Difficult -IwaOi Fanfic-

Even More Difficult

He woke up, his eyes felt raw and he struggled to keep them open, still feeling sleepy. He checked his phone and he had slept well into the afternoon, his phone displayed a large '1:38PM'. He felt slightly restless, being in the same sitting position for the past days. He wanted so badly to just rip everything off his arms and run free in the hallways, but his body was worn and fatigued. Which led to that being his least favourite symptom.

He closed his eyes and took in a shaky breath, a small smile gracing his pale lips as he felt the slight peace in his quiet room. He heard the door open, and he felt the need to laugh as the sound of shoes tapping the floor followed, could he be any more obvious when entering rooms?

"Back so soon, doc?" His voice was muffled by his mask, weak and small, but understandable nonetheless. His eyes stayed closed and he felt the peace that he couldn't the day before, the pain in his eyes no longer present.

The tapping came closer, but the doctor never said a word until it stopped, and no other sound could be heard other than the slow beeping of his heart monitor.

"Doc?" His voice was soft, and maybe even slightly worried. His eyes opened slowly, and looked to where he last heard the footsteps. And yet he didn't see his doctor's familiar face. Beeping grew faster and his tired eyes grew wider, "Iwa-chan?"

The man stood next to him, tight lipped and posture stiff. His fists were clenched and his head tilted to look down at the frail man that laid on the bed. Tired eyes met glassy ones, and Oikawa didn't know what to say, and at that moment all he did was offer his friend a small smile through his stuffy oxygen mask.

"Why," Iwaizumi choked slightly, giving Oikawa a steely gaze, his vision blurred with tears, glad that he couldn't see the frail body in front of him, "why didn't you tell me?" His voice was laced with pain, his heart aching.

His heart monitor settled down again, and the beeps returned to its deathly slow pace. "Tell you what, Iwa-chan?" And then a smile, the same smile he gave everyone, the smile that he never thought he would give Iwaizumi.

"Oikawa, please." His voice broke, and so did his heart as he looked at the man in the bed, once the lively idiot who stuck his tongue out at people, who worked harder than anybody else, his best friend. And yet he laid on the overly sanitary bed, in a plain white hospital room, wires and tubes attached to his body, oxygen forcibly supplied to his body. Iwaizumi's facade broke, and tears finally trickled down his face, his vision now clear. And he hated what he saw.

Oikawa lifted his arm, his hand reaching out to carefully touch Iwaizumi's arm, "Why are you crying?" He breathed out, the ghost of a smile never leaving his lips. He had wanted to see Iwaizumi, but not like this. Not while he was in the hospital. Not while he didn't know how long he had to live.

"Do you have any idea," his voice shook, his fists clenched harder, and his chest tightened, "how I feel?" Tears streamed down his cheeks, his knees felt weak as he knelt on the floor, the cool tiled floor providing no comfort to the man. "That I had to be contacted by my best friend's mother, to be told that he's in the hospital?" His hands gripped the side of the bed tightly, his forehead rested on the frame as tears freely fell from his eyes.

"I'm sorry, please don't cry?"

But he didn't. His chest was tight and the tears wouldn't stop. He wept for himself and he wept for the man in front of him who refused to weep himself.