Murder was the order of the day. Luckily, Kageyama was in a team made up of ravenous crows.

After the members of the Karasuno volleyball club had heard all the details of what had gone down between Hinata and the two members of the rival team, they had all blazed to life with a need for revenge. Well, except for Tsukishima who took more offense to being called "an easy win" than anything else. Ukai and Takeda had asked Hinata if he wanted them to talk to the coach of the other team and get something settled properly so the boys would receive consequences for their actions, but Hinata really hadn't wanted to cause any more of a ruckus.

That was fine. With the way the rest of the team was glaring at the boys in dark blue uniforms across the net with Daichi crossing his arms and looking like a mob boss about to put out a hit and Tanaka aggressively posturing with his hands tucked into the waistband of his uniform shorts, they were about to dispel their own kind of justice.

Suga threw his arm around Kageyama's shoulders. "How you feeling?"

"Um, fine," he replied flexing the fingers in his hands, his vastly empty hands. "I'm not the one who got harassed."

Suga only laughed and squeezed him tighter. Kageyama looked at his vice-captain and flinched at the dangerous look he found on his face.

"Yes, yes, but you will be sure to avenge the one who was."

"R-right."

Suga smacked him on his back nearly sending the first year to the ground. "I have the utmost faith in you. You and Hinata have been doing better together lately so I'm glad you guys got yourselves sorted."

Kageyama felt his intestines twist uncomfortably. While it was true they had almost returned to their former glory on the court, it was not without an exhaustive amount of mental fortitude. The thought of playing in front of new people, new challenges was one of Kageyama's favorite things in life. Only now, he had that incessant voice in his head that was telling him he was going to go back to screwing up, that everyone would be able to read the emotions he and Hinata were trying to suppress for the sake of the game as clearly as though they were written in ink across their skin.

Earlier in the day when Tsukishima had made his snarky flirting comment it had undone a lot of the work Kageyama had put into his emotional wall. If, even after all the effort he and Hinata put into washing out their tension, someone could still figure out something was going on; they weren't doing enough. It was this panic and unfamiliar sense of self-doubt that Kageyama brought into the game.

0o0

"To me!"

He ignored Hinata's call and set for Asahi to slam the ball through the hands of the rival team's blockers. Asahi and Daichi high fived, teeth bared like wolves.

The ball was soon coming to Kageyama again. He could see Hinata gearing up to spike it. Kageyama waited a second too long, his attention violently being torn between the redhead and the ball in his hands. He set it to Tanaka who barely reached it in time but still sent it smashing through a wall of arms over the net.

"Hell yeah!" Tanaka yelled as Nishinoya made rude expressions at their opponents from behind him.

"Watch your trajectory, Kageyama!" Suga yelled from the sidelines.

Kageyama wanted to should back that he knew, but it was true. His timing was sloppy and if he wasn't careful it would get worse.

And it did.

His next few sets were steadily declining in quality. He could feel eyes on him, weighing his limbs down with judgement. They knew, everyone knew, there was no doubt about it. Kageyama was sure he knew what everyone was seeing and wanted to shake himself like a ragdoll until all the anxiety evaporated.

He was self-aware enough to know that he was panicking about something that had nothing to do with volleyball, nothing even really to do with Hinata. But it stayed, taking root in the core fear of being humiliated, branded a failure and branching out into every single insecurity he's ever had. His team would desert him again, he would be the lonely reigning monarch on the court, and Hinata would be incredibly pissed.

"Kageyama!"

Kageyama wanted to die as he watched the ball that he had just tossed go sailing over Hinata's head in a high arch. Nishinoya had to make a mad dive for it just to get it back to the other side. This gave their opponents ample time to set up their own attack and force their way into a point.

Kageyama cringed when he heard the whistle signaling a substitution.

Suga offered him a reassuring smile as he took the paddle from him. It didn't help much. He watched as Suga set a perfect toss to Tanaka and when it earned them their lost point back they screamed in perfect unison, "Let's go!"

"You doing ok?" Yamaguchi asked him when he joined him by the bench.

Kageyama just shook his head. "I'm fine. I guess I'm just having a weird day."

"Didn't think you could have those." He handed Kageyama a water bottle. "But it's ok. It's probably from that fiasco earlier. You just need a breather and you'll be back to normal."

Yamaguchi, while he still had a mean girl streak in him thanks to following Tsukishima around for years, managed to wedge plenty of kindness right beside it. Kageyama watched the rest of the first match in mostly silence, clapping when his team scored points for appearances sake, but not doing much else. He pointedly never met the eyes Hinata was stabbing into him from beneath the net.

With the first match over, the rival team soundly defeated and panicking at the level of aggression their opponents showed up with, Karasuno hollered and high-fived as they came back to the bench, Coach Ukai grinning like a hyena the whole way.

"What happened earlier?" Daichi asked once he had patted his face dry.

Kageyama knew he'd have to face the music sooner or later.

"I just –

"Out of the way!" Hinata yelled as he pushed his way between their teammates.

He walked right up to Kageyama and, with more force than Kageyama thought could safely be stored in such a small body, grabbed him by the shirt and shoved him backwards until they hit the wall.

"Hinata!" Daichi said reaching out towards the two first years.

"What the hell are you doing?" Kageyama yelled angrily as Hinata refused to release the two handfuls of jersey in his fists.

"Me? What the hell are you doing?" Hinata shot back, "I backed you up when they were talking crap about you earlier. Why are you making me look like I was lying?"

Kageyama's eyes narrowed as he tried to yank Hinata's hands away from him. Had he always had this crazy grip strength? "I don't need you defending me!"

"Guys!" Ukai said sternly, "Give it a rest, we're in the middle of something right now. Fight later."

He was soundly ignored.

"We promised didn't we?" Hinata yelled, fire blazing in the center of his dark eyes, "We promised to leave volleyball out of it!"

Kageyama couldn't have looked away from his partner if he tried. Hinata had that familiar intensity that could only come out on the volleyball court. That look pierced through Kageyama's very soul and he could only imagine what it did when it was locked onto some unfortunate soul across the net.

Hinata stood on his tip toes as he clawed his way higher on Kageyama's chest, grabbing his shirt collar and dragging him lower so they would be at eye-level with each other; equal ground.

"You would never lie to me," he said with conviction, doubtlessly.

This was exactly what Kageyama had been afraid of, everyone watching him after a failure, Hinata furious with him. His heart pounded against his ribs. It felt like it was going to burst through his chest like some alien monster.

Kageyama let out a long slow breath trying to still his pulse. Everyone had paused, hesitating to get in the middle of something that clearly was out of the norm, even for them. Hinata's entire torso was pressed directly against Kageyama's, forcing his field of vision to narrow to the few inches that separated him from Hinata's fierce stare. It was like being hunted by a bird of prey and there was no escape.

"You're right." There was a collective gasp, even Ukai and Takeda shared a surprised look. Kageyama barely registered them, his sole focus being on the shorter boy in front of him. "I promised."

Hinata pulled on his shirt even more, bringing him lower until their foreheads pressed almost painfully together. "You here?"

"I'm here," he said automatically.

Hinata released him. His smile was back in its original place, as though he had never lost it a moment in his life. "I am too, so let's do this."

A few silent beats passed before-

"Did Hinata just pacify Kageyama?" Tanaka said loudly, confusion doing weird things to his expression. "Someone please tell me I'm not crazy."

Kageyama rolled his eyes as his teammates started laughing, all the tension bleeding away into the atmosphere.

"You should do that every time Kageyama gets moody," Nishinoya said punching Hinata good naturedly in the arm.

"I do not get moody," Kageyama insisted as they all moved to the opposite side of the court.

The laughter started up again.

The second match began and Kageyama felt lighter than he had in weeks. Nobody was watching him for weaknesses. How could they be when he didn't have any? Not with Hinata on his side.

On the other side of the net Kageyama came face to face with number seven, the guy with the stupid looking black hair who had been bothering Hinata before the game. The blonde who had put his hands on him was on the sidelines glaring at him with just as much force as his friend.

"Well, look who's back in the game?" Number seven said smiling. He jerked his head in Hinata's direction who was pointedly not acknowledging him. "Needed to have your pretty little boyfriend over there take care of you."

Kageyama didn't need to turn to know Hinata had stiffened. He had heard the nearly silent hitch in his breathing even while surrounded by the noisy crowd. Maybe this guy had seen exactly what Kageyama had worried people would see. Maybe he was just aiming for uncreative low-hanging fruit. Either way, whoever Hinata ended up with in the future, boyfriend or otherwise, while they would be in for a massive headache, would also be incredibly lucky to have him. And Kageyama wasn't about to let some random asshole make him feel bad about it.

"Pretty huh?" Kageyama said trying to recreate his attempt at a smile which he remembered had had a very unsettling result. "You want him so badly it makes you look stupid."

Hinata snorted into his hands as the boy in the blue uniform gaped like a fish at Kageyama's words.

"Sh-shut up!"

"I mean I get it," Kageyama continued trying to imagine how Tsukishima sounded whenever he wanted to be a know-it-all about something, "But he's way out of your league. You just don't have a chance."

Seven was turning a very amusing shade of embarrassed red. He got right up to the half court line, his hands fisting the net.

"I don't care about him! About either of you! You're both losers!"

"Hey! Who you calling losers?" Tanaka said suddenly appearing at Kageyama's left, "Bold words from someone who just got their asses handed to them in the first set."

Nishinoya took the right. "You got something to say to our kohai you can say it to us first!"

Kageyama smiled, unashamedly proud of himself. This was probably why that string bean seemed to enjoy pissing him off so often. He looked to Hinata just as the whistle blew to start. His cheeks were pink, probably from trying to stifle laughter. They suited him. Hinata gave him a wonderful grin, eyes brighter than the lights overhead. He was right here and Kageyama knew neither one of them were going anywhere.

0o0

Suga ruffled Kageyama's hair almost violently in the locker room. "I knew you would make your comeback eventually," he said as Kageyama got his skull rattled, "I never had a doubt about it!"

"Yeah!" Asahi said choosing the gentler approach of a congratulatory fist bump, "You and Hinata really gave 'em hell in that second game."

"I know, I know, we were the best," Hinata said bowing dramatically, the picture of humility.

"Way to show those guys not to mess with one of our own," Yamaguchi said with fervor as he and Hinata high fived.

"By the way, Kageyama," Tanaka asked as he zipped on his jacket, "What did you tell that one dude before the second game? He was mean mugging you the entire time."

Hinata burst into giggles again. Kageyama just shrugged.

"Nothing special. He just doesn't like me."

Coach Ukai came through the door, clapping his hands. "Alright. You all did amazing out there. Get on the bus quickly so we can hurry home. We'll talk about where we can improve then. And Kageyama?" He looked to the first year. "Good to have you back."

Kageyama could feel the wobbly beginnings of an embarrassed smile and quickly dropped his head. He suddenly had a fist to the arm.

"Bet I'll get to the bus first!" Hinata said quickly putting on his track jacket.

"Bet you'll get lost trying to find your way there," Kageyama retorted.

Kageyama had to eat those words unfortunately when he sat in the aisle seat on the bus next to a gloating Hinata.

"Sucks to suck," Hinata said sticking his tongue out.

Kageyama shoved his head to the side. "Whatever. I only let you win because you were traumatized today."

Hinata leaned back comfortably against the back of the seat with a smile on his face as he closed his eyes. "Yeah, well, thanks to you I was taken care of."

Honestly, he could say the same.

Kageyama felt warmth bloom in his chest. He coughed hoping to dislodge it, but it stayed. It remained for the entire ride home, and when Hinata fell asleep against his arm, drooling like a toddler and snuggling into his shoulder, it only got warmer.

** So this was later than anticipated because I got swept away for the weekend but we're gonna try again for an on time upload this weekend. Thanks for sticking around. Chapter 8 on 11/12/2022**