Work Text:
The first time Hinata came home drunk with an arm slung around Kageyama's shoulders, Tsukishima didn't think much of it. It was just a one time occurrence.
"He got pulled into a drinking competition," Kageyama explained, lugging Hinata over the threshold of Hinata and Tsukishima's shared apartment, dragging the tips of the redheads shoes along the floor until Tsukishima took the male from him. "I wasn't in the room so I didn't see him to stop him."
Tsukishima let out a noncommittal grunt, too busy lugging his boyfriend over to the couch so he could lay him down. He loved the smaller male, but he wasn't going to deal with the smell of alcohol all night–especially when he had an important test in the morning.
He and Kageyama had never really got along outside of volleyball, but after he and Hinata had gotten together in their second year of high school–Which had surprised their upperclassmen at the very least–the two were forced to at least accept a mutual understanding that dealing with each other would become a necessity with Hinata wanting them to get along.
Satisfied that his best friend would be taken care of, Kageyama nodded to the blond and left with a curt goodbye, receiving a nod back in return.
Tsukishima eyed the drooling young adult on the couch with a distasteful frown, wrinkling his nose at the smell of the alcohol Hinata had drank at the party. He had never liked it.
Turning around, he headed back to their room to sleep, thinking to himself that for once Yamaguchi was wrong about something in his relationship. How funny was it that Hinata would be the first of the two of them to touch alcohol instead of his own brooding self. He would have to make it a point to rub it in his best friend's face tomorrow after class.
The second time it happened, Kageyama was more upset.
"I told him not to drink! He's not used to it to begin with, not to mention he still has volleyball practice to attend so it's not like he can just do these things carelessly!" He ranted as soon as Tsukishima opened up the door, lugging Hinata in behind him in a similar manner to how he did last time he brought the redhead home drunk. And just like last time, Tsukishima took over and carried Hinata over to the couch, draping a blanket over him. "I'm not going to toss to a player who doesn't take care of himself!"
"And you're telling me this why?" Tsukishima asked blandly, giving the agitated setter a deadpan look.
Said male gestured wildly with his hands for a moment without saying anything.
"You're his boyfriend, aren't you? You should be worried! What if this affects his game?!" He huffed, crossing his arms over his chest.
Tsukishima rolled his eyes at Kageyama's antics. A heavy sigh escaped his lips and he rolled his shoulders, wishing he could be back in bed curled up in what was practically a nest of pillows and blankets.
"Alright, alright," He said, shooing Kageyama towards the door. "I'll talk to him about it. Now go away. I have class in the morning."
"Make sure he knows not to keep drinking this excessively!" Kageyama yelled behind him before the door was slammed in his face.
"Yeah, yeah…" Tsukishima grumbled under his breath, sparing a glance at the redhead on the couch before shuffling back over to their room. Not that it matters… was left unsaid.
The third time was the first time Hinata came home by himself, conscious and semi-coherent.
He had been leaning his head against the door when Tsukishima answered the door, so he had nearly fallen over, barely catching himself against the door frame.
"Woah…" He mumbled, rightening himself before staring at the frame, blinking slowly.
"Are you going to come in?" Tsukishima asked after a full minute of Hinata staring at the door frame, arms crossed over his chest. A laptop and papers strewn about could be seen on the coffee table in the living room down the hall behind him. He had been working on an essay when the doorbell had rang.
"Huh…?" Hinata away from the frame and up at him, blinking slowly as he tried to process the question which had been asked to him. "Oh! Yeah…. yeah…"
He pushed past his boyfriend and nearly tripped face-first on the ledge leading into the hall as he attempted to take off his shoes and replace them with his slippers. "Hnnng… Stupid–wha's it called?" He looked up at Tsukishima for an answer, and bobbed his head in satisfaction once he got an answer. As he continued he looked up at the blond in complete seriousness. "Right, a step. This step 's stupid. Has it always been here? I dun like it." He paused a moment to cough. "We should get rid of it."
Tsukishima rolled his eyes at Hinata's drunken antics, grabbing him by arm and hauling him up off the ground and into the living room, where he plopped Hinata on the couch before continuing on his assignment.
A few minutes later found him snapping his laptop closed and staring in irritation at the redhead hanging onto his shoulders.
Pushing him off, Tsukishima stood up and disappeared somewhere into the house, appearing back in the doorway a little while later with a glass of water. He not so gently set it down on the table, water sloshing over the edge and a few drops landing on his papers. That only added to his irritation.
"Drink this," He ordered his boyfriend, hands on hips. "Now," He added on once he saw the look on Hinata's face. Well, it was enough to get the redhead to drink it.
Once the glass was empty and sitting loosely in one Hinata's hands, Tsukishima began to speak, starting off with an annoyed sigh.
"Okay, we need to talk about all this coming home drunk," He started, frown apparent on his face. "I don't know who you're hanging out with, and I don't particularly care, but obviously they are having you drink way too much. We can't have you keep coming home like this. King has already proved today that he can't always be there to bring you home when you drink.
"I'm not going to dictate your life and say that you can't drink, but you need to do less of it. If this keeps up it's going to affect your game and no one can afford that. Tone it down a notch."
Hinata's lips were curved down slightly at the edges.
"Well, I think I'm doing just fine! I can take care of myself!" He stated in agitation, his frown growing deeper by the second.
Tsukishima sighed in frustration. "I'm not saying you can't, Hinata. I'm saying that you drinking this much is causing problems not only for yourself, but for other people. So you need to cut down on the alcohol."
"No, I don't!" Hinata protested, face beginning to flush. "It's not doin' anythin', okay?! I know what–what happens when ya drink! And I have it under control!"
"Hinata, calm down–"
"Just shut up! They're my friends, okay? They'll stop me if it get's too bad!"
"Hinata, I understand that, but if this happens more often then it'll be troublesome."
Hinata tossed the empty glass onto the sofa behind him. By this time he was fully agitated, brows furrowed and a scowl on his face.
"No, you don't! You don't understand! You dun understand anythin'! Just leave me alone!" And with that he stormed off in a huff, slamming the bedroom door behind him.
Tsukishima let out a long sigh, the third since Hinata had arrived back home. Running a hand through his hair, he plopped himself down on the couch, moving the glass Hinata had
thrown onto the table. He leaned back, resting his head on the back of the couch as he stared up at the ceiling.
He desperately hoped this wouldn't become a problem.
The second time they got in an argument over Hinata's drinking problem was a lot more messier.
"Goddammit, Tsukishima! You aren't my mother! I can take care of myself!" Hinata yelled, glaring up at the blond.
"Obviously you can't!" Said male yelled back. "Hinata, you can't keep doing this! I keep waking up to you passed out on the couch! This isn't okay!"
"And?! What's your point?!"
"My point is, you're going to hurt yourself doing this! You're going to become a damn alcoholic at this pace, you idiot!"
"No, I won't," Hinata replied, eyes narrowed and voice deceivingly low. "I can control myself. This won't do anything."
"Hinata, you're in the volleyball team," Tsukishima seethed at the pure ignorance present in the conversation. "You're a regular–what affects you directly affects the team. They can't have you acting up like this!"
"It's not affecting me!"
"Can you even still say that with a straight face after continuously coming home stumbling and slurring?! After waking me up in the middle of the night when you know I have class in the morning, just to open the door for you?! You need to stop coming home like this–hanging out with these people–something! It's not only affecting you at this point! It's affecting us too! We're not in high school anymore, Shouyo! Get your head out of your ass!"
Hinata trembled–not out of fear, not out of coldness, but out of anger. He was furious.
"So are you saying you would rather me not come how at all? Is that it?! I don't tell you how to live your life! Butt the hell out of mine, you asshole! You're being a fucking drama queen! We're doing just fine!" He screamed in Tsukishima's face, fists clenched at his side.
"You must be damn blind if you think our relationship is going anywhere if this keeps going on," Tsukishima grit out, his fists clenched just as Hinata's were. "I'm trying to save our relationship, which you would notice if you payed attention to anyone other than yourself."
"Anyone other than myself? Anyone other than myself?" Hinata laughed bitterly. "This is coming from the guy who put himself before his entire team in high school?!"
"That's the whole goddamn point, Shouyo!" Tsukishima screamed for the first time in the argument. "This isn't high school anymore! You can't just go do stuff all nilly willy! We have responsibilities now! More so than when we were teens! So get your fucking shit together! And if you're not then we can quit this relationship all together and you can just leave!"
"Maybe I will!"
And with that, he turned tail and left, slamming the front door behind him. Tsukishima stood there in the middle of the living room for a while longer, not moving with wide eyes. As he comprehended what had just happened, he allowed himself to collapse back into the couch. Leaning his head back, Tsukishima let out a shaky breath, slowly shutting his eyes.
When Hinata had come home drunk for the first time, he had never thought that it would get this bad.
Their fight over the issue was one that had been long overdue, and it was a miracle it had been put off for so long. Sure, he had said some unnecessary things, but so had Hinata. They both needed to apologize to each other when they saw each other again.
Deciding that he had allowed himself enough time to calm down, Tsukishima pushed himself back up into a sitting position, pulling out his phone in the process.
"Hello?"
"Kageyama?" He asked, even though he knew perfectly well it was him on the other side of the line.
"What's the matter? Why are you calling me? You never call me."
He hesitated a moment before answering.
"I… Hinata and I got in a fight, and he ran out on me. He'd probably heading over to your place. He should be sober enough to be fine, but..." The guilt was starting to leak into his voice.
There was a sigh from the phone.
"Alright. I won't ask now why you didn't stop him since I'm more worried for Hinata, but I'm not going to drop the topic. I'm going to go look for him now. Bye."
Click.
He turned off his phone and sunk back into his previous position. Except this time it wasn't to calm down.
Bzzt. Bzzt. Bzzt. Bzz–
Tsukishima blinked blearily as he answered his phone, wondering when he had fallen asleep.
"Hello?"
"Tsukishima? It's Kageyama… I think you should come down here…"
He was wide awake at that point and was already up off the couch and slipping on his jacket.
"What happened? Where are you?" He asked, slipping on his shoes and pulling open the front door. He had a bad feeling...
"We're by of the Denny's by my house. Hurry."
"Got it."
And the door slammed shut with a click.
Tsukishima's bad feeling only grew worse as he saw an ambulance and fire trucks surrounding the area.
Pulling up to the scene, he jumped off his bike and leaned it against the wall, hurriedly approaching Kageyama who was standing near the ambulance.
"What's wrong? What happened? Where's Hinata?"
Kageyama looked at him with a miserable expression, and merely pointed towards the street. What Tsukishima saw when he looked over there nearly sent him staggering backwards. As it was, his legs nearly gave out on him.
Splayed out on the black pavement was Hinata. But Tsukishima was pretty sure there wasn't supposed to be blood splattered across the road and plastering Hinata's flame red hair to the surface of his face, covering at least one side of his head in the fluid.
A medic made his way over to the two of them, a tiredness so deep in his eyes that Tsukishima thought it might have been there for years. He stopped once he stood in front of the two university students, wiping at his face with the back of his hand.
"Are you two his friends?" He asked, voice dull, as if he had done this a thousand times already.
Tsukishima could do nothing but nod numbly, still in shock of the result of the stupid argument the two had gotten in earlier. This wasn't supposed to happen. Hinata wasn't supposed to get hurt. This wasn't supposed to happen. This wasn't supposed to happen.
The medic gave them a pitying look.
"I'm sorry. By the time we got here… Well, he was already dead. We couldn't do anything."
Tsukishima glanced to the side at Kageyama to check, check to see how the setter was taking things. About just as well as he was aparently. Kageyama's arms trembled, and his hands were in fists by his side. He couldn't see, but it was apparent Kageyama was tearing up…. Tsukishima couldn't bring himself to judge the king of the court when he himself was doing the exact same thing.
"Y-You bastard!" He was caught off guard when Kageyama looked up with tear-filled eyes at him and grabbed him by the collar. "This is all your fault! It's all your fault! If you had just stopped him–! This could all have been prevented if you had just…" He hiccupped. "Just stopped him…"
Tsukishima looked down at him tiredly.
"I know… I know, Kageyama…" And the dam broke loose, tears streaming down his face as he hiccupped, trying to hold back his sobs.
It's all my fault...
Stepping quietly up to the small gravestone, Tsukishima crouched down and gently placed flowers at the foot of it. On the stone read the words:
"Hinata Shouyo
June 21, XXXX - January 15, XXXX
A boy with dreams as big as the world"
Folding his legs so his could sit down, Tsukishima settled down in front of the grave.
"Um… Hey, Hinata. I hope the afterlife is treating you well…" He paused. "I… You know, I never thought I'd find myself doing something like this," He admitted. "I always thought it was only something people did in books, or cheesy tv dramas. But I've really missed you this past year and a half. I know I've visited, but… I've never really spent more than a few minutes.
"Kageyama finally stopped blaming me for what happened, even though I told him it's my fault. But he insists it's not, so I've stopped trying to convince him. It's not worth the effort."
A gentle breeze disrupted the peaceful spring day, and Tsukishima paused to savor it.
"It's days like this that remind me of you. You know, all bright and cheery. You were just like that. Sometimes it was kinda annoying, but I really liked it most of the time. Even if I didn't act like it. Sometimes I wish I had shown you more affection than I had before… the accident.
"Speaking of affection, I've been showering your sister in in lately. She's just like you, did you know? Of course you did. I mean, not that I'm trying to replace you, but she… she really reminds me of you. She's most definitely a girl though," He let out a light laugh, a small smile crossing his face.
"Natsu's gotten so big. She's already in fifth grade, can you believe it? I'm helping her learn how to play volleyball when I can. She already joined the team at her school though, so they do most of it. But I help her on weekends sometimes. She seems to really like it, along with climbing on top of me and making fun of me over my old dinosaurs," He pursed his lips.
"I actually came with your family today, Shouyo. They let me have some time to talk to you alone though. They're really nice, not that I didn't know that already. I–" Tsukishima was cut off by a yell, and then a blur of orange tackling him from the the back.
"Tsukiiiiii," The girl who had tackled him whined. "You're taking too long! I wanna see Nii-san too!"
Tsukishima frowned a bit, but apologized still. "Sorry, Natsu."
Two adults approached them as well, at a much slower place than Natsu.
The woman with bright red hair gave him an apologetic look, including a guilty smile. "I'm sorry, Kei… Natsu was getting impatient and ran off…"
Tsukishima nodded in acknowledgment, standing up and pulling Natsu off of his back so she could pay her respects herself.
She scrambled to in front of the headstone, and clapped her hands together, closing her eyes as she prayed. The two adults quickly followed suit. Once they finished, Hinata's mother looked at him as if asking whether or not he needed more time to himself and Tsukishima quickly shook his head that no, he didn't.
Although he said that, as they left he held back a bit, sparing a long glance at Hinata's grave.
"I'll… visit soon, Shouyo."