Archive of Our Own ^beta

It was a normal day at Shiratorizawa's volley club. The main team had been divided intro trios for practising spikes and bloking: the spiker would send the ball to the setter, who would set it for the poor spiker that had to cross the whole court to spike, and the blocker at the other side of the net would stop it. Easy enough, right?

Goshiki had been teamed up with Tendou and Semi, which motivated him to try his hardest. If he wanted to be Shiratorizawa's ace, he had to be able to trick the so feared guess monster and land his spikes. But that day, the cute first year wasn't feeling all that well. When he'd woken up that mornig, he'd known something was off, but he couldn't place his finger on what. He just brushed the thought off, thinking he maybe hadn't slept well. That would explain the headache, he supposed. But after morning parctise and a couple of classes, he could tell it wasn't as simple as that. His head was pounding, and his throat felt reaaaaally sore. Not to mention the fact that he'd had to start stiffling his coughs after the first ten times. He was having trouble organizing his thoughts, which certainly didn't help at chemistry class. At lunch he mostly just listened, it wasn't that difficult to keep track of the conversation, but he for sure missed a couple of fragments. If the boy noticed the strange looks Tendou was giving him, he didn’t ask

By the time practise arrived, he was feeling marginally worse. The pounding in his head hadn't decreased at all, if anything, it seemed to be even worse. He was also having trouble breathing properly because of his sore throat. The boy was surprised he even made it past the laps, doubting even his ability to walk in a straight line. When they started the spike and block exercise, he noted he was feeling dizzy, even if not a lot, but enough for it to catch his attention. Four or five spikes in, after clumsily landing in front of his red-haired senpai, he decided he couldn't keep going like that. There was no strength behind his spikes, and his form was just awful. He could feel Washijou's eyes boring onto his back, and every step he took just made his head pulse with pain.
"Tendou-san, I don't feel so good" He said, looking at the older boy. Said boy simply got closer to the younger, trying to get a closer look, his expression unreadable as always.
"Yeah, I figured as much. You've been a bit weird since this morning, Tsutomu, being so quiet doesn’t suit you." He said, placing a hand on his forehead. Semi, who had been watching from afar, joined them.
"Is everything alright?" He asked, obviously concerned.
"I think our cute little Tsutomu has a fever. What do you think?" Now it was the grey-haired teen that placed a hand on his forehead, and the ace-to-be just wanted to melt into the touch.
"Yeah, he's definitively too warm. You should tell coach and take a couple of days off" He said.
"I'll go with him. I can't let our cute kouhai suffer alone. Let's go, Tsutomu" Tendou placed a hand on the boy's back, as he had zoned out during the conversation. They walked up to Washijou.
"What's the matter?" Asked the old man.
"Our little Tsutomu seems to be sick. I think he should go to the infirmary or his room and rest" He answered. Once again, Tsutomu's temperature was checked, this time by the coach.
"Okay, you take him there. But make sure you both have a shower before going anywhere" Tendou merely hummed in response, already guiding the teen to the showers.

They calmly walked into the bath. There was an area for people that formed part of a sport club, which usually stunk and another for people belonging to other clubs. It was still too early for any of the activities to be over, so they were alone. Tendou helped Tsutomu with taking his clothes off before doing so himself, and then they moved into the shower area. The younger was a bit disoriented, swaying lightly, so his senpai made him sit down on a stall.

Tsutomu looked better once they were done, that water taking away the extra heat generated because of the exercise. They then made their way to the room Tendou shared with Ushijima, knowing the other wouldn’t mind, and would even be glad to have the younger close to look after him. The boy with the bowl cut laid on the lower bunk, which belonged to the red-haired but was more often shared with his boyfriend.
“Try to sleep for a bit. I’ll bring dinner later, along with some ibuprofen. If you aren’t any better by tomorrow evening, I’ll take you to the nurse” The teen hummed softly in response, and quickly fell into the arms of sleep. Tendou waited by his side until Ushijima appeared to tell him it was time to get dinner, but not without sending a glance to the sleeping figure in the bed he so frequently used.

“Tendou, how’s Goshiki doing?” Asked a very much worried Semi right the moment he saw him.
“He’s sleeping right now. I’ll bring him dinner later, and if he’s not better by tomorrow, I’ll take him to the nurse. Seems like it’s just a common cold, though” He assured him. Everyone one looked content with that answer, and the meal was eaten in a relax ambient, get well wishes sent to Goshiki as Tendou left the cafeteria with a bowl of steaming soup.

He left the tray he was carrying on the bed side table and carefully woke up his kouhai, brushing his bangs to the side.
“Hey, Tsutomu, I brought your dinner. I need you to get up.” He whispered.
“’m tired, not hungry.” He whined. The guess monster smiled fondly.
“Yeah, I know, honey. You can go back to sleep after you eat and take your medicine. Now, come on, sit up for me” The boy groaned but got up non-the-less. He was handed the soup, and dazedly ate it all. Then Tendou gave him the tablet and a glass of water.
“Move a bit to the side” He said after the boy was laying down again. Once there was enough space, he laid down with him, petting his head softly and tangling their legs together.
“Go to sleep now, it’s gonna be a tight fit when Wakatoshi gets here.” He said softly.
“Yeah” Was the only response he got before his breath evened out, peacefully asleep in the arms of his senpai.

The next morning, the boy with the bowl cut woke up enveloped in the arms of his two senpais, and feeling much better than the day before. He still missed a couple of days of practise, though.