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Ren sighed quietly as he lightly stepped on fallen leaves that decorated the entrance to the forest in front of him. It was an old forest, one that he had played in many times, away from the curious eyes of people, accompanied only by the animals and spirits that resided there. It was familiar to him. His soft steps weren't heard and he settled his breathing so that he could be even quieter. He could feel his heart start to beat faster in his chest as he took his first step in.
So it begins.
"Maybe… he won't find me here." Ren whispered to himself, easily jumping from the ground to the high tree branches, walking just underneath the canopy. He shifted his wings a bit, fluffing them out, keeping the leaves out of his feathers. After struggling a bit, he decided to pull them in instead, all the while doing his best to keep his balance on the branches. Ren lightly skipped across them and finally landed by a giant tree in the middle of the forest, hopping off the branches to sit by its huge surface roots and curling himself beside them. His warm, hazel eyes looked everywhere, the darkness of the lack of sun not bothering him in the slightest since his eyes could see in the dark. Not to mention, he himself gave off a bit a light. He would give off more, but his wings weren't out at the moment.
The forest was unnaturally quiet, however, and Ren knew that was a bad sign. The forest creatures usually came out to play with him, but if they weren't then that meant—
Ren heard a twig snap just behind the tree he was sitting by. With wide eyes, he fled quickly, his wings coming out and beating once, twice, then taking him somewhere else completely, leaving the calm of the forest behind.
He didn't even hide for long before he was found, maybe he was getting bad at this? Did he leave a sign somewhere? Was he too obvious?
Ren carefully landed in a new location. Before he put his wings away, he glanced back at them, wondering if one or more of his feathers had fallen out and given him away. They twitched under his scrutiny, but he ultimately shook his head, pulling them back inside and looking around, to see where he landed this time.
He took in a deep breath as he looked around, finally noticing his surroundings. Gone was the calm—albeit unnaturally calm—forest. Gone were the free-flowing, nature spirits that blended with the wildlife around him, reminding him that he wasn't alone.
Here he was, in a crowded city area, surrounded by tons of people busily trying to make their way through the streets, with the sun quickly setting behind him.
He swallowed hard. Ren didn't feel comfortable surrounded by so many humans, all of whom were in a rush to get where they needed to be. They couldn't see him, of course, but that still didn't help. He did his best to stay out of people's way, but many walked through him, causing him to get a little jumpy.
Maybe the humans felt something where he was—a couple that walked through him paused and felt a strange warmth on them, as if they weren't reaching the colder temperatures of winter. One person quickly turned around, wondering what they walked into or through but couldn't see anything. Ren tried to walk out of the crowd he was in. It would be better for him if he hid in plain sight amongst all the humans but he wasn't comfortable here and he'd rather be nearly caught if it meant getting away. A man ran through him from behind and Ren shuddered. He felt those weird, wrong, bad intentions that mixed into his being for that moment and he didn't like it. He slowly reached a hand out, as if to stop him but he froze because he wasn't supposed to interfere. He was supposed to watch.
He wasn't even supposed to be among them.
He wondered if he should close his eyes and wait to be caught but as soon as he thought to close those bright hazel eyes, an angry voice called out to him.
"Ren, go."
He didn't hesitate a second longer, pulling his wings out to take him somewhere else, somewhere hopefully far away from the chaotic humans. One day, things might change and he would feel better to walk amongst the humans, but that was better left for another time.
Yet where he ended up now wasn't any better, in his opinion.
His wings fluttered a bit in dismay when he realized he was standing deep inside a dark cave somewhere. Sure, he could see and he didn't have to fear there being some animal inside that would attack him because animals didn't do that to him but it was dark in here. Sunlight had no chance of reaching this deep into the cave. And things that he shouldn't be seen with liked to be in the dark.
Things he should stay away from.
This was actually the perfect place for him to get caught.
He wasn't having much luck with locations today, it seemed.
Ren steadied his breathing, feathers twitching, eyes closing. He naturally ran hotter than most things in the world so the cold, damp, unforgiving feeling trying to engulf him in the cave did little to scare him off. He wasn't completely alone, he finally noticed. There were small creatures, bats, by the feel of them, somewhere towards the back of the cave, far behind him. There were other creatures, countless, if he went deep enough, but he got carried away, spending too long reaching out and not enough time trying to keep himself hidden.
He felt something cold—not bad intent, not out to harm—but it pulled a small shiver out of him, his heart skipping a couple beats. He took a couple careful steps, the cold, hard ground doing little harm on his bare feet, but he didn't get too far in—he didn't realize if he was going deeper into the cave or not—when something lightly touched the tips of his wings.
He froze in midstep.
"N-no…" His shaky voice came out soft but in the silence of the cave amplified it, allowing it to reach his companion.
It was too soon; Ren still didn't want to be found.
"Then go, I'll find you."
The voice was confident and it echoed from all around, just enough to hide where the voice came from, and just enough to chase Ren's fear away.
He nodded once and the almost insignificant feeling of another wing reaching out towards his, just barely grazing the tips of his feathers, made him want to run away as far as he could and simultaneously made him want to run towards the voice who spoke.
Ren's wings twitched once before taking him away again, wondering how long he would be able to keep this up.
Ren's hazel eyes widened immediately upon finding himself underwater. His mouth opened to give a gasp only to remember that he could breathe, regardless of where he was. He took in a big, steady breath and smiled. He hadn't been underwater in a while. A small taste at the water told him he was in a lake. Somewhere around the center of the lake, there was just enough sunlight still reaching him through all the water, and just enough space left that his feet weren't anywhere near the bottom of the lake. The sun was high in the sky, so he couldn't tell where he was but it was far enough away from his previous location. There were curious fish swimming all around him, staring at him, unafraid to go near him. He tended to have that kind of effect on animals and with a soft smile, he reached a hand out to play with the fish. They were so colorful and so many varieties and they were sweet, their tails playfully swished at him causing him to giggle.
Ren had mostly been floating in the water but now he started to swim a bit, using his wings to slowly move himself around.
He stretched his arms out and closed his eyes, letting the fish swim around him as much as they pleased, while he relaxed in the water. It had been too long since he took a trip into the water. He remembered once how he was deep in the ocean, surrounded by whales, who happily let him flutter around them.
Once, he was down in the ocean and his only company were his current pursuer and some mermaids. Merpeople, to be more precise, but this time it was some mermaids who were with him. The mermaids were so large and powerful, majestic creatures that used to sink ships of those who dared try to capture them, but they were so sweet to him and his friend (once they got to know they weren't in any danger).
He hadn't visited the merpeople in a long time. One day he would go back.
The fish scattered suddenly, causing him to open his eyes and look around. A couple of stragglers were still around, watching curiously and while Ren thought that was cute, he looked around, to see if anyone was close to him.
Ah, he thought, when he noticed the darkness from the bottom of the lake growing a little larger. Ren reached out without thinking, and the darkness receded immediately. Ren blinked, watching the darkness hesitate to reach out again.
Ren's wings twitched and the darkness receded again in acknowledgment.
Alright, so it wasn't over yet.
His wings fluffed out and he knew—he figured they both knew—that this would be their last stop.
Once Ren was aware of his new surroundings, he flapped his wings a couple times to release as much of the water as he could, the water eventually just rolling off his light clothes as he was out in open air again.
Feeling the sand under his toes, a quiet laugh escaped him while he jumped around a bit, excited to be at a beach.
The sun was setting again, Ren's wings lighting up a little before being pulled inside while he took some steps towards the water. He wasn't going to walk back into the water, but he enjoyed watching the water come so close to touching his toes, but pulling back just enough to avoid him.
Ren sighed softly, bringing his arms up to hug himself a little before reaching a hand out towards the ocean. His hand stayed still for a moment before cupping at the air, as if he was holding a ball up. A small orb of water slowly floated up from the ocean, bouncing slightly as it came closer to him. There were two tiny fish inside, swimming inside the orb as it got closer to him.
It stopped several feet away from him, enough so that it was still over the water.
Ren watched the sun shine through the water, brightening the fish that were inside the orb of water.
He gasped softly when he felt a pair of arms settle comfortably around his waist. The orb slipped from the air, nearly colliding with the surface of the water but another hand reached out right next to his and stopped the orb just a few inches above the water before slowly setting it down in the water.
Ren didn't waste any time and he turned around, wrapping his arms around the neck of the person behind him. "Takaya!"
The same voice he'd heard earlier in the cave, in the forest, in the crowd, spoke up again. "Found you."
They had been doing this for a long time. Too long, actually. They'd nearly gotten caught a few times, but they never stopped. Ren wasn't one to easily get along with others, his shy nature made him an easy target to the older, more jaded angels. Takaya was hard, cold, unemotional after being a demon for so long, but then he met Ren. Ren was a stuttering, frightened angel, who twitched at the slightest sound that snuck up on him. Takaya didn't know how to talk to him at first.
They weren't even supposed to be talking at all, but they were curious about each other. And after some time, they came up with this game of chase.
They take turns every once in a while and today was Takaya's turn. The two of them chase each other around the world, until they catch up after a few stops. It gives them both a chance to explore different places (ones inhabited by humans change when they do this every few decades and it's always interesting to see that happening) while having fun with each other.
Takaya pulled back from Ren just enough so he could reach his hands up to the angel's cheeks. Ren had small, bright green triangles underneath his eyes that came with his being, and Takaya loved to gently rub his thumbs over those markings. The bright green was visible also in the tips of his feathers. They were the same shade of strawberry blond, like his hair but in the sunlight, or in any light, Ren's feathers shimmered with a faint, sparkly green.
The angel felt his cheeks warm up as he stared into Takaya's dark gray eyes. The demon had two dark blue lines on each cheek, almost like scratch marks, that echoed the ones found along the rest of his body. Ren really liked to run his fingers over the markings, whenever he got the chance to.
"You ended up amongst the humans again," Takaya commented, his own black feathers with dark blue undertones, reaching out to coax Ren's out from hiding. They popped out and Ren shyly entwined the tips of their feathers.
"Yeah," Ren looked down. "It was… an accident."
And that's when he realized the angry voice wasn't because Takaya had been angry at him, it was because he was worried the angel was pushing himself to be in a place he didn't want to be in just to continue this game. Ren still remembered how hard it had been before when telling apart Takaya's angry voices because that just seemed to be his default setting. Everything had been so scary for him before; he was glad things had changed.
The two of them purposely chose random locations when being chased. Once when Takaya was hiding, he ended up on the top of a snowy mountain, the cold hardly phasing him, but he was there for hours before Ren found him. Ren, who was in tears because he thought Takaya had left him to search endlessly for him. It was back when they first started this, some centuries ago. They knew they couldn't just run away from their homes, from who they were, but they did what they could to see each other.
Takaya had hugged him, and while the shaking angel's hiccups lessened, Takaya gently reached out his wings to touch the bright colored ones. That definitely made it easier, that small and brief connection made it so that whenever one was on earth, the other would know. And while it might take time for them to find each other, with their long, endless lives, they knew they eventually would.
Takaya remembered how they couldn't even communicate well when they first met and now they had a bond like this that went far beyond anything they knew.
The demon softly kissed the top of Ren's hair and moved them a little so they could see the sun setting below the horizon.
They talked about everything since they last saw each other some years ago and it was nice to catch up. At some point, they sat down on the sand, Ren leaning against Takaya as he rambled about his friend who kept making balls out of stardust and clouds and threw them at the older, angrier angels who chased after them, making the rest of the onlookers laugh at how they looked.
Takaya wrapped a wing around Ren while he talked about one of the demons gathering bits of stygian metal along with some breaths of the souls of the damned to make mini bombs and throwing them at each other.
Their worlds were so different, sometimes beyond the other's comprehension. Other times, they felt they were exactly the same.
Tonight was a full moon and it was high up before either of them noticed how much time had passed.
Ren noticed first, and his wings showed it. They started fluffing and twitching, Takaya's dark eyes immediately seeing their anxious state. He would deny it, but his eyes softened at seeing the angel fidget. It wasn't too long ago that Ren only ever fidgeted around him, before he was able to get completely comfortable. He'd say, a couple centuries, give or take.
Takaya reached a hand out to gently brush through the feathers. "You know we see each other often."
"I-I wanna see you more!" Ren blurted out, his face turning red, bringing out the green markings a little more.
Takaya blinked at the directness. A faint red dusted his cheeks, clashing a little against the dark blue markings. "… Ok."
Ren's face lit up, the muffled light his being emits glowing brighter, toning it down just enough that it wouldn't be too much for Takaya. He hesitated for a moment before standing up and holding his arms out a bit, reaching towards the demon. Takaya stood as well and Ren jumped into his open arms, throwing his wings around them, their warmth spreading to the darker wings. "Oh, Takaya, I um, wanted to see the merpeople again, could we?"
Takaya blinked, remembering how his first encounter went with them, before Ren stepped in and proved Takaya wasn't bad. But then he remembered how fun it had been, swimming with the merpeople. "Alright, we can do that."
Ren grinned, burying his face into the crook of Takaya's neck, while the demon held him close. It was hard to say goodbye to his friend like this. Takaya gently nudged Ren to look up and the angel saw they were surrounded by lots of tiny, floating blue flames. They flickered around them, lighting up their goodbye, courtesy of Takaya.
He knew how much Ren liked lightshows.
When they finally parted after the flames died down, the two were still a few feet apart, just holding hands. Takaya brought Ren's hands up to lightly kiss them, then slowly released them.
Ren's wings fluttered shyly to match with his blushing face. This kind of affection between them was still new to them, it would take a while until he was used to it. The thought of experiencing more things with Takaya excited him. "I'll… see you soon!"
Takaya nodded and watched as Ren took a couple steps back, just enough so the water nearly touched him, but before it could, Ren's wings flapped once, twice, and then he was gone.
Takaya waited until he couldn't feel the angel's presence on earth anymore, then he took his own wings and spread them out to call up the shadows, then disappeared along with the darkness of the night, as the sun slowly started to rise in the horizon.
Monkey: Hey! Here I am with my first Oofuri fic and of course it's AbeMiha lol. This whole thing came from the tiny scene where Ren is on the beach, using his powers to lift some water out of the ocean with the fish, I don't know how it all spiraled into this but here we are lol. Thank you for reading! Hope you liked it!