Tags and trigger warnings: emetophilia, sickfic, vomiting, asthma, hospitals, alternate universe college setting & Modern world, whump.

Summary: In which Feng Xin gets the flu and tries to ignore it, it doesn't go well.

Posted to Ao3: June 23rd 2022

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Feng Xin's head is pounding viciously, his joints creaking and aching with each step he takes. He felt as if he were being burned up from the inside out from the fever he no doubt had.

Nausea boils in the pit of his stomach, making the food he'd forced down feel incredibly heavy in his stomach he'd had a few. But worse of all, was the way his chest crackled and wheezed with each rasping breath, leaving him feeling as if he were breathing through a straw and he hated it.

It brought back memories of when he was a kid, dealing with those horrible asthma attacks that kept him from doing things a kid that age would normally do. Playing outside with friends at times, owning any kind of pet, even just being near flowers or pollen. He hated living that way and when his asthma had gradually died down before disappearing altogether he'd literally cried with relief.

The very first thing he did was go and find some sunflowers just to sniff. Honestly, it was probably why Feng Xin dived so headlong into sports the moment he could, to the point where he now went to a university on a full-ride sports scholarship.

Today though however, he hadn't been able to fully participate in practice as he'd wanted. He'd made it halfway through before the coach stopped him, called him over, and sent him home on account of how much he was wheezing. He'd felt ashamed honestly, it was just after all practice it shouldn't be tiring him out like this and yet it did.

Feng Xin stopped in front of the door to the house and begins searching for his keys, he just wants to collapse into his bed right now truthfully, so he can't help but give a soft yet exasperated sigh when it takes him a while to find them. Even that seems to crackle in his chest, and when he feels that irritating tickle in the back of his throat Feng Xin can't help but start coughing harshly. It's so violent it brings tears to his eyes.

"Wow, you sound and look like shit."

Hearing that familiar irritating voice Feng Xin opens his eyes blinking through the tears in them to meet the gaze of Mu Qing who stood in the now open front door, his arms crossed and his face slightly wrinkled in disgust as he stared at Feng Xin.

The pair lived together in the house, it actually used to be a trio of them with Feng Xin having a sports scholarship, Mu Qing going to the university to study fashion, and the final member of the trio Xie Lian studying law. Xie Lian had also acted as a mediator of sorts considering Feng Xin and Mu Qing were always at each other's throats.

Then Xie Lian left to go live with his boyfriend Hua Cheng, that however didn't stop the pair from occasionally texting him to complain about something the other did.

Feng Xin stares at Mu Qing for a moment, his eyes narrowed into a glare. He is far too tired, and hurting far too much to deal with Mu Qing's bullshit at the moment.

"Move, dumbass," Feng Xin grumbled, his voice raspy, he's massaging his chest as he walks and surprisingly Mu Qing steps aside allowing him to trudge into the house.

Mu Qing could see that something was clearly wrong with Feng Xin, his usually sharp hazel eyes were completely glassy and glazed over making him appear softer in a strange way, he looked exhausted as well his skin incredibly pale save for the slight feverish blush coloring his cheeks.

Mu Qing scowls, shutting the front door as he does his best to suppress the worry and concern trying to rise up in him, he doesn't miss the way Feng Xin winces slightly due to the loud noise making his headache worse.

As Feng Xin begins coughing again, Mu Qing can't help but notice how horrible the noise is, harsh, wheezing, and raspy as if Feng Xin was having trouble dragging any air into his lungs.

It's...concerning.

Rolling his eyes, Mu Qing sighed. "God you're disgusting, go drink some of the tea in the kitchen. You sound like you're hacking up a hairball."

Feng Xin manages to stop coughing, his hand massaging at his chest as he did his best not to clutch at it. It was a habit he had of doing when anxious or not feeling well, and the moment he can't help but feel like something is really, really wrong but the fever-fueled haze blanketing his mind makes it difficult to pinpoint what.

Instead, he just gives a soft huff at Mu Qing's words before trudging into the kitchen. "Shut up, you're annoying," Feng Xin told him.

As he walks into the kitchen the scent of tea is potent, bitter, and rich. Normally it would be fine, in fact, Feng Xin usually found the scent strangely soothing but today it seems to hit him like a truck.

The nausea swirling in his stomach increases sharply and suddenly, the back of Feng Xin's throat begins spasming threatening to make him gag, and he brings a hand to his stomach as he closed his eyes for a moment.

He swallows thickly doing his best to take slow, careful deep breaths feeling all too much like the room is shifting around him all while his stomach's contents seemingly boil inside of him. His stomach flips, lurching slightly as it gives a soft gurgle beneath his fingers, a low groan leaves his mouth followed by a distinctly nauseated-sounding hiccup.

He feels lightheaded at the moment and he doesn't know if it's from the fever or the nausea, his head feels as if it throbs violently in time with his heartbeat. He's tired, so so tired.

As Mu Qing follows Feng Xin into the kitchen, a scowl on his face, a wave of panic grips him when he sees Feng Xin sway dangerously, his entire body trembling. In an instant, he rushes forward reaching out to grab Feng Xin's arm and steady him.

Feng Xin opens his eyes, seemingly surprised. "What the..."

"Tsk, you know what, just go lay down or something, I'll fix the tea. Just get out of my way," Mu Qing told him, hoping his rough words would cover up his genuine concern.

He's never seen Feng Xin in this state, of course, he got sick as everyone did but this time it seemed to be hitting him harder than it should've been.

Feng Xin scowled as he narrowed his eyes at Mu Qing, before snatching his arm out of Feng Xin's grip. "Don't touch me dumbass, I know what I'm doing," he huffed as he made his way over to where the tea kettle was.

Mu Qing grits his teeth as he rolls his eyes. Feng Xin can hear Mu Qing muttering curses under his breath.

Feng Xin swallows thickly as he grabs a teacup from the nearby cabinet, his meal from earlier that he'd forced down sits heavily in his stomach, to the point that the thought of putting anything else inside of it has a wave of nausea washing over him.

He glances over at Mu Qing when he feels his eyes on him and sees the other man standing nearby, a scowl on his face as he watches Feng Xin.

"What," Feng Xin huffed, irritation clear in his voice.

"Just making sure you don't mess up the good porcelain like the brute you are," Mu Qing told him.

That isn't true, however, while Mu Qing did care about the porcelain he's more worried about Feng Xin just suddenly collapsing or something again. A sense of unease settles over him every time Feng Xin sways a bit, the way his usually steady hands tremble slightly as he pours the tea into a cup.

Feng Xin is as pale as a sheet at the moment, his skin slick with sweat, and from the way, he seems to be swallowing almost frantically, his Adam's apple bobbing in his throat. Mu Qing can tell he's nauseous and he'd be blind not to see so.

As Feng Xin finishes pouring his tea he begins coughing and Mu Qing tenses up to keep from flinching in sympathy because of how harsh the noise is, each one sounds like Feng Xin is struggling to drag air into his lungs, as if he's choking.

It goes on for a good minute or two and by the end of it Feng Xin is left wheezing harshly, his eyes closed, worry writhes in Mu Qing's chest alongside fear and he has to bite his lip to keep from reaching out and laying a hand on Feng Xin's back. To rub it like he desperately wants to, instead he tells himself that Feng Xin probably wouldn't even want his attempts at comfort anyhow.

While the pair always bickered and argued, typically the stuff they bickered about was more trivial than this, their harsh exchanges hiding the care and love that they genuinely had for each other.

It was the smaller quieter moments between the two that always betrayed their true feelings, times when Mu Qing would stay up working on new designs for class and fall asleep, he'd wake up in bed with Feng Xin having carried him there and placed some water and tea on the nightstand. Those moments when Feng Xin came home from practice absolutely exhausted, barely having enough energy to stay awake, and would sit down beside Mu Qing on the couch to watch tv, occasionally dozing off with his head resting on Mu Qing's shoulder.

It was always those small, quiet moments spread out over the time of their relationship that betrayed their true feelings for one another. When they were away from prying eyes in their own little world in a sense.

Maybe Feng Xin realizes what Mu Qing wants to do, because he glances over at him as he clears his throat and massages his chest. "I'm fine," he told him.

Mu Qing says nothing but does give a soft hum that tells Feng Xin that he doesn't believe him in the slightest.

"I'm gonna go drink this and go to sleep," Feng Xin mumbled as he walked past Mu Qing.

Mu Qing says nothing, merely rolling his eyes as Feng Xin walks past him. He waits until he hears the door of Feng Xin's room shut before he sighs, running a hand through his hair.

For a few moments, he stands there battling with himself on what to do. Something was clearly very wrong with Feng Xin, this seemed like something more than just the flu. If anything it seemed almost like Pneumonia almost with how harsh his coughing sounded.

Mu Qing goes to the living room and grabs his cellphone, and begins searching online. Everything he finds says that hot drinks like tea and coffee help break up mucus but to still go to a doctor just in case.

However, despite searching, and searching for an hour or two and getting the answers he needs, the feeling that something was wrong and off remained. And so unsure of what to really do he texts Xie Lian.

'Hey, that idiot caught a cold or something and sounds like he's hacking up a lung, do you know anything to help with that? It's annoying.'

It isn't long at all before Xie Lian texts him back.

'O_O? !! ?'

'What? It's not that surprising he got sick, he's a filthy brute .'

Mu Qing huffs as he sends the message, slightly confused as to why it seemed like Xie Lian was surprised or shocked.

' Where is he now??'

Mu Qing scowled as Xie Lian's text appeared on his screen.

' His room? The dumbass looked about a second from either keeling over or puking so at least he had some sense to go lay down. Not much though.'

'How long has he been in his room?!'

Mu Qing's scowl turns into a frown, as he glances at the clock on his phone.

'About an hour or two ago, why? He's probably asleep like he should be.'

'Go check on him right now!!!'

'Why?'

The next message Xie Lian sends has Mu Qing's blood running cold.

' As a kid he had asthma, it was pretty severe in the past but it may have come back. So please check on him to make sure he's okay!'

In an instant Mu Qing gets to his feet, his eyes wide before he rushes to Feng Xin's room.

When he opens the door the first thing he smells is a distinctly sour almost rancid scent. His eyes dart around the room for a moment before he sees Feng Xin's form laying on the bed.

He's curled up beneath the covers on his side with his back to the door, his hair free of its usual ponytail.

Mu Qing huffed as he all but stormed over to Feng Xin. "Hey dumbass why didn't you tell me..."

His words die in his throat however when he finally reaches Feng Xin's bedside.

Feng Xin is incredibly still, which is strange to Mu Qing because usually Feng Xin is never quiet and always doing something. Moving around, annoying Mu Qing the first chance he got.

He's laying on his right side, his face incredibly pale, sweat coats his skin, and as Mu Qing reaches out gently brushing the long black strands of hair away from Feng Xin's face he's able to feel the heat rolling off of Feng Xin's skin without even touching him.

Thick threads of bile and drool dripped from Feng Xin's lips almost lazily falling into the small puddle of thick, lumpy tannish, beige vomit in front of his mouth.

Fear and panic writhes in Mu Qing's chest. "H-hey, wake up," Mu Qing called as he shook Feng Xin by his shoulder, hating how his voice trembled.

Feng Xin however doesn't open his eyes, although he does retch weakly his strained breathing hitching and shuddering as he chokes up a large wave of thick, tannish vomit, his body shuddering slightly. The slimy, wet oatmeal-like slurry nearly congeals into a puddle as it spreads across the blankets and sheets like some disgusting river.

As the wave tapers off Mu Qing's eyes widen in horror when he hears Feng Xin struggles weakly to even draw in even the slightest bit of air, each attempt sounding as if he were being strangled.

Mu Qing jumps when his phone begins ringing startling him slightly, he answers it not even truly aware that his hands are shaking slightly.

"Mu Qing how is he right now," Xie Lian asked quickly. His tone is oddly serious but at the same time calm.

It helps ground Mu Qing a bit and he manages to speak after a moment or so. "He...uh...he's breathing just barely... uh, he won't wake up though," Mu Qing told him, stumbling over his words as his eyes rove Feng Xin's form.

"Okay, alright. Mu Qing I'm going to call the ambulance for him to take him to the hospital. While I'm doing that go in his closet and look on the top shelf, there should be a nebulizer up there. Pour the medicine that's in the same bag into the small capsule section that's connecting the tub and mask parts okay," Xie Lian said, making sure to speak slowly and clearly. "Once you've done that put the mask on his face and turn on the machine, it should help him a bit until the ambulance comes."

"I...uh...uh..." Mu Qing begins, a strange buzzing filling his ear as he looks over at Feng Xin, his hands shaking. If he'd waited a little longer to call Xie Lian what would have happened? This thought circles over again in his head nearly drowning out every other thought.

"Mu Qing!"

Xie Lian's voice is crisp and clear, shattering through the haze of panic in Mu Qing's mind.

"...huh?"

"Did you hear me? My instructions? You can worry and panic once he's at the hospital, tend to him now first or his condition will get worse before the ambulance gets there," Xie Lian told him.

This time Mu Qing answers much more quickly and in a manner, he usually would, "Right, I'll watch the idiot. I got it."

The moment Xie Lian hangs up Mu Qing shoves his phone in his pocket and goes to the nearby closet, he finds both the nebulizer and the medicine inside just as Xie Lian said it would be.

He rushes back to Feng Xin's side, quickly plugging the nebulizer's power cord into the nearby wall outlet. He follows Xie Lian's instructions pouring the liquid medicine into the capsule section, before picking up the oxygen mask and turning back to Feng Xin.

Mu Qing freezes for a brief moment when he sees him. His face nearly turning grey as he laid motionless, his black hair that was normally pulled back now framing his face, it was a sight that Mu Qing very rarely got to see but at the moment he was more worried and concerned than anything.

Not caring about the mess on the bed, Mu Qing reaches out gently lifting Feng Xin's head to place the mask over his mouth and nose. He can't help but notice that Feng Xin's fever is so high that it almost feels as if it stings Mu Qing's skin, as he presses the on button for the nebulizer and a white mist-like substance begins to flow through the tube and mask he gives a sigh of relief.

Now he just needed to wait for the ambulance to come. A shuddering sigh leaves Mu Qing's mouth as he looked at Feng Xin.

"You should've told me you idiot," he whispered as he gently brushed the long strands of hair away from Feng Xin's face.

It isn't very long thankfully that he hears the sound of ambulance sirens in the distance but until they arrive he simply continues holding Feng Xin.

~~~

Feng Xin is slow to wake up, there's a strange piercing beeping noise coming from somewhere. It's a bit cold as well and there's a horrible, stale bitter taste in his mouth, right along with something else that he can't really place at the moment although it is familiar.

He can feel something on his face, around his mouth and nose he reaches up which is a struggle in itself, but before he can attempt to remove whatever was on his face something latches onto his wrist rather firmly.

He hears someone speaking two people actually although their words come to him as if he's underwater.

He feels like he's been run over repeatedly honestly, aches and pains flaring to life along his body as he drags himself more and more into consciousness. As he opens his eyes he flinches at first quickly closing them when a bright white light fills his vision.

"First he nearly suffocates and now he's nearly blinded himself. I'd expect nothing less."

The voice is clearer and more distinct now, this time when he slowly opens his eyes the room is dimmer, the lights having been dimmed significantly. It takes Feng Xin a second to realize he's in a hospital room, he'd had the displeasure of visiting them quite a bit as a kid so when that's the first thing he sees after opening his eyes he can't help but groan.

And he groans again when he sees Mu Qing sitting near his bedside.

"Why are you here," he rasped, wincing slightly when talking makes him feel as if his throat were being rubbed raw with sandpaper. It is also at this moment that Feng Xin realizes that he's wearing an oxygen mask.

"Mu Qing was quite worried about you. I was as well," Xie Lian said as he gave Feng Xin a warm smile. He stood by the light switch having been the one who dimmed the lights. Ignoring the look Mu Qing shoots his way, Xie Lian chuckled. "I suppose I better go get the nurse."

When Xie Lian leaves the room it's quiet, Feng Xin simply staring at the ceiling for a few moments until Mu Qing speaks.

"He's wrong you know, I wasn't worried your lack of common sense just annoyed me. What kind of dumbass tries to walk off asthma of all things, and with a severe case of the flu no less," Mu Qing huffed.

Feng Xin glances at Mu Qing noticing that he was almost absentmindedly tapping his foot, which was one of his tells that he was typically lying.

Feng Xin gives a soft snort ignoring how it made his chest ache ever so slightly. "You are one of the worst liars I've seen in my life."

Mu Qing narrowed his eyes then rolled them. "You're calling me a horrible liar? You're the one who said you didn't eat any cake all while still having frosting clinging to your lips, brute."

Mu Qing's words earn him another soft snort from Feng Xin. "How in the world could I have known that you obsessively stare at my lips."

At that Mu Qing splutters and it's probably a good thing Xie Lian returns with the nurse just then because Mu Qing is perhaps one more second away from attempting to smother Feng Xin with a pillow.

Deep down however he's relieved, so, so incredibly relieved and thankful that Feng Xin was alright.