(HunHan) Pretty little Lies like stars in the sky (part 6)
part 5
Everything is fuzzy. Sehun can’t focus or move, an odd thick white light surrounding his entire body.
Where is he? Where is Luhan? Is this the way to the human realm?
No sooner does he think those thoughts that a scene comes into view in front of him. It is not a reality, he notices, but his memory, playing like a movie in a theater.
It’s the busy street. He’s jogging down it, dressed in a nice shirt and pair of pants, on his way to an interview. “Shit, I’m late,” he says exasperatedly. It’s his first interview, and he’s probably more nervous than he needs to be, but he’s been applying for a lot of jobs and hoping at least one person will contact him.
He’s rounding a corner when he sees something odd: a small black cat, sitting by the road. He’d have paid it no mind, but out of the corner of his eye, he sees it start to move toward the busy street, and before he can stop himself, he’s veering off his path, hurrying to catch the cat before it gets run over.
He doesn’t reach it, though, because a pair of strong arms are grabbing ahold of him and pulling him back, out of the way of a speeding truck that would have plowed him over if he’d been in its way.
“Do you have a death wish or something?! Jeez, kid!” says a gruff voice, and he looks up to see a harsh face accompanying the arms gripping his waist.
“No, there was a-” he starts to reply, but when he looks back toward the road, the cat is gone.
“You saw the Lie?” asks a new voice, one that is extremely pleasant and sweet. He glances over and sees a boy that looks his age, with wide doe eyes and the most perfect smile he’s ever seen.
“What?” the harsh-faced man releases him, looking at the doe-eyed boy with confusion on his features. “But if he saw the Lie, that might mean...”
“What’s your name?” asks that sweet voice.
“Sehun,” he replies after a moment, annoyed with himself for being so affected by this boy. “Oh Sehun.”
“Well, Oh Sehun, can I ask you a question?” the sweet voice continue. “What is my power?”
“Wh-what?” he sputters. He really has no idea what the boy means, and he’s already abominably late for his interview. “I- you-” he stops, noticing for the first time that there is something odd about the atmosphere around the boy.
Without thinking, he says, “Telekinesis,” and he’s not sure why, but it just seems right. The boy’s smile widens, eyes crinkling, and Sehun’s heart flutters uncomfortably.
“And my friend?” the boy gestures to the harsh-faced man, who he notices is actually frighteningly tall. “What is his power?” Sehun stares at the tall man.
“Fire?” he guesses. The boy lets out an excited noise and claps his hands together once.
“I knew it! You have seer eyes! You can see the powers of archangels!”
He stares at the boy now, completely bemused out of his wits.
“..... What???”
Then the scene changes, swiftly replaced by a cozy looking apartment. Sehun recognizes it as Luhan’s. It was his first visit there, he recalls.
“Seer eyes are hard to come across,” says Kris. Sehun had learned their names on the way to the apartment. “I’m surprised, I honestly didn’t think humans could have them. Very few archangels even have them.”
“So you’re saying my eyes are special or something?” Sehun asks, still taken aback by the influx of information they have laid on him.
“Yes,” Luhan answers eagerly. “I’m very honored to be able to meet a seer!” He bows his head, causing Sehun’s cheeks to flush a bright scarlet.
“I-I don’t really understand,” he mutters. “So you two... you’re not human?” Luhan laughs softly.
“No, we aren’t,” he says.
“We are beings of the underworld,” Kris explains. “Archangels.”
Another scene change follows, revealing an alleyway covered in letters. It’s late evening, and Luhan is showing Sehun the odd creatures.
“I never knew they were alive like this,” Sehun murmurs, awed by the phenomenon.
“Letters, numbers, these beings are commonplace in the underworld,” Luhan tells him, reaching out and plucking a Q from the alley wall. “They’re completely harmless. Letters like these thrive in dark places.” Sehun nods, examining the letter in Luhan’s hand.
“What about Lies?” the human asks, curiosity getting the better of him.
“Lies?” Luhan repeats, smiling slightly. “Lies are... well, they can take on many forms. Humans know them as their word form, correct?” Sehun nods. “But they don’t always have to be words. They can take on the shape of a human, an animal, or even things such as buildings or furniture. They exist simply to cause trouble.”
“Like the cat that I saw crossing the road?” Sehun inquires.
“That’s right,” Luhan replies. “That Lie was most likely trying to trick you into walking out into the busy road.” Sehun gulps, and is suddenly extremely glad that Luhan and Kris had been there to help him.
“But you have to be careful, Sehunnie,” Luhan tells him with a sly smile, “You never know when you might get tricked by a Lie~”
The alleyway is replaced by a bedroom: Sehun’s own room. It was the night his parents had been out, the day he invited Luhan to his house.
“It’s nice,” the archangel comments, taking in Sehun’s posters, writing desk, and bed.
“I don’t live here all the time,” Sehun admits, sitting down on the edge of the bed and kicking his shoes off. “I’m just back for the summer. I go to college nearby, but I decided to live in the dorms there.”
“College?” Luhan repeats, the word rolling off his tongue foreignly.
“You mean you don’t know what that is?” Sehun asks, suppressing a laugh.
“No,” the archangel responds, sitting down on the bed next to Sehun, “What is it?”
“It’s a level of education. First there’s elementary school, then middle school, then high school. College comes after that,” the human replies. “You’ve really never heard of it?”
“In the underworld, only the higher demons are educated. They study using the books found in the Demon Lord’s library,” the archangel hums thoughtfully. “I guess it’s a lot different than how things work here.” He locks eyes with Sehun, smiling as a light shade of blush coats the human’s cheeks. “But a lot of things are different.”
“Yeah,” Sehun murmurs, already leaning forward, closing the distance between their lips.
“I’m not supposed to love you,” Luhan whispers into his mouth. “It’s forbidden.”
“Really?” Sehun grunts, attempting to pull back only to have the archangel deepen the kiss.
“I don’t care, though,” Luhan smiles. “I love you anyway.”
It was the first time they slept together. It had been awkward, since Sehun was a virgin and Luhan had no idea how sex worked at all, but they’d managed somehow, too caught up in the intense feelings of love to really care.
After the bedroom, a rooftop appears. Sehun recognizes it as the roof of Luhan’s complex. This was the night they laid outside and looked up at the stars.
Luhan’s holding Sehun’s hand, lazily drawing patterns on it with his slender fingers. They’re in a comfortable silence, enraptured by the beautiful night sky. It’s somewhat surreal, to simply be with Luhan like this, looking up at the brightly shining sky lights.
Sehun wants to reach up and pick out the stars and put them on Luhan’s face. He wants to savor this enchanting moment and carve this memory into his mind forever. He doesn’t want anything to ever change, not between him and Luhan.
He’s never been in love like this.
It was the night before Luhan vanished.
The next scene is the rainy morning, him running through the city, soaking wet, looking desperately for the familiar smile, listening intently for the familiar sweet voice. He’s terrified without Luhan by his side, scared he’ll never see Luhan again.
“I think he was sent back to the underworld,” Kris tells him when they meet up after searching high and low. “It’s a small possibility, but... he may have been tricked by a Lie, which could have resulted in the Demon Lord hearing about... your relationship.”
“What can we do? What’s going to happen to him?” Sehun asks nervously. His anxiety is eating away at him, and Kris can see it.
“Well, if I remember correctly....” the flame archangel pauses, avoiding Sehun’s gaze, “The punishment for falling in love with a human is... death.” Sehun’s heart drops.
“Oh my god,” he whispers, breath catching in his throat.
“Don’t lose hope just yet,” Kris says hurriedly, “We might be able to save him.”
“How?” the human asks.
“We must travel to the underworld.”
The reel of memories goes through the events following, the stay in the underworld, their last moments together. Then it slows to a stop, fading away into the white light.
Is this it? Sehun wonders, Will he forget now?
Everything goes black.
Sehun’s life in the human world resumes.
As Kai had suggested, he returns to the moment before he’d met Luhan and Kris. He’s hurrying to that job interview, praying to God he’s not too late. He rushes around the corner, stopping for a brief moment.
“Déjà vu...” he mumbles before hurrying on his way.
He does make it to the interview, manages to make a good impression on the interviewer, and snags the job. He’s proud of himself, considering he’d been absolutely certain he’d screw this whole thing up.
He’s an intern on the fourth floor of an accounting business, helping out with whatever tasks he’s given. The pay is nice and his coworkers are pleasant enough. It’s a good summer job, exactly what he’d been looking for.
And so Sehun works. He talks to his college friends over the phone, hears how they’re doing. Some of them also have jobs, girlfriends, and Sehun thinks a lovelife wouldn’t be so bad. If he had time.
There’s an empty feeling, though, when he thinks about love. He can’t quite pinpoint it, so he ignores it, decides he’ll figure it out at some point. No use in worrying over something that doesn’t make sense.
The summer is over all too quickly, and classes start up again. The fall semester is always his least favorite, full of boring lectures and kids still half-asleep from summers spent pulling all-nighters to party and do drugs. He does not want to be associated with those kinds of people.
His workplace wants him to stay and work through to the next summer, but Sehun refuses. He doesn’t have time to work, not while he’s busy with college. They do offer him another summer job, though, which he readily accepts, and it gives him something to look forward to once he gets through the spring semester.
His friends keep encouraging him to get a girlfriend. He tries going on a few blind dates with them, but each time, he’s left unsatisfied. The girls are nice, but he doesn’t like them, can’t love them like he thinks a boyfriend should. He still can’t figure out why love feels so wrong.
The next summer rolls around, and Sehun is glad to head back home and start up his job again. It distract him from the feelings he can’t explain, gives him something else to think about that doesn’t have to do with a certain L word.
It’s the fourth week into his summer vacation. He’s on his way up to the office, steps on the elevator and presses the button for floor four. The doors are closing as a voice calls out “Please hold the elevator!” A sweet, smooth voice that twists Sehun’s stomach in knots as he hurries to keep the doors open.
A boy that looks about his age with honey-colored hair gets on, a wide smile on his face as he breathlessly thanks Sehun for the help.
There is something so familiar about the boy, something that makes Sehun’s heart pound loudly in his ears. He’s not sure why, doesn’t really understand what it is that’s causing him to feel like this.
“I’m Luhan,” the boy introduces himself. That name, Sehun thinks, I’ve heard it before. But where? “I’m a new intern, I’m starting work today.” Luhan smiles again, and Sehun finds himself staring a little too long at the boy’s perfect lips. “What’s your name?”
“I’m... Sehun,” he says, finding himself drawn to this boy. “Oh Sehun.” Luhan’s smile falters, his brow furrowing slightly.
“.... Sehun?” he repeats softly.
“Luhan,” Sehun says. It feels so right, to say that name.
“Do I know you from somewhere?” Luhan murmurs, stepping closer to Sehun, doe eyes taking him in. “You look so familiar, but I swear I’ve never met you before.”
“I feel the same way,” Sehun agrees, helping clear the distance between them. It makes no sense, but he’s overcome with the urge to kiss Luhan, over and over again until neither of them can breathe.
And if he’s reading Luhan’s expression correctly, which he’d like to think he is, the other male reciprocates.
The elevator starts moving up, but neither of them notice.
“I’m not sure why, but...” Sehun says, reaching out and gently wrapping his arms around Luhan. The way his figure fits snugly, perfectly against Sehun sends shivers down his spine. “I think I might be in love with you.”
Luhan laughs breathily, not protesting in the slightest as the other male pulls him even closer. “Considering this is supposedly our first meeting, I’d say you’re crazy but...” A smile spread across his face, his eyes shrinking into crescents that make Sehun’s heart do somersaults. “I think I might be in love with you, too.”
“Maybe it’s fate,” Sehun offers, leaning forward to bump noses with Luhan.
The elevator stops at the second floor, but the people waiting to get on can only gawk at the scene unfolding inside the doors. The two boys are far too wrapped up in each other to pay attention.
“I think you’re right,” Luhan laughs again, lips sloppily finding Sehun’s. The kiss really does take Sehun’s breath away.
It doesn’t matter that neither boy can quite place how they know each other or why they feel such a strong attraction. All that matters is that it feels right, to hold each other, to press kiss upon kiss to lips, to be together.
“I can’t remember exactly,” Luhan says, “But I feel like there was a poem. Something magical and grand. An adventure, and a feast.”
“I think you’re right,” Sehun nods, chuckling. “I think there may have been Lies, as well.”
“Lies,” Luhan says, also nodding. “Pretty little Lies like the stars in the sky...”
“Fall when the rain pours down,” Sehun continues.
“And in their wake, nothing but trouble they make,” Luhan goes on, smiling as he kisses Sehun again.
“Be careful you don’t drown,” Sehun finishes.