Tao's POV

This could not have been more embarrassing.

I parted away from the kiss, the really great simple kiss, with Kai and jumped nearly out of my own skin at the sound of a car horn blasting right next to us.

“Tao? Kai?”

A door opening followed by Luhan's voice is what made me panic and freeze everything. It was an accident. Even if I could control Time, it seemed like Time could still control me too.

And of course, Kai didn't freeze like usual.

“Hey, Innocence,” he called up to me, cocky. “Look at what time it is. It's nearly dinner time. How about another date-” Kai's eyelids fluttered closed and he swayed on his feet. “Oh, man. I think I overdid it. Why does it feel like I traveled a lot further than just Singapore?”

“I don't know.” I said in a rush, doing what I could to help keep him on his feet while trying to find out where in all the ticking I could unlock Time. Panicking wasn't helping, but I really didn't like seeing Kai like this. His little power naps made me nervous. “Because of time? Or maybe you made a few extra stops?”

“I think it's the second one.” he mumbled, leaning heavily on my arm. “I remember seeing a big pointy building thing that you always see in cheesy romance movies.”

“We were in France?” I asked incredulously, and he nodded enthusiastically as if suddenly remembering. “Wait, you did not just describe the Eiffel tower as a big pointy building thing.”

“We might have stopped in Egypt too. I don't know, unless France has camels. Does France have camels?”

“Maybe in a zoo.” I laughed, not quite believing we were having this conversation while he looked ready to pass out at any moment.

As he tried to fix his upright position into something more stable, Kai gripped the back of my jacket and I tensed at the familiar feeling. The world began to move at it's regular tempo as I coached myself to breathe and remember that nothing could hurt me here, certainly not Kai.

“I'm sorry.”

“Don't-” Kai went limp in my arms before I could finish. “-be.” I said anyways, looking to Luhan for help.

Only, who was this other guy getting out of the car with him?

“Tao,” Luhan said carefully, eyes wide. “Why were you kissing Jongin?”

All the embarrassment from earlier flooded back to me and my brain began looking for other things to think about – like where were we? Who's car was that? Who's house was that? Again, who was this other guy here?

“Tao,” Luhan said again, using a warning tone.

“Don't make it seem like I did something bad.” I might've whined a bit, but hey, he wasn't playing fair. It wasn't like I was getting mad at him for no reason for hanging out with this stranger here.

“What's wrong with him?” this stranger asked, stepping carefully forward before Luhan stopped him and sent me a glare.

“Tell me the truth. Are you two dating now? What happened to all those times you ran out to avoid him? Don't even try to tell me that you didn't; it was way too obvious.”

I looked down at the passed out boy in my arms, remembering how much I liked his peaceful sleeping face. Somehow, Kai had become someone precious to me. How deep did those feelings run? I couldn't even tell for myself.

All I really knew was that I liked having him near. I liked hearing his over-confident voice. I liked the feel of his skin and the warmth of his kiss. I liked how he made me feel not just that I mattered, but that I was the only thing that mattered to him. He treated this love he always said he had for me like it was the only thing worth achieving. And I suppose, it made me feel like a beautifully maturing adult instead of a mess of hair dye, bad decisions, and horrible tendency to forget that I have my own power, my own worth.

Kai made me think of the future instead of the past and helped me push through my fears with curiosity to lead the way.

He meant a lot to me, but how much?

“How do you know when you love someone?” I asked Luhan suddenly. “You would just know, right? But I don't know, Luhan. I'm so confused.”

“You love Jongin?”

“I didn't say that.”

Luhan offered up a shrug. “You kind of did.”

“No-”

“Yes-”

“No-”

“Yeah, you did-”

“Nuh-uh-”

“Yeah-huh-”

“Are we still going to Suho's, Lu?” the stranger asked, probably getting fed up with our argument.

“Suho's?” I asked, adjusting the weight of Curiosity in my arms.

***

Suho's POV

(A/N: This will get confusing, trust me.)

The doorbell rang and I asked Chen to please stop hugging me so I could open the gate, only to be hugged again by a pair of sweaty giants in grey shorts and white tees as soon as that was done.

“Lay? Kris?” I grunted under the force of their crushing.

“Sorry,” apologized Kris, gripping the tightest. “I'm having a little trouble with gravity.”

“What do you mean?”

“Tao didn't show up to basketball tryouts and my head began to fill with too many thoughts, so I did some deep breathing and felt a little lightheaded, but now-

“My weight isn't enough to keep him down anymore.” Lay laughed, somehow enjoying this issue very much. “He's like a balloon! Every time I let go, he rises up!”

“Okay... Well, get in and tie yourself down or something.” I suggested and was grateful for the ability to breathe again when they left, Kris slowly floating with each step, as if walking on short invisible stairs. “Chen-” I called out behind me, only to find him two paces away already. “Oh, hey. Do we have any ropes anywhere?”

“I think we have zip ties in the office.”

“Those will do-”

The bell rang again and I turned back to the gate I just closed. More visitors? I hadn't even had the walls in the living room fixed yet. Today wouldn't be as busy as yesterday though. It just couldn't be. Yesterday had been a total fiasco.

As the gate swung open to reveal a pale face with light hair, I knew those thoughts to be wrong. Today would be just as disastrous, because standing in front of me was Oh Sehun.

“I brought gum.” he said with his eyes downcast, lifting what looked to be a bright red shopping basket filled to the brim with gum packs of every kind.

“Sehun-”

“My parents kicked me out again.” he said quickly. “I think it's for good this time. Last time they also said it's for good, but this time definitely feels more final. I know I've been a total -up and that I'm the last person you want to see-”

“Sehun.” I said again, gently this time. Pulling this surprisingly tall – why is everyone so tall? - boy into my arms, I hugged him tight. “You are always welcome here.”

“Am I welcome here?” came a soft voice, and I broke the hug to see Luhan standing there. With Xiumin. And Zitao half-carrying Jongin.

“Wow, okay, we have a full house today.” I remarked nervously before adding, “Keep your powers down as much as you can and you can stay as long as you like.”

“What about your parents?”

Trying not to grimace, I explained, “They extended their trip.” This was the longest trip they've ever taken away from me and they still didn't seem to want to come back. “We have another two months before they decide whether they want to come home or extend it again, so go crazy. Let's have a sleep-over with all of us, if I care.”

“Don't swear, Suho.” ordered Sehun, a furrow appearing in his eyebrows.

“That, coming from you?” I chuckled, ruffling his hair just to mess with him. He glared back, clearly unamused. “Alright. I won't swear.”

“Joonma,” called Zitao, lugging the heavy teenager he brought closer.

I smiled instinctively. “Taozi, you really need to call me something else.”

He looked down at his shoes and said, “S-Suho...”

I had been kidding. He should have known that; Tao always knew when I was kidding. “Joonma” was a special name made by him just for me back when we were kids. That nickname was precious to me, even though it so obviously placed me in a part of Zitao's heart not meant for romance.

“Where can I take this thing?” he continued.

“I hope you're not talking about me.” mumbled Jongin, sighing sleepily as he nuzzled into Zitao's shoulder. “Am I just a thing now?” His eyes blinked open to look at Tao's face, who only seemed to be annoyed and embarrassed.

“If you're awake then walk on your own-”

“Hey, Suho.” Finally spotting me, Jongin stumbled in my direction and collapsed his arms over my shoulders. “Did you hear him call me a thing?” he yawned before his eyes turned sad. “You're going to win, Suho. I ruined my chance a long time ago.”

Tao didn't hear that, right? If he did, based on his blank expression, he either didn't care or didn't know what it meant. But how could Jongin think Tao would pick me? The boy pat my shoulders as if he were the elder here, and stumbled off to the front door, Tao following close behind.

I shouted back, “You forgot to give me a hug, Taozi!”

He stopped and rubbed his arms, “I didn't forget; my arms hurt from carrying that heavy thing.”

That was a lie. I knew his lying face, and here it was staring back at me. Was he okay?

“I'll hug you.” Xiumin offered with a shrug, lifting his arms in wait. “You're letting Luhan stay here, right? That deserves a hug.”

“Thank you, Minseok.” I said as I jumped into the friendly hug willingly. “Today must be my birthday or something. I don't think I've ever received so many hugs in one day.” I joked and ushered Luhan over. “Don't think you're getting away without one.”

“No way.” he protested, turning his nose up at the thought. “Men don't hug.”

“Men, huh?” I chuckled lightly. “Didn't you know? I'm Taozi's Joonma, so get over here already.”

Luhan made it look as if he didn't care, but I could see his eyes light up. My face could have broke from how much I was smiling as I received a hug from the seventh person that day. Even if things went awry, I still thought this day was turning out pretty good.

Closing the gate and turning back around, I wasn't surprised to see Chen there again.

“Did you tie up Kris?”

“Oh, he's quite tied up, but uhh, hey,” he lifted his arms and gave a warm smile. “I think it's my turn to hug you.”

“You already hugged me.” I pointed out.

“That doesn't mean I can't hug you again, right?”

Flushing a little, I was going to answer when the door popped open, releasing a lot of noisy laughter. Lay stood at the entrance with his hand on the doorknob, bent double, a cellphone clenched in his hand.

“Oh, that's too funny!” Turning his head up, he addressed us, “Can Baekhyun come over? He called and said he wanted to see me.”

“Tell him, 'Sure'.” I called back, a nervous laugh escaping my lips as the door closed once more and it was just me and my extra-friendly housemate.

“You like having that in your house?” Chen asked after a while, gesturing to the door with his thumb.

I nodded, still grinning. “It's like having a big, noisy family. I've always wanted one of those.” It was just me and parents here – really, it was just me most of the time – so although the living room walls and number of dishes I'd have to clean came to mind, I was still happy.

“Me too.” Chen agreed, going ahead and hugging me again. A slight charge of electricity passed through his arms to my waist. It was exciting, yet somehow comforting at the same time and I hugged him back tight, enjoying the buzz. “Let's make our family a bit bigger.”

Huh?

My brain suddenly fried up and I became unable to do or say anything for several seconds, because he didn't just suggest- I mean, that would be impossible anyways, but- that's not what he meant, right? It couldn't be. That wouldn't make sense, no. Taking care of Taozi was one thing, but would I even be a good father? I wasn't ready yet- but of course he didn't even mean that anyways-

“Who's missing? We should call someone up.” continued Chen to himself - I wasn't able to properly process anything besides the ongoing debates and confusion in my head. “There's Baekhyun, who's coming over anyways. Chanyeol – haven't heard from him since that icy guy came and stole him away. And then there's-”

The bell at the gate rung again and I shook my head clear to answer it.

“Kyungsoo!” I greeted the (thankfully) short figure at the gate with a surprised grin. He almost never visited. It's been so long since I'd last seen him.

Though the more I looked at him, the more I realized he was upset. With him, it was a little hard to tell because he rarely ever smiled in front of me, but there was definitely something up. I wondered if he even noticed or cared that I hugged him.

“Is Kai here?” he asked with a sigh, seemingly not expecting a good answer.

“You mean Jongin? Yeah, he's right inside-”

Kyungsoo pushed past me immediately, a twitch of anger reaching his eyebrows.

That couldn't be good.

To make sure he didn't break anything, me and Chen followed quickly, only to find a room full of laughing and teasing. The reason why was stuck to the ceiling, struggling to break his bound wrists and ankles apart. So that's what Chen meant by quite tied up.

Ignoring all this, Kyungsoo went straight through the chaos to Jongin, who was trying to find a way to sleep on Tao's shoulder on the couch with all the noise around.

“Come on, guys; this isn't funny anymore.” Kris said from the ceiling just as Kyungsoo huffed angrily in front of his target.

“Where were you all day?”

“I was in yesterday with Tao. Now, shhh, Soo. I'm sleeping...”

“In yesterday? What does that even mean? What the hell were you going on about over the phone?”

The gate bell rang again.

“That must be Baekhyun.” Lay was struggling to get up from his seat without tripping up on it's legs so I sat him back down and left to answer it myself.

It really was Baekhyun at the gate.

“Wow, you got here fast.”

“Lay's here?” he demanded to know, lights flashing across his skin.

“Yes, but-” I stopped him from going inside, blocking the way with my body. “It's Hug Suho Day.” I stated seriously. “You don't get inside without a hug.”

“You're kidding, right?”

“Nope.”

Looking a little unsettled and unsure, Baekhyun hesitantly raised his arms to my waist and slid himself into the hug. He adjusted his head on my shoulder and sniffled.

Like this, he felt fragile in my arms and I felt bad about letting him go again.

“I think I needed a hug.” he admitted quietly. His lights had faded considerably to swirling patterns that glowed beneath his skin and skated after each other up and down his arms slowly.

“Well, if you need a laugh too, you better hurry inside.” I suggested, nudging him in the direction of the door. “Kris is having trouble with gravity.”

Sending me a quick look of confusion and intrigue, he quickened his steps. I was halfway through closing the gate for what I thought would be the last time when a “psst!” sound came from the bushes outside and to the left.

“Hello?” I asked out curiously. That sounded like a human.

“Is the coast clear?”

That was Chanyeol's deep voice!

“Why are you in the bushes?” I laughed, spotting his face peeking out from a bunch of leaves.

“Uhm...” Quietly, he climbed out of the foliage and it took but two seconds to find out why he had been in bushes.

He was -.

“Don't hug me.” I said immediately.

“I wasn't planning on it. Do you have some spare clothes, Suho?” Chanyeol asked, head bowed and awkwardly covering his private area with his hands. “I seem to have lost mine.”

“Fire?” I asked calmly, waving him in.

“Fire.” he confirmed. “It's getting worse and really rapidly too!”

“You need to start carrying a fire extinguisher with you.”

Around the building we went, to a window that led to my parent's room, thinking that my father's clothes should be long enough to fit him. There was a plastic rod filled with water that I had placed in the window to block other people from opening it from the outside and I used my power through the glass easily to lift it out of the way.

“Does your power ever get out of control?” Chanyeol asked me before jumping to climb inside, exposing his fleshy right in my face.

Turning away from the full moon, I answered, “No. I mean, not yet. Water is pretty mellow though, so maybe it won't ever get out of hand.”

“Man, you got lucky, Suho.”

Lucky. Sure. I supposed I was pretty lucky.

“Just hurry up and get dressed." I told him. "I don't want my neighbors reporting me for having a streaker in my yard.”

***

Sehun's POV

“You have to knock me out!” Baekhyun was telling Yixing, after Kris somehow lost his helium-like properties and hit the floor with a thud. Lay was busy healing the slight bruises on the guy while listening to this nonsense.

“I don't think that's such a good idea.” he responded.

“But I need to speak to that wolf, Lay. I need to tell it to shove it's ideas about soulmates up it's furry little and to get it's nose out of other people's business!”

“I want in on this too.” said Luhan suddenly, dragging a shorter boy I've never seen before behind him. “Xiumin and I are soulmates, no matter what that wolf says.”

Xiumin? So this was the man that Luhan had talked to me about in biology, the one he couldn't stop calling cute, kind, and considerate. Not days before that he had been ranting on about the huge s of the girl in his gym class, so I hadn't thought much of it.

Well, that's another friend who had found their soulmate. And what had I been doing, chasing after someone who didn't even like me and another someone who I knew I couldn't love fully? Looking at them on the couch, Tao and Jongin looked good together. I really thought I could learn to love Tao, at least enough to feel happy. Hearing about his bully problem, I thought he was just like me, thought he was suffering from being unlovable, but he managed to be loved by the one person I wanted most.

Tao looked different like this – calmer, maybe - and he seemed to have plenty of soft smiles and gazes to share with the idiot who lured him in.

Kyungsoo must have thought the same thing, going to sit on the arm of the big, squashy armchair I occupied, just looking at them. “Can you knock me out too?” he asked Yixing. “I don't want to be awake anymore.”

“Me too.” I joined in, because I understood that feeling very well. What was the point in staying awake through this pain?

“Hold on, hold on.” Lay stood up, his hands out as if to physically stop everyone's words. “I'm not knocking out anyone. It could be dangerous.”

“Lay,” Kris stood and touched the teen's arm gently. “I think it would help us a lot to know more about the wolf.”

“You think so?” he asked, looking to be a lot more in favor of the idea than he had not two seconds ago.

“Chanyeol.” The word came out of Baekhyun's mouth so small that I almost didn't catch it. The whole room turned silent as the tall teen of that name walked in, eyes widening as they focused on Baekhyun's face.

“B-Baekhyun,” he stuttered. “You need to stay away-”

But Baekhyun had already run to catch the boy in a hug.

Smoke started to rise off of Chanyeol's shoulders and I quickly spat my gum out on the carpet, getting ready to blow out the flames when Kyungsoo stopped me with an arm out to block my path. Xiumin outstretched a hand in Chanyeol's direction and he took it gratefully, pulling the boy out of Luhan's grip.

Luhan's hands that used to hold his boyfriend's were covered in ice and he stared at them, shivering. Still clinging to his own love, Baekhyun was beginning to cry out in pain, biting his lip while stubbornly hanging onto the burning teen.

“Baek, don't you get it?” Chanyeol asked. His eyes were turning molten orange. “I'll only end up hurting you.”

Something happened then that I didn't catch. One moment, the two were standing together and the next, Baekhyun was with Tao and Kai, sobbing and nursing his arms. Lay came over, nearly falling over the coffee table in trying to reach them quickly.

With a relieved sigh, Chanyeol embraced Xiumin fully, beginning to cry into the shorter man's neck.

“I'm sorry, Luhan.” Xiumin tried to apologize as Luhan looked up at him, hurt. “I love you, but... he needs me.”

“Just knock me out!” Baekhyun shouted at Lay when he began to heal his burns.

“Maybe it's a good thing I never found a soulmate.” I thought aloud, grabbing a new pack of gum and ripping into it.

“My money's on Kris being your soulmate.” Kyungsoo commented wryly. “You could be the wind beneath his wings.”

“Then your soulmate must be Lay. You could be his fertile field for which he spreads his seed.”

“That's disgusting!”

“Hey, you started it.” I pointed out, before holding out the packet I opened. “Gum?”

He scowled, yet grabbed a piece and began chewing it angrily. Long ago, I thought Kyungsoo was the one who stole Jongin from me, but it looked like he had no hold on the guy whatsoever. Jongin was just an who did whatever he felt like. No, Kyungsoo wasn't to blame for Jongin not liking me. I never had a chance from the very start.

Chen tapped on Chanyeol's shoulder when he had calmed down some, asking where Suho went.

“Bathroom.”

With a nod, he departed.

“Please, Lay.” Baekhyun tried begging again in the background though I barely processed this, suddenly feeling dizzy.

The last thing I saw were Yixing's eyes turning a deep forest green, looking around in panic as everyone in the room dropped to the floor one by one.

***

Author Note:

Confused yet?

I am very sorry. I really like writing confusing things, it turns out.

***

Edit: I finally put that tidbit that was missing in it's right place - well, kind of. It's in the right place in the sense that the story is in chronological order, but that also turned this into a monster chapter and I am very sorry for that. I would have put it in the chapter before this, but decided not to because the ending of that tidbit didn't sound like a good ending for a chapter. I think it sounds better as an introduction to what this chapter is about instead.