Archive of Our Own

In a single day, every moment is influenced by an infinite number of variables. Many of these variables are decisions made by those living in that particular moment, some of them made by strangers. A large number of these variables, however, are simply by design, like the time of day, or the phase of the moon, or the weather, things no human has any control over, nor could they ever hope to. Their response to such variables is a variable in and of itself; a particularly influential one, at that. They can make or break the success of future decisions.

The problem with so many variables is keeping track of them all. It is physically impossible to count them, much less take them all into account. The most analytical and intelligent of minds can only utilize a fraction of these variables to their advantage.

Hinata Shouyou is not particularly analytical, nor is he spectacularly intelligent. He is by no means stupid, but variables of any sort don’t make their way into his decision making all that often off of the volleyball court. Usually, he skates by just fine. Today is not ‘usually’.

Variable one: time of day. In order to get to volleyball practice by seven, Hinata’s bike must leave his driveway by six fifteen. A fifteen minute trek to the mountain trail, and a half hour ride across the pass to the school.

Variable two: mom. His mother doesn’t typically see him off in the morning. It's simply too early. They rarely see each other before he returns home in the evening. Often, he won’t even send a text throughout the day.

Variable three: weather. On a gloomy morning such as this, uncharacteristic for early spring, with frigid temperatures and sheets of rain, the weather is, at best, precarious.

Variable four: Hinata’s bike. The tubes were on the verge of bursting. Old, worn out, well used, and patched one too many times.

Now, Hinata had the foresight to at least check the weather. He saw the temperature and heard the rain and pulled a plastic rain poncho over his warm coat and his school bag. However, he did not have the good sense to call it quits and get a ride from his mom. He hopped on his bike and set off toward school.

Variable five: Murphy’s Law.

Kageyama liked his routine. Regardless of weather, mode of transportation, or personal wellbeing, he arrived at the school at the exact same time everyday. And, every single day, Hinata arrived by the bike rack at exactly the same time. Only once had it ever varied from this clockwork routine, when Hinata caught a twenty four hour bug and his mom made him stay home.

Hinata still texted him that day to ask him to tell Daichi for him.

So, today, when Kageyama slunk past the bike rack, he found himself deeply unsettled and totally alone. He hesitated, rain pounding down on his hood. He checked his watch. No, he got here when he always did. He looked around the corner of the building Hinata always came around. Nothing. Maybe his mom drove him and he got here earlier than usual. With this weather, it’d be the smarter choice. Yes. That must be it. Hinata got here early because his mom drove him to school. He’ll be waiting to taunt him at the gym doors about another win in their continuing competition.

He squared his shoulders, pushed the uneasy feeling away, and pressed on toward the gym. He walked quickly, changed his shoes and ducked into the gym. A few people were warming up. Tsukki and Yamaguchi were chatting in low voices across the gym, the third years were joking with each other not far from the door, but none had the characteristic orange hair. Maybe he was changing in the club room. No, he always arrived in his gym clothes and changed after practice. Why would he do it differently today of all days. He already gloomy disposition darkened.

Tanaka laughed, a bellowing, grating sound. “You look constipated, Kageyama. Loosen up a little, yeah?”

“Is Hinata here yet?” he growled in answer.

Tanaka shrugged. “Haven’t seen him yet. Don't you guys usually walk in together?”

“He didn’t meet me by the bike rack today. I thought maybe his mom drove him because of the rain.”

“Huh. Well, maybe he’s just late. Or sick. Don't worry about it.” Tanaka bounded off, looking only mildly put off by the conversation. Kageyama, on the other hand, could not dispel the increasingly morbid anxiety in his gut. If he was late or sick, he’d have sent him a text, right? And he’d never been late before. He thought for a long moment, eyebrows furrowed, considering any plausible reasons for Hinata’s absence. Maybe he was sick, but his phone was dead. Maybe their house lost power in the storm. Maybe the ride was taking longer because of the rain. Would he really brave the storm like that? Surely he wasn’t that stupid. Was he?

“Oi, Kageyama,” said Coach Ukai from behind him. “Don't lurk in doorways.”

“Oh.” He sidestepped out of the way. “Sorry.”

Ukai stopped in front of him, mouth twisted into a frown. “Where’s Hinata?”

He pressed his lips together, his expression getting gloomier. “Don’t know. He’s never been late before and he texts me if he’s not going to be here.”

“Did you try calling him?”

He shook his head.

“Do that.” He patted Kageyama’s shoulder. “Then join us for stretches.”

“Yeah.”

Kageyama moved to the side and dropped his bag. He pulled out his phone and scrolled through his contacts to find Hinata’s number. He pressed enter and brought the phone to his ear. Straight to voicemail. Maybe it really was dead? Or out of service?

He let the phone drop back into his bag.

“Um,” he said. “Coach Ukai?”

“Yeah? You get ahold of Hinata?”

He shook his head. “Do you know if any cell towers were affected by the storm? It’s going straight to voicemail.”

“No, I don’t think so. It’s just cold and rainy. I heard some of the higher altitudes got some freezing rain, but nothing worse than that.”

Higher altitudes. Freezing rain. Was Hinata really so stupid to bike the mountain pass? The sudden image of a mangled bicycle in a ravine burned into the forefront of his mind. His eyes widened. “Ukai…” Ukai looked up and walked towards Kageyama. The rest of the team continued practice without missing a beat, with the exception of Suga, who hesitated just enough to overhear what Kageyama said next. “Do you think Hinata tried to bike the mountain pass?”

“What? What would he do that for?”

Suga stepped up beside Ukai. His easy smile dropped and he paled considerably. “Coach, Hinata lives on the other side of the mountain. He bikes back and forth every day.”

“What?! Did he bike today? In this weather? He can’t be that stupid, can he? No, this is Hinata. Of course he can.” He hurried to the bench he’d draped his coat across and shrugged back into it. His eyebrows creased together, eyes wide and mouth pressed into a hard line. “Sugawara, come with me. Daichi, lead practice this morning. I’ll be back in the afternoon. Takeda, if we don’t make it back quickly, make sure Sugawara is excused for any classes he misses.”

Suga changed his shoes with a tight, somber expression and put his fleece lined rain jacket on. Ukai stood behind him, tapping his foot, arms crossed over his chest.

Suga asked, “You don’t really think he went out in this, do you?”

“I don’t know, Suga. I hope not, but we’d better check, just in case. Do you know his mother’s cell phone number?”

He shook his head and got to his feet. “No. I have Hinata’s, but Kageyama said it went straight to voicemail.”

“That’s alright,” Ukai said, but his face remained pinched with concern. “I’ll call Takeda from the road, have him contact her. Hopefully, we’re just being cautious, but we have no time to waste if he’s really out there.”

Twenty minutes ago…

Hinata pedaled up the mountain road, squinting up the way through the torrential downpour. His poncho had done very little against the rain and his coat was nearly soaked through. Shivering made it difficult to keep his handlebars steady, but that didn’t slow him much. The further he went, though, the colder he got. The wind buffeted against his back.

The only thought on his mind was the obscure hope that none of his school supplies had been ruined by the rain. (In retrospect, he should have been thinking about a whole lot more.)

Abruptly, with a dull pop and hiss of his tire bursting, he hit an unexpected patch of ice and careened to the side, the tires jerked and his handlebars whipped out of his hands. The front tire smacked headlong into the guardrail between the road and the steep mountainside. The change in momentum ripped Hinata from the seat, catapulting him over both his handlebars and the railing, and he tumbled headfirst down the mountain.

His bike toppled in the other direction, the back wheel sliding under the rail until the bicycle balanced precariously over the incline, only the handlebars holding it back from crashing down the hill after him, not that his bicycle was anywhere near the forefront of Hinata’s mind.

The handlebars turned in slow motion, dripping rainwater, and, just as Hinata’s somersaulting slowed to a stop at the bottom of the hill, and the bike slipped under the guardrail and caught in the bushes some hundred yards up from where Hinata came to a stop.

He was cold.

His back hurt. His head hurt.

His ankle ached.

His nose hurt too. Everything hurt.

He rolled on his side, pulled himself up to his hands and knees, and vomited into the grass. His throat burned as he sputtered. He couldn’t see; something dripped in his eyes that wasn’t rain and the clouds still blanketed everything in murky shadow. He groaned and flopped back down onto his side. He needed to get back up the hill to the road.

Slowly, gingerly, Hinata propped himself up on his elbows. He braced his hands on his knees, ribs screaming in protest, and rocked to hit feet. Immediately, he cried out and his ankle gave way under him. He hissed. That wouldn’t work. He’d have to crawl.

He rolled onto his stomach and crawled forward on his hands and knees, teeth gritted, arms shaking, trying hard to ignore the cold that seemed to leech into every inch of him, right down to the bone.

He didn’t make it all that far.

Ukai drove in silence, Suga fidgeting in the passenger seat. They were halfway through the mountain pass, but no sign yet of Hinata. Ukai had called Takeda, who called Hinata’s home, but no one answered. Takeda told Ukai he’d try again in fifteen minutes, but to assume that they were the only ones aware of Hinata’s potential predicament.

Suga sure hoped they were overreacting, but the farther they got without a trace of Hinata, the tighter his chest got.

They reached the base of the pass with a pile of nothing to show for it.

“Maybe we missed something,” Ukai said.

“Maybe,” echoed Suga. He hoped not. If they didn’t miss anything, it meant Hinata wasn’t out there. He was home safe, perhaps with a cold and a dead cell phone he forgot to charge. But that was too strong of a maybe to put him at ease. “Let’s go back up, slower. I don’t want to risk leaving him up there.”

The made another pass in complete silence, slow, methodical, meticulous. Nothing.

Ukai pulled over into an empty parking lot, letting his head fall until his forehead rested on the steering wheel. He sighed, but said nothing to fill the thick silence.

“Again. We’ll go through again. Slower this time,” said Suga, gripping the armrest of the seat with white knuckles. “What if he went over the rail and that’s why we didn’t see him? Ukai, it’s so cold out there and it’s still raining. What if he’s hurt? Or lost? Did we check any of the side roads?”

Ukai’s head snapped up. “Suga. Suga! Slow down. We’ll figure this out. Just breathe for a second. We don’t know if he’s actually out there.”

Ukai’s phone rang and they both jumped. Takeda flared on the screen and Ukai scrambled to answer it. He glanced at Suga once and put it on speaker phone. “Takeda, you’re on speaker. Anything? We haven’t seen him out here.”

Takeda sighed. It was a defeated noise, sad and small. “I was hoping you had… I just got off the phone with his mother. He left this morning like he usually does. On his bicycle. She’s contacting the police now and they’re going to conduct a search. Suga, I’ve pulled some strings and gotten you excused for the whole day. I’ve even talked to your parents. If you want to come back to school, that’s fine, but if you’d like to stay out and help, you can do that. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I really must be going. Please, find him, Ukai. Make sure he’s safe.”

“I will, Takeda. Thanks for the update. Don’t tell the boys until practice this evening. I don’t want to worry them just yet if there’s nothing to be done, but keeping them in the dark too long is unfair.”

“I’ve filled in Daichi only. I thought the same thing,” Takeda said. “Stay safe, you two. I don’t need to worry about you both too, I can’t handle that, I think.”

Ukai’s face softened. “Of course.”

The line went dead.

Ukai looked at Suga, all color gone from his cheeks. “You sure you want to do this? I’d rather have you here, but this isn’t your responsibility. I'll take you back to school if you’d like.”

Suga shook his head resolutely. “No way. Not until I know he’s safe. We don’t have the time to spare. I’ll search on foot if I have to.”

Ukai looked out at the parking lot, puddles rippling in potholes and uneven patches of asphalt, some places frozen in slick sheets of ice, hardly visible in the rain. “That’s not a bad idea. We’ll be able to see better and we can get closer to the railing. But if we find him, we won’t have a car to put him in to get him out of there.”

Suga pursed his lips. “What we were doing before wasn’t working, though, or we would have found him. He’s here, Coach. I know it. He’s out here on the mountain. We have to find him.” His chest tightened again and his breath quickened, but he didn’t feel panicked. No, this was the same laser focus he felt on the court, amplified by a sense of risk he’d never felt in his life. “What if we… What if we do it in chunks. Let me out here, then take the car a couple hundred yards down the pass. We’ll work our way towards each other on foot so we can keep each other in check and cover ground quickly, all while staying close to the car.”

Ukai considered it carefully. He didn’t like it. The idea of splitting up with the stakes high enough already made him nervous, but he couldn’t refute its merit without suggesting something better. The longer he thought about it, the farther he felt from an answer, though, so he sighed and reluctantly nodded. “Yeah, okay. I’ll drive you a little closer before you hop out. You find him, stay with him until I get to you. We’ll get him to the car together. I don’t want you trying to carry him out here in this weather. Parts of that pass are pretty slick.”

“Of course. And if he’s hurt?”

Ukai frowned, a shiver unrelated to the cold rippling down his back and raising the hair on his arms. “You’re smart, Sugawara, and you know the basics of first aid. Don’t do anything stupid and wait for me if you aren’t sure, but do what you can for him.” He looked over at Suga, met his eyes, and said, “You stay safe. I can’t afford to worry about you too, so don’t be reckless.”

Suga’s eyes hardened and his jaw set. “Yes. You too.”

“Good.” Ukai gunned the ignition and peeled out of the parking lot. He slowed to a stop at the mouth of the pass, Suga lifted his hood and tightened his zipper around his chin and shoved the car door open. The moment he leapt out and cleared out of the way, Ukai started down the pass for the third time in an hour.

Suga set off at a slow jog, hand on the cold, wet rail to steady himself without watching the road. He kept his eyes glued to the grassy hill dropping off the side of the road. He looked for anything, an odd shape, a movement, a color that didn’t belong. Why couldn’t he remember the color of Hinata’s bicycle? Or the color of his coat?

He could feel the panic rising inside, but he pushed it down. He could not afford that now. Hinata could not afford that. He needed to keep his head. Taking a deep breath, he quickened his pace, squinting out at the rolls of tall, empty, soggy grass.

He almost ran headlong into Ukai, stumbling to a stop just in time to avoid a collision. “Anything?” he panted.

Ukai shook his head, chest heaving. Without a word, they sprinted back the way Ukai came at full speed to the car. As they reached it, Ukai gave him a reassuring pat on the shoulder and slide back into the driver's’ seat, ripping back out into the road.

Suga started again, lungs burning, and he silently thanked Ukai and Daichi for making them run so much. He set his gaze back on the grass and steadied his pace, heart thundering in his chest.

He almost missed it. He honestly should have, but something made him stop. Maybe the weight of exhaustion slowed him down just enough. Maybe the gods were feeling particularly benevolent today. But he saw the glint of steel tire spokes. His breath hitched in his throat and without a second thought he vaulted himself over the rail and stumbled down the hill until he reached the bicycle.

It was only a bicycle. No Hinata. He swallowed and searched further down the hill, panting for breath as anxiety coiled like a snake in his gut. There. In the grass, well concealed, was a ripped yellow rain poncho around the tiny form of Hinata Shouyou. “Hin-Hinata,” he yelped and scrambled diagonally down the hill toward Hinata. “Hinata.” He dropped to his knees next to him.

Hinata blinked up at him blearily, rivulets of blood mixing with the rain on his face. “S...Suga?”

“Hey. Hey. Hinata, I’m so glad to see you.” He tried to keep his voice from quivering and his hands from shaking. “You okay? Are you hurt anywhere?”
He blinked again, slowly, and gave him a wane smile. “I’m okay… Not even cold anymore.”

Suga’s heart plummeted. “Hinata… That’s not good. We’ve gotta get you warmed up. Can you walk?”

Hinata deliberated his words for a long moment. “I don’t… think so. I think… I think my ankle is screwy. I tried to walk before. I fell back down again.”

Suga winced. “Here, let’s sit you up, yeah?” He gripped Hinata’s shoulders and helped him up gingerly. “Coach Ukai will be here soon, so no need to worry.” He tried to smile, but it came off more as a grimace.
“Of course. Coach Ukai is so-- so cool. Like ice. Yeah.”

As Hinata shifted to a sitting position, the hood of his coat fell. His skin looked so pale, stark against the red of blood still trickling from the shallow cut above Hinata’s eyebrow and the tinge of blue in his lips. Suga cupped his face between his hands gently, alarmed at how cold it felt, despite the fact that he didn’t even shiver. “Hinata,” he began, trying to speak evenly and quietly. He looked him in the eye and said, “I need you to tell me something. It’s very important. Did you fall asleep? When you hit your head, or even later? Or did you stay awake the whole time?”

Hinata frowned. “Um… I don’t.... I don’t think so. I think I stayed awake. Don’t remember. I’m tired.”

“That’s okay, that’s great. I bet you are pretty tired, but I need you to stay awake just a little longer, yeah? Can you do that for me?”
Slowly, Hinata nodded. “Yeah. Yeah, okay.”

Suga mustered up a small smile. “Great. That’s fantastic, Hinata.” He glanced back up the way he’d come. He could barely see a sliver of grey guardrail through the underbrush. He hoped Ukai would be able to see them, that he’d come soon. He shivered against the cold and looked back at Hinata. “We’re gonna move up the hill a little bit, okay? So Coach Ukai can see us better.”
“O-okay. That’s okay. But I can’t walk.”

“That’s okay. I’ll help you. But I don’t think I can carry you safely, so you’re going to have to help me out a bit, okay?” he said, suppressing the fear that crept into his voice. “Which ankle did you hurt?”

“Um… this one.” He pointed to his left ankle.

“Okay. Okay. I’m going to help you up. We don’t have to go far, just enough that Coach can see us.”

Hinata nodded.

Suga shuffled over to Hinata’s left side and slide his arm around his back under his right arm. Then, he pulled Hinata’s other arm over his own shoulders, grabbing his wrist. “Okay, ready? On three, we’re going to stand up, okay?”

“...Yeah.”

“One. Two…” Suga tensed, bracing himself and shifted to the balls of his feet. “Three!” He stood, dragging Hinata up with him. Hinata groaned through gritted teeth, leaning heavily on Suga. He stumbled under the weight, but set his jaw, tightened his grip around Hinata, and staggered forward.

Hinata tried, something Suga greatly appreciated, but his efforts reached their limit rather quickly. In less than ten feet, his legs stopped moving and Suga dragged him another forty feet before his knees nearly gave out and he let the two of them sink back down to the ground. He could see most of the rail now, so Ukai should be able to spot them should he pass, which could be any minute now.

“Suga…” Hinata said sluggishly, voice faint and slurred. “I’m tired.”

“Me too,” he panted. “But you’ve gotta stay awake just a little longer, okay? At least until Coach Ukai finds us.”

“Oh.”

Suga winced at the blank look in Hinata’s eyes. That couldn’t be good. He needed to get warm. He needed to get warm now. “Come on, Coach. Come on.”

Another minute passed, Suga’s chattering teeth the only sound besides the ever constant pattering of rain. Then, as if the heavens had opened to pour mercy down on them, Ukai’s blonde head appeared at the railing. Suga clammored to his feet and waved his arms above his head. “Coach!” he screamed, ignoring how it ripped at his throat. “Here, Coach!”

Ukai locked eyes with him immediately, braced his hands on the rail, and leaped over the rail. With reckless abandon, he careened down the hill toward them. Without a word, he heaved Hinata onto his back and together they worked their way back up the hill. Suga helped steady them both as Ukai climbed back over the rail at the top and they started back toward the car.

Ukai stuck his keys in the ignition and cranked the heating to the highest setting. “Get those wet clothes off of him. There’s an emergency blanket underneath the seat there. Get your shirt off and wrap the blanket around you both. He’s still in trouble so share your body heat. The police started at the other end, so there should be an ambulance further up the pass.”

Suga nodded affirmation and Ukai pulled out onto the road. Suga set to work peeling off the soaked layers from both of their bodies, starting with Hinata’s, discarding each piece on the floor of the car as they went. Hinata complied readily, not offering much help, but he didn’t complain. Finally, Suga stripped off his own jacket. Underneath, his shirt remained dry, but he yanked that over his head too. He leaned down and found the blanket Ukai mentioned and tugged it out. It smelled like dust and cigarette smoke, but he couldn’t find it in himself to care. He pulled the blanket in front of them both and settled Hinata against his chest. He winced at the fridgidness of Hinata’s skin, but forced himself to lean as close as he could muster anyway. He tucked the blanket around them and used his discarded t-shirt to gently wipe the rainwater and blood from Hinata’s face.

Hinata let his head fall back on Suga’s shoulder. “Suga…” he said, voice hardly audible against the sound of the rain and the car tires on the asphalt.

“Yeah?” answered Suga softly.

“Can I sleep now?”

He smiled. “Yeah. You did great. Coach Ukai and I will take care of the rest.”

“Okay.”

In the distance, the first booms of thunder rolled across the sky, but Suga breathed easier than he had all morning. He wrapped his arms closer around Hinata’s torso, relishing in the feeling of his even breathing and the faint sensation of his heartbeat fluttering under his skin.

Hinata’s forehead stopped bleeding entirely by the time they reached the flock of emergency vehicles. Ukai pressed down the brake next to the closest cop car as a man in an orange vest approached his window. “Sir,” the man said as Ukai rolled the window down. “We need you to move along. This is none of your concern.”

“No,” Ukai said. “You’re looking for the kid, right?”

The man frowned. “Excuse me? The search has only just begun, how would you--”

“I’m his volleyball coach. We were the ones who noticed in the first place. We found him down the road. We’ve been treated him with what we’ve got for moderate hypothermia, but we figured you had an ambulance better equipped than the backseat of my car. Now get a move on and take care of my kid.”

The officer blinked once, twice, mouth agape.

“Now!” Ukai barked.

The officer gave his head a little shake, turned, and called to the others. Within minutes, paramedics and officers surrounded the car and whisked Hinata away in the ambulance. Most of the officers cleared out, but two remained there with Ukai and Suga. One, a different one than before, approached the car again and Ukai straightened from where he now leaned against the hood.

“I understand this has been a long, stressful morning for you two, but I need your statements. I’ll need both of your names.”

“Of course,” said Ukai. “I’m Ukai Keishin. The student with me is Sugawara Koushi.”

The officer scribbled it into a notepad, and looked back up at him with a soft smile. He asked them both a series of questions individually, in a polite, soft voice, laced with thinly veiled pity. When he finished, he shook Ukai’s hand. “Thank you. You two should be proud of what you did today. You might just have saved that boy’s life. We may not have reached him in time, but who’s to say? Drive safely.”

Ukai nodded and watched the officer grab his partner from where he was chatting with Suga and got in their car. They drove off and Ukai stared after them, not really seeing, until they disappeared around a bend in the road. Suga came up next to him, wrapped in an orange shock blanket and a paramedic jacket. “We should go.”

“Yeah,” said Ukai without looking away from the point the police cruiser had disappeared. “You want to go back to the school?”

“I’d rather see Hinata,” he said with a heavy sigh. “But they probably won’t let anyone in for awhile anyway. Even then, probably just family.”

Ukai sighed then, too, and he looked back at Suga. “Kid, you’re really amazing, you know that?”

Suga’s eyes widened and he blushed. “What? No, no. I hardly did anything. I couldn’t even carry him up the hill.”

“No. No, you kept a level head in a bad situation and you saved Hinata’s life. There’s only so much I could have done by myself.” He turned around and placed his hands on Suga’s shoulders. “I’m proud of you. I’ve never been prouder of you.”

“I--” Suga stopped himself before his protest could go any further. “Thank you.”

Ukai smiled, the first genuine smile between the two of them since before this whole thing started. “I’ll take you back to the school. We’ll have a shortened practice today and I’ll drive a couple of you down to see him afterward. I have a feeling it’s not going to be a very productive practice anyway.”
Suga snorted. “Yeah, no. But it’ll be easier now. Now that we know he’s safe.” He hesitated a moment, as if he wanted to say something and wasn’t sure how Ukai would respond. He opened his mouth to speak, but he said nothing for several more long seconds. “Do you-- Will you thank Kageyama? I will too, but if he hadn’t said anything…”

Ukai understood without him needing to finish that sentence. If Kageyama hadn’t said anything, Hinata may very well have died alone on a mountain side. He nodded resolutely. “Now, let’s get you back to school.”

Suga pursed his lips. “Yeah. Okay.”

The drive back was quiet, but not in the same way that it had been before. The air still felt thick, somber, but not as heavy as before. This time felt almost soothing to Suga, like a hug from his mom after a bad day. His chest still felt tight, constricted, but he could breathe again. The panic and anxiety from before that he’d suppressed, shoved down so as not to impair his thinking now rose to the surface, but subdued. He sort of felt like crying, or taking a really long nap, but strange, like the emotions were filtering through colored glass on a cloudy day.

Ukai dropped him off at the front entrance of the school. Suga checked his watch, which read just after nine thirty, and headed off to the club room to change. Inside, he slowly, silently folded the blanket and jacket the paramedics had given him and changed into his uniform, listening to the rain patter against the window of the club room. He tucked his bag underneath a chair at the edge of the room, slipped on his shoes, and headed off toward his class.

His teacher only seemed mildly surprised to see him, hair still wet from the rain and looking positively exhausted, but Daichi gave him a concerned, questioning look, to which he only responded with a dull smile. He slid into his seat and pulled out the appropriate notebook and textbook for this subject and grabbed a pencil from his bag. As he set it down, the kid behind him tapped him on the shoulder with a folded piece of lined paper, jagged on one side where it had been ripped from a notebook. He placed it on his desk and smoothed it open to find Daichi’s angular scrawl.

Is Hinata okay? You guys found him, right?

He stared at the paper and something cold and hot at the same time bloomed in his chest. He threaded his hands into his hair, his fingers tightening into fists around the strands. He focused on the tug at his scalp instead of the horrible realization that he almost lost Hinata today. He could have found a body today instead of his friend. Perhaps the likelihood of that happening was exaggerated by the stress he had finally allowed to hit him, but the fear hit him all at once. He sank further into his chair, holding his breath.

Staring down at the pencil and the sheet of paper Daichi passed him, he ran through what to reply in his head. He needed to answer soon, or Daichi would panic, which wouldn’t do anyone any favors. He took a shaky breath and picked up the pencil. The point hit the paper, but he couldn’t form the words. That awful feeling rose, clogging his throat.

Hinata is fine.

He crossed out the word ‘fine’, stared at the paper some more, and crossed out the whole line.

We found him. He’ll be okay, but it’s been rough.

He folded it back up, gave the boy behind him an apologetic look, and passed the paper back.

He got it back again thirty seconds later, accompanied by a worried glance from Daichi.

What about you?

Daichi’s pen was smeared and blotched, like he’d hesitated while writing it. It lifted Suga’s spirits ever so slightly, the notion that Daichi worried about him. He put the pencil down again, still feeling at a loss for what to say, but determined to set Daichi at ease as much as he could.

I’ll be fine. Don’t worry about me.

He stared and stared at the paper, feeling more and more like those words were a lie. Still, he lifted his pencil and passed the paper back. He didn’t wait for the response, instead burying himself in copying the notes on the board. The boy tapped him on the shoulder again, but Suga didn’t turn to take it. The boy sighed, slide it over Suga’s shoulder, and let it fall into his lap. He left it there until he’d copied everything the teacher wrote on the board. When he opened it, it only read: Of course I’m worried.

He bit his lip. Daichi saw right through him, and he knew it. Those words said it clearer than if he’d spelled it right out. He put the pencil tip back to the paper and wrote I’m sorry. I’m just really shaken. I’ve never been more scared, Daichi. I was so scared. I almost didn’t find him. We almost lost him, he could have died.

He released a breath he didn’t realize he was holding and looked up, blinking the beginnings of tears out his eyes. Next to his desk, however, stood the teacher, arms folded across his chest, shoe tapping impatiently on the floor. Suga leaned back and blushed.

“Passing notes, Sugawara?” he said. “Perhaps something you’d like to share with the class?”

Suga shook his head.

He snatched the paper from Suga’s desk, his eyes flitting over the paper. His stern expression softened and he set the paper down. “See me after class, please,” he said, and carried on with the lesson.

After class, Suga approached the teacher’s desk with trepidation. “Suga,” the teacher began, voice low to preserve both privacy and a sort of reverence. “What’s going on? Is everything okay?”
Suga shrugged. “A first year on my volleyball team had an accident on his way to practice this morning. I went out with our coach to help find him. We knew he was missing before his family did.”

His eyes widened and his brow creased. “Did the police help with the search at least?”

Suga nodded. “They started at the other end, but I found him myself.”

“Oh, Sugawara,” he said. “I’m sorry. Would you like me to let you other teachers know or would you rather keep this quiet for now?”

Suga drew his shoulders up in an almost shrug. “The rest of the volleyball team doesn’t know yet. I don’t want any rumors to spread until they hear the whole story this afternoon.”

“Alright. I’ll keep it to myself for now then. Make sure to talk to someone if you need it, though. This has been tough on you, too. I can tell.” He stood, collected his things, and patted Suga on the shoulder. “Don’t hesitate to come to me if you need anything.”

He nodded and returned to his seat. He pulled out his supplies for his next class and sat back in his chair, waiting for the inevitable appearance of Daichi. Daichi did not disappoint, and filled Suga’s periphery within the next twenty seconds. “So, what exactly happened? I missed it all this morning until you and Coach left, and Takeda didn’t tell me a whole lot.”

Suga shrugged again, for what felt like the millionth time that day. “Kageyama thought something was up, so he talked to Ukai. Good thing he did, too. He crashed on the mountain pass this morning on his way to school, Daichi. Hit his head pretty hard and hurt his ankle. If Kageyama hadn’t said anything…” he trailed off in the same way he had before, and, just like Ukai, Daichi seemed to understand.

“But he’ll be okay?”

“Yeah. He’s got a bit of recovery ahead of him, though. The team will have to support him if they can.”

Daichi nodded. “When do they plan to talk to the team?” he asked. “Are we even having practice after school?”

“A shorter one, but yes,” said Suga. “Ukai thinks we’ll be a little too preoccupied to focus all that much, but he wants to talk to the team. Let them know what’s going on.”

He hummed in response. The teacher for their next class walked in as the bell rang and Daichi reluctantly shuffled to his seat.

After that class, Asahi joined them in their classroom for lunch. When he entered, he met eyes with Suga and his face brightened. “You’re here! You and Ukai left in a rush, but no one would tell me why.”

Suga smiled back half-heartedly. “Yeah, sorry about that.”

“Kageyama couldn’t focus all practice. He kept missing tosses; I’ve never seen anything like it,” Asahi said and slid into the desk across the aisle from Suga’s. “Kageyama is okay, right? Nothing happened?”

Suga’s smile dropped and Daichi cleared his throat.

Asahi froze. “Wait. He is okay, right?”

“Well…” Suga rubbed the back of his neck. “Kageyama is just fine. Worried, perhaps, but he’s alright.” Suga looked at Asahi carefully and deliberated his options. If he told Asahi, it would wreck him. He’d be an anxious disaster for the rest of the day. But if they didn’t tell him and Asahi found out with the rest of the team, he’d know Suga kept something from him. He deserved to know, but Suga knew he’d worry far too much to be healthy.

“Worried?” Asahi questioned when neither Suga nor Daichi elaborated. “Worried about what?”

Suga shared a look with Daichi, seeking an opinion, but only finding an identically worried expression on Daichi’s face. “Um…” He hesitated, then berated himself for it. Too late now; he had to tell Asahi the truth or he’d imagine all sorts of awful things. “Hinata had a bit of an accident this morning. He’ll be just fine, but Kageyama was worried about him. Ukai and I went to go help him out. We’re planning to talk to the rest of the team this afternoon, but we’re shortening practice.”

Asahi looked shocked, pale and wide-eyed. “Wh-what? What happened?”

“It’s fine. Everything will be fine. Try not to worry about it until we talk to everyone at practice, yeah?” said Daichi.

Looking unsure, Asahi said, “Alright. But you promise everything is okay?”

Suga nodded. “I promise. Maybe not right away, but Hinata will bounce back fast.”

Just then, the door of the classroom crashed open with a bang and Noya bounded into the room with Tanaka on his heels. “Asahiiiiiiiiiiiiii!” bellowed Noya, leaping at him with a running start, crashing into his desk with a clatter and a dull oof.

“N-Noya. Tanaka. Hi,” Asahi said, hand over his heart.

Tanaka laughed, an outrageous, grating sound that had the other occupants of the room glaring in their direction. “What’s with the long faces, huh? Reminiscing about how much you’ll miss us dear second years when you graduate?”

“Heh. Not exactly,” said Daichi.

Noya climbed up and sat on Asahi’s desk, letting his feet rest in Asahi’s lap. He leaned forward and propped his elbows on his knees. “Whatcha doing?”

Asahi stared as him for a long moment, still processing what Suga and Daichi told him, and flabbergasted by the dusty new shoe-prints on the thighs of his pants. Noya snapped his fingers in front of his face. “You in there, Asahi? Have I finally lost you?”

Asahi looked up. “What? Ah, no. Um…”

Noya leaned in really close, his nose almost touching Asahi’s. “I'm kidding. Relax.”

Asahi sighed and leaned back. “You make me nervous. Cut that out.”

“Asahi, you’re always nervous,” said Tanaka. “You sure it’s him and not literally everything else?”

“Tanaka,” Daichi admonished half-heartedly.

“Sorry, sorry.”

The rest of lunch was spent with awkward conversation, Noya and Tanaka either ignoring the tenseness in the air, or completely failing to notice it. Suga couldn’t decide which he hoped for more.

When the bell rang, Tanaka, Noya, and Asahi all retreated back to their own classrooms. Suga sank into his chair and braced himself for an afternoon of classes he didn’t feel mentally prepared to face.

The final bell sounded like deliverance to Suga. To Daichi, it sounded more like the gong signalling the beginning of a long battle. Neither said as much to the other. In fact, as they walked toward the club room to put on their gym clothes, they said nothing at all.

They reached the clubroom first, but they only beat Shimizu and Kageyama by a few seconds, closely followed by Tsukishima and Yamaguchi. Daichi unlocked it with his key, left the door open, and crossed the room to his gym bag. Suga made his way to his own, but as he unzipped it to find the glaring orange of the shock blanket and the pale blue of the paramedic’s jacket, he remembered. His shirt, probably still on the floor of Coach Ukai’s car, was completely ruined. He winced. He couldn’t very well practice in his jacket.

“Hey,” he said slowly, then hesitated. “Do any of you have an extra shirt I can borrow?”

Tsukki tsked. “What happened to the one you had this morning?”

Suga looked back at the room and met eyes with Daichi, silently pleading with him to intervene. He couldn’t. Not right now. He couldn’t explain without spilling everything and he couldn’t handle that either. Daichi’s eyes widened in understanding, underlined by a morbid curiosity, and he said, “It’ll be a little big, but I have one.”

“Thanks, Daichi,” said Suga, with more sincerity than could be construed as appropriate for a lent t-shirt.

He finished changing quickly and shuffled down to the gym ahead of anyone else. Ukai was waiting in the doorway. “Suga. How are you holding up?”

“Fine… I guess.”

“Good. I’m glad.”

Suga shifted his weight back and forth and wrung his hands together. “Any news on Hinata?”

Ukai winced and Suga’s stomach sank into his shoes. He said, “He’s pretty banged up. Nothing is broken, miraculously, but he’s got his work cut out for him.”

He sighed in relief, having feared the worst. “Oh, good. Will he be returning to school soon?”

Ukai thought about it for a moment, eyes lingering on the blue and grey t-shirt that hung off Suga’s shoulders. He looked small, and, accompanied by the tired defeat in his eyes, much to old for his age. He said, “Just go inside, Suga. I’ll tell you with everyone else, okay?”

Suga looked down, and Ukai thought the kid looked like he could really use a nap. He patted him on the shoulder as he walked past into the gym. He waited there and gave each team member a similar pat as they followed suit, with one obvious and glaring exception.

Inside, Suga sat near the wall, stretching absentmindedly, and watched as the other boys filtered in. Some chatted by the benches, others fiddled with bags, or followed Suga’s lead by stretching. When the last one came in through the door, Ennoshita, looking frazzled and vaguely sheepish, Coach Ukai followed behind with arms crossed over his chest.

Ennoshita jogged over to Suga. “Hey, sorry I’m late. I didn’t miss anything, right?”

“Nah, you’re fine.”

“Alright, guys, start warming up, then one lap around campus!” Ukai hollered.

Suga winced at the thought, but understood Ukai’s motivation. With so much coming up and so much stress about to hit the team head on, they couldn’t afford to relax, as much as Suga wanted to. If he had them put forth a little effort now, he could let them off early in good conscience. He stretched on the floor a few more seconds, rocked to his feet, and joined the circle next to Daichi for warm-ups.

Daichi called out the numbers and Suga fell into a familiar rhythm lethargically, ignoring the worried glances Daichi and Asahi threw his way. He could feel Ukai watching him too, but his focus remained on the steely expression on Kageyama’s face. It occurred to him suddenly that Kageyama knew just enough to worried out of his mind, but not enough to put him at ease. Kageyama glanced at Suga once and averted his gaze sullenly. Suga couldn’t have been making him feel any worse with his own disposition, surely. He checked himself, straightened his spine a hair, and focused on warm-ups.

As much as exhaustion had leaked it’s way into every facet of Suga’s existence, the run around campus invigorated him ever so slightly. It cleared some of the fog lingering in his mind and released some of the tightness in his chest. He still felt like going home and burrowing into his bed for a week, but he felt significantly better than before. Perhaps it was the knowledge that Hinata really would be okay.

The team circled back to the gym, walking two laps around the hardwood floor to cool off, drank some water, and followed to the corner when Ukai beckoned. They sat in haphazard rows, an empty space between Kageyama and Tanaka the size of an elephant. By now, everyone recognized the absence, but no one mentioned it, likely talking themselves out of worrying.

With his eyes trained on the open space, Yamaguchi whispered to Tsukki, “I hope he isn’t ill.”

Tsukki tsk ed in response, but frowned all the same.

Ukai cleared his throat and the team stilled. “I have some important news for you all. Before I tell you what it is, I need you to promise not to panic. Everything will be fine.”

A ripple of mutters bled out across the floor. People fidgeted and whispered.

“As most of you probably noticed, Suga and I left practice early this morning. Kageyama alerted me to... certain concerns. Hinata took his bike across the mountain pass this morning.”
“But he wasn’t at practice,” blurted Noya. “And he wasn’t at lunch either.”

Ukai’s eyebrows furrowed and his mouth set into a hard line. “That’s because he had an accident. His bike crashed, probably due to extreme weather conditions.” Everything froze. No one dared even breathe, glancing around with shock etched into their faces. The only sound was the dull ticking of the clock above the door. “Luckily for us, Kageyama pointed out his concerns and Sugawara, Takeda, and I were able to contact his parents and find Hinata. The doctors told me it could have been much, much worse, but Hinata is still in pretty rough shape. He’s gonna need some time off and a lot of support from you guys while he heals.”

All at once, it seemed to hit everyone. Tanaka winced violently and Noya’s head snapped down to glare at the floor. Kageyama’s head retreated into his arms and Yamaguchi’s hands shook. Tsukki’s breath caught in his throat, Ennoshita shook his head slowly, mouth agape, and Kiyoko bit her lip and stared hard at nothing at all.

“It will be tough,” Takeda said, voice soft, but calm and steady. “But this team has faced many challenges. Hinata will be just fine, and we will get through this together, alright?”

Ukai took a deep breath. “I’m cutting practice short today. I didn’t want to do nothing, which is why we waited to tell you until now, but I’m not expecting you to play well after news like that. Takeda and I are both driving down to the hospital and we will give rides to anyone who wants one if we’ve got the space, but you are welcome and encouraged to deal with this however you want. If that means heading home to be alone, that’s perfectly fine. If you have questions, Takeda and I will do our best to answer them.” He looked across the motley collection of boys, each expressing unique distress in their posture, their faces, their hands. He met each of their eyes as best he could. “Everything will be fine.”

He watched them then, looking for anything else to say to them, but all he could think was how defeated they looked right now. “Dismissed,” he said gruffly.

No one moved for what felt like hours. Slowly, Suga stood. “I’m coming with you, Coach. I’m going to change.” And he disappeared out the door.

Diachi stumbled to his feet. “M-me too.” He tripped after Suga, calling his name, almost running into the doorframe.

Asahi looked around, worry creasing his eyebrows and raising the hairs on the back of his neck. “I have a car if anyone would like to come with me. We should have enough seats that way. But we have to walk about a block to get to my house… If that’s okay.”

Noya laughed, the sound abrasive and forced, but it shocked everyone out of their stupors. “That settles it. We’re all going. Lead on, Asahi.”

In the end, every single person came, with barely enough room for them even with Takeda’s minivan. The poured into the hospital reception area with boisterous silence, a certain reverence leeching away the usual noise of their enthusiasm. That enthusiasm now had laser focus and determination that could level a mountain.

The receptionist blinked at them as Ukai approached the desk. “We’re here to visit Hinata Shouyou. Room…” he pulled his phone from his pocket and squinted at it for several seconds. “210. Yeah. His mother said I’d be stopping by.”

She glanced at the gaggle of vaguely intimidating boys behind him. “She said you would, yes. But… I wasn’t aware of the, uh, entourage.”

“We’ll take turns,” said Noya, his gaze trained on the woman, silently daring her to turn them away.

She regarded them carefully, the steely resolve in their eyes, the stiff lines of their shoulders, their broad silhouettes against the glaring lights. She pursed her lips, clacked a few things into her keyboard, gave them a shrug, and waved them through with a sign-in sheet and a whole stack of visitor stickers. “Fair warning,” she said. “You will be removed quickly and without second chances if you are loud, disruptive, or generally a nuisance to Hinata or any of his neighbors.” She zeroed in on Noya and Tanaka. “Don’t make me regret letting you in.”

She got her thanks in the form of half a dozen smiles, a couple impromptu high fives she didn’t feel prepared for, and a few fist pumps, but they passed the desk relatively quietly. Takeda gave her a soft look and a quiet thanks as he followed behind.

They followed the signs and got directions only once before they found Hinata’s room. Inside, Hinata’s mother, slumped in a chair, fast asleep, with a red headed toddler in her lap, both softly snoring. A man, likely Hinata’s father, had also fallen asleep in a chair by the bed. Hinata himself stared out the window, quite still, looking contemplative, but absent, like he’d lost his train of thought.

When the door opened, Hinata’s head turned with a soft wince.

He had stitches in the cut above his eyebrow, so perhaps it hadn’t been as shallow as Suga originally thought. He had various bandages on his arms and hands. His left ankle was wrapped and elevated, and he looked far beyond exhausted. But he smiled when he saw them. “Hi, guys,” he said quietly.

“That was dumb,” Kageyama retorted immediately, his voice sour and biting. “Don’t do that.”

Hinata laughed. “Yeah, that was pretty stupid of me. Lucky for me, I’ve got people to watch my back, yeah?”

No one laughed with him, but the air seemed to lighten, and no one felt quite so heavy. Hinata’s smile slowly faded.

“Get a ride next time, idiot,” said Kageyama. “You scared me.”

Any other day, under any other circumstances, Hinata would poke fun at him. He’d laugh and call him a wimp, or accuse him of worrying too much. But he looked at Kageyama, refusing to meet his gaze, hands clenched at his sides, and he thought of the aches all across his body, and he thought of the look on Suga’s face in his hazy memory of the hillside, and he just felt really, really small and very sad. “I’m sorry,” he said, hardly above a whisper.

“You can make it up by getting better,” Daichi said. “We’re behind you the whole way.”

Hinata nodded once and looked away.

Noya cleared his throat. “Anyway…”

No one said anything.

Behind them, someone cleared their throat, and they turned to find a doctor, a stern looking woman with her hair coiled tightly at the nape of her neck and a clipboard in her arms. “There’s too many of you in here for a concussion patient. You’ll overwhelm him. Out. All of you,” she said, her words hard and clipped.

A groan shuddered across the throng of boys and a muttering of whiney complaints.

“But these are my friends,” Hinata protested. “I haven’t gotten to see hardly anyone.”

The doctor regarded Hinata carefully, then looked the group up and down. “Three can stay. But I have to put my foot down. This is far too many people. He’s going home tomorrow morning and you can work visits out with his mother then. Pick who’s staying or clear out.”

She shouldered past them and went to check Hinata out while the boys bolstered for Ukai’s attention, each urgently making a case for themselves to stay, with the exception of Suga, Tsukki, and Yamaguchi. The three of them watched the hushed chaos with varying combinations of worry and distaste.

“Oi, shut it!” snapped Ukai. “Suga, Kageyama, you stay. Either Takeda or I will drive you back to the school. Move it.”

“What? Not fair. He needs the loving support of his favorite senpai,” Noya cried.

Tanaka elbowed him. “That’s me, idiot.”

“Nuh-uh.”

“Yeah-huh.”

“Hey!” Takeda intervened. “You can send him loving support from somewhere else. Right now, he needs quiet. Let’s give him some space, okay?”

“Oh, right,” they both said, Tanaka rubbing the back of his neck.

“Yeah. Right,” said Takeda. “Ukai, I have more seats, so you stay with these boys and Asahi and I will drive back everyone else.”

Ukai nodded and waved them off as they reluctantly shambled out of the room and back down the hall.

The doctor turned. “Thank you,” she huffed. “It’s not that I’m against him having visitors, but we need relaxation and rest more than we need company right now.”

“I understand,” Ukai said. “And so does Hinata. Right, kid?”

Hinata pouted at the wall. “Yeah, whatever. You shoulda let them stay anyway. I didn’t even get to see them, like, all day.”

“Baby steps, Hinata. Remember that conversation you and I had?” the doctor said, her voice much gentler now that the room was less crowded.

He sighed and crossed his arms over his chest, but he nodded.

“Don’t forget it.” She scribbled something on her clipboard and looked at Ukai. “You’re his…” she checked the clipboard again. “Volleyball coach? Yeah. I’m sending the school his reports and accommodations. Make sure you get a copy and read it carefully. If he pushes too far too quickly, it will only slow the healing process down, and I would hate to see him injured again because he jumped the gun.”

Ukai nodded again. “I’ll make sure to keep an eye on that. How long should I keep him from practicing with the team?”

She hummed thoughtfully and tapped her chin with a well manicured nail. “That depends on Hinata. Each case is different, especially with head injuries. The ankle and the hypothermia, I’m not so worried about. The sprain itself wasn’t so bad, so that should be alright to walk on it in two weeks or so, but the concussion could take as long at three months to go away completely.”

“What’s the best case scenario?” asked Kageyama. “What’s the fastest he could get better?”

She looked at Kageyama carefully and pursed her lips. She tapped her foot once against the tile floor. “As little as twenty days.” She held up a hand before Kageyama could say more. “But, but, I wouldn’t hold out too much hope. He certainly can’t start strenuous physical activity for at least two, maybe two and a half weeks if you’re lucky.”

“Yeah, I’m not that lucky,” Hinata said under his breath. “I’ll end up missing all the important stuff.”

Suga wanted to tell him that wasn’t true, that he’d jump back into things with ease, but he couldn’t stand to lie and he couldn’t bring himself to believe it. He folded his arms tightly across his chest.

“Moron,” said Kageyama, and Suga’s eyes snapped to him. “That’s impossible. Nothing important happens without you. It all happens to you. I mean, look at you. What did I do today?” He scowled at the tile floor, fists clenching until his knuckles turned white. “Nothing. I did nothing.”

Suga’s breath caught in his throat and something akin to fear or maybe anger rose in his chest. “Hey. Don’t do that. You did everything you could do. You saved Hinata’s life. Don’t you dare look down on that. This was not your fault. At all.”

“Yeah, sure, but I should have called him when he didn’t show at the bike rack, or before that when it started raining, or--”

He reared back and punched Kageyama’s shoulder. “Stop that,” he said through his teeth. “You were the first one to think something was wrong. You said something when you didn’t have to and now Hinata is here. He’s here, so will you just be thankful for one damn second instead of feeling guilty?” His heart hammered in his chest and his lungs hurt. His eyes burned, but he didn’t feel like he’d cry. He just felt hot, and kind of numb, and he looked at Kageyama’s guilt like a reflection and he felt so angry, so furious that every word he’d said he could not fathom turning them back on himself. “Just… let us have one tiny shred of hope in the idea that you actually noticed when he really really needed you to.”

“H-hey. Don’t-- Kageyama, don’t…” Hinata hiccuped once and sniffled. “Don’t fight, you guys. Not over me. That’s stupid. St-stop being so… so stupid.”

Kageyama sighed, a shaky sound that resonated in Suga’s skull and stuck to his throat. “Idiot. Don’t cry.”

“I’m not c-crying.”

Ukai reached over and patted Hinata’s shoulder. “It’s okay, kid, no one’s judging you.”

Hinata rubbed at his eyes and scowled at the white sheets of the bed. “Good, ‘cause I’m not crying.”

Suga didn’t believe him, but to make up for the lie, tears spilled over and ran down his cheek, hot and wet, his shoulders shaking. He didn’t make any sound, just stood in the corner and felt the awful feelings in his whole body disappear, because Hinata was fine and Kageyama was fine, and he was fine. Or at least he would be, because everything else was fine. Or at least it would be.

He took a deep breath, wiped the hot tears off his face with the heel of his palm, and let himself smile.

That week, Hinata did not come to school, which Suga expected. That weekend, he got something he did not expect at all. A text from a number he’d never seen before.

From: Unknown

Heyy! I’m not supposed to be texting but my mom let me borrow her phone. I just really wanted to say thank you, Suga. I don’t remember a whole lot, but I remember feeling a whole lot better when you got there, so thanks a lot.

Suga stared at the screen. He knew it must be from Hinata. He had no doubt in that, but the message stunned him. His hands hovered over the keyboard, fingers twitching. Thank you, Hinata. he typed, but deleted it quickly with a sigh. Of course. What else would I have done? He deleted that too. I’m just sorry I took so long. Delete delete delete.

He groaned and fell back on his bed.

He stared at the screen, tapping it lightly as the screen darkened to stop it from turning off. He bit his lip and stared at the message, rereading it again and again. I’m he typed. He stopped, hesitated, swallowed. I’m just glad I found you fast enough. You really worried us. He hit send before he could second guess himself.

I know, the reply was immediate, accompanied by a smiling emoticon. But I’m still really thankful you were there. GTG tho, my moms gonna get mad. Bye Suga!

Suga smiled.

The next time Hinata saw him, almost two weeks later, he gave him a hug, one made awkward by crutches and enthusiasm, but it was warm and friendly in a way he hadn’t interacted with Hinata before. It made him happy, and, in an odd sort of way, proud to be on the receiving end of it.

Hinata hugged Kageyama too, but not the same way. Judging by Hinata’s laugh, and Kageyama’s protest, he’d mostly done it to embarrass him. And maybe a little to thank him without having to outright say it. Suga decided on the later afterward, when he saw the look Hinata threw at Kageyama’s back several minutes later: pink cheeks, a soft smile, and a twinkle in his eyes that Suga didn’t recognize.

But the soft sigh Hinata gave made it click in Suga’s mind. He decided then and there that it didn’t matter anymore how long it took for Hinata to recover, or if they could have should have done something differently. He’d be fine. Maybe more than fine, judging by the silhouette of an arrow in Hinata’s shadow and the soft glow in his expression. Yeah, he’d be just fine.