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Shinsou had been living with Aizawa and Yamada for two weeks now, and compared to his biological parents, they were great. It had been all been going well, until Shinsou went and got himself sick. He sat alone in his room, muffling his coughs into his pillow, trying to keep as quiet as possible as his new parents were in the adjacent room. His chest burnt and his throat was sore, his head hurt and he could hardly breathe through his nose; he wasn't sure how long he could keep this up. He needed medicine.
As quietly as he could, he creeped out of his room and into the kitchen, where he knew the medication was kept. He just needed painkillers, or something. He had to stop being sick, stop being contagious; he was putting Aizawa and Yamada in danger of falling sick too.
"Hitoshi?"
Shinsou abruptly closed the drawer and stood to face Aizawa. His breath got caught in his throat in shock, and he succumbed to a long coughing fit in the kitchen. As he struggled to catch his breath and stop coughing, he felt Aizawa walk closer to him, to which he backed away from his touch, until he was trapped against the kitchen wall. Not missing Aizawa's frown, he continued to press his hands against his mouth. God, why couldn't he stop coughing?
"Hitoshi, let me get you some water." Aizawa protested, but Shinsou shook his head in response. "I'll get it myself." He croaked out, wincing as pain scraped against his throat. He could feel Aizawa's gaze on him as he poured himself a cup of water. The water was soothing and by the time he was done coughing, he was leaning against the counter, breathless and weak.
Without saying a word, Aizawa took out several pills from the medicine drawer and slid them over to Shinsou. He watched as his new son silently took the pills, grimacing at the taste. When he was done, a tense silence seemed to settle over the two of them.
"Are we going to talk about what that was?" Aizawa began.
"I'd rather not."
Aizawa raised an eyebrow as he continue to stare at him. "I guess I don't really get a choice, do I?", Shinsou sighed. "I just didn't want you to touch me, I don't want you to get sick."
Aizawa's expression softened. "Hitoshi, Hizashi and I are teachers. We work with children every day. At this point, we've built up pretty strong immune systems."
Shinsou looked at the ground in embarrassment. "I never thought of that, I guess I'm just used to it."
"Used to it?" Aizawa asked.
Shinsou huffed. "My parents, they were rather... germophobic, I think. Whenever I fell sick, they would lock me in my room so they wouldn't fall sick."
Aizawa's jaw clenched upon hearing that. Shinsou had never been taken care of while sick, it was something that he always had to deal with himself. Now, that immediate response to not ask for help was deeply ingrained in him. "Hitoshi, I'm not germophobic, so please do not worry. When you are sick, just come to me or Hizashi, and we can help. Okay?"
Shinsou's composure seemed to break a little. Full realisation hit him; he now had parents who were genuinely going to take care of him. "Okay, he nodded. This was something that he will have to get used to; being treated like a son. Quietly, he worked up the courage to ask, "Um, do you have tea? My throat really hurts."
Aizawa gave a small smile in return. "You go rest, I'll make the tea."
Shinsou padded his way to the living room, and sat down on the couch. Their cat crawled onto his lap and he ran his fingers through its fur. The sound of the boiler whistled through the apartment and Shinsou took a deep breath to calm himself. This was his new family, and he no longer had to hide and cower anymore. He had parents who cared for his wellbeing and maybe he could rest assured for a while, that things were going to get better from here.