Kibum slept and slept. His sleep was like an underground refuge where he could shelter from the raging war on the surface. Asleep, he could hide from the overwhelming assault of voices, emotions, colours and smells. Asleep, he was safe.

He swam through levels of consciousness, from deepest, darkest depths to warm shallows where the light rippled on the surface just above him. At some level he heard Jonghyun come to check on him; some unknowable amount of time later, Jinki did the same. He felt Jinki's intense worry for him press over him, and pulled himself down and away into those silent depths again. Sleep was quiet. Sleep was safe.

When he next became aware of himself, he opened his eyes and found that everything had gone quiet. The background noise of the others - watching TV or playing video games, laughing or squabbling, eating, playing music or practicing dance - was gone. Perhaps that was why he had finally woken up; he had subconsciously sensed that nobody was around.

Somebody was still home, though. He sensed a quiet presence somewhere in the dorm. Kibum pushed himself up and sat on the edge of the bed. His hip and ribs made jolting pains of protest at the movement, and he hung his head and took careful breaths until the pain faded a little. Then he stood up. He felt weak and unsteady. He stabilized himself with one hand on the wall as he limped first to the bathroom, then along the hall towards the living area. He found himself extraordinarily aware of the way the wall felt underneath his fingers. What he’d always assumed was perfectly smooth paintwork actually had invisible texture, millions of microscopic bumps and dips. They tingled and tickled against his skin.

He shuffled into the kitchen and found Jonghyun there, his back to Kibum as he cleaned up the mess that had been left from breakfast. The delicious scent of warm vanilla washed gently over Kibum. He found his eyes half-closing like a cat who’d found a sunny spot to curl up in. He made a small, involuntary noise of pleasure, and Jonghyun turned around and smiled.

"There you are,” he said. “We thought you had turned into the Sleeping Beauty."

"How long was I out?" Kibum asked.

"It was the afternoon yesterday when you fell asleep," Jonghyun said. "It's almost 11 in the morning now. I guess that makes it around 20 hours."

"Wow." Kibum felt slightly unnerved. "Guess I really was tired."

"It's okay," Jonghyun says, giving him a reassuring smile. "You just need to get used to being awake again. Want a sandwich? You must be starving."

Kibum sat down at the kitchen table and watched Jonghyun put the ingredients together, noticing how consistent the scent of warm vanilla seemed to be. Unlike the scents he’d smelled on the others, it didn't fluctuate in strength or seem to coexist with any different smells depending on his emotions.

"Thanks," he said as Jonghyun put a plate front of him. “Where are the others?”

"Taemin's at school and the other two are having individual photoshoots for our repackage album," Jonghyun told him. "I've got to head over now. You're lucky you woke up before I left. Jinki said that if you didn't, I had to call the hospital and see if we needed to bring you back in."

Kibum blanched. The hospital, and Dr. Ji, with his acid-touch and terrifying whispers.

"I'm fine," he said hurriedly. It felt like alarm bells were ringing all through him. "I'm really fine now, I was just tired. Don't call the hospital, hyung, please don't..." he realised how desperate he sounded, and only just managed to stop himself from begging more. He felt close to panic.

Jonghyun looked puzzled. "Hey, calm down. You woke up, so I don’t have to now." A concerned expression came onto his face, and Kibum was suddenly aware that his hands were clenched so tight into the sandwich that his fingers had sunk into the bread. "What's the matter? Jinki was just worried about you."

"I know." Kibum put his sandwich down again and hid his shaking hands in his lap. He took a deep breath and tried to still his jumping heart. "I've just had enough of doctors to last me a lifetime." He changed the subject. "So we’re releasing a repackage? Do I have a photoshoot too?"

"Yes, but I don’t think they’ve confirmed when yet," Jonghyun said. "They were going to see how you were doing first."

Kibum nodded and watched Jonghyun clean up. He stacked the clean dishes in the drying rack, then came over and looked down at Kibum, his gentle brown eyes full of kindness.

"You'll be okay on your own for a couple of hours, won't you? Call me if you feel even slightly unwell, okay?" He gently smoothed Kibum’s sleep-ruffled hair away from his face in an oddly tender gesture. When his fingertips brushed the skin at Kibum’s temple, he felt a strange jolt, like static electricity, and with it came the feeling of something enormous and dreadfully cramped, seething and churning inside Jonghyun, wanting to get out. When Jonghyun looked into his face to say goodbye, Kibum could tell he had felt nothing.

"I'll call you in an hour," Jonghyun told him. "Make sure your phone is on or Jinki will freak out and come charging over. Make sure you eat that, too." He nodded to the forgotten sandwich, now rather squashed where Kibum had unintentionally squeezed his fingers into it.

Kibum agreed, still feeling rather dazed by the incredible sensation he'd gotten through the skin contact with Jonghyun. He listened as Jonghyun closed the front door and walked along the corridor. With his hearing focused, he could hear the soft hiss of the elevator doors as they o