another day of hell.

no, not literal hell. i meant school.

even worse: highschool.

easily mistakable for the actual underworld itself.

especially in the case of our favourite little angel: kim taehyung.

it'd been a couple days since taehyung's small episode. the one where he ripped a new asshole for those two bullies.

gossip spread like rapid fire in heaven and this was no exception.

soon enough, everyone in their grade had heard about taehyung. they knew that he wasn't as weak or pliant as he used to be anymore. they knew that he wasn't such an easy target like he once was.

however, one person in particular decided to test out those rumors for themselves.

that was their first of many mistakes.

our boy was in the hallway, jimin had already split off to go to his physics class while taehyung had stayed behind to get his textbook he needed for his own class which was geography.

if only he was prepared for the downward spiral his day and mood were about to venture on.

"hey there, kim." a tall boy shut taehyung's locker loudly as soon as taehyung retrieved his desired book.

"hello byungwook." taehyung grumbled, swiftly moving past him.

he caught up quickly, "well that wasn't very polite of you. greet me with more enthusiasm. aren't you supposed to be the golden boy? i heard you ran for class president... i wonder why you didn't get it?"

"i-" taehyung was cut off immediately.

"was it because you're stupid? nah, you've got straight As. was it because you misbehaved? of course not, you're a little teacher's pet. i wonder what it was... oh right! i almost forgot... it's because you're a freak, isn't it? they didn't want some mixed weirdo representing the grade." byungwook sneered.

"hm, and you didn't run for class president at all, now did you? and why was that? oh right! i almost forgot... you're too much of an airhead to even be considered for such a responsibility. they would never want a dumbass like you representing the grade even if the world was ending, now would they?" taehyung shot back.

"ouch! so the kitty has claws now? yknow, i like you better this way, taetae. you're a lot more interesting now." byungwook chuckled, pushing taehyung up against the lockers.

"this can get a whole lot more interesting if you don't back the hell off." taehyung pushed him back.

a big enough crowd had gathered around the little scene to boost byungwook's ego as if it needed any more inflation.

the crowd of students weren't really expecting much, though. they just wanted to see the verbal drama.

it's not like it would get physical.

it's not like taehyung of all people would initiate a real fight.

right?

i mean, none of the angels standing here had ever even seen a physical fight in their years of living.

there's no way.

there's nothing to worry about.

there's no way.

"oh, is that so? why don't you show everyone, kim? why don't you show them just how interesting you can make this?" the boy urged, shoving him again.

"i'm not a circus animal or the hired entertainment. i'm not gonna fight you just so people can whisper your name in the hallway for a couple weeks. i'd rather not inflate your already big head." taehyung laughed bitterly before beginning to walk away.

before he could get away from the circle of students, he heard byungwook's voice once more.

"big head, huh? yknow, there's rumours that you have a lot of experience with that sort of thing."

what?

taehyung turned around quickly, "what are you talking about?"

byungwook laughed "you haven't heard? some students have seen you sneaking around at ungodly hours of the night recently and then all of a sudden you've gained all this confidence. just admit it taehyung, you're a slag!"

"what did you just say?" taehyung turned red with anger but mostly mortification.

people had been saying those things about him?

people had assumed that he was sleeping around?

"don't act all innocent. we all know you've been giving it up to randoms, late at night. now you think you're all big just because you got fucked? i hope you paid them for having sex with you because it sounds like torture. you can call me a dumbass all you want but at least i'm not a slut. it's probably the reason why your parents don't seem to give a fuck about you. they don't want to accept that their only son is a whore!"

people laughed hysterically and byungwook looked as egotistic as ever.

taehyung was shaking.

he couldn't decide if he wanted to scream, cry or break something.

he ended up doing all three.

next thing anyone knew, he'd charged at byungwook who got slammed to the floor.

all laughter had stopped in an instant.

his vision was blurry from tears as he kicked him mercilessly.

taehyung's boot collided with byungwook's face and a crack resonated through the eerily silent hallway.

his nose.

but taehyung wasn't finished.

he continued to swing at byungwook who clutched his nose in agony, powerless to stop the hits flying his way.

suddenly taehyung stopped.

"GET UP!"

people watched in fear and byungwook didn't move from his spot.

"I SAID GET THE FUCK UP, NOW!"

he flinched and scrambled to his feet, crying in pain as he stood up.

"apologise!"

"w-what?" byungwook sniffled with a wince.

"i told you to apologise!" taehyung slapped him a across the face.

"i-i'm sorry, i'm sorry." byungwook cried with blood, tears and snot streaming down his face.

"for what?!"

"i-i-"

"i-i-i- SPEAK UP!" taehyung mocked him.

"i'm sorry!"

"FOR WHAT?!" taehyung pushed him and he stumbled to the floor once again.

"i-i'm sorry for- for-"

"for being an asshole for two years?"

"y-yes..."

"for acting like a fucking child?"

"yes..."

"for slut-shaming me?"

"yes!"

"for fucking HUMILIATING me?" taehyung screamed.

"yeah..."

"i can't fucking hear you!"

"YES! OKAY? I'M SORRY!" byungwook pleaded.

"GOOD! so the next time you see me, the next time you hear my name, the next time you walk down this hallway you'll remember this. you'll remember this exact moment where for ONCE, taehyung isn't the one being humiliated. this time it's YOU. you will not forget this and, guess what? neither will i and neither will they. i hope you're fucking happy with yourself." taehyung spat at him.

then he turned to the crowd of people, "WHAT? ISN'T THIS WHAT YOU WANTED?"

taehyung was still crying. he hadn't stopped. he wanted to look strong but the tears kept going.

he was afraid of demons for doing things like this.

for hurting people.

yet... here we was.

"ISN'T THIS WHAT YOU WANTED TO SEE? TO SEE ME FINALLY SNAP? HUH? WELL, I HOPE YOU'RE FUCKING ENTERTAINED!"

a group of teachers came rushing to the scene, hearing the yelling and confused as to why kids weren't in their classes.

"what is the meaning of this?! what happened?" a lady yelled.

"everyone get to class, nothing to see here." a male teacher ushered away the crowd of traumatised students.

two teachers were already by the side of byungwook, calling an ambulance.

"kim taehyung! there has to be some sort of outlandishly convenient explanation for this madness you've caused!" the principal screeched.

"shit happens. get over it." taehyung deadpanned, wiping away tears from his face and blood from his hands.

"what did you just say to me?" she asked in complete disbelief.

"i said: shit happens so get over it. maybe if this school wasn't so shitty at handling people like him then i wouldn't have done that to him." taehyung grumbled before beginning to walk away.

"kim taehyung! you are suspended until further notice!" the principal yelled after him, furious.

"thank the gods!" he yelled back.

and that's how taehyung landed himself walking through his front door at 1:37pm with tear-stained cheeks.

as soon as he stepped in, he was met with the sight of his parents sitting at the kitchen island with frowns on their faces as his mother was on the phone to someone.

he shut the door which gained their attention.

"yes? he got home just now... i will, ma'am... thank you." his mother wrapped up the conversation.

his father stepped up to him, "why am i hearing that you've had a fight in school? a physical fight, at that."

his mother commented with a look of anger, "the words they used were brutal and twisted. apparently you broke a boy's nose and humiliated him in front of the class afterwards by forcing him to apologise to you."

"it wasn't my fault." was all taehyung had to say.

"that's not the information i've just heard on the phone with the principal. she got statements from students who witnessed it and apparently it was violent and hard to watch. so go on: explain yourself!" she yelled.

"byungwook decided that it'd be a good idea to embarrass me in front of everyone in the hallway. is it my problem that he got hurt or is it just the consequence that came with his dumbass decision?" taehyung shrugged.

"taehyung, why are you so calm?! you're suspended from school until further notice and you broke a boy's nose! show a little more emotion, god damnit!" his mother reprimanded.

"what do you want me to do?! scream and cry and beg for forgiveness? that's not gonna unsuspend me or un-break his nose or change anything that happened!" taehyung argued.

"what has gotten into you?" she looked dumbfounded. she'd never seen her soon this way before.

so empty.

so cold.

"some sense maybe. or perhaps it's a little self-worth." taehyung replied sarcastically.

"don't take that tone with us, taehyung." his father frowned.

"oh sorry, i meant: please forgive me father because i love you so so so much and i never meant to break byungwook's poor innocent nose." taehyung corrected himself, again dripping in sarcasm.

his mother pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed in frustration, "just- just tell us what happened. what exactly did he say in order for you to act the way you did?"

"it's nothing." he grumbled, stepping past them to walk to his room but his father immediately stopped him.

"taehyung, if this was a late detention, we'd let it slide like that. however, you've caused a broken bone, you've drawn blood and you've been suspended. this is more serious than a simple little detention. now is not the time to lock yourself away in your room. we need to talk about this." his father said sympathetically.

his father had always been on the softer side and it made sense (seeing as he was an angel of love, after all).

however, his mother had always been more on the stricter side of things. being an angel of intelligence made her quite rigid and particular: traits that are seen in taehyung too.

"he called me a slut! that's it, that's what happened." taehyung yelled, exasperated.

"and?" his mother urged him to continue.

"apparently there's a rumour at school that i sneak off at night to go sleep around with men. he yelled it out in front of literally everyone and called me a whore. everyone was laughing at me, thinking it was the funniest thing in the world and he was proud of himself while i stood there crying and shaking. what was i supposed to do?" taehyung explained.

"so you decided to kick his face in?!" his mother screamed, still looking appalled at him.

"well, what did you want me to do?! to just sit there while they humiliated me? just take it like i always do?!" he yelled.

"you didn't have to be violent, taehyung. you can solve things differently!" she said.

"i've tried solving things in every other way! i'm tired of being a fucking punching bag!" he argued.

"don't you dare swear at your mother, taehyung. listen here-" he interrupted his father.

"no! you listen here! you don't know what it's like to be me so stop acting like you understand! people haven't whispered about you on the street or gave you a funny look in years! people stopped caring about you two ages ago but not me! i'm still the ugly duckling, i'm still the freak. you don't understand and you never will so stop trying! you're the ones who made me this way! both of you! i didn't ask to be like this, i didn't ask to be the freak of the class! what do you expect me to do when i'm literally getting harassed by my own classmates for every single minute of school?! it's not my fault that i've had enough of being a doormat. i'm sorry that i don't wanna be everyone's easy target for the rest of my life!" taehyung screamed, tears had begun to fall from his eyes once again.

"taehyung, honey-" she tried to comfort her son but was immediately pushed away.

"no! leave me alone! just like you always do." he laughed half-heartedly.

"what do you-"

"taehyung's upset? oh, we'll just leave him alone in his room and not even ask what's wrong. taehyung's angry? oh let's just ignore it until he's gotten over it. taehyung got a detention? let's shout at him for ten minutes and send him up to his room without letting him explain. taehyung got in a fight? let's teach him not to ever fight back and just allow himself to be a laughing stock til the day he dies! in fact, even though taehyung already gets enough shit for simply existing, let's not show him any kind of affection or interest either! depriving our son of any attention that isn't negative will definitely blossom him into an amazing son!" taehyung imitated them maliciously.

the parents glanced at eachother. they didn't really know what to say.

"i'm leaving." taehyung muttered, running upstairs to change out of his uniform.

"what?" his mother followed behind him but he'd already locked his door.

he shoved on a hoodie and some jeans before opening the door and brushing past his mother along with both his parent's worried expressions.

"kim taehyung, do not step out of that door!" she called.

but taehyung stormed out of the house, slamming the door behind him.

and so there he was, running full speed away from his home: all alone with nowhere to go.

he couldn't go to jimin because he was still in school.

he couldn't go to his parents for obvious reasons.

who else did he have?

that's how he found himself in the underworld, in broad daylight. luckily, he'd found a spell for disguising his wings in one of the library books a while back.

he was walking up to the gate of his demon friends' school.

he peered through the metal wires and was met with a familiar face.

jeon jeongguk.

it appeared to be lunch time as students were littered around the outside area: eating at benches, playing football and doing things they probably weren't supposed to be doing.

jeongguk was sat all alone at a table, smoking a cigarette (taehyung was sure that was definitely not allowed).

he looked lonely and sad, sitting all by himself while other demons his age laughed loudly and goofed around with eachother.

"jeongguk!" he whisper-yelled to him.

the boy raised his head in the direction of the whisper and his eyes widened when he saw who'd called him.

"taehyung?" he looked utterly confused.

"you feel like ditching?" taehyung asked hopefully.

jeongguk looked around and saw that the lone teacher wasn't looking so he scrambled over to the fence and crawled through the opening as taehyung held it up for him.

they both ran before anyone could notice that they were there and that's when jeongguk asked, "why're you here? and without jimin? it's a weekday and, better yet, it's like 2pm. did you travel here in broad daylight?"

"i did." taehyung stated sheepishly.

"you could've gotten yourself arrested. be more careful." jeongguk warned.

they walked in comfortable silence for a while until they reached jeongguk spoke up again.

"so, are you gonna tell me why you came here?"

"i had a fight with my parents..." taehyung said.

"something tells me that it wasn't that simple." jeongguk raised an eyebrow.

taehyung sighed in defeat, "i got in a fight at school."

"a fight? a verbal one or a physical one?" jeongguk asked, seemingly shocked.

"both." taehyung winced.

"did you win?" jeongguk questioned.

"well, in fighting terms, yes i won." taehyung rolled his eyes.

"that's my boy." jeongguk smiled, swinging an arm around taehyung's shoulder.

taehyung blushed, "don't encourage me, i feel like shit."

"how so?"

"i'm happy i did it. i don't regret standing up for myself for once. however... i dunno, i just feel icky. i broke someone's nose and i'm okay with it! that's not normal. i feel dirty." taehyung admitted.

"shit, you broke his nose? you're hardcore, sweetheart." jeongguk snickered.

"yknow, you're not very good at counselling." taehyung snorted.

"i'm not good at feelings." jeongguk raised his hands in surrender.

"me neither." taehyung huffed.

"well, since we're both ditching school already and since you need something to clear your little head, why don't i show you around the underworld a little more?" jeongguk suggested.

"i mean, i- i guess." taehyung replied.

"let's do it." jeongguk smirked.

~time skip~

okay so, they were at a club.

the place reminded taehyung of taipan in the sense that 98% of the crowd were troubled teenagers.

he'd had two shots of vodka just for the thrill of it about half an hour ago so he was tipsy but so was jeongguk so he guessed it was alright.

jeongguk was a bit flirtier when he was drunk (because of him being half a demon of lust, however, taehyung didn't know this).

suddenly a tall, muscular guy bumped into jeongguk.

oh no. taehyung thought.

he wasn't prepared for another fight to break out today.

he winced when he saw the flicker of rage in jeongguk's eyes yet that spark quickly burned out and his expression was replaced by a friendly smile.

"matthew!"

"jeongguk!"

they performed some kind of bro handshake as a greeting.

"you good?" matthew asked.

"same old. how about you?"

"i'm- hold on! who's this cutie you brought with you." he smirked, glancing at taehyung who immediately flushed bright red and looked away.

"no one, don't worry." jeongguk said but it was already too late.

matthew was a friend jeongguk made about six months ago.

a demon of lust and one of the only people who didn't mind that jeongguk was mixed.

now, matthew wasn't one of those nasty lust demons who think they can grab anyone they want. however, he did tend to come onto people he found attractive a little bit too strongly sometimes. he was also a huge asshole. not in a bad way but he was just a really big tease all the time. sometimes he didn't know when to end a joke.

"what's your name? i've never seen you before and i know all the pretty people in this town." matthew stepped closer and taehyung winced quietly.

seeing him advance towards him with that look in his eye gave him flashbacks to the time that one demon grabbed him at that party. or even that creep from the drag race. both instances where jeongguk had to save him. in the first instance, he had beaten the guy to a pulp.

now that he thought about it, jeongguk was kind of hot when he did that. even though he didn't like it back then, now he sort of liked the fact that jeongguk stood up for him like that.

what what?! he thought to himself.

he just told himself that jeongguk was hot!

stop, taehyung, that's weird! you're his friend! just friends! he screamed at himself.

these thoughts made him blush even harder.

"awe, look he's so shy. you're cute." matthew said, pinching his cheek which caught taehyung completely off guard.

"alright man, back off." jeongguk tapped his shoulder.

"don't be selfish, jeongguk. sharing is caring." matthew snickered.

jeongguk rolled his eyes, poking his tongue into the inside of his cheek.

he wrapped an arm around taehyung who immediately recoiled, wrapping his arms around himself.

"what? do i stink or something?"

"i-"

"you wanna fight?!"

"wha-"

"you do?"

"i didn't-"

"let's fucking go then!"

taehyung was terrified and braced for some kind of hit but never felt it so he opened his eyes to see matthew laughing his ass off.

he shoved his shoulder, "i'm joking! jeez."

"oh..." taehyung pouted slightly.

"knock it off, man. we gotta go, i'll catch you later." jeongguk said, bringing taehyung close to him.

once they'd said their goodbyes, taehyung made sure to glue himself to jeongguk's side until they reached their destination which was an empty balcony that looked out onto the street below. they sat down beside eachother, looking out towards the sky.

"your friend isn't very nice..." taehyung huffed.

"we're demons, hun. being nice isn't a thing here." jeongguk chuckled.

"well, you've been decent to me." taehyung argued.

"the only thing stopping me from torturing you til your last breath is the fact that i'm insanely attracted to you. don't change that."

taehyung's brain short-circuited.

attracted to me? he thought.

"you are?" taehyung asked quietly.

he heard jeongguk curse under his breath before he spoke, "i mean, yeah. i assume that you get that a lot back in heaven."

"actually, no."

"huh?"

"people in heaven don't like me at all. even if anyone did like me, which i highly doubt, they wouldn't have the balls to tell me because they'd probably be made fun of for it." taehyung admitted.

"seriously?" jeongguk looked surprised.

"yeah. i mean, being mixed isn't exactly fun, just in case you were wondering." taehyung snorted.

jeongguk wasn't wondering.

because he already knew what it was like.

"it's that bad?" he feigned a genuine question.

"it's terrible, actually." taehyung answered honestly.

"it's heaven. how terrible could it be?" jeongguk snickered.

"more than you think. sometimes i swear that people in my world are secretly demons in disguise with the way they act. no offense by the way." taehyung sighed.

"none taken. i hate it here." jeongguk said.

"at least you get to do whatever you want here. in heaven, i feel like i'm suffocating. i feel like everything i do is under constant scrutiny. the only times i've ever actually had fun are when i've been here with you guys. of course i have jimin in heaven but there's not much to do there anyways. besides, even the few fun things that were available were useless because i was too high-strung to do anything before i started coming here." taehyung revealed.

jeongguk didn't reply for a while.

"i've had fun with you too... and jimin, i guess, even though that bitch gets on my last nerve." jeongguk grumbled the last part.

taehyung giggled, "so you're biased towards me because i don't annoy you as much?"

"sounds about right. i mean, what else is there to like about you?" jeongguk smirked and taehyung shoved him playfully.

"i could say the same about you." taehyung rolled his eyes.

"nah, you love me." jeongguk teased.

"whatever you say, jeon."

they stared out to the distance in a comfortable silence for a while until taehyung turned to look at jeongguk. he'd felt his eyes burning into him.

they made eye contact for a fraction of a second before taehyung averted his gaze.

jeongguk scooted closer.

"would you hate me if i told you that you look unreal right now?" he asked.

taehyung gasped a little under his breath, "no."

jeongguk placed a hand on his cheek.

"would you hate me if i kissed you right now?" jeongguk muttered.

taehyung took about five seconds to answer.

five seconds of jeongguk's sharp red-tinted eyes staring holes into his face, trying to figure out what was going on in his head. trying to figure out if it was only him who felt this way.

"no." taehyung answered.

and so he did.

he did kiss him right then.

and the once dead flame of taehyung's soul began to spark to life.

•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•

•4065 words
•not edited or proof-read
•HELLO
•the long overdue update is finally here!!
•sorry for the wait, i had a lot going on last week
•today is my last day of school, now i'm on a two week break!!
•i'm going to ireland for christmas to see some family that i haven't seen since i was like 3 years old so i'm really excited and very nervous
•since i'm on a break, you can expect an update within that time period
•STAY SAFE!!!
•love you <333

peace out xoxo,

nixy.