Woohyun is almost finished brushing his teeth in the bathroom when Sungyeol walks in.

"Dude, privacy," he says after he spits the toothpaste into the sink.

"Why do you need privacy?" Sungyeol responds. "I know all your darkest secrets."

"First of all, that's creepy. Second of all, I don't know, I could have been holding my ? That's not a time any human wants to be walked in on."

"But you weren't."

"But I could have been."

"But you weren't! So it doesn't matter."

"I don't like you," Woohyun decides.

"That's the nicest thing anyone's ever said to me," Sungyeol says. "Anyway, pay attention, ." He turns Woohyun's head toward the mirror by grabbing the top of his head.

Woohyun's yell of protest dies on his tongue when he sees what the mirror is showing. No longer is it his regular, smudged bathroom mirror; now, it's swirling with dark clouds.

"Well, that's not normal," he says unnecessarily.

Sungyeol snorts. The clouds disperse and then they're watching the events of the previous day. "This is the memory you wanna reflect on?" he asks, almost offended.

 

 

Sungyeol was standing in the hallway near the door to Woohyun's last class, pretending to look cool and natural even though nothing about him was natural. He was probably just bored.

"Where'd you go, anyway?" Woohyun asked. Sungyeol followed him down the hall and they fall into step.

"Here," he said.

"You just skipped the whole day?" Something about that unsettles him, but that's probably thanks to his anxiety over being late and missing everything. Space demons or... whatever Sungyeol is... probably have never worried about anything in their lives, least of all being late. "Heh. I wish I could have done that. Hate that class. Wait, why didn't you just do that last night?"

"Who says I didn't skip your nappy time, you big baby?"

"Well, don't do it, rude-. It's weird and irresponsible. What if I needed to find you or something but you were in the frickin' Jurassic period or something? They don't have cell service there."

"You're one to talk about being irresponsible." Sungyeol slung an arm around Woohyun's shoulders, almost in a friendly way. Woohyun shrugged him off. "Wanting to use one of the most powerful and sacred tools you'll ever experience just to get your crush to look at you? Sad, Woohyun. So sad."

"Don't remember asking you," Woohyun grumbled. "Speaking of that, you can't tell anyone about you and your whole. You know. Extra-terrestrial thing."

"I know," Sungyeol scowled.

"Alright, just making sure."

"Where are we going?"

"Meeting my friends, remember?"

They finished the walk to the restaurant in silence.

Sungyeol takes in the image of the business front. "My first human date," he laughed.

"You wish!" Woohyun put him in a headlock and dragged him inside, laughing with him. "Do you frequently have non-human dates?" Then he looked up and, of course, of course, locks eyes with Sunggyu at a table a few yards away. Woohyun's grip went slack and Sungyeol slipped out from under his arms.

"Did your ing breath just hitch," Sungyeol asked judgmentally.

"Yep. Think so," Woohyun responds, walking away, leaving Sungyeol to trail after him.

Three of his friends were there already - Sunggyu, Myungsoo, and Howon. "Hello to everybody," Woohyun greeted them, "but especially Sunggyu hyung." He sat down in the open spot immediately beside him and beamed at him.

"What am I, chopped liver?" Howon asked distastefully.

"Hey, Myungsoo," Woohyun said.

Myungsoo smiled at him from across the table.

Howon just rolled his eyes. "Who are you?" he asked Sungyeol. "I'm-"

"Hoya, Myungie, and Gyu," Woohyun interrupted, pointing quickly. All three of their faces screwed up like they'd eaten a lemon, which is really what Woohyun was going for. "This is Sungyeol. He's the same age as me. We're roommates since yesterday."

Howon's face changed to concern. "Do you guys even know each other?"

"For like a week," Woohyun shrugged.

"You moved in with him after a week of knowing him?"

"You moved in with Sunggyu hyung despite knowing exactly what kind of person he was, so what's your point?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Sunggyu asked.

Woohyun put his arms around him and said, "It means you were supposed to ask me to move in with you, not him!" His smile was that of a person asking for forgiveness or perhaps tolerance.

Sungyeol is a quick learner, and so he said, "Ah. So I'm the one who's chopped liver."

Woohyun, still making faces at Sunggyu, said, "Maybe I just don't like your ing cat."

"Cat?" Myungsoo said, perking up.

"You love my ing cat," Sungyeol replied.

"I do love your ing cat. Take her out of your pocket."

"What the ?" Sunggyu asked. "Is that a euphemism?" Woohyun just shook his head 'no.'

Sungyeol took out the cat, putting her on the table. "Is she even allowed here?" he asked belatedly.

"Oh my god, a cat." Myungsoo started petting her. The entity seemed to enjoy it, leaning into Myungsoo's touch. "Hey, that reminds me. Weren't Sungjongie and Dongwoo hyung supposed to join us?" he asked absently.

"They're probably off being lovey dovey without us," Howon said, staring at the cat.

"What's wrong, Howon? Do you want to be lovey dovey too?" Woohyun asked. "I can make an exception just this once."

Howon tilted his head to the side. "It's funny that you're the one being this cheeky," he said.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Woohyun said, folding one of his legs over Sunggyu's. Sunggyu remains unfazed. "Just two dudes being guys."

"Just one Woohyun being himself," Sunggyu said.

"Just one Woohyun being himself," Woohyun amended.

 

 

Sungyeol watched Woohyun watching the memory. When Woohyun lifts his head away from scrutinizing the mirror, Sungyeol asks what he was looking at.

"Well, I was looking at the mirror."

"Inside the mirror, which is not really a mirror."

"Isn't it a mirror?"

"It was a mirror, but now it's- Stop changing the subject!" Sungyeol crosses his arms. "What just happened is like this: You don't have a good grasp on your powers."

"Thanks, I'm so happy to hear it," Woohyun says sarcastically.

Sungyeol ignores him. "So unlikely things like your mirror showing your latest regret is bound to happen."

"Oh, is that all it was? I thought you were screwing with me because you're all-seeing and all-knowing, or so you'd have me believe."

Sungyeol slams his fist into the palm of his other hand. "So that's what this is about! What did you think I noticed?"

"You can't fool me, trickster." Woohyun shakes his finger at him and walks out of the bathroom.

"You don't think I know what your problem is?" Sungyeol asks, following him around the apartment as if they were in a Pink music video.

"You'll definitely know if I tell you," Woohyun points out. "Are you going to kill me if you don't get what you want from me?"

"Are you afraid of me?"

Woohyun half-expects to be levitated like when they met for the first-or-second time, but that doesn't happen. "I don't understand your intentions," he says finally.

"I'm not here to with you," Sungyeol says. "I will never trick you, or lie to you."

Woohyun his lips. "Sounded a little like a demon just then."

"I'm not a demon," Sungyeol says, flopping down on the couch. The cat jumps up onto the back of the couch and starts washing her face. "I'm Time. I told you I was Time."

Woohyun sits on the armchair, the only other seating in the room. "And you're... bored? Lonely?"

"It's just been Baby and me for... eternity. Maybe less. You know your parents, your brother - what do you think made me? I existed once, though I do not remember who that was. I don't know anybody. I can not speak to just anybody, did you know that? Woohyun, you are the only connection I have to this world. Lee Sungyeol is an illusion." He snaps his fingers and suddenly he is gone.

Baby walks into the room, though she had just been sitting on the couch, carrying a skull. She sets it down at Woohyun's feet and informs him that "He's been waiting this whole time to do that."

Sungyeol reappears, and scoops her up in his arms, and tells her not to be such a partypooper. She hops gracefully onto Woohyun's lap. He rolls his eyes. "So, you understand now? I am exactly as bound to you as you are to me." He rubs his cat's head. "Wanna go talk about your man crush now?"

"I know you're all special and stuff, but I am a normal, ordinary man in normal, ordinary love."

"Woohyun. There's nothing ordinary about love."

"Well, good. Just so we're on the same page." Woohyun pouts at him. "And for the record, he had his hand on my thigh the whole time we were there and I need to know why, please help me."

Sungyeol whistles lowly. "Sly dog," says admiringly. "Didn't know he had it in him."

"I would like to be a dog soon," Baby says.

"Myungsoo might be sad," Woohyun tells her. "But he'll like you both ways. I'll just tell him you're a Pokemon."

"That is good," she says, hopping off his lap to go do whatever it is not-demon not-cats busy themselves with. Napping, maybe. That's what Woohyun would choose to do.

After she's out of sight, Sungyeol sighs and crosses his arms. "Alright, next lesson. You can't think of time travel as a solution. The more complicated things get, the less likely it is to actually help you fix anything. Don't get caught up trying to point at every little thing you ever did wrong. Sometimes what looks like the wrong path will even out and take you to the right place."

"Who'd you steal that from, Robert Frost?" Woohyun laughs at his own joke.

" you, I'm the only reason you know who that is. But NO, you are WRONG. I made that one up myself. I am older and wiser than you, after all."

"You don't even believe in age unless you can hold it over me," Woohyun whines.

"Take some more books, weirdo," Sungyeol says, pulling a few out of his pocket and shoving them in Woohyun's hands.

"This wasn't on the syllabus. Are you a fraud? I don't think this man's ever been to teaching school!" Woohyun narrates the last part to himself. "Are you qualified to provide education to me?"

"Only time will tell," Sungyeol snickers.