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“You’re still burning up,” Jiro said with a frown, her hand pressed against Momo’s forehead. “I’m gonna head down to the kitchen to get some cold water and a towel.”
“No, wait,” Momo murmured, grabbing Kyoka’s hand while the latter tried to get up. “I’m already comfortable, I don’t want to get all wet.”
“That’s what she said,” Jiro muttered to herself, smiling as Momo gave her the most adorable confused look.
“Nevermind, how have I not forced you to watch The Office yet?” Jiro asked, chuckling.
“Okay, what if I got an ice pack and a towel?” She asked.
Momo’s face squinted up into a look of disgust. “Too cold.”
Jiro hummed, thinking, before her eyes widened slightly and she jumped up to her feet.
“I have an idea! And it’s kind of weird but it could work,” Jiro said excitedly. She leaned down to kiss Momo’s temple, the girl smiling at the gesture, before she headed towards the door.
“I’ll be back in five minutes!” She called out, reaching for the door handle. As the door shut behind her, she grinned as she was fairly sure she heard Momo reply, “I’ll miss you!”
That grin never left her face as she pursued the plan she had come up with. She stopped at her own dorm room first, and grabbed the teddy bear she had on her bed. She then headed downstairs to the kitchen.
Getting out of the stairwell, she passed a few of her classmates in the common area as she went into the kitchen. Once there, she opened the freezer and placed the teddy bear inside.
It was only after she closed the freezer that she realized how absurd this plan was. But she’d gotten this far, she might as well follow through with it.
She waited a few minutes, letting the bear retain some of the cold, before taking it out of the freezer. As she headed back up to Momo’s room, she tried to hold it in a certain way so that only her fingertips touched it, to prevent it from gaining too much heat off of her hands.
She got back, finding the door a creak open just like how she’d left it, closing it behind her after she entered the room. She noticed that Momo had changed positions, she flipped to be laying on her back, instead of on her side like she was when Jiro left. Momo opened her eyes at the sound of the door shutting.
“Sorry! Did I wake you?” Jiro asked, walking over to her and reclaiming her spot on the edge of the bed.
Momo shook her head, a very subtle movement considering she was laying down and her neck felt stiff. “No, I was awake.”
“Okay good.” Jiro leaned over, gently pushing some hair off of Momo’s forehead.
“Now, this might feel really weird and if it does you can just take it off.” And with that warning, Jiro placed the still very cold teddy bear on Momo’s forehead.
Momo’s eyes widened as the feeling of coolness registered in her mind. Her hand reached up towards it, and once her finger brushed over one of the bear’s beaded eyes, she glanced up at Jiro.
“Is this… your teddy bear?” She asked, her hand now pressed against one of its feet. “How’s it so cold?”
“Yep! It is!” Jiro smiled before adding, “and it’s cold because I put it in the freezer.”
Momo made a noise almost like a fake gasp. “Kyoka, that's animal abuse! It’s dark in there!”
Jiro giggled. “Don’t worry, I treated it well! I waited outside the freezer the entire time.”
“Okay, I won’t report you to the police,” Momo smirked. Her expression softened when she added, “besides, you did it for me.”
A smile formed on Jiro’s face as she watched Momo gingerly take the teddy bear off her forehead and press its head against her cheek. Closing her eyes, she began to gently massage one of her temples with its paw.
“You look so adorable right now,” Jiro said, twirling her earphone jack around one of her fingers.
Momo opened her eyes to glance up at her. “I love you.”
“I love you too,”Jiro said, smiling again.
“Is it helping?” She asked, placing her hand on the bed and rubbing her thumb over Momo’s knuckles. “It seems like you don’t hate it, at least.”
“Yeah, a little,” Momo replied, closing her eyes again. “Cold helps with headaches.”
“You didn’t tell me you have a headache,” concern was plain on Jiro’s face.
Momo cuddled her face into the teddy bear, muttering, “I didn’t want to worry you.”
“No, the sick person isn’t allowed to worry about worrying people! That’s not how it works!” Jiro exclaimed. It was probably one of the most strangely worded sentences she had ever spoken, but it still slightly got her point across.
Momo just chuckled a bit, not even attempting to respond. Letting the teddy bear fall onto the mattress, she rolled over onto her side, pressing her face against Jiro’s thigh.
Jiro smiled down at her, gently twirling the tips of the long strand of hair that had fallen next to her face rather than behind her.
“How were classes today,” Momo asked, moreso to hear Jiro’s voice than to actually hear the answer.
“They were okay, I missed you though,” she replied. “Well, everyone misses you. Except Bakugo, he said he likes being second in the class ranking instead of third now that you’re not there, or something like that.”
Momo let out a small breath, something between a sigh and a yawn. “He might get his wish, for tomorrow at least. I feel awful.”
Jiro’s shock nearly outweighed her worry. Momo wasn’t a secluded person by any means, but it was rare for her to be this vulnerable around people. So she either truly trusted Jiro, or she was too tired to care. Jiro hoped it was the former.
“You should try to get some sleep,” Jiro said, rubbing her thumb over Momo’s forehead to check if her fever felt like it had gone down. It hadn’t. “If you don’t feel better tomorrow I’m dragging you back to recovery girl.”
Momo smirked. “Dragging me, or carrying me?”
“As much as I’d love to carry you, I’m gonna make you walk unless you really can’t.” Jiro did her best to hide a shudder, she really didn’t want to think about that possibility.
She assumes she hid it well, or that the feverish fog in Momo’s head prevented her from noticing. Jiro smiled as the girl cuddled into her thigh.
“Kyoka?” She muttered, her eyes remaining closed as she spoke. Jiro responded with a questioning hum, before Momo continued.
“Can you sing something? I wanna fall asleep to your voice.”
Jiro smiled, a big, dopey grin that spread across her face. “Of course! Wait one second.”
She got off the bed slowly, and grabbed the guitar that she kept in the corner of Momo’s room. She’s in Momo’s room so often she decided to keep a guitar there to practice, the same way Momo would often practice classical piano on the keyboard in Jiro’s room.
Guitar in hand, she sat back down on the bed, and Momo was curled up at her side again almost immediately.
“Any requests?” She asked, lightly strumming a chord.
Momo smiled as she replied, “Girl in Red, any song.”
Jiro nodded, her fingers beginning to play a light fingerpicking pattern of the chord progression of “We Fell in Love in October . ” The small grin on Momo’s face made it obvious she already knew what song it was.
Once she was about a minute in, Momo had already fallen asleep. Jiro still finished the song, but once she ended she gently placed the guitar on the ground floor beside the bed.
She couldn’t prevent a grin from forming on her face as she looked down at Momo. Even with her face flushed and slightly paler than usual, and the few beads of sweat on her forehead, she’d never seen anyone as beautiful as Momo was in that moment.
She leaned over, kissed Momo lightly on the cheek, and gently muttered, “sleep well, beautiful.”