A rainy day in the body

Glomerulus and a few of her colleagues were standing near the entrance of the temple in the kidney they worked and lived in. There wasn't really that much to do right now, so some of them could take a little break from their duty of cleaning red blood cells. From what they had heard, it was currently raining heavily outside, since the body was ingesting a large amount of alcohol, so a lot of red blood cells were now either sitting in the liver or on their way there to get rid of that nasty substance in order to be able to continue working. But she knew from experience that the arrival of a big number of erythrocytes in the kidney was very likely to follow soon, so it could get a lot busier any minute. That's why she needed to prepare herself mentally for it, since it required the glomeruli to run around and do everything in their might to get all the delivery men clean as fast as possible. So gathering energy and strength was crucial now. And as she was standing there, immersed in thought, there was suddenly a loud thud right at the entrance of the temple, making her turn around in surprise. Thanks to the crowd that had gathered there, however (consisting mainly of her coworkers), she wasn't able to see anything. So she decided to come closer and take a look as well. One of her colleagues spotted and approached her. "Say, isn't that the big guy, who's always visiting you?"  Glomerulus stood on tiptoes and could finally see what the matter was: a male cell, an erythrocyte, was lying flat on his stomach basically at the threshold of the temple, barely moving and, as it seemed, without any intention of getting up. And indeed, it was him. That one red blood cell she would have recognized everywhere and anytime among millions. "QJ-kun!" Consumed with fear and worry, she ran up to the latter, squeezing past the other glomeruli, and fell on her knees in front of him. "QJ-kun, what happened?" She removed his cap that was drenched in some substance (just as his clothes were) and discovered that his face was bright red. He hiccuped, opened his eyes and looked up, starting to giggle as he saw her. "Uh… h-hey, Glomerulus-chan…" Oh, right, the rain. He was obviously completely drunk. The red blood cell tried to stand up, but was so dizzy he only managed to get on his knees, no further, struggling to not fall back again. Still looking concerned, Glomerulus placed her hand on his wet cheek, not caring about the fact that her coworkers were watching. He must have gotten a really huge dose of that alcohol rain. "What are you doing here? You should have gone to the liver." As happy as she was to see him, she didn't really understand it, since the kidney was clearly not the right place to visit in his current state. Unfortunately, she wasn't able to help him at all right now. "Dunno, jus' went here an' all…" He had trouble articulating his words and arranging his thoughts. Glomerulus kept stroking his cheek, trying to think of what to do. She obviously couldn't accompany him to the liver herself, since she couldn't leave the kidney, so a few of the other red blood cells, who were there right now, would have to be asked. She had already seen drunk red blood cells during her life, so that wasn't exactly new to her, but they had never been so drunk they couldn't stand on their feet anymore and neither had she ever expected to see him in such a state. Poor guy. As she was still thinking, his shaking arms suddenly gave up on him, and he collapsed again, but she somehow managed to catch him just in time, almost falling to the floor together with him and being buried under his body. His head landed on her shoulder in the process, and she could feel his labored breathing against her neck, but didn't have the time to blush nor to be flustered about it, since she was currently struggling with all her might to hold him up. "Sorry… I'm… heavy, huh?" He was, indeed. Very heavy. So heavy, she didn't know how much longer her strength would last. Due to having an often stressful job in that body, Glomerulus couldn't exactly be called neither weak nor delicate, but still.  The red blood cell finally placed his hands on the floor at both of her sides and managed to pull some of his weight off her with visible effort. Then he closed his eyes, his head still resting on her shoulder, smiled and giggled drunkenly again. "Haven' crushed you… you're alright… so glad…" Hearing these words, said with audible relief, she couldn't help smiling as well, despite the situation. So he was caring about her even now. However, she wasn't actually that surprised about that fact, she knew him, after all. Drunk or not, he would always remain the same QJ0076. Some of her coworkers had rushed to her rescue and were now helping at holding him up, trying to get him to stand. No easy task at all, since he was taller and more muscular than most red blood cells. "Jus' wanted to be wit' you… always wit' you… forever wit' you…" he mumbled near her ear. It was barely audible, but she understood every word. Alright. Now she did blush. Furiously. From the corner of her eye, she saw a few red blood cells now running up to them as well. One of them was the one with the glasses, who had arrived from another body. Together, they finally managed to pull him up to his feet, where he stood a bit shakily, but nevertheless stood. Glomerulus bent down to pick up his cap and stood on tiptoes in order to put it back on his head. He smiled at her and petted her head lovingly for a moment, before being led away by two other red blood cells, who had volunteered to bring him to the liver. Glomerulus wondered if he would be alright. However, the rain seemed to finally have ceased, so they should arrive safely. Her face started to burn with heat as she recalled what he had said to her in his drunken state, and unspeakable happiness flooded her entire body. She knew he was even shyer than her regarding topics like feelings, so that she often had to take matters into her own hands, but actually didn't really mind, because he was never lying (especially not about things like that) nor trying to hide anything from her. Everything he did was absolutely genuine, and she could really sense his feelings without him even needing to say them out loud. However…  However… being able to actually hear them… was bringing her a joy she couldn't even describe. She wished he could be so frank with her without the influence of alcohol. Her blush remained on her cheeks for the entire day, but the other glomeruli didn't ask any questions. They had already gotten used to seeing her and that particular red blood cell together, and knew what was going on, and since that didn't interfere with her work, they didn't mind. Love wasn’t a crime, after all. Even for cells. *** A few days passed after the incident without her seeing even a trace of him. Glomerulus was worried and hoping he was alright, since the fear of something happening to him was constantly present in her mind. But he probably was just too embarrassed to face her for now. That would be typical of him. And just as she was thinking about that during one of her breaks, looking at the ground, she suddenly saw a big shadow appear in front of her and raised her gaze, spotting a blushing QJ standing there, playing nervously with his fingers and avoiding looking her in the eye. "Uhm… about what happened the other day…" he began as he noticed that he had her attention now, finally looking at her. "Yes?" "I'm so sorry!" The red blood cell bowed before her. "I have no clue why I headed here in the first place. Just that I was drunk and knew I should have gone to the liver, which would be the most logical thing, right? But somehow, I wanted nothing more than to come here, instead. And then I collapsed at the entrance… what happened after that, I don't remember, but I'm sure to have caused you so much trouble! Please forgive me!" Glomerulus giggled. It was absolutely adorable how dramatic he was being right now. She kinda liked the fact that he behaved like this only towards her and no one else. Well, at least, she had never seen him being so timid towards his erythrocyte-friends. QJ averted his gaze again, blushing even more. "I… didn't say or do anything to you… did I?" Glomerulus smiled and raised her hand in order to turn his face back into her direction. "Yes, you did." The erythrocyte's face went from red to pale in a matter of seconds. He stared at her in utter fear, and his wide opened eyes seemed to be practically begging 'Don't hate me, oh, please don't hate me!' Her smile grew bigger. She quickly let her gaze wander around the place, seeing that no one was looking at them right now, then grabbed QJ's arm in order to make him bend down a bit and finally kissed him on the cheek.  "You did. But nothing you have to apologize for." The red blood cell's face was now so red and burning so hot, you could bake cookies on his forehead.