Thread by @undeadbiscuit

#sangyu for @TheLadyLudovica
The Whump Wheel chose... Migraine!
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Though he still had to keep quiet enough not to draw attention to himself, Mo Xuanyu made his way through the halls as quickly as he could.

Even though Nie-xiong always forgave him when it happened, he *hated*

it whenever his... his *"lessons"* made him late for their usual appointment for tea.

And it wasn't just for the fact that meeting with Nie-xiong meant much more food than he usually got for a meal. He genuinely adored Nie-xiong's company, and Nie-xiong genuinely seemed to like

him as well.

*Him!*

Red-faced, and not just from having to cross the grounds of Koi-tower so quickly, he skidded to a halt in front of Nie-xiong's guest room and knocked.

"Come in," came the reply from inside.

Nie-xiong's voice sounded weirdly thin and exhausted, and

Mo Xuanyu frowned when he opened the sliding door and found the room to be dark.

*Pitch black* dark, the kind of darkness that could only be achieved at this level of Koi Tower with the help of talismans.

"Is... is everything okay? Are you sure you wouldn't rather me come back

later? If you're busy with something, I-"

"It's *fine*, Yu-er. Just one of my headaches is all."

Oh. He'd never seen one of Nie-xiong's pain spells in person before, but he'd heard about how awful they could get from Yao-ge.

Slipping into the room, he quickly closed the door

so the light from outside would be cut off. Then he carefully pulled a small light talisman from his sleeve and activated it, but covered it with his sleeve to dim how much light it put out.

Now that he could at least somewhat see, he found that Nie-xiong was curled up in a

ball on the bed, clad only in sleep robes and with one of the blankets balled up and covering his head.

Wincing in sympathy, he approached the bed. "Is there anything I can do to help?"

"Mrgh."

He had to bite his lip to hide a smile at the utterly resigned tone of the groan,

then looked around.

There was a tea tray with several small vials and jars of medication... probably sent by Yao-ge. Also a bowl of water that had long gone from hot to tepid, with some cloths for soaking.

He hadn't gotten very good with using heat talismans yet, but he could

at least manage this much, so he brought the bowl back to steaming and then dunked one of the rags in and wrung it out, then sat down on the edge of the bed.

Nie-xiong made no effort to fight him when he tugged the balled-up blanket away, and only hissed softly as the hot cloth

was wrapped around the back of his neck to loosen up the painful-looking tension.

"Have you had anything to eat?"

"Some plain steamed buns," Nie-xiong mumbled, tilting his head to welcome the feeling of Mo Xuanyu carefully petting his hair.

"Okay. I'll stay with you until

you get hungry again, then we can eat together, yeah?"

"Yeah. That sounds good."