Work Text:
When the year tips into flu season, Katsuki does everything in his power to avoid becoming sick. Contracting the flu can mean being out of work for up to a week. Even then, the contagiousness can last for an added few days. Recovery would take, at most, ten whole days. In Katsuki’s opinion, that is way too much time to be off of work. Katsuki would go stir crazy in the first two days!
So, as the flu season comes around once again, Katsuki tries his best to not become sick. He wears a mask whenever he is outside of the house, unless he’s actively in a fight or chasing a villain. (It becomes hard to breath with a mask on, sometimes.) He disinfects his hands and clothes as often as he can. Carrying around a small thing of hand sanitizer and a spray bottle of antibacterial. He avoids going out in big groups, turning down his friends' invitations to go out to eat or go to a bar. Which happens often anyway, so it’s not like that’s anything new. It’s an easy routine. When Katsuki had been at UA he had done the same thing, because getting sick meant losing progress.
He doesn’t care too much for being the number one hero these days. But Deku is ahead of him by two spots in the rankings right now, and Katsuki meant it when he said they’d be competing for the rest of their lives. No matter if he doesn’t mind not being the number one, trying to beat Deku is almost like a fucked up love language of his. It’s their dynamic as rivals, always heel-to-toe with each other. It means something to Katsuki. Which is why he absolutely cannot get sick and risk falling even more behind Deku.
His husband/rival/hero partner does not exercise the same caution, apparently. Despite the fact that Katsuki has told Izuku many times to be careful about getting sick.
Katsuki walks into their shared apartment a little after 10pm, just getting off of a rather long and boring patrol shift. He has takeout in his hands because it’s late and he didn’t want to have to make dinner, and he knows Izuku most likely forgot to eat after lunch. An annoying habit of his that Katsuki tries to help him kick, but has been unsuccessful.
He’s a little thrown off by how quiet it is throughout the apartment. Izuku is the opposite of Katsuki in that he doesn’t have a sleeping schedule and likes to stick to it. He goes to sleep whenever he gets so tired that he can’t even keep his eyes open anymore, usually around 1am. Earlier sometimes if he had a busy day or didn’t get enough sleep the night before. Izuku’s lack of self care annoys Katsuki to no end.
Anyway, the apartment they share is unsettlingly quiet. Katsuki sets the takeout food on their dining room table. He wanders into the living room, finding it void of any sign of Izuku. Weird, he’s usually up watching the evening news when Katsuki gets back from his 10pm patrols. That’s a routine he sticks to.
Katsuki’s eyebrows furrow as he goes down the hallway and towards their bedroom. The door is slightly ajar, Katsuki pushes it the rest of the way open and stands in the doorway.
He’s even more confused when he finds their room empty. He knows it’s Izuku’s day off, and that his husband would rather stay home all day and wait for Katsuki to return rather than go out anywhere. The blankets on their bed are tossed all around, a complete mess, and Katsuki grumbles under his breath about the mess. He goes to fix the bedding when there is a flush of the toilet from the bathroom connected to the room. Katsuki tucks the comforter into the corner, and heads to the bathroom.
He’s met with quite a sight. The lid of the toilet is raised, and resting against the porcelain bowl is Izuku. His arms are crossed against it, with his head lolled on them. His legs are tucked under him lazily. It looks like he might fall over, or fall asleep.
“Are you sleeping on our bathroom floor?” Katsuki asks with his arms crossed.
Izuku raises his flushed face slowly, his eyes are clouded over but it clears a little once he looks at Katsuki.
“Kacchan!” He says excitedly, though his voice is hoarse and scratchy. He winces, groaning as his head falls back down against his arms.
Katsuki’s not stupid, he knows the idiot is sick. It is rather easy to tell, with the way Izuku is right now in front of him. He’s never been too good at hiding illness. Injuries he can hide until he passes out from them, but Izuku’s always quick to fold when he’s sick. It saves Katsuki some stress.
He sighs and curses. Now he has to take care of the sick idiot, which leaves him a good chance of getting sick. Katsuki has been so careful the past month, now it’s all thrown out the window. (Because what is he going to do, not take care of his husband who has the flu? The nerd would probably end up dead without him.)
“You coherent enough to know how long you’ve been throwing up in here?” Katsuki asks as he steps closer and kneels next to Izuku. He runs a hand through his mess of curls, the base of which is damp with sweat. He presses his hand against Izuku’s forehead. He’s burning up.
Izuku hums and leans into the feel of Katsuki’s hand. He mumbles, “A few hours. Noticed the fever this morning, thought it’d pass. It didn’t.”
Katsuki snorts, “I see that. Why didn’t you call me?”
“Didn’t wanna bother you,” Izuku says softly and smiles at him.
Katsuki breathes out the slight rage that sentence fills him with. Of course Izuku would do that, his biggest fault is never putting himself first. Which left him here to suffer in his sickness for the past few hours while Katsuki did nothing but wander down the streets of the city. Something really bad could’ve happened to Izuku when he was by himself like this. Katsuki resists the urge to scold him, opting to sigh again instead.
“C’mon, let’s get you into bed. Can you move?” Katsuki nudges Izuku’s shoulder.
Izuku groans. “Might throw up if I do.”
Katsuki’s at least glad Izuku is not yet delirious. The fever hasn’t seemed to really set in yet, though he knows by tomorrow that’s going to change. He’s going to have to remember to call off work for both him and Izuku. A few days less, for himself, just until the fever will go away.
He pats Izuku’s head a few times before standing. He leaves the bathroom and goes into the kitchen. Grabbing a plastic bowl from one of their cabinets, a cold rag, water, and crackers. He moves the takeout food into the fridge, it’s probably not going to be eaten tonight. He sets everything he gathered on the nightstand on Izuku’s side of the bed. Izuku’s still sitting in the same position when he re-enters the bathroom.
“Let’s go, nerd.” Izuku lifts his head up and Katsuki pulls his arms away from the toilet lid. Very shakily, Izuku gets to his feet. “Take any medicine?”
Izuku shakes his head as he wraps his arms around Katsuki’s neck. Katsuki lifts him easily, and his legs wrap around his hips. He carries him out of the bathroom. When he gets to the bed, he has to move his arms away from where they hold onto Izuku’s back. His husband has a pretty strong grip on him though, so he doesn’t go crashing to the ground. Katsuki pulls apart the bed he had just remade before settling Izuku onto the mattress. He shivers slightly, and Katsuki pulls the blankets over him and only slightly tucks him in.
Katsuki kisses his forehead, “I’ll grab some medicine.”
He goes back out into the kitchen and rummages through their medicine cabinet. He grabs multiple pill bottles, deciding to just take them to their bedroom and place them on the nightstand so he doesn’t have to keep making trips to the kitchen. He settles on the bed next to Izuku and counts out the different pills in the palm of his hand. When he has them all measured out, he reaches across Izuku’s resting form to grab the glass of water.
“Sit up,” he says. Izuku does so slowly, resting against the headboard. Katsuki places the group of pills in his husband's hand. Izuku places all of them into his mouth, and then grabs the water from Katsuki’s hand to wash them down.
“Thank you,” Izuku spoke quietly as he laid back down. He rolled over and settled against Katsuki’s side, putting an arm over his waist.
“You’re lucky I like you or else I would’ve left you for dead,” Katsuki huffed. He ran his fingers through Izuku’s hair, breaking apart knots as he went.
Izuku hums, “I am lucky. You take such good care of me, Kacchan. Even though I know you don’t like getting sick.”
“Well, embarrassingly, I would probably do anything you asked,” Katsuki confessed. Izuku laughs against his side, curling in a little closer to him.
“So sweet.”
“Yuck,” Katsuki fake gags, but a smile spreads slowly at Izuku’s giggles. He scratches lightly at Izuku’s head, thankful that he can’t see the probably grossly fond look on his face. And becoming a hypocrite when he says; “You’re a sap.”
“It helps having such a caring husband,” Izuku giggles. “You’ll be here tomorrow, right? To take care of me?”
Katsuki leans forward, like he’s doing a crunch, and kisses the top of Izuku’s head. “Yeah. Always.”