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“Now blow."
“'ont tell me what to do, I'm not an invalid."
“I think 'in-vuh-lid' is the word you're looking for."
Senku paused to consider, before complying with the tissue held against his nose. Byakuya sighed as he checked the time again. He had half an hour before his lecture, and no response from his backup sitter. Senku wasn't necessarily that sick, but it didn't mean he trusted the boy to stay in bed and rest while he was out. (He may even try inventing a cure for himself)
"Alright kiddo, here's what we're gonna do." He tossed the tissue into the bin, moving to pack his notes into his bag, "We'll pack our bags, take some snacks and books, go do my lecture, then get ramen on the way home. Sound good? "
“Mmmh." He didn't sound convinced, but he still moved to grab his own books and bag. A few snacks and drinks later and they were leaving the apartment. Senku did his best to keep pace with his father’s long strides, since while the university was within walking distance, Byakuya still wanted to get there in plenty of time. Every few metres Senku had to jog to put himself back in line, and by the time they were at the entry he was out of breath.
"Doing alright there?"
"F-fin- ACHOO."
Byakuya had to hold in a laugh as Senku managed to knock himself over with a sneeze.
"Almost there." He handed him a tissue, then picked him up.
"I'm fine, I can walk!" He squirmed, reluctantly rubbing his nose.
"Like I said, almost there."
He rounded the corner and shifted to push the door open with his backside, only to have a student step in and grab the door for him.
"Ah, thanks!"
"No worries Professor, I see we have a new student?"
"Oh this guy? I don't think my class is advanced enough for him."
"Haha of course." She smiled and waved at Senku, who simply frowned, before taking a seat.
Byakuya set Senku down on one of the front row seats, before moving to the desk to set up his presentation. Still exhausted, the little boy pulled up the in-built table arm and rested his head on it, watching as more students filtered into the room. Most gave greeting to Byakuya, and a few shared whispers as the sight of a child, giggling behind their hands. Once the hour hand rolled around just over half the seats were full, which would have been impressive in Senku’s opinion, if the room could hold more than 50 people.
“Alright settle down, now to pick up where we left off last time…”
The sound of his father’s voice, accompanied by the soft noises of paper, pen and keyboards were almost enough to lull Senku to sleep, stuffy nose well ignored. However, there was a burning sensation on the back of his head. With a less than subtle glance, he spied the culprit two seats back, more focused on him than the lecture. Caught, they looked away, then quickly pretended to write some notes. Once Senku turned, the sensation hit his neck again. After repeating the encounter twice more, he knew he wasn’t going to get any rest, particularly when Byakuya caught sight of what was happening and almost lost it in the middle of an equation.
He grabbed his bag and pulled out one of his latest reads, a semi-heavy tome on electrical engineering. It was a bit of a struggle to find a comfortable spot for it, finding resting it on his legs hurt and leaning it back cause the table arm to swing back to the side. When he got it to balance on the strangely shaped table arm, he had to shift onto his knees to be tall enough to even read it. His watch thankfully moved their gaze, either back to the lecture or onto his book, he didn’t really care.
What he did care about was the fact he was having difficulty reading even one sentence of his book. He’d been soaking it up previously, but now his cotton stuffed brain was refusing to let in any new information. He sighed but trying to exhale through his nose just made snot dribble out.
Byakuya must have given the class something to work on, since he was suddenly back in Senku’s face, holding up another tissue, to which the boy snatched to use himself. His Father gave a small laugh.
“Not long left.”
“Mh.”
Blowing his nose made his ears hurt, the sounds of chattering students muffled on his left side.
“Better n’t skimp on the ramen old man.”
Byakuya ruffled his hair, “Wouldn’t dream of it.”
He left a juice box and packet of rice crackers beside him, before travelling up the isles to check on how his students were going. Senku poked the straw into the box, ignoring the food for now, and aiming to quench the tickle he could feel staring in his throat. The last thing he wanted to do was interrupt the lecture by coughing.
The eyes were on him again, and this time he mustered his best glare to send back, not thinking how sipping his juice may diminish the effect. The student didn’t look away this time, but they did hide a clear laugh behind their hand, which only annoyed Senku more. He just wanted to sit in peace and read his book, so why did the word have other plans for him? Was this karma for ever sitter he’d scared half to death with probably-not-age-appropriate science experiments? He turned and dropped his head into the book, careful to have his nose hanging off the end up avoid getting it dirty.
Byakuya’s lecture seemed to drag on for way to long, until Senku felt a hand on his shoulder.
“How are you feeling?”
There was a smile on his father’s face, but also the creases of worry around his eyes. The student who had helped him open the door was now lingering there again, and the lecture hall was awfully quiet.
“-done?”
“Yeah, we can head home now.”
Byakuya pulled the book from under his face and tucked it into his bag, where everything else was already packed. He slipped it onto his shoulder, then lifted Senku into his arms. The boy didn’t protest. Being carried back sounded way better than walking, but it wasn’t until they were climbing the stairs to their apartment that a thought came to him.
“-wha ‘bout the ramen?”
He was jostled a little while the keys were fished out.
“We can order delivery later, but you seem tired right now.”
“Yeah, but ’s the principle of the thing.”
“Is that so?”
Senku hated that dismissive expression, usually used when he should be sleeping and not talking about some new theory, but as he went to protest, he began to cough.
“Don’t overdo it. Sorry, we shouldn’t have gone out in the first place.”
He set his son down in his bed, putting aside their bags before retreating to the kitchen. He found the boy trying to sit up when he returned with a cup of water.
“No, good little scientists stay in bed when sick. It’s proven research.”
“Where’s y’ references?”
He started coughing again and accepted the water when it subsided. Accepting fate, he laid back down, giving his father the best pointed look as he was tucked in.
“-better be ramen wh’n I wake up.”
“Maybe we could start with some rice porridge, then ramen?”
Byakuya had begun running a hand through his hair, and it was lulling him to sleep. He was having trouble remembering if he’d read about a scientific reason for such a reaction.
“...’ine.”
He hoped there’d been some sound of protest in the mumble, but his father only quietly hummed at him.
‘Whatever.’
At least being sick meant Byakuya would stay by his side for the next few days.