Chapter Text
The air was lively within the cafe, conversations carrying through the air, topics of love, food, and someone’s plans for the day could be heard. The cafe was decently sized, only a few tables remained empty. One of the few empty tables was in front of a window looking out onto the outside world. People walking with their friends, couples holding hands. Longing eyes stared out specifically at these couples, wishing for something similar to whisk them away.
“These are so good!”
Jisung quickly turned his head from the window and looked at the two other young men sitting at the table with him. Changbin had been stuffing his face with delicate treats from the cafe while Chan sat beside him, scoping out their next targets, running a hand through his unnaturally bright hair as he stared at the cafe's customers.
The trio's bright white hair with red streaks should have made them the center of attention at the cafe, the white wings each boy had attached to their backs even more but the most noticeable and (terrifying) thing should've been the array of weapons each one had on them, Chan and Jisung had pistols of sorts holstered on their waists while Jisung had a large rifle leaned against the side of his chair and they all wore bullet proof vests over uniforms that resembled those of a high schoolers. Maybe they would be noticed, if it weren’t for the fact they were invisible to the human eye.
“Who’s on the target list today?” Jisung asked Chan as he grabbed one of the desserts from the middle of the table. Chan looked away from the cafe customers and pulled a file from inside his vest, sighing dramatically as he did. Back when Jisung first started this whole job Chan used to not make files about the targets they needed to scope out, relying on memory just like his mentor did before him. Jisung never met Chan’s mentor and thank the heavens he didn’t because he had a few choice words to give them. The filing system was Jisung's saving grace and by the time Changbin joined them it had luckily been completely established in their routines as cupids.
Jisung stared at the data files which contained a photo of a young man with dyed blonde hair and some pages filled with scribbled down notes.
“He’s from Australia?” Jisung asked aloud, Changbin quickly snatched the folder from his hands and started skimming over the target information.
“You’re kidding, he’s just like you Chan! Except he looks like he actually smiles every now and then.” Changbin snickered which earned him a jab in the ribs by Chan who smirked as the other man teetered slightly off his chair, groaning in pain.
“Chan smiles, at least mostly when we’re not working.” Jisung defended.
“We’re always working though.” Changbin groaned.
Jisung debated on saying something to combat what Changbin had said but it was a lost cause. He was right, they rarely did anything that wasn’t work, especially as of late. He missed the days when the trio could just hang around in their shared apartment which in reality was just an abandoned studio apartment Chan had renovated years before Jisung even met him.
“Let’s see…” Changbin muttered as he continued reading from the file.
“Lee Felix…born and raised in Australia but came to Korea for school…is 24 years old but turns 25 in a couple of weeks, woah.”
Changbin showed Chan the file and wiggled his eyebrows before the two looked at Jisung.
“What?”
“His birthday is literally a day after yours, isn’t that cool?” Changbin asked, handing Jisung back the file. He looked over it more thoroughly this time and sure enough this Felix guy’s birthday was the day after Jisungs which left a sour taste in his mouth, he didn’t really like thinking of his birthday. There were also more details about Felix in the file, like how he was a college graduate who graduated with a major in dance, enjoys baking, likes playing video games when he’s not stuck working as a background dancer for various kpop groups, he loves the color blue and he comes to this cafe all the time with one of his friends. A friend who is hopelessly head over heels for him.
“The mission today is simple, wait for the two of them to show up, shoot Felix when he’s looking directly at his friend and then we can go on with our next target.” Chan said while stretching, preparing. “These two should rake up a nice amount of karma.” He grabbed the pistol holstered at his side, cocking the gun. Jisung found himself slowly reaching for the rifle right beside him and from the corner of his eye he could see Changbin opening the pouch he had attached to his leg.
“Just a matter of who gets the winning shot.” Chan smirked as the cafe’s doors opened, a bell alerting everyone within the cafe to the new arrival.
Cupids are dead beings reborn, humans who died not knowing love, they are selected by the goddess of love herself and are reborn as her children. They had existed for centuries, unseen to the human eye they carried out their duties diligently with their weapon of choice. The weapons started as simple bows but as time went on they evolved to more efficient weapons of choice which most of the time ended up being guns. A cupid's weapon does not work on other cupids because cupids can’t feel love.
A cupid's duty is simple: help humans find love through any means necessary. The more matches a cupid makes, the more “karma” they rack up. Once a cupid has enough karma points they are gifted with the choice to become human again. All cupids had the same goal of becoming human once more. Most cupids worked against each other but few decided to group up which included Chan who took Jisung under his wing after finding the brand new cupid wandering the streets of Busan two years ago.
While they worked together as a group it was always more fun to make their missions more like games as they attempted to see who would get the shot.
They stood still as they watched the young man from their file walk into the cafe, confidence in every step he took as he dragged another young man inside, holding his hand in the process. The space between the three cupids and their target wasn’t great, there was nothing stopping them from taking the hit now. Nothing but each other that is.
“Alright, let's get this started.” Changbin immediately jumped over from where he was sitting and pulled out two grenades from his leg pouch and threw them as his feet hit the ground. Two gun shots rang out as Chan shot the grenades making them explode before they hit their intended target. The puff of smoke left behind resembled a heart. Jisung quickly pointed his rifle at Chan and fired.
Chan quickly shifted to the side and Jisung's bullet hit the wall behind him. He jumped onto Changbin who was about to throw another grenade and the two fell to the ground. Chan attempted to put a bullet through Changbin's skull but Changbin knew well enough to not stop moving. He placed his hands onto Chan’s wrists and started drifting them away from his face, the two men had huge smiles on their faces as they fought, acting more like children than anything. The people within the cafe would never know that right in front of them all of this had been happening.
Jisung quickly took the opportunity to run to the other side of the cafe where Felix and his friend were waiting to order. He grabbed his second weapon from his side, a revolver. He stood next to Felix, all his attention was on his target. He placed the head of the gun on the side of Felix’s head, his finger hovering over the trigger. Just as he was about to pull a laugh brought Jisung out of his focus, his eyes drifted up towards the laugh and he found himself staring at a face he hadn’t seen in a long time.
“I made you pay last time, it’s only right I pay this time.” Felix said.
“I told you it’s fine.” The other man, Hyunjin, said.
Jisung stared at the two men completely frozen as they continued their playful banter as one of the cafe's baristas stood on the other side of the counter waiting for the two men to pay. Suddenly they both slammed their cards over the tap reader, surprising the barista. The transaction went through and a buzz came from Hyunjin's front pocket, signifying the payment had gone through to his card.
“Ha!” Hyunjin gave Felix a playful shove and Felix rolled his eyes, attempting to look annoyed but failing.
“Here are your drinks!” The barista said, handing the two their drinks, raising her eyebrow at Hyunjin and causing him to laugh and mutter an awkward “Thank you” as his cheeks turned slightly pink. Hyunjin and Felix walked over to an empty table near where Chan and Changbin were on the floor, Chan sitting on top of Changbin, his pistol against the other cupid's head but they were too dumbfounded by Jisung to continue their brawl. They quickly got up and walked over to the third cupid who was still frozen in the place.
“Are you okay?” Changbin asked, placing a hand on Jisung’s shoulder. That seemed to bring him back to reality as he looked straight at Changbin, a fearful look in his eyes before he shook his head and sighed.
“I’m fine lets just…lets just get this over with.”
The three stood around the table where the two men sat and talked. Changbin played around with Felix’s dyed hair as he and Chan waited for Jisung to take the shot, Chan slapping Changbin’s hand after realizing the other had somehow made a heart (or at least an attempt at one) with a couple of strands of their target's hair. Chan then looked at the youngest of the trio and there was Jisung just standing in between Felix and Hyunjin, listening in on the conversation between them. Chan nudged Changbin with his elbow and the two gave each other a look before leaving Jisung alone in the cafe.
Jisung looked at Hyunjin, he had grown from the roommate Jisung had in the freshman dorms of college. Back then they were just kids, kids with issues they took out on each other. But Hyunjin looked happy as now and he had found someone that was so close to being his, Jisung just needed to pull the trigger but why was it so difficult?
“I was an asshole to you back then…I’m sorry. I can only hope you found it in your heart to forgive me.” Jisung sighed as he slowly raised his revolver to the side of Felix’s head, Felix who was laughing at whatever Hyunjin had said. They would never know Jisung was even present and that’s how it would be forever unless he ranked up enough karma. Jisung desperately wanted to be alive again, he wanted to see the people he once knew, even Hyunjin. Jisung now knew what type of person he used to be, especially the person he used to be with Hyunjin. He held so much animosity towards him for almost no reason. The way he had treated Hyunjin was a foggy memory yet it just made Jisung feel so much guilt and now here he was, dead but he knew now what he had done wrong in life. Was dying the only way he would have learned? Jisung wasn’t sure.
“You should be 25 now huh? I wonder if you're some big artist now, you always were good at drawing.” Jisung muttered, Hyunjin had wanted to major in art, right? He always had drawings of his taped up on the wall and Jisung had to admit they were really good. Wait no he was majoring in dance? Well no need to dwell on the past now. All that needed to be done was for Jisung to pull the trigger and he could forget this mission ever happened.
“Your family’s coming for your birthday right? Or are you going there?” Hyunjin asked.
“Oh they’re coming here, they want to see my new place.” Felix chuckled.
That’s when it hit Jisung, the last birthday he had celebrated was his nineteenth, the day before he had died. It had been a good birthday, he and Hyunjin didn’t fight for once and they were amicable amongst themselves and around their friends as they celebrated. Everything fell to shit the next day but the small fragments of memory he had from his birthday were joyful. Jisung would have been the same age as Felix, only a day older but Jisung was still nineteen.
“I wish you could hear me say this but…I’m sorry.” Jisung watched as Hyunjin and Felix looked into each other's eyes for probably the millionth time and he pulled the trigger.
Jisung walked out the cafe entrance, he felt like a weight of sorts had been lifted from his chest from seeing Hyunjin and coming as close to talking to the other man as he could. He looked around to see Chan and Changbin sitting on the pavement across the street in front of a restaurant, the two of them playing a game of rock paper scissors. He quickly crossed the street and made his way to his fellow Cupids.
“Heyyy! You’re out!” Chan laughed as Changbin and him rose to their feet. Jisung smiled, a light laugh leaving him as the two men hooked their arms with his. “I think this job well done calls for some celebratory gimbap.”
“What about our next target?” Jisung asked, Chan wasn’t one to end their duties after just one mission, especially when it was only the afternoon. Chan just smiled at his companions.
“I think we’re done for the day.”
Changbin let out a whoop as the three started walking forward. Maybe being a cupid wasn’t so bad if it meant Jisung met some of the most important people in his life while on the job.