Tags & Trigger warnings: Emetophilia, vomiting, sickfic

Summary: In which Diluc awakens in the middle of the night to find that Kaeya is sick.

Posted on Ao3: August 21st 2021

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When Diluc wakes up in the middle of the night at first he is confused, he doesn't know what time it is but from the fact that he still feels groggy and exhausted he'd have to guess that it was either very late at night or very early morning.

There's something uncomfortably warm pressing against the side of his body and he scowls as he looks at Kaeya, who's laying next to him in bed, his confusion is quickly replaced by concern the moment he sees his state.

Kaeya is asleep but from the soft groaning and whimpering noises he's making coupled with his tense expression it is anything but peaceful. He's practically curled into a ball, shivering and trembling as ragged shuddering breaths left his mouth.

"Kaeya?" Diluc said softly his eyes wide, concern and horror clear in his voice.

In the next moment, Diluc is practically scrambling out of bed nearly tripping over his own feet in his haste. He turns on the lamp on the nearby nightstand, his concern, fear, and panic only growing, ice rushing through his veins as his heart pounds in his ears now that he can actually see Kaeya in the light.

Kaeya is incredibly pale, his normally lightly tanned skin bordering on an almost ashen grey. There's a red seemingly feverish blush on his face and his skin is coated in sweat. He's not under the blankets having seemingly kicked them off in his sleep.

"Kaeya..." Diluc whispers as he quickly makes his way to Kaeya's side of the bed pausing for a moment before kneeling down.

He hesitantly reaches out, almost as if he's afraid to touch him a hand gently grabbing Kaeya's shoulder. A soft hiss leaves his mouth when he feels the heat rolling off of Kaeya's skin. "Kaeya, wake up. Hey," he said giving him a gentle shake, his hands trembling.

Diluc bites his lip before shaking Kaeya again, calling out to him when he doesn't respond the first time. It is only on the third attempt to wake him that Kaeya groans softly, his eye opening slightly.

His eye is glazed over and glassy, a dazed look on his face as he slowly looks around before looking at Diluc. "Diluc?" he mumbled then grimaced as his head throbbed sharply.

Kaeya was exhausted, his body screaming at him to go back to sleep, his limbs felt strangely heavy and his joints were stiff. It's also hot, way too hot as if his body were burning from the inside out and if Kaeya didn't know any better he'd swear that Diluc were using his vision right now.

Kaeya grimaces, narrowing his eye slightly the dim light from the nearby lamp feels as though it's stabbing him in the eye, a sharp throbbing ache in his head piercing through the fever-fueled haze blanketing his mind. Everything is too hot and bright, and Kaeya doesn't like it one bit.

"Hey, you're sick. How you do feel?" He asked Kaeya, as he gently brushed Kaeya's hair out of his face trying to give him whatever comfort he could.

Kaeya groaned his eye closing for a moment as he leaned into Diluc's touch. "My stomach...everything hurts. It's hot," Kaeya mumbled.

Kaeya briefly considers using his vision to make some ice to cool himself off, but he also really doesn't wanna move right now. He whimpers, his arms wrapping around his stomach when a viscous cramp twisted at it, pain stabbing his stomach and leaving him barely able to breathe. There's an intense dizzying nausea washing over him, swirling in the pit of his stomach like a whirlpool.

"Feel sick," he whispers looking at Diluc.

Diluc nodded. "Okay, I'm gonna go get the thermometer. I need to see how high your fever is. I'll be right back," Diluc told him as he quickly climbed to his feet.

His hands are still shaking worry and fear settling heavily in his chest like a rock. Diluc knows that Kaeya probably just has the flu or some cold he somehow caught, but that doesn't stop Diluc's frazzled mind from jumping from one awful scenario to the next.

When Dilu returns to the room Kaeya is sitting up in bed now, his head in his hands, he looks up giving Diluc a small tired smile thankfully he seems more lucid than when Diluc left. "Sorry, I must look like such a mess right now. It's probably just something I picked up from somewhere. It'll be gone soon," he chuckles his tone slightly cheerful, seemingly trying to ease Diluc's panic.

"Hopefully," Diluc murmured looking doubtful "Here, open your mouth," he sighs holding up the thermometer.

Kaeya complies scowling as he holds it in his mouth. He really doesn't feel good. His stomach is in absolute knots, as it churned violently a dull ache streaking across his abdomen with each breath he takes. He closes his eye for a moment trying to focus on breathing around the dizzying waves of nausea washing over him, leaving him feeling slightly lightheaded.

His stomach suddenly sloshes like an overfilled glass and he groans swallowing thickly around the thermometer in his mouth. Kaeya opens his eye slightly when Diluc takes it from him, swallowing rapidly when he feels bile burning at the back of his throat.

He hiccups suddenly his hand coming up to cover his mouth, as his stomach sloshes sickeningly and a small amount of bile splashes into his mouth, coating his tongue in a disgustingly bitter and sour taste.

" What's wrong?" Diluc asked quickly looking slightly alarmed. Whatever little color Kaeya had previously had in his face seemed to drain out as a soft gurgling noise came from his stomach. Kaeya swallows audibly his shoulders shaking with a suppressed gag.

"T-trashcan, feel sick," Kaeya manages to choke out his voice thick with nausea and his words slurring slight. He closes his eye again taking as many slow deep breaths in through his nose as he can manage, he's swallowing rapidly trying to clear some of the excess saliva suddenly building up in his mouth.

"Here," Diluc told him quickly as he handed the small trash can to Kaeya, his eyes wide.

Kaeya takes it his hand falling away from his mouth as he opens it allowing the near river of drool building up in his mouth to drip into it. It tastes vaguely sour and is only making his nausea worse.

His head feels as though it's splitting open and Kaeya squeezes his eyes shut. It is hot, disgustingly unbearably hot and his stomach is in agony, practically writhing like a ball of snakes as it continues violently churning, low tense gurgling noises coming from it.

"Kaeya, it's okay. Just try to get it up," Diluc said softly laying a trembling hand on Kaeya's back. Kaeya shakes his head slightly, briefly opening his eye but doesn't say anything as he spits into the trashcan.

"W-what did the thermometer say," he manages to ask Diluc after a moment.

"Thirty-nine degrees," Diluc told him with a grimace and Kaeya sighed.

"Fuck, no wonder I feel like this," he mumbled shaking his head slightly. He groans practically burying his head in the trash can when his stomach hitches slightly, leaving him gagging emptily drool dripping from his lips.

Maybe he should just try emptying his stomach out then maybe, just maybe the nausea would stop and Kaeya could finally go back to sleep and escape this hell.

Raises his head slightly as he brings two fingers to his lips, pausing briefly before sticking them inside. His fingers crawl across his tongue to the back of his throat, carefully stroking it the area is warm and strangely soft. Kaeya immediately gags, his throat clenching around his fingers as drool coats his hand dripping into the trashcan.

"Careful," Diluc told him worried by how violently Kaeya seemed to be gagging.

Kaeya removes his fingers from his throat coughing, as he drags in air. He shakes his head blinking away the tears in his eye from the exertion before he tries again though the result is much of the same leaving him gagging emptily into the trash can.

Removing his hand from his mouth he gives a shuddering sigh. "It's not working," he whispered as Diluc rubbed his back.

For all of his stomach's complaining, it seemed as if it wouldn't just give in and free him from this hell if only temporarily.

"Maybe you should try sleeping it off," Diluc suggested with a frown. "Do you need anything?" Diluc really wanted to try giving Kaeya some medicine to lower his fever, but from the looks of things, Kaeya may not be able to keep it down.

Kaeya shakes his head as he leans back against the headboard closing his eyes still clutching the trash can to his chest. "Yeah...I'll try to get some sleep," he whispered.

"Goodnight," Diluc said softly as he climbed back into bed and turned off the lamp.

Kaeya tries to go back to sleep, he really does but it's incredibly hard to do so when his stomach keeps throwing a tantrum inside of him. A low groan leaves his mouth as he brings a hand to his stomach and begins rubbing it in an attempt to ease the pure nausea enveloping him. His stomach churns violently, the organ shifting and writhing beneath his fingertips, tense gurgling noises coming from it.

Kaeya closes his eye doing his best to simply breathe around the nausea and pain swirling in his stomach. He hiccups softly, pressing his lips into a thin line as he continues rubbing his stomach, another wave of intense nausea washing over him, a cold sweat prickling at his skin. Kaeya tightens his grip on the trash can as he trembles.

Diluc is unable to sleep as well, how could he when he could hear Kaeya actively suffering next to him. He glances over at Kaeya when a series of soft, muffled sickly-sounding hiccups come from him.

Desperate for relief and slightly delirious from both the nausea and the fever, Kaeya sighs softly. "Diluc...are you still awake?"

"Yeah," Diluc muttered as he sat up in bed looking over at Kaeya with worried eyes. Kaeya has a dazed look on his face and drool leaking from the corner of his mouth.

"Can...you help me? It won't come up, I'm tired...everything hurts. I just want it to stop," Kaeya said softly sounding almost embarrassed or ashamed.

Diluc is quiet for a moment biting his lip. He doesn't do well with illness, vomiting even less so but Kaeya's clearly desperate and in quite a bit of pain so Diluc is willing to try.

He helps Kaeya to the bathroom, his hands shaking as Kaeya kneels down in front of the toilet. Kaeya takes a few deep breaths before nodding. "Okay, I'm ready," he whispered.

Diluc said nothing as he crouched beside Kaeya and reached out one hand going inside Kaeya's open mouth as he sticks two fingers inside. His fingers carefully crawl across Kaeya's tongue as he reached towards the very back of his throat, noting with an almost morbid fascination that the area was warm and weirdly soft.

Kaeya's body tensed up and Diluc's eyes widened in alarm as choked gasping noises began leaving Kaeya's mouth. Kaeya instinctively starts struggling slightly, cause he feels as if he's choking, barely able to breathe around Diluc's hand in his mouth. Kaeya glances up at him tears rolling down his face as he gives Diluc a small nod to continue. Kaeya gags, his throat clenching around Diluc's fingers in an attempt to push them.

Frowning, Diluc shifts his fingers slightly adjusting them as he strokes the back of Kaeya's throat. That seems to do it and Diluc quickly draws his hand away as Kaeya suddenly lurches forward with a wet, violent, gurgling retch a thick wave of slightly watery tan vomit surges from his mouth some of it splattering on the floor.

Diluc winces the noises Kaeya is making sound painful as if they're clawing his way up from the pit of his stomach, scraping along his throat as he chokes up another wave of that slimy, lumpy mixture.

Kaeya looks like he's in agony, his face pale, almost ashen, tears running down his cheeks, and threads of drool hanging from his lips as his body trembled violently beneath Diluc's touch.

Kaeya can barely get a breath in as he chokes up another wave of vomit, the mess is thick almost like a smoothie as it falls from his lips. He feels Diluc lay a shaking hand on his back as his other gathers Kaeya's hair back.

"Hey...it's okay, you're going to be fine," Diluc murmurs softly although it sounds as if he's trying to reassure himself.

Kaeya groans as he gives a sickly sounding burp, choking up a smaller wave of vomit as his stomach begins wringing out the last of its contents. For a few moments, he just sits there gagging emptily over the toilet as hiccups continue jolting his body.

"Kaeya? Do you feel better?" Diluc asked hesitantly when he thinks Kaeya can answer him.

Despite the dazed look in his eye, Kaeya nods, shakily wiping his mouth with the back of his hand severing the threads of drool that'd been hanging from his lips. His stomach is still churning but nowhere near as bad as it was before, although his headache is a lot worse throbbing so viciously that he can barely think, his brain feeling almost numb. He's exhausted in every sense of the word by this point and has to force himself to keep his eye open.

"Good, that's good," Diluc said some of the weight lifting from his shoulders, a small amount of relief flowing through him. "Let's get you back to bed then."