Undercooked chicken. Dabi felt his stomach churn as he pulled open the fridge and grabbed the container of food with a shaking hand. Sayuri had made breaded chicken cutlets with rice. She was so proud of making them each a bento and he, with his lack of patience and curiosity, had helped himself to some of the food as soon as she left for work.

Eating mindlessly. Watching television as he ate and thinking to himself that it was a little overly seasoned, the breading a little too crunchy. As Dabi tore a cutlet in half, he had to fight down the bile rising in his throat. Sure enough, the inside had a pinkish coloration.

He dumped the contents of the bento into the trash and felt his stomach gurgle again, painfully. Most of the morning had been spent vomiting and shaking with a frustrating level of weakness. He grabbed a bottle of cold water and made his way back to the bathroom.

Slumping against the side of the bathtub, Dabi opened the bottle and chugged the water before rinsing the taste of bile from his mouth. This…sucks. What the hell happened? Nasty.

A hand, shaking from weakness, lifted his phone and he checked the time. It was mid-afternoon. By this point, it would be too late to tell her that the chicken was undercooked. She was probably puking her guts out in the bathroom at school.

Food poisoning had been inevitable with Sayuri's lack of cooking skills, but he had expected it to strike in some small way. Like a small stomach ache. This was horrible. It felt like his stomach's contents were churning inside of him.

Another wave of nausea hit and he had to crawl over to the toilet to vomit. At this point, his stomach was mostly empty so it was just painful dry heaves that would bring tears to a lesser man. Dabi collapsed onto the floor, scowling and shaking. He decided that he had suffered alone for long enough and attempted to call Sayuri.

If he was lucky, she would agree to just come back or she would say she was on her way home and that she was feeling sick. She was too sweet to just let him suffer and he knew it. She would probably get some stomach medicine for them both and pamper him when she got home. Sayuri was definitely the nurturing type so it would be easy enough to convince her to just curl up with him in her bed until he needed something.

There was no answer. He was too exhausted at this point to try again. Dabi dug around in the laundry basket near the door and dragged a few towels out to cover himself so he could keep warm. She was bound to be home soon and she would find him sleeping on the floor. She would worry over him and insist on taking care of him, even if she was feeling just as sickly. He dozed off with this on his mind, looking forward to it.

Shift P.O.V

I didn't even get a chance to eat lunch. Sayuri pouted as she looked at the bento she had packed for herself. For the past week, Namimoto had failed to show up for work. She had taken care of his class all on her own for the first three days and now she was assisting the temporary teacher who was filling in for him.

Sighing, she closed the bento box. I guess I'll put it in the fridge when I get home and I'll just take it again tomorrow. I wonder if Dabi ate his. I wish I could make them the way that Fuyumi does. Hers are way more aesthetic.

Sayuri bid her fellow teachers farewell and walked down the long hallway to the entrance, a folder of worksheets in her hand. When she stepped outside, she was met with an odd sight. She nearly dropped her folder out of surprise.

Standing near the school gate was a faintly familiar man wearing a hooded jacket. He lifted a hand in greeting and moved toward her, his eyes fixed clearly on Sayuri. "Naosu."

"You're…it's Kurono-san, right?"

"Yeah. You have a minute?"

"Um…just a second." She checked the time on her phone and felt a pang of guilt when she saw a missed call from Dabi. He never called her so she instantly feared something was wrong. "I don't have much time," she apologized.

"It'll just take a few minutes. It's about Eri's tutoring."

"Right. I just…ah…okay. Just a few minutes, though," Sayuri agreed. She pushed a stray lock of pale hair behind her ear and walked alongside Kurono toward a small café near the school. Inside, Eri's father was waiting for them.

She took the seat across from Chisaki, giving him a polite greeting as she did so. "You wanted to talk about Eri's tutoring, right? Do Sundays work for you? I would be able to do Sunday or maybe in the afternoon once a week on a weekday."

It was strange. Usually when someone is in a café, they have a beverage or some sort of food. Chisaki Kai was sitting with nothing in front of him on the table. Wearing a black medical mask, as he always did. "Afternoons. Could you come tomorrow?"

"Maybe? I'll have to check something first. So, um…how much education does she have?" She felt silly to be asking this, but since Eri had never been to school, it seemed like a valid question. Sayuri expected that she had probably been taught how to count, how to read, how to do some basic math.

"None." Chisaki said this with a complete lack of guilt.

Sayuri was unable to stop a short, sort of anxious laugh from escaping her. "What do you mean? She knows how to read a little, right?"

"No. Eri's never been to school and I haven't had the opportunity to teach her anything."

Kurono chose to chime in now. "Kai's busy with other things."

Again, Sayuri found herself wondering what exactly their relationship was. "Okay. So I'm basically working with a blank slate?"

"That's a good way of looking at this," Chisaki agreed. He hesitated for a moment before his next question. "You tutor one on one, don't you?"

She nodded, remembering that he had mentioned how Eri got nervous around strangers. "Yes. But if you want to sit in on the tutoring or have someone else-?"

"No; it's fine. I just wanted to make sure that Eri will get all of your attention. No other students. No other teachers. No distractions." He studied her for a moment, noticing her fidget with the folder of papers and seeing her soft lilac eyes dart toward the door. "Something wrong? You seem like you're in a hurry to leave."

Sayuri gave him a small, apologetic half-smile. "Sorry. I just…I missed a call from my boyfriend earlier and I'm kind of worried about him. He doesn't usually call me so I think he might need help. I'm sorry to cut this short-"

"Boyfriend?" Kurono glanced over at Chisaki, who remained silent.

"Yes. I'm sorry, but I really do have to go. I'll call you later to tell you if tomorrow will work, Chisaki-san. Thank you for meeting with me." She hurried out of the café, drawing her phone from her pocket as she walked and trying to return Dabi's call. It rang to voicemail.

Just as panic set in and it felt like her heart would pop from beating so fast, he called her back. "What's taking so long?" His voice sounded groggy; like he had just woken up. It also sounded a little hoarse, a little weak.

"Are you okay? You called earlier. Sorry I didn't answer; I was still at work."

There was a rustling sound for a moment before he spoke again. "You gave me food poisoning. That chicken…was seriously disgusting."

Her face went red with embarrassment. She had been afraid something like this might happen. It was bound to happen eventually, but she had really hoped it would be something minor. Like giving him a small stomach ache or fermented fruit maybe giving him a slight drunk feeling. This was undercooked chicken bad. Vomiting one's own guts into a toilet bad.

"I-I'm sorry. I'm on my way home now. I'll get some stuff from the store. Is there anything you want in particular?"

Another brief pause and then the quiet thud of him probably resting on the floor of the bedroom. "I want ice cream," he mumbled, now sounding almost like a sickly child.

Sayuri had to smile at the request. It sounded cute. He rarely asked for things outright like that so this was a nice change of pace. As bad as it was that her cooking had given him food poisoning, she was glad she could take care of him. She was even gladder that she had not had time to eat her own bento.

The store was kind of busy at this time of day, but things like that never really bothered Sayuri. She worked with a horde of tiny children for a living so dealing with a horde of shoppers was just the same scenario with a different setting. Grabbing a shopping basket, she set off to get some stuff to make Dabi feel better.

Cup ramen. Chips. Ginger candies. A bag of apples and a bag of oranges. Stomach medicine. She grabbed a container of chocolate ice cream, thinking it might be a flavor he would enjoy. The final thing she wanted to get was ginger ale.

She remembered one Valentine's Day when she had gone overboard eating chocolate. Her stomach had hurt so badly that she was sure her stomach was going to turn inside out from vomiting so much. Fuyumi had given her ginger ale and it had at least settled her stomach enough to not make her feel like she was dying.

When she entered the apartment, Sayuri found Dabi unconscious on the bathroom floor with a few towels pulled over him like makeshift blankets. She grimaced and gently moved the towels away so she could get him out of the bathroom. Her arms slid beneath his, wrapping around his upper chest, and Sayuri dragged him out of the bathroom.

He remained unconscious until she hauled him onto the couch. Turquoise eyes lazily slid open and settled on Sayuri as she leaned down to examine him. A hand lifted, fingers tangling in her snowy hair before he yanked her down on top of him. Pressing her face into the side of his neck.

She squirmed, trying to pull free, and planted her hands on his shoulders. "D-Dabi, I need to put away the groceries."

"What'd you get?" He asked this, but maintained a firm hold on her. One leg wrapped around her right leg, pinning her tighter against him.

"Some snacks and medicine. I got your ice cream, but…you know it's going to melt if I don't put it away, right?"

There was a frustrated sigh from the man before he released her. "Fine."

Sayuri pushed herself up and lingered for a moment, looking him over. The patches of skin that were not dark and scarred appeared paler than usual. He definitely seemed to be feeling unwell. "I'll be back with some medicine, okay? Just…relax."

She started putting the groceries away, her thoughts drifting to a possible lesson plan for Eri the next day. She's never gone to school. I can't believe her dad didn't teach her how to read. I'll need to bring some workbooks. I can probably take some of the extras from the school and I can get some pencils or crayons for her to write with. Sayuri heard a clatter and running water.

The couch was now empty and the open bathroom door showed that Dabi was apparently brushing his teeth. The young teacher watched him splash water on his face when he was done and quickly looked away when the man turned toward her. Sayuri's face was flushed a warm pink as she tried to finish what she was doing.

Dabi trudged into the kitchen and leaned against the wall beside the fridge, arms crossed as he watched her put away the ice cream. It was clear that he was still feeling pretty weak from the food poisoning, but he was at least able to keep himself standing upright. He saw her blush and half-grinned. "You're not sick?"

"I…didn't have time to eat lunch today." To her embarrassment, her stomach chose this moment to growl. "Namimoto is still missing and I've been helping his replacement. I was just too busy and I'm just…really stressed out. Fuyumi was right; I might be pushing myself too much."

She handed over the stomach medicine and poured a glass of ginger ale. As he swallowed the medicine, Sayuri decided to try to tease him to cover up her own embarrassment at being caught watching him. Her lips twitched into a smirk and she toyed with a long strand of pale hair. "So did you brush your teeth because you're expecting something?"

He stared down at her for a long moment before reaching out and interweaving his fingers in her hair. "What? Don't tell me that got your hopes up."

Sayuri felt a pleasant wave of warmth run through her. Biting her lip, she decided to try again. A hand lifted and her fingertips gently traced along the line of staples that went across his cheek. Moving over the warm pieces of metal, watching his sharp turquoise eyes half-close as he leaned into her touch.

For just a second, he had such an incredibly soft look to him. Though that may have been due to him feeling weak from being sick. As if to reassert his strength, he smirked and lifted her over his shoulder. "Well I don't wanna disappoint you."

"W-wait a second!" She braced her hands against his upper back, trying to push herself off and failing. "You still don't feel well, right? You look kind of pale-" Sayuri got her answer when she was dumped onto the bed with him falling unconscious on top of her.