“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
“Do you ever let any human escape death?”The ruler of the underworld looked over at the person who had asked the question with a disdainful look and scoffed at him. It was a ridiculous question to ask.“I would never do something like that. The rules are simple, if their name is on the list, I take their soul to the underworld to be judged. There is nothing else to it.”Today was a quiet day in the underworld. For once he had enough spare time to sit by the windows in his throne room and drink some tea. The endless night view wasn’t much to look at, but it was all his. It was a shame the ruler of hell had come to visit him.“Nocturne, some of your predecessors broke the rules and allowed humans to keep their lives,” the ruler of hell pointed out. “None of us are heartless despite our origins.”The ruler of the underworld changed over time. There was a mandatory 50 year minimum time period and then the ruler could choose to continue or put their souls up for reincarnation so they could
“You will let me keep my life?” Nocturne nodded and was bemused when Leo started sobbing. This was a very unpredictable human. “Why are you crying? I just gave you what you wanted.”“I’m crying in relief,” the human explained. “When do you want to get married?”Now that the question had been asked Nocturne was experiencing a lot of misgivings. He had just told Draven he would never let a human keep their life. His predecessor had also been punished for doing the same thing.There had to be limits to his actions today. After all, he was interfering in the laws of the universe.“If you can stay alive for another year, I will come and find you,” he told him tenderly. “Then we will discuss marriage.”“I won’t take any risks and I will stay single,” Leo vowed with a tear streaked face. “Do I need to sign a contract or something like that?”“No, I will simply mark you so you remember it and will not betray me,” Nocturne said.He gently tugged down the collar of Leo’s shirt and used his nai
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
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
“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