Archive of Our Own ^beta

Honestly, Beomgyu didn't understand why humans decided to leave Earth so often. Taking their own lives, risking it in games, wasting it away on drinks and drugs because they thought their life was boring. Because Beomgyu didn't find life on Earth boring at all, not in the slightest. It was fun as Hell. 

Well, metaphorically speaking. Because Beomgyu had come from Hell, and that place was the most uneventful place he'd ever had the displeasure of existing in. And that was saying something, since he'd fallen straight from Heaven, too. 

Beomgyu stared interestedly as his cup of coffee was placed on the counter in front of him. 

"Thank you," he said, poking at the latte as it steamed gently. He looked up at the barista. "How did you get all this—" he waved his hand at the steam slowly rising from the coffee mug— "without actually setting fire to anything?"

The barista just stared at him, a decidedly annoyed look on his face, before ignoring Beomgyu and going back to the rest of his orders. Beomgyu glared at the back of his head, muttering curses under his breath as he took his coffee away to sit at a table. 

The sun cast a tired, evening glow through the windows as Beomgyu sipped his not-fired coffee, pleasantly surprised to find the lack of ash in the aftertaste. He didn't even know it had been there in his previous coffees until he'd had one without. 

He grinned at the humans as they went about their lives, picking up coffees and talking to other humans and sometimes picking up humans and talking to coffees. They were so adorably weird. So small and meaningless and yet endlessly entertaining in their simple ways, unlike any of the boring humans that came down to where Beomgyu used to live. They did nothing and yet did everything at the same time, and their simpleness amused him. 

Suddenly, there was a crashing sound from the front and Beomgyu looked up to see someone come barging through the door of the coffee shop, slamming open the door and accidentally running into a table and knocking it over in his haste. 

"Sorry, sorry, I'm sorry," he apologised, smiling pleasantly as he righted their table before locking eyes with Beomgyu, his gaze wearying as he strode over to him. 

Beomgyu grinned, sipping more of his coffee. "Ah, my favourite demon. How are you, Huening Kai?"

"I’ve been looking for you all day. Have you been sitting in this coffee shop the entire time?” Kai sighed, sliding into the seat opposite Beomgyu. He pointed at the cup situated on the table. "What is it this time? A hot chocolate which isn't made from chocolate and instead made from brown clouds?"

Beomgyu shook his head. "Nope. It's a coffee. Try." He slid the cup over to Kai, who eyed it suspiciously. Beomgyu nodded encouragingly, but Kai ignored the cup and leaned forward. 

"Lucifer—" he began, and Beomgyu shuddered. "Come on, I really can't say your name? Do I seriously have to go along with all this 'Beomgyu' malarkey?"

"You need to respect the identity I chose for myself," Beomgyu sniffed. "Humans have a whole campaign going, you know. For trans youths. I'm not entirely sure what a trans is, but I support them all the same." He stabbed a finger in Kai's direction. "And so should you. You really should start to embrace your new name, too. Suits you."

Kai rolled his eyes. "I don't like it."

Beomgyu grinned. "You think it's worse than 'Beezlebub'?"

"Yes. No. Whatever. You're distracting me," Kai said, waving a hand. "What I came here to say is you shouldn't have left. You promised me you wouldn't leave."

Beomgyu shrugged. "We agreed, though. We do what I want during the day, and we do what you want at night. So I follow your alcohol escapades, your sex nights and your weird obsession with bloodshed—I mean, after all that time in Hell, you still enjoy bloodshed?— and then I'll have my coffees and pastries when I wake up."

Kai frowned confusedly. "You're making it sound like you don't enjoy it."

"No, I do. Do you not enjoy it? We could change it to coffees and pastries in the nights as well."

"I'm— no. That wasn't my point. After that disaster that happened when you sneaked out last time, you promised you wouldn't go anywhere without telling me. Why did you leave the penthouse without me?"

"Because the penthouse is boring, Kai," Beomgyu groaned. "It's 13 floors up from humanity. I came here because of humans. Why would I come all this way if I was going to isolate myself from them? Could have just done that at home."

Kai crossed his arms. "We have humans at home."

"Like I said. Boring."

"Lucifer—"

Beomgyu hissed sharply. 

Kai sighed. "Beomgyu," he reluctantly corrected, and Beomgyu smiled pleasantly. "Don't you remember the last time you wandered around without me? You were literally about to show someone your wings, out in the middle of the street, and you would have done it if I hadn't stopped you."

"Whatever, whatever. Anyway, I didn't, and I'm fine now, so it's all okay." Beomgyu drained the last of his coffee and stood up. "That was good coffee by the way. You should have had some."

Beomgyu walked out of the coffee shop, squinting into the setting sun before setting off down the street, Kai hot on his heels. 

"Look, I am your friend. I'm always by your side, no matter what! Even back in Hell, I was with you despite everything we went through. All I'm asking is that you keep your promises to me."

"Yeah, well, in Hell you were my chief torturer, and I kind of don't want you to do that here," Beomgyu said, smiling lazily. "And did you really expect the Devil to keep his promises?"

Kai huffed. "Fine. Be like that."

Beomgyu didn't even falter in his step when Kai melted away from beside him, disappearing in a blink of an eye and a rush of wind. He whistled as he walked down the streets, grinning appreciatively at some of the women and even some of the moderately nice-looking men. They really didn't make attractive male humans that often anymore. 

He'd pissed off Kai, he knew that. He didn't exactly know why, but his demon would always come back to him sooner or later. Kai had followed him to Earth, after all. He wasn't just his chief torturer or a demon under the Devil's rule: he was Beomgyu's best friend. It would take more than just a petty fight over "promises" to make the demon leave him.

Beomgyu crossed the road, pausing interestedly in front of a flower shop, poking at some of the green leaves and the particularly floppy flowers. It had been an age since Beomgyu had lived in Heaven, and thus it had been an age since he'd seen any sort of greenery. Hell, with all its fire and sulphur, wasn't really the best place to nurture plants. 

He walked into the shop, the door tinkling pleasantly as he pushed it open, poking at the shelves and humming curiously at the flowers. 

Beomgyu picked up one of the bouquets on the counter, looking around to see if there were any humans meant to be manning the front. There were none, so Beomgyu shrugged internally, turning the bouquet over in his hands and leaning closer to the flowers, nose practically touching the petals. A ticklish sensation made its way into his nostrils, and he sniffled uncomfortably, lowering the bouquet. 

"Hey, excuse me, could you put that down?"

A voice sounded from in front of Beomgyu, and he looked up, grinning. "Don't worry, love, I'm not stealing it. I'm not that… that underhand…"

The grin paused on Beomgyu's face as he looked at the human to have spoken to him. It was a man, and he had yellow powder smeared on his cheek and was wearing an apron in the most horrific shade of green Beomgyu had ever seen and he was beautiful. Large, bright eyes, dark hair swept messily over his forehead and skin that seemed to practically glow golden-orange in the light of the evening sun through the windows.

The man leaned over the counter, closer to Beomgyu, before nodding his head pointedly at the bouquet in his hands. "That's an arrangement that was ordered by someone else. I'm afraid you're not allowed to touch that."

"Hmm, you shouldn't have left it unattended then." Beomgyu, having recovered himself, set down the bouquet and leaned closer to the man, smirking. It seemed Father had made men either extremely horrible or extremely beautiful. 

"It was just for a minute," the man explained, looking down at the bouquet. The new angle made the sun cast the planes of his face into more intriguing lines, the dark shadows marking the sharpness of his cheekbones. "And I thought that most people would have enough decency to leave alone a bouquet on the counter, clearly labelled with someone's name."

Beomgyu just hummed, eyes rapidly tracing the human's face. "What are you doing here, in a tiny little shop? You have the face of royalty. Of angels, even."

The human wrinkled his brow and leaned away from Beomgyu, looking down his nose at him. It exposed the long, delicious column of his neck to the Devil, and a startlingly vivid image of him dragging his tongue across that golden expanse of skin flashed through his mind, and Beomgyu pursed his lips to keep himself contained. 

"If you're not here to buy anything, then I'd like to ask you to leave," the man said, taking the bouquet away and setting it on the other corner of the counter. He looked up at Beomgyu, eyes dark and light and swirling intriguingly. “ Leave.”

Beomgyu chuckled softly, raising his hands in the air placatingly. "Alright." He stood up straight, squinting at the little name tag thing on the man's apron. "It was nice to meet you, T…aehyun? Taehyun. Well, I'll definitely remember a name like Taehyun."

The human, Taehyun, eyed him up and down, the yellow powder still smeared across his cheek. "Please don't."

Beomgyu chuckled, backing out of the shop. "Oh, by the way, you have a little something… on your face."

Taehyun lifted his hand to his cheek as Beomgyu exited back out onto the street. 

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A few hours later, Beomgyu walked into the apartment to see Kai sitting in one of the living rooms, sharpening his knives. 

"Seriously? Are we really going to spend another night throwing knives?" Beomgyu groaned, walking over and tossing his coat over the footstool. "It's fun and all, but after a while it does get tiring."

Kai glared up at Beomgyu over his knife, before looking down without a word. Beomgyu sighed, sitting down next to him and putting his feet in his lap, making Kai hiss and lift his equipment up so they weren’t in the way. 

“Are you sulking? Still? Come on, Kai. Look, I’ll promise to keep my promises this time. If I knew how it’d affect my dear demon, then I wouldn’t have broken it in the first place. I promise.” Beomgyu wriggled his feet, forcing Kai to look down at them. “Kai, seriously,” he whined. “Don’t ignore me.”

The demon huffed, knife and knife sharpener clattering onto the glass coffee table, turning to look at Beomgyu. Beomgyu just grinned, crossing his legs at the ankles and looking back at Kai. There was a prolonged moment of eye contact, before Kai stood up and dislodged Beomgyu’s feet from his lap.

“Your knives are on the kitchen island. I sharpened them earlier.”

Beomgyu chuckled, crossing the floor into the kitchen to find his human-steel knives were indeed sitting there on the countertop, waiting for him. “Thank you very much, Kai dear.” He flipped them over in his hands, before strapping them to his belt. Kai was never going to acknowledge or accept Beomgyu's sort-of apology. That wasn't how they worked. Sometimes they fought, but ultimately they'd smooth it over without a word and continue as they'd always done. “Where are we going tonight?”

Kai stood in the doorway, and shrugged on his overcoat. “Bar near that coffee shop you were sitting in when I found you.”

Beomgyu nodded, putting on his own coat before following Kai out of the door. The coat was purely for appearance rather than practicality. During his and Kai’s first day on Earth, they’d quickly learned that humans didn’t really like the sight of knives out in public. So they'd taken to wearing things called 'trench coats' to hide their weapons from sight. 

The elevator ride was silent. Beomgyu glanced over at Kai. The demon didn’t say anything, hands in pockets, facing straight ahead. Beomgyu tilted his head, looking at him curiously, but stood in silence with his demon anyway. 

When the elevator came to a halt, Kai broke the silence and started talking as if they'd never stopped. "What were you even doing after I left you, anyway? You were out for at least an hour.”

Beomgyu smiled, facing forwards as the elevator doors opened on the ground floor. “I looked at flower shops. There are a strange amount of them around that bar we’re going to. But I was also held up by this gaggle of preachers outside a cathedral.”

Kai sighed in a long-suffering way, turning his collar up as they walked out of the apartment building. “Please don’t tell me you caused a scene.”

“It’s not their fault that those poor preachers were placed in my path by Father,” Beomgyu dismissed. “I did nothing to them.”

“Don’t lie.”

“Alright, I yelled at them and punched a few guys and half-buried this one woman into the sidewalk,” Beomgyu grinned as Kai shook his head. “Hey, what else was I meant to do? It’s what they get for trying to tell the Devil that God will always have faith in you. He never had faith in me. That's why He made me the fucking Devil.”

Beomgyu’s comment received a few alarmed looks from the passers-by but neither Kai nor Beomgyu acknowledged them.

“Well, fair enough," Kai said with a shrug. "What about these flower shops though? Why did you go there?”

“You may enjoy indulging yourself in the same sins and desires that we were surrounded with back at home, but I’m trying to learn as much about Earth and humans as possible. They smell so…” Beomgyu clasped his hands together, searching for the right word. “...alive.”

Kai tilted his head. “What, flowers?”

“No, humans,” Beomgyu said, eyes crinkling. “There’s so much life here.” His face suddenly lit up. “I met such an interesting human in one of the shops, actually. He—I’m pretty sure it was a he—was beautiful. Genuinely, absolutely, beautiful.”

“Oh really?” Kai said in amusement. They crossed the streets as Beomgyu continued to ramble. 

“Mhm. I think he was the florist person,” Beomgyu explained as they neared the bar. “I saw him over in that shop over there,” he said. “And he looked like royalty. He’s prettier than all of those human princes over the centuries, I swear, and I thought…” 

Beomgyu’s voice trailed off as the door to the bar opened, spilling yellow light out onto the street, and the Taehyun human from that evening stepped out, facing inside the bar and apparently talking to someone. And he looked just like—

“...he was glowing,” Beomgyu finished, eyes wide. “Kai, Kai, it’s that human! There! He’s fucking glowing!”

Kai let Beomgyu aggressively shake his arm, looking over in the direction the Devil was pointing. “Is that him? Well, he’s definitely very pretty.”

“Yes…" Beomgyu mused, the gears turning in his head before clicking to a realisation and he frowned. "As pretty as an angel, wouldn’t you say? A very angelic angel.” Beomgyu watched as Taehyun continued to hold the door open, the yellow light washing over him and continuing to make him glow.

“Beomgyu,” Kai said slowly. “Do you think he’s another one? Sent by your Father?”

“I wouldn’t put it past Him,” Beomgyu said, face darkening with anger. “He sent Michael after us literally the day after we arrived here, didn’t He? I wouldn’t be surprised if He’s sent another angel to fetch us already.”

Part of the reason Beomgyu had decided to leave Hell for a while was because it truly was becoming boring. But that wasn’t the whole story. 

Tired of being a part of God’s schemes, forced to rule over the ashen, barren plane of existence that was Hell, Beomgyu had, in an act of defiance, abandoned his role. For thousands of years, ever since the beginning of his existence, he’d been constantly punished by his Father for simply being . 

First, it had been that so-called ‘rebellion’ on Beomgyu’s part. Heaven had grown boring, stifling, even, and when he and several other angels had asked Him to relax the restrictions, allow angels and spirits more freedom, he’d been cast out, doomed to be a dutiful servant of Hell for God. Beomgyu wasn’t a violent type: fighting and bloodshed had been minimal, but he’d been vilified for it anyway.

Next it was the problem of being in Hell. Did Beomgyu enjoy supervising the souls entering his realm, handing out punishments and doing housekeeping duties for his Father? Fuck no. He hated it so much. There were too many tainted souls, too many punishments to keep track of, and he’d had to assign Kai to some of his tasks too so he wasn’t overwhelmed by the mundanity of what he had to do.

And then, as humanity flourished and grew under His guidance, He allowed them to sully His son’s name, allowed them to blame the Devil for all of their own sins and their own faults, allowed them to view him as evil. So perhaps it shouldn’t have been all that surprising that, after millenia of mistreatment, Beomgyu had had enough and decided to leave.

And here He was, sending angel after angel to try and drag Beomgyu back to Hell. 

“Come on, we’ll go to another bar,” Kai said, trying to pull Beomgyu away. “There’s another one in the town over, bigger fight rates; I’m sure it’ll be better. Let’s go.”

“No. I’m going to confront this angel and send him back to Father,” Beomgyu practically growled, shaking Kai off and beginning to stalk forwards. “Did you give me my hellfire dagger?”

“We left that at home,” Kai said, hurrying to catch up with Beomgyu. “Can we just leave? I mean, if your Father sent him to you, then I’m sure the angel will come to us by himself at some point—”

“Hey! You!”

Kai slowed down as Beomgyu barrelled towards the bar entrance. He sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Why do I bother? Why do I ever fucking bother?”

Taehyun turned his head as Beomgyu approached, big eyes blinking curiously. Even his eyes sparkled so mesmerizingly, Beomgyu thought murderously as he came to a stop in front of him. Just like an angel.

Taehyun looked Beomgyu up and down, letting go of the door and allowing it to swing shut. He pursed his lips in recognition. “You,” he said. “You’re that man from this evening.”

“Don’t play dumb with me,” Beomgyu hissed. “I know what’s going on. Father already sent Michael after me, and I kicked his ass right back. Who did He send this time? Remiel, is that you? Or maybe it’s you, Raguel. You were always one for justice. Ready to drag me back to where I belong, hm?”

The being—Angel? Human?—looked at Beomgyu, his expression having grown increasingly bewildered as Beomgyu talked. “I’m sorry,” he said finally. “What?”

Beomgyu laughed loudly, sounding a little deranged. “Oh, you almost fooled me there, with the whole florist act. You did a remarkable job of masking your angel-ness! For a moment, I really did believe that you were a human. The name was really convincingly human, too, ‘Taehyun’.” The smile dropped from his face. “Now come out and reveal yourself to me, and I’ll send you back to where you belong, angel.”

Taehyun frowned, thoroughly confused, but before he could say anything, a human staggered through the doorway and out onto the street, almost smacking Taehyun with his flailing hands. Immediately, the florist turned his attention away from Beomgyu and onto the human.

“You finally found the door, huh?” Taehyun chuckled, wrapping his arms around the human and attempting to lift him upright. “The night has only just started. How in God’s name are you already plastered?”

“Oh, trust me, He had nothing to do with it,” Beomgyu snarled. “Come on, leave the human alone and face me.”

Taehyun adjusted the human in his arms, fixing Beomgyu with a confused and yet thoroughly frustrated stare. “Look, I don’t know what you’re talking about. Really. If you’ve misplaced someone or something, then I’ll be more than happy to help you find them, but I’m not them.”

“Misplaced someone?” Beomgyu repeated. “I haven’t misplaced anyone! What does that even mean? Are humans now synonymous to objects?”

“Oh my God,” Taehyun muttered, struggling to hold onto the human as he flailed his arms and babbled something incoherent. “Please, just go away. I don’t know what you’ve done, if you’ve lost someone or you’re running away, but I have nothing to do with it. I swear.”

Beomgyu raised a finger. “First, God really hates people inserting His name unnecessarily into contexts like this, and you know that. This is just a ruse to get me to believe you’re human. Secondly, yes you do. You have everything to do with it. You have to!”

Beomgyu's voice quietened and he leaned closer to Taehyun, scrutinising his face. “You have to be an angel. It’s the only explanation for why you’re so beautiful.”

Taehyun blinked, startled, cheeks reddening, but their conversation was abruptly cut off by the human making gagging noises and Taehyun rushed to reposition his head so he threw up on the sidewalk instead of all over him. At that moment, Kai decided enough was enough and walked over to drag Beomgyu away.

“Right, that’s enough from you,” he said, grabbing Beomgyu by the shoulder. “Shut up and walk away calmly.”

“What, why?” Beomgyu struggled to duck under Kai’s arm, but the demon held firm.

“I’m so sorry about him,” Kai apologised to Taehyun, smiling as politely as he could. “He’s a little…” He mimed knocking back drinks and then wobbling around in a drunk way. Beomgyu glared at him, offended.

Taehyun laughed and nodded, pointing to the human next to him. “Yeah, so is this one. A little broken after a breakup, and I had to come collect him. Didn’t I, Yeonjun?”

Yeonjun, the human, just groaned and began retching again.

“Anyway, we’ll be off now,” Kai said, smiling and beginning to tug Beomgyu down the street. “Sorry, again.”

“No, we’ll not be off now,” Beomgyu protested. “Kai! I'm your superior. You can’t do this to me!”

Kai continued smiling, but his eyes burned irritatedly. “Beomgyu. Fucking. Leave.” He turned back to the humans, waving politely. “Have a nice night!”

Kai forcibly dragged Beomgyu away, holding a hand over his mouth when the Devil tried to shout in complaint. Taehyun watched them go, utterly confused about what had just happened, before Yeonjun groaned next to him and finally stood up, wiping his mouth.

“What just happened?” he croaked as Taehyun handed him a bottle of water.

Taehyun stared as the two men crossed the road, their silhouettes large and sweeping in their trench coats. “I don’t even know.”

¸.*𖤐*¸.*♱*.¸  

“I’m sure there was going to be a perfectly good fight brewing in that bar. They’re an old bar, too, so their tables would have been soft. Absolutely brilliant to stick knives into! And yet you had to go and ruin it by drawing your knife before the fight had actually begun.”

The Devil and his demon were sitting in a nightclub, half a town over from the bar they'd originally wanted to go to, because it was only with that amount of distance that Beomgyu stopped insisting he needed to go back to Taehyun and reveal his angelic identity. 

Beomgyu rolled his eyes as Kai continued to complain, waving his glass around as he talked. 

"And then the one before that! Beautiful. Utterly beautiful. The blood would have dripped so cleanly from their shiny tabletops. Not marble, mind, but made to look like marble. And then you got into a fight with a human because he exclaimed 'Jesus Christ'. Why?!" Kai gulped down the rest of his alcohol, slamming it down onto the table before wincing, holding a hand up to his temple. 

"My deepest apologies," Beomgyu said over the loud music. "But in all fairness, I wouldn't have done anything to that human if he hadn't said that I looked like Jesus. I may be God's son, but we look nothing alike!"

"That's not the point!" Kai struggled to be heard over the pounding music, scrunching his eyes against the colourful neon lights. "And why is it so loud in here?"

"You chose it!" Beomgyu yelled back.

“Because you kicked us out of two separate bars!” Kai shouted. “Imagine if the demons back home heard of this! The Devil was too annoying so he managed to get himself kicked out of two alcoholic establishments!”

“Well it’s a good thing we’re not going back to Hell!”

Beomgyu sulked as Kai rolled his eyes, getting up from the table and taking their glasses over to the front to be refilled. When he returned, glasses filled with some kind of whiskey (they may not be able to get them drunk, but humans really did make great whiskey) and set them down with a thump.

Kai propped his feet up onto the table, drawing one of his knives and pressing the steel tip into the palm of his hand, dragging it across his skin and watching as it didn’t leave so much as a mark. He wrapped his hand around the blade, stabbing the hilt against the table, making indents into the wood. 

Beomgyu’s exaggerated pout gradually ceased from his face as he watched Kai’s actions, taking his own knife out from his belt and dragging the blade across the back of his hand. “Kai.”

“Hm?”

“I really think that the Taehyun human is actually an angel.”

Kai groaned. “I thought we were over this. We talked about this in the last bar.”

“No, no, hear me out,” Beomgyu said insistently. “You saw him, right?  He is unexplainably pretty. Did you see his eyes? All big and dark and sparkly and swirly. Like teeny little galaxies. And not only that, he glows. He. Fucking. Glows. Like a shiny aura! If that isn’t angelic, then I don’t know what is.”

Kai shook his head. “How about his presence? Did he have an otherworldly presence?”

“See, that’s exactly what I don’t understand,” Beomgyu said, leaning forward. “He has every angelic quality. But I didn’t sense his presence at the beginning.” He frowned. “Am I broken?”

“No, it just means he’s not an angel. Simple.” Kai shrugged, setting his knife down and taking a sip of whiskey. “He’s just a human who you think is insanely good-looking.”

Beomgyu wrinkled his nose, leaning away. “Ew. No.”

“Uh. Yeah.”

“I’m done with this conversation,” Beomgyu sniffed, taking Kai’s glass from him and draining it, slamming it down on the table. “If we can’t go round spilling blood tonight, then I’d very much like to go round spilling alcohol. Do you have any of those circles? Or the rectangles?”

“Money,” Kai corrected, handing over a wad of cash to Beomgyu. “Try to just get a whole bottle, yeah? And bring it back this time.”

Beomgyu grinned, walking towards the fray of dancing people. “No promises!”

¸.*𖤐*¸.*♱*.¸  

The next day, Beomgyu awoke to his head still pounding with the memory of the loud music from last night. His curtains were open, and he hissed at the bright light, crawling out of bed before accidentally tangling his legs in the sheets and falling onto the floor in a heap.

The surprise action made his wings unfold from his back, startled, and he hissed again, rubbing his arm as he used his wings to drag him back up to a standing position, yawning and walking out of his room.

“You look like shit,” was the first thing Kai said when he walked into the kitchen. “And why are your wings out?”

Beomgyu shrugged, trying to make himself a coffee through bleary eyes. “Fell out of bed and they just popped out.” He ruffled his feathers, stretching his wings as the coffee machine whirred and he sat down at the island. Kai, standing on the other side with a bowl of cereal, glared. “Sorry. If you want to sit down, you’ll have to do it elsewhere.”

Kai huffed, walking over to the dining table and pulling out a chair to sit down. “So what are you gonna do today? 

“Dunno,” Beomgyu said, yawning again. “Apparently humans have little spaces dedicated to grass and water and ducks, so I might go there.”

“Grass?” Kai repeated. “No flowers?”

Beomgyu shrugged. “Dunno.” He paused abruptly, eyes widening, and at that moment the coffee machine dinged to signify it was finished. “Wait. Flowers.”

Kai paused with a spoonful of cereal halfway to his mouth, eyes big with question, before his face fell. He set down his spoon. “Oh, no. Lucifer, no.”

“Lucifer, yes,” Beomgyu said, abandoning his coffee and hurrying to his room. “And I told you to call me Beomgyu.”

“Do not go to that poor florist!” Kai called. “I’m pretty sure he isn’t an angel!”

“How would you know?” Beomgyu called back. “He’s as pretty as an angel, so I’m sure he is!”

Kai frowned, thinking over Beomgyu’s words, before shaking his head. “Even after all these hours, your answer still doesn’t make sense to me! Also, you left the coffee machine on.”

There was a pattering of footsteps, and Beomgyu entered the kitchen once more, wings tucked away and half wearing normal clothes. He took his mug, grinning at Kai before dashing off to his room again. “Thanks, Kai.”

“You’re welcome, Lucifer.”

“Beomgyu!”

¸.*𖤐*¸.*♱*.¸  

The bell tinkled pleasantly as Beomgyu pushed open the door, allowing his senses to be filled with the fresh, floral scent of the shop. The man by the counter looked up at the sound, smiling.

“Hi there, how can I— oh, it’s you again.”

Taehyun’s smile dropped, and he looked weary as he prepared for whatever Beomgyu was going to say today.

“Yes, it’s me. Finally ready to admit you’re an angel?” Beomgyu said, stalking around the shop. “I assure you, if you just drop this act, things could progress much more smoothly.”

“I don’t know if this is some weird flattery trick, but I’m not really a big fan of it,” Taehyun said, going back to wiping down the countertop. 

"Flattery! Please, I would never flatter an angel like you."

Taehyun frowned slightly. "That doesn't even make sense. Was that meant to be a compliment or…?"

Beomgyu looked at Taehyun as if he were asking the most ridiculous questions, shaking his head. "It must be you, Remiel. You never did properly grasp the meaning of sentences." He turned away once more to poke at a few lilies. 

"Wha— Okay, sir, you're not making any sense," Taehyun sighed, keeping his tone polite. "And if you are flattering me, or even insulting me, then all I ask is that you stop. It's incredibly rude. I don’t even know your name.”

Beomgyu turned on his heel to look at Taehyun, smiling. “Ah, of course! How silly of me. You don’t know my human name, do you?” He strode towards the counter, extending a hand. “Beomgyu. Choi Beomgyu.”

Taehyun looked down the extended hand, before slowly edging away. “Alright, Beomgyu, Choi Beomgyu. If you’re not here to buy anything, then I’m afraid I will ask you to leave, because you are becoming a hindrance to our business today.”

Beomgyu just hummed, staring at Taehyun. “Yes, on second thoughts, perhaps it’s you, Uriel. With all your intricate, beautifully extravagant words and your self-confident air and breathtaking visuals. Even while in a human form, you’re still gorgeous, aren’t you?”

Taehyun reddened, looking mildly confused, before looking away. “Choi Beomgyu, I will call the cops for harassment if you don’t—”

“Harassment?” Beomgyu said, aghast. “Me? You’re the one harassing me, aren’t you, by refusing to admit to your true identity.” He raised his hands. “But, I'll be the good guy this time. I’ll play along with your facade. Don’t think I haven’t figured you out, however. I know exactly what you are, angel.”

The confusion deepened on Taehyun’s face, and he fanned his face lightly to get his curious blush to go down as Beomgyu turned away, scanning the shop. 

"You asked me to buy something or leave. It's obvious you actually want me to do both, so I will." The Devil looked around at all the flowers, before taking one out from the bunch, turning back round to the florist. “What’s this?”

Taehyun managed to school his face back into a somewhat normal expression, placing his hands on the counter and squinting at the flower Beomgyu held. 

“A tulip,” he said, and the words began spilling out automatically. “Latin name, tulipa gesnerania. Since it’s a purple tulip you’re holding, it symbolises luxury and elegance, since purple was a dye that was used only for royal clothes.”

Beomgyu nodded thoughtfully. “Ah, yes, I remember that. The Romans were pretty adamant that purple be used only by their Emperors. I’ll buy this one." He narrowed his eyes at Taehyun. “And you studied flower names and meanings, I see. You sure are taking this whole act very seriously.”

Taehyun didn’t understand this man at all. “This isn’t an act. I am a florist.” He took the flower from Beomgyu, rolling it up in plastic and tying it with a simple ribbon bow. 

“Ri-ight,” Beomgyu said disbelievingly. He took the tulip from Taehyun, drawing himself up to his full height. “Fine. If you insist on playing like this, then I guess I’ll join in your game too.”

He turned on his heel and made as if to walk away when Taehyun called out to him again.

“Hey, Choi Beomgyu! You need to pay for that.”

Of course. Humans and their whole money thing. This angel was certainly doing an incredibly annoyingly accurate job of pretending to be human. Beomgyu threw down a wad of cash and, ignoring Taehyun's surprised splutter, flounced out of the flower shop and focused on finding a book store. 

If he wanted to beat Taehyun at this 'pretend to be human' game, then he needed all the knowledge he could get. 

¸.*𖤐*¸.*♱*.¸  

 Kai unlocked the door that afternoon to see Beomgyu lounging in one of the living rooms and groaned. 

"Ugh, why are you here?"

"Excuse you, I live here," Beomgyu said, not looking up from his book. 

The demon sighed, closing the door behind him with his foot as he shuffled into the kitchen with multiple plastic bags wrapped around his wrists. He shot a brief glare in Beomgyu's direction before turning back to the bags but then his head shot up to look at him properly, setting the bags of food down on the island. 

"You're reading a book?"

"Shut up," Beomgyu replied simply, turning a page. 

Kai looked at him curiously, leaving the shopping in order to walk over to Beomgyu and peer more closely at what he was doing. "You're reading a book about flowers?" he said in disbelief. 

"And I told you to shut up." Beomgyu peered over his book to look at Kai. "Did you get any food?"

"Yes, of course I did. That's what I do when you're gone."

"Good. Get me some crackers, will you?"

"What, no 'thank you'?" Kai sighed, drawing back. "Thank you, Kai, for doing all the little jobs I don't want to do. Thank you, Kai, for making sure we have all the weird, human food I pick up a taste for during the day. Thank you, Kai, for— Beomgyu, are you even listening to me?"

Beomgyu hummed, burying his head further into his book. A sure sign he was intentionally ignoring Kai. The demon rolled his eyes, walking back to the shopping. 

"I know why you're doing this, by the way," he said, opening the fridge. "It's because of Taehyun."

"Yup," Beomgyu said. He looked up, watching as Kai put the milk into the fridge, tilting his head. "Oh, we were out of milk?"

Kai shook his head, continuing to put away the shopping. "We've been out of Hell for less than two weeks. Are you sure he's another angel who's come to get you back?" 

"Sure. I mean, Michael came to us literally the afternoon after we got here. I wouldn't put it past my Father to send out another one so quickly."

"Really? I just thought He might wait a little. Especially since you sent back Michael rather… smoked. Seems a bit excessive." Kai ducked down into the lower drawer of the fridge, putting away some vegetables when Beomgyu suddenly slammed his book down on the coffee table, making him jump and retract his head, rubbing the back of his head annoyedly. 

"My Father is excessive. That's his entire personality," Beomgyu said, glowering. "Has an idea to create humanity? Gives them a whole fucking plane of existence to play on. Humanity gets corrupt? Floods the entire race and gets this one chosen dude to save all the animals."

Beomgyu crossed his arms, glaring at the book. "Finds out His son doesn't want to live in the oppressive society He's created? Banishes him to work as a servant of Hell for all eternity."

Kai pursed his lips. "Beomgyu…"

Beomgyu waved a hand. "A third of His angels joined me, anyway. I wasn't the only one. I don't need pity."

The demon watched as the Devil continued to glare at his flower encyclopedia before going to pick it up again, hefting it into his lap. Kai didn't say anything as Beomgyu began to leaf through it once more, before turning back to the fridge. 

"But anyway," Beomgyu said, "I need to memorise everything in this book before I go to see Taehyun again."

Kai nodded from where he was putting away the cucumbers. "Right, about that. How is a flower encyclopaedia going to help you in any way at all with your… wait, what are you even going to do with Taehyun?" He reached over to the island to take hold of a packet of tomatoes. "And did you really buy a whole book about flowers?"

Beomgyu licked his index finger, calmly turning a page. "I'm only calling him Taehyun because I'm accepting his game. If he insists on pretending he's a human, then I'll do the same thing. Two can play this game, after all, and the way to one-up him is to become really, really good at flower terminology."

Kai shut the fridge, folding away the plastic bags with a confused look on his face. "What? How is that meant to help?"

Beomgyu didn't answer, continuing to read. "I believe I asked for crackers."

"Beomgyu—"

"Maybe get me some cheese too?"

"Seriously, you're—"

"Magnolia is an ancient genus," Beomgyu interrupted, beginning to recite from the book. "They are believed to have evolved before bees in order to encourage pollination. To avoid damage from pollinating beetles, the carpels—"

"You're so annoying."

"Thank you, Kai."

¸.*𖤐*¸.*♱*.¸  

It was raining the next day, as Beomgyu walked into the flower shop. After having slept late that morning and woken up to the sound of heavy rain pattering outside, it had been the mere thought of beating Taehyun at his own game that ultimately managed to pull Beomgyu out of bed.

Beomgyu tried to cook something with the food Kai had bought yesterday (it didn’t turn out well) and then decided to go to the local coffee shop to have coffee and a doughnut (which did turn out well). It was well into the afternoon when he decided to brave the weather and walk through the streets to Taehyun’s flower shop.

Taehyun was arranging some of the displays of flowers when the bell tinkled, and he looked over his shoulder to see Beomgyu. Instantly, his face became both guarded and tired at the same time.

“Hello there, Choi Beomgyu. How may I help you this time?”

Beomgyu looked down at the flowers Taehyun was arranging, and then clasped his hands behind his back. “Irises, latin name iris germanica, are a genus of flowering plant, known for its showy flowers. It takes its name from the Greek word for rainbow, and is also the name of the Greek goddess of the rainbow, Iris.”

Taehyun raised an eyebrow, straightening. “Yes, that’s true.”

“Ah, I’m not finished.” Beomgyu raised a hand. “Some writers believe the flower is named after the goddess of the rainbow because of the sheer amount of colours it comes in: red, yellow, orange, purple, and white, to name a few. Irises symbolise faith, hope, and courage, however different colours also attach different meanings to the flowers. For example, purple irises have a meaning of wisdom and compliments."

Finally finished with his little recitation of knowledge, Beomgyu grinned smugly at Taehyun, pleased with the knowledge that he had surprised him with all that he knew. 

Taehyun smiled a little. "You finished?" Beomgyu nodded, proud, and Taehyun's grin widened. "Good. My turn. 

"Irises are perennial flowers and bloom in late spring to early summer. You are correct that they are a genus, and are from one of about 300 species in the Iridacae family of plants. It is a popular staple within Japanese flower arrangements, and has long been considered as the 'fleur-de-lis' within the French royalist emblem. They have three sepals and three petals, along with a six petal-like arrangement within the centre of the iris, and while the three petals droop around the outside, the group of six stand more vertically."

Beomgyu's eyed widened slightly and he had to clench his jaw to keep it from going slack as Taehyun continued to rattle off information about irises. Whichever angel Taehyun was, he'd certainly done his research. 

"Damn you're good," Beomgyu breathed out once Taehyun was finished. 

The comment made the florist blink his eyes rapidly. "Well, I do work around flowers all day."

"Or so you say." Beomgyu gained his composure, snapping his heels together and narrowing his eyes at Taehyun. "I still don't believe you about that, angel. You're still trying to fool me."

Reddening, Taehyun walked away from the flowers, going behind the counter once more. "Like yesterday, if you aren't here to buy something, then please leave. I don't need you trying to flatter me with pet names."

"What pet names?" Beomgyu sounded genuinely confused, and Taehyun looked confused himself before shaking his head. 

"Just leave, if you're not here to buy anything."

"Want to get rid of me, hm? Afraid I'll figure out the holes in your ruse? Don't worry, dear angel, I'll stay even longer." Beomgyu began to look through the flowers, bending over the bucket of irises. "Your human identity may seem incredibly watertight right now, but there will be snags. And I'll pick at them until they unravel and reveal you for the angel you are."

Taehyun sighed, once more deeply confused with the strange customer who kept on saying strange things. "How do you know I'm an angel?" he asked, deciding to humour Beomgyu's weird ramblings. 

Beomgyu whipped his head up, smiling an incredibly attractive smile that instantly made the blush creep up into Taehyun's cheeks again. "You know why. Because I'm the Devil, darling."

Taehyun smiled uncomprehendingly, face slightly pink and fingers tingling at Beomgyu's low, sensual words, but managing to keep his composure purely because he had no idea what that meant. "Sure. Of course you are."

"I am!" Beomgyu straightened, holding two irises and the dark smile on his face was replaced with a petulant pout, making him seem like a little toddler. "Damned fires of Hell, you really are insistent on keeping up this human game."

"Mhm." Taehyun thought that the only reason he put up with Beomgyu's nonsensical talks so patiently was because the man seemed to genuinely believe what he said, and it gave him reason to at least try and follow with what he said. "But are you going to buy anything?"

"Yes, yes, here." Beomgyu looked down at the irises in his hand before ultimately choosing the blue one, striding over to the counter and placing it down. "Blue irises symbolise—"

"—faith and hope," Taehyun replied swiftly, wrapping the flower in plastic before tying it in the middle with a black ribbon. "In some European countries, they can also symbolise royalty because their blue colour can be mistaken for a shade of purple."

Beomgyu pursed his lips pettily, sulkily taking the flower from Taehyun. "I was going to say that," he muttered. 

Taehyun smiled, finding Beomgyu incredibly cute when he looked like that. (Wait, cute?) "I have no doubt you were."

The man fished into his pocket before pulling out a handful of notes, setting it down on the counter. Taehyun looked down at them, eyes widening as he recognised some of them to be fifty notes, but Beomgyu was already moving away. 

"I'll be back," he vowed, narrowing his eyes at Taehyun. "I'm going to continue bombarding you with flower facts until I find a flower you don't know and then I'm going to reveal your angel nature. I will! See you tomorrow, my angel."

He gave Taehyun a salute, walking backwards out of the shop and into the rain, barely breaking eye contact even as the water dripped through his eyelashes. 

Taehyun watched him go, before shaking his head and smiling a little. Beomgyu definitely confused him, but he was also so damningly attractive and made him blush so unexpectedly. He didn't know what Beomgyu was doing, but that didn't mean he was going to ask him to stop. 

And he'd be lying if he said he wasn't looking forward to the next time he'd see Beomgyu. 

¸.*𖤐*¸.*♱*.¸  

The next time they saw each other wasn't much later. Beomgyu strode into the flower shop again that evening, a couple of hours before closing time. The rain had stopped some hours ago, but because it was nearing the end of the day, the shop was pretty much deserted. 

The minute Beomgyu entered the shop, he stood right in the centre and flourished his arms. "Do you smell that?"

Taehyun looked up from the counter, his senses suddenly being hit with an extremely strong, fruity, floral scent, eyes wide in confusion at the fragrance and the voice. Before he could say anything, however, Beomgyu's stance seemed to falter when their eyes locked. His mouth opened but he didn't say anything, closing it for a few moments before opening it once more. 

"That's it. You have to be an angel," he said finally. "You're too damn pretty to be anything else."

And there he was again, talking in that strange manner of his. Taehyun had yet to figure out whether it was a compliment or insult or one of his weird ramblings. 

"Um… thank you?" the florist tried. 

Beomgyu frowned. "No, no! No, 'thank you'. It's not a good thing! It means you're doing a bad job of hiding your angel status, don't you see? I don't understand why you're not admitting it. You're so annoying!"

He muttered to himself some more, clenching his hands into fists, ears pink. Beomgyu avoided eye contact with Taehyun. Taehyun watched him, tilting his head. 

"Um, Choi Beomgyu?" he said. "Are you alright?"

"No. Yes. I'm fine." Beomgyu clasped his hands together, straightening. "Anyway, the scent."

Taehyun nodded his head slowly. "Yes… that's you, I presume? It came in when you did."

"Mhm. And what is it?" Beomgyu squinted his eyes, watching Taehyun closely. 

The florist blinked, eyes darting from side to side, unsure why Beomgyu had suddenly started scrutinising him. "It's… roses? Orange roses, I think. They have a scent that's more fruity compared to other rose scents. Sweet, a little like violet."

"And you don't sell orange roses here." Beomgyu grinned, but he didn't stop staring at Taehyun very closely. "What do you make of that?"

Taehyun, feeling confused by Beomgyu's intense stare, quickly looked away and tried to busy himself behind the counter. "It's very… strong. How much of the scent did you put on?"

Beomgyu looked slightly put out by Taehyun's less than enthusiastic response. "Does it not make you… expect anything? Divine beings, perhaps? Angels?"

"N—no. Is it meant to?" Taehyun frowned. "Are orange roses associated with angels?"

Beomgyu huffed, disappointed. "You're really insistent with the whole human act."

"That's because I am human." Taehyun crossed his arms, annoyed. "How can I prove it to you? Should I cut my finger while trimming flowers? Make myself bleed human blood? Why do you think I'm not human, anyway?"

"Because you can't be!" Beomgyu stomped his foot petulantly, gesturing with his hands. "You work in a flower shop, on a street where I've had coffee so many times, and yet I haven't seen you before now. When I first saw you, you were glowing. And not just because of the sun! It's like you emit light yourself. Like an angel."

Yet again, Taehyun blushed at the unexpected compliment. 

"And you're just so… so…" Beomgyu waved his hands at Taehyun. 

"I'm so… what?"

"So… you," Beomgyu finished. "You're as beautiful as the angels themselves. With your big eyes and pretty face and your— your— calm, no-nonsense manner which is just like the way those stupid angels talk, but you're just so… smooth. Like glass."

Taehyun blinked, bewildered, and even Beomgyu looked confused by what he was saying. Beomgyu's ears had turned red once more, and Taehyun would be lying if he said he wasn't blushing too. 

"Smooth? What does that even mean?" Taehyun asked, but Beomgyu blushed further and looked away. 

"Nevermind. My experiment didn't work." Beomgyu huffed annoyedly, walking over to the flowers on display and plucking a red rose from the bucket. "Here."

Taehyun looked down at the rose that Beomgyu held out to him, and for a split second he thought he was giving it to him, before he remembered that he worked in a flower shop and Beomgyu most likely wanted to buy it. "Oh. Sure."

He wrapped up the flower as he always did, and Beomgyu left a huge amount of money on the counter as usual.

"I'll be back," Beomgyu promised, walking away with the red rose. "I'll get you to show your true self. I will." 

"Yes, you'll prove that I'm an angel. I know."

"Exactly." Beomgyu nodded, looking determined even as his ears pinkened while maintaining eye contact with Taehyun. "See you around, angel."

¸.*𖤐*¸.*♱*.¸  

Beomgyu came back the day after that. And the day after that. He came back to Taehyun every day, with new angel-exposing techniques and spouting random flower facts the minute he walked through the door. Several times, he proclaimed loudly that Taehyun had to be a beautiful angel, while they were in a room full of customers. 

Taehyun had had to run out and let someone else man the counter because his face was burning too much for him to be able to look anyone in the eye.

“You really can’t do that,” Taehyun said when Beomgyu came in the next day.

Beomgyu blinked. “Do what?”

“Just… announce to the world that you think I’m an angel,” Taehyun explained. “Okay, you think I’m pretty. Sure.” Beomgyu pinkened slightly, opening his mouth to speak, but Taehyun barrelled on. “But that doesn’t mean I’m an angel. And it becomes really awkward when you say it in the presence of other people.”

Beomgyu frowned. “But what else could you be?”

“Oh, I don’t know, human?”

“See, but that doesn’t make sense,” Beomgyu said. He turned away, pointing at one of the flowers. “Zantedeschia aethiopica, or more commonly known as—”

“—a calla lily or arum lily, I know,” Taehyun interrupted impatiently. “Beomgyu, this is getting annoying now. At first, I thought it was just a weird flirting attempt. It’s certainly not the creepiest one I’ve had, anyway, so I let it be. But can you just… explain why you’re doing this?”

“I told you. You’re an angel.” Beomgyu said it so fervently, so genuinely, and it was clear he believed it. “You are… the exact opposite of me. Bright, blinding, calm and pretty and lovely. An angel.” He walked over to the calla lilies, picking one from the bunch. “You and I are like calla lilies. They represent life, but can also represent death. Because I am the death, I am able to spot my counterpart.” He pointed the lily in Taehyun’s direction. “And that’s you. You are the life.”

Taehyun pursed his lips, confused. “So you're… the Devil?”

Beomgyu grinned. “Exactly.”

They stared at each other, Taehyun’s expression growing increasingly confused as Beomgyu continued to grin as if he’d finally figured Taehyun out. But then Taehyun shook his head, laughing.

“Oh, wow. You’re so endearing, you know. Of course, yeah, of course you’re the Devil. Are you going to buy that?”

Beomgyu blinked. “What? Endearing?”

“Yeah.” Taehyun smiled. “So endearing. Look, I don’t know if you genuinely believe this, or if this is still a flirting attempt, but I’ll accept it. It’s so cute of you. Come here, I’ll wrap that up for you.”

Beomgyu gawked at Taehyun, before flinging money at the counter and quickly rushing out of the shop.

“Wha— Beomgyu, I haven’t wrapped it yet!”

A few minutes later, Beomgyu had flung himself down on the sofa opposite Kai, lying down and gesturing at the ceiling. Kai paid him no attention, used to Beomgyu’s dramatics.

“He called me endearing,” Beomgyu was saying. “Endearing! Me, the Devil!”

“Hmm, horrifying,” Kai said blandly, not looking up from his wine.

"Why would he call me that? What did I do?" Beomgyu wrung his hands in the direction of the chandelier. “I’m the Devil, for crying out loud. Nothing I do is ever endearing. And guess what he called me after that?”

“No idea,” Kai replied, taking another sip of his wine while continuing to look at his book. “What?”

“He said I was cute. What does that mean? Does he mean I’m like one of those cats you watch in the weird videos? Does he mean I’m attractive? I mean sure, I’m hot: I’m the Devil! But I’ve never been called cute. Imagine calling the Devil cute.” Beomgyu lifted his head. “It just doesn’t make— Kai. Kai, you’re not even listening to me, are you?”

“Nope.”

Beomgyu sighed, sitting up properly. “You don’t even like reading. And is that Shakespeare? Weren’t you the one that became so annoyed with him and his words that you killed him?”

“Yup.” Kai turned another page. “It’s a great way to ignore you.”

The Devil huffed. “Well, I’m still going to continue talking, even if you won’t listen. Why would Taehyun call me endearing and cute? What have I done?” But then his eyes widened. “Oh. Oh! It’s a confusion tactic. He’s trying to throw me off. That must mean I’m close to revealing his angel identity!”

Kai drained his glass of wine, standing up to go refill it. “Or he’s just saying that he likes you. You know, complimenting you? Finding you nice?”

Beomgyu stared off into the distance, contemplating Kai’s words. Then he turned to his demon, who watched him patiently. Face completely expressionless, he said, “My theory’s better.”

Kai rolled his eyes as Beomgyu began to rant again.

¸.*𖤐*¸.*♱*.¸  

The days carried on. Beomgyu found himself leaving Taehyun’s flower shop more and more confused than before, ears burning and fingers tingling after spending their entire encounter suppressing the urge to touch. Touch what? He didn’t know.

Beomgyu continued to talk about flowers and angels and demons, and Taehyun let him. They smiled, blushed, frowned, talked. Beomgyu continued to only buy one flower before leaving, and after several weeks, Taehyun finally brought up the matter. 

"You know, you can order several flowers into one bouquet, instead of just buying them one by one," Taehyun said as he wrapped a lavender stem for him. 

"Oh. I mean, I knew that." Beomgyu shrugged nonchalantly, taking the lavender from Taehyun. "I didn't need you to tell me that, angel."

But from then on, Beomgyu started rattling off different types of flowers to be put into a bouquet. 

"I still don't understand why you don't just bunch them all together and wrap them up. Why do you put them in one at a time?"

Taehyun looked up from the bouquet, decorative fronds stilling in his hands. “There’s something called flower arranging, Beomgyu. It’s an art, creating floral displays that look nice and balance the key elements of all the plants involved.”

Beomgyu blinked, confused, before sighing. “Looks like I’m going to have to buy another book to one-up you in your game.”

“What, did you buy a book on flowers just so you could spout trivia at me?” Taehyun asked, raising his eyebrows. Considering how Beomgyu had been acting so far, it sounded like just the sort of thing he’d do.

“I did.” Beomgyu grinned. “I had you with that snapdragon fact, didn’t I?”

“How was I supposed to know about the sneezing? I’ve never even seen a dragon sneeze before,” Taehyun said, turning the bouquet over in his hands.

Beomgyu chuckled, and the sound was bright and genuinely amused, making Taehyun look up at him in surprise. “Come, now, angel. Don’t try and pretend you haven’t seen dragons in Heaven before.”

“Uh huh. Of course.” Taehyun had long stopped trying to reason through what Beomgyu said, ever since their frustrated exchange on Taehyun’s supposed angel nature. Lots of the time, he stopped Taehyun from proclaiming loudly to God or Jesus, and talked about angels and demons and Heaven and Hell as if they existed. Taehyun just sort of… accepted what he said.

It wasn't as if he had any proof to properly deny or prove what Beomgyu was saying, anyway. And Taehyun thought that there was something different about him. When the light hit him differently, his eyes seemed to burn dark red, and sometimes his shadow looked a little more mystical, a little less human. But then he'd pout in frustration, or grin triumphantly, and he looked as beautifully human as he'd always done. 

The next day, Beomgyu turned up with several books on flower arranging, pushing past the other customers in the shop to get to the counter. But Taehyun wasn't there. 

Beomgyu frowned. Having been turning up to the flower shop for quite a few weeks now, he knew the opening hours of the shop along with Taehyun's hours, so he always timed his visits to coincide with Taehyun's appearances. So he knew he had to be here. 

"Taehyun," Beomgyu demanded to the lady at the cash machine. "Where's Taehyun?"

She jumped, eyes darting around nervously. "He's out back, sir. Working on a big order we had this morning: it's for a wedding, and there are several elements that needed to be organised and he…"

"I don't care," he interrupted, drumming his fingers on the books. "Get him out here. I want to talk to Taehyun. I have a question for him."

"I'm afraid I—"

"I wasn't asking." Beomgyu glared, his mood instantly souring from when he'd walked through the door. "You humans, always thinking I'm asking a question when instead I want things to be done. Your naivete is intriguing, but also so infuriating. Get Taehyun!"

There was a sudden clattering from the door behind the counter, and a head popped into view. 

"Sorry, sorry," Taehyun apologised to the woman. "He's just… yeah. He’s like that."

"Angel!" Beomgyu visibly brightened, before he paused and wondered why he was so happy to see Taehyun. Then he shook his head, dispelling the question so he could think about it later. "Come out here. I need to ask you something."

"Beomgyu, I really am in the middle of something…" Taehyun trailed off as he realised Beomgyu wasn't going to budge. They observed each other for a long second before Taehyun sighed, gesturing to him. "Come here then. Hayoung, please let him in."

Hayoung looked surprised, but didn't say anything, lifting up the side of the counter to allow Beomgyu to walk through. Beomgyu looked at her, half snarling and half smirking, revelling in the way she cowered a little in fear. Then the expression melted from his face as he followed Taehyun down the hallway and into the little room he was working in. 

"So, why exactly were you harassing poor Hayoung?" Taehyun asked, sitting down by a desk. There were several pencil sketches scattered across the table, all labelled in Taehyun's cursive handwriting. 

Beomgyu dragged a chair to sit down next to him, thumping the books down onto an empty space on the desk. "She didn't let me see you."

"I was working."

"Yeah, so?" Beomgyu looked confused. "I've always been able to see you before. I only ever see you when you're working."

"Yes, but, if a member of staff isn't out front, then that typically means they're not available for seeing." Taehyun kind of felt like he was explaining it to a child. A very attractive, very annoying child. "I was working, but I wasn't working with people."

"Ah, yes, the wedding. What are you doing?" Beomgyu looked over at the sketches, tilting his head to read the writing. 

"Well, we received specifications on flowers and the brief concept of the designs, but we have to come up with the arrangement of flowers for countless things. Bouquets, corsages, table arrangements, pedestal arrangements. There's lots, and we need to plan what they'll look like."

Beomgyu picked up one piece of paper and looked down at Taehyun's sweeping designs, the flowers' lines elegantly drawn out in his steady hand. "And you designed all of this?"

Taehyun nodded, taking the sketch from Beomgyu. "This is one of the corsages. The bride wanted to have little forget-me-nots woven through the entire design."

"It's pretty," Beomgyu said, looking up at Taehyun, and his eyes flashed that strange, interesting red they sometimes did. 

Taehyun smiled, and Beomgyu blinked rapidly. "Thank you. But anyway, why did you want to see me?"

Beomgyu stared at Taehyun for a little longer, before turning back to his books. "Right. I bought all these yesterday, and I've read through them, but there are just some things I don't understand about flower arranging."

"And you decided to see me?" Taehyun said amusedly, heaving open the top book. "The angel who's supposedly pretending to be human?"

Beomgyu quietened. "I still think that, you know," he said, almost confidentially. "But even so, no matter whether you're an actual florist or an angel, you've still properly done your research on this. And I don't understand it, and I need your help."

"Hmm, should I help you to understand information which you will most definitely use against me?" Taehyun teased. 

"Yes you should," Beomgyu said shortly. "It would be beneficial to you."

"Oh? In what way?"

Taehyun raised his eyes to look at Beomgyu, acutely aware of how little distance there was between them, squished together at Taehyun's desk. Beomgyu's eyes widened slightly, his gaze flicking between Taehyun's eyes. 

"Your eyes are doing the glowing thing again," he murmured, voice suddenly soft. "It happens sometimes, when you look up at me. They flash for a brief moment."

"Are you sure that it's not your eyes?" Taehyun whispered, also dropping his voice to match Beomgyu's. "Because sometimes when you look at me, I think your eyes flash red. Maybe you're the angel."

Beomgyu chuckled lowly. "Don't be ridiculous. No angel's eyes glow red."

"No? Maybe you're a demon, then," Taehyun said quietly, and Beomgyu's eyes flashed once more, burning with something he couldn't quite place his finger on.

"Oh, angel, I'm not just a demon. I'm the Devil. And my eyes don't do that unless I fall in love." Beomgyu smiled, and as Taehyun looked at him, the dark irises of his eyes seemed to darken further, looking like two black, swirling pools of flames. "And the Devil doesn't fall in love."

"Yes, you do."

Beomgyu blinked, startled, but before he could say anything, Taehyun had leaned closer and closed the gap between them. 

Taehyun's lips were soft, feather soft, and they helped smooth the sharp spike of surprise that the kiss brought. Beomgyu's eyes fluttered shut as he automatically leaned even closer, bringing up a hand to cup the back of Taehyun's neck and deepen the kiss. 

It was gentle, sweet, the way Taehyun's lips moved against Beomgyu's, slowly enticing them open and drowning him in his golden, floral scent. Beomgyu didn't even stop to consider how he was the Devil, kissing a supposed angel that he was meant to hate. But Beomgyu could feel no divine pulsing from Taehyun, no angelic aura. So perhaps he was human after all. 

Taehyun moved away from Beomgyu briefly, lips parting in order to breathe in a gasp of air but almost immediately Beomgyu pulled him forward again and their mouths slotted together once more. 

But Taehyun was beautifully, breathtakingly addicting. It was like he'd cast a spell over Beomgyu, drawing him in, leaving him unable to walk away from the blinding, brilliant being that was Taehyun. And maybe that was all he was. All thoughts of demons and angels humans slipped away as Taehyun made a soft noise against Beomgyu's lips, trapping him even more securely under his spell. 

At that moment, Beomgyu ceased to think about it. For all he cared, he was just kissing Taehyun. 

Finally, finally, Beomgyu managed to pull away, and he watched through his lashes as Taehyun blinked his eyes open, irises sparkling and pupils dilated. His lips were pink, his cheeks were pink, and there was a shy smile on his face. 

He looked so angelic. He looked so human. He just looked so… Taehyun. 

"Well," Taehyun breathed out finally, laughing softly. "That was something."

Beomgyu nodded numbly, eyes fixed on Taehyun's lips, a nonexistent pulse pounding in his ears. Then in an abrupt motion he stood up, knocking over the chair. Taehyun looked at him in alarm. 

"Beomgyu?"

"Sorry, I need to go." And he fled the room. 

Taehyun stayed in his seat for several more seconds, before scrambling out into the hallway after Beomgyu, entering the main part of the shop to find him gone. 

"Hayoung?" he asked, and the woman turned around. "Did you see Beomgyu?"

"That crazy man who kept demanding for you? No, I didn't see him leave."

Taehyun nodded slowly, confused, turning away. "Oh. Okay."

He walked back inside, sitting down in his chair. Beomgyu had left his books. 

¸.*𖤐*¸.*♱*.¸  

"It's not like I've never kissed someone before. But when it was with Taehyun, it just felt so different. Like… all soft and melty and golden and all of Heaven and Hell and Earth seemed to fade away."

Kai winced as Beomgyu crashed through the kitchen, wrenching open cupboard doors before slamming them shut again. “So? I don’t understand your point.”

Beomgyu yanked open the fridge, and Kai almost feared the door was going to tear off. “That doesn’t happen to me, Kai. I’m meant to invoke desire and lust into the person I’m kissing, to make them feel a burning need to take things further.” He frowned at the fridge’s contents, before huffing and flinging it shut.

“Maybe it’s to do with the fact he’s an angel?” Kai suggested. Beomgyu roughly unscrewed a container of something, and the demon sat on the edge of his seat by the island, ready to swoop in and confiscate things from Beomgyu’s grasp if ever he was in danger of destroying them. “I mean, this could be proof he’s definitely an angel.”

“No, this is different.” Beomgyu held the container up to his eye, before tilting it back and swallowing a mouthful of sugar. He continued talking, words muffled by the dry grains. “It's like a golden, fluttery thing. Kissing angels is like… nothing. They just suck everything out of it. It’s all boring and simple and empty. But then I kissed Taehyun and it was so sweet and bright and… alive." Beomgyu shook his head, stalking away from the sugar container. "What the fuck am I even saying?"

Kai furrowed his brow slightly, mildly confused. He’d never kissed any angels himself, so he didn’t know what Beomgyu was talking about. But then there was also the confusing thing about—

“How does that have anything to do with why you’re eating stuff?" Kai asked, watching Beomgyu traipse around the kitchen. 

"I don't know!" Beomgyu opened a packet of biscuits, stuffing three into his mouth. "I just… I don't know. My mouth feels like it needs to do something."

Kai frowned further, thinking it over, before a smile spread across his face. "You want to kiss him again."

"No I don't!" Beomgyu protested, shoving in another biscuit. 

"Yeah, you so do," Kai said, laughing. "You've gone pink! I never thought I'd see the day: the Devil, so in love with someone that he so desperately wants to kiss him again."

"I don't want— no. I don’t want to.”

Kai raised an eyebrow teasingly. “Don’t want to what?”

Beomgyu pinkened further, frowning in frustration as he resolutely shoved the rest of the biscuits into his mouth. He sprayed crumbs everywhere when he next said, “You know what I don’t want to do.”

“Hmm, I don’t think I do. Why don’t you say it?” Kai’s grin widened when Beomgyu stomped his foot in irritation. “You can’t say it, can you? Because you want to.”

“No I don’t. It was just kissing, anyway! One, little one.” He paused. “Maybe two. No, no, don't you start,” he said warningly when Kai opened his mouth once again. “Point is, he’s still an angel, so he’s still my sworn enemy.”

“You just said that kissing him felt different to kissing angels—”

“So,” Beomgyu interrupted as if Kai wasn’t there, “So I’m going to do all that I can to get him off earth.”

Kai sniggered. “‘Get him off’.”

“Kai!” Beomgyu complained as the demon giggled. He stalked over to him and shoved the plastic biscuit wrapper in Kai’s mouth. “There. Now shut up. I need to find my angel-defeating knives.”

Kai spat out the wrapper as Beomgyu stalked away. “Are you sure you want to send him away before you can have one more kiss?”

“Shut the fuck up!”

¸.*𖤐*¸.*♱*.¸  

It was several days later when Beomgyu finally ventured into Taehyun’s little flower shop again. He wouldn’t say he’d been avoiding Taehyun, exactly, and had instead simply been too busy thinking of angel-shooing tactics that he’d ceased to visit Taehyun until he’d thought of the best one. Angel-shooing tactics were difficult, after all. And it took a lot of time to think carefully through each idea and decide whether he could use it or not. It kept him very busy. Too busy to even look for Taehyun.

At least, that was what he told himself. But when Taehyun looked up at the bell twinkle, his whole face cautiously lighting up as if he was unsure whether he was allowed to look happy to see Beomgyu, the Devil realised he was screwed.

Because fuck. He’d been avoiding Taehyun. All because he was too damn pretty. Just like a stupid, wonderful angel.

(And—Beomgyu was never going to admit Kai had been correct—because seeing him again made him remember their kiss. All too vividly and all too desperately.)

The door swung shut behind Beomgyu, and the bell continued its quiet ringing until its movements stopped. It had taken him the entire day to convince himself to see Taehyun, and the sun was now setting across the street, bathing the shop in an orange glow. They stared at each other, one standing by the door and one standing by the counter, neither saying a word nor attempting to move.

Taehyun looked beautiful, Beomgyu thought. Well, he thought that every day. But there was something so mesmerising about seeing Taehyun in an evening light: it reminded him of their first meeting, where Taehyun had looked to be carved from gold with gorgeous gemstone eyes blinking so widely and innocently at him. And he still looked like that now.

Beomgyu wanted to kiss him.

Abruptly, he shook his head, trying to shake away the thought. Angel-shooing, he tried to remember. He was here to try and get rid of Taehyun. To get the angel to cease meddling in his life once and for all. He opened his mouth to speak, but Taehyun beat him to it.

“You left your flower arranging books with me when you left, last time,” he said, and his voice was calm. Detached, almost. The brief happiness that had twinkled in his irises when Beomgyu had entered was gone. “I’m assuming you’re here for them?”

Beomgyu blinked rapidly, thrown. But then he nodded, reminding himself he was the Devil, for Hell’s sake. He didn’t get surprised by stuff like this. “Oh, yeah. Could you get them for me?”

Taehyun nodded. “Sure.” And then he disappeared through the doorway. He reappeared a few seconds later, dumping the books on the counter. “Here.” When Beomgyu didn’t make any move to come closer, he raised an eyebrow. “Well?”

“Oh. Thank you.” Beomgyu stepped forward, resting his hands on the stack of books. Almost immediately, Taehyun began to move away, and a strange sensation clutched at Beomgyu’s chest. He was seized with a sudden desperation to get Taehyun to stay, and he wrenched open one of the books, flipping through them frantically.

He could see Taehyun pause and look at him curiously, but he focused on his book, almost ripping the pages in his haste to find the right picture.

“What—”

“Azaleas,” Beomgyu announced, flipping the book around in Taehyun’s direction. The florist hesitated, looking conflicted, before edging towards the book. “Flowering shrubs under the genus Rhododendron. They are spring blooms, coming in a range of colours. Each colour, as is the case with flowers, has a different meaning, but azaleas themselves often connote attraction and awe of beauty.”

Beomgyu stared intently at Taehyun, willing him to understand the message. Taehyun did indeed flush with surprise, looking up to meet Beomgyu’s gaze, and the Devil smiled shyly. Something he never thought he’d be capable of doing.

Neither of them said anything, and Beomgyu slowly closed the book. Taehyun’s eyes looked almost caramel in colour due to the evening light, and the familiar sparkle was back in his irises again, making Beomgyu smile with relief. He never realised how much he liked those pretty stars in Taehyun’s eyes.

“So,” Taehyun finally said. “You wanted to ask me questions about flower arranging?”

Beomgyu beamed, genuinely relieved that Taehyun was now speaking to him normally, and he missed the way Taehyun flushed and smiled when he bent down over his books, looking for the chapters which he’d wanted to ask the florist.

“Yes, I do. Could you help me, angel?”

If Beomgyu had been paying more attention to Taehyun and less on how red Taehyun was making his ears become, he would have heard the florist’s heart beginning to thump insistently.

“Of course.”

¸.*𖤐*¸.*♱*.¸  

“I don’t get it,” Beomgyu said at last, after spending several, long moments staring at the flower arrangement that Taehyun had given him a running commentary on while making it over that hour. “How does it do that?”

“It’s all to do with the greens,” Taehyun explained, ever patient. “The Hogarth Curve relies on the greenery to give it its S shape, and it really only works when the plants are fresh. You’re lucky we had a brand new order of plants this afternoon, otherwise I wouldn’t have been able to show you.”

Beomgyu leaned forward to squint at the ceramic vase. The vase was tall and thin: Taehyun said that it had to be, in order to hold up the long flower arrangement and make sure it looked balanced. The willow strands were, somehow, curving upwards into the top part of the S, threaded with ivy and leather leaves and pale pink carnations. Then there were more strands collected together at the bottom of the S, neatly finishing the shape in an efficient, elegant way. Beomgyu had watched the entire process, and yet as he looked at the finished product, it looked too perfect to have been made by a human.

The Devil whipped his head up to look at Taehyun, who was absentmindedly flicking through Beomgyu’s flower arranging book again. He narrowed his eyes. That must mean Taehyun wasn’t human.

“I am human,” Taehyun said without looking up. 

Beomgyu startled as he met gazes with Taehyun, the florist’s eyes glittering prettily even under the crappy human lights of the shop. Did Taehyun read his mind or something?

“I feel like I have to remind you every few minutes that I’m actually human,” Taehyun carried on, reaching over to the flower arrangement and adjusting some of the fronds. “Which is weird. Because the only thing I can be is human. Unless you think that I’m, I dunno, a raccoon. Which I’m not, by the way,” he added, pointing a finger at Beomgyu. “And like I said, the reason I’m good at this is because I do this for a living.”

“Uh huh, let’s say I believe you,” Beomgyu said sceptically.

Taehyun looked away from the arrangement, sitting down on the stool he’d dragged from inside the shop over to his side of the counter. He placed his hands down on the table. “Alright, I think it’s time I bit the bullet,” he said. “Why do you think I’m an angel?”

They’d been at this for around two hours now. Taehyun had even had to get up halfway through Beomgyu complaining about focal points and inversions in order to close up the shop. He’d contemplated for half a second throwing Beomgyu out around that time, because technically they weren’t meant to have customers after that, but Beomgyu had just barrelled on like he didn’t notice Taehyun’s inner dilemma. So Taehyun let him stay, turning the lights on and even moving to the back of the shop to make them cups of tea.

Said cups of tea had been pushed aside to make way for the flower vase that Taehyun had busted out an hour ago when Beomgyu still hadn’t been able to visualise the Hogarth Curve. 

It was interesting, talking flowers with Beomgyu. It was easy just being with Beomgyu, which should have been weird since he was constantly comparing Taehyun to an angel in an almost accusing way, but watching Beomgyu talk with his strangely fiery eyes and lips that pouted when he focused was so… nice. It was nice being with Beomgyu. 

But there was still that issue about being accusingly called an angel.

Beomgyu narrowed his eyes at Taehyun’s question, pouting his lips as he hummed thoughtfully. He looked cute like that, Taehyun thought distractedly. Why did it look as if Beomgyu’s resting expression was a wide-eyed pout?

“Alright, I’ll humour you,” Beomgyu said at last, leaning back. “I’ll tell you all the ways in which you’ve accidentally shown your angelness to me.”

“Please do tell,” Taehyun said, “I’d love to know.”

Beomgyu held up his hand, ticking off the points on his fingers. “Number one: you’re really pretty. No, hear me out here,” he added, when Taehyun opened his mouth to protest. “Do you know how rare it is to find humans who are as pretty as you? It’s especially difficult to find males. I think, since Father made men first, he hadn’t perfected the art of making them pretty. But you’re beautiful. Like, out-of-this-world beautiful. Heavenly beautiful. Like an angel.” He held up his hands. “And as the Devil, I’m meant to be an eternal playboy and shit, but honestly if you were a demon and not an angel, then I’d totally date you for the rest of my immortal life.”

Taehyun was frozen, face having gone impossibly red at Beomgyu’s genuine, matter-of-fact statement. “I–I—”

“Don’t be so stunned, sweetheart,” Beomgyu said with a wave of his hand, and Taehyun almost let out a flustered choke at the pet name. “You’re beautiful. You know that, right?”

“Um— Not—not really—”

“You’re so cute when you’re trying to deny it. I’m the Devil, angel.” Beomgyu nodded his head sagely. “I know what I’m talking about. Anyway, number two: you’re so nice. There was this phase where I purposefully tried to piss you off, you know, during that day when I kept knocking over flower pots and trampling on plants and we had that incident with the lightbulb.” A frown creased his eyebrows, and Beomgyu stabbed his two fingers against the countertop. “You did practically nothing about it.” And he sounded annoyed that Taehyun hadn’t taken extreme measures against Beomgyu for destroying the shop, and in his annoyance he completely missed the way Taehyun’s expression softened from flustered to fond as he recalled that time.

“Oh, I remember that,” Taehyun chuckled, ears still faintly red. “I’m not entirely sure how you managed to kick the light fixture. On the ceiling. And you weren’t cut by any of the glass, either.”

“Angel, I’m the Devil. I told you,” Beomgyu sighed in an extremely long-suffering way, as if Taehyun were the most infuriating person he’d ever met and Beomgyu was being a saint for putting up with him. It made Taehyun smile, a little. “I don’t bleed. And I kicked that lightbulb entirely on purpose, I promise. Definitely. Yep.”

Taehyun just smiled wider, chuckling, and Beomgyu’s eyes widened as he stared at Taehyun for a moment before gesturing wildly.

“See? It’s exactly like that! Even when I broke your lightbulb and destroyed your flowers and made a complete mess, you didn’t get angry with me. The most negativity I managed to pull out of you was making you so annoyed that you didn’t let me return until the next day. And you made me pay for all the damage,” Beomgyu said, lips pouting in frustration.

“Well,” Taehyun shrugged easily, and he carefully pushed aside the vase so he could rest his elbows more comfortably against the counter. “You’re just so cute when you’re trying to be a nuisance. Like a fluffy puppy.”

Beomgyu gaped at Taehyun, and his face flushed red so quickly that the florist was worried something terrible had happened to him. 

“Uh… Beomgyu?”

Beomgyu blinked rapidly, face still red. He scrunched his shoulders up, looking down. “I’m not… a puppy. You make it sound like I’m cute.” He frowned. “I’m not cute. I’m scary.”

Taehyun grinned, reaching forward and ruffling Beomgyu’s hair, making the Devil startle and look up at him in surprise. “Aw, my little puppy. You’re adorable, you really are. I guess people don’t call you puppy often, huh? You’re very puppy-like, though.”

Beomgyu looked torn between leaning further into Taehyun’s hand or pulling away, but before he could do either Taehyun retracted his hand and turned back to the vase, making more adjustments to the arrangement, and that made Beomgyu feel strangely forlorn at the loss of contact.

“Anyway, what are the other reasons that you have?” Taehyun said, continuing to talk as if he had no idea of Beomgyu’s sudden inner dilemma. “You’ve only listed two, and I feel like those two aren’t really enough to confirm that I’m an angel.”

Beomgyu didn’t say anything for a moment, too busy touching his hair with an incredulous hand, mouthing “puppy” to himself in confusion. But then he shook himself, trying to gather his thoughts as he watched Taehyun purse his lips thoughtfully at the vase.

“They are more than enough to prove you’re an angel,” Beomgyu sniffed, and Taehyun’s lips quirked up in amusement. “But since you insist, I’ll go on. Number three: I’ve seen you glow.”

That made Taehyun pause, and Beomgyu smiled triumphantly under the belief that he’d finally called the angel out.

“Could you… expand on that?”

“Sometimes when you’re working, I watch you,” Beomgyu explained. “Really, this is a little related to point number one, but it’s also a little different. Because not only are you pretty, but you glow in an otherworldly way. There are a few explanations for this.” He put his other elbow on the table, holding up a finger. “One. You’re God. Which, I admit, I thought about for a few seconds, but Father wouldn’t have been as lenient as you have been. He’d have shown himself within a few moments.”

Taehyun blinked. “What?”

“You’re not God,” Beomgyu said. “Do keep up, angel. Two. You could also be one of my own, but then I would have recognised your glow as being from Hell, since I know literally everyone in my domain. So really, you can only be an angel. Because you glow so…” He gestured with his held up fingers to Taehyun. “So purely. Like sunshine. Like a ray of light from Heaven.”

Hands stilling inside the vase, Taehyun looked at Beomgyu, eyes wide and face rather pink. Beomgyu stared back, willing his eyes to stay fixed on Taehyun’s. Neither of them said anything for a long moment, but the sound of someone knocking on the door of the shop made them both jump.

“Who’s that?” Beomgyu asked, somewhat annoyedly when Taehyun tore his gaze away to stand up, grab the keys and get the door. “And what are they doing here? It’s late.”

“I could say the same thing about you,” Taehyun smiled back at Beomgyu before unlocking the door. “Hey, Yeonjun. What’s up?”

“You weren’t at home, so I presumed you were still at work. And I was right. I wanted to ask about that blind date thing you said you’d set up for me.” Yeonjun walked through the front door, before doing a double take at the Devil sitting by the counter. His eyes widened. “Oh my God, you’re that guy who was accusing Taehyun of being—oh, what was the name?” He looked back at Taehyun. “You remember, right? He was telling you that you were someone called R… Remy?”

Beomgyu blinked. “Uh, I’m not sure that God would have anything to say about that—”

Taehyun laughed at Yeonjun’s statement as he walked through the counter’s swing doors so he stood on the other side, his friend close behind him. “Beomgyu did not accuse me of being the rat from Ratatouille, no,” Taehyun said, and the human’s eyes widened further.

“The rat’s name is Remy? I thought he was called ‘Ratatouille’!”

Taehyun just rolled his eyes, sitting down on the stool opposite Beomgyu once more. “You and half the world think that. Anyway, I’ll be home soon once I finish up here. You just… I dunno, eat a biscuit.” He smiled at Beomgyu once again, completely ignoring Yeonjun’s presence as the human flitted around behind the counter, curiously poking at stuff. Something about Taehyun’s earnest attentiveness to him made Beomgyu feel oddly… fluttery inside. “Go on. You were explaining how I couldn’t possibly be anything but a beautiful angel.”

Beomgyu narrowed his eyes at Taehyun’s tone. “I have a distinct feeling that you’re mocking me.” 

Taehyun laughed. “No, really, I want to hear this. I mean, it’s not every day I get called an angel, especially from someone as attractive as yourself.” He shrugged. “I don’t know. These past few weeks where I’ve gotten to know you have been so weird but so nice. I like being with you.”

Stuffing his face with biscuits behind Taehyun, Yeonjun snorted out a muffled word and made the florist whip his head round to glare at the human. “Shut up.”

Yeonjun grinned, crumbs all around his mouth. “‘M just saying.”

Beomgyu tilted his head, slightly lost, but then Taehyun turned back to him with a smile and he felt himself settle more comfortably in his seat again. “If you say so, angel.” He narrowed his eyes at Taehyun, but even to him the action felt more playful than wholly accusing like it used to be. “But I’m going to reveal your identity soon, and then I’ll send you burning back to heaven.”

Taehyun laughed, seemingly delighted with Beomgyu’s threat, and Beomgyu felt himself smiling too. Taehyun’s eyes twinkled, he noticed, even under the shitty electric lights that humans used to illuminate their buildings. It was like they held a divine light of their own which couldn’t be dimmed or dirtened. Beomgyu smiled wider as Taehyun’s laugh died down to soft chuckles and the florist rested his elbow on the countertop, cheek propped up against his palm.

“Anyway, what was I saying? Ah yes, the glowing. That was point number three.” Beomgyu snapped his fingers. “Onto point number four! You know everything there is to know about flowers. You flower arrange like it’s effortless, and you know trivia and flower families and ancient evolution like you’ve studied it your whole life. It’s incredible.”

“Or, you know, it could be because I genuinely have a job where I need to know this.”

“Hmm, no. That’s not true.” Beomgyu’s statement made Taehyun chuckle, and the Devil grinned, pleased. “I mean, look at the three other perfectly valid points I have on how you’re an angel! Evidence suggests you’re anything but human.”

“Oh?” Taehyun looked amused, raising an eyebrow.

“Yes indeed! And don’t you fret angel, because I have so many other points to prove you to be the beautiful angel I know you are, and I have all night.”

Out of the corner of his eye, Beomgyu vaguely registered Yeonjun bustling around behind Taehyun, but he didn’t really pay much attention to the human. Taehyun was far more interesting, and not just because he suspected him to be an angel. Taehyun listened carefully to Beomgyu, nodding in all the right places and sometimes frowning in the wrong ones, interrupting with his counter arguments and then laughing when Beomgyu denied them. He listened to Beomgyu, truly listened, and looked at him like they had all the time in the universe to sit there and talk and talk and talk.

And Taehyun really was very pretty. Big, sparkly eyes, cheekbones that seemed to positively shine under the weird human lights, soft hair which he occasionally pushed out of his pretty eyes and lips which stretched into smiles golden as Heaven’s skies whenever Beomgyu said something he found particularly amusing.

As the night wore on, Beomgyu found it increasingly difficult to ignore the voice in the back of his head (which sounded annoyingly a lot like Kai’s) telling him to lean forward and kiss those lips.

He could imagine how soft and sweet it would be. He’d already kissed Taehyun once, knew vaguely what it would be like, but he wondered all the same. Would Taehyun make cute little noises? Would he smile? Would he reach forward and grab Beomgyu’s face and pull him even closer, or would he freeze and melt and allow Beomgyu to guide him through the kiss?

But Beomgyu was getting distracted now. He dragged his train of thought back onto the tracks and continued talking animatedly about bamboo—how in the three planes of existence had he ended up talking about bamboo?—while Taehyun nodded and laughed and occasionally explained things to him.

He’d all but forgotten about Yeonjun’s presence while the human did something or other behind Taehyun. Sometimes he saw Yeonjun eating more biscuits or drinking Taehyun’s cold cup of tea, and at times he disappeared through the doorway to the back of the shop. But then he reemerged while Taehyun was explaining pandas’ eating habits to Beomgyu, holding a steaming mug of tea and humming as he walked closer to them.

“—so basically they lost the taste for meat,” Taehyun explained. “It’s to do with the genes. Red pandas, on the other hand, are naturally herbivores but occasionally eat small rodents. And they actually aren’t related to giant pandas.”

Yeonjun set the cup down beside Taehyun, making the florist look up at him and break eye contact with Beomgyu. “Tea,” the human explained, and Taehyun smiled.

“Thanks, Jun,” Taehyun said, reaching out to take a sip of the tea.

Yeonjun grinned, and Beomgyu began frowning a little at how strangely… sweet they were with each other. What was this? “No problem, Tyun. When do you think you’ll be done?”

“Hmm, not for a while,” Taehyun responded. “It’s all up to how many more questions Beomgyu has.” He smiled at Beomgyu when he said that, and it almost made the Devil brighten before the florist turned his gaze back to Yeonjun again.

The human sighed melodramatically. “That sounds like it’s going to be forever. Maybe I’ll just pester you over text to tell me the details about the date. I’ll see you later, okay?” He patted Taehyun’s hair lightly before laying a hand on his shoulder and squeezing it affectionately. Taehyun laughed a little, placing his hand over Yeonjun’s and smiling up at him. 

The ease of the action along with Taehyun’s beautiful smile being directed at a human made Beomgyu inexplicably angry, and he bristled with irritation, fingers curling into fists on the countertop. Because there was Yeonjun, touching an angel with his filthy, tainted human hands and how dare he even think about being so close to Taehyun and patting his shoulder affectionately and getting Taehyun to smile up at him in such a sweet way even though he was a human and Taehyun was Beomgyu’s wonderful angel—

“Hey Beomgyu, are you okay?”

Beomgyu blinked himself out of his enraged inner monologue to find that Yeonjun had long disappeared from behind the counter and Taehyun was watching him curiously. 

“You’ve been staring at the counter like you want it to come to life just so you can murder it,” Taehyun said, chuckling a little. “You alright?”

Beomgyu looked at Taehyun blankly, ears tingling as Taehyun just continued to smile at him with those starry eyes and—oh, Hell, was that a dimple? Did Taehyun have dimples?

“Hello? Earth to Beomgyu?” Taehyun was waving his hand in front of Beomgyu’s face, and how was he still smiling? “You’re zoning out on me again.”

Beomgyu took his eyes away from Taehyun’s dimple (he only had one, and somehow that was even more adorable) and shrugged, looking away unsmilingly. “He kept touching you.”

Taehyun tilted his head, before pointing his thumb in the direction of the front door, through which Yeonjun must have exited while Beomgyu was busy spacing out. “What, Yeonjun? I mean… yeah. He’s a naturally clingy person, and we’re friends. That’s natural. I think if it was just us two, he would have gone in for a full hug.”

The idea of Yeonjun hugging Taehyun—putting his arms around an angel! Invading the personal space of an angel! Getting his impure human essence all over his angel!—made Beomgyu stew angrily in his seat, but he tempered down his negative emotions with those breathing exercises Kai had convinced him to learn. Then he frowned, confused. “How can an angel like you be friends with humans? That makes no sense. Doesn’t it irritate you, how mundane and annoying they are? Their simplicity? I mean, sure, it’s very endearing and their simple ways are what I love about them, but being friends with them…” He scrunched his nose and shuddered. “I can only imagine how boring that could be.”

Taehyun just hummed, smiling. His eyes twinkled with amusement, as if Beomgyu had said something very funny. “Well, I suppose it’s not boring to have human friends when you yourself are human.”

“Hm. I suppose so. I guess that’s why humans don’t mind making friends with other humans,” Beomgyu said, nodding thoughtfully. “But you and I know, angel, that their minds are a little… well, they’re not exactly very perceptive.”

“Indeed, they aren’t,” Taehyun agreed, and his pretty dimple was still on full display and Beomgyu struggled to put words into a sentence for a moment, too fixated on his beautiful smile. And why was that single dimple so mesmerising what the fuck—

Taehyun clasped his hands together, and the action dragged Beomgyu out of his dazed thoughts. The florist stood up, pushing the teacups further to the side and taking hold of the vase.

“Anyway, if you don’t need this Hogarth Curve any longer, then I should probably take it away,” Taehyun said, and there was the sound of his stool scraping against the floor as he tried to kick it out of the way so he could manoeuver the large flower arrangement off the counter. “I could probably use it as a display at some point and wow is this thing huge.”

Beomgyu could hardly see the top of Taehyun’s head over the top of the mass of foliage, and he quickly stood up and moved the flower books out of the way, hurrying over to the counter doors, hands outstretched. “Hey, let me help you with that, sweetheart.”

The florist looked up at Beomgyu, eyes wide and ears red just as he slid the base of the vase off the counter, and he staggered suddenly, the ceramic falling from his grasp and shattered on the floor. He cursed loudly and Beomgyu yelped, panicked, lifting up the counter door and making his way over to Taehyun.

“Holy shit, that hurts,” Taehyun hissed, bending down over the cracked vase and trying to pick through the water and ceramic and flowers. Beomgyu knelt down next to him, making quick work of gathering up the shards in his supernatural hands, standing up to set them down on the counter before going over to Taehyun. But then he looked down at the florist, and his eyes widened.

“Oh my God.” Beomgyu rarely ever called out to his Father, but in that moment it felt entirely essential. Because here was someone who Beomgyu had always thought to be one of his Father’s followers, one of his Father’s servants, and it felt utterly important to call upon Him to see what Beomgyu was seeing.

Taehyun was bleeding.

Beomgyu dropped to his knees again in an instant, ignoring the weird feeling of water getting through his trousers, taking Taehyun’s hands into his own and looking at all the few little nicks on Taehyun’s skin, beginning to melt into small swirls of red. It wasn’t golden and thick, like Beomgyu’s own blood, and Beomgyu certainly didn’t start bleeding from a few shards of human ceramic. Taehyun’s blood was bright red, but as it began to dry it looked dark, an almost burgundy colour. The colour of human blood.

“Beomgyu? Hey, Beomgyu, it’s okay. I get cuts all the time.” Taehyun’s voice was calm, soft, as if he was totally used to these sorts of scenarios. But Beomgyu just cradled Taehyun’s hands more fervently, aware of how much wounds could hurt and not wanting to grip the human too tight for fear he’d pain him.

“You’re a human,” Beomgyu realised, voice quiet. “Taehyun, you’re a human.”

Taehyun nodded slowly, eyes darting around as if it were obvious. “Yes… that’s what I’ve been saying all along.”

“But then… Then why are you so beautiful?” Beomgyu asked, eyebrows furrowing. “Why do I find you so breathtakingly incredible if you’re not an angel? You're just a human. But… how?”

“Everyone is simply just human,” Taehyun sighed. “Even you. Now, come on. I need to go bandage up my hands then clear away all these flowers.”

Beomgyu shook his head. “No. Not me.” He adjusted his grip on Taehyun’s hands, holding them with just one hand and passing the palm of his other over the red wounds, silently whispering an incantation. Taehyun’s skin glowed before settling back to normal, and this time there were no cuts or injuries at all. He smiled, satisfied. “There. All better.”

Taehyun choked on a gasp, and Beomgyu let him wrench his hands away and watched as the florist gaped at his healed wounds. “What? How? Huh?”

“I told you, I’m not human,” Beomgyu said, chuckling a little at Taehyun’s astounded look. “You should be thanking me, sweetheart.”

Taehyun suddenly reddened, clenching his hands in his lap. “It’s your fault I dropped the vase,” he complained. “You’re the one who talked to me and made me jump and lose hold of it.”

Beomgyu hummed teasingly. “Of course I am. It was all my fault. Entirely. I apologise deeply and sincerely, angel. I’ll take all the blame. Want me to pay for a new vase and some more flowers too?”

The little term of endearment slipped into his speech so naturally, so normally, and neither of them noticed. Beomgyu now knew Taehyun wasn’t an angel, but it had become so much of a habit now that it no longer became a way to identify Taehyun’s supposed supernatural identity and had instead become an affectionate name for the florist.

Taehyun rolled his eyes, beginning to pick up the flowers and ferns. “Why do I feel like you’re not being genuine? Oh, it’s okay, you don’t have to pick them up for me. I can do it,” he said, as Beomgyu assisted him in gathering up the plants. He shook his head, looking down at his hands. “I feel nothing. No lingering pain at all. I don’t know how you did it.”

“Most humans react very… strongly when I show some part of my abilities,” Beomgyu said as Taehyun stood up, hands full of dripping flowers. He stood up after him, following him through the back of the shop. “Normally with lots of screaming and running away.”

“There was always something special about you, Beomgyu,” Taehyun said, opening a door handle with his elbow and walking through. “You and your fiery eyes and your flickering shadow and strangely compelling smile. And you’ve talked about demons and angels literally every day that I’ve known you. I’m not entirely surprised.”

They walked into a kitchen-type room, and Taehyun opened a bin and deposited the flowers there, Beomgyu following his example soon after. He washed his hands in the sink and dried them off against the towel, inspecting his skin closely.

“Maybe you’re the angel,” Taehyun mused. “Because you healed me. Healing is an angelic quality, right? Maybe you’ve been calling me an angel this entire time because you’re an angel yourself.” He grinned up at Beomgyu, eyes startlingly bright even in the unlit kitchen. “That’s it, isn’t it?”

And even though Beomgyu knew Taehyun was human, had seen the proof with his very eyes, Taehyun was still so beautiful. As beautiful as the day they’d met. Perhaps even more so, because now he knew more about Taehyun: knew he loved dahlias because of what they represented, and hated snowdrops just because they looked annoying. Knew he thought himself to be rather cat-like in looks and demeanour, but he’d flushed a pleased pink when Beomgyu had called him a fluffy little squirrel. And he knew that Taehyun possessed not only the looks of an angel, but the kind and sweet qualities of one too. 

To Beomgyu, Taehyun was still so, so…

Beomgyu stepped forward, closer to Taehyun, and heard the way the florist’s breath hitched slightly. He brought a slow hand up to lightly trace the side of his face, fingers almost shy in their actions, but Taehyun leaned even closer to him and the fingers soon became a whole hand, cupping Taehyun’s cheek and making him close his eyes and hum pleasedly.

Beomgyu’s own face felt a little too warm as he held Taehyun’s face with both hands, his head and chest thumping extremely loudly, and his pulse stuttered in its rhythm when Taehyun opened his eyes, irises twinkling softly and he was just so, so close to Beomgyu.

“Hi,” Taehyun whispered, and even though his voice was quiet there was a giddy anticipation to it, that made that single word vibrate and send waves of shivering pink running through Beomgyu. He could hardly hold himself back as he slowly, slowly drew even closer to Taehyun so their noses just brushed.

“Hi yourself,” he whispered back, and with Taehyun so close to him it made a realisation bolt through his body with such force that he shuddered and had to pull away. 

Taehyun tried to follow his movements but Beomgyu slid his hands down to grasp Taehyun’s, holding him in place. He needed to get away. To process his realisation and preferably do it away from Taehyun so the human wouldn’t have to witness his mental breakdown.

“Fuck. I, uh, I’m going to… I don’t have any more questions.” Beomgyu was embarrassingly fumbly with his words, but his cheeks were flushed and his eyes were filled with Taehyun’s sparkles and everywhere, everything was filled with Taehyun and his warm hands and warm scent and warm words and he just couldn’t fucking function like this. Taehyun was far too intoxicating for a human. “And… I need to go. See you.”

With that, Beomgyu squeezed Taehyun’s hands tightly before bolting off, gathering his books from the counter and then flying out of the shop. Literally. He gained a few startled and horrified looks from humans on the street as he unfurled his wings and took off into the night sky but Beomgyu hardly paid them any attention, heart pounding and thoughts focused solely on one particular human.

Taehyun.

Who Beomgyu might be a little in love with.

He was so fucked.

¸.*𖤐*¸.*♱*.¸  

“And why are you fucked, exactly?” Kai asked, stirring his mug of hot chocolate by the island, looking over at the Devil curiously. Beomgyu was sprawled out once more, this time on the floor instead of any piece of furniture, having dramatically fallen over the minute he’d walked (well, flew) through the door.

“Because he’s a human!” Beomgyu wailed at the ceiling. “I’m the Devil, and Taehyun’s a human, and I fell in love with him!”

“Mhm.” Kai set down the spoon, picking up his mug and taking Beomgyu’s over to him and placing it carefully next to his head. Still standing over him, he said, “And that’s important because…?”

Beomgyu looked practically deranged, hair flying everywhere, eyes panicked, hands flailing as he talked and Kai carefully pushed Beomgyu’s mug out of the way so he wouldn’t knock it over. He ran his hands through his hair—well, as best as he could—tugging it and sighing.

“I’ve gone against the laws of the land. Of all three lands, even, because Taehyun isn’t even a divine being and I went ahead and fell in love with him. I didn’t even think for a second that I’d do that, that it would be a human I’d fall in love with, but—”

Abruptly, Beomgyu sat up, and Kai stepped back hurriedly so he wouldn’t get bumped into. 

“Kai. Kai, I—” Beomgyu stopped, and when he looked up at Kai again his eyes were wide and terrified. “I’m in love with him.”

Kai blinked, eyes slowly looking round the room before looking down at the Devil again. “Yes? Yes you are?”

“Holy Heavens,” Beomgyu whispered, sliding his legs closer to his chest, wrapping his arms around his knees and burying his fingers into his hair. “Kai. Kai, I fell in love with a human. What am I going to do? This is terrible. I—I have to undo it. How do I undo it? How am I going to get rid of these feelings? This is bad. This is so, so bad. I need— I need to stop this. I can’t do this. I need to—I need to—to…” He clenched his hands tighter, squeezing his eyes shut and pressing his forehead against his knees.

He continued muttering to himself, rocking back and forth, trembling, knuckles beginning to turn white in his hair. Kai immediately noticed this for what it was, hurriedly shuffling over to the kitchen island to set down the mugs before kneeling beside Beomgyu, leaning closer to him.

“Beomgyu? Hey, Beomgyu, stay with me.”

Beomgyu’s breathing came quick and fast, and he almost sounded like he was choking as the attack overwhelmed him. Still, Kai continued talking in a quiet, calm voice, raising a hand towards Beomgyu.

“Focus on my voice, okay? I’m here. You’re okay.” Kai could feel Beomgyu shaking even more and he spoke again. “I’m going to put a hand on your shoulder now. Keep your focus on me, Beomgyu. Everything is alright.”

In an efficient, practised way, Kai laid a hand on Beomgyu’s shoulder and squeezed it gently, rubbing his thumb over the tremors as best as he could. It wasn’t unusual for the Devil to experience attacks like this during times of heightened fear, and every time, it had been the Devil’s right hand demon to help him through it. 

Beomgyu’s friend.

“Breathe with me, Beomgyu. Beomgyu, it’s alright. Breathe. Do it with me, okay? In… and hold… hold… and out. You’re doing very well, Beomgyu. Come on, let’s do it again.”

Even while back in Hell, the Devil had liked the name ‘Beomgyu’ a lot. Kai refrained from calling him Lucifer, recognising the need for comfort through a more normal, less painful name at the moment.

“I’m going to hold your hands now, Beomgyu. Will you let me get your hands out of your hair?” Kai moved his fingers to Beomgyu’s wrists, trying to get him to release the death grip he had on his hair. He moved calming fingers over Beomgyu’s knuckles slowly, patiently, until Beomgyu’s fists loosened and Kai shuffled over until he was in front of Beomgyu, holding one hand in each of his own. “Good, good. You’re doing well, Beomgyu. You’re doing well.”

Beomgyu still kept his face buried in his knees, and now they weren’t clenched around anything, his hands shook violently. But Kai continued to talk softly, rubbing thumbs over knuckles, encouraging Beomgyu to follow breathing exercises, and after a long while Beomgyu ceased his shuddering and let out a weak sigh, and he seemed to relax even further into his knees.

Kai waited a moment longer for Beomgyu’s breathing to even out before speaking again. “Are you alright, Beomgyu? Can I touch you?”

Seven deep breaths later, Beomgyu nodded, voice muffled. “Yes.”

Slowly releasing Beomgyu’s hands, Kai shuffled back round so he sat next to Beomgyu, wrapping an arm around his shoulders and pulling him to his side so he collapsed into him. Beomgyu followed easily, burying himself into Kai’s hellfire-fuelled warmth and away from the cold marble of the floor.

There was silence for several minutes as Beomgyu closed his eyes against the beating of the demon’s heart and as said demon continued to hold the Devil in a quiet, reassuring embrace. And then the demon spoke.

“Twenty eight minutes, this time. A little longer than usual.” Kai said it casually, like an offhand statistic, as if he were commenting on the weather. "Do you want to talk about it?" Beomgyu didn't reply for a few moments.

“It’s because he’s a human.” He sighed. "This is all because he's a human."

Kai hummed, tilting his head. “I really don’t see how that holds any importance.”

“He’s a mortal. He’s not even a divine being. Don’t you see? I’ve broken all the rules, all the laws, and me, the Devil, has fallen in love with a mere human—”

“Shh, shh, it’s alright,” Kai cut in smoothly, and Beomgyu quietened, coming down from his rant. “I still don’t think that’s important. No, listen. Think about what it could have been instead. Imagine if you were right, and Taehyun was actually an angel. And then you fell in love with him. How would have that been?”

Beomgyu gave a melodramatic shudder. “Catastrophic. Father would be incensed, and I’m sure terrible things would have happened to Taehyun.”

“And why would that happen?”

“Because I’m the Devil, and he would be an angel,” Beomgyu replied. “And I fell in love with him.”

“But would your Father do things like that to Taehyun if he’s human? One of His beloved creations?” Kai asked, and Beomgyu hesitated, rubbing his ear against Kai’s chest thoughtfully.

“I’m not sure. Maybe. Because I’m still the Devil, and I’ve chosen a human as the object of my eternal affection.”

“But what if Taehyun was in love with you too?” Kai said softly. Beomgyu stilled, and he swiftly continued before the Devil could overthink. “Would he still get punished? Why would God condemn a love like yours which, despite going above and beyond what anyone could ever think of, is genuine and real and requited?”

Beomgyu shrank in on himself, sighing again. “Father does strange things. You and I both know that. Only God knows what He will do next. Maybe we should just go back to Hell, forget all of this. You’re growing bored here, aren’t you? We can go back. Pretend this all didn’t happen.”

Kai shook his head vigorously. “No, no, we shouldn’t just run away. And I’m not bored here. I’m here because you’re here, and there’s no place I wouldn’t go without you.”

There was a short moment of silence.

“Kai that’s so sweet, what the fuck.”

The demon chuckled, squeezing Beomgyu's shoulder affectionately. “I’m just saying. You want to stay here, don’t you? So I want to stay here too. I’m always going to go wherever you are, and I’ll always be here to support you and reassure you whatever you do. As long as it’s not a shitty idea, of course.” He squeezed Beomgyu’s shoulder. “So when I say that it’s okay for you to be in love with Taehyun, I mean it. And I’m going to help you get through that.”

Beomgyu laughed slightly, untangling himself from Kai and standing up to go over to the now cold hot chocolate. He sipped it, before making a face in distaste. “Thank you, Kai. But I’m just wondering if there’s any point in loving him if he doesn’t love me back. Also could you warm this up for me?”

Kai stared at Beomgyu in utter shock as he got up to take the mug from the Devil, blinking wide eyes. “If he doesn’t love you back?” he repeated. “Him? Taehyun?” He laughed. “Beomgyu, have you gone crazy?”

He continued to laugh while Beomgyu huffed in annoyance, folding his arms. “Kai. Kai. Why are you saying that?”

“Oh, my dear Lucifer, how blind you are,” Kai chuckled, setting Beomgyu’s mug down. “He puts up with you doing the randomest things to him. He explains flowers to you, explains flower arranging, literally fucking kisses you. You spend hours with him, throughout the day and into the night too. I’m used to you coming home during the teeny hours of the morning all giggly and smiley and ready to tell me about all the things Taehyun said to you. I don’t know about you, but that sounds like in love behaviour to me.”

Beomgyu held up a finger, opening his mouth to say something before closing it.

“And,” Kai added, “It doesn’t matter that he’s a human. The Devil fell in love! Who the fuck cares that it’s a human he fell for? Especially when that human loves him back.” He grinned, leaning over to pat Beomgyu’s shoulder before walking away. “Go get your man, Beomgyu.”

Beomgyu just stood there, still left in shock. But then a smile spread across his face, so beautiful and hopeful that he looked like the angel he was before God had cast him from Heaven. Then he yelled at Kai as the demon retreated from the kitchen. “Hey! You didn't warm up my hot chocolate!”

“Use the microwave!”

Beomgyu blinked, confused. “What’s a microwave?”

¸.*𖤐*¸.*♱*.¸  

After Beomgyu’s abrupt disappearance yesterday, Taehyun hadn’t expected to see him until at least next week. The last time Beomgyu had left him, after all, he hadn’t come back for eight days. 

(No, Taehyun hadn’t been counting. Definitely not.)

So when the man himself burst through the flower shop door in the middle of the day, making the bell tinkle loudly as he demanded all the customers clear out right that instant, it was safe to say that Taehyun was more than a little surprised.

“I’m so sorry,” Taehyun apologised into the silence as everyone stared at Beomgyu in shock. “He’s, um… Don’t mind him.” He smiled politely. “Carry on!”

“No, no, don’t carry on,” Beomgyu protested, shaking his head reverently. “Taehyun, we need to talk. Preferably without all these humans listening in on us.”

One of the customers let out a loud breath. “Ooh, no one likes to hear the ‘We need to talk’ line. Always ends up in tears.”

Taehyun rolled his eyes at the comment, but Beomgyu was looking at him so seriously that he swallowed and nodded his head, turning back to the people in the shop. "Hello everyone, my deepest apologies but it would be best if you could all leave now. But please, feel free to come back in… an hour?” He looked to Beomgyu for confirmation, but the other man just frowned.

“No. We’re closed. For the whole day. Come back tomorrow,” Beomgyu said, and opened the door, tapping his foot impatiently. “Come on. Everyone out.”

Taehyun smiled apologetically to the mildly confused customers, and once the last one had stepped out through the door Beomgyu let it swing shut, and the florist walked out from behind the counter to him, crossing his arms.

“Alright, what are you doing?” Taehyun asked. “You can’t just close the shop for the whole day on a moment’s notice. What about the other staff members? They’re going to arrive for their shifts after me, too.”

“Don’t worry, angel,” Beomgyu said with a wave of his hands. He paused. “Oh, wait. I probably shouldn’t call you that anymore, because you’re human.”

Taehyun looked surprised by that. “You finally accepted it?”

“I mean, I suppose I could still call you angel?” Beomgyu said thoughtfully. “If you’re okay with it, of course.”

Beomgyu didn’t say anything and stared at Taehyun patiently, and the human realised that he was waiting for his response.

“Oh! Oh, right.” Taehyun blushed a little, still a bit too surprised and confused by what was happening to be too flustered. He scratched the back of his neck with his nails, shy. “I don’t mind.”

Beomgyu grinned, clasping both of his hands together happily. “Great! Don’t worry about your fellow human flower people. I flew over to them and told them they had a day off today. I would have called them, but telephones are still such a weird concept and it was easier to find out where they lived.”

Taehyun’s eyes widened, his folded arms loosening. “You found out where they lived?”

“Yep. No big deal.” Beomgyu’s bright grin faded, and there was that serious look again. “So anyways, there was something I needed to tell you.”

“Wait, wait, wait.” Taehyun held his hands up. “Can we go back to the part where you said that telephones confuse you? And finding people’s addresses is easier? And the fact you flew to them?”

Beomgyu blinked. “Okay, maybe I have two things I need to tell you.” He stepped forward, closer to Taehyun, reaching over to take hold of Taehyun’s outstretched hands and interlace their fingers. “Can I… is it okay if I tell you the more important thing first?”

He looked at Taehyun with such soft eyes, irises alight with warm orange flames and a hopeful smile that glittered in the sun. Taehyun’s ears reddened, and he nodded, aware of Beomgyu’s hands in his and Beomgyu’s beautiful, beautiful eyes looking at him as if he were the world.

“Sure.”

Beomgyu’s smile brightened, and Taehyun swore he was going to die right then and there because Beomgyu was just so gorgeous goddamnit. 

“So after last night, I maybe had a panic attack thinking about you,” Beomgyu started, and immediately the fuzzy warmth left Taehyun in a rush and he widened his eyes.

“You had a panic attack? Because of me?” Taehyun asked worriedly. “Are you okay? Does it happen often? Do you take meds for it? How did I cause it? Maybe you shouldn’t be here if you had a panic attack because of me—”

“No, no, it’s alright,” Beomgyu interrupted gently, still smiling. He squeezed Taehyun’s hands affectionately, lowering their interlaced fingers and adjusting his hold so they were holding hands in a more comfortable position. “It’s okay. I’m okay. Kai was with me, and I managed to figure out a few things.”

“Kai?” Taehyun repeated, heart sinking a little at the way Beomgyu said the name so softly. “Who’s Kai?”

“My demon,” Beomgyu responded casually. He added, “and my best friend. He’s the only one who’s able to put up with me, even if he does complain an awful lot while doing so.”

“I wouldn’t complain about being with you,” Taehyun said. He smiled. “Okay, maybe I’d pretend to complain, but you’re so sweet and adorable and honestly very funny. I’d love to be with you.”

Beomgyu suddenly froze, blinking rapidly, and a blush rushed to his cheeks so fast that it made Taehyun chuckle a little at how flustered he managed to get. Beomgyu was so endearing. He was even more so in Taehyun’s eyes now, following his rather calm realisation of feelings for the man yesterday. 

“Oh my God,” Beomgyu said, the words leaving him in a rush, eyes wide. “I don’t normally call on my Father, but this time it’s definitely not in vain.”

Taehyun laughed a little, confused. “What?”

“Taehyun,” Beomgyu said seriously, “I’m in love with you. So, so in love with you that honestly it’s a little crazy how deep my feelings are for you. You’re human, and yet I’m going to love you with all of my immortal, divine heart because you are deserving of a love that is eternal. I love you, Taehyun. I really do.”

Taehyun’s eyes widened, and his own heartbeat quickened in his chest and pounded in his ears as he squeezed Beomgyu’s hands tightly and beamed, so widely and so happily that the joy almost overflowed out of him and made him bounce on the balls of his feet in his excitement.

“I like you too, Beomgyu." He paused, thought for a moment, before grinning even wider. "Oh, you know what? I’m in love with you too. I love you!” Taehyun raised his voice excitedly, vibrating in his happiness and his smile, so wide and beautiful and infectious, made Beomgyu’s smile widen too so they were both grinning impossibly hard. “I love you, Beomgyu!”

And then he was untangling their hands and launching himself into Beomgyu’s arms, wrapping his arms around his neck and hugging him tight. Beomgyu eagerly folded himself into the embrace, feeling Taehyun’s warmth and utter joy seep through him like golden, perfect sunrays. Taehyun was his perfect little sunray. 

“Oh!” Beomgyu drew back suddenly. “Here’s the other thing I had to tell you.” He smiled, tilting his head adorably. “Please step back. I’m not sure if they’ll hit you or not.”

Before Taehyun could say anything, there was a soft fwoosh sound and suddenly there were two large, black, feathered wings unfurling from Beomgyu’s back, spreading out so abruptly that flowerpots were knocked over and the wind chimes jingled from the movement of the air. 

Taehyun’s jaw fell open. 

“What the f— You— It’s— What?” he stuttered, absolutely astonished. He took his gaze away from the wings (such soft wings… Taehyun wanted to touch the feathers so badly but no, he refrained) to look at Beomgyu again, and the Devil’s irises were tinged with a dark red, like there were flames flickering in the place of his pupils. Taehyun’s eyes widened in realisation. “You’re actually the Devil.”

Beomgyu spread his arms weakly, the smile now turning nervous on his face. “Ta-da…?”

Taehyun blinked slowly, and then his grin came back with full force, his dimple deepening in the side of his cheek as he flung himself at Beomgyu again, wrapping him in a tight embrace once more. “You’re the Devil! Oh, that’s so, so cool! So you’re telling me that I fell in love with the Devil? Incredible!”

“You’re not scared? Not… terrified that I’m a horrifically sinful person?” Beomgyu asked when Taehyun loosened his grip on his neck, hands wrapped around the florist’s waist.

Taehyun shook his head, laughing. “Wow, no way! Why would I think that?” He smiled. “The Devil’s not really a bad guy, anyway. He’s just the one who has to supervise the bad guys. Besides, I know you. And you’re the sweetest person alive.”

Beomgyu made a happy whining sound. “Oh, you’re just absolutely perfect. I love you so much.”

Taehyun didn’t get the chance to say it back because Beomgyu was tugging him closer once more so that their lips touched, and just like that the entire world fell away.

It was as soft as their first ever kiss had been, sweet and scented with the fragrant smell of flowers. Something feathery brushed against Taehyun’s arms, and he didn’t have to open his eyes to know that Beomgyu’s wings were wrapping around them and pulling him even closer to the Devil, who now held Taehyun’s face delicately and kissed him like it would be their first kiss of the countless kisses to come.

Beomgyu nipped at Taehyun's bottom lip, playfully, making the human giggle and tilt his head further to the side, nose almost brushing the Devil's cheek, trying to get closer and closer to Beomgyu and his warmth and his love. His hands were in Beomgyu's hair and Beomgyu's hands were on his cheeks and two, black wings were enveloping them both, and they were smiling and laughing and kissing with the golden sunlight streaming through the windows all around them. 

It was wonderful. 

They were both smiling between kisses, kissing between smiles, and eventually they had to pull away because there was just too much smiling for them to be able to meet lips properly. Beomgyu’s thumbs gently caressed Taehyun’s cheeks, and Taehyun brought his hands up to brush the hair out of the Devil’s face. Beomgyu beamed even wider, leaning into Taehyun’s touch.

“What’s up with you?” Taehyun said softly, laughing as Beomgyu held Taehyun’s hand to his face, kissing the side of his palm.

The Devil looked at his human—his angelic, sparkly, light-filled human—and felt his devilish heart swell with utter adoration. He leaned down to press another kiss to Taehyun’s lips.

“The Devil fell in love.”