Sehun's POV

At home, I hid myself in my room, ignoring the sound of my parents arguing again over why they bothered to keep me when I was so disobedient. They did this often - whenever I got less than a perfect score on a test, when I got sick and missed school. I wasn't sick this time, but I just couldn't go to school today. Not after what I learned. How could I ever face Tao again?

When Tao was healed, he told me it hurt, but I wasn't there to take care of him. He had nightmares and I was never there to make things better because I was never even told. I even had to hear it from Kris that Tao had this kind of past because he never trusted me enough to say it to me himself.

Zitao didn't love me, but that was okay. I never really expected him to. Love was impossible for me to achieve. I just wanted to have something to hold onto and call mine temporarily, a way to pretend that love existed and that someone was worth caring for. All this effort I poured onto others to get them to like me, all the nice things I would do for them and tell them; it was always wasted. Always.

Just because I liked someone, it didn't mean that they liked me back.

But everyone always loved Kai.

The difference was, he was worthy of it. He was likable and charming. His personality was a warm kind of spell that even I was under. He told me long ago that he was unlovable, but he didn't know what unlovable truly meant.

I had loved him for years. That Kyungsoo guy he was always with probably loved him too. Chanyeol of course loved the guy like a little brother.

Kai could take his pick and make anyone his with just a single stupid smirk. I'd give him my everything, but he always deserved so much better than what I could give. All I had left was Tao, my little fantasy romance, and I honestly didn't want to give him up. But the truth was, Tao also deserved better than me.

I was a monster. Bratty. Disobedient. Dangerous. Truly, I was the unlovable one.

That's not true.

A familiar wolf wandered into the middle of my room, and that was when I found that I had fallen asleep. I was dreaming. Around the wolf, the objects of my room seemed to blur and shred apart. I stood with it now in the middle of a grey area, where good and bad didn't quite exist.

You used to be loved in the past. You are loved now. You will be loved in the future. Love is and was always there for you, Oh Sehun. The word is labeled as 'abstract' for a reason. You can't see, touch, nor taste Love, but it is everywhere.

I rolled my eyes and scoffed. “Spare me the lecture. What do you get out of saying this? What happened to all your stupid ambiguous warnings, huh? No vague riddles?”

Vague. Tao would always call me vague.

This was so not the time for these moronic thoughts. The wolf had never spoken to me so much before.

You all really can't remember.

The wolf was fading and I shouted out a panicked, “Remember what? What are you getting out of telling me all this?”

It doesn't matter. Find the one whose power matches yours and stick with them. That's the only way to control the power for now. Don't let it consume you-

I woke up with old tear tracks staining my cheeks and the sound of my parents still yelling at each other coming up through the floor.

***

Luhan's POV

The drive over to a quiet park was nearly silent, save for once when Xiumin asked me if I wanted to stop for coffee. He knew what kind I liked, but I couldn't remember ever telling him. Maybe he overheard me enthuse over it at work to one of our grumpy coworkers. Ex-coworkers.

What was I going to do? I had a little saved up in case of emergencies, but would it be enough until I found another job? What if the people in that next job were just as bad? I couldn't keep running away from those kind of s. There had to be a way to either endure all that they threw at me or get them to change their ways. Maybe I could somehow fade into the background and have no one even notice I exist.

“Luhan,”

“Hmm? Oh. Sorry.” I climbed out of the car and followed him to a wooden picnic table where we sat in silence, staring at our paper coffee cups. It was harder to talk about this than I thought.

Xiumin was kind of perfect and sweet, forever humble, forever considerate. I had never met anyone like him. I met so many horrible people, it surprised me so much to find a few kind souls in our school and again at work. It felt like the world was suddenly a better place to be in, one where happiness, kindness, and love could actually exist and even thrive. I was getting worried that fairy tales were just that: tales. Tales to be told to children to build all their hopes up and keep them innocent when really the world was cruel and cold.

Well, actually being cold wasn't a bad thing. I was okay with a cold world if it had Xiumin in it.

Xiumin sighed at his coffee.

“What's wrong?” I asked.

“I froze it.” he admitted, opening the top and tilting it my way. His coffee had turned into a complete block of ice.

I laughed at it, amazed. “Just take a sip of mine.” I told him when he began to look at it like he was mourning it's loss.

Xiumin shook his head no. “I'll just end up freezing that too.”

“Then make it quick.”

He moved so fast his arms nearly blurred as he took a quick drink of my hot coffee. When I got it back, I could hear it slosh around strangely and opened the top to find it a half-frozen slush.

“I'm sorry-”

“No, it's okay.” I smiled and took a sip. “Mmm, iced coffee is really good too. It's hot out today anyways. Are you sweating? I'm sweating.”

“I could-” Xiumin cut off, looking anywhere but at me. “I could cool you down.” he offered shyly.

Happy, I pat the seat next to me, inviting him to come over to my side to sit. He hesitated, as if disbelieving my reaction, but came over anyways. The air around him felt like a soft kiss of winter snow.

With a reassuring smile, I took his hand that he laid on the table and held it in both of mine, before feeling bold and placing it on my cheek. I sighed into the feeling, closing my eyes. “You're like a portable icepack.”

“Yeah? You're okay with it?”

“Okay? It feels great, Xiumin.” I nuzzled into the cold hand just slightly, wanting more, but not able to tell just how much I was allowed to push this. Xiumin had a soulmate. My little crush meant nothing.

A chilly something pressed against my other cheek, feather-light and ticklish, before settling against my skin. Quietly, I opened my eyes and blushed. It was his other hand and now he was looking straight at me, no longer hesitating, no longer shying away.

“Chanyeol?” I asked in a small voice, because what about him? What would he think about this?

“He's nice.” Xiumin said, not moving away. “But he's not you, Luhan. If he's my soulmate, then my heart is terribly confused right now.”

This was too good to be true. Everything wonderful that had ever happened in my life was all happening at once. I kept expecting him to take back his words and say “Just kidding.” or “You believed that?”. How could he sound so sincere?

“You really like me?” I had to ask.

“A lot.”

A lot? I blushed a little deeper under his freezing hands if that were even at all possible. “I like you too.” I confessed. “A lot.”

“I know.” he smirked. “Your cheeks give it away.”

“That's not even fair.” I told him as he took his hands back, looking smug. “I don't blush a lot; I'm manly. It only looks like it because you never blush.”

“It isn't fair.” Xiumin agreed. “I want to blush too.”

Quickly, before he could process what I planned, I leaned forward and kissed a quick peck on his lips, waiting afterwards. I was rewarded with the tiniest pink tint on his pale cheeks. “See? It looks like you can blush. You just don't.”

Even I couldn't believe I did that. My heart was going frantic in my chest. I released a nervous laugh under his stunned gaze.

“Uhm, thank you?” he said and we both laughed at that. “I don't know what to say.”

This, what we had right then, it was really awkward. I could just feel that we were both new at this, not just me.

But that was okay. Everything was perfect about it. The awkward chatting, the awkward laughing, the awkward and hesitant touches. For the first time in my life, I felt a special connection to another person that I wouldn't trade for anything in the world.

As Xiumin offered to drive me home, I felt a shiver run down my spine.

***

(A/N: Sorry for making this confusing, but Tao and Kai's story is still stuck in yesterday night lol)

Kai's POV

“Where is this?” Tao asked me as soon as we landed, carefully pulling himself away from my arms and looking around with eyes wide.

Feeling pretty proud of myself for going this far, I told him, “Singapore.”

“Singapore...” he echoed, taking in the bright, colorful lights of the city at night. “Singapore!” he laughed and stuck his arms out, closing his eyes with a wide smile and looking freer than I'd ever seen him. “This is really Singapore?!”

“It is!”

“We're in Singapore!” Tao laughed again in disbelief and walked right up to the rail separating us and rushing water. “It's so beautiful!”

Tao... really loved sightseeing. What happened to the trembling boy I held not moments ago? I was looking at someone else, someone excited and shocked and going on and on about how pretty the nightscape of the bustling city was like he had never seen so many lights before. He began taking a few pictures with his phone.

And then he turned his phone on me, the flash of the picture being taken creating spots in my vision. As I blinked them away, I could see him smiling sweetly at the screen, but it must've been my imagination. Tao would never smile like that for me. For Suho, maybe, but not for me.

“Do you want to see it?” he asked in that soft voice of his, but with a spark of something beautifully playful in his eyes.

“Yeah.” I sidled in next to him and slipped an arm around his back without thinking about it. He gasped and pushed me away, keeping me at an arm's length with a pained expression. His phone clattered onto the cement. “Tao?”

Again, he was trembling.

“I'm sorry- I just-” Tao cut off, breathing deep, shuddering breaths, hands clenched around my uniform jacket. “This is Kai.” he began chanting to himself over and over in whispers I could barely catch. “This is Kai. This is Jongin. You know Jongin. He won't hurt you.”

“You're right; I won't hurt you.” I promised.

“Kai, can you touch my back again?”

“What?”

“Just do it.”

Wouldn't this hurt him again? I was terrified of seeing him in so much pain again, but I obeyed. I had to trust him. Slowly, I let my hand alight itself on his back, gently resting warm and flat over his jacket. Tao winced and his arms shook as I did it, but he steadily calmed down, breathing evenly once more.

“You would never hurt me.” he breathed and his arms relaxed, allowing me to move just a little closer.

“Never.” I echoed back. “I love you and I'll always protect you. You know, if that guy ever gets out of prison, I'll teleport him into a shark tank. How does that sound?”

He chuckled and raised a pinky up between us. “Promise?”

I took my hand from his back and locked pinkies with him, glad to see he didn't flinch at the movement. “I would make this promise a thousand times.”

Suddenly it seemed, Tao was apologizing to my lips and I had to take a second to figure out why.

Oh, he just kissed me.

Oh!

It just- It happened so fast. I think my brain fried under this realization that his lips met my lips and he started it- he started it. Holy !

“Why are you apologizing?” I squeaked as he stepped away, looking conflicted.

“I don't want to build up your hopes in case I've got it wrong. I'm still really confused right now.” Tao ran his hands through his hair and picked up his phone, staring at it before laughing wryly at whatever was on the screen. “I don't know what I'm doing.” he admitted, pushing the phone in my direction until I took it in my hands.

On the screen was a photo of him and Sehun in class, the little brat with a wide smile like I hadn't seen in years.

“Well, I've already been rejected more times than I can count.” I told him with a smile and a heavy heart, returning the phone. “Go ahead and build my hopes up. I'm used to the pain, so you might as well leave a few good memories behind.”

With his phone safely in his pocket again, Tao seemed to have worked something out in his head. “Remember you said that.” He stepped forward again and my heart leapt to my throat as his hands met my waist. “Because I want to thank you,” he said with carefully chosen words. “for everything you've done for me.”

So this wasn't him returning my feelings. I understood.

That didn't stop me from fully enjoying my suddenly bold soulmate's warm kiss. True to the nickname I gave him, the kiss was innocent, but I could feel the shadows around me swirling around us in excitement. Even I wasn't sure where they planned to take us this time.

***

Xiumin's POV

“This is it?” I asked as we rounded a corner and came across a shabby-looking house with broken children's toys littered in the bushes.

“Yeah.” Luhan sighed. “This is home.” He didn't sound thrilled to be there, but then again, I was never thrilled to go back to my own apartment that smelled strongly of mildew no matter how hard I scrubbed the walls.

Before he could climb out, I took his hand and gave it a squeeze. “See you tomorrow? We could go looking for new jobs together.” I offered.

That put a smile back on his face. Luhan agreed and I watched fondly as he headed back to his house. I just turned the key in the ignition when I noticed him knocking on the door. Quietly, I turned the car back off and waited, confused. Why would Luhan knock on the door of his own home?

A balding man with a grossly stained T-shirt answered the door with a sour expression. “I thought I already told you, you aren't welcome here!” he shouted.

I jumped to get out of the car, worried Luhan was going to get hurt.

At the door, Luhan pulled an envelope from inside his jacket. “Just take this,” he said, handing it out to the man. “and buy them some new shoes. They can't walk to school in the ones they have now.”

The man slapped the envelope away. “I don't need your filthy money.”

“But the kids-” Luhan insisted, handing the envelope over again.

“Get the away from this house while I'm still being nice.” the man warned and I stepped in to pull Luhan away before things could get violent.

The door slammed on both of our shocked faces. Silence passed while the events of the day caught up to us slowly.

“Xiumin, can I stay at your place tonight?” Luhan asked, voice resigned.

“It'll be too cold for you, Lu. You'll get sick.” I gently guided him back to my car and we sat in silence for a moment before I asked, “Do have anyone else you can stay with?”

“There's Suho's place. I could call and ask him, I guess.”

“Right. Let's go.” I started up the car while he brought his phone out and wondered what that huge scene outside his house had been about.

My hand just made it to the gear shift when two people appeared out of thin air in a rush of shadows right in front of my car! And they were kissing!

"Tao?" asked Luhan, just as stunned as I was. "Kai?"

***

Author Note:

So Tao and Kai just moved through space and time to right in front of Minseok's car. Yup.

picture googled and found here~