After  suspending your drink in mid-air, Luhan excuses himself to entertain more guests.

You are starting to feel claustrophobic within the huge crowd of party-goers, so you step outside onto Luhan’s lawn, which is behind his monster of a well-maintained mansion.

You smile to yourself, admiring the beautiful fairy lights, dangling from the roof of Luhan’s porch. You are so absorbed in them that you don’t realise there is a figure sitting on the porch steps until you kick him.

“Ow!” Baekhyun yelps, and you look down hurriedly.

“Omo, I’m so sorry! I didn’t know you were there!” you guiltily apologize as he silently ribs his back where you -- possibly -- bruised him.

“It’s alright. It was an accident.” he says, then continues to stare blankly at the ground.

You are absolutely stupefied. *What happened to the cold, jerk-faced Bacon? Why isn’t he isn’t glaring daggers at me like he normally would? I mean, I just literally kicked his for Pete’s sake...*

You observe Baekhyun carefully, and you notice that he doesn’t seem to fancy snapping at you right now. He isn’t going to spew any of his eye-roll worthy comments. In fact, Baekhyun just looks kind of... sad.

Instinctively, you plop down next to him on the porch step. “You... okay?” You tilt your head to get a better look at Baekhyun’s face.

“What do you think?”

You frown at his response. *Guess I was wrong about him not snapping...*

“You tell me what I think -- you’re the one who can read minds!” you retort and for a split second Baekhyun cracks a smile.

*Always has to have the last word, huh?* he thinks, then rolls his eyes light-heartedly. The both of you stay silent for the longest stretch of time.

*He still seems a bit upset....is it because of