What did the afterlife feel like?

For a situation like TaekWoon, did he have an afterlife? Or did his next life just begin right after the previous one ended?

His first observation about death was that it felt heavy.

His mind was cloudy.

Maybe it was some kind of purgatory. His soul floated about in limbo while the gods tinkered around with his next storyline, trying to decide how he would suffer next.

There was a searing pain in his chest. So they would go that route again?

The pain would be borderline excruciating, then ebb away, then somewhat rear its head, then fade. It was an annoying cycle. Could the gods just make up their minds already?

He heard voices, somewhat. It was hard to discern what, exactly, they were saying. Sometimes there was a feeling, a slight zing where his hand should be. A warm feeling, somehow sad where his heart should be.

No.

He definitely had a physical body.

What’s happening?

“… oon… ar me, s… d…”

What’s happening? Who is that?

“… cio… lev… isin… ry a…”

There it was again. That strange feeling on his hand.

“…ekWo… hi, if yo… hear me… ze my ha…”

The pain rose again and blurred his senses, turned his thoughts into incoherent mumbles. Then it was gone, and everything felt heavy again. And cold.

It was cold. His body was cold.

There was sound. A constant, repetitive noise. TaekWoon had to think for a while before he remembered the word. Beeping.

He was breathing.

Was this his next life already?

More sounds. What was it… Footsteps, motion, humans. Voices.

“… try again in thirty minutes. Let me know what the response is.”

“Yes, doctor.”

“Okay, then.” The voice was much closer, it felt like. “How are we doing today, Mr. Jung TaekWoon-sshi?”

Who… How do you know me?

TaekWoon’s sluggish brain was only starting to wake, and the voices around him became sharper. There were at least two people around him, two different voices. Someone said doctor. Was he in a hospital?

TaekWoon opened his eyes, and the immediate explosion of light and color was disorienting.

“Oh! That… was unexpected.”

His head swam as his brain tried to make sense of what was going on. What his eyes saw were blurs, globs of mystery that were fuzzy around the edges. They shifted around him, and he kept blinking, trying to figure out why he couldn’t see.

“TaekWoon-sshi, can you see me?”

A debatable question. Whatever the surface was beneath him seemed to spin, and TaekWoon squeezed his eyes shut to fend off the vertigo. He could feel something moving, pounding in his chest. His heart. His frail heart could never move like this, so surely it must be a new life, right?

It was late afternoon. The sun was shining lazily through the blinds on the window in the living room. TaekWoon stretched his legs out, pushing his arms up to stretch those, too. He’d been sitting in one spot while studying for too long. He breathed in deeply, and his exhale turned into a yawn. He was still getting used to those.

Just out of arm’s reach, his cat raised his head, awakened by the noise his human was making. It blinked one eye open sleepily and yawned as well, ending it with a small mew.

“Sure, as if you didn’t eat yourself into a food coma just an hour ago,” TaekWoon mused.

The cat – TaekWoon had named him N, disregarding HongBin’s confused stare – looked as if he couldn’t even keep his eyes open. He stood then, arching his back impressively to stretch before turning round and round in order to rearrange himself into a new sleeping position.

TaekWoon chuckled. The idea of keeping a pet was still something a bit new to him, too. But cats were easy, JaeHwan had said. Just feed them, flush their toilet, and let them be. It was just as he’d said. The tuxedo-colored cat was just needy enough that TaekWoon didn’t have to try too hard to take care of him. It would flop onto TaekWoon’s lap whenever it wanted.

He looked back to the pile of stuff on his living room table. That was enough studying for the day, he decided. It was about dinnertime, anyway. His shuffling around of papers and closing books still didn’t bother N, save for one ear twitching in his general direction. But when TaekWoon stood up, suddenly N was wide awake and giving out a meow, much louder this time.

“Are you seriously hungry again?” Was TaekWoon turning into that person who spoke to his animals as if he was expecting a response?

N let out a disgruntled mrrrpp and stood again, arched his back again, and made to jump off the arm of the couch.

It should have been more of a surprise.

Halfway through his drop, N slowed down in midair. He almost went in reverse back onto the sofa. Then he landed neatly on his feet like nothing had just happened, looking up expectantly at TaekWoon.

What it wasn’t expecting was the sudden pounding at TaekWoon’s front door. The cat started and dashed into the bedroom in the blink of an eye. Smiling widely, TaekWoon strode quickly to the door and threw it open without even checking the peephole because he already knew.

HakYeon was on the other side.

Looking incredibly harried, actually, and he only managed a squawk of surprise as TaekWoon yanked him into his dorm room and slammed the door behind him lest the hall monitors managed to catch up to the God of Time.

HakYeon was still spluttering, hands reaching out and patting up and down TaekWoon’s body, eyes wide like he’d seen a ghost. “You—what—TaekWoon, what’s—"

TaekWoon took HakYeon’s frantic hands and gently placed them against his chest where a heart thumped strongly inside. “It seems there was a miracle.”

Still dumbfounded, HakYeon stared at their hands for a second. Then he looked into TaekWoon’s eyes again. “What do you mean?”

“At the site of the accident, apparently there was a doctor there. He’s a pretty famous doctor, and he knew what was happening, so somehow… even though I died, somehow he kept me alive all the way to the hospital. And it just so happened at that moment, there was a donor. So…” TaekWoon pulled the collar of his T-shirt down just enough for HakYeon to see the surgical scar that ran down the center of his chest. “I have a new heart.”

“Y-you… You’re…” HakYeon cautiously ran his fingers along the scar, his hands trembling.

“I’m alive. It’s almost been a year, and there haven’t been any rejections or complications. I’ve been able to do everything I couldn’t do before. Now, I don’t really know what this means, like if I’m still mortal or not, but—"

HakYeon cut him off as he threw himself at TaekWoon and crashed their lips together. TaekWoon stumbled one step backwards but smiled into the kiss, tightly wrapping his arms around HakYeon’s midsection. They kissed with fervor, never moving from the same spot by the door. Even when TaekWoon had to release one hand to wipe the tears that began to trail along HakYeon’s cheeks, they stayed connected. He would never let go, for all eternity.

A/N: Congratulations! This fic is the one that has the good ending! Even though I'm sure people wanted dogboy to get the good ending. But I'm a terrible person, sooo~~

I hope y'all enjoyed reading this! And forgive me for the like, 10-year hiatus I randomly took. Life is obnoxious, but I'm also a terrible person, sooo~~

No FFs for this one. See y'all in the next fic~

Oh btw I made an AO3. Zaxaryah. Look me up. I'm just cross posting stuff for now, and I haven't decided if I'll make a full move over there or not.