twelve hours » jaeseong

[two hours]

They ended up walking back to Jaeyoon's apartment, hands twined the whole time. They laid on the floor of his living room, the small lamp on his table providing the only illumination.

By now, Jaeyoon's secret and the acid were eating through his skin, begging to be released.

"Inseong," Jaeyoon said firmly. Too firmly. Inseong looked at him sideways. He couldn't back out now. "I haven't been completely truthful with you."

"I figured," Inseong said quietly, sounding like he was trying too hard to be calm. Jaeyoon was taken aback.

"What do you mean?"

"You always seemed like there were things you were thinking about in the back of your mind, like you were hiding something. And you turned up out of nowhere and I don't really know anything about you besides -" He broke off, looking away.

"Besides what?"

"All the things that can make you fall in love with a person without thinking about it." Inseong pressed his lips together, like he was trying not to cry. Jaeyoon was bewildered by the way Inseong's face crumpled. Inseong let out a shaking sigh, a tendril of ghostly pink curling from his lips.

"I didn't turn up out of nowhere. I've been living here for three years." Jaeyoon knew he was dancing around the truth, and Inseong's narrowed eyes said that he knew, too.

"Where did you live before?" Inseong said so quietly that it didn't even sound like a question.

"A place that mortals don't know exist." Jaeyoon felt a weight lift off his shoulders even as his heart sank.

"Wait - mortals? What are you talking about?" Inseong sat up, and Jaeyoon did too, trying to tell him to be calm with his gaze.

"I'm not mortal," Jaeyoon said gently, and Inseong looked so confused and scared that Jaeyoon's heart started to break.

"Then what are you?" He asked shrilly.

"I'm what's called amorini. We're immortals that work for what you'd know as Cupid. We get sent down to the mortal plane to make two people fall in love."

Inseong squeezed his eyes closed. "That explains why it seemed like you were hiding something," he muttered. Jaeyoon watched him carefully, waiting for the explosion.

"You were part of my mission," Jaeyoon said, still waiting. Waiting.

"What was your mission? And where do you come from? Are there others like you? How old are you? Just - what?"

"I come from the Coelum plane, which is where love reigns. Agape is "Cupid" and I work for him, and there's about as many amorini as mortals. There's a million other planes, too, but I mostly spend time here and in Coelum," Jaeyoon explained. "I'm a few centuries old, but I stopped aging when I turned twenty, like most amorini."

"So, you live in heaven?" Inseong asked, opening his eyes and staring right at Jaeyoon.

"Not exactly, but Coelum is remarkably similar to heaven. Mortals don't go there when they die, though. They go either to Asphodel or Elysium. If they've been horrible human beings, they get reincarnated as something that's known as mortia, and they're miserable creatures." Jaeyoon shuddered.

"How do I believe you?" Inseong asked.

"I thought you did." Jaeyoon blinked.

"For being centuries old, you sure are gullible. Just because you seem to know a lot doesn't mean I automatically believe you." But Jaeyoon sensed something that puzzled him - a willingness to believe.

"I guess I can show you something," Jaeyoon said, a little thrill going through him. He stood up and began taking off his shirt.

"Whoa, what are you doing?" Inseong exclaimed. Jaeyoon laughed a tiny bit.

"It's okay. I'm going to show you my wings."

"Your what?"

But Jaeyoon had already thrown his shirt to the side and concentrated on peeling away the glamour on his wings. As it fell away, his entire body seemed to sigh and then his wings were finally free again, unfurling from his back just the way they were supposed to.

Inseong swore as Jaeyoon wiggled his shoulders a bit, frowning at how his feathers seemed a little ruffled. His shoulders were already beginning to ache.

"Oh my God. Is this real?" Inseong stood, hand reaching out.

"Of course." Jaeyoon wrapped his wings around himself so he wouldn't trash his apartment. Inseong's fingers brushed his feathers and he jumped back. Then he touched Jaeyoon's wing again. His fingertips were so gentle; they felt heavenly as they explored Jaeyoon's folded wingspan. Then, suddenly, Inseong's hands were flat on his chest and they were staring at each other, eyes huge and dark.

"You're so beautiful," Inseong breathed.

"No, no, you are beautiful. I have never seen a mortal like you before," Jaeyoon insisted. Blushes colored the cheeks of both boys as they drank each other in - they couldn't get enough.

"Wait, wait," Inseong said abruptly. "What was your mission?"

Jaeyoon's wings instinctively drew tighter around his body.

"I shouldn't tell you...especially because I have already failed it."

"Tell me!" Inseong pleaded.

"I was supposed to make you fall in love with Youngbin," Jaeyoon admitted, looking away because he couldn't bear to look upon the reaction. He glanced at the clock. "And I have two hours to do it."

He risked a look at Inseong, who looked stricken.

"But Youngbin and I are just friends! I don't want to be in love with him!" Inseong's eyes were suspiciously bright.

"I don't want you to be in love with him either," Jaeyoon whispered. He wished his heart would hurry up and finish breaking. It was like a shipwreck in his chest.

"Do you have to do your mission?" Inseong asked desperately.

"If I don't, I die."

"No," Inseong whispered. "I don't want you to die, make me fall in love with Youngbin, please -"

"I can't do that! It hurts, why does it hurt so much?" Jaeyoon asked angrily. "I'm too selfish, I want me and only me to love you. Only you."

"Well, then I'm selfish too. Because I want to love you and only you." Inseong's eyes were full of something desperate and sad. "But I don't want you to die." Tears danced in his eyelashes and Jaeyoon's own eyes began to burn. He unfurled his wings and stepped forward, putting his arms around Inseong.

"I've been alive for so long," Jaeyoon said. "And forever loses its appeal when that forever is based on something you can't have. But I do have it, with you."

Inseong's shoulders shook against Jaeyoon's body, and he wrapped his wings around the other boy.

"Don't say that," Inseong choked out.

"I wish I were mortal. Because then forever would mean something, because I'd be able to spend it with you."

"Please stop, you're making me sad."

Jaeyoon half-smiled. "If there's one thing I've learned about mortals, it's that they're resilient. You'll move on from me."

"No I won't!" Inseong cried, voice getting cut off as the clock chimed midnight.

"One hour," Jaeyoon said, words heavier than the echoing silence and the pain in his heart.

One hour.

a/n: whoops i was gonna publish this earlier but i forgot jfc. ive had this written for so long that i forgot its not completed >:(
anyway im off to stan 24k please save my soul