December 20, 2013

There was the sound of glass breaking and then there was silence.

Well, after someone went, “.”

The lights went out, both off and on the tree; the central heater clicked and skipped its usual fading groan; the pitter patter of water hitting the bathroom floor stopped, and Tao shrieked about the shower ghost; the television, playing an old Chinese soap, cut off right at the best part; and the oven which was baking yet another batch of cookies went dark.

In their bedrooms, because they felt too lazy to get up and face each other, Kris and Luhan twiddled with their Nintendo DS', in the middle of a not-so-friendly game when their connections crashed. Xiumin dropped the cup he had been trying to set down on the counter to wash before he was plunged into a solid, engulfing blackness.

“Guys, I think the power's out,” Kai drawled. He was also known as Mr. No Sherlock.

Junmyeon eased himself off of the chair he'd been sitting on, placing his hand on the back as he walked around it. “That seems obvious. Xiumin, are you okay?”

“Stay out of the kitchen,” Xiumin snapped. “There's glass somewhere on the floor.”

“Has anyone got a light on their phone?” Lay called out. “I can't see a thing.”

“Welcome to the club,” Chen retorted.

“Mine's in my room,” Junmyeon sighed. “Wait here, let me see if I can get it. Don't move, Xiumin!”

“Has anyone got any shoes?”

Junmyeon carefully walked, his arms held in front of him, treading slowly through the living room. He had lived there long enough to know where things were, but that still didn't stop him from knocking his leg against the sharp corner of a cabinet or jumping when he reached the wall. And it certainly didn't prepare him to run into a very warm body coming the other way, fresh out of an incomplete shower.

“You better not be ,” he warned.

Kyungsoo blinked in the darkness. “You better not be either. Don't worry, I've got a towel on. Just watch out for Tao. He ran out of the bathroom.”

“Do you know where he went?”

“It sounded like he went in your room. I think he's streaking.”

Oh god. Running into him was going to be tons of fun. Junmyeon continued on his path and paused when he heard a shuffle from somewhere – not his room, but from behind him. Probably Cookie, he figured, and d for the door handle to his room.

It was flung open, which took him a moment to figure out when he braced himself against the door frame to find it not-blocked. Someone was definitely in the room, and from another shuffle, he ascertained it to be close by.

Very close by.

“Taozi,” he called softly, “is that you?”

He turned around, stared for a moment … and a glowing white head appeared in front of him. A glowing white head, smirking viciously at him.

Basically, Junmyeon screamed.

“BAEKHYUN!”

“Need a light?” Baekhyun asked innocently, shaking the torch in his hand. Once Junmyeon greeted the laughing dancer enthusiastically by smacking him over the head and shoulders around a dozen times, he pulled the torch out of Baekhyun's hands.

“You are a prat,” Junmyeon scowled.

“I know,” Baekhyun grinned.

Well, at least he didn't need his phone any more. Junmyeon noticed a great lump hidden beneath his blankets. At least we know where he is now. It took a bit of coaxing to get him to come out of the bedding, and he looked away with the torch pointing backwards while he waited for the maknae to become even slightly presentable.

“Everyone in the living room,” Kris could be heard shouting.

Kai's voice answered him. “Do you want us to break our necks?”

“Can't move unless you want a foot with glass embedded in it rammed up your arse,” Xiumin responded. “Someone get me a light!”

“Turn the oven off,” Kyungsoo answered.

“What part of glass on the floor did you not understand?”

Junmyeon glided through to the kitchen and shone the light through, allowing Xiumin to extricate himself from the hazard and Kyungsoo to switch off the oven. Kris did a quick head count, then looked up.

“Where's Chanyeol?”

“Oh, he was in bed,” Lay said. “No use waking him up.”

“What do we do now? Besides wait for the power to come back on, I mean.”

“Good time for … what's that game called? Blind Man's Bluff?”

“Shadow puppets?”

“Let's open more presents.”

“No, Sehun.”

“Ghost stories?” There was a slight whimper. “Okay, maybe not.”

“Sing along.”

“I like the ghost stories, actually.”

“Yeah, me too.”

“Uhhh, guys, what's that?”

Twelve men screamed when twin eyes gleamed from the darkness.

Mew.