pinktomato. Happy early birthday! 

Semi didn’t really remember much of what happened after falling off the chair.  There had been Xiumin’s voice and Junho and Eunkyung panicking over her, and then she suspected she must have passed out.  She could vaguely recall a flash of lucidity during which she’d had a burning desire to vomit and Xiumin apologising about something and being so used to it that they’d forgotten other people didn’t or whatever it was, and then when she came fully to herself, she was in a hospital ward and Xiumin was arguing with a pissed off and sleepy-looking Chen at the foot of her bed while a nurse fussed around her.

“I need to know these things!” she thought she heard her husband insisting.  “You’ve all made it painfully clear it’s more than my life’s worth for her to even get a paper cut!”

The nurse asked them to move the discussion outside in case they distressed the patient, so Chen’s reply was lost through the door shutting much louder than necessary.

Once they were gone, the nurse checked Semi’s blood pressure and ran a couple of other tests before asking her a few questions and what it was she’d eaten.

“Nuts, apparently,” Semi grumbled.  and throat still felt a little itchy.  She still felt idiotic for not thinking to bring a small handbag with her for her phone and epipen, because she never normally went anywhere without the latter.

“Has this happened before?” the nurse asked.  Semi gave her a flat look.  Her thigh was still stinging from where Xiumin had injected her with the epipen, and despite the situation she was still highly uncomfortable that he’d probably brushed the skirt of her dress up her leg in order to do so.  She knew it was a stupid thing to hang onto because she might not even have made it to hospital and her life was much more important than her dignity in that state, but it just made her feel weird.

She tried to tell herself it was because he’d touched her rather than because he’d probably saved her life.

“Of course, the epipen,” the nurse muttered, scribbling something down on her clipboard.  “We’re going to keep you in here for observation for a few hours.”

Disgruntled, Semi decided it was best to go to sleep.

She woke up briefly when a doctor came round to check on her again and told her she could be discharged.  Leaving hospital was a blur, and she wasn’t even sure who it was who was helping her to walk or whose car she got into, but she was soon asleep again.  The allergic reaction had knocked the stuffing out of her.

Fingers prodded her shoulder.

“Semi.  Semi.”

She shifted away from them, snuggling into the car’s upholstery.

“Fine.  I’m going to carry you, then.”

She didn’t particularly care, especially since the arms that scooped her up were warm and strong and the body she was held against was just as warm and comforting.  Car plippers sounded and then she was drifting again.  Lift noises and “doors opening.  Going up” filtered in somewhere, but it was only when the man carrying her started muttering to himself about how he was going to open the door that she fully woke up.

Xiumin somehow managed to get all the locks done without putting her down.  He nudged the door open and was about to step through when he looked down and realised she was awake.

“Well, this is heavily ironic,” he said, shaking his head with a wry grin.  “I can’t believe I’m actually carrying you over the threshold.”

Not in the mood for jokes, Semi grumbled and turned her head away.  In her opinion, it was unfortunate that the only place to hide her face had to be in his chest.  Which was warm.  And muscular.  And comfortable.  And most definitely nothing she’d ever fantasised about in a man.

He hefted her more comfortably in her arms and shut the door gently behind him before starting off down the dark passageway towards her room.  Semi had to resist the temptation to snuggle up closer.

Before too long, a soft mattress met her back and Xiumin’s arms withdrew.  The bedside lamp flickered on, but its glare was distinctly muted by Xiumin sitting on the bed directly in front of it.

“How are you feeling?” he asked.  Semi shrugged and rolled over with a grunt so her back was facing him.  He just helped you with an allergic reaction.  Other people have done that before.  The previous two occasions had been Sehun, though, and he’d ended up hugging her all night long until she’d fallen asleep in his arms.

Xiumin seemed to get the message she was trying to put across, because the mattress creaked as he stood again.

“I’ll leave you to sleep for now, but we’re talking when you wake up again, okay?”

He seemed to grow impatient when she didn’t answer.

“Semi.”

“Fine,” she mumbled.

“For now, is there anything else you need?”

Sehun and a hug.  “Water.”

There were footsteps and the sound of a tap running, and then the mattress dipped again.

“Here.  Drink.”

Reluctantly, Semi sat up and took the glass from him.  and throat felt much better than they had done before as the cold water slid past them.  Once it was empty, Xiumin took the glass from her and went to refill it.  He set it down on the bedside table and watched her as she curled up under the covers again.

“Are you not going to change into pyjamas?”

“Tired,” she grumbled.

Xiumin surveyed her for a long moment.  Then he took hold of the duvet and tucked her in properly, smoothing it down around her.

“Sleep well,” he told her.  “And if there’s anything you need, just call.  I’m going back to my room.”

Semi uncurled a little and wiggled her toes.

“What time is it?”

“Half three.”  He switched the light out.  “Really.  Sleep.”

The smell of hot, homemade soup greeted her when she next opened her eyes, along with a small bouquet of flowers in a vase on her bedside table.

And a note on her hand.

No nuts in the soup – don’t worry, Xiumin had written.  The Kangs dropped by with flowers.  I told them you weren’t dead.

Ignoring the unease about the fact he’d written on her hand – and that she hadn’t been able to lock the door and he obviously hadn’t been able to bolt it – Semi glanced at the flowers again.  They were mostly roses, with a little greenery mixed in and several flowers she didn’t recognise or know the names of.

Stretching languidly, she sat up a