So for the afternoon, with the trio still knocked out inside the time machine, Onew sat with Taemin under the large shady tree nearby to tell his story. He told of how he found the diary, how he came to know of the time machine, how he created one and came here with his friends. He also told Taemin about the two students but left out the part where grandpa was being a coward. Onew only told Taemin that they were stranded here, leaving out the part where grandpa deliberately abandoned them. He did not want Taemin to associate grandpa’s trait with him.

Taemin listened eagerly. Part of him was convinced, while a part of him still had reservations. Onew studied every beautiful feature of Taemin, his spotless fair skin, his brown silky shoulder-length hair and his amazing luscious lips. Too pretty for a boy.

“Onew, I have enough sense to believe that the two students you mentioned, they’re my parents Adam and Eve,” Taemin said, “We three are the only humans here and they’re the closest to me. They taught me how to read, write and speak. They taught me human behaviour, fed me and clothed me well. I trust that you really came to save them, save us, not hurt us.”

Onew let his guard down of Taemin. Where was that daring young boy Onew saw earlier, coming to explore the metal machine on his own, coming face-to-face with a stranger, retaliating every word he says? And then there in front of him sat a boy so vulnerable, as if his world would crumble and his heart would tear if anything bad were to happen to his parents. 

“Aish Taemin, we’re the same race! I would never do that.” Onew slapped Taemin’s arm playfully.

“That hurts!” Taemin hissed, rubbing his arm not realising that there wasn’t actually any true pain.

“Taemin I’m just joking! Are you okay?” Onew asked with genuine concern, “That’s what friends do.”

“They hurt each other?” Taemin questioned.

“No that’s not exactly hurting. It’s just…it’s just human behaviour for close friends. We don’t mean hurt.”

“Really? Can I try it on you?” Taemin grinned, looking evil.

He slapped Onew, hard.

“Ow!” Onew collapsed into the soft grass dramatically.

“Omo I’m sorry! Did it hurt you?” Taemin asked frantically, falling to grab Onew’s arm to check for injuries.

“Taemin-ah. That really hurt. Gosh, you didn’t have to use so much strength jungle boy!” Onew laughed.

Knowing that Onew was just playing with him, Taemin laughed heartily too. He had just made a new friend. A friend of his own kind, which made his heart skip a beat at the thought of how similar they were.

Onew rolled over onto his stomach and breathe in hard on the green grass, concentrating on the smell of nature he has never experienced in the urbanised reality. He peaked over and saw Taemin lying beside him on the grass facing the clear blue sky. The younger had his eyes closed breathing steadily, enjoying the cool breeze and sweet scents, his face flushed from all that laughing. Then Onew had an evil thought.

“Ahhh! No!! Stop Onew!” Taemin was half-laughing, half trying to catch his breath.

Onew was tickling sense out of Taemin. His stubby fingers tickled through Taemin’s soft tummy surface to the sides, then his armpits and his neck.

“That’s punishment! Call me hyung, you brat!” Onew continued, panting a little too from his own amusement of torturing the younger.

“Onew hyung, stop!” Taemin was in a laughing fit, hands crossed over covering his stomach grabbing his sides, “I can’t breathe!”

Both immature boys were laughing so loud and hard that it woke up Jonghyun and Key.

“What’s all that laughing about sheesh,” Key spat, “Omo! Yeobo Onew hyung is missing!”

Key was the first to come to his senses that they were in a different place, not home anymore, and his motherly intuition was to take care of everyone. Key shook Jonghyun hard by the shoulders.

Jonghyun rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and looked to where all the laughing was coming from. There they saw Onew touching some other boy, collapsed on the grass carpet next to each other, laughing away.

“There. He’s there. Having fun, without us.” Jonghyun replied Key jokingly.

“Omo omo. Who’s that boy. Is that a boy? Is he human?” Funny how Key had the same thoughts as Taemin on their first encounter with humans in their opposite universe.

“Wake up Minho! Onew is in danger!” Key almost strangled Minho.

Something tells him that Minho was in fact the first to regain consciousness from all that spinning in the time machine when they left, but had fallen asleep again.

“Wha-what? Onew in trouble? Where? WHERE?” Minho glanced around sharply, though eyes not fully opened yet.

The trio stood up and ran out of the time machine towards where Onew and it was. Then Minho forcefully pulled Onew up and away from Taemin.

There. I told myself to upload the next chapter tomorrow, but I can't stand not showing OnTae! Right, so here is it! Hope you had fun reading (imagining) it as much as I did when I wrote it!:) Thanks for reading! ♥