haikyuu sickfics

17: [ukatake] overworking//cold

sick: ukai - caretaker: takeda

3rd pov:

ever since he had accepted the job as being karasunos volleyball coach, he had been having to work three jobs. he had to tend to the farm in the early mornings, work at the store throughout the day, and then coach the team when they had practice. honestly, he had kept it up pretty good. he had found a balance and his body had gotten pretty used to the reduced sleep. on average he would get about four or five hours. not too bad for everything that was going on. but eventually he had to reach his breaking point. his grandfather, the old coach ukai, got sick again. this time it was more serious, doctors were concerned and speculated that ikkei ukai would only make it another year or so. that put pressure on his grandson, keishin ukai, to take care of him and his grandfathers things. but not only did it put physical strain on keishin, the mental strain was arguably worse. yes, the two hadn't always gotten along in the past, but he really did love and appreciated his grandfather.

it had been about a week since the news and he had tried to keep up his normal life. the key word was tried. he hadn't even told his boyfriend about it. he hadn't told takeda everything that was going on with his grandfather, he didn't want the pity or to make the mood solemn. everything had stretched keishin too thin so on the thursday, after a long week, he just couldn't bring himself to get out of bed. he was tired. his whole body ached. his emotions felt like they were weighing him down. he called his mother, even though the sun hadn't even risen, after all, someone needed to watch over the store. "..keishin..?" he heard the woman's voice through the phone. momentarily he questioned if he should even call out. "ma? i don't feel good, i don't feel too good. i can't come in today.." he muttered, his voice raspy from just waking up. "alright, i'll cover the store. rest. would you like me to make you something?" she asked through a yawn, she was obviously tired and had only just woken up. "no, no, don't trouble yourself. i'll just sleep. thank you, mom. i love you." he told before hanging up the phone. he put the phone back down on the nightstand before he closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep. he slept through morning practice and his shift at the shop. the team just assumed he was too busy to come or maybe it slipped his mind. but they did get more concerned when he didn't show up at afternoon practice either.

takeda led practice but after it was over, he headed to the store. he walked in and wasn't greeted by the normal smell of smoke nor was he greeted by his boyfriend voice. instead, instead he was greeted by an older woman, older than him and keishin. "excuse me, is keishin here?" he asked, walking up to the counter. "you know keishin?" the old lady asked, looking up at male. "yes, do you know where he is?" he asked politely. "yeah, he called me this morning. he's come down with something." she informed as she maintained eye contact. "oh..uh..hold on-" takeda said quickly, walking off and disappearing into one of the aisles. he was only gone for a short amount of time before he returned with his arms full of things. the essentials. medicine, gatorade, crackers, ice cream, nose spray, heated blanket, and a few other goodies. most of them were just to make ukai more comfortable. he paid and thanked the woman before he headed to ukais apartment.

he knocked on the door and looked at his watch for a moment. he heard some shuffling behind the door before the door slowly creaked open and he was greeted by a very tired looking keishin ukai snuggly wrapped in a blanket. "ukai?" takeda muttered, mostly just surprised that ukai looked like that. "ittetsu?" ukai said back, his voice still scratchy from sleeping all day. "you didn't show up at either practice and i was worried." he said quietly as the door was opened more and he was let in by ukai. he stepped in and took his shoes off, glancing over and taking in the sight one more time. "honey, are you okay?" takeda asked, gently placing his hand one the lower part of ukais back, leading him to the males bedroom. "i'm okay..just tired.." ukai muttered, rubbing his face.

as they walked to the bedroom, takeda glanced around and noticed all the clutter. "what's going on?" he asked, gesturing to the pile of things. "the old man, he's only got a year left says the doctors. gotta start going through his shit now." ukai muttered, trying to make it sound like it wasn't a big deal. "keishin.." takeda whispered, getting his boyfriend situated on the bed before he crouched in front of him, his hands resting on his knees. keishin looked down at the floor as takeda stared up at him. "keishin, why didn't you say anything? honey, it's obviously been bothering you. do you want to talk about it?" takeda asked, rubbing ukais knees with his thumbs gently. there was silence for a minute or two before ukai let out a sigh. "no, not really." he whispered, closing his eyes. "can we- baby, can we just lay down?" ukai asked, opening his eyes and glancing down at takeda. slight tears were formed in ukais eyes but he didn't dare to let them fall. "of course. of course, kei." takeda hummed, standing up and setting the bag down. "here..when you are ready, we can open the goodies." he mumbled, getting into the bed with ukai.

they laid next to each other, ukais face buried in takedas chest. takeda gently stroked ukais hair while ukai held around his waist. and they stayed like that for hours. no words spoken. just comfortable silence. the silence was comforting, ukai needed it. he needed his boyfriend.

((word count: 1026))