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danafeelingsick · 2 years

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ʜᴀᴘᴘʏ ʙɪʀᴛʜᴅᴀʏ, ᴅɪʟᴜᴄ 2/2

NON-KINK BLOGS AND MINORS DNI

PART 1

PART 1.5

In which Diluc eats more than he should've at his own birthday party organized by Kaeya, and ends up sick only to find out something has gone sour.

ᴀᴏ3

ᴄᴏɴᴛᴇɴᴛ ᴡᴀʀɴɪɴɢ nausea, bloating, overeating, overindulgence, food poisoning, burping, fever, graphic descriptions of vomiting, vomiting in public, verbal abuse, stomach ache

ᴡᴏʀᴅ ᴄᴏᴜɴᴛ 5.2k~

❝𝙳𝚒𝚕𝚞𝚌 𝚋𝚊𝚛𝚎𝚕𝚢 𝚑𝚊𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚜𝚝𝚛𝚎𝚗𝚐𝚑𝚝 𝚝𝚘 𝚝𝚞𝚛𝚗 𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚑𝚎𝚊𝚍 𝚋𝚎𝚏𝚘𝚛𝚎 𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚌𝚑𝚎𝚎𝚔𝚜 𝚋𝚞𝚕𝚐𝚎𝚍 𝚘𝚞𝚝, 𝚟𝚘𝚖𝚒𝚝 𝚜𝚙𝚛𝚊𝚢𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚙𝚊𝚜𝚝 𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚕𝚒𝚙𝚜 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚌𝚘𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚏𝚛𝚘𝚗𝚝 𝚘𝚏 𝙺𝚊𝚎𝚢𝚊'𝚜 𝚌𝚑𝚎𝚜𝚝.

It took Diluc a while to admit it, but something was wrong. If he hadn't been so engrossed listening to the conversation, he would've realized sooner. Or maybe, he had just tricked himself into ignoring the symptoms by shoving more food on top of them.

Regret soon dawned on him as he kept rolling the last few bites back and forth on his plate, none of it looked appealing anymore, and his mouth tasted odd. If his stomach could talk, it would be cussing him off.

Diluc had to breathe carefully, trying to contour the growing discomfort it would cause every time his taut paunch pressed against his belts. It was almost as if his dinner was breathing along with him, the motion sending it climbing up his esophagus and sliding back down.

At some point, he had laid a hand over the curve on his abdomen, sometimes letting it rest on his thigh when it came to suspicion, but when he was sure no one was looking, he would try to get his bloated stomach to settle by carefully rubbing it. Sometimes opting for running a finger between his collar and his neck to try and leave a little room for his adam's apple.

It would do nothing more than provide a fleeting relief when he managed to get a few small silent burps out of it, but soon enough the taste of acid would return to his mouth.

It was just an uncomfortable pressure at first, he could feel his stomach every time he swallowed, but it quickly evolved into an uncomfortable slimy sensation looming over him, almost like his throat all the way to his gut was growing smaller. Before he could do anything about it, without a doubt, it had become a swirling queasy feeling in the pit of his stomach.

Diluc raised his eyes from the plate, settling his fork aside and taking a cup. His movements were calculated, the result of countless careful meetings and dinners, where he didn't know if the people were trustworthy, much less the food. He would slightly tilt the half-empty glass, let the juice touch his lips, and put it back where he found it.

No one seemed to be watching him, at least not anymore. He had managed to stay silent and simply exist in the room, listening to the chatter going back and forth. And yet, he felt the discomfort of having an unseen eye glued to his back, staring at him just from the corner of his vision.

Kaeya was in the middle of a one-sided discussion with Amber, who had already drifted off to sleep with her head on Eula's shoulder. Something about work and reports, and expeditions. Diluc was trying to keep up, but he was quickly lost to boredom.

Why did they even invite him if they were just going to discuss the Knight's troubles?

He drifted his attention to Lisa, who had pulled out a book and was patiently reading through it, sipping a glass of wine at the same speed she would devote to her work. Maybe he could take her as an example and simply ignore this whole thing.

He wasn't paying attention, Diluc noticed, watching as Kaeya carried the conversation, his face was flushed ever so slightly, almost unnoticeably under his tan. Nothing changed. He should've known better.

He should've known this party wasn't meant for him. It was all to stroke his own ego. To annoy him in the process. He should've just left when he had the chance.

“Is something the matter?” he heard him lean over and ask, meeting his eye to find a slimy smirk just underneath it.

The question caused Diluc to relax the frown he had been unknowingly holding, briefly closing his eyes and clearing his throat. Had he been transparent the whole time? He simply waved his head, his lips pressed thin as he bit the inside of his cheek.

“Oh, would you like some more?” he asked him, the distinct slosh of a half-empty bottle being raised to his attention.

Absolutely not, he thought immediately but opted for saying: “I think I've had enough, thank you…”

“Suit yourself”, he completed his tone carefully before returning to the usual playfulness as he turned back to the table.

As soon his sights were off him, Diluc resumed pouting at the scattered remains on his plate, he barely had the energy to mask his discomfort.

The feeling in his stomach had ripened from a queasy fullness to a constant, now certain nausea. He couldn't help but keep swallowing, almost involuntarily, every time it washed over him in waves, bringing an almost metallic taste to his mouth.

Diluc had eyes fixed on the half-glass of grape juice in front of him, its taste simmering in his mind, finding countless things that could be wrong with it. His lips hitched into a grimace as he realized how naive he had been, trusting something Kaeya gave him to drink. Kaeya, of all people.

The young master placed a gloved hand on his forehead, curving to rest his elbow on the table, his vision seemed to be slightly, almost unnoticeably blurry. His mouth felt far too wet, his eyes too dry, like the heat rising from his cheeks was boiling his eyeballs.

And his stomach– It felt like something was growing inside it, the restless churning like a writhing living being agonizing.

He gulped, the muscles of his throat audibly rubbing against one another, the motion seeming to send a large lump of air flushing down his throat.

“...guh”, the noise escaped him, along with a line of thick drool lazily trailing the side of his mouth.

He was sick, he had to admit it. He was sick to his stomach, and trapped in a room full of people. Something he ate must've been spoiled. He had been poisoned.

Maybe there was still time for a swift escape.

Diluc shakingly raised his eyes to find the entire room staring at him, his stomach plummeted to his feet. Out of some animalistic impulse, he backed out, dragging his chair on the wooden floor, the noise grating to his ears, his legs wobbly as he tried to stand up.

“Diluc, going so soon?” Kaeya's voice comes from his left, carrying confusion in his tone. “You hadn't cut the cake yet.”

He tensed as he heard it, latching onto the arm of his chair as his knees trembled. The thought of eating anything more made him lock his throat, his chest growing tighter as panic bloomed inside of it.

“I… I'll–”, even though he wasn't sure what he meant to say, his mind seemed to have come to a screeching halt as he felt his stomach jump under his belt. “...bur–”

“Master Diluc…? Is everything okay?” Jean's voice came from his right, soft and gentle, heavy with worry. He found her eyes glued to his face, wide with the same panic.

He briefly opened his mouth to speak, but all that came out was a gurgle deep within his stomach, announcing its contents rushing up his throat.

Diluc desperately clasped a hand over his mouth, his cheeks suddenly bulging out as searing watery vomit scorched his tongue. He realized with a shuddering exhale leaving his nostrils, how clearly it tasted like grilled meat, sickly sweet and half-burned mixed with awfully bitter, fermented grape juice.

The screeching of a chair being pulled sent him into further panic, causing his chest to heave, nearly inhaling the vomit filling his mouth. He was turned on his heels by a pair of quick hands, the motion sending his head in a full spin.

“What's wrong with—?” Kaeya began to ask, his words caught in his throat as he settled his eyes on Diluc. He had gone beyond pale, his otherwise intimidating scowl crumbled into pure misery as he covered his mouth, less than seconds away from bursting.

He didn't have much time to react before he saw his shoulders heave, his eyes going so wide they could jump out of his skull. Vomit violently sprayed from between the cracks of his fingers, speckles of it landing on Kaeya's clothes, dotting his fuzzy scarf, sliding down the exposed part of his chest.

Kaeya recoiled and jumped back as a heavy soup-like mixture fell between his feet, staining his shoes and the carpet with purple beyond repair. He looked from the ground at Diluc who could only choke behind his hand, trying to stifle his coughs.

“Oh, my!” Lisa exclaimed from the other side of the table, shutting her book. While Eula gasped, one hand covering her mouth in surprise, Amber barely twitched as she snoozed on her shoulder.

Diluc was mortified as he stared at his own vomit soaking into the red carpet, tears were gathering in his eyes from the effort of repressing the heaving of his chest.

"...e-excuse me–”, he managed to squeak out before turning and bolting for the door, his stomach already winding up for a second serving.

Jean was already up on her feet while Kaeya eyed the door, forcing himself to make a decision fast. The two exchanged knowing looks as he sprinted past her, making a run after his sickly brother.

***

Kaeya stepped into the hall, the heels of his now ruined shoes clacking against the tiles, a sound he was used to. However, the pained retching and greedy gasps for air filling in the silence were something he wasn't entirely used to.

He didn't have to look any further to find the source of the noise.

Diluc had crumpled to his knees in the middle of the hall, both hands holding the ground as his back heaved violently. With the sounds coming from him, one could easily mistake him for a drowning man.

Kaeya rushed up to him, just in time to watch as he burped up a steady stream of watery vomit, struggling to come up with the denser parts of it. It landed between his hands with a heavy, almost sharp splatter, forming a puddle that quickly spread, staining the beige tiles with a purplish boiling mixture.

“Oh… Diluc, couldn't make it?”, the cavalry captain cooed, kneeling beside him on the hard cold tiles.

The acidic smell of sick scorched his nostrils, a mixture of spoiled grapes and fermented yeast laced with meat, and he did his best to block it out, but the feeling of now cold vomit drying over his skin sent disgust shuddering all over his body.

Diluc barely seemed to register his presence, he was breathing much too heavily, gagging over the steaming pile of vomit soaking into his gloves, struggling to come up with more to add to it. It sounded like he was choking, retching empty over the ground, but he refused to move from there. It felt like if he tried to move, he would dismantle like a ragdoll.

“Sounds like you overdid it, hum. It happens, and it's not the first…”, the captain commented, trying to add a little humor to the situation, but he cowered as soon as Diluc shot him a mortifying look.

His face had been drained of its usual color, leaving only greyish circles under his glossy eyes and a rosy tint to his cheeks and nose. There was fresh vomit still dripping from his mouth and nostril, his lips had gone a few shades paler.

“I should've realized sooner you weren't feeling well”, he lamented, his eyebrows knitted together, an apologetic crease on his lips. Diluc responded with another struggling retch, managing to produce a small trickle of bile dripping out of his tongue. “But don't worry, okay? I'm not too mad about you getting your sick all over me.”

“Go… go away”, he whispered, his tongue sizzling between his teeth as he mustered all of his energy into sounding intimidating.

“I'm afraid I can't leave my little brother alone in his moment of weakness”, Kaeya snorted, letting out a mocking chuckle as he found Diluc frowning at his words, but unable to do anything except gag.

Brother. The word sent a cold sinking feeling to his stomach, only upsetting it further as nausea held his innard in a vice-grip. They weren't brothers. They were never brothers.

Diluc lowered himself further to the ground as he felt his stomach quiver from disgust, his abdomen sinking as it squeezed itself empty. A gush of watery lumpy vomit splattered onto his hands, covering them in chunks of undigested pastries and leaving stains up to his elbows. He felt pitiful, worst now that the bastard was looming over, no doubt with a smirk on his face.

“Look at you, poor thing”, he cooed, nothing but pity laced in his voice, now daring to lay on his quivering back only to feel the man wince under his touch. “Don't worry, I'll—”

“...leave me… huff, alone”, he hissed in between wet gasps. Even though he didn't turn to look at him, his tone gave him pause. Diluc's voice was completely shot, but still, he mustered a husky, almost like a sizzle, dripping with hatred.

“I'd rather not. You look like you're about to fall over”, Kaeya noted, reluctantly retrieving his hand, but still leaving it hovering over his back.

Diluc was left panting, seemingly struggling to come up with more to add to the puddle. It was a surprise, given how easily it was for him to vomit when they were still in the office. Then, again, Kaeya knew well how it felt to have his stomach filled with fluid on top of dense, dubious food. He wasn't even halfway done.

“Say, why don't we move to the restroom?” Kaeya suggested, going to gently rearrange the strands of fiery red hair glued to Diluc's face. “No use in dirtying the headquarters anymore, right? Think of poor Noe—”, his fingers barely grazing his skin when he jerked away.

“Don't– urp, fucking touch me!” he yelled, having to stop midway to swallow when a trickle of saliva fell out of his mouth. His voice was gone by the end of his sentence.

“Now, calm down Diluc”, Kaeya backed off with both hands raised as the man huffed, glaring at him, wishing looks could kill. “No need for this.”

“How many times… do I have to tell you? Fuck off”, he dotted every word with a pant, shaking his head as he felt warmth rising to his forehead. “I don't want your fucking help.”

“I couldn't care less about what you want now”, Kaeya retorted, having to hold back the sneer in his voice. "You need help, you are sick.”

“I'm– guh”, Diluc stopped mid-sentence, having to swallow something dense that suddenly threatened to overflow his mouth. “And who's fault is this!?”

“What part of you being an unsociable brat is my fault, huh?”, the captain pinned the bridge of his nose, struggling to reason with his feverish and delirious brother. “We all come together to organize something for you, and you get this mad? What an–”

“For fuck's sake, Kaeya”, his voice was lower now, garbled with apparent nausea as he struggled to swallow again. “It was that… that thing you gave me to drink.”

“What, the grape juice?” Kaeya went cold, thinking of the circumstances that led to this moment. Had he stored the bottle appropriately? Closed it well? Left it in the sun? “Oh, no… I– You might be right”, that last part was barely a whisper. He kept a close eye on Diluc, watching as he raised a soiled glove hovering close to his mouth. “Is it– Are you going to puke again?”

Diluc couldn’t respond, his throat was convulsing under the pressure of his stomach, and he had to devote all of his concentration to keep it locked. He clenched his eyes shut, his attention shifting to something else entirely, what was once a wish for this to be over quickly turned into begging for it to not happen again. Not there.

“Think you can make it to the restroom this time?” Kaeya asked, but didn’t get an answer other than a shake of his head. Diluc had his lips pressed into a thin line, his soiled gloved hand, now cold and slimy still hovering close to his mouth. “Come on, get up. No point in staying here, making a further mess”, he ordered, now frantic.

Not so carefully, the cavalry captain laced his arms under his sickly brother and scooped him off the floor, his form going limp under his touch like a fancily dressed sack of potatoes. Diluc let out a struggling whimper as the motion sent his innards into a painful knot, a newfound wave of nausea slamming into him as he suddenly became vertical.

He tried to say something, but as Kaeya threw his hand over his shoulder, letting his chin rest on him, he attempted to take a step. Diluc barely had the strength to turn his head before his cheeks bulged out, vomit spraying past his lips and coating the front of Kaeya’s chest.

“Ugh, shit…”, Kaeya could only lament as he felt solid pieces slide down his cleavage, the warm stomach acid soaking into the fabric of his clothes and quickly cooling. Was that his punishment for the poisoning?

He noticed Diluc’s ragged breaths were leaving a strange fleeting warmth on his neck while his skin was burning up, his chest hitching as he could tell he was trying to keep himself from throwing up once more. “It’s fine, you’re fine. Just try to breathe, okay? We’ve got a short walk ahead of us.”

Diluc gave a weak groan in response, his constant gulping so close to his ear it was unnerving, but he kept himself fairly awake, although with eyes closed to spare him of the blurred sights. He could tell Kaeya was struggling to carry him, given the small portions of alcohol still rushing along with his blood, but they made it up the stairs in less time than he could count, all the while reassuring him that everything would be alright.

It was fitting, almost, he thought, with how many times he had been vomited on by him during a drunk night, even more so in their youths. Diluc didn't have much time to ponder on it, his mind seemed to be working at a snail’s pace, and before he noticed, he was being lowered in front of a toilet bowl.

“There you go”, Kaeya huffed, kneeling along with him and only letting go when he saw Diluc wrap his arms around the cold porcelain, groaning pitifully. “May I? Rub your back now? You look like you need it.”

The sickly man wasn't up for conversation, he leaned further into the bowl, his face looming several inches away from the water and below.

“You… smell”, he grunted and spat a thick gob of foul-tasting saliva. “...disgusting.”

“The nerve”, Kaeya said, feigning the indignation in his voice, a hand hovering over his chest but not daring to touch the mess smeared over it. “That would be a no?”, no response except a small pitiful gag. “I'll just… leave you to it, then. Call me if you need it, I'll be just around the corner, changing out of these.”

He turned to leave, taking his sweet time to put his hand around the doorknob, in the middle of turning it, the door creeping open, he heard:

“...wait”, and he did, watching from over his shoulder as Diluc gripped the toilet bowl, gagging empty into it. “Can you… guh, fix my hair? It's getting in my eyes.”

The way he said it and the tone of his voice, almost like he was begging, had Kaeya's heart splitting into, kneeling back down beside his sickly brother.

“Of course”, he murmured a confirmation, taking the fiery red ponytail and carefully undoing it, holding the hair tie between his lips. Ever so gently touching his skin with the tip of his fingers as he brushed the strands and gathered them in his hand.

Diluc's hair was long and silky, his soft curls reaching to the middle of his back. He was almost distracted by the lack of cut when he noticed him tense up under his hands, a shuddering breath escaping his nose. He heard him swallowing, the pained gurgles of his insides, and he knew it.

“Go ahead, I've got you”, he instructed with the tie still between his lips, keeping Diluc's long hair behind his head with one hand, the other holding his feverish forehead and his uncut bangs out of the way. “Don't worry, I'm here.”

Diluc groaned in acknowledgment, not another second passing before a short belch cut through his throat. He pitched forward, a lengthy gush of puke coming up without much struggle, splattering into the water. Kaeya's hands followed his movements, applying a slight chilly touch to Diluc's scorching skin, gently guiding him through the motions as he kept heaving, the stream thinning out into a false stop.

“Easy… Just try to breathe”, he coaxed in a gentle whisper. “Breathe, Diluc… That's it.”

He tried, but his breathing sounded wet and desperate, setting into motion a fit of painful coughing as something got caught in his nose. It felt like his food pipe was rattling inside his chest, shaking until it came loose, sending vomit flushing out of him without any warning.

“That's it, get everything out”, he repeated, bothering with tucking the strands of his brother's hair behind his ear before he used the now free hand to rub his back.

Gurgling painful retches poured off Diluc at the same pace his stomach poured out of his mouth, in large bouts of sick guzzling out of him, continuously splashing inside the toilet loudly. It was no longer that concentrated purple color, now a less augmented more pinkish color, laced with reds of meats and browns of pastries, greens of leaves, and bright yellows of his stomach juices.

At that point, he didn't even want to think about the birthday cake, the guests who saw him, and their faces of disgust, but it kept lingering in the front of his mind. The guilt, the shame, the humiliation, leaving him stranded in an isle of pure cold panic.

“Shh, calm down. I'm right here”, Kaeya kept whispering, twirling the red hair around his hand to allow his fingers to caress his scalp. “You're okay…”

He wasn't, he was nearly drowning in his own sick, powerless to stop his body from purging its insides onto the toilet bowl. He could only alternate between wet coughs whenever he could breathe around the torrent leaving his mouth, and greedy gasps for air.

The water in the toilet had been thoroughly covered by layers upon layers of vomit, his stomach now tapping into what he had for breakfast that morning, the memory too buried under racing thoughts for him to even go look for it.

His eyes would flutter open as tears stung, but the sights of his own mess, the detailed chunks of barely digested food, clumps of wet bread and meat, cut-up vegetables, all bathed in glistening bile. It had him gagging further, forcing him to empty his stomach thoroughly, purging anything that came in contact with that horrid drink.

“Keep going now. Get it all out.”

Kaeya's words were being drowned out by his gurgling retches, losing their meaning every time he chose to say them. Yet, the hand on his back, tracing up and down the line of his spine, sent a welcoming cold to his feverish skin.

It seemed like it lasted forever, but eventually, he was left dry retching, his stomach nearly empty and sour like a popped balloon. There was a mixture of drool, snot, and warm puke hanging from his face in heavy threads, connecting him to the horrors below.

He spat viscously, trying to rid his mouth of that horrid taste, thick gobs of dense spit joining the top coating of congealed vomit in the toilet. He tried not to think of the possibility of it getting clogged.

“There you go, all done”, Kaeya said finally, hoping to be right this time. “That was… a lot, no wonder you were in so much pain. But it's okay now, you're done, right? You're okay?”

To his surprise, Diluc let out a shaking hum of confirmation, slightly nodding his head. There was nothing in his gray complexion and feverish skin that screamed okay, but still, he tried.

Kaeya went back to tending to his hair before he had the chance to interrupt it, arranging it in a low loose bun and tucking the strands that didn't make it in behind his ears.

“How are you feeling?”, he asked, running his palm over his back. “Better now that you managed to puke?”

“Ugh… I don't know”, Diluc groaned, not daring to raise his head from the bowl. “My stomach still… feels so sick.”

“Hum… this isn't good”, the captain sighed, guilt was creeping around in his chest. “I'm sorry, Diluc.”

“About…?”

“The juice was probably spoiled”, he finally admitted, genuine remorse boarding his voice. “I'm so sorry you had to go through this.”

Diluc gagged in his mouth, the realization sinking into his stomach like a rock in the middle of a lake. He knew it, he told him, but now, he barely had the energy to be angry. He slumped further into the toilet bowl, parting his lips to let a trickle of watery bile drip out and join the vomit below.

“Ugh… you're horrible, you know that?”, he panted, squeezing his eyes with newfound pain.

“Now that's going a bit too far. I already apologized”, Kaeya said simply, giving certainty that he wasn't all that sorry. Just guilty.

“You got me sick”, he muttered, sounding miserable. “Asshole.”

“Rude”, then silence, until a shy knock came at the door, giving both of them pause. “It might be Jean.”

Kaeya stood up and turned the door handle against Diluc's faint protests, he opened a creak to find the Acting Grandmaster herself, standing there wide-eyed, cradling supplies in her arms.

“Did he…?”, she asked, wrinkling her nose as she eyed the dried stains of caked vomit on his clothes and shoes, the trickle going down his bare chest, even in his hair over his shoulder.

“Yes, yes he did. And in the office, and the hall. And on himself. And now on the toilet, for a change”, Kaeya sighed deeply. “We'll have to quarantine the headquarters, most likely.”

“Don't even joke about it, please”, she returned the sigh, hers sounding more grieving. “So, how is he?”

“He's running a fever, complaining his stomach hurts. And it wouldn't surprise me if he managed to puke his childhood memories too”, Kaeya gave the rundown, trying to inject some unwanted humor into his summary. He barely earned a chuckle out of her. “Looks like food poisoning, but I think he was the only one that drank that grape juice.”

“My goodness”, she whispered, her eyes fixed on Kaeya's ruined shoes. “I'll go see if Barbara can help him in any way, but… I'm not too sure her vision allows her to cure these types of ailments. I mean, not even I–”

“Just… have medicine at the ready, in case”, he asked, watching as she shook her head and started rummaging through the stack of supplies in her arms.

“Here”, she extended a pile of folded clothes, he recognized it as a basic training uniform sewed together in all colors of thread. “I brought a change for him, but you look like you need it more.”

“Oh, thank you”, he took the clothes through the crack in the door, holding them away from his body. “Oh, actually, good thing you're here. Is the guest's room available, or is it still another storage room?”

“No, no, I just finished tidying it. You can take him there if you want”, Jean added, her expression indicating she had just forgotten it. “Do you need help taking him there?”

“It would be ideal, yes. But I'm sure he would never forgive himself if he got sick all over you too”, Kaeya added, eyeing over his shoulders the figure hunched over the toilet, barely moving.

“I really don't mind”, she said truthfully. “It wouldn't be the first, and besides, I've dealt with sickness before. It wouldn't be an issue.”

“If you insist. I'll go talk to him”, Kaeya decided, handing back the pile before he started closing the door.

“I'll put these away while you're at it.”

The door gently clicked shut behind Kaeya and he went back to kneeling where he was, laying a hand on Diluc's curved back to check how he was. His breathing was shallow, almost unnoticeable, but he slightly tilted his head to see the captain by his side, a look of pity on his face.

“Hey… How are you holding up?”, he asked, failing to recognize the irony in the phrase, he wasn't holding much of anything anymore. “Still… sick?”

He hummed weakly in response, struggling to keep himself awake, his eyes rolling to the back of his head only to return even glossier. The door creaked open.

“You're not planning on sleeping here, are you?” Kaeya joked but had a small suspicion the answer could be yes. “Well, there's a room at the end of the hallway waiting for you. Think you can make it there? Jean and I are here to help you.”

Diluc barely had the strength to respond, much less register the third person in the room with them, so he let out a short huff, indicating he had heard him. The nausea still hadn't cleared, but at that point, his stomach was so empty he could feel it sticking together like crumpled paper.

“Good”, Kaeya said, peeling his sickly brother off the floor and gently wrapping his arm around his neck. Diluc. “Up we go”, he said, slowly rising and supporting Diluc's whole weight over his shoulders. He felt a second pair of hands take his other arm, leaving him dangling between two tall figures. “Come on now.”

Jean didn't say a word until they reached the room, helping lower Diluc onto the bed. The man's weight off her barely made a difference. He sat there, looking half dead, supported by one of Kaeya's hands on his shoulder.

“We should try and get him to drink some water”, she commented, going to the old dusty nightstand and taking the bottle of water she had brought in earlier.

“Diluc? Would you like to drink some water?” Kaeya called, halfway through peeling his dirty gloves off. He simply shook his head, almost swaying in place. “Not now, then.”

Jean didn't insist, taking pity on seeing her former captain in such a miserable state, she stayed quiet, unsure of what to say as she watched Kaeya undo Diluc's attire, removing his shoes and helping him lay down.

“I'll stay with him 'till he sleeps if you don't mind. He's still running a fever”, he suggested, beginning to undo his own clothes with his back turned to her, a way to assure she would leave. “You should be heading home. It's quite late already.”

“Uh, alright…”, she said. “I'll be back in the morning with Barbara.”

The door opened, the door closed, and the two of them were left alone, in deafening silent swimming in his ears. Kaeya finished changing and sat down, laying a chilled hand onto Diluc's forehead, their skins melting against one another.

“I'm sorry…”, he whispered one more, meaning it, but Diluc had already drifted off to sleep.

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