Chapter Text
The alarm on Touya’s phone rang softly letting him know that it was six in the morning which meant it was time to start his day. Even though Touya did not have to go into work, he tried to keep himself and Shouto on a schedule. The doctors had said that with Shouto’s condition repetition and a schedule would help his daily life.
Touya groggily sat up in bed and stretched his arms up and over. When his back cracked like a glowstick Touya let out a sigh of content. Keigo was still sleeping and would not get up for a couple more minutes. He always needed multiple alarms to get out of bed unlike Touya who was a light sleeper.
Touya made his way out of bed and walked into the bathroom. He cringed when the bright light was flipped on but used the restroom before returning to the sink to brush his teeth. He took a look at himself in the mirror and laughed. He looked rough. After brushing his teeth he slipped into the shower. Touya loved to shower in the mornings because it always woke him up better than a cup of coffee could.
Touya got out of the shower and quickly fixed his hair before returning to his room to get some clothes. He chose some comfy black sweatpants and a T-shirt he had gotten from Natsuo for his birthday. It had a crab on it and said “I can be a lil’ crabby!” Touya begrudgingly put the T-shirt on since it was the last clean one he had left. He really had to do laundry later when he put Shouto down for a nap.
When he was done getting dressed he walked into Shouto’s room. Last night they repeated their nightly routine of Shouto having a nightmare and someone calming him so that he could go back to sleep. Keigo got up and held him in the recliner while Touya was able to keep sleeping. Keigo had placed Shouto back in his own bed last night as the nightmare was not a severe one.
Touya opened Shouto’s bedroom door and gave a small smile at the sight of Shouto curled up around his stuffed calico cat he lovingly named Soba. He looked so at peace this morning that Touya felt guilty to wake him.
“Sho, it’s time to wake up. Come on, that's it. Don’t you want to wake up and play?” Shouto slowly woke up and groaned. He was comfortable and did not want to move. He turned to curl deeper under the covers. “No, come on peppermint, I know you don’t want to, but you need to get up. You need a change. You can take a nap later. Come on kiddo, it’s time to get up.”
Touya lowered the railing and took the covers off of Shouto as he picked him up to readjust him on the bed on top of the mat they usually used to change him. Shouto was still groggy and not talking during the change which was normal, Shouto unlike Touya was not a morning person. After changing him, Touya left him on the bed while he walked over to the scale. Touya weighed himself. He was 171 pounds, the same that he has always been. He then made his way back over to Shouto to pick him up and weigh them together. He would then subtract his weight from the second weight to see how much Shouto weighed.
At the doctor’s office it was easier because they had a chair that Shouto could sit in to measure his weight. Touya did not have the room for something like that and Shouto could not stand on his own so the improvised version would have to do for now. Touya was afraid to look at the number on the scale. Shouto had been eating but it didn’t seem like he was getting any heavier.
Touya finally gained enough courage to look down at the number and his heart sank. Thirty pounds was not the weight he was expecting. He thought things had been going well. Shouto had been eating each day and drinking the nutritional shakes that he was supposed to. They still had to watch the portion sizes and were afraid to increase them without approval from the doctor because Shouto’s stomach was still rather small and would reject food if he ate more than what it could handle in one sitting.
Touya was going to have to discuss this with Keigo and his siblings. The doctors had warned them of a setback, but he was hoping that things would get better. He stepped off the scale and Shouto was still rubbing his eyes trying to get the sleep out of them. Touya gave him a kiss on his cheek and Shouto giggled. It seemed that he was more awake, which was good for Touya.
“Let’s get you dressed, but first it’s time for your cream." Touya set him on the edge of the bed while he grabbed a lidocaine cream off the dresser. Shouto had developed arthritis after the treatment from their father and would often have small flare ups. Touya could tell by the redness of his joints. Touya worked quickly to rub the cream on the areas that he saw were inflamed.
“D-d-dream w-weird had.” Shouto stuttered out while Touya was rubbing the cream on his delicate pale wrist.
“Really? Tell me all about it!” Touya was thrilled to hear Shouto talking. Any talking that he was capable of was music to Touya’s ears, no matter how jumbled his speech was Touya was grateful for his progress.
“Pan-panda cha-chase me f-f-forest in and and w-w-wanted soba! KeiKei s-s-sword had and and p-protect me! T-t-then KeiKei h-h-had wings-s red and and w-we were f-fly-flying!”
Touya took note of the affectionate name that Shouto had given Keigo. He had problems with Keigo’s full name and would call him “KeiKei” instead because it was easier.
“Wow, that was a crazy dream peppermint!” Touya had finished up with the cream and had walked over to the closet to get some clothes for Shouto to put on. He pulled out a blue and a green pair of sweatpants. Sweatpants were easier to get him out of for changing and were more comfortable than jeans or pants. “Which one do you want to wear, Sho?” Touya asked, holding up each pair.
“B-b-blue!” Shouto said.
Touya wasn’t surprised, Shouto did love the color blue. He then grabbed two T-shirts. One had a picture of a ninja and the other had All Might. Touya knew which one Shouto was going to pick. It was warm in the house and they didn't turn the air conditioning on so Shouto would be comfortable in just a T-shirt. “Pick a shirt Sh-”
“All Might!” Shouto said excitedly. All Might was every kids’ favorite hero. Shouto loved him and anything that had All Might on it.
“Ok, I hear you!” Shouto giggled. “Let’s get you dressed, Sho.”
Touya was quick to dress Shouto as Shouto helped to dress himself. His coordination was still off but he could still pull a T-shirt onto himself. Shouto looked at the front of his shirt and smiled.
“Ok, time to brush your teeth.” Shouto raised his arms for the universal sign that he wanted up. Touya picked him up and carried him into the bathroom. He heard Keigo’s alarm going off for the tenth time which meant that he would be getting up soon. Keigo would wake up after exactly fourteen alarms.
Touya placed Shouto on the counter and then grabbed his toothbrush and kids toothpaste. Touya made quick work of brushing Shouto’s teeth and helped him to spit into the sink. If Shouto was having a bad day he would then wrap Shouto’s fingers with bandages to protect from Shouto biting them when he was distressed. Shouto seemed to be having a good day, so Touya decided against it. They were a hassle to change every time Shouto got them dirty when eating.
Touya then grabbed the brush and combed Shouto’s hair and parted it so that the colors did not mix. He then took two hair ties and put Shouto’s up in two pigtails to keep the hair out of his face. Shouto was annoyed by his growing hair but was very apprehensive about cutting it. Touya had tried to do it himself rather than taking him to a barber but Shouto had a large panic attack at the sight of the scissors. So for now, the long hair would have to do until they could work through Shouto’s anxiety.
Touya picked Shouto up again and headed to the kitchen. He set him on top of the island while he reached for Shouto’s blood sugar testing kit. Because of Shouto’s severe malnutrition he had issues with hypoglycemia. His blood sugar would often spike low and they had to monitor it closely so that he did not get sick with it dropping too low. Touya was grateful that Shouto was having a good day because it made testing his sugar easier.
Shouto frowned at the sight of the kit but knew that it needed to happen. Touya loaded the lancing device with a fresh lancet and placed a testing strip in the machine. He gently took one of Shouto’s fingers and quickly released the needle. Shouto didn’t flinch at the prick, too used to this happening multiple times a day. Touya took the blood onto the testing strip and waited for the result to show up. Shouto put the bleeding finger into his mouth to stop the bleeding from the small injection.
Touya was ok with the number, it was low but not dangerously low. It was a typical reading for Shouto in the morning. He quickly disposed of the used testing materials. “Good job, peppermint!” Touya smiled while giving him a hug and a kiss on his cheek. Shouto smiled but kept quiet.
Since Shouto’s sugar wasn’t very low, he would be ok with waiting till breakfast was ready to eat. Touya picked him up and placed him on the couch and flipped to a kids space documentary. Shouto loved documentaries so he was pleased to curl up on the couch. Touya then went back into Shouto’s room to grab Soba so that he could cuddle her on the couch.
“Tha-thanks A-ani.” Shouto said while he grabbed Soba from Touya and quickly cuddled her.
Shouto always called him “Ani” which was short for Aniki. Shouto had names for Natsuo and Fuyumi as well. He called Natuso “Nat” and Fuyumi “Yumi”.
Seeing that Shouto was comfortable, Touya went to the kitchen to start on breakfast. Breakfast was quick to prepare since it was just oatmeal with some fruit and honey. Last week they had been eating eggs for breakfast until Shouto had an issue with the texture and would refuse to eat them and would cry if it was on his plate. They had to have a rotation of foods that Shouto would actually eat because Shouto’s preferences shifted every so often. Touya hoped that they could get him to eat eggs in the next couple of weeks for the protein.
Touya heard the shower stopping which meant that Keigo would be getting out of the bathroom soon.
He got everything ready then went to grab Shouto off the couch just as Keigo came into the room. “KeiKei!” Shouto said and held his arms out.
Keigo quickly took Shouto out of Touya's hands and raised him high in the air placing kisses all over him with Shouto giggling loudly. “Good morning sweetheart, how are you this morning?”
“Good!”
"That’s great! It’s time for breakfast now. Make sure to eat up as much as you can!”
Shouto laughed and Keigo kissed him one more time before he set Shouto down in his adapted high chair making sure to strap him in so he couldn't fall off if he was unstable.
Touya sat next to Shouto with a small portion of oatmeal, fruit, and honey for him to eat. Touya began feeding Shouto as he opened his mouth like a baby bird to be fed.
"So it's great that he is having a good day today." Keigo said after grabbing his and Touya's oatmeal off the counter and setting it in front of them.
"His numbers aren't good." Touya tried to be vague so Shouto wouldn't catch on that they were talking about him.
"Weight or sugar?"
"Sugar was low but fine, but he lost three pounds." Touya said grimly.
"How did he lose three pounds in three days? We are doing everything right aren't we?"
Touya continued to feed Shouto. "Yes, but the doctor said to prepare for the possibility of there being a setback. I just didn't think that it would happen so soon."
"So what do we do? That's a significant amount of weight for him."
"I will call the doctor when I put him down for a nap to let them know. I'm hoping that we can increase his portion sizes soon. He seems to not have stomachaches anymore."
Keigo finished up his oatmeal just as Shouto finished his. He took over and cleaned Shouto's face while Touya ate his oatmeal. Keigo got up and measured three quarters of a cup of juice and put in one of Shouto's special cups and then placed it in front of him so he could drink from it, careful not to give him too much and irritate his stomach.
"Let me know what he says. Have you told your siblings yet?"
"No, I'm going to talk to the doctor to see what my options are. I know the last time they had talked about putting him back on a feeding tube."
"I know he hated that, but the doctor will know what's best. Hopefully it doesn't come to that. I unfortunately have to leave. I have three flights today so I will be busy, but I will check my phone in between flights."
"We should hopefully hear back from the doctor today or tomorrow. If I hear anything sooner I will let you know."
Keigo got up from the table to finish getting ready. Touya finished his oatmeal while Shouto drank his juice. Touya got up to take the dishes to the sink and rinsed them off before placing them in the dishwasher.
He turned back to Shouto. "Done with your juice, kiddo?"
Shouto nodded and handed the juice cup over in his shaking hand. Touya took it and rinsed it out before placing it on the drying rack.
He could hear Keigo approaching the door so he unstrapped Shouto from his highchair and made his way over to where Keigo was putting on his shoes. "Say bye to Keigo, Shouto."
"Bye b-b-bye KeiKei! Love love y-y-you!" Shouto exclaimed as Touya handed Shouto over to Keigo.
Keigo hugged him back, "I love you too sweetheart! Be a good boy for Touya today!"
"I g-good!"
Touya took Shouto back while also leaning over to give Keigo a kiss. "Have safe flights today babe, I want you to come home to us."
"I will. I love you both." And with that Keigo left for the day. Touya was very grateful that today was a good day for Shouto or else Keigo leaving would be a totally different accord.
Touya navigated them back to Shouto's room because he could tell that Shouto needed a change. Afterwards he made his way back into the living room and set Shouto down on the cushioned play mat. Touya took out a puzzle and they put it together while listening to the space documentary. Shouto got distracted by the TV a lot so the puzzle took quite some time.
When they were done with the puzzle Touya checked the clock and saw that it was almost ten which meant it was time for his and Shouto's medicine.
Touya got up and took Shouto to the kitchen. He got out both of their medications. He took his anxiety and depression medicine quickly, hoping that Shouto would be inspired to take his own medicine.
Shouto did manage to take all his medicine with little complaint and for that Touya was grateful that today was such a good day for Shouto.
Touya quickly tested Shouto's sugar again and saw that it was higher than it was this morning but still low even after the breakfast and juice.
Touya placed Shouto back onto the couch and put on Frozen before he went back to the kitchen to prepare a nutritional shake for Shouto. Shouto would only drink the strawberry shake mix deeming the others "yucky". Touya also grabbed a banana for Shouto to eat, hoping he wasn't pressing his luck.
Touya sat down next to Shouto and gave him the cup with the shake in it. Touya made sure Shouto drank all of it while watching the movie before giving him the banana. The shake was more important for him to drink, the banana was just supplemental.
Towards the end of the movie Touya could see Shouto start to drift off, but also knew that Shouto needed a change. Touya paused the movie and picked him and Soba up and carried them to the room to quickly change Shouto so that he could get him into bed for a nap.
Touya placed Shouto under the covers and Shouto curled into them like a cat. He made sure Soba was nearby before raising the railing on the side of the bed so Shouto could not fall out of bed.
Touya used that hour and a half of naptime to quickly do some chores, including laundry which he so desperately needed to do. He also made sure to leave a message for the doctor concerning Shouto's weight loss.
Touya was just finishing up folding some laundry when he heard Shouto call "Ani!"
Touya walked into Shouto's room to find him sitting up in bed.
"Hey there kiddo did you sleep well?"
"Y-yeah." Shouto replied before yawning.
"You want to play for a little bit?"
Shouto looked at him with big mismatched puppy eyes. "T-t-trains?"
"Sure, we can play with trains." Touya quickly picked him up and checked if he needed a change, but found him dry. "But, you need to drink your special drink first."
"Straw-s-strawberry?"
"Of course. Why don't you sit on the couch and watch the rest of Frozen while I make it." Touya set him down and pressed play on the paused movie.
Shouto watched the rest of the movie while drinking the shake that Touya made. Touya went on to make some lunch while Shouto was occupied. Dinosaur chicken nuggets still seemed to be ok to Shouto so he made some along with some fries in the air fryer. It wasn't necessarily nutritious, but Touya needed him to just eat something.
Touya sat with Shouto while he ate his chicken nuggets before seeing Shouto stop grabbing food and stare at the window. Touya knew that he was dissociating which was a common occurrence. He watched for signs of discomfort to make sure that Shouto was not having a flashback.
He eventually got Shouto to focus on his chicken nuggets but his movement was delayed and his mind still seemed to be somewhere else. It was a good thirty minutes before the fog seemed to clear from Shouto's mind.
"You back with me, Sho?"
Shouto nodded but did not say anything. Touya had a feeling that Shouto would be nonverbal for a bit after dissociating.
"What do you want to do?"
Shouto sloppily signed 'play'.
"Ok, but first we need to test your sugar."
'Don't want to'.
"You have to, we need to make sure you are healthy, come on it will be over before you know it."
Touya grabbed Shouto's kit and decided to do the test while Shouto was in his high chair. This time Shouto did flinch for the poke, but did not cry.
His reading seemed to be better than last time which made Touya happy. He looked up from the machine when Shouto tapped the table.
'Good?'
"Good peppermint, really good. Let's go play with trains."
Shouto's face lit up as Touya moved to unstrap him from the chair.
They played with trains for a good two hours before Shouto and Touya were both drifting off. Touya then got off the floor and stretched before picking a sleepy Shouto and Soba up and taking them back to Shouto's room. Touya quickly changed him before deciding to take him to his and Keigo's room so they could nap together.
Shouto was practically asleep at this point and did not react to Touya placing him and Soba on the inside of the bed next to the wall and covering him.
They slept for a good two hours before Shouto woke Touya up by tapping him not too gently.
"What's wrong, peppermint?" Touya asked groggily.
'Wet'. Shouto made the sign for.
"Ok let's get you changed."
Touya got up from the bed and did his usual stretch hoping his back would pop but it did not. He then picked Shouto up and took him back into his room. The change was a quick one while he planned in his head what to make for dinner.
He then took Shouto and Soba out to the living room where he placed them on the couch and put on a kids documentary about polar bears so Shouto could be distracted while he cleaned up the train mess.
Touya then made quick work of dinner making spaghetti for Keigo and himself and then made cold soba and some grilled chicken for Shouto. Shouto had been eating the same meal every night for two weeks and he hoped that Shouto would still be ok with the grilled chicken.
Dinner was quiet as Shouto seemed to still be a bit dazed from his dissociation earlier in the day. Touya was ok with the quiet as he knew that Shouto would talk when he was ready to.
Seeing that Shouto was still tired he decided to quickly bathe Shouto, diaper him, rub pain cream on his inflamed areas and lotion on the others, and dress him in a pair of Toothless pajamas.
Touya tested his sugar one more time for the night, finding the number to be acceptable. He then settled in the recliner with Shouto on his lap while he put on Finding Nemo.
Shouto was quick to fall asleep in his lap and for that Touya was grateful. He got up and placed Shouto in his own bed, making sure Soba was nearby. He tucked him in, kissed him, and put up the railing.
He knew with Shouto not every day was a good day, but Touya was grateful for every day he had with him.