"Why is everyone talking about you carrying Jisung over your shoulder? Is this some kind of rumour jealous teenagers make up or are you truly THAT stupid to do that openly?"
Once Chan heard two angels talking about this matter in the library, he immediately headed to their room, expecting to see Minho there. If not, he would most likely be in Jisung's room which would only confirm those rumours.
"What's the deal?" Minho just shrugged as he flipped the pages of some random magazine he took when Chan barged into their room, not really caring what it was about. Chan just frowned and tore the magazine from Minho's hands.
"Stop pretending to be reading this magazine about ... brewing tea. You know exactly what's the deal. If you stir up rumours about the two of you dating, it would put you through so much trouble. Not to mention you would also put Jisung in danger by doing so."
Minho sighed as he rubbed his eyes and then sat up from his position, looking Chan dead in the eye. The older boy looked truly furious about this matter — it was probably the most furious Minho has ever seen him. It irritated him a bit because it was not like he wanted to stir up any rumours and he felt as if Chan was blaming him for it.
"I think you are taking this too seriously, Chan," Minho sighed as he rubbed his temples, sensing that they are about to get into an argument. "It was just a playful gesture,"
"I don't think you know what you are doing, Minho," Chan said, frowning. He was visibly angry. "You have no idea what's in the game. You might take this as a playful gesture, a nice way of treating your friend — but once stories start to come upon the surface and the Kim family finds out, you are doomed. Jisung is doomed. This isn't about you anymore."
Minho sighed once again, feeling frustrated. "Hyung, how about you stop meddling in someone else's business."
"Are you fucking dense or what? I just told you that you are putting Jisung on the line here. Have you forgotten what has happened to me? Do you really want to put Jisung through this as well?"
Minho painfully closed his eyes as an image appeared in his head. It was a reminiscence of Chan getting his wings ripped away. That day was traumatic for both of them. For Chan as the one undergoing the humiliating process and Minho being the watcher. When the younger devil imagined Jisung in Chan's place, he felt a strong wave of emotions waver over him as he sank onto his seat, putting his head into his hands as he sighed, knowing that Chan was right. The older boy sat down next to him, soothingly patting his back.
"You are right," Minho admitted, "I cannot put him through unnecessary danger but ... "
"But what?" Chan raised his eyebrows, still rubbing his friend's back who did not dare to look up.
"What if he's already in danger because of someone else?"
☙
The day when they were leaving the Imperium came faster than any of them imagined. At first, it was supposed to be just the four of them but Changbin decided to tag along. Not that it was a problem, they appreciated the angel by their sides. He also justified his decision with the fact that he missed their human friends (as he already decided to call them that) and wanted to meet them, soon. Jisung understood him, though. The duo was very loveable and he missed them dearly as well.
Once they saw each other, Felix ran up to the older boy and when he was about to hug him, he realised he actually can't hug him. But it was too late so the blonde fell to the ground with a loud thud to which Jisung immediately answered with a burst of laughter before asking his best friend if he was okay. Felix nodded and returned back to Jeongin with embarrassment written all over his face as Jeongin was almost lying on the ground, laughing. Felix proceeded to hit him in the process.
Everyone was entertained by the youngest's laughing session. But Jisung noticed how Seungmin seemed out of it. He was quite restless and compared to the day when he agreed to this whole thing, he looked very nervous and unsure. The younger angel came up to him and hugged him from behind (a gesture he did quite often), putting his head on Seungmin's shoulder.
"You can still return back. Don't feel obligated to do this,"
Seungmin could sense the worry in his friend's voice, so he just smiled even though Jisung couldn't see it.
"Don't worry. It's just a lot to take in,"
Jisung nodded, understanding him. This is exactly how he felt when he appeared in the Imperium for the very first time. Scared, nervous, full of mistrust. He had no idea who he could trust — he thought it was some medication doctors put him on once they found him, that's why he was seeing things. But the very opposite is true. He wasn't crazy, not at all. Just most of the things he has ever thought about the afterlife were, actually, true.
Everyone fell silent shortly after, watching the moment between the two angels. That's when Jisung got an idea.
"How about we take you guys on a trip!" he giggled a bit, which a certain devil found completely adorable, as he pointed at the Namsan Tower that could be seen from the rooftop they were currently standing on at. Felix and Jeongin's eyes immediately lit up as they agreed with the idea. They signalled to Chan and Changbin to go with them, which left Jisung with Seungmin and Minho.
"Well," Jisung clasped his hands together as he looked at the two boys in front of him. This still felt surreal to Seungmin so he kept on looking around the whole time but he nodded excitedly. Minho just shrugged. He's been around the Namsan Tower many times so he didn't really see anything special in this. "At least we are the ones that won't have to pay for the tickets!"
Jisung grasped their hands and led them out of the building, trying to find a bus station from where they could easily get escorted to the area.
"Why can't we just teleport or stuff?" Minho asked, groaning as he looked at all the people waiting for their buses at the station, signalling that the bus is probably going to be pretty packed today.
"Because we are doing it the human way. It's been a while since I've gone by bus. I always rode my bike whenever I wanted to go somewhere," Jisung smiled, reminiscing the old days when he placed a bet with Jeongin on the fact that he won't be able to outride the 4419 bus with his almost fallen apart bike. But Jisung clenched his teeth and managed to do it. Jeongin was very shocked and had to pay for Jisung's lunch for the rest of the month.
"I thought cycling is supposed to make your legs stronger,"
"Wo ho ho, watch your mouth, pretty boy. Or else I am leaving you there in that ditch."
Minho just rolled his eyes, "Better being in a ditch than hanging out with a bitch,"
Jisung rolled up his sleeves, ready to jump him and beat the shit out of him but Seungmin was quick to react as he pulled Jisung to his side and pointed at the arriving bus. They were currently in the middle of the bus' route which meant they'd got plenty of time to talk as the Namsan Public Library stop was at least fifteen minutes away. They sat in the front since those were the seats no one ever sat on.
Jisung's planned talk did not go as planned since the shortest boy fell asleep as soon as he sat down, his head banging on the window. Seungmin couldn't do anything but laugh as he put his hand on Jisung's head and carefully put it on his shoulder. Minho, who was sitting in front of them, frowned a bit before averting his eyes towards the window, watching the beautiful scenery.
"I hope you have nice intentions," Seungmin suddenly said, catching Minho off-guard. He looked at him, confused. "You know, I still cannot fully trust you. I don't know what you plan on doing with Jisung but whatever it is, please, do not hurt him."
Minho frowned, "Why would I ever want to hurt him?"
"I don't know. One moment, you guys are about to fight each other and the other, I hear rumours about you carrying him around the campus like a bride with those ... how do the youngsters call it, heart eyes?"
Minho chuckled but Seungmin did not really seem to be in the mood for that. "Well, I can assure you that I won't hurt him. I know that you don't trust me at all — and you don't even have to but it is what it is. If I wanted to hurt him, I would have done it a long time ago, don't you think? When you weren't this involved in his life."
"I just ... I think he's that type of person that gets attached easily. And I don't want your tsundere personality to confuse him and then hurt him in the end."
"What do you mean? Why would my personality hurt him?" Seungmin just shook his head, signalling that he wants to drop the topic even though he was the one to bring it up in the first place. Minho noticed that and decided to drop the topic, just like the angel wanted. But maybe it would have been better if they stayed on that topic because the next one truly knocked the wind out of Seungmin.
"Do you know where Hyunjin is?" Minho asked, curious. He assumed his friend would tell him about his whereabouts but as each day passed, he started to lose his confidence in that even more. He doubted Seungmin would know anything considering his relationship with satan's son but it wouldn't hurt to try. He noticed how Seungmin dryly gulped which made him suspicious of the boy.
"Didn't he come back to his 'hometown'? I am pretty sure the people of your kind must have been happy to see him back," Seungmin shrugged, trying not to show any signs of how nervous he actually was. If you looked closer, you could actually see a drop of cold sweat travelling down his temple. Minho frowned but nodded.
"Mhm, that's right," Minho nodded, looking down at the sleeping boy that somehow turned around in his sleep and ended up cuddling Seungmin, who had his hands wrapped around him.
"Why did you ask?" Seungmin wondered, scanning Minho's expression for any sign of cognition. The devil just shook his head as he looked out of the window again.
Seungmin hated being reminded of the devil but a part of him couldn't help but feel worried for the boy since there was no trace of him and it was singlehandedly his fault. Maybe if he only told him to simply not get closer to him — no, he had to tell him to never show up in front of his eyes ever again. Did he blame himself? Yes. Even more with each day slowly passing by and Hyunjin still nowhere to be found. Just a small bit of information about if the devil was okay would put him at ease and he could finally sleep properly at night.
Soon after, they arrived at their stop, seeing the rest of the group already waiting for them. That meant they must have taken the earlier bus. Seungmin woke Jisung up who apologised for falling asleep. On his shoulder, even. The angel just laughed it off as he helped the shorter boy get off the bus as if he was drunk. Minho followed right behind them, watching their every step.
"You look drowsy," Changbin remarked upon seeing his roommate's state.
"Shut the fuck up,"
"Oh, wow!" Minho exclaims, "You once tell him his insults are vague and then he goes on a swearing spree, insulting everyone left and right."
"You, too. Shut the fuck up."