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College was exhausting and stressful. Despite that, Venti was happy. His best friend since high school, Xiao, was also attending the same college and was his roommate.
When not in class they spent almost every waking minute together. They had begun dating in the summer following their high school graduation.
They weren’t out to anyone yet per Xiao’s request. Not that he wasn’t proud of Venti being his or that he was scared of being gay. It was hard for Xiao to place why he wasn’t ready for everyone to know, he just wasn’t. Thankfully, Venti was fully supportive of this and kept their relationship private as well.
They were happy together.
They had fallen into routine. Venti would be the first to rise, making coffee and breakfast for them both. It was rare for Xiao to be up before Venti. It was usually during the mornings Venti was nursing a hangover that Xiao would be the first to rise.
Today was one of those days. Xiao was up before Venti. He wasn’t nursing a hangover as far as Xiao knew. Xiao wasn’t a fan of Venti’s drinking habits, but as long as it wasn’t a normal occurrence and Venti told Xiao beforehand to make sure nothing important was going on and he was being safe about it, Xiao didn’t mind.
Venti had been quiet all morning. Venti didn’t drink the night before. Xiao knew he hadn’t. Venti instead went to bed early. Which isn't normal for him either. But he told Xiao he had a big test coming up in History class that he wanted to be rested for.
Xiao had gone to Venti’s room to check up on him. Thankfully the two exchanged room codes upon moving in together just in case a time like this came up.
Knocking on the door, Xiao heard nothing. Looking at his watch, Venti was supposed to be up an hour ago to get ready for class.
Double checking his phone to make sure Venti hadn’t left early he knocked again. No sound.
“Venti?” Xiao called, “I’m coming in, okay?” After putting in the passcode, Xiao turned the knob, opening the door to a dark room. It wasn’t usual for Venti to keep the blinds closed. Xiao sniffed the air for alcohol, but there wasn’t a scent to be found.
Adjusting his eyes to the dimly lit room, Xiao could see Venti’s sleeping form breathing softly under the covers.
“Venti, Venti?” Xiao whispered as he gently shook Venti’s shoulder. Venti grunted as he stirred.
“Wha... Xiao?” Venti croaked “What time is it?” Rubbing the sleep in his eyes, Venti began to sit up in bed.
“It’s 9am. You weren’t up when I woke up this morning.”
“Oh no, I’m going to be late for class!” Venti threw the covers off and rushed out of bed. Stumbling to open his blinds and grabbing clothes.
“I’m going to get dressed.” Venti huffed as he pushed a dazed Xiao out of his room.
That was odd, Venti wasn’t afraid to undress in front of Xiao. Whatever the reason, Xiao shrugged it off and began brewing a pot of coffee and toasting some toast.
Moments later a now dressed Venti appeared at the dining room table, with his hair messily done in two front braids.
“Thank you, Xiao. I appreciate the wake up call.” Venti took a seat at the dining room table.
“No problem. Here’s your coffee and some toast.” Placing the plate of toast and coffee in front of Venti.
“Thank you.” Venti muttered looking at the plate of food.
Truthfully, Venti wasn’t hungry. He hadn’t been feeling well since coming home from classes last night. Not wanting to worry Xiao over a mild upset stomach, Venti kept it to himself, going to bed early in hopes of getting better over night.
Unfortunately it didn’t. Venti could hardly sleep, the pain and nausea kept growing any time he would manage to doze off. He felt awful. No wonder he overslept.
“Are you going to eat?” Xiao spoke while biting on his own toast, breaking Venti out of his thoughts.
“Yeah, sorry.” Venti flashed a smile at Xiao. The idea of food caused Venti’s stomach to cramp even more.
Venti only managed half a piece of toast and a few sips of coffee before his stomach protested any further food.
“I-I should get going, or I’ll be late. Thank you.” Venti got up from the table, grabbing his book bag. “Can you clean the dishes?”
“…Sure.” Xiao was stunned. He had never seen Venti act like this before.
On Venti’s way to class he felt like he was being violently stabbed in the stomach with every step he took. It took everything in him to not curl up in a ball or to throw up the small amount of breakfast he did eat.
He wanted to go back to the apartment terribly and try to sleep it off. But he didn’t want to worry Xiao who didn’t have classes until later. He’d be home if Venti went back now.
Besides, his History test was also today. He was determined to take his test.
Before he knew it, Venti made it to his history class. Most of the class had been seated, but he wasn’t late. Thankfully there was a seat free of people in the very back.
After sitting down Venti placed his head on his arms, resting on the desk, closing his eyes. Venti’s stomach wouldn’t let up. It growled angrily at Venti, twisted and churrned. It was a miracle he hadn’t thrown up yet.
“Good morning, class,” the professor, Mr. Zhongli said to the class, “We will be taking that test you’ve been preparing for.”
Venti lifted his head from the desk, getting his paper from the student ahead of him.
He couldn’t think; words on the page blurred together.
Focusing on the test the best he could, Venti wrote whatever he could remember. Students began to leave one by one after finishing their tests.
Venti was among the last to leave. He didn’t care about his test score anymore. All he really wanted to do was go home and rest.
Venti made his way to the professor to hand in his test. “Here you go, Sir.” Venti mumbled. Not looking Mr. Zhongli in the eyes.
“Thank you…” Mr. Zhongli took the test from Venti’s hands. “Are you well, Venti? I have kept an eye on you since you came in this morning.”
Giving Zhongli a classic Venti smile, “Oh, sorry Sir. I’m well. But thanks for your concern. I’m going to get going now.”
Venti made his way out of the classroom before Zhongli could say anything else.
On the way back to his apartment, Venti’s stomach gave such a painful cramp it brought him to his knees right in the middle of the college courtyard. Gritting his teeth, arms tightly around his stomach. It took everything in Venti to not puke right where he was.
One of his fellow History classmates, Sucrose saw him fall. She ran to his side.
“A-are you alright, Venti? I saw you fall.”
Venti looked up at her with a pained smile. “Y-yeah, I’m okay, t-thanks. I just tripped.”
“Here,” Sucrose locked her arms around Venti’s left arm, slowly helping him to his feet.
“T-thanks. I should be okay now. Sorry for worrying you.”
“You’re welcome. But are you sure you’re okay? You don’t really look well.”
“I’m just tired from studying too much for our History test.” Venti lied. He didn’t like lying, but he did it when he had to.
“Do you want me to walk you back to your apartment?” Sucrose offered, “I don’t want you falling again.”
Venti shook his head, “No, I think I’ll be okay. Thank you, though.”
Making his way through the courtyard, arms now protectively covering his midsection. It was now dire he made it home before anything else could happen to him.
When Venti made it back to his apartment all the lights were off, meaning Xiao had gone to class, a much needed blessing for Venti. Now he had time to deal with his pain alone.
Venti made his way to his room, dropping his book bag by the door without a second thought before carefully getting back into bed.
Thinking he could try sleeping off the pain once more; he failed the same as last time. Venti spent the whole time in the fetal position whimpering as the pain grew by the hour. It didn’t help that he was growing a fever, making his room too hot and too cold at the same time.
Venti had finally managed to doze off only for a few minutes before Xiao came home from his classes.
Seeing Venti’s shoes by the door, Xiao hollered, “Venti, I’m home!”
No response.
Going to Venti’s room like Xiao had done this morning. Repeating the performance. In doing so, Xiao was led to opening the door to find a sleeping Venti yet again.
“Sleeping already?” Xiao thought to himself, “It’s only 7pm. We haven’t even had dinner yet.” Deciding to leave Venti sleeping, Xiao went to prepare dinner.
Venti slept through Xiao making their dinner.
After setting the table Xiao makes his way to Venti’s room for a third time that day. Not bothering to knock, Xiao lets himself in.
Xiao swore Venti hadn’t even moved since he had been home. If it wasn’t for the slow rising and falling of the blankets Xiao would’ve assumed the worst by now.
Getting ready to shake Venti’s shoulder again, Xiao accidentally brushed up against his cheek. It was hot. Too hot.
Hastily, Xiao shook Venti’s shoulder, “Venti, Venti, get up.”
“Huh? Xiao? Is everything okay?” Venti was slower to sit up than he was this morning.
“Sorry I didn’t mean to worry you. I came in here to wake you because dinner is ready, but I thought you felt a bit warm, like you had a fever.”
“It’s all right. I appreciate you for waking me up. Go on without me, I’ll be there in a minute.” Xiao left the room, leaving Venti by himself.
Swinging his legs over the side of the bed, Venti did a quick self-assessment.
The nap somewhat helped his stomach. While it continued to ache and he was still nauseous, it wasn’t as bad as when he came home.
Thinking he could eat, Venti made his way to join Xiao for dinner.
Xiao had made them his favorite, almond tofu.
Venti managed to stomach a few bites before he started playing with his food.
“Aren’t you hungry?” Xiao asked.
Venti looked up at Xiao and smiled, “I had a big lunch on my way home.”
Xiao wasn’t sure he believed him. “You don’t look good. I think you have a fever, your face is red.”
Venti was taken aback. “I’m perfectly fine, Xiao.” Venti continued to smile. “Thank you for the food, I’m going to wrap mine up for later and go do my homework.” Getting up from the table Venti went and wrapped his food before putting it in the fridge.
Xiao ate the rest of his food in silence.
Xiao woke up to the sound of thudding across the apartment, the sound of a door being slammed shut followed by the sound of someone vomiting. Looking at the clock, it was 3:24 in the morning.
Still half asleep, Xiao slipped out of bed to find Venti’s door wide open.
“Oh… no, Venti…” Xiao whispered, running to the bathroom.
When Xiao opened the door Venti was resting over the toilet gasping for air.
“X-Xiao..?” Venti called weakly. Not bothering to move from his current position.
Getting down on the floor to be at Venti’s side, Xiao began to gently rub circles on Venti’s back. “It’s okay. I’m here now. Just let it out.”
As if on cue, Venti let out another wave of vomit.
Xiao continued to rub Venti’s back while repeating words of reassurance during Venti’s last few heaves.
“Think you’re done?”
Venti nodded.
“Here, let me help you to your bed.” Xiao put his arm under Venti’s shoulders, allowing Venti to put most of his weight on Xiao. Venti was hot, Xiao could feel it through his clothes.
Xiao helped Venti into bed. “I’m going to grab a bucket just in case you get sick again. I’ll be right back.”
Xiao came back with an empty bucket, a bowl of water with a washcloth and a thermometer.
Venti watched Xiao as he placed everything on the nightstand. “When I brought you in here I could feel the heat coming off you, so I want to check for a fever,” Xiao placed the thermometer in Venti’s mouth. “Don’t talk until I remove it.”
While waiting for the beep of the thermometer Xiao dampened the cloth before resting it on Venti’s forehead.
Beep.
With a click of his tongue Xiao read the number aloud, “101 degrees. That’s a high fever. Why didn’t you tell me you were feeling sick?”
“I’m sorry, Xiao. I haven’t been feeling well all day. I didn’t want you to worry so I thought I could power through it and it would go away on its own.”
Xiao’s eyes went soft, “We’re together now. You need to tell me when you aren’t feeling well so I can help you,”
“I’m sorry,”
“It’s okay. What hurts? Your stomach?”
Venti nodded.
Xiao placed his hand on Venti’s stomach without any warning in hopes that rubbing might soothe some of the pain. The moment his hand made contact, Venti screamed.
“Ah!” Venti hissed, Xiao recoiled fast, “Please don’t touch my stomach.”
“I’m so sorry, Venti. I didn’t mean to hurt you, I was only trying to help.”
“It’s okay,” Venti breathed, ”you didn’t know.”
“How long has your stomach been bothering you like this?”
“Since I came home from class last night, I felt off, but I thought it might’ve been something I ate. I was hardly able to sleep. It was too hot, the pain kept growing as did the nausea. It’s been only getting worse. I couldn’t even focus on my test-,” a painful cramp hit Venti like a ton of bricks causing him to stop mid sentence.
Xiao was there rubbing circles on his back as Venti curled into a ball. Shallow, hitched breathing; waiting for the pain to pass. Venti began to cry. The cramp let up after a minute or two.
“S-sorry,” Venti sobbed. After taking a moment to recompose himself, Venti continued to speak, “On the way back from History a cramp hit me so hard I ended up on the ground, a girl from the class, Sucrose, stayed with me until I could get up again. When I came home I tried to fall asleep. I thought I could eat dinner, and it went well until a few minutes ago. Again, I’m sorry, Xiao.”
Xiao was processing all this information. “It’s my fault for not checking on you the moment I felt something was off, I’m sorry, Venti.” Xiao stroked Vent’s hair in silence.
Taking this time to think about what could cause Venti to be this sick. It wasn’t something he ate, Xiao knew what Venti could and couldn’t eat, and they ate the same food the last few days. While not impossible, he could’ve picked up a stomach bug from another student, but it wasn’t flu season so this cause was unlikely. It wasn’t until Xiao remembered that appendicitis was often confused for other illnesses.
“Hey, Venti.”
Venti’s glossy green eyes met Xiao’s golden ones. “Yeah?” Venti croaked.
“Can I take a look at your stomach? I promise I'll be careful.”
Venti was understandably hesitant, it was tender. “Okay, please be careful.” slowly Venti removed his arms from his stomach.
“I’m going to lift up your shirt, okay?” Xiao waited for Venti’s nod of approval before lifting up his shirt to see Venti’s bare stomach. There was some obvious swelling.
“Just as I thought,” Xiao muttered to himself. A small sigh left his lips, “I’m sorry, Venti, but I’m going to have to touch your stomach. It’s probably going to hurt. But I need to test something important.”
He could feel Venti tense up from the idea. But he let out a trapped breath. Venti trusted Xiao with every fiber of his being, he knew Xiao wanted the best for him. Venti let Xiao touch his stomach.
“I’m going to start here,” three fingers above the left side of Venti’s abdomen, “Okay?” looking at Venti before pressing.
Xiao pressed down carefully, looking at Venti as he did so. Venti let out a grunt, but not much else.
“How did that feel?”
“It hurt, but that wasn’t too bad.”
“Okay, I’m going to try here now.” fingers over Venti’s belly button. Repeating the same motion. Looking at Venti again, this time Venti let out a sob.
“What about that?”
“That hurt more.”
“Alright, one last spot.” Fingers above the right side of Venti’s abdomen.
The moment of truth. Xiao really didn’t want to cause Venti further stress by causing more pain. As Xiao’s fingers neared Venti’s skin. Venti flinched.
Xiao took a deep breath as he began to apply pressure. Not even a second later Venti screamed, trying to wriggle himself away from Xiao. Curling himself up into a ball and crying.
“I’m so sorry, Venti,” Xiao tried to soothe. “It’s exactly like I thought. You have all the classic symptoms for appendicitis. We’re going to have to take you to the hospital.”
Xiao sprang into action, gathering everything he thought they would need while at the hospital, clothes, health cards, keys to his car. Once everything was in a bag it was time to get Venti.
“Venti, it’s time we go to the hospital. I know you don’t want to, but this is a life-threatening situation. Here, it’s cold out, let’s wrap you in a blanket and I’ll help you walk to the car.”
Venti obliged. Grabbing the empty bucket just in case.
With the bag over Xiao’s shoulder he helped Venti to the car. Being extra careful with the seatbelt. “Here’s the bucket. If you need to be sick, don't hold back. I'll try to drive as carefully as I can,”
Getting in the driver's seat, Xiao started the ignition. After giving Venti one more look over he began to drive.
While most of Xiao’s focus was on the road ahead, it didn’t stop him from glancing at Venti every so often, especially after they hit a gruesome bump.
Venti had a pained expression the whole ride. The bumps did nothing good for his stomach pains and nausea. While Xiao assured him throwing up would be fine, Venti did his best to not vomit in fear of missing the bucket and getting it all over himself and the car.
“We’re almost there.” Venti could hear Xiao say. Xiao pulled up to the emergency room entrance.
“Stay here, I’m going to get a wheelchair for you.”
Xiao hurried back, helping Venti out of the car and into the chair.
Xiao wheeled Venti into the hospital. “I have to go park the car and grab our things. Stay here, I won’t be long.” Xiao kissed Venti’s forehead before heading back outside.
Xiao ran back inside to find Venti exactly where he had left him. Running his hand through Venti’s hair, Xiao apologized for making him wait.
At the emergency room check-in Xiao gave the nurse Venti’s health card and explained the suspected appendicitis.
The nurse gave a quick nod before leaving her seat; going through doors leading somewhere Xiao and Venti didn’t know.
The nurse soon returned, a clipboard in hand, “Will you two please come with me?” the nurse gestured towards the door she came from, “Would you like me to wheel Mr. Venti?”
“No, I got it, thank you.” Xiao responded, hands tightly gripping the wheelchairs handles.
Alright, please follow me.” The nurse led them past other patients on beds being tended by nurses. She brought them to an empty bed. With Xiao’s help, Venti was moved to the bed.
“Please wait here, another nurse will be with you momentarily,”
“Thank you,” Xiao said as the nurse walked back to her post.
Turning his attention to Venti, “How are you feeling?”
“Honestly, awful, I’m tired and want to go home,”
“I know,” Xiao sat on the side of Venti’s bed. Playing with his hair, “I’m going to undo your braids, okay? It might help you feel better.” Venti nodded.
Xiao gently undid Venti’s braids, combing his fingers through his hair. “How’s your stomach?”
“It hurts. I’m sorry all this happened.”
“It’s not your fault you got sick, Venti. We brought you to the hospital so the doctors can heal you,”
“Mr. Venti?” A new nurse walked up to Venti’s bedside. Xiao got off the bed.
“That’s me.”
The nurse looked at Venti’s chart before looking back at him, “Says here you’ve got a case of suspected acute appendicitis. We’ll have to run a few tests just to be sure.” the nurse smiled at Venti, getting his wheelchair.
Looking at Xiao the nurse spoke, “Unfortunately, only Venti is able to come with me at this time. You are welcome to wait in the waiting room. I will bring him back when we are done.”
“All right. Thank you.” Xiao desperately wanted to be with Venti as he watched the nurse wheel him to who knows where. Heeding her word Xiao made his way to the waiting room nearby.
Looking at his watch, it was now 6:47 in the morning. Just over three hours had gone by since this whole ordeal had started.
—-
“I’m going to apply this gel on your stomach, it’s going to feel cold. It’s going to help me find the problem.” The nurse delicately lifted Venti’s shirt and applied the gel, being mindful of Venti’s right side.
Checking for a swollen appendix. The closer she got to the infected organ, the more anxious Venti became. Even the slightest pressure on his abdomen was starting to cause him immense pain.
“I’m sorry, sweetie,” The nurse said softly, “I know it hurts. But at least we know now that your appendix is certainly inflamed. You will need an emergency appendectomy,”
Venti’s face dropped. He had never had a surgery before. “You’ll be okay,” she smiled. “It’s an easy procedure that is done a lot here. You’ll feel much better afterwards, I promise.” The nurse held Venti’s hand.
“I’m going to take you back to your friend, all right?” Venti nodded. The idea of being back with Xiao made Venti feel the happiest he’s felt in days.
—-
Thirty minutes had passed since Xiao and Venti were separated. Xiao had fallen asleep in the waiting room chair, his exhaustion finally catching up on him.
“-iao?” He could hear his name. Was that Venti?
“Xiao?” Xiao opened his eyes to see Venti and the nurse right in front of him. “You fell asleep.” Venti let out a small giggle. Hearing Venti laugh, even if for a second, brighted Xiao’s whole mood.
“After an ultrasound I found that his appendix is inflamed. He’s going to need an emergency appendectomy.” Xiao subconsciously squeezed Venti’s hand.
“It’s a very safe surgery. Mr. Venti will feel much better afterwards. We’re going to move you to a room to start pre-op. Please follow me.”
The nurse wheeled Venti down a hallway as Xiao followed. The three traveled in silence aside from Venti’s occasional moan.
Venti and Xiao were led into a single bed hospital room.
“This will be where you’re going to stay before and after your surgery.” after helping Venti onto his bed, the nurse grabbed a hospital gown from the nearby cabinet, placing it on Venti’s bed.
“I’m sorry, but I’m going to ask you to put that on, it’ll make the surgery easier. You’re going to have to take off all your street clothes but your underwear. Would you like me to help you? Or your friend, Xiao?”
“Xiao if possible, please.”
“That’s all right. I’ll leave you two to it. I’ll be just outside your room, please don’t hesitate to call for me if you need anything,” the nurse closed the door as she left.
Xiao was mindful when removing Venti’s clothes, trying to limit his movements as much as possible.
“Xiao, it hurts. It really hurts,” Venti said while on the verge of tears.
Xiao was soft, “You’ll be okay. Not much longer than you’ll be in surgery and your appendix will be gone.” giving Venti a light hug around the shoulders before wiping the tears from his eyes.
Five minutes later the nurse comes back into the room with the surgeon who will be performing the surgery.
“Hello, Mr. Venti, and Mr. Xiao. I am Dr. Baizhu, I will be the one performing the surgery.” His voice was smooth, yet flamboyant. But he came off as trustworthy.
“The surgery should be about an hour. We will be putting you under general anesthesia. It will put you into a very deep, but safe sleep so you won’t feel anything.”
Two more nurses came in with a wheeled stretcher. “We’re going to take you to the OR on this,” one of the nurses said. The two nurses lifted Venti off the bed and placed him on the stretcher.
“We should be going now.”
“I promise I’ll be here when you wake up.” Xiao said as he followed everyone out of Venti’s room.
Then next thing Venti knew was he was falling asleep.
——
An two hours had gone by since Venti went into surgery. Xiao was in the recovery room sitting in a chair, waiting for his return.
The two nurses from earlier wheeled a still unconscious Venti into the recovery. Xiao stood up from his seat as he watched the nurses place Venti on his bed.
“He’ll be a bit out of it when he wakes up. Please call for a nurse when he does if no one is here.” Xiao nodded as he watched the two nurses take their leave.
Watching Venti sleep so peacefully put Xiao’s heart at ease. This nightmare was finally coming to an end, his boyfriend was going to get better.
Xiao spent the next few minutes going from his phone, texting a few people about what happened to watching Venti for signs of him waking.
Groggy eyes start to blink as Xiao hurries to Venti’s side.
“Hey.” Xiao whispered, Venti moved his eyes towards the sound.
“H-hey…” he croaked, “Where… am I?”
“You’re in the recovery room recovering from surgery. Dr. Baizhu told me the surgery went well. They want to keep you for the day and overnight to make sure infection doesn’t happen. How do you feel?”
“Hmmm,” Venti groaned, gaining more of his bearings, “Better, there’s still pain, but it’s nowhere near as bad as before.”
“That’s good,” Xiao smiled, handing Venti a plush, “While you were in surgery I went to a nearby store and found this plush I thought you’d like.”
The plush had a white body, with blue wings, a black face with white eyes. According to Xiao it’s a plush based on a legend about a wind spirit who took on the form of a human boy when they became the God of Anemo.
“Thank you, I love it.”
“Oh good, you’re awake. After I check to make sure everything is stable, we can move you to your room.”
“Alright, everything looks to be in order,” the nurse said, looking at Venti’s chart, “Two nurses will be here shortly to move you to your room. Please call if you need anything else.” The nurse placed the chart back at the end of the bed.
“You did well, Venti. I’m proud of you.” Xiao grinned.
“We’re here to take Mr. Venti to his room,” Xiao was getting tired of all these nurses moving Venti from room to room, all he wanted was Venti to stay put so he could get the rest he needed.
“Are you comfortable?” one of the nurses asked Venti after they repositioned his bed.
“I am, thank you.”
“We will leave you two here. Nurses will be by to check in every so often.”
Now Venti and Xiao were properly alone for the first time since they arrived at the hospital. The air was calm. Venti was resting, no more tears or cries of pain. Xiao was happy.
“Thank you, Xiao, for taking care of me.”
“We’re together, Venti. I will always do my best to make sure you’re okay.”