Living with a fallen angel was actually a lot more hectic than one would think, and Suho was currently living it first hand.

Actually, correction, living with a fallen angel named Luhan was actually a lot more hectic than first thought, and Suho was currently living it first hand.

Finding accommodations for the angel was the easy part (Suho had plenty of space in his small apartment for another inhabitant, or roommate, as he began referring to Luhan as), but it soon became more and more apparent that Luhan had no idea how to live a regular human life. It couldn’t be blamed on the boy either, since he had no memories of his previous human life, but Suho had hoped that he at least had some common sense buried deep within him.

Bedtime was fairly simple with Suho taking the couch upon his insistent insistence and Luhan, reluctant but agreeing to spend the night on his comfortable bed. However, the morning that came afterwards was nothing short of a domestic disaster. Suho, who proudly deemed himself as a hospitable and kindhearted type of person, decided to wake up early in order to make a nice breakfast for him and Luhan, only to be interrupted by a romping and curious angel grossly invading his personal space as he flipped pancakes. Long story short, Suho’s once tidy kitchen became completely trashed with bits of flour and chocolate chips dotting every conceivable surface, and Luhan was promptly sent out to the living room where he was told to stay put and watch some TV.

“Hey, Suho! How do you turn this box thing on? I think it’s broken?!”

“Stop hitting it for god’s sake! Use the remote!”

“Which button do I press?”

“The red one at the top that says power!”

“Alright, I got it! Let’s just see—OH MY GOSH THE BOX IS TALKING TO ME, SUHO HELP I’M SCARED!”

-

Luhan eventually realized after much coaxing from Suho, that the TV set was indeed not possessed, and that he was perfectly safe to sit in front of it. But by then he was too tired to deal with the machine any longer and decided to settle watching whichever channel it was currently set on—which was the children’s show, Tom and Jerry. He seemed to enjoy it very much to Suho’s amusement.

After breakfast had been finished, Suho promptly sent Luhan away to change out of his long white robe and into another outfit he had chosen for him after rummaging thoroughly through his own closet. Suho figured they should be around the same size so he gave the angel a dark pair of jeans and a white jacket he hadn’t had the opportunity to wear very often. Luhan peeked shyly from behind the bedroom door to where Suho had been waiting for him after he changed. He stepped forwards and gave a small spin. Suho promptly flashed a thumbs and a smile, both of which Luhan returned.

Everything was set, and it was time to get to work.

-

“So you don’t remember anything from when you were still alive?”

“Nope.”

“No year, no place, no nothing?”

“Nope.”

Suho gave out a sigh, which was returned with an apologetic look. “No, no, it’s fine, we’ll figure this out some how,” Suho reassured, gently folding his hand on the kitchen table and gazing over where Luhan was sitting beside him, drawing patterns on the wooden surface with his fingertip. His nose was scrunched up in concentration as his golden blonde hair curtained thinly over his eyes. Suddenly, Luhan’s frame shot up and he pointed his finger in the air.

“Wait a minute! I do remember that I woke up in heaven just a couple of years ago, I’d say… maybe three or four years?” Luhan scratched the back of his head sheepishly, “sorry, we don’t really keep track of time in Heaven, so it’s really just an estimate.” But Suho just shook his head and blinked.

“Oh no, that’s great. I’m sure if you died pretty recently, there must be some records out there somewhere—Ah! I have an idea where we can start! Grab your shoes, we’ll be taking a little trip,” Suho spoke excitedly.

“Where are we going?” Luhan asked.

“To somewhere very important of course! Well, important to me that is…” And Suho couldn’t help but laugh at Luhan’s bewildered look before quickly ushering him up and out the door.

Luhan made sure to trail behind Suho diligently the whole way, wondering to himself where exactly this important place they were headed to could be.

-

Suho took a deep breath in, taking in and relishing his surroundings. “Don’t you just love the smell of this place?” Suho asked as he looked behind him to where Luhan had stopped as well, darting his eyes around the area.

“The library?” He blinked skeptically.

Suho took mock offense to the angel’s tone and scoffed, “of course! This is where thousand of precious books are kept, don’t you love the smell of old books?” But with the way Luhan’s expression remained static, Suho resorted to clearing his throat and showing Luhan the way. Honestly, Luhan was pretty fascinated with the building and the shelves, all full of multicoloured spines and aging pages, and he felt a strange familiarity being surrounded by them. But pushed his thoughts away when Suho made a stop in front of him at the foot of a flight of stairs.

“Here, we can go down here to the archives and look through old newspapers to find any clues about yourself. Are you ready?”

Luhan could do nothing but nod.

-

After a couple of hours down in the basement, searching through countless newspaper articles and periodicals, both of the boys' eyes began to feel fatigued and weary. Suho rubbed his eyes as the black inked words on the page slowly became a muddled blur in his eyes. He was about to call out to Luhan to call it day when he was met with a wide-eyed Luhan clutching fiercely onto his own sheet of crinkled newspaper.

Suho sat up, alarmed, “what? What is it?”

“L-look,” Luhan answered, flustered as he shoved the paper into Suho’s hands. Suho’s eyes quickly scanned the page and stopped short when his gaze fell upon a black and white photo that was printed on the side.

It was unmistakably Luhan.

The picture was a front shot with his hair side swept up and over his forehead, and he was wearing a school uniform, though the Luhan he knew now looked a little older. This must have been an old school picture. But that wasn’t the only thing that made Suho’s heart sudden beat faster as he realized just which section he was currently reading. It was the obituaries. “Well then,” Suho managed to breathe.

“There’s proof that I actually once existed,” Luhan said in the same heartbeat, sounding more astounded than anything. “Quick, let’s see if there’s any information here about my death,” he added on excitedly, a little more excitedly than Suho would have expected from a boy who had just found the proof of his death, but he shrugged it off. That was Luhan for you.

Both of them quickly scanned the article, and Suho was finding it increasingly difficult to concentrate with Luhan’s warmth radiating against his back as he leaned over his shoulder to read. Gulping audibly, Suho let out the breath he was unconsciously holding when Luhan suddenly stood back and folded his arms across his chest with a pout. “Darn, it doesn’t really say much information that helps us.” Suho quickly brought his attention back to the newspaper and re-read it quickly, searching only for key words such as passed away, accident or anything remotely similar. What Luhan had just said was proven true as the only type of information Suho saw provided was a description and a generic and vague:

Loyal Friend & Dedicated Student

However, Suho had half a mind to look over the article once again and this time he noticed something entirely different, but completely valuable in their search. "Luhan here, look," Suho pointed out the small line under his picture.

DOB: April. 20, 1990

"It seems as though you're one year older than me," Suho pointed out, allowing a curious Luhan plenty of room to read this time around.

"Hmm," Luhan mused before pointing out another line near the bottom, "and here it says the school that I attended at the time."

Suho nodded before his eyes widened immensely at the name of the school.

"What? You know the place?" Luhan half joked and half nudged Suho on the shoulder.

But Suho just nodded in reply. "That—that was my old high school!" He nearly exclaimed, earning a surprised look from the older.

"XOXO High?"

Suho just nodded once again and began quickly to search through the recesses of his memories. Could he have known Luhan back when they were both students? No way, Suho was honestly sure that he had no recollection of ever meeting the other before their first encounter a few days ago—he would have remembered Luhan's face if he had, wouldn't he? But what chilled Suho more to the core than anything else he had encountered in his life, more than any horror novel he ever read, was that in that moment, he really didn't know.  But he sure wanted to figure out.

Likewise, on the other side of things, Luhan was silently thinking on his own—he was trying to process all of this new information, but it just wasn't sinking in fast enough. He really was alive at once point, he really did have a life, friends, family, memories... but what exactly happened?

It was almost as if they had signaled each other telepathically, as in the same moment, the two boys turned their heads to face each other with the same mischievous gleam in their eyes. They both had an uncountable number of questions burning within them, and they both knew exactly where they were going to get the answers.

-

It was a good thing that Luhan was relatively close to Suho's size, so he was able to fit into the spare uniform Suho had hanging in the back of his closet, collecting dust after years of neglect. Donning the grey blazer and pants once again hit a nostalgic nerve within Suho and he couldn't help but dreamily smile as he gently smoothed out the creases in his collar. Though he hadn't graduated for long, he still couldn't help himself from reminiscing the "old days" that had seemed to fly by so quickly. Similarly, after successfully putting on his own uniform, Luhan couldn't help but feel a wave of familiarity wash over him. He wasn't quite sure what it was, but he felt as if he had once practically lived in this outfit—it was huge a part of who he used to be, he was sure of it. All these thoughts from both boys quickly dissolved however, the moment they entered through the large steel gates of the school.

“Wow, this really takes me back.”

“Stop acting so old, didn’t you graduate like just a year ago?”

“Technicalities, technicalities,” Suho waved off before grabbing Luhan’s wrist and dragging him off with a huff. “Let’s just hope we don’t get caught, alright?” The angel couldn’t help but laugh behind him and nod.

-

Skulking around the hallways, tiptoeing past classrooms and ducking behind corners probably wasn’t necessary, but Suho had persistently insisted that it was the safest option, unlike Luhan who merely wanted to go full out and explore the place. Luhan couldn’t be sure, but he could guess that after taking a good look around that this particular school was pretty well off. Every hallway was sparkling clean, the walls were decorated tastefully with wolf insignias everywhere, and the aura around the place just gave off the impression of wealthy. Luhan wasn’t sure what to make of this but he didn’t have time to dwell long as soon, Suho had forced them to a stop in front of a series of huge framed photos that lined an entire hallway. “This is where the graduating class photos are all kept, let’s see if we can find you here.”

Luhan understood and nodded. They laughed a bit at Suho's old picture and his spiked up hairstyle, which the latter indignantly replied, "it was in style at that time!"

"You mean a year ago?"

"Whatever."

However, when they came upon the year they had calculated Luhan should have graduated, his picture was nowhere to be seen. “You’re sure this is alphabetical right?”

“Yeah, positive.”

Luhan’s frown only deepened as he scanned the "L" line once again… Lee Jinki, Lee Taemin… Moon Jongup. There really wasn’t a Lu. Sighing, the two boys leaned back simultaneously, only to be interrupted by a low voice breaking through their silence. “Excuse me?” A bit startled at the newcomer, the two of them quickly turned their attention to their side where they saw a slim boy with strange rainbow hair and thin, sharp looking eyes. One of his hands was stuffed into the pocket of his dress pants while the other was hanging limply by his side as he offered them a small but polite smile. “I’m sorry to interrupt, but I don’t think I’ve seen you two around before? Do you need any assistance of any kind? My name is Sehun by the way and I’m student president here at XOXO High.” The boy’s smile remained as Suho eyed the arm band attached to his uniform jacket and breathed out a quite sigh of relief.

“Oh no, no, we’re fine, thank you,” Suho nodded back but noticed quickly that Sehun’s attention had shifted from him to the angel beside him, his smile wavering so slightly that the shift his in mood was almost undetectable. Luhan began to notice too, that Sehun's stare had landed on him for a rather long period of time and he blinked a few times before he pointed a finger at himself in question. At the motion, the boy seemed to snap out of his trance before he bowed his head, looking a little flustered.

“Ah, I apologize for staring. It’s just that you reminded me of someone that I… used to know,” he smiled, but Suho could tell it was one laced with a subtle sadness.

“Might I ask… who?” Suho asked, hesitant as he bit his lip. Sehun looked a bit surprised but nonethless, complied.

“Oh just a friend of mine years ago, that’s all,” he turned his attention towards Luhan, “you two look very similar though… well your hair colour’s different and you’re a bit older but,” he breathed, “you two are almost like twins.”

“Who?” Luhan had to ask.

“His name was Luhan.”

And at that, the room seemed to stand still as both Suho and Luhan tried to comprehend what he had just told them. This boy, Sehun, knew Luhan, or at least used to. Luhan was quick on the shoot. “You said used to… what happened to him then?” Sehun fumbled uncomfortably with his hands a little before the same sad smile was on his lips again.

“He passed away. His family—“

“He had a family!”

Sehun’s expression shifted from melancholic to confused and a bit skeptical at Luhan’s outburst, causing the tall boy to clear his throat and lax back into standing properly and professionally. “Yes, our families used to know each other.”

“If it’s not too much, could I possibly get their address from you?”

Sehun his lips and his expression became unreadable. “I’m not sure if you’d want to go there after what happened but—“

“I insist,” and this time Luhan used the full force of his large eyes and dazzling smile. Whether or not it was that that affected Sehun more, or the fact that a soft spot in his heart had been hit with the sight of his familiar face, it didn’t matter since in the end, he reluctantly gave them the information they needed, written neatly on a small cue card he took out of his pocket. “Thank you so much for helping,” Luhan bowed before he promptly his heel and ran off, leaving both a dumbfounded Suho and Sehun behind in the empty hallway. Suho quickly turned and gave a few apologetic bows before chasing furiously after the escaping deer.

-

“Are you sure we’re in the right neighbourhood?” Luhan asked for the umpteenth time as the two of them, after going home to change into more casual outfits, walked down the empty residential street. Suho made a grunt, eyes never leaving the map of the GPS on his phone. The shorter swore this place was like a maze, and even this map wasn’t helping them one bit. They had been wandering under the blistering sun for an hour now, and Luhan, was beginning to feel restless to say the least. “Here, let me see that,” Luhan huffed as he ripped the phone out of Suho’s hands, earning a whine from the younger and hands clambering all over him to get it back. Finding their position immensely amusing Luhan promptly held the phone up as high as he could, stretching his arm to the sky and blowing out a teasing raspberry. “I’ll give your phone back if you can reach it.”

Suho let out an indignant gasp and crossed his arms over his chest, “what are you? Five years old?”

“At least I’m not eighty.”

“Take that back!”

And thus began a wild goose chase down the street, Luhan laughing and dodging left and right until a particular sight made him stop in his tracks. Suho on the other hand, oblivious of what was coming over Luhan, rushed forward and grabbed Luhan from behind, huffing and puffing and mumbling an incoherent, “I guess I’m past the days of my prime.” However, Suho soon realized that Luhan was frozen on the spot and slowly trailed his line of sight to a lamppost standing solitary at the corner of the road. “What is it? What’s wrong?” Suho questioned, concerned.

“I’m sure we’re in the right neighbourhood,” Luhan replied, eyes fixated to where they had been situated.

“How so?” Suho loosened his grip around Luhan’s shoulders but didn’t bring himself to fully let go.

“I don’t know. That just looks familiar to me—like I know I’ve seen it before.” Luhan explained, not minding Suho’s trailing touch.

“You remember something?”

“No,” the angel shook his head, “I just have this feeling… like I know exactly where we are, but I don’t at the same time. Here,” Luhan gently took Suho’s hand in his as he lead the way towards the post before he turned the corner and smiled. “Just as I thought.”

“Hmm?” Suho looked over and past Luhan’s shoulder to see they were currently standing in front of an abandoned building, most probably and old store that had run out of business a while ago.

“I knew there was a book store here just around the corner. I think I used to come here often, but I can’t really be sure…” Luhan trailed off as he walked forwards towards the door, turning the handle and perking up in surprise as a soft clicking was heard and the door cracked open. Turning back towards his curious guardian, Luhan smiled and gestured for him to come inside.

Suho just gaped at him. “Are you crazy? Doesn’t that count as trespassing or something?”

Luhan made a sour face before slipping inside and calling behind him, “I just want to rest a bit—and stop worrying so much will you? You’re going to get wrinkles!”

Suho pressed his fingertips to his forehead before snapping out of it and stomping after Luhan. “Take that back!”

-

The inside wasn’t anything spectacular. Most of the furniture had been long moved out but still, a few tall shelves and cushioned chairs remained inside, collecting dust over the years. Luhan had promptly dusted off one of these seats and plopped down, allowing Suho to roam around, not quite as tired and a lot more fascinated than he was before. He scanned the shelves for any left over books, and to his very pleasant surprised, picked up one in particular. “I guess this is my lucky day,” Suho whistled and he made his way back to where Luhan was resting, hitting the spine of the hard cover against his palm. Luhan sat up in interest and tilted his head to read the title.

“Peter Pan?”

“Mhmm,” Suho confirmed before plopping down next to Luhan, slightly nudging him to shift over. Luhan laughed and took the book from Suho’s hands.

“Seriously? Isn’t this a children’s story?”

“What, no!” Suho quickly grabbed the book back and Luhan couldn’t tell if his offense was serious or joking. He figured it was probably a bit of both. “I, personally think that this story should appeal more to adults than children,” Suho countered as-a-matter-of-factly.

“But isn’t it a story about a boy who stays as a child forever? Everyone grows up one day,” Luhan pointed out.

“You are right, but the truth is, the more a person grows up, the more they wish that they could just remain a child forever.”

And Luhan could do nothing but stare at the other man sitting beside him as he thought about what he had said. Luhan himself had never been faced with such a predicament—only knowing the world from the age he was right now. It perplexed him, but he couldn’t help himself from agreeing with Suho. Before he could speak, Suho abruptly stood up. “Come on, we’ve been sitting here long enough and I don’t particularly want to spend the rest of the day in a jail cell.”

Luhan scoffed but got up nonetheless. “Stop worrying so much, you’re going to get wrinkl—“

“I know,” Suho scrunched his nose and walked out door, mumbling something about getting moisturizer on the way home.

-

Luhan lead the rest of the way, letting his own intuition guide him as they walked, and Suho trusted him to find the way better than he ever could. A skip appeared in Luhan’s step as he suddenly smiled wider and started to walk faster than Suho. “Come on, it’s here! Just around this corner and—“

But Suho didn’t realize Luhan’s words were cut off with a strangled gasp and he rushed forwards, only to nearly crash right into Luhan’s backside, which was frozen in place in the middle of the hot pavement. Suho was alarmed at the horrified look on Luhan’s face. “What’s wrong?!” But all Luhan did was bring up a finger to point. Suho followed his gaze and let out his own gasp.

In front of them lay a house, or maybe it once had been one, except now all that remained of it was a charred, wooden framework and a pile of ashes.