Oh my...got some serious Yams feels in this one. I wanted to write something truly sad and heartbreaking, and Yamaguchi's innocence and cuteness fit this perfectly. Sorry! ;_;
~*~
Y/N loved Yamaguchi. Loved him probably more than her own mother. So when she was dropped with the bombshell that Yamaguchi had been diagnosed with a terminal illness that would kill him in three years, she didn't know how to react.
He told her at dinner, explained how he's known for a few days but didn't know how to tell her. The girl was silent for a couple of minutes, unable to process the fact that she would have to live the rest of her life without Yamaguchi. Once she regained the ability to move, Y/N got up from the table and ran over to her boyfriend, the freckled boy standing up upon her reaction, and hugged him.
She threw her arms around his neck and started to cry. Yamaguchi felt his heart break at the sound of his girlfriend's scream-like sobs, but he wrapped his arms around her nonetheless, letting their bodies sink to the ground and onto their knees.
He rubbed her back gently as he stroked the girl's hair, whispering sweet nothings to her. Yamaguchi wanted to cherish this moment, for he knew three years wasn't long enough to express to Y/N how much he loved her. And Y/N knew that too.
"It's not...long enough," the girl spoke in-between sobs.
Yamaguchi wanted to cry, but he couldn't. He had to be strong for his girlfriend, even if it meant carrying the despair on his shoulders.
"I know, I know," he cooed into the girl's hair as her tear-painted lashes tickled his neck.
"T-Tadashi," she managed to cry, but hiccuped into a fit of wracked sobs.
"I'm here," he whispered softly, squeezing her tighter.
"It's not long enough!" She cried. "I wanted t-to marry you, and start a family with you, a-and grow old with you! But we can never do that because you're..." Y/N stopped, unable to finish her sentence before bursting into tears again.
"Hey," Yamaguchi whispered, pushing the girl away and holding her at her waist.
By God, did she look broken. Her hair was a mess, hanging down her shoulders in frazzled knots. Her skin was blotchy, and cheeks moist with tears, stained with dry ones as well as wet ones. Her eyes were red and puffy and soaked with overflowing tears, causing her mascara to stain down her cheeks. And her hands - her whole body in fact - were trembling.
"You don't need me to do all those things with," he spoke softly, cupping Y/N's cheek in his warm palm and wiping her tears away with his thumb.
"B-but, you're the one I-" she hiccuped. "w-want to do all those things with," the girl choked out. "I want to be Y/N Yamaguchi, the mother of our children, the grandmother of our children's children!" She wailed. "It's not fair..."
Tadashi felt his heart drop at that. It's not fair...
It wasn't, but he had to live with it. Or at least die with it...Y/N would be the one going through all the pain, all the heartbreak. And she would be going through it alone...
He suddenly felt guilty, like it was his fault that Y/N had to suffer. And he hated that feeling; that feeling like you've let someone down, taken all that they've worked for and dropped it back onto their shoulders in one heap. He hated that feeling...
"I know it's not fair," he uttered, tucking a piece of stray hair behind Y/N's ear. "But you have to be strong. All I want to do for these three years is cuddle you and kiss you and be with you. So you have to be strong," he pleaded, a small, sad smile appearing faintly on his lips. "For me?"
Y/N had stopped crying now, but the tears were still in her eyes, staining her cheeks and running down her face. She took her hands from her lap and wiped her eyes with her palms.
"I'll try," she said, sniffling. "But how can I be strong when the one I love is fading right before my eyes?"
No tears ran down the girl's face, and she showed no emotion through a lot. She looked tired and fed-up, and she felt that way. She was tired of being confronted with bad news her whole life: her mother's affair, her brother's death, her father's arrest. She had had enough of it. And now her boyfriend was going to die in three years, and that couldn't be helped.
On the other hand, a single tear ran down Yamaguchi's cheek, and before he knew it he was hugging her again, this time he being the one crying.
"I love you, so much, Y/N, and I always will," he bawled into her shoulder.
"I love you too," she cried, and they stayed like that for a while ignoring the searing pain in their knees.
Neither of them wanted to let eachother go, in fear of losing one another. So they stayed there, on the kitchen floor for several hours, just enjoying the warmth of eachother, as if it was their last time together...
~*~
The freckled boy opened his eyes lazily. He knew where he had fallen asleep, but still had that certain sense of insecurity. His head was banging and he was cold, and his nose itched from all the tubes up his nostrils. He was in pain, so much pain, but he sucked it up and put on a brave smile for the girl next to him.
"Hey, baby," she cooed softly, moving her hand from her book to hold his. "How you doing?"
Yamaguchi smiled at his girlfriend. He loved her, he really did, and he honestly felt better than he did when he woke up, knowing the girl he loved was always there for him. No matter how cheesy that sounded, it was true.
"Better now you're here," he chuckled hoarsely.
"Sweetie, I've always been here," Y/N giggled.
The two were silent for a few minutes. Both young adults were content with the silence, with Yamaguchi staring happily at Y/N, and with Y/N tracing swirls and patterns on her boyfriend's hand. She noticed as she was tracing how cold Yamaguchi's hand was; cold and pale. His, usually ripe, skin tone was slowly fading, along with every ounce of life he had left, but at least he wasn't in pain anymore. Y/N was actually surprised at herself for keeping it together.
She reflected on what the past three years had been like, and couldn't help but smile at the memories. Those three years had been the best three years of the girl's life, and she wouldn't change a single second of them for anything. She replayed every memory over and over again in her head, one after the after, in hope of capturing them and reliving them.
All the laugh, the hugs, the cries and the kisses. Y/N cherished them, as they made her and Yamaguchi's relationship stronger. She even remembered the first attack he had: the sound of the ceramic plate smashing against the tiled floor as the boy struggled to breathe, clutching at his chest in pain. Y/N rushed him to hospital immediately, though being absolutely petrified, and ever since then he had been in and out. No matter how big or how small the attacks were, the girl was always there to look after him, make sure he got what he needed. But now he was in for good. And the only way he would be coming back out was in a coffin.
"Y/N-chan," Yamaguchi said, his voice dry and eyes closing as he broke the comfortable silence between the two.
"Yes?" She asked, looking up at her boyfriend.
"Will you bring daffodils to my funeral?" He asked, sounding almost like a child who was about to go to sleep.
Yamaguchi had asked this question many times before, and even then Y/N refused to answer, saying that there would be no funeral. But now she had accepted the fact that Tadashi was going to die early, but she still couldn't fight back the tears in her eyes and the lump in her throat.
"Yes," she answered quietly with a nod, afraid that if she spoke any louder, her voice would crack. "I'll even have them serve the softest, floppiest french fries at the reception," she let out a small laugh as a tear spilled out over her lower eyelid.
Yamaguchi smiled at this, but even smiling caused him pain. He had always loved soft, floppy french fries and the fact that they would be serving them after his funeral brought him happiness.
"I'll have them bury you in soft, floppy french fries if that's what you want - a whole mountain of them," she added on.
Yamaguchi nodded slowly, another painful smile appearing on his face.
"I love you, Y/N," he whispered, looking up at the girl with ill-blinking eyes.
Y/N felt her bottom lip tremble as more tears rolled down her cheeks.
"I love you too," she said softly, reaching out to stroke the boy's messy hair. It was still just as soft as she remembered when she first met him back in middle school and she complimented it, asking if she could touch it.
She looked down at her boyfriend, and began to notice his skin getting more pale, his freckles standing out at this point. His eyes were slowly closing and Y/N knew these were his last few seconds. The beeps on his heart monitor were decreasing in speed with every wheezy breath he took.
But at least he wasn't in pain.
Y/N looked worriedly up at his eyes, which were nearly fully closed, and watched as his lips formed the words "goodbye Y/N". But before he could speak, Y/N pressed her lips to his, softly but passionately. At this point, tears were running down her face and she felt Yamaguchi's lips mould into hers just as his heart stopped breathing, and a long beep was all that could be heard...
~*~
I'm sorry for permanently ruining your lives. Fucking...Yamaguchi. I can't even blame the little shit for being so adorably able to fit this one-shot.
I found about Yams liking soft, floppy french fries on the Haikyuu!! wiki, so I though "why not personalise it a little bit?" and the daffodils was me just picking a random flower. ^.^