Puppet Master

Hero Names

"It broke."

Eijiro, Mom, and Dad all let out a massive sigh of relief at Dad's announcement. Izuku had gotten sick before. Whenever he runs himself rampid or goes through a particularly hard episode he will usually have to take a day or so off from life in general but fevers, oh boy, fevers were a whole other deal. Izuku was not as immune to them as most people because he never got flu shots or vaccinations up until last year which... we should all take a moment of silence in respect for his adopted family and the doctors who gave Izuku the first shot he had since he was four.

It was not a pretty day.

Fever's tend to cause a lot more nightmares and delusions for Izuku and they were especially hard to treat because those more or less reverted the boy to the state of mind he was in when he was on the streets and so he almost fully refused to eat meaning his body did not have the energy to fend off the fever. Because of this, Izuku's fevers would last anywhere from ten hours to three days. Luckily it was the weekend so when Izuku's fever ran into midday Sunday it did not mess with his schooling.

It was a momentous occasion when the fever broke.

Eijiro yawned. They were all pretty tired. Izuku was one heck of a force to deal with when he wasn't aware of his current position as 'Safe.'

"When will he wake up?" he asked Dad. Dad shrugged. "Considering who Izuku is? No more than thirty minutes to an hour now that his fever broke." Eijiro sighed. He wanted to hang out with his brother and go to the park or something but he knew better than to wake Izuku from the little bits of sleep that he actually did get.

"Speaking of which," Mom came in with a plate of apple slices, "have you set up an appointment, dear?"

Eijiro sat up from laying on the couch. Dad nodded. "Next Saturday." Eijiro furrowed his eyebrows. "An appointment for what?" Dad sighed. "We had a conversation with Mr. Aizawa about Izuku's sleeping habits and have decided that it would be best to get him sleeping pills." Eijiro hummed. "But doesn't his pain medicine do that?"

Mom nodded. "Yes but he will have to come off of the pain medicine soon." Eijiro paled. "Why?! He'll still have to put on the arm every morning and that thing almost knocks him out because it hurts so much!"" Dad waved him. "We know, Ei. We are the ones who have to put it on him but we cannot let Izuku become too reliant on those pills, it's not healthy. Especially for someone like Izuku."

Eijiro narrowed his eyes. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"Calm down," Dad said. "It's not like that. I mean that there are a lot of people who get addicted to pain pills and for someone like Izuku whose mind is not as stable as others, and don't try to deny that, it wouldn't be a far stretch to think that he could wind up addicted to them. That and Izuku also has a suicidal streak," Eijiro flinched, "and addiction to medicine could lead to overdosing."

Eijiro hung his head.

He hated how this was his brother and their son that they were talking about like this but the truth of the matter is that even if Izuku had made progress his mind was still a far cry from what one would consider 'stable.'

"D- does Izuku know?" Eijiro asked hesitantly.

Silence.

Yeah, they all knew. Izuku not sleeping was a fifty-fifty his choice and not his choice. His PTSD oh so helpfully refused to let him fall asleep peacefully but also Izuku chose not to sleep because he was that paranoid of a person and didn't want anything to happen while he was asleep when him being awake could help whatever terrible situation his mind conjured up that could happen.

"We were planning on telling him this weekend but then this happened," Dad said. Eijiro sighed. "He isn't going to like it," he stated. "Maybe not," Dad agreed, "but Izuku will get the sleep that he very much needs." Eijiro couldn't deny that.