Chapter 9: One Reassurance

Kageyama's eyes began to grow heavy as he stared at the homework strewn across his lap. He glanced over at Hinata, asleep in the bed before him as he had been each day Kageyama had come to visit since his talk with Ukai the week before. That day, Kageyama had raced to the hospital and plopped down in his usual seat before proceeding to recount his entire conversation with Ukai, despite the fact that Hinata hadn't even batted an eyelash. And as the days passed, he had strived to do his best at practices and get back into the swing of things.

So now, exhaustion from today's practice overwhelming him, Kageyama closed the book in his lap and tossed it onto the chair next to him. He could do his homework later, or even get up early to finish it in the morning if he had to. He scooted his chair forward and propped his elbows on the side of the bed, cupping his chin in his hands, and simply watched Hinata slowly breathe in and out.

In the weeks that had passed since the accident, the bruising on Hinata's face from the game against Inarizaki had almost entirely disappeared, leaving him seemingly healthy in all ways but the most important. His breathing was still slow and labored, still assisted by the oxygen mask that Kageyama was beginning to detest the sight of.

Another thing that Kageyama had originally found annoying during his first few visits to the hospital was the heart monitor machine that loomed above his head. The constant, repetitive rhythm of the beeping had been an immense and terrible distraction whenever he had attempted to do his homework, or even as he had talked to the sleeping Hinata. But as time dragged on, Kageyama began to grow accustomed to the sound of the machine, even appreciative of it, as it was his one reassurance that Hinata was still fighting, still holding on. Now, as Kageyama took in the silence of the room, the beeping of the monitor its only reprieve, he was comforted by that very sound. He quickly surrendered to the heaviness weighing on his eyelids and lowered his head to the bed, resting just inches away from where Hinata's hand lay.

Kageyama's sleep was dreamless, or at least he couldn't recall any of those dreams as a peculiar noise ripped him away from his own mind. The rhythmic calmness that had settled in the room with the presence of the heart monitor had been replaced by a jittery, rapid tune that varied in speed and caused Kageyama to shoot up to his feet.

"Hinata!" Kageyama shouted as he grabbed the boy by his shoulders and gently jostled him. Hinata's heart rate was fluctuating rapidly, dropping before elevating and then staying at an elevated rate, and the beeping was incessant. Kageyama, panicking, looked back and forth between the heart monitor and the boy before him, still clutching his shoulders but completely frozen in place.

"Kageyama, move out of the way!" a voice behind him screeched, bringing Kageyama back to his senses. The nurse who had taken care of Hinata, and who had actually spent a lot of time with Kageyama over the weeks as a result, barged into the room with a surprising sense of panic spreading across her face. Just as she reached the bed, however, the intense beeping of the heart monitor began to slow again. Within a minute, Hinata's heart rate had returned to a stable level.

Kageyama collapsed back into the chair beside the bed and stared at the nurse, standing on the other side of the bed. "Will he be okay?" he croaked weakly.

The nurse just stared at Hinata for a moment, then came around the bed and fiddled with the machine before drawing back to the foot of the bed. "He seems alright now, but I'm just going to stay in here for a little while and observe him. Just pretend like I'm not even here, okay?"

Kageyama nodded, then watched as the nurse took a seat at the small table across the room, near where Hinata's school bag had been sitting on a chair for weeks. After she had flipped open a stack of papers and begun scribbling some notes, Kageyama leaned forward and rested his chin on the bed directly beside Hinata's head, letting his arms rest across his knees.

"Oi, dumbass," he whispered into the boy's ear. "Don't scare me like that again, okay? I've been working really hard to be better, so you need to do that, too. You can't give up yet. You've got so many things left to accomplish. Right, Hinata?"

He watched Hinata's breath coming in and out slower and slower, clouding up the mask across his face, as his heart rate continued to settle down. He watched as each eyelash vibrated slightly with the rising and falling of his chest, as locks of hair settled across his damp forehead. As the nurse gathered up her things and left, Kageyama lifted a hand and gently looped one finger around a curl that had crept over Hinata's ear. He tucked it carefully behind the boy's ear before leaning closer.

"Oi, Hinata," Kageyama whispered again, taking on a sarcastic whining tone in the unorganized logic of his post-practice fatigue. "Hinataaaa… Hinataaaaa… Shoooouuuuyooooooo…"

Kageyama jumped back at the soft touch of fingers against his shoulder. Hinata's hand froze in the air where Kageyama's shoulder had been, then quickly dropped to the bed. Kageyama watched, heat and confusion bubbling up in his chest, as Hinata's arm moved painfully slowly up towards his head, his fingers grasping at the air around him. Hinata was panting now, his eyes scrunched up hard, his head beginning to tremble as it moved closer to his hand, closer to the edge of the bed, closer to where Kageyama's voice had been. Kageyama stood and leaned over the bed, placing one hand on the top of the boy's head, the other just within reach of Hinata's wandering fingers.

As soon as the tips of Hinata's icy fingers met Kageyama's skin, his eyes opened wide and he shot up, the heart monitor starting up another round of fast-paced beeping. Kageyama fell backward onto the edge of the bed as he made room for Hinata, who gasped loudly as his body moved. He clawed at his stomach and began to wheeze as his eyes darted rapidly around the room, tears starting to well up and then stream down his cheeks. The look in Hinata's eyes was dazed and glossy, like he wasn't really awake despite them being open, yet he lifted a shaky arm and tore the oxygen mask away from his face as he continued to whip his head around violently.

"Hey, it's okay!" Kageyama yelled as he scrambled forward, pinning down Hinata's good leg with his weight before sitting down on the bed and holding him to himself, trapping Hinata's arms and pressing the boy's face underneath his chin. Kageyama kept Hinata there with one hand on the back of his head, rubbing carefully at his back as Hinata's rapid breathing sent tremors through his body. His hand passed over Hinata's lower back, where the sensation of a thick layer of bandages through his shirt caused panic to radiate throughout Kageyama's body. With all of the extreme movement Hinata had just taken on, the possibility that his wounds had or would open up was extremely high.

Hinata was murmuring something almost inaudible between his gasping breaths, but Kageyama could make out small bits: "where," "car," "stomach… pain," "sorry." He lowered his face so that it was pressed near to Hinata's ear, then continued to rub his back in slow circles.

"Hinata, it's me. It's Kageyama. You're not in the car crash anymore. We found you, me and the team. You're okay, you're safe now. You're in the hospital."

"Kage...yama?" Hinata struggled between breaths, louder than he had spoken before. The way he said it sent a stab of pain through Kageyama's chest. It was just like how he had woken up in the nurse's office after the Inarizaki game, but this time Kageyama had been waiting weeks to hear this boy's voice again.

"Yes, yes, it's me," he said again, pressing his face gently against the side of Hinata's head.

"I'm fine, Kageyama… no need to... hold onto me so… tightly," Hinata began, but as soon as the last word was out of his mouth, Kageyama felt the full weight of Hinata's body press into him as he surrendered to core-shaking sobs. As he fought to control them, and to breathe, he clawed at the collar of Kageyama's shirt. "Please… save the… man who was… driving."

"He's perfectly fine, Hinata," Kageyama said into his ear as a scowl crept onto his face again. Hinata was clearly still very disoriented and couldn't figure out where he was, yet he was worried about the man who had hit him above himself. The man who had treated the whole experience as only an inconvenience. He glanced down at Hinata's back, heaving with the effort of his breath, and then glanced at the door. Why hasn't anybody come yet? The heart monitor is going crazy, he needs help! He took his hand off of Hinata's back briefly to search the bed for the oxygen mask, but it had fallen onto the floor and Kageyama couldn't get up to grab it without risking opening Hinata's stomach wound. "Okay, Hinata… Shoyo… breathe with me, in… out… good."

As Hinata's breathing started to even out, Kageyama turned the boy's head so that the side of his face rested against Kageyama's shoulder, his nose and mouth open to breathe in the cold air of the room. "You were hit by that guy," Kageyama continued, "and you got pretty beat up. You were in a coma for a few weeks, but you're at a hospital. They took good care of you, and you were strong. You woke up."

"It was weird," Hinata said suddenly, the speaking coming a bit easier to him. "I just saw darkness, but I kept hearing your voice, just talking about random things… Sometimes you were close… sometimes far away… I tried so hard to move, to look for you… but I couldn't... The last time I just heard you calling my name… You were really annoying, right in… my ear… like a fly." Hinata tried to laugh, then broke into a fit of coughing. "I tried to move," he repeated again as a shiver ran through his body, "to run and find you, but I couldn't in all the darkness. You'll think... I'm like some... little kid for saying this, but I was really scared… Even now, it's still kinda dark. Your voice is here though, so I shouldn't be… afraid." Hinata coughed again, and Kageyama's body stiffened as small droplets of blood flecked across his upper arm.

"Help!" Kageyama screamed at the open door, then turned back to see that Hinata's eyes were drooping, open but less full of life.

He slid his arm down Hinata's back to the thick band of bandages, the coolness he felt there signaling that the wound had not yet been opened. He quickly shimmied his fingers between Hinata's chest and his own, then worked down across Hinata's shirt until he felt the familiar layer of bandages covering his stomach. It was warmer than his back, but not enough to tell if blood was seeping out.

"Hinata," Kageyama squished his eyes closed and whispered into his ear again, his voice splintered with hints of desperation. "You said you could hear me. I was talking about random stuff? Well, I made you a promise that I would get better and show you. Do you remember me telling you that? But I can't keep that promise if you don't stay awake right now. Please, please stay awake, so you can keep inspiring me and the guys to be our best, just like you always strive to do. Please… stay…"

Kageyama dared to open his eyes again just in time to see Hinata's head slipping off of his shoulder. He caught the barely-conscious boy as he fell sideways, towards the edge of the bed, and propped his head back up just as the same nurse came running into the room.

"Where have you been?!" Kageyama tried to control his tone, but the words came out in a choked scream. His face was sopping wet with tears, but the nurse pretended not to notice as she sprinted to the bed, others pouring into the room behind her.

"I'm so sorry!" she huffed, wiping at her brow as tears began to line her own eyes. She had developed a fondness for the two boys in the time Hinata had been in her care, and letting them down was not something she had intended on doing. "There was another person crashing down the hall, all hands were needed, I couldn't get away!" she exclaimed as she and the others gently pulled Hinata out of Kageyama's arms and placed him down on the bed carefully.

As the oxygen mask was placed back on his face, new drugs pumped into his IV, and his shirt opened to survey the state of his wounds, Kageyama found himself being pulled off the bed from behind by another nurse.

"You need to leave now," he said sternly. "We need to stabilize him."

"I understand, I know," Kageyama was gasping, wiping the hot tears from his face as he wrestled out of the nurse's grasp. He climbed down to the side of the bed and scooped up his abandoned textbook, doing his best not to look in Hinata's direction as he moved. The man moved to the side to let Kageyama move past, but a tight tug on his wrist stopped Kageyama in his tracks. Hinata's fingers were gripped so tightly around his arm that they were turning white, making dark imprints in Kageyama's skin.

"Don't leave!" Hinata gasped, his eyes half-open. "Don't leave me alone again. It was terrifying, but you found me… You stayed with me… Don't make me feel so helpless again."

Staring into the paradox of Hinata's lifeless eyes and his deadly strong grip, something dawned on Kageyama. Hinata was probably lying awake at the foot of that hill for a long time, pinned under the car with no way to move. He must have felt so scared, so alone. He must have heard all my text messages come through, but his phone was out of reach, he couldn't do anything. And he surrendered to unconsciousness while believing that he was entirely alone, that no one would ever come for him, that he would die. He was just waiting to die. And that fear lingers with him now. That experience, that feeling is replaying inside him. It scarred him.

As Hinata's consciousness faded, from the pain or the drugs they had just injected into his bloodstream Kageyama couldn't tell, his grip on Kageyama's wrist loosened and his hand dropped to hang limply over the side of the bed. The nurse behind Kageyama planted a firm grip on his shoulder, but Kageyama reached down and grasped Hinata's fingers within his own.

"I know you can still hear me," he said, "I'm here. You're not alone. Just call for me when you wake up, I'll be right here."

Then he carefully placed Hinata's hand down on the bed and let himself be dragged away by the nurse. As soon as he was in the hallway, he plopped down in a chair and refused to move. The nurse just shook his head, mumbling something like, "damn, stubborn high schoolers," before rushing into the room again.

Kageyama had kept his eyes trained on the door of the hospital room for the next several hours, watching as nurses and doctors slipped in and out. Each one shot him a watchful, wary glance before moving on. He had also kept a steady stream of texts going with the team and with Hinata's mother, who was frantic with worry as she had been kept late at the office and was stuck in the middle of a terrible traffic jam. The team, on the other hand, had been overjoyed to hear that Hinata had woken up, even if just for a few minutes, and each offered Kageyama reassurance that it was only the beginning of the good news. Kageyama hadn't been so sure himself, as Hinata had struggled so much, but his worry was put to rest when a doctor ushered several other staff members out of the room before approaching him.

"You're still here, kid? It's pretty late," she said as she glanced at her watch. Even though Kageyama had been on his phone constantly since being ushered out earlier, he had no concept of what time it was or how much time had passed. He just knew that it had felt like agony.

"Yes ma'am," he replied quietly as he slipped his phone into his pocket.

"Shoyo's mother isn't here yet?" Kageyama shook his head, and the doctor frowned slightly. "Well, I guess since I know you're keeping her informed of everything, I can't say no to letting you back in there."

"You mean he's alright?"

"He's still asleep, but that's only because we doped him up with some painkillers and sedatives. He'll be coming around shortly, I expect. A few of his stitches ripped, so we had to clean him up and restitch them, but no further damage than that."

"What about the blood he coughed up?"

"Relax, sweetheart, really. We have everything under control. Your friend just moved a little too quickly for his own good, but if he does as he's told from now on he'll recover just fine. Try to keep him from flipping out the next time he wakes up, we don't need this happening again. Oh, and clean your shoulder up, hun."

Kageyama stood and nodded as the doctor briefly patted him with a small towel, then bowed as she smiled and sped off to deal with another patient. He slowly crept towards the door of Hinata's room, then realized it would be best to let Hinata's mother and his friends know the news. He leaned against the wall and dashed off a few quick texts, then drew a long breath and opened the door.

Kageyama dashed across the room and took his all-too-familiar seat at Hinata's side again, then let his arms drop to his lap. For a long moment, he took in Hinata's face, which he could properly see for the first time in a long time. The oxygen mask was gone, a sure sign that Hinata was doing better despite the anxiety gripping Kageyama's chest. His pale cheeks had a bit of a glow to them again. His mouth was closed, no longer struggling to push out every breath. His hands rested, folded one atop the other, across his stomach. He looked truly at peace for the first time since everything had happened. And Kageyama leaned forward, pressing his hands into his eyes, and cried. He wailed. He sobbed and pounded at his own chest, letting every angry thought that he had buried towards both the driver in the accident and Miya Atsumu burst forth in one go. It felt incredible-a massive weight lifting off his shoulders. And as he came up for air and wiped his eyes, noticing with fondness the bruising that had blossomed on his wrist, he caught sight of Hinata's hand dangling now off the edge of the bed again.

"Kageyama," he said clearly, opening his eyes slowly after the name had left his mouth. "Don't cry. You didn't leave me, you kept your promise. I won't leave you."

"Shut up, idiot," Kageyama sniffled and pressed his hands across his eyes again. "I'm not crying. You're crying."

And as he looked up again, Hinata was crying. But he was smiling, too.

The sight of Hinata's smile had been almost too much for Kageyama to bear, so when Hinata's mother and sister showed up minutes later, he had given the boy's hand a quick squeeze before racing out of the room and beginning his trek home. He had claimed that Hinata should have time alone with his family, but in reality, he didn't want to get so emotional in front of the boy.

A full two days later, a Sunday, Kageyama again entered the familiar waiting room of the hospital where Hinata was staying, finally able to come to terms with his emotions and put on some semblance of composure. He had struggled to sleep well in the nights since last seeing Hinata, but the rare moments when he received messages from Hinata were enough comfort to send him off to sleep for an hour or two. Kageyama yawned as he proceeded down the hall, balancing a coffee for Hinata's mother as he went. It was still early in the morning, and with Kageyama not having any school today, he had been ambitious to spend as much time as possible at the hospital.

He knocked lightly at the door to Hinata's room before peering around the frame. Hinata was lying in bed, his head propped up with some extra pillows, as he chatted quietly with his mother. She had both hands clamped over his IV-fitted one, rubbing at his fingers. Kageyama blushed at the sight, recalling how he had done the same thing when he had felt how cold the sleeping Hinata's hand had been before. What am I, a mom? He shook his head to clear the memory away, then stepped into the room, where he noticed Natsu coloring at the table where the nurse had sat before.

"Tobio-nii-san!" Natsu screamed happily after noticing his shadow cross over her work. "I missed you!"

"Kageyama!" her brother said as enthusiastically as he could manage, struggling to sit up, then ultimately deciding to lean back again. "When did Natsu and you become so familiar?"

Natsu climbed down from her chair and scampered over to her mother's lap, then leaned in close to her brother's face. "Tobio-nii-san and I had a sleepover at our house the first night you were here, so mommy could have a sleepover here with you!"

Hinata's eyes widened and he shot a surprised glance in Kageyama's direction, to which Kageyama just shrugged his shoulders and carried on with the conversation. "Mrs. Hinata, I brought you a coffee."

"Oh, thank you, Kageyama!" Hinata's mother carefully plopped her daughter down on the edge of the bed and stood to take the drink as Kageyama approached. "Natsu, why don't we go find a snack for you and let Shoyo and Kageyama chat for a while?"

"Actually, Mom," Hinata lightly tapped her arm as she bent down to take Natsu's hand. "Could you ask the nurse if it would be okay for me to get out of bed? I'm kinda going crazy stuck in here."

"Shoyo," she stretched out his name disapprovingly as she spoke. "You are nowhere near ready to walk yet."

"A wheelchair then?"

"I'd be happy to accompany him around the hospital, ma'am," Kageyama interjected respectfully, earning an equally disapproving glance from Hinata's mother.

"Oh, alright," she sighed and left Natsu on the bed, gulping down her coffee as she left the room. Moments later she returned with Hinata's nurse and the nurse who had pulled Kageyama away before. He was pushing a wheelchair.

"Yes!" Hinata beamed. "Thanks, Mom!"

He threw back the sheets as Natsu jumped off the bed, and Kageyama moved out of the way as the two nurses wheeled the chair up to the side of the bed and lowered Hinata into it. Hinata's nurse picked up the IV fluid bag from its perch above the bed and hung it from a small hook on the side of the wheelchair. She then swiped the extra blanket from the foot of the bed and folded it across Hinata's legs. She and the other nurse stepped back and ushered Kageyama over to the wheelchair.

"Have fun, and be safe," Hinata's mother said firmly. "We're going to go search for a snack, so tell the staff when you come back, Shoyo."

Hinata nodded in reply, then craned his head upwards to look at Kageyama. "Come on!" he smiled widely. Kageyama couldn't help but start laughing as he pushed Hinata out of the room and down the hall.

"This hospital has a small courtyard with a garden," Kageyama spoke quietly as he watched Hinata gazing at the people passing by. "If you want to see some sunlight, let's go there."

They chatted simply as they moved, Kageyama asking questions mostly about what had occurred the last two days. A doctor had explained the extent of Hinata's injuries to him after he had had a real night's sleep. Then she had explained to him what the staff's plans were for therapy and rehabilitation. Hinata grew very quiet as he explained.

"They won't discharge me for another week, but they're pushing to start physical therapy as soon as tomorrow. It'll only be really light for now, until they know my body can handle it, and they said the real therapy will start later. I'll have to come in for outpatient therapy, and I'll be on crutches for a long time after I 'level up' from the wheelchair." Hinata began to stare at his leg, its damage hidden under the checkered blanket across his lap.

"I bet it'll go a lot faster than they're expecting," Kageyama said as reassuringly as he could manage as he pushed Hinata through the hospital doors, out into the garden. After a pause, he continued. "I don't know if you remember me telling you this at all, you were still comatose, but Karasuno's playing a scrimmage match with Nekoma on Saturday. If you're discharged by then, I'll come get you beforehand. Even if you can't play, the guys would all love to see you. It might pump you up about recovery, too."

Hinata's head was hung low, but Kageyama was just able to make out a half-smile forming. He couldn't tell what Hinata was thinking, but at least he didn't seem to be completely drowning in despair. Kageyama playfully messed up the fiery curls on top of Hinata's head before pulling his wheelchair up beside a bench and sitting down next to him. For a moment, the two watched the small manmade waterfall before them as it flowed, silent.

"Yachi-san called me this morning," Kageyama suddenly said, glancing over to read Hinata's face. "She said she was worried about you falling behind in school, so she got a bunch of things from your homeroom teacher and she wants to start coming to see you after practices with me. She says we can all have a 'homework party,' and she's hoping to get Tsukishima and Yamaguchi in on it, too, but that'll be tough." He chuckled lightly, then let out a real laugh as he saw Hinata's eyes light up.

"That would be really nice," Hinata said quietly, his eyes beginning to get watery. He kept his gaze focused on the flowing water ahead of them.

"Then we'll come right after practice tomorrow. Get some good sleep tonight, because you're gonna need a lot of brain power!"

Hinata nodded enthusiastically, his nose sniffling a bit. Kageyama watched him a moment longer, picking up on the cracks in Hinata's facade. Despite the color returning to his cheeks, his face overall still looked pale and tired, dark circles lining his eyes and his chapped lips betraying how ill he probably still felt. Kageyama wanted to say something, but as Hinata noticed him staring and turned his head to face him, no words came. A soft silence settled between the two boys, sending a tingling sensation down Kageyama's spine, but it was broken quickly enough by the whooshing sound of the hospital's automatic doors. Behind Hinata's head, a crowd of people moved quickly through them.

"Guys!" Kageyama exclaimed surprisedly as he stood.

"Shoyo-kun!" Nishinoya led the pack, practically running over to Hinata as he whipped his head around to take in the sight. The whole team was there, Yachi and Shimizu included. The girls had even brought flowers. As they reached the two boys, Nishinoya swept Hinata's head into a gentle hug and rested his own chin atop it, standing there for a moment with his eyes closed.

"What are you all doing here?" Kageyama asked after a moment, realizing that Hinata had hidden his face in Nishinoya's arms and was too overwhelmed to speak.

"It's a Sunday," Sugawara explained, beaming brightly. "We all have the day off and nothing to do except visit Hinata. Why would we want to do anything else, anyway? We knew you were already here, so we decided to join you. When we went to Hinata's room, the nurse told us you guys were out here."

"Thank you for coming," Hinata finally spoke from underneath Nishinoya's arms. Nishinoya moved to pull back, but Hinata reached up and grasped his shirtsleeve, keeping him there. As he continued, his voice was high and shaky. "It's really great to see all of you. I missed you guys."

"Hinata?" Kageyama reached over and lightly touched the boy's back. Hinata let out a long breath, then pulled out of Nishinoya's arms. His cheeks were damp, and he ran an arm quickly over his face before raising his head with a smile so genuine that, to Kageyama, it was as if all the other times he had ever smiled had all been lies.

The girls were the first to approach him after that, Kageyama guessed because the boys were all unsure of how to proceed with Hinata's fluctuating emotions. They had seen him anxious before, and of course they had seen him happy plenty of times, but it was a rare sight to see a teammate cry at the mere sight of his friends. The girls paid that awkwardness no attention, however, and they both knelt down and rested their flowers in his lap. Kageyama's jaw dropped as Yachi even leaned forward and placed a light kiss on Hinata's cheek, instantly turning his pale face beet red.

"It's so good to see you awake and well!" Yachi peeped as she sat back on her heels in front of Hinata's knees. "I'm sure Kageyama told you, you'll be seeing a lot of me in the next few days. If that's okay with you."

Hinata smiled and nodded, still not recovered enough to speak. His smile just kept getting bigger and bigger as the boys realized that emotions were nothing to be awkward about, each coming in turn to rustle his hair, carefully hug him, or kneel down in front of him and offer some words of encouragement. Kageyama sat quietly and took it all in, feeling a new sense of happiness swell within him as well, until the bzz of his cell phone pulled him away from it all.

"Hinata, your mom just texted me. The nurse wants you back inside, you've been out here too long and it's too cold for you." He stood up and slipped the phone into his pocket, then offered an apologetic smile to the group. "She also said we all need to head home, they're gonna give him another examination and stuff."

"We can at least walk you back to your room," Daichi said to Hinata as Kageyama took hold of the handles of the wheelchair. The crowd of high schoolers parted as Kageyama began to push Hinata back towards the hospital doors, then filed into a line as they followed.

When they made it to the door of Hinata's room, the same nurses from before were standing outside with Hinata's mother. Kageyama turned over control of the wheelchair and stepped back to join the rest of the team.

"See you tomorrow, Hinata." Kageyama said, just managing to mask the disappointment in his voice. Yachi beside him nodded her head.

"I'll be waiting!" Hinata beamed back, waving as he watched the group retreat down the hallway.

The week hurried by in a flash for Kageyama, who could barely focus during classes with all of the other things distracting him. He still tried his best at practices, as the Nekoma match was only a few days away, but his real focus was heading over to the hospital with Yachi afterwards.

The day after the whole group had visited was their first "homework party," and Yachi had managed to convince Tsukki and Yamaguchi to come, too. However, it had also been Hinata's first day of physical therapy. He had only worked with the trainer, just standing, sitting, and testing how much weight he could bear on his leg, for about an hour in the early afternoon, but he was completely zonked out when his fellow first-years arrived. Tsukishima argued that they should turn around and head home, but a loud crash from Natsu spilling all of her crayons all over the floor scared Hinata out of his slumber and he insisted that they stay. Thus, the homework party commenced.

After that first day, Yachi was the only one who accompanied Kageyama to see Hinata after practice. Tsukishima fussed that it wasn't right to make Hinata try to do all of this work that he hadn't even been in class to learn how to do, while Yamaguchi tagged along after him when he ended the discussion. Tsukishima's commentary did wear on Kageyama a bit, but Hinata insisted that he would have to do the homework eventually, "so why not do it now?"

Late Friday evening, Yachi and Kageyama sat on either side of Hinata's bed, their chairs drawn up close, as the three students poured over the textbook strewn across the cross-bed table the hospital staff had provided for Hinata to do his work. Hinata had been working to understand a particular English grammatical construction that Yachi was explaining to him, but Kageyama could almost see the confusion visibly dotting his face in the form of a knot at his temple.

"Let's take a break," he said slowly, eyeing Yachi. "Talk about some other stuff, and maybe come back to this before we head home for the night, 'kay?"

Relief flooded Hinata's face, and he leaned back against the pillows. "So… the Nekoma game is tomorrow, right? How's practice been going?"

"It's just a scrimmage!" Yachi exclaimed, confusion flashing across her face.

"I, uh…" Kageyama glanced at Hinata, "promised Hinata I'd take it seriously, like a real game, because I've been working really hard to grow as a player." He scratched at the back of his head sheepishly. "I'm guessing you're not going to be discharged in time for the game, then."

Hinata let his gaze drop to the open textbook in front of him, then frowned and shook his head. "Physical therapy hasn't been going as smoothly as I hoped. It's really kinda kicked my butt, actually. I'm tired every day and I apparently have been getting dehydrated really easily, and the doc says my stitches could open up again if we push any more. I should have been off IV fluids a few days ago, but you can see how that's going." He looked glumly down at his hand, resting on his stomach, tape still tightly securing the needle under his skin.

"Do you still feel much pain?" Yachi asked quietly.

"It hurts a lot during therapy, but when I'm resting it's more of a dull ache. It's not as noticeable now as it was when I first woke up. They've been weaning me off of the painkillers this week, so… check in with me on that later." He chuckled sadly.

A soft knock sounded at the door, and Hinata's nurse stepped into the room.

"Good work today, homework crew, but I'm afraid visiting hours are coming to an end and Shoyo needs to go to sleep."

"Right," Yachi and Kageyama replied simultaneously. They began gathering up their things and moving Hinata's books over to the table at the other end of the room. Kageyama lingered for a moment at the doorway after Yachi had already waved goodbye and slipped out.

"I'll come see you again on Sunday, but I'll definitely text you after the match tomorrow. We'll be thinking of you."

"Right," Hinata replied with a nod. "Good luck!"

Kageyama smiled back before hurrying out of the hospital and heading home, where he sat and chatted with his sister for a while before heading off to bed.

His sleep was restless again, a terrible dream waking him as the lightest hints of sunrise streamed through his bedroom window. The gut-wrenching sound of Hinata's scream as the car lodged the handlebar deeper into his body looped over and over again in his head before he was able to open his eyes. As Kageyama sat up and rubbed at his face, he couldn't help but feel that the dream was some kind of bad omen.

But as he walked into the Karasuno gym later that day, the rays of sunlight following him inside in golden tendrils, he caught sight of other members of the team huddled around the bench. As he got closer, a shock of fiery orange hair peeked through the arms of the players, and as Kageyama joined the group, Hinata turned to him from his spot on the bench, his smile as wide as ever.

"Hey."