Chapter 10

Xingqiu's POV

Chongyun seemed very rushed and distracted this morning; he put his shoes on the wrong feet. I didn't know what had suddenly gotten into him. I opened up my book slowly and returned to my reading. I began feeling like it was hard to concentrate and suddenly cold. I walked to my room and came back to the couch with a blanket. I coughed several times as my vision blurred. I wasn't feeling well again. I sighed. The whooperflower probably did some damage as an aftermath. I coughed again. There was no way I could focus on my book now. I got myself a glass of water to soothe my throat, though it didn't help as much as I'd hoped. I sat back down, my head hurting, not feeling like doing anything anymore. I took my temperature, only to discover that it was raised lightly. I picked up my book to distract myself, but reading only made my headache worse. I closed my eyes and tried to focus on a blank space, though that failed as well. I laid on my back, adjusting the blanket over myself. I took another sip of water, then set the empty glass on the table. It came so suddenly; I felt miserable.

I broke into a coughing fit that I tried to restrain. It was so cold. My head started throbbing and I couldn't stop coughing. I couldn't focus on anything and everything was blurring out. Blurry. Everything looked the same. It all started to fade into black darkness, dissolving into another nightmare.

...

"Guhua Geek! Guhua Geek!" I woke up to Paimon yelling at me. Everything spun as I sat up (only partially). "Hey... Xingqiu... are you okay?" Aether asked. "Mhmm. Alright. What brings you-" I broke into another coughing fit. "Woah, Guhua Geek, I think you're sick!" Paimon said. Aether shot her a glare. "That's probably why we found him passed out on the couch." he said quietly through gritted teeth. "Apologies... what brings you here?" I said wearily. "We were here to see if you had any books we could use about Liyue's history. But if you're not feeling up to it..." Aether trailed off. I shook my head. "No, you're okay." I tried not to show how dizzy I felt when I stood up and showed them my bookshelf, pulling out my two books on ancient Liyue, one on Rex Lapis, three on the Jade Chamber, one about Lady Ningguang, and one about Liyue's geography. "Woah, Guhua Geek, that's a lotta books! Now we have to go look through them!" Paimon squealed. I felt bad, leaving Aether with a stack of books towering over his head, but he assured me he'd be fine. "Okay, see you around, Guhua Geek!" Paimon said as she floated out the door. I nearly collapsed back onto the couch when they left. I took my temperature again. I had a high fever now. I started coughing as I laid down again, trying to tune out the blurring that made everything look clouded over. I coughed up blood.

My headache was getting worse, throbbing and pulsing non-stop. I turned on my side. The temperature kept dropping, it felt like. I started shivering. I felt hot but completely freezing at the same time. I tried to ignore everything, but the truth was, I felt miserable. Eventually, my headache slowed just enough for me to fall asleep again.

Chongyun's POV

I opened the door to our house only to see Xingqiu, lying on the couch with a blanket draped over himself. His head was resting on the armrest and he was murmuring something, so I knew he was asleep. I walked over, noticing that he didn't look so well. He was shivering. His lips were parted slightly. I took his temperature, and he was definitely having a fever. I picked him up in my arms and carried him bridal style to his bed. I laid him down, covering him with his blankets and laying a washcloth over his forehead. "S-So... c-cold..." he mumbled. I covered him with an extra blanket from my bed, brushing the hair out of his eyes. "I... don't let go of it..." he murmured. "Shhhh." I whispered. He stirred and rolled over. I walked over to my side of the room and took the two books I'd gotten from Wanwen Bookhouse and slipped them into my drawer. "C-Chong...yun..." Xingqiu mumbled. He'd sat up in bed. "I think you're having symptoms of the aftermath of your whooperflower attack. You should be okay if you just rest up for a while, okay?" "Nmmmm... like that'll help..." He coughed up blood. "Woah... It'll be okay." He kept coughing. "Predictable." "You're talking feverish again." "What? No, I'm not." "Xingqiu..." "What's that supposed to mean?" "I... er... that's your name." Xingqiu eventually fell asleep after I talked to him a bit longer. He always talked nonsense when he was feverish. It was kinda cute, but he was really feverish this time. He tossed and turned in his sleep, murmuring different things. I noticed all of his books on Liyue were missing from their shelves... I wonder what he did with those. "Hey, Chongyun, how do you feel about going to the tavern and getting drunk?" Xingqiu asked, laughing feverishly. "Wha~!?" I'd never once heard Xingqiu say anything to do with getting drunk. Plus, we were both underage. "So whaddya think about it?" he asked again. "Uh... no. I mean... er..." "Ah, I knew you'd say that." "X-Xingqiu, go back to sleep."

Xingqiu looked a lot better in the morning. He claimed he felt better and thanked me for putting up with his feverish talking, but I was almost positive he was still pretty miserable. "My liege... I know I was, ah, talking to you last night... though I don't exactly know what I said... ah... do you mind..." he trailed off. I hesitated. What he said was pretty weird. "Uhm... Xingqiu... you asked me what I thought about getting drunk at a tavern." I replied quietly. Alarm flooded through his expression. "I said that...? I am so, so sorry... I wasn't thinking straight..." Xingqiu looked pretty upset with himself. "It's fine really. I'd only be upset if it was actually you talking." I said. His hand fell limply to his side. "Right. The fever..." "Yeah." "Sorry." He coughed several times, shivering as he did so. I offered him my blanket, which I draped around his shoulders before he could reply. "Ah. Thank you, my liege." He coughed some more before shaking his head and picking up a book. "Ah... my liege... I was hoping you could help me speak to my father soon."