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Ricky sighs as he's forced to leave his cozy apartment on a Friday night, usually reserved for binge-watching random sappy K-dramas, to attend his cousin's party — a surprise costume party he's throwing to commemorate his boyfriend's employment in a very prestigious dance academy.
He's not really a huge party guy, especially when it's being thrown together last minute, but because he's one of the couple's unofficial children — also the oldest and favorite one, thank you very much —, and maybe because he might love his cousin and said boyfriend just a little, he decides to grace them with his presence for the night.
The streets are mostly empty around this time, something Ricky is very thankful for, as he's not quite keen on being seen by random strangers while he's dressed as an angel who has definitely seen better days — he just put together a random skin tight white outfit, threw some sparkles everywhere, DIY-ed a fluffy halo headpiece and called it a day.
He's also very thankful that his cousin, Zhang Hao, lives fairly close to him — about a 15-minute walk from his place —, because Seoul nights can be cold as a bitch sometimes and he forgot to grab a jacket before leaving. Rookie mistake, really, but in his defense, it is kind of hard to think properly when all your friends are blowing up your phone with threats so that you won't be late. Not that he has ever been late for anything, of course. Pfft.
As he's halfway through his walk, going down a fairly well-lit street, he hears a faint hum of a bike coming from behind, growing progressively louder as it gets closer. Glancing over his shoulder, Ricky sees a guy clad in an oversized black hoodie approaching him at what seems like an ungodly speed, and he can't help but watch as the guy flies past him
–and then rides straight toward an unmoving, parked truck a few meters ahead. Time seems to slow down as the cyclist desperately brakes, but it's useless. The bike's front wheel collides with the rear of the truck, sending the guy tumbling over the handlebars and onto the pavement with a deafening clang that resonates through the entire street.
Ricky wastes no time in running for the cyclist's aid, given he's the only other person around and he'd feel terrible if he just left him there to die. He kneels near the body, sighing in relief as he doesn't seem badly hurt, only a few superficial cuts adorning his small face. "Dude, are you okay?"
"Fuck," the cyclist hisses as he slowly opens his eyes, taking in the blurry image of a blonde man all dressed in white, with a halo hanging over his head and a somewhat bright light shining right behind him, making him look ethereal. Just like an angel. The guy rubs his eyes with his hands, confused: "Did I die?"
Ricky blinks once, twice, and inhales deeply as he tries his best not to laugh at the poor man, pondering how he should approach the situation. Then, because a little fun has never hurt anyone, he says:
"Yeah, you did," A small, cat-like smile makes its way onto his face as he watches the other guy go through all five stages of grief at once: confusion, denial, anger, depression, and then acceptance. "Sorry about how sudden it was. The big guy is quite unpredictable."
"Wow, okay. Um, that's– are all angels as good-looking as you?" He asks, eyebrows knitting together in a visible frown and lower lip sticking out in a pout. "'cause if that's the case, then I'm kinda glad to be going to heaven already."
"I just told you you're dead and your first thought is to flirt with me?" Ricky raises one of his eyebrows in amusement. "What's your name?"
"Kim Gyuvin. Wait, I thought angels were supposed to know people's names already." Gyuvin points out, perplexed.
"And I thought humans were able to recognize if they're alive or not, but apparently we were both wrong." Ricky smirks, extending his hand to the no-longer-nameless cyclist. "I'm Shim Ricky. And you're not dead, if you haven't realized it yet."
"Oh."
"Yeah, oh. Now take my hand, will you? Let me help you get up."
Gyuvin takes his hand, wincing a little as Ricky pulls him up from the ground. He takes a tentative step to the side, his balance completely failing him, then grabs the blonde’s arm in an attempt to stabilize himself. “Shit, I’m so dizzy.”
Ricky is quick to place his other hand on Gyuvin’s waist, preventing him from falling. He frowns, concerned. “Do you think you can walk?”
“I think so. Very slowly, probably, and I might need help, but I can,” Gyuvin answers, seemingly confused. “Why?”
“I’m taking you to the hospital,” Ricky declares, fishing his phone from his pocket to open Naver Maps and look for directions.
“What? There’s no need to! I’m completely fine–” Gyuvin steps away, opening his arms and spinning around, almost tripping on his own feet. He grimaces in pain, then tries to cover it up with a bashful smile as Ricky shoots him an unamused look. “See?!”
“Your nose is bleeding.”
“Fuck.”
The walk is awkwardly quiet, save for the occasional groans that come from both of them as Ricky has to basically drag the other guy through the streets — which turns out to be quite a difficult task, even though Gyuvin is only a few centimeters taller than him. Fortunately, the nearest hospital is only about seven minutes away from where the accident happened, and he goes the entire way thanking all the existing entities for that.
The hospital is relatively empty, and Gyuvin gets called shortly after explaining the situation to the receptionist. Ricky chooses to wait for him in the corridor, looking for a chair near the room he was admitted to. He finds one right next to a small vending machine, and as he’s about to sit down, his phone starts ringing. Goddamit.
“Shen Quanrui, where the hell are you?” Zhang Hao yells from the other side, his voice slightly muffled by the loud music. “You better have a really good reason to not be at my apartment right now!”
“Hello to you too, Hao-gē,” Ricky rolls his eyes, sighing. “Um, I’m at the hospital.”
“Wait, what? At the hospital?” Hao asks, his voice laced with concern, and Ricky almost feels bad. Almost. “What happened? Are you okay? Do you need anything?”
“I’m fine, don’t worry. I was on my way to the party when this dude came flying down the road and hit his bike on a truck. I was the only one around and I felt really bad for him, so I offered to help.”
“A moving truck…?”
“A parked one.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah.”
“Is– Is he okay?”
“I think so. He didn’t seem to have broken anything, at least.”
“Oh, oof. Alright. Do you think you’re gonna take too long there?”
“He just got admitted, but it should be quick. I’ll wait until they’re done and then I’ll leave after checking on him.”
“Fair. Do you need me to pick you up?”
“No need, ge. It’s pretty close to your house, I think. I’ll be fine.”
“If you say so. Take care, you brat! And call me if anything else happens– Oh!”
Ricky can only hear a disgusting fit of very familiar giggles before Zhang Hao hangs up, not even giving him a chance to say anything else. He makes a face, having a slight idea of what happened, and considers just going back home instead of heading to the party only to witness some crazy amount of shameless PDA. Ew, young love.
A few minutes later the door of the room Gyuvin was in bursts open, startling Ricky. He gets up and quickly approaches the doctor, who shoots him a weird look, and Ricky is about to confront her when he realizes she’s staring at his headpiece. The wonky, fluffy angel headpiece that he made in a hurry less than 2 hours ago. Holy shit, he thinks, I’m standing in the middle of a hospital dressed as a fucking angel. Way to go, Ricky!
“You can go in,” she says, and he almost doesn’t hear it, mind busy trying to come up with various different ways of killing his cousin. Maybe himself too. “I’ll be back in a few.”
Ricky bows, murmuring a thank you as he gets inside the room, finding Gyuvin lying down in the hospital bed, eyes almost closed. The bruises on his face were cleaned and now have some kind of ointment rubbed on them, and there’s an ice pack on his head.
“Everything okay?” Ricky asks, approaching the bed.
Gyuvin looks up at him, a small smile on his face. “Yeah, I’m fine! Just a mild concussion. And my body is starting to hurt like hell because of the impact, but I didn’t break anything.”
“You’re very lucky that nothing serious happened, Kim Gyuvin-ssi, considering you weren’t using any kind of protection,” the doctor pops in, placing a paper and a card on the bedside table. “Here’s your prescription. I’ll just recommend painkillers and some nausea medicine for now, and a lot of rest. You should refrain from moving too much, and also avoid screens at all costs. Concussions usually last for around a week, but it can take more time. If you feel it getting worse somehow, please schedule another appointment.”
“Thank you so much, uisa sonsaeng-nim,” Gyuvin says, nodding to the best of his abilities. “Am I free to go already?”
“I recommend staying and keeping the ice pack there for at least fifteen more minutes. I left a card there, when you’re ready you can just hand it to the nurse and she’ll discharge you.“ She smiles, closing the door as she leaves the room.
Ricky plops down on the sofa near the bed, staring at Gyuvin with sharp eyes. Looking at him now, in good lighting and with a considerably clean face, he concurs that Gyuvin is quite handsome, with his messy blown hair, plump lips, and puppy-like eyes. Very handsome, actually. Pretty much his type, too. Not that this matters, of course.
“Why are you dressed like that?” Gyuvin suddenly breaks the silence (and Ricky’s train of thought), squinting his eyes.
“Ah. I was on my way to a costume party,” Ricky laughs, a little caught off guard. “My cousin decided to throw it last minute, so I ended up as this… questionable angel.”
“It’s not questionable, I think you look amazing,” he comments, and then his eyes go impossibly wide. Oh. “I mean, I even thought you were an actual angel, so at least it’s convincing. Wait, oh my God! Did I ruin your night, then? Man, I’m so sorry!”
“I don’t think that means much considering you were almost delirious, but thanks,” Ricky scowls for a second before his eyes soften, smiling sweetly. “And don’t worry about it, honestly. If anything, you brought me some excitement. I’d probably just be third wheeling if I were there right now.”
“Are you sure?” Gyuvin asks, instantly receiving a nod as an answer. He sighs, relieved. Then he’s back to his confused puppy expression. “Hold on, Ricky. I just realized something.”
“What?”
“Where’s my bike?”
“Fuck,” Ricky gulps. That bike would definitely never be seen again. “Um, I think you might need to buy a new one.”
“My brother is gonna kill me.” Gyuvin cries out, the ice pack falling from his hand in a dramatic move.
“You have a brother?” Ricky inquires, raising one of his eyebrows.
“Yeah, two years older. He’s coming to pick me up, actually.”
While they wait, he learns a few things about Gyuvin. One, they’re the same age — Ricky is a whole three months older, though. Two, they both study at the same university (surprise!), but Gyuvin is a Physical Education major while Ricky is a Fashion Design one, so that’s probably one of the reasons why they never came across each other before. Three, that he has two brothers, a younger one who’s still in High School, and the oldest one who’s a vocal coach.
The latter, whose name Ricky has come to learn is Taerae, arrives exactly ten minutes later, wrapped in a cute green jacket and with a distraught look on his face. He’s very polite, has a nice voice and a big, pretty smile. He’s also very convincing and won’t take no for an answer, which ends up earning Ricky a ride to Zhang Hao’s apartment.
And extra time with a certain oversized human puppy who talks a little too much.
Not that he’s complaining about either of these things, though.
[03:19 am] insane biker:
hey so
do u wanna go on a date
i mean
once i fully recover from the concession
concussion
[03:23 am] angelicky:
dude. what
you shouldn’t even be on your phone rn
[03:25 am] insane biker:
like uhhhh
a thank you datw3
id probably be dead if it werent for you yk :(
[03:27 am] angelicky:
please go to sleep
also. yeah
sure