Archive of Our Own

Stuck...
Moving...
Stuck...

Moving.

The sun hung low on the late afternoon sky, casting its golden light onto the many sales items that were neatly placed onto the shelves of the little convenience store. It would be a lie to blame the time of the day, the season or even the year for the absence of customers. The whole city district was a rather quiet place, which is why the store has never been faced with too many customers at once in the first place. Still, there were enough potential customers around to keep the Conbini alive - giddy kids who kept whining until they got ice cream from their parents, young people who stopped by for their daily dose of caffeine or elderly people who came by for a little chat and a cup of tea.
Another type of customers were the ones that had seen the small plate attached to the windows which said "Hostel upstairs" and named a considerably low price. The rooms were small, yet homely and comfy; mostly unnoticed by tourists it established itself as an insider tip to the town's people.
Still, at this time of the day even those people rarely came by. The kids were called for dinner, the elderly already at home, the students still at school. That's why the young cashier who was standing behind the counter, dared to relax his posture and leaned on his elbows, tapping his pen on an open magazine. The metallic foil of imported sweets reflected the light directly onto his brown and curly hair, and beneath that his eyebrows slightly furrowed in thought, trying to figure out the answer to the mandatory number puzzle on the last page of the boulevard magazine. Absentmindedly humming to an unknown tune he twirled the pen in his slender fingers, when the jingle of the electric door interrupted his thoughts. Laying down the pen, he straightened his posture while friendly greeting his customer. He was tall and slim, yet not overly lanky. The simple light-grey jeans and plain black T-Shirt were harmonizing with his unique aura pretty well. Even though the cashier only caught a rather short glimpse of his face, he already spotted his foreign facial features, with cat-like eyes and a very straight nose. Whereas his skin was slightly tanned, his hair was died in a sandy blond tone, creating a warm contrast. While he took in his overall appearance, the stranger paced indecisively from the cooled sandwiches to the tower of stashed instant soups.
The cashier wondered if he had ever seen him before. Maybe he was a tourist or someone visiting his family?
When the guy finally took a cooled joghurt dessert with fruits and snatched some paprika chips, the cashier hurried to give an impassive impression.
"Hello.", he called again as the blonde man reached the counter; a pure sales routine. There was no answer, but the items were cautiously placed onto the counter and spontaneously joined by a vanilla instant coffee. He noticed very pretty hands, sporting a single silver ring. Everything went quiet except for the tills' lonely beeping sounds as the scanner went through the items.
"That would be 4,400 Won, please.", he said; and when he looked up he noticed the guy had been staring at him. For a moment he was stunned to see very bright grey eyes that widened immediately when he felt being caught. He averted his eyes quickly, reaching for his pocket and placing some notes on the counter. When he placed the change onto his hand the cashier couldn't fail to notice the hand trying to avoid his touch. The nervous looking guy took all his goods, risked another short glance, a nod, and left the store with steady but long steps. The doorbell hadn't even stopped ringing, when he had already left around the corner.
Huh. He was kinda strange. Maybe he was just very shy? After all, there were plenty of rather unsocial people in the world - though he wasn't sure if guys like that were supposed to look so... handsome.
Overall, Kai was intrigued. He already found himself wishing for him to come back.

Stuck.

Yes, he was intrigued, there was no denying it. When Tao had wandered through the ghostly still roads aimlessly he hadn't planned to enter the store if it wouldn't have been for his rumbling stomach reminding him of the last time he ate properly. Occasionally he suspected his stomach was the only part of him that was still unwaveringly powered by time. Sometimes he even felt the paranoid thought of his brain slowing down. Casting the useless thoughts aside his gaze fell on the small convenience store. Stopping in front of the clear shop window he peeked inside. Good; no one was there, besides a young cashier, maybe about his age. Well, probably not exactly about his age. He was frozen in the movement of tapping his pen against his lips, displaying the image of deep thought. Golden sunlight reflected on him beautifully, accenting his soft looking, curly hair and extending over his tanned arms and rolled-up white sleeves. Tao could barely see his eyes from the distance, but he already knew the guy was gorgeous. The thought of interrupting him during whatever he was doing made him feel a little guilty. Still, his rumbling stomach was louder than the guilt, so he placed himself around a corner, took in a deep breath and exhaled. And the green leafs which stood quietly, picked up the winds' movement and began to rustle again.

Moving.

It was obvious how eagerly Kai wanted to meet the blonde guy again. When he wasn't at school or in his special afternoon classes that taught him how to control his "gift"(as the government called the rare special abilities some people hosted), he was helping his mother out at the Conbini with new-found enthusiasm. Sometimes he would even make his homework in there, at one of the two plastic tables, serenaded by the babbling radio that echoed through the shop.
He got lucky a few days later, when he was holding up the store on his own. He was lazily watching the sunset through the window, absentmindedly stretching until he stood on tip-toes, every muscle in his body tensing, from feet to finger tips... And relaxing. It was one of many special techniques he was taught to stay focused and aware.
Teleportation was a gift that heavily drained the physical body, which was a reason he needed to take care of his body very carefully. He was only allowed to go the town's regular university under the promise of not causing trouble due to his gift. Also, he needed his doctor's certificate stating he was in stable condition and therefore no danger to himself and others. And visit his afterclasses regularly, of course.
There was a system, ranking the different abilities of people, going from 3(which was rather harmless) to 1(which was potentially very dangerous). There was also the category S for very rare and dangerous stuff, but he never encountered someone with an ability like that. He did know a fellow junior that controlled Air, which was pretty dangerous if out of control; thus he was in category 1. Kai's power was sorted in category 2, which opened him the doors to a normal life with or without focus on his power; if he decided to use it for his job, he would be well suited; if he didn't want to, that was fine as well. At the moment Kai was a dance major though, and had his gift only as a back-up plan in mind for his future.
Conveniently, dancing required high body control, which came in handy. Overall it could be said that Kai was not only both mentally and physically stable; he had also a pretty good grasp on his gift.
Which didn't mean he'd flaunt it everywhere. Actually he thought carefully about using it - more often than not people experience almost a heart-attack if someone suddenly appeared in a wisp of black smoke right next to them.
Still, at home and school he could whizz around quite freely.
He was just starting to stretch his left leg thoroughly, when the door opened and Kai recognized the blonde guy with glee. Being extra-friendly with the greeting(and even receiving a slight nod in acknowledgement!), he took his time in watching him. He wore different things today, but the dark blue jeans and printed shirt gave off the same effortless vibe. Today he noticed the silver earring he wore on the left side. If he had worn this it would have looked terribly try-hard, so why did it suit his mysterious aura so well?
When he paid for his  bread-roll and strawberry flavored milk, Kai found he was running out of coins and opened a new roll. Just as he finished counting and looked up, he saw the guy leaving the store already. "Uhm, wait, excuse me?" - But the door already closed and without thinking much he closed the drawer and teleported in front of the door as not to loose him. "You forgot your-... Oh." Looking to the right(where he was so sure the guy went), he saw... Nothing. How could he have gotten away so fast?! Kai squinted his eyes, trying to see him somewhere, but there were only quiet and empty streets. The only sign of life was a residential black cat sneaking around. For a second he thought things like: What if the guy can turn into an animal? Nah, the cat was always here. What if he has always lived here, then? Nah, it doesn't like strawberrymilk; he then realized that his thoughts were getting weird again and he was standing in front of the store like an idiot, clutching the change in his fist. He was staring into the rustling green leaves, thinking about nothing in particular - yes, Kai tended to space out once in a while -, when suddenly some steps neared from his left.
And it was... "Huh? Didn't you just..." He finished the sentence with some gestures, indicating his right. The handsome stranger(no denying his visuals here) just came from the complete opposite direction and was frozen in his tracks. He seemed as if caught red-handed and lowered his gaze, occasionally opening his mouth, but not saying anything. Deciding to save the awkward situation, Kai stretched out his hand to offer the forgotten coins. "You forgot your change, there you go." "...Thank you." That was the first time he heard this guy's voice. He decided he liked it. Though quiet, he could hear his unique and pleasant tone. It got quiet again. "So, uh... Can I help you with something?", Kai offered a little shyly. Close up the guy was taller than him and emitted some sort of strong body control. Maybe he was an athlete of some sort? "I, yeah, I saw this sign-", he pointed to the Hostel-sign in the window, "C-can you tell me where to go?" An accent. Ah, so he really was a foreigner, wasn't he? Kai naturally smiled at the guy's polite and formal speech. "Yeah, sure, you can just - wait a sec." He whirled around and flipped the sign inside to spell "Temporarily closed - We'll be back in a minute" before locking the door and turning again, inviting him to follow him. Right next to the shop was a heavy unlocked door, which Kai pressed open. The tiny hallway consisted only of a small counter, a low table with two cozy chairs to his right and some old wooden stairs leading to the upper level on his left. The many red carpets contrasted nicely with the dark wood and created a warm atmosphere. The blonde guy trailed after him, looking a little lost - There was no one behind the counter. But Kai just went to the stairs, calling up "Mom?! I'm giving room 2, okay?". There was a muffled "Yes, honey~!" from somewhere upstairs and Kai swiftly stepped behind the counter, getting some papers. "Sooo... You'd like one room for one person, right?" A nod. Some crosses made on paper. "And you need it for how many nights?" "One." Some more scribbles. "Name?" A little pause. Kai looked up. He noticed the flicker of an inner conflict until he murmured: "Tao." Kai decided that this would suffice. There probably wouldn't be any confusions anyway(Secretly he was just glad to finally have a name to that beautiful face). Some final scribbles. "That would be 16.500 Won, is that alright?" Tao(Oh, and the name already sounded beautiful in his mind. Gotta use it soon) nodded again, putting out some notes to put them onto the counter. Kai finished the paperwork, got a simple sign in roman letters from Tao and collected the money. He fished out a key and handed it to him, explaining everything about the room. When Tao attempted to go upstairs, Kai felt a little brave and called after him: "I'm having my night shift today at the store - If you wanna come down I'll treat you to some Ramyun or whatever you prefer~" Tao hesitated, seemingly flustered(?), before continuing with a neutral acknowledgement.
Ah, that didn't went too good now, did it? Kai didn't really expect him to show up. Maybe he was being to brisk?
While standing behind the sales counter, he was pondering about what he could have possibly said differently. He found it hard to predict Tao. He looked very strong and almost intimidating, yet his behavior was shy, almost fragile. And the way he appeared out of nowhere... Finally Kai understood why people were spooked when he did that. He was really wondering whether Tao was a gifted one. Somehow it seemed so befitting. But what sort of gift? Teleportation as well? The different powers itself were rather rare with maybe one gifted one out of a few hundred. The possibility of meeting someone with the same power was ridiculously low. Kai was dying to know it, his curious nature striking again.
Trying to stray his thoughts Kai dutifully made his homework, studied some Chinese and English vocabularies and did his mandatory stretching when he felt no one was watching.
The next day would be Saturday and besides his special classes in the afternoon he'd be free to catch up on the sleep he was missing during his shift.
It was 2:15 and the store was pretty much deserted, his homework done and nothing to distract him further, except for maybe... Where was that magazine... Kai rustled under his counter when the doorbell signaled an incoming customer. With a slightly red face Kai rose from behind the counter. When he saw that the customer was no other than Tao, he blushed slightly at his disheveled state, flattening his uniform and hair hastily.
"Hey.", he exclaimed, trying to sound casual. "Hey.", came the quiet reply. A little hesitant Tao stayed close to the door. Kai felt like an awkward idiot already. "Just take a seat, what would you like?" While Tao dutifully padded to one of the seats, Kai went through the shelves, eyeing the various products. He didn't actually expect an answer and snatched one of the better ramyun-boxes, which wasn't too spicy. "Do you like Japanese style soups?" he asked, his head popping out between the shelves. Tao nodded and Kai expertly prepared the soups, attempting for some small-talk in between to break the ice.
"So, you are Chinese?" "Yes." "Have you always lived here in Seoul?" "Uhm, no... We moved here when I was 12." Kai looked over his shoulder to Tao. "Really?! So that's why your Korean is so good!" The answer was a flustered "No, it's nothing, really." Kai came to the table, carefully placing the hot bowls and some chopsticks on the table. "How old are you, by the way?" "I'm 19. What about you?" Kai was surprised the mature-looking Hyung(who was his hyung, another information attained and preciously sealed in his brain) was only one year older than him. But Tao was equally surprised to find him younger.
Even though they talked quite a bit, Kai hardly found anything out about his mysterious guest. He said he wasn't going to school, but wasn't working as well, staying vague on that point. His family also seemed to be a wrong topic. Kai didn't want to make him uncomfortable and started to talk about himself; telling him about his mother that used her owned house for both a Convenience store and a Hostel, even though she was happily married to a chef and didn't necessarily need to work that much. That he lived with his family above the hostel and that he had a younger sister he adored very much.
Tao listened attentively, seeming genuinely interested(God, he hoped he wasn't boring him to death), and rarely made a sound to interrupt him. When Kai went on about his annoying after school classes, Tao spoke up. "What do you mean with 'special afterclasses'? I think I might not know this word?" Kai internally facepalmed. He was rambling without any regards to Tao being a foreigner - What if he didn't even understood half of what he told him? "Ah, I'm so sorry.", he hurried to say, "I mean the classes for gifted ones. You know 'gift'? Like in-", but Tao's hurried nods let him stop. The blonde guy had stopped to eat and seemed suddenly very stiff. Kai noticed, but went on, to avoid misunderstandings. "Yeah, cause I have a gift. But don't worry, I'm not dangerous! I'm only Level 2 and very much in control." But Tao didn't seem the least bit frightened, which puzzled him a bit. Maybe he misread the signs? Instead the blonde one had a curious spark in his eyes, when he asked: "What is your power?" Since his soup was finished, Kai lay down the chopsticks and gave Tao his full attention, before answering: "Teleportation. You know, like moving myself from one place to another." Now he definitely saw a child-like fascination lighting up the grey eyes. "Can I... Can you maybe..." "You wanna see?", Kai interrupted him slightly amused. Tao nodded eagerly. "Sure thing, just don't get a shock." And with a slight 'bang!' that had Tao jumping a bit and a wisp of black smoke Kai had moved from his seat to the side of the counter, facing the blonde guy and with a slight grin on his face. He opened the fridge, threw something over to Tao and teleported back into his seat; catching the item neatly, just for show, since Tao seemed to be excited. "You like sweet things, right? It's for you~", he exclaimed, offering him the packed little fruit tarte. Woah, he was such a loser, giving packed Convenience stuff as a dinner replacement, he'd be the worst boyfriend in history. Before Kai had time to mentally beat himself up for his lameness, he saw Tao smiling happily and taking the little cake. And that smile totally stopped anything that was going on in his head, cheesy as it may be.
"Thank you. Yes, I like it.", he said with so much warmth, Kai felt some of it creeping up his own face. Which technically wasn't even possible. When they happily munched on the packed sweets(which Kai naturally intended to pay for after, otherwise his mom would have his head) in comfortable silence, he just couldn't resist the question any longer. "Uhm, Tao?", he looked up at the mention of his name, "You know, I thought... I kinda saw you disappearing today. I was just wondering if you maybe have a gift, too?" Silence. Tao's eyes widened in shock. "If you don't, please forget I said that, okay? I'm a little confused at times, I tend to daydreams and-" "Y-yes." "...huh? You said yes? So you have one?" Again Tao nodded, but very cautiously. After a few seconds he asked carefully: "So... What kind of power is it?" But Tao seemed conflicted and hesitated to answer. After a minute of patient waiting on Kai's side he got the reply "Can I... Can I tell you another time? Can I just... Think about it a little?" Some people would probably have felt offended by this obvious lack of trust, but since Kai knew about the burden of having a gift first-hand, he gave him an understanding gesture. "Sure, whenever you feel like it. Don't wanna pressure you or something." The conversation went on to more lighthearted topics and he managed to get some more smiles and even a few laughs out of the blonde one, who really was far more young and innocent than his looks would make you think. At quarter past three in the morning the new part-timer came in to take the next shift. He also was a gifted one and was glad to have found a job like this where the employer had no qualms about having a type 2-employee. Kai cleaned the mess and left the store with Tao giving a simple wave to the blonde petite guy. "You got this, Lu~ Good night~!"
At the doorstep in the hostel they parted ways. Kai felt weird, a mix between bidding his neighbor goodbye and escorting his date home. Stop it, Brain. "So...", he started, trailing off and fidgeting with the seams of his uniform. And then Tao smiled so brightly, everything surely stopped for a second this time. "Thank you for today. Thank you for the food, and thank you for talking to me. It was the most fun evening I had in a long time." 'Aww, stop it, you~' Kai thought, not really believing it, but appreciating his effort to sugarcoat the clumsy mess that was him. Trying to at least not end the evening in a lame way, he decided to casually nod and smile. "Yeah, it was fun. We should do this more often. If you stay around, let's hang out again. Then I'll treat you to a real dinner next time."
And with that, Kai went upstairs and had a smile on his face until he went to bed. And probably even in his sleep.

When he woke up his alarm clock told him it was 11 A.M and he groggily made his way to the bathroom. Even though 8 hours of sleep were widely acceptable, Kai was by far no morning person. Since he last showered before going to work, he decided to skip the shower for now and just slipped into a comfortable sweater and a jeans. No need to waste effort for one measly afterclass. When he popped his head into the kitchen and found no one there, he wasn't surprised. Official breakfast time was obviously long over and he decided to just buy a little something on the way. He left their flat, and padded down the stairs, needing to cross through the Hostel-floor to get down.
He was just facing the challenge of stifling a yawn and dress into his jacket at the same time, when a door behind him opened.
"Good morning...", he heard a shy voice calling out to him. Without thinking he turned around, looking in the handsome face of a very-much awake Tao, standing at the doorstep. Realization hit Kai(pretty late, admittedly). There was no denying he was far from casual when he greeted back a little too loudly with a beet red face, hastily ruffling through his unruly curls in a futile attempt to make them look a little less... awful. Kai badly wanted to run into an empty room and curl into a ball. The too-handsome-to-be-true-guy saw him in his most terrible form. The word "mess" wasn't even close to what Kai was in the morning. Damn, what now? The grey eyes were fixed on his appearance. Oh, he was probably judging him so hard right now. Then Tao spoke up with a neutral demeanor: "Can I maybe talk to you? I thought about yesterday, and...", he trailed off quietly. A little puzzled, Kai nodded. "Yeah, sure, let's go downstairs."
He let Tao take the lead and tried to re-arrange himself as much as possible, swearing to never leave the house carelessly again.
When they sank into the two comfortable chairs in the hallway, Tao seemed a little hesitant, looking around the room. Kai could guess his trouble and hurried to reassure him. "Don't worry, there's no one renting the Hostel besides you.", he said, "My Sis and my Dad are out to work and school; and my mom is at her Yoga-lessons at the moment. Don't question it - She can and will get really offended which is unhealthy, for us I mean." Tao nodded, mildly confused. He was rambling again. Noticing this, Kai shut up on the spot. And waited. After a few torturing seconds of silence Tao spoke up. "I want to tell you about me. Is it ok? I don't want to be a burden.", he began. When Kai nodded, his brown curls shook so much he feared they might turn back into the bed-hair mess, so he tried to look a little less eager.
Tao shifted his long limbs a little awkwardly, but continued nevertheless. "I have the power over... Time. I can control time." His eyes searched for the brunette's, carefully awaiting a reaction. When Kai's eyes widened and he excitedly exclaimed: "Really? Woah, that's so awesome!", Tao was slightly taken aback. "You think so?" "Of course!", Kai jumped in, "Man, that's so cool... So can you, like, freeze time and turn it back and forth?", he asked eagerly, making some flailing gestures. The blonde one seemed torn between smiling at Kai's childlike behavior and remaining serious at the topic. And maybe he was a tiny bit flustered at the admiration lighting up the chocolate brown eyes.
"Ah, I'm not that good yet...", he started to explain, "I cannot look into the future, and I can only go back in time for about 30 seconds... But I am pretty good at freezing time. Sometimes I even do it unconsciously I guess.", he admitted a little sheepishly. Still, Kai was impressed. "Awesome...", he repeated, thinking about the new information, "Freezing time must be incredible, you gotta show me one day! And going back for 30 seconds must be pretty convenient if you make a mistake and... Oh, wait." A thought struck him. "Have you been doing this during our conversations?", he asked, his voice hoisting more curiosity than anger. Tao's immediate fidgeting gave him away right then. He lowered his gaze and seemed to cower a little frightened.
Kai nodded to himself, lost in thought for a second. "Tao." He waited, until the grey orbs met his. "Don't do it anymore, ok?" Again, his voice held neither anger, nor accusation; just a tinge of seriousness, that seemed to break whatever restraint Tao had and he broke out in apologies. "I'm so sorry, I know it's not right! It's unfair towards other people that I take more chances...! It was just that I didn't have the courage the first time and... I'm really sorry, please don't be-" "Nah, that's not the reason, calm down.", Kai hurried to intervene, before Tao started crying(his eyes already shimmered suspiciously). "Look", he started, not quite sure on how to explain it himself, "I just want to get to know you, okay? I want to get your natural, spontaneous reactions, so to say the 'unplanned' and 'unscripted' you... Does that make any sense?", he ended with an awkward laugh, rubbing his neck. Tao seemed to forcefully put himself together, and showed his agreement. "I think I understand. I will not do it anymore... I promise." Kai couldn't help but smile brightly at Tao's cuteness. "That sounds good. But now you say it, it really is unfair; I'm tripping over my own feet all the time while you get to be all perfect and dazzling, totally not fair at all-" When he noticed what he was even talking, he shut up, briefly touching his lips and feeling his cheeks turning red yet again. Aww, no. He should really try to switch his brain on before opening his mouth. By the look on Tao's face he either didn't follow his fast words or thought he was weird. God, hopefully it was the first. Frustrated at his inner monologue Kai ruffled his hair, when his gaze fell on his wristwatch. "Oh, crap!", he said and jumped out of his chair, all the embarrassment forgotten, "My class starts in... 2 minutes!" He slung his bag over his shoulder and turned to Tao, who had gotten up as well. "Hey, I reaaally gotta go now... Are you free this afternoon, though?" When he got a nod in response, he gave him a smile. "Let's hang out then, shall we? We'll eat something proper then, as well! I'll be back at around 3 - let's meet here, then?" Tao smiled and agreed happily. Kai couldn't hide his happiness either and waved him while he disappeared and only left the faint indescribable smell of the black smoke - Which Tao already associated with the brown-haired guy that stepped into his life as suddenly as he left the room.

Stuck.

Tao was sitting in his rented Hostel-room, with his back to the closed door, cowering at the floor. He felt uneasy, vulnerable, exposed. The curtains were firmly kept close, the door locked. Still he couldn't relax at all. His arms protectively slung over himself, he pressed his eyes closed. Tao didn't feel threatened by Kai, though. It was quite the opposite. No, trusting the overly friendly boy with his infective smile and reassuring warmth came shockingly natural to him. On top of that his kind expressions and attractive appearance had him captivated from the start - When he saw him with his cute bedhair padding through the corridor to look back at him with his disheveled clothes, blinking a little confused... For a moment he completely forgot what he had wanted to say in the first place.
He groaned in frustration. Now this was where the problem started.
For such a long time, Tao had been stuck. There was no movement, no change, nothing but frozen, safe stillness. And now that he met Kai, he wished to be close to him. He wished for motion, badly. But it was so hard. And he was so afraid.
Frantically shivering from time to time, Tao waited for the desired time to arrive. Time was supposed to be on his side, yet it has always been more of a threatening force around his neck. In the semi-darkness of his room, the red digital numbers on the little alarm clock standing on the nightstand stood out to him almost painfully.
13:30.
Still a long way to go.

Moving.

During his teleportation-class Kai was even more bubbly than usual, bursting with energy and excitement. His colleagues were starting to get annoyed by his over-eagerness. One of his seniors threatened to freeze his Limo (and possibly his feet, too), if he wouldn't stop "jumping around like a hyperactive puppy". But Kai couldn't help it. Yeah, you should probably not crush so hard on someone you've barely met, but he did have an undeniable infatuation towards Tao. The tall blonde guy was utterly fascinating. And not to mention gorgeous. The way his panda-like eyes shone when he got excited, his manly physics, the way his lips curled at the ends- "Yeah, yeah, I got it!", his colleague Sehun groaned, rolling his eyes(which was pretty damn expressive for Sehun), "Panda boy is awesome. Go put a ring on it and leave me alone with it.", he said in an impassive manner that was so typical for him. Kai and him had been friends ever since they met in their first afterclass at the beginning of high school. Therefore he knew better than to be hurt. To Sehun's displeasure he also didn't stop his fanboying at all.

Before Kai went home, he made a quick stop at Sehuns' to cure the messy state he left in; putting on some nice clothes and trying to style himself subtly. Sehun scoffed at him, kicking him out after a few minutes and some lent clothing, stating he'd "scare his princess away if he looked prettier than her", to which Kai only struck out his tongue and left(not without telling him that if he looked too girly, it was thanks to whose clothes? Hm?).
When he met Tao he seemed almost as giddy as he himself felt. Tao carefully requested to go somewhere without a lot of people and Kai stopped himself from stating "You're not wasting any time, huh?", not yet sure if he was the playful type.
Kai led them to a pretty park, not very far. Still, there were a few people around since the weather was nice and he could feel the uneasiness radiating off of Tao, who had his fingers balled into tight fists inside his pocket. They suddenly halted in front of a small hill at the edge of the park. "You trust me, don't you?", he asked out of the blue and Tao looked at him puzzled, before nodding slightly and humming an approval. Kai grinned and offered him his hand. "My favorite spot is up there; let me take you." Faced with the requirement of taking his hand, Tao shuddered. Kai was visibly confused. Was he maybe disgusted of him? But the blonde one seemed to read his thoughts and exclaimed: "It's not what you think, uhm... Does it have to be the hand? Can you maybe, I don't know..." Still a little confused, but full of good intentions Kai decided not to question it now and thought of something, turning his back to him. "Sure thing. How about you put your hands on my shoulders? I need some form of body contact, but it doesn't have to be me holding on to you." He couldn't see his face, but heard the relieved sigh and smiled a little. On both his shoulders a hand was positioned. The awareness of Tao being so close made his stomach flutter a little. Suddenly he heard a whisper right above his left ear.
"Thank you." The close proximity made his own breath quicken and he hurried to casually say: "It's nothing. Just hold on tight and close your eyes. Some people feel uneasy about this at first." When did as told, Kai teleported both of them to the top of the hill, concentrating on transporting the second, rather unfamiliar body with him.

Stuck.

Tao had rarely seen a place as beautiful as this. Surely he had wandered almost anywhere he could, but this had clearly been out of reach before. And not only for him - This place was widely untouched, green grass and wild flowers spreading over to the cliff where they were sitting in the soft grass, looking down on the people in the park. They had bought some chicken on the way(apparently Kai loved chicken a lot, and who was Tao to deny his sparkling eyes when he proposed it?), and were having a simple picnic. Tao sipped some of the orange juice and let himself sink onto his back to watch the sky, where the clouds were moving. He wouldn't have thought this sight could ever fill him with happiness, but it did. Or maybe it was because of the brunette who sank next to him in the grass. This way or that; Tao felt relaxed, safe and happy. Ever since he got in contact with Kai, his life had begun to change rapidly; even though Kai himself couldn't realize the impact he made on Tao. They began to talk about trivial things, like their preferred food or seasons, and Tao found himself opening up more and more. At some point, Kai managed to catch him off guard again, when he suddenly interrupted the comfortable silence.
"You're kinda uneasy with touches, right? I know it's not my place to ask for what exactly happened. I would just like to know if those reason is still burdening you today. You know what I mean? Argh, I'm terribly bad with words..." Tao felt Kai's gaze on his face, but kept looking at the sky, unsure of what to say. "I don't wanna sound weird or anything. But if there is someone... Bothering you, I will... Oh, forget it, maybe I'm just assuming and totally on the wrong track, and-" Tao couldn't suppress an affectionate smile when he saw the honest concern in the deep brown eyes. He had no chance but to pour out his heart, all of his secrets, feelings, wishes. He wanted to tell Kai all of it; he yearned for him to understand and then accept him. But words were a little difficult to him, after not talking to anyone in such a long time. So he just looked him in the eye, effectively shutting him up for a second. A minute. Two minutes.
Finally Tao gathered all of his courage(he had kept his promise not to mess with time around him anymore, so he just kept silent until he was ready), and asked quietly, barely above a whisper:
"Can I touch you?"
The way his eyes widened slightly at the blunt question was as endearing as the slight blush that crept upon his bronze cheeks. Even though straight-forward, Tao was nervous as hell, expecting a rejection at any second. But it never came. Instead the brunette boy gave him an eye-crinkling smile, saying "Sure. I won't do anything without warning, promise.". His voice was reassuring and Tao believed him every word. Still, when Kai closed his eyes and relaxed, he spent a few moments just admiring him. Letting his gaze wander from the unruly chocolate-brown curls to his peaceful expression, admiring his soft-looking, slightly tanned skin. When his attention fell to his plush lips, he hastily tried to focus on the task at hand instead. Very slowly he inched his hand to Kai's upper arm he had loosely draped at his side. When his fingertips touched the warm skin, he could feel him slightly twitching in surprise. He considered to withdraw his fingers, but since he didn't show any further signs of dislike, he started to drag his fingertips down his arms slowly. Drawing feathering circles once in a while, until he got to his ankles. Where his hands ghosted over the skin, a shudder would follow, but Tao guessed it was a good sign. He almost felt himself shuddering at the sensation of the warm skin under his fingers. When he reached his hand, he got a little hesitant, but was determined not to give into his fears at that point. He circled the back of his hand carefully, rubbing every knuckle softly with the pad of his thumb. The still relaxed brunette gave a quiet, content sigh. After trailing every finger attentively, Tao felt bold enough to cover the hand with his own, holding it with light pressure. All the time Kai had neither attempted to back away from him nor had he tried to come closer, as he had promised. The repressed tremble in Tao's hand started to slowly fade away. When his breath was steady enough again, he decided to tell Kai about himself.
"When I was 12... My parents died in an accident. At that time I couldn't turn back time at all and it was just too late for me to do anything. Maybe it should have been me, but it wasn't. We just came to Korea. There were no friends, no close relatives, and I lived at an orphanage for the time being. They said my relatives would come to pick me up. But they never came." His voice was strained and the simple sentences hurt to say, but he would go to the end. He took in a deep breath before continuing.
"The orphanage was not a very nice place, in the slums of the city. But oh well, I was just an unregistered foreigner, so no one bothered. I had bad luck and someone found out about my gift. They had plenty of 'use' for me. You know, in a way I was lucky - They rarely touched me in a 'bad' way, because I was neither a girl nor exceptionally pretty." That was the first time Kai showed a change in expression Tao couldn't quite understand, but decided to keep quiet.
"But there was one care-taker, a man. He was assigned for me when people found out. You see, my power works similar to yours-", he gave a short pressure to the embraced hand, "If I want to spread it to another person, I need body contact. They knew that. So the chained me to him by our hands. Chains alone weren't enough, though, he really held my hand firmly most of the time. Because they were scared I would manage to run away in an instant, by just freezing the time and leaving. Besides that the chains weren't visible under long sleeves and when we were walking across the street, we looked like... A parent, taking a walk with his kid. When I grew too old for that, my caretaker kept telling people who asked that I was mentally unstable. I was not to speak. I just had to freeze the time, so the two of us could take the wallets from people, or steal from shopping-tills. They didn't feel the need to take on greater schemes for they feared of being discovered by the government. So day for day, I kept stealing from unconspicios places. When I got back to that house, they would make sure to first chain me to a wall before unchaining the man, so that I could never escape. The room they left me in was hidden on the basement, so people wouldn't find me."
Tao's voice trembled more and more.
"But you escaped." Kai stated, his calm eyes trained on his grey ones, that didn't know where to look and went back and forth between the warm brown orbs and their touching hands.
"Y-yeah. I escaped. When I was 19, I managed to sneak out a lighter from a womans handbag. My chains were firmly fastened in the wall, but the actual basement walls were made from wood, right? I burned the wall around the chains. It wasn't very easy, since I had to burn a large part of the wall, until I could pull out the chains. By then, I already inhaled a lot of smoke and had trouble putting it out afterwards, with the heavy metal around my arm and legs. I didn't care about the men working there, but I wouldn't want to harm the other children or to raise the attention of the government. So I put out the flames and escaped. I was really weak at that time, so I hid somewhere, and rested in the frozen time. It took me a while to find a way to get rid of the chains, though. So... Yeah. That's pretty much all there is to know about me. Maybe you can understand now. The feeling of a hand grasping mine... I get panicked. I know you don't mean me any harm, but it reminds me of the past. The way he grabbed my hand when he pulled me along, or punished me, for not controlling my power enough...", his voice broke a little into a quiet whimper. Kai made a quiet hushing noise and Tao tried to pull himself together. No need to get all emotional after such a long time, right? The brunette didn't say a word for some time, processing the information. Now Tao felt truly vulnerable. He hoped with all his being, that he would be accepted for what he was. As always Kai came back to an unexpected piece of information.
"You said you escaped when you were 19, right?" Tao hummed in affirmation. Still, Kai didn't dare moving a muscle as not to scare him. But his eyes were looking at his attentively. "But you're still 19, right? Why does it sound so distant the way you said it?"
Now Tao felt caught. He didn't mean to say it that way. "It's just... I was afraid they would track me down. I don't want to live unrightfully, so I of course buy my food. And I tend to use Hotels because I'm afraid I might loose the grasp on my power while asleep.", he started rambling, but already saw that Kai had already a vague idea of the truth, and he couldn't avoid any longer, "And at other times... I mostly live in the frozen time. I don't... I don't know how many hours I spent while everything was still. Maybe it has been years already, but my birthday still hasn't come yet. With every day, I felt more afraid of movements, of people. There is no place for me, no friends, no job. And I'm scared of what the government would do with my power. I don't want to be imprisoned again..." Now his vision started to blur and even though he wanted to stay strong until the end, he knew he couldn't stop his tears anymore.
That was when Kai hushed him again and, after a while, spoke softly: "Can I... Touch you for bit? There is no need to be scared, promise." Even though wary, Tao knew that one part of him yearned for it, so he nodded, trying to hide his pathetic tears. Kai carefully withdrew his hand and shifted into a sitting position, slowly reaching out. Still scared even though knowing better, Tao pressed his eyes closed. He didn't touch his hands, though. Instead he felt someone lightly pat his head, stroking the strands of his hair. No one said a word, while the soft breeze and smell of passing time went by Tao, the fingers softly combing through his blonde hair. Slowly, very slowly the tension left his body. When Kai deemed him relaxed enough, he patted his lap invitingly and Tao followed the invitation, resting his head on his thighs. Even though it was the feeling of jeans-fabric against his cheeks, he could feel the warmth beneath. And he felt a tingling sensation that was entirely positive. After a while, Kai's warm voice broke the silence.
"You're safe now. I got you."
Some more seconds passed in silence.
"You're not weak and not cowardly. And you're really not a girl, but incredibly handsome nevertheless." he felt flustered, but didn't make any sound, not wanting the brunette to stop talking. Kai continued to murmur soft affirmations while never stopping to move his hand, sometimes ghosting over his ear or cheek, but never venturing further.
Tao felt himself slightly leaning into the touch and wanted to believe him every word, even though he wanted to scream that he was nothing compared to Kai. And for the first time in what seemed forever, Tao truly felt safe and while the rays of warm sunshine, the distant noise of passing time and Kai's silky voice that resounded to soft humming at some point, he even managed to doze off peacefully.

Moving.

Kai talked him into staying at the Hostel for a little longer(not that it was too difficult), and even though he took Tao's money, he had partly explained the situation to his mother, who gladly agreed to let him stay for free; as long as there were no other occupants there was no reason not to let him - she even stated that the room would be tidier with Tao living in it than without him(since he had zero belongings, but was a dutiful cleaner). Still, Kai knew Tao would refuse to stay for free, so he took the money for now, intending to return it at the right moment.
From that day on the hill onwards, Tao was pretty much inseparable from him. They met to eat breakfast(or brunch) together, and outside school they'd hang out to play videogames or explore Tao's favorite places in the city. If he was working in the store, Tao also loved to hang around, sitting at one of the plastic tables. It was soon evident that Tao had not a lot of things to do and was eager for all the entertainment he could get. The closest to a hobby was his strict and regular Wushu-practise, but he did this when Kai was at school. When Kai made his homework at the store, Tao would curiously study his textbooks, testing his Korean and trying to solve some problems. No need to mention Kai's Chinese homework had been suspiciously flawless lately.
The point was, that Tao needed an idea on how to spent the future, living with the flow of time again. But neither of them had any idea on how to go about it. You can't just enroll at a school without personal identification(which Tao hadn't) and revealing his gift would probably result in trouble as well. There was no doubt his power was regarded S-class. And even though most citizens had a certain freedom, everyone knew that S-class people never truly lived a calm life.
They had lived together for about a week and Kai couldn't think of anything. What he did know, however, was that his affection for the blond Chinese man was rising steadily with every day they spent together. Everyday Tao would open up a little more, smile and joke around more often. He had even tried his aegyo on Kai one day, wanting some attention(it was absolutely irresistible. Kai never even had a chance).
There was one thing he was asking of Tao, though. He wanted to see the frozen time. Tao seemed hesitant but Kai remained persistent, and when the blonde one finally gave in he tried really hard not to give away all his giddiness. They went to one of Tao's favorite places; an old temple with a huge garden behind. In the middle of the garden they halted. Neither said a word, but both took their sweet time taking in their surroundings - deep green grass, neatly cropped. A little pond with a waterfall and a wooden bridge. Plenty of trees in full blossom. The sound of dragonflies in the air.
When Kai felt ready, he looked over to Tao, who caught his gaze. Surprisingly he held out his hand. Kai's eyes clearly asked: 'Are you sure about this?', but Tao smiled and so he grasped his hand. In concentration, he closed his eyes, but Kai couldn't tear his eyes from him. For a second nothing happened, then...
Truly nothing happened anymore.
Kai's whipped around in shock, when his surroundings... Stopped. Everything stopped alltogether. The waterfall halted, some stray drips hovering in the air. The clouds stopped moving and some lone petals floated in the air.
Finally, Kai understood what Tao meant by the 'sound of time'. Or the 'smell of time'. If there was no time, there also wasn't any sound. No dragonflies, no rustling in the leafs, not one animal moving his tiny antlers. There was also a weird lack of any smell. He had never noticed the many smells blending together, until he suddenly experienced a lack of them. Kai looked up to meet Tao's gaze. He seemed a little wary, even though he wasn't certain why. The brunette continued to look around curiously, before looking back to their linked hands. "Can I... Let go? Or will I be frozen as well?" Tao let go of his hand and Kai started to explore his environment. He tapped around, touching anything he deemed interesting. Seeing the grass bending under his fingertips, but not moving back once he withdrew them. Scooping some flower petals through the air, until they skidded to a halt in mid-air. Tao trailed behind him, patiently answering his questions. Kai was extremely fascinated and excited, jumping from the petals to a tiny bug, and then poking the surface of the pond. Finally he skipped down the border of the pond to the waterfall. The sight was magnificent. Seeing the frozen foam bubbles and clear water, looking like glass... He slowly touched the water with his fingers. It gave in, but never quite seemed to remember the gravity forces it should abide. Suddenly he felt a little mischievous and called out for the blondes' attention with a simple: "Woah, what's that?". When Tao leaned forwards in a puzzled manner, Kai scooped his hand through the water and swung it in Tao's direction. It hit him straight in the face. His confused expression only made Kai laugh the more. It came to no ones surprise that a full-blown water fight broke out. Once in a while Kai felt playful enough to use his gift to teleport behind Tao, hitting him with a handful of water. Tao, on the other side, sometimes took the time-stop from some of the random water flying around, making it fall on Kai's head and catching him off guard.
After half an hour the two profusely soaked boys lay in the soft grass, letting the warm sunrays dry them off.
"That was awesome.", Kai exclaimed after a while. Tao grinned. "Yeah."
"I feel like I've known you forever.", the brunette continued. At this, Tao turned his head, to look at him. He lightly shook his head. "I think that would be my part. I mean-", he began, when he saw Kai equally turning to him with a questioning gaze, "You've met me about a week ago, right? But, you see... I've already met you a long, long time before that." Kai was puzzled, to say the least, but Tao only smiled and looked back at the sky, sighing contently.
"...I feel so free.", he said, his expression entirely peaceful.
Kai followed his eyes and humming in agreement.
"Yeah."
"We could just stay like this, you know? Just being without any needs, without any trouble."
Now it was Kai's turn to stay silent. Even though Tao didn't sound too serious, he knew that this idea was embedded deeply into his heart. Now was the moment to ask himself some questions: Would he want to live like that? Forgotten by time? Why wouldn't he? Would Tao want that? Why would he want to do so?
When he believed to have found an answer, he turned to Tao, who had been watching him all that time, regret and guilt over ruining the peaceful atmosphere reflecting in his bright eyes. His face read: Please don't be mad at me. Kai almost smiled at his behavior, if the situation wouldn't have been rather serious.
"Look,", he began in a calm and neutral tone, as if this wasn't even related to his previous offer, "I'd like to show you something, too. Would that be alright?" When Tao nodded, Kai sprang up happily and motioned him to follow him. After a few steps he exclaimed: "You can unfreeze the time now - Otherwise we'll never make it on time!"
Needless to say that Tao was really confused. Kai only laughed and said:
"I'm inviting you over for today! Let's have some dinner with my family and then play some video-games or something. Like a good old sleep-over~!"

Stuck.

Tao had been over to Kai's house several times already. But whenever he was over, the house was deserted and they wouldn't stay for too long. The presence of other people always made him wary and fidgety, so the prospect of actively being part of a group of people terrified him. What if he wasn't enough fun to be around? What if his parents wouldn't want their son to hang out with him anymore? Or what if they found out about his gift?
The thoughts were racing in his mind, never stopping. On their way back Kai had called his mother, telling her he'd bring Tao over. He couldn't hear her reaction to this, but Kai stated there wasn't anything to worry about. Tao was so concerned about it, that he even forgot to mind the immediate flow of time around him.
After a quick stop at Tao's room(Where he insisted on 'getting his things', which really just meant a quick fix to his appearance), they took the steps to Kai's flat. He had the stupid feeling of his heartbeat thumping louder with each creaky wooden step he took. But Kai just opened the door and naturally called out "I'm home~!", while slipping out of his shoes. Tao hurried to do the same, placing his shoes neatly in a corner.
All the lights were on and the sound of a radio emitted from the kitchen, while flickering lights suggested the TV in the living room was switched on. The smell of the flat was also different from usual; While normally the rooms smelled strongly like the black smoke in which Kai vanished so quickly, in that moment the smell was blended with the one of food in the making. Possibly delicious food, with a somewhat familiar streak to it.
"Hey~!", a voice called out from the end of the hallway, where Kai's sister had her head peaking out to greet her brother. And him, his inner voice told him. Still, he was too shy to call back. Then Kai's mother exited from the kitchen and warmly welcomed Kai.
"Welcome back, Honey. And hello to you, too.", she said, directed to Tao with a friendly smile. Said blonde had caught a glimpse of Kai's mother once in a while, but never actually talked to her. He could definitely see where Kai had gotten his graceful stature and friendly aura. She seemed welcoming and Tao really didn't want to ruin anything, so he bowed politely, saying: "Nice to meet you and thank you for having me over.", in the best Korean he knew. The woman just cooed at this, waving her hand dismissively. "Aww, that's nothing, really; no need to be so polite, Sweetie." She then switched her attention back to Kai. "Dinner's gonna take a few more minutes, your dad is being overly enthusiastic again.", she stated, rolling her eyes. He just laughed knowingly and led Tao to his room, where he could pack away his stuff, before flopping down on his bed.
"So, yeah. Uhm, my family can be a bit... overwhelming - I hope you don't mind. If it's too much for you, we can eat in my room as well, alright?" Tao nodded gratefully. He was determined to give his best, but it was always nice to know an offer like this existed.
"Thank you. But... I want to try. I would like to meet your family...", he shyly stated.
The smile he received as an answer was almost dazzling and would have been worth the effort, even if everything went wrong. Which it hopefully wouldn't. When they got called to the kitchen, the table hadn't been set yet. Kai said that this was the children's task, though, so he motioned Tao to sit down at the table. Tao offered his help but was effectively shot down. So he sat down at the big table and assessed the room. The room was very warm, bright and overall spacey, as if they'd often have guests over. Kai's mother was fussing around between the steaming pots, while Kai jumped between drawers and the table, to set everything. After one walk he got bored and used his gift to teleport back and forth in the kitchen. If it wouldn't have been for the rather loud radio, Tao surely would have jumped every time at the noise. When his sister entered the room, she almost collided with her brother, appearing out of thin air. She didn't get overly angry, but still gave him a whack over the head. "Yah! Stop doing that when others are in the room! No need to show off in front of your friend!" Kai pouted. "Min-ah,...", he playfully winced, "You're ruining my chances~!" His sister just rolled her eyes at him and directed her head towards Tao.
"Hello, I'm Junmin, this idiot's sister.", she said cheerfully, while getting out a chair opposite of Tao and sat down. "Uhm, hello. I'm Tao. Kai's friend." Her eyes seemed to twinkle a bit at that. "Aww, you speak with an accent, that's so cute!"
"Junmin-ah, that's rude, you know!", their mothers' voice came from the back.
Junmin didn't seem to mind much, though, just stating that it was meant in a good way. "Why are you even sitting there instead of helping me? Don't ask him awkward questions!"
"What, does our great-gifted brother need the help of a little girl? I won't steal away your friend, don't worry." Tao blushed a little at this, being flustered by so much attention.
Kai silently pouted, using his teleportation-gift even more often, just to prove his point. Just when his mother was placing the pots on the table, Kai's father entered, looking a little rushed. "Did you take out the spring rolls in time? Of course you did, Honey, but what about the Baozis? Okay, then -" He got a gentle slap to his shoulder from his wife. "Dear, please! We're having a guest and you're being rude." The man glanced around the room in confusion, until he saw the kids at the table. "Oh. Oh, you're already here! Welcome home, Kai." He skidded around to the table, offering Tao his hand. "Nice to meet you, Tao." Tao saw Kai throwing him a wary glance, but he really didn't want to make a scene, so he took the hand, smiling politely. "Nice to meet you.", he answered lamely, not knowing what to say. His father didn't seem to mind, though, just sitting down at the head of the table, stating: "Kai told us about you." A flicker of panic crossed his eyes, but Kai reassuringly touched his thighs under the table. Instead of any negative emotion, he found excitement in his eyes(which Kai obviously inherited from him). "You're Chinese, right? I know it might not be too obvious, but I'm actually a chef, you know? I have a Korean-Chinese fusion restaurant, so I was really excited to hear we're having a Chinese guest! Thats why, for today, I tried my hands on authentic Chinese food! Please let me know what you think about it!" "Honey, please. You're rambling. The poor boy didn't even get a look at the food yet!" Tao was a little glad for the intervention, since he felt kinda... Overwhelmed. Yes, he began to understand Kai's statement from before.
But when he saw the different specialties spread out on the table, he wanted to cry. In a good way. Oh, it had been sooo long since he last ate real food from his home-country.
Stepping into a restaurant would have cost so much... time. Time spent out in the open. Well, now time was ticking by and Tao didn't mind at all, trying not to look too eager.
Kai's father must have spent so much time on this, considering all the different  dishes. Junmin had similar thoughts. "Dad, what the hell! Did you cook for a whole restaurant? How are we supposed to eat all this?!", she said incredulously. Her father just threw his hands up in a dramatic way, retorting: "But that's the whole point of it! It's not a real Chinese dinner if you're able to finish it!" Tao smiled at this. So true.
And it tasted heavenly as well. Sure, it wasn't exactly the same, but close enough. Occasionally, Kai's father asked him for feedback. Tao tried really hard to determine the the differences between his parent's cooking and this(even though he was nowhere near a chef), until their mother became bored of all the food-related talk, stating they should rather just enjoy it. Feeling scolded, he stopped the questions, but continued to communicate with hushed gestures once in a while. Meanwhile the talk turned to Kai. "I hope you're not bothered by my son's gift. If he warped around the store again and scared you, he'll really get it this time.", his mother began. Tao dutifully shook his head. "Hey. You're talking as if I wasn't there. And I rarely use it in the store.", Kai intervened, but was totally ignored. Instead, his sister solemnly nodded her head.
"Seriously,", she began, directed to Tao, "He scared off quite some customers in the beginning. I swear the old lady from next door was close to having a heart-attack."
"Ever since that incident he's only allowed to freely use it at home - What should I say, he does need regular training. But I almost regret allowing this, since I'm now the next target on the list of possible heart-attack victims.", his mother took over. Junmin snickered. "You know, now he's kinda good at it, but a few years ago... One time he accidentally teleported on top of the kitchen table, with a foot in mom's vase." "That was ONE time!" Kai's face was beet-red as he desperately tried to hush his nosy sister. His father seemed lost in thought, when he voiced out in a serious tone: "Yes, and wasn't there another time where he accidentally teleported into the neighbors' room and forgot he could also teleport out? So he was trapped in the empty flat until evening?" "I didn't forget! I was just... Too exhausted!", Kai tried to drown out the laughter. He then desperately turned to Tao. "Don't believe them, they're just trying to embarrass me!"
"We're not embarrassing you.", his sister dryly stated, "You're doing this work for us. We're just assisting you." Tao tried to suppress his smile.
"Anyway,", his mother changed the topic, "Your Korean is really good, Tao. You must be a smart kid." Flustered, Tao shook his head. "No, I still don't understand many words." She sighed longingly. "And so very polite. I wish only one of my kids was that polite." - the thrown-in "Hey!" of protest was swiftly ignored - "And on top of that you're a very handsome young man. Gosh, your parents must be so proud of you.
"Uhm, not really...", Tao said evasively. He really didn't want to ruin the atmosphere by telling of his parents' death. Again, Kai's hand drew soothing circles on his thigh. Tao's mind was clouded and he wished he was more pure-hearted - the hand on his leg wasn't only distracting him in one way. "Gee, seriously, how are you even friends with this useless guy?", his sister sighed. "He's not useless-", Tao began, without thinking. He even forgot his wariness of attention for a second(and failed to notice the hand on his thigh stopping the movement), when he defended the person important to him, "He's... He has the most beautiful heart I have ever seen.", he finished, slightly stumbling over his words in a try to find the right ones. He really hoped this was a legit way to say things in Korean. His mother began to coo at him again. "Okay, that's it.", she began, as if she had no other choice, "You're officially adopted. I won't let you go home. Too adorable for your own good." Even though it was meant as a joke, Tao found his heart beating faster at the suggestion. It was a stupid reaction, really, but he found himself smiling wholeheartedly  anyway. It was nice to hear that someone (besides Kai) would appreciate his presence.
The dinner continued with playful banter between the siblings and Tao found himself listening attentively, genuinely interested. Once in a while he even told a little something from his childhood, or laughed along at Junmin's little school tales.
When everyone was stuffed beyond imagination - Tao the most though, since Kai's father insisted on him trying everything - they went to retreat into Kai's room.

Upon entering Kai's room, he locked the door behind them. Tao didn't expect anything in particular, but Kai turning around with deep guilt written all over his beautiful features was definitely taking him off guard. "Look, I'm so sorry, I'm such an idiot!", he began with sincere distress, lifting both his hands as a gesture of apology. Tao was puzzled to say the least. Kai sat down at the edge of his bed and motioned for him to sit next to him - which the blonde did, confusion forming the stupidest thoughts in his head. His family wasn't that embarrassing, right? Was he concerned about his mother joking about the adoption thing? Telling him it was only a joke and he shouldn't build false hopes? Well, that would be awkward. As soon as he sat down, Kai kept on rambling with slight panic in his voice. "I wasn't doing it on purpose, really! My mom's right, I always act without thinking... I didn't mean to make you feel bad. About not... Having a family. Now you probably think I wanted to rub it in your face, right? That wasn't my intention...", Kai very hesitantly touched Tao's shoulder, while the taller one was staring blankly at him. He had never seen Kai in that much distress. And it was over him.The thought sent a warm and fuzzy feeling down his stomach. Tao reached out to place his hand over the one lying on his shoulder, the wish of reassuring Kai stronger than his urge to pull away, and tried to give him a smile that expressed all his gratitude. "Now you look, okay?", he started softly, "My parents passed away a long, long time ago. An even longer time I have spent in chains. And a maybe even longer time I have spent isolated from any living being. Meeting your family didn't make me feel envious or sad. It's exactly different. It made me remember the kindness and warmth of my parents, that I had almost forgot. I should really thank you, for letting me join your family for an evening." He could clearly see Kai searching for the truth in his eyes, but he had meant every word of it. "In fact I think it was a good reminder.", he continued, letting himself fall onto his back, making the mattress bouncing slightly. Kai slowly lay down next to him, shooting him questioning glances.
The smile didn't leave his face, but got a tinge of somberness.
"I just thought: What would my parents think of the way I lived? You know, I used to ask myself this question very often, thinking about how angry they would have been. They'd probably be disappointed in their weak son, I thought. But today, seeing your family... I was thinking: If Kai were to make a mistake, he'd probably be scolded-", at this Kai scoffed an agreeing "You have no idea...", "Albeit never for being a disappointment, but rather just to be told what's right. And then you could go on. I'd like to think that my parents would have done the same. I'd like to think that even after all of this, they would still forgive me. Whack me over the head for being stupid and then embrace me right after.", Tao looked to his side, into the deep brown eyes he could get lost in too easily. "Thank you for that, Kai."
A slight pink dusted his cheeks, as he lightly shook his head.
"You know, I think that wasn't exactly what I had in mind to show you, but since you make me look like a genius, I'll gladly accept that." Now it was Tao's turn to give the questioning looks, but Kai brushed him off. "One day you might understand, don't worry about it now."
A comfortable silence arose between them. After a few minutes, Kai wordlessly laid down on the bed properly, since his legs started to feel weird, and Tao followed suit. As they both lay there, staring at Kai's admittedly boring ceiling, Tao finally broke the silence after gathering his thoughts and courage.
"Kai?"
A soft hum was the answer.
"I know, that I owe you too much already, but there is one last thing I need to do. Could you help me?" When Kai turned to him and said without a second of hesitation in a serious tone: "Anything.", Tao believed him.
"I want to save the remaining kids from that orphanage."
There was something else, but he didn't mean to say it. Yet. First he had to succeed in doing this. To his surprise, Kai only shuffled closer, leaning his head against his shoulder. "We will find a way.", he said in a slightly sleepy voice, leaning closer into the crook of his neck. The brown curls lightly tickled his face and Tao, who was too exhausted to freak out about this, was tempted to purr in contempt.
Soon they both fell asleep, fully clothed and leaning against each other.

The next day Kai called his closest friends up for a meeting, discussing the matter. They both decided not to involve Kai's parents yet, but the brunette insisted on properly talking this through with some more minds, to go about this the best way. Naturally Tao was nervous about meeting Kai's friends, but he really needed to do that. Besides that he reminded himself that Kai's friends couldn't possibly be bad persons. It didn't went quite as planned, though; his best friend was coming over, but the other one wasn't answering the phone and sent a curt message, stating that he was kinda busy, but there was nothing to worry about. Instead, his best friend would bring along their special class' tutor("What the hell, it's like meeting with your teacher. Oh well, can't argue with this guy anyway.").
The place of the meeting was a secluded little coffee shop, where they chose a table upstairs in a far corner, so no one'd be able to overhear their conversation.
When the others finally arrived, Tao had already drank most of his bubble tea in nervousness. Kai naturally greeted them as they sat down. "Hey guys. I didn't expect to see you here, Lay." The addressed young man just shrugged, stating he was hanging out with Suho, when he got the message. Kai didn't seem to mind though, and briefly introduced everyone.
"Okay then, guys, this is Tao - A new friend of mine. Tao, this is Sehun, who has the gift of wind- and air-control and who's unfortunately my best friend-" The guy to Tao's left absentmindedly replied, without breaking eye-contact to Tao, "That's mutual, thank you very much."
"This is Suho, our tutor for the special after-classes. His gift is the element water. He's kind of cool, considering he's a teacher and all." The kind-looking man narrowed his eyes at Kai. "I'm not sure if this was supposed to be a compliment or if you're asking for detention classes, but I'll let it slide for now. Nice to meet you, Tao."
"Yeah yeah, and this is Lay, a colleague of Suho, who gives pretty awesome first-aid courses at our after-school once in a while. He has the gift of healing.", Kai gestured to the man on the far right, who emitted a gentle aura and had a dimpled smile on his face. "Why does it sound like you prefer Lay's presence over ours, even if he wasn't addressed in the first place...", Suho quietly grumbled, reaching for the menu. "Nice to meet you all. I will try not to be a burden.", Tao said, stumbling a little over his words in anxiety. The blond one, Sehun, just dismissed that with a stoic looking face. "Oh please, I deal with this moron on a daily basis, you'll hardly add to that."
While everyone took their time to skim through the menu, Tao watched his friends curiously. Everything about Sehun seemed very unapproachable, from his sharp jawline over his very pale skin to his white-blond hair. His face was expressionless, almost intimidating, yet he seemed genuinely intrigued and didn't seem to harbor any hostile feelings towards him. Suho, next to him, had a totally different aura of open friendliness with a kind-looking features. Lay had something really unique about him that Tao couldn't quite pinpoint or predict yet. He appeared to be kinda airy in the way he stopped talking mid-sentence upon reading the menu and shooting a confused look at Suho when said one was (patiently)looking at him, expecting an answer.
When everyone had chosen something and their drinks had arrived, the attention turned to Kai. Tao knew it should be his turn to talk, but his fingers were slightly shaking on his (second) cup of bubble tea, which didn't go past Kai; so he collected his thoughts and spoke up.
"Okay, guys. Uhm, look. There is something we wanna do and we're not sure on how to go about this."
"God, I hope you know that google is your best friend, not me. I'm not even of full age, dude.", Sehun dryly threw in, pointedly looking at the two guys. Kai blushed furiously, while confusion spread across Tao's face. Suho lightly whacked the blonde one over the head accusingly. Kai shot him an evil look, before continuing. "V-very funny, Oh Sehun. Actually there is an Orphanage in this city, in the Western district. We know that the children living there are being severely abused, both physically and mentally." The three got serious immediately, showing diverse reactions; Lay seemed calm, but now fully attentive. Suho had a shocked expression, while Sehun displayed incredulousness. "This has been going on for years now. And-"
"We need to save them.", Tao interrupted him.
All eyes were on him now, but he still continued, his voice slightly shaking.
"W-we thought about reporting them to the police, but... In the past they always passed all the regular controls, so maybe... They won't be arrested again. And then they'll know, that I am still...-" When Tao found himself unable to talk, Kai came to his aid again.
"They'll have suspicions and who knows what might happen then. I guess we should react very quickly so no one will be harmed. What do you guys say? What should be done?"
The table became silent. Suho was the first one to speak.
"Do you have any evidence?" Difficult question. Technically, Tao was the living evidence, but it would mean to expose him completely as well as risking to only imprison one of the five care-takers.  
"We can get evidence.", Tao said firmly. He sounded steady but below the table he clutched Kai's hand strongly for reassurance. "So then you go to the police,", Sehun started, "and make sure they'll get into the orphanage and arrest all of the staff at once. If you have enough evidence, they'll immediately do so, I guess." Kai nodded. That was probably right.
 "But still, what about the children living there?", Lay questioned. "Even if you take away the abusive care-takers, where will they go for now? I'm sure the whole building will be inspected thoroughly. And you never know who was all in on it, regarding the safety of the children. I don't even think I need to mention the post-trauma they might have. How many people might it be, Tao?"
The blonde shrugged. Since he was imprisoned for the most time, he wasn't even sure if he ever saw everyone. "I'm not sure. 25 maybe? Maybe more..." Lay nodded understanding. "For their own security they should get to a new place immediately. The orphanages in the city are pretty much cram-full at the moment, but you can surely fit in a few more, considering the circumstances. Still, even if you squeeze in one to three people...", Lay seemed to count in his head, before continuing, "There will be at least ten people left."
Suho tapped his fingers against the wooden table in thought. "I think I might have the solution to this. My cousin recently started to do his 6-month internship at an orphanage. Since it's kinda far away at the seaside, there might be a lot of additional space. I'm gonna give him a call, ok?" To Tao's relief, he immediately got up and went into a quiet corner to call this cousin of his.
"And I could get the kids there easily!", Kai happily concluded. Tao was amazed, to say the least. The problem seemed to be solved so easily with more people involved. Everyone was so willing to help. He was tempted to cry, but he wanted to make a good impression on Kai's friends, so he tried to keep calm until Suho came back. While waiting, neither Sehun nor Lay asked any uncomfortable questions about Tao's involvement in all of this - Even more reasons to feel gratitude.
Suddenly a short noise resounded and after glancing onto his phone, Lay got up and took his jacket. He excused himself and told them to inform him about further developments, scribbling his phone number down for Tao(who had no chance to tell him that he didn't he even have a phone to begin with). Before leaving he shortly pat Suho's shoulder, signalling him good-bye and got a nod in response. Shortly after, said one had finished his phone call.
When Suho slid back into his seat, he offered a reassuring smile to Tao, seemingly joining in on the quiet understanding of Tao's role in this.
"It will be alright. My cousin will talk to them tomorrow morning. He predicts no problems at all, though. We'll probably be able to bring the kids there for now."
At this, Tao smiled genuinely and stood up to bow before all of them deeply. "I really thank you for all the trouble. It means a lot to me."
Almost immediately Sehun dismissed him again.
"For God's sake, sit down. No one should bow to Kai, you're giving me a headache. Besides that it's painful to see Suho still needing to look up at you."
Another whack to his head followed.

The following days brought a lot of changes to Tao. For one, he made a deal to work part-time for Kai's family to pay his rent. Whenever someone was needed, he would work at the store or the restaurant. Since they stated that he should earn far more than the tiny rent, they'd also take care of his food and make sure he got a share from their daily warm dinner. If there was anything additional, he'd be paid by the end of the month. There was no way he could neglect this gracious offer, being well-aware that this was a unique opportunity. In a corner of his mind Tao felt guilty for being so intrusive in Kai's life, but he didn't seem to mind.
When said brunette was at school, Tao lingered around the store. He felt the new and foreign urge not to be alone and having a familiar face in the same room calmed him down in a way.
So he sat down and took some notes in a little journal. He had already planned most of it through. Where to go, at what times and how to get the evidence he needed. Currently he was waiting for the weekend to come. Even though he could be going alone, Kai had persisted on accompanying him, for which he was secretly more than grateful.
It so happened that along the way Tao was caught up in a conversation with the Sales Assistant he had already encountered once. He introduced himself as Luhan and both boys were delighted to have found someone sharing the same home country.
Whenever a customer left, Luhan would continue their conversation where they had left off; talking about their impressions of Korea, what they missed about their home, what was more convenient here. Even though wary of people, Tao couldn't find a reason to dislike the blonde boy, who was nothing but friendly and stood all the way back behind the counter(it was always easier to tolerate people if they weren't all up in his personal space). At some point the topic couldn't be avoided anymore and Tao told him about his family. He left out the details about his abuse or gift, though.
Still, Luhan was full of compassion. "What, so you're sure they never came for you? Not even once? Not even a phone call?", he broke out, his sparkling eyes wide in disbelief. Feeling a pang of very old rejection, Tao nodded with his head hanging low. Then he tried to smile. "It's ok, though. Maybe they didn't have the means to take care of another child." Vehemently Luhan shook his head until some messy strands of blonde hair stood out comically. "Nah, I don't believe that! There must be some family members who really missed you. No, Still miss you!" He took out a pen and started to write something on a paper note. "Listen, I think my parents in China know someone who works for the government. Maybe we can find out something about your family's whereabouts. It may take some time, though, since I don't know if this person works in the right position... What's your full name?", he questioned and looked up through his soft fringe and over to Tao, who still sat at his plastic table, a little stunned by the sudden turn of events. "Uh... Huang Zitao.", he dutifully answered. Luhans eyebrows knitted in concentration. Then he held up the note. "Like this?" Tao shook his head and Luhan went over to him, laying the paper in front of him. He took the ballpen out of his hand and wrote down the correct symbols for his name. Luhan gave an understanding hum. "Ah, so Huang Zi Tao. Got it. I can't make you any promises, but there's no harm in trying, right?", he said, smiling brightly as he went back behind the counter. Again Tao felt as if the world was trying to make up for all of his misery. He didn't even think about the possibility of contacting his family, just the mere offer of help was what made him so happy. Without thinking he blurted out: "Thank you so much, Luhan-ge!" Then he covered his mouth in shock, praying that he didn't overstep any border. But Luhan just smiled and gave him a playful wink. "Anything for a didi as cute as you." Tao was flustered, but Luhan just directed their conversation on naturally. For some reason, he felt just that with Luhan: Natural understanding. So their talk went on peacefully, ridding both parties of their boredom.
Still, this day held yet another surprise for Tao, which came through the door in the early afternoon, setting off the jingle. Luhan's head flew around to greet the new customer. "Welcome- Oh, it's you. Kai's not here you know?" He didn't get an answer besides a neutral hum as the customer took long strides towards Tao, plonking his lanky figure down into the chair opposite of him and casually getting rid of his jacket. Tao was surprised to the point of confusion. Still, he remembered his name clearly. "H-hello Sehun.", he stated in a vain attempt to hide his nervousness. "Hey.", came the curt reply and without any further ado, Sehun went through his bag in search of something.
"Uhm... Kai is still at school.", Tao spoke into the weird silence.
"I know that."
"Oh. Okay."
Silence. Tao was wondering what the meaning behind all this was. Maybe Sehun usually studied here as well? Maybe this was supposed to be his table and he intruded on that? Maybe he wanted to tell him to back off of Kai's life because he wanted more time with his best friend? Maybe- But Tao's thoughts were cut off by the loud clang of multiple books and paper hitting the table. Then he saw a pen held out for him.
"Are you good at Math?" Caught off guard, Tao took the pen and stammered: "Uh-kinda? Maybe? I've never had trouble at school, but why-"
"How about Literature, then? Korean Literature?"
"I... I know nothing about it, I'm sorry."
"Good. Literature it is, then.", he simply stated, reaching for a yellow book and placing the rest back into his bag. The confusion didn't seem to end with the non-talkative guy. When he looked up he saw a dumb-founded Tao who cluelessly held up the pen, as if not knowing what to do with it(which he didn't, who could blame him?). Still, he seemed kinda intimidated and didn't want to set him off by asking any more questions, so he just sat there, frozen.
Sehun sighed. "Look, I... I don't know what your deal is, but you're not going to school at the moment, right?" A shy nod.
"You won't be able to avoid education forever, you know? And the standards for our school... for Korean schools,", he corrected himself, stumbling over his words a little, "Are very high. You won't pass without never having read any Korean Literature. So pay attention now. I expect you to ask whenever you're not understanding or missing a word. Maybe you'll want to make a vocabulary list." Sehun's voice was strict and only after a minute or so Tao had progressed the information that Sehun actually wanted to help him with studying, so that he could re-enter a school in the future. Preferably the school they also attended. The slightly red tips of his ears confirmed that. Tao didn't know how to tell him that he probably wouldn't be able to enter a school, so he just went along with it. After all someone he barely knew took his time to spend it with him. Out of respect he would give his best.
It came as a surprise to Tao that Sehun was a good teacher. Though stoic and monotone, he never lost his patience or failed to make sure Tao was still following him. He even complimented Tao by stating that he 'wasn't stupid at all' and that he could easily make it into their(-"Uh, into a") school. It was soon obvious to Tao how to read his signs and how to interpret him, even getting a few faint smiles once in a while(which changed his whole expression dramatically). Against all odds he felt very at ease around Sehun. For some unknown reason they just clicked. So he didn't even notice how long they were studying, until Luhan called over from behind the counter:
"Yah! Sehun! You're exhausting my dongsaeng!" Sehun didn't even look up, but finished going over some sentences of Tao while calling back annoyed: "So what am I, then? I should be your dongsaeng, too!" Luhan snorted. "You are perfectly capable of taking care of yourself. Now take a break, both of you.", he strictly instructed and Sehun lay down the pen after correcting the last part. "Fine.", he sighed, stretching his limbs.
During their short break, Tao insisted on going out for a moment and came back with three cups of bubble tea and some little cakes. He wouldn't have thought Luhan's eyes could sparkle any brighter, but at the sight of bubble tea he prove him wrong. Even Sehun seemed overly delighted (even more so that Tao remembered his favorite flavor). They spent a nice break, which consisted mostly of Luhan doing the talking to lure Tao and Sehun out of their shells. He seemed pretty good at that, encouraging Tao and provoking Sehun, until the three of them started to warm up to each other.
When the latter left the store in the late afternoon, and Luhan ended his shift in change for Kai's mother, Tao spent some time looking at his written notes without really paying attention. He was progressing all the things that had happened today. There were now two new people in his life - His world was growing and he felt more brave and self-confident than he ever had. One day, he could surely lead an independent life again. He couldn' wait to tell Kai about this. When said one rushed into the store in the early evening, he looked sweaty from dance practice. As usual, Tao lightly bit his lip and tried to rid his head of impure thoughts that were sure to come when the brunette looked that enticing. With no clue about his appearance, he strode over to Tao, greeting him cheerfully. He threw his schoolbag onto a chair, rustling through it busily. "Today, on my way back, I found something for you...", he said, and fished out a small rectangular black box, holding it up to Tao. "Ta-Dah~!", he exclaimed in proud excitement, "What do you think?"
Hesitantly he took the box and opened it, ever the curious person he was. Inside was a shiny black mobile phone. "It's not the brand-new model, but I guess it's easy to use. It came to my mind when you got Lay's number; now you can contact them on your own." A little shocked Tao looked at him, voicing his concerns. "But I can't just accept that, it's too much-", but Kai was already prepared for that. "Nu uh,", he interrupted swiftly, "Indirectly you bought it yourself, you know? I bought it with the money you gave me for staying at the hostel. Mom never wanted it in the first place, but you wouldn't listen to that, right? So I took the liberty of investing it into this. Oh, but if you don't want it, I'll return it. Don't you like it?" "I-I do. Very much, but-" "Then hush, just accept it. Turn it on, come on~", he spurred him on giddily. Together they set up his phone and saved Kai's and Lay's contact data as well as Luhan's, who had also left his number for Tao. After a few minutes he got his first text message from an unknown number.
  - Hey. Heard you got a phone.
That's my number. Text me when you're free for studying.
Sehun -
That made a total of 4 contacts in his phone. And Tao treasured every single one of them deeply.

The next days passed by in a blur of events for Tao. Collecting the evidences went on smoothly, though it was a tedious process to say the least. It required countless time-stops and teleportations to figure out where the caretakers were and to get close enough without being noticed - Just to get the right snapshot. It took almost a week to gather a sufficient amount of evidence and both Kai and Tao were exhausted. Still, they lost no time in reporting to the police, taking along Suho as a support. He also persuaded the officers into allowing Kai to bring the kids to safety.
Entering the orphanage without the protection of a time-stop was even more horrible than their last visits. Tao tried really hard to repress the trembling and tightly gripped onto Kai's arm. The officers raided their main room as Tao pointed it out, and the two lost no time in continuing through the rooms to find the inhabitants. As predicted the procedure was everything but peaceful; the angry shouting of men echoed along the hallway and made Tao twitch nervously. They found the children frightened and clueless about what was happening. Still, no one showed any sign of struggle - It was clear to them, that wherever they would be brought, it could only be an improvement from their current state. Moreover, some recognized Tao's face, which added to their trust. Kai took two people by their hands and ported them to their carefully remembered destinations. Meanwhile Tao stayed back and secured the situation from driving into panic, lining two people up to wait for Kai's return. They went on with this and had soon secured most of the children. Tao led Kai upstairs in search for the basement-rooms, where they found another two girls - one gifted and one exceptionally pretty and already quite mature. Still, Tao had a feeling that someone was amiss. So they continued to comb through the old building, taking old wooden stairs to enter the various cellar-rooms. By now not only Tao's, but also Kai's hands were slightly trembling. He was obviously exhausted from the excessive use of his gift. The shouting faintly resounded behind them, but got more quiet, the deeper they went.
"Are you... Ok?", Tao whispered. Kai gave his hand a squeeze and a slightly shaky "Y-yeah. We're almost done. What about you? Did they keep you in here as well?", he asked, referring to Tao's worsening condition. Tao only gave a small noise, close to a whimper. "Only... Only on s-special... Occasions.", he muttered, and Kai would have loved to embrace the frightened blonde, if only they had the time. "Shh... We're gonna be out of here in a minute.", he said, trying to sound as if the fatigue wouldn't get to him the way it did.
They found an almost starved girl in the last room, sitting in the corner of an otherwise blank, window-less room under the flickering light of a loose bulb hanging from the ceiling. When she saw the two, she tried to back away, but only managed to completely tumble to the floor. Kai gasped in shock at the sight, rushing up to the girl to aid her up. The girl wildly tried to flail her arms, but she was far too weak. "Shh...", he started in a quiet and soft voice, "Let's get you away from here, okay? Somewhere where you can have a snack and a nap, okay?" The girl was shaking like a leaf, but nevertheless let Kai hold onto her hand. With the signature sound, they both vanished and Tao stood alone in the room for a second. He, too, had lots of ugly memories that took place in the cellars. He tried to breath evenly, closed his eyes and tried to blend out his surroundings, just concentrating on Kai. He would be back soon.
From afar came new sounds and the commotion drew closer, but Tao was too paralysed to pay attention. All of a sudden something rammed a wall and Tao whipped his head around, just in time to see one of the care-takers barging into the room. He already had a bloody wound on his forehead, but didn't seem fazed. Instead, he eyed Tao with pure hate in his eyes. "It's you!", he screeched, pointing one of his stubby fingers at him, "I knew you were alive, damn' gifted bastard!" Instantly, Tao was frozen to his spot. The trembling grew to shaking and came over him like a wave. "I come home to find the damn cops have raided the whole thing! Just coz you ain't gotta family, you wanna ruin my life as well? Huh? HUH?!" At the last words he drew out a knife, pointing it at Tao. His first instinct was to freeze the time, but for one or two seconds, he was just too frozen in fear. "Now you're quiet, aren't cha?", he spat out and neared Tao threateningly, "We went far too nice on you, look where it got us. I'm not gonna repeat the mistake, I-" He wielded the knife forwards, and everything happened at once. Tao wanted to back away, crashing into the just reappearing Kai, who slightly tumbled and held him at both his forearms. In a split-second Kai reacted, decided to take Tao with him, and just as the black smoke started to swallow him, he looked from the crazed look in the man's eyes to Suho, who was just tumbling into the room with a shout that grew distant so quickly...

They landed in the soft sand of a beach, tumbling to the ground. Kai lost no time and grabbed Tao's shoulders, looking him into the eye. "Okay Tao.", he said urgently, "You wait here for me, I'll be back in a sec. Don't. Move." Then he had already vanished again, before the blonde could utter a single syllable. It got quiet and the fainting black smoke was all that remained. For 5 seconds Tao sat there, paralyzed. Trying to process what had happened. Kai had saved him. Suho was in danger. Kai went away. Presumably to Suho.
Kai was in danger.
His first instinct was to stop time, to search for him. He looked around only to see a rather gloomy clouded sky and waves that seemed grey among the dusty atmosphere of the blue hour of the day. This was probably the place of the orphanage at the seaside, where Suho's cousin worked. All of this information flooded his brain in an instant without having anywhere to really register, as Tao's mind was blank. No matter how far he would have to walk, he'd do it. He closed his eyes and concentrated.
But everything continued to happen. The whooshing of waves continued, the feeling of wind continued and the smell of salt continued as well. He squeezed them tighter, tried harder. But time wouldn't listen. The panic set into his stomach like a heavy weight, but fluttered like a storm of angry butterflies. The seconds passed. And everything happened, beyond his control. He dug his fists into the cold sand, repressing the urge to vomit. Maybe Kai was dead by now. Maybe he ported to the wrong place and got attacked. Again, he was powerless. Stepping out into the flow of time had been a terrible idea. If something had happened to Kai... He would definitely never ever return from the frozen time. Maybe it was supposed to be like this. The thoughts jumbled together, making up for the blankness earlier and Tao spiraled into panic deeper and deeper. Hot streams of tears began to pour over his face. He muttered Kai's name over and over again, tightly grasping his shoulders. Please come back. Please. Don't leave me alone. Please-
And with a faint cracking sound, Kai appeared, stumbled, and fell down onto his knees. Tao's eyes widened and he scrambled over to him hastily, tumbling repeatedly along the few meters to land in Kai's arms. He grasped Kai tightly, so tightly that he feared he might leave some bruises along his back, but neither of them was in the condition to care. Weakly, he felt arms returning the embrace, one hand wandering to pat his head. "Hey. I'm back.", he said so quietly, that Tao almost didn't hear it against the noise of his frantic sobbing.
"I'm sorry.", he whispered, "It took so long... I'm just... A little tired." He coughed slightly. "Suho is safe, though. He got really angry. Angry Suho is scary, you know. I tend to forget how strong he is.", he laughed weakly, but Tao only cried harder. "I was scared!", he whimpered in-between the sobs, shaking from head to toe, "If something had happened... To Suho, or to you... If you had never met me - I'm so useless!", he stammered in a non-logical string of words. With quite some effort Kai managed to pull Tao away from him, holding him an arms-length from him. "Tao, hey. Look at me. Tao-", but the blonde just urgently lunged forward to press their lips together. After a second of bewilderment, Kai closed his eyes to softly press back. The kiss didn't last very long, nor was he exceptionally skilled. Just the pressure of warm lips on his and the taste of his salty tears. Still, it send Kai's head spinning profusely and when Tao drew back, he unconsciously inched towards him and almost lost his balance. Tao looked him in the eyes, his still shining with tears.
"I always looked at you!", he exclaimed and broke down completely into a crying mess.
"From the first day... I was m-mesmerized. I tried to forget about you, but... I always came back. To that store. I just... I just wanted to see you, even though you were frozen. I looked at you for so long, for hours, so often - I would never get tired of it. Like an addiction. ...But I was so greedy, I wanted to see you moving, talking, talking... T-to me. So I tried to g-get your attention and you were so kind... I used to turn back time. Whenever I was a coward, whenever I messed up. I... I spent hours talking to you, again and again, because I was too stupid. Had the same conversation again and again. But no matter what I did, no matter how bad I messed up, you were always so... Gentle, so friendly, you never got angry or annoyed, never - even now. You're always patient with me, teaching me everything. I know it now; why you showed me your family. I understood it when I saw S-sehun and everyone else. They are younger than me, but they are so much more mature. T-they live, and they make mistakes, and they learn. While I... I only existed, but I'm still a kid, not able to do a thing - I'm just such a big mess!" He tried to wipe away his tears, but new ones were forming so quickly, it was a lost fight. Still, he was far too gone to stop himself now, voicing out his inner thoughts with neither order nor sense,
"A-and I know that I'm messing up your life now, too, b-but I can't help it. Whatever happens, I will always end up in front of you again. I'm so sorry! I'm so sorry...", he whispered and another tremour went through his body, "I'm sorry for k-kissing you. But I was so desperate. I need you. I-I... Even if you don't want me, I fell in love with you and I can't stop it anymore...!", he exclaimed loudly, before breaking down in further sobs, continuing to whisper apologies, only interrupted by hiccups. Kai stared at him, stunned. There was no time to think anything, before the words tumbled out of his mouth.
"I... I'm sorry."
At this, Tao squeezed his eyes shut, but also got quiet. He wanted to just hurry and take the rejection, so he wouldn't bother Kai any longer.
"I didn't know all of that. ...That you have feelings that strong for me... I thank you for that. It means a lot to me, that you're able to like a person as dumb as me.", he joked half-heartedly, but his voice was cracking a little as well. "It's just... I haven't even known you for a month. Don't misunderstand-", he hastily threw in, as he saw Tao was close to a second break-down, "I like you. A lot. Ever since I saw you, I was drawn to you. When I see you, I turn into an idiot. Like, more than usual. I want you to like me, I want to make you happy. I could really imagine being with you. Just... Can you give me some time?"
Tao opened his bright grey eyes to stare at Kai, and without any hesitation he whispered:
"Take all of my time."
At this, the brunette smiled and inched closer to Tao, who didn't know how to react and just decided not to move a muscle, trusting him completely. Kai drew in even closer, to tenderly place his lips over the cheek of Tao, softly moving them along his skin and carefully lapping  his tongue to catch the salty tears. Tao's breath hitched, but he remained still, closing his eyes, while his tears were softly half-kissed, half-licked away. First on his left, then his right side.
When he withdrew slowly and paused in his way to gaze into his eyes, Kai was certain of it. The time had just stopped, that must have been it. For there was no other smell but Tao's, no other sound than the one of his uneven breathing, and no other movement but his fluttering eyelashes.

 

Moving.


 

- Hey Tao!
Guess what, my mom called. She said she found your family.
They've been misled at your orphanage.
I'll send you the number of your aunt. Maybe you wanna call her.
Luhan -
 

- Hey Honey,
I sent you the documents. Please let me know what the school said, okay?
Fighting!
Love,
your Auntie <3 -