It seemed like a good idea at the time, which is how a lot of Baekhyun’s schemes are.

Now, he—and Jongdae, by extension—are fleeing for their lives and liberty, going deeper into the old house and closing doors behind them to put as much between themselves and Chanyeol’s shrieks as possible.

“Uh oh, end of the line.” Baekhyun opens a door, just to see the garden, and closes it again. He spies the wall of closet space and starts to haul one open. “In here!” The door is heavy, swollen from the humid weather or general disuse.

Inside is dark, dusty, and crammed full of extra bedding and forgotten clothing.

The perfect place to hide.

Like a rabbit entering its den, Baekhyun dives among the futons and forges a path.

Like Alice following the White Rabbit, Jongdae enters after. They’d fit better if they were a decade or so younger, but they don’t mind the closeness.

Baekhyun can’t stop giggling; Jongdae puts his hands over the other boy’s mouth and shrieks when a wet tongue touches his fingers.

“That’s gross!” Jongdae whines, swiping his hand down Baekhyun’s arm, returning the germs.

“That’s what you get for trying to shush me!”

“You’re gonna get us caught!” Jongdae whines.

Baekhyun blows a raspberry and starts shouldering aside more piles of heavy futons. “Let’s just get to the very back. Chanyeol won’t try to push all these aside; it’s too much work for his lily-white hands…” Jongdae follows, catching the dense material before it can bury him.

With his usual tenacity, Baekhyun plows ahead, delving deeper and deeper and mystifying Jongdae more and more. Just how deep is this closet? And why is it getting so cold?

“What the…” Jongdae nearly face-plants in Baekhyun’s . He shoulders him aside and gapes at the scene before them—

“This is a weird closet.”

Jongdae nods. There’s no better description of what they’ve left.

Behind him, he still feels the robes and futons, but there are also low tree branches and snow.

All before them lays a thick carpet of snow. Pine needles peek out, looking like dragon fruit seeds. Overhead is a canopy of reaching, bare limbs with slips of frost. Pine are decorated with ice-encrusted needles.

Baekhyun ventures ahead, mouth open in amazement. “Dude...where are we?”