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Kei is walking to afternoon practice on his own for once, since Yamaguchi abandoned him for the idiots. He knows it’s not technically Yamaguchi’s fault, since the captain asked him to tutor the volleyball freaks, but still. Now he’ll have to tolerate the first hour of practice without Yamaguchi...at least the freak duo won’t be there either. Small mercies.
It’s a dull walk alone without Yamaguchi’s gossip and he’s blaming Hinata and Kageyama. Without their idiocy and poor work ethic that made them fail the recent midterm tests, Yamaguchi wouldn’t have been roped into being their mandatory tutor.
Later, he blames that boredom for his stupid decision to investigate the voices coming from the bushes. It sounds like there are two or three people in there, and they sound like adult men, not students. How odd.
“Are you supposed to be hiding right now?” He questions the rustling bushes, which makes the voices start shushing each other loudly. “This is rather pathetic. I know you’re there. Why try to keep hiding?”
“He’s got a point,” one of the voices says.
“Fuck!” The other one curses. “Where’s the redhead?”
“You’re looking for Hinata ?” Kei says incredulously. “Why?” The thought occurs to him that he should probably leave and tell an authority there are strange men on campus. After all, it seems unlikely that people would hide in bushes in wait for Hinata without nefarious purposes. And the stupid shrimp is just the type to be kidnapped or something ridiculous like that. He starts to walk away, feigning casualness, and then someone grabs his arm.
“Why were you talking to this kid?” The man says, presumably to his bush companions.
“I think he’s onto us, boss,” one of the voices whines.
Kei tugs at his arm, but the man’s grip is strong, and now it becomes even tighter. “Nope,” the man says softly, and then there’s something sharp touching his back. “We’re going to leave, without causing any commotion, or I’ll stab you, got it?”
“We’re in a public location,” Kei says, hardly able to believe how stupid the man is. Then again, there isn’t anyone close enough to clearly see what’s going on.
“Hey, idiots,” the man says, addressing the bush. “Meet me at the place we talked about. Try not to get caught by any more children while you’re at it.”
Over the course of a few seconds, Kei has rapidly calculated the possibilities, and he’s concluded that these kidnappers are stupid enough that he can’t discount the chance the man will actually stab him if he makes a fuss. Fine, so he’ll play their game for now.
It won’t be much longer until they’re playing his.
🔪🔪🔪🔪🔪🔪🔪
They’re smart enough to at least blindfold him and zip-tie his hands. If they were smarter, they’d knock him unconscious somehow. He behaves perfectly, doesn’t say so much as a word, so that they’ll have no reason to.
Instead, Kei concentrates on building a mental image of where they’re going. He knows the roads around town, he’s walked them countless times, so it’s not that difficult. Granted, Hinata wouldn’t be able to do it, but that’s hardly surprising.
Really, he should be glad I’ve taken his place , Kei muses. Hinata wouldn’t last a day if he was kidnapped.
Kei knows it’s only been about half an hour since he was kidnapped, but still.
Then they’re driving out of town. Fortunately, Kei still recognizes the direction. His family used to go out this way, to a beautiful park. He pushes away memories of hiking with Akiteru. There’s no time to get distracted right now.
Finally, the car comes to a stop, and he’s escorted out. “Don’t run, or--”
“Why the hell would I run?” Kei says. “I’m tied up and blindfolded, I wouldn’t exactly make it far. How stupid do you think I am?”
“This kid’s kinda annoying,” one of the kidnappers grumbles.
Kei forcibly represses a smirk. They think this is him being annoying? They have no idea.
He’s walked inside a building; some sort of warehouse, he’s guessing, based on the way their footsteps echo in the space. Someone ties him to a chair with duct tape, and then they cut off the zip-ties that were on his hands. He’s actually a bit grateful for that, as they were somewhat uncomfortable.
“Why did you want to kidnap Hinata, anyway?” He asks idly.
“For money,” one of them says. “Why else?”
“That wasn’t very bright of you. Perhaps you weren’t aware, but Karasuno is a public high school. Most of the students are solidly middle-class, not wealthy. You wouldn’t get much of a ransom from Hinata’s family, and you won’t get much of one from mine either.”
“So what would you do if you were us, little smarty pants?”
Kei shrugs, or tries to; the duct tape makes the motion difficult. “I wouldn’t kidnap people in the first place, since that rarely ends well. If I did kidnap someone, though, I would try to nab a student from Shiratorizawa. They’re all rich brats. Or even Seijoh, they have some rich kids over there too.” He thinks of something then, and smiles slightly. “You should have kidnapped Oikawa-san or Ushijima-san instead. I wouldn’t miss those two at all.”
“Geezus,” one of the guys exclaims. “You’re a mean kid, you know that?”
“Says the kidnapper.”
“Fuck,” the guy grumbles. “Himekawa,” he yells out. “Can’t we-- shit .”
“You idiot ,” the boss snarls, and Kei hears a noise like someone was punched or maybe slammed against a wall. He almost feels bad for the leader, in a sympathetic way; it’s like if he was working with Hinata and Kageyama. He shudders at the thought.
“S-sorry, boss.”
“And no , we’re not doing anything so stupid as letting him go! I don’t care if he annoys you! Man up and stop being a big baby about it.”
“The toxic masculinity in here stinks worse than your mom’s cooking,” Kei remarks pleasantly.
“Don’t you talk about my mother like that!” The guy yells, and starts walking towards him before someone pulls him to a stop.
“He’s trying to rile you up, stupid. Don’t fall for it.”
“Kind of hypocritical, isn’t it?” Kei says. There’s only confused silence in response, so he elaborates, “for you to be calling him stupid. People in glass houses, and all that.”
“Nevermind, you’re right,” goon number two says angrily. “Let’s rough this fucker up a bit, see if he’s still talking shit after that.”
Maybe he pushed them a little too far. Kei is about to say something else to manipulate the situation, but the boss--Himekawa, he supposes-- beats him to it. “You’ll do no such thing! Dammit, we can’t get sloppy about this. Follow the plan!”
“Uh, but boss, we already aren’t following the plan?” Goon number one says weakly. “I mean, we kidnapped the wrong kid.”
“And there’s nothing we can do about that now!” Himekawa snaps. “Doesn’t mean we can’t follow the rest of the plan. Follow my fucking lead.”
“Yes, sir,” the goons both say, although the second one sounds strangely...resentful. Well, isn’t this interesting? There are internal divisions within the group. Kei can work with that.
From what he’s observed so far, the boss--Himekawa--is smarter than the other two, but not by that much. He likely overestimates his own intelligence. Goon 1 is incredibly stupid, easily riled, but obedient to Himekawa. Goon 2 is slightly less stupid, slightly less easy to piss off, and resents their boss. He probably thinks he could do a better job leading this operation.
Kei spends what feels like twenty minutes or so just thinking through the possibilities, running different scenarios and plans in his head. There is promise here, that’s for sure.
“Look at him. The kid is smiling ,” Goon 1 whispers fearfully. “I kinda wish he’d insult us again, this is just scary.”
“Your wish is my command,” Kei says, and the goon actually whimpers.
“Nope, not dealing with this freak right now,” he says quickly. “I need a break. Gonna go take a smoke now.”
“Hey!” Goon 2 says angrily. “We’re supposed to both be here watching him while the boss is out. Don’t be a fucking pussy, kid can’t hurt you.”
“Be back in twenty,” goon 1 says, and Kei hears his footsteps walk out. Gravel crunches outside, the sounds growing distant until they stop entirely.
“Coward,” Goon 2 growls under his breath.
Kei feels his heart speed up slightly in excitement. This is a prime opportunity, and he’s not going to waste it. “So, goon 2,” he starts.
“Don’t fuckin call me that.”
“It’s not like I have anything else to call you,” he points out.
There’s a small sigh. He isn’t sure the goon will respond, but after a minute he hears a quiet, “call me Razor.”
It takes a heroic effort for Kei not to snort, but he manages. “So, Razor,” he says companionably. “It must suck having to work with such morons.”
“What are you trying here?” Goon 2 says, sounding suspicious.
“Nothing,” he says smoothly. “It’s just that...I get it. I’m on a team with two of the stupidest people in the world--not exaggerating, it’s like they’re from another planet--and it’s so infuriating to have to work with them all the time. To have to treat them as my equals, or even take their orders on occasion. I should be the one giving them orders.”
“Exactly!” Goon 2 exclaims, and Kei knows that he’s got him. “I’m smarter than both of those bozos, so why is Him--ah, you know his name anyway. Himekawa isn’t boss material. He doesn’t have the guts, when it comes down to it.”
“Some people are just born weak,” Kei says.
“Yeah. And he isn’t a total wimpy baby like Ai--you know, the other guy, but he doesn’t have what it takes in the end. I do. If I were in charge of this operation, we wouldn’t be taking any of your shit. We’d rough you up, send a little video to your family, boom, bucks will be rolling in.”
You are tremendously stupid , Kei wants to say, but doesn’t, because while he might be somewhat apathetic, he’s not suicidal.
“So what are you going to do about it?” He says instead.
“Huh?”
“Are you gonna keep rolling over, showing your soft belly so Himekawa doesn’t get mad at you, or are you gonna show him who’s really boss?”
“Don’t mess with me, kid.”
“I’m not. It’s not like I care either way,” Kei lies. “Take it or leave it, but personally I’ve learned that nobody is going to give you what you want. You have to reach out and take it for yourself.”
“Whatever,” Goon 2 says. “Chit-chat time’s over. I need some quiet time to think, so shut your trap for once.”
He’s said all that he could, so Kei obediently shuts up. He may have planted the seed and watered it, but the decision to keep it alive is up to Goon 2. That said...Kei has a pretty good feeling about this.
🔪🔪🔪🔪🔪🔪🔪
After a few minutes, Goon 1 comes back into the warehouse, and everyone sits in silence for perhaps an hour. The whole time, the gears in Kei’s brain spin wildly, and he has to consciously quiet his thoughts. He has to think out every action carefully, but at the same time he can’t allow himself to fall into the lethal trap of overthinking.
He wonders briefly if they miss him at practice. Most likely, they’ve all just assumed he’s sick. Yamaguchi might think otherwise, but nobody will make the illogical leap to ‘he must have been abducted.’ Kei feels a sharp pang of annoyance that his team is oblivious of his situation. It’s stupid, because how would they know any better?
It hardly matters, anyway. With luck, he’ll be back before practice is over for the day.
Approaching footsteps jolt him out of his thoughts. “I’m back,” Himekawa says, as if they couldn’t tell.
“Hey, boss!” Goon 1 greets him, while goon 2 just grunts in acknowledgment.
“How’s the prisoner?”
“I’m doing very well, thanks,” Kei says. “Although I’ve been here for what seems to be hours and nobody has offered me any refreshments. So overall, I’d give this place three out of five stars.”
“You’re an odd one,” Himekawa sighs.
Kei doesn’t bother responding to that. At this stage, he’s better off remaining mostly quiet.
“Himekawa,” goon 2 starts to say.
“ No names ,” Himekawa yells. “I didn’t think you were that stupid, but guess I was wrong.”
“He already knows,” goon 2 says icily. “So, Himekawa , what’s the next step in this wonderful plan of yours?”
“If you were paying attention during the briefing, you would know.” He sighs again. “For now, we just wait. When it gets dark we’ll work on the ransom video.”
“You’re such an old man sometimes,” goon 2 says loudly. “I bet you just don’t have the guts to do what has to be done.”
“ Don’t have the-- I think you’re forgetting who came up with this plan in the first place!”
“Uh, guys?” Goon 1 says tentatively. Nobody pays him any attention.
“You mean, the plan that was FUCKED FROM THE START? When you decided, like an idiot, to settle for the wrong kid? That plan?”
“Like you could do any better! You spend the whole time hiding in the bushes, like the useless piece of shit that you are! I’m the only one here who’s capable of being a leader!”
“You’re not our leader,” goon 2 says darkly. “Not anymore.”
From there, things are somewhat unclear for Kei, as he’s still blindfolded. He hears a rush of movement, repeated gross-sounding noises that he can only think are knives stabbing flesh, and then bodies scuffling on the floor.
“Fuckin-- kill you --”
“Mutinous--little bitch… ”
“Guys, no! Break it up!” Goon 1 cries uselessly.
The snarled words devolve into whispered swears, and then there are more stabbing sounds.
“Enough!” Goon 1 yells, and presumably pulls them apart. “Oh God, that’s a lot of blood...that’s too much blood…”
Kei can’t help it; he starts laughing.
He doesn’t need to see, he can feel the terrified look goon 1 sends his way. “Fucking demon child…” he says, voice shaky. “Oh God! Himekawa’s dead! Nice going man, you fucking killed-- shit. Shit, shit SHIT! No, you’re not dead. You can’t be dead too! Oh my God…what am I going to do now?”
Goon 1--or maybe just goon, now--slumps to the ground. Kei forcibly stops laughing, and makes himself remain silent for a few minutes. He has to give the man some time to process what just happened before he strikes the finishing blow.
“What now?” He says at last. “It’s just you and me, and two dead bodies.”
“I don’t fucking know what now,” Goon 1 says miserably.
“You know, I get it,” Kei says. “Being a criminal must be really, really difficult for you. So much fighting, so much uncertainty, no guarantee of a solid paycheck...I get it. Sounds rough. Now, tell me if I’m wrong, but I see two solid scenarios here. One, you bury the bodies and try to finish this job on your own. Best outcome, you get a middling amount of cash. Worst outcome, the cops kill you or you end up wasting years of your life in prison.”
“What’s option two?” He asks quietly.
“Ah, I’m so glad you asked. Option two is you leave the bodies there, change into the spare clothes you brought--I’m assuming you were at least that smart--and take me back into town. Keep me tied up and blindfolded the whole way there, only release me when we’ve arrived, and I promise that I won’t peek. I’ll let you drive off, and it’ll be like this whole thing never happened. Well. For you, anyway.”
Goon 1 swallows loudly, and Kei imagines that he’s looking at the bodies of his accomplices. A minute later, he speaks. “Okay. This turned out to be a shitshow, and I might not be the sharpest spoon in the drawer, but I know when to cut and run. I’ll take you home, kid.”
Kei nods once in thanks, saying nothing. As much as part of him would like to twist the knife deeper with his words, he knows it’s not worth the risk of upsetting this delicate agreement.
So he says nothing while goon 1 changes clothes. He says nothing as he’s led out of the warehouse and tucked into the car. He says nothing the whole drive back, which, impossibly, feels even longer than the drive to the warehouse had been.
Kei still remains silent as the car stops on a corner near the edge of town, and he’s taken out and untied. When the man takes off his blindfold with a harsh, “Remember, don’t look,” he sees that he’s exactly where he thought he was. It’ll be a bit of a walk to get to Karasuno, but he’s not complaining. The light is much more irritating; after being blindfolded for so long, the day seems blindingly bright, forcing him to squint.
Although he’s facing the opposite direction, he hears when the man shuts himself into the car. “A pleasure doing business with you,” he says, and he hears the engine turn, and the car drive away. After a moment Kei works up the nerve to turn around, and the car is already out of sight.
It’s a bright, sunny day, the sun not yet too low in the sky. Kei finds his bag at his feet, where the man must have placed it, and digging through it he finds everything in place, including his phone.
It’s 4:58 pm, which isn’t too bad. It’ll only take maybe half an hour to walk to school, so he can still attend practice. Kei smiles a little seeing that he has multiple missed texts, and one missed call, from Yamaguchi. Someone missed him, at least.
He calls back, and Yamaguchi picks up right away. “ Tsukki! Are you okay?! ”
“Hey, Tadashi,” he says. “Yes, it’s me, and I’m fine. There was a slight...complication.”
“ You called me Tadashi ,” Yamaguchi says, soundly mildly frightened. “ And what do you mean by ‘complication’? ”
Kei sighs briefly. It would’ve been easier to just say he was sick, but he makes a habit of never lying to Yamaguchi. His best friend has always seen through his bullshit, anyway. “It will be easier to explain in person, trust me.”
There was a short pause before he responded. “ Always have. ”
“I know,” he said softly. “I’ll see you at practice in about thirty minutes, okay? Forty at the most.”
“ Okay. I’ll see you then. ”
The walk back to Karasuno is wonderfully uneventful. Kei feels jumpier than normal, half-expecting to see a kidnapper around every corner, which makes no logical sense. The odds of someone being abducted twice in one day are nearly nonexistent. He stops briefly at a cafe to use their bathroom, and he ends up buying a black coffee. He needs it; despite the fact that he’s been less physically active than usual today, he feels much more drained.
Kei checks the time outside the doors of Karasuno’s gym and is pleased to see that it’s been exactly thirty-five minutes since he called Yamaguchi. He knocks lightly on the side of the door, but nobody notices him, too engrossed in practice, so he just slips in and stands on the sidelines.
I wonder how long it’ll take someone to notice I’m here?
Bizarrely, the first person to notice isn’t a coach or manager, but Kageyama . “Tsukishima,” he says briskly. “You finally made it.”
Immediately, Kei bristles, because really ? He was just kidnapped , and the only thing the King was concerned about was that he missed practice? Sure, it’s not like Kageyama knows that, but Kei can’t help being pissed off by his words.
Since it’s weird for Kageyama to stop practicing even for a moment, freak that he is, all of his teammates soon notice him. Before he knows it, Yamaguchi is right there, squeezing all the air out of his lungs.
“I’m so glad you’re okay,” he whispers. Awkwardly, Kei pats his back. “Ah, me too. Can you...let go...now? Need air.”
“Shit, sorry!” Yamaguchi exclaims, and lets him go, face flushed.
“Tsukki!!!” Hinata yells, bouncing up and down. “Why’d you skip practice? We need you, you dumb giant! Were you sick?”
He’s saved from replying to the shrimp when Coach Ukai addresses him. “Glad to see you here, Tsukishima. Is everything alright? You don’t look sick, but I know you wouldn’t have missed practice for no reason.”
“It’s nothing,” he says, feeling somewhat uncomfortable under the eyes of all his teammates, who are gathered around him in a big circle.
“No, it’s not,” Yamaguchi snapped, and Kei looked at him in surprise. He looked almost mad, but he knew it was the kind of anger that stemmed from genuine worry. “You said there was a complication ...what does that mean?”
“Tsukishima,” Takeda says soothingly. “If it’s something personal, you don’t have to say it right now in front of the group.”
And that is what makes Kei say something, because he will not have people talking about him behind his back, and he refuses to be pitied. “It’s fine. I was kidnapped.”
“WHAT?” Everyone yells at once, and Kei winces at the noise. “Calm down, won’t you? I’m here now, I’m clearly fine, can we please move on?”
“Are you for real, bro?” Noya says. “You aren’t pranking us, are you?”
Kei sighs irritably. He doesn’t have time for this. “Here,” he says, thrusting out his arms. The skin around his wrists barely feels sore, but it looks red and irritated.
Yachi squeaks, “Oh my God kidnappers, what if they’re coming back? What if they go after more of us, are we even safe here??” And she falls over sideways, though Kiyoko is quick to catch her. Asahi looks close to falling over himself, but thankfully keeps his balance.
“ARE YOU OKAY?!” Noya yells, and at the same time Tanaka cries out, “How dare they! Tell me where these guys are, I’ll beat them up!”
“Tanaka, no .” Daichi says sternly. “And stop yelling in his face, Nishinoya, I doubt he wants that right now. Or ever, actually.” The over-excitable second years step back, much to Kei’s relief. “On a more serious note,” Daichi says. “You’re going to need to tell us what happened, Tsukishima.”
“Can’t we just practice?” Kei says almost pleadingly, and then has a moment of strong dislike towards himself because fuck, he sounds like Hinata .
Suga claps him firmly on the shoulder in what’s almost a punch. “Sorry, no. This is kind of important. And the sooner we get through this, the sooner we get back to practice, yeah?”
“Fine,” he mutters, and takes a seat on the bench. The rest of the team aside from the coaches sits down around him. It feels oddly like he’s the teacher and it’s storytime. “I was walking to practice alone because Yamaguchi was tutoring the idiots,” he begins, ignoring Hinata’s indignant noise. “There were voices coming from the bushes, and I investigated because I was bored. Someone grabbed me from behind, held me at knifepoint.”
“That’s so violent!” Hinata says loudly, looking deeply upset. Kei snorts. “It was a kidnapping, Hinata, were you expecting puppies and flowers? Oh, I almost forgot. They were actually looking to kidnap you, they just grabbed me because I overheard their plan.”
“They were gonna kidnap ME?!” Hinata shrieks, and falls over; Kageyama, sitting next to him, makes no motion to stop his fall.
Kei shrugs. “They said ‘the redhead’, so unless anyone can think of any other redheads here at Karasuno?”
“There’s a couple,” Suga says. “Hinata is the most prominent though, and from what you’re saying they were waiting along the path to our gym.”
“We can talk more about that later,” Daichi says. “Please, go on.”
Kei notices Takeda writing intently on a notepad, which is irritating but understandable. He sighs again before continuing the story. “I was not physically harmed, nor was I drugged. They walked me to a car--I forgot to mention, there were three of them. Once in the car, they zip-tied my hands and blindfolded me. I was able to tell where we were going by concentrating, so I know we went out of town quite a ways, in the direction of the nature park northwest of here. We stopped at some sort of warehouse. The leader of the group left for some reason for a while, and I talked to goon 2--one of the other men.”
“They didn’t threaten you?” Ukai interrupts.
“No. Well, one of them did, but the leader prevented him from carrying out his threat. Anyway, I talked to one of the men and manipulated him into mutiny--”
“You what ?” Suga says, eyes wide.
“It’s not that complicated,” Kei grumbles. “He already didn’t like following orders, I just...encouraged him a little. So when the leader got back, the two of them had a fight that quickly turned physical. As in, they stabbed each other to death. There may have also been strangulation involved, I’m not sure.”
“Tsukishima,” Takeda says, looking sad. “Although these men abducted you, it’s completely understandable if seeing them die violently was traumatizing to you. What I’m saying is, are you okay?”
“For the last time,” Kei snaps, “I’m fine.” He takes a deep breath, which does little to make him feel calmer, before continuing. “I was blindfolded the whole time, so I didn’t even witness that happening. The noises were quite disgusting, but I’ve eaten lunch with Hinata and Kageyama, so I’ve heard worse.”
“Hey!” Both of the idiots say at once, and then glare at each other. Yamaguchi snickers quietly, and though he looks guilty after, Tsukishima is grateful to him. It makes this feel more like any other day.
“Then I talked to the last remaining man,” he says. “I pointed out that nothing had gone right so far, and his best bet would be to simply return me to where I came from. In exchange, I promised not to tell anyone what happened. That clearly didn’t go as planned, but I won’t tell you any more.”
“You’re fine letting this guy go free?” Ukai exclaimed.
“I never saw his face, and the little information I was able to gather likely wouldn’t be enough to find him, anyway. He kept his word, and I’m free, so I’ll keep mine.”
“I can see there’s no changing your mind,” Daichi said. “So I guess that’s...settled, then. Wait. You’re not hiding any other injuries, are you?”
“No,” he said impatiently. “I told you, I’m fine. Just the wrists, and those look way worse than they feel.”
Daichi eyes him skeptically, but nods after a second, accepting his answer. “Coach,” he says, turning to Ukai. “Are we good to go back to practice?”
“I feel like there’s something else we should do,” Ukai says, uncharacteristically hesitant, “but I can’t think of it, so sure.” Takeda whispers something into his ear and Ukai nods before turning his attention back to the team. “Just take it easy, Tsukishima, alright? And if you need to go home early, you can leave anytime you need, I mean it.”
He wants to say he doesn’t need special treatment, but he’s over this, so Kei just nods before resuming practice.
Practice is weird at first, everyone shooting him covert glances like they don’t actually believe he’s okay. Kei puts more effort in than usual to prove them wrong, and by the end of practice he’s a sweaty, exhausted mess.
Everyone on the team makes an effort to clap his shoulder or say something to him before they leave the gym, and it’s bizarre. Even Kinoshita and Narita, who Kei has hardly ever talked to, wish him goodnight.
“If you ever need to talk, we’re here for you, okay!” Suga says brightly, and pounds his back hard enough to nearly knock him over.
“Jeez, Suga, you’re gonna hurt him worse than the kidnappers,” Daichi says, amused. His face becomes serious as he adds, “Seriously, though, as your upperclassmen, we’ll support you however you need.”
Asahi and Kiyoko don’t seem to know what to say, but they both nod in confirmation.
“Got it,” he said quickly, just wanting them to go away.
In just another example of how incredibly twisted his life has become, Hinata and Kageyama accompany him and Yamaguchi during part of their walk home. Eventually they pause at a street corner where their paths have to diverge, and Hinata gazes up at him with a disconcertingly serious look in his eyes. It honestly weirded him out.
“Thank you,” he says after a moment.
He hates it when Hinata gets all confusing like this. “What for?”
Hinata blinks in surprise. “They were gonna kidnap me, remember? And I hate to say it, but there’s no way I would’ve been able to outsmart them like you did. I know it was an accident that they got you and not me, but still, you maybe saved my life today. So thanks.”
Kei is genuinely speechless. Everytime he thinks he’s come to fully understand Hinata, the shrimp surprises him again.
“I’m. Glad you’re not dead,” Kageyama stutters, and that is less surprising. Feeling back on even ground, Kei smirks and prepares an insulting response, but Hinata interrupts him.
“C’mon Kageyama, let’s go!” He says, tugging at Kageyama’s arm. “Night!” Hinata chirps at them, and drags a protesting Kageyama off with him.
They watch them leave, the height difference comical even at night, visible in the way their shadows dance behind them, one much longer than the other.
“It’s funny,” Yamaguchi remarks wryly. “Kageyama likes to pretend to be annoyed with how Hinata leads him around, but he always lets it happen.”
“Hinata has the King wrapped around his little finger,” Kei agrees. They start walking home again, and the silence feels different from their normal one somehow. He can tell Yamaguchi is stewing on something too. Rather than ask him about it, Kei waits him out, knowing his friend is probably gathering his thoughts.
“You could’ve died,” Yamaguchi blurts out. “I know you’re here, and you’re fine, but I could’ve never seen you again, and I don’t know how to deal with that knowledge!”
“Hey,” Kei says, as gently as he’s capable of. “I know, but I am here. And I’m not going anywhere.”
“How are you more okay with this than I am?” Yamaguchi says in a choked voice, and Kei realizes he’s crying a little. It makes him feel...horrible, actually, more helpless than he felt when he was duct taped to a fucking chair .
“I don’t know,” Kei says, his voice coming out almost angry, he’s so frustrated at himself. “What, do you want me to say I’m not as fine as I’m pretending, that I’m actually shaken, that I was really fucking afraid for a while there, I knew there was a chance I could actually die despite my best efforts not to, and it was really horrible.” He flicks tears off his face with one finger, feeling vaguely disappointed in himself. Kei hadn’t cried in years.
“You’re not okay,” Yamaguchi says. It’s not a question but he still sounds shocked. “I can’t believe I--I should’ve seen past your bullshit.”
“Don’t feel bad,” Kei mutters. “I halfway convinced myself.” Yamaguchi hugs him again, gentler this time, and Kei hugs him back for once.
He closes his eyes, and for the first time since before everything happened, he feels safe again. It’s irrational, completely ridiculous, but he knows with absolute certainty that nothing can hurt him so long as Yamaguchi is right by his side.