Green -> main characters
Blue -> friendship
* Please note: This chart describes the situation at the end of their story.


Opposites
 

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 spontanously 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 abilites 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 flavoured 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 realised 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 behaviour 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 dieing 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 signalled 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 neccessarily 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 light-hearted 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 petit guy. "You got this, Lu~ Good night~!"
At the doorstep in the hostel they parted ways. Kai felt weird, a mix between bidding his neighbour 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 brunnette'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 behaviour 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 uncounsciously 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 monolouge 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 whom's 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 favourite 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 stomache 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 surpress 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 unconspicious 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, 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 tighs. 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.

 

So... Yeah. This is the first part of the story revolving around the time/space pair.
I had a lot of fun in hinting on the other Exo-members~
This hasn't been beta'd, so if anyone wants to point out any mistakes, I'll gladly correct them~
While writing I kinda reminded myself on my tendency to super-low pacing. I hope that's not bothering, though I'll try to improve this :<
Overall, Thanks a lot for anyone who even read this in the first place - You make me super-happy! :)
Love,
sugar-and-salt