Chapter Text
Kei always forgets how alarming some of the things he says are. 10 centimetres of water is enough to drown in. Falling a single metre could kill you, provided you snap your neck. You could choke on your own spit sleeping on your back. Kei says these things calmly. He could have said you’ll get pruny if you don’t get out of the bath or quit making the bunks squeak or roll over ‘cause you snore worse on your back. He doesn’t say these things. Kei talks about death. Drowning. Asphyxiation. Head trauma.
Even after all this time, Yamaguchi still looks vaguely horrified when these things slip out of Kei’s mouth. Were it not for him, Kei probably wouldn’t realise he’d said something strange at all. It’s not as if morbid is what he aims for. Through his skewed sense of risk, Kei thinks he’s being realistic.
Yamaguchi sees these utterances for what they are. They’re markers. Just like the juvenile splashing gesture he makes in the bath. Just like his automatic move for the lower bunk, even as Kageyama and Hinata fight over the top. Just like his status as a side-sleeper. Just like his grip on the handrail when he uses the stairs. Just like his early bedtime.
To Yamaguchi, they signpost his condition better than his medical bracelet ever could. Not that Kei wears it anymore. It’d be too small now anyway. He’s not on medication anymore either.
Kei is epileptic.
Or was. According to his doctor, he’s considered grown out of it. Just like he grew out of that bracelet.
Yamaguchi isn’t convinced. He doubts he ever will be convinced. Too much of it lingers.
In the way Kei splashes, just to make sound. So people know he’s still conscious in the bath water. In the way he still won’t take the top bunk, despite how rare having bunks is, because he can’t forget how his mum disallowed it. In Kei’s lopsided bed-hair, from resting on his side so he doesn’t choke. In Kei’s fingers, as they grasp a silver rail. He’s nervous of falling, even now. In Kei’s sleep schedule. Tiredness always made seizures more likely.
In the things Kei says. The alarming things. The things about death.
But, either way, the condition is mild. Was mild.
Kei is adamant that it’s not a concern anymore. It’s one of the few things he’s said to Yamaguchi about his epilepsy.
Don’t worry about it.
But when Yamaguchi looks into his expression the first morning in Tokyo, all he can see is a seizure waiting to happen. It’s the same face he’d seen before every episode Kei had ever had. Yamaguchi is certain Kei will have a seizure by the end of tomorrow.
They’re sleeping on futons.
They shower instead of bathe.
Yamaguchi doesn’t feel any better.
Kei insists he’s fine.
Don’t worry about it.