Archive of Our Own ^beta

In hindsight, maybe, going through a randoms machine in a facility you were taken to after being drugged wasn't a great idea. In all fairness, no one ever said aiden was smart. This really had to be one of his dumbest moments to date.

"WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU?!?!?" A familiar ginger screamed from her couch. The girl looked about a year younger than he remembered.

Looking to his left he could see the ginger she reminded him of. Yup, definitely a bad idea to enter that machine.

-- an hour earlier --

The alarms blared in their ears as they ran through the halls. They had just gotten out of their rooms in the real world and were headed to their parents. So far everything was going as expected, albeit a bit chaotic.

"We have about a minute until they are gonna arrive, we gotta hurry" Logan called from the near the back of the group.

They all had cards they stole off the guards that work on their parents rooms.

After finding out their parents were also in the facility they started planning how to get them out. It took many excruciating months in the facility before they had an opportunity.

The plan had been in the works for the past week after their failed attempt at getting their parents in the phantom realm. They knew that one was a long shot but they had to try.

Right now they were all splitting up to grab their parents. Aiden was running to the opposite side of the hall with Ben and Logan. Ben's family was next to Aiden's parents. Ben's sister, Lily, was in the room with his mom so Ben went there first.

Aiden went for his mom's room running right past ben. It took a couple seconds for Aiden to get his card and have it read correctly. He threw open the door seeing his mom pushed against the farthest wall.

"COME ON!" He yelled running off to his dad's door.

"Fifteen seconds!" Logan yelled from his grandma's door. He had already gotten them out along with the twins and Ashlyn.

Ben and Aiden both got their parents out of their rooms in the next few seconds with help from the others. After everyone was out of their rooms the kids started to move their parents down the stairs.

"What is going on?!" Ashlyn's dad yelled over the alarms to the kids. Despite being confused about what was going on he didn't seem to be slowing down.

"We'll explain when we can, just MOVE!" Ashlyn yelled.

They got to the bottom of the stairs to see a group of guards at the end of the hall. They blocked the exit, effectively cornering the group.

Aiden searched around the hall for a second before spotting a door that seemed safe enough. "Follow me" he yelled at the group before running to the door, sliding his card and running in.

Once everyone was in he shut the door, looking for things to block the door with. Before he could think of anything, ashlyn came up behind him. She had a fire extinguished in her hand smashing the card reader to pieces. It seemed to work but the twins pulled a dest in front of the door to be safe.

"Explain!" Emma said sternly.

"Ok" ashlyn said out of breath. The group all seemed to be exhausted apart from the adults and lily. To be fair the adults didn't have to run for five minutes to even get to that hall.

"Let's start with what we've been doing the past few months" tyler said as he took a deep breath, finally seeming to have air again.

"Let's" Taylor said before she sat on the floor. Most everyone followed the action, as they were all very tired.

Ashlyn took a deep breath before explaining "Firstly, in the first few days we were able to get to each other in the phantom realm. We didn't even know you guys were here at first. They said they told you about how we were 'sick' and you were aware of the testing they were doing"

"Im sorry, tests?" mike interrupted.

"Yeah, these past few months we have had blood drawn, physical exams, mental tests, group assessments, individual assessments. You name it" Taylor stated from the floor.

"Yeah" Ashlyn said after a few seconds. "After we found out about you being here, we decided to get all of us out as soon as possible. It was hard at first because we didn't know what anyone here actually does. In the phantom world we were able to look at the camera history. Remembering the guard schedules was easier than the nurses. They never seemed to have schedules. After a while of study cameras and just relaxing we got here" she said gesturing to the room.

"The only question is, where the hell do we go now?" Tyler said from next to Taylor. The alarms were still loud but no guards seemed to be outside the door. Maybe they decided to wait them out?

"You kids really did all that?" Aiden's mom said slightly skeptical.

"What? Did you really think we would sit in this place forever" Aiden said with a bright smile. "Nah, that's lame. Besides it's not like this place is that intimidating. It's got nothing on a giant centipede that chases you in a car. Right, shish kebab?"

"Aiden! That is so rude" Aiden's mom scolded looking towards Mariana in apology.

Tyler glared at the boy for a minute before nodding his head "pancake's right, none of these people have almost killed us. Just put us in situations where we have no weapons and have to fight phantoms." He said looking to Ashlyn sympathetically.

"What?" Mariana asked her son.

"The physical assessments" Ashlyn said slowly. "They put me in a room with a chained up phantom. The wanted to see how it interacted with me." She said quietly curling into herself.

"Yeah, until they let it free when you had no means to defend yourself." Tyler said harshly.

All the parents looked at the girl like she was a ghost. No one spoke for the next few minutes, the only sound the alarm they triggered. It took another few minutes before it was complete silence. The alarm stopped.

Logan looked down at his watch before addressing the group. "Guys, it's been thirty minutes. I doubt they left but the alarms not gonna be as much of an issue anymore."

"They never left" ashlyn said quietly. "They've been outside the whole time. They're waiting for us"

"Guess we gotta find another way out" Aiden said moving to the other side of the room to explore.

"We're in the basement, no windows or doors to outside in this room. Plan on digging us out?" Tyler said sarcastically. Aiden started laughing at that, the adults seemed pretty surprised at that. Who would laugh in that situation?

After a few minutes of searching he came across a machine covered by a tarp. When he ripped the tarp off it kicked dust everywhere.

"Hey guys, it might not be a way out but it's cool" aiden called across the room.

It didn't take long before a few of them had come over to the machine. Logan, Mike, Jessica (Aiden's mom), Daniel (Aiden's dad), Taylor, and Ashlyn all walked over to where Aiden was.

Logan looked it up and down before finding a panel on the side. When he opened it the machine seemed to light up the panel. Maybe it was never fully turned off?

"What is it?" Mike asked no one in particular.

Logan shrugged his shoulders before looking over the panel. He started to mess with the buttons on it before it turned on with a loud whirl. Logan quickly backed up from the panel looking at the machine.

"Did you touch something?" Tyler yelled from his seat at the other side of the room.

"Guys! Guys, you have to see this" taylor yelled to the others. The rest slowly made their way over to what they were doing.

"What did Aiden do?" Tyler said once he finally reached the group.

"It wasn't me!" Aiden said offended.

"Will you two stop that!" Ashlyn said suddenly. The two looked towards her then back at the machine. "Besides this might be our only way out."

"It could kill us!" Taylor screamed towards the ginger girl in front of her. "You're kidding?"

"No." She said simply. She took a step towards the machine about to walk through, before she felt a hand on her shoulder. When she turned she saw Aiden standing next to her.

"If we are actually gonna do this" Aiden said with a serious face before he gave her a small smile. "Then we are doing it together."

"Yeah" taylor said grabbing ben's hand. "We do it together"

"Are you serious!" Emma screamed at the teens. "This could kill you. You're not going through that. We have no idea what it does."

"Hey" Aiden said grabbing Ashlyn's hand. "Better than dying alone, or to a phantom. Dying to phantom would suck" he said looking Ash straight in the eyes.

"Then what are you waiting for?" Ashlyn asked with a slight chuckle.

"Good point" he said with a bright smile. Still holding her hand he pulled them both through the machine. He really hoped this wouldn't kill them.

While they ran in they heard their parents yelling at them from behind. Aiden couldn't really hear it over his heart beat. That could be because he literally just jumped into the unknown or because Ash. No matter how many times they held hands it always made his heart race.

-- present --

"That's how we ended up here" Ashlyn finished as the two sat at the banner's dining table. Ashlyn's parents, or past parents?, across the table interrogating them.

"And you expect us to believe that you" past? Mike said pointing towards the ginger in front of him. "A girl who claims to be our daughter from a year in the future? And you" he said pointing to Aiden. "A boy who claims to be a friend of hers also from the future."

"Yes?" Aiden said with an unsure smile.

"Our daughter doesn't have friends" Emma stated. "If you're trying to trick us you went the wrong route." She said staring daggers at the two.

To be fair they did get put the day before the first day of school, where the two met.

"Ok" ashlyn said slowly. "How about you ask us things you know, for a fact, only you would know about me. Nothing embarrassing about school or something that happened in public. Make it as hard as you can" she said looking the two adults dead in the eyes.

"Fine" Mike said leaning back in his chair. "What's our daughter's biggest medical issue?"

"Hearing, since she was born she has had really intense hearing often times causing her to have 'auditory hallucinations'. She also gets really over stimulated easily. If she doesn't have her ear plugs in then she could be in extreme pain from the noise; they are also really uncomfortable to sleep in. Most nights she doesn't get too much sleep because of the noise."

The two adults look at the two shocked. The most they ever told anyone about their daughter's hearing was that it was intense and she needed earbuds. They knew that Ashlyn never told anyone about it cause it was too much trouble. So either these two had been stalking Ashlyn for years or...

"You're not lying." Emma said simply. "We can't verify everything you say because we have no evidence. for now you can sleep in the graveyard, one of the buses. Other than that we will bring you food while you figure your shit out."

"How about this." Aiden began with a shit eating grin. "When ashlyn gets home from school tomorrow, you will meet me. Well me from a year ago, so me in your time. When you meet him he will bring his cousin, Ben and his parents, Daniel and Jessica Clark. He will talk about a field trip to Savannah. After all that happens you can call us in and admit you were wrong to doubt us." Aiden finished smugly.

--

After that very intense interrogation from the past Banner's, Aiden was even more tired than before. The adults said they would escort the duo to the graveyard. It was probably a precaution but it still made Aiden laugh a little.

"You two are gonna stay in the bus over there until we know what to do." Past Emma said pointing to the bus the kids usually sleep in.

"Dude, it's gonna be like our hangout was stripped of everything" Aiden complained in a whiny tone. Grabbing Ashlyn's arm for emphasis. "That's so sad!"

"Yup, let's just get in. Ok?" She said walking towards the bus with Aiden still hanging on her arm. The two adults stood back for a few minutes to talk.

It was a short walk since they were about twenty feet from the bus. They stepped in and looked around finding it empty. It was the same bus they stayed in during sleepovers and such, it looked so strange. Having a year of personality and experience put into the bus just to see its bare bones again. It was weird.

"God, this is weird" Aiden said quietly looking around the bus. A loud bang was heard.

"WHO'S THERE!" Ashlyn yelled into the bus.

A head quickly popped up above the seats looking straight at the two, they were a few seats back on the right. It was a familiar face, thankfully.

With a big sigh the girl turned behind her before calling to someone else. "We're safe it's just Ashlyn and Aiden." Emma called to whoever was also in the bus.

"Mom!" The ginger yelled before running to her mom. They held each other tightly as Ashlyn leaned heavily into her mom.

"Hey, mrs Banner!" Aiden yelled to the two hugging. As he yelled he saw three more people pop out from behind the benches. Ashlyn's dad walked over to Emma and Ashlyn, joining the hug.

The other two behind the benches turned their attention towards Aiden. He realized who they were as a brunette girl ran at him. In the process leaving a very relived Ben at the bench.

"AIDEN!" She screamed running at the boy.

"Hey! Taylor, what are you guys doing here?" He asked pulling away from the hug and looking towards Ben.

"We all saw you guys run into the machine, portal, thing and ran after. Tyler and logan ran first followed by logan's grandparents. Lily ran into the machine after that so Ben's parents chased after her. Followed by your parents once they finally realized what was happening. My mom ran in once i told her i would be right after her, she was really reluctant at first. Then it was just the four of us so we decided to go in together. If we did end up dead, better together than alone, right?" The girl explained.

After a few seconds of silence it was broken by the sound of someone walking into the bus. Everyone turned to look at where the noise was coming from only to be met with the copies of Emma and Mike.

Everything seemed to go still as the duo looked at the two adults hugging their future daughter.

"Right" Aiden said with an awkward smile. "We're a year in the past. Whatever that machine was sent us to the past or a weird shared hallucination." He explained quickly.

The older Mike let out a sigh before walking over to Aiden. "Of course. Because nothing involving you is easy" he said sarcastically.

Aiden let out an exaggerated gasp turning to Ashlyn. He pointed his thumb at Mike before loudly exclaiming. "Second dad hates me!"

Ashlyn started laughing once he finished talking. Everyone looked at the two like they had two heads. Ashlyn and Aiden seemed to be in their own world. Aiden was looking at Ashlyn like she was the sun and ashlyn was trying desperately to say something to Aiden.

It took a few minutes before she finally calmed down enough to speak. She looked Aiden directly in the eye asking him "since when is he your second dad?" With a little smile on her face.

"I did. But it was mostly cause he's been a better dad in a year than mine has in seventeen. I'd say you won the dad lottery." Aiden said like it was common knowledge. He turned slightly to mike before asking quietly. "Unless you're uncomfortable with that. If you are we can forget it and it can be like it never happened." He said with an obviously strained smile.

Mike looked at Aiden like he was a kicked puppy before pulling him into a tight hug. Aiden stood there for a second not doing anything, mostly out of shock, before he hugged back just as tight.

Everyone watched in silence waiting patiently for the two to finish their moment. It didn't take long for Mike to let go of Aiden and for the blond to take a big step back from the man. Once they were done Ben ran up to Aiden and gave him a much tighter hug.

Aiden seemed to love the hugs but soon had to speak up. "Ben, best friend in the world, most amazing cousin ever, i can't breathe." He said strained. It took less than a second for Ben to step away from Aiden and move over to Taylor. He looked extremely embarrassed.

"Well" the younger Mike said suddenly. "We will leave you to all this. Emma and i have to have a very interesting conversation. Have fun and don't break the graveyard" he said pulling the slightly younger Emma with him.

They all stood there for a second before Taylor spoke up. "I forgot they were here."

Most everyone left in the bus nodded in agreement to her statement. They stood there silently for a while longer.

Mike walked over to the longitudinal benches parallel to the tire Logan loved. He sat down making a loud sudden noise that rang through the bus.

"Well" Emma spoke. "Guess that means we rest. We can figure out logistics when we are rested. Lord knows we need it." She said walking over to Mike. She sat down next to him, laying her head on his shoulder.

Taylor grabbed Ben's arm pulling him towards the left bench about three seats back. She immediately pulled him to sit down and cuddled up to him. You could see how red it made Ben.

Aiden let out a little chuckle at the sight before focusing his attention towards Ashlyn. She had moved to the second back bench on the right side of the bus.

Aiden wondered if he could go and sit by her. She didn't give him much time to think because she motioned for him to sit with her. He slowly made his way towards her, tentatively sitting down next to her.

It wasn't that he was scared to sleep next to her it was the fact that her parents were less than twenty feet away. He moved a bit closer avoiding eye contact as he did so.

"Whats up with you?" She questioned. It was so quiet, he knew that he was the only one able to hear it. She was so close. The hot breath on his ear causing him to shiver.

He knew he was bright red when he looked at her. She was barely an inch from his face. He gave a slight shrug looking over to the bench her parents were resting on. "I don't want your parents to kill me for cuddling" he whined still keeping his voice low.

She let out a breathy laugh before grabbing his hand. He looked back at her to see her looking down, right at his lips. Slowly he glanced down at her lips before looking back at her eyes. She was looking at him now.

She leaned in to his ear before saying. "They can't be mad if they never see us."

Aiden felt like he was gonna melt from the girl in front of him. She always had that effect on him though. He gave her a small smile before wrapping his hands around her waist.

She shifted so they were up against the window before wrapping her hands around the boy. The spent the next few minutes getting comfortable in each others arms.

They both knew that the phantom realm was gonna be a bitch to deal with. They also knew that without Logan and Tyler will be off putting and stressful, for more than one reason. They knew that they were gonna have to stay in the graveyard till they have supplies.

They knew that Logan and Tyler were gonna be on their own. It was an hour till 12 by the time any of the kids got any sleep in the bus. They knew this was gonna be a painful next 7 hours.

--

"Gonna have to go at some point, right?" Logan said looking towards Tyler. The brunette had his eyes trained on the machine Ashlyn and Aiden just ran through.

"Definitely" Tyler said grabbing Logan's hand. The action made Logan's face light up like a Christmas tree. His hands felt like pins and needles with the contact. "Can't let him get all the cool points, right?" He said, looking at Logan with a small smile.

Logan gave him the brightest smile he could, It wasn't too hard because it was Tyler. The strawberry blond looked at the group around them. God, this must be so weird for their parents.

"Ready?" Tyler asked giving Logan's hand a slight squeeze. Looking back at him, Logan gave his hand a tight squeeze. The brunette smiled before running up to the machine, hands still intwined. He knew his grandparents were yelling he just couldn't bother to care.

The two landed, very ungraciously, on top of each other as they hit the ground. Logan landed right on top of Tyler, who was now face down on a carpeted floor.

"Oh god! Are you ok?" Logan said quickly as he scrambled off the boy. He got a small nod in response as the boy started to get up.

The door behind them opened slowly, to both of their surprise. Tyler shot up standing in front of Logan protectively. They both had all their attention turned on the door as it slowly opened.

Once it was fully opened the two could perfectly see the people behind the door. Everything seemed to still as they all looked at each other.

"Is this some weird as prank?" The Tyler copy said turning to what seemed to be a Taylor copy. The girl shrugged her shoulders looking back at the two boys.

Logan took those few moments to actually look around the room they got put in. He had only seem it a few times but he knew it.

He tapped Tyler's shoulder trying to get his eyes off the two at the door. The boy was very set on keeping his eyes on the two letting out a hum at Logan's actions. Too tired to deal with Tyler right now he gave him a pretty good, non-harmful, punch in the shoulder.

"Ow" the brunette said looking back at Logan before pausing. He, finally, looked at his surroundings finding his own bedroom. He glanced at the two at the door before turning to stare at Logan. "Could be a shared hallucination?" He said finally.

"What are you talking about?" The younger Tyler screamed from the door. "Why are you in our house?" He said readying his baseball bat.

"Ok. Jesus, Tyler. You need to calm down a bit. Let them explain." The Taylor lookalike said from the door.

Both Tyler's were brought to attention at the words. Logan was a bit tempted to laugh at it before remembering where he was. Getting control of himself, he focused back on the interaction.

The twins lookalikes seemed to be arguing quietly about the two intruders in the room. Logan stole a glance towards his Tyler. He seemed like he was in deep thought.

"Hey, you ok?" Logan questioned quietly.

Tyler looked him in the eyes before looking down quickly. "Why didn't i grab Taylor and my mom? Why only you? I don't know if they are ok now. What does this mean for the phantom world? Is this a hallucination? Are we being tested again? What if all of this is just another test?" He said his voice cracking periodically.

He didn't know what to say. It was like he was stunned into silence. Maybe he was. After a few seconds, he decided on what he thought would be the best action. He gave Tyler a tight hug.

The boy immediately pulled logan into what was probably the most intense hug ever. It lasted long enough for the two at the door to stop talking.

Logan assumed they were looked at the two but couldn't bring himself to care. He pulled away from Tyler, just enough to look him in the eyes, before talking. "We'll find them, ok. We just need to figure out what's going on." He said pulling Tyler back into the hug. "And where we are." He said in a whisper, mostly to himself.

The two at the door stared before the boy finally spoke up. "Ok, now can you please explain who the fuck you are and why you're in our house?"

The two boys pulled away from each other quickly. Logan looked towards the copies of Tyler and Taylor before deciding what he would say.

"Are your names Tyler and Taylor Hernández?" He said slowly.

The boy to his left gave him a strange look before looking at the two. He didn't know what the boy was planning or thinking. He was entirely in the dark. The only thing Tyler could do was wait for what the boy was planning.

The two at the door exchanged a look before Taylor looked directly at Logan. Staring the boy directly in the eyes.

"How do you know that?" She said quietly.

The blond was gonna respond before the brunette boy next to him interrupted him.

"What's the date?" He said quickly.

The other three looked at him confused before someone spoke "What?" His copy said confused.

"The date?" He asked slower.

Logan didn't know what he was thinking but he would trust him. He personally thought it was a big hallucination between the two. Maybe they would wake up soon? He could see Tyler was thinking something very different.

"xx-xx-xxxx, why?" Taylor asked.

The two boys paused for a moment letting the words sink in. Logan heard a low thump next to him. Looking over he saw tyler with his whole body sprawled out on the floor staring at the ceiling.

"You're kidding" his Tyler said after a while.

"It explains how we have two Tyler Hernández's in the same room." Logan said quietly.

"What are you talking about" the younger Tyler asked.

"We're from a year in your future." The blond said bluntly.

The two looked at them in shock. Neither seemed to be able to understand this information. "What?" Taylor said finally.

This was gonna be a long few hours.

--

"So you're telling me that you found a random machine in a building you were taken to and just walked through it? You could have died and you just, what? Didn't care?" The younger Tyler asked skeptically.

The two just nod their heads. They had been explaining the same thing over and over for the past few hours. It was tiring, especially after everything they had gone through before this.

"Time?" The older Tyler asked quietly.

Taylor turned to the clock about to respond before logan cut her off. "An hour" he said simply.

The boy gave a simple hum before leaning on the blond's shoulder. They were sitting next to each other in front of the twins bunk bed, explaining.

"We need to get to the graveyard." He said sleepily. Logan gave a nod before turning his attention back to the twins, who were sitting on Tyler's bed, on the bottom bunk.

"What graveyard?" Taylor questioned.
She had been asking more questions about the two. Tyler just seemed to want to know how to get rid of the two. Logan couldn't blame him.

"Oh, it's a school bus junkyard that a friend's dad owns. It's a hangout spot so it's probably best if we just sleep there since that's probably where our friends are gonna be, if they're here that is." Logan explained.

"Oh, cool" she said before moving onto her other questions. "So, are you two dating in the future?" She asked with a mischievous smile.

"Excuse me?" He brother said from next to her.

"No!" Logan said, probably too loudly. He could feel the heat on his cheeks as the two looked at him and his Tyler. His Tyler meaning the Tyler from his time, obviously.

"Oh, so you just have a crush on him?" She asked again. She seemed genuinely curious, that's probably what made it worse.

"Shut up." Logan grumbled quietly. He felt Tyler shift on his arm, causing the blond to go completely still. He shuffled some more before cuddling closer to Logan on the floor.

The boy was trying very hard to keep him cool. It was much harder than it seemed. His crush was cuddling up to him while the younger version of him and his twin are watching them.

"Yeah, I don't think you're gonna be able to go to the graveyard tonight." Taylor said giggling. Logan checked the time to make sure they absolutely couldn't.

It was 11:35pm. Way too late for the two to make it to the graveyard. The walk from the twins house to ashlyn's was about 30 minutes. They would pass out in the middle of the sidewalk if they decided to give now.

Logan let out a long sigh before he looked at the boy cuddled up to him. He could feel a small smile tugging at his lips as he messed with the boys hair. He knew Tyler wouldn't wake up, the guy slept like a log.

He knew he should probably get some rest too; his brain was thinking too much. He knew that once they got to the phantom realm they would have to start looking for ways to get to the graveyard. It was the safest spot regardless of the situation.

After a few minutes he decided to at least pretend to sleep. It would look really strange if he just passed out at midnight. Especially if he ended up waking up not even a minute later.

Slowly he laid down, resting Tyler's head on his chest. The two on the bed just looked at them silently as the boy moved to sleep on the floor. Taylor slowly got up and pulled a blanket over the two.

It was only five minutes from midnight when logan finally fell asleep. That night was gonna be eventful to say the least.

--

"Ok" ashlyn said to the three across from her. "We know that regardless of when we went through the portal, we are gonna end up at today. And we only know that because of you." She said pointing towards the two brunette's.

"That also means that Logan and Tyler should be somewhere in this time too?" Taylor asked looking worried. They were all worried, she seemed to be more so than the rest.

"So, what's the plan?" Aiden said looking to Ashlyn.

"We aren't exactly equipped to leave the graveyard. And if we do then we have no idea where we would go. We don't know where they ended up." She said simply. "We can't do anything today in all honesty. As much as i hate it, we will have to wait. Either we find them tomorrow during the day or we look tonight and get ourselves killed, helping no one."

"So we just do nothing?!" Taylor said looking near tears.

"As much as i hate it, yes. We can't help them or each other getting ourselves killed." The ginger said defeated. "Try and get some rest, ok? We can't do much more than rest for the night. Im sorry" she said avoiding the other girls eyes.

"I understand." The girl said. You could hear the tears in her voice. You could hear Ben next to her move closer. You could hear her practically collapse into him for comfort. You didn't even need to look at them.

Ashlyn looked up slightly, looking straight to Aiden. He was staring at her when she looked towards him.

Aiden gave her a small smile before breaking eye contact. He slowly walked towards her. She followed him with her eyes until he was right in front of her.

They sat standing face to face for a few seconds. Neither spoke, listening to the quiet sobs coming from Taylor. Ashlyn took a glance to the girl. She felt her heart break for the girl. She was keeping her from her brother.

"It's ok." He said quietly, breaking the silence between them. "You're doing everything you can. We would all die if we looked for them. Then we would be no use to them. This is, sadly, the best we can do"

His hand slowly raised to her cheek, wiping something wet from her face. Was she crying? How did she not notice. Her eyes traveled from Aiden's hand up his arm and shoulder to his Face.

His eyes were intense as always. Not the same type of intense from phantoms. No, this was an intensity he only had when looking at ashlyn.

"You sure?" She whispered into his hand more than to him.

"More sure than anything." He said looking right at her eyes.

It was moments like these that she knew she was loved. Moments where Aiden was holding her. Moments where she knew that, deep down, it was gonna be ok. Even if it wasn't she had people there for her.

"Thank you" Ashlyn said quietly. She heard a small hum from the blond in front of her before she felt him move closer. He gave her a tight hug, pulling her into him. She gladly accepted the affection.

God she loved him. And she knew that he felt the same. They said it all the time. When they were actually alone that is.

She felt him slowly move them over to one of the benches before lying down.

"Sleep"she heard the boy whisper into her ear. It was calming. Just enough so to get her to relax.

She didn't know if she would be able to sleep, especially with Tyler and Logan being no where in sight. Usually if they slept in the phantom realm it was in a huge pile. Tonight it was just the two duos trying to keep it together for a night.

Hopefully the rest of the group would be ok.

--

Once they had woken up in the phantom realm they chose to get weapons. The goal was to try and get a little closer to the graveyard. They didn't have much planning besides grabbing weapons, flashlights, and booking it to the closest unlocked house.

In reality, this was the dumbest plan either of them had come up with. They could be ripped to shreds if they aren't able to find a house that's unlocked.

Logan had initially protested the idea. Soon enough he realized what little they could do at the Hernández's house. They had some protection from the phantoms, that is unless they break the windows.

It was scary leaving the house. There was a couple phantoms at the front on the house, so they were forced to leave out the back. The two moved from backyard to backyard checking each door.

After the first five doors phantoms stared to gather around the two. They made sure no phantoms got too close; it was trickier than expected. With the usual group being three times this size it was a strange difference. One that neither wanted to get used to.

The lights swiveled around the two as they tried to cover every side. The more they stayed like this the harder it got to keep up. tyler turned his head to talk to the blond to his back.

"Two houses down. A window on the second floor is open. If we can get over there i can get us in." He said turning his light to a phantom quickly approaching logan from the side.

"It's not like we have anything better. Just don't get us killed." Logan slightly shouted as he twisted to flash the phantoms. "I trust you!" He said as a sort of punctuation.

"Good to know" the brunette said with a bright smile. "Ok. On the count of three run as fast as you can to the house." He yelled turning to create an opening for them to run.

"1..."

The phantoms were moving away slowly. Slower than he would like; it would have to do.

"2..."

The flashes of light and slim opening between the phantoms was just what he wanted. Pushing slightly, they spread apart even more, avoiding the light.

"3!" He screamed grabbing Logan's hand and running through the gap. He didn't wanna leave the boy in case he couldn't make it after Tyler.

The two ran as fast as they could towards the house. It had scaffolding on the side of the house that led up to the window.

From what he could see before the window was cracked open just enough for them to get in. It took barely any time for them to reach the house. Definitely not long before Tyler was pushing Logan up high on the scaffolding. It was mostly to make sure both boys would get up quickly.

Tyler was about half way up the scaffolding when he felt a phantom on him. It was on his leg, he knew that the phantoms would catch up fast but damn. He kicked as hard as could but it only gripped harder.

He knew he screamed. He knew logically the scream he heard was his. He knew that Logan was in the house, safe from the phantoms outside.

Thats all he needed really. For him to be safe, at least as safe as he can be here.

He felt the claws dig deeper as he pulled himself towards the window. He was getting out of this things grip, no matter what. He heard Logan in the room saying something before he saw the strawberry blond hair peak over the window sill.

Logan threw a knife straight at the phantoms eye. It screamed in agony finally releasing Tyler from its hold. He climbed as quick as he could, stumbling into the room the window led to.

Turns out, it was someone's bedroom. They must have opened the window for a bit of air, lucky for them.

"They're gonna keep trying to get in. We should head downstairs for now." Logan said making quick work of closing the window. A claw slammed against the window as the two slowly made their way downstairs.

It wasn't long before they were on the couch patching up tyler's leg. He could barely move it without it shooting pain into his whole body.

"This stinks" he commented mindlessly.

"Yeah" Logan said with a slight chuckle. "You tend to get the really crappy parts of the dimensions most of the time. It is a bit impressive how good you are at getting injured" he smiled teasingly at Tyler.

The look made Tyler flush. That or the utter embarrassment from what the blond was saying. "Yeah well I'm also good at avoiding injury. It's just the past few months that have been unlucky" he said quickly turning his head away from the boy. He didn't want him to see him blushing.

He failed miserably as Logan laughed a bit more looking at Tyler with fond eyes. He looked amazing to Tyler. He would never tell him that but who cares. He knew that boy was amazing. He just hoped the blond knew that he was gorgeous and amazing.

A loud band rang from the top floor causing both teens to jump. Logan slowly grabbed his large steak knife he got from this houses kitchen. He threw his last one and needed another one.

Tyler tried to protest but it wasn't working. He tried to get up so that if it was something Logan wouldn't be alone; he collapsed the moment he put weight on his bad foot. Tears prickled his eyes from the pain.

He watched slowly as Logan ascended the stairs. He grabbed his bat and flashlight ready for anything. He was close enough so the his flashlight would reach just to the top of the stairs. If the blond moved beyond that he would be entirely on his own.

They both waited with bated breath and Logan reached the top of the stairs. He stayed in the line of the brunettes flashlight to be safe.

In a flash a black blur ran at the blond. Both parties equally as jumped at the movement.

"Logan!" Tyler screamed from the couch.

The blond ran down the stairs as fast as he could. Tyler kept his flashlight trained to the top of the stairs to be sure the phantom didn't get down.

"Are you ok!" He said a bit worried as he reached towards Logan. Said boy was holding his arm trying hard not to cry from the pain. "Come" he motioned for the cushion next to him grabbing the first aid.

He silently stripped Logan of his shirt. The black costume currently torn to hell on the arm. Moving slowly he cleaned and wrapped the boys arm. It wasn't the worst injury they had to deal with but it was still bad.

The strawberry blond had deep gashed running down his arm, slowly spilling into jagged scraps from where the phantom lost form. It was very ugly and made Tyler's heart wrench as he patched up his friend.

They stayed sitting next to each other for a quick moment before Tyler spoke up.

"Time?" He said quietly.

"10 minutes" Logan said looking Tyler in the eyes. He didn't know how this boy had that effect on him but he always did. Always caused that little flutter in his stomach when the boy looked at him with his beautiful blue eyes.

They stayed looking at each other like that for the rest of the time. They knew they would wake up next to each other. Neither said anything as they felt the shift.

--

The two quickly woke up, seeing themselves back in the twins bedroom. Tyler was lying on top of Logan's, now, injured arm while Logan slowly tried to get him off his arm. Tyler woke up pretty quickly due to the movement, moving away much faster after realizing he was on Logan's arm.

"You ok?" He asked quietly propping himself up on his arms.

Logan gave a small nod before getting comfortable leaning against Tyler. The smaller of the two quickly fell asleep cuddling up to Tyler. The brunette on the other hand was wide awake staring at the boy on top of him.

He heard a snicker from the bunks before they were abruptly cut off. He took a glance to see his younger twin giggling at him and his younger self.

"Im sorry, did i wake you?" She said quietly. He gave her a small shake of the head prompting her to continue. "Sorry for laughing but do you like him. I mean, he is actively cuddling you and you were cuddling him not two minutes ago."

He let out a short groan putting his free hand over his face. The other hand was busy playing with Logan's hair as he slept on his chest.

"Just like your future self, you can't tell him" he said shortly. He didn't really hear if he got a response because it took absolutely no time before he was asleep again. Pulling his hand through Logan's hair as he pulled the boy to his chest as they laid there cuddling so they could get some sleep for the night.

It wasn't often any of them got sleep after a visit in the phantom realm. Especially not with the facility doing the tests and knowing that they were under constant watch. It was scary.

--

She didn't wanna wake up. After finally getting to sleep after the shift. She wanted to sleep and stay asleep.

She shifted slightly to make herself more comfortable but found herself unable to. There was a weight on her keeping her from moving. Slowly, she opened her eyes to see aiden cuddled up to her, lying on her chest.

A small smile appeared on her lips. She didn't wanna wake him, not when he looked so cute. She heard someone clear their throat from her left. Slowly she turned to see her father looking at the two.

"So, how did that happen?" He asked with a serious tone. Perhaps a bit too serious, if you asked Ashlyn.

"We fell asleep" she said simply. She was avoiding her dad's eyes, mostly out of embarrassment. "It was cold"

"Ok, just wake him up." He said with a long sigh. "I don't want him getting too comfortable."

She gave him a short nod before turning back to Aiden. His hair tickled her chin as she turned her head.

It was nice to wake up like this. Not so nice for her dad to see her and her boyfriend like this. In his defense he didn't know. In her defense she didn't want him to know.

With a sigh she brought her hand up to Aiden's shoulder. "Hey" she whispered into his ear. "Time to get up." She said shaking him a bit harder.

He let out a low grumble before pulling Ashlyn closer. It was cute; her dad did not share that sentiment. From the looks of it he was gonna kill Aiden.

Ashlyn leaned in a bit close so only Aiden could hear her words. "My dad's watching us cuddle." She whispered in his ear.

His eyes shot open and he scrambled off her as fast as he could. He ended up tripping backwards and falling on his butt. He slowly looked up at Ashlyn, looking very apologetic.

"Sorry." He said quietly, avoiding eye contact.

Mike moved over to the blond giving him a hand to get up. He pulled the boy close whispering something in his ear. "If you hurt her, i won't forgive you" the man said seriously.

Aiden let out a small chuckle before looking back at Ashlyn. He tried his best to hide his feelings; it was obvious he couldn't do that.

"I wouldn't forgive me either" he said quietly turning back to Mike. The man looked satisfied with that answer for now. This wouldn't stop him from talking to the blond more later.

The three sat in silence while Aiden looked around the bus. Taylor and Ben were still sleeping but mrs Banner was sitting on the bench messing with something. He couldn't tell what it was, probably something boring.

He turned back to Mike to see he was watching him closely. They stared at each other in silence for a few seconds before aiden spoke.

"So, What's the plan for today?" He said tilting his head to the side like a puppy. It was something Ashlyn always said was cute. He never did it consciously, just something he did.

"Well" the man said with a sigh. "We don't know where anyone else is so for now we wait. Your friend's will probably come to the graveyard, for shelter if anything. The others are a different story. Any adults will try to go home if they didn't first appear there."

Aiden gave small nod before turning back to the ginger girl he was napping with. "Guess that means we just get to hang out today!" He said with a bright smile.

Mike let out a long sign before turning back and sitting with his wife. Aiden kept his eyes on Ash telling her to move over so he could sit. He sat with a huff, leaning into the ginger's space.

"So." He said as if she knew what it meant.

"So?" She replied.

"So, your dad caught us. Im surprised this hasn't happened earlier. Especially with how much I'm at your house." He said simply.

"Yeah, and half those times I don't even invite you. You just want cuddles so you sneak into my room."

"It's a good reason!" He said pretending to be offended.

They kept up with the quiet banter as they settled for the morning. It was gonna be a while before anyone came to the graveyard. He knew waiting was for the best but he was still antsy.

Crash!

Everyone in the bus perked up at the noise. The four that were awake seemed ready to fight while the other two looked confused.

Taylor looked around the bus, turning to Aiden and Ashlyn before asking. "What was that?"

"I don't know." Ashlyn said quietly.

Everyone in the bus stood on alert for a few seconds before Aiden broke the silence.

"What are we doing? This isn't the phantom realm. We know it's not a phantom. We could just check" he said like it was the most obvious thing ever. To be fair, it was.

The six slowly exited the bus. Mike and Emma were at the front followed by Ashlyn, Aiden, Ben and Taylor. The walked slowly towards the noise, all a bit on edge.

They turned the corner and were met with a pleasant surprise.

"Tyler!" Taylor yelled running over to the boy. Said boy was currently sitting on a tire, where it looked like he pushed other tires off of it to sit down. At least they knew what caused the crash.

Taylor crashed into Tyler with so much force you would think Tyler would fall. He almost did. The only thing that kept him from falling was the strawberry blond holding onto him.

The brunette girl noticed pretty quickly once she pulled away from her brother. She gave him a sly smile before turning to the boys hands. "When did that happen?" She said teasingly, pointing to the boys hands.

Her brother seemed pretty unfazed by the teasing, other than the massive blush on his cheeks. "Since neither of us escaped last night unscathed." He said like it was obvious.

The admission caught everyone's attention as they looked between the two. Logan gave everyone a shy smile before turning back to Tyler.

"Let's get you to the bus so we can explain." He said softly. He slowly pulled tyler onto his feet with their connected arms. Tyler instantly put his hand around Logan's shoulder as the latter put his hand on Tyler's waist. Ben walked over to the two, helping keep Tyler off his bad foot.

--

It only took about twenty minutes to fully explain everything that happened with Logan and Tyler. Took another couple to explain everything with everyone else. They all seemed to come to the same conclusion in the end. Definitely some time thing. It was a bit too accurate for a hallucination.

"What do we do now?" Logan asked after everyone shared their stories.

"Well, the original plan was to wait for people to come here but I don't think your parents would do that. Not if they think it's just a way out of the facility. They're probably gonna head to their homes. We should probably try and find them before they get arrested for 'trespassing' or something. Im surprised that wasn't the first thing younger me did." Mike explained stoically.

"Probably because Ashlyn" Emma said simply. Mike seemed to consider that opinion for a second before accepting it.

"If we all go to look for our own parents, we could end up in a lot of shit." Tyler interjected the two adults. "If we encounter our parents for the past then they'll probably bring us to the school. Then we're basically screwed. We're all gonna have to search for each other's parents." He said like it was common knowledge.

Everyone was silent for a few seconds before Taylor broke the silence. With a sigh she said "me and Ashlyn can go look for Ben and Aiden's families. Logan can look for me and Tyler's mom, finally, Aiden and Ben can look for Logan's grandparents. We all know where each other live so we should start there." She said looking at all her friends, gauging their reactions.

"And why are we left out?" Mike asked gesturing to him and his wife.

"One, at least one person has gotta stay behind to keep tyler company, he can't walk so he really can't do much of anything." She said getting a punch in the shoulder from said brother. "Second, if one of your past selves goes out today it could be really complicated, that's why i said it should be us kids getting everyone. We are currently at school so at most people will think we're skipping and probably ignore it."

It was actually a really good plan, anyone could see that. Doesn't stop Aiden from being bored by the idea of searching a flower shop for old people.

With a long sigh Aiden looked at everyone saying. "Then let's get to it, shall we?" He wore a bright smile as he spoke and rushed out of the bus. He could hear everyone else leaving behind him. He also heard Ben hurry to his side as he ran off. he just set his sights for Logan's grandparents flower shop.

--

Taylor and ashlyn were walking down the street to aiden's house in silence. They figured if Ben and Aiden's parents were anywhere it would be there. Neither of them were talking much, other than the occasional comment from taylor about something she saw. Ashlyn was only half listening when the brunette said something that caught her attention.

"So, are you and Aiden dating yet?" She said innocently.

It caused Ashlyn to pause for a split second. Nothing noticeable if you weren't looking for it. Taylor was looking.

"I'll take that as a yes?" She said smugly. Still questioning if she was right. She always wanted to be sure.

"Shut up" Ashlyn said quietly. If it weren't so quiet today who knows if Taylor would have heard it.

"Oh, come on! You two are so cute. Besides i saw you two last night, very domestic." She said like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"You can't speak about being domestic" Ashlyn said finally. "Ms. 'Cuddles up to Ben the second she sits down'." You could tell she was just trying to make Taylor embarrassed, like she was.

"Yeah, but we have been openly together for a couple months. It's different."

"Whatever" the ginger grumbles as they approach the house. They both seem to notice as they get closer, someone is yelling.

The two took a second to look at each other before approaching the door. Ashlyn didn't bother knocking as she slowly opened the door. They stood at the door taking in the scene in front of them.

Two pairs of Aiden's parents seemed to be arguing in the living room; Ben's family was in the dining room keeping Lily away from the fighting. Taylor took a few seconds before knocking on the open door causing everyone to look at them.

Ben's family seemed a bit relieved to see familiar faces. Aiden's past parents looked like they were about to explode at the visitors while the present duo looked more annoyed.

"What the hell is happening" Aiden's past father practically screamed. Ashlyn cringed at the volume before walking over to the group in the living room.

"Long story short, we are from the future and need to figure out how to get home." She said walking over to Aiden's present parents. She didn't actually mind the white outfits now that it helped her tell the four apart.

"Like you expect me to believe that!" Aiden's past mom screamed at the ginger. "Name one reason why we should believe you."

Ashlyn was getting really annoyed at all the yelling at this point. She hadn't come over here to get yelled at, she came to get a couple adults to a graveyard.

With a long sigh she looked the woman straight in her eyes before speaking. "Later today, after school. Your son, Aiden, is gonna ask, or tell, you to go meet some of your neighbors, my family. You're gonna meet three people who are gonna sit and talk with you for about an hour. At the end your son is going to give younger me a slip for a field trip that's a week from today." She said all in one go. "Doubt me tomorrow, for today just believe."

She turned to face the two in white that were currently behind her. "As for you two, you are gonna come to the graveyard while we figure out how to fix all this." Without giving them any time to argue she headed for the door.

She saw the others standing on the porch as she approached. She was very happy they seemed to agree much easier. She looked back to see the two adults hesitating to follow. She gave them a long stare before they finally headed for the door.

They seemed even more annoyed than when she got there. To be honest she was just happy that they actually started to head back with them. She really didn't want to fight them on it anymore.

If it was up to her she would leave them in the past. That was mostly cause of what Aiden told her about how their parenting affected him. She really didn't like them as parents.

--

"So" aiden said as they walked down the street. "We're headed to a flower shop to retrieve old people. Totally something i want to do on a Monday while I'm in the past" he says to the mute boy.

Ben didn't bother with a response to the boy as they neared to flower shop. They couldn't see much from where they were standing; it looked like someone was in the bushes. Slowly, as to not spook them, Aiden crawled up to the two adults in the bushes.

"What are we doing?" He whispered after a few seconds of crouching there. The two seemed to jump at the sudden noise behind them. They turned quickly to find the cousins crouched behind them.

"It is disrespectful to sneak up on people." Logans grandpa chided.

"So how disrespectful is it so spy?" Aiden asked faking innocence.

The man gave an eye roll before turning back to what he was doing. "It's not spying if it's on weird clones of yourself." He said simply.

"Not clones, actually." Aiden explained. "We were just sent to the past. I was sent to get you." He said like it was obvious.

"Why not logan?" The strawberry blond's grandma asked.

"Incase he ran into the you's from the past. He is meant to be at school, it would be a whole ordeal no one wanted."

The two adults shared a look before turning back to the two boys. They sat in silence as the two seemed to weigh their options.

"Fine" James said finally. "We'll go to make sure logan is ok. We need a place to stay anyway. That is if you actually have anywhere to stay and are not just on the side of the road" he said with a small glare. It was enough to put a bit of fear into Aiden as he stood up.

"We have shelter, if that's what you're asking." Aiden said as he waited for everyone to follow him. "We are staying at the graveyard right now. The one the Banner's own." He clarified.

The two adults seemed skeptical as they stood from the bush. They slowly followed the boys back to the Banner's house. It was a long and quiet walk.

Aiden tried a few times to make the walk less awkward, after the third time getting an unimpressed stare he decided to remain silent.

It wasn't long before they got to the graveyard and were making their way into the large open area. When they finally got there they could see Ashlyn's parents, Logan, Tyler and the twins mom sitting around the lit fireplace.

"I thought Ash and Tay would be back quicker than you." Aiden commented towards Logan. Everyone seemed to stop talking for a second to look at the four who had walked up. Logan's grandparents walked up to two open seats before getting comfortable.

"Well the twins mom was just sitting in her house. Her past self wasn't at home so she was just on the porch. It took less than a minute to get her to come to the graveyard." Logan explained as aiden and ben sat down. "Now we're just waiting for the others to get your parents." He said gesturing to the two boys.

"Knowing them they probably started fighting with their younger selves. They can be very stubborn when they want to" Aiden said calmly.

"Exactly right." Ash said from where she was walking up to the group with Taylor running ahead to go to her mom. Everyone else seemed to be taking their time getting over to the group. "No idea how long they were fighting before we got there. it looked like your past parents were about to call the police." She said slumping onto the log her parents were sitting on.

Aiden was sitting in the chair to her left next to Ben. Across from her was logan sitting with Tyler, Taylor and their mom. To her right was Logan's grandparents. There were a few chairs around that Aiden's parents pulled up, sitting next to Ben. Ben's parents went to do the same, giving Ben his sister who was currently asleep in his mom's arms. The couple pulled up chairs opposite of their son, where there was room.

After everyone settled Mike cleared his throat to address the group. "So, I'm assuming that everyone knows a little bit about what's happening. The current theory being we are about a year in the past. If that is the case we have no real way to get back right now. So we should probably work on that for now." He explained to everyone around the fire. He got a few disbelieving looks as he said it but everyone seemed too tired to fight him on it.

"Fine" Daniel, Aiden's dad, said after a few minutes. "Whatever you think of that will get us back home. I don't care at this point." He said resigning.

"Fun, now that that's done with. We should probably figure out the phantom realm situation." Taylor said looking towards Logan and Tyler. "Where even are you two in there?"

The two boys glanced at each other before Logan spoke up. "In all honesty, we don't really know. We started off in your house but we needed to get to the graveyard because it was much safer. We also didn't know how long we were gonna be here so it seemed like the best option."

"I still think it is. The best option i mean." Tyler said stubbornly.

"Yeah, you're probably right." Logan said with a small smile before he continued to explain. "We had to go to some random house so that we didn't get mauled to death. Issue is we had to climb a wall, which is how Tyler got hurt. There was also a phantom in the house, which is how i got hurt. The phantom is still in there cause we trapped it upstairs with a flashlight. Other than that we are pretty good in the phantom realm." He finished leaning forward on his knees. Tyler was rubbing small circles on his back for some small comfort. It seemed to get working.

Everyone sat quietly waiting for the adults to process this information. Having already heard this story Aiden made quick work of breaking the tension. "Well, now that everyone knows that you could die, again in Tyler's case, I say we find stuff that could help you. I personally think we should get you guys some guns." He said waiting for a response.

The adults seemed to be in shock at his, very calm, suggestion of getting Logan and Tyler guns for the night. The kids all seemed to be thinking of where to get them these weapons from.

"We don't need new guns just some ammo. All our other ammo was used in the facility or the school. We have the guns just not the ammo." Tyler said after a few seconds.

"It's still weird having you kids talk about stuff like that so casually." Mariana said looking at her son with sad eyes. All the adults made sounds of agreement before someone else spoke up.

"We can get you some ammo as long as we know the guns you have access to." Mike said seriously.

"The rifle's with Taylor so we just have the pistol." Logan responded.

"Great, we can try and get you a couple magazines for that before tonight. Do you have any other weapons with you?"

"Yeah" tyler said. "I have my bat, we both have flashlights and logan has a steak knife we took from the house we ended up in. Should be enough to get us to the graveyard soon, we are about thirty minutes walking from the graveyard. With seven hours we should be able to get there tonight even with my leg."

Everyone sat quietly for a few minutes before someone spoke up. "Rest tonight, keep any phantoms away from you but give your wounds time to heal. If you are good to walk tonight then go for it but make sure you can walk on your own before heading here. You could get killed if you don't." Ashlyn spoke quietly.

"Come on carrot-top. I always bounce back, it's like a terrible friend stays over for a few days. Nothing that bad." Tyler said with a slight smile, he was trying to lighten the mood but no one seemed in the mood. Everyone but aiden, of course."

"The Christmas topper is right, ash." Aiden said getting a few horrified looks and one snicker from Tyler himself. "We are basically immortal in the phantom realm. Tested and proven, and I'm sure Tyler would never let Logan die anyways." He said giving Tyler a wink as he finished his sentence. The two had a seemingly silent conversation with a couple glares before Tyler turned to the group.

"We can rest until i can walk by myself. It will be easier to fight that way." Tyler conceded.

"Great, for now just rest while we find the stuff for you tonight. Tomorrow we are probably gonna have to deal with more than one group of confused people." Ashlyn said to the group. "After me and Aiden told our past parents what's gonna happen after school today, we are gonna be in some deep shit. Who knows if we will have to deal with that tomorrow or tonight but for now we can find you that ammo." The ginger said walking off to the bus. She seemed to just want to get away from the group for a bit. It was reasonable in Aiden's opinion.

--

"So, your story checks out to what happened" past Mike says from the entrance of the graveyard. "We ordered you a few large pizzas so you have something to eat that isn't chips." He spoke to all the families.

Past Emma let out a long sigh before speaking up. "What are we meant to do with this. We can't keep you here. We especially can't keep you a secret from everyone for that long." She said worry evident in her voice.

The comment left the group in silence as they tried to figure out what to say. No one had come up with a way to reverse this or get home. They all collectively had no idea what to do.

"We should tell our younger selves" Tyler spoke up after a few moments. Everyone seemed nervous about the idea. Telling your past self your their future self and that you couldn't tell them much about their future. Great idea Tyler.

"No" Ashlyn was the first to break the silence.

"Why not!" The brunette boy yelled.

"We already brought so many people into this already. We have no idea how this will affect the future." She put simply.

"Well half of our younger selves already know at least half the story. Why not explain the rest?" Taylor asked.

"This is like the savanna argument again" Aiden unhelpfully put in, earning a glare from almost all the kids. The boy put his hands up in mock surrender at the action.

Ashlyn looked to everyone before letting out a long sigh; Before she could say anything her present dad intervened. "How about we figure out at least one plan to get back before we tell them. It will be easier to explain when we have a bit more of an idea of what we're talking about."

"He's right" Naomi, ben's mom, said quietly. "We can just think of some way to get back for now."

"Who knows, maybe the key to getting back is messing with the past." Aiden said sarcastically. It caused pause in the group as they looked at the boy. "What? Did i say something wrong?" He asked raising an eyebrow to the group.

Ben starts writing something down and shoves it in Aiden's face before anyone can ask anything. What do you mean by that? Like change the past? Was scribbled onto the page messily.

Aiden cocks his head to the side at the questions before responding. "...yeah, i guess. Think about it, if we mess with the past so that we never end up in the facility, then we never go to that machine thing. Just a passing thought more than an actual suggestion."

Everyone sat stunned at the boys idea for a moment. He felt awkward at all the eyes on him. It was way different from when people were watching cause he was being dumb.

The blond let out an awkward chuckle as his usual smile faltered just a little. "Why are you staring?" He asked quietly.

"Because a talking flapjack just said something smart" Tyler said immediately.

"I say smart stuff all the time!" The boy exclaimed across the fire. He was feeling very judged right now.

"It's not that bad of an idea" Ashlyn hummed more to herself than the others. It was loud enough so the others just barely heard her.

"What?" Mike questioned.

"Im serious. What if he's right? What if we mess with something in the past and it has a butterfly effect that affects our future. Makes it so we are never in that facility."

"What if we make the future worse by messing with the wrong thing?" Logan said carefully.

"Guess we just gotta get it right the first time. We'll have to figure out when the best point to mess with but other than that it should be relatively simple. Maybe" Ashlyn explained

"We'll leave you to your planning for tonight. We can come back tomorrow to get filled in on anything you think of" past Emma cut in. "Night" she called as she left pulling her husband with her.

The group sat quietly. No one spoke for what felt like hours, it was maybe a couple minutes in reality. They all seemed to be thinking about the idea. If they fuck it up they could really mess up the timeline.

"How about you kids go rest for the night. Us adults are gonna try and find you that ammo before tonight, ok?" Emma said quietly towards the kids. "You can go sleep in the bus, we'll follow behind in a little while."

The kids slowly moved towards the bus for the night, leaving the adults to their conversation.

"I feel so bad for them" Mariana practically whispered. She got a few hums of agreement before continuing. "They're too young for this"

"No one deserves what they have to go through" Mike said simply. "All we can do now is try and keep them safe, anyway we can. We should look for some ammo for the boys" he said pushing himself to his feet before walking off.

"He's right" Emma said following her husband quietly. The rest of the parents stayed sitting for a while unsure of what to do. They wanted to help but none of them really knew where to get bullets.

--

Logan woke with a start in the phantom realm. Looking around, he found the living room they left off in the same as the night before. His arm still ached but it seemed to stop bleeding, from what he can tell.

They probably won't be able to move till the next night considering Tyler's leg. Looking at said boy he could see the brunette doing the same thing he was. After a few seconds they met eyes waiting for the other to talk.

In the end Tyler was the one to break the silence.

"How's your arm?" He asked quietly.

"Not bleeding, you?" He responded

"Feels like shit, i don't think it's bleeding either."

"Good."

After that they seemed to drop into another silence. Neither knowing what to say. It wasn't usually awkward between the two but maybe this time stuff is changing. Only time will tell if it's in a good way.

Logan cleared his throat prepared to speak before tyler interrupted. "Oh, they got the bullets." He said holding the box in his hand. "Guess that made tonight a little easier. Or harder, who knows" he said melodramatically.

"Very optimistic." The strawberry blond said in response.

"Thank you."

Logan quickly loaded the gun before turning back to tyler. "Any sign of the phantom?" He questioned.

Tyler seemed zoned out looking near logan before the boy spoke. "Wha- oh, no nothing so far."

Logan watched him for a second before leaning more into the couch. It was gonna be a long night so right now he just wanted to hang out with his friend. Turning his head to look at the boy in question he caught him staring.

His eyebrows pinched in confusion at the brunettes actions. It was like he couldn't, or wouldn't, look away from Logan.

"Is there something on my face" the blond asked swiping at his face. Tyler grabbed his hand from his face causing Logan to turn his attention to the boy.

"Nothings on your face." He said trying to stop himself from laughing.

The blond flushed pink as the boy laughed. He knew he liked Tyler, he also knew there was no way Tyler liked him back.

He was starting to question the second half of that statement. Maybe it was too hopeful, maybe it was naive, but he really felt like Tyler might like him back.

That is if you discount the fact that he is totally straight.

"-gan"

Even if he wasn't totally straight, which he is, why would he like Logan, grandson of florists and obsessed with astrology.

"Logan, hey Logan" tyler snapped in his face. The blond quickly snapped back to reality of them being in literal hell with his crush snapping in his face. "You ok? you zoned out hard there" he said with lots of concern.

"Yeah, yeah I'm okay. I was just thinking." He said with a light chuckle.

The brunette still looked worried but seemed to drop the subject. "Okay, if you say so." He said turning to mess with the bandages on his leg. He slowly unwrapped them to see the wounded sealed by the weird phantom realm healing. "Well at least the wound is closed." He said thankful.

Logan nodded to what the boy said before speaking. "Can you walk on it?"

"Maybe" the brunette said getting to his feet. Once he put his weight on the foot he tumbled to the ground, Logan was quick to his side to help him. "Not. I probably won't be able to walk on it even though it's healed. I give it till tomorrow at the minimum for when i can walk and not get us both killed."

The other boy nodded as he helped the brunette to the couch. They sat down closer than last time as they both relaxed into the couch. They both always stayed a bit alert after so long of dealing with the phantom realm.

They stay undisturbed for about a minute before a loud crash could be heard from behind them. Both boys shoot up, Tyler stumbling as he stands.

Logan slowly approaches where the noise came from, looked like the kitchen, pulling his knife out for stealth. Tyler followed, very, slowly with his bat raised high.

Logan was the first to get into the room, finding a broken window and no phantom. Turning back to Tyler to tell him, he felt a cold, sharp hand grab is bad arm.

His eyes snapped to the phantom looming over him as he raised his hand to stab the phantom.

It happened fast and loud as the knife pierced the phantom's upper arm. The phantom let go of logan as it loudly clawed at the walls and knife. Logan quickly pulled out his gun incase the monster came towards them.

The phantom quickly ripped the knife from its arm before turning to the boys. With both of their flashlights pointed towards the upstairs they were forced to fight. If Logan shot it would die; it would also bring a bunch more phantoms to the house, causing a lot more trouble for the two.

The phantom lunged and tackled Logan, knocking the gun from his hand. Tyler was quick to react and drive his bat straight into the phantom. The blade sliced open its back as Tyler pulled the bat back.

The phantom looked to be screaming yet made no noise. It held tight to Loga, digging its claws deeper into his arm.

Logan let out a pained yell at the pain, a few tears spilling from his eyes. Tyler swung at the phantoms head making it go limp on top of Logan. The blond felt the claws release their hold; they still held on his arm.

The brunette was quick to his side as he tried to get the phantom off.

"Are you oka-"

"Stop!" Logan cried to the boy. He stopped suddenly at the scream looking towards the boy confused. "Its claws are in my arm. You're pulling at the claws." He explained breathlessly.

"Oh." The boy said pulling the phantom so he could see Logan's arm. "I can see that now. Im gonna pull its claws out but it's gonna hurt." He said sympathetically.

"Just do it, please"

The next few minutes were excruciating. Tyler was pulling him free of the phantom while they could both hear more coming. The brunette went as fast as he could, quickly helping the blond to the couch and handing him his gun.

The injury ended up on his good arm. If he was gonna shot something it was gonna be with the arm that got hurt yesterday.

They could hear the footsteps of the phantoms outside trying to find a way in. They could hear glass breaking somewhere as they grabbed their flashlights. They could hear phantoms entering the house as they ran upstairs and found a room with little windows.

"Time?" Tyler asked once they got somewhat situated.

"5 and a half hours" logan said quietly.

The brunette let out a long sigh before moving closer to logan. They sat silently, listening to the footsteps outside.

This was going to be a long few hours. At least they have each other.

--

Logan and tyler shot up from bed at exactly 12:01 am. Tyler quickly made his way over to the strawberry blond. Everyone else woke slower watching the two confused.

"Are you ok?" Tyler rushed to ask.

"Yeah, yeah. Just a few minor injuries, a few scraps and bruises aside from my arm. You?" The boy said quietly.

"Just some small scraps, nothing major thankfully."

"Im sorry, what happened" Mariana asked dazed with sleep.

The boys sat quietly for a second before Tyler spoke up. "We were taken by surprise by a phantom. It ripped into Logan's arm. More phantoms came after that we ran into a room upstairs. For about four hours nothing really happened until an hour before we came back. A phantom bust through the window and started clawing at us. We used the flashlights but it got a few hits in. We killed it and another came in. We did that for an hour before we were cornered. Now we're here. Safe to say tomorrow will be absolute hell."

Logan looked defeated as he leaned heavily into Tyler's shoulder. The boys seemed to fall asleep quickly after that, basically cuddled up to each other in the tire.

"Aww!" Taylor squealed once they fell asleep. "They totally like each other." She exclaimed.

No one paid her any mind as they went back to sleep. They knew they couldn't do much for the two right now except let them sleep. That didn't stop anyone from worrying about the two.

--

"So what's the plan" aiden asked that morning. Their parents had gone out of the bus earlier to make it less crammed. They were all at the bonfire while the teens were sitting in the bus.

"We know that this started in savanna. More specifically the sorrel weed house." Tyler said to the group. The others nodded to the statement before Logan continued.

"So we just don't go on the trip, make sure that none of them go?" He questioned.

"I don't think we have to avoid the trip just the house." Ashlyn said quietly. "To be honest, that trip would probably be the only reason we're friends. Without the whole phantom thing at least."

"You're not wrong." Aiden put in. "You really didn't think you wanted friends, now you can't resist us." He cooed with a bright smirk.

Taylor broke into a manic grin before joining in on teasing Ashlyn. "Yeah, you love us too much. You can't live without us." She said dramatically putting her hands to her chin.

The two let out small chuckles at the teasing before turning their attention back to the group. "Seriously though, i don't really wanna miss out on how much fun we had on the trip." Aiden said happily.

"I don't think any of us do. It basically started any friendship we would have." Logan replied. "Without the whole phantom thing, i genuinely think we would have become friends after the trip."

"As much as i hate some of you sometimes, being friends isn't something i would want to give up." Tyler said solemnly, turning to Logan. The boy gave him a small smile before turning away.

He got a few nods and agreements before he continued speaking. "So what do we do? Are we just gonna tell them to not go there. What if they take that as 'don't go on the trip'?"

The group looked thoughtful as they fell into silence. They all seemed to go through different ways to bring it up without their younger selves not going on the trip.

"I think if we told them about the phantom stuff they would spook out of the trip entirely." Logan said matter-of-factly.

"So we just tell them we randomly dropped from the future. That they have to not do something we did and hope they don't ask questions?" Aiden said in a bit of a serious voice. It sounded as if he didn't know how mean he sounded saying it, he probably didn't in all honesty.

Ben rolled him eyes as he brought out his notebook to write something down. The group stayed quiet as they waited for him to turn the book to them. When he did it read 'we just have to tell them the bare minimum. Enough so that they don't question it too much but not enough that they drop the trip entirely. Just tell them how we got here and about the sorrel weed house, a bit more if really needed. Bare minimum!'

"Oh! Makes sense" aiden said quietly. "But how do we actually tell them? It's not like we met up at all outside of school and school is definitely off limits."

"I can probably convince my past parents to arrange something. Convince my younger self to get you guys to come over for something." Ashlyn suggested.

"That's probably the only way to get them here. It's gonna have to be in the house, we can't have them seeing everyone else. That is a whole can of worms we don't wanna open." Taylor added.

They all nodded to the decision. Now all they needed was Ashlyn to get her past parents on board, she needed to talk to them for that though.

It was only a couple hours before lunch so she assumed they would bring something for the group. It would be her best opportunity to talk to them as soon as she can. She could probably bother them now because she's at school; she was more content with leaning into the blond at her side.

She felt the boy still as she leaned into him. The group was pretty quiet as she, very noticeably, cuddled up to Aiden. She could hear Taylor's hushed squeals as Aiden brought his hand to her hair.

"You good?" He whispered, relaxing slightly. She couldn't see him but she was sure he was blushing hard. "You never liked PDA, always after everyone went to sleep, why the sudden change?"

"Felt like it" she grumbled into the boys ear. He shivered at the action, while Ashlyn gave a small smile, slowly falling asleep. "Got a week before we change our entire history. Might as well enjoy it."

The boy was blushing hard as Ash cuddled up to him. Taylor seemed like she wanted to explode, Ben looked neutral as he gave a small nod, Tyler and Logan seemed confused at the action. The blond brought his hands up to cover the girls ears so he could talk to the others.

Taylor beat him to the punch. "How long?" She whispered shouted.

"Since a few months ago." He said with a sigh.

"Damn, never thought you would ever tell her you liked her" Tyler said impressed. Logan looked at the boy even more shocked.

"You knew?"

"Yeah."

"He is super perceptive when it comes to people. I've seen him tell people that they have a crush on someone, that person deny it, that same person end up with the person he said they had a crush on. It is really scary and impressive. He didn't even say anything to me about Ben, just said that if he hurts me then tell him." Taylor explained. "He has walked up to people and blatantly told them he didn't like them because he knew they liked him. I've only seen him not do that for one person."

Logan seemed to pale as the girl finished speaking. Tyler seemed to take notice, resting his hand on the boys shoulder. He nodded his head to the bus entrance as he stood up, reaching his hand out for the boy to take. He took it slowly, getting up and following at the same speed.

It took them no time before they were outside the bus, the opposite side from where their parents were talking, hidden from everyone who could listen or watch.

Tyler let out a loud sigh prepared to speak, Logan beat him to the punch

"you knew this whole time?" He said, tears welling in his eyes. Tyler reached out a hand to the boys cheek but it got slapped away. "Why? Why not just reject me, get it over with? Why would you let me think, for even a second, that i might have a chance?" At this point Logan was sobbing loudly, if he was any louder he was sure someone would hear.

The boy didn't have a chance to think before he was wrapped in Tyler's arms. He tried to push the boy away to no avail. Slowly the boys fell to the ground, Logan crying on Tyler's shoulder.

The whole thing would have been comforting, if it wasn't for the fact that his heart was actively breaking. Logan was the first to pull away from the embrace.

"Why?" He practically whispered with how close they were.

Tyler gave a weak smile, even laughing a bit at the question. Logan looked at him confused while the boy composed himself to answer the question.

"Because I didn't really want you to hate me. The reason I didn't at first was the phantoms, hard to survive with people with a bunch of drama." Logan looked at his hands, sitting in his lap. He felt guilty for making the boy uncomfortable, he was about to say so before the brunette spoke again. "The second reason came about three months later. The, very jarring, realization that I didn't want you to stop liking me. I thought i was straighter than a ruler until then."

Logan slowly looked up at the boy. Did he hear that right? Was he just hearing what he wanted?

"What?" He creaked out, his voice was much more broken than he originally thought. Clearing his throat he looked the boy in his eyes, the eyes he could lose himself in a thousand times over.

Tyler gave the blond a weak smile before leaning closer, he barely leaned in a few inches before their noses touched. Were they really that close before that? Has he been that close the whole time?

Logan could feel the blush turn his face a bright scarlet. He was sure that if he was in a 'reddest tomato' contest, he would win. Tyler's eyes flashed to Logan's lips so fast, if he blinked he would have missed it.

Was he asking if he could kiss him? Was this some elaborate dream? Was he imagining things?

Taking the chance he looked down to Tyler's lips. They were a beautiful pinkish brown, just asking for Logan to kiss them. They looked absolutely perfect, even if Logan would never get the chance to taste them. He looked back at the other boys eyes, finding them fixed on his lips.

'Screw it' he thought for a split second. He closed the gap between them quickly, connecting their lips perfectly. It didn't last for more than a second, giving Tyler no time to return the kiss.

The brunette looked shocked when they pulled apart. Logan was questioning if he had read the signals right or if he just fucked everything up. He didn't get a chance to run off before lips were on his again.

The moment seemed to last forever as the two sat on the ground, kissing like it was their lifeline. It was awkward at first, a bit of teeth clashing, as they continued it seemed to become more natural to the two.

They both surfaced for air after about a minute. Both had the same goofy smiles. Tyler let out a light, airy laugh as he fell onto his back on the dirt. Logan chuckled softly at the boy's actions, watching as he laid there laughing.

It didn't take long before tyler composed himself enough for them to talk.

"So.." logan started. "Why not tell me earlier?"

"Oh, i was in a bit of gay denial for a few months. It wasn't till the whole me dying thing happened that i realized. All i could think about was leaving my mom, Taylor and you. After that everything was moving so fast, or we never had time alone, i never got to tell you." He explained fully relaxing into his spot on the ground.

"That makes sense actually." Logan said with a small chuckle. He went quiet for a second, did this make them boyfriends? He thought.

"If thats what you want. As long as we're together, i don't mind." Tyler explained.

Logan's eyes widened slightly at the statement. "I said that out loud?" He asked slightly panicked. Tyler giggled, giggled, at his response. It snapped him out of his thoughts easy enough for him to give an actual answer. "Yes, to the being boyfriend's. I wanna be boyfriends" he clarified.

Tyler gave him the widest smile he had ever seen. He took no time grabbing the blond and pulling him on top of him. Logan gave a slight yelp at the action, as he was placed onto Tyler's chest.

He gave in not too long later, cuddling up to him and pulling him closer. The two boys laid there for almost twenty minutes before tyler spoke again.

"It's more comfy in the bus, wanna move in there?"

Logan gave a slight nod, allowing himself to be led back to the bus. Once they sat down on the bench he leaning into Tyler heavily.

This was a good out come, in his opinion.

--

The boys woke up to the room from the night before. Tyler made quick work of getting to his feet to check his leg. Thankfully it seemed to be healed just fine to run tonight. Turning to his boyfriend he saw him checking his arm.

"All good?" He asked quietly, trying to attract as little attention as possible. He received a small nod before he turned towards the broken window.

He slowly opened it up to avoid stepping on glass when they left. Doing his best to be silent he pulled the window open. Looking out he saw about three phantoms from where he stood. Turning back to logan he held up three fingers to indicate how many phantoms there were.

He got a small nod as he moved to crawl out the window. He was hanging on the outside of the window as he spoke. "You're gonna have to be in there alone for about a minute while i get down. You follow the second i get to the ground. It's gonna be tricky so i wanna be there to catch you if you fall." He explained quickly.

With a slight blush and a little bit of worry, Logan nodded his head.

Tyler spent no time getting to the ground as he used the holes from the phantoms to ease his descent. Logan quickly followed, attempting to follow the other boys motions. He could hear as the phantoms slowly noticed the boys. He could hear their steps as they approached.

He was about halfway down when he decided to jump the rest of the way. It was risky and definitely dangerous; he had little choices.

Tyler kept his word and helped slow logan, doing his best to catch him. He ended up just grabbing the boy by the waist once he got close enough. It was effective in slowing his fall and making both boys blush slightly.

Logan had little time to think on the interaction as he heard the phantoms closing in. The boys quickly detached as they started running further away from Tyler's home.

The footsteps behind them increased speed as they did. More and more phantoms started chasing the boys as time went on. Logan looked to his boyfriend to make sure he was ok, the boy had a barely present limp as the two ran.

Turning back the blond could see about twenty phantoms running after them. Faulting slightly he turned forward again, they could see Aiden's house in the distance. They didn't have long before they got to the Banners.

He wanted to cry from happiness but knew that wouldn't be that smart. The boys had been running side by side for about twenty minutes straight before they reached the graveyard. By the time they reached the door about thirty to forty phantoms were following them.

Logan used the door next to the gate to get in. Tyler followed barely a second later allowing both boys to get in. Logan slammed himself against the door as he closed it, to be absolutely sure it shut.

The boys slowly backed away from the door as loud banging started coming from the door. Logan felt an arm on his shoulder after a few minutes. Looking up it was Ben, Tyler was currently in a tight embrace from Taylor. He smiled at the two before turning back to Ben.

The boy gave him a look, it looked like he was asking him a question, 'you ok?'. Logan gave a small nod to the boy, the question very simple.

"You good?" A blond yelled running over to the group. Logan gave him a nod the same as Ben.

Tyler glared at the boy before turning back to Taylor. They seemed to be talking about something private, given the whispering from Taylor. Logan was honestly just happy they finally got back.

They all made their way back to the bus after a few minutes. They were mostly making sure no phantoms climbed the wall.

They sat quietly Taylor and tyler on the bench parallel from Logan's tire, which logan was currently curled up in. Ben and aiden sat on the bench to the left of the twins while ashlyn stood next to her boyfriend.

None of them spoke as they got comfortable, waiting for someone to break the silence.

"At least you didn't die." Aiden said after a few minutes.

Tyler let out a breathy laugh at the comment, leaning further into the bench.

"At least we didn't die." He replied in kind.

"Did you talk about anything we need to know?" Logan asked suddenly.

"Not much, i ended up talking to my past parents and they said they were gonna try and talk to my younger self tonight. They said they'll tell me what happens tomorrow morning. I would have said earlier but you all kinda passed out before we shifted." Ashlyn explained.

Logan nodded at what she said. It made sense, let's just hope we got a positive answer.

--

Why were her parents being so weird. First they act like robots when aiden shows up unannounced, not that she can blame them, then they ask her to invite over a bunch of people she barely knows. Seriously, she has known these people for two days and her parents won't shut up about meeting them.

She was originally gonna ignore them for as long as she could, then they threatened to take away her phone and ground her if she didn't. Who does that?

The ginger slumped in her assigned seat in her first period. The dreaded history class.

The group was sitting in a circle discussing what their project should be about while Ashlyn sat silently. She was gonna have to ask at some point.

"Ash?" Aiden asked putting his hand on the girl's shoulder. She shoved him off immediately but that didn't deter the boy. "Whatcha thinking 'bout?"

With a heavy sigh the girl looked at the others in the group. Ben looked slightly concerned, Logan and Taylor both seemed a bit more concerned than the brunette while Tyler rolled his eyes.

"My parents decided that it was a great idea for all of you to come over." She said just loud enough for the others to hear. They all seemed really confused, waiting for her to elaborate. "Aiden and Ben came by my house unannounced on Monday. After that my parents seemed hell bent on meeting the rest of you. They threatened to ground me if I didn't ask. Who does that?" Ash explained defeated.

"Im totally down." Aiden said once she finished speaking. Ben gave a small nod to the boys statement.

Taylor was the next to speak up. "It might be fun but only if you're cool with it. Of course." Logan nodded at what she said. Ash gave a small nod to the two, even if it wasn't much of her choice. "I can drag Tyler along. So, when should we come over? We can come after school today or tomorrow if you want."

"Today, i wanna get this over with" the ginger said burying her head into her knees. At least she got that part over with. Today was gonna be a long one.

--

All the kids were sitting around the living room when Ashlyn's parents walked up to them. It felt like a business meeting.

"Ok, I'm sure ashlyn told you that this was not her idea" Ashlyn's dad said receiving a few nods in affirmation. "Well, there was a reason for it. You can come in!" He called to the door.

As he said that the group turned to the door. They saw six people, who looked like them, walk through the door. Tyler was the first to say anything in the shock.

"You again? This is where you went?" He called looking at the copy of himself. The copy of him and Logan seemed to flinch at the question, giving small nods.

"You knew?!" Aiden called with a bright smile. He was focused entirely on his copy. They seemed to be standing in the same order the kids were sitting. Right to left , Ashlyn, Aiden, Ben, Logan, Taylor then Tyler.

Tyler shrugged turning to the blond. "Those two" he said pointing to him and Logan's copies. "Showed up in our house two days ago. They said they were from the future." He said looking to the duo.

"We are." Logan's copy said shyly.

"Hey! You two appeared in my living room two days ago." Ashlyn said pointing to her and Aiden's copies.

The two didn't look too guilty as Aiden's copy just nods his head.

"I honestly forgot about that." He said with a bright smile.

"You said future" Logan said finally. "What do you mean?"

"Right, well we're from the future. About a year in the future from what Ashy says. We've been staying the graveyard for the past few days and I don't know what else." Future(?) Aiden explained.

"How did you get here?" Ashlyn asked, ignoring what he called her future self.

"We were caught up in this facility and we wanted to leave. We decided to run for it and ended up trapped in a storage closet. We found a random device, that could have killed us for all we knew, but it was our only way out. We entered it in small groups and ended up in the same time but all spread apart." Future Tyler explained.

"Sick!" Aiden yelled.

"Right!" His older self said back. They received jabs in the ribs from the Bens, respectively.

"So how do you get back?" Logan asked quietly.

The older group looked to each other before turning back to them.

"That's why we are talking to you." Taylor explained. "We just have to keep you away from one place so that we never end up in the facility. On the savanna trip we go somewhere that has this massive domino effect of going to this facility. If you stay away we never end up there or here." She said referring to the present, and their past?

"So, just don't go on the trip?" Ashlyn asked slightly hopeful.

The group all seemed to tense at the suggestion. All calling out no at seemingly the same time. It was kinda scary, or it would have been if Aiden didn't look like he was gonna burst from laughter.

"Just avoid the sorrel weed house. It's the last place you'll come across the first day of the trip. Just do literally anything but go in the house." Logan's future self explained quickly.

The group sat silently taking in everything that was said. Their future selves wanted them to avoid a very specific place, even if avoiding the trip entirely is much easier. The trip was obviously very important to them, otherwise they would just tell them to not go.

"Can some of you help us with the food?" Ashlyn's mom called from the kitchen. Both Taylor's were quick to offer, the older dragging Logan with her.

Tyler took the moment to glare daggers at the older Ben. He knew the boy liked Taylor, it was obvious in the way he looked at her. Honestly, Tyler didn't even care about making a scene.

"You like Taylor?" He asked bluntly, looking to the shocked brunette. Everyone looked silently to him before the older Aiden burst out laughing, Ashlyn's counterpart wasn't much better.

"You weren't kidding about your abilities. You're like a superhero, if a super hero could read people's love lives." The older Aiden teased after he gathered himself again. Both Bens were bright red at the accusation. The older, looking thoroughly defeated with his hands over his face, nodded his head slowly.

All the younger kids looked dumbfounded at the admission. At that moment the others came back into the room. Future Taylor and Logan were talking about something quietly as they put some food on the table.

Taylor was first to notice the weird mood, immediately questioning it. "What happened?" She asked as her younger self and the two parents entered the room.

"Tyler's younger self just asked Ben if he liked you. It was so funny." Aiden's older self said leaning onto the boy he was talking about.

Taylor quirked an eyebrow at the statement before turning to Ben. Walking up to him she took his hands out of his face. She giggled at the bright red face she was met with.

"I hope my boyfriend likes me." She said more to the boy himself than anyone else.

All the younger kids seemed to be shocked into silence as the parents quietly left after setting the food down.

"We're dating?" Taylor's younger self all but yelled. The other laughed a bit before nodding. The two younger kids looked equally embarrassed at the admission.

Aiden didn't take long before asking his older self a question. "Are you dating anyone?"

He got a shrug and sly smile in response. Older Tyler was the one who responded to the question for him. "He's not gonna tell you. Flapjack over there didn't even tell anyone he had a crush on someone."

"Why take away the excitement of it all." Aiden said simply.

The others rolled their eyes at the response while the younger kids looked at them slightly confused.

"Why did you call him flapjack, isn't that a type of pancake." Logan asked quietly.

"That's what it is!?" Older Aiden asked turning to Tyler sharply. "What the hell!" He practically screamed, never dropping the manic smile.

The boy gave a simple shrug in response to aiden. Tyler watched as the older versions of themselves argued. He could see all of them sticking, subtly in some cases, to the people they liked. Ashlyn leaned into Aiden ever so slightly as he argued with someone. Ben and Taylor stood next to each other with their hands connected. Logan had moved to be next to Tyler's older self as he argued with aiden, the strawberry blond boy trying to get Tyler to calm down.

They were all painfully obvious, it was honestly slightly sickening. One thing he didn't expect was Logan to actually succeed in calming his older self down. He didn't even know Logan was gay, he definitely didn't know he was gay. He suspected from the night he met the two but still.

Snapping out of it he turned his attention back to the group as they calmed down. He just had one more question to ask.

"What was with the whole time shit from when we met? You kept counting down to midnight and stuff. You kept talking about the graveyard and safety and shit like that. You both jumped awake at exactly 12:01 am just to fall right back asleep. Why?" He questioned.

The older group all paused at the question. They turned to him slowly, scarily in sync.

"What?" Logan squeaked out, he had gone almost as white as a sheet.

He asked the question again, waiting impatiently for a reply. His older self looked to the others in what looked like a drowning man asking for help. They all looked at him shocked and just as helpless.

Letting out a long, deep sigh, Tyler's older self responded. "It's just a thing that came from the sorrel weed house. Nothing to worry about."

"Really because when you woke up you acted like you were in pain. As if those five minutes you were asleep you had been horribly injured, both of you." He shot back.

"It was nothing." The older boy gritted out. He seemed more irritated than actually angry.

"Sounds like something." He pushed.

The older group seemed to be glaring daggers at the boy while Taylor and Logan tried to calm his older self. The boys held eye contact for a while before someone broke the tension.

"Why is such a big deal. It seems like nightmares or something. What happened at the sorrel weed house?" Aiden's younger self asked confused.

"It just is." Ashlyn said sternly. It was a tone none of them had heard from her. Honestly Tyler wasn't even sure she was capable of that much control of a situation. She turned to Tyler's older self before speaking again. "You are going outside with Taylor and Logan. You need to chill out."

He expected his older self to fight he on it, until he walked over to the door followed by Logan and Taylor. The group stood dumbfounded at the interaction before the others, that were left standing in front of them, turned to the group.

Aiden looked like he was annoyed at the fact that Tyler asked the question. Ashlyn looked about to scream while Ben looked to the door, worried for the older Tyler it seemed.

All they knew was that this was not about to be fun.

"Some things we have collectively decided to keep from you for your sake, our sake. Mostly to make sure you actually listen to us." Ashlyn's older self was scolding.

"How can we trust anything you say when you hide stuff from us?" Tyler countered.

"Some things you just don't need to know!" She said sternly staring daggers at the boy. "All of us, including your older self, have all decided that it is best to keep you from this. We are not trying to keep you from knowing something that could hurt you, we are trying to get you to listen. We know that if you know what happens after the sorrel weed house, you might chicken out of the trip entirely. We may have not talked to you about it but we want you to go on the trip. Without the trip non of us ever really become friends and none of us want that. We want to be friends because we all care for each other so much. Without this group of idiots, i'm pretty sure i would be dead." She said as Aiden grabbed her arm. He looked at her intensely, forced smile evident.

The blond was the one to finish her rant as the ginger turned away from the group. "Just listen, ok? We aren't saying all this for you guys to do what we did or ignore the trip, we are saying this because we want to be friends. It took Ashlyn almost 8 months to admit we were her friends, that's huge. I almost broke down crying. We have gone through a bit together and don't want to loose each other. Not to mention, this is the first group of friends i have ever had that don't give a shit who my parents are. Do you know how many 'friends' i have had that used me for money. You guys are practically a second family and non of use want to loose that. Please just listen." He finished with a soft, pleading smile.

The group sat in stunned silence trying to process what just happened. They all looked to each other with the same bewildered shock.

Aiden was the first to break the silence with a shaky smile. "Yeah I don't think i would want to loose that." He said simply.

The older ben looked to the group, taking out his notebook. After a few seconds of silence of the boy scribbling on paper, he turned it to face the group.

'We just want to be sure you guys understand that this is for your own good. We would never decide to tell you to do something that could hurt you, that would just hurt us as well. We are telling you this so you don't do one thing, a small thing. It's just a butterfly effect thing. Don't go there, we never travel back in time. That simple.'

Everyone seemed to calm down a bit as they read the paper.

"Fine" Tyler said after a few seconds. "How about we talk about it a bit more, without you. Come to our own conclusion. We will decide from there."

The three looked annoyed at how much they had argued. They looked ready to be done with this argument. Tyler seemed to be the only one they hadn't convinced anyway. The others all seemed to be thinking deeply about it.

They knew that Ben would just go with what Aiden decided, knowing him he was definitely going. Ashlyn seemed to consider what her older self had said, looking to the group in deep thought. With enough persuasion she would go. Taylor and Logan both seemed to be up for going. From what they understood it was a simple science thing. That's all the Butterfly effect was, really. Tyler seemed to be the only one still apprehensive about it, Taylor could definitely convince him.

--

"It's just science, doesn't have to be a big event to change history. For all we know we meet someone at the sorrel weed house and they bring us to the facility in the future." Logan said.

The group was currently in lunch, talking about what happened the day before, debating back and forth what to do.

"Yeah, from how it sounds we end up friends after the trip. The sorrel weed house just happens to be a place we go that messes with the future. Small change in the present changes the future so we never end up back in time, easy." Taylor said cheerily.

"Cool! So small a small change to help our future selves, easy." Aiden cheered back.

Those three had been very easy to pursued into not entering the house. Ben seemed to just be going along with what Aiden was saying while Ashlyn and Tyler still seemed a bit off about it.

"So nothing actually has to happen at the sorrel weed house for it to be significant. Our future selves could just be taking a shot in the dark?" Ashlyn said plainly.

"Basically. They obviously have some idea that it will work to get them back so they probably spent a while thinking about it. It's also obvious they want to stay close so they are trying to be as risk-less as possible." Taylor explained.

Tyler seemed to be listening to and taking in everything that was being said. He knew that their older selves didn't wanna loose any type of friendship they got from the trip; it still felt odd.

"Why not just talk to them again tonight?" He suggested to the group. "We can go over to Ashlyn's house to talk to them for more information. We can decide from there. Most of us have already turned in the permission forms already anyway, why not do try and get a bit more information."

The group looked at him for a second. Taylor nodded at the suggestion, turning to Ashlyn for approval.

The ginger shrugged, seemingly uncaring. "Honestly, i just want to get all this arguing done with. This much back and forth is giving me a headache."

"Ok, it's settled. We go over to Ashlyn's to talk to our future selves again and all that. We can meet in the house and head to the graveyard afterwards. Simple!" Taylor said excitedly.

She got a few nods and hums in agreement, settling the argument for now.

--

It was about thirty minutes before the rest of the history group came over. Honestly, she didn't even know why her 'future self' would care if she remembered these people or not. She also didn't care.

A knock to the graveyard's metal door sounded in her ears. She honestly didn't even know why she was knocking, this was her house.

The door opened to a very excited future Aiden.

"Howdy! Whacha need?"

"You and the group to meet me and the others in the house. We have questions you never answered." She said sternly.

"Right, i can do that. See you in ten" the blond called, slamming the door in her face.

Rude.

Annoyed Ashlyn goes back to her house. Another, equally as annoying, Aiden and Ben stood at her door. With a sigh she entered the house.

"Are they coming?" Aiden asked, flopping on the smaller couch, ben sitting opposite on the bigger couch.

"I think"

A knock sounded at the door, maybe the others. Ashlyn walked over, allowing the guests into her house.

"Hey!" Taylor screamed, jumping on the couch next to ben.

Tyler quickly followed behind her, glaring daggers at ben. Logan was more timid, slowly making his way into the house.

"Great now we just need our future selves" Aiden yelled from where he was sitting.

"No, we need to start this stupid meeting." Future Tyler yelled back. All six of them came to sit in front of the group. Ashlyn quickly shut the door and made her way to her seat, next to Aiden, sadly.

"Why are we here, we already explained what you need to do." Future Ashlyn asked

"We wanna know why we can't just skip the trip. We have our theories and we have our opinions on what we should do. You are here to clear things up." Tyler explained to the group.

The older crowd seemed not at all surprised by this request, in fact, they seemed very open to it.

"What are your theories?" Older Logan asks.

"Oh, well Logan and I thought that you just chose a significant thing that has a strong butterfly effect. Other than that it's pretty fifty-fifty on if we are going on the trip or not." Taylor explained

"Let me guess, Ashlyn and me are the stubborn outliers and Aiden and Ben are cool with anything?" The age brunette asked, hitting the nail in the coffin on that one.

The group nod their heads in the affirmative, causing the man to sigh. "Look, we chose that date and location for a reason but it is essentially what tay and lo theorized, butterfly effect. As for the fifty-fifty, it was an amazing trip and we don't want any of you to miss out on that opportunity. We said what we did so you would still go, just change the future a little."

"He's right. We wanted you to go on the trip because we all became amazing friends because of it. We don't want that to change in the future. I wouldn't trade any of you guys for the world." Ashlyn's older self said, sounding more genuine than ever.

"Even me?" Aiden asked. Looking at the older girl in suspense, who was he kidding, the world is better than him, thousand times over.

The girl gave a small nod, looking between the younger and older Aiden. Nasty, how was this her. Was having friends really that great.

"Yuck, why are all of you dating?" Tyler blurted out without thought.

The group stared at him dumbfounded, all except for Aiden's older self, who was currently dying of laughter on the floor.

"What?" Ashlyn screamed.

"Even you blind fucks can't miss this, the goggly eyes are constant." Tyler complains.

"Damn, you really have no problem outing our future relationships do you?" Taylor asked from next to the boy.

"I had to find out i was gay because of this shit, i wanna make all of you embarrassed and suffering as well." Tyler proclaimed loudly, like it was a valid reason to out their future partners.

"Thats not a good reason." The older Logan countered. "Just cause you like me doesn't mean it has to be everyone's problem"

"Getting cocky now. I see how it is." Tyler's older self responded.

The group sat in awe at the two couples. Why the hell were they all dating?

"So you want us to go on the trip because you don't wanna lose your partners?" Ashlyn asked skeptically.

"No! We want to be friends, if you guys do decide to date in the alternate future you will be making by doing this, by all means. You also don't have to date, we ended up dating who we are dating because of talking about our mutual feelings. If you really don't wanna date someone, don't. This was our choice with different experiences. I have no doubt you will choose different things. Hell you might even choose the same things later than we originally did, no one knows." Aiden explained, finally recovered on his chair.

Both groups looked shocked at his words, especially Tyler.

"When did you grow a brain" he asked loudly.

"When I realized that death was worth nothing compared to my friends. Honest to god i would have probably ended up dead without you guys." Aiden's older self admits

"No shit, you always do stupid shit to get hurt." His Tyler responded.

"I should really tell you about my past before the savannah trip." He comments blindly.

"Would you really tell them?" His younger self asks, smile so strained it's barely on his face.

"Of course, Ben and Ash already know from me confiding in them. I honestly think that you guys saved my life in every way someone can be saved. From mental and physical harm, healing both mental and physical wounds." The older Aiden said idly.

"We all know you're crazy, that was unnecessarily added." Tyler bickered.

"Im talking about suicidal thoughts dumbass. Neglectful ass holes for parents, remember?"

"Oh shit. Sorry Aiden." The brunette said sincerely, officially making this meeting weird.

"Do you need to talk?" Taylor's older self asked kindly.

"Nah, i got my favorite people to make things good when they do get bad." He replied with a bright smile.

How does she follow that without being insensitive "Well, i made my decision on if I'm going or not. Get out of my house, or figure your stuff out real quick." Maybe too insensitive Ashlyn.

"Yeah, i wanna go to sleep." The older Logan said idly, his group agreeing fairly quickly. Maybe they'll be less of insomniacs in the altered timeline.

--

"Excuse me!" A short haired brunette called from behind them. "Would you be interested in a tour of the sorrel weed house?a group cancelled their tour last minute and now we have some empty spots if you guys are interested?"

"Sorry, no. We have to get back to our school trip. Maybe next time?" Tyler called back, ushering the group away from the house. "Now who wants food?" He asked the other five.

All but Ashlyn seemed excited at the idea, Ashlyn just seemed to be looking into space.

"Ash?" Aiden called out to her, tapping her on the shoulder. The girl jumped back quite a lot, almost tripping on a bush. "You ok?"

"Yeah, just some weird sounds, nothing new." Ashlyn replied back, moving with the group to get street food. Maybe her older self was right about this group. They seem like good friends, present and future.