It was a chilly Friday morning, and a soft pattering on the window whispered of rain. Ordinarily, you'd enjoy being home alone on a day like this. 

Today, however, you were suffering from a flu. You shivered under your quilt, which, usually so warm and comforting, now seemed chilly and inadequate. Wads of used tissues made a small mountain in your wastebasket. A book lay cast aside on the floor beside your bed; even your favorite fandoms provided little comfort now to your aching eyes, too tired to read. Your throat was painfully sore, but your body was too weak even to get up to get a drink. Instead, you stayed in bed. Tossing and turning feverishly, you attempted to find a comfortable part of your pillow so that you could at least sleep. 

You must've fallen asleep eventually, because you were jolted awake by a knocking at your door. The loud sound hurt your ears, no help to your already aching head. You groaned and shrunk deeper under your blankets.

Finally, all was quiet once more. You sighed in relief. A few moments later, you froze in panic as your door opened. Who just came into your house? A head poked into your dimly-lit room as you tried to calm yourself and inched your hand toward the nearest weapon you could find. It closed around your book and you had just thrown it when you recognized the face. It was your neighbor, Park Chanyeol.

Fortunately for him, in your weakened state your projectile abilities were far from adequate. The book landed with a light "thud", about three feet away from the unimpressed target. 

The intruder looked mildly offended. "That's not very nice," he chided.

"Sorry," you mumbled sheepishly. "I thought you were a murderer or something."

"I didn't say I wasn't," Chanyeol replied, his eyes now sparkling with mischief.

You didn't have the energy to come up with a sarcastic response, so you settled for pulling your blanket dramatically over your head.

"If I plan to kill you, a blanket is hardly an obstacle," Chanyeol observed dryly. 

You didn't relent. It was nice, actually, under the soft darkness of your blanket.

"Come on," he wheedled. "Murder is the sincerest form of flattery."

Still silence. 

"Yah, are you all right? Where's the biting sarcasm I've come to know and love? Er-not that I mean-never mind." 

"I'm sick," you finally replied, a pitiful waver in your voice.

"Aish, poor you!" Chanyeol's voice had taken on a more sympathetic tone. You felt your bed move as he carefully sat down on the edge of it and awkwardly patted your huddled form. 

You peeped out from beneath your quilt. "You can murder me if you heat me up some soup first," you mumbled.

Chanyeol's face softened. "Okay." He left the room, and you closed your eyes. This was probably another delirious dream, but it was a nice one. 

A few minutes later, Chanyeol returned with a steaming bowl. He set it down gingerly on your bedside table. "Here you go. Fair warning, though; music is more my area of expertise. I can't make any promises for the quality of my cooking."

You bit your lip, trying not to laugh at him.

"What?" he put up his hands defensively. "Not everyone is a master chef like you."

"It's just dumping a can into a saucepan and stirring. It's not rocket science," you pointed out.

Chanyeol pouted, lower lip poking out for dramatic effect.

You smiled slightly at this. "Kyopda," you murmured, then clamped your lips shut. Oops, that last part was out loud. "Erm, sorry, I-I must have a fever or something," you stammered hastily.

"I'll see," Chanyeol answered, and rested his hand gently on your forehead. You blushed at his touch. "Wow, your face is pretty warm."

You cleared your throat awkwardly. "Er, yeah, that's probably just a fever. I have pillowcases in the freezer."

Chanyeol looked at you, perplexed. "You have... what?"

"Pillowcases in the freezer. You know, when you're sick you put pillowcases in the freezer so you can switch them out? That way you have something cool on which to rest your head. You can't tell me you're never done that before."

"I've never done that, nor ever heard of doing that, in my life. But that weirdly makes sense." Chanyeol retreated to the kitchen to get you another pillowcase.

You sighed and rested your tired eyes, sniffling. 

A few minutes later, Chanyeol returned with a chilled pillow case in hand. "You're not eating your soup," he pointed out. 

"Oh, right." You eyed your soup. It smelled so inviting, but... you just didn't have the energy to lift that heavy bowl.Well, it's heavy to me, anyway! Give me a break, I have a flu.

Chanyeol gently helped you sit up. You shivered as his warm hand grazed your hypersensitive skin. "Are you cold?" he asked sympathetically as he fluffed the pillows and smoothed them out. 

You leaned back on them with a sigh. "Just a little."

"Well, the soup is nice and hot. That'll warm you right back up."

"Uh huh. Thanks, by the way... It's really sweet of you to go to all this trouble."

His cheeks were tinged with pink, but he seemed to shake it off. "Why aren't you eating? Do you need help?"

"What? N-no, I'm just, uh, not hungry anymore," you stammered. Your stomach growled in disagreement.

"Jinjja," said Chanyeol in a deadpan voice.

"Uh... Yes." you lied blatantly.

Chanyeol looked at you closely. "So, I'm going to take a wild guess and say that you're too weak to lift the bowl, but you're too shy to admit it and run the risk of making me feed you."

"Um, no. It's, uh, that other thing." You ducked your head to avoid his gaze.
 
 He laughed. "That's adorable. I'm not going to let you die of starvation just because you're bashful, though, so you're going to have to deal with it." Grabbing the bowl, Chanyeol scooped a small spoonful of soup. Amid your stuttering protests, he blew on it softly to cool it down and carefully brought it to your lips.

Cheeks flushed, you swallowed the soup gratefully. "Thank you," you mumbled, almost inaudibly. Suddenly very aware of how close he was, you looked away. 

"Hey, don't look away. I like seeing your eyes." Chanyeol gently brought his hand to your cheek and guided it so that you were facing him again. Your skin tingled where he touched it, sending electric shocks up your spine. Your eyes met his, and for a split second the rest of the world seemed to fall out of existence. Your heart was pounding. "I-I just remembered, uh, I have an-an- appointment, that I need to attend. I must be going now. Goodbye, Rabbit!" Unsteadily, you rose from your bed and jammed your feet into a pair of shoes. Grabbing a scarf and wrapping it haphazardly around your neck, you stumbled to the door.

"Wait, what?" Chanyeol's bewildered voice followed you as you left. "Did you just call me 'Rabbit'?"

You shut the door the door behind you quickly, your heart still racing. The rain was pouring down harder than ever, cooling your hot face. Tightening your scarf, you walked quickly down the street. In your delirium, everything seemed to move by in a blur. You weren't sure where you were even going. It felt almost like a hazy dream. Finally, you stopped under a large tree. Sinking slowly to the ground, eyelids heavy, you let yourself drift out of consciousness.

When you slowly came to, you were frigid and soaking wet from the rain. You had no idea where you were, seeing only the tree trunk, sodden grass, muddy shoes, and slick pavement. 

Wait a minute. Shoes? 
      
You slowly tilted your head up to see a tall figure before you. Well, okay, tall for my frame of reference, i.e. The Ground.

"Look at you, pabo. What were you thinking, running out into the rain like that when you're sick? Do you have any idea how much you made me worry?" Chanyeol scolded, but his deep voice was laced with concern.

You only peered up at him, trying to process what you both were doing out here in the rain. You shook your head to try and clear the fog, but that only made it worse. Everything was fuzzing at the edges, until all you could see was Chanyeol, leaning closer as he waited for you to respond. You slumped against him, weakened by cold and exhaustion. 

"Aigo," Chanyeol mumbled, gazing down at you. "What am I going to do with you?" He fought back a smile at how close you were to him today; usually you were shy about skinship and kept your distance. After wrapping you in his own warm jacket, he scooped you into his arms. Fortunately for him, you were mostly asleep as he carried you home and didn't hear how fast his heart beat as your head rested against his chest.

As he laid you back down on your bed and tucked the covers in snugly, he heard you murmur, "Are you.. an angel?"

He chuckled quietly. "Yeah."

What a strange dream. But.. I don't want to wake up now. You groaned as you half-opened your eyes. Your head felt like it was full of warm dishwater, your brain hurt, and you felt like a bunch of rabbits were sitting on you. That was a weird comparison, but I'll forgive myself since I probably still have a fever. Wait, but why do I feel so weighted down? You tried to sit up, but suddenly felt terribly lightheaded. 

"Whoa, take it easy." A hand was on your shoulder, pushing you back down onto your pillow. 

Your eyes shot wide open, and you slowly turned your head to see Chanyeol grinning at you. 

"Good morning, Sleeping Beauty."

 You gaped at him, and then, suddenly shivering, you pulled the heavy blankets closer around you. Wait a minute... Since when do I have this many blankets on my bed? "Where did all these blankets come from?" you asked, gesturing at the veritable mountain of blankets under which you were currently burrowed.

"I brought you all the blankets I could find in this house. You were so cold, I didn't want you to catch pneumonia."

You pointed at a blue quilt. "This isn't mine." 

Chanyeol scratched the back of his head. "I brought a few from my house, too."

You looked at him, and then back at the monstrous pile of blankets.

He cleared his throat. "I may have gotten carried away."

So... Was that dream real? You racked your brain, trying to remember exactly what had happened. There was Chanyeol, and a tree, and... your hair was wet. "Did we... go outside for some reason?"

Chanyeol gave you a sidelong glance, smirking. "Yeah. We went to pick apples."

You squinted in bewilderment. "We picked apples? Why?"

"Uh, you wanted to make a pie with me."

"Oh. What kind of pie?"

"... Peach," Chanyeol deadpanned.

You gasped. "I love peach pie!"

"That's not what you said earlier," said Chanyeol, frowning thoughtfully. "You said that peach pie was second-rate, but you wanted to make one for Kai because he is the most handsome boy in EXO."

Your face clouded over. "Ah, no pie. Why am I like this?" 

Chanyeol clamped a hand over his mouth to hold back a snicker.

You looked at him, and then thought about what you were talking about. "Wait.. What?"

At this, Chanyeol fell on the floor laughing.

You covered your face with your hands. "Ah, you are really..."