Hyukjae's head was spinning with all the information that was in front of him. It has been  several days since Shindong and Junsu showed him the footage of the park trees being vandalized, which, after futher investigation with the city council, actually wasn't considered vandalism. 

"What are you talking about? That's been a tradition for couples for decades!" Junsu and Hyukjae's mouth hung open when the park representative they spoke with looked at them like they were crazy. Her inquiring look changed to a teasing smile as she leaned over her desk and cheekily said, "I imagine you boys will do the same very very soon." Then finished it off with a wink. 

Hyukae groaned and ruffled his hair trying to make sense of everything. First it was the trees, then a couple street names (that they've checked), and apparently, it was never Kim Galbi  that people go around the block for but Always and then Some. Hyukjae's 100% sure he's seen that restaurant chain a million times in his life but why did it all of a sudden change and why the hell are people not freaking out about it?! He looked up the business name online and saw that it was the same company but has been renamed in 2025 when the owner died and it was taken over by one of his children. 

A particularly bizarre information to learn considering they were forced to watch the now deceased shop owner three months ago when it celebrated its 50th anniversary and was recognized by the city as one of its treasured places to visit by tourist. It was incredibly boring and he saw no point in the whole event, but now...

"How the hell can they forget that so easily?!" Hyukjae complained out loud as he slammed his laptop shut. "The one time I needed Youtube to show me a stupid lousy video and its not there!" 

A knock on the door interrupted Hyukjae's thoughts and as he turned around to see who it was, he saw Junsu coming into his room with Kyuhyun in tow. The other had pushed the latter inside and immediately closed the door behind him, followed by promptly locking the door for maximum privacy. Kyuhyun couldn't help but roll his eyes at Junsu's overdramatic tendencies but decided to hold his tongue and not to comment on it. After five years, he's learned not to ask too many questions. 

"I really need to find better friends." 

Hyukjae snickered before switching from his desk chair to go lie down on the bed. Kyuhyun rolled his eyes but did lay on his side, next to Hyukjae, while propping himself up on his elbow. He used his left foot to nudge over Hyukjae's leg before asking, "Are you still on the hunt for that Lee Donghae dude?" 

Hyukjae's answer was garbled speech that was muffled on his pillow. 

Junsu, always in his own little world, disregarded the two of them and just rolled Hyukjae's desk chair closer to the bed to show the other more of the things that he found out. 

"I've been looking up all sorts of information about the possibility of time travel-"

"Oh, not this again!" Kyuhyun complained with a loud groan but the other wasn't swayed by it. When Junsu continued sharing his information, he ended up lying on his back and taking one of Hyukjae's free pillow to try and suffocate himself on. 

"-and there's all this crazy on the internet, BUT, I think I actually caught us a break." 

Hyukjae's ears perked up hearing Junsu's news. "What?" He pushed himself to sit up on the bed and turned to look at him. "What are you talking about?"

"Well, you know how we're going on that field trip next week at the National Science Museum to see that TED talk about STEM fields?" Junsu waited for Hyukjae to nod before sharing the most important part. "I actually found something interesting related to that trip! There's this scientist there, his name is Lee Donghwa and apparently he's spent the last 35 years trying to figure out time travel!" Junsu handed his phone to Hyukjae with an excited smile as Hyukjae took it with his eyes wide filled with curiosity. "I couldn't get access to a lot of his research since a good majority of it requires credentials to access but the little tid bits I did read, it sounds a lot like what you're going through."

Kyuhyun, who's finally done trying to kill himself, threw the pillow across the room and swiftly pulled himself up just to give Junsu his you-have-gone-completely crazy look. "What the hell are you talking about? Are you telling me that that Lee Donghwa person also has a phone that lets him talk to strangers that lives in the past?" 

Junsu rolled his eyes at Kyuhyun's continued skepticism and crossed his arms together. "Why the hell are you so pessimistic? You're the sci-fi nerd out of the three of us, why aren't you more excited?" 

"It's in the word! Fiction, Su! Freaking fiction!" Kyuhyun all but pulled his hair out but Hyukjae was too busy reading stuff on Junsu's phone to pay him any attention. "None of this is possible and you know it." 

Junsu scoffed and just shook his head at Kyuhyun. "How much more proof do you need? It's not like Hyukjae purposely tried to look for a cursed cellphone that let him talk to people in the past." 

Kyuhyun tsked then crossed his arms to mirror Junsu's body language. "Fine. Let's say I buy into whatever the hell you two got yourselves into. Do you have any idea the repercussions of changing the past? Our present??" 

"Shindong hyung already explained this to me-"

"Then I'll explain it again!" Kyuhyun half-yelled that made Junsu wince a little. Hyukjae was still too busy with Junsu's phone to even react to his yelling. "First, it starts with the little things. Street names being changed, nature being vandalized, people's memories changing, but then, bigger things start changing too. People start not existing. Not disappearing,Su. They just don't exist." Kyuhyun turned his head to Hyukjae then crossed his brows together when he saw how immerse the other was still on Junsu's phone. Without even thinking about it, he reached forward and stole the phone right out of Hyukjae's hands. 

"Hey!" 

"Hiii," Kyuhyun exagerratedly greeted him, voice dripping with every bit of sarcasm he can muster. "Earth to Hyukjae. Remember me? Your best friend? In the present? The one who's still very much alive and sitting right next to you?" 

Hyukjae sighed heavily hearing Kyuhyun's continued tone of disapproval and made an attempt to get Junsu's phone back only for Kyuhyun to pull it out of his reach. He looked towards the owner of the phone for help but Junsu only raised his hand up in air before turning the chair he was sitting on around as a sign that he was on his own to deal with Kyuhyun. 

"How far do you plan to take this?" Kyuhyun questioned as he hid Junsu's phone underneath his leg. "Do you not see the damage that getting in touch with Donghae is causing? You have a life here. A future to think about and yet, you're only worried about what's going on in the past."

"He dies, Kyu. Donghae will die soon if I don't do anything to help him." Hyukjae said as though that explained his newly formed o bsession. "Wouldn't you help someone who's dying if you knew you could help?"

"But you can't help," Kyuhyun continued to argue. "I'm not saying that he deserves to die but  Hyukjae-...we can't stop him from dying."

Hyukjae's frowned as his heart constricted just hearing those words from Kyuhyun. He pursed his lips together and shook his head to keep himself from getting teary eyed and tried to dive for the phone hidden under Kyuhyun's leg but the other just took it out and stood up from the bed so he was a good distance away from both Hyukjae and Junsu. 

Hyukjae flopped himself face first on the bed then looked up to scowl at Kyuhyun. 

"Kyu, give me the phone."

"No." Kyuhyun pocketed Junsu's phone away just to keep it securely hidden away from the other. "Not until you tell me why you're so damn invested in this."

"I don't know! I just am, okay?!" Hyukjae didn't mean to shout but he was  already freaking out internally about the whole thing and Kyuhyun saying his worries out loud was not helping his situation. Hee took a minute to take a deep breath, to calm himself down before sharing what's been on his mind for quite a while. 

"I'm...I'm not smart, like you, or- or athletic like Junsu." He paused and looked down on his hands, twiddling his fingers together now that he was feeling vulnerable in front of Kyuhyun and Junsu. "I'm not good looking and I'm only funny when I make myself look stupid in front of everybody. I've accepted how average I am in life and that I'll probably work some stupid desk job in the future if I'm lucky." Hyukjae leaned back against the headboard of his bed and produced a lazy smile. "Hell, I don't even know why you two are friends with me in the first place." 

"Well, we're stuck with you." Junsu tried to joke but when neither of them laughed, he awkwalrdly cleared his throat and decided that he would help settle this argument once and for all. He was always the tie breaker for the two of them anyway. "Come on, Kyu. Quit being an and give him the phone. I know you don't care about this past,present, future bull. Let him do what he wants." 

Kyuhyun glared at Junsu but didn't show he was letting up anytime soon. "Do you really see a happy ending for them here? I mean, are you really letting him fall in love with a man living 50 years in the past?"

Hyukjae blinked and was caught off guard by what Kyuhyun said. Junsu on the other hand, did not even look a little bit surprised by it.

"So what? He can fall in love with whoever he wants." 

Hyukjae's eyebrows crossed as it was now his turn to give Junsu and Kyuhyun his have-you-two-gone-completely-crazy look. 

"That's ridiculous! Besides, if you convert Donghae's years to our years, he's ing ancient! I'm pretty sure there's a law in place against that."

"Wait." Hyukjae finally voiced out, trying to interrupt the two of them but Kyuhyun and Junsu were too focused in their conversation that they ended up not hearing him. "What are you two--"

"Dummy! Of course not. Donghae died when he was 20. Which technically, makes him 19; practically our age!"

Hyukjae couldn't comprehend where Junsu and Kyuhyun's argument was going as his mind was still processing their words from earlier. Falling in love? Where the heck did that come from? 

"Yah," he tried to call their a