Archive of Our Own ^beta

“Shit!” Riku breathed out as yet another box tumbled out of his arms and onto the hallway floor. He was in a severely sour mood, frustrated that neither Ryo nor Sakuya, both whom he knew had nothing going on today, had offered to help him move into his new dorm. It wasn’t exactly like he had tons of people to ask around here.

Freeze frame, record scratch. His name is Maeda Riku, and you’re probably wondering how he got in this situation in the first place. At 22, Riku had tragically been struck by a car in the middle of the night while going on a convenience store run. But fear not! He was saved by Venus, the goddess of love and beauty. He was given a second chance at life, reborn as a Cupid! Yes, he’s a divine figure, blessing the people around him with his presence and his matchmaking ability. You’re welcome.

Before being accidentally killed, Riku had never given things like ‘love’ a second thought. He was popular, well-liked by those around him, but was career-driven. He figured he needed to focus on graduating and finding a stable job before he could indulge in frivolous things like love. In his last moments, as he bled out alone on the concrete, he realized he had never felt so lonely. He longed to have had someone to hold him, to have worried that he wasn’t answering their texts now that he was too busy dying on the ground at 1 in the morning. Suddenly, his eyes had snapped open, and he was given a new purpose: help people around him find love. If he did this, he’d earn points called karma. Earn enough karma, and he’d be able to become a human again, with a second chance at finding love for himself.

Riku had been working as a Cupid for around 2 years now. It wasn’t so bad, most of the time. Currently, however, he had been sent over to some shitty, sprawling university in the middle of nowhere, New England, much to his displeasure. He was trying to hold onto the fact that he only needed to complete one more mission before he filled his karma meter, which he tracked in the form of a little heart on the side of his handgun. That was another thing–Cupids didn’t use bows and arrows. He was given his choice of a gun, which he had been told by Taeyeon-senpai was a much more effective way to make people fall in love.

He hadn’t exactly been happy about the relocation to the States, especially because of the part about him having to actually enroll in the college. He still didn’t really understand why he had been told he had to. He had been told it was because once he completes his mission, the transformation from Cupid to human was quick, and it would be helpful to him to already have a bit of a second life set up. Unfortunately, Riku could not be transported back through time to be brought back to life right when he got struck 2 years ago. Which he supposed made sense, but it didn’t make it any less annoying.

“Why would you not enroll? You can’t just be this weird creepy guy that hangs around campus talking to people all day. They might like, arrest you or something,” Sakuya had said when Riku had lamented his woes to his Cupid friends. Riku’s eye had just twitched, because he could very well have just charmed everyone into believing he actually went to school there, and he would have been fine. Charming someone was when he kind of…manipulated people’s minds into believing everything he said? He didn’t like doing it, but he could if he had to.

“If you get arrested as a Cupid are you allowed to be turned back into a human?” Ryo had asked. Stupid Ryo. And stupid Sakuya. Screw his friends for not helping him with his stupid boxes. He wasn’t even sure why he had so many boxes, since he didn’t have any belongings besides his handgun. Ryo had packed him a bunch of stuff he had sworn up and down he needed for university, citing prime Academia he had consumed, such as Gilmore Girls. Riku shook his head, trying to stop thinking about his annoying friends and his now annoying life in school, eyes scrunched closed as he tried not to scream.

“Do you need some help?” A soft voice rose from behind him, shaking him from his thoughts and startling him into almost dropping his remaining boxes.

“Who, me?” He called back, trying to up the sarcasm in his voice. The soft voice laughed lightly.

“Yes, you. You look like you dropped one of your boxes. There's another one further back in the hall I'm assuming is yours as well. Here, let me have a box.” He came up from behind Riku, suddenly infiltrating his personal space with the scent of warm vanilla. Riku looked up then, cheeks instantly warming up at the extremely handsome man that happened to be grabbing the boxes out of his hands. Seriously, the man looked like he just walked off a Calvin Klein ad. He looked like he was a runaway prince, escaping the responsibilities that had come with taking over the crown. It took Riku too long to realize that the man’s mouth was moving, and he had been trying to talk to Riku while Riku had been zoning out, practically drooling over him.

“I'm sorry, can you say that again?” Riku asked, pulling himself out of his stupor. The boy just smiled, a soft smile that Riku could feel warming his heart. Jesus. He was supposed to be more chill than this. Flirting is, like, his whole schtick.

“It’s alright, I just asked what dorm number you were going to. So I can bring your stuff there,” the boy replied.

“Oh! Um, Room 127, I believe. Sorry, I'm a little out of it today…” he lied. A look of surprise flashed across the boy's face.

“Room 127? That's my room too! So you're my roommate! What are the odds of that?” The boy was smiling widely now, turning around to walk in the direction towards their dorm. His smile, for some reason, reminded Riku of a Muppet. It made him happy.

What did NOT make him happy, however, was the pit of dread that opened in his stomach when he actually processed what the boy said. Rooming? With a man who looked like all of Riku’s wildest fantasies rolled into one? This had to have been Sakuya’s doing, rigging the dorm lottery in a way to ensure this school year would be nothing short of a personal Hell for Riku. How was he supposed to survive an entire academic year of looking at that face?

“So what are you studying?” The boy asked, casual enough. Although Riku didn’t feel casual when he turned his head and met the other boy’s eyes, staring into his own with a blazing intensity. He quickly whipped his head the other way. Eye contact was going to be next to impossible with this man.

“Um, dance,” Riku answered quickly. “And you? What are you studying?”

“Oh!! I’m studying dance too! Wow, seriously, this is too funny!” And that’s just great. So not only is this insanely handsome man going to be tormenting Riku alone in their shared dorm, he’s also going to be following him around campus and taking all the same classes. Riku fought the urge to groan out loud. He wasn’t even supposed to be here! He’s a divine spirit! A divine spirit with a mission to matchmake on campus and not get distracted by pretty boys!

“O-oh! What a coincidence!” Riku replied, trying to not make it sound like he wanted to die. The boy just smiled again, making all of Riku's worries melt away. Maybe this will actually be fine.

“My name’s Sion, by the way. I’m in my last year here.”

“I’m Riku,” Riku responded. “I just transferred here, I’m in my third year.”

“Oh? Are you younger than me? I’m 23,” Sion asked, still trying to make eye contact with Riku. It was almost like he had realized Riku was too shy for eye contact, and had made it his sole mission to make as much eye contact as possible.

“22,” Riku mumbled, keeping his eyes locked on his feet, taking steps forward. Left foot, right foot. Left foot, right–

“Ahh, Riku-yah. Let’s speak comfortably with each other, okay? Please, call me Hyung.” God, who did this guy think he was? Riku was fed up with the flirting. How far away was their dorm room? It felt like they had been walking forever.

“Okay, Sionie hyung," Riku replied, laying on the aegyo a little too thick. Just to be annoying. When he didn’t hear Sion respond, he chanced a glance up at him and was met with Sion’s eyes already on him. This time, Sion looked away first, blush rising on his cheeks. Interesting.

Maybe this will be fine.

જ⁀➴♡

This is, decidedly, not fine. There is absolutely nothing fine about this situation. Next time Riku calls Sakuya, he will be receiving the verbal lashing of a lifetime for messing with Riku’s dorm situation like this. He’s lucky classes start today, so that he’ll have a method of escape away from the boy plaguing his every waking moment.

It’s not just that Sion is handsome. It’s the small moments that only someone with forced proximity would see, such as Sion working at his dorm desk, glasses perched low on the bridge of his nose, like some kind of sexy librarian. It’s Sion stretching in the mornings, and his sweatshirt riding up to show off that sliver of skin that makes Riku feel insane. It’s the way Sion’s arms are veiny, so veiny it makes Riku wonder where else he’s veiny. It’s the way Sion falls asleep late at night, long eyelashes brushing against his cheeks, cherubic.

There’s also his genuine kindness. Sion decided when they first met that he was going to be Riku’s hyung, and has since taken that role very seriously. He makes sure Riku eats at least twice a day, dragging him to the dining hall closest to their dorm if Riku even remotely hesitates to answer the dreaded “have you eaten.” He jumps to open their window if Riku even suggests he’s warm. It’s a little…much. Riku wasn’t expecting Sion to be so intense on top of already being hot. You can’t be hot and kind, it’s too much for poor Riku’s heart.

He’s supposed to be more nonchalant than this. He can’t even look his own roommate in the eyes. He literally works for the Goddess of Beauty and Love and he thinks Sion is too handsome for eye contact. Whatever.

Riku’s not stupid. He knows the effect he has on other people. He’s only been moved into his dorm for about a week, but he turns heads when he walks across campus. He gets handed coffee cups and napkins with people’s numbers on them all the time. He’s seen Sion looking at him for longer than necessary, caught Sion in the act when he turned his head super quickly after Riku had been bending over, picking something up off the floor. There’s a weird sort of tension in their dorm room that only grows with each passing day. Riku’s content to ignore it if that’s what Sion plans on doing. He wasn’t sent down here to fraternize.

Cupids cannot fall in love. That was one of the biggest things Riku had to learn when he first woke up as one 2 years ago. However. Since he’s so close to the end, Riku was allowing himself to imagine. What if he could love Sion? Would Sion still be single and available once Riku turned back into a human? Maybe they could go on a date or two. Or at least, like, hook up with each other. Or something.

He quickly discarded that thought from his brain. He didn’t need any distractions! He needed to focus so that he was prepared for whenever Sakuya and Ryo gave him his mission! There was no use thinking about things that didn’t matter. He was perfectly fine just being whatever fantasy Sion needed to imagine at night and nothing more.

જ⁀➴♡

Riku’s sweating. It’s that part of a New England September that’s still basically Summer, not that he would know what any of that meant. That’s just what Sion had said in the morning when Riku whined about waking up with his tank top sticking to him. Subtly trying to get Sion to picture him flushed and sweaty.

His class was quite literally on the other side of campus, and he was still too new to the campus to figure out the bus system. So he just decided to walk, which was a terrible idea. Now he feels like he’s drenched in sweat, and not even in the sexy way. He pauses for a moment, bending backwards a bit to look up at the sky and catch his breath. He wonders if Sakuya and Ryo are watching him right now, laughing at him. He takes a minute, trying to get his breathing normal again, when suddenly something collides with his back and he’s tumbling forwards, hitting the ground with a loud, dramatic thwack.

“Shit! Are you okay??” A voice rings out, and hands are grabbing his side and checking his arms and hands for scrapes. Riku slowly opens his eyes and startles a bit, since he’s suddenly face to face with a very pretty boy with his brows pinched together in worry and his lips in a little pout. He almost looked like he could be a Cupid himself. Riku blinks a bit, trying to look around and gather what the fuck just happened and why he’s on the dirty ground. There's a scooter on the ground next to them. Ah.

“You should really learn to ride that thing before you actually start to take it around campus,” Riku tried to snap, but it came out teasingly more than anything.

The other boy's worry instantly drains from his face, pursing his lips in annoyance.

“You should really learn to not stand completely still in the middle of a busy sidewalk, ever thought of that?”

Riku frowns, opens his mouth to say something when another boy comes running up to them, clearly out of breath.

“Yushi hyung! I told you to wait for me, why would you just…woah! Who are you? Why are you on the ground?” Riku’s eyebrows rise up into his hairline.

“Your Yushi hyung slammed into me with his stupid scooter. Can someone please help me up? I don't really want to keep lying on the ground.”

“Oh, of course! ‘Scuse me, Hyung,” the other boy said, gently taking Yushi by the shoulders and pushing him to the side a bit to give himself more room to help Riku up. He wrapped a large hand around Riku's wrist and pulled up, demonstrating an almost unfair amount of strength as Riku righted himself and dusted himself off.

“Where are you headed to? It's the first day of classes, and if it’s your first year here, it can be a little confusing. This place is so huge, it’s so easy to get lost!”

“Umm..I have Modern Art History in the..I..LC?” Riku said carefully, squinting down at the calendar Ryo had sent him on his phone.

“Oh! No way! We do too! We were just headed towards the Learning Center, do you wanna walk with us? I’m Daeyoung, by the way! And this is Yushi, even though you probably figured that out by now. We’re sophomores!”

Daeyoung's mouth moved a mile a minute, almost to the point where Riku couldn’t keep up. He reminded Riku of a giant, overexcited puppy. He blinked a bit, dazed, trying to figure out what part of the sentence he should respond to first.

“Um, I'm Riku, I'm a junior. And yes, please, I would love to walk with you two to class. I have absolutely no idea where I'm going.”

“That’s okay! It’s just up ahead," Daeyoung chirped, sounding way too excited about the fact Riku had agreed to walk with them. Yushi hung back a bit, letting Riku walk directly next to Daeyoung. He reminded Riku of a grumpy house cat, which made them an interesting combo.

“Riku, did you never take a college tour before transferring here? Usually those are like, mandatory," Yushi calls out suddenly. Daeyoung flinches a bit, like he forgot Yushi was there.

“Hyung,” he scolds, reaching forwards and pulling Yushi closer to the front with him and Riku. “Stop trying to be rude to our new friend.”

“I was just asking,” Yushi huffed, but he let it go, thankfully. Riku didn’t like using his charm on nice people, because it made him feel like he was lying to them. Which, he was, but he didn’t like being a liar to people who had been kind to him. Even though Yushi was currently pushing it.

“Besides,” Daeyoung continued, “We want to stick together as much as possible. Sion hyung said this professor makes you do a lot of group work, but that you can choose your group.” He turns to Riku then, as an after thought. “Sion hyung is our other friend. He took this class last semester. If you stick around with us, you’re bound to meet him at some point.”

“Maybe we shouldn’t,” Yushi practically whispered.

“Huh? Why's that, Hyung?”

“Riku’s too pretty, Sion hyung won’t know how to behave around him,” he finished. Riku could feel himself blushing.

“Aww, Yuu-chan! Just moments ago you were trying to run me over with your scooter, and now you’re showering me in sweet praises! Be careful or I might think you’re trying to woo me!”

Yushi just rolled his eyes, flattened his lips into a straight line and looked down at his feet while he walked.

Riku was pointedly trying to not think about the fact they mentioned their other friend's name was Sion. Sion hyung, to be exact. Riku didn’t want Sion to plague the friendships he was forming as well. This campus was massive! They could be talking about a different Sion!

જ⁀➴♡

They weren’t talking about a different Sion.

Sion let him have peace for about two weeks. Made no hints whatsoever that he Knew that Riku had met the other two. This all came crashing down one evening, two weeks after Yushi had first slammed into Riku and sent him sprawling onto the ground. Riku had been heading back to his dorm room after a quick dinner alone, feeling happy and satisfied with himself. He was doing a good job here! He was fitting in! He had made friends! And he hadn’t slipped up and revealed himself as a Cupid to everyone around him! Not that he really could do that, but the fear was still there. He carried these good feelings with him all the way back to the dorm, where he flung open the door and was greeted by Sion. Sion in a tank top and with his hair pushed back, muscles on full display. Riku felt his mouth go dry. Sion looked up at him, sending him a crooked smile. A smile that most certainly meant nothing good.

“I heard you met some friends of mine recently,” Sion started, still grinning ear to ear.

“Oh, did I?” Riku said back, trying to sound uninterested. He walked over to his bed, taking off his outer layers, trying to ignore how he could still feel Sion’s eyes boring into his back. If he closed his eyes and really tried to imagine it, he could feel Sion tracing the muscles on his back with one thin finger.

“You met Yushi and Daeyoung. They told me a few days ago they had a new friend named Riku they wanted me to meet. Why didn’t you say anything?”

Because if I look at you for too long, I think about kissing you, and I’ll drive myself mad, Riku thinks to himself. “I didn’t know they were your friends,” he says out loud instead. A terrible lie, one that Sion catches quickly. He hums in response, and Riku can hear him get out of his bed. Can feel as he approaches Riku’s side of the room, nuzzling up close to him from behind and pulling on his cheek. Riku squeezed his eyes shut and hoped to God Sion didn’t hear the way his breath hitched, didn’t feel the way his heartbeat quickened.

“I think it’s crazy how intertwined our lives suddenly became,” he was saying, while Riku was trying not to focus on the body heat he could feel against his back. “Isn’t that so funny? It’s almost like we were destined to end up together.”

And hey. What?

“Ugh, don’t say that. The idea of destiny tying us together is like, wicked gross,” Riku replied, laughing shakily and hoping Sion didn’t pick up on how awkward he was suddenly acting. He subtly tried to shift away from Sion, moving forwards until his knees hit his mattress. Sion just hummed again.

“I don’t know. I think it would be kind of romantic,” he finally said, reaching down to squeeze at Riku’s hip. And, okay. Riku couldn’t take this anymore. The air in the room had grown unbearably thick, he felt like he couldn’t breathe. His extremely handsome roommate needed to back all the way up.

“Oh, I just forgot I needed to go over test prep with Yushi and Daeyoung for class!” Riku blurts out, wrenching Sion’s hand off his hip, grabbing his phone and his bag and practically making a run for the door.

“Already? Classes just started–Hey! Riku-yah!” Sion called after him, but he was already out the door. He hastily shot a text to his recently made group chat, praying to Venus herself they were available.

20 minutes later, Riku found himself back in the same dining hall he had just left, a mildly concerned looking Daeyoung and an incredibly unconcerned looking Yushi joining him.

“Sion hyung is your roommate? That’s crazy! When he mentioned his roommate was beautiful, I didn’t realize he would be talking about–Ow! Yushi hyung!” Daeyoung suddenly broke off, pulling his leg up to his chest and grabbing his foot where Yushi had just presumably stomped on it. Riku was choosing to ignore the fact that Sion had apparently told his friends he thought he was beautiful. He knows he’s beautiful. Of course other people would notice. It doesn’t matter.

It really doesn’t. Especially since he’s not here to fall in love for himself or anything. He literally can’t do that. And it really doesn’t matter that Sion’s the one who said it. Riku doesn’t even care.

“Anyways,” Yushi cleared his throat. “I don’t see what the problem is. Hyung is nice. Everything you just described is like. Normal nice roommate stuff. Why are we here for an emergency meeting?” Riku just scoffs, because what on Earth about backing your roommate up against his bed was “normal nice roommate stuff?” What kind of freak shit was Yushi getting up to with his roommate?

“The emergency meeting is because your hyung is driving me insane! He’s so handsome I can’t even look him in the eyes!” Yushi and Daeyoung just shot each other a Look.

“Riku hyung, it kind of sounds to me like you just have a crush on him,” Daeyoung tries.

“That’s just not true. It’s bothering me because he’s so annoying about it. Like he knows he’s handsome and he uses it to disarm me, so he can get whatever he wants.”

“No, I think you’re just being weird because you like him,” Daeyoung helpfully suggests. Riku wishes he could explain to his new friends why that’s just not possible. He can feel Yushi’s eyes boring into him from across the table, his bowl of ramen picked clean and chopsticks left neatly over the top of it.

“Riku-yah likes someone?” A voice appears suddenly next to Riku’s ear, startling him so bad he nearly smacks the boy in the face. Daeyoung starts laughing, like Sion scaring Riku is the funniest thing in the world to him.

“Hyung! Why are you here?” Daeyoung asks when he finally calms down. Yushi is still just staring, a small smile on his face like he knows something the rest don’t. Sion sighs loudly, putting an arm around Yushi as he sits into the last seat around the small table.

“Riku-yah here ran away from me so suddenly, I wanted to follow him. And here he is, with my bestest friends in the world, and no one invited me! You’re all fake,” Sion laughs, pushing some dark hair out of his eyes.

“You were annoying me,” Riku snaps back, but there’s no heat to it. He cuddles up to Daeyoung, who instinctively puts his arm around Riku and squeezes. Riku doesn’t miss the way Sion’s eyes narrow. Interesting.

“You should join us on our study dates for art history, Hyung,” Yushi was saying. “We could use your help for the open responses.”

“Art is so subjective though,” Sion replied. “Your responses to the plates need to come from your own thoughts and feelings.”

“God, you sound so lame,” Daeyoung joked. Sion almost reached across the table to swat at him, but he held back. Riku was still snug in Daeyoung’s arms. He pressed his face closer to Daeyoung’s, until their cheeks pressed together, and he rubbed his face into Daeyoung’s, like a cat would. He closed his eyes, content, and he could feel Sion and Yushi’s eyes digging into him.

“Riku-yah, we should head back to the dorm soon if you’re not eating anything,” he could hear Sion call out softly across the table. “Let Daeyoung and Yushi eat and relax a bit. I know they need it after their printmaking studio.”

Daeyoung lets out another laugh, trying to deny Sion and say that they should stay, but something evil in Riku tunes that all out when he opens his eyes and sees Sion’s cold stare trained onto where his and Daeyoung’s faces are pressed together.

So he’s the type to get jealous easily.

Something warm pools in Riku’s belly as he calls out an “Okay, Hyung,” and slowly disentangles his limbs from Daeyoung’s. Yushi’s still just staring at him with a vacant smile on his face, like he just saw something terrible and doesn’t know how to react to it. Riku doesn’t have time to worry about that, however, because Sion is dragging him away before he can even say bye.

“I didn’t realize you were so close with my friends, Riku-yah,” Sion says, hand still clamped tightly around Riku’s wrist. Like he would ever even think to run away.

“Was I not supposed to make any friends at all?” Riku shoots back, even though the jealousy doesn’t bother him. In fact, he loves it. Wants to see more of it.

“That’s not what I said at all,” Sion sighs, finally dropping Riku’s arm to fish for his student ID to get back into their dorm building. “I was simply making an observation.”

“Of course I’m close with them, Hyung. They’re so nice, especially Daeyoung,” he adds, just to stir the pot. He sees Sion stiffen a little bit as he’s opening the door to their dorm, holding it so Riku can slip inside before him like the gentleman he is.

“Is Daeyoung the one you like?” Sion asks with so much sincerity it makes Riku laugh.

“Hyung, they were just making fun of me. I don’t like anyone like that,” Riku answers. He watches Sion’s shoulders visibly relax upon hearing that.

I don’t like anyone romantically because I literally can’t, is what he doesn’t say. I’m hoping you like me as much as I want you to, enough to wait for me to become human again.

જ⁀➴♡

Riku’s sitting in the library, carefully inspecting a picture of Takashi Murakami’s My Lonesome Cowboy for his art history paper, when he feels his phone ringing. There’s only one person who would be calling him randomly in the middle of the day like this, and he feels his stomach flip at the thought that he’ll finally be human soon. He takes it out of his pocket slowly, answering the call.

“Riku!” Ryo calls out so loudly that Riku has to hold the phone away from his ear. He can hear scuffling on the other side of the line.

“Hi Ryo-chan, is Saku with you?”

“What do you think?” Comes Sakuya’s voice, a bit muffled like he was standing far away from the phone’s microphone.

“And to what do I owe this lovely phone call? Venus knows you wouldn’t just be calling to check up on me.”

“You know what, I was literally about to ask you how things were going, but nevermind! Screw you! Let’s just get right into the meat of it,” Ryo laughs.

“So! We have a mission for you! It is–oh, man–” He breaks off, and the sound of papers falling rings out from the phone. Sakuya yells something that sounds a lot like ‘you dumbass,’ and there’s a lot more scuffling. Riku just scoffs, picturing the chaos left unchecked since he wasn’t there to keep them in line.

“Okay! Sorry about that!” Ryo chirps after about two more minutes of random noises and the sounds of him and Sakuya arguing. “Your target is Oh Sion!”

And oh. Okay.

Riku feels his blood run cold. That’s not. That’s not what he wanted to hear.

“Oh Sion, 23, senior at UMass, studying dance with a minor in business, but he finds it boring. He longs to move back home, or a place similar to his home, and live out his days peacefully on a farm. He’s a bit of a romantic. Do you want to hear the names of his previous crushes?”

He’s still caught up on the fact his target was actually supposed to be Sion. Previous crushes? No, he absolutely did not want to hear that. He swallows thickly, throat suddenly way too dry.

“Okay,” he says instead. Like an idiot.

“Okay,” Ryo parrots back. “His most recent crush was on a friend, Park Wonbin, but that only lasted a couple of months. He doesn’t currently like anyone. Before that he liked someone named Song Eunseok for a little less than a year, and then his first ever crush was someone named Tokuno Yushi. That crush has a couple different date ranges, it must be someone consistent in his life. The most recent one was from about three years ago.”

And that is definitely not what Riku wanted to hear. Sion? Liked Yushi? He didn’t really care if it was a crush from years ago. Sion liked Yushi.

“Aren’t you excited?” Ryo is asking, because he’s such a sweet baby angel who has no idea the literal turmoil he just caused in Riku’s brain. “Once you help Sion find love, you’ll be turned back into a human and then you can find love for yourself! Ugh, you’re so lucky. I want to be able to find love for myself,” he finishes wistfully.

“You’re too young for that, Ryo-chan,” Riku calls out hollowly, more out of habit than anything else. His mind is racing. He knows Ryo says something back to him, and he knows that Sakuya chips in his two cents, and then Ryo and Sakuya start bickering, but he doesn’t pick up on any of it.

Since when did Sion like Yushi? He feels like one of them would have told him this already, as like, a funny anecdote or something. ‘Hey, remember that time in grade school when Sion liked me? That was so gross.’ Unless Sion never told Yushi that he used to like him. Unless…Sion never got over it.

And really, it shouldn’t matter. Not one bit. Riku can’t fall in love. He’s still a Cupid, no matter how close to becoming human he is. He’s not a human yet. Sion can’t get with him, it’s literally impossible. It’s not fair that he wants to keep Sion for himself, for when he does become human. It’s not fair to Sion, and it’s not fair to whoever he ends up matching Sion with. He’s just being a crazy, jealous freak. He needs to focus on his original end goal: graduating back into being a human.

“Hello? Riku? Are you still there???” Ryo was yelling on the phone that Riku had almost let completely slip out of his hands.

“Yes, Ryo, I’m still here,” Riku replied regretfully.

“Okay, good. You have until the end of the semester before we come back to check your progress. Good luck!”

“We love you!” Sakuya calls out from the background.

“I love you guys too,” Riku says, grateful they can’t see the way his lip trembles or his hand shakes as he goes to hang up the phone call. He sighs, going to clean up his laptop and notebook to head back to the dorm. There’s no way he’s going to be able to focus now.

Back at the dorm, he can tell Sion knows something's up, but he thankfully gives Riku his space. Riku feels sick to his stomach. He can’t even look over in Sion’s direction, his presence alone a reminder that his fantasy of starting his new life loving Sion has been shattered. He’s going to have to start using his time with Yushi and Daeyoung as a way to study them, to decide if one of them would be a good match for Sion. He shouldn’t have gotten so attached to them–he doesn’t want to get distracted from his main mission, the whole point of him being here. However, it does seem like some sort of sick joke that Sion ended up being his roommate. If the lottery hadn’t worked that way, he wouldn’t have ever known how charming Sion was. This would have been so much easier.

Although maybe it wouldn’t have helped. Maybe Sion still would have charmed him had they met otherwise. He feels this sort of gravitational pull towards Sion, like something is connecting them. Some sort of red string of fate.

Not like it matters anymore. Or like it ever mattered.

જ⁀➴♡

A few weeks later, Riku hasn’t made any progress on his mission. He hasn’t been avoiding it, per se, he just. Doesn’t want to even think about it. He knows he has to, though, so he bites the bullet one day while he, Yushi, and Daeyoung are sitting together in a cafe after their class. Daeyoung, however, is actually trying to study, so he’s got his headphones on while he takes notes from his biology textbook. Riku’s cuddled into his side, clinging onto his muscular arm, fidgeting with one of his highlighters.

“Yuu-chan, tell me the truth now,” Riku drawls, not looking him in the eyes. Yushi pauses the sip he was taking from his smoothie to raise an eyebrow at Riku.

“The truth about what?”

“Do you have a crush on anyone right now?” Riku asks, trying to be nonchalant. Yushi just snorts, making Daeyoung glance up and smile at him.

“A crush? How old are we, 12?”

“What’s wrong with having a crush?” Riku asks, incredulous.

“There’s nothing wrong with having a crush. It’s just funny to call it that when we’re literally in our 20s.”

“Who cares! I’ll call it what I want! Answer the question now, Yushi.”

Yushi is quiet for a few minutes, like he’s thinking carefully about what he’s about to say before he speaks again.

“It’s more like an all consuming ache than it is a crush,” he finally says. Now that is definitely not the answer Riku was expecting.

“Wow, it’s that bad?” Riku’s stomach started to turn a little bit. He could not be getting jealous! He doesn’t even know who Yushi was talking about!

But that voice is still there, in the back of his mind. Clearly he’s had these feelings a while. There’s one friend that Yushi’s had for a long, long time. Yushi might actually be the perfect match for Sion.

“The guy I like…” Yushi starts, clearly choosing his words carefully. He smiles a bit, like he can’t help it when he thinks of this person. He nervously glances up at Daeyoung, who’s still engrossed in his textbook, before he continues to speak. “I’ve liked him for a long time, but I’m too shy to say anything. He’s so…him? He’s popular with everyone, loved by everyone around him because he’s so kind. It’s hard to imagine he’d ever look at me like that when he could have anyone he set his mind to. He’s so good at everything he tries, and anything he’s not good at, he tries and doesn’t stop trying until he’s mastered it. It’s…annoying. But also inspiring.”

And, ah. Riku feels like he’s about to cry. Yushi really loves Sion.

“Someday I want to be able to muster the courage to tell him how I really feel,” Yushi said, locking eyes with Riku and barely blinking. Riku felt like Yushi was trying to say something here, but subtly, not out loud. He couldn’t, for the life of him, figure out what it could have been.

“You can do it,” Riku offers. “You’ll be able to tell him. Think about the weight lifted off your shoulders when you do. And hey, he could like you back. He’d kind of be a terrible person if he didn’t. You’re like, sort of the best.”

Yushi smiled shyly, looking back over at Daeyoung, who was sticking out his tongue in concentration as he highlighted his textbook and jotted down notes.

“What about you? Do you have a crush, Riku-chan?”

“No, not right now,” he replies quickly. Yushi furrows his brow at him.

“You don’t have one on Daeyoung?”

“No! No, why does everyone think that?” Riku wants to pull on his hair. He literally can’t get crushes on people!

“You’re just very touchy with him,” Yushi remarked. “And not so much with…anyone else.”

“You say that like I talk to anyone besides you two or Hyung,” Riku huffs. Yushi sticks his tongue out back at him.

“Well, you’re not touchy with me or Sion, then,” Yushi corrects himself.

“You don’t like when I touch you. And Hyung…I can’t just go around touching old men!” Yushi laughed at that, deciding then to drop the subject to start brainstorming what they were going to eat for lunch once Daeyoung finished reading the chapter he was on. Riku let out a breath he hadn’t known he was holding once they stopped talking about crushes.

So, Yushi likes Sion. That much is clear. Sion has liked Yushi in the past, and perhaps never moved on from him, so there’s Something there that Riku could use.

It’s settled. Next time he’s hanging out with them all, he’ll shoot Sion with a love bullet when he’s looking at Yushi, and then he’ll get to become a human again. The thought should make him excited, but now it only fills his stomach with dread.

જ⁀➴♡

The opportunity falls into Riku’s lap about a week and a half later. Riku, Yushi, and Daeyoung’s art history class got cancelled so they’re gathered around a table in the campus center right by the sliding automatic doors despite the chill of the late October air. Yushi’s happily shoving his face full of chicken pho, while Daeyoung hastily gets up to grab Yushi some napkins and get his own lunch.

Sion is sitting next to Riku, talking animatedly to Yushi about whatever the hell he was doing in League last night, which kept Riku up, by the way. He didn’t say anything, because that morning Sion had turned to him with the most charming smile, getting right up into his face saying “Hyung’s sorry he got a little loud last night, Riku-yah. Can you find it in yourself to forgive me?” And, well. Unfortunately, Riku can. He had just rolled his eyes and pushed Sion’s face away, sighing as he headed to the shared bathrooms.

Yushi was clearly not paying attention very well, because he was eating, but Sion was happy just to talk at him. He knew he was mostly getting ignored. God, they were so cute. Riku’s heart felt like someone had thrown it into oncoming traffic. He decided now, when everyone was distracted, was the perfect time to act.

He shifted into his Cupid form, stretching out his wings a bit. He’d been doing that less and less these days, falling more and more into the delusion that he was an actual, real student who went to this school. After stretching, he shifted his gaze back to Yushi, who was…already looking at him. Looking at him dead on, like he could still see him. Which was impossible, because unless Yushi was also a Cupid, no one was able to see Riku right now. In fact, whenever Riku shifted back into a Cupid, everyone around him forgot even the concept of “Riku.” He exited their lives like he had never existed in the first place, all memories not just being forgotten, but wiped so clean you couldn’t remember them even if you tried really, really hard.

He pulled his little handgun out of his holster, glancing quickly at his karma meter on the side of it, just one match away from being completely full. He had about eight bullets left, because it’s better to be safe than sorry, but this was such a clear cut match, practically ‘made in heaven,’ that he was sure he would only need the one he was currently loading into the magazine. He lifted his arm up, pointing the gun straight at Sion’s head, when he saw something out of the corner of his eye.

Yushi was still staring right at him, but his eyes were wide and one of his hands was covering his mouth. Riku briefly wondered if something crazy was happening behind him to make Yushi react like that, especially in such a way that would hinder his ability to eat. He stuck his tongue out at Yushi, because he couldn’t help himself, and turned back to Sion, taking a deep breath.

He pulled the trigger.

The bullet shot straight through Sion’s head as he continued to rant to Yushi about his League matches from the night before. Yushi jumped at the sound of the gun firing, which was odd since he couldn’t hear it. Maybe he bit his tongue? Satisfied, Riku put his gun back into the holster and tucked in his wings, shifting quickly back into his human form just in time to try to comfort his friend.

“Yuu-chan, are you okay?” Riku asked softly, cutting Sion off and earning himself an annoyed look from the elder boy. Yushi startled a bit at being directly mentioned, making eye contact with Riku before turning his head around to the general area surrounding them.

“Daeyoung’s been gone a while,” Yushi said quietly, tugging on a piece of skin on his bottom lip with his teeth.

“He just got caught up talking to one of the TAs he knows over in the Wasabi line, I can see him from here,” Sion remarked. “He’s not gone forever, Yushi-yah.”

“I have to talk to you,” Yushi suddenly announced, ignoring Sion’s response and nudging his foot under the table into Riku’s shin. Riku jumped a little, not expecting the abrupt pivot in conversation.

“Me? Why?” Riku asked, confused. Yushi was starting to stand up, however, and didn’t answer him. As he walked around to Riku’s side of the table, Daeyoung sat back down with a plate of sushi and a flushed smile.

“And where have you been, Daeyoung-ssi?” Yushi questioned while snaking an arm out to Riku’s, clamping down hard around his wrist.

“Ahh, sorry Hyung. You know the lines for food are always long, but then I ran into that grad student from my class I was telling you about, you remember Doyoung hyung? We were chatting.”

“Well, I have to go now. We have to, actually. So. Bye,” Yushi deadpanned, turning around to walk away and tugging on Riku’s arm.

“Where are you going? You left all your dishes here. We’re not cleaning up after you,” Sion called out after them.

“Hyung, I just realized I have to ask Riku a question about our dance class we have together. I’m sorry for interrupting you.”

“We’ll be back,” Riku calls out halfheartedly.

“You have to ask the question secretly?” Daeyoung asks.

“Yes, it’s a very secret dance performance that even you don’t know about, Jaehee-ssi. Now let’s go, Riku-chan,” Yushi tugged on his arm again and led him to the other side of the building, which was much quieter. Only once Yushi decided that neither Sion nor Daeyoung were following them did he let Riku go. Riku opened his mouth, but Yushi beat him to it.

“Yushi, what the hell—”

“I know what you are.”

Riku froze. That’s not where he was expecting this to go. The nape of his neck was starting to get sweaty. Was it really that hot out? He tugged on his collar, looking back at Yushi and letting out a very confused, very smart: “Gay?”

Yushi just frowned at him. “What? No. I mean, I guess, but that’s not what I meant.”

“Then I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Riku stated as firmly as he could when he felt like his heart was about to jump out of his chest.

“I saw you. I saw your wings, I saw your gun, I saw the bullet. The bullet you shot straight through Sion’s head. You’re a Cupid.” Yushi laid it all out like this was a normal conversation for them to be having at 1:56 pm on a Tuesday.

“That’s not—” Riku tried again, but Yushi just cut him off. Again.

“Listen. I don’t care that you’re a Cupid. However.” Riku gulped.

“Were you trying to set Sion up with…me?” The corner of Yushi’s lip curled up in a look of what Riku could only describe as pure disgust. Despite only knowing him for a short period of time, Riku had gathered that Yushi had never been very good at hiding his emotions.

“Don’t get me wrong, I do love him!” Yushi quickly tried to rectify. “He’s my best friend, I’ve known him forever. But to date him…um. I’m all set.”

Riku just blinked at him. “But…when you talked to me about your crush…”

“Oh my God, did you really think I was talking about SION then? Alright. I’m actually not telling you who I like now, because that’s just ridiculous.” Yushi crossed his arms against his chest and pouted at Riku. It was, quite frankly, adorable, and Riku would have cooed and tried to pinch his cheeks if he didn’t have more pressing matters to attend to.

“I don’t even know why I’m entertaining this…crazy idea you’ve come up with that I’m a Cupid, which I’m not. But if I was, how come you could see me?” Riku asked, because that question had been gnawing at him since back at the table.

To his surprise, Yushi actually paused and blushed at that.

“I don’t really…know. I’ve always had a bit more of a connection to, like…spiritual things. Heightened senses, that kind of thing. I’ve never actually seen a Cupid in real life—”

“I never said I was one!” Riku interjected.

“Anyways, I never knew I’d be able to actually see you. It took me by surprise, and I knew you saw my reaction, which is part of why I wanted to drag you here. To tell you that I know your secret so you don’t have to pretend when it’s just us anymore. Your wings probably get tired, don’t they?”

“Yeah, they do,” Riku says before he can even stop himself. “Hey, wait, I mean—”

“Shift right now, let’s see. Don’t bullshit me, Riku. I literally watched you. You’re acting like a child,” Yushi scowled at him.

Riku put his hands on his hips, lips in a pout at Yushi. “Fine. Fine, fine, fine. But if you even say a word about any of this to Sion or Daeyoung, so help me Venus. I’ll send my children Ryo and Sakuya to love bomb your dorm and make you fall in love with the first person you see. Maybe it’ll be Sion,” he added on at the end, sticking his tongue out and blowing a raspberry for good measure. He shifted then, letting his wings out. Yushi’s frown instantly melted away and his eyes went wide and sparkly.

“Wooooowwww. This is so cool! Show me your gun!”

“N-no! We’re in the middle of campus, there are people walking around us!” Riku hissed at him.

“Okay, and none of them can see you? I wanna see it!” Someone walked past them then, shooting Yushi a weird look as he bounced up and down on the balls of his feet, looking up at Riku like he hung the stars in the sky.

“We need to get back to Sion and Daeyoung,” Riku tried, shifting back into his human form.

“Oh! That’s the other thing I meant to tell you. You were trying to get Sion to fall for me, right?”

“Um, yeah. That was kind of like, the whole entire point of this,” Riku stated flatly.

“Well, it didn’t work,” Yushi smiled at him, all 1000 of his teeth flashing nervously.

“Wh—What do you mean it didn’t work. Why are you smiling like that,” Riku asked cautiously. “Did he fall for someone else? That’s annoying, he’s literally liked you on and off again for literal years.”

Yushi coughed. “Please don’t tell me that, I don’t want to hear that.” Riku wasn’t really paying attention anymore though. If Sion had looked at someone other than Yushi after getting hit with the love bullet, Riku had to find out who it was like, yesterday. He won’t get the karma points if he can’t actually make Sion and this mystery person a couple.

“Did…did he look over at Daeyoung after I shot him? He had been just sitting back down at the table right around when I shot him.”

“Well, so. No.”

“Yushi, I need to know who he looked at. This isn’t funny. This is sort of a matter of life or death.”

“Well he…” Yushi broke off, mumbling something under his breath. Riku huffed.

“Spit it out, Yuu-chan! It cannot be that serious!” He pouted, trying to act cute as a way to get Yushi to cave and just tell him.

“He looked at…you. He looked at you!” Yushi blurts out, fidgeting with his shirt sleeves. “We should head back now,” he swiftly tried to change the subject, spinning on his heel to walk back towards the campus center, where Sion and Daeyoung still sat finishing their food. Riku stood still, letting the chill autumn air blow his bangs all over the place.

“Wait, he—Yushi, that’s not possible! What? Even if he looked at me he couldn't fall in love with me! I’m not even real!”

Yushi whipped back around then, pinching Riku right below the rib cage. Riku flinched and smacked his hand away, mouth open like he was about to say something before Yushi beat him to it.

“You’re literally real, I don’t know what you’re on about. Why would I lie about this? I don’t gain anything from you guys’ weird…situation…you have going on. He looked over at you because you interrupted him abruptly to ask me if I was okay. He had his eyes closed in passion and then glanced over at you.” Riku couldn’t even form a proper response to that.

“I saw the hearts in his eyes, Riku-chan. It’s real, as real as you and me.”

They walked back to the campus center mostly in silence, because Riku needed to think about what the hell was going on. He’d never heard of this happening. He would need to try again, obviously, and he’d have to find someone else that would be a good match for Sion. Now he was grateful for the extra bullets he brought with him.

Who the hell would he try again with? He’s going to have to trail Sion in his Cupid form tomorrow, to see who he interacts with in a day. Yushi had very explicitly said no. Maybe he should try Daeyoung? He ran his hands through his hair nervously. There’s so many people on this campus, any one of them could be a good match for Sion! It just…can’t be him. It can’t, it goes against everything he’s ever been taught.

He sighs, picking up his pace to walk alongside Yushi instead of lagging behind. This was not going to be fun to figure out.

જ⁀➴♡

Things have been borderline disastrous since Riku shot Sion’s stupid, big ass head with a love bullet and he supposedly looked over at Riku first.

Riku can admit a few things. He and Sion were undoubtedly attracted to each other. Well, he was attracted as much as he could be as someone who can’t feel love. Not important. He and Sion also had this tension that started from their first meeting, tension that just built and built with every shared meal and stolen glance. He knows this, and he pointedly ignored it so that he could focus on getting his life back and passing classes. Venus knows he doesn’t need to start his new human life failing his semester.

The problem is that it’s getting hard to ignore it.

Since shooting Sion, it seems that all Sion wants to do is stare at Riku. Touch Riku. Talk about Riku. Call him names like Princess, cuddle with him in his dorm bed. Hang off his back like a leech when Riku’s trying to type at his desk. Riku can’t concentrate like this, but Sion doesn’t let him out of his sight either. If Riku decides he wants to work in the library, even if he doesn’t tell Sion he’s leaving, Sion will show up soon after. And Riku can’t even get mad at him, because he doesn’t show up and purposefully try to distract Riku or fluster him. He actually acts perfectly respectful, like all he wanted to do was be in Riku’s space. That makes it even worse.

And it’s not like Riku is encouraging any of these behaviors. In fact, he can never look back at Sion when he meets his intense gaze, always opting to whip his head the opposite direction and avoid all eye contact. He tries not to lean too much into his hyung’s touches, tries not to take the flirting to heart since Sion doesn’t actually mean any of it. Because even if, for some reason, the bullet did make him fall for Riku, they just can’t do anything about it. Cupid’s honor. Riku just has to find someone else for Sion to fall for.

He’s used six of his seven leftover bullets on random people he’s seen Sion interact with frequently enough over the last week. Some sort of desperate attempt to fulfill his mission and become human again—a goal that seems farther and farther away with each passing day.

He shot Sion while he was chatting with Park Wonbin in between classes. He shot his hyung while he was studying with Song Eunseok and Jung Sungchan in the library, the bullet going right through Sion’s head and into Sungchan’s, right as the tall, doe-eyed boy was turning his head to ask Eunseok a question. Which would have been great! But Riku didn’t collect karma points for anything other than the mission he’d been assigned. Riku groaned loudly, rubbing his eyes harder than he probably should with the heels of his palms.

He only had one chance left, and he was at a complete loss. Not to mention that with all the time he was spending in his Cupid form, he was noticing Sion acted differently when he wasn’t around. He was explaining as much to Yushi at the dining hall one day when Yushi just snorted and interrupted him.

“Riku, it’s not weird. Yeah, okay, he might forget about your entire existence when you shift into your Cupid form, but clearly he remembers something. He’s getting sad like he had something he loved and he lost it. I think you don’t understand how powerful the connection you two have is—it’s literally breaking whatever dumb Cupid Rules you have.”

Riku just closed his mouth and sighed, putting his head in his hands and tugging his hair in frustration. Yushi frowned at him. “Can’t you just call whoever assigned you the mission?” he asked. “There’s got to be something you can do to figure this whole mess out.”

“I’ve honestly been trying to avoid that,” Riku replied, sounding so incredibly exhausted. “Unfortunately I think it might be the only option left for me.” He picked his phone up off the table and stared blankly at his lock screen. A picture of the top of Ryo’s head. Usually it made him feel a little less anxious.

Now it was just filling him with dread.

જ⁀➴♡

“Damn, you really live like this?” Sakuya remarked immediately upon stepping into Riku’s dorm, Ryo trailing close behind him. He kept glancing over at Riku with his eyes squinted, suspicious. That damn boy was too smart for his own good.

He held off the questioning for a little while, which was nice of him. Riku watched Sakuya and Ryo look around his dorm, heart feeling full at the sight of his babies back in his space. Eventually, Ryo jumped onto the bed, pulling Sakuya with him until they were covering the entire surface.

“Riku-chan~,” Ryo called out, not bothering to look up from where he was scrolling on his phone, “Riku-chan, why’d you invite us here out of nowhere? We said we’d be back in touch at the end of the semester.”

“I can’t just invite my babies over for fun anymore?” Riku asked, suddenly feeling defensive even though he quite literally did get them here under false pretenses.

“If you wanted to have us over for fun, you would have asked us a lot sooner than this,” Sakuya calls out and oh, Riku feels his heart break a little bit at that. He resists the urge to coo and pinch their cheeks, opting instead to defend himself.

“I’m quite literally in college, I’m a bit busy now! Not that you losers would know anything about that…”

“Riku, why did you really call us? I know there was a reason, it’s fine. You don’t need to make it, like, a thing,” Ryo cut right to the point. Riku sputtered a bit, trying to come up with something to say to counter that, and coming up blank.

“Fine. Fine, you guys are right. I called you guys because I’m…really struggling with this mission.” Ryo sat up upon hearing that, cocking his head to the side like a dog, indicating that he wants Riku to continue.

“I’ve shot Oh Sion with a love bullet seven times. For him to fall for seven different people. And it hasn’t worked once,” Riku lamented, feeling utterly defeated. He had come to really like his life here! He didn’t want to have to restart at a new school and lose his chance at becoming human so soon just because Oh Sion refused to fall in love.

“Did you look at the file for any clues you might have missed?” Ryo, ever the logical one, was asking, digging into the bag he left by Riku’s bed for his work tablet.

“You read the file to me out loud, why would I need to look at it again?”

“He did also drop half of it on the floor when he was reading it to you, so who knows? He could have missed something,” Sakuya chimes in, earning a swift kick in the shin from Ryo.

“It’s not my fault Sehun-senpai gave me a printed file instead of just sharing it on his tablet. It’s 2025,” Ryo grumbled. He unlocked the tablet quickly, opening up the app with all the files on it and searching for Oh Sion’s. His eyes went wide. Sakuya noticed, peeking over his shoulder immediately, whispering “What? What? What?”

Literally none of that could be good.

“Is this even possible? I didn’t think it was…” Sakuya mumbled to Ryo, like he was trying to be subtle.

“It…it shouldn’t be? I’ve never heard of it happening but it feels like it shouldn’t be, right?”

“You guys know I’m still in the room, right? Like. Sitting right across from you and everything. You gotta tell me what you’re talking about,” Riku said, exasperated. His kids were so exhausting.

“Umm, well. Just…take a look at his previous crush list!” Ryo chirped, handing the tablet to Riku. Riku’s stomach started to feel cramped, because he had a feeling he knew what was going to be on there.

And there, right at the top of the paper, was Riku’s smiling face, staring back at him. Winking, like it was mocking the Actual Riku. Underneath the picture said “Maeda Riku: 2025–” He felt his face heat up.

“Did he look at you after you shot him?” Sakuya questioned.

“After the first time, yeah,” Riku says back, shyly. He cannot believe his life right now.

“Well, that certainly puts a damper on your mission, doesn’t it? I think that I have another file in here for this school…” Ryo trailed off, typing away furiously at his tablet. Riku blinked, shocked at how easy that exchange was.

“You guys aren’t like…freaked out by this going against what we’re taught or like…upset with me for ruining the mission?”

“Well, it’s weird, yeah, but like, I think that just means he really likes you. He probably did from the very beginning and your love bullet just made it blow up inside him,” Sakuya offered.

“I do have another mission for this school!” Ryo pipes up. “Do you want to take this one instead? It should be a bit easier and you’ll earn the same amount of karma.”

“Absolutely, Ryo-chan. Lay it on me.” Ryo clears his throat once, twice, and Sakuya starts laughing at him. He pauses to smack Sakuya’s cheek lightly before speaking some of the worst words Riku has ever heard in his life:

“Tokuno Yushi and Kim Daeyoung are madly in love with each other. They need a push in the right direction.”

Well. Okay.

Riku jumps up from where he had been sitting on the floor, frustration coursing through his veins.

“WHY WOULDN’T YOU JUST GIVE ME THAT MISSION FIRST?” He tries to shout quietly, mindful of the other people in the dorm despite his rage. “WHY WOULD YOU GIVE ME THE ONE INVOLVING MY SEXY ROOMMATE?” Ryo and Sakuya just side-eyed each other before looking back at Riku.

“How were we supposed to know you were going to seduce Oh Sion? There’s no way any of this is our fault!” Ryo frowns. Sakuya just opens the file again on Ryo’s tablet, squinting down at the small ID picture of Sion in the corner.

“Sexy…?” He questions. Ryo tries to stifle his giggle when he sees Riku giving them the stink eye.

Riku closes his eyes, taking a deep breath and massaging his temples. He was desperately trying to not think about the fact that he wasted so many bullets when the answer had been in front of him the whole time. Yushi had talked to him about this, his crush on someone who was universally liked and good at everything. He had continuously looked over at Daeyoung while he had been speaking, which Riku hadn’t thought much of at the time. Yushi was always looking at Daeyoung.

Shit. Exactly.

He groaned loudly, trying to get the last bit of his frustration out before coming up with a plan. He looked up, seeing Ryo and Sakuya’s concerned eyes already on him. He got up from the floor then, crossing the short distance before flopping himself into a Saku-Ryo cuddle pile.

“My sweet babies, I’m sorry I freaked out at you, this has just been a little stressful for me! You’ll understand when you’re older,” he cooed, petting both of their heads and earning a groan from Sakuya.

“Okay, we forgive you, please stop now,” Ryo called out from where he was squished into Riku’s side. Riku pretended not to hear him, opting instead to brainstorm out loud his plans for this newly assigned mission.

“Tomorrow. Tomorrow we have a study session planned in the library. I’ll cancel at the last minute and shoot Yushi then.” He paused for a moment, thinking. “Ah! Sakuya, can I borrow your sniper?” Sakuya made a noise of discontent.

“What for?” He asked hesitantly. Riku just stared blankly at him.

“To…shoot Yushi?”

“Yeah, okay, but can’t you just use your pistol for that? Why do you need my sniper?” And, oh. He forgot to explain that part.

“So, Yushi can kind of. SeemestillinmyCupidform,” Riku let out all in one breath. Sakuya just blinked at him, while Ryo let out a confused noise.

“Yushi can…see you?” He asked, very slowly in case he misheard Riku’s jumbled sentence. Riku nods. Sakuya’s eyebrows shot up into his hairline.

“You’re attracting a lot of weirdos here, you know that, Kuri? No one’s supposed to be able to see you, you know this. You sound a little crazy. Something about this Massachusetts air,” he joked.

“Why didn’t you just charm him into forgetting he saw anything?” Ryo asked, and wow, Riku didn’t even think about doing that. He really doesn’t like charming people, preferring to worm his way out of situations naturally unless he literally can’t. He hadn’t charmed Yushi into forgetting about his real identity because he didn’t think he’d have to shoot him. Now he’s annoyed he didn’t, since he has to use Sakuya’s stupid, heavy, unhelpful sniper rifle to shoot Yushi from a hidden section of the library. Riku’s silence told all to the younger Cupids, knowing that Riku was a little too kindhearted for his own good.

“Fine. You can use my sniper. But you have to let me and Ryo come with you,” Sakuya said. Riku raised one eyebrow at him.

“Why do I need to let you guys come with me?”

“Just for fun,” Ryo shrugged. “And we’ll be able to see you before you turn back into a human.” Now this was pure manipulation. Knowing that Riku is too sweet on them to really deny them anything, he has to say yes. Like clockwork, Riku feels his eyes get misty as he pulls his kids into his chest for hugs. They hug him back tightly, trying not to think about the fact that very soon, they won’t have their mentor Cupid around anymore.

“Tomorrow,” Riku starts, having to clear his throat a little from the sob that had threatened to spill out earlier. “Tomorrow you two will meet me at the library, at 2:15. You need to be there on time for this to work. And you need to be well behaved. If Yushi is able to see me, he’ll likely be able to see you too. If you two start fighting, or even start play-fighting, and I miss this shot, all Hell will break loose. Understood?”

“Yes, mom,” the two younger Cupids mumble, the way they were still clinging contradicting the reluctance to cooperate in their voices. Riku let it slide for now.

જ⁀➴♡

“Do you two remember the plan?” Riku tried to get out calmly, ignoring the way his eye was twitching at the sight unraveling in front of him. They were in the library, in the bookshelves a little ways away from the table that he, Yushi and Daeyoung usually sat at when doing their study sessions.

Ryo and Sakuya stopped trying to yank on each other's ears then, turning to look at Riku with wide eyes and innocent smiles.

“It’s not even 2 yet, we’re literally fine! And it’s not like anyone else can see us right now,” Sakuya smirked.

“Well I can see you, and I need you to stop,” Riku huffed. These kids, he swears. A flash of gingery hair out of the corner of his eye signaled to him that Yushi was arriving at their usual table. He took his phone out then, expecting the text to come soon.

Yuu-channnn ⭐

im here guys

where is everyone we said we were studying today

kim jaeheeeee 🐶

Ahhh hyung I’m on my way! Sorry I got distracted talking to the TA again

Yuu-channnn ⭐

im sure

riku? wbu

kim jaeheeeee 🐶 questioned “im sure”

Me

ahhh i completely forgot i’m busy today

Yeah. Yeah, that’ll throw them off. Riku almost face palms, realizing he didn’t actually come up with an excuse as to why he’s not coming to the study group. Yushi isn’t exactly the type of person to let things like this go easily.

Yuu-channnn ⭐

doing what exactly

dont say homework ik ur ass isn’t doing that

Me

i’m helping sion hyung with something for class

Yuu-channnn ⭐

with what? nude modeling?

Riku exhaled sharply through his nose. He chanced a peek at Yushi from around the corner of the bookshelves, who was smiling an evil, gremlin-like smile down at his phone. It was then that Daeyoung came rushing through the doors, windswept hair blown messily across his forehead, looking handsome as ever. Riku could see Yushi glance up from his phone, cough nervously into his hand, and wave Daeyoung over. Their whispers carried over to where Riku was hiding, straining his ears to be able to hear better. Not that he needed to hear what they were saying, he was just nosy.

“Hey Hyung,” Daeyoung was saying as he placed his bookbag next to a chair. Yushi hummed in response, or at least, Riku assumed he did, since he didn’t hear a response out loud. Daeyoung murmured something as he took off his jacket and Riku watched as Yushi’s eyes darted down to the sliver of skin showing where his shirt rode up with it. This fuckin’ guy. Did he think he was being subtle?

From this angle, Riku could shoot a perfect shot right through the back of Daeyoung’s head into Yushi’s forehead. The keyword here was could. He wasn’t used to Sakuya’s sniper rifle, preferring his handgun. It was much easier to get up close to people, because he could just shift, shoot, and then be done with it.

“Sakuya, gun please,” Riku whispered. He kept his eyes trained on Yushi, to make sure the boy hadn’t looked up and noticed him. He had his arm stretched out behind him so that Sakuya could place the sniper into it, and it was still empty. “Hello?” he whispered, slightly louder, before turning around in frustration. Ryo and Sakuya were locked in some sort of intense staring match, both of their hands on the gun.

“He said Sakuya, not you,” Sakuya whispered through clenched teeth. Ryo made a face at him.

“It doesn’t matter who he said, he just needs the gun, Saku-chan,” he shot back. Riku could feel his heart beating in his throat. “You guys,” he called out. “I need the gun.” Sakuya shoved Ryo with his foot, hard enough that Ryo fell backwards a bit and let it go.

Once the sniper was in his hands, Riku tried to line up the shot. He squinted through the scope, aiming for the back of Daeyoung’s head when he heard a small smack, and then a hissing sound. He closed his eyes for a second, trying to calm himself before lining up the shot again. He was not about to let those kids ruin this for him. He needed to make this shot. His future depended on it. He breathed deeply, in through his nose, out through his mouth when a squeaking noise interrupted him, and then another noise, like someone was quietly screaming. “You guys,” he tried, hoping he didn’t sound too whiny. He chanced a look behind himself, and his eyes widened with horror as he saw Ryo, pinning Sakuya down with one knee on his chest. “Ryo, get off of him! Are you guys serious right now?”

Reluctantly, Ryo removed his leg from Sakuya’s chest, flashing Riku a deceptively cute smile. Sakuya sat up and exaggeratedly moved away from Ryo. Riku felt like he was a kindergarten teacher trying to calm his kids down at the end of the day, pure exhaustion wearing him thin. “Seriously. I just need like, 2 minutes to make this shot, and then you guys can fight each other. So please. 2 minutes, that’s all I ask for.” They both nodded, Ryo raising his hands up in defeat. Riku returned to squinting in the lens of the scope. He can see Yushi, quietly laughing at something Daeyoung said as the younger boy was bent over, digging something out of his backpack. He exhaled slowly. This was it, this was the moment he had been waiting for. Daeyoung sits back up, hiding Yushi with his broad frame, and Riku pulls the trigger. He can feel his stomach twisting into knots as he watches the bullet shoot across the room, entering the back of Daeyoung’s head and hitting Yushi square in the forehead.

BOOM.

A massive fucking explosion rings out from behind him. He flinches, dropping the sniper with a loud clanging noise, quickly trying to pick the gun back up. His stomach drops as he sees Yushi looking around Daeyoung’s frame, in his general direction. He ducks a little bit, trying to stay hidden while he could hear the sounds of Ryo and Sakuya coughing behind his head, but it was no use. Yushi locked eyes with Riku, lips straightening into a thin line of annoyance. He saw the wings, the gun in his hand, and slowly, his face morphed from annoyance to confusion. He glanced up at Daeyoung quickly, then back at Riku as his eyes widened in realization. He must make some sort of noise, probably a grunt of frustration, because Riku can hear Daeyoung go “Hyung, what’s wrong?”

Yushi is purposefully avoiding Daeyoung’s eyes. He knows what will happen if they look each other in the eyes. Riku watches as he takes his phone out, keeping his head down and frantically typing something out. Then he feels his phone buzz.

Yuu-channnn ⭐

ARE YUO ACTIAALLY FUCKAINF SERIOUS RIGHT NOW

ARE YOU ACTUALLY SERIPUS

RIKU RIKW WHY WOUDLD YOU DO RHAT

He’s still typing furiously when suddenly, Daeyoung’s standing right in front of him, tilting his head up so their eyes meet. Yushi is bright red, fingers still moving on his keyboard like any amount of cursing Riku out is going to change the current course of history. Riku looks on with bated breath as Daeyoung whispers to Yushi and Yushi just turns redder and redder, nodding as Daeyoung swipes a thumb along his cheek. He can’t hear what they’re saying, but it had to have been something good, because suddenly, Yushi was leaning in, and they were kissing. Right in the middle of the library. Kinda gross, if you ask Riku, and they were starting to get a few stares, but that wasn’t really his business anymore.

Riku finally turns around to address the elephant in the room. He storms over to Sakuya and Ryo, the latter of which still hunched over, tears streaming down his face. Sakuya was solemnly rubbing circles on his back.

“So. Do you want to tell me what happened after I told you two to calm down for two minutes?” Riku asked, putting his hands on his hips. Sakuya looked up at him sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck with his free hand. “Ryo was still trying to kick me after you turned back around,” he started, glancing back down at his crying friend. He squeezed Ryo’s shoulder. “He tried to grab me but I moved out of the way and his fingers caught my belt–he must have grabbed one of the love bombs hanging off of it.”

“I want to be loved so bad…” Ryo was crying through shaky breaths.

“Okay. So first of all, we’ve talked about keeping your grenades in a safer place–”

“Riku, your karma meter!” Sakuya cuts him off, handing him his gun back. He wants to be annoyed that his baby cut him off, but when he sees his karma meter, all thoughts stop.

It’s full.

Ryo was stirring out of his love bomb induced stupor, and suddenly Riku couldn’t see anything, because his kids were pouncing on him, hugging him tightly. Ryo was crying again, and Sakuya was sniffling.

“We’ll find you!” Ryo practically shouts into his ear. “We’ll come back to you, no matter what happens! And we’ll bother you even though you won’t remember us anymore!” Sakuya hugs him tighter, crying out “Thank you for everything, Riku-senpai! You better be ready when we fill our karma meters!”

Riku feels himself tearing up, letting himself be smothered by the younger Cupids that he’d mentored since they first woke up as them. And then, just as quickly as they had pounced him, he felt nothing.

Riku opens his eyes and is met with– nothing. He’s floating in a void of nothingness, surrounded by black as far as the eye can see.

“CONGRATULATIONS, MAEDA RIKU!” calls out a booming voice. “MY SWEET CHILD, YOU’VE COMPLETED YOUR MISSION AND COLLECTED ALL THE KARMA NEEDED TO BE BLESSED WITH A SECOND CHANCE AT LIFE. YOU’VE HELPED SO MANY PEOPLE FIND LOVE IN A WORLD THAT FEEDS OFF OF LONELINESS. YOU ARE A SHINING LIGHT IN A SEA OF DARKNESS. MY SWEET RIKU, ARE YOU READY TO BEGIN YOUR SECOND CHANCE AT LOVE AND LIFE?”

“Yes,” Riku calls out to the void. “I’m ready to start over.”

જ⁀➴♡

“Riku? Riku? Hello, Riku? No, Daeyoung, he’s not dead, my god. Look, he’s waking up right now.” Riku opened his eyes slowly, Yushi hovering over him with an iron grip on his shoulder. Daeyoung had clearly been pacing, standing still in one spot now, face still in an anxious expression. Yushi ran his fingers lightly through Riku’s hair, humming a little. “It’s black now,” he observed. “What?” Riku groggily asked. He felt like he had been sleeping for three years. Yushi just smiled at him.

That’s right–he had been having a long dream. In the dream, his hair had been white with red streaks.

He sat up slowly, blinking the sleep out of his eyes. His limbs felt heavy, and Yushi kept a warm, solid hand on his back to help him sit up all the way. Riku rubbed at his eyes, his mind suddenly racing with one thought.

“Where’s Sion hyung?” He asked, which, for some reason, got a laugh out of Yushi. Daeyoung, for what it’s worth, looked equally confused. “He’s probably back at your dorm where you left him, Riku. Go to him. I know you want to,” Yushi replied. And he wasn’t sure why that made him feel so happy, or why Yushi knew what he was thinking, but he shakily stood up, determined. “Thank you guys,” he called out over his shoulder as he made his way out of the library.

“No, thank you Riku,” Yushi whispered to himself as he watched Riku amble up the stairs. Daeyoung came up behind him, wrapping an arm around his shoulder and resting his head on the top of Yushi’s. “Why was Riku hyung acting so weird?” He asked. Yushi just sighed and nuzzled into Daeyoung’s shoulder. “Don’t worry about it, Jaehee-ah.”

જ⁀➴♡

Riku nearly barrels down the door to his dorm. Sion is laying in his bed, stupid thin framed glasses on his face and headphones on. He looked ridiculously attractive and Riku instantly clammed up. He hadn’t been sure what he was going to do when he got back to his room anyways, but his hyung made him so nervous.

“Riku-yah? Are you okay?” Sion was asking, and Riku was only kind of listening. He sat at the edge of Sion’s bed, rolling his lip between his teeth, wondering how he should go about this. He wanted Sion to be his so badly, but he had never done this before. He wasn’t even sure why he felt such an intense need to do this right now, but he knew deep within his soul that if he didn’t he’d regret it. Sion was sitting up now, pulling his headphones off and reaching out a toned arm to rest his hand on Riku’s forehead.

“Hyung, I’m not sick,” Riku breathed, but he closed his eyes and leaned into the touch on his forehead anyways. “Then tell Hyung what’s wrong, Riku-yah. You came running in here like a tornado,” Sion smiled at him, and it was so warm and kind that Riku couldn’t hold his gaze. He shifted his head slightly to the side to the stack of books on his desk. Fuck, he had homework due tomorrow night he hadn’t started yet. Not that that mattered right now, or ever, but Riku needed a distraction from Sion before he melted into a puddle on his Hyung’s bed. A gentle hand on his jaw tilted his head back to focus on Sion.

Riku felt hot all over as Sion’s thumb brushed his lips. “You need to tell me what’s on your mind, baby,” Sion whispered. A shiver ran down Riku’s spine, making him arch his back into Sion’s touch and let out a breathy noise. He squeezed his eyes shut, pressing one, singular peck to Sion’s thumb that had still been resting on his bottom lip. That was all the confirmation Sion needed before pressing forwards, ever so gently, and placing his lips onto Riku’s.

It was sweet, at first. Riku had never kissed anyone before, obviously, and he sighed contently into it while Sion slowly picked up the pace. He wrapped his arms around the back of Sion’s neck and pulled him in closer, which prompted Sion to part his lips a bit. Curious, Riku parted his lips as well, their breaths becoming one as Sion slid his tongue into Riku’s mouth. Riku gasped, breaking off into a whine as Sion tried to pull him even closer. They ended up with Riku on his back, Sion hovering over him, Riku’s hands moving up and down his back, pulling him in closer, hungrier. Is this what Riku had been missing out on this whole time?

Sion snaked a hand in between them, rubbing the overheated skin of Riku’s lower stomach, exposed from all the movement. Riku let out a soft noise as Sion’s hand slid up his toned stomach, stopping at his chest. He let out a quiet, broken moan when Sion’s thumb brushed his nipple. “Hyung,” he tried to call out. “Hyung, too much.” Sion instantly took his hand out of Riku’s shirt, putting it instead in Riku’s hair. “Sorry baby, I got carried away,” he whispered back. He leaned back a little bit to admire his work. Riku was so red he looked like his skin was hot to the touch, and a thin sheen of sweat had formed over his skin. Sion wanted to lean down and lick it all off of him, lap at his collarbones and suck the divots of his hips, but he had to restrain himself. He still wasn’t even sure if Riku actually wanted this, since the younger hadn’t given him actual words. He leaned forwards one last time, peppering kisses all over Riku’s face, the corners of his lips, his cheeks, his nose. Ending with one last peck on his lips, finally pulling back and bringing Riku up with him. They sat in silence, just catching their breath and looking at each other, Riku not able to hold eye contact for more than a few seconds. Sion broke the silence first.

“Riku-yah, you know I really like you, right? You have to know this, especially now but even before. I tried so hard—“ Riku cut him off before he could continue.

“I know hyung, I know. It took me a little while to figure some stuff out, I think, but I really like you too. I always have, since I met you a few months ago.” Sion’s eyes widen and his eyebrows raise in cute surprise. “Really?” He asked. “You were so shy when we first met. It was adorable.”

“Well I was shy because this handsome man was suddenly all up in my space! You were way too comfortable sidling up to me flirting, do you do that with every new person you meet?” Riku squinted at him, daring him to answer that. Sion just smiled sweetly, saying “Only the really cute ones.” Riku just rolled his eyes.

“Hyung, I have to admit, I’m nervous. I’ve never…I’ve never done any of this before,” Riku hesitantly said. He picked at one of his cuticles as a way to distract himself from Sion’s heavy gaze. “It’s okay, baby. Hyung will teach you everything you need to know. I’ll love you so well you’ll never want anyone else. Would you let Hyung do that for you?” And Riku did meet his eyes then, and they were pleading. Sion was practically on his knees, begging for a chance from Riku. And who was he to say no?

“Of course, Hyung. I already don’t want anyone else.”

Sion just smiled at him, a smile so big his eyes turned into crescent moons and Riku could see all of his pretty teeth. Riku smiled back, unable to contain the happiness he felt as he leaned in again, initiating their next kiss. As their lips connected again and again, Riku couldn’t help but feel like he’d finally achieved something he’d been wanting for a long, long time. And as Sion’s lips found their way to Riku’s jaw and down his neck, Riku knew that this was exactly where he was meant to be.