Boyfriends & Beloved | Part II

"The pleasure is all mine." I respond softly, glancing back to everyone else who gives "Ryn" friendly waves and smiles.

"Keanu." Park starts, crossing his arms, "This is Ryn. I found him about a week ago also passed out. He's been living here for the time being."

I look back to Park when he spoke, his voice calm and dare I say sweet. He then glanced down to me, as I tried my best to comprehend everything that's happening. They didn't take Ryn's soul. Clearly, since he's still here. But why? They all even seem so friendly around him too, like they've known him their entire lives. I lightly rub my temples in confusion, holding out my hands for everyone to give me a few seconds to wrap my mind around this.

"Alright so..." I start, shutting up right after. Now it was me who was trying to think of how to word my sentences. "Let me recap..."

"Go ahead." Park responds.

"My friend asked me if I wanted to join him for a drink. He left me drunk in the middle of the night, I passed out, I woke up in this strange place full of soul reapers, there's another person here that isn't a soul reaper and he's not dead, I don't even know where we are, I'm really confused. Why am I here? And why haven't you guys tried to take my soul yet?" I asked all of this fairly quickly, I was still extremely confused yet intrigued with all of this.

I've never been in contact with a soul reaper before, haven't even ever seen one with my own two eyes. And there was a good time where I didn't even believe in them. But, now being in a room full of them? Yeah, I couldn't help but be a little giddy. Instead of Park, or the pretty woman speaking up, instead, it was one of the other men. Seemed to look a little younger than Park did. Baby blue hair slicked back to perfection, two blueish gray horns sticking out of his head, lightly curving in then right back out. They were the same color as the woman's antlers. His sclera was also a dark gray. Well, all of theirs were. Guess that was what made you a reaper. His eyes a bright dandelion yellow, piercing through my soul with small and thin black pupils. A nice pair of teal triangular glasses sat silently on the tip of his refined nose, matching the cape he were sitting upon. He took a cigarette out of his mouth and blew out a bit of smoke in the shape of a ring.

"We're not those stereotypical reapers everyone knows and loves. It's not often we take human souls anymore. We prefer to depend on animals and insects to give us our nutrients. So you don't have to worry. But yes, there are a few times where we will have to take a human soul. But that's only if we're on the verge of death due to starvation."

His voice was even deeper than Park's! And his voice had no sort of emotion or set feeling in it either. It was honestly quite satisfying. He glanced to his cigarette, then back to me, giving me a small scan with his eyes before letting off a small and faint chuckle under his breath. I couldn't help but tense up, what did that mean? I paused after he spoke, for a second I couldn't really believe it, but from everyone else's nodding and approval from the room, even from Ryn, I had no choice but to believe that they didn't eat human souls anymore.

"And... Why am I here? I woke up, and I appreciate your guys help of saving me off the cold and hard streets, but I think I'm gonna head back home now." I responded, as much as I wanted to stay, I had a girlfriend I needed to get back to. I'm sure she was extremely worried about me for not coming home last night.

"Leaving?" Park asks, turning to face me fully, "But why?"

"I have a girlfriend I need to get back to. I'm sure I'm gonna get scolded for being out so long and waking up in a random house but I don't want her calling a search party on me."

Park sighed softly, lowering his head again in the same way he has been while thinking of what to say and how to word it. He then looked right back to me, he was so tall compared to myself, him being a good 6'3, while I sit here being only 5'7. I felt so small compared to them. And I was sure I was the shortest out of everyone in this room. That's when he finally spoke up.

"I'll get to the point. We need your help." That's all that Park had said, staring me straight in the eye.

I took a step back for safety reasons, not really comfortable with the aura he was radiating as he spoke those words. What did they need me for? I tilt my head in confusion, fiddling with my sleeves as I slowly cross my arms, raising an eyebrow to everyone.

"What... Do you need me for?" I asks subtly, glancing between each patron that was staring.

Park nodded softly to himself, then looking over and put the window, walking up and standing in front of it, staring down at the town before glancing over his shoulder back at me, then over to the blue haired man, they shared a nod and Park then turned back to me again, and like usual, thought of how to word his sentence.

"As soul reapers, we are trying our best to... How cliche is this gonna sound? Get along with humans. Not all soul reapers are bad, sure, you have the ones that abuse their power and what not, but then you get us, who aren't afraid to save humans and not think of any consequences. And despite the abilities we possess, we want to help you guys, with them. And so, we brought you and Ryn here... To help. We want you two to help us reapers get along with humans. And this will just seem to be the start."

That was probably the most cliche thing I've ever heard. But it was also the most I've heard the man speak. So, he wants two humans to help reapers get along with their race? I'm definitely open for that. I'm here for a good time, not a long time. But just for reassurance, I look back to Ryn, who gave me a hopeful stare, which caused me to exhale slowly, looking back up to the masked man, nodding.

"Fine. I'll help. What's in it for me?" I ask in a teasing tone.

"What do you wish for from this?" Park responded.

"I don't know, cool soul reaper body guards or something?"

"Deal."

Park held out his hand for me to shake, wait, he was really open for that end of the deal? I wasn't complaining, just chuckled and shook my head as I gave him a firm handshake. I didn't know why at the time I was so open to help soul reapers with human communication, but in the end, I'm really glad that I was made that deal.

"So... What do I need to do? I'll just get your guys number or something if you have one, and we can meet up again someday later?" I ask, grabbing out my phone.

Park placed his hand atop of mine, stopping me. I look up to him slightly confused, and he just slowly moved his hand away, taking a deep breath before he scratched the back of his neck.

"There's no need for that." Park starts, "You're welcome to stay here if you'd like. We have the extra guest room if you wish to stay. At least, that's what Ryn is doing too."

"He already mentioned his girlfriend, Park." The woman from earlier started, "I don't think he's gonna wanna stay here if she's worried about him."

I looked back over to the woman, and she gave me a friendly smile, then waving her hand a small bit. I look back up to Park, who was staring down at me, just standing there, staring.

"Come on, dude!" Ryn exclaimed happily, wrapping his arm around my shoulder, I didn't even hear the boy get up. "It would be really nice to have someone who understands today's modern society. No offense to you guys but all of you take things too seriously sometimes."

He spoke to me, then looking over my shoulder to the rest of the group. I didn't even know what to do, great, now I'm getting peer pressured into something again. And last time that happened I ended up drunk on the side of a bar. I take a deep breath, pulling out my phone, it didn't turn on. Must of been dead. So I just slipped it back into my pocket. Everyone had these hopeful looks on their faces. Well, everyone except for the blue haired man, Park, and another boy sitting near the edge next to the cigarette holding male. But both of the girls, and Ryn all had these puppy dog eyes, causing me to sigh deeply and rub my temples a bit.

"I'll stay for the night to see what happens. But, I'm going to have to request a charger for my phone, I need to tell Sylvia I'll be gone again. And that she doesn't need to worry about me. In the meantime, I'd like to know all of your names, I'll start. I'm Keanu."

The blue haired boy took the cigarette out of his mouth again, "Kier." He spoke, immediately resting the cigarette against his bottom lip.

The woman from earlier fiddled with the handle of her scythe, giving me another friendly smile. "Call me Edge. It's a pleasure."

Next was the second woman, just as beautiful as Edge was. Her hair a light gray, wavy, and pulled up into two long and stunning pigtails. There was a blue flower in her hair, accompanied by four large green leaves. She looked up to me, her left eye the same as everyone else's. Blue with a dark gray sclera. But her right being more vibrant and a pretty shade of black. Her pupils were small hearts seeming to be in some sort of huddled group. And she was crying, but had the brightest and friendliest smile on her face out of everyone there. I didn't know why she was crying, but there were definitely tears running down her face. She wore a silky and clean light blue and white laced dress, a nice pastel purple bow wrapping around the collar. Her sleeves were puffy and the entire outfit looked comfortable.

"It's an honor." She spoke in a soft spoken tone, "You can call me Chorus."

I give her a soft nod and a wave, everyone here intrigued me, they all seemed so interesting and I wanted to know so much more about every one of them. The last was the quiet boy sitting on the edge of the couch next to Kier. He wore a black eyepatch over his left eye. His right being pure darkness. No pupil, no actual eye, just the socket for what used to be an eye to sit in. His mouth was covered by a black mask rounding his face and cheeks. Light brown hair covering only a little of the eyepatch as it was nicely parted down the right side, kinda messy, definitely curly. He wore a nice collared shirt, just like Park was, but it was split down the middle of two different colors. White and green. The boy wore two belts, one being white the other slipping off his hip a small bit, being the same shade of pine green just like the shirt. Light gray shorts accompanying his outfit that stopped just above the knee, tugging at his thighs. And a light pink watery and broken halo drifting peacefully above his head.

"Asher. But call me Ash." It didn't seem as if he spoke, but I knew someone did. Just what?

That was when some weird pink entity emerged from behind him, one large eye sitting in the middle of its face. It didn't have arms, or legs, or even a body, it seemed to be a shadow of some sort. But definitely not Ash's shadow. The eye was a weird assortment of colors as well. The sclera being black like all the others, the iris being red and the pupil a pretty assortment of blue and yellow. The shadow gave me a toothy grin, although there were no actual teeth to show. Just the silhouette of what seemed to be some sharp daggers.

"It's... A pleasure." I spoke softly, staring at the shadow in slight confusion. Did he speak for Ash? Or was that a whole other character?

"And of course you know me and Park already." Ryn says sweetly, finally moving his arm away from my shoulder, stepping back and putting his hands on his hips. "Don't worry, I've only been here for a week, and these people are the nicest people you'll probably ever meet. I'm sure you'll like it here for your short time being! No, I know you'll like it here. At least, I hope so."

"Well since you're hyping it up so much I'm now expecting a lot." I tease, causing a small giggle fit to stifle through the room.