#with m/avuika taking care of him

[glitterrosesnzz]

can I ask something with a sick venti?i miss him trying to hide his wings even when he feels bad(imagine if he accidentally slaps the traveler with them)

as usual when it comes to me writing m/ondstadt, a bunch of characters who weren't intended to be here ended up showing up anyways-

~

When Aether entered the Dawn Winery, per the request of Diluc's message (which had been urgently sent via bird), the first thing he saw was Kaeya standing in the foyer.

"...Shouldn't you be upstairs helping out?" Aether asked. Kaeya avoided his eyes for a moment, then fixed him with an award winning smile that Aether was not the least bit fooled by.

"I got kicked out. ...For reasons." Kaeya said- and it was at this point that Aether belatedly noticed the layer of frost slowly melting off of the cavalry captain's hands.

"For reasons, huh?" Aether deadpanned, reaching into his pocket dimension and rummaging around for a moment. Eventually he seemed to find what he was looking for, as he pulled out a small bag. "Well- I guess you can do this then- I got some leaves from the Windrise tree and some other... tea stuff. At the very least adding the Windrise leaves to it should help Venti a little. ...I think."

"Ah, reduced to the job of boiling water." Kaeya took the offered bag and started walking in the direction of the kitchen.

"Don't burn it!" Aether called after him.

"Is it even possible to burn water?"

"I'm sure there are ways." A vivid memory of the last time the Raiden Shogun had tried cooking sprung to mind. Aether shook the thought out of his head, and turned and headed upstairs to the bedrooms. As soon as he got up there, he could make out the sound of voices coming from the guest room.

"Bard, get back in that bed right now or so help me-"

"I didn't take you as the type to infringe on other's freedoms, Master Diluc-"

"Alright, that's it-"

Aether opened the door at just the right time to witness Diluc grab Venti by the waist and lift him up and away from the window the anemo archon had clearly been trying to get to. Venti barely even struggled, although he did kick his legs a little bit, clearly trying half-heartedly to hit Diluc and not at all succeeding.

A quick glance to the side revealed that Jean was also in the room, her hand against her forehead in barely restrained frustration.

"Diluc, please be gentle with him." She said, quietly acknowledging the Traveler's presence with a small nod. Diluc didn't verbally respond to her, but Aether could've sworn he saw him roll his eyes.

Venti was practically pouting as he was placed back down onto the bed, crossing his arms and glaring at Diluc, which the other pointedly ignored. Aether finally got a chance to take in Venti's appearance- his hair was all mussed up, and one of his braids was coming undone. The ends of his hair were glowing with the teal of anemo, and that, combined with the flush on his face, was all the information Aether needed to know that Venti was most likely running a fever.

It was only once Aether was standing directly beside the bed that Venti finally took notice of him.

"Oh, hey Traveler!" Venti sniffled a little, rubbing his nose against his sleeve. "Would you mind telling these two that I am perfectly fine enough to make a lil trip to Old Mondstadt?"

"Ha, nice try." Aether said, sitting down on the edge of the bed beside Venti. "Diluc specifically called me in as reinforcement."

"Oh c'mon, I'm clearly fi-ihh...hIH-" The teal glow in Venti's hair flared brighter as his eyes slipped shut. Jean and Diluc hurriedly stepped back away from the bed-

Aether didn't quite get the memo in time.

"Hh'NGkT-chiew!!" Venti doubled over with a stifled sneeze, his wings appearing and unfolding- smacking Aether in the face and knocking him off the bed. The Traveler remained on the floor for a moment, stunned. After a second, he pushed himself up, catching the moment Venti's wings drooped down with exhaustion- and a bit of guilt.

"...Sorry, Traveler." He muttered, retracting his wings with a visible grimace, his body shuddering. Aether frowned, re-taking his position of sitting on the bed- albeit in a spot he was less likely to get smacked by a wing.

"It's fine." Aether said, "Wouldn't it be easier if you just left your wings out, though?"

"Uhh..." Venti rubbed at his nose again, tilting his head to the side a little and avoiding eye contact. Off to the side, Jean and Diluc let out near identical sighs.

"We've been trying to tell him that for the past two hours." Jean said, "He hasn't listened."

Venti fully looked away from them, muttering something about the possibilities of maids walking in at any time. Diluc opened his mouth, clearly about to say something about how he'd sent all the Dawn Winery staff home for the day-

There was a loud crash from the kitchen, startling everyone, followed by a curse that was surprisingly loud enough to reach up to the second floor.

"...I gave Kaeya the job of making tea." Aether said, "How could you possibly mess up at making tea?"

Diluc glanced upwards as though he was praying for a miracle- though he likely wasn't actually praying, considering his god was sitting sick directly in front of him. He turned and marched out of the room, Jean hurriedly moving to follow him- briefly glancing back and silently asking with her expression if Aether could handle Venti on his own. The Traveler gave her a nod in return, and she quickly followed Diluc down the stairs.

Venti stared at Aether.

Aether stared at Venti.

Slowly, as though Aether wasn't staring directly at him, Venti got off of the bed, and on somewhat shaky legs, started making his way towards the window.

Aether patiently waited until Venti was right in front of the window before he launched off of the bed, quickly grabbing onto Venti's shoulders, pulling him back away from the window.

"Aw, c'mon!" Venti whined as Aether started gently pushing him back towards the bed. "Just a tiny trip to Ol-hH-.... Old MondstahH-"

Venti's hands started moving up to his face-

Aether spun Venti around so that he was facing him, grabbing hold of one of Venti's wrist with one hand, and placing his other hand against the back of Venti's head, gently bringing Venti closer to him. Venti squirmed, shaking his head and trying to choke back hitching breaths.

"Hey, it's okay." Aether said, "Trust me."

Even if Venti wanted to protest to that, he didn't really get much choice in the matter.

"Hihh-hH'ISsH-iew!! Hh...hEH'EtSHchiew!!" Venti had no choice but to sneeze into Aether's shoulder, his wings unfurling, one of them smacking into the wall of the room. Aether winced a little at that, figuring it was definitely bruised at least. Venti's wings twitched, and then he was surging forwards with three more sneezes. "Heh- hEH'Tt-shiew! Hh'EtSHiew!! Hh- hihH- hH'ITsHhiew!!"

Aether barely held back a shiver at the sensation of anemo energy that now filled his veins, smirking a little as Venti pulled back, clear surprise on his face.

"...Um." Venti blinked slowly, seemingly processing, and Aether used the opportunity to guide him back to the bed, carefully maneuvering around Venti's wings.

"There we go." Aether said once Venti was sitting down, "You don't have to go to Old Mondstadt anymore, right?"

"....I... guess not?" Venti said, just the slightest bit dazed. A thought seemed to cross his mind, clearing some of the haze from his eyes. "Ah- but, you'll get sick if I keep-"

"Oh, please." Aether scoffed, "I don't get sick."

Venti stared at him with something in between disbelief and being completely and utterly unimpressed.

"No, seriously, I've never been sick in my life." Aether continued, "Never."

Venti opened his mouth, ready to question him-

Another crash, much louder than before, rang out from the kitchen, followed by three different panicked shouts, along with what Aether was certain was the sound of Diluc summoning his claymore. Aether threw his hands up in frustration.

"It is not that hard to make tea! They've literally all done it before!" He said, making his way to the door. He paused in the doorframe, turned around, and pointed at Venti.

"Stay there. I'll be back in a second." He said, and then vanished down the hall. Venti stared unblinkingly at the door for a solid minute, and then sighed, laying down on his side, his wing folding overtop of him like a blanket. If he was going to have to stay here, he might as well get comfortable...

He must've fallen asleep at some point, cause when he next opened his eyes, there was a cup of tea on the nightstand beside him, and Aether was sitting there, looking slightly singed.

"...The art of making tea is more complicated than you'd think." He said, and Venti made a mental note to himself to later ask what in Teyvat had happened in that kitchen.