Boyfriends & Beloved | Part III

Everyone seemed to depart after that, well, everyone except for Park and Ryn. Everyone giving me a friendly smile and wave before walking off, and I followed them with my eyes before they moved around the corner and left my sight.

"I have a charger up in my room, I'll go get it for you later, k?" Ryn tells me with a sweet giggle following.

I nod in response, "Alright. Thanks."

Park then waves off Ryn, who nods and waves himself, walking off with his hands in his pockets, just like the others, I watched as he walked off until he was out of sight, being left alone with Park once more. I looked back up to him, seeing as he, like before, didn't say anything, and went walking off. I quickly followed him, admiring all the artwork on the walls and the beautiful architecture of the design. The entire place seemed so expensive and massive. I was personally happy to be with Park, if I was left on my own, I'd be nothing but a deer in headlights, scared and lost out of my mind. The walk was fairly quiet, the song sound I picked up being the sound of his boots making a soft thump against the carpeted floors, and my vans adding a soft bass tone to his melody.

Soon, he stopped in front of a door, opening it up before motioning his head for me to walk in. As so I did, taking a few steps forward, I entrance myself into a nicely decorated room, a beautiful and comfortable looking queen sized bed with maroon shaded pillows and sheets, along with maroon and gray shades curtains, blocking out the glowing sun of the massive window, leading to the balcony of the room. A few potted plants here and there to accompany the dark and subtle colors, being small and fake cherry blossom trees, with even a few peonies placed nicely here and there. Even a nice wooden desk, a closed laptop along with a monitor, a desk light, and your nice assortment of office supplies sat here and there. There was even a nice fluffy Cotten rug, of course being gray to match the maroon colors.

"Please remove your shoes before stepping on the rug." Park spoke, staring down to the rug before looking back up to me.

I nod in response, bending down onto one knee and untying my laces, slipping out of my black vans and setting them nicely to the side. I was wearing your typical black socks, a few sloths placed here and there. They were just sitting, sunglasses on. Park stared at my socks as I stepped onto the rug, sinking into it. It definitely was fluffy and soft, if only everything felt like that. I then glance back to Park.

"I'm guessing this is where I'd be staying?" I ask to him, lightly stepping in different parks of the rug to get that nice sinking feeling like I had before.

Park nods, crossing his arms as he walked over to the large windowed wall, opening the curtains to allow the glow of the sun entrance into the dark room, I had to blink a bit to allow my eyes to get its vision back before the glare was gone and I was able to see Parks white and red fox mask in my head again. He crossed his arms once he was done, staring out the window before glancing back to me over his shoulder.

"Nearest bathroom is down the hall to your right, you'll know which one it is. It's labeled." His tone went back to being more serious and tense.

I was impressed at how quickly he could change tones with his voice, at how quickly his emotions could change. He gave me one last nod before walking past me, and leaving me alone in the room. I wasn't even able to tell him thank you for the room, I looked around the room, to the desk, then he bed, then out the window. It was a nice view, so that drew me in, causing me to open the glass sliding door and step out onto the balcony. Where I was introduced with who seemed to be Asher, and the weird pink entity flying silently next to him. It seemed to be coming out of his back? Maybe it was attached to him?

I stared for a second before he slowly glanced over to me, staring back for a second before he looked back to the view, the entity continued staring at me though, before I heard it speak up.

"Hey." It spoke in an emotionless tone.

I tensed up, holding my breath for a second before I fiddled with my hands. It seemed this balcony was connected by three of the rooms, the one next to mine I was guessing was Asher's. And I didn't know who the third would be. I gave a small wave, looking out at the view then back to Asher.

"Am I bothering you?" I ask in a soft and friendly voice. He was a soul reaper after all. I didn't want to annoy him and get my soul taken.

"No." He responded.

I lightly nod my head right after, taking a deep breath before I walked up to the railing and leaned against it. I stared out for a second before I could feel Asher's and the entity's eyes staring straight into the side of my head. I only glance back, and Asher looks me over before he exhaled slowly.

"Keanu, right?" He asks me.

"Oh! Yeah. And you're Asher?"

"Yes."

It was silent again after that. An awkward silence. At least for me, Asher seemed really relaxed and just comfortable the entire time I stood there. It was really weird, seeing as the entity spoke for him. I glanced to the pink shadow, raising an eyebrow in confusion before I went to speak up, getting cut off by the entity again, or well... Asher speaking.

"I was the experiment to see if a soul reaper could take another soul reapers soul." He explained, "If you can't tell, you can't. You can take the soul out of a soul reaper, but you can't eat it. And once your soul is out, it can't go back in. Now mine follows me everywhere, speaks for me, even visualizes things for me when I can't."

I pause, my eye lightly twitching. So it is speaking for Asher.. I moved my hands back down to my sides, my eyes lightly narrowing before resting again. That was, honestly quite intriguing.

"So that's your soul I'm staring at?" I ask.

"Yes." He responds emotionless as he has.

"And... It's pink?"

"Matches my halo."

"I see... Did it hurt?"

"No."

His responses were always so abrupt and simple. The most I heard him speak is when he was explaining what this entity was. I lightly bit my lip after that, staring in slight awe but also a bit of fear before I just turned back to the view and stared out at it. This entire thing was surreal, standing next to a soul reaper on a balcony in a house full of these reapers. I could die or get tortured at any moment. At least that's what their known for. I then glanced over to him before speaking up.

"Well it was nice for you to put yourself in a situation where you... Could of died for some experiment." I spoke subtly.

"It wasn't my option. I was thrown into it without warning." He responded, glancing back over to me.

I tensed up, immediately looking back at the view before I ran my fingers through my hair, sighing deeply before I glanced back to him.

"Sorry."

"No need to apologize." He starts, staring back out at the forest that was the beauty of our view, "You didn't know. Wasn't your fault."

I nod softly, then seeing as he turned to me fully. I couldn't see his emotions since they were mostly covered with an eyepatch and a mask, but I could tell he was smiling. At least on the inside. He held out a hand for me to shake, staring me straight in the eye with his... Socket. Of what used to be an eye. Maybe it was taken when he was the experiment? I had a lot of questions about this man... He was just so intriguing.

"It was a pleasure to meet you, Keanu. But I must get to the kitchen to help with lunch. Chorus isn't all that patient." He spoke subtly.

I reached out my own hand and gave him a firm handshake and a sweet smile, waving my hand a small bit as I moved my hand back down to my side, using the other to hold myself up against the railing.

"The pleasure is all mine, guess we're gonna be neighbors until the time being." I responded.

"I guess we will. Please tell me if I'm ever too loud."

And with that, I was left out on the balcony, taking a deep breath as I leaned my arms against the railing, closing my eyes and just embracing the breeze as it hugged my skin. It was the perfect temperature. And I was enjoying the small sound of the wind when I heard a loud.

"BOO!"

Come from behind me. I quickly jolted, going to punch whoever scared me when I turned around to see it was just a laughing Ryn. He leaned down against his knees as he laughed, and I just scoffed a small bit, rolling my eyes. I personally didn't really find that funny. But hey, whatever floats his boat.

"You could of gotten pinched you know?" I ask him in slight annoyance, putting my hands on his hips with a deep glare.

Ryn glanced back up to me, finishing up his laughing fit with chuckles and giggles before he straightened himself and let off a deep exhale, a few extra giggles following. His face was red behind his dark caramel skin from all his laughing, and I swear I could of seen some tears clinging to the corners of his eyes.

"I know, I know. I'm sorry. But that was the perfect moment, I couldn't pass it up." He responded, panting a bit from the loud amount of laughter he did.

Ryn was the master of silence. I didn't hear him get up from the couch, I didn't hear him move behind me just then. I was honestly surprised that he himself wasn't a soul reaper, if he wanted, he could of came up behind me and snapped my neck, take my soul... Drain me of my life. I don't know, do some bad things to me or something. I just took a deep breath, staring back out of the view when he joined right next to me, but instead of staring out at the view, stared right at the house, his elbows keeping him resting against the railing before he glanced over to me.

"So, what do you think of your room?" He asks me with a small smile.

I lightly shrug, "It's definitely better than what I'm sleeping in now that's for sure."

That caused a slight giggle to escape him, and he shook his head. "Just wait until you sleep in it tonight. It'll be extremely comfortable."

After that we both went silent for a few moments, and he closed his eyes, just embracing the moment while I continued to lean against the railing with my arms across one another, staring out at a few birds and squirrels I could see running through the trees. It seemed behind the house was a forest of some sort, while the front was the actual town of Miami, Florida.

"So you've really been here for a week?" I ask, genuinely curious.

Ryn opened his eyes to look at me, nodding before he put a finger to his chin, staring up a bit. "I have. I originally was gonna stay here for a day too. Just like ya. But... Then I had an amazing dinner and breakfast, the bed was hella comfortable, and everyone here is really nice once you really get to know them. Sure, Park and Asher are a bit emotionless, but they are both really friendly after a while of you warming up to them. And they're extremely protective of me too. Yeah, they let me have freedom and what not, but they get weird when I mention dark places or whatever."

"Dark places?" I ask, glancing over to him.

He looked back to me, chuckling, "it's not as bad as it sounds. Like alleys and what not. I usually use them as shortcuts to the bakery and cafe. There's usually some weird homeless people or drug dealers so whenever I mention them, everyone gets weird, hoping I didn't get hurt. They care about my health more than you'd think a soul reaper would for a human ya know?"

I nod softly, looking back to the view, my dark brown hair falling gently over my own caramel skin and light brown eyes, I then look up to the sky, it was a really sunny day, no clouds, yet a cold breeze. It was a really pretty day too, since it was spring, everything looked so beautiful and vibrant.

"So. Park mentioned you passed out too. What happened to you? If you don't mind me asking." I ask, looking over to him fully as I adjust my body to the same position he was in.

Ryn let off a teasing scoff, shaking his head, "Yeah, I didn't drink myself to sleep like you did. I was going on my late night run, didn't bring a water with me, got light headed and next thing I knew I was on the ground with a bloody head and I was passed out. Park picked me up and brought me back here where he gave me the same explanation as he did for you."

"And... You're okay with helping them? Soul reapers that could turn on you and take your soul at any moment?"

"Pfft, I'm not worried about that. Sure, I was a bit hesitant in the beginning, but now that I look at it, I don't really see them as people who would purposely try to kill me. And even if I do, the only people that would care would be my family, and even then I don't see or talk to them as much as I used to. Don't get me wrong, we all still love each other but once I moved out everyone got distant with me. Still check in every now and then but overall those conversations are quite small and sweet. They'd probably get over it in under a year anyway." Ryn let off a small chuckle, staring up at the sky, "It would be a really fun way to go out too. Imagine people telling your story of getting your soul taken by a reaper. Isn't that like some cool fairytale shit?"

I looked at him fully as he spoke, then lowering my head as he stared down to our feet, lightly biting my bottom lip before I exhaled through my nose, shaking my head a small bit.

"I think you should stay too." He spoke, patting my shoulder a bit.

"I can't ghost my girlfriend like that, man." I respond, looking back to him with a sweet smile, "I love her a lot, she loves me. I don't wanna be that idiot boyfriend that leaves her because of some soul reapers."

Ryn lightly frowned, shrugging, "But if she's a good girlfriend, she'll understand and let you live your life as you please. Besides, you can always visit her and I'm sure Park and Kier here would be okay if she visited us."

I lightly roll my eyes, "Don't give me that cliche crap." I spoke teasingly.

Ryn laughed a bit, lightly punching my shoulder, "I'm being honest, man! You don't gotta live your life based on her rules. I'm sure she can live a few weeks away from you. You got a phone, FaceTime is a thing you two can do all the time if you really wanna see each other that damn much. Speaking of phones, here's my charger. Keep it, I always keep a spare on me." He reaches into his pocket and handed me a long white charger, "And remember what I said. This could be the next step for both of these races. It's kinda in our hands, Keanu. And I know you don't wanna go along with it, but just think, we could save this world."

Ryn walked away after that, back into the far bedroom from mine, guess he's the third door. I stared down to the charger, his words sticking with me like glue. I wanted to help... I really did. But I got some massive trust issues. So I was still hesitant on this. But I was snapped back to reality when I saw Park come walking into my room, staring over to me as I walked back in.

"No such thing as knocking I see?" I ask him teasingly.

"I knocked. Three times. You didn't answer." He responded emotionlessly.

My face dropped. Ryn wasn't lying when he said they took everything too seriously. "Ah... Yeah, sorry. Anyway, what's up?"

I walk to the nearest outlet and grab out my phone, plugging it in and setting it on my bed to charge, looking back to Park as I put my hands on my hips. Park nods softly, glancing back to the door before he exhaled slowly.

"Lunch is almost done. I'm here to escort you."

"Already? Bet. Lead the way."