Sehun wakes up, eyes opening blearily, shivering.

            For a moment, he’s disoriented, completely confused as to where he is and why he’s so cold, and why his body hurts so much, his muscles tightening to keep warm, teeth clenched so hard together it hurts his jaw.

            Slowly, the room comes into focus, the furniture transforming from blurred shadows, a bookshelf, the windows to Sehun’s left, streetlamps lit up outside since night has fallen, the steady sound of rain pattering against the windows.

            Then Sehun realizes that he’s in a bed, curled up into multiple blankets, but it’s not his bed. His bed has a certain Sehun-sized indent in the middle of it that forms to his frame every time he lies down. This bed does not.

            That thought makes Sehun shift in panic, mind still working sluggishly to remember how he got here, wherever here is.

            But when he moves, there’s something holding him in place.

            Sehun looks to the side.

            Not something, but someone. And Sehun exhales, the memory of earlier finally shifting back into place, like a puzzle piece.

            He had been beaten up by Kang-Dae, which explains the soreness in his limbs, the painkillers he had taken earlier wearing off while he had slept.

            Kai had brought him back to his own apartment, cleaned him up.

Kai had kissed him.

            Sehun blushes, lying perfectly still, afraid to wake the sleeping boy next to him, replaying the kiss, or multiple kisses, over in his mind, feeling his heartbeat quicken, the longing to reach over and shake Kai awake so he can kiss him again growing in his stomach because the thought that Kai actually likes him the same way Sehun likes Kai makes Sehun breathless with disbelief.

            He’s not sure when he grew so bold, but Sehun suspects it has something to do with still being sleepy and the remnants of painkillers, dulling his awkwardness as well as the pain. He’s curled up against Kai’s side, toes pressed against Kai’s calf, the top of his head just under Kai’s chin.

            But Sehun is too cold to focus on kissing, or on cuddling, for long.

            And he finally realizes why, lying there, one of Kai’s arms still draped over his waist, keeping him close.

            His clothes are still damp, from the rain, and both of them hadn’t stopped to think that it might be a good idea for Sehun to change.

            Sehun sighs, the movement making his chest rise and fall, and Kai mumbles something in his sleep, shifting closer, dark hair startling against the white of the pillow, his arm tightening around Sehun’s waist, and Sehun wants to turn over onto his side and snuggle closer, seek warmth, fall back asleep against Kai’s side, but he knows he needs to change first.

Thankfully he still has a change of clothes in his backpack, which he’s pretty sure is still where Kai left it, at the front door.

So, moving very slowly, and a little more awake now, Sehun inches his way off of the bed, gently sliding out from under Kai’s arm, holding his breath. He doesn’t want to wake the other boy, partly because Kai looks so peaceful while he’s sleeping, a little younger, and Sehun is hoping that it won’t be too creepy if he grabs his camera from the living room after he changes, but also because the memory of kissing Kai is like a flashing, neon sign at the front of Sehun’s brain, replaying in less detail, but still making Sehun nervous, wondering if Kai will kiss him like that again once he’s awake, or if Sehun will have to make the first move.

Sehun has never been in a relationship before, never had a boyfriend, never had to figure out what to wear on dates or how to kiss or what to say to someone you cared for in a romantic way.

And Sehun isn’t really sure if that’s what him and Kai are yet. Sure, they shared a few kisses, okay, maybe more than a few, but they hadn’t really talked about it after that.

So Sehun is very careful to not wake Kai up because he’s hoping he can change and get back into bed quickly, fall back asleep, and not have to worry about it until he wakes up again.

Biting his tongue to keep from groaning as he straightens up from the bed, Sehun pushes the pain away, ignores the sticky, tugging feeling of the bandages on his forehead and jaw, ignores the twinge in his ribs and the soreness of his lower lip, the flesh swollen and bruised from where he had cut it.

Teeth chattering, Sehun shuffles across the floor in his socks, arms crossed over his chest, shivers making him tremble, and tries not to bump into too many things.

But it’s kind of hard to see in the dark, and Kai has stuff everywhere, so Sehun ends up tripping a few times, slapping a hand over his mouth every time he squeaks in surprise when his foot hits a pile of clothes on the floor, or whenever he bumps into a wall.

Finally, after a few minutes of agonizingly picking his way across the bedroom, Sehun finds the door to the living room, hands brushing the doorframe to feel his way into the next room, which is a little lighter thanks to the larger windows on the far wall.

And there it is, his backpack, a lump sitting near the front door.

Sehun hurries over to it, clothes sticking to his skin, cold and plastered against his back and legs and arms, and grabs his backpack.

But his heart sinks when he realizes that his backpack is still wet too. Which means that the stuff inside has most likely been soaked through.

“Well say goodbye to all of those lecture notes,” Sehun thinks mournfully, imagining the ink dripping down the notebook pages, stained and ruined, hours of hand-cramping, eye-squinting, and completely brain-dulling notes gone.

Regardless, Sehun fishes through the bag, his fingers moving past sodden paper and wet folders until they stumble upon the pile of clothes. And, just as he had feared, they are wet as well.

“Crap,” Sehun mutters to himself, teeth chattering together, dropping the backpack back to the floor.

For a moment, he debates on what to do.

Should he go back to the bedroom and wake Kai? Ask him for a change of clothes?

Or would it be better to just try to dry off in the bathroom?

Sehun hasn’t decided which choice he wants to go with before a light is switching on, and Sehun spin