“Indifference and neglect often do much more damage than outright dislike.”

- J. K. Rowling

“That worked well, now didn't it?” Wufan asked sarcastically, standing up as well.

“Wasn't really intending for you to care much that it barely affects you, just didn't want you to singe my ears off, thank you very much,” Zitao frowned. He unfroze time after a second.

Zitao knew stopping time would only do so much good before Wufan could detect it and get himself out of it after only a few seconds. It was a perk of having a special ability; being able to notice when others used theirs before anyone else, and sometimes preventing it from affecting them. Zitao knew that the more he used his power around Wufan, the quicker the older would get used to it (not that he was planning to use it much anyway).

“I thought you were hiding something big, not some stupid time-bending crap,” Wufan responded harshly, kicking at the burning grass. “Not even an element or something? Boring.”

“Nevertheless, it's always others with special abilities that, once they discover I can control time, feel the need to tell everyone,” Zitao rolled his eyes. “And it's always the weak ones, ones like you that do it. Because they feel they aren't human enough, that they're too abnormal for the rest of the world, so they just want to bring down whomever they can so they can suffer too, instead of doing something about their own problem and trying to fix it,” he spat. “That's why I'm here. Because my own parents can't even stand to see me affecting their lives “negatively” with rumors spreading around about their son. So they got rid of me for the time being. It's not the first time this has happened.”

“It sounds like you're the weak one to me,” Wufan sneered. “Not even telling people? You're lucky you don't have any physical deformities like m-”

“Deformities?!” Zitao screeched. “You make it sound like a disease!”

Wufan rolled his eyes. “Yes, deformities. It's a term for something that's different than average. Look it up. Anyway, if you're not even telling anyone, you're more of a coward than anyone else!”

“Why do I need to tell people? It's not like I use it much! What good would it do to tell anyone, especially considering you'd need special abilities to even detect it's happening!” Zitao screamed.

“Look, now you're getting all defensive! I'm right!” Wufan yelled.

“Don't even try and tell me that you wouldn't try to out me somehow, just because you want the rest of the village to think someone else around here is a freak too!” Zitao shouted. “You want to see me suffer due to people judging me so you're not the only one! I wouldn't, for your information, because I don't let those types of things get to my head, unlike how you've lived your life, apparently,” he snarled.

“The only things you know about me is what your little friends have told you. And that isn't worth anything,” Wufan whispered dangerously low.

“You don't even know my name, so I wouldn't be so quick to judge on that part,” Zitao responded, crossing his arms and drumming his fingers along his bicep. “Besides, I don't need to know much about you to know that you are normal, but you will always be a monster if that's what you keep telling yourself just because that's what people expect of you.”

When Wufan didn't reply right away, Zitao his heel and began walking away. “I'm leaving, Yixing and Luhan are waiting for me,” he called over his shoulder.

Wufan stood still, staring after Zitao with a snarl on his lips, but didn't do anything to make the younger stay.

Right before he to the main road in the direction of the village square, Zitao glanced back. “HUANG ZITAO!” he yelled to the unmoving Wufan, not bothering to wait for his reaction before he continued on along the dusty road.

He somehow managed to find his way to the center of the village after some mild confusion and a 10-minute detour that ended up leading to the entrance of the town instead. Zitao found Luhan and Yixing sitting under a tree, sharing an apple and picking at the grass underneath their shoes. Yixing noticed him first.

“Hey, you ok?” Yixing asked, walking over, Luhan trailing behind him a little. “We saw Wufan flying around, and kinda assumed the worst...” he trailed off at the glare Zitao gave him. “What's wrong?”

“You both kept saying “the town this” and “the town that” but you know what? That doesn't exclude you two,” Zitao hissed. “You both were terrified of him when he came up to us earlier, but why? The only reason Wufan is who he is right now, is because he's fitting into the mold that this town made for him the second he was born.”

"What?" Luhan asked, surprised.

"Don't you get it? I thought you guys were better than that...how could you do that? I mean, yeah, he tried to burn my head off, but he's not that bad!"

"Whoa, whoa, are you ok?" Yixing began searching Zitao's head for any burns. "I think he got your ear somewhat..."

"Oh, it doesn't matter," Zitao swatted Yixing's hand away. "He's just fitting into his role since he thinks that's what everyone wants him to be. Nobody ever wanted him to be a friend," Zitao narrowed his eyes. "That's why he isn't...because no one expects him to be one, so he isn't. He's a coward, but if you think this is all his fault, then it's you that's clearly in the wrong," he finished, sighing.

"Zitao-" Yixing started but was cut off by Wufan tackling the youngest to the ground. Yixing jumped back in surprise and Zitao grunted in pain when his back hit the grass.

"You think you can get rid of me that easy? Think again," Wufan spat, leaning closer. Wufan was again straddling him on the ground by way of sitting on his chest. He started his fire again within a matter of seconds, this time stronger and closer, the flames shooting up in large columns surrounding them.

"What're you gonna do? Expose your power to the rest of the town now or die?" Wufan breathed, grabbing Zitao by the collar.

Zitao growled but soon let his purple glow take over. He wrenched Wufan's hands away, but wasn't able to escape before Wufan noticed.

"Oh no you don't," Wufan snarled, grabbing hold of Zitao's shirt again. Zitao struggled in his hold, which apparently annoyed Wufan, as the older boy incinerated his shirt in seconds, letting Zitao fall back on the ground with a thud.

"What did I tell you not even half an hour ago?!" Zitao yelled, slamming his fist onto the ground. "You are weak, and you are trying to bring me down with you! A choice of death or showing my power...that's not only low, but incredibly malicious and cowardly. And why did you burn my shirt? I mean really...that was my shirt."

"Shut up!" Wufan hissed. "You can't get away with talking to me like that!"

Zitao sneered, whispering quietly. "Time isn't the only thing I know how to manipulate. Maybe you shouldn't be the one messing with me, ever think of that?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Wufan growled, narrowing his eyes.

Instead of answering, Zitao frowned, and Wufan was shoved off the younger by an orange glow. Wufan crashed to the ground a couple feet away and Zitao stood up slowly.

"Great, you have force fields too," Wufan spat sarcastically. "If you're like how the myth goes, then you must be weakened now, however," he chuckled harshly.

The older boy was right, unfortunately; using any sort of shield took a lot of strength and since Zitao hadn't used that individual power in a long time, it was even more so.

He glanced around, finally noticing Yixing and Luhan's looks of pure fright frozen on their unmoving faces and the random villagers looking over in alarm, stilled in their actions.

"Why are so dead set on exposing me?" Zitao asked after a minute. "Why do you want to see me suffer too?"

"I thought you said you wouldn't be suffering if anything did happen," Wufan answered coldly.

"But you're doing this regardless of if I'll be suffering or not. You're hoping I will," Zitao whispered scathingly.

"Maybe," Wufan walked over until they were mere centimeters apart, "maybe I think you deserve this. You've been bad mouthing me to my face and we've only known each other less than an hour. Maybe this is just payback."

“It isn't bad mouthing when I'm trying to help you. Just because the words I say aren't necessarily words of sunshine and happiness doesn't make me a bad person,” Zitao muttered, staring up at Wufan. “But you just want to bring me down,” he glanced over at Yixing and Luhan. “You know, I was going to tell them. They're nice enough, and this is a small town so it doesn't really matter much anyway. I'll end up stuck here for a while because of that, unlike my past experiences. But,” he turned back to Wufan, “now they figure out through you. Which isn't fair to me and certainly isn't fair to them.”

“Like I care,” Wufan seethed. “I'll break you one way or another, Huang Zitao. Have fun explaining this.”

And with that, Wufan walked away. Zitao stared after him, tempted to run after so he could yell and scream and punch and kick because Wufan was just so evil when he shouldn't be. Instead, he let out a sigh and unfroze time finally, the flames in the grass vanishing instantaneously. Yixing and Luhan, who had apparently been in mid-shout, stopped in their tracks when they realized Zitao was no longer on the ground with Wufan on top of him, and was instead several meters away, shirtless, burned, and weak, with no Wufan in sight.

“Wha-” Luhan started.

“I'll explain on the way back to my house,” Zitao grumbled under his breath, ignoring the eyes of the curious villagers.

“I can stop time,” Zitao said after a minute on the dusty road. “And I have force fields and stuff, but I don't use those things much. I'm a conglomeration of random abilities, but most are really draining. Wufan forced it out of me and was dead set on exposing me to the town.”

“You can...stop...time?” Yixing asked suspiciously.

“Would you like a demonstration?” Zitao asked sarcastically, rolling his eyes.

“Ok!” Luhan agreed excitedly before Yixing could open his mouth.

Zitao shrugged, but let the purple glow take over and continued walking ahead. After a good distance, he resumed time. “That good enough for you?” he called.

“How did you...do that...” Luhan trailed off, running to catch up with Zitao.

“I just...do it,” Zitao responded. “Didn't you see the purple glow?”

Luhan shook his head slowly and Yixing looked confused. “Purple glow?”

“Whenever I use my power, a purple glow surrounds me. I have different colors for different powers too; orange for force fields, red for teleportation, blue for telekinesis, et cetera, et cetera,” Zitao listed off, disinterested. “So you can't see the glow then?”

“I don't think so...do it again? I'm curious,” Luhan suggested, his eyes shining brightly. Zitao did as instructed, not moving much this time, and the older paid close attention. “I don't see it...but your eyes flickered purple for a second, I think...”

“Huh,” Zitao muttered.

“Can you control everything then?” Yixing asked curiously. Zitao glanced over at Luhan and noticed how fascinated the older looked.

“No, not everything,” Zitao answered softly, turning his attention back to Yixing. “Anything elemental is out of my control, for one. Shape-shifting too. I've just got the technical stuff. Since I get weaker from anything that isn't time, I usually just stick with that though.”

“Wow,” Luhan murmured.

The rest of the walk back to Zitao's house was filled with Luhan and Yixing asking questions about each and every little thing concerning Zitao's powers (“Do you feel anything?” “Why does it make you weak?” “How did Wufan figure it out?” “How did you discover you could do those things?”).

Zitao was thankful when he could escape to his own house to change and was again thankful when they returned to the village square and the pair moved on from talking about his abilities to other, more important, topics of conversation.

The town square (or as Luhan called it, “the only interesting place in this entire village”) was located in the center of Yongcun, and was exactly what Zitao had expected it'd be; it was small, dense, and consistently overcrowded. It was mostly essentials the shops carried (clothes, food, furniture, and the like), and he began wondering how anybody could possibly have any sort of fun around here.

Zitao was conscious of all the stares he was receiving, some probably just because he was new, but he assumed most were because of earlier, due to Wufan. He sighed mentally, instead trying to focus his attention on whatever Yixing was saying about necessary kitchen utensils.

Needless to say, the rest of the weekend dragged on a little too long for Zitao's liking, being filled with rearranging his entire house and discussing work possibilities with Luhan's father. Wufan seemed to disappear as well, making Zitao more than suspicious of what the older had in store for him. Not that he himself was entirely innocent; he had his own ideas to get Wufan to listen to him, one way or another.

He started school on that Monday, dreading the gawking attention and the rumors that were bound to already be floating around. Since Yixing had left earlier due to some reason Zitao couldn't be bothered to remember, Luhan walked with him that morning, telling him all he'd need to know about the students and teachers.

“Since there's not many kids in the village, we're all kind of lumped together for some of our classes. If it's not a core class, Yixing and I will probably be with you. Don't be surprised if there's only like, 5 other students in your class, it's kind of typical,” Luhan said, looking around absentmindedly at the houses they passed. “Remind me I need to show you around the rest of the village this weekend, ok?” he said offhandedly.

“Ok,” Zitao murmured, not really paying attention. “What's Wufan like at school?” he asked while trying to implant the directions to the building in his brain as they turned yet another corner.

“Well...probably how you'd expect. Nobody talks to him, the teachers don't call on him, everybody just kinda...avoids him,” Luhan replied uneasily.

“He's in for a surprise today then,” Zitao smirked. “I'll get him to accept himself eventually.”

“What're you going to do?” Luhan asked as they rounded the final corner, the building falling into Zitao's sight at once.

“What nobody seems to have done for years,” Zitao responded. “I'm going to be nice to him.”

“Good luck with that,” Luhan sighed. “It might seem like a good idea, but I can tell you right now, he won't like it at all.”

“I don't care if he doesn't like it, he'll have to get used to it,” Zitao said with a half-smile. “I'm not going anywhere anytime soon. And just you wait and see, he'll eventually warm up to my inevitable clinginess and happiness. I'm going all out for this.”

“That's like begging for a death sentence,” Luhan warned, raising his eyebrows.

“He's already threatened to kill me at least twice, and people know I'm here now. He won't murder me. He's a coward, but he's not stupid,” Zitao shrugged.

“I don't understand how you can talk about him so casually...calling him a coward and weak...” Luhan whispered. “It's not a good idea Zitao. None of it. Trying to be nice, talking about him like that...it'll only get you hurt.”

“This is what I was talking about earlier,” Zitao rolled his eyes. “If people opened their eyes and realized that Wufan is not some absolute threat to society, they wouldn't be afraid of him! The only 2 things I know about him is that he's a bully and a coward, both of which are common symptoms of people that grew up in rough environments. I obviously don't know about his personal life, but from what I've heard about his social life...he has grown up in a rough environments of sorts,” he pointed out, pushing open the door when they reached the school. “Besides, I'm not scared of him. Everyone else might be, but I see no reason to, I could beat him at his own game if I felt like it.”

“As long as you know what you're getting yourself into...” Luhan mumbled. They parted ways soon after when Zitao went to get his schedule and Luhan headed to his first class.

Zitao knew to expect only a few people in his first class, even without Luhan's warning. His first class was some study hall of sorts as well, meaning there were probably less students than regular classes. The class ended up only having 7 other people in it, 3 of which were sleeping, 2 who were actually doing homework, and 2 who were staring at him intently. He had anticipated that, at the very least.

The teacher left for a minute and Zitao almost snorted at how quickly the students came to life. Several started talking right away and a couple others were looking his way. Suddenly, a boy with chubby cheeks seemed to appear out of nowhere, dragging along another boy with short black hair. Zitao noted that they had been the two watching him when he first entered.

“Hi, I'm Xiumin,” the chubby-cheeked boy smiled brightly. “This is my brother, Chen. He's your age. I'm a year older. We're actually Korean, and he's Jongdae and I'm Minseok, but we've lived here nearly our entire lives so we go by our Chinese names inste-”

Chen slapped his brother's hand so the older would let go of his wrist. “Shut up, you'll freak him out,” he interrupted. Turning to Zitao, his face turned apologetic. “Sorry, he can be...intense sometimes. We saw you on Saturday with Luhan and Yixing and were going to introduce ourselves, but then...yeah,” he smiled sheepishly.

“So do you have powers like Wufan does?” Xiumin asked bluntly enough, sitting down in the desk next to Zitao, leaving Chen to stand awkwardly in front of them.

Zitao nodded, albeit a little taken aback by the older boy's straightforwardness. “I can stop time. That's why Wufan disappeared so fast...he's not really affected by it,” he murmured, well aware that at least 3 other people were listening to him. He mentally waved off the earlier idea of never telling anybody about his powers with a groan.

“Wow,” Xiumin breathed. “Can you do it now?” (followed quickly by Chen whacking the back of Xiumin's head and exclaiming “that's rude, don't ask that!”)

Zitao looked around hesitantly. “I...I don't really want to turn into this school's bizarre form of walking entertainment. If I do it now, more people will want to see, and I don't really want to deal with all that...sorry.” he said softly.

Chen nodded in understanding. “That makes sense, Xiumin shouldn't have asked,” he glared at his brother. “We'll leave you alone now,” he added, nearly knocking over the desk in his haste to pull Xiumin away. Zitao suppressed a chuckle as he heard Chen reprimand Xiumin all the way back to their original desks (“How are you older than me again?! I swear, you're more like a 13 year-old on a sugar rush...”). He sat in the awkward silence for a minute, as everyone had stopped talking and was now just staring at him in varying degrees of obviousness, and realized he'd once again neglected to tell people his name.

The rest of his morning passed in a similar fashion, somebody always coming up and asking about Saturday or the rumors they'd heard and then the whole class was listening in. Unfortunately for him, Zitao didn't have any morning classes with Luhan or Yixing. But Wufan wasn't in any of them either, delaying his plan even further.

Nonetheless, lunch came soon enough, which seemed like as good of a time as any. He found Yixing first, but was more interested in finding Wufan.

“Where were you this morning?” Zitao asked.

Yixing rolled his eyes playfully. “I told you like, 3 times, I work in my dad's shop before school starts.”

“Oh, right...” he mumbled, looking around the lunchroom. “How many kid's go here again? There's probably less than 100 people in here...”

“There's about 85 kids over the span of 4 grades. How many were at your old school?” Yixing asked curiously.

“2,500,” Zitao replied distractedly, still trying to find Wufan.

“...wow,” Yixing blinked in surprise.

“Where is he?” the younger muttered, eyes still sweeping the room.

“Who? Luhan?”

“No, Wufan! I need to talk to him...” Zitao groaned.

“You called?” came a sarcastic voice from behind him. Zitao spun around to find Wufan glaring at him. The younger grinned. Perfect.

“There you are,” Zitao smiled happily, rushing forward and hugging Wufan around the waist before the older boy could even react. Wufan froze and Zitao wished he could see he could see his reaction, but instead buried his head in Wufan's warm chest. Within 5 seconds, the lunchroom had gone completely silent.

“What did I say about touching me?” Wufan seethed, deathly low. Zitao imagined his pupils were nearly invisible at this point.

“It's not like you'll do anything, I've noticed you don't like being loud in crowded places,” Zitao murmured back, just as quietly. He detached himself from Wufan's torso and quickly grabbed the older boy's wrist to lead him away from the lunchroom. “Now come here, I need to talk to you,” he said, loud enough for the rest of the lunchroom to hear. Which, in other words, was a normal speaking voice, as everyone else was still in silent shock.

Wufan also appeared to be in some form as shock, as he allowed the younger to drag him away without any protest. Zitao didn't know the school well enough to find a good hiding spot, so he settled on just going out the front door, stopping time for good measure so no one would follow them.

Wufan seemed to come to his senses once Zitao stopped walking and immediately yanked his wrist away from the younger's grasp, his tail flicking angrily. “What do you think you're doing?!” he growled.

“I wanna help you,” Zitao started.

“Yeah, embarrassing me in front of the rest of the school is really going to make me want to accept any form of “help” you might offer,” Wufan spat.

“No, that stunt was just payback for burning my shirt off. Anyway, you need help, don't even try to deny it. I'm gonna help you feel like you fit in, like you're normal,” Zitao said.

Wufan sighed in annoyance and sat down on a nearby bench instead of replying. Zitao walked over until he was standing in front of him, staring at him in question. The older stayed silent for a second before finally responding with a quiet “fine.”

Zitao's face broke out in a smile. “Really?”

“Sure. You'll fail anyway. It's worth it to see you waste so much effort on me though,” Wufan smirked.

The younger rolled his eyes. “Well then. Since you agreed, Step 1. Be happy. People won't be scared of you if you're friendly. Have you ever smiled in your life?”

Wufan raised an eyebrow. “What do you think?” he asked, his voice the perfect monotone.

“...right,” Zitao sighed. The younger started pacing back and forth in front of the bench. “Then before I try to make you a happier person, you at least need to learn how to smile.”

“You sound like some sort of therapist,” Wufan groaned.

“Maybe that's what you need,” Zitao whispered to himself, ignoring the irritated “HEY!” from the older boy. “What could I do to make you smile?”

“Leave, maybe?” Wufan replied sarcastically.

“Not happening,” Zitao shot back, coming to a stop in front of Wufan. “Hmm...” he stared at Wufan as he thought, before suddenly sitting down next to him on the bench and hugging him again.

“Why do you keep doing this?!” Wufan snapped as he tried to push the younger off of him.

“Some people like physical contact and it makes them happy. You obviously are lacking in both physical contact and happiness, so just hug me back,” Zitao grumbled, holding tightly onto Wufan's waist.

“I would rather you let me go,” Wufan groaned, pushing on the younger boy's forearms one last time.

“I'm not going to, so just hug me and try to be happy,” Zitao growled.

“The more I get to know you, the more I dislike you, I swear,” Wufan hissed, finally wrapping his arms around Zitao's waist in return and pulling the younger to his chest. “Better?” he muttered, annoyed.

“I don't know, you tell me,” Zitao replied, his voice slightly muffled by the fabric of Wufan's shirt.

“Whatever answer will get you to let go of me as quick as possible,” Wufan sighed.

“You're hopeless,” Zitao groaned, pulling away. “Can't you just try to be happy? I'm only trying to help you.”

“And you're doing a horrendous job of it. How exactly is hugging me supposed to help in any way whatsoever for whatever problem there is with me?” Wufan asked in frustration.

“You need to learn that you aren't a monster, you aren't a freak, and you are normal. You need people to see that of you, but you won't ever be able to show it if you don't believe it yourself. I'm trying to get you to see that you're just as human as the other 85 people in there,” he jerked his head in the direction of the school. “It shouldn't matter that you have a tail and scales and red eyes and can sometimes do things they can't...you can be just as “normal” as them if you learn how to accept yourself.”

“Why is this so important to you?” Wufan asked, his voice sounding bored.

“Because...if you think you're abnormal, other people that are just like you probably do too. I used to think I was, but I got over it, but...I don't want people to think like I did. They'll spend their whole lives in negativity, never believing they can live up to the social standards of wherever they live just because they do things those around them can't, and will probably end up angry, depressed, and mean. I just...want to help,” he looked over, meeting Wufan's eyes. “That includes you.”

Wufan stayed silent for a minute, his tail swishing behind him lazily and his patches of scales shimmering softly in the sunlight whenever he barely moved. He stared at the village in front of them, still frozen in time thanks to Zitao.

“...trying to make me happy is out of the question. I'm pretty sure the lack of use eventually just killed whatever part of my brain that allows me to be happy, so there's no point focusing on that. If you insist on continuing, it'd be a good idea to move on to some other aspect of your grand scheme,” he said eventually.

“Step 2 is a lot harder if we haven't done Step 1...” Zitao mumbled softly, frowning at the ground. Wufan waited for him to continue, but he never did.

“What's Step 2?” he finally asked.

“Be nice,” Zitao turned to look at Wufan and chuckled. “If you can't even be happy, there's no way you can be nice. And Step 3 is to be social. The last step is to be free. Y'know...as a sort of confirmation that you finally feel normal, you'd feel free too. Not chained down like some “monster” like you supposedly are now.”

“Personally I think this is a horrible idea. This is who I am, you can't just magically make me a happier, nicer person,” Wufan replied.

“Well, I must be doing something, because you're finally talking to me like a civil human being instead of pinning me to the ground as you try to burn my head off,” Zitao smirked.

“That doesn't mean I'm just gonna go around and start hugging people and laughing at stupid jokes. That's just not how things work.”

“That's why you need to work for it!” Zitao groaned.

“Why should I? Who says I'm not satisfied with how things are in my life right now?” Wufan crossed his arms over his chest.

“Can you honestly tell me you're satisfied with living a miserable life and threatening people? All you need to do is try, that's all I'm asking!”

“What you're trying to do is change me! And I would highly recommend you stop trying, because it's not going to happen!” Wufan finally yelled, frustrated.