Dormmates | Genshin Men

24 | She literally woke up from the dead!

The knight in shining armor scene makes Tighnari roll his eyes as he retracts his hand. Kaveh and some of the others sigh in relief as Chongyun and Cyno slowly sits back down, no longer afraid of—what could've been—a pretty bad fall.

Kaveh turns to the apologizing Oni with a hand on his hip, brows furrowed. He's like a parental figure getting ready to scold. "What happened? You were holding her in your arms and suddenly dropped her."

Itto's frantic movements all around your face, checking for any injuries of some sort, pauses. He gently squishes your cheeks together, brows furrowed. "Whaddaya mean what happened?! She literally woke up from the dead! D-E-A-D. Dead! I thought her spirit was talkin' to me, and well... as any natural person and Oni would react, I freaked the F out!"

Ayato chuckles in amusement as he kneels down and carefully sets you on your feet, his hand resting against your back to make sure you're able to properly stand upright, before he takes a step back and leaves a respectable distance. The warmth fades away, much to your slight disappointment. Being in his arms is comparable to snuggling in your cozy bed, and that's exactly where you want to be—simply dozing away.

You turn to quickly thank him, but just as the first "thank" falls from your lips, you get dragged into immense warmth again by a different set of arms as he holds you closely to him, the scent of the flowing waters and sweet plants almost acting as a small protection around you. He's... trembling. You hug him and rub his back soothingly.

"(Y/N)—"

"Benny?"

He stiffens for a moment and holds you even tighter. "Sorry for my terrible smell... I had bio class earlier, and we were outside in the nearby woods."

"It's okay, I don't mind. And... I'm okay. Don't worry."

Bennett breathes a sigh of relief, though he doesn't show signs of letting go anytime soon. It's like the sole reassurance for him right now is to be within your presence, holding you this way. As sweet and comforting as it is, you wonder why he got so anxious about you almost falling. Sure, it could've been almost a six feet fall, but you figured the most you would get is a sore back.

Your eyes drift down to the carpeted flooring. At least if you did fall, you would've landed on this type of safer material compared to the laminated flooring of the kitchen.

"Hey... Bennett. It's alright, you can stop suffocating her," Tighnari says softly, patting at the male's newly injured arm. "Tell you what, let's go get you patched up. It appears nature wasn't very kind to you... again."

Only after hearing those words does Bennett finally let you go in a startled manner. He jumps and moves away from you, blushing profusely as a string of apologies and reasonings fall from his lips. "I just thought, y'know, with my bad luck and all, it decided to impact you and well, I couldn't bear to see you hurt, even if just a bit, because of me. I panicked more when I saw you could've hit your head at the edge of the table over there, and..."

Edge of the table? You glance over at what he's referring to and see a long table pushed against the wall with cute decorations set on the surface as a painting adorns the wall behind.

Oh... well, you didn't realize your head could've made contact with something sturdy like that. You rub the back of your head, imagining how that could've felt. Ouch... Itto happened to stand at the worst place, it seems.

Cyno clears his throat from where he's at. "There's no need to be harsh on yourself for it. What happened here is not associated with your bad luck. What matters is (Y/N)'s overall safety."

"Mhm, the princess is safe. Please do not stress over this situation too much," Ayato chimes in to offer some reassurance.

Bennett's mouth opens to say something, but Tighnari quickly takes the chance to push him toward the staircase. "I'll take a look at you later for extra measure," he whispers to you, continuing to force the uncertain male up the first step.

When you face back to the others, Cyno has his arms crossed and in front of a guilty-looking Kaveh who has his head hanging down. What's going on now? You make your way over to the pair, not wanting anyone else's mood to be dampened. "Cyno, Kaveh? What's wrong?" you murmur.

The white-haired male "hmphs" and lifts a hand toward the latter. "He feels guilty and is blaming himself for the placement of the decor table. As I quote his words, 'If I just listened to Alhaitham's advice about the placement of the decor table, the chance of her getting injured would be reduced, and I wouldn't have some good friends stressed out right about now'," he finishes.

"Well, it's true, and you can't convince me otherwise! Ugh, once word gets out to him, he's going to have that stupid smirk of satisfaction on his face..."

"I understand your caring quality is inevitable, and I respect that, but think about it for a moment. Blaming yourself isn't achieving anything, is it? Focus on the actual fortunate results, not what could've occurred."

"I swear I heard Alhaitham's voice in you..." Chongyun chuckles from nearby with Mika who is quietly watching the exchange, flickering his worried gaze over to you and someone to the right of him every once in a while.

Kaveh immediately corrects him, "I won't deny that guy would say something very similar, but Cyno's nicer about it."

Cyno clears his throat once more. "Besides... unless you want to hear an endless lecture from the lady herself, I would advise not to put anymore blame upon yourself," he announces with a raise in his voice, "and that goes for everybody."

The immediate motherly stance with a hand on the hip and a disapproving and concerned stare relaxes when the blonde-haired male lowers his head in defeat toward you and thanks Ayato for the save. At least he listened to Cyno's thoughtful words, because you definitely won't hesitate to give his ears a long conversation, so long that he'll view your voice as a constant nightmare by the end of it.

And of course, you can't forget about one more guy. You already noticed from prior due to Mika's shift in gaze: Itto is like a wilted lettuce in a sandwich. The Oni appears to be helping Thoma out with the Hot Pot preparations by slicing up some vegetables and meats.

Keywords: appears to be helping. The knife gripped in his hand is motionless, his fingers simply ripping at the food to make them smaller.

"Um... Itto?" Mika attempts to call out to the obviously dejected male as he glances at you nervously.

Chongyun nudges his fellow cryo user and puts a finger to his lips with a playful smile, leaning back in his seat and already getting prepared for the scene to unravel before him. Mika's eyes widen, turning to look at Itto one final time before he sighs and nods, already giving up anyway since he sees your approaching figure.

"Itto."

-♡-

One of my favorite comparisons to use whenever I am in a bad mood: I am like a wilted lettuce in a sandwich.