Chapter Text
- Who are you?
Bright headlights flash before his eyes, when suddenly, Hinata hears him.
A call of his name, making itself loud and known. It’s filled with grief, remorse, and love.
“Who are you?”
Hinata’s question wasn’t really a question; More like a demand. “Tell me who you are.” He practically says. Theoretically, anyways.
The stranger in front of him doesn’t have much to say. The question doesn’t phase nor scares him. The stranger, with his dark ocean eyes in all their glory, stares back at Hinata with guilt. Maybe he had wronged him in a past life. Maybe they had a fall out. Though, there was no point in guessing now.
Finally, this blue eyed boy answers.
“I’m Tobio, your best friend.”
He doesn’t go past that. Hinata doesn’t let him. “Are you sure? I’m afraid I have never seen you in my life.”
Maybe that was insensitive of him.
“Oh, Shouyou…” A woman gasped, grasping her within his arms. If Hinata didn’t feel obligated to give her this much, perhaps he would have pushed her off by now. Though… something about her was familiar. Then there was the fact they looked quite similar as well.
Making a mental note that there was a possibility they were related, he had half a mind to hug her back, meeting eyes with a tall man across the room. His gray hair was enchanting, and unlike with most people, it added onto his looks.
“Hi.” He speaks, moving away from the shadowed corner. “I’m a friend. I’m sure you don’t remember me either but—”
“Bakery.” Hinata found himself saying, a little jaw dropped by this beauty’s kindness. “You’re… sugar.”
‘Sugar’ lets out a wet laugh, catching half of the room off guard. “N-No… It’s Suga. Sugawara.”
Shouyou flushes a bit but moves on to the last person he recognizes. “What about you?”
Another tall male stands up from his chair stationed across the room, making his way to Hinata and leaning a little closer than the others. “I’m Yamaguchi Tadashi. I was your ex but then we became pretty good friends after a while… It’s okay if you don’t remember. Trust me. I’m just glad you’re healthy for the most part.”
Hinata recalls a memory, a fall out. It wasn’t brutal, no. It was just a small misunderstanding. ‘Yamagoochi’ was there and he seemed upset. Guilt ensues the patient, coughing up a fit once feeling a bit heavy.
From the corner of his eyes, he can see the strangers around him startled from probable concern and makes a conclusion.
They care about me .
Intent on making sure they didn’t exert themselves more they have probably already, he clears his throat, sitting up before addressing each and every one of them.
“Sugar—Sugawara. Yes, I do remember bits and pieces. They’re vague— but there.” He admits, biting his lip as he moved onto the other. “I’m not too sure about this but… Natsu?”
Almost simultaneously, the girl jumps up and hugs him, earning a yelp from Hinata. He must’ve been right.
“O-Okay then… And Yamaguchi. I do remember you. Much clearer actually.” Hinata pauses. “And you?... I don’t— I don’t remember you. At all.”
The blue boy stands, releasing his hand towards the shorter. Curious yet hesitant, Hinata grabs the hand, jumping a bit when Kageyama shook it with great strength.
“Oh shit— Sorry, it’s… a thing we used to do.”
“Pardon?” Shouyou asks, raising a brow in confusion.
Kageyama takes a seat, causing the patient besides him to tense slightly. “We used to have competitions on who could shake hands better.”
Unresponsive, Hinata blinks, feeling awfully oblivious. Thankfully, Tobio says something.
“Apologies, I should have known better. It’s fine anyways. You always were pretty slow at some things.”
This gets the exhausted riled up. “Excuse me? That’s kind of rude! Besides, I’m literally injured. What the hell kind of expectations did you have?”
“I wouldn’t say expectations… More like hopes. Though, I think you did get a little smarter.”
A small clap sounds throughout the room and once Hinata’s able to ask what the hell happened, he processes the action that happened right before him.
There in their natural habitat were two handsome figures, arguing over the more angrier stranger’s rudeness. Kageyama seemed to be more than used to it so he figured they really were good friends. Even despite the fact that Hinata had no recollection of him.
“—Fine, fine. I’ll stop.” Kageyama pouts, growling. For some unknown reason… Hinata immediately knew something. Being grouchy was a regular thing for this wreck of an idiot.
Maybe it was just attractive people in general that got heated all the time.
“What? You look sick.” Prods Sugawara, earning a few waves from Hinata.
“N-No! I’m great and… just tired. Yeah.”
“You‘ve been sleeping for forever. How are you—” Koushi slaps him again.
“Don’t mind Kageyama. He’s just excited to see you.”
Hinata pauses once more. Eventually, he does find his words. “Huh? Excited? If anything, he seems… upset that I woke up.”
Sure enough, the blue boy practically snaps his neck trying to turn. Yet again, their eyes meet however this time, Hinata can see a bit of offense swirling into his irises.
Their interaction doesn’t get past that because two seconds later, Sugawara’s pulling Kageyama away with a little more force than needed. While it looked like they were arguing, it seemed to Hinata that perhaps there was more to the situation than what they were leading on.
However, Shouyou doesn’t have the strength to pry. He doesn’t have much strength at all at this point.
“Alright, that's enough. Visiting hours are over at this time, please exit the patient’s room and come back at a later time. I assure you, he isn’t going anywhere.” The doctor interrupts, guiding Hinata’s so-called ‘friends’ out the door.
He wasn’t going to lie… it felt thrilling to see them.
Maybe it was because they really did mean a lot to him. Then again, it might’ve been the shock from gaining all of those faint memories that he couldn’t quite make out clearly. Whatever it was, it felt surreal .
So here he sat, in the empty cold room in his hospital bed, resting idly under the blank sheets. Eerie in all its glory.
Call him soft but he felt… lonely.
Curling up as tight as he could, Hinata nestled himself into the comforter, disturbed by the range of emotions he was feeling. Then, there were tears. Tears wiping down the small of his cheeks.
It was overwhelming to say the least, and the rhythmic beeping of the heart monitor didn’t help either.
He feels cold and empty inside, while filled with love. For whom? Why? What the hell was going on?
A whisper escapes his lips. Now he’s terrified. He doesn’t know what the hell he just mumbled nor what it meant but… Hinata knows it wasn’t a good memory. The intensified sobbing should have been more than enough for him to realize it.
Hinata blinks back the last few tears, dedicated to stopping this abrupt and abnormal crying when he had so many people worrying enough as it is. Eventually, he caves in and lets his exhausted mind take over from there.
Right before he’s drifting off to sleep, he sees a faint blank ‘Get Well Soon!’ card. No name nor anything besides the empty template itself.
‘Odd’ was the last thought he had.
Another mumble.
.
When Hinata wakes up, he’s about as confused as yesterday upon meeting the last few people. Now, apparently, they had multiplied.
“H-Hinata!” A child(?) sobs, his single blonde streak of hair spooking the boy a bit. “Oh I was so scared!...”
To be fair, Shouyou, while only remembering bits and pieces of his identity, would much like to believe he didn’t befriend children still in middle school. “Are you my… nephew? Nice to meet you.”
Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case.
“Excuse ME?!” He growls, “I am Nishinoya Yuu! Your online best friend! I know I did not drive hours here just to be called a fucking kid. This is worse than you not remembering me…”
“Noya, let’s calm down…” Another tall man adds.
It was safe to say Hinata was on the verge of screaming the next time he saw another damn titan.
And then he came.
He wasn’t as friendly as the others. Only second to Kageyama when it came to rudeness.
And what he meant by that was the intense glares he was giving him the entire 10 minutes he was there. Hinata could overhear something that appeared to be his name. Tsukishima, if he heard correctly.
This so-called Tsukishima appeared to have a bad relationship with Hinata's supposed best friend. And if that wasn’t weird enough, Yamaguchi also seemed to not quite like Kageyama as well.
Eventually, they all left and Hinata had memorized all of their names and committed it to memory.
Asahi, Nishinoya, Yamaguchi, Tsukishima, Sugawara, Daichi (a police officer who couldn’t visit because of his troublesome work hours), and Kageyama Tobio, who seemed way too handsome to be any friend of his. Perhaps he was some celebrity that pitied his situation. Probably.
Then it hits him, the discussion he had with his doctor right after talking with each and every one of them besides the cop.
“You understand, right?” He had asked considerately.
To be honest, Hinata didn’t want to understand. It was bad enough as it was sitting in an empty hospital room but to deal with something that he’d have outside of this was unbearable to think about it.
“Could you repeat it? It feels almost.. unreal, I guess.”
“Of course.” The doctor flips through a couple of pages before repeating his words. “Our previous prediction regarding your recovery speed is, unfortunately, wrong. Your memory won’t be recovering anytime soon— At least not without some event, person, or place sparking your memories alive, we can’t say for certain.”
Accepting this point, Hinata bites his lip. “I understand.”
Shouyou kicks his legs back and forth as he plucks petal by petal off a sunflower given to him by Tobio. He stops at the last petal, gently petting it with care before mercilessly tearing it off.
This wasn’t fair.
How was he supposed to know what was going to trigger him or not?!
Hinata couldn’t bear to burden his friends further, they had worried themselves enough. He needed to handle this by himself otherwise how else could he prove to be efficient in the real world if he was constantly asking for some sort of aid? This was ridiculous. He wasn’t a child!
But,
If he wanted his memories back, he couldn’t do it alone.
Anxious, he hops off the bed and strokes the telephone on the counter. All it took was a few seconds to dial any of his wonderful friends’ numbers and ask them for help in his adventure of recovering his memories. It’s not like they’d say no to him… Perhaps that was the problem then.
Even so, he dials.
“Hello?—”
“SHOUYOU!” Noya yells. “I missed you!—”
Almost immediately, Hinata hangs up.
I’m not ready, He thinks, I am not ready.
Sure enough, the phone is ringing off the hook moments later.
“You know…” Tobio pipes out of nowhere from the doorframe, “You don’t have to pick up. He can wait. Also, don’t try to push yourself onto us. Take your time… Do as you please. They won’t bite.”
Hinata shrugs his comfort off. “I appreciate the reassurance but you guys are my friends. It’s the least I could do, y’know? Also… How long have you been standing there?”
“I saw you slam the phone down.” Kageyama doesn’t press him further from that. Hinata’s glad.
Despite the unruly circumstances, he wants to give his past relationships his everything. After all, Lord knows how much they lost when Hinata lost his memory.
Maybe by letting them help, he can still somehow give back.
“Alright! How may I assist you on this fine morning?” He smiles.
Tobio doesn’t answer; he exits the room for a few moments and comes right back, bearing two plates that probably came from the local cafeteria. To be honest, Hinata didn’t really take a liking to Kageyama at first but maybe he was just shy… And when he gets out of this shy phase, he’ll open up to him with wide arms and be much kinder.
Unfortunately, today was not that day.
“Eat up, dumbass.” Tobio spites, dropping the dinner tray onto an empty area on the bed. “Your doctor told me you haven’t touched food ever since you woke up. You’re not going to grow any taller if you keep this up.”
Shouyou’s eye twitches from irritation. “Fine… It’s not like I’m doing this for my height… I just suddenly got hungry.”
“You shouldn’t hold back like that.”
“Hunger really isn’t all that important compared to my other problems--”
“Not that, you…” Kageyama stops himself and continues. “I’m talking about your attitude. You seem like you’re trying to restrain yourself or something...”
“Well I don’t want to come off as rude! Especially after all you’ve done for me.”
Although it was at first an honest and endearing response, Hinata couldn’t help but have a strong feeling that maybe he said something wrong.
And while it was brief and could have no meaning behind it, Tobio’s next response is evidence enough for him. “Just eat it please.”
As rude as it sounds, Hinata can’t imagine him being the type to say please; just the opposite. Yet here he was, pleading with a tone that could come from a kicked dog.
It was a little unnatural coming from someone who looked like they have committed homicide before. Even so, Shouyou urges himself to sit down beside the lunch plate and start chewing. And damn is he glad he does.
“Whoa.. What is this? Is it the fact that I haven’t had a taste of real food in a while or does Hospital meat taste like heaven?”
“First off…” Kageyama sighs, “There’s nothing wrong with hospital meat. You’re just unbelievably naive. Don’t believe the television rumors, you idiot. Secondly, no. I made this food.”
As crazy as it was, for the first time since he woke up… Hinata laughs. Not a fraud, awkward chuckle, no. A full on fit of laughter that can’t help but spread a smile on Kageyama’s face. It’s a warm breeze that flows through Shouyou and lightens him in some way. And with that hysterical gesture of joy, Hinata says “You’re lying.”
Consequently, Tobio’s climbing onto the mattress with a forced straight face and brings his unsettling(?) ocean eyes to meet Shouyou’s. “It’s the truth.” He says with a crook of a smile. Challengingly, Hinata scoots a little closer with determination. “It’s not nice to lie to injured people.”
That’s what get’s Hinata a second head injury.
“Shut up, idiot.” Kageyama barks.
“Tobio!” Hinata cries, teary-eyed. “That hurted a lot! Why would you do that?!”
Funny enough, he flusters. “O-Oh shit, I’m sorry… Force of habit! Are you okay?”
“No! And is that supposed to make me feel better?!...” Shouyou growls, throwing his hands in the air all the while. “Well I guess it does explain the instincts I had before you decided it was a good idea to smack me.”
“...Hmph. It isn’t my fault you’re so annoying.”
“Oh yeah, sure. Blame the agitated, injured patient!”