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On their most recent quest, Izuku had fallen ill. Shouto isn’t entirely sure when it happened exactly. It must have been sometime between when they all fell into the river and Shouto accidentally got their entire party caught in his ice while dealing with a few bandits looking to steal from them as they slept and he had been the lookout. It was entirely his fault for not hearing them approach sooner, but he had gotten distracted looking at the faint flush on Izuku’s cheeks as he slept, wondering if it had to do with his dreams or if it was something else entirely.
In retrospect, it must have been the sickness taking hold already, and Shouto is absolutely sure that his ice didn’t really help make it any better. Izuku was stubborn and didn’t say anything until he collapsed in the middle of the road and it was pretty impossible to ignore that something wasn’t quite right with his partner’s health.
Still, it is nothing some medicine wouldn’t fix, and Ochako had been quick to brew a bottle of it for him to take with the various ingredients she kept in her enchanted pouch. But with the fever only climbing higher with each minute that passes, Izuku isn’t really in his right mind when the witch tries to give it to him.
The moment the medicine hits his tongue, Izuku immediately coughs it up, spits it out and returns to his position with a miserable groan. Tenya also tries to do it, thinking that maybe he can somehow ease Izuku with reassuring facts about how it will help get him to feel better. Of course, it doesn’t work either. Izuku is so out of it he probably didn’t even hear half of what Tenya said to begin with.
The knight looks back at Ochako and Shouto desperately, his concern evident in his watering eyes as Izuku continues to writhe in pain and discomfort. The other two look to Shouto alone then, hoping he may have some way of getting his partner to swallow the medicine without actually forcing it down his throat. Taking in Izuku’s dazed expression, Shouto purses his lips, his gaze dipping down to his own chapped and parted ones. This really isn’t the time to be thinking of such things, but when that pretty shade of red dusts across Izuku’s freckled cheeks, it’s all he can do not to pull him into a tight embrace and mark each one with a loving kiss before stopping at his lips.
Izuku well and truly stole Shouto’s heart and all his reason with it.
Then suddenly, an idea crosses Shouto’s mind and he takes a few steps closer, gesturing for Tenya to hand him the bottle of medicine and step aside. Calling to his ice, Shouto kneels down next to Izuku, bringing his right hand up to his partner’s scalding forehead and brushing his curls away from his face with a chilled touch. Izuku shivers slightly in response and Shouto gently caresses his face, his skin burning underneath his icy fingertips. No wonder he is near delirious…
“Izuku…” Shouto calls softly, getting a small, weak noise from him in return. “Look at me for a bit, will you?”
Opening bleary eyes, shining painfully under the afternoon light with the tears that gather at the corners, Izuku sucks in a shaky breath, hardly even seeing Shouto at all as he trembles slightly. Popping the cork off the tiny bottle with just one hand, Shouto brings it up to his own lips to pour some of it into his mouth. The taste is beyond foul, and he certainly doesn’t blame Izuku for spitting it out, however unconscious the reaction may be.
Behind him, Tenya and Ochako let out inquisitive noises that he quickly ignores as he tilts Izuku’s head backwards just a little and leans in. Taking advantage of his mouth being agape, Shouto dives in for a slow kiss, pushing the liquid into it with his tongue running over Izuku’s. A disgusted noise tries to form deep in his throat, but when Shouto digs his fingers in his hair and deepens the kiss, it morphs to a sigh of satisfaction, and Izuku brings his arms up to wrap loosely around his shoulders. Shouto doesn’t fight it when Izuku pulls him closer, swallowing the medicine without a single sign of resistance to keep kissing him and truly taste him underneath the liquid’s rancid flavour.
Just as Shouto is beginning to snake his own arms around Izuku’s waist, he feels someone tug at his collar and drag him away from his partner with a tut. Izuku immediately whines at the loss, but his protest is short-lived, seeing as the very next moment he leans back against the mound of satchels they had used to keep him upright, and he seems to lose consciousness altogether, slipping into a restless slumber.
“That’s quite enough, Todoroki-sama.” Tenya berates him with a clearing of his throat. “If you keep that up, you will end up getting sick as well, Your Highness.”
Shouto couldn’t have stopped the little frown from settling on his lips if he tried, sitting cross-legged on the grassy ground when Tenya lets go of him. He crosses his arms over his chest as well, pouting slightly before speaking in a petulant tone.
“I don’t really get sick easily,” he starts. “And besides, Izuku is going to need more than just one dose of medicine.”
“Nice try.” Ochako chides, hitting his head lightly with her staff and leaving him to rub at the spot in mild irritation. “He only needs to take another dose in a few more hours, and you know it.”
Shouto narrows his eyes. “With the state he’s in, it can’t hurt to give him another one right now…”
Tenya raises a sceptical eyebrow. “Todoroki-sama, that is not how medicine works.” Shouto huffs in defeat as the knight continues. “And from the look of Midoriya-kun’s face, I think it is safe to assume that he should be feeling better in no time.”
Returning his gaze to Izuku, he can tell that the distressed and anguished lines that had been twisting his features before have softened, and if not for the still bright flush over his cheeks—which are still infuriatingly enticing—, Shouto could probably safely assume that he is sleeping quite peacefully. Letting out a heavy sigh, Shouto acknowledges the others’ irrefutable arguments and instead just pushes himself to his feet to dig a fur from one of his mare’s carrier bags and drapes it over Izuku’s trembling body before sitting on his right, left side pressed into him.
“I won’t kiss him, but I can at least keep him warm.”
With a soft smile on Ochako’s part and an exasperated shake of his head on Tenya’s, the two acquiesce and Shouto wraps his left arm around Izuku’s waist to pull him closer and let his fire powers warm his skin. Even if Izuku might soon be feeling a little too hot, Shouto knows from personal experience that it’s best if he sweats the sickness out.
When the time comes for Izuku to take the medicine again, Shouto notes that his forehead is considerably cooler, and the sheen over his eyes isn’t as pronounced. Once Ochako brings the bottle over to them again, Shouto could swear he saw actual acknowledgement in his gaze. But Izuku doesn’t reach for the medicine himself, just lets his eyes flicker to Shouto, a hitch of his breath easily passing as a soft gasp from the pain riddling his body. Shouto knows what it really is though, and a corner of his mouth twitches upward as he takes another dose of medicine into it and leans closer to Izuku.
If Tenya and Ochako notice how he reaches for Shouto’s face to pull him into the kiss himself, neither of them comments on it. And Shouto honestly couldn’t care less if Izuku could have just taken the medicine by himself by now.