildest dreams. For in the sky above him, the shape of a figure was floating down gracefully, encased by a blanket of riveting light. Disregarding the impossibly slow nature of their descent, Suho began to run up the steep slope, rushing forwards with only the thought of making it on time in order to save whoever it was from plummeting to their death driving him on. With one last final push, leaping to the center of the crest, Suho arrived just in time for the figure to align with his outstretched arms. However, the moment before right the person landed, time seemed to stand still, and maybe it did, but all Suho could register was the fact that the person was floating in mid air and just how breathtakingly beautiful he was. One glimpse of the boy’s face was enough to stop Suho from breathing—from his golden hair to his long eyelashes fanning down from his closed eyes and his small button nose and pale lips, Suho couldn’t look away nor take it all in at once. Not to mention, the boy was also glowing, his entire being was shining almost as if his very pores were radiating light. He almost didn’t even look human—in Suho’s eyes, he was simply too perfect to be.

Somewhere in the back of Suho’s mind, he wondered whether or not this could have been just another one if his dreams, but as soon as the thought came, reality sunk in just as fast. As if his consciousness had triggered it, the light surrounding the boy slowly faded away and gravity kicked in, almost tipping Suho over from the newly added weight and sending both of them tumbling over the side of the hill. Suho struggled to maintain his balance and it was only then when he realized that the weight in his arms was very much real.

The once fantastical atmosphere was quickly replaced with flustering disbelief as Suho took in the fact that he was now standing in the middle of a park with a boy in his arms that had just fallen from the sky and no amount of fantasy novels could have ever prepared him for this.

Not sure what the best course of action would be, Suho quickly resolved to run home first and deal with everything that was to come, afterwards.

-

After a few hours of anxious glances and fitful contemplation on Suho’s part, the unconscious boy he had carefully placed on his bed finally stirred, first scrunching his nose before slowly peeling open his eyes and blinking a few times more than necessary. Suho quickly scrambled out of his seat beside the foot of the bed and took the mug of tea he had prepared before and held it out to the other. The boy however, with his eyes still thick with sleep and hair a tad mussed up and flattened from the pillow he had rested on, merely blinked up at Suho as if he was confused by the gesture. Suho cleared his throat. “You can take it… if you need something to drink.” It took a few seconds, but the boy’s eyes finally widened and he nodded slightly before gratefully taking the warm cup and pressing it up to is lips for a small sip. “So, um…” Suho mumbled, not quite sure where to start, “are you alright?” That was a polite enough place to begin with.

The boy looked up from under his lashes and for the first time since their initial encounter, Suho was graced with the sound of his voice. “Yes, I’m fine.” Suho nodded, relieved.

“And… who are you?”

“Luhan.”

Suho blinked a couple of times. It wasn’t quite what he meant by his question but—“Luhan?”

“Yes, my name is Luhan,” the boy who Suho now knew as Luhan, replied simply, taking another longer sip.

“And I’m Suho,” biting the inside of his cheek, Suho tried another approach, “I kind of meant, rather, who are you? I mean you just fell from the sky and—“ Suddenly, images of Luhan floating down to Earth, glowing in a way that was unnaturally mesmerizing, filled his mind and Suho couldn’t stop the next words from spilling from his mouth.“…Or maybe… what are you?” Suho quickly clamped his mouth shut. His eyes snapped over to Luhan. His words had come out louder than he had expected, but if the other had heard, he made no motion of offense. Instead, Luhan's large eyes just widened more and he tilted his head in utter confusion.

“I fell from the sky?” Suho nodded his head, and with that, Luhan immediately jumped up and out of his seat, making the sheets and pillows that were once neatly draped over the bed, flail everywhere. He turned towards Suho, eyes full of shock. “Where am I?”

“You’re in my house, I wasn’t sure where to take you,” Suho answered wearily, eyeing as the boy in front of him seemed to become more and more alarmed as each second passed. Luhan shook his head.

“No, no, am I on Earth?”

This time, Suho couldn’t help the skeptical expression from painting his face as he nodded at the question. And before he could speak, Luhan was out of the room, scrambling down the hallway to the front door. Suho ran after him in alarm and when he reached his front porch, he saw Luhan falling to his knees, head tilted up to the sky as if his world had just completely shattered in the seconds he had left Suho’s sight. Suho quickly rushed over and caught the other boy as he was about to collapse boneless onto the freshly cut lawn.

-

Inside once again, Luhan was tucked into the arm of the couch with a blanket wrapped around his small frame. Suho was seated across from him in his favourite armchair as a silence enveloped the two. “So, you’re telling me that you are an angel that… fell from heaven?”

Luhan nodded.

Suho sat back and legitimately contemplated whether or not the other could have been just trying to use some kind of horrible pick up line on him, but eventually decided against it from the looks of their situation (even though in terms of Luhan’s looks alone, Suho might have believed it—not that he would ever have admitted it). “And I’m supposed to believe this because…?”

“Because it’s the truth,” Luhan simply replied, gaze not wavering from Suho’s skeptical glare. He wasn’t really convinced to say the least, and it must have shown in the lines of his mouth as Luhan quickly countered again. “Well can you think of any other explanation for what you saw?”

Suho couldn’t answer. Instead, his mind began to whirr with a million thoughts per minute. The way that Luhan had fallen so slowly and gracefully, the way time had stopped a breath before Suho could comprehend what was happening… even if it was entirely illogical, he honestly had nothing else to believe in except for Luhan’s words. And so he did. Swallowing a large lump that had formed in his throat, Suho sat up, visually more relaxed, which in turn relieved Luhan. “Alright, I’ll believe you for now,” and Suho tried to ignore the way Luhan’s face brightened up at his words, “but you have to explain to me how that possibly could have happened,” Suho reasoned, earning an understanding nod from Luhan.

“Honestly… I’m not sure myself…” Luhan pursed his lips in thought, “all I remember was the wind picking up fiercely, which tipped me over the side of the cloud. I guess I out after that because the next thing I remember was waking up in your room.”

Of course this wasn’t the answer Suho was particularly looking forward to hearing, but he had to accept it. “That’s alright, Luhan,” Suho stood up from his chair, “it’s getting late anyways, I’m guessing you don’t have a place to stay?” Luhan shook his head. “I’ll let you stay here so don’t worry.” Suho managed a small smile and Luhan returned it gratefully before chuckling humorlessly to himself and shaking his head.

“I should have known this would only happen so someone like me.”

And although Suho could guess that he wasn’t meant to hear that, he couldn’t help it. “What do you mean?” Luhan looked up a little startled, but decided to explain now that it was too late take his words back.

“It’s just that—I’m not entirely like other angels,” Luhan mumbled, fiddling with the fringe of his blanket. This both confused and piqued Suho’s interest and he motioned for him to go on. “All angels have memories of their past lives, but me? I have nothing, absolutely nothing,” Luhan sighed, “all I know are the clouds in the sky… I’ve always known I was incomplete that way, so no wonder things like this happen to me.” And Suho saw the utterly crestfallen way Luhan’s face had become and gently sat down beside him, resting his hand on Luhan’s shoulder.

“Hey, don’t say that alright?” Nothing could explain the reason why he suddenly felt so compelled to comfort the person he had just met, but something inside of Suho just couldn’t bear the sight of such a crestfallen Luhan. It didn’t really make sense, but Suho felt as Luhan’s founder, he had a responsibility over his well being, and sadness was not something he ever wanted to befall the other. “That doesn’t have to mean that you’re strange, it could mean that you’re special too. If there’s anything that I learned from all the stories I’ve read, it’s that the main character always has something about them that sets them apart,” Suho smiled genuinely and waved his hand in the air, “everyone else? Pfft, they’re just side characters.” And Luhan had to chuckle at the other’s blatant attempt at lightening the mood.

“Thanks.”

“No problem,” Suho waved, “everything happens for a reason, you just got to go out and search for it.” He patted Luhan twice before standing up, “now, I’m not really sure where you can sleep. I mean I live alone so everything’s a bit disorganized. Maybe I could take the couch—“

“Hey, Suho?”

Suho paused mid step and looked back at the boy who was curled up on his couch, blinking and hesitating as he bit his lip. “I know it’s not really in my place, and you can say no, but can I ask you a favour?”

“Sure,” Suho blinked, not taking much time to think about it.

“I’ve always wanted to know what kind of person I was, and what kind of life I lived. I want to know how I died. Now that I’m on Earth… could you help me search for it?”

The reason why Suho accepted was beyond him. Maybe it was partly due to the fact he had that sense of responsibility as Luhan's guardian, or that the angel simply looked too much like a kicked puppy under his covers to deny. All Suho knew was that he accepted more out of instinct than conscious thought.