Chapter Text
Tadashi had been on a high following their win against Shiratorizawa. All of them had - well aside from Tsukki with his initial moment of self flagellation in the bathroom. But after that, they'd all been in high spirits. They were going to Nationals! And even if it was just as a pinch server, Tadashi was going to be right there with them.
Of course, he should have counted on the hell that was to come.
It made sense, logistically. They had won the prefectural tournament, yes. Did that mean they were the best in the country? Not by a long shot. They'd kept losing to the end at the training camps in Tokyo, so they still needed a lot of practise.
And it. Was. Grueling.
Their morning and afternoon practises increased in length and intensity, and weekend practises were also extended. And as such Tadashi wasn’t surprised when Coach Ukai announced to them one afternoon that the following weekend they would have a full weekend training camp. They hadn't had one since before their win against Shiratorizawa, so they were certainly due one.
They had their usual practise on the Friday morning, and Tadashi couldn’t help but notice that the constant practises must have been getting to the other members of the team because some of them already looked exhausted.
“Kageyama!” Hinata yelled at his partner as they set up for their quick practise. “Do you still have your dumb cold? I don't want to sleep next to you tonight if I risk catching your germs .”
“Tch,” was the response from the setter as he sent up a toss and Hinata scrambled to meet it. “Dumbass. I’m not that sick. ”
“You’ve been sick for ages though!” Hinata accused - though Tadashi could hear the concern in his voice.
“Have not.” Kageyama argued, which was a blatant lie. He had got an awful cold a few weeks ago, though it seemed to have been slowly shaken off over the last few days. Most of the rest of the team had been giving Kageyama a wide berth of space because they didn’t want to risk catching the cold - and also because the cold had made Kageyama more irritable... which was quite the achievement. Though he appeared to be less stuffed up with mucous in this practise, he was even more irritable than usual today.
The school day went far too slowly as Tadashi was so tired from the extensive morning practise. He was slightly dreading the camp that weekend if he was already pretty wiped from the morning. He walked to the shoe lockers with Tsukki when the day finally reached its end.
“Why do I need to spend even more time with the idiot duo than I need to.” Tsukki lamented as he opened his locker. Tadashi snickered.
“It’s okay Tsukki. If you survived the summer training camps that this weekend should be no problem for you!”
Tsukki nodded in affirmation. “Good point. And at least I don’t have captains from other teams pestering me to block for them… though the King’s humour today more than makes up for that.”
Tadashi sighed. “I hope he’s okay. He's seemed pretty run down the last few weeks. You don‘t think he had a problem in school or something do you?”
Yachi had taken over most of the tutoring for the idiot duo over the past few months, but Tadashi and Tsukki still helped out since getting those two to keep their grades passable was essentially a full time job. And as much as Tsukki would have loved to hand over all the responsibility, he was actually quite fond of Yachi and didn’t want her too stressed out either. Then again, Yachi being stressed was about as typical as Kageyama being irritated.
They arrived into the club troom to change to, what a surprise, Hinata and Kageyama arguing.
“-you even trying Bakageyama? I mean of course I’ve beaten you before but not by so much, you’re not like, dying or anything are you -”
“Dumbass! You had a false start and you didn’t even beat me by that much -”
When Tadashi glanced over and saw the two arguing, he notice the sheen of perspiration already on Kageyama’s brow. “Huh,” Tadashi thought, “That’s odd. Kageyama is never usually that tired after he and Hinata race to practise.”
As it would turn out, it was among one of many red flags he had missed that day.
Practise was their standard affair at first. They had a practise game, red versus white. It was fortunate that there was twelve of them so they could equally split into two teams. Tadashi's team was able to utilise both Nishinoya and Sugawara to their full potential, and beat the white team by far more than usual - which was a first, usually both teams were quite evenly matched. As Coach Ukai, Sugawara and Captain Daichi gathered to talk about something after the practise game, the rest of the team split off for their individual practises. Tadashi focused on his serves as usual. Once he started, the serves felt almost methodical and he completely lost track of time. Tsukki made sure to come and get him in time to go grab some food before bed. The entire evening had passed and Tadashi felt a little foolish that he had only spent time on the one skill. But then again, he was a pinch server afterall.
After washing up before bed, Tadashi and Tsukki decided just to head straight to sleep. Typically, he and Tsukki were among the first to go to bed. Tadashi raised his eyebrows though when he saw Kageyama already asleep in the futon next to his own. Usually he and Hinata were the last to stumble in and collapse of exhaustion after spending hours practising, usually the quick.
Tadashi was also completely exhausted from all the serves he’d done and the day in general, and flopped down on his own futon. He was asleep within moments.
*-*-*-*
Tadashi had a reputation of being one of the heaviest sleepers in Karasuno. It was a fair reputation, he had to admit. He was almost always the last one to be up for breakfast, and even then he hardly made it on time. He had not been surprised to find that Hinata and Nishinoya, who had boundless energy, were morning people at their first overnight training camp. Not that even they woke him in the morning, much to Tsukki’s chagrin. Tsukki hated training camps, especially as it meant having “so many idiots in his personal space when he was supposed to be resting”.
Tadashi could sleep through pretty much anything, which is why it was odd that he woke up in the middle of the night during their weekend training camp.
The first thing Tadashi noticed was that he was sweatier than normal, and a little warmer than usual too. Feeling a little disorientated, he sat up. It took him a few minutes for his eyes to adjust to the dark, and then a few more minutes to remember where he was. Tanaka’s soft snores came from further to the edge of the room. He looked to his right, and saw Tsukki lying ramrod straight on his futon, still fast asleep.
Tadashi assessed himself quickly, frowning. He wasn’t thirsty or hungry, didn’t need to use the restroom, he was only a little uncomfortably warm, so why…?
Beside him, he heard a soft whimper. He turned in surprise.
Kageyama was still curled up as he was earlier, wrapped up in a cocoon. Tadashi blinked in shock. Surely, that noise couldn’t have come from Kageyama? He had seemed like he wasn’t feeling 100% earlier, but…
Against his better judgment - who knows how Kageyama would take to be woken up in the middle of the night - Tadashi crawled closer to Kageyama to investigate. He was facing Tadashi rather than Hinata on the other side, but the blanket was wrapped around him and was almost obscuring his face.
“Kageyama…?” Tadashi whispered quietly. He pulled the blanket away from Kageyama’s face just a little, to get a better look.
His face was flushed, was the first thing that Tadashi noticed. And sweaty. Tadashi had seen Kageyama play full sets back to back and sweat less than this. Concerned, he lightly pressed the back of his hand to Kageyama’s forehead. His eyes widened at the heat emitting from Kageyama’s skin. He pressed his fingers to just underneath Kageyama’s chin, to find his pulse rate. Kageyama moaned and pulled away at the touch. Tadashi waited a few minutes, and then tried again. Once again, Kageyama moaned and pulled away.
“St’p,” he slurred in annoyance when Tadashi tried for a third time.
“I need to check something, Kageyama.” Tadashi whispered hurriedly. Kageyama babbled a bit in response. Nothing coherent. Tadashi tried one last time, and this time managed to check his carotid artery. As he suspected, it was a little faster than usual. Nothing that called for immediate alarm. And yet….
Something just niggled at Tadashi’s brain. Kageyama was hot. It was difficult to tell how high his temperature was without a thermometer, but it was hot enough to wake up Tadashi by proximity alone. That was surely not a good sign.
He fumbled through his brain to remember anything else from earlier that day. Hinata had been telling Kageyama to stay away from him again, so Kageyama wouldn’t pass on his cold. Hell he’d been complaining about having to sleep next to Kageyama, in case he caught the cold. Maybe the cold had developed into a flu? Looking closer, Tadashi could see that Kageyama was shivering underneath his blankets. Probably from chills, he theorised.
If it was just the flu, there wasn’t much Tadashi could do other than let Kageyama sleep it off. But, if it was something worse -
Tadashi slowly unwrapped Kageyama from his cocoon. Kageyama made a few half hearted noises of protest, but didn’t speak again. This time, Tadashi took one of Kageyama’s hands in his.
So focused in his task, Tadashi hadn’t noticed the sound of stirring.
“Y’maguchi? What -”
Tadashi almost dropped Kageyama’s hand at the sound of Ennoshita’s voice. He looked over to see the second year lying on his front, head popping up above his pillow. He blinked in confusion at Tadashi.
Tadashi was taken off guard and the first year took a few moments to try and form any cohesive thoughts.
“I woke up because I was feeling warm I guess… “ he whispered hurriedly. It was bad enough he’d woken Ennoshita up, he’d feel bad if anyone else woke up too. “I noticed Kageyama was - well, he’s -”
Ennoshita sat up silently, and shuffled closer to Tadashi. “Coach Ukai ordered him to go to bed early. Suga thinks he overworked himself, he said he noticed Kageyama massaging his wrists earlier and got the idiot to admit that his wrists were bothering him. Makes sense given all the time he’s spent perfecting that new toss.”
There was silence after that. Then. “Did they say anything about a fever?”
“Fever?” Ennoshita said, moving closer to the first years. He reached out with his fingers and felt at Kageyama’s forehead like Tadashi had before. His eyebrows shot right up. “He’s hot. Really hot. That’s - what -”
Tadashi was still holding Kageyama’s hand, and having been distracted by Ennoshita, only then noticed something that struck him as odd. He frowned. “His hands are cold.”
Ennoshita looked at him in confusion. “What?”
Tadashi gestured to Kageyama’s hand, which he was gently holding in both his own. “His hand is cold.”
His senpai placed his hand on Kageyama’s and froze. “That… that’s weird.”
Tadashi nodded. It was a pretty odd symptom. He placed his fingers on Kageyama’s radial pulse. It was still quite fast. When he spoke it was for Ennoshita’s benefit, as he had known this already. “Pulse is fast.” Ennoshita brushed his fingers against Kageyama’s wrist to feel for himself.
“That is pretty fast…”
“Hinata said he had a cold. I was wondering could it be the flu?” Tadashi asked.
“It could.” Ennoshita agreed. “But -”
“But.” Tadashi nodded. They were both thinking the same thing. Suga had managed to get Kageyama to admit that his wrists hurt. But Kageyama had once insisted that he could still play a set of volleyball despite the fact that his nose was pumping blood. The odds that someone like that wouldn’t admit when they weren’t feeling very well were - well, high. There was a chance that he had other symptoms he hadn’t shared, other than what Suga had managed to get him to divulge.
There was also the fact that he listened to Coach Ukai and had gone to bed early, as instructed. Either he was afraid he’d be benched if he refused, or he just felt that awful.
“Is he responsive?” Ennoshita asked.
Tadashi paused. “I’m not sure. He kept pulling away when I tried to take his carotid pulse, but hasn’t really said much otherwise.” He kept Kageyama’s hand in one of his own, and lightly brushed his hair back with the other. “Hey, Kageyama. Are you with me?”
Kageyama’s brow furrowed slightly, but given how much the other boy frowned on a daily basis, Tadashi wouldn’t be surprised if that was pure instinct. He gently patted Kageyama’s cheek instead. “Kageyama?”
“What are you two doing.”
Tadashi jolted at the unexpected monotone voice from behind him. He should have expected that all the commotion would have woken someone else, and of course it would be his best friend who was as light a sleeper as Tadashi was a heavy one.
“Kageyama is sick,” Ennoshita explained. “We’re trying to figure out how serious it is -we were just trying to rouse him.”
Tsukki sighed heavily and stood up, walking over to where Tadashi and Ennoshita were leaning over Kageyama. He leant right over and shook Kageyama, more softly than Tadashi expected of him. “Hey, King. Wake up and quit making Yamaguchi and Ennoshita worry.”
Kageyama’s face screwed up a little more, but he gave little reaction to the jostling aside from moaning. Tsukki looked surprised. Ennoshita decided to try as well.
“Kageyama? We need you to wake up okay? Can you just open your eyes?”
Again, Kageyama moaned in response as Ennoshita shook his shoulder. They were getting a little more nervous now. Kageyama was not Tadashi. Even Tadashi wouldn’t have slept through this if it was him.
“Kageyama come on.” Tadashi whispered, afraid of waking anyone else up. Well, anyone who wasn’t Kageyama up. He could still hear Tanaka’s soft snores but he wasn’t sure how long that would last.
“Symptoms?” Tsukki asked in a matter of fact tone.
“High temperature, fast pulse, shivering, cold hands.” Tadashi rattled off. Like Ennoshita had, Tsukki raised his eyebrows at the last symptom. To both Tadashi and Ennoshita’s surprise, he didn’t grab Kageyama’s hand to check for himself. Rather, he walked around Ennoshita and perched by Kageyama’s feet. He then pulled back the blanket and took one of Kageyama’s feet in his hands. He frowned.
Kageyama whined at the blanket being pulled from him. He made to grab at it with uncoordinated movements, and slurred “St’p” again.
“Tsukki, wha-”
“His feet are cold too.” He sat up and reached over to feel Kageyama’s forehead. He grimaced. “His temperature is really high. That’s not good if he’s not responding to us.”
“What should we do?” Tadashi asked his best friend nervously.
Tsukki reached over again, and pulled Kageyama’s covers all the way back this time. Kageyama opened his eyes this time. Just a fraction, before closing them again with a grimace. “St’ppit. ‘M c’ld.”
Tsukki put his hand on Kageyama’s shoulder. “Sorry King, we need to get you to wake up properly before we work ourselves into a panic unnecessarily.”
“D’n… d’n…” Kageyama stopped and paused, licking his lips. His eyes were still closed. “D’n like it.”
“You don’t like what, Kageyama?” Tadashi asked. He was still holding Kageyama’s hand in his own.
“I - I -” he stopped, seemingly at a loss for words. His ever present frown was still there. “C’ld.”
“Trust me,” Ennoshita said, “You’re not cold. You’re running quite the fever.”
Kageyama licked at his lips again.
“He might be thirsty,” Ennoshita said quietly. “Hang on one second.”
He got up, and Tadashi could hear quiet rummaging on the other side of the room. Ennoshita returned a few minutes later with a water bottle, most likely from practise earlier. He shuffled closer to Kageyama.
“Kageyama I have some water for you, okay? Will you drink some for me?”
The younger boy didn’t seem to register the question, and without the blanket to cover him, his shivering was far more prevalent.
Taking initiative once again, Tsukki snatched the bottle from Ennoshita, and patted Kageyama’s cheek. “Kageyama,” he began, and Tadashi was shocked, he didn’t think he’d ever heard Tsukki refer to Kageyama by his actual name before. It was always King. “You need to drink. Can you do that?”
Kageyama pressed his face further into his pillow, moaning again. Tsukki patted his cheek again. “Kageyama. Drink.” Before Tadashi could register what was happening, Tsukki turned Kageyama’s head slightly, aimed the bottle into his mouth and squirted some of the water into the other boy’s mouth. Kageyama seemed to swallow on instinct initially, and Tsukki tried to get the other boy to drink as much as possible. He was sweating so much and his lips looked dry; he was probably dehydrated. After a few minutes, Tsukki sat back onto his heels, having gotten about a quarter of the bottle in Kageyama. He felt for a temperature again, while Tadashi felt for a pulse.
Then the retching began.
It was unexpected, to say the least. The three boys reeled back in shock. Tadashi was quickest to react, and tried to rub Kageyama’s back in what he hoped was a soothing motion.
Naturally, the rest of the boys finally began to stir at the sound of the retching. Some stirred slowly, others almost bolted upright. Tanaka was one of the first to startle awake. Since Hinata had once vomitted right in his lap, Tadashi wondered if that memory had snapped him into action quicker than the rest.
“What’s going on-”
“What time is it -”
“Is everything okay -”
“What are you guys doing -”
The padding of footsteps, and then someone got up and turned on the light.
Under the harsh light, Kageyama looked awful. It emphasized his chalky complexion and flushed cheeks. He continued to retch, before screwing up his face and pressing his head into the pillow. Ennoshita tugged at his shoulder. “Hey, Kageyama don’t do that.”
Kageyama only pressed his face harder into the pillow. At this point, the whole team was beginning to gather behind them, Suga and Daichi forcing their way to the front.
“He wasn’t this bad earlier, Coach told him to lie down because we thought he’d over exerted himself.” Daichi said gravely.
“We thought he might need some water,” Ennoshita explained. Kageyama started the retch again, this time into his pillow. “We didn’t think he wouldn’t be able to keep it down.”
“Kageyama,” Suga said softly. He gently took Kageyama’s face in his hands and turned the younger boy’s face so he was facing him, “What’s wrong? You’re sick?”
Kageyama groaned and made to turn his head back into the pillow but Suga’s grip stopped him.
“Kageyama.” Suga said again, softly.
“’S br’t. D’n l’k ‘t,” the younger boy mumbled. Suga looked surprised.
“The light is too bright?” he asked.
Kageyama bobbed his head in what was probably supposed to be a nod. He groaned at the moment as soon as he did it. “H’rts. M’eyes.”
“The light hurts your eyes?” Tsukki said slowly. There seemed to be a lot of weight behind his words. He paused. “Do you have a headache as well? Maybe you feel a bit nauseous.”
There was little hesitation before his answer this time. “Y’h. H’d h’rts”
Tsukki turned to the person closest to the door, who in this case happened to be Narita, and said in a tone that brooked no argument. “Get Mr. Takeda and Coach.”
To his credit, Narita did not protest at being bossed around by a first year and was out the door like a shot. Tsukki turned back to Kageyama and shook his shoulder gently. “Kageyama, do you ever get migraines?”
Migraines? Well that would explain the dislike of lights and nausea. And why Tsukki would be the one to figure that out, since Tsukki often got really bad migraines. The cold hands and feet still seemed odd though.
Once again, it took a few tries to get Kageyama to give them a coherent answer before he slurred out a “n’ver h’d ‘un”. Tsukki’s face took on a very pinched expression. Once again, he tried to pull Kageyama’s head from the pillow, though the other boy fought as best as he could. Once Kageyama was faced with the lights again, he let out a loud whine. Tadashi felt pain in his own hand, and realised he still was holding Kageyamas. The other boy's grip on his hand was enough to cut off the circulation in Tadashi's own.
“Kageyama we need to keep an eye on you okay? I know it probably hurts your eyes but we can’t have you choking on your own vomit.”
“Tsukishima…” Hinata’s voice was high and scared. He was hiding behind Tanaka nervously. “Is… is Kageyama okay? You… You’re not calling… Well you know… And…” Though he couldn’t vocalise exactly what it was that was worrying him, they all understood what Hinata was trying to say.
“I…” Tsukki paused. “I think we should take him to a hospital to be safe. He’s dehydrated and his temperature is really high. That’s cause for concern alone. The headache is probably from dehydration.”
He was lying. Most of the others couldn’t tell, because to his credit Tsukki was an excellent liar. But Tadashi had been friends with him too long, and could tell when Tsukki was lying. And right now, he was scared shitless, but didn’t want the others to know.
Nishinoya made his way through the crowd of boys and handed something to Ennoshita - a towel, it looked like. Ennoshita folded it over and placed it on Kageyama’s forehead, holding it in place with his hand. It was damp, Tadashi realised. A small comfort for Kageyama. He kept Kageyama’s hand in his, and gently rubbed his thumb back and forth in a soothing motion. Kageyama continued to shiver and emit the odd noise of pain. The team surrounded him, those closest in proximity offering what little comfort they could. Tadashi noticed that Tsukki was examining Kageyama’s exposed arms and legs with odd intensity.
Mr. Takeda and Coach Ukai burst in with Narita following behind. Mr. Takeda looked to be in a panic as usual.
“Narita woke us up, he said it seemed serious.” Coach said, in a slightly strained voice.
Daichi nodded. “Kageyama’s got worse. He’s not very lucid and seems quite feverish.” He hesitated. “Tsukishima seems to think that we should take him to the hospital.”
Coach turned to Tsukki. “Any theories?”
Tsukki seemed uncomfortable with answering this question. “Uhhh - I’ll explain on the way. Yamaguchi probably knows more than I do though, he was the first one awake.” He paused, as if he just realised that he had willingly volunteered to go to the hospital with Kageyama .
Coach seemed to pick up on what Tsukki wasn’t saying, and turned to Mr. Takeda. “I’ll take them to the hospital, you stay here. Tsukishima and Yamaguchi, both of you come with me to the hospital -”
The other boys started to protest at this but Daichi silenced them, though Tadashi could tell that he didn’t like to be left behind either.
“Azumane, actually, would you mind…?” The request was clear. Aside from Tsukki, Azumane was the only boy taller than Kageyama. And probably the only one capable of carrying him. Azumane nodded, and gently gathered up his underclassman as carefully as he could. Kageyama still whined in pain at the moment, especially when the towel fell from its place on his head. Ennoshita gently placed it over his eyes again.
Captain Daichi, Sugawara and Mr. Takeda followed them as far as the car. Tadashi was ushered in first, and once he was settled, Azumane and Daichi gently placed Kageyama sideways in the backseat, with his head in Tadashi’s lap. Coach Ukai got in the driver seat and Tsukki had hardly even closed the passenger door when he was flooring it.
Kageyama continued to shiver. Tadashi gently rubbed the other boy’s back and tried to talk to him as best as he could. He could hear Tsukki and Coach talking in low tones in the front seat.
“Y’ma..chi…”
Tadashi was taken back by surprise to see Kageyama looking up at him, eyes squinted but slightly open. He looked in pain, and very afraid.
“’M I dy’n?”
Shocked at the sudden question, Tadashi didn’t get the chance to respond before Tsukki did.
“Stop being so dramatic, Kageyama,” he sighed.
Kageyama if anything, looked more scared at this. “N’t k’ng.”
If he was lucid enough to see that, that made Tadashi feel slightly better. “You’re just sick, okay? Actually we should probably call your parents, right? Once we know what’s going on with you. Then I’m sure that they can come and look after you until you’re better. Or your siblings can. Wait, do you have siblings?”
Kageyama seemed to process everything slowly, but at least he was still understanding them a little. “N-no.”
“Oh, you don’t have siblings either? That makes sense I guess. Tsukki has an older brother though, sometimes it almost feels like I have one too since I spent so much time at his house growing up! You know, actually I think you’d like Akiteru. He plays volleyball, and even though he’s the older brother he’s not as tall as Tsukishima.”
Tadashi continued to babble nonsense to Kageyama until they pulled into the hospital. Tadashi thought that once they got to the hospital, that would be it. But the emergency room was overcrowded and they were told they would have to wait for triage, so they sat in the waiting area. Kageyama’s head was still in his lap with the towel over his eyes, and he was still trying to offer comfort to the boy where he could. Coach Ukai was trying to get the attention of one of the doctors, and Tsukki was doing the weird thing again where he was looking at Kageyama’s limbs.
“You have a suspicion.” Tadashi accused. “You didn’t want to tell the others because it’s bad isn’t it.”
There was a long silence. “Hope that I’m wrong.”
“At least tell me what you’re looking for so that if I see it first ….” Tadashi suggested. Kageyama shifted slightly and moaned in discomfort.
Tsukki sighed, he clearly didn’t want to say much in case Kageyama was even the smallest bit lucid. “If you see a rash anywhere. That’s what I’m looking for. Again, I could be wrong. Maybe we’re all wrong and -”
If they hadn’t been two volleyball players with fast reflexes, Kageyama would have fallen out of Tadashi’s lap and off the row of chairs the moment he started seizing. Tadashi hadn’t seen a seizure before, but he figured that was the only thing that he could use to describe the sudden jerking movements of Kageyama’s limbs. It seemed to shock the emergency room staff and Coach Ukai back into action, and before they knew what was going on, once Kageyama stopped moving they put him on a gurney as quickly as possible, shouting out scary things like IV lines and lumbar punctures and intercranial pressure. It happened so fast. One second he was shivering in Yamaguchi’s lap and the next thing he was gone.
Coach Ukai sat down beside them, placing his head in his hands. He sighed heavily. “Did you find a rash?”
“No,” Tsukki said. Now that Kageyama was gone, he seemed to think there was no point holding anything back now. He turned to Tadashi. “I didn’t want to tell the team because some of them wouldn’t know what it was and that would take explaining. And the explanation would have frightened them.”
“What do you think it is?” Tadashi asked, voice coming out small and unsure.
“Meningitis.” Tsukki said promptly. “Which is bad if it’s bacterial because we’ll all be at risk.”
Comprehension dawned on Tadashi. “That’s why you’re looking for the rash. That’s the most common symptom.”
“And why I asked about migraines. You can sometimes get them from overworking yourself or dehydration, but it’s not that common and the other symptoms were odd.”
“It also explains why it happened so fast,” Ukai added. “Kageyama was up at dawn this morning jogging - oh, yesterday morning I guess. Man how did that happen, it’s already like 7am.”
“Has someone contacted his family?” Tadashi asked.
Ukai sighed and shook his head. “We wanted to wait until we had information that was a bit more concrete, since we weren’t sure how serious it was. But after that I’d say we better contact his family. I’ll go let Takeda know. Are you two okay here until I get back?”
They nodded, and Coach Ukai went down the hall to make his phonecall to Mr. Takeda to update him.
Tsukki sighed, “He is such an idiot.”
Tadashi frowned. “Ukai?”
Tsukki shook his head, “No, the King. Not saying anything about how bad he felt. What was he thinking?”
In the quiet chaos of the emergency department, Tadashi laughed. Some might have taken Tsukki’s words as condemning, but Tadashi could hear the concern in them. As much as he’d like to deny it, Tsukki cared for his teammates. He wouldn’t be sitting in a hospital before dawn on a Saturday if he didn’t. “I mean, you are always calling him an idiot, so I’m not sure why you’re surprised.” He sobered up. “I don’t think he knew. By the time it got really bad I don’t think he was thinking right, he seemed pretty out of it.”
They sat in silence as the world moved on around them. They briefly discussed whether they should contact the team and update them, but figured whatever Ukai told Takeda would inevitably be passed on. And they didn’t feel comfortable messaging the group chat when Kageyama would see it later.
Coach Ukai came back, looking very weary. “Takeda had already contacted his family. His father is on a business trip but his mother is on the way. Once she gets here, I’m going to take the two of you back to the school and Takeda will come here. He insisted, says that the practises can go on without him anyway. Are you two okay to stay here until his mother gets here?”
They nodded. They’d been here through the worst of it, so being here a little longer wouldn’t kill them.
Coach seemed a bit hesitant, but continued. “I know it may seem harsh given what happened last night, or unsympathetic even, but I am going to continue training as normal today which is why Takeda will come to the hospital instead. I think it would be good for all of you to take your mind after what happened last night. However -” he paused, and looked directly at Tsukki and Tadashi in turn as he spoke. “If either of you feels like it is too much, I would completely understand. Tsukishima, you held up well under the stress of trying to not worry your teammates when you figured out what was wrong with Kageyama, and you’ve done well since you’ve been here as well. Yamaguchi, you did a great job at offering Kageyama comfort when he was probably scared out of his mind. He literally had a seizure in your lap. I would understand if either of the two of you wanted to go home after this.”
Go home? Tadashi wasn’t sure if that would do any good. Even if he went home, he probably wouldn’t be able to stop worrying about Kageyama. Working out his frustrations with some heavy practise seemed like the better option.
“I’d rather go back and practise with the rest of the team, to be honest.” Tadashi said. “I’d rather be with the team while waiting for news.”
Tsukki nodded. “I agree. But thank you, Coach.”
It caught them both off guard when Ukai burst out laughing. “I should have expected nothing less.”
*-*-*-*
Tadashi had known Tsukki’s parents for years. Since Tsukki was one of his few friends, it meant that he couldn’t remember what it was like meeting someone’s parents for the first time - the expectations of what they would be like.
Kageyama’s mother had a presence, that much was for certain. Tadashi could feel it as soon as she walked in. It was similar to Kageyama’s; an aura of confidence he supposed. However she was also a mother, which meant that in spite of this, she was also a bit of a mess with concern for her son.
Before she even introduced herself to Coach the three of them were on their feet because they could see the similarities to her son. Having been given a description of Coach, she didn’t even introduce herself before saying. “Tobio - how is he?”
Coach did most of the explaining. Mr. Takeda had given her an account of everything up until they left for the hospital, and Coach took over from there, asking Tadashi and Tsukki for their input on occasion. Her eyes went wide when Coach got as far as explaining the seizure.
“We haven’t heard anything since,” Coach explained, “I have to take the boys back to the school now, unfortunately I think it’s best if they go back to practise… though it may seem in poor taste.”
Kageyama’s mother shook her head. “Knowing Tobio he would be angrier if you cancelled the practise than if you didn’t. He would probably say they all need the practise.”
Despite themselves, they all laughed at that and the tension alleviated just a little. Because she was right, Kageyama would be absolutely furious if they cancelled practise just to wait around for news about him.
“Mr. Takeda will come here once I’m back at the school with the boys.” Coach Ukai promised.
Kageyama’s mother nodded. And then turned to the other two boys. She seemed to hesitate for a moment before suddenly dipping into a deep bow. When she spoke again, she stayed facing the ground and her voice shook. “Since Tobio has started at Karasuno, I’ve seen the change that has come over him. He’s been happier than he has in a long time, and I know it’s because of how much he loves being part of your team. I already owed you so much for how happy he has been these last few months - but, but now…” When she looked up, there were tears in her eyes - but in spite of this she was smiling. “Now I think I owe you boys even more. Thank you for taking such good care of my Tobio.”
Both boys nodded awkwardly, unsure what to say in the face of such honest affection. Though he was awful at displaying emotions, it was clear where Kageyama got his brutally honest nature from.
“When he’s up for visitors we’ll be sure to be by.” Tadashi promised, ensuring an emphasis on the ‘when’.
Kageyama’s mother straightened up and nodded with a smile, as if she expected nothing less. Coach smiled too as he gestured to the boys. “We’d better be going back to the school. Mr. Takeda, who spoke with you on the phone, will be here in a little while.”
Kageyama’s mother nodded. “Thank you Coach Ukai. And to both of you boys too, Tsukishima and Yamaguchi.”
They bowed, and left the emergency department. Tadashi kept glancing over at Kageyama’s mom as they left, and when they were outside he had to to blink numerous times in order to adjust his eyes to the light. It had been dark when they’d arrived who knows how many hours ago.
Coach turned to them again . “Last chance - are you sure you’re okay to go back to the school to practise?”
Tsukki answered first. “I don’t want the King to have the opportunity to scold me if he found out we were ditching practise.”
Tadashi laughed, “You know he’ll find something though.” He turned to Coach Ukai. “Let’s head back.”
The three of them headed towards Ukai’s small car, trying their hardest not to let their worry show.
Kageyama would be fine.
He’d be fine.