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Another day in Mondstadt. A truly beautiful day. The sun was shining, the sky was clear, and nothing could go wrong. Unless your name was Bennett and you were the unluckiest adventurer in town. Speaking of which - if you were wondering what the miserable boy was doing at the moment - probably unknowingly risking his life again. Who in the world would decide to go on an adventure to Dragonspine all alone, and not tell a single thing to anyone?
Surprisingly enough, everything was going quite smoothly. Until it wasn't.
At some point of his trip, Bennett slipped and fell all the way down to a terribly cold river. After getting out, completely soaked, the freezing wind was way more noticeable than before, which caused him to shiver. He soon decided to head back to town. Being soaked and exposed to the extremely cold wind of Dragonspine wasn't the best experience of his life. On his way back, Bennett just prayed to Barbatos that he wouldn’t get sick.
You could say that the Anemo Archon was ignorant, or – more possibly – that Bennett's luck was just really bad. Despite his literal prayers, he ended up bedridden eventually. Not that he didn't expect that. After all, things like that happened to him so often that the young adventurer got used to them. Though even getting used to being sick and in general - having bad luck - didn't mean that you suddenly started to not care about bad things that happened to you. Even worse - events like this were even more annoying and could make you lose all hope you ever had.
Surviving his sickness wasn't Bennett's biggest problem. It would take a few days of rest, and it would be over. The worst thing was keeping the fact that he got sick a secret from his friends. He didn't want them to worry about him, or even worse - come to take care of him and get themselves sick as well. Unfortunately for him, it was too late. Bennett's best friend - Y/N - was already on her way to the sick boy's place. When she got there, she knocked on the door and let herself in immediately. The sight that welcomed her was Bennett lying down in bed. He was a living image of misery. His once full of life eyes now were dull, and that paired with a bright red flush on his face, alongside incredibly messy hair didn't make him look his best.
Since he wasn't asleep, Y/N approached him and greeted him, sitting on the edge of his bed. Bennett replied back and smiled softly. Soon after, a thought slipped through his mind - how the hell did the girl know that he had fallen ill, when he didn't have a chance to tell her? He asked his friend about it and got his answer. It was Amber who told Y/N about Bennett getting sick. The Outrider surely wasn't the best with holding her tongue when it came to secrets. However, having a friend by his side wasn't that bad. He was kind of happy that she showed up. He still didn't want Y/N to be worried about him, so even if he was feeling completely awful, Bennett tried his best not to show it.
It didn't take too long for Y/N to notice her friend's heavy breathing and sweaty forehead. Even with the boy assuring her that it wasn’t that bad, she didn't believe him. You just know when something's wrong with your friends. Y/N didn't hesitate and touched her hand to Bennett's forehead, checking if his fever was, by chance, going down. And just as she thought, he was even hotter.
"You’re burning up." said Y/N.
"It's really nothing, I've been in worse situations, you know?" Bennett replied, slowly sitting up, just to be pushed back down by his friend.
"Lie down. You should rest and I don't care if you say that you're okay." she said, and the tone she had made made Bennett scared for a second. She could be really intimidating when she wanted to.
He did what Y/N said. After all, he wasn’t supposed to make Y/N worry about him, so the best he could do now was just follow her ‘orders’. While Bennett was lying down, his friend went to get him something to eat. She decided to make him some good old chicken soup, since it was a classic sick day dish. It always made her feel better when she was feeling under the weather, so she thought it would work similarly with Bennett.
When she was finished, Y/N took the soup to Bennett's room and gave it to him. And that's where the problems started. Not long after eating the soup, the boy started to feel nauseous. It wasn't that Y/N's cooking was bad. He was just too sick and too weak to keep anything down. Y/N saw her friend's expression turn to a concerning grimace and instantly knew what was about to happen. She quickly handed him a rubbish bin, in which he could empty his stomach. After a few unsuccessful gags, he finally let the contents of his stomach out. Y/N was by his side all this time, trying to comfort him as much as she could. All she could do in that moment was rub his back, which she did as gently as she could. When Bennett finally stopped throwing up, he let out a whimper.
"I'm sorry..." the boy whispered.
"Don't be sorry Benny, it's not your fault. Everyone gets sick." Y/N responded
"Try to get some sleep now, it'll help you feel better." she added, leaving the room.
Going to the bathroom, she soaked a tiny towel in cold water and took it with her, as well as a thermometer. After she went back to Bennett’s room, he wasn't asleep yet, so the girl used the opportunity to take his temperature. His fever went down, but it was still a bit high. After putting a cold cloth on her friend's forehead, Y/N sat on a chair next to Bennett's bed and just let him get some rest. As he was slowly drifting away to sleep, Y/N held his hand and slowly ran her finger on it.