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She can’t help but sigh in relief once she finally enters the hotel lobby, the cold room is a relief to her after having been out below the uncaring rays of the summer sun.
She may have lived in it during her childhood but Liyue’s summers are something that she never got used to, especially after moving to Inazuma.
In silence she makes her way towards the elevators, when she passes the receptionists desks Lumine throws a quick greeting. Luckily for her the elevator is empty and while she uses it none else is in need of it.
Thinking about nothing she watches as the number above the door changes and after some seconds the number 8 appears and the door opens for her.
Getting out of the elevator empty and long halls are the only thing that greets her, she walks fast through them, she is in a hurry and she would prefer to run, but she’s not fond of the idea of annoying the other guests. So in a fast but silent walk, she crosses through the carpeted hallways, her destination is one of the farthest rooms, and while on other occasions the long walk was something that she enjoyed, right now, is nothing more than an annoyance to her.
Finally, she arrives at the room 366 and takes out the card to unlock the door in seconds. She enters and she’s met with a room that is almost freezing, as bad as she is at surviving the hot climate her companion is even worse.
With the exception of the bathroom lights, all of the other lights are turned off, the room in almost total obscurity. At the end of the hall is the bathroom, she passes it and debates if she should close the door, but decides better against it, her partner probably left it like that in case of an emergency.
And speaking of her partner.
“Thoma?”
The figure hiding below the bed sheets barely moves but answers her with a groan.
“I suppose you’re still sick?” The sheets rustle, and slowly he comes out of the cocoon he buried himself in. It’s only thanks to the little light that escapes the bathroom that she manages to see him.
His hair is a mess, going in all directions and she knows that the longer part by now is all tangled, she doesn’t know what expression is on his face but probably not a good one. Exhaustion and discomfort is what she would see if there was more light to illuminate.
Gently, he finishes disentangling himself off all the sheets and sits up, his back seeking support from the headboard. He slumps against it, and after some seconds of nothing, a sigh escapes his lips.
“Good news,” his voice is rough, and it comes as an elongated wheeze, considering that by this point his throat is probably raw is no surprise, ”the last time I threw up was, uhhh,” His head turns to the nightstand, the digital clock shows 5:32, “mmm, it was…”, the moment Thoma starts to do calculations with his fingers she decides to let him sort it out while she goes to put away the things she was crying.
On a normal day Thoma may be a competent person, but when he falls sick it’s almost as if he forgets everything that he knows.
She’s putting the drinks and other things she bought inside the fridge when his triumphant scream of “two hours ago!” sounds, and then is followed by an incessant cough.
By the time she arrives at his side once again, the cough stops, and Thoma is slightly punching his chest with his fist.
She softly pats his back, even though she knows the coughs aren’t caused by something stuck on his throat and instead are caused by it’s state (Thoma spent all the past night throwing up nonstop, by this point his throat is probably all raw and destroyed, the fact that he can still talk honestly surprises her.)
“And your stomach? Is it still hurting?” She stops with the pats and now draws circles clockwise over his back. “No, the pain stopped some hours ago. It’s just some nausea here and there.”
“Have you been drinking water? I also bought you some electrolyte drinks if you want one.”
She leaves his side once again, and he lays down on the bed.
She’s walking around the room when she notices a half-eaten hamburger over the table.
“Thoma! Please tell me you weren’t eating a fucking hamburger when just hours ago you were puking your guts out.”
“It’s Ayaka’s! I swear! She came an hour ago because in her words Ayato and Yoimiya were being their dramatic selves and were lamenting the fact that she could eat while they could not, so she needed a place where she could eat in peace and also wanted to check on me while you were out.”
She doesn’t necessarily doubt Thoma’s words, but she also doesn’t totally believes them.
“Mmmm” she says instead, preferring not to answer anything else.
“Ah! Come on Lumi! You don’t really believe me dumb enough to eat something like that when I’m currently dying because of my stomach. Please have some faith in me.”
In silence, she wraps what’s left of the hamburger in the paper, and puts it once again in its bag.
“Honestly, if you had asked me that yesterday morning I would have said no, but after yesterday’s afternoon events I have started to accumulate doubts.”
He does a sound akin to a squeal, and if she were able to see his face she knows that it would be painted in crimson.
“You will now never allow me to forget about it, will you?” His voice sounds muffled, maybe he’s covering his face with his hands trying to hide his embarrassment.
Lumine justly believes that after his stunt a little embarrassment is what he deserves.
“No. And considering that you still remind me to this day about the ‘Narakumi incident’, it’s just fair that I will use yesterday’s incident as payback.”
An offended gasp leaves his lips, ”well, I have to let you know that in fact, the ‘Narakumi incident’ was the dumbest thing that I have seen you do, so of course id my obligation to remind you of it every chance that I have.”
She admits, he does have a point, the ‘Narakumi incident’ was in fact the least tough and dumbest decision of her life. (And that’s why to this day she still blames Itto.)
But!
But!
“And eating in the shadiest, roaches cooking your food and rats sitting in your table, kind of restaurant is a clearly the superior decision when it comes to our dumb ideas?”
Thoma doesn’t answer.
Yeah, that’s what she thought.
And then, “In my defense, I wasn’t the only one in charge of choosing where to eat?”
“So your defense is that I can’t call your decision stupid because in the end, it was not only your decision but instead the one of 4 other persons. Persons who supposedly just like you are grown adults with serious jobs and that pay taxes, and still none of you saw any problem with eating in a place that probably never passed any of its health inspections?”
“When you put it like that… Uhhh, Shinobu saw no problem?”
“While I admit that Shinobu is usually the one with common sense, you forget that she has been Itto’s ride or die for more than a decade.”
And anyone that is able to maintain a friendship with Itto for that long is bound to have their common sense a little bit, off. Is what goes unsaid.
Whatever argument Thoma is trying to conjure never comes and it’s clear that finally, he’s admitting the dumbassery that was yesterday’s decision.
Now that their chat has ended, exhaustion grabs Thoma once again and slowly he starts to fall asleep.
“I’m going to check on Ayaka, stars above know that by this point Ayato and Yoimiya have probably already driven her insane.”
Maybe she’ll goad Ayaka on tormenting both over their stupid decision, Ayaka deserves to be allowed to torment them back.
“I’m probably also checking on Shinobu and Itto. Feeling a little guilty over the fact that Itto is the one looking after her.”
Thoma hums letting her now that he heard her, she’s almost at the door when she hears him mutter “I still consider it unfair that Itto didn’t get sick, he was the one that ate the most!”
“Considering that Itto is able to eat Ayato’s experiments with no issue I don’t think that it was unexpected. Try to rest more, I’ll come back soon.”
Another “hmmm” is her answer and she leaves for the other rooms.
Today she will fret and worry over them, but she has the feeling that once they get better this will be nothing more than a funny and embarrassing anecdote that she will be able to hold over them.
And considering that they hold several over her she can just call it leveling the field.