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
The kiss was long and full of feelings. Leo found it was different to all their previous kisses. It felt more earnest somehow.Things were different for them now. The truth had been revealed.His boyfriend wasn’t human, he was like the Grim Reaper and he was finally seeing his true form.They parted for breath and Leo gave his boyfriend a long look. There were a lot of things to think about now.“You can’t appear here as a human for now,” he announced. “My best friend understandably thinks you’re a stalker. He will call campus security if he sees you around there. If he sees you outside campus, he will probably call the police.”Nocturne looked hurt. “How are we supposed to spend time together then? Should I take on a different human form?”Leo shook his head immediately. “No! I don’t want to date you when you look like someone else. Am I the only person who can see you in this form?”“I only want to be seen by you so that is the case,” Nocturne confirmed. “If someone was to walk in no
Nocturne stared at his boyfriend in silence. The silence became more awkward the longer it went on for. His brain was unable to respond to the question.Leo soon moved back to lying against him. “I can tell that you have not considered having sex with me.”The ruler of the underworld was very far outside of his comfort zone. His thoughts revolved around his job, trying to fit in dates with Leo and thinking about how happy he was with Leo. His mind flashed back to a very early conversation with Celeste. She had asked about his plans for Leo and he had said that he hadn’t saved his life so he could have sex with him later. That was true. Things like that didn’t cross his mind.“It is not something I think about,” he said eventually. “I know things are different for humans. Their minds are different.”“It was just something I was curious about. Don’t worry about it,” Leo assured him.His boyfriend took to wrapping one of his long gray curls around his finger and Nocturne wondered if he
Leo was unsure if the woman had come to his university cafeteria to threaten him. She was giving him mixed signals. He still wasn’t sure who or what she was.“It’s something to do with what happened yesterday,” he said, being careful to not mention his boyfriend ruled the underworld.“That’s right,” she said and continued to stare at him.“Are you Nocturne’s friend?” he asked.“Has he mentioned me?” she asked with wide eyes.“You have been referenced before,” he replied. “What exactly are you?”She glanced around at all the tables around them. Most people were still staring at them. Leo hoped that no one would remember his face and ask him later about the woman.“My name is Celeste,” she said softly. “I’m your boyfriend’s only friend. He’s coming soon. There aren’t too many deaths today so we have a little more time here than usual.”He was struck again by the casual reference to death. He reminded himself that she and Nocturne spent every day dealing with death. It was commonplace to
Nocturne had been unsure how Leo would react to his statement. His boyfriend stiffened and then looked up at him with a pink face.“Okay,” he said with visible awkwardness. “How did you learn about it? Not every source is good.”The ruler of the underworld wasn’t sure what his boyfriend could be referring to.“I asked Celeste when I got back last night for advice. She took me to a bookshop this morning and got me to read lots of books,” he explained. “I have learnt a lot about things from her and the books.”“Ah, you didn’t watch anything,” Leo said with audible relief.Nocturne didn’t understand the question. “What would I watch?” “You’re very pure so I’m not going to explain that one,” Leo said. “What was the most important thing you learnt about sex?”“Consent is the most important thing,” Nocturne related proudly. “That’s right,” his boyfriend agreed.“Celeste told me that humans think about sex a lot,” the ruler of the underworld added. “I do not because I am not human. You wi
Leo’s short moments with Nocturne were bittersweet and whenever his boyfriend left, he felt empty in his heart.He thought about feel good Christmas movies. There was always a miracle at Christmas in those. His mind started to work out ways that Nocturne would magically have more free time to spend with him during the winter vacation period. He wasn’t human after all. There had to be some way.Leo soon busied himself with packing a suitcase with everything he would need at home during his vacation. There were yet more essays to work on over the vacation much to his chagrin.Nocturne arrived as he zipped up his suitcase. He looked delectable as always. Leo was pleased to see that the ruler of the underworld was wearing his favorite suit.It was a deep shade of blue, looked nice with his hair and eyes and most importantly, was easy to take off.Even with their short time with each other, there was always time for experimenting physically with each other. They had yet to go all the way a
“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