The last six months had been a wild ride for Leo. Everything had been strange since the day of his car accident.
He had spent some time in hospital recovering from his injuries and had missed the date with his crush. For some reason he hadn’t been too bothered about it despite looking forward to it with all his heart before the car accident.
The car accident had been odd too. There had been a video of it caught on a traffic camera nearby and the car should have hit him head on judging by his position and the natural trajectory of the car. He was lucky that somehow it had caught his side instead.
There were more things as well. Even though he had been looking forward to meeting new people at university and having the chance to find romance, he had turned down everyone who had asked him on a date so far.
What was wrong with him?
Leo groaned and massaged his stiff shoulder. His fingers accidentally probed the raised scar on his shoulder from the car accident. That accident had cursed his romantic life for sure.
“Are you having an existential crisis again?” his best friend asked.
They were sitting in the cafe at the university with their tablets in hand. There was an upcoming essay that they were supposed to be working on, but Leo’s mind was elsewhere.
“Brad, why am I single?” he groaned.
Brad sighed openly at him and looked back down at his tablet. “Because you reject everyone. Your actions don’t match your words.”
“I don’t know why I reject people. I’m into them and they do what I want them to do which is ask me out. Then I don’t want them,” Leo explained.
His best friend looked bored and more interested in their dull essay topic than listening to him. It was fair, he regularly talked about his dry love life. Brad was taller than him with shoulder length black hair tucked behind ears and wasn’t bothered about dating.
“I think the barista who starts his shift in five minutes is into you,” Brad said unexpectedly. “How about saying yes to him when he asks you on a date?”
Leo nodded in admiration. Brad was normally right about these sorts of things because of his sharp observational skills. He had thought the cute barista was into him. It was nice to have some confirmation.
He waited patiently for the barista to start his shift. He was called Adrian and he had floppy brunette hair and a dazzling smile. Adrian had his orders memorized and knew what his order would be once he said the first word.
Once he had confirmed Adrian was behind the counter and the queue was non-existent, he walked up and smiled at him.
“Hi Leo,” Adrian said brightly. “What can I get for you today?”
“A mocha-”
“A mocha with extra cream and caramel drizzle,” Adrian finished. “Did I guess right?”
“You did,” Leo confirmed.
Another fact about his newfound dry dating life was his inability to ask anyone out himself. Every time he thought about expressing interest and asking if a man was single, his mouth would close tight and something in his heart told him to stay quiet.
Right now he wanted to move things along and flirt with Adrian. Instead there was a twinge in his heart and he didn’t feel he could ask.
“I’ll get it started now,” Adrian replied after he had paid. “Do you want to chat while I make it? There’s no one behind you.”
That was a good sign. Leo balled up his fists. He could do it, he could say yes. He was going to.
Adrian started at the coffee machine and didn’t speak whilst he was dispensing the shot of coffee due to the shrill noise. Once he had moved onto the quieter steps, he was very flirty.
“So, are you single?” he asked with his back turned.
“I am,” Leo confirmed. “Single since birth unfortunately.”
Adrian turned back and looked at him. “You’re quite good looking, I am surprised to hear that.”
Leo’s cheeks flushed red and Adrian chuckled.
“Um thanks,” he said quietly.
He was itching to ask if it was the same for Adrian, but as usual, his lips were shut.
“How busy are you with university work right now?” was the next question.
An availability question was a good sign. Leo perked up. It was coming. He had been asked on enough dates to recognize the hints.
“I’m free in the evenings this week. Next week is going to be tough, I’ve got two essays due.”
By now Adrian was facing him and his drink was almost finished.
“How about meeting in the evening tomorrow?” the barista asked. “There’s that new restaurant close to campus that just opened up.”
This was the moment. He could do this. He took a deep breath and was ready to accept. His response was ready in his mind.
Different words came out of his mouth instead. “I would like to go out to try a new restaurant with you as a friend.”
Leo bit his lip once he had realised what he said. What was wrong with him? He hated himself as he watched Adrian’s face fall.
“I guess I can do that,” he said slowly. “I didn’t mean it as a friendly outing though. I did think you knew that.”
Adrian slid his drink over and Leo picked it up after some hesitation. He should just try being honest.
“I want to date, it’s just complicated. I got hit by a car last August and I’ve been odd ever since. I don’t want to be single, but every time I get asked out, I find myself rejecting the offer of a date.”
The barista listened silently and Leo wondered if he should stop coming to this coffee shop for a while. It was perfectly situated on the campus for him, but there was always the other one on the other end of the campus.
“Did you hit your head at all?” Adrian asked.
“On this side a little,” Leo pointed. “I had scans and everything. There was no damage. It’s just odd.”
“Maybe the near death experience messed you up mentally,” Adrian said. “I like to think you met the Grim Reaper himself and traded your life in for being cursed to be single forever.”
Leo laughed at the joke. His car accident hadn’t quite been a near death experience. He hadn’t lost consciousness at all, it had all been very quick. One moment he was walking and the next he was on the ground.
“Maybe I did,” he grinned. “No awkwardness between us?”
The barista held his hands up and smiled back. “I guess not. You were honest. See you around.”
That was his sign to go. Leo returned to his table and sat down. Brad didn’t look up at him and was deep into reading a very yawn inducing looking article on his tablet.
“You were right, Adrian did ask me out,” he told him.
Now Brad looked his way. “And?”
“I couldn’t do it and turned him down,” Leo frowned. “I explained and he is fine with it. He even made a joke.”
“I think you’re doomed to be forever single then,” Brad concluded. “Stop being bothered with it and focus on your university work.”
It was harsh, but admittedly true. Leo picked up his tablet again with a sigh and read over the required criteria for the essay. He sipped at his mocha whilst he scrolled. He needed to get over his lack of a dating life. Maybe things would pick up in the summer when he had finished his first year.
***
The months flew by with essays, long hours hunched over his laptop in his room or in the library and exam revision. Before he knew it, the month was August and it was the one year anniversary of his car accident.
Leo had no intention of crossing any roads today, he was staying at home. He wasn’t particularly superstitious, but he felt like he shouldn’t tempt fate today. He had been extremely careful when crossing roads all year and always felt idiotic waiting at crossings for the lights to change when other people had just darted across the road and saved time. Safety was his priority.
Nothing happened during the day, he spent it catching up on reading fiction instead of scholarly articles and journals. He prepared to go to bed at around 11 o’clock and was tucked under the covers with a book in his hands by half past the hour.
His bedside lamp started to flicker repeatedly and he put his book down to stare at it. The power supply was normally stable. He turned it off for a few seconds in case that helped it return to normal and switched it back on.
There was a man standing by his bed. He yelped in surprise.
The man was very handsome with long gray hair and long black cloak, but that was negated by the fact that he had appeared in the dark and was creeping around his bedroom at night.
“Good evening, Leo,” he said formally and bowed.
Leo was completely lost for words. He turned off the light for a few seconds and this man appeared. Then it turned out that the man knew his first name. Did he have a stalker? His parents were across the hallway, all he had to do was call for them and they should come.
“I have come back in a year’s time as I promised,” the man continued. “Have you been well?”
As he spoke Leo noticed that the man didn’t look real. His figure was translucent and more ghostlike than human. His voice had an otherworldly quality to it. That all added up to one thing.
“I’m dreaming,” he murmured. “Who are you?”
“I am Nocturne,” the man replied. “Do you not remember me?”
Leo shook his head. He would remember meeting a man like this. He wasn’t scared of him though. Nocturne didn’t feel threatening. There was a kind look to his eyes.
“I am the ruler of the underworld,” Nocturne explained. “You died last year when you were hit by a car and we made an agreement because you wanted to keep your life.”
The blond felt like his world had been turned upside down. He had died in the car accident. He was only alive because he had agreed to something with Nocturne. Adrian’s words from months before came back to him.
“What did I agree to?”
He was dreading the answer.
“You offered yourself to me, I wanted to take your soul,” Nocturne said with a look of fondness. “You said I could marry you. You were very persuasive.”
Now Leo knew the reason for his singledom. He had made an agreement with the Grim Reaper to marry him.
“I’m dreaming,” he told himself. “I’m in my bed and I’m asleep.”
Nocturne leaned forward and pulled at the shoulder of the loose t-shirt he wore to bed. He pointed to a scar just below his collarbone.
“I marked you as proof of our promise. It is an N to represent my name. Didn’t you ever wonder about it?”
Leo shook his head. “I’ve got lots of scars from the car accident.”
Nocturne sighed. “This isn’t going how I thought it was going to. I thought you would remember.”
This was a dream. Leo was sure it had to be. He just didn’t like how it was making some kind of sense. He hadn’t been right in his mind since the car accident. The hospital staff had been confused about his odd scar as well. It was on the left side and he had taken all the impact on his right. All his other scars and marks had been on the right side of his body.
“About marrying you?”
Nocturne nodded and reached out in the direction of his hand. Leo moved away automatically and the man looked heartbroken.
“I will come back another time. I see I am not welcome here,” he said. “However, I will still marry you.”
Nocturne clicked his fingers and disappeared as swiftly as he had come into existence. Leo was left confused and hoping it was all a dream.
Nocturne reappeared in his throne room and started pacing back and forth. That had not gone well.He would have liked to visit Leo much earlier in the day, but it had been a very busy day for deaths and his only free time had been close to midnight. That had been a mistake.If he had seen Leo earlier in the day there would have been no chance of the human assuming it was all a dream.Leo was as cute as he had been a year before. The confused look in his eyes had been adorable. Nocturne was still replaying Leo looking fearful when he moved in to grasp his hand in his mind. It pained him.Then the bigger issue returned to his mind.Leo had no memory of what had transpired after his death and therefore no memory of their promise. He should have thought of that sooner, if he had given Leo his life back then everything that had happened after he died would be removed from his mind. The scar was the only thing that remained.He growled in frustration. He had been looking forward to this day
Leo elected to ignore the resemblance between the man in front of him and Grim Reaper from his dream. There was something more important to focus on here. The man had asked to sit at his table, but there were two other empty tables outside the coffee shop. There was no need to try to sit next to him. Unless the man was trying to flirt with him. He might as well double check if his dating curse was still in operation. Leo held out his hand in the direction of the chair.“You can if you like,” he said.The man was dressed in a sharp blue suit, but something felt a little out of place. He looked to be around the same age as him so it was odd to see someone like that wearing such a nice suit. It was also too hot to be wearing a suit comfortably. This man should be showing signs of sweating, but he couldn’t see any.Unlike the man in his dream, this one was definitely a human and didn’t look translucent like he was going to fade away at any second. His gray hair was also short with bangs
The ruler of the underworld hummed happily as he arrived in his throne room. It had been a very good day.There was no one waiting for him in his throne room, which was good and bad. It would have been bad if Draven had been waiting for him. Celeste would have been a welcome sight. Nocturne wanted to tell her how his date had gone.The archangel had given him a talk on human dating. Her advice had been 90% accurate and the other 10% hadn’t gone well. She had told him that Leo would find him attractive if he wore a smart suit. Instead Leo had found it strange and had even commented on it.He was glad she had told him to find out Leo’s interests first before meeting him. Nocturne had spent some time going through Leo’s bedroom to investigate him. From there he had discovered that university was an important thing to him, where it was and what he was studying. He had returned to Celeste with all his information and she had made some suggestions.He still couldn’t quite believe he had gon
Nocturne waited patiently outside the coffee shop for Leo to return with an umbrella. This time he had remembered to dress in summer fashion, but he had fallen short when considering the daily variations of weather in the human world.The idea of walking around in the rain underneath an umbrella with Leo sounded very romantic though. He was excited to try it.He watched humans rush through the rain past him. Eventually someone with a large yellow umbrella came to a stop in front of him. The umbrella lifted slightly and he saw Leo’s face underneath.“Let’s go,” his date said and held out his hand.The ruler of the underworld took Leo’s hand. It was pleasantly warm and then the human promptly dropped his hand before he could fully revel in the moment. Nocturne’s brow furrowed. Was his hand horrible to hold?“What’s wrong?” he asked softly.“I tend to get sweaty. Let’s not hold hands,” Leo explained and moved so they were underneath the umbrella. He tilted the umbrella up so they could s
That evening Leo spent his time before bed staring up at the ceiling with a grin on his face instead of reading.He now had his first ever boyfriend.They had even kissed.He still couldn’t quite believe it. He touched his lips softly. It had been a shy kiss at first because he had never done it before. Then he had asked for a proper kiss and Nocturne had said he wasn’t sure how to kiss properly either. Leo blushed as he remembered how he had confidently claimed they both needed to practise and there was no time like the present. He had put the umbrella back up for privacy.He had left the park with a boyfriend and actual kissing experience.It was hard to truly believe that he had managed to overcome his curse and have the perfect boyfriend. He wasted a lot of time thinking about Nocturne. He had such deep eyes and every time he looked into them, he felt lost. He was so handsome as well. Leo giggled to himself and panicked when he saw the time. Had he really just spent half an hour
As the month progressed Nocturne started to become accustomed to his double life. The list of the dead would decide how much time he had to spend with Leo a day. If it was an expansive list, there would only be time for texts and if it was medium sized or smaller, it was an actual date.Contacting Leo by phone had its difficulties. He only had the phone when he was in the human world so he could only use it in the short window of time he had before collecting a soul and bringing it back to the underworld. Typing on a phone was also a challenge that he had been forced to overcome.If the soul was difficult to bring back because the human refused to accept their mortal coil had come to an end, there was no chance to use his phone.Despite all the difficulties, he was glad that there was the option to use a phone. If he was trying to date Leo 100 years ago or even 30 years ago, it wouldn’t have been an option.Then came the challenge of trying to do his best impression of a human. Celeste
It took a long moment for Leo to recover his ability to speak. He knew he was in some state of shock from the way his arms were shaking.It felt like his world had been shattered. Brad couldn’t be right.Then again, he could.Nocturne was odd.He never seemed to study. Leo had never been invited to his student house. He had never met anyone from Nocturne's university course. He didn’t have an online presence. Nocturne’s personal life was also still completely unknown to him and they had been dating for several months. He had told Nocturne all about his family and friends and his boyfriend never did the same.“I’m sorry, I know you really do like him and he is your first boyfriend,” Brad continued. “I couldn’t let this carry on once I had it all worked out. I don’t know if he’s a stalker or something else.”Leo knew that Brad had his best intentions in mind when he had started to dig into Nocturne. He just wished his best friend had found nothing suspicious.“How do you know it’s a fake
That question was the last thing Nocturne had ever expected to hear from Leo. In all his imagined scenarios for how their dating life would eventually go, he had never expected his biggest secret to be exposed. There was no other way out than to be honest.“Grim Reaper is more of a human term,” he replied simply. “I will not lie to you anymore. I am the ruler of the underworld and my job is to collect the souls of the dead. Does that answer your question?”Leo’s eyes widened in surprise and then he nodded.“It does. I was upset about finding out you had been lying to me yesterday,” he said. “I was ready to make a police report and then I remembered something weird from the summer. I saw you in my bedroom. I thought it was a dream at the time. I realized everything made sense if it wasn’t a dream. You visited me in August.”Nocturne had regarded his visit to Leo to remind him of his promise to be a disaster on all fronts as it had gone badly. Now he knew it was a mistake that had paid
“I don’t have any romantic feelings for Atlas,” Leo said as they looked up at the sky.Nocturne glanced at him in surprise before replying. “I’m fully aware of that.”“I just thought I would tell you. I know you have complicated feelings about the entity,” the blond told him. “The only person I love is you. I don’t love your former self in any way. I feel sorry for him instead.”It was a relief to hear those words even though he had never suspected Leo of harboring romantic feelings for the entity.“I think anyone would have mixed feelings about the person who made them go through painful lives because they saw falling love as a weakness instead of something normal,” he said lightly. “I’m mostly neutral on the subject of the entity now. He apologized and he has arranged this new life for us.”“I wonder what our next life will bring,” Leo said wistfully. “We’ve both achieved a lot this time. I’m a successful author in my genre and you’re the CEO of a profitable company.”Nocturne’s foc
Nocturne found that he still had the folder with all the wedding planning information in the same place on the kitchen table. The most important thing to do was find out if the wedding was in the same place. Everything else could wait.“We are using the same wedding hall in this life,” he told Leo. “It seems this wedding was more expensive. The price for the decorations and the catering are higher than before.”Leo put four slices of bread in the toaster.“Glad to know that we’re not going to turn up at the wrong place,” he said. “My headache has gone now. What about you?”The former ruler of the underworld gently touched his head and was relieved to feel nothing.“I’m fine now,” he said.He experimentally tried to teleport to the underworld and nothing happened. It was odd to think that he would never see the underworld again whilst he was alive. When he would see it again, he would just be yet another soul there to be judged.It was bittersweet.His job as the ruler of the underworl
“I want to be with you,” Leo said fondly. “I admit that I also want to get married tomorrow. If we could somehow be transplanted back into the human world I came originally from, it would be amazing. I’m just worried that it’s not possible.”Nocturne ruffled his hair. “That was what I’m hoping for too. I would also like for the underworld to be stable after we leave as well.”Leo considered the different worlds. Technically they had all been created because of him. Atlas had created another human world after he had died as well as the current system of life and death.The other two people at the table had been created because of him too. They wanted to sacrifice themselves to help him as well. He was conflicted about everything.A while later, a stone faced Atlas approached their table.“Leo, can I speak to you in private?” he requested.“You may,” Leo said.It made sense that Atlas would want to say something to him. This was all because of him. The throne room disappeared around hi
“What options can you offer us?” Leo asked.He thought about the wedding that was waiting for them the next day with a pang.“Your first option is to enter the reincarnation cycle and eventually live another life,” Atlas told him. “You two always find each other so there is no need to worry. You two could also take up positions in the underworld."The blond knew that wasn’t something he wanted to be involved with. He was too sentimental to be dealing with death all day.“Is there any chance we can go back to the test world?” Nocturne asked. “I’ve become attached to it and I would like to have the wedding I’ve been waiting a year for.”Leo was pleased that they were thinking along the same lines.An expression of pain shot across Atlas’ face. Leo looked at him carefully and saw how tired he was looking. His skin was almost translucent.“Atlas, are your powers growing weak?” he asked quietly.“I do not have too much left in me,” the entity admitted. “I have lived for a long time and set
The two of them reached the town a little too late to recreate the timing of their first date. The lunch period was in full swing at the coffee shop and they ended up squashed on a small table between two families with crying children.Leo frowned as he thought about how Nocturne had arrived whilst he had been sitting outside the coffee shop all those years ago and asked if he could sit next to him.“How did you find where I was on the day we met for the third time?” the blond asked. “You couldn’t have stalked me beforehand because it was only the morning after I rejected you.”Nocturne stirred his drink. “Remember I wasn’t human. I teleported to your house first and found you weren’t there. I went through your bedroom to learn things about you. Then I transformed into a human and the rest is history.”“I wonder if any other Grim Reaper put in that effort to chase a human,” Leo said. “You went to some trouble to date me.”The former ruler of the underworld winced for some reason and t
Leo burst out laughing. The man in the jewelry shop had mentioned another customer before him buying a ring to propose that very evening. It had been Nocturne all along.What were the chances of them choosing the same ring and the same day to propose?“It feels like we’re fated,” he said. “The same ring and the same day.”Nocturne placed the other ring carefully on Leo’s ring finger. It fitted perfectly. Leo held up his hand and admired it.“I had been planning to gauge your opinion on marriage and then you asked me for mine,” Nocturne said softly. “I guess that should have been the clue we were thinking on the same lines. You confirmed you wanted to marry me and I went to buy a ring that I had seen earlier."Leo smiled as he realized they had followed exactly the same steps.“I was planning to propose to you when you came back from work in the hallway so it would be the first thing you saw when you came in. I was disconcerted to find you had come back early,” he admitted.“In my mind
The blond didn’t waste any time in pursuing his mission. He had seen the ring in the morning and he took the first chance he could to ask Nocturne for his opinion on marriage in person. It wasn't a conversation to have by text or over a call.His boyfriend returned from the office as he was serving up dinner. Leo had expanded his cooking repertoire over the years and had seven meals he could make for dinner. He made dinner on weeknights and Nocturne cooked much better meals at the weekend so it all worked out.Leo waited until they were both sitting at the table to broach the topic of marriage.“Nocturne, what are your opinions on marriage?” he asked. “I mean marriage for yourself.”His boyfriend raised his eyebrows. “That’s a random question. What brought it on?”“It doesn’t matter. I just want to know your opinion,” Leo replied.He had learnt over time that Nocturne was good at avoiding questions he didn’t want to answer.Nocturne frowned over the question and took a long moment to
Something strange happened on the evening of their seventh anniversary together.The two of them decided to celebrate their seventh year together at their favorite casual dining restaurant. Leo had introduced Nocturne to it on their fifth date. Their preferred table was outside looking over the harbor.During the wait between their main course and the dessert, Nocturne briefly left him alone at the table to order more drinks at the counter. Leo occupied himself by taking a photo of the candles on the table so he could post about their anniversary on his personal social media account. He was in the process of writing the caption when someone sat down opposite him.The smile on his face died when he saw it wasn’t Nocturne returning from the counter. It was a man he didn’t know.The man was attractive in a similar way only his hair was long and black and his skin was unearthly pale.“That seat is taken by my boyfriend,” Leo told him.He didn’t entirely know why this man had chosen to tak
He was ready to find this man and give him a piece of his mind. Leo moved towards the door. Angela cleared her throat and he stopped. Maybe he had reacted too fast.“You don’t have to go and punch him. Nocturne spent a lot of time working on a report for HR to get him removed for harassment. He submitted it this morning. There’s so many witnesses to everything, it should be an easy case for HR,” Angela informed him. “Levi is being questioned in the HR office right now."Leo realized that he had been naive to think that Nocturne wouldn’t use official channels to do something about someone harassing him. His boyfriend was thorough like that.It made sense that Nocturne had told him not to worry about him and that things would be sorted soon with the ‘difficult client’.He sat back down at the table. It appeared he didn’t have to go and defend his boyfriend from Levi. Nocturne had already done everything necessary.“I would still go and say something to him on a personal level,” Angela s