The Good, the Evil, and the Heechul (1/?)
The Good, the Evil, and the Heechul
Chapter 1
Title: The Good, the Evil, and the Heechul (1/?)
Pairing/Characters: Main!SiChul and HanChul. Minor!Kangteuk, Kyumin, Kihae (So far)
Rating: PG-13... For now....
Genre: AU, romance, humor
Words: 5,130
Warning: The base of my ideas came from things like reincarnation and other things that make some people uncomfortable. But it's mostly made up, anyways...
Summary: In the first life, it hadn't worked out, but when Siwon is told to be Heechul's new Guardian Angel, he takes it as a second chance, even if Heechul can't see or hear him (So he thinks) let alone touch him. Not to mention a jealous old friend come to interfere...
A/N: A lot changed as I wrote the first chapter...
OMG! I got a schizophrenic joke in there! *claps wildly* YES!
Ehem, anyways.... Aahhh, I'm glad to be back to my normal writing.... Well, that's a lie. My normal writing is in 1st person, but this suffices.
Anyways... Halfway through this it's mostly just explanatory.... Ah well.
--
Heechul. He was the man who wore his long hair in a messy ponytail just about everyday, dressed strangely, and worked at the local book store. He wasn't rich, but he had enough money to scrape by with him and his cat, Heebum. And working at the book store meant he got a big discount on coffee every morning, along with free Internet access in the attached cafe. Not to mention a discount on all his favorite books.
"Aish." Sungmin, Heechul's co-worker, huffed as they restocked the book shelves, "You're so grumpy today, hyung. What happened?"
Heechul roughly took out some books and shoved them onto the shelves. "I'm always grumpy, Sungmin. Maybe it's you who is overly happy."
Sungmin sighed. True, he was always grumpy, but never this grumpy, "Hyung, I'm always overly happy. You're just overly grumpy." He stopped Heechul from putting more books on the shelf. After all, the last batch he did was wrong. You don't put names that start with A with the names that start with R. "Was it that dream again?"
Heechul gave up. He leaned against the shelf and put a hand to his head. "What is wrong with me?"
The younger man patted his friend's shoulder reassuringly, "It's okay, hyung. I'm sure it's just someone telling you something."
Heechul looked up, eyes dark, "So you think someone, like, hijacked my brain while I was asleep just to tell me something?"
Sungmin facepalmed, "No... What I mean is... Maybe the guy in your dream is your soul mate or something. You know, the one you're supposed to be with for all your life."
Heechul raised an eyebrow, "Have you been hanging out in the romance section again?" Another smack as the younger facepalmed. Heechul leaned on the bookcase, thinking about his dream. It had been the same one for over a week now. He was starting to get scared to even sleep. The dream was of him and a really handsome guy and... Heechul was openly gay, for your information. But in the dream, he fell in love with the man, but seeing as it was in Medieval times, the whole thing with both of them being guys... Yeah, obviously it hadn't ended well. But the dream had seemed so real. That was the reason why in the end, when he was burning at the stake, he would wake up, sweat covering his body and even the lightest covers were thrown to the side or off the bed completely. The dream would only last about 2 hours every night, and no matter what he tried, he couldn't get back to sleep afterward.
Sungmin picked up the box of books Heechul had been using to restock. They were mystery books, which definitely didn't belong in the spiritual section. "Hyung... I'm sure there's a way to sleep without having dreams."
The moody man snapped his head around to look at his co-worker, "And you think I haven't thought of that? I've tried everything!"
Sungmin simply stuck his tongue out and went to bring the box where it belonged.
Heechul watched him leave, muttering, and continued to unpack the box Sungmin left behind. He put away a few books when... He picked up the next book in the box. 'What your dreams are telling you' was the title. He flipped it open. There were lots of things in it, like climbing a never ending staircase, or being crowded by people, etc. All in your dreams. He closed the books quickly and put it on top of the shelf to buy after he was done unpacking the box.
"Heechul?"
Heechul looked up from his box to see Jungsu approaching, a bewildered expression on his face.
"What are you still doing here?" Jungsu asked, "Didn't you just sign out?"
Heechul blinked, "What?" He looked over to the mystery section to see Sungmin pretending he was just putting away books, but his repetitive glances over gave it away. Heechul wanted to go over and tell him to mind his own business, but he wasn't in the mood. He was tired and needed to go home. "Yeah, sorry." He grabbed the book from the top of the bookshelf and made his way to the employees' office to get his laptop bag before heading to the check out, pulling out his employee discount card.
Jongwoon, a shorter man not much younger than Heechul, took the book and scanned it, then gave his co-worker a strange look, "I thought you were atheist, Heechul."
Heechul was tapping his foot on the ground impatiently, but stopped and glared at the younger, "What? Am I not allowed to read books? Am I not allowed to be curious? And since when is this part of a religion, anyway?"
Jongwoon shook his head, but said no more. Heechul quickly took the book and stuffed it in his bag, then left.
It took longer than usual to get home, and Heechul was just about ready to faint when he finally stumbled through the door. He threw his bag down on the couch, making Heebum screech and jump to the floor.
Heechul dropped onto the sofa next, covering his eyes with his arm, "Aaaah... It feels good to be able to relax..." Heebum jumped back up, but since his spot on the sofa was covered by the bag and the rest was covered by the human, he settled himself on Heechul's stomach. Heechul scratched behind the cat's ears enjoying the vibrations on his stomach the cat made as he purred. "What do you feel like for dinner, Heebummie? We could get take out again..."
The cat responded by laying his head on his legs and closing his eyes. Heechul snorted, "I'm glad you've been able to sleep." He pushed Heebum off of him so he could stand up and get the phone off the kitchen counter. He didn't even need to find the pamphlet for the number, he had the Chinese take-out restaurant down the street on speed-dial. He knew exactly what he was going to order, as well.
The order was set. Heechul sighed and took out the book from his bag. Might as well start reading. So he put the kettle on for tea and went to his bedroom to start reading.
Half an hour later, the door bell rang. Heechul sighed and put his book down. He had yet to find anything for his dream, but there were a bunch that would have come in handy before. Like 2 or 3 years before.... He rubbed his sore eyes, red from lack of sleep, and now worse from actually having to focus on something.
Heebum hissed at the bedroom door. Heechul got up from the bed and picked up his cat, "Shh. It's just the delivery man with our food." He kissed the cat's head gently and put him back down on the bed. He was about to open his bedroom door when the doorknob began to turn on it's own. Heechul jumped back, hitting the bed, and fell beck with one last shout. The doorknob stopped turning.
"Who's there?!" Heechul yelled, grabbing the closest thing to a weapon he could find... his table lamp. Heebum jumped off the bed and settled himself in the corner, then continued to hiss at the door.
There was no response. Heechul got up carefully, and slowly reached forward, then flung the door open. A man stood there. A very handsome man. The very handsome man. But instead of a cheap, Medieval cloak, he wore plain jeans and a grey long-sleeve shirt. Heechul narrowed his eyes, "Usually you wait by the door. This is called breaking and entering."
The man looked behind him, raising one of his very prominent eyebrows when he realized there was no one. But he said nothing.
Heechul lowered the lamp, "Are you stupid? I'm talking to you!"
The man blinked, then pointed to himself. Heechul nodded, "Yes you! Who else is there?"
"You can... see me?" He even had the same voice. Heechul really didn't expect the man of his dreams (Hah. That's a funny joke. He would write that down later.) to be the delivery man for the Chinese restaurant down the street.
Heechul rolled his eyes and put the lamp down on the coffee table, "Of course I can see you, idiot. Now what I can't see is my food. Were you so stupid to leave that at work?"
The man blinked again, "What food?"
"Hey!" Someone yelled from the door and knocked again, "Are you coming or not?"
Confused, Heechul went to the front door and opened. It was the delivery man. His eyes widened, "If you're the delivery man...." he turned to the man standing in his living room, "Who are you?"
The delivery man looked into the apartment, "Who are you talking to?"
Heechul spun around to face the delivery man, "Are you blind? There's a tall guy standing right there." He pointed to the man who was now standing beside him.
The delivery man's eyebrows knit together, "Uh... I think you're the blind one, dude. There's no one there."
Heechul looked to the tall man beside him, "What are you talking about?" He tried to put a hand on the man's shoulder, or something, but... It went right through him. Heechul gasped, taking a few steps back before tripping over his feet and falling to the ground. "Oh my GOD! There's a GHOST in my HOUSE!"
The delivery man took a deep breath, "Listen man, I just wanna get out of here. Could you please pay for your food instead of going schizo on me"
The man smiled, dimples in his cheeks, "Paying might be a good idea."
Heechul wanted badly to say something to the ghost, but knew that would only make things weirder. He went into his room and looked for his jeans where his wallet would be. Heebum meowed and got up-- off of his jeans. Heechul quickly grabbed his wallet and headed back out, giving the delivery man the money. "And by the way, I'm not a schizophrenic."
"Sure, dude. Whatever you say." he took the money and handed over the paper bag, then left as quickly as possible.
Heechul slammed the door and turned around, eyes dark as he looked at the smirking man leaning against his kitchen counter. "What the hell are you? A ghost? A hallucination? I mean, I'm really tired, and it's not surprising I'd be hallucinating. Especially about you." He looked down, now only blabbering on to himself.
"What about me?"
Heechul's eyes locked with his dark, chocolaty ones, "Your name wouldn't happen to be Siwon, would it?"
"It is if you're Heechul."
Heechul put the bag on the counter before sighing and running his hand through his head. "A cheeky guy. You must be a hallucination. Unless you are in lieu with the delivery man and this all just one cruel joke."
Siwon smirked, "You think I'm just doing this for a joke? Tell me this, Heechul, can normal people do this." He reached out.
Heechul's eyes widened as he was about to lay his hand on this forehead. But instead of a hand, he felt only cold air. The hand moved down. Heechul watched as it became more clear that Siwon's hand truly was disappearing into his body. He turned around. The hand protruded from his chest. His insides felt cold. He turned back to the man, mouth open, "You have to be a hallucination. Or some evil ghost plotting my demise!"
Siwon massaged his temples, "Aish... Heechul, I'm not a hallucination, or a ghost, or a hologram, or whatever else you think I might be." He looked the shorter man in the eye, "I'm an Angel."
Heechul couldn't bursting out in laughter, "An ANGEL?! That's new!"
Siwon frowned, "It's true. I'm an Angel. Your Angel."
"You mean, like a Guardian Angel? Sorry to tell you, Siwon, but I'm atheist. I don't believe in those things. I don't believe in all that religious crap, or ghosts, or... You get the picture. There's living creatures, and when we die, we die."
A look of real sadness came onto his face, "Heechul... You've changed so much. I've waited so long..."
"You know me?! Since when?!"
"Since I met you back in 1326 of the human calendar. Do you remember that at all? I wouldn't be surprised if you didn't. Humans hardly ever remember anything from their past lives..."
He was going insane. They had warned him it would happen (albeit jokingly) but it was becoming serious. Heechul gulped, "Past lives? As in... I was around in year 1326?" It would make sense. His dream had taken place around then. And back then it wasn't below them to burn you alive as an execution.
"Yes you were. I remember because I am still a soul. Souls tend to forget these things temporarily when human. It's only natural."
"So my dream then... That was a flashback?"
Siwon nodded, "Most likely. It's not totally uncommon for you to have dreams of something that happened in a past life."
Heechul looked up in Siwon's eyes again, taking a deep, shaky breath, "So in 1326... You were also alive as a human... And we fell in love... And then I was killed. Burned. This all happened in my dream." He put a hand to his head and sucked in painfully, "I am hallucinating! Only I could come up with crap like this! I've lost it. Those stupid dreams have kept me up at night." He glared at his own hallucination, "You've kept me up at night. Just go so I can eat."
"Where do you suppose I could go, Heechul? Do you think I can just vanish into thin air? I'm afraid it doesn't work that way."
"Fine then. Go into the bedroom or something. Or better yet, the bathroom, where I won't have to see you." He sneered. Siwon walked off, completely unfazed. Heechul opened the paper bag and took out the dishes so he could fix himself some food. The Chinese restaurant was probably one of the crappiest in town, but it was the cheapest. The food they sold was hardly Chinese. More like the stuff Americans all seemed to think was traditional (Heechul had been to America before. It was the most hilarious trip of his life. This life, at least...) But it would do.
After stuffing himself with faux Chinese, he threw his clothes onto the bed and grabbed a towel from the closet so he could enjoy a nice shower. Heebum saw his owner preparing and stood up. He was a cat about as odd as his owner and absolutely loved showers. Or anything to do with water, for that matter. Heechul wrapped the towel around his waist, waited for his cat to catch up, and then opened the door to the bathroom, forgetting completely who was there.
"AAAAAH!" Heechul screamed, backing away and falling over his feet again.
Siwon stood up from the toilet seat he was sitting on and put out a hand to help, "I'm sorry. I would have gotten out if I knew..."
Heechul took the hand, but only felt cold air as it slipped through. He cursed to himself. Of course a mere hallucination couldn't actually help him. Heebum nudged his master, impatient to get in the shower. Heechul pushed himself up from the ground, struggling to do even that while also keeping his towel around him (Hallucination or not, he wasn't risking Siwon being some sort of pervert. A perverted ghost-of-sorts. Pleasant.)
Siwon chuckled, "It's hard for me not to just run forward and hug you."
"It might be best if you keep your comments to yourself. You're just a figment of my imagination. I don't even like you, let alone want you to come and suffocate me in a hug." He kicked open the bathroom door and turned on the water so it could heat up. He could tell by the cold air that Siwon was standing right behind him.
"Your ego is strong in this body. It's clouding your heart."
Heechul huffed, "Will you just stop it. This whole thing about souls and past lives is crap, okay? I. Don't. Believe. In. It. As a matter of fact, I don't believe in anything."
"How can you not believe in the truth? Are you still convinced I'm nothing but a hallucination? Could you really come up with all of this? I'm not lying when I tell you I'm still just a soul. The people in charge, we call them the Higher Ups, sent me here to replace your Guardian Angel from before."
"So what happened to my last 'Guardian Angel'? I'm not completely oblivious to Religion, so since when does Christianity and this whole soul thing mix?"
Heebum purred as he dipped his head under the running water. That meant it was ready. Heechul turned on the shower head and was about to get in when... He turned to Siwon, "I know you can't actually do anything to me, but do you mind? I'll still feel violated with you watching me."
Siwon turned around with an overly dramatic sigh so Heechul could get in the shower. When he was sure his new charge was hidden, he went over and sat on the toilet cover again, "As to your questions. I'm not entirely sure what happened to you old Guardian Angel, but rumor has it he fell."
Heechul laughed as he massaged the shampoo into his hair, "A fallen Angel? This is sounding more and more screwed up by the second. What did he do? Miss a step and fall through a hole in the clouds or something?"
Siwon dropped his head into his hands. "No. Soul's don't have bodies. When we're in what you call 'heaven' we're nothing but these orbs of light."
"Why do you look human here?"
"I'm still answering your first questions, okay? Three at a time, please." He snapped. "Now as for fallen Angels. They are... I don't know. It's just a term we picked up from our human lives. It's a soul who can't live up to expectations. So the Higher Ups give up and send them down to Hell. There they are no longer 'Angels' but 'Demons'."
"Don't you mean Devils?"
"No. Satan is the the Devil. His minions, the soul rejects, are Demons. They also wander around in the human world. They're very strange, but I found them fascinating. I studied them a lot in school."
Heechul stopped rinsing his hair and pulled back the shower curtain just enough to see Siwon sitting on the toilet seat, "You're confusing me. Now we've got random Mythology in here too? What next, that you're here to protect me from Vampires and Witches and some random supernatural things too?"
Siwon looked back and smiled, "There's no such thing as Vampires or witches. Supernatural on the other hand... Long story short, this world is made up of four things. The living, the dead, the half-living, and last but not least, the souls. The living covers any creature, plant or animal, that is scientifically alive. You see these things. You are part of that living category. The living is like a shell for souls on Earth. We are sent down to learn and keep the world in order.
"The dead are things certain living creatures can trace. You know, like ghosts or other supernatural people. Also in that dead category comes Shadows. Shadows are why you have us Guardian Angels to begin with. They are attracted to the living, and only souls can repel them. Every living creature has a soul, or Guardian Angel, watching over them. They are probably the reason you haven't been able to sleep. Since I just came back from my last life, and I had to be reminded on how being a Guardian Angel works, there was a gap between you having a Guardian Angel protecting you. The Shadows torture vulnerable souls and try to take a living creatures soul to join them. The Shadows are made up of dead souls. You're lucky I came, otherwise, given a few more days, your soul would have been too weak to not be taken by them."
Heechul nodded, "Alright, so what about these half-living things? Does that mean there's such thing as Zombies?"
Siwon laughed, "They might as well be. The half-living covers Demons. Demons are souls taken by Satan, either through a living creature selling his soul, or an Angel falling. Demons have three forms. Demon, which most living creatures can't see. Their Demon forms are scary. Some resemble the Living form, but with added features... Like long nails, sharp teeth, horns, extra hair... You get the picture. Aside from their Demon form, they have a Human form and a half-Living form. The thing with their Living form is... Well, they resemble living creatures completely. Down to us souls not being able to touch them. Their half-Living form, or half-Demon, whichever you prefer, is a mix. The might have one particular odd feature. Like sharp teeth, maybe little nubs for horns, maybe just a little extra hair... But they could easily pass off for living creatures. Souls CAN touch them in any form other than their Living form. Living creatures can see all their forms, but very few can see the Demon form. They are what sparked stories of Werewolves, Vampires and other creepy things like that. Of course, most Demons would take after a human appearance, since humans are both the greediest and easiest to persuade. A simple mention of power, along with their 'charming' personality, a human is trapped. Demons can change their forms as well, but it takes a lot of energy."
Heechul drank the information in. There was no way Siwon could be a figment of his imagination. This was far too much for him to ever think up. He knelt down ofter having finished washing himself, and began working Heebum's shampoo into his fur, "And souls?"
"Souls are... Souls. Every living creature has a soul in them. But souls still get their own category because there are souls like the Higher Ups. I guess they are the equivalent to the Arch Angels."
"I'm atheist, remember?"
"Well, then I guess we'll have to go buy a Bible for you to read. It might actually help."
Heebum glared up at his owner as Heechul stood up again to look at Siwon. He narrowed his eyes, "I'm not reading a Bible and you can't make me."
Siwon sighed, "I doubted you would, but really, anything works. You could read the Bible, the Quaran, the Torah... Any other book a Religion follows."
"I'm not reading a Bible, let alone a million different variations of it."
"They're actually really interesting. The things Humans come up with makes me laugh."
Heechul knelt down again to finish cleaning Heebum, "I take offense to that. And don't ever forget that you've been human too."
"Anyway, as I was saying. The Higher Ups are like Arch Angels. God isn't quite the God you all depicted. He is more just a big Energy. The Energy is where we come from, and the Energy is where we go when we have become complete souls. A few are allowed to join the Higher Ups, but I would much prefer staying here. But up in 'Heaven' we have schools, because souls need to learn the basics. Then we are sent down to help the world as animals, plants, insects, or humans. I like being human the best, personally, but everyone has different opinions. And of course, when we are good souls, and we have learned a lot, we are chosen to guide. We become Guardian Angels. There are many names for us. And every single human can communicate with us, but only a select few can actually talk to, let alone see their Angel."
"So I'm special?"
Siwon shrugged, "Sure. I have my own theory that only soul mates can. The only cases I've ever heard of, the human and Angel were soul mates. Ever since our life together, I'm convinced that you and I are soul mates."
"Hate to tell you, but I think your theory is wrong. You and I can't be soul mates. You're an Angel, and I'm a human. There's more chance of me being soul mates with Heebum." He lifted the cat and threw the wet animal out of the shower. Siwon yelped. There was nothing pleasant about a wet, long-haired cat. Heechul rinsed off any of Heebum's hair which could have gotten on him before turning off the shower and reaching for the towel.
Siwon took the towel off the bathroom counter and held it out to his charge. "So have I finally convinced you?"
Heechul dried himself in the shower behind the safety of the shower curtain, "Hate to admit it, but yes, you have convinced me." he wrapped the towel around his waist again and stepped out, taking a smaller towel and picking up his cat with it, "But you have yet to convince me that we are soul mates. Or to read the Bible, or whatever other book you mentioned."
Siwon watched his charge dry the animal in the sink, the cat meowing and occasionally hissing as Heechul dragged the towel up his tail. "You still think you could be soul mates with that thing?"
Heechul looked back, "No. But neither could I be with you."
"I'm afraid that even though homosexuality is now fine, bestiality is still frowned upon."
"Hah hah. Very funny." Heechul brought his cat back to his room. The cat was laid down on the bed so Heechul could find his pajamas.
"Looking for these?" Siwon held up a pair of sweatpants.
Heechul rolled his eyes, but took them none the less and quickly slipped them on under the cover of his towel.
Siwon sat down on the edge of the bed as he watched his charge brushing his hair and tying it up for bed. "Do you have any other questions?" He asked before Heechul flung his towel at him, but the Angel caught it quickly.
"That's my next question."
Siwon lowered the towel, revealing eyebrows brought together to look like one, "What?"
Heechul walked over and swiped his hand at Siwon, his hand going right through. "That. I go right through you, but the towel doesn't. What's up with that?"
Siwon sighed, "Well... That wasn't always the case... If you read the Bible, you would understand."
"I already told you, there's no way in hell I'm reading a Bible."
Looks like the Angel would have to explain it himself, "Fine then. When we could interact with the Living... Well, to be more specific, the humans, the humans would often fall in love, or what they thought was love, and refused to be with anyone else. The Higher Ups decided this was bad because fewer humans were reproducing with each other and instead..."
Heechul's eyes widened in realization. "I think I remembered hearing something like this!" He put a hand to his chin, trying to remember everything, "Sungmin was telling me about a book he read where they talked about something like this. It was one of the few things I ever read from the Bible. The Angels went down and took for themselves the daughters of men, and with them they created the Nephilim. And it was because of these Nephilim, impure creatures, that God sent the flood. I looked it up later. But the Angels had already fallen. It was in Genesis 6." (Check it out for yourself. It's in the Old Testament for those of you who don't know how a Bible works, near the beginning.)
Siwon smiled, "And you call yourself atheist?"
Heechul blushed, looking away, "Sungmin made me read that. And the idea was interesting. It doesn't mean I'm converting. Like you said, the Bible is interesting to read to see what crazy things human kind has come up with."
Siwon chuckled, "You don't need to get so defensive. I was only making a joke."
Heechul turned back to the Angel, "So the Nephilim and the Angels with the human women? Is that what you're talking about?"
"Something like that." Siwon shrugged, "But the Bible got a few things wrong. For one, souls can't reproduce. So there were no Nephilim, which means God wasn't angry, which means there was no flood. The Higher Ups just made sure we weren't allowed to interact with the Living in general. But we can still interact with the dead, and the half-living and other souls, along with inanimate objects."
"So whoever wrote that part was pretty good, but threw in some of his own stuff."
"Pretty much." Siwon shrugged, "Humans are very creative."
Heechul found himself yawning at this point. "Well, since you're here to protect me from these Shadows, does that mean I'll get a good night's sleep?" He crawled over to his pillow, grabbing Heebum who struggled as he was held tightly to his owner's chest.
Siwon got up and grabbed the blanket, "Yes. I'll protect you from anything."
Heechul sighed and looked up at his new Angel, "Even if one of those evil Demon things comes after me?"
"I think anything covers that." Siwon pulled the blanket over the man in the bed. He looked so innocent and sweet, almost childlike in that vulnerable state. "Good night, Heechul." He said quietly.
"Good night..." He replied tiredly.
"I love you, Heechul." The Angel whispered, but he had long fallen asleep.
-----
Heechul walked into the book store the next door, a bounce in his step. "Heeeeellooooooo Jongwoon." He greeted the shorter man by the register. "How's it going, Donghae?" He asked a man much younger than himself who was setting up a display as he passed. He was genuinely happy today.
Siwon raised an eyebrow behind him, "I didn't think you were so cheery, Heechul."
Not too irked, Heechul only whispered, "Don't talk to me in public. People will think I'm crazy." He refused to let it annoy him. Not even young student Henry, who was probably flirting with his girlfriend somewhere else, could get on his nerves (Normally he would yell at them telling Henry it wasn't professional to be acting like that around co-workers.)
"Heechul, people already think you're crazy." Sungmin said, approaching, "But you look great! I'm guessing you could actually sleep last night."
Heechul grinned widely, "YUP! The shadows have moved on! The sun has finally come through the clouds! Can you think of any more metaphors?"
Siwon liked seeing this new side of Heechul. But he had this strange feeling the shadows weren't quite done harassing his charge yet. That was not a metaphor.
Chapter 1
Title: The Good, the Evil, and the Heechul (1/?)
Pairing/Characters: Main!SiChul and HanChul. Minor!Kangteuk, Kyumin, Kihae (So far)
Rating: PG-13... For now....
Genre: AU, romance, humor
Words: 5,130
Warning: The base of my ideas came from things like reincarnation and other things that make some people uncomfortable. But it's mostly made up, anyways...
Summary: In the first life, it hadn't worked out, but when Siwon is told to be Heechul's new Guardian Angel, he takes it as a second chance, even if Heechul can't see or hear him (So he thinks) let alone touch him. Not to mention a jealous old friend come to interfere...
A/N: A lot changed as I wrote the first chapter...
OMG! I got a schizophrenic joke in there! *claps wildly* YES!
Ehem, anyways.... Aahhh, I'm glad to be back to my normal writing.... Well, that's a lie. My normal writing is in 1st person, but this suffices.
Anyways... Halfway through this it's mostly just explanatory.... Ah well.
--
Heechul. He was the man who wore his long hair in a messy ponytail just about everyday, dressed strangely, and worked at the local book store. He wasn't rich, but he had enough money to scrape by with him and his cat, Heebum. And working at the book store meant he got a big discount on coffee every morning, along with free Internet access in the attached cafe. Not to mention a discount on all his favorite books.
"Aish." Sungmin, Heechul's co-worker, huffed as they restocked the book shelves, "You're so grumpy today, hyung. What happened?"
Heechul roughly took out some books and shoved them onto the shelves. "I'm always grumpy, Sungmin. Maybe it's you who is overly happy."
Sungmin sighed. True, he was always grumpy, but never this grumpy, "Hyung, I'm always overly happy. You're just overly grumpy." He stopped Heechul from putting more books on the shelf. After all, the last batch he did was wrong. You don't put names that start with A with the names that start with R. "Was it that dream again?"
Heechul gave up. He leaned against the shelf and put a hand to his head. "What is wrong with me?"
The younger man patted his friend's shoulder reassuringly, "It's okay, hyung. I'm sure it's just someone telling you something."
Heechul looked up, eyes dark, "So you think someone, like, hijacked my brain while I was asleep just to tell me something?"
Sungmin facepalmed, "No... What I mean is... Maybe the guy in your dream is your soul mate or something. You know, the one you're supposed to be with for all your life."
Heechul raised an eyebrow, "Have you been hanging out in the romance section again?" Another smack as the younger facepalmed. Heechul leaned on the bookcase, thinking about his dream. It had been the same one for over a week now. He was starting to get scared to even sleep. The dream was of him and a really handsome guy and... Heechul was openly gay, for your information. But in the dream, he fell in love with the man, but seeing as it was in Medieval times, the whole thing with both of them being guys... Yeah, obviously it hadn't ended well. But the dream had seemed so real. That was the reason why in the end, when he was burning at the stake, he would wake up, sweat covering his body and even the lightest covers were thrown to the side or off the bed completely. The dream would only last about 2 hours every night, and no matter what he tried, he couldn't get back to sleep afterward.
Sungmin picked up the box of books Heechul had been using to restock. They were mystery books, which definitely didn't belong in the spiritual section. "Hyung... I'm sure there's a way to sleep without having dreams."
The moody man snapped his head around to look at his co-worker, "And you think I haven't thought of that? I've tried everything!"
Sungmin simply stuck his tongue out and went to bring the box where it belonged.
Heechul watched him leave, muttering, and continued to unpack the box Sungmin left behind. He put away a few books when... He picked up the next book in the box. 'What your dreams are telling you' was the title. He flipped it open. There were lots of things in it, like climbing a never ending staircase, or being crowded by people, etc. All in your dreams. He closed the books quickly and put it on top of the shelf to buy after he was done unpacking the box.
"Heechul?"
Heechul looked up from his box to see Jungsu approaching, a bewildered expression on his face.
"What are you still doing here?" Jungsu asked, "Didn't you just sign out?"
Heechul blinked, "What?" He looked over to the mystery section to see Sungmin pretending he was just putting away books, but his repetitive glances over gave it away. Heechul wanted to go over and tell him to mind his own business, but he wasn't in the mood. He was tired and needed to go home. "Yeah, sorry." He grabbed the book from the top of the bookshelf and made his way to the employees' office to get his laptop bag before heading to the check out, pulling out his employee discount card.
Jongwoon, a shorter man not much younger than Heechul, took the book and scanned it, then gave his co-worker a strange look, "I thought you were atheist, Heechul."
Heechul was tapping his foot on the ground impatiently, but stopped and glared at the younger, "What? Am I not allowed to read books? Am I not allowed to be curious? And since when is this part of a religion, anyway?"
Jongwoon shook his head, but said no more. Heechul quickly took the book and stuffed it in his bag, then left.
It took longer than usual to get home, and Heechul was just about ready to faint when he finally stumbled through the door. He threw his bag down on the couch, making Heebum screech and jump to the floor.
Heechul dropped onto the sofa next, covering his eyes with his arm, "Aaaah... It feels good to be able to relax..." Heebum jumped back up, but since his spot on the sofa was covered by the bag and the rest was covered by the human, he settled himself on Heechul's stomach. Heechul scratched behind the cat's ears enjoying the vibrations on his stomach the cat made as he purred. "What do you feel like for dinner, Heebummie? We could get take out again..."
The cat responded by laying his head on his legs and closing his eyes. Heechul snorted, "I'm glad you've been able to sleep." He pushed Heebum off of him so he could stand up and get the phone off the kitchen counter. He didn't even need to find the pamphlet for the number, he had the Chinese take-out restaurant down the street on speed-dial. He knew exactly what he was going to order, as well.
The order was set. Heechul sighed and took out the book from his bag. Might as well start reading. So he put the kettle on for tea and went to his bedroom to start reading.
Half an hour later, the door bell rang. Heechul sighed and put his book down. He had yet to find anything for his dream, but there were a bunch that would have come in handy before. Like 2 or 3 years before.... He rubbed his sore eyes, red from lack of sleep, and now worse from actually having to focus on something.
Heebum hissed at the bedroom door. Heechul got up from the bed and picked up his cat, "Shh. It's just the delivery man with our food." He kissed the cat's head gently and put him back down on the bed. He was about to open his bedroom door when the doorknob began to turn on it's own. Heechul jumped back, hitting the bed, and fell beck with one last shout. The doorknob stopped turning.
"Who's there?!" Heechul yelled, grabbing the closest thing to a weapon he could find... his table lamp. Heebum jumped off the bed and settled himself in the corner, then continued to hiss at the door.
There was no response. Heechul got up carefully, and slowly reached forward, then flung the door open. A man stood there. A very handsome man. The very handsome man. But instead of a cheap, Medieval cloak, he wore plain jeans and a grey long-sleeve shirt. Heechul narrowed his eyes, "Usually you wait by the door. This is called breaking and entering."
The man looked behind him, raising one of his very prominent eyebrows when he realized there was no one. But he said nothing.
Heechul lowered the lamp, "Are you stupid? I'm talking to you!"
The man blinked, then pointed to himself. Heechul nodded, "Yes you! Who else is there?"
"You can... see me?" He even had the same voice. Heechul really didn't expect the man of his dreams (Hah. That's a funny joke. He would write that down later.) to be the delivery man for the Chinese restaurant down the street.
Heechul rolled his eyes and put the lamp down on the coffee table, "Of course I can see you, idiot. Now what I can't see is my food. Were you so stupid to leave that at work?"
The man blinked again, "What food?"
"Hey!" Someone yelled from the door and knocked again, "Are you coming or not?"
Confused, Heechul went to the front door and opened. It was the delivery man. His eyes widened, "If you're the delivery man...." he turned to the man standing in his living room, "Who are you?"
The delivery man looked into the apartment, "Who are you talking to?"
Heechul spun around to face the delivery man, "Are you blind? There's a tall guy standing right there." He pointed to the man who was now standing beside him.
The delivery man's eyebrows knit together, "Uh... I think you're the blind one, dude. There's no one there."
Heechul looked to the tall man beside him, "What are you talking about?" He tried to put a hand on the man's shoulder, or something, but... It went right through him. Heechul gasped, taking a few steps back before tripping over his feet and falling to the ground. "Oh my GOD! There's a GHOST in my HOUSE!"
The delivery man took a deep breath, "Listen man, I just wanna get out of here. Could you please pay for your food instead of going schizo on me"
The man smiled, dimples in his cheeks, "Paying might be a good idea."
Heechul wanted badly to say something to the ghost, but knew that would only make things weirder. He went into his room and looked for his jeans where his wallet would be. Heebum meowed and got up-- off of his jeans. Heechul quickly grabbed his wallet and headed back out, giving the delivery man the money. "And by the way, I'm not a schizophrenic."
"Sure, dude. Whatever you say." he took the money and handed over the paper bag, then left as quickly as possible.
Heechul slammed the door and turned around, eyes dark as he looked at the smirking man leaning against his kitchen counter. "What the hell are you? A ghost? A hallucination? I mean, I'm really tired, and it's not surprising I'd be hallucinating. Especially about you." He looked down, now only blabbering on to himself.
"What about me?"
Heechul's eyes locked with his dark, chocolaty ones, "Your name wouldn't happen to be Siwon, would it?"
"It is if you're Heechul."
Heechul put the bag on the counter before sighing and running his hand through his head. "A cheeky guy. You must be a hallucination. Unless you are in lieu with the delivery man and this all just one cruel joke."
Siwon smirked, "You think I'm just doing this for a joke? Tell me this, Heechul, can normal people do this." He reached out.
Heechul's eyes widened as he was about to lay his hand on this forehead. But instead of a hand, he felt only cold air. The hand moved down. Heechul watched as it became more clear that Siwon's hand truly was disappearing into his body. He turned around. The hand protruded from his chest. His insides felt cold. He turned back to the man, mouth open, "You have to be a hallucination. Or some evil ghost plotting my demise!"
Siwon massaged his temples, "Aish... Heechul, I'm not a hallucination, or a ghost, or a hologram, or whatever else you think I might be." He looked the shorter man in the eye, "I'm an Angel."
Heechul couldn't bursting out in laughter, "An ANGEL?! That's new!"
Siwon frowned, "It's true. I'm an Angel. Your Angel."
"You mean, like a Guardian Angel? Sorry to tell you, Siwon, but I'm atheist. I don't believe in those things. I don't believe in all that religious crap, or ghosts, or... You get the picture. There's living creatures, and when we die, we die."
A look of real sadness came onto his face, "Heechul... You've changed so much. I've waited so long..."
"You know me?! Since when?!"
"Since I met you back in 1326 of the human calendar. Do you remember that at all? I wouldn't be surprised if you didn't. Humans hardly ever remember anything from their past lives..."
He was going insane. They had warned him it would happen (albeit jokingly) but it was becoming serious. Heechul gulped, "Past lives? As in... I was around in year 1326?" It would make sense. His dream had taken place around then. And back then it wasn't below them to burn you alive as an execution.
"Yes you were. I remember because I am still a soul. Souls tend to forget these things temporarily when human. It's only natural."
"So my dream then... That was a flashback?"
Siwon nodded, "Most likely. It's not totally uncommon for you to have dreams of something that happened in a past life."
Heechul looked up in Siwon's eyes again, taking a deep, shaky breath, "So in 1326... You were also alive as a human... And we fell in love... And then I was killed. Burned. This all happened in my dream." He put a hand to his head and sucked in painfully, "I am hallucinating! Only I could come up with crap like this! I've lost it. Those stupid dreams have kept me up at night." He glared at his own hallucination, "You've kept me up at night. Just go so I can eat."
"Where do you suppose I could go, Heechul? Do you think I can just vanish into thin air? I'm afraid it doesn't work that way."
"Fine then. Go into the bedroom or something. Or better yet, the bathroom, where I won't have to see you." He sneered. Siwon walked off, completely unfazed. Heechul opened the paper bag and took out the dishes so he could fix himself some food. The Chinese restaurant was probably one of the crappiest in town, but it was the cheapest. The food they sold was hardly Chinese. More like the stuff Americans all seemed to think was traditional (Heechul had been to America before. It was the most hilarious trip of his life. This life, at least...) But it would do.
After stuffing himself with faux Chinese, he threw his clothes onto the bed and grabbed a towel from the closet so he could enjoy a nice shower. Heebum saw his owner preparing and stood up. He was a cat about as odd as his owner and absolutely loved showers. Or anything to do with water, for that matter. Heechul wrapped the towel around his waist, waited for his cat to catch up, and then opened the door to the bathroom, forgetting completely who was there.
"AAAAAH!" Heechul screamed, backing away and falling over his feet again.
Siwon stood up from the toilet seat he was sitting on and put out a hand to help, "I'm sorry. I would have gotten out if I knew..."
Heechul took the hand, but only felt cold air as it slipped through. He cursed to himself. Of course a mere hallucination couldn't actually help him. Heebum nudged his master, impatient to get in the shower. Heechul pushed himself up from the ground, struggling to do even that while also keeping his towel around him (Hallucination or not, he wasn't risking Siwon being some sort of pervert. A perverted ghost-of-sorts. Pleasant.)
Siwon chuckled, "It's hard for me not to just run forward and hug you."
"It might be best if you keep your comments to yourself. You're just a figment of my imagination. I don't even like you, let alone want you to come and suffocate me in a hug." He kicked open the bathroom door and turned on the water so it could heat up. He could tell by the cold air that Siwon was standing right behind him.
"Your ego is strong in this body. It's clouding your heart."
Heechul huffed, "Will you just stop it. This whole thing about souls and past lives is crap, okay? I. Don't. Believe. In. It. As a matter of fact, I don't believe in anything."
"How can you not believe in the truth? Are you still convinced I'm nothing but a hallucination? Could you really come up with all of this? I'm not lying when I tell you I'm still just a soul. The people in charge, we call them the Higher Ups, sent me here to replace your Guardian Angel from before."
"So what happened to my last 'Guardian Angel'? I'm not completely oblivious to Religion, so since when does Christianity and this whole soul thing mix?"
Heebum purred as he dipped his head under the running water. That meant it was ready. Heechul turned on the shower head and was about to get in when... He turned to Siwon, "I know you can't actually do anything to me, but do you mind? I'll still feel violated with you watching me."
Siwon turned around with an overly dramatic sigh so Heechul could get in the shower. When he was sure his new charge was hidden, he went over and sat on the toilet cover again, "As to your questions. I'm not entirely sure what happened to you old Guardian Angel, but rumor has it he fell."
Heechul laughed as he massaged the shampoo into his hair, "A fallen Angel? This is sounding more and more screwed up by the second. What did he do? Miss a step and fall through a hole in the clouds or something?"
Siwon dropped his head into his hands. "No. Soul's don't have bodies. When we're in what you call 'heaven' we're nothing but these orbs of light."
"Why do you look human here?"
"I'm still answering your first questions, okay? Three at a time, please." He snapped. "Now as for fallen Angels. They are... I don't know. It's just a term we picked up from our human lives. It's a soul who can't live up to expectations. So the Higher Ups give up and send them down to Hell. There they are no longer 'Angels' but 'Demons'."
"Don't you mean Devils?"
"No. Satan is the the Devil. His minions, the soul rejects, are Demons. They also wander around in the human world. They're very strange, but I found them fascinating. I studied them a lot in school."
Heechul stopped rinsing his hair and pulled back the shower curtain just enough to see Siwon sitting on the toilet seat, "You're confusing me. Now we've got random Mythology in here too? What next, that you're here to protect me from Vampires and Witches and some random supernatural things too?"
Siwon looked back and smiled, "There's no such thing as Vampires or witches. Supernatural on the other hand... Long story short, this world is made up of four things. The living, the dead, the half-living, and last but not least, the souls. The living covers any creature, plant or animal, that is scientifically alive. You see these things. You are part of that living category. The living is like a shell for souls on Earth. We are sent down to learn and keep the world in order.
"The dead are things certain living creatures can trace. You know, like ghosts or other supernatural people. Also in that dead category comes Shadows. Shadows are why you have us Guardian Angels to begin with. They are attracted to the living, and only souls can repel them. Every living creature has a soul, or Guardian Angel, watching over them. They are probably the reason you haven't been able to sleep. Since I just came back from my last life, and I had to be reminded on how being a Guardian Angel works, there was a gap between you having a Guardian Angel protecting you. The Shadows torture vulnerable souls and try to take a living creatures soul to join them. The Shadows are made up of dead souls. You're lucky I came, otherwise, given a few more days, your soul would have been too weak to not be taken by them."
Heechul nodded, "Alright, so what about these half-living things? Does that mean there's such thing as Zombies?"
Siwon laughed, "They might as well be. The half-living covers Demons. Demons are souls taken by Satan, either through a living creature selling his soul, or an Angel falling. Demons have three forms. Demon, which most living creatures can't see. Their Demon forms are scary. Some resemble the Living form, but with added features... Like long nails, sharp teeth, horns, extra hair... You get the picture. Aside from their Demon form, they have a Human form and a half-Living form. The thing with their Living form is... Well, they resemble living creatures completely. Down to us souls not being able to touch them. Their half-Living form, or half-Demon, whichever you prefer, is a mix. The might have one particular odd feature. Like sharp teeth, maybe little nubs for horns, maybe just a little extra hair... But they could easily pass off for living creatures. Souls CAN touch them in any form other than their Living form. Living creatures can see all their forms, but very few can see the Demon form. They are what sparked stories of Werewolves, Vampires and other creepy things like that. Of course, most Demons would take after a human appearance, since humans are both the greediest and easiest to persuade. A simple mention of power, along with their 'charming' personality, a human is trapped. Demons can change their forms as well, but it takes a lot of energy."
Heechul drank the information in. There was no way Siwon could be a figment of his imagination. This was far too much for him to ever think up. He knelt down ofter having finished washing himself, and began working Heebum's shampoo into his fur, "And souls?"
"Souls are... Souls. Every living creature has a soul in them. But souls still get their own category because there are souls like the Higher Ups. I guess they are the equivalent to the Arch Angels."
"I'm atheist, remember?"
"Well, then I guess we'll have to go buy a Bible for you to read. It might actually help."
Heebum glared up at his owner as Heechul stood up again to look at Siwon. He narrowed his eyes, "I'm not reading a Bible and you can't make me."
Siwon sighed, "I doubted you would, but really, anything works. You could read the Bible, the Quaran, the Torah... Any other book a Religion follows."
"I'm not reading a Bible, let alone a million different variations of it."
"They're actually really interesting. The things Humans come up with makes me laugh."
Heechul knelt down again to finish cleaning Heebum, "I take offense to that. And don't ever forget that you've been human too."
"Anyway, as I was saying. The Higher Ups are like Arch Angels. God isn't quite the God you all depicted. He is more just a big Energy. The Energy is where we come from, and the Energy is where we go when we have become complete souls. A few are allowed to join the Higher Ups, but I would much prefer staying here. But up in 'Heaven' we have schools, because souls need to learn the basics. Then we are sent down to help the world as animals, plants, insects, or humans. I like being human the best, personally, but everyone has different opinions. And of course, when we are good souls, and we have learned a lot, we are chosen to guide. We become Guardian Angels. There are many names for us. And every single human can communicate with us, but only a select few can actually talk to, let alone see their Angel."
"So I'm special?"
Siwon shrugged, "Sure. I have my own theory that only soul mates can. The only cases I've ever heard of, the human and Angel were soul mates. Ever since our life together, I'm convinced that you and I are soul mates."
"Hate to tell you, but I think your theory is wrong. You and I can't be soul mates. You're an Angel, and I'm a human. There's more chance of me being soul mates with Heebum." He lifted the cat and threw the wet animal out of the shower. Siwon yelped. There was nothing pleasant about a wet, long-haired cat. Heechul rinsed off any of Heebum's hair which could have gotten on him before turning off the shower and reaching for the towel.
Siwon took the towel off the bathroom counter and held it out to his charge. "So have I finally convinced you?"
Heechul dried himself in the shower behind the safety of the shower curtain, "Hate to admit it, but yes, you have convinced me." he wrapped the towel around his waist again and stepped out, taking a smaller towel and picking up his cat with it, "But you have yet to convince me that we are soul mates. Or to read the Bible, or whatever other book you mentioned."
Siwon watched his charge dry the animal in the sink, the cat meowing and occasionally hissing as Heechul dragged the towel up his tail. "You still think you could be soul mates with that thing?"
Heechul looked back, "No. But neither could I be with you."
"I'm afraid that even though homosexuality is now fine, bestiality is still frowned upon."
"Hah hah. Very funny." Heechul brought his cat back to his room. The cat was laid down on the bed so Heechul could find his pajamas.
"Looking for these?" Siwon held up a pair of sweatpants.
Heechul rolled his eyes, but took them none the less and quickly slipped them on under the cover of his towel.
Siwon sat down on the edge of the bed as he watched his charge brushing his hair and tying it up for bed. "Do you have any other questions?" He asked before Heechul flung his towel at him, but the Angel caught it quickly.
"That's my next question."
Siwon lowered the towel, revealing eyebrows brought together to look like one, "What?"
Heechul walked over and swiped his hand at Siwon, his hand going right through. "That. I go right through you, but the towel doesn't. What's up with that?"
Siwon sighed, "Well... That wasn't always the case... If you read the Bible, you would understand."
"I already told you, there's no way in hell I'm reading a Bible."
Looks like the Angel would have to explain it himself, "Fine then. When we could interact with the Living... Well, to be more specific, the humans, the humans would often fall in love, or what they thought was love, and refused to be with anyone else. The Higher Ups decided this was bad because fewer humans were reproducing with each other and instead..."
Heechul's eyes widened in realization. "I think I remembered hearing something like this!" He put a hand to his chin, trying to remember everything, "Sungmin was telling me about a book he read where they talked about something like this. It was one of the few things I ever read from the Bible. The Angels went down and took for themselves the daughters of men, and with them they created the Nephilim. And it was because of these Nephilim, impure creatures, that God sent the flood. I looked it up later. But the Angels had already fallen. It was in Genesis 6." (Check it out for yourself. It's in the Old Testament for those of you who don't know how a Bible works, near the beginning.)
Siwon smiled, "And you call yourself atheist?"
Heechul blushed, looking away, "Sungmin made me read that. And the idea was interesting. It doesn't mean I'm converting. Like you said, the Bible is interesting to read to see what crazy things human kind has come up with."
Siwon chuckled, "You don't need to get so defensive. I was only making a joke."
Heechul turned back to the Angel, "So the Nephilim and the Angels with the human women? Is that what you're talking about?"
"Something like that." Siwon shrugged, "But the Bible got a few things wrong. For one, souls can't reproduce. So there were no Nephilim, which means God wasn't angry, which means there was no flood. The Higher Ups just made sure we weren't allowed to interact with the Living in general. But we can still interact with the dead, and the half-living and other souls, along with inanimate objects."
"So whoever wrote that part was pretty good, but threw in some of his own stuff."
"Pretty much." Siwon shrugged, "Humans are very creative."
Heechul found himself yawning at this point. "Well, since you're here to protect me from these Shadows, does that mean I'll get a good night's sleep?" He crawled over to his pillow, grabbing Heebum who struggled as he was held tightly to his owner's chest.
Siwon got up and grabbed the blanket, "Yes. I'll protect you from anything."
Heechul sighed and looked up at his new Angel, "Even if one of those evil Demon things comes after me?"
"I think anything covers that." Siwon pulled the blanket over the man in the bed. He looked so innocent and sweet, almost childlike in that vulnerable state. "Good night, Heechul." He said quietly.
"Good night..." He replied tiredly.
"I love you, Heechul." The Angel whispered, but he had long fallen asleep.
-----
Heechul walked into the book store the next door, a bounce in his step. "Heeeeellooooooo Jongwoon." He greeted the shorter man by the register. "How's it going, Donghae?" He asked a man much younger than himself who was setting up a display as he passed. He was genuinely happy today.
Siwon raised an eyebrow behind him, "I didn't think you were so cheery, Heechul."
Not too irked, Heechul only whispered, "Don't talk to me in public. People will think I'm crazy." He refused to let it annoy him. Not even young student Henry, who was probably flirting with his girlfriend somewhere else, could get on his nerves (Normally he would yell at them telling Henry it wasn't professional to be acting like that around co-workers.)
"Heechul, people already think you're crazy." Sungmin said, approaching, "But you look great! I'm guessing you could actually sleep last night."
Heechul grinned widely, "YUP! The shadows have moved on! The sun has finally come through the clouds! Can you think of any more metaphors?"
Siwon liked seeing this new side of Heechul. But he had this strange feeling the shadows weren't quite done harassing his charge yet. That was not a metaphor.