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Kuroo's nose had been stuffy since the night before. He hadn't told his dad, because he was too busy with work, so Kuroo hadn't wanted to worry him about his son being sick at home. Also, it wasn't that bad. Probably just a small common cold that would be over in a few days. So he put on a mask to cover his mouth and nose so as not to spread it in the train and at school, but he went anyway.
Kenma looked at him with furrowed brows as he picked him up at the gate to his home like every morning, but said nothing at first. His friend wasn't a morning person and usually needed the whole train ride to wake up enough to talk to him. Just like today.
"Did your dad tell you to come anyway?"
"I'm fine," Kuroo said, stuffing his hands into his pockets. Kenma didn't probe further as they walked side by side the last few streets to their school. Kai and Yaku waited at the gate, as usual, and even though Kenma had given up on questioning him why he was here, Yaku sure wouldn't so easily.
"Are you sick? Why are you even here?!"
"Because I'm fine! It's not that bad," he said, only for the shorter boy to smack him in the back of his head. Kai and Kenma just watched on.
"You're stupid, you know that?"
"You're telling me every day," Kuroo sighed, a smile hidden behind his mask. Until a sneezing fit shook him and the other three watched him with unreadable expressions.
"Fine my ass," Yaku mumbled before he moved on to change his shoes in the entrance hall. The other's followed him through the crowd of students to do the same.
"Take care of yourself. Don't overdo it," Kai said and raised his hand, before he departed in the opposite direction of the other two third years. Kenma looked back at Kuroo as if he wanted to add to what Kai had just said and followed him down the same hallway to go to his classroom.
Why they all acted like he wasn't able to assess his own condition was a mystery to him. He managed the first period fine. The light headache that joined a little later was also manageable. Even after Lev stomped into his classroom to get him for their lunch break. Yaki waited in the hallway for the two of them.
"You looked like you were dozing off in there," the other third year said while they walked out into the schoolyard where some of the other members of the volleyball club had already claimed a nice spot under one of the trees there. There was no teasing undertone in Yaku's voice, which was unusual for when he shared his observations about Kuroo.
"I'm fine. Just tired," he said, for the one-hundredth time today. His friends, his classmates, his teachers – literally everyone had mentioned something about it today. It was a little annoying to be honest, especially with the headache slowly worsening.
"You sound terrible, Captain." Fukunaga looked at him, wide eyed as ever. Kuroo felt like rolling his eyes. "And you look terrible as well."
"Excuse me?!" Yaku spat out a laugh at Kuroo's exclamation and the bewildered look on his face, which didn't stay there for too long as he slumped onto the bench next to Kenma.
"You're not coming to practice, right?"
"I hope you don't!" Yaku agreed with the blonde who was still waiting for an answer.
"I will be there, I'm fine. Really!"
"No, you're not. You have a fever," Kenma calmly said, his eyes more serious than playing his favorite video game. Kuroo frowned at that. Suddenly, there was a cool hand on his forehead.
"Kenma is right. You're burning up," Kai said and pulled his hand away again. Kuroo wished the cool touch back, honestly. He just wanted to close his eyes and nap.
"That's just because you have cold hands," Kuroo tried to argue, but he knew that anything he said would immediately be overruled when he looked up at his friends.
"I know what you look like when you have a fever, Kuro," Kenma said, turning away to sip on his drink pack and Kuroo sighed.
"Like I said, you look terrible," Fukunaga added with a smile Kuroo could not read.
"Shouldn't we bring you to the nurse's office?" Lev looked a little too excited for his taste, but Kuroo contemplated this option for a moment. It would probably just get worse from here on. He also couldn't tough it out anymore, since the whole team now knew he had a fever, even himself. Funny how he didn't feel the dizziness until Kenma had mentioned it. He would have played it off as the headache that hadn't even bothered him that much until the start of their lunch break.
"Come on, idiot! You should lead by example, not some stupid ideal of being tough." Yaku pulled on his arm, Lev followed his senior's example and grabbed the other. Together they forced Kuroo onto his feet. For a moment he thought of fighting it, but decided against it. Yaku was right, as much as he didn't want to admit it.
"Ok, ok. Cut it out. I'm gonna go see the nurse," he said, hoping that the boys to his left and right would just let him go. But they didn't. Both linked their arms with Kuroo's and started to walk him back to the school building. They weren’t supporting him. It was more as if to prevent him from running away. But they were right, he might need some rest, he thought, as he was trying not to cough into his mask. And then volleyball practice–
"Don't worry about practice. We can manage without you," Yaku said after apparently reading his mind. Kuroo hummed, neither in agreement nor in objection. Maybe he should think about himself more from time to time. Not his grades, not his dad, not opening the locker room for everyone, not warming up with the rest of the club until coach Nekomata would arrive.
"The keys and the log book are in my bag," he said quietly, feeling every word reverberating in his head. When they finally reached the nurse's office there were already some other kids there. Lev and Yaku stayed with him until the small queue in front of the door dispersed.
"I'm going to get it and then bring your stuff here, ok?" Yaku sounded uncharacteristically soft. What was even more surprising was that Lev didn't comment on that and just opened the door for Kuroo. He thanked them quietly and entered the room.
Soon enough he was placed in one of the cods after the nurse took his temperature and gave him something to lower his fever a bit. The last thing he heard before he drifted off to sleep, pulling the warm wool blanked up to his chin, was Yaku knocking and handing the nurse Kuroo's backpack. He was grateful to have friends who looked out for him, when he didn't do it himself.