Miracle Boy

6 oh no

The next day, Ushijima was walking to Tendou's room after practice when Tendou's nurse, Sayu had recognized him and informed him that it's best if he came back the next day.

"He had a really bad coughing fit last night, and that made breathing for him nearly impossible so he's on a ventilator right now."

But Ushijima wasn't going anywhere. He had promised Tendou that he wouldn't leave, so he wouldn't. He stayed outside Tendou's room, looking inside everytime Sayu opened the door for hourly checkups, hoping to get a glance at Tendou, hoping that Tendou would somehow sense his presence and know that he wasn't alone.

The day after the next, Ushijima was carrying his usual chair to Tendou's room when the door opened and Sayu came out. He bowed slightly as a greeting.

"Ushijima-kun! You don't usually come at this hour."
"Ah, I took the rest of the week off from practice to stay with Tendou."
Sayu smiles.
"You must love him a lot."
"I do. Wait, how did you know?"
"Tendou told me. Well, he didn't actually tell me, I asked him about you and he looked at me all smug because I've been single my whole life."

Ushijima laughs lightly at the thought that Tendou somehow still had the energy to tease others about their relationship status.

"Oh! You can go in to see him, we took him off the ventilator last night. He may not have much energy to move much, he'll probably only be able to give you smug looks, but he's awake."
"Alright, thank you."
He bows to Sayu again and enters the room.

Tendou, who's lying down with the bed reclined upward turns his head from the window to Ushijima at the sound of things touching the table.

"Hey."
Ushijima says, his nonexistent social skills having taken over. Tendou smiles as brightly as he can, then frowns in question, the question being pretty obvious.
Don't you have practice?

"I took the rest of the week off. I'm staying with you as much as I can."
Before you leave.

That hurt to say. It hurt more than he liked. He could barely keep himself together with Tendou still here, he didn't want to picture life after Tendou was gone.

Tendou started reaching for his phone. Ushijima looked to where his hand was going and took it for him. Tendou smiled in thanks and started typing, thought a little slower than usual with all the stress from the past 2 days having not yet left his body.

- What's in the bag?

"Because I can't stay the night, I brought the LED lamp you got me. Hopefully it gives you some comfort when I'm not here to give it to you."

Ushijima pulls the volleyball lamp out of his bag and sets it beside the table. He then presses the button to turn it on but nothing happens. His phone rings.

- You have to plug it in :3

Oh

He takes the head and plugs it into the power outlet which was, fortunately, right below the table.
"What colour do you want?"

- Purple :3 it reminds me of you <3

Ushijima feels his face heat up as he presses the button to change the light colour to purple.

- Oh? Is the great volleyball ace Ushijima Wakatoshi actually blushing right now???

Ushijima clears his throat.
"It's just really hot in here."

Tendou nods his head lightly in mock acknowledgment and agreement of Ushijima's statement, a mischievous glint in his eyes.

"Anyway, I brought this week's issue of Shonen Jump."
And once again, the stars in Tendou's eyes returned. Even if it was for awhile, it gave Ushijima relief to know that he wouldn't be dying just yet. At least, not tomorrow.

That's what he told himself everytime that happened, everyday he visited Tendou, even until 3 months later when Tendou couldn't sit up anymore.

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art by aekrn0 on twitter

NOOOO my tendou bby T_T