Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Asahi always hated bullies: from the classmates that picked on him as a young child, to the club upperclassmen that were never spoken of – People liked tormenting others for fun and his timidness never did him any favors.

So it wasn't much of a choice when he came across some other team's players cornering Kageyama in a deserted hallway.

There were five of them, standing in a loose circle around the tense setter.

“Really now, how long before they tire of the king and kick you out of the team, huh?”

Those kinds of taunts were, unfortunately, already familiar. Asahi had been playing with Kageyama long enough to have witnessed time and again how people would yield the ‘title’ against the younger as one would a sword.

One of the players bent forward a little, reaching to place a hand on the boy's shoulder. Asahi found himself rushing ahead in tandem, heart hammering against his throat as he put himself bodily between his teammate and the others.

“Kageyama's no king and isn't going anywhere soon. So leave him alone, please!”

His voice shook, he felt a bit pathetic asking them to leave, was he even helping?

“Azumane-senpai?”

He remembered his own first year: the sharp words from their third years; the way their immediate seniors would either avoid their eyes or scoff derisively at his tears; Daichi’s hand rubbing his back through painful sobs while he hunched over himself at the gym’s storeroom; Suga by the door, quiet anger turning his voice into a hiss as he vowed to be the senpai they never had a chance to have.

He refused to let any of his kouhai feel the same helplessness.

The guy at the front seemed to startle a little at his appearance, taking a step back before straightening back to his full height, a mean smile on his face.

Asahi did his best to keep his face neutral as he moved to try and herd Kageyama away: one hand resting at the younger’s arm as he awkwardly tried to stay between the setter and the others while retreating - Things should be fine if they just left, right?

“Azumane, Karasuno’s ace aren’t you? Doing the king’s binding out of court now?”

The round of snickering would’ve been easier to ignore if the group hadn’t started to close around them once again.

“Look, we don’t want any trouble, so we’ll get going and-”

“Now, now, why so anxious, running away? Not very ace-like of you…” The smile on the guy's face dripped with malice, Asahi felt frozen in place.

“Didn’t he vanish for a month after that game against Dateko? I guess you’re just hanging around until someone better comes along, huh?”

He didn’t really see which of them said it, but now there were two of them crowding against him, their jeering echoing loud amidst the deserted hallway.

“Maybe if he asks nicely the other team will let him score, huh?”

Asahi felt his shoulders creeping up towards his ears, a familiar heat building up behind his eyes, much to his horror. Why now of all the times? He wouldn’t cry, he refused to – not here in front of these people; not when he was supposed to be watching out for his underclassman.

“Hey, leave him out of this!” And now his kouhai had to stand up for him, really how much more pathetic could he get?

“Man, I feel bad for your team, stuck with a spineless coward who can’t even stand up for himself… But then again, maybe because you know how pathetic you are, huh?”

“T-that’s not…” And trying to speak proved to be the mistake that pushed him over the edge: the tears felt like they were burning their way down his cheeks; Asahi tucked his chin against his chest, desperately praying no one noticed.

“I can’t believe that, are you crying?”

The sheer delight in which the question was asked had him pressing his chin more firmly downwards, cursing himself for not letting his hair down a little longer, desperately wishing he could hide behind it.

“No” It came out as a whisper, he could feel Kageyama's hand fisted on the back of his shirt, the setter's fingers were shaking.

“Yeah right, look at me ace.”

And then there were fingers on his face, digging against the skin and all but wrenching his head upwards with enough force to leave his neck aching.

“Let go of him!” Kageyama's voice boomed in the hallway as he tried to lunge at the guy holding his face, the boy never made it, quickly being held down by two snickering players.

“Don’t hurt him, please!” At this point he was begging through the tears, trying to speak over both the mocking laughter and his own sobs.

The remaining two had crowded around him jeering while pawing at his face and hair. Asahi closed his eyes with a sob, desperately wishing to be anywhere but there.

“Oh no, you're looking at us when we talk to you!” The hand on his face squeezed with bruising force, he felt someone tugging at his hair until something ripped from his scalp painfully. He yelped a little, barely seeing through the tears, as his eyes startled open.

The way the laughter and wolf whistles doubled in volume seemed to indicate that their tormentors were satisfied, at least for now.

“Well, now that's just pathetic” A familiar voice floated from somewhere at the entrance of the hallway, cutting through the cacophony of cruel remarks and protesting cries.

Kei didn’t get angry very often, he got annoyed on a daily basis, sure – hard not to, when having to spend time with the likes of Hinata and Tanaka constantly. Still, no matter the kind of dumb shenanigans those idiots managed to pull; he genuinely couldn’t, for the life of him, recall a time one of them managed to summon such unadulterated rage from within him.

He watched with sharp eyes as all attention in the hall turned to him, something inside his gut burning at the sight of Azumane flinching at his voice, just to be held in place by the three brutes surrounding him.

Kageyama glared at him from where he was straining against his own pair of idiots, looking as angry as Kei felt.

“What is it to you, four-eyed freak?” That was the one holding Azumane’s face, Kei scowled at him as one might do at a particularly nasty insect.

He arranged his face into a derisive smirk, the one Tanaka always said made people want to punch him in the face.

“So creative, never heard that one before! Let me get this straight: not only you’re so weak you resort to harassing opponent players outside the court, but you’re dumb enough to do it right in front of a surveillance camera?”

His smirk broadened into a shit-eating grin as the color drained from all their faces, the satisfaction of seeing them fleeing the scene like vermin felt strangely empty though – similar to all the times he chased Yamaguchi’s bullies away, just to be left to silent tears he didn’t know how to comfort.

“You’re ok senpai?” Kageyama’s voice was strangely quiet as it broke Kei out of his thoughts.

Turning around he could see Azumane-senpai hunched over himself, hands pressed against his face as his shoulders shook convulsively.

“I’m so sorry.” Whispered amidst tears and too quiet sobs.

“What for?” He and the setter said in the same breath, what their ace could possibly have to apologize for?

“I only made things worse and you ended up having to look out for me, I just…” At that point he simply cut himself off with another sob, hands coming up to his mouth to try and muffle what little sound managed to escape.

Kageyama crouched himself in front of their senpai with a stern look on his face, although his hands were surprisingly gentle as he grasped the older player’s wrists.

“I never had a senpai stand up for me this way before, I mean Iwaisumi-san kept Oikawa from hitting me that one time, but I doubt he would bother with people just being mean.”

What the actual fuck? Azumane made a strangled little noise at the declaration. Kei was torn between asking the setter if he was ok or cuffing him on the head, that was his idea of comforting someone, really?

“No one can say you guys don’t take the whole senpai stuff seriously. Honestly it’s as annoying as it is endearing.” Kei huffed in the hope of glossing over whatever the fuck Kageyama had going on with his old team, they wanted to calm their senior down not freak him out even more.

Azumane-senpai finally looked up to them, he was still crying in that awful way of his: with silent sobs that were painful to watch. His face was red and blotchy and Kei could tell just by looking that his face would bruise where that brute had grabbed him.

Kageyama awkwardly reached for one of their senpai’s hands, giving it little pats as he looked at him for some sort of… Directions? Maybe?

“There, there, senpai, it’s going to be ok.” It sounded more like a question than a reassurance, but their senior didn’t seem to mind too much as he grabbed at the setter's hands almost desperately.

“I’m going to call Takeda-sensei, so just stop thinking about whatever those assholes told you.”

Kei resorted to just, kind of petting the older’s head while he called their teacher, his hair was extremely soft – it would’ve been nice if all the parts involved weren’t absolutely miserable.

The call was a tense affair, he didn’t feel comfortable explaining too much over the phone: simply giving their location and asking for the man to bring either Sawamura or Sugawara senpai along.

Once the line went silent, Kei risked a glance over his upperclassman head; Kageyama stared right back at him, Azumane’s hands still firmly grasped between his own.

The pair of them came to some sort of silent understanding.

Shifting his feet to a more comfortable position, Kei went back to running his fingers through chestnut hair. It felt like such a tiny thing to do for someone who had been willing to put himself in harm’s way for them.

One way or another the pair moved a little closer to the weeping ace, intent on offering what little comfort they could until help arrived.

Chapter Text

Ittetsu knew something was wrong the moment his phone rang - hard not to, with three students unaccounted for.

Sure, at one point or another someone was bound to wander away from the group, even if just for a bit, but this felt different.

Keeping an eye on their comings and goings was second nature at this point, it had to be – being responsible for a dozen kids outside a controlled environment was as stressful as it sounded, no matter how many times they did the same song and dance.

Which was exactly why he prided himself in being able to tell when something felt odd with the team and this was quickly proving to be one of those times.

The uneasy feeling at the back of his throat solidified into something much more tangible as he recognized the voice coming from the speakers – Tsukishima-kun’s hesitation, a dead giveaway that something had indeed happened.

Ittetsu took a few steps away from where he stood besides Ukai-kun as soft spoken words started to float over the phone line.

He and the coach exchanged a tense look from across the hall, a few of their kids throwing curious glances his way.

Koushi had been nursing the churning feeling inside his gut since he realized Kageyama took a little too long to come back from wherever he disappeared to – The younger setter never strayed away from the team for long, especially before matches.

He tried to reason with himself, a couple minutes shouldn't be cause for worry; after all, there were several completely mundane explanations for Kageyama's absence, everything was fine.

And then Asahi went looking for the boy; and then he too, didn’t come back – which led to Tsukishima, of all people, to go looking for the two of them while Koushi stayed back, trying his best to conceal his nerves, as he wondered if, maybe, Asahi started rubbing off on him; because there was no way all this sudden anxiety was natural.

By the time Takeda-sensei took a call just to start speaking with coach Ukai in hushed tones, he had already picked his way through all of his cuticles: the skin around his nails an angry pink.

And then the pair called him.

Koushi made his way towards them, dread pooling inside his stomach at their pinched faces.

“What happened ?”

He hadn't meant to ask so bluntly, but his nerves made his brain feel flayed raw.

It felt like he was about to be told someone had died and he hated the feeling.

Takeda-sensei took a deep breath, his face settling into something gentler if still considerably tense, as he placed a hand on Koushi’s shoulder.

“It seems like there was a bit of a situation with your teammates, I don’t have many details, but I’m under the impression that Azumane-kun really needs one of his friends with him right now.”

His stomach dropped somewhere between his shoes.

Distantly he could hear coach Ukai asking both Daichi and Shimizu to help keep the team calm, something about not swarming their friends when they came back, the rest of the conversation lost to his ears as he followed sensei out of the gym.

Tobio knew he wasn’t very good at the whole consoling people thing. He wasn’t very good at the whole people thing, in general.

He knew that – middle school had cemented that fact into his very bones.

And still, he found himself trying despite it all. As it seemed to always be the case, when it came to Karasuno.

He didn’t know what to make of his teammates, of those people who seemed to simply try for him without a second thought – It made him want to try for them too, even if he didn’t know how.

Tsukishima glanced at him from where he stood petting Azumane-senpai’s head, he looked somewhat torn between being confused or frustrated. Maybe he also wasn’t very good at people.

That would explain why Tobio never saw him with anyone other than Yamaguchi outside the club.

He felt the hands in his grasp shaking; not knowing what else to do he started running the pads of his fingers against the other’s knuckles, hoping the repetitive movement would bring some sort of comfort to the older teen.

At least Azumane-senpai wasn't sobbing anymore, although Tobio could still hear the tell-tale sniffs that came with his tears from time to time.

He was still crying a bit, when they heard Takeda-sensei’s frantic calls just outside the hallway – The man scrambled into their view in a bit of panic; Sugawara-senpai, just as panicked, followed close behind.

The pair hovered for a bit around them, just to spur into action before Tobio could even register their presence properly.

Tsukishima stood up at some point, his voice floating from somewhere close by as he talked to their teacher.

He was still running his fingers over Azumane-senpai’s knuckles when gray hair and honey eyes entered his sight. The older setter crouched in front of them, elbows resting on his knees, brows furrowed as he asked after their well-being.

“I’m fine, but Azumane-senpai got hurt…” his voice came out all wrong: scratchy and cracking at the wrong places.

Sugawara-senpai turned his head to his fellow third-year so quickly Tobio couldn’t help but startle a little; memories of how Iwaizumi-san would handle an upset Oikawa fresh on the forefront of his mind – his senior’s hands moved slowly though, just hovering in front the other’s face.

He needn’t have worried, his current senpai were nothing like Iwaizumi-san or Oikawa, not in the things that mattered – Tobio knew that, and yet in moments like this, they still managed to take him off guard.

“Asahi ?”

It was a whisper, but it seemed to be enough. Karasuno's ace lifted his head painstakingly until his face was no longer covered in the shadows cast by his own hair.

A shocked breath, air hissing through clenched teeth.

“Oh Asahi…”

Tobio felt something inside his throat knotting at the way Sugawara-senpai’s voice wobbled; hands cradling their teammate’s face as his thumbs gently brushed away the fresh tears that gathered over bruised skin.

He felt like an intruder witnessing the soft vulnerability between his seniors – he still had trouble coming to terms with their warm, if loud (and sometimes downright bizarre) acceptance. But this, this was different, somehow.

The way they trusted him around their soft parts, he felt like he didn’t deserve their gentleness.

“It’s my fault.”

The admission tumbled out of his mouth gracelessly, clumsy, as if someone punched the words out of him.

Azumane-senpai’s other hand came up to him when he tried to stand; gently (so painfully gentle, Tobio didn’t have the heart to dislodge his grip) tugging at him until he settled back at his previous position.

“You got hurt defending me, it’s my fault!” He found himself whispering into Azumane’s knuckles, a stingy feeling building behind his own eyes as he tried to make them understand.

“Y-you weren’t the one who hurt me.”

He felt a gentle brush against his knuckles, just as he did for the other a few moments earlier.

“But –”

“No buts, we’re team, we all watch for each other in and out of the court.” Sugawara-senpai’s voice was firm but the wobbly smile he offered Tobio was so achingly kind, he couldn’t help but allow himself to relax against Azumane-senpai’s side, just a little.

Tsukishima and Takeda-sensei’s voices floated from somewhere down the hall, something about assault and proof and punishment.

They stayed sat where they were, mostly quiet, save for the occasional sniff that heralded the end of the latest batch of tears.

“Oh and Kageyama ?”

Azumane whispered from where he laid his head on Sugawara-senpai's shoulder, fingers warm against Tobio's own.

“You’re our kouhai, we aren't leaving any of you to fend for yourselves, no matter what.”

The elder interlocked their fingers together, as if to make sure he wasn’t going anywhere.

“Okay” He found himself whispering back, something inside his chest sitting just a little less tight.

He could come to learn how to accept their warmth, if given time, Tobio had the feeling they were willing to wait for him.