[ fic ] Heaven's Halo (2/?)
Title: Heaven's Halo (2/?)
Pairings: Yunho/Changmin, slight!Yoochun/Junsu
Genre: Fluff, mild!angst
Rating: PG
Summary: Yunho's guardian angel turns out to be his worst nightmare.
A/N: My first fic is going better than I anticipated! Thanks you readers <3
Is it time to reveal Minnie yet? hehe ~ hope you enjoy this chapter ^^
(Previous)
Chapter 2
Being an angel wasn’t fun at all.
He sighed to himself as he followed his human into the familiar coffee shop. The colorful décor and sparkling lights failed to fascinate him since he had seen them a hundred times before. As usual, his human ordered a medium Americano and took a seat next to the fireplace. Another sigh and he sat down on the armrest next to him.
How he wished he had someone a little more exciting to protect.
Don’t get him wrong, it wasn’t as if he disliked Jung Yunho (because angels simply couldn’t hate) but there was nothing more to the man than tight schedules, ironed shirts and polished shoes. It would take anyone a mere 30 seconds to memorize his life story.
Every morning without fail, the human would wake up at precisely 5:29am - not a minute before, not a minute after. His morning jog would take him until 6 and 20 minutes later, he would have showered, shaved, and dressed. It took him 10 minutes to eat breakfast and at 6:30am sharp, he would take his car and leave the house. He would always stop by the café to pick up his daily dose of caffeine and arrive at the office by no later than 7am.
There were no exceptions. Every. Single. Day.
Not that the angel would know, but he had heard that the so called ‘weekends’ were supposed to be fun and relaxing. Days where you would go on vacation or simply lounge around at home doing nothing. It was Saturday today and still, the human was going to work.
What in Heaven’s name created this weird creature?
A sudden yelp had his head turning in the direction of the sound and his eyes widened. A passing waitress had slipped on the newly mopped floor and dumped coffee all over Yunho’s expensive, white shirt. At the shocked expression on his human’s face, the angel barely managed to suppress a snicker. So much for guardian angel.
“I’m so sorry!” He heard the girl anxiously apologizing without any chance of success. Yunho shot daggers with his eyes and continued to dab his thoroughly soaked clothing. It was a good thing it was an iced latte and not a steaming cup of mocha.
“Don’t touch me.” Yunho snapped as the waitress desperately tried to help. “Where’s your manager?”
As soon as the words left his mouth, the young girl fell to her knees and clasped his human’s hands. “Sir, please. It was only an accident. Don’t tell him, I really need this job!”
Her pleads were deemed useless as Yunho pried her sticky hands off of him. The angel’s eyes sparkled with amusement as he watched the scene play out in front of him. It was better than a movie, seeing the ever-so-uptight human in distress.
“Get your hands off me!” Yunho was yelling now. Heads turned and whispers were heard about a crazy man and an equally crazy waitress. As entertaining as this was, it was the angel’s duty to make sure it didn’t get out of hand. It wasn’t going to be pretty if his supervisor paid him a visit and saw the mess he had failed to prevent.
The angel could sense the growing agitation in the human and knew he had to work fast - preferably before Yunho slapped the girl and punched the manager. Biting his bottom lip in concentration, he lifted his hand and gently placed it over the human’s heart. He poured his energy into the moral body and smiled in satisfaction when Yunho stilled.
The sudden warmth in his heart had the human blinking in surprise. It was an odd feeling but soothing at the same time. The coffee stain didn’t seem so bad anymore, and the waitress wasn’t as annoying as before.
“I didn’t mean to ruin your shirt. I’m really sorry!” She was still clinging on to him as if her life depended on it. Tears glistened in her watery eyes and Yunho found himself smiling.
“It’s okay.”
The unexpected change in character stunned everyone around them. The angel beamed, praising himself for his good work. It was a rare sight to see his human smile, and he concluded that it suited him much better than the serious frown did.
Yunho calmly finished the last sip of his coffee and stood up, gathering his briefcase and coat before nodding to the confused waitress. He dropped the empty cup into the garbage can before opening the door and stepping foot outside.
The grass seemed greener and the sky a little bluer. His eyes twinkled as the lively colors appealed to him for the first time in a long while. His footsteps were lighter when he made his way back to his car. The angel observed this ‘new’ Yunho in silence, knowing that it wouldn’t last but still hoping it would.
Angels couldn’t feel pain, but if he was human, he supposed that the word to describe what he felt whenever he remembered Yunho as a child. The human hadn’t always been like this, cold and distant. Reality had forced him to lose his carefree attitude a little too soon, leaving him to fend for himself in such a cruel world.
“What the hell?” The angel flinched at the mention of the forbidden word.
He caught a glimpse of Yunho’s returning scowl and confirmed that the effect was already fading away. They stopped at a red light and the human glared down at his shirt as if the brown liquid was offending him. He cursed again while fumbling for his cell phone, jamming the Bluetooth in his ear while pressing a series buttons.
With a disappointed sigh, the angel looked out the window at the world that was passing them by. What would it take to break through Yunho’s walls and melt his heart? A girl had done it before, only to leave and shatter his already fragile heart. Ever since then, the human never let his guard down. As far as he was concerned, everyone was a potential enemy. Letting them in would mean giving them the power to hurt you.
“Yoochun, I’m going to be late today. Start the meeting without me.” He talked in a professional, no-nonsense manner. His assistant was bewildered and let one curious ‘why’ slip out before he could clamp his mouth shut. Yunho was never (and by never, he meant never ever) late to anything.
“I need to go home and change my shirt.” The angel didn’t need to channel into the human’s thoughts to notice the impatience in Yunho’s voice. “Some girl split coffee all over me.”
There was a muttered ‘shut up’ as Yoochun chuckled over the phone. While it was true that he worked for Yunho, they were also extremely close friends. Park Yoochun was one of the few people who had managed to slip through Yunho’s iron defences.
“Yah, you better not screw up. You know how important these clients are.” Yunho continued to relay the instructions to Yoochun as he floored the gas pedal and ran the yellow light. The angel helplessly close his eyes and muttered a prayer on behalf of Yunho. He knew he couldn’t die, but it was scary nonetheless.
“Trust me, I am hurrying.”
And that he was. The traffic was thinning out and the roads were nearly empty as he neared his home. Yunho was thankful he lived a little ways away from city centre so it was less crowded. With another sharp turn, he made it around the bend and saw his house.
“I’m almost there. I’ll be at the office as soon as I can.”
Yunho didn’t notice the little girl running across the street. Nor did he realize he was going 70km/hr.
But the angel did.
“Yunho!”
Of course, humans couldn’t possibly hear angels but he screamed anyways. The silent warning seemed to have registered in Yunho’s mind because he was suddenly aware. His foot shifted to the brakes and he stepped down, hard, tires screeching in protest.
He wasn’t going to make it, that much he knew. On instinct, Yunho twisted the wheel to the right, only to find that it was stuck. No matter how hard he tried, it would budge. The resistance forced him to turn left instead, car swerving and swinging uncontrollably.
The last thing he remembered was a tree and the sound of crunching metal.
Then there was nothing.
---
“Oh my God, please.”
Changmin frantically tugged at the damaged door until it finally creaked open. He didn’t waste any time dragging the man out and laying the limp body onto the cement. The sight of blood was always unnerving, but he had no time to think about that.
“Please, please, please.”
He whispered more to himself than anyone else as he searched for the steady rhythm of life within the body in front of him. He almost had tears of relief when he felt it, weak and faltering, but the man was still alive. That was all that mattered.
“Fancy meeting you here, Changmin.” The menacing tone caused him to whip around and he instantly froze, dread flooding his senses.
No, it can’t be.
“What do you want, Kyuhyun?” Changmin asked as evenly as possible. Meeting Cho Kyuhyun under any circumstances was never a good thing. Even more so, now that a certain death of a mortal was in his hands.
“You know very well why I’m here.” Kyuhyun smirked as the other casted a glance at the body on the ground. “He belongs to me now.”
Before Changmin could even blink, the dark figure was kneeling beside the man, hands posed above his heart. His long fingers danced over the exposed chest before he casted another look in Changmin’s direction.
To his absolute horror, Kyuhyun actually looked disappointed. Rushing to the man’s side, Changmin placed his own hand over the body and felt nothing. No drumming under his palm, nothing.
“Oh, Minnie.” Kyuhyun sighed dramatically and tsked. “You take the fun out of everything. You could have at least kept him alive until I came.”
“I- But he was -” Changmin gave up on trying to form a coherent sentence. He continued to stare at the body in disbelief. Just moments ago, the man had been alive. Not well, but alive. And now, now…
“Well, I better get going.” Kyuhyun stood up casually and stretched. “Duty calls. See you later, Shim.”
Changmin hoped that later meant never but he didn’t reply. An unfamiliar feeling overwhelmed him as his fingertips traced over the man’s faze. He couldn’t find the right word to describe it. The sensation was stronger than anything he had ever experienced before.
Desperate, but with new found determination, he placed both his hands near the man’s heart and focused. He poured himself into the lifeless body beneath him, reaching out to grab something, anything, whatever was left of the human’s soul.
His heart was heavy and his eyes stung. Changmin blinked and watched in astonishment as a clear drop of liquid landed on the man’s chest.
Humans would call them tears, but that was impossible.
Angels didn’t cry.
---
There was light at the end of the tunnel.
Was he dreaming?
He staggered towards it as he held his head in his hands. The pain was almost unbearable, strangling him with every step. The glowing light was his only comfort, holding promises of sanctuary and peace. He was drawn to it like a moth to a flame.
Was he dead?
The hum of soft music tickled his ears as he neared the end of the darkness. The light was brighter now, but strangely, less captivating. His attention was caught by the song but he soon realized that it wasn’t music at all. It was a voice.
Was someone talking to him?
He took a step backwards and the sound grew slightly louder. The indistinct words were like a spell, dissipating his fears and putting them to rest. Another few steps back and the voice became clearer.
Yunho, please. You have to come back.
Was that his name? Yunho.
He decided that he liked the way it rolled off the stranger’s tongue. He unknowingly smiled as he turned around to face the shadows. He couldn’t see anything but he felt a strong presence, as if the person was standing right in front of him.
You can’t leave.
He had no intention to as warmth spread to every part of his body, drowning him in bliss until Pain released him from his clutches. The light had unknowingly dimmed, and then disappeared altogether, but it didn’t bother him. He was safe.
Yunho.
---
His eyes snapped open then immediately closed again, unaccustomed to the blinding sunlight. He saw red as the rays penetrated through his thin eyelids and groaned, desperately wanting the darkness back.
“Yunho?”
That voice again.
Curiosity got the best of him and he forced his eyes open, squinting at the figure hovering above him. It wasn’t a face recognized, but the man was breathtakingly beautiful. At Yunho’s angle, with the light shinning down upon them, the person seemed almost angelic.
Who are you?
He tried to find his voice but the pain was back, hitting him in the gut and rendering him speechless. He managed a slight moan of discomfort and saw the man smiling through teary eyes.
“You’re alive!”
Melodic laughter rang in his ears as Yunho struggled to grasp understanding of the situation. His eyes flickered over to a pile of bent metal and he identified the broken pieces of his car. At least, what had previously been his car. There must have been accident, and a bad one at that.
The coffee, the call, the girl, the tree, the crash, it all came rushing back to him. But why wasn’t there a memory of this person?
Yunho wanted to pull himself up but the stranger seemed to read his mind. “It’s only going to hurt more if you move, so don’t even think about it.”
The hidden authority in the person’s voice had Yunho abandoning that notion at once. Lying in silence, he became acutely aware of the fact that the other was touching him. Nowhere inappropriate, of course, just quick brushes of fingertips against his arm, ribs and shoulders. Yunho’s face instantly flushed as the warmth spread through his body.
“What…”
The man hummed absentmindedly as he continued to treat the wounds. What he was doing, Yunho wasn’t sure, but he didn’t really mind. He felt self-conscious to have a stranger invade his personal space and yet it didn’t feel entirely uncomfortable. In fact, the pain seemed to have subsided a great deal since he had first woken up.
“Who are you?”
He finally managed to speak, his voice hoarse and strained. Yunho had expected a name or something along the lines of ‘a friend’ but he got none of the above. Instead, the other looked up at him with alarm in his eyes, confusion and panic etched in his handsome features.
“You... You can see me?”