{kagehina} he smelled like oranges

Chapter 19.

After they had left, Kenma started a stream so Hinata and Kageyama watched that together. They agreed to always watch them together when they could, because it was just a good thing for them to share. The stream was fairly lowkey compared to what they were like normally, because Kenma had just gotten up and was still a bit tired. Once that was over, Hinata and Kageyama decided to wander aimlessly around the hospital.

Kageyama was the one who suggested it, and Hinata exclaimed, "But you didn't let me do it yesterday!"

"Because I wasn't with you," Kageyama told him, "Plus, you didn't even bother to memorize your room number before you left so you were being stupid about it."

"Fine, I suppose you make some good points," Hinata said, "now let's go before you change your mind!" They walked around and went wherever they were allowed. Kageyama didn't find the hospital all that interesting, but Hinata made it fun. One thing that they liked to do was see what all the people coming into the hospital were wearing, and talk about each outfit like they were announcers for a fashion show. At first, they tried to do it for the doctors and nurses but that wasn't as fun because it went along the lines of:

"Oh, and she's wearing a stunning deep blue set of scrubs, it looks like it's all the rage here because everyone else seems to be following in her footsteps."

"Yes, that's right, she must have set a trend."

"Oh, wait, look over there, is he wearing a different shade of blue? No, that's the same color, never mind." And that was about all they got before they got bored and moved on to the patients. The best place to do it was in a waiting room so they found one and sat in the corner away from everyone so no one could hear them.

"Okay, what fabulous looks do we have today?" Kageyama picked the first person he saw, "A very nice lime green shirt, matched with an orange bag. That's interesting, I suppose, she seems to want to break fashion rules."

Hinata chuckled, "Don't forget her bright red shoes." They went on like this for quite a while but eventually got tired of it and went back to Hinata's room. Kageyama grabbed an orange and peeled it so he could split it with Hinata. Hinata took his half gratefully and began eating the wedges one by one.

That evening, they got their things and headed to Kageyama's house. On their way, they stopped and got some dinner since Kageyama had no idea if he had any good food at home, and ate it while they walked. They'd finished their meal by the time they reached Kageyama's house and they were both pretty tired. Hinata ran inside and changed into some of Kageyama's pajamas. They were way too big on him and the pants bunched at his ankles, but Hinata didn't seem to care because they were soft and had little pictures of cats on them. Kageyama hadn't picked them out, he had gotten them for Christmas one year, but he never wore them, so he was glad they were getting some use. They got into Kageyama's bed and Hinata curled up and Kageyama put his arms over top of him.

The next day went similarly, they went to the hospital in the morning. Hinata had to go talk to the doctor for a bit and then they spend the day together doing random things.

They were having a good time, but that all changed when at one point Kageyama decided to ask, "Hinata, when do you think you'll be able to stop coming to the hospital? You seem pretty much back to normal, so why do you need to keep showing up?"

Hinata shrugged, "They just want to check on me I guess."

"Okay, but there's not much to check on, right? You're fine, nothing is going to happen to you, right?" Kageyama persisted.

Hinata looked at the wall behind Kageyama, "Sure."

Kageyama felt sick, "You're a really bad liar, you know that? What aren't you telling me?"

"It's not a big deal," Hinata mumbled.

"If it's not a big deal than why would you keep it from me?" Kageyama challenged, "Tell me what's wrong!"

Hinata took a deep breath, "Please don't freak out."

"I'm not promising anything. I care about you. Tell me now," Kageyama demanded.

"I have an aneurysm. It formed from all the trauma I got to my head when I got hit by the car," Hinata said quietly.

"An aneurysm! I can't believe you hid this from me! " Kageyama exclaimed. He paused, "Um, what does that mean exactly?"

"It's not necessarily something that is harming me right now, but it might rupture," Hinata explained.

"Rupture!" Kageyama repeated.

"Yes, that's what I said," Hinata replied.

"How are you being so nonchalant about this?" Kageyama asked, "A ruptured aneurysm sounds pretty bad."

"Oh, it is," Hinata told him, "The fatality rate is very high, but I'm choosing not to think about it. This is why I didn't tell you; I don't want to focus on it."

"How can you not think about it? You could die," Kageyama's eyes watered as he said this. He didn't want it to be true, he thought Hinata was recovering, so this was a very unpleasant shock.

Hinata took Kageyama's hand, "Because if I think about it, it's all I'll be able to think about, and I don't want this to take over all of my thoughts and time. There's still a chance it won't do anything, and we can go back to normal and forget this ever happened. I still believe in this chance; I'm betting my life on it."

"Isn't there anything you can do to fix it? Some sort of surgery?" Kageyama pleaded, "There must be something."

"No," Hinata responded, "Sometimes surgery is possible, but not in this case. The most we can do is hope for the best."

Kageyama hugged Hinata, "You'd better believe I'm hoping as hard as I can."After that, Kageyama didn't bring it up again, since he knew Hinata wouldn't want to talk about it anymore. He did go find Dr. Sakai the next day so he could talk to her. She seemed to be doing paperwork, but Kageyama didn't care.

"Why didn't you tell me that Hinata has an aneurysm? That seems like important information. Why didn't you think to share it with me?"

"There's still patient confidentiality," She told him, "He's an adult so I figured he could share it if he wanted. Though I think your relationship is nice, you're not married to him so there's no reason to let you know." She paused for a moment, "And he did seem to tell you, because you found out about it somehow, so I don't see what the problem is."

"The problem is that he has it at all!" Kageyama burst out, "He doesn't deserve this, he's always been an amazing person, I don't understand why it's him. Is there anything that I can do to make it better? I'm willing to do anything, even if it costs my life."

Dr. Sakai shook her head, "No, there isn't anything, I'm sorry. We'll just have to wait and see. Surgery is possible sometimes, but in this case, it seems very dangerous to attempt so we only want to do that as a last possible resort if things are going extremely bad."

Kageyama then asked something he was dreading the answer to, but he still felt the need to know, "If it does rupture, what happens?"

Dr. Sakai sighed, "I'm going to be honest with you, about 50% of the time ruptured aneurysms are fatal. Even if he did survive it, there's roughly a 60% chance that he'll suffer from some sort of permanent neurological damage."

Kageyama was horrified, "Is there any way to increase his chances of survival without brain damage?"

Dr. Sakai looked at him with pity in her eyes, "I'm afraid not. Aneurysms are unpredictable, they can happen with no warning and cause damage or death almost immediately. I know this isn't what you want to be hearing and I wish I could give you a better answer, but the most we can do is pray it doesn't rupture. People can go years, or even their whole life without an aneurysm rupturing and hopefully this is one of those times." Kageyama wanted to cry, he didn't want everything to be based on hope. Hope was not a plan or a solution, it was just something that people talked about when they wanted to feel better even when they had no reason for it. He left Dr. Sakai's office without saying anything else. She probably would've given him more details if he'd asked but he didn't want to know more. He was sure it would just make him feel worse. He knew one thing for certain though: he was going treat every day like it was Hinata's last, because it actually might be.