Sugar-Coating it (Diabetic Hinata)

Sam Goodman

After Natsu was manually dragged from the house by mum, I was home alone. I didn't really know what to do, so very unusally for myself, I actually did revision. I must have been brain damaged by all that sugar, because this was unlike me. After spending maybe 20 minutes looking at my notes, I went to go play volleyball by myself. The practise wasn't the best, after all it was only me. I got hungry after a while, and went inside when I realised that if I was going to eat, I would need to take insulin. That's when I realised that I'd have this for life. There was going to be so much thought put into staying alive. Out of nowhere, I came to terms with the situation. The shock of the diagnosis had faded, and I'd hit the floor, knowing how much effort this was going to be. I sat down on our sofa for a moment, and then I lay down, to get more comfortable, knowing I'd be here for a while. I didn't bother wiping my tears, I just hoped that if I came to terms with it fast enough, it would feel less exhausting to deal with. I just lay down and cried for a bit, waiting for the sounds to die down. When I heard the door open, I quickly wiped my face with my hands and sat up.

"Shoyo, sweetheart?" Mum said. "Oh, have you been crying?" She said upon seeing me.

"No, no, mum, I haven't." I said weakly.

"Are you sure?"

"I-I-" I held my breath for a half second, bracing myself for what was going to happen, before I started crying again. Hot, heavy tears stung at my cheeks all of a sudden.

"Oh Sho!" She said, coming over to the sofa. She sat down, and hugged me for a while. "I know you're scared, but you're being really good about it." She sympathised. Mum spent the rest of the day looking after me. She took the day off work, knowing I needed the support. Natsu failed her spelling, but mum gave her chocolate anyway. Natsu spent the evening dressed up in her nurse costume, making me cups of tea and wrapping me in blankets.
Overall, a bad day, but it's up from here, right?

Timeskip, Hinata's first half-day back.

I had been off school for three weeks, so walking back in was pretty surreal. I was only in for afternoon lessons, as I wasn't ready to start taking insulin in school, but there was maybe 20 minutes left of lunch. When I walked into the canteen, a few people turned to look at me. After all the volleyball matches I had won, I was a familiar face to everyone. Plenty of people began asking questions, people I didn't know coming up to me with their friend groups. I was overwhelmed.

"Oh piss off all of you!" Someone yelled. I turned around and saw my saviour, Sawamura Daichi behind me.

"Can't you see you're freaking him out!" Suga said angrily. Asahi, Daichi and Suga took me to their table, where I sat down, and let out a deep breath.

"Sorry about them." Daichi said angrily. "They're animals."

"You feeling better?" Asahi said, a look of concern on his face.

"Yeah. A bit shocked about it all, but definitely feeling better."

"So are you just in for afternoon lessons?" Sugawara asked. I nodded.

"For a few days, sure but once I'm ready I'll do full days."

"And are you still doing volleyball?" Daichi asked.

I looked at him, dead in the eyes. "Daichi, what do you think?"

"Right, stupid question. Of course you are."

I laughed. "I could have broken every bone in my body and I'd still be there!"

"Only you would do that." Asahi sweatdropped.

The bell rang after a while, I waved them off and walked to my next lesson. It was history, not the best but whatever. Yamaguchi and Tsukishima weren't there, because I was in a lower set, but Kageyama was. He was happy to see me, he asked me questions. I made the most of it, knowing his kindness would have definitely faded off by the next day. After history, someone in the year above told me that I had to go to the deputy headteacher's office, I assumed it was about my diabetes, hoping I wasn't in trouble.