always...

chapter 101 - daichi & suga

suga stared daggers at his phone screen, rereading daichi's messages.

i need to get to him.

"fuck this," suga muttered angrily under his breath, deciding to call oikawa one more time.

the line rang only twice this time.

"yes?"

"iwaizumi?" suga asked, confused.

"uh huh. do you need tōru? we're busy and he's kind of tied up at the moment," iwaizumi said bluntly.

"i don't give a fuck if he's busy, put him on the phone, now," suga's tone carried a certain finality.

suga listened as the audio became muffled for a few moments before clearing up again.

"ko-chan? are you okay?" oikawa asked, slightly out of breath.

"no, i'm not. daichi's not answering my texts and i think he's drinking. i need you to drive me over there right now, please," suga begged.

"shit, okay, i'll be there as soon as i can. just sit tight," oikawa responded, his voice switching from concerned to serious.

"i can't do anything but 'sit tight,' remember?! just get here asap," suga half-yelled into the phone.

suga hung up and got out of bed. he hopped around his room, grabbing a hoodie, his jacket, his phone, and his crutches before hobbling down the hall.

he sat down at the top of the stairs and slid down step by step which was the fastest way he could manage at the moment. finally, he got to the bottom of the flight and waited on the last step by the front door.

5 minutes passed...then 10...then 15...when finally the doorbell rang.

suga pushed himself up, balancing on his left foot, and opened the door.

"are you ready? let me help you," oikawa started without another word from the karasuno setter.

oikawa grabbed suga's crutches from the bottom of the stairs and helped suga onto them. they made their way out of the house and to oikawa's car which remained parked in the driveway.

iwaizumi got out of the passenger's seat and helped oikawa with suga, taking the crutches and putting them in the back as suga settled into the seat.

the seijoh couple got in the car as well, finally locking the doors as oikawa began backing out of the driveway.

the ride to daichi's mom's house was painfully silent.

suga was too caught up in his own spiraling thoughts, picturing the worst possible scenarios while oikawa was trying to focus on driving without looking in the rearview every 10 seconds to check on suga.

each mile they drove felt like a hundred as the road seemed to elongate at an almost excruciatingly fast pace, perpetuated by the anxiety that rammed suga's mind.

"are we there yet?" suga blurted out impatiently.

"2 minutes," iwaizumi answered before oikawa could respond.

finally, they pulled into daichi's driveway and got out of the car as soon as oikawa had put the car in park. suga had barely gotten himself onto his crutches before he started racing towards the front door.

suga pressed the doorbell once and waited a few seconds.

no one answered.

suga rang the bell again and again and again and again, when finally the three teens heard the volume of footsteps growing louder by the door.

the lock clicked twice.

"oh...kōshi...why are you here?"

oikawa and iwaizumi shared a quick confused glance.

"hi sawamura-san, sorry to bother you, but is daichi around?" suga asked quickly.

she sighed in annoyance, "that's not my name anymore...but he's probably shut himself up in his room again. i wouldn't bother," she rolled her eyes.

"you really don't know anything do you?" suga hissed, picking up one of his crutches and pushing daichi's mom to the side, entering the house with oikawa and iwaizumi following behind him.

"daichi! daichi are you here?!" suga called up the staircase.

no answer.

"i'll go up first. tōru, you help suga up?" iwaizumi suggested, slipping off his shoes and running up the steps.

the gray-haired teen threw his crutches to the side and started hopping up the stairs, one arm hoisted over oikawa's shoulder.

"suga! tōru! hurry! it's daichi...i think something's wrong!" iwaizumi yelled in panic.

suga jumped up the steps even faster, ignoring the fact that he was practically dragging oikawa with him instead of the other way around.

suga tripped through daichi's doorway, desperate to get to the captain as quickly as he could. iwaizumi was knelt down next to daichi, who was sprawled out on the floor.

suga crawled up to the two of them, his hazel eyes fixated on daichi's unmoving body.

"suga...i-i can't find a pulse. he smells like alcohol...he's b-bleeding and i don't know if he's breathing," iwaizumi stuttered, "tōru, call an ambulance, we need to get him to a hospital."

"no...no, no, no, no!" suga leaned over daichi's body, placing his head against his chest.

please be okay...

suga felt his eyes well up with tears as he tried to slow his uneven breaths just enough to listen for daichi's heartbeat.

the setter squeezed his eyes shut, letting the teardrops roll down his cheek to soak daichi's shirt as he focused his attention to the unconscious captain.

wait...

"i...i can feel a pulse! i-it's weak and he's barely breathing, but it's there!" suga exclaimed, choking back a sob.

"i called the ambulance, they'll be here soon. let's try and get him downstairs," oikawa decided, kneeling down next to iwaizumi as they placed daichi's arms around their shoulders.

"wait a second..." suga caught a glimpse of something metal loosely grasped in daichi's hand.

the bracelet?...is that what he meant? what did he mean by "i'm ready"?

suga shook his head, all the sound around him suddenly going mute as he realized what daichi was trying to do.

no...no...not like this.

the bracelet fell out of daichi's hand as if in slow motion before hitting the ground with a dull clang.

suga felt his stomach drop, a dull ache taking its place. the setter gasped for air as tears now flowed freely down his face and fell to the floor.

oikawa and iwaizumi lifted daichi off the floor and began carrying him down the stairs to wait for the ambulance, temporarily leaving suga alone in daichi's room.

suga reached over and picked up the bracelet, noticing how the shine of the silver had become slightly tarnished.

he ran his thumb across the engraving, just as daichi had done countless times before.

"always"