WARNINGS: Sensory overload, beginnings of a meltdown, SIB, seizures (?)
Ok I'm just gonna keep projecting onto Oikawa and Tsukishima, cry about it /lh. Anyways! The reason there's a question mark after seizures in the warnings is because these are based off some things I've been experiencing lately. I think they're seizures (aware ones, yes those exist) but I'm not 100% sure (I'll be getting answers soon though, fortunately). They aren't tonic-clonic seizures, just focal ones, so y'all are aware.
Kei'd never been a fan of morning practice, but one such Thursday morning certainly took the cake. As excited as he was to see Akiteru the next day (for the first time in months), waiting was never the most easy thing for him, and the anticipation made his blood boil (Yamaguchi always told him he used that idiom wrong, but that's what it felt like, so fuck it). On top of that, he woke up to realize his sheets were scratching at his skin in the worst way. His sheets, which were specifically bought to be as sensory friendly as possible. He had to wear a denim jacket over his uniform, despite the hot day, and his headphones had been glued to his ears more than usual, only taking them off when he had to practice.
In short, the day was shit. Most of the team could tell; he was more irritable but made less snarky comebacks. He didn't say much of anything actually, keeping his jaw locked, and he kept staring off into space (Tadashi was pretty sure he was having seizures, or was going to soon, but Kei brushed it off when he asked. In his defence, it could be hard for the blond to tell until a bigger one hit). He twisted his fingers through his shirt, then his uniform, tight enough that they began to turn white. As soon as practice ended, he shoved his headphones on and Tadashi could hear Sleeping At Last playing through them as he attempted to keep everyone away from his overwhelmed friend, distracting Hinata and Kageyama so they could quickly get out of the club room and into their classes.
Morning classes went by easily enough, Kei didn't get better but he didn't get worse either. Most of his teachers knew better than to call on him when his hand wasn't raised (which it hardly ever was), and even those who tried didn't bother when he was wearing his headphones. They found an empty classroom with large, open windows to eat lunch in, and it was far enough away from the crowd that the taller boy even took his headphones off. They both knew that it was past the point of no return, that Kei would inevitably have a meltdown at some point, but so long as they could get home before that happened he'd be fine. Just as long as everything stayed normal.
Which, of course, it didn't. In his last class he had a substitute who insisted on a group activity. Of four. Tadashi could well enough redirect everyone from noticing him, and the teacher actually read the teacher's instructions (unlike most of their substitutes did) and didn't force him to take off his headphones, or speak up in front of the class (unlike most of their substitutes did), so at least that was a plus, but it still sucked major ass.
Oh, and then he started seizing.
15 minutes left of class and he felt the urge to roll his eyes back. Once, twice, thrice in quick succession. Tadashi noticed but left him be, knowing there wasn't much he could do (besides keeping a hand on his wrist under the table). On the third eye roll, Kei's body got heavier, neck at a weird angle and eyes half shut (but luckily still conscious; he'd never had anything worse than impaired awareness and he really didn't want to start, especially at school). 10 seconds passed, 15, 35, his head still had that foggy staticy feeling and his lips were beginning to smack lightly.
Once he came out of it, rolling his neck around at the slight stiffness, Tadashi flashed him the stopwatch he'd kept on his phone. 1 minute and 18.3 seconds, pretty long (though not too long), and already he could tell it wasn't a one-off incident. They kept working like normal though (Kei hating the idea of letting anybody know that something was wrong) until the bell rang. Once it did, Tadashi grabbed his arm and brought him to a neighboring classroom until the hallway thinned a bit.
"Are you sure you want to practice Tsukki? I just counted like, 4, and those were just the ones noticeable." As observant as Tadashi was, focal seizures were an odd thing and sometimes you couldn't tell at all from the outside; even if you could, the signs were small, eye rolling and lip smacking and staying in one position just a bit too long. "Let's just go home? It's not like we'll miss anything."
"I'm fine, Dashi," (though the nickname said otherwise, only brought out when 3 syllables were just a bit too much for Kei to get through), "it'll be an easy pra-prac, an easy, it'll be easy, and no one will notice." An eyebrow was raised in his direction. "Fine, I'll stay home t'morrow if I need to."
"I'm calling Akiteru to hold you to that." He was met with a lighthearted eye roll and middle finger as they went down to the club room, Tadashi sticking close to his friend without touching him or seeming like he was doting.
Tadashi could tell the team had noticed something was wrong with Kei. He kept picking at his uniform, fidgeting with the hair around his ears a bit too much, and opted for his normal glasses as opposed to the sports ones (which, Tadashi knew, were too tight to his face when he was oversensitive). His blocks were slower than normal, but they were still good enough that save for a questioning glance from Suga, they let him continue.
Well, they would've, but the Gods decided to fuck him over royally because of fucking course the day couldn't pass without incident.
They'd come together for a full team practice match, 6 v. 6, and Kei was up to serve for his side, Tadashi on the other side of the net. Kei's eyes rolled as the score was shouted out (involuntarily, not that the team could tell), and he tossed the ball up high to hit it.
Except he didn't hit it. In fact, he didn't move at all, besides the slight head, shoulder, and finger twitches. Tadashi ran under the net immediately, cursing the Fates and their rotten luck, as the rest of their teammates noticed and began to panic.
"Tsukishima? Oi, you there?"
"Tall ass, what's up?" Ukai called, phone out in case he needed to call the nurse, not able to quite see around the team swarming.
"Stingyshima! Why didn't you serve?!"
"Guys!"
"You okay dude?"
"Guys!"
"Do we need to-"
"HEY!" Daichi's yell shut everyone up quick, making them look to him and then, to Tadashi, who was trying to get their attention. By this point, Kei had somewhat snapped out of it, though he looked confused, fingers still spasming, and within a minute Tadashi assumed he'd be frozen again.
"Step back, give him space, he's fine. Tsukki, can you hear me?" His wrist twitched a few times, curled into a fist in just a way that Tadashi knew he was signing (or attempting to). "Ok, good, do you know what going on?" No response, he eyed the clock. 1 minute 23 seconds since it started, he thinks. "Kei? Do you know what's going on?" A jerky thumb hit the side of the blond's hand twice, the closest he could get to signing no, and the shorter boy bit his lip. On top of that, everyone's muttering and the fluorescent lights were getting to Kei's already overloaded state, eyes starting to well up with tears and grunting noises starting to be made because remember that inevitable meltdown?
It wasn't long before the school nurse came in, having been called by Takeda and informed of the situation, with a wheelchair to transport the distressed teen (who was steadily chewing through his lip at this point) and asking Yamaguchi to call Kei's parents. There'd been quite a few incidents like this (though never at practice and hardly in class either, usually Tadashi took him or called someone during breaks or at lunch) and the nurse knew how to handle it, getting the blond settled in the wheelchair and asking the shorter boy to call the Tsukishima house. He was, to say the least, surprised when Akiteru picked up the phone (upsides at least, Kei would be excited), but managed to get the information out and let the nurse know that he was on his way.
This would be a long night.
[A/N: If you saw the note saying this was going to have a part 2 uhhhhh no you didn't.]
