Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Beomgyu hated not many things but one thing he hated the most was demons. Being possibly one of the only human beings who could see them made many people think he was insane. Though most things that he could see were just trying to live calmly and return to their world, he still couldn’t stand them. 

So when he saw a crowd of blooded faces walk past the cafe he almost spilled the drink he was making. Beomgyu tried to ignore the mob but more of them continued to walk past. He finished the drink he was making and called out the order.

“Order 59! Iced caramel macchiato!”

A red-haired male walked up and grabbed his drink with a simple “thank you”. Beomgyu responded with a smile as he watched the male walk through the mob, coincidentally not hitting any of them. He moved from the counter to the back room and took off his apron. 

He sat down and let out a sigh of relief at the thought of his shift ending in a few minutes. He opened up his phone to see two new notifications.

yeonjunnie: im going out to eat do you wanna come?

yeonjunnie: after your shift

Beomgyu thought about his music theory essay due in three days before responding.

beomie: yea we can go in a little bit ive got to drop smt off at my cousin’s place first

yeonjunnie: k tell hyunjoo ah i said hi

He stood up and left making sure to let Jin hyung know, after what happened last time he didn’t. He looked left to right for both cars and otherworldly creatures before crossing the street to his cousin’s apartment complex. Taking the stairs to the fourth floor and knocking on the fourth door on the floor. Beomgyu waited for a minute before the door was opened and in front of him was a short pink-haired girl who was currently holding a knife to his face. The girl seemed to calm down once seeing who it was.

“Beomgyu.” She said in a relieved tone and invited him inside.

“Hyunjoo did you always greet me with a knife?” Beomgyu asked sarcastically.

Hyunjoo slapped him in the arm before walking to the kitchen.

 “Do you want something to drink?” She shouted.

“Just water.”

Beomgyu rummaged through his bag and pulled out a silver lock necklace. Hyunjoo returned a few minutes later, water in hand. He handed her the necklace as she sat down on the soft carpet.

“Is there a reason behind the knife and necklace?” He asked seriously.

“I’m putting a protection spell on the necklace for Aeri.” She replied

“The knife?” Beomgyu asked again.

“You’ve noticed the increase of…. you know what recently, right?”

“Yeah, I saw a mob of them at work. Why?” He took a sip of his water.

“Well, whatever or whoever is causing this knows we can see them.”

Beomgyu almost choked on his water. “What?” He asked through coughs “Did something happen?”

“It wasn’t exactly an attack since I can only feel them but they were definitely following me when I left work the other day.” She turned to look at him “So be careful cause I’m pretty sure more of them are presenting as human.”

Though she didn’t thoroughly say it Beomgyu understood what she was saying. He could see them better than she could but he hardly felt their energies. If more of them were learning how to present as humans it would make Beomgyu’s day-to-day life harder. Beomgyu sighed as he grabbed his bag and got up from the couch.

“Okay, thanks for the warning. I’ll get going now. Yeonjun wants to eat out today.”

“Be careful, I don’t have the funds to pay for your funeral, my apartment, and college tuition.” 

She waved at him from the floor as he opened the door. He chuckled a little at the statement. Death was a big joke to the two, both knowing that they could be killed any moment or sent to the hospital while having a nice conversation with death itself. Beomgyu hated the fact that Hyunjoo had chosen to live on the fourth floor, especially in an apartment building that did not have an elevator. But he knew that with all the creatures that roamed the (cheap) building, it was the safest floor. He passed ghastly ghouls, beautiful elves, and lost spirits.

When successfully passing all of them he began to head back to his apartment. The walk from Hyunjoo’s apartment to his own was long and tiring. Moments like these made him wish he had a car. He decided to stop for a bit and enjoy the scenery of cars, lampposts, buildings, and the slowly darkening sky. It was perfect for a photo. Beomgyu pulled out his phone and opened the camera app.

He was getting ready to take a photo when someone ran into him. He turned to see who it was. A seemingly frightened tall blonde boy simply stared at Beomgyu and looked behind him. Beomgyu looked as well and suddenly understood why the boy was running. Behind the blonde stood a 7-foot demon who had six arms that held clumps of what seemed to be cotton. Regret quickly built up inside of him as he made eye contact with the demon. 

The blonde spun to face Beomgyu when he noticed the creature's attention had been placed onto him. The boy spoke a simple  “Run” in an urgent tone. Beomgyu did as he was told and ran down the street not caring if people thought he was insane. He could hear the fast steps of the demon chasing him as he mindlessly turned the corner. 

The alley soon turned into a maze of gray and his heavy breaths. The six-armed demon continued to chase him down, at some point it learned to talk. Loud yet quiet “You can’t run forever little one” and “It’ll never end”s came from its non-existent mouth. Despite its horrid appearance, its voice was silvery, honeyed, yet disordered. 

This made Beomgyu’s situation worse as the now soft comforting voice made him want to fall asleep and let his tired legs rest. However, he knew couldn’t. Yeonjun’s voice came in to quietly remind him that demons were cruel, worse than any creature out there and he’d be better off walking into a faerie’s mushroom ring. The thought of Yeonjun made his stomach growl at the fact that if he hadn't stopped he’d probably be eating at some fast-food restaurant instead of running for his life.

Then he tripped. He hit the floor with a thud before trying to get up. While trying to get his legs to move he heard the demon slowly creep upon him. Shit. Get the fuck up Choi! He yelled to himself as he tried to do something to prolong his life. The demon was now hovering over him. When he said death was a joke to him he meant it but he wouldn’t have imagined he’d die in such a pathetic way. It ran its clawed hand down Beomgyu’s back, ripping the thin fabric and pale skin. He didn’t scream or shout in pain and agony, he didn’t feel any pain.

It wasn’t that he couldn’t feel pain, more like the demon was making him not feel the pain. He only felt the blood drip from the wound. He was picked up by it and turned to face its horrid face. Its claws pressed into his sides just enough to pierce through the skin and let the rose-colored liquid fall on the floor. Soon after there was a scream of agony that came not from Beomgyu’s mouth but the demon’s non-existent one. 

He was released from its grip and fell onto what felt like a soft cushion. As he fell he spotted a head of red and the same blonde from earlier. The blonde was checking to see if the demon was dead while the red was calmly speaking on the phone and describing Beomgyu’s condition. Fuck was all Beomgyu thought remembering once more that he was meant to be eating out with Yeonjun. 

The redhead asked him something but Beomgyu had already blacked out.

Chapter Text

It’s been five days since Beomgyu was discharged from the hospital. He’d been properly stitched up, bandaged, and scolded by Yeonjun. And now he only had one thing on his mind. Who were the blonde and red-haired boys, could they also see things as he could? He sighed as he left the library after searching for the two all day.

Any normal person would’ve given up by now but Beomgyu was extremely stubborn and not normal. So with a heavy heart, he sat himself down at a cafeteria table and ate his food, waiting for Yeonjun to finish up with his class. He stuffed his mouth with the crappy college cafeteria food all whilst looking for a head of blonde or red.

Not long after Yeonjun walked into the cafeteria. He seemed to be talking to a tall, blue-haired male. Beomgyu waved his hand in Yeonjun’s direction to get his attention. Successfully doing so the two quickly grabbed their lunch and made their way to Beomgyu’s table. The taller male sat down beside Yeonjun and waved a little at Beomgyu.

“Who’s this?” Beomgyu asked.

“Soobin. Choi Soobin nice to meet you…” The male, Soobin said.

“Choi Beomgyu and what’s with the formal introduction? Are you and Yeonjun-hyung dating or something?” He queried the last part aloud while getting a better look at Soobin, noting that he resembled a bunny of some sort.

Yeonjun reached over the table and slapped his arm. “No, we’re not, dumbass. Soobin just moved here while you were sulking in the hospital and we became friends.”

Beomgyu glanced between the older males until his gaze landed on Soobin. “You chose Yeonjun-hyung to be friends with?” He asked. “You know that he's like, really annoying right?”

This caused Soobin to laugh a little. “I actually tried to hide from him but I guess my hair kinda gave me away.”

“Oi, don’t say that Soobinnie, you looked like a lost child and I felt like I needed to help you.” Yeonjun turned his attention to Beomgyu “Anyways, did you find your red-haired hero who saved your ass the other day?”

Beomgyu leaned in and whispered “Talk later, content unknown to new guy.” into Yeonjun’s ear.

“Oh okay good to see he’s in good health.” Yeonjun tried to play it off and it seemed to work since Soobin’s confused and suspicious look disappeared.

“Hey Soobin, what’s your major?” Beomgyu changed the topic.

The conversation between the three went on until it was time for Beomgyu’s next class. He said his goodbyes and started walking to his music theory class in the east wing. 

+x+

The walk was longer than most times but Beomgyu decided to blame it on the overcast clouds and the uneasiness he’d been feeling since the incident. The number of times he had to convince the doctors that the injuries weren’t self-inflicted was enough to tell him that whatever was after people like him was trying to at least keep their world a secret. 

He got to his class five minutes early. Nothing was really out of the ordinary, he felt somewhat safe in the classroom. No way they would just suddenly attack here, right? He thought as he sat down. Deciding to kick out his paranoid thoughts for a little bit and focus on his class, he started to take notes. While doing so he almost missed the ruckus that a familiar blonde boy had started.

“You’re late.” His professor stated and gestured to the boy to take a seat before continuing the lesson.

Beomgyu completely forgot about his half-written notes, eyes now stuck between the blonde and the clock waiting for class to be over so he could thank the boy. The sound of the ticking clock was soon interrupted by his professor ending the class.

Beomgyu quickly packed his things and looked for the boy, only to find that he had disappeared. He left the room, looking through the crowd of students, and was met with nothing. Sighing and deciding to look for the boy the next day, he pulls out his phone.

beomie: heyyy hyung wanna eat out today? 

He waited a minute or two before Yeonjun replied.

yeonjunnie: idk last time you ended up in the hospital

beomie: just pick me up i don’t feel like cooking today

yeonjunnie: you don’t even cook

yeonjunnie: coming in like 10-15 cause soobin’s coming.

Beomgyu put his phone up after smiling at the message. He continued walking and turned the corner. Letting go of the breath he was holding at the sight of no monster ready to break his neck or something else. His unease didn’t come from nothing, it came from the numerous times he was jumped by a low-class ghost or demon with the occasional faerie. So he gladly welcomed the new feeling of relief.

The walk was peaceful. The sound of conversations from both the living and the dead never failed to make him feel safe, these little things reminded him he was still alive and breathing. 

Eventually, his walk came to an end when Yeonjun’s car pulled into the view. The car honked and Beomgyu hurried over to go inside, taking the back seat. Yeonjun was fixing up his newly dyed black hair and Soobin was scrolling through his phone. 

It still felt weird having someone else in the car especially since the two had just met earlier but if Yeonjun took a liking to Soobin, Beomgyu would try to too. He didn’t want to be a reason as to why Yeonjun hardly made friends despite being fairly popular. 

“Where’re we eating at?” He asked.

“A nearby ramen place Soobin recommended.”

Beomgyu nodded at that and turned his attention to the window. A new song began to play the lyrics went along the lines of 

I miss the warm hands that embraced me. I can do it, can you wait please?

Beautiful lyrics, really. Beomgyu wondered if the writer had felt the emotions that the simple song had enveloped him in. More importantly, he wondered what he could do with the new yet old feeling. Before he could spiral down the black hole of his thoughts the car stopped. He opened the car door and took in the sight of the place.

It was a small building that sat on the opposite side of a big shopping center. The building was built in traditional minka architecture with wooden walls, some of which had been graffitied with beautiful flowers. The sign that hovered above the door read “Golden Ramen” in both Japanese and Korean. His awe was soon replaced with horror at the sight of the ghost that was currently crawling towards him looking a lot like the girl from the ring. 

He jumped away from the ghost, getting a strange look from Yeonjun. Gosh how much he hated being the only one who could see these terrifying creatures. Brushing it off he entered the building with Soobin in the lead. The interior was more modern with booths, a bar table and light bulbs that hung freely from the ceiling. 

Soobin left them to converse with someone behind the counter while a waitress brought them to a table at the back of the small restaurant.

“Good evening, what would you like to drink?” The waitress looked no older than seventeen.

“Um..” Beomgyu flipped through the drinks menu “Just a water.”

“Make it two.” Yeonjun said after.

The waitress nodded and disappeared behind the counter. Soobin returned not long after taking the empty seat next to Yeonjun. 

“Who were you talking to?” Yeonjun asked.

“The new owners. Apparently the old ones moved three months ago.”

“What do you recommend?” Beomgyu asked, still flipping through the menu.

“The ramen but the fried rice is also a big contender.” Soobin ran a hand through his vibrant hair.

“Y'know completely off-topic where did you get your hair dyed? It looks so natural.” 

“I.. dyed it…at home. Impulsively.” Soobin answered hesitantly.

Beomgyu didn’t question him only because the waitress had come to take their order. Their ramen arrived twenty minutes later, partially interrupting the heated argument of whether mint chocolate was good or not between Beomgyu and Yeonjun (Soobin ended the argument taking Beomgyu’s side). The conversation slowly changed from school, childhood, food, careers to finally future endeavors. Three split the bill to not cause another argument of who would pay. 

They thanked the workers for the food and left for Yeonjun’s car. Beomgyu caught a glimpse of the ghost from earlier, still crawling on the ground near the entrance. He quickly entered the car, hoping the ghost had not seen him. Yeonjun turned the engine on while Soobin picked a song. Something that Beomgyu learned about Soobin was that he for one was shy and didn’t talk much, only hopping in once in a while and two is that he was…weird. It wasn’t a bad type of weird. More so a new and refreshing type. 

Maybe this’ll be a good thing. Beomgyu thought.

+x+

They had dropped Soobin off at his apartment and spent the rest of the night jamming to random songs on the radio. After an extra hour of just driving around aimlessly, Yeonjun pulled into their apartment complex. It was nearing midnight, the best time for otherworldly creatures to roam. Lucky number or not, the floor Beomgyu’s apartment was on was still filled with these creatures. Fortunately, none of them seemed to be looking for him. Or so it seemed. 

Upon opening their apartment door the first thing Yeonjun did was scream at the sight. Their apartment had been trashed. The couch was torn up, the table flipped and broken, and fluff from Yeonjun’s delicately chosen pillows decorated the floor.

The first thing Beomgyu noticed was the two men who stood in the middle of the mess, the bodies that sat tied up, and how the shorter man standing next to the blonde was significantly more familiar. The first thing he said or more so yelled was a name he’d never thought he’d say again.

“Kang Taehyun!”

Chapter Text

Their eyes locked for a moment before the rope keeping the bodies in place began to unfurl. The first red-eyed ghost jumped onto the blonde, pinning him to the floor. The second had found its way to Beomgyu. It was a disturbing sight. Dried blood fell from the puncture wound that rested on the young ghost’s heart, teeth were black and decaying, eyes were not the red of a vengeful spirit but the foggy black of a lost, forgotten, and hopeless one. It horrified him as much as it saddened him. Yeonjun was lucky that he couldn’t see these horrors. 

Shit he thought, Yeonjun was still behind him and if he didn’t move fast they would both die. In a swift move he found the charm that sat in his pocket. An old gift but it would work on a ghost like this. He took a step back, raised the sword-like charm, and dug it straight into the ghost’s death mark. Its screams were like those of a banshee’s, high and ear-shattering. The ghost’s form disappeared into a black fog and floated into nothingness.

Behind the now nonexistent fog stood an amused Taehyun. Beomgyu merely rolled his eyes at the sight. Right now his attention should be on the red-eyed ghost that was tied up in a golden rope held by the blonde or maybe it should be on his hyung who wore a ‘what the fuck just happened’ expression. The look was soon spoken out with a scream accompanying it. Beomgyu assumed it came from the demon’s new presence.

+x+

“Okay, let me get this straight.” Yeonjun paced around the room “You saved a demon, said demon is now indebted to you.”

“The demon has a name.” The now cherry-headed demon grumbled from his spot on the couch.

Yeonjun ignored him and continued. “Demon left and suddenly reappears in your apartment.” He stood still for the first time in the past thirty minutes. “Oh and also there’s a strange evil entity that wants people who can see these…things, more specifically you, dead.”

“Yep, that about sums it up.” Beomgyu said as if it was an average life story.

“Oh.. my god.” Yeonjun plopped down next to Huening Kai, the blonde.

Beomgyu questioned Taehyun and Kai minutes after Yeonjun had screamed. Huening Kai was an Angel. Not the kind that would describe a person but quite literally. The angel was on the track of becoming an archangel when he was thrown out of whatever place he was born in. The reason was quite stupid in Beomgyu’s opinion. Kai had been too kind for the angels' likings, helping anyone and everyone, including devils and demons. Sometime during Taehyun’s time away he ran into the struggling Angel and offered a hand. The two have been together ever since.

“Is this what she meant about demons? That fucking witch!” Yeonjun whisper-shouted to no one in particular.

“You shouldn’t call someone a witch.” Huening Kai told the older.

“Don’t worry about, his moms an actual witch. She works with the fae kind and has a personal grudge against demons.” Beomgyu explained. 

Taehyun sat up, expression still unreadable yet the atmosphere felt tenser. “I had my reasons.” He didn’t state what he was referring to but everyone knew. Especially Beomgyu.

“Mm, I’m sure you did.” He replied dryly.

Taehyun didn’t respond, he just continued to stare at the empty space in front of him. An unpleasant silence started to creep into the ruined living room. It almost made Beomgyu feel bad but it didn’t. He wasn’t going to cave too quickly, he was older now, knew who he could trust and rely on, and Taehyun wasn’t on that list anymore.

Kai cleared his throat, breaking the silence and getting everyone's attention. “We should do something about him.” He tugged at the golden rope releasing a growl from the spirit.

He was less gruesome-looking than the one Beomgyu had sent off. A simple bullet hole adorned the left side of its skull. It wasn’t much compared to the many that he’d seen but the spirit’s death must have hurt due to the vibrant red hue his eyes were. It growled again.

“You’re so lucky you can’t see them, hyung.” 

Yeonjun replied with a shaky “yeah” and averted his gaze from the space that would’ve held the ghost. “You guys should…get rid of..it. I’ve got a morning class at 8 and I kinda want to get some sleep.” 

Beomgyu nodded and Yeonjun left for his torn-up room. It wasn’t as bad as his own. His bedsheets were shredded, the mattress was the same, closet door ajar, yet his homework sat in a stack perfectly fine (guess the ghosts valued education). He assumed his room had been the first target and upon not finding him they left for Yeonjun’s then the living room before being caught. He turned back to the culprit of the apartment's broken state. 

“Hey. Tell us why you’re here.” 

He waited. Its reply was another growl. If it had been any other day Beomgyu would have felt and let it be but it wasn’t. He had just technically killed a ghost and his apartment was a wreck that would cost triple the rent. Not to mention he still had work in eight hours. To sum it up Beomgyu was pissed.

“Look, I know you can talk, you were human so tell us before I send you off like I did with your friend.” He played with the charm. 

It wavered in its movements. It had a purpose for still wandering their world, it couldn’t go now. Is what Beomgyu thought the male spirit was thinking. 

“He’d kill him if I’d ended your life.” He muttered.

Right, Beomgyu thought Vengeful spirit. 

“Who would?” Taehyun butted in.

“I can’t tell you. It’d break the contract.”

Taehyun stood up, surprising everyone in the room. He walked over to the spirit slowly, each step seemed a bit too long. When he reached the spirit he crouched down to his level and made eye contact. The red disappeared as the black from his horns seeped into his hair. His left hand now faded black, held the spirit’s chin. 

It was a terrifying situation to be in for both sides. Every creature from outside of Beomgyu’s world knew of Taehyun, death’s right-hand man. He would arrive moments before you left the world behind and bring you to the couple who’d decide your fate. Or he would hunt wandering spirits who brought harm to others and send them off without their meeting with death.

Beomgyu had seen these acts multiple times. Taehyun had taught him what the charm was and how to use it. He hated to admit it but if it weren’t for the demon he wouldn’t be alive. With the exception of when he left of course.

“Breaking the contract would be much better than the alternative.” 

The spirit didn’t say anything. Rather it didn’t have the time to as it turned into black dust with an ear-shattering scream. Taehyun cursed as he fell to sit on the floor. 

“Now what do we do? We lost our only lead to whoever’s doing this.” Kai said exasperatedly as he rolled up the golden rope and turned it into a feather. 

“He was a ticking time bomb. We should’ve been quicker.” Taehyun ran a hand through his hair.

Beomgyu sighed. He felt their anger too but he was tired and had work in a couple of hours. Plus he didn’t want to be in Taehyun’s presence anymore, he was getting too comfortable and he was supposed to hate him. 

“I’m gonna get some sleep. I have work in the morning. You two can theorize or whatever.” He left the room before anyone could object. 

He cringed when he laid down on the mattress. Who would’ve thought his night had started at a nice restaurant with Soobin and Yeonjun? 

Chapter Text

Yeonjun woke up around 6:30 to the sound of clattering. Clattering at 6 am could have been anything at this point. A literal demon and angel sat in his torn-up living room, for all he knows they could be looking for a snack. His theory was quickly proven wrong when a series of thuds and clangs came from wherever the first did.

At first, Yeonjun didn’t do anything about it, wanting to sleep more. Then he thought about the consequences that could come from not helping a being of the supernatural. Reluctantly he got out of bed to investigate.

Opening his bedroom door he spotted the blonde angel sprawled out on the couch fast asleep. And the demon was nowhere to be found. He quietly snuck past the sleeping angel and the wall dividing the kitchen and the living room. He quickly scanned the area to find it empty. There was no Kang Taehyun, no monster he couldn’t see, no mess from the previous night.

The pots that had been thrown around were placed neatly in their spots. Though whoever cleaned the room up was not some god because the broken plates and utensils were only swept up and tossed in the trash can. Nonetheless, Yeonjun was grateful for the act.

Walking back to his room he makes sure to grab a blanket and place it over Huening Kai. He went to do the same with Beomgyu only to find that he was already wrapped up in one. Once he made sure the others were comfortable he went to his bed. Falling into the mattress and engulfing himself in the thin blanket he starts to fall back asleep. He jolts back up when his alarm goes off.

Groaning in frustration he gets back out of bed and heads to the bathroom, hoping it too wasn’t a wreck. Thankfully it was still intact. He looks into the mirror to part his black hair. Yeonjun wasn’t the superstitious type but his mother was. He liked his pink hair and would’ve preferred to keep it but her constant pestering of how he stood out too much finally made him dye it a dark shade of black. She seemed content with it since the calls and texts stopped soon after. 

The witch is really something. Yeonjun thought while he covered his dark circles with concealer. Taking one last look at himself in the mirror he heads back to his room. Once he’s back he slides back the curtain that stood in for a door. His clothes were still intact, it seemed that the ghosts at least had a thing for fashion. 

He took out a white shirt and black jeans. He tucked in his shirt and pulled a black jacket over it. Rummaging through his mess of a room he found his jewelry box somewhat undamaged. He put on a pair of studs before grabbing his bag and heading out at 7:26, making a mental note to grab something to eat on the way there.

Yeonjun entered his car and turned the engine on before his phone started ringing. He took a look at the contact name and picked up.

“Hello?” He asked.

“Good morning Oppa. Do you have morning classes today?” Hyunjoo’s voice came from the phone.

“Yeah. Did you need something?” He put the call in speaker mode and started driving.

“No, I was just wondering if you and Gyu oppa need anything from the store since I’m out with Aeri unnie right now.” There was some rummaging on her side of the call. “He texted me last night that your apartment got trashed.”

“Unless you’re willing to buy all of our furniture then I think I’m good. You’ll have to ask Beomgyu about this later.” 

“I can’t do that but I’ll pitch in.” More rummaging came from her side and Yeonjun could hear a quiet “J-joo ah, but this too.” In the background.

“Hyunjoo you really don’t have to.” He pulled into the campus parking lot.

“Mm, but I want to. Oh, unnie say hi to oppa.” There was a bit of shuffling as the phone was passed. “Good morning Yeonjun oppa.” Aeri’s usual playful tone replaced Hyunjoo’s more relaxed one.

“Good morning.” Yeonjun replied, “I’ll have to end the call I’ve got class soon.”

“Oh okay,” A series of giggles fell from who he assumed was Hyunjoo. “Bye! Have a good day!” Hyunjoo’s voice ended the call.

Yeonjun silently laughed at the younger two before leaving the warmth of his car. The cold breeze continued to bat at his face, messing his hair up a bit and giving him a natural blush. He’d never been more thankful for the warmth of his maths classroom. He took a seat in one of the middle rows and pulled out a pencil and his phone. He still had five minutes before class officially started but almost everyone added an extra five seeing as their professor was always late.

His blue-haired friend quickly rushed into the room. He looked around letting out a sigh of relief when there was no professor. Soobin ran up the steps and sat in the seat next to Yeonjun. Just as he was about to say something their professor walked in, apologized, and started to teach. A couple minutes into the lesson Soobin passed a sticky note to Yeonjun. The note read: I didn’t get to eat anything this morning, know any places nearby? 

+x+

The two now sat at a small nearby cafe. Yeonjun would’ve gone to ‘Jamais Vu’ but he wasn’t sure if Beomgyu had brought Taehyun and Huening Kai along with him. He didn’t feel like introducing the two to Soobin. This cafe wasn’t bad for being new, it was fairly popular on campus.

Yeonjun sipped on his iced americano while Soobin snacked on a cream-filled bun and wrote down some notes. There was occasional small talk between the two. The silence wasn’t too uncomfortable or loud, the sounds of city traffic drowning it out. But Yeonjun was getting a bit bored and he could tell Soobin was too, with how he was half hazardously writing stuff down for his next class.

“There’s a park not too far from here, we could go on a walk instead of this weird study session.” Yeonjun suggested.

“Yeah, that’ll be nice.” Soobin answered, quickly putting his supplies up.

Yeonjun threw away his cup and rushed outside where Soobin was waiting for him. He started to lead the way. Again they made casual small talk which eventually led up to Yeonjun’s terrible love life of two partners. Soobin had 25 minutes until his next class and Yeonjun wanted to show him the quiet, secret parts of the park. 

The first was a small field of cornflowers hidden behind a stage that hadn’t been used in years. Beomgyu had found this place when he was a senior in high school, and brought Yeonjun to it a couple of years ago during a breakdown, the first time he heard of his first love. Yeonjun spent a few minutes trying to teach Soobin how to make flower crowns before giving up and taking him to the next spot.

This one he had found himself. An old abandoned, ivy-covered house from the Joseon Dynasty. It was probably built in the 1400s with the way it was hardly standing. The ivy crept up the walls and wrapped around the pillars. The house was oddly comforting and maybe it was because he found this place after his girlfriend of six months broke up with him. He didn’t tell Soobin about that part though having already told him about his high school boyfriend.

Twenty minutes passed by too quickly for Yeonjun’s liking. He enjoyed hanging out with friends but he let Soobin go without complaining too much. He waved goodbye as Soobin drove away and was now left with 45 minutes of waiting for his next class. He walked around and fed some stray cats.

Whilst doing so the wind started to pick up, making tiny tornadoes out of leaves. Suddenly the cold felt more evident than before and the cats ran before he could give them the last few pieces. A shadow slowly crept over him. He turned around ready to throw a punch but instead he fell from his crouching position.

“Fuck!” He let slip along with a sigh of relief when Soobin only laughed and sat down next to him. “You scared the shit out of me, I thought you had class.”

“It got canceled, she had a family emergency as soon as class started. Didn’t mean to scare you though.” Soobin said apologetically.

In the distance, Yeonjun heard his name being called out. He turned his head in the general direction and lo and behold Beomgyu was running towards him, Taehyun and Kai not far behind. Beomgyu held an object in his hand and threw it at Yeonjun when he reached them. The object was a small sword charm resembling the one Beomgyu had that was now attached to a silver chain and hung around his neck. Except this one had a sheath containing the blade.

“Oh hi Soobin hyung,” Beomgyu panted “Soobin this is Kang Taehyun and Huening Kai, Taehyun, Kai this is Choi Soobin.”

The two waved and sat down, not nearly as out of breath as Beomgyu. Taehyun pulled Beomgyu down with him, receiving a frustrated look.

“Um hi Kang and Huening ssi.” Soobin bowed his head slightly.

“Just Taehyun is fine. Kai, why don’t you  go get us something to snack on.” He was clearly hinting at something.

“Kai, you should also bring Soobin with you since you don’t know what he likes.” Beomgyu added. 

“Um yeah, let’s get going Soobin ssi.” He awkwardly chuckled and got up.

They were definitely hiding something. Soobin gave the trio a questioning look and then gave Yeonjun the same. Yeonjun sighed. Gosh, these idiots.  

“Kai just got here yesterday and doesn’t know the area too well and doesn’t know you well either. It'll be a good time to get to know each other.” Yeonjun attempted to clean up their mess.

Surprisingly it worked because Soobin got up and started following Kai to a nearby convenience store. When they turned the corner Yeonjun moved his gaze to the pair who sat in front of him.

“What the fuck jus-“ He started before getting interrupted.

“We’ve figured out who it is.”  Beomgyu blurted out quickly. Upon seeing Yeonjun’s confused face he began to elaborate. “The people who are trying to kill me showed up while I was at work. A female vampire and male demon.”

Yeonjun wished he was drinking something, right now would’ve been his perfect chance to dramatically spit it out in shock. But alas, he didn’t, he could only let the words sink in before shouting out a “What!” a bit too loudly for his liking. 

He’s heard about the ghosts, fae, and demons but never has Beomgyu ever mentioned vampires. 

Chapter Text

One hour ago

“Order 43!”

Taehyun heard the man at the counter yell out. The cafe was packed and Taehyun began to understand why Beomgyu was so hesitant to let them go with him. But he knew that the possibility of one of them not being human was high. He sipped on his caramel macchiato, one of the few coffees that he liked while Kai sipped on his grape smoothie.

Among the workers behind the counter was Beomgyu. He finished making the coffee in his hand then looked up into the crowd before he spotted Taehyun and Kai’s corner near the back. He raised both his hands at them, Taehyun tilted his head in confusion as a response. Beomgyu pointed to the clock and started raising each finger like he was counting. Taehyun could only assume what he meant before Beomgyu went back to work.

His shift ends at ten or he has a break in ten minutes. He thought. He looked at the clock to see that it was way past ten, leaving hopefully the second answer. It turned out to be a mixture of both. Beomgyu shuffled past the other workers into what Taehyun assumed was a employee-only room and gestured for the two to follow him in. 

Once they were in the room Beomgyu shut the door and sighed into the chair he sat in. 

“I didn’t think that humans would work for such a short amount of time.” Taehyun walked around taking in the small employee room.

“We don’t, I agreed to cover half of Heeseung’s shift.” He looked at his watch. “He should be coming any second now then we can leave.”

“Heeseung?” Taehyun questioned. It seemed that Beomgyu had met quite a lot of people during his time away.

“Guys something’s off.” Kai interrupted their conversation.

Taehyun shifted his attention from Beomgyu to the now very obvious ominous feeling in the air. Beomgyu got up from his slumped position in the chair and looked from his watch to the clock in the room. Suddenly he moved to push a cup that stood on the table off. The cup froze in mid-air and then disappeared.

“My my.” A female voice caught their attention.

On the opposite side of the room stood a man and a woman. 

The woman was the epitome of a vampire. Her skin was paler than fresh snow, long black hair was pulled back into a messy ponytail and blood-red lips framed her fangs. Her outfit enunciated the white of her skin more, black dress shirt, corset, skirt, and shoes.

The demon’s black horns mixed with his equally colored hair. His tanned skin was complemented by the white of his t-shirt and gray jacket. He looked human, could blend in perfectly if it weren’t for the horns and his  pitch-black eyes. In the demon's hand was the very cup that had been frozen in the air a second ago.

“Y’know I'd expect death’s henchman to be a bit more attentive to his surroundings.” He said in an irritating voice and threw the cup back to Beomgyu. “I guess the crowd hid us a bit too much.”

Beomgyu put the cup back on the table and began to reach for his pocket. Taehyun knew what he was doing, they’d done this too many times back then. He could only hope it would work.

“Yeongsu, you said that the pink one would be with him? Why isn’t he here?” The vampire questioned her partner.

“Have patience.” The demon, Yeongsu said, clearly agitated.

The two began to bicker. Taehyun took this time to check to make sure they would be the only ones in the room. But Kai was already a step ahead of him. The door was shut tight with a golden lock, a small thread connected to the key in Kai’s hand. Taehyun let the black from his horns seep into his hair, replacing the red as black also faded up his arm starting from his fingers.

With the new feeling of control, he also felt a small change of weight in his right hand. Beomgyu was now standing beside him and had placed the silver charm in his hand. Kai too had found his way next to him.

“So, are we just waiting for them to kill each other or-“ Kai didn’t finish his sentence as he was thrown against the wall by the vampire.

“Don’t kill the angel Mari.” A smile crept onto Yeongsu’s face as he turned to the pair in front of him. “Nice to finally meet you!” He stepped closer.

Taehyun gripped the charm harder. He would’ve attacked if it weren’t for the hand that was pressed against his chest stopping him from doing so. Beomgyu whispered something so quietly only Taehyun could hear. He scowled mentally at the words Beomgyu uttered.

“Why are you here and what do you want?” Beomgyu asked, voice steady, the exhaustion from earlier now gone.

“Nothing really, just wanted you to put a name and a face to the guy..” The smile turned into a sickening grin, spreading across his face “who’ll kill you.” 

The demon took a step forward. Beomgyu didn’t move his hand. Yeongsu took another and another, until he was two feet away from them. Taehyun took a glance to the side, if they were going to do something it would be best to know that Kai wasn’t completely down. In fact he was perfectly fine, the vampire only stood in front of him. Yeongsu took a final step, a foot away and Beomgyu moved his hand.

Taehyun ran forward while Beomgyu ran to the side. They had a plan. This plan had been used and had failed on multiple occasions. They would get rid of the problems of course but not without the worried and confused looks of Beomgyu’s parents. Taehyun could only hope it would work now that they were older and also had Kai.

All he had to do was stab the demon with Beomgyu’s charm and they’d be done with this. He pushed Yeongsu backwards into the wall and punched the grin from his face. He fell to the floor, wiping the blood from his lip before getting up and doing the same to Taehyun. He stumbled back a bit. Glass was shattered behind him and he was hit again, dropping the charm.

A grin found its way back to Yeongsu’s face as he watched Taehyun pick the charm back up.

“I never thought that it would be this easy to fight one of the strongest demons, feared by all.” His grin fell with the next thing he said. “I guess that’s what happens when you lose credits to change the book of life.”

Taehyun found himself subconsciously pushing the other against the wall and raising the charm. Something was thrown from the other side of the room where Beomgyu and Kai were fighting, causing Taehyun to halt. This pause allowed Yeongsu to continue to provoke Taehyun.

“What? Are you ashamed that you’ve been put off of work for breaking multiple rules?” He laughed, bringing Taehyun’s attention back to him. “Maybe you really were a human with a cursed bloodline.”

Taehyun had had enough of the demon's nonsense and plunged the charm into his chest. But instead of a scream the other began to laugh more. He raised a hand bringing it into a snapping position and vanished. His laugh still echoing in the small employee-only room.

The room stayed silent after the remaining laughter finally died out. The silence broke when a ‘fuck’ came out of Beomgyu’s mouth. Taehyun turned to face the other two. Dangling from Kai’s hand was the golden rope he assumed they had used to restrain the vampire. Beomgyu sat on the floor, shards of glass lay in front of him. Taehyun walked over and offered a hand, Beomgyu only looked at it in disgust before getting up on his own.

“We need to get to Yeonjun.” Kai rapped his rope up and sent it away.

“Why?” Taehyun asked.

Beomgyu grabbed the charm from him and placed it in his pocket. “The vampire’s after Yeonjun hyung.” He fixed his overgrown dark hair. “But first we need to get some sort of protection thing for him. We can’t just tell him and expect him to fend for himself.”

Taehyun didn’t think he just responded. “Agreed. It would be best for him to have something like that. Do you have any spare?” 

“Not any that are enchanted, we’ll have to go over to my cousin’s place for that.” He leaned back down to help Kai with the broken glass.

“How much longer until your friend gets here?” Kai asked.

As if the universe had heard his question, a male Taehyun assumed to be Heeseung walked in. Heeseung didn’t have time to say anything before Beomgyu finished throwing the last pieces of glass in the trash can, patted his shoulder, pushed Taehyun and Kai out the door, and said goodbye.

Pushing past people they finally got outside when Beomgyu abruptly stopped them.

“Do any of you by chance have a car?” He turned to them.

Taehyun ran a hand through his cherry hair. He had overestimated the other man. Perhaps this was both of their punishments. Beomgyu started to laugh awkwardly, rubbing the back of his head. Kai, luckily, was here to save the day. 

“I can probably summon one for a limited time.” 

“Really?” Taehyun and Beomgyu asked in unison. Kai shook his head, Beomgyu pulled him into a hug.

“You’re a lifesaver Kai. I just met you yesterday but I already love you!” Beomgyu left the hug. “Now do your thing Kai-ah.”

Kai raised his hand to chest level, palm facing up. “I thought humans only added an “ah” to people who were younger than them? Wouldn’t I be older than you?” He asked in between summoning tiny blue bird-like creatures.

“I just assumed you were the same age as Taehyun. When we met he looked 14 so he went around calling me hyung, to not seem disrespectful even though he is technically thousands of years older than me.” Beomgyu explained. “So start calling me hyung again when we’re around others who don’t know.” He said to Taehyun.

Kai giggled at the statement before dragging the two around the building where a white car stood. He walked over to the car and dangled a golden key. Right. Taehyun thought He can make cars but not drive them. He grabbed the keys right as Beomgyu’s hand reached for it.

“I’m driving. Let your cousin know on the way.” He gave Beomgyu no time to object, already opening the door and sitting in the front seat.

Kai happily sat in the back seat unlike the huffing Beomgyu who begrudgingly sat in the passenger seat. Taehyun turned the engine on and handed the other a black tablet. Beomgyu rolled his eyes before inputting the address. The drive was about thirty minutes but the walk would be hours long.

“How did you walk there?” He asked.

“It’s her girlfriend’s place. Her’s is currently under construction.” Beomgyu answered, pulling his phone out to text his cousin. “Did you text Hyunjoo!” He questioned in disbelief.

Taehyun thought then remembered his impulsiveness from last night. “I did, other than Yeonjun she was the last person you texted. I just assumed you were close and let her know your situation.”

Taehyun took a left turn and signed, ignoring the frustrated muttering from the passenger seat. Through the rear view mirror he saw Kai give him a thumbs up. A quiet way to say “at least you’re trying, right?” Taehyun smiled in return then turned back to the road.

Chapter Text

They arrived at Beomgyu’s cousin’s, Hyunjoo, girlfriend’s apartment twenty minutes later. The apartment was on the fourth floor to Taehyun’s (and Kai’s) surprise. The number to humans represented death itself, even the floor was nearly empty, with only a few people living on the floor. Taehyun could see why. The floor was filled with ghosts, though it seemed that none of them had heard of the bounty on Beomgyu’s head. Despite no signs of aggression he still hurried to knock on the door.

A few minutes later a blonde-haired girl opened the door. She greeted them and let them inside.

“That’s Lee Aeri, she knows about all this stuff but don’t tell her you're not human.” Beomgyu whispered to them as Aeri sat down across the room.

A moment later a person Taehyun assumed to be Hyunjoo walked into the room. In her hands was a brown briefcase. She sat down in front of Beomgyu and opened the briefcase. Inside were different sections of wires, thread, string, and charms. She opened a small compartment to reveal the same charms Beomgyu had. Then she looked up to Taehyun and Kai.

“Choi Hyunjoo, nice to meet you.” She introduces herself, placing a hand in front of the two.

“Kang Taehyun.” He shook her hand.

After Kai introduced himself and did the same Hyunjoo tied half of her pink hair up and put on a round pair of glasses. She picked up the sword charm and a silver chain, tossing it to Beomgyu.

“Connect that to your charm while I start on this one.”

Beomgyu grabbed a pair of pliers and started on the task Hyunjoo had given him. While Hyunjoo started her task, taking out a lock charm and placed it next to the sword one. Closing her eyes she started muttering words in a whisper with both her hands covering the charms. To a normal person nothing had changed but Taehyun wasn’t normal, he’d lost that aspect of himself years ago.

The energy within the room had changed with each word that was whispered. But it wasn’t a bad change if it were Kai would have been up before he’d felt it himself (perks of being an angel he guessed) instead Kai was keeping Lee Aeri company.

Taehyun was left with nothing to do other than aimlessly watch the two Chois do their work. Fortunately, he didn’t have to wait long as Hyunjoo only took a mere five minutes to do her magic.

“You’re going to have to wait for a few minutes. I haven’t done this in a while so I’m not sure how long it’ll take for it to settle in.” She announced and pocketed her charm, leaving the other on her briefcase. “Unnie you’re going to miss your group meeting.”

Aeri stopped her conversation with Kai to check her watch, and uttered a quick “shit” before getting her stuff together and saying goodbye with a bow. A moment of silence filled the room as the door shut. It lasted another minute or so until Hyunjoo got up from her sitting position on the floor. Picking up the charm and handing it to Beomgyu.

“You and Huening-ssi can go soak it in the holy water by the window sill for about ten minutes or so.” She sat down in the chair Aeri sat in earlier. “Oh, and you’ll want to watch it until times up, don’t call for me unless it starts bubbling or turns white.”

She was singling him out. Whatever she wanted to talk to him about in the next ten minutes was either a secret or a threat. But Taehyun knew it probably wasn’t good.

“Holy water?” Beomgyu chuckled, dragging Taehyun out of his thoughts.

“My dad gave it to me. Now hurry before it starts doing other crazy shit.”

Once Beomgyu and Kai left the living room for the kitchen, Taehyun started to anticipate what the younger girl would say to him. At this point she was practically staring him to death. A minute passed. Two. Four. By the fifth Taehyun said something.

“Are you planning on killing me? You’ve got the supplies to do so.” He wanted to provoke her into doing something. The silence was awkward and deafening, even to him.

Yet she laughed. Yeah, Taehyun was beyond confused.

“Yes, I should be conditioned to hate you and kill you any chance that I get with my dad being an exorcist and all but I don’t kill Taehyun-ssi, Beomgyu does that.” She leaned back in her chair. “And I highly doubt that you’d do any harm seeing as you have an angel hanging around.” She crossed her legs and Taehyun felt the need to say something against her statement.

“Now tell me, Taehyun-ssi, death’s right hand man, how and why have you found your way back to Beomgyu-oppa’s side?” She asked.

Though curiosity was written all over her face Taehyun could only see it as a threat. With the way she knew so much about him when he had only heard about her thirty minutes ago. Sensing his fear (even if he wouldn’t admit that it was indeed fear) Hyunjoo spoke again, more gently.

“No need to answer if it's an uncomfortable topic but for future references, I do trust you and I do believe that it’s a good thing that you’re with Beomgyu again. From what I’ve heard you’ve saved him a couple of times.”

Taehyun had to prevent himself from smiling at the memories he made with the other. To distract himself from the memories he continued the conversation.

“Was this the only reason you singled me out?” He asked, less condescendingly than the last time he spoke.

“No, I was won-“

Her answer was cut short when Beomgyu rushed over and yelled out about the water bubbling. Hyunjoo slightly bowed to Taehyun and then ran to the kitchen.

Again Taehyun was left with his thoughts. He would’ve followed but holy water wasn’t something he could handle. He’d have to ask Kai what had happened later, right now he was stuck thinking about the decisions he’d made to get here. Would things have turned out differently if Taehyun just let fate do its thing? Yes, it would because he wouldn’t be here right now.

Wouldn’t be by Beomgyu’s side.

+x+

Present Time

Yeonjun had left their spot in the park quite confused in Taehyun’s opinion. Beomgyu had done a pretty bad job at explaining that yes, vampires do exist and that one really old one was out for his blood. Taehyun thinks he did a better job at explaining everything that happened in the last hour or so (excluding his conversation with Hyunjoo) while Beomgyu told him about the charm he had to keep with him at all times.

Now, without Yeonjun the two sat in silence. Taehyun normally didn’t mind silence but with the amount he had to sit through in one day he just wished for there to be no silence between the two of them or anyone. Fate seemed to be at his side today (as much as he didn’t believe it) since Kai and Choi Soobin appeared around the corner. He started to suspect that something was going to happen.

“Where’d Yeonjun-hyung go?” Soobin asked, sitting down and opening the bag.

“Class.” Beomgyu responded and grabbed a bag of fruit gummies. “What do you major in again?” He attempted to start small talk.

Soobin felt weird. The energy he had didn’t feel human nor did it feel particularly evil. It confused Taehyun, he would’ve asked Beomgyu about the other male but didn’t think it would do much help considering that Beomgyu couldn’t feel energies. So Taehyun decided to leave it alone and listen to their conversation.

Taehyun learned a couple of things about Soobin in their hour and a half of talking. That being that Soobin was a dance major like Yeonjun and had just transferred last week. He answered all of Kai’s and his questions (they were really just interrogating him) without hesitation. Like his hair, his slightly pointed ears, and others that would’ve scared a person away but Soobin surprisingly had all the answers for them.

Their peaceful conversation was interrupted by the rustling of leaves from a gust of wind. And soon they were the only people left in the once full park.