Chronically Ill Tsukki

Chapter 7

Chapter 7

A/N: Sorry it took me so long to get this chapter out. The truth is, I hate writing dialogue and I'm planning for there to be a bunch of it in this chapter. Also, if you ever need to skip a chapter because of the trigger warnings feel free to comment and I will give you a trigger-free summary! I think that's all I need to say so onto the chapter I guess.

Trigger warnings: Mentions of tics, tic attacks, seizures and paralysis.

*Previously*

"Thanks Tadashi. And yes, touch still helps"

Tsukki has always been quick to recover from seizures so I'm not surprised by the clarity of his speech.

"No problem but uhhh I think you have some explaining to do," I say pointing towards our awe-struck teammates.

Tsukki POV:

I sigh. It was bound to happen sooner or later. I guess I might as well have them get all of their questions out of the way now.

"Alright, let's get this over with. Ask me all your questions. I'll answer them all honestly"

Everyone starts talking at once so I have to shout over them, "ONE AT A TIME"

The team quiets down and Coach Ukai speaks up, "Tsukkishima, what on earth is going on?"

"I'm chronically I'll. I have been since middle school"

The entire room falls silent as the team stares at me in shock.

Finally, Asahi quietly asks, "Why didn't you tell anyone?"

I stare at the ground in silence for a few seconds thinking about my answer.

"I-" I sigh

"Let's just say that I haven't had the best experiences with my teammates knowing about my illnesses in the past. I didn't want any of you guys to find out because I didn't want a repeat of middle school. The only reason Suga knows is because he accidentally found out."

"What happened in middle school?" Kagayama asks

Hinata elbows him in the ribs, "He obviously doesn't want to talk about it"

"No, it's okay Hinata. I said I would answer any questions asked. My old team treated me completely differently after they found out about my illnesses. Overnight they started pitying me like I was a fragile little kid. They stopped letting me on the court and made me get help with even the things I could do on my own. I lost all my independence because my friends started treating me like I couldn't do anything. I hated it, so when it was time for high school I picked a school where no one knew I was sick except for Yamaguchi, who always treated me perfectly even when everyone else treated me like an infant."

"You know we would never treat you like that bro! You're like, super smart. There no need to baby you," Tanaka responds

"Yeah dude, we would totally respect your boundaries and only help when you wanted us to," Noya pitched in

I let out a rare smile, "Thanks guys, that means a lot actually. Speaking of which, I'm going to need some serious help during the training camp this weekend. Traveling is always hard for me with all of my illnesses and even though I told you guys about my health I still don't want the other teams to know. It's just really personal and some of my symptoms are super embarrassing."

"I totally understand," Daichi responds

"We will help as much as we can this weekend! Coach? Can we have the rest of this practice to learn about Tsukki's illnesses and how to help him as a team?" He asks

"Of course." Ukai answers

"Awesome, well let's start with the basics. What is the name of your illness?" Daichi asks

"Well, I actually have three chronic illnesses. The first one is called Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome or POTS for short. The second one is called Functional Neurological Disorder of FND for short and the last one doesn't affect me as much daily but it's called Persistent Postural Perceptual Dizziness or PPPD for short."

"Damn. That's a lot," Noya states

"NOYA!" Asahi reprimands

"What it's true?"

"But you don't have to say it"

I just chuckle. Damn is right. It is a lot.

"I hate to admit it but you just said a bunch of things I don't understand. Could you give us a little description of each illness maybe?" Daichi asks

"Yeah sure. POTS is caused because my blood vessels don't constrict enough to effectively get blood back up to my brain and heart. In order to compensate for that my heart rate increases rapidly in an attempt to get blood back to the upper half of my body. This causes a variety of symptoms including dizziness, lightheadedness, shortness of breath, presyncope, etc. Functional Neurological Disorder is an error in the way my brain sends and receives signals. This causes a large variety of neurological symptoms. My most common ones are tics, tic attacks, paralysis episodes, and a few different types of seizures. The kind you just saw me have is the most common type of seizure I get. This type is characterized by severe muscle weakness accompanied by staring or closed eyes with no ability to speak for about 60 seconds. I maintain awareness during this type of seizure so I can hear and feel the things around me. Up until a few days ago, I was on medication that completely stopped all of my FND symptoms but unfortunately, I ran out of medication I can't get any more until Tuesday so I have to deal with my symptoms until then. *Jerks his head* That was a tic by the way. There's no need to suppress my tics around you guys anymore so you'll probably start to actually notice me ticcing. You don't really need to worry about them unless I'm having a tic attack. Moving on, my last condition is PPPD. It's a very rare disorder so not much is known about why the symptoms happen but PPPD causes severe chronic dizziness, nausea, and motion sensitivity. Nowadays it mostly only causes me problems in large crowds or when I'm traveling. Think about motion sickness, but times 10. That's what it feels like to go on a drive to the grocery store. So yeah. That's the basics. I know it feels like a lot but you'll get used to it."

They all stare at me and process for a few seconds before Daichi speaks up "Alright... That's a good start. I think the next step should be to brainstorm as a team how to help Tsukkishima in certain situations then make a master list for us all to carry around with us. Does that sound good?"

Everyone nods in agreement and we start the brainstorming session. I can't help but smile. All of my teammates care so much about me and none of them are taking this poorly at all. Suddenly I'm looking forward to the training camp instead of dreading it. Maybe it will actually be fun now that I have my teammates helping me out. I look around at the group suggesting ideas to help increase my comfort and I feel a tear run down my face. All of these people love me and for once I don't feel like a burden.

A/N: Man, I really do hate writing dialogue. I'm sorry if this chapter was bad. I know it's super wordy but I couldn't bring myself to change it. The next chapter will be a copy of the list they started making at the end of this chapter. I highly recommend that you at least skim it because it will impact the team's actions throughout the rest of the story. Alright, that's all. I hope your having a wonderful and don't forget to vote and comment!