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Nishinoya wasn’t up for sickness. Not when he and Asahi’s newly adopted kids were barely in their house for a week. A WEEK. His body did not have the right to be so sick and tired already.
Thanks, though.
Exhaustion was allowed to come...later, or something. Better yet: how about never. Yeah, that seemed about right. He’d never get tired of Tsukishima’s constant asking if he could play ‘Dinosaur Attack’, as he called it (In which the carnivores were never allowed to win, no matter how hard he tried. Kei explained that the underdogs were always victorious in his books, just like the Tiny Giant) or Yamaguchi’s juice box addiction.
When it’s called an addiction, it means addiction. Like, full-on obsession. Asahi finally installed a lock on the refrigerator door because that kid got so crafty. Every hour he’d have a juice box if he had his way.
Not apple juice, though. Only grape juice or fruit punch. Bottom line. Apple juice just wasn’t good. He found it too sour, although that made little sense, as Asahi found grape juice completely repulsive. Something that had that much of a bitter taste likened to burn in his eyes and it sure wouldn’t burn a hole in his pocket.
But, they’d solve that problem eventually. The most popular—and least popular, for Yamaguchi’s stomach—solution alluded to the complete disallowment of juice boxes. Rather, gallon juice bottles would be bought. Then, the adults could pour the desired amount. So be it little, then they could always have small amounts throughout the day.
His sugar intakes: plummeting. Hyperactive screaming and running throughout the house: tamped down. Asahi’s headaches: majorly more mild. Not that Nishinoya’s chaos didn’t fuel the fire, but if the boys weren’t going crazy, ‘Noya wasn’t either.
Heaven forbid Tadashi to misbehave. All hell would break loose if the quieter, soft-spoken boy chose to make a bad choice. That juice would lie dormant for an entire day if he didn’t follow directions or refuse to apologize to Tsukki for something. An entire day.
That was the ultimate card Asahi and Yuu kept in their deck, right next to taking Tsukki’s dinosaurs. If they decided they were going to fight about something or take a tone with the other, they’d just be screwing themselves over.
No juice. No dinosaurs. End of discussion.
Alas, to no one’s surprise, they both chose to behave (Most of the time!). And, when they chose to do the right thing and be kind, the fun would commence once again. It wasn’t like the parents enjoyed punishing them, but the mere threat of losing the things they held dear really did the trick.
Nishinoya stared at the bottle of thick liquid, the yellow-orange barely illuminated with his phone light. Bewildered at the bizarre bright color for night medicine, yet not looking too closely at the label, he grabbed it. With the premature assurance it was probably the correct one, he unscrewed the cap and nearly drank straight out of the bottle, but when two faces appeared in the doorway, he thought better of it.
Not acknowledging their existence, he merely placed the receptacle down, flicked the light on, and got a real plastic measuring cup. Their prying eyes, heads pressed above each other to peek around the door frame, noisily made the silence uncomfortable. Washing that feeling, and the ill-tasting medicine down with the tap, he turned to face them finally.
Close to seriously flicking the light back off and stalking off to bed groggily, he looked them in the eyes, both of them.
Then at himself in the mirror.
Then back at them.
Then at the mirror.
Then back at them.
Then—wait why did all of the dark circles underneath their sets of eyes match? Hold on.
“We don’t feel very good, d-dad,” Yamaguchi said quietly. Nishinoya wasn’t sure if the stutter was from nervousness, grogginess, a shiver, or the newness of that word.
It shocked him and Asahi at how fast they learned to trust the two of them. Although only a week had passed, they were already using the familiarity of the names.
Of course, of course, neither of them minded one bit. Daichi said that was normal, as their kids: Shouyou and Tobio, did the same thing at just around the same time. Initially their CPS worker—Lucy—also mentioned that. But she said it would take a few months for the familiarity to be built up.
A beat passed, ‘Noya’s brain not quite firing at full capacity, “Cough, huh? So you both aren’t feeling well, then?”
“Yeah, neither of us do. Our coughs woke us both up and we both feel the same way,” Yamaguchi continued, coughing a cough that Tsukki joined in harmony, and then ‘Noya.
Okay, if one thing remained constant, it was the fact that Yuu Nishinoya hated being wrong, especially if Asahi was the one that was right. His stubborn nature, mixed with a rather unhealthy helping of ‘we’ll be fine, it can’t happen to us’ often left him on the wrong side of things, but losing to Asahi was on a whole other level.
Yes, he loved that man with everything he had in him, but losing to him was not allowed.
But, oh how he lost now. Going out and playing in that freezing rain was probably the culprit, he decided. Who suggested it was a bad idea? That’s right: Asahi. Why in the world did he always have to be right?
Who would listen to him when jumping through puddles rippled way more fun than staying inside?
Well, smart people, that’s who. If there was something Yuu was, it was not smart. At least he could openly admit it, and he wore it with pride. Most of the time, but not when his kids were stuck with cold symptoms and tired eyes and the same sickness he had. And, it was his fault. All his. Completely. One-hundred percent.
Nothing to do about it now. Well, except to medicate these kids up and get them, and himself off to bed. The Nyquil he’d give them, and had given himself, would help them all tremendously.
Now, falling to sleep, easy breezy. He gave them each significantly less than what he took—along with some children’s ibuprofen—in their own little plastic containers and sent them back to bed with some tissues and glasses of water.
Returning and tucking into the soft mattress and warm blankets, he waited. The ceiling is...very nice, Nishinoya thought. Eyes wide, wide open. They delved into the popcorn ceiling. Apparently, it seemed more interesting than going to sleep like a norman human being.
The symptoms abandoned him for the most part, at least. If laying there like a newborn unable to catch a snooze was happening, at the minimum, he’d be comfortable. Reciprocating from the other room, much less often did he hear coughs from the other room. Even better: his own were all over the breaks too.
A few hours later...or maybe a prolonged fifteen minutes, he gave up. He peeled the sheets up, fixed Asahi’s blankets gingerly to avoid stirring him, and grabbed a fuzzy blanket from the basket in the corner of their room. Smiling faintly at the glass-hearted giant sleeping more particularly peacefully than usual, he left. Oftentimes his partner had trouble sleeping, but that night was not one of those nights.
“Draw your weapon!” Some cowboy-looking man layered in thick chaps and rocked spurs said on television. Nishinoya flinched and lowered the volume significantly, then sat back with his hands pillowing the back of his head.
Old (and new) western—along with Marvel—movies were always his favorite. For the most part: it was because they were cringe-worthy and made him laugh. The other small part was the fact that they were cringe-worthy and, more often than not, boring; therefore, he’d find sleep while one rolled across the screen.
The only other thing on the T.V. that helped him sleep late at night was watching volleyball. Dear holy Angels of Volleyball it’s so boring. So. Boring. Who would want to watch it when they could be PLAYING it? Who in their right mind would do that? Who would watch it when they could actually get into it and dig up volleyballs and be a guardian deity and stuff?
Exactly.
And golf. Golf’s even worse. But we digress…
While his mind ran a million miles an hour, it drifted to the morning. First, he’d have to lose to Asahi—and that sure sent his teeth gnashing and a ripple of annoyed anger up his spine—and admit that he and both the boys were sick and he was—another shudder—right. Then, he’d have to call in to practice and let the team know he was taking sick leave.
With Asahi being right as step one, he had no shot at pushing through with some heavy meds. Staying home was the only option. The soul option. Step three, after being right and calling, they’d have two sick kids on their hands. Lovely. However, having Asahi being right as the first step would result in Asahi having no choice but to call into work and let them know that he’d be out as well.
Furthermore, say he did power through there’d be no telling what he’d do after completely expelling every ounce of energy out at practice and then returning to take care of the kids.
The help would be greatly appreciated.
A dinosaur onesie appeared in the corner, clutching a pastel blue tyrannosaurus rex and matching blanket. The figure adjusted their glasses carefully, and then a second appeared. They had on a jet black onesie with a white spot on the stomach, yellow feet, and a cute beak on top of the foldable hood.
“My dinosaur-kun and penguin-kun couldn’t sleep tonight, either?”
Both nodded.
“Well c’ mere,” He shifted over on the couch. Picking up Yamaguchi, he set him in his lap and opened one side of the blanket to allow Tsukishima to cuddle up beside him. “Do you guys feel better than before?”
Yamaguchi yawned, “Yeah, dad. We just feel wide awake. Right Tsukki-chan?”
“Yeah,” His short reply.
“Well me either. It’s like my mind’s on a hundred-meter sprint but the finish line keeps moving farther and farther away.”
Tsukki nodded against his ribs, holding the dinosaur tight. They both felt warm to him, still, which was partly unnerving but also relieving. Fever meant fighting. Their bodies were fighting whatever they were dealing with. Good.
“You’re kinda warm, dad,” Yama’ remarked. Apparently he was fighting, too.
“Yeah? I’m feeling kind of cold, though.”
“Me too.”
“Same,” Kei responded quietly and was pulled closer and draped in more of the blanket. He did the same for Yamaguchi.
They rested there. For the rest of the night. Four movies later, the skies began to illuminate with light and beauty. None of them could sleep, even if they tried. Minds racing, even their fatigued bodies couldn’t find shut-eye. Too many thoughts, too much energy.
Every once and a while, one of them would drift off but the cough would shake their shoulders (and the other two) back to Earth. No one sleeps until they all fall asleep at the same time. And, that outcome, however slim, still wasn’t happening.
Asahi climbed out of bed decently early, around seven as per the usual. Strolling into the living room, he smiled at them all. “Why’re you all up so early?”
Phase one: go. “Okay, so you were right,” ‘Noya said quietly.
And, then, not because he spoke quietly or didn’t make sense, “What?”
“We shouldn’t have gone out in the rain.”
“Yuu—”
“We’re all sick because of it. No need to rub it in.”
“I didn’t even say anything—” He was abruptly interrupted by rough coughs and a surprise convulsion from Yamaguchi, who had fallen asleep with his head on Nishinoya’s chest. This prompted a groggy green-haired penguin to catch ‘Noya’s jaw with the back of his head.
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry,” He said and carded his hands through the boy’s soft hair, still smelling faintly of bubblegum as he clutched his own jaw. Asahi held his hands out helplessly.
“How long have you all been awake?”
“All night, basically.”
“Well that settles it. No one’s going anywhere today.”
“You can still go to work, Asahi,” He said. A lie, of course. That would violate the second phase, but he felt okay enough...so either way. Whatever. He already got to be right.
“I won’t leave you to take care of them and yourself all by yourself,” Tsukki looked up at him with sleepy eyes and Asahi moved to gather him up in his arms, blanket and dinosaur plushie and all. ‘Noya looked away indignantly. “I’ll make breakfast.”
“Can I please have some juice, papa?” Tadashi asked, lifting his head more carefully to meet the taller of his two parents’ eyes.
“Me too, please,” Kei spoke up, resting his head on Asahi’s shoulder.
“Sure, I’ll go get it. Yuu, how long ago did you all take medicine?”
A while ago. But, that wasn’t exactly a straight answer, either. Hours ago? Four cowboy movies and a possible nap ago? “Around twelve last night.”
Close enough. Asahi put Tsukishima down on the couch gingerly, promising to return in only a moment. He made for the medicine cabinet. It would be fine to give all three of them new medicines, as their coughs seemed to be acting up and didn’t look so good.
There, on the counter haphazardly, staring him in the face, was a beautiful bottle of brightly colored Dayquil. Dayquil? That’s why they couldn’t sleep. “Did he really mistake Dayquil for Nyquil? Their colors are too different but…”
“I know, I’m dumb. Figured it out a while ago that we may have taken the wrong thing. That’s why we weren’t groggy or sleeping like rocks,” Asahi laughed at this, then scolded him about not getting up unless he needed to. ‘Noya fired back that it was just a cold and that he could handle it.
All that jazz. “Well, let’s take some Nyquil then, just so you all can actually sleep, then we can take the correct one for tonight, and you’ll be just fine.”
“So, we’re just reversing them.”
“Yes, crazy. Just reverse them.”
“Oh, I see. You must hold the key to the universe with all kinds of crazy ideas like that.”
“You’re just delusional. Go sit back down.”
“Fine, but I am going to say I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to lash out. I just hate it when you’re right about something I’m in denial about or choose to ignore.”
“You really are delusional. You? Apologizing for being competitive? It cannot be.”
“Oh, shut up.”
“I love you.”
“I love you more.”
“Hey, it’s not always a contest, you know!”
“Yeah, I know.”