Chapter Text
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JEONGHAN IS TRULY angelic, like something out of a classic painting; fair, bright-eyed and kind, holding a heart stained white with purity. Soonyoung looks at him often and finds himself sighing. Wish I could be like that .
Soonyoung has bright eyes, but they’re reckless. He’s a clumsy sort of kind, endearingly sweet, like a child, and his heart is more bruised than pure. He doesn’t know how to go about things the way he should, he only knows how to try his best - which, unfortunately, doesn’t seem to hold much weight up in the clouds. Jeonghan likes to see the best in him, anyway.
“Don’t do this to me,” Soonyoung groans. “It’s the third time this month. I’m just gonna screw it up again.”
“No you won’t,” Jeonghan insists. “The third time’s a charm, I believe it, I can feel it. You got this.”
“Says who? I’m no good at these things.”
“If that were true, you wouldn’t be a Cupid.”
“I’m not kidding when I tell you I always wonder how I got stuck with this job. I think the answer is that I’m equally hopeless at everything else. It’s probably safest for the Council to just stick me with the matchmaking game.”
Jeonghan strides over and tosses the file onto the table by Soonyoung, motioning for him to flip it open. “The Council has kept you here because they see your potential, and they like you. If you were really that useless, they’d probably just dismiss you entirely.”
“Can they even do that?”
“What, dismiss you? Yeah. If it gets bad enough, they’ll just kick you out. Drop you down on Earth and say have fun living a finite life .” Soonyoung gapes at him, horrified, and Jeonghan immediately backtracks. “But that won’t happen to you!” he says. “Just look at the file, okay?”
Soonyoung heaves a sigh, dropping his shoulders and reaching to grab the papers, all stacked neatly and bundled inside a creamy folder. He flips it open and starts scanning the first page.
Lee Jihoon. 23 years old. Rookie producer at Pledis Ent. Lives alone, introverted. If he isn’t at home or at work, he’s probably at the nearest cafe. Sleep-deprived. Overworked. Hopelessly gone for his best friend.
“Your job,” Jeonghan interrupts his reading, “is to turn that hopeless into something a lot more hopeful.”
“Right, because I’m so good at that.” Soonyoung rolls his eyes and turns to the next page, pausing with his fingers hovering over what looks like a license photo. “Oh. He’s cute.” Jeonghan leans in closer.
“Mm-hmm, and he’s smart, funny, talented, sweet - the whole package. Come on, Soonyoung, you’re practically set up for success. Just stop putting yourself down and tell yourself you can do it.”
“Easier said than done. I can’t help feeling like this is just gonna be another disaster. Watch me ruin this guy’s chances completely, it wouldn’t be the first time.” Soonyoung feels pathetic, deflating in front of Jeonghan, who seems to shine so brightly no matter what the setting is.
“At the end of the day, all you can do is go down there and try your best. It’ll be a whole lot easier if you don’t make yourself feel like shit while you’re at it.”
Soonyoung knows it, hates that he’s right. It’s just so much easier to be a pessimist.
“Fine, I’ll do it.”
“Awesome. You didn’t really have a choice anyway, but I appreciate your cooperation. You leave tomorrow.”
“ Tomorrow ?”
“As soon as possible,” Jeonghan reiterates. “You could go now, if you’d like.”
“Jesus, no, okay. I gotta prepare myself.”
Jeonghan grins wide and kind and pats Soonyoung’s shoulder like he’s a little kid. “You got this, right? I believe in you.”
Soonyoung reaches up to rub his eyes, feeling the pressure lift off his shoulder when Jeonghan moves to cross the room. He pauses with his hand at the door, and Soonyoung stares at him. Perfect Yoon Jeonghan, angelic in every sense of the word. Every part of him glows, from the apples of his cheeks to the tips of his wings, full and feathery. Soonyoung’s are more withered.
“The sooner I get this done,” he says, “the sooner I can come back and rest, right? No more jobs?” Jeonghan smiles at him sadly.
“Just … follow your heart on this one. I can’t make you any promises, but I really think you’ll pull it off. And then … And then you can rest, yes. I’ll make sure of it.”
Soonyoung hears it, the warning note - it’ll be a lot harder for Jeonghan to make sure of it if sending Soonyoung out there turns out to be another mistake. He might be high up, but even he doesn’t have enough power to go against the Council. They’ll probably just keep throwing Soonyoung out on the battlefield until he gets it right.
And he’s so tired . He wants to get this right.
—
It’s Jeonghan who bids him goodbye, with Joshua at his side. They stand together like they stepped out of a picture, and Soonyoung thinks that if he looks directly at them for too long, he might go blind. He says, “You know, you don’t always have to send me off. I feel like a child on his first day of school.” Joshua snorts.
“You basically are. Good luck in kindergarten, try not to get bullied by the bigger kids.” He winces when Jeonghan hits his arm.
“Don’t listen to him, Soonyoung, you’ll be fine.”
“I know . I’m always fine. I could probably blow up my human’s home and the Council would still keep me on, for whatever ungodly reason. I couldn’t lose this job if I wanted to.”
“Don’t say that,” Joshua warns, “or you’ll actually lose your job.”
“Would you miss me?”
“I think it’s time for you to go.” He makes a show of holding his wrist up, looking down at an imaginary watch and then looking back up to give Soonyoung a big wave. “Good luck!”
Jeonghan steps forward to give him a soul-crushing hug, whispers, “He’s definitely going to miss you,” and then lets go, patting Soonyoung on the chest. “You got this.”
“You always say that.”
“And I always mean it.”
Soonyoung sighs and takes a step back, looking down at the space beneath him. A few feet away, his world seems to end, fading out into thick bunches of clouds. Soonyoung’s made the trip down to Earth enough times to get used to the feel of free-falling, but he still gets a little anxious every time he heads out. Like he’s also gotten used to coming back disappointed.
“I’ll try not to be too long,” he says, not looking up.
“Easy job,” Joshua reassures him. “I saw the file. You’ll be back in no time.” Soonyoung could scoff, say something like yeah, right, when do things ever work out that well for me - but he decides he’s tired of putting this off. With one last, final wave, he offers the two angels the biggest grin he can manage.
“Don’t have too much fun without me,” is the last thing he says before leaving, walking up to where the ground stops and pushing off with his foot. Frail wings fluttering in the air, the sound of wind whistling in his ears, he can still hear Jeonghan calling out to him -
“Be careful, come back soon!”
—
He hits the parking lot with a lot less grace than he knows he should, given the experience he has, and hisses when his knees knock against the pavement. His hands go forward instinctively and stop him from rolling over himself, but when he manages to right himself and look down at them, his palms are all scratched up, bleeding a little. It doesn’t hurt too bad right away - he’s too distracted, trying to take in his surroundings all at once - but he still groans. “Aw, fuck.”
“Are you okay?”
Soonyoung’s head whips around to find someone standing over him, blocking out the sun with his body. It takes a moment for the face to register, but Soonyoung recognizes him almost right away. Jihoon . He clears his throat, trying to get into character. “Er, yeah. I fell.” Smooth.
“I can see that.”
Jihoon holds out a hand to help Soonyoung up, grunting slightly at the weight, and pauses while Soonyoung brushes himself off.
“Well, uh. Watch where you’re going, next time. It’s easy to trip if you’re not paying attention.”
He starts to walk off, spinning a keyring around his finger and humming a little, but the part of Soonyoung’s brain that doesn’t want to fuck this up so soon kicks into action, and he goes running after him.
“Wait, wait - !“ Jihoon stops, turning to face him again. Soonyoung catches up and holds out his arm like a stop sign, panting slightly from the sudden panic of almost losing his target. “I’m, uh, where am I?” Jihoon blinks at him.
“What?”
Soonyoung holds his hand up to the back of his head, smiling awkwardly and trying to look clueless - which, you know, isn’t that hard.
“I’m a little lost. See, I - I just moved in the other day, and I’m still trying to figure out my way around … I thought going for a walk would help me orient myself, but I just … yeah.”
It’s easy to lie, Soonyoung finds it’s the one thing he doesn’t mess up when he goes out to do these jobs. Especially in situations like these, when all he has to do is act awkward and a little oblivious. Stutter a bit, talk slow and uncertain, and bingo - it’s almost laughable how good he is at it.
“Oh, I mean. Do you know your address?”
Soonyoung starts rifling through his bag, a simple sort of rucksack he carries with him that holds all he needs to know - his character profile, game plan, Jihoon’s file - and comes up with a little sticky note. He smiles bashfully and reads the address out loud, saying, “I’m not very good at remembering these things.”
Jihoon stands awkwardly, shifting his weight from one foot to the other and shoving his hands in his pockets. “Ah, it’s alright, you said you just moved in the other day? Naturally you wouldn’t get everything right off the bat. But, uh, that address - your building is just one down from mine, you can walk the rest of the way with me.”
Part of Soonyoung’s character profile tells him that he’s recently transferred to Seoul to fulfill his new position as a company choreographer - for Pledis, obviously. Everything the Council does, all the strings they pull and the stories they create, is done entirely with the intention of bringing a Cupid closer to his target. Soonyoung lives one building down from Jihoon, they work at the same company; everything is prepared, it’s just up to Soonyoung to actually set things into motion.
“That’s cool, we work at the same company,” is what Jihoon says when Soonyoung tells him about his job. “So I’ll be seeing you around a lot more often, then.”
“Yeah, yeah, hopefully.”
It slips out without much thought, and Soonyoung doesn’t realize the implication of his words until Jihoon looks at him, eyebrow quirked. “I mean, hopefully, like - maybe you can show me around more? Since we live pretty close and - and, yeah.” He can feel his face turning red, and wonders how much of this is acting and how much of it him actually being flustered.
“I wouldn’t mind,” Jihoon says, smiling slightly, and something in Soonyoung’s chest bubbles. He’s about to laugh, say something like thanks, you’re a saint , but Jihoon inhales sharply, looking down at the cuts on Soonyoung’s hands and chewing his lip. “You wouldn’t happen to have a first aid kit, would you? Don’t want those to get infected.” Soonyoung shakes his head.
“It’s fine, I’ll just wash my hands. They’ll be alright.”
“I have gauze and antiseptic, if you want to stop by for a minute or two. I don’t think water will do the trick entirely.”
Soonyoung’s about to shrug off the offer, shake his head and insist that it’s not necessary, he’ll be okay, but a strange feeling starts to prickle at the back of his neck, and it hits him; this is an opportunity, and Jihoon is handing it right to him.
“I - If it isn’t too much trouble - “ Jihoon waves him off.
“It’s nothing, but promise me you’ll get some first aid in your apartment. That’s the number one thing a person should have when moving in.” Soonyoung can’t help feeling embarrassed, and a little set up, to be honest; he wouldn’t be surprised if the Council purposely created his profile to make him look like an idiot, but Jihoon seems sweet enough to not be judging him for it.
“I probably seem like a real mess,” Soonyoung tries later, his legs swinging off the barstool he’s sitting on. They’re in Jihoon’s kitchen, the latter rummaging through a small black bag while Soonyoung’s eyes flicker around the room. It’s neat, kind of empty - where Soonyoung is used to decorating his walls with photographs and buying too many throw pillows, Jihoon’s home feels a little less homey.
He continues, “Tripping in the parking lot, forgetting my own address … I promise I’m not this incompetent all the time.” Jihoon snickers.
“Don’t worry about it, I remember when I moved on my own for the first time - fucking terrifying. The only difference is I was too shy to ask for help, so I just struggled on my own a whole lot of the time - ah, here we go,” he pulls out a few cotton rounds and a small wrap of gauze, setting them down next to the bottle of antiseptic.
At home, Soonyoung is practically invincible. Cuts are no more than small scratches, healing within seconds; a broken bone could hardly even be called broken. Earth, though, is a different story.
He has to be as human as possible - to blend in - and so he feels pain just as any regular human would. He thinks it’s a pretty dumb rule, but the burn of alcohol against his hands and the way his face scrunches up reminds him that there’s nothing he can do about it. Jihoon laughs softly.
“Maybe you’ll watch where you’re going, next time.”
“I definitely will,” Soonyoung assures him, slowly relaxing as Jihoon starts unraveling the wad of gauze. He’s gentle, careful, wrapping the material around Soonyoung’s hands and asking him where it’s too tight, or too loose. Soonyoung can see what Jeonghan meant when he said this would be an easy job - Jihoon is a sweetheart, it can’t be that hard to fall in love with him.
Focus on your job .
The voice comes suddenly, surprising him so that he flinches, and Jihoon looks up at him. “Sorry, too tight?”
“Er, just a bit,” Soonyoung lies. He smiles awkwardly and waits another moment, in case he hears it again, and when nobody speaks, he thinks back - what do you think I’m doing?
Jeonghan’s voice is distorted, kind of echoing. Joshua told him that people with empty heads hear voices like that, because there’s nothing but bare walls to bounce off.
I know you, Soonyoung, I see that look in your eyes. Soonyoung frowns.
Stop watching me. I know what I’m doing. That’s a lie, actually, but he’d rather act like he’s in control than have Jeonghan supervise everything he does on a microscopic level. He doesn’t get any sort of response back, but he can imagine the look on the elder’s face, his knit eyebrows, soft frown. Soonyoung sighs inwardly.
I haven’t been on Earth for more than a few hours, and you’re already trying to pull strings. You said you believed in me.
Again, no answer. Soonyoung isn’t sure if Jeonghan’s trying to annoy him, or if he’s just too lazy to project his voice any more. Probably the latter.
“Thanks again,” Soonyoung says after a few more minutes. He slides off the stool and flexes his fingers, feeling the material pull against the skin of his palm. “It must be weird, we’re total strangers and I’ve already seen the inside of your house.”
Jihoon smiles, just a little. It’s something small and soft, and it gives Soonyoung the kind of feeling he gets when he looks at children, or animals. Like he wants to hold it carefully and make sure nothing bad ever happens to it.
Without thinking, he mumbles, “You have a nice smile,” and Jihoon’s eyes start to crinkle.
“I do? No one’s ever told me that … thanks.” He starts packing things back into the bag, but the smile stays. “And don’t worry about it - I mean, I did say we’d probably be seeing each other around, right? Now I just need to actually know your name.”
“Yeah,” Soonyoung sighs. He folds his hands together and starts glancing around the room again, not knowing what to do with himself, until he notices Jihoon peering at him. “What? Oh, right - “ duh “ - I’m Soonyoung.” He holds his hand out for a handshake, and Jihoon’s touch is warm.
“Nice to meet you, Soonyoung. I’m Jihoon.”
There’s a thing, just then - Soonyoung can feel it. A subtle, barely noticeable buzz in the air around them; just another way in which Soonyoung believes the universe is trying to speak to him sometimes, but he’s too distracted by the way Jihoon’s hand lingers against his to think too much about it.
“Yeah,” he says, and it comes out like a breath, “nice to meet you too.”
—
He leaves Jihoon’s apartment with a small wave and an “I’ll see you around,” and he thinks it’s all fine and good, until he hears it again.
Stupid idiot.
“Oh, Jesus, what did I do?” Soonyoung lets out, not caring now that he’s on his own.
You’re supposed to help him find love, not fall in love with him.
Soonyoung splutters, gaping up into the sky like he expects to see Jeonghan staring back down. “What was I supposed to say? Hi, I know this is the first time we’ve ever met and you don’t know anything about me, but tell me about your crush - I don’t know how you go about your jobs, Jeonghan, but that’s not how you talk to people.” There’s a pause, and then he adds, “And I do not have a thing for him. I barely know the guy.”
Alright, fine, I see your point - but I saw you back there, and I know you, Soonyoung. Don’t be dumb about this.
“What the hell do you think I’m gonna do, start flirting? I’m not clueless. I know I can’t do that.”
Good. Remember it, in case anything changes. You know we can’t have that.
Soonyoung wants to glare, kick at the pavement and tell Jeonghan he’s overthinking this - you can’t fall in love with someone you’ve just met - but those last few words just make him feel … sad, mostly. You know we can’t have that.
“Right,” he mutters, and it doesn’t matter how quiet he gets because he knows he’ll be heard. “I know that. I wouldn’t do that to myself.”
Good, now get home, you have to rest before work tomorrow.
“Wait, what the fuck, I’m actually working?”
Obviously. You have to, like, interact with the target. You know how this works.
“Yeah, but I didn’t think you’d actually get me a job anywhere. What if I screw it up?”
You know how to dance, don’t you?
“Yes.”
Choreograph?
“I could probably figure it out.”
Then you’re set. Good luck, angel boy.
Soonyoung frowns at the nickname, even opens his mouth to respond, tell him to not call him that, but then he notices a woman a little ways away stepping out of her car. She’s looking at Soonyoung out of the corner of her eye and fumbling with her keys nervously, and it’s then that he realizes he’s been animatedly talking to himself for the last ten minutes. He tries to smile and wave at her, even holds his hand up to his ear to make it look like he’s on a phone call, but the woman doesn’t look any more reassured.
Go home, Jeonghan says again, and Soonyoung scowls.
You’re an asshole.
Thanks, I try.
And it’s annoying, sure, but Soonyoung knows he’s secretly grateful for the familiar voice popping into his head every now and then. Does it scare the shit out of him sometimes? Yes, but it’s also saved him more times than he can count on both hands.
So he sighs, rolls his eyes and thinks, for just a moment, that he can see Jeonghan grinning at him from behind the clouds. What would I do without you? he asks, and there isn’t any response, but that’s okay. He can feel the warmth inside him anyway.