Minseok and Semi had ended up exchanging Christmas presents on Christmas evening when she’d returned home.  He’d laughed, a touch embarrassed, over the fluffy pink handcuffs Jongin had eventually persuaded Semi to buy, but his eyes positively lit up when he saw that his real present was a CD containing some piano performances of songs she’d noticed he’d particularly liked.

“Now I have something to listen to while you’re at university,” he’d said.  “Really, we must have been on the same wave length with presents, though.”

“What, you got me toys?”

He’d started laughing again and shook his head as he presented her with an envelope.  Inside had been two tickets to a very expensive piano concert by a visiting Russian world-renowned professional.

“So you can take a friend along,” he’d said, tapping the second ticket, “though I admit I’d really like to go.  I’ve never been to a live concert.”

Semi had considered it such a bizarre thing to have never experienced that she’d told him without hesitation that he was coming whether he liked it or not, though she pretended it was because he’d bought the tickets in the first place.

Minseok was surprisingly nervous in a crowd, she noticed, constantly looking around and fiddling with the collar of his dress shirt (since the dress code had been extremely formal).

“What are you doing?” she asked him as he his lips and looked around again, gaze darting all over the place.

“Sorry.  Habit.”

“You’re making yourself really conspicuous.”

He shook himself, jumping as she reached for his hand so that he wouldn’t lose her in the crowd.  “I’m just not used to being in a crowded place where I can’t see the exits.  Or at least a window to jump out of,” he grumbled.  Semi snorted.

“You’re weird.  Have I told you that?”

“You have now.”  He squeezed her hand.

He settled down somewhat when they found their seats, which were in a prime position.

“This feels like a date,” he observed, looking around at all the couples chatting to each other as they waited for the lights to go down.  “This feels like a gigantic multi-couple date.”

Semi found herself swallowing nervously as he turned to look at her and then broke out into a grin.

“Don’t expect me to start kissing you or anything,” he said, getting comfortable in his seat and jerking his head towards a couple nearby making out passionately.  For some reason, Semi found herself blushing.

The concert itself was an absolute dream.  Semi hadn’t been to one since before her father had died, and the pianist in question was one of the ones she’d always wanted to hear perform.  As she closed her eyes and the music surrounded her, she was transported to a liminal world of dances and intense emotion.  The theme was music of the Russian heritage of the pianist himself, including many of her favourite pieces by composers such as Kabalevsky, Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninoff.

“Hey,” murmured Minseok, prodding her in the side and making her jump as the lights came back up again.  She opened her eyes and realised that at some point she’d rested her head on his shoulder without realising.  “Are you too tired for the piano concertos after the interval?  Do I need to take you home?”

She shot upright.  There was a Shostakovitch piano concerto after the interval – the orchestra was already beginning to set up – and there was absolutely no way she was going to miss that.  Minseok studied her expression carefully and apparently arrived at that conclusion too, because he grinned.

“Good.  I’ve been enjoying this.  I recognised a couple of pieces too – you can play some of them, can’t you?”

Semi nodded.  “Rachmaninoff is one of my favourite composers, though some of his stuff is really hard to play.”

Minseok looked at her for a long moment.  “You’re talented,” he said eventually.

Ice cream was the order of the day – or evening – for the interval, and before too long, they were back in their seats as the lights dimmed and the concert began again.  There was a Tchaikovsky piano concerto Semi didn’t know before  the Shostakovitch one, but it wasn’t until the second movement of the Shostakovitch that her head found its way back onto Minseok’s shoulder as she relaxed, sighing in contentment as the familiar music swelled around her.

After several moments, Minseok’s hand rested gently on the top of her head.

“This is one of the ones you can play,” he murmured.  Semi nodded.  “It sounds different with an orchestra.”

“It sounds better with one.”  She felt his fingers tangling absently in her hair.  It was pleasurable, and she fought off the urge to squirm happily.

“No,” he disagreed.  “Just different.”

They fell silent and remained so until the end of the concert.  Semi wasn’t sure if she was more disappointed that the music had finished or that she had to lose her comfortable human headrest.

“Dinner?” he asked her as she reluctantly got up and stretched.  She blinked at him in surprise, only just realising that they hadn’t eaten.

“It’s nearly quarter to eleven, though.  Nowhere will be open.”

“Street stalls.  And I’m starving.”

It was pleasant, just hanging out together.  There was snow on the ground, but none in the air, and Minseok made sure to take Semi’s arm so that she wouldn’t slip on any ice.  It wasn’t even two minutes of walking before they came across a food stall and ducked under the marquee, Minseok nudging Semi in the direction of the lady serving the food.  Having been served two steaming portions of ddeokbokki, they found themselves a table to sit at in a corner away from the rest (Semi noticed Minseok checking that it was possible to undo the bindings fastening the marquee walls to the frame’s legs) and dug in.

“Ah, this takes me back,” Xiumin said, wiping his mouth on the back of his hand.  “Last time I had street ddeokbokki was over a couple of years back when I was out with Luhan.”

Semi felt clamp up, but there was a part of her that found it bizarre that Xiumin and Luhan had just wandered the streets eating ddeokbokki when all the restaurants were closed.

“Hey, eat up,” he encouraged.  “It’ll get cold.”

Cautiously, Semi dipped her chopsticks back into the ddeokbokki and shoved the food around.  She wasn’t particularly comfortable about mention of Luhan, but now that it had been brought up, it reminded her.

“Can you explain the Code to me now?” she asked.

He shrugged.  “I guess.”  He was silent for a few moments as he continued shovelling food into his mouth.  Then he tapped his chopsticks against the plastic table top and sat back.

“I’m only going to tell you what you really need to know,” he said, watching her as she hesitantly continued eating.  “Some of it’s really grim and shouldn’t be discussed with a meal, and parts of it we just don’t reveal to outsiders.  It’s kind of a combination between adopting somebody and signing a permanent treaty.  You don’t make it unless you’re serious about it or really like drinking blood.”

Semi grimaced.  Xuimin took another thoughtful mouthful.

“By drinking,” he continued, “you’re basically agreeing to help out whenever your blood brother is in trouble or asks for help.  Pretty much the only thing you don’t have to do is die for your blood brother.  But God help you if you betray the guy.”

“Why?” asked Semi.  “What about if you’re stronger than him and he’s a nuisance?”

“We’re getting off topic for what’s relevant to you, but the blood oath is taken very seriously in the underworld.  Sure, most people don’t trust each other as far as they can throw them, but if you break that promise, you’re scum.  Everybody comes after you.  I’ve seen it happe