Todoroki can tell something is wrong, but he isn't one hundred percent sure of what exactly that might be until after lunch or so.

On the way to class and during the first two classes they have, Midoriya is unusually quiet. He hasn't spoken much to anyone all day, hasn't raised his hand to answer any questions, etcetera. He's normally a bit more talkative, muttering things under his breath or chatting cheerfully with friends, but today he's anything but talkative.

When Uraraka finally asks if he is okay, Midoriya just laughs it off and just explains that he isn't feeling super great but he assures her that he'll be fine, he's just tired.

Right.

Lunch rolls around at about noon, after the third class they have ends. Midoriya seems to be worse; he's unable to concentrate on anything, he won't touch his food and his expression is sort of pained- scrunched up with his eyes closed tight. Todoroki looks at him then and also notices his cheeks are flushed pink and his forehead is sweaty, wetting the hair there. Todoroki finds himself reaching his hand out anyway, placing his palm on the shorter boy's forehead.

"You're burning up," he states just as Midoriya opens his eyes with a surprised expression to see what Todoroki is doing. At his next words, Uraraka, Iida and Asui stop talking to look at them. "Let me take you to Recovery Girl."

"I'm fine," Midoriya protests weakly, his hand loosely wrapped around Todoroki's wrist to pull it away from his head, but instead Todoroki holds it there, using his quirk to make his hand cold in an attempt to help his friend cool down a little.

Midoriya shivers and Todoroki moves his hand down to the shorter boy's pink, freckled cheek instead. He almost leans into it as Todoroki cools him down some, but after a second passes Midoriya's eyes widen and he pulls away quickly, his face getting redder as if he's embarrassed.

"I said I'm fine, I promise!" he insists, waving his hands around frantically and putting on his best nervous smile. Todoroki gives him a look, one that is also given to him by the other three sitting across from them, and Midoriya finally sighs, slumping in his seat. "Okay, fine, so... I really don't feel well today. I woke up feeling kinda sick."

"Why didn't you say so earlier when I asked you what was up?" Uraraka asks sadly, leaning forward a little to look at the boy's eyes. Midoriya doesn't answer as he fiddles with the hem of his blazer shyly, but they all know it's because he didn't want them to worry about him.

Todoroki suddenly stands, his hand on Midoriya's shoulder. "Come on," he murmurs softly, "I'll walk with you to go see Recovery Girl so she can take a look at you."

Midoriya stands as well without arguing, his legs a bit shaky as they begin walking towards the exit of the cafeteria. Todoroki looks at him again, trying to make sure he doesn't fall.

"You can lean on me and use me as support if you're feeling a little weak," he tells his friend with a small smile. Midoriya does so after a moment, trying to convey how grateful he is without actually saying so.

They walk slowly to Recovery Girl's office, not saying much on the way. The door is open when they arrive, so they head right in and Recovery Girl sighs when she sees them.

-

Turns out Midoriya caught the flu somehow. Recovery Girl gives him a bottle of medicine and sends him on his way, unable to really do anything more. She tells him to go back to the dorms, though, instead of going back to the cafeteria, and explains that she'll handle Aizawa. She instructs Todoroki to walk him there and to stay with him, and Todoroki doesn't complain or refuse, bowing politely on their way out.

They leave the main school building immediately, Todoroki texting Iida to tell him they're going back to the dorms and to tell him not to worry, he'll explain later. Midoriya is still a bit wobbly, so before they get too far, Todoroki stops him and crouches in front of the shorter boy.

"I'll carry you," he offers, but he's not really giving Midoriya much of a choice. The green haired boy simply nods weakly and leans forward to wrap his arms around Todoroki's neck, allowing himself to be lifted and carried the rest of the way.

The walk is quiet, mostly because neither of the boys speak. Todoroki carries Midoriya inside 1-A's Heights Alliance building and even holds him in the elevator, his breathing quick and uneven. When they reach Midoriya's room, Todoroki steps inside and gently lays Midoriya down on the bed. The latter sits up a little and Todoroki gives him a dose of medicine so that he can lie back down.

"What do you need?" Todoroki inquires when he sits at the foot of the bed, untying Midoriya's shoes and slipping them off for him. "Water? A bath? Something to eat?"

Midoriya keeps tugging at his clothes. He shivers, but whines that he's too hot. Nodding, Todoroki moves over to the shorter boy's closet to find a t-shirt and a pair of shorts and then he brings them over.

"Do you need help?" he asks as he sets them down. Midoriya nods after a while, so Todoroki moves to undo his tie and unbutton his shirt. He helps Midoriya slip off his blazer and then the long sleeve shirt underneath that's completely soaked with sweat.

Todoroki can't help it when his eyes find the scar on Midoriya's stomach and he stares at it for a moment. Midoriya doesn't say anything about it if he notices, but Todoroki quickly looks away when Midoriya starts coughing.

Tossing the clothes into a hamper by the bathroom door, the tie follows and then Todoroki helps Midoriya stand once more. The shorter boy holds tightly onto Todoroki's shoulders when the taller one kneels down to undo Midoriya's belt and help him slip his pants off. Todoroki holds the shorts open so that Midoriya can step into them and then they're finally on and Midoriya can sit back down, so he does so with a soft sigh.

"I'm sorry," he utters when Todoroki grabs the t-shirt. "I- It's so embarrassing that I can't even dress myself properly, and... you shouldn't have to miss class to take care of me. A- Although I'm feeling pretty dizzy, I, um, I can figure it out myself, if you want to go."

Todoroki blinks. "No," he says simply, getting the shirt over Midoriya's head. The shorter boy puts his arms through the holes and then Todoroki helps him lie back down again. He coughs as Todoroki covers him with a sheet so that he's not shivering so much but not getting too overheated. "Are you too hot still? Or are you cold?"

"Both?" Midoriya answers with a slight smile and chattering teeth even as sweat drops from his skin. Todoroki honestly feels bad for him.

"What can I do?" the taller boy questions, tenderly brushing Midoriya's hair back, getting it off of his forehead. He runs his fingers through the soft locks in what he hopes is a soothing manner. "Can I get you anything?"

Shyly, Midoriya whispers, "C- Can you, um… can you warm me up?"

Blinking once again, Todoroki nods. "Sure, I can do that," he replies, and so he gets his shoes off as Midoriya scoots over to make room, and Todoroki lies down beside him so that his friend can cuddle up to his left side and stay warm, even though he's burning up already.

He lets his head rest on Todoroki's chest and he seems to be listening to his heartbeat. The taller boy watches as Midoriya's eyes start fluttering until they finally close and stay that way. His breathing events out, and that quickly, the boy is asleep. He must've been exhausted.

Todoroki keeps an eye on him for the next hour to make sure he's breathing okay and not getting too hot or anything, and he lazily scrolls through his phone with his free hand to pass the time. Midoriya wakes up a little and they readjust so that he's on the other side and Todoroki can start cooling him down.

Todoroki doesn't know how long that they're there for, but eventually Uraraka, Iida and Asui slip into the room with surprised expressions when they see the two almost curled up together. Todoroki hopes they won't mention it as he motions for them to be quiet and they slowly make their way over.

"Is he okay?" Asui inquires, and Todoroki responds to her with a nod. "What's wrong with him?"

"The flu," he answers, lightly stroking his friend's back without thinking. "The medicine I gave him must've made him sleepy because he passed out pretty much as soon as we got here."

"Poor baby," Uraraka comments with a pout, running her fingers through her friend's messy green curls. "I was worried about why you guys were taking so long before you texted Iida, so… I'm glad that it's not too serious, and I hope he feels better soon. Do you need us to do anything?"

"How can we help?" Iida asks as well, but Todoroki just shakes his head.

"I can take care of him," he says, pulling the sheets up a little over the shorter boy so he's covered a bit more.

"Oh, I see," Uraraka murmurs, but then she smiles. "Well, we'll be sure to help you both get caught up in class after he feels better."

Iida nods at that. "Agreed. Anyway, since you don't need anything, I'm sorry but I have homework to do, so… if you'll excuse me."

He heads for the door, and Asui starts to follow. "Come on, Ochako," she utters, and Uraraka hesitates before she follows her friends to the door.

"Take good care of him, Todoroki!" she tells him quietly. "Make sure he gets better, and if you need anything just text us, okay?"

Todoroki nods, but then he speaks, stopping them. "Wait, actually… would you mind bringing up a pitcher of water and a glass he can drink from, and maybe if it's not too much to ask, a bowl of soup for him?"

Uraraka gives a nod, grinning. "Of course," she whispers as they open the door and start heading out, "We'll be back soon!"

They close the door as they leave and Todoroki takes a moment to look at Midoriya as he sleeps soundly. He seems to be having a bit of trouble breathing out of his nose, so his lips are parted so that he can breathe while he sleeps without a problem. His nose is red too, and his skin is sort of both hot and cold, but also clammy and pale, which makes his freckles stand out a bit more. His eyelashes rest gently on his cheeks and his fingers lightly grip onto the fabric of Todoroki's blazer.

Once again it seems that Todoroki has lost track of time. Uraraka and Asui return what must be at least thirty minutes later but feels like five, bringing them a tray with the water and hot miso soup when they come inside. They also have brought tissues and a few other things, and then after they leave quickly, turning on a light on their way out since it has already gotten dark.

Todoroki gently shakes Midoriya awake. "Hey," he breathes, running his fingers through his friend's hair in a way that is probably a little too intimate, but Todoroki doesn't really care since his friend won't notice anyway. "Midoriya, do you want to try and eat? Uraraka and Asui brought you some soup."

Midoriya stirs a little, blinking his heavy eyes open. Todoroki helps him sit up and then the former gets up and moves to grab the tray with the miso soup on it, placing it on Midoriya's thighs and then sitting down, watching the shorter boy rub his eyes and cough into the crook of his elbow.

"Todoroki?" he croaks a little, his voice thick with sleep. He looks around a little before his eyes settle back onto his friend. "What time is it?"

Todoroki clicks on his phone screen. "It's a little after six," he replies, pouring Midoriya a glass of water and placing it on the tray. "How are you feeling?"

Midoriya shrugs. "Not really any better, just more tired," he admits as he grabs the soup spoon and slurps up some of the broth. When he swallows, he looks back at Todoroki. "Have you... really been here the whole entire time?"

The taller boy nods, wondering why Midoriya seems to think that Todoroki would've left him while he was asleep and not well. The boy eats a little more of his soup in silence before he downs the glass of water. Todoroki quickly pours him another.

When Midoriya has eaten about half of the bowl, he pushes it aside, finished. His eyes won't meet his friend's, his face is bright pink and Todoroki isn't sure if it's from him being sick and feverish or from something else.

"Thank you for taking care of me, Todoroki," he whispers softly, sounding a bit nervous. "I- I really hope that I'm not being a bother to you, especially when I ask you…"

He trails off, so Todoroki tilts his head. "Ask me…?" he questions, moving the tray onto the floor for now. Midoriya plays with his hair which - Todoroki has realized after a while of being friends with him - is a sign meaning that he's feeling anxious. He sighs a little and hopes he sounds reassuring when he adds, "Hey, take your time, okay?"

Midoriya finally looks up. "Would you mind, um… staying with me tonight?" he asks, fidgeting. When Todoroki gives him a blank look, Midoriya flushes a deeper red and waves his arms around. "I- I mean, only if that's okay with you! You don't have to…"

"I already planned on it," Todoroki states honestly, wondering if him staying is a much bigger deal than he'd thought or if Midoriya is just more anxious than normal right now. It can't be what he's thinking it means, anyway. "Is... that alright?"

"More than!" Midoriya blurts, sniffling and reaching for the tissues. "I just… um… I'm used to my mom taking care of me when I'm really sick and so… yeah, it's already nice having you here. Feels… kinda like home, you know?"

"Of course, and I'm happy to help," Todoroki tells him with a small, rare smile. Midoriya beams and blows his nose so that he can breathe a bit easier and Todoroki stands, unbuttoning his blazer. When Midoriya looks at him, the taller boy asks, "Would you mind if I borrowed a change of clothes?"

Midoriya shakes his head and curls back up under the sheet, so Todoroki heads over to the closet again to find something that would fit him. He doesn't look for too long and mostly just picks something random.

After changing, he finds that the shirt fits okay but the pants are too short on him, stopping above his ankles. He then puts his school uniform with his shoes and messenger bag so that he won't forget any of it when he leaves again, and then he moves back over to the bed so that Midoriya can curl up to his left side and get warmed back up.

Todoroki lets Midoriya choose what videos they watch on his phone to pass the time and of course he picks one about All Might to start off. Todoroki doesn't mind much; he thinks Midoriya's fanboyish tendencies are endearing actually, so much so that it brings another smile to his face seeing how excited his sick friend is over a video he's probably seen about a million times before.

Todoroki's stomach growling takes their attention away from the phone for a moment. Midoriya gives him a lopsided grin.

"Hungry?" he laughs a little, but then he falls into a coughing fit. Todoroki gently pats his back until he stops, trying to catch his breath. Giving Todoroki an apologetic look, he says, "Y- You should go get something to eat."

"But-" Todoroki begins to protest, but Midoriya won't let him, forcing him to get up. He stumbles when he's shoved off of the bed and he turns to give Midoriya a slightly annoyed look.

"You can always come back after you eat," Midoriya says simply, shivering as he pulls the sheets tighter around himself. "Now go. I'll be okay until you get back."

Todoroki gives in with a sigh, heading towards the door. "I'll be quick," he promises and heads out, closing the door behind himself. It takes less than a minute for him to get in the elevator and go down to the ground floor, entering the common area.

Not wanting to take any longer than necessary, he quickly heads for the kitchen but is stopped by his classmates on the way.

"Hey Todoroki," Kaminari calls out with a grin, giving a wave. "We wondered what happened to you until Iida filled us in. How's Midoriya doing?"

"Nobody fucking cares," Bakugo interjects harshly before Todoroki can respond, rolling his eyes. Kirishima whacks him for it, but Bakugo pays him no attention. He pauses for a moment before he looks Todoroki up and down and scrunches up his nose, a slightly disgusted expression on his face. "The hell are you wearing, icy-hot?"

Todoroki looks down and realizes that he's not exactly matching in a pair of bright green plaid sleeping pants and a deep red All Might shirt, and sure they don't quite fit, but he doesn't think it matters that much since he's not really going anywhere else.

"I borrowed clothes from Midoriya," he explains stoically, earning an excited gasp from Ashido and a snort from Sero that the heterochromatic boy doesn't really think is necessary. "And he's doing okay for now."

"Don't care, didn't ask," Bakugo snaps, turning his attention to something else instead, done with the conversation. Somewhere in the room, Sero points out that he did indeed ask, at least about the clothes, so Bakugo promptly tells him to shut his stupid mouth.

Kirishima huffs beside the blond but gives Todoroki a bright smile.

"Tell him I hope he feels better soon," the red haired boy says, and Todoroki responds with a nod before heading into the kitchen at last. He's followed by Kaminari, Ashido, Uraraka, Asui and Sero.

"Those pants really don't fit you," Sero comments as he gives Todoroki a once-over, leaning against the counter as the other boy starts boiling water for some instant soba noodles. Not as good as cold soba, but they'll do.

"And his outfit doesn't match," Kaminari adds, scratching the back of his head. Sero nods in agreement as they look their stoic classmate over.

"I think he knows all of that already," Asui replies and Uraraka seems to agree with her. The frog girl tilts her head as she continues on, "He probably just picked whatever fit him."

"Yeah, 'cause didn't he say those are Midoriya's clothes?" Ashido points out, sounding weirdly excited. She elbows Todoroki in the side and adds, "What's up with that, huh?"

Todoroki wishes they wouldn't talk about him like he's not standing right there, but he's not going to say anything about it. With pink cheeks he continues making his noodles quietly, finds a good, clean pair of chopsticks and leaves the kitchen.

"Hey, where are you going man?" Kaminari asks, stopping him in the doorway.

"Probably away from all of you, since you keep making fun of his clothes," Uraraka tells the sparky blond, her hands on her hips as if she's judging him.

"Midoriya's clothes," Ashido corrects, even though they're all painfully aware of whose clothes they are. Hell, the All Might shirt is definitely a big giveaway, if the green pants weren't enough.

"Besides, he probably needs to get back to Deku," Uraraka finishes, and Kaminari sighs but lets Todoroki go anyway. "Goodnight, Todoroki. Tell Deku that Kirishima and I hope he starts feeling better."

"Tell him we said that too," Kaminari adds with a bright smile, which quickly transforms into a mischievous grin that he shares with Sero, as if they're thinking the same thing. "Now hurry up and get back to your boyfriend or whatever and help him get better."

Ashido squeals, Sero laughs, Asui covers her mouth and Uraraka punches the blond boy in the arm.

"Sorry, Todoroki," she says, shaking her hand as if it'll make the pain from punching Kaminari go away, "Please just enjoy your night and take good care of Deku."

With a slightly confused and agitated nod and bright pink cheeks, Todoroki quickly carries his noodles over to the elevator and heads back upstairs. As the doors close, he can hear Uraraka reprimanding Kaminari and Sero. The last thing Todoroki hears before he goes up is Kaminari's voice crying out, "What? Oh come on, Uraraka, he was asking for the boyfriend thing when he came down here in Midoriya's clothes!"

He thinks about that on the way up to the next floor, wondering how exactly that sentence makes him feel.

Reaching Midoriya's room, Todoroki goes inside to find his friend scrolling through his phone boredly, looking pale and just unwell in general, but he lights up when he has noticed that Todoroki has returned.

"Sorry I took so long," the taller boy apologizes, sitting down at the foot of the bed to eat. He hopes he looks less bothered than he actually feels inside. "For some reason it seemed like everyone wanted to talk to me even though I was in a hurry."

"Talk to you about what?" Midoriya inquires curiously, a small smile on his face. Todoroki looks down at himself and then finally shrugs.

"Why I was wearing your clothes," he answers before he slurps up the noodles thoughtfully. "Kaminari kept saying that you were, um… you were my boyfriend, or something, and I didn't really understand why-?" That's a half lie because of course he understands why, but he's sure Midoriya won't notice. "Oh, and pretty much everyone told me to tell you that they hope you get better. Except for Bakugo, of course, but you know."

Todoroki looks over to find Midoriya coughing, his face bright red. Concerned, he sets down his bowl and reaches for his friend to pat him on the back a little.

"Are you okay?" the taller one asks when the shorter one stops coughing. Midoriya gives him an odd look, but Todoroki doesn't really understand what it's about. "Is something wrong?"

Shaking his head, Midoriya says, "It's nothing." Todoroki takes that as a sign that he doesn't want to talk about something so he simply goes quiet and resumes eating his noodles like nothing happened. Midoriya clears his throat and brings his knees to his chest, resting his chin on them.

It's quiet for a long time- Todoroki finishes his food and puts his empty bowl on the tray from earlier. Midoriya mumbles about watching a movie if it's okay with Todoroki, so the heterochromatic boy grabs his friend's laptop and then inquires about which movie the shorter boy wants to see.

They find one, get everything set up and the lights all off before they relax side by side on the bed together. Midoriya rests his head on Todoroki's chest again while the taller boy holds the laptop on his thighs and the movie starts. Todoroki can't see over Midoriya's wild, unkempt hair, but it's fine- he doesn't mind. As long as Midoriya can see and is happy, Todoroki doesn't care.

He doesn't know when it happens, but he falls asleep like that. And when he wakes up the next morning, the laptop is closed and lying at the foot of the bed while Midoriya is all curled up in his arms. Without a word, Todoroki closes his eyes and goes back to sleep, knowing that Midoriya will be better soon and that this probably won't happen again so he'll have to cherish it while he can.

-