Hinata woke up and stretched, rubbing his eyes before noticing a distinctly empty space on the bed next to him. He checked his clock and saw that it was 10:30, well past time for his boyfriend to go to work, and much later than he would normally get up. He didn't mind though, he had no classes today and practice was cancelled due to renovations in the gym.
In his second year of high school he had finally managed to work up the courage to ask out Nishinoya, and was ecstatic when he said yes. After graduation, he decided to go to the same university as Nishinoya in Tokyo, and the two got an apartment together. Renting an apartment wasn't cheap however, and Nishinoya ended up having to get a job at the coffee shop down the street while Hinata helped pay with some savings his parents had set aside for him.
He slowly made his way to the kitchen and ate some leftover onigiri from last night, and stretched one last time before going back into his room to get dressed for the day. He put on a simple t-shirt and some jeans, finishing his look with a hoodie to protect him from the cold winter air. Putting on his shoes as he stepped out of his shared apartment, he began walking to his favorite coffee shop down the street.
As he walked past a convenience store, he decided to stop in and buy some popsicles to surprise Nishinoya. He bought two soda flavored and one melon, and as he continued down the street, he noticed a small store that was selling keychains. He saw some that looked like crows and decided to buy one for both himself and Nishinoya, adding them to the bag with the popsicles he continued down the street again, stopping in nearly every shop to buy something for his boyfriend, and by the time he actually reached the coffee shop his one bag had turned into five.
He stepped into the empty shop and immediately heard an employee say, "Hinata! What on earth are you doing with all those bags?" He looked at his hands, only now realizing how much he had actually bought, and shrugged saying, "Oops. I just kept seeing stuff that I thought Yuu would like, so I decided to buy them. I didn't realize how much I actually got." The employee sighed and said, "I know that you like doing nice things for him, but this is the fourth time this week." Hinata tilted his head and asked, "Why is that a problem?" The employee replied, "It's only Tuesday."
It was at this moment that Nishinoya stepped out from the back, and upon seeing Hinata with several bags he smiled widely and exclaimed, "Shouyou! I was wondering when you would get here! Why do you have so many bags?" Hinata held out all five bags with a nervous laugh and said, "I got you some stuff." Nishinoya sighed and turned to his coworker, "I'm going to take my break now, okay?" After getting a nod from the other employee, he pulled Hinata over to a table.
"Sho, you know that I really appreciate you always getting me stuff" Hinata smiled and began nodding repeatedly, "but we aren't exactly well off in the money department. So do you think you could maybe get me less stuff." Hinata's face immediately fell, and tears began to gather at the corners of his eyes, "B-but, I just wanted to make you happy and show how much I love you." Nishinoya frantically waved his hands and said, "I know, I know! And it really does make me happy, but we can barely afford our apartment as it is, so I just want you to stop wasting money that we need."
Hinata's few tears turned into light sobbing, before transitioning into full crying "You think it's a waste for me to be nice to you? You're horrible! I hate you!" He ran out of the shop still crying ignoring Nishinoya's cries for him to come back. He continued running, not paying attention to where he was going until he bumped into someone, causing them both to fall over. He began apologizing and bowing over and over, until the other person said, "It's fine Shouyou." Hinata looked up at the mention of his name and noticed that the person he bumped into was Kenma.
After they both got up he rubbed the back of his head and said, "Oh, sorry Kenma. I didn't realize it was you." Kenma replied, "I already said it's fine. Why were you crying anyway?" He immediately regretted asking when he saw Hinata scowl, knowing that he would now have to help him work through whatever the problem was instead of playing his new game. "It's all stupid Y-" Hinata shook his head, "stupid Nishinoya's fault." Kenma sighed, not wanting to get involved in his friend's relationship troubles, but not really having much choice now, "Why don't you come over to my place? It's pretty close and we can talk without freezing to death."
After they arrived at Kenma's house, Hinata began telling him about what happened. Kenma listened to Hinata angrily rant, piping in every now and then with comments such as "Did he really say he hated the bags?" and "I'm sure he didn't point out how messy your hair is." By the end of Hinata's rant, Kenma had figured out most of what happened, and managed to separate Hinata's emotional outbursts from the truth.
Hinata sat with his arms crossed and a scowl on his face, but Kenma knew he was just overreacting. The issue was how to make Hinata realize that without him getting mad at Kenma too. "Shouyou, do you think that maybe you misunderstood what Nishinoya meant?" Hinata looked at Kenma like he had grown a second head "No I did not misunderstand what he meant! He clearly doesn't care about how I feel, and I can't believe you're taking his side! You're my friend, not his!"
Hinata got up to leave, but Kenma grabbed his hand and said, "Just listen Shouyou, I'm sure he really didn't mean to hurt your feelings." But HInata just pulled his arm away and stomped angrily to the door. As he left Kuroo was walking in, but he just shoved him aside and continued out the door, slamming it shut as hard as he could. Kenma looked at Kuroo and said, "Make sure I never date anyone."
Hinata kept wandering around for about an hour before he ended up in a park. He sat on a nearby bench, still fuming after his conversation with Kenma. "Stupid Kenma. You were supposed to make me feel better. He sat on that bench for a few more hours, only moving after he noticed that it had gotten dark out.
He quickly realized that he had no idea where he was, and that would make it very difficult to get home. He paused for a moment, did he really want to go home? Nishinoya would be there after all. A particularly cold wind made him decide that even being around Nishinoya would be better than sleeping in a random park.
As he began walking in what he assumed was the direction he came from, he noticed a man walking towards him, and decided to ask for directions. As he got closer, he realized the man reeked of alcohol, but brushed it off and said, "Excuse me sir, do you know how to get to-" Before he could even finish his sentence the man grabbed him and threw him on the ground before screaming, "You don't get to talk back to me brat! You look just like my stupid wife! Calling the cops just 'cause I get a little rough with her!" As the man continued yelling at Hinata, he also hit and kicked him repeatedly. By the time the man left, Hinata was unconscious, lying bruised and bloody in the middle of a park.
Nishinoya was sitting at home, worried about his boyfriend after he had run out of the coffee shop earlier. He regretted not chasing the younger boy, believing that he would just come back home to cry and sort out his feelings. But Nishinoya had been home for five hours now, with no sign of Hinata. He finally decided that he had waited long enough, and it was time to go look for his boyfriend.
He stepped outside the apartment, but realized that he had no idea where to go, and since they had only been in Tokyo for about two months, he didn't know much of the city's layout. He decided that the best solution would be to just walk around and ask everyone he saw if they had seen a short, energetic, loud, cute boy with orange hair and a smile that could put one thousand suns to shame. After the first six people he asked walked away before he could finish describing all of Hinata's great qualities, he decided maybe he should just stick with asking about a short boy with orange hair.
After about an hour of asking around, he still had no clues as to HInata's whereabouts, so he decided to try going to a nearby park and asking there. He figured that parks have a lot of people, and Hinata's hair is pretty recognizable so even people who only saw him in passing should remember. When he arrived however, he saw several police cars and an ambulance, so he decided to go somewhere else to stay out of their way.
As he turned around to leave, he notice Kenma walking towards him and offered a quick greeting, "Hey there, you're Shouyou's friend right?" Kenma nodded and said, "Yeah, and you're his boyfriend. The one he's currently quite mad at." Kenma had no time to react as Nishinoya suddenly grabbed his arms and shook him back and forth saying, "You saw him?! Where? Was he okay? Did he tell you anything about where he was going?"
This was when Kuroo came up and pried Nishinoya off of Kenma, quickly saying, "Hey, calm down. Rattling his brain isn't going to help you find shorty. Although I guess you're the real shorty, huh?" As the ambulance from before drove by, Nishinoya yelled, "Who are you calling short! I could kick your butt any day! But anyways, do you know where Sho is?" Kenma finally spoke up and explained what happened earlier when he ran into Hinata, before ending by saying that he didn't know where he went after leaving the house.
Nishinoya's head sagged, he was truly out of ideas on how to find Hinata. The boy he had thought was cute from the first time they met, but never had the courage to tell him the truth. The boy who had unwavering faith in him no matter what situation they were in. The boy who took everyone's breath away when he jumped for a spike. The boy who made him happier than anyone else in the world. The boy who had probably left him because of a single heartless comment he made. Just as he was about to accept that Hinata had probably left him for good and didn't want to be found, his phone rang.
He picked it up without even checking who called and answered, "Hello? I hope so. What! Is he okay! Oh my god I'm on my way right now!" He quickly hung up and turned to Kenma and Kuroo, "That was a nurse, Shouyou is at the hospital right now." Their eyes widened and all three broke into a sprint. Kuroo and Kenma slowed down once they reached the doors of the hospital, but Nishinoya kept sprinting right up to the receptionist, startling her and making her fall out of her chair.
"Which room is my boyfriend in?!" He yelled, looking at her expectantly. She took a moment to compose herself and get back in her chair before glaring at him and saying, "If you can't even control yourself in the lobby, why on earth would I let you see a patient?" He bowed and said, "I'm really sorry. I'm just so worried because I was searching for hours and I couldn't find him and then I got a call that said he was here and I panicked!" Kuroo and Kenma walked up and Kuroo said, "Don't worry, I'll keep this guy under control." The receptionist sighed before looking at her computer and asking, "What's his name?"
When they got up to Hinata's room, he was hooked up to a few machines, and had an IV in his arm. When they walked in he looked up and smiled at them, before pouting when he remembered that he was mad. Nishinoya rushed over to him and said, "Shouyou I was so worried! Are you okay?" Hinata turned his head away from Nishinoya and said, "Are you sure you even want to be here? I'm going to have to waste a lot of money on hospital bills." Kuroo laughed and said, "Looks like shorty here is just fine. We'll give you two some privacy." Kenma quietly added, "I'm glad you okay Shouyou," and the two exited the room, leaving just Hinata and Nishinoya.
Nishinoya sighed and walked to the other side of Hinata's bed, "You know that hospital bills aren't a waste of money. And I'm sorry that I said you always buying me stuff is. I really didn't mean to hurt your feelings. I just wanted you think a little harder before you buy stuff so that we don't lose the great life we have." Hinata looked at Nishinoya, but he still hadn't stopped pouting, "If you think our life is so great then why didn't you chase after me when I ran?" Nishinoya's head drooped a little and he said, "Well I thought you were just going to go home and cry until you felt better, then we could talk more when I got back. But when you weren't there when I got home and took so long coming back, I got worried and went out to look for you."
Nishinoya didn't miss Hinata's surprised face when he said, "You were looking for me? But I thought you wouldn't want me to stay because I waste too much money." It was Nishinoya's turn to be surprised now, "Why would you ever think that? I love you Shouyou. I would never want you to leave no matter how much money you spend." Hinata sniffled before throwing himself into Nishinoya's arms and wailing, "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to make you worry! And I don't want you to ever leave either Yuu!"
Nishinoya smiled and stroked Hinata's hair, "I'm just glad you're alright. I And I won't leave you no matter what. After all, you already decided that I'm your future husband." He couldn't help but laugh at Hinata's dumbfounded face when the younger said, "How did you know that?" Nishinoya took another minute to stop laughing before he said, "The nurse who called me used your phone. I can't believe that's what you saved my number as. How long has it been like that." Hinata blushed and hid his face, muttering under his breath. Nishinoya leaned closer and said, "Im sorry, I didn't quite catch that." Hinata blushed even harder and spoke up, "It's been that way since I first got your number."
Nishinoya laughed so loud that a nurse had to come in and tell him to be quiet, but it didn't do much to stop him. Eventually he managed to calm down after some threats to kick him out, and when Hinata scooted over and patted the space next to him, Nishinoya crawled into the bed. As they lay side by side Hinata said, "I'm sorry I overreacted like that, it just made me sad when you said that the things I like to do for you are a waste." Nishinoya looked at him and replied, "I'm sorry too. I didn't mean it that way, and I could've found a nicer way to say it." They both smiled and leaned in for a quick kiss, before snuggling up together and falling asleep.
A few days later when a nurse came in to kick Nishinoya out at the end of visiting hours, she saw him cuddled up to his boyfriend on the hospital bed, and sighed before shaking the two awake. Nishinoya yawned and stretched his arms above his head and Hinata sleepily rubbed his eyes, "Oh, good morning Haruko-san. Can Shouyou leave soon?" The nurse scowled and pulled Nishinoya off the bed and began pushing him out of the room, "I've already told you Nishinoya-kun, you can't sleep in the hospital bed with your boyfriend. Honestly this is the sixth time this week." He looked back at her and said, "What's the problem with that?" She glared and replied, "It's only Tuesday."
