Everybody Loves Somebody Sometime

"What?" I blinked, then blinked again, then several more times after that. Shoyo didn't say anything, he just stood there like some kind of disheartening sculpture. I looked at him and then his mother, searching for some kind of answer. This couldn't be happening, too many bad things were already going on. This wasn't real. He was lying. They were both lying to me.

"You're joking right?" I laughed a little, not knowing how to react. Shoyo's mother was basically my own. She was kind and had gentle hands, her skin was thin and her hair was like silk. She was so amazing to the both of us, losing her would be like losing a light in a dim kitchen.

More tears leaked from Shoyo's eyes and he shook his head. She was really going to die. She was really, really going to die, and we couldn't do anything to stop it. She was going to be gone, and she wouldn't come back. To me, it was like she was already dead.

Hinata walked a bit faster than he normally would over to his mother. He knelt down in front of her, sobbing more now, and leaned his head onto her knees. His stubby fingers gripped her pants, and I stood there still. I looked at both of them, and I felt a despair that I hadn't felt in a very long time, not since Kuroo left school. Not since I was all on my own. Not since before I met Shoyo.

Neither of them moved, so I went to the kitchen and made some tea.

It was near 00:30, and we all sat at the kitchen table, drinking tea. We didn't talk, the only noises that could be heard were soft sips and the faint snoring of Natsu in the other room. Oh god, I thought just then, did she even know? She was only…oh she must've been ten years old. Losing her mother so soon? And then…how was Shoyo going to keep the house straight? How would he care for Natsu? Legally, he probably could take care of her by the time his mother was dead…how would he pay for bills? How would life go on? Could I help?

A chair scraped the floor and I broke my gaze from the inside of my teacup to see Shoyo getting up. He went to the kitchen and put his cup into the sink, dragging his feet as he walked. His cotton socks muffled his steps, so he felt more like a ghost than an actual person simply putting away a dish. He walked up behind his mother and gave her a kiss on the top of her head.

"I'm going to bed. You can stay if you want, Kenma," he mumbled solemnly. He swallowed, then turned on his heel and went into his room.

I watched him go and then looked back at his mother when he closed his door. To my slight surprise, she was staring right back at me. Her eyes were pale and grey, but they always shined somehow, no matter what mood she was in. While she looked at me, her nose crinkled up slightly in a way that told me we were about to talk about something, but she would have trouble finding the words.

Her thin, peach lips parted, and she spoke, "Kenma."

I didn't deviate my gaze, but kept it. I looked at her mouth while she talked so that I could avoid eye contact.

"Tonight has been a bad night for us," she started up again, "I know you must feel the death in the air, because I certainly do, but don't let that bring you down. You're a good kid under your indifferent attitude, and I'm so glad that you've become my son's friend, then partner. I don't think I would have it any other way." She smiled, and for a second I thought she was done, but then she started once more.

"I would like to give you some advice, I guess, about dealing with death," she looked on either side of herself, as if to make sure no one else was listening, "don't ponder death, it's not worth the time. Focus on life, keep live things around you. A plant, a pet, another person, anything, just as long as death is on the horizon, keep life with you." She reached into her shirt and pulled out a necklace that I had never seen before. "When my sister died, she told me all that, and I thought she was just spewing nonsense, but then she begged me to get her something that lived so that she didn't have to think about her own death. Stubborn as I was, I didn't for a while, but then it occurred to me that she was dying, and it hit me hard. I bought her daisies for her bedside." She opened up the locket and inside was a petal. A daisy petal was inside, browning and withered. My eyes widened a bit, realising.

"It's been falling apart for a while now, it's been, oh god, almost 18 years…" her eyes welled and her breath shook. I sat still, waiting for her to continue, but she didn't. We sat in the thick silence for a while, I didn't know what to say, and I had never seen Shoyo's mom this vulnerable.

"The day before Shoyo was born," I perked up, and fixed my eye back onto her, "she died the day before he was born. He reminds me so much of her." She sighed, put the petal back into her locket and stood up. She wiped her eyes and fixed her posture. I stood up after her, and I wondered what she was doing. She grabbed my hands and looked up at me as I was an inch or two taller than her.

"You're a sweetheart, Kenma." She smiled up at me, and right then she looked so much like Shoyo it was uncanny.

"Uhm, thank you," I mumbled, shifting my gaze around. She was still smiling right at me and it felt like a hot spotlight right on my face.

"Of course hun. Well," she put her hands on her hips, "I'm off to bed, you stay here and get some rest, the train won't be going 'round this time of night." Before I could get in a word she went to her bedroom. I stood in the kitchen, leaning slightly on the wooden chair I was previously sitting in, and the air felt dusty. I looked around, and I saw that things hadn't been cleaned in a while, so I found a dust rag and some spray, and cleaned everything.

~

April 30, 2014

Dear Diary,

I think things with mom have been getting better! She's been going to the doctor pretty often now, but she's really doing well. She started eating more and she walks a lot. I've been cleaning the house now cause Kenma told me that if I don't then he'll stay up all night again and do it for me, and of course I don't want him to lose sleep because I won't work!

Anyway, the real reason I'm writing is because my friends from Miyagi are coming over this weekend!! I think it'll just be Kageyama, Tsukishima, and Tadashi since everyone else is busy doing adult things or something. I don't really mind that only kags and company could make it cause they're all pretty fun just the same! I haven't seen them in a long while so it'll be a little weird I think. We're all gonna stay in a fancy hotel room a little bit away because it's a lot bigger than my house and I don't have any guest rooms.

I don't know if Kenma is going to come or not, I have to check with everyone to see if he will. I really hope everyone is okay with it because I think it would be a great opportunity for everyone to get along, especially since I'm gonna spend the rest of my life with Kenma (that's a long time!). I think when we grow up we're gonna have a little apartment in Miyagi cause Kenma says he wants to move there because it's smaller and he's really not a big fan of the city. I like to think that we'll have a cat, maybe two, and then I told Ken that I wanted to adopt a kid, but he's a little iffy on that idea, which I totally get.

Anyway, that was really all I wanted to tell you about, I'll talk about how everything went later! Byyeeee!!

Your friend, Shoyo Hinata

~

Shoyo put down his notebook and grabbed his phone. It was only 20:30, so he suspected that Kageyama would still be awake. Kageyama had gotten an iphone recently and Shoyo didn't know if it would work well with his flip phone, but he figured it'd be fine.

The last time they had called, Kageyama gave him his new phone number, and Shoyo had already memorised it. He dialled in the numbers and put the phone up to his ear, listening to it ring over and over. He bounced his leg and suppressed a smile while he waited.

"Hello? Tobio Kageyama speaking."

"HI KAGS!"

"Jesus Shoyo! Give me a warning before you scream in my ear." Shoyo only smiled more upon hearing his voice, it had been a while since he had spoken with his friend. He stood up from the stool next to his desk and made his way over to his bed.

"Sooo, ya know how you're coming over to Tokyo this weekend?" Shoyo inquired while sitting on his bed.

"How could I forget? You won't shut up about it," Kageyama spouted, sounding irritated and slightly muffled over the sound of him moving in his bed. Shoyo rolled his eyes and hoped that Kageyama could sense the action over the phone.

"Yeah whatever, anyway, could my boyfriend tag along? I was kinda hoping you guys could meet since we're gonna be together for…like…forever." There was a silence over the phone and for a minute Shoyo could only hear slight static. He bit his lip while he waited, but soon he got impatient.

"Kageyamaaa? You there?"

"Yeah sorry, how do you know you guys are gonna be together forever? I thought you were getting, like, I dunno, practice before you found your soulmate?" Kageyama sounded genuinely confused, and Shoyo nearly lost it.

"No stupid, I'm talking about Kenma, ya know the guy you say I won't shut up about?"

"Ohhh, that bloke? He sounds odd. Sure I don't care if he comes along, might wanna ask Tsukki though, since he's super pissy about everyone."

"I'm sorry, what?"

"...Tsukki is super pissy about everyone?"

"No dumbass, bloke. You said bloke. That's so dumb," Shoyo let out a slight chuckle while he spoke, and that chuckle only intensified as he kept thinking about it, "Blimey mate! Odd bloke that one! Proper mad he is, might stick him in the looney bin amiright!"

"Say another word and I'm hanging up," Kageyama scoffed and Shoyo could hear the scowl on his face.

"Okay okay, I'm done. See you in a few days, alright?"

"Whatever, I'm hanging up, you're insufferable." Shoyo smiled and laughed more.

"Love you too, dude." Kageyama hung up, and Shoyo flipped his phone closed. He laid down onto his bed and started thinking about the coming weekend, and how much everyone would love Kenma.