Haikyuu!! Whumptober 2020 (ENG) [FINISHED]

20. Matsukawa/Hanamaki.

Matsukawa and Hanamaki were the type of couple that everyone despised at least once a day, all flirty and affectionate. They gave each other pet names, held hands whenever they could, kissed at seven am in front of other students, stuff like that. Even their friends made disgusted noises every time they were around. So, it was not really a surprise when they started to hear a group of boys make fun of them in the middle of their walk in the park. It was not the first time and probably not the last that this happened to them. However, it made Takahiro uncomfortable since there were other people around them like families with kids and they were all looking at them curiously. Issei understood it quickly when his boyfriend's hand squeezed his stronger, sweating slightly. He tried to cross Maki's eyes but his companion averted his eyes, his face a bit flushed and sad.

"- So, who's doing the girl ? I bet it's the pink-haired one." one of the idiots that were following them shouted.

Mattsun came to a stop and turned around, his hand leaving his lover's. The latter made a scared noise and tried to catch the brunette's arm, but he shoved it off.

"- What did you say ?

- Oh come on, man. He must be such a slut in bed, that's why you're with him no ? It's kinda written on his forehead that he likes to suck dicks."

The smirk on the boy's face vanished when Matsukawa closed the distance between them and launched his fist right under his jaw. But the thing was, there wasn't only one dumb homophobic but five. And even if he was significantly taller than every single one of them, he would not make it alone. Not when one of his assaulter had an iron bar and was- wait, what ? An iron bar ?

"- Watch out !" Issei heard Hanamaki scream but it was too late.

He had already dodged some of the punches the idiots were throwing at him and didn't noticed when the armed one had slide behind him. The hit made him lost consciousness immediately, the left side of his head throbbing with insufferable pain where the bar had hit him.

When they realized what exactly had happened, the teenagers froze and then ran away without looking back. Blood was flowing on the floor from Mattsun's wound and Takahiro was sobbing, kneeling besides his boyfriend. One of the person present there was calling an ambulance and another, the police. What happened between the moment he put his hands on the cheeks of the motionless boy that he loved and the moment he was waiting in a hospital's hallway was all blurry and undefined.

The pink-haired boy remembered calling Oikawa and Iwaizumi in the ambulance and telling them what had happened, begging for them to come. He remembered the ride, the arrival at the emergencies and the doctors telling him to stay outside the room. But except that, nothing. His mind was full of images of Matsukawa's blood and what he supposed to be a skull fracture. All he was smelling was the odor of blood and not the characteristic smell of the hospitals. He didn't even notice when his two friends appeared at the corner of the hallway, red from their race to here and gasping for air. He wasn't even crying anymore, his eyes dry as he was looking into the void. Fingers grabbed his hand as an arm slid on his shoulders. The door opened in front of him and he glanced up so quickly his neck creaked.

"- How is he going ? Tooru asked when Maki remained silent.

- I'm scared I don't have any good news for you. We had to put him in a artificial coma because of his concussion. The pain would have been to much for him.

- But... But he will wake up, right ? It's only for the time the wound will take to heal, yes ? Hajime replied, sounding more like he was trying to convince himself than anything else.

- I can't promise that. I don't even know if he's actually gonna wake up. I'm sorry."

The man walked away after a few seconds of silence. Oikawa had started crying in the middle of the first sentence the doctor had say. Iwaizumi was hugging Hanamaki's shoulders tighter now. The floor was crumbling under the latter's feet. A world without Mastukawa Issei ? A life without him ? That sounded unreal and painful.