Kyungsoo stayed true to his word, indeed producing quite the feast that night, so that by the time Sehun went to bed, his stomach was comfortably full and his eyelids heavy with sleepiness. Unfortunately, his dreams were invaded by a rather unwelcome visitor.

“Remember me?”

Kai smirked complacently down at Sehun from where he reclined upon his bone-molded throne. Sehun looked around in shock to see that he was back in the throne room of Hell, kneeling on the blood-red carpet. He turned back to Kai, who was scrutinizing him.

“Well?” he barked suddenly, making Sehun jump. “Are you making any progress?”

“P-p-progress, lord?” Sehun stammered. Kai sighed in haughty exasperation.

“Your mission, boy. The reason you went to Heaven in the first place—your angel’s kiss.”

Sehun’s eyes widened in comprehension. “Oh,” he said. “Right. It’s…um…it’s going well.”

Kai snorted. “When will you demons learn that I can tell when you’re lying?” Then, he smiled nastily. “Come on, little Sehunnie. Tell me the truth. It’s not going well, is it?”

Sehun hesitated, then shook his head. To his surprise, Kai laughed.

“Tell me what’s going on,” he said in an almost eager voice, leaning forward a bit on his throne. “Haven’t you met any angels who could be possible candidates? Wait—I’ve got this.” Kai’s face contorted in concentration for a moment, and then suddenly a foggy image of Sehun’s sleeping roommates appeared in front of them. Sehun gaped in shock.

 “How did you do that?”  

“Never you mind,” Kai said impatiently, waving Sehun’s astonishment away with a dismissive hand. “Now tell me, which one is it that you have in mind? This one?” He pointed to a sleeping Kyungsoo, who, as they watched, snuffled cutely in his sleep and snuggled down under the covers. Sehun shook his head, and Kai frowned.

“Are you sure? He’s quite attractive,” the devil said, scratching his chin thoughtfully. “Ah, well, nevermind. There are plenty of other options. How about this one?”

He pointed to Yixing, who seemed to be having a bad dream; he kept turning his head this way and that fitfully, muttering incoherent sounds under his breath. Sehun felt a flash of worry, and all at once he remembered that Yixing had been trying to tell him something back in the garden before Luhan and Minseok had arrived. I wonder what it was?

“Sehun?” said Kai keenly, pulling him from his thoughts. “It’s this one, isn’t it?”

“Oh—no,” Sehun said quickly, shaking his head. “No, Yixing—I mean, he’s not…not the one I had in mind.”

“Well, which one is it, then?” Kai said impatiently, throwing his hands up in the air. “I’m tired of randomly guessing.”

Sehun hesitated before pointing his finger at Luhan, whose beautiful face wore a peaceful look in sleep, blissfully unaware that he was being watched. Sehun felt a stab of guilt, feeling somehow as though he were betraying his friends by allowing the devil to watch them like this. But before he could do anything, Kai spoke.

“Hmm.” He peered critically at Luhan’s sleeping figure, frowning in consternation. “Well, he’s certainly got that cherubic look about him, I’ll give you that,” he said at last, sitting back on his throne. “So you’re planning to get your kiss from this angel?”

Sehun nodded morosely. “It’s not going very well though,” he admitted, dropping his gaze to his lap. “Luhan only has eyes for Minseok, another angel.”

Kai gazed down at him for a moment, and the throne room was filled with silence. Then suddenly Kai said, “This Luhan…is he aware of your affections?”

Sehun looked up in surprise and shook his head. Kai frowned, his brow creased in thought.

“Maybe you should confess your feelings to him,” he said suddenly. When Sehun stared at him incredulously, Kai sighed. “I know, I know, it sounds like a bad idea—but hear me out. Maybe the problem is that Luhan just hasn’t seen you in that light yet. If you were to tell him how you feel—let him know that you see him in a romantic sense—’’ Sehun blushed, but Kai ignored this and plowed on—“it might open his eyes up to see you in that way as well.”

Sehun mulled this over, chewing the inside of his cheek thoughtfully. Though the mere thought of confessing to Luhan made him feel like shrieking in a very un-manly way, Kai had a point—and it wasn’t like he himself had any better ideas, anyway. The longer he went without his angel’s kiss, the more his immortality would waste away. This thought strengthened Sehun’s resolve, and he nodded determinedly.

“Okay,” he said, looking up to meet Kai’s glowing red eyes. “I think you’re right. I’m—I’m going to tell Luhan tomorrow, when I wake up.”

Kai grinned. “That’s the spirit,” he jeered, making Sehun shudder. “Now be a good boy and run along back to Heaven.” He lifted his hand, but Sehun cried out, “Wait!”

Kai paused, and Sehun gulped. “Er—that is—how do you know so much about love?” he blurted, before he could think the better of it.

Kai examined him, as though sizing him up, and Sehun shrank back a little as those sharp red eyes raked over him. Finally, Kai’s face broke out into a smirk.

“Well, precious Sehunnie, one must get a good scope of the enemy territory in order to defeat them, isn’t that right?”

 And with that, Kai snapped his fingers, and Sehun suddenly felt himself dissolving from the room, the sight of Kai’s leering face still engrained in his mind.