Flowers for You (DaiSuga Hanahaki)

It's Just a Cold

     A week had passed since Sugawara had his chat with Saeko. He wasn't feeling much better at all. It hadn't started affecting volleyball yet, but people definitely noticed that something was up with Suga. Deep bags had developed under his eyes from staying up late on his computer or just thinking about what to do with his emotions. Hinata and Kageyama had walked in on him in the club room just muttering to himself quietly. The worst part of it? He felt like he had started developing a cold or something. His head hurt and he had started to develop a cough that was slowly starting to get worse. It was their last chance to go to nationals ant the last thing he wanted was for a stupid cold to get in the way.

     "Nice serve, Sugawara-san!" Tanaka yelled. Suga tossed the ball up in the air and hit it straight into the net. 

    "Sorry guys!" He called, turning a little red. Maybe his cold was going to get in the way. He was finding it hard to breathe, so he asked to step out for a moment. Daichi shot him a concerned look as he stepped out. Once Suga was safely outside, he erupted into a fit of coughing and hacking. He even coughed up a small amount of blood. His throat burned and his head was spinning. Being sick sucks, he decided. Suga returned to practice once he was sure that he wasn't going to keep coughing. He didn't want to risk giving his cold to any of his teammates. 

     Practice went on without a hitch, but Suga knew that his teammates were worried about him. Yachi made extra sure that he was staying hydrated and taking long enough breaks. Even Tsukishima seemed to be somewhat concerned. 

~~~

     That night, Suga woke up three times to try and cough up his lungs. He threw up once too. His mother made the decision for him that he was going to miss school that day because of how bad he was getting. Suga decided to call Daichi and let him know he wasn't coming to school. 

     "Hey Daichi," Suga croaked. He surprised himself with how weak and hoarse his own voice sounded. He had only been communicating in barely understandable groans because of how bad his throat burned. 

     "Sugawara? Oh God, you sound awful," Daichi muttered. 

     "I feel awful," He groaned. "I'm just saying-" He paused to have a small coughing fit "-I'm not coming to school today. Ugh..." 

     "That's fine. Take care of yourself." 

     "I promise I'll have someone come and tell you and the rest of the team if I've died."

     "Please don't." 

     "No promises, captain~"

     With that, Sugawara felt that he could hang up, so he did. Promptly after that, he ran to the bathroom and dry heaved into the toilet for the next two hours. He stayed on the bathroom floor for most of the day, too weak to have the initiative to move back to his room. Besides, he wouldn't have to go as far when he inevitably started vomiting again. 

///

     Daichi hurried to afternoon practice. He had been distracted all day, worried for Sugawara and thinking about the upcoming Interhigh. 

     "Hey, Captain!" Kageyama called. Hinata gave a small wave. The freak duo was always at the gym early, usually practicing their insane quick or receiving (Hinata still sucked at receiving). "Wait, where's Sugawara-san?" 

     "Oh, he's not coming today. He's really sick." Daichi shook his head. "And with the Interhigh coming up so soon too." 

     "I'm sure he'll be fine," Asahi tried. It was pretty obvious that he was worried too. Daichi appreciated that he was trying not to worry the underclassmen. Things had been pretty tense already with everything coming up. "He's always been the most resilient out of the three of us." 

     "He'd better get well soon," Tanaka growled. "Nishinoya and I need to talk to him about something very important." The way Nishinoya snickered when Tanaka said important made Daichi think that they might be trying to prank someone again but decided to let it slide. 

     Without Sugawara there to help Daichi keep the reigns on the crazy first-years and monitor the second-years, he was starting to struggle a bit. Ennoshita and Asahi tried their best to fill in, but the team didn't really respect Asahi the same way they respected Suga. Daichi didn't realize how much he relied on Suga to keep the team fully functioning until Kageyama and Hinata started arguing again. As captain, he should be able to manage the team without the help of his vice-captain, but that was turning out harder than expected. Despite how strange Sugawara could be sometimes, he was still a pillar of stability for the team. 

     Practice ended with not much progress being made, which was worrying. Everyone needed to be at their best if they wanted to compete against the other powerful schools.

     Suga, please come back, I need you, Daichi groaned internally. This was the most worn-out he had felt after practice for a while. Trying to manage a team by himself was much harder than he ever thought it would be. He had a newfound respect for his senpais now. On his way out, he bumped into Michimiya again. 

     "Oh, hey Daichi!" Michimiya smiled. "How's practice?"

     "Painful." 

     "What? Why?" 

     "Suga is sick, so I had to run the team by myself." Daichi sighed. He felt as if a full year had just been taken off his life. "You know how I was telling you about those hyperactive first-years? Yeah, well it's hard to run practice and keep an eye on them at the same time. Asahi and Ennoshita did their best, but it was one of the most stressful things I've ever done."

     "That sounds like it would be stressful." Michimiya started coughing like crazy. "Speaking of getting sick, my cough hasn't gotten any better." 

     Daichi nodded. A lot had been happening recently. "Sorry to hear that. I hope you get better soon. I might drop by and visit Suga tomorrow. I don't know how he deals with this stress. I'll see you tomorrow, Michi."

     Michimiya laughed. "Tell Suga-san I said hi. See you tomorrow."