A Co-Captain's Doubts

Lost

"C-Coach... I- I'm gonna be sick-"Clenching his jaw tight to try and hold back the urge to throw up right then and there, Sugawara squeezed his eyes shut and fought to keep himself in check.

"You're gonna be sick?! Er- hang on, wait- Uh, here we go. Ennoshita, here's a trash can, come on, get him over here."

Essentially dragged by his coach and teammate, the third year let his head hang forward and finally succumbed to the vicious sandstorm raging in his mind. He was miserable inside and out, everything hurt, but nothing more than his heart.

"You know we'll be fine if you leave, right?"

Heaving violently, Sugawara was ushered before a garbage can just in time to throw up most of the water Yamaguchi had given him. Coughing and spitting into the bin below him, Suga cursed himself silently. It made sense that he'd be sick from the concussion he was positive he had but in reality... It was the echoing of Daichi's words that racked him with waves of nausea. The dizziness and disorientation should have been what caused the thin track of tears to run down his flushed cheeks, but he knew the truth. His best friend had unwittingly agreed with the boy from Kita Wasaki... Sugawara wasn't needed.

Trembling as another bout of retching had him tensing up, Suga coughed up the rest of his dignity as Ukai slipped the boy's arm from around his shoulder and gently handed him over to Ennoshita. Squeezing Sugawara's shoulder as tears ran down the bridge of his nose and into the bin below, the Coach looked to the second year before pulling away.

"I'll grab some paper towels from the bathroom, hang onto him for a minute."

Nodding, Ennoshita gripped Suga around the waist a little tighter as Ukai jogged off around the corner, and then it was just the two of them. The second-year wasn't sure what to say, he'd never seen his upperclassman look so... Distraught? He knew Sugawara was injured, but he looked more anguished than in pain.

"Uh... Suga, are you okay?"

It was a stupid question, clearly, he wasn't okay if Ennoshita was needed just to keep him upright, but he wasn't really talking about his bruised face or bleeding mouth. Watching his teammate, he waited quietly for an answer as Suga's quick short breaths filled the quiet around them. When some of his trembling managed to lessen but he was still silent, the dark-haired boy leaned his head down to get a better look, and saw he had a steady stream of tears dripping from the tip of his nose as he stared blankly into the trashcan. It was alarming really, the face of their normally chipper or stern vice-captain contorting into an almost unrecognizable state of dismay. Something was wrong, something other than his current injuries, but Ennoshita wasn't sure what.

Deciding to give it another shot, he adjusted the arm pulled over his shoulder to better accommodate Suga's weight and continued to watch his senior's face.

"Is something bothering you?... You look like you might be upset." Ennoshita offered gently.

As close as they were, the younger boy didn't catch what the setter mumbled quietly, but it sounded like 'useless.' Sure he heard him wrong, Ennoshita furrowed a brow and leaned in a bit closer to try and hear better.

"I'm sorry, what was that?"

Swallowing thickly and giving the smallest shake of his head, Suga closed his tear-filled hazel eyes.

"...It's... Just my head..." He mumbled, and before Ennoshita could question him further, Ukai was coming back around the corner, wad of paper towels in hand.

"You're a mess, kid, here."

Handing his player a chunk of the tissues with a concerned frown, Ukai watched as Suga tentatively accepted it and used a wobbly hand to wipe his mouth with a wince. Pulling the bloody towel from his aching lip, he attempted to dry his face instead, but took in a shuddering breath as he put too much pressure on the bruising beneath his eye and pulled it away. He really was a mess, salty tears burning his cuts, nose running, lip bleeding, and eye swollen. He could no longer see anything through the barrage of sand in his mind, and his entire body hurt. It was too much.