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It was over, just like that, the volleyball season had ended.
The school year went on and Suga began to see less and less of the second and first years. Daichi was involved in the student council and Asahi was working a job at a clothing store owned by a high-up fashion designer. He was glad they found their niches, he really was, he just wished he had also found his. But, "Driving your siblings to and from wherever while your parents acted like they could work whenever now that you were available to take care of their children" doesn't lead him to a viable career path. In his downtime, he did homework and studied. His other group of friends were from his advanced classes, but they were all going through their year as if it were nothing. Even spending his downtime studying, Suga's highest grade was one that Tomoko would complain about; a 95. Suga wasn't sure if he was ever a 'smart kid' to begin with, maybe he was just talented at pretending.
He had been sure for almost a decade now that he wanted to go into medicine. But so did Tomoko, and Rio, and Lisa, and everyone else. His GPA was just at the minimum required for consideration. Why would any school accept him when the better options are right next to him. And until recently, if he was being honest with himself, he either wanted a path to a med-career or to simply stop living altogether. As the rejection letters started coming in, he began to put just as much effort into his plan B as it became more and more likely.
He would register for community college, he technically would be on a detour, but he didn't plan to see it through. His youngest sibling would be a year away from being 5, he would stick it out until then, that way he could accumulate money to support his family when he's gone.
Truly convinced that his luck was out to get him, Suga lost a few nights of sleep over trying to figure out where to get a job. But to his surprise, in a casual conversation, while buying Natsuki a lollipop, Ukai offered Suga a job at Sakanoshita Market.
That's how it started.
And that's what caused it to end up where it was now.
Suga was on the floor of the market, his arms wrapped around his knees that his head was resting against. He couldn't see Keishin from being the register, but he could see as the store lights flickered off, leaving only the all-day light in the centre of the place glowing dimly. The floor of the store was warm from his body heat and the blanket that covered the majority of his body. It should have been cold, but he was radiating so much heat
Keishin walked back around to the register and crouched down to the now-shaking figure on the floor. Suga began to mumble something, but Keishin couldn't make out a single word due to the student's hands covering his face.
"Koushi, I need you to take your hands off your face so we can talk." Keishin ensured that his voice was stern. He didn't know how to describe the situation he was in, but it certainly was a situation that yielded his ground to be held while still offering as much as he could. Yes, he did know that this was a situation that would warrant calling law enforcement or something similar, but he also knew law enforcement fucked up everything they were supposed to do.
"Coach please I need- you want to" Keishin interrupted the boy, it was the same thing. He was hoping that his coworker/student/friend would say something about the bruised covering his body and the obvious self-harm marks, that maybe he would get lucky and Suga would ask for actual clothing to cover his nearly naked body that was directly in contact with the un-mopped floor. But, it wasn't either of those. It was the same thing that "started" this breakdown. And Keishin knew there was more behind it than just an unrequited crush on a coach, he knew the Sugawara Koushi he met about a year ago and he, unfortunately, had grown familiar with the Sugawara Koushi laid out in front of him.
"Koushi I already said no, I'm not going to change my mind." Keishin's heart wrenched at the sound of agonised sobs bursting from the boy's mouth. It didn't do jack-shit to his answer and opinion on the matter, but it made him wish there was something he could do to help, and truly help, his friend. Just, he wasn't willing to do that. And he knew it wouldn't help anyway.
"Why," the silver-haired boy grabs onto Keishin's sleeve. He watches the way his arms flex, a bit of blood starts to form droplets on the different lines tattered on his arm. "Am I really that useless?" and as his voice breaks a switch flip's in the older man's being. Keishin has been more than just Koushi's coach for a while now. They're friends. Keishin cares about Koushi like how he cares about Takinoue and the other players on his community team.
But Koushi is also his student. Just like the rest of the Karasuno team, Keishin had watched Koushi grow up in the past year. The cheesiness made him want to barf, but the students were his family.
And so, Keishin makes a decision. He *is* going to help his friend because he *is* hurting and in the worst way possible, he proved that he needed help. Gathering Koushi in his arms, ensuring the blanket covers his bare chest. Right as he begins to stand up, Keishin notices the drying tears on his cheek. He could feel the other's hurt.
"Sweetie, I'm gonna take you upstairs to my actual home. I'll make you some tea and help you clean up your wounds-"
"We'll have s-"
"No, I'll give you a bed to sleep in." And Koushi started crying harder as the man laid him down on a bed. "I'm going to get you a shirt and pants to put on."
Keishin turned around to open his drawer, hoping to find a shirt that hadn't been too worn. At the bottom of his drawer was an old concert t-shirt his ex-girlfriend had gotten him a few years back before she moved. He hadn't seen it in a while, it would have to do, Koushi wouldn't know the nostalgic value of it.
"Change Sugawara." The clothing made a soft sound as it landed on the corner of the bed. "Okay?" Keishin waited for the boy to nod before he continued, "I'm going to make you some tea so come outside when you are *fully dressed and ready to talk*."
Keishin shut the door behind him and went to his bathroom to grab his first aid kit. Now alone for the first time since this godforsaken night had begun, Keishin let his abs contract as he began to relinquish his hold on the sobs he had been forcing back since the beginning. Shards of glass were wedged into his entire being, Keishin was there to watch Koushi shatter to pieces.
Looking over his shoulder at the sitting area outside his room, Keishin decided that he had time to send a few quick messages. God but that would require him knowing what to say.
Dialling Ittetsu this late at night, Keishin wasn't surprised how quickly he picked up. Keishin was an early-riser, rarely would he ever be awake past the end of his 8:00 shift. That would be when Keishin usually greeted Suga or the other employee that took the closing shift and went straight home to bed. It was 12:00 now.
"Keishin?"
"I'm so sorry," He wanted to kick himself, he sounded pathetic. Someone his age should be able to call for help without choking on their own tears, "I need you to come help, Koushi- Sugawara, he's," Keishin didn't even know how to describe it, he didn't want to let any information spread that could hurt the teenager, but he needed the help, "I think he was going to try and uh- end his life but I forgot my phone at the store so I uh- I went back and he broke down and begged me to uh- he insisted that I slept with, had sex with him. I didn't- I just need help I don't know how to help him."
"I'm in the elevator right now, meet me at the door." Keishin loved the fact that his, well he didn't know what to call Ittetsu, but he loved how he lived two floors above him. He loved it now more than ever.
Keishin opened the apartment door, and Ittetsu immediately came in and started rambling. "When you got there had he attempted anything yet? Because if he took anything he needed to have been brought to the hospital right away. Ukai I need you just to tell me exactly what happened so we can figure out what we need to do."
"He had a bunch of superficial cuts all over himself, but I think his plan was the, I walked in as he was emptying the entire stock of painkillers into his backpack. He swore; I walked over to him, and as soon as I took the bag out of his hand, he got down on his knees he started begging to- to try- uh, and I pushed him away and he hit his head on the cash register." Keishin was so thankful that it was Ittetsu who he was talking to. Ittetsu knew Suga, he knew that Suga was kinder than any 17-year-old boy was more mature than the wisest of grown adults.
"Are you okay Keishin..." Ittetsu asked, but Keishin could only stare, utterly confused. Nothing had happened to him, why wouldn't he be okay. Noticing the cluelessness on the younger man's face, Ittetsu wrapped his arms around his shoulders. What Suga did wasn't okay, and Keishin obviously didn't even register anything beyond a last-ditch cry for help. "I'm sorry that he-" That wouldn't do, "I'm sorry you both got put in a situation like this."
Then it hit Keishin. "Stop, he didn't do anything wrong."
"He did Keishin, but I understand that you know his intentions lie in something beyond what his actions might've suggested, but he still,"
"He didn't do anything wrong. Someone hurt him and this is his response. If I hadn't have gotten there his shift would have ended he would have closed up the shop and gone who knows where and *done* it."
The door made a squeaky noise as it was pushed open. Koushi.
The silver-haired boy walked out with his face aimed down at the floor. He no longer appeared to be in a state of crisis, but Keishin noted how his shoulders were still rhythmically moving up and down.
"I'm sorry." Keishin and Ittetsu both watched in shock as Suga kneeled on the floor and pressed his head to the ground. "I'm just- I'm so sorry Keish- boss." The hearts of the two grown men in the room broke once again as they rushed to the boy's side to pick him up.
"Koushi, sweetie stand up, it's okay. I'm so glad I was there." Koushi's body fell limp onto Keishin's shoulder as he brought the younger boy to the couch and handed the teacher his first aid kit. "Takeda is gonna clean your arms up okay?"
Koushi nodded, burying his face into his coach's shoulder as he realised that someone was going to take care of him. He wouldn't need to offer up his comfort so he could pretend that someone cared, Keishin actually cared. Sure, Koushi was being babied, but after years of being forced to masquerade as an adult, it was what he needed. It was what he *actually* needed.
If only he knew how to verbalise that. Three hours ago he tried but failed ever so miserably, possibly ruining his relationship with the one person who was there for him as an adult. All because Suga was scared; he was scared to keep living, he was scared of his lost childhood that was begging to be acknowledged, and he was scared of the strain that he put on himself trying to continue fitting in his role as 'adult.'