Miracle Boy

3 for suffering haha

Tendou wasn't at practice the next day, or the day after that. By the time he showed up at practice on Saturday, the mental note that Ushijima had made to scold Tendou had completely vanished. It had instead been replaced by worry and curiosity. He made a new mental note to ask Tendou about his absence after practice.

"Tendou."

"Hmm?"

"Why didn't you come for practice yesterday and Thursday?"

"Oh, my cousin wanted me to accompany him to the hospital. Funny isn't it? I just went to the hospital with you."

"On both days?"

"Well, you see, I had a slight issue yesterday, that is, to say, I overslept."

"That's unusual of you."

"No, not really, I oversleep quite often, I thought you knew?"

"I meant you missing practice because you overslept."

"Ah, by the time I woke up practice would already have ended."

"You woke up at 5?"

"No, I woke up at 1, then I went back to sleep until 5."

Ushijima, not knowing how to answer, nods and turns his head forward.

Tendou, though he was telling the truth about waking up at 1 p.m on Friday, had been in fact, coughing up blood and being a mess for the better half of both days.

On Thursday, he had woken up all excited and cheerful for once, having planned the outing with Ushijima, when he had a coughing fit after he scrubbed his tongue, when he was about to spit the toothpaste out.

That was fine though, right? Until he saw the blood. His heart sank.

Oh god please, not now, not today.

He put his toothbrush back into its holder and washed his mouth when another bout of coughs came. This time, it lasted longer, longer than any of the previous ones. At least, that's what it felt like. By the time he was finished, he could barely breathe and the sink was nearly half red. He didn't even notice his hands were shaking until he lifted them from the sink to rinse his mouth.

He washed the blood off everything, including his mouth and looked up. His reflection was...scary. He had turned pale from all the coughing, sweat had started to form, and his eyes had turned red from the tears that formed during the ordeal. Whether it was from the coughing, or from him, he didn't know, but it scared him.

Taking a few steps back, he leaned against the wall, took a shaky breath and looked up. He didn't want to look at himself. If this was what he looked like after 30 seconds of coughing, he didn't want to think about what he would look like 2 weeks from now.

Water was like acid, but he gulped it all down anyway. He had to, or else the medicine wouldn't go down. His throat was dry enough as it was, the cough had made it a desert.

Right as he was about to walk out the door to head to practice, bile rose up in his throat. He quickly dropped his bag and barely made it to the toilet, emptying out the contents of yesterday's dinner, and along with it, more blood.

God had said 'yes, today'.

He had spent the rest of the day at home. As much as he wanted to go to practice, he couldn't. The cancer wouldn't allow it. It had made sure he used his time wisely by sending him to the toilet or the kitchen sink, whichever was nearer to cough or puke blood. He was sure he had lost more than 1kg and at one point, had been vomiting out air and whatever saliva his mouth had produced.

He was finally able to sleep at 2 in the morning. At that point, he was contemplating just staying in the toilet for the rest of the night but decided against it after he nearly gave himself a concussion trying to sleep leaning on the wall. He shouldn't have gotten tiled walls, those were slippery.

The next morning, by some miracle, the cough and vomiting had gone away, which gave time for the reality of his situation to hit him hard in the head. He had had coughing fits before, but they never lasted for a day, this was also the first time he was puking after being diagnosed.

As he was about to open his front door to head out, Ushijima appeared in his head and he slowly lowered his bag down. He couldn't go to practice, not today, not without breaking down and crying. He didn't have the strength to face his best friend, not after hiding such a thing from him. Anyway, he didn't have to go to practice to cry, he was already doing it here. Tears flowed down his face as he realised he had less than 4 months left.

Less than 4 months.

Less than 4 months left to play volleyball.

Less than 4 months left to spend with his best friend.

Less than 4 months left to live.

God he was so selfish. He had so little time left and he wouldn't even tell the one person who actually liked him. Instead, he decided to give the person happy memories of him before dropping the news of his death on him. No goodbye, no advance notice, nothing. Just making happy memories together, then, one day he's just gone. What kind of best friend does that?!

He chuckled humorlessly.

"God I hate myself."

His eyes wandered over to the bottle of pills peering out from the little hole left by a half unzipped zipper in the side pocket of his bag.

What if he just...ate more than his usual dose...

He unzipped the zipper and took the pills out. Right as his hand went to unscrew the cap, the image of his best friend flashed in his mind and he dropped the bottle like it was poison.

Slowly letting out a breath, he turned, leaned against the door and slid down, his hands covering his face.

What was he thinking?! Ushijima's birthday was this Sunday! That's why he planned that outing to Yoyogi Park!

He was lucky he hadn't collapsed yet. According to his doctor, most people in this stage would barely be able to speak or breathe. Or perhaps the pain meds were so strong that he could somehow force his voice to come out normally.

Just please don't land him in the hospital until after this Sunday, he wants Wakatoshi's last memory of him on his birthday to be a good one.

"I'll see you tomorrow, Tendou."

"Ah, yes! 9 a.m! Don't forget!"

Ushijima nods, and giving Tendou a small wave, steps onto the bus.

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i finally remembered to upload chapter 3 wheeee

art is by aekrn0 on twitter