The day was unforgiving, sharp jets of rain flying down at the victims below. It didn't work alone; the wind too had its own personal grudge on the world. This was exactly what Sehun needed after a long day at work. A piece of forgotten paper on the floor decided that it wanted to become a bird, and with the wind's assistance, took off from the ground and smacked Sehun straight in the face. His steps faltered for a moment and his grip on the phone in his pocket tightened. The paper soon left his face and had he not already been shivering, he would have shuddered. How many germs could there be on his face now?

The rain, either mocking him or trying to help in its own twisted way, changed directions until the bolts of water aimed in the direction of Sehun's face. Great. Thanks.

He forced a sigh and began walking again. His spare arm reached up and tried to shield his face, but it only worked poorly at best. It was as though the world was trying to prevent him from going home. And that was exactly why he pressed on harder.

A woman passed him with an inverted umbrella and he felt a mixture of pity and petty joy. Inviting lights from nearby cafes tempted him, but never quite enough to make him stop.

His clothes were thoroughly soaked now and he could feel the inevitable cold coming on. Blinded by the screen of rain Sehun didn't notice the puddle until he was ankle deep in it.

~ ~ ~

A wisp of steam floated up from Baekhyun's scorching cup of hot chocolate and he was already warming up just from thinking about drinking it. He was even salivating. As he took the cup in his hands - essentially using it as a heating pad - a roaring clash of thunder startled a good amount of the drink onto the floor.

Baekhyun stared down at the puddle of quickly-spreading hot chocolate on the floor then heaved out a sigh. As he got to work cleaning it up, Baekhyun's mind drifted to Sehun.

The world outside looked merciless, Baekhyun's heart raced uneasily as the idea of him being out in this weather scared him. His legs collapsed beneath him and the soaked towel in his hands slipped to the floor. I hope he's okay.

The wind opened the door more than Sehun did and he had a challenge to close it.

"Sehun?", Baekhyun called as he rose from the floor.

Sehun didn't answer, too exhausted to attempt at conversation.

Baekhyun crept over to the door and looked ready to fight a perfect stranger, but his stance immediately slipped when he saw the state of the man before him.

"Se- oh my god what happened?", Baekhyun raced over to him and helped him to take off his jacket.

Sehun sighed wearily and shrugged his shoulders. A large pool of water collected at Sehun's feet and soaked into Baekhyun's socks. It was then that he noticed Sehun's lack of shoes, or rather, shoe.

As his mouth opened to question it, he became aware of the icy temperature radiating from Sehun's body. "Strip down, I'm going to go grab you a towel".

Sehun complied silently, already sure that he couldn't get any colder than he was right now. Baekhyun returned with his favourite towel, Baekhyun's towel, the fluffy one that Sehun wasn't allowed to use. Without a moment's hesitation, Baekhyun threw the towel around Sehun's body and began picking up his soaking clothes from the floor.

Sehun couldn't help but stare at Baekhyun as he stood there, practically with only a phone in his hands and a towel around his body.

"Why didn't you call me?", worry poured from Baekhyun's voice.

The hand that held the phone lifted up and revealed a black screen, coated in raindrops. Baekhyun stared at the phone and sighed gently.

A trail of water followed Baekhyun as he took the clothes to the washing machine, a trail that he later cleaned up while Sehun was in the shower.

Baekhyun could hear the storm continuing outside and he could only imagine how Sehun must have felt walking through it. His own drink long forgotten, he prepared hot-water bottles for Sehun and turned the heating up.

When Sehun emerged from the shower, fresh clothes on and a towel rubbing his hair, he was greeted with a wave of warmth. Baekhyun turned around to see him and his eyebrows furrowed together, "Are you warming up?".

Sehun's lips twitched into a hint of a smile and he nodded, "Much better, thank you".

Baekhyun exhaled a sigh of relief, grabbing a cup from the side with one hand and walking over to Sehun to take his hand in his other.

Sehun looked down at their entwined hands and followed as Baekhyun lead him into the bedroom. It was a lot warmer in there, Sehun settled down in bed and smiled gratefully as Baekhyun pressed the cup into his hands.

He took occasional sips of the drink as Baekhyun first dried his hair as though he himself were incapable, then he bustled around and wrapped Sehun up. Blanket here, hot water bottle there, blanket there.

"Baek, I'm really warm ", Sehun eyed the pile of extra spare blankets apprehensively.

Baekhyun looked up at him with a raised eyebrow, "Good, you need to warm up".

The cup was set aside and Sehun shuffled down in bed, "I feel like a caterpillar".

Baekhyun's lips tugged up into a smile, "But you're already a beautiful butterfly".

Sehun laughed quietly and the worry balled up inside Baekhyun began to lessen.

The strategically placed hot water bottles began to lose their heat after a while and Baekhyun who stood over Sehun checked that they were still warm too often.

"I'm going to go put more hot water in these, I'll be back", Baekhyun started to leave but Sehun's hand darted out and grabbed his wrist.

Baekhyun turned around in surprise.

Sehun laid there, cheeks flushed with warmth and droopy eyelids, "I have a better idea".

Baekhyun's eyebrow raised in question.

Sehun tugged at his wrist and pulled Baekhyun into bed with him, his gangly limbs wrapping around Baekhyun and making him feel like the one in a cocoon.

Sehun pressed his face into Baekhyun's shoulder and hummed in appreciation, "Much better".

Baekhyun's hands reached to cover Sehun's and allowed himself to close his eyes for one minute. Sehun wasn't lying earlier, Baekhyun realised. He was warm. And he smelled like apple shampoo.

They hadn't laid there long before Sehun's quiet snores filled the room. His python-like grip on Baekhyun hadn't loosened and Baekhyun himself was overheating. He waited a few minutes to make sure Sehun was deep asleep before he slipped out of his arms and crept back outside.

The bedroom door was pulled-to quietly and Baekhyun began to tidy up everything he hadn't had the chance to before Sehun fell asleep. His work done in the kitchen, he carefully tiptoed to the bathroom and began cleaning up Sehun's mess. He always left the bathroom in such a mess. Baekhyun would have rolled his eyes had he not done so a million times before.

It was still so hot; Baekhyun could feel his hair sticking to his forehead. He turned to the mirror to see for himself how much his appearance gave away his temperature, but his train of thought was stopped when he saw the mirror.

In the condensation was written 'I love you, Baekhyun'.

Baekhyun wasn't sure if he could blame his red cheeks on the temperature.

~ ~ ~

It turned out that Sehun could feel a cold coming on because there was one. A week passed and Sehun was back to normal, insisting that he was fine, to the overly worried Baekhyun.

Baekhyun kept glancing at Sehun out of the corner of his eye, checking, just in case. Sehun couldn't be too agitated by it though, it was just the way Baekhyun was and underneath his facade he found it endearing.

"I have to go to work Baek", Sehun swung their recently entwined hands idly.

Baekhyun's grip on Sehun's hand tightened, "But-".

Sehun prised his hand from Baekhyun's and pressed his hands either side of Baekhyun's face, "I'll be back later, I promise".

Between his hands, Baekhyun's lower lip jutted out into a pout. Sehun chuckled, "Stop trying to be cute, I really do have to go".

Baekhyun's innocent eyes looked up into Sehun's, "I don't know what you're talking about".

Sehun pulled a serious face, "Of course of course, you're always cute".

Before Baekhyun had a chance to respond, Sehun leaned down to press a kiss to his lips.

Baekhyun hummed beneath his lips appreciatorily, his arms looping round Sehun's neck and pulling him closer. Baekhyun tried to express to Sehun how much he wanted him to stay in that kiss.

When Sehun pulled away, Baekhyun had the satisfaction of seeing his pupils dilated and cheeks flushed.

"Are you... sure you don't... want to stay?", Baekhyun's breathless whisper ticked Sehun's ear.

There was hesitation, and Sehun had half a mind to stay home and show Baekhyun just how fine he was, but he knew he had to take the responsible path and go to work.

Sehun pressed one final, short, kiss to Baekhyun's lips and pulled away from his arms.

"I'll see you after work".

Baekhyun smiled sadly, "Ah... how did I know you'd say that? I guess I'll go out and check out Minseok's new shop today then".

Sehun gentle smile made Baekhyun miss him already, "Let me know what it's like?".

"Of course", Baekhyun followed Sehun to the door and waited in the open doorway, "Have a good day at work".

"Try not to miss me too much", Sehun winked before leaving a smiling Baekhyun behind.

~ ~ ~

"Feeling better, Sehun?", his co-worker Junmyeon greeted him.

Sehun nodded and Junmyeon laughed at the expression of relief on his face.

After getting back into the routine of work, Sehun's day flew ahead.

Piles of paperwork sat before him and he was halfway through writing another document for the pile when Junmyeon turned up the background noise.

Sehun decided to give his mind a break and looked away from his computer screen to look at the TV. The news was on, and something or other had happened in town. Sehun began to look away, disinterested, when he remembered Baekhyun saying he was visiting Minseok's shop. Minseok's shop, the one Minseok had just opened. In town.

His eyes darted back to the screen and found out that the incident hadn't happened in town, rather just outside of it. A drunk driver had crashed into-

Sehun's heart plummeted through his stomach. A car that looked just like Baekhyun's.

He stood up and with shaky legs, walked closer to the TV. Junmyeon noticed him approaching and was about to ask him whether he wanted the TV turned down when he noticed the expression on his face. He looked from Sehun back to the TV.

"Two dead, one injured. The driver died on impact, leaving behind a wife and two children. The family of the other deceased has been contacted. Our thoughts are with them all in this time of-"

Sehun ran from the room, startling everyone he passed. His phone was already in hand, dialling Baekhyun's number.

Ring ring.

He was desperate, desperate for the car to be a coincidence, desperate for Baekhyun to have decided to stay home today.

Ring ring.

Baekhyun. Pick up. Pick up the phone. Please, I need to-

Ring r-

"Baekhyun?", Sehun called out through the phone the moment the ringing stopped.

Someone on the other end answered, saying something, but the phone had already fallen to the floor.

~ ~ ~

The funeral happened too soon.

Sehun didn't remember what happened, he felt empty. Like he was only a former shell of himself. A robot. Friends and family members had attended, that he remembered. They had been crying, he remembered that too. They had pressed food into his hands like they pressed tissues into their own.

Eat, they told him. You need to eat.

Sleep, they told him. You need to sleep.

Sehun didn't need to eat or sleep. He wasn't hungry. He couldn't taste food; it just made him feel sick. He didn't like waking up when he slept. Only sleeping when his exhausted body couldn't stay awake any longer and collapsed on its own. The sleep brought nightmares, memories of him. Sehun couldn't see how anything mattered. Not any more. He hadn't been to work or showered in days. He couldn't go back home. Everything reminded him of Baekhyun, and how Baekhyun wasn't-

His own mother had dragged Sehun back to her house and made him shower and dress up in a suit. A suit. When she handed him the outfit he had first stared at it, and she stared at him. Waiting for a reaction, a response, something.

Did she know? Sehun wondered. This was the suit Sehun had met Baekhyun in. And now he was going to say goodbye to him in it.

Then the funeral happened.

Sehun couldn't remember the order of things any more.

He hadn't been back home since that day. The day of the funeral, where everyone collectively cried together, everyone reminisced about their memories of him, everyone told him that he'd been lost too soon. Even surrounded by people, he felt alone. That was when he felt most alone. They were all feeling. Sehun had caught Baekhyun's mother's eye at the funeral, he now remembered. She looked as dead inside as he felt.

Sehun's hands shook as he clutched the key in his hand. He could feel the key digging into his skin more, the tighter he held it. And for the first time in days, he felt something.

It took him several attempts to unlock the door, and when he did he was hit by a wave of Baekhyun.

He never realised how heavy the scent of Baekhyun hung in the air of their house.

He closed the door behind him and almost tripped over a pair of Baekhyun's shoes. He dropped his suit jacket to the floor and opened his mouth to apologise, but there was no Baekhyun to tell him off. He wore his shoes throughout the house, daring Baekhyun to come to him and to tell him to take them off. He walked three steps before the air around him became too suffocating. He took off his shirt. Another step, and his shoes came off.

Sehun couldn't even feel the shower, the steam around him was just as suffocating as the air anywhere else. He had to shower. He had to wash off today. It was too much for him. He felt unclean. The cleanliness made him feel dirty. He needed to wash away the funeral. Wash away the shell. Wash away the past week.

His legs gave in and he sat in the shower, letting the water run over him until it turned cold. But he still sat there.

"Sehun, you'll get cold!"

Sehun's head fell and his eyes closed.

He didn't know how long he sat there before his body adjusted to the cold water and it started to feel warm.

"Are you warming up?".

Sehun's breathing hitched. The shower wasn't helping. He shut off the water and stepped out.

Baekhyun's fluffy towel hung over the towel rack. Sehun's hand reached out to touch it but stopped just short of it.

Sehun caught a flash in the mirror and would have been startled, if he didn't realise immediately that it was only his reflection.

But the mirror still caught his eye.

The fog had begun to clear in the bathroom, but the writing was still legible.

And for the first time since the news of Baekhyun's death, Sehun emotionally felt something. His breath caught in his throat.

"I love you, Sehun!"

Sehun's racking sobs echoed around the bathroom, not stopping even when the condensation cleared up and the writing disappeared.