Strings And Feathers; Baby Steps [I]
Title: Strings And Feathers; Baby Steps [I]
Pairing: Xiumin/Lu Han, Kris-centric, brotp!Kris/Baekhyun
Genre: Fantasy, Romance
Length: Mutli-Chaptered | approx 3000w
Disclaimer: This series of installments of fiction doesn't intend to offend any person, religious beliefs/groups, or any entity relating to the topics discussed and used in the fiction. I literally just made everything up out of nowhere. Although there might be some references and related topics to some of my knowledge about angels.
Summary: Lu Han is very curious, Minseok goes with the flow. Yifan is slightly confused, Baekhyun is talkative.
CHAPTER 1: Baby Steps
During Angel to Angel talks with Yixing, he always asks what the purpose of their job is when humans are meant to make mistakes. He always asks-even when they were younger and they had tinier wings, smaller halos and shorter legs as to what’s the purpose of being a Soulmate Guardian when humans are supposed to find their soul mates by themselves and decide whether to keep it or not… because for some odd reason, he has always felt a peculiar understanding towards human behaviour when he watches them down from the heavens.
However, the other angel only tells him that he’s silly. “Humans are imperfect; it’s already tough for them to find their soul mates in that type of world. They can’t lose each other now.”
As Yifan grows bigger and hundreds of years are added to his age, the feeling of understanding towards humans start to fade away but that doesn’t stop him from clinging desperately into that small thread of comprehension about human behaviour. He has always been considered weird-along with Yixing (due to his, what do humans call it? Dimple.) during his younger years because he always asks about humans and tells that he has this ‘sense’ of connection.
Hence, as a child, he always looks forward to finally meeting humans and not seeing them from a bird’s point of view. Although they can zoom into heavens but they can’t do that unless they are of right age and have enough wisdom.
Now, many hundred human years later, he’s ready to do his job.
Yifan descends from the heavens, his wings are strong against the wind and surely all the years of flying and training are already paying off. He enjoys flying, he really does. He was once the best in his class for flying, so, he takes good care of his wings.
He comes to an abrupt halt in front of the large mall, his wings continuing their slight flaps to keep him off ground. With his studies comes learning of new human technology and progress. It’s really interesting, he must say. Malls are big establishments with stores inside where you can buy stuff. It seems very convenient.
Yifan closes his eyes then visions of two little children come into his sight, the one with the rounder cheeks, Minseok, seems to be in a pool full of colourful plastic balls. While the other one, Lu Han, is sitting inside a tiny house. They seem to be in different play pens.
Yifan sighs, rubs his forehead and wonders if Yixing has sent him down a little too early.
Yifan decides to go to Minseok first and the moment he enters the mall premises, other guardian angels surprise him.
Yifan laughs to himself, standing in front of the entrance as humans pass by the angels scattered around. Some of them aren’t wearing the traditional white robes that he has on-some has white pants on and loose shirts that hang from their torsos, some of the she-angels have puffy white dresses. He feels out of place from the crowd of angels and humans.
An angel approaches him, his wings are fast but smaller than Yifan’s, the lively angel tackles Yifan down to the floor, causing Yifan to land on the dirty floor hence staining his perfect wings. “Hey!” He yelps, throwing the angel off of him, not really recognizing him yet.
Yifan gets back on his wings, looking around to see if any human has noticed. But then again they are humans and they don’t really see anything, too occupied with worldly things. “Who are you?” Although Yifan notices that other angels are looking at them with interest but that’s alright.
The angel who tackled Yifan into the floor is back on his wings as well, his wings flapping happily behind him. “Did you forget? I’m Baekhyun!” The angel declares a little too loudly, causing the other busy angels to glare at them.
Yifan glares down at Baekhyun, furrowing his brows as he tries to locate the memories with Baekhyun. Spending time gazing down at earth and looking around eternal whiteness have made his memories of his younger years a little fuzzy-just like his every memory but he remembers Baekhyun.
Yifan laughs. “Yeah, I remember you! The kid who always causes a ruckus so he got sent away, where did you end up to?” Yifan strikes up a conversation and at the same time, starts flying to where Minseok is.
Baekhyun follows suit, definitely interested in the conversation. “Yeah, that’s just about me!” He laughs, a little awkward but it’s a Baekhyun type of laugh from the amount of time Yifan has known him. “I got transferred to K-1345 batch. And I said to myself, hey, if I try my best here maybe I can do it. So I did, and got well, this far! Are you a Soulmate Guardian too?”
Yifan nods but his eyes are inside the playpen where Minseok is. “I think Yixing sent me down too early. They are only six year olds and they just bumped into each other in a restaurant. You know, because kids run everywhere.” Yifan explains as he enters the play pen.
Baekhyun makes sounds of amusement as they enter the play pen. Minseok’s in some sort of an obstacle course and he’s stuck inside a pool of plastic balls. Yifan ducks down, enters the tiny entrance that’s too small for his wings and his long limbs. Baekhyun laughs at him and Yifan turns around-already crouched inside the small entrance. “What?”
“You know you can pass through things, I mean, most of the time, right?” Baekhyun says matter-of-factly. “Look.” The shorter angel’s face contorts uncomfortably, as if his wings are being ripped off of him. As if his feathers are being plucked one by one. It’s the sort of pain that Yifan doesn’t want to put himself under. When Baekhyun opens his eyes, not a thing from his façade has changed.
But he knows that any angel can do this although it involves some pain all over. From the tip of your wings that drag on the ground to the core of your chest. It’s not too painful but the pain is real and it’s there. Hence, some angels prefer not doing this. Usually, they cause the sudden shutting down of electronics, things toppling over, the usual.
Baekhyun passes through him, wings fluttering behind him. Yifan manages to untangle himself from the tiny entrance and stands on his sandaled feet. He closes his eyes for a while, takes a deep breath and then thinks about it. He feels the pain run from his chest, to his arms, to his fingertips and then to his wings. The teachers told them that it’s only normal to feel pain when transforming into anything because they tear away from their perfect form to do good and to do what is willed for them to. So, they have to deal with it.
He opens his eyes and takes a deep breath. He feels lighter.
Yifan passes through the obstacle course with ease and reaches the pool where Minseok is. Baekhyun is floating next to the little girl beside Minseok. Yifan frowns. “Are you her guardian angel?”
The other angel looks up and nods briefly before turning his attention back to the little girl. “Yep, she’s Minseok’s sister and she has met her soul mate. Although he’s now in a different country across the globe so that makes my job real tough.”
“Are they the same age? I mean, mine are.”
“Nope, he’s older. Five years older. So… I think he’s about nine now.” Baekhyun shrugs, making faces at the four-year-old who is too old to see him now. When children reach the age of one and they start retaining memories, they stop seeing angels.
“How do you manage them? I mean, our job is to keep their lives connected right? Humans break strings of connections with other humans 90% of the time when they aren’t guided.” Yifan is intrigued some more. “And how did they even meet?”
“Hold your questions! Well I shift from places to places to make sure that they are alive and going. They met at the hospital where Minseok’s sister, Minseol was born. He has a sibling who’s also born in the same hospital Minseol is in. He visited the nursery with his mother and basically-he was looking at little Minseol all the time.”
“How are they going to meet again?”
“In three years, by then Minseol will be seven and Jaehyun will be twelve. They will study in the same school. Everything proceeds through there. What about you?”
Yifan purses his lips, sends a glance down at Minseok then takes a deep breath. “I’ll have to go check on Lu Han. The other kid.”
Baekhyun makes a sound of amusement. “They’re both boys?”
“Uh, yeah? They are soul mates, not gender mates. That’s a stupid thing human society made themselves believe in. Some don’t believe in God but a lot believe in that type of thing. Humans are really weird.”
Baekhyun laughs. “I just asked if they were both boys. I didn’t ask you about your abhorrence for the human species.”
“I don’t hate them.”
“Right. I have to go to Canada now and check up on Jaehyun. See you!”
“Alright…”
Some things are meant to be, some are just coincidences. But as Angel and as someone who has seen coincidences and fate at the different periods of time in the world, he can tell that majority of the happenings in Earth are meant to be.
Some angels do fail in making two ends meet. Yixing’s first pair were two girls who met at their twenties, princesses of different kingdoms. They do like each other, but then they don’t anymore. Yixing tried his best to make them like each other again. But perhaps, humans’ inevitable choices and mistakes are something that angels can’t control. Yixing tried his best but if there is one thing-they can’t stop humans from making the wrong decision although they can try to prevent them, and Yixing did try. Humans are of their different kind, they’re stubborn and that’s one thing Yifan doesn’t like about them.
Yixing was down for a long time when he didn’t make two ends meet. But after that time, pairs upon pairs later, Yixing shot right up the hierarchy while Yifan hasn’t even had his first pair yet. But that was alright, Yifan was happy for Yixing. Angels never did feel envy. Although, one pair did end up shooting each other’s heads off because they had to.
As the day goes by in Earth, Yifan learns more about his pair. Lu Han’s family is from Beijing while Minseok’s family is from South Korea, the country where they are now. Lu Han and his family are here for a vacation and they’re going to return soon. Only meaning that Yifan will have to do what Baekhyun does sooner or later.
Minseok and Lu Han meet again later that day, their families ate at the same restaurant again for dinner.
Lu Han’s an adventurous child. Yifan learns this when Lu Han scrambles away from their chair while his parents are busy talking over their phones because even though in a vacation, they still deal with work as it’s part of their deal with their bosses.
Yifan groans when the child wanders away from their table and follows him close. Yifan also learns throughout the day that walking is more convenient than flying most of the time.
What happens next surprises Yifan. Lu Han walks around the restaurant, looks everywhere curiously then smiles at the other customers who turn their heads to look at the little child wandering around the spacious restaurant where he can be easily lost. But of course, Yifan will never let that happen.
Yifan learns another thing, Lu Han is a natural charmer as people coo at him when he smiles and waves back at them. If only Yifan could scoop him up from the floor and settle him back between his parents. If only.
There’s another angel in the premises, a shorter angel with long blonde hair and she’s busy watching over a group of friends bantering loudly. Like most Soulmate Guardians, Yifan senses that there’s a pair of soulmates within that group of friends-but a grimace comes to his face when he realizes and sees that the soulmates within the same social circle are with the wrong love.
Yifan sighs and prays this doesn’t happen to his Pair. But then again-realization dawns upon him that it’s his job not to let them end up with the wrong love.
Yifan doesn’t think about human feelings and how their imperfections make them happy.
His eyes dart back to Lu Han now and the kid has wandered farther away from him. Yifan half-walks and half-runs as his tunnel vision helps him to where Lu Han is in the myriad of talking people.
He needs to be careful because if they bump into a human, it turns out that they tripped on air. Yifan doesn’t want to cause that harm into anyone at all.
Lu Han-inevitably, reaches Minseok’s table. Minseok is seated between his parents and his sister is seated on their mother’s lap. Minseok is standing up, playing with his father’s ears as they wait for their food to arrive, his father is trying to make Minseok sit still. The child just won’t.
Yifan watches them, his gaze shifting from one boy to another. To the Chinese from the Korean. Lu Han stands still, eyes locked at Minseok. “Hi.”
This catches Minseok’s parents’ attention and they turn to look at the small boy. “Oh, are you lost?” Minseok’s mother asks nicely to the boy. Lu Han shakes his head.
“Hi.” Lu Han speaks again, eyes still on Minseok.
Minseok’s father seems to have noticed this. “Minseok, is this little boy your friend?” He asks as he lowers Minseok from the seat and to Lu Han. Once Minseok is faced with Lu Han, the boy with the chubby cheeks smiles, small teeth appearing from behind his lips.
Lu Han smiles back, mouth open. “Hi.”
“Hello.”
“Hi.”
“Hello.”
“Hi”
“Hello.”
Yifan thinks his halo is going to burst into a supernova with the children’s incessant exchange of hello’s and hi’s.
Yifan almost parts them when Lu Han’s parents come rushing to scoop him from the floor as they’ve realized their child has yet again wandered away. They bow apologetically to Minseok’s parents but the other couple insists that it’s alright and that they have such a cute child.
Lu Han, in his mother’s arms, looks at Minseok one last time and grins, “bye.”
Minseok waves at him. “See you!”
Yifan sighs. This is going to be a tough pair. Although, he has a gut Angel feeling that it’s going to be an interesting pair as well.
As the day ends and their mothers tuck them into their beds and Yifan hovers above their ceilings, Yifan is now aware of one constant thing that he needs to do as he guides these two for their strings to meet and knot at the end. It’s simple as it is also one thing he has been doing for as long as he can remember. Learning-despite the hundreds of human years of studying and training as a guardian angel, Yifan now knows that training is very different from the actual process.
This is going to be a long lifetime.
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A/N: Woah. What is this even. This pretty much only introduces everyone essential to the story. That's it. Thank you for reading ahhhh this took me way too long ;w; sorry about that!
Things I Made Up:
Pair (with capital P) - a pair of soul mates who have met each other given to a Soulmate Guardian
Soulmate Guardian - an angel trained as guardian angels except for soul mates.