“Soon…”

Sehun mummered into a pillow from his seat on the couch. Luhan just sat beside him rubbing his back lightly though he had a bit of a grim look on his face as well. Jongin sat next to Luhan just watching the two. Tao was beside him playing with his own fingers, wanting to say something but he couldn’t think of the words in Korean.

Baekhyun looked around the glum living room and he felt that not even his bright personality could remedy this situation. 
Where was Chanyeol when his doofy self was actually needed?
He looked up at the kitchen where Yixing , Minseok, and Kyungsoo were making food. Jongdae was also nowhere to be seen. Baekhyun just assumed that he was with Chanyeol… Where ever he was. His eyes watched the interactions of the four boys on the couch. They were all so sad he didn’t know what to do.

“The leaders are home!” He heard a voice say and Baekhyun turned his head and stared with big eyes at Jongdae who was sitting right beside him. Baekhyun was about to ask him how he knew but just as he was getting the words out, the door opened and in walked the two leaders.

“Kids, we’re home.” Joonmyun joked as he stepped inside.

“We brought home snacks.” Wufan added as he stepped inside to dorm as well.

The glum mood in the dorm was evident to the two that just stepped in and Baekhyun watched as the two leaders exchanged looks.
As if they had expected this, they sent each other a grin before stepping inside.

“Guys! I said that your leaders are home.” Joonmyun started with an overly cheerful voice.

“Are you guys going to leave us standing here without a greeting?” Wufan followed and the two leaders seemed to look around to see if they got a reaction to which they didn’t since the four on the couch just were looking at them with confused eyes while there was no reaction from the bunch in the kitchen.

“Well I guess they don’t want us, Wufan hyung.”

“Yeah Joonmyun ah, let’s just leave and takes all the snacks and drinks with us.” Wufan’s tone is playful, not at all the serious mood that is usually with him.

Baekhyun opened his mouth again to welcome them home but this time, he was cut off by the voice of the members from the kitchen who had formed together to look out at who was making such a loud noise.

“Welcome home~” The three sang and as if not to be beaten by the three, the four on the couch also greeted the two leaders in a louder, more cheerful voice. The two leaders looked at each other again and laughed loudly, much to all of their surprises.

Immediately the two leaders split, Joonmyun going to the living room and Wufan to the kitchen. Baekhyun sat for a few seconds in shock at how their presence changed the mood. Jongdae had his arm around Joonmyun’s shoulder, their leader being busy talking to Sehun and Luhan. Jongin was standing and listening like he always did. Tao had disappeared, probably to steal snacks from Wufan. Hearing the groan from the kitchen, Baekhyun could assume Wufan got ered into it again. That being followed by scolding about waiting to eat only confirmed Tao's whereabouts.

"Stop that." Luhan said swatting at Sehun's hands when he tried to pull Luhan away from Jongin who was leaning against him.

"Hyung~" Sehun turned to Joonmyun with a small whine to which Joonmyun just laughed. He moved closer to give Sehun's head a pat except he's pulled back against Jongdae as soon as he made a motion to move. 

"Joonmyun hyung is mine." Jongdae stated as if this were fact. Sehun stared at the action in surprise and it takes him a few seconds to register in his head before frowning. "Go hang off your own leader and give me back mine!" 

"No." Jongdae replied simply and continued hugging Joonmyun who just continued to smile. 

"I am leader to you all."

Baekhyun stared at Joonmyun. There was something about his smile and laugh that felt off. He could just be imagining things but they felt a bit forced. Maybe because he had heard what a real laugh from Joonmyun sounded like. He was about to call out the older boys name when he heard yelling and rushing of footsteps from the kitchen area. 

"Guys, Dinner is ready. You better hurry and eat or else Zitao will eat it all." Kyungsoo rushed back into the kitchen after saying this, all of the boys moving toward the kitchen now. 

"Baekhyun ah. Dinner time." He could hear Joonmyun call out to him and as soon as he turned his head toward the older boy, he was met with his hand that was waiting to help him up. Jongdae looked down and sort of glared at Baekhyun. 

"Yeah Baekhyun ah. Hurry up and lets go eat." 

It was more the sound of annoyance in Jongdae's voice that made him brush off Joonmyun's hand, getting up by himself and heading into the kitchen, followed by an excited Jongdae and confused Joonmyun.

________________________________________________________________________________________________

After getting a cup of water, Baekhyun was heading back to bed when he saw a light at the door beside the kitchen. As far as he knew, nobody was staying in the storage room, not that they should anyway since there was little to no room in there to be in. But he assumed someone had left the light on and opened the door to turn off the light. 

"Hey. Turn that back on." He could hear a familiar voice call out and Baekhyun blinked before immediately doing what the voice told him to do. Right after, he stepped into the room, searching for where the voice came from and taking a few more steps in, he could see Joonmyun's figure sitting on a box with his back turned to him. 

"Hyung. What are you doing?" 

The closer he got, he was able to see the familiar green soju bottle that was placed on another box that sat in front of him, not that he needed to even see it to know that the older boy was drunk since the smell was already overtaking his senses. Baekhyun stood there, looking at Joonmyun and wondered how long he had been here, drinking like this. It couldn't have been too long since their dinner ended not too long ago or so he thought. He wasn't really sure what time it was but at most it was an hour or two. 

"Hyung..." 

He took a few steps forward to grab the shot glass before Joonmyun could bring it to his lips. He proceeded to take the soju bottle and shot glass and set it aside on the floor, finding an empty bottle on the ground beside the box. Two bottles of soju.. His head lifted to look at the older boy whose head was down facing the ground now. Baekhyun knew he had to be careful with his words because whether or not Joonmyun was drunk, he was always defensive and almost as if he had rehearsed it, he gave responses that never gave any part of him away.

"Joonmyun hyung. Why are you drinking?" 

"Baekhyun ah~ my dongseng."

"Why were you drinking, hyung?" 

"Oh you know. Just the mood of the night."

Baekhyun just gave a small grin and reached over to poke at Joonmyun's arm a few times. At the pokes, Joonmyun lifted his head a little though for some reason Joonmyun's head only lifted half way. But half way was better than nothing since Baekhyun could kind of see the older boys face.  Baekhyun kept his hands rested on his lap after that as he tried to get some answers out of him,

"Joonmyunnie hyung~ Tell Baekhyun what is on your mind."

"What does Baekhyun want to know?"

"Everything. Tell me everything."

"What... is everything...?"

"All the thoughts that are jumbled up in your head."

"Too many..."

"Then what you are thinking right now. At this moment."

"At this moment...? Right... now???"

Baekhyun blinked since Joonmyun's answers were becoming slow. When his answers became slow, they were never normal answers. Slow answers also meant that Joonmyun was going to crash soon so Baekhyun just let out a sigh and shook his head, holding out his hands to help the older boy to bed. Joonmyun's head lifted as Baekhyun got up. Baekhyun watched as Joonmyun stared at his hands and a minute or so later, Joonmyun got up and left the room, almost as if he hadn't been drinking at all, leaving a blinking Baekhyun with his hands still held out. 

Baekhyun let out a sigh and grabbed the empty bottles to set them out in the recycle bin and quickly rinsed the shot glass to place back in the cabinet before going to bed when he ran into Joonmyun who was exiting the bathroom. But before Baekhyun could say a words, Joonmyun's eyes meet with his and he's frozen on the spot.

"You." 

Almost as quickly as he came out of the bathroom, Joonmyun disappeared into his bedroom, leaving an utterly confused Baekhyun standing there for another few minutes before he let out a small frustrated sound, going back to bed.

And like the many nights before, Baekhyun’s head clouded up with a hundred questions and thoughts that he will rethink over and over again until he faced the older boys smile again in the morning and his heart could finally settle.