---

It's only close to eight o'clock at night when Baekhyun and Chanyeol walk towards the same bus-stop on their way back to their family homes. Neither are tipsy, neither have really done things they'd regret the next day, and at most it feels like any other night to them. After one can of beer, Junmyeon had advised them all to switch to root beer or water (and though he and the others had complained, Baekhyun knows that he can't be coming back home to his grandma drunk anyway.)

Currently feeling bored, he blows out air through his pursed lips and creates a lip trill, causing Chanyeol to look up from texting someone on his phone to see what the noise is. When he sees that it's just coming from Baekhyun, a hint of a smile appears on his face and he goes back to texting while also bringing up something to talk about.

For once, the night isn't freezing cold and so they just walk with their jackets open and eventually stand around the small canopy bus-stop shelter while the bus-bench is occupied by other people. A few minutes pass by and Baekhyun ends up playing this cool vampire RPG game that he downloaded about a month ago on his phone until Chanyeol nudges him to tell him that their bus is close.

He looks up, annoyed at being interrupted during a mini-boss battle, before looking past Chanyeol's annoyingly hot face when the latter says that the bus is almost here. Baekhyun then pauses his game at the sight of the bus, and pats around his jeans' pockets for his bus-card before feeling it behind his wallet. Then, he looks at the streets again, angling his head behind Chanyeol's tall- self again, and pockets his phone when the traffic lights turn green and the bus chugs along towards their bus-stop.

As it gets closer though, he grimaces when he sees that it's not the bus he needs, and turns to look up at Chanyeol who glances down at him. Even though he can't take this bus without having to get off too early, Chanyeol can since it'll go to his family home. But heck if Baekhyun wants to be waiting here by himself. And so, he glares up at Chanyeol--wordlessly sending him a message to wait for the next bus with him.

Chanyeol's eyes widen at the glare and while they have their stare-down, a few people get off the bus once its doors open at the stop. Chanyeol turns to watch them before looking at Baekhyun again as people start boarding the bus.

"Ugh, seriously, Baek? Come on..." Chanyeol mutters in that deep voice of his.

Baekhyun continues to glare at him though and smiles fake-sweetly when Chanyeol eventually lets out a long sigh in defeat and moves to sit on the now-empty bench. With a wide grin on his face, he moves to sit next to him and almost leans over to dramatically kiss him on his cheek before thinking better of it.

The bus doors close once the last person steps on, and Baekhyun's just about to go back to his game when two people coming from the left enter his peripheral vision. He swivels his head and watches with raised eyebrows as Sehun and the guy he dubs in his mind as Panda-boy frantically wave at the bus only for the bus driver to drive off without them.

Baekhyun and Chanyeol turn to each other and burst out into laughter just as Panda-boy curses out loud in what sounds like Mandarin at the long-gone bus while Sehun catches up to him and bends over to catch his breath. They continue watching them, highly amused, and the two turn to look at them before Sehun bends back up and places a hand on his boyfriend's shoulder to calm him down.

"I know he saw us--!" Panda-boy says to him, before switching to cursing in Mandarin again.

Sehun nods, already looking bored, and turns towards the other two. "Hey."

Baekhyun takes a second to respond, surprised but pleased at getting greeted at. "Ha, it , right?" he says. "They just see you runnin' and then whoosh--" He makes a zooming motion using his hand. "--they're gone!"

Chanyeol copies the movement and starts laughing all over again, and Baekhyun smirks at him before looking at the other two again and asking if that's their only bus. Sehun nods while frowning. "Pretty much, yeah."

"Huh--" Baekhyun lets out a sudden yawn. "...This bus system's dumb as ."

Sehun gives a hint of a smile and a nod in agreement while Panda-boy frowns and gets out a cigarette from his pocket. He then places it between his lips and walks over to the side of the bus-stop shelter while lighting it up with his lighter, and Sehun turns to watch him leave before giving the two of them a glance and following after his retreating boyfriend's figure with his hands in his pockets.

Baekhyun watches his fine- go before he goes back to playing the vampire game on his phone, and pretends to not notice Chanyeol giving him a curious side-eye.

---

Several minutes later, Baekhyun's bus finally arrives and when it does, Chanyeol jumps up from his seat while Baekhyun stretches for a second before getting up too. They stop near the entrance of the bus when the bus-ramp unfurls and wait as a lady in a wheelchair rolls over to it--giving Baekhyun a chance to look over at where Sehun and Panda-boy are at. They're sitting on a little stone slab, Sehun resting with his eyes closed and his head on Panda-boy's shoulder, and Panda-boy with an arm around his waist. He's no longer smoking and just has his head lowered as he looks down at his phone.

Baekhyun smiles a bit at them before Chanyeol calls out a loud Happy New Year! to them--startling Sehun out of his sleep and getting Panda-boy to glare at him. He does give a small smile to Baekhyun though when they lock eyes and Baekhyun smiles back in surprise before he and Chanyeol board the bus.

Chanyeol gives Baekhyun an incredulous look, like he's just been betrayed, and after they tap their bus-cards against the bus-scanner, Chanyeol asks Baekhyun, What's his deal? as they move to the seats in the middle of the bus like they always do. Baekhyun simply shrugs as he takes the window-seat behind Chanyeol's and the two continue chatting as the bus chugs along again.

He and Panda-boy got along pretty well during the party, but he did notice the glares that the guy would give C