Kenma hadn't gone back to practice after getting the call from Kageyama.

He hadn't even left the bleachers, squeezed in between his duffle and Kuroo's with his phone in one hand and tugging on his hair with the other. Luckily the coach wasn't present at the moment and couldn't reprimand the setter for his lack of participation, and even though that job fell to Kuroo as the captain, the spiker hadn't said a word about rejoining their practice.

Tensions were high in the Nekoma gym. Though Kenma and Kuroo had been the only ones to actively hear the phone call, the rest of the team had a vague idea of what had happened from their setter's uneasy facial expression and brief interrogations about Hinata's whereabouts.

Though the entirety of the Nekoma volleyball team absolutely adored Hinata, Kenma was the closest to the hyperactive orangette. They were a strange match, especially given that their personalities were practically opposites, but their friendship was obviously a tier above anyone else's on Nekoma, maybe with the exception of Kuroo. Logically, the team knew that forcing Kenma to play volleyball would probably be the best course of action instead of worrying out of his mind, but honestly, they couldn't blame him.

The gym had gone quiet. Their usual cheers and banter had disappeared the second Kenma had gotten the call from Kageyama, and they had yet to return. The team was playing sloppily, and if their lack of strategic moves or desire to win was any indication, their game mostly served as a distraction from the situation while they waited for an update more than actual practice.

The team was a mess of nerves. Lev could barely hit a spike, Inuoka's head was somewhere in the clouds, Yaku's performance had decreased severely in the span of a few short minutes, and the rest of them weren't much better. Kuroo hadn't so much as said a word, not even to scold them about their lack of motivation or distracted attitude. It was uncommon for the captain to be quiet for such a long time, but once again, no one could blame him.

Kenma's face maintained his usual bored expression, but if the way he'd been fiddling with loose strands of hair was any indication, he was just as stressed as the rest of them.

Not that anyone was keeping track or anything, but it had been twenty minutes since Kageyama had hung up the phone and twenty minutes of ten highschoolers worrying out of their minds.

The fact that Hinata hadn't arrived early to Karasuno was concerning in and of itself, but him being over twenty minutes late was another thing entirely. Volleyball was Hinata's entire life, something practically the whole league was well aware of. For him not to be answering any number of calls or text and missing the sport he'd hid a thirty-eight-degree fever just to play was beyond concerning, and it was the only thing on everyone's minds right now.

That is until Kenma's phone sprang to life in his hand.

For a second, no one moved. The volleyball dropped, forgotten, to the floor. Ten pairs of eyes zeroed in on Kenma's phone. Kenma cleared his throat, eyes practically exuding uncertainty.

"It's Kageyama."

There was a beat of silence.

Two seconds later, all hell broke loose.

Nekoma practically ran over each other trying to get to Kenma, more than a few players getting an elbow to the face or a knee to the stomach in their hast. Kenma, who would usually roll his eyes and sigh at his team's antics, didn't even spare them a glance as he answered the call without a moment's hesitation.

"KAGEYAMA!" Kuroo wasted no time grabbing the phone and shoving it into the middle of the makeshift circle of players, quickly putting it on speakerphone for everyone to hear. "Did you find him?"

There was a beat of silence at the other end of the line. Kenma could barely handle the suspense.

"Yes."

Kageyama's voice sounded hesitant, and maybe a little wary, but it was all the answer Nekoma needed to let out a breath they hadn't even realized they'd been holding.

"That's great." Inuoka leaned into the phone's range. "Is he okay?"

"Uh." There it was. Hesitance. That was all it took for Nekoma's anxiety to come rushing back at full force. "Kind of?"

"What the fuck do you mean kind of?" Kenma snatched his phone from Kuroo's hand, pulling back from the circle even though his captain did nothing to stop him. "This isn't exactly a good time to try and be coy, Bakayama." He spat out the last word like a curse.

In hindsight, projecting his anger onto Kageyama probably wasn't the best thing in the world to do, especially when the first-year was his only current source of information about Hinata. Still, he was worried about his friend, damn it. If Kageyama decided it'd be a good idea to beat around the bush, Kenma was just going to have to force him into telling.

Kageyama apparently had some brains in him, because he picked up on Kenma's fury immediately. Usually, the setter would have fun teasing the Nekoma player, but their situation right now was anything but. "I'm going to tell you something, but you have to promise not to freak out."

Kenma rolled his eyes. He'd been showing more emotion in the past two minutes than he had in a week. "Can you just tell us what's going on?"

"Please?" Lev added, usually never one for manners but didn't want to risk Kageyama getting mad and hanging up. "We're going out of our minds here."

"Okay." There's a slight pause over the line as Kageyama whispered with an unknown, inaudible voice. Kenma was getting more annoyed by the second, and the rest of his teammates weren't that far behind. Finally, after what seemed like ages, Kageyama's voice filtered through the speaker once more. "We found him, but he's hurt badly. He was crumbled by the side of the road with his bike in shambled and bleeding." There was an agonizing silence. No one dared to breathe. "We're on our way to a hospital in Miyagi as we speak."

Immediately, several horrible scenarios ran through the Nekoma players' minds.

Hinata bleeding out in a back alley.

Hinata struggling to walk as he dragged a broken leg behind him.

Hinata desperately calling for someone, anyone while his friends and teammates continued playing volleyball, completely obvious and naive to the state of the tiny little ginger that held the stars in his palms and sun in his smiles.

Kenma couldn't tell whether he was shaking or if it was just the vibrations of the phone, and honestly, he couldn't find it in himself to care. Hinata. Hinata Shouyou. His sweet, innocent best friend who has never in his fifteen years of life so much as had a single selfish though and was the literal definition of good, had been bleeding out on the side of the highway.

Kenma wanted to throw up.

The feeling was mutual, really.

Kenma didn't care how far away Tokyo was from Miyagi, just like how he didn't care how late he'd be for classes if he left. Honestly, that was the last thing on everyone's mind right now. All previously thoughts and logic had been thrown out the window the very second Karasuno's temperamental setter had uttered the word "hospital".

They needed to see Hinata now.

Kuroo took the phone from Kenma with uncharacteristically shaky hands, eyes blown to proportions that shouldn't even be possible and breathing slightly erratic. "Which hospital."

It wasn't a question. It was a command, one that Kageyama would pay dearly for not answering in the next five seconds.

"Miyagi general hospital." Kageyama sounded just as rushed as Nekoma felt. "We're arriving there now."

Kuroo offered no words of thanks or gratitude, instead opting to nod in silent confirmation. "We'll be there."

No one objected. After all, they'd be damned if something as stupid and insignificant as morning classes stopped them from making sure their little sunshine was safe and sound.

xxx

Aobajohsai was practically the poster team for panic.

Unlike Nekoma, all of the present players had heard firsthand what the situation was, and as a result, they were all losing their shit.

Never let it be said that the players for Aobajohsai were ordinary people because where a regular person would sit quietly and try to ignore the swelling panic bubbling in their chest, Aobajohsai would let it all out all at once.

The gym had been a mess of yelling, screaming, and borderline crying from the very second Tanaka had hung up the phone.

The volleyball cart was left forgotten by the net as the entirety of Seijoh screamed their way into calm, not even bothering to cover up their panic or censor their thoughts. Those who viewed Aobajohsai as a well-put-together and robust team were right, of course, but they'd clearly never been to one of their famous Seijoh panic parties.

Mad Dog and Hanamaki had been engaging in an epic screaming match about the state of Hinata's breaks, Hanamaki endlessly accusing Mad Dog of attempting to assassinate Hinata while Mad Dog screamed every curse known to man in an attempt to defend himself from Hanamaki's relentless accusations. Matsukawa was crumpled to the ground at their feet, having tried to play referee for his two friends but had ultimately dissolved into helpless tears and was now mumbling to himself in a language no one could understand.

Oikawa was practically wailing, babbling his worry in his usual over-dramatic way and occasionally fake swooning into Iwaizumi's arms, who in turn, let his best friend do as he pleased while the spiker occupied himself with his own worries about their puppy-like friend.

The rest of the team was no better. Someone was screaming about "blood" and "dying", while another rattled off the endless explanations as to why Hinata was missing. There were several arguments going on at once, some not even about the situation at hand but merely serving as an outlet for their frustrations, and at least one person was angrily spiking and hitting a volleyball over and over.

As comedic and overdramatic as the chaos might seem to an outsider, it was nothing but a mere distraction for the Aobajohsai players' benefit. They were panicking, that much was obvious. Who wouldn't when learning a friend they all loved dearly was practically missing in action, but instead of dealing with it and talking it out like mature high schoolers, they busied themselves with mindless banter and pointless tasks as they waited for Daichi's (hopefully) inevitable phone call.

If it ever came, that is.

As much as Seijoh wanted to get up and do something about the whole situation, they couldn't. One too many impromptu trips to Starbucks had banned the entirety of the team from leaving the gym at all unless it was absolutely necessary, or an emergency of some kind. Though going to look for a missing Hinata was a perfectly acceptable reason in all of their books, it wasn't one their coach would approve of. What were they even supposed to say? The little ginger from Karasuno who beat them to a match for Shiratorizawa and also occasionally snuck in to play with them was twenty minutes late to his own volleyball practice with no real evidence that he was in some kind of danger and not just sick or something?

Yeah, talk about a good excuse.

Luckily for Aobajohsai's sanity, a small 'ping' from Oikawa's phone grabbed everyone's attention immediately.

Iwaizumi reacted without hesitation, carelessly side-stepping his best friend and grabbing his phone with roughness not uncommon to the speaker. He wordlessly entered the passcode he knew now by heart, expertly ignoring the way his fellow teammates scrambled helplessly around him while crying incessantly for any piece of news regarding their missing friend.

Fortunately for all of them, Iwaizumi wasn't one to beat around the bush.

Daichi had sent a message to a captain's group chat Iwaizumi hadn't even known existed, but that was hardly the first thing on his mind right now. He wasted no time clicking on the notification and scanning the message with his own two eyes, not so much as sparing a glance to Oikawa reading over his shoulder, worrylines on his flawless skin deepening with every sentence as he hung off his vice-captain like a sloth.

Apparently, Oikawa could read faster than his best friend, because his sharp intake of breath as he reached the last line of text sent his teammates into an absolute frenzy.

"Well? What the fuck is it?" Kindaichi made a move to grab Oikawa's phone, very nearly falling on his face as Iwaizumi dodged his attempt with ease as he reached the end of the lengthy paragraph. "Don't just leave us in the dark here!"

"I..." Iwaizumi's eyes widened significantly, very clearly having finally reached the end of Daichi's message. "He..."

Oikawa immediately butted in. He knew his vice-captain well enough to know that he needed at least a few minutes to process what he'd just read, nevermind getting out of his head long enough actually to tell the team about it. "Hinata's in the hospital."

There wasn't so much as a beat of silence before the gym immediately erupted in cries.

"What do you mean in the hospital?"

"Oikawa, if you're joking, this seriously isn't funny."

"Are you fucking serious?! What the fuck happened?!"

"Holy shit, is he okay? He's okay, right?"

Yahaba instantly whirled around to face Mad Dog, his voice barely audible amid all the questions and panicked cries. "I swear to god if this has anything to do with his breaks..."

Mad Dog just nodded, making no move to defend himself or protest his innocence. His face was a picture of panic, seemingly entertaining the possibility that it had been his fault Hinata had been missing in the first place. If it had been his fault the kid had been hurt...Mad Dog didn't even want to go there. Instead, he just clamped his mouth shut and nodded along with Yahaba. He would take every bit of his team's wrath without protest if he'd, even indirectly, been the cause of the little sunshine's trip to the hospital.

xxx

The situation at Fukurodani Academy was interesting, to say the least.

Practice had been postponed. Not officially, of course, but seeing Bokuto attempting to calm down a seething Akaashi of all people was weird enough for the rest of the members to call it a day and find out what the fuck was going on.

Akaashi, the usual picture of rational and peacefulness, looked like he wanted to punch something. His passive features were bunched together in a way none of them had ever seen, forget having experienced first hand. To make matters weirder (and worse), a string of breathy, unintelligible sounds that none of them could adequately understand (but were obviously curses) could be heard the closer they got to the second-year.

On the flip side, it was clear Bokuto was panicking. Whether it was because of an angry Akaashi or some other reason the team didn't know, but if his pinched face and frantic hand movements were any indication, something was definitely wrong.

The majority of Fukurodani huddled together a few feet from the duo, partially because they didn't want to intrude on whatever clearly private conversation they were having, but mostly because Akaashi was fucking scary when he was mad. Still, thanks to Bokuto's crazy loud voice, the team could hear a scattered mix of "Hinata" and "It's okay" and "They didn't mean anything by it."

If Fukurodani didn't have any context regarding the situation, (which they didn't, but that was beside the point), they would've deduced that Akaashi's current state was because Hinata had said something insensitive or mean to their teammate, thus setting him off down a spiraling pit of rage. However, though the gold and black team hadn't had the pleasure of actually meeting Karasuno's number ten one on one yet, it was painfully evident that Akaashi adored the ginger. If the way he'd smiled oh so lovingly at the first-year when his team had walked into training camp was any indication, then the way Akaashi had absolutely melted in Hinata's bear hug certainly was.

Though no one on Furkuodani had really talked to Hinata besides Bokuto and Akaashi, it was hard to believe the orangette with the sweet babyface would ever say anything even remotely hurtful to anyone. He just seemed so nice. Plus, they doubted someone with a mean personality could wrap practically the entire league around his tiny little finger without even trying.

No one was going to ask about or meddle in a situation where they would be of no help, so when Bokuto's phone dinged from beside him on the bleachers, Fukurodani just watched with varying degrees of concern and confusion as both players dived for it instantly, fumbling with the home button in their haste to unlock it and read whatever message they'd received.

It was almost comical how quickly Akaashi's fury shifted into unease, or the way Bokuto's jaw went slack and the panic in his eyes increased tenfold. Whatever message they had received, it had been serious. Still, they hadn't expected to it be so severe that their captain would just up and run out the door only mere seconds after having finished reading whatever paragraph they'd received.

The team stumbled back as Bokuto shot forward, not even bothering to grab his duffle before full-on sprinting out the gym doors with speed they never knew he possessed.

"Sorry." Akaashi stood up before anyone could so much as utter so much as one of the myriads of questions that were undoubtedly on the tip of everyone's tongue. "Continue practice without us. Tell the teachers we're absent."

His voice sounded oddly choked, but before anyone could think to comment or question on it, the setter breezed right past them and through the now swinging gym doors.

xxx

Daichi was smack in the middle of his call with Shiratorizawa when it was interrupted by one from Suga.

He didn't even have to think twice about hanging up on the legendary Ushijima in the middle of his sentence in favor of his teammate.

"Did you find him?" Daichi couldn't even find it in himself to be embarrassed for how strangled his voice sounded, and he was almost a-hundred-percent sure Suga didn't either, given their current situation. Daichi knew as well as anyone that Suga calling could mean one of two things: either they'd found Hinata or they hadn't. Both prospects were terrifying in their own way, regardless of how one might think not. Of course, if Suga was calling to report that Hinata hadn't been found, Daichi was reasonably sure his heart might stop. That was undoubtedly the worst-case scenario, as well as one he didn't wish to experience anytime soon, even though he knew full well that fate didn't give a damn about what he did and didn't want to happen.

On the other hand, Hinata had to have been late for a reason. If Suga was calling to say he had been found (and Daichi prayed to whatever god was listening that he was), it was a question of the state his friend had found him in. The possibilities were practically endless. They ranged somewhere from being late because Hinata had simply slept in, to being late because Hinata had been kidnapped while riding to school.

Deciding he didn't want to dwell on it any longer in case he gave himself a freaking heart attack, Daichi's answered the phone.

"We found him."

Daichi tensed immediately as Suga's voice filtered through the speakers. He could hear Kageyama talking to someone in the background, presumably Kenma, since he seemed a little more annoyed than usual, but that wasn't what set off the alarm bells ringing in his head.

One might think that Daichi would be ecstatic at his friend's declaration, and he was, don't get him wrong, but Suga just sounded...off. His voice sounded strangled and distracted. Thick, even. His attention was clearly elsewhere, and while that should've been understandable given the man's deadly protective streak against Hinata, his speech sounded way too fast and hurried for that just to be the case.

In other words, something was wrong.

"That's amazing!" It was. Truly. But Suga sounded way too tense for him to celebrate like he wanted to. "Is he alright?" God, please let the answer be yes please, please-

"No." Suga's bluntness made Daichi's breath hitch. "We're taking him to the hospital right now. His leg is torn open, and he's bleeding profusely from the head. Text everyone to meet us there."

Daichi felt his heart stop. This was bad. This was really bad. If Suga hadn't even bothered to beat around the bush or sugarcoat things even a tiny bit, something was seriously wrong. Or, a much more horrifying possibility could be that Suga was sugarcoating Hinata's injuries, and his underclassman was actually much worse off than what Suga had said.

Daichi needed to see Hinata now.

His thumbs moved faster than they ever had before as Daichi quickly tapped out a short paragraph regarding the situation so far and the information Suga had just relayed to him, which proved to be harder than expected since his hands were practically shaking. He first sent the message to the Karasuno Volleyball group chat, one that Tsukishima had removed himself from some number of weeks ago but would see regardless since they were in pairs, which was a huge relief.

He hesitated for only a moment before copying and pasting the message into the captain's group chat as well, deeming it the most effective way to get information to all the teams without wasting time he could be using to get to Hinata. At this point, he didn't care whether the admittedly disturbing message freaked out either Ushijima or Terushima, given Suga's call interrupted his explanation to Ushiwaka and he hadn't even gotten around to call Johzenji yet, but knowing their ridiculous fondness of Hinata (not that he could blame them), they would find out sooner or later and come rushing to the hospital with the rest of them.

Withholding information about Hinata's current state from Date Tech probably wasn't the best idea in the world, since if the team ever found out about the incident they'd be absolutely livid, but for the sake of Date Tech's own peace of mind (not to mention six highschool volleyball teams alone was probably already straining the capacity of the waiting room, nevermind a seventh) and mental health. After all, at least one team in their league should be able to get in a full practice today, right?

Quick as can be, Daichi sent the message off and went running out of the gym, frantically calling for an uber as the doors swung closed behind him.

xxx

Tanaka didn't even have to read the whole message to whip around and punch the nearest wall. He'd clicked on the group chat with the intention of reading the paragraph all the way through, something he wouldn't usually do but thought was necessary at the time to get a full grasp on the situation. It turned out not to be the case, however, because two measly words told him everything he needed to know. They were playing over and over again in his mind, repeating themselves like a mantra.

Hinata and hospital.

He was going to fucking kill Mad Dog.

Tanaka didn't say anything as Tsukishima plucked his discarded phone from the ground, merely continuing to hit the wall with a little less vigor as a way to keep his rising panic at bay.

Tsukishima read through the message quickly, eyes widening and breath hitching ever so slightly as he came to the end. His teasing of Hinata may be borderline insulating most of the time, but the last thing he wanted was for the little ginger ever to get hurt in a way that resulted in something as serious as a hospital trip.

Tsukishima silently pulled Tanaka away from the way, that of which now had several chips in the bricks thanks to the spiker's admittedly durable fists, which luckily weren't bleeding besides a small cut at the base of one of his fingernails.

Though neither male said a word, their erratic heartbeats more than spoke for themselves.

xxx

When Yamaguchi and Asahi read the message, the pinch server could barely keep the unshed tears he'd been holding in for the last five minutes from overflowing right then and there. The whole situation was just awful, and for it to happen to Hinata of all people...his friend deserved cookies and rainbows, not nearly something as horrible as bleeding out on the side of the road with no way to call for help.

To imagine Hinata Shouyou of all people in that situation...his curls matted to his forehead and soaked in blood, clutching a bleeding leg with his bike and phone in tatters all around him...it didn't seem right. Hell, it wasn't right, but apparently whatever god was watching over them just loved to see the kid with smiles made of gold suffer because that was apparently just so. Much. Fucking. Fun.

Yamaguchi was grateful Asahi seemed to be holding up better than he was because, without his upperclassman's help, the pinch server doubted he would've been able to pull himself together long enough to gather his senses and get to the hospital in time.

Now, to say Asahi was taking the news better than Yamaguchi wasn't really a big achievement. The man was painfully soft-hearted, a fact apparent to all of his teammates, but he especially adored Hinata in a way he didn't the rest of the first-years. Maybe it was because Hinata was essentially the baby of the team even though he was only the fourth-youngest, or perhaps because the way he always looked up at the spiker with a smile gracing his lips and eyes that looked at him like he hung the stars in the sky just made him so damn soft he couldn't help but love the little ginger.

Though no tears had spilled from Asahi's eyes just yet, his stomach was twisting in uncomfortable ways he'd never experienced before. Whether it was from nervousness or fear, he didn't care. All he knew was that they needed to get to the hospital ASAP, and if that meant being the sane one of his current duo, then so be it.

xxx

Unsurprisingly, Ennoshita kept a level head after reading the message. That was good since Nishinoya lost. His. Shit.

"IT'S MAD DOG'S FAULT, I SWEAR TO FUCKING GOD!" Nishinoya's fists were clenching and unclenching as if debating whether he wanted to sock someone in the face or demonstrate an ounce of self-control for once. "If Shouyou's injuries are because he tried to use his breaks and they didn't work I SWEAR TO GOD-"

"Calm down." Ennoshita put a tentative hand on Nishinoya's arm. There was a fifty percent chance the libero might try to bite him off, but apparently, the odds were in Ennoshita's favor today. "Screaming isn't helping anyone."

In truth, Ennoshita knew exactly where Nishinoya was coming from. Just because he had a level head didn't mean he didn't care any less than the rest of the team about the ginger, god no. That little kitten sneeze he'd heard from Hinata all those months ago still remained the most adorable thing he'd ever seen to date. Hinata was like a mix between an overexcited puppy who'd just been told he was getting treats and a fluffy kitten on the daily, and Ennoshita, along with literally anyone who came in touch with him, adored the ginger to no end.

Clearly, Nishinoya felt that same way given the fact that he was literally contemplating homicide over his precious underclassman getting hurt (with virtually no evidence, Ennoshita might add), and was projecting his panic into anger, thus blaming Mad Dog for this whole ordeal.

"Nishinoya." Ennoshita's voice was stern, but it wasn't enough to stop his yelling completely. "Standing here screaming isn't going to help Hinata at all." Ah, yep. There it was—Nishinoya's weak spot. Almost immediately, the libero's yelling ceased as he turned to his friend with wide eyes swirling with worry and barely restrained panic. Ennoshits pursed his lips. "Right now, we need to get to the hospital to make sure he's alright."

Nishinoya hesitated for a split second before nodding. "Fine. But if it is Mad Dog's fault that Shouyou's hurt, nothing you say is gonna stop me from throwing a punch."

Ennoshita snorted at his teammate's seriousness. "Believe me, if that were the case, I would downright encourage you to do so."

xxx

Narita and Kinoshita were both pretty levelheaded individuals, which was a near lifesaver in situations like the one they were living through right now.

They didn't get the chance to talk to Hinata as much as the others did during practice, and even when it was over, they never really got a clear chance since whenever they saw Hinata in the halls, he was always swarmed with people, but they were friends. Good friends, actually, since the entirety of the volleyball team was relatively close.

Still, despite their remarkable ability to keep their emotions in check at the most stressful of times, both let out audible gasps as they reached the end of Daichi's message.

"Bleeding from the head?" Kinoshita whispered, breaking the suffocating silence that surrounded the two. "I-seriously?"

Either Narita ignored him or didn't hear. "He's going to the freaking hospital, man." He breathed, unable to tear his eyes away from his phone. "He...his...thank god Suga and Kageyama found him."

Kinoshita nodded silently. He could already feel his stomach begin to bubble in panic. "We're taking the next bus downtown straight to the hospital."

Narita forced a smile, though it didn't reach his eyes. "Agreed."

xxx

The nurse peeked around the door to the waiting room, suppressing a small smile as she did so. There sure were a lot of visitors today, much more than usual. It wasn't exactly surprising since the hospital had a good number of patients who had been administrated last week, and the visitors were probably there to visit their respective relatives or friends, though it was a little particular how many of them showed up at the same time, as well as their appearance.

From the looks of it, most of the people in the waiting room looked to be around high school age, though there were a few somewhat intimidating guys that seemed to be in their twenties and one middle school student with a blond dyed strip of hair. They were all wearing some form of shorts and t-shirts as well, which was rather particular attire for a hospital. It almost looked like they'd just left some kind of sports practice or something.

She shrugged her shoulders. Oh well, no use dwelling on it now. She had a patient to report.

She stepped into the room, resisting the urge to blush as a particularly handsome blond with an undercut and piercings who looked to be about twenty-two looked her way. She regained her composure quickly, though. She was a professional, after all.

"If any of you present are here to visit a..." She subtly checked her clipboard. "...Hinata Shouyou, would you please come into the hallway with me?"

She'd expected one, maybe two people to stand up, possibly five at the most. What she hadn't expected was more the entire damn waiting room to get out of their seats and start walking toward her.

Her eyes widened. This couldn't be right. The waiting room was near full capacity! There was no way more than sixty people were here for one patient, a fifteen-year-old boy, (even though he was admittedly adorable and sweet with his manners), who wasn't even that severely injured no less. Sure, maybe this number of people visiting a single patient would be understandable if the patient in question was sick and dying or something. Still, even then, the max amount of people to visit a patient at one time had been around seventeen! Sixty more than doubled that record!

She cleared her throat expectantly. They must have misheard. "I don't know if some of you misheard, but I'm taking the visitors for Hinata Shouyou to his room." She paused. No one was sitting down. "I repeat, Hinata Shouyou."

"We know what you said, ma'am." The nurse met the eyes of a small blond with black roots, who was currently fidgeting nervously with the hem of his shirt. He looked almost nervous. "We're all here for Shouyou."

"I-" The nurse didn't know what to say. "Every single one of you?"

"Yes." A brunette with a high voice and fluffy hair stepped forward, flashing her a peace sign and a grin. He looked kind of familiar. Had she seen him on tv somewhere? In a magazine or something...? "He's a very good friend of ours, so if you wouldn't mind, could you take us to his room please?"

"Uh..." Oh great, now she was fumbling with her words. How much more awkward could she be? "I'm so sorry, let me just get this straight. All of you?" She still couldn't quite wrap her head around it. "He's good friends with all of you?"

A tall blond with glasses rolled his eyes. From what the nurse could tell, he looked to be about 190 cm. That itself was impressive for a high schooler, though he didn't exactly look like the sporty type. What a shame. That high could've been put to good use for basketball or volleyball or something. "We're very fond of him, we love him, he's our baby blah blah blah all that jazz, can we just see him?" A man with grey hair elbowed him. The tall blond glared before he forced a smile through gritted teeth. "Please."

The nurse blinked. Wow, someone was taking no shit today. "Uh, yes. My apologies. He is in room two thirty-eight on the left. Second floor." She paused for a moment to regain her composure. "Though I must say, I don't think his room is big enough to fit all of you."

"We'll make it work." The kid with the dyed blond strip replied, already heading for the double doors leading into the hallway. "Thank you for your time."

"Uh, your welcome." The nurse watched dumbly as the waiting room slowly cleared out, still trying and failing to wrap her head around what had just happened.

The little ginger she had so briefly treated was very much loved, she'll give him that.

xxx

Hinata had been more than a little surprised when his own and five other volleyball teams came running through the door to his hospital room at full speed. He'd honestly expected Suga and Kageyama to be the only ones with him, maybe Daichi, since he was the captain, but never their entire freaking league.

He hadn't even had time to get over his shock before six separate people started fussing over him and his injuries. In contrast, the others either made themselves comfortable in the limited space they had or stared in mute horror at his bandaged leg and the blood-soaked gauze wrapped around his head. He wasn't a pretty sight and he knew it, but that didn't stop at least half of his friends from initiating skin to skin contact with him in some way, a habit Hinata had noticed they'd started doing after his little fainting incident at training camp.

It was endearing and it made Hinata beyond giddy, but he couldn't even fathom why five of the biggest powerhouse schools in all of Japan abandoned their respective practices to see him. Before he could ask this, however, as well as get Akaashi, Suga, Semi, Iwaizumi, Inuoka, and Bobata to stop freaking mothering him (though he loved the affection and attention), Daichi spoke up.

"You sure know how to give us a scare, kid." Though his tone was light and teasing, Hinata could see the unidentifiable emotions swimming in his eyes. "We were pretty worried about you. We all pretty much straight up abandoned volleyball practices just to make sure you're okay."

Hinata furrowed his brow as murmurs of agreement floated around the room. It was a tight fit, but they'd somehow gotten everyone squeezed into the little dorm, standing shoulder to shoulder. Still, Hinata couldn't help but think that there shouldn't be this many people. He wasn't that important...was he?

"Uh, about that." Hinata raised a quizzical eyebrow at his surrounding friends. "Not that I'm not grateful, because I seriously am and you all are amazing, but...why are you all here?" He winced at his words. Wow. That had come out way harsher than intended. "I don't mean that in a bad way, I swear! All of you being here makes my heart go GWAH, but like...how did you know? And why leave your volleyball practices? That seems kinda impractical, y'know?"

Ushijima just blinked. His expression hadn't changed from the moment he'd walked in the room, keeping it passive as always, but his shoulders had clearly been relieved of some tension. "We were worried about you." He said simply, not bothering to elaborate even though Hinata's raised eyebrow encouraged him to do so. "That's all."

Kageyama grunted from his spot in a chair. "When you didn't arrive fifteen minutes after practice started and you weren't answering your phone, we got kinda paranoid and decided to call all the teams to see if they knew where you were." The setter threw a begrudgingly grateful glance Akaashi's way. "It was Akaashi who suggested we actually start looking for you instead of sitting around a phone calling everyone like a bunch of dumbasses. So Daichi stayed behind and continued letting everyone know while the rest of us went out looking."

"And that's when you and Suga found me." Hinata finished, grinning thankfully at the two before turning to the rest. "That's really sweet and all for you to come here, but I don't want to be a burden to you guys or anything-"

Hinata honestly didn't mean it in a self-deprecating way; he just felt terrible that he was interfering with something as crucial as volleyball, though he could easily see how someone could take it the wrong way.

And, of course, like the mother hens they were, pretty much everyone did.

"You're not a burden," Terushima said quickly, concern lacing his voice. "We all came here because we wanted to."

"Okay." Hinata nodded slowly, immediately dropped the subject after seeing the number of concerned glances thrown his way, a slow smile creeping onto his face that soon turned into a full-on grin, melting everyone into absolute putty in front of him. "That means a lot!"

"Of course. We adore you." Matsukawa flashed a hurried thumbs up, clearly having something to ask. Beside him, Mad Dog was silent and shifting from one foot to the next. However, Hinata didn't have time to look further into it before the Aobajohsai player spoke again. "Can you tell us what happened? Like how you got..." He waved his hand over Hinata's body. "...this?"

"Oh!" Hinata grimaced at the memory. He honestly couldn't believe it'd only been less than an hour ago; everything had hurt so bad. "Yeah. Uh, I was kinda running a little late for practice anyways since my sister took my alarm clock-" He shot Daichi an apologetic look. "-but I was riding on the side of that road like three minutes away from school, you know? I was in the bike lane, and this stupid driver wasn't looking where he was going and almost swerved right into me. I got out of the way like a millisecond before he hit me, but I ran headfirst into a brick building."

"You could've gotten run over...?" Kenma's voice was quiet, far more than usual. "Really?"

Hinata nodded enthusiastically. "Now that I look back on it, I got really lucky I turned when I did. Plus, Mad Dog helped fix my breaks over the weekend. He's probably the only reason my head didn't split completely open." There was an audible exhale from at least four people in the room, one of which being Mad Dog himself. Hinata didn't pay it any mind. "By the way, thanks for that!" He flashed the Aobajohsai spiker another grin, to which the player nearly collapsed on the spot.

Things were pretty mellow after that. The teams all told Hinata a lot of things. How happy they were that he was safe, how loved he was, how impressed they were with his killer reflexes, and in general just making small talk while looking at the ginger with fond eyes and gentle smiles.

Hinata, in turn, soaked up the affection and praise like a sponge. He absolutely craved that kind of stuff, and even though he knew he was loved immensely by all his friends on all teams, they didn't verbalize it or put it into actions very often. He was a touchy-feely person, so what? Sue him, but gentle touches and words made him melt, similar to the effect Hinata (unknowingly) had on everyone in his day to day life.

The room became stuffy with so many people in it after about an hour, and the same nurse from before came around to shoo the boys away and to let Hinata rest. She had a slightly flabbergasted look on her face, much to Hinata's amusement even though he couldn't fathom what it would be about, and it was almost comical to see over sixty well-built highschoolers trail out of his tiny room. It had the same effect as a clown car.

"Yo. Dumbass."

Hinata looked up to see Kageyama standing in the doorway, clearly having snuck back into the room after the nurse had forced him up from his chair and made him march out of the room with the others. "Yeah?"

Kageyama regarded Hinata with a thoughtful look. It was almost like he was inspecting him. "Is your head better?" He asked finally, making Hinata raise an eyebrow. He wasn't sure whether he liked the look in his setter's eyes or not. After all, it was a fairly odd question.

"Uh, yeah." He answered. "It should be all good. The cut was too small to warrant stitches or anything, and they stopped the bleeding when I got here, so HEY OW OW OW OW OW WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"

Hinata hadn't so much as finished his sentences before Kageyama bounded across the room with those stupidly long legs of his and squeezed his head, even going as far as to muss up his sweaty orange curls a bit before being swatted and clawed away by Hinata's hand.

"There." Kageyama stepped back, and even though Hinata's mocking glare said otherwise, he was more than a little surprised to find Kageyama's face the perfect picture of satisfaction. "Glad you're okay, you freaking dumbass. You pull shit like this again, I'll murder you."

"Wha- THIS WHOLE SITUATION WASN'T EVEN MY FAULT! I ALMOST GOT RUN OVER FOR CHRIST'S SAKE."

"Which wouldn't have happened if you'd gotten up at your normal time."

"I AM YOUR BEST. FRIEND. YOU WOULD HAVE LITERALLY NO ONE ELSE TO TALK TO IF I DIED."

"Hm. Debatable."

"...I hate you."

Even without looking at him, Kageyama could tell Hinata was pulling a pout. Still, he couldn't help but snort at his spiker's words.

"I know."