Fake Smiles

The Worst Day - Prologue

**Story will be in third person forever unless otherwise noted**

Suga and his father were driving to school. Normally, he would walk and meet up with Daichi halfway to school, however his father wanted to beat the grocery traffic and therefore drove Suga to school for early morning volleyball practice. The drive was fairly short. Suga's father had started conversing with his son on the topic of grades, as most parents often do; "You're doing very well in school this past year. Two college credit courses and all straight A's. I'm very proud. Your mother and I both are."

Suga smiled his normal ear to ear smile with the closed eyes. "Thank you! I've been working very hard. It's a little stressful with volleyball and all the work, but it's nothing I can't handle," he replied still smiling but opening his eyes to focus on the school coming into view. "You know, we are going to do a practice match. Half the team v.s. half the team. You could stop in and watch for a little while?" Suga asked with a hopeful glance at his dad. Suga's father was normally preoccupied with work, and while he made an effort to attend the volleyball games, he often times missed more than he would like. A practice match was not a volleyball game against another team, but at certain times, it seemed like a match on it's own. Suga would occasionally count them as an attendance to his games, mostly to reassure his father that he was involved enough with his son.

His father chuckles, "You know when I wake up early I have to do something. If I go now, I might just be able to get supplies to build that desk extension you were wanting. Then we could build it together after work?"

"That would be awesome! Though you could always buy it later, as much as I would love it, I wouldn't mind waiting a while longer. And, you don't have to stay the whole time! Maybe just... twenty minutes?" Suga tries again, a little desperate to spend more time with his father. They were pulling into the schools parking lot and he was about to be dropped off. He really would like to convince his dad to come watch for just a little while, but he knows he can be stubborn.

"That would be nice Koushi, though I'd rather not show up unannounced."

At that moment, Suga knew he wouldn't be able to convince his father. Next time, he thought to himself with determination, Next time I'll make sure he will come!  He turned his head and locked eyes with him as the car parked in front of the school. Smiling he says, "Alright Dad. I'll see you later then!" He opens the car door and jumps out. Going to the back seat to grab his school bag. He didn't need to bring his volleyball bag because it was already in the boys locker room, seeing as it was Wednesday and there was really no reason to bring it home yesterday. Closing the car door and swinging his bag over his shoulder, Suga waves goodbye to his father.

"Koushi!" His father calls to him from a rolled down window, "I'll always be proud of you, and I love you! Have a good day at school." His father's smile mimics Suga's own, though he kept his eyes open to see his son.

Suga's smile could split his face in half. "I love you too! Good luck with shopping!" he responds, putting his hands together to form a small heart over the left side of his chest. He then runs into the school grounds and heads to the gym where morning practice will be held. Upon arriving, he sees Daichi. The pair talk and end up facing each other in the volleyball match. Classes were going well too. He had an art project for his art class that was to capture the natural beauty of an specific scene with a significant meaning to the painter. Then in English he had a test, which he passed with flying colours, easily earning himself another A for the report card. Everything was going great, until his second to last class of the day when he was called down to the principals office.

"Is everything alright?" Suga asks as he enters the office he rarely finds himself in. Standing by the desk is his mother, fresh tears pouring out of her eyes. The principal has a hand on her shoulder, an act of consolation. "Mom?" he rushes to her side to ask what happened.

"It's your father," she starts, unsure how to word the news. Taking a deep breath, the woman says, "On his way back from shopping," Suga was getting a bad feeling, "A car ran into him." Breathe, he tells himself, Dad's fine.... though he gets the feeling his father really isn't, "The crash... it injured him severely." No. "About an hour ago, he was," his mother breaks down into tears and Suga can feel wetness trickling down his own cheeks, "He was pronounced dead."

Everything stops. School. People. Time in general. His father was dead. If only he convinced him to stay for the practice match. If only he stalled time and talked to him longer. If only he did something, done anything, his father might still be alive.

Tears began to flow down his face in torrents as he hugged his mother tightly, the two crying together. The principal stood in the background awkwardly. After minutes of endless tears, the principal tells Suga he is free to leave school, but the words from earlier that day flood back to him:

"You're doing very well in school this past year. I'm proud of you."

Suga offers a small, sad smile. "I'll stay. He would want me to continue," he whispers silently, the smile fading. He would stay for the last class and volleyball practice, since he was in the office for the whole class anyway. Suddenly a thought occurred to him, then another. If the team found out he was sad, or struggling, the team would struggle. He was one of the main reasons the team managed to stay calm and collected, since he was always, always, the emotionally strong, uplifting team mom. Also, Noya had texted him explaining that he was sick, and Suga was supposed to go see him after volleyball practice to make sure he was holding up alright. That settled it then, the team wouldn't find out he was sad, he would stay strong and happy for them... and he might need to find someone to check up on Noya.

With these thoughts, Suga walked to his last class, feeling tired and exhausted, but wearing a fake smile to cover the pain.

A/N

I finally wrote the first part of this story! Jeez, it took forever to find the right story topic and find the motivation to write haha. Well I'm here with the first update! Hopefully, another will be released soon. Next chapter will line up directly with the Asanoya Sick fanfiction, but you don't need to read that one to read this. <3 Stay awesome people!