The first thing Izuku noticed when he woke up was that it was cold. He knew he shouldn't be cold despite the fact that winter had its claws buried deep in the country as the dorms were kept warm. He was confused for a moment before he realized his head really hurt and now that he was thinking about it he didn't feel all that good either. He sighed quietly as he shifted in bed before settling back down. He was lucky it was the winter holidays and most of his classmates were visiting their families and his Dad was off on a mission at the moment while his Pops was grading papers in the teachers dorms; they would be heading back to their apartment when Shouta returned from the mission.
He shifted once again before letting out a sigh. He knew he was sick and should tell someone but he couldn't bring himself to ask for help. It wasn't that he didn't think he would get help now, he had good parents and friends, but he never had the opportunity to ask for help in the past. It was also his fault that he was sick so he didn't think that he deserved help.
The reason he was sick was due to the stress of the holidays. Christmas was coming up and Izuku was stressing on finding the perfect gifts for his friends, family, and boyfriend; the class would be meeting up on Christmas Eve for a mini Christmas party and gift exchange. This would be the first year since he was five and diagnosed quirkless that he would have friends and he wanted the gifts to show how much he cared for them. It was also his first Christmas with his new parents. He and his mom had a strained relationship due to her work hours, so he never really felt the need to go above and beyond with her gift; that and the fact that they never had much money for grand presents. There was also Hitoshi to get a gift for, and that was presenting itself to be a problem. Hitoshi was quite easy to buy for, and while that may not seem to be stressful the problem came in the form of finding the perfect one; he may be easy to buy for but that just meant that there were more options to choose from.
With a sigh, he got out of bed and made his way down to the common room. He had some baked goods from his last stress baking night, three days ago, still in the kitchen and they made for a good snack while sick. Making his way into the kitchen he flipped on the light before immediately cringing and shutting it back off as it made his headache worse. He had forgotten how bad his headaches could get; he didn't get sick often and when he did it was generally due to stress. He wasn't sure that he would be able to eat much but at this point something was better than nothing. Sure he should be eating something healthy rather than baked goods, but he was alone in the dorms and didn't care at the moment so baked goods it was.
Looking over the different baked goods, he eventually settled on a chocolate cupcake with red and white swirled peppermint frosting. He grabbed it before heading back out to the common room and sitting on a couch set in front of the TV. Turning on a random show, he unwrapped the cupcake and began to nibble on it. A few minutes later he finished the cupcake and settled back onto the couch, letting his mind drift. The headache he had was still throbbing dully in his mind and the cupcake wasn't sitting right in his stomach, but he ignored all of that and let his eyes slip closed as he let sleep consume him once again.
***
It was hours before he woke up, and even then it was not on his own accord. He shifted as he felt a hand carding through his hair and settled on his forehead. He grumbled a bit before opening his eyes to see his Pops sitting on the floor in front of him. He tried to smile but failed as he had to stifle a cough. He saw his Pops frown at this and wanted to say something to ease his worry but he decided against it as his nausea rose at the thought of opening his mouth.
***
Hizashi had not been expecting to see his son asleep on a couch in the 1-A dorms common room when he went over to see why Izuku was an hour late when he had promised to come over to the teachers dorms for the night, however with the fever he had it was no surprise that the kid was asleep. His forehead was radiating heat and the thermometer had registered his temperature to be 102.3F (39C). When he saw Izuku open his eyes and try to smile, which was a failure, he felt a frown tug at the corners of his mouth. He could tell that Izuku wanted to say something but when he made little to no move to talk he decided to talk instead.
"You were late coming over so I decided to check up on you, just in case you forgot. I'm glad I did as you didn't come over yourself when you realized you were sick." Hizashi said, looking at his son's pale complexion.
Izuku grimaced in response and pushed through the nausea, allowing him to speak, "It's my fault I'm sick so I didn't see the need to worry you."
Hizashi just sighed before standing up. "I know it is hard for you to ask for help, but you know me and your Dad want to help you. Now, I'm going to get you some medicine so stay right there for a moment and I'll be back in a sec."
Not waiting for a response, Hizashi moved over to the kitchen and began looking around the room for the medicine cabinet. He eventually found it and, after rummaging through it, found what he was looking for. Popping two of the pills into his hand, he grabbed a bottle of water and made his way back to his sick son.
Handing him the water and pills, he settled back on the floor as Izuku reluctantly took the medicine. A glance at the TV revealed a glowing blue screensaver. After looking at Izuku to get an estimate on how long he would remain awake, he grabbed the remote and opened up Disney+. Another glance at Izuku revealed him to be following Hizashi's every movement.
Smiling lightly at his son, he moved the cursor onto a pre-quirk cartoon Gravity Falls and, seeing his son smile lightly despite his drooping eyes, he allowed season one to begin playing.
As the first episode began to play, Izuku found himself once again succumbing to the call of sleep and this time he knew that it was okay to ask for help even if he was the cause of his problems.
***
Three days later, Izuku was back on his feet beginning to wrap the presents for his friends and family. All of the stress was worth it in his opinion as he had found the perfect gifts for everyone. He smiled as he put a bow on the final gift and moved it to the pile that had accumulated in the corner of his room. Christmas was approaching and so was the class Christmas party, but now that he had all of his presents bought and wrapped he had nothing to worry about. He hoped, that is.
