Work Text:
Spring:
"I'm not gonna lie," Itaru said as he strode in with Tsuzuru, mug in hand, "but this is kinda depressing."
Izumi groaned in annoyance at the small verbal jab and squinted her eyes shut, twitching uncomfortably as a chill went up her spine. As much as she loved her Spring Troupe members, she'd punch them all in the throat (except for Sakuya, Masumi, Tsuzuru, and Citron).
"Didn't get the memo, did you?" Izumi griped. "That's the theme for this week's bedroom deco contest."
Tsuzuru sighed and set the tray of sick foods he had down on her desk, smiling.
"She's talking, at least."
Izumi had enough strength to roll her eyes and grumble when Itaru set the mug down on her desk to help her sit up against the headboard, nearly baring her teeth at the two-faced man as he poked his tongue out at her.
"Sakuya and Masumi went to school, right?" The director asked nervously. When Masumi heard that Izumi wasn't feeling well, the boy burst into her room just as Itaru was placing the back of his hand on her forehead. The scene playing in front of Masumi almost made him bark something Itaru, but Sakuya quickly came in to hold him back by the arm.
To make matters worse, Itaru placed his finger beneath his eye to pull down the skin a little as he stuck his tongue out at the teenager, the hand that was on Izumi's forehead now cupping the side of her face.
Masumi was so enraged by the blatant affection Itaru was taking for granted that Citron also had to physically pull him back by his other arm, Sakuya crying out in the background that they had to quickly get to school.
Tsuzuru sent Izumi an empathetic smile as he sat down on the side of her bed, Itaru slinking back to plop himself onto her desk chair.
"Yes, don't worry." Tsuzuru had to get Citron to drag Masumi out of the dorm and drag him to school, but it was fine. The young foreign man did it all with a smile on his face despite Masumi growling at Itaru as Sakuya was basically crying with stress at this point.
"Did you really have to send that boy into a frenzy, Itaru?" Her helpless expression made the office worker smile to himself as he shook his head. His leg was casually crossed over the other while he stirred the tea that was cooling in the mug he brought.
Tsuzuru took the bowl of yogurt from the tray once he sat down on her bed, and lightly mixed in the drizzled honey with the strawberries and blueberries that were put in. The sound of metal clinking against porcelain made Izumi slowly zone out, only for her trance to be broken by a winded Citron.
The foreign (prince?) troupe member stood in the doorway with his hands on his knees, hunched over. His breathing was weak, but the smile on his face was still the same.
"Masumi is very strong." Citron laughed. "He ran back to the dorm halfway. I had to drag him to school."
Itaru glanced at the watch on his wrist, seemingly impressed, "All in a span of half an hour. Not bad, Cits."
With a smile, Citron bowed his head and slinked onto the end of Izumi's bed. His sigh was full of relief when he went to lie down on his back with his arms crossed beneath his head.
"He hit me in the face as well." Citron's sigh sounded happy.
"Excuse me?" Izumi turned her face away from the spoonful of yogurt Tsuzuru was trying to feed her, causing him to sigh as well. The concerned frown on the director's face made Itaru roll his eyes, and he took a sip of the tea that was reserved for Izumi to mask his annoyance.
"I'm sure he didn't mean it, but his elbow got me." Citron said as he stared up at the white ceiling with his tongue soothing inside the cut skin of his cheek, smile still planted on his face.
Izumi let out a breath and fell back against the headboard, letting Tsuzuru feed her the spoon of yogurt and fruit when she made sure Citron wasn't hiding away any serious pain.
"I'm going to have a talk with him." She closed her eyes for a brief second to soothe the ache she was feeling, but opened them again when Itaru nudged her shoulder, holding the mug up to her lips.
"You're going to be doing nothing." Itaru said, ignoring the squint Izumi was shooting him.
"I'll talk to him when the kids come back." Tsuzuru patted the back of her hand and smiled, Itaru nodding in agreement while Citron was already closing his eyes from exhaustion.
"Just think about getting better first. I'm not letting Masumi into your room until then." Itaru casually waved his hand and smiled after Izumi took a long sip of her tea. He leaned back into his chair when Tsuzuru went back to feeding her yogurt, and he gave Citron a quick glance.
The man was out like a light.
"When I find the energy to move again I'm gonna beat you." The director murmured under her breath. Tsuzuru put the bowl down on her desk with a slight smile and slapped the back of his neck with a laugh, moving to stand up to move away from the dark aura surrounding the director.
Itaru merely smiled.
"Oho? I'd like to see you try, Klutz. I've got height and weight over you." The gamer smiled as the university student shuffled out of the room, empty bowl in hand. Citron snored quietly.
Izumi was fed up with the teasing at this point and could only silently fume as Itaru helped her finish the rest of her tea, the soothing liquid heat helping her sore throat.
After she was done, Itaru put the mug down and took the liberty to climb over her body and take up the spot beside her, his smile cheeky as she looked at him with disgust.
"You just take a nap, now," he cooed, helping her go back to her lying position, "I'll keep watch and play my games."
And, very helpless, Izumi closed her eyes to the faint sound of a mobile game starting up and the soft rumble of Citron's breathing.
Let's just say when Masumi came back home barging into Izumi's room to check up on her, he wasn't very happy when he witnessed Itaru's arm just casually wrapped around her shoulders as he watched some video on his phone.
Sakuya had to hold him back again.
Summer:
"Oh no," Izumi wheezed softly from where she was hiding under her blankets, "please don't let the kids see me in this state."
Misumi pouted at the scene in front of him as he sat in Izumi's desk chair while Kazunari sat criss cross at the edge of her bed.
"I'm sure Muku is worried though." Kazunari said with an uncharacteristic frown. All of the teenagers were sitting outside of Izumi's room from what he could remember, but Muku was near tears when they weren't allowed in due to the request of their director.
Yuki was quietly grumbling to himself in annoyance, but everyone would be able to tell he was concerned with how he was wringing his hands in his lap. Tenma kept running his hands through his hair to keep his cool.
"Shouldn't they all be at school right now?" Izumi groaned. It's not she didn't want the kids here with her, but their education was much more important. Misumi and Kazunari would be able to take care of her if they didn't get distracted, and they were already doing just fine with the bowl of chicken soup and bottle of water.
Kazunari shrugged as Misumi patted Izumi's face with a cold wet towel, the fabric cooling down her sweaty skin.
"Will onigiri help cheer you up?" The ball of sunshine was pouting when he asked the question, and it pained Izumi to say that it wouldn't do much to help her get better.
"It's not a good food to eat when sick, Misumi." She sniffled, closing her eyes once the cool towel met her neck.
"I think we also have some baked salmon from last night," Kazunari suggested with a thumb pointing back to the door, "I can get one of the kids to warm some up for you."
The sound of hurried feet scuffling along the floor and down the hallway after his pause was so perfectly timed that it made Kazunari bite back a smile.
"Oh! The salmon has lemon juice and ginger on it, that's good to eat, right?" Misumi's bright eyes blinked curiously as he wiped the sweat off from Izumi's collarbones and neck, and she nodded with an affirmative smile. Her sigh was full of bliss as the cold towel effectively cooled her heating skin and she closed her eyes, letting Misumi wipe her down with gentle pats.
The boys in the hallway were loud as they looked for the salmon in the kitchen and it made Izumi thankful that Sakyo wasn't home at the moment. There were pots and pans clattering at some point which shouldn't be happening, and while Kazunari and Misumi wanted to check what was happening, leaving Izumi alone while she was like this didn't feel like a good idea.
With all of the strength he could muster with his awkward position on the bed, Kazunari helped Izumi sit up against the headboard with some assistance from Misumi who carefully wrapped the towel around their director's neck.
Not too long after did Tenma clamber into the room with Muku following suit, Yuki casually striding in despite the heavy breaths coming out from his nose.
Their unapologetic expressions had Izumi gently knocking her head back against the headboard with a slightly disappointed smile that still held the essence of adoration. She didn't want to confess, but she really loved these kids.
"Home delivery." Tenma half-sang in a nonchalant manner and held out the plate of food for Kazunari to take while Misumi giggled at the three students who were now awkwardly standing in the middle of Izumi's room. Yuki scoffed at the cheesy words coming out from the orange-haired boy and crossed his arms while Muku looked like he was just barely holding himself back from leaping onto Izumi's bed.
The director was barely able to lift her head again to look at the trio standing there, but she made sure her smile was able to be seen by them.
"I'm sure home delivery knocks before they enter." She teased them, but motioned for Kazunari to take the food from Tenma's hands.
"Yeah, well," Yuki rolled his eyes, "it's not like we're strangers."
Izumi laughed softly despite the scratchiness in her throat and turned her head towards Misumi who was holding her half-consumed chicken soup with curious eyes. He held the rim of the bowl to her lips and let her take a long sip at the slightly salty broth, only pulling away when he heard her gulp and let out a refreshed sigh.
"You boys should be going to school." She scolded them right after, peering over the shoulder of Kazunari when he scooted closer to her to hold up a warm scoop of salmon in his spoon.
It was Tenma's turn to roll his eyes.
"We're all late already, there's no point in us going now." He waved his hand dismissively as Muku began to crawl onto Izumi's bed with wide, watery eyes.
"Are you really okay?" Muku asked once he reached Izumi's side and held her hand in both of his, kneeling beside her as Kazunari happily fed their director her big breakfast.
She stared back at the pink haired boy, helpless as he held her hand to his chest with a concerned frown. Despite him being sixteen, he was still a baby in everyone's eyes.
Izumi couldn't help the urge and weakly tugged on Muku's hand with a soft sigh, letting the young boy flop into her side with a flustered squawk. He stared up at her with those wide eyes again and she shook her head silently to keep him from saying anything else. As much as she loved Muku, she always felt weird when he referenced a shoujo manga cliche whenever she did something.
"I hope your parents don't get contacted by your schools." Izumi sighed again, shivering just the slightest at the thought of having to deal with the sweet parents of the kids. She didn't mind Tenma's parents not calling her, but she really wanted to emphasise on how important education was.
"Can you let us care for you for one second?" Tenma let out an exaggerated groan and flopped onto the end of Izumi's bed while Yuki sat beside him with pursed lips, checking his nails as he quietly agreed with the high school student.
"She is." Kazunari laughed and fed Izumi some more salmon after Misumi had excitedly fed her the last of her soup.
And despite worrying about the younger Summer Troupe members, Izumi almost forgot that Kazunari also had class today. When the university student noticed the flicker of realisation in her eyes, he quickly scooped another spoonful of salmon into her mouth before she could say anything and poked the tip of his tongue out playfully as he winked.
She could get mad at him later.
Autumn:
"I told you," Sakyo pinched the bridge of his nose, "you should've gotten out of the rain when I said so the first time."
Izumi was currently wrapped up in a blanket in bed, with a cold, wet towel splayed across her forehead. Her lips were pouted as she sniffled, and the hands that were clutching onto the sheets twitched when Sakyo sighed in exasperation.
Taichi, who was sitting on the floor by the side of the bed pouted too. "Be a lil' nicer to her, won't you?"
Banri was laying beside Izumi when he hummed a sound of agreement, his elbow propped up on the bed with his head in his palm. His free hand came down to fix the towel that was slipping from Izumi's heated skin, and he frowned when he saw her eyes bleary with unshed tears.
"I just wanted to be in the rain." Izumi grumbled despite not being able to see through the wetness pooling in her eyes. Her eyes were burning and getting a little itchy, but she wouldn't dare touch her face at this moment. It would only hurt more.
"You can enjoy the weather even when you're inside." Sakyo sighed again, and he took a seat on the chair that was untucked from her desk while he crossed his arms. His gaze was unyielding, but her sparkling eyes made his heart squeeze just a little.
"Leave the poor girl alone." Omi chided as he stepped inside her bedroom with a breakfast-in-bed tray in his hands. There was a bowl of congee sitting in the centre, and with what Izumi was able to see as Banri helped her sit up while the food was set in front of her, there were strips of chicken and a few quail eggs inside.
Banri sat behind Izumi, her back gently pressed to his chest as he held her up this way. A warm, strong arm was curled around her waist as his legs were bent at the knee, avoiding knocking over the tray. With his unoccupied hand Banri held the towel that cooled Izumi's face, and cradled her head in the slope of his neck as he pressed his cheek to hers.
Juza had pushed himself off the wall to sit down on the other side of the tray to receive the bowl that Omi was holding up with a saddened expression.
"Thanks, Juza." The man with the scar clapped the Ouka High student on the back. "I've got to meet up with some friends soon. Make sure you boys keep Sakyo in check, alright?"
All the teenagers squinted their eyes at the man in question, causing him to scoff in annoyance. They all looked at each other after and nodded in agreement, to which Izumi and Omi smiled in approval.
"Take care." Omi waved at everyone in the room after planting a gentle kiss to Izumi's temple. The director lightly knocked her head into his chin to return the affection, and had her hair ruffled before he left the room.
Sighing, Izumi let Taichi take her limp wrist between his fingers and cupped her hand against his cheek to receive the heat that was radiating off of her in waves.
Tentatively, Juza began to scoop small spoonfuls of the congee into Izumi's mouth after a little coaxing from the woman. He seemed a bit flustered to be feeding her despite the fact that she had no energy to feed herself, but Banri threatened to take the bowl away when the blue haired boy still hesitated.
Izumi hummed in appreciation as she took in spoonful after spoonful of the rice porridge and made an especially sweet noise when she received a quail egg, her fingers twitching against Taichi's cheek.
"You can leave if you've finished nagging." Taichi said, voice uncharacteristically blank as everyone all of a sudden turned their heads to Sakyo.
The blond bared his teeth and let out an incredulous scoff, his arms unraveling from their tangled position to run a hand through his hair and put the other on his hip.
Banri laughed out loud as Izumi pinched the artificial redhead's cheek to punish him, but all four kids at the bed poked their tongue out at Sakyo as he stared at Izumi helplessly, the girl still sticking her tongue out at him.
"Bye." Juza waved his hand at the only adult (Izumi didn't count) in the room and immediately went back to feeding their director.
"Come back when you're feeling nice!" Izumi called out softly as Sakyo huffed and turned away to hide his amused smile, exiting the room with a small wave.
The four that were left in the room giggled and chuckled to each other once the eldest member was nowhere to be seen. Now that they were slightly more comfortable with Sakyo and were used to his prickly attitude to most things, they found that it was easy to tease the man without making him truly upset.
Juza continued to pick up where he left off with feeding Izumi, and silently revelled in the way their director's eyes lit up whenever he fed her a delicious piece of shredded chicken or a soft quail egg. Even though her mouth was preoccupied with eating, it was easy to tell that she was happy with how her eyes were smiling at him.
There wasn't much to talk about between the four considering Juza and Banri avoided having a conversation with each other most of the time, and it looked like Taichi was about to fall asleep with how Izumi was caressing his cheek with the gentle swipe of her thumb.
Slightly bothered with how casual Banri was with tucking his head against the spot where Izumi's shoulder connected with her neck, Juza deliberately ignored him and went back to scooping the congee into the young woman's awaiting mouth.
And despite all the younger troupe members being in her room, Izumi had come upon the realisation that it was a school day for all of them.
And they weren't at school.
"Don't you guys have class?" She frowned and looked between Juza and Banri who were all of a sudden glaring daggers at each other while her thumb continued to give gentle caresses to Taichi's cheek to keep him dozing.
There was a scoff from Banri as he rolled his eyes, "Yeah, so?"
Then it was Izumi's turn to copy his actions.
It was one thing for them not going to school, but Sakyo not saying anything at all? Now that was something different.
If Izumi had enough strength in her body, she would be nagging just like Sakyo about the importance of school and how skipping wasn't going to help them much with how low some of their grades were (save for Banri, that genius).
"Normally I'd say something," Izumi sighed in disappointment and knocked her head against Banri's as punishment for his previous response, "but I'm tired. Let me finish eating and then I'm gonna take a nap."
Banri pouted at this as Juza grunted and fed Izumi another quail egg to console her upset self.
"I really hate when you kick us out of your room." Banri grumbled unhappily and tightened his arms around their director's waist in a stubborn attempt at staying with Izumi. She only rolled her eyes in response and parted her lips for the last scoop of congee to go in her mouth, and with a satisfied sigh, licked her lips.
"You guys are so clingy, seriously." She scoffed and watched as Juza put the wooden breakfast tray on her desk with the bowl before he mumbled something to himself and pushed Banri away until he was hissing and scooting away from Izumi. Helplessly, she let her body be moved around until she was lying back down on the bed and with an approving rumble coming from Juza.
Immediately after, Taichi was dragged and put onto the edge of the bed by the high school student to let him nap more comfortably.
Once that was done with, both Juza and Banri made the move to lie on each side of Izumi and curl around her body protectively.
Again, helpless, Izumi could only let herself be coddled by the younger troupe members with a sigh.
Juza was especially brave this day and stared Banri down as he curled his arm around her midriff first and tucked his chin onto her shoulder with a smile curving onto his lips, "Try complaining again after you've had your nap."
Winter:
"You poor thing," Azuma mumured as he sat at the end of Izumi's bed, "this is so sad."
Tasuku side-eyed the former professional cuddler with crossed arms as he stood by the doorway with his lips curved into a frown. Some of the other members had woken up to the sound of Izumi coughing in her sleep and in her awakened form, so Tsumugi and Azuma went to check in on her first.
Tasuku was already awake by the time Tsumugi shuffled out of her room with a worried expression, so the flowerboy kindly asked him to watch her with Azuma.
"She's really warm." Hisoka said as he cuddled up to Izumi's side. There wasn't a hint of worry or anxiousness in his voice, but the fatigued man had a light palm checking her forehead's temperature with sleep laden eyes.
"I feel cold." Izumi sniffled sadly. She wasn't desperate for the cuddles coming from Hisoka, but she was thankful he didn't care enough about catching whatever she had if latching onto her wasn't enough to say so.
A sigh was heard coming out of Tasuku's body. He didn't really know what to do at this point other than watch the director alongside Azuma and Hisoka, but they were equally as useless. The long haired man didn't seem to want to get closer to Izumi, while it almost looked like the marshmallow boy was smothering her.
Homare was bound to come into the room soon, spewing out a litany of words and metaphors no one would understand. The only ones who could really stand to deal with his poems would be Izumi, Azuma, and maybe Juza and Muku.
Unfortunately, out of those four, half of them were in one room together.
"My dear director!" Homare practically kicked the door open with a bundle of papers in hand. "I've written some poems to help cheer you up."
Another sigh from Tasuku. The serious actor pinched the bridge of his nose with both index fingers as he folded his hands together and closed his eyes.
Thankfully, Tsumugi walked in at just the right time with a bowl of oatmeal in his hands and a cold wet towel draped over his arm.
"Please leave the poem for after she's done with her meal?" Tsumugi grimaced and made sure Homare set his notes down on Izumi's desk, sitting on the side edge of the bed by the director's legs. He handed the cold towel to Hisoka who helpfully (?) put the cooling fabric around Izumi's neck after assisting her in sitting up against the headboard.
"Azuma, can you please get the mug of tea I left on the kitchen counter?" Tsumugi asked while looking apologetic at the silver haired man.
Azuma smiled with a nod of his head and immediately straightened up to leave the bedroom, his hair flowing prettily when he got out the door. A frown made its way onto Tasuku's face as he strode close to where Tsumugi and Homare were sitting, arms crossed.
"I definitely recall telling you to come inside last night," the former God Troupe member quietly scolded Izumi, and the girl pouted before Tsumugi scooped some of the slightly sweet oatmeal into her mouth, "but you stayed out longer than you should have."
Izumi grumbled at this, her arm trapped in Hisoka's embrace while the other was too weak to lift up and point a finger at the man who was squinting his eyes down at her.
"Unlike some people, I know how to enjoy the midnight breeze." She harrumphed and turned her head so that she wouldn't have Tasuku in her sights, only to have her chin tipped back by Tsumugi so that he could feed her more of her oatmeal.
"And look where that got you." Tasuku scoffed at the stubborn girl in front of him. She was fiercely glaring at him despite the sickly complexion of her skin and it only made the former God Troupe member shake his head and step away.
"Oh, leave the girl alone." Azuma chuckled as he strode back inside the room with a hot mug of tea in his hand. "She has a point. The midnight breeze is quite calming."
The silver haired man set the mug down on the desk by Homare's papers and stood beside Tsumugi to give the young woman a gentle pet to her hair.
Grateful for Azuma making Tasuku back off, Izumi tilted her head in the direction of his hand as Tsumugi made an 'ahh' sound, another scoop of the sweet oatmeal coating her tongue when she mimicked the sound.
Amused by the sweet gesture, Azuma brushed his thumb against the girl's cheek while she was fed another spoonful of her breakfast.
Tasuku was helpless when it came to the gentle scolding of Azuma and he went back to his spot by the doorway, sulking. Tsumugi laughed into the crook of his elbow as he watched, and stood up from the bed after Izumi finished her oatmeal, motioning for Azuma to sit down in his spot so that he can help her finish her tea.
Silently, Homare was reciting the poems he had written for Izumi under his breath, tapping a pencil against his lips whenever he fell deep in thought. Hisoka was still in deep sleep beside the director, and his arms were like strong bands of steel around her waist as he pulled her closer to the centre of the bed. Her surprise was hidden behind her tired expression, but she bit her lip in worry when the tea sloshed around in the mug the long haired man held.
Azuma smiled kindly and took the last sip of her tea with a wink, reaching out his hand to once more caress her cheek before leaving the room with the empty ceramic in his hands.
Quietly, Izumi moved her arm the best she could to hold her hand out. Homare looked at her questioningly.
"I'll read them to myself. I wouldn't want to disturb Hisoka." She whispered in her hoarse voice. There was no room left for debate as Homare looked at Izumi with wavering eyes and nodded despite himself, sending a reassuring smile her way as he handed the thin pieces of paper to her and made his exit, leaving only a sleeping Hisoka and a frowning Tasuku in her room.
Resting the pile of papers on her chest, she waved her hand weakly, motioning Tasuku to come back.
"Don't look so upset," she laughed, "come here. I'll read you Homare's poems."
The frown was still on his face when he approached the bed, but he didn't object to the offer. He climbed onto the empty spot left on her bed and made to lie down on his side with his elbow propped to hold his head up. His body was right next to hers as he helped her lie back down, and she held the poems close to her face since she couldn't hold them any higher.
The warmth from Hisoka and Tasuku made Izumi's cold sweats go away and she happily recited the poems in a low voice, glancing up at Tasuku every now and then to share her amusement with him as the frown on his face slowly melted away into something more softer and dazed. He watched her from above, with her head lying in the blank spot between his arm and torso.
Eventually, Izumi fell asleep to the lull of Tasuku's voice as he read the next few poems with a straight face, his free hand brushing through her sweaty fringe.