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“Ash, you need to wake up now or you’re going to be late for school,” Kukui calls up to the loft.
He hears the rustling of the sheets and a quiet groan.
“Ash,” Kukui calls again, coming to the foot of the ladder.
“‘m coming, ‘m coming…” he mumbles and Kukui finally sees the head of unruly black hair as Ash sits up. He shuffles around and Kukui assumes he’s changing.
Ash takes longer than usual to get to the ladder and when he finally reaches the top, Kukui can guess why. The boy’s face and neck are flushed and his forehead is covered in sweat. There are dark circles around his eyes and his small frame is shaking.
“Ash…” Kukui’s eyes widen, “are you sick?”
The ten-year-old shakes his head, “N-no. I’m fine…”
“Ash-”
“‘m okay…! Really…!” Ash assures him.
“No, you’re not.”
“I’m okay,” Ash rubs his nose with the back of his hand. He starts climbing down the ladder.
“Maybe you should stay home today.”
“It’s nothing, Professor, really!”
Kukui doesn’t like it one bit. He’s not a doctor, but he’s pretty damn sure he knows what a cold looks like.
“Ash…”
“I promise,” he smiles, sniffles again, and climbs down the ladder.
Kukui sighs softly. That boy was hardheaded on his best day and Kukui knew nothing he said could possibly change his mind. He’d just have to keep an eye on him throughout the day.
“Are you going to want breakfast?” Kukui asks, heading back into the kitchen to serve him the remainder of what he had made.
Ash’s nose wrinkles and he shakes his head, “No, I’m okay…”
Kukui stops with the skillet in his hand and turns to Ash. Now that was weird. In the time since Kukui had agreed to board him, Ash had never skipped a meal. He was at that age where he tended to eat everything in sight since he was growing (and this little boy really did need to grow, he was so terribly small).
“Are you sure?”
Ash sniffles and tugs on his backpack, “Yeah… I’m just gonna start walking to school, Professor. I’ll see you there…!”
Kukui opens his mouth to respond, but Ash and Pikachu are already out the door.
“Alola, class!” Kukui greets the class as they walk through the door. “How was lunch?”
He looks up from his papers to see only Lana. Sophocles runs through at that moment, huffing and panting. He puts his hands on his knees to catch his breath.
“Lana,” Kukui says in a quiet, steady voice, “is everything alright?”
She shakes her head, “... It’s Ash.”
Kukui stands immediately and some papers fly off his desk, “What happened?”
“He just… he’s not okay. He collapsed and he’s not waking up. Mallow said he had a fever and-”
“I knew it,” Kukui sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose under his glasses. “Where is he? Outside on the balcony?”
Lana nods and Kukui runs right past the two of them. Lana follows close behind. Sophocles groans quietly before hurrying to catch up.
They reach the rest of the class in just a few minutes. Mallow is rubbing Ash’s back and Lillie and Kukui and murmuring to each other. Pikachu, Litten, Rowlet, and Rockruff surround their trainer, each of their faces laced with worry.
Their fur and feathers are a little ruffled, which gives Kukui the idea that they might have been play-fighting, or even training, right before Ash collapsed.
Lillie’s the first one to notice him, “Professor!”
The others look up at him and Mallow glances at Ash, “We don’t know what happened…! He just-”
“I know, Mallow,” Kukui walks up to his boarder. “He wasn’t feeling well today in the morning. I should have never let him come to school.”
Kukui presses the back of his hand to Ash’s sweaty forehead. Yep, fever.
He slides an arm under Ash’s legs and another under his shoulders before lifting him.
Arceus, he weighed so little. He was so small. Too small-
“Lillie, could you do me a favor and go inform Principal Oak of the situation? Tell him I’m taking Ash home and taking the rest of the day to take care of him.”
“Right,” the blonde agrees before running out with Snowy in her arms.
“Kiawe, could you go get our backpacks from the classroom?”
The older boy nods and hurries toward the staircase.
“Is he going to be okay, Professor…?” Lana asks quietly.
“He should be,” he assures his three remaining students. “He’ll just need a few days’ rest and he should be fine.”
“Pika!” Pikachu returns to Kukui with the thermometer in his hands.
“Thanks so much, Pikachu,” the Pokémon Professor smiles and takes the instrument from Ash’s partner. He turns the thermometer on and lifts Ash’s arm before placing it in his armpit. He presses Ash’s arm against his body again and the boy whimpers.
Kukui shushes him softly and runs his fingers through his unruly black hair.
The moment he hears the rapid beeping, he knows Ash does have a fever. He takes a look at the little screen anyway. 39℃ . Damn.
“Dad…?”
Kukui looks down at Ash, who is blinking sluggishly up at him, “... It’s Professor Kukui, Ash. You have a fever, I brought you home.”
“Dad…!” Ash cries.
Kukui doesn’t know what to do. He knows Ash grew up without a father, but he doesn’t know just how much the boy remembers about him. The fever was likely making him delirious anyway.
So Kukui does what feels natural to him. It had only been a few short months of having Ash as a ward, and yet…
Kukui shushes him, wrings out a wet rag, and places it on the boy’s forehead.
“I’m right here, Ash,” he runs his fingers through Ash’s hair.
“Dad,” Ash leans into his touch. “Don’t leave.”
And Tapu Koko give him strength… how could anyone leave such a little one behind?
“I’m not going anywhere, Ash. I’m right here.”