The Kids Get Sick

Nagisa gets sick, everyone cares for him

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Nagisa was sick.

He knew this, of course. Falling ill was a common occurrence, doubly so when one happened to live in a sewer.

A situation that he, ruefully, found himself in at that very moment.

But, that was fine. It was fine that he was a little sick. It was fine that he was living in the sewers. It was fine that he and the others got sick often because of the aforementioned sewer they lived in.

It was fine, because they were down here. And down here wasn't up there. Down here had no demons (with their sharp words and perverted thoughts and angry eyes and fists and commands none of them had to follow anymore). Down here had no Monokumas (those hideous bears with claws that cut through metal and teeth that did the same and innocent, silly phrases that didn't match). Down here had no Monokuma kids (their former friends, though not by choice, so it was better they never faced the children). Down here was stinky and gross and dark and damp.

But it was safe. Or, at least, as safe as any of them could get. The Demon Organization "Future Foundation" was far too busy hunting down Big Sis Junko's "friends" that they hadn't cared enough to come after the four of them. Added to the fact that those annoying girls were busy with fixing the city and people instead of looking for them, and they had been able to remain hidden down in the sewers, right about where the adults had hidden from them only weeks ago.

That was all besides the point. The point was that Nagisa lived in the sewers, and he was sick. However, it bore little consequence. He was sick often, even more so then the others, thus he could hide it well enough. No one had to worry. They had enough to worry about without including himself and his well being. They may not have the highest expectations of him, but he had them of himself (which might be worse) so it was fine. The others made such a big fuss when they were sick (on purpose or not, it didn't matter.), but that was fine too. The others weren't as mature as him, so it was fine for them to be sick and whine and groan and take all the blankets.

What wasn't fine, however, was them worrying about him. He could take care of himself, he could. He was smart enough to wait until they were all asleep to take the appropriate medicine and stubborn enough to brush off their concern with a believable lie and a smile (one that the actress/fighter easily saw through, but displayed a rare kindness as she pretended to believe him). The other warriors had plenty to plague their thoughts. He did not want to add to the stress they were all constantly under, living in fear of being found (or worse-separated) during the day and whatever haunted their particular nightmare at night, along with anything and everything in between. It was not fine to expect them to dote on him when he was sick simply because he did the same to them.

Sadly, he didn't seem to get a choice in the matter.

It had started out as a sore throat, so he had popped a cough drop (cherry flavored, Kotoko's favorite and his own least favorite, though that hardly mattered if she was happy) and a Children's Tylenol (he knew he should take a regular one, but that would mean he was becoming a demon and its the little things that count) just to be safe before getting a solid 2 hours of sleep.

Masaru woke him up, yelling in his ear. He groaned and rolled over, unaware of everything except how his whole body ached and his throat burned, as if he had gargled acid and his head pounded like a drum.

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Masaru frowned, not used to his friend refusing to get up. In fact, Nagisa was usually up before any of them, pushing them to get up before any of the demons so they could scavenge. So, Masaru did what he thought best. Nagisa didn't like physical contact, but it wasn't one of his triggers (kind of a confusing topic, but one he kinda picked after Nagisa explained it a few times). So Masaru poked Nagisa, trying to prod the Sage into waking up. When he first touched the other, he immediately drew back with a small hiss of surprise. Nagisa was hot! And not in the weird way that demons meant it. His friend was actually warm to the touch, so warm it kinda burned. He tilted his head, trying to figure it out. The last time one of them was this hot....