Chapter Text
Aether felt like hell.
His body felt like it was on fire and his head felt as if someone stacked heavy rocks onto them. He tried to get up from his bed but then a searing pain made its way to his head before making him feel nauseous and he toppled out of his bed with a loud ‘THUD’ as he groaned from the fall. He was tangled around his blanket and couldn’t muster up the strength to get back up. He felt like crying. Everything hurts.
A knock could be heard coming from his bedroom door, accompanied by a familiar voice.
“Aether? Are you alright in there? I heard some strange noises coming from your room so I came to check.” The voice sounded concerned for him. At that moment, Aether recalled what had happened. He was travelling in a party of 4 consisting of Diluc,Kaeya, Thoma and himself to help resolve some forest corruption issue that had been going on in Sumeru recently. The weather in the rainforest is always unpredictable and it keeps raining one moment before shining brightly and being hot and humid the next. Aether was surprised how he hadn’t caught a fever earlier. He was already finished with the commissions in Sumeru and was looking forward to have some break, only to catch the flu just as he finished his commission. Great, just his luck.
Aether nearly forgot that someone knocked on his door before the same voice brought his attention back to the present.
“Pardon the intrusion Aether, but I’m coming in.” The voice said before giving him a few seconds to make sure that he was ready before the sound of his bedroom door can be heard opening. Aether didn’t even have the energy to even get up and make himself look presentable. So he continued laying on the floor in a tangled mess as he looked up blearily at the bedroom ceiling of his teapot realm.
“ What the- Aether?” The voice said in alarm before the sound of rushing footsteps came closer to him. Diluc rushed to the younger male and made sure to check if Aether had sustained any injuries from their previous commissions. He hadn’t seen any on him yesterday but he might have overlooked it.
Diluc recoiled when he found that Aether felt burning to the touch, his face flushed and a light sheen of sweat coated his pale skin followed by painful wheezing that can be heard with every breath he took.
Aether sobbed in pain as he was cradled in Diluc's arms, rubbing his face further into his chest to try and find some sort of relief from the redhead.
Diluc felt like his heart was clenched to the point of suffocation seeing the golden retriever of a boy wrenched in suffering like this. He lifted Aether and placed him back onto his soft bed before righting the blanket that was tangled up from Aether's earlier tumble from bed. He brushed his hand across the blonde’s forehead in reassurance before promising him that he'll come back as soon as possible. Aether didn't want him to leave and clutched on the sleeve of his shirt weakly to make him stay.Diluc's face was gentle as he took his hand in his before kissing it softly and rubbing it to soothe him.
"It's alright Aether, I'll be as quick as possible to return to you." Aether felt weak to even protest and eventually just nodded at him in response before letting go of Diluc's arm sleeve.
Soft footsteps can be heard leaving his room leaving him in a brief silence all alone. Times like this he regrets not getting blinds for his room. The piercing sunlight was now mocking him by shining as bright as possible today, giving him an even worse migraine. He groaned painfully before shutting his eyes tightly to try and block the sunlight out.
As fast as he left, now more footsteps can be heard hastily approaching his room. Diluc wasn't joking around when he said he'll be as quick as possible to return to him. Aether couldn't even muster the energy to even reopen his eyes to check if it was really Diluc.
" Wow…you weren't kidding when you said our dear traveller had succumbed to a fever. Here I thought you were being too much of a mother hen to him, Diluc." Kaeya's voice filled in the former silence.
" Oh dear! How could this happen?- actually I've always known this is bound to happen someday, I've always advised Aether to take it easy at times or else he's going to fall ill and now look what happened." The sound of Thoma nagging like a mother closeby just made Aether feel even worse that he's burdening his team and for not listening to them enough.
" Quiet. No need to make Aether feel even more worse when he's ill. I brought you all here so that we can discuss taking turns to care for him while still running our daily errands. Diluc’s serious tone silenced the two men. They did look sheepish and sorry for barging in on the sick person.
" I can handle the house chores here and help cook something easy for him to eat. I'm not in a rush to go back to the Kamisato estate after finishing our commissions here in Sumeru." Thoma volunteered cheerfully as he mentally made some healthy meal recipe preparations in his head to nurse his friend back to health.
Diluc nodded gratefully towards him. " You have my thanks,Thoma." The redhead turned to look at Kaeya to discuss what the blue haired man should do for Aether when he saw the man already beside Aether and had placed his hand on top of Aether's forehead.
Kaeya hesitated when placing his hand on top of Aether's forehead, fearing that his touch would be unwelcome since his body always ran a little cold. He wasn't sure if Aether would dislike the cold touch but he managed to surprise Kaeya when a sigh of relief escaped the younger blonde as he leaned further into his cool touch.
Kaeya was now cradling Aether's face as the blonde had clearly passed out from fatigue after finally getting some cool relief to his feverish body. Kaeya's heart fluttered at how adorable Aether looked leaning his face into the palm of his hands before shaking away the thought. He needs to help his adorable friend recover and now is not the time to be flirting with a sick patient.
Kaeya glanced at Diluc before freezing in place. Caught by his lingering touches on Aether. Diluc was glaring at him wearily before letting out a defeated sigh.
" Kaeya, keep doing what you're doing now. Thoma and I both run hot due to our pyro vision. Only you can help him cool off a little from his fever." Diluc looked towards him to check if it was alright for him.
" If you don't want to, we could always- "
" I'll do it. I don't mind. Anything for our cute little traveller here~" Kaeya said in a teasing tone, before Thoma could even bring up another suggestion.
" A-are you sure Kaeya? I'm sure you'd be busy with work from the Knights in Mondstadt after leaving for Sumeru for so long." Thoma worriedly inquired.
" Jeez, if they can't survive without me being gone for a while longer then they don't deserve to be in the Knights of Favonius. " Kaeya rolled his eyes. " And I thought Diluc was the mother hen, now there's two of you. Ugh." Kaeya teased them both.
Diluc just glared at the cavalry captain while Thoma just guffawed and blushed in embarrassment at being called out for fussing too much.
" Well at least we wouldn't be in this situation if I had fussed and pushed even more for our party to take care of our health. Now look at what we got into! Poor Aether is in so much pain." Thoma furrowed his eyebrows in displeasure at seeing his friend suffering, his usual bright attitude dulled by the depressing atmosphere.
Diluc sighed. " You are not to blame, Thoma. All of us were careless regarding our health and even Aether knows the consequences of his actions. All we can do now is nurse him back to health and be more vigilant and careful in the future." The red head consoled him.
" Mmm. Alright, anyways I should be gathering ingredients now to prepare some healthy soup to feed Aether. He must be starving. Who will look after him while I'm gone?" Thoma changed the subject, still woeful that he didn't protect Aether enough.
" I have business to attend to as well. I need to inform the adventurers guild on our situation and that we might take a few days off from commissions." Diluc muttered in displeasure. He really didn't want to leave Aether’s side but he's sure that Aether would chide him if he didn't properly settle their business with the guild and end up looking rude to them. Which leaves-.
" I can stay by his side. I'll monitor his fever and keep his body temperature low." Kaeya declared before pulling up a chair and placing it beside Aethers bed. Aether moaned in distress when his source of comfort left his face before sighing in relief once more as Kaeya sat on the chair and continued to place his hand on his face to cool him off, the cooling sensation a balm to his soul. It felt so nice that Aether actually had shed a few tears of relief, anything to lessen the pain.
Kaeya frowned and tsk'd in concern before gently brushing his fingers against Aether's eyelashes to wipe away the stray tears.
Kaeya's chest felt stuffy looking at Aether so weak like this. The blonde had always been bright and the very definition of the sun with his bright and cheerful attitude. Now Aether is barely moving and unconscious. He never saw the boy looking this quiet and still before with such a sickly pallor to his skin. He felt eyes on him before looking up to meet Diluc’s calculating gaze.
"...I'm not gonna eat him, you know? Why are you staring at me like that? Even I won't do something to a sick person, Diluc ~" Kaeya teased him playfully with a tight smile not reaching his eyes.
Diluc gritted his teeth and clenched his fist before deciding to let it go for Aether’s sake. He doesn't have time to fight with Kaeya right now. The faster he resolves his business with the adventurers guild, the faster he can return back to Aether’s side.
" Don't joke around Kaeya, be serious and look after him properly." Diluc warned him.
" Jeez you both, I'm hurt that you don't trust me to look after our dear traveller." Kaeya faked being hurt by placing a hand on his chest with a tearful expression.
" But anyways, I'm dead serious. I'll look after him properly so don't worry about us. Just go on and do your business." Kaeya shrugged it off and turned to fully focus his attention on Aether and made sure the younger blonde wasn't uncomfortable.
Diluc nodded towards Thoma who was watching the whole debate curiously before both of them departed from the teapot realm to do their tasks.
Kaeya was left alone in peaceful silence minus the soft laboured breathing coming from Aether. He stroked the blonde's hair soothingly, watching as Aether's head lolled towards his touch every time he changed position.
The man chuckled at how adorable the traveller is despite the situation.
" I pray you get well soon, dear Aether. You got us all worried over you, so come back safely to us. We-" Kaeya bit his lower lip hesitating.
" I miss your happy face beaming at me energetically. So please- please recover soon, Aether." Kaeya sighed softly after his whispered confession. He gripped both of Aether’s hand and brought them to his face before making them briefly touch his forehead and then proceeding to kiss both of Aether’s knuckles and rubbing them in comfort. He prays to any archons listening to help lessen his companion's pain and hope that he recovers fast.