"Are you sure this is all right?" Tanaka asked, nervously pulling his shoes off one at at time. "I know it's early, and I don't want to intrude..." He had called first, of course, he wasn't completely without etiquette, and she had said it was fine, but still...
Mrs. Hinata waved a hand. "Of course, of course! We're glad to have you, Tanaka-kun. I was afraid Shouyou would be bored with nothing to do and only Nacchan and me to talk to, so I'm very glad you decided to visit. It's so kind of you to sacrifice your time like this."
Tanaka shrugged, embarrassed, as he slipped out of his jacket and hung it up. "It's no sacrifice, really. I'd be a little bored, too, without anything to do..."
He repressed a sigh. Ever since elementary school, it seemed, he'd been taken for a delinquent by all the authority figures in his life, or at least someone with the potential to be one. But he'd never actually been suspended before, nor even censured. It was all very new to him, and though (as Saeko had made it clear) it had been for a good cause, it was still humiliating to know that some people had a reason to think badly of him now, had justification and proof for the way they had always seen him.
But Mrs. Hinata patted his shoulder, her face radiating kindness, and tugged him further into the house. "Come, I'll show you to the main room. Make yourself at home, won't you? You are welcome here for as long as you'd like to stay."
Tanaka followed behind her, trying to walk quietly on the wooden floor and not thunder like a herd of elephants as he usually did. Hinata's house was really nice, all full of air and sunlight, but with enough nicks and scratches to show that it was lived-in and comfortable. His parents were wonderful people, too, and his little sister...
Tanaka froze. He saw a little mop of bright hair at the end of the hall, peeking out from a bedroom door to spy on him. The twin pigtails and chubby little cheeks (not to mention the much reduced height) told him that this was Natsu, not his teammate. He only saw her for a moment, though, before she spotted him looking back in return and ducked into the room, hidden away from his sight.
Mrs. Hinata walked on, seeming not to notice, and after a second for his brain to catch up, Tanaka hurried after her. Mrs. Hinata leaned in a large doorway, waving Tanaka to move up beside her. "Shouyou, you have a visitor!"
At Tanaka's entrance, Hinata looked up from where he sat on the sofa, apparently engrossed with something on his lap. A tired smile slowly spread across his face, but Tanaka's heart still ached at the weariness there, the big bruise on his forehead, the listless way he slumped against the cushions behind him.
"Good morning, Tanaka-senpai!" Still, his voice was as cheerful as ever. "It's good to see you!"
"Hey, Hinata." Tanaka moved over to the sofa to sit next to him. Mrs. Hinata gave them both a wave of farewell and disappeared down the hall. Tanaka squinted at the thing in Hinata's lap. "Whatcha got there?"
"Ah, Natsu gave me one of her coloring books." Hinata smoothed his palm over the black-and-white page. He held a crayon in one hand, and as Tanaka watched, he pushed it to the page again, rubbing back and forth in a most unenthusiastic way.
Tanaka tilted his head, not sure what he was looking at. "Oi, Hinata," he said slowly, not wanting to be insulting but feeling that this was something that needed to be pointed out, "I think you're coloring that dog pink."
Hinata nodded. "Yep. It's a pink dog."
Tanaka watched quietly for another minute or two. "Why?"
Hinata turned his head to look him in the eye. He managed a smile, but it reminded Tanaka a little too much of the queasy smile Hinata had given him on the bus that time. Right before he threw up all over Tanaka's jersey. "It's the crayon Natsu gave me."
"Okay." Tanaka came to a decision. "I think you might need a nap, little kouhai."
Hinata protested, but it was a very dull and desultory sort of protest. Tanaka gently tugged the coloring book and crayon out of his hands and set them on the floor, then nudged Hinata's shoulder until he toppled over into the pile of blankets and pillows already on the sofa.
"Don't waaaannnaaa," Hinata whined as Tanaka knelt next to him and started tugging on the blankets underneath him. He should have moved the blankets before he pushed Hinata over, he saw now. He'd never been great at thinking ahead. "I sleep too much. 'S embarrassing."
"You're injured," Tanaka said as reasonably as he could. "Of course you need a lot of sleep. Didn't the doctor tell you so?" He dragged out a corner of the blanket and pulled it over Hinata. Despite his words, Hinata had practically melted into the sofa, his entire body limp with exhaustion.
Hinata mumbled something. Tanaka almost felt his ear grow to catch the words. "What was that?"
"Yes." Hinata's voice was sullen, muffled in the bedding. "Kag'yama said so too."
"Kageyama's pretty smart. Sometimes it's a good idea to listen to him." Tanaka patted Hinata's back, now cushioned under several layers of fabric. "Hey, is this your stuffed stegosaurus? I'll make sure he stays close, right?"
He set the stegosaurus on the sofa arm above Hinata's head, watching over him, and patted it to make sure it would stay. Then he sat back on his heels, satisfied with a job well done. Hinata's dark-ringed eyes watched him from an opening in the pile of bedding that his small body had become, half-lidded but still awake. Tanaka gave him a smile.
"There, don't you feel cozy? You should have a nice long sleep, now."
Hinata blinked. His mouth opened, then closed again.
Tanaka raised his eyebrows. "What is it? Something else to say? Gonna tell me again that you're not tired? Cuz I know you are. I can smell lies."
Hinata shook his head slowly. A flush of pink spread over his cheeks. "Just wondering..."
"Yeah? You can ask me anything."
Hinata made a little noise and turned his head into the sofa. He mumbled something, but this time Tanaka couldn't hear it no matter how hard he tried.
"Wanna say that again?"
Hinata looked at him, his face now flame-bright. "...'R you gonna be here when I wake up?"
Tanaka's heart squeezed in his chest. That was right, Noya had told him... Hinata was scared. He did everything he could to hide it, but Tanaka was pretty sure all of the third-years and most of the second-years knew. Kageyama probably knew, too, and that was why he was staying over tonight. (Suga had been keeping everyone up to date on the changes in Hinata's schedule so they all knew when they should and shouldn't visit.)
Now, Tanaka swallowed, his mouth suddenly dry. His voice came out in a rough murmur. "Yeah. I'll be here. I'll be here all day. I promise."
Until they kicked him out or Kageyama took over.
"Okay." Hinata's eyes slid shut immediately, as if that was all he had needed to know that he could rest.
Tanaka watched him for a moment, just appreciating the ability to look at his kouhai, to be able to see his body move with his breath, his eyelashes fluttering on his cheek. Eventually that got to be too embarrassing, though, so he turned and sat on the floor with his back to the sofa, his hands resting on his knees.
"What now?" he muttered to himself. He planned to stay here and keep his promise, but he really wasn't great at sitting still. Was there something else he could to do to be helpful to Hinata and his family? He glanced at the coloring book and crayon on the floor beside him, then shook his head. That was for Hinata. And besides, he would need more than just one pink crayon.
"You should play with Natsu," Hinata said, his voice quiet but clear.
Tanaka started and looked over his shoulder at his face. Hinata's eyes were still closed and his body was still. "Waahh, I thought you were asleep."
"Almost." Hinata heaved a great yawn, his pink tongue showing for a moment, then settled even deeper down into the sofa. "Play with Natsu. She's been pestering me even though Mom told her to leave me alone. She doesn't get why I can't play with her since I'm home from school and everything."
"Eeh, that's an idea, I suppose." Tanaka looked forward again. "I'm not sure it will work, though."
"Mmmmwhy not?" Hinata's voice was getting sleepier and more slurred by the second.
Tanaka didn't speak for a moment, working up the words. Yet another thing that embarrassed him to talk about. "Uhhh, well, kids don't tend to like me very much."
"Why not?" Hinata almost sounded offended on his behalf, through the thick layer of sleep that muffled him. "You're such a great guy, why wouldn't they?"
Tanaka rubbed the back of his neck. "I guess I'm...kinda scary-looking? One time I called out to this first-year girl who looked lost, just 'cause I wanted to help her, and she started crying. I felt really bad."
Hinata giggled muzzily into his blanket. "That's dumb. They're idiots for being scared of you. You're pretty much the nicest senpai ever."
Tanaka snorted. Hinata was so sweet sometimes. Why would anyone want to hurt him? He clenched his fist over his chest, fighting away the sudden grief that engulfed him. He'd already fought these feelings again and again, ever since Hinata had gotten hurt. They never seemed to vanish completely.
"You'd better not tell Noya that," he said eventually, forcing cheer. "He thinks he's your favorite senpai."
"You're all my favorite," Hinata mumbled. He sounded closer to sleep than ever. Tanaka felt bad for keeping him up with his silly concerns. "Anyway, Natsu's easy. Just give her a piggyback ride and she'll be your friend forever."
"You really think so?"
"For sure. She acts shy and stuff, but she's really not. Once she decides you're a good playmate, she'll never leave you alone. Warning you now because once you're in, that's it. She'll use you as a jungle gym forever."
"I'm okay with that." Tanaka sat up straight, suddenly determined. "Okay, sleepy-chan, you go ahead and nap now. I've got everything covered."
"Kaaay."
Tanaka glanced over his shoulder to see his face again, but Hinata looked the same as before, utterly still, face completely blank. This time, though, it seemed like he was really asleep.
He started to turn his head back to face front again, then paused. A mop of bright hair had appeared in his peripheral vision. Natsu was peeking at him from the doorway.
Tanaka considered. Then he scooted sideways along the floor and picked up the coloring book and crayon. He held them up in front of his face and peered at them with narrowed eyes, as if he had never seen such arcane and mystical objects before in his life.
"Hah, I wonder what these things could be," he said loudly. He held the book sideways by one cover, letting it fall open, pages flapping in front of his face. "There appear to be strange images inside this thing. What could be the purpose of such a weird and uncanny artifact?"
He held up the pink crayon in his other hand, holding it far apart, and looked between it and the book several times, contorting his face into various expressions of fear, doubt, confusion, and idiocy. "Perhaps these things are meant to be used together? But how!"
He slowly brought the crayon toward the book and mashed it purposelessly against a random page. "It doesn't seem to be doing anything!" he cried in distress. "I'm such an idiot! I don't know how to make it work!"
That did the trick. A burst of childish giggles pealed through the air, and he heard the distinct thumps of a small body hitting on the floor in the hall, then moving around in a proxysm of joy. Tanaka had succeeded in making a little girl roll on the floor with laughter, instead of weep in fear at his voice.
Tanaka slowly climbed up to his knees and crawled toward the door, still holding the book and crayon, and peeked around the edge to where Natsu lay on the floor, kicking her heels against the wood. He widened his eyes as far as they would go. "Hello, mysterious child!" he cried in delight. "Can you help explain these amazing objects to me?" He held out the book and crayon with an expression of extreme hopefulness.
Natsu leaped to her feet and grabbed them from his hands. "Yes! Silly nii-san! I'll show you! But we need more crayons!"
She raced off, and Tanaka sat back on his heels, grinning like the idiot he had pretended to be. He glanced at the sofa, hoping he hadn't woken Hinata with his foolery, but a soft snore assured him that all was well in that quarter.
Natsu returned with a box of crayons and several coloring books and flopped down on her stomach in the middle of the room, waving for Tanaka to join her. He lay down across from her, pointing and asking questions with wide eyes at everything she did. "Oh, you're supposed to put it flat on a hard surface? What a clever plan! I see, you are meant to press this colored stick against the paper with some strength? That works so much better that what I was doing! I am the most foolish of fools!"
Afterward, he offered her a piggyback ride. As Hinata had promised, that sealed the deal. He was "bald nii-san" forever, and he'd never been happier to accept a nickname in his life.
