"Angel, calm down. It doesn't hurt me." Tsukishima mumbled. He relaxed into the hospital bed, ignoring the IV in his arm. It was feeding him antibiotics, which did sting a bit. 

Yamaguchi was holding his hand, brows furrowed. Tsukishima rubbed his fingers, tender. 

"It's okay."

Yamaguchi put his hand to his forehead. "T-Tsuki?"

"Hm?" 

"Sorry…" 

Tsukishima felt his tremble and sighed. "It's okay. You didn't know. You don't like hospitals either. This is stressful and you need to just stay calm for now. Or try to." 

Yamaguchi sat up slowly despite it hurting his back. His pain was incredibly bad today and now he had to wait for Tsukishima to get better because he hadn't been able to think right and notice signs of pneumonia. His mind had been foggy from forcing everything and it made him overwhelmed. 

"Tadashi, you're working yourself up. Lean back over and drink some water."

"B-but-" 

"I know-" Tsukishima coughed. "Please?" 

"Mhmm…" Yamaguchi leaned forward. He relaxed before falling asleep, holding Tsukishima's hand. 

Tsukishima fell asleep, his breathing still difficult now. The cannula in his nose didn't feel nice and didn't help him breathe very well. 

It was going to take a week at most to get better and it sucked so much. 

Iwaizumi eventually got him recommended for a mask. This only made Yamaguchi more upset, realizing this is what Tsukishima saw when he'd been asleep. It was awful. 

Tsukishima sent him home after two days, knowing it was way too stressful for him to handle right now. He called and texted and made sure he was doing okay with food, ordering groceries to the apartment. Yamaguchi said he was fine and made sure to be sweet. 

It was only when Kuroo went to check up on him Tsukishima realized how bad it was. Yamaguchi was in bed when he'd gotten there, sobbing. 

His back hurt so bad but he didn't want to take his medicine because it was an opioid and he was scared of getting addicted. Kuroo gave him the dose though, getting him to do his exercises to stop being so tense. Tsukishima watched from his phone, making sure Yamaguchi was doing okay. 

****

"Tadashi, look at me." 

Yamaguchi looked up. "Mm?" 

"How much longer?" 

Yamaguchi started to try and count on his fingers. "Four." 

"Why don't you look at the book? You like the book, right?" 

"Is heavy…" 

"Ah right…" Tsukishima took a deep breath and smiled. "That felt nice." 

Yamaguchi perked up. "Done?" 

"Almost." 

Yamaguchi smiled. He shifted and yawned. "Imma just… Mm." He rolled over slowly onto his back and hummed. "I'm sleepy…" 

"It's late. You need rest." 

"Mm… No!" Yamauchi closed his eyes. He was quiet for a moment. Soft snoring sounded and he held his stuffed rabbit close. 

"Weirdo…" Tsukishima looked around. Two more days. He had stopped throwing up and was less tired. His muscles were less achey. "Tadashi, Tadashi." 

Yamaguchi hummed, waking up.

"Turn over before it starts to hurt." 

Yamaguchi whined. He turned onto his left side, falling back asleep. 

Tsukishima shifted and settled in, able to hear Yamaguchi's breathing. It sounded healthy and not at all painful. He did hear what he recognized as Kuroo walking into his apartment. Kuroo said hi to Yamaguchi's phone by habit, covering him up and setting a bottle of water by the bed. He cracked the window, making sure it was cool in the room. "Thanks, Kuroo." 

"No problem." Kuroo yawned. "He's got his back brace on." 

"Shit. Wake him up." 

Kuroo shook his shoulder. "Yama. Hey, you can't wear your brace while sleeping." 

"Fuck off…" Yamaguchi whispered. 

"Ah. No." 

"Mkay." Yamaguchi wriggled around. He took off his shirt and struggled with the straps. He loosened one before whining. "I don wanna…" 

"Yama, come on man. Don't make this weird." 

"Tsukiii." 

"Just take it off," Tsukishima stated. 

Yamaguchi tugged. "Can't." 

"Babe…" 

Kuroo sighed. "Do I need to do this one?" 

"Try to. Tadashi, don't hit." 

Kuroo leaned over and lose the top of his brace before undoing the velcro. "Arms up." Yamaguchi put his arms up. Kuroo attempted to get it off. "Did you just go slack on purpose?" 

Yamaguchi laughed. 

Tsukishima coughed. "Tadashi." 

Yamaguchi wiggled. Kuroo slid it off of him. "There we go. Whew. Any other braces?" 

Yamaguchi flushed. "Uh." 

"Hip brace under his sweats." Tsukishima sighed. "You aren't touching his hips. Tadashi, I know you can get that one off on your own. Kuroo, get out of my room for a moment." 

Kuroo left. Yamaguchi genuinely struggled for a moment, trying to get off his brace. He had this on for the daytime when needed but now that it was the night he was weaker and he had to remind himself about his responsibility to get it off before he slept. "T-Tsuki…" 

"Yes?" 

"Hurts! It hurts!" Yamaguchi started to cry. 

"Shit, shit. What happened?" 

"Pop!" Yamaguchi yelled. He coughed. 

Kuroo got in the room. "Hey what just happened?" 

"His hip popped. Get him ice." 

Yamaguchi looked over. "I'm sorry!"

"What?" 

"I-I was gonna take off it but- I-" Yamaguchi started to cry quieter. "I'm s-so dumb…" 

"Baby… No. You forgot. I got jealous. I'll let Kuroo take it off of you." 

Yamaguchi was given ice and Kuroo gently undid the brace and slipped it off of him. "Can I at least hug him? He's shaking Kei." 

Tsukishima nodded slowly. 

Kuroo gently lifted and hugged the younger male. "God that must be awful…" 

Yamaguchi held on before pushing away. "I want Tsuki."

Tsukishima gulped. Maybe Kuroo had been right months ago. Maybe he couldn't do this. He had so much guilt in him that he himself felt like sobbing. Yamaguchi had just hurt himself because Tsukishima was being an ass. 

Tsukishima hung up quickly. He held himself, shaky. 

"Your heart monitor is going… Up." Iwaizumi stopped. "Do you need some Benadryl to calm down?"

"Can you get the fuck out?!" 

Iwaizumi took a deep breath. "Okay." 

Tsukishima cried to himself, ignoring the calls he got. In the morning he refused visitors and calls until somehow they let Yamaguchi through and into his room. 

He sat there for an hour, just observing. 

Tsukishima wouldn't make eye contact. He sat still, knees pulled to his chest. He looked exhausted. 

Yamaguchi rolled closer, hands on the bed. He noticed Tsukishima's lack of movement and realized he'd fallen asleep, sitting up. "Oh, love…" 

He got on the bed, wrapping his arms around Tsukishima. Tsukishima woke up a bit and hugged back, not aware of what was going on but loving the feeling of just… Him. 

"I gotcha." 

Tsukishima huddled into him, humming into his neck. 

"Comfy?" 

"Mhmm. La loo…" 

"Love you." 

Tsukishima sniffled. 

Yamaguchi played with his hair, tender. When Tsukishima woke up he apologized, holding onto Yamaguchi's shoulders. Yamaguchi kissed his forehead. "Mornin sunshines." 

"Morning…" 

"Head hurt?" 

"Not really." 

Yamaguchi sighed slowly. He gestured to the calendar. "Out yet?" 

"I just have fatigue and the rare cough. They should let me go." 

Yamaguchi wiggled. He whined. 

"You have energy?" 

"Lots of it." 

"Wait… Can you say bigger sentences?" 

"Sometimes." 

"Can we try?" 

"Uh… A little."

Tsukishima nodded. "What happened last night when I hung up?" 

"Kuroo… Helped me sl… Sleep. He was gah-gone in the morning." Yamaguchi struggled, not used to putting a lot of words together. 

"How did he help?" 

"Bunches of blankets." 

"He just put them on you and left?" 

"Mhmm." 

Tsukishima nodded. He sipped his water, not all there. Yamaguchi kissed his cheek, getting him to lay down. Tsukishima curled up, falling asleep fairly quickly. Yamaguchi found Tsukishima's phone, unlocking it. He played on it for a while, his favorite games still saved. 

Tsukishima had downloaded games for him years ago and handed over his phone to Yamaguchi a lot. His phone even had a folder named "Angel" with a small dinosaur emoji, filled with puzzle games and designing games. 

Yamaguchi ignored messages to Tsukishima, knowing it was work. He played for a while until noticing the messages from Kuroo. He clicked on the conversation, praying this wasn't considered snooping. 

Kuroo: 

Are you doing okay? Last night was kind of weird. You seemed off. I'm worried about you. 

Yamaguchi yawned. That was normal. Kuroo was nice. He started to go back to his game before another message popped up. 

Kuroo: 

Is this because of you crying? You've been doing that a lot lately... Tomas messaged me because he found you crying again. Message me when you wake up, okay? 

Yamaguchi took a deep breath. Crying? Tsukishima hadn't been crying lately. Not in front of him at least. 

****

Tsukishima glanced in the mirror, confused. "Tadashi?" 

Yamaguchi startled. "Mm?" 

Tsukishima laughed. He turned around. "What are you doing?" 

Yamaguchi looked up from putting bubbles on his head. "Making hats."

Tsukishima leaned down. He felt the bathwater. "Comfy?" 

"Mhmm." 

"I'm gonna take a shower when you're done. That hospital shower didn't get rid of the sweat." 

"Take a bath... With me." 

"It's alright. You're having fun." 

"Oh..." Yamaguchi finished up and got some help getting into bed. Tsukishima took his shower, seemingly fine. 

Yamaguchi did have to get his medicine from the bathroom and could hear the sniffles through the sound of the shower. The crying. Kuroo was right. 

"Hey Tsuki?" 

"Hm?" 

"I love you..." 

"Love you too."

"Tsuki, why do you cry?" 

Tsukishima was quiet. 

"Tsuki?" 

"Can this wait? Please?" 

"Mhmm." 

"Thank you, Angel." Tsukishima heard him walk out and wiped his eyes. It was awful being this scared of himself and feeling so much guilt. He wanted to change so bad.