Guarded (Sugawara x OC)

Chapter 27

Occasionally, hospitals are the witnesses of good news; new life, a miraculous cure, a successful surgery. However, more often than not they are the epicenter of anxiety. Frightening diagnoses in the exam rooms for the afflicted, and a never ending parade of family and friends pacing the waiting room in concern. Suga hated that part, the waiting. He had tried to be a good sport during the first hour and a half, nervously bouncing his foot against the heavily bleached floor while his hands shredded any remnant of paper he could find. But when the clock hands started to appear as if they were moving backwards instead of forwards, he couldn't take it anymore, and stood so abruptly from his chair it made Tadashi next to him jump.

"I need to do something. I can't just...sit here." He would go crazy if he had to wait any longer, forever watching the hospital doors for the doctor to appear.

"Why don't you walk down to that little gift shop we saw near the hospital entrance," Yamaguchi's father piped up, not taking his eyes off the magazine he was pretending to read. "I bet Machi would love to see some flowers in her room when the surgery is done. Tadashi, why don't you go too, stretch your legs a bit."

Reluctantly, Tadashi rose from his chair and joined an equally anxious Suga exit back through the waiting room doors and down the hallway towards the hospital gift shop. It was a quiet journey. Neither were really in the mood to talk much, their minds elsewhere entirely.

The previous few days had been a whirlwind of stress and anxiety for everyone involved. Machi's doctor had confirmed a second ligament tear in her knee, and for the first time she didn't argue when he reasoned the only course of action was surgery. In fact, she barely said much of anything in the days leading up to it, preferring silence over trying to find some sort of feeble answer to the endless questions everyone threw her way. Machi had enough on her mind already, the barrage of well meaning concern only made the unsettled pit in her stomach grow. It was exhausting just trying to appear somewhat normal for them let alone trying to ease their worries too, and Machi's energy had so quickly drained away, the ability to argue along with it. Eventually, they got the picture and gave her the space she so craved.

Suga was the only one Machi seemed to show any signs of life for, and even then it was little more than a muted smile and a dull spark in her tired eyes. As much as he wanted to, Suga didn't try to brush away her storm clouds. Not yet at least. Something told him that wasn't what she needed just yet, and so instead he was by her side with packs of ice and a gentle presence, ready to ease the pain and distract her mind with endless Disney films. It was more comforting than she could ever express, and he seemed to understand too. And while on the morning of the surgery Machi still was not quite her normal self, she was at least able to return Suga's reassuring smile with a small one of her own before he and Tadashi were ushered out the door and she was left alone with the nurses.

While the smallest twitch of her lips upward told Suga he had been of help preparing her for this day, internally his own mind was a blur of anxiety as the doors shut and he was left in the quiet hallway without her. Machi hadn't been the same since that final match of the Qualifiers, and she hadn't done much to hide it. Of course, part of that was a result of her injury obviously, but he knew that wasn't all. Her dream had been within reach, achieved and lost in the same moment, and he couldn't help but worry at how defeated she appeared. No matter what he tried to draw her attention away or to see the return of the spark in her eyes, it never lasted more than a few fleeting moments before the blank expression returned and she shut down. He was worried of course for how the surgery would go, but the longer he sat in that waiting room with the same swirling thoughts, the more anxious he became for the return of his Machi; the confident, smart and sarcastic girl he'd fallen head over heels for.

"What about these?" Tadashi asked quietly, pointing to a simple display of multicolored daisies and breaking Suga's spiraling train of thought. He had been preoccupied himself, worrying about Machi, among other things. But now that they were away from the waiting room, Tadashi felt a sudden need to try and break through the gloom even a smidgen. "The colors are nice."