“Achoo!”

Applejack looked on sympathetically at her sick employee. Reaching over to the bedside table, she put a box of tissues between her hooves and offered them to Autumn.

He eyed it, then shifted his gaze to Applejacks small smile. Returning it, he reached for the box.

“Thanks…” Autumn said weakly. He took a tissue and blew his nose into it before throwing it into the bin sitting on the other side of the bed.

“Y’know,” Applejack began, amused, “ya wouldn’t have caught that cold if you weren’t running out in the rain all half naked.”

Autumn forced an embarrassed laugh, scratching the back of his head idly.

“I guess I wasn’t really thinking with my head,” he replied. Applejack raised an eyebrow.

“Then what were ya thinkin’ with?”

Autumn adopted a thoughtful look in the resulting moment of silence before replying.

“My heart, I suppose. Well, hearts can’t think, but, uh…” Autumn trailed off as he realized that he could probably go on rambling forever if he didn’t stop himself. “…you know what I mean.”

Applejack didn’t seem to have noticed his lapse in speech. She was far more focused on what he had said rather than what he hadn’t. Her smile widened, and her eyes shone like emeralds in the sunlight. She put a hoof on Autumn’s open hand.

“Ah'm glad," Applejack said quietly. She blinked, then proceeded to overthink what she had said. "Ah mean, not that you got a cold or nothing, just, that....w-well, y'know-"

She paused as Autumn slowly wrapped his fingers around her hoof. They pressed into her fur to the point where she could feel the heat radiating off of them, warming her, reassuring her.

"Yeah." Autumn couldn't help himself from smiling.  "I know."