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izuku woke up panting, his hand automatically reaching to grasp his shirt. the first thing he registered was that it was hot. way too hot. his pajamas were soaked with sweat and clung to him uncomfortably. he noted that his blanket had been kicked off of the bed, leaving him exposed to the cool night air and yet, he was so hot.
dad. his first instinct was to get his dad. he moved to climb off his bed and jolted at the sudden pain that zapped through his body. it felt like he could feel all the bones and joints in his body and they hurt. he couldn’t help the whine that escaped his throat as his discomfort mounted. he wanted shouta. he needed shouta to make it better.
mustering up the strength to push through the pain, izuku got up on wobbly legs and painstakingly made his way to his dad’s room which was thankfully just down the hall. every step he took sent a jolt of pain throughout his entire body, every little movement had him gasping from how much everything ached.
by the point he arrived at his dad’s door, izuku was shaking from exertion, barely able to knock and crack the door open without waiting for a response. his dad wasn’t super strict about knocking and waiting unless it was his office where he worked on confidential documents and cases.
the moment he twisted the knob and pushed the door open, izuku’s legs gave out and sent him flopping onto the floor with a loud thump and pained whine. the noise was enough to startle the underground hero awake, dark eyes darting around as he blinked sleep away, trying to figure out what woke him.
“d-dad.”
shouta’s head snapped towards the pitiful voice of his son and his heart rate spiked at the sight of izuku on the floor, clutching onto the door frame, pain evident as he breathed heavily. the man almost tumbled out of bed in his rush to reach his son. his hands immediately went to izuku’s forehead, pushing back sweat slicked curls from his face, startling from the heat of the kid’s skin.
“you’re burning up, bub,” the man murmured, voice still rough from sleep as he frowned in worry.
“m’hot. a-and everything hurts,” izuku’s voice cracked and he inevitably started crying. “make it stop, dad, please.”
it was childish he thinks, to plead for your parent to take away the pain, to fix things out of anyone’s control truly, but in that moment, izuku just needed his dad.
“alright, alright,” the man soothed as he scooped the boy in his arms, getting increasingly more worried at the heat that seemed to radiate from the boy’s body. “let’s get you in a bath, alright? we have to get that fever down,” he decided.
izuku did not respond beyond whining and burying his face in the crook of shouta’s neck. the wave of heat was uncomfortable, even to him and shouta hurried to prepare the bath.
he put the lid down and set izuku on the toilet, helping the boy peel off his sweat drenched clothes, leaving his underwear on. the boy looked relieved to be free from the uncomfortable sensation of his sticky pajamas but almost immediately started shaking from being exposed to the cold air.
izuku whined sadly when his dad pulled away to fill the bath with lukewarm water. shouta shushed him gently with a kiss to his forehead and swiftly prepared the bath. once, it was sufficiently filled, he scooped the boy back into his arms to carefully set him in the tub.
however, the moment the water touched his skin, izuku flinched so hard that shouta had to pull him back into his arms, almost toppling over into the water himself. “what’s wrong, bub?” he asked fretfully, running circles over izuku’s warm back as the boy trembled against him.
“hurts.”
“hurts?” shouta echoed, connecting the dots in his head as he hugged izuku close. the boy’s body was unbearably hot. he thought back to how instantly izuku started shaking at the slightest bit of cold and realized that the boy’s skin must be terribly sensitive.
“alright, come here.” he pulled izuku back into his lap as settled next to the tub. wetting the soft washcloth, he started gently wetting izuku’s skin. the boy seemed relieved at the coolness even as he started shaking harder. shouta continued on slowly until he deemed izuku sensitized to the cold enough to try again. “come on, bubba. just a little at a time,” he murmured quiet assurance continuously as he slowly coaxed the boy into the tub until izuku was completely submerged up to his chest, shivering almost violently as he held on to his dad’s sleeve.
“i know, i know,” shouta comforted as izuku cried quietly, undoubtedly uncomfortable from the way his body seemed to forgot how to regulate its temperature. he let izuku cling to him as he washed the boy, hoping he would be more comfortable once he was free off of the sweat that stuck to him. once he deemed izuku clean and had soaked long enough, he carefully scooped the boy out of the water. izuku was practically half asleep but seized up from the cold almost instantly. shouta hurried to bundle him up in a soft towel and carried him to his room to dry him off.
he tried dressing the boy in a shirt, only for izuku to whine and tug the fabric away from his skin. “scratchy.”
shouta felt inclined to disagree, izuku never once complained about the material of his shirts before, but he chalked it up to his skin being hypersensitive from his sickness. shouta extracted himself from his kid, planting a kiss on his still too warm forehead at the mournful whine izuku let out at being left alone 10 feet away from his dad as shouta rooted through his closet.
he let out a triumphant huff as he pulled out a familiar put your hand up sweater- probably the softest article of clothing he owned from how well worn it was. he hurried back over to the bed where izuku was pouting at him through hazy eyes. he tugged the sweater over the boy, his head of green curls popping out the top with an unhappy whuff that made shouta crack a smile.
“better?” he checked, as he guided the boy’s arms through the sleeves when izuku did not immediately start tugging at the fabric. a contented hum in response was all he got and shouta decided that was the best he was going to get out of the boy. he made quick work of bundling izuku up in his bed, tucking him in snuggly.
the hero had to snort at the way the kid was almost instantly out like a light and took advantage of this to grab a wash cloth and small basin, filling it with cold water. he wet the cloth and squeezed out the excess water, before carefully placing it onto izuku’s forehead. the kid whined a little but otherwise stayed asleep.
looking over the kid, finally settled, shouta let himself take a proper breath for the first time since he woke up that night, running a hand through his still sleep mused hair. izuku rarely ever got sick, but when he did, it hit hard.
he brushed his knuckles against izuku’s cheek, frowning at the heat. the bath definitely helped bring down the fever significantly but the boy was still too warm for shouta’s liking.
the man checked the time to see it was 4:23 AM and decided he was too awake to go back to sleep, instead already mentally running through the list of things izuku would need when he woke up. making up his mind, shouta hopped out of bed and headed to the kitchen to get started on some porridge for breakfast, taking care to leave the bedroom door cracked open so he could hear if izuku needed him.
٩(ˊ〇ˋ*)و
izuku jolted awake gasping for air. he barely had the time to reorient himself to the fact that he was not in his own room or figure out what exactly woke him before a horrible wet feeling creeped onto the back of his throat. then, he gagged and was all but scrambling to the toilet to throw up what little he had the night before. it wasn’t much, mostly fluids since he hadn’t felt up to eat a proper meal. which meant he was left dry heaving by the toilet, shaking against the force of the spasms. he startled, only to go limp at familiar rough yet gentle hands that settled on his back.
“shh, you’re okay, you’re okay,” shouta soothed the best he could rubbing firm circles into izuku’s back as the boy whined miserably.
“all done?” the man checked after a moment. izuku nodded wordlessly, slumping against his dad’s side. not having his gag reflex act up allowed him to feel the aching of every muscle in his body and left him overwhelmed by another wave of exhaustion. “alright. let’s brush your teeth and get cleaned up.”
“gagging on air is so stupid,” izuku sniffed as his dad guided him to the kitchen.
“that sounds awful, bub,” shouta agreed sympathetically. “let’s start with some water first. then, we can see if you can keep down porridge. just some spoonfuls so you can take your medicine, okay?”
he sat the boy down at the table, passing him a tall glass of cool water, before fixing a bowl of porridge for him. izuku took a few small sips of water but visibly grimaced at the bowl that was set in front of him. shouta could sympathise.
“i know, love. just five bites,” he coaxed, threading his fingers through the tangle of green curls. “your fever hasn’t broken yet. so, you need to eat a bit to take the fever reducers and painkillers. you still feeling sore?”
“all the bones i didn’t even know existed hurt,” izuku bemoaned, a bit dramatically if anything and shouta had to bite back an amused smile.
“poor baby,” he cooed, taking a seat beside the boy.
“i don’t want bones anymore,” the kid sniffed pitifully, looking like a sad wet kitten.
“we can revisit that thought after the meds kick in, hm?” the hero hummed indulgently, sneaking a spoonful of porridge towards izuku’s mouth, hoping the boy was distracted enough to be fed without him noticing. to shouta’s amusement, he was. izuku absentmindedly chewed through the food and swallowed, letting his mouth fall open every time shouta brought the spoon up to it.
izuku was almost nodding off by the time shouta scrapped the last bit of porridge from the bowl. to be fair, he didn’t feed izuku a lot, not wanting to upset his sensitive stomach, but it was almost comical how his son floated between hazy consciousness and falling right back asleep in a matter of seconds.
he managed to coax izuku to take the pills before giving in to grabby hands- the universal request to be carried. he huffed fondly even as he heeded to his son’s request. something in the man’s chest settled when his son slotted against his chest, pressed right against his heart. the boy buried his heated face into the crook of shouta’s neck and promptly went back to sleep, leaving shouta to his thoughts as he swayed izuku in his hold, pacing slightly, not ready to go back to bed yet. the boy had always been smaller than his peers and sometimes shouta worries. yet, a small selfish part of him hoped izuku always stayed pocket-sized for him to be able to pick up so easily.
izuku was most definitely an affectionate and almost touch starved kid on his own, though his almost pathological fear of ‘burdening’ those around him by being too ‘needy’ definitely did well to mask that part of him. shouta was working on breaking those walls down, teaching the kid that it was okay to lean on him, be it for support, care or affection. that he could be as needy and clingy and childish as he wanted and shouta would always be there to accept it all as a part of him to be cherished.
now, looking at the kid with no inhibitions, just a kid wanting comfort from his parent, shouta couldn’t help the parental instinct to bundle him up away from the world, safe and sound and happy and give in to kid’s every want. it felt like looking through a window of what a younger izuku would’ve been like, a quiet yearning and regret shouta tucked away in the deepest parts of his heart, because it was irrational to dwell on a past he couldn’t change.
it doesn’t matter. he has izuku now, and he would do unthinkable things for the child in his arms right now.
starting with weathering through this sickness with him.