Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

These days they took turns washing the dishes. Shin had come to understand how thoroughly he had relied on the reaper to take care of chores around the house, how he had treated him like a servant without realizing it. He hadn’t intended to take advantage of him in that way, but he’d been fortunate enough to always have someone to take care of such things, so when Yeo naturally fell into the role he thought nothing of it. But he realized later that Yeo had done it out of necessity, so fastidious in his manners that he hadn’t been able to let the tasks go undone. 

Shin knew better now, so when Yeo received a stack of name cards shortly after dinner and retreated to his room to change into his grim reaper garb, Shin had carried their dishes to the sink and rolled up his sleeves even though it wasn’t his turn. He could manage this much without causing a mess. After his last disastrous attempt at laundry, Yeo had made him swear to never touch the machine again. And he only cooked meals for himself to avoid turning Yeo’s vegetables into tasteless mush. But doing the dishes was easy. He had also discovered that it was rather relaxing. The water warmed his skin pleasantly and the soap made the kitchen smell like a freshly squeezed orange. He smiled as he washed, humming a long-forgotten melody under his breath. 

“You missed a spot,” Yeo said, appearing behind him soundlessly, and reaching around to grab his wrist and direct the scrubbing brush to a dirty place on the pan. 

“You’ll get your jacket wet.”

“Only if you splash me.”

Shin was just enough taller than Yeo that the reaper had to roll onto his toes and lean against him to look over his shoulder. He balanced himself with a hand on the counter beside Shin’s opposite hip and Shin’s smile turned mischievous as he flicked some water against his hand. “I thought you had work to do.”

Yeo sighed and his breath tickled against Shin’s neck. “It’s not like they’re going anywhere without me.”

Twisting his hand out of Yeo’s grip, he rinsed off the pot and dropped it into the other sink. “I’m doing the dishes so you don’t have to. You don’t have to supervise me while I do it.”

“I like watching you work. It’s such a rare occurrence.”

Gritting his teeth at the insult, Shin said imperiously, “I’m not going to get much done if you keep hovering like that behind me.”

“Why not?”

Grabbing Yeo’s wrist, Shin pulled him around so that Yeo was the one trapped between him and the counter. “Because I can’t keep my hands off of you when you’re that close.” 

A smile crossed Yeo’s lips and he looked away self-consciously. 

Shin fingered the pin attached to Yeo’s lapel and then followed the fabric down to where it was buttoned at his solar plexus, licking his lips hungrily. There was something about Yeo in that suit. It turned him on more quickly than anything else. When he looked back up at Yeo’s face, the reaper was giving him a look somewhere between amusement and affection. “What?”

Lifting a hand to his head, Yeo brushed fingertips over his hair and tucked a loose strand behind his ear. “You want me to keep the outfit on when I get home?”

“Why would–” Shin began, but his voice was a bit thick so he cleared his throat and tried again. “Why would I want that?”

Yeo shifted his hips a little and leaned forward to press a kiss against Shin’s temple. “Is it that you like the way it looks on me?” The words were spoken against Shin’s skin as he descended his cheek and placed another kiss there. “Or maybe you just like the idea of being bedded by a grim reaper?” His lips brushed teasingly against Shin’s. 

Shin chased Yeo’s lips as he laughed and nipped his way into his mouth, splaying a hand over Yeo’s back to hold them flush against each other. “A derelict reaper,” he breathed against Yeo’s jaw as they broke for air. “One who neglects his job in order to tease a Goblin.” When he pulled away far enough to see Yeo’s expression, he froze in surprise at the fondness he saw in the reaper’s eyes. 

Opening his mouth to say something, Yeo stared at him for a long time and then seemed to think better of whatever he was going to say, looking away with a blush rising to his cheeks. “I should go.” He pushed Shin gently back a step and slipped out from between him and the counter. His hand lingered on Shin’s shoulder and he gave him a parting smile that didn’t quite meet his eyes.

Shin turned to watch him go, itching to catch his sleeve and pull him back. To ask what he’d been about to say. But Yeo donned his hat and fled to the door more quickly than Shin could overcome his indecision. 

Yeo didn’t talk about feelings. He touched and teased and drove Shin crazy with desire, but never said in words how he felt about him. Shin wasn’t troubled by this. He could tell how Yeo felt by his actions and that was more than enough for him. What did bother him was how Yeo always stopped himself before giving voice to whatever it was he seemed to be aching to say. He seemed to be conflicted about the admission for some reason. And Shin worried that it wasn’t the feelings themselves but the temporary nature of their relationship that gave him pause. Temporary had already turned into a decade, but they both knew it could end at any time if Eun Tak returned, and that reality would be much harsher for Yeo than it would be for him.

Feeling deflated by that thought, Shin returned his attention to the dishes and continued his work, the water cold against his hands now and the scent of the soap almost nauseatingly sweet.

Chapter Text

The cafe was empty at this time of night. Yeo found the emptiness comforting after an evening spent dodging pedestrians in a city crowded with holiday shoppers. The tension began to melt from his shoulders as he settled on one of the tall chairs near the window and took a sip of his tea. Camomile. It smelled a little like the Oblivion tea and he imagined that he was washing away the turmoil of the last several hours with every sip. He didn’t want to have the weight of work clinging to him when he went back to the house. The Goblin always noticed, and he would take extra care with him because of it. But Yeo didn’t like being coddled. It reminded him too much of his last life’s childhood and the fool he had once been.

He was almost feeling normal again when his hoobae burst through the front door and rushed over to his table, a frantic expression on his face. Glancing at the younger man’s worried countenance, Yeo sighed. He wouldn’t be heading home to the Goblin any time soon it would seem. 

“Aren’t you going to get a drink?” Yeo asked, watching the other reaper’s reflection as he nearly knocked his chair over in his haste to sit down.

“No time. We got another one just like the others.” He held up an envelope and Yeo took it with a sigh.

The name card was for a man in his late twenties. Cause of death: blood loss. Yeo knew they would find him covered in shallow cuts and posed strangely with a matching tarot card somewhere nearby.  None of the cuts would be life threatening on their own, but the sheer quantity of injuries combined with a blood thinner administered by the killer beforehand would have ultimately led to the victim’s death. 

Yeo let the card fall to the table with another sigh. “I hate serial killers.”

“You’ve dealt with ones before this?”

“I’ve been doing this a long time, remember?” Taking another sip of tea, he added, “The police will catch him.”

“What if they don’t?”

Yeo shrugged. “They will. Probably. Eventually.”

Shifting uneasily on his chair, the other man scratched at the nape of his neck. “I know this card came to me, but after what happened to the last reaper, I don’t want to go alone. Will you come with me, sunbae?”

Yeo blinked in surprise. “What happened to the last guy?” He avoided office gossip at all costs, but sometimes his lack of knowledge got him in trouble.

“You didn’t hear? They say the Tarot Killer set a trap for him.”

“For the police, you mean.”

“No, for the reaper! The killer left a note. He knows about us somehow…”

Returning his tea to the table, Yeo frowned. “That’s impossible.”

“The note said that he would be waiting for the Grim Reaper the next time.”

“He can’t even see us. What difference would it make if he waited?” 

His hoobae shook his head and pressed his hands together imploringly. “Will you go with me, sunbae?”

Yeo sighed and slid off the chair, shrugging back into his coat and reaching for his hat. “Fine. Lead the way.”

The night air was cold enough to make Yeo grateful for his natural chill but he found himself instinctively huddling in his coat for warmth even though it was unnecessary. His hoobae led him a few blocks and down a dimly lit alley. The apartment building at the end was old and crumbling with several fading signs hung out front for businesses that had obviously closed long ago. He hadn’t expected to find the deceased in a nice place, but this was even grimier than he’d imagined. The stairs were cracked and slanted from the building settling, and Yeo had to put a hand on the railing to maintain his balance as they climbed to the third floor. 

Floor creaking beneath them as they walked, his hoobae kept looking back over his shoulder for reassurance and jumped at every noise. The apartments were abandoned, golden streetlight pouring in through cracked windows and casting strange shadows on the worn carpet. When they reached their destination, his hoobae lifted a hand to cover his mouth and turned to look at Yeo in terror.

Irritated by how dramatic the man was being, he followed his gaze impatiently and frowned when he saw the piece of paper taped to an open door.

It read: This way, reaper. I’m waiting.

Shaking his head, Yeo lifted a hand to press his hat down and make sure that it was securely attached before he entered the apartment. The deceased was sitting on the floor of an empty room sobbing. His body was attached to an exposed pipe in the ceiling, suspended by its ankle with its hands tied behind its back. As expected, blood had pooled beneath it, dripping down the torso from dozens of gaping wounds. His hoobae made a retching sound and Yeo felt himself clenching his jaw in disgust. The scene was every bit as grotesque as he had expected. 

Stopping beside the ghost, Yeo knelt down to eye level and said, “It’s okay. It’s all over now.”

The man gasped, looking up at them each in turn and scrambling backward in fear. “He said you would be here. That you would come for me.” He hid his face behind trembling hands. “But he only said there would be one of you.”

Looking up at his hoobae, Yeo said, “Take him out of here. He shouldn’t have to linger in this place.”

“Yes, sunbae.” Turning to the ghost, he gestured slowly toward the door. “This way.” The man was reluctant to go, but followed after some gentle persuasion. It didn’t hurt that the younger reaper had such an innocent look and kind eyes. 

Looking around the room, Yeo noticed a card on the ground where the deceased had been hovering and moved closer to take a look. The Hanged Man. And again, the pose on the card matched the way the dead man had been positioned. Yeo knew a little about the tarot – learning the symbolism of various traditions was required training for reapers—and he recalled that the message of the Hanged Man was that to gain understanding you sometimes needed to change your perspective. 

Just as he was starting to stand up again, Yeo felt something hit him hard from behind. 

He must have grunted in pain, because his hoobae looked back in his direction with horror in his eyes. “Sunbae! Your hat.”

Yeo’s head was throbbing and he squinted through blurry vision to see that his hat had fallen into the pool of blood beneath the body. Then someone tackled him from behind. 

“Sunbae!”

“Finally,” a voice hissed in Yeo’s ear in triumph, a weight on his back grinding him down into the dirty floor. “I finally found you again.”

Feeling a rush of panic, Yeo instinctively tried to escape before the man could do any more damage, but he quickly discovered that he couldn’t transport himself away. Why weren’t his powers working? Struggling against the grip on his back, he looked up at his hoobae with a rush of fear. Frozen in the doorway, the younger reaper gaped back at him in shock, losing track of the deceased who had been screaming and flailing since his murderer appeared, not even noticing as the ghost fled. 

Realizing that without his powers he could only rely on physical means to escape, Yeo summoned all of his strength to roll the man off his back, but he only managed to make him angry. Roaring in rage, the murderer caught Yeo around the waist and pinned him down again. He was shockingly strong for someone so slim and he pressed something cold and sharp against Yeo’s throat so tightly that Yeo had no room to move. 

“You look different than I remember.” Laughing with a wild look in his small black eyes, the killer pressed his blade harder against Yeo’s neck and the sharp edge cut ever so slightly into his skin. “You are different. I would have remembered that face. How many of you are there?”

Yeo glanced in the direction of his hoobae before he could think better of it, and he regretted the action as soon as the killer followed his gaze. But he caught the eye of the other reaper for an instant and then looked at the open doorway meaningfully, trying to tell him to leave while he still could.

“What are you looking at? Thinking about trying to escape? No. You’re not going anywhere, reaper. I almost died the day I first saw one of you, and I vowed that I would never face your kind again unless I had the upper hand.” 

The killer nodded at something on the floor and Yeo shifted to look, realizing in horror that the floor wasn’t only covered with grime and blood. Black paint had been scrawled over the decaying floorboards, great whorls and designs inscribed with powerful symbols and ancient words. It was a talisman, a cage that nullified the powers of any spiritual being within range. No wonder the ghost had not moved from his spot until summoned. Yeo had never seen such a thing in person, but he’d heard tales about them – mostly from centuries before. He would have thought all knowledge of this sort of magic had been completely lost. No wonder the killer had found him so easily. He’d likely been visible as soon as he’d stepped onto the circle to look at the card.

Dragging the flat of his blade over Yeo’s jaw, the murderer laughed. “Such a lovely face. I’m glad I caught you instead of the first one. You’ll make the perfect Death for my collection.” Yeo’s stomach sank as he remembered that Death was the next card in the tarot.

“Sunbae,” his hoobae whimpered from the doorway and Yeo cringed, wishing he would just run away before things got any worse.

Fighting against the killer again, Yeo tried to push him off balance so that he could wriggle away, but he’d barely made any progress before the killer struck him across the temple with the butt of his blade and everything went black.

Chapter Text

Kim Shin blinked at the Grim Reaper standing on his front step in confusion. Yeo wasn’t the only reaper he’d encountered in his long life but it had been a very long time since he’d interacted with any reapers other than him. This one was young and sincere with the conventionally attractive features of a boy band member and an innocence that seemed at odds with his work. Shin vaguely remembered seeing him with Yeo before, although he’d always been so fixated on Yeo in those circumstances that he’d barely noticed anyone else. 

“I need your help,” the reaper pleaded, pressing his palms together and bowing his head. “ He needs your help.”

Shin had so many questions, including how this reaper knew where he lived—although he supposed that one was easy to figure out considering who he lived with—but he focused on Yeo’s predicament first. “What happened?”

“The Tarot Killer has him.”

“The what?” The label sounded slightly familiar, but Shin so rarely read or watched the news that he had only caught the name in passing.

Eyes widening, the reaper shook his head. “The serial killer. The one the police have been trying to catch for months now.” 

“Oh.” Shin’s mouth went dry as the severity of the situation began to sink in. “And he has Yeo? But how?” 

The reaper faltered at the name, clearly not recognizing it but understanding from context that Shin was talking about his colleague. “The killer set a trap for a grim reaper. He poses his victims like tarot cards and the next one is Death. I think he specifically wanted to catch one of us to use as the subject.”

Wincing at the mental image that inspired, Shin shook his head. Most humans didn’t believe in the existence of reapers until they faced one in their own death. How could this killer know enough about them to trap one? “But surely Yeo could just teleport away.”

“There was something on the floor, a design of some kind…” The reaper bit his lower lip. “I didn’t get close enough to really see it, but sunbae seemed to recognize it as the problem.”

Shin pulled the door shut behind him. “I need to see it.”

“But the killer has him. We have to hurry!”

“Do you know where they are?”

Nodding, the reaper began leading him toward the street. “I followed them at a distance. The killer took him to a warehouse…”

Without thinking, Shin reached out reflexively to catch the reaper by his shoulder and get his attention, but the man lithely dodged his hand, giving him an offended look. Holding his palm up in apology, Shin explained, “That’s good, but I still need to see that sigil first. I need to know what I’m up against.” If the killer was obsessed with tarot perhaps he was also interested in other dark arts and witchcraft. Not that there was any reason to associate such things with tarot readers in general since most were good people focused on bettering themselves rather than hurting people, but clearly this man was a different sort of enthusiast. 

The police were just packing up when they arrived at the scene of the crime. He and the reaper kept to the shadows, waiting impatiently for the police to leave the room before slipping inside. Shin overheard one of the detectives talking about the case as they passed. The police seemed to be no closer to identifying the murderer, all his victims selected almost at random, as if chosen for their appearance rather than any direct connection to the killer. So the murderer was a crazed artist, killing for the sake of his twisted vision rather than any true sense of revenge. That didn’t bode well for reasoning with the man. Not that Shin had been holding out much hope for that in the first place. 

Shin paused on the threshold of the bloody room, noting that the reaper hovered just behind him as if he was reluctant to enter as well. Eyes drawn immediately to the mutilated body suspended at the center of the room, Shin fought the nausea that washed over him at the sight, his mind superimposing Yeo’s face on the corpse as if to remind him of what was at stake. He knew they didn’t have much time for their inspection. An ambulance had been waiting outside the building and they would be removing the body soon now that the police had finished reviewing the scene. But even with the time constraint, Shin struggled to focus on the pattern painted over the floor instead of the victim hanging distractingly nearby. 

Shaking his head to clear it, he crouched down beside the sigil and reached a hand out tentatively. He felt resistance when he got to the edge of the pattern. The sensation was subtle and he could easily push past it, but he could also feel the way the air on the other side dragged at him, how it sapped his energy almost immediately. He’d seen something like it before, not for several centuries at least, but he knew enough about this sort of magic to know it could cause problems even for him. 

“This is dark magic,” Shin whispered to the reaper. “I don’t know how to dispel it.”

The reaper’s brows drew together. “Then what can we do?”

“Assuming he’s using something similar to keep Yeo captive, we’ll have to draw him away from the sigil or we’ll both end up trapped as well. I will distract him while you get Yeo to safety.”

Pale skin paling even further, the reaper licked his lips. “I don’t know if I can do that…”

“He needs your help as much as mine right now.” 

The reaper looked down then and his frown softened as he studied the sigil more closely. “I have a thought.” Looking around the room, he said, “Wait here a second. I want to try something.”

Standing up, Shin shook his head. “Whatever it is, do it fast. I don’t want to see Yeo end up like this poor soul.”

Chapter Text

Yeo groaned as he regained consciousness, realizing quickly that he was restrained and mostly nude except for the black cloak tossed around his shoulders. Something rough and unforgiving was pressed against his back, a concrete pillar perhaps, and his waist and neck were tied to it firmly with thick black rope. His ankles were chained to bolts in the floor to keep them immobile and his right wrist was tied to the handle of an enormous scythe that was also secured to the floor. His other hand had the most freedom of movement, but even that was limited by a short length of rope attached to the ceiling, forcing it into an awkward angle above his head. A similar sigil to the one he’d seen in the last victim’s apartment was drawn under his feet.

The cold, stale air made his skin prickle with goosebumps as he shifted against the column to test his range of motion. He couldn’t see far into the dark room, but he could tell by the shape of the high windows and the shadows of shelving that he was in a warehouse of some kind. Abandoned, judging by the refuse scattered over the floor and the empty shelves. A rhythmic metallic rasp echoed through the darkness and it took Yeo an embarrassingly long time to recognize it as the sound of a blade being sharpened against a whetstone.

Closing his eyes, Yeo tried to think. Surely there was some loophole, some way to escape this situation. But his head felt foggy and his temple was still throbbing from how his captor had hit him earlier. With nothing else to do, he focused on the wrist that had the most range of motion, twisting his hand around and trying to loosen the rope or at least create more slack. The rope burned against his skin and after a while he felt a trickle of blood running down his forearm and into the curve of his elbow.

“Trying to do my work for me, I see.”

Yeo kept his eyes shut and yanked harder at the rope, but it only cut in deeper. Gasping in pain, his eyes opened reflexively and he found the killer standing right in front of him, a curved blade gleaming in the moonlight between them. He looked calm and in control, amused more than excited, and he raised a hand to trace fingertips over the rivulet of blood on Yeo’s arm, following it up to the cut in his wrist and pressing down hard enough to make Yeo wince. 

“I wasn’t sure if the drugs would work on someone like you. But it appears you’re human enough to bleed like one.” Lifting his bloodied fingers to his lips, the killer licked at them with an expression of bliss. “And once I have enough of your blood, then I’ll be able to steal your power, your immortality.”

Biting his lip to hold back a laugh, Yeo attempted to shake his head but found the movement impossible. “Is that what you think is going to happen?” he asked, his voice rough as the rope around his neck restricted his throat. 

“That’s exactly what’s going to happen. You are the reason for everything I’ve done.” Stepping closer, he pressed the tip of his knife against Yeo’s chest just beneath his collarbone. “I started this journey as a fool, but with every step along the way I come closer to enlightenment. Everything changed that day, when I almost died and met a grim reaper. Until that day I thought I knew what reality was, but afterward I started questioning everything. And I knew the only way to find the answers would be to lure you to me by watching people die and waiting for you to appear. Of course, at the time I thought there was only one of you… Now I only have more questions.”

He dragged the tip of the knife down Yeo’s chest, the cut shallow but no less painful for the lack of depth, blood welling quickly to the surface and dripping to the floor. Grinning now, the killer began drawing a pattern over Yeo’s skin, cursing at Yeo when he flinched and interfered with the design.

“If you have so many questions, then why aren’t you asking them?” Yeo’s voice was breathless, but the killer was too close to miss a word. 

“Because you are just the beginning.” Stepping back, he lifted the knife and slashed it through the air, slicing across Yeo’s thighs this time.

Yeo hung painfully on his restraints now, his whole body trembling with the shock and unable to keep holding himself up.

“I thought you were the end, but just like in the fool’s journey, you merely represent the transition to the next level of understanding. If there are many reapers, then I can take my time learning and gaining power from you one at a time.” He giggled as he continued slashing at Yeo. “By the time I’m done, I’ll be unstoppable.” 

Yeo squeezed his eyes shut, gritting his teeth against the pain. Blood was running down his legs now to pool around his feet and he was starting to feel lightheaded. He thought about the Goblin, how Eun Tak had always called him to her so easily, either with a flame or the power of the birthmark upon her neck. Yeo knew he had no equivalent tie to the Goblin, but after years together, sharing the same space and knowing each other so intimately, surely some bond had formed between them, some connection that would warn Shin he was in danger.

It was a pitiful hope and Yeo knew it, feeling a tear escape his eye at the realization of how reckless he’d been. He’d never even considered that it might be possible to die while he was a reaper or that his powers could be turned against him, by a human no less. He should have taken his hoobae’s fears more seriously. He should have taken the opportunity to tell Shin how he felt before it was too late.

Shaking his head, he opened his eyes again and was convinced for a moment that he was hallucinating. The killer had paused in his assault, laughing as he dragged fingertips over Yeo’s injuries before leaning forward to lap at the cuts like a kitten at a bowl of milk. But it wasn’t the killer’s obscene behavior that caused Yeo to freeze in shock. It was the man standing on the other side of the room, dressed all in black and wearing a military coat as if ready for battle. His glowing sword was clutched in his hand and his eyes burned in the darkness with fury as blue flames rose from his skin like steam.

“What is the next card in the tarot after Death?” The Goblin asked, eyes fixed on Yeo with such intensity that the gaze made him ache in a way that had nothing to do with his injuries.

“Temperance,” Yeo croaked out and then hissed in pain as the killer pressed a thumb into one of the cuts on his side, sliding an arm possessively around Yeo’s neck as he turned to look at Shin. If he was surprised by the interruption he didn’t show it.

“Well, I’m not Temperance,” Shin said, sweeping his sword through the air and leaving a trail of flame behind. “So, I must be the next one.”

“The Devil,” The killer said, tilting his head to the side thoughtfully. “You could fit the part, I suppose. With the right props. Come closer so I can get a good look at you.”

A taut smile twisted the corner of Shin’s lips. “I don’t take orders from you.”

The killer giggled. “You must be another reaper. Come here to rescue him, I assume?” He glanced at Yeo and tightened his arm around Yeo’s shoulders. “But you’ll never reach him before I kill him.”

“I’m not a reaper.”

Shin took a step forward and Yeo drew in a breath to warn him about the sigil, but the killer pressed his blade against Yeo’s throat and he couldn’t speak without risking having his throat slit.

“What are you, then?”

“An angry god. Here to punish you for your sins.” Shin swung his sword through the air and a swath of fire flew across the room toward them, but it turned to smoke as soon as it hit the sigil on the floor.

Laughing so hard that he let the blade fall from Yeo’s throat, the killer pointed at Shin and laughed some more, leaning on one knee to keep himself upright. “Not even a god can stop me!”

“Now,” Shin cried, and Yeo felt something cold and wet splash across his feet.

Eyes widening, the murderer stumbled away from Yeo, slipping a little in whatever it was that had splattered across the ground around them. It was black and it completely coated the ground, obscuring the sigil entirely. It must have been paint, the same paint that had been used to make the design in the first place. And it had likely broken the seal by destroying the design!

Yeo looked back up just in time to see Shin sweep his blade through the killer in a zigzagging motion, the edges of the man’s skin cauterized with fire as he fell to the ground in multiple pieces. It was gruesome, almost as awful as what the man had done to so many others, but Shin took no pleasure in the act, flinging the blood from his sword out of habit before letting it dissolve back into the ether. His eyes were still full of rage when he met Yeo’s eyes.

“Sunbae!” 

Yeo’s hoobae slid across the slippery floor to his side, tugging frantically at the knotted rope around his wrist to loosen it. Shin managed to cross the paint with less trouble, picking up the knife the killer had dropped and lifting it to cut the rest of the ropes but hesitating when he saw Yeo’s reaction to having the blade so close. Flinging the knife aside, Shin used his magic instead, incinerating the rope without touching Yeo’s skin and turning his power to healing as he swept his fingers over Yeo’s wounds, still without making contact. He didn’t touch Yeo at all until he caught him from collapsing once he was freed, his eyes dark with a tangle of emotion as he held Yeo close.

“Are you all right?” the other reaper asked Yeo. 

Yeo swallowed and closed his eyes, leaning his forehead against Shin’s. “I’ll be fine.”

Stumbling back a step, his hoobae said softly, “I should report back. We need to obscure what happened before the police find this place.”

Yeo made a noise of acknowledgement, but he didn’t open his eyes to watch him leave. Shin still didn’t say a word. Enjoying the warmth of the Goblin’s arms around him and still aching from the memory of pain even though his injuries had been healed, Yeo leaned against Shin and breathed in his scent, clinging to his coat with a desperate grip. 

“You aren’t the Devil,” he said finally in a whisper. “You’re Judgement.”

Rubbing his nose affectionately against Yeo’s, Shin asked, “Isn’t that a lady?”

“You’re thinking of Justice.”

“Ah.” Shin’s arms tightened around him. “That bastard ruined your suit, by the way. I saw it crumpled over there in the corner.”

Yeo was surprised to find how easily a smile spread across his lips at the absurdity of that comment. “I have more.”

Humming under his breath, Shin nodded. “What a relief.”

“Shin, I…” Yeo had to pause to take a shaky breath in order to finish the sentence, but still the words caught in his throat. “I…”

“I know,” Shin whispered before he could continue. He kissed Yeo lightly. “You don’t have to say it. I already know.”

Opening his eyes, Yeo met Shin’s gaze and saw the emotion he had been struggling to voice reflected there. “Let’s go home.”