"Rose… Rose… Wake up, dear… You're going to be late for training with Endeavor," I heard a deep, gentle voice encouraging me to wake up. My eyes shot open at the last statement. I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes in a slight panic, losing both of my contacts in the process and swearing under my breath. Within seconds, my large, black plastic rounded square rim glasses were gently placed on my face, and I opened my eyes to see that Toshinori and I were both cuddled up in my bed.
My face flushed, but I let out a small breath of relief as I noted that we were both still fully clothed. Then, I happened to glance at the clock on my nightstand. It was 4:45AM. Shit! There was now way I was going to make it to Enji-nii's on time. I jumped out of bed and almost fell over from the headrush that I assumed was just from standing up to fast and threw on my workout clothes while I was in the bathroom. Even after getting dressed, I still felt lightheaded and I cursed again.
"I don't have time for this shit!" I scolded myself as I came out of the room and stumbled into Toshinori as I muttered, "Enji-nii-san is gonna kill me…" Toshinori chuckled nervously at the nickname I had for Endeavor before placing the back of his hand to my forehead in slight concern.
A dreamy sigh involuntarily escaped my lips at the relief from his cool touch. Wait… Toshinori's hands are never cold!...
"Rose, dear, get back in bed. You're running a bad fever. You can't train in this condition," Toshinori stated, his voice laced with concern as he guided me back to my bed and carefully leaning me back into my pillows before picking up my phone and looking at me, a worried frown etched into his usually joyous and radiant features.
"Now, am I calling Endeavor, or would you like to?" he inquired gently as he placed a soft kiss on my forehead.
"I should do it. Not to be rude, but Enji-nii-san hates your guts and was not happy about us dating," I mumbled the last part, but Toshinori heard me and froze nervously, "Don't worry, Toshi. I never refer to you by your real name around him. Your secret is safe with me."
He nodded with a nervous smile before handing me my phone and going into the bathroom. I sighed to myself as I pressed and held the 2 button, calling Enji-nii who was number 2 on my speed dial list. Ironically enough, Toshinori was number 1. Anyways, the first ring had not even finished when the phone was answered by a clearly irritated Endeavor.
"You're late! Where the hell are you? I swear if you say you're with that over-positive, blonde moron-!" Endeavor started his angry rant immediately, but stopped when I let out a particularly nasty set of coughs.
"Sorry, Nii-san. I'm really sick and could barely get around my apartment this morning without falling over," I admitted guiltily before going into another coughing fit, ending it with a whimper at the sharp pain in my throat. There was an irritated, though less than usual, sigh on the other end of the line.
"Listen. Is that oaf with you right now?" the flame hero demanded to know, his voice irritated but noticeably softer than before. Right as he asked that, said 'oaf' came out of the restroom with a cold, damp cloth that he sweetly placed on my hot forehead. I sighed inaudibly in relief from the cool cloth and handed Toshinori the phone, which he looked at in confusion before hesitantly putting it to his ear.
"Hello?" Toshinori greeted. After that I found myself fading from consciousness, too tired to hear what was going on around me.
~Time Skip brought to you by Author-chan being sick while writing this chapter~
"Her fever is at 104 F. I'm going to need to give her an injection to bring it down quickly to a safe level," I heard an unfamiliar voice saying, causing my eyes to shoot open and a whimper to leave my lips in a panic.
Looking around, I saw Toshinori in his All Might form and Enji-nii-san in his hero costume. There was also a man in a white lab coat with thin rimmed glasses, silver hair, and a white lab coat, who I could only assume was a doctor, who had a syringe near me, causing me to go into a near panic attack as I started hyperventilating. Within seconds, All Might was crouched beside me, gently stroking my hair as he tried to calm me down.
"Rose, sweetheart, listen. Your fever is too high, and it's not safe for it to stay that way," he murmured sweetly, just low enough for me to hear, "You need the injection so it can come down to a safe level quickly. I know you're scared of the needle, Endeavor and I will be right here alright? Do you trust us?" Looking up, I met Toshi's concerned electric blue eyes before nodding nervously causing him to breathe a small sigh of relief, "Thank you, Rose. Just focus on me. It'll be over quickly." With that, he looked at the doctor and nodded in confirmation that he was good to give me the injection.
Toshinori grabbed my hand and held it firmly as the doctor gave me the injection. The panic and the burning sensation from the needle piercing my skin and the medicine being pushed into my bloodstream caused me to let out another whimper, causing Endeavor to let out a growl in warning at the doctor. After that, the doctor left some medications on my nightstand with some instructions before taking his leave. Within minutes, I was feeling some definite relief from the injection, not that I would admit that the injection was a good idea.
"Enji-nii, why are you here?" I asked weakly, and he scoffed at me.
"You decided on your own that I was your older brother, and you didn't think I'd check on you when you were sick? Plus, I had to make sure you weren't faking it in order to skip training," he responded gruffly, though I was pretty sure he just added that last part so he still seemed tough. This all caused me to laugh a bit which unfortunately led to another painful coughing fit.
"Don't just stand there, you oaf! Get her some water so she can take her medicine!" I heard Endeavor yell at Toshinori which pissed me off. As soon as Toshi left the room, I slowly sat up, glaring at the flame-faced hero.
"Nii-san, if you're going to be an asshole to him, you need to leave," I scolded angrily, taking a deep breath, "You both care about me, and he did nothing to deserve you talking to him like that. So knock it off!" Enji looked at me in shock before sighing.
"Fine. I need to go anyways," he stated, heading to the door, "By the way, Shoto and Fuyumi will be by later because your oaf of a boyfriend has patrol." And with that, he turned and left, right as Toshinori returned to the room with a glass of water.
Noticing that Endeavor had left, he handed me the glass of water before deflating to his normal form and coughing up blood. After wiping up and washing the blood off of his mouth and hand, he came back to me handing me a couple of pills.
"I'm sorry Toshinori. Enji-nii was a total jerk to you, and you had to waste time in your hero form for me," I apologized with a deep frown, feeling incredibly guilty. For someone who always strived and prided myself on being independent, I sure was causing a lot of inconvenience for the people I cared for most.
A kiss on my nose snapped me out of my thoughts as I focused instead on the radiant blonde hero in front of me. He had on his usual bright smile smile as he encouraged me to take the medications the doctor had left for me. Making sure to add my anxiety medications to the mix, I quickly downed the three pills before laying down and quickly falling back asleep.
~Time Skip brought to you by the fabulousness that is Todrick Hall~
"Aunt Kaera, wake up… We brought you some rice porridge," I woke up to hearing Fuyumi talking to me. Opening my eyes, I looked over to see Fuyumi and Shoto. I couldn't help but smile at being called 'Aunt' as I slowly sat up with a slight cough.
"Thanks, Fuyumi, Shoto," I said with a smile which only Fuyumi returned. Shoto just walked up and placed his right hand on my forehead and frowned deeper.
"Aunt Kaera, you still have a fever," he stated as I felt his hand cool down, and I sighed in relief. The two stayed for a while, making sure I took my medications and ate some of the rice porridge. After a while, Fuyumi left to go home and fix dinner for the Todoroki household, leaving Shoto to keep an eye on me despite my protests that I was fine.
"Hey, Aunt Kaera," Shoto called after a while as I hummed in response, "Has my father ever told you about our mom?" I looked at him in confusion and shook my head. He hummed in response before turning his attention to the photo on my nightstand. It was one of me and Santosh with Isha on his shoulders. The photo had captured all three of us mid laughter.
"Who are the other two in this photo?" he asked curiously, and I gave him a sad smile.
"That's my husband, Santosh, and my daughter, Isha. They were killed in a villain attack several years back, when I still lived in the U.S.," I answered honestly, causing Shoto to look at me with a mix of shock and regret.
"I-I'm sorry. I didn't mean to bring up something so upsetting," he apologized, causing me to chuckle as I reached up and ruffled his hair affectionately.
"It's no problem!" I comforted with a bright and sincere smile, "Sure, I miss them both a lot, but I choose to focus on living each day to the fullest for them both." I giggled a bit when I saw a small smile appear on the usually stoic teen's face, and I couldn't help but pull him into a hug.
"You're a really great kid, Shoto!" I said happily, "Thanks for accepting me into y'all's family!"
" 'S nothing…" I heard him mutter in response, and I smiled to myself as he awkwardly returned my hug.
Song: Sick Boy by The Chainsmokers
A/N:
The next chapter or three will end up with some pretty large time skips, just hitting the high points/events to get to where the official story of the anime starts. I have lots of ideas for that so just letting y'all know! Thanks again to everyone who has been supporting and reading this story! :) It means so much to me! :) 3