Fever • TodoDeku

Chapter 9

Kormit the Forg
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"Jesus Sho, you can't keep anything down." Massaging circles on his boyfriend's back, Izuku couldn't help making the worried comment.

"Uhgg," Todoroki groaned in response, his forehead buried in his elbow, propped on the edge of the toilet, the acrid taste of bile still lingering grossly on his tongue.

"I'm serious babes, I think you should see the nurse," pressing a soft kiss against the feverish nape of his neck.

"N-no," he rasped insistently, thick breaths hanging off the single word. "It's not that bad." The words seemed to tear through his raw throat, digging gravelly hitches through his whispery voice, shredding it to an awful cacophony.

"It doesn't matter how 'bad' it is, Sho, baby, your fever's ridiculously high and you haven't been able kept anything down in at least 24 hours," beneath his furrowed brow sat a small frown, an honest, visible, expression of his underlying worry.

"Shit," the sick boy hissed, his throat stinging awfully as he coughed, choking on the residual acidic burn.

"Okay, okay, relax, calm down," taking a hand off Sho's back, he unclipped the barrette holding back red and white bangs, tossing it up on the vanity top.

Exhaling through a bout of frustration, Midoriya grabbed a water bottle, cautiously monitoring as his boyfriend gingerly sipped, washing away any lingering tastes.

Dehydration was currently at the top of his concerns. Shouto only managed a few sips, and though he wished he would drink more, Izuku forced himself to hold back his incessant fretting. Mostly.

"One more sip?" He pleaded, handing the water bottle back and receiving a pitiful gaze from his boyfriend. "Pretty please?"

Seeing the concerned look on his lover's face, Shouto reluctantly took one more drink, wincing subtly.

"Thank you love," he said softly, a tender hand running along Shouto's clenched jawline, offering a hesitant but grateful kiss.

"I, I'm tired Izuku," he murmured, returning a hesitance upon resting his head on Izuku's freckle-splashed collarbone.

"I know babes, let's get you back to bed," With a little squeezing hug, he helped Shouto up, keeping him steady upon shaky legs.

The two made it back under the covers, and exchanged a few sweet cuddles before drifting off for the night.

Thankfully, that night was peaceful. Shouto woke up a few times from headache and overheating, once from a distressing fever dream, but his deserving boyfriend was allowed a full nights rest.

The next morning Shouto awoke to the gentle hum of the AC turning on, the calming scent of green tea wafting throughout the room, as if to gradually lull him awake. Inhaling a fresh breath of morning air he rolled over, regretting the movement as his head gave a pang.

"Good mornin' beautiful," Izuku's adoring, whispery voice sang, the tips of his fingers brushing up and down his boyfriend's arm. "How do you feel?"

Struggling to process the question in his sleepy state, the sick boy searched his brain for the answer, then a, erm, deception.

"Better," he mumbled dishonestly, feeling almost definitely worse than yesterday. His stomach, throat, and head ached terribly, while stuffy nose aided tickling, cough inducing breaths.

"Hm," A smile spread across his freckled cheeks, as he reached to brush a lock of hair out of Shouto's eyes. "I'd hoped so,"

He almost regretted the fib, but that little smile was worth it.

"Is that tea?" Peering up to the cup, of what he knew was definitely tea, the sick boy hoped for a sip to soothe his throat.

"Yeah, you wanna sip?" Izuku offered the dinosaur mug to his grateful boyfriend, who eagerly took a drink.

"Thanks,"

"Do you want me to make one for you?"

"No, no, I just wanted a little bit," leaning over, curling up in Izuku's lap, he sleepily toyed with the blankets, noting the sting returning to his throat after the moment's relief.

"Alright,"

The two took to an easy morning, just lolling about. Eventually though, getting around to the stack of homework, rudely perched on the desks edge.

It'd bugged Shouto for a while, seeing that work just laying there in anticipation. If he didn't do it today there'd just be more to do tomorrow, and he knew enough to figure out that the world didn't wait for illness. Sighing through a deeply painful ache, he swung his legs over the bedside, trying not to bother his reading boyfriend.

Izuku gave a little inquiry, and despite his own wishes, let Shouto do whatever, since there was no use trying to stop him. Really, his boyfriend was like a big sweet boulder, and he sometimes it was pointless to try pushing that boulder  uphill.

Oddly, he managed to get two pages of work done. His foggy brained struggle was taking a small toll, allowing the stewing headache to reach a simmer, so to speak, pounding away furiously at the interior of his skull.

As one would expect, this began to wear down his motivations, eventually convincing hims to seek aid from his boyfriend, who better understood such things as grammar.

Briefly, it did help, but once the sunlight began to strain his eyes, and he was unable to hold his aching head off the desktop, he knew his body was giving out.

"But in this situation, I'd probabaly say the Oxford comma is the proper..." his boyfriend trailed off a few minutes later, halting his pen twirling. "Shouto?"

"No, no, no, I'm fine, I'm fine, let's keep going," he whispered, voice still terribly gravelly.

"Ah, alright," twirling the pen again, the freckled boy's mind wandered. For as much as he wanted to coddle and fuss over this stupid boy, he managed to refrain with the thought that soon enough he'd wither out.

And, he was right.

Ten minutes later, when he turned to check on Shouto's progress, he saw his boyfriend, head resting delicately on the table, using an arm in place of a pillow.

"You're too tired for this." He murmured sweetly, closing shut the english textbook.

He took pause trying to figure what to do with his sleepy mess of Shouto. Considering for a moment, he decided to attempt to drag the sick boy to bed.

"Hrrng," he pretended to groan, mostly for his own humor as he lifted his boyfriend up, bridal style.

Resting him upon the bed, and pulling up a couple of blankets, he accidentally held his breath when Sho shifted, hitching in breath before returning to a peaceful nap.

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