HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHANYEOL! (It’s still 27 here)

and obsession killed me

rip.

Mina’s not very sure what is the difference between the materialistic, physical world and the dream world, considering she failed in sensing both, but she was at least a little bit sure that in the real world, animals don’t talk.

She was waking up, she was sure of that; her talking animal friends were beginning to fade away from her vision, and she was gaining her previous hold on her arms, legs, and fingers. The sudden tension growing in her body parts and shoulders, jolting her out of her sweet, sweet mental world made her sigh, and she wasn’t that sure if she was halfway dreaming that sigh or she did it for real.

Ever so slowly, like a rose blossoming in the harsh weather of fall, she started to open her eyes. Blink after blink, her vision heavily distorted and hazed, a hazard of shapes and pictures pounding through her eyes, sculpting her mind and causing her a severe headache. The pain growing in the middle of her head grew significantly by the harsh and blinding light crossing her eyes. She blinked again, hoping to soften the sudden severity of all this light, and forcing her chapped, groggy lips apart to release the smallest of sounds. There was a small throbbing in the side of her neck, where she had been brutally scratched by nails as big as the sharp and deadly teeth of a shark, and the dwindled throbbing increased harshly the more consciousness she gained. 

She heard a small sound of someone moving beside whatever squeaky bed she was lying on, and a soft weight fell over her side, next to her hip. Then, a face popped into her vision. She blinked dazedly.

For a minute, she tried to soak up all the details of the man’s face, trying to understand whether he was someone she knew before or a mere stranger — ert — who liked to peek down on sick girls. She wasn’t exactly in the best situation to have a correct vision, but she tried to read his features anyway. Squinted eyes, large nose, thin rosy lips and a jawline that was so sharp it could probably cut stones. 

“You up?” The man’s warm and thick voice greeted her anticipating ears, a small smile of amusement at her delirious state gracing his actually kinda pretty face. Mina’s mind flickered in recognition, and she flashed him the same dopy and unfocused grin she had been flashing him when she had been hurt before. The kind of grin that totally explained the real aspects of Mina’s character and that same one she usually liked to suppress because it wasn’t cool enough. 

“Sehun...” She murmured, and her voice came out so unstable and low pitched that it resembled a drunk man’s voice. She winced, not liking it, but ignored that fact anyway. It was so not the time for her to comment about her damn voice. She was sick anyway. Sick people had horrible everything. 

“You look thoroughly ed, Mina,” Sehun, who was still hovering over was found grinning, and she could clearly trace the upturned curlings of his lips. “I don’t think this is a good look on you.”

“Sehun,” She whined, voice a whole lot more breathy and sharp than the previous bellow she echoed. She wasn’t whining about his stupid words and his stupid grin or his stupid shiny hair; she felt like she was paralyzed, nothing in her she could move. She tried to twist her head sideways to avoid looking into his opaque eyes, but a sharp pain pounded in her neck, making her in a breath and go absolutely still. Then, she whined again, “I can’t move my neck.”

Sehun all but snickered amusingly, finding her torturous pain humorous. “Of course, you moron. You got scratched really badly there, by vampire nails nonetheless.” 

“Ew, I can’t move my neck!” She exclaimed, her pupils going around her in circles with fright and panic in them. But Sehun knew that under those emotions of hers, she was exaggerating. She wouldn’t be damn Mina if she didn’t exaggerate things. “How will I be able to rotate my head to watch my beautiful boys?” She continued, now sounding sheepish and totally not as pathetic as she felt, her eyes wide and her lips entirely too chapped. She wet them by swiping her tongue on them, but even that gesture felt immensely hard to achieve. She ended up whining again. 

Sehun let out a sigh, a tired one she noticed, now that her whole world wasn’t shaking, and finally removed his large head from where it kept hovering over hers. She moved her eyes to the side quickly, following after him. “Of course that’s the only thing on your mind, you ert.”

“Sehun.” She whined for the hundredth of times, voice high-pitched and too girlish for Sehun, someone who didn’t exactly find such noises pleasant or cute. Nevertheless, he didn’t comment about that, knowing she was just secretly teasing him by being an and verbalizing these sounds so he’d become irritated. His misery was her joy and hers was his, too, it was just how they showed their affection. 

“Think of it as a positive thing; now you legitimately have a reason to skip classes.” Sehun said, sitting down properly on where he was perched beside her bed on a chair that felt too small around his large body, thus the consistent wiggling.

Mina’s eyes widened, and she went silent for a long of time considering his words, feeling a sort of accomplishment growing in her heart. Then, she exclaimed. “You’re a genius!” 

Despite all of her Mina-ish actions; Sehun knew she was still hurting, slightly less so because of the painkillers in her drips. Throughout all of his life, Sehun did consider her as someone fragile, despite showing him otherwise through her actions which made everyone believe she was steel-y and strong. Before, he had thought of her as thunderous, like a fearless lightning bolt shedding her electricity over everyone and instead of burning them, she gave them some of her strength. Now, she was stronger than before, especially when she entered her twentieth birthday. She was more genuinely strong, maybe because of the security and safety her life with them has become. When people face horrible accidents in their lives which weakened them, they almost always wear some fake armor to cover said vulnerability, something she used to do before, even though she was still considered to be stronger than him. 

While she was lying on the hospital bed, her neck wrapped in a tight bandage, Sehun couldn’t help but reminisce about her old fragility, and how he hadn’t been able to do anything about it because he was childish, small-hearted, and pathetic. Now, he could protect her, their roles having been reversed, and seeing her tender looking body on a hospital bed, it made him soften.

“Besides being unable to move your head, how are you feeling?” He asked, sounding small but husky, laced with the tremendous emotions he was going through now without knowing why. He leaned forward on his bed so she could point her eyes towards him easily without having to stretch her neck and strain it. Mina’s eyes were oblivious when they stared at him, having not caught to his kind note of voice which he rarely showed. 

“Like I wanna shred a certain vampire to death, perhaps?” Her eyes burned, he noticed, a large volcano of anger and thunderstorms glowing in those eyes of hers. Sehun was reminded of those times she was so small and vulnerable that she looked at people like that–– when he’d meet her in their playground years ago, her body littered with cuts and wounds, her face colored with splotches of brown, purple, and green. Her eyes would flash like that whenever she regarded him, or his friends, or anyone really, despite acting differently. It was almost like she was protecting herself from intruders, like him and everyone else. Thankfully for him, he managed to gain her friendship by being a stupid weak boy, and he never saw that look of absolute hatred and death in her eyes.

She was looking like this right now, which meant she was both furious, and trying to cover her fear at the same time. He couldn’t blame her. She had always been protected by him and his friends; her eyes were concealed from the supernatural world despite living in the middle of it. She hadn’t been forced — by accident or not — to face any other creature beside them, even when they talked about various of types. Having to go through one–– a vampire who hurt her, he’d have been scared and irritated at the same time too. 

He snorted, though, not able to hold himself. She wasn’t the only one angry, alright. “Leave that to Junmyeon and Minseok Hyung. They’re furious.”

She winced, the different expression clearly showing on her estranged facial features, her eyes losing some of their previous enmity. “How did they react?”

“As I said, they’re furious,” Sehun drawled casually, as if the faces of those two angry red bulls didn’t attack his mind and he wasn’t reminded by just how angry they were. He tried to hide his wince, and from how handicapped by her neck she was, she thankfully didn’t notice. “Junmyeon Hyung almost tore your damn head while Minseok threatened to tear Tao’s. They’re currently with Kris Wu, discussing... things.”

“I don’t like the sound of these “things’” She squeaked, knowing how monstrous her boys could get when it came to her safety. First, they’d be angry at her, for being clueless, helpless, hopeless, and stupid because she allowed her pathetic to be hurt. They were being s of course, for thinking so lowly of her and for scolding her when she couldn’t exactly control the situation. But since she was used to that, she let them off the hook most of the time. Second, they’d go ape on whoever and whatever caused her distress, and she did not want to be subjected to that at. all.

“You’re not supposed to,” Sehun rolled his eyes, although fondly, his eyes screaming with amusement at her overbearing wince. “I’m telling you, they’re pissed. Minseok Hyung took one glance at you and practically ran outside the room, whereas Junmyeon Hyung had to wrestle Seulgi for the custody of Tao. And trust me, Seulgi put on a good fight.”

Sehun was enjoying the different shades of white, black, and blue her facial expressions had shifted into. She wasn’t usually very expressive or maybe he failed with reading her so easily, so seeing her wide eyes and her agape lips, it brought joy to his heart. 

He was still a sadistic , acknowledging her state of weaknesses or not. 

“But I thought she’s strong?” Mina blinked her wide eyes at him curiously. “Like really strong?”

“Yeah,” Sehun agreed, flashbacks of how severely strong and ruthless Seulgi had been invading his brain. He cleared his throat, shaking them off. “But Jumnyeon’s stubborn, very stubborn. He wouldn’t just let her take him, especially since he has a partnership with Kris Wu.”

“Am I screwed?” She squeaked in that unusually high pitched voice of hers, pupils shaking, and Sehun shot her a sympathetic look from where he was sitting, lips turned downward to scare her off even more. 

“Very. I’m surprised Junmyeon didn’t scratch the other side. We know Minseok’s gentle, but Junmyeon hadn’t done anything, surprisingly, he didn’t even show a single expression on his face.”

“That only means I’m in trouble even more!” She exclaimed, her voice growing louder over the simple horror of what exactly Sehun was saying. She unconsciously moved her head sideways in order to properly yell at him, because well, he was being a gigantic motherer and she knew he secretly was enjoying her misery, but the slightest of head tilts brought her harsh, immense pain, and she ended up going back to her previous still position, sighing. She mumbled, "I hate this so freaking much," and she was sure the douchebag beside her would simply smirk. 

Why was she stuck with him anyway? Where were the rest of the boys? Seulgi, too?

“Not my problem you’re a stupid fatass,” Sehun murmured almost casually, moving around in his chair for probably the thousandth of times because of how small the chair was squeezing his , and tried to lean backwards. He didn’t succeed, so he returned to his previous position where he was slightly crouched forward, and said, “I’m probably in an issue of my own considering I ‘failed’ with protecting you, as Kyungsoo Hyung eloquently put it.”

Even though his tone didn’t show bitterness and irritation, his eyes did, despite them being less than descriptive and usually never showed any of their emotions. Since she was half paralyzed, she couldn’t exactly move over and look at his eyes. His tone of voice was the only indication he, in fact, did feel remotely annoyed at being put under such spotlight. For her, in the least, he did a great deal in protecting her, but he was dealing with Junmyeon and the rest, they were vicious creatures alright. 

“How are you feeling?” She found herself blurting out, curiosity and worry seeping past her sealed tone almost too easily. The sudden question confused Sehun, considering she was the one wounded and lying on her death bed. 

He blinked. “Why are we talking about me?” 

“You fought with Tao, dummy,” Mina rolled her eyes with care, slowly, so she wouldn’t have to use up too much energy and accidentally move. She was prone to that sort of stupidity. “Did he hurt you anywhere?”

She could see a small pouch of blue and green on his high cheekbone, and his chin as she tried latching her eyes on his face from beside her, but he was too far and she kind of had a limited neck size. She couldn’t see by just her pupils, and every time she focused her eyes sideways, his face distorted and infused with the high bed railings like a single portrait. Honestly, it brought her a headache. Thankfully, he wasn’t entirely hidden from view. 

“Is this because of him?” She asked more, meaning his bruises, and Sehun knew to be honest with her or she’d throw a fit. 

“Yeah,” He released somewhat a tentative sigh. “It’d heal a bit slower than usual because Tao’s a vampire .”

“Can I hug you?” Came her sudden request, completely out of thin air, and Sehun was thrown out of his whole balance. “Cause I really want to hug you.”

“You can’t,” He cleared his throat, strangely feeling awkward with her request and how she was able to shake him with it. She always did these sort of things, throwing people out of their goddamn abilities to think correctly. He cleared his throat, again. “You’re practically handicapped now. I’m afraid a hug would require movement from your neck, and that’s not going to happen.”

Well, part of his words were real. He truly didn’t want her to move or hug anyway because she was injured, and that movement would cause unnecessary burdens. Another part of him refused because he simply wasn’t a ‘hug’ person, that was definitely Baekhyun and Chanyeol’s thing. He also didn’t feel very... comfortable with the idea of hugging her, and he didn’t know why. They did a whole lot worse than just a simple hug, and he hadn’t been thinking so much about it like what he was doing right now, but somehow he thought that a hug was too intimate. Sehun did not do intimacy. 

“Can you come closer, then?” She asked again, flickering her pupils towards his side and then wincing, looking away. Moving her eyes to awkward angles was a huge strain, alright. 

He sighed, but did as she asked. He could refuse a hug because he had a legitimate reason for that, but telling no to that innocent question, that would raise suspicion. He stood from his humiliating chair and went over to hover over her face like before, face bored and bare of any expressions, but that didn’t seem to deter her at all. 

She raised her one of her hand and began to softly trace the wounds on his face, taking care of the fact they hurt and squeezing them harshly would make him whine. Her fingers were calloused a little, dry because unfortunately she didn’t get to use her moisturizer in the hospital, but he felt them gentle on his skin nonetheless. He didn’t know why he avoided her eyes when she did what she did, looking up at him with her wide, brown eyes, her expressive brown eyes. He planted his eyes on her nose and they stayed there, never looking up, or looking down. His heartbeats were literally racing inside his chest by now, he did not need to have it do more.

He suddenly winced, his eyes flying up to meet hers in a flare of anger, and she instantly flushed, yanking her hand off of his face as if she was burned. 

“Sorry, sorry! Geez! I thought I just brushed my fingers on them?”

“You must have some unique pair of hands, then.” He sarcastically said, rolling his eyes and then taking his face — and himself — away from her. He caught her angrily pouting, though.

“I’m trying to ease my guilt here, Sehun, don’t strengthen it,” She tried to once again look at him through her limited vision, that cute screw of her lips making her look adorable rather than irritated. Then, her voice softened. “These look really bad.”

He sighed, feeling her own guilt traveling over to his because technically, he was the one who let her get hurt, too. They were both stupid, blaming themselves on things they couldn’t prevent. “Don’t be stupid,” He told her, gently, voice so small that Mina didn’t even know Sehun was capable of producing it. She blinked at him in surprise. “They’re nothing compared to your sliced neck. Truthfully, your neck looked like butchered meat, it was not good. When Junmyeon saw it, he was about to pass out. I never saw Baekhyun so angry before, too, or Yixing, for that matter.”

“Where are they, anyway?” She finally asked the question she had been itching to ask all along, her eyes flying around every angle in the room she was capable of taking in, almost like they’d suddenly materialize around her so suddenly. 

Sehun leaned back on his chair and let out a long, long sigh, a tortured one. She snapped her eyes at him right away, blinking curiously at the cause of such exhale. His answer eased her confusion instantly. 

“They’re leaning outside your room door. They’re giving us some space or some like that.”

She gave him a weird look, not understanding why ‘spaces’ are needed between them, and he shrugged just as cluelessly. 

“Don’t look at me like this. I don’t understand either.”

As if they’ve been eavesdropping on them, which they probably were because they can’t help it, the door to her room opened and they all came inside, looking worried but relieved at the same time. Mina’s eyes flickered over every face and she realized, feeling oddly relieved, that Junmyeon and Minseok were no where to be found.

“Hey, you look horrible.” Jongdae greeted cheekily, being the first one to reach her bed and then hovering over her the same way Sehun had been doing the past few minutes. He gave her a gentle, catlike smile, as soft as his cheeky and upturned smiles could be. She gave him a similar smile, a sudden explosion of affection booming loudly in her chest for him and honestly overwhelming her. 

Jongdae was flicked off of her sideways by Baekhyun, and he took his previous place and did the same thing with hovering over her. His eyes were extremely puppy-like and worried, and she imagined him forminh flapped dog ears, too. He was almost too cute to pass as a normal guy. She suddenly wanted to kiss him. 

“Does it hurt?” Baekhyun said before she could say anything reckless (or do anything reckless, like springing out of the bed to