Deer Luhan, With Love

79

Chapter 79 – In Which I Take Things Literally

Deer Luhan,

I want my brain back.

Leigh

There weren’t very many places we could go.  The hospital had two gardens and a fair number of people were about, so in the interests of avoiding as many other humans as possible, Xiumin found us a secluded spot in one of the gardens and then sent Luhan back inside “just in case somebody sees us”.  Luhan was still extremely reluctant to leave.

“I hate this,” I grumbled, twitching my bare toes out of the blanket.  “I can’t even listen to music anymore without wanting to dance.  Not to mention I’m going to be horribly unfit when I get back home.”

“We’ve clearly been a good influence on you,” Xiumin said with a grin.

I scowled.  “You wish.  And the… the… whatever the painkiller is.  Can’t think straight.  It’s really annoying.  I keep mixing things up.”

He carefully patted my uninjured shoulder.  “It’ll pass, it’ll pass.”

“Yes, but when?  It keeps making me throw up and I don’t like it.”  I coughed weakly.  “Ow.”

“The painkillers… you’re going to need another few weeks with them.  You’re not going to be out of hospital for at least a month.”

I pouted.

“Luhan’s already discussing getting you home with your parents.  Provided you recover at the rate you’re doing now, you’ll be home in early March.  Your dad thought continuity of care was important.  Particularly when your mum is ready to kill anything that looks vaguely like you or Luhan.”

I frowned.  I wasn’t sure if I’d actually spoken to my dad myself, but it felt like I might have done.

“I didn’t want to bring this up, but… you do know how low your chances of survival were, right?”  Xiumin cast me an anxious glance, trying to gauge my reaction.  I tried to shrug, but then remembered it wasn’t a very good idea.

“Somebody did mention something about percentages and having the luck of a bat, but I was kind of delirious.  I think.”  I paused.  “There were unicorns.”

Xiumin snorted softly.

“I was watching Finding Nemo yesterday,” I said.  “Do you know why D.O. tried to bite me when I told him he was going to be my squishy?”

“Random topic change,” Xiumin observed.  “And probably because he’s not a jellyfish but wanted to act out the scene as best he could.”

“Lay said I shouldn’t be calling D.O. my squishy, too,” I remembered.  “He said I should call Sehun my squishy, but Sehun isn’t squishy.”

Xiumin chuckled again and leant on the back of my chair.  “They’re probably just trying to take advantage.  Hospital can mean romantic situations.”

“I don’t see what’s romantic about them.  There are people dying and machines everywhere and it’s painful and they smell too clean.”

“I think you’re taking everything a bit literally.”

I yawned and coughed again, wriggling my toes back under the blanket.  “I still want D.O. to be my squishy.”

“He was the one who gave you pneumonia.  Which you still have, because your body’s immune system is pretty much wrecked.”